#Why does writing taking so long… spoiler: the multiple plots

[sloppy-rants]

Rottmnt Rant #2

(Leonardo centered)

One thing I adore about rise is that if you pay attention there are no character traits that ever come out of the blue. They have always been present within the show, they just don’t have any spotlights on them.

One example of this is Leo’s martyr complex, as well as his habit of making jokes out of serious situations. These traits are very present in the movie, and are even main plot points that push the narrative forward. These traits have always been present in the show, however one episode that I think contains multiple examples of these is the episode “Flushed but Never Forgotten.”

⚠️SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE EPISODE AND THE MOVIE⚠️

In the episode Flushed but Never Forgotten, the boys accidentally flush their dad’s pet fish, Piebald. They decide to cover it up, lying to their dad and replacing piebald with a ‘perfect’ replica (a rock with googly eyes glued on). After about a year, Mikey starts to feel guilt over the loss of piebald, and tells the rest of his brothers about writing on the walls and voices he’s heard that he thinks are coming from her.

We find out that Piebald has returned, and is now a mutant capable of talking and possessing abilities such as turning invisible/camouflaging with her surroundings. Upon initial discovery, the boys are terrified. All of them except Leo.

Leo responds to seeing piebald with “Okay so she’s a mutant.” While the others are obviously scared shitless. This only lasts for a moment, but it demonstrates his true nature, as in this moment he hasn’t had enough time to lie and come up with some sort of fake or funny reaction. He uses one of his coping mechanisms, humor, to deal with the situation. Now of course, after this he goes right back to being scared with all of his brothers, as one would do, but I find it interesting that his initial reaction was to tone down the situation and after that he showed fear, rather than the other way round. Moments like this are sprinkled through the whole show, but I decided to focus on this one simply because of how small and fast it is. It would have been so easy to have Leo just scream along with all the others, but the writers decided to add this bit in. You might think of this as just a joke the writers added in for shits and giggles, but he does this multiple times in the series. A rather popular example of this being his line “Soo.. you guys from Jersey?” in the very first episode.

Now his Martyr complex, I know is a very popular topic for Leo. It provides juicy angst, and it’s a wonderful topic to use for drawings, fan fictions, and rants such as I’m doing now. But usually, those are all centered around the movie. The movie’s climax features Leo locking himself in the prison dimension with Krang prime, sacrificing himself for those he cares about. What I don’t think people talk about enough is that this isn’t the only time Leo does this. This is another reason why I decided to focus on this episode specifically.

Later in the episode, Piebald ends up taking Leo’s entire family. His brothers, his dad, even the paper foot ninja they took in. Initially, he has a plan to gain the upper hand against Piebald. He uses her own trick against her, camouflaging with his surroundings to use the element of surprise against her. Once this fails, however, he finds himself backed into a corner. His family is tied together, hanging behind him as they dangle over a large whirlpool of sewer water, about to be flushed as they had done to Piebald so long ago. In one last desperate attempt to save his family, he pleads with Piebald to let his family go, and take him instead.

He says, “flush me and let my family go.” Clearly stating the he wishes to sacrifice himself for those he cares about. He’s been running this whole episode. Running from the monster, running from the responsibility of Piebald’s “death”, and running from telling the truth to his dad. Now, as the only one left, he knows it’s him who has to save his family, and when given no other choice, he chooses himself as the sacrifice. It’s not even suggested to him that he sacrifice himself, he came up with that on his own. He doesn’t know what will happen to him, he just wants his family to be safe.

Sadly, this moment is short lived as immediately after he says this Piebald cuts the rope to drop the others into the whirlpool, which is where the whole thing is revealed to be a ruse made up by Splinter and Piebald to teach the boys a lesson. But I still think this moment should be talked about more. It’s so interesting to me.

It’s one thing that I think people get wrong a lot. A popular trope I see with Leo is that in any danger whatsoever he will deliberately go out of his way to sacrifice himself first. It’s his first and only plan, and he truly believes it will 100% work out. Watching the show though, this just isn’t true. Leo is a good leader, and he knows what his brothers are capable of. He’s able to use their skills to come up with a clever plan that almost always works when he really puts thought into it. It’s when he’s backed into a corner, stuck between a rock and a hard place that he resorts to his final plan. His last chance to keep everyone he loves safe and more importantly alive. If it comes down to it, he will use himself as the scapegoat willingly, even if the others don’t want it. I love Leo angst so much, and I love it even better when it’s done right. Leo is a smart guy, he knows when he can find an easy way out of things. That’s what makes it even more devastating when he resorts to his martyr complex, because it’s always either a last resort, or a split second decision. I think what people try to do is make it his first instinct, which I can agree with if written to be believable.

