#and we need more of those because i feel like the genre doesn't exist in the same way these days | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cy-cyborg · 5 days

Text

Dealing with Healing and Disability in fantasy: Writing Disability

[ID: An image of the main character from Eragon, a white teenage boy with blond hair in silver armour as he sits, with his hand outstretched. On his hand is a glowing blue mark. He is visibly straining as he attempts to heal a large creature in front of him. /End ID]

I'm a massive fan of the fantasy genre, which is why it's so incredibly frustrating when I see so much resistance to adding disability representation to fantasy works. People's go-to reason for leaving us out is usually something to the effect of "But my setting has magic so disability wouldn't exist, it can just be healed!" so let's talk about magic, specifically healing magic, in these settings, and how you can use it without erasing disability from your story.

Ok, let's start with why you would even want to avoid erasing disability from a setting in the first place. I talked about this in a lot more detail in my post on The Miracle Cure. this line of thinking is another version of this trope, but applied to a whole setting (or at least, to the majority of people in the setting) instead of an individual, so it's going to run into the same issues I discussed there. To summarise the points that are relevant to this particular version of the trope though:

Not every disabled person wants or needs a cure - many of us see our disability as a part of our identity. Do difficulties come with being disabled? absolutely! It's literally part of the definition, but for some people in the disabled community, if you took our disabilities away, we would be entirely different people. While it is far from universal, there is a significant number of us who, if given a magical cure with no strings attached, would not take it. Saying no one in your setting would be disabled because these healing spells exists ignores this part of the community.

It messes with the stakes of your story - Just like how resurrecting characters or showing that this is something that is indeed possible in the setting can leave your audience feeling cheated or like they don't have to worry about a character *actually* ever dying. healing a character's disability, or establishing that disability doesn't exist in your setting because "magic" runs into the same problem. It will leave your readers or viewers feeling like they don't have to worry about your characters getting seriously hurt because it will only be temporary, which means your hero's actions carry significantly less risk, which in turn, lowers the stakes and tension if not handled very, very carefully.

It's an over-used trope - quite plainly and simply, this trope shows up a lot in the fantasy genre, to the point where I'd say it's just overused and kind of boring.

So with the "why should you avoid it" covered, let's look at how you can actually handle the topic.

Limited Access and Expensive Costs

One of the most common ways to deal with healing and disability in a fantasy setting, is to make the healing magic available, but inaccessible to most of the population. The most popular way to do that is by making the services of a magical healer capable of curing a disability really expensive to the point that most people just can't afford it. If this is the approach you're going to use, you also typically have to make that type of magic quite rare. To use D&D terms, if every first level sorcerer, bard, cleric and druid can heal a spinal injury, it's going to result in a lot of people who are able to undercut those massive prices and the expense will drop as demand goes down. If that last sentence didn't give you a hint, this is really popular method in stories that are critiquing capitalistic mindsets and ideologies, and is most commonly used by authors from the USA and other countries with a similar medical system, since it mirrors a lot of the difficulties faced by disabled Americans. If done right, this approach can be very effective, but it does need to be thought through more carefully than I think people tend to do. Mainly because a lot of fantasy stories end with the main character becoming rich and/or powerful, and so these prohibitively expensive cure become attainable by the story's end, which a lot of authors and writer's just never address. Of course, another approach is to make the availability of the magic itself the barrier. Maybe there just aren't that many people around who know the magic required for that kind of healing, so even without a prohibitive price tag, it's just not something that's an option for most people. If we're looking at a D&D-type setting, maybe you need to be an exceptionally high level to cast the more powerful healing spell, or maybe the spell requires some rare or lost material component. I'd personally advise people to be careful using this approach, since it often leads to stories centred around finding a miracle cure, which then just falls back into that trope more often than not.

Just outright state that some characters don't want/need it

Another, admittedly more direct approach, is to make it that these "cures" exist and are easily attainable, but to just make it that your character or others they encounter don't want or need it. This approach works best for characters who are born with their disabilities or who already had them for a long time before a cure was made available to them. Even within those groups though, this method works better with some types of characters than others depending on many other traits (personality, cultural beliefs, etc), and isn't really a one-size-fits-all solution, but to be fair, that's kind of the point. Some people will want a cure for their disabilities, others are content with their body's the way they are. There's a few caveats I have with this kind of approach though:

you want to make sure you, as the author, understand why some people in real life don't want a cure, and not just in a "yeah I know these people exist but I don't really get it" kind of way. I'm not saying you have to have a deep, personal understanding or anything, but some degree of understanding is required unless you want to sound like one of those "inspirational" body positivity posts that used to show up on Instagram back in the day.

Be wary when using cultural beliefs as a reasoning. It can work, but when media uses cultural beliefs as a reason for turning down some kind of cure, it's often intending to critique extreme beliefs about medicine, such as the ones seen in some New Age Spirituality groups and particularly intense Christian churches. As a general rule of thumb, it's probably not a good idea to connect these kinds of beliefs to disabled people just being happy in their bodies. Alternatively, you also need to be mindful of the "stuck in time" trope - a trope about indigenous people who are depicted as primitive or, as the name suggests, stuck in an earlier time, for "spurning the ways of the white man" which usually includes medicine or the setting's equivalent magic. I'm not the best person to advise you on how to avoid this specific trope, but my partner (who's Taino) has informed me of how often it shows up in fantasy specifically and we both thought it was worth including a warning at least so creators who are interested in this method know to do some further research.

Give the "cures" long-lasting side effects

Often in the real world, when a "cure" for a disability does exist, it's not a perfect solution and comes with a lot of side effects. For example, if you loose part of your arm in an accident, but you're able to get to a hospital quickly with said severed arm, it can sometimes be reattached, but doing so comes at a cost. Most people I know who had this done had a lot of issues with nerve damage, reduced strength, reduced fine-motor control and often a great deal of pain with no clear source. Two of the people I know who's limbs were saved ended up having them optionally re-amputated only a few years later. Likewise, I know many people who are paraplegics and quadriplegics via spinal injuries, who were able to regain the use of their arms and/or legs. However, the process was not an easy one, and involved years of intense physiotherapy and strength training. For some of them, they need to continue to do this work permanently just to maintain use of the effected limbs, so much so that it impacts their ability to do things like work a full-time job and engage in their hobbies regularly, and even then, none of them will be able bodied again. Even with all that work, they all still experience reduced strength and reduced control of the limbs. depending on the type, place and severity of the injury, some people are able to get back to "almost able bodied" again - such was the case for my childhood best friend's dad, but they often still have to deal with chronic pain from the injury or chronic fatigue.

Even though we are talking about magic in a fantasy setting, we can still look to real-life examples of "cures" to get ideas. Perhaps the magic used has a similar side effect. Yes, your paraplegic character can be "cured" enough to walk again, but the magic maintaining the spell needs a power source to keep it going, so it draws on the person's innate energy within their body, using the very energy the body needs to function and do things like move their limbs. They are cured, but constantly exhausted unless they're very careful, and if the spell is especially strong, the body might struggle to move at all, resulting in something that looks and functions similar to the nerve damage folks with spinal injuries sometimes deal with that causes that muscle weakness and motor control issues. Your amputee might be able to have their leg regrown, but it will always be slightly off. The regrown leg is weaker and causes them to walk with a limp, maybe even requiring them to use a cane or other mobility aid.

Some characters might decide these trade-offs are worth it, and while this cures their initial disability, it leaves them with another. Others might simply decide the initial disability is less trouble than these side effects, and choose to stay as they are.

Consider if these are actually cures

Speaking of looking to the real world for ideas, you might also want to consider whether these cures are doing what the people peddling them are claiming they do. Let's look at the so-called autism cures that spring up every couple of months as an example.

Without getting into the… hotly debated specifics, there are many therapies that are often labelled as "cures" for autism, but in reality, all they are doing is teaching autistic people how to make their autistic traits less noticeable to others. This is called masking, and it's a skill that often comes at great cost to an autistic person's mental health, especially when it's a behaviour that is forced on them. Many of these therapies give the appearance of being a cure, but the disability is still there, as are the needs and difficulties that come with it, they're just hidden away. From an outside perspective though, it often does look like a success, at least in the short-term. Then there are the entirely fake cures with no basis in reality, the things you'll find from your classic snake-oil salesmen. Even in a fantasy setting where real magic exists, these kinds of scams and misleading treatments can still exist. In fact, I think it would make them even more common than they are in the real world, since there's less suspension of disbelief required for people to fall for them. "What do you mean this miracle tonic is a scam? Phil next door can conjure flames in his hand and make the plants grow with a snap of his fingers, why is it so hard to believe this tonic could regrow my missing limb?"

I think the only example of this approach I've seen, at least recently, is from The Owl House. The magic in this world can do incredible things, but it works in very specific and defined ways. Eda's curse (which can be viewed as an allegory for many disabilities and chronic illnesses) is seemingly an exception to this, and as such, nothing is able to cure it. Treat it, yes, but not cure it. Eda's mother doesn't accept this though, and seeks out a cure anyway and ends up falling for a scam who's "treatments" just make things worse.

