#(and also when i'm currently very irritated with the creators)

[ladyluscinia]

What Exactly Did David Jenkins Say?

Look, I'm still staunchly of the opinion that Word of God statements and creator interviews are overvalued in fandom, especially when they get pulled out mostly as gotchas without then continuing to analyze whether or not the show canon is successful at getting across that same message. Death of the Author is good, actually, and we should remember that. But they are worth looking at in the context of evaluating intent vs execution, and for future speculation - just, like, please with less of the whole mile high pedestal idolizing and backlash cycles.

But if overvalued "Word of God" is annoying, then overvalued "supposed creator statements that have gone through three rounds of telephone and any given blogger has only heard about a quarter of them, which they'll use confidently anyway" is worse. So, since I'd already looked up interviews for various reasons...

Here is a fairly comprehensive list of interviews David Jenkins has given and statements he's made during them, presented without commentary (save curating which statements get highlighted). All provided with links. I definitely missed some, so if you have any that you want to add, please do - though if you could trim off any commentary and save it for tags / your own post with a link that would be cool.

Also, again, just because he said it doesn't make it incontrovertible canon that only a blind person wouldn't understand. Some of these even arguably contradict each other. The creator's intent doesn't always translate to what the show is doing, nor do you even have to think it was a good idea.

(Listed in chronological order from oldest to newest - post contains spoilers below the cut)

Pre-S1

Gizmodo - Feb 22, 2022 - with Cheryl Eddy (io9) - Link

Why this story - Really, it was the enigma of Stede that drew him in. "I think actual pirate stuff is fine, but it's not necessarily my cup of tea. And I think Taika [Waititi] felt similarly. But hearing about this guy and reading about him and seeing that, you know, he left his family, then he met Blackbeard, they hit it off, and we don't know any of the details in between. So filling those blanks in, and having a very human story, and then being able to do it with the pirate genre, that was like, 'Oh, this would be cool.'"

Post 1x01 - 1x03

Polygon - March 5, 2022 - with Tasha Robinson - Link

David Jenkins, Taika Waititi, and Rhys Darby interview

About Stede running off to sea - "Stede thought he could outrun his baggage, and you can't outrun your baggage."

About S1 - "I don't think there was enough improv on set! We had an insane schedule, with a huge amount of plot. We were budgeted and designed as a one-hour show, but with a half-hour production schedule, which means we really had to chase these episodes to get them shot. And then there are certain emotional beats that we really needed. So trying to find places to find the fun was hard."

Mashable - Mar 5, 2022 - with Belen Edwards - Link

About the show concept - "It was Jenkins' wife who first told him about Stede's adventures; she thought it would make a good TV show."

On casting Rhys Darby - "Stede did a terrible thing to his family. If you cast it wrong, he's a very hard character to get behind," Jenkins said. "Very quickly, the only person I thought of for this was Rhys [Darby]. He has this childlike quality that's endearing."

About the story - "Seeing them discover a need for each other that neither anticipated and charting how that relationship goes is the meat of the story." + "If you're on this ship, you're running from something, and you're running to something that you can't be on land"

Mentions of matelotage - "In fact, one of Jenkins's favorite pirate facts that he learned while working on Our Flag Means Death was the term matelotage, which was a civil union between same-sex pirates. "The more you look at it," he explained, "the more you write to the fact that this is a queer-positive world.""

Discussing piracy careers - "Something else that astounded Jenkins about pirates was "just how fast it all moved — their lives were quite short," he said. "Your career [in piracy] wasn't very long.""

Post 1x09 - 1x10

Decider - Mar 24, 2022 - with Kayla Cobb - Link

David Jenkins, Taika Waititi, and Rhys Darby interview

Pitch for the show - "That was in the pitch," series creator David Jenkins told Decider. "That was the reason, to make them fall in love with each other."

About the romance - "The main thing to me was to side-step coming out," Jenkins continued. "I just want a romance. I want a Titanic romance between these two people. We don't have to do the coming out story and then the non-binary story for Jim [Vico Ortiz]."

About S2 and the show - "The show is the relationship," Jenkins said. "So, we end in a place where there is this breakup. What happens after a breakup between these two people who, one’s realized he's in love and the other one is hurt in a way that he's never been hurt before? What does that do to each of them in an action, pirate world with them trying to find each other again? So again, I really love those rom-com beats."

Collider - Mar 24, 2022 - with Carly Lane - Link

On making it a romcom - "It's the only reason to make the show. If you didn't do that, it would just be weird. I mean, you're using the rom-com beats. You're using these like they're together. And it's funny because so we're so habituated to be like bromance, bromance, bromance, and it's such a simple move to put them together."

Discusses focusing on romance - "I guess I really... I get kind of bored. How much pirate can you do? They're going to rob stuff. They're going to steal ships. There's only so many pirate stories you can do. So if you're going to do a workplace story, I mean, you're essentially having this... You'd have this same amount of relationships in Grey's Anatomy in the ER. So it's standard. It's the most standard. We're making a soap opera on a pirate ship, and to use those soap opera beats... I like it, and I like the flavor in a comedy when you have something that's played genuinely up against very ridiculous things."

Discusses history and kissing scene

Discusses importance of going home to Mary - "Yeah, that was the problem for me in the story. I knew that I wanted to have the end where he goes home, because you need to give Mary her day in court. I just wanted to know from Mary's perspective what happened and then to see that, yeah, they're friends."

Is Lucius dead? - "You got to wait."

EW.com - Mar 25, 2022 - with Devan Coggan - Link

David Jenkins, Taika Waititi, and Rhys Darby interview

Pitch for the show - "To me, [Stede and Blackbeard's relationship] is the reason to make the show," Jenkins explains. "When Taika and I were first talking about it, he was like, 'Oh yeah, that's the show.' I first started reading about Stede and how he befriended Blackbeard and we don't know why. Very quickly, it was like, 'Oh, it's a romance.'"

Polygon - Mar 25, 2022 - with Tasha Robinson - Link

Discusses 3-season intent - "I think three seasons is good. I think we could do it in three."

Discusses acts within S1 - "To me, when you see him get stabbed, and the blood runs through his fingers, it’s like 'Oh, no, the clown got stabbed! And not comedy-stabbed, he got stabbed stabbed!' That to me is cool. And then having Blackbeard find him as the end of what would be the first act of our story felt good to me."

Discusses kiss scene filming and the national moment around gay rights

What to focus on a rewatch - "I think Con O'Neill does such a great job. He's such a complex character, and it's such a tortured relationship. And that's a love story too, between him and Blackbeard. It's a very dysfunctional story, but it's fun to watch. Watch that maybe, on a rewatch, looking where their relationship ultimately goes."

TV Insider - Mar 25, 2022 - with Meaghan Darwish - Link

Discusses show pitch - "When I was pitching [the show] to people, I'd be like, 'Okay, so it's about Stede and Blackbeard, and then they hit it off and then they fall in love.' And then people are like, 'Okay, cool,' Jenkins shares. "And then they really fall in love, and become intimately involved."

Discusses historical inspiration

Discusses S2 direction - "But when [Stede] goes to find [Blackbeard], he's gone and his crew's been abandoned. And so watching them try to negotiate that, that's a good rom-com beat," he adds.

The Verge - Apr 15, 2022 - with Charles Pulliam-Moore - Link

Discusses being surprised by queerbaiting legacy - "...part of me knew that, yes, Stede and Ed's romance was going to be real. But one part of me felt like, 'We're going to do this story, and they're going to kiss, and maybe that's not even going to be that big a deal. Maybe it'll just be a blip.'"

Discusses writing romance - "I'd never written a romance before this one, but I think with Ed and Stede, the question's always 'what's the need for each other?'"

Discusses falling in love and Stede's accidental seduction - "It made sense to have that love be almost like a teenage version of falling in love — one with all these intense and conflicting feelings. They're middle-aged, but Stede's young. Ed's young. Emotionally, they're like 16, and they've both got a lot to learn."

Discusses Con O'Neill as Izzy - "He plays an exhausted quality that's really lovely because this character could just be generically evil, and the way Con plays, it is like, he's credible. I believe that he can do some damage if he wanted to. My favorite thing I've seen about the show is somebody saying that Con's playing the only human with a bunch of Muppets. It does feel like that a bit where he's like Charles Grodin in The Great Muppet Caper."

On Izzy being in love with Blackbeard - "I think Izzy's deeply in love with Blackbeard, and it's a very dysfunctional kind of love, and he's like the jilted spouse who's losing his man to fucking Stede Bonnet, and he can't believe this is happening."

Discusses masculinity and piracy as an escape from that

Discusses diversity and trauma based stories - "And the consensus in that very diverse room was that we wanted to show that isn't just wallowing in trauma. We don't have to do a coming out scene or focusing on the trauma of it — not to say that those stories aren’t valid."

Gizmodo - Jun 20, 2022 - with Linda Codega (io9) - Link

Musing on fandom response to the show - "I'm wondering if the fact that because the queerness of this show isn't gaslighting the audience, and isn't a function of wanting to do something, but not being able to produce the results because of network standards. I think we just happened to be in this lucky spot where the show is actually queer… and I do think that people are responding to that."

Comparing fanfiction to writing - "And Con O'Neill's audition was one of those things I would go back to. I would watch that and be like… Oh, right, that's the show. And in a way, you're writing fanfiction for a certain actor and character because you want them to do something, and you're like–" at this point, it must be said, Jenkins let out a maniacal little giggle. He’s just as thrilled to show off Con O'Neill's ability to seem both deeply exhausted and menacing as the rest of the fandom. "And you [as the writer] you're like… And then Izzy does this now."

EW.com - Dec 13, 2022 - with Devan Coggan - Link

Discusses The Chain sequence - "I had initially wanted that end sequence to be like the FBI raid in a mob movie, where the feds come in, and they've got boxes of stuff, and everyone's running, and someone makes a dash for it," Jenkins explains. "So, it's like a mob movie or FBI raid story, and then it's also a story of Stede's lover coming back."

Pre-S2

Collider - Oct 2, 2023 - with Carly Lane - Link

Discusses fan reaction to S1 - "I thought that they'd kiss, and people would be like, 'Oh, cool, cool!' I kind of thought people would know a little bit more [about] where we were going, but then in hindsight, no, people have been hurt and burned on so many other shows and then made to feel silly."

Discusses starting S2 dark - "One of these characters is very, very damaged and has never made himself vulnerable in this way before, and I don't think [he] would react very well to having his heart broken in this way. I don't think it would be cute, and I don't think it would be funny. I think it would be scary as hell to watch a very damaged guy that we've established in Ed, who killed his dad and thinks he's not capable of being loved, deal with rejection and see that Stede really hurt him."

