#'I'll never be As Good As A Native English Speaker so I have to Do My Best to Pass'

[belphegor1982]

#“I’m not a native english speaker 😔” and then proceeds to out-write SHAKESPEARE (x)

ARE YOU KIDDING WHAAT

[kitty6choi]

𝑺𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆

꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷

「 Synopsis」 : You had always followed the rules, never got into trouble and obeyed orders without any objection, so when your boss asked you to sit at his desk with your legs open you obeyed.

★Paring: Boss!Kim Hongjoong x fem!reader

★Genre: smut + office au MDNI

★Word Count: 670

★WARNINGS: Fingering, unprotected sex (Don't do this), nicknames: slut, little girl, sir.

A/N: This is my first fic and I'm excited to continue with this, I'm not a native English speaker so I want to apologize if there are any mistakes. If you like it please comment and share.

⋆｡˚୨𝖬𝖺𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗍୧˚｡⋆

You had always followed the rules, you never got into trouble and you obeyed orders without any objection, that's why when your boss asked you to sit on his desk with your legs open you obeyed and if he asked you to cover your mouth and not moan you did. But it was so hard to keep it up for so long with his fingers playing with your pussy and his mouth kissing your neck.

“You can do it little girl” he whispered near your ear when he saw how you bit your lips hard “just a little more”

“Honj… I can't” you let out when he touched the spongy spot inside you making your body contract.

“Shhh… do you want the whole office to hear us?” you threw your head back while holding onto his shoulders, you were trying to bear it, but the way his fingers touched your clit and his mouth sucked on your skin didn't help you concentrate.

“Hongjoong…” you immediately felt teeth on your skin and looked up meeting his angry face “sir” you corrected yourself immediately “I’m close”

“You can’t, not yet” you let out a sob at his words, your body was sensitive and you knew you couldn’t take it even if you wanted to. His fingers moved inside you while his thumb played circles over your sensitive clit.

“Please” you begged clenching his shirt in your fists “I need you inside me”

Hongjoong saw your teary eyes and the way your body contracted with each touch and that only made his cock harder. He pulled his fingers out of you and pulled down his pants to release his reddened and dripping cock.

“Spread your legs little girl” you obeyed quickly and let out a moan when he grabbed your thighs tightly approaching your center to slide his tip through your folds “you must remain silent, can you do it?” you nodded when you felt the tip of his cock at your entrance, but when you opened your mouth to moan Hongjoong placed his fingers full of you on your tongue “this is better”

Hongjoong slowly pushed his hips and smiled when he saw your eyes begging for more, he couldn’t refuse, you had been so good for him that he knew you deserved a reward.

You stifled a moan in your throat and bit his fingers when he quickened the pace on his hips, you could feel every part of him and the way he filled you made you drool over the fingers in your mouth.

“Mmm… you look so pretty like this” he said as you felt your insides tighten around his cock “who would imagine that the pretty secretary is a needy slut?” You moaned when you heard his dirty words, you wanted to answer him because you knew he loved it, but right now with his cock all the way inside you didn't have the strength to do it.

Your body shook and your labored breathing only warned of the beginning of your orgasm. Hongjoong took his fingers out of your mouth and grabbed your neck as he approached your mouth.

“Stay quiet and cum on me” you obeyed almost instantly and you broke free as a loud moan with his name came out of your lips without caring what he had said to you, which made him continue your steps.

Hongjoong pulled away from you just to put your panties back on before you could spill anything, he fixed your hair and took you off the desk fixing your skirt before giving you a kiss on the lips.

“Now go tell Seonghwa that I need to see him” he said calmly as he put his glasses back on as if he hadn't just fucked you a few seconds before.

“But…”

“Shh, I'll correct you later for disobeying me.” He gave you a mocking smile before returning to his usual serious posture and you took a breath as you prepared to wait until later to see him again.

𝐴𝐿𝐿 𝑊𝑂𝑅𝐾𝑆 𝐶𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑇𝐸𝐷 𝐵𝑌 ©𝐾𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑦𝟼𝑐𝘩𝑜𝑖 𝑀𝑈𝑆𝑇 𝑁𝑂𝑇 𝐵𝐸 𝑃𝐿𝐴𝐺𝐼𝐴𝑅𝐼𝑍𝐸𝐷 𝑂𝑅 𝐶𝑂𝑃𝐼𝐸𝐷

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for creating and running a gimmick blog?

A few months back, I was bored and decided to hop on the trend of gimmick blogs. Since I don't have any crazy skills like identifying cars or programming bots, I settled on something I thought was extremely simple: correcting typos. So I'll sometimes reblog posts that have typos in them and comment with corrections. I would only do this on posts that were already lighthearted or joking in tone; I would never derail a serious post with it. And I really haven't used it very often - maybe a couple times a week at most, just when I happen to notice a good candidate.

Well, recently I was inundated out of nowhere by a bunch of anons telling me this was a horribly offensive idea. According to them, I was insulting dyslexic people, non-native English speakers, people without access to education, and a whole bunch of other groups with these unwarranted corrections.

I had honestly never considered that angle, and I've paused using that blog so I can try and reflect on it. But when I replied to a couple of the asks asking for a better explanation of exactly how this was harmful - because I genuinely wanted to be informed - the vast majority of the replies, with few exceptions, were obscenely rude to me. I've been called classist, ableist, racist, and a lot of much worse words I don't care to repeat here. I blocked exactly two people because they were being extremely hateful in my notes, while still trying to engage with the more polite ones, but of course I still got accused of blocking and ignoring everyone I disagreed with.

The truth is, I'm still not sure whether or not I disagree with any of them on the actual subject at hand; I just can't deal with people being bitter and rude and assuming the worst of me. I tried to make it clear that I was more than willing to listen and have a conversation in good faith, but that has proved impossible.

So now I'm really hurt and really, really confused. I'm not going to just blindly trust a small group of hypocrites on the internet who claim they're worried about people's feelings while at the same time trying to completely villainize me as if I don't have feelings too. But I also understand that they might have a point. Sadly, politeness is not always correlated with correctness.

I absolutely do not want to continue running this gimmick blog if it's truly harmful and offensive to people. I've just never encountered this take before, and it was delivered with such vitriol that I had to take a break from tumblr entirely just to recover my sanity. So I'm hoping a much broader and less biased sample size will help to clear this up. I know an AITA poll isn't perfect, but it should do.

If I get a YTA verdict, I will delete the typo-correcting blog and stop immediately, no questions asked. If not, I'll know I just angered an extremely vocal minority that has no idea how to deal with conflict.

AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[saintsenara]

What I really struggle with in HP is JKR's shallow neoliberal world-building, and how it forces characters to navigate it quite awkwardly. As a big fan of the werewolf lore, I hate what she did there. I want to accept some of the self hatred and oversimplification of the society as complexities of the characters, but some of it also just feels like bad writing. Of course I am a bit of a Lupin stan and I'll do some gymnastics to try to make him a better man/werewolf than he'd ever be (I like to picture him as kind of a Union rep), but I don't know, I just really feel like canon is lacking. Am I just not a great reader?

no, i don't think you're a bad reader, anon.

when it comes to worldbuilding, jkr is certainly no tolkien - a lot of the inconsistencies in canon [i.e. why dumbledore flies to the ministry in philosopher's stone] come from her not having the world fully mapped out prior to writing, and, while this isn't as much of an issue as the fandom makes out [lots of authors adapt their worldbuilding as they go along!], it's definitely exacerbated by the fact that she has a tendency to claim certain inconsistencies were intentional.

the series' politics are also clearly incredibly neoliberal. and part of this [such as the fact that the order is defending the "sensible" status quo] is obviously a bleed-through from jkr's worldview, and i think it's legitimate to acknowledge and criticise that and how it manifests itself in the doylist text.

nonetheless, i think it is worth saying that the fandom has a tendency to criticise aspects of the text which ought instead to be understood as intentional spaces we can devote our energy to filling in. the genre conventions of the series require it to become an uncomplicated good-versus-evil trajectory which ends with all being well - and i do think that, when we're criticising jkr's writing, it's important to acknowledge that the ending of the series feels unsatisfactory because it does these conventions properly, rather than in spite of that fact. similarly, the reason that apparently key aspects of wizarding society [law, politics, etc.] don't get discussed in detail is because they're not the series' focus - i've mentioned elsewhere that i'm obsessed with the concept of wizarding medicine, and that i find the way this is presented in the series really shallow, but i recognise that this is because medicine isn't something the series wants to focus on. order of the phoenix is too long as it is - we don't need 200 more pages of detailed descriptions of how healers learn their craft...

and so i think it's fun for us to work in our own writing to make the worldbuilding feel a bit more cohesive.

the easiest way i've found to square this circle with the watsonian text is to recognise that harry is a partial narrator. he's someone with an incredibly self-serving, black-and-white moral code; he's incredibly privileged within wizarding society and comparatively privileged within muggle society [by which i don't mean that he isn't neglected by the dursleys, but he's also canonically white, able-bodied, cisgender, a native english speaker, well-educated, raised in a middle-class household and so on] and, therefore, never has to actually think about the politics and structure of wizarding society; and he's also a teenage boy, which explains him not being particularly observant or politically aware.

