#.she grates on me because of how nuanced and real she feels.

[dreamerdrop]

Kai Winn is wrapped in so many terribly layered flaws and shortcomings, and they all make sense, because even at her worst you can still see the core of her: a frightened and powerless woman who begged the prophets to grant her guidance and strength through suffering, and who was ignored and looked over at every turn, pushing her to seek power of her own volition, clinging to whatever she can to make her feel strong and in control.

[dayurno]

this is somewhat of a vent post & something i said i would not do again but has been plaguing me enough that i think getting it out might feel better. so. has anydoggy else been. Baffled and upset by nora sakavic’s refusal to speak on how terribly aftg has treated its characters of color? with the author of the series coming back with a new book and starting up on her online activity again, and questions of what she’d change about aftg bubbling up, it’s particularly glaring to me that we are all playing this very long game of pretend where we ignore how badly the non-white cast has been treated & her lack of thoughts on it

and i understand not wanting to bring up nicky and thea because people pick on her for it. i’m not trying to discredit nora sakavic’s terrible history of getting harrassed online by aftg fans. but i think it is very cynical, and it is very juvenile, and most of all very cruel, that she gets to ignore the very real ways the books have set up these characters to be hated. i think it’s obvious why the characters who get the most hate are the only canonical characters of color, and i think we do not get to treat this like a deliberate decision on the fandom’s part when the books have put these same characters in degrading and embarrassing and terrible positions in the first place. aftg is not a story about nice characters with clean pasts, but there is a very specific nastiness to the only characters of color being a brown man who sexually harasses and later assaults the main character, a black woman whose only scene is her lashing out at her love interest after being ignored for the first two books, and the japanese villain who gets maybe two lines of complexity before he goes back to being a terrible person. the white cast, in comparison, while not at all free from flaws, are never shown to commit mindless evil; all of their actions are ultimately justified. the book goes out of its way to give them concession after concession. we know exactly who to side with, because aftg tells us who these people are. does nicky’s assault ever get addressed in the books? does riko’s reasoning to be the way that he is ever gets more than briefly aluded to? is thea reserved even a shred of humanity or grace in her one scene?

anyway. it’s been years of talking about this and the fandom has been constantly hostile to criticism in this regard, and more recently any criticism at all, and it’s Grating to be on the other side of this discussion. it’s exhausting to know that in ten years we do not get even an acknowledgment besides the author saying she will not answer questions about nicky and thea anymore. it’s upsetting and it’s ugly and i wish no one had to talk about this again, but we do because what i thought was common sense has been washed away by a sudden influx of no-nuance adoration for the trilogy. basically i hope we all explode

[pearwaldorf]

I am finished with S2 of Arcane and I am so very, very well fed. The first season was good, but the second season hit it out of the park.

This probably makes me a terrible person, but I didn't find Jayce all that interesting until really bad things started happening to him 😂. I just don't find plucky young optimistic characters particularly compelling, sorry! But S2 Jayce is delicious. I'm not much of a whump fan normally*, but he's much more entertaining when he's a little (or a lot) fucked up.

(Also this season was just 🙏🏼for all the thirsty bisexuals. I don't understand how everybody got hotter, but I am so not complaining.)

I was also pretty whatever about Jayvik in S1, but S2 makes it much, much more interesting. All the weird fun shit you can do with body manipulation and what have you. I'm glad y'all Jayvik folk got an emotionally satisfying ending.

I really loved what they did with all the fucked-up body and cosmic horror stuff. I wish I had more to say about it other than "Fuck yeah", but oh well.

I remain absolutely delighted by every single female character in this show. (Jinx still sometimes comes across as Target-quality Harley Quinn but I think that's just inevitable at a point.) There are so few shows that treat female characters as this nuanced and interior, which is even more impressive when the cast is this big. And they're all so messy and fucked-up, g o d.

Cait and Mel both remain my blorbos, to absolutely nobody's surprise. I have a lot of feelings about daughters wrestling with the high expectations mothers put on them, especially when it comes to pressure to excel. (I'm an immigrant kid, I never said I was original.)

(Also Cait makes autocracy look good. Cancel me for this if you must, but it's true.)

And that fight with Ambessa at the end? *chefkiss* Love me some battles with badass ladies, especially when two of them team up.

One of the things I've always appreciated about Arcane is the fights feel well-thought out. (They feel respectably difficult considering everybody is, uh, a character in a fighting game.) Mel uses her shield to keep Ambessa's sword from Cait's face, as much as she can. Obviously Cait can't do anything defensive or offensive at this point, but she's still looking for anything to give herself an advantage. So she tears the runes from Ambessa's armor. That's exactly how I would expect her to act given what I know about her**.

Mel. Mellllllllll. My fierce, incredible Mel. I love everything about her arc and would kill many people to get a story about how she navigates being the military and political head of Noxus.

(I was pretty whatever about her and Jayce*** but when he looks at her and says "Nobody could ever stop you from doing what you want to do"? OK fine, you get it.)

I was not expecting a Cait/Vi sex scene but I'm real glad we got one. A++ for having it in a prison cell because they couldn't keep their hands off each other. The gays won real good this season and I am grateful.

--

* From a person who has an "attractive man suffering" tag, yes I know it's weird.

** Details matter. The other thing that stuck out to me is how Piano Kid pulls Vi's Formerly Drunkard Enforcer Friend out of the railgun chair. Even though it's time-sensitive, he still takes the time to do it as carefully as he's able.

*** There are many m/f ships I don't get but simply have to trust in the judgement of the female character. I call it "the Delenn factor" after the character in B5.

[branwendaughterofllyr]

Thank you for answering my previous ask! :D I have some thoughts on "a poison tree" that I wanted to share, so I couldn't help but write another one lol. So already going into it I love the backstory you gave Larys! His confession about his upbringing was such a haunting and memorable moment, especially through the lens of little Alyssa (who shouldn't be anywhere near him tbh). The way you portrayed her perspective as a child feels so real and... sad, somehow? Her disappointment with the limited life she can have as a woman in such a stratified and sexist society was really poignant, and her desperate search for someone to fill the void her mother left were highlights that resonated deeply within me (along with Larys' struggles as a disabled person in Westeros, since I'm disabled myself). Alyssa and Oldgon not only fit perfectly into the original story but also enriched it in ways that F&B and HOTD lack. This is so rare in fanfiction today and requires a tremendous amount of work and research, be it into the original work's lore or actual history. I'm really grateful for you sharing such a passionate and dedicated story with us.

On a side note, I apologize in advance because I have so many questions! Will "a poison tree" feature another character's POV besides Alyssa and Oldgon? Do you watch or read any analyses of HOTD/ASOIAF? If so, which ones? I think you would really enjoy the YT channel Hill's Alive. Lastly, could you recommend some of your favorite fanfictions for HOTD/ASOIAF? Bonus points if they're long fics!