In your own stories, you can either have these scams just not work, or kind of work, but in ways that are harmful and just not worth it, like worse versions of the examples in the previous point. Alternatively, like Eda, it's entirely reasonable that a character who's been the target of these scams before might just not want to bother anymore. Eda is a really good example of this approach handled in a way that doesn't make her sad and depressed about it either. She's tried her mum's methods, they didn't work, and now she's found her own way of dealing with it that she's happy with. She only gets upset when her boundaries are ignored by Luz and her mother.

Think about how the healing magic is actually working

If you have a magic system that leans more on the "hard magic" side of things, a great way to get around the issue of healing magic erasing disability is to stop and think about how your healing magic actually works.

My favourite way of doing this is to make healing magic work by accelerating the natural processes of your body. Your body will, given enough time (assuming it remains infection-free) close a slash from a sword and mend a broken bone, but it will never regrow it's own limbs. It will never heal damage to it's own spinal cord. It will never undo whatever causes autism or fix it's own irregularities. Not without help. Likewise, healing magic alone won't do any of these things either, it's just accelerating the existing process and usually, by extension making it safer, since a wound staying open for an hour before you get to a healer is much less likely to get infected than one that slowly and naturally heals over a few weeks. In one of my own works, I take this even further by making it that the healing magic is only accelerating cell growth and repair, but the healer has to direct it. In order to actually heal, the healer needs to know the anatomy of what they're fixing to the finest detail. A spell can reconnect a torn muscle to a bone, but if you don't understand the structures that allow that to happen in the first place, you're likely going to make things worse. For this reason, you won't really see people using this kind of magic to, say, regrow limbs, even though it technically is possible. A limb is a complicated thing. The healer needs to be able to perfectly envision all the bones, the cartilage, the tendons and ligaments, the muscles (including the little ones, like those found in your skin that make your hair stand on end and give you goose bumps), the fat and skin tissues, all the nerves, all the blood vessels, all the structures within the bone that create your blood. Everything, and they need to know how it all connects, how it is supposed to move and be able to keep that clearly in their mind simultaneously while casting. Their mental image also has to match with the patient's internal "map" of the body and the lost limb, or they'll continue to experience phantom limb sensation even if the healing is successful. It's technically possible, but the chances they'll mess something up is too high, and so it's just not worth the risk to most people, including my main character.

Put Restrictions on the magic

This is mostly just the same advice as above, but for softer magic systems. put limits and restrictions on your healing magic. These can be innate (so things the magic itself is just incapable of doing) or external (things like laws that put limitations on certain types of magic and spells).

An example of internal restriction can be seen in how some people interpret D&D's higher level healing spells like regenerate (a 7th level spell-something most characters won't have access to for quite some time). The rules as written specify that disabilities like lost limbs can be healed using this spell, but some players take this to mean that if a character was born with the disability in question, say, born without a limb, regenerate would only heal them back to their body's natural state, which for them, is still disabled.

An external restriction would be that your setting has outlawed healing magic, perhaps because healing magic carries a lot of risks for some reason, eithe to the caster or the person being healed, or maybe because the healing magic here works by selectively reviving and altering the function of cells, which makes it a form of necromancy, just on a smaller scale. Of course, you can also use the tried and true, "all magic is outlawed" approach too. In either case, it's something that will prevent some people from being able to access it, despite it being technically possible. Other external restrictions could look like not being illegal, per say, but culturally frowned upon or taboo where your character is from.

But what if I don't want to do any of this?

Well you don't have to. These are just suggestions to get you thinking about how to make a world where healing magic and disability exist, but they aren't the only ways. Just the ones I thought of.

Of course, if you'd still rather make a setting where all disability is cured because magic and you just don't want to think about it any deeper, I can't stop you. I do however, want to ask you to at least consider where you are going to draw the line. Disability, in essence, is what happens when the body stops (or never started) functioning "normally". Sometimes that happens because of an injury, sometimes it's just bad luck, but the boundary between disabled and not disabled is not as solid as I think a lot of people expect it to be, and we as a society have a lot of weird ideas about what is and isn't a disability that just, quite plainly and simply, aren't consistent. You have to remember, a magic system won't pick and choose the way we humans do, it will apply universally, regardless of our societal hang-ups about disability.

What do I mean about this?

Well, consider for a moment, what causes aging? it's the result of our body not being able to repair itself as effectively as it used to. It's the body not being able to perform that function "normally". So in a setting where all disability is cured, there would be no aging. No elderly people. No death from old age. If you erase disability, you also erase natural processes like aging. magic won't pick and choose like that, not if you want it to be consistent.

Ok, ok, maybe that's too much of a stretch, so instead, let's look at our stereotypical buff hero covered in scars because he's a badass warrior. but in a world where you can heal anything, why would anything scar? Even if it did, could another healing spell not correct that too? Scars are part of the body's natural healing process, but if no natural healing occurred, why would a scar form? Scars are also considered disabling in and of themselves too, especially large ones, since they aren't as flexible or durable as normal skin and can even restrict growth and movement.

Even common things like needing glasses are, using this definition of disability at least, a disability. glasses are a socially accepted disability aid used to correct your eyes when they do not function "normally".

Now to be fair, in reality, there are several definitions of disability, most of which include something about the impact of society. For example, in Australia (according to the Disability Royal Commission), we define disability as "An evolving concept that results from the interaction between a person with impairment(s) and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others." - or in laymen's terms, the interaction between a person's impairment and societal barriers like people not making things accessible or holding misinformed beliefs about your impairment (e.g. people in wheelchairs are weaker than people who walk). Under a definition like this, things like scars and needing glasses aren't necessarily disabilities (most of the time) but that's because of how our modern society sees them. The problem with using a definition like this though to guide what your magic system will get rid of, is that something like a magic system won't differentiate between an "impairment" that has social impacts that and one that doesn't. It will still probably get rid of anything that is technically an example of your body functioning imperfectly, which all three of these things are. The society in your setting might apply these criteria indirectly, but really, why would they? Very few people like the side effects of aging on the body (and most people typically don't want to die), the issues that come with scars or glasses are annoying (speaking as someone with both) and I can see a lot of people getting rid of them when possible too. If they don't then it's just using the "not everyone wants it approach" I mentioned earlier. If there's some law or some kind of external pressure to push people away from fixing these more normalised issues, then it's using the "restrictions" method I mentioned earlier too.

Once again, you can do whatever you like with your fantasy setting, but it's something I think that would be worth thinking about at least.

146 notes · View notes

xxsycamore · 6 months

Text

👻🕸️🦇 IKEVAMP SUITORS IN A HORROR-MOVIE SETTING ! 🦇🕸️👻 (headcanons)

Happy Halloween! Yes, this includes all 17 suitors. I'm no expert on the genre but I thought this might be fun! Some of them die. I'm sorry. Warnings: everything that can appear in a horror movie really, including mentions of death, mass murder, blood, gore, torture, cults.

If you feel like reading something more goofy where everyone lives, try Pumpkin Carving Competition At Saint Germain’s Mansion or maybe even “Welcome to Saint Germain’s mansion, please have a fang-tastic night.”

𝐍𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐍

The "okay guys, we need a plan" guy and welp, he has a sword, he is willing to walk in front, why not trust him? 👍🏻✨He's totally the one to hide being infected because come on, how are they gonna get out of there alive if the leader is down? Has a dramatic scene where he's fighting off the transformation in secret. Ends up being saved by someone and survives.

𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐎

Leonardo is the one you find along the journey, mistaking for an enemy at first as you get into his trap... when it actually turns out he's been there long before you, surviving all alone in this post-apocalyptic setting, adapted to it, prepared for every danger out there with gadgets he made himself! He might not stay alive until the end but plays a key role in the plot.

𝐌𝐎𝐙𝐀𝐑𝐓

He tried to warn them not to do anything stupid... He's now stuck suffering from the group's bad decision-making. He doesn't even know how he ended up there. Mozart is that one character that you're supposed to hate for being an asshole. At one point he falls in danger that specifically relates to a fear of his, and when everyone expects him to sacrifice another person to save himself, he does the opposite. He seemingly dies right there, breaking everyone's hearts, only to be revealed at the very end that he managed to survive!

𝐈𝐒𝐀𝐀𝐂 (credits for the idea goes to @scummy-writes guys she can write a whole fic of those I swear,, it's been such a pleasure listening to her)

Isaac needs to be saved five minutes into the movie... which writes him off as the weaker one from the get-go. This is going to be bad if the situation comes to "we gotta leave someone behind or we all die here!" - but hey, DON'T LEAVE ISAAC BEHIND IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE! Because the next thing you know everyone falls into this deadly trap that only HE can figure the way out of, using his big brain skills. His worth has been proved! Everyone loves him now! And all he wants is to go back home and never go on a trip with these guys ever again!

𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐑

I'm sorry, Arthur dies first. The others are trying to warn him about the cases of victims who've been sucked to a dry husk and he's like "later virgins, i have a date tonight". Yeah his date totally killed him. Bonus points if we're dealing with vampires here, because irony. It's fine though, he's still important to the plot after he dies, because we find his writing diary and he left important cues there while trying to escape from his killer. Maybe he even came close to the truth! He knows his mystery genre stuff after all...