[the best example of this is, of course, that he doesn't give a shit about sirius' treatment of kreacher - because he likes sirius - and he doesn't consider his own mastery over kreacher to be a moral abomination - because he's shown to not really understand the broader social impact of slavery - but he detests the malfoys' treatment of dobby entirely and only because he dislikes the malfoys.]

his attitude towards lupin - and his attitude towards werewolves more generally - can be made sense of through this, i think. harry doesn't care about the broader state-sanctioned oppression of werewolves because it doesn't impact him, he cares about lupin's experience because it does; harry doesn't notice the imperialist overtones to lupin's self-presentation [that is, that he bears "the unmistakable signs of having tried to live among wizards"] and considers lupin's embrace of "civilisation" to be a good thing [in comparison to werewolves like greyback, who reject it] because it's what he personally considers legitimate; harry focuses on specific aspects of lupin's character because he's not a omniscient perspective - he's a [canonically short-sighted] teenage boy.

[lia404]

It doesn't happen a lot, but for once I'll be venting on main. Let's talk about fandoms and languages, in a very frustrated way.

Many time, I have found myself upset at and exhausted by the entitlement of native English speakers when everyone else is already making the effort to speak their language.

Try (and I'm not being a Yoda here, I don't even say to do it, just to even try) to speak my language, and then we'll talk about the terminology I use and the grammar mistakes I make. Don't you dare dogpile on me for using the wrong word when I'm clearly not native. No, I was not trying to insult anyone. Yes, what I said was wrong, but you can point it out in a didactic way without being aggressive, and you can acknowledge that we are not all equal in languages or in our abilities in learning English, the One Language To Rule Them All (with all the dark implications of the title.)

Heaven's sake. I know I'm sometimes missing nuances. I am painfully aware that I'l never speak or write like a native speaker, and I'll never grasp the full underlying meaning of some words. Especially when they are words that have evolved, that have become something else in the context of modern Internet, in a corner of the web that I don't visit, because most of my English interactions are in the context of fandoms.

I don't understand your memes. I don't understand your jokes. I likely never will, and I've given up on asking for explanations, because they usually come with even more ununderstandable jokes, sometimes borderline mockery.

And don't you dare tell me "but your English is so good! Don't worry!" because guess what? I know. I've been studying that language for 25 years. It's my fucking job. I am rather confident in the fact that I know English grammar better than most native English speakers. It doesn't mean I don't make stupid mistakes, and it doesn't make me a native speaker. No matter how hard I try, I will never, ever be a native speaker.

Day after day after day, I'm putting in the effort of thinking in a language that isn't mine, looking for hidden meanings and weighing every sentence because even after 25 years, they'll never come naturally. Day after day, interaction after interaction, I wonder if I'll accidentally insult someone because of an awkward, gauche phrasing.

And I write this while being fully conscious that I have the priviledge of being a native speaker of one of the colonising languages. There are tons of resources in my language.

"If you're not happy, then just don't go to English fandoms."

See, that's the thing. Fandom activity exists in my language, but not in the fandoms I'm in. But you know, maybe I will. Maybe I'll snap and populate a full niche fandom with stories that native English speakers can't understand in a glance, have to put in an effort to interact with. Maybe I'll make memes in my language that none of my mutuals can get. But in the end, it will just be like shouting in the void.

Because here's a reality: most English speakers never put in the effort. They see a foreign language, and move away. And if, by some sort of miracle, they actually want to try, then they are lucky to be able to count on automated translation. Machine translation tools are always trained on English first. Any language > English usually is the pair that has the most reliable results. The same cannot exactly be said about English > any language. And again, I acknowledge that I'm priviledged in such a case, because I'm native of a language that is well-covered.

But it will never be enough for international fandom interactions. Another uncomfortable reality: the globalisation of fandoms has led to erasure of most other languages in fan spaces. This one's going to be hard to reclaim.

So I adapt and I speak English and I write in English. Sometimes I read fanfics and I cry, because I stumbled upon a sentence that I know, even with the best efforts in the world, I would have never managed to come up with. Sometimes I realise that between my job and my fandom activities, English has become such a huge part of my life that I'm losing my own mother tongue, that my phrasing is becoming awkward in it too. I'm not confident anymore using it. I look at the sentence I wrote on the blank page and I cry some more.

And I'm so, so tired of seeing "well-meaning" entitled native English speakers (and, no offense, but most happen to be from the USA, so there might be something cultural at hand here, but while I feel legitimate to observe languages, I don't think I have the legitimacy to observe societies) trying to hold everyone in the world up to their self-centred standards.

I speak English because you speak English. Speak my language flawlessly, and then we'll talk about my flaws when speaking yours.

[epistolarymoon]

well I have to admit that I was pretty obsessed with Will’s cute little fangs from the first time I saw it,glad Mack did that too(whaat?) The whole work is fascinating I had to stop couple times in the middle of reading to roll on the ground, the progression of vibes were so subtle,you worded it in a beautiful way that is very engaging even for a non-English speaker,definitely love it 😘 Maybe there's no sequel but IF we got one,like,would they bring up the kiss someday？meanwhile still calling each other dude lol

tysm for reading!!! so glad to hear you liked it and that it was still a good read for a non-native English speaker :) will smith hockey fang enjoying surpasses all barriers :)

so there is no sequel in the works bc i actually never thought that far, and also i'm indecisive. HOWEVER, after having thought about it a bit, a hypothetical sequel would probably go either one of two ways, which i'll go into after the cut to prevent clogging up people's TLs bc i have can't-shut-up disease lol:

Scenario 1: they start fucking

this is a scenario in which they start regularly "hooking up" except it's just like. giving each other bad handies on the road as roomies and also kissing in the grossest way possible. they like it but also it's just that neither of them are good at it, so c'est la vie. and both of them are like. this is fine. this is just buddies. [smitty voice] we will stop this when we get girlfriends, which theoretically should not be hard bc we're like. famous athletes now or whatever. except they kind of have no game, and also aren't trying very hard to HAVE good game bc sometimes u nut so hard from ur buddy's too-tight handy that it's a little mind-blowing and like u know what. not thinking about it. this is fine. everything is so normal.

and they're also not idiots so they're a little self aware about the fact that this is very weird, but they both refuse to say anything about it bc it's like [if i put it into words it becomes real] and so sometimes they make eye-contact in the middle of it and will thinks they have a moment of understanding pass between them, except mack is rlly just like [wow look at that he came before me that's ten-seven to me i think i'm winning at sex??] and it doesn't become real to mack until he sees will all giggly with one of his like. 80 other boyfriends (idk like zeev or leno or gabe or musty take ur pick) and he's like. wait that feels soooo bad. and he gets all sulky about it. and so all the while will's like wtf is wrong with mack, mack is having a come-to-jesus moment like [mack voice] maybe my desire to stick my fingers in will's mouth is like. emotional horny in addition to regular horny!!! and somehow he ends up communicating this to will in the clumsiest way possible who tries to play it cool but can't, and then they live happily ever after having bad sex for the rest of time.

