#IM REALLY FUCKING PROUD OF THIS WHOLE PLOT LINE

[ennaku-sirri-da]

My Best Friend is dead. Her name ...was MARTHA. She resides in the bathroom now, but I'm still trying to make her smile. [ Part 1 ]

HhhhhHhhh

The NoSleep story title aside, here's the...story! I can't really think of a proper way to introduce this but it will probably be broken into parts.

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Let's start from a bit of the beginning, shall we? The beginning...of her ending.

( Man it's a bit weird narrating all this when it was all just built up in chats. But it's a little exhilarating too. Like I'm actually telling you a story. How strange. )

Martha. Best of her peers, best of her age, shining star of her school-- All Saints High. Music? Voice of an angel and incredible range to boot. Learns from regular piano lessons without fail. Studies, sports? If you want to get on her level you'll have to grind HARD, and then have to answer her attempts to take the crowning seat back, as well. She can hurl a volleyball just as well as she can jot down Science notes. (Their theology classes fill her with just enough doubts to seek out more on her own ). She's no nobody. Everyone knows her name. She knows them, too. Well enough not to take anything lying down( LEAST of all taunts about her pronouncedly fluttery accent and her own accompanying G-rated cursing ). She won't just survive-- she will surpass. And she's built up the assets needed with everything shes got. Money, skill, sweet words, blackmail, friendships, favours, petty revenge, precious time, sweat, perfection. ALL of it.

Home is a hole.

It is void. A fine place to read thrashy romance novels, if only to forget about the endlessly yawning cavern depths. Others exist, somewhere there. She exists alongside them but they do not acknowledge her. It is alright as long as she never causes a scene, breaks the silence. It is even more alright when she keeps aiming past what is to her the sky, sun and space and beyond and catches their attention. Sometimes, achieving this even means a warm smile or two of them, from the two of them, thrown her way.

She catches it, picks it up, learns to plaster it across on her face. Red lips frame white teeth that twinkle like stars.

Pity they fell out then.

No one could believe it. No one wanted to believe it. In fact, common, widespread verity was so grim in prospect, so sticky a situation that it would attract investigators like flies to the rotting corpse, so un-profitable in comparison to the sum offered to keep lips sealed and stories spun-- that in the end, all that blew up the town to fearfully great heights was that there was a killer on the lose.

The newspapers turn obsolete.

Law efforts turn obsolete.

Gossip becomes old news.

Students turn obsolete as they graduate into college-age adults.

The holy water sprinkled on her casket goes stale.

Her friends do not visit anymore, because life has taken them away.

The school still stands, without Martha. She is there, of course. What could it ever be without her? She keeps asking herself,

staring into the dirty thing bobbing in dark water

cannot leave this bathroom stall

should not

for her murderer is outside, walking free, living, teaching freely

They say if you stay in the stalls all by yourself or look at the stretching mirrors too long, she will appear to drag you into the stories herself. They say if you are unluckier still, it will show itself, rising, rising, rising from and out of the times past, to the top of the water...

[ ID: PNG of an item from Smile For Me the game, a pair of plasticky looking red jaws with yellow teeth, called the 'Toilet Teeth'. End ID]

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Habit is pretty new around here, but if he can't find a single friend then God help him he is going to make the ghost in the bathroom who may-or-may not-exist-but-hopefully-its-a-may-- his friend. Now if only he had any idea where to start?!?!

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[staraxiaa]

sunflowers, the afterword:

author's corner/first thoughts.

okay. so. i am insane. i am a god. i just wrote 18k words for a fic that i thought of, planned, and created fully in less than two days, bc someone said i like to make ppl suffer and yes i do. but then i was like, i am GOING to write fluff and i took it personally. to that one reader, thank you!! anyways. i wrote this with the intent of using the prompt "you wanna kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid" and barely even ended up using it. i don't know whether to laugh or cry. i hope it doesn't flop but also it's okay if it does bc i literally spent almost 48 hours brainrotting and word vomiting like it's out of my brain now and this feels glorious. it was random unfiltered thoughts and grinding away at 3am until i am empty. no thoughts left in my head. can you see? i could eat the world raw, the itch has been scratched. the sheer amount of motivation i had w this fic is never happening again. cheers! will update as i think of things! sorry to anyone who ends up reading this fully. i have been unreasonably fixated and have brainrotted over this for two hours, inclusive of sleeptime. while sleeping. i kid you not. i would wake up and something would click and i would hop over to the laptop and fucking grind away i am so sick of myself

unwritten scenes, headcanons

you guys are 20. you haven't started dating yet. you're a doctor. you guys are yelling at each other. you say 'you want to kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid.' katsuki's so angry that he does. ⇁ this was the original ending btw but i thought this one kinda fit better he brings you sunflowers sometime. real ones. he's sneezing all the while. you take one look at him and you die of laughter. he's still sneezing. you tell him: you know i actually didn't even care about them until i found out you were allergic. ⇁ if i could write nsfw i would do it here like dude do u see the vision omfg a whole side plot where he's like what the fuck do you mean you weren't dating deku. you're like. what the fuck. are u stupid. someplace where you actually address how you treat midoriya, his lack of a quirk, and how you stood by and watched it all happen ua sports festival. you kick everyone's ass. #you have been trained by eraserhead and you are super duper cool i also don't remember if i included this, but: your mother asks you after the first evening. "you're not really friends are you." you say: "nope!" and it is the happiest she has ever seen you. the ua boys try to flirt with you and get hurt really stupidly a lot on purpose. you wonder why they've stopped showing up. it's bc katsuki gives them a whole earful. and you're like bitch what the fuck im a doctor and and hes just tsundere about it first kiss scene instead of the ending where he's like you care and you're like of course i do??? what the fuck?? are u stupid?? you guys start yelling at each other and you're both acting like ur 2. he calls you stupid and blind. you call him ugly. he's so mad he literally just lurches forward and kisses you. it's awkward and messy and you guys are so mad at each other. you literally headbutt him in the face. ah young love. ⇁ this was another alternative ending more exploration behind reader's character, her insecurities, and about some of the stuff i info dumped before the start of the katsuki povs? i feel like i didn't handle that as well as i could have, but i also didn't want to go on 10 billion tangents for things that had very little relevance to the story. i also think the transition to the last scene was a little abrupt, but tbh at that point i was just so ready to call it like. i just didn't see the point. i think it would have made for a more natural reading experience, so here's the tea: he's proud of u but u guys are angsty and ignore each other until after training camp. [more brainrot pining moments]. if i had to write the above scene, i think i'd do something along the lines of: you're first aid relief at the sports festival, not actively participating. dunno if you'd be nearly as badass, though. you definitely get pissed when they muzzle katsuki and probably get rly mad but ofc u cant show it. so u just unmuzzle him and walk away and hes staring after u. this is ur ??? elsa arc? i dont remember the disney princess. the training camp is torture. aizawa makes u run with them. you tell him straight up that u hate his guts. he grins like that is the best thing anyone has told him in his life. katsuki definitely blows up some earth monsters for u. but while ur not looking. he's angsty like that. the bath scene? oh lord u just know he blows mineta up. maybe he lowk fucks it up too and you have to heal it! the potential HAHAHA. i dont know how you end up getting kidnapped, but id probably just bullshit a reason like ur the #1 healer in the world hurr durr and afo wants u! idgaf if the plot makes sense or not this is entirely secondary to my scheming. katsuki just about loses it when he hears you're one of the targets -> how you get kidnapped? idk. you're not a remedial student, so you're probably participating in the game (odd number of ppl right). unsure of how i'd handle the news of your kidnapping: just know katsuki loses it again. for like the 5th time. yipppeeeeee

character notes, thoughts

your quirk is literally just you take people's injuries into your own body and heal it yourself. you're superhuman. i put 2 thoughts into this: 1) you're a healer and 2) i like cool characters. congratulations. you have now been born. i don't even remember if i kept the shouto scene. but anyways i think my bias was showing. just had to throw him in there. also the kuroo mention. sorry i'm totally normal and i mean it ⇁ btw i love you all (everyone who likes/interacts with my fics) but i joke to my friends everytime someone interacts w my first bakugo/midoriya ones from lacuna bc guys!!! my shoto fic is RIGHT THERE!!! the baby that launched the entire collection. please show him some love this reader is probably one of the favorite ones i have written, more of an oc at this point i think, and i wasn't expecting her to grow on me so much. but lowk i love her and am so proud of the way i wrote her growth!! i do feel like i wrote her very soft, but i hope her flaws were made very clear⏤ she is meant to be a sort of unreliable narrator, so she also is overly critical of her own, but there were several things that were not addressed as i was writing, particularly concerning midoriya. (quirk, the bullying, bystander's guilt.) however, i think that including them would have made me go off on a tangent, and detract more from the main point of the story i also do think i wrote katsuki a little ooc, if only because i didn't see the point of including what's already there in canon. sorry. my brainrot did not extend that far, and by the end of this, i was literally ready to drop. his perspective isn't meant to be all-encompassing (in the story, it may seem like it purely bc of how i paced it) but those are meant to be like. random thoughts that appear in several scenes. reader does not have bakugo living rent free in her head 24/7, and neither does he. they're just stupid and pining and i just wrote all the moments in my head where they do.

