#And maybe that one scene deserves to be edited anyways because it's not that interesting as it is???

[watery-melon-baller]

i need a fucminh. like beta. for this animatic dear god. tragically none of my irl friends are as abnormal about toh as I am and this thing is a digital mess that is completely incomprehensible if I try to export it in it's current state. hnggg

[crowleysgirl56]

Ok, so here are some of my rather long rambling thoughts. I’ll start off with some pros and cons and then provide some speculation:

My initial negative reaction:

- Compressing 5 hours worth of content into 90 minutes feels like things will be rushed and we won’t get a good story.

- HOW do you take a month to rewrite six 45 minute long scripts into a movie length feature and have it still be good?!

- the compression of the story means we will likely not get any more flashback sequences. Admittedly I actually thought we probably wouldn’t get more flashback scenes in season 3 anyway, but this definitely proves the case that we won’t. There won’t be time for it.

- who has re-written the script? Because here’s the thing about Pratchett adaptations. They’re fucking shit. No one (in my opinion) has been able to successfully transfer that man’s unique sense of humour and writing style onto screen. Every single Discworld adaptation has been on a scale of awful to kind of meh. EXCEPT for season 1 of Good Omens. As much as we hate him now. As vile as he has become in our hearts, the thing about NG is that he understood Terry’s unique style. He understood what worked and how to transfer that to the screen. And that breaks my heart on so many levels. Because he was all we had. And we certainly didn’t want him any more. But still, who THE FUCK has written the finale script now?

Now here are my positive thoughts on the situation:

- NEIL GAIMAN GOT HIS SORRY ASS FIRED! GOOD!

- Consequences. The industry has signalled consequences. Finally!

- We are getting a conclusion! It could very well have been cancelled and we would have been left with the final 15 forever. We get to see them again. That deserves a Wahoo!

- thinking back over season 2, which I enjoyed, I actually do have to say a lot of it was kind of unnecessary filler. The flashback sequences were great. But the actual core of the season’s arc involving Gabriel was just a bit boring. I’m forever grateful for it because we got to spend almost 6 hours watching Aziraphale give Crowley heart eyes and Crowley do beautiful acts of service proving his love back. But the meandering stuff with Nina and Maggie and trying to work out why Gabriel lost his memory wasn’t all that interesting. I was here for A&C.

- so I think MAYBE that means the compression of what had already been written for season 3 means it’ll cut out the plot bits that drag. Hopefully this means it’s faster paced and tighter and more focused on A&C.

Speculations:

Thinking back to the last time NG interacted with the fandom, he had confirmed the first three episodes were written and were with Amazon for approval, episode 4 was almost done, the last part of episode 6 had been written, and he had started plotting episode 5. We never got a confirmation if he ever finished them. So this maybe indicates that the finale is lifted exactly out of these scripts. My assumption is they’ve brought in a script doctor to edit what they’ve already got and wrap up plot points. In which case, on the one hand it gives us close to the story and idea of what Terry imagined. On the other, the far more negative connotation, it’s still NG’s work. The articles that have all come out so far merely states “Gaiman is not involved with the production and the finale is based on his work”. This could be Prime distancing themselves without actually confirming how he’s contributed. Which is still largely disappointing.

So, once again I feel very conflicted. A lot of the fandom have been very adamant about not wanting to support the show if Gaiman was involved, and in the end he wrote the show. Even if he had been removed as producer and showrunner and wasn’t allowed on set (thankfully it seems all three of things have happened), I know that wouldn’t have been enough for some fans because he would still have ultimately been responsible for the product that we eventually see. And I don’t know how to feel about that.

I’m happy he’s gone, I’m disappointed the show has been gutted, I’m glad we get a conclusion, I’m sad it won’t be exactly what we wanted.

I’m SO THANKFUL that the women get some semblance of justice, that there is a consequence for a perpetrator, that a big ass company is finally listening to fans and moving with the times and signally this kind of behaviour isn’t appropriate and that repercussions can and will be felt.

Finally, I’ll remind everyone that there are going to be a lot of different and conflicting feelings from the fandom. I would ask that everyone try to be nice to one another. If you have a differing opinion, maybe rather than debating it you just allow that person their feelings and move on. Do not go after someone if you feel like they’re not reacting the ���right way” to the situation. Just be kind please. It’s what Terry would have wanted.

[jojo-schmo]

hi jojo! im just wondering but ive been wanting to make a comic for a little while but im not too sure where to start 😅. i really love your style of art and your forgotten land roleswap, and i was wondering if you had any tips for beginners?

Hello, hello! Thank you for enjoying my Forgotten Land Roleswap comic, it means a lot! <3

I'm very honored that people have been asking me for tips and advice. All of this is coming from a hobbyist who draws these comics purely for fun outside of my regular day job. Some of my methods would probably deal psychic damage to a professional, LOL. But I'm more than happy to share some things I've personally learned! :)

First of all, the book, "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud ROCKS. It literally gave me a new dimension to understand the medium of comics and how it presents ideas and emotions to readers! And I haven't even had the chance to finish it all the way! I'm very happy I own a copy and I recommend having one of your own if you can, but it's archived here if you want to read it :D

I also like analyzing other comics and thinking about how they get information across to me as a reader. It's helped me learn more effective ways to visually tell a story, like what to include in a frame, how zooming in or out affects the feeling from the panel, maybe building a scene by focusing on other stuff if someone is talking a lot... etc.

ANYWAYS-! Some other tips I've learned through my personal experience-

I had to overcome a lot of negative self-talk in order to tackle a huge comic project like this and stay committed. I was a pretty severe self-deprecator for most of my life so far, and getting help has allowed me to catch myself when I'm slipping back into those habits, look in the mirror, and go, "NO, JOJO! You pour your heart into what you make and that is a wonderful thing! You are appreciated and loved and you deserve to have fun making something you are passionate about!!" Some examples of the negative self-talk I catch myself in....

"I'm a noob at writing and making a story interesting... What's the point of even trying?"

When it comes to starting a project, whether it's 2 pages or 2000 pages, is to just jump in and start! It's okay to be a little insecure or nervous about your technical art skills, writing skills, etc... But writing a "bad" scene is better than no scene- because you can always edit a "bad" scene down the line, but what can you do with nothing? Nothing!! I also put "bad" in quotation marks because I am trying to use that term less, and instead call them "early drafts." or "works in progress."

The first Roleswap scene I fleshed-out was the first Bandee boss fight, in May 2022. I made this drawing on an impulse, getting my ideas down on the page without thinking about the technical stuff like comic panel borders. I consider it like a "pilot episode" almost, haha. The final project is going to be very different from how things play out here. But it got me interested in the concept and excited to see where I could take it, and I made the decision to commit to an entire game plot's worth of AU comics!!

Also, what's the point in trying you ask? The point is to have fun! Making a fan comic in my free time means I don't have restrictions like deadlines, nobody's telling me what I can and can't write, and I can make the story as long or as short as I want! I have full control, which means the world I'm writing is all mine to create! Yes, with a fan comic there is a pre-established world with existing characters. But a universe like Kirby has enough open-ended concepts for people to take basic concepts in the world and take them to whole new levels! I think that's why there are so many amazing fan interpretations of Kirby characters and OCs. The rules are so vague, you can just make up your own a lot of the time!! And it's a wonderful exercise to learn skills for someday building an original world with all original characters from scratch! Magical!!!

"I'm not good enough to make a comic. I don't understand perspective or color and other stuff. Anything I make will look bad.

I once read a two panel comic on here. I can't find it anymore but I remember most of it. First panel showed the artist looking at what they're drawing on their tablet, looking defeated and sad. "Man, I don't even know how to draw this....."The next panel was like them smiling and shrugging, I think rainbows and sparkles were coming out of their tablet, ".....I GUESS I'LL JUST HAVE TO DRAW IT SHITTY!! :D "

IF ANYONE KNOWS THIS COMIC I'M REFERENCING, PLEASE TELL ME AND I'LL LINK IT!!! Because it permanently and positively changed my brain chemistry.

No kidding, making the decision to just do my best even if it's not perfect, helped me a LOT. I was always waiting to "reach a certain level" to tackle a huge project because I felt like I'd never do it justice at my current state. Except I had been telling myself that kind of stuff for years and I still didn't start any projects!!

