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#i finished all three arcs before romancing anyone
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Mini-fic: Jealous!Kang
For @thirstkanaphan — thank you for your very thoughtful questions for the Dangerous Romance celebration (and everything else you do!!)!! And yes, I am very bad at mini fics, thank you for asking, everyone!!
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On his way back upright from a standing hamstring stretch, Kang glances forward, out of a long-ingrained habit, to look for Sailom in the stands. Two years into university, his boyfriend can’t always make his matches — classes and group projects increasingly have to take priority — but for the first time in at least three weeks, Sailom had said he thought he would be free today.
After a few seconds of scanning the bleachers, Kang finds him, sitting in the front row and his blood instantly goes hot. Because Sailom isn’t alone. There’s a player from the opposing team — the Engineering faculty team — talking to him. And Kang recognizes him. Tall, handsome, so very thoughtful First. Sailom’s peer mentor — now one of his closest friends in the faculty, always bringing him drinks and snacks, and offering to help check his work. He’s unquestionably made Sailom’s time at university a little easier. Kang still hates his guts.
His eyes narrow as he stares, watching First drop a casual, proprietary hand on Sailom’s shoulder. He finds himself taking a step forward, ready to close the gap of the field between them.
“Kanghan!” his coach barks. “You planning to join the huddle?”
Kang huffs a breath. He forces himself to look away; to turn and jog to meet his teammates. He takes satisfaction in hearing First get a similar chastisement.
**
Early in the third quarter, Kang gets his chance. He sees, as if in slow motion, the pass arcing to First. He’s able to speed up, forcibly knock First out of the way, sending him sprawling to the ground in the process, and then steal the ball. Since the Engineering team had been on the attack, they have to turn on their heels, buying him another essential second. Before anyone even realizes he has the ball, he’s over the halfway line.
Kang feels the familiar, joyous rush of the open pitch as he speeds towards the goal. It’s almost easy to fake, to send the keeper sprawling, and bury it in the corner of the net. The sound of Sailom’s voice cheering for him carries loudest of all.
**
After the final whistle, he makes an immediate run for the bleachers. Sailom stands to wait for him, arms outstretched. But instead of barreling into him for a hug, Kang slows. He reaches to take Sailom by the face with both hands — kisses him long and slow. The fabric of his jersey goes tight in the clench of Sailom’s fingers.
“What was that for?” Sailom asks when he finally pulls away, many long seconds later. His lips look beautifully pink — the color of a Korat sunset.
Kang doesn’t turn and look pointedly in the direction of the Engineering team . . . no matter how much he wants to.
“I missed you today,” he says instead. Which is true. Sailom had been out the door ridiculously early to finish some group project.
“You have to shower before we have dinner,” Sailom tells him. “You stink.”
But the flush of pleasure on his cheeks gives him away.
((Want your own mini fic? Show me proof that you submitted a question or feedback to the Dangerous Romance Celebration hosted by @criticallyobs before midnight your time on this Thursday and I’ll tackle the Kang/Sailom prompt of your choosing))
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electricshoebox · 2 months
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I did it, I finished! I'm king of Baldy Gate!
No but seriously, what a fantastic game. I really thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't wait to try different paths and classes on another run! And at last I can end my fanfic embargo, hehe.
For anyone curious, I'll put some Act 3/End Game choices below the cut.
I stayed tentative allies with the Emperor through Act 3 but resisted all attempts to get me to use the tadpoles. In the end, I refused to let him kill Orpheus and so he turned on me. I feel pretty vindicated for not trusting him for basically the whole game lol.
I killed Cazador and did not ascend Astarion. I have some... woof, incredibly complicated feelings about the whole arc and story, more than I expected.
I did refuse Raphael's deal and break into the House of Hope and I think that was the single most maddening and frustrating experience of the entire game
I saved Wyll's dad and the Gondians, and killed all three Chosen without making deals.
I got Gale and Mystra to play nice and got him to give her back the Crown.
In a split second character decision that turned out to actually have been the perfect choice for my Tav, she, Wyll, Karlach are now the three hell-sketeers. Before playing the game I was debating going for Wyll or Karlach, and finding out at the last second this was an option felt perfect. I have so many swirling thoughts about their post-game adventures and maybe possibly some post-game romance??? Who knows??? 😏
I do genuinely kind of love the idea of the three of them choosing Avernus. Like it sucks snd it's hard and I hope they find their way out but the ongoing idea is so interesting
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disgracefulthings · 26 days
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I gotta rant a bit about Loki
I have not seen season 2 of his show, but season one killed my love for MCU Loki
Let's start with the movies. The first two Thor movies are usually regarded as some of the worst MCU films (especially the second), but what I like about them is at least Loki has a consistent character arc throughout them (along with the first Avengers film). Loki learns that he's a part of a race that is treated like monsters on Asgard, and this destroys him. He tries to off himself at the end of the first Thor movie, only to end in the hands of Thanos. He went through so much shit throughout all three of these movies, and Thor 2 ends with him on Asgard's throne, leaving the audience wondering what he will do now he got what he thought he wanted.
Then Thor 3 happened. Look, I like Taika Waititi, and Thor 3 is an enjoyable film, but it destroyed Loki's character arc. He's just a silly guy now. Why does he try to backstab Thor? Because he's silly, no other reason. Plus, after Odin has lied to Loki for his entire life, he tells him that he loves him and magically all that trauma about him being a frost giant is gone! In fact, I think the MCU has forgotten that Loki is a frost giant at all! (Shut up, I know about What If). Ok, but what about the next movie. Thanos has finally come and now Loki can confront the person that gave him the mind stone to take over Earth- and Loki's dead.
I really don't like how they killed Loki. Loki is not a character you kill off to show how dangerous this villain will be. Mostly because the movies had forgotten to finish his character arc, but I guess everyone had forgotten he had one at this point.
Did anyone cry when he died? I sure as hell didn't, and I'm a crybaby when it comes to my faves dying. I was more shocked, and I convinced myself that this was another fake out. Honestly it may seem like cope with all these fans believing that he is still alive, but he has faked his death before, and nobody wanted to believe that his story will end in a dumb way that felt like the writers not believing that he mattered as a character.
But he did, and now we have season 1 of Loki. I honestly thought the writers realized how loved Loki is and they would finally finish his character arc. I mean, the show takes place after Avengers 1, and that's when Loki still hated himself for being a frost giant.
But no, Loki is silly again. Thor 3 has really ruined Loki. I understand that the first 2 Thor movies weren't as beloved, but I loved all the Loki scenes. There's a reason why his character became so popular despite the movies not.
Anyway, the first season of Loki isn't all bad. I love that it gave Loki a friend, and Mobius plays off him really well. And... yeah, I think that's all I like about it.
Now on to everything else. To start off, I really don't like Sylvie x Loki. Not only does it give me incestuous vibes, I really don't think Loki should have a love interest at this point (I don't ship Mobius x Loki too because of this point, but I will admit they have way more chemistry than Sylvie x Loki). But as I said, the writers didn't care about his character arc and so they forced a romance they had no time to build up, leaving me confused on why they had them fall in love in one episode, and ohh boy, the episode is super fucking dumb.
They established that you can do anything in an apocalypse situation and there would be no anomalies detected, SO WHY DOES LOKI AND SYLVIE FALLING IN LOVE CAUSE AN ANOMALY??? Because the plot said so, I love lazy writing in the show with my favorite character!!
God, and there's the queer baiting. Now, I can excuse the train scene because daddy Disney can't have shows say the word bi, but the scene where Loki asks the other Lokis if they ever seen another female Loki, and they say no???? WTF!?!? Is Loki gender fluid or not! Also, this is a stupid ass line that didn't need to be in the show? There are an infinite amount of universes, but only 1 female Loki who got caught by the TVA?? That doesn't make sense!
I'm done with Loki and I'm done with the MCU. The only good MCU show I've seen was WandaVision, and they still botched the ending and had a horrible follow up movie.
I heard Loki season 2 was better, but I still don't know why I should even bother
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lurkingshan · 11 months
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Make it Right 2
I have so many thoughts and feelings about this show that I'm struggling to decide where to start. I guess the best place is my overall impressions, which haven't changed since I finished the first series: I LOVE THIS SHOW AND I WILL DEFEND THESE CHARACTERS TO ANYONE. Fight me!
Now real talk, does this show have high production quality, smart writing and plotting, sharp editing, scene construction, and overall narrative consistency and coherence? No, it does not. It has none of those things, and a lot of them have gotten markedly worse from the first season. But all that barely phased me because the characters just hooked themselves right into my heart and wouldn't let go. This show is very very messy, but in the most lovable way ("LIKE GAY PEOPLE" - @bengiyo).
There were three main storylines that I was invested in for this second season. I will talk about them in order of least to most emotional investment.  @waitmyturtles @wen-kexing-apologist @manogirl tagging you to come back to this later after you finish your watches because I want to talk about ALL OF THIS. For anyone reading - major spoilers from here on out!!
Yok & Lukmo
Boy, I did not expect this romance, and I really liked it. Which came as a surprise, because I did not care much about Mo in the first series. I was more invested in Yok, but in season 1 he felt kind of removed from everyone else, which was of course by design. He felt apart from the other boys because he is different. And it was just really really lovely to see a femme gay character get to embrace who he is and be loved for it. I like that he was wary of Mo and tested him for awhile before he let him in, and that Mo did waver a bit when he was first challenged on whether he really was okay being in a gay relationship. That felt authentic to me, and only made it feel more solid when they came back together with Mo more confident in what he wanted. I also liked that in the end Yok's mom stepped up to take her kid's side and express her acceptance of who he is and his relationship - it was very sweet.
I do have to deduct some points here for that very tonally bizarre sex scene that got tacked on to the end of their story. The way that scene was directed, shot, and edited just didn't feel in line with their dynamic at all, and I spent most of it thinking we were in some kind of weird dream sequence. I did find it amusing though that these two were better with physical intimacy in their one scene than the leads ever managed across two full seasons.
Frame & Book
My beloveds!! They were my favorite part of season 1, and I still loved them here, though I think the show faltered a lot on their storyline in season 2. The ideas behind their arc - Book working through some past relationship trauma, dealing with the fallout of Book's public violation, Frame struggling to hang in as Book pushed him away - were all good. But the execution was pretty spotty. The entire arc needed some clearer storyboarding and a pacing and sequencing revamp. The choppy editing this season felt most evident to me in this storyline, where I often felt like scenes came abruptly out of nowhere or felt out of sequence, and emotional swings happened too fast to be believable. And I didn't love where the show ultimately took some of the resolutions with the ex-boyfriend (and the teacher who was apparently inviting his students for group sex parties??) but I can't say they aren't in line with this show's overall forgiving attitude toward whatever these boys get up to.
