#stella did I succeed | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mauesartetc · 11 months

Note

While we're waiting for Millie's shine in later episodes, how would you develop Millie and how would you write her?

PFFF uhh I expect we'll be waiting indefinitely tbh. But I guess the first step would be to ask a lot of questions and figure out which pieces are missing from the puzzle. Here's a list of what's on my mind about Millie, in no particular order:

In "The Harvest Moon Festival", she hugged her dad upon seeing him, but not her mom. Was she closer to her dad growing up? Why?

What first attracted her to knives and axes, and who taught her to use them as weapons?

What was her favorite job on the farm growing up?

Who was her first love?

How did she meet Blitzo and Moxxie?

What occupations did she have before joining IMP?

Does she ever hang out with anyone other than her coworkers and her husband? What are her friends like? How did they meet?

Does she want to have kids someday?

What's her educational background? If she went to college, which subject/s did she major in?

What hobbies does she have outside of killing people?

Millie's aggressive, violent side is emblematic of Wrath ring culture, but does she have any traits that clash with it?

What's her favorite location in all of Hell, and why?

Standard job interview fare: Where does she see herself in five years?

Why doesn't she ever stand up to Blitzo when he berates her husband? (I mean, in a meta sense, we know why, but what's the reason inside the narrative?)

What does her extended family look like? Do they all live in Wrath, or are they spread out across other rings?

What does she love most about Moxxie?

What did she and Moxxie do on their first date?

What's her most prized possession?

Most of these questions are fairly surface-level, like the kind of thing you'd ask someone you just met at a party. But the thing is, we've barely been introduced to Millie through this entire series. It'd help if she spent an episode or two away from Moxxie so we can see her personality as an individual rather than part of a set. These writers seem to think true love = being attached at the hip, but that's not how strong relationships work. You need a balance of the partners spending time together and having time to themselves. If a relationship leaves no room for independence, it'll get stifling pretty damn quick.

Maybe at some point, Millie gets burnt out from work and decides she needs a solo vacation for her mental health. This would separate her from Moxxie and provide an opportunity to glimpse parts of her life that don't revolve around him and IMP, as well as delve into the fractured mental state of a character who's usually a pillar of strength. To co-opt and rephrase a meme real quick: Everyone asks "What can Millie do for me?", not "How is Millie doing?"

Ideally, the whole episode would focus on her, with no B- or C-plots. She could meet her friends for coffee, or maybe visit extended family members. Perhaps learn some things about herself she never knew before. This all sounds very low-key and lacking in spectacle for this show, but any plot can crackle with deft storytelling. It'd be preferable if the episode answered multiple questions (not too many, but multiple) about the character at its center.

But when all's said and done, it seems the most important question is: What does this character currently struggle with the most? What do they want, and what's preventing them from getting it?

One major problem Millie and the other IMP employees have is that they don't seem to want anything. There's not much driving their actions.

Blitzo presumably wants his business to succeed, but what does that look like to him? What specific goal is he trying to reach? The Goetia family has a bit more direction: Stolas wants a deeper emotional connection with Blitzo (God only knows why, but that's what's presented to us), Octavia obviously wants her parents to stop fighting (though we have no idea how she plans to achieve this), and Stella wants Stolas dead (though she didn't think the consequences through, somehow) but everyone else is a big ol' question mark.

Anyway, that's just a basic overview of how I'd approach it.

#helluva boss #helluva millie #helluva critical #writing #character development #ask #blacklilly27

134 notes · View notes

coffeeandsadbooks · 1 year

Text

Wilhelm’s struggle with his sexuality doesn’t fit either into Queer Awakening, or Unabashedly Queer Wille narrative. His path to fully accepting his own queerness is very different from everything I have seen in the media. The inner fight Wilhelm is having throughout S1 and S2 is shown in a very subtle way. Maybe that is why we, viewers accustomed to straightforward, in-your-face and often offensively stupid queer stories, can’t see this struggle for what it is.

Every clue we were given in S1 leads us to one conclusion: up until the video Wille wasn’t out to anyone.

Let’s recap:

1. Felice is excited about Wille going to Hillerska because it means she has a shot with him. No one tells her to cool down because no one has a reason to suspect the prince to be anything but straight. We are talking about people who know each other pretty well: nobles and riches have been going to the same schools, same clubs, same resorts for generations. As F. Scott Fitzgerald (or Zelda Fitzgerald, who knows) put it: ‘…then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.’ And yet, there isn’t even a whisper about Wille maybe, possibly being interested in boys.

2. Wille wasn’t out to the closest person in his family – Erik. The conversation they had on parents’ day hints that. @mirabel-on-a-bicycle explained it perfectly: ‘Even during that phone call, he was sitting in a pretty relaxed position, up until he said that he wanted to stay at school. And when he did admit to liking someone, the camera made the extra effort of floating down from his face to show his hand clutching at his knees. Like yea, it was adorable, the way he got so puffy and defensive about having a crush, but under all this, they were nervous mannerisms as well!’

A long time ago I saw a post about Erik using genderless words in the conversation about Wille’s ‘crush’ and it is the only detail that allows speculations about Erik suspecting.

3. Wille wasn’t out to his parents. For Kristina to say ‘Now it’s you and your future children who will succeed me’ after Erik’s funeral, she must have been pretty sure that her younger son was straight. Otherwise, it would be inconsiderate if not cruel of her, especially at that moment. The fact that she and Wille don’t discuss his sexuality after the video is completely understandable: the queen has a crisis on her hands and it needs to be dealt with. Priorities.

Besides, there is nothing to discuss. It’s Sweden-2021: equal rights for LGBTIQA+ people are supported by 98% of citizens, Church of Sweden gives matrimony to same-sex couples since 2009. In S2 when Kristina says ‘Oh, please. Your father and I love you just the way you are, Wilhelm’, and she is slightly annoyed because of the fact she even has to say such an obvious thing out loud.