So the day I said, "Oh well! If I draw backgrounds shitty, then it is what it is! I'll learn from it and draw the next background a little better," Was the day I could commit fully to the project. I'll keep studying how to draw them better for my own benefit, but I won't let my skill issues stop me from even trying!

And for my limited confidence in full-color art, I solved that by making the comic in black and white with no-to-minimal shading lolol. Because I can only address one skill issue at a time before it takes me 25 years to finish this HAHAHA.

It saves a BUNCH of time to work with skill issues rather than against them! Because at least experience is gained in other ways, and who knows, maybe that new knowledge will help address the skill issues someday! So identifying your personal skill issues and deciding which one to try to grow stronger, and which one to work around, could help with big projects!

"Nobody will read this. I'm going to put months or years of my life into a dumb little thing nobody will even care about."

Learning how to draw for my own enjoyment instead of somebody else's was one of the biggest breakthroughs I ever made. Enjoying the feeling of being challenged artistically and just doing my best, even if it's not technically perfect, is the reason why I was even able to start this!

And just because someone doesn't directly like, comment or whatever on a post doesn't mean nobody saw it! I used to get really down on myself for the lack of engagement on my art on other websites.

I was a lurker for pretty much my entire teenage years and never posted my own stuff or commented much. But that didn't take away the fact that I really enjoyed the things I saw online. Those positive feelings were real to me, even when I didn't know how to articulate it in words. Granted, I grew up into a Words of Affirmation main, and I use words to tell people the positive things I think about them as much as I can! But I know not everyone prefers words to express themselves. So I think about the people that I don't know enjoy my work- that just because I don't see it doesn't mean I didn't make a positive impact on someone by sharing my stories.

THIS IS GETTING LONG-- UHHH, STORY TIPS!!

If you work best on technology, start building the story in a Notes app, or a Google Doc! If you work best with pen and paper, start a notebook and rearrange stuff as you need to!

Or if you're chaotic like me, a mix of tech and paper!! I bought a notebook with ring binding so I can remove and rearrange pages of drafts as much as I wanted to! Like here's two very rough concept pages of one Chapter 1 scene made months apart.

I'd say planning out the biggest basic plot points and then filling in between as I went was most helpful! I also have separate notes for character motivations, important story-changing events, etc... So I can have my own reference when I'm writing new scenes!

Okay this was a lot, sorry about the yapping! Hopefully it helps even a tiny bit. If you have any specific questions I'm happy to talk about my experience in the creation process! Or elaborate on anything I said above.

And finally, because I'm not a professional there are probably plenty of other tactics that could work better for some people. My ADHD probably doesn't help with the chaos of my process either, HAHA. But thank you for reading this far and enjoying the peek into the rainbow glitter and soap bubbles that inhabit the right side of my brain, heehee.

[theinstagrahame]

It's a bad day, and I've been dragging my heels on this. But, I got a bunch of neat new TTRPG stuff in October, so here's what landed in my mailbox.

Break!! - A few years ago, I stumbled on some art on Twitter. It was fun, it was vibrant, and it felt inviting. I wanted to know more, looked into the artist, and discovered it was spot art for an upcoming RPG called Break!! So, I kept an eye on it. The book is beautiful, well laid-out, and really cool, so maybe one good thing came from Twitter*.

The Electric State - Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood have been pretty high on my "To Play" lists for years. A follow-up, set in a similar (or the same?) world was kind of an instant pickup. Not as interested in the movie, but the game seems pretty rad.

The Geologist's Primer - I picked up the Herbalist's Primer when it came out, and was really impressed with the quality and care that went into it, so when I saw "That but for rocks" was in the works, I was definitely already in. Also excited for the follow up "Mushrooms next time".

Starkhollow Hall - I accidentally fell into a Gothic Fiction kick over Spooky Month, so the timing of this was perfect. I don't know a ton about the GUMSHOE system, but I do feel like what I know about it makes it a perfect fit for the genre. Gothic heroines (and I guess heroes) are at their best when they know there's a dangerous mystery at the heart of what's happening around them, and go looking for it anyway.

Forsaken - Kyle Tam is, honestly, a designer to watch. I picked this up because it was part of an Afterthought Committee project, which is a team I've also really enjoyed work from (my game Water Landing is built off of their game Cast Away). Does a better job of establishing a sort of grimdark/Soulsbourne vibe than some stuff that explicitly tries to.

Iron Edda Reforged - The pitch for this caught me immediately: Cyberpunk Norse Mythology. Tracy Barnett is another Designer to Watch, and I really like all of their stuff--haven't played the original Iron Edda, but have heard it on Party of One and really dug it. Was really hyped to see this come into being.

Electrum Archive v2 - I went through a Weird Sci-Fi phase this year, and the original Electrum Archive was an early pick for it. I really loved the world, the way each class worked differently, and the magic/currency/MacGuffin that it used. Obviously I wanted more, because the second book is here.

Alice is Missing - Silent Falls - My friends and I have been talking about the prospect of another Alice is Missing game since playing the first one about two years ago. It was a really memorable experience, partly due to the game's really compelling design, and to some of the in-moment decisions we made (I played the facilitator character, who starts the game having returned after a long absence, and another player immediately got pissed at them for sorta abandoning the group. it created an interesting play dynamic for the whole session)

Kill Him Faster - I picked up a previous Kovidae Games book as a lark: a collection of exercise-based RPGs. I nearly ignored their other stuff, but this had a pretty compelling pitch: What if time-travel was invented mostly so people could speedrun murdering Hitler. Since Eat the Reich came out, I've thought a bit about Hitler Revenge Fantasy as a genre, and honestly, I'm kinda into it. He was a loser, and deserves to be reduced to a video game villain and killed over and over again; so, yeah. Let's kill him faster next time.

Splat (issue 5) - I'm not usually one for essays and interviews, but this is a zine featuring and by some folks I really like and respect, and this one is packed with thoughts about the state of the indie TTRPG scene and industry from a diverse and immensely talented group. It's honestly a must-read.

(Already getting a few things for the next edition, but also feeling too garbage after the Clusterfuck Election to think about doing anything else today...)

---

footnote: * Technically, two good things came from Twitter. I also once expressed sorrow that I'd missed out on a limited T-shirt from a web comic artist that said "Sorry, Glenn, the only Beck I listen to has two turntables and a microphone", and the creator saw it and had an extra in my size.

[waitmyturtles]

As I did last week, I have more constructive criticism for Jack & Joker, so, trigger warning again, please fly away if you can't deal with objective criticism of your faves.

What frustrates me about the construction of this show is that it's tripping on its own feet. And I shouldn't use the indefinite article; I should call out director Tee Bundit directly, because we saw him do this in spades in Step By Step. Tee did everything he could to avoid building a real narrative romance between the SBS leads, and the emotional beats that succeeded their late-series intimate breakthrough were not syncopated properly to match the development of a convincing relationship.

The incomplete beats at hand here are not as bad as they were in SBS. What's keeping me going on in Jack & Joker is that, at least, we are getting separate emotional development trajectories for Jack and Joke -- and a nice, hearty head-smack from Ah Mah at the end of the episode, towards Jack and his inclination to shut down and keep his shit internal. Ah Mah is trying to get Jack to know how to act as family, and she did the same with Joke's father earlier in the episode.

Like I said last week, I think this show has some really wonderful family-related thematic gems like the ones I just mentioned for this week's episode. Yin and War are acting these themes out with heart. Jack's in a really tough spot. The robber clowns will get together again next week to try to get him out of his tough spot.

And I know many of us are upset with Joke's dad, as I am, too, he's a real piece of shit, but his scenes with Joke struck me as very real to the experience of an insanely strict Asian dad. I've written about this too many times to count, but the ability of an Asian parent to cut their kids off like that is a concept that majority Western culture hasn't contemplated, except in instances of religion, sexism, bigotry, etc., but anyway -- that kind of cut-off doesn't exist as part of the everyday Western mentality about parenting, whereas in Asian parenting styles, to reject the patriarchal hierarchy could mean permanent separation, as Joke's dad has enacted to Joke. The fact that the motherfucker reconsidered AFTER EATING JOKE'S FOOD struck me as deeply sexist ("the way to a man's" blah blah, UGH), so I'm glad Ah Mah told that bitch off, but I did think those scenes were done well and realistically.