All that said, at the core of this storyline was Frame and Book struggling to endure a traumatic event together, figuring out how they need to show up for each other in those moments, and learning from their mistakes to become better communicators. All of that worked and fit the characters really well. I believed that Book would totally shut down and push Frame out in the face of public humiliation and deep shame. I believed Frame would try and try and try to get through to him but also experience moments of weakness where he would be tempted to just say fuck it and go back to the easier path of casual hookups. And though a lot of the journey to get there was sloppily executed, I believed that they would ultimately come out of that mess more committed and in love than before (I could have done without all the wedding talk though, they are 16 people!).
​Fuse & Tee
And here we come to the arc that frustrated and thrilled me in equal measure. FUSE YOU ABSOLUTE WANKER I WANT TO YEET YOU OFF A CLIFF AND ALSO GIVE YOU A GIANT HUG. I was deep in my feelings about this story all season. Fuse made me so mad, Tee made me so sad, and they both made me so happy in the end when they finally figured out their shit.
As we discussed in the clown server, Fuse's storyline feels very familiar to a lot of early Thai bl. His inability to let go of his shitty girlfriend and his constant wavering between Jean and Tee was reminiscent of Phun in Love Sick (and would also be a dynamic repeated in other shows like Together with Me). The key difference for me, and what made it comparably more upsetting than in Love Sick, is that unlike Noh, Tee did not have his own other relationship to deal with or any ambivalence about whether he wanted to actually be together. Tee only ​wanted Fuse, and wanted commitment and fidelity from him, and watching Tee get increasingly depressed as he tried to be happy just getting what he could from Fuse, caught in a cycle of getting hope and then being rejected again, was so painful. And while he might not have been fully aware of how selfish and cruel he was being at first, eventually Fuse definitely saw how this was affecting Tee and came to understand he was the cause, and he still didn't stop fucking with him! I was so angry with him around the midpoint of the season, I just wanted Tee to dump him and start dating his little friend. 
What made it all so much harder to swallow is that Jean and Fuse's relationship was so mild. THEY DON'T EVEN LIKE EACH OTHER. Fuse does not want to touch or kiss her - that was established way back at the beginning of season 1. They go long stretches where they don't even talk to each other until one of them remembers the other exists. Jean has a whole other boyfriend that she seems to have a much deeper relationship with. And this is where the show kind of pissed me off, because the way they turned Jean into an evil manipulative woman stereotype with her pulling this elaborate scheme to pretend her boyfriend was her brother so she could parade around town with him (and even brazenly bring him in front of Fuse!) just felt so false and over the top to me. Why would she bother to do any of that just for the sake of stringing along this boy who isn't even interested in being her boyfriend in any real way? @bengiyo mentioned that his reading of it was she is insecure in her relationship with the older boy and so wants Fuse as a back up, which I could buy to a certain extent, but they really lost me with the lengths she went to. Jean is a very pretty girl who will no doubt have another boyfriend in a week; all this just to hang on to Fuse? I didn't buy it.
And that's a problem because it made it harder to understand why the hell Fuse was having such a hard time letting go of her, and why he was willing to hurt Tee so much in the process. I think if he genuinely liked Jean and had a deeper relationship with her, that would have worked better for me. As it was, he just seemed like a coward, and the way he kept rejecting Tee and then still trying to have his way with him after was infuriating. When he told Tee he was breaking up with him and staying with Jean, and then still tried to get him to sleep with him after, that's when I was ready to strangle this kid. And some of this I can rationalize as him not being ready to firmly commit to being out in a gay relationship and needing Jean as a kind of shield and safety blanket, but if that was the intent I think the show muddied the message a bit by having literally everyone already know about Tee and Fuse. That horse was long out of the barn before Fuse finally did something about Jean.
To the show's credit, it knows exactly how awful Fuse was throughout this entire debacle, and the last segment of their arc is all about Fuse recognizing it himself and atoning for his behavior with Tee. I love that we saw him apologize to Tee with increasing sincerity. I love that we saw him finally be the one to pursue Tee and make his feelings clear, and that Tee actually made him work for it. I loved that we had multiple episodes of Fuse trying to work up the courage to ask Tee to be his faen, and that Tee knew what was happening and enjoyed watching Fuse flounder. My absolute favorite scene was Fuse finally breaking down and confessing to Tee at the beach (with a little help from best bro Lukmo) - that he knows he was wrong, that he knows he was selfish, that he understands what Tee means to him now, that he loves him and wants to be with him and he's ready to commit to that. And Tee, because he is a kind and generous person who has been patiently waiting for this all along, immediately forgave him and responded in kind. It was so emotionally cathartic and satisfying, and felt very much earned after that loooooong journey through the mess. More than anything else I felt so proud of Fuse, and so happy for Tee, and I believed they would be solid from that point on. I didn't even need the sweet little epilogue to feel that way, but I was delighted to get it (and a direct homage to Love Sick with Fuse putting his hand over the camera lens as he leaned over to kiss his boyfriend).
Final thoughts
As I wrapped up my watch I have been reflecting on why this show is not as beloved in fandom as something like Love Sick. Why does it not seem to have the same nostalgic pull? Why don't people (other than @absolutebl and @bengiyo) talk about it as much as other classic Thai bls? And the only thing I can think of is that it's too raw for most of the bl audience. And I mean raw in every sense - the production, the acting, the emotions, the inexperience and naivete and even the physicality of the characters. Nothing particularly sophisticated is happening here, and nothing is smoothed over. If you want to love these characters, you have to love them through all the bad decisions and fucked up choices and flaws run wild. You have to love them when they're ugly as much as when they're beautiful. And I think that's hard for a lot of the audience that just wants to see sweet love stories. But I am here for it and so glad I finally got to watch this.
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swaps55 · 1 year
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So, a little peek behind the curtain for anyone who might be wondering why the hell it's taking me so long to update Fugue.
I've got roughly 18,000 words drafted of what was supposed to be one chapter that is now two. Getting those words out has been an adventure.
I agonized for about a week on whether I had the right person in the right scene for a character moment, decided I didn't, then rewrote the scene with a different character. Which required giving a LOT of thought to How Does This Character Grieve.
And then I decided the scene was in the wrong place so I moved it. And now have to rewrite it again for reasons that I will elaborate on in #9 & #10
I spent a month trying to block out the right sequence of events for an action scene. I finally did it. And I hated it. It felt wrong, Kaidan was out of character, the tension wasn't high enough, and it missed the overall mark by a mile.
Had probably three rubber duck brainstorm sessions with Real Life Romance Option (RLRO) to solve this problem. Revised the scene. Better, but still didn't believe in it. Said fuck it and just moved on. Maybe the answer will become apparent as I move through the rest.
Revised the scene from #1 again now that I had written the scene mentioned in #3, because #1 theoretically resolves some of the tension in #3. But the tension is still fucked up so this scene still isn't right.
Started blocking out the next round of combat, realized that it was boring from Kaidan's POV (not his fault - the interesting action was just happening where he wasn't), and then decided I need to change it up. Wrestled with that for a few days, because writing from the POV of OCs is always a little bit of a risk and I don't do it lightly. Decided it was important and valuable enough to do it.
Problem is, I have not written this character's POV since Sam died, so I took several days to sit with THAT and figure out what the world looks like through her eyes after his death and how that would help me tell the story I needed to tell. Problem: I still didn't REALLY understand what story I was trying to tell. I knew what the basic sequence of events were, but the character growth hadn't clicked yet.
Wrote the POV, and now, some 13-14k into this part of the story, FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHAT ALL OF THIS IS TRYING TO BE ABOUT. Thank god, now at least I know what I'm trying to accomplish other than Plot.
Realize that I now need to rewrite scene #1 from a totally different POV to create the parallels I'm looking for to move Kaidan along on his grief arc.
This presents a problem, because it puts me in Kara's POV while she is solving an engineering problem, and Kara is much smarter than I am. This meant another brainstorm session with RLRO, who handed me the PERFECT solution to the problem that fixed my character problems, fixed my tension problem, would make it possible for her to be smart without me being smart, etc., BUT, it meant throwing out every single word I'd spent an entire month writing.
Because of this entirely new development, which utterly changes the dynamic I am working with, I have to rewrite #1 AGAIN (which I still have not gotten to because I just finished #10).
I also still have to do first round revisions on the rest of the damn thing, because the back end of these two chapters is really raw and needs some love.
SO THIS IS WHY IT IS TAKING SO LONG. Every time I crown a chapter of Fugue as the most complicated writing I have ever put together, another chapter says, "hold my beer."
Once these are sorted out, I have two more chapters to write plus an epilogue. I think I know what I'm doing for all of it, but because each of these chapters interlink in important ways, what I think I am going to do is just write them before I post anything new. That way, everything will line up right, and once I am ready to post again, I can do it consistently.
I am really hoping I can make some progress over my holiday break (hopefully, but no promises, because I am traveling for part of it).
I am committed to getting this story done, and regret how long it's taking, but trust me, you did not want to read what I had before I figured this out.
Boy this one has been HARD. But I'm almost there. Almost. I'm really happy with the rewrites I just finished. One more big scene to rewrite. Then it's just revisions. I can handle that.
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Fall anime 2023
Just wanted to write down some of my thoughts on the 4 anime series I watched this season.
Note that all of the scores I listed here were completely based on how much I like them, thus aren't going to be directly related to how good those anime series were. I'll go from my least favorite one to the one I love the most!
(Also if somehow anyone apart from me read this, beware that English is not my first language, so sorry if something's not making sense.)
Spoilers below the cut:
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A Girl & Her Guard Dog: 4/10
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...The only reason I chose to watch this was because my favorite VA, Yuichiro Umehara, was voicing the male lead. I know it's ridiculous but I'm just THAT down bad for him, to the point that I finished watching the entire season even though I was mentally suffering almost the whole time 💀
So the age gap between Isaku and Keiya (the female and male lead) was already a HUGE red flag, some of Keiya's behavior towards Isaku was also... pretty questionable to say the least. However, the thing that irked me the most was how they handled Tanuki's assault. OMFG nobody should be caring about him not being able to play Romeo in a school play after learning what he did (almost did)!!!! He should be sent to jail asap 💀💀💀
Oh and to make matters worse, the quality of the animation in this was just... not good. There were far too many moments where the characters didn't look like themselves at all, and it just turned this into an even more agonizing experience. The animation studio that made this seemed to be notorious for making some not-so-well-received anime adaptations, at least that's what I've heard. In this season, the studio was making three anime series simultaneously, and even before those series were aired, people had been pointing out that this was a bad sign. And... yeah, the result said it all.
