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leoalvarez-clowncarcommittee · 2 years ago

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chase "chusky" chunter (for the ask game)? 👉👈

Carl Hendricks:

Chase’s Magician. His homie, his best friend before and after Leo. The friend who came out to him moments after Chase came out himself, but the Chunter was too in his own head to notice. The two have one of the most unique dynamics to me. Carl clearly likes Chase as more than just a friend, maybe for as long as Leo has liked Chase even. But Carl, who never articulated his queer sexuality even to himself, could never admit that. After everything that goes down with Leo during Route 65, to even having the privacy of sharing a dorm room, Carl is still unable to make his move. Always afraid of rejection on some level. Either of himself, of Chase, or maybe even just the consequences of Leo losing his shit and beating his ram ass up. It’s the classic best friend in love but never able to muster the courage to say anything trope. I love it, even if it’s a cliche.

There’s also the matter of how Chase takes advantage of Carl… a lot. Less so the money as Carl and his family have way too much (even if Chase is the second most affluent family in the friend group��) but more of Carl’s want to not be alone - either the crippling self doubt and anxiety or the very tangible hauntings. I don’t want to ‘fault’ Chase for that because it makes Carl happy in the short term… but maybe the constant over attention didn’t help Carl build himself up to help break out of his shell. Also made it much worse when Chase cut Carl from his life when he started dating Leo. I don’t think Chase ever thinks about how much he hurt Carl or even how close the two were. It always struck me as sort of odd when Chase only mentions Leo being his best friend… but maybe I’m reading too much into it. Either way, the complex relationship Chase shares with Carl is one of my favorites in the game. I think they play off each other so well and the painfully obvious attraction each one has for the other while they sit there and do nothing about it because of the Leo of it all, combined with their own personal insecurities is what drew me into the game with Carl as my first route. Carl is best boy and deserves better than Chase… but also Carl can fix Chase so it’s ok.

Tj Hess:

Chase’s (inverted) Justice. Chase wubify’s Tj along with everyone else and it’s really sad because Tj really thinks the world of Chase. Chase’s ‘religion is bad’ attitude really pushed Tj down after Chase started to date Leo. How that hurt Tj, to have a friend think you’ll think less of you, is a dynamic I wish was explored more. Tj’s crush on Chase combined with general uneasiness with intimacy and expression is both cute (in the UwU Christian-Boy motif he fits) as well as sad. The two only barely start to break past that on Tj’s route going on the hike together, but then everyone gets possessed by something and it all goes to shit. Chase was shown to be put off by his stereotypes of what Tj ‘should’ think of him but then Mirror Man - Chase preys and even idolizes that purity/wholesomeness (to disastrous consequence). I think even though that thought is pushed to its worst extreme, it still always existed in Chase. Like drowning Syd (also tied to Tj) was something brought to the surface and not conjured from nowhere, I think its fair to extrapolate that the baseline for a lot of Chase’s thoughts and desires while possessed by Mirror Man, comes from somewhere in Chase already. Maybe the two could have worked out somewhere else far away… but I think the unhealthy idealization, romanticism, and infantilization both have for each other (possessed or not) in some way is a hard sticking point that the two need to push past for even friendship to work out. Also pour one out for Tj for getting character-assassinated by Chase (even if that’s the point!)

Flynn Moore:

Chase's Tower. The two biggest sluts in Echo. If Chase didn’t get chulafied by Leo’s schmeat, I could definitely envision a world where Flynn helps realize his true thirsty self. The two meet after a blowup and just a day later end up fooling around with Carl (who's getting cucked by TWO friends!) just being around the corner. They’re the two who bang the earliest and mess around the most often. I really like that. I like their sexual energy meshing and coming to the forfront. It’s normal for queer guys (especially in shitty towns) to be thots and the two bringing it out in each other is good writing. (...even if word of god says it was supposed to be horrifying/the worst thing he could think of……) Flynn showing Chase The Smoke Room was the gila’s way of opening up, of putting his cards on the table, and letting Chase know whats up. If he’s serious, if he wants to continue, this is who Flynn is, this is what he does… and how Chase needs to be ok with it if they’re going to go further. Chase ends up ultimately being not ok with it and I think there’s to many endless reasons as to why to be honest. (I think it's fair to read it as Samuel pulling Chase back to stop their link from being broken more by Flynn for example). The two are interesting together and could have been the biggest and the sluttiest hoes this side of the Rocky’s if they met under less horrible murder circumstances.

As an aside to the Samuel thing… I think Chase ends up killing Flynn so often because the entity is trying to rid the town of people immune/resistant to itself. The past/lore tied up between the two is interesting but a lot of that is probably back-fill from TSR VN. I don’t know how much can be read into it as we don’t know how much McSkinny knew/incorporated even if he knew whilst writing the route. More to dwell on.

Micha:

Chase’s navigator mirror. What VERY EASILY could have happened to Chase. If his parents hadn’t been accepting or if the entity didn’t dump his body in front of the murder van. The two share the same wit and venom, have similar vices, and share the same spot in the friend group. (The guy who was in Pueblo and now just showing back up). Along with Jeremy, Micha really rises up to *should be on multiple routes NOT just Jenna’s* territory to be honest. His importance and how integral he is to so many character arcs matches Chase’s. The two could have been good friends in my opinion. If Leo acted as a support network instead of ditching his boy-toy… if the bullying hadn’t been so bad.. If they just met somewhere else. I think a lot of Micha/Leo shipping is Chase replacement (which I do sometimes as well) and the twos similarities is just something I enjoy a lot. Micha being the one to severe Chase and Leo is a bit ON the nose but still something appreciated from a metaphor perspective. And I think stemming from that, the two could hit it off and be good friends together back in Pueblo once the dust has settled. I think Micha and his relationship to Chase could be the relationship affected the most if Echo ever got a rewrite with Patreon characters/storylines/Arches/TSR all in mind/more integrated naturally. Also they're both the fruty-ess characters so that's fucking great.

Leo Alvarez:

Chases' Emperor (haha adastra pun). Now what can I say that I haven’t said before. The two feed off each other, both negatively and positively. They bring out the best and worst in each other. Their problems are so relatable, their attempted resolutions are relatable, and their mistakes are relatable. Their relationship (friendship AND romantic) falling apart is basically the definition of ‘Vanishing Paradise’/fairytale scenario being destroyed. Dating THE football champ whose been your close friend almost your whole life? (and you both like dudes!) is such a high point to come down from. I think that’s why so many people (especially me included) want to fix it. Not because head empty himbo wolf should fuck MC (who is ‘me’) but because the two deserve to be happy. Either with or in spite of each other. So many people see what they have and the pain and horror they go through, to have it all destroyed, is a lot to bear. We know what the result is of the two at their worst… even just giving in to each other at the start, without ACTUALLY talking about anything leads to sadness and heartbreak (insert Leo crying himself to sleep for two years straight). There’s hope for the two… somewhere.

In Carl’s route when they talk for probably the only time, there’s a light somewhere. A resolution. It’s what they both need and deserve. I want them to be happy. And most of the time it's selfish but workable to make it not ‘toxic’. But I think there’s just so much more to them then himbo wolf and self insert MC people ship with themselves, and more then just ‘haha train makes legs go brrr!’ jokes. There’s more nuance to a lot of this game. I gray area, a chance for light AND darkness. Leo and Chase compliment each other in so many different ways, and both their evil and good deeds are a part of that.

Also sometimes I want them to both just go fucking hog wild and be fucked up together. I’m talking about Riverdale/Mean Girls levels of shit. The Football Captain and his prissy Cheerleader boyfriend. Let their fag-flag fly and be their toxic selves together. Leo holding Chase as the otter squeaks out the most insane and bitchy things ever. They deserve it (at least on ~one~ timeline at the minimum). Let them just go off. Also just regular darkness between them is fun to read too. Really drive that knife home, that Leo and Chase being broken from the events of Leo’s route really WAS the best outcome in that sense… (again because they didn’t talk not because they’re incompatible)

Sydney Bronson:

Otters go Brr!!!!

#Chase Hunter #echo vn #ask game

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celiabowens · 4 years ago

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underrated SFF books (YA and Adult)

So uhm, since I keep seeing the same books on my dash all the time (and I like them too, just...there’s more! to read!) here’s a list of less popular SFF books, divided into YA and Adult. I’ve tried to mention when there is lgbt rep and the trigger warnings. Also, books written by poc will be in bold. Please point out any typo or mistake or if I’ve forgotten specific rep/tw mentions.

All of these are books that I’ve read and enjoyed (by enjoyed I mean anything from 3 stars and above), but if anyone wants to add titles please feel free to do so!!

YA:

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi: beautifully written, fairytale-like story rich in mythology (inspired by several Hindu myths. There’s a full list on goodreads indicated by the author herself). Roshani’s prose is gorgeous.

A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi: it’s a companion novel to The Star-Touched Queen, but both can be read as a standalone. I liked this one more than its companion and I particularly loved how the romance was written (slow burn, but specifically, the author really highlights the mutual respect between the characters, we love to see it).

The Young Elites by Marie Lu: fantasy trilogy set in a world inspired by Renaissance Italy, in which children who survived a mysterious and deadly illness ended up with strange and dangerous powers. Secret societies and a female villain!

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu: historical fantasy following Mozart’s sister, Nannerl, a girl as talented as her brother, but afraid of being forgotten because of the lack of opportunities she has to be seen and heard. Nuanced sibling relationship, no romance.

The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski: fantasy f/f romance! Both a coming of age story set in a society with a rigid class system and a slow burn f/f romance with a lot of banter. TW: abuse.

The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore: magical realism. The book follows two families of traveling performers that have been locked in a feud for over a generation. This was the author’s debut and I remember getting an arc of it and being impressed by both the prose and how the forbidden love trope was handled.

When the Moon was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore: another magical realism novel. One of the main characters is a trans boy and the book focuses on issues of racism and gender. One of my favorite YA!

Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton: fantasy romance set in a village that periodically sacrifices a young man in order to keep a deal with the devil that ensures their prosperity. Also, polyamorous and non-binary rep.

The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee: first book in a duology following avatar Kyoshi’s life. It explores the political and cultural aspect of the Earth Kingdom and Kyoshi’s past. Bisexual rep.

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He: sort of a murder mystery fantasy, as the main character finds herself suddenly thrust into power once her father has been murdered. The story has a slow build up to a last part full of twists and machinations and it features lots of court intrigue. Warning: the ending is quite open and afaik there isn’t a sequel planned as of now.

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones: a quite unique take on zombies influenced by Welsh mythology (it’s super cool). The novel follows Ryn and their siblings, as they try to get by after their parents’ death by working as gravediggers. Only well, the dead don’t always stay dead. The characters read a bit younger than they are imo. There is chronic pain rep.

The Magnolia Sword by Sherry Thomas: retelling of the original ballad of Mulan. The book follows Mulan, who’s trained her whole life to win a duel for a priceless heirloom, as she joins the army. There’s a lot of political and historical details, which I really appreciated. Do not go into it expecting a fun adventure though. The descriptions of war aren’t extremely graphic, but be aware of the fact that most of the book is set during a conflict.

The Candle and The Flame by Nafiza Azad: standalone fantasy set in a city on the Silk Road! It’s a quite slow-paced tale about love, family and politics. It has lush descriptions of landscapes and cultures (and FOOD, there are some really great descriptions of food). It’s a very atmospheric book and while I struggled a bit with the pace I’d still recommend it.

Forest of a Thousand Lanters by Julie C. Dao: sort of an East Asian inspired retelling of Snow White, but following the Evil Queen before she became Snow White’s stepmother. I honestly haven’t read its sequel (which should focus on Snow White herself), but I do think this can be read and enjoyed as a standalone too.

The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner: it’s hard to point out exactly what this series is about because it has evolved so much with time. It starts out as classic quest/adventure series with The Thief (which may seem a classic and simple book, but is actually full of foreshadowing and has a really clever set up), but develops into a complex and intriguing political fantasy in The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia (and then goes back to the quest theme in book 5, Thick as Thieves).

Adult:

A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers by Alyssa Wong: I’m cheating with this one because it’s technically a short story but I love Alyssa Wong’s stories so I’m putting it here anyway. It can be read for free and you should just...read it.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang: grimdark fantasy (TW: abuse, self harm, rape, drug abuse), inspired by Chinese history. It’s adult, but follows younger MCs and the unique blend of different historical periods/inspirations makes it extremely interesting. The characters are extremely fucked up in the best possible way, plus the use of shamanism is awesome. Please make sure you check all the TW before reading.

The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang: a Japanese-inspired militaristic fantasy, with elemental magic, a badass housewife dealing with her past and hiding a sword in her kitchen’s floor. It has interesting and nuanced family dynamics and a great reflection on propaganda and the use of narratives.

Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri: first book in an epic fantasy duology inspired by Mughal India (TW: abuse, slavery). I really liked both Empire of Sand and its companion and I find them pretty underrated. Both books have great slow burn romance (with a focus on mutual trust and respect) and focus on culture, religion, self acceptance and politics.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: a fantasy bildungsroman set in Mexico during the Jazz age. It’s a great approach to adult SFF as it follows a young girl on a life changing adventure. It features Mayan mythology and a god slowly becoming human (this trope is everything!).

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden: a coming of age story inspired by Russian folklore. The trilogy as a whole has one of the best arcs I’ve ever seen: each book is perfectly self-contained and has its own arc, but also fits perfectly in the bigger picture of the trilogy. The atmosphere is amazing, the cast of characters is extremely well developed. Also frost demons are better than men.

The Binding by Bridget Collins: historical fantasy, but with very minimal fantasy elements. It’s set in a world vaguely reminiscent of 19th century England. I’d say this book is about humans and self discovery. It’s about cowardice and the lies we tell ourselves and those we wish we could tell ourselves. Gay rep. (TW: abuse, sexual assault, pretty graphic suicide scene).

The Divine Cities trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett: starting with City of Stairs, it follows a female diplomat and spymaster(!!). The whole trilogy features an interesting discussion about godhood, religion, fanatism, politics, without ever being boring or preachy. It has complex and rich world building and a pretty compelling mystery.

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett: heist fantasy following a thief as she’s hired to steal a powerful artifact that may change magical technology as she knows it. Set in a Venice-like merchant city. Also, slow burn f/f romance.

Jade City by Fonda Lee: sort of a gangster urban fantasy, heavily inspired by wuxia and set in an Asian-inspired metropolis. It follows a pretty big cast of characters, each with their own journey and development. It features nuanced family dynamics and a lot of political and economical subplots. Not extremely prominent, but book 2 features m/m side rep.

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse: inspired by Native American culture and specifically by the idea of subsequent worlds. It has a kickass MC and a good mix of original elements and typical UF tropes. TW: the book isn’t extremely violent but there is death and some gore.