Discusses adding more female characters

Discusses S2 needle drops including "This Woman's Work"

Discusses 3-season arc

Post 2x01 - 2x03

Mashable - Oct 5, 2023 - with Belen Edwards - Link

Discusses fandom response to S1

About the canon gay relationship - "To watch the explosion of enthusiasm around [the kiss] was disorienting, almost," Jenkins said. "I thought people would react to it, but I didn't think the reaction would be that big. And then it was moving, because I didn't realize that this audience felt so unserved in general, as far as storylines go."

Insider - Oct 5, 2023 - with Ayomikun Adekaiyero - Link

Tease on leaning into the Stede / Ed / Izzy love triangle - "I think Izzy, in a certain way, got the worst deal in the first season," the showrunner tells Insider. "He gets jilted and then he still is in spurned spouse territory at the beginning of the second season."

Discusses Izzy's arc - "What is that relationship about? And I think by the end of the season it kind of becomes a little unexpected of who they are to each other and what they mean to each other," he teases

Discusses addition of Zheng - "He likens Zheng's way of pirating to a successful tech startup, compared with the garage sale vibe Stede had going on the Revenge."

Discusses introducing Hornigold - "I thought Hornigold was the most obvious because he was the person who made Blackbeard what he is. And Blackbeard has a father complex, so it's natural that he's going to bring his former captain back," the show creator said. "It's a struggle with him because he and dad figures don't historically do well."

Discusses importance of the mermaid scene

Inverse - Oct 5, 2023 - with Hoai-Tran Bui - Link

Reveals he didn't commit to the romance until shooting 1x06 - "Jenkins always intended his pirate comedy to end with a romance, but he'd envisioned it as an unrequited love. "It was going to be about Stede learning what love is, and Ed making himself vulnerable and getting burned," Jenkins says of his original pitch. But Darby and Waititi's choices in the scene, which they played without diffusing the tenderness with a joke, made him wonder if they could take the show in a new direction."

Discusses mermaid Stede idea from S1 - "We talked about Stede as a mermaid very early on in the writers' room," Jenkins says. "At some point, yeah, I want to see Rhys Darby as a merman." + "They wanted us to come up with a Season 2 pitch during Season 1. And that was one of the ideas we hit on, and I can't quite remember how we got there, but it was us asking, what is a pirate world? Are there mermaids? Is there magic in this show? With pirate stuff, I don’t know that I want there to be magic, but there was a way where it was something really beautiful about a mer-person, and I like the idea that their coming together would have a mythic size to it."

Discusses historical divergence

Discusses matelotage and pirates as weird outsiders

TV Guide - Oct 5, 2023 - with Allison Piccuro - Link

About the shipping culture - "It's the meat of the show, so it's great to have people bought into the central romance. If it were a bromance that we were trying to make look like a romance, that would suck."

Discusses playlists he makes

Discusses opening dream sequence - "I just like that it started with something badass. Stede, Blackbeard, and Izzy are on an arc together. Whether they're in stories together or not, their ultimate arc is together. I think, by the end of this season, the last episode, that first scene will be gratifying. I won't say why, but their fates are tied together."

Discusses Kraken arc - "But I think the thing that's good about this show is that it can go to really sweet comedy land, but I want there to be, like, if someone loses a body part, for instance, they lose a body part. To do justice to the fact that this guy is a killer and a monster, and dealing with heartache that he doesn't know how to deal with, I think you really need to go there."

Discusses Izzy in S2 - "I mean, he's jilted. He had a partnership with Blackbeard, and he knows he can't live up to this person that Blackbeard fell in love with... Who is that guy? What are his hobbies? What does it look like when he's not totally subsumed with his boss's love affair with somebody, and heartbroken?"

On S2 reunion - "The second season is them being a little bit more mature... It's the thing where you're in your 20s or 30s and you're like, "Well, should we move in together?" They have to make up some time because neither of them have been in a functional relationship before."

About genre of pirate stories - "...is a show about multiple relationships. That's what I want to see when I see this show. I don't want to see a bunch of pirate things that I've seen in other things, I'll just go watch another thing if I want to see that. That's not really my thing. I like the genre, but it's a very hard genre to budge. I want to see relationships in a pirate world."

Discusses the A Star is Born aspect of seeking fame / retiring

Mashable - Oct 7, 2023 - with Belen Edwards - Link

About the mermaid scene - "You need something expressive for when they come back together," Jenkins said. "Their reunion moment has to feel big and mythical. This is not a world where mermaids actually exist, but their love for each other has that size that you can get [a mermaid] in there somewhere."

About Kate Bush - "I love Kate Bush, and I love that song, and I know Taika loves that song," Jenkins explained of the choice. "So I wanted to find a place for that song somewhere in the second season."

Polygon - Oct 9, 2023 - with Tasha Robinson & more - Link

Compares S2 and "Golden Age of Piracy" stuff to Westerns, lists 5 he was thinking of - "Every Western that’s good is that story," Jenkins says. "'This way of life we made is coming to an end. It can't last. It's a blip in time. We created this thing because we need it to exist. We're outlaws, and we need a culture that suits us, but it's running out of time.'"

Gizmodo - Oct 9, 2023 - with Linda Codega (io9) - Link

Short tease on leaning into the love triangle

About Stede, Edward, and Izzy - "I think the three of them are on an arc together that's pretty inseparable," Jenkins said in an interview with io9. "And to watch Izzy try to process what's happened [in season one]… to watch him kind of grow and figure out what's his own story, if he can separate himself from this kind of toxic relationship, is interesting to me and I think gives him a lot of room for growth."

Post 2x04 - 2x05

IndieWire - Oct 12, 2023 - with Sarah Shachat - Link

Discusses directing and show creation

"The limitations of the show also naturally push it back towards moments with the ensemble and plot problems that it would frankly be irresponsible to tackle if you had a giant budget and a fully working ship-of-the-line to sail and then blow to bits. "That's the fun of the show to us, I think. If you open this up and you're like, unlimited budget, that would be terrible because I think you can get seduced," Jenkins said. "[It could be like,] 'Oh man, it's all leading up to a climatic battle on the sea.' And those things are great. But that’s not this show.""

"The nice thing about that, though, is you get to be the lo-fi show that’s like, 'Hey, we’re making The Muppets.'"

PopSugar - Oct 12, 2023 - with Victoria Edel - Link

About S2 Stede - "I like the idea that he learns and grows and he doesn't just stay a bumbling captain. He might be ridiculous, but he is getting better at it."

Discusses genre challenges - "How do you have a show that's a romance show but it's also a workplace show and they're criminals?"

Discusses Edward's redemption - "But Blackbeard still has to come back and apologize and be part of the community again, and give his little press conference. It was fun for us to look at that in the context of piracy, where they all do terrible things to each other. But even by their standards, what Blackbeard did was a bit much."

Discusses Izzy in S2 - "When Izzy shoots Blackbeard and they all mutiny on him, that's Izzy breaking up with Blackbeard. And they're both having their own journey in the wake of it, and Izzy's having his own redemption arc. He's trying to figure out, "Who am I if I'm not Blackbeard's first mate? Who am I outside of this relationship?"" + "If Stede's Spongebob, he's Squidward. I don't know what that makes Blackbeard. But there's a real pathos to Squidward."

Discusses trauma-based narratives - "As a diverse room in terms of sexuality, socio-economic background, and race, we thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to have a non-trauma-based story for these characters who don't get that historically?""

Variety - Oct 13, 2023 - with Hunter Ingram - Link

Discusses three act structure and making Stede work for a relationship - "The way I like to look at a season is in threes. The end of the first act is when they find each other, and this is the beginning of the second act. They've found each other, but they are pissed. Stede thought it was going to be [Kate Bush's] “This Woman's Work,” but, in reality, it is this headbutt –– literally."

Discusses the central romance - "It was always part of the pitch... that is the reason to make the show. The pirate genre is fun, but I wasn’t dying to make a pirate show. Taika wasn’t dying to make a pirate show. But the thing that was interesting to me was that Stede finds love, and he finds it with Blackbeard."

Discusses 2x04 plot - "This episode is based on a very, very thumbnail sketch of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?." Anne and Mary are Martha and George, and they are Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton."

Discusses adding historical pirates

Discusses Buttons exit - "I just love the idea of him turning into a bird: I love the idea of Buttons somehow being the one character that is able to figure that out."

Discusses Izzy and the crew's trauma plot - "We liked the idea that there is something about trauma and getting past that trauma, even on a pirate ship. They have been through two very different ways of living and they have to get used to each other again. But it's also a family that was separated, and becoming one family again is painful."

Discusses bringing characters back - "We could bring Calico Jack back, who, if you remember, was hit by a cannonball last season. Anyone who is that fun to play with and wants to keep playing, you always find a way to bring them back."

Polygon - Oct 14, 2023 - with Tasha Robinson - Link

Discusses 3-season arc and how keeping them apart with some plot device was never in the cards - "at the end of the first season, they're 14-year-olds, emotionally. In this season, it's more like they’re in their late 20s."

Discussing New Zealand production and ensemble cast writing - "It's pretty organic, because as we're going through and tracking everybody's journey for the season, we're watching the thing that holds us together — what stage of Stede and Blackbeard's relationship are we in? Because the overarching arc is, are these guys going to learn how to settle into a relationship?"

"The second season is more overtly about romance, and more a relationship story."

Energizing aspect of fan reaction

S3 is about "love is work"

Gizmodo - Oct 16, 2023 - with Linda Codega (io9) - Link

About the story - "I want to see them become a functional couple or fail to become a functional couple," Jenkins said. "Those are the most interesting parts of the show."

Discusses fandom engagement - "...ultimately the writers are also "the fans in the room." He goes on to say that, "We're fans of the world. We're writing fanfic about our own characters, our own worlds… It's paid fanfic, but it's fanfic." He gives another example: "If you're writing a season of Succession, you're writing fanfic Succession. You're just getting paid to do it. We, as writers–" it's clear that he's not just talking about the writers in the writers room, "become fans of the world and we all have things we want to see these characters do. What we do is not that different."

Discusses the A Star is Born aspect of seeking fame / retiring

Discusses Zheng Yi Sao

Villains of the series - There are a lot of new villains this season, but, Jenkins says, ultimately, "the antagonist on this show is normalcy… These pirates have a way of life that they're not finding in normal life. They've found a way to live and support each other and be there for each other. And that's always threatened by these larger, tyrannical forces that want to shut them down."

Post 2x06 - 2x07

Mashable - Oct 19, 2023 - with Belen Edwards - Link

Discussing drag performance in 2x06

"It is nice to see with Izzy's arc, where he finally breaks through whatever he's been doing to himself. He lets himself have that moment, which I just love. It resonates for Izzy, and I think it resonates for Con. Just personally, it made me feel good to see how it turned out."

Consequence - Oct 19, 2023 - with Liz Shannon Miller - Link

Discusses intent for romance - "...telling a love story in a serialized medium like television has its perils, largely because it's tough to know how much you can draw out any unresolved tension. "I think we take it episode by episode and we try to not piss people off in taking too long and doing double beats and triple beats," Jenkins says. "You can only do Will They or Won’t They for so long. Then you have to deepen it.""

