#Rambling thoughts

[tehcherrya]

Y'all can go ahead and celebrate the Ides of March and the assassination of Julius Caesar or whatever-- I will be celebrating the day that Merry & Eowyn Stabbed and Killed the Witch-King of Angmar like a normal person, thank you.

[owlbelly]

so. i understand where the sentiment "listening to an audiobook is the same thing as reading the book" is coming from - i mean, yes, the bottom line is you are taking in the same words in what is possibly a more accessible (or maybe just more enjoyable) format for you! and i'm 100% in agreement that "book snobs" who say "no you didn't really read it" if you listened to the audiobook are full of shit. ofc you should engage with stories in whatever way works for you, there is no moral or intellectual superiority to reading words off a page vs. listening to them

but it also is different? an audiobook is a performance. choices a narrator makes about line readings can drastically influence the meaning of the lines. even just different voices, accents, etc. - there are creative choices being made by the person delivering the words to you, and that affects your experience of the story in a different way than if you were making those choices in your own head. it might even change the way you visualize what's going on!

this isn't a bad thing it's just An Actual Thing & i think it's worth talking about. it rubs me the wrong way when people act like accommodations (and for many people audiobooks are an accommodation) always result in a completely identical experience, or even that they should, & if you suggest that people accessing media in different ways are having different experiences it's somehow ableist

anyway on rare occasions i really enjoy audiobooks but mostly they are much less accessible to me than words on a page (i need to be able to reread, flip back and forth, go at my own pace) & i also just really strongly prefer to encounter a text on my own before hearing someone else's performance of it, if possible! again i don't think it's "better" to read a physical book i just think it is a Distinct form of experiencing a story & acting like the two things are entirely the same is sort of doing a disservice to both

[sn0w-o]

omg so yesterday I was at my acting classes and there was this girl that had a bracelet and it said Ivan on it with like red and black beads, so i went up to her and I was like “ random question but do you know alien stage?” And she full on pulls an Ivan figure out of her pocket like does she just carry that around with her???

my life is one big joke I swear

[frownyalfred]

not to make everything about a/b/o (again) but I was thinking about the typical Martha and Thomas death scenes, and the one in BVS would be so much sadder if you added the lens of a/b/o to it?

some thoughts:

Chill shot Thomas first not just because he got in front of them, but because shooting an omega/pup would send an alpha into a rage so violent Chill would never have survived intact

Shooting Thomas wouldn’t have kept him down fully, but wounding Martha (his omega) would have split his attention, badly

Bruce’s last scent of his father is the acrid smell of pain and alpha aggression

Martha died trying to touch Bruce and Thomas, covered in blood. Did she manage to brush her fingers against Bruce? If she scented him, she left her dying scent on him. Literally trailing death down Bruce’s cheek or neck.

Bruce’s pup instincts would encourage him to curl up close with them and hide until the threat was gone. And that’s how the cops found him — they thought he was dead too, covered in blood and the scent of death.

Alfred lost two pack bonds in one night. As pack beta, it must have nearly driven him insane. No pack alpha, no omega. Just a shivering pup and him.

[marquis-charbon]

Why does Gale have to kneel down so that he could connect his memories to yours. He could have just put your hand on his chest and just show you, but this man had to kneel down.

Like sir? SIR? My answer is always yes unless you're gonna ask me something else.

[mariaashby64]

Thinking about TMA time-travel fix it fics and have quickly come to the conclusion that my ideal "fix it fic" is literally just the plot of Madoka Magica.

"Fix it Fic" but Jon is on loop #168, Sasha must die, and Tim is never able to be saved.

[lornescaritas]

i wanna know how irving's encounter at burt's door went when the otc was turned off. like how did that go? was burt like hey guy who tf are u? 🧐 im just so curious as to why outie burt is following irv and crying....likeeee he's gotta know something about irv. maybe outie burt knows something about innie irv. I always thought the abrupt retirement was sussy right as burt and irv were getting closer....idk man

[waywardangel-wilds]

thoughts on Lenore Dove:

She is unlike any other character we've ever seen. She is full of this self-righteousness that rings similar to Gale or even Peeta; she wants to fight for what's right, but she lacks awareness of how her actions affect others. She lacks the weight of responsibility around her neck that every other character has -> she has no child to mind, no mother to protect, no partner who's life she puts at risk... until she does.

She is loved. She is an orphan but her family envelops her. She is quiet but her boy gives her the space she needs to open up. In more ways than one her loving circle shields her, shelters her.

