#A predictable story isn’t necessarily a bad story

[blimbo-buddy]

could be just how I approach things but being spoiled on big plot points or twists or what have you doesn’t ruin my experience of reading/watching something. I get excited because now I could piece together stuff like foreshadowing or analyze further what brings the story to that plot point/twist. It’s fun! I don’t get a piece of media ruined for me through spoilers

[yerimbrit]

[flufftober day 5, wc: 857] - scary campfire stories : ot5 le sserafim

THIS IMPROMPTU camping trip, though maybe not as impromptu as you thought because of course it’s because of leniverse, isn’t actually going as bad as you thought it would.

instead of camping inside the building like before, you’re actually outside, though at a camping facility. it’s quite nice, with a small archery range where you got your ass handed over by sakura and eunchae, a bay in which you and kazuha fell into while canoeing and then proceeded to flip over yunjin and chaewon’s canoe in retaliation (they splashed some water in your faces and you slipped while trying to fight back), a bonfire area, the cabins you’re staying in, and the forest you’re in right now where there’s another small campfire area in the woods. 

the atmosphere is quite eerie, pushing aside the numerous cameras and staff helping to film. it’s dark past the trees, it’s quiet, there’s crickets and a crescent moon up in the sky. you shiver. you’ve lost count of how many mosquito bites you’ve gotten, (which persist even with sakura’s shooing ritual which consisted of her singing that one red velvet song and waving her arm around) and also of how many times yunjin has sung cotton eye joe. it’s really pissing you off—both the mosquitos and the song.

the producer hands you a card since you’re in the center, and you clear your throat to read it. your group mates gaze at you intently. “welcome to the forest! let’s end the day off with some roasted marshmallows around the campfire… with a twist,” everyone groans after you announce that part, “to earn your sweet treats, please tell fearnots a scary story—popcorn style.”

yunjin is the starting person, which is unfortunate because you really have no idea what that girl is going to pull out of her ass… not that you can say that out loud right now, because the cameras are rolling, but it’s true. it’s not necessarily a bad thing—it’s just that the mood tends to get chaotic when you go off-script. the post-production editing makes it funnier, and what’s le sserafim if not chaotic?

according to the producer, your group has to come up with a story involving a few keywords, which (predictably) go as follows: kim chaewon, sakura, huh yunjin, y/n, kazuha, hong eunchae, and fearnot. it’s up to you and your members to decide how to use them, and the promised marshmallows will be rewarded when you have used all of the keywords by the end of the last person’s turn.

a staff member hands yunjin a small flashlight, and she laughs before putting on an ominous face and loudly clearing her throat, pointing the flashlight up towards her chin which lights up her features dramatically. “one day, the members of le sserafim members were having their weekly movie night when suddenly!” she gasps, the other members play along and gasp too, you included. “...kazuha heard a large thump.”

chaewon grabs onto your arm immediately, slightly scooting away from kazuha. the japanese girl’s jaw drops and she pulls the leader back to her. you smile in amusement. the next member is eunchae, who side-eyes the two girls having a mini-quarrel before she gets passed the flashlight. sakura bursts out into laughter at the youngest’s widened eyes highlighted by the flashlight.

“kazuha makes kim chaewon,” eunchae grins, “investigate in the kitchen with her, only to see that there’s a bloody towel on the floor, and then sakura runs in to say that someone is missing.”

that went dark fast. wow, eunchae. you blink when she hands sakura the flashlight. “what the heck, eunchae?” the youngest only giggles.

“who’s missing?” yunjin calls out, cupping her hands around her mouth even though she’s only three feet away from you.

“sakura comes to kazuha and chaewon, saying, ‘y/n is missing!’” she says quietly, passing the flashlight to you. 

you instantly lock your gaze onto the american. “and you know what else she says? ‘so is huh yunjin.’”

yunjin makes the most shocked and offended face you’ve seen in a while, and you absolutely cannot wait for this to air. 

chaewon is passed the flashlight, and completely blanks out until kazuha pokes her on the shoulder. “wait, wait. okay, i got it. kazuha, sakura, and chaewon go to the bathroom because that’s where… bloody red trails lead. scratchily engraved on the door is ‘help, fearnots!’”

finally, it’s kazuha’s turn. you wonder how she’ll incorporate eunchae’s name into the story. “kazuha opens the door to see…”

silence falls upon the group, everyone anticipating kazuha’s next words. there’s a rustling in the bushes that you have to ignore because you’re actually somewhat invested in this silly story. 

“hong eunchae and y/n dyeing yunjin’s hair red.”

“well, okay,” you mumble, intrigued by the closure of the story. eunchae shows off some of yunjin’s blue hair, claiming that it’s a crazy shade of red. sakura chuckles at the youngest’s antics.

you’re given the marshmallows and enjoy them only slightly charred, chatting with your fellow members until you realize that yunjin is literally missing. and eunchae. and was that a scream?

oh god. not another murder case.

flufftober masterlist!

a/n : anything can happen so long as the setting is leniverse

[miyamiwu]

Rewriting what I said in the VeiFei server to be more coherent, but here’s how I think the Yingdu Finale will go: It has to end in a Cathartic way. Not just Shocking. Not just Tragic. Cathartic.

I’m not gonna try to predict what is gonna happen because Link Click can always manage to shock us in new ways. But as a writing major, I can at least look at the writing techniques Yingdu have used so far and infer through it how the story can be best resolved.

And one thing that really strikes me about Yingdu is that, unlike S1 and S2, its fan service is blatant and aplenty. This is not necessarily Bad, but the pattern I’m seeing in Yingdu—but isn’t present in S1 and S2—is that all of its characters must undergo an “Awesome” moment. It’s not enough for the scenes to simply serve the plot and the themes. It must also be Cool, Peak, Emotionally Satisfying—whatever you call it.

It seems the goal in Yingdu is to instill in the viewer Strong Emotions. It’s not really about giving us all the clues and making us figure out the mysteries. (Remember all those complaints about Yingdu being full of “fillers” and having “no plot”? This may be why.) Yingdu has never been about the What—because we already know CXS dies—but the How—how hard can they make our hearts break?

Now, what do I mean by an Awesome moment? Here are some examples:

Cheng Xiaoshi threatening to hurt Vivian if she hurts Lu Guang

Qiao Ling dramatically telling Cheng Xiaoshi that it was his mom who doesn’t want him to go

Liu Xiao pointing the gun at Xiang and turning the game on him

Xia Fei whining on the phone, but moments later tells his haters a big “Fuck you”

Vein’s hype entrance at the end of YE3

Vein stopping that stone from hitting Xia Fei before proceeding to obliterate everyone in YE4

Cheng Xiaoshi, as Wang Qing, yelling at his dad and putting him in place

All these moments can be considered Awesome. It makes you feel “Yes!” It makes you wanna clench your fist and pull it down in excitement or triumph.

Since episode 1, the characters’ Awesome levels have been steadily rising. So for Yingdu to end in any satisfying way, they have to maintain or exceed those. No character should be Less Awesome by the end because that would instill a lot of negative feelings in the viewer.

Another way of putting this is that… Yingdu has constantly rewarded the viewer in an emotional sense, so by the finale our emotions would be at an all-time high. All of that emotion needs to be released, and since it’s the last episode they only have one chance to do it. There is no time for Yingdu to gently let us down by decreasing the characters’ Awesome levels first, so the remaining option is to either make them peak or let them go out in a blaze of glory. But whatever they choose to do, they must never, never drop the ball on any one of them.

That would inspire resentment.

Like, imagine that infuriating feeling you get when you read a story that could’ve been so good if it was just written a little differently, but there’s nothing you could do but lament its potential. No writer would want their audience to feel such a thing. Yingdu has to avoid that effect at all costs—which would be difficult because of the Awesome levels they’ve allowed to increase in a linear fashion. They’re already at the highest, so falling down would be even more dangerous.

To reiterate, the Yingdu Ending has to be Cathartic, and no character should be left as Less than how they started.

(However, this does not apply to Lu Guang because… well, he’s going through the terrors. But I reckon he will at least finally have his own Awesome moment in the finale for it to also count as Satisfying.)