Ludvig is basically a piece of furniture, I have no idea what he is doing in the show. He and Wille barely talk so it’s safe to assume he was the last one to learn about his younger son’s sexuality.

4. August’s reaction when he is shooting the video says it all: in the beginning, he is smiling because he thinks it will be a fun prank. But the moment he realizes it is not a girl in Wille’s bed, we see August being genuinely shocked. Despite being close to the royal family and being friends with Erik, he had no idea about Wille’s queerness.

5. Finally, Hillerska students are surprised to find out about the nature of Wille and Simon’s relationship. Stella and Fredrika bring up the topic of surrogacy and we see them being scandalized/entertained by the prospect. The thought about the next heir to the throne born in a same-sex marriage had never crossed their minds because there was no reason for that.

So we can be sure that no one knew Wille was queer.

Why wasn’t he out?

He is only sixteen; it wouldn’t be unusual to figure out his sexuality at this age. Considering that no one knew Wille was queer, it is safe to assume Simon was the first boy Wille ever pursued. Otherwise, rumours would have gotten out.

Wille consistently freaks out about being with Simon. We see him struggling with crossing certain lines: at the end of E1S1 he is scared when he realizes he is attracted to Simon, in E2S1 he can’t immediately kiss Simon back, then he regrets doing it and tries to convince Simon it was a mistake.

It is really difficult to tell what exactly is the reason for Wille being so reluctant at different points. But as Edvin put it: ‘His problem is not being in love with a boy, his problem is being a prince.’

If we follow this logic, we will understand that Wille is scared of being out publicly. He is in a very unique position. To him, coming out doesn’t just mean a conversation with parents and another – with friends. He is a crown prince, and he is expected to produce an heir. He doesn’t want to discuss his sexuality with the whole world though at some level he understands it is inevitable. He acts consistently as if coming out is the last thing he wants to do. When Kristina suggests he lie about the video, Wille reluctantly agrees. Reluctantly, because he knows lying will mean leaving Simon alone to deal with the consequences. But the alternative – confessing that it was him and that he is, in fact, queer – is unbearable to him at that moment. Wille says it himself when he attempts to apologize to Simon: ‘If I came out, all hell would break loose! How can you even ask me to do that?’

He needs time to accept the idea of coming out to the whole world. We can’t really blame a sixteen-year-old for not wanting to go through this process. Queer people know that opening up can be painful. Not every person in your life will be kind and understanding. Coming out to billions of people is really, really scary. So even when Wilhelm makes his peace with the idea itself, he still struggles with the perspective of actually doing it. He accepts Kristina’s suggestion to come out in two years not because he is afraid of his mother. We have seen Wille being extremely difficult when his demands aren’t met. He accepts her suggestion because it feels right – ‘I will come out, but later.’ Even when he realizes that ‘later’ won’t get him Simon back, he doesn’t go Instagram Live to say: ‘Hi, Sweden, it’s your crown prince. It was me in the video. I am into boys. Have a nice day.’ It takes him more time than that to gather his courage.

Fully accepting one’s own sexuality can be a long process. A person can skip the whole panic stage, but still struggle with the idea of being open to family, friends, colleagues. YR does a superb job of showing this process and it is another thing for which I adore the show.

#young royals #young royals analysis #wilhelm #simon #kristina #august #unnecessarily long essays

222 notes · View notes

lambergeier · 4 months

Text

2023 bookpost 🥳🥳🥳

43 books read this year! about 2/3rds of last year's number, but i fell off pace in summer and for the last two months and never actually have a target or care about my pace anyways, so 43 is a good solid number imho. as last year, full list with light commentary below, recs are bolded:

JANUARY

Neuromancer by William Gibson

The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation by Miriam Pawel (i am punished for my desire to learn more about the two governors brown's effects on the state of california with: family hagiography. should have known tbh)

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman (SOOOOOO GOOD. apocalyptic/religious horror in 1350's france during the black plauge. for fans of the terror, and fans of people who are in love but for whom the love won't alwayshelp!)

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel (hilary ilu u were one of the greatest novelists of the past hundred years it was an honor to be alive at the same time as you. this could have been 200 pages shorter. ilu tho)

Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? by Seamas O’Reilly (short, sweet childhood memoir of the irish writer/comedian who, famously, tweeted that story about meeting the president of ireland on ketamine.)

FEBRUARY

Either/Or by Elif Bautman (girls can i tell you. i didn't realize this was a sequel until like 100 pages into the book. that was on me.)

Two Doctors Gorski by Isaac Fellman (ah mr fellman. lol)

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka (really cool piece of fiction, first half told from the collective viewpoint of a group of regulars at a public swimming pool, second half about the one specific swimmer who's losing her independence to dementia. short, packs a punch)

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (UNDEFEATED!)

One Man’s Terrorist: a Political History of the IRA by Peter Finn

Nightcrawlers by Leila Mottley (love to see local 22yos succeed wildly. does NOT mean this book was good god bless)

MARCH

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy

Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy (to be clear, if you are not a cormac mccarthy fan, these books will not make you his fan. they are very much about this man's incredible hopelessness regarding a world that has invented and used the atomic bomb. what can be redeemed, etc etc. i loved them, despite a major part of the plot being consensual sibling incest, they were beautiful and phenomenal, they were not light reading)

APRIL

A Smile in his Lifetime by Joseph Hansen

Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo (cannot recommend the audiobook highly enough. emma read the paper copy to catch up to where i was in the audiobook so we could listen together on a car trip, and she agreesTM that the audiobook is the way to go)

MAY

Barbarian Days by William Finnegan

The Dark Lord of Derkholm by Dianna Wynne Jones

JUNE

We Don’t Know Ourselves by Fintan O’Toole (really really really cool nonfiction about ireland since the 1950s, part autobiography, more parts cultural history of a very quickly changing nation. fascinating to read this within 12 months of finn's one man's terrorist, which was a very leftist history of the IRA, and keefe's say nothing, which was an only very slightly leftist history of the IRA that was most interested in like, how compelling the history is (not a drag on it). o'toole not as big on the IRA as the other two! understandable!)

