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bookofmirth · 1 year

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I’m not an elriel, but I strongly disagree w your post suggesting that Elain isn’t tied to any ACOTAR and CC connections (and thus won’t be featured in HOFAS). I’m also a lil confused as to how being a Valkyrie, or having connections to Ramiel, indicates that a character will have a part to play in HOFAS.

But as for Elain, there is substantial evidence to suggest that she is a mystic. In SJM’s old Pinterest board, there was a plethora of imagery that tied Elain to Sleeping Beauty - the mystics ‘travel’ to different worlds via sleep and dreaming. There was even an image in SJM’s Pinterest board of a girl with her eyes closed, but you could see a galaxy with different planets whirling underneath her eyelids - an image that SJM labelled as Elain.

Additionally, there are three sister peaks in Prythian; the mountain that Amrantha ruled from (UTM), Ramiel, and the Prison Island mountain. Feyre’s story featured UTM, Nesta’s story featured Ramiel… which leaves the third sister mountain - the Prison Island mountain - to Elain. As I assume you’re already aware, the Prison Island is the Dusk Court - an area that hosts the most pivotal connection between ACOTAR and CC (and the broader multiverse). It’s also the area that most strongly connects to Bryce, considering that she is the heir to the Starborn fae, and Queen Theia’s direct descendant (Bryce’s scent is even of dusk!)

Elain is also Cauldron-made. She too is connected to the Dread Trove (and ACOSF hinted that Elain is more than willing to be involved in this narrative). This is significant, as the Horn on Bryce’s back is heavily theorised to be the fourth Dread Trove item.

Although nothing is a guarantee (especially knowing SJM!), I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss Elain’s importance to the story. Given that SJM has said multiple times that she has plans for Elain’s book… I’d assume that SJM intends on tying Elain to the upcoming multiverse in some way - perhaps more than any other Archeron sister! :)

I've said in a few posts that I don't think Elain will feature, so I'm not sure which one you are referring to. I suspect it is this one, since it's been going around? It was written over a year ago and there is some context for it - namely the post that was linked within it. That might answer some of your questions. Either way, I'm definitely not quick to dismiss Elain's role. I've put way more thought into it than I should have, considering I'm not even a CC stan haha.

Sorry my response got quite long, it's just that I don't think I've articulated a lot of this before!

Your third paragraph answers your question about Carynthian/Valkyries/Ramiel! Because that mountain is probably going to be important at some point; this post that I had linked within the other also talked specifically about why the Illyrians are important, as well as Ramiel. The Blood Rite is a Rite to get to the top of Ramiel and touch the stone. There seems to be some connection between Illyrians, Ramiel, the daglan/Asteri, and the Blood Rite, perhaps Enalius? I don't think I have a full post about Ramiel and the Illyrians post-hosab. I did write this one before hosab came out, and I should probably update it. I might have somewhere, but I can't remember. But basically I absolutely agree with that third paragraph, and that's why I think it's important that certain characters have made it to the top and touched the stone. There is something there, and the characters who already have a connection to Ramiel seem the most likely to continue being connected. The Blood Rite/being Carynthian is just one way that some of them are connected.

Also, fwiw, I think that it's important that Bryce learned this information just before going to Prythian. There is a difference between what we, the readers, know, and what the individual characters know. That's going to bring me to a point about Elain being a seer in a minute. But before I get there, Byrce learned a lot of this information about the land of dusk, about the Asteri experiments, about them creating what we presume are the Illyrians before the Illyrians rebelled, she learned about the Starborn fae coming from Prythian. All of that was basically dumped in her lap before she ended up in the land in question, which to me, makes all of that information incredibly important in what's to come.

I don't think we know that the prison is where the land of dusk was? (Not to be picky, but it's not the Dusk Court - the land of dusk existed before the courts were established.) People have theories, but we don't know yet. All we know is that it's an island off Prythian. I asked bookclub to be sure and @yazthebookish thinks that it could be the island that is to the west of Prythian, in between the Night and Day Courts - because dusk.

Okay so back to the Elain issue - of course it's possible that she will play some role in hofas. I just don't think it's likely. A lot of things are possible, but that doesn't mean they will happen, and based on what facts we know - not speculation - other characters have a much clearer, solid connection to what is going to happen in hofas.

The thing with her being a seer could be a potential link, but I have a few counterpoints:

What Bryce knows about the mystics is not positive, and she may not connect that practice with Elain's seer powers. When I mentioned before that Bryce's knowledge going into Prythian is important, this is part of it. The way that Elain is living and using her powers is a far cry from what is happening with the mystics as they create their map and wander through the worlds all drugged up and having given up their autonomy in exchange for financial security. Plus, we don't know for sure that seer powers and mystics are a one-to-one correlation. Which leads me to my next point:

Elain hasn't been using her powers. Not only that, but the IC has been very reticent to letting her help them in any way. IMO her story is going to require breaking away from the way that they coddle her, and that's not going to happen in another series.

We don't know that seer powers in Prythian would have anything to do with traveling between worlds, and that's the main goal right now - Bryce needs to get out of Prythian and to Hel, or back to Midgard. Is it possible that Elain's seer powers could help? Yeah, it is. But just because things work one way in Midgard doesn't mean they are going to work the same way in Prythian. And let's be honest, sjm does the absolute bare minimum explaining the magic in acotar. It seems much more likely that the people who have already been researching other worlds, explicitly, in Prythian, would hold those keys to answering Bryce's main challenge right now, which is getting the eff out of Prythian.

Regarding Elain being Made, there is the second point I made above about people not allowing her to help, but there is no reason that Elain would be required to use her Made status to find the fourth trove object when, as you mentioned, it likely doesn't really need to be found. It fell into their laps. Plus, Nesta and Feyre are still Made. Nesta is in a bonus. Nesta also has the tattoo. Nesta is still a more likely candidate to work with any trove-related things.

My thinking that Elain won't be very present in hofas is based on the things we know for sure: she wasn't present at the end of hosab, she isn't present in a bonus (that we know of yet), she hasn't been using her powers, she hasn't been allowed to help, and there are other characters who already have a much clearer connection to what is happening in CC.

If we were to do this in a mathy way, I think that we could give each character a point for how many things they have that potentially connect them to the hofas plot, but I would give more points to facts we are already sure about, over speculation. And while Elain wouldn't have zero points, other characters would have far, far more.

I am aware that sjm has said she's working on Elain's book. I think most of us are, and it would be pretty poor planning if sjm hadn't been thinking about how Elain will fit into all of this, but I just don't think that we have reason to believe it has anything to do with other worlds, not when the visions we know she's had thus far are related to the current acotar conflict. Is it possible? Yes!

But sjm has also said that she came up with the crossover where the characters would interact with each other to this extent while she was writing hosab, not before! Which means that if she does connect Elain to other worlds in the ways you are suggesting, it's a retcon. It wasn't planned ahead of time. She literally changed acosf to make space for the crossover in hosab (e.g., Rhys worrying about someone else coming through à la Aelin in the feysand chapter), and yet nothing happened with Elain in acosf to make her connection to CC seem more likely. It would have been the perfect opportunity to have done so, and yet if you remove Elain from the acosf plot, nothing would be different.

fwiw, I don't really care who you ship! As long as you aren't rude, and you weren't!

#hofas #ask #anon #lots of things are possible #but this post is a good example of why i don't usually dabble in theories #I like to work with facts #because otherwise so many things are technically *possible*#but they aren't all likely #elain #acotar/cc #long post tag #fwiw I had to double check a lot of this stuff #I don't just know it off the top of my head #even if this post makes it seem like I have everything memorized haha #i might have some details wrong #feel free to let me know but I tried

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andoqin · 1 year

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The Ingenious One

What a ride this drama was! From the stunning shots, to the smart writing, to the plethora of well acted side characters it just had so much to give me.

Let’s start with the characters:

Snipping this for length.

Yun Xiang: Driven by a need to avenge the death of his 300 people family village, eradicated for seemingly no reason, he goes on a quest to find out who did it and why. For a Wuxia drama it’s very interesting to have our hero be a person wholly lacking in fighting skills, in fact the only thing he can do is run, and even that doesn’t last for very long. He is not someone who has a heart of gold in fact his plans will sometimes even endanger his friends, though the more he gets to know them the less that part becomes and he uses his brain to help them where he can.

Shu Yanan: Orphan, adopted by someone of Yun Xiang’s sect, she vows to avenge her adoptive father’s killer and thus her paths cross with Yun Xiang. In contrast to him, she is one of the strongest fighters of the show and physically is much stronger than him, which often makes hilarious things happen. The two of them are immediately drawn to each other and their bond is a big part of what carries the show for me. Shu Yanan is a cypher for the first half of the show, not letting the viewer know most of her thoughts and putting on a mask, even in front of Yun Xiang (but then again, he too changes masks so often it’ sometimes hard to keep up) and only in the latter half of the story does her true motivation/storyline come out but I didn’t mind that. The first half was used to build up their connection and the second half was used to delve deeper into her origin (story) which provided a very nice balance.

Su Mingyu: Initially a spoiled princeling of a rich merchant family with no business aspirations but Big Dreams about being a HERO of the Jianghu but no actual knowledge of what that means. Well he learns, pretty quickly, that despite appearing awesome and brave, actual fighting involves blood and death and the show makes it a point to drive that home. He is a skilled fighter and later on learns to become a man that can support his loved one and family but it does take him some time to get there. He is an AMAZING boyfriend tho, 10/10 in that regard, as far as spoiled rich princelings go you can def do worse.

Ke Menglan: Daughter of a disgraced official, cast down into the lowest societal tier in the very stratisfied Ming Dynasty (or at least it’s based on that) where upward social mobility was all but impossible, she tries her best to get back to the “normal” citizen-tier because she does genuinely love Su Mingyu and their marriage is literally not allowed. She is the very capable manager of what later becomes Yun Xiangs gambling house and their little club-hub and I love that she got her own story about dealing with who and what she was and loved the resolution for that arc since it was her choice and she has faith in SMY.

Jin Biao: Last but certainly not least in the main character gallery is my sneaky bigass sword dealing 10 gold jin per head demanding softie. His plot such as it is, is the simplest, but how can you not love a dude who uses his murder-gotten gains to support jianghu orphans??? Also I loved his little romance plotline, happiness for them always.

And this is just the main characters, there are SO many side characters that play an important role, some that come in later in the story, some that are dispatched earlier (usually bc they’re villains, or bc they get to go on a long deserved trip with their butler/assassin bf) and to put them all in here would cause my fingers to fall off, so i’ll just put a few favourites here:

Mo Bufan (and Kang Qiao): MBF is technically a senior of Yun Xiang, but he’s kinda let go of their sects teachings for the most part and embraced that capitalist lifestyle with his ... protegé? (I always read them as a couple tbh). Like YX MBF is not really a fighter, and they have a very interesting connection because of that, because it takes them a long time to be more than reluctant allies but they do become such great bros it is a delight to see.

Liu Gongquan and Princess Mingzhu: They come in towards the latter half of the story, one as the daughter of a Prince and the other as a former protege who is now an imperial investigator. He is at least as smart as Yun Xiang and it’s great to see them sort of work at cross purposes, feeling each other out and then coming to a tentative alliance. The princess is the usual sheltered naive girl type, but she shows these occasional flashes of smartness that are delightful to me (and LGQ hehe) and it’s great to see that clearly it is mostly a case of her lacking experience and not brain.