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My New Boss Is Goofy: 8/10
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I've watched and loved "Play It Cool, Guys" from previous seasons, so as soon as I read the premise of this series, I knew I was going to enjoy this as well. (Not to mention the lead was also voiced by Umehara) And it really didn't disappoint!
Still don't understand why this isn't categorized as BL (not complaining just wondering lol), the interaction between Shirosaki and Momose was way more romantic than some of the anime I've watched that are actually categorized as romance imo, I could barely stop myself from squealing and giggling while watching them on screen together. And I nearly cried when I thought they were going to live far away from each other in the last episode.
Aoyama and Kinjou were cute together as well! I just hope that they had more screen time, and that someone (it doesn't have to be Kinjou) could involve Aoyama in their conversation before he sadly express that no one cared about him!
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Spy × Family Season 2: 9/10
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To be honest, I was initially starting to lose interest in this series while the first few episodes were airing, but then the cruise arc begin and, wow, now I understand why there were so many people anticipating this part of the story to be made into anime! It was such an exciting watch.
I love how Yor was finally in the spotlight for that many episodes! Really enjoy watching her bringing her talents into full play, the montage of her fighting and the others watching fireworks on the deck is just *chef kiss*
Also it's funny to watch Loid trying so hard to be a perfect husband and father, only to fail miserably because Yor and Anya weren't someone you could analyze through common sense lmao
Ughhh I just love their family dynamic so much, would be looking forward to the movie when it finally comes to the theater in my country!
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Tearmoon Empire: 9/10
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I love watching silly comedies like this <3
Before watching, I thought this was a show just like any other ones with a protagonist who was revived and traveled back time to fix their past mistakes while trying to become a better person. Turned out Mia's "fixing the past" was actually caused by a bunch of misunderstanding from others lol
I love the fact that almost every time Mia made a brief comment on some situations, the other characters immediately started to have these lengthy inner monologues, which somehow always lead to the conclusion that Mia was this amazing being who they had to devote themselves to or follow for their whole lives, when in reality, she was actually putting herself first instead of trying to achieve the best outcome for all. (Especially love that one time Ludwig almost found out the truth but was quickly blinded by his own overthinking once again lmao)
By the way, the opening song is such a earworm that I can't manage to get the "Desu waaaa~" out of my brain.
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umokaysure0-0 · 8 months
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Good omens Season 2 reaction (would love to hear y’all’s thoughts)
This is gonna contain spoilers, so proceed with caution!
I, like the rest of the tumblr gays, was incredibly excited about Good Omens Season 2. Last night, a friend and I binged the entire season and...I’m honestly pretty disappointed. 
BEFORE YOU REMOVE MY SOUL FROM MY BODY, HEAR ME OUT!
The first couple of episodes were great, I enjoyed the setup and the moments we got with Crowley and Aziraphale. Things started going downhill for me at about the time that we hit the zombie Nazi bit; the pacing from that point onward felt simultaneously rushed and unfocused. 
This season had so many elements, and each one of them, I think, had good potential. The problem was that almost none of them got enough time to develop enough to have any great impact.
Take Nina and Maggie: they were, at least I think, meant to be a major part of the season’s plot. Unfortunately, we barely get any screen time or development for them as individuals or as a couple, and it really hurt my investment in their arcs. 
Similarly, Gabriel’s memory loss plotline started great, but felt to me like it was ambling along as he dropped random prophecies/bible passages that didn’t seem to have any purpose other than prompting a flashback, and his romance with Beelzebub felt similarly rushed. It could have been thematically awesome, but we literally get three scenes of their interaction and are immediately expected to want them to be together.
That idea (it’s thematically great, but the execution just fell flat) summarizes a lot of my feelings about this season. There were a lot of great ideas and threads that were introduced, but I didn’t really feel that they were given enough time or consideration to have the impact that they could have. Ultimately, this season felt like it had bitten off more than it could chew and just ended up feeling discombobulated.
I had a few other minor gripes (some of the casting choices, a few of the bits, and the inclusion of some scenes that felt like the time could have been used on something more relevant) but my main complaint is the overall pacing and structuring of this season.
I might just be too small brain to understand what Neil was going for with this season, but I was honestly quite sad after I finished the last episode, and it wasn’t in the way that I think I was meant to feel sad.
All the reviews and content I’ve seen from the Good Omens tags have been really positive, and I’m genuinely curious as to whether I missed something, or if anyone else felt a bit let down by the season.
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libertyreads · 2 years
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Book Review #85 of 2022--
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In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae. Rating: 4 stars.
Read from June 29th to July 1st.
Before I get into the review, I want to say a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at Kensington Publishing for allowing me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. In the Event of Love is a queer holiday romance in the style of a Hallmark Christmas Movie. Morgan flees L.A. following a faux pas that becomes the next trending hashtag In doing so, she finds herself face to face with the girl who broke her heart, Rachel. Can the event planner from L.A. help save the local Christmas tree farm? Can the local girl help right past wrongs? In the Event of Love is out on August 30th and is available for preorder now.
There was so much to enjoy from this debut! Courtney Kae shows off her love for Hallmark Christmas Movies with such a movie worthy setting and plot. Despite the fact that it’s been in the 100 degree range all three days I’ve been reading this one, I’ve found myself in a very Christmasy mood because of this novel. I could see this mountain town and all of the acres upon acres of trees so clearly in my mind. And the Christmas spirit gets kicked up a notch when the girls throw the fundraiser to help save the Christmas tree farm. I also really loved the small town feel. I could so clearly picture the town square and how cosy and quaint it all seemed. I felt like the conflicts in this novel were realistic. It never felt like I had to suspend my disbelief when everything came to a head. Which can be a problem with a lot of Christmas romances (books or movies). I really think the author did a great job with this one.
While I found so much to love in this story, I wish there had been a little more depth to the side characters. I know this is going to be book one in a companion series so I’m sure we’ll get more depth from them later on. But I just wish we had another 20 or so pages to get scenes with the side characters that were fluffy or filler. Something to give them more depth. I also didn’t 100% love the epilogue. And I think epilogues can be tricky with romances. It can either make a book a shining star or make the reader doubt everything they had read before it. I liked how the conflict worked out at the end, but I didn’t feel like everything had to be wrapped up in such a neat bow at the end. Maybe we could have finished with a different type of event taking place on the Christmas tree farm instead? (Trying to be as vague as possible here.) But that could just be a me thing.
Overall, I think this is the perfect book to get anyone into the Christmas spirit. Not just us crazy Christmas in July people. It comes out at a great time of the year so people can grab this one and enjoy it on a cool Fall night next to a fire.
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helium-fox · 4 months
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I'm not a book blog by any means, but I just finished reading A Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li, and want somewhere to put my thoughts, so here tumblr, have a random book review (with surprisingly little spoilers bc i'm used to talking in vague terms)
This book was advertised to me as a heist movie/show in novel form and while I get where it was coming from, I found it oddly paced from the heist format I usually come across. Most of the book was devoted to character development, which is not a bad thing! (In fact, it's my personal preference for novels) I love diving into character's motivations and exploring the relations between each of the team members. It was great and I felt all five of the main characters come alive, and I feel a lot of people couldn't have handled that many characters well, but Grace D. Li did amazing.
Each character had their own distinct background and relationship with their identity of Chinese American, and this affected the way they communicated with each other. While some character may have gotten a little more screen time than others, it was well balanced and I don't think any character got left behind.
However, I found the action scenes were quick and took up a small portion of the book in comparison. I could have used them a little bit stretched out to feel the action. I feel like the author was going for replicating the heist movie format of all these different camera angles, coming together to perform the heist. It had a nice quick, choppy feeling to the read, but when you spend 100s of pages developing these characters and building up the heists, and then the heist is over in three pages, it can be a bit anti-climactic for me.
But then again, there is more than one heist so I get where you don't want to drag each one out. There were definitely a couple of turns in there I enjoyed and the lead up to the final heist & the final heist itself were the highlight of the book.
The only thing I did not enjoy about the ending was the romance. (Probably the most specific spoilers in this part, if anyone cares) Was it really necessary to have every one of the five main characters end with a romantic interest? I get that one of them didn't end up in a relationship, but was still implied to have a romantic relationship budding in the future. Also, I found the romance to be a bit uncompelling. I get two of the characters ending up as they did, with their flirtation from the beginning, and they're young and ready to take chances. But I found the queer romance...rushed, I guess?
Like, there was a great build up, from the distrust, to the learning to work together and seeing each other in different light, but I just expected there to be a little bit more build up in their friendship before they jumped to romance.
There are moments implied off-screen. Plenty of time skipped in which they worked together one on one, but it was near the end of the book and wasn't a focus. I feel like the focus on this book was on the characters discovering themselves and healing, so I don't think the romance had to be at the forefront, but it also felt a bit unnecessary. Though, I really shouldn't complain about any queer romance I get, right? There is still a decent enough foundation there that I understand where it came from, even if I wanted more from it.
The fifth team member having a love interest thrown in was a bit much for me. I get that it was probably to show the character healing and moving past the person they've been hung up on, but I felt that character had already had a great arc exploring the relationship with their parent, and the love interest angle was just off-putting to me. It reminded me of books I read as a child where the only happy ending is ending up in a relationship even when the book wasn't a romance novel at all.
Anyway, I'll be interested to see the Netflix adaptation, and I will have to be on the lookout for more heist novels
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izartn · 6 months
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I'm craving good het romance, as one does from time to time. Where do I find good fantasy not only romance het pairings. Where is my queer het plot!!!
Has anyone some book or manga recs? Preferably something finished please, I don't want to suffer waiting to the author to complete or abandon the story or of they're gonna be canon XD
EDIT after list is written: Okay. This post has officially become my list of what kind and why of het pairings I like. You've been officially warned. (Also a rec list of what to read/watch?) Trying to avoid spoilers.
Also more than half of this list is about teen me readings, I really need to seek out books and Manga bc wow. Very teen me, and I think that I've outgrown their canons even if the ship dynamic is also that still compels me.
I like:
CANON
El/Orion from the Scholomance. Whenever Orion gets a bit of focus I'm just. Oh wow (if you read between the lines he's so simple and so fucking unhinged at the same time). El extremely denying any vibes until last moment, but also falling extremely hard. Them both being such a battle couple/pair in general.
Whatever you can call what Agatha has going on with her two beaus in Girl Genius. They're all three of them so crazy competent and gone for each other too.
Yona/Hak and her vibes with Soo-won too (that foils thing she has with him is perfect and usually handled to male charas only, I'm biting my arm) (the loyalty thing with Hak and the way he pulls her higher too) (just the frustrated ot3 vibes of it all).