JULY

The Binding by Bridget Collins

The War That Killed Achilles by Caroline Alexander (for all fans of the history of the story of the illiad!!! short and passionate!)

Flux by Jinwoo Chong (solid new debut scifi - who thought it could still happen!)

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy

The Witch King by Martha Wells (this book sucked ass!!! have mentioned this several times already this year!!!)

An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072 by Eman Abdelhadi and M. E. O'Brien (some things about this book were fun, many were infuriating, absolute worst had to be the insistence that in the future: therapy would solve even more problems that it does today :))

The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt (see my beautiful wife's post on the subject)

Stay True by Hua Hsu (beautiful, deserves the pulitzer, not 100% my thing but still very good)

AUGUST

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (the voice was hard to get used to for the first 50 pages, but i ended up really liking this tbh. i've never read copperfield, so not sure if that improved the experience)

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

The Boys by Katie Hafner (a mistake to read this, but at least the twist was funny! there wasn't anything else in the book, but only a partial waste of time at the end)

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (finally read this, which has truly polarized my extended social circle, but i ended up liking it. i didn't always get what it was doing 100% of the time, and didn't so much feel compelled to find out, but i tore through it and will always be a sucker for a story about that doesn't fix you but does keep you alive. can see both sides of this debate)

American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts by Chris McGreal (we have to kill every sackler. solid history of the epidemic. EVERY sackler.)

SEPTEMBER

The Season by Kristen Richardson (half-baked history of the debutante social ritual. but, not like there's many other histories of the subject!)

All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin (funny, contained extensive dirtbag lesbian behaviors, but lacked some heft at the end)

In Memoriam by Alice Winn (do you s2b2? do you want some solid, tome-like origfic? do you want all of those things and also siegfried sassoon rpf? well great news!)

Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller (pleaseeeeeee tell me if you have read this or do read this it was SOOOOOO GOOD and i had NEVER heard of this guy before!!! fantastically written prose, everything builds with infinite dread to a single horrible punchline, i am still wowed thinking about it)

The Trees by Percival Everett (haha hey wanna get fucked up. dark dark dark comedy)

OCTOBER

Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale (really enjoyable if slightly overlong romance novel that i got off a rec list for historical romances with disabled love interests. does a really good interesting job of giving the love interest full breadth and agency despite severe processing impairment following a stroke)

Mobility by Linda Kiesling

The Rachel Incident by Rachel O’Donahughe

NOVEMBER

NO BOOK NOVEMBER MFS

DECEMBER

Not Even the Dead by Juan Gómez Bárcena (would also like to know if anyone else has read this so we can try and figure out what the fuck was going on right at the end!! also the fact that this is primarily about mexican history, written by a spaniard, with the specter of the US very prominent in the book is like. hm i would love to be able to read some mexican press reviews of this lol)

When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era by Donovan X. Ramsey (picked this up following the opioid book, which discussed but didn't go deep on how the country's reaction to the opioid epidemic was so vastly different from the crack epidemic. put a lot of stuff into context lmao.)

WAIT AT SOME POINT THIS YEAR I REREAD RUMO AND HIS MIRACULOUS ADVENTURES BY WALTER MOERS. I DON'T KNOW WHEN. DIDN'T WRITE IT DOWN. BUT I DID REREAD IT. 44 BOOKS. shout out to mr. moers for writing some extremely fucking creepy books for teenagers <3

okay i was gonna do more about like general trends and vibes of this year's books, also about the four books i am still reading rn lol, but i have been typing for soooooooooooo long so i'm just gonna reblog with more thots in the morning. stay prepared everyone

#book post

24 notes · View notes

emsartwork · 2 years

Photo

Originally phoenix but it overlapped too much with the bird aspects of harpix so instead its now COATLNIX!! primarily named after the Xiuhcoatl fire serpent of Culhua-Mexica (Aztec) lore. I ended up kind of combining the phoenix and the xiuhcoatl and weirdly some aspects of Hephaestus for this. I have no idea where my brain originally wanted to go lol.

lore and design notes and stuff below as usual

So just like Sirenix, Harpix, and Dryadix, Coatlnix is earned through a quest. Elemental quests are traditionally initiated through the corresponding elemental companion, but a “cheat code” exists in the Elementix Compendium to kickstart each of the quests with out a companion (if the fairy already has Harmonix obvi). The Coatlnix quest is. weird. A lot of the fire/energy associated ethereal magic doesn’t have a super concrete element to work with in the magic dimension, so the quest is less about obtaining physical objects and more about using magic to manipulate objects. The Coatlnix quest requires a fairy to take a small piece of metal, wood, stone, or other natural elements (metal is traditional) that can be transformed by fire. They put the chosen item in the middle of a cardinal direction magic circle. The fairy then has to focus their magic and send four tendrils of magical flame through the cardinal directions to the item. The goal is to transform the item into a Coatlnix Ingot. this sometimes takes Fairy several tries, especially if they haven’t studied witch-style spell casting. After the fairy succeeds, they present the Ingot to the Source of Coatlnix on planet Magix. and it takes shape as part of the neckpiece/armbands in the transformation. Unlike like the sirenix pearls and harpix feathers, there are no riddles to solve to get a seed, instead Coatlnix is more like Dryadix. The Elementix Compendium discusses mineral selection, smithing, glass blowing, wood burning, and proper ritual magic techniques. There is still some kind of virtue trial in order to get the ritual to actually be effective but its literally just like. attention, perseverance, dealing with frustration, etc.