Scenario 2: they do NOT start fucking

this is a scenario in which mack tries really hard to play it cool after the fact, and will's sort of just there, really smug about the fact that now he knows mack's like. into him. and so bc he's a teenage boy who ostensibly has seen a Lot of porn, he's like. [will voice] hey what if i start putting things in my mouth suggestively, like this popsicle, or this pen. and it's actually like. deeply unsexy and honestly kind of cringe, except mack is also a teenage boy and he's like [mack voice] Into It. also he's incapable of hiding anything he's feeling in his face so he looks at will all clearly hard-up and dismayed about it.

except a couple of days go by and mack isn't doing anything about it, and will is getting kind of sick of the whole playing it cool thing, because okay maybe he's just misreading everything. maybe mack doesn't want this. okay. okay. so he stops doing all that (thank god). but then one day while he's just like. idk. sitting in his car waiting to pick mack up for morning practice he's got his necklace chain in his mouth kind of thoughtlessly and mack gets into the car and is immediately so hard that he gets nauseous and is all like. [mack voice] dude Why Are You Doing This To Me. and will is like. what do u mean, because this time he actually has no idea what he's doing, and also he's kind of worried about how hard he's flopping on the team and wondering if mack is going to like. drop him as a friend bc he's flopping so hard.

and mack hooks a finger around the chain in will's mouth and sticks his finger back in there without asking, and now will's hard in the driver's seat of his car at eight in the morning and they have really long awkward eye contact before mack eventually withdraws his hand silently and wipes all the spit on his pant leg. and then will turns on his driving playlist which is just like. katy perry's "roar" and they drive to the rink in silence.

then after practice mack gets will to drop him off at jumbo's and is like. okay i think WE need to get this out of our systems. [mack voice] maybe it will be good for our hockey. except wil knows that he really means maybe it will be good for YOUR hockey, so you can stop flopping so hard. and so he's like [will voice] well if it's for hockey. and they have bad sex about it and nut so hard that they sees stars. and nothing gets resolved emotionally!!!

The End.

SO YES. these are the two ways that that could have gone i think. of course in both scenarios there are constants: they are bad at sex, and also emotionally unintelligent. and also they do continue calling each other "dude" and "bud" and it's all very tender.

sorry for rambling :") and who knows, never say never about a sequel. i DO plan on writing more for willmack at the very least!

[desperateknot]

Queequeg's lack of autonomy: features or bugs?

You know, I wanted this to be a proper analysis, but the stressed, sleep-deprived, busy self can only do a semi-ramble, semi analysis.

So I said how Queequeg's lack of autonomy and individuality is not a bug, but a feature.

Just so we are on the same page, I will prove how Queequeg is very obviously lacking in autonomy:

Queequeg: Must be nice. Queequeg: Knowing what you want. Knowing what you desire.

Canto V's dungeon: Floor 2

No… You devoured the crew whole. You painted over their wills, just like the Whales— no! Just like the Pallid Whale! Molding them and shaping them to fit your wants and needs.

Canto V's dungeon: Floor 3

Queequeg: Too late to think. About what is right and what is wrong. To think for myself. Too late.

Canto V's dungeon: Floor 3

The whole dungeon, she was obeying Ahab's orders, getting dragged around and around. Utterly lacking in agency is her main characteristic in her Pequod time, but there is a case to say it wasn't so during her Middle-arc. After all, she did say:

Queequeg: So I killed. And killed. And killed. Not because of orders. Killed with my own hands. Because I wanted to. Because I wanted respect as Big Sister.

I don't doubt her words. However, tribalistic as the Middle is, I think we can speculate on how much of Queequeg's actions stemmed from her own desire, and how much was her complying to its culture without even knowing it.

Either way, even if you disagree that Middle Queequeg was lacking in agency, it's hard to argue that she wasn't in her Pequod times, so we can assume that is a major trait of hers.

Let's go back to The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen for a sec. I will assume that you are convinced that one of Limbus Queequeg's inspiration is The Little Mermaid. If you are confused with that statement, please read:

The Little Mermaid wants to seek an immortal soul by getting the prince to marry her. I think it is a misconception that she did all (abandoning her family, enduring pain with every of her steps, sacrificing her voice) for love. No, she wants more than that: she wants an immortal soul. There could be a religious reading here, but it is neither relevant to my point nor am I qualify to state it, so I'll leave it. However, one could see how the arrangement of a woman having to win the love of a man and devoting her entire self to him to attain her spiritual fulfillment is very unfair, misogynistic, even. (Unfortunately, I can't explore that theme in Limbus Queequeg's story because sexism apparently doesn't exist in the City and also there are no prominent men in her story either?)

Here, I can go on about traditional heroines and how they are mostly quite lacking in agency too, but I haven't done researches for that. And more, importantly, this trope was intentionally subverted in The Little Mermaid. Hans Christian Andersen is much smarter than me, because he wrote it.

The Little Mermaid isn't just a damsel waiting for someone to save her. Her two displays of her agency are 1. finding the Sea Witch to get a pair of legs and 2. not killing the prince. She has a goal (attaining an immortal soul) and a principle (her love for the prince?) that she holds steadfast. Unfortunately, the one thing that she has been after, the prince's love, is not something that she can control. She can try to seduce him, sure, but his affection is his own. And, without it, she can't get an immortal soul...

But that isn't true, is it? The Mermaid didn't just die and turn into sea foam, fated to never get her immortal soul. She became a daughter of Air. And, with enough good deeds, can gain her own soul. Fortunately for her, this time, the task of getting her soul depends much, much more on herself.

This writing choice is quite intentionally, I believe. I wanted to read more about it, I really do, but the link they cited on Wikipedia led to an Internet Archive article that has been downed (RIP). Anyways, the gist of it is Andersen took inspiration for The Little Mermaid from Undine, in which a water spirit indeed got her immortal soul by marrying a human knight. Anyways, this is what Andersen allegedly wrote to a friend about it.

I have not, like de la Motte Fouqué in Undine, allowed the mermaid's acquiring of an immortal soul to depend upon an alien creature, upon the love of a human being. I'm sure that's wrong! It would depend rather much on chance, wouldn't it? I won't accept that sort of thing in this world. I have permitted my mermaid to follow a more natural, more divine path.

The point, I think, is that the Mermaid doesn't really need the prince's love to gain an immortal soul. That is something she can obtain herself, what she deserves after so much sacrifices, the rewards for her virtues. After the Mermaid was at the mercy of the prince for half of the story, she was given a chance to do good by herself. The opportunity of attaining an immortal soul returned to her.

I just argued above that Queequeg doesn't have autonomy, maybe even from her time in the Middle, but I lied (again). Queequeg also has two acts of agencies her own 1. running away from the Middle and 2:

Queequeg: Dante. Something I wish. Queequeg: I want… Ishmael to… Queequeg: … find her way.

Canto V's Dungeon: Floor 2, and

Woah, those two acts perfectly match the Mermaid's too, wonder how did that happened.

That was Queequeg's only wish, and that was just a bit after she said she was jealous of the Abnormalities for having wishes too :D

Queequeg also got her immortal soul, but...

This is when I think the story falls flat, if you hyperfocus on her. And you...shouldn't have. She is an NPC, who is dead. Only weird nerds like me would analyse the story in her perspective. This is not really a criticism for Canto V or PM's writings (although I do have a problem with it sometimes). I think they did the best they could to flesh out and gave Queequeg a proper ending with the little screen time she got (unlike that one other dead NPC from another franchise that I used to hyperfocus on).

However, what did The Little Mermaid have to do to get her immortal souls? She has to do 300 years worth of good deeds. Even though we didn't get to see it, we can assume that she struggled and grew even more to attain her goal.

What did Queequeg do to get her immortal soul? Um...uh...

Queequeg didn't really grow in the quest. When reunited with Ishmael, "her broken heart" got "unearthed". She nurtured a wish for herself: for Ishmael to find her own path. But, ultimately, she was still...following Ahab's orders. We still have to fight her twice (and thrice if you count her EGO phase).

Queequeg had character developments during her time on Pequod (mostly with the influence of Ishmael). She learned to look forward and to have hope. That got rolled back.

So, essentially, Queequeg got rewarded for...nothing?

Her story has ended. She couldn't do anything to actually gain her immortal soul, her atonement anymore. She is still quite lacking in autonomy. And I think that is a real shame, a bug, even.

That is one of the reasons why I made that swap Ishqueg AU.