Moments that represent these traits come and go quickly, but I think that’s part of why Rise is so well written. The creators trust their viewers, and are aware that things don’t need to be spelled out in order for us to understand them. This show is honest to god just so amazing, and a wonderful example of when artists put out a work that they really care about for others to enjoy.

[deer-carcasses]

somewhat an analysis of Alastor

I've been going over this multiple times while it was just some rambles in my notes, but I finally decided it might as well see the light of day. if you do read this all, thank you. if not,,, understandable. it's a lot.

if this whole things is not coherent at all and does some weird jumps, I'm sorry. I took multiple breaks writing this over the span of the whole day. it was even more of a mess, I promise this is the slightly cleaned-up version.

especially the later parts get less cohesive in my eyes since I had to take longer breaks in between them. they also might jump around more. but now, in case you do want to read this; enjoy.

obvious spoilers ahead

let's start with the most interesting aspect for me: we barely know Alastor. sure, we know a little about his backstory, and get snippets of interactions here and there, but it wasn't until well into the show that we got to know his character better. ep.5 was where we see something deeper than the shallow persona he puts on for everyone. he's been more of a helping hand to make the plot progress in an interesting direction than a character with obvious deeper meaning. I don't mean to say that he was not well-written, quite the contrary, I mean to point out that he seemed more like a tool in the story than a character we are supposed to connect with on deeper levels.

we all as viewers had no idea why exactly he was there, to begin with, he said it was for his own entertainment but even then, this seemed like an awful lot of work for him to come out more or less empty-handed most of the time. it's an unfair deal for Alastor if you ask me. and honestly, he does bring little less than "entertainment" to the table until then. being used to show that he is helping yes, but mostly doing it so he can pull someone else down with his help. double-sided blade. he loses, but whoever he helps also doesn't win.

let's talk about ep.5 though. in this episode it's the first time someone truly irritates him. he didn't really care much for Vox - seemingly finding his entire obsession rather funny and never seeing him as a true threat. and Sir Pentious he didn't even truly remember. but with Lucifer that changes. Alastor doesn't just see him as bothersome, he sees him as important enough to go out of his way to prove he is better than the literal king of hell himself. at first, you could argue that he's once again doing it for his entertainment. seeing how much he can push before he needs to get back in line. but looking closer, his body language betrays him.

the way Alastor holds himself shows a true disdain for Lucifer that is, from a viewer's perspective, totally unjustified. Lucifer did not start their weird rival dynamic, it was Alastor who from the beginning on looked down on the king. maybe it's a personal reason, maybe it's just the fact that Alastor is more than well aware that no matter how much power he gets, there's no way to get above Lucifer. his omnipresence might simply be an annoyance to Alastor because he knows as well as Lucifer that the king hasn't shown his face in a long time and his reputation and power over all of the pride ring, over all of hell, still stays in place. no real threat could shake Lucifer's power into crumpling and this thought alone might bother Alastor because he had to fight for his power, to keep his power. (see Vox having presumably more power with the modern media and all that before Alastor disappeared)

and there's also of course the whole bantering going on in Hell's greatest Dad. Are Alastor's words genuine when he speaks to Charlie, or is it just a tactic to get under Lucifer's skin, maybe not seeing his powers crumble but seeing the king's nerves being reduced to nothing by his hands.

I personally don't think he was being entirely truthful. he might not have straight up lied about everything, but I don't think he truly wishes Charlie to be his daughter. Charlie herself is more than a little surprised by how Alastor suddenly treats her, and that alone is proof enough for me that he wasn't being honest in his words. if it were true, wouldn't he have at least a slight fatherly touch towards her all the time? Later on, Angel Dust even somewhat points out that Alastor has never acted like this by asking what his [Alastor's] deal is. It shows me that no matter how badly he tries to make it seem real for Lucifer, it's not real for anyone else simply because they all know how he normally acts around them.