This is not nearly all of them, once again but man I gotta swivel to the villains now, because nothing in a show like this works without villains and oh do we have some interesting ones here:

Tang Xiao is our first initial big hurdle, and by god is he a slimeball par excellence. As the owner and proprietor of most of the cities gambling establishments he wields a lot of money and influence and uses it to menace women, be a creep and probably smell really bad. We get to see how he comes to hold on to his position though, because he is clearly adept at wheeling and dealing with people by any means necessary, though in the end that bites him in the butt. What makes him more interesting to me though is the fact that he has two very devoted underlings, one of whom is a female fighter who doesn’t talk much, wears an iconic hat and generally has a terrifying aura but who is very gentle to one of the female sidecharacters who gets caught by Tang Xiao, drugged (and probably abused). I had IMMEDIATE Black Sails Anne flashbacks in my head and though i am loathe to even put Tang Xiao and Jack into similar categories I do wish we could have explored the relationship between TX and his female underling (sorry I forgot her name) and just *why* she did the things she did for him. At least Tang Xiao did have a very deserving end and I cheered hahaha.

Kou Yuanjie: He was the second Big Hurdle, but he was more of a “stock standard” bad guy: Spoiled Bratty princeling who was power hungry and Big Mad that his older sister is better than him in pretty much every regard: fighting, brain wise, not a psychopath, etc. He can’t stand any minor inconvenience and will use people as he sees fit, even going so far as to let his one devoted underling, who adores him for reasons unbeknownst to me, get killed. She even suspects he’s being shady, but then he kisses her and makes her forget her doubts, basically walking to her death, it’s not great.

The Big Bad: I have to say as far as villains go, he left me a bit cold because he was using circular rhetoric to justify his end goals/plans, but the impact he had on the story and our characters is significant so I was fine with it.

So yeah, the fact that even my goldfish brain can retain so much for these characters should tell you that they left a lasting impression on me, which is truly not easy.

Let’s talk about the plot now, because on its face it is a fairly standard story, but the characterwriting especially lifts it above and the way the show manages to not spin its wheels but keep the tension going by introducing new revelations slowly but also giving other storylines the ability to breathe while not losing focus was very good for me. I think the ending is not the blockbuster type that I personally would have preferred, but after everything it felt earned for our characters and I am happy with where they ended up.

NOW LET’S TALK VISUALS, because this show knows how to set up a scene, how to block a shot to tell a story. So often visual storytelling in cdramas is an afterthought at best it is especially noticeable to me when a visual language is established in a drama and made clear to the viewer. This is not to say this is some Every Frame A Painting sort of show, but whenever the drama wanted to put emphasis on something, it did.

One of the main ones was the focus on characters’ eyes and faces, there were a lot of closeups of the actors’ eyes and or faces and that’s where having expressive actors helps because I didn’t need dialogue to tell me what a character was feeling. Sometimes it was more obvious, sometimes less so, but it displayed an interiority to these characters’ lives that I feel is missing from many many many other shows.

The gorgeous cinematography can just speak for itself tbh.

FINAL VERDICT: 9.5/10 maybe a 9 depending on my daily mood but mmmm so good.

#the ingenious one #drama reviews #cdrama

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paigelts05 · 5 months

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Anna Kwemto [FNAF AR, Renegade AU]

https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/Anna-Kwemto-FNAF-AR-Renegade-AU-1021472367

Published: Feb 18 2024

I started drawing the main characters my AU follows in the FNAF AR segment before the announcement of the end of FNAF AR being in service, so now some of my favourite characters are from lost media. I'm sad I was never able to play the game (my phone didn't support it), but I followed the story bits like an ARG, and found some of my favourite characters, so you can trust me when I say I'll be keeping these characters and their stories alive and running.

CK animatronic maintenance and R&D Robotics contract with Faz Ent has ended, but their stories are far from over.

After the contact's premature closure in 2021 prior to Adelaide ripping through their computer systems using a computer virus as her way in, Faz Ent took until 2024 to take the last of their robots back. By then, the Adelaide incident had happened, the Riot had happened, the Breach incident had happened, the Raid had happened, the Ruins incident had happened, William had been contained, and a couple of years had passed with a plethora of other incidents Anna didn't want to think about. Whilst Anna was only involved in the Adelaide Incident and Raid, her employee, Ness, had been at least somewhat involved in all of them, so they all lived in her mind. The only positive events out of those were the Raid and William's containment, which she always tries to think about whenever she's reminded of Adelaide's mind control attempts, William's kidnapping of Ness, Luis almost dying trying to free Ness, Ness and Ness's sister Sylvia almost dying multiple times, and the Faz Ent execs kidnapping of Ness. Even then, the Raid wasn't all closure and happy memories with the amount of times Ness almost died, and with Luis getting turned into what amounted to a feral assassin by Adelaide? She surprised herself with how well she was coping. And as for William's containment? Bittersweet.

Her mother always told her the best ending wasn't always happy, and now Anna knew what she meant. All her friends were still alive, sure, but nothing would ever be the same again.

But Anna Kwemto would make sure that she would always to everything she could to prevent any harm from coming to her colleagues.

#2024 #art #artwork #fnaf #fnaf fanart #fnaf au #renegade au #fnaf renegade au #fnaf anna #fnaf anna kwemto #anna kwemto #anna kwemto fnaf #fnaf ar #fnaf ar emails #fnaf ar special delivery #fnaf ar sd

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scipiosmith · 1 year

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Hey smith, I was thinking about your SAPR story if you were to rewrite. (after talking with a few friends it was interesting scenario)

Let’s say that weiss was the main character in your story: how would that dynamic go with her new team..

I know would be awkward to for weiss and jaune relationship considering jaune was… too focused on her.

Pyrrha would be interesting because she didn’t want to be on a team with weiss.

Plus with her family drama could make the story more unpredictable.

Side note: maybe ruby joins Cardin, russel, and flash? (Maybe ruby could help Cardin overcome his problem? Ruby always did like helping everyone.)

First of all, as a minor thing, I would rather you call me Scipio than Smith, if you don't mind.

On the main point of your ask, I'm sorry, but I am not rewriting this again! Once was enough! It was only about in the moderate hundreds of thousands of words the last time I started, it's something like 3 million words now, I'm not going through all that again!

Hopefully that plethora of exclamation marks came across as hyperbolically exaggerated exasperation rather than hostility, because the truth is that I think your idea has the potential to be a stronger story than the one I went with, because Weiss has the potential to have more interesting relationships with Pyrrha and Sunset than Ruby does.

With Pyrrha... yes, Pyrrha didn't want to be on the same team as her, but on the other hand, other authors than myself have done a lot of good work showing how there a lot of similarities between them, their relationships with fame, with family expectations (especially with Pyrrha's aristocratic backstory that I gave her for SAPR), contrasting Atlesian and Mistralian concepts of what it means to be an aristocrat, noblesse oblige, that kind of thing.

Meanwhile, with Sunset, even in the story as it currently exists, you can see little bits in Volume 1 of hostility between her and Sunset, and it would be fun to do more with that, these two very strong personalities, both of them kind of arrogant, and then you have Weiss unconscious racism and classism thrown into the mix, why is this upstart faunus the leader instead of me, who does she think she is? It could be fun.

Not to mention that having Weiss on Team SAPR would link them more to Blake/Rainbow Dash and the Atlas side of things, even as Weiss could get involved with Adam and the White Fang stuff too.

Where we disagree is with regard to Weiss and Jaune; I think that Jaune actually comes out of his pursuit of Weiss in SAPR pretty well, all things considered: he attempts to approach her a couple of times, he gets told to knock it off, and he does, before getting together with Pyrrha in pretty short order. So I wouldn't write him as pestering Weiss while she can't even get away from him, I think that would make him very unsympathetic to the readers. I think that I would have Weiss tell him what she told Flash: that she's not interested in dating, she's trying to take her school and her training seriously and she needs to focus on that, and then have Jaune accept it with all the grace and maturity that he can muster.

As far as Ruby trying to help Cardin, I'm not sure, Ruby wants to help people in general but when it comes to people as individuals she can be a little bit judgey from her high horse, and she might take that line with Cardin instead. Which, in itself, would offer the potential for drama.

So, all in all, you have some good ideas there, but you'll have to write them yourself because I'm not going through all that again.

#sapr fanfic #answered #grooveguylove #pyrrha nikos #sunset shimmer #weiss schnee #jaune arc #ruby rose

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jnixz · 2 years

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Tada!

I present to you, Reference Sheets for two of my psychonauts OCs! All it took was a late-prerp for Art Fight ;]

They were both made with psyn show idea in mind to show their characterization and adventure. They both come in the Motherlobe some time after the events of Psychonauts 2, when things have calmed down.

More information under the cut:

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Askel Sy Cylle

Non-binary ( They/Them, He/Him ) After the events of Psychonauts 2, Askel were recruited as the new mail-person due to the need. As for why they would hire a non-psychic farmhand from an out-of-nowhere town, well, they are rather tight-lipped about it. Otherwise, Askel is determined to keep a low-profile and not connect much with the other employees for however long they stay there. Unfortunately, a certain someone won't leave them alone nor stop from dragging them into adventures. They can handle a few colourful cast of characters, malfunctioning equipment, and all things real with the presence of psychics, but they did not sign up for mental world missions! They have so many questions! Stop it!! Why stranger things and coincidences keep popping up (even for the organization's standard with non-psychics) in the situation they get sucked in continues, Askel has yet to know.

Askel tends to be blunt and straightforward in their speech, and occasionally extremely sarcastic while maintaining honestly in their interaction with people. They don’t like sucking up to people’s good graces and would rather others do the same.

Grumpy as they are, don’t take it personally when they have a habit of barking out questions when they get stressed. When one gets a dose(or several) of mindscape shenanigans, it would be understandable that exposition for one horridly confused non-psychic. Their preferred weapon are Axes. Some psi-technology has a habit of not detecting Askel's presence, causing a bit of an issue.

Born from a few musings about how a possible psychonauts show would go, my love of confused outsider perspectives and their interactions with the cast extended to making one lovely witness.

Askel started off simply as a simple OC to witness weird things happening in the Psychonauts HQ post-PN2, but quickly involved into something more that I can actually write off a story with. Things start off simple with them, but it is undeniable that there may be events more connected to them then they realize.

Their vibes comes with the first time experience of a straight-man witnessing the plethora of wacky ideas in the first psychonauts game. Albeit explore in the more ‘realistic’ sense a non-kid would have when they first witness these kinds of things.

More on them here: [x]

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Enswi Entel

Genderfluid ( They/Them, She/Her, He/Him )

A recent addition to the psychonauts personel at Motherlobe HQ, Enswi was an employee from another associated company that had been contractually helping Psychonauts in some of their missions. Enswi got hired for a longer term duration for future psychonauts projects and studies.

They specialize in Clairvoyance, Aerokinesis and Hallucinakinesis. They also have a degree in Music and psychology. Due to recent events in Psychonauts, they are assigned to observe and evaluate the employees in Psychonauts. Otherwise, they would help mentor the inter-- Junior Agents when the rest of the Senior Agents are busy with camp. Enswi arrived at the Motherlobe a few months after the events of Psychonauts 2, where they get to meet an interesting new recruit. They are also assigned to long term mission privately assigned to them specifically.

Aha, yes in what was orinially just a guide for Askel in their tour around Motherlobe on their first day, turned into a companion that just makes Askel’s day all the more interesting.

Enswi is a lot more used to the weirder things happening in psychonauts. It also helps that they don’t have concerning issues to sort through. ‘Course they still got their flaws but despite that their go-with-the-flow energy tends to make things a lot lighter when they are around.

Their vibe and energy describes the more understanding and empathetic side of psychonauts that is given focus on the second game. It is accompanied by the more fun and taking things lightly to enjoy the adventure in the first.

======

This would just be a simple and formal intro to these two. As per usual with OCs, there is much more story and characterization in our minds we’ve yet to share.