______________________________________________________________

I know characters lacking in agencies are often seen as bad written, and a lot of times, they are. However, there is a certain charms to characters who have been deliberately written to have next to 0 agency. This actually reminds me of Iwakura Michihiro from Genshin Impact, an actually pretty prominent NPC in Inazuma's lore, whose only 2 acts of agencies in the lore were 1. leaving home to live in the woods (this one is debatable because he was abused and perhaps driven from home would be a more correct term) and 2. naming his sword. Anything else he did were instructions from his bully/mentor/friend/crush/saviour. And also Carter Scherbius, another NPC from Genshin Impact, who was terminally ill and then turned into goop in an effort to save him and later reincarnated for an experiment.

There is something quite heartbreaking and even beautiful about seeing a characters being dragged and beaten by the narrative. It's relatable. Real people, we, don't usually have control of our lives most of the times. We are dragged around and the beaten by forces we can't understand. We are usually helpless against our fate.

And, what kinds of people who would usually feel helpless against the sheer incomprehensibleness and the cruelty of our vast world? Sailors.

[deckerroosevelt]

Introduction

Hello, guys. I have never before used Tumblr and I don't know if what I'm about to be doing is usual here or not. But meh, who cares? It's not like this will be really popular but that's my goal. I'm hoping for a few readers to give me feedback on my writing. And I might sometimes ask things about the storyline and what do you guys think. :)))

To the point: I'll be writing a novel here. I don't yet know if I'll be consistent with it, but that what I'm trying at least. I have listened to The Magnus Archives and Protocol, and I got inspired by it. It might be horror, but I don't yet know fully, as I have only a starting written here.

Also, as a disclaimer, I'm not a native English speaker, so keep that in mind while reading it. And I would like feedback on the chapters, for my own good.

I also like to draw and the characters will be based on my OCs so I MIGHT give fanart. But I don't know if I should since readers might want to make own fanart, that are much better than me, so go for it!

And yeah! That's it! See you soon! :)

[b1ancastar]

Can I ask you to make a dottore x male reader (or gn reader)? Dottore who feels jealous when he realizes the reader is not in his lab because he's too busy with his experiments and finds the reader in the library with pantalone.

(Oh sorry if my language might be hard to understand, English is not my first language😭)

AHHH Anon you are curing my brainrot of this man. (ur english is better than mine and I'm a native speaker </3)

Library Chills (Dottore X Male/GN Reader)

He knew something was up, watching as the clock hit one. You we're supposed to have been there nearly two hours ago, yet you were nowhere to be found.

Dottore knew that you were supposed to have been there exactly at eleven sharp. He hard went on and gotten a head start on his latest "experiment" and had lost track on both time, and his assistant (y/n). Not many things would make him "angry," but you had promised that you would have been there. It also didn't help that one of his "co-workers" Pantalone had been hanging around you a little too much recently.

Deciding to put a little pause on this latest "experiment" Dottore decided it would be best to send his clones to look for you, and to bring you back, to him, and his lab. Where you belonged.

-

"You know Pantalone, if you wanted to know more about this topic, you easily could've asked someone else for help. After all I do think I'm cutting close on time to get to the lab."

"Oh (y/n), you know I would prefer you're help rather than someone else. And I still will never understand why you insist on being around Dottore and his lab so much, it must be horrible there... Say what about you come work with me for a day."

"Pantalone, we have been over this, I rather be in a lab than having to deal with your world of "banking," that just isn't my place. Being in that lab with Dottore is a lot better than that."

Pantalone let out a long sigh of disappointment. For weeks he had been trying to convince you to take a break from working in a damn lab, to get some fresh air, to let him show you what else is out there, yet you never budged, almost like Dottore programmed you to want nothing to do with the outside world.

He then glanced at the watch on his wrist, he knew it was a little past one, meaning he had at least gotten you to be late to Dottores latest "experiment." Yet he failed to see a clone in the dark corner of the library getting ready to report back to Dottore.

-

Dottore felt something that he hadn't felt in a long time, jealousy. He dismissed the clone that had reported your whereabouts and made his way to the library you were in, with that good for nothing banker.

His footsteps echoed in the halls, anyone who had been standing in his way quickly moved away, not wanting to be in his next big "experiment" Though he wore his mask, it was if the entire nation could feel it get colder.

-

It hadn't taken you long to realize something was wrong, from the smile on Pantalone's face, to the sudden shiver that ran down your spine. You quietly looked up and around for a clock, once you saw the time, any color in your face drained away.

Slowly, you turned around, staring Pantalone, with a gaze colder than ice. Knowing that more than likely Dottore was already on his way to your location.

"Pantalone, what. is. the. time."

"Oh it's 1:45, I guess timed slipped for us both (Y/n), maybe seeing that "doctor" wasn't as important as you made it out to be."

As soon as those words left Pantalone's mouth, the door slammed open. In the doorway stood Dottore. The second most powerful harbinger. His entrance made the library empty, except for Pantalone, you, and himself.

"Ah (y/n), you seem to be late to our meeting by about, three hours now. How about you run along and I'll have a chit chat with our dear friend."

"I..um..yes sir.."

Both men watched as you left the room, as the door closed behind you, they found themselves glaring at each other.

"So, Pantalone, you think it is... amusing to take my dear little assistant away from their work, do you?"

"Well, Dottore, I would say it is rather, amusing to see how anxious they are knowing that they are supposed to be with you. But I must ask... if you're jealous we were spending time together, after all they were just... helping me with this book."

"I suggest you halt yourself from making such, assumptions of (y/n) and I. They are just my little helper... in even that, I know you were attempting to have them relocate to your bank. Which I can assure you, that it will not happen any time soon."

"I suppose, though as much as I would like to... continue this lovely conversation, I must be on my way. After all the banks never stop running."

Dottore watched as Pantalone walked pass him, leaving the book he needed "help with" behind on a table. With a scoff he also left this library, leaving nothing but a chill behind.

-

You had been in the lab, cleaning the mess from Dottore's latest "experiment." Even as the door opened you stayed silent, hoping whatever speech the doctor had planned would be short and sweet.

"You do know (y/n) that Pantalone just wants to take you away from me... from us. Promise me I won't catch you around him again."

"I understand Dottore, I promise it won't happen again."

The end </3 might do a part 2 to include more romance and jealous dottore.

[hyperactive-cowboy]

Ok so I've never posted nor let someone else read any of my stories, so this is a little of a bet with myself but the christmas vibe in me is really strong this year, plus I started to hardly ship those two lately, so here we go.

I'd like you to let me know if there are any mistakes or if it sucks but don't be too harsh loves i'm not a native english speaker. Also the other two chapters (if I'll still be in the vibe) will surely be released before 2024. ENJOYYY

I just wanna see my baby standing right outside my door

Warnings: just fluff and angst

Ship: F1 involved!Lando Norris × not F1 involved!Oscar Piastri (established relationship)

Wc: 3.3k

Chapter: 1, 2, 3

Summary: AU where Lando is away and Oscar misses him while he prepares a christmas party to surprise his boyfriend, but someone other makes an even bigger surprise for him.

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

It wasn't the first time he woke up near a cold pillow and an empty space, he was used to it.

But still, every time he opened his eyes, surrounded by his smell, he wished to find him playing with his hair, smiling, even snoring. The only thing that mattered was that he was there.

Lando had flown away the week before to film some stupid Christmas videos for his stupid work in that stupid team.

Couldn't they film the videos while the season wasn't over yet? Absolutely no! They had to take him away from him the Christmas week.

Oscar turned around and crawled out of the bed, taking the jacket Lando used every winter morning to feel warmer. He almost never felt cold, but the familiar presence on his shoulders warmed his heart. And also he wasn't ready to leave behind the smell of chocolate and cinnamon Lando's pillow had.

He took his phone and unlocked it to see the notifications: two were from Lando (his usual "good morning" with one of his smile's pic and a big red heart), three were from Logan (who asked him if they could meet up for launch to organize the christmas party they have been talking about for a few months) and one from his boss (asking him if he could do an exchange of shifts on thursday).

Oscar answered first his boss with a "yes", and then a "yes" to Logan, for last answered his boyfriend with a "morning love❤️".