Discusses pirate setting - "The emphasis on relationships also fits into the show's high-seas setting, which Jenkins finds similar to post-apocalyptic narratives. "It is a little bit like you're doing Mad Max, except there's relationships," he says. "Stuff's shitty, so you gotta try to find some joy. Of course, people are going to have a need for each other in these extreme circumstances, and I like the idea of these characters finding some level of a healthy relationship in these extreme circumstances.""

Discusses Jim x Archie

Discusses 3-season arc

Polygon - Oct 21, 2023 - with Tasha Robinson - Link

Discussing gender and power dynamics in Jackie x Swede / Zheng x Oluwande / Blackbeard x Stede + A Star is Born aspect

Jim not being jealous of Oluwande - "I think that relationship was always seen in the room as a friend relationship that got romantic."

About adding a villain - "I think a lot of the internal forces in Our Flag are the villains." + "I think this is a story about the age of piracy coming to an end. This way of life is coming to an end. And every Western that's good is that story: This way of life we made is coming to an end, and it can't last. […] I think every story about outlaws is about trying to preserve a way of life against normative forces that are kind of fascistic."

Historical accuracy - "The balance of the show is 90% ignoring history, and then 10%, bring it in, whenever we're like, Ah, gotta move the story forward! Remember, the English are out there, and they're really bad!"

Post 2x08

AV Club - Oct 26, 2023 - with Saloni Gajjar - Link

Killing Izzy was always the plan - "We wanted to show the depth of that character. Izzy is one of my favorites. He's like middle management who is in a sort of love triangle [in season one]."

Discusses how they really wanted the happy ending for S2 - "I think with season one's end, it was a gamble to leave it the way it was. Everybody stomached through it. Now if it turned out they didn't want us to make more, I just didn't want to have another story where the same-sex love story ends in tragedy, unrequited love, or if one or both of them are being punished."

Discusses S2 progressing the 3-season romance - "They’re a couple who is like in their late twenties right now as opposed to being teens at the end of season one." + "It was an interesting tension of, which one gives up their dream? A lot of times in relationships questions can come up, like who is going to give up on their dream to take care of the kids? Obviously, no one wants to, but someone ends up giving up more than they want to at some point. What's wonderful about a mature romance, and what I'd want to see more of in season three, is Ed and Stede making these tough decisions." + progressing past the getting together point

Discusses parallels, Republic of Pirates, and Zheng Yi Sao

Short bit about fan response

Collider - Oct 26, 2023 - with Carly Lane - Link

Discusses Ed leaving fishing - "I like that he had a little prima donna moment where he thought he could go and be a simple man, and then it's revealed that he really isn't a simple man; he's a complicated, fussy, moody guy. No, he's not gonna be able to catch fish for a living. For him to be told that, "At your heart, you're a pirate. You have to go back and do it," he doesn't want that to be true, but it was true."

Discusses Izzy's speech to Ricky - "I wanted to give Izzy a proper eulogy for himself. He gives a eulogy for himself, but it felt true writing it."

Discusses Izzy's death scene - "In a way, it's very much for Ed, that speech. The "we were Blackbeard" is claiming that he is also Blackbeard, that Blackbeard is not just Ed’s creation, and I like that for him, too, because he's worked so hard for that — and then just to say, "You can give it up." There can never be a Blackbeard again as far as Izzy's concerned because he's dying, and they did that together."

Discusses Republic of Pirates / music parallels from premier to finale

Discusses finale wedding - "We knew we wanted a matelotage in the season, which is the real term they had for marrying crew members. And yeah, they've always been in relief to Stede and Ed, and they're a little bit ahead of Stede and Ed in how much they can talk about things. So to have a bunch of family things in the season, like a funeral and a wedding, and have the parents kind of watch the kids sail away, felt right, and all of those things seem to work well together and build on each other."

Discusses retirement ending - "That will-they-or-won't-they is interesting to a point, but the real meat of it is always like, "Can they make the relationship, and can they do better than Anne and Mary?""

"Frenchie's in charge of the Revenge" + teases Stede struggling to give it up

EW.com - Oct 26, 2023 - with Devan Coggan - Link

Discusses Izzy's death and telling Con - "It feels like the logical end of Izzy's arc. It's heartbreaking to me because he's my favorite." + "I told him in the middle of shooting because I didn't want him to find out at the table read, obviously. I also didn't want it to leak. He was lovely about it."

Discusses Izzy's final arc - "You know, I didn't expect him to become kind of a father figure to Ed. I think we hit on that while we were breaking the [final] episode. He's in such a weird position: He's like a jilted lover, and then he's a middle manager who has to work for a terrible boss. He gets thrown away, and then he comes back. He really develops, and he becomes a part of this family. I think the biggest surprise was the extent that he was a mentor to Ed. They were both Blackbeard. They both made Blackbeard happen."

Discusses the happy ending intent - "With this season starting so dark, I kind of wanted to reward them for the work that they've done and the character growth that they've had. I wanted to leave them in a place where they're really going to try and make this work. I don't think it's going to be easy for them, necessarily. They're both still immature."

Discusses the wedding - "We knew we wanted a matelotage in the second season, and pretty quickly we landed on Lucius and Black Pete. It seems like they were ready for that. We made up a ceremony and everything, where they call each other mateys, and it was just fun to make our own version of a pirate wedding ceremony."

Discusses potential S3 and Frenchie's Revenge - "But it felt like a good place to end the second season. It felt like a contrast to the first season. If it turns out we don't make any more, I'm comfortable with that being a resting place."

Variety - Oct 26, 2023 - with Hunter Ingram - Link

S3 endpoint - "I love things in threes," he says. "That first act, second act, third act structure is so satisfying when it is done well, and you don't overstay your welcome. I think this world of the show is a big world, and if the third season is successful, we could go on in a different way. But I think for the story of Stede and Ed, that is a three-season story."

Discusses the draw of a "Golden Age" and it's ending

Talks about father figure Izzy and wanting a real sense of loss - "There is a nice parallel to have Ed treat him so badly at the beginning of the season and then come all the way around to where Izzy is this sort of father figure he doesn’t want to lose — because Ed usually kills his father figures."

Gizmodo - Oct 26, 2023 - with Linda Codega (io9) - Link

Teasing future Izzy - "Jenkins looked slightly sad himself, saying that "Ghosts exist in this world." I told him not to make promises he couldn't keep."

"Jenkins said that he doesn't see Izzy as a pure antagonist in season one because on some level… Izzy was right in his hesitations about Stede."

Discussing Con O'Neill & Rhys Darby acting

Jenkins confirms the season was always 8 episodes due to budget cuts

About S2 finale vs S3 - "The first season ends on such a downer, so it made sense to end the second season in a kinder spot." + "I think there's plenty of story left for season three, but I think that it was important to end this as if it was the end of the show, and on upbeat note and avoid the kind of "kill your gays" trope. I don't want to see Stede and Ed punished for giving it a go. I want to see them really say, 'yeah, we’re going to we're going to try to have a relationship'."

Teases S3 revenge against Ricky and going to the Americas

Vanity Fair - Oct 26, 2023 - with Sarah Catherall - Link

About the ending - "It's bittersweet. There's death and there's the rebirth of Stede and Blackbeard's relationship; there's a funeral, there's a wedding, and the idea that this family is going to keep fighting even as they lose members. And then it's about belonging to something." + "A lot of times, with this narrative of characters, same-sex relationships end on a dour, downbeat note, where one of them dies and it's unrequited or it's unrealized; something horrible happens and they're punished in a way. So it was important to leave it open and a lot more show to go, but also leave it in a place where it's happy."

Discusses Izzy as a mentor / father figure - "We felt like Izzy's story had reached its conclusion, where we put him through enough. And then there was the realization that he is kind of a mentor to Blackbeard and that he is kind of a father figure to Blackbeard." + "And it's also a pirate show, so he's got to die."

Discusses filming challenges - "It's a big show; it's basically a one-hour show that we're doing on a half-hour budget."

Discusses adding Zheng Yi Sao

Is the show a queer romance? - "For this show, it's important to me just to write a really bold-bodied romantic show that happens to be between two characters of the same sex. I think that the story beats don't matter, because if you've been in love and you've been hurt and you met someone you love—hopefully we all know what those feelings are."

Blackbeard's arc in S2 - "...the second season is about Blackbeard's midlife crisis. And then when they both have their midlife crises, they can open a B&B together." + "I don't think Stede and Blackbeard are ready to be married. They're emotionally saying: 'Let's give this a go.'"

Discusses historical piracy as "counterculture" that's been straightwashed and whitewashed

Did he feel responsibility to the fan community? - "As opposed to responsibility, it feels more like relief—that people feel seen and they feel good about it and they liked what we did. And so it feels like, Okay, somebody's out there and wants the show. The makeup of the writers room looks a lot like the makeup of the fan base. So as long as we're true to our stories in the writers room, I think we just feel excited that there's somebody waiting on the other end to enjoy it."

Paste Magazine - Oct 26, 2023 - with Tara Bennett - Link

Discusses whether fandom expectations felt weighty - "I think particularly for this season, that "bury your gays" thing… I didn't want to end on a downbeat for Ed and Stede. We did that in the first season. I like that there's a lot of different flavors. It's even a little melancholy because the Republic of Pirates got blown up. But there's still more good things."

Discusses production and plotting - "I wanted to start at the Republic of Pirates this season and end at the Republic of Pirates. And I knew I wanted the Republic of Pirates to be destroyed, ultimately. Within that, we are making a one-hour show on a half hour budget, on a half hour schedule."

Discusses planning the ending - "In terms of ending this season, it all felt right just in talking through it when we were in the room. It felt pretty intuitive. When you get to the third act of the story, things kind of settle in. There's gonna be a funeral. We always knew we wanted a wedding at the end of the second season. And I knew that I wanted Stede and Ed to start an inn together. So once you have those beats, it's kind of locked in."

Discusses Izzy's arc - "It's kind of a strange arc in that I knew we were going to put him through all these things, and I knew he would ultimately die. But I think him becoming a father figure to Ed in the last episode didn't really dawn on us until we were breaking the last episode. Asking what would this man say to Ed at the end because they've been together through everything? He went from a troubled and downtrodden employee to a jilted lover to a discarded employee, to someone that is just trying to find his footing again—no pun intended—to actually becoming this guy's parental figure on some level. And he's one person who kind of raised Ed right, because Blackbeard usually kills his parental figures. So, it felt right and it felt like that's how the mentor dies. The mentor in a story usually dies in the second act and then our hero has to go on and try to do it without them. It felt like the right journey for Izzy and a gratifying one for Con."

On leaving open for S3 - "I don't think it was a very hard thing to do. I think it was more that I felt a responsibility to leave Ed and Stede in a good place, at least for now. It's not gonna go well. They're not going to run a business well. Ed's too much of a talker. Stede can't focus. It's gonna be challenging."