I would like to thank the people I talk with in the dms about them btw, they would not have been a bit more fleshed out in my head if I didn’t talk to other people, who in turn inspire me to bring a bit more life into these characters.

#psychonauts ocs #psychonauts oc #jnixartz #reference sheet #my ocs #askel sy cylle #enswi entel #the links are mostly for my own convenience #as you can tell Askel's color palette is a bit eh #Was struggling to find a somewhat unsaturated skin tone that would fit with that wouldn't class with their clothes #was gonna go for green-teal but purple worked best #tho due to reasons i need it to be near green #tag-rambling #artist notes #Nix OCs

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roseromancebooks · 2 years

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Title: To Tame a Dangerous Lord Author: Nicole Jordan Genre: Regency Romance Spice Factor: ✩✩ Length: 443 pages Review: 3/5

I started reading this book a few days ago. Admittedly, it took me a day or so to get into it as the start felt a little bit slow. Nevertheless, once it truly begun I simply couldn’t put it down and read the majority of the book within an evening. I’ll outline the things I didn’t like about the book, then end by detailing all the bits I did like. Before this though I'll provide a brief summary of the book.

The book revolves around a love story between Madeline Ellis and Rayne Kenyon, Earl of Haviland. This immediately appealed to me as I'm also most inclined to love stories concerning Dukes, Earls and Viscounts when seeking out a regency book. Shamefully, I do often put a book back onto a book shelf when I realise the book surrounds a second son (awful, I know... but I like what I like!). In this book, Madeline is a gentleman’s daughter, not the child of an aristocrat. In actuality, the book begins with her seeking employment as a governess or aid. Having lost both her parents, it’s within an inn that Miss Ellis first means the love interest, Rayne. After just meeting the two indulge themselves in a kiss to avoid the incessant persistence of the villain of the tale. Nevertheless, Nicole Jordan does quite well at distancing the characters enough that the indulgence of a kiss does not eradicate any sort of tension most enjoyed within forbidden regency romance novels. Without going into too much detail from here the pair inevitably end up in a marriage of convenience (agreeing not to love one another). From here, the book itself is involves Madeline trying become as seductive as possible in the bedroom to make her so desirable, Rayne will love her.

In true regency romance fashion Rayne has sworn himself against love, and Madeline secretly loves Rayne. This develops into a plethora of misunderstandings that eventually accumulate into the usual life threatening moment where the male love interest finally realises he has in fact has fallen in love.

What I didn’t like:

One thing I did not like about the book was the repeated mentions of how plain and ‘not beautiful’ Madeline was. This came from multiple characters within the book. Now this might not deter some, but I must admit, I am a sucker for fairytale, so I'd rather not be repeatedly reminded how plain the heroine is. Especially even by the love interest. This is rectified by the end of the book as he repeatedly states she’s beautiful, for me the damage was done. Another thing I didn’t like, as aforementioned, was the first few chapters. They felt quite dragged out in terms of the content itself. It felt lacking and I wasn’t committed in the story. I would have liked a more interesting background.

I also did not understand why the characters liked each other at the beginning. I didn’t see the interest they had. I would have enjoyed some more development, particularly on the male love interests part, but once again I think that’s due to the initial few chapters feeling lacking.

What I liked:

When the book finally started, it really started. I loved the love scenes, it was graphic in a romantic way that most regency romances are. The scenes involved a bed, bathtub, table and chair. Quite different places each time! Her learning the art of seduction added a brilliant hotness to the book. There were around three to four love making scenes and a number of ones that came quite close. There was ample description and the scenes lasted for many pages. I often hate when a scene begins and it only lasts for a page or so. I also really loved the dialogue shared too during these scenes.

This book gave me what I like to refer to as the ‘heart clencher.’ Very typical of regency romances, the tensions were high. He did not want to love Madeline and ever time his exterior broke, it sent rushes through me. I found myself screaming at the pages begging Madeline to confess her love to him all the time, but in the best of ways. I really do love it when the male love interest refuses to love but eventually gives in for the heroine. This book was exactly that.

I definitely recommend this book, especially for Bridgeton lovers. Give it a go!

#regency romance #book recommendations #romance books #bridgerton #book reccs #to tame a dangerous lord #nicole jordan

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undercityrezident · 1 year

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A Zelda RPG

I think I mentioned this briefly in my reflection on TotK, but after being able to have the sages travel and fight with you in the game (and then their avatars later) to the point of having five characters fighting alongside you at once, I’ve suddenly gained the intense craving for a party-oriented turn-based or tactical RPG of Zelda.

And I don’t think it’s such a weird or far-out idea either because mainstream Nintendo franchises have branched out into other genres, including RPGs. Just look at Mario RPG, Paper Mario, and Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga.

I would absolutely dive into a turn-based RPG with Link and any number of staple characters from the franchise in any number of Zelda game settings (i.e. Ocarina of Time’s, Twilight Princess’s, Hyrule, or BotW/TotK’s). Hell, maybe we can have a sort of untold side story based on something we didn’t see in these games, such as TotK’s Imprisoning War where we only saw how it started and ended.

Imagine gearing up and altering characters’ classes against their typically expected roles. Maybe Link starts out as some sort of swordsman class, but you can eventually outfit him with Din’s Fire or any of the magical rods to give him spells to qualify him for a spellsword class. Give Zelda a special melee weapon so she can tear up the battlefield as a warrior/sage hybrid. I can think of tons of possibilities.

Then you can add in great battle interactions, like damage types for varying effectiveness and secondary effects, weapons with special properties, tools like the hookshot to stun or move enemies around, combination attacks, and, if we’re going the tactical RPG route, terrains with hazards such as malice/gloom. Not to mention that the plethora of enemies that Zelda has to draw from, big and small, could radically change how battles work from encounter to encounter.

And game overworlds can easily reflect the game’s setting, with towns and landmarks recognizable from whatever world its based on, dungeons that act as their own zones when you enter them with potential for classic Zelda puzzles that you have a different view on compared to the usual behind Link’s back perspective. I can already picture Golden Sun-esque gameplay between battle encounters. Zelda could fit that mould very smoothly.

And, naturally, most RPGs lend themselves toward great stories and deep characters, so we can dive even deeper on the personal struggles of characters in this universe. Just off the top of my head, we could have a Gerudo scholar who’s struggling to prove her theory on some aspect of the Seven Heroines legend, a Zora who’s intensely afraid of ice due to Zora’s domain being frozen over once, a Goron who doesn’t want to follow through on his family tradition of enter the mining business, or a Rito whose wings didn’t grow in correctly and wants to prove themselves an equal to their brethren. Oh, and I want Link and Zelda fighting alongside one another in the same party. No, I will not accept her falling into another pit, being flung back in time, or being kidnapped by Ganon on the onset. I want her as a party member from start to finish!

Speaking of Ganondorf, he already has the qualifications for a major RPG villain. He’s immensely powerful, manipulative, charismatic, and can easily cause problems all over the map for any number of party members, giving all people involved in your party motivations for wanting to join and stop him.

And RPGs still leave room for all the side-quest-y goodness Zelda is known for, especially if your party members have their own aspirations and motivations aside from defeating Ganon. There’s no shortage of content in the Zelda mythos that could fill in countless hours in a Zelda RPG.

As well, this would be a chance for whoever develops this Zelda property to take some liberties in style. Since it wouldn’t be rooted as a mainstream Zelda title, developers could experiment with its look in the same way they tried cel-shading with Wind Waker or the Link’s Awakening remake diorama style. Hell, maybe we could go retro in the same way as Octopath Traveler and have a modern take on the Link to the Past style?

Nintendo, you have a lot of potential in your hands with the Zelda franchise. Maybe consider this as a potential side project? Nintendo has been getting better about lending their IP to other companies. I don’t see why they couldn’t give this a shot while their main group at headquarters works on the next title in the main series. Not that they’ll ever see this post, but I had to get this idea out of my head, regardless.

Also, let’s leave the collectible Koroks out of this one. I’m down for having a cool potion-making Korok party member in the vein of that one from Wind Waker, though.

#Rez Rambles #The Legend of Zelda #TotK #TotK Spoilers #I'm putting in those two tags because I specifically reference TotK in my preamble to the idea #Also #RPGs tend to have sick as hell music #So I want to see how Zelda music would absolutely rock in this style of game

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themovieblogonline · 2 months

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SILENCE 2: THE NIGHT OWL BAR SHOOTOUT Review: A Mystery Thriller

Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout is a new mystery thriller that acts as a sequel to the 2021 Silence… Can You Hear It. However, the sequel has very little, if any connections to the original, so prior viewing is not required. The new thriller has a lot going on, sometimes to its detriment. While the morals and message of the story are well-intentioned, the execution feels overly complicated as it becomes guilty of trying to do too much all at once. Read on for my full Silence 2 review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNIoC1oNOj8&pp=ygUkc2lsZW5jZSAyIHRoZSBuaWdodCBvd2wgYmFyIHNob290b3V0 Please note that the following Silence 2 review will be completely spoiler-free. The Story Of Silence 2 A grisly multiple murder shooting at a dive bar beckons ACP Avinash Verma (Manoj Bajpayee) to the scene. Even before he arrives, his boss tells him that the shoot-out has to do with a politician’s secretary, and Avinash gets the case to ensure the murders don’t expose anything embarrassing for the government. So when we get the revelation that this is a Red Herring in the plot later on, it’s hardly a surprise, seeing how it was telegraphed from earlier. As Avinash digs deeper, the shoot-out becomes connected to a plethora of other, larger conspiracies involving blackmail, sex, human trafficking, queer victimizing, and many other social issues. It’s almost all too much for the execution to properly handle, so it comes off as a surface-level examination only, without any nuance. While certain aspects of the thriller mystery feel very well written, such as the technical forensic jargon. Which, while maybe a little far-fetched, was no less believable than those CSI TV shows from the early 2000s. More dramatic flair than an attempt at a realistic depiction. Manoj Bajpayee Carries The Movie With A Serviceable Supporting Cast While the story in this Silence 2 review may not be perfect, its lead actor is impeccable. The always-talented Bajpayee is his charming self, committing to every moment and delivering a fine performance. Bajpayee makes a meal out of the material he has to work with, and I wish he had more to do. While the story moves at a moderate pace, enough to keep audiences engaged, it’s almost too focused on its murder mystery plot. We can’t really connect as an audience to Avinash, because we know nothing about his personal life, or who he is outside of his job. Barring one pretty great scene when his daughter checks in on him in his new house. Avinash is clearly lonely and dealing with some things, and I wish the story explored more of his demons and how they affect his work. Similarly, the supporting cast of Silence 2 has some talent included. Avinash’s seemingly second in command is Inspector Bhatia (Prachi Desai), who I’ve been a fan of for a while. However, besides just being another cop on the case, we learn nothing about her personal life. Same with Sahil Vaid, who made a name playing the hero’s sidekick in comedies like Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. Seeing him in a more serious crime thriller in Silence 2 was very intriguing, but again, I wish his character had more to do. Silence 2 Movie Review Is Spoiler-Free Ultimately, Silence 2 is an engaging watch that moves along at a pretty decent pace. But the runtime would have been better served if the main characters were fleshed out more, and more screen time given to them, than the myriad of misdirections and seemingly separate plot lines. The writing of the movie is very ambitious as it struggled with a very complex plot with plot twists and threads that, for the most part, work. But the execution of how it all comes together feels too much to take on. For example, there’s a weird Keyser Soze-like montage near the end of act two, but the ultimate climax never connects the efforts of the villains to that scene. Silence 2 is a serviceable watch with friends or in a group setting, especially for Bajpayee whose performance makes up for any lack of writing or execution. Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout is now streaming on ZEE5. What did you think of Silence 2? Let us know in the comments below. Or follow me on X (formerly Twitter) at @theshahshahid for more Bollywood thoughts.