[slydroxide]

um… rant i posted on discord but now im posting here becwuse im very proud of it

so basically in homestuck both dave and karkat are knights which means they have similar ideals and morals especially when eorking with a team which knights are a helper class they make sure everyone else is okay before they help and thats corresponded by dave dying for jade and also putting his friends before himself just like karkat who keeps all his friends together and makes sure nobody is out of line which is also a blood thing but he wants the best for his friends like dave does

and they were both raised with fear mongering because dave was raised by bro to be the “perfect man” and “cool guy” with fear of getting hurt and mind games and constant fighting and manipulation and karkat was manipulated by the whole alternian society because he was a mutant which means hes an outcast and is pretty much damned to death no matter what kinda person he is because alternia is fucked up

so they both have that to relate to eachother by and also on the meteor they both get to know eachother more and learn that they arent that different especially with their ideals sure they seem different at first but really theyre both very alike and karkat has this way of seeing thru daves stoic mask bullshit and always knows the truth hes very brutally honest which is what dave needs because he had been raised on lies and so had karkat but karkat had taught himself that it was all bullshit and he is who he is and dave nrrds to learn how to accept hinself too

and yes i know plot wise davekat was added in just to appease the fans because other karkat/dave ships have more plot relevance and shit but I DO NOT CARE I LOVE THEM SO MUCH nobody can take them away from me…

idk if you can tell but i like davekat… also this is like my perspective on things and its all my opinion its chill af if you don’t agree but i love talking about my favorite things so much

okay thanks for listening bye

[fernsnailz]

i saw you mention that some of the idw plotlines for shadow were Not Very Good - im curious if you would expand on that? just what you think wasnt done well, how it could have been handled better, that sort of thing. i know some people have issues with his handling in the metal virus arc for example, but i dunno i felt it was in character? misunderstanding advice and being too proud to follow it, falling under his own hubris. he definitely could have been more fucked up about it when the arc ended, given his history with losing control but

i dunno!! i wanna know your more general thoughts

yeah sure! sorry this turned into another essay post because i have a lot to say lol

i don't think idw shadow's characterization is terrible, but i don't think it's very good either. i think idw does a decent job at showing that shadow looks at the larger picture of how the story events will affect the world he’s meant to protect, and his actions are usually in an effort to stop problems as quickly as possible. shadow doesn’t like to waste time, especially when people’s lives are on the line. i misspoke a bit when i said his plotlines where bad, because i think the general story beats he hits are okay.

the big issue i have is with how his dialogue affects his character. while i think most of shadow’s actions are in line with his motivations, there are multiple instances of his dialogue directly undermining or changing his characterization and motives.

the most notable (and talked about by fans from what i’ve seen) is in the metal virus arc: the whole “cowards run. i win” line.

more under the cut because i have Many Thoughts hhoough boy

ever time i see this line i cringe a little bit, but i’ve never really been able to figure out why. it's difficult for me to argue that it's out of character - shadow’s ego is something i would define as his greatest flaw, being present from the very beginning of his character. it has previously distracted him from his larger goals - for example, fighting sonic on prison island after being called fake, thus distracting him from rescuing rouge. however, shadow's ego doesn’t exist to prove he’s the strongest or better than his foes - it’s about proving he has a REASON to exist. he was created for a very specific purpose, to be the ultimate lifeform and protector of humanity. shadow has nothing left after his previous life was lost. so if he’s a failure, then what was the point of all that loss? what's the point of his final promises?

when reading the "cowards run" line, it re-frames shadow's ego to be about winning above all else. it's strange to read if you know shadow, ESPECIALLY when he later mentions he’s the best chance to fight off the zombots due to his immunity to disease.

because he’s RIGHT!! this is what he was literally created for - his immunity was a fundamental part of why he was created as a protector of humanity. this is his purpose!! and he's right to oppose sonic in this issue as well - technically, sonic indirectly allowed the metal virus to happen. shadow isn't wrong to be furious at him.

but then both of these beats are immediately thrown out the window with the "cowards run" line, because it turns this moment into another instance of shadow trying to prove that he’s good at fighting and better than everyone else. shadow is serving his purpose as the ultimate lifeform and he's standing his ground against sonic's morals, but that ONE LINE re-contextualizes these actions as a plot to prove that he's strong. it’s SO CLOSE to being good, but it fumbles completely with just four words!! shadow being the ultimate lifeform in idw reads (to me) as him needing to be the strongest physically, which is never what it was about.

personally i would have really liked to see a version of the metal virus arc where shadow actually WAS immune to it. there would finally be a purpose to the very specific disease lore regarding the ultimate lifeform, and it would force him to work alongside sonic and anyone else who was left standing. but to be fair they probably wrote him out to heighten the stakes and save us from more bad shadow dialogue

his lasting thoughts on the metal virus arc after this are... okay i guess. they feel vague as hell to me, but i think it makes sense for him to reflect on his mistakes in this sort of way since he always tries to learn from previous failures.

and we see how shadow's reflection on his failure here affects what he does in the next arc. during the chao race, he searches for dr. starline so he can attempt to stop any problems before they begin. yet despite being in reach of starline, he leaves the fight and joins sonic in trying to stop an avalanche. so even though shadow's character falters in some moments, the story seems to be actively working to improve him.

however, the biggest sin i think idw pulls with shadow is regarding his relationship with team dark. obviously i am VERY biased here because i love team dark and i want them to be friends, but some of these issues are just… oough. the line in idw that hurts me most is this one while rouge and amy are trying to help omega after he literally got torn to shreds.

shadow states that he has no desire to help omega after the robot almost died. i want to die

i can try to give this scene the benefit of the doubt: maybe shadow doesn’t see the need to help omega because he knows omega will be fine. or maybe he doesn’t think he can help omega because he literally has no clue how robots work. whatever it may be, shadow feels his time is better spent hunting down starline. but then why not say that? he's previously been able to communicate to team dark where he thinks his abilities are most needed, so why does his dialogue turn this into another moment of selfishness? why do they break 20 years of characterization and relationships just to turn him into a boring, brooding loner? these questions keep me up at night and i want to bite something

this scene really hurts considering shadow and omega’s relationship up until this point. every time i see this page, i remember that omega waited in stasis for 200 YEARS to save shadow in sonic 06. and sure, that was over 15 years ago and from a game most people act like doesn’t exist, but their relationship is important in modern sonic too - in forces, shadow is the one to go look for omega first after he goes offline while fighting infinite, and they work together to fight the zombots before both perishing. their bond and trust is there, whether they be friends or just allies.

it's strange because this is a line shadow says again later to sonic, but i think he's valid in ignoring sonic here due to their conflict over the mr. tinker situation and the release of the metal virus. sonic and shadow's relationship has been on edge since the start of idw, so shadow being uninterested in a team up makes sense to me. but why would he say the same thing to omega, an ally that needs help?

still, it's clear to me that the idw team is absolutely trying their best to make shadow work within the limitations they're given. despite shadow stumbling into the edgelord trope pit, characters around him will challenge his perspective and choices, causing him to rethink his actions. this is most notable in the chao race arc, which (aside from the ignoring omega part) is probably one of shadow's stronger stories in idw.

there is so, so much potential for shadow in idw. and it sucks, because the writers know his character and want to write him better! head writer evan stanley’s fan comic ghosts of the future has some shadow characterization that i love, and ian flynn is responsible for some of my favorite shadow stories of all time. most people cite the “sega mandates” as the reason for shadow’s lackluster modern character and. yeah. it tracks. very much so.

idw shadow feel so strangely out of place compared to the rest of the comic, at least to me. he feels like a remnant of the mid-2010s sonic culture where they were really leaning into sonic being a funny meme with no depth. but thankfully idw shadow seems to be improving, even if it's REALLY slowly.

so yeah uh in short. i think idw shadow should stop saying dumb shit and be allowed to have friends again

[trkstrnd]

in my humble opinion there is no reason to continue to complain about a plot that has been resolved poorly. it takes so much energy to sit there and be negative and talk about why it bothers you about the thing you’re supposed to enjoy. that’s the thing with this show. as a fandom, we collectively understand that the writers aren’t always going to write what we like, and we can give or take anything to or from the show that we like or dislike, so why are we spending so much time on the dislike? it’s fiction, at the end of the day, no matter how much the actors or writers are adamant that it’s real to them. they’re taking what they get and playing it in stride, and we are watching it. we have the power, as a human being, to take what we need and leave the rest, and yet every time i log in i see people continuing to complain about things that we should simply move past, because no matter how much we hate it, it will not change. canon is canon.

i recently did a project for my film and television analysis class about audience reception, and we talked a bit about how, many times, fandoms can see or create things that aren’t there, or latch onto things that they think they can do better (which, let’s be honest, we can, but we don’t have a job in the writers room and even if we did we would be getting abused by higher ups (im so proud of the writers guild okay)). We talked about how it can almost become an obsession within and obsession. we watched a documentary in fandom and how some people incorporate it into their lives in a healthy way, and some people, not so much, and i think, especially in this fandom (which i am keeping vague so other fandoms can use this post to convey their feelings if they like), the line is incredibly blurred.

in this class, we also watched Paris Is Burning, which is representative of queer movements in the twentieth century, and we talked about backlash the film got, because the representation wasn’t quite positive with everyone exhibited in the doc. We had a lengthy discussion about how oftentimes, queer theory in media isn’t necessarily pretty, and when queer filmmakers came out of the gate, they showed these ugly, messy, real stories so they could exhibit the humanity and progress that these stories made.