Vulture - Oct 28, 2023 - with Sophie Brookover - Link

Discussing Izzy as a "father figure" and his S2 send-off being a priority

Meaning of piracy - "...what our pirates stand for is a life of belonging to something larger than they are in the face of a crushing, slightly fascist normalcy."

Re: Con O'Neill & Izzy's death - "I had to tell him about halfway through the season"

Third season about the work of a relationship between still damaged main characters

Discusses middles as about change and transitions, and wanting characters to change instead of reset, have them experience permanent consequences

About the final scene - "...Ed and Stede as the parents kind of watching the kids take the ship. Frenchie's the captain now..."

Objective of the crew - "...have had terrible things happen to them at the hands of colonial forces, so they want some payback. Party, plunder, and payback — the three P's."

Metro Weekly - Nov 1, 2023 - with Randy Shulman - Link

Discusses historical premise of S1 and easing into the romance

Discusses S2 genre - "In the second season, it was great because we know it's a romance and we can lead with that. It's a workplace show essentially. I wanted it to be more in the vein of early episodes of Grey's Anatomy or something where there are all these relationships on those shows. That's what you’re following — relationships and friendships that are taking place in a hospital, procedural. That's Grey's Anatomy. This is less procedural for the pirate stuff — and you need the pirate stuff."

Discusses not being into pirates - "But I'm like you. I'm not a big pirate person. In general, it's a big creaky genre that's hard to budge" + "Pirates of the Caribbean, those movies are great. That's not necessarily what I hunger to see, but in that genre, it's great. You're not going to beat that, especially on something that's lower budget. We've seen a lot of this stuff, so it's fun to take it then and don't do any of that stuff."

Discusses adapting historical piracy - "You don't want to see them punch down. You don't want to see them do terrible things to people who don't deserve it, which is not what they really did. So, in the show's world, I think piracy is like a stand-in for something. I think it's a stand-in for being an iconoclast and an outsider and queer in some ways and just different." + "Yeah, I mean, the British are there to be Stormtroopers, or Nazis in an Indiana Jones movie. I mean, they're in there to die essentially."

Discusses diversity staffing

Discusses performative masculinity

Discusses Izzy's death, happy endings, and openness to S3

[simpxxstan]

perfect complements (ch. 1)

pairing: professor!seungcheol x professor!f.reader

genre: fluff, enemies to lovers, angst, slight smut

series summary: four and a half years of working together breeds familiarity, resentment, and everything in between. it's almost like living together.

chapter word count: 2.1k

warnings: bickering (will be a major feature in this story, so please do not read if verbal fights are not your cup of tea), seungcheol smokes.

a/n: seventeen is my new addiction and i'm not backing off! this is inspired from my dream life (hehe i want to be an econ prof). the series title is an econ term lolol sorry if it's too geeky. i think this series will have multiple spinoffs, maybe you can guess for which characters? all i can hope for is that i'll be able to pull through the plot till the very end and not get writers' block midway :(

slight heads up? seungcheol is 32 here, and the f. reader y/n is 33 here. wonwoo is 35-36, and minghao is slightly younger than seungcheol, probably 30. chan is 24-25 years old. y/n is shorter than seungcheol, and wears glasses. not much other physical description of y/n. also, this fic will probably have different povs, so this chapter is from seungcheol's pov.

thank you so much for reading! your reblogs, likes and comments mean sooo much honestly. i know every content creator says this, and i know we all mean it from our hearts.

enjoy some of my ult svt bias, seungcheollie!

series masterlist

With four and a half years of working together comes a ton of familiarity. Choi Seungcheol knows it annoyingly well: annoying because he’s greeted by the sight of your coat on his chair again, and well because this is a sight he sees nearly every Monday. Four years ago, he would have tried to explain to you that it’s a Monday morning, he didn’t want to come to take classes this early, and his patience is running thin, so it would be very nice if you could remember which chair was yours every morning when you came and took off your coat. Three years ago, he would have shrieked out, irritation burning through his veins. Two years ago, he would walk up to your desk, and spill your coffee all over the term paper you were currently checking. One year ago, he would purposely ruin your day even if it increased his headache tenfold just thinking about ways to annoy you. 

But not any more. Choi Seungcheol has decided you are not worth a penny of his hard earned money, a moment of his precious time, and a nano atom of his genius brain cells. He simply picks your coat and dumps it on the ground, deliciously close to the dustbin. He knows his ears shouldn’t perk up, but they do, and when they hear your reaction, it is so gratifying, it feels like he has won a World War. 

“Prof. Choi, if you feel you cannot respect the personal property of others, feel free to accompany me to the Dean’s Office.” You have somehow stomped up to him, standing right before him, as he pulls out the chair to his desk, taking in the endless papers and books that are arranged neatly before him. Your attitude never ceases to surprise him, given that you’re an entire head shorter than him, and even if you’re wearing heels, he can tower over you whenever you stomp up to him in these little furies. It makes you look like a little furry puppy, your hands on your hips, and Seungcheol thrives off the fire burning in your eyes. “There, there. I’d actually love to, but it seems that you need to remember how to respect public property and not hog over the space of others.” 

You’re staring at him above your glasses, which have slipped down to the middle of your nose, and god, Seungcheol finds it hilarious. He wants to burst out laughing, the only thing holding him on is his determination to not break character and push you further. 

“And if your routine morning tantrums are over, Seungcheol and Y/N, please settle down in your seats. It seems like I have to send you both to college again.” 

Said Dean’s voice booms out behind you, and although his voice is surprisingly firm, there’s a shit-eating grin on his face, and he walks towards the two of you. He picks up the coat, lying on the floor, and hands it to Y/N. Jeon Wonwoo does not miss out on how flustered you both look on getting caught during your little lovers’ quarrel, as Wonwoo likes to call it in his mind, all alone in the Economics Department Staffroom. 

“Morning Wonwoo! Enlighten me why no one else is here. Why am I stuck with this lady through this sad Monday morning?” 

Seungcheol leans back on his chair, casual now that Wonwoo has calmed down the mood. You walk back to your desk, which unfortunately is right opposite Seungcheol’s, but he’s used to your ugly face to stay unfazed by it now. It’s like a terrible gift from a nosy relative you’ve hung up on the wall for long enough that it doesn’t catch the eye anymore and is just… there. But he’s quick to take note of how you’re smiling at Wonwoo, your glasses have been pushed to the top of your head, revealing your forehead and the same tiny pair of diamond hoops you wear every day. 

It is, like he knows well, a scene of familiarity. And he really despises that fact. 

“Minghao has a conference, he’s in the States. This is in preparation for his exchange program thing.”

“Oh yeah, he texted me on Saturday that he’s leaving soon… wasn’t aware it’s today.” You speak softly, already opening your laptop to get started with your work for the day. 

“And Minhee is in the Girls’ Hostel.”

“Why?” You both ask, confused. “I thought Prof. Kim from History is the warden?” “Yes, but they’ve recently gone on their maternity leave. Minhee has to take over. And, bad luck for her, but on the very first day, there’s been a kind of emergency. Some punches were thrown while drunk, and now Minhee’s lecturing them.” “As if anyone’s gonna take her seriously,” Seungcheol scoffs, since everyone knew Minhee to be one of the coolest professors in the university. 

“Hey! They took me very seriously, thank you. This is the problem with men. Give them a woman with good tits and a kind face and they think she’s a dumb bitch to run over.” Minhee walks into the small Staffroom, looking very much exhausted but she’s never going to admit it. She plops down on your desk, pushing away the laptop. “Is the situation better now?” you ask, holding out your coffee to Minhee, asking her silently to take a sip. “Yes, thankfully. I’ll have to go and check again after classes get over for the day.”

“Well then, you’re all up to date. Don’t forget the meeting with the Faculty Coordinator today at 5 pm!” “Yes Sir,” you all echo unenthusiastically, as Wonwoo chuckles and walks out of the room. It’s going to be a long day and Seungcheol can already feel his temples buzzing. 

_

Six classes down, and he’s feeling the Monday blues wear off into a blissful exhaustion. At the end of the day, this is a profession he has not once regretted choosing. He absolutely adores spending time with his students- mostly. There’s always going to be a black sheep, like Lee Chan from his Advanced Game Theory course. Chan isn’t a bad guy, per se. He’s just over-enthusiastic and is always looking to impress: which results in him reading texts beyond his level just to try and make Seungcheol happy and end up confusing the entire concept. 

But at least dealing with the well-meaning Chan is better than going to the faculty counselling meeting with you. Well, not just with you. But he knows very well what he’s going to hear at the meeting, and he’s absolutely dreading it. He has nearly the same look on his face as his students do when they get the term results, he’s just better at masking it. 

As he walks into the Faculty Coordinator’s office, he sees you’re already sitting in a corner, staring outside the window, while Minhee is chatting with the Coordinator. He notices you glancing his way once, before turning your eyes towards the sky again. “Good Afternoon Prof. Choi! How are you doing?” Ms. Song looks at Seungcheol with warm eyes as he takes a seat. “I’m fine, thank you, and you?” It seems that nervousness has rendered Seungcheol incapable of forming sentences beyond nursery-level, and both Minhee and Ms. Song let out a small laugh at his childish response. “I’m sure you know why you’re here, Prof. Choi, as does Prof. Y/L/N. I’ll spare you the intro.” Minhee asks, “Am I really needed to be here?” Ms. Song says, “Prof. Jeon, unless you seriously want me to be alone with this pair who want to murder each other, I would really prefer if you could be here.” Seungcheol is blushing now, embarrassed to the toe. He can hear you groan, and Minhee somehow finds it all funny enough to smile. “If it's so amusing to you, Minhee, you can leave. We swear we won’t kill each other today, if we’ve been able to control ourselves all this time.” Seungcheol’s not even looking at you, but the sarcasm is biting his skin. 

“Alright, alright. Calm down, Prof. Y/L/N. Remember, aggression is not the key. We’re here for resolutions.” 

“Well then, could we please proceed to the point directly?”

“You’re in a rush on a Monday? You play baseball with the kids after class-” you ask him, staring into his face.

“I have a date today after class.” 

That shuts you up for good, and Seungcheol feels queasy. It’s one thing trying to get the last word in, and it’s another to hit your weak point just to get the last word in. He wants to explain but Ms. Song interrupts. “I’ll cut the chase. From what I can see now, and from all the reports I’ve received in the last three months, there’s been not much improvement from the situation we had observed earlier. In fact, it’s only gotten more alarming-”

“Ever since I’ve turned thirty-three,” you sigh, but Ms. Song ignores you. 

“I’ve spoken to the Dean, Dr. Wonwoo, and also to some of the other faculty members you share your classes and university space with. We collectively think it’s only fair to say that your interpersonal relationship is harming the kind of environment we want to foster in our university. It is, by no means, a new development, and students of several batches have noticed this relationship of yours as well. This kind of banter, which includes quite serious threats at times-” she raises a hand to quieten Seungcheol’s attempt to interrupt, “is not conducive to a healthy academic environment.”