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine: space opera inspired by the Mexica and middle period Byzantium. It focuses on topics like colonialism and the power of narratives and language. It has one of the best descriptions of what it’s like to live in between spaces I’ve ever read. Also very interesting political intrigue and has a slow burn f/f romance (and a poly relationship recalled through flashbacks). I ranted a lot about it already.

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee: a Korean-inspired space opera with a magic system based on math. It’s honestly quite convoluted and difficult to follow, but it also features some of the best political intrigue I’ve ever read. Plenty of lying, backstabbing and mind games. It also features lesbian and bisexual rep and an aroace side character (TW: mass shooting, sexual assault, abuse). I also really recommend Yoon Ha Lee’s short-story collection Conservation of Shadows.

The long way to a small angry planet by Becky Chambers: character driven space opera featuring a found family journeying through space. A fun read, that also deals with topics such as sexuality and race. Quite easy to go through, as the world building and plot aren’t particularly complex themselves. f/f romance.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo: an Asian-inspired fantasy novella that gives a voice to people usually silenced by history. It follows a cleric (non binary rep) as they chronicle the story of the late empress, retold through objects that she used in her life. It focuses on bonds between women and the power that lies in being unnoticed. f/f side rep.

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark: an urban fantasy novella, based on Orisha mythology and set in an alternate, sort of steampunk, New Orleans. I really like how creative Clark’s worlds are and how good he is at writing female characters (which rarely happens with male authors).

The haunting of tram car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark: novella set in an alternate steampunk Cairo populated by supernatural entities. It’s set in the same world of a Dead Djinn in Cairo, which is a short story you can read for free.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone: epistolary novella set during a time-travel war. It has gorgeous writing and an amazing f/f romance. As a novella, it’s quite short but it’s beautifully crafted and so complex for such a short book!

The Citadel of Weeping Pearls by Aliette de Bodard: a novella set in the Xuya universe (a series of novellas/short stories set in a timeline where Asia became dominant, and where the space age has empires of Vietnamese and Chinese inspiration), but can be read as a standalone. It’s a space opera featuring a disappeared citadel and the complex relationship between the empress and her daughter as war threatens her empire.

One for My Enemy by Olivie Blake: self-published urban fantasy following two rival families in New York. Sort of a Romeo and Juliette retelling but with gangster families and magic. Honestly recommend all of her books, I love how Olivie writes and especially how she writes female characters.

#book recs #book recommendations #adult sff #ya literature #lgbt fiction #litblr #listen this doesn't show in tags i'm DONE #done with this tagging system lol #also if there are mistakes please tell me!!#book rec

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words-writ-in-starlight · 4 years ago

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I'm thinking of reading Kencyrath, but I'm not sure whether i'll like it. What do you like about the series? Who would you recommend it for?

OKAY SO, first, the people I would recommend it to:

Anyone who read or watched more than half a book/four episodes of Game of Thrones--the Kencyrath has a similar list of trigger warnings, but commits much harder to the fantasy angle, and in my opinion deals more directly with the ethical problems raised by those trigger warnings

People who like those posts picking apart the minutiae of how high fantasy worlds work--the Kencyrath is one of the only series I’m familiar with that answers the question of “okay great you have a warrior race, so how does that actually work” with “it kind of doesn’t, everyone is starving half the time because we’re all warriors and our land can barely grow food, so if our mercenaries don’t get paid, we don’t eat”

People who like a mix of “low fantasy” moral questions (the first book is kind of like...hm, Lies of Locke Lamora?) with classic “high fantasy” political machinations and battles of good vs evil and such--the Kencyrath HAVE a grand sweeping destiny more or less on their doorstep, but they’ve sort of fallen down on the job about it

People who like books that deal with trauma recovery--Jame, the main character, spends most of her time trying to drag herself (and, ideally, her brother, cousin, and entire race) out of the cycle of abuse that they’ve all lived through, and every character has, to some extent, a trauma that shapes their actions one way or another

People who don’t mind a big cast as long as there are a couple main characters to focus on--the Kencyrath ends up being a pretty expansive cast, with a lot of schemes running at any given time, but it always revolves around Jame and her twin brother Tori

People who like complex societal worldbuilding and Loyalty Stuff--the Kendar/Highborn dynamic (warrior class/ruling class) is so wonderfully messed up and I love how seriously the books take both the advantages and massive pitfalls of that kind of society

People who listened to TAZ Balance and thought that the Hunger was really cool and terrifying and wanted a whole book series about the sequence where the world is fighting it

Anyone who ever read a standard high fantasy book with a Rambunctious Young Lady as the lead and went “this is fine, but if you’re going to spend 250 pages telling me that this girl is wild and uncontrollable, I would like to see her go completely feral, please”--Jame’s brain plays Yakety Sax 24/7 and you can TELL, so if you ever wanted a book where the Unladylike Lead Character goes genuinely apeshit, but also learns how to make friends and respect the value of traditionally feminine work even if it’s not for her

People I would recommend NOT read the Kencyrath:

Anyone who knows they are triggered by written discussion of assault, abuse, sexism, coercion, torture, flashbacks, racism, murder, or basically any other major trigger warning--I personally think the books deal with things pretty well, and they’re never grimdark, but they deal with a lot of incredibly heavy material, including child abuse, sexual assault, coercion, and torture. If you know you have a major trigger that really messes you up when you read about it, please exercise caution and feel free to contact me for more details. Also, if you have a specific trigger and want a different book recommendation, I have them on tap.

Anyone who struggles to read or connect with “problematic” characters--pretty much every character in this series will EVENTUALLY do something you don’t like, including Jame. The books go very hard on “who you are is defined by how you handle making an irreparable mistake,” so be prepared for that. If this is your hard stop but everything else is fine, I would recommend the Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie (spaceships and war crimes and found family), or something by Robin McKinley (mostly fantasy), especially the Damar books or Sunshine!

Anyone for whom incest between twins is a hard stop--the primary romantic relationship is Jame/Tori, and while I would consider it easily the healthiest relationship in the series, that’s the ship and you should be aware of it. If this is your hard stop but everything else is fine, I would recommend the Captive Prince series by CS Pacat (political scheming and romance) or the Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden (fairy tale fantasy)!

The stuff I like about the series:

Jame. I love that she’s allowed to be completely unhinged. I love that she faces consequences for her actions. I love her determination to slit reality open and lay it all out like a scientist in her search for the truth. I love her willingness to face unpleasant realities, and I love the times when she can’t bear them and has to figure out how to deal. I love every second she spends trying to figure out how honor works, and whether it’s even possible for a Highborn to be honorable, and how she can save her people without sacrificing who she is. I love to watch people pick a fight with her and immediately learn the error of her ways.

Tori. I know I pick on him a lot, and he deserves to be picked on, but Tori is really one of my favorite characters. He struggles a lot more than Jame to move past their father’s abuse, and he makes a lot of genuinely harmful choices in the depths of that struggle, but I love watching the times where he wins. It makes me frustrated beyond words when he caves to what he was taught, but I’m always elated when he can push past that and reveal the deeply loyal, sincerely honorable, incredibly good person that he became in spite of their father. He’s a good leader, despite everyone’s best efforts, and I love to see him fight for his people. Love to see him consider HIMSELF one of “his people” someday.

Kindrie. I won’t say too much about him, except that I didn’t actually like him that much when I first read the books, for basically the exact reasons Jame didn’t like him much at first--he’s someone doing trauma recovery in the exact opposite way that I was comfortable with. But god I love him so much, he is doing his best and his best is so much better than anyone would expect, from his past. Truly the best boy in the Kencyrath, wise beyond his years and just insane enough to get into the disasters where he’s most needed.

The Kendar. Instead of making this post 4k with individual bullet points about every Kendar I love, here is a brief litany. I love Marc because he’s the only stable person in the Kencyrath. I love Brier because she’s doing her best and it would be okay if everyone (including her) admitted that she doesn’t always know what that actually means. I love Burr and Rue because their rabid determination to turn Tori and Jame (Confirmed Feral Cats) into real nobility will never NOT be funny to me. I love Sheth Sharp-tongue because he’s the only person with his shit so together that not even Jame can ruffle him. I love the Randir Kendar who didn’t move, at the start of Bound in Blood. The Kendar are the most nuanced take on the concept of an eternally loyal warrior caste I’ve ever seen and I love them.

The Villains. I believe I have established that I love a nuanced villain. The Master is a pretty straight up and down villain figure, the voice of the darkness, John Hunger or Saruman or whatever else you might like to compare him to, but no one else is that simple. I love the Dreamweaver, who didn’t know what she was doing and paid for it anyway. I love Tyrandis, who knew what he was doing and did it and spent his eternity trying to fix it without breaking a single rule. I do NOT love Caldane, but he’s a kind of viscerally real, slimy evil that is exceptionally well executed. Likewise, I would like Rawneth to die, painfully, in short order, but godDAMN watching her chessboard unfold over the course of the books is hypnotic. The villains in this are GOOD, folks, and I like them.

I really need to wrap this up, so my last pick for what I like is Overpowered Characters. I complain a lot about media that panics over powerful characters, and responds by taking that power away, or having unstable worldbuilding that means the character is weak when the narrative demands it. The Kencyrath doesn’t do that. Jame is bonkers powerful from day one, and pretty much maintains that level through the series. Instead of focusing on characters building their power, like leveling in DnD, the Kencyrath focuses on the question of using power. Jame’s power in the first book is terrifying not just because she’s insanely strong, but because she has no idea how to use it. Likewise, Tori is determined pretty quickly to be at the same level that she is, but he’s in such deep denial that he’s as likely to kill himself as do anything useful. It’s just very SATISFYING, okay, to have a series actually do interesting things with OP characters. Sure, in a weird way Jame seems less like a magical nuke in book 8 than in book 1, but it’s because she’s not just throwing power around like someone playing darts blindfolded. And watching her figure out how to harness her power into something useful is so gratifying.

#kencyrath #chronicles of the kencyrath #book rec #my a+ number one alternative book rec if you don't think you want to read the kencyrath because of jame/tori is the captive prince #also i know those other book recs seem arbitrary but they're NOT okay i've thought about this #ANYWAY #A N Y W A Y #i hope this was enlightening anon #i'm sorry it got so long but i would need to know a little more about you personally to be more specific #if you have specific concerns please feel free to hit me up #anyway i'm listening to tam lin by tricky pixie and thinking big thoughts about some kencyrath aus after writing this #i need to get back into the me trilogy so i can actually write some stuff for the mass effectyrath au #or maybe go through the books and find a place to spin off that buddy cop jame & archiem arranged marriage fic #OH or to shove a lotus eater plot in there #what are some other good settings...hm actually i'd love to do a hanahaki au of gates of tagmeth #Let Torisen Be Aggressively Confronted With The Reality Of His Feelings 2021 #(i should try and figure out what i was doing with this three pages of soulmate su actually)#(i have no idea what past me was doing)#(but 'you get a mark for your soulmate and also for every lord you're bound to' kinda slaps as a concept)#a queue we will keep and our honor someday avenge #ALSO MY QUEUE TAG IS FROM THE KENCYRATH #Anonymous #asked and answered

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arsenicpanda · 4 years ago

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Here's an ask: what are some betty & jug moments or scenes that you've always wanted to see on the show? I don't necessarily mean relationshipy stuff (altho yes sure that too), but investigation stuff, family dynamic stuff, serpent stuff, etc etc. Expand this ask outside of bughead too, if you'd like!

A good but difficult question! Let's see, let's see...

- Jughead proposing for realsies is one I desperately want. Like, he's had two pseudo-proposals already, where is his real one? I deserve to see it. Bonus points if it's impulsive and he uses one of the rings he's always wearing to do it.

- I really, *really* want Betty and Jughead to be engaged and then do some crimes and have to rush up their wedding so they won't have to testify against each other. I will also accept them dating but not engaged, and then Betty is going into emergency mode, but Jughead is like, "So, uh, I've had this engagement ring ready for like three months, and I know this is a bad time, but will you marry me?" And then Betty says yes and they get married and don't go to jail.

- I want to see Betty and Jughead have to makeout as a cover when they're caught somewhere they shouldn't be. Like, that's a classic, I want to see it.

- I need more of Betty and Jughead doing shady shit while both wearing their Serpent jackets, I want scenes of them acting as a clear power couple, I deserve this.

- More dark bughead! I don't even care how it manifests, I want them doing morally dubious things because the ends justify the means.

- Vengeance quest! I want Jughead to go on a vengeance quest like the one Betty went on for him in season 4. I deserve this parallel.

- Cooking! I want to see Betty and Jughead cooking for each other, bonus points if it's Jughead doing the cooking because Betty deserves to be taken care of for once.

- Jughead getting better at writing! I just want the show to hire someone who actually is good at writing prose to write his narrative segments. Just, please, show, you want me to believe he is a good writer, so just hire someone who can write prose, I am BEGGING you.

- Betty and Gladys! I was ROBBED of seeing them together! In fact, I desperately wanted the whole Jones+Betty family to sit down to breakfast or dinner or something because I bet it would be so awkward.

- Betty and Jellybean! Betty, Jellybean, and Jughead! I already made my post about this, technically, but I would still love to see it, especially the three of them together.

- Serpents + Betty! I so wish they had explored this more, to have the Serpents see Hardcore Scary Betty and Betty see how much the Serpents and Jughead are friends. The 3x01 Hot Dog mission was good, but I wish I had seen them working more as a team in some heisty situation. Bonus points for throwing Cheryl into the mix.

- Toni joins the Blue and Gold! I'm still mad I didn't get this. I crave Betty/Toni interactions, and I think Toni would make an interesting addition to the investigation team, and I'd enjoy seeing them all in planning mode, only for Betty and Jughead to drift off into "Investigations are sexy" mode and then Toni has to spray them with water to get them to focus.

- Jughead + Serpents! All permutations of this are important to me. I think Jughead's friendships with the Serpents are really interesting because they're based on a common experience that Jughead just doesn't share with anyone else. There's a sense of community and family, of sorts, that I get from the teen Serpents, the feel of those friends who you can not speak to for ages but then easily slip back into normal patterns once you see each other again. I think they're four people of varying levels of impulsiveness and "I will FIGHT YOU, right here, right now" who have to keep each other in check. Like, there is not one single one of them who stops the others from doing stupid shit; they ALL are capable of doing stupid shit and picking fights on principle alone, but there's also usually at least one of them who's like, "Ok, guys, calm down", and I find that hilarious. Also, bonus points for being three grumpy people and also Fangs, a ray of sunshine and king of bad decisions. I really wish we got more of Fangs as a speaking character; for all he's had screentime, he doesn't talk much, and that leaves him with considerably less characterization, and it's frustrating. Also, I wish we had gotten more of watching them play G&G, I find these seemingly tough kids playing tabletops games to be the funniest fucking thing.

