#And be someone else rather than just mold of her parents

[solar-nightengale]

And finally... PLEASE spare a Grace? Spare a Grace with 16?

HEYYYY ngl you had me laughing when I saw the song this number (and character) corresponded to BFGJHDFKVYTIU

Taking a shot at a moodboard this time around so without further ado:

spotify wrapped game: send me a number from 1-100, optionally with a ship or character, for a moodboard based on the song it corresponds to!

16. The Fairy is Grown Up - Dario Marianelli

[troublerats]

Tell me more about hotdog

hhHOh boy, okay, I'm just gonna start this off with a brief recap.

TL;DR: "Hotdog" Aka. Damara Lalonde, or "Mara" for short, is the adoptive daughter of Roxy Lalonde.

She is the same Damara raised by Doc Scratch who would later become The Handmaid, but was spared this fate when Roxy plucked her directly off the meteor using her void powers.

But I take it you're explicitly not here for a tldr so-

LONG AS FUCK EXPLANATION BELOW

Due to the bizarreness of her situation, a lot of the surviving cast post-game had some part in her upbringing. But most prominently were her mom's (Roxy and June), and Dirk, who served as an uncle of sorts. The latter being where she gets all the Stridisms in her design.

Personality wise: She's still extremely crude like Beforus Damara, but it's from a more direct ironic place meant to catch one off guard or to be absurdly overdramatic, rather than attempting to scare people away. A lot more snarky and confident, but not jaded or mean unless given reason to be.

Her interests include: Godzilla and similarly campy kaiju franchises. Practical effects in general, but mostly anything big dumb and explosive. Any Shonen slop Dirk showed her. Parkour and any reckless dangerous physical activity that would nearly give her friends a heart attack seeing her attempt. And starting sudden random indie projects in a medium she never returns to once she's finished.

Mara lives life fast and doesn't take time to dwell, especially as she's well aware of her own lifespan in comparison to her peers and her family. After highschool, she didn't want to bother with anything academic or to pursue some grand project to leave behind in her wake. Aside from flings, she doesn't really want to pursue a committed relationship either, as the last thing she wants is someone else fussing over her being careful, or bemoaning her short life in the last years she has of it.

It's her's, and her's alone. And she intends to live it to the fullest.

As for the concepts behind her character and creation-

In the shortest terms, Mara is a direct foil to the faults in Rose and Dave's upbringing. As well as an optimistic look to who Alpha Roxy and Dirk could have become despite who they were in the Beta Universe.

Both getting a chance to take supportive parental role's in Mara's life, Roxy more directly in being her mother, and Dirk more indirectly as someone Roxy could depend on to look out for her daughter, and who saw himself in another "out of place" kid.

Mara never had to wear the scarf of her dead mom, or mourn the fact they never truly got to know eachother due to her addiction. She had a loving mother who she knew for a fact supported her interests, and didn't keep things from her.

And instead of a shadowy violent figure that made her feel like she was never good enough, and without Cal's influence, she had someone to teach her to protect herself and who felt more like a trusted friend than another parent.

The parallels continue when brought back to her original upbringing under Scratch, a fate she narrowly avoided in this timeline due to Roxy pulling her off the meteor.

The idea for the whole AU actually initially came from the fact that Damara and Rose have a lot of direct parallels:

-Both use Needle-kind.

-While Rose would threaten suicide, Damara has a parental figure that actually would push her to suicide.

-John makes a comment about Rose seeming more "witch-like" in comparison to Jade, being a Seer and Witch respectively. However Damara actually is a Witch of Time when looking at her role in Beforus.

It makes it almost seem like Scratch will directly fit anyone he manipulates into a specific mold, but that's beside the point.

There are also parallels in Hal/AR being a piece that makes up Scratch/English, despite his initial role being one of sacrifice. But instead of knowing a sliver of Dirk that got ultimately corrupted and morphed into something cruel and unrecognizable, she got to know Dirk in full who never mutated into some kind of sick beast.

Lastly, though this is more of a side note:

Initially, I actually planned Mara to be raised by Scratch for a brief period, but taken before she could serve English. I.E. Instead of spawning green boxes, Roxy pulling a girl out of a green box.

I'm still mulling it over, but me and my wife most of the time lean towards her never having to suffer under Scratch bc Roxy with her stupid hotdog baby is nice fluff. But the narrative of a kid narrowly avoiding a grizzly fate and having severe repressed trauma she can't remember despite her currently good life, is a story element I still gravitate to as someone with DiD, who also headcanons Dirk as having DiD.

So it's sort of up in the air at times whether or not, Troll named Hotdog. Ever actually was. Hotdog shaped.

At least under Roxy's care.

[ewingstan]

What's the shylock dilemma you referred to in your last post?

That's not a standard term or anything, its just what I use to describe characters who I find interesting, but who are also horrible stereotypes, and whose interesting qualities cannot be isolated from what makes them a harmful stereotype. Shylock from The Merchant of Venice is a prototypical example of this, a character who's interesting because of his justified rage towards the bigoted society around him and towards the antisemitic protagonists in particular, but who only exhibits this in the course of his broader characterization as a greedy and bloodthirsty usurer.

Another example of the same phenomenon would be Tuco Ramírez from "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly," whose characterization as a humorous buffoon, entertainingly sly trickster, and tragic figure are ultimately just extensions of the way he serves as a horrendous brownface caricature of Mexicans. He's only legible as part of a Western imaginary that sees Mexicans as brutes and rapists: savage, disreputable, and "ugly" by nature.

Wildbow has written several queer characters that fit into this mold, in ways the fandom comments on frequently: Amy's characterization in Worm as a tragic victim of family dynamics are ultimately in service to a story about the uncontrollable sexual urges of a homosexual deviant. Her use in Ward as a critique of offloading moral responsibility onto circumstances is motivated by a perceived need to make her less sympathetic, and is accomplished by doubling-down on characterizing her as a predatory deviant with uncontrollable urges. Tristan's backstory has been perhaps my favorite part of Ward so far, but at its core its the story of a man harming his brother in order to pursue homosexual relationships.

I wouldn't necessarily group Alec in as an example of this; rather than being a necessary aspect of his story and what makes it interesting, the detail of him raping both women and men men as a child could've been removed without needing to change anything else in his story. Ditto for Kenzie specifically attempting to force a relationship between herself and another girl. They're both incidentally bisexual, and their characterization wouldn't lose anything if they weren't written as bisexual—certainly, they didn't need to have their bisexuality revealed in the course of recounting their acts of sexual violence.

The same can't be said for Amy and Tristan: Amy's intense shame and repression as a closeted lesbian is an important aspect of the way the Guts and Glory plotline critiques the expectation parents impose on their children to conform to the idealized nuclear family dynamic. It intensifies her feeling of being an outsider, of not fitting the blond, presentable, heroic ideal they represent, of not being able to happily be paired off with the rich or influential boys her family pushes her to pursue. And its an aspect of her worries that she's intrinsically a bad person: The fear that her villainous parentage determines her character, that she ultimately just can't fit into her heroic adopted family, is a major component of her dogmatic early view of heroes as good and villains as evil, and her downward spiral when she realizes that being a hero can't protect her from being a bad person (I go into more detail here). Her sense that something is inherently wrong with her as a product of her shitty upbringing, and the way it leads to tragedy, is her story. You can't just snip out the homophobia by having her not be a lesbian the way you can with Kenzie.

Similarly, Tristan's interesting in part because his is the story of a guy who's denied getting to pursue the happiness afforded to his brother, because forcing someone to live through a "normal" romantic straight relationships is seen by the Vera siblings' corporate handlers as less unreasonable than forcing them to live through a "wilder" gay sexual-and-romantic relationship. And the text does actually criticize this viewpoint, at least in places. Byron making Tristan sit through dates with a person who absolutely hates everything about him, whose mutual attraction is based in part on their shared disdain for Tristan's "peacock" qualities—its horrible, and the text does a good job selling it as horrible despite Byron framing things differently in his narration. The desperation fueling Tristan's actions being, in part, a realization that society will let Byron trample over Tristan to pursue his felicity because it sees it as "safe" but wont let Tristan do the same—its one of the strongest aspects of their plotline for me (more details on this reading of Tristan's reaction to the Byron/Moonsong coupling here). But having it be part of that plotline necessarily means having another story where a gay character hurts their straight sibling to pursue their deviant urges. Again, you can't just snip out the homophobia while keeping all the interesting thematic stuff, the latter only follows from the former given the story's setup.

This isn't to say wildbow couldn't have written stories that cover the same thematic ground without being homophobic. Its just to say that he couldn't have done so while still telling anything resembling the story of Amy Dallon or the story of Tristan Vera. And to be clear, as much as I love Amy and Tristan's stories, I don't think they're merits "make up" for their homophobic writing—no more than the famous "Do we not bleed" monologue makes up for Shakespeare writing the most infamous antisemitic caricature this side of The Protocols.