[kafus]

okay well i guess i didn’t need my alarms cause i can’t seem to sleep more lmao. it’s 5 am

soooo pokemon presents in a little less than 4 hrs huh? realistically i’m expecting something either johto or unova related and since they’re apparently lighting up NYC today, which is not usual for pokemon day, i’m kind of leaning unova. i have mixed feelings about this since as much as i actually did enjoy my time with BDSP, i was dually disappointed by them and i’m still sad that sinnoh isn’t going to get the HGSS or ORAS treatment ever - if unova remakes were to be of a similar caliber of bdsp, i’d rather them just not exist at all frankly. nostalgia bias and my immense love for sinnoh aside, i think the unova games, especially bw2, are some of the best games in the entire franchise, and if they are remade, or get bw3 sequels, or whatever, i want them to be GOOD. lets not spit on the legacy of gen 5 now!! but. i remain cautiously optimistic. i’m not a super cynical pokemon fan and like i said i did enjoy bdsp despite everything. also a legends kyurem or whatever would be awesome btw i wanna see the og dragon lol. johto would also be cool but i’m having a lot less thoughts on it for some reason. i’m sure if they announce anything johto ayano will have incredibly passionate thoughts about it

now i’m not really one for predictions, the above talk is maybe the most obvious outcome since they usually do remakes mid-gen. instead i’ll just talk about some things i would WANT even if they’re a pipe dream and i don’t necessarily expect them:

a new PMD. not an explorers remake, a new PMD with a fresh story and everything. we haven’t had a proper new PMD story since 2015 and i MISS IT. i’d also enjoy explorers remakes but frankly i want a new game the most and i wanna play as sprigatito SOBS THE PALDEA STARTERS WOULD BE SO GOOD FOR PMD

gen 3 on NSO with full online capabilities and also connectivity to NSO ports of colosseum and gale of darkness. i 100% do not think this is happening but it would blow me away if it did. the amount of gen 3 that so many people were never able to experience as children, especially me… could finally be done online!!! it’d be cool if they removed all the dumb trading restrictions too but unlikely. (as an aside if they released gen 1/2 VC again with stadium compatibility that’d be epic but i somehow expect that even less)

some sort of new stadium-type game with home compatibility that provides single player trials similar to that of the old gen battle frontiers. i just REALLY really miss old singleplayer battle challenges. i want a new one to spend a bazillion years on making wacky teams and winning w them. i enjoy VGC but sometimes that singleplayer experience hits different

i really am a spinoff enjoyer. surprise me with something new! that isn’t a mobile game with gacha elements! just a whole new standalone pokemon idea. no idea what genre just excite me

MAKE A COMFY FRIENDS SPRIGATITO PLUSH OR SO HELP ME GOD (this is barely related to the presents im just thinking about it i want one soo bad 😭)

and those r all my thoughts i think. these presentations r always a treat because i wake up early and watch them with my friends. i probably won’t be liveposting it on tumblr bc i will be lost in the sauce of discord w the besties. i’ll provide my thoughts later though!

[ghostwise]

20. Kissing in a stairwell, giving them an artificial height difference.

cw: wanton murder 💃🏽

In a nameless tavern on a filthy street, the kind that makes Fraygo’s flophouse look luxurious, she orders a mug of ale which sits untouched before her.

Here, she waits. While she waits, she strums her lute and sings. It’s a simple song, not imbued with any magic. She simply sets her voice out on its own, to see what it can do without the shine of her bardic abilities. It’s a good voice. Strong and smoky like the opium wafting from upstairs.

“They say grief is like a bird,” she tells.

“And it soars on ragged wings.

And it flocks to anything.

So won’t you please come back again?”

Aya is in Baldur’s Gate not three full days when she kills again.

The streets are etched somewhere into her mind, a map buried deep enough that no passage of time can erase it. She can guess at the right turn to take before she meets it, where to go to quickly vanish out of sight, and she remembers which alleyways teem with easy prey.

She’s home. And old habits die hard.

Aya aches to kill, so on the second night she lets herself go among the people, who are compelling, rich, and varied, and so alive. She can quicken those lives with a song or end them with a knife. What could be sweeter?

In the tavern she sings about life, about the way pain accumulates so much quicker than joy. She knows herself that happiness can be erased in a second, while a deep enough sorrow never fully heals. It lingers. That’s the nature of living. It’s a creed followed by even the tiniest fly, that it must fear the spiderweb every single day. This has been the case since the first fly was consumed, and the first murder committed.

Then, a tug at her web.

“Shame to waste all that good ale,” the man says.

Aya does not stop singing. She smiles as he picks up the mug, and takes a drink. A tall fellow, middle-aged, handsome and slightly pox-scarred. His eyes search hers for a reaction, which she does not give right away. She makes him linger.

“You took the bait,” she chuckles after the final note of her song.

“Did I, now? Men!” he says sheepishly. “All too easy to predict, I’m afraid. A pretty girl and a song and a mug of ale is all it takes.”

“Had a sip myself,” Aya says with a shrug. “It was no good. Weak shit. You can have it.”

“Thank you. Perhaps I can buy you another? This place keeps a few different brews stocked, and those might be more to your taste.”

“Didn’t know that. I would be very much obliged.”

“Then I’ll return shortly, pretty miss. With something strong.”

Aya nods. “Hurry, or you won’t hear my next one.”

He’s not a bad man, she comes to find out over a pint. He apologizes several times for his boldness—it’s not like him, he’s just new in town, he’s out of sorts, she’s just so beautiful—and he laughs easily. He cannot hold his drink, for he wavers unsteadily as they depart the tavern and walk into the night.

This is not some gentle story to neatly tie up with a moral. It is no song with a triumphant twist at the end. Aya likes the drunkards and the addicts, for they take the sight of her with a helpless sort of terror and confusion. It’s an indulgent night.

She kills him against a wall, catching him by surprise with a hand on the nape of his neck, cracking his skull against the bricks. Together they perform a beautiful staccato: her blades and his startled, lonely voice.

.

It’s a good feeling, until it isn’t.

The glow of killing never lasts. Like warmth leaving a corpse, she finds herself likewise tired and numb all too quickly. She walks home to the Elfsong Tavern, weary from the long night.

She is not hiding, not necessarily; she could vanish from sight with an invisibility spell or a simple strum of her lute if she needed to. Nonetheless she is surprised to be caught. Suddenly she feels like she’d been sneaking, though she hadn’t.

“Well,” Astarion says from his perch halfway up the staircase. “Someone had a busy night.”

“Uh-oh,” Aya says, smiling up at him. “What time is it? Sorry, mother, I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“Not now, Aya…”

“Pff. Spoilsport.”

The sight of her ambling up the stairs would frighten any rational mind, but Astarion watches her with an unimpressed and tired expression. Something else, also. Relief.

She frowns lightly as she draws nearer to him, until she’s eye-level, despite being several steps beneath where he’s seated.

“Are you alright?” he asks.

“Peachy.”

“Was it the Urge again? That dreadful little monster, Sceleritas?”

Aya sighs. Astarion presses.

“You’ve washed, I see. But I can still smell the blood on you.”

Hearing a slight tremble to his words, Aya grins, yellow teeth and yellow eyes. She leans in and presses a blood-stained kiss to his mouth. She can feel him relax lightly against her; his shoulders curving in, captivated by her god-touched blood mingled with that of her prey. She draws back, satisfied.

Astarion nearly smiles at her… then he bristles. He stands, suddenly towering above her; he’s taller than her naturally, and much more so with the addition of a couple of feet.

“Aya,” he tries again. “We already have one of our number missing. If your fugues are getting worse, I need to- well, we have to do something about it.”

“You’re sweet to worry,” she says gently, and she moves up the flight of stairs until she’s reached his level once more. She faces towards him, hanging onto the banister behind her. “But the Urge has not clouded me in weeks, Astarion.”

“Ah… it hasn’t?”

Aya shakes her head. “It is getting quieter all the time. But I feel like… it is biding its strength. Preparing for something more. You know? I’m not sure what to make of it.”

Astarion regards her carefully, his red eyes holding all sorts of wonderful things. Worry, irritation, fatigue, some sort of conflicted fondness. She wonders at the way she can be so honest with him.

“Tonight was all me, Astarion,” she tells him. “I was restless. I went out and killed a man. I was never in any danger.” Her lips lift briefly to a smile. “I was the danger.”

“And not a bit sorry for it, I see,” he huffs. “Worrying me half to death and strolling in without a care.”

“As I said. It was sweet of you to worry. I am going to bed now. And,” she adds as she turns away from him, “you are welcome to come.”

“I’ll pass, thank you.” A long-suffering sigh leaves him. He is definitely thinking about it. “We can talk more later. After you’ve had your rest, darling.”