You both sigh, you whisper something along the lines of it’s not that serious, and although Seungcheol hates to say it out loud, he agrees with you. 

“I would recommend you both to go to the University Counsellor and take a few… bonding sessions over the next semester. We think this kind of banter is not too serious, we’re extremely hopeful of a resolution. It’s just not happening right now, because you’re not aware of the efforts to be taken. Once you sit with a counsellor, the path will be clearer-”

Seungcheol doesn’t even realise when he’s stood up. It feels stuffy. He had thought he was long past the age of getting reprimanded for fighting with his peers. 

“I really have to leave now. Thank you for the talk, Ms. Song. I’ll get back to you with my schedule and we can set up the meetings with the counsellor.”

“Prof. Choi.” The voice is stern, and Seungcheol holds up. He needs a cigarette, or fresh air. Neither is really available right now, so he grips on to the chair to steady himself. “I will mail you the meetings and Plan of Action, and you shall adjust your schedule accordingly. You know the consequences-” Seungcheol nods before the threat gets completed. Wonwoo has explained the consequences several times to him. 

“I will do so. Don’t worry, Ms. Song. You shall get nothing but my best efforts.” “I hope so. Really.” 

Seungcheol finally steps out of the room, and heaves deep breaths to get his brain working again. His phone rings, as he walks down the stairs to get away from the building. He picks it up while lighting the cigarette between his lips as he leaves the campus-

“Hello Cheollie! Should I come over to your place to pick you up or-”

“Hyerin?”

“What? Did you forget about our date? Yah! Oppa!”

“No no, I just-” he realises that you’ve just left the campus walking past him, not even sparing him a glance. He watches you as you walk farther away from him, your car blinking in the distance, and the tap-tap of your heels fading out amidst the sounds of the wind. The campus is remarkably quiet for this time of the day, or maybe he’s just too out of it all. 

“I’ll meet you at the cafe. We can go to your place later, right?”

“Yes yes, I’ve talked to my roommate already, but why not Oppa’s place this time?” the sickly sweet voice from the other end of the phone irritates him, but he knows she’s acting cute just for fun. 

“You know why-” 

“Oppa, Kkuma doesn’t care about the girls you bring over.” “She does! She’s a very sensitive princess.” “Cheol-ah, you can just say you don’t care enough about me, and I’ll get it. Don’t bring the poor baby into this.” Seungcheol sighs. This is why he likes Hyerin, she can be mature when she wants to.

But it seems like now is not the time.

“I’ll see you later then, Oppa! Maybe tonight will change your mind!” “Hmm!” Seungcheol hears the call get cut, and he finally drags a puff from his cigarette. You’ve disappeared out of sight, and Seungcheol’s mind is clear now.

[zahri-melitor]

Newish Comics:

The Flash #7: The Linear Men? The Linear Men??? Si Spurrier, what is cooking in your brain and can you keep giving me a direct line to it? (I mean bringing the Linear Men in a series that also gave us Gold Beetle makes perfect sense because Rip would be so into her but wow. It looks like they've barely been used since Flashpoint too). Also it's fascinating watching the re-establishment of Max and Bart's relationship.

Barry seems to finally have risen out of his ennui a bit, only to notice Something Is Wrong With Linda and then immediately suspect (wrongly) it's Hartley. Still pretty sure Linda's main issue is PPD but it being imposed by an external source is certainly something.

Green Arrow #10: this is another issue that mostly exists for people to hug each other, while Williamson goes 'remember that these people had relationships?' Sean Izaakse's art is just so good in terms of drawing the memory backgrounds so well I can pick out the specific issues and storylines he used as references (Batman + Arsenal shoutout!)

Also, remember when Amanda Waller didn't put bombs in people's heads, she just very occasionally put explosive collars or wristbands on the most dangerous and/or irritating Suicide Squad members? (Like Captain Boomerang?) Because I do. I remember Suicide Squad 1987.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #11: part of this is me just being contrary, I know, but I am extremely not convinced we are going to see Maps as an active Robin in a main title, given Kerschl is a Gotham Academy creator anyway, and she's currently getting appearances as Meridian over in Birds of Prey. Gotham Academy continuity is only about 1/4 linked to main book continuity. (Someone is going to try and point out 'they appeared in Robin War' or something but it was an active and new title then, and honestly, nobody writing most Bat titles cares about them. It's its own sub universe. Also this story has Bruce dating Isla MacPherson, something I guarantee will not be followed up anywhere else)

Also imagine being called Karl Kerschl and coming to DC to write? How much time does this poor man spend saying "no, not Kesel".

The Artemis story remains amazing and I am fully supportive of it retconning whatever character crimes it is currently trying to excuse as weird.

Also how did we get so unlucky as to have both a Bat Lash AND a Sgt Rock story in this issue?

Amazons Attack #6: and this tied things off nicely! Honestly for an event that didn't need to happen, Josie Campbell did well with it, featured a whole host of Wonder Woman characters that Tom King's barely interacting with, and added to some relationships between characters that needed additional work.

Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #5: I am sure this is a far more meaningful issue if you care deeply about Green Lantern lore. Also DELIGHTED that the JSA team up in this series actually happens on page rather than in the final splash like in Wesley Dodds: The Sandman. (Wesley Dodds is still the best of the three minis to me, but I'm happy here that we're going to get JSA backup).

The Warlord #45: Previously on Lost World of the Warlord (I said I would) Travis set out to find out what had happened to his daughter Jennifer. He goes back to the village of dwarfs and gets his old sword back (since he chucked Hellfire into a lake), and ends up fighting some Cyclops' that took several of the dwarves to eat. Tragically nothing particularly fun happens here (though a skeleton IS tied to a cross, the bondage isn't involving any characters I care about AND it's just a warning threat)

Also something weird went on with the lettering this issue where what I think were script directions ended up as text boxes for all the scene transitions. If it was a stylistic choice on Grell's part it's a particularly odd one.

[dorylinae-supremacy]

Ìf you could pick one story of yours who's characters you could meet and talk to who would you pick (like phill In a fluffy fic would be a sweet neighbour but a dark phill would be like you sure you need your kidneys mate)

Personally I'm fine with any as long as dark sbi arnt asking me how much I drink and if my kidney is weak lol

I have almost 20 fics so bear with me lmao. We're gonna take a real long walk on this one. Also I'm only counting ones I've posted because otherwise that feels like cheating.

Long rambles below cut!

I think I'd have the best chance of survival with one of my STH inspired fics but that feels like cheating too. STH Techno can do no wrong and I'll always stand by that.

Honestly this with most my fics would probably be hell lmao. While the DSBI I write aren't usually outright aggressive they're more than a little loopy and would just find a reason to off me probably.

AFN and any Four Seasons fic are immediately off the list. Afn Techno might currently be a sweet little angel but I wouldnt wanna meet him after he's finished his change. AFN Phil goes without saying.

Even if I was meeting Techno at the current point in the story I don't think I'd survive since Phil really wouldn't take well to a random stranger talking to his kid. There's also Kristin but she is absolutely horrifying to meet so thats another no from me.

Four seasons would imply the existence of fae and I think I'd disintegrate in an environment like that. Also four seasons Phil is terrible and just sadistic. Believe it or not but he's playing nice with neo trio in those fics. I wouldn't want the chance to ever meet him.

Seeing as I'm working on a fic where ILMG Techno kills a neighbour for being irritating I don't think I'd ever wanna meet him. ILMG Phil and Wil could be fine but they're not fleshed out enough for me to really know.

I think I'd have an alright time in BFOB though. Its just the DSMP modified so I could have a passive chat with Tommy or Phil and that could be alright. Same goes of IDFR, thats a more accurate version of the DSMP and I don't think that'd be too terrible.

ODDO Phil could be nice to meet as well. He was just a sweet, lonely guy that lived by the seaside. He probably had a pretty fun life before that since I like to think he travelled. If this is post-horsing though then I'd have to pass.

ELTY, SGFA and EST are all royalty AU's so I'd have to pass on them as well. While Wil is skrunkly in them, his family is very much not and they totally abuse their power in their respective universes.

That all leaves me with DELG, Henchman and Harbingers to sift through.

Don't Ever Let Go could be fine. Its a superhero AU and talking to Kristin or Phil wouldn't result in immediate death. I brush over it in MBMB but Phil is passively friendly to everyone and people like him pretty decently.

Kristin does go off on a lot of 'work trips' but after acquiring twinsduo that cuts down. She's a villainness but whether its justified or not, I haven't decided yet. Its not as much fun when the narrative is 'the heros are the real bad guys'.

Its more interesting for me when the villains are villains and do bad, unjustifiable things. Makes more complex characters too, at least in my opinion. Either way I think she could be fun to meet but given the fact that they put up the facade of 'very normal boring family' I don't think it'd go anywhere too fun.

Henchman is probably off the table tbh. Techno would instantly try and shank me for money, Wilbur is a rich little asshole and I'd just wanna fight him. Phil could be ok but since his power is 'death upon touch' I'd be playing with fire.

Sure, he's more of a crime boss than steryotypical villain, but I think meeting him would just make him think I'm a cop or something. I don't think he'd believe the 'I'm actually your creator' story.

Harbingers could be fine as well. Phil is just an insane man and neo trio are more of a passive thing than an active threat. I haven't fully fleshed out their personalities yet (besides Phil and Kristin) but I don't think they'd instantly try and murder me.

They're kinda like a physical manifestation of poison, staying around them will just slowly kill you. I haven't worked out exactly how it works but meeting them would have me walking away with various health problems probbaly.

Phil could be fun though. But he is completely delusional and will become violent if you try break what he sees as his reality. That man belongs in a ward but instead he's been adopted back by his eldritch family.

I think in the end I'd go with ODDO Phil since he's a pretty chill dude. Even in the sequel I'm working on, he's much calmer than neo trio when it comes to murder. If it's pre transformation then he'd just share little stories with me and bake me some lamb based dish.

Post transformation would be less friendly but not outright hostile, he'd be more confused about how I knew so much about him than anything. He'd probably just brush it off as some kind of magic stuff though since he's cool like that.

[wreathedlamp]

Honestly the Wish trailer concerns me a bit

I thought it felt a bit kiddy, even for a Disney movie. I thought it was going to be a bit more of a dramatic tone. And if it were going to have a more silly tone (apparently this was by the same creators as Frozen and it definitely feels like it) then it should at least be funny. There was an alarming absence of good jokes in the trailer and I found it to be mildly irritating at times. I think the talking animal is going to annoy me.

The protagonist has the exact same "quirky" personality as every other Disney princess in the last decade. At first I didn't mind them making the princesses like this but this girl is seriously starting to blend in with everyone else. Should have stopped with Mirabel cause I'm probably going to forget princess Asha ever existed. Also her character design doesn't really look like that kind of character to me, either, so it was a bit jarring.