[starryevermore]

the house of snow (5) ✧ coriolanus snow

the house of snow ✧ a royal coryo au | pinterest board| ao3

pairing: king!coriolanus snow x fem!reader

series summary: the king of panem is in search of a bride. and, for reasons you can never understand, coriolanus snow has set his sights on you. it would never be a happy marriage, you’re sure of that. but none of that matters, because when snow decides he wants something, he will do everything in his power to ensure it is his. 

chapter summary: snow does not like the idea of others playing with his toy.

word count: 2,665

series warnings?: 18+ MINORS DNI, royal au, regency au, arranged marriage, rivals to lovers, obsessive!coryo, jealous!coryo, protective!coryo, eventual smut, eventual pregnancy, more tags to be added later

chapter warnings?: jealous!coryo, pet name (petal), not proofread

“How does it feel to be Mrs. Snow?” Clemensia Dovecote asked as one of the maids poured you a cup of tea. 

You watched the maid glance at you, curiosity evident in her eyes. Though you trusted your own lady’s maid with much of your thoughts and feelings you thought best to keep hidden from everyone else, you knew that maids in general liked to talk. Or, rather, people liked to talk. You had little doubt that your concerns in marrying Snow had spread throughout the working class. Had it been a mistake to even discuss your feelings, or lack thereof, for Snow with her? Perhaps. But you couldn’t keep silent about it. You had to talk to someone. 

“I am hardly Mrs. Snow yet. I am only engaged, Clemmie,” you said. 

Livia Cardew reached for your left hand. You allowed her to take it. She examined the ring Snow had placed on your finger with much scrutiny. It was a silver band with leaves snaking up to the center, where the silver was molded into rose petals. At the center of the flower sat a large, glittering diamond. Livia loved jewelry and all the finer things in life. She could appreciate a nice ring more than you could. “With a ring like that? The King is making a statement.”

“That I am his?” you clarified. It took everything in you to not roll your eyes. If Livia thought that you were not pleased with your engagement, it would spread through Panem faster than maids’ gossip. Who knew what Snow would do if that happened. Livia nodded. “I was already well aware of his interest, as was the rest of the ton.”

“Perhaps you should remind Lord Plinth of that, then?” Livia said. 

Your brows pinched together. Had she someone found out about how you once argued that you would rather marry Sejanus? Had word somehow spread? You knew Snow would say nary a word about it. At least, you would assume so from how he acted when you only mentioned Sejanus’s name. You tried to think back. Were there any maids or butlers around when you talked to Snow about this? When you talked to your parents? None came to mind, but the mark of a good servant is to not be noticed. (Or so your mother says.) It could be possible that you simply missed them?

You decided to feign ignorance. “Lord Plinth? What do you mean?”

Clemensia laughed. “We all saw how he looked at you while you danced at his mother’s ball! That man looked at you like you were made of diamonds.”

Livia crinkled her nose. “You may as well be, at least compared to him. I can still hardly believe the Former King Ravinstill ever granted that family a title. A dukedom at that! It just wasn’t right.”

You decided to ignore Livia’s ramblings. It was true that the Plinth family did not have the same sort of respect the rest of the ton, who had been born into their titles for generations and generations stretching all the way back to the formation of Panem. It was why your parents were so adamant that you not marry Sejanus. But he was a good, and kind, and gentle man.  “No, that cannot be. Lord Plinth is only a friend. He was the one who told me that…” You stumbled on the word. It felt foreign in your mouth. “…my fiancé was interested in courting me. Why would he do that if he would want to marry me himself?”

“Oh, you poor, naïve thing. It’s a wonder you even got this far in your courtship,” Livia teased. “He was hoping that you would swear off the King and marry him. An act of true love, or whatever the fairy tales say.”

Could that be true? Could that be why Snow was so irate at you speaking of Sejanus? But why would Sejanus ever reveal that to Snow? Snow was so possessive. He would hardly let such a slight go by unpunished. And, yet, Sejanus still lived and breathed. Maybe, then, Snow had deduced this all his own, just as Livia and Clemensia had done.

“Well, it hardly matters now. I am engaged now.”

“If the King is as smart as he was at the Academy, he would marry you soon. To dissuade Lord Plinth from arriving with any last minute confessions that might steal you away,” Livia mused. 

You looked out the window, where Coriolanus the Cat perched. In the distance, you could see the Royal Carriage being pulled down the road. It was nearly time for your daily luncheon with Snow. Though you would always dine at the palace, he insisted on picking you up from your home. To anyone who knew of the routine, it seemed like such a romantic ordeal. A man so desperate to spend time with his love that he would do the silliest things. To you, it was merely another way for him to attempt to control you. 

“That would hardly change anything,” you said. The carriage stopped outside of your home. The coachmen stepped down, then opened the door. Snow stepped out, his eyes immediately seeking yours as he looked up at the window. Despite the distance, you could see the smirk on his face. It made you feel ill. 

“Because you are in love?” Clemensia asked. 

You wondered if Snow could read lips from so far away as you repeated, “Because I am in love.”

Livia looked out the window as Snow walked up to your home. “Do you think he knows about Lord Plinth?”

You blinked. You were wondering the same yourself. However, you knew that this was a question you would probably never get answered. You hardly could even figure out how to talk to Livia and Clemensia about this. How could you ever bring it up to Snow, with his quick temper? “It has never come up.”

“And why would it? I’m sure they have much more…exciting conversations,” Clemensia said with a grin. 

Your heart thumped at the implication. Truthfully, you did not know what happened when a couple were married. Your mother only ever told you that, after the ceremony, the union ended in consummation and that that was where children came from. She always said she would tell you more when you were older, but that day had not yet come. “We…talk about our future together,” you said. 

Clemensia’s grin grew, but before she could tease you further on matters you didn’t have a full grasp on, Snow entered the room. “Good morning, Miss Cardew, Miss Dovecote. Good morning, petal,” he said with a charming smile. “What are we talking about today?”

You opened your mouth to answer, ready to say you were discussing your impending nuptials. You knew that would please him enough to put him in a good mood. But Livia beat you to it.

“Lord Plinth’s infatuation with your fiancé.”

Snow’s jaw ticked. For a moment, you wondered if his mask would fall. But he recovered quickly and said in a teasing voice, “Should I be worried?”

“No, they have deluded themselves into thinking he is interested,” you said, careful to not even refer to Sejanus by his last name. “I told them that it would not have mattered even if he was interested because—”

“Because she’s in love,” Clemensia interrupted, elongating the word “love,” making it sing-songy.

A more genuine smile settled on Snow’s face. His eyes flitted to you. “Is that so?”

But, for as much as you were attempting to placate him, you had to have your fun, too. So, you smiled, and said, “Oh? We were talking about you? My mistake, I thought we were talking about Coriolanus.” 

You picked the kitten from his perch on the windowsill, pressing kisses around his face. He purred, curling up in your arms. For a moment, you thought you saw Coriolanus the Cat look smugly at Snow. But, even if he hadn’t, the annoyed look on Snow’s face was joy enough. 

“She teases me too much with that cat—”

“—our son—”

“—our son,” Snow corrected. “I almost regret giving her the little thing.”

Clemensia laughed and nudged Livia. “They already argue like they’re married.”

“Well, as lovely as this was, we do have a luncheon to attend,” Snow said, holding his hand out for you to take. You moved to cradle Coriolanus the Cat in one arm and slipped your hand into Snow’s. He helped you to your feet, then flashed another smile at Livia and Clemensia. “And do let me know if you have anymore theories about Lord Plinth’s affections. I have to ensure I do not have any competition, don’t I?”

“Oh, stop being silly,” you protested as Livia and Clemensia nodded. 

At that, your mother, who sat quietly in the corner of the room with her sewing, rose from her seat and followed you and Snow out of the home. Since the engagement, she had hardly spoken a word when he was around. A part of you wondered if that was because she no longer felt the need to quiet you since Snow put a ring on your finger. Another part of you wondered if Snow had included her silence in the terms of the engagement. You would, after all, need a chaperone with you until you were actually married, but that did not mean that Snow would want to listen to her protest over every thing you did. 

When you reached the carriage outside, Snow helped you climb in. For a second, you wondered if he was going to ignore your mother. But then he held a hand out for her to take as she lifted herself inside, taking the seat across from you. She had learned after the first luncheon that the spot beside you was to always be occupied by Snow. 

Once Snow took his seat, the carriage began its trek to the palace. You tried to distract yourself, looking out the window and petting Coriolanus the Cat, who was curled up on your lap. But then Snow reached for your hand, which you allowed him to take. From the corner of your eye, you saw your mother wrinkle her nose. You weren’t sure it was inappropriate for him to hold your hand, but perhaps she knew so archaic social rule you were unaware of. Or perhaps she was regretting her scheming, you mused. 

“I do not want you to spend any more time with Sejanus,” Snow said. 

This got your attention. 

You turned to look at him, your brows pinched together. “Because of what was said this morning? Lord…he is a friend.”

“I believe Miss Cardew and Miss Dovecote were correct in their assessment. I do not wish for you to be around him.” At your frown, he added, “At least not until after the wedding. It will only be a month. Give me this.”

“I have given you so much already.”

Snow squeezed your hand, tight. You tried to pull away, but he refused to loosen his grip. He leaned in to you, his breath fanning over your face. You did not like how close he was to you. “I cannot tell if his intentions are pure. I do not wish for you to be harmed.”