continuing to Mimzy for a short moment; she is proven to not be a reliable narrator at all so I don't want to really take what she tells about Alastor all too seriously. she even concludes her little tale about the radio demon with "That's the story most people know." which does not make it any true. something I thought is very interesting is that the only two people who might have any idea of how truthful Mimzy is in her story are both gone. Niffty, though she also does not seem like the most reliable narrator, is not part of this conversation, and Hus kates himself out of the scene almost in the same moment Mimzy starts talking about. Husk leaving is more important since he obviously knows more about not only Alastor but also the deal Alastor is bound to. Husk and Alastor might equally hate it, but Husk does seem to care about Alastor at least a little. warning the overlord about Mimzy and how she is known for only showing up when she needs something, and I'm sure Alastor is more than aware that Mimzy wouldn't show up simply to catch up with old friends, but still. the sentiment of Husk seeking Alastor out to warn him, and even mentioning how he [Alastor] has been gone for a while now, is in itself caring, especially when moments later the viewers find out how much more Husk seems to know about Alastor. it even seems as if he is aware of limitations, mentioning how it's "Big talk for someone who's also on a leash." coming from Alastor's deal, even if Alastor himself is ignoring them [see the line "Who in their right mind would cross me?"]

the whole fact that Husk even seems to know so much about Alastor's deal is confusing in a way. I can't see Alastor willingly going to Husk and telling him about not only the deal he made with someone above himself but also about the limitations of said deal, it just doesn't make sense for the character we know Alastor to be, and even when finishing the show my opinion doesn't change. it's even more prominent how he later hides away.

after this scene, Alastor isn't seen catching back up to Charlie, Vaggie, and Lucifer to continue annoying him simply by his presence. his outburst having left him apparently on edge - showing that he isn't as calm and calculated as he likes to pretend. he obviously struggles with his own anger, be it at Husk for bringing up that he knows about Alastor's deal, or himself for ever getting into the situation in the first place.

later we see Alastor taking care of Mimzy's problem -the loan sharks. he's not seen using his powers like he did when Sir Pentious attacked though, he willingly transforms into something eldritch to devour the threat instead of simply using the tentacles, which would've been just as easy for Alastor. in my eyes that's him getting rid of the last restlessness about his outburst at Husk. choosing to do it himself, showing he still has free will over what he does and doesn't do. if not proving it to Husk then proving it to himself that he can choose to do this. he goes all out, he even comments on it himself how he needs to let off steam and later on how he's important here and willingly choosing to be here, helping ["It's time to remind everyone [Husk] why I'm here."] Alastor needs Husk to know what happens when you cross him, and when you doubt him. because he took the comments about how long he's been gone and that he's also on a leash personally. I don't even think it's necessarily because Husk said it, it's that someone in hell said it. not a soul in hell is allowed to think that Alastor, the radio demon, is not strong enough to win every fight he chooses to start.

let me come back to Mimzy once more, as if this one scene scratching the surface of what lies underneath his smile-bright persona revealed by Husk wasn't enough we get Alastor being all buddy-buddy with Mimzy, who is not only acting like a friend to him but is also introduced as such. a normal friend to someone who is so obviously not normal.

but even with his more friendly behavior towards her, he ends up sending her away after the hotel has to suffer under the problem she brought along. ["I can't have that here."] If he was genuine with what he said then, why did he phrase it like that? I might be reading too much into it, but Alastor normally picks his words wisely enough to not let too much slip, and the sentence "I don't want this here." would've been better fitting for the situation, but he says can't have that here. new question, what can't he have here? Mimzy herself? someone who knows him better than the residence with maybe a habit of blabbering? or was it just the fact that it's her problems that he needs to fix? that he can't have her bringing more work than there already is at the hotel?

now making a bit of a jump, going from ep.5 to ep.7 this episode makes me mostly wonder about what Alastor could ask from Charlie later on based on the deal the two of them made. in terms of character, it gave us little besides his dynamic with Rosie and the entirety of cannibal city. though this was also not really anything new, more just what we already knew about Alastor in a new dynamic

there is one scene I do want to talk about though. his whole little speech around smiling. him actually standing by and admitting that he is hiding behind his smile did take me a second to actually realize what just happened, I did skip back to it because I was a little stunned by the absurdity of it all. after some thought it made sense that he might not mind it, Charlie does not know him well enough for this off-hand comment to truly affect anything for him, still it made me wonder. why would he reveal it to her? was he simply so sure that she wouldn't use it against him or did he think she wouldn't even think of using anything against him in this kind of way?

so it confirms that yes; Alastor uses his smile as a facade and also as a way to show he is above others who cannot hide behind a smile like he can. his smile means indifference to himself, neutrality. for him showing anything but the indifference that his smile represents is vulnerability. weakness.

let's move on to the actual "highlight" episode of "What We Learn about Alastor" ep.8

this surely was not the first time he got humbled badly by someone in a fight. it's what he wants to avoid most, the mask slipping, everyone seeing that he can be defeated, that he is not this otherworldly powerful being that not a soul in hell [or heaven] can touch. there had to be at least one very significant moment where he was powerless in a way. where he had to strike up a deal with someone higher, the one now binding him, now having him on a leash.