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐔𝐒

Theo just does NOT believe paranormal exists, not even after witnessing it with his own two eyes. Worst part, he tries to convince the others too. "My broer IS NOT POSSESSED!" Uhuh! Okay Theo! You just saw cryptic images appear on his canvas without him even moving the brush but I guess he was just trying a new painting technique!! And he levitates too and his eyes are tar black but what do we know... Once Theo realizes the situation, he's out there swinging a bat (sexy), ready to beat the shit out of whatever caused this, and he's good at it. Don't worry about him dying.

𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓

Poor baby Vincent is every sinister ghost/demon's number-one target. Vincent listens to the voices. He sympathizes with them! He makes friends with them! Maybe he doesn't even need to be possessed at this rate... Same story with joining a cult, honestly. When their bad intentions begin to come to light, Vincent puts up a fight and is suddenly not as easy to control as they thought.

𝐉𝐄𝐀𝐍

Jean might take some bullets from our main cast while someone shouts "IT WON'T DIE!" but it's fine he's used to it... he's been dead for quite some time and not just inside. Jean is probably the result of some sick experiment about making an immortal army of warriors and. It's sad. But it's fine because he joins the protagonists now! He's friend! I hope they apologize for calling him a monster. No, he doesn't die by the end of the movie, but at what cost?

𝐃𝐀𝐙𝐀𝐈

"Oh, it was just Dazai." Of course it was, someone has to be that one idiot that scares the shit out of everyone until he becomes the boy who cried wolf. Which usually ends with death! I'm sorry Dazai. At least they can take him seriously now and pay some more attention to the strange things he kept on saying.

𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐄

A very old-school villain! Bonus points if the setting is modern yet he still has a villain's lair and all that. There's something beautiful and tragic about him and he probably dramatically lets himself be defeated even if he had a chance to escape. Everyone will remember him. Mostly for the mental and physical torture, but still.

𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐓𝐄

"But we have one hour left until the curse kills us all, how are we gonna get there on time?!" *sounds of safari jeep pulling over* "Someone ordered a ride?" - yeah. Comte is here to save the day with the power of money friendship. And not just that! Who is the one who suddenly remembers a family heirloom that is as old as time and suspiciously shaped exactly like the key they're searching for? I also want him to lose an eye or a limb for some reason... just for a little touch of gore maybe?

𝐒𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍

Gods, Sebastian is the only prepared one, bless him for that. He's read all about that urban legend while everyone's been busy denying its existence. He is not scared at all, too... you might wonder if he's just geeking out during all of this bloody mess or something. He's so important, please don't let him die please don't let him die... he died.

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐒

The villain's aide that infiltrates the protagonists' group. By the time his betrayal scene happens and he nearly kills three members of the group with a chainsaw, we get a glimpse of his trauma and that's the key to sucessfully talking him out of doing it, eventually disarming him and catching him. He manages to escape and maybe later returns as an ally! Yay!

𝐅𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐓

Gods he's scary. I'm not watching this. Of course he's the killer, what did you expect? Has a tragic backstory of being used by an even more fucked-up killer in the past to do the dirty work for - and kept doing it even after getting rid of them himself, because that's the only thing he knows how to do. You can't fix him.

𝐕𝐋𝐀𝐃

IT'S HIMMM he's the scary little boy from the photos and the same scary little boy that always shows up in the rose garden and his soul just won't rest in peace!! Shows up in his adult form plenty too, just expect his expression to twist into something horrible every second. He needs to be sealed forever somewhere and it would take three sequels to get to know what would actually defeat him once and for all.

𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐊𝐄

... I'm sorry but there definitely is a lighthouse in this movie. And you can totally trust Drake! The poor guy's body just washed up for you to discover, tragically drowned-oh, wait no, he's breathing. He's totally not the same sailor who died around here many, many years ago. He's gonna keep you good company in the lighthouse alone for miles.

𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐎

Galileo is the one who saw the Thing™ with his own eyes, while he was watching the stars one night ages ago. He dedicated not only his massive research but also his life to this, yet noone believes him. If he somehow manages to find that one missing piece that connects everything together, he will die a horrifying death before he can even share it with the main cast. Rip...

Taglist: @arsnovacadenza @ale-teodora @kimi00twin @otomelady @privilegedpancake @g-kleran @pumpumnnnp @thesirenwashere @ravenarld @kimmy-banana @devonares @galaxyprison @sadshaxk @starshards26 @thewitchofbooks @acethephoenix256 @ikevamp-shrine-2 @nad-zeta @crystal13unny @keen19thcenturygoatsstudent @lordsister @ikemen-banshou @themysticalbeing @otome-scribbles @rhodolitesrose @coornn @kpop-and-otome @queen-dahlia @kisara-16 @chaosangel767 @ikemenlibrary @queengiuliettafirstlady @aurora-morning @aquagirl1978 @ikemenlover24 @mcofthemansion @joy-the-reader @katriniac @ikemen-writer @tele86 @lovely-bubb1es @aria-chikage @babyblue0t7 @rhodoliteschaos @shrimpy-kitsune @nightghoul381 @xbalayage @lucyw260 @kittygrimm88 @my-day6 Let me know if you want to be tagged/untagged!

130 notes · View notes

rikan-oo · 3 months

Text

So I was thinking about creating a loose list of recs for ORV fans or, in other words, "If you liked ORV, you also may like this." I decided to add things less obvious because I think people already read works like Trash of Count's Family, etc.

Princess Tutu

“The beginning of a story is a sudden event; the start, a happy accident, the end, the fate for which it's meant. A story that never ends is a sad fate.”

Let's start with Princess Tutu (PT), anime, not manga because they're different. I watched it about a week before ORV and after finishing both, I can't help but notice their similarities. However, meanwhile, ORV is about the relationship between the reader, the author, and the protagonist, and PT is more about the relationship between the author and their creation: the story and its characters. Don't let the name fool you, don't be like me. It's much darker than I expected from this style and genre. Be ready for angst.

Plot: Ahiru is a small duck in a pond. One day she notices a dancing boy with a very sad gaze. Boy every day goes to dance near the pond and the little duck is completely mesmerized by him. She can't help but notice sadness and loneliness in his dance. She wants to make this boy smile and at that moment a writer Droselmeir appears. He tells her that she could do this by collecting shards of his broken heart but under some conditions. He gives her a magic pendant that can transform her, first into an ordinary human girl, then into the graceful ballerina Princess Tutu, a fictional character from the tale that was doomed for tragedy in the original story.

Later we find out that this city is kinda enchanted by Droselmeir's tale (reverse isekai before it became mainstream) and some characters broke out of the tale like the boy by the lake - Mytho or Raven - the villain of this tale. Tale elements blend interestingly in the city and its residents.

Also, I have no idea wtf is happening with the main characters' dynamic in this complicated rectangle, but there is no straight explanation for this.

I can't help but see some parallels between Mytho - KDJ, Fakir - both YJH & HSY, Ru - HSY, and Droselmeir - Dokkaebi. I love how the story describes characters doomed by narrative and the struggles of being a writer. Also, all of these subtle references to fairytales at the beginning of the episode? Love it. I bet there are more references for the ballet part, but I probably didn't get it. I gently encourage you to check it out. (Definitely not gently, I'm as desperate as Kim Dokja trying to advertise TWSA to other people)

“May those who accept their fate be granted Happiness, may those who defy their fate be granted Glory.”

Miss not Sidekick

It's a much simpler read, just to chill and have fun while laughing at Mc shenanigans. Plot: Typical isekai story, where Mc is a fan of the internet novel of the reverse harem genre. When isekaied decided to invent popcorn and enjoy full time 4d immersion in the story.

There are not so many similarities in themes like with Princess Tutu, but more the role of MC – Latte as reader. I liked how she continued to behave like a spectator of a story inside Isekai world, treating it like she's inside a special 4D theater, not existing in this world as a part of it, until she couldn't.

Until her 4th wall is shattered (*badabums* it's a bad pun, she doesn't have it like kdj) and she realizes she could actually die, (quite shocking I know). Also, MC invents BL for this world and converts other people into it. Overall, the art style is different from other isekai romfant and it's something you need time to get used to, but after a while, you understand it suits perfectly for the narrative and silly tone of the comic.

Inso's Law or My Life as an Internet Novel

I feel like it's more reverse isekai similar to orv, where the story becomes part of your life. But if in KDJ's case, this transition is obvious and life-crashing, then in MC's situation is really creepy. It blends seamlessly into her regular life making her feel insane because everything remains the same except having a whole new friend who behaves like your bestie and a different school, where everything starts to feel like a romantic novel full of clichés. MC like KDJ is also unreliable in her perception of others here and thinks her knowledge of clichés like a reader-outsider makes her more omnipotent than she really is. Too bad they used 3 person POV, so it's really obvious, but funny nevertheless. (One of the cases where she thinks one of her classmates is a girl pretending to be a boy cause of some kind of cliché family drama, when in fact it's just a boy and I find it funny how this classmate looks like Jang Hayoung twin and have similar fate, poor souls) guess she also has similarities in her character to pre-scenario or regular life KDJ. They both seem to have this introverted avoidance type of personality. I'm curious about supernatural events happening in manhwa and I hope we'll get some explanation for it.