“Sejanus would never,” left your lips before you could think of what you were saying.

Snow’s face turned red. “What did I tell you about—”

“He is a friend, Snow. He. Is. A. Friend. You cannot isolate me from my friends—”

“—not your friends. Only him.”

“—just because you have concocted this delusion he is trying to take me from you. Sejanus may act impulsively from time to time, yes. He may not always think matters through. But he is your friend, and he is mine. Do you understand? As far as he is concerned, we are in love. Even if he had been interested in courting me, he would not do anything to hurt either of us. He is not like you.”

“Not like…You are toeing the line, petal.”

“I am not going to stop talking to a friend, even if it is only until we are married, because you are insecure. Snow, have I given you any reason to think that I would not follow our agreement?”

“No.”

“Have I done anything, save for admitting that I once considered marrying Sejanus, that would indicate I have feelings for him?”

“You have not.”

“Then why are you acting like a petulant child whose favorite toy has been stolen away?”

You watched as Snow’s jaw clenched and unclenched. But before he could say any more, the carriage came to a halt and the door was opened. Your mother was helped out first, then you, and finally Snow. He said not a single word as the three of you were led into the palace toward the dining room. Not until you had passed Coriolanus the Cat off to the butler. 

“Join me in the library for a moment, petal,” he said. 

You caught your mother’s eye. Oh, how you wished for her to say something. But instead, she took her seat at the table and said not a word. Sucking in a breath, you nodded. Snow smiled and took your hand, placing it around his bicep. You had half a mind to dig your nails into his arm, hoping that it might hurt him. You were already walking on thin ice, and you could not imagine such an act would go over well with Snow. 

When you entered the library, Snow shut the large, oak doors behind you. Your blood ran cold. He had not done that the last time you visited the library. Had you crossed the line? Had you gone too far? You were not sure if Snow was a violent man. He had spent some months after leaving the Academy as a Peacekeeper. He was certainly capable of violence. But would he inflict it? On you? 

“Snow, I did not mean to—” you began to apologize, hoping that it might placate him. 

If you thought Snow had been too close to you before, it hardly compared to him grabbing you, one hand on your waist, the other on your face, his lips pressed against yours. You gasped, trying to pull away. This was not right. This was not…You were not even sure if married couples kissed this way. You had only ever seen chaste kisses, never something so…animalistic. You weren’t sure if Snow was kissing you more than he was trying to eat you alive. When his tongue darted out, swiping against your lips, you finally managed to push him away. 

“What the hell was that!?” you shouted. “You cannot just, just kiss someone! We are not married, Snow! You promised that you would not ruin me!”

“Did I? I only recall saying your reputation would never be harmed.” Snow reached for you again. You could not find it in you to push him away, not when he had such a crazed look in his eye. “And it will not be, I will promise you that. If I wish, however, to kiss my fiancée in private, I shall do so.”

“You only did this so I would feel guilty if I tried to leave you for Sejanus, which I have already told I would not do!”

“No,” Snow said. “I did this because you drive me mad.”

“Then lock yourself in an asylum. Do not kiss me.”

One of Snow’s hands left your waist. He reached up, caressing your face. When you did jerk away, he pinched your chin between his fingers. “You are to be my wife. You are to be the wife of a king. I shall treat you however I see fit. Do you understand?”

When you said nothing, he pinched harder. “Do you understand?”

“Only if you understand that I will hate you until the day I die.”

[motherofdogs1010]

Little Darling IV (Thomas Shelby x Reader)

Summary: Birmingham has received a new club, one that is showcasing a exotic type of dance that is drawing in crowds, but it is one particular dancer that catches Thomas Shelby's eye... one that goes by the stage name: Little Darling

Warnings: 18+ only, eventual pinv sex, eventual smut, stripper!reader, heavy petting, dry humping, language, drinking, cannon Peaky Blinder violence

Banner @firefly-graphics Dividers @vase-of-lilies

Series Masterlist

His lips against hers felt hot, a shiver ran through her at the sensation of their lips molded against one another and she squeezed her eyes as her hand twitched and--

Slap.

Y/N felt a sense of justification when she slapped Tommy, one of her long nails scratched the corner of his lip pretty good during the slap and the man smirked, his tongue coming out and licking the little blood.

His cheek was rosy from the slap and she felt vindication over it as she

"I'm not a whore", she hissed, shoving him away and standing up. "And I will never be your whore."

"Not during the day", Tommy replied, "not yet at least."

Her eyes widen at his response, the way he was making it out that she was going to be his whore and while the rational part of her felt anger, there was a slim, small part of her that reveled in the thought.

"I need you to leave", she demanded, Tommy held his gloved hands up.

"Fine", he said, "but you don't need to worry about your parents."

Her heart stopped as he continued, "I made sure to leave a generous donation to them, they should be getting a good amount of groceries for the next month."

Y/N felt confused, why was he taking care of her parents? Why was he spending all this effort on her? It had to go beyond what he was telling her; she watched as he turnt and left, wondering just what did Tommy want with her.

Y/N was due for new beauty products and it was on her way out of the store did she run into the famous Polly Gray, aunt to the Shelby boys. It struck her as odd since with the amount of money the Shelbys had acquired, they would have someone else do their shopping but here she was, wrapped in a fur-lined coat and a impeccable hat on her head.

Polly was everything Y/N had heard of, beautiful and sophisticated with eyes that cut you deep as she analyzed you to the bone.

"Y/N is it?" the older woman asked, Y/N clutched her paper bag of things.

"Yes", she replied, "what can I do for you?"

"Walk with me", Polly said, Y/N trailed after her.

After a few moments, Polly spoke up, "Tommy's pretty taken with you."

Y/N felt her eyes widen, had the bastard blabbed?

"Don't worry", Polly said, "he hasn't said anything, but I always know everything that boy does. He is predictable when he comes across a beautiful woman."

"Well, I'd rather he not", Y/N said as they walked.

"The man can't help but think with his cock", Polly said, "he just like every other man."

Y/N wondered what it was that Polly wanted as she said, "No matter, seems like you want nothing to do with the bastard. Much better than the last one."

The last one?

And with more questions than answers, Polly Gray simply turned around and walked away.

Some of the girls wanted to go to the Garrison since Cherry had given some of them the night off as appreciation for their hard work. Y/n had slid into a champagne-colored dress that accentuated her figure, curled her hair into a chignon bun at the base of her neck; her mother's pearls adorned her neck and ears as she finished the look with her usual, deep red lipstick.

"N/N, over here!" Diane said, waving her over.

Diane, stage name Lovely, smiled as she sat with Eleanor (Beloved), Phoebe (Babydoll), and Susan (Sweet Pea). Y/N had felt some apprehension at coming to the Garrison considering that it was prime Blinder territory, but it had been so long since she had gone out with her friends that the risk of running into Tommy felt overshadowed by it.

Walking over, Y/N smiled at the girls as she took a seat. The pub was busy since it was a Friday, the sound of chatter and laughter rang in the place as she slid into a empty seat with her friends.

"What took you so long?" Susan said in a teasing tone.

"You can't rush perfection", she teased back and her friends laughed with her.

Soon enough, gossip began to flow through them as they sat and relaxed, listening to the chatter of the Garrison as Eleanor was gossiping about another one of their co-workers, Beauty.

"She truly thinks that Mr. Lowe will leave his wife for her", Eleanor said with a 'tsk' in her tone. "Poor thing, she really does believe it."

"We all tried to warn her when she first started", Diane said, "just because they're repeat clients does not mean anything."

Y/N sipped on her whiskey as she listened, the cold ice cubes touching her lips as Susan said, "I'm not sure, myself. Y/N here has (Susan looked around before whispering) Mr. Thomas Shelby wrapped around her finger."

Y/N's eyes widened and she had hoped no one else had noticed the preference that he had taken to her, but it seemed it was obvious to everyone.

"Don't remind me", she said with a shake of her head. "He's like a pest that won't leave."

Susan giggled a little, "A pest that brings you loads of money."

"Well, that's the only upside", she said with a teasing grin. "I'm just hoping he doesn't turn up tonight."

"Why's that? It's not like he'd recognize you without the uniform", Diane said, Y/N shook her head.

"Sugar ratted me out."

Her three friends gasped and shook their heads as Eleanor said, "he's been following you, hasn't he?"

Y/N opened her mouth, about to respond when Harry, the bartender walked over and set a drink down in front of her.

"I didn't order this", she said with a frown.

"He did", Harry said as he pointed out the culprit.

And lo and behold, the bane of her days had been sitting in the corner this whole time, just watching her...

TAGLIST

@amanda08319 @crispynutella @neonpurplestars89-blog @forgottenpeakywriter @kxnnxy

[kirarafelis]

Character biographies part 1.5 + art!

DUNCAN

Name: Duncan 

Likes: Wild events. 

Dislikes: His given daily schedule and responsibilities. 

Known for: Being the only one not interested in any sort of justice within his family.

Why TDI?: To get something new and different out of life.

