#Senna had to die because she was a movie character

[forgottensoulreaper]

Why did the author kill you off?

tagged by/stolen from: @baiika​

tagging: You! You reading this! Go do the thing!

Somebody Had To Go

Sorry, kid. Really, honestly, I'm sorry. Someone had to die, for one reason or another, and you drew the short straw this time around. This wasn't a matter of surprise. No, your death wasn't meant to be a shock, wasn't meant to rattle the audience to their core. Your life was a debt, an obligation. Somebody had to go, because the story needed weight, needed sacrifice, needed the conflict to have consequences. Maybe you had the perfect balance of "emotional impact" and "lack of loose ends", or maybe the author just didn't know what else to do with you. Regardless... you deserved better. Another writer could have given you more time and a better death, if even a death at all. At least your fans will never forget- at least they will forge their own stories, tales in which you live to see another day.

[linelpisffxiv]

Hokay, so... If I do the thing (Though I'll probably pop a poll again cuz only 4 real responses, though it still gives a majority pangender sexiest) I'll have guidelines

Can I propoganda?

Yep. But keep it propaganda, not antipaganda

That's not how the word works.

I don't care. We both know what I mean. Tell us why to vote for who you want, not why we shouldn't vote for who you don't want moving on.

But what if it was a counterpick?

Look up why fans like the character and use those.

Can I Counterpick?

Sure. I do it all the time when I'm neutral on one character but don't want the other moving on in polls.

Why aren't the twins/Lalas in the sexy poll?

The twins are 16. I know there's some debate and they could be over 18 by now, but until the powers that be say they are over it, we're not touching it. Yes, it says 16 is Sharlayan Adulthood, but there's still laws in the real world about this. If it helps, I HC the twins as 18/19-ish by the end of the quest "Endwalker." But again, until we're shown a growth spurt and they're explicitly said to be over 18, I'm not touching it.

As for Lalas, my reasoning comes from my FC leads when they did art. We all know they're adults. Many have facial hair, and many talk about sex/are implied to be sexually desirable, but if some friend sees you reblog a poll where one of the images is of Tataru and the header says "Sexiest Final Fantasy XIV character" would your non-XIV mutuals understand "Oh, this is a dwarf race"? Or would they wonder why there's a toddler in a poll like that?

(Kan-e-Senna is removed for the same reasons as Lalafell. Yes, she's in her 20s, but she canonically stopped aging in her teens and uses makeup and shapewear to look more mature than she does naturally. She may be the oldest-looking of her race, but I still feel uncomfortable with putting her in, even if she's more borderline than the others)

It turns out X character is under 18!

If this is after the poll concluded, I did my best to try and find out how old these characters are, and if they're using an adult body, unless I had some reasons to doubt, I let them in.

It turns out X Non-Lalafell character you refused is over 18

Again, if they're using a child body, I chose caution.

So-and-so is brigading against X character

Honestly, I don't care. Even if it's my favs, I don't care. I tried to give my favs rougher first rounds for this reason. Even if they're putting it in the tags on the poll itself, I don't care. I suggested otherwise, but I don't control it. And while I'm also not fond of Brigading, especially in the thread of the poll itself, nothing I can do. We all know this is really a tournament of most popular/has the most popular fans/Is a really lucky guy who keeps ending up being used as a counterpick.

What is a counterpick? You keep using this word

When you're not so much picking the person cuz you like them, but because you hate/disagree with the other option. Like when you said Die Hard is your favorite Christmas movie 10 years ago. You aren't saying it's your favorite cuz you actually like it (you may or may not) or think it's a Christmas Movie. You're picking it cuz it takes place on Christmas and you hate traditional Christmas movies. (These days, the statement isn't exactly as provocative as it was. We all get it. But it's the best generic example I have.)

Or in this case, if... say... the fight is Vauthry against G'raha and you hate G'raha because he's a nasty little fanboy who should have stayed dead in 5.3 or even 5.0 or 2.5 and is a homewrecker, you pick Vauthry. Not cuz he's hot. You just want to make it one vote harder for G'raha to win.

Just remember to put Heimlich and Sqiudward memes in your propaganda post and I'll be laughing with you. Vauthry didn't need any submissions cuz I knew you'd all flock to those.

Alternately, your blorbo is Gaius. He's safely winning his poll against Erichthonios so you're not too worried, but the next round he's up against the winner of Vauthry vs Hien, which is pretty tight (Within oh, about 15%, which is less than you expected Vauthry to trail). You know that if Gaius goes up against Hien, he's probably going to lose handily, so you vote for, and post propaganda for Vauthry with all those Squidward and Heimlich memes, because despite the fact that his Innocence form is hot, you know it'll be easier to win against him than Hien.

Will you be sharing Propaganda?

If I find stuff for both sides early enough, sure. Or if there's funny posts of the two kissing.

Do you want your Blorbos to win?

Fuck no. I want them out as fast as possible and I deliberately messed with the polls some to make the first two rounds tougher for them to advance. I'm sorry to those who I gave tougher polls to as well for those two rounds, but if my faves won, it's the will of the people.