Oscar decided it was the moment to be productive, so he did breakfast and then got washed. He took a notepad and a blue pen, starting to write down some ideas for later.

After some time of brainstorming, he took his phone again and texted Lando to know if he could call him in the next few minutes.

As an answer, his phone immediately started to ring with the special ringtone he had set for when his boyfriend called him.

"Hey" as Oscar heard that stupidly sweet voice he started smiling.

"Hey"

Awkward silence

"Hi" Lando laughed.

"Hi. How is it going?"

"Everything's okay. We should film the last bit this noon, then the editing and last the return trip, and then i'll be home again" 

There was a background noise, but Oscar didn't mind it.

"So you think you'll be home tomorrow afternoon?"

"Ehm… no actually I don't think I'll see you at least until friday"

"Friday??" Oscar was shocked. Usually Lando was away for not even a whole week. This time they would've taken him away for nine days. Another four days before touching his soft curls and hug him. 

Oscar snorted and Lando laughed softly.

"I swear it won't feel this long. I lov-"

"Lando?" 

No answers

"Hey are you there?" 

Again no sounds from his phone. 

He hung up and sent a message to Lando asking him what happened.

Oscar turned off his phone and looked at the clock on the wall in front of him. 

He had to hurry. He was late. He was never late and the few times he had been it was all Lando's fault. Well, this time could also be considered Lando's fault. 

His cell lit up for a new notification but Oscar was too busy getting ready to notice it.

He took the phone, the keys and the paper sheet with the party's ideas and rushed out of his house to lock it.

Once in the car, Oscar acknowledged the way he was dressed: a simple pair of gray sweatpants and one of Lando's hoodies. He sighed but then left out a soft laugh: this was one of the reasons why he loved having a boyfriend who wore the same size as him, having a double closet.

"You are late" is the first thing Logan says to his life-long friend

"Hey it's a pleasure to see you too"

"I've been waiting for you for the past twenty minutes" Logan opens his eyes wide to confirm his statement.

"Hey slow down I already have some ideas" 

Oscar grabbed the sheet and exposed all his ideas to his friend. 

They should've only launched together but the meeting lasted until half past four. 

They had everything ready. Now they only needed to call their friends to invite them over.

Only after coming back home, he read Lando's text: sorry the line went dead, call me again when you can ❤ ️.

Of course Lando knew he was busy with this party organization thing, so he would've waited for him.

Oscar couldn't call him that exact moment, so he decided that the second he walked through his house's door he would've written a note on his fridge to remind himself to call his boyfriend as fast as possible.

If his calculus were correct, Lando would've landed at the airport two days after the party, the 23rd of the month. Just right in time with the Christmas celebration at his parent's.

He was mentally destroyed by the fact that Lando wouldn't have been with him at the party, but it has already been postponed enough. 

Passing by the fridge not giving it even a look, Oscar selected the first person he was sure he wanted at the party.

Well, if he couldn't have his boyfriend there, he would at least have his boyfriend's best friend.

"Hey Osc, long time no see" he hears Max's voice through the phone as brilliant as in real life.

"Yeah it has been a tough period. We were planning a christmas party at our place on wednesday, are you in?" Oscar asks directly, he has a lot of people to call and a little time to do it.

"But isn't Lando away?" 

"Yeah, we wanted to do this thing together, but then he was called away and we can't postpone it anymore" 

Max lightly giggled. Oscar couldn't tell why, but he imagined it was because of something that was happening there.

"Yeah I think I'll be there" 

"K, thanks mate. And you can come with who you want" 

"Great, thanks. Bye"

After Max hung up, Oscar called a lot of the other members of the grid and some other friends, giving them the same instruction as he did before. He didn't mind calling Charles though 'cause he knew he would've come with Max (Verstappen).

When he controlled the clock for the 100th time, it was too late to have a snack, so he decided to start preparing dinner.

He was also used to cooking. Lando wasn't a total mess at it, but a little gremlin menace yes.

He took out of the freezer a couple of vegan burgers and some strange vegetable his mum was obsessed with (which he didn't remember the name of).

Closing the freezer, he got up. His sight arrived perfectly at the same height as the note he had taken before, but totally forgot about.

Oscar took a pan for the burgers and a pot for the vegetables so fast he was about to fall into the drawer. Started cooking his dinner and rushed out of the kitchen to call Lando.

"Honey I'm so so sorry I didn't call you earlier, I know it's late where you are now. You were probably asleep and I woke you up but I got so invested in this damn thing I even forgot to have a snack mid invites"

"Woah slow down there Flash. No worries, here's just two hours later than there, I just got back to my room" Lando laughed. 

Oscar sighed in relief. Lando was already under enough stress, he didn't want to add to that by interrupting his sleep schedule. Although he knew his boyfriend wasn't picky when it came to places to sleep.

"Oh okay sorry. Didn't want to upset you"

"No way. You could never"

Even if Lando couldn't see him, Oscar blushed. Maybe it was a good thing Lando wasn't there with him.

"Oh thanks then. Anyway I called everybody who was on the list and got everything ready" 

"Well done, did everybody confirm?" 

"Mm…" Oscar checked his notes and answered with a "nope", popping the "p".

"Pierre and Daniel are not sure, but everybody else will be here" Oscar explained.

"Good. Even Max said yes?"

"Don't know which one you are asking about but yes, both of them said so" 

For the nth time that day Oscar felt dumb not knowing the reason for some things that happened to him (ex. Max laughing at him on the phone) and felt even dumber thinking about those things. Of course people had their own lives beside him.

He was pretty sure it was the loneliness speaking in his mind. Still he decided to give an answer to one of those questions

"Lando, why did the line die like that before? It looked like you entered some galleries" he asked to test the waters. 

"Uhm… Yeah actually there was a black out, so I think it was its fault" 

"Oh okay, sorry" Oscar felt even more stupider now. 

"I just wanted to hear your voice" he admitted.

"Hey baby I miss you too" Lando whispered to him.

That sentence melted his heart. He was literally dying to see his boyfriend again, and couldn't wait for Friday to arrive.

The day had arrived.

That early morning he and Logan had met to prepare his house and give him the keys, given the fact that from 10am to 4pm he would have been at work.

Max had insisted on helping them out and insidied into his house nearly earlier than his best friend.

"Don't worry. This will be the best party you've ever been to" Max assured him.

"Do I have to remind you this is MY house? Maybe I should be the one preparing it"

"We will be better than you, trust me" Logan entered the conversation.

He and Max weren't even that close, but still they were playing against him as a team.

"Okay then. Just don't burn down my home please. I would like it to be still in one piece when I come back" and with this sentence he left his house, shaking a little, in the hands of two feral menaces. 

One part of him was even glad for them because he didn't think he would have made it to the night if he had to do everything by himself.

Oscar wrapped the christmas-themed scarf around his neck and prayed to every deity to let him have a peaceful day. 

When Oscar got in the elevator that took him to his house he could already hear the last notes of "Santa tell me" and was almost relieved to have the certainty that the apartment was the same as how he left it. Just with some more decorations, music and lights.

Oscar slowly opened the door, being scared of something jumping on him, but instead got nearly blinded.

His two friends didn't prepare anything to scare him, but they did put up a whole lot of multicolored led lights on his ceiling.

Every piece of furniture was embellished by red, green or white christmas balls and fancy ribbons. Even the rug in his living room has changed from a neutral striped one to a "light up says one christmas tree to another". The joke wasn't even funny, but still it made him smile. They had maneged to even find a piece of mistletoe to hang under the door.

And as if he couldn't be more shocked than that, when Oscar entered his kitchen he was surprised by an extended variety of food, from olives and other snacks to a delicious-looking cake, from a not-cooked-yet roast to at least a hundred chocolate cookies with gingerbread man drawn on them.

Even more shocking was the sight of Max with a Santa stiled apron and cookie dough all over his face, while Logan was singing "Last Christmas" not getting even one note.

"What in the world you two" Oscar exclaimed.

The two friends fastly turned towards him. They hadn't heard him coming in and were a little scared at first by that reaction. 

Logan and Max looked at each other not knowing what was happening, and the american instinctively stood up in front of his new friend to try and protect him. 

Oscar jumped on Max and Logan, but not to hurt him. He really wanted to give them a hug. So he did.