Jang Uk and Naksu|Cho Yeong in season 1. Their devoted and unhinged vibes destroyed me, I loved them. They were perfect, they only needed a bit more physicality. Season 2 defanged Yeong way way too much (in favor of uwu and blegh, let the woman cut off heads) and I didn't like the postponed angst and romance without knowing her identity.
Iron Widow OT3, which look. Wu Zetian rules even when she misses and nukes a city and everything is fantastically creepy and the guys lovely developed charas too with very different personalities and backstories
Tana and Gavriel from the Coldest Girl in Coldtown. (and this one also has threesome vibes with Aiden, uh) I like it when she is driven to do whatever it needs doing be it save her ex or her sister, or killing an ancient vampire in the company of another midly crazed vamp who is also very devoted to her and rediscovering life. Also the whole aesthetic and vibes of this one fucks.
Kate and August in Monsters of Verity duology. Dark dystopic urban fantasy and monster/human plus tragedy plus narrativelt active morally complex fem protags? I was obssesed with it when it came out.
Kaguya and Shirogane, but specifically if they weren't so innocent. Their chemistry is super fun, but I want something a bit more grown up and less teen panic. See also, me at 11 being obssesed with Blair/Chuck vibes in season 1 and 2 of Gossip Girl.
I'm on a roll. I loved Gilbert/Anne both in the 80's series and in Anne with an e. Obvious rivals to lovers where the guy respects her intelligence and she also has to have a whole arc about herself before realising she likes him.
I remember being bewitched by Lyra and Will once upon a time when I read the Golden Compass trilogy. Same re:Nathaniel and Kitty from Bartimaeus despite these two never having comfirmed anything just tragic unfulfilled potential.
Bipa and Aer from La Emperatriz de los Etéreos de Laura Gallego; theyre my fave pairing of hers and one of the only ones I didn't grew distant from as I grew out of her books. She's so practical and also kind and warm hearted, and he has the head on the clouds and is also completely out of this world in a familiar way. (this is me identitying with the guy who only appears like. A quarter of the whole novel bc he has been trying to give himself over to a lovecraftian alien soul-eater blue star while Bipa has to do all the journey to bring him back and destroy said blue star). Laura Gallego is wild.
NOT CANON
Younger me also enjoyed Artemis/Holly, not sorry at all for that one. He's so gone for her as a person and she's so out of his league (bc of their ages, bc of their species, their incompatible moralities up to the last books, etc, etc). Unfulfilled longing that makes you want to be a better person, the ship.
Soul/Maka on the other hand have super married vibes despite nothing ever being official and I love them and want to set on fire all the fic there's is about them bc it's general romcom / modern setting without that battle partnership and soul trust + domesticity I love. Also extremely teen but alas.
Yatori from Noragami bc I love tragedy specifically and human/gods relationships are fascinating. Even if it's unfinished. Even if it's out of focus somewhat.
Bellamy/Clarke from the 100 for all of the three seasons I saw before abandoning the series. The plot was unsmokeable but their relationship perfectly done. I was resigned to a boring romance with Finn and bam. Complex relationships, Clarke being bi with Lexa, parallel leaderships arcs, etc. Oh wow.
When someone bothers to write Aredhel/Celegorm on her PoV and it hits incredibly HARD. Damn. Whether aroallo or full-romo. Let post rebirth Aredhel be wild and Celegorm reckon with the knowledge of what wrong he almost brought to Luthien given Aredhel. Aredhel loving Lomion despite everything and loving disaster Celegorm, but not forgetting what they did, the awkward bonding between Maeglin and Celegorm as two former bad guys. Or them avoiding a bad ending and dying together fighting on the First Age before the Second Kinslaying. Playful times in Valinor pre-darkening.
ESPECIAL MENTION
I loved Laini Taylor characters and worldbuilding but her love at first sight kind of romances left me cool which is sad given I liked like everything else about her stories. Including the two characters involved on the romances, but not the romances per se. I guess I'm too aroace to believe first sight as anything reasonable in a serious plot even with the fairy tale vibes her stories have lol.
I also love Reylo vibes and symbolism but hated what they did on the last movie with them and I'm weirdly unable to read much fic of them. So...
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itsbooktimepeople · 11 months
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In the Woods
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★★★☆☆
Oh my god. The premise of In the Woods is interesting on its own: three children enter the forest, only one is ever seen again, his shoes are covered in blood and he has no memory of what happened. Then twenty years later another child from the same town is found dead on a Bronze-age sacrificial alter, and it appears the two cases might be connected.
This book completely freaked me out. Not that that's hard to do; I'm very easily scared and usually avoid thrillers for that reason; but holy smokes. Fear glued my eyes to the paper, which is why I finished this sucker in two days, and why I stayed awake all of last night, convinced someone would break in and murder me at any given moment. So, judging this book by the emotions it conjures, I'd give it four stars out of five.
And, for the first two thirds of the book, it could have become a five-star book. The beginning was a little shaky, but eventually I stopped thinking of the writing style as pretentious and started appreciating it instead. And, like I mentioned before, the mystery was spot on. I think I was actually shaking during a couple passages, and I loved guessing who was the murderer and what their motive could've been. Everything for the main mystery was set up and explained well, which made it even better.
Enter my issues with the book. Rob, the protagonist, and his best friend and partner, Cassie, were the starring duo of this book in the beginning. I loved their banter, their ease with each other, and their entire dynamic, and best of all there was no romance. But, two thirds in, (view spoiler), which sort of ruined everything. Not because of the romance itself, but because of the way it was handled. Cassie and Rob had felt unshakable before, but afterwords Rob pretty much shut down all Cassie's attempts to bridge the gap, and the worst part? There was no resolution! No apologies, no closure, no conclusion to anyone's character arc. And that was all very frustrating.
And speaking of lack of conclusions, the absolute worst part of this book is that the first mystery, the one where two children went missing, was never solved! Like, if it was just a background thing, that would've been understandable, but literally half the book is spent trying to figure out whether the two murders were related, and evidence suggesting that they could've been connected was found, but then there was no resolution at all. I understand that open ended stories have their literary purpose, but in a murder mystery you expect the detectives to, you know, solve the mystery.
All in all, this could've been a four star book, or even a five star one, had there been any conclusion whatsoever. But alas, In the Woods only leaves me with questions, and not even the good kind. I would not recommend.
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phoenixyfriend · 2 years
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When Obi-Wan gets to AotC, there's also about two dozen Anakin clones on-site. They're all girls because... IDK Anakin is trans. They have a hive mind and are developmentally a few years younger than Anakin himself.
It's incredibly unsettling to Obi-Wan.
It's almost definitely a "fuck with Anakin's already fragile mental health" ploy by Palpatine, along with a "what if Jedi Black Widows, for me, a Sith Lord. Wouldn't that be neat? That would be neat."
Anakin is torn between "this freaks me out" and "GANG OF BABY SISTERS LET'S GOOOOOOO."
(I just finished reading Like Real People Do by glimmerglanger, so this is definitely inspired by that and the obligatory 'lay back in bed and daydream variations on plot points of that fic you just really enjoyed,' and also a little by Same Heart, Same Blood by loosingletters.)
They're physically like 14-16 on average, and Anakin's vibrating out of his skin with a million conflicting emotions, but when he tells Padme she's just like "oh, you have a handmaiden gang!"
I told this to @willowcrowned and she suggested:
Once Anakin decides to repress the part of him that’s weirded out and just regard them as baby sisters he gets. A little strange about it The first time one of them dies he may or may not slaughter every person he can [in response to Padme's comment] Anakin starts worrying that he needs to get them cool matching outfits
I also chatted about it with @firebirdeternal and they said:
Gang of Unsettling Smol Siblings is exactly the Karma that Anakin deserves
Do you think the Clones have a kind of Collective Name that they use at first that eventually just kind of morphs into a new last name? Skysisters or something? Like Palpatine was trying to be clever and name them like the Nightsisters.
I initially went with "functionally one person" hive-mind but I'm torn.
I think maybe they're BASICALLY one person on Kamino but drift into Separate Consciousness once they're far enough apart physically that their minds don't blend from proximity anymore.
Then they start Dating (like half of them are dating Fett clones because they grew up with these dudes, it's like childhood friends romance), and Anakin loses his mind about Protecting Them and They're Too Young.
Padme: You're nineteen and we just got married, they can date. Anakin: THEY'RE EIGHT. Padme: And the Fett clones are ten and dying for us in the field. Get them rights before you panic about their love lives.
Firebird:
it could be worse, one of them could imprint on Obi-Wan. "Anakin I promise I won't yell at you for the next five stupid things you do if you can figure out a way to stop this baby from having a crush on me" (I like the idea of Obi-wan bargaining not with "I won't be mad at you ever" because they Both Know That's Not True, and instead haggling with specific allowances. Like he's handing out Stupidity Coupons)
Please imagine Mace and Obi-Wan's personal responses to the idea of suddenly having to deal with not one, not two, but OVER TWENTY SKYWALKERS.
Plo is delighted to take one off their hands.
So is Yoda.
Willow:
Mace is like. okay suicide isn’t the Jedi way but on the other hand. i physically cannot deal with this Yoda: a skywalker, you say? one who is tall enough to reach the top shelf, you say? such a skywalker, bring me
Anakin would be given at least one because fuck you, suffer with us, but he's still a padawan so Ugh, fine, no.
I want to say one stays on Coruscant to hang out with the Guard, and ends up half-adopted by Padme. She keeps dressing up the Aniclone left with her in handmaiden outfits and sending selfies to Anakin.
"Hanging out with the little SiL!"
Anakin has so many issues about WHEN his genetic material was acquired.
And there's some confusion from the Fett clones about how much of a hive mind is normal for Jedi. They are confused that the answer is basically none, and "this is WHY nobody clones a Jedi"
ONE OF THEM STEALS BOBA FROM THE ARENA ON GEONOSIS.
Firebird:
"I have followed in our progenitor's footsteps and acquired a sibling." holds up a struggling Boba "He bites."
Willow:
Ooooo okay so if they have a sort of hive mind then they probably don’t have names other than their designations on Kamino right BUT When they SEPARATE The one that picks Boba up on Geonosis gets a name specifically for that. Okay what if the one Padmé picks up gets some variant on ‘pretty’ because she’s always being dressed up BELLE Maybe Yoda’s Ani has a name that means thief? Because obviously Yoda is using Anakin to steal sweets
So, to make the timeline work...
I don't think anyone would give Anakin one of his sisters until after he's knighted at least.
So obviously when they're doing initial placements none of the sisters go to him or Obi-Wan.
Once he's knighted, of course they're already all placed with someone, and Anakin instead gets Ahsoka. He loves Ahsoka. She is also a little sister. He said so.