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winter-literature · 1 year

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Le Chat et le Serpent - Chapter 33

Please note that the entirety of this story is a ****TRIGGER WARNING***** - mentions of child abuse, graphic violence, alcohol use, mental health, suicide, suicidal ideation, self-harm - basically a constant blow of pain towards the characters - as well as some "steamier" moments.

Chapter Summary:

Luka struggles with the directives Alix gave him the day before. How is he supposed to follow his heart when it just wants to build a cement wall and hide to protect itself?

Chapter 33: Lose Yourself Within Love Divine

Follow your heart.

Ignore logic.

Luka was never ashamed to wear his heart on his sleeve. He always veered towards listening to his instincts. What did she want him to do? What did she need from him? Did she expect him to grovel for forgiveness and hope that the Prettyboy would take him back?

No… That would have to be planned, methodical… too much reasoning would be involved.

He wanted to listen to his heart, but he could barely understand what it was saying anymore. It wanted to run to the other side of the planet.

“Have you decided what you want to do yet?” Sass asked from his perch on Luka’s knee. Luka had dedicated nearly the entire day trying to formulate his next steps. It consisted of a plethora of crumbled papers and cycling trains of thought.

“If I try to focus on what my heart wants, I start to overthink. If I were to follow my gut I’d never see him again. I don’t know what decision I’m supposed to make without thinking about it! It’s impossible.” Blue hair shook in frustration as he picked up the neck of his guitar.

Sass crept back, giving Luka space to begin strumming.

“He’s perfect, he’s the perfect man, just not for me.” The notes from Luka’s guitar flowed into a slow melody.

Touched by the raw tune flowing from Luka’s fingers, Sass swayed to the music.

Luka chuckled as he shook his head, laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation he found himself in. In what world would a man like Adrien Agreste be with Luka Couffaine?

Finding a rhythm, he sang away his pain.

Have you met my Angel?

He’s Forged from fantasy

A Flawless perfection

A divine~

Unkempt beauty~~

And he’s got

Jade eyes

That sparkled up the night

(Yeah) those Jade eyes

That pulled at my heart~

His ~Jaded eyes~

That

Looked

Right

Through

~ instrumental~

Just follow your heart (ha)

I swear it’s fine

Lose yourself

Within love divine

But I’m falling~

I’m falling way too far

I’m breaking~

Breaking my own heart

Because of

Jade eyes

That sparkled up the night

(Yeah) those Jade eyes

That pulled at my heart~

His ~Jaded eyes~

That

Looked

Right

Through

~instrumental~

I shoulda known

Cause I’m no ~Angel~

I’m not perfect

I shoulda known

That I’m not ~worthy~~

Of your jade eyes

That sparkled up the night

(Yeah) Your jade eyes

That ripped out my heart

Your jaded eyes

That~

Tore~

Right~

Through~~

Me~

~instrumental~

~OooOooOh those jaded eyes~

“Are you going to play that tonight?” Rose beamed from the doorway.

Luka’s head shot up, unaware that he was singing for anyone besides Sass.

“Yeah, it was pretty okay.” Juleka stood at the foot of her bed with her arms crossed.

“No, we have a whole setlist picked out already. Plus, it doesn’t exactly blend with the Kitty Section style.” The twang of strings warned Luka to loosen his anxious grip on the neck of the guitar.

“Well,” Rose sashayed to the foot of Luka’s bed, “I don’t think Kitty Section’s style really ‘blends’ with the cafe anyway. You used to sing all kinds of different things.”

“I don’t even know if I’ll remember it, I didn’t write it down or anything.” The song was as fresh as his wounds.

Juleka shook her phone at him. “Good thing I recorded it.”

“How long have you guys been here?” Luka was too impressed with their stealth to be upset.

“At least ten minutes.” Sass answered for them.

“Way to have my back, Sass.” Luka instinctively reached for his gummy worm stash, wanting Sass to know that he wasn’t actually angry at him.

“Maybe this is what Alix was referring to?” Sass pondered as he reached for the treat. They should have considered it before, music has always existed as an extension of Luka’s heart.

“Time laws. You gotta do it now.” Juleka muttered, a tiny smile edging at her lips.

Ceding, Luka motioned for Juleka to pass her phone over. He played along with the recording, never pausing to check a note or word. No one was surprised that he memorised it perfectly.

“What’s your plan here?” Plagg somersaulted in the air as Adrien pulled on a cap.

The beak of the cap somehow took five years off his appearance. Flipping it wasn’t much better, but at least he nearly looked his age.

“I finally have a chance to see one of his actual shows, I can’t miss it.” He hadn’t slept at all the night before and he knew he wouldn’t tonight. Since he absolutely needed something to do, he might as well do the one thing he wanted most. To see Luka.

“And that’s why you’re trying to go in a god awful disguise?” Adrien covering up before public outings was commonplace, but trying to cover up in a way that Luka wouldn’t immediately recognize the masquerade was comedic.

“I mean… it’s not really a disguise…” this was only partially true. He was trying to blend in, but it certainly didn’t conceal him like his standard getups did. He still wanted to make sure he looked good. Just in case.

Deciding a more casual attire, he wanted to wear jeans. He didn’t realise how much time had passed since he wore jeans until he tried on every pair in his drawers. They were all over an inch too short and painful at the waist. Already steadfast on his concept, he bought a pair specifically for this occasion; they were dark blue and snug against his legs.

Aiming for plain tones, he chose a black dress shirt, the sleeves rolled up as always. Even though his outfit felt out of character, he was excited that he finally had an opportunity to wear his grey Dior Air Jordan 1 High Tops. Despite the fact that they were his most expensive pair of footwear, they did not fit the fine dress he adorned himself with on a daily basis.

“It’s kind of a business-casual distraction ?” Adrien tilted his head at his own reflection, not sold on his own argument.

“How douchy are we going? Do you want the Dior sunglasses to match your shoes?” Plagg chided as he pulled out the drawer containing nearly 50 pairs of sunglasses.

“You know, not a bad idea. The squared frame goes with this outfit.” Adrien slid the glasses on, impressed with Plagg’s decision, even if it was made through taunting him.

“When’s your TikTok rap album coming out?” Plagg howled at Adrien’s costume.

“What? I like it!” Adrien dropped into a half squatted pose, dabbing one hand and using the other to surround his chin.

“Alright Noir Boudoir, stop fussing over your looks or you’re going to be late.”

Adrien did one last once over before he fled to the door. The glasses worked to hide the exhaustion that painted his eyes.

The only disguise that ever truly masked him was Chat Noir. For the last ten years, any time he stepped on the street someone knew him. It was anomalous that a blend of his regular disguises, his teenage self, and his habitual dress created a concoction that fooled the masses. Ecstatic at his anonymity, he ordered only water, not wanting to risk being ID’ed.

It was astounding how many people managed to cram themselves into the coffee shop/wine bar whilst seeming completely comfortable. He wished that he could have seen them play here before. Apparently Luka used to play various styles of music with nearly anyone that would stand on stage with him.

Now, once a month, no one comes to just see Luka. The crowd was there for Kitty Section - the band that kept growing in popularity and was on Apple Music’s radar for up and coming musicians.

Not wanting to bring attention to himself, Adrien lingered around the back of the room. It was the furthest point from the front entry.

To complete the venue’s aesthetic, the walls were covered from floor to roof with books. If he had to hide in a corner, being surrounded by books seemed like the best way to do it. He ran his fingers along the spines as he inspected their collection. There was no order or reason to the thousands of titles. His finger froze at a familiar title. The Wars by Timothy Findley. He wanted to pull it out, to read it cover to cover again and feel like he had a piece of Luka with him. But he pushed forward through the titles.

According to Luka, Kitty Section only ever played a few songs. Adrien’s plan was to stay for their three songs and then stealth to the door. He wanted to see Luka, but he wasn’t ready to face him.

“Hey guys!” Daisy squeaked into the microphone. “We’re going to start off with something a little softer tonight.”

The crowd shared a unanimous groan.

“It’s good, shut up.” Juleka hissed at them.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be growling in your face soon enough! But everyone here is about to be a part of something special, I swear!” Rose flashed one last smile before stepping to the side, trailing Juleka along with her.

Adrien was transfixed as Luka pulled a stool up to the middle of the stage. The spotlight basked over Luka as he started strumming an unfamiliar tune.

“Oh,” Luka slapped his hand against the strings to introduce the song. “This is a song that I wrote, literally today. I wasn’t going to play it, but the mischievous duo insisted. So, I’m sorry if it sucks.”

Mummers filled the room as Luka resumed his playing. Adrien did not believe Luka’s self-doubt, the notes were already tantalising.

Tilting forward, Luka started to sing to his melody.

Have you met my Angel?

He’s Forged from fantasy

A Flawless perfection

A divine~

Unkempt beauty~~

It was a ritual they shared, to play together. He had heard Luka’s voice sing a plethora of genres, but this was obtusely unique. There was a passion that pushed the words to the surface.

As Luka slipped into the chorus, Adrien understood this was a song for him. A bladed knot jammed into his throat as Luka sang about jaded eyes that looked right through him. Nervously, Adrien pushed up his sunglasses, just to make sure his ‘jaded eyes’ were covered.

Just follow your heart (ha)

I swear it’s fine

Lose yourself

Within love divine

But I’m falling~

That word again. Adrien so badly wanted to say it to him, he wanted to hear it from him. Not from pain, not from lost love, but in a close embrace. Why could they only say it out of torment?

I’m falling way too far

The plastic bottle crushed in Adrien’s hand. Was he still falling? Or was it for lyrical purposes?

I’m falling way too far

I’m breaking~

Breaking my own heart

Because of

Jade eyes

Adrien clenched his teeth as tears fell across his cheeks. I’m sorry Luka. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you.

I shoulda known

Cause I’m no ~Angel~

I’m not perfect

Adrien’s balance started to wean. How could Luka not know he was perfect?

I shoulda known

That I’m not ~worthy~~

Adrien pulled the cloth out of his pocket as he submitted to gravity. He held it up to his face as sobs pushed through. He fucked up. He made the person he loved most in the world feel unworthy.

~OooOooOh those jaded eyes~

Luka clicked his tongue as he finished the song. The reaction was explosive. His voice had been so powerful, they could have disconnected the microphone and still heard him across the street. The lights returned to normal as the rest of the band stepped on stage.

Warmed by the reaction, Luka gripped the microphone with a timid smile. “I’m glad you guys liked it.” His eyes skimmed the crowd, he never thought he would feel such elation from making a room cry.

“Alright, alright, back to our regularly scheduled programming.” Luka chuckled as he stood.

His eyes landed on the corner of the room as the lights went out. The spotlight pointed on them once again.

Luka forcibly blinked, trying to discern if his mind was playing tricks on him.

“Bro, you okay?” Juleka poked Luka with her guitar.

He still held his own guitar by the neck, paralyzed by the momentary glance of the lump in the far corner. His mind whirled through possibilities as his body stayed stone. It wouldn’t make sense for anyone else to wear 23,000$ shoes and refuse to go to the bathroom as their nose bled.

“No.” Luka honestly replied, still desperately trying to convince his body to do something. Anything. Besides standing like a mannequin in front of an audience.

Juleka stepped towards him, igniting the flame of motion within Luka. He lifted the strap over his head as he told her, “You need to do this without me.”

Keeping his instrument vertical in his hold, he ran off the stage. The crowd was audibly upset at his departure.

“Sorry everybody!” Rose’s voice was extra high as she reddened. “We’re still going to do our best, but Luka is dealing with an emergency.”

The audience came back around as the band started up again. Their music was still on point, just obviously void of a particular spark.