Pandora Hearts

Nice little thing with funny and cute tea parties that everyone would enjoy. 😍

SHHH, nothing about the plot. Let it be a small surprise for you.

It's all vibes and similar tropes now, folks.

Like dynamic between the main trio: Gilbert - Oz - Alice YJH - KDJ - HSY. Also this time loop thing? Daddy issues? Self-sacrifice as a form of love? Ugh. (Also, I need this scene with Oz and Brake "Where in the world are you?" But with KDJ. Maybe I even draw it).

It's all for now, maybe I'll write more. Please share the recs if you have them!

#whoever readed till the end #thank you #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv #omniscient reader webtoon #kim dokja #miss not so sidekick #princess tutu #orv spoilers #inso's law #my life as an internet novel #pandora hearts #it was in my drafts since October

64 notes · View notes

sheeple · 1 year

Text

Miracles don't exist | 6: Christmas is in the air

Genre(s): Riddle!reader / Slytherin!reader / kinda slowburn / little happy moments Fandom(s): Harry Potter Pairing(s): Theodore Nott x Reader / Harry Potter x Riddle!reader Summary: Being the Dark Lord's daughter and raised under the strict supervision of the Malfoy's is no easy life. Especially if you start crushing on your father's arch-nemesis, Harry Potter. And that while being engaged to one of his follower’s sons. Warning(s): Nasty Ron / Soft Theodore [Masterlist] [Mini masterlist] [Playlist]

As you put the books you no longer need back onto their respective shelves, you feel a presence behind you. A silent groan escapes your lips as you turn around annoyed.

The yule ball is coming up and ─ after some awkward dancing lessons from Snape ─ everybody is hyperfocused on finding a date. Because Merlin forbids you turn up alone.

Draco has a shit-eating grin on his face as he leans against a bookshelf. "Guess who I just asked and said yes."

You give him a glare, not caring about this subject at all. "Parkinson?"

"How did you know?", he asks bewildered.

With a roll of your eyes, you turn towards him, "oh please, that girl has been giving you heart eyes since day one. If she didn't say yes, she'd be hexed."

Making your way back to your secluded corner of the library, you slump down into your chair and continue with the essay for potions. Draco, annoyingly, follows after you, taking place in the chair next to you. "I bet you also got a date."

You scoff, "who the hell would ask me?"

"Uhm, many boys would? You're good-looking", he states like it's obvious.

"I want someone to take me because they like me, not because they think I am pretty." Your whispers get harsher with each word, and you feel Madam Pince gloom behind a shelf.

Draco huffs. "Like who? One of those Durmstrang blokes that you always seem to hang out with? What's his name, Gollum?"

"It's Gjol, thank you very much. And no." You feel your cheeks head up for no particular reason.

"You can't be serious. Are you seriously wanting that big dumb hunk to ask you out? Pathetic." Draco huffs. He leans back and slumps in the chair.

Slamming your book shut, you hastily pack your bag. "I am not going to be dealing with your temper tantrum, Malfoy."

Hightailing out of the library, you ignore Madam Pince's scoldings and walk until you can't anymore. Your socks are wet as you stand to your ankles deep in snow. You run a frustrated hand over your face.

Why can't you just be left alone? Why do all these people want something of you? Your mother is in Azkaban and your father is dead, what more would people want? You're literally a child.

"Are you okay?", someone asks while they lay a hand on your shoulder.

Not noticing Theodore followed after you when he saw you leaving the library in a hurry, you yell and with one easy swoop throw him over your shoulder.

Theodore groans as he lands on his back and snow soaks through his cloak. You gasp and slap a hand over your mouth. "Theodore! I am so sorry!"

You help the brown-haired boy up, brushing the snow off his shoulders. He holds his shoulder, rubbing the sore spot he landed on. "Where did you learn that?", he chuckles.

With an awkward chuckle of your own, you scratch behind your ear. "In the summer, I snuck off every Wednesday night to go to self-defence classes in the muggle village a couple miles away. I didn't feel safe at home anymore, and since we can't use our wands outside school grounds..."

Theodore's smile falls and his eyes fill with concern. "(Y/n)..."

"It's okay! Really! You know how it is. Doesn't matter. Why did you follow me in the first place?" You shake your head, trying to switch the subject.

Theodore's frown doesn't falter completely, but it gets replaced by something more nervous. "Well... I heard you talking- I was wondering─", the boy runs a frustrated hand through his hair, "do you want to go to the Yule Ball with me? As in a date, that is..."

You are speechless, looking rather sheepish at the boy. "Is this because of what happened over the summer? Please, don't feel obliged, Theodore."

"I am one hundred per cent genuine, (Y/n). One dance, that's all I ask. After that I'm content."

"One dance?", you question, still a bit unsure.

"One dance", he confirms.

What harm can one dance do? "Okay, yeah I'll go with you."

A bright smile grows on Theodore's face. "Great. Thank you. See you in class?"

You wave as you watch him leave, and a deep breath leaves your lips in puffs of clouds. One dance can't do harm. But you don't have a dress... You told Aunt Cissy that it wasn't necessary to send one because you weren't going. But now that you have a date it's too late to send an owl home to ask for a dress.

Just as your eyes scan around the grounds, you spot a familiar trio going down to Hargit's hut. You can't believe you're doing this, but you know no other girl ─ or person at that ─ who would go dress shopping with you.

"Hermione wait up!"

While Hermione cruises the dresses at Gladrags Wizardwear, you are in the dressing room trying on all different kinds of dresses. It's a wonder she agreed to go with you, but after an encouraging nod from Harry, she agreed ─ reluctantly.

"So... who's your date actually?", she asks, pushing another dress into the fitting room.

You suck in a breath. "Theodore."

"Nott?!"

You slide open the thick velvet curtain, revealing the emerald green dress. "Yeah... he asked me. I declined at first, but he said that he only wanted one dance. That wouldn't hurt. Right?" You turn towards the Gryffindor girl, who has her arms folded over each other. "This isn't it."

"Isn't that also the guy you're supposed to marry?", she asks while you're back in the dressing room and putting on the next dress. You give a hum of confirmation.

You peek your head out of the curtain to nod. "Yup", you pop the 'p', "but he said it had nothing to do with that. What colour is your dress, by the way."

"Pink. I heard that the theme is white and silver, so I wanted something that fitted nicely with the theme."

You hum again, looking at all your options. Among the many green and black dresses, a beautiful purple iridescent flowy dress that's enchanted so that it looks like the fabric moves on its own. With a bright smile, you swing the curtains away and twirl around. "I think this is the one."

Rapping on the window makes the both of you turn around and Gjol waves excitedly at you. He enters the shop and exclaims something in his native tongue as he takes you in. Bjarne, who followed after him, chuckles and replies something back.

"Aren't you a vision? Please don't tell me you have a date for the ball."

You look at him guilty. "I'm sorry, Theodore asked me."

Gjol tsk's, shaking his head disapprovingly. "Lucky, lucky guy. Then promise me a dance."

A giggle escapes your lips as you look at Hermoine giddily. "Okay, I promise."

He excitedly kisses both of your heating-up cheeks before exiting the shop, tugging Bjarne after him and talking animatedly with his friend.

You clutch both of your cheeks, turning to Hermoine, "are all Durmstrang boys like that."

She comes close and giggles. "Yeah...", she sighs dreamily, "Victor and I- we don't really talk when we're together."

You smile brightly towards Hermione. A pang of sadness goes through your body. Even though you know it is for the best to stay away from people who aren't in your immediate circle, you miss this. Just a girlfriend to go shopping and do girly things with.

Pulling yourself away from her, you walk back towards the fitting room. "I'll get changed so I can pay and you can get back to your friends." You turn your head towards her, looking over your shoulder. "Thank you for coming with me, Hermione. You don't know how much it means to me."

You anxiously flatten any wrinkles from your dress as you walk up the stairs. Theodore came knocking at your door a while ago, asking if you were ready. But you told him to just wait for you before the Great Hall, that you were almost finished.

Daphne helped to put some stars in your hair, further adding to the ethereal look you were giving. At least, that's what she said. At first, you thought it was too much, way too formal for a school party. But Daphne, again the angel that she is, reassured you that it was the Yule Ball, for Merlin's sake!

You walk up the steps and see Theodore talking with Draco and Blaise, and when one of them points towards you. When you see the look in Theodore's eyes, you are glad you didn't chicken out.

He looks like a fish searching for food with his mouth wide open, gaping at you. Blaise whistles as he stuffs his hands in the pockets of his robes.

"I like your dress robes", you say softly, feeling overwhelmed by all the stares of the people around you. They're nothing special, just black robes with a black blouse underneath and a black tie.

Finding his voice again, Theodore takes your hand and makes you spin. "Don't you just look absolutely divine? Like a Goddess descended from the heavens, gracing us humble peasants with her presence."