Oh my gosh, I just about started giggling and kicking my feet when I saw this ask. Thank you so much for giving me the space to talk endlessly about my fic!

I saw Matthew Needham’s interview where he talks about his headcanons for Larys’ backstory, and it basically came down to his mother dying in childbirth and to be honest… I thought that was pretty lame because every mom dies in childbirth in this universe haha (even though I did it myself with Elinor lol). It’s just very lackluster to me, and I was already coming up with my own backstory for the Strongs at the time. Larys to me is a very… underutilized character, especially in fics. Many of the characters in F&B serve as parallels to characters in the main series, I think there’s a lot to Larys as a basically a caricature of Tyrion through the lens of history, an evil disabled man with unknown motives, who exists only to be the villainous traitorous wildcard. It’s very hard to get a handle on Larys in F&B because he’s really a character that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense based on what little we know about him, and while I thinks it’s worthwhile to consider him in the light of how Tyrion is viewed by a society that pre-judged him and will allow him no lenience, it’s deeply annoying to me that the show chose to do very little with him (especially in s1) and just make him a cackling villain who kills his own family just because. And this is not to say that I think Larys is a good guy, not at all, but I think there’s room to explore why he is the way he is.

And I think that I wanted to approach it through the eyes of a child, who might not have absorbed quite all the biases yet, or at least doesn’t understand the nuances of it. That’s why I wrote that bit where Larys expects Alyssa to ask him about his foot when she’s staring, and then is surprised when she asks about the ghost thing, and this entire thing goes completely over Alyssa’s head. I actually do kind of like the show take that Larys is seeking out people similar to him in Alicent and then Aegon, lonely damaged people that are isolated. But yes, Larys should not be allowed around children, especially ones that will straight up ask whatever questions on their minds. I think Larys’ confession was half-malicious, half-intended to be helpful, much like some of Cersei’s conversations with Sansa. Better to be traumatized early and learn that the world sucks. Really, he’s doing her a favour here!

One thing I tend to find…. Very heavy handed in most fics is how heavy handed the sexism can be, and how “modern” the sensibilities of the female characters. I think there’s a lot to be explored in the more insidious and underlying aspects, as well as the more obvious and in your face ones. Like, she’s grown up around men (of noble birth) who have been able to make their own ways in the world on paths simply not open to women, and as a child she doesn’t understand precisely why she can’t do the same.

I actually wanted to make Oldgon, for as much as he loves his daughter, still submerged in misogyny that he’s not really questioned much. Like, nice and/or smart people are not immune to the biases of their society! And Oldgon certainly isn’t, even if he has more fondness and respect for women due to his upbringing by Alysanne than other men, and he still expects his daughter to obey most of the rules for women even if he thinks education and curiosity are virtues for both the sexes.

I’m very glad that Alyssa has come off as a sort of melancholy character, especially since I think there’s an inherent cheerfulness to Oldgon even though he’s had a lot of tragedy in life. I wrote much of Alyssa I during the wintertime, when I suffer from pretty bad seasonal affective disorder, and I think that the pre-Dance Red Keep is a pretty disordered and lonely place to grow up in, even though it’s full of people. The severed emotional ties, the inherent distance between family members, all contribute to that. I also wanted to give her a really complex relationship with motherhood, that I will continue explore as the fic goes on!

I don’t currently plan to have any other character PoVs for Poison, it was always going to be just Alyssa and Oldgon in my head. But I have been making plans to do much more extensive fake F&B excerpts for events neither of them are present for. You may have noticed that I’ve introduced a new source for my version of F&B, Perkin Gaunt, who will survive the Dance (spoiler lol) and write his own history of it. Writing the F&B bits is actually really hard, but I like thinking about how the history got recorded, by who and why and to what end.

I actually don’t like watching ASOIAF YouTube videos or listening to related podcasts at all, a lot of the really popular ones have opinions I deeply disagree with or just find really annoying, and I’ve disliked the ASOIAF fan industrial complex since the days of GoT, and my opinion has only sunk lower as HoTD started airing. I’ve seen a few of Hills Alive’s videos, as one of my friends sent them to me, and I think she’s got some decent takes overall.

For ASOIAF fics, I like iron fears the rot by @undeniablespice which is a genderbent Theon Greyjoy AU. I’m currently still mad at the most recent chapter for making me feel things about the deaths of the older Greyjoy sons. I also love any work by just_a_dram but I’ll recommend their most recent finished work, which is a Jonsa space opera AU titled Lupum Luna

In the F&B/HoTD realm, I’m always recommending @aifsaath’s series The Sky is Always Red Above Valyria (great title that I am insanely jealous of) and their other series, co-written with @gwenllian-in-the-abbey Our Fathers Clad in Red which is a book canon AU, where Aegon II marries Baela after the Dance. I also like solitariusvirtus’ Aegon III/Jaehaera fics, and I’ll recommend every tomb, every sea, spit the bones from your teeth as a good one shot starter. This next one is probably not for everyone, but I have been fascinated by glory days by behemoth for a while, which is a pre-canon fic exploring Viserys’ enmeshed relationships with his father and Daemon, with plenty of uncomfortable moments, but it’s heavily informed some of my own headcanons about the family for my fic purposes lol.

Anyway, feel free to ask any questions, and I will spill more of my ramblings!

[girlgenius1111]

hi yes i have finally sat down to share my thoughts (extended version) on healing. and to find it again i scrolled through quite a few things on your blog from the past few days that i had blocked out of my mind in an effort to forget they ever happened, and then after retraumatizing myself i remembered that there were multiple easier ways to find it. but here we are.

i've said it before and i'll say it again: the dichotomy between sweet, soft Ale and goofy Ale in this is just chef's kiss. i love. 10/10 no notes. i feel like a lot of people would turn a plot like this into just a bunch of angst and hurt/comfort and nothing else, but the way you incorporate Ale also being an utter dweeb to make r laugh gives it so much more depth and nuance, and also makes it so much more realistic and fun to read.

all the gifts Ale got 🥺🥺🥺 partners who notice things 🥺🥺🥺

"I decide what I need and don't need... Don't push me away because you think you are being too much" is so real. Emotionally intelligent Ale 🥺🥺🥺 I also love Ale's proud smirk whenever she successfully makes r smile or gets A Feeling out of her ahaha

in conclusion, i love this so fucking much. the way you put all of my ideas into words perfectly and honestly even better than i imagined is so so impressive. i will never ever be over how well you put such complex emotions into words and make me feel so many different things when i read one of your fics. i know this one was particularly personal and vulnerable for you, and i'm so proud of you for writing it and so grateful that you shared it with us <3 <3 <3

deeply sorry to have re-traumatized you 😞😞

i cannot overstate how much i loveeeee writing goofy ale. its so special to me and im SO happy you like it too. i just love the idea of like stern serious captain going completely soft for her girlfriend and acting like a complete idiot just to get her to smile.

emotionally intelligent ale>>> emotions arent her thing until it's her girlfriends emotions and then she is an expert.

i could not have written this without your ideas or your encouragement and i appreciate you so much for that 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Can I just say that as much as I'm usually talking into the void here, I'm so grateful for this community, even if I'm usually hanging out on the sidelines?