She isn't Lucy Gray although she'd probably like to be. She looks up to her, idolizes her, and wears her clothes. She doesn't sing or dance for others in the same way Lucy did -- not for entertainment but because that was her life.

Her rebellions can cause harm to herself and to others -> the smaller things when she was a little girl, the bigger things as a 16-year-old. She wants to fight back so bad that she cannot see it sometimes, how incredibly small she is in comparison, how easily it is to crush all that she loves.

She sometimes sounds like Peeta -- she thinks about the meaning of things and the possibility of things -- and yet she lacks the sober maturity I find in him. Her explanations and thoughts are too simple, too idealistic, too young.

And it really is a shame that she never had the chance to grow or change. Lenore Dove had it in her to become something spectacular.

[jackoshadows]

Just thinking out loud after coming across the nth iteration of Sansa brushing Arya's hair fanart. For those who love the Stark sisters and draw art of them I always wonder why there is not more art from Arya's perspective.

If it's all fanon and headcanons anyways - like Sansa brushing Arya's hair - then why not fanart of Arya and Sansa going horse-riding? Or, if horses are hard to draw, why not art of Arya teaching Sansa how to do numbers? Or Arya showing Sansa the different kinds of flowers and how to make a bouquet? or Arya introducing Sansa to the babies of the kitchen maids? Why not fanart for the sisters that's about Arya for a change?

It's just that, canonically, it's such an unique Arya character trait that her hair is often messy and not brushed. Her tangled hair is both a source of pain and low self-esteem for her (Her mother wanting her to be a mini Sansa and getting bullied by Sansa and Jeyne) and a source of unconditional love (Jon messing up her hair and always remembering and loving her for her tangled hair).

She is traumatized by Catelyn's need for her to be another Sansa:

"Well," Arya said, "my hair's messy and my nails are dirty and my feet are all hard." Robb wouldn't care about that, probably, but her mother would. Lady Catelyn always wanted her to be like Sansa, to sing and dance and sew and mind her courtesies. Just thinking of it made Arya try to comb her hair with her fingers, but it was all tangles and mats, and all she did was tear some out

She is open to having her hair brushed by someone who doesn't disparage her appearance and expect her to be a certain way (And that's certainly not Sansa!):

Lady Smallwood insisted that Arya take another bath, and cut and comb her hair besides; the dress she put her in this time was sort of lilac-colored, and decorated with little baby pearls. The only good thing about it was that it was so delicate that no one could expect her to ride in it. So the next morning as they broke their fast, Lady Smallwood gave her breeches, belt, and tunic to wear, and a brown doeskin jerkin dotted with iron studs. "They were my son's things," she said. "He died when he was seven." "I'm sorry, my lady." Arya suddenly felt bad for her, and ashamed. "I'm sorry I tore the acorn dress too. It was pretty."

And she finds unconditional love and acceptance in Jon's embracing of her as she is:

Jon wouldn't care who I killed or whether I brushed my hair . . . "Jon looks like me, even though he's bastard-born. He used to muss my hair and call me 'little sister.'" Arya missed Jon most of all. Just saying his name made her sad. "How do you know about Jon?" - Arya

Just in Arya's very first AGoT chapter, Jon messes up her hair three times!! No wonder Arya's hair is always tangled and messy and no wonder Arya likes it that way!

Jon grinned, reached over, and messed up her hair. Arya flushed. They had always been close. - Arya, AGoT

She would have given anything if Jon had been here to call her "little sister" and muss her hair. Not that it needed mussing. She'd seen her reflection in puddles, and she didn't think hair got any more mussed than hers. - Arya, AGoT

She wished somehow they could come to the Wall before Winterfell, so Jon might muss up her hair and call her "little sister." She'd tell him, "I missed you," and he'd say it too at the very same moment, the way they always used to say things together. She would have liked that. She would have liked that better than anything. - Arya, ACoK

Needle was Jon Snow's smile. He used to mess my hair and call me "little sister," she remembered, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes. - Arya, AFfC

And Arya … he missed her even more than Robb, skinny little thing that she was, all scraped knees and tangled hair and torn clothes, so fierce and willful. Arya never seemed to fit, no more than he had … yet she could always make Jon smile. He would give anything to be with her now, to muss up her hair once more and watch her make a face, to hear her finish a sentence with him. - Jon, AGoT

As he rode, Jon peeled off his glove to air his burned fingers. Ugly things. He remembered suddenly how he used to muss Arya's hair. His little stick of a sister. He wondered how she was faring. It made him a little sad to think that he might never muss her hair again. - Jon, ACoK

