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mariana-oconnor · 1 year

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Types of AO3 Summary

Option 1 - The Excerpt:

The quickest, the easiest! Find a section of your fic that contains the main premise of said fic and also showcases your writing. Copy paste that into the summary box. BOOM! Done.

Best used for any fic, unless it's so short the excerpt would be the whole fic.

Option 2 - The No Frills:

Just a description of the fic. No need for drama. No need to complicate matters. Keep it simple, keep it safe.

Example: "A short character exploration of Blorbo's thoughts after Daisy leaves."

Best used for short fics, poems and fics where the style/format is more important than the plot. Or fics that tie directly into a scene/episode from canon or another fanfic.

Option 3 - The Hook:

Draw the reader's interest by giving them a set up with no conclusion. Introduce the main character(s), introduce the status quo, describe an inciting incident, leave a question in the reader's mind.

Example: "Blorbo is a barista at a coffee shop, struggling to pay their bills, but after handsome rockstar Obrolb walks into their coffee shop they find that they have to decide whether a chance at love is worth the cost of fame."

Best used for mid to long fic where there's a strong premise and follow through. Especially good for AUs. Can be expanded for more complex plots or used multiple times in one summary for multiple characters or subplots.

Option 4 - The Sitcom One-Liner:

"The one in which [over simplified description of one of the main plotlines]" This is essentially 'boil your plot down to the very simplest statement you can, oversimplify if possible. The more bizarre or unhelpful the better.

Example: "The one in which Blorbo learns to like cake".

Best used for fics with at least a little humour in them.

Option 5 - The Rule of Three:

Three is a magic number. Find three key moments in your fic and just list them. That's it. Often ends with 'not necessarily in that order' if used for comic effect. If it's an AU, establish that quickly (i.e. 'Star NHL player Blorbo…').

Example: "Blorbo makes a friend, falls in love, and almost burns to death, not necessarily in that order."

Best used for anything, really. Three is a magic number. The human brain loves things that come in threes.

Option 6 - The Trope Lure:

Why bother describing the plot? We all know AO3 readers are here for the tropes. Similar to The Sitcom One-Liner just using tropes instead of plot. Often followed by the phrase 'that nobody asked for'.

Example: "The Space western / A/B/O / Mail Order Bride fic that nobody asked for."

Often tacked on to the end of The Hook or The Excerpt as a tl;dr.

Best used for fic that plays its tropes straight with no shame or second guessing.

Option 7 - The Pre-emptive Strike:

(Not recommended) You just wrote this fic, the self doubt is consuming you. You feel the need to apologise profusely for your existence for no apparently reason. You feel cringe, you think the fic is cringe, you want everyone to know that you think the fic is cringe in case they don't like it and judge you for it.

Example: "So I fell in love with this pairing and had to write this. It's weird and terrible. Lol! I suck at summaries! Sorry!"

Best used for no fics ever. I cannot stress this enough.

(Seriously, I am begging you, don't do this. If you're planning to use this option, rethink it and do one of the others. I guarantee you more people will want to read your fic.)

Sometimes added on to any other summary as a strange disclaimer. (srsly. don't.)

Option 8 - The Unapology:

Embrace the mayhem, embrace the deep dark depths of your soul. The opposite of The Pre-emptive Strike. A combination of The No Frills and The Trope Lure that truly gives no fucks.

You have committed crimes and you are proud of them. You know what your USP is and you're going to make sure your target market finds you. Look upon my works, ye readers, and despair!

Example: "There aren't enough tentacle fics in this pairing, so I had to write one myself!"

Best used for fics with controversial/polarising tropes with all relevant details already clearly stated in the tags.

Option 9 - The Interrogation:

What if you wrote a summary entirely in questions? What if your readers had to read the fic to discover the answers? Who knows what will happen if you do this?

Example: "What happens when Blorbo McBlorbo gets his wish and Daisy doesn't make it to the plane on time? What happens when Obrolb finds out? How will this change Daisy and Blorbo's friendship?"

Best used for... I honestly don't know. This style of summary does not vibe with me. Mystery fic maybe? Sorry guys.

Option 10 - The Multipack:

Got a bunch of shorter fics in one work? No way of summarising them all without a wall of text larger than the Great Wall of China? This one is similar to The No Frills in that you're not describing the plots themselves and similar to The Trope Lure in that often broader genres and tropes are mentioned. What links those fics? Are they all in the same fandom? The same pairing? The same challenge? Just slap that right in the summary. A chapter list with 1-2 word trope/pairing summaries can be included or not.

Example: "A collection of Blorbo/Daisy/Obrolb fics based on Tumblr prompts. Chapter 1: Regency AU Chapter 2: Werewolves vs vampires Chapter 3: Ghost!Daisy Chapter 4: Space pirates!"

Best used for (obviously) works that are compilations of fic.

Option ? - The Void:

I said The Excerpt was the quickest and easiest summary to do. I lied, well... I didn't exactly lie. What is quicker and easier than not having a summary at all? After all, that's what the tags are for.

Example:

Best used for... nothing? Write a summary, guys. Please?

#AO3 #fandom #on writing #clearing out my drafts #long post #Qd #This list is intended for entertainment purposes only #I just came across a lot of fic summaries that followed similar rules #so I decided to post this about it #I'm sure other options are available #If you've ever used number 7 that's not bad of you #But my advice would be to not do that

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eponymous-rose · 9 months

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A little thing I'm also really appreciating in this rewatch of TNG is something that seems to have all but disappeared in the age of tightly plotted, entirely serialized eight-episode miniseries TV: little slice-of-life moments that don't serve any driving plot purpose except to flesh out the world a little bit.

The scene with Picard's hairdresser earnestly telling him how he should better have handled diplomatic relations with the Romulans doesn't serve a deep narrative purpose in the sense of echoing the themes of the episode or foreshadowing some important moment with that hairdresser. It's there to share a little picture of the world - yes, there are still hairdressers in the future, yes, there's still awkward small-talk with said hairdressers. There's also the nice little reminder in all these domestic scenes that normal life is happening aboard the Enterprise, families and all, which adds to the sense of danger when the ship's in peril and paints the moments of war and conflict as uncomfortable juxtapositions. It's not there to serve the plot, it's there to build the world. And the characters! Picard's mostly-polite demurs, the reveal that Riker has been 100% humoring this guy like "oh man, we should've thought of that, you're so right". There's no reason to include it beyond reveling in the world.

I really miss that about a lot of modern TV - we get these needle-sharp hard dives through a world, coherent and concise and often quite lovely, but trying to take in the scope of the world around that plot is like watching out the window of a fast-moving train: you're getting nothing more than vague impressions at a remove. It's the difference between a guided tour of a museum and a self-guided tour: sometimes, at some museums, you just want to meander around a bit at your own pace and let it wash over you.

Given the choice, I'll almost always fall deeper in love with a show that's criticized for "filler" or "monster of the week" because I know it'll give its characters and its universe time to grow. That's what drew me to TV in the first place - I adore movies, but there's only so much you can do with character and world in 2-3 hours. Lately a lot of TV seems to be seen as a rather long movie with the odd break where you get up to make popcorn midway through. I think there's something unique about the format of television that's being lost in this attempt to emulate the structure of a movie, in the same way that some novels feel like they might as well just have been novellas or short stories. It's not just a longer version of the same thing. It has the potential to be something entirely different.

Give me the bloated 20-odd-episode seasons of the 90s and 00s, where characters grew and changed slowly, by inches, and we had the time to change along with them. I love the new stuff, don't get me wrong, but I sure miss that specific brand of mess.

#star trek

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yumeka-sxf · 5 months

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1-year anniversary post and future projects

My blog turned 1-year old today! 😃 (I also have a new blog banner and profile pic for the occasion!) I was lowkey hoping I'd hit the 1,000 follower milestone before then, but I got close - about 890 followers as of now! I'm very humbled that so many people enjoy my SxF content ❤️ Thank you all so much for your Likes, Reblogs, and kind messages~ Even though I wish I had joined the SxF fandom sooner, better late than never! The series has been around for about four years now, which is still a relatively short time for a popular shonen manga. So I'm hoping there will be plenty more SxF content to indulge in for years to come!

As you've probably seen, I've been reblogging my Twiyor analysis posts as a build-up to my continuation of that project for season 2 of the anime. And I'm happy to report that my planned start date for new analysis posts will be Tuesday, December 12th! On that day I'll post the new installment, Part 19, with a new post each Tuesday after until I finish covering the season 2 episodes. I know it seems like I'm dragging it out, but it takes a long time for me to not only write each post, but to revise and proofread them as well...the more chances I get to proofread my posts over time, the better they turn out. I also want to make sure I don't get too far ahead of the current episodes (since I still want to make the posts manga-spoiler free as much as possible). Since season 2 is only going to be 12 episodes, there won't be as many posts as last time, but the topics are just as compelling! I've been so excited to finally delve into analyzing the cruise arc 😄

I should also mention that late December/early January are going to be very busy times for the fandom: there's the movie release, the game release, the season finale, another art book that I'll want to scan, and the light novel being released in English! Of course I'll be making posts covering all of this, as well as my usual merch and chapter/episode review posts. I'm also planning to do some kind of post mini-series for the game where I write about my experiences with it in a daily journal kind of format. We'll see...there's going to be so much to cover at the end of the year, I hope I won't get overwhelmed 😅

Anyway, thank you all again for a wonderful year of SxF goodness~ Here's to many more years of joy from our beloved fake family!

#spy family #spy x family #sxf #spyxfamily #twiyor #sxf analysis

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acesofspadess · 4 months

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The Lead Up

summary: the band grows closer together during their first few months at the X-factor

Worth The Risk Masterlist

Living with the boys was truly the best. They didn’t treat you any differently because you were a girl, it seemed like they tried a little harder to rough you up because you were a girl, and you always met their match.

There was around a month from boot camp- where the band was formed- from the first episode of the season, and another month after that where the episode that showed you forming would air.

During those months Simon had become a quick father to the group. He had a soft spot for you and everyone could tell. Through the time you were there you had some ups and downs. Your performance at Simon’s house was rough as Louis had arrived only 5 minutes prior and all of you were nervous that he wouldn't make it, or scared, as he was in hospital. You were both. Louis and you had become very close in the short time, it wasn’t like siblings, you didn’t know what it was, but you and Louis liked it so it didn’t matter. You and all the boys had really grown together. You, Harry, and Niall seemed to gravitate towards each other simply because you had all met prior to formation.

“My head is saying it's a risk,” Simon paused looking at you all. “But my heart is saying you deserve a shot, and that’s why it’s been difficult. So I’ve made a decision.” You all stood there arms wrapped around each other, waiting anxiously. “I’ve gone with my heart, you’re through.” It hit you all immediately as you jumped up and hugged each other before sprinting to Simon who was laughing softly. The boys followed you as you turned it into a group hug. No one could see through their tears of pure joy. You held Harry as he cried into his arm knowing exactly how he felt.

A day after the bootcamp episode aired you Louis and Harry decided to do a twitcam video. You had to admit Harry looked awfully cute with his beanie on. You sat on the opposite end of the bed of Louis before he was squishing your cheeks making you come over to him. The stream was filled with prank calls, Louis yelling and singing, and lots of laughing.

A few weeks later you had moved into the X-factor house. You had Beverly come and help move your stuff from the house into the new one- her college courses wouldn’t start for another month-. One thing you loved was that the boys wanted you to bunk with them, and you gladly agreed. There were three sets of bunk beds for you to sleep on. You opted for a bottom bunk and Beverly bought you a ‘privacy’ cover that would block out the view into your bunk, and you actually appreciated that.

Bentley was back at college so you didn’t see a lot of him, but you made sure to talk all the time. Nan and Pap ended up opening the bakery they always wanted and you were beyond estactic to see the photo - among with many others of you guys- in the letter they sent you.

Bentley did keep his promise and got your tag number tattooed across his left collar bone. He mailed some polaroids of you and him and you and Beverly to put up wherever you could. Of course there was insistent teasing from Liam and Louis about you and Bentley’s relationship, but it was truly platonic. He was your best friend.

It was crazy how much time had passed between the start of the show and now you guys were headed into the live shows. You had all decided to do some Video Diaries to let the fans in on how you guys were doing on show.