At some point afterwards, one of the sisters is left without a place because the Master that was in charge of her died in the field battle.
That sister then gets placed with Obi-Wan, because he's already mostly-successfully raised one Skywalker, so he can do it again.
Anakin gets to hang out with her basically all the time.
Ahsoka is very very jealous of this girl stealing Anakin's attention.
Anakin is oblivious to the rivalry.
He asks Barriss to look after them while he's discussing Adult War Things with Luminara and Obi-Wan, and Barriss gets an eye into This Mess, which is quickly colored by Ahsoka growing a puppy crush on the lovely Miss Offee herself.
Firebird:
Ahsoka: Ah yes, my nemesis. Anisister: Ah yes, my new older sister whom I want to impress so bad.
"I will impress her by being Stoic and Competent" "Oh my god she must think she's so much better than me what a bitch"
Anakin is oblivious to most things to be fair Anakin: Laser focused precision fighting machine who can read the tiniest body movements and predict your moves seconds in advance, who also cannot understand even the most basic social nuance. I was originally writing this as to Dunk on Anakin but then I made myself sad, because none of those things are really his fault.
So you know that post about like, Sasuke and Brooding, specifically in the context of "Brooding" as it's used to refer to Nesting Chickens? Grouchy and protective and sitting on a tennis ball trying to hatch it because they're just. "These are my Babies." Anakin Broods. Baby sisters. Must protecc. "I'm actually fine and extremely deadly in combat." "MUST PROTECT."
Bad Guy: [catches Ahsoka in a Trap] Aniclone: Must rescue sister! Aniclone: [fights, is not winning fight, gets ouched] Ahsoka tearing her way out of Trap: I lived bitch. Also: stay the fuck away from her. [murders so hard]
Ahsoka catches the Protective Older Sib feels by the traditional method: "Hey, only I'm allowed to be mean to them."
Willow:
Oh Anakin has no clue what’s going on. He walks in on Ahsoka glaring at the Ani and is like!!! Little sisters!!! Bonding!!! When Ahsoka was about three seconds away from tossing her out of the airlock. Ahsoka mistakenly assumes that Barriss has a crush on the Ani, and gets even MORE jealous.
Obi-Wan is like oh god. I can’t take care of an Anakin going through puberty again. He’s great with periods and other stuff because he read about a billion books. He is TERRIBLE with everything else, as he was the first time.
Barriss is like???? YOU'RE BOTH CHILDREN, PLEASE CALM DOWN, I HAVE ZERO INTEREST IN DATING ANYONE, LET ALONE SOMEONE YOUR AGE.
IDK how old Obi-Wan's Aniclone is, probably physically the same age as Ahsoka?
Per @atagotiak on discord:
Also something something, similarities btw Anakin and Obi-Wan where like. "Am I a parent? That seems uncomfortable, I'm too young to be a dad to a kid this age, I mean I'm cool with being a mentor/caretaker but..."
Obi-Wan can't even sidestep parenthood this time.
"Is Anakin basically your dad?" "Uhhhhhh" [Muffled discussion] "So Obi-Wan is your dad." "Okay!" "WAIT NO I DIDN'T AGREE TO THIS"
Ahsoka: She's stealing my brother, that BITCH. Obi-Wan's Aniclone: new sister new sister new sister gotta make a good impression
Firebird:
I feel like the Sister Squad would make very effective interstellar espionage agents Even like, kind of by accident. They just get encouraged to branch out in their interests and figure out what they want to do with their lives and end up all over the dang place, and since they're all pretty dang competent they tend to gravitate towards Important Positions wherever they end up. Except for one sister who just retires to raise Space Sheep.
I like that in this AU Palpatine is just like "I will create an army of Loyal Murderers who will obey my every whim and also be a big psychological lever on my Other Pet Murderer," and then they all just Baby Duckling imprint on the first Jedi to be nice to them instead and he has to just be like "Wait no not like that."
AND one of them Steals Boba
I want Obi-Wan's Aniclone to start dating Fives. All the sisters judge her for it, because he's a Goof. A very competent, ARC Trooper goof! But a goof.
Not as goofy as Anakin, though.
Firebird:
Who expects a clone of Anakin Skywalker to not make questionable lifelong romantic choices impulsively?
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drippingmoon · 2 years
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This or That Writer Edition
Done this before, but y'know, you're completely right @sleepy-night-child. I'm gonna take this as an opportunity to ramble some more because I really feel like it. Thanks so much, nightfriend❤ this really is therapeutic
And for that matter, anyone can join me. Open tag<3 the questions will be, uh, behind the cut.
1. historical or futuristic
I kinda love reading about history hahaha, and it was mostly fantasy in medieval settings that got me into writing, so this is a no-brainer. (Even my sci-fi shortie will have some dated technology🤣 for plot reasons, of course)
2. the opening or closing chapter
Mmm idk what it is about them, but endings always come to me naturally🥰 surprisingly with 'quiv it was both, but it was also meant to be a short story before it spun out of control🤷‍♀️ and though I kinda know where I wanna start Icy, fun fact! I have the endings for all three books down and detailed😇 I guess it's always the ending that draws me to writing a story🥺
3. light + fluffy or dark + gritty
how do you even separate them. Okay, when I first started writing I was all for the latter, but that changed quickly. 'Quiv has me loving it as much as I do especially because at its core it was a warmer, gentler story full of hope🥰
4. animal companion or found family
Before 'quiv, my casts used to be fully animal or >50% comprised of animal characters. Even now angel mannerisms are more bird-like in nature than human🤣 animals have always owned my entire heart❤ you've never known true love until you've had it curl in your lap🥺 Also, I'm all for the 'two people against the world' which doesn't really fit found families
5. horror or romance
Just saying, the Turning🤷‍♀️ and some of you might know I'm all about platonic love, soooo. Oh, and my sci-fi shortie will also be horror🤔 though I guess Icy breaks the mold and is a romantic comedy...
6. hard or soft magic system
Can't really have dances and song as time and emotion magic feature as a hard system. And I like to surprise myself when writing too🤣 so no systems. Would make me anxious and 100% like all my plans I would *not* follow them lol
7. standalone or series
...not gonna lie, I'm really drawn to series🤣 but that's also how I got burnt out, and since 'quiv is my love, I'll go with standalones. They're a much different writing experience🤔 feel a lot more compact. There's no "later", and that hit differently and in a good way😳
8. one project at a time or always juggling 2+
I did try juggling. I really did. I said, if I get in the mood to start something else, then that's what I'm gonna do. But apparently only one wip can devour my entire mind at a time, and though I can brainstorm for the others, after a few hours I just yearn to go back to 'quiv, you know? It's complete brainrot🥰🥰
9. one award winner or one bestseller
One finished book, I digress lmao
10. fantasy or sci-fi
^same as the historical/futuristic one. I guess fantasy doesn't have aliens🤔 and it's been growing on me lately with all y'all wips🥺🥰 but fantasy will always be my beloved
11. character or setting description
Character descriptions run the risk of turning into lists😬 I mean, settings also should. But for some reason they've also come more naturally to me, and I enjoy them loads more🥰 and lately I've started describing characters like settings, ie 'as beautiful as rain' 🤣🤣 but that's cheating. Also also. Let me just say. Star descriptions🥺 idk how angels in space came to me as an idea, but it was by far the best I've ever had. I have so much fun writing the setting💞
12. first or final draft
If final drafts are anything like, second, third, fourth drafts, then first drafts oh my god
13. Literary or commercial genre
I don't believe in these genres lol
14. love triangle in everything or no romance arcs
Never seen the appeal about love triangles, but then again I'm not a romance person. Just give me two people loving each other deeply and it'll turn into 'quiv I'll be satisfied🥰🥰 and no, for the record, it doesn't have to be carnal for it to be love or soulmates to me
15. constant sandstorm or rainstorm
How can you not love rain?? For plot-related reasons or not, once it gets to the rainy season I really feel like it's restored some life to me🥰🥰 and rainy settings are godsends for scenes. That, and I've never been fond of desert settings
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takaraphoenix · 3 years
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Ship game!! What about Nico and Will?? It’s pretty popular, but I don’t think I’ve seen you write much of it…
That's an interesting one in that I have vocalized my reasons for disliking it way back when it first became popular but instead of just linking that, it has been years so I think it's time for an updated version.
Firstly: This post is gonna be properly tagged and not crosstagged so if any shipper comes across it and feels the need to bitch about it, just don't; your lack of curating your own tumblr experience is not my problem! ;D
Now, there are three key factors that play into my dislike of this ship: How it was written, what it represents, how the fandom around it acts.
1. It’s rushed and uncomfortable
In BoO, it was incredibly rushed. They had literally five sentences of interactions before they walked into the literal sunset together. Five. It was just entirely born from Riordan's Noah's Ark Complex, where he just can't let people be single. The series was ending and he needed Nico to have an endgame so he rushed into some random romance with zero build-up.
The way their interactions went down was also severely uncomfortable for me. Will was acting so offended by Nico not wanting to go to camp and be friends in an entitled way that he had no right to be, he downright guilt-tripped Nico about how he had wanted to be friends. Nico has been just so severely traumatized at such a young age and his coping mechanism, as unhealthy as it was, was to run away and hide. Will acted like Nico not wanting to form attachments to people who could potentially leave him again was somehow just an Edgy Emo Decision and not a direct reaction to his trauma. His entire approach to Nico was basically all these hippie posts of "Don't have depression!! Just go out into the sun and stop being depressed!", which is already a bad take with non-medical people but he's supposed to be a doctor (and let's not get into the shadiness of him technically being Nico's doctor).
There is also an inherent "I can fix him" angle to this ship and to me, only few ship dynamics are more uncomfortable than that. If you want to fundamentally change a person's behavior and personality, you... don't actually want to be with this person.
Now, here's where my points overlap, because the following parts of their writing that bothers me also stand for what this ship fundamentally represents.
2. Solangelo is a queer ship written by and for straights
I'm a queer woman and as a queer woman, I want queer wish-fulfillment, not what straights want out of queerness. I'm kind of tired of that, I've been sitting through it for enough decades now. That's, of course, not to say that no straight writer can give proper queer representation, but far too often do straight writers - even the most well-meaning ones - project straight desires of queerness into their queer representation.
Let me explain that closer through this ship.
Nico's been in love with Percy for years and I'm going to do my best to not hijack this post with some Percico agenda; that's not what this his about, this isn't some "my ship is better than your ship" ship-war nonsense. It's simply a canonical fact that Nico has had romantic feelings for another character for years.
A character who, in this medium, is heterosexual. And if you're queer, you've been there. In love with your straight best friend. It's a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason.