He wanted to believe it would be Arya. He wanted to see her face again, to smile at her and muss her hair, to tell her she was safe. - Jon, ADwD

You know nothing, Jon Snow. He thought of Arya, her hair as tangled as a bird's nest. I made him a warm cloak from the skins of the six whores who came with him to Winterfell … I want my bride back … I want my bride back … I want my bride back … "I think we had best change the plan," Jon Snow said. - Jon, ADwD

It's also something to note that Jon seems to exhibit some sort of disdain for the ladies brushing their hair

A warrior princess, he decided, not some willowy creature who sits up in a tower, brushing her hair and waiting for some knight to rescue her. - Jon, ADwD

GRRM has talked about how Arya's messy hair is something Jon misses and connects with in the girls he loves and admires - like Ygritte, for example, with her tangled, never brushed hair.

It’s a reference to a certain physical type, and a certain indication of what Jon finds admirable. It’s like someone who reminds you of, you know… Other people might be put off by this, you know, hair that looks like small rodents have been living in there. It doesn’t put him off because he is used to that.”

Why change that and always have her conform to what Sansa wants to do in all these fanart? Why try to turn Arya into a mini Sansa like Catelyn wanted to do - something that is painful for Arya. Why not explore fanart where Sansa is doing something that Arya loves and is good at?

So yeah, I am not an artist, can't even doodle lol. Artists are going to draw what they want and that's perfectly okay.

I simply wanted to point out that this would be something that canon Arya would dislike and wouldn't want done. Not to mention canon Sansa is never going to be brushing Arya's hair in the first place because they have never had that kind of relationship and never will and that's perfectly okay as well.

And if there is fanart of Sansa brushing Arya's hair, there should be addendum fanart of Jon immediately messing it up and them both having a giggle over it!!

[frazzledsoul]

Thinking a little bit about Rory Gilmore's paternal grandparents completely rejecting her, to the point where their first real meeting with her after she was an infant (sixteen years later) results in her grandfather yelling that Lorelai ruined her father's life by giving birth to her in the first place (it's not clear how, since he never lifted a finger or gave a dime to help Lorelai or Rory until she's nearly grown). Her grandparents hate her, have disowned her, see her as nothing but a threat and a curse, and won't acknowledge her existence. Yet her younger sister is loved and adored by them, and no one sees this as weird or concerning or hurtful. When Christopher goes to visit her at college, he blithely comments that Gigi is "being spoiled by her grandmother", seemingly not caring that this same grandmother wants nothing to do with Rory whatsoever. When Christopher's father died Rory goes to comfort him but it's his loss, not hers, because she's not allowed to claim him as a relative. Weeks later, Christopher comes to Emily and Richard's vow renewal to try to win Lorelai back from Luke and when Rory goes to comfort him, all he can do is lament that he's lost Lorelai and that their first kiss was the best moment of his life. Not Rory's birth, not Gigi's birth, not anything having to do with either of his children, but a momentary kiss from his teenage girlfriend who wants nothing to do with him anymore. How pathetic. What a way to remind Rory that she doesn't even matter on the list of things that are important to him, just as she wasn't to his parents, either. Rogan fans love this moment because Rory intuits this to carpe diem and makes a beeline for Logan to hook up with him (and Literati fans find this inspiring as well, because a similar sentiment prompted the first Literati kiss) but it seems more an act of...recklessness to me. Her grandparents don't love her, her dad only cares about her as an extension to Lorelai, Lorelai is currently preoccupied with Luke, so why not take the opportunity to go after the person she's been lusting after for a few months who actually does seem to like her right now?

I am not saying this is all that Rory and Logan's relationship was about or that Rory refusing to acknowledge her sister's existence is in any way justified, but perhaps some of her acting out over the last half of the show has a lot to do with the way her father's family scorning her and how nobody expected her to notice or care.

You can never make me like you, Haydens.

[tehcherrya]

Somebody give me the rights to the LOTR cinematic productions so I can create a coming of age dramedy taking place during the seventeen years between Bilbo's 111th birthday party and Frodo leaving the Shire. I'd call it "The Shire Seventeen". It would not only include the Conspiracy as a backdrop but also a bunch of the development and growing up that was probably done within those seventeen years, that is entirely unrelated to the Ring.

It's a whole seventeen years worth of low-stakes hobbit Shire drama and shenanigans, guys-- I need that cozy comedy content.