Alastor went into the fight with Adam overly confident, underestimating Adam's powers to the point he barely got away. he is, after all this, still a mortal soul. a sinner. Adam on the other hand was the first man which gives him roughly the same power Lilith must have. that in itself makes me think Alastor lasted a good deal longer in the battle than I would've thought. pure angelic powers far surpassing his own and he still 1) got away in the end and 2) was able to get in a few hits.

let's quickly touch on the fact that when Adam broke his microphone he seemed to be completely stunned, apparently not having thought that he could easily break his possession without any real resistance. I personally don't think his power is necessarily in the microphone [the was the simply gave it away to Charlie in ep.7 being my proof for why it can't be. he would never abandon his power just for Charlie to sing a song for a few cannibals] but what if it maybe is some kind of amplifier for it? maybe it's also pure placebo and Alastor was simply too stunned that Adam would go for the piece of equipment instead of for a deadly blow right away. the microphone surely was a confidence boost, feeling of being 'on air' the feeling of having his broadcast behind him while doing his everyday tasks giving him the boost he sometimes needs, his ego being constantly stroked by the knowledge that there would be countless sinners bowing to him if he simply said the words into his microphone. no longer being able to do that made him stutter in more ways than one, being momentarily careless, not prepared for Adam to strike again, deadly this time. he lost where he was in his performance, in his own show, and it made him mess up.

one interesting sentence is when Adam comments on how Alastor is just a mortal soul. "You should know better than anyone what a soul can accomplish when they take charge of their own fate." which makes me want to believe that's exactly what Alastor did, taking charge of his own fate. but the thing is that we know he did not. he made a deal with someone, and he doesn't have the ability to take charge of anything about his own being anymore. he's as much on a leash as he has Husk on one. that would only mean that he isn't at his full potential, held back by the deal he so desperately wants to get out of, and is actively looking for a way to get out of it. which turns this line into something else completely. Alastor reveals that he knows what he is capable of, but cannot parade his power due to his deal.

another interesting detail is his ears before he dissolves into his shadow. they are pinned back, showing not only agitation or fear but disorientation. he opens his mouth for no sound to come out and it frightens him to have come into this situation at all.

a big part of his mental disintegration in this moment surely is also the fact that if he had died at this moment, if Adams's hit was slightly more fatal, he would've died bound to the deal still. Alastor would have gone without being able to fulfill his own goal - getting rid of the chain around his throat. getting control back over his own afterlife. if he had died at Adam's hands, he would have died being possessed by someone else which we can assume is what Alastor sees as the lowest he can fall. the people bound to him by a deal mean nothing to him as it seems, we only ever got to see those who were needed for the Hotel.

while also, dying in this moment would have proven to everyone that he stayed to protect the hotel, his friends, but retreating and not being killed in a heroic death-wish battle be had proven to especially the audience that Alastor is not ride or die for these people.

in his breakdown ballad, we can finally see where he went to to lick his wounds. his entire breakdown also shows once again how scared he truly is of being inadequate. this wasn't just a reminder from Husk that he is indeed also on a leash, being pulled to where whoever holding it wants him to go, this is a rendezvous with death, barely escaping the situation that would have proven that he is too weak, at least while being bound by this deal he is [no longer] profiting from.

the place not only reeks of death for him, like he says in his song, but it also reeks of shame at the fact that he had nearly not made it out alive. it would've been seen as a noble act had he truly died in this scene, he had not died protecting himself, he had died protecting others. it is worse than dying on a leash even since at least almost no one knows about that, it would allow him to save some face. but dying for these people? he cannot even stand the thought of it.

in his mind he needs to keep up the smiling facade, the indifference in this smile he holds obviously so dear, for eternity. him dying should not allow the indifference he stands for to evaporate, he needs to play the act even after being killed in his afterlife.

even if this now ends rather abruptly, my work here is done. see you next time I start writing and simply don't stop for a while.

it truly is "Good to be back on the Air." with a newly cleaned-up space to talk about fandoms

this might be edited later on, nothing major, maybe just to have some actual continuity in it.