Luka rushed to the empty back corner. If it weren’t for the blood smeared against the books, Luka could have convinced himself he saw a mirage.

“Did anyone see where he went?” Luka spun to the people nearest to where Adrien had sat.

“Just ran out the back!” The bartender responded to Luka. “Awesome song man!”

A slight “thanks” was mumbled out of his lips as he ran towards the back exit. The night air was crisp against his skin as he shot his head down either side of the alley.

Follow your heart .

Luka thoughtlessly ran to the right, for no other reason than he felt like it. Adrien had hidden his car in a tight space between buildings, if it wasn’t for the edge of the red rim catching Luka’s eye, he would have ran right past it.

He had no idea how Adrien fit into his car door, but Luka knew there was no chance he’d be able to squeeze the gap. His body, continuing to act of its own accord, leaned forward to knock on the rear window.

Adrien yelped at the unexpected noise. Through the back glass, he watched as Luka waved to him. He unlocked the trunk, yet was still startled by Luka pulling himself in.

“Your set! They need you!” Adrien placed his hands on the steering wheel, as if the car was going to suddenly take off.

Luka pulled the hatch closed behind him. Through his awkward stumble to the front he grabbed the paper towel roll from the back seat.

“Luka? Your fans will be disappointed.” Adrien didn’t understand why the only words that left his mouth were to convince him to leave.

Luka took the water bottle from the cup holder and ran it along the folded towel upon his palm. “They came for Kitty Section. The band will manage without me.” He ran the wet towel along Adrien’s face.

“I’m sorry.” Adrien’s voice croaked.

Luka’s gaze remained intense, wiping away each speck of blood. “Honestly surprised that you’re apologising. I thought you were done with me.” His hands actively working to clean Adrien’s face held his voice steady.

“No. I don’t know everything that happened, but there was no reason for me to talk to you like that. Did you walk home with only one shoe?” Adrien loosened his clench on the steering wheel, comforted by Luka’s presence.

Luka pushed Adrien’s chin up towards the ceiling to wipe the crevasses under his jawline. “Yep.” Last night, Luka was hurt. Ten minutes ago, he was worried. In the present, his rage was erupting to the surface. “What did you think about the song?” He pulled Adrien’s face down and dabbed the tragus of his right ear. “I wrote it about my ex-boyfriend.” He forced Adrien’s face in the other direction to wipe the left side, inadvertently breaking Adrien’s hold on the wheel.

“Boyfriend?” Adrien’s chest thuds were heavy.

Steel eyes sliced into Adrien as Luka halted his care. “Ex -boyfriend.” Clenching his jaw, he resumed his cleaning.

“You were my boyfriend?” Adrien’s voice was faint.

“Is that not what you’d call it? Or was that how you normally treat your friends? Should I be man-bonding with Nino about how you just like to give ‘friendly’ handjobs?” Luka gripped Adrien’s jaw and circled it to inspect the rest of his face.

Adrien’s response was an incoherent stumbling of half spoken words. Even he didn’t know what he was trying to say.

“Still can’t decide where you lay, hey? Even after all that.” Satisfied with his work, Luka pushed back Adrien’s face.

“That’s not true.” With his face freed from Luka’s hold, Adrien dropped his sights to his lap.

“Isn’t it? You treat me like a fucking mistress. A dirty little secret.” Luka pulled Adrien’s face back into his direction. He needed Adrien to see him.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why. But now with the Chat and Viperion thing…” Adrien pulled the only card he had in his deck.

“Chat and Viperion going public has nothing to do with the way you slink at my touch. Or how you need to be five feet away from me when we’re out in public. You have no problems doing that with Nino or Marinette.” Hell, Adrien could basically sit in Nino’s lap without it being an issue.

“It’s different!” Adrien turned, wanting to bury himself into the wheel, but Luka blocked him.

“That’s funny, because I thought it was different too. But I thought that was because it was more, not less.”

Adrien trembled at the hurricane raging within Luka’s eyes. He wanted, he needed, to fix it. “Please, please don’t leave. I know I’m not the best at showing it, but I’m trying. It’s- it’s so much harder because you mean more. Luka, I’ve never felt the way about anyone the way I feel about you.”

Luka slammed against the dash, the ferocious crack turning Adrien white. They were lucky the airbags didn’t deploy.

“You’re a fucking adult Adrien! Either figure out how to make me an actual part of your life or find yourself a girlfriend!” Luka shut his eyes, knowing that he was starting to see red.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

What can you control?

You can leave.

You weren’t asked to be here.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Do you want to leave?

No.

Okay, so what can you do?

Calm down.

Remember your own autonomy in participating in this tryst.

You can be honest and you can give Adrien a chance to do the same.

Adrien had never seen this side of Luka, he was still and distant yet shaking and close. He couldn’t help but wonder if this was how frightening he appeared when he lost control. Unsure of how to help, Adrien’s voice was trembling, “You’re right.”

Luka’s fists remained on the dash as his head centred between his elbows. Tears broke through. Tears of anger, of shame, of torture. “I want you. I want to be with you. I just don’t want it to be so fucking complicated.” The oscillating of his back displayed his weakness, which only made the blend of sentiments grow.

Adrien brought his Dior Jordan's up so he could perch atop his seat. Pushing on the pads of his feet, he stretched his fingers out to Luka’s back. The man recoiled with such a ferocity that the car shook. Adrien sprung his hand back to his own chest.

Luka brought his head to the dash, he wanted to melt away. He couldn’t find the right words that said ‘I want you to touch me, I want you close, but I wasn’t expecting it, so my body lashed out’ while also saying, ‘I’m mad at you and never want you to be able to hurt me again’. He didn’t know what he was anticipating to happen when he crawled through the back of Adrien’s car, but it certainly wasn’t this; he couldn’t imagine Adrien would ever find him attractive again as he sniffled against his dash.

Changing his approach, Adrien dropped his seat down. Luka continued to disintegrate as Adrien squirmed past the back seat. Sass and Plagg were sharing headphones as they watched Lucifer on Adrien’s tablet. They barely noticed as Adrien pulled the guitar forward. It was awkward and cramped, but if he couldn’t touch Luka, he would do the same for Luka that he did for him.

His fingers were clumsy along the strings as he tried to find the right cords. He attempted to put the few notes he knew together to create something half cohesive.

Luka’s fingers relaxed as he tilted his crystal blue eyes towards Adrien’s concentrated face. His voice was quiet as he admired Adrien’s attempt. “You’ve been practising.”

Adrien’s jade eyes shot up to him. The familiar heaving pull tugged at Luka’s chest. Luka weakly smiled as he stretched his arm straight to rest his face on his own bicep.

“Still not very good. I wasn’t planning on playing in front of you so soon.” Adrien’s bashful tone matched Luka’s hushed volume before he returned to the strings.

“I can’t believe how much you’ve improved.” Luka’s eyes followed Adrien’s fingers, they grew more confident with each beat.

“I had a good teacher.” Adrien peered at his hands, making sure his fingers were placed correctly.

Adrien was continuing to throw water on the ashes of Luka’s subsiding rage.

“Why can’t it be like this all the time?” This time, Luka’s tears only fell from pain.

Setting the guitar in the back seat, oblivious to the fact that he waved it in front of the Kwamis’ faces, Adrien devoted all of his attention to Luka.

“I’m trying, I really am. Did you hear I got a new place? I thought maybe… being away from old scars might be a good place to start.”

Luka naturally started closing the space in between them. “I heard. Maybe someday you can show me.”

“I would love that.” Adrien ran his thumb along Luka’s high cheekbone, wiping away the remnants of his tears. “I promise to keep trying, every day. Please, please give me another chance.”

Luka’s lip started to tremble as his head went to shake, overwhelmed with the moment. His level of emotional intelligence was a blessing and a curse. The struggle to manage the overstimulation was encumbered by the distraction of Adrien’s inner violin screeching.

Adrien was petrified at what fate Luka’s next words would carry. He momentarily debated turning on the radio to a max volume, just so he would never have to hear Luka say no.

But Luka didn’t say no. Instead, he trembled a phrase that, even within himself, lingered with an unclear direction. “I- I missed you so much.”

The strings within Adrien continued to screech, but with a rhythmic fashion. The everlasting piano played the same blue tune as usual, but with a slightly brisket pace.

“I missed you too. I miss you. I miss your snores, or the way you shake your knee when you can’t quite figure out the next note. I fucking hate that I know I might never see you peeking over at my desk when you think I’m not looking. Luka, my life feels emptier without you in it. I don’t know what to do, but I know I want to try.”

Luka took a paper towel to his nose, wanting to feel like a real person before he proceeded. “Where do we go from here?”

“Fuck, I - I don’t know.” Adrien just wanted to pull him into his arms. “I’m sorry you fell in love with such a fucked up mess. I never wanted to hurt you.”

Luka’s face steadied to Adrien’s. “Did you just steal my ‘I love you’ moment?”

There was a moment of clarity within Luka. It wasn’t the hurt that stood out, or the fact that Adrien still couldn’t promise that he’d work to make it right. It was the fact that Adrien was saying Luka loved him before Luka could say it to his face. He wanted to be able to say those words.

Adrien slapped his hand over his mouth. “Oh no! I’m sorry! With the song, I just thought - I’m an idiot. I’m sorry, I’m an absolute idiot.”

“Stop saying sorry.” Luka’s voice had reverted to the low tone that weakened Adrien.

Adrien’s breaths quaked as he met Luka’s gaze. Luka’s face was no longer contorted by anger or hurt as it neared Adrien. Electricity flowed through them as Luka delicately pressed his lips against Adrien’s.

“Mmm does this- does this mean?” Adrien was unfurling from his perch to prepare to pounce.

Luka brushed Adrien’s hair behind his ear. “You’re a fucked up Pussy Cat.” He twinkled at the fact that he knew Adrien wasn’t going to fight the nickname. “Something must be wrong with me, I have terrible taste in men.”

“I thought I was purrrfect. ” Adrien teased at the lyrics of Luka’s new song.

“You are chaotically perfect.” Luka deeply exhaled as he cupped Adrien’s face. “And I love you way too much.”

Adrien tilted his face so that his lips could meet Luka’s wrist. “I love you, Luka.” His heart soared at the words properly escaping, at last.

Satisfied that he had gotten his ‘I love you’ moment, Luka pushed his lips against Adrien’s with a robust force.

When they first spent time together, Luka was weakened by his addiction to Adrien. He thought, after time passed, that his yearning would abate. Instead, it skyrocketed, he kept finding new things to crave. He was addicted to his laugh, to his gentle teasing, to his touches, to his lips, and even to the storms that raged inside. Nothing was as tantalising as hearing those words.

“Yuck! That’s even grosser than your guys’ normal stuff!” Plagg feigned heaving.

“Plagg, it was a sweet moment.” Sass slipped a smile as he returned his gaze to the pair. Sighing, his cheerful disposition dropped. “And now it’s ruined.”

Adrien’s lips were clumsily pressing against Luka’s as he attempted to climb over the centre console - all while holding his middle finger out to Plagg.

“I love you.” Luka repeated the words in between kisses, exhilarated at how they tingled as they glided through his breath.

“Mmm,” Adrien smiled as he descended onto Luka’s lap. Luka’s eyes were once again a calm sparkling sea as Adrien swam within them. “I love you, Luka Couffaine.”

Author's Note:

The outfit that Adrien picked out - those shoes do exist, you can google them, they are over 20 grand. I love the banter and the fact that Plagg makes fun of him, but in all seriousness I absolutely LOVE that outfit.

This was both my favourite and least favourite chapter to write because it was such a big moment and I struggled with the ability to get it perfect in my eyes. To explain how Luka is able to finally let Adrien in. Their crazies speak to one another.