[llettucestuff]

This was supposed to be a short thing about a hc I have where Chase’s frame is a bit colder than normal, and Heatwave’s a bit warmer. Instead, this kind of derailed and became… whatever this is. It’s very self-indulgent and probably a little OOC lol. This particular fic has Chase and Heatwave as Amica Endura’s btw, but I won’t always write them like that.

ALSO I haven’t written for Transformers in like, a REALLY long time so please excuse any missed terminology :]

ALSO ALSO Chase is kinda inspired by @/delkios HCs here on tumblr from like 2016, and this series on AO3, which is also inspired by delkios. More on that in the tags. Enjoy!

———

Chase muses about the general nuances between him and his Amica, and their overall relationship in relation to Griffon Rock.

Or, Chase runs cold. Heatwave runs hot. They make it work.

—

Despite his core temperature being at an optimal point for functioning, Chase still ran decidedly cold, through no fault of his own. He’d been that way ever since he was a sparkling, sitting in front of heaters trying to warm up his endlessly cool servos and pedes, never really feeling truly warm, servos always either burning hot or in their natural state of permanent cold.

His Amica, the mech after Chase’s own spark, on the other hand, ran hot like an earth furnace. Chase recalls being told various stories of Heatwave trying to cool himself down, sneaking into freezers and other places mechlings like him shouldn’t be. It was almost funny, the way they were trying to achieve the opposite of what the other was. Maybe that’s why they work so well together.

Chase’s servos were always a touch too cold to be pleasant or fully “normal,” digits sometimes stiff with inclement weather coupled with a chilled frame, Heatwave’s palms always warm and grounding, frame hot like his temper.

They were equilibrium for each other, opposites in the regard of outward frame temperature, always ready to cool one down or warm the other up. It worked, and that’s why they were Amicas.

(Not just for that sole fact, Chase would input, musing that Heatwave’s companionship meant much more to him than his admitted handiness as a personal heater).

That fact, that is, their cool and heat swapping tendencies, hasn’t changed in the many, many vorns that they had known each other, even pre-Amica Endura status. So, given that, it isn’t expected by either of them for it to change once they meet the rest of the Sigma-17 rescue team, where they meet Blades and Boulder, or when they hit Griffon Rock and discover their new mission— and it doesn’t, as they predicted so.

(It’s a touch curious and a bit of a wonder how neither Boulder nor Blades discovered their Amica status before Griffon Rock. It’s not like either we’re being particularly subtle, but they supposed that their combined general professionalism probably skewed the other two bots’ perception of them, and any private time between themselves was usually during recharge time, or so subtly done that it was overlooked. Chase would find it funny if he wasn’t so concerned about his friends perceptiveness.)

Apparently, after scanning their new vehicle modes, Chase and Heatwave’s frame temperature translated, to a degree, to the inside of their cabins. This doesn’t necessarily cause a bad problem, but, minor complications do arise.

Sometimes, Kade would gripe about the heat during the summer months, complaining that the heat made him sticky. Sometimes, Chief Burns would be a touch chilled when first entering Chase’s cab, though he never really commented on such.

Both were easily fixed and placated with the flick of a dial that had the Chief murmuring gratefully, sinking in to the warmth with a subtle but firm pat to the dashboard. On the other hand, it had Kade and Heatwave grouching at each other loudly until Heatwave finally cranked the AC as high as it would go, and, in a most petulant manner, they would spat for a few minutes longer, then acquiesce; although both Chase and Cody were proud to announce the fact that these spats and arguments had become fewer in frequency over the course of time, a fact that they took immense satisfaction in: it meant they were getting along, working together, tolerating each other’s presence. They still fought, surely, because that’s just who they were as people (and cybertronian).

(Chase would not divulge Heatwave’s late-night ramblings about his parter, ranging from words not meant for the likes of little audials, to worries about his human friend. Heatwave was shudder-to-think that Kade would actually realize that Heatwave listens to him, much less cares about him, in the covertly roundabout way that Heatwave does when he meets new people that seem to grow on him. Yes, Chase was sure Heatwave’s quiet affections were born out of nothing but pure concern about the fragileness of his squishy human partner and the rest of the Burns family.)

At the end of the day, when they had the time to spare and a near-certain guarantee of no impending emergencies to disrupt them, Heatwave would sit on the bot-sized couch, Chase’s helm cradled delicately in his lap, and they could bask in each others’ presence and talk in their native vernacular, occasionally watching human TV or reading datapads and books alike. Of course, they would swap positions interchangeably— it all depended on how the two felt on that particular night.

Heatwave’s heat would leach into Chase’s cool, and the two mechs would sit there, basking in the steady, familiar equilibrium of their soothed sparks and evenly-temperatured frames.

Sometimes, one of them would instead lay down on the couch like it was a squishy berth, and the other could lay on top, trading coolness for warmth (and vise versa), and let the steadiness wash over them, EM fields melding lazily, and systems shutting down to fall into an easy, quiet recharge.

It was peaceful. Routine, when they could afford it. Nice, even, though they would argue on separate fronts that any one-on-one time with their Amica was beyond just “nice”.

It was the perfect way to recharge, Heatwave thought, never one to shy away from physical affection (in the many gruff forms he typically dished it out in) with someone he loved. If Chase could have it his way, they would do this every night, holding servos and muttering halting words and conversations half-thought out to each other into the gentle quiet of the bunker.

Chase’s normally rigid, borderline inexpressive field going almost wiggly and boneless, blanketing over them as he grumbled tiredly over his Amica, shifting as he knocked their helms together gently in a spur of the moment bout of (what sometimes felt like an overwhelming amount of) affection.

Heatwave gave his servo a gentle squeeze, making soothing little sounds to calm the policebot back into recharge and settling his own field over the two of them, engine purring quietly in contentment. Heatwave was quick to glare and snap at any of the other bots that might come near them that were in the “living room” part of the bunker with them, mostly for fear that they might make a nasty comment on their admittedly compromising condition, though that happening in and of itself was a rare occurrence due to the timing of their little quiet moments, and the sheer respect the other two held for them.

It was actually Boulder who found them the first time it happened on Earth, Heatwave recharging so deeply his engine was stuttering, with his helm cradled in Chase’s lap with one of Chase’s servos supporting his neck plating.

Boulder had stopped and looked, eyeridge quirking up in a decidedly learned human gesture, to which Chase merely brushed him off with a wave of his free servo and a flick of his field dismissively, returning to his datapad. Boulder, ever the calm, non-confrontational mech, had never mentioned it after the fact, drawing his own conclusions in the privacy of his mind (with maybe a few snapped photos for his memory files, just in case).

The second time, it was Blades who found them, Chase soundly recharging while leaning against Heatwave, their servos clasped between one another even in his recharge. Heatwave glanced up from the TV and glared at Blades with a viciousness that would earn him a scolding later, who skittered off without a word of question, a touch too skittish to try and ask the angry firemech until much, much later.

Heatwave was protective and touchy when it came to his Amica and their status, sue him.

Over the months, Boulder finally gathered some courage to ask Chase about their potential relationship, with all the grace of a thudding ballerina.

“We’re Amica Endura,” Chase had simply said after Boulder’s shy, stuttered question, almost smiling and most definitely pleased with himself, if the way tender emotion seeping onto his faceplate was any indication, “and have been for many vorns.”

“I see,” Boulder had replied, grinning and nodding, grateful that admittedly tactless way he asked the question hadn’t upset the policebot. “You two were partners back in the Academy.” It’s more of a statement than a question, prodding at the prospective double-meaning of the word.

“Heatwave was the only mech who wanted to be around me back in the Academy, given my… unique circumstances.”

“Unique—? Oh. Right. Sorry, Chase, I didn’t—“ realize, didn’t remember, didn’t know it affected your life like that— a frown, field tugging in, then Chase’s reassurance:

“It’s quite alright, Boulder. No bodily damage or any vulgar obscenities said, as the Chief says.”

“You mean ‘no harm, no foul’, Chase?” Heatwave entered the room with thudding pedesteps, looking between the two with half-formed suspicion lingering in his optics, arms crossed right against his chest. “What’s this about?” His field tugged at Chase’s with question and apprehension lingering between them, a silent what’s going on both said and not.

“Boulder was just inquiring about our Amica Endura status,” Chase informs, tone bordering on bright, his audial twitching in a different direction— most likely he heard something from upstairs, “And I find that we are the most probable source of reliable information about the subject, Heatwave, and our friend was merely curious.”