Anyway, where this series is absolutely lagging is in the EDITING. All these rich people games. I think there are many more concise narrative ways that we can be told that the rich play with the lives of the poor, than to give us bloated scene after bloated scene of literal gaming. Forget metaphors! Just give us some well-written, snappy dialogue about how these rich people are total assholes! We'll believe it!

And at the same time, I'm feeling bad for Rose, honestly. She likes Jack! She has no idea her crush on him is caught up in this Boss bullshit. She's gonna be hurt! And they're gonna rob her house now? I mean, I think what Tee is saying (I think?!?!?!) is that what comes to her, she deserves, because she's as scummy as the rest of the other scummy rich people (Ajahn Pichai, was that you?!). But like, this is her dad's shit?! So she gets automatically blamed because she's a nepo baby? I mean, I guess, if you're a reader of New York Magazine, that's reasonable thinking, but like, some of us are moral thinkers here!

This shit is complicated, and for an episode that was ONE HOUR. AND. 21. MINUTES. LONG., we could have a shorter AND clearer episode that could have scrubbed at the grout of these otherwise very interesting moral quandaries. But instead, we got video games from some dusty-ass rich boy who needs a goddamn bath.

I know, I know we haven't gotten the intimacy payoffs for any of the implied couples yet, and maybe this is part of YinWar's intention in having so much control over their script. But I did wonder if I was watching a Series Y/BL, or if I was watching a dramedy instead. I don't really care what genre it's in. But what I would like is for the themes to be crystal-clearly focused so that us, the viewers, can lean into what the cast and showmakers WANT us to care about -- which, thematically, I'm unclear on at this moment.

[mikuni14]

The Sign - Ep 1

Ok, but The Sign has everything I like (at least for now):

coherent plot

good pacing and editing

good acting

great chemistry, relationship, interactions, scenes of the main couple

the actors and the plot sell me the romance

I support the main couple, I am so invested in their romance and story

both main actors and both characters are EQUALLY interesting and attractive to me, this is unfortunately very rare in my case

novelty of the story, unusual for BL series main couple, more reminiscent of Manner of Death than traditional BL

authentic, effortless sexiness of the romance, scenes, characters and actors

very good side characters

a well-shown "men's world" with everything: competition, proving one's worth and masculinity, cockiness, silly conversations, jokes about sex, making fun of each other, but also brotherly bonds and supporting each other

already in the first episode we have so much of good stuff: a romance between interesting guys, a whole lot of other relationships, a truly repulsive villain, a murder, mystery and fantasy. As if the series was specially created for me 😍

good balance between fun, humor, silly tropes like falling with a kiss or running away holding hands 😆, and serious scenes. The funny scenes don't overshadow/ruin the serious scenes, which unfortunately happens all the fucking time in other series

this is the third series recently with virginity discussed and the first in which a person who has not yet had a sexual debut is 1) not forced to do so, 2) not ridiculed, comments are limited to light teasing, 3) Tharn is simply asked about it and he has a chance to say why and is heard without judgment

I like literally everything

Chart is an extremely bad character, at first I hated him because I was programmed that way by ThanType. But no, he deserves complete contempt, and no Tharn, he is not a good cop and never will be, this man should be eliminated from the cop selection at this stage, he will get people killed.

Did the murder actually happen? Is this maybe one of the training sessions like we thought they were actually freeing the hostage at the beginning of the episode? 🤔🤡

Anyway, give me Billy, an equally lovely and cool actor to match, a compelling love story, a water dragon and I'll be fed with it for weeks. (also, the scene in the bathroom when Tharn reacts to Phaya's voice, the hug from behind is, I'm sorry, I don't want to offend fans of other series at all! but it is hotter than other high-heat series currently airing. Heh! even the way Tharn looks at Phaya's hand on his shoulder was hotter to me than the entire last episode of Playboyy, sorry, it's not a diss, Playboyy is fun! but, well, that's just how I feel 😉)

This is my fav series currently airing 💖💖💖💖💖

[xpurdyglambertx]

**Trigger warning for non-con and abuse discussion**

I received the most amazing comment on one of my stories today on AO3, and I'd just like to take a moment to briefly discuss/unpack here.

.

"My Brother's Keeper, My Father's Prisoner" is an omega!verse story centered around Dean, and I start it off by breezing through some of his and Sam's past as kids, growing up on the road with John on hunts. Eventually, Dean presents as an omega, and his life changes in a dark, and traumatic way that ends up really damaging his psyche.

.

Anyways, without giving too much away, *spoilers in this post are inevitable, I'm sorry* John is very abusive towards Dean. In my last chapter, there's a short non-con scene that I had to be kinda picky-choosey in writing because I didn't wanna make it too wordy and lose my audience. It's hard when writing things like this to get the subtext or underlying meaning across sometimes because you don't wanna overload your readers with too much description, ya know?

.

That being said, I'm glad my subtext is still comprehensive, even if it's not being *physically* said. This whole comment hit the nail right on the head of what I was trying to convey! As someone who grew up in an abusive household, I tried really hard to pull from my experiences to make John's and Dean's interactions as realistic as possible, especially in the psychological aspects.

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Here's the comment in question-

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I'm not quite sure why I felt compelled to post about this, maybe to gloat a bit... who knows, lol. But if you are interested in reading to see what im fussing over, I'll link it below! It IS dark. Please note the tags if you decide to read!

EDIT TO ADD - I got another one 💞😭 What do I do to deserve these kind of comments? Y'all are truly amazing 💞

[campbyler]

ok. a genuine question. how do u guys write 20-30k *chapters* bc i will outline fics minutely or i will just let myself start writing based off a vibe & either way i will get 600 words out of maybe. two hours of work. on a good day with no distractions/interruptions, & i very much do not have an uninterrupted two hours to write very often, so you can imagine how slowly things get written T_T so i’m interested if there’s any aspect of any of your writing processes that really enables u guys to write so much or if it’s not really something you think about? anyways i really like ur guys’s work, & thank you for deciding to write for byler bc i know me and a lot of people enjoy it a lot. thanks!!

hello !! this is a super valid question and i’ll try my best to answer it for you 😗✌️

andi infamously writes a lot faster than thea and i do (she finished draft 1 of chapter 3 in like. two days. which was so scary. i’m in awe of her fr) but she has also spent a lot of time editing ch3 so it’s definitely not like these chapters are publish-ready in a short amount of time by any means! it took thea a couple of months total to fully write + edit ch1 and it took me about 3.5 weeks to write ch2 and another two weeks to edit it which is part of the reason we’ve spaced out our posting schedule like we have — we put a lot of effort and care into these updates and we want to give ourselves as much time as possible to get ahead before all 3 of us inevitably get so super busy with work and/or school in the fall!! so while we do write a lot, please don’t think we are so insanely speedy about it because unless we are having Really Good Writing Days, that’s definitely not the case. sometimes we do have days where we are really in the zone and write more than usual, but at least for me, this is so so so rare. whatever i write in this time gets heavily edited because so much of it was nonsensical brain vomit LOL

as far as writing process goes, i think one of the things that motivates us a lot is that we genuinely do just talk about this au constantlyyyyy like we’re always coming up with silly little hcs or drawing for it or adding to the Lore ™️so we’re always getting inspired to write! all three of us are definitely people who use writing as a way to relax or even reward ourselves after a long day; we would probably die if we had to go too long unable to :/ messages like “i can’t wait to get home and write after work today” or “i’m going to write a little bit of ___ before bed because i deserve it” are very commonly found in our gc because we really just look forward to it so much! as for our scary word counts, i feel like there is a lot of worldbuilding in this universe specifically, and pacing is really important to us — we want to make sure introductions and set-up to a scene and character interactions are meaningful and flow naturally, and building tension (which is a hallmark of this fic hehe) does take some time, which can definitely add up word count-wise.

for the most part, none of us usually have a solid few hours to sit and write either (unless it’s on our days off or after work if we’re not too tired) and we get a lot of writing done in chunks! we hold each other accountable for short check-ins (“ask me for a snip in 30 minutes”) which is super helpful when you’re stuck, because it kind of forces you to get Something down without worrying if it’s super polished and edited and perfect. if you’re writing on your own, something i’ve started doing lately is setting a 15 minute timer and just seeing how much i can get done in that time, and then setting another and doing it again (up until however much time you have to write that day). i’ve found that the artificial deadline helps break the monotony of sitting in front of your computer for Hours on end with nothing to show for it bc TRUST we’ve all been there and it sucks so bad 😔✊

this got super long so i apologize but i hope at least a little bit of it was helpful! it definitely helps that we are constantly feeding into each other (i.e: having brainrot) and offering inspiration and advice, which does wonders for creative flow tbh. we’re definitely not cranking these chapters out as quickly as people might seem to think — thea started chapter four, which won’t be posted for about a month, maybe a week or two ago. i just started chapter 5 — about 6 weeks away — yesterday lol so we do take our time! don’t be scared by the giant chapters, we just had a lot of content we wanted to include in each one and are in too deep to take anything out 🥳🥳 thank you for the question! good luck with your writing we believe in you 🫡

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 2.20.2024

Well, I had another very solid week. I hesitate to call it good, because I didn't actually enjoy it very much, but I did grind out 8,642 words last week. I finished Chapter 8 and made a solid dent in Chapter 9a. Basically, I just tried to write at least a thousand words a day, which I accomplished almost every day. Yesterday, I only did 800, but I did 2000 on Sunday, plus the 800 was the ending scene for the chapter, so I deserve a little grace there. And it was a three-day weekend for my kids!