If I were not so exhausted, I would expand more on what we’re seeing with Luka’s mental health, but I will have more opportunities later to talk about it. It also helps to explain his own flip within his mind.

In the timeline that Alix came from, this was the night that things started to turn sour. I have started the skeleton draft for the two main alternate timelines (the original and the one modified by Alix speaking to Alya). So there will be additional content coming out for this story in the future.

I love that they finally actually got to say “I love you” literally cried while writing this chapter In the earlier edits, the “idiot” was brought by their previous conversations where Adrien said breaking Luka’s heart was a pretty dumb thing to do - and Luka is like - well you did that! So you must be an idiot! - It did not end up flowing no matter how I tried to put it in, but I thought everyone might appreciate that that’s what inspired the whole ‘moment of stupidity’.

Noir Boudoir - Adrien’s ‘rap’ name - I howled.

Disclaimer * The characters and original plot were written and created by Thomas Astruc. This writing is merely an interpretation in a sad gay type of way.

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ahb-writes · 2 years

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Comics Review: ‘Squire’

Squire by Sara Alfageeh My rating: 4 of 5 stars Disillusionment is a pacifying gaze into the unknown. For the time it takes to thumb away one's anxieties for the comforts of an invented truth, the reality underfoot has already shifted. In SQUIRE, Aiza, a teenager and a dreamer, enlists in the regional army to better her station. The girl is awkward and gangly, but filled with a bounty of spirit that will take her far. She's a good kid. But a burgeoning empire, dark with ambition, has no place for good kids. The land of Bayt-Sajji is an empire looking to the past as well as to the future. Its leaders crave the history and lore it has crafted for young people to admire, and its soldiers lift their heads high in pursuit of the typical, war-for-peace refrain that marks all great countries as such. Bayt-Sajji is not entirely homogenous, and has made room for the many peoples it has absorbed, displaced, conquered, or entreated. Aiza, of Ornu, is among them. Still, the Bayt-Sajji empire presses on. What can a teenager born (and stuck) in a settlement of ethnic Ornu hope to achieve? Where does her individuality lie when so much about her family, self, and culture are spoken for? Aiza is fed up with being poor, ignored, slandered, and wielded as an excuse for others' failings. She wants more. She wants adventure. She wants a life of her own. She joins the army. SQUIRE tracks Aiza's efforts to survive the skills training associated with her enlistment. She's not the only youngster with her eyes on becoming a squire, who might then become knight, named and revered throughout the land. She may not have the years of adolescent horseback training, or bookkeeping experience, or academic intuition of her peers. But Aiza's no quitter. The graphic novel privileges the eagerness of a scrawny girl as its primary point-of-view, but makes a hardy effort to accommodate the numerous, sometimes accidental perspectives and views that come with military enlistment. Wielded more heavily in the book's closing arc than in its earlier parts, these secondary perspectives provide Aiza's story with much needed depth. It's one thing for a teenager to come to terms with the greed of the military; it's something else entirely for this character to witness the different ways this greed can manifest, all of which have experience proving themselves valid. The book's social commentary is obvious, but not so blunt as to defer character growth. Each character has their own needs. Some recruits come from humble origins. Some recruits are the progeny of politicians. Some recruits prize their country so much, they mistake their arrogance for patriotism. Some recruits have enlisted out of what appears, at first glance, to have been pure boredom. Husni is the son of a trader. Sahar is a girl from the mountains. Basem is the son of a senator. And as these characters navigate their training, they are eased deeper and deeper into the knowledge and the history the empire prefers they accept rather than the more complicated truths that lie beneath the surface. What defines a hero? For whose glory and whose honor does the hero sacrifice? What defines a traitor? By whose laws and whose belligerence does the traitor earn their infamy? General Hende is knowledgeable, but her trade is violence. Doruk the groundskeeper has only one arm, but none of the recruits have the courage to ask him why. Readers may require a bit of patience to feel fully immersed in this graphic novel. The book begins with an easy, modest pace (Aiza acclimating to her enlistment), only to shift and lean into a more aggressive tale (Aiza fighting for her place; Aiza finding purpose in her enlistment). For better or worse, the second half of SQUIRE invariably reads a lot swifter than the first half. To the creative team's credit, the secondary cast's involvement pushes the pace quite successfully. Visually, the book fits snugly among the plethora of comics whose characters inhabit their awkward youths with every step. Aiza is scrawny, cocks her head when she yells, and expresses greater outrage when her friends are harmed than when she herself is wronged. This girl is all elbows and eyebrows, but she's also intensely likable. The adult characters are kept to a minimum, but most are treated well enough. Regrettably, all of the named adult characters have a speechifying purpose. The creative team's use of darker or low-value color combinations pulls readers into experiencing this quest among the recruits as necessarily among the dirt, the shadows, and the steam of an antique tea pot. Broadly, the choice of low values is great for placing such a story in the fictional geographic intersection of Southeastern Europe and Southwestern Asia, but more acutely, the preponderance of oranges, reds, and browns can give scenes a sense of the world being exquisitely dull. SQUIRE is fun but takes its time integrating readers into the story at hand. One largely figures this is the case because readers track Aiza's journey, step for step. The reader cannot presume too much if the main character does not presume enough to care. The reader cannot enjoy or despise the secondary characters too much, if the main character herself knows so little about them. Certainly, it's no coincidence that numerous panels cut off General Hende's eyes whenever she makes a forward suggestion. But trusting Aiza will find her way, with or without the help of her friends and instructors, is part of the book's hook.

Comics/Book Reviews || ahb writes on Good Reads

#review #squire #graphic novel #sara alfageeh #nadia shammas #quill tree books #aiza #husni #academic intuition #girl from the mountains #not entirely homogenous #doruk the groundskeeper #4 of 5 stars #goodreads

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citylighten · 2 years

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Hi! I hope you are having a fantastic day! I am just going to go ahead and apologize for the plethora of questions you are about to read, but, I can’t help it! Your story has me HOOKED! Like, I’m sure you’ve seen the notifs. Ok, enough rambling, here it goes…

First, how long does it take you to set up a scene

Second, how are you so good at writing?!

Third, what made you want to write about Eve?

Fourth, was there any research involved?

Fifth, is that your personal reshade/gshade?

Sixth, what do you use to edit your photos?

Final (not a question at all) This joint? This joint right here? Stellar. Please give yourself a pat on the back, standing ovation, round of applause all the things.

Oh, and Marcus is fine, but no. lol. Never! Between him and the "messy" momma, aht! Aht!

Tierra is the bestie I need, lol.

Sal is dope.

HEYYYY SO I was away from my computer for awhile. Then I opened up my iPad and saw I had so MANY notifications. It had me like

I’m really glad you enjoy the story! There’s a lot of juicy (and perhaps even DRAMATIC) content coming up as we progress onward!! But I’m gonna break down these questions. Sorry to my followers in advance for the length. 😔

First, how long does it take you to set up a scene? It really, really depends. There are some lots I have made from scratch that have taken roughly two days to complete. These lots include Sal’s apartment, the bowling alley Sal and Eve went to. Then there’s some lots that were shells and had to be decorated. These lots include Eve’s home which is made by @ceeproductions And other lots? They’re either downloaded ( @beansbuilds is my FAVORITE creator when it comes to builds with @alexisarielgaming being right behind her ) or they're 'borrowed' from friends like @trucktoast who made the Reverb nightclub for his own gameplay, but because I didn’t want to make my own nightclub, and all the ones I found were too high-scale looking he let me download the lot.

Now, with the lot and decorations out of the way, I only need to know how I’m going to be using this lot for the scene. And because I don’t make my own poses, I need to think of ways I’m going to make the scene easy and work with the poses I have downloaded and also still get what I want across. If I don’t have a couples pack, this requires mixing-and-matching different poses which can take a few minutes. But with that said, a one person scene doesn’t take long at all. Just a few minutes. A two person scene? Let’s say ten minutes or maybe a little more depending on if I’m vibing with the angles. Then there’s the above mix-and-matching poses I have to do when it comes to two sims. Then, scenes with four or more sims takes forever. A scene like the nightclub sequence literally took hours and more than one day (I had to give myself a break). I had it set up as a FUNCTIONAL nightclub, so I wouldn’t just be relying on deco sims. And there were times where the townies would sit where Sosha or Ke’Sherri was sitting and I was like, “PLEASE!” Could I have posed all these townies? Yes. But, I wasn't going to spend that much time getting things perfect. Then the Marcus & Eve argument sequence had to be done separately from the scene where Sal was waiting outside the cinema. So it didn’t take long, but I still had to make sure that I could get these scenes to ‘line up’ the way I wanted. But the best thing to do is to keep sims in the same household for scenes they’re in together. And also, sometimes to just see them generally do things on their own (like walk, box, or shower) is better than posing them.

Second, how are you so good at writing?! I DON’T KNOW. I’m honestly a super harsh critic of myself! I question the script and overthink my dialogue like nobody’s business. I also closely tie my writing with music, like I’m always listening to something or thinking of ways that a song can reflect my characters or story.

Third, what made you want to write about Eve? Well, Eve is my baby. 😭 But on the real, I wanted to write a romance. I don’t really let myself write romance. I’m really into crime & comedy with romance being more of a side thing. When I was younger I had a, ‘I’m not like other girls phase I don’t fall for CHEAP ROMANTIC PLOTS’ but as I’ve gotten older I’m like you know what? Romance is nice. Nothings wrong with it. I want to write something sweet and character driven. When it comes to Eve’s characterization I just love the boujee black girl aesthetic? I eat it up visually. But waaayy more importantly than that, I wanted to tell a story about female loneliness because I don’t feel like there’s enough media that portrays that. Sure, we have depictions of women’s rage or women embracing their sexuality, but where are stories of women who are in lonely solitude? Who struggle with not just boyfriends, but keeping adult friendships? I always felt like white male characters were allowed to be written in this matter, but women (E S P E C I A L L Y black women) aren’t. We also aren't really allowed to be shown as shy introverts, either. 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

Fourth, was there any research involved? For the boxing segment YES. I watched videos for beginners and took literal notes. Fifth, is that your personal reshade/gshade? So, I use reshade and the preset I use is called s-drama. But to be honest, I don’t even think I installed it right. Like, I have the textures and everything, but I really tampered with the other options to get a different effect than what’s shown in the preview images. Sixth, what do you use to edit your photos? Take my screenshots with reshade. THEN I take it to photopea (a good, FREE alternative to photoshop. Highly recommend it.) and enhance the color with a psd, although I have the psd’s strength cranked down to 34% sometimes higher depending on the scene. I blur things in the background and boom! It’s ready! (Then I put all the caps, both raw and edited on a hard drive cause yeah. I can’t have them taking up space.) ANYWAY THANK YOUUUU. 🥰🥰Everyday I see Marcus in my game (or if I’m dressing him up) I’m like you’re too cute to be doing this. I’m wasting a good looking sim on this bullshit. 😭😭

I hope you keep enjoying the story! There’s still a lot to cover. Will Eve enter a relationship with Sal?! Will Marcus redeem himself?! ( cause trust me, he’ll be reappearing eventually ❄️☃️ ) Will she EVER let go of her grandparent’s home!? Only time will tell!!

#fvgbgvf thank u again i hope you like my answers ;;

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army-of-mai-lovers · 3 years

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in which I get progressively angrier at the various tropes of atla fandom misogyny

tbh I think it would serve all of us to have a larger conversation about the specific ways misogyny manifests in this fandom, because I’ve seen a lot of people who characterize themselves as feminists, many of whom are women themselves, discuss the female characters of atla/lok in misogynistic ways, and people don’t talk about it enough.

disclaimer before I start: I’m not a woman, I’m an afab nonbinary person who is semi-closeted and thus often read as a woman. I’m speaking to things that I’ve seen that have made me uncomfy, but if any women (esp women existing along other axes of oppression, e.g. trans women, women of color, disabled women, etc) want to add onto this post, please do!