You feel your face heat up at his compliments and hand your face in your free hand, turning away from him to calm down your smile. Which person wouldn't like to be called so beautiful that he says you look like a Goddess?

Theodore holds out his arm and you wrap your hands around his bicep, letting him lead you into the Great Hall.

You never expected to have such fun with Theodore. He excitedly twirls you around, dipping you, and lifting you up to the music. One dance becomes two ─ with an intermission dance with Gjol ─ and before you know it, you've danced and partied hours with Theodore.

When Theodore has gone to grab the both of you drinks, you spot Harry and Ron and their dates sitting at one of the tables looking quite miserable.

"Shouldn't you be dancing?", you ask with a smile, your hands clasped behind your back.

Both boys turn towards you, one with a smile and the other annoyed. Harry shoots from his stool, straightening out his robes. He stutters out your name, "yo-you look very pretty."

You giggle, looking down. "Thank you, Harry. You look quite handsome yourself. The both of you." You smile at Ron, which sends him off.

"Shut your filthy Death Eater mouth, Black."

Theodore appears out of nowhere with his wand drawn and pointed at Ron. "Say that again, blood traitor, and I'll hex you into tomorrow." A dark, and murderous glint is in his eyes as Theodore's knuckles turn white from how hard he is gripping his wand.

Gasping, you turn around and push against his chest. "Theo! Don't!"

He glances down at you and when he sees the concerned look in your eyes, he drops his wand to his side, but not pocketing it. You grab his arm and pull him away, out of the Great Hall.

"Where are we going?", he asks as you lead him up a pair of stairs instead of to the dungeons.

You answer with a small smile, "you'll see."

After climbing some stairs and unlocking some doors, you end up on a secluded rooftop with plants and benches around. You pull him towards the bench farthest away from the door and let yourself drop down on the stone bench.

Theodore follows your lead and looks out onto the valley that surrounds Hogwarts. Suddenly, a bubbling laugh escapes him and you turn around to him with raised brows.

"You called me 'Theo'."

Heat shoots up to your cheeks and you turn back around, realising your obvious mistake. Instead, you deflect the topic. "You shouldn't threaten someone with hexing them."

Theodore rolls his eyes. "Come on, he was asking for it. Weasely called you a Death Eater!"

The name makes you flinch. Theodore drops his rigid posture and shuffles closer to you. "I'm sorry", he whispers, grabbing your hand.

You let him, dropping your head to his shoulder and enjoying the cold nipping at your skin. And before you know it, you've fallen asleep against Theodore's hot-like-a-furnace body.

Taglist (bold means I couldn’t tag you): @the0doreslover @lqndkxlmqma @st4rrry @choppedpartymuffinwinner @dianaswanda @literallyobessedd @lestat-whore

268 notes · View notes

hamletthedane · 28 days

Note

I’m a big Hamlet fan and I am curious as to what your favorite movie/for screen rendition is? I’ve been working my way through a lot of them, gone through about 7, so far Hamlet at Elsinore with Christopher Plummer is my favorite. I was just curious what yours is !

What a great question!!

Hamlet at Elsinore is definitely my favorite filmed version of the play. I feel that Christopher Plummer does a fantastic - and frankly critically underappreciated - job of portraying the more nuanced and complicated aspects of Hamlet's character while still giving a straightforward performance that's highly accessible to any audience. Notably, he doesn't treat the performance as his ~*~epic, defining role of a lifetime~*~ or ~high artistic theater~ (*cough* Branagh and Jacobi), but instead focuses on telling a deeply compelling, very moving story about the complex nature of grief and revenge. I also like that this version embraces the more "postmodern" elements that exist in the written text of Hamlet: the complicity of the audience, the inevitability of the outcome, Hamlet's genre-awareness and genre-defiance, etc.

[Not to keep hating on Branagh, but in contrast: Branagh's Hamlet in particular seems to go out of its way to avoid including the more interesting proto-postmodern thematic elements of the play - at times not seeming to recognize that they're even there. He instead focuses his time and energy on inserting new cinematography-based visual themes that go nowhere and at times stand in OPPOSITION to the actual tone and themes of the original text. Because apparently Hamlet the play is too boring and instead of lame elements like "themes" and "compelling characterization," we need a swinging chandelier sword fight scenes and Freudian weirdness. Truly the Joel Schumacher Phantom of the Opera adaptation of Shakespeare films. But I DIGRESS-)

Plus it doesn't hurt that everybody aside from Plummer in Hamlet at Elsinore is also fabulous. Obviously, Michael Caine's Horatio is the single best and most definitive version of the character in film, but I also love Robert Shaw's Claudius and Muller's Ophelia.

If we're talking favorite filmed versions of the STORY of Hamlet though, that's Asta Nielsen's silent film from 1921. It's so beautifully filmed and wonderfully told. She's what I picture when I picture Hamlet.

Other than that....I like Tennant and Stewarts' RSC filmed version well enough. It has a number of very strange choices and I don't love the re-ordering of the scenes, but Tennant does a great job with the character and I think it's a very approachable performance. A few other filmed stage versions are also excellent, though with a few similarly weird elements - I'd put Maxine Peake's version on the same tier as the RSC version. I do NOT like Branagh's version at all (if you couldn't already tell...). Jacobi's and Gibson's are slightly better, but they're still too focused on the prestige of the performance rather than the actual story being told imo. I think they fall under the same criticism as Holden Caulfield's scathing review of Laurence Olivier: "more like a general than a sad, screwed-up type guy." (Yes I know this line is an in-text authorial critique of Holden himself but also: he's right and he should say it.)

If you haven't already, I do highly recommend listening to the BBC Radio 4 audiodrama version of Hamlet, starring Jamie Parker. Despite being a audio version of a stage play, it somehow blows every filmed version of Hamlet (except maybe HAE) out of the water. I listen to it at least once a year.

Finally, my actual favorite versions of Hamlet have ALWAYS been those I've seen live (or seen bootleg filmed stage performances of lmao). If it's ever playing live near you, definitely go and see it. The play was meant to be seen on a live stage in front of you, and many of the jokes and themes only make sense in that context. In my opinion, the medium of live theater elevates the play so far beyond what a movie could ever achieve.

...sorry this answer is so long 😅 Really, it doesn't matter what my opinions on Hamlet films are. If any version of the play really speaks to you - even if it's the accursed Branagh version - that is so awesome and makes me really happy people are engaging with the play in that way! (But since you're saying that HAE is your favorite so far, I will add that you have excellent, discerning taste ;))

#hamlet #willy shakes #'not to keep hating on Branagh-' I say like it's not been the leitmotif of my blog for over a decade #I cannot help myself. any opportunity I am throwing down.#shut up e #shakespeare after dark #should we bring that tag back? I feel like we should bring that tag back

46 notes · View notes

performativezippers · 14 days

Note

Could you share your thoughts about beats in writing, please?

OKAY HERE WE GOOOOO this is going to be long but honestly it could have been so much longer so oops!

tl;dr: Beats are when things in the story happen.

So in a mystery novel, for example, when does the crime occur? when do they think they've solved it, but they're wrong? when do they realize they were wrong? when is their life in danger? when do they know who did it? when does the reader know who did it? when is the b-plot introduced and when it is resolved?

These typically happen in a similar place in each mystery novel, because of course it wouldn't make sense if it went: (1) you think you know who did it, and then (2) the crime is committed. Right? or if the very first person they suspected did it and they catch them immediately! that's never what happens because then what's the other 200 pages of the book?

so there is relative order, and you know it even as a passive reader, so then the question is how spaced out are those things throughout the fic or manuscript?

in a romance, it's the same. typically we see:

meet cute/first meeting/first canon meeting (the pilot) e.g. alex meets maggie at the airport and they fight over jurisdiction, or jane and maura work a case together as usual but it's the first one where jane is scared, aka a new start to their existing relationship

why aren't they together off the bat? (aka why is this a romance novel and not a romance sentence?) e.g. alex thinks she's straight and they're good friends, or maura dates elon musk types and jane is, you know, not that

complication e.g. alex comes out and then asks maggie to be her gf but maggie says no because alex is fresh off the boat, or maura starts dating jane's dumbass brother

false high (if there is a third act breakup, this is the happy time before that) e.g. alex and maggie get together and are very happy kissing the girls they want to kiss, or maura dumps tommy because her life with jane is more important to her

low point (this is often the 3rd act breakup, but doesn't have to be) e.g. alex freaks out when family conflicts with romance and dumps maggie, or jane kills maura's dad

KISS KISS KISS (aka the happily ever after) e.g. alex apologizes and sanvers stays together forever because the show was cancelled, or jane performs surgery on maura in the woods and then they kiss forever because the show was cancelled

SO, all of those things have to happen, and beats are when. you can of course put your plot points whenever you want them. it's your life and your art and your hobby!! have fun! but if you want to learn "craft" or whatever, or get traditionally published, you need to know when the conventional beats for your genre are, so that you can show you know what you're doing.

You've noticed beats even if you haven't thought about them. Sometimes a fanfic feels like it's going on too long or ending too abruptly, which is because they didn't place their beats carefully. Maybe it's taking forever to get past the set-up, and then the ending feels rushed. Maybe they got to the end of the plot but kept writing little one-shots or vignettes that don't have any tension in them. Almost all pacing problems can be solved by beats!