Duncan comes from a long line of cops. His dad is a cop. His mom is a cop. His uncle, aunt, grandma, and cousins are cops. Unlike them, however, Duncan isn't that interested in that end of the spectrum; he'd rather get some enjoyment, and he's the type who probably shouldn't be trusted with any sort of authority anyways. So Duncan's parents decided to just throw random hobbies at him to keep him from doing anything too mischievous, such as but not limited to: fashion, knitting, and sewing. He's already gotten some warnings, which his mom had to talk out. He's also been put into boarding school after several school hops and pretty much well indulged by his dad to keep him from screwing up their family line reputation. Duncan doesn't necessarily care enough to get the full learning experience from boarding school, though, in his words, he'd rather do an "innovative, creative" break in to show his artistic skills than go through another art class. He also has street smarts and isn't afraid to use them. Despite his cocky nature, the therapists who have worked with Duncan will say he has potential and wants to do good for the world; it just isn't shown exactly through his exterior. When Duncan isn't being put through excessive work or lectures, he looks for ways to curb his boredom, like signing up for Total Drama Island. Duncan figured it couldn't be much worse than a day at boarding school. and, who knows, it could be fun to mess around there. It's not like he's doing anything else this summer.

GWEN

Name: Gwen

Likes: Hosting mold breaking parties from the norm with her little brother.

Dislikes: Following trends.

Known for: Putting beef bouillon cubes in the Community Pool

Why TDI?: To have a good time and the money would really help her mom.

The daughter of a single mom, Gwen was a latchkey kid who grew up taking care of her brother. That's cool with Gwen, because she likes helping out her mom and has tons of fun with her brother, too.

Like the time they put a bunch of beef bouillon cubes into the community pool. (At least the neighborhood dogs were happy!)

The only other thing that Gwen is REALLY passionate about is organizing parties. She believes they can be a substantial form of self-expression; she's been told plenty of her uniqueness for it, and she herself hopes to make the most norm-breaking party ever gain traction without having to go by a single trend for it. One day after all, the last thing she'd do is follow a trend. Maybe a Trent, but never a trend. (wink wink!) Although she's pretty popular for her parties, she is the loner at school. At the same time, she isn’t seen much with others; she spends most of her time instead watching and generating new ideas. But ask someone, and they will say that for a loner, she is a pretty rad one.

Gwen heard about total drama from her brother, and after looking into it, she decided it's just what she'd be looking for in an island retreat. Activities, fun, and relaxation.

Plus, if she wins the $100,000, it would sure make life easier for her mom. Gwen may seem tough as nails on the outside, but when it comes to her family, she's as soft as... well, a marshmallow.

GEOFF

Name: Geoff

Likes: Art, camping, and hanging out at the beach.

Dislikes: Parties that get too wild and shallow superficial people.

Known for: Always drawing in his free time at school.

Why TDI?: A experience different from the typical partying, if not that there’s camping.

Geoff grew up in a party town on the west coast. Spring break, long weekends, summertime—people came from all around to party in his town. So it's not a surprise due to the fact that Geoff isn’t exactly the biggest partygoer; he ended up coming across as an odd one out, or just quite literally an outcast. Now Geoff has seen, at a young age, how to really party. REALLY. He's the oldest of five brothers, but being the oldest also leads to the most responsibilities. Usually, when a party is over, he takes on the job of cleaning up the mess. (One time, almost the entire floor was flooded with fruit punch!) Now he doesn't hold any grudge against his brothers or parents for this, though; it is his duty as the eldest, but he isn't exactly happy about it either. And he thinks that at times the parties start to become too repetitive and similar. Even if Geoff says he hates the idea of doing parties entirely, thanks to his bohemian parents (who met, married, and conceived Geoff on a beach), Geoff still has chillaxin' party-hearty DNA in his blood, even if not apparent. He's the star quarterback on his high school football team, and they’ve scored plenty of wins, but the thing that truly highlights Geoff is his passion for art. A fair share of the cool kids are pretty interested in his art and hang out with him for it. He couldn’t care less about if they were “cool” or not, though; he’d hang out with anyone regardless of where they lie. Geoff's goal is to take a bit out of life and chew it until there's nothing left but seeds that he can scatter into the wind to start with a canvas all over again. His eventual plan is to become a professional artist who brings emotion and laughs with his works. He thinks that would be the most awesome career ever. He can't even imagine how great that would be, and he would definitely ace it, too. He wants to be able to make people feel together. Geoff also enjoys spending time at the beach or in the woods on weekends and sketching on his pad. Now, being real about it, Geoff wasn't exactly expecting to be on Total Drama Island this year; his brothers just thought he totally should give the show a try, so eventually he gave in and auditioned. He was surprised to actually be picked though he didn't actually expect to be spending his summer on a reality TV show. He doesn't mind too much, though; it might be fun.

BRIDGETTE

Name: Bridgette

Likes: Strummin’ on her ukulele

Dislikes: People who aren't kind to Mother Earth

Known For: Her sense of humor and creativity

Why TDI?: To spread the message of cosmic love through music.

Bridgette grew up in a small west coast town, and it shows. She’s always enjoyed the simple things, from the rhythm of a waterfall down to the melody of a bird. She’s an expert at riding bikes too; she first learned to ride one before she could even walk! When she’s just on a stroll, though, she's kind of klutzy. She's done her fair share of lead-outs. (And they were all on foot!) Luckily, she's also got a healing touch. Bridgette's strongest attributes are her sense of humor and her creativity. She's a pretty laid-back, go-with-the-flow girl, and her best friend is her mom. They both love flowers, crystals, and everything else that is part of Mother Nature's beautiful bounty. Bridgette's mom is proud of her not only because she's a giving person, but also because she's also on the honor roll at school. She’s also considered pretty cool for her ukulele-playing skills. People will say she can play it in a unique way you don’t see every day. Bridgette signed up for Total Drama Island because she always tries to open herself up to new opportunities. She's already biked off a hill in Peru, helped build houses in a third-world country, and spent a summer making rugs in a monastery in Nepal. Bridgette's goal is to keep the vibe flowing in a good way. That's why she always uses her ability to make soothing music to raise money for charities. She can be seen on social media or performing on the street, but no matter what, she makes sure she stores the money to be put to good use for good causes. Bridgette hopes that her time on Total Drama Island will spread the message of music to communicate nature and cosmic love to a larger audience.

TRENT

Name: Trent

Likes: Collecting seashells as well as everything else the shore has to offer… in pairs of nine.

Dislikes: His dad telling him to become an accountant.

Known For: Being a cool guy.

Why TDI?: It sounded like a good way to spend the summer

Trent is a guy who is very interested in the ocean and he believes it has spiritual secrets if you look deep enough. That’s why since he could barely walk he’s been exploring the shore. In fact He’s proud to call himself the most knowledgeable kid concerning the local beaches. Eventually, Trent's goal is to have his own full fledged rockin’ artifact collection. Trent is also peculiarly good at surfing in edition to that all. Trent has never gone out of his way to "get" people to like him. He'd just rather chill and get a good view of everything going on in the world. He's a straight shooter who tells it like it is. He would never say he's the "cool guy." Trent is the kind of guy who gets girls and has the other guys admiring him. He's just too likable to hate. His surfing and scavenging skills seal his status as one cool compadre. In his junior high graduating class he was voted as "Most Mysterious and Irresistible." (It was later discovered that the Voting Committee was comprised completely of girls, all of whom dated Trent.) Despite his good looks and easy going matter, Trent is smarter than he's given credit for. Though his grades don't reflect it, his IQ is well above anyone's expectations, including his own. His Dad wished he would follow in his footsteps and become an accountant, to which Trent has four words... NOT - IN - THIS - LIFETIME! Trent auditioned for Total Drama Island because it sounded like a cool way to spend the summer...and $100,000 would make a nice funding for that scuba gear and other

Footnote: Wow, this was harder than it should’ve been for me to make… if I had to say out of all of them here, Geoff took the longest to come up with. Even then though I feel like I could do better tried as hard as I could though for right now anyways, anddd I’m hoping to not take as long with future batches. Also I’ll definitely draw very cool shots for Tyler, Courtney, and Lindsay later on the future as well even if I already did their biographies.🤩

[diamondperfumes]

@saltywinteradult I don't know why you blocked me before screenshotting my post and reposting it to, I suppose, "refute" my post amongst your followers, but I welcome open discussion at any time! I don't like this back and forth of screenshotting. You definitely don't need to censor my username either, as I stand by what I said and don't see any problem with it. If your followers have issues with what I said too, they can easily reply to the post I wrote, or send me an ask (I'm pretty sure my inbox is open; please let me know if not).