Sometimes people make mistakes; a lot of times, things and conversations happen offscreen, and if you’re going to latch on to one storyline and let it ruin your overall view of the season or piece of media as a whole (when you previously lived it), im not going to tell you what to do, but i will say to try looking at it through a less critical eye.

throughout the season, progress was made. it’s exhibited later in the season, which means there is still a lot we don’t see, to have such a shift like that.

that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. it means there’s a set amount of time in each episode and there are other storylines going on. we are privileged enough to get the ones we do get (even if they’re not great), so use your imagination! bridge the gap! understand that not everything is sunshine and roses all the time and when it is, it doesn’t necessarily make good prime time tv.

tl; dr: please stop using canon as ur only source of material because there is so much more that we didn’t see!!! tv embraces fandom creativity! and shitting on it all the time isn’t healthy! plus, it makes those of us who moved on and feel okay about it feel really fucking shitty <3

[gggoldfinch]

what are your thoughts on romulus in general? and specifically on the alien baby

HOHHHHH BOY IM SO GLAD YOU ASKED because i am THE avp universe junkie around these parts and this movie CHANGED ME AS A PERSON!!!!!!!!! i screamed my whole way home from the imax theater. I’ll put my scatterbrained thoughts under the cut so anyone who wants to avoid spoilers can!

First off: it’s immediately top 3 Alien franchise movies for me. Alien, Aliens, Romulus; That’s my new top 3 list. I like the story of Rom more than Aliens but I’m more attached to the characters in Aliens than Rom so in that way they’re kinda tied for my #2 spot.

Honestly I thought it was the best sci-fi and/or horror that’s come out in fucking eons!!! I was thoroughly on edge throughout the runtime and even got genuinely scared a few times. I spent the whole movie with my hand over my mouth in shock, no joke. The suspense KILLED ME!!!!!!!! The build up to each event was just phenomenal and just when you thought it was about to get better for the characters NOPE! I went into it completely blind, no notion of the plot whatsoever, and was SO thoroughly pleased with the outcome.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE SET DESIGN AND PRACTICAL EFFECTS???? Such a breath of fresh air after TOO MANY movies lately have been relying solely on cgi, including the most recent installments in the Alien franchise. It’s so nice to watch a character react to a thing that’s actually physically right next to them. And all the scenes of the space station reminded me of Alien Isolation, which I really enjoyed. It truly brought the game to life and with it that grand, expansive, yet claustrophobically contained sense of dread that comes with being stranded on a Weyland-Yutani space station. It looked SO convincing. And of course I’m just forever in love with the retrofuture 70’s aesthetic of the franchise and am so glad they keep up with it (almost) every time

I was also delighted we got to see the inclusion of an on-world setting. The mining colony scene in the beginning was really what sold me that the movie was about to be fantastic

HR Giger would have been proud of all the gross imagery. Truly. During the wall womb thing scene I leaned over to my best friend and went “that’s a PUSSY bro” because I mean DID YOU SEE IT. Rom really returned to its roots, it reminded me SO MUCH of the original in its overall vibe.

The one single thing I did not like was the zombie ai deepfake of Ian Holm (who has been dead since 2020 if you didn’t know). That was a little uhhhh ummm yikes. Not to mention the cgi on “him” was ROUGH at times. I get the idea of using a time period relevant synthetic (since from what I understand Rom takes place less than a year after the events of Alien, given the whole Nostromo salvage arc) but they could have easily cast someone new as a different model, or even brought in Michael Fassbender as an “older” model. Canonically Lance Henriksen (who would have to be de-aged up the wazoo) being brought in as a Bishop model wouldn’t have made sense (since Bishop’s model was manufactured shortly before Aliens, according to the Xenopedia) but I mean hey. they retcon canon all the time who cares lol. However as a diehard I do get how his model was canonically relevant to the time period and scenario, so I understand the thought process tbqf. The execution was just… questionable.

I’ve seen a lot of people with braindead takes that the references and callbacks to the original movies fell flat or were unnecessary, but I thought they were very well placed and tied the stories together wonderfully. Who could hate a “get away from her you BITCH” line?????? Clearly these people aren’t diehards LOL because everyone in my theater LOVED that

I loved Rain and Andy SO MUCH. They were so sweet, and I love the concept of treating synths like real people/ family members (i’m a sucker and am Blade Runner brainrotted). They were the only characters I really felt anything for, other than Kay as her story progressed. The others felt a little one-dimensional, but admittedly there really wasn’t a lot of opportunity to flesh any of them out that much. I am of course a sucker for sweet synths and Andy’s character reminded me of Bishop in a lot of ways, which I think may have been intentional in some aspects (i.e. his desire to be referred to as an artificial person). I won’t really go into analyzing the characters since I don’t really care enough about them to do so (I was more into this movie for the story, unlike some others in the franchise), but I did enjoy a couple of them so that’s good enough for me.

My best friend asked me whose death was my favorite and honestly it was probably Tyler’s— a truly classic way to go out in an Alien movie (I gasped when the other xenos were revealed during that scene). I also made the point to him that the chestburster that came out of Navarro came out of her upper chest region rather than lower down by the bottom of her ribcage (which is traditionally where they come out of, based off the original writer’s intention for it to represent the pain of a Crohn’s disease flare (which I can attest to)), so I’m hypothesizing that they removed the facehugger before it was finished implanting the embryo and it grew in her esophagus rather than her stomach. Yes? Yes. Brutal!

AND THE OFFSPRING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I tell you my entire crowded theater bristled and gasped in sheer unadulterated HORROR! I think I was the first one out of 50 people to audibly go “oh god no” then like 15 others followed LMFAO it was a group trauma experience for all of us; my best friend looked like he was going to fucking sob. I was anticipating something with how Kay’s story progressed, but I did not fucking expect THAT. I thought it was gonna be something with her after that shot of the rat mutating, not her baby. My first thought (after recoiling in horror) was how it fucking LOOKED LIKE AN ENGINEER!!!!! Consider: the engineers made humans in their image, therefore logically evolved humans would begin to look like the engineers. Perhaps if the method had been perfected the offspring would have looked more engineer and less… xenomorph-human-engineer-bastard-spawn from the deepest pit of hell. Horrific. I FUCKING LOVED IT AND I WAS LITERALLY PETRIFIED. It was a nice tie in with all the wacky shit we saw in Prom/Cov. I also thought it was somewhat of parallel with Alien Resurrection too, even how the thing looked a little bit.

All in all, I personally would give it a 5/5 stars. I’m going to see it again sometime this week. I fucking LOVE this franchise.

[wishing-stones]

how did you come with the plot for r&r? its so nicely written and i constantly struggle with coming up with plots for multichapter fics despite desperately wanting to write one, so im wondering what your process was?

This one got long

Originally, the plot came about from a one-word prompt done for my oneshot collection. The story wound up with more background to it than I intended, and I decided to try and fill it out a little more. I'm kind of old-fashioned, so I used a plot diagram and slapped the important bits in there before thinking about what all else I'd like to put in a story like this.

Picking a villain was pretty easy; who is stupid and/or ballsy enough to pick a serious fight with Nightmare? XGaster, who could be made a main antagonist easily. He also has the added bonus of having a personal investment in fighting Nightmare (Cross) That gave me my conflict, and filling out what needed to happen between that and the resolution got handled too.

I knew I wanted this to be a reverse harem sort of dealio, so everyone needed to have their own arc with the reader. Everyone needed to have character development. To do that with Nightmare meant having to include his brother, and it gave me an avenue to do their resolution and also include the stars. Killer and Cross needed to come to an understanding, but after realizing that would only really come about after they go to blows, they needed a doctor.

Enter Baggs, who I have sort of stuck with the Bad Sanses for a hot minute in my own sort of personal plot space and in general thought mess. Formally including him would also just be a nice little self-indulgent thing since he's a seriously bastardly brainrot. It also gave me an excuse to work with him more, and, unintentionally though it was, introduce more people to him and his AU.