It's so nice to be able to come on here and write my silly little posts about the things Taylor's music makes me think about and to then have you wonderful people continue the discussion, or to read what you are all observing or analyzing and have my mind blown or chuckle or share in the joy or whatever.

For comparison, there are people who I used to love talking about this stuff with but over the years they've soured on Taylor (totally her prerogative) and we've stopped being able to have these discussions, because the nuance just goes out the window in the process. Like thinking Taylor was obsessive for writing as much as she did about JG because they were only together three months (when those of us who follow her realize it was more complicated than that), or insisting Midnights is a breakup album and the last year and a half of the relationship with Joe was fake going through the motions or fake and that they broke up way before tour (when... it's pretty damn obvious when it happened from the set list alone) and thinking TTPD is just going to be a diss album used to bury a helpless ex (...) or using the situation last May (ahem) as proof of her callousness or whatever, when again a more human answer is that she wasn't exactly thinking clearly and in The Pit in the wake of a life-changing upheaval etc. Or what really gets me, dismissing the Snakegate stuff as her being petty and holding onto grudges and ignoring the really intense mental and physical consequences that she dealt with for years afterwards.

Which is not to say this is all about her personal life, but that by being able to look at the music through a more nuanced lens instead of, like, taking it literally, for lack of better word, it colours in the lines and not only situates the music more in the context in which it was created, but also makes it feel richer to our own interpretations and associations with it. I LOVE when we all go back and find parallels with her other songs, and it's even more fun now because the mash-ups on stage show Taylor does the same thing with her own music! It's such a rich tapestry and we're in such a unique position as fans where an artist is reaching (if not has reached) living legend status in real time, while at an unprecedented level of creative output, and we get to digest the music and study it and watch it evolve before our eyes!

It's just really nice to have a space online where we *can* do that, because I feel like there just is nowhere else to really do that? It seems like people I know in real life either a) actively avoid her music (totally fair, not everyone's cup of tea) b) only care in terms of current pop culture value (also fair, although it gets annoying when it veers into TikTok brainrot into easter egging and shit instead of being about hte music) or c) obsessed with the Travis romance of it all. And I think most online spaces are kind of caught in these camps too. It's either unrelenting criticism (which is fine, not everyone has to like her and there are valid things to critique, even if I don't particularly care to myself) veering into hatred for the sake of hatred, or obsessing over her personal life to the point of dehumanizing her as a person and artist.

I know I'm being a cupcake but like, this is the cupcake website, so who cares. I use this space to delve into the shows and movies and music I love because there isn't anywhere else you can curate your experience as much as you can here. And when it comes to Taylor's music, I love that I can just spill my guts about what sets my brain on fire (affectionate) and the connections that emerge and just how much it makes me feel. And between the reblogs and comments and messages, it's slightly less lonely talking to everyone else too.

So, thank you friends! I don't know why I'm in my feels today but it seems like as good a time as any!

[professional-sephiroth-scrungler]

I finally finished rebirth! Here is my unsolicited review cause i don’t want to melt my brother’s ear drums with my rambling

First off, Rebirth is a wonderful game. It’s not perfect by any means but it’s still great. The graphics are stunning, the soundtrack is absolutely amazing, and all the issues i had with story flow and confusion in the OG are basically fixed.

Story: I’ve got so much to say but thats mostly theories so i’ll keep it brief. I love where they are taking things. They’ve done a wonderful job of blending the OG story with the new stuff and the new directions its going. We arent really gonna full know whats happening until its all wrapped up but I am here for it!

Gameplay: its a good improvement on what they did for the first part. I however, have slow reflexes with the bumper and trigger buttons so they milliseconds they give you to block for immunity is not great for me. Dodging around is really fun though

Side quests/world intel: the side quests and world intel are hit or miss for me. Most of the stuff that doesn’t enhance the story, give lore, or deepen character relationships feels like a chore sometimes. Getting all the lifesprings, phenomenons, summon alters, and intel fights is repetitive and annoying sometimes but its easy to fall into the groove of if you have something playing in the background for the dull bits and running around the world to get to another story/side story beat.

Characters: Wonderful, amazing, exceptionally characterized. The nuances of the cast have been fleshed out a lot and it’s great. Even with their limited screen time, Vincent and Cid have so much substance and i am extremely excited to see where the story takes them. No, i am not ignoring one character in particular, what do you mean? None of the characters have made me seethe and mald at all and make me want to stop playing because of how annoying they are! And im definitely not afraid of the wrath my opinion of the character will bring if i say who! … Fuck it.

Yuffie: Yuffie definitely has more character than in OG and has sure been fleshed out since Intergrade… In the sense they took the happy go lucky, hyper, materia obsessed kid and multiplied it by 1000. It doesn’t help that she is also inserted into situations she 100% does not belong in. What could have been bonding moments for Aerith, Tifa, Barret, or Nanaki, what would’ve fit well in those situations, have Yuffie instead. And it seems her story is not until part 3 so why is she here so much? During tense or sad moments, she says stuff that ruins the vibe or is just irritating. Many time, she would say something during the story, and right after i would think that the moment would’ve been 10 times better if she was not inserting herself into it. Sometimes it feels like the writers are partially writing her as the main character when in the OG, she was an optional side character. Its not to say its all bad, she can have some funny moments. Except those where near when she just joins the party and the more those “silly moments” happen, the more grating they become. I hope that whenever her story arc happens in part 3 or a dlc (god i hope not a dlc the game is already $70), she has some growth and mellows back at least a bit. But who knows, maybe this is just a personal thing and she is actually a fine character. If you like her, thats fine. In the end, her character just isn’t for me and i just dont understand. These were just things that annoyed me personally and if you are fine or like how much more Yuffie there is in the remake trilogy, thats perfectly ok. Anyways

Expectations vs Reality: my only real gripe with the advertising is around Sephiroth and him being called a “protagonist” and supposedly us learning more about him in some english translations ive seen of interviews. I don’t quite understand where the protagonist thing came from. He is still very much the penultimate antagonist. But i expected to at least be able to read some in the manor about his childhood and play as him in combat a bit more. Maybe some TFS promo material got mixed up in my brain. If not, the best i can come up with from where the protagonist thing came from is that Sephiroth believes he is the protagonist, that he is doing the right thing, that he is the hero saving the planet and all other worlds through his twisted vision. And i guess through that, we have learned a lot about his motivations now and how he currently sees things. Not the backstory stuff i was hoping fore, but still really cool to see and analyze.

Over all, i would say Rebirth is an 8.5/10 for me. Some stuff dragged, was fluffed out a bit much in parts and such but over all a great game!