“Right.” Heatwave grunted, field tugging Chase’s briefly in something like relief and acceptance before patting his shoulder armor firmly and moving on, the brief contact exchanging both pleasant warmth and much-needed coolness.

“I think he’s a little…” Boulder trailed off, searching for a word that was less-rude than “prickly” or “overly worried”.

“Protective?” Chase hummed in question, helm tilting to the side, “I feel the same, but it is entirely warranted, given our past, and he is my Amica.” Chase says, like it explains everything, and, well, maybe it did, “I will stick by him, rites-willing.”

Boulder smiled in that soft, knowing way of his, optics warm. “Must be nice, having a sparkner all this time. I’m glad you have each other.”

“As am I. I’m grateful to have Heatwave for so long, and I’m want for nothing more in a partner.”

“That’s awfully sweet,” Bounder’s field went all soft, his affection tugging at Chase’s stiff field. “You balance each other out, now that I think about it.” Remembering all of the times Chase was able to calm Heatwave when he was on an irate, angry warpath with a servo to the shoulder plate and some hushed words exchanged in soft Cybertronian; all of the times Chase was stuck in a cyclical, logical thought-process and couldn’t see things from a different light had Heatwave telling him the facts point-blank, trying to drill his way through and urging Chase to attack the issue from a different, still somewhat logical connection.

Now that he thinks about it, Boulder recalls how Heatwave was always the mech that ran the warmest when they were on the Sigma, practically radiating heat in the endless, desolate cold of space that even they could feel. Chase was always the coldest, seemingly emanating a unique sort of cool that seemed permeated the space around him in some circumstances.

Opposites, indeed. But, Boulder thought, it was kind of fitting. Chase’s mouth tugged into that half-grin of his, “That we do. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Boulder, I have some studying to do.” And with that, Chase sauntered off, likely in search of his police manual.

“Huh. Wonder how we didn’t see it before.” Boulder mumbled to himself, shaking his helm fondly and turning around to go back to the bunker through the garage.

“See what?” Blades asked, turning the corner, “If there’s any gossip, I want to know!” Primus, he was sounding more and more like Dani every day.

“I, uh. Well, you see,” Boulder attempted, still unsure if the two Amicas wanted their relationship aired out.

Blades shot him a look, both teasing and intrigued. “Well?”

Scrap.

[songofthesibyl]

More thoughts no one asked for:

One thing I’ve seen is the conflation between criticizing writing (“Rhys is written to be a good High Lord but this and this; these things should be triggering to Feyre but aren’t”); criticizing characters as bad people (Tamlin is a douchebag/abuser/etc.) and being triggered by something. They can all exist at the same time, but they don’t always.

Criticizing how Feyre’s trauma was handled in ACOMAF isn’t criticizing an actual person named Feyre, or how someone in her situation (generally speaking, presumably the specifics would be different) should feel. It’s criticizing the writing in this specific story.

Being bothered by the writing of the library scene (when Feyre and Rhysand flirt) doesn’t negate the fact that the women in the novel were fine with it; and no one, for better or worse, can tell if the real person writing about being bothered about it is being sincere. And it’s pointless to question, because you’ll never know. They could also just find it bad/strange writing.

Thinking a character is problematic, identifying abuse, does not necessarily mean you are triggered by that character. Not liking something/finding something distasteful/hating a fictional character isn’t the same as being triggered.

From psychcentral.com, (updated April 28, 2022):

The word “triggered” is used more casually nowadays, which has likely caused some confusion. But it’s important to note that there’s a difference between being uncomfortable or offended and having a true mental health symptom.

In general, when a person is “triggered,” they’re being provoked by a stimulus that awakens or worsens the symptoms of a traumatic event or mental health condition. 

A person’s strong reaction to being triggered may come as a surprise to others because the response seems out of proportion to the stimulus. But this is because the triggered individual is mentally reliving the original trauma.

For example, an adult who experienced abandonment as a child might feel triggered from an unanswered text. The uncertainty of why they didn’t receive a response may cause them to relive feelings of abandonment.

It is not a logical thing that naturally would happen to any decent person reading ACOMAF; it is a visceral emotional reaction that can maybe be predicted to some extent (avoiding things that bother you because you know you’ll probably be triggered by it), but never completely, as mentioned in the quote above. People aren’t silly for being triggered by Tamlin; people aren’t monsters for not being triggered; they aren’t monsters for liking him, simply because other people are triggered. 

It is all highly subjective, and so everyone seems like a hypocrite, because everyone is, because it follows personal opinion. You like a character as a person; you will probably justify more of their behavior. Quoting the ACOFAS special edition might help give credence to the author’s intentions, and why people feel the way they do about Tamlin; but such “proof” of why you should feel a certain way has nothing to do with being triggered, which absolutely does not require justification or proof; therefore one can be legitimately triggered by Rhysand, for example, regardless of any intentions on the author’s part.

And finding SJM’s writing problematic as regards to Illyria and the CoN, for example, is literary criticism; it doesn’t mean someone is wrong for taking SJM’s word for it that Rhysand a good High Lord without having details. These are just different opinions. One doesn’t threaten another’s enjoyment. But to use the “yeah I’m not gonna care about that” thing and then turn around and try to moralize about others is the problem. Or, when arguing about Feyre’s revenge at the beginning of ACOWAR, and someone saying “yeah it’s a book it has a plot, that’s how it works”—what does that have to do with Feyre’s motivations, and how one feels about what happened anymore than someone saying “Tamlin in ACOMAF was for the plot, there wouldn’t be a book without him, who cares” when there is a discussion about his behavior in the book.

And—when people complain about defending mediocre fictional men; it is not that. It is defending actual people who are harassed for liking him or simply reading the novels differently because of the charged environment around ACOTAR. The conflating of the three things I mentioned above only makes it worse.

[builder051]

Disney is not drawing Marvel fans into theaters— it’s not the characters, it’s not the storylines, it’s not the actors. The production teams are turning out sub-par films. Looking back to the original introduction films, such as Iron Man, the quality was there. The adaptation of source material was great, the characters were amazing, and the writing and editing tied them up with shiny red bows. Each of them, through Age of Ultron at least, were literal gifts to the fandom. Lifetime comic collectors came together with general movie lovers and the mass of the MCU fandom came out of the woodwork to enjoy high quality entertainment. At this time, Disney-backed Marvel movies pale in comparison to previous films in the franchise, and the quality is continuing to degrade with each subsequent release. The MCU fandom is feeling disappointment en mass. The film characters are not receive the justice they deserve, and Disney seems to be more interested in quantity then retaining quality. The number of MCU spinoff shows on Disney+ is massive and growing rapidly. Many are cartoons and geared toward kids. Not only does this create an overwhelming amount of content (which is going to waste, for nobody has the schedule or attention span to consume all of it), but it cuts the MCU fandom at its heart. The Marvel films have graced home and theater screens with deep, compelling stories that adults love just as much as youth. The MCU canon has stretched into its 15th year of relevance. When we have over a decade of continual content, the passage of time must be applied to the fans, too. There have always been adults in the fandom, but now there are more than ever— people who were kids in 2008-20012ish are now grownups, some with kids of their own. The initial Marvel films hit (and remain) in a sweet spot of mass appeal. Kids enjoy the movies just as much as the adults. With the portrayals of complex characters and detailed storylines, we can enjoy the movies throughout our lives. There’s no lack of source material, and the fandom was, until recently, steadfast and willing to share their love of Marvel with friends and loved ones. There was an opportunity to keep old and new fans happy, feeding the potential audience and strengthening it over times to come. Unfortunately that opportunity is lost, and Disney as a production company has sabotaged itself. Currently, Sony is the company to beat with its Spiderverse film and recent sequel. Even as animated movies, the content is undeniably alluring to adult fans too. It is the quality of the films overall, not just flash bangs and rude humor, that leaves audiences completely satisfied and ready for more. They have shown their solidarity and dedication, patiently waiting for more wonderful MCU films. As stated earlier, the fandom thrives on quality, not quantity. Disney as a company caters to a younger audience, which isn’t a bad thing necessarily. Appealing to kids is a tried and true marketing tactic. However, productions like Frozen and Moana are categorically different from the films of the MCU. Those were never meant to appeal to adults (except all-time Disney lovers—a genuine, though small, audience.) One cannot compare recent Disney metrics against predicted sales numbers for upcoming MCU projects. The fandom is larger than one would anticipate, and there are qualifications that must be considered, such as the COVID pandemic and the general transition of film viewing being a home activity rather than one requiring a trip to the theater. Adult fans, again, are more patient and more discerning about what they see as quality entertainment.