- Betty + Veronica! I would like to see more of this friendship, and specifically I'd like to see Betty supporting Veronica, because we haven't gotten much of that.

- Betty + Kevin! I wish I knew more about their friendship and could see more of it. I want to see Kevin try and pry details about all the drama in Betty's life out of her. I also wish we had gotten to hear even one of his gossip columns.

- Jones family! I just want more of the Joneses, they're such a disaster family. Like, I want more of every permutation of this dynamic, it's fascinating. I mean, I especially want Jughead and Jellybean, but I'm also interested in FP and Gladys, FP and Jellybean, Gladys and Jellybean, Jughead and Gladys (outside of drug lord problems), the whole family at once. I know it won't happen, but I'd love to see the whole family reunited because it's clearly something Jughead wants and I want him to have all the things he wants.

- Unrelated to Betty and Jughead, but, more than anything, I want a shot of Veronica standing in front of that painting of herself ala Hiram. We have been doing parallels with them and "If Veronica isn't careful, she could become like her father" stuff since season 2 at the latest, I DESERVE this shot.

- Archie's gay awakening! Look. Look, they have given Archie so many homoerotic friendships, and RAS famously wrote a play about Archie being gay that he got a cease and desist letter for. Everything should come full circle and RAS's Archie tv show should include Archie's gay awakening. Bonus points if he's with Reggie.

- Betty v Hiram! Everyone else has gotten at least one season where they went up against Hiram, Betty deserves hers. Granted, she would probably take him down, or almost do so, so it might be best saved for the last season, but still, I want it.

And I think that's it? At least, I think I've got everything I can think of for now.

#asks #sullypants #thank you for humoring me!#Riverdale #bughead #my thoughts on Riverdale let me show you them

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thattimdrakeguy · 5 years ago

Text

ROBIN 80TH ANNIVERSARY - REVIEW!! - The GREAT, the okay, the meh, the wait what, and the freaking awful

None of the stories I’d consider bad in this besides the Super Sons one.

They have flaws, some don’t have any but aren’t that great, and just weird choices, with some disappointments.

I’m just gonna be honest about each story because that’s all I can do.

DICK GRAYSON’S FIRST STORY: Really freaking good.

My favorite story is probably the first one:

Like the art is the best in the whole issue, and the only real flaw is how mean they made Bruce through-out it.

It’s yet again another story of how and why Dick quit (I guess he didn’t get fired this time) being Robin, but it’s just nice. Nice pacing, timing, dialogue, good art, and because the people working on it are 80s writers and artists, it keeps it feeling classic.

Which is great for a little showing of the 80s world, and I’m no big 80s DC guy at all, but it’s a really nice flashback for that.

One thing that was disappointing but I won’t count as a flaw (since it’s really not, just a wasted opportunity) is that this kid didn’t end up being Tim:

It looks like a young Tim, it’s drawn by the first artist on Tim’s Robin ongoing, written by his creator, it’s about the history of Robin, and he’s an overeager Robin fanboy-- like why wasn’t this kid Tim? He even has that dorky bowlcut Tim had when he was little, just less 80s styled.

A missed opportunity honestly.

The story though shows Dick’s compassion, talent, frustrations as he became his own man, his views on Robin, some of his sense of humor even. So his characterization is pretty great, but it is written by the man that grew Dick his own unique character to begin with, and it’s great to see this story keeps it up. (Prolly gonna find out this is an old script, but hey, it’s a good one.)

A weird retcon story, but it’s a nice callback to the 80s, and I think it’s really well-done beyond Bruce being a controlling grumpy prick to the point it feels like parody.

DICK GRAYSON’S SECOND STORY: It’s just alright.

Where the first story is a flashback to the 80s, this is a direct flashback to he 90s, with the writer and artist that started his ongoing solo.

And it’s good. Like I had a lot of fun reading it, good heroics, feels of it’s era, but like the last story that’s the fun.

There’s nothing really to say about it besides it’s good. There isn’t anything too standout about it.

DICK GRAYSON’S THIRD STORY: It’s forgettable.

I forgot this was a thing in this, and it just feels like a waste of page.

It’s in no way bad that I seen, but it’s so very bland and one note. Titans fight and Dick acts as leader. Very generic.

The art’s really good though.

DICK GRAYSON’S FOURTH STORY: It’s better than that last one at least.

Unlike the last one, this feels like it at least has a point to be here, and it actually feels like it makes sense to be in he 80th anniversary as well.

I’m not a personal fan of the “Grayson” series, it just sexualized Dick too much honestly, made him cheesier again a bit, and the writing was a little on the off-side in a way that just made it all feel empty besides a few moments, but I never read the whole series to be a great judge on it.

But also because of that, I have no idea who these people are for this story to be grand. What makes it feel like it’s worthy of being here though is trying it back to the history of Robin like the first story with these little bits.

Without these moments though, you wouldn’t have a clue why this is there.

Also Dick just suddenly wears this:

Which is super duper off-putting. But Oh-ho gotta have sexy Dick in there somewhere I guess. Just-- wow, was that super sudden.

JASON TODD’S STORY: It’s good but this kid doesn’t look right.

The story is very simple and sweet, and I think it works a lot given Jason and Bruce’s complicated relationship.

It’s even written by Judd Winnick who did Under the Red Hood, which is awesome.

But who is this kid they keep calling Jason exactly? It irrationally bugs me, because all the art has been super spot on till this story. They even write him well, but it just genuinely doesn’t look like post-crisis Robin Jason.

Like to show what I mean--

You read it and this is how the kid speaks.

Super snarky,

a bit of a rude edge to it,

practical sounding but rough teen-ish still

yet still mature enough to feel like he can handle himself.

So you might place this around when Jason was 15 given he’s Robin, and when he was 15 and when they gave him a unique design finally away from a generic silver age Robin, he looked like a young body builder--

Like this is what Jason Todd looked like when they settled his look away from a Dick clone:

A young body builder type, strong jaw, working out, mature features for his age

So who the heck is this?

Like this isn’t what Jason looked like besides pre-crisis, but this is post-crisis Jason. They already settled what he looked like during that 80s run, and this isn’t it. He’s not supposed to look like a generic silver age Robin anymore.

Even beyond it not looking like what Jason’s supposed to, it doesn’t fit the dialogue. He’s written as a practical, snarky, yet in his own way still mature teen. Soooooo why’s he look 5?

It’s so off-putting and it bugs me.

However, beyond that, I really like the story, and at least the artist was good at drawing adult Jason.

Them representing Bruce’s and Jason’s complicate relationship of distant but still caring is something I really enjoy. It’s so much more true to character rather than acting like Jason is just a part of the family like nothing ever happened.

More of that dynamic for them, please.

TIM DRAKE’S FIRST STORY: It’s pretty good, but it’s missing something.

Not the highest praise ever, but I do like this story. I enjoy it’s setting at Tim’s school. High school was a constant setting for Tim’s comics in Robin, and they rarely ever treat it like that so I enjoy this story bringing it back.

I really enjoyed the connection between extracurricular activities and what he does as Robin. It’s that blend of relatability and heroics that really made Tim work as a character. So that’s also great they brought back.

One of my favorite things that they bring up is Tim being into eSports, cuz it reminds me of how much Tim was into video games. It’s a very modern version of him being into the arcades in the 90s. Which is great.

However a downside is that it doesn’t really focus on Tim as a character like the other stories did with the other Robins.

Nothing about his never give up attitude, his insecurities, his underdog likability, how hard he is on himself, or things like that.

In-general this story says nothing about his personality besides a mention that he’s geeky. Which is a pretty big let-down because it keeps it from being any better, despite it already being good.

Freddie William’s art is also very hit or miss. It’s so crude sometimes, and Tim seems so buff compared to before in his actual Robin run. It’s very displeasing given that his early Tim work was top 5 Tim art material. However I still enjoyed that they brought him back even if he can’t draw Tim as well anymore. Tim’s still good in the babyface in most panels at least.

BUT-- this is still a pretty good Tim story. It’s just lacking.

Like it just should’ve been more about Tim as a character since it’s a Tim Drake story.

TIM DRAKE’S SECOND STORY: It’s honestly just pretentious.

Tim doesn’t talk like this. Tynion has a melodramatic tone to his characters that works great for characters like Batman, I’ve actually quite liked his Batman run so far partially because of that, but it doesn’t work for Tim.

This is not what Tim talks like. It’s so very unnatural sounding for a kid. Yet Tim talks in this incredibly dramatic tone except for a few light hearted spots, when I feel like it should be the opposite.

It’s also trying hard to be a character study, but again it’s so unnatural. It sounds like a fan describing their view of the characters, not the characters themselves. Like since have these guys became each others therapists?

And then he has Dick say these things that makes Tim seem like a Gary Stu and the greatest most talented guy ever.

Also having Tim hang out with Jason when Jason’s using guns even though Tim’s insanely against that sort of thing.

They even have Damian talk like a typical fan person who dislikes Tim based off of superficial things for a bit.

The fact it treats that Detective Comics Rebirth part of Tim’s character history as uber important is also a bit pretentious of the writer given he wrote that too. Despite Tim only being in that run for like three arcs and wasn’t even in-character for most of it.

Best part of it, is the vague acknowledgement that Tim didn’t want to be anything else but Robin to me.

Otherwise it just reeks of awkwardly written fan fiction.

Honorable mentions of quality though, is Dick and Tim being brothers train riding, and Damian’s mini-adult coming out. I’m so sick of them making Damian a generic kid sometimes that I actually liked this part even if it’s through a snarky filter.

STEPHANIE BROWN’S STORY: Better than expected, it’s actually pretty good.

I actually really liked this story. Overall I think Steph’s actual Robin run sucked, this is still a good story if I can get past the era it’s set in.

Unlike Tim’s stories, this actually uses her character.

How reckless she can be without it being super exaggerated, her attitude, love that they brought back the diary format for her inner-monologue too.

There’s not much to say besides I’d actually consider this one of the best stories in the thing, except for the fact Steph clearly disobeys Batman and she was said to get fired for that. That’s a decent plot holes for me.

I super love the detail of Tim being so small that Steph can’t fit in his uniform. That cheered me up.

Them bringing back her Robin era artist was also great. Unlike Freddie Williams, their art actually really improved.

DAMIAN WAYNE’S FIRST STORY: The genuine worst story in it.

It’s so-- baaad.

Fan service can work if it’s in good quality. Like being in-character, or a nice homage. The train riding in Tynion’s story was that.

This isn’t that.

Damian and Jon didn’t get along right away, not even soon enough for this “mostly” part to feel right as a joke, because they obviously didn’t get along mostly right away. They fought a lot. They even show it on the full page them fighting, but they downplay how long they did fight just for fanservice. It took a long time, and even when they did it was still contrived.

Then they have Damian and Jon in the same class, when they aren’t the same age for that to make sense..

They even have Jon help Damian on his tests when it’s constantly shown that Damian is a brainiac who wouldn’t need that.

It’s literally even in the history summary at the end that he’s highly intelligent. So he probably wouldn’t even ever need a study partner considering he’s even said to have actual PHDs anyway. Which makes the study partner thing just plain out of character.

There’s also panels that straight up feels like oddly specific deviantart fetish art, which is so nasty. Especially considering that I know damn well that’s there’s pedophiles who make this same kind of oddly specific fetish art on there. So much so I had to stop using the site cuz of the anxiety it gave me.

And they downplay how mean Damian can be too Jon so much that it irks me.

This is the worst story in the whole comic, genuinely. Nothing good is in it, besides some decent enough art.

It’s certainly pandering to it’s fandom, but to certain parts it really shouldn’t be.

(This sort of stuff was still happening in their miniseries. Jon really shouldn’t want this as a brother. That’s stockholm syndrome.

DAMIAN WAYNE’S SECOND STORY: It’s better than the last one, but somethings missing still.

Unlike the last one avoiding talking about Damian’s actual character besides to play it down. This one actually uses it.

It’s just so quick, and empty feeling at the same time that it’s missing something. A bit like an inverse of Tim’s first story. Tim’s story had the setting and interesting story format, but no real character, while this has a lot of usage of the character but no interesting setting or story.

A lot of Damian’s character is that he’s not a natural Robin as far as attitude goes. He isn’t a typical Robin, and I enjoy how they play into that rather than be afraid of that. It’s what makes this actually work for me.

Although it makes you question why he’s still Robin, I consider that a good thing, because YOU SHOULD. You want the character’s to actually acknowledge things as if they’re real and not just ignoring things.

He’s not typical, he’s unique for better or worse. That’s Damian, and that’s what you should show of him.

This goes into why Damian’s the exact opposite of what a Robin normally is. That’s great.

But it’s missing anything memorable about it. However I think that’s cuz it leads into a future issue of Teen Titans which gives it a reasonable excuse.

I’m really hoping it leads into something.

Although i have a feeling they sadly might do the same thing as typical and ignore Damian’s actions more. Avoiding any genuine feelings.

OVERALL

It’s not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Only two stories I’d actually call bad, which is a lot less than I thought With just occasionally sloppy art, not even what I’d call back, but just crude or not drawing the character accurately which will annoy some more than others.

When I heard of this book I got so worried, but only two stories is actually almost relieving how little that is given the potential ego-driven things they could’ve done, which only those two stories then.

To me, I say it’s worth a pick-up, just rip out a story or two to keep it friendlier to revisit

Mostly was just really missing that extra heart in a lot of the stories.

#Tim Drake #Robin #Dick Grayson #Nightwing #Jason Todd #Red Hood #Stephanie Brown #The Spoiler #Bruce Wayne #Batman #DC Comics #Bat-Family #Batfamily #Bat-fam #Batfam #Teen Titans #Young Justice #Young Just Us

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luckyricochet · 4 years ago

Note

I want you to answer A-Z on the fandom asks so I can peer into your psyche 👀

Wow I love you. This actually took around three hours since I wanted to think about the answers. See them under the cut!

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

From Hanyou no Yashahime — Sesshomaru and Rin

From The Mandalorian — The Mandomera’s been creeping up a little bit.

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

Honestly can’t think of one. I’m very set in my ships.

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

From Naruto — SasuSaku. Sasuke was cute as a kid so I get Sakura having a crush on him then, but I think she would have gotten over it when he became a homicidal clown who abandoned the village and tried to kill her and her teammates multiple times.

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

From Harry Potter — Ron x Hermione. I’ve always thought their personalities didn’t match and not in the good “opposites attract” kind of way.

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

I only know how to write angst, drama, and introspective musings so no.

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

Over fifteen years in the Harry Potter fandom, but I’ve had to separate that from JKR herself in the recent years.