Design! I’ve described Coatlnix/Phoenix before when talking about Daphne and the elementix here and largely I did stick to the original aesthetic. I didn’t cross the fabric and the metallic bodice as much as I wanted but that’s just how it happens sometimes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . So Coatlnix features! Hair turns into fire in the fairy’s magic colors and mimics the fairy’s natural hair texture, the eyes are also completely color filled. A metal neck piece matches the wrist/hand bands in shape and color. A metallic, segmented, bodice with dark edging. The skirt is pale loose fabric, it can be multiple pieces, looped, tied, bunched and occasionally attached to the bodice. All feature safety shorts underneath because that’s important to me lol. Shoes are metallic strappy sandals. A sheer piece of fabric streaked with metal flecks is attached at either the wrists or the fingers and usually goes up the back to attach to the bottom of the bodice or the neck piece (in between the wings). The wings are very glowy, and resemble feathers in flame. So for biological reactions, Tecna has a little, Stella is about average, and Bloom is.... unique. because she’s Bloom. The bio changes mimic the Coatlni. Fairies gain a feather crest, feathered collar bones, flat scales on the breast bone, regular scales on the hands and lower legs. The hands/feet also gain talons and the feet extend to become more digitigrade. While the least human looking of the elementix inspirations, Coatlni still have a human-esc consciousness and create their own impressive communities on the shelves of volcanos. They look like snakes with feathers and two small arms. The feathers are actually more like extended, flexible, scales, they’re very shiny and gem or metal like.

(Sketchy coatlni below, im iffy on the wings)

BLOOM. So bloom is real wild in this one because she has the dragon flame attached to her core. With out the dragon flame she would look a lot more like stella (gonna do a Daphne set eventually or you can go to my patreon to see a sketch version of nodragonflame!bloom) So bloom gains more dragon like features than Coatlni ones. horns, fangs, dragon ears, larger taloned hands and feet, feathered flame on her forearms and calves, more powerful dragon-y legs (as opposed to the smaller dexterous coatlni style ones), and more protective scale patches.

idk what im gonna work on next, maybe cosmix? maybe elementix witch forms? feel free to let me know what you’d wanna see lol

585 notes · View notes

shortbreadly · 6 months

Note

What are your headcanons related to Helsa and Charlie?

i’m throwing seviathan and the rest of the von eldritch and morningstar families into this:

these are all my own headcanons, and this will be very long so bare that in mind

ok so firstly, the von eldritch family comes from Envy, and are essentially only know inside that ring. Outside of it only really helsa (and i guess sev to an extent) are famous

out of the two siblings, helsa was 100% the favourite child and garnered all the attention off her parents. seviathan doesn’t hold any grudge against her for this, if anything it’s made the two of them a lot closer

fredrick and bethesda have a very unhappy marriage, and if anything having kids made it worse. the two have always hated seviathan, but bethesda saw a publicity opportunity in helsa and exploited her for this

fredrick is leviathan’s (prince of envy) less successful younger brother, so by attempting to make helsa famous he was hoping it could bring some attention to his family and live up to his brother’s name

also leviathan has a wife called vepar, i’m pretty sure i’ve posted my designs for them on this account at some point

anyway when they were children, seviathan and helsa were good friends with charlie (finally getting into what this ask was about) and never held any hatred against each other

as they grew up the three of them were close until they reached their late teens (like 17-18)

i imagine helsa wasn’t always so bitchy, but was encouraged by her mother to befriend different demons instead of charlie to boost her popularity, leading her to get roped into the wrong crowd

helsa made new friends who pushed her into a cruel and bitchy personality, this driving her and charlie apart

in terms of charlie and seviathan, i image they were set up similarly to how stolas and stella were, but instead they were never engaged and lucifer actually wasn’t aware of this

fredrick forced seviathan to move to the pride ring to be closer to charlie, but the two of them were good friends anyway so dating seemed like the natural progression

fredrick planned that if the two of them started dating and made the headlines, it could bring some much-needed attention to the von eldritch family

this did actually work for a while but then the two broke up (haven’t figured out why) and kind of shat all over that

it was probably partly to do with lucifer finding out fredrick’s intentions and forcing them to end it, and also partly internal issues between the two, either way the two break up

i like to think the three of them have sort of made up and have reconciled as good friends (because i’m still a chaggie shipper don’t forget). now back to helsa’s growing fame

after seviathan and charlie break up, seviathan decides to cut ties with his parents, and tries to convince helsa to do the same

the von eldritch parents have always been rather abusive to the two but in different ways: seviathan physically, helsa mentally

helsa is younger and unaware of her parents’ abuse, so disagrees with seviathan and sticks with her parents. once again he doesn’t hold a grudge or anything, but he still isn’t happy about her decision

helsa is pushed into many different professions by her mother, some being model, social media influencer, and the main one being a singer

helsa, like her mother, is a siren so was born with a naturally good voice. bethesda milks the shit out of this

as bethesda is desperate for helsa to succeed, she pushes many beauty standards onto her daughter, causing her to bind her fins on her arms and legs to hide them (which causes blisters and cuts from rubbing), and applying concealer directly onto her gills (which messes with her lungs)

this is about as much of my headcanons that i can share without going into ridiculously far-fetched ones (that include my many ocs, most of which i’ve never spoken about on this account). i don’t want to border on an au, but to be honest i probably already have

#and that is how millie shortbreadly became unhealthily obsessed with two fictional characters who haven’t had an ounce of screentime #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel charlie #charlie morningstar #hazbin hotel helsa #helsa von eldritch #hazbin hotel seviathan #seviathan von eldritch #hazbin hotel lucifer #lucifer morningstar #hazbin hotel lilith #lilith morningstar #hazbin hotel fredrick #fredrick von eldritch #hazbin hotel bethesda #bethesda von eldritch #hazbin hotel vaggie #vaggie #shortbreadly answers

22 notes · View notes

rhetoricandlogic · 5 months

Text

Review: The Stranger Times by C. K. McDonnell

A dark yet humorous urban fantasy, The Stranger Times is ready to report some of the weirdest and unrealistic stuff (or at least, that’s what they think) happening in our world at the moment. Based in Manchester, things are about to get eerie and the link between the real world and the fantasy world is starting to turn really vague.

