#*cheers and whooping*

[starheavenly]

Poor Drift, the poor guy, is going through so much angst

Yeah... Poor guy....

[essektheylyss]

I'd thought I remembered, in the Knights of Requital planning, someone mentioning the gala being moved, because it gave the Nein an extra day to prep, and Dolan did specify that it had been unexpectedly pushed back a day, but doesn't suggest he knows why. (It's not clear to me based on the conversation when this change happened—it's possible Dolan has simply heard this update recently, but it also might've been a last minute change.) I was wondering because the timing of the Zauberspire attack coinciding with the gala seemed odd.

It is very narratively convenient, of course, and certainly the Kryn spies could've been using it for the same reason that the Knights of Requital were—important figures of the city were distracted and otherwise occupied, and Thuron does give an indication that Ulog was feeding them information as well, so he certainly could've suggested that timing to both.

But two things about the attack struck me: first, that the Zauberspire does not seem to be very far from where the gala is held, which makes it less of a distraction and more of a liability for covert military operations; and second, the Assembly reacts instantly. Moreover, Trent is already there, though he normally resides in Rexxentrum. He doesn't exactly seem the type to show up for annual holiday festivities, given he doesn't stand to gain much if anything from hobnobbing with a bunch of regional socialites, and Ludinus later suggests he is not exactly being dispatched to events as a diplomatic entity. Of course he can be in another city quite quickly, but this all happens so quickly that I find it unlikely that there would've been time to inform someone in another city prior to apprehending the infiltrators, given the immediacy with which the mages respond.

The point being, I think they were warned.

[iniquity-fr]

losing my mind over the hunter's sets trying to incorporate them into so many outfits/plans this is only the beginning

[figofswords]

yeah yeah kabru this kabru that but my ninja catgirl was onscreen for about three seconds is the most important part of that episode to me

[ratatatastic]

the balcony lift shenanigans happening because of ekky makes me it so much better as the core passes it between each other from ekky to matthew to sasha

it gets better because ekky starts bowing before sasha as he lifts the cup

[fluffypotatey]

when you and the bestie have different reactions to Odyssesus’s no

[flames-tstuff]

Your cortisol levels are higher than normal. You appear to be: distressed. 'Play' is an important part of adolescent development.

"H-hey, wait—Bahaymahax!"

Your neurotransmitter levels are elevated. This indicates that you are: happy.

First time I've drawn in a hot minute so I just went for it after I got a burst of inspiration from nowhere

Seriously I usually spend approximately 34689321 days on a drawing, whereas I spent like an hour (or maybe a little more) on this. It was nice to not worry too much and just MAKE something for a change :)

Also I feel the need to shout out—I'm fairly certain @carrie-tate's style was sitting in my brain the entire time I worked on this XD

[waltzing-rats]

Ahhh im a fan of the gang (Maya, Larry, Gumshoe, Miles etc) going to Phoenix’s place like every other weekend and the intent is always to eat some food and hang but Trucy always convinces them to play some game and at first they’re like ‘uhhh love idk abt this’ but 5 minutes in everyone is super into it. For instance, Larry cried bc he got jailed in Monopoly

[pwurrz]

THE BABY!!!! THERE HE IS!!!!

[crimsonbonds]

hiii my y2kiss ended up being nyxquinn (my fiancé and i's drifters surpriseee lol) GRAH i wanted to also do a quinn + quincy one to make a set with this and the nyxamir one i did already buuuuut this one took me way longer than i expected so um. maybe quincy later ANYWAYS um. YAY happy nye ✨️

[aroaceleovaldez]

LOVING the influx of riordanverse gimmick blogs all of a sudden. @ethannakamura-spotted and @alabastertorrington-spotted are so delightful. I'm hoping this leads to more. riordanverse fandom hasn't had a lot of character or ship-dedicated blogs in AAAAGES (or at least not active ones).

even if theyre not gimmick blogs and just general character blogs like how i run @deathsibs and its just reblogging specific characters. pretty pretty please its like one of the easiest fandom infrastructure things to do and trust me the fans of those characters will ADORE you for it

[crying-adamantium]

I actually love boom shadow. Totally different character. But i love an asshole. He stands there holding himself, like okay man.

[lusilver001]

Keefe and Silvany!!

[rowenabean]

.

[bonefall]

post/734733274896809984/do-you-ever-worry-your-own-writing-might-come-off that makes sense. i was asking because i'm afraid of accidentally writing misogyny myself and i kind of admire what you do

Hmm... I wish I had better advice to give you on this front, but honestly, the only thing I can tell you is to consider the perspective of your female characters.

Women are people. They have thoughts and feelings of their own, so like... just let them have their own arcs. A lot of the worst misogyny in WC comes from the way that the writers just don't care about their girls (or, in the case of tall shadow, actually get undermined and forced to rewrite entire chapters), so they're not curious about their lives, or WHY they feel the way they do or what they want, or any direction for their character arcs.

Turtle Tail as an example. She'll often just end up feeling whatever Gray Wing's plot demands. She's gotta leave when Storm dumps him to make him feel lonely. She shows up again to love him in the next book. Lets her best friend Bumble get dragged back to Tom the Wifebeater, but is sad enough about her death to be "unreasonably angry" with Clear Sky, and then calms down and accept Gray Wing is right all along.

And then she dies, so he can have his very own fridge wife.

In this way, Turtle Tail's just being used to tell Gray Wing's story. They're not interested in why she would turn on Bumble, or god forbid any lingering negative feelings for how she didn't help her, or even resentment towards Clear Sky for killing her or Gray Wing for jumping to his defense. She isn't really going through her own character arc.

She does have personality traits of her own, don't misunderstand my criticism, but as a character she revolves around Gray Wing.

So, zoom out every now and then, and just ask yourself; "Whose story is being told by what I wrote? Do my female characters have goals, wants, and agency, or are they just supporting men? How do their choices impact the narrative?"

But that's already kinda assuming that you already have characters like Turtle Tail who DO have personalities and potential of their own. Here's some super simple and practical advice that helped me;

Tally the genders in your cast. How many are boys, how many are girls, how many are others?

And take stock of how many of those characters are just in the supporting cast, and compare that to the amount you have in the main cast.

If you have a significant imbalance, ESPECIALLY in the main cast, fire the Woman Beam.

It's a really simple trick to just write a male character, and then change its gender while keeping it the same. I promise women are really not fundamentally different from men lmao. You can consider how your in-universe gender roles affect them later, if you'd like, but when you're just starting to wean yourself off a "boy bias" this trick works like a charm.

Also you're not allowed to change the body type of any girl you Woman Beam because I said so. PLEASE allow your girls to have muscles, or be fat, or be old, or have lots of scars. Do NOT do what a cowardly Triple A studio does, where the women all have the same cute or sexy face and curvy body while they're standing next to dwarves, robots, and a gorilla.

Or this shit,

If you do this I will GET you. If you're ever possessed by the dark urge, you will see my face appear in the clouds like Mufasa himself to guide you away from the path of evil.

Anyway, you get better at just making characters girls to begin with as time goes on and you practice it. It's really not as big of a deal as your brain might think it is.

Take a legitimate interest in female characters and try not to disproportionately hit them with parental/romance plots as opposed to the male cast, and you'll be fine. Don't think of them as "SPECIAL WOMEN CHARACTERS" just make a character and then let her be a girl, occasionally checking your tally and doing some critical thinking about their use in the story.

(Also remember I'm not a professional or anything, I'm just trying to give advice)

[amygdalae]

I finished reading Mona Lisa Overdrive