It felt strange for him to hug someone who wasn't his parents or his sisters. Even when it was Lando doing it, it felt weird the first times (and still did a bit, to be fair).

"Thank you for everything" Oscar said when he felt his friends get comfortable in his arms.

"That's no problem mate, really" Max replied.

Oscar was on the verge of tears. For him this act mattered more than a thousand words.

Not knowing what to say, he just squeezed his friends even more.

The last guest had arrived. At the end, neither of the hypothetical two more guests could come.

Pierre had already flown away to France to spend the holidays with his family and Danny was spending his first Christmas with his girlfriend's parents (he was so nervous when he gave Oscar an answer).

The party was being wonderful until then. 

Everything was at their place, all the people that mattered to him (to them) were there, all the food were cooked and ready, the music was loud but joyful and even the smell was fantastic: chocolate and gingerbread. Even Charles -in that ugly jumper- was there, he came with Max (Verstappen), like Oscar thought. So Christmas coded. Perfect.

There was just one thing missing: him. Lando. 

Oscar thought about sending him a video or a picture, but then looked at the watch on his wrist. It was 10PM. Too late to try. The next day Lando would've started his return to home and he needed to be ready and rested for that.

He'd have just taken some pics and videos and sent them to Lando the next day.

Oscar decided it wasn't the right time to get sad and that he could have cried about it later that night, maybe with a mug filled with hot chocolate or a big bottle of gin. 

He put his phone in the back pocket of his jeans and started chatting with Liam and some other friends from F2 and F3.

Oscar was suspicious of Max. He was surely going to do something crazy in some way. It was at least the eleventh time he had gone to the kitchen that night without a reason -all the food was in the living room and they had also bought a mini fridge and wrapped a big red ribbon around it just so they DIDN'T have to always go to the kitchen to take the drinks.

Oscar followed his friend and peeked from outside the door and saw Max giggling and jumping like a schoolgirl while he was texting someone on his phone.

Like literally. He was coordinating little jumps on the spot and moving his arms. 

He was so stunned by the scene before him he didn't even realize his friend wasn't watching the phone anymore. 

"Hey man no one ever told you to not overhear?" Max scolded him with a strange look on his face.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to-" his friend had closed the door in front of his face. HIS door of HIS kitchen in front of HIS face. And didn't even stutter. Because he was distracted by Max acting like some teen.

If possible, Oscar was even more astonished.

He turned around still with his mouth a little open. He headed to the drinks table and took the one which looked the most alcoholic.

If he couldn't have neither his boyfriend nor his house for his own, at least he would've gotten drunk. 

He surely got drunk.

That one drink was followed by many others, every single one with a different color and taste. Some more alcoholic than others.

Oscar wanted to find someone to get absolutely wasted with. Someone like one of his oldest friends. Someone like Logan.

In fact, Oscar hadn't seen Logan for a while now. 

He stood up from the armchair he had fallen into earlier and all the room around him started to rotate, "Jingle bell rock" in the speakers more powerful than ever.

He took just one step, then he felt like he was flying. Oscar didn't know how it happened but a moment later he was faceplanted in the sofa cushion.

"Mate what the-" Oscar heard a familiar voice and then two hands took him by his arms and helped him get up.

A blond lock of hair shone in Oscar's face and finally the voice and hands had also a face and a name. 

"Ehy, what are you doing?" Logan sounded worried. Why was he worried? Oscar really couldn't tell. Everything was going the right way. 

"It's going to be a mess" Logan looked from his right to his left and then did it again, trying to find a solution to a problem Oscar didn't even understand.

"'m kay. No worries jus lemme sit" he didn't even have the time to bend, he immediately felt transported towards the exit of the room.

"C'mon I'm helping you get ready, you shouldn't resist so much" Logan dragged him into the bathroom and opened the tap.

He stood Oscar up "I'm sorry mate" Logan said just before pushing his head right under the coldest water he had ever felt on his body.

Suddenly Oscar's irises contracted and his brain resumed part of his normal functions. He pushed away from the sink but instantly had to bow on the toilet.

When he got up and watched himself in the mirror, he was sure he had never looked this bad. His longer-than-usual hair was glued to his forehead, his skin glowed with sweat and water, half of his shirt was covered in vomit while the other one was soaked with alcohol. 

Oscar thanked his best friend and opened the door, heading to the living room murmuring about needing to kick out all those people.

"No no no mate, what are you doing? We need to change your clothes and get read-" Logan talked so fastly he nearly stumbled on his words, taking Oscar by his arm and trying to move him towards the closet in his bedroom. 

"Nope, I'm ending this party in ten minutes, you can stay if you want but everybody else needs to exit now. I'm not in the conditions to continue this" 

"But- but you can't" Logan sounded desperate. "Okay well you can, just- just change your shirt. This one is so dirty I can't even look at it"

Oscar took another look at himself and had to admit his friend was right. 

A clean and fragrant white shirt later, Oscar was entering his living room with the intention of guiding everybody out of his house. 

One step in the room, the sound of his doorbell rang in the air. 

Max Fewtrell ran out of the kitchen (why was he still in there?) with a crazy smile.

"My guest must've arrived" he announced directly to Oscar, inviting him to open the door.

His guest? Oh yeah the one Oscar had told him he could take with himself. But why would someone arrive this late to a party? He had no idea, but still he went to the door, opening it without even looking who was ringing through the peephole.

Oscar was drunk. Wasted even. It was surely an image created by his flooded brain to make fun of him, but when he looked around to see if anyone else could see his vision, he was hit by a hundred flash lights.

So it wasn't just his imagination.

Lando. His boyfriend. Was really on one knee in front of him, out of his door.

[c-schroed]

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) Or Why The Probably Most Accurate Movie Adaptation Of Dracula Still Is Not Accurate Enough

I mentioned some time ago - while salivating over the marvellous razor scene of Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula adaptation - that there is quite some stuff to unpack here. And now I found some time to unpack. So let's begin. I'll start with the good stuff, firstly the good stuff that's not in the book (i.e., the Flourishes), than the good stuff that's true to the book (the Well-Conserved). Thirdly, I'll make note of things that were, unnervingly, changed (by which I mean They Came Back Wrong), and then I'll deal with what is unfortunately left out from the book (the Missing). And finally, finally I'll rant over that two bad things that never were in the book in the first place (a section I'll call JUST WHY?).

So. A tragedy in five acts. Here we go.

Act I - The Flourishes

The razor scene. I think I dealt with this enough by now. It's perfection and I'll die on that hill.

The music. Obviously, Bram Stoker's gothic lil masterpiece is lacking some gorgeous score. But mourn no longer, because Wojciech Kilar cooked up some dashing, pushing tune for us, fitting perfectly to this dark tale of spreading darkness and deepening madness.

Some basic knowledge about blood groups. Yeah, Stoker can't be blamed for this, but still. It's a nice addition to remind us that we do indeed live in a world where blood groups exist.

The Westenra Estate. As much as I pity that the lovely town of Whitby did not make it into the movie, I do love Lucy Westenra's house. Because I'm a sucker for hedge mazes. Simple as that.

Those glasses. Those. Fucking. Nice. Glasses.

Act II - The Well-Conserved

The plot in general. Yes, there are a lot of maddening differences, as we will see soon. But still, this movie at least makes the impression that most of the people working on it had indeed read the darn novel. Which is something that I can't say about many other Dracula adaptations I have seen.

The costumes, the sets, the atmosphere. Well done, everyone!

The Actors. The good thing about being not native in a language is that one is not very prone to dialects that seem off. And as I happen to not be a native speaker of English, I have little problems with Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder adding some US touch to what should be very, very, v e r y British characters. I even find Reeves perfectly fitting for the oh so darn young Jonathan Harker. And the rest of the cast is marvellous, too (with the exception of Winona Ryder, see below for details). Especially Tom Waits, who is hard-wired to the name of Renfield in my brain ever since I first saw this movie. And Gary Oldman as Dracula… Well. I think I already made clear what opinion I have about that sexy bastard.

Some lucky few of lovely quotes made it over to the film. Dracula's welcome. The Fowl Bauble of Human Vanity, of course. And Qunincey almost making me faint when saying "Little girl" when I least expected it.