I am at the stage of the fanfic where most of the ambiguity is gone--I know what scenes are left and I just gotta write them. It doesn't matter if I want to or not, the fanfic isn't going to be done until I write them, so I just do it. I always worry that writing in this mindset is going to produce bad, unlovable writing--like, if I don't love writing this, how is anyone going to love reading it? Historically, though, that doesn't bear out--big chunks of Call Me Back and What We Do with Our Hearts were written in this exact fugue state, and I often end up loving them after the fact, and they still contain parts that are really funny or insightful or heartfelt or whatever. I literally do not know how this is possible, it just is. Also, like: there is going to be editing. It is truly astonishing how hard it is to slap anything at all down on a page and then how easy it is to shape it up into something good later on. It is a lot like throwing flat colors down on a piece of art and then adding a little texture and shading later.

The other thing I don't like about writing in this mode is that it makes me actually insane, which I don't like. I just roll word counts and percentages around in my head 24 hours a day and I'm not really able to relax and do things that are not grinding away at my writing. I can do it for short periods of time, but I think I have too much of this story left to tough it through, plus, like, what's the point? This is the thing I allegedly do for fun, and even though I really really really want to be finished, I feel like I should actually try to enjoy the process a little, at least.

So anyway! My first goal for this week is to be less insane about my fanfic. My second goal is to finish Chapter 9a (I think I have about 3-4k to go). My third goal is to edit Chapters 7 and 8 and send them to the beta.

After that, I'll just have 9b (of which I've already written about 4k) and the epilogue to do. After that, of course, there's still more editing, a beta pass for chapters 8->the end, and then I may try to read the whole thing through again from the beginning. So, 3 weeks, maybe, give or take a little?

In the interest of trying to have a little fun, I think I'm gonna try to post some previews for the next couple weeks? In the past, people have enjoyed previews. Today's is a little long, but it's the opening to the whole thing. It's below a cut for those who'd rather wait until the whole thing comes out.

“I don’t know if they’re trying to capitalize on Boy’s Day, or what,” Rukia said, idly inching her hand toward the plate of hot, steaming gyoza sitting on the countertop next to Renji’s stove, “but they’re having some sort of Seafood Festival out in East Sixth.”

A dish towel appeared out of nowhere, the tip whipping painfully against Rukia’s hand.

“Ow!” Rukia howled.

“They’re hot! It’ll hurt worse if you jam one of those in your mouth whole like I know you were gonna,” Renji replied, stuffing the dish towel back into his obi, and juggling the pan of gyoza he was currently frying. “What about a Seafood Festival? Why the Hell is the East Sixth having a Seafood Festival?”

“It’s being put on by the Train Museum, I hear,” Rukia continued grumpily, rubbing at her hand. “I guess they’re hauling a bunch of spring fish up from the Shiranui Sea at the other end of the line. It only takes a few hours to get out to Six. There’s probably carts making the run that we could take, but I would honestly just flash-step, at least on the way out. I want to eat my own body weight in katsuo. Possibly your body weight in katsuo.”

“Mmm,” Renji replied noncommittally, dumping the rest of his gyoza onto the plate and turning off the stovetop.

“I was thinking of asking Hisagi if he wanted us to take some pictures and do a little write-up for the Bulletin,” Rukia went on. “Get us a little walking-around money.” Not that Rukia lacked for pocket money, but it was a little more expensive than their usual weekend activities, and Renji got a little cagey when she tried to treat him to things.

“That’s a bad idea.”

“Why? We had fun the last time we played reporter!”

“Grab the bowl of sauce, would you?” Renji gestured with his chin as he picked up the plate of dumplings and the teapot to carry them to the table. “Don’t you remember when they built that damn train line? Took ‘em over over thirty years, and there were three to four articles every single Bulletin about the delays, the graft, the politics, the environmental impact, whatever. People got so mad about the idea of a train inside the Seireitei that it doesn’t even go anywhere useful. I didn’t even know they used it for anything aside from twee holidays for bored nobles.”

“I heard a story from my friend, Lady Akizuki, that the old head of the Seshimo clan actually lives on the train! He hasn’t set foot outside it in fifteen years!”

Renji cocked an eyebrow at her. He looked like he desperately wanted to hear about the Train Noble, but also did not want to be a guy who cared about Train Nobles. “Anyway, don’t mention the train to Hisagi unless you got six or seven hours to kill. Preferably when I’m not there.”

Rukia picked up the big, fragrant bowl of ginger dipping sauce with both hands. “It was just an idea. So what do you think? Do you want to go?”

“When is it again?” Renji asked, frowning.

“It’s running for all of May, but the weather has been so nice lately, I thought maybe we could go next weekend,” Rukia suggested. 

Renji was quiet for a moment, but Rukia figured that maybe he was just focused on serving her dumplings, which was, in her opinion, very important. 

“Ru,” he finally said slowly, as he poured her a cup of tea. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Is it that you want to go to the Seafood Festival with me?”

Renji took a big breath through his nose and let it out again. “If things work out, I’d love to go later in the month. Next weekend’s not gonna work, though.”

“Oh.” Rukia frowned. “That’s fine. That’s no big deal.” She looked down lovingly at her gyoza and then up at Renji hopefully. “Itadakimasu?” she asked hopefully.

Renji blinked. “Huh? Oh, yeah, please help yourself. That… that wasn’t the thing I had to say.”

“Well, spit it out, already,” Rukia groused, her mouth already crammed with gyoza. “Why are you being weird?”

Renji still hadn’t touched his own food. He had circled his right wrist with the thumb and middle finger of his left hand and was rotating it back and forth. He used to make that gesture a lot when he was young, and Rukia realized that she hadn’t seen him do it in years.

“I’m having some surgery,” Renji finally said. 

Rukia froze. After a long moment, she slowly finished chewing her dumpling and swallowed it. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”

“I’m getting my arm fixed.”

Rukia watched him rub his wrist for another few seconds. “Did it not heal correctly after the, um, accident?” “The accident” was when Byakuya had stabbed him through the forearm during a demonstration fight the week prior. Everyone was being very polite about it.

“Wellll…” Renji drew out. “I mean, no, that healed up fine. Very clean cut, Senbonzakura, as always. But, uh, while I was at the Fourth, the topic of my burnt-out kidou ducts came up. Captain Unohana thinks she can fix ‘em. And I’ve decided to, um, let her try.” “Oh,” said Rukia. Her chest was filling up with a lot of strange feelings. “Oh.”

[rriavian]

Hello.

You know, if you wrote a book about your version of Corintheus based Dreaming analysis, I would love to have a paperback edition of that ( i love paperback 💖)

Anyway, i probably have told you quite a number of times that, my favourite moment of Baiting the Trap is Corinthian nibbling Dream's earlobe in the library right before Lucienne. Also, i have stated it enough times that,one of my favourite Corintheus prompt is Lucienne's reaction to the Corinthian-Dream dynamic.