With the cast figured out, I could start placing little scenes I wanted to happen in the appropriate places on the timeline. As I wrote it, some things were off-the-cuff, some things popped up early, some things got nixed, and a whole character who I hadn't originally intended to include got included anyway due to source material being released between plotting and writing (XChara.)

The actual ending got pulled out of my ass because I only had a couple bulletpoints for the post-fight resolutions. There's a couple whump lines there I'm especially proud of.

That being said, there's a couple continuity errors that need fixing and places where things didn't quite go according to plan, so always be prepared to compromise and fix in post. I also never had a beta reader and basically went "FUCK IT WE BALL" with every update. (I did re-read them and fine-tune them after the initial write before posting them, but that's it.)

In short, the process was: 1. Come up with the initial idea 2. Refine the idea (Starting point, rising action, conflict, resolution) 3. Place the idea on a plot diagram 4. Figure out scenes you want and place them accordingly 5. Figure out how characters are (or are not) going to change and place the catalysts for the actions and where/when their arcs will conclude/when they have gone through their development 6. Pad it out-- make scenes connect and plot points make sense 7. Start writing. Keep writing. Pace yourself. You'll finish it eventually and with a roadmap, you'll always know where you're going. Feel free to embellish on the details and don't be afraid to move things up or back in the progression of the plot if it makes more sense while writing it.

And if there's anything I've learned from this, it's that:

a. Your audience is a lot nicer than you think they are. You are absolutely your own worst critic. b. Don't be afraid of mistakes, just go with the flow. You can edit things in post when you re-read it, even if that's after you posted it.

I really hope this helps!

[bookinit02]

HAVEN OH MY GOSH THE NEW EPISODE!!!!!! I SCREAMED. I made a bunch of very insane notes and I thought I'd gift them to you. as a treat:

fucking COLD

BABY WILL AND MIKE GOT ME SOBBINGGG

So curious as to what's going on with Will and Vecna, also Will tell your boyfriend!!! Come on!!! crazy together!!! (also MIKE tell your boyfriend actually. y'all need to talk about the messed up Vecna stuff!!! that's the whole idea!!!)

OH FUCK OH NO MAX AND LUCAS. OH NO. OH NO I AM SO SAD. OH NO. I AM CRYING. WHYYYYY

NANCY ROBIN ERICA TEAM UP!!! Erica gets friends and mentors as she SHOULD and I love her

WINGWOMAN NANCY!! Hasn't even been come out to yet and is already the wingwoman of all time. We love to see it. I love her.

RONANCE CRUMBS???????

THAT JANCY BREAKUP WAS THE MOST HEARTBREAKING THING I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ME. I AM CRYING. SOBBING. BUT IT WAS SO GOOD

What does Karen Wheeler KNOW

Mike and Holly are the cutest little sibling babies and I love them so much. They are my favourite and Holly is adorable and deserves the world.

NANCY AND MIKE ARE ALSO THE CUTEST SIBLINGS. QUALITY WHEELER FAMILY CONTENT RIGHT HERE. I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH.

OHHH MIKE JUST CAME OUT. OH HONEY. NANCY YOU ARE THE BEST BIG SISTER I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

THE JONATHAN AND WILL MIKE AND NANCY PARALLELS IM-

THE MIKE AND NANCY SCENE AS A WHOLE. THAT IS LITERALLY MY FAVOURITE SCENE SO FAR. THAT WAS SO GOOD. READING THAT IN THE FIC IS GOING TO BREAK MY HEART EVEN MORE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Oh Mike. I love you so much. you and will need to TELL EACH OTHER THINGS. PLEASE.

All in all amazing episode, I loved it and it was sad and happy and funny and destroyed me like six times but it's WORTH IT!!!! I'm excited for the chapters of the fic!!!

ok i hope it’s ok that i waited a few days to answer this—i didn’t want to spoil it for anyone!!

first of all YES i was so fucking proud of myself for that line😭 such a banger . i literally left it there for like 2 days without writing anything else bc i was like how tf do i follow that😭😭

MIWIIII💗💗💗😭 BABY MIWIIIIII💗🫶🏻😭

yes!! i am also super excited to develop the will & vecna storyline. and listen they’ve been miscommunicating for like 2 seasons now, ofc they’re gonna keep going (for a little bit at least😉)

yeah honestly i cried writing that scene☹️ they make me so . So.

yes!!! i need some sort of girl power moment in s5 so badly (but Not in that cringy forced way that shows do sometimes if u know what i mean😭)

nancy is The wingwoman of all time actually. she treats it as a matter of life and death. it is a one-woman competition and she is NOT losing.

ronance crumbs… perhaps… hehe :)

yeah listen it broke My heart too and i was SO split on whether to do it or not . but i think it’s the most realistic option and they definitely have things they need to work out!! i’m honestly very very interested to see what the writers do with the love triangle storyline bc this has definitely been the most challenging plot to write so far. but i am enjoying the challenge :)

as for what karen knows… we’ll have to find out👀

I AGREE😭😭💗 HOLLY IS SO UNDERRATED WE NEED MORE OF HER SO BADLY!!!

nancy and mike as well. just more wheeler family dynamics all across the board bc i am Obsessed with them!!

yeah that scene was very emotional to write😭😭 he’s come so far and i’m so proud of him!! (is the one actively writing his character arc)

love me a good parallel🫡🫡

THANK YOU THAT’S ONE OF MY FAVORITE SCENES AS WELL💗💗💗 and yes i’m so excited to write the fic version!!

i’m so glad you liked this episode, thank you SO much for this comment! i don’t get as many comments on my scripts (understandably) as i do on my fic, but i really appreciate when people give me feedback :) i’m so happy that you’re enjoying them!

[philzokman]

help im leaving tomorrow for an 8 hour plane ride and i need fic recs

I AM SO GLAD U ASKED FJWKDHSJS

okay okay so these are gonna be a mix of skk and sskk but i hope u enjoy :D

1. everything or nothing by well that happened - skk

“College AU where Chuuya finds out that the boy he drunkenly made out with the night of orientation is his new roommate. His arrogant, smug, very straight roommate. And the boys are each convinced the other is trying to ruin their life by making them go absolutely insane.”

i think the most kudosed skk fic on ao3 so not very. underground indie. JDHSJ the writing style isn’t my favourite but the plot is really good and the characterisation. oh my ever loving fuck THE CHARACTERISATION!!! strong nsfw that i’m like 99% sure is quite crucial to the plot though so i’d maybe skip this if ur not comfortable with that!! (the first 6 ish chapters should be mainly fine though for that if ur just wanting smn small and funny)

2. waiting room by srxlee - sskk

“In which the smell of antiseptic becomes familiar, and the feeling doesn't hurt like it used to, yet it aches. Where Ryuunosuke battles his habit of loving that which is fleeting. And now his hand, calloused and bruised, just can’t seem to let go.”

HEKANDHWKS i would die for this fic. it’s absolutely amazingly written like genuinely there are like 6 chapters where my mouth was agape the whole time purely bc of the writing style. the plot is really interesting, and the author deals with illness very very well. it DOES have a happy ending im so proud to announce and it’s overall very very sweet and i love it please read it i beg KDHSJ

3. learn to love by thebackwardsstep - skk

“Dazai pissed in a stranger's car- because screw the bourgeoisie- and now he has a sugar daddy. What the fuck.”

i physically could not tell u a thing about this fic, i read it when i was suffering with the flu BUT from what i do remember it was surprisingly sweet and the main ending conflict is resolved by a bird so JDHAKSH also also also in spite of its name it only has like 2 nsfw scenes in it which are VERY easily skippable and also a scene where dazai dresses up as a girl and they go to a ball :D

4. debatable society by chlovrs - sskk

“Atsushi has always struggled with self-confidence so to boost him up, his friend Dazai convinces him to join their University debate society. It works for a little bit, he makes some friends and is actually able to like, ya know...join in on conversations without shaking like a leaf. But then they start competing with the students from their neighboring University and of course, Akutagawa, the one who is beauty incarnated just loves to fucking argue.”

THIS IS SO CUTE. it’s been a while since i’ve read it but from what i can remember the plot is rlly cute, and sskk’s dynamic is really sweet. the author is also the absolute sweetest person ever and i highly highly recommend leaving a comment or two bc they’re genuinely soso sweet and Will respond KDHAKSH (there IS one nsfw scene but again, very easy to skip and doesn’t affect the plot by any means)

5. thé art of precious scars by run_mello - skk

“Role reversal AU where Dazai is in the Port Mafia and Chuuya is in the Armed Detective Agency.