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

“Have I ever had an OTP”? *laughs from shipping hell*

From The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare — Nat and Kit were my first OTP. Read this book in fifth grade and was immediately loved them. Boy literally risks banishment from the colony to help prove she’s not a witch.

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

I love visual media, so TV, anime, and film

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

I’m not going to let tumblr dot com put me off of a particular show/book/etc. itself, but it has definitely made me think less of certain types of fans who are in a fandom.

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)

The...period drama fandom? More widely, the history fandom. They both create some of the most beautiful edits celebrating history and I love it.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

From Avatar: The Last Airbender — It’s gotta be Prince Zuko

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

From Harry Potter — I think Ginny is a Mary Sue but I loved when she stood up for herself in Half-Blood Prince when Ron was trying to slut-shame her.

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

From Parks and Recreation — Leslie Knope. Unending positive affirmations, thoughtfulness, and support!

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

I don’t really have a main fandom but I haven’t mentioned Free! yet so let’s go with it for this one.

1. Less Nitori because I can’t stand him.

2. More female characters! I get half the appeal is the boys, but I’d love to see a girls swim team in some capacity.

3. More Haru and his family dynamics! Doesn’t have to be a ton, but I want to know what his relationship with his parents like, especially as an adult.

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

Salt and the Sea - The Lumineers. “From the destruction, out of the flame. You need a villain, give me a name.” Such an Odesta song. (Finnick x Annie from the Hunger Games)

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

For The Mandalorian — A historical AU set in early 1900s New York City where Mando’s just some government agent sent to “report” on slum conditions to satisfy some housing law. He goes meaning to write up a generic report but then finds the orphaned Baby Yoda abandoned in one of the tenements. Shocked by the conditions of the slums, Mando goes from being an apathetic, middling-level bureaucrat to being an anonymous investigative journalist reporting on the corruption in the government that allows for the city’s most vulnerable citizens to live in squalor, leading the government on a search to find who within their ranks is exposing them.

Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

Sherlock, because it just took so long for the third series to come out. I had moved on to other fandoms by the time it did. Still have fond memories of when I was active in it, though.

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

From Lord of the Rings — Aragorn and Legolas. This is played up a lot more in the films but I love it.

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

For Lord of the Rings — Boromir definitely taught Faramir swordplay when they were little kids since their father didn’t want to.

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

From Hanyou no Yashahime — Rin made the first move. Sesshomaru would be way too clueless to even know how to go about it.

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

From Pirates of the Caribbean — James Norrington: Commodore in the Royal Navy during the 18th century, must I explain any further? Cool, calm, and collected on the job while looking v good while he does it but a nervous wreck in front of the woman he fancies. Tell me that’s not straight out of Austen.

From Star Wars (OT) — Luke Skywalker: An unapologetically good person in a crapsack world, doing his best to bring light into the world. A classic hero archetype who grows out of his naïveté to become a cunning—but still benevolent—Jedi.

From Prince of Tennis — Yukimura Seiichi: His duality is *chef’s kiss*. Super scary and in charge on the court, gentle sweet boy who loves art and culture off the court. He struggled for so long but was able to overcome it all through his hard work and willpower.

Bonus favorite, because I couldn’t resist...

From Band of Brothers — Doc Roe: He’s doing the MOST for his guys but he really just needs a hug. Plus he’s got the accent.

V - Which character do you relate to most?

From Little Women — Jo March, especially as portrayed by Saoirse Ronan in the 2019 adaptation. Writer, holds grudges, opinionated, stubborn, eschewed “girliness” in her youth but is more open to it and romanticism as an adult.

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

I’ve gotten to the point where even the hint of a love triangle tests my patience.

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

It’s about the yearning: Longing Look

Also will definitely always ship the Brooding Boy and the Gentle Girl

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?

Anything in the MCU or general superhero content.

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

I love fandom so much. I’m sort of facetious about being obsessed with people who aren’t real on my other social media accounts, but in all seriousness, being able to escape the real world to get excited over characters and relationships that face their own struggles, triumphs, and emotions is such a gift. So often they speak so powerfully on the human experience—How can you read, or watch, any of Tolkien’s work and not be moved by what he has to say about humanity and the power of good? Even if the stories are fictional, the messages they impart about life aren’t, which is what I love so much about them.

#itsacanofpeachessir #ask

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fyrapartnersearch · 5 years ago

Text

looking for a writing partner

a bit about me -20something who RPs to unwind. I try to reply as many times a day as I can, but of course, real life comes up. If anything major crops up, I would inform my partner ASAP. I live in the US, in the eastern timezone. I am searching for a long term writing partner. -As I am over 18, I would like my partners to be too. This is a non-negotiable, since I enjoy have mature content (sex, drugs, rock and roll, along with language and violence). -In relation to the above, I am fine with smut, but it can't dominate the story. I prefer plot above all else. A good story is the fun part of RP for me and too much smut drags the story down. I do have my limits and things I'm fine with but that can be discussed when we connect. -As for my writing style: paragraph/novel style, 3rd person. I try to put in at least two decent sized paragraphs a post. One liners are not my thing, so no worries about that from me! -I prefer to play female main characters. All of them are over 18 and range in personality, color, beliefs, etc... Side/secondary characters are whatever they need to be and I can play as many as required. A good cast is important! But I don't double, at least in the traditional sense. -well rounded characters are life. I love figuring them out, crafting backstories and personalities for them, seeing how they react to situations. -Romance is always fun. I prefer to play out m/f relationships, with me as the female. -As for where I prefer to RP: email ([email protected]), skype, googledocs, Discord. I have Hangouts, but that is for planning and ooc chatter. plot related matters -original characters and settings are my jam. While I do take inspiration from fandoms (Harvest Moon, Shameless, Grey's Anatomy, AHS Coven and Freak Show, Clerks and all films in that universe, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Community ), I only use original characters and settings. So, all of the above are things I am only open to using as inspiration, either a little or a lot. The genres I prefer are mainly slice of life, 'historical' (for lack of a better term) and urban fantasy. We can also just do a thing where we make characters and have sort of a TV show structure: smaller plots with an overarching plot/theme/whatnot (ie the adventures of two friends as they fall in love, with supporting cast members being family and friends). That is mainly because there are ideas I would be open that don't seem like they would work long term and it would just be fun to throw our characters into a variety of adventures. now, onto less vague plot ideas! Best Friends: basically the idea above. That seems like it would be fun, jumping from story to story as two best friends fall for each other. Hooker/Client: which explains itself, now that I think about it. A hooker and her client get too close when they should not be. The client can be anything but a married man, since infidelity is a no-go. Maybe he's a doctor, lawyer or business executive. Or a literal superhero or supervillain, which could be a fun twist. Online: Our characters are YouTube famous, making videos and those Benjamins. So they have to deal with that unique brand of fame and a budding relationship. Knocked Up: again, it explains itself. Two people have an unplanned pregnancy. It could be two friends, two strangers, the world is open! I would love to combine this with the Shameless inspired plot aka slice of life with a heavy dash of dysfunction, chaos and drama in case you have not seen the show. Or maybe she's pregnant by a guy who is no longer around but is vibing with someone else (so no cheating here), which could add more drama. Could be combined with the best friends plot, or even the freak show idea! Related to the above: not quite accidental pregnancy. A single man decides to hire a surrogate so he can have an heir. Feelings crop up, shenanagins ensue. Maybe there are Jane the Virgin-esque shenangins, to varying degrees depending on what you want. And of course, the RP continues after the kid is born. A slow burn is preferred with this plot. Homecoming: Something like the above would be the backstory. A couple has a thing and have to part ways, for whatever reasons. He could have gone into the military, maybe it was work or school, something happened to break them apart. And some time later, they reunite and surprise, she has a kid. Now they must navigate parenthood, old and new feelings and general drama RJ/BB: Romeo and Juliet meets Breaking Bad. Two people from rival drug dealing cliques meet and there is a spark. But their crews are dicks, to be concise. Or maybe only one of them is dealing. Arranged Marriage: Can take place in modern day or a historical setting. For the modern day, it could be a business deal on the parent's end that includes a wedding of some sort. As for a historical setting, it could be a few things. Maybe it is how they end a war. Or it is a business deal of some sort. For those two or something similar, I like the idea of them sniping, having hate sex, generally being snippy and then, thing progress and they learn to work together. Or...Maybe it's like what Dany and Drogo from Game of Thrones had, but with a happier ending (I would love this one). Or it is just an outright kidnapping sort of deal. Which could tie into the Beauty and the Beast dynamic. Maybe one of them is like a prize to the other (ie a warrior/gladiator being gifted a prize for winning a tournament or battle in the form of a bride or a warrior is taken hostage and is given as a prize to the ruler's daughter?) But I am open to ideas of course! Related to the above, kinda. A cruel, tyrant of a king takes a bride for reasons that are not all that genuine. Someone who is either part of the rebel forces or maybe a lone wolf kidnaps her and they wind up on the run, first as captor and captive and then as something more. Untitled: Set in the classic pseudo medieval time period, a person of noble or royal blood has either fled or been cast out of their home (the latter could tie into a beauty and the beast ish plot). They cross paths with a person of common blood and things develop. Untitled 2: A princess/noble woman and a knight (or other kind of castle worker) become close, but their stations in life and maybe a few other things make it complicated. Untitled 3: Something with pirates could be fun! Untitled 4: This idea is a cracky one but hey, lets throw it out there. It's a fusion of Grey's Anatomy and Buffy. Basically my character is a Slayer who decided to go into medicine instead of slaying since due to the events of the finale, she is not the one girl in all the world. But this is still the Buffy-verse and with the soapy dramatics of GA thrown in, life is not simple. So there will be romance, action, adventure and so much more. Note: I have only seen the shows and have not read the comics. And of course, original stories inspired by the fandoms listed above. Something Shameless, AHS Freak Show, Dany/Drogo or IASIP inspired would be amazing right now. It could be combined with a plot of course. As I have said, I deal in originals only. misc: There are some relationship dynamics I would like to explore: love to hate, age gaps (older man, younger woman, up to 15 years), best friends falling for each other, werewolves or werewolf/human, vampire/human, artist and their muse, opposites attract, boss/employee, co-workers or partners. The three shows I would use to sum up my sense of humor are: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Most Popular Girls in School and Community.

-I use face claims, but only if my partner does as well. So it is not mandatory at all.

-Also, OOC chatter is fine with me. I like to geek out over characters as well, chatter about them, talk headcanons, maybe do little AU sidestories and whatnot. I love pinterest, polyvore and even making playlists on spotify.

I am open to ideas and plots can always be combined. Don't just send a message saying 'hey wanna rp?'. Tell me about yourself and what you want to write. I am fine with drama and angst in the story, but not all the time. RP is supposed to be fun!

#oc rp #long term #email #submission

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desperatelyseekingroleplay · 5 years ago

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-I use face claims, but only if my partner does as well. So it is not mandatory at all.

#Desperately Seeking Roleplay #Writing Partner Wanted #Roleplay Partner Wanted #Roleplay Partner Ad #Long Term Roleplay Wanted #submission

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diveronarpg · 5 years ago

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Congratulations, NAY! You’ve been accepted for the role of CRESSIDA with an FC change to Bree Kish. Admin Rosey: I am absolutely shrieking over the fact that we have our beloved, ferocious Celeste back in the group! You have taken the character that has been presented and added a number of layers to her that makes her so completely and utterly unique in her own right. The potential future that you have built up for her has me completely over the moon and there is nothing I am more excited for than to watch her grow -- or fail. Regardless, I’m ready for Celeste to kick ass! Please read over the checklist and send in your blog within 24 hours.

WELCOME TO THE MOB.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias | Nay.

Age | Twenty-one & I shall smut plenty, thank you very much.

Preferred Pronouns | she/her.

Activity Level | Active enough? I don’t apply for characters I’m not stupid in love with, so I’ll truly want to explore them every chance I get and activity doesn’t have a chance of being an issue. I’d hedge a bet on being a pretty solid 7 out of 10, allowing for when I’m just too tired for my brain to function to produce any measure of eloquence~

Timezone | GMT+5.

How did you find the RP? | I signed away my soul to it, oops.

Current/Past RP Accounts | I’ve never RP’ed a day before in my life… what are you talking about…?

IN CHARACTER

Character | CRESSIDA / Celeste Duval

{ NOTE: I’d really like to keep the FC change to Bree Kish, please. There’s just something about the red hair that really fits who I see Celeste as! }

What drew you to this character? | Have I told you how much I love this question? Because I love this question so much. It’s my favourite portion of the application: this opportunity to really go into actual detail about what it is about a particular character that gets you hooked. I so deeply enjoy the way it’s such a particular answer for every character—at least for me—that is very singularly attached to that one character, absolutely due to the fact that there is always a moment where I can’t resist it, whatever it is, the idea in my head or the skeleton, or long-paragraphed biography, or aesthetic concept.

With Celeste, it was empathy, to be completely honest with you. A part of me was already itching to sink my teeth into another character (and let’s just call that a testament to how quickly this group has restored the pleasure of this process for me) and I knew I wanted it to either be someone neutral, or a Montague – but I wasn’t expecting to casually, half-asleep, peruse through a biography & have to sit up in bed, electrified by a ZING! of connection. Let’s call that love at first sight. That’s what drew me to her. I read that biography, and my brain supplied a stanza from Plath’s Lady Lazarus: “Out of the ash / I rise with my red hair / And I eat men like air.”

But that’s a pretty brief cop-out of an answer, isn’t it? So I’ll at least tell you the many things about her that I am so in love with. I’ll tell you the way I love what a woman she is. I love her ferocity, and I love her humanness – which, I do want to clarify, isn’t necessarily not ferocious. I see Celeste as quite the discombobulation of aspects & emotions. When I speak of humanness, I mean that I love how vividly alive she is, and so intensely open to more classically tender feelings of adoration and hurt and sadness, yes, but also the more classically harsh emotions such as jealousy, and anger, and pettiness. I love her willpower, the sheer force of it that has tided her through so much of her life, and how it clashes with that very relatable, very painful internal need to be enough for our parents, to be accepted & loved by them, no matter how much you claim that you can do (and have been doing) without. I love what a sexy, confident, sassy, badass feminist she is. I see her as being extremely sexy, and 90% of that is how confident and unapologetic she is about taking up space. I genuinely just love what she represents.

And I want to be the one who develops her, with an integration of nuances that make her more than just a bold representation, and unravels a story that this wonderful, special baby deserves.

What is a future plot idea you have in mind for the character? | As always, this is prefaced with the disclaimer that these are all subject to change, and merely ideas to build off of & give a vibe for the things I’d like to do with this super dynamic character.