(Read the rest of the essay in the reblog section—it’s the next post on my blog right after this.)

[unitchiefs-blackbirdphoenix]

LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN!!!

I am still so confused about that Jeid turn in season 14 and hated that storyline with a new passion. And seeing people hating one JJ for saying that in a moment where her LIFE and the one of her BEST FRIEND was on the line ist just-nah. BUT did any of us ever thought about that she was ACTUALLY lying?

BECAUSE what about that poker scene in the beginning of that episode? We KNOW that she is able to lie when it is necessary from earlier seasons. And we SAW how she was able to fool Dr. Spencer Reid in poker. She HAS a hell of an poker face. She IS able to fool him. And she CAN come up with good stories.

I mean WHY would they have show us that scene in the SAME episode as that love confession when it wouldn't has ANY meaning? That's just fucked up. They would've NEVER showed us that without a reason, right? So ist still have no theories for the reason, but WHAT IF there were just a lot of mixed up feelings at that time so the things happened as they did? Like after her being shot it was never mentioned (thank good btw) again and they lived like nothing ever happened.

Or is that option to far away bc that would mean that Reid isn't that good in profiling and seeing through masks as everybody likes to believe?

Yes to all of this! I like your thinking anon! It never made sense to me and even if the “JJ lying to throw Reid off” part in the beginning was done on purpose to throw the whole audience off too, I still think it was done in such a lazy and predictable effort. JJ is pretty damn good liar and that’s a part of her character, and just to clarify it doesn’t necessarily make her a bad person.

Honestly, Reid isn’t the best at profiling and you know what, that’s ok folks! There probably could’ve been a detail about him that he thinks he could read people but can’t always do that and I’d be fine with that. Maybe the love confession is the ooc and shitty way to go about it, but I would’ve been fine with that as something we learn of his character for someone who thinks can read behavior pretty well.

[blackrebelphotographyclub]

Not to be all CLS-lawyer-on-main, but there are larger and larger portions of my day during which I realise I may have hit a wall with genocide denialism. And maybe the answer to that lies in history, so painfully recent, and what we should have learned from it (and clearly failed).

I was thinking particularly about two things. One being the role of media in and around genocide, and how we should be more careful about what, how and why we consume certain media. The other was about prevention as a focus but punishment as a consequence.

Let’s staff with press, or media in general. There is no separating genocide from the propaganda surrounding it. Propaganda is not necessarily a Soviet-era ads for weapon factories on state media; it can be much more insidious, much more easily, largely due to how technology evolves.

When we talk about media and genocide, we talk about how the former influenced and/or incited the latter. That’s the before. We do not talk necessarily about the during, and the after. During, the crime of crimes only allows us two options: we resist or we deny. There is no neutral space.

(I don’t care if you try to carve one; you can’t empty the ocean with a spoon and you can’t be neutral on genocide.)

This extreme polarization we see now, not just in the media but in our streets and in our governments, is however entirely predictable because it is a by-product of genocide, a crime so abhorrent, many have equated it to the phenomenon described by some indigenous tribes as “soul loss”.

The side that denies is not in a position to modify (genocide is ongoing) its position and cannot soften it (there is no gray zone on genocide). Therefore an entire machinery of erasure must take place in order to sustain this absence of reality.

Erasure takes so, so, so many forms, many sometimes we are by and large oblivious to. We think of erasure as direct (mass extermination) or indirect (loss of history due to the absence of elders). Indirect is so much. It means the collective memory of the people and the place is also gone.

Think of genocide as a collective memory hole. There is a reason the crime is drafted as beyond mass murder, in both physical and mental element. You don’t just wipe out people; you end language, history, culture, traditions, stories, religions, myths. An entire apparatus.

If you really study Rafael Lemkin and understand his approach (and that of the father of crimes against humanity, Lauterpacht), you see genocide in the past (incitement) present (extermination) and future (erasure). Children, grand children, endless generations will never see, experience, or know.

This is relevant to journalism because the profession doesn’t just provide you with evidence, it also has a duty to preserve it. This is even more true these days considering the internet is, well, forever. Mass denial in papers of record doesn’t mean it isn’t at play. It means you can’t access it.

Remember to be critical of any and all media you consume at any time. Nothing is acci- or inci-dental. It doesn’t mean that any of that is inherently good or bad. That those factors exist are not because of the genocide, it is the ecosystem of genocide and has always been.

Radio Milles Collines was extremely popular at a place and time when most families would never have access to a TV, and under a regime that controlled the media. The incitement was crude and unambiguous, but it was lodged between popular pop songs, and was swallowed like a pill with no edges.

Denial is the same, especially in places close to the perpetrators of the genocide. The domestic conversation must be moved away; but if it becomes impossible to avoid, everyone is responsible for staying on message. You dilute (they’re not dead, just displaced). You congratulate (aren’t we safer?)

So everyone claiming that genocide requires a certain number of civilian deaths to be determined (absolutely not true, quantity has no bearing) or that extermination has to be total (also not a thing) just reminds me that it is excruciatingly stereotypical.

Let’s talk about prevention, because that has never worked now has it? But this was the spirit in which the Convention was drafted, its main goal. The entire world came together in ‘48 and said never again. By the time it entered into force at the tail end of 1951, wars of decolonization had started.

The world believed with all its might that with the end of turn of the century imperialism so would the impetus to commit atrocity crimes. They would not know that the coming decades would extend the list of crimes against humanity, not make them relics of an obsolete society.

And so, we fail to prevent, because no matter how much jurisprudence and history scholarship there is out there all the signs of Rwanda, all the signs of Srebrenica, all the signs of Darfur were there, and are there now, and we’re under the sad exceptionalist belief that somehow, this is different.

It is not different. It is a genocide we have decided not to acknowledge. We are neck-deep inside campaigns of dehumanization - of trans people, of any migrant - that we are somehow either blind or jaded to the very same being perpetrated and live-streamed.

I say this all the time: human absence wears very heavy. I also say that genocide prevention is a collective responsibility. You have a duty to stop genocidal speech and you have a responsibility to stop incitement speech as well as denial speech. You must know, and you must remember. /end

[yinyangofnevermore]

Sorry if these asks are to frequent

Racism is a lot more complicated then just “people don’t like the Faunus” like marrow said in volume 7 it’s a deeply embedded systemic issue, as an example o highly doubt Jacques could be convinced the Faunus “aren’t that bad” because he directly profits from those systems of oppression. And the majority of humans ignore it because they also benefit.

Dismantling those systems is a difficult process that requires some level of direct action, it takes a lot more then just convincing humans to like you with some speech.

It’s true we haven’t seen any official human/Faunus relationships, except technically a mention of velvets parents, but so far I doubt it will play a major plot role

In fact, I doubt one can realistically “unite all, of humanity” in the amount of time the show has left, quite frankly I think the gods demands of ozpin are vague and unfair as is,

A story where Blake and yang convince the huma and Faunus refuges to “get along”would honestly feel kinda insulting. This isn’t a problem that can be solved by people “just being nicer to each other”, honestly being the “bridge between humans and Faunus” to me implies the issue is some self existing chasm, and not a cage human society has purposefully put the Faunus in.

All good points. But, with respect, that's not the central conflict of the show. It is most definitely a very important aspect that I hope they address further and that they learned stuff in the past from. It's also possible they took a step back from it cuz they realized they weren't equipped to write such a story and do it WELL so they want to figure it out and get it RIGHT. But, obviously, Salem and all of that is the central plot. Of course that's what's going to take most of the screen time, along with things directly affecting Team RWBY themselves at whatever moment it is in time. Like the shit in the Ever After rn and their personal fallout from what happened in Atlas.

Also, they don't necessarily have to "unite all of humanity." People are gonna people. And all that, that entails. They just have to either somehow stop Salem or make her understand. "So long as this world turns, you shall walk its face. You must learn the importance of life and death. Only then may you rest." Pretty sure THAT is the key. She latched onto that first part and may have skipped over the second.

Again though, this is all just speculation at this point. The simple truth is that we have NO IDEA how the story will go. Only CRWBY does at this point. If there's one thing I've learned while watching this show for so many years, it's that I'm actually very bad at predicting shit for it. Normally I'm great at that. But not with this show. Doesn't stop me from trying though 😂

Regardless, I still think Yang would be involved with the efforts of Blake, the Belladonnas and the White Fang. She would have anyways, I feel like. But especially now that they're together. We may not get to directly see it in the show but..... yeah.