---

When a famous painting goes missing from the Mori Art Museum, the ADA jumps in to help investigate the case. So Dazai and Chuuya go on a mission together, solve the mystery together, fight enemies together... and somewhere along the line, they fall in love.”

holy ever loving FUCK THIS FIC IS AMAZING. i remember the first thought i had while reading it was “this authors read the irl authors books.” LIKE IT SHOWS SO MCUHF WJDKDH i think my favourite example of this was in i think the first or second chapter when dazai plays the synonym/antonym game from no longer human it’s genuinely really really sick. as well as that the author will occasionally sprinkle in quotes from books and poems and it’s just. very very very cool. the characterisation is phenomenal its so well written very highly recommend !!!

6. chuuya is red hot and dazai is so not by icedlightroast - skk

“Dazai couldn't wrap his brain around it. How could the student population think that Chuuya Nakahara was more attractive than him? And, alright, sure, maybe professors shouldn't get caught up in petty drama. But to Dazai, this wasn't just drama. This was war. A war in which he was not going to lose.”

this made me giggle an abnormal amount. KDHAJS this fic had me kicking my feet back and forth and twirling my hair oml it’s soso cute VERY short but very very cute

BAR LIKE 30 FICS THATS MY REC LIST FJSKS !! hope u enjoyed and have fun on ur trip !!!! :D

[orbitfalls]

AAAAA HELLO CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT OUT OF ORDER?!?! 80k is SO exciting

YESSS OFC I WILL LOVE!!! and aaaa yes 80k im so proud of myself!!!! out of order is my first ever fic (still a work in progress but she's grown quite long lately heheh!!) so it has a very special place in my heart<33 i definitely do feel like i've improved a lot since i started writing it, but i think that progress is a good thing yk<3

it's wolfstar- and jily centered, or at least it started out that way, but Pandora and Barty lowkey started taking over the story as i got progressively more and more invested in their characters. The plot itself is still about wolfstar and jily, and they're still the MCs, but half the chapters are just pandora and barty being icons at this point😭 then barty and lily started flirting and i was like, WOW, HOLD ON, WE'RE GETTING WAYY OFF TRACK HERE so i invented ✨east of eden✨ to let my inner demons unfold (and east of eden has now become my favourite to write, unsurprisingly). this is also essentially how i got into shipping bartylily lol<3

oh and look at that, i've already gotten off track in my own rambling again... let me tell you about out of order!!

it's a boarding school AU, and a muggle AU with a modern setting. the concept is that sirius and james are your standard it-boy roommates and have been for the past several years (peter erasure:( didn't much like his character when i started writing it and it's too late to change it now), but the story starts off with remus transferring to their school and being assigned to their dorm, which starts a bunch of drama, because remus is a rather famous influencer. The Thing is, though, that wolfstar used to be very close, but a Big ThingTM happened two years ago which sparked a HUGE conflict between the two of them that no one else knows about, and which would be a huge scandal for Remus' career if it ever got out. the whole thing's very dramatic and tense, and there's a bunch of drama happening on the side lines while the story unfolds. i'm adding a little snippet below that's really not that little because i just can't shut the fuck up. it's set at mary's birthday party, narrated by an ecstasy-tripping remus lol<3

(forever pushing the albino rosier twins agenda btw)

As Remus trips through the tightly packed dance floor, even the familiar of faces distort and disfigure, napes growing fingers that stretch through tinsel-decorated locks of hair and eyes that are too wide, or too round, or just misplaced in general. Mostly, they're brown, or green, or blue. Some are heavy-lidded, some are red around the edges, some have dilated pupils. Pandora's eyes have a sort of reddish purple shade. They're the type of eyes that are round and sort of puppy-like, with a little space of white that droops below her irises as if she's always looking up. She's traced them with eyeliner that stands out against the pale surface of her skin, and when she smiles, gentle creases form under her platinum bottom lashes. "Remus." Her voice sounds like she's speaking through a shallow body of water. Her eyes look like little purple suns. Remus sees them rise and fall over the horizon and imagines how his lifespan shortens by another day every time they move. He imagines how ancient she must be. This is why you shouldn't do ecstasy in the bathroom, he supposes. He blinks. She's looking at him still. He blinks again. "Aren't you supposed to hate me?" "Hate you?" Her head tilts to the side. There's something faintly unsettling about the way her features bend with her emotions, not a cold and motionless face like Regulus' or a vivid display of dramatics like Sirius', but some third and different option entirely. "I don't do that much. Why do you think I should hate you?" Remus shrugs. He's sort of forgotten. "I don't know. Aren't you Regulus' girlfriend?" "Certainly not," she laughs. "Regulus is family. Sure if you'd hurt him, I'd hurt you, but I wouldn't have to hate you to do that." She says it easily, not the trace of a threat in her tone. She's quite a small girl, smaller than both Lily and Regulus - still, Remus' intuition tells him that he'd be in deep trouble if she ever decided she wanted him to be. Remus sways slightly. The song changes and more people press onto the dance floor; he feels the pulse of the wood under his feet. It beats in sync with his own pounding head. Pandora smiles, and Remus watches her eyes crease. She says, "But Regulus isn't the one you damaged, at the end of the day, so I hold nothing against you." She's got a pretty voice, softspoken and a little deep for a girl, with a posh finality to the details of her words. She pronounces them properly, pierced lips moving around each syllable like she's blowing bubbles through a piece of gum: Certainly. Pop. Regulus. Pop. Sure. Pop. "Oh," Remus says. He feels like a tree in the wind. "That's good." Pandora laughs. She reaches out a small hand, fingers heavy with silver rings. There's one on her middle finger, shaped like a snake. It hisses at Remus. "Come, let's go to the others," it says. Pandora's hand is sort of warm, but also sort of cold, like when you put your hand into water so cold it seems to ignite your skin.

[wheresurboytonighthelookslikeenj]

Opinion on Watt's relationships with Milo Strange and Jack Walker?

who are you and why are you after my blood

theres a read more. look what youve made me do. this is a long detailed rant on why i dont like the watts plot in s15, including some good old fashioned resentment for jackwatts. proceed at your own risk

jack was really nice at first, i shipped them, i wrote a short fic or two even. of course he was bland but like the entire fandom held on to the idea that he'd eventually be developed slowly as the episodes go by right. right. idk i think it's the love of a soft and reserved and "normal" love interest for our guy whose life has been so much turmoil, so far from "normal" for so long. but we never really got good jack development did we, the most of his character being mostly made up in the fandom's heads. (ive skimmed aios, really good fic, murdoch fandom staple, like im at least somewhat cultured).

and then well it happened, ministry of virtue, everything goes to shit, their relationship has hardly been anything onscreen and now its over and i lose my mind because i'd been so hopeful. like i didn't sleep well that night because Murdoch Mysteries Is A Show. in a vacuum the whole marriage thing was an interesting way for the plot to go, jack bringing up how watts's profession clashed with so many other parts of his life was really good and i fucking love it, but hardly of it was built up to or worth it and before during and afterwards it never got the attention, screentime, etc, it deserved. dear god. and then they got back together but then next season jack's kind of a jerk now? much of it is warranted because of the awful things hes been through but "some things are worth the risk" had been such a staple line for him and their relationship and it was just. not romantic anymore. and importantly watts wasn't happy anymore. and it was just such a weird direction for the writers to take the ship.

also there was the funnies with the well lit kisses lmao and then milo strange happened?????? god i love milo i think theyre very funky and lovely and the weirdest character the show's made technical-wise because he kinda doesn't need to exist and the fact that he does ends up as just an insult to watts's story, milo the character, and his actor. like. ok. we have an issue: wonderbread barbie prince ass white boy jack walker being boring and now being too afraid to be out with watts. how does the show seem to try to fix it? flamboyant polyamorous black poet named milo strange who's as out and proud as you can be in edwardian toronto without getting arrested or killed. he's devastatingly lovable because of his whimsy and opinions and how easily they make watts smile and even laugh. not the most characterization but somehow more remarkable than jack ever was, at least before ministry of virtue. he and watts were very nice together and though i don't ship it much anymore because the show hates me i still have an ongoing fic with them but thats mostly just because i'm slow and forgetful.

anyways. then we get into the really bad shit. like. um. jack's wife dies. and this shit sent me off the edge like. this show is so bad? fridging the wife is like one of the first things people tell you not to do when they teach you how to Not Write Like A Misogynist/An Idiot In General? dude??? watts and jack fight about it and its devastating but you kinda knew the relationship was going there after all this. and then jack kidnaps the baby and escapes to greenwich and i was happy because the writers committed a misogyny but at the very very very least jack walker is gone and i am free from this stupid hatecrimes plotline.

right????

right???????