Actually, no. Sephiroth didn’t fast ball a materia at us in the basement. Maybe that will happen in Part 3. But that loss makes it a 0/10. RIP baseballiroth

[unofficialadamtaurus]

What’re your full thoughts on season 9? I wasn’t going to watch it—especially after following along with you and other rwde blogs’ feelings on the content as the it aired—but I keep hearing this is the best written rwby season despite that. It’s a mixed bag right now, even within the more critical side of the fandom, and you always have nuanced takes, so, I figured I should ask you 🙂

You don't ask the easy questions, huh. (And I don’t reply to them in a timely manner, huh.)

I think "best written" is accurate from a certain point of view and when you keep in mind that it's being compared to other volumes of the same show. There’s a new framing device with the story, a twist villain that holds together on a second viewing, and emotional beats we’ve wanted to see hit for years. The animation itself is also good. Things are smooth and there’s even attempts at actual fight choreography. Even the voice acting is fairly consistently good.

If you can't tell already, I've said all of that with a massive disclaimer, and that disclaimer is that this volume falls apart when you look at it more closely. To me, this volume is, and I cannot emphasize this enough, frustrating. It's frustrating in a similar way to V8: you can kind of see what the writers are trying to do, but it's all executed in a way that makes you wonder what was going on in the writers' room. The plot beats, messages, and themes are not communicated well, are contradictory, or are otherwise damaging.

Heavy spoilers beyond this point if you managed to not watch it between sending this ask and me responding.

Atlas has fallen. Our heroes failed. This is the belly of the beast moment, the find-your-motivation moment, the break-the-geode-to-see-the-beauty-within moment.

And it falls so, so flat.

Penny’s death, this big moment from the previous volume, comes up a couple times but is never resolved. Jaune never states that he killed her. No one asks. Ruby is sad over her sword a couple times and that’s it.

Jaune is an old man! He’s a little bit out of his mind! Only no, he’s fine, here’s a magic knife that makes him young again.

There’s an interesting framing device! Only no, we’ll stop trying to follow it halfway through, and because the audience never knows how the story goes until the characters experience it or talk about it, there’s no interesting use of the framing device. It’s just there.

The Gods’ origin story! Only…why? Who was asking for this? Why did we need an origin myth for an origin myth? And why did it have to take up so much real estate in the final episode to boot?

To get to the main team:

Weiss’s kingdom, her home, was destroyed. She doesn’t even know the fate of her family beyond the portals. I would expect her to be the most affected by the events of the previous volume: quiet, grieving, grasping for a next step to avoid thinking about it. But no—she’s the comic relief for this volume. In addition to a mouse I personally found annoying most of the time who is also comic relief. Weiss’s trauma is almost entirely ignored except for when she talks about Penny’s death, her comment at the burning market, and one sad face in the Punderstorm. Every scene with her falling down or getting hit by a rock or cheerleading grated on me. It felt so divorced from what she should be feeling that it broke my immersion and was a significant source of frustration.

Blake is an empty character. Her whole role in this volume is two things: person who read fairy tales (that everyone else also read), and person who loves Yang. Her big hero moment is talking about a struggle to bridge humanity and Faunus that we have never seen on screen. If you’ve been bothered by Blake’s lack of agency and character in previous volumes, the former may get marginally better here at the start, but by the end they’ll both be worse than they ever were, and both a significant source of frustration.

Yang is a mess. She starts strong with the “You shouldn’t be here,” but by the end of the volume she’s turning on her sister, blaming her for her distress, and doing nothing while her sister kills herself. She puts Blake over Ruby, hell, she puts Jaune over Ruby. I couldn’t believe what she was doing, and the bees confession scene was cringe-inducing with how it made her love focus on incredibly broad or superficial things about Blake. No mention of shared trauma, or past hurt. Frustrating.

And Ruby. Poor Ruby. This was touted as Ruby's volume. She's going to be the focus, she's going to struggle. The OP hammers this point home with unsubtle imagery of Ruby crying and falling behind while her teammates carry on unbothered. That had me intrigued, because Ruby has been more or less a static character since the end of Volume 3. Her struggles have been momentary, situational, and without lasting impact, so I wanted to see her have that belly of the beast moment in her hero's journey and come out different and stronger for it.

Problems are, they went about her spiral in the most ham-fisted way possible. Ruby is obviously depressed because they have to let the audience know, but it’s to the point that I can’t believe her teammates just let things lie. As a result, her team come off as jerks. Where are the friends from the Beacon days, the ones whose reuniting was a huge moment in V5? Certainly not here, watching adult man Jaune yell at Ruby for a plan he helped create and enact. Certainly not there, slowly walking after a crying and upset Ruby who flew off in a direction Jaune should know is dangerous shortly after Neo attacked, while blaming Ruby for not talking to them when the time Ruby did, Yang brushed her off and compared her to Ironwood.

Her team dismisses her, Neo beats her to a pulp, and she commits suicide. She goes to a tree that’s been established to wipe memories and recreate people.

Is her team upset? No. Worried? No, at least until Yang sees Ruby encased in wood. But it’s all fine, because Ruby sees that her mom wasn’t perfect and that her mom thought she was perfect just the way she was as a child, and that fixes all the the trauma the entire volume hammered into your ears and eyeballs in the span of maybe two minutes.

I will pause briefly to say that Ruby’s brief fight scene is good. Genuine highlight there.

But the main villain who tortured Ruby then gets off without any resentment or frustration from the heroes. And the twist villain, whose motives are far more sympathetic to me than the main villains’, is brutally torn apart.

The dissonance between what the show seems to want its morals to be and what they actually are is staggering.

To sum up:

The status quo for the characters did not change. The status quo for the setting did not change. The status quo for the writing did not change.

If you like the show as it is, if you take it at face value, you’ll be fine, as you’ve been fine for the last several volumes. But if you try to sink your teeth in, you’ll be getting a mouthful of dust—and not even the magical kind. There is little past that other than more frustration.

[9w1ft]

Thank you for your answer! Yup, a good chunk of people have a tendency to oversimplify things or take them at face value from my personal observations.

Red scarf = she compared it to her innocence = she's young = omg, it must be a metaphor for her V card!!! Let's ask Taylor about that theory and ignore that she gifts a red scarf to the bride in the IBYTAM m/v!!!

Bad Blood = is about her feud with Katy Perry over some back up dancers!!! Ignore the fact that the phrase "mad love" was used in romantic context in other songs in the same album!!

So I guess I can see why people may be inclined to think we're basically saying "Taylor and Karlie are together because they've carried the same bag this month!" and simply ignore all nuance or not ask why these information are being shown to us in this manner given how Taylor operates in a careful and strategic way ... like a Mastermind, if you will.