[nukethebees]

"Aurgh, I'm so sick of seeing movies and TV shows depicting Arthurian times as knights in shining armour and castles! Why can't it be more period accurate?!!"

I've seen people make posts along the lines of what I've just written above, and it's weird seeing people get angry at this. Maybe it's due to a misunderstanding of the Arthurian legends (which I can't exactly blame them for as popular culture generally hasn't helped in that regard beyond giving people an introduction to said legends), or maybe it's due to something else.

But here's the thing. The sources were not period accurate, being primarily from the eleventh to fifteen centuries. Furthermore, we don't know if Arthur actually existed.

I know that's a bit of a contentious topic, and I'll just outright throw my hat into the ring and say...no, I don't think Arthur existed. God knows I've wanted to believe, but...sorry, no, I really don't. I'm not convinced anymore of his historical reality (His mythical truth on the other hand...but that's another, slightly more wishy-washy post for another time).

I'm getting off-topic, but I think I've already made my point that it's just strange when people get angry at Arthuriana that's clearly not trying to be accurate to the Post-Roman period. Granted, it's justified when something is marketing itself as "period-accurate Arthur" and they completely bungle the history and the period details.

[elrielffs]

Remove SJM interviews, online fandom, bonus chapters, power points, essays, TOG and CC and look at just the books as they are published that you can pick up in a store right now—-

Based only on the books with no knowledge of SJM, her other series, theories and what not—-

It is Elriel. That is where it is heading. That is the couple that have scenes together, that is the couple you know have unresolved tension, that is the couple where the interest in each other is obvious and stated and is noted on by other characters in the books.

Antis can sit here and try to wade thru past interviews, lines from other series, point to fan theories but at the end of they day you don’t need any of that and should NOT need any of that to understand a book series or where the series is heading. Reading does not include homework.

If you DO need all that then you don’t know how to read comprehensively or SJM has done a really bad job.

And I’m not saying that if you do take into account all these things that oh Elriel is disproven I’m just saying you don’t need it and it’s not what the millions of fans of ACOTAR are doing.

The romance in a romance series should not be a “gotcha” or a “twist” or a “surprise!” It should be built steadily and believable for the common reader.

The ship war is entirely fan made. SJM and Bloomsbury might be using silence but have they otherwise capitalized on it? No post on ACOTAR like choose your side, Team this or that. Like, people say the ship war has boosted SJM but can you imagine if they actually played into it? (Think Twilight.)

All this to say that SJM has been leading her readers to who is next in THE BOOKS, has stated it is obvious (and it IS), and neither her nor publisher have fed into it actively.

And yes, Elriels delve into supplementary tools too but we don’t need it (even the BC) cause there is so many juicy, juicy, scenes already.

Distill the ACOTAR reading experience down to What is written in the books only and it is so obvious.

[a99jazzybean]

Okay, this might be really niche, but thoughts on a JayVik x reader fic based on Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige? Jayce and Viktor would be rival magicians and the reader works for both of them pretending to sabotage the other. Obviously we doin some enemy lover nonsense as well. I’d keep the time period in the Victorian era. I’m not going to spoil the movie, but for those who know I think bringing in survivor Jayce could be possible.

Idk just something I thought up that maybe people would like. Let me know your thoughts!

[fanaticsnail]

Left Behind - Snails Rambling Fic Thoughts

Tag list: @mfreedomstuff @since-im-already-here @feral-artistry @sordidmusings @writingmysanity

Notes: I think I like writing fanfic and rambling about this so much because I really got into playing mermaids, fae and princesses as a child 💀.

Also, considering the last thoughts I had on this concept was on Kid's side, I wanted to know how it would look from the other perspective.

Not a fic, just purely a concept - but a long one.

Okay, okay, okay.

But imagine being a Kid-Pirate who was left behind by your captain after he declared he was going to take on Red-Haired Shanks. He left you behind, specifically, because you were the only one who opposed him.

“That is the stupidest fucking idea you've ever had,” you'd voice your reprimand alongside your concern, “He is one of the emporers. He has a crew far stronger than we are. He has an Armada he could call for backup. His Haki is-.”

And after you've aired your opposition, Eustass Kid brushes them aside; convincing you that he'd given up on the idea. He sends you away to gather inventory, casting off and weighing anchor the minute you're out of sight.

And then the chaos, the havok, the injury, the mayhem.

Suddenly your captain is missing an arm, his skin is scorched and mutilated. There's crewmen missing, there's so much blood.