BUT NOOOOOOO like now we get into how watts himself was at his worst in season 15. like daniel maslany's acting is always so good but his writing. was bad. at the beginning he was not the best at communicating, letting his problems (the love triangle) be solved for him instead without any effort from him--like. this point has been hammered into the ground recently but love triangles if done well could symbolize for different values different choices that one can make right? like the famous one is the hunger games agressive gale vs softer peeta but like even the george-nina-louise triangle was a better example, like george made an active choice to go back to nina because despite louise being a more proper partner with similar values in wanting to settle down some day george chose nina's loyalty and kindness. but with watts? idk hes just really confused and i know watts has the personal emotional skills of a potato but narratively it sucks. because he doesnt make a decision. the decision is made for him when jack's wife is killed by her ex. what was the point? why couldn't they have made him at least a bit more active in all of it?

ohoho but it gets worse. because the plotline's not even done yet we still have half a season. watts spends time with milo and they're very sweet but watts comes to the realization that milo is polyamorous. like. milo has talked about this before. they make it pretty clear. and maybe it's my own brainworms, believing watts would have been more open or at least more understanding to it because of his open nature, but watts gets frustrated, he tries to convince him to change, he calls milo greedy. like hey man that may not be your thing but thats so uncalled for. and is that not out of character? watts, who has always been so sympathetic and understanding, especially for those who are different? even under all the duress. i dont know. it might be more reasonable in other interpretations. the worst part is that he never properly apologizes. but we'll get to that.

and they continue to stay together in some sort of limbo until the end of the season and watts gets shot. and watts goes through this shit every tuesday but that mustve been a lot for milo to go through in a minute. and watts gets back up like nothing happens and milo later expresses that he's willing to change his lifestyle, willing to become monogamous for watts. thats. thats not a light statement. but fucking guess what watts receives a letter from jack???? and i guess theres a lot of apologizing and sappy stuff in the letter but we never see or hear the contents so all we have to process for now is that watts once again is letting his problems being solved for him? like as a character it sucks that it takes all these conveniences to switch him around to choose and narratively all these conveniences are bad in the first place. ugh. he tells milo to not change who he is and embarks for new york. and we. we never see milo again. and i am going to set something on fire.

and the thing is after the season premiere's homophobia of the season watts's conclusion is really good, like ive talked about it before him quitting the force and leaving to find himself was such a satisfying decision after all his moral and emotional turmoil! and i'm hopeful that jack is not coming back. but.

milo was done. so dirty. because we're back at the point about watts's arc. because regardless of the way you see it it's shitty. if jack was always his first choice and milo was only a rebound he didn't care as much for, not only is that just. bad taste. but its also shitty to milo, watts seeming to be so keen on being together but only on his terms then ditching at the first chance of being back with his old boytoy; not only is it a shitty thing for watts to do but in writing a character it's stupid. and if watts actually did care for milo and genuinely want to be with him, only to go back is even more confusing and again begs the question of the point of it all. why was milo introduced? why did you get us invested in a relationship that went nowhere and can be cut? watts and jack couldve still split, all homophobia and misogyny and kidnapping intact, and watts could have still come to his conclusion that he needed to be on his own, but instead of the polyam hate we couldve just had him wandering off on his own for half a season instead, and when he received the letter and went back to jack he couldve realized that hey. i was actually feeling good by myself, like i was going somewhere by myself. or something. i don't know. i love where watts's character is at currently but i hate how he got there.

and it's utterly devastating because milo was a lovable character! they were so fun! but he was doomed from the start and it's fucking awful. it never amounted to anything. his own little arc wasnt even allowed to finish properly, while jack's technically was? we never get a conclusion to milo strange but we know that jack's still doing ok with the baby in greenwich after brackenreid ended homophobia there ig /j

anyways. in conclusion i dont ship either anymore but at least i still like millewellyn because i resent jackwatts for what it represents

[gutsfics]

F, L, and P!!

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

eeaaaah this is so hard to choose! i love the banter between Avalon and Janey in the first half of The Name Of The Game ch1, i really think i did a good job capturing their friendship

i think im gonna share just a bunch of (screenshots of) some of my favorite bits of dialouge bc i can't decide on just one

some of these i like bc im really proud of how i got the emotion across, but most of them i just think are funnie :) i love writing dialouge & i love writing jokes

limiting the screenshots to fics ive posted and not Everything Ive Written

the "sucking us silly" line was written by my friend @lame-kid-on-couch he added it as a joke bc i couldnt figure out what i wanted Lisa to say & it was so good i had to leave it in. Lisa should have been allowed to cuss in canon

L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

depends on the fic. long/plot heavy fics like chapter 1 of TNoTG (or should the shorthand be NoG?) and Pre-Production i usually sit on & revise & revise & revise and drive myself mad over, but short ones like Starting The New Year Right and Holly-Gay Traditions it posted right after writing. like right after. i wrote em into my notebook & then transcribed them onto a tumblr post instead of opening new google docs for em

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

yes.

multi-chapter fics i'll outline so i know where the plost is supposed to go even if it takes me to get a while to return to em

the shorter form ones i rotate in my mind for a bit before writing them down, and even if i Know how i want something to go and will be actively thinking about that i'll still write down something different. its annoying

Not Gonna Take It Anymore was straight up just me spitballing a plot at my boyf & a whole fic just fell out, i wrote it in fucking discord

[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 196

Road Trip/Cold War

“Road Trip”

Plot Description: Gadreel is still in control of Sam’s body while on a murder spree for Metatron, but Dean, Castiel, and Crowley have plans for an angel eviction

Before I even start…THAT’S how they decided to spell that angel’s name?? After all the -iel names they throw in there -eel??? Really??? ANYWAY

Would I Survive the First Five Minutes??: IM BARELY SURVIVING WATCHING DEAN GIVE KEVIN A HUNTER’S BURIAL AND WRESTLE WITH THE GUILT OF BEING AT LEAST PARTIALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS LIFE GOING TO SHIT AND EVENTUAL DEATH AT NO MORE THAN 18 YEARS OLD

Is…is this angel turned rockstar for real when he calls another angel Gadreel’s boyfriend (who presumably died) or is this just normal supernatural?

God…he’s carrying so much guilt over all of this and Cas is like the only person who can really understand how being “stupid for the right reason” feels now

Crowley does seem genuinely sad about Kevin’s death. Not OVERLY sad, he’s not going to actually show the emotion, but still

Omg you’re hitting so many of Dean’s pain points right now, babes, and you don’t even know it

You know, I was thinking earlier today about Cas’s humanity, how good he’s gotten at being human. How last time we saw him, he was so happy and proud of getting to do the hunting job and grabbing a round of beers for them all…and then he tells Dean and Crowley he has a car that stopped inexplicably…because it ran out of gas

Omg the way they’re acting both like exes and siblings…there’s a glee for both of them that the other has to sit in the back seat but then the bickering over space

Why would there be no more prophets?? Crowley had a whole room of next-in-line-prophets when he couldn’t find Kevin

Metatron, I know you’ve been away from heaven for a long time, but angels are order followers, not really ones for taking initiative. Forgive him if he didn’t kill Dean just yet

OH, the woman with the dog was a demon?? Do we get to see Abaddon again??

Cas is so determined to hate Crowley and voice that hate at every given opportunity. We stan a petty bitch

I’m terrified for this angel, Abner. He just wants to live a normal life, make this family’s life better…aaaaaaand he’s dead. He shouldn’t have talked about never letting go of something you want no matter the price because there’s always a price

Cecily, girl, that talk works with Crowley because he’s in handcuffs and understands conniving…Abaddon’s not like that. You’re loyal to her or you’re dead

Ah yes, JPad’s acting skills………they’re not great.

“So you’re saying we’re both a couple of dumbasses?” “I prefer the word trusting. Less dumb, less ass” 💖

HOW POWERFUL IS THIS ANGEL??

Man, when you say trusting…………you’re about to let Crowley possess him?? Oooooo Crowley has a fun red demon soul! Did I know that already? I feel like I didn’t

I will say that JPad CAN play wounded puppy pretty well. But that comes with the practice of playing a character who’s body has done a lot that his normal mind wouldn’t allow

Nah, Gadreel, you’re still a chump working for Metatron

Is this the turning point for the Winchesters and Crowley? Maybe not fully “I see you again—“ “yes, I’m dead. I love you, too. Now go”

Yes, we’re going to appreciate her again 💖💖💖

Sammy’s back!

The boys are fighting over who gets blame over Kevin’s death…omg Dean, I knew this would happen because you’ve had everything crumble around you so many times but I promise it’s not that you’re poison

Jesus, Sam…..stop him. Stop him NOW. Don’t let him LEAVE. FUCK.

“Cold War”

Plot Description: On a Russian submarine in 1983, a frozen alien warrior is waking up

I can stand by the explanation that the TARDIS will translate alien speech into English, and even with some sort of accent from that group of islands…but the TARDIS ISN’T ON THIS RUSSIAN SUBMARINE WHY ARE THEY SPEAKING ENGLISH IN SOME SORT OF BRITISH ACCENT?? (I know the answer, but…come on)

This guys being a complete idiot in the pursuit of science. Maybe DON’T WAKE UP AND THAW OUT THE ALIEN YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT WHILE IN A SUBMERGED SUBMARINE!!! Like…???