So my question is:

When Lucienne was asked to be dismissed from the Library right after the above mentioned scene- what was her immediate range of feelings? Was she hurt that Dream allowed someone as disobedient as Corinthian to be so shamelessly invading his personal space before her presence? She is the most loyal most sacrificing subject of Dream realm. She deserves to be treated with dignity and decency. And being compelled to watch a private kinky moment like that isn't quite decent for Luci. I am not sure if I could make it clear. In my mind, Lucienne is ace. I assume she wouldn’t be comfortable to witness anyone’s unwarranted private moment. Let alone Dream's. The closest analogy is : an elder daughter being bound to watch her ever so dignified father's new shrewd gf trying to show off a glimpse of what they do in their private moment. So, was Lucienne hurt? Or angry? Or shocked? Or confused? Or all together?

Eventually, what was her personal thoughts about Dream- Corinthian relationship when she overcome the initial shock?

I have two more supplementary questions. I will send them eventually. Answer whenever you want to. Or feel free to not answer at all, if there is an upcoming fic shading light on this plot.

Much love💖💖

<3 oh if I wrote a book there would be so much I’d put into the analysis!

That moment in the library is definitely one of my favourites too, and one of my biggest narrative regrets is that there hasn’t (yet) been more Lucienne in the series. Her reactions to the dynamic are very important narratively, and very very interesting given her relationship to both Dream and the Corinthian. So I was happy to get a question about it! This is also something I’d thought about when I was writing so will probably come up at some point, but at the moment my answer shouldn’t spoil anything :)

The aftermath of the scene in the library links directly to the one between Dream and Lucienne in Courting the King, where there's a bit of tension before it’s resolved. There was worry when she left, some anger (at the Corinthian), but no confusion. I don’t think Lucienne was hurt—maybe a little bit of wounded pride—because while protective of Dream/the Dreaming she also respects his right to decide how to run his realm/respond to an insult against him. I think they both verbally negotiate where the boundary of that is. There’s a balance there and I think Lucienne’s stubbornness can, like any strength, work against her in certain situations.

There’s a wonderful parallel in how both her and Dream are incredibly alike in how they can be very stubborn, very prideful, so in many ways they’ve always understood each other.

What happens in both this scene and the one in Courting the King is that they are examples of Dream’s way of being like ‘I respect you greatly but you need to let me handle this’. It’s not an insult against her capabilities, or her role, nor a dismissal of the worthiness of her opinions (Dream is quick to rebuke the Corinthian when he precedes to insult her). It’s a demonstration of Dream taking his own responsibilities very seriously (I am the King and I will deal with this) while also making it clear that this is additionally a decision of personal agency.

Dream doesn’t need someone to step in and take away his choice of whether to accept what the Corinthian is doing or to punish him for it.

The privacy of the moment is definitely a factor in his decision too. Dream knows very well that the Corinthian is trying (and succeeding) to get a rise out of Lucienne. He knows that the Corinthian is using it as a way to finally feel like he’s won, to get pleasure from the context of how disrespectful it really is, to find a sneaky way to achieve what Dream is still denying him. That links something else too - while allowing this change to a sexual relationship is a decision that Dream has made (and the myriad of reasons within that is an analysis in itself!) that doesn’t mean it’s one any one else has agreed to see, that they’ve agreed to be made a part of.

The Corinthian tried to make Lucienne a part of it here, and Dream dismissed her to protect her, to make it clear that this fight was to remain private.

It was very much done out of respect to allow her dignity. To treat her with care. Dream is refusing to be remiss in his duties as King, as her friend, as someone who loves her dearly, by allowing her to be used as a pawn in a power play. And so Lucienne wasn't hurt because she understood why Dream did what he did even if she doesn't know all of the reasons why.

Lucienne being ace is definitely a reading I like! I’m also ace so that’s an interpretation I very much lean towards, though in some ways I read Dream as ace too haha.

As for her thoughts on the relationship, I think that will need to unfold as the series continues, but right now I think Lucienne is looking at Dream like ‘I support your right to choose sexual partners/forgive criminals even when it’s obvious you have terrible taste in men’. She’s pretty convinced that the Corinthian is going to betray Dream/the Dreaming again and—as shown in that scene in Courting the King—is being very cautious about keeping an eye on his behaviour in the Dreaming.

You are wonderful as always and I hope you enjoyed reading this <3 Feel free to send any questions at any time! Some might take longer to answer than others but I do love answering asks about these things :)

[agirlinsearchof]

I just watched a playthrough of the Utena visual novel. Granted, I only saw one route, but I’m going to give my thoughts anyway!

The protagonist (whose name is customizable, and who looks like a cross between Utena and Anthy) is very naive, much like Utena. But they are different kinds of naive. While Utena is quick to make snap judgements and can be reckless, the protagonist tries to see the best in everyone. Even when there is no "best” to be seen. Case in point, at least one scenario has her describing Saionji of all people as kind. Lady, people who slap people who don’t deserve to be slapped are not kind. And you witnessed him slap Anthy. And what he feels towards Anthy (which is entitlement, not love) cements him as not kind. At least he’s self-aware enough to refute her statement afterwards. Sometimes, I yelled at my screen because of how painfully naive she is.

When was this released, anyway? If it was before the Black Rose episodes aired, it’s awesome foreshadowing, especially in the post-credits scene. Chigusa Sanjouin, a character exclusive to this game, is like a cross between Souji Mikage, Juri Arisugawa, and a Black Rose duelist.

EDIT: So it seems that this game was released in 1998, while the final episode aired on Christmas of 1997. So not foreshadowing, so much as being set in a particular point in the series.

It’s odd, though, that Chigusa was described as an “evil queen” instead of a witch. I get that there were Snow White motifs (the protagonist is sent a poison apple, the confrontation between her and Chigusa has Chigusa mockingly referring to her as Snow White, etc.), but “witch” is the usual term in this series used to refer to women who fail to live up to the “princess” ideal. Which makes me wonder if this was released before the third arc.

EDIT: See previous edit.

I appreciate the reveal that the protagonist’s parents were kicked out for their involvement with each other (being that her father was a teacher and her mother was a student, though given what kind of place Ohtori is I’m shocked he was punished), though I’m disappointed nothing was really done with it. She gets the chance to call them but they aren’t there. An explanation of their point of view regarding what happened would have been nice.

Strangely enough, while they are shadowed out when they show up at the beginning, the photo of the protagonist’s mother shows her face. Huh.

Also… why are Utena and Juri just chill with showering with a person they only knew a couple of days? I could see maybe Utena being cool with that, especially since the protagonist is a girl, but Juri? Of all people? It’s not like there’s any lack of water for showering at Ohtori! (Unless they’re trying to save hot water…)

EDIT: Anthy too. I don’t know the context, but… yeah. I wonder if there’s a run of the game that gets all the shower scenes?

EDIT EDIT: So there’s an ending where the protagonist duels Utena, wins, is engaged to Anthy, and proceeds to ask Anthy to wash her back for her. In-character for Anthy, and rather disturbing. At least Utena beats the protagonist in their rematch.

Also? Utena. Girl. Lady. Why do you shower with your ring on? Wouldn’t that trap water between your ring and your finger? Or at least prevent that specific part of your finger from being washed?

Also, the protagonist arrives at the conclusion that Juri has a locket under her shirt quickly. What kind of super-observation skills do you have, and how can I get them?

Overall, it seemed rather interesting! It’s surprisingly true to the spirit of Utena, while also telling its own unique story. (Fun fact, Utena mentions having fought in four duels in this game! So we have a timeline!)

[flickering-chandelier]

Writing tag game by @bonecarversbestie

Thank you so much for tagging me @thelov3lybookworm you're the best 🩷

First of all, I am SO SORRY I've been so inactive 😭 Life has been insanely hectic but I promise that I am still cranking away and will have new fics for you all soon!

Anyway, onto the tag...

Describe your writing process from idea to posting/publishing

Gosh, is it dumb to say I don't really know? 😅

If we're talking about my own ideas, I truly don't know where they come from sometimes. A lot of times I'll be reading or watching a scene in something and it won't go exactly the way that I want it to. So then I'll start imagining how I would've done it, and then it kind of takes on a whole new life of its own.

For requests, I try to brainstorm a little more and really focus on the prompt so I can hopefully make the requester the best thing that I can.

Once I've got my idea, I honestly just sit down and write. I do get stuck, and then I'll have to go for a walk or take a shower or something and try to figure things out.