But I guess calling Karlie "poor" for "sitting in the nosebleeds" is much more fun 🤷‍♀️

thank you for your follow up!

yeah i’m not that great at explaining it but i’m glad we got on the same page!

i think the reason why things are simplified is one thing i have always found interesting about taylor and a lot of her core fans that grew up with her music

its that she in a sense raised them to be on alert to her easter eggs, and made this a part of her persona, but she did so while her fans were also firming very personal and real bonds with taylor in their minds, to the point that the easter egging became melded into the big ball of feelings a lot of people harbor for their image of taylor swift which is an extension of their own identities. the patterns which a lot of us have come to see as PR are also core easter egging memories for a lot of fans, growing up with taylor, and represent a sense of comfort and culture.

which is a wordy way of saying that, any suggestion that taylor does the things she does for reasons either than what they experienced.. it can feel like a personal attack.

what’s so fascinating or beautiful about all this to me is that—and i think this is a common tension of our times—when you go to look at things objectively or try to deconstruct institutions or concepts or biases or modernity.. it can come off clinical and cold and cynical to a lot of people, you know? sort of… ruining ‘nice’ things, right?

but the thing is, when you do this with taylor you instead open up a whole fascinating and lush world of true love and pain, deep stories and fascinating people, actual secrecy and high stakes, that feels incredibly historic and full of meaning. like i can’t tell you how much coming upon gaylor but also kaylor specifically in all its complexities and intricacies has made me feel so much more present in my life and grateful to be alive and to experience the world.. to be more introspectful and to grow.. there’s something so moving and… epic… epoch-ful… about their story. i’m not sure how self aware taylor was when writing timeless but my god, it’s exactly what it is.

so while i definitely understand the mechanics of how some of her core fans instinctively push away thinking critically about taylor, i don’t think i will ever stop feeling like i want to share it to more people because it’s like… if you can break through.. it’s so fucking beautiful 😭😭😭

[twosides--samecoin]

heard it was your birthday... so here's a little doodle of my favorite Mac torture scene from Long Time Coming (festively censored) <3

SDFIGJHDFLIUGHSLDFIJKGHSDKFJDFSKGJLDJHNFB?!??!?!?!

I LOVE THIS LMAO THANK YOU SO MUCH LOL. AN HONOUR AND A PRIVILEGE, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK-

This scene was fun but also felt dangerous to write in the "should I release this" sense. I had not read anyone putting their characters through what I put RJ through and had a feeling it would not go over well. It was another in a list of reasons my fic felt to me like it wouldn't necessarily go over well with others (the amount of words and description, asking readers to imagine Fallout happening in places that aren't in-game let alone mentioned, inserting French language and bilingual conversations, starting not even with Cranky Cready but Depressed Cready because we start at Med-Tek as failure point and not anticipated story beat; hell you barely see Boston or my canon SoSu, Jack, until several chapters in) and I am happy to know it is not the case, nor did it garner much controversy at all.

Despite reservations I always set out to do things differently, trust the process and stay true to what I wanted to see in Fallout. At the end of the day I could not get the scene out of my head. It also made my story a "enemies to XYZ" story for real, it solidified a lot of nuance in my characters. Livvie in particular in doing war crimes out of, well, desperation, lack of trust in RJ's story and defence of her homeland.

Thank you thank you thank you once again @outwithfever and: a throwback to Chapter 4, Ahead By A Century - read more on AO3 here if you like!

“I don’t like doing this either,” she told him, her voice raised over his gurgling. “The next thing out of your mouth better be what the Brotherhood sent you for, you fuckin’ punk bitch-”

He raised his voice back at her. “I-I’m not fucking with them, okay? Jesus Christ, would you just listen-”

Another awful stream hit his chest and he yelped before water rushed around his face. He shook his head back and forth to avoid the water pooling in his mouth, but it didn’t help any for his nose. 

The waterfall stopped and he gasped and coughed anew. 

She allowed him to catch his breath as he took in huge, wheezing breaths, grateful for air. A minute or two passed; RJ was too scared to say much at all. 

“Where’d the tin can boys pick you up, huh?” he heard her demand as he felt his heart thump hard into his throat. “You some prairie boy they tricked into joining or some shit? How much are they paying you?” 

Unbeknownst to her, water just made him cranky. “I don’t give a shit what a prairie boy is but I bet it’s better than being a goddamn Vaultie-”

«Esti d'épais à marde! T'es si cave-»

He regretted how he said it, because it sounded a little too much like the way it felt when a Brotherhood soldier called him a local. More water. Rinse-fucking-repeat.

[therollingstonys]

Hi hi, would you tell us your favorite thing about the Bound To You verse?

I really love a lot about it, but I’m curious what the author(s) like about it most! <3

Anon I am kissing you on the mouth for this ask!! MWAH 💋💋💋

I’ll let @riotwritesthings speak about what she likes about writing BTY, but as for me, I think first and foremost is that I get to write a story I love with my best friend. I am so grateful that I get to be friends with Riot and work on this incredible story that we’re both so passionate about, it’s truly a joyful experience!!

Secondly, I love that in writing this story I’ve gotten the chance to change Bucky’s story a little and give him the opportunity to heal on his own in his own way without having to “make amends” (side eyeing that whole steaming pile of shit from FATWS real hard). As a mental health professional that was a very poor representation of how a therapist should be, even with a client mandated to your services, so I really wanted to address that for Bucky and take the opportunity to demonstrate good mental health practices by qualified and caring people.

Thirdly, as a domme I wanted to write a story that is BDSM and D/S but utilize a less common side of it which is gentle domination and non sexual submission. This has been something that’s really important to me to share with people because it’s very underrepresented in stories, and while I wouldn’t ever tell someone to use a story as a guide for their own kink practices, I do want to show something that people might not have seen before!

The number of comments that Riot and I have gotten on this topic from people who feel seen because this is the type of kink they engage in but have never seen in fic before is truly humbling and rewarding.

Finally, though I could go on forever about my favorite things, I’ll say that one of my favorite things about writing BTY is the way that it’s made me a better and more creative author. This story pushes me to be nuanced, to engage in paced storytelling that is true to the characters and their trauma, and to think critically about who these people are and what their needs are within the story.

I truly hope that everyone enjoys this story as much as we enjoy writing it, because we have so much left to tell and I can’t wait to share it all with you ♥️♥️♥️

[tomwambsmilk]

watching yellowjackets is a complicated and fascinating experience to me because the bones of something sooooooo good and cool and interesting are there, and truly I think the problem with the show is that the writers weren't quite skilled enough to execute their vision in a way that fully works and is thematically coherent. and that's not even a huge black mark against them because I think it would, in fact, take quite a bit of skill to successfully execute the premise of yellowjackets.