Some aspects of it feel a little derivative of other movies like Puss in Boots 2 and Nimona and the animation style and world setting doesn't help (especially since those are movies I'm sure Disney isn't too happy about existing). It's not a bad looking style by any means, but I think out of all the movies that have tried this style this is my least favorite and I prefer what they had in the 2020's before.

My (and I think a lot of people's) theory about the message is that it will be about not always giving people what they want and I honestly hope that's what it is because I can't think of anything else it could be without it feeling dumb and generic.

I don't like when people say that Disney is back. This doesn't look like anything close to anything of quality they're capable of putting out. It's the same tier as Frozen currently. Very mixed, but ultimately just okay.

[aresmarked]

I had fun reading this event! There’s a few things outside of the actual event I noticed if that makes sense. I think the developers are cooking Something. It might be big or not but certainly Something because while Mizuki did mention Kanade once in their area conversation with Emu, there was a noticeable lack of Mafuyu, even in the after live. With every passing event, I wonder how and when we’ll see her again. Right now, I’m waiting to see Ichika’s birthday card as mentioned before. Aside from that, I love when Airi’s ad libbing is acknowledged. It helps MMJ, and I feel like it could come into play in emergencies if needed (if Mafuyu’s mom were to cause a scene in school). (1/)

This next thought is more speculation about what might come before anniversary? I noticed this set has no virtual singer which is very 👀 or maybe I’m just overthinking it haha. But what if there’s going to be another virtual singers only event coming? It depends on what’s going to happen in the rest of the arc enders, but I found it very interesting that the MMJ virtual singers mentioned starting a Cafe! It made me of a shared Sekai situation, but that could just be an offhand comment so. I can’t forget to mention how Mizuki and Saki got along easily! (Mizuki has a moment of thinking that they were able to get along with Saki easily. Ah, do you evaluate all your new friends like this?) I liked seeing them work together, especially when their attention to detail was acknowledged. As creators, it was nice to see them being similar that way. I think it’d be neat if they went to see an idol concert together! (2/)

Well lack of mention of non-focused characters is pretty standard; the other thing is pretty much as soon as they give Mafuyu some spotlight they'll have to address her current circumstances, so they're probably aiming to one, give a narrative lull and time to breathe, two, give the other Niigo kids time to pass through (as we see with Mizuki), and three (which is sort of one but more specifically), make sure Mafuyu's story is paced out according to the larger structure.

I'm glad Airi's skills got the highlight. Because she is, as has been emphasised, an excellent idol in many regards but she got pigeonholed, so it was very satisfying to see her recognised.

(It's so funny to me that probably the people who'd be best at 'acting' for Mafumom would also be the most irritated at it later. Imagine the Airi 'nd Ena 'what the hell' convo. We know from Shizuku's unravelled thread event they're pretty similar when they're irate. would be pretty entertaining to see them both 'your vibes ma'am... disgusting'.

But I digress, I also think a VS event might be on the table. We've got a bit of a ways until anni and the lack of VS this event... rare for one to not be part of an event, for sure. There was also that Yggdrasekai that was shown in the connected through cherry blossoms event... it would be very fitting to have that lead into an interconnected sekai for the kids to meet at perhaps... either way I'm really excited for this year's anni event.

Mizuki and Saki is one of the cutest new friendships, I'm so glad they met. The fact they're both little sisters, how they both chase their passions...! Their area convos and general interactions in the event were v cute. Going to a MMJ show together would be perfect fun for them, and honestly would be a great mixed event/MMJ focus sighting.

[nilikhangdiwa]

OKAY. AS PROMISED IN MY PREVIOUS PROPAGANDA POSTS (HERE AND HERE), THIS IS MY EXTENDED UNIVERSE INSANITY RAMBLING. THE FOLLOWING IS NOT CANON BUT IT MIGHT AS WELL BE IN MY HEAD.

"how is this propaganda if it's not canon" it's literally a story inside a story and i'm so in love with it that i expanded the entire canon for fun and for profit. SO HAVE THIS DOOMED YAOI.

kniroun origins is a visual novel spin-off of the main knights of round series of games! as of now it does not have an official english translation, and it didn't sell very well in jp, so that's probably why! the game is also. kind of clunky. like the graphics aren't super good and the ui is a little bit messy, because it was actually jsut a game that was written and produced by some interns they had at end links (the company that made kniroun) that was so good that hoshii-san (the creator of kniroun) wanted to make it into a game but you know. time constraints and whatnot. nonetheless it's a very beloved game by hardcore kniroun fans!

kniroun origins takes place a few hundred years before the events of the main kniroun series. you play as null (though you can input any name you'd like, null is just the default), and you and your best friend runa are off going on an adventure since you've just come of age! you want to be the best mage ever, and runa supports you by being your trusty sidekick with a cool sword! the lore is as follows:

so basically a couple hundred... maybe thousand... years ago, there was a moon fairy who fell in love with a human girl. they couldn't be together, but they loved each other! the human girl had the moon fairy's child, and the fairy council found out and forbade him from finding the human girl again. when the human girl found out, she went to plead for mercy, but the fairy council struck her and her unborn child down. when the moon fairy found out, he sat by her grave every day, and eventually moonflowers began to grow from the ground, thus leading to the celebration we know as moonflower's day (aka kniroun valentine's day)

except! it's not really what happened. the father was a demon and the mother was a human woman, and the child was born! however, things happened, and the child had to be left in another village to be protected... that child is runa! runa is a sweet boy! a kind boy! the village leader helped to raise him, and he's friends with the village leader's son, null! :DD

as you play, you piece together what happened. basically runa isn't very well-liked by the village people and so is off on a quest to prove himself! naturally, you're here to support your best friend! however... as you go on your adventure... runa starts acting a little weird...

he becomes more easily irritated, more prone to violent outbursts and cruelty. you learn, then, thatruna's demon blood is slowly corrupting him, and you (null) have to watch him spiral down into the darkness that consumes him.

for a brief moment in the third act runa gains lucidity again, and he acts like the runa you know and love. and then we get this:

(sidenote, yes, i'm so insane about this extended lore that i made a twt bot for it. it's currently down since the cbdq death, but you can see all previous quotes here. it's mostly extended characters from, not only kniroun origins, but also the other mainline kniroun games.)

anyway. the game ends with one final choice as the darkness takes over and runa goes on a rampage. your choices are as follows:

(that's my art)

so yeah. he kills you that's the true ending. and then as you die, he feels,,, regret, almost,,, and keeps you with him by binding your soul to the ring he always wears.

the end! runa becomes merlin. and also it's really funny because when the song "to be lancelot" dropped in the stageplay, itaru drops a bunch of kniroun lore rapid-fire, and it's basically canon confirmed that merlin used to be human. so. yeah.

as a bonus, here is some art that my friends made! for reference, the one with brown hair is runa (merlin) and the blonde one is null!

commission from @comfyharuru on twt and tumblr!

art from @diiambee on twt and tumblr!

art from @bluetimefiction on twt! runa art here and null art here!

and the null stained glass art above is actually kinda matching with this art of runa i made!

in addition to this, here's some in-universe kniroun fandom thoughts!

in english, the ship name is runull, but the jpn fandom calls them muufura (shortened from moonflower)

common fandom consensus is that in that scene where runa regains his consciousness before fully descending into madness, runull kissed

null's face is never revealed in the game! the closest we get is the face-covered thing that otome game protags get, so we don't know his eye color, but it's commonly thought to be indigo! (this is because the actor in a3 that he's based off has indigo eyes)

this is just the kniroun origins stuff, there's also extended stuff for most of the other kniroun games, mostly V, VI, and VII. if we need more votes i'll probably pull out the gawain corruption arc thing? (i've posted about it before) and about weiss and everyone and stuff!

anyway, thank you for listening! if you've read this far. umm. if we're friends you've probably read this exact thing like 3 times already since at this point i just copy paste the stuff i've explained to ppl when i'm explaining to new people. i have menthol illinoise. friends also pls lmk if u want your art off the post :3

Propaganda under the cut!

Knights of the Round: "Think of it like A3!’s Final Fantasy. There’s around 10-15 games if I remember correctly, one of the characters is obsessed with it, and it’s a fantasy rpg loosely based on King Arthur. In A3!, the Spring Troupe gets contacted to put on a stageplay version of the fourth game, making it the only one with a fully realized plot."

Featherman: "it's like power rangers basically. one of the persona 3 cast is actually revealed to get hired as an actor for it. uhh they're all bird themed. it's been around since the og persona games. apparently it's important in persona 2 but im not that far in yet. i dont know the obscure lore about this show sadly."

Mod Note: Adamantly advocating for the A3! fans

[thedrarrylibrarian]

As a bit of a special treat, and to celebrate their one year anniversary, I sat down with my good friend, the @wolfstarlibrarian. We recorded our conversation to share it here with you, our favorite patrons. I’ll be DL, in bold, and the Wolfstar Librarian is WL. I hope you enjoy this sweet peek into our friendship, and the wonderful insights that they had to share with me.

DL: First of all, congratulations on a whole year! In that time you've created a lovely and welcoming fandom space for authors, both new and established, lots of helpful guides and explanations for readers, and over 300 rec lists. What's been the most rewarding part of being "The Librarian"?

WL: Oh thank you so much! It’s been a wild year, made all the better for having this blog. As for the BEST part? Hmmmmm 🤔 This is difficult to answer because there have been so many unexpected gifts, but probably the most rewarding and surprising part is how much support the fandom community has come out with. I hoped that, at most, people would enjoy some of the lists, but beyond that they’ve given personal support as well, whether I’ve needed time, or someone to help find a fic, or just general support, the community has shown up, and that’s been an incredible gift that helps to keep me motivated and feeling special.

DL: I love that! I love how you describe fandom as a community. I think the real fandom isn't just the content, but the friends we made along the way! 😂

WL: YES! I agree! Fandom is just people connected by passion.

DL: Absolutely! And I think something really unique that you've done with The Wolfstar Librarian is encouraging others' passion as well.

WL: I was not prepared to feel this soft! 🥺

DL: Sorry, not sorry! Lol. I think something that's very unique to your blog specifically is the way that you are always giving "new" recs. A lot of the recs are ones that I haven't read before and I think that's very encouraging to authors and creators to keep writing and creating. It's not the same old "classics" over and over. That’s something I’ve tried to emulate on my own blog as well. I search for a mix of old and new fics.

WL: Oh yes, I'm always on the hunt for new fics. I check @ao3feed-wolfstar at least once a week and go through all of the new fics, picking out things I think I might want to read, and even when searching for lost fics I oftentimes end up adding a dozen new fics to be TBR list. I'm fascinated with the new, and am always looking for fresh takes on old tropes. Of course I also have tons of subscriptions for my favorite authors, but just like with food, I have comfort items I know I'll like but then I also enjoy new things just as much.