“This female character is a total badass but I’m not even a little bit interested in exploring her as a human being.”

I’ve seen a lot of people say of various female characters in atla/lok, “I love her! She’s such a badass!” now, this statement on its own isn’t misogynistic, but it represents a pretty pervasive form of misogyny that I’ve seen leveled in large part toward the canon female love interests of one or both of the members of a popular gay ship (*cough* zukka *cough*) I’m going to use Suki as an example of this because I see it with her most often, but it can honestly be applied to nearly every female character in atla/lok. Basically, people will say that they stan Suki, but when it comes time to engage with her as an actual character, they refuse to do it. I’ve seen meta after meta about Zuko’s redemption arc, but I so rarely see people engage with Suki on any level beyond “look at this cool fight scene!” and yeah, I love a cool Suki fight scene as much as anybody else, but I’m also interested in meta and headcanons and fics about who she is as a person, when she isn’t an accessory to Sokka’s development or doing something cool. of course, the material for this kind of engagement with Suki is scant considering she doesn’t have a canon backstory (yet) (don’t let me down Faith Erin Hicks counting on you girl) but with the way I’ve seen people in this fandom expand upon canon to flesh out male characters, I know y’all have it in you to do more with Suki, and with all the female characters, than you currently do. frankly, the most engagement I’ve seen with Suki in mainstream fandom is justifying either zukki (which again, is characterizing her in relation to male characters, one of whom she barely interacts with in canon) or one of the Suki wlw pairings. which brings me to--

“I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”

now, I will admit, two of my favorite atla ships are yueki and mailee, and so I totally understand being interested in these characters’ dynamics, even if, as is the case with yueki, they’ve never interacted canonically. however, it becomes a problem for me when these ships are always in the background of a zukka fic. at some point, it becomes obvious that you like this ship because it gets either Zuko or Sokka’s female love interests out of the way, not because you actually think the characters would mesh well together. It’s bad form to dislike a female character because she gets in the way of your gay ship, so instead, you find another girl to pair her off with and call it a day. to be clear, I’m not saying that everybody who ships either mailee or yueki (or tysuki or maisuki or yumai or whatever other wlw rarepair involving Zuko or Sokka’s canon love interests) is nefariously trying to sideline a female character while acting publicly as if she’s is one of their faves--far from it--but it is noteworthy to me how difficult it is to find content that centers wlw ships, while it’s incredibly easy to find content that centers zukka in which mailee and/or yueki plays a background role.

also, notice how little traction wlw Katara ships gain in this fandom. when’s the last time you saw yuetara on your dash? there’s no reason for wlw Katara ships to gain traction in a fandom that is so focused on Zuko and Sokka getting together, bc she doesn’t present an immediate obstacle to that goal (at least, not an obstacle that can be overcome by pairing her up with a woman). if you are primarily interested in Zuko and Sokka’s relationship, and your queer readings of other female characters are motivated by a desire to get them out of the way for zukka, then Katara’s canon m/f relationship isn’t a threat to you, and thus, there’s no reason to read her as potentially queer. Or even, really, to think about her at all.

“Katara’s here but she’s not actually going to do anything, because deep down, I’m not interested in her as a person.”

the show has an enormous amount of textual evidence to support the claim that Sokka and Katara are integral parts of each other’s lives. so, she typically makes some kind of appearance in zukka content. sometimes, her presence in the story is as an actual character with layers and nuance, someone whom Sokka cares about and who cares about Sokka in return, but also has her own life and goals outside of her brother (or other male characters, for that matter.) sometimes, however, she’s just there because halfway through writing the author remembered that Sokka actually has a sister who’s a huge part of the show they’re writing fanfiction for, and then they proceed to show her having a meetcute with Aang or helping Sokka through an emotional problem, without expressing wants or desires outside of those characters. I’m honestly really surprised that I haven’t seen more people calling out the fact that so much of Katara’s personality in fanon revolves around her connections to men? she’s Aang’s girlfriend, she’s Sokka’s sister, she’s Zuko’s bestie. never mind that in canon she spends an enormous amount of time fighting against (anachronistic, Westernized) sexism to establish herself as a person in her own right, outside of these connections. and that in canon she has such interesting complex relationships with other female characters (e.g. Toph, Kanna, Hama, Korra if you want to write lok content) or that there are a plethora of characters with whom she could have interesting relationships with in fanon (Mai, Suki, Ty Lee, Yue, Smellerbee, and if you want to write lok content, Kya II, Lin, Asami, Senna, etc). to me, the lack of fandom material exploring Katara’s relationships with other women or with herself speak to a profound indifference to Katara as a character. I’m not saying you have to like Katara or include her in everything you write, but I am asking you to consider why you don’t find her interesting outside of her relationships with men.

“I hate Katara because she talks about her mother dying too often.”

this is something I’ve seen addressed by people far more qualified than I to address it, but I want to mention it here in part because when I asked people which fandom tropes they wanted me to talk about, this came up often, but also because I find it really disgusting that this is a thing that needs to be addressed at all. Y’all see a little girl who watched her mother be killed by the forces of an imperialist nation and say that she talks about it too much??? That is a formational, foundational event in a child’s life. Of course she’s going to talk about it. I’ve seen people say that she doesn’t talk about it that often, or that she only talks about it to connect with other victims of fn imperialism e.g. Jet and Haru, but frankly, she could speak about it every episode for no plot-significant reason whatsoever and I would still be angry to see people say she talks about it too much. And before you even bring up the Sokka comparison, people deal with grief in different ways. Sokka repressed a lot of his grief/channeled it into being the “man” of his village because he knew that they would come for Katara next if he gave them the opportunity. he probably would talk about his mother more if a) he didn’t feel massive guilt at not being able to remember what she looked like, and b) he was allowed to be a child processing the loss of his mother instead of having to become a tiny adult when Hakoda had to leave to help fight the fn. And this gets into an intersection with fandom racism, in that white fans (esp white American fans) are incapable of relating to the structural trauma that both Sokka and Katara experience and thus can’t see the ways in which structural trauma colors every single aspect of both of their characters, leading them to flatten nuance and to have some really bad takes. And you know what, speaking of bad fandom takes--

“Shitting on Mai because she gets in the way of my favorite Zuko ship is actually totally okay because she’s ~abusive~”

y’all WHAT.

ok listen, I get not liking maiko. I didn’t like it when I first got into fandom, and later I realized that while bryke cannot write romance to save their lives, fans who like maiko sure can, so I changed my tune. but if you still don’t like it, that’s fine. no skin off my back.

what IS skin off my back is taking instances in which Mai had justified anger toward Zuko, and turning it into “Mai abused Zuko.” do you not realize how ridiculous you sound? this is another thing where I get so angry about it that I don’t know how useful my analysis is actually going to be, but I’ll do my best. numerous people have noted how analysis of Mai and Zuko’s breakup in “The Beach” or Mai being justifiably angry with him at Boiling Rock or her asking for FUCKING FRUIT in “Nightmares and Daydreams” that says that all of these events were her trying to gain control over him is....ahhh...lacking in reading comprehension, but I’d like to go a step further and talk about why y’all are so intent on taking down a girl who doesn’t show emotion in normative ways. obviously, there’s a “Zuko can do no wrong” aspect to Mai criticism (which is super weird considering how his whole arc is about how he can do lots of wrong and he has to atone for the wrong that he’s done--but that’s a separate post.) But I also see slandering Mai for not expressing her emotions normatively and not putting up with Zuko’s shit and slandering Katara for “talking about her mother too often” as two sides of the same coin. In both cases, a female character expresses emotions that make you, the viewer, uncomfortable, and so instead of attempting to understand where those emotions may have come from and why they might be manifesting the way they are, y’all just throw the whole character away. this is another instance of people in the fandom being fundamentally disinterested in engaging with the female characters of atla in a real way, except instead of shallowly “stanning” Mai, y’all hate her. so we get to this point where female characters are flattened into one of two things: perfect queens who can do no wrong, or bitches. and that’s not who they are. that’s not who anyone is. but while we as a fandom are pretty good at understanding b1 Zuko’s actions as layered and multifaceted even though he’s essentially an asshole then, few are willing to lend the same grace to any female character, least of all Mai.

and what’s funny is sometimes this trope will intersect with “I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”, so you’ll have someone actively calling Mai toxic/problematic/abusive, and at the same time ship her with Ty Lee? make it make sense! but then again, maybe that’s happening because y’all are fundamentally disinterested in Ty Lee as a character too.

“I love Ty Lee so much that I’m going to treat her like an infantilized hypersexual airhead!”

there are so many things happening in y’alls characterization of Ty Lee that I struggled to synthesize it into one quippy section header. on one hand, you have the hypersexualization, and on the other hand, you have the infantilization, which just makes the hypersexualization that much worse.

(of course, sexualizing or hypersexualizing ANY atla character is really not the move, considering that these are child characters in a children’s show, but then again, that’s a separate post.)

now, I understand how, from a very, very surface reading of the text, you could come to the conclusion that Ty Lee is an uncomplicated bimbo. if you grew up on Western media the way I did, you’ll know that Ty Lee has a lot of the character traits we associate with bimbos: the form-fitting pink crop top, the general conventional attractiveness, the ditzy dialogue. but if you think about it for more than three seconds, you’ll understand that Ty Lee has spent her whole life walking a tightrope, trying to please Azula and the rest of the royal family while also staying true to herself. Ty Lee and Azula’s relationship is a really complex and interesting topic that I don’t really have time to explore at the moment given how long this post is, but I’d argue that Ty Lee’s constant, vocal adulation is at least partially a product of learning to survive at court at an early age. Like Mai, she has been forced to regulate her emotions as a member of fn nobility, but unlike Mai, she also has six sisters who look exactly like her, so she has a motivation to be more peppy and more affectionate to stand out.

fandom does not do the work to understand Ty Lee. as is a theme with this post, fandom is actively disinterested in investigating female characters beyond a very surface level reading of them. Thus, fandom takes Ty Lee’s surface level qualities--her love of the color pink, her revealing standard outfit, and the fact that once she found a boy attractive and also once a lot of boys found her attractive--and they stretch this into “Ty Lee is basically Karen Smith from Mean Girls.” thus, Ty Lee is painted as a bimbo, or more specifically, as not smart, uncritically adoring of Azula (did y’all forget all the non-zukka bits of Boiling Rock?), and attractive to the point of hypersexualization. I saw somebody make a post that was like “I wish mailee was more popular but I’m also glad it isn’t because otherwise people would write it as Mai having to put up with her dumb gf” and honestly I have to agree!! this is one instance in which I’m glad that fandom doesn’t discuss one of my favorite characters that often because I hate the fanon interpretation of Ty Lee, I think it’s rooted in misogyny (particularly misogyny against East Asian women, which often takes the form of fetishizing them and viewing them only through a Western white male gaze)

(side note: here at army-of-mai-lovers, we stan bimbos. bimbos are fucking awesome. I personally don’t read Ty Lee as a bimbo, but if that’s you, that’s fucking awesome. keep doing what you’re doing, queen <3 or king or monarch, it’s 2021, anyone can be a bimbo, bitches <3)

“Toph can and will destroy everyone here with her bare hands because she’s a meathead who likes to murder people and that’s it!”