That said, I think this post is a good encapsulation of the reasoning fans have for hating Daenerys, but also an encapsulation of why I love her:

Murder is horrific. That applies as much to Dany burning Mirri alive in a magical ritual as it does to Mirri murdering Dany's baby in her womb. And you are absolutely entitled to finding Dany a horrifying character for murdering an enslaved woman. What I love about Dany, though, is that she is not a hypocrite or an aestheticized martyr. She refuses to let bad things happen to her loved ones without reprisal. She will not accept the death of her child blithely. Just as any other parent or family member who seeks vengeance for their loved ones, be it Robb Stark, Lady Stoneheart, the Sand Snakes, Doran Martell, and more, Dany will not forgive the woman who murdered her son. Her son is her bottom line, just as he was when Viserys threatened his life, making Dany finally accept that he was no longer her brother. And I would much rather that Dany do the "horrible thing," an act of vengeance and blood magic, than forgive Mirri. Forgiving Mirri would not have been a realistic or human response. Above all, GRRM writes well fleshed out, human characters. I relate to the Dany who loves her children so much that she'll forgive pain to herself (for example, she bears no ill will toward Mirri for causing her the exruciating physical pain of a miscarriage) but not to her children, people, or loved ones. I relate to the Dany who is angry at those who harm her loved ones, and is ruthless and furious rather than passive and docile in the face of that pain and suffering. I relate to the Dany who, as a teenage bridal slave pit against another slave, made an arguably selfish decision. I want my female characters to make at times selfish, at times horrific choices, in the name of love, family, motherhood. GRRM created a beautifully multidimensional female character in breaking from the "passive recipient of violence" mold for so many fantasy women––violence is done unto Dany, but she will not be the submissive, obedient, demure martyr who dies or suffers to make others comfortable. Her baby had meaning to her. Her baby was her home. And she avenged that loss, as I'd expect any realistic, human mother to.

In a feudalist setting, any character who did what Mirri did would've been executed. Mirri expected to be executed to, and in fact goaded Dany with that intent. I would love if you, or anyone else, would name someone who'd forgive Mirri and let her go in this situation! I genuinely am curious to see if you can come up with anyone. If Mirri was going to be executed anyway, I much prefer Dany's mentality––"She told herself that there were powers stronger than hatred, and spells older and truer than any the maegi had learned in Asshai. The night was black and moonless, but overhead a million stars burned bright. She took that for an omen."––than just pure hatred. Dany creates life out of death. As Mirri teaches her, "if life was meaningless, what was death?" "only death may pay for life." She could have beheaded Mirri in one go, and such violence may have satiated her anger, but what would be left? The cycle of life and death is ever present in Dany's arc, and I find it fascinating. Most of the characters who behead or murder people, even innocents, like Ned Stark with Gared (the starting action of AGOT), have no interest in creating life from death. They emphasize the finality of death; Dany transcends it.

If it was just enough for Dany to burn Mirri, then I myself wouldn't praise the act as much. All the loss Dany experienced, the upheaval and pain and suffering, went into the birth of the dragons. She had to follow the clues left behind in her blood and dreams to understand that the ultimate key to the ritual was her own sacrifice. Dany did not just stand by and watch as Mirri burned. She walked into that funeral pyre herself, with, yes, bravery in her heart (I noticed that some people were mocking that phrase of mine in the tags of my post, but does it not take bravery to walk into fire?). If she didn't sacrifice her own life and self, the dragons would not have hatched. Thus you may argue that Dany is a hypocrite for burning Mirri, but Dany involved her own being in the ritual too. She paid the price for the ritual and suffered its consequences in the loss of Rhaego and the splintering of the Khalasar.

Mirri is not innocent in the act of murdering Rhaego. One of the clever aspects of GRRM's writing is that characters like Mirri and Penny serve to problematize the overall heroism of characters like Dany and Tyrion. Dany and Tyrion are still heroes (though of course, for most of the fandom, they are villains, and I'm sure for you they are both villains as well). Very rarely do authors give characters like Mirri agency. And it's not as if George has given all of those positioned characters that agency. Jeyne Poole, Gilly, Lollys and Falyse Stokeworth, Pia, they don't get these kinds of emotionally charged, high tension moments with their respective POV characters. They get emotional moments, yes, but the space to call out the POV characters? Mirri and Penny get that. Mirri has the textual agency to express her motivations, act on her motivations, and explain them to Dany. She is an intelligent woman. Trying to take away her culpability in Rhaego's murder is not a progressive or feminist reading, in my view; it strips her of her agency and her motivations. Now, if you want to argue that she had every right to murder Rhaego, that is a separate conclusion! But as to whether or not she did murder Rhaego, it's undeniable. And even if you don't believe me, or Dany, both the official ASOIAF app and the ASOIAF appendices list her as the murderer.

I would love if someone sent this to @saltywinteradult! I enjoy healthy debate (I put that post in the ASOIAF tag for a reason). What I don't like is back-and-forth screenshotting. If you don't want to have a conversation with me that's no problem, but I find it odd to screenshot someone you have blocked and discuss her post. Why don't we have a free discussion? That's why I made a tumblr account, to discuss ASOIAF. Please let me know your thoughts!

[gor3sigil]

Tailor your skin

[TW for mention of ED, rape, bullying, transphobia, sexual assault, transandrophobia]

[This text is one of the selection I'll put in my next issue of my zine, "From behind Tinted Windows and Cracked Screens", focused on transandrophobia. I was too happy with it not to share it. It's like the one I shared a while ago, but better, to me.]

My birth was a disaster. A disaster of closed call death, disease in undevelopped lungs, veins and poisoned flesh.

Growing up to be overprotected and neglected simultaneously. A clumsy and awkward kid trying to fit in, yet struggling to see the appeal of being like everyone else. My face hidden behind my long hair and my body behind baggy black clothes covering a starvation that no one was going to see anyways, I was still the curvy “looks-older-for-her-age” teenager. And then, I was trans.

What a surprise it was. Suddenly the mean girls who were making fun of my wasted attempts at femininity were claiming I was a woman too beautiful to be anyTHING else. My parents who complained about me being a tomboy all my life were scared to death of being right, after all these fights !

For my peers, the proud bisexual girl I had been had been eaten alive by my desire to escape my True Nature. Cis straight women who never were my friends would have switched up and given me head for me to stay the Holy Female their flawed feminism was forcing me to be, and to stay, for sisterhood, for the Cause.

I was turn in turn a victim or a traitor. My femininity raped out of me but not my love for men. Men scared me from being a woman but not from becoming one of Them. I was bullied from being an outcast but not out of being trans. I was a Lamb enough but not so weak I couldn’t be the Big Bad Wolf.

I started drinking almost at the same time I realized I was trans and I lost more friends over a simple switch of pronouns than I ever did after a drunken meltdown.

The sisters who swore to protect me told me now to catch the blows for everything I had never been nor done. And the final straw was seeking euphoria using a gender swap app and seeing my father staring right back at me.

What do you think I fled, then ? Do you think I doubled down ? Do you think I went head first into the pool of a manhood made with my bare hands and spite ? Or did I melt myself into a mold I didn’t fit it, so sure I was to never find safety or softness or tenderness or bonding ever again ? Did I ran away in the moods like a wounded animal, did I rather got sick from dehydration than having to risk seeing my reflection in the water I drank ?

I could go on for eternity, there are so little words to describe the isolation, the alienation you feel when being on your own makes you unsafe and seeking your kin makes you a predator. I went from a healer to the one taking the blame for men who broke me just as much, whom I also swore I’d never become, not in a million years. But in the confusion of trauma, it’s easier to bite someone who won’t bite back, isn’t it ?

I could tell you it gets better. I will tell you, in fact, that it does. It does get better in yourself, when you find your inner peace, your inner strength. When the mirror becomes a friend that shows you excitedly all the subtle changes that comes with shedding out of your shell, that there is a community waiting for you out there. That you deserve every bit of love and support, that you are not a traitor, that your manhood is holy, oh so holy, your transness is too, in short, YOU are. My beloved, as much as I hear your raw suffering, the weight of the fear of becoming the ones who hurt you, it won’t happen. I promise you. You are a treasure, you make this world a better place, and you deserve no shame, no pointed fingers, no mean laughter. If you can’t trust yourself, trust the process.

I assure you that when the sun will rise, one day, and you open your eyes to see the big blue sky, you’ll feel it. The comfort of belonging. The warmth of your skin, finally fitting right.

[peachymilkandcream]

My Prize|Part 3|Viking Levi x Evelyn

WARNINGS: implied noncon/dubcon, big age difference, kidnapping, slavery, violence, power imbalance, implied somnophilia, forced pregnancies, mind breaking, yandere behaviour, yandere themes, forced exhibitionism, sexual coercion, blackmail, etc.

================================================

Hange, one of Erwin's closest friends had made it her personal mission to comfort him in this tumultuous time. She knew that Erwin had his heart set on being with Evelyn. Since the moment she had started to blossom into a woman Erwin knew that no one else would do. He had to have her. This is what he had been setting up for so long, to see it all stolen away from him by a impudent brat wouldn't do. More than the personal loss it was a humiliation, he had been entirely tricked and let some outsider steal what was most precious to him right out from under his nose. Such an indignation would not stand.

"I don't see why you don't take the loss and focus on what you can do now." She had been saying this whole time, he was hardly listening.

"And that would be?"

"Find another. There are plenty of pretty girls, I'm sure you could find someone else who is even prettier than Evelyn."

"And abandon her to that brute?"

Hange sighs. "I don't like the idea of it either, but what choice do we have? We don't know who he is, where he is headed, nothing. He's most likely on the other side of the world. Our people have barely set foot outside of the deep forest, and from the looks of it he knew the sea better than any of us."

"I refuse to give up on her."

"Erwin. I'm not saying you have to, but you even said yourself that she's tainted now. Do you really want a woman defiled by such a man as your bride?"