[jeannereames]

I read a previous ask you answered about the Dancing With the Lion books, the anon mentioned that they’d like to see Hephaestion have lovers other than Alexanderos. I was wondering how would that affect his relationship with Alexandros? I know that in ancient Macedonia it was normal to have multiple lovers but I feel a little heartbroken, which I know is silly, that Hephaestion and Alexandros won’t be each others one and only in the books because to me it looked like Hephaestion doesn’t have space in his heart for other people other than Alexandros so I’m wondering how you would go about it and under what circumstances would Hephaestion take other lovers [hoping this makes sense]

One of the things I always try to do in my writing is to portray relationships as authentically as I can. I don’t think that means they can’t be romantic—but in attainable ways. I don’t believe in soul mates, or happily-ever-after. Or rather, I believe soul mates are made, not stumbled over, and happily-ever-after takes hella lotta work. But if you put in that work, it’s unparalleled.

I want the reader to see especially long-term relationships Real. It’s why, I think, some readers are either disappointed or confused by the novels. That they were published by a Romance publisher muddles the matter even more. Romance novels have a pretty specific plot pattern, and Dancing with the Lion: Rise (book 2) plays ALL kinds of havoc with that. There’s a story (a lot of story, in fact) after the boys get together. Elements of insecurity remain, and they aren’t always kind and understanding to each other. It’s not a(n easy) happily-ever-after. They muddle along because they’re human.

That’s because I write love stories, not (R)omances, and love stories don’t follow the plot arc of a Romance. For one thing, they typically extend long after a Romance would end, showing how the couple deals with life, the universe, and everything. In real life, the “crush” phase rarely outlasts about 18 months. So something real had better be there as it mutates. Romances are about falling in love (attraction phase). Love stories are about being in love (attachment phase). Why does this couple make sense past the chemistry of infatuation?

Alexandros and Hephaistion have already begun answering that by the end of Rise.

Partly they’re successful because they have a genuine affection for each other that runs alongside (and for Hephaistion predates) their infatuation. Quite simply, they like each other, as people. And when they make their vow, they commit to working through problems. Hephaistion thinks to himself after that he’s not sure why what they said to each other matters, but it did.

Relationship beginnings are inherently uncertain. Exciting, but uncertain. “Will __ still like me if I do X, or if they find out Y about me?” By taking that vow, each promises they will. Ergo, when Alexandros makes his enormously selfish and stupid decision not to tell Hephaistion something critical (no spoilers), his vow keeps Hephaistion from walking away. Even with the best of intentions, people will do things in relationships that hurt the other person, so a willingness to forgive is one of the most essential tools for making relationships work. The other essential part is being able to offer a genuine apology—which Alexandros does give. This type of forgiveness isn’t to be confused with becoming a doormat in an abusive situation, which is why I note that about offering a real apology (and not making the same error again). But people screw up. Hence the value of a promise that gives a firm foundation in order to trust someone with our Tender Things.

It’s about emotional security…not sexual fidelity. They don’t live in a society the equates sexual fidelity with “true love.” Both boys are actually rather jealous types, but they’re coming to trust the other one means it, when he promises to stick around.

Yes, Hephaistion has a harder time separating sex and love, or at least sex and affection (e.g., he’s a demisexual). But it’s uncertainty about Alexandros’s EMOTIONAL fidelity to him that sets off his jealousy. As time goes on, he’ll grow increasingly confident that he has that. For one thing, Alexandros’s very success increasingly isolates him, but it’s more than that. Hephaistion trusts him and is trusted in turn.

So they ARE each other’s one-and-only, or at least each other’s most important. Emotionally. Connecting that to sexual exclusivity devalues the power of it. There is no Hephaistion but Hephaistion, for Alexandros. Hephaistion certainly doesn’t care about Alexandros’s other women. He might be a bit more concerned about other (freeborn) teens, but only because there’s a potential there (to the Greek and Macedonian mind) of Alexandros developing a real attachment that could rival/displace what he has with Hephaistion. That’s why Alexandros will be quite circumspect, although he’s clear in his own head that nobody can touch Hephaistion. Hephaistion comes to realize this as well. Just as no one can replace Alexandros for him.

If anything, over time, Hephaistion starts to worry because Alexandros is so isolated by his power. What would happen to Alexandros if something happened to him? It's prescient.

[highladyariane]

i found your blog my accident but i also hate cc and didnt read the book, would you mind just do a quick rundown of important stuff that happen with the acotar characters? like those that are important for the next book, sorry if this is annoying feel free to ignore me i just refuse to read that book

I would actually love to do that for you while this is all fresh in my mind! I feel like this is going to help multiple people, and also me when the next ACOTAR book comes out in 2 years.