I think big-picture the main problems are: 1) there hasn't been enough thought to what they want to say about, idk, the experience of adolescence, or the socialization of women, or relationships between women, or how aggression manifests in those relationships, or any one of a number of topics that could have really grounded the show by connecting the wild and fantastical things that happen to people's real-life lived experiences. For example, I think Misty is a huge missed opportunity because there could have been a real "USS Callister" type plot with her where it's clear that she's socially shunned and it's also clear that she treats people horribly and selfishly, but it's not clear which came first. do they shun her because of how she behaves or does she behave this way because she's shunned? I would have loved to see an exploration of the really complicated ways in which kids who are socially ostracized can end up developing some really harmful personality traits which further ostracize them, and how this developed into her role as a nurse which gives her control over vulnerable people. instead they went more in the direction of "misty is fucking crazy isn't she" which is very fun for sure but feels somewhat shallow without that exploration. I think there's quite a few cases where a potentially nuanced or interesting plot or character development is jettisoned in favour of something that's "more fun"

2) they're bad at giving their characters, ESPECIALLY their secondary characters, any depth. most grating example to me is Laura Lee who is just the Girl Who Is Christian and has no personality beyond that. but she's just the most extreme version of a problem which I think plagues all the characters except possibly Shauna. every other character feels so much like a Type it's hard to care about them as people rather than as agents of a story. Jackie is Insecure Pretty Popular Girl In a Codependent Friendship, Natalie is the Druggie Burnout From A Bad Home, Misty is the Bullied Kid Who Turns Out to Be a Bad Apple, Taissa is the Bullheaded Strong Confident Independent Leader Who is Also Kind of Shitty and Doesn't Listen. I'm not sure why Shauna is the exception to the Types, but I think a lot of what the story does with adult Shauna (especially re: deceased Jackie representing everything Shauna wants to be and is not) is some of its best and most interesting stuff, and 80% of why I'm still watching, and I wish they could've brought some of that to at least the other main characters.

3) the lack of subtext. the amount of dialogue where I cringe because it's someone bluntly stating something which I think would have felt more convincing and would have hit harder if it was instead communicated through subtext. the worst example of this imo is when Jeff and Shauna visit Jackie's parents for the birthday lunch, but it's everywhere.

so watching it is continually frustrating in a way mediocre shows usually aren't because it could have been good!!! it could have been so good!!!! and in a weird way that circles back to part of the appeal for me because I'm so enthralled with the premise that I'm constantly thinking about what I would have done with it as a writer, which is a fun exercise. I'm not quite finished season 1 yet but I am going to keep watching for sure if only for that and that alone

[fairiegardens]

So here’s something about how I’m feeling:

I’m a very very live and love from my heart girl. I am a heart first girl. I’m also so logical it drives me crazy sometimes (and I’m also very spiritual and I think sometimes people may find this contradicts my logical nature but we are many contradictions multifaceted beings etc) (and also I don’t love my overly logical nature but I nurture her she’s part of me and I’m trying to let go of that tight grip because really it’s just another way to try and gather control) anyway. I try to view everything “logically” and that has me sitting here looking at my own heartbreak from a 360 degree view in an attempt to “do it right” and see all the nuance and explain every emotion and I think it’s absolutely ridiculous of me

Every person I’ve ever known and all the ones I don’t know but have heard about to experience heartbreak will tell you how awful it can feel. It’s a very real very human thing it happens it hurts and it’s okay for it to feel that way. And yet here I am thinking I need to be logically analyzing myself, or “at a certain point,” or explaining why I feel something, and it’s literally like enough. Like sit down, enough, hush shhhhhhh. Just feel it. Just feel

I think because my specific experience includes both parties mutually and respectfully agreeing to end things with love in our hearts for one another, I am feeling a bit more level headed than I might have if it ended in a different way. I’m so grateful that it ended with respect and love, as is the only way it would have made sense for who we are as people. I have all these thoughts like, it is understandable it came to a close, I don’t regret anything, it wasn’t a mistake and I’m not longing or yearning for what was, I appreciate it all, I know it’s what’s fair and good for him and I. But it’s still heartbreak. It’s still the end of us. It’s still two people who love each other and it’s still me processing that several months ago I was up to my eyeballs in love, for almost a decade I was up to my eyeballs in love. I think I lost the point of this in my rambling but I have so many “I should”’s on how to feel and I need to give myself the gift of just feeling the way I do and not apologizing for it or explaining it. Everyone else gets to be mad sometimes, irritable sometimes, sad sometimes, hurt sometimes. Even if I’m not mad at him I’m mad that I have to go through these emotions without a physical hand to hold. Even though I’m not irritable at him, I’m irritable in a very “I want to stomp around and have a little tantrum because this feels weird” way. Like a toddler who is overwhelmed with new feelings

[theintelligenceoflove]

Shoutout @writingcold for tagging me to tell yall about 10 songs I'm currently obsessed with. (No particular order)

1. "Ripple" the Grateful Dead

"Let there be songs to fill the air" is so *chefs kiss* this song just fucks me up and if I were a deadhead I'd probably tattoo that on me

2. "Hot Burrito #1" The Flying Burrito Brothers

I can't stop listening to the album, I have no idea why, but damn it's so good. And this song is ALWAYS stuck in my head.

3. "American Lawn" Blake Rouse

I don't care how good Starcatcher is, this is the beat album of 2023, and this song is SO FUCKING GOOD this kid is such a good lyricist

4. "Layla" Derek and the Dominos

This song reminds me of Jake so bad, I just want him to play it for me but he's got this goofy grin and he's bobbing his head.

5. "Take it To The Limit" The Eagles

This is not my favorite Eagles song, not by a long shot. But @jake-whatthefisgoingon-kiszka literally just mentioned a friends to lovers Jake fic and this is the first song to come to mind "And when you're looking for your freedom/ and no one seems to care." and "Put me on a highway/ a show me a sign"

6. "Midnight Rider" Stephen Stills

don't @ me about this being Stephen's version and not The Allman Brothers Band version. My coworker yesterday told me "you should put on that Silver Dollar" song you're in a bad mood. And this is the version of that song I have on my work playlist.

7. "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" Sylvester

Anytime someone calls a song "a queer anthem" and it's not this song they're wrong. Sylvester queen of disco did not write this fucking amazing song for y'all to be calling things written by straight women queer anthems. I wrote a whole academic paper about the effect of AIDS on gay may sexual subcutulres for my history of pandemics class and titled it with this song.

8. "Outside" George Michael

I have an entire footnote about this song in my thesis. Because public sense deserves nuanced and historicized conversations. Particularly as applied to gay men. Moreover, I'm upset my mother didn't have me nine years before she was born so I could have had a chance with George.

9. "Bread and Roses" Judy Collins

big anarchist vibes. The socialists have taken the symbol of bread and roses. But it originated in anarchist circles in America in the early 19th century. When I was going to write about the IWW for my theis I decided when I finished, I'd get a bread and roses tattoo. I still want a bread and roses tattoo but I think I'll get something else to commemorate my MA degree.

10. "Light My Love" Greta Van Fleet.

so this is a song from this little band from Detroit. I don't know if y'all have ever heard of them, you should check them out I think you'll like them.

as always, I love being tagged but am horrible at tagging people bc it makes me anxious I'm sorry. If you want to do this say I tagged you I'm super okay with that!