Erwin sits back a moment, thinking. His reasons for wanting Evelyn of any girl was her beauty and pliability. Since the moment she started to have a mind of her own she was bent to one day become the perfect bride for a leader like Erwin, he had made sure of it when he saw her that first time how many years ago. He had instructed her parents to mold her into a wife for him, honored, they had done so without question. Evelyn was entirely devoted to him and prepared to serve him until she had been stolen away. But the truth was plain, she was defiled now. Any child they produced should he get her back might be the bloodline of that bastard.

He would rather die.

"I suppose I can try and find someone else. But that doesn't mean I'll give up on getting her back. Even if it's not as my bride, I won't let one of our own be tied to that fate."

================================================

All eyes were on Evelyn from dawn until dusk. Levi intended to watch her like a hawk until he was sure her spirit had been broken. He knew that deep down she would want nothing more than to return to her betrothed. Unbidden, thoughts of Erwin filling her womb with his children sent him into a barely contained rage. While Levi had been the only one to touch her, his flaming jealousy was still always just below a boiling point. Every man was a threat, he knew this, he knew how men thought. He knew how he thought. Men saw a beautiful woman and wanted to mark her as theirs, they were all the same, and he would be damned if that happened to him.

So far, she had been good. It seemed that the reality that no one cared for her or knew where she was had sunk in early. Evelyn was utterly helpless and at his mercy, it was her job to decide whether or not she would bend to him. Thankfully, she had chosen to bend. As no less than a barbarian Levi enjoyed violence, but he didn't enjoy seeing the aftermath on the delicate skin of his woman. It was a major turn off.

He wasn't so naïve to think that Erwin wasn't coming for him. If he had been insulted and wronged in such a way he would come for the man who did it as well. It was a matter of pride, of proving masculinity, such an insult wouldn't be taken lying down. So now his only goal was to impregnate Evelyn as soon as possible, a woman pregnant by your enemy is enough to give up the fight. The humiliation of raising another man's child would be too great, no sane person would dare risk it. That was Levi's mission now, to breed her quickly. She was healthy enough, he was sure she could birth him many sons to carry on his legacy, he hoped she would accept his seed sooner than later.

Evelyn on the other hand, did in fact long for her life in the forest instead of by the sea. She longed to be Erwin's bride, it was the one thing she had been preparing herself for since her first bleed. That was when her mother told her that she would be wed to the most wonderful and powerful man in their tribe, her duties would be to care for him and give him many children, a full and fulfilling life. How she wanted it.

But, Levi wasn't as bad as she thought. Evelyn was taught never to complain, so that was most likely part of it. In truth, she had expected him to breed her and then cut out a child from her womb, leaving her to die. He seemed like such a barbarian that she was sure that this would be her fate. However he surprised her, aside from aggressive love making, he was calm and borderline attentive. It seemed what he really wanted was a wife, someone to keep his house and make it a home. He was educated in the things of sea and the world, but it seemed not in love. A shame, her tribe's views on love would teach him how he should go about it, but was it his fault if he was misguided? She began to feel pity for him, so lonely on this cliff all alone, the village avoiding him at all costs. He needed someone.

And that was her. It felt good to be needed in a way, Erwin needed no one, she was just a added gem into his crown of achievements. If Erwin never came for her, she would be heartbroken, but would do her best to accept it. This man needed her, and until the day he no longer did, she would be there.

================================================

Erwin tried his best to focus on the girls working to please him. They had been taking turns riding him while those who weren't kissed and worshipped every inch of his body.

Some of these girls were betrothed or married, but it was considered an honor for the leader to bless a woman with his seed. They believed it also increased fertility. All lies that he had set up when he once infiltrated this leaderless village and crowned himself above them. It was nothing more than an excuse to defile as many women as he pleased, even if Evelyn hadn't been taken from him, he was considering instituting his right to multiple wives. Now it wasn't an appropriate time, so a lack of commitment arrangement suited him just fine.

However now he couldn't seem to entirely focus. His mind was still on Evelyn. The one who got away, it was driving him crazy. He could have any girl in the village and yet the one he wanted he couldn't have. While these girls were pleasing enough he wanted Evelyn as the final piece in his takeover.

Erwin suddenly held the girl on his lap down, thrusting into her until his seed oozed out of her, her husband would be happy that Erwin had blessed her with his cum, it would mean good luck and many children to come.

The other girls didn't hide their jealousy, continuing to service him in hopes that he would be in the mood to grant them the same honor.

"Great leader! Great leader!" A voice outside his tent called.

"A moment." Erwin turned his attention to the girls. "Return home, I'll send for you if I wish for more."

The tent empties, and once Erwin is decent he comes face to face with another from his tribe.

"What is it?"

"As requested great leader, we searched the betrayer's cabin."

"And?"

"It seems that the barbarian was keeping one of his crewmates alive under the floorboards."

Erwin's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why would he do that?"

"Apparently he wronged the betrayer, and instead of killing him he planned on leaving him alive until he could return home and leave the crewmate to starve to death in the floorboards. Apparently he enjoyed torturing him."

"What does this mean for us?"

"He's willing to tell us all about the betrayer if we give him shelter."

Erwin can barely hide his smirk. "Very well, bring him in."

[darkangel319]

WIP Questionnaire

Tagged by @faeriecinna (here) and @wintherlywords (here)

This is kind of late, but I have a ton of tags drafted and I'm slowly working through them when I find my motivation. Here's the response for my current WIP: A Tale of Frost and Flames (still a working title)

✨What was the first part of your wip that you created? ✨

It all started with a knight kneeling before his princess and promising to be her sword and to mow down any enemies that stand in her way. Now it has evolved far past just that.

✨If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?✨

Definitely a powerful instrumental intro with a touch of whimsy.

✨Who are your favorite characters you've made? Why?✨

Taliesin is certainly a favorite of mine because I wanted to create a strong morally grey character who is also a dragon. Although I'm attached to all of them, especially the ones I have yet to introduce. Rhidian because he's a himbo who just wants to be a good person and is stuck being the 3rd son of a king, so his job is to be married off to make an alliance. Despite this he wants to make his arranged marriage work.

✨What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?✨

Anything with a heavy romance element in an in-depth fantasy world. Other Media with political drama, faefolk, magic, and dragons.

✨What has been your biggest struggle with your wip? ✨

My biggest struggle has been with my pacing. Trying to find the right pace for plot points to unfold themselves. Just recently I decided that my pace was going too fast, so to slow it down I'm refocusing book one into more of a focus on where Eirallia is now/who she is rather than pushing her too quickly into evolving into the character that I imagine for her. I'm slowing it down to focus more on her character journey, but it's been a struggle to take a step back and to make that choice.

✨Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!✨

Regular animals so far. There's natural wildlife in the kingdoms. As for Melione...there are a lot of creatures in the wylds. Animalistic and not. There is another character that I have in mind (without a name yet), but she has a secondary form that's cat-like.

✨How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)✨

Horses and carriages in the human kingdoms, along with ships and other vessels. Melione is a special case where there is an abundance of magic. Some have wings and other gifts that can get them around quicker.

✨What part of your wip are you working on rn?✨

After some rough decisions, I split the draft that I had been working with into the beginning and end of book one. So right now, I am working on Eirallia's slow processing of grief while she is being overloaded with responsibilities that don't belong to her in a place where she knows that she isn't wanted.

✨What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?✨

It's my hope that my themes of adversity and overcoming will shine through and draw people in. Along with the progression of growth that all of my characters have to go through in order to find who they're meant to be when not being forced into a mold created by their parents and the society that they live in. There's a heavy theme of grief and trying to fit into a mold made for someone else. Basically, Eira's life is a mess. Her love life, her family life, everything is a mess. She's learning along the way how to be herself while processing big losses in her life.

✨ What are your hopes for your wip?✨

My hopes are pretty simple with this one: To be able to physically hold my wip in my hands.

No Pressure Tags: @fantasywriternimzy, @oodles-of-noodles, @spideronthesun, @melpomene-grey

[olive-garden-hoe]

PLEASE SOMEONE LISTEN WHAT IF

“The Moon Will Sing” is ABOUT A PARENT

Note 1: this is in no way supposed to be definitive, it is my interpretation as someone who relates heavily to the song in this context

Note 2: this interpretation is in no way, shape, or form trying to say that the way the singer depicts her relationship with her parents in this song is indicative of her relationship with her parents in real life. It is not my place, nor anyone else’s, to speculate about how accurate this song is to her personal life. Though my wording may seem as though I am talking about the singer’s actual relationship with her parents, I mean it strictly in the context of the song. We must all respect the artist’s privacy.

“Tell me once again, I could’ve been anyone anyone else, before you made the choice for me”

The singer is expressing her disbelief that her whole fate was practically determined by her parents, that she could’ve been so much different if they didn’t mold her to be a certain way

“My feet knew the path we walked in the dark… I never gave a single thought to where it might lead”

The singer was unaware of the path her parent was taking her and was kept in the dark about what the steps her parents told her to take would lead. The fact that she ‘never gave a single thought’ implies naïveté that is consistent with an exceptionally young child blindly following their parents instructions

“All those empty rooms, we could have been anywhere… else, instead I made a bed with apathy”

The ‘empty rooms’ could be a reference to the unfurnished facets of her life that her parents may have forced her to leave empty in pursuit of ‘furnishing’ other ‘rooms’ (I.e. they won’t let her explore music because she needs to focus on grades). The bed of apathy likely means that she had become too tired to debate or fight back, that she opted for inaction and acceptance of her parents’ molding for the sake of ease and because she was too tired from working on furnishing these rooms to do anything besides continue the cycle.