McDonnell did an absolutely splendid job at telling the story from alternative perspectives, gradually revealing the darker forces that are happening in the alleyways of Great Manchester. An evil plan is hatching and possibly only the people at The Stranger Times are able to stop them.

Well, speaking of the people at The Stranger Times newspaper…they’re definitely not a peaceful bunch. They’re all such different people and one can only imagine the dynamics between them. What’s fascinating is that there isn’t one character who doesn’t have an interesting backstory, and they’re all written in a way that makes me feel like they’re just normal people like us, or perhaps people we encounter on an everyday basis.

Take Vincent Banecroft for example, the drunken editor of The Stranger Times, whose only hobbies are probably swearing all day long and shouting at anyone who speaks or tries to speak to him, but there is just something about him that you simply can’t hate. There’s so much more to him than his drunken appearance once you get to know his stories. Honestly, I am a bit disappointed that we didn’t really have much written from his perspective, it would be interesting as hell to see what’s going on in this fellow’s mind 24/7.

Then we have the new assistant editor, the ‘new Tina’, Hannah Willis. Poor girl left her husband and accidentally burned down their house after finding him cheating on her multiple times. She ended up becoming a new member of this crazy newspaper crew after making the decision to leave everything behind and start over again. Hannah has a lot of potential and it would be super encouraging and satisfying to see her transform even more.

Reggie and Ox definitely are the funniest pair, aren’t they? One determined to jump off the building every Monday and another who perhaps lack a bit of enthusiasm when attempting to persuade the other from jumping. And then we have Grace and Stella, a kind-hearted receptionist (I believe) and a girl with something more to her than meets the eye. We also have the nerdy teenager Simon, who dedicates his whole life trying to get Banecroft’s approval and become a member of The Stranger Times. Will he succeed eventually? Guess we’ll have to wait and find out.

Working together to produce some of the strangest news, they were quickly dragged into a series of investigations where weird things start to happen, and The Stranger Times newspaper might start to turn into that name literally…

McDonnell’s style of writing is whimsical, the dialogues are hilarious, and the characters are certainly entertaining enough, especially the guy who keeps trying to sell Hannah the story of him seeing a ghost for 10 grand, honestly dude, I’m very impressed with your persistency. Additionally, in between chapters, there are also short extracts from the newspaper with all sorts of strange things reported daily which makes it even more interesting to read.

This story contains a mixture of dark humour and fantasy elements, and you can always get a good laugh while reading it. It’s funny but not cringey and you could get hooked on right from the start. The next one in this series comes out next year and I certainly can’t wait to read more about the strange things that happen at The Stranger Times.

Get ready, for the weird things might just turn out to be real…

#C.K. McDonnell #The Stranger Times #mahreviews #long post

12 notes · View notes

penflicks · 9 months

Text

I was talking about it with @theyhaveacavetroll but the sheer amount of work Andreas had to do to facilitate Bloom's rescue Saul plan is intense.

He has to pretend he doesn't know about the bridge being out and direct the convoy that way even though that's the burnt out bridge where Devon got bitten and it must have been Andreas who brought him back to the school.

He had to make sure his kids didn't come along because Beatrix would have fried Saul as soon as he started running and Sky was too close to Bloom not to tell her that Andreas is assisting.

There are a lot more kids in the briefing room than just Riven and Dane so clearly they were hidden somewhere along the route.

Andreas had to check Saul was in a state to escape and hadn't been broken by prison, because if that happens they'd have had to switch to whatever plan two was.

He then has to convince the other four vehicles in the convoy to go on without him and the prisoner that they're transporting. Did those guys have somewhere else they needed to be and couldn't delay?

He had to pretend he couldn't see the kids in their terrible hiding spot. Plus keep everyone else from seeing them, Terra's vines and Aisha's water. All while not giving anything away emotionally so Musa wasn't clued in.

He then has to make sure that Saul is secured to the bed of the truck right enough that he won't slip and be injured but lose enough that Saul can use the key that falls in his lap.

He then has to get Out of the car when the transport gets blown up even though protocol would be to accelerate away. He has to move far enough away from the car that Saul has a bit of a head start.

Then he has to make sure the arrows he fires to cover up that he's helping etc go into a part of Saul's body that won't inhibit his running or cause him to bleed out. Pretty sure those arrows hit his shoulder blades which would be the only way to ensure he didn't accidentally hit any vital organs there. If he'd actually wanted to stop Saul he'd have shot Saul in the legs for a pinning shot.

He has to then act like the kids aren't barely conceal by the folliage on the otherside of the river, and then rather than leave Dane or Riven standing guard where Saul went in he gets them all to go down stream giving the fairies time to pull Saul out.

The only thing he miscalculated was that they got out of there before he could get back up the cliff and follow them to where they were going to hide Saul.

Pretty sure that's all Rosalind was angry about. The whole point of telling Bloom about Saul's trial and making sure that Andreas's route was easy to get hold of etc was so that Rosalind would have leverage over Bloom and then Andreas accidentally missed the vital part where they see where Saul goes and have their evidence. Not to mention grab Saul later so that they can do the second part of the plan which is boy Bloom's trust by getting Saul pardoned.

I don't know what Riven is supposed to have seen because that water bubble could have been any water fairy. There was nothing to tie it to Aisha and therefore Bloom. Not that it matters because that night Saul all but hands himself over to Rosalind.

Poor Andreas was doing so much leg work to make Bloom's plan succeed, while all Rosalind had to do was persuade Luna that Stella was a flight risk so that she could keep her from turning Saul invisible and make it impossible for Andreas to follow him and collect the evidence/find him later.