There are two main beat sheets I use for writing romcoms, Save the Cat and Romancing the Beat. There are book and workshops for both. My spreadsheet I use for every book uses Save the Cat beats, which was originally developed for screenplays. Here's a screenshot of that from the spreadsheet i use religiously:

I try to focus on

inciting incident at 0 or 10% (catalyst)

fun and games 25-50%

mid point high right around 50%

Things get bad from 50-75 until dark night of the soul from 75-80%

Redemption 80-90%, climax around 90%, final snippet less than 1,000 after end of climax

I do the math on my word count and ideal final word count to reverse outline where i am. in my book that's going to be published, i was really struggling with how to fill the 50-75% chunk; it was perfectly paced up until the shattering of the false high at 50%, and I knew what would happen after the dark night of the soul at 75%, but my project was to figure out how i could keep the plot driving forward and interesting while the MC's mood and situation tanked for a full 25% of the book. It turns out in the most recent draft, that stuff is 52-86%, and is stuff i really love. i was able to work in other plot points earlier that had time to breathe and got the space they needed in that portion, as well as find the balance between 20k of boring moping and maintaining tension while the romance was tanked.

it's very very hard to use beats in a fic you're posting as you're writing it (which is most of the fics i post), but even having it in the back of my mind helps. For the Ultimatum fic i'm writing and posting now, i knew before i started posting what the midpoint false high would be, plus the dark night of the soul, plus the endgame. it's important to make sure any b-plots, or in the case other couples, get their shit resolved around the same times as Kacy does, so that we don't need too much wrap up/exposition after the kacy climax.

what other questions or thoughts do you have about beats and plot pacing? send them to me!

#ask zipps #writing advice #writing fiction #writing fanfiction #writing original fiction #writing beats #save the cat #romancing the beat

26 notes · View notes

kasuumi · 7 months

Text

The Curse of being a Gojo and the Blessing of Death

summary: losing the will to live and accepting death as Gojo's sister

genre: angst, no happy ending

words: 1k

Being a Gojo was an absolute curse, and even worse was that I was born a woman. Eventually, you get used to the neglect, the hurtful words they strike you with all because you're his weaker sister.

Adding more to this sob story, the higher ups absolutely despised me and if it wasn't for my cursed energy, they would have done what they did best. Eliminating those they fear because they know they can't handle power.

All I've ever wanted was to feel like I belonged somewhere. Where someone could just, understand how I feel and appreciate the things I do. A group of people to laugh and spend time with.

"Why did I have to be his sister" is all that ever comes into my head. I try to hate my brother, but how could I hate the person almost everybody loves and cherishes so much. I just wish we could be like family instead of being rivals I never wanted us to become.

After all that's happened in my life including the event here in Shibuya, maybe I can actually be worth something for the community for once.

Maybe I can finally give up my dream of creating a stronger connection with my older brother.

Give up on the dream that I could live happily among them

Letting go of the thought that they'll accept me as a woman.

Laying on the floor right now, it's pretty cold. Never been colder in my life before even after experiencing all their stares. Can't feel my legs, they're heavy, too heavy. And my fingers don't move too. Am I dying?

But why does it feel so... calming. I've always thought was death was a terrifying experience.

No one in my life ever cared expect for Fushiguro-san. He knew I was capable of being strong and even said that he wanted to duel when I was on level with him. He said I could do it, which implied that he believed in what I could do. Tears were always brought to the back of my eyes. He cared for me.

I could only talk to him a few times, and it would always be in the most discreet places where I could come across him. But despite only having a few conversations with him, I treated him like a friend, a brother, and even like a grumpy dad.

I laugh at the thought of him driving me to school, which would never happen. But does it really matter what I think right now? The blood is leaving my body really fast, and Toji isn't here anymore. The only person who ever cared and appreciated my existence.

My brother's sealed in a box, and I couldn't help at all. He'll probably hate me so much when he gets out. No, he will hate me. Give me that stare that I fear everytime. His voice cold unlike his usual tone to everyone else. Why does brother hate me so much.

No one's around, last person I saw was Shoko, right before I left where her and Yaga-sensei were located. I wasn't even informed of the disaster but now I'm a victim of it. I guess this was the biggest blessing of my whole life.

Yaga-sensei removed the collar suppressing my cursed energy and told me I wouldn't need it when I get there. These moments only happen when I'm out on a mission to kill curses of higher grades. Always being accompanied by someone who has the ability to unlock my collar, like I'm some kind of dog.

The lights are getting brighter, what's taking so long. Why can't I just die already, it's hurting so much. I cry at the pain, I never wanted pain, no one does.

"GOJO-SAN!!" a voice yells in the distance.

Oh, it's that strawberry haired boy, with tiger stripes.

They've always refrained me from meeting him, probably cause he's got the soul of an angel. They didn't want me forming good connections with everyone fearing I'll get too comfortable and possibly overcome and be stronger than my brother which doesn't make sense at all.

I've only ever caught a few glimpses of him, he's hella cute, and his iconic red hoodie specially designed just for him that makes him stand out. I'm thinking a lot right now, I guess this is what happens when you die slowly and try to relieve the pain by having your mind busy with thoughts.

"Gojo-san, what happened?! I'm bringing you to Shoko-san right now, stay with me!" Yuji says as he picks my body up carefully, securing my limbs in place before he sprints to where we're heading.

"Thank you yuji, for caring. It feels really nice, to receive your kindness. You're a good kid" I tell him, my voice hoarse and light.

I don't even think he heard it, but I can't deal with the pain anymore. Almost like, I can't feel anything too. Can't hear his heavy breathing hoping to get me there on time, the wind rushing by us, the sound his feet make when it comes into contact with the ground.

"Gojo-san?..." Yuji slows down

Gojo Y/N sleeps eternally, in the hands of a boy who holds a curse within him

Gojo Y/N is finally at peace, after being neglected all her life

They lay in in Yuji's arms, a soft smile displayed on their lips with their eyes closed.

#jujutsu kaisen angst #jujutsu kaisen #gojo satoru #yuji itadori #gojo angst #jjk angst #shibuya arc #gojo!reader #can someone make a fic out of this shit post please

105 notes · View notes

partywithoutsmiling · 6 days

Note

Here's a fun idea you said that if he wanted to branch could make his own tribe. well what if he did, where do you think the tribe would live? I'm thinking something like the lash caves from minecraft because underground, and what if that was hundreds of years ago? What do you think folk trolls would evolve to look like? What about their culture? Would the leader position be passed down through bloodline or successes? What would their leader even be called? I feel like it has to be chief. Aaaahahahhah this ideas so funnnnn

Hi!

Sorry for late answer, I had a late shift at work, and that didn't leave me with much energy to do anything but have midnight dinner and then sleep XD

The thing about Branch, and his Folk String- yes, he could form his own Tribe and his own genre of music, but I am unsure if he would. Not at least while he travels, and while the events of the first and second movie are taking place.

First it comes down to the fact that he has no idea that the Strings exists and what they even are- and that knowledge would probably change somewhere around when World Tour happens. Even as he travels through the other territories, the topic of Strings just... doesn't come up, so he has no idea what power he holds in his hands (paws XD).

He also just still feels very connected to his own Tribe, no matter how badly they treated him. Especially after he realizes that Poppy actually missed him and was devastated to see him gone. (And sorry to say but my Branch will always be a bit of a simp for her, he is a lost cause in that)

BUT, all that said, entertaining the possibility of him forming his own Tribe...

Him straying underground once more would be very in character- especially as apparently Rock Trolls are subterranean people, in that most of their dwellings are underground and I do headcanon Branch as having a rock troll blood. So he would have never felt comfortable high in the trees like a full blood Pop Troll, but he also wouldnt want to be without any access to sunlight or plantlife.

The Lush Caves are a good idea certainly- and I raise you the possibility of their dwelling be more like the Hidden World from HTTYD XD

Not to the full fantastical extent as in the movies- but with the definition on whimsy and calm, some bioluminescence and giant crystals would be a great conversation piece XD

Chief being the title of the leader also fits- that, or more specifically Chieftain. Branch definitelly doesnt think of himself as coming from line of kings and queens (He is wrong about that in my headcanon buuut that's for another post XD), and so he would never think to use those titles. I think the position would be hereditary- but definitelly not going to the 'firstborn of the firstborn', but based on suitability. Culturaly, I think that would also be most familiar to any troll who who migrates from the large Tribes, where the leadership is definitelly a hereditary position (I think even Country Trolls, despite the Fandom calling Delta Dawn a mayor, do regard her as their queen).