“Hi, we're One Direction.” Louis started the video sitting next to you. “This is our video diary.” you said after him. “You can come back here every week to find out what we’ve been up to, how we're feeling and everything that's going on.” Somehow during Harry's speech Niall and Louis started messing with his hair and you couldn't help but join. You were all essing sound until Liam got back on track.

“Alright what's happening this week? We've moved into the x-factor house which is really exciting and I’ve been waiting a long time for this." Everyone smiled at Liam as he had been through this before. “We've got a decent room in the house. It's not the biggest-” it seemed with that that everyone voiced their opinion on how bad the room was. “It's okay because we're all enjoying ourselves and all having a laugh.” You looked up to Zayn as he spoke, resting your head on his knees. “Sharing a room with 5 of your best friends.” Harry jokingly sapped and the rest of you joined in on mockery.

“We’ve been practising hard, uh, it's a good song. You lot like it?” they all voiced their opinions to you and you continued. “Yeah it's a good song, we really like the song.”

“I think we’ve had a lot of preparation now, the times ticking by and we just can't wait to get on the stage. Show everyone what we can do as a group.” you watched louis as he spoke with a small smile. “If you’ve got any questions to ask us just leave them down below and we'll get back to yah.” Liam closed out with all you pointing to the imaginary border below you. “See you guys.” Harry waved and you all waved shouting goodbyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Worth The Risk Masterlist

tags:

@youcan-nolonger-run @ravenclawdirectioner

@luxiorchive @maeflowers653 @purple9950 @forkmeniall @nathalielovesonedirection @hopsydaisy @shortie-niya

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latoyalestrange · 8 months

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THE FOOL

p. pascal x f!oc

Masterlist | Playlist

Summary: They’re finally wrapping on the season with just a few scenes left to film. One of them being the most anticipated moments of the season; when Naela and Pedro’s characters give in to their deepest desires on camera.

Words: 2.1k

Warnings: Mentions of cheating, filming an explicit scene and horknee Pedro!

Taglist: @marvel-sw-lover , @lokislittle , @red-red-rogue , @babukat , @joels-darlin

comment if you want to be added to the taglist!

CHAPTER FIVE — CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

The last episode. All of their training and hard work had led them to this moment. For this scene, they’d spent a few hours with instructors on how to be safe in a helicopter. Javi and Lucia were meant to be chasing one of Pablo’s accomplice’s in a helicopter, and the production team made sure they followed all of the protocols and procedures.

It was all pretty easy, keep your limbs inside and know how a parachute works just in case. The only part Naela disliked was the outfit.

Pedro covered his mouth as his eyes landed on her, trying to mask his chuckle. She was trying to tighten the straps on her vest but they were already as tight as possible. Her face twisted with frustration.

“What?” She looked down at the bullet proof vest that hung off of her, the heavy headphones almost slipping off of her head as she did so. She quickly straightened them and folded her arms. Boyd turned at the sound of Pedro’s laughter and smiled along with him.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Pedro took a deep breath.

Boyd rolled his eyes playfully. “What he means to say is you look beautiful, Naela. But I’m gonna go ask for a smaller vest, okay?” Even he couldn’t help it. He started chuckling as he finished and walked away. Pedro gave her an adoring smile as she pouted.

“Okay, I’m sorry. It’s an adorable look on you. How can I make it up to you, Naela?” He stepped toward her, and the familiar sense of tension started to build in her stomach.

“You could start by writing a ten page apology in MLA format,” she joked. He instantly burst into laughter, throwing his head back.

"Yes, ma'am. I'll have it done by the morning." She chuckled, and there was a short pause. His eyes lingered on hers as he smiled adoringly at her. Her worries about the scenes they would need to shoot later crept back into the front of her mind. Not only was she scared to be riding in a helicopter for the first time, she would be filming her first explicit scene, and with Pedro Pascal of all people.

She didn't have time to dwell on it though, because Boyd returned with a smaller, but still a ridiculous-looking vest. Pedro approached as well to assist her in tightening the straps. Once it felt secure, she held up an awkward thumbs up and Pedro patted her on the back.

Ugh. What was he doing to her? Flirting with her every chance he got and then knocking her down a peg with a damn pat on the back? It wasn't the first time Pedro had done something incredibly neutral, either. It would sometimes be an awkward side hug, or a comment about "friends" or even just a lack of intensity during one of their many interactions. Either way, every time it stung just as bad as the last. Why did he have to work her up, make her think they had something, and then in the next breath, make her wonder if he felt the same at all. Was it intentional? God, the things she would do to be able to see inside his head for even a second.

The helicopter that was dormant the entire time next to them suddenly began to start up, startling her out of her negative thoughts. The director shouted some directions that Naela could barely hear over the whirring of the blades in the wind. She followed Pedro and Boyd into the helicopter, along with a cameraman in the passenger seat and the pilot. Boyd took the farthest seat, but Pedro hesitated as he watched her climb in.

"You get in the middle instead, just in case." Naela realized they had turned their headsets on, hearing Pedro's smooth voice clearly. She nodded, happily accepting every ounce of special treatment he gave her. It was a little tight between the two broad men, but Naela didn't mind one bit. Crew members handed them their stage weapons from outside of the helicopters and soon they were lifting off into the air.

Naela could honestly say her first helicopter ride was a success. It was a little nerve-wracking, practically hanging out of the door to pretend shoot at someone, but she felt safe with everyone with her and the straps holding her inside. She could tell she looked badass doing it too. She didn't feel the same way when they landed, however. She lasted a only a few seconds before she had to run to the other side of the helicopter to empty the contents of her stomach. Luckily Pedro helped her feel less embarrassed by telling her the cameraman looked like he was going to do the same the entire time they were filming in the air.

They took a minute, just sitting in the AC and drinking water once they got back to the studio lot. Pedro sat with her the entire time, chatting and getting her anything she needed. Once she felt well enough to eat, they joined the others for lunch at the group of tables they set up inside.

Still feeling a little queasy, Naela picked up some fresh fruit and cheese slices from the charcuterie board. Once she grabbed a water bottle for herself, she made her way over to the table Boyd, Joanna, Pedro, and Paulina were sitting at.

Naela was mostly quiet, other than answering a few questions and butting in on occasion. She barely touched her food and hoped everyone would believe it was because she got sick earlier. Honestly, after thinking about what scene they were scheduled to film next, she felt like she had to throw up all over again.

Pedro hung back once the others started trickling away to take a break or prepare for their next scene. They sat in silence for a moment as he finished his food.

He sighed, “So.” Naela chuckled after a second, happy he broke the awkward silence.

“So,” she mimicked him.

“We should talk about the next scene we have to do, Naela.” He crumbled up his napkin after wiping his mouth.

“Yeah, I guess so,” she responded nervously, shifting in her seat next to him.

“I want you to know that if at any point you feel uncomfortable, just say the word, and I’ll stop. Even though it’s not real, it can be…intense sometimes.” He looked her directly in the eye, and she could feel the seriousness in his words. “I don’t care if the crew has anything to say about it. We’re not doing anything you don’t want to do.”

She nodded, feeling a little more relieved. “Okay. Thank you.”

He just smiled warmly at her before pulling himself up out of his seat and extending his hand out to her. She took it graciously and followed him to the costumes trailer.

For her peace of mind, it was only Pedro, the director, and the bare minimum camera and audio crew. It still felt like an entire audience as she sauntered out in her robe that covered her mostly exposed body, other than a thin nude thong and pasties. So, essentially, she was naked. She continuously told herself how grateful she was to have this opportunity as she was getting ready. As expected, she was doubting those thoughts in this moment.

Pedro was sitting casually on the bed as the crew made the final adjustments to the lighting and setup. He gave her a reassuring smile as she approached him, her arms wrapped around her midsection like a shield.

“Still nervous?” She nodded, feeling a smile creep back onto her face once she noticed his attire. She really had no reason to be embarrassed as he was sitting in front of her with the smallest nude breifs she’d ever seen. She forced her eyes to focus on his face.

“Okay, now remember,” Tom, the director butted in as he stepped forward. “You were just out celebrating taking down one of Escobar’s allies. The excitement reels the both of you in even though you agreed to never do this again.”

Pedro nodded, “It’s bad for work, but I don’t care.” He looked directly at Naela as he said this. Damn.

“Yes, exactly. You’re too lost in eachother to care about the rules. Take a second to really get in the moment.” He backed away, making sure they understood before returning to the chair behind the screen. Pedro pulled himself back onto the bed and positioned himself on his knees, facing the headboard of Lucia’s bed. Reluctantly, she approached the side of the bed as a member of the crew helped position the blanket around Pedro’s waist.

“Ready?” He looked up at her with a sincere and comforting smile. She nodded, taking a deep breath before slowly untying her robe. Pedro instinctively grabbed the blanket behind him and held it up, covering the crew’s view as the silk slipped off of her shoulders. Her arms instantly wrapped around her waist, feeling the cold air all around her. She didn’t hesitate to slip under the covers with him as the camera was positioned parallel to their bodies. She watched, looking around at everyone as they looked into the camera’s and their feedback on the screens for the director.

“Hey, look at me.” Pedro was looming over her now, his muscles flexing as he planted his hands on either side of her.

“Don’t pay attention to them. Just breathe,” he instructed. She could barely hold eye contact and she had no idea what to do with her hands.

“Okay, angle looks good…Pedro, can you lift her legs up a bit?” Tom projected across the set. Pedro looked at her before answering, waiting for her permission. Her chest still heaving with anxiety, she oblidged and wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Okay, great, now bring your chest closer, Pedro.” He sighed, letting his head fall.

“You’re sure this is okay?” He asked, concern in his brow.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. Promise.” Naela mustered up the best smile she could as she looked up at him.

“Okay…” With that, he slinked one arm under her waist and with the other, he planted his forearm next to her shoulder. She could feel the warmth from his bare chest on her skin, making her feel much less exposed. Their faces were inches apart now as they waited for more instruction.

“That’s perfect, just give us one second…okay, season one, episode 12, scene 28, marker…and action!”

Suddenly, everything felt so real. She was in the same mindset as Lucia. Every kiss, every touch felt meaningful, even though she knew they were not. She was in the moment and she wished so badly that she could have this in real life. The way Pedro sounded, the way he spoke to her was divine in a way that she could never describe. His voice sent goosebumps across her skin.

At the same time, she knew it was wrong. So wrong. She’d never even thought about cheating on anyone, but now she wished she was. She wished she started four months ago when they met.

If she were honest with herself, she knew her relationship with Josh wasn’t going anywhere. He was still in the college mindset, not taking his career seriously and spending most of his free time partying or playing video games. He consistently gave her the absolute bare minimum when deep down, she deserved to be treated like a princess. That was exactly how she felt with Pedro.

So, no, Naela didn’t feel bad. In fact, she felt incredible. Although she wasn’t getting any relief, per se, she was absolutely drunk on the feeling of their clothes hips gyrating together. Their moans were almost too convincing as the camera closed in on them. Knowing they were nearing the end of the scene, Pedro forced her wrists on either side of her and planted a passionate kiss on her lips for a big finish. She wouldn’t have known the director called cut off Pedro hadn’t withdrawn himself back onto his knees, making sure she stayed covered. His chest was heaving as he looked down at her with an unfamiliar expression on his face. He almost looked annoyed…or hungry?

“Here,” he whispered as he leaned over the edge of the bed, grabbing her robe. He handed it to her beneath the blanket and tried his best not to watch as she wrapped it around herself again.

“Thank you.” She smirked as she noticed his hands blocking her view below his waist. She decided not to tease him verbally, but she did feel like it was necessary to sway her hips with purpose as she walked off to the dressing room.

Flirting isn’t technically cheating, right?

reblog if you made it to the end!

#pedrohub #pedro pascal fluff #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal fanfic #pedro pascal fandom #pedro pascal smut #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal x oc #pedro pascal #javier pena x reader #javier pena narcos #javier pena imagine #javier pena x y/n #javier pena smut #javier peña #javier pena fanfiction #javier pena fic #javier pena fluff

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deeply-unserious-fellow · 3 months

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I think Welcome to Heaven should've been the season finale. Like I'm sorry it just should've. The pacing of the show is already wack as Hell, and Welcome to Heaven coming so early does NOT help. The crew probably didn't have a choice in how many episodes they got, and tbh it makes me sick to my stomach to think about how short shows have been getting recently so I don't wanna dive into that, but y'know what they do have control over? When episodes happen. I think there should've been at least 2 episodes between Scrambled Eggs and Masquerade focused on letting us get to know the characters better, and then use Welcome to Heaven as the finale. It still would've been rushed, sure, because the episodes are also too short and gOD AMAZON FUCKED THIS SHOW OVER SO BAD- but at least we'd be closer to the characters, y'know? And then save Hello, Rosie for season 2 and use The Show Must Go On as the season 2 finale.