#andreas of eraklyon #fate winx saga #fate the winx saga #ftws

12 notes · View notes

carolmunson · 11 months

Note

Do you think Stella would ever have her own brand like Gwyneth Paltrow with goop?

LOL. Imagine? I don’t think she would, though. I think she’s someone who really enjoys seeing other people succeed and would start a production company for new film makers and producers — ideally women and anyone else who isn’t a cis white man since they flood the industry. This probably wouldn’t be until later in her career though when she’s more established as a producer/director as well as maintaining her acting career. However, in her peak she was definitely a CoverGirl and did a whole bunch of other makeup and hair care and perfume contracts as an ambassador.

They definitely bought the vagina candle as a joke though and Eddie loves saying, “Oh my god, does it smell weird in here? Should we light the pussy candle?” Because he’s annoying and stupid.

#rockstar!eddie

16 notes · View notes

httplovecraft1890 · 1 year

Text

Spy x Family AU Fic Idea

I finally managed to catch up with cour two of Spy x Family's season one. While watching episode 14, I specifically wondered how things might've ended up had Anya and Bond been unable to save Loid from Keith Kepler's bomb. Story idea? Maybe... It would probably be hard to understate how devastated Anya would be from the loss of Loid in her life. After all, she really thought she could turn things around for Papa, but came up short when trying to do so. Any goodwill she felt from getting her first Stella Star probably evaporates overnight. The mission, after all, is now meaningless - or at least appears to be. I do wonder if she'd actively avoid watching Spy Wars from that point on (since it's a potential traumatic trigger) or if she'd sink deeper into her obsession given that it provides her a safe, child-friendly version of spycraft to live vicariously through. I don't think she'd blame Bond; she knows what it feels like to be abandoned so she'd probably still ask Yor if they can adopt him.

For Yor… she blamed herself for Loid going off to the bathroom, even in canon, due to her cooking and she might very well swear it off entirely if she perceived it as having resulted in his accidental death. I suspect she'd still come to the realization that she loved (loves?) him in hindsight but who knows when that would be. At this point, I don't think there's a doubt she would go all in on being Anya's mom since she'd probably feel obligated to do so, besides the fact she also clearly wants to be hers anyway. Does Anya tell Yor about her telepathy and about Operation Strix? I think she very well might. I can't imagine a scenario where she lets Yor wallow in self-hatred, even if she's terrified that her mom might blame her for not saying something earlier and return her back to the orphanage. The war that was speculated to erupt does, I think, and that makes them both needing to be safe paramount. WISE is almost certainly operating in a reduced capacity after it just lost its best agent, not to mention that the border is no longer as porous as it used to be. What happens between Nightfall, Yor, and Anya could be quite interesting but I"m not really sure how that'd play out (though maybe this could lead to a Fiona/Yor ship since the main obstacle for both is now, uh, not around). No doubt Fiona, if she encountered Yor, would hate her here even more than she does in canon. Maybe she'd even end up taking the Twilight moniker to honor him as well as not let it slip he was KIA? There are certain things that frustratingly unclear. For example: is Ostania able to engage in a war successfully or did Kepler jump starting it mean that it's doing so with more limited resources? The National Unity Party would seize on it and I'm assuming Donovan Desmond ends up as prime minister in the event of some snap election but who knows how it would pan out for them. The SSS might be able to suppress internal dissent but that might not matter depending on how things go militarily. All of that said, I do still think Anya would try to proceed with Operation Strix in some form or fashion. She wanted it to succeed before so Loid would keep her around after it was finished if she proved herself useful but it'd be even more pressing now to do it in his memory. I'd also assume that Yor would probably try to involve herself as well, with perhaps Franky and Fiona doing so too somewhere along the way. I had a bit of fun with a plot bunny on an older post with the idea of Yor posing as a secretary for Desmond to secretly act as a bodyguard and that could very well be applicable here - only the intent being to assassinate him instead rather than imagining the Garden as a secret tool of his to eliminate opposition (or who knows, maybe they still are, but Yor ends up breaking with them over Loid's death and their potential unwillingness to help her). Not gonna be a good time for poor Damian in this scenario. Yuri's a bit of a cipher. He might want to do everything in his power to keep his sister safe, but would that include betraying his position and country to do so here? Once he finds out she's doing it for Loid, of all people, he might not be so keen but she is his primary obsession in life. Regardless, definitely leaves the possibility of fun cat-and-mouse games between the two Briar siblings as they try to tiptoe around their secret identities with one another. Then again, without Loid in Yor's life, it's possible he might soften to Anya's presence a bit; he'd be a weird as hell paternal replacement, but she might cling to him because he's a familiarity in a now very unfamiliar world.

Melinda could also totally factor in, but I dunno how.

19 notes · View notes

graveseer-young · 2 months

Text

DAYBREAKER - RANCH : DONT LOOK BACK ft @fleetsummers & @lxighmadxson

Colin Young "Shit" he had sounded the bell as soon as he saw the first daybreakers charge in. He followed protocol and got down as fast as he could. Out of sight, avoiding direct contact or be shot by arrows. This did not mean he would not go to where he knew Leigh was saddling up. She had talked about that to him during a shift. He ran , ducked and arrived as she was guiding her horse. "Leigh! They're here" he spoke hushed as he grabbed the saddle to swing it on the horse.

Leigh Madison Leigh had heard the bell and was already at the stable. She knew this was coming but damn if she thought they had more time. Unfortunately the chaos has spooked Stella and she was now wasting time trying to get her to settle. Eventually she got her down and that was when Colin arrived. "I heard. How much time do we have?" She asked as she held Stella steady while Colin got on the saddle.