After you regroup with your troop, you rush to your captain and embrace him as he falls to his knees. He whispers between sobs, clutching at your shirt with his remaining fist.

“You were right,” he attempts to embrace you completely, his phantom limb joining behind your back as he attempts to join his wrists together, “You were right. I should have listened. I should have never left you behind.”

He expects your scolding, he expects your wrath, he expects, awaits and anticipates the screams of fury erupting from your lungs.

In it's stead, all you do is lower your tone and elevate his face with your two hands caressing his scarred skin. His cheeks were streaked with tears, his eyes full of glossy sorrow. You’d glare down at him through half-hooded lashes, your lip curling up as your silent rage begins in a low whisper.

“I will destroy them,” you'd confess in a tone darker than the dead of night, “They will bend until they break, their blood will ignite beneath the flames of my wrath.”

Eustass Kid would never see a rage akin to this for as long as he lives. A rage that fuelled your retribution enough to have you break away from your crew and live in solitude while you trained and readied your body to weaponize your grief .

He had left you behind, after all. Why should you continue to claim him as captain as he so easily was able to cast you aside? Although now he is no longer captain to you, he will always be mentioned in the same breath as ‘friend,' or even 'lover.'

Names, faces and titles would be committed to memory. Your persona as an assassin to invoke your revenge would have you take new names and titles of your own. You would practice by taking out some lesser captain's and their crews, claiming bounties and training against Haki-users to develop one of your own.

When you finally feel ready enough to begin picking off members of the Red-Hair pirates, Shanks immediately would sense a game is afoot. He would start off by having his sharp-shooter constantly be on guard and ready for you. That would be fine, you'd trained your body to work tirelessly. Had Yasopp? The closure of his eyes and the slow rise and fall of his chest would state otherwise.

Although it would be far easier to take out their Doctor or their Chef first, your eyes would immediately draw their focus to the first mate. What is a pinky toe to the whole body of a crew? Why should you devote your time to such digits, when you had a window to take out Shanks’ right hand first?

As you'd disguise yourself beneath the shroud of Beckman's shadow, your shock would be adamant when a slow chuckle rattled in his smoke-riddled lungs. As you’d elevated your dagger, readying your blade to strike him in the back, he'd speak up.

“So this is the one that was left behind?” he'd sigh drawing up the filter end of his cigarette, placing it in his lips, “The Kid-Pirate that stood up to their Captain. Left behind for showcasing nothing but loyalty.”

You'd halt your plunge, feeling Beckman’s Haki begin to ignite and compel your body to bend to his will. You'd shake it off, readying yourself to dive forward and take out the larger man once again.

“You took his arm,” your dark, venomous confession would ignite a small amount of fear in the base of his spine, “You mutilated my crew.”

“Aye, that I did,” Beckman would confess, a man of honor amongst invoking such violence, “But you were left behind. Are they really your crew if they left you so easily?”

“They loved me,” your reflection would cause your heart to flutter, and lip to quiver.

“Or did they think you too weak to carry out the task?” his ignition of the flint-lock lighter would break you from your trance, eyes narrowed and glaring at him as he would turn to meet you.

“I don't think you're weak,” Beckman’s confession would have you stumble more, not anticipating praise as your blade now met against his wide chest.

“And why should I care what you think?” you'd spit at him, drawing your body closer as the threat of your blade made its steel kiss the pectoral above his heart, “You're the enemy. You hurt him, my crew, and you deserve death.”

“That may be true,” he'd confess, leaning against your blade to test the resolve of your threat, “But you deserve so much more than abandonment in response to your loyalty.”

“You deserve a crew that would have you'd back,” he'd continue, “A crew that would seek to train you up, uplift you, and never forsake you.”

“I suppose you mean ‘your crew,’ Beckman?” you'd snarl, your resolve beginning to crack and scatter, “I would rather die.”

“Join us. Learn from us, then leave us,” he'd suggest, “Return to your former captain," he'd exhale a long breath of smoke away from your face, "See if they're worthy of having you as their family, or if you'd rather stay with a new, more respectful, one."

Tldr: Eustass Kid abandoned you, returning only when he was defeated and asking for your forgiveness. You didn't grant him forgiveness, but offered him retribution instead. Training for 3 long years, you had finally readied yourself to destroy the red-hair pirates. As you were about to invoke it, you were offered a place amongst the crew you swore you'd defeat. They want to train you to be better than them, a wildcard in a world of piracy.