I edit and proofread as I go, and usually just post it when it's done.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I am a pantser alllll the way. For better or worse!

What do you listen to when you are writing?

Almost always Taylor Swift. She always makes me want to write, especially her moody, sad ones.

What’s your drink of choice(while writing)?

I'm not usually drinking much while writing, but once in a while I like to go to a coffee shop and get myself a latte.

Promote yourself! What’s your favorite thing you’ve written?

Ooooh, this is hard. One of my favorites is definitely Was Any of it True? and all of its sequels. I wasn't expecting to love this one so much, and it got a lot of traction which was really exciting. I also just love the characters in that one.

Share a fic of yours that you think is underrated/deserves more love.

Maybe Second Chance? I feel like Cassian doesn't get enough love sometimes 🤣

Do you have any advice for new writers?

I know everyone probably says this, but...Literally just sit down and write. Don't worry about if it's good, or if people will like it, or if you're formatting things correctly.

Just go for it! The best way to get better is to just do it and keep practicing.

What is a writing style/technique that others do really well that you'd like to get better at?

I am SO BAD at setting descriptions. What does the meadow look like? What does the room look like? Don't know, don't care.

(Cuz idk how to do it lol)

Is there a character you were surprised you enjoyed writing as much as you did?

Azriel! I was really new to the fandom and wasn't sure if anyone would even be interested in reading about him, but he was intriguing to me so I went for it... and now he's like my bread and butter!

Tagging: Anyone who wants to do it because I don't have writer friends lolol sorry

[alesyira-ffn]

So, midway through re-reading 41, I realized some things and determined (on a whim??) that I needed to fix something in ch15, which led to a definite spicing up of that ending with Kagome and Seth, hooo my goodness. That edit is only on AO3 because it’s explicit enough. do emojis work? this one would be perfect. (Narrator: they do not.) Anyways. It’s only like an additional paragraph and a sentence or two but it kind of boosts that interaction. to like 11. :3c

The re-read is obviously nearing its completion and I am just so excited for where the rest of this storyline is going.

(I’ve also come to the realization that some of my pre-written upcoming smut absolutely doesn’t have a future home in the fic, so I think 42 is going to get an extra scene added on that i’d intended to use as kind of a sexy flashback (will only posted on AO3 because it’s really smutty) and then the outtakes (again, ao3) will have more that doesn’t fit in otherwise.) I’ll add a note to the newest chapter I post here about the additions in ao3 as they happen in case readers here don’t bother checking the profile. maybe. if I remember. people who sift through the profile rantings here deserve more o_o

anyways, back to re-reading and note-taking. thanks for your interest.

[piastrinorris]

i'm right and i should say it! i have a lot of things to say about make up so i'm putting them in a read more, but if you didn't understand it, i will try to explain, including the infamously unexplainable empty caravan scene:

the biggest issue people have understanding make up is that we all watch it because joe's in it. and he plays, like i said, this cookie cutter boyfriend type, so of COURSE we all want what's best for tom, and we all hate feckin' roof for hurting him. but, and here's the kicker – ruth is our protagonist. and so we have to watch the movie trying to relate to her experience, not tom's.

one tiny little addition while we're all here: tom fic writers, love you to death, keep doing what you're doing, love seeing him get the happiness he deserves, but tom is not cornish himself. [edit: he's from derby, as pointed out by @foundtherightwords] he uses the slang from being there for ages, but the south-western accent is VERY distinctive (if you've ever seen the show this country, or heard tiktok audios from it like 'why would you want to leave when we've got a pub and a shop?', that's the south-western accent)

anyway, back to our ruth, bc that's who she is for all intents and purposes of understanding her story. ruth is a lesbian. a closeted one, at that. as far as i know, we never learn the nature of her insecurity over her relationship; whether she's scared friends will abandon her, family will disown her or if she's scared society itself will turn its back on her. this is something a lot of gay people experience, and is known as comphet (short for compulsory heterosexuality). it's where you, as a closeted gay person, force yourself into a relationship with a straight person of the opposing gender as an act of defiance against your own sexuality, or at least your insecurities thereof. people who experience comphet usually tend to go for people like tom, who are sweet and unassuming, who are classically cute enough for you to see it objectively, not just subjectively, and who will devote themselves to you, especially if you start dating relatively young.

you can see that ruth enjoys spending her time with tom. she teases him and plays with him and dances with him. and sure, in that bubble, she'll happily accept him kissing her because kissing is a nice feeling, naturally. but you see it even from the first day she's there, as soon as he's kissing her neck, and she's looking out of the window, she's not into it, because she's forced to come to terms with the fact that even when she's in this bubble with tom where it's easy for her to pretend she's happy with him, there's a whole outside world in which she isn't. she can have fun with him, yes, but she isn't attracted to him.

we don't see what else happens that night, but we do see them both naked (assumingly) under the sheets. either the excitement of being together again could have allowed ruth to push through it or, as we see later on in the film, they both end up getting themselves off in private in order to make sure they're both fulfilled doing the deed. the fact that both of them do this without the other around is a little telling that this is something they're used to doing, and while i understand them never going into the reasons why tom has performance issues - understandably, since he is a side character - it would have been interesting to find out why. maybe, since they were together since the age of 15, he just thought that's what everybody does. maybe he knew she wasn't into him but his own insecurity kept him trying to keep the relationship alive. i guess we'll never know.

finding the long hairs and seeing the "girl" that matches them is ruth trying desperately to finally manifest an excuse to get out of such an unfulfilling relationship. you can't just break up with a guy like tom because what excuse do you have other than you becoming the villain that breaks the poor boy's heart? especially if you're already scared of how people might perceive you if you give into that version of yourself that's lies dormant in you. so she takes the one little crumb of doubt that falls into her lap and she overthinks it to the point of deluding herself into believing this person is real. you're not supposed to believe tom is cheating. you're supposed to believe that ruth really wants to believe it to the point where she'll make up anything to get out of there. see what they did there?

the fingernail scene is genuinely the one thing i hate most about this movie, but it's an allegory in itself. when she's with jade, she enjoys getting her nails done and indulging in all the things jade does with her. she creates her own happiness bubble in which her happiness is far greater with jade than it is with tom. there's no awkward silences like there are with tom and she does all the things she does with tom with jade, too, but she enjoys them far more. she teases jade, plays with jade and dances with jade and she actually wants to kiss jade until she stops herself. and that fuels the insecurity even more. that's why, when tom tells her that getting her nails done isn't like her, ruth rejects the idea of her new happiness bubble by actively harming herself as punishment for straying from the safety of a comphet relationship. taking off the literal make-up to metaphorically put on the "make-up" that allows her to present herself as her "straight" self. ooh, see, even the title's got layers!

and then we have the empty caravan scene. we see it fleetingly each time, but whenever ruth is left alone with her thoughts, that's when her imagination runs wild. that's when she projects The Other Woman, her biggest fear. she hates being like this, hence why she'll either make herself busy or go find tom or jade. but in the caravan, it's just her. her and her thoughts. and normally when this happens, The Other Woman shows up and does something to 'justify' and amplify her fears. that's why every sound freaks her out, because in her head, anything could be her, because at this point, she's put so much into The Other Woman that even she believes her to be real. she has to be. or else why would ruth be feeling so conflicted? that's why the setting suddenly changes when her fears finally manifest, except not in the way ruth has been lying to herself about. she wanted to hate The Other Woman for taking tom from her, but in reality, what she's finally faced with, is the idea that The Other Woman is taking the one thing she wants from her, but it's not her boyfriend. The Other Woman is openly embracing her sexuality by going down on another woman. there's no way ruth can hide from it now; she finally comes to terms with the fact that she is a lesbian. Even The Other Woman, the figment of her jealousy, is showing her that now.

i haven't spoken much about it yet in this analysis, but ruth has a fear of the open water/the sea. she tries to combat it a number of times, and it ends up being very metaphorical in regards to her sexuality. when she's keeping it bottled in, there's shots of her looking out the window at the Big Scary Crashing Waves. she attempts to try and get used to the water by learning to surf, but once she's actually in the water, indulging in the thing she fears 'most', she's terrified and runs away. what do we see happening after that? ruth indulging in connecting with another woman and running away as soon as the fear kicks in. when ruth is faced with her true ultimate fear, that she can no longer hide from her sexuality, she doesn't know how to face that fear. and it's unavoidable at this point, it's obvious in the conversation she has over her and tom's spaghetti dinner.