Act III - They Came Back Wrong

The dates. Goshdarnit, the dates! It's an epistolary novel, so why make the effort of making up completely new dates for events that already had a precise date in the novel? I just don't get it. And it unnerves me. Every. Fucking. Time.

Time in general. Watching the movie after Dracula Daily makes it feel so very, very hasty. Jonathan travels to Castle Dracula like it's no thing at all. And the first few days in Castle Dracula are condensed into one weird evening.

Dracula meeting Mina before Jonathan is back. I really, really loved the book for avoiding the most terrible tropes. And then comes this movie, and struts right into this terrible pitfall.

Mina. I'm sorry, usually I love the work of Winona Ryder, but here she was way too bland. Maybe it was because her character had quite a revamp (ha. ha.) and no one cared to tell her what new approach she should take. But whatever reason, the clever, adorable train fiend of the original did not deserve this!

Act IV - The Missing

The Voyage of the Demeter is way too short. Where is "But I am captain, and I must not leave my ship"? Where is the poor sea captain tying himself to the wheel? And where is his funeral? Oh, I really missed all that. And, I mean, I don't mind hearing Anthony Hopkins read the lines, but would it have been such an expense to at least hire an additional actor to voice the correspondent or the sea captain?

Jonathan Holding Mina By the Arm. That's really not an objectively big issue. That's just me who fell in love with JonMina after reading this chapter. And almost no one does it properly. They deserve justice!

(Thanks a ton to @smieska for capturing my mood just perfectly!)

Act V - JUST WHY?

Elisabeta. Don't get me wrong here: All of the oh so tragic Drac backstory they invented for this movie is terribly unnecessary. But in this sea of uselessness, the tragically deceased wife of Vlad Țepeș that just so happens to perfectly resemble Mina Murray is an audience-insulting island of unoriginality. I mean, yeah, I guess someone wanted to add some romance to the story of Vlad the Fucking Impaler. Because, well, nineties or so. But Mina, of all women? Why not invent some new character that can be bothered with such stuff? Why ruin an all-nice JonMina ship? I don't get the whole new backstory, and I especially don't get this aspect.

Dracula raping Lucy in his shitty werewolf form. Everything about this is wrong. And it has no relevance for the plot. Just. Blergh.

Epilogue

It's cruel to watch Francis Ford Coppola's take on Dracula right after finishing @re-dracula. I know that now. Everything is still too fresh. It's a good movie, after all, but especially because it's quite good it is frustrating to be so terribly aware of all its shortcomings. In a few weeks or so, I would recommend it, again, I guess. As long as it's still Dracula off-season. 7 out of 10 points.

P. S. Wanna know what I think of a recent remake of a cheap Dracula-rip-off that turned into a masterpiece of film history? Then feel free to visit my review of Robert Eggers' Nosferatu.

[purpledinobomb]

I really don't know what to think.

Before anything I've think a lot about what is following due to some author notes on ao3 saying goodbye to the Harry Potter fandom. (And their works were so great by the way not the subject here)

I'm in the Harry Potter fandom like so much other people

But I don't really share about it, because JK

As a person in the lgbtq+ community, I can't accept the pure hatred towards trans people. I can't accept the words of a woman who only talks to hate, and disguises it as feminism.

I know it's not a news and that I'm kind of late but I was quite young when it pop out, so yeah

I don't like the idea of spending time, energy, reflexion, love to the work of a terf,

I don't like the fact that I'm still so weak for Harry Potter like this universe hold so much memories and nourish a big part of my imagination.

So I wish I could claim that I won't give more time to her work.

But you know fanfictions

They are so special to me, they are so special as themselves. I could rant for a long time about how amazing they can be (but still not really the subject.)

And they permish a lot.

What I'm reading in the Harry Potter fandom can change time to time but most of it is full of headcanons, queerness, canon fix it, diversity. Because it's comforting, to read about characters that I love, where I feel seen and understood.

I've seen people saying that even turning Harry Potter as our own by writing fanfics or drawing fanarts it's still not that good because it's still promoting the original work. And to consume the fanfics you have to first consume the original

Yes, sure and I agree. However I think "trashing" Jk's precious little work is good, even if anyways she's a billionaire who probably doesn't give a fuck about what little me is reading/writing

I need this satisfaction to put queerness, and to change the story as my own (our because some headcanons are so seen that they sometimes become true to me), I need to see new works that are able to surprise me with always new ways to grow this actively queer community in fanfics.

Because I'm delusional and I refuse to let go the dream of Hogwarts, the dream of the escape.

I don't have answers, I don't want to judge anyone because everyone deal with that the way they want.

So I'm just saying, I love the freedom of fanfictions

I will continue, for now, to read political Harry Potter fanfictions, to read cute fix it, to read not so cute tragic slow burn, to read platonic beautiful fanfics, to read parental Snape, to read still an asshole Snape, to read works who feel like home because this is why I read fanfictions.

Maybe one day I'll say goodbye, maybe I'll never be able to do it, maybe one day jk will shut it up for two minutes, maybe one I'll have the right to exist peacefully

All I want to do for now is to jump fandom to fandom and to continue to spread what feels like home to me hoping it feels like home to others

(I did not edit that, I'm not a native english speaker so-, rant sorry not so sorry)

[tokidokitokyo]

Podcast Review: Tofugu

Podcast Title: Tofugu Podcast

Ease of Listening: ★★★★★

Length of Episodes: ★★★★☆

Level of Engagement: ★★★★★

Episode Frequency: ☆☆☆☆☆

Overall: ★★★★☆

Today I will be reviewing the Tofugu Podcast. I listened to the bulk of this podcast over the course of a few months. This podcast is created by the popular Tofugu website crew. It is in English mostly with a focus on Japanese language learning. (No, I am receiving no compensation for this review, I just wanted to share my opinion!)

Do I currently listen to this podcast?: Yes, I listen to this podcast when new episodes come out (but it's been a while).

General Overview

Good For Levels: Beginner | Intermediate | Advanced

In this podcast, native Japanese speakers pair with Japanese learners (all on the Tofugu staff) to discuss the Japanese language, Japan-specific experiences, and other topics relating to Japan. The earlier podcasts are a bit more "friends hanging out" vibe than the more recent ones, which have a more structured feeling. They both have their pros and cons, but I like the recent more structured podcast because I think they are well thought out and provide a lot of insight into the finer points of Japanese grammar, particles, and vocabulary whilst still being very interesting. The Japanese language podcasts are also often paired with a new Tofugu article, so there is an extra level of learning and review to be had with this series. The only things that lowered the overall score were the long lengths of episodes and the long wait time in between new podcast releases.

Ease of Listening ★★★★★

The podcasts flow well and the hosts communicate their points well. I wouldn't listen to this podcast whilst trying to do something that I'd have to think through, but it's good for a commute (which is when I mostly listen to it) or if you have some down time.

Length of Episodes ★★★★☆

The podcasts can be 30 minutes to an hour, and I usually listen to one during my commute, but if they are longer I'll have to break it up. I think it's a reasonable length, but if you are looking for something short and sweet this is not it. It never felt too long because I was engaged the entire time I was listening.

Level of Engagement ★★★★★

As an intermediate learner, I get a lot out of this podcast, but their in-depth explanations are good for beginners as well. Native speakers and Japanese learners have a loose script to base their discussion on a particular topic on, and the conversation style podcast with examples and quizzes makes it flow really well. I found myself continuously engaged for the full episode. The Japanese learners ask a lot of questions that I would have asked myself, and the chemistry amongst the hosts makes me keep listening even through the Wani-Kani ads.

Episode Frequency ☆☆☆☆☆

Podcasts aren't being released at the time I am writing this, so if you are looking for new material this isn't the place to look. The last podcast was released in April 2023, and before that they had one in December 2022, so it seems like they have slowed down on this. However, if you would like to listen to the episodes already released, you will learn from them and have a few months of material to go through.

Overall ★★★★☆

In general, I think this is a well-done podcast with a lot of useful information for both beginners and intermediate Japanese learners. It might be a bit mundane or simplified for advanced learners, but you might also pick up something you didn't know before! Unfortunately they don't seem to be releasing new podcasts, but I recommend listening to the old episodes to glean information on the Japanese language.