Like you are SO LUCKY the TARDIS has decided this is where the Doctor needs to be now

Yeah, middle of a crisis like this IS the best time to not have to go through the pretense of who you pretend to be upon arriving somewhere

He is MARVELING at this ice warrior. Til they told the Doctor their name.

Oh good. He got electrocuted because a human got scared. SURELY there will be no repercussions for that

Is that Stannis Baratheon?? No…more insufferable, Edmure Tully

I took a break to look up the actors imdb pages…the number of them that have been in GoT or The Crown or BOTH?! It’s basically everyone but Jenna…who somehow doesn’t have this show in her “known for” section but DOES have the first captain america movie…just, if you were wondering

OH! I remembered! The professor on this vessel was in Titanic!! He played Cal’s manservant

How…long are these aliens’ lifespans? Does he think the ice warriors he knew are still alive? Are we gonna have to take him to whatever the Mars equivalent of the southern air temple is? Though, I fear what would happen if he found out what may or may not have happened to his people, he’s not as peaceful as aang

Poor Doc has to explain everything to everyone and there’s apparently not time to do that but he still has to and IS doing it

Ok…maybe we don’t completely blame Davos Seaworth for what the junior science guy did. That wasn’t an order he gave

Oof. You took the words right out of my mouth, Skaldak has nothing to lose now that he thinks he’s been abandoned

Stop saying how bad can it be! I barely even saw the onceler fandom but I’m getting flashbacks anyway

Ok but don’t say it couldn’t get any worse either…you’re just INVITING worse

Byyyyyyyye Edmure. I didn’t bother learning your name because you were marked for death from the beginning by being incredulous.

He’s so much nicer on this sinking/sunken ship than he was in Titanic. He’s singing Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran to keep spirits up

We’re in a sequence where Skaldak is picking off the crew one by one……but I’m getting suspicious of the professor. I don’t know that I should be, but that doesn’t change that I am. Omg…he just wants to know if his favorite bands split up. He just wants to know the most mundane stuff 🥺

I’m not condoning him wanting to kill off humanity before I’m even born, but “there will be a second red planet, red with the blood of humanity” is a BANGER line

It’s the way humans are perpetually children to all these alien beings…I dunno how I feel about it

What in the deus ex machina?? The ice warrior were still alive and rescued Skaldak….and then the world was saved by Clara singing Hungry Like the Wolf. Sure. Why not?

[hyperfix8ed]

and if your life won’t wait: spoiler free 2022 update

hello dear readers. if ur here from my fic welcome. if u just follow my blog, sorry. also, go read my fic.

okay, a… lot has changed since i started this thing. moment of silence for all cis tua writers with unfinished works from before season 3. im literally a trans man and had no idea how to handle this. im also completely disconnected from the fandom and i have no idea how other people have been doing it lol. anyway.

in regards to my fic, season three changed three big things for me. 1). viktor 2). klaus’ reincarnation powers are more fleshed out and canonical 3). my perceptions of the characters

viktor’s whole deal is probably the most relevant, so ill start there. when i started this fic, i had absolutely zero idea that elliot page would come out as trans, and subsequently his character would change as well. so the first ~5 chapters make absolutely zero mention to him being trans. the way i saw it, going forward i had two options. control f and retrospectively make him both trans and transitioned (which i honestly think is not only a valid option but one that i lowkey wish id done, way fucking easier) or rework his planned story arc around gender identity.

look. i said it already. im trans. i was deeply attached to viktor BEFORE he came out. he’s my guy. i have to write a coming of age trans story for him, even if that means dead naming him for a few chapters while we get there. he’ll be okay. he’s fictional. he’s figuring it out. this is a story about learning to let your family be in your life in a meaningful way so you can actually be happy. in the context of the fic, he also just watched his brother die and come back to life, so he’s a little preoccupied. don’t worry though, if there’s one thing you can count on the hargreeves to do, it’s prioritize their own personal drama in the midst of extremely important things happening around them.

i don’t write shitty endings for trans people. he’s going to have his little moment where he triumphantly cuts his hair and wears a too big button down with all the confidence of a seventeen year old freshly off their meds. i love him. please trust me. ive made the decision that the story i want to tell involves him not figuring things out for a little while, but he will figure them out. worry not. i came up with an incredibly convoluted excuse to get him pamphlets from an lgbtq resource center. you’ll see.

as for klaus… keep in mind reading these first few chapters that i was working with the knowledge of the first two seasons. that’s the knowledge with which i built this worlds life and death system. season three didn’t change too much, except canonize klaus’ ability to come back to life, and confirm that reginald did know about this ability and tested it in him, aka killed him over and over again until he was satisfied, and then klaus repressed the whole thing. tua plays pretty fast and loose with ghost rules, so i pretty much ignore all that to do whatever the shit i want, but this was really important to the plot, so i had to make a decision about whether or not i was including it.

there’s a bit of a mystery element that comes in down the line pertaining to reginald’s role in the story, so i wont say too much, but i did want to address it! just know that yes, i do understand the worlds death rules, i promise. this fic’s premise is basically taking their dumb death rules and throwing them out the window so that i can tell a story about family bonding. however, im really proud of the direction the story ended up going in light of the new season, and im excited to share it with you.

the third thing is characterization. now, this could be its own post, so ill keep it brief, but to me season three proved a few very important things about the hargreeves. they’re mean as fuck, irredeemably stupid, and love each other almost as much as they love their own respective attachment issues. they are a mess. im fucking obsessed with them. they love each other, and are incapable of being normal about it. it’s perfect.

a few important things to note:

- ben is as much of an asshole as the rest of them! confirmed!!! he may have been the nicest of them, but they’re all terrible, he’s just a little less terrible! big win for the ben is a dick community (population: me and klaus)

- as kids, allison was nicer to viktor then anyone. allison was NICER. TO VIKTOR. THEN ANYONE. that is such a wonderful revelation to me. i always interpreted their relationship as more like allison was trying to make amends and knew she had to make amends with viktor specifically, but no! allison was nice to viktor!! nicer. then ANYONE. i could talk ab s3 allison for a million years. she might be a little irredeemable. but i love her. and this fic and every fic forever will be allison friendly

- mostly just a gentle reminder that i am not writing about bitter thirty year olds carrying around decades of trauma and horror. i am writing about fresh faced seventeen year olds who have never had a brother like, actually die, never spent years on the street or on the moon or completely alone or getting into fights or watching their brother slowly kill himself or being an a list celebrity. they have the potential to be those bitter assholes, they really do, but for now, they’re kids. i want to write kids. the world is so bad. i want to write a coming of age where kids having their family with them gives them a happy ending. this is what i want and i will not give this up for any reason.

thank you for reading, sorry it’s a monstrosity of a post <3

[oloreaa]

[hematomes]

the harbingers, and how la commedia dell'arte influences them

okay so, it's gonna be a long post. first of all, im only summarizing this very interesting theory so do check it out if you're interested, it's really worth it (plus im really gonna summarize it so). i also won't be talking about pierro here because there is much to say about him and this post is already extremely long, but he might get his own post later

as always, im just a french guy, there will most likely be grammatical errors and awkward sentences bc that's how i work in life

Enter serious mode.

I. La commedia dell'arte (LCA)

To grasp at least the general idea of that theory, and of the harbingers as a whole, you obviously need some info on La Commedia Dell'arte. Basically, it's an Italian form of theatre that has expanded to other countries, particularly France etc. It consists in archetypes (= the harbingers' names), and two main categories : the Vecchi (elders, aka the rich, the one for which no one roots) and the Zanni (their servants, working class etc, the beloved). But there is a 3rd category, consisting in 2 people : the Innamorati.

The Innamorati are two star-crossed lovers (innamorato is the guy, innamorata is the girl), that can't be together mainly because of the Vecchi but also because they're just fucking stupid. The main plot of the plays are to get the Innamorati together, with the help of the Zanni (like really, the sole purpose of the Zanni is to get them together and overcome the Vecchi). The Innamorati are very selfish, single-minded and they basically don't care about anything other than themselves and their beloved. But they also can't communicate properly, to the point where they are their own biggest obstacle sometimes. However, every play inevitably ends with them being reunited.

Disclaimer real quick: this isn't me being a proshitter (ew), but the parallel between the Innamorati and the twins is... just really obvious. The traveler's sole purpose is to find their sibling, and the sibling's sole purpose is to nuke Celestia via the Abyss Order. They also could've been reunited through the We Will be Reunited quest, but didn't because the traveler cannot understand their twin's need to carry on with a war against the divine. Hence the communication issues.

De facto, we can rather clearly tell who will join the traveler and who won't, thanks to the Vecchi/Zanni parallel: most of the Vecchi won't, and most of the Zanni will.