(If this show had come out 5 years ago we wouldn't be having any of these problems FUCK the binge watching format oh my god)

#hazbin hotel #welcome to heaven #hazbin hotel season 1 #hazbin critical #or more like #amazon critical #I am criticizing amazon and how theyre treating this show #I hate it here

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mimicha-arts · 8 months

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Passwords and … audio drama episodes

Some time ago I started listening to an audio drama. There are only 12 episodes, but it took quite a long time, since my understanding is far from perfect. In fact, after the release of episode 8 and a certain overtinking about the plot and other points, about the meaning of Lu Guang's password and so on, I remembered one moment from the audio drama. What follows is a short summary. I remind you that my skills are mediocre and I am not a native speaker. Spoilers for the audio drama??? (if anyone even cares)，episodes 3-4.

This arc told the story about a girl from a photographer's family, her name is Wen Wen. This story is in many ways about love for photography, about family drama, about grief, but I'll be brief. In Wen Wen's early childhood, her father (Wen Qingshan) died due to an accident. Because of this, there was a conflict in the family between the Wen Wen and her mother, Lan Hui, since the daughter wanted to take up photography, following in the footsteps of her father. As well as fulfill his dream of participating in a photo contest.

Wen Wen asked for help in the photo studio - she would like to get old photos from her father's old broken camera, but there is a password that she did not know. After trying many options, Wen Wen was not able to find a solution, so she hoped that Qiao Ling, Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang would help her to restore access to the camera's memory card.

Therefore, Cheng Xiaoshi had to jump through the photos and history of Wen Wen and her family in an attempt to get her father's old notebook. It was not the easiest task for Cheng Xiaoshi, but in the end, when the opportunity arises, he and Lu Guang could look over the notes. Initially, they did not find any clues in these records, that is the password.

Cheng Xiaoshi was frustrated, left the photo, already wanted to tell Qiao Ling that they have failed, but was stopped by Lu Guang. And Lu Guang literally right away, instantly said which set of numbers could be a password. Just by guessing.

When Qiao Ling gave the password to Wen Wen, Wen Wen had no idea, was not able to recognize these numbers, but the password was correct. The password is a date. Wen Wen was very surprised, since she already tried all the dates associated with her, her father and mother.

And after another scene with Wen Wen and her mother Lan Hui, even the mother herself did not know the meaning of this date, it turns out that the password her father set was a day on which Wen Qingshan (Wen Wen's father) took a photograph of her mother for the first time.

This date was not directly written in the diary. It was a caption on the back of Lan Hui's photo, that was placed inside the diary. And the photo was signed: "My beloved", with a signature and this password-date: 980713

And, you know, I'm not really getting anywhere here, I'm just thinking about how it feels like some kind of foreshadowing or reference. Lu Guang was able to figure out what the password so fast. I can assume the obvious thing 一 because of his own experience and the meaning that he put into his own password. Many people guessing about the way how to read these numbers, as a symbolic phrase with a homonym, or a date, but in different format, not like year-month-day, rather month-day-hour…

Whatever event this refers to, whatever is the implication, the inner meaning… I'm pretty sure it's going to break our hearts <33

#link click #shiguang dailiren #shiguang #time agents #link click s2 #link click spoilers #audio drama has hurt me emotionally so many times I can't #mimicha.lc

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fetchingfletchling · 13 days

Text

basking in your glow

suburban legends, chapter ii

Heya! I didn't expect to actually finish chapter 2 today, but here we are wheee. My initial idea for this was a bit more kinky, with them having sex while Sunday's on the phone, but somehow it just went in this more fluffy direction. I'll probably recycle that idea for a different chapter. ^^

dividers by saradika on tumblr (tumblr.com/saradika-graphics)

warning banner by cafekitsune on tumblr (tumblr.com/cafekitsune)

← previous chapter

pairing: sunday(hsr)/female!reader

tags: cockwarming, unprotected p in v sex, established relationship, light age regression on reader's part, fluff, cuddling, creampie, soft daddy dom!Sunday, daddy kink, lots of pet names, oral (m receiving), orgasm delay/edging, short mention of childhood abuse/bad parenting, reader feels a bit insecure and Sunday reassures her, squirting

summary: sunday is working from home and you decide to try out cockwarming.

notes: this is a modern au, not set in the hsr universe but rather on earth as we know it. So no aeons and stuff. this story will be published in an episodic format, meaning the chapters, though connected, can be read as stand alone one-shots.

words: 2.6k ao3 mirror here

”How’s work going, honey?” You chirp from behind the kitchen window that separates this space from the living room.

You’re currently busy fixing some snacks for you and your husband, who is seated on the couch, staring holes into his work laptop. He seems bored out of his mind and has to hold up his weary head with one hand that’s resting on the sofa’s back.

Sunday looks up from the screen to meet your gaze, so fixated on it that his reaction time lags behind as if it took him a second to process your words.

“O-oh, sorry.” He sits up straighter and rolls his neck and shoulders a few times, wincing as he notices how hard and tight the area feels. “It’s just an e-mail kind of day. So nothing too stressful, just kind of tedious, y’know,” he finally answers you with a soft sigh. “Way too many of these are questions that are literally answered on our FAQ page…” he mutters.

"Well, in that case, it’s surely alright if you take a little break to reset, no?” You posit, tiptoeing over to him as you balance a large silver tray.

You bend down across from him to set down the thing, intentionally giving him a view of your cleavage that is being hugged nicely by the sundress you’re donning.

You’re equally eager to show off the array of snacks and refreshments you lovingly arranged. There’s some homemade lemonade and water, so icy that you had to set the glasses on a little dish to preven the droplets from drowning the crackers, veggies, cheese and fruits you laid out on the tray.

“Wow, thank you darling.” Sunday perks up at the gesture, voicing his appreciation as he always does. Even after all this time together, he never takes your love and efforts for granted, and neither do you.

He puts down his laptop and sets it on the low table. “It looks too good, how can I not take you up on that offer,” he purrs all the while grabbing you by the waist to pull you down on his lap.

“Hehe,” you giggle. You press a tender kiss to his cheek, then adjust your position so you can reach out for one of the glasses and a handful of grapes. You hand the glass to your husband and encourage him to drink up, noting how you haven’t seen him hydrate for the past half hour.

“Thanks, darling,” he says again, making sure to empty the glass before putting it down.

“Good, good.” You playfully bring a hand up to pat his fluffy hair. “I’m sure you must be hungry too, here.” You pluck a grape and bring it to his mouth. He envelops it with his lips and brushes against your fingertips in the process, causing a shiver to run down your spine. Gosh, he looks so fine right now, with his sleeves rolled up and shirt collar undone.

You’ve been in a more submissive, kind of needy mood all morning and have been watching the clock like a hawk in hopes that it’ll somehow speed up time and make Sunday wrap up work for the day.

But unfortunately it’s still only two o’clock. He probably won’t finish up for another three hours, but you’re glad he agreed to take a little break. At least you get to watch him as you catch up on housework or fill your time with hobbies, on days when he works from home, so you’re grateful for that.

And sometimes, on days like these, when he’s having a slow day, he’ll even indulge you and get frisky for a bit. So, you’re hoping that’ll apply to today as well.

But first you should let him catch an actual break and replenish his stamina. You’re a little hungry yourself and lean down to pick up some more food for him and you to enjoy.

The two of you stay like this for a good ten minutes, just enjoying each others presence and the earth’s bounty.

Tentatively you decide to broach the topic you’d been meaning to.

“Hey, Sunday…” You start, looking up at him from where you’re resting your head on his shoulder, legs still draped over his lap as he kneads soft circles into your thighs.

“Yes, angel?” he beckons.

“I was wondering if… if we could try that thing today? Since it’s a slow day ‘n all…” you ask in your sweetest lilt, the same one you used to test the waters with your moody parents when you needed them to do something they didn’t want to. Which, really, included almost anything relating to you.

Normally you’re the more assertive one when it comes to the sexual aspect of your relationship, but some days you feel like you’re back to being a shy little girl who gets rejected and chastised for any request she makes. And today happens to be one of those days. They’ve drastically decreased since you started seeing Sunday, but what goes up must come down sometimes, you suppose.

“Aw, baby,” he coos, bringing one hand up to cradle your face and tilt your head up to meet his gaze. His gentle, loving, adoring gaze. “Why so shy today? There’s lotsa things you brought up recently so I need you to use your words, okay?”

You nod, eyes already starting to glaze over. “I guess I’m just a lil’ worried that you’ll be mad at me for bringing it up while you’re busy. That you’ll think ‘m too needy…” You pout, causing your words to come out more slurred.

“Know you wouldn’t, but still can’t shake the fear,” you sigh.

Before saying anything he leans down to place a tender kiss to your lips. “Baby… I’m sorry it’s that kind of day for you. Promise I won’t be mad.” He extends his pinky, silently inviting you to do the same and pinky promises you, causing you to loosen up and giggle.

“Alright, I’ll spill.” You sit up straight, exuding an aura of determination. “I wanna… sit on your lap while you keep doing what you need to. But naked. And you’re also naked. At least down there.”

“So that’s what my baby wants. Cockwarming, is it?” Sunday hums, and goes to pet your hair with one hand.

You nod fervently.

“Alright,” he chuckles, also sitting up straighter, “let’s get you out of these then, hm?” His other hand snakes up your thighs, encroaching on your clothed pussy. The hem of your dress rises up along with his hand, and he hooks your panties, now bringing his other hand down to make pulling them down easier. He slides them down all the way, but lets them stay hooked around one ankle, for no reason other than that he enjoys the sight.

And as if on cue, you can already feel him harden through his pants. You stare at the tent with glassy eyes as you reach out to rub your hand over it, again and again and again.

“Hmm baby,” he groans, bucking up into your touch.

However, Sunday only lets you pleasure him for a second longer before he grabs your wrist to still your ministrations. “You’re gonna make me cum too soon if you keep that up,” he laughs.

He lifts you off his lap to stand up and pull down his own pants and underwear, letting them fall to a pile on the floor.

The sight of his stiff member springing free has you in a trance, mouth watering already. You’re tempted to put your mouth on him instead, but your pussy is even needier for it.

As soon as he sits back down you’re already scrambling your way over to his lap, eager to straddle it. He leans back against the cushions and brings his hands to your hips, guiding you up and down along his cock to slick it up.

It makes you whimper. “Ah- Sunday!”

“Shh, shh. Don’t mean to tease you angel, but it won’t be comfortable for you if I don’t do this,” he justifies, and repeats the motion a few more times before finally letting you line your hole up with his tip.

Greedily you sink down, taking him inch by inch, wiggling your hips ever so slightly. You squeeze your eyes shut, focusing entirely on the sensation of him filling you to the brim.

Finally you arrive at the base, your bum relaxing on his thighs. He wraps his arms around your back to draw you in closer and lands a fiery kiss on your lips. You relax into it with a moan and can’t resist poking your tongue out, asking him to do the same.

He humors you and deepens the kiss, letting you enter his mouth and feel it out with your own tongue. You’re so turned on you can’t help that you’re rutting down, trying to get some friction on your clit.

“Mhmm, wait–“ Sunday pants and breaks the kiss. “Thought you wanted to sit on my lap all still and pretty, baby? Not gonna happen if you keep that up, y’know?” He tries to still your movement, stroking your back to calm you down.

“Hnngg I know…” you pant. “Sorry daddy. Was my idea, so I should stay true to my word.”

“That’s my good girl. Promise I’ll be done in two hours, then I’ll make you cum as much as you want, yeah?”

You nod. “Uh-huh.”

Sunday leans forward to pick up his laptop and plops it down to his right. He starts scrolling with one hand, the other still situated on your back as it rubs small circles into the flesh.

You settle down, resting your head on his chest as you watch him through half-lidded eyes. The way he tends to his work as if you weren’t right here, sitting on his cock, gets you all horned up. You hope he’ll be just as riled up by the end and takes you on the sofa.