[talenlee]

Magic, Eugenics, And How To Do Not That

Magic, Eugenics, And How To Do Not That

Do you have magic in your setting?

Does that magic have a genetic component?

Okay, bad news, you’ve justified eugenics.

It isn’t quite that absolute but you have to remember the gap between magically enabled humans and non magical humans is kind of categorically vast. There are ways around it, but in the default context, where magic is a thing that people can do that provides immense results compared to an individual human’s, a system of magic where a person’s genetics can influence it is a pretty easy to justify outlay for actual literal eugenics.

In the real world, setting aside eugenics’ moral or ethical framings, part of what helped to undermine it was the fact it just didn’t work. The people who believed in it weren’t receiving any inherent advantage due to their breeding, and it was kind of notable that no matter how well bred you were, it didn’t take many muddy peasants to pull you out of your castle by your feet and kill you. Eugenics is a fairy story in the real world, where a real true thing (we can change gene expressions in population through selective breeding) gets refined to a point of nonsense (we can lay out the genes of an individual like we’re picking out baby drapes). It’d be nice if eugenics failed just because of the moral reasons, but it turns out that there are lots of immoral things that get to persist despite that. Eugenics was, and is (hi there, Musk’s weirdoes) a fairy story privileged people tell themselves to justify the immense unfairness of the world.

The fact is, humans exist within such boundaries of capabilities that even the best of the best at things are not that far beyond what other humans can do, and often, the peaks of performance come at the expense of immense training regimes. Olympians live in food jail, pro wrestlers are extraordinarily good at performance and pain, and researchers specialise within their fields, and none of them mean that any one person is capable of just exceeding other people without infrastructural support. The best of the best are individually very intimidating but enough hands throwing enough bricks can make the differences disappear.

In the context of a magical setting, though, where you have individual mages capable of exerting immense force, force beyond a single human’s ability, or even a dozen human’s abilities, in first-order strategies like ‘can throw fireballs’ or ‘can fly,’ then suddenly the ability to breed that ability more commonly into a community represents a very meaningful incentive, and it seems like the kind of thing where, given enough time, the idea taking root and being acted on are kind of inevitable. This is obviously, a bad thing. Magical prowess being inborn and genetically predictable seems to directly represent a powerful incentive to begin mass producing People Of Mass Destruction.

Of course, this can be a bit of a bummer for settings to give up. After all, institutions and social structures give you a lot of stuff to work with for characters, and we have them in our world, so they can work as useful parallels. Magical colleges that pick up kids in their early tween years so you can have adventures learning magic in a school setting don’t necessarily have the same tools if there’s a hard rule that no, there’s no genetic bias or predisposition to magic, because at that point it can feel like there’s no institutional capture at work.

Alright, then what are some alternatives?

Internal Control, External Power: Sure, you can breed the best wizards possible, but they’re all only just drawing on the magic in an area. Two wizards having a duel are chucking the magical energy of an area at one another, and adding a third wizard to the mix reduces the amount of power they both have by about a third. Wizards aren’t something societies can marshall in opposition to one another because every army just fields a few dozen really crap wizards that suck up the bulk of the resources in the area.

Magic Alters Genetics: Wizards do have altered genes, but it’s the magic that they use that alters them. Kids of wizards wind up weird and all, but it’s not necessarily ‘magically weird’ as much as it is they’ve been subjected to a kind of radiation. Kids of wizards are therefore worth tracking and observing (in say, wizard colleges), but they aren’t necessarily going to do better magic than their parents, and they might just ber weird in other ways.

Magic As Unlock: In a setting where anyone can use magic, but you don’t want everyone using magic, consider the value of magic not as a sort of can-you-roll-your-tongue genetic quirk, but rather that magical access is something you can go your entire life without doing, and the longer you take to do it, the harder it gets to do. This lets you have a classical magic system where children learning magic at a ripe age is important, without completely shutting out any adults who want to get involved based on their ‘breeding.’

Culturally Genetic Magic: Okay, you have your magical colleges and dynasties and the importance of family names of wizards and they belief in breeding and all that, but also, they’re just wrong. There are lots of persistent beliefs in the world that are based on completely afactual nonsense, after all, and institutions are really good at justifying their continued existence. Plus, if magic is a cultural practice, then institutions like this will create more and better wizards, just not for the reasons they claim they are.

Personally, I favour the two ideas of Magic as an unlock and a dose in areas of culturally genetic magic. Not every kid has the concentration and focus to open that door, but there are lots of reasons you might.

One fun thing to consider, by the way, if you’re the kind of tumblr-centered author who wants the push, the population of wizards in a given city according to the old 3e DMG is about .5% The population of Australia, according to the carer surveys, that are autistic, is about .5%.

Just saying, if people want genetic magic.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Making

[unfilteredfantasies]

🧧 Women of Good Fortune by Sophie Wan 🧧

Women of Good Fortune by Sophie Wan is a Chinese-American, contemporary novel that begins with a bride’s reluctance at her upcoming nuptials to a very wealthy, eligible bachelor living in Shanghai. One night, while she’s out having a routine dinner with her closest friends, they decide to do pull off a high-society heist to steal all of the gift money and flee the scene in order to pursue their own personal dreams. I listened to the audiobook edition of this novel, which was narrated by Catherine Ho.

This was a fucking phenomenal read for many fabulous reasons, from the look at the toxicity nature of patriarchal societies (especially within the socially elite) to the power of female friendships to the nuances of hating one’s appearance to saying, “fuck it” and just doing your own damn thing, to much more.

Heist narratives are usually not for me. When I hear the word “heist” my mind just gets filled with a soured sense of disdain. Between the formulaic predictability and the fact that stealing shit  never seemed like a “cool” enough crime to read about, I’ve avoided the damned thing for as much as possible. Yet, with Women of Good Fortune, I went into it utterly uninformed. I had no idea it was about hot ladies in high heels with kick-ass attitudes doing the thieving gig. By the time the revelation occurred (early on, mind you), I was so addicted to the ladies and their friendships that I couldn’t stop reading without driving myself nuts just wondering what would happen to them. The chemistry and sense of found-family dynamics that they share, the way they can be wholeheartedly candid, honest, and intimate with one another, the genuine exuberance of concern that isn’t laced with superficial, undertones of jealousy or other poisonous provocation, the way they tell each other they’re being colossally stupid when it needs to be said—I was in fucking love. If I could, I would’ve joined these ladies in their Ride-or-Die companionship without an ounce of hesitation.

The heist itself isn’t necessarily the centre-point of the story, which was another element that made it easier for me to remain engaged with. It works as a detached platform for character development, individual growth, and relationship exploration. Becoming so emotionally invested in each person’s plight, whether they have superficial or professional insecurities, the fear of not fulfilling parental obligations, or fulfilling them so well there is no room for error (or personal soul-searching)—I wanted to root them all on, even with mixed feelings of like and dislike. By the end, I was anxiously holding on to see if this heist would be a success or not, actually caring about the crime itself to a certain degree. If all heist stories were written like this, I’d be an addict.

The examination of how fundamental patriarchal essentials within a conservative culture climate can be painfully stifling to women, particularly women that want to break free of traditional moulds (like getting married and squeezing out kiddoes), was as insightful and sharp as it was entertaining. It makes the reader ponder if those restraints were broken, how there would be more room for a harmonising evolution of culture and co-existence rather than conquest, so to speak. In many cases, the shit that women “shouldn’t be doing” are things that will greatly help the patriarch in creative ways, if one requires that perspective to understand change, but challenging an age-old technique of thought is a tricky fucking thing. Seeing the ladies kick it in the ass in their own way, left me feeling empowered and unexpectedly excited! It was a lovely, significant feeling that all women (or marginalised and oppressed individuals, really) should feel.

If that’s not enough to convince you, there’s a hate-to-love situation that is as endearing as it is steamy. Of course it involves a bad boy with a big heart, and a tough-as-nails woman who has to pardon her pride. These two characters had me laughing-out-loud, while simultaneously going “awwww” sporadically throughout the whole novel. I’m not commonly keen on straight romance, but they were fucking cute. I wouldn’t mind a whole novel devoted entirely to them (or a movie).