DL: Out of curiosity, how long is your TBR list?

WL: (after a significant pause) Oh goodness, I had to check. It’s currently 15 pages long and at 20 fics a page…

DL: Hold on, I’ll pull up a calculator. Um...300. So as many rec lists as you’ve made. You mentioned comfort items. What are some of your favorite tropes?

WL: Oh my goodness, yeah I hadn't done the math! 😂 I think what I find the most comfort in are things I can relate to the most? So lots of modern AUs with happy endings, and I'm also a sucker for soulmate or a good texting fic since they tend to include some fun humor that I can use as a counterpoint to real life.

DL: I love modern AUs!

WL: Me too! And fix-it AUs. JKR did them dirty 😉

DL: Who hasn’t JKR done dirty? Lol. Okay, and do you want to spill some tea? What are your pet peeves in a fic? The things that make you immediately click that red x and think "not for me". To be clear, I’m not saying things that you think are wrong — we’re not making any moral judgment here! Just your specific pet peeves that irritate you personally.

WL: The first thing isn’t so much a pet peeve as something I get asked a lot and feel bad about. The question I get asked the most is "how do I get rec'd on WL", and it just makes it clear how infrequently people read the pinned FAQ, where I encourage people to send in recs. Probably 4/5 people who send in their own fics as a rec actually end up on a list, but so few people do! So just remember that the Librarian is just one person who can easily miss a lot of things, but genuinely wants to read and share lovely fics. But actual pet peeves? I definitely can't handle MCD, or anything that's too dark just because it takes my mental health somewhere I don't want to go. I also tend not to like....imbalanced relationships? I know that's vague, but anytime there isn't mutual respect, it just feels weird and unnatural to me so I tend to just click out. Also, I need fairly standard formatting. I've seen a few posts about it, and it's definitely true that my brain struggles to read anything written outside of standard formatting (correct punctuation and capitalization). It's not even a judgement, just something like math where my brain goes "no thank you!" 😰

DL: That's definitely something that makes me hit the red x too. And I know what you mean about lack of mutual respect. I think that there's stories about relationships where someone makes a mistake and with work and apologies, they can come back from that and still have a solid relationship but there's other's where one person just completely disregards and breaks any trust or respect that they've built in the relationship and an apology can't fix that. It's a fighting together/fighting each other kind of thing. And I think that's an interesting point you bring up because I feel like with Drarry, Harry and Draco are set up to be adversaries and part of the story is them overcoming it. But that's not really part of Sirius and Remus' story.

WL: Yes, exactly! And I definitely read fanfic for comfort, for romance, and I feel like you can't have true love without mutual respect, without equality. Of COURSE that can take time and work to get to sometimes, but as long as they end up on the same page, I'm game. 😊

DL: Exactly. And again, I just want to say that it doesn't mean we think those fics are inherently bad or anything. It's just our personal preferences as readers. So, it's obvious that I also read Wolfstar in addition to Drarry. Do you ever read Drarry?

WL: Honestly, I rarely read outside of wolfstar, but sometimes I do read Drarry because it's so much bigger and tends to cover a wider variety of stories. I also read Dorlene, Jegulus, Jegulily, and a host of other smaller ships like Fleur/Tonks that end up in wolfstar fics.

DL: Can I put you on the spot and have you give us a Drarry rec?

WL: My favorite one is actually one you rec'd! It's the Christmas one that's just SO soft I can't help but read it each year as the weather gets cooler.

DL: Ohhhh! The Christmas Tree by @cottonpadenthusiast. I love that one! It’s a Drarry + Remus/Sirius get together! Just a sweet, happy family dynamic.

WL: Yes! It's half wolfstar, half drarry, and totally sweet.

DL: With families....we often joke in private that you and I have "sibling" blogs. Did you ever mind that I joined you in being a librarian?

WL: Oh, of COURSE not! Running a rec blog like this is so much work, there's no way I could do more than one, and I truly love having you, and other rec blogs, because they inspire me so much! I love finding new fics, new ways to share content, and new people to share with. Rec blogs inspired me to make my own, and hopefully I inspire people to find their own style as well!

DL: That's definitely something I've tried to do as your "little sibling" blog. I feel very lucky to have such a cool "older sibling" and mentor librarian that I can always come and ask a question or advice from, but I've tried to be thoughtful in making it my own too, with my Happy Hours and stuff. And I try to be mindful as well that I'm not copying exactly what another Drarry rec blogger does either. We all get our own niche, and I think that makes the recs we give more rich. And in true younger sibling fashion, I started my blog because I saw you doing it and thought it was such a neat idea that I wanted to join you. What made you start your library?

WL: When I first made the library, and imagined what I wanted it to be, I wanted more than anything for the library to be a place that I had searched for when I was new to fandom. I was so desperate for someone to show me fics for my exact mood, or comfort tropes, or just introduce me to something new the way librarians have done all my life. With this blog, the library, I'm trying to provide that comfort, that answer that we're all seeking. Hopefully, other people find the same relief and comfort here that an old wood lined library, full of wonder and hope, offers them in real life as well.

DL: Oh, now you’ve made ME soft. I think that’s such a lovely statement that we’ll wrap it up there. Do you think people are going to judge us because neither of us can do math?

WL: Ahahaha, honestly, if that's my worst feature, I'm okay with it. 😂

[meetmeatthecoda]

Okay Coda, don't be upset with me because I do believe in lizzington 100%... but I've been seeing some very convincing rederina theories.

The thing is, I think each writer has yanked our (the viewers) attention multiple directions except maybe Bokenkamp. He seems lizzington deep down. Anyway, while rederina could be plausible, I can't reconcile the romantic insinuations and comments from Red and even from Liz......... and Aram, and Ressler, and the knowing and LOUD expressions from Samar with her quiet lips. I think Cooper has had questions and thoughts... as have countless blacklisters.

Help Coda, I'm so confused 😕 I don't even watch the show anymore. I haven't gone past early/mid season 6 if that far.

Also, um, what ya been up to? 🙃 Not to discount your life away from Tumblr and ao3, but I'm excited about reading new content! 😄😁

Hi there, anon!! 😍 Awww, I could never be upset with you, my friend, not to worry!! Besides, I fully understand what it's like to feel conflicted over this show... I think we've definitely all been there!! 🤗 I'm very touched you're coming to me with these feelings & I'm happy to share my thoughts on the topic!! I hope maybe they can bring you a little bit of peace!! Also, I'm going to put them under a read more cause we all know how I get when asked about R*derina 😂 Okay, here we go:

So. These theories & whatnot that you're worried about don't bother me at all because, simply put? The writers lost all credibility when they killed Liz. And, if you ask me, the best part about not watching the show anymore? We don't have to pay attention to what they're doing now! And let's be real, they went off the reservation a long time ago. That's reason enough for me to not consider anything they say or do now to be canon, especially not in the context of the whole story, & especially given that they no longer have the original creator (Bokencamp, who - I agree with you - always seemed team Lizzington to me) or literally half of the original cast. And you're absolutely right, there's so much undeniable proof for - at the very least - a STRONG, STRONG case for Lizzington - I mean, everything you listed, the looks, the comments, the subtext, the filming, the FUCKING PILOT SCRIPT - that to me, the bottom line is: If they can turn their back on their original endgame, then we can turn our backs on the retconned one. And yeah, some people might say that I'm only ignoring the canon that I don't like & doesn't support my ship which is UnTrUe To ThE sHoW or AgAiNsT fAnDoM rULeS or some shit & hey, that may be. But you know what? I'm fine with that. Because it's all fictional media & media is meant for entertainment & escaping from real life. And the best part about escapism in the form of fictional media? If it doesn't spark joy, then you can throw it the fuck out!!! And R*derina don't spark no joy for Coda 🙃🙃🙃 So... fuck 'em, honestly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ But yeah, my strategy is simply "assume anything that doesn't check out with previous canon is a retcon & therefore inadmissible in the fandom court of shipping laws." I don't know if that helps at all, anon, but I hope it does, especially since you're not watching the show anymore, just like me & many of us surviving Lizzington shippers!! I would simply recommend not worrying about the crap they've spewed past season 8 7 6 3A - even if they try to confirm R*derina in the end - & instead enjoy the Lizzington proof & moments & beauty we were graced with while it lasted. Sometimes straight-up denial & sticking to your beliefs are the way to go 🥲🥲

Other that ^THAT^ lol, I've been quite well, thank you for asking, dear anon!! 🥰 And might I add that I so appreciate your respect for my #real life away from tumblr & AO3 bc - as irritating as it can be - I do have one LOL & it can get busy just like everyone else's, of course, & idk, I just really appreciated the way you worded that, so thank you so much 🥰🥰🥰 To answer your question in unspecific terms, I'm currently starting the process of going back to music school after a pandemic/personal health break to do some post-grad work. But, of course, a musician's life is not an easy one & the process takes time - especially after a break like I've had - so it's slow-going at the moment... But I'm chugging along with it & excited to get back to my passion of making music!! 😊 And, of course, I'm hoping to have more time to write in the coming days as I settle into a hopefully more productive real life routine, & bc I know I will need the stress relief of fic. I'm very excited to get down to work on Halcyon & hopefully bring you new content as soon as possible!! And of course I'm so flattered that you're looking forward to it!! Granted, it will be a while... I have just under 12k so far with just the beginning bits & my outline is only growing... sooo I think it's safe to say this will be my longest, most ambitious fic project to date. But I certainly hope it will be worth the wait - for both you & me!! 😂 Anyway, I think I've blabbed on for long enough, so the only thing left is to thank you so much for your kind & lovely ask!! I hope my response did something to help you feel a little better about things & I promise to have new Lizzington fic out as soon as I can!! Thank you again, sweet anon, & much, much love to you always, my friend!! 😍🥰❤️

[angelguk]

God you’re ignorant is astounding. It’s not about the fact I paid for 1 update, it’s the fact that that 1 update started a story you now refuse to update for no valid reason. I have no issues waiting until it’s done, there isn’t a rush I just think it’s fair that it ends appropriately. And please stop doing what all fic writers do when you throw all the cards of school, home life and work. You are able to write those other fics whilst maintaining the upkeep of those so please don’t pretend you don’t have a single second spare. It doesn’t matter where the money went, it’s the fact I paid for a fic. Do you really think I would commission work that would never be given a conclusion had you been honest about that at the beginning. It’s morally wrong to accept money for work that you will never finish. I adored this fic, it literally became a comfort for me during the pandemic after I lost a parent and to know I never get to know how it will end is devastating but you don’t care about my feelings or why I so desperately want this. Clearly no matter how much I explain I have no issues waiting until you are in a capable head space to write you still aren’t going to listen. I’m absolutely devastated. I just wanted to know where they would end up. I just wanted to support the author who created those characters. That’s all.