→ ONE. The first thing has to be the plotline with Easton. Oh, wow – she wants to slice him like cheese, my friends. I would really like to explore her playing with that, because I think the connection in her biography says plenty: she will exact revenge. Now, I could see this playing out in many, many ways, honestly, but my favourite one is her using Easton’s game against him. He wants to make her feel powerless? Well, Celeste Duval is very, very well-versed in making men feel powerful, when it’s really her who is running the show. I see her, by sheer power of will, being one of those people who gets shit done, and she’s exceptionally clever, or she wouldn’t have made it this far in life with so many odds against her from the get-go. That plotline is something I’m absolutely dying to play around with, because I truly believe that it can be what builds her up or it can be what ultimately undoes her.

→ TWO. This marriage between her & Tomas is absolutely fascinating to me. I very much believe Celeste to be one of those all or nothing! kind of people, and with Tomas, though she feels nothing, it is a relationship that has a very gravitational pull on so many other aspects of her life. It is a representation of the sacrifice she made for parents who have never treated her to a modicum of parental affection, who she swears up & down don’t matter, and still, infuriatingly, very much do. It is a roadblock to a happy ending with a person who Celeste reveres, who is the love of her life and the centre of her universe and the only3 time in her life she’s felt like she is home. I really want to toy with that; I want to see how far Celeste can pull this off before this man can tell that she is not, and never will be, in love with him. I want to see if she’ll get to a point where she won’t even bother to pretend anymore. I want to see the dynamic of their marriage. And I’ll admit – I want him to find out that she has very much not been faithful to him, and then I want to see where she takes that truth.

→ THREE. I would really like to see Celeste reach a place of peace where her parents are concerned. I want to take her on a journey that makes her let go of them, and for her to find love, specifically familial love, in some corner that shows her what that sort of relationship is truly supposed to be. This is because I have this sneaking suspicion that this huge leap could make a sincerely positive wave, and the ripples would spread out to the other areas of her life. Celeste is a very dynamic character, and an extremely emotional one, and I can see her interpersonal relationships having an extreme impact on the direction/mind-set she opts for.

→ FOUR. On a less wholesome note, though, I want to see her choices challenge her relationship with Isabella, too. I want to explore this love of theirs – and I want to stretch Celeste thin about it, making her choose between her reputation, her misplaced sense of duty to her parents, her pragmatism & ambitions, and weigh them against this person she never planned to meet or love. I don’t think there is anything in the world that is more precious to Celeste than what is between herself & Isabella; I don’t think there is anything more sacred. I want to see the lengths she will go to protect it. I want to see what she would sacrifice for it, how much of who she decided she would be she can let go of, how brave she can be, how it can cause her to grow.

Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | Maybe…

IN DEPTH

IN-CHARACTER INTERVIEW:

What is your favourite place in Verona?

By Isabella’s side, she knows, immediate and sure. There's no question about it. The location did not matter; a graze of her fingertips could make a church feel like it was made for sinning, a classroom for falling in love, a street for an exchange of the most intimate of secrets. There is no pause for contemplation. There is no need for questions.

Her smile is a secret — and privately, reverently, Celeste promises to keep it. Her shoulders lift in a careless shrug. “I don't favour places,” she smirks around the unabashed words. “I let them favour me.”

What does your typical day look like?

“Mmm,” the sound is soft, but never makes it to sweet. Gloss coats her mouth thickly, and it has nothing on the syrup drizzle of her words: “I detest the idea of typical. That was never the life I wanted to lead; routine makes me restless, and being restless makes me dangerous. Hasn't anyone told you about cornering animals? Doesn't end well.” And this once, it is not a lie. This is not surprising. There were many things that Celeste Duval could lie about, do it without so much as blinking twice – that was, all those except for those she cared not to.

This was a part of herself she chose not to sacrifice. Celeste refused to be bored. As her much-adored Zelda Fitzgerald had once written, it was chiefly because she wasn't boring.

What has been your biggest mistake thus far?

“How much time do you have?” she asks, wryly. The arch of Celeste's brows is sharp, caught between something caustic & amused. It isn't funny – and somehow, that nearly earns a snort of laughter from her. Was her whole life not one? She had been one every day of her life, become who she has because of it. A girl, pretty & useless; only an accessory or tool or toy.

Wasn't marrying Tomas? As if she cared enough for it to be a contender. Was giving her heart up, losing any will to fight off how easy it was to belong to Isabella? Not being careful enough, being caught by the Craven runt? Perhaps not slitting every Capulet bastard's fucking throat on her way out of the cage they put her in?

Her laugh is poisonous. “There aren't enough hours in the world, mon chou.”

What has been the most difficult task asked of you?

“Tasks are not asked of me. They are given; synonymous with an order. There is no second or third option; there is no no's or fucking maybes,” the words had all the potential to be serrated, cutting through the poor wretch they were flung at, unflinching. Somehow, they come out patient. Solemn.

She leaves the answer at that, without truly giving one. Why would she? A lifetime's worth of being deemed weak, and there was a desire for an open admittance of it? HA! Celeste would be damned seven ways to Sunday before she fell for that. “Difficult is a subjective term. I fulfill my tasks; I rise to all challenges – and then, I conqueror them. That is the script I've penned for myself. Learn it.”

What are your thoughts on the war between the Capulets and the Montagues?

Capulets. Oh, the very word sets her aflame. It's enough to have her fists curling to white-knuckled bundles at her sides, quivering. Is she meant to forget how they took her, kept her as their little prisoner? Is she meant to forget the way Easton Craven uses the brightest thing she has ever known to solicit dark betrayal from her – using her, just like them, like she was a toy?

“There is one acceptable ending. The streets can run red with their blood. I only hope to contribute to the spillage.” She does not blink.

Extras:

– pinterest board;

– headcanons:

Due to her mother being French, she was raised on a multilingual education. Celeste is, therefore, fluent in English, Italian & French – though, she automatically reverts to French cooing in situations calling for tenderness, and filthy, crude-mouthed Italian when she is angry.

Once, on her way home, Celeste was halted by a distinct, pitiful mewling sound from beneath a stairwell. A scrappy, runt of the litter, left abandoned, came home with her that day. She calls him Victor – after Victor Hugo.

There is no text in the world that Celeste Duval adores with the intensity she does the Les Misérables novels. Already, she has large chunks of it memorized, and it is not enough to keep her from curling up in a bathtub with one at the end of a hard day.

There’s very little in the world that a hot bath can’t make her feel at least a fraction better about. She spends entirely too much money on bath-bombs.

She deeply, deeply dislikes children. She has zero tolerance for their shenanigans, no thank you.

Though she is categorically partial to jewellery in general, she has an affinity for anklets in particular. It is very rare to see her without one wound around an ankle, typically her left one.

She enjoys a nice trashy tabloid with her breakfast, but she’ll watch some news after a raunchy round of sex.

Celeste thinks about quitting smoking at least once a day. The better half of a decade into the nasty habit, and she has yet to go through with it.

The one part of herself she was insecure about growing up, and the one part she is astonishingly vain about in adulthood is the same: her hair. She cares for it meticulously, for all that it is always in a very deliberate state of dishevelment.

She has an awful, awful nail-biting habit.

#accepted #accepted: cressida

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cambridgefamilyfiction · 6 years ago

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When We Were Young Chapter 1: The dispute

So sorry this has taken us so long to put out. It is pretty bad but i hope you enjoy it anyway. Remember send in requests so we can write more of what you want. - Audrey.

March 2011

Will and Kate were enjoying a “friendly” game of Monopoly with their siblings, they had all had a few drinks so were quite lively. It was getting intense everybody was getting increasingly verbal when someone bought a piece of property they were collecting. Not everyone was entirely happy with the direction the game was going; Pippa took it upon herself to shut everybody up. “so you two, you’ve been together almost a decade and you’re getting married in a month. Are you ever going to tell us how your fairytale romance came to be” She obviously directed at her sister and her fiancée, the game had already been forgotten when Harry and James backed her up with unified “oh yeah’s”. The couple looked at each other and laughed, silently wondering if they had ever told anyone the story before, sure, everyone knew the basics, they met at university, moved in to a flat with some friends and then things developed, what they were being asked for were the intricate details of who liked who, who asked who out, a detailed retelling of the first date, first kiss, the dynamics of the early stages of such a widely celebrated royal romance before anyone knew it even existed.

“Basically William was in love with me from the first moment he lay eyes on me and followed me around for the next two years begging me to go on a date with him.” Will disagreed with her statement and quickly retorted “yes that is entirely true except you were in love me” “oh you have got to be kidding me, come off it William” “Uh oh looks like you’ve started a domestic Pip.” James said “why don’t we just agree that you both liked each other.” Now Harry spoke up “do you know I reckon that’s true because when I came to visit you before you two were an item I could totally see that you guys had major googly eyes for each other and I felt like I was interrupting something when I talked to both of you together. William and Kate reluctantly accepted this but in their head they still believed they were right, they were not going to let it go until they knew the answer, it was sort of like the Ross and Rachel who came onto who debate.

***

November 2002

The four friends had been living together for about a month, the flat was not huge so naturally they were all in each other’s space a fair bit of the time. Not that they minded all that much, some of them less than others. William was enjoying the normalcy of living without intrusion and getting to spend so much time with his friends. He had grown particularly close to Kate, they shared many things in common, History of Art classes were no longer one of them but it was thanks to Kate that he was still at university, and he’d never been gladder of it than in this moment when he realised how grateful he was to have the opportunity to get to know and form an incredible friendship with this girl. He thought he was starting to develop a crush on her; she had the most beautiful smile that let out the most infectious laugh he’d ever heard. He knew that he would have to be careful after all nothing could ever happen between them, he would never subject her to the cruel nature of his world, little did he know that she too was developing a crush of her own.

As she was lying in bed Kate was beginning to realise how much she valued spending time with William, he was such a genuine person who she could share just about anything with, without fear of being judged. They talked about everything; she loved the fact that they could have long conversations about both superficial and intellectual things. She convinced herself that she had to stop thinking about him in a romantic way, he was a Prince for goodness sakes he would never fall for her.

Harry was on his way to visit William in his flat for the first time since he’d moved in. He had been giving William flack by text about the girls he was living with, who were supposedly just friends. Harry believed his brother had something going on with Olivia. Harry realised just how wrong he was when he arrived. Kate had cooked dinner for all of them William said thank you to her about 45 times and her gentle rub of Williams shoulder in reply did not escape his attention. He noticed that the room mates paid a lot more attention to each other than anyone else at the table and William laughed at everything she said.

Later that evening he cornered William and began interrogating him about the nature of his relationship with Kate, “so mate, what’s going on between you and Kate” “Harry shut up there is nothing going on between me and Kate.” “William! Are you kidding me that is such lie and you know it, I can see the way you look at her and if there is nothing going on you wish there was.” “Alright fine I really like her but nothings ever going to happen because I don’t want her to have to deal with my life.” “Okay but she definitely likes you too” “harry that’s not possible” “alright think what you want brother but you know I’m always right.” “No harm in asking her on a date” “Harry, are you kidding she would never go out with me” “William you are so so so naïve.”

Lying in bed that night, William wondered if there was any truth in what Harry had been saying, he hoped there was. He made a mental note to try and figure out if she really did like him back, he had a few ideas that he would try out tomorrow. He fell asleep with a hopeful grin on his face.

“Good morning all” William bellowed as he made his way into the kitchen for breakfast. Kate’s toast was taking much longer than she would have liked, she expressed her dissatisfaction with the toaster speed “ugh why is this taking such a long time, I’m so hungry!” Will chimed in with the classic “hi hungry I’m William” she laughed a little “that was the worst joke I have ever heard Will, even for you that was bad” she may have just insulted him but she did laugh at his terrible joke so he took that as a sign she liked him, he began a mental tally 1 point for, 0 against. Throughout the day he observed Kate’s every move, noted her reaction when he put his hand on the small of her back - she didn’t flinch, he analysed the way her fingers lingered slightly longer than necessary on his hip when she squeezed past him in the kitchen, he consciously engaged her in eye contact and watched as she held his gaze without nervously glancing every other direction and as the day progressed so did his jokes they got progressively worse that is, still, she laughed even if just half heartedly at some.

Kate stood in front of the mirror brushing her teeth reflecting on the incredibly weird day she’d just had, William was being very strange, stranger than usual. She had to admit she had a little crush on him but they were just friends, well she thought they were just friends. Kate decided she couldn’t solve this on her own so she called in the big guns her little sister. It sounds strange to ask your younger sister for relationship advice, truth was however Pippa had always been better at this stuff, she had more experience. Kate was well aware of the irony of the situation but shot Pippa a text anyway. She explained the countless bad jokes, the weird wide eyed starring at her all day and everything else. Pippa responded “Kate he definitely likes you, you should ask him out he’s probably too shy” Kate replied with only two words “NO WAY!”.

“Kate the others have gone out, wanna watch a movie?” “Yeah okay but I get to pick” “Sure, shall I order a pizza?” “Yep and I’ll make a salad.” “ so what movie do you want to watch I’ll get it all set up while you’re making the salad” a sly smile crept across Kate’s face “Princess Diaries” William laughed “are you serious Kate?” “Deadly, hey come on it looks good and I just bought it last week I’ve been dying to watch it, who better to watch it with?” “Fair play Middleton no harm in watching it once” he was pleasantly surprised, they both burst in to fits giggles when his picture flashed across the screen “you look good there” “shut up” he mumbled in response.

When the movie finished they were both relaxed and were sitting close together. William decided to take advantage of the moment, “Kate? Can I tell you something?” “Of course” she replied and turned to face him. “you are one of my best friends and I love the time that we spend together, we can have so much fun but we can also be so serious, I love that I can be 100% real with you and I’ve been thinking this for a while but I really like you Kate, I really really like you.” He had kept talking and was starting to ramble so Kate put her hand on his to stop him “let’s have dinner next week, just the two of us” a big smile made it’s way across both of their faces as they sank back into comfortable conversation, their hands still clutched together.

***

2011

“So when it comes down to it, you both liked each other and basically you both asked each other out.” Harry said. “Well, yeah, I suppose” William replied, this led to the five of them laughing, Pippa spoke now, “are you sure you should be getting married? You bicker over the founding details of your relationship only to discover that your both wrong, how do you not remember the first date?!” “I wouldn’t want to marry anyone else” Kate said as she caught Williams gaze and they both smiled. James pretended to be sick. “So go on, we haven’t even got to the stuff, what happened on the first date?”