We have also all been well-meaningly rejected by said straight friend.
And here's the straight desires for you: The queer person who was in love with a straight person just immediately stops having those feelings and will then as quickly as possible fall in love with the next queer person they meet to be happy and no longer uncomfortably in love with a straight person, because that thought makes the straights uncomfortable.
Queer wish-fulfillment would be for Percy to return those feelings, for the queer character to get his first love, to not be rejected. That thing queer teens always dreamed about for themselves.
Aside from the wish-fulfillment angle, the pacing is another problem. Let me repeat, Nico was in love for years. But a five sentence conversation with Will once causes a crush on Will and we see him physically turn away from Percy and toward Will just immediately to rebound and actually fall out of love with Percy and in love with Will. Anyone who's ever been unlucky in love will attest to just how unrealistic and ridiculous the pacing here is.
It's also straight queerness in another respect; Nico has been the first ever queer character we meet in that world. He loves a straight guy - and to get over that, we introduce the second queer character. Because heaven forbid there are multiple queers to pick from. No, in straight-written queer romances, there is always that one main queer and then they introduce a second one and the two just immediately hit it off and develop a romance like all a queer person needs to form attraction to someone is the confirmation that the other person shares your sexuality.
Also the notable gay guy on gay guy ship here, whereas the more queer-wish-fulfillment option would have also included more nuance to the queer experience, because Percy doesn't have to be heterosexual just because he has only been with girls so far. It's a very old-fashioned - think 90s and early 2000s - kind of straight-written queerness that there are only exactly two homosexuals and that those two homosexuals then pair up.
And, listen, I'm not immune to these outdated straight-written queers entirely, I have many such ships that I grew up with that I am still fond of because they were groundbreaking at that time and they weren't outdated yet back when they happened in said 90s and early 2000s. I am however a grown woman now and just like I have grown, so has queer rep so I am not as easily baited into falling onto my knees in gratitude for canon rep. You have to go with the times. And this ship, by all that is given to us, is just entirely outdated straight-written rep.
Which, I mention earlier that even straight-written rep can be good. If the author tries. Riordan doesn't really try though; he does the bare minimum when he writes any of his rep - and there have been many, many more qualified voices being very vocal about his depiction of people of color and, as a woman, I've been vocal about his depiction of women. I don't want to derail this post with all of that, but I do think that it bears mentioning that Riordan doing rep but only doing a bare minimum and not putting in the necessary work to deepen the representation he wants to give is a repeating pattern that has been pointed out many times by now.
(I’d also like to point out that no, it is not just the ship and not just the listed instances that make it straight-written rep for straights. It’s Nico’s entire queer arc, starting with his forced coming out. A severely traumatizing event that is completely brushed over because the straight author doesn’t understand the impact this has on queer people. Not to mention the framework; Nico’s coming out isn’t Nico’s story, it happens in Jason’s POV, it is given to us through the POV of the straight bystander who gets to be Best Ally by assuring Nico that being gay is okay. This kind of coming out is not a queer wish-fulfillment, it’s a straight wish-fulfillment of getting to be the straight savior, the ally to show the gay the light of acceptance. And, additional to the ridiculous pacing of how fast Nico gets over his love for Percy, Nico also gets over years of internalized homophobia just because of, I don’t know, Jason’s few encouraging words and the fact that Will paid attention to him? For a gay kid who was in the closet all his life, the nonchalant way in which he publicly confessed his crush to Percy at the end made absolutely no sense and was written as basically a joke, finished off with Nico literally high-fiving Percy’s girlfriend despite those two never having seen eye to eye before but this is straight wish-fulfillment so all straights are Super Allies, because that’s the way straights want to see themselves, even though Annabeth has shown before just how jealous she can be and she most definitely wouldn’t go around high-fiving people who confess to her boyfriend. Nothing about Nico’s queer arc in HoO felt natural or queer or satisfying.)
Sure, Solangelo on a surface level is big because it's a canon queer couple in a YA book-series and kudos for that and yay for the kids who get to grow up seeing queers in YA books, but I actually do think that kids growing up with books written in the 2010s shouldn't grow up with 1990s levels of representation, because the 2010s overall are actually at a far more nuanced and better level of representation when it comes to queerness. And I do reserve the right to quit on too straight-written and too outdated queer rep in a landscape where I can get more satisfying representation elsewhere; we don’t live in times anymore where you necessarily have to love every bit of rep because it’s the only one you get.
Now that we've gone through my first two gripes, let's wrap this up with the final point, because it also directly ties into this.
3. The new wave of antis hiding behind this ship
A huge part of the fandom is so busy kissing Riordan's ass solely for giving them queer rep at all they think that both the author and the ship are beyond flawless and that kind of attitude is not good. Just because an author includes rep doesn't make either perfect. Absolutely no one is beyond critique - especially not when said critique comes from the very people the author is representing. And even beyond any "valid" critique on the ship, quite frankly, someone should also be allowed to just not like it, without any reasons given at all.
But there is a certain... protective obsessiveness about this ship that doesn't allow a not liking. Very similar to how PJO bore this mindset around Perc/abeth already. It's okay to have OTPs, even OTPs that you have a blindspot for and just don't want to see any flaws in. It is however not okay to then go around attacking people who don't like the thing and mind their own business.
Solangelo's bred a new generation of antis in this fandom. And, particularly with the fact that this post too receives an "anti" tag, I feel like there needs to be a clarification (because tumblr likes to forget what actually makes an anti). Not liking something doesn't make you an anti, venting in properly tagged posts doesn't either; it's the people who harass others, who seek out the content they dislike to then complain that it even exists and who actively try to make others stop creating for it - those are antis.
And with Solangelo's popularity, there was a high rise in Percico antis, who sought it out, were unnecessarily nasty about it, harrassed creators and tried to enforce some kind of "Solangelo supremacy" that won't allow other ships for the characters.
I've been in fandom long enough to be perfectly aware that not all Solangelo shippers count into this category and that there are completely normal and nice Solangelo shippers, but this is a Venn diagram where the overlap between Solangelo shippers and antis is too large to not widely associate the nasty people with the ship itself. (I've been there myself, shipping the very ship behind which a fandom's antis all hid. The second-hand embarrassment of having these people give the ship a bad name is horrendous and I do feel bad for all the normal Solangelo shippers.)
The more often I encountered these people, who made Percico bad (sometimes in wildly ridiculous manners that bent and deliberately misinterpreted canon) and who in the same breath praised Solangelo high, the more tired I grew of that ship. It's a simple game of association, really. You see that linked to the gross and nasty behavior and you start associating the ship itself with that gross and nasty behavior - and with all the things I said before that already weighed into my dislike of the ship, this just was the final tipping point, really.
And that's it. That sums up why I dislike Solangelo. It was hastily rushed, uncomfortable in its execution, it is outdated rep that very much feels as straight-written as it factually is and it does not feel aimed at me as a queer person but rather at the straight audience and it has gathered a cult following of quite uncomfortable people who on their own would be reason enough to avoid it so you can avoid them.
Send me a ship and I will explain why I do or don't ship it
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sleepy-belphie · 3 years
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I have a request if you’re up for it. An MC who just arrived in the Devildom who’s lover just dumped them the day prior. The bros know MC isn’t emotionally or romantically available at the time but the bros still fall in love regardless. How will the bros handle the situation? Thank you! 🙏💗
Hi! I sort of took this idea and ran with it and wrote basically a headcanon short story for each bro lmao. Sorry I got a bit carried away but I hope you like this and it satisfies you! :) 
Also thank you so much @midnight-dome for the help with Asmo, you’re a lifesaver
Tags: @kawaiiblack
~~~~~
Lucifer:
The success of the program depends on your wellbeing
So he checks in on you every other day like clockwork 
“Is there anything you need to make your stay more comfortable?”
You always say no
At first, he’s glad you’re staying in 
Because it means less trouble for him
But when you skip all of your classes one day, he comes to your room ready to give you a firm reminder of your tasks here
He’s about to knock when he hears you sob 
Now, Lucifer has heard a lot of crying in his life
But he’s never heard someone sound so completely broken
He shocks himself when he turns on his heels and walks away
He shocks himself even more when he texts the group chat and demands everyone leaves you alone for the day
That evening he comes into your room with a small plate of food
By then you were are least on top of your sheets
You knew he was gonna ask the same question as always
But this time, his words were different
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Help?” 
He simply nods
And though he didn’t outright say what he meant by help, you knew
“I...don’t know?”
“Hm, okay. I’m going to listen to some music in my study. The door will be unlocked should you wish to join me.”
Then he’s gone
The few precious moments Lucifer isn’t working, he prefers to not be disturbed
So why on earth did he invite you to join him in his study?
He doesn’t have time to ponder it because the door opens and you come in with a blanket wrapped around you
The first night you both listen in comfortable silence
A few nights in, you start asking Lucifer about the records he puts on and he has no qualms educating you on it
On night 10 you tell him about the breakup
Once you’re done he, again, asks the same question
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
‘You’ve done more than enough to help me Lucifer, thank you.”
He finds himself blushing from the sincerity in your eyes and the warmth in your smile
That night you fall asleep before the record finishes
Surely you’d wake up aching if he left you in a chair
So he picks you up, carries you to your room, and tucks you into bed carefully
He tells himself he’s doing it for Diavolo
It’s for the program, this is his job
He’s gonna need time to accept his own feelings before he can tell you anything
For now, he’ll keep doing his “job” and spending evenings with you
Mammon:
He didn’t want to be your babysitter
He was a busy guy! He had stuff to do, money to make, things to steal
Some days he gets Beelzebub to keep an eye on you so he can do what he wants
One night in particular he heads to your room to make sure you won’t interfere with his plans
“Yo! The Great Mammon has things to do so don’t-”
He pauses when he sees you sitting on your bed with your headphones plugged into your laptop
He would have assumed you were just watching a sad movie by the tears streaks on your face
But the pain in your eyes…
He’s seen that look before
His brothers held that same look the day they fell from Heaven and lost Lilith
Mammon sits on the bed and you jump, finally noticing him
You expected him to make fun of you but instead, he grabs the tissue box on your bedside table and hands it to you
He glances at your laptop to see what you were watching and sees a paused video of you and someone else
You tell him about the breakup and Mammon listens closely
“What a jerk! Ya deserve better than that! I’d teach ‘em a lesson if they ever showed their face around here!”
You smile for the first time since he came in the room and he feels like he’s done something right
“How about we get some late-night food? I know a 24-hour restaurant with the best baked newt ever. Your treat.”