Two hours pass much faster than you thought. Admittedly, you got up for a toilet break once and snacked on the food that’s just within reach, but still. Just cuddling with Sunday and watching him do his thing brings you immense satisfaction. He always compares you to a cat, with how much you love to just be in the same room as him and observe.

Finally, Sunday stretches his arms and rolls his neck, clueing you in on the fact that he’s about to call it quits for the day. Your pussy clenches on instinct, preparing for the promised release.

“Alright baby, that’s it for today,” he declares as he shuts off the small device and turns to look at you. “You did so well for me. So patient.” He purrs, leaning down to bury his nose in your hair.

“Hmm. Love you, daddy.” The words come tumbling out of your mouth as you’re feeling completely lovedrunk after basking in his embrace for so long.

“Love you too, bunny.” He pulls back to lock eyes with you. “Are you ready to cash in your reward?”

“Yes please,” you plead, stifling a moan.

Being pent up himself, he doesn’t let you tell him twice and begins to rock his pelvis up and down, tentatively.

“Let me take care of you, yeah? Just lean back and relax.” He gets up to swap positions with you, letting you lean against the cushions as he hovers above you. You wrap your legs around his waist eagerly, pulling him taut.

Your eyes roll back and your mouth goes to form an ‘O’ as he pistons into you, hitting that sweet, spongey spot at this angle. The sensation is heightened as you’re incredibly wet and sensitive from being stretched around him for so long. You don't think sex has ever felt this intense before.

“A-ah! Sundayyy!” you scream, clawing at his back to ground yourself. “F-feels different, feel like I gotta p-pEEE!” You go cross-eyed, mouth opening in a silent scream as you abruptly topple over the edge and spasm around him.

He stills to watch you come undone and make sure not to hurt you in your sensitive state. “Everything alright, angel?”

You pant and wheeze several times, trying to introduce air back into your lungs, before you answer. “Y-yeah. Oof.” Your chest is still heaving.

You crane your neck up to look at him, loosening your grip on his shoulderblades. “I thin- think I just squirted?” You quirk an eyebrow and let your eyes wander down to where you’re still connected to him. The bottom of Sunday’s shirt is a much darker shade than the rest, completely soaked by your fluids and you can’t help but let out a loud, pornographic moan at the sight. It’s too erotic.

He cups your cheek softly and once again gazes at you with tender admiration. “That’s my girl. That was so hot, I need to see you do that again,” he purrs as he leans in to give your forehead a kiss.

Your chest swells for a second, before you remember that he hasn’t finished yet. Your eyebrows scrunch together and you shake your hips, trying to egg him on. “Sunday…” You pout. “You didn’t cum yet.”

“Mmm I know. Didn’t want to overstimulate you.” He smiles.

“Well, I want you to continue.”

“Alright. You’re ready to go then?”

“Uh-huh.” You nod.

With that, Sunday draws his hips back, unsheathing his dick almost completely before rocking back into you and setting a steady pace.

You’re not expecting to orgasm again and you don’t need to as this is about him now. And yet, another coil starts to form in your belly, bringing you close to a second high.

“Oh god, baby I’m almost there.” He huffs. “Where do you want me?” Sunday asks, trying to slow down his pace so he doesn’t spill inside of you prematurely.

“Inside!” you cry out immediately. “Need you inside, Sunday!”

“Fffuck!” he stammers and stills, pelvis pressed flush against yours. His arms wobble and he lets some of his upper body weight come down on you, still careful not to hurt you.

You hug him close to you, his chest pressing down on yours, and run your hands through his hair as the sensation of his spend flooding your womb makes you come undone for the second time.

He pushes himself back up, pulling out slowly. Both of you wince, still sensitive.

“Hmm. That was so good,” you purr, satisfaction making its home on your face.

“Yeah,” Sunday pants. “We should do this more often,” he suggests.

You sit up on your knees, leaning closer into his crotch. You’re at eye level with his dick, watching it gradually soften and drip with a mix of your fluids. Your mouth waters at the sight and you can’t help yourself.

You lean forward to tongue at it, lapping up the spend carefully. “Hmm,” you hum.

Once you’re satsified you pull back, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand. You try to stand up but almost topple over and reach for Sundays arms to hold yourself up.

“Easy,” he murmurs and promptly lifts you up bridal-style. “Let me carry you, yeah? Let’s take a relaxing bath,” he suggests, but doesn’t actually stop to get your opinion on it. He heads up the stairs, going straight for the bathroom, and sits you down on the edge of the tub as he draws water for your joint bath.

“Hmm,” you hum, kicking your feet blissfully and rocking your neck from side to side as you still bask in the afterglow.

You’re looking forward to spending the rest of the evening just relaxing with your husband. Perhaps you’ll have takeout tonight, you decide on a whim.

#sunday x reader #sunday/reader #hsr fic #sunday fic #hsr #suburban legends #originals #honkai star rail #sunday (hsr)

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chairteeth · 7 months

Text

“Nemu Hiiragi: The Shadow”

The promised Magius Nemu essay arrives. I have given up on proper essay formatting and will simply leave my analyses in semi-rant form because my brain is too chaotic and goes on too many tangents. It cannot be tamed. Informal essay under the cut!

So. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has heard others refer to Nemu as a shadow, Touka 2.0, or some other frankly reductive term. Most of the time, unless her creations come up, she’s not discussed at all, and even then… barely. That’s not exactly surprising. Given Nemu’s normally calm demeanor, and the fact that she and Touka are joined at the hip, it’s only natural that Touka would be the one to get the most attention, the one who stands out. Where Touka is the boisterous sun, Nemu is the humble moon. Today, we turn our eyes to the moon.

There is so much to talk about when it comes to Magius Nemu and pretty much all of it is going to make you really sad. Much like Touka and all other magical girls, she led a double life the entire time, but in her case, when she “traded one terminal illness for another” she got the short end of the stick. Imagine being a writer and discovering that your magic allows you to give physical form to your stories, to breathe life into your creations—literally. Now picture finding out later down the line that each time you use it, it consumes so much magic that it shaves off pieces of your very life force. That’s one slap in the face. But, it gets worse.

Let me lay out everything we know about how Magius Nemu’s sacrifices affected her physically, and how each of the people around her responded to her worsening condition. First, we know it causes pain severe enough to temporarily affect her vision and speech, and severe enough to make her fall to the ground, though she doesn’t always faint from it. We know it inflicts exhaustion and that even something like releasing an uwasa for the first time can make her pass out on the spot, so presumably it’s a lengthy process that takes a toll on her at every stage (well not sure about conceptualization, but creation and release definitely do). A voiced example of one of these episodes is in Arc 1 Chapter 8, 4:02:36 - 4:03:43 if you're watching the video.

Now, as for the people around Nemu, starting from more distant to closest. Her family? Oblivious, responsible for her state of emotional deprivation and for several other issues. Alina? Ehh she seems to either not care or care very little, which is properly Alina-esque of her. Mifuyu? Oh let me talk about MIFUYU for a second. Disclaimer, despite her many sins committed against my favorite characters, I do love the sheep, she’s too much of a failure, I cannot hate her. But Mifuyu “I want to be a nurse” Azusa is insensitive beyond belief, and I was honestly surprised when they appointed her to be some sort of… ethics teacher for Touka? Bruh. You see, an MGS is supposed to put us in the shoes of whatever character it’s about. That’s what it does. However my brain is broken and perceives the world from a TouNemu perspective by default. Which means I had a completely different reading of Mifuyu’s MGS. I am going to illustrate my point with screenshots this time because I happen to have them on hand.

Mifuyu says this about Touka and Nemu getting worked up over Alina wanting to prioritize witches above rumors. But. Here’s the thing. The thing that Mifuyu seems to be missing completely. Rumors are created by Nemu, through a sacrifice of her own life force that worsens her pain and makes her suffer more with each subsequent use. Evidently, the girls reply that no, they don’t think they were getting too emotional.

YOU THINK? Have you given any thought to why that could possibly be the case, Mifuyu? But, okay, fine, we can look past this. Alright. Next scene, it’s Touka and Nemu being upset that Yachiyo just destroyed the Divorce Stairs (I call them that, but for clarification, it’s the Friendship-Ending Staircase). I’m going to bring something up that I don’t believe is exactly contradicted by canon, though not confirmed either, but I’d be willing to believe by the fact that Nemu knows of Iroha (by name and I assume appearance) that there’s a psychic link of some kind between the uwasa and their creator. That would make sense, considering they are made of her magic and have pieces of her life force. If this is true, then that massacre Iroha and Yachiyo go on during Arc 1 Chapter 7 is far, far worse.

But alright, back to the scene. Touka is standing up for Nemu here, and Mifuyu proceeds to go and dismiss their feelings because, as she says in her thoughts, “they’re just children”. Okay, Mifuyu, hear me out. They’re 11-12. They’re not toddlers. Just because they’re children doesn’t make their emotions invalid, unimportant, or not worth considering. Particularly in this case, where they have a good reason to be upset. Nemu even mentions the life force she’s using up and Mifuyu’s first and only thought is “Yacchan…” (this is a repeating pattern).

The next relevant scene is one where Mifuyu does something Alina has also done and Touka hasn't: ask Nemu to make a rumor for her.

Nemu reminds her that it comes at a cost, and that she’s using up her life for this. Nemu gives in, of course. I will talk about this imminently. First though, the final scene of Mifuyu’s MGS. Where Mifuyu repeats the previous pattern but worse. How exactly is it worse? I’ll let the screenshots speak for themselves here. Nemu and Mifuyu meet at the shrine where the uwasa is going to be released, Nemu does the deed, and faints, then Mifuyu reacts like this:

These screenshots are less than a second apart. It is the immediate follow-up. Absolutely zero concern for one of the people she’s supposed to be responsible for who just did her a pretty big favor (as if you needed someone’s blood to open a door, they stabbed themselves to get you the blood, and then you left them on the ground in pain). So yes Mifuyu is insensitive and she is not helping Nemu’s view of adults. Relatedly, before I move to talking about Touka, since I’d like to actually end this on a non-depressing note, I’m going to circle back a little to Nemu’s family.

I am infamous for not liking Nemu’s family. Her parents, mainly. Her brother, for as much of a snotty brat as he is to her, is presumably still very tiny and has had scarce interactions with his sister, therefore leading to the way Nemu describes their relationship (“strangers”). As a slight aside, Nemu does try very hard to have a relationship with her brother, not only in her MGS, but in her solo Christmas quotes where she’s lost on what to get as a gift for a kid that likes soccer and asks Homescreen-chan for advice. And you see, Nemu has this thing where once you get past a certain point with her, she becomes a people pleaser. Unlike when Ui’s parents have visited before (seen in TouNemu’s Christmas MGS), Nemu was shocked to hear that her mother and brother had come to see her. This leads me to believe the visits are an extremely rare occurrence and that there is no other contact besides them. Ui’s parents at least video call her, from what the quotes say.

And now we have reached the point where it’s unavoidable and I have to talk about Nemu’s emotional trauma. Her family does not seem to know about her writing, which was a good call because it shielded her from much of the gifted kid trauma. However, that doesn’t mean her parents’ actions (or lack thereof) were without consequence. A lot of these might be subconscious, so bear with me a second. At this point in the timeline, Nemu struggles to believe that others will meet her needs or care for her. She seeks affirmation, acceptance, approval, and fortunately seems to get it in the form of her website and Touka during this era.

Let me give you some examples of Nemu’s people-pleasing tendencies, as any kid would learn that catering to the needs and desires of others can sometimes lead to a sense of belonging or validation—she explicitly wants that, she is aware that she wants to feel loved. This is immensely obvious with her family’s visits, where her first reaction isn’t good but then she plays along and puts up a happier face (which drops literally as soon as her mother and brother are out of the room), even apologizing for the slightest inconvenience regardless of whether or not the reaction to that inconvenience was bad (the book that was hard to find, the general Presence™ of her family in the room, apologizes again for talking about her feelings, etc). So that she doesn’t have to burden them with her feelings. So that her mother can feel like she’s fulfilled her duty by walking into the room, giving Nemu a rundown of what the family has been up to, and leaving without really actually spending any real quality time with her or bothering to really ask about her. Touka gets (righteously) angry in Nemu’s stead once her mother and brother have left precisely because of this. Nemu proceeds to, like many children in her position, defend her parents completely and then chastise herself for “looking down on them”. Touka and Ui both understand at least the heart of the issues at play here, and express as much. My point here isn’t exactly “Nemu’s parents are equivalent to Sana’s” or anything, it’s more that they’re extremely oblivious and their actions (and lack thereof) have hurt Nemu deeply.