Now for the fun part, the physical changes XD

Honestly that by itself requires a whole another post, since this need to encompass all of the Trolls tribe by tribe, but let me sum it up based on the Major Genres:

Pop: - Colourful little menaces as we know them from the movies XD - Largely arboreal- that means long tails that compensates for balance, and paws with retractable claws used for gripping onto tree bark - All trolls- apart from Classical and Techno- are in possession of fur, or (as one AO3 fanfic writer called it) in possession of 'flocking' XD - Pop Trolls grow thicker pelt in winter and shed it with the coming summer- but in general, it still grows rather fast for some so those trolls took to shaving it down to keep it need (Poppy is one such with unlucky ancient genes when it comes to that) - Before they evolved to use their Hair to the exten they do now, they largely counted on their own agility and ability to jump from branch to branch, and chipped away burrows into the trees - so powerful leg and arm muscles, and comparativelly amazing strenght for beings so small -They definitelly used to be taller than any non-funk trolls, slightly shorter than Biggie, but with the Pop String creation, their hair abilities and the selective survival of the smallest (after all, smaller trolls hid from Bergens' better), they've been getting on average shorter - They do have small hint of fangs, but are largely leaning towards non-meaty diet, though still very much omnivorous

Country: - Centaur-ish; I know movie depicted them with horse bodies, but I headcanon them more in the way unicorns are in old medieval illustrations, ie Artiodactyls - Long tail hair, almost as luscious as their own hair - Pointier ears, clear fangs on top of their large front teeth (since meat seems to be large part of their diet), but not really paws and claws; I would say they are the most carnivorous of all the trolls, raising livestock both for milk but specifically for meat - (diving into the territory of evolution, if they were hunters of prey, they probably chased them and kicked them to death XD) - All in all, not that different from how movie showed them

Classical: - More fairy-like/Hummingbird-like than in the movies - Definitelly still smaller and glittery, but with the idea their skin is not actually glitter like with Glitter Trolls, but either some kind of scale like feathers, or more durable version of the scales like butterflies have on their wings -Two pairs of wings instead of one, and definitelly beating faster to keep them up in the air - No tail- a rarity out of all the Trolls- and their hair is more like bird feathers/crest, in that it can puff up or lay flatter depending on situation - Most likely nectarivous and herbivorous? Making something like 'honey' from their farming efforts XD - The gemstone in their belly is an accessory and not something they all grow naturally- meant to show the troll is grown and ready to join the Orchestra XD

Techno: - Not much to change there- I just imagine their neon and digital looks came much later after decades/centuries being influenced by their string, they used look a little bit down to earth before that - Omnivorous, with crustaceans and molluscs making up for the majority of their animal protein- and probably necessary source of compound their bodies need to be bioluminescent

Rock: - Being looks wise the most similar to Pop Trolls, there was probably some speculation they both came from the very first same ancestor- before the Strings were created - Their flocking/fur is thinner and sleeker, and they don't grow a thick undercoat in winter, but similar to Pop trolls they have paws with claws- only theirs are not retractable - Their tail is also shorter and not as luscious in fur, used more for display than for balancing - Pointier ears for sure, more visible fangs; as mentioned, I think they are supposed to be subterranean? So most of their dwellings is underground- probably to avoid the volcanic ash on top- but I imagine living so close to the sea, they are largely focused on fishing (their angler ships suggests that they have no issue going underwater), probably hunting whatever critter lives in the cavern bellow, and maybe they are using the advantage of volcanic soil to grow some hardier crops? - Living underground with no direct sunlight for days probably gave them killer nightvision while their colours dulled to make hiding in the caves easier

That said, Branch is half and half. Despite his ear deformity, I would imagine they would always be a little pointier than on any other Pop Troll, and he cannot retract his claws (and thus took to filing them down to keep them blunt for safety sake- still sharp enough to help him climb, not sharp enough to hurt) Even if he grew up with his true colours, I'd imagine they would dull as he grew older, going vibrant only if he indulged in the poppiest of songs (or if he performed on stage) He has the tail and the luscious tail-hair of a Pop troll, but his flocking never grows a thick undercoat so he is almost always chilled to the bone in winter, forced to wear padded clothing to keep warm

With the Folk String coming from him, and representing him.... I imagine some of these things would change He'd grow hardier- more temperature tolerant at least- and similar to Rock Trolls, his night vision would grow better. Would any potential Folk Trolls change the same? Maybe? Perhaps more bioluminesce similar to that of Techno Trolls, while their general basic colouring grows more grounded- more into muted pastels and leaning towards greens/aquamarine tones

Culture is hard to pinpoint, as it would be evolving from various established cultures of all the other Major and Minor tribes; who knows what hodge podge it would end up as XD

My mind is full of various headcanons pft- ones that are blanket for all my AUs and ones that are just part of that one specific one- so be on lookout for more regarding that

#trolls #dreamworks trolls #trolls fandom #trolls branch #wanderer!branch au #ask

23 notes · View notes

tanadrin · 7 months

Note

Hey... sorry if this is too much, but im a baby trans and ive been struggling to grasp the concept what gender is, everytime i try to look for a definition i only find the vague basics like "its what you identify as!" Or i find bigoted shit from trasphobes. If you have any recommendations of essays about gender from trans people who dive deeper unto the concept it would really help. Sorry if im bothering you i just dont really know who else to ask 😅

i don't know how helpful i can be. i have a very instrumental view of transition--i.e., if you think it might make you happier than you are now, you should give it a try and see. i think a lot of pointless verbiage is spilled on trying to nail down difficult-to-elucidate questions about purely internal experiences, about the distinction between gender and sex, and about what all this gender stuff means anyway. i think that stuff can be interesting to discuss, if you like that sort of thing (and i do!) but that loading yourself up with a lot of gender theory isn't actually useful for figuring out what you should do vis a vis your gender presentation and how you identify.

for those latter questions, i think the answer is simple: what makes you happier? when you imagine a given gender presentation, or your body being different in certain ways, or people calling you by a certain name, does that sound appealing? doesn't matter why. if so, go for it! and frankly this advice is quite agnostic of whether or not you're cis or trans. people should adopt the identities that feel most conducive to their happiness. you do not need elaborate theoretical justifications for any of it. anyone who demands an elaborate theoretical justification for how you dress or what name you choose to use or anything like that is an asshole whose opinion you can safely ignore. i guarantee you they are selective in this demand, and are only using it to try to find an excuse to be a dick.

that said, you want a definition of gender, and i guess i can try.

"gender" has no definition. that's not meant to be a smart aleck answer. what i mean is: "gender" is a conceptual category. conceptual categories do not exist outside of our discourse about them. there is nowhere in the world you can go to lay your hands on A Gender. there is no Gender Particle. and while in most philosophical traditions we think of categories as having necessary and sufficient conditions for membership ("a human is an animal descended from the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees" might be such a taxonomic definition), conceptual categories aren't actually constructed that way. because that's not how the human brain actually works: when you're a kid learning what words mean, you don't learn "a chair is a thing with four legs you sit on." that wouldn't be accurate anyway (a horse is not a chair). you see lots of chairs and pictures of chairs and you form an image in your mind of what a chair is and when you see a thing your brain compares it to other things like it you've seen before, and if it looks like your mental model of a chair, you think, "chair."

(this is in fact how almost all definitions work in practice. even for formal scientific categories for which it seems like a traditional definition might be workable, because our terms are so specific, there are problems and corner-cases. is a HeLa cell a human? it's certainly an autonomous organism. it's certainly descended from the last common ancestor of a chimpanzee and a human being. but it's a single-celled organism that exists only in laboratory cultures, and lacks everything else we expect a human to have.)

so, uh, gender. "gender" is from the latin word "genus" meaning "kind." it is a doublet (that is, shares an etymological origin) with the words "genre" and (more distantly) "kin." obviously, a word's etymology is not its meaning. confusing the two is called the etymological fallacy. but originally when we talked about "gender" we were pretty explicitly talking about categories in general, and i think that's useful to keep in mind. incidentally, "sex" (also from Latin) has a similar etymology--it's related to "section," i.e., the creation of a category by dividing a group. though "sex" acquired something like its current meaning much earlier.

most human cultures group humans into two broad conceptual categories. this is based on a variety of traits, of which physical traits like genitals are seen as frequently foundational. some cultures explicitly create additional ancillary categories, or provide a means to move (often only partially) from one category to another. contemporarily, there has been an effort to distinguish "biological sex" (seen as what chromosomes you have, reflected by what genitals and other physical characteristics you have) from "gender" (seen as a question of social presentation).

i think this is a mistake. you might be able to spot why--biological sex is a conceptual category! most humans are xx or xy, but there is in fact a wide variety of sex-chromosomal arrangements that are possible. xx and xy are only the most common. biology is messy, and it's hard to tell how messy, because we don't routinely karyotype people. the existence of rare-but-noteworthy conditions like complete androgen insensitivity (frequently reuslting in a chromosomal "male" that is "mis"identified as and lives their whole life as a female) highlight that even within the purely biological realm, sex emerges only as two broad clusters, not as two clearly divided bins. moreover, a trans person who has been taking cross-sex hormones for many years is in a sort of willingly-imposed intersex state. so saying a trans woman is a "biological male" or a trans man is a "biological female" (especially if they have had an orchiectomy or hysterectomy and can no longer produce gametes of their respective assigned sex at birth) is sort of funny--we're privileging an (assumed) chromosomal arrangement over the biological facts on the ground. and while DNA does control a lot about how our bodies grow and develop, it can in fact be overridden! otherwise, cosmetic surgery, or hair dye, or LASIK surgery would all be exercises in futility.