*** 2002

“So when are we having this dinner?” William asked as they were walking back from their respective classes for the day. “I’ve been thinking about that and since you nor I really want to flash it around I thought we could go to my house. My family is away for the weekend and I had already planned to go so you’d just drive separately and no one will ever know.” “Seems like such an ordeal just for dinner” he responded though he was grateful that the very start of their relationship would be played out in private rather than in front of the prying eyes of other university students. “So are we keeping this secret from everyone?” She asked “at least until we know the nature of it. I think it would be best.” He replied. She grinned “our little secret”. “One more thing William” “Yes?” she was serious now “will you be bringing your security team with you?” “If I brought them, it wouldn’t be our little secret, would it?” she smiled like a child on Christmas morning, a smile that was so contagious William found himself smiling too. They kept talking and walking “this is all so thrilling I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to keep this up” Kate said. William responded, “I reckon you can last 6 months at least.” “Will we still have a secret to keep in 6 months?” she asked “I hope so.” He said. In that moment the two of them wanted nothing more than to hold hands but that would mean letting people in on their secret, something they were not willing to do. It was Thursday evening, Kate would leave at lunchtime tomorrow after her classes were done and William would follow an hour or so later because he had an extra class. They both decided to drive and not fly to avoid travel to and from airports and boarding planes and such and for William driving meant he could avoid the inevitable stares of strangers. Neither of them could wait.

“Are you excited to go home this weekend Kate?” one of their flat mates asked her at dinner that evening “I can’t wait! Although I think I’m most excited to see my dog.” That comment earned her giggle from everyone present. “What is everyone else doing this weekend?” she asked. “Since we are on the topic I’m going home this weekend too.” William said. “Dad’s asked me back because Harry is home from school for the weekend too.” “Looks like it’s just us two then.” Fergus and Olivia high fived.

Kate’s phone buzzed, she picked it up to see who it was, it was William his message read; “hey, I’m here come and let me in please.” When Kate opened the door he was standing there with a bunch of flowers in his hand “these are for you” he said before kissing her cheek. Kate laughed, “come in”. William thought she looked very cute, she was wearing an apron and had her hair up high in a messy bun. They were both a bit shy “I’ll show you around, where to put your bag and such” she said gesturing for Will to follow. The house was large but not overwhelmingly so, she showed him around the downstairs area before heading up the stairs. Her parents’ room was first on the left, Pippa’s was next to it and James’ across from it, they sprouted from the landing that had a big window looking out over the street. Kate then led William down a corridor she pointed to her right “this is the spare room which is where you’ll stay” the bed was very nicely made and the window looked out onto the back of the property it was so green, the garden perfectly groomed. “Nice view” William said before following Kate down the hall again “and this is my room” she pointed to the door in front of them. “May I see it?” William asked, eager to see where she had grown up. He believed a persons bedroom revealed so much about them. “Of course” she opened the door and motioned for him to go in and sit down. It was very clean and simple, not too much stuff crammed in. She had a few pictures with her siblings and a few with her friends. A bookcase stood in the corner, full, but not overflowing and her bed was perfectly made with more pillows than was practical. It suited her he thought, beautiful without trying too hard. “I better get back to the kitchen” she smiled at him “you can stay up here and settle in if you want or you can come back down, up to you” “I’ll come back down, I can help you cook.” Kate laughed “ no offence William but I think I’ll cook tonight, I’d quite like to actually eat whatever is made.” William clutched his chest “ouch! That one hurt.” “ If you insist on being helpful you can set the table and light some candles while I finish dinner.” “Candles?” he asked “are we expecting someone special?” “No, just some deadbeat I met at university, I’m only doing this to humour him” “suppose he is only here out of pity for the girl” Kate let out a full laugh “please William we all know that is false, you’ve been waiting for this moment your whole life” “well if I have, so have you.” “Hmmm you might be right,” she said as she placed their plates on the table and poured them each a glass of wine. She went to put her apron back in the kitchen “Will you can sit down you know.” “I know” she gave him a weird look when he stayed standing where he was. When she came back to the table he pulled the chair out for her and then sat down himself. “I was really nervous for tonight” William chuckled “more nervous than I’ve ever been for a date, not that I’ve been on many” “why?” “I don’t know I guess I just wanted it to go well” “That’s cute Will, I think its going pretty well so far, don’t you?” “yes” he said and he took her hand across the table briefly before they both went back to eating. Kate got up to clear the table William placed his hand on her wrist to stop her “let me” “fine you wash, I’ll dry”.

“Cup of tea?” “Oh yes please” “I’ll bring it into the sitting room in a minute, you can turn the TV on if you want” Kate said pointing in the direction of the room she was talking about. When she walked in with the tray of tea she found William sitting on the couch “there wasn’t anything good on TV so I just put the radio on. She sat down next to him and listened to the music – it must have been a 90s station. As the opening notes of ‘No Matter What’ by Boyzone played she smiled “I love this song.” William stood up and held out his hand “would you like to dance?” she took his hand and he spun her around, their hands were locked and their heads close together. He spun her again, this time only half the way round so her back was against his front and his hands were wrapped around her stomach, his head sat perfectly in her shoulder. They danced until the early hours when they both decided it was time to go to bed. They went up the stairs hand in hand and gave each other half smiles as they slowly pulled away when they said their goodnights.

*** 2011

“Kate, I didn’t know you had your first date at home.” “Nobody did, Mum and Dad would have killed me if they knew I was alone in the house with a boy all weekend.” Pippa gasped and a shocked expression made its way across her face exaggeratedly she said “CATHERINE MIDDLETON” “relax Pippa, nothing happened. Not that time anyway.” Her eyes met Williams and they smiled knowingly at each other.

#royal fanfiction #Duke of Cambridge #duchess of cambridge #kate middleton #Prince William

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roxannc · 6 years ago

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❝ Girls like her were born in a storm. They have lightning in their souls. Thunder in their hearts. And chaos in their bones. ❞ AISHA DEE? No, that’s actually ROXANNE WEASLEY. A SIXTH YEAR student, this RAVENCLAW student is sided with MCGONAGALL’S ARMY. SHE identifies as CIS-WOMAN and is a HALFBLOOD who is known to be DRAMATIC, HAUGHTY, and TEMPERAMENTAL but also PASSIONATE, SOCIABLE, and OPENMINDED.

LINKS: stats, pinboard, character tag. CHARACTER PARALLELS: donna pinciotti (that 70s show), amy pond (doctor who), amy santiago (brooklyn 99), dan wilds (aftg) HELLO just a quick note from me mar, some of this is for sure up for change, mostly regarding the wotters and family in general!! besides that, here we finally Go

history

roxanne voice: i was born in an iconic family because it was my destiny to be iconic! but --- in all honesty --- she is right. roxanne is born to george & angelina one hot summer morning, waking up the whole damn hospital with her crying and huge lungs. she has a brother --- fred, who’s officially her half brother, but that’s not something that makes him anything less than her brother. and then there’s heaps of cousins, almost too many of them, and uncles and aunts and other people to call family, and from day one, it’s all good.

roxanne was a chaotic kid, growing up. a cheerful and energetic and exciting one, but a chaotic one. dirty walls and destruction followed her wherever she went. a bit of a hurricane of a girl, even then. roxanne discovered her love for quidditch at a young age, too, and how couldn’t she? it was in her blood and all around her and there was something bloody magical about flying.

a love for people and laughter and loving people was also discovered. roxanne grew up in a warm environment and had plenty of reasons to love the people she loved, even if she needed none. there was, of course, tragedy in her blood too, an awareness that there’s horrible things in this world --- an awareness that she buried as soon as she was able to.

upon arrival at hogwarts, the hat took a while to decide between gryffindor and ravenclaw but went with the latter, in the end. was roxanne disappointed? a bit, maybe. she would have liked to be sorted into the same house as her parents and brother and a lot of her family but the hat had made some solid points and heck, she wouldnt be roxanne if she looked at ravenclaw as a challenge.

was eventually sorted in ravenclaw because her mind, in the end, is her motivator. she might be a very physically active and present person, but she thinks. a lot. about everything. ( with an exception for moments where she acts on impulse. ) roxanne is a very bright individual, to be honest --- she’s able to be booksmart and she likes learning. she likes challenging herself. above all, she just has a Very open mind and is always looking to broaden it.

is a whirlwind. roxanne joined and dropped clubs like no other, switched favourite subject every month, delved into odd sections of the library to become an expert on rare subjects ... it was a lot. her grades suffered under it, too --- roxanne might be a loyal person, but she’s damn flighty. there were, of course, passions that she stuck with. quidditch, of course, but also justice. roxanne, as a queer woman of colour, has always felt very passionately for human rights issues and knows shit about it too. always down for a debate over lunch. getting on the quidditch team was one of the best days of her damn life. getting the quidditch badge later on was an even better day. roxanne loves the sport so much, wants to go pro once she’s graduated, is crazy competitive. she’s a gay jock. another cliché character by mar learned eventually how to focus and keep her grades up, but she does have trouble motivating herself for things that dont interest her. she’s just not an academic. she likes learning, loves it actually --- but hates the way she has to do it at school. hates it. she’s still working hard to get good grades, of course, because she gets that that’s part of life but she just really... wishes it wasnt. [ death, murder tw so life was going pretty good and then her uncle was murdered and everything went to shit like that. and--- here’s roxanne’s question: how in the living hell do you deal with that? she doesn’t know, that’s for sure. she knows that she’s angry. that she’s absolutely livid and not sure what to do with the grief in her chest because damn it, that’s not her thing, not at all. she’s sickened with worry. she mostly is enraged at the world and that this is happening and that people can be like this. end of tw ]

so joining the DA was something roxanne didn’t even think about. she just did it. her studies, once again, have taken a backseat while she pushes all her energy into the DA and the team, as that functions as something ... as close as therapeutic as she can get, i suppose. leading her team, searching that snitch, hoping to win, win, win --- all things that in the grand scheme of things dont matter but do make it easier to deal.

roxanne ... she’s a lot. she’s a fucking lot. she’s a mess.

personality & rambling

roxanne does NOTHING half heartedly; she either commits fully or doesn’t do something at all. she doesn’t do half-assing, doesn’t believe in it — this got her in a fair amount of trouble at hogwarts (handing in 10/10 homework or ,,, not doing it or barely doing it) and she knows it’s a bad attitude to have, deep down. not that she’s admitted that to herself yet, though. things have been put in perspective now, though. it’s clear that there’s no room for just doing what she wants to do and what she feels like, so she’s ... improving ( and yet completely abandoning her studies lmao )

when roxanne is passionate about something, she goes on about it for a long time. loves ranting about topics that drive her, is very vocal of her views and thoughts and hardly shuts up about it. can be condescending, at times; roxanne believes she’s always right, has little humility to her — she often doesn’t try to put herself in other people’s shoes, thinks that anyone who disagrees is simply wrong. it’s a thinking pattern she’s trying to shake, but alas; it’s easier said than done.

this is also a way for her to cope with her insecurities, tbh; she puts others down in her head so she can lift herself up. unhealthy!!! yikes! it’s something she’s pretty unaware of.

i mean, roxanne is, deep down, very fucking insecure. she has this surname that’s got a bit of fame to it and she has such high ideals for everyone around her including herself. especially for herself. her confidence is not completely feigned, i think part of it is definitely real, but part of it is definitely a mask

roxanne LOVES music. she’s into everything that either is a jam, old classic rock or has a damn good message. she’s v passionate abt it. her spotify? gold. she’s also a good singer! this video is literally roxanne im sorry aisha dee move over! honestly if she had mroe time she would try and get into music bc she would love that but yeno quidditch is the name of the game (someone show her hsm and show her that u can do both)

she’s so competitive someone please stop her from fighting everyone over quidditch

uh she’s just very... much. she’s outgoing and loud and dramatic and her emotions are like! all over the place! and change very easily! she thinks she’s a lot herself too tbh she’s constantly exhausted from herself which i think is valid and relatable on a personal lvl for me.

possible plots

friendos roxanne loves ppl and loving ppl so let’s go and have some FRIENDS up in this building. couldve met through family things, in the library, on the pitch, in dueling club, in any other club that roxanne was in for a short amount of time, etc etc etc. roxanne is fairly easy to place at hogwarts bc she’s everywhere

quidditch competition just give me all the plots if you have a fellow quidditch pal because roxanne is ready to fight to the death for that cup!!

dumbledore’s army bros people that roxanne got to know better through the da would be v interesting because it’s a ??? weird base for a friendship or dynamic ( i mean, a tough one. like ... we’re buds because we’re fighting for a cause whihc we shouldnt even be fighting for bc the world shouldnt be like this )

idk roxanne is literally so all over the place, if your character is at hogwarts im sure we can plot something??? enemies, shenanigan pals, exes, study buddies, etc etc etc

#iidyintro #issa report!!!#repost #i didnt go to school for typing

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polyrolemodels · 6 years ago

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Mx Nillin

1. How long have you been polyamorous or been practicing polyamory?

Personally? Less than 5 years. I’ve been non-monogamous with my nesting partner, Falon, for about 4 years now, but neither of us explicitly identified as polyamorous until we started seeing our best friend Kate about a year ago.

2. What does your relationship dynamic look like?

Falon and I are legally married and live together in a tiny apartment with a cat and two guinea pigs. We’re in a romantic, sexual, and emotional relationship with our best friend, Kate, who lives on her own a short drive across town.

Kate doesn’t want to ever get married or live with anybody else. She really values having her own place to herself and so do we, so, it just works out for everybody really well! We all see each other multiple times a week, binge watching Netflix shows, playing nerdy tabletop games, going on date nights, checking out local events, or trying out threesome positions for ourselves and then blogging about them [http://mxnillin.com/will-it-threesome-double-dip/] LOL

Though Fal, Kate, and I are in a closed polyamorous triad together, we’re all still non-monogamous to a degree. Each of us has a friend or two we sometimes share nudes and flirt with outside of our relationship, but the three of us are all romantically committed to each other.

3. What aspect of polyamory do you excel at?

Ugh, honestly, I wouldn’t say that I “excel” at anything so much as I’m just doing the best I can to look after my own health and wellness while also striving to be the best partner I can be to Kate and Falon.

I used to be REALLY bad at the whole self-care thing and it lead to a lot of fear, anxiety, insecurities, and jealousy in my past relationships. I almost exclusively relied on those who I was intimate with to just comfort me until I felt better. In some cases, I put the entire onus of my mental and emotional health onto my past partners. Unsurprisingly, that created some incredibly fucking unhealthy behaviors as I sought out a pretty constant supply of comfort, validation, and assurance from them in order for me to feel happy and secure in those relationships.

That’s not so much an issue for me anymore, and I’m really proud of that because it has taken a lot of hard work to unlearn those toxic behaviors, develop healthier personal habits, and overall better communicate with the people who I love. I’m also much more on top of taking my anti-depressant pills, and going in to see my counsellor, when necessary.