That habit Nemu’s parents have of never truly showing interest in their daughter’s life seems to remain after the hospital, and then they’re focused on her brother’s comfort. Not Nemu’s. Never Nemu’s. Then, later on, in the Wings of the Magius, every time someone asks her to make a rumor (read: sacrifice a piece of her life force and make herself feel physically worse presumably forever), she agrees. Mifuyu asks her to, yeah sure. Alina wants a rumor? Of course. I won’t count when everyone asked her for stuff to add to Fendt Hope solely because I’m not sure Fendt Hope works like normal rumors do. Something, something, difficulty setting and maintaining healthy boundaries, struggling to distinguish her own needs from the needs of others…

A child who learned that her voice and desires were not prioritized in such critical stages of her life naturally struggles to articulate her own needs and wants. Prime example, Fendt Hope’s creation. She listens to the others give their ideas for it, never suggesting anything herself after reminding them of her usefulness. Until. Touka asks. When she does, Nemu seems almost taken aback. She apologizes. Nothing comes to mind. That very same day, she gets home, tries again to have some sort of positive interaction or time with her brother, gets rejected. As soon as an alternative form of service (doing the dishes for her exhausted mother so that she may help her brother with homework) presents itself, she practically jumps at the opportunity. The scene after that one, with the way she views Touka, Alina, and Mifuyu, vs the way she views her mother and brother, only makes this more obvious. How is Nemu supposed to feel any sense of value at home? At least as a magical girl, she’s useful. At least as a Magius, she has people who know her. The feelings of low self-worth aren’t as obvious on Nemu as they are on many of the other girls who have them, though.

The next time there’s a Magius meeting, this time to decide on a name for their base, Touka is again the one who asks Nemu for her opinion. It’s important to note that Touka is never once hostile, aggressive, or even annoyed when she does this. She considers Nemu’s thoughts and feelings more than anyone. Heck, Nemu would have no way to doubt Touka’s care for her considering their history and the way she acts.

Now I get to talk about the relationship between Magius Nemu and Magius Touka. If I start gushing incoherently, I apologize in advance. I covered a bit of Magius Touka’s attitude towards Nemu in the essay dedicated to her, and slightly in this one, but now I want to draw attention to how incredibly sweet Touka can be when it comes to Nemu. Nemu desperately needs that reliability and that love Touka provides, the hope she brings. And Touka is the one person who openly shows her care, attention. Over and over again.

Touka considers Nemu an equal. During the main story, as I said in my Magius Touka essay, she shows concern for Nemu’s health and wellbeing when no one else does. This goes beyond her magic-given affliction! I only wish we had more bits and pieces from that era, but as for what we do have… Well, I have to point at Nemu’s swimsuit costume story for the easiest and shortest point of reference. I’d use screenshots, but if I did, I would just end up showing you every single piece of dialogue and expression.

In that costume story, Touka and Nemu are at Fendt Hope, talking about their future trip to the beach (which they made plans for together in Touka’s swimsuit costume story). Nemu has her insecurities, and she’s shy about putting on the swimsuit, but then Touka proceeds to be incredibly supportive by first making her feel comfortable—for some reason she also had her own swimsuit lying around and offered to wear it too because Nemu mentioned it’d be embarrassing if she was the only one wearing a swimsuit and Touka was wearing clothes—then as soon as Nemu expresses self-doubt, she doubles down via genuine compliments (these two compliment each other way more than you think, even in main story Touka praises Nemu for her ideas). This is also a rare occasion where we’re shown that Nemu’s parents, or her mom at least, who seems more present than her dad, mean no harm, since it was Nemu’s mother who helped pick out every element of her swimsuit. After that, Touka goes off to change back into her school uniform, and Nemu is “uncharacteristically giddy” (as she states) looking at herself in the mirror. Touka gets back, and Nemu is startled to have been caught in a vulnerable state, but, critically, Touka is happy to see her happy and doesn’t tease her, although Nemu (jokingly, blushing) laments that letting Touka read her heart is the greatest failure of her life. Nemu asks Touka to listen. And Touka complies. Nemu trusts Touka with her heart, with her honest feelings, and knows Touka will never hurt her. That’s why she’s able to be so sincere with her. This is shown in Nemu’s Tap 8 quote, where she also refers to Touka as trustworthy (Touka has a matching Tap 8 quote, and hers is about how reliable Nemu is for her). This relationship, no matter what it is, is deeply important to both participants.

Finally, to end this glorified rant… I know I used the sun and moon metaphor earlier, but. I would like to borrow the words of Nemu in one of my fics: “It’s silent at night. Touka stays up with her telescope, I stay up reading nearby. We are stardust brought to life. A quiet place, just for us. The gentlest fire in us, like binary stars.” (I’m sorry but the binary stars comparison is too good not to mention). Their connection was there before the Magius, and after everything they went through, their lives became irreversibly bound, intertwined beyond the understanding of quite literally anyone else. They practically always speak in plural, the time they spend together has been on the rise, and at the time of writing? To avoid spoiling Arc 2 Chapter 12, I won’t go into specifics, but the relationship has reached a beautiful point that I will froth at the mouth about eventually.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the Nemu essay, I went slightly more feral this time so apologies for that. I’ll see how soon the hospital era essay can be thrown into the wild. Nishi out!

#magia record #essay #nemu hiiragi #hi I'm back to torment you all #today we have:#very sad girl who needs a hug #nishiposting

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novantinuum · 3 months

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heya! :D I'm so happy I found your blog, I just did a su rewatch this summer and I'm obsessed again! I was wondering if you had some fic recs to share? especially any and all that deal with steven's trauma (whether that be corruption aftermath, his abandonment issues, any of the traumatic experiences he had), anything really, just some nice and thorough hurt/comfort and healing <3 definitely up to any other recs you might have, even if they're about something completely different haha. thank you in advance!!

Ooooh heck yeah I can rec some of my favs! Admittedly, these days I haven't been reading that much new fic, so I'm not sure what new stuff is out there that's gone unnoticed, but I went through my bookmarks and found a few fics that still stand out to me today as ones I remember really vibing with when I read them-

First off, some fics that I remember delving into Steven's trauma (along other things)-

Aid to Navigation, by Ppleater (or @infriga here on tumblr)

Honest to god, this is my favorite Steven Universe fic on the whole goddamn internet. Post I Am My Monster hurt/comfort content galore. Emotional catharsis out the wazoo. Fascinating theorization about how Steven works as a hybrid. Sometimes there's even chapter artwork. ALSO NANEFUA AS AN IMPORTANT CHARACTER, WHICH I RARELY SEE LET'S GO NANEFUA

a world for the birds, by @fanfoolishness

Do you like Uncle Andy? Do you vibe with the idea of bird watching? Do you wanna read about Andy's outsider observations of the trajectory of his nephew's bizarre life as he shares his hobby of bird watching with Steven as a bonding activity over the years moving into the events of Steven Universe: Future??

Go read this fic, it destroys me. In fact, just do yourself a favor and check out this author's whole catalogue, because my next fic rec is from her, too.

Comminuted, by @fanfoolishness

Post Growing Pains hurt/comfort focused on Steven and his dad's relationship. I remember this one dropping pretty damn soon after the episode aired and it w r e c k e d my emotions and gave me all the catharsis my sappy little heart desired at the time.

WELCOME BACK TO THE VLOG, steven universe here! by waddlesthejoghog (or @thisisnotacreativeusername here on tumblr)

Here's a story with a COMPLETELY different format than all the others- this one chronicles Steven's life through a variety of videos he posts to his TubeTube channel over the years. (Which, if you watch the SU shorts, is a canonical fun fact about him! He posts unboxing videos and reactions and stuff online, ahah.)

Each chapter sorta like, "transcribes" what's happening in the video, and there's even a little views/likes/dislikes/subscriber count + mock comments section at the end of every one! I found it a very charming and fun read- but also it punched me in the face by the end because it's like a whole microcosm of Steven's character development throughout the entire show mashed into one 59 chapter story.

This one is not wholly focused on Steven's trauma, as it spans the events of the entire show, but that does play a decently big role later on in the fic.

As a quick little self-plug, I've also written a good deal of fics focused on various shades of Steven's traumatic experiences, and the following is (probably) my favorite of those:

A Memoir of the Marks Unseen (uhh... by me lol)

This one is focused on the topic of Steven + the headcanon of him having corruption scars like the other healed Gems, and picks up pretty soon after I Am My Monster. It spans months (and later Years) after that, detailing his journey towards accepting these remnants as a neutral part of him. I'm still very proud of finishing it, as I was pulling from some raw personal experience with this one.

Lastly, here's two Connie focused fics I remember slapping ass in their own various ways:

Xenopology, by CompletelyDifferent

Some Connie + all the Gems character study pieces!

The Stranger in Me, by Cyberwraith9

Connie accidentally gets perma-bonded with a poofed gemstone retrieved from a corrupted Gem. Hijinks ensue. I remember this one having a legendary level of character development for Connie and her whole family especially ;w;

#jen rambles #su #su fanfiction #su fic rec

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mikkaeus · 10 months

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house md fic recs — short fics (<10k). hilson + rarepairs

Other house rec lists: long fics | episode tags | postcanon | infidelity trope (all of these are mutually exclusive apart from the infidelity one)

highly recommend not skipping out on the non-hilson fics!! scroll to the end for a list of some really great ones. No huddy though because I'm not the biggest fan.

house/wilson and gen fic

I decided to just lump the gen fic together with the slash because really most of them can be read as slash with a G rating. Before we get into the fics, here are some notable authors that have written several house fics. Not all their fics are going to be listed individually, but if I have the author there I've read all or a lot of their stuff and enjoyed it, so I recommend going through their backlog.

otter: Some really excellent prose and great atmosphere. A little soft, a little pensive. And they nail the characterisation and dialogue.

ignaz: im sure everyone has read ignaz's longfic (a modest proposal and its sequel — the one where house and wilson get married so wilson cant testify against house in the tritter arc) but absolutely check out all their other stuff — it's all quality.

bironic: I really enjoy the bit of edge in bironic's fics. It makes them so yummy.

bethfrish: What stands out about their fics is how they peer into all the pointy edges of Wilson and Julie's relationship, thus making them excellent and unique Wilson character studies. Great prose and dialogue that rivals the show's.

Transformatron: fics that are transcendent and porny, all featuring a d/s undertone or theme (wilson as the dom)

astolat: if u dont know astolat idk what to say to u. just go read their fics.

blackmare (livejournal / ao3 pseud 1 / ao3 pseud 2 / lj pseud third_owl for slash fics i think) Does really great short fics (mostly gen) that slot into episodes. Like meta but in fic form. All of them are worth a read. Some of their fics are on ao3 but a lot aren't (like nearly all the episodic ones).

Namaste (livejournal / ff.net): Some short fics, some much longer ones. Mostly gen focussing on H&W friendship, with some fics on canon pairings. Interesting character studies and exceptionally discerning prose that is a pleasure to read.

In order of length. *faves, ***underrated faves

***Touch by zulu (<1k) (2007) The number of ways House could embarrass him with touches, Wilson thinks, is practically endless.

Silent Sigh by thedeadparrot (<1k) (2009) Wilson, autumn, melancholy, and House. Second person.

Heartbeats by thedeadparrot (<1k) (2009) Three moments in which House and Wilson are almost kind of functional.

No Pain by bironic (<1k) (2008) House finds a permanent solution to his pain problem and convinces Wilson to give him what he needs. Vampire fic! Frottage! hell yeah.

Also check out the sequel: No Mercy by daasgrrl (3k)

***The Game of Wilson: Six Cards in a Five Card Game by paradisecity (1k) (2006) If you're going to play a game like moving in together, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time. Fun and snappy. Great dialogue.

*we're getting good at this by ad astra dean (1k) Wilson had a migraine. Established relationship. Soft and sweet and realistic esp after 8.19. fuck. Premium hurt/comfort.