Colin Young Colin was working as quickly as possible. He was no horse man, but he could saddle a horse, Leigh had showed him basic care. "I'll give you as much as you need to get back to Redwood." he spoke, knowing well what that actually meant and entailed. "Front gate is compromised, you'll have to get through one of the fences…let's go…"

Leigh Madison Leigh adjusted a couple of straps before pointing her attention on Colin. "Wait, what are you gonna do?" She didn't like what they could possibly mean, although leaving everyone back here was not exactly any better.

Colin Young "Buy you time if we get stopped on your way out." he replied as a matter of fact. "We're gonna be like the wind, quick and quiet." he heard some commotion nearby. "come on, let's go. " he motionned towards the back of the building. He peaked his head out , right, left, he saw no one in sight. "go go go."

Leigh Madison Leigh hated this. This was what she was here for, but still, Colin and the others weren't safe. And if she didn't make it back to Redwood in time it was possible everyone else here wouldn't survive. But she couldn't think of that. She had to succeed. So she followed behind Colin, waiting for him to give the clear. As he told her to go she did, pulling Stella along - until she heard gunfire behind Colin. "Colin, move!"

Colin Young Some of it brought back bad memories about how his last settlement , the difference was that zombies did not discriminate and aim with precision. He knew far well that one of them would be a shield for the other. It was what it was. He ducked down, the gunfire not really bothering him since they were everywhere, but he heard the bullet whistle past them. "Doesn't matter, forward Leigh, forward." he told her . Looking back to where that came from he still wasn't seeing anyone, and thus he focused on looking at the corner of the building, it would be open after this. "I'll go first , open the fence, you get on Sally and just go okay? " It wasn't really a question. He made a run for it, avoiding the traps he memorized thanks to Zack. He managed to open the fence, but before he could make any further move, he felt the air knocked out of him when projected…well…against said fence. He groaned, completly out of it and shook his head to regain composure. He only had time to see the light vanish behind a towering figure when he felt a blow.

Leigh Madison Leigh knew that when this day happened it was going to be bad, but still to see it like it was - nothing could have ever prepared her for it. She remembered the chaos when the ranch she had been on was overrun with zombies but it was so much more different than right now. Colin's directions were easy but she didn't like them. Although he left no room for argument as he ran to the fence. She saddled herself on Stella and was ready to run when she saw the man throw Colin into the fence. "Colin!"

She dug her heels into Stella's sides and ran around the traps, approaching the man that was towering over Colin. As she got closer she rared Stella on her hind legs so Stella would kick the man away from Colin. It worked - kind of. He stumbled and then looked up to Leigh with a predatory sort of glance. She backed Stella away as the guy wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and started walking towards her.

fleet summers Colin was safe -- within reason -- where he'd landed, so Fleet didn't head towards him. If Colin was injured worse then there was nothing he could do anyhow; the real concern was getting the way clear for Leigh to make it out, make it to Redwood.

The idea wasn't to draw the Daybreaker's attention, not really; Fleet was more inclined to take advantage of his focus being on Leigh. But even his lightfooted run towards the man didn't work in the end because Stella saw him, or caught wind of him, and she lifted her head and whinnied, and the Daybreaker must have understood horses because that reaction prompted him to turn. Fleet should have kept running. He should have barrelled right into the man and swung his crowbar before the Daybreaker had much time to register what was happening.

But he wasn't a seasoned fighter in that way. He couldn't suppress his overwhelming instinctual reaction, which was to freeze, some feet away with his crowbar in his shaking hands. 'I'll do both of you, then,' the Daybreaker said, with a sinister grin, his eyes on Fleet's weapon as he stalked towards him.

Leigh Madison Leigh was running through her options. She could try to run through him with Stella but that wasn't guaranteed to work. He could grab her and pull her off if she wasn't fast enough or hurt Stella and then they had no way to get word back to Redwood. She had to think fast but she wasn't a fighter. Not like this, at least. She was looking to Colin, willing him to get up when Stella started to whinny. That's when she saw Fleet. Unfortunately, just as much as Stella's behavior gave Fleet away to her, it gave him away to the Daybreaker too. Stella was trotting nervously and she held the reins steady to keep her from bolting. But now with the Daybreaker not paying attention to her and focused on Fleet, she could make a move. She clicked her heels into Stella's sides and started running towards him. "Fleet, move!" she said just as she got close and trampled him down with Stella. It wouldn't keep him down but it could stun him enough for Fleet to help Colin while she started her race back to Redwood. She felt bad for leaving them behind but the sooner she got back the faster she could bring help. Hopefully nothing happened to them in that time.

Colin Young It took that long for Colin to come back to his senses. He pulled himself up with the help of the fence. He only saw the back of the horse, and was a a bit relieved that Leigh was on her way out. He couldn't do more. However, Fleet was standing opposite to him. Maybe they could pull it off to make him stumble towards a trap. Maybe. He wiped the blood from his face and took some speed to then jump on the daybreakers' back. Not thinking about how dumb this was, was helping to not freak out for now. He used the fact that he was a bit stunned to put koala hug him from his back and put his hands on his eyes. Blind giant, he was starting to push the eyes in , knowing that he wouldn't be able to hang on for very long, but hopefully that would be enough for the other to do something.

fleet summers The Daybreaker roared with aggravated rage when Colin jumped on his back, and even stunned as he was, Fleet could see that the other man was digging into their enemy's eyes, possibly intending to … pop them out? The thought made his gorge rise but Fleet shook his head hard, remembering those Daybreakers in the pit traps outside the perimeter. He'd killed them. He'd done that. He could do this.

Fleet darted into motion, not giving himself a chance to think any deeper; he was thinking instead about Zack killing the Daybreaker who'd attacked him, and although his crowbar wasn't the same as a knife, it had a hook on its end. Fleet reached the big man, wheeling around blindly as Colin tried to dig out his eyes, and he rammed the sharpened ends of his crowbar into the man's belly, just above his left hip. A moment of resistance and then it gave, and Fleet made an agonized noise at the horrendous feel of the crowbar ripping through skin, flesh, fascia, the stench of intestines tumbling out.