What about your BEC? You want him to win or lose?

Eh, lose if I'm being honest, but I left his bracket alone for the first two rounds. If he wins, it's the will of the people.

[edwardsmate4ever]

Ahead of the next chapter of Visions Interrupted, I pieced together a backstory for the Amazonian coven. The key character is Kachiri, who was not featured in the movies. This beautiful woman is how I picture her:

You can read it on FFn, AO3, or below the cut

The Origins of the Amazonian Coven

Kachiri, Zafrina, and Senna are all direct descendants of West African natives. Brought to Brazil by Portuguese slave traders in the 1500s from what is modern-day Ghana, three African men managed to escape. One man hit his captor hard in the temple with his heavy shackles, killing him. The man was able to steal the key from the man’s body, and he freed the two men he was captured with. They hid in the Amazon rainforest, an inhospitable environment for most humans, but an environment they were somewhat familiar with coming from the semi-deciduous rain forests of West Africa. They eventually found safety and integration with the Guató people of The Pantanal. The Guató were river-dwelling nomads who lived out of their canoes, with most of their diet consisting of grains and fish. Once the three men showed their worth by hunting land animals and presenting them to the Chief, they were accepted into the community. The men each found love within the tribe and all three produced daughters. Kachiri, Zafrina, and Senna naturally banded together as they were still considered outsiders due to their fathers recently integrating. But they grew up as contributing members of the tribe, and were never treated differently.

Kachiri was in her late twenties on that fateful day. Far too old not to be committed to someone in the tribe, but she wasn’t considered an option among the men as she had an undeniably close relationship with her childhood friends, Zafrina and Senna. One day, Kachiri was gathering fruit for her tribe several miles from home when she was bitten by a vampire. When she awoke from the immense pain of her transformation, she was met by Christian, the leader of the Brazilian vampire coven. He had taken an interest in Kachiri’s beauty and changed her to become his bride. Kachiri did not protest Christian’s plan mainly because she was afraid and bloodthirsty and unsure of what and where she was. She overheard Christian telling another coven mate that he would not bed Kachiri until she was no longer a newborn, for only then would she lack the strength to fight him off. As a result, Kachiri worked hard at controlling her newborn wildness on the inside, while still acting like a newborn in Christian's presence. Liana, the coven’s linguist and Thiago’s mate, taught Kachiri more Portuguese than she already knew, along with English, as many travelers utilized the language. During her first few months, a strange and creepy vampire named Joham visited the coven, talking about his desire to impregnate women in the nearby tribe, where the Brazilians often fed. Internally, Kachiri was horrified by what would happen to Joham’s eventual victims, but she said and did nothing. She continued to pretend to be wild and distractible as she worked on her control until she was confident enough to leave on her own. One day while Christian was hunting with Thiago, Kachiri ran. Liana did not attempt to stop her. Kachiri took to the waterways to mask her direction and find her best friends and lovers, who were still with the wetlands tribe.

Kachiri found her friends sitting close together beneath a tree, and when she approached, they were beside themselves with joy that their missing lover was still alive. It was thought by the tribe that Kachiri had been eaten by a jaguar or swallowed by an anaconda, as no body was ever found. Though they were happy to see her, they were confused by the new sharp symmetry of her features. Kachiri explained the fate which befell her and explained what it was like to be a vampire, that she’d been told she would never age or die, but in exchange, she had to drink blood. Zafrina and Senna had not gotten over Kachiri's death, and her loss had weighed heavily on them both every day. The trio had spent their whole lives together and if they didn't have to part again, they didn't want to. They asked to be turned into vampires as well, and Kachiri gladly turned them both, her control ironclad due to her work spent honing it so she could escape Christian before he could claim her.

Kachiri and Senna did not possess a tangible gift, although it could be argued that Kachiri had the gift of superior control if she could fool Christian and turn her two lovers before her newborn year was completed. Zafrina, however, had a rather powerful gift, where she could place whatever visuals she wanted into a person's mind. The three women theorized this talent had been born into her; her father had been a griot, and his father, and his father before that. She had been taught the art of telling their histories and legends, and her tales were so descriptive and convincing that it manifested in her ability to project such detailed illusions.

Together, the three vampires lived in isolation, hiding from Christian and the Brazilians, never to be seen again by their tribe. **(Christian never came to look for Kachiri because he didn’t care enough. He just turned the next beauty he saw, and Carla became his wife.) Eventually, the Guató people moved on to another area of the Pantanal. To preserve their anonymity, the three women moved into the deserted area, often feeding in Argentina or Peru, or on poachers in the Amazon Rainforest. This continued for centuries, and the women never encountered others of their kind. They didn’t need anyone else besides each other though, so the trio were content with their life.