“My heart knew the weight, ten years worth of dust and neglect, we made our peace with weariness and let it be”

This could be saying that the tiredness the singer expresses formerly exists in her parents as well, that everyone is just too tired to address any issues within their families. I would like to note that, while not explicitly stated, this may be referencing ‘The Hand that Feeds’ where her father was established to “work all his days.”

“The moon will sing a song for me, I loved you like the sun, bore the shadows that you made with no light of my own, I shine only with the light you gave me…”

THE WHOLE VERSE IS SO FIRE OMG ANYWAYS The singer is expressing how she relates to the moon due to the way it is completely dépendant on the sun for its light. In the same way, she may be saying that she feels as though all the goodness or impressive qualities are only the result of her parents’ light. In other words, sheath be expressing a deep-seated fear that she is not quite fully a new person, rather just a combination of her parents and/or their actions

“Name your courage now”

Her parents may, in her adult life, be boasting about how good they were to her when she was a child. However, it is only putting a name to ‘courage’ that ultimately may have done more harm than good or have just been the bare minimum

“We could have had anything else, instead you hoarded all that’s left of me”

Now we’re getting into a new facet of the relationship with the parents! It seems that they also were overbearing in some way, stopping the singer from getting the experiences or friends she wanted.

“Swallowing your doubt, like swords to the pit of my belly”

She seems to be internalizing her parents’ cynicism and/or criticism and allowing that to mold her. It seems her parents not trusting her hurts her a lot, meaning she places a lot of emphasis on their approval/trust, which is supported by the first verse

“I want to feel the fire that you kept from me!”

In the story of Prometheus, the god steals fire from Mount Olympus to give to humans and gets punished for it. The reason this may be important is because the Crane Wives are no strangers to referencing folklore (look at the explanation behind their name). We can reasonably assume that they are acknowledging the double-faceted nature of fire that the myth of Prometheus displays. Fire is something that gives advancement, the basis of early and modern technology as well as a major way our world consumes energy. It also provides light and warmth, as well as an opportunity for rebirth (look at why forest fires are beneficial for forests). At the same time, fire is the great consumer, it spreads and burns as it goes, leaving ash in its wake. The Prometheus story not only references the consequences of bringing such a force to mortals, but also why Prometheus thought it was important to risk himself for. In this lyric, the singer references a fire that was kept from her, which from the previous discussion we can reasonably assume includes both the growth fire brings and the destruction it causes. I’m other words, I believe this lyric is saying that the singer desires for both sides of life, growth and harm, that her parents ‘protected’ her from.

[bryonyparkinsons]

( lucy boynton | cisfemale | she/her ) — was that bryony parkinson nee wilkes passing through diagon alley? those close to them say they remind them of children should be seen but never heard, empty promises, hiding your manipulations behind saccharine smiles, your back aching from upholding traditions, the clinking of champagne flutes and a flurry of beautiful ball gowns, welcoming yourself to your own cage which i suppose seems to fit that slytherin alumnus. they’re actually pretty haughty, insecure, and clever for a twenty-six year old, but i wonder if it serves them well when working as a socialite. rumor has it that the pureblood has stayed neutral… for now. i wouldn’t have guessed… but this is a conversation we should be having somewhere else.

Basics

Character name: Bryony Isobel Wilkes Parkinson Nicknames: Bry, B Age & Birthday: 26 & July 27th Zodiac Sign: Leo Gender & Pronouns: Cisfemale & she/her Occupation: Socialite Blood Status: Pureblood Previous House: Slytherin Affiliation: Neutral with a Death Eater lean Wand: Hawthorn Wood with a dragon heartstring core. Rigid. 9 1/2 inches long. Boggart: Bry's biggest fear is being ridiculed and people learning that her family was truly broke, so her boggart takes form of herself holding a newspaper detailing her family's ruin, and her new husband walking away from her. Patronus: A crow. The crow is resourceful, cunning, and ambitious, and are often an omen of dark magic. Once a crow sets its goal it gets what it wants and it doesn't let anything get in it's way. Crows will push things out of it's way.

Biography:

Bryony Isobel Wilkes was born in the early morning of one of the hottest days of the summer to Poppy and Hawthorn Wilkes. Poppy was overjoyed with the birth of a daughter, already having their heir and son, and Poppy immediately set about spoiling and molding her daughter into what she wanted, rather than what Bryony wanted. Growing up, Bryony loved being spoiled, dressing up, and her ballet lessons. Her mother poured everything into nurturing Brynony into being a well-bred and well-brought-up Pureblood daughter, and Bryony never resisted, enjoying being spoiled and having her mothers undivided attention, especially when her younger brother was born.

Her childhood was rather unremarkable, passing by with Pureblood parties, spending time with her brothers and the other children of Pureblood couples, and etiquette classes. She was taught to speak French and Latin, and her mother insisted that she take ballet and piano lessons. Bryony would say that she had a worry free childhood and that she was a happy child.

That all changed when Bryony and her brothers were sat down at the dining room table in late August by their parents and told that their fortune was gone. The tension between her parents had been palpable, and Bryony didn't think that she would ever forget the look of loathing on her mother's face and the shame in her father's words. Hawthorn Wilkes had always been a prideful man and having to tell his children that the money was gone changed him. Her brother's inheritances were gone, and any money that Bryony would have for a marriage was gone too. He had many excuses for what had happened, blaming a muggleborn for the dealing, but Bryony secretly thought that he just didn't want to admit what had truly happened.

Going to Hogwarts should have been her happiest moment, but armed with the knowledge that she was broke, but expected to keep up appearances that nothing would change made her time at Hogwarts difficult. She was sorted into Slytherin, as was expected, but Bryony never felt completely comfortable among her peers. Constant worry about keeping up with the others, about someone finding out the truth took its toll and sometimes it seemed like Bryony was trying too hard.

After Hogwarts, Bryony settled into the role of a socialite. She got very good at charming her own clothing to look far fancier than they were, and making up stories about the places that she hadn't really gone to, but wished that she could. Keeping up appearances was even more important as she and Poppy dedicated themselves to finding the perfect match for Bry. That match came in the form of the Parkinson heir. The match was perfect, and the marriage came rather quickly. Bryony finally has what she had always wanted, and she couldn't be happier or luckier.

[ewingstan]

I think what I love about Claw is that the protags don’t feel like they’d be protags in other WB stories.

Mia and Carson would be mooks or lieutenants to Coil, Tattletale, or Cauldron that Taylor and Victoria would barely interact with beyond potentially fighting them if need be. Val gives big sierra/charlotte/natalie/presley energy.

Ditto for Pact, Pale, and Twig (no spoilers because idk how far you are in those stories).

But because of this world in particular, they feel perfect for having the spotlight shining on them, if that makes sense.

I do agree that Mia and Carson have the vibe of people who'd be side characters in another story. I mean, the closest character I can think of to Mia's archetype is the vacuum cleaner guy in Breaking Bad, who's very memorable but is barely interacted with. For wildbow characters, she almost feels more like Piggot than anyone else. Piggot in a story where her startling effectiveness and ruthlessness wasn't rendered useless by virtue of not belonging to a superhuman.

There's isolated aspects of her that fit into the typical wildbow protag mold, particularly her ability to gain and use an incredible amount of information others couldn't (traits shared by main protagonists like Taylor and Sy as well as deuteragonists like Lisa, Jessie, etc.) What sets her apart (outside the obvious context of her being an adult parent) is her limitations. She doesn't have Taylor's powers or Sy's charm, which allow them to adapt to new information on the fly and instantly set new plans into motion. Instead, she relies on being so well-prepared that there's nothing she faces that she doesn't already have a plan for.

This changes the whole mode of storytelling. Rather than "how is the wildbow protag gonna use her wits to get outta this one?", its "lets slowly pull back the curtain on the complex machine of a plan the protagonist has put into place for just such a situation." Its a subtle difference, but it has a big impact on how the protag is characterized and what the audience's reaction to big moments are. Like narrating a tense firefight, vs lovingly describing the design of a complex rifle you made a while back and finally get a chance to use. There's a big difference between "oh wow, she just made a bomb to deal with the guys chasing her!" and "oh wow, she's had a bomb in her trunk the entire time on the off-chance someone started chasing her."

Carson's whole "unflappable amoral ladykiller" thing actually is pretty common in protagonists, I've seen bookshelf-filling series that star those types. Whats different about him is that rather than being a hyper-competent one-man army like those characters tend to be, Claw is pretty upfront about the fact that he'd be a two-bit drifter if he wasn't working with Mia. Being that dependent on someone else for your effectiveness bucks a trend not only in shlocky pulp protagonists, but in wildbow protagonists specifically, since wildbow loves taking away his guys allies and resources away only to have them still come out on top and display how they're incredible on their own.