**********three more stories by besselfcn (1k) The first time it happens is (New Orleans, 1991 | Albany, 2009 | Augusta, 2012) and they are (drunk | sober | out of time). This fic emotionally obliterated me. I’m obsessed with the format like it’s prose halfway to poetry, so creative and unique and well-executed??? I cried so much. I am UNWELL and immeasurably fucked up about them put me in my grave. (Yeah I said these lists were mutually exclusive but this fic is the exception bc idc)

The Awakening of Wils-Ankh-Amun, Royal Concubine by blackmare, Nightdog_barks, pwcorgigirl (1k) It was a rather unusual 'morning after.' This is hilarious. Reads like a classic prank episode. They're so dumb together I love them.

The One Where House Has Always Been a Woman by thedeadparrot (1k) (2009) Despite the hospital gossip, House is not, in fact, a man-hating lesbian. Genderswapped House but not Wilson.

Gray Morning by starlingthefool (1k) All he remembers is that the transition between a stupid joke and the meeting of mouths was almost seamless. Christmas fic that takes place one year after "Merry Little Christmas" (3.10).

Loser Day Blues by blackmare, Nightdog_Barks (1k) February fourteenth is just another day, and another evening in which Wilson winds up at House’s, although — this time — not for the usual reasons.

*indefinable by PaintedVanilla (1k) House can hear Wilson getting ready for bed; he can hear him brushing his teeth, undressing, being unusually quiet. Normally there’s a humming; a breathless energy that House won’t admit to loving about him. He doesn’t hear it tonight. It’s dead silent.

criteria by PaintedVanilla (2k) “I don’t think they know that we’re married.”

***We Live Together in a Photograph of Time by ignaz (2k) Wilson's hair curls when they're fucking. God I'm devastated. The ✨atmosphere✨. This is so in character. And can we talk about the banger title and summary??? I was gnawing my arm before I even opened the fic. Set in s4.

***Things To Do Before You Die by thedeadparrot (2k) In which Wilson turns thirty-eight and a half, thinks about kittens, and doesn't have a midlife crisis. But not necessarily in that order. Prank war with a twist. I’m so fond. Hits all the right cadences with the writing.

So Let Us Melt, and Make No Noise by ignaz (2k) (2007) "You kill patients all the time," House said. "You never stay at work until--" He peered at the clock. "--Four in the morning to make sure they're really dead."

***Curiosity by Namaste (2k) (2006) From Cameron's perspective. Fun character study of her and by extension House and the other two musketeers. Not shippy.

Welcomed Change by JammiesDodger (2k) A cute G-rated getting together fic.

Alone, Together by daasgrrl (2k) Finding new ways to be intimate.

*Keep Your Eyes Wide by deepimpact (2k) There is no specific amount of time passed, no big event, no one thing that Wilson can pin as the catalyst. Obsessed with this. Great atmosphere, excellent prose, and and everything feels authentic and in character. Set pre-season/s1.

***Carrion Eaters by ignaz House, in some indeterminate future or an alternate universe, from the perspective of a new hire. I really loved this story. It's sharp and sad, with great build up.

***Projection by bironic (2k) Remember Ali, that really pretty 17/18 year old clinic patient that was obsessed with House? This fic is Wilson's elaborate fantasy about fucking her, which is of course as much about House as it is her. Post 3.04.

***No Exchange of Payment by otter (2k) The gifts that House gives to Wilson. I adore this. It's about the little things. Otter has exceptional prose and always nails the characterisation, which makes their writing a real pleasure to read.

***All the Effects of Intoxication (3k) by otter This only happens when they're drunk. Just as yummy as that one-line description suggests. I love this a lot — the characterisation and dialogue are excellent and I think this scenario is very realistic for them.

Leave This Harbor for the Sea by otter (3k) House was never the kind of friend who'd help you move, even when he'd had two good legs, not to mention two good arms perfectly capable of lifting boxes. He'd always been the sort of friend who'd stop by while you were packing, make cutting remarks about the failures of your romantic relationships, and use all the half-filled boxes as an excuse to root through your things.

***the growing up, the falling down by riceonrye (3k for the series) Wilson is trying to buy a nice make-up present for his girlfriend, but there’s a guy in the shop with him brazenly shoplifting. Wilson, meet House. This is so good!!! I grinned like an idiot all the way through. It captures the throw-bottles-at-windows side of Wilson so well. A very cute AU of a different first meeting whilst still remaining true to the characters. Don't forget to read the sequel as well.

***never rains (but it pours) by Transformatron (3k) So... remember that episode where House can't pee? I present you some excellently written pisskink pwp. Nails the hilson dynamic, so even if piss isn't your thing, give it a go?

***Blind Spot by blackmare, Nightdog_Barks (3k) Wilson becomes blind after a head injury. genfic.

***Four Blocks South of Eden by bethfrish (3k) If you wanted paradise, you're a little off. I loved the tentative, slightly off-kilter feeling of this. Bang on characterisation, dialogue, and use of 2nd person POV (House). Set in s1 — Wilson's marriage is falling apart, and it leads to a night that could be the start of something new.

***Lie To Me by zulu (4k) It's terribly simple. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after. Exuberant ketamine summer House!!! Equal parts sexy and heartbreaking. Check out the sequel as well (1k).

Stumbling Towards Something Real by ignaz (4k) House and Wilson on holiday in Mexico. (A flagrant excuse for smut, basically.) I'm soft. In character and well-written.

Goes the Neighbourhood by Dee_Laundry (4k) One month into their permanent positions, the new fellows catch a case on the weekend and have to track House down.

***Easy by GoldStarGrl (4k) James Wilson is the easiest person in his dorm. At McGill. In all of eastern Canada, maybe. A fleshed-out version of their first meeting, as well as an insightful character study of Wilson. Slots nicely into canon, whether you believe in the "wilson has cheated on every wife with house" version or the "they fucked when they first met and never talked about it again" version. I really enjoyed this — they’re beautifully in character, and it's excellent writing.

***A Momentary Lapse of Reason by otter (5k) Wilson and Julie through House’s eyes, from the beginning to the end. Skips back and forth between the past and now. The quiet yearning!!! Also *standing on the table with a megaphone* have i mentioned how GORGEOUS otter's prose is??

*Blow the Candles Out by bethfrish (5k) Another year older, another year wiser, another divorce lurking just around the corner. So good!!! Wilson celebrates his birthday amongst the detritus of his marriage. The prose is really exceptional here. House's dialogue is also especially well done. It's a fun read that holds up well on a re-read.

***midnight rain by GoldStarGrl (5k) Wilson can't possibly know the pain. But he wants to. I am vibrating!!! Set precanon, in the aftermath of the infarction. Infidelity, spanking, hello??? Hot, vivid, excellent characterisation, excellent writing etc etc. A+ no notes.

***Through The Looking Glass (The Male Gaze Mashup) by zulu (5k) "If Wilson didn't know, great. What he didn't know couldn’t hurt him. If Wilson did know, it didn't matter, because if he hadn't berated House for it yet, then it was permission to continue." Interesting character study of Wilson and the way House slots into his life. Imaginative and fun descriptions. I did feel slightly lost at some points but it was still a great read. Excerpt: House tears open every envelope, even those addressed to Occupant, then brings back the well-read contents like a cat offering half-dead moles to its hunting-deficient human.

Empathy, Inc. by sassyjumper (5k) Cuddy hires a company that provides 'empathy training' to doctors. House reacts. Set in an earlier season.

***All's Fair In Love (and war) by Transformatron (6k) House and Wilson are enjoying the last day of their holiday when an urgent call comes through from Princeton-Plainsboro - a medical mystery that only House can solve. And he does intend to solve it, despite Wilson's best efforts to distract him. (Established relationship.) Wilson making House do a case whilst fucking him?? I'm an absolute sucker for this trope and I was delighted to find a fic with it.

A Towered Citadel by Namaste (7k) A differential diagnosis for Wilson’s serial cheating.

***And the Borders of Old Cities Get Redrawn by blackmare (7k) Continuation/canon divergence from 8.02 "Transplant". Ch1 is the most perfect episode tag I am vibrating . The way they fall back into their old rhythm!! House seeking out his touch like a cat and Wilson accepting it, even liking it!! The hints of pre-relationship are so delicious. (This is a rare slash fic from blackmare.) Ch2&3 are also absolutely brilliant!! Great characterisation, pacing, and tension-building.

A Voice in Ramah (Welcome to Holland) by ignaz (8k) Cuddy POV on her pregnancy journey. Diverges from the show. Really well done. ignaz did this topic and Cuddy's character justice. I also particularly liked House in this one.

Singapore by thedeadparrot (8k) (2009) In which the boys go to a medical conference in Singapore, House has a few surprises up his sleeve, and Wilson figures some things out.

*A Helping Hand by bironic (9k) Wilson has an unusually rough day and House decides (somewhat despite himself) to help. Things go further than he planned. A believable foray into non-platonic territory, set in between 2.22 (Forever) and 2.24 (No Reason). What better way to take your mind off your patients than a good-ol handjob between friends? Chuck in an absolutely delicious fucked-up overtone characteristic of them and we're golden.

Rarepairs

Chase/House

***pretty doctor by spqr (5k) AU where Chase is a hooker. House becomes obsessed with him after he off-handedly gives the correct differential diagnosis. spqr is an excellent writer that I've followed across multiple fandoms, and this fic did not disappoint. Well-written, great chemistry, hilarious. I could read 100k of this.

***atonement in the locker room after hours by missaa (2k) robert chase makes two mistakes in one day Tags: Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, degradation, God Complex, Catholic Guilt This is just as yummy as those tags make it sound. Someone needed to capitalise on the whole *waves hand vaguely* thing that Chase has going on and by god did this person rise to the occasion. Love the characterisation and the elegant prose, and the structure that flashes back and forth between two scenes. I'm insane!

Chase/Foreman Shoutout to ignaz who sold me on this pairing.

*Pretty Harsh (Confirmatory Testing Remix) by everybodylies (2k) Foreman might have flirted with Chase six months ago for like thirty seconds. Chase can't stop thinking about it.

***Two For The Road by ignaz (3k) For the first ever Foreman Fest, prompt 107 -- "after a break and enter gone wrong, Foreman and Chase are both sentenced to 300 hours of community service, which it looks like they're gonna spend picking up trash on the side of the road." Really solid writing (I mean it’s ignaz), believable characterisation and relationship building. I love them 💓💓💓 just overall a real pleasure to read. Also it's hilarious.

***Eric Foreman Doesn't Take It Up The Ass (But If He Did, It Might Happen Something Like This) by ignaz (6k)

Self-Defense, or The One Where Foreman Teaches Chase How to Throw a Punch by ignaz (1k)

Cameron/Foreman/Chase

Third Wheel Rolling by ignaz He's not jealous, but he's been the third wheel for so long that it's hard to tell the difference. Sexy + great characterisations.

Cuddy/Stacy

***Your Reflection and Mine by Starlingthefool (3k) Sweet, hot, well written.

Amber/Thirteen

***Hate (to the power of 13) by ijemanja (2k) (lj) Porny, with snappy writing and believable characterisations.

Hen Night by zulu (<1k) This is how breakups go. Amber's seen movies.

Release by zulu (1k) Wilson dies on the bus instead of Amber.

Chase/Wilson

Erase by bethfrish (<1k) Featuring a bar and crossdressing. Precanon. Second person, Wilson POV.

Patrick Bateman/Wilson

Just Like You, Only Worse by bethfrish (1k) Ok before you raise your eyebrows at the pairing, give it a chance. Bethfrish is an excellent writer. This fic is really a Wilson character study, and it's an interesting read. Second person POV Wilson, set in s1.

#house md #hilson #house x wilson #house fic rec #house md fic #house md fic rec #my rec list #please let me know fi there are any formatting issues or random chunks of text that shouldnt be there or whatever because tubmrl sucks #i spent way too much fucking time on these rec lists

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kerubimcrepin · 2 months

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Exploring the dofus-la-serie.com website - Part 1

The website is kind of broken, which makes me quite sad. Though that's life for you.

Character Profiles:

I am not translating this because as fans of this franchise, you probably know all of these words. (Well, except gouvernante. That can mean "housekeeper". He isn't calling her their governor. Though she should be.)

I am not even going to mention that Kerubim is here twice. Sometimes, a second Kerubim appears in a random spot among the characters while going to this page or refreshing it. Just another one fun thing about this being an eleven-year-old website for a series that has been over for years.

I wonder if, in-universe, he's the one who drew on their portraits, or if it was Joris's doing, influenced by Kerubim's stories?

Love how Atcham isn't mentioned, but his pandawa drinking buddy is. Also, that neither of them have commentary by him.