[iamnotawomanimagod]

2022 Year in Review

I'm so late, pretend I did this like five weeks ago.

I was tagged by the incomparable @lucerants for a 2022 Year in Review!! Here we go! I'm also gonna talk about 'em all so this is gonna get long!

Top 5 Movies you watched this year:

1 - The Medium (2021)

This is an excellent and disturbing Thai horror film about possession. The last thirty minutes are such pure insanity, all I could do was stare at the screen with my mouth gaping. Highly recommended if you love horror.

2 - Encanto (2022)

What a delightful and beautiful film! I loved the themes of family, being true to yourself, and the importance of acceptance. The music absolutely slaps - if "We Don't Talk About Bruno" didn't get stuck in your head this year, did you really live??

3 - The Fallout (2021)

This was one of the first Jenna Ortega films I saw, and I really enjoyed it. She and Maddie Ziegler had great chemistry and did a really good job of portraying their new-friends-but-also-maybe-more relationship. And it was a truly heartbreaking and very real depiction of what being a teenager in our mass shooting saturated society must feel like.

4 - Spiderman: No Way Home

I'm not really into Marvel, as a rule, but I had to check this movie out since they brought Tobey Maguire back. I was surprised at how emotional I got when story lines from over a decade ago got some closure, especially since that closure came with a lot of empathy for the villains. It was a really fun, meta, fan-servicey movie that made me smile, and even tear up a bit at the end.

5 - Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

Technically I watched this movie at the very beginning of 2023, but I'm going to add it here now because I think it's a movie that truly defined and reflected the feeling of being alive in the early 2020s so well. It was so brilliantly written and shot, just an absolute phantasmagorical roller-coaster of action, comedy, and incredibly heartfelt emotion. I had only heard good things going in, and this film absolutely lived up to my high expectations.

Top 5 TV shows you watched this year

1 - Station Eleven

This show changed me. It's truly one of the most beautiful, well-written, gentle, and human stories I've ever witnessed. It took a setting and premise I thought I was done with forever - post-apocalypse fiction - and made something profoundly impactful. Get the tissues. Prepare to feel everything.

2 - Interview with the Vampire

This was such a delightful adaptation, especially in the ways they changed it. Jacob Anderson as Louis captured the character in a way that brings incredible nuance, even more so in his position as a black gay man in the early 20th century. Sam Reid was an electric and terrifyingly appealing Lestat. And Bailey Bass brought Claudia to life and managed to perfectly portray her various life stages, even as she remains ageless. It's just a really, really good interpretation of a story that I already loved, so it was a joy to watch.

3 - House of the Dragon

I love messy blondes, I love tragic love stories, I love women and their complex and tender and vitriolic relationships. Also dragons. I'm interacting with the fandom via a ten-foot pole, and am very pleased that two of my most treasured mutuals (Luce, Rosy <3) were along for the ride with me for s1.

4 - The Wilds (s2)

I'll never forgive Amazon for giving this show the axe. I'll also never forgive the fandom for reacting to the boys so negatively. S3 would've been incredible. But! I'm glad that we got s2, and got to see more from the Unsinkable Eight. I'm glad we got to meet the boys and learn their stories. I'll always be impressed and grateful for the way this show handled a storyline about sexual assault between young men. And even though there are still so many unanswered questions and we needed an s3, I'm glad that pretty much all of the mysteries introduced in s1 were wrapped up by the end. Better to have loved those castaways and lost them than never loved them at all!

5 - Our Flag Means Death

This show was such a salve - a joyful little pirate sitcom that played on sitcom tropes in a way that made every episode a delight. It was funny, charming, and beautifully shot. I'm so excited for season two!

Top 5 DnD Campaigns you watched this year

The biggest shift in my life this year, especially in terms of media I consume, was my discovery of DnD actual play shows. If I wasn't actively watching a TV show this year, D20 was on in the background. I watched these campaigns multiple times each. I am obsessed.

1 - Critical Role's EXU: Calamity

One of the most heart-wrenching stories I've ever seen, beautifully told and acted by an incredible team of DnD players. The ending is so bittersweet and perfect. I caught the finale live and it wrecked me, I spent the last hour of it weeping. (It was also 1am and the end of a six-hour marathon.) What a masterpiece. The Bronze Ring endures.

2 - Dimension 20: Fantasy High Sophomore Year

This is my favorite campaign by the folks at Dimension 20. The fact that it's live, so delightfully chaotic, and has the lowest production value of any other season makes it so charming and comforting to me. Plus Kalina is easily a Top 3 D20 villain.

3 - D20: A Crown of Candy

Coming up at a close second, A Crown of Candy was the first D20 season I finished. I binged it in about two days (didn't watch the Adventuring Parties at first, though) and felt so thoroughly ripped from the world when it was over that I kinda mourned a family of candy people for like two days straight. It's such a fun, technicolor, sugary-sweet world - but the plot and characters are so complex, so dark, that I was completely swept away by their story. It's just a really well-built and clever world, and it features some of my favorite D20 characters ever (Amethar, Saccarhina, Lapin, and Calroy.)

4 - D20: The Seven

Since The Seven is set in the same world as Fantasy High, I went in with really steep expectations. I was definitely not disappointed. The vibes and relationships between all of the women at the table is so genuine and infectious. The story is touching, but there's so much chaos and so many shenanigans from the characters that there's also so much to laugh about. It's another comfort rewatch, for sure.

5 - D20: Misfits and Magic

Aabria as a GM is always a good time for me, and I really loved seeing this cast parody the Harry Potter universe (and associated "kids at magic boarding school" trope) with such affection, but also incisive criticism. It's funny, light-hearted, and also really fun to watch Brennan be a PC, and get to bounce off the other players as a single personality. (Evan + K = 4Ever)

Top 5 Songs of this year

(I'm not gonna take this from Spotify, although all of these songs were in my top 20)

1 - "It's Called: Freefall" by Rainbow Kitten Surprise

This song did it all for me in 2022. It was a comfort song, a pump-up song, a breakdown song, and a sing-a-long and dance song. I don't know why it struck such a chord with me - I'd enjoyed plenty of other RKS songs before, but never on this level. It just resonates. It was my top song of 2022 on Spotify, and given that the four next songs are all by Halsey, that's saying something.

2 - "Whispers" by Halsey

After seeing this song live, it swiftly reentered my top 5 from IICHLIWP. It's an intense experience even just as a studio track, but the way Halsey sang it in person elevated the song to something even more painfully relatable and real. It's a song that's followed me into 2023, that's for sure.

3 - "Bounce Man" by Twenty One Pilots

I didn't like most of Scaled and Icy, but this song was a huge exception. It was my go-to whenever I needed a pick-me-up. That addictively catchy chorus, the fun beat, the lyrics being hopeful in the face of a scary situation (classic TOP) - that's a combination that hits just right on a tough day.