II. Harbingers who won't join the traveler

1. La Signora

The first obvious one is, to no one's surprise, La Signora. Rosalyne portrays most of La Signora's (the archetype) traits: cunning, cold, arrogant, proud, defined by her greed... She also defies the Traveler directly and schemes against them to get what the wants (the gnoses - like Zhongli's, for example). She also keeps up with that persona via her last line, "I never asked for redemption"; she doesn't die begging for mercy, but rather very proudly and full of anger.

Ironically, her own arrogance was what caused her demise: she didn't even think of the possibility of Scaramouche betraying her and the Tsaritsa.

2. Pantalone

He's one of the most important Vecchi, and is primarily defined by his greed, his character revolving around money. He's also the father of one of the Innamorati (generally the Innamorata) and does basically everything in his power to keep her away from her lover.

Man's really full of himself, thinks he's smarter than everyone (and than he actually is). He's also very petty, and seeks revenge on everyone (lmao Eula). However, he also never forgets a deal and is a man of action, not words.

He's one of the worst, tbh. He mistreats and abuses the Zanni but also treats some Vecchi the same way.

Therefore, he will most likely have great importance in the story, and be one of the main antagonists; not to mention that he could probably oppose the Traveler directly, as he's done with the Innamorati.

He's theorized as originating from Liyue because his whole character revolves around money, and he has similar views on contracts as Zhongli. Also, if I'm not mistaken, he's the manager of the Northland Bank.

According to the Pale Flame set lore, he doesn't have a Vision, which makes him quite bitter - and which is why he seeks to destroy Teyvat's economy (for example, he tried tod estroy Mond's wine industry with a Fatuus disguised as a wine merchant) as revenge.

3. Il Dottore

I'm gonna break a lot of hearts with this one, but Dottore most likely won't be playable.

Il Dottore is, in LCA, Pantalone's comedic foil. He despises Pantalone, and is often the victim of his plots. While Pantalone revolves around money, Dottore is more on the intellectual side of it, and has canonically attended university in some depictions (= Sumeru, in our case). However, his title of Doctor is self-appointed.

He'll perform random experiments in the name of science, just like our green-haired freak. And trick people into participating in said experiments by making them drink weird stuff. He also apparently performs surgery either on himself or others...

The main reason for Dottore not being playable, aside from this theory, is actually the fact that he experimented on children (Collei, for example), which is (for most players, and understandably so) a "Moral Event Horizon". It does make sense, associating this type of character with the "good guys" can be dangerous.

4. Il Capitano

He was appointed by Pantalone to protect the Innamorata from her lover, but he tries to win her love instead.

All of his titles are self-appointed, he's actually a gigantic fraud, a coward and super incompetent. That man has no loyalty, and his only goal is to get rich.

Capitano is a Spanish character, so in this theory he's speculated to appear in Natlan - where he'll win their trust because he LIES. But his point in LCA is to be de-masked, so he'll probably end up revealed as a complete fraud from both Natlan and the Harbingers. He might also fake joining the Traveler side for his own benefit.

Considering one common theme about Capitano is trying to get the Innamorata's love, he could betray the Fatui to get on the Traveler's side, or try to convince the Traveler to join the Fatui.

Also considering his point is to be de-masked, he could actually become playable - but not as Capitano, because he'll have been de-masked by the Traveler. Either that, or Mihoyo will kill him off.

III. The Harbingers who have joined/will most likely join the Traveler's party

First of all, the Zanni aren't exactly the "good guys". They're depicted as villainous, they're traitors and scheming characters who manipulate - even if their goal is to get the Innamorati together, it's not out of the goodness of their heart but for their own benefits. It's an important thing to keep in mind like... Don't expect the Harbingers to be nice just because they're on our side.

1. Tartaglia

This one is obviously not a theory since this guy has had three goddamn banners, but more of an explanation on how he joined the party, linked to LCA. I also want to talk about it because the Tartaglia from LCA is really fucking miserable, like... a whole pathetic little meow meow (/aff).

He's depicted as an old man with bad eyesight. In some plays he can replace Pantalone or Il Dottore and therefore start as a Vecchio, but he'll ultimately always side with the Innamorati.

His name is derived from tartagliare, which means "to stutter" and depicts the fact thzt chaos always follows him, mainly because the Zanni always struggle to understand what he's trying to say. His main emotions are therefore anger and frustration at his incapacity to speak properly, and he's often made fun of because of that (which sucks. Fuck people who make fun of stutters)

Childe is disliked by the other Harbingers because he causes chaos and disrupts their plans, even going as far as almost destroying Liyue Harbor. He's also super quick-tempered and full of anger and bloodlust, so that fits. But he also joined the Traveler after his defeat, so...

Also, his Constellation depicts some kind of person destined for never-ending battles, to no one's surprise.

2. Pulcinella

As the representative of Snezhnaya, Pulcinella is the other confirmed playable Harbinger. He's also the one that recruited Childe in the Fatui.

Pulcinella is a french guy, who remains crouched to avoid getting hit until he can spring back on his feet and "bounce up to full height". He represents the poor guy who doesn't have much to lose and speaks candidly even to his superiors because he doesn't fear the consequences for his actions (king). It's a common trope for him to win no matter what.

Basically he doesn't give a fuck, and that's why the audience loves him. He's an opportunist and looks out for himself but somehow also helps others.

The theory obviously depicts him as a Snezhnayan, but predicts we'll see him in Fontaine under a different name - which also correlates with the fact that Pulcinella is a French immigrant (so, like Thoma with Mond, yk).

We could also meet him in Sumeru, tho. As for Snezhnaya, it's possible that he'll protect the Traveler there, much like Thoma was our guide in Inazuma.

3. Scaramouche (distant yelling)

My favorite part. <3 Okay so.

In LCA, Scaramuccia is a little shit. He gets himself into trouble and pins the blame on others, and somehow always gets away with it. He's an unreliable servant who ends up betraying the Vecchi, much like Scaramouche betrayed the Harbingers - and he's also the 1st one to betray them, making the other Zanni follow suit.

The only reason Scaramuccia sides with the Innamorati is out of spite for the Vecchi. So Scaramouche could very well join us just to fuck with the Tsaritsa, tbh.

I won't go too much into the Kabuki part of it (could make a separate post about it, but honestly the doc i linked gives pretty much everything), but it actually shows how Scaramouche isn't just an antagonist. First off, he named himself Kunikuzushi (the main antagonist of Kabuki theatre), but his outfit echoes more with the hero protagonist. There are also parts of his outfit that symbolize protection against evil, and kind of solidifies his future role as Inazuma's protector rather than destroyer.

He'll need to find peace with his heart before he can finally side with the Traveler. Another interesting thing is that, in LCA, Scaramuccia is the one that helps the Innamorati communicate - which could mean that Scaramouche helps the Traveler get in touch with their sibling, making him... actually super important. But that, plus the fact that he needs to find peace, means he could very well not be playable for a very long time.

4. Columbina

She actually is an educated Zanni, and the most... normal of the bunch. She's very smart, depicted as a young woman, and also the Innamorata's personal maid.

She sympathizes very quickly with the Traveler, which means she could very well be playable right off the bat. The theory makes ties with Honkai Impact tho, and as someone who isn't invested in that game at all, i can't really develop.

5. Arlecchino

He's Columbina's love interest, but does go after other women. He's also the most-known character of LCA, very clearly in support of the Innamorati and characterized by how STUPID he is. He's a genuinely good guy, terrified of his master (either Pantalone or Dottore), and also beats up Scaramuccia in some plays.

He's not the scheming type, but he's very reactive and impulsive and is in charge of the LCA's rhythm. Whatever scheme he may try to plan, it never works, and everyone loves watching him struggle tbh.

Arlecchino is tightly linked to Dottore and, in a Watatsumi quest, he's mentioned by an electro Fatuus guy, who says he and his friends grew up in an orphanage founded by Arlecchino. We also know that the Fatui mobs we see in-game have been experimented on, and that Arlecchino is in some cases Dottore’s servant, so it could mean that Dottore forces him to give a portion of his orphans to experiment on them.

6. Sandrone

Sandrone is, surprisingly, the puppet - we thought it'd be Scaramouche, but everything actually tied him to the doll, so onto our actual little pinocchio. He's a very... side character, we don't know much about him (in LCA, i mean) apart from the fact that he's just a peasant, not exactly tied to the Zanni nor the Vecchi.

He's often compared to Robin Hood, as the spokesperson of the poor people of society. But that doesn't make him a nice person, as he's still a trickster and a malicious man who does everything in his power to provide for him family.

As for Genshin, well... it's hard to make any assumptions, and even harder to say if he'll ever be playable. However, as the puppet, he could be (according to the theory, not me)(but i agree) some kind of enhanced human who lost all aspects of his humanity. It could be out of his own will, as he'd do anything to provide for his family.