The character pages themselves have unique character art:

As well as short descriptions of the characters.

Because the entire site is saved on web archive, and probably won't go down anytime soon, (despite its buggy state,) and these not offering any new, groundbreaking information — I will not be posting most of them here, save for the main ones:

Joris:

Kerubim:

Also, a note: this calls him a "papa poule", which I decided to google, to hilarious results:

Thank you, dofus-la-serie.com... for everything. I already noticed, in the past posts, that it's actually weird and off-putting that Joris has no friends, and that it might be Kerubim's fault, but we never really see him make parenting decisions (COUGH-COUGH-COUGH besides the decision to constantly endanger and neglect Joris but EHHH I spent 50+ posts talking about that in the show liveblogs) in the series due to its slice of life format.

I'm glad to know that at least one canonical source describes him as overprotective, bearing, and anxious parent, (but not to a helicopter-parent level). That's actually quite valuable!

Simone:

Pupuce:

Multiple notes here:

The description does not seem to use explicitly masculine pronouns for Pupuce, who, as we know from Joris, is a girl. This is just an error on the Google Translate's part.

PUPUCE IS A CAT KIN/CAT FURRY????????????

You know what, actually considering Joris himself is a cat furry, but in a much more subtle, subdued way, her being his pet is a match made in heaven. Two creatures who wish they could be cats, breaking bread and drinking tea together. Love wins.

The broken "find the object" minigame:

One can only be thankful that it's not more broken — because 2013 was prime time for flash games, and yet, this game does not seem to use flash technologies.

When you click anywhere on the screen itself, instead of the UI, the game, and the page itself freezes. It's a shame — I bet the game was fun, back when it worked.

I had taken it upon myself to download and archive the music from the minigame, so, here it is:

Using archive.org I was able to get to the next page, the link to which is usually invisible and also unclickable in the minigame:

Kerubim's Collection (link included so you don't have to suffer like I did)

It's quite a long list, with many items, but I am not Ronik, this show's biggest, and probably, by now, only fan, if I don't read all of this and bring the most interesting parts to you.

Firstly, thankfully, all of these are, for the most part lore-less. Just little blurbs of the episodes those appear in, whether you can find them in-game, and a hint as to where to find this in the broken minigame. But there are some gems:

Kerubim doesn't like Joris's photography hobby (...I sure do wonder why!)

HE'S A SORE LOSER ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN THE NOFFOUB EPISODE. LMAO. "Deceitful Osamodas"....

"I'm cautious" "Simone whyyy did you put it here??" How these two people hadn't killed Joris fr is still beyond me.

He's genuinely insane.

#siteexploration #ro liveblogs dofus #dofus #wakfu #krosmoz

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twig-tea · 3 months

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My Universe Round-Up

This was a series of 2-part short stories, essentially each the length of a movie but they're more episodic which makes it an interesting format to get a wide variety of actors, directors, stories, and tones. And all of these vary widely. Most of the actors are very green, which means the performance quality falls all along the spectrum, but overall emotions often fall flat. There are a handful of different directors too (each directs a few of the stories), so these really feel different. The only two things that don't vary are the production quality (middling; sometimes some decent camera shots, but few sets and extras, sound is sometimes shirt-muffled or otherwise messed, the usual hilarity of royalty-free music choices) and awkward subtitles.

The subtitles deserve their own paragraph because I think they're potentially the worst kind, in that they look fine but then every once in awhile the translation is the opposite of what it should be. Having a bit of Thai knowledge and experience with Thai pulps really helps navigate these.

The other thing to say about the structure of this series is that there is a neat thing where each story sets up the next with either a character appearing in the next one or having been mentioned in the previous one. So they're all in the same universe but are otherwise unrelated. Sometimes you can guess whose story you'll get next (like a side character), sometimes it's a real stretch (like the waiter at the noodle place the characters ate at once).

As a really brief summary of what these are actually like in terms of narrative, they took as many tropes as they could think of and then treated them seriously. It could have been interesting, if they had something to say, but I'm really not sure they did. There are a lot of difficult circumstances covered, sometimes with hope, sometimes with nihilism, and it often feels like the story is about the characters around those who are dealing with difficult circumstances rather than those who are experiencing it themselves. Honestly this felt like a film school project about trying out difficult tropes, rather than folks with something to say about a specific topic.

Tropes [note, almost all of these are a dark/sad version of these tropes and end sadly or open]: bodyswap, mistaken identity, in-love-with-your-sibling's-friend, destined lovers, enemies-to-lovers, love triangle, coach/athlete, fake-date-turns-real, twincest, age gap, paid companionship, terminal illness.

Warnings for this series overall: murder, attempted sexual assault (in multiple miniseries), incest (only very lightly speculated about), ambiguous relationship with a minor, cheating, intimate personal violence, death of parents, death of a partner

If you're going to try any of them, I'd recommend episodes 5-6, which were the story Right Time, Right You as a starting point--it has some of the better acting, an open ending, but still some of the dark themes (treated not as dark as some of the other segments) so it's a good litmus for if you should try any of the other parts out.

The one I most enjoyed watching was episodes 7-8 You Are My So(ul) Mate which unsurprisingly had actors who have acted before, and was one of the rare happy endings. The last one, I Wish You Love episodes 23-24 was maybe the best done overall (least annoying flashbacks for sure, decent pacing in the romance, comparatively decent acting) but warnings for the ending.

Details of each 2-part miniseries with rating and specific warnings beneath the cut for anyone still curious about any of these stories! My goal here is to give you enough info to watch whichever ones might interest you so I do spoil twists below when I think it's important to help people decide whether to watch. Feel free to ask questions if you're still not sure or have specific things you want to avoid.

Ep 1-2: Casanova Begins

4/10: Not recommended unless you like bodyswap

This plot was doomed to never fly with me; a dead lover tries to seduce the man he left behind in the body of the man he thought his lover was going to cheat on him with. I love supernatural stuff but bodyswap is a hard hill to climb and 2 episodes just isn't enough time to do it well. That being said, the actors did surprisingly well in the scene where all is revealed and they're saying goodbye. There's a stinger, and it did NOT work for me--people are not interchangeable.

Ep 3-4: Marry Go Round

6/10: Decent pulp with a good underlying message, but you have to not mind slapstick

I like the way one side character from the previous series brings us into the next, it's a neat way to tie these otherwise unrelated stories together. For a slapstick comedy of errors, this worked surprisingly well. The misunderstandings are well set up and make sense, characters have motivation for continuing the shenanigans and the continual additional complications build to absurdity but it all holds together in a very slapstick comedy way. Mei being willing to marry her friend's boyfriend to help keep their secret is top tier allyship. I wish the fujoshi had been chewed out more; she was invested in exposing them as a couple for her own curiosity/excitement and that's gross, and I don't like that she got any credit for their happiness. The mom being a secret fujoshi herself [and, it's implied, very ok with their relationship as a result] was a little on the nose lol The performances in this one were a little weak on the comedy; slapstick like this isn't easy to do well and the comedy suffers from this not being these actors' strengths. All that being said, the underlying message that marriage equality is the right thing and having to stay in the closet causes so much strife for everyone is one I can get behind.

Ep 5-6: Right Time, Right You

7/10: Decent plot, acting, themes. A bit rushed, but good pulp. Warnings for references to intimate partner violence. Ambiguous ending.

I enjoyed this one; I love the in-love-with-your-sibling's-friend trope, I love smiling-to-hide-pain, and I love pining. I love the complicated feelings around not being ready to let go of the love you have for someone even if they hurt you. I love wanting to do something for your friend because you see them hurting, and not knowing what will help. I love your sibling and best friend always being able to read you and ferret out your secrets. The framing in this one was interesting, there were a lot of on the nose imagery with the fence, the rope, the cigarettes. I really liked the dynamic between these characters, Mhok really felt like a younger sibling; a little willful, pouting when he is ignored, or not taken seriously, stealing his sister's breakfast, tagging along. And the ending was sweet. It's clear that Phat feels something, though he's been explicit that he's not ready to open up to anyone. And we basically end with very tenuous possibility. Not for anyone who is not ok with ambiguous endings.

Ep 7-8: You Are My So(ul) Mate

6/10: Fun trope-y pulp. Again you have to be ok with slapstick comedy, and I docked this one for internal inconsistencies but the chemistry was on point.

Ahhh one of my favourite romance tropes, dreaming of your destined person before you meet, and then experiencing the dream in reality! I appreciated that Butr's mom really did have a gift, and that he didn't believe and wrestled with the ethics of that. I also really liked that they tried to engineer a coincidence and had one anyway; I'm a sucker for magic/fate is what you make it. The actor playing Butr looks like a Footloose-era Kevin Bacon when he smiles while ducking his head, and the other lead is from My Cuisine, so I was pre-disposed to find them extremely cute. I do love shy4shy. That being said, a lot of the melodrama was around coincidence, and it was clear the overeager senior was just scouring campus for the guy, so there was a double-standard with the "coincidence" that would work (at least in the eyes of the protagonist) so a lot of it doesn't really hold together if you think about it very hard.

Episode 9-10: Lucky Love

5/10: rough especially with the language gap, but the leads have an interesting dynamic

Content warning for an attempted asault in this one. Annoyed-strangers-to-lovers where one guy has just broken up and is drunk and belligerent about it, and the other is not taking his shit. I really like Jeng as this taciturn dude who shows caring through food. The ex is still around, Meen is still clearly not over him, and goes through the stages of learning to prioritize his own feelings and truly let Noll go. Jeng talks mostly in innuendo, which paired with the bad subs (bad enough that sometimes they say the opposite of what's meant) means that a lot of this one is lost in translation. Because of the short runtime and the amount of time Meen spends getting over his ex, they can't get far, but the show gives the sense that they'll just keep on as they've been going. All that being said, Meen wears dangly earrings and has a femme best friend who is fantastic, and I am a simple person who enjoys her simple pleasures, so I actually didn't mind watching this one.

11-12: The Camp Fire

4/10: really disliked the twists in this; the horror was ok. Warnings for blood, ghosts, references to drowning, on-screen death.

Content warning for blood, ghosts, death (more details follow). Horror BL starring Kaonah and Turbo. Two guys who have been chatting online agree to meet in person but it turns out they already know and dislike one another; now they're stuck toughing it out at the campsite rather than let the other chase them home. Turns out this is a classic BL love triangle wherein one of the boys thought they were competing for the same girl, but his "rival" loved him the whole time (this is not the twist, it's fairly obvious). And that was my first frustration; Talay was unwilling to admit any kind of feelings for Camp even though Camp tries to reach out, even though he's clearly been in love the whole time and now has the excuse of their anonymous conversation and meeting. But then we get into the real spoilers, with the double-twist that honestly ruined this for me. First, it's revealed that June the girl who Camp loved is dead, and she died after being rejected by Talay (implying she killed herself) after Talay pretended to be into June so that she would not take up Camp's offer to be together. This made me really not want to root for this couple at all, Talay's character is awful at this point. Then Camp hears this story and decides to admit he likes Talay anyway, which felt extremely rushed if not absurd, and then June haunts them in earnest and snaps Camp's neck on screen. And then in a second twist, we find out we've been watching a film within a film the whole time, and Talay and Camp just met for the first time for filming this and have just started dating in real life. But we spend so little time with the "real" Talay and Camp that I wasn't invested in them at all as a pair.

13-14 Friends Forever

4/10 friendship in this is great but upsetting on the romance front, and the actual execution was rough and full of unnecessary flashbacks; content warning for coach/athlete, unnegotiated kink (slapping during intimacy), dubious consent (for the slap not the intimacy), murder (not shown on screen), and ghosts

So spoiler based on the content warning, this is a story about a coach who seduces one of his athletes and then murders him so that the athlete won't expose their relationship and get him fired. The sexy scene is consensual but the coach introduces pain without any context or consent, and it's just kind of shrugged off. The coach is creepy from jump so I enjoyed none of the couple's scenes. Beyond that, my issues with this were the massive use of flashbacks in a 2-episode short. They basically re-showed ep1 in ep2. The acting is ok, and the friendship (which is the actual story) between the guy who is murdered and his team is extremely cute, it was heartening how much this team supported their teammate dating the coach and how much they missed him and cherished his memory after his death. But this could have been one episode, or they needed something more to do.