That’s not to say I’m some stoic, chill master of my emotions or anything. Insecurities still crop up, jealousy sometimes rears its head, and on occasion a little validation is appreciated, but I think all of that is pretty natural

4. What aspect of polyamory do you struggle with?

The stigma. Holy shit, the stigma

I‘ve never loved two people at the same time, and in the same ways, before. I’ve never been committed to two partners at once before. Like, it’s no exaggeration when I say that my relationship with Falon and Kate has shattered my entire perspective of life, love, family, the institution of marriage, identity, politics, and so much more.

And all for the better, I might add!

But polyamory isn’t something you see reflected back at you by society, especially not in any sort of positive, judgement-free way. It’s not a relationship structure that’s even sorta socially, politically, governmentally, or economically accepted, let alone widely acknowledged, talked about, written about, ore seen out in public. And it sure as shit isn’t represented in a lot in literature, or art, or media of any kind… at least not in ways that don’t tend to be fetishizing or tragic.

I mean, when’s the last time you’ve seen any sort of show about an everyday non-binary queer navigating life with their poly family? Never? Yeah, me neither.

All of this has led to us having to pretty regularly endure super shitty, awkward situations of us having to be in the closet depending on who we’re interacting with at any given time. Trying to remember who you’re out to, and who is SAFE to be out to, is exhausting and stressful for us all.

And that fucking blows. Yet it’s oftentimes necessary for all our safety.

5. How do you address and/or overcome those struggles?

I talk about it with my partners. A lot. We check in with each other pretty often and we don’t let difficult discussions go undiscussed for long.

And I write about it too! Maybe too much at times haha.

I find that by putting myself out there, speaking up about my experiences and relationships, it has helped me empower others in their poly relationships while offering me the opportunity to learn from them as well. Especially other sex bloggers, writers, and workers.

I’ve also surrounded myself with a pretty amazing little family of queer and trans folks who have been wonderful supports in my life.

6. In terms of risk-aware/safer sex, what do you and your partners do to protect one another?

Clear, concise, honest communication has been key. Fal, Kate, and I are all aware of each other’s past partners and we’ve all tested ourselves for STI’s. Currently, we’re all fluid-bonded together, so, condom usage isn’t really there like it used to be. However, we still make sure to boil any sex toys that are shared (between uses), keep our nails trimmed, use lube as needed, and generally make sure that we’re listening to and respecting each other’s boundaries.

7. What is the worst mistake you've ever made in your polyamorous history and how did you rebound from that?

Not sure if this is really a polyamory mistake so much as it is a boundaries issue. A couple years ago, shortly after Falon and I were married, I had JUST started blogging about how non-monogamy worked for us when we became good friends with somebody we had met through our local LGBTQ+ community. Early on in the friendship, the three of us mutually masturbated together, but we were very explicit in expressing that we were not looking for a relationship of any kind and that the three-way ‘bating was just for fun and probably not a regular thing.

End of story, right?

Not so much. While Fal and I felt that we were very clear, and that our friend had understood, he instead doubled down. Over the months that followed, he ended up inserting himself into our relationship in a lot of invasive ways that on their own looked innocent enough, but when considered all at once were actually quite manipulative. Then one day he tries to show up at our house to talk with Falon, and when they said they weren’t feeling comfortable taking right now (he was being very pushy) he just forced the conversation anyway by professing his love to them. Oh, and me too, but only as an afterthought when Falon made it clear they were NOT interested.

Things went downhill from there really fast as we started to realize the real degree of his intrusiveness, complete with finding out he had been self-sabotaging opportunities for himself because he had this thought in his head that we’d all live up living together.

Anyway, it’s a long story overall but Fal and I learned a lot about what we were and weren’t comfortable with and set even cleared boundaries with others. That whole thing was bad enough that it almost turned us off from non-monogamy and polyamory altogether though. Luckily, we worked through it because several months after that gong show things started up with Kate, which has been amazing!

8. What self-identities are important to you? How do you feel like polyamory intersects with or affects those identities?

I am a fat, queer, non-binary, loud, foul-mouthed sex blogger with hairy tits, a girl cock, and a full-on fetish for actively subverting social roles and expectations… so of course I’m also polyamorous haha. Seriously though, over the last several years I’ve radically transformed myself as a person, to better reflect who I’ve always been but didn’t feel safe or confident being until my late twenties. I had to, because if I didn’t I was on the fast track to self-destruction [but that’s another story entirely].

Now, for the first time ever, I feel empowered to live my life as my authentic self and it turns out that a big part of that has included being polyamorous. Monogamy, at least in how it exists in our culture, has always felt incredibly restrictive, uncomfortable, and toxic to me personally; whereas falling in love with Falon and Kate, opening myself up to them both and forming our queer little polycule, has felt like the most natural thing in the world to me since I came out as queer and trans.

(Bonus: Do you have any groups, projects, websites, blogs, etc. that you are involved with that you would like to promote?)

You can find the vast majority of my work on my blog at www.mxnillin.com. One of the most popular features there is "Mx Nillin Fucks", a blog post series in which I stick my girl cock in a wide variety of inanimate objects, mostly foods so far, as makeshift masturbation sleeves and write about how good or bad it is. This year is themed "Back to Basics" and has focused on classic masturbation items (banana peels, socks, DIY penetrables, melons, etc.). Outside of this you can also find me regularly participating in #SexEdPornReviews tweets for The Crash Pad Series.

---

Support Inclusive Polyamorous Representation at https://www.patreon.com/PolyRoleModels

#polyamory #nonmonogamy #fat #queer #nonbinary #bloggers

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aisuho · 6 years ago

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7′sCarlet #1 (Hino, Isora)

I have no idea how to say this game’s name. Is it 7′s carlet? 7′s Scarlet? 7′ scarlet? No idea.

I have been playing it for the last few days, and been following NerdyBirdyx’s guide. I was looking forward to it since I’ve finished Steam Prison (replayed Adage’s route, as I said I would) and have been lacking for something else to do. I went into it without knowing much or what to expect. The only thing I knew is that it had a mystery, which fitted me nicely since I had liked Steam Prison and Amnesia a lot. So, you can expect such heavy/tense vibe, although it didn’t look like as violent as Steam Prison.

As it says in the guide, the characters’ order was...

Hino -> Isora -> Toa -> Sosuke -> Yuzuki -> True Ending -> Secret Character

Next I will talk about my journey through the first two routes (Hino and Isora), as well as my thoughts on them and its characters. Oh, I apologize for any stupid mistake in grammar, specially when writing something’s name (places’ and people’s), I’m not sure why but I’m having trouble getting it right.

Spoilers to follow. You’ve been warned.

Hino Kagutsuchi

Hino is the classic childhood friend who has feelings towards the heroine. He is an overall nice guy who likes sports but has to deal with his own feelings of inadequacy.

I must say I liked him from the start, and at first glance, he was the one who talked more to me... I also have a weak spot for childhood friends’ romance, so, yeah...

Hino’s route is full of sweet moments, but still without losing focus of the plot of trying to find your brother. It had a nice balance between these two moments: the tension of Okunezato, and the sweet and fluffy romance, which can be a hard thing to achieve. I liked to see his hesitation of crossing the line of friendship and confessing his feelings towards the heroine. I also liked seeing his weakness as he often fears he is not good enough.

One thing, though, that bothered me is how often he talks about replacing MC’s brother, which made it sound... just weird.

We never have the chance to see MC’s brother or how was their dynamic. The only hints you’re given of the former was Hino’s speech, and by that, I don’t have a good impression of the brother or how he related with MC or even Hino. The flashback of the haunted house too, gave me a bad feeling.

Other than those things, I liked the romance’s development. It was fast-paced, but not in a way that felt rushed. The CGs were pretty, and their interaction was sweet and concise.

I can’t say I’m annoyed at MC, too. She wasn’t too dense. It was understandable how she was a little confused about her own feelings at times, or even hesitant, given that her brother’s disappearance was taking most of her thoughts. But, one thing that bothered ma about the Happy Ending was how they kind of force the “love at first sight” thing, specially when it comes to MC’s feelings. It would’ve been believable when talking about Hino, but the MC... it just didn’t feel right.

However, I must say... all the case of Okunezato and it’s mystery left me confused a lot of times. At that point I had some theories, but I was more lost than anything; at first, I didn’t understand if the mystery was a supernatural thing or it had some sort of logical/scientific explanation. The game strongly suggests the former.

Karasuma was kind of a mysterious character too, I wasn’t sure what he was up to, but still didn’t believe he was a bad guy. The manager was confusing, it felt like the game wanted me to distrust or suspect him, but I couldn’t do it when it didn’t give me any proof or reason whatsoever. It was heavily hinted that he was involved with MC’s brother’s disappearance, somehow. To be honest, I thought Yasu was the most suspicious one... all that “stupid” attitude seemed forceful -- a facade -- and it looked like he had some kind of connection to Yuzuki’s family. More than them just being childhood friends.

It was unclear if the cat man was one of the characters we knew, or someone else entirely. No questions about the Okunezato’s mysteries or even MC’s brother’s disappearance were answered, which was disappointing.

Nonetheless, the romance was nice and the route was still fun. I was at the edge of my seat many times, just wondering when any of them was going to be attacked. Every time they went to investigate the disappearance, I got tense.

Isora Amari

I was writing this one as I played his route (different to how I did Hino’s), so my comments and views come as I move forward, this is not a view of someone who had already finished the route. The reason for that is that as I finished writing Hino’s part, I felt that I left out lots of thing that might’ve been important, so, writing as I played made it more my thoughts more clear and dynamic. However, it made the text way longer, so I apologize from the start.

From the beginning I must say something didn’t ring right to me about Inora, I’m not saying he was exactly a suspicious character, but just his personality just bothers me a little bit. He is not a bad character per se, but the way he talks, all that joyful and carefree is not my cup of tea.

Inora constantly hints about having met the heroine before, which makes you wonder about MC’s memories (or lack, thereof).

I was a little hesitant as I started his route, because... well, you came to Okunezato with Hino, you were going to investigate with Hino, so I was curious and somewhat afraid of how they would handle him in Inora’s route. The first few scenes/days he just vanishes, kind of... he doesn’t even speak with MC in the festival (nor meet her), which would be understandable given how she didn’t show up after his invite. Throughout the next day, as you go to town with Inora, he also is left to the side until the night, when you meet him and everyone in the Cafe.

During the Cafe meeting (to which Sosuke doesn’t show up), Yuki suggests disbanding the Club due to the countless dead bodies showing up... which sounded weird, because so far there have been only two deaths. I know, it is concerning, specially given the city’s size and all, but as the first one was approached as an accident, and not murder, it felt overly exaggerating. Not to mention, it was not like the Club was going around town and its forbidden places to investigate anything whatsoever. Less than that, the Club had done nothing at all except a little party and barbecue, so...? It felt like pointless drama.

Damn, that Inora’s snap the next day when the heroine and Hino go to the cafe was just... ridiculous. It made me like the character even less, specially when he came with the jealous type and wanted to force the MC to eat the strawberry tarts. Big red flags here.

Well, the cat that Hino gave the tart to turns up dead, so...

At that point I started suspecting everyone. We never learned why Yua was down the day of the festival, and during Hino’s route there was a day when you came to the cafe with him and everyone was acting weird... so I guess everyone had their own secrets going backstage.

Things then start to escalate quickly... Yuki is kidnapped, you’re attacked... Isora supposedly saves you and takes you to an underground warehouse, where he keeps you (Touma vibes, anyone?) for who knows how many days. He snaps when the heroine suggests leaving to wash her clothes. Their relationship becomes very abusive and concerning.

In the end, the man in the mask appears and try to kill the MC, but is saved by Isora. It turns out that Isora and the heroine had known each other for a long time, as she had spent a summer in Okunezato as a child. Also, the masked man says he is the one who poisoned the tarts and attacked the MC, so there was that.

Honestly, it was relieving to hear that Isora wasn’t at fault for those things, but he still confined the heroine in the warehouse, which is just as bad. He isn’t a good character, in my opinion, as he tends to snap a lot and his relationship with heroine isn’t a healthy one.

Another thing was that Yuki came back safe and sound, supposedly the Murakumo family had abducted him to scold him... like, what? Who does that

I didn’t enjoy his route. What made me mad was that his actions were overlooked in the end, just because he saved the heroine’s life. The Murakumo’s decision to abduct Yuki was also ignored, which just doesn’t ring right. Inora did recognize his fault in the end, BUT he never said anything about wanting to change, nor trying to. Worse than that, he says he might do it again! What!?

It was a sacrilege to go through his route, specially trying to get the happy ending. You have to be complacent to all he does, not talking back or else. My mind was screaming for me to run everytime, but I was forced to play along, which made it tiring. He is a big no-no for me.

Leaving all that to the side, the only thing you learned from this route was the fact that the MC has lived in Okunezato, which means that her brother also did (probably?), so... they probably have more unexplored or uncovered ties around the town. Not to mention, it gave a place for her brother to stay in while he came back, a year ago.

Oh, another thing is that the masked man was unmasked when he attacked the MC, and she says he was a guy, although she couldn’t see his face. I don’t doubt that he might turn out to be her brother.

One last thing, as I was going for the low affection ending and refused to ride the boat, Isora talks about his father’s passing. He said one day (after passing away), his father reappeared, called his name and a black figure appeared behind him. He later says it must’ve been a dream, but it left me wondering... maybe his father was resuscitated by the flower, and the black figure was the cat-masked man. So, maybe the reason that the cat-masked man is after the MC is because she is dead, and was brought back to life with the flower.

Next time I’ll follow on my journey through the game.

#7'sCarlet #spoilers #spoiler #otome game #visual novel #isora amari #hino kagutsuchi

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metalandmagi · 6 years ago

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August Media Madness

Well, August may have sucked for me personally, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t keep track of all the media I consumed this month! And spoiler alert, I watched a lot of movies involving adorable talking bears. Although, I have a feeling that as soon as the fall television premieres start, I’ll be watching a lot less movies.

July’s media

Movies!