when he asks her if moving to cornwall was anything like she thought, there's no holding back with her, now. she tells him she didn't think anything of moving there, and then when he apologises that it's not what she wanted it to be, she says that she only came to be with him. which finally puts that thing they both feared out in the open - tom already knew that the reason she came here is not enough for her to enjoy her stay there. now she's just confirmed that the only thing that she came for, and no longer enjoys, is her time with tom. and worst of all for tom, ruth doesn't seem to care that she's even telling him. but then they're sat together watching tv, but they're not together in their usual sense. ruth hears a noise, and the empty caravan - the inevitability of her sexuality - 'calls' to her. in the bathroom, she's reminded of all the things she was scared of; people rejecting her embracing her true self, people judging her, other people getting to enjoy the things she wants most in this world, and the open water. and so, the next morning, she decides to throw herself into the sea. because fuck it, if her fears are going to torture her, why shouldn't she let them? and the sea is still more inviting to her than actually coming to terms with her sexuality. she even 'sees' The Other Woman again, tussles with her under the water, and wins - a metaphor for fighting her inner demon.

just as ruth's finally coming to terms with it herself, kai outs her to tom, upsetting him so much that he ends up locking her into the one place where she forced herself to be the person she's not, which is the last of her inner demons to face. she defeated The Other Woman, now she has nobody else to blame for her feelings but herself. she finally embraces them and breaks out of the caravan - the shelter keeping her Old Self alive - to go to the one place she felt her true self - jade's. but jade isn't home. so she lets herself in anyway, because she knows that's where she's meant to be. in putting on the wig and, you guessed it, make up, she is showing herself that The Other Woman doesn't have to be someone she fears - it's the person she always wanted to be, and there's no shame in that.

going to the bonfire is terrifying for her at first; everyone there knows she's gay, and she'd presenting as her own embodiment of her sexuality, so she's scared at first but she starts dancing, without anyone else around her, because she's finally free to be the version of her she always wanted to be and it feels so good. and then she finds jade and they kiss, and it's far more genuine and passionate from her side that we ever see from her with tom. they wake up together the next morning, and ruth looks out of the caravan window. we don't see a depiction of the sea looking harsh and scary, like we usually do when she looks out of windows. and in the final shot, she is stood in the sea, the water is calm and she is finally happy. she's embraced her fears and overcome them to finally be an out and proud lesbian in a fulfilling relationship. (who can also go in the sea, i guess, as a bonus lol)

Joe did a bad job acting as Tom Grant... because it's supposed to be dubious if he's faithful but he acts completely in love!!!

in the beautiful words of @quinnkeerys because my brain is complete mush at this hour and i couldn’t explain it in my own terms lmao.

i’m sure this wasn’t meant to be mean and i don’t take it that way at all, it just made me giggle because yes, tom is so in love it hurts to see with everything ruth is dealing with and inadvertently rubbing off onto him

[empresskylo]

It's Raining Vengeance - Ch. 4

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3

Pairing: Bruce Wayne/Batman x Female!Reader Series Summary: (Based on The Batman 2022) It happened a while ago: the day you stumbled into the batman. And ever since, he seemed to pop up exactly when you needed him. You thought it was stupid to try and be his friend. He thought it was dangerous to let you in. Both of you did it anyway. Rating: Explicit Word Count: 2k+

series masterlist | main masterlist | AO3

You were at one of Gotham’s many late-night hotspots, dressed in the one skimpy outfit you owned. You had a lead—finally! And it required you to investigate inside a grimy club where the men that piqued your interest might be found.

You nursed the fruity drink in your hand and watched the club erupt in front of you. So far, you found nothing. No one you questioned had any insight into what you were asking.

The lead was a dead end.

At least tonight wouldn’t be a total waste, you still were able to get shitfaced. That was definitely a positive.

You smirked as you shuffled your way through the crowd.

You saw an attractive man eye you from across the dance floor. Well, it looks like tonight won’t be a total failure times two you said to yourself as you downed your drink and approached the man.

He wore a form-fitting t-shirt and dark jeans. His hair was pushed back and he grinned at you as you neared him.

“Haven’t seen you here before,” he said to you over the booming music.

“I prefer to keep my appearances limited editioned. Keep everyone on their toes, bless them with my presence,” you joked.

“Well, looks like I’m a lucky man then.”

You blushed.

“Can I buy you a drink?”

“I’d never say no to free drinks.”

He laughed and ordered you a shot from the bar.

You felt your nerves slip away the more alcohol you took in. You hadn’t really had the time for hookups, let alone a boyfriend, with all the work you’ve been swamped with. It’s hard being a journalist just starting out. The others in the same boat as you were all vultures, fighting each other for the best story. If you took even one lazy route, you’d fall behind and be stomped over by the freshly-graduated rookies. Maybe that’s why you enjoyed Batman’s company so much because it overlapped with your work. You didn’t have to take time away from journaling to have a friend.

Maybe he wasn’t really a friend. You shook your head, this wasn’t the time.

The man leaned over, whispering into your ear, and you felt goosebumps at his breath.

“So, how do you know the Batman?”

You were stunned. Did you hear him correctly?

You looked up at him dumbfounded, the grin still plastered across his lips.

“What do you—How do you—I don’t know—“ You really needed to stop stumbling over your words whenever you were caught off guard, it wasn’t a good look.

“Should we speak outside?”

You felt your heartbeat pick up, what did this guy know? Was he another journalist? Did he stumble across a crime scene, same as you, and spot you conversing with the Bat?

You nodded and followed him to one of the back doors. It swept you out into the dim back corridor where the dumpster sat.

“Are you going to make this hard for me?” He asked, his voice laced with venom disguised by charm.

You still looked at him in shock. You were not in the right outfit for this. Normally you had the upper hand, but now…

“I swear, I have no idea what you’re—“ He cut you off with a polite punch to the gut. You heaved over in pain, coughing.

“I’m going to ask you again. How do you know the Batman?”

How stupid could you be? Maybe you deserved this for being daft enough to follow a strange man outside, alone, and drunk. Not one of your better moments. (But you were definitely drunk, so that gave you a little bit of an excuse.)

“I told you! I don’t fucking know Batm—“

His hand gripped your head, and in one swift motion, he slammed your skull back against the brick wall.

“Maybe that will jog your memory.”

The world around you began to spin. And spin. And spin.

The tall man was swaying from side to side in your view, a ringing piercing in your ears. You reached your hand up to your head and tried to steady yourself, fighting the pain coursing through your body now. You wobbled as you tried to straighten yourself, stumbling on the pavement.

You sprawled your arms out into the air to try to balance yourself. You were too busy seeing stars to realize that Batman had shown up and was currently pounding his fists directly into the tall guy’s face.

You slurred your words as you saw multiple Batmans in front of you, hunched over as he broke the man’s nose. “Stop.”

He didn’t stop. In fact, he began hitting him harder.

You drunkenly and dizzily stumbled over to him, your hands colliding with the back of the Batman’s suit. “Stop,” you slurred again.

At your touch he held his readied fist in the air, breathing heavily and trying to talk himself into not killing the bloodied man beneath him.

He scowled at the man before standing up and grabbing you. You practically fell into his arms.

You heard voices from inside the club’s door. It was muffled but you both could still make it out, “He went back here!”

It was likely more men working with the son of a bitch laying knocked out on the alleyway ground.

Batman knew he had to get you out of there, he didn’t have time to assess you right now. He scooped you into his arms and carried you away just as the men swung open the back door and readied their guns.

Everything was a blur around you except for Batman. His close proximity allowed you to focus on him, but behind him, it was just streaks of color.

He rushed you somewhere you didn’t know—mainly because you couldn’t see where you were going. It felt like an eternity until he had you safely on top of the GCPD tower. Bruce’s head had been raging with swears, he would go back and tear those men apart if he didn’t have you to protect.

He sat you down and kneeled beside you, his hands coming up to your head, touching the blood that stained your hair.

“I’m fine,” you mumbled, weakly trying to shoo his hands away.

“Y/N,” he said in a defeated tone, his voice cracking ever so slightly. Your heart slightly fluttered when his voice spoke your name after not seeing him for so long,

You squeezed your eyes in pain as he touched the spot on the back of your skull that had collided with the wall.