15-16 Fake Love

4/10 flat acting and more flashbacks than actual new shots (half of ep 15 is a flashback of the other half of ep 15, and then we get it AGAIN in ep 16).

In this story a university student is trying to show up his pushy ex by blackmailing a campus 'prince' to pretend to date him. He finds out that his fake boyfriend used to have sex with his ex, and gets upset. They make out and then avoid one another. Fake boyfriend gets beat up and they reunite and admit they both lie to protect their reputations. There's an implication that Pol was being judged for being slutty and Peem was being judged for being poor, which I would have liked as a theme if they then hadn't undermined this by framing Pol as being "good now" at the end. Open but tentatively happy ending.

17-18 Pisces of You

3/10 WHY IS THIS SO DARK DANG. TW attempted sexual assault, blackmail, speculation about incest (really mild),

Ok so this is about twins being jealous and confused about their feelings; Mild is here and he sexually assaulted one of them (idk how young these actors are but this was hard to watch though he doesn't get far). I don't mind what they're doing around twins pulling apart, falling for other people and putting them first, being confused about their feelings, throwing away their future for an unrequited love (this is actually super realistic), regretting their decisions. But goddamn that was painful AF and these baby actors really struggled to actually deliver on these difficult and complex emotions.

19-20 1626

6/10 decent short story but barely a romance. Warnings for age gap.

Follows one of the twins' love interests from Pisces of You; we find out why he wasn't interested in the twin, it's because he has his own love interest in his former tutor 8 years older than him (16 and 24). For what could have been a really cringe story, this was handled relatively well. They were careful that these two characters barely touched, and made the feelings between them very ambiguous and confused. The ties between them were very confused too; they both had family trauma and had helped one another to the point where desire and debt seemed to be inextricably mixed up. I appreciated the choices made in this one. Again, not what I would consider a "romance" story per se. And again, the ending is ambiguous.

21-22 Refund Love

2/10 incomprehensible, terrible acting, terrible plot, zero chemistry, infidelity, manipulation, and weird unclear moralizing around a thinly veiled allusion to sex work

This one, I don't even know what to say. It's trying to be clever with the way it parcels out information, but it ends up being just frustrating and, in the end, nonsensical. I won't even try to avoid spoilers or fake impartiality here, because I really think nobody should watch this one. This is all about jealousy of your significant other taking a job as a "companion" for other people. There's lying, manipulation, and attempted fake relationships for jealousy purposes. I'm sad because this also has a side GL couple, but they made no sense. This couple claimed to have orchestrated their boyfriends deciding to spy on them together (how?) in order to....see if they cared enough to fight for them, after one had already broken up with her man and the other was going to? What in the world was the endgame?! MAKE IT MAKE SENSE. Anyway they really shoehorned in a relationship in this one with two guys--one of whom just broke up, the other who is thinking about whether or not to break up, and who spent only one day together, most of which under false pretenses--and I didn't buy a second of it.

23-24 I Wish You Love

5/10 big themes, decently handled to a point, but the story was about how helping the terminally ill character helped the abled character find purpose, and that sat wrong with me. Warnings for discussions of terminal illness and character death (not shown onscreen), as well as loss of parents.

This episode was set up as a ghost in the mirror story, but the supernatural element disappears pretty quickly and is actually just an excuse to bring together the two main characters (who knew each other before but one thought the other was dead) back together. This story is trying to deal with the very serious issue of chronic illness and what it's like being young and unable to do the things other people do, and the suicidal ideation that can come from being isolated and having a limited time left anyway, as well as the regrets about missed opportunities. It was also dealing with the sometimes awkward feeling of sorting out the love of friendship and the love of romance, and transitioning from P'-Nong to Faen, especially with the additional fear of loving someone when one of you has limited time. The supernatural element comes back at the end to grant one wish, and to give the character who is sick a chance to undo one regret. It's implied Marwin died, but we don't really see him process having completed their bucket list, instead we get Pond reflecting on what he'll do next and how this experience has given him meaning. This episode had fewer egregious flashbacks than the other episodes, and better acting (one of the main characters is actually one of the series directors, and the other is Winner aka Wai from My Dear Gangsta Oppa, as well as War of Y and Nitiman), but did also use an instrumental auld lang syne in the background of a dramatic scene that was distracting, and some awkward we-don't-have-budget-for-an-actual-ambulance-or-emergency-personnel moments. Overall it was one of the better offerings from this series but I wasn't thrilled with how it made the terminally ill character's death a teachable moment for the one left behind, even though that was honestly flagged as the point throughout the two episodes, so is maybe my hang-up and a little unfair. At least this series framed that it was about Pond the whole time (we start and end with him).

#my universe the series #casanova begins #marry go round #right time right you #you are my so(ul) mate #lucky love #the camp fire #friends forever #fake love #pisces of me #1626 #refund love #i wish you love #bl meta #typed so that i can stop thinking it

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mythserene · 6 months

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John in the Star Club Tapes: No Mr. Lewisohn, he is not charming

It is so stressful to listen to the December 28th Star Club tapes. And for anyone who has endured a relationship with an out-of-control person, who has tried to minimize the damage in public, terrified in every moment, it is borderline traumatic. You’re not terrified of anything in particular, but you still feel terrified. As moments stretch out, beat by beat, every hair on your body feels electrified. Your senses are on fire. Your blood seems hot and thick. You can hear and feel your pulse BOING-BOING-BOINGing in your head, and you are just trying to get through another second. You are blind to everything else and any future. All there is is now and you must, somehow, get through this because there is no escape.

I can remember the understanding that dawned on me when I first heard Paul trying so hard to keep it together. Heard Ringo trying to distract with little drum fills, and for the first time truly understood how much George’s guitar is his voice.

But that is not at all what Mark Lewisohn got from these tapes. (By the way, I’ve done a few threads on this night as it breaks down, and I don’t have it in me to parse through and post all that audio again now.)

LEWISOHN: I mean, John— we need to talk about John Lennon on this recording. These recordings. Because he’s uh— he’s- he’s- he’s belligerent. Um, he’s under the influence of— I’m sure he’s under the influence of Prellies. Probably drink, as well. Um, he’s beguiling, he’s rude—

CS: —Yeah.

LEWISOHN: —He’s still charming. He’s— I mean he’s not horrible. He’s just —yeah— he’s just edgy!

On December 31st John’s “Battina” might indeed be beguiling, but on the 28th nothing is fucking “edgy” and it’s certainly not “charming.” It’s a dysfunctional family at Cracker Barrel desperately trying to get dad to stop screaming at the waitress.

But what is clear from the first moment to the last is that Paul is the conductor. At first John is just shambolic and a little wild, and Paul seems fairly relaxed, but it changes. All the sounds of everyone change as John unravels. There are times when I can just see Ringo, George and Paul looking at each other, and although Paul is the one who is landing the plane, it feels so much like a team effort.

(John, playing out the cycle that would become so familiar, has shaped up and is on his best behavior on the 31st and the band sounds great.)

I think we need to realize that this was just the dynamic. This is by far not John at his worst. By all accounts this was one of John’s best behaved Hamburg trips. It was a short trip, they had real bedrooms and a real manager, and they had a future they didn’t want to screw up. All those “funny” stories about John wearing a toilet on his head and laying on the stage drunk just smudge out the three other people in the picture. How much fun was it for them?

Derek Taylor says that one of the things that helped bring George back after he walked out of the “Get Back” sessions was Taylor going to him and saying, “Come back, don’t make Paul shoulder the burden of John all alone.” The tape from December 28th makes that so explicit.

There is the whole separate issue of Lewisohn seeming to be a terrible listener. He listened to the NAGRAS like a tribute and has gotten so many things wrong about them in interviews that I hope someone else (wink, wink AKOM) will handle the mess, because I do not have a podcast and this ain’t the best format for lots of audio. But hearing Lewisohn gush about John being “edgy” in these recordings in that weird, fawning voice—and completely fail to see and hear what the band was going through—troubles me in a much deeper way than almost anything else regarding the man. How can anyone be that blind?

#the beatles #the beatles hamburg #Mark Lewisohn #AKOM #Fine Tuning #John Lennon #paul mccartney

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anarchic-miscellany · 3 months

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Gundam SEED: A Dubbing Journey

More fun physical media tales! "Gundam SEED"

It's not the best Gundam series, but it's good fun and the first iteration of "Gundam" which I watched. Hence I have a sense of nostalgia for it, despite its flaws (looking at you 48 episode length...).

Anime is already a fairly niche field, despite the hilarious jokes and mainstream creep us filthy degenerates are making into modern society. The age old "debate" I guess, between those of us who have never seen the sun, seems to be between watching in the original language with subtitles, or watching it dubbed.

My personal thoughts go towards the dub. Aside from the fact that there are dozens and dozens of brilliant actors in this field who make the material fantastic and more accessible (Tara Platt, Yuri Lowenthal, Colleen Clinkenbeard, my homie Kirk Thornton, Steve Blum, Michelle Ruff, Wendee Lee, Kari Wahlgren, Todd Haberkon, Joel McDonald, so, so, so, so many others) to simply ignore the dub through snobbery is to disregard the hours and hours of effort and work put in by hard working, under-appreciated actors across the field. Voice actors are my jam.

So, "Gundam SEED" came out in 2002/2003 but was dubbed by the Ocean Group with Bandai in 2004, released by Beez on DVD. It's a good dub: No "Baccano!" or "Cowboy Bebop" but then again, what is? There are some great actors in this (Andrew Drummond's brother Brian plays the best character: Andrew Waltfeld THE DESERT TIGER, Lisa Ann Beley is the ship's captain, Trevor Devall from "Cowboy Bebop" and "Team America" as Mu La Flaga, Samuel Vincent as one of the two leads and, for some god-damned reason Brad "Light Yagami" Swaile as one of the best characters) as well as some lesser known names in the industry but also great in their parts. Chantal Strand is a standout as Lacus Clyne.

The dub was an excellent work, and my first exposure to the series, it's great.

The series was released on DVD, but had a rather short run: the always excellent Beez released it in the ever delightful format of five episodes per disc and one disc per box, their usual M.O.

I am going somewhere with this, bear with me.

So far so good.

In 2014 the series was re-released in HD, fine. Excellent! More of Beez's back catalogue coming out again and to the forefront is always a good thing.

However.

The dub was redone.

The actors, for the most part, were completely replaced from the top down. Gone were Matt Hill and Samuel Vincent as Kira and Athrun, gone were Drummond and Swaile. Everybody has been changed, right down to the lesser known actors playing some major parts in the series.

And they are the people who I want to talk about.

Bill Switzer, Sarah Johns and Lisa Ann Beley are not ever going to be household names, nor ever known truly amongst the clique-like cult who follow weaboo shit. But I am going to focus on these three people for a moment.

Respectively, in the Ocean Dub, they play Sai Argyle, Lt. Badgiruel and Captain Murrue Ramius, all fairly major characters in the series.

And they were replaced.

Bye, so long, farewell, hope that you got something out of the experience.

This isn't about rambling about how "the new dub sucks" or "Grrrr, change is bad" (well, maybe the latter a little) because, in all honesty, I haven't watched it. Heck, maybe it's fantastic!

But on a more philosophical level, I guess, consider this:

Mr Switzer, Ms Johns and Ms Beley have put a lot of work, time and effort into those parts, they're actors underappreciated, underpaid and glossed over in an already niche field, and then the one big piece of art they get to do, the one big part they have to be remembered and loved, is forgotten, soon to be washed away by the new dub. Sounds dramatic, sure, but now in future should Gundam SEED be sought out by people hoping to catch up on Gundam (though, why you'd start with "Gundam SEED" like a moron when the fantabulously gay "Gundam Wing" exists I shall never know) or just picked up and watched it's more likely that one will watch the remastered dub, and Mr Switzer and co will be banished and forgotten by history.

I guess what I wanted to say was simple:

Remember forgotten art, remember obscure actors, writers, producers and the like. All art has meaning, be it terrible, great or forgotten. Every piece of art has effort and love put into it by some people.

Don't let Bill Switzer and Sarah Johns and Lisa Ann Beley be mere forgotten footnotes.

Buy a DVD of something obscure and forgotten. Remember the effort put into it.

#Gundam SEED #Physical Media #Dub #Dubbing #Anime #Bill Switzer #Lisa Ann Beley #Sarah Johns #Voice Actors #Voice Acting #Gundam #Ocean Dub #DVD

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