The selling element of Women of Good Fortune, however, was the narration. The perfect, natural pronunciation of Chinese names, words, and phrases that flowed wonderfully without feeling awkward or jerky was fantastic. Plus, Narrator Ho was super charming with a voice that is vastly kind to the ears, notably in long-binge-listening sessions. Catherine Ho has narrated a few other books I’ve listened to and she never stops wowing me with her ability to convey different emotions and reactions to go along with the different characters. It’s always lively and engaging, making it feel pleasantly interactive. Normally, I listen to audiobooks while I work only (8-hours at a desk), however, with Women of Good Fortune, I just hopped from the desk to the bed, turned up the volume, and let the picture-wheel of the tale unfold before my eyes and mind. Dude, it was excellent escapism and it was a splendid way to unwind after a shite day at work.

Women of Good Fortune was one of my most-anticipated titles of 2024, and after this wickedly delicious and heart-warming reading (or listening, technically) experience, it will be at the top of my MUST-READ RECOMMENDATIONS for the rest of the year, and years to come afterwards. If you enjoyed Crazy Rich Asians, Polite Society, The Farewell (movie), or The Wedding Banquet (movie), then you definitely need to move your arse to a library, a store, or an internet-capable device of sorts to get your phalanges on on this book. I cannot wait to add it to my personal library one day soon!

Publisher: Harlequin Audio (audiobook) Genre: Chinese American Literature, Contemporary Fiction Release: March 2024 Content Warnings: Sexism. Misogyny. Classism. Brief racism. Brief fatphobia. Brief queerphobia. Some cursing. Some sexual dialogue and content.

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Cutting Edge (1992)

As far as formulaic romantic comedies go, you could do far worse than The Cutting Edge. The leads are appealing and the sports angle does add a bit of zip to the recipe… but at the end of the day, it’s still a formulaic romantic comedy. You can predict every beat of this story minutes in.

Kate Moseley (Moira Kelly) is a spoiled but talented figure skater whose attitude has driven away every one of her partners. Doug Dorsey was the captain of the U.S. ice hockey team until a head injury forced him to retire and killed his olympic dreams. When Kate’s coach, Anton Pamchenko (Roy Dotrice) decides to recruit the former hockey star as Kate’s partner for the upcoming 1992 Olympics, it looks like a bad idea. They clash constantly. They can’t stand each other… but their animosity means neither will be the first to quit.

I should let you write the rest of this review. Do I have to tell you that Doug is a ladies’ man, that Kate is engaged to a man she has nothing in common with, that a turning point in the story has her breaking off her engagement to try and seduce Doug but that when she goes to apologize to him the next morning she finds him in bed with a rival skater, prompting a big argument? That’s all obvious, as are the reasons why they don’t initially get along. Kate is a prima donna who considers hockey a sport for oafs. Doug thinks figure skating is for girls and is embarassed to admit what he’s doing to his older brother. Of course. Is there any other way they could behave? Not in these types of movies.

Once the initial friction subsides and the pair begins competing to attend the Olympics, things don’t get any less conventional. Even when the movie tries to fool you into thinking it’ll do the unexpected, you know better. For crying out loud, the way characters are introduced or what they look like tells you exactly what part they’ll play in this story.

Following a formula doesn’t necessarily make a bad movie but this film isn’t an early example of the rom-com genre; it came out in 1992 when we were far too familiar with the tropes to be satisfied with the basics once again. That said, there is a certain charm to this tried-and-true formula. I couldn't hate the movie because it doesn’t do anything badly. Usually, these plots have to jump through all sorts of contrived hoops to go the way they do and this one does not. It’s a lot more grounded than expected. There is also the appeal of seeing well-performed figure skating routines shot from the perfect angle, featuring people we actually know. This keeps you invested enough to keep watching despite knowing well in advance what the ending will be.

The worst thing about The Cutting Edge is that it’s basic. This is the sort of movie you’d see as a kid or young teen and enjoy. For years, you'd be dumbfounded, wondering why others don’t share the same enthusiasm for it that you do. Over the years, you’d realize why. This has all been done before and better. For that reason, I can’t recommend The Cutting Edge, but it’s a near miss. (On DVD, October 3, 2021)

[brainticklr69]

Review (???): This Is How You Lose the Time War

By: Someone Who Has the Audacity

I just finished the audiobook of This Is How You Lose the Time War and accidentally read some reviews on it. I'm writing this to share my opinion and to see what anyone else says as this book seems to have caught a lot of people's attention. Before I say anything I do recommend this book if you're looking for a book to read or if you're curious about the hype. In my opinion, it is not bad as many reviews write it out to be but it really does depend on what kind of stories you like. I understand that as a reader, I will be bringing a lot of subjective opinions when talking about the book and that things I may not like may have had purpose to the author. This, however, is almost exclusively my opinions on the writing and reading experience (vague spoilers ahead)

TLDR: Read the book if you like poetry and a gay love story but expect an untraditional book that can be a little self aggrandizing.

To start, this book is honestly really hard to get into. It throws you into a world that has clearly been built in the mind of the author (yay!) but not with the readability to someone picking up the book in mind. This is fine, a lot of books do that and this isn't necessarily a bad thing (it seems to have been the authors intention?) but this is also something that made some readers put it down and dismiss it shortly after picking it up ("...deleted it after about 30 min wondering what the heck I was listening to..."). There is a lot of jargon and metaphors which at some points was frustrating as a listener because I liked what I did understand and wanted to understand more while simultaneously feeling like I was missing a lot. On this note, I read most books because I like feeling like there is a lot to unpack in terms of symbolism, metaphor, foreshadowing, meaning, etc (and I know this is not the intention of reading for some other readers) but it is so dowsed in metaphor and symbolism that there are stretches where it is a little convoluted and, to me (perhaps I'm missing something), too symbolic. To elaborate, the book is essentially written as poems and metaphors (both the plot and the letters), meaning a lot of words are spent describing ____ rather than explaining. This book is clearly meant to be something out of the understanding of us mortal humans (humans are just little pieces of a puzzle in this book) but this means I completely understand why some people would not like it for this reason. It kinda makes you feel dumb. Maybe I am dumb but it took me half the book to become comfortable with the way the world works, what the objectives are of characters, what the jargon means, etc. and it was a frustrating first half because of this. For this reason, I think it deserves a second read/listen because perhaps the knowledge of the ending will make starting it again better?

In many ways, this book is more a string of connected love poems with loose plot as the medium (which is okay!) but no wonder some people hated it for this reason. The character building is minimal, the plot is a little predictable and getting from point A to point B is like word candy. In my opinion, this is not a book with a good plot but one that is written beautifully and skillfully. On this note, the number of people who left a bad to mediocre review of the novella is not surprising; It is overrated and can feel like award bait if looked at through some lenses. I'm not trying to claim that these previously mentioned traits are bad, it just seems like many people like the deepness, the metaphor, the symbolism not because it adds anything to the meaning of the book but because poetry is fun to read (more power to them).

I do not think I would have finished this book if I had read it rather than listened to it because of all these qualities. Sometimes books (or any other media) can become so "artsy" in how it is presented that it  wraps itself in a convoluted blanket of meaning impenetrable by consumers (see what I did there?). This book is great if you like poetry, weird writing, or unconventional love stories. This book isn't so great if you want to understand everything that is happening, like traditionally built characters/world, don't like poetry. This book did deserve praise and it is unfortunate that many people will not finish it because the overhype set an expectation of pleasing every type of reader. Some negative reviews worried me a little because their puritan ass values held these self destructive and love sick characters to their standards, however, some negative reviews rightly criticized aspects of the book. To be a negative-nancey, it is more of a love story than sci-fi and the love story is meh, there does not seem to be a reason that the characters are female other than "just because" leading to a lesbian romance (fair enough because representation is yay), the ending is unsatisfying, and not much plot.

This was literally just about the experience of reading the book, not even about the plot or characters themselves. I hesitate to write about those aspects of the book because I feel like I'm missing something in terms of characters/plot as all of the character building was based on the letters which leaves something to be desired and the plot is so simple yet so complicated at the same time.

★★★☆☆

-this review subject to change-

[jasonbehrs]

🎭 wear your heart where i can see 🎭

by airauralintensity (aka me, jasonbehrs!)

“But you’re a dude!”