Valentia I might disagree with slightly, if only because she reminds me a lot of Taylor both in her backstory and how her action gets narrated. She fits much more into the "desperate on-the-fly thinking" mold of the average wb protag than Mia "ohoho, you stumbled onto yet another of my landmines" Hurst.

[friendofesteem]

What do you think about FF XIII's Lightning and Hope using each other as surrogate sibling/parent?

Nora, Hope's mother, was a strong independent woman who picked up a rocket launcher and took out an airship on her first shot. That's not something a normal person can do, she **must** have military training.

Hope loses his mom and starts to follow a strong independent woman, that has a military background.

Meanwhile, we have Lightning who just lost her little sibling. This was partially because of how detached Lightning was to her. So now she lets this little dude tag along and she goes out of her way to give him stuff and to make sure he learns skills to survive (she lets him lead, gives him a knife, etc).

They both cope with their loss the same way, by replacing their loved one with a new person.

That’s an interesting way to look at their dynamic! Using each other to fill the void of their loss def makes sense!

Personally though, I don’t like using familial labels to represent non-familial relationships—I feel like it can lead to losing a lot of nuance and complexity that comes with a relationship dynamic. I don’t think Hope sees Lightning as a surrogate parent; rather, he initially sees her as a source of strength and someone to follow in order to keep moving forward along the path that he’s chosen (which at that time is confronting Snow). Being with Vanille gave Hope emotional support, but in many ways it also gave him permission to run away from his grief instead of dealing with it. I believe he chooses to follow Lightning because he knows he wants to move forward—he just doesn’t know exactly how to do that, but he believes that physical strength is the first step in that direction.

In contrast, I definitely do think that Lightning gradually warms up to Hope because of Serah’s influence, rather than because she sees him as a replacement for Serah. I don’t think anyone could ever replace Serah in her mind, but Hope to her (once he stops being a liability in her eyes) almost becomes a blank canvas for her to mold in her image, unlike Serah, who made choices she disagreed with (i.e. Snow LOL.) I know it sounds unhealthy, but honestly their relationship IS unhealthy at the start—she encourages Hope to fight, to get stronger, not knowing she’s enabling a revenge plot. But in time she realizes her mistake and shows vulnerability by admitting her fault and sharing her past, which teaches Hope that fighting the way he has been is just another way of running away from his real problems, and likewise teaches Lightning that it’s important to be vulnerable and honest with others, because sometimes it’s the only way to understand someone else.

Both of these things manifest in later scenes too, where Hope finally confronts Snow and eventually chooses to use his strength to protect Snow instead of killing him like he’d originally planned. And at the Estheim residence, Lightning finally shares her fears with Snow, and they grow a little bit closer as a result. Hope and Lightning not only choosing to protect each other but also bringing out the best in each other in unexpected ways is why I really enjoy their relationship so much, and it feels more complex than just distilling it down to siblings or surrogate parenthood. Mentor and mentee is the best shorthand that I feel describes them in the first game, but even that needs more elaboration, so you get my paragraphs hehe

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me! I always enjoy hearing other people’s perspectives on different relationship dynamics in the game!

[basingstokemercury]

For the short campaign I tested Ava in, I accidentally slipped out of lawful good character by having her manipulate someone - something Rou would do if needed, and Zhalien gladly, but never Ava. Well, maybe never. If it were that or an innocent life... I'm leaving it open to react organically in play.

Anyway, I decided to put some more thought into her characterisation so I don't end up pulling a Rou or Zhalien by mistake if I ever play her again. Adam Cartwright is the foundation, but just playing Adam Cartwright would feel unsatisfying, like I wasn't molding the character myself but trying to follow someone else's writing lead.

The first difference I thought about was "Well, she's not emotionally repressed. She grew up with both her parents, always in the same stable home, and her life was and is very difficult but she's always had strong support (not that Ben doesn't support all his sons but 60s norms don't always let it come through)."

But it didn't feel like it fit to have Ava openly talk about her fear and pain, and I really liked the idea of having her lie about the severity of her injuries in combat so the other players have to catch on (which of course might be impractical in play I'd have to clear it). So I started thinking about how Ava could end up in a similar place from a different start and for different reasons.

...I really need to characterise Ava's parents. And uh write down their names so I don't come up with names and forget them again. Them being good, loving, and protective parents to their daughters is probably as much detail as needed - Rou's father and grandparents never came into play, but it was clear she had a good relationship with them and cared about how they'd feel if anything happened to her.

Bobbin, though, is Ava's main Backstory Person, just as Ava is hers. And Bobbin is not Joe Cartwright. Which is important. She's naive, overenthusiastic, chaotic, always getting in Ava's way because she's grown-up too after all - but sweet-tempered to a fault, and really couldn't care less about chasing romance. She gets annoyed when Ava treats her as a child, but idolises her openly rather than showing any resentment.

So Ava feels very protective of Bobbin, while thinking of her as a naive child (no longer a child, really) who doesn't understand how dangerous the ranch life really is. After all, things have been quieter recently, and Bobbin was still a child while Ava, a decade older, was already facing all kind of threat alongside her parents. And while she finds this perceived childishness frustrating, she does her best to keep remonstrance gentle and avoid personal attacks - which, with Bobbin's slowness to anger, isn't much of a challenge. She does greatly admire Bobbin's mechanical aptitude, sometimes wondering if she ought to try herself but dismissing the idea as impractical.

Putting all this together:

Ava is her kid sister's hero, and, despite a decent modesty, knows it. Bobbin sees her as brave, strong, practical, cunning... Traits that don't mesh well with things like fearing battle, being hampered by injury, or showing emotional pain. In Ava's mind, at least. And Bobbin's more sensitive nature means she wounds easily even though Ava goes through worse, not even realising her unflappable rock is constantly shunting pain aside to focus on her. Well, Bobbin's still a kid (19), right? Adults should be there for kids even if it's not always convenient for them, right?

Oh, yeah, and there's that second sister, born just two years ago. Ava has a baby in the house again, and she's almost thirty years old! Shouldn't she take some pressure off her parents and deal with her own problems as an adult?

And so, with an easier childhood and better relationship with her sibling than Adam, Ava reaches a similar point. Hiding her feelings not due to trauma and parentification, but from what feels like an entirely logical and not entirely conscious sequence of decisions.

I really hope I get to see how this translates into play sometime.

[hannahwatcheshorror]

PEARL (2022)

A character study about a young woman finding her way through some complicated feeling no one else seems to have. Throughout the film you can see Pearl struggle with her humanity and it is rather fascinating. You get to see how things got set up for the previous movie in the series, “X,” or you can just enjoy this as a stand alone film. The pacing is very good, it wastes no time getting things going or keeping them there. Not a perfect film but a weird one that I think fits nicely into the Horror genre.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Hello Herman” vibes right out the gate, “you’re a superstar, yes you are, yes you are,” but also killing small animals is surely a sign of what's to come in Pearl’s future, I mean, honey… (At least Maxine was just a coke fiend before she met you.) I like that she feeds Theda the alligator but it debunks my “she's a witch” theory from “X” and also I wish she didn’t feed the gator with a pitch fork, what if she stabbed the poor thing and it couldn’t death roll a certain hot blonde in the future?

Pearl exhibits some strange behavior from the beginning of the film, it’s hard to tell if it’s mental illness, a reaction to the stressors of life, or if she might just be a little evil. She doesn’t have the easiest life with her husband at war, her strict mother, her disabled father, and her dashed dreams of dancing for an audience, but she isn’t entirely without. When the man working at the cinema encourages her to live her youth, you feel that she is entitled to spreading her wings a bit, but then we get a harsh reality check at dinner when Mama informs us how tight money is.

The only thing tighter than the money was how tight the women in that house were wound up because it came to physical blows very quickly. The worst part is they both had reasonable points but things heated up so quickly. Speaking of heating up quickly, Mama. Pearl accidentally (on purpose) pushed Mama into the fire and her dress caught up and burned her badly. Papa watched the whole thing (remember, disabled). Mama was sent to the punishment basement to die while father got his favorite pillow. Pearl goes to the cinema worker to run away but he takes her home first and gets spooked and tries to leave so she freaks out and kills him, classic Pearl! Here we get to see her iconic pitchfork before it was iconic.

When the church dance audition rolls around, Pearl really hams it up… Which the Church folk don’t want, they want someone cute and blonde like Pearl's sis-in-law. Pearl gets all her anger and sadness off her chest to her Sissy-in-law before taking a lot of Sissy’s chest and back and everywhere off with an ax. Finally, her husband returns to the gruesome stage Pearl has set with her parents at the table, complete with a roast pig in the middle, rotten, maggoty, and molding. He is horrified at his wife, his Pearl, and all she can do is smile and cry. The unease you feel as Mia Goth grits her teeth at the camera while tears roll down her cheeks, the tendons in her neck splaying out, as the screen slowly closes around her in a black circle, evokes just the final feeling we needed. I felt such sympathy for both characters in that moment though after I remembered what they both got up to in “X” I felt much less bad for them. This movie posed the idea that misery breeds misery. The old “If I can’t be happy, no one can be.” Which is a sickening mindset to have but could explain a lot about the events in “X.”