In the 1940s, the American coven needed to escape the World War II draft. They could not go to Europe where the war was raging, and Asia was also dangerous. They instead travelled to South America, which was relatively untouched by the war, and they enjoyed the varied wildlife they found in the rainforest. This was where they encountered the Amazonian coven. Zafrina immediately used her gift to protect her lovers against the unknown vampires. The leader beseeched the women, saying that they meant no harm, and explained their bizarre way of life. Kachiri had taught Zafrina and Senna the languages she knew, so they were all able to understand Carlisle’s words. Zafrina stopped using her gift and the women got to know the five new vampires. They parted on good terms, having forged new friendships with the Cullens: Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, and Edward.

[coneycat]

BoRhap knockoff, a snippet

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I write original fiction and had found myself making up characters based on the characters in Bohemian Rhapsody.

I also mentioned there was a good chance the story would turn into a murder mystery. Well, it’s stretching a point to call it a “story,” exactly, but it’s definitely a murder mystery. At the moment I have a small group of characters and am working on creating an English country house, an unexpected revelation regarding the bass player’s family, and a murdered upper-class twit.

And the following snippet, which I mostly worked out while walking Senna this morning. You may wish to guess which character here matches which character in the movie, but there are no prizes. Also it’s “behind the cut,” so to speak, so as not to subject everyone to my nonsense.

Snippet:

Jamie handed the joint to Jeremy, then closed his eyes and pressed his fingertips to his forehead.

 "All right?" Gavin asked, in a slightly-too-neutral tone.

 "Yeah," Jamie replied, without opening his eyes. "It's just that my fingers are cold so this helps my headache. I'm fine."

 "I'm not fine," Felicity said miserably. "I'm pretty scared, actually."

 Roo absolutely concurred, but in the interests of cheering her up he put on a rallying tone. "You? You have nothing to worry about. In horror movies it's always the gays and the black people who die first. And since I'm the one, and the closest we've got to the other, I'm the one who needs to watch myself."

 Jamie did open his eyes at that. He turned one of his best don't-be-scared looks, the one that actually usually worked before they went onstage in a new venue, on Roo. "I thought we agreed this was Agatha Christie. Totally different rules."

 True, Roo thought. If this was Agatha Christie I wouldn't even be here. He didn't say it, trying hard not to think about being safely at home right now. About all of them being safely home now.

 And Felicity still really did look scared, so Roo grabbed for the lifeline Jamie had just thrown and ran with it.

 "Really, Fee, you're fine," he assured her, borrowing the nickname Gav called her. "You're the ingenue. The ingenue never dies in Agatha Christie books. Just for God's sake don't get involved in a love triangle, because that spells noble self-sacrificing death for one of these two idiots." This with a flamboyant gesture toward Jamie and Jeremy who, being both straight and unrelated to Felicity, were the obvious candidates for any triangular action that might happen.

 Jeremy passed the joint to Gavin and addressed Jamie with slightly forced good cheer:

 "Well, that's you fucked, mate. Self-sacrificing nobility is more your line than mine."

 "Only if the author thinks the readers will like you better," Roo pointed out. "And I'm not sure you want to make that bet against Kanga."

 "Shit," Jeremy said, while Jamie did his I-don't-make-the-rules look, the one with the little closed-mouth smile and the raised eyebrows. Felicity almost smiled.

 Gav passed the joint across to her-- she handed it directly on to Roo-- and said,

 "Actually, come to think of it, I'm the one who should worry. I'm only your cousin, so I'm pretty much expendable in the interests of the plot."

 And also if someone really was thinning out the heirs, so to speak, in which case he and Felicity were both absolutely right to be scared, Roo acknowledged.

 And that was the last thing he wanted any of them to think about, so he blew a big show-off smoke ring and announced,

 "I've just thought of something. Agatha Christie would probably consider me a deviant who isn't even properly British--"

 "Roo," Jamie said, in a tone of mild reproof, which Gav and Jer's faces both mirrored.

 "No, what I mean is-- I'd be the killer." His three bandmates all traded he-has-a-point-there looks, and Roo went on, "And that means you lot have nothing to worry about, because I certainly don't want to kill any of you. Or your mum and dad," he added generously to Gavin.

 "Or mine, thanks," Felicity prompted, finally getting into the spirit of the thing. This time when Roo handed her the joint, she took a hit off it before passing it to Jamie.

 "Of course not yours. Or your grandparents-- in fact, there's nobody left here that I have the slightest interest in murdering. Apologies to the memory of your cousin Andrew--"

 "But he really was a shit," Gavin sighed.

 "He was," Felicity agreed.

 "So we're all safe," Roo said cheerfully.

 "Which, unfortunately, is exactly what the police think," Jamie reminded them. "Only with me cast as first murderer instead of you."

 "That's Shakespeare, not Agatha Christie," Roo argued, trying very hard not to reflect that it was really because of him that the local coppers were casting such a beady eye on Kanga.

 Who apparently knew what Roo was thinking, because he smiled crookedly and said, "Don't blame yourself for him being a bigoted twat. I didn't want to murder him but I would have hit him again quite happily."

 Which left them more or less where they'd been when they'd come out to the stables in the first place.