He’s shocked when you agree
He makes a point to hang out with you more often
He can’t recall exactly when you went from “a human” to “his human” 
Maybe it was when you held his hand while you erased all your photos and videos of your ex from your computer
Or when you texted him at 3am because you couldn’t sleep and before he could even think about it he was up and on his way to your room
Or when he spotted you in one of his jackets while walking home from RAD
But his greed was kicking in and he wanted you to be his and only his
However, much like he puts himself first, he knows you need to do the same
So though his nature and mind wants to kiss you silly and have you for himself
Part of him knows he’ll ruin things if he lets his greed take over
So he’ll fight his nature and try his best to be patient
Leviathan:
He had been playing one of his games online
He’s on a big winning streak and feeling a bit cocky
He sees he’s been matched with someone else so he gets into gamer mode 
Then he loses the first round
He’s a bit shocked and pissed that his streak was now broken but he has to prove his superiority to whoever this opponent was
So he rematches them
And loses again
And again
He loses 7 rounds in a row
By this point he is fuming
So like any salty gamer he sends a very lengthy, angry message to their inbox
Accusing them of using cheats and hacks because there was no way anyone was more skilled than him at this game
He gets a reply a few minutes later
“Um.....is this Leviathan? Avatar of Envy? It’s MC…”
You knew it was Levi because his username is the same across all his social media platforms
Cue Levi barreling into your room a minute later
“How are you so good!? You’re cheating, aren’t you!? You cheater!’
You weren’t cheating, you just had been playing games day in and day out to distract yourself so you got really good at it
Levi all but demands you to come to his room and show him what you know
You were already playing all night anyway so why not play with someone? 
Initially, Levi would have you come over just to show him your tactics 
(Also to get some team wins on his stats because he never has anyone to play with)
But you were actually pretty chill for a normie
Maybe if he exposed you to his otaku ways you would take to them and he wouldn’t be the only one in the house anymore!
You don’t become an otaku but you do get invested in almost every anime he shows you
He starts inviting you over for midnight premieres of new episodes
He starts buying extra merch because what if you wanted one?
He was used to disproving looks from his brothers when he mass buys stuff from Akuzon
But you only smile and listen when he tells you about his new special edition item
You never once judged him and his unconventional ways
This epiphany makes him extra nervous for your weekly hangouts
It was only a matter of time before you came across a break up in an anime
When the episode ended you told him about your break up and how the protagonist reminded you of yourself because they also were taking a break from love
Levi has seen this anime before actually
He remembers how the protagonist reacted to a side character confessing to them and it went bad
So while he knows he likes you, he holds off on saying anything because the last thing he wants is to be a bad story arc in your life
Lucky for him he’s always a flustered blushing mess so you shouldn’t suspect a thing
Satan:
He is the Avatar of Wrath so whenever there is rage, he is aware
He feels anger radiating through the house one day and thinks his brothers are just fighting again
Imagine his surprise when he realizes the source of the anger is coming from your room
He walks in and sees you throwing things around and screaming, your room was destroyed
He sees you’re about to step on some glass and instantly swoops in and picks you up so you don’t hurt yourself
But then you curl up against him and burst into tears
He stands there, not quite sure what to do 
He ends up sitting on the bed and letting you cry for a while
You word vomit about your break up and he listens carefully and notes the anger welling up inside you as you speak
He knows all too well what anger can do to someone and a fragile human shouldn’t have to go through that
“Would you like some tea?”
He can spare 30 minutes for some small talk with the human if it meant that you wouldn’t be left in your thoughts
You look at him like he has three heads but agree because your room is a mess and you don’t wanna deal with it right now
Tea time becomes a daily occurrence and soon enough it escalates to full-on hangouts
Going to the bookstore, going to cat cafes, going wherever you wanted to really
One time you both took a day trip to the human world
Lucifer wasn’t happy to find out his brother and you were gone for an entire day but he lets it go when he sees that you’re smiling genuinely for the first time in weeks
What Satan didn’t expect was how these outings made him feel
He finds himself distracted from his books because he can’t stop thinking about how cute you looked holding that black cat at the cafe
Or how happy you looked when you took him to that ice cream shop in your hometown that you really love
He wakes up and you’re the first thing to pop into his mind
He’s not dumb, he knows he’s fallen in love
But he also knows this isn’t the right time, you aren’t ready
So he’ll keep being there for you as a friend
And if you ever want him to be there as something more, he’ll happily oblige
Asmodeus:
There was a movie night at the House of Lamentation
Today’s movie was an action movie, courtesy of Mammon
Amidst all the face punching and explosions, there was a budding romance between the main characters
After the third obnoxious makeout scene, you leave the room claiming you need to go to the restroom
But you leave just a *little* too fast and Asmo can feel something is up
And he thrives on gossip so he intends to find out what is it
He leaves the room a few minutes later and catches you in the hallway, determined to get you to spill the tea
You tell him about the breakup
He wasn’t prepared for the tea to be so bitter
“Oh. Well, you know what’s good for that? Face masks!” 
He had to save face somehow and beauty was his default
He’s a bit shocked when you agree but you both ditch movie night to do face masks and talk a bit
He decides to share a couple of bad date experiences he’s had to make you feel better
“Trust me, you haven’t felt embarrassment until you have someone vomit Enfield brains on your new pants and shoes while at one of the hottest clubs in the Devildom.”
You spent the entire night giggling and listening to his stories
Devildom products are surprisingly effective on your skin so you keep asking Asmo to show you new products
Plus his company is nice
Self-care days become a common occurrence
Then those self-care days become self-care sleepovers
He starts intentionally waiting to try anything new because he wants you to be there when he does
He buys more of those scented candles you told him smelled nice
A few weeks later you’re having a self-care sleepover again and you have this really cute focused look on your face while painting your nails
He knows he likes you, but this was different than his usual attraction
He didn’t want to fuck you
Well he did but not just fuck you
He wouldn’t mind if there was something more
But you routinely ended your self-care nights by yelling ‘Fuck love!’ at the top of your lungs and laughing
So he knows now isn’t the time and he’s actually okay with that
You were a sight to behold regardless of his relationship status with you
But he hopes you’ll indulge in him one day
Beelzebub:
Mammon keeps pushing his human watching duties on Beel
But he doesn’t really care because he’s being paid in cheesecake
After his third day of keeping an eye on you, he notices you aren’t eating much
Being the Avatar of Gluttony, this is basically a crime
He starts bringing extra snacks with him when he hangs out with you
“I think the chocolate flavor is better than the vanilla. What do you think?”
He actually doesn’t have a preference 
He just wants to know which snacks you like more so he can bring more of them
He makes a game out of it so you don’t think about how much you’re eating
“It motivates me to work out longer when I get a snack, could you help me?”
You sit on his back and after every pushup, you both eat a bit of whatever snack he has
He keeps going until he thinks you’ve eaten a decent amount
Or you say you’re getting full
Belphie notices that Beel is refilling his snack stash more often but he doesn’t say anything
Beel feels an immense sense of accomplishment when you finish your plate at dinner a few days later
Soon after you tell him about the breakup
“It hit me hard but you made it easier to cope, Beel. These hangouts are the highlight of my day so thank you.”
There’s a certain pang Beel gets in his stomach when he’s really hungry
Somehow your words made that pang happen in his chest
But this didn’t hurt him, quite the opposite actually
He felt good, he felt happy
It was strange for his stomach to be the quiet one while his heart went wild
But this wasn’t a change he minded too much
He wasn’t sure what to make of it but he knows he wants to figure it out with you
And he’ll take his time doing so because he liked how things were now
Belphegor:
He’s intrigued by you after the first week of your stay
He’s never seen a human who slept as much as he did
Frankly, he was impressed
Until Lucifer informed everyone about your recent breakup and made it clear to not upset you
That’s when Belphie realized these were not the leisurely naps he takes, but depression naps
One day he sees you sleeping in the living room and you looked so distressed
Sleeping was meant to be a peaceful state but you looked so unhappy
So he wakes you up
“You’re in my sleeping spot.”
You weren’t in his sleeping spot.
“Oh sorry, I’ll move-”
“You’re already here. We can both fit.” 
Before you can protest he’s all comfy next to you and falling back asleep
Having another person next to you was kind of comforting so you let it go and go back to sleep
What you didn’t know was Belphie could partially influence your dreams
He can make them more pleasant but he can’t control what you dream about
He knows it works when he wakes up and you have a relaxed expression on your sleeping face
You wake up soon after looking confused
“Good dream?”
“I think? I had a dream I rode a unicorn to the moon then carved my initials into it?”
Napping together in the living room becomes a routine
And every time you woke up you told him about the dream you had with a small smile
A few weeks later he notices he no longer has to influence your dreams for them to be good
So he leaves you be and instead curls up in the attic for his afternoon nap
He wakes up a bit when he feels someone lay down next to him
It’s probably Beel
“Why didn’t you tell me you moved napping spots?”
His eyes open and he looks over to see you pouting at him
“I just sorta ended up here.”
“Well, I can’t nap without my cuddle buddy now can I?”
You’re teasing him and he should be annoyed
But he’s blushing
He spoons you to hide that fact, resting his forehead on your shoulder
But while your dreams were getting better, it didn’t mean you were ready to move on
So he just enjoys his intimate cuddling sessions with you and tries not to think too hard about the fact that he really likes how your body fits against his
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ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS: Simon Snow trilogy wrapped! (review)
Hi, there! It took me a while to finish this post, as I could talk about it for... a long time (not necessarily a good thing), but I got it! I like praise, so if anyone wants to tell me I did a good job... Also, I might edit this post later on. I don’t remember anything else I’d like to add, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I did after posting. My brain does not obey me. Anyways, off to it! By the way, I won’t give this book a real rating.
While this is a review on Any Way the Wind Blows, I intend on analysing some points of the overall series too. The book starts where Wayward Son left off, the end of the road trip, Simon and Baz having problems in their relationship, Penelope helping Shepard with his curse... and the whole situation of the NowNext vampires. Rainbow Rowell only seems to remember the first part. That leaves us with the second book of the series ignored almost completely, with the exception of Simon and Baz’s feelings as well as Shepard’s existence.
Don’t get me wrong, aspects of the book are mentioned, but never in a truly important way. Lamb, the Vampire King, is mentioned by Simon, but only focusing on his and Baz’s relationship, never about the fact that there are a bunch of vampires (supposedly ‘evil’) in the U.S. but I guess what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? I could count on one hand the times the NowNext vampires were mentioned (like, literally, this isn’t an exaggeration, I looked up ‘NowNext’ on the e-book and only got five results), all of them either being one of them considering telling someone else about it, then not following through with it, or dismissing it as a concern for Lamb. Which makes the plot of Wayward Son completely useless for the trilogy. Now, that wouldn’t matter as much if everything else had been properly developed, but we definitely can’t say that.