“It’s not bleeding anymore,” he said flatly.

“Well, it still fucking hurts. Quit touching it!”

He pulled away and kneeled across from you.

“I think you have a concussion.”

“Oh, really? What an astute observation, Mr. Bat.” Your words were not all there but you got the point across.

“You’re mad at me,” he said as more of a question.

You shook your head, touching your head with your fingers as your head pounded. There was a brief moment of silence, neither of you knew what to say.

“You should stay with someone for the night. To make sure you don’t fall asleep.” He felt his hands clench, hoping to god you didn’t mention that man he saw you with earlier. It took everything in him to speak in a straight tone.

“I don’t have anyone.” You kept your gaze fixed on your shoes, pulling your knees into your chest.

Batman settled in a bit closer so you were parallel with him and couldn’t see his face without turning your head. He would stay with you then.

Time passed in silence as he stared at you. You could feel his eyes burning holes in your skin. His mind was racing with all the ways he could have prevented this. He knew it would be his fault you would get hurt someday. This is exactly why he needed to end things sooner. He shouldn’t have let himself get attached in the first place. Now he was in too deep. No amount of lying to himself would change that.

Your head still hurt but after a bit, you could see straight again. You leaned back against the metal surface you were propped in front of and tilted your head so you just barely could see him in your view.

“You were gone.” Your words cut through the soggy night air.

“I was working. Same as I always do.”

Your eyes hung low but you fought against the urge to shut them entirely. “Thought you might be dead.”

He kept his gaze fixated on you but his eyes shyly fluttered away from your eyes. “Is that why you’re mad?”

“I’m not mad!” You shouted, seeing the irony in your tone. Shouting hurt your head so you spoke just above a whisper now, “I mean, now I am, but only because you keep saying I’m mad!”

He shifted uncomfortably, not saying anything in return.

You sighed. “I’m mad at myself, I guess.”

He flickered back to your eyes as a way to implore you to continue.

“I don’t know. I guess I just thought we might have been friends or something.” You played with the hem of your skirt. “But now I realize that was a stupid thought.”

“Why is that stupid?” His voice was deeper than usual.

“Because you’re… Batman. You're basically a superhero. Of course, you’re going to save me. It doesn’t mean we’re friends. I get that now.” Bruce didn’t know what to say. ”I bet you have a lot of friends, you know, as your other persona,” you said meekly, referring to whoever he truly was. “I’m sure you don’t want to be wasting your time with me. I was just reading into things.”

He chucked and your eyes widened. He hadn’t ever really laughed with you before.

“What?” You asked, afraid you had just made a fool of yourself.

“You couldn’t be more wrong.”

Your lip quivered into a sideways grin. Maybe he was just being nice to you after you practically admitted to being a loser. It was pretty pathetic.

He watched you intently, trying to read your eyes. “I…” He lost his breath, not sure how to properly explain how he was feeling—it wasn’t something he was familiar with doing. “I didn’t want to get you hurt.”

“Hm?”

“That's why I was away.”

“You weren’t dragging me into these situations, you know. I was showing up on my own accord. Before you even arrived most of the time, might I add.”

“I can’t have someone… You, getting attached. I mean, I can’t either. I won’t be able to protect you.” His voice trailed off at the end, uncertain of what he was trying to say.

You smiled widely at him and he raised his eyebrow. “So, you like me back? You thought we were friends, too.”

He shrugged, just the hint of a grin forming on the corner of his lips. He hadn’t known what it had been like to have a friend besides Alfred in years.

You sat in silence again.

“How’s your head?”

“Throbbing unbearably,” you joked. Well, you weren’t joking, but you said it in a joking voice. A friendly voice.

He knew this was bad. Knew he shouldn’t have stayed with you. Knew that just talking to you would drag him right back in, ruining what he had been trying to do for weeks by distancing himself.

Your hand reached out and just the tips of your fingertips brushed against his.

“So, we’re friends then?” You asked.

He looked at you and nodded his head.

“Just two strays becoming not stays with each other.” You shook your head, “That was bad, but you get what I meant.”

He couldn’t help but feel his body heat up at your words, the way you smiled with droopy eyes at him. The way your fingertips were burning into his. The way your hair fell across your neck and face. The way your slightly slurred voice sounded like velvet in his ears. The way he never wanted you to stop talking…

Shit.

Ch. 5

[doriana-gray-games]

Collection of asks !

Hi! Don't want to clog up your dashboards so I am answering some asks that have piled up while I was a bit absent <3

(Game update status: both going good and bad. Stuck on this one scene, but I am starting to see the end in the tunnel lol. Have been trying a new approach where I don't edit while writing :0 it's hard but does increase productivity! I just hope the quality isn't too bad after it lol. You can tell me once the update is out haha!)

Bahaha Love that! W deserves all the love <3

😏😏😏 Watson likes all of Sherlock, tho I'm sure they are partial to some... parts hehe

But the reaction is not new!! Tho I know a lot of people miss it (there's a few easily missed things tbh haha, maybe not optimal, but I find it fun to hide little things). There's one reaction with small waist too !

lolol I see it. I have a scene in my notes where MC basically has to teach H to sit on (and touch) grass...

@jumpyhamster Maybe? Not sure yet, sorry!

Ah--was it so obvious i'm not english haha! Yeah, I might as well tell you all too (despite my best efforts of internet anonymity, I talk too much on discord lol) I am Swedish. So if I make some weird English mistake or miss some quintessential British thing the MC or NPCs would know plz let me know! <3

Aww I think I know who this is!!! 💛💛💛 hearts right back!!!!

@4332 <3<3<3 I'm so glad you liked it!! (I don't recommend it to 12 years old tho! might be too adult for that haha)

<3 <3 <3

I am for sandwich solidarity in all forms haha! XD

Hopefully MC will be able to get them a not-chewed on sandwich soon <3

It seems I can't paste more images sorry-- One similar question I got was what the elegant body type looks like:

Currently the body types won't assume a lot much more than the word and possibly synonyms to the word. That's because it's so subjective. So--if I were to make further content about it I probably will have to ask further questions about that setting <3 I do think it would be fun and interesting to do!

Elegant, is again, what you want it to mean. But generally I've heard it to mean semi-long limbs with "ideal" like proportions. And in mass perhaps somewhere between tall-athletic and lean. I personally think of grace kelly I think

Love this game and the new details you added <3 this is definitely a spoilery question but man, i gotta ask... what happened in Lestrade's life that to made him so... unhappy? Careless with his own wellbeing? :(

<3

A previous answer I have given: "Just a spiral of things. Life turning the wrong way, things looking bad on the horizon, failing to take care of themselves so they have poor chances of climbing out or realising they even can." In addition to this. This had not started when MC and L first met. And there was a catalyst event, that set it off, and in a way MC is involved in this.

💖💝💕💯💐

💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

you deserve to go to jail for making me choose between two cute love interests... that aside, your game has helped me a lot while struggling with mental health problems. which sounds a little silly but genuinely it warms my heart when i don't feel well. so thank you for creating something so wonderful. + i know most asks here are RO-related but im also very excited to see how the story goes!

Gosh Anon, you gave me a heart-attack with those first few words haha-- but to the rest, thank you so much <3<3<3 That's very sweet. I'm really glad and honoured to help in anyway I can. There's a lot of plot coming anon! Don't you worry! :D

harrypotternerd934 asked:

I need to say that I'm absolutely amoured by your story. I really enjoy playing as Sherlock and I think you did a really great job at capturing the vibe of the setting.

Much love and further luck with your story 🤗

@harrypotternerd934 <3

Aww, thank you so much! <3<3<3

approxtwelveangrybees asked:

I need you to know that I had so much fun with the Victorian gazing in the first two chapters

@approxtwelveangrybees <3<3<3

Congratulations on the anniversary <3 the update was so good.. all the little reworked scenes... the love kernels... But wait, will there actually be a love triangle route!!!!?

Yeees <3 Lot's of them <3

phaedraismyusername asked:

My favourite line of the update - just a top tier IQ drop right there 😍 lol

The whole thing was so good! An absolute joy to read as always ❤️❤️❤️

@phaedraismyusername <3<3<3 You're a joy!!! <3<3<3 (I love how people are discovering the thigh line haha)

and to "The trio Lestrade/hungry tumblr anon" Thank you for your story <3