I'm just going to post this message here. I'm struggling to give you an appropriate answer because despite saying:

(a) I do not enjoy writing this story it makes me very frustrated and irritated and takes away from the whole fact that this is meant to be a fun/enjoyable experience for me too

(b) Countless people have harassed/insulted/demanded me to update this work, further taking away from the fact that this is meant to be a fun experience for me too.

I'm sorry that apparently those are not "valid reasons" according to you. It seems like what I feel as the creator can be dismissed entirely, despite the work only existing because of the time I dedicated to writing it.

Furthermore, you have still not contacted me privately. I am operating also with assumption that you could be a troll seeking ways to irritate and harass me with mind too. If you could identify yourself it would make me trust and understand your situation a lot better. I have delt with people on here who pretend to enjoy/like my work until they get steady contact with me and then switch into insulting me with racial slurs and threatening my person with harm. A lot of you guys don't know what the hell I go through in private on here, especially as a black k-pop stan. I cannot take this as a serious request because of that and yet if I ignore you I'm the villain so I need to respond.

Lastly, "it doesn't matter where the money went". I am going to leave that quote there but it says a lot about your character. Especially as you are speaking to a black person.

I'm going to end this by saying: I am so sorry you went through losing a lot one during this pandemic and if that fic provided you comfort, I am glad I could at least do that with my writing. However, my own sister is currently in hospital fighting cancer, my immediate family is separated across the world (I haven't seen my own mother in over a year), I am dealing with a lot of shit right regarding financial stuff, my education and my mental health. I cannot and will not sacrifice my own health and stability to make you happy. I can't believe I'm apologising for that but I am sorry if that disappoints you. You want me to extend compassion to you but fail to realise you need to do that same to me, especially as you are asking me to sacrifice time and energy to give you something. If you wanted to know where they end up and if this story has been on your mind as much as you've said it has, I'm sure you can create an adequate ending yourself. And you are not supporting me by demanding I finish this fic. If anything you are causing me unnecessary stress. I am not going to rearrange my life and give myself more burdens to ease your mind. Understand that.

[seekandsekkle]

Blessed New Moon Family. Happy Gemini Season Whoo Hoo!!!! We've got a Sun, Moon and Eclipse in Gemini. What a Birthday Gift (6-14, 51 Summers Baby) I'm grateful to be here. Excited for what life is bringing me these days and excited for all of you who took a chance on ya girl and let me fill your inboxes up with Pots, Cups and Sips of Tea. The energy of this moon is bringing the new as all new moons do but its coming in slow due to the retrograde of Mercury and Neptune. Technology has not been allowing us to shine with glitches and freezes, shut downs, zap outs and malfunctions of every kind. The universe really wants us all to have several seats and read a damn book or take a long walk or something. She really aint feeling us having all this screen time and is asking us to reflect, plot and plan our next moves so we're ready when the Summer Equinox comes sauntering in. (June 21st) This Moon/Eclipse energy will have you having epiphanies and revelations and such. You will be communicating with the seen and unseen forces. Dreams will be prophetic and deep af. Pay close attention to what they are showing you, get a dream interpreter if you need one ( I'll do it for you) so you are clean and clear with what Muvah Moon is trying to tell you. This Eclipse of the sun will cast a fire ring around the moon asking you to do a once over on your shadow side. This ain't a time to be marinating where the low vibrations reside. Check your privilege, check your attitude and get back in alignment with your higher self. This double double energy is a set up for some fuck shit, resist at all cost. You will be so sorry you fell for it when it's all over. Take the high road in all things, stay low, pray high is what I always say. Some of us will feel like lead is in our shoes. You really don't wanna do nothing and I'd listen to that somewhat. Take care of the major things in your life as much as you can but don't be surprised when you do try shit aint working right. I'm learning to just wait it out cause it beats trying to break through a brick wall with my tender head meat. The blessing of this moon cycle is that we get to call things into existence. Be clear about what you are asking for, make sure secure housing, coins and good health are on your list. Due to things opening up people are everywhere doing everything, acting as if the pandemic is over. Tread lightly in these streets and keep that hand washing and face covering going on around people. Spirit has spoken and we need to keep our protection game strong especially for those of us who are anti-vaxin and relaxin. 

Ritual: Sit in your sacred space with the scented candle or incense, vase of fresh flowers, and a list of your intentions. Use the power of the word and speak your peace out loud. Not in a shout but with conviction. We want it known that what we want, we deserve. Muvah is listening with a keen ear. She will flush out the superficial and give you exactly what you need, not always what we want. Be grateful because we don't always know what we need until it lands in our laps. That don't mean you can't ask...ijs I'd burn that lil' piece of paper and let the ashes blow in the wind. This double double air energy is sure to send your message right up to Muvah herself and that's a blessing.

Big O'pot of Tea (read your sun, moon and rising for a full cup of tea)

Aries - Getcha coins right. Investments, budgets, piggy bank, rainy day fund. Do any or all of this and thank me later. All the cards talk about the bag, getting it and keeping it. Think long term money, retirement money and generational wealth. The universe is on your side while taking these steps so get into it. Call in the Money Gawds and ask them for help with your stock portfolio...invest in something good...think of what we always need and putcha money on that. Your song for this moon cycle is "Money don't matter 2 nite" - Prince. It matters for you right now fa sho

Taurus - This new moon is giving you all the goodies baby. Things are stacking up on the luxe level, the coins and the bae. Enjoy all this goodness and be grateful for it. Call in support to stay in a good mood and trust the process. You don't want to spoil your pot of gold before you even have a chance to spend some of it. Stay tuned into the light and spread that love on the people who support you since they may not be as abundant as you are these days. Your song for this moon cycle is "D.M.S.R."  - Prince. Because you want it and need it .

Gemini - It's your time baby!!! Your sun, your moon, your eclipse. One would think its a good time to throw a big ass party and invite all 10,000 of your fans but no. You get to have a seat...a Royal seat, a luxurious birthday seat but a seat nonetheless. This is a quiet time, a relaxing time an alone time. Yeah I know this don't sound like a fun birthday but your body and soul is begging and pleading for it. Listen for once cause the fuck shit is lueming in the background waiting for you to step out. We want you safe, hydrated and refreshed this trip around the sun. Call in peace this moon cycle and allow it to be just that. Your song this moon cycle is "Shhhhhh" - Prince. For encouragement to lay around in luxury and quiet.

Cancer - You've been on the receiving end for the last few moon cycles in some way now it's time to give back. Make sure the people who show up and show out for you know that you love them. Do something special to brighten their day. They will be shocked that you even care and that makes this even more special. You are very good at receiving now lets see you give where it counts. Call in abundance in all its forms so you never feel like you are lacking in anything. This will keep your spirits up when this moon fuck your emotions up. Your song this moon cycle is "I Wish You Heaven" - Prince.  So you feel prayed on when you get sad

Leo - The sun might be setting on your old job/career and the Black moon might be rising on a new opportunity. If you like what you're doing great but if you don't this is a good time to start looking. Call in work that is in alignment with your heart. You should be working smarter, not harder. Make sure your intentions reflect something better than what you currently got going on. Your moon song this cycle is "Let's Work" - Prince

Virgo - Be excited about life dear one. Life is worth living. You can tend to stay on the brooding side of things and aint no fun over there. I dare you to take a walk on the wildside...just pack up and go. I feel the grin on your face now. There is a whole world out there waiting on you, go see it while you can still fully enjoy it. Call in Adventure Time, alone, with bae or with some friends. Your song this moon cycle is " Party Up" - Prince

Libra - You deserve to have your needs met. This comes up in a real way this cycle. Make sure your boundaries are known with the people close to you so they can avoid your explosive outburst when you reach your limit. Call in the support you need to make your dreams come true, ask for the help to stop procrastinating and actually get some shit done. Your song this moon cycle is " Good Love" - Prince. It's clear you need some.

Scorpio - Have a clear-the-air day with bae, or housemates or the kids. This ain't a time to bite your tongue. Ion mean pop off, just don't let small irritants pile up. Speak to your beloveds and get back to having fun cause that what hot human summer is all about.  Call in cooperation with the fam so all this talking you gotta do is worth it. Your song this moon cycle is "Gett Off" cause why not since you're so good at it *wink*

Sagittarius - You're coming in Hot to new and old flames and that's dope. You workin workin working day and night and that's securing the bag. But where is selfcare on the list? You can't forget you in all this. Call in a break and body work so you don't blow a flat tire on the side of the road within ya self. ya dig? May your care be just as important and the people you take care of. If you are ok they will be ok...okay. Your song for this moon cycle is "Forever In My Life"- Prince. So you make sure you are forever on the got damn schedule umkay!

Capricorn - Love is calling your name Capricorn. Stay open to the possibilities of love or at the very least tenderness and sweetness. You act like a hard ass but your creamy center is showing. This will let the ones who like but are a lil scared of you come out of the closet and make a move. Try not to be too awkward and allow some goodness to pour over on you. Call in the courage to say what you need in these new interactions. If a muthalova baulks when you speak your truth it ain't the end of the damn world this just ain't your person. Just move on and dont make it mean nothing. Your song for this moon is "Somebody's Somebody" - Prince

Aquarius - Your emo flag is flying high. It's ok to wanna be with family, it's ok to reminisce on the good times. It's ok to wanna feel loved and appreciated, It's also ok to stop doing too much so you don't get sick or hurt. Sit down somewhere and relax. The streets will wait for you. Call in spa treatments or long dead sea salt soaks at home. Your song this moon cycle is "I Feel For You" because we love you!

Pisces - Life got you wide open. You workin, you socializing, you doing all the things. Life is lifin' and you're making the best of it. At the end of the day it feels good to be in the flow of it all. Call in the inner knowing and innerstanding so you don't get distracted and fall off. Trust the process and enjoy the journey. Your song this cycle is "Trust" - Prince. Trust you know what you're doing even if you never did it before. The creator brought you this far trust that she is taking you to the next level too.

Personal Message: Do you want this pot of tea in your inbox twice a month. If so you also get a personal reading at the end of the pot. To subscribe for the next 3 months send your $150 to either of these payment sites with "Subscription" in the notes so you never miss a pot of tea. Cashapp $bushmamaafrica of Venmo: ReshawnGoods@omimagic

Extra Sips of Tea -

Crystal

Blue Kyanite is perfect for this New Moon and Eclipse energy because it helps you make sense of the unstable transmission of communication due to the retrogrades, You can tap into hidden potential in yourself and spiritually you can use this to really connect with the positive unseen forces around you to help you manifest greatness in your life. Use this stone with your ritual to call in your needs and wants with clean clarity. 

Herb

Make a pot of fresh Mint Tea before bed to relax your muscles, to aid in your digestion and get rid of headaches. This tea will be extra soothing to your mind and body. We all need this balm soul calming tea to deal with the double air energy brewing right now. Have extra cups this week.

 

Yes Gemini Tea. PRINCE songs. I had too