[emeritus-fuckers]

Hello sorry to bother you with this ask but I was SA when I was six by someone from my dads family and nobody never protected me at all, so I was wondering if you could write something with Secondo ? Like comfort or protective, fluff, something like that, with an now adult reader victim of SA ? Sorry it’s weird af, I don’t quite know how to put my words, I’m a not a English native speaker

Maybe something like the reader confessing she’s been SA when she was young, I don’t know

This is the first time I dare to ask something about my story so I’m a little stressed. I hope it’s really anonymous…

I totally can understand if you’re not comfortable writing something like this.

I love your work. Thank you for your writing and for allowing us to dream. Bye !

Hi. You are not bothering us. I'm sorry nobody has been there for you when you needed. I hope you're better now. I want you to know you are safe here. We love and support you. - Jez

TW: mentions of sexual assault.

Secondo SA comfort drabble

You looked down, ashamed and terrified of his judgement. Surely Secondo would say something. And sadly, even after years of therapy, you expected it to be negative. You expected him to hate you or feel disgusted.

"Look at me." He asked softly. Normally he would say those words way more commandingly. Like an order whenever he was in his dom persona. But this time... It was quiet. Gentle. Uncharacteristically soft for the man. "Please, amore. Let me take a good look at you, yes?"

You looked up and allowed his hands to gently hold your cheeks. His gaze was unususally soft. Secondo was a grumpy, stern man. Yet right now... It was as if he was a whole different person. Maybe the fact that he wasn't wearing his facepaint had something to do with that.

"Listen to me very, very carefully now, alright?" He asked softly, leaning in closer to rest his forehead against yours. "Pay very close attention to my words. Because what I'm about to say to you is one of the most important things I have ever told you."

You nodded, not trusting your own voice right now. He didn't seem angry or disappointed. So maybe... Maybe, just maybe... He could still love you. Maybe he could look past what happened to you when you were younger. Maybe you didn't have to be afraid of being rejected by the man you loved so much. Maybe there was a little bit of hope there, after all.

Your heart was breaking. Tears fell from your eyes. You tried to push the memories away, but you had no way to do that. They always came back whenever you talked about it. All the pain and fear would come back and try to devour you yet again...

Not this time, though.

This time he's there. He's holding you in his arms, wrapping you in a strong yet gentle hug. You could move away if you wanted, he made sure of that. But you didn't want to move. You felt safe. You felt loved. You felt protected.

"I love you." He said quietly. You waited for him to say something more. You expected an 'I love you, but', yet no buts ever came. "And I will always protect you. I will not allowed you to ever be harmed again, understand?"

You nodded and he kissed your forehead. His words stunned you. He accepted you. He didn't care about what happened. Because he loved you. He wouldn't judge you. He was there for you. He didn't shame you, didn't mock you... All you could feel from the man was deep, unconditional love.

He would be there. You knew that. He would be your rock. Your temple. Your knight. He'd always be ready to be there for you. To hold you. To comfort you. To kiss away your tears.

"I love you. And if there's anything I can do for you, my darling... I'll do it. I will do anything for you."

Hearing his words, feeling his arms wrapped safely around you... It made you want to cry again. But this time... Those were tears of happiness. Because it was only now that you realized just how much he loved you. And that his love was truly unconditional.

"Thank you..." You whispered, hiding your face in his chest.

"There is nothing to thank me for, my love. I will always be by your side. No matter what happens." He promised.

And if there was one thing you knew about Papa Emeritus II, it was that he always kept his promises.

~

Written by Jez.

Due to the difficult subject of the post, I have decided not to include the taglist.

[writingquestionsanswered]

I'm honestly rather new to writing.

English isn't my first language but I've been pretty much teaching the language to myself through interacting with other English speakers and so on.

I feel like I'm missing a lot of words in my vocabulary that could lift a story up to a better level of reading.

And, probably my biggest problem, I don't know how and where to start writing. How to come up with a plot or how to find inspiration. I'm incredibly motivated but I feel like I don't know where to start.

Since I want to write horror, as it's probably the thing I read and watch the most, I bought a few English horror books to study the ways of writing, words and plot build up. I also started watching analog horror Videos on YouTube to improve my plots yet I often feel like my head is empty despite all those attempts at improving.

I know this is a lot and I'm really sorry for it, but is there any way I could genuinely try and get more into writing as well as to improve the things I mentioned above?

Want to Write But Head Feels Empty

I want to start by saying I never would have guessed English wasn't your first language if you hadn't told me. You have a better grasp on it than a lot of native speakers, so I don't think you have to worry a whole lot about your vocabulary. You're not further behind in that sense than most other new writers. You can check out my posts Improving Vocab and 10 Tips for Improving Your Grammar Vocab for help with that, though.

Since where you're really struggling is with coming up with ideas and plots, what I would recommend is starting with writing prompts. You can find writing prompts all over--on tumblr, various web sites and forums, and even in books. If you Google "horror writing prompts" a ton of options come up.

Writing prompts are a great way to ease yourself into writing when you're struggling to come up with ideas and prompts. Much like fan-fiction (which is another option I'll get to in a minute), writing prompts are almost like training wheels for writers. They let you do the actual writing without having to worry about the initial ideas. And prompts are super flexible... you can interpret them figuratively or literally, you can combine multiple prompts together, or use what you like from a few different prompts. Whatever works for you. The key is to just open your mind and let it carry you wherever it wants to. Don't stress about it being good or making sense. You're not worried about quality or form, just taking those ideas and forming them into *something*. (And, side note: there are also plot generators that will give you more than just a writing prompt, so that's worth trying, too.)

I do also want to address fan-fiction as being another great way to practice writing when plots and ideas escape you. Since you want to write horror, think of a favorite horror movie, TV show, book, or video game and write a story set in that world. Flesh out a scene or moment that you liked that didn't go far enough in canon. Give a character a different moment or ending. You can even create an original character and drop them into the story to see what happens. Once again, this allows you to focus on the actual writing without having to start from scratch with ideas.

I hope something here works for you! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[nebraskashouse]

Hey, there!

Hi, hello! I created this blog to share some of my stories, ramble, and feed my SDV Harvey brainrot (it is really bad!). You can call me Mimi or Nebraska, and my pronouns are she/her/hers.

I haven't written fiction in a really long time, and I have never written fanfiction before, so all of this is really new to me. I'm also not an English native speaker, so if my thoughts sometimes don't make sense, it's because they are not in Portuguese.

My stories, just as well as my blog, are +18, so minors do not interact.

Below the cut you can find some more information on it. See you on the other side!

My Works

First and foremost, here's the link to my AO3.

My main series is called The Edge of Town, and it can be divided into three years so far. Please, mind the color scheme to know the rating of each story, it's the same used on AO3.

Year One

Between Her and the Creatures of the Earth

Chronologically, the first story of Genevieve and Harvey I have written so far. He visits her at the farm in a Fall afternoon and is faced with some realizations about her.

False God (WIP)

Harvey's Year One birthday. Their relationship is new and delicate, and they decide to take an important step together. Chapter Two in development.

Year Two

If we died tonight, I'd die yours

Set in the Summer of Year Two, this is just a steamy one-shot that I wrote for fun as I was still developing these two idiots as characters. A little sneak peak into their established relationship.

Year Three

A House in Pelican Town (WIP)

My main story, set in Year Three. Things have changed, and not for the better. That's all I'll say. (Sometimes, it's all I know.) Currently on hiatus.

Recently, I had the chance to gift some lovely stories to dear friends. You can find them here:

A Good Morning, for KellyCataclysm (Harvey x OC Lyra)

Over the Midnight Moon, for Henarikat (Mr. Qi x OC Nora)

I was also gifted a lovely story, which you can always find here.

Playlist

All of my stories (and my life, honestly) have been deeply influenced by music, so I have developed a playlist to go with my main fic. You can find it here. Anyways, what you should know is that everything about this story is heavily inspired by Ethel Cain's A House in Nebraska (like, everything, really. Just pay enough attention). If you get the vibes, you know we're not really light-hearted around here.

Tags

I usually signal my updates with a couple of tags.

mimi writes for stories and chapters updates;

teot art for... well, art updates! there's some art requests too!

Thank you for your company around here!

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Header by lxdymaria 🖤