“That will continue to be true for every lesson in the curriculum, so I suggest you get over that quickly.”

fandom: dbsk/tvxq characters: kim jaejoong, jung yunho, seulgi sooyoung boa in supporting roles ship: yunjae themes: high school au, fake dating au, tutoring au, sooo tropey, you're gonna predict every plot point and you're gonna love it okay?, okay chapters: 10/10 word count: 1.6k+

read it on ffnet, aff, ao3, or below!

~~~

A/N (4.30.2023): The epilogue is broken up into two portions: a montage-esque description of the aftermath of week 9 and the actual wrap-up to the story.

Ever heard of 'show, don't tell'? The montage is heavy on the tell, lol. Maybe one day I'll write them out fully and add them as appendices to this fic, but for now I entreat you to merely accept the knowledge that these developments happen at all :)

~~~

weeks 12 - 14

When Yunho wins his hapkido tournament, he points to Jaejoong in the crowd and does an air-kiss. This is not necessarily the same thing as going public at school, but it definitely makes them public to the hapkido team.

And his parents.

At the customary post-tourney celebration in Lotteria, the mood is awkward. Everyone is naturally distant from Jaejoong even if they're polite. No one brings up Boa.

Yunho, who has the social skills of someone who learned Korean that morning, had given Jaejoong a head's up that he will not be helpful in overcoming the awkwardness, but he promised to step in if anyone was noticeably rude. Jaejoong assured him that he knows who he's dating and gamely took matters into his own hands.

Once Jaejoong takes out the cupcakes he had prepared (Fighting! is iced on top of each one in his best calligraphy), the ice begins to crack. As he expected, food is the way to the team's stomach: they get over whatever initial weirdness they felt towards him as soon as they bite into the fluffy, lemon-blueberry confections.

The parents remain unimpressed, but Yunho's little sister takes an instant liking to him when he sings along with her to her favourite K-pop group on the radio. With such a winning endorsement (and Yunho's repeated assurances at home that dating Jaejoong is not going to be any more distracting from his studies as dating Boa had been), the Jungs eventually come around. Jaejoong is sure that with more time, he'll completely charm their pants off.

.

The lead actor of the musical and his family get into a car accident on the way to the school for opening night. If that isn't bad enough, the lead actress is the other guy's girlfriend. She flees the auditorium as soon as she hears the news, presumably to go to the hospital to be with her boyfriend and his family.

This means Jaejoong and Sooyoung have to step up as the understudies, and the two of them can't even rejoice in getting to play the leads due to the unfortunate circumstances that led to this situation. In the hours leading up to curtain rise, costumes have to be refitted, their lines as supporting characters have to be redistributed, and the faculty advisor-cum-director is giving them last minute directions on blocking.

In the bustle, they both completely forget about the on-stage kiss their characters are supposed to share until the exact scene where it happens.

They're professionals, but they're best friends, too. He knows that she knows that he knows that they're both thinking about it: both of them have kissed Yunho, and now they're kissing each other. It's a weird triangle, and it takes every ounce of self-control they have not to burst into laughter the instant they make eye contact as soon as the kiss is over. The show must go on, after all.

When Jaejoong reintroduces Yunho as his real boyfriend to Sooyoung and his parents after the show, he already knows she's going to bring it up. (Poor Yunho's skin tone may never return to a normal shade ever again.) Everyone welcomes Yunho back into Jaejoong's life like he never left.

Of course, they run into Boa. The three of them exchange friendly but short greetings. Jaejoong doesn't think that's going to get any better until Boa gets a boyfriend of her own, and Yunho begs him not to interfere in that.

Subsequent shows go great. So much so that the faculty advisor of the drama club even comes up to him after the final show and says, "I look forward to your audition for the lead in the play next year," which is basically code for Jaejoong-is-definitely-getting-the-lead-in-the-play-next-year, which he is totally normal about.

.

Jaejoong finally asks Yunho for academic help, and Yunho is excited that it's his turn to teach Jaejoong something. Unfortunately, geometry is a lot less exciting than romance. Fortunately, Jaejoong gets to call him seonsaengnim and delight in the blush that decorates Yunho's face each time.

Jaejoong steadily learns discipline from Yunho, who institutes a rule where every other date has to be a study date. Beyond the academic, other benefits to this are that they see each other much more than they probably would have otherwise. Jaejoong usually satisfies the study date requirement within a day or two of a romantic date 'to get it out of the way', and then he de-stresses from the rigourous mental activity by planning their next romantic date.

(Yunho has no complaints with this new comforting routine.)

The next time Jaejoong is called into the guidance counsellor's office, she even has good news for him.

"Wow! Your grades have really improved this last quarter! What changed?"

He proudly tells her, "I got myself a tutor."

.

They finally use the Backstreet for its intended purpose. Twice.

.

Before school lets out for the year, they all have final meetings with their guidance counsellors. Yunho's tells him that he is on a good path for getting into one of the SKY universities, and attending cram school would really give him an advantage in the application process. The Yunho of four months ago would have accepted such a prescription without question, but the Yunho of now winces. He'll do it, of course, but he'll also have less time to spend with Jaejoong in their final year of high school. Again, Jaejoong assures him that he knows exactly who he's dating, and he'll happily provide study snacks in the meantime.

Jaejoong, on the other hand, has no such lofty ambitions, but he did finally accept that college would be in the cards for him. He thinks he might enter into a technical school, some place that doesn't need high scholastic achievement as long as you know how to follow instructions; and his guidance counsellor agrees. More exciting than that, though: she encourages him to sign up for one more extracurricular now that his grades are under control.

"I don't know what it should be. I used to be on the badminton team, but a sport is a big commitment, especially since I care about drama club more anyway. I need something that doesn't require too much of my time…" he thinks aloud as he waits for Yunho to finish what he's doing. They went 50/50 on those bluetooth helmets that let a motorcyclist and his passenger communicate while driving, and Yunho is setting them up so that they could try it out on the drive home.

"I'm sure you'll find something. Who knows? Maybe the thing you're meant to do doesn't even exist yet," Yunho comments supportively, but distractedly. Jaejoong has long ago abandoned the pretense of offering assistance.

Once they're ready, they walk through the emptying hallways of the school, at one point bypassing a bulletin board petitioning interested students in signing up for a new initiative. A welcoming committee.

~~~

epilogue: one year later

In the silent, near-empty hallway, Seulgi stares after Boa with resigned understanding. She considers herself a great judge of character; and the way Boa carries herself does a lot to add credence to her First Day Buddy's assessment. If someone like her couldn't land Jung Yunho, there's really no hope for Seulgi. "Ah. Makes sense," she comments blithely.

Her Buddy clears his throat, and she turns her back on the short-lived fantasy of getting to date the first attractive man she saw at her new school. "So from here, I figured I'd take you to your locker then your homeroom?" he offers as he leads her through the tour again. "You could ask your teacher or a classmate how to get to your next classroom at the end of every period. It'll probably be easier for you to remember them that way than if I tried to show you all of them at once right now."

Seulgi agrees absentmindedly. Again, she is a second-year student. Navigating a new high school is not IB-level material.

At last, her Buddy drops her off in front of her homeroom. He mentions that he'll sit with her at lunch and wishes her a great first day at school, and then she's finally left alone.

Knowing that she won't be able to once she's in the room, Seulgi loiters outside just to scroll through her phone for a little bit. It's homeroom on the first day of school; she isn't missing anything.

In the distance, she hears, "There you are!"

She looks up on reflex and is interested to find Jung Yunho beelining for her Buddy further down the hallway.

"You didn't say hi to me after hapkido practise," Jung Yunho whines. She frowns. Whining men are not attractive.

"Sorry, I couldn't stop. I had Welcoming Committee responsibilities this morning."

"You're indeed so responsible," Jung Yunho teases. He presses a swift kiss to her Buddy's cheek, and Seulgi has to stifle her gasp. "Are we still studying in the library after school?"

"Cram school is cancelled, and you still want to study? But fine. I'll see you there, seonsaengnim."

He leans up to properly kiss Jung Yunho, then they go separate ways, her Buddy getting further away and Jung Yunho getting closer. He catches her gaze and sends her a kind smile in greeting on his way. Seulgi doesn't even have the chance to be embarrassed for getting caught staring before the interaction is completely over.

The bell rings, and she forces herself to get it together. Being late to homeroom on your first day is not a good look.

In her seat, she all of a sudden remembers something from her Buddy's narration this morning. Didn't he say Jung Yunho was dating the star of the drama club? Makes sense. Based on the performance this morning, her Buddy seems like a great actor.

… Seulgi probably should have learned his name. Ah well, she'll get it at lunchtime.

~~~

A/N (4.30.2023): That's a wrap! Once again, a million thanks for everyone who supported me on this journey, whether overt or covert. Until next time. :)