"gender" is sometimes also talked about as a set of internal experiences. you "feel like" or "identify as" a particular gender. and while it's certainly plainly true for some people (both cis and trans), it seems not to be true of everybody (cis or trans), and for other people it's hard to say. not everybody has perfect access to their own feelings all the time. people get told they're lying about what they feel when that's socially inconvenient for other people. and internal states are impossible to measure or verify. they're also often pretty hard to put into words, and we mostly can access them only indirectly, by sidling up to them, or by trying to find other people whose experiences/thoughts/feelings seem to resonate with our own.

so i don't have a definition of gender for you, or an etiology, or even a very robust account. sorry! but i also think that anybody trying to tell you they do is operating from an understanding so narrow that they don't even begin to understand its limits.

68 notes · View notes

itsclydebitches · 10 months

Note

Hey, first ask but I’ve been following you for a while now, got here from seeing your post on a RWBY Reddit(notsurewhichone.) cus I’ve enjoyed all your recaps and reviews.

And I just want to ask your thoughts about Semblances in RWBY. Specifically how no one in the show…like really reacts or thinks of the implication of what someone’s Semblance says about their personality. You’d think Huntsman would be more wary of partnering up with people whose Semblances are linked to emotions when they fight Grimm. Like that’s easy bullying there

so while cool, you’d think some people would feel off about working with others depending on their Semblances.

Realistically we all know the answer why, RWBY’s never been the best(when they tried) at World Building and not every teenager likes to read into everything(most do, I won’t lie.)

Welcome to the inbox, anon! :D

Semblances—and their lack of development—have been a frustration of mine for years, ngl. Honestly, I've got no problem with stories keeping their World Building loose for the sake of things like combat creativity. Just want your characters to have cool powers without unpacking precisely how that's possible and the larger impact it has on the rest of the world? Go for it! That's a perfectly acceptable way to craft a story (depending on the genre + focus) and it gives fans plenty to play with without feeling like they're missing an integral part of the canon. RWBY's problem has always been in introducing these complex aspects and then not doing anything with them.

We could have easily gotten a version of the story where semblances are just generic powers that people unlock with no overtly textual connection to the characters' personalities... but we didn't. Once RWBY introduced the concept of semblances reflecting one's soul, yeah, the viewer expects something to come of that. It's the same with introducing the concept of grimm being attracted to emotion (they could have always just been free-roaming monsters), with one family's semblance being hereditary (just give Winter a similar-but-not-identical semblance that helps her train Weiss), and some semblances being passive (that never needed to be a thing, period). Those ideas raise a ton of questions that the show never capitalizes on and, worse, the show flat-out ignores the questions it does begin to unpack. Why doesn't Weiss have any thoughts about her semblances given her complicated relationship with her family? Why isn't anyone else hesitant to fight beside Qrow given his bad luck? As you say, why aren't those with semblances powered by extreme emotion, like Yang, considered potential liabilities in a fight? Is using her semblance worth it if it just attracts more monsters to deal with? Why not position her as the tank-like member of the team precisely because her powers tend to draw agro? There are so many missed opportunities but, as said, what's worse for me are the moments where the story overtly acknowledges these possibilities and then goes on to drop and/or contradict them. Nothing demonstrates this better than Ironwood's semblance supposedly being an integral part of his fall... and it doesn't exist outside of Word of God. RWBY's not iffy about its World Building, it's endlessly distracted. I'd take a story that flat out ignores questions the viewer might think up—we know what the story wants to focus on and recognizes that we should just leave the rest to fanfic—over stories like RWBY that continually introduces cool ideas and then drops them for the newest, shiniest one.

Another potential snag? Weapons. It's Crescent Rose that we're first introduced to, not Ruby's speed ability. It's Crescent Rose that she spent time building at Signal, inspired by her Uncle Qrow, who in turn was inspired by Maria. It's Crescent Rose Ruby hugs while gushing over others' weapons, saying that they're the glimpse into who they really are. At the start of the series semblances are secondary to weaponry and honestly? I think that worked a lot better. As awesome as some semblance moments have been, for me RWBY's combat shines within the weapon choreography and it's images like the tiny child standing with this giant scythe that are truly iconic. If I were re-writing the series I'd do away with semblances entirely, leaving just aura as a temporary shield and putting the emphasis back on weapons: the versatile, historical tools that the characters have control over. After all, it ultimately tells us much more about them if we get to see what they choose to fight with, rather than simply being told what fantasy genetics handed down to them. The fact that Volume 9 was supposedly this journey of self-discovery and semblances played no part in that for the team highlights how insignificant their connection to the World Building really is, but I find it equally frustrating that the characters' weapons have become insignificant props. Ruby lost Crescent Rose and isn't reacting to that? Who cares. Jaune broke the sword handed down to him through generations of huntsmen and apparently never tried to fix it? Who cares. Weiss' rapier is now literally one of the few remaining pieces of Atlas left in the world? Who cares! The story no longer treats these weapons with respect, so I can't treat them seriously as a means of characterization. That goes double when RWBY pops in once every two-ish volumes to insist that yeah, semblances are totally meaningful to these characters too.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

61 notes · View notes

brian-in-finance · 5 months

Text

Instagram

GIVING CREDIT

Saluting the behind the scenes talent making movie magic

Rob Youngson is a unit stills photographer for film and television. He's captured images for Belfast, A Haunting in Venice, The Great Escaper, Heanstopper St and Atlanta S3. He also shoots stills for posters. 'An effective still image has to communicate a lot in a single moment. An onlooker should know the tone, the genre and who stars in the production within a few seconds. It should leave them with a question: what happens? The answer to which is always, to go and see the film. It's the visual equivalent of a hook in pop music.'

How would you describe your job in simple terms?

I work with the cast and crew to capture striking still images during filming - without being a distraction or affecting the schedule.

I work with the publicist to ensure I get the images needed to publicise the film. I also capture behind-the-scenes images, which highlight the collaborative process and anything unique about the production. I may work with the props department to take period-accurate portraits for set dressing.

I've also consulted actors on how to use old-fashioned prop cameras convincingly.

How did you get into set photography?

I trained and worked as a theatre lighting designer while photographing bands on the side. Then I discovered that this job existed through an article in Nikon Owner magazine.

It was an interview with Kimberley French (Brokeback Mountain, The Revenant). I knew straight away I had to do this. So I went to work at one of the rental companies that hires cameras and lenses to productions.

I cleaned the kit, loaded the trucks and got to know people in the industry. used any leave to work on short films and then went freelance. Early on, I assisted an established unit stills photographer on some studio shoots. He then recommended me for a job he couldn't take and that put my work in front of the right people to get hired again.

What's the biggest misconception about your job?

That still images are screen grabs from the film. This is a widespread misconception, even within the industry. It doesn't work for two reasons. The technical reason is that the common shooting frame rate of 24fps doesn't freeze motion enough for those screen grabs to be printed at billboard size.

The second and most important reason is artistic; what works well for a moving image doesn't necessarily make a strong still photograph. Another misconception is that actors are difficult to work with. They are usually lovely. Actors have to step into a vulnerable place while surrounded by noise and crew and kit. They have to keep going to that place again and again for different camera angles. Part of what makes a good unit stills photographer is respect for the acting process. Sometimes my job is knowing when to step away and allow the actors space to work.

What's been the most memorable moment on a film set?

Watching Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh make each other laugh on day one of shooting Belfast. We had all been in lockdown for so long, it felt like a new beginning. It felt like photographing love and hope and friendship.

What's the worst thing about your job?

Missing time with my family because I'm working away. Sometimes standing in a field on a night shoot, in February, in the snow, I start to question it. Those moments can feel tough. But a lot of the crew are in that same situation with you. Working on good scripts with nice people makes the time away from home, the long hours and driving, a lot easier.

What's the best thing about your job?

Knowing that my images help stories to find an audience. Stories that take years of hard work and hundreds of people to get told. On set, the best thing is being witness to incredible acting, from both legends and up-and-coming talent. Seeing what the Heartstopper cast are doing for LGBTQA* representation right now is special. I'm also currently working with two incredible young actors. I am so excited for more people to discover their storytelling potential.

If someone wants to do your job, what's the best route in?

Get on to set any way you can, in any role. Take photos across all genres of photography. Welcome honest feedback on your work. Don't sweat the kit you haven't got. You'll get hired for your eye and how well you get on with people, not what's in your bag. The necessity to work on low/no-budget jobs early in your career is a barrier to many, especially as a lot of opportunities centre around expensive cities. Screenskills and BAFTA have resources for helping bridge that gap - seek those out. Go and see as much art and as many films as you can.

Remember… (most memorable moment on a film set) Watching Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh make each other laugh on day one of shooting Belfast. We had all been in lockdown for so long, it felt like a new beginning. It felt like photographing love and hope and friendship. — Rob Youngson

#Tait rhymes with hat #Good times #Photography #Stills #BelfastMovie #Film Buff #Christmas 2023 #Belfast #2021 #Instagram

19 notes · View notes