Toph is, and always has been, one of my favorite ATLA characters. My very first fic in fandom was about her, and she appears prominently in a lot of my other work as well. One thing that I am always struck by with Toph is how big a heart she has. She’s independent, yes, snarky, yes, but she cares about people--even the family that forced her to make herself smaller because they didn’t believe that their blind daughter could be powerful and strong. Her storyline is powerful and emotionally resonant, her bending is cool precisely because it’s based in a “wait and listen” approach instead of just smashing things indiscriminately, she’s great disabled rep, and overall one of the best characters in the show.

And in fandom, she gets flattened into “snarky murder child.”

So where does this come from? Well, as we all know, Toph was originally conceived of as a male character, and retained a lot of androgyny (or as the kids call it, Gender) when she was rewritten as a female character. There are a lot of cultural ideas about androgynous/butch women being violent, and people in fandom seem to connect that larger cultural narrative with some of Toph’s more violent moments in the show to create the meathead murder child trope, erasing her canon emotionality, softness, heart, and femininity in the process.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t write or characterize Toph as being violent or snarky at all ever, because yeah, Toph definitely did do Earth Rumbles a lot before joining the gaang, and yeah, Toph is definitely a sarcastic person who makes fun of her friends a lot. What I am saying is that people take these traits, sans the emotional logic, marry them to their conception of androgynous/butch women as violent/unemotional/uncaring, and thus create a caricature of Toph that is not at all up to snuff. When I see Toph as a side character in a fic (because yeah, Toph never gets to be a main character, because why would a fandom obsessed with one male character in particular ever make Toph a protagonist in her own right?) she’s making fun of people, killing people, pranking people, etc, etc. She’s never talking to people about her emotions, or palling around with her found family, or showing that she cares about her friends. Everything about her relationship with her parents, her disability, her relationship to Gender, and her love of her friends is shoved aside to focus on a version of Toph that is mean and uncaring because people have gotten it into their heads that androgynous/butch women are mean and uncaring.

again, we see a female character who does not emote normatively or in a way that makes you, the viewer, comfortable, and so you warp her character until she’s completely unrecognizable and flat. and for what?

Azula

no, I didn’t come up with a snappy name for this section, mainly because fanon interpretations of Azula and my own feelings toward the character are...complicated. I know there were some people who wanted me to write about Azula and the intersection of misogyny and ableism in fanon interpretations of her character, but I don’t think I can deliver on that because I personally am in a period of transition with how I see Azula. that is to say, while I still like her and believe that she can be redeemed, there is a lot of merit to disliking her. the whole point of this post is that the female characters of ATLA are complex people whom the fandom flattens into stereotypes that don’t hold up to scrutiny, or dislike for reasons that don’t make sense. Azula, however, is a different case. the rise of Azula defenders and Azula stans has led to this sentiment that Azula is a 14 y/o abuse victim who shouldn’t be held accountable for her actions. it seems to me that people are reacting to a long, horrible legacy of male ATLA fans armchair diagnosing Azula with various personality disorders (and suggesting that people with those personality disorders are inherently monstrous and unlovable which ahhhh....yikes) and then saying that those personality disorders make her unlovable, which is quite obviously bad. and hey, I get loving a character that everyone else hates and maybe getting so swept up in that love that you forget that your fave is complicated and has made some unsavory choices. it sucks that fanon takes these well-written, complex villains/antiheroes and turns them into monsters with no critical thought whatsoever. but the attitude among Azula stans that her redemption shouldn’t be hard, that her being a child excuses all of the bad things that she’s done, that she is owed redemption....all of that rubs me the wrong way. I might make another post about this in the future that discusses this in more depth, but as it stands now: while I understand that there is a legacy of misogynistic, ableist, unnuanced takes on Azula, the backlash to that does not take into account the people she hurt or the fact that in ATLA she does not make the choice to pursue redemption. and yes, Zuko had help in making that choice that Azula didn’t, and yes, Azula is a victim of abuse, but in a show about children who have gone through untold horrors and still work to better the lives of the people around them, that is not enough for me to uncritically stan her.

Conclusion

misogyny in this fandom runs rampant. while there are some tropes of fandom misogyny that are well-documented and have been debunked numerous times, there are other, subtler forms of misogyny that as far as I know have gone completely unchecked.

what I find so interesting about misogyny in atla fandom is that it’s clear that it’s perpetrated by people who are aware of fandom misogyny who are actively trying not to be misogynistic. when I first joined atla fandom last summer, memes about how zukka fandom was better than every other fandom because they didn’t hate the female characters who got in the way of their gay ship were extremely prevalent, and there was this sense that *this* fandom was going to model respectful, fun, feminist online fandom. not all of the topes I’ve outlined are exclusive to or even largely utilized in zukka fandom, but a lot of them are. I’ve been in and out of fandom since I was eleven years old, and most of the fandom spaces I’ve been in have been majority-female, and all of them have been incredibly misogynistic. and I always want to know why. why, in these communities created in large part by women, in large part for women, does misogyny run wild? what I realize now is that there’s never going to be a one-size fits all answer to that question. what’s true for 1D fandom on Wattpad in 2012 is absolutely not true for atla fandom on tumblr in 2021. the answers that I’ve cobbled together for previous fandoms don’t work here.

so, why is atla fandom like this? why did the dream of a feminist fandom almost entirely focused on the romantic relationship between two male characters fall apart? honestly, I think the notion that zukka fandom ever was this way was horrifically ignorant to begin with. from my very first moment in the fandom, I was seeing racism, widespread sexualization of minors, and yes, misogyny. these aspects of the fandom weren’t talked about as much as the crocverse or other, much more fun aspects. further, atla (specifically zukka) fandom misogyny often doesn’t look like the fandom misogyny we’ve become familiar with from like, Sherlock fandom or what have you. for the most part, people don’t actively hate Suki, they just “stan” without actually caring about her. they hate Mai because they believe in treating male victims of abuse equally. they’re not characterizing Toph poorly, they’re writing her as a “strong woman.” in short, people are misogynistic, and then invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of feminist theory to shield themselves from accusations of misogyny. it’s not unlike the way some people will invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of critical race theory to shield themselves from accusations of racism, or how they’ll talk about “freedom of speech” and “the suppression of women’s sexuality” to justify sexualizing minors. the performance of feminism and antiracism is what’s important, not the actual practice.

if you’ve made it this far, first off, hi, thanks so much for reading, I know this was a lot. second, I would seriously encourage you to be aware of these fandom tropes and to call them out when you see them. elevate the voices of fans who do the work of bringing the female characters of atla to life. invest in the wlw ships in this fandom. drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic (please, drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic). read some yuetara. let’s all be honest about where we are now, and try to do better in the future. I believe in us.

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bookwyrminspiration · 2 years

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Okay okay okay okay I need help with this please

Okay so while I agree Ro can be a jerk sometimes, I think there’s an underlying thing that causes her to treat people like that. Maybe it’s the way her dad treated her or how she was put into an arranged marriage. Maybe she sees that Keefe really loves Sophie and he isn’t being forced into something and Ro (though I don’t agree with her pushing) just wants keefe to be happy.

Another thing: While I love Ro so much and she’s the character I can relate to the most, she’s can be a jerk. I feel like her teasing is on the border of abuse.

I just thought it would be cool to get your opinion on this, I hope your doing well!

-Mossy

Thanks, Mossy! I am doing alright and hope you're doing well as well! As for Ro, I agree that there's more to her character than just being a jerk, and I've theorized about what it could be before, so excited to look at her again!

One of the things i think could be contributing to her being so unpleasant and pushy and making people uncomfortable is her situation. She's the only ogre (until Bo comes along) in the lost cities, and they don't like her. She's living in an actively hostile environment and expected to be diplomatic enough to make things work out for a possible future alliance on a larger scale. People are afraid of her and hate her and look down on her and want her gone 24/7, whenever they go anywhere. She doesn't want to be there (she said in unlocked she'd love to get out of sparkle town and take Keefe back to Ravagog), but it's her assignment.

So I don't think she has the freedom or comfort to be open or thoughtful or caring. She may be physically at an advantage over elves, but she's only allowed to attack a select number of elves. And she does not have a social advantage over them; elves can talk shit and gossip and spread rumors and anything she does is going to take a lot more work on her part. She's at a disadvantage where she is so she's defensive. She'd unpleasant. She makes threats and is pushy, because making elves uncomfortable in conversation is a show of social strength. It's a way for her to say "you may have the advantage but I can do damage, too." it's protection for her.

But! Then she becomes more incorporated and accustomed to the elves she hangs out with. She's still rude and a jerk to elves she doesn't know, but she's been with the kotlcrew long enough that they know not to mess with her and she knows that some of them value her and don't look down on her. So she's more of a deadly calm instead of an explosive one.

However, that begs the question of why she's still so involved and pushy with Keefe and Sophie's relationship if she's not intentionally making them uncomfortable as a show of power, like she did in the Healing Center in Nightfall. There's a plethora of possible reasons, including but not limited to: she's upset over her own arranged marriage, she's trying to protect Keefe emotionally, ogre customs being blunt and she doesn't like how circuitous their relationship is, she finds romance drama entertaining and wants to meddle, to she straight up doesn't realize she's being a jerk.

We know she doesn't like her husband and is always arguing with him but can't get a divorce for political reasons. We know she's very loud and to the point, constantly talking about things as they are, so perhaps seeing how unspoken Keefe's affection for Sophie is is weird and wrong to her and she's trying to get him to change it.

I think there's also just a large part of her that finds it fun. Everyone has things they like and dislike, and I think Sophie and Keefe's relationship is interesting and entertaining for her. Here are two kids, one of which has been crushing hard on the other for years while trying not to tell her, the other convincing herself no one likes her like that and crushing on the first one's best friend. it's straight out of a story...because it is. It's fun for her! And she doesn't care if she's pushy because she already knows the elves don't really like her. So maybe she doesn't realize she's pushing it to far because she's so used to elves countering her for bad reasons that she doesn't realize Sophie and Keefe's discomfort isn't like that and she really is pushing boundaries she shouldn't. Elves have set the precedent of always rejecting her no matter what, so she's come to the conclusion that they aren't good judges. So if Sophie and Keefe try and tell her to stop? They're just being like normal elves and Ro's got no reason to believe it's any different than the other times ogres are shut down.

Those are possible in-canon reasons at least.

There's also the external factors, like Shannon using Ro as an instigator for a lot of moments, finally bringing the love triangle more into discussion instead of hinted at in the background. She's bold and talks about the things none of the love triangle characters will, so a part of her was likely modeled with the express intention of getting her involved so things would happen. Given how the love triangle was progressing, it may have stayed quiet for several more years without her constantly bringing it up and the series doesn't have that kind of time. It was with her prodding that it became more central, though it did go a bit overboard.

any mention of the love triangle was fleeting in the first five books, but they've become more and more frequent since Ro was introduced. She fills the role no one else did in the story and enables her to actually tell the story of Sophie, Fitz, and Keefe. So Ro is like a tool for Shannon to use to get to places the other characters weren't willing to go.

Ro can definitely be overly pushy to the point of creepy at times. Getting in involved in and making comments about Sophie, Keefe, and Fitz's love lives is not great and I'd prefer it if she didn't, but otherwise I love her quite a bit as her own character. It's her involvement in the love triangle that's weird, not her. If she was more independent and had more purpose outside of spurring the love triangle drama she'd be a lot less frustrating and uncomfortable to read about.

#this is just what I think the reasons are for how she acts #you are more than welcome to explore the ideas about how her father treats her and how she wants keefe to be happy #I just personally don't think that was the intended reason behind her actions #but hey ro is opening up more so maybe as she does that I'll find out I'm way off on this #but for now I think it's mainly a combination of shannon needing a certain kind of character to fill a role and ro being out of place #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #quil's queries #mossy nonsie #kotlc ro #kotlc character analysis #long post

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