4 - "Fucks Me Up" by Anthony Green

On the other side of the coin, this song will make you cry on that same tough day, but you'll feel better afterwards. My husband and I share a love for Saosin and Circa Survive, mostly because of Anthony Green's incredible vocals. This entire album is gorgeous, but this song (and the last verse in particular) - well, it fucks me up!

5 - "Tree House" by Alex G feat Emily Yacina

This one is sweet, fun, and calming, and is going to remain in my rotation for a long time to come. It reminds me of my best friend (she did show it to me, but it'd remind me of her even if she hadn't,) and makes me feel so cozy and safe. It's just nice. :)

Top 5 albums of this year

1 - If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power by Halsey

For the second year in a row, this album owned my entire life. Most of my top ten on my Spotify Wrapped was devoted to this album. I still go buckwild when I heard "Easier than Lying" and it's my most played song on Spotify EVER, which includes like five years of music-listening. Getting to see most of these songs live (and then some, that 2hr set was crazy) made for one of the best nights of my entire life. It was an emotional experience bordering on spiritual, which is not a place I normally visit. It's Halsey's masterpiece, a perfect marriage of her abilities as a lyricist combined with some of the best production they've ever had. I just love it so goddamn much.

2 - Boom. Done. by Anthony Green

This album is a beautiful, heart-wrenching, honest reflection on addiction, recovery, and trauma. It's sonically very soothing, but lyrically absolutely crushing, which makes for a very tender experience. My husband and I spent most of the end of the year with these songs on rotation when were listened to music together, so this album is going to hold a special place in my heart for a long time.

3 - HOLY FVCK by Demi Lovato

I feel Demi has always been destined to make an album like this. Their voice is perfect for rock music, and the honesty in her lyrics (which reflect her very difficult life experiences) just work so much better with guitars and drums behind them than snyth beats. I didn't love every song on this album, but it's definitely my favorite work by Demi thus far.

4 & 5. Hopeless Fountain Kingdom (Live at Webster Hall) and Badlands (Live at Webster Hall) by Halsey

Although these are two very different albums, I love them for the same reason, which is that they both are records of Halsey performing live. I truly think live performances are where they shine the brightest, and many of the live versions of these songs have completely replaced the studio versions for me.

Top 5 fictional characters of this year

1 - Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower (House of the Dragon)

As Luce said, you cannot separate them, it causes wars. I love them both so much. And I'm gonna love and hate watching them continue to tear each other apart.

2 - Louis de Pointe du Lac (Interview with the Vampire)

Jacob Anderson just killed the fuck out of this role, and made me appreciate Louis in a way I never have before.

3 - Adaine Abernant (Fantasy High)

I actually can't put into words how much I love Adaine, or why. If you know, you know.

4 - Kirsten Raymonde (Station Eleven)

I'm always a sucker for a fierce, protective woman with a metric fuckton of baggage, who still manages to maintain a heart of gold in the midst of a horrible situation. Kirsten is all of that, and so, so much more.

5 - Lizzie Saltzman (Legacies)

I just think she's a really fun extension on Caroline Forbes' character, as her heir apparent, and she was often the funniest and most emotionally engaging character on the show. Plus, y'know, Hizzie.

Top 5 games you played this year

The Quarry

The Mortuary Assistant

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

The Long Dark

Martha is Dead

5 Positive Things that happened, no matter how small!

1 - I got to see Halsey in concert at my favorite venue!

2 - I moved to a bigger place!

3 - I went and visited my best friend in October!

4 - I got a new job!

5 - I spent a lot of really wonderful time on this website making dumb jokes, crying over shows, and chatting with all of you! <3

Since I'm so very, very late in posting this, I'm not gonna tag anyone, but if you wanna tell me about something you enjoyed last year, feel free!!

[mencnfire]

I just wanted to take a second to say that you're amazing - I know I sometimes feel like a broken record with all your blogs, but I sincerely mean it. You have a gift for picking these muses up when they do not have much canon information available and you somehow find the perfect balance between keeping them true to their canon roots and being something you have shaped into existence.

Your writing is always inspiring, and you're so fundamentally unique at what you do; I think you always find humanity where one might think there was none but you're also not afraid of delving into the ugly, nasty parts of a character and acknowledging their wrongdoings. I am always amazed at how beautifully nuanced and detailed your portrayals are and frankly, there is a reason I will follow you anywhere regardless of the fandom. :)

I know things are not easy right now (believe me - I know) and while I wished we both remained ignorant to this shitty aspect of living, I wanted to say it gets better (and that it won't be so bad every day). I'm here for you and I'm proud like hell of you for facing this a day at time. We got this, Han. You're good enough; you matter; you're loved and frankly you're an unique person that I'm forever grateful for having found here. <3

POSITIVE ANONS IN THE INBOX! 💌

(( that gif is literally me every single time i see u also kinda fits cause my muses are a little like dr evil sooooo

you're too kind to me, mari & i don't deserve your kindness one bit because the person who deserves it the MOST, is you ! i'm forever thankful for you partnering with me and writing alongside me when i write these dudes. i know not everyone would be chill with characters who range from a violent, genocidal tyrant to a sadistic, torture-loving colonel to all other sorts but you've always given me the chance and the platform to explore these men. & what you say right there validates me and makes me feel glad that i can get, like, the route i'm taking with these men somewhat across. like, i love exploring all sides of them - their good and their bad and i'm so appreciative that you see that.

i, of course, have forever loved everything that you've done with melissa. i feel like, everything i love in rp - you do. you've always come up with the best plot lines and the best stories. she's a realistic character who has the flaws and likability of a real person & i love that. like, i've forever loved how you make melissa this woman who ( lets be real ) i'd LOVE to be friends with. she's kind, compassionate, smart but also sexy, seductive, a little cunning. the verses we've had before now where she's taken the evil queen approach or even downright using lautrec - i just love. i love that i can approach you with the whackiest plots or aesthetics or ideas and you just run with it. i've always felt we're so compatible with both our writing & as friends that we just have this really special dynamic and i'll forever love and appreciate it.

and finally; yeah, you're right - we have got this! i've made no secret of the struggle the last few months have been, my head's been jelly at the best of the times and a depressive wreck at the worst. i know i perhaps haven't been the best person to chat with or be around; i haven't been as active, i haven't written as much as i usually do. but, just know that i appreciate you, sweet. i appreciate the asks, the messages, the threads we have and the plotting we do. i know i might seem a little weird right now but i will forever love you for being you and i will forever appreciate your friendship. i know that you've had a lot on your plate and to that, i say, i know you can do this. you've accomplished so much already & though you might not know it, i'm seriously in awe of how you live your life and the things that you've done. you're the sort of person that i look up to & alongside all of your strength, you remain kind. mari, you're a real treasure. thank you for being you & thank you for this message. <3 ))