Dear Evan Hansen

Thank you bootlegs. This isn’t a movie, but I didn’t want to make a separate category for plays when I’ve only seen one this month. Anyway, if you haven’t heard of it, Dear Evan Hansen involves an incredibly anxious teenage boy who is tasked by his therapist to write motivational letters to himself. Unfortunately, Connor Murphy, an angsty boy who goes to Evan’s school sees one of the letters, takes it, and promptly decides to kill himself, with the letter still on his person. Everyone ends up thinking he and Evan were friends and that this letter was a suicide note that Connor wrote to Evan...and a beautiful fake gay relationship friendship was born. Call me basic as hell, but I’ve watched this show twice now, and listened to the soundtrack more times than I can count, and it’s turning into my favorite musical. There are so many important messages in it, and it takes you on a roller coaster of emotions. Every character does good and bad things, and no one is blameless or innocent...except maybe Zoe Murphy. If anything just listen to the soundtrack. 10/10

Night on the Galactic Railroad

Cats...on a mystical train...This seems like the kind of movie they would show you in film school. Very dull plot and characters with the themes being the main takeaway. What even is the plot of this movie? Darker, grittier, furry version of the Polar Express? Incredibly boring slightly more religious version of Over the Garden Wall? I just kept watching it because the main character looks like a cat version of Kagayama Tobio in middle school...cat-gayama. 4/10

Paddington

An adorable bear from South America travels to London and gets into all sorts of trouble with an English family. It’s very charming and sweet, and the aesthetic in this movie is on point, like Wes Anderson directed a children’s movie. This is one of those movies you hear about where everyone loves it, and you think it can’t possibly be that good, but then you watch it and you were wrong! So wrong! 10/10

Paddington 2

Naturally. This time an adorable South American bear goes to prison, and his family tries to clear his name. Again, A+ aesthetic and imagery, but I think I preferred the plot of the first movie a little more because everyone was all together. 9/10

Christopher Robin

Do you like Winnie the Pooh? Do you like jaded adults finding happiness in their lives again? Do you think the movie Hook had a good premise but was extremely long and kinda boring and could have been a better movie with a little tweaking? Well this is the movie for you! Christopher Robin has grown into an overworked adult, and his old friend Winnie the Pooh inadvertently helps him reconnect with his wife and daughter (and also his inner child) just by being the sweet, clumsy, dry humored bear we all know and love. I was so skeptical of this movie at first, and I was absolutely blown away by how funny and meaningful it was. 100/10

The Road to El Dorado

Two lovable Spanish con men named Miguel and Tulio are accidentally swept away on a journey to the fabled city of El Dorado, where everything is made of gold. Once they reach the city, the locals believe they’re gods due to an (un)fortunate series of coincidences, and the con men try to keep up the charade with the help of the best character in the movie, Chel (who I’m pretty sure caused an entire generation of lesbians’ sexual awakening). This is one of my favorite animated movies of all time and one of the reasons I wish Dreamworks would go back to their 2D animation days, where the visuals and music were just as stunning as 3D movies are now. This movie is a classic, and I desperately want a sequel! 10/10

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

When Lara Jean thinks it’s a good idea to write 5 secret love letters to 5 boys that she’s had crushes on over the years, everything is fine until her little sister mails the letters to all the boys (because even a 6th grader knows Lara Jean is lonely and emotionally stunted as fuck). This is a Netflix original movie that was adapted from the book by Jenny Han...which I haven’t read, but now I really want to. Overall, this was super cute, but I wasn’t really crazy about the boys. They weren’t horrible people or anything, and they never pressured Lara Jean or made fun of her for being “innocent”, but they were just kind of bland. I’m much more interested in the other boys we didn’t see in the movie! But the family relationships were so heartfelt, Lara Jean’s fashion sense is AMAZING, and the acting/casting was awesome. 8/10

Summer Wars

I...don’t even know how to describe the plot of this one. A teenage boy named Kenji goes on a country holiday and pretends to date an acquaintance of his in order to impress her enormous family...but it’s really about an AI that becomes sentient and wants to mess up the world through this universal internet program called OZ that’s kind of like a mashup of Facebook and Second Life...but actually no it’s about family sticking together and using a Japanese card game to save the world…but apparently it’s got the same plot as the Digimon movie because they’re both directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Yeah...

Guys, I have a confession to make...this has always been my favorite Mamoru Hosoda movie. Everyone falls all over themselves saying Wolf Children is the best Mamoru Hosoda movie, and that’s great for them but it doesn’t even come in second for me. Summer Wars means a lot more to me personally because I come from a big extended family, and when I first saw this movie, I was blown away by how accurate the family dynamic was. There are so many characters, but everyone has their own personality. Not to mention the music makes the summer atmosphere so on point. And I’m not going to lie...I bawled like a fucking baby the first time I saw this movie. So anyway, I like Summer Wars more than Wolf Children, thanks for coming to my TED talk. 10/10

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Unappreciated researcher Milo Thatch goes on an expedition to find the lost city of Atlantis.

Okay, there are two kinds of Disney fans in this world: Treasure Planet fans, and Atlantis fans. And I will support Treasure Planet as the best underrated vaguely steampunk inspired Disney movie until you can pry my 15 year old dvd copy away from my cold dead hands. But Atlantis is pretty good too. I could write essays comparing the two and why both of them should be successful but weren’t. My main problem with it is that the characters are great, but I feel like we don’t see enough of them, and as a kid a lot of the humor went by so fast that I completely missed it. Also the glowing eyes and spirits taking over the Atlantian princess’s body freaked me the fuck out as a child. NEVERTHELESS! This really is a great movie, with extremely well developed lore and well designed characters that chills me to this day. 8/10

Deadpool 2

The merc with a mouth is back, and man there’s so much going on in this movie I won’t even try to explain the plot. I literally had to go back and add this in because I was so into this movie when I was watching it that I forgot to write it down! Even though I really liked this sequel, I think I liked the first one better, just based on how much I laughed. There was so much going on plot wise, but it really seemed to work for this movie. There were also a lot of great new characters (Domino is my favorite character of the franchise now), but since there was so much stuff going on, a lot of jokes and plot lines were sort of hit and miss. Anyway, I’m sure everyone’s seen this one by now but just in case, I highly recommend it. 9/10

Books!

The Adventure Zone Graphic Novel: Here There be Gerblins by Clint McElroy (technically all the McElboys) and Carey Pietsch

Yeah yeah, for anyone who doesn’t know I’m Adventure Zone trash okay. TAZ is a DnD podcast where 3 brothers and their father create one of the most famous campaigns in history involving three idiot adventurers going on a quest to find a missing person and getting sucked into a much larger grand plan to protect the world. This graphic novel is a visualization of the first arc. I don’t even really like Here There be Gerblins all that much, and yet here I am. Oh well, the art was amazing, and of course I already knew the story. But it was kind of hilarious to see the name changes they had to make to some of the characters and places. I was a little disappointed that the ending was so rushed, and we don’t really spend time around the moon base before The Director is in our face changing the Lunar Interlude parts but whatever. 10 dead gerblins/10

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

When a disease that only affects children kills off nearly all the kids on the planet, the survivors are left with supernatural powers and are taken away to concentration camps in order to “protect” the public. I’ve been wanting to read this for a long time, and since the movie just came out I thought it was the perfect time. This is one of those books that some people adore and some people hate. I thought it was just okay. For everything that I didn’t like, there was something to make up for it. Personally, I felt that Bracken focused on the wrong part of the story. Everything takes place years after this disease has come, and I think it would have been more interesting to see everything from the children’s points of view when this disease was first starting. I would focus on each different character as a child and how they wound up in their respective camps. Oh well, there’s way too many pros and cons that I could delve into, but you like the YA dystopian genre then I say go for it. I didn’t like it enough to read the other two books (not yet anyway). 7/10

TV Shows!

Camp Camp

You know how there are summer camps that specialize in science, or acting, or space, or whatever? Yeah Camp Camp is about a summer camp that throws literally everything you can think of into one summer camp. If you don’t believe me, just listen to the theme song. Seriously though this is one of the best shows I’ve watched all year, but boy howdy this is not one for young children. It’s like Gravity Falls and Rick and Morty had a baby! Anyway, the characters are both surprising and hilarious. David the camp counselor (voiced by Miles Luna) is genuinely likable when you think he’d be the most annoying person on the planet, and the kids are so accurate it’s scary. Also Yuri Lowenthal is in it. And Griffin McElroy has a recurring role where he plays A GHOST! I’ve never been into Rooster Teeth stuff, but they have a winner with this one. 10/10

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

After her husband leaves her, Midge Maisel gets super drunk, goes on stage, and gives a hilarious rant about her relationship at a small comedy/talent club and somehow gets sucked into becoming a rising comedian as a woman in the 1950s. It’s good. Great acting pretty funny, but Midge and her agent/manager Susie are the only likable characters. Everyone else just kind of...sucks 8/10

Voltron Season 7 (spoilers)

Okay, I know everyone had mixed feelings about this season, but I did come out liking a lot of it. It had a lot of flaws (I really thought it would be Shiro’s season, and man was I wrong), but this is the sort of thing we can’t really judge until the last episode of the series is finished. I like to think of the positives: the action was amazing as usual, HUNK IS GETTING MORE AND MORE DEVELOPMENT EVERY SEASON, I refuse to believe the team introduced Adam just to have him killed off immediately so he’s still alive in my mind, we get to see everyone’s reunions with their families, the lost in space episode was cool, and say what you want about the game show episode, but I loved it! There were a lot of good things so it was easier for me to look past the...not so great aspects of the season. 7/10

Galavant

A musical comedy mini series involving a renowned medieval hero named Galavant on a quest to rescue his ex girlfriend from her “evil” husband King Richard. But maybe she doesn’t want to be rescued. Well, that’s just the first season. It’s best to go in knowing as little as possible. I remember liking it when it first came out, and it’s still pretty cute...but sometimes I feel like it’s trying too hard. A lot of the music isn’t really...memorable, but the characters are likable so it’s still worth the watch. 8/10

Disenchantment

Speaking of medieval comedies...Princess Bean doesn’t want to get married, mystical elf Elfo doesn’t want to live in an enchanted forest where everyone is happy all the time, and Bean’s personal demon Luci just wants to watch people suffer. Honestly, I wasn’t very into this show at first, but something compelled me to just keep watching, and by the end I was totally into it! This is one of those shows where you think there isn’t going to be a plot, but then the last few episodes come up and smack you in the face! 7.5/10

Round Planet

A documentary parody...mockumentary...satire...That’s really not a great way to describe it. It’s a nature documentary with funny commentary. I like nature shots and animals so I liked it, but there’s a lot of tangents and running jokes and British references that sometimes don’t land. Oh well, if you like unconventional documentaries, just watch it. 8/10

Honorable Mentions

DnDnD: I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this podcast before, but there’s a DnD podcast made by Practical Folks (aka the Drunk Disney youtube channel). It’s pretty good! I want an Adventure Zone crossover now!

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Every time I think I’m out, it pulls me back in. I finally got the DLC and spent most of this month playing this freaking game AGAIN!

The Heathers soundtrack: I finally listened to the Heathers musical soundtrack...and I didn’t love it. There are some good songs in it, but overall I’m unimpressed. And I never could really get into the plot, I’ve always thought it was really weird and over dramatic.

Legendary by Stephanie Garber: I’m about halfway through this book, which is the second in the Caraval series. And it’s pretty good! More on that next month.

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psychedelicsaber · 6 years ago

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So I just binged through most of your blog, because I love neglecting my adult responsibilities. I wanted to ask, what's your opinion on Legend timeline Lara? To me she's like a more fleshed out classic Lara (I dislike the family issues part of her tho). She's efficent, elegant. While classic Lara is a borderline villain in the games, murdering her way through anything to get what she wants (which is fun but actually scary). In short, I can imagine having tea with Legend Lara and not be scared.

I tend to ramble too much as well, don’t worry about it~ ;)

First off thank you for spending your adult time to browse my messy blog :D

Second off, I don’t know if it’s fair to judge something I haven’t played…well at least not finish it anyway. Played Legend for about half an hour and I just couldn’t bring myself to continue any further because reasons. I really did try to like it but it was just not for me. Same thing happened when I was playing Anniversary but I do like the ambience. I did finished Underworld and to my knowledge, was known as the worse of the trilogy to most people but oddly enough the one I enjoyed the most out of the three.

My opinion on LAUra, hmm that’s a tough one. I haven’t thought about it in a while. She’s efficient. Sure, she’s always geared up for any situation, I agree. She’s elegant, umm I’d say that’s more subjective. (In a technical sense) Her movements are rather wonky to me, especially the way she runs/walks and how spastic the animations are. She’s agile and acrobatic especially in Underworld which I happily welcome the practical move sets but how they sped up the animations that made her less ‘elegant’.

Legend Lara specifically, they made her into somewhat of a hollywood character rather than a comic book character like she was in the classics, if that makes sense.

In terms of character, I find it very odd that she would lose control of herself and start screaming her head off at her ‘friend’ while pointing a loaded gun at her.

WHERE!!! *BANG* IS!!! *BANG* MY!! *BANG* MOTHEEEERR??!!!!

Completely out of character. Throughout the game she was calm, making snarky remarks about things happening around her and such, all of the sudden. BAAAMMM!!! WHERE ME MUM AT????!!!!?!?!!?

They wanted the players to sympathize with Lara by putting these traumatic events as her driven force to justify what she does to make her more 'human’ as opposed to just pure unfiltered ’shooting everything in the face while jumping 10 feet into the air without a care in the world’ fun. At the end of the day they tried to make Legend Lara look like a hero, a Legend! as the title says which was weird because I always see Lara as more of an anti-hero who loves to steal things…it’s in the name 'raiding tombs’ lol. Her alternate title would probably be Grave Digger haha.

Granted classic Lara was murdering her way to get what she wanted but isn’t Legend Lara too? I mean, she massacred hundreds of human enemies. HUMAN BEINGS!!! and she wants to talk about her feelings? Come on. Don’t be like that. I get that she was traumatized in Anniversary but like this is the problem I have with trying to humanize a character that murders everything on a daily basis. It was a major problem in the 2013 reboot series as well.

To be frank, I’m sort of indifferent towards LAUra, even Underworld Lara was rather unlikable. She went from okay in Legend to 'meh’ in Anniversary to 'wow what a bitch she is’ in Underworld. I honestly enjoy Underworld because it’s the closest thing to the classic tomb raider in terms of gameplay but Lara, she was just mean and have anger issues. Now I’m not saying classic Lara was in a zen state at all times but she was portrayed as 'IDGAF’ in a humourous way which was part of her charm. Crystal Dynamics solely depended on serious and overly dramatic tone. You gotta have some comedic relief sometimes which sadly the humour decline from Legend to Underworld.

I don’t know if that answers your question or not but that’s my opinion on the LAU trilogy Lara. All of the three felt differently but I can say this, LAUra is a vengeful person…and determined for sure.

I didn’t think of Lara as much when I played the classics back when I was a kid. Even now I hardly think of her when I replay the game. Most of the time it’s usually just me tagging along with Lara and her adventure while she does her thing (even if I’m the one controlling her every moves). I didn’t really have to indulge myself in her feelings and sobbing facial expressions to be in her world, that’s why atmosphere in gameplay exists. Unfortunately for me, they turned the spotlight from gameplay to the main character and made everything else pretty much a white noise.

…yes Reyes. It’s her story after all…

tldr; What’s my opinion on LAUra - I’m generally neutral about it. It’s whatever.

#my opinion on laura #trl #tra #tru #classic tomb raider #lara croft #ramble ramble #didn't think i would write this long hahaha

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