Colin Young Colin was trying his best to keep the Daybreaker blind, but he was getting tired of holding on, especially with his bad arm. He ignored the sound of penetration and the growl of pain the Daybreaker. It was probably easier to pretend this was just a big Walker and not a human being. The Daybreaker rammed Colin against a building , which made him lose his grip and had to hold on to the other man's shoulder. Having eyes on Fleet, the guy grabbed the crowbar and pulled on it to get Fleet closer before sucker punching square in the face. Out of breath and mostly out of options because he had nothing on him to pierce or bash, he resorted to biting the guy in the neck to get his attention back on him and not Fleet. "Aah son of a bitch" yelped the Daybreaker. He bashed Colin against the nearest building again and again until Colin let go. Then took him by thre throat and lifted him up. Swinging wilding, Colin was grasping for air and was putting his hands on that arm to try to get him to let go .

fleet summers The man was like a tank. It was as if Fleet hadn't just disemboweled him, like Fleet had just given him a love-tap, as the Daybreaker yanked him closer and disarmed him, following it with a punch to the face that sent Fleet reeling back with an explosion of pain in his head. He wanted to throw up but all he could manage was retching and moaning, black fireworks going off in his vision, and Fleet forced himself to breathe and wiped blood from his eyes, blinking to clear his head. The Daybreaker still had Colin, somehow managing to hold the man up and throttle him with whatever violence-fueled adrenaline was running through him.

He'd dropped the crowbar, at least, and Fleet slapped more blood from his eyes -- it just kept running down, that punch must have busted his brow somewhere -- and threw himself into motion. Heading towards the dark shape of his crowbar in the grass, swooping it up in his hand and catching a loop of dangling intestine with the hook end, swinging his arm to wrap it around and around as more guts spooled out of the Daybreaker's belly and then stopped. At the end of its tension. Fleet could hear himself panting, keening through his teeth, but he yanked his arm back and the Daybreaker finally dropped to his knees, slithering in the pile of his own entrails, slumping heavily over onto Colin.

Colin Young Colin told himself to just hold on, hold on. He saw Fleet in his peripheral vision and in his state of semi-consciousness, that thread he was pulling seemed endless, going and going for so long. Time seemed to stop. All became sensations. He was hearing his hearbeat in his ears and when he finally hit the ground, the whole was spinning. It took all his strength of will to actually pull the Daybreaker off of him. He remained on the ground for a second. He was coughing and trying to catch his breath. As he regained some of his senses, the first thing that he noticed was the stench of intestines, of blood. It was different than walkers. He also knew that there were high chances that this Daybreaker might turn.

He pulled himself up and stumbled towards Fleet. He put a hand on his shoulder and searched for eye contact. There was no point in asking if he was okay, none of them were. He silently took the crowbar and went back to the corpse. He lifted the crowbar and swung it in the guy’s skull , stumbling forwards on a knee when he did so. He spat some blood and turn around with the crowbar to meet Fleet again. He extended a hand. “ We can’t stay here.” He whispered in a raspy painful voice.

fleet summers Colin managed to get himself free from the weight of the Daybreaker and Fleet watched, half-tuned in and half-out, not wanting to have to enter the fray again. He didn't need to; Colin came over and looked at him, seeing that Fleet was standing and functional, and then he went off to the Daybreaker lying in a huge heap and started swinging. Fleet didn't try to go over there, but as each blow landed things started to come into sharper focus and by the time Colin came back to him, reaching out a hand, Fleet felt rage heating its way up his throat. "Don't you fucking touch this," he spat, reaching out to snatch his crowbar back from Colin, holding it tight to his chest white-knuckled. "Don't ever touch this again, it's mine." The bloody effluvium of it was smearing into Fleet's beard, down his neck, but it didn't matter, just the overwhelming distress at somebody else having used his crowbar. "I killed my father with this. Don't -- nobody else gets to touch this."

Colin Young Now that was a reaction and an answer he did not want to delve into or touch form a mile away. He really was not sure how to approach someone who was piling different traumatic events. Colin lifted his hands to appease Fleet and show that he was not the enemy here. “ I needed to make sure he wasn’t coming back for a second round, it’s all yours, won’t take it again.” He whispered because maybe an explanation would also be what Fleet needed. He had buried the father, taken good care of him for his lest resting place. He stepped closer. “ You killed …but you also saved my life with it … now please, let’s move before another sees us. “ he pleaded.

fleet summers The deathgrip on his crowbar didn't abate, but Fleet watched Colin raise his hands and that meant Colin wasn't going to take it again; he knew logically, somewhere, of course, that Colin had simply taken whatever weapon was at hand to save them both, but. That logic hadn't percolated its way anywhere useful, and the only things Fleet was aware of were the feel of the crowbar in his hand and the blood that was dripping down his face unabated now. "Okay," he said, and realized his voice was coming out strange and juddering because he was shaking from head to toe, and then further realized that it wasn't just the bleeding wetting his face, it was that he was crying. A red haze fuzzed his vision, eyelashes hung heavy with brine and blood, and Fleet felt his knees almost start to give out before he bit down on his tongue to bring himself back, shaking his head hard and dragging his sleeve over his face. "Okay," Fleet said again, still trembly but more sure. "Colin. Yeah. Let's keep moving."

Colin Young « Okay, good, good, come on. “ he coaxed him after a sigh of relief. He stumbled towards the opening in the fence he had opened up for Leigh originally and pulled up a bit for Fleet to get through and he followed. He hoped the rest of the Ranch chosen would also be able to get out , but that was out of his hands, he could only focus and care for the one that was with him and himself. They had a long road back , and he made sure that Fleet would continue moving towards their home and be safe for other people to give him the help and comfort he right now needed.

#plot:daybreaker #discordthreads #dontlookback

3 notes · View notes