We are introduced to a brand new, poorly developed villain, Smith-Smith Richards, whose character arc is as ridiculous as his name. He’s one of the fake Chosen Ones that started appearing after the events of Carry On (and the only one to be mentioned and/or defeated, for that matter). It becomes clear that presenting as Simon Snow-ish is part of his brand, especially when Baz describes him as looking like the Netflix adaptation version of Simon, and that he was raised and guided by his uncle, who’s just... there. I don’t think it would’ve been hard to make him manipulating Smith-Smith into believing he’s the prophetic savior of the Magickal World, which would not only make both of their characters more interesting, but it could also serve as a parallel of Simon’s relationship with the Mage. Richards also has some special powers such as increasing a mage’s magic for a limited amount of time, but taking it away afterwards, as well as making someone immune from spells. It’s worth saying those aren’t skills that are usual in the Magickal World, or else there wouldn’t be so much confusion and shock from people (specially Baz and Penny, who would definitely have heard of something like this before), but we get no explanation on why or how Richard has them.
Then, we have the Salisbury’s. We, as readers, already know Lucy and Davy are Simon’s parents, making Ruth his grandmother. It’s noticeable that Rowell builds up to that discovery, by making Simon get along with Ruth instantly, him thinking about Lucy a lot etc. It makes us excited to read the part where they actually figure it out, to know how Simon would deal with that, him dealing with the fact that he’s the Mage’s son and the fact that, technically, he killed his father. I suppose that’s the point, but actually getting to that part was incredibly underwhelming. The way they discovered about Simon—being able to lift a family sword—hadn’t been mentioned or hinted at before. One would’ve expected Simon, who’s particularly interested in swords as it’s mentioned many times throughout the series, to notice a freaking Excalibur at the Salisbury’s place before. 
And speaking of noticing things: when it’s finally revealed that Simon is Lucy’s son and the Mage’s heir, Baz pointed out the uncanny similarities between his boyfriend and the deceased Watford principal. “Those narrow eyes. That tilt of his head. I thought... I thought he’d learned it. Was imitating it.” + “Merlin, Simon, you even look like him.”  (Any Way the Wind Blows, chapter 86) Simon was the Mage’s protégé for years and I assume the Magickal authorities knew that he was the one to inherit all of his money and personal belongings, but no one, in the whole British Magickal community, thought about them being related? I refuse to believe there were no conspiracy theorist teachers at Watford or that Mitali or even the Pitch’s alongside everyone who was against the Mage didn’t at least check to know if there was something behind those characteristics. Baz literally said (chapter 88), “I think it’s undeniable. I’d cast ‘Flesh and blood’ on them, but it would bounce right off of Snow (...)”, so there is a spell for that. Plus, we didn’t even have one whole chapter of Simon dealing with this information! The chapters (no more than five, out of ninety-one) were divided between Simon, Baz and Lady Ruth’s POVs. He’s the main character, so one would think he’d get more development.
Another point that felt rushed was the romance. While Simon and Baz’s relationship wasn’t, as it’s been a topic Rowell has explored for three books (we’re not counting Fangirl here, as their ‘participation’ on it was minor and their personalities weren’t as consistent as in the trilogy. Not that it is that consistent there), the others just felt like she wanted everyone to finish the trilogy with a pair. I’ll start with Shepard and Penny. There were fans who liked them together before Any Way the Wind Blows, but it wasn’t hinted at—it was more like a fandom thing. I personally like them as a couple, but it could have had development and, maybe, foreshadowing in Wayward Son. I mean, they did fight monsters during a huge part of a road trip together.
The next one I’ll talk about is Agatha and Niamh. I love them, don’t get me wrong. Actually, it’s precisely because I love them that I wish they’d gotten a better treatment. Niamh wasn’t introduced before Any Way the Wind Blows. I get why she wasn’t introduced in Carry On—it was interesting to see a character who wasn’t caught up in Simon and Baz’s drama during the school years—but a hint of her existence could’ve been left in Wayward Son. Agatha is an important character on it, and a mention of her father training an aspiring veterinary could’ve fit somewhere, as a hint, maybe. (Also, Lucy, the dog, being absolutely forgotten during this book when a lot of Agatha’s time is spent in a veterinary clinic...) Besides, we could get the vibes from them, but after they kissed, there was barely any content. We didn’t get them calling each other ‘girlfriend’ (or if they even like that label at this point), or the aftermath of the kiss, or a POV from Niamh. Or Niamh appearing the epilogue? If Agatha was taking care of the goats, I’m sure Niamh would have a part in that too. Still on Agatha’s character, but not on Niamh’s, it felt like Rainbow Rowell was setting up for aromantic and asexual Agatha, specially because of this quote: “It was like she'd pulled the feeling right out of my heart. I could have kissed her. (I still wish sometimes that I wanted to.) (That would feel like an answer to... the question of me. Then I could say, 'Oh, thats who I am. That's why I've been so confused.')” (Wayward Son, chapter 4).
And I was leaving the best (I need to be sure everyone knows I mean this sarcastically) of the romance topic for the end: Fiona and Nicodemus. It’s just... so forced and undeveloped. Not even because, to me, they’re both gay as hell. There was just... such a lack of development! I don’t think we had any interaction between the both of them before Any Way the Wind Blows. There was no foreshadowing or why would Fiona, a vampire hunter from a family of vampire hunters, would marry... a vampire! I’d already find it weird to see fanfiction of them as a crackship, but it’s canon?! Like, canon as in they’re going to get married and use Fiona and Natasha’s mother’s ring? Seriously, nothing will take from me that this is a lavender marriage (as I’ve already discussed with my best friend, which inspired this post of theirs.)
I’d also like to speak about a topic that’d been hinted throughout the series, especially post-Carry On, which is the criticism towards the Magickal Community in the U.K.. That criticism is very much embodied in Shepard’s character. It’s explicitly said that the British mages have some kind of supremacy towards other supernatural beings, such as vampires for example, gatekeeping literal magic. Up until relatively recently, mages with weak links with magic couldn’t attend Watford (and that’s a major plot point in the final book) and there’s a denial towards any other kind of magic except the ones that are part of their craft. Even within the Magickal community itself, there are more important families that are more likely to succeed, like Natasha receiving criticism for marrying Malcolm, as a Pitch. It felt pointless not to tackle the issues you’ve set up yourself in your own universe. Penelope has very strict morals related to magickal law and beliefs, something that she could’ve deconstructed, especially considering Shepard, her love interest, symbolises that. Another point related to that is, the trilogy is very clearly heavily inspired by Harry Potter, where many of those points are very clear (e.g. wizard supremacy in relation to other species, such as werewolves and domestic elves and the status quo that makes some traditionally magical families more influential than others, like the Malfoy’s vs. the Weasley’s), so it’s not an easily forgettable concept.
The series also had a lot of inconsistencies. The one I’ve seen talked about more often is Simon and Agatha’s... intimacy status, let’s call it that. Simon’s whole thing in the first book was that he struggled controlling his magic when experiencing intense emotions, which makes it hard to believe that he managed to have sex withount an... accident. Besides that, though, there’s this quote, “She (...) presses a kiss into my temple. No one has ever kissed me there. No one has ever kissed me anywhere but on my mouth” (Carry On, Chapter 27), but in Any Way the Wind Blows, when Simon’s about to have his wings cut, Agatha says, “It’s a strange feeling to look at someone’s chest and know it’s nothing to do with you anymore, but still to remember kissing every inch.” (Chapter 14)
So, we have established that Rainbow Rowell’s work, both character and plot driven, is flawed. “But we got the characters interacting for the closure of the series, at least!” Well... we got interactions between the canon romantic relationships, yeah. But besides that, we didn’t get much. There were no interactions between Agatha and Penny, or Shepard with Simon and Baz. Or Penny and her mother figuring stuff out. Or literally anyone with a therapist. And not gonna lie, the interaction we got between Baz and Dev was underwhelming, to say the least. Niall is nowhere to be seen, too.
Rainbow Rowell’s writing is beautiful: she writes poetic lines that make the book seem perfect at first glance, if you don’t think about it for too long. Her words are very shiny, but once you get use to that light and see what’s behind them, what’s between one shiny quote and another, it has so many flaws and plot holes that it reads like a first draft. There are many concepts in there that are genuinely good: the rest of the trilogy focused on the protagonist dealing with the trauma of being a child soldier instead of being entirely an adventure, Simon being unlabelled, a fake Chosen One that gives mages fake hope... Those are all good ideas, but so poorly explored that, despite being an entire book/trilogy, it still feels like a writing pitch or something among those lines.
I felt iffy about other things during my reading of the series, but they aren’t exactly plot points, so I’ll just list them below:
Mitali, Penny’s mom, including ‘discovering your bisexuality’ as a mid-life crisis thing 
As I’ve seen people talking about biphobia/bi erasure in the books, I’ll be including this post that features both unlabelled and bisexual individuals talking about the topic (it isn’t my place, as a lesbian, to talk about this, that’s why I decided not to do so.)
Romanticising of Baz’s suicide (a.k.a. chapter 61) in the first book. If you’re not in a good place mentally, like I was when I first read Carry On, I hope you know that a kiss or romance doesn’t help any mental illness you or others might have. Don’t let anyone use your guilt to manipulate you. Paraphrasing Alice Oseman in their graphic novel Heartstopper, love can’t cure a mental illness.
Any Way the Wind Blows was... very horny. I can’t point out how this makes the book bad exactly, but it wasn’t something I enjoyed. One of Rainbow Rowell’s strongest skills is that her quotes, when loose, are good. They tend to be poetic and just beautiful, overall. But in the... explicit scenes, these skills were barely used, and I felt like I was reading NSFW tweets off of someone’s private account on Twitter. Besides, the first two books of the series weren’t written like that, so the change was very sudden.
The older people could’ve been more explored. Penelope and Mitali’s relationship and how similar the both of them are compared to each other, Daphne and Professor Bunce’s insecurities and why they believed in Smith-Smith, Fiona, Nico, and Ebb... Also, the Mage and Lucy. We could’ve had more on them, y’know. 
The pop culture references. They made the book read even more like Twitter’s feed. Honestly, if I wanted to read prompts and nice ship content alongside memes from Twitter with some horny thoughts sprinkled all around, I would’ve opened the Twitter app. Or Tumblr, Instagram, whatever.
The POV switching felt lazy to me at times. It’s nice to know how different characters are experiencing that situation, yes, but sometimes, like during the discovery that Simon is a Salisbury, it read as if Rowell wanted to create tension, but couldn’t think of any other way to do it except the switching around.
Narrative wise, I think Simon and Baz should’ve spent more time broken up. 
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