I'll only cover the parts that are relevant to the ACOTAR world because it's a long book. I don't know if people reading this will have any knowledge of CC, so I'll try to keep it to the ACOTAR knowledge, but I might forget sometimes.

There will be spoilers under the cut!! Also, I don't like Bryce, so buckle up for some salt.

Interrogation:

Shortly after arriving in Prythian, Bryce is taken away by Rhysand to the Court of Nightmares. Azriel and Amren join him for the interrogation.

They all start questioning Bryce about where she's from, why she's here, why she's covered in blood, how did she get the lost sword Gwydion, etc. Bryce is being evasive about most of the answers, and a big part of why is because they're fae and they're asking her a lot of questions. If you haven't read any CC books, Bryce hates the fae, and it's deeply annoying to me.

Bryce tries to bullshit them at some points, but Azriel can tell when she's lying.

Amren tells Rhys to look into her mind, but when Rhys ask Bryce if he can look into her mind, she says no, so he doesn't. So basically, Bryce has plot armor from Rhys, which is also deeply annoying to me.

They all realize that Queen Theia and Pelias, familiar historical figures in Bryce's world, were originally from Prythian. Queen Theia used to be High Queen. I don't think this is important to Prythian in general, but Theia is Bryce's ancestor.

When Amren came out of her imprisonment, she also remembers rumors about a large number of people vanishing, some said to another world.

Rhysand says that they won't torture her for information and they also won't pry it from her mind. Bryce can choose not to talk, but Rhys can also choose to keep her here until she decides otherwise.

Bryce tells them about the Asteri, immortal beings from her world who take a tax on magic for their own nourishment and power. Amren makes the connection to the Daglan, who used to rule over the fae in Prythian centuries ago until they were defeated. Bryce tells the crew that the Asteri want to come back to Prythian for revenge.

During this interrogation, Bryce lies to the group about not being able to winnow, and Azriel says nothing about her lie this time.

Rhysand goes to get the Veritas Orb so that Bryce can show them the weapons the Asteri use, which she does (it's guns and technology).

They give Bryce a little silver bean to eat that makes her able to talk their mother tongue and allows her to speak it too.

The spell on the translator bean triggers a reaction from Bryce's back tattoo, and it starts glowing. Amren realizes that the writing on her tattoo is the same as the writing in the Book of Breathings. Azriel says, "Explain, or you die."

Amren tells Rhysand to bring Nesta in the interrogation room. When Nesta arrives, she says that Bryce carries something that is Made other than the sword, which we know to be the tattoo (the tattoo is actually a magical Horn).

The tension starts getting worse, and eventually Rhysand calls it a day, saying that Bryce needs rest. They leave her alone, but they don't give her back Gwydion and they take away her phone.

The "escape":

Some of this information we don't find out about until later, but I try to include it in chronological order to make it easier.

The ACOTAR crew makes a plan to get information from Bryce by isolating her with Nesta and (a hidden) Azriel. Rhys takes a guess that she'll try to escape, and they can use that.

We don't know how much time passes while Bryce is locked up, but she says it's a few hours. She eventually winnows out of her cell.

It's very important to note that there are a lot of monsters under the mountain of the Court of Nightmares.

Bryce has a star on her chest, and it glows. The beasts seem to stay away from it. Bryce figures out that the light of her star is leading her somewhere.

Bryce walks for what she assumes are hours, and eventually falls asleep. When she wakes up, Nesta is there to offer her water. Nesta says that they knew the moment she escaped, and she's here to escort Bryce back to her cell (this is a lie).

At first, Bryce tries to escape. Before she can, Azriel (still hidden) stops her and triggers the cave to collapse so that Nesta, Bryce and him are cut off from the cells, forcing them to go the other way.

Bryce mentions that her star is pointing a certain way, and Nesta tells her to lead on.

Travelling :

They travel for hours (days? they sleep at some point) and adventures happen, some of which I won't mention.

A Middengard Wyrm shows up (yes, like the one that Feyre fought when she was still human).

Bryce saves Nesta's life from a trap.

Azriel eventually reveals himself. He not only brought Truth-Teller, but also Gwydion with him. I feel like this only happens for Bryce to get the weapons, because why would Az bring them both with him when it makes him uncomfortable to carry both at the same time?? Seriously, they make a point to tell us multiple times how uncomfortable it is for Az.

At some point, Bryce wounds her hands and knees on purpose. She lets her knees heal, but not her hands. She’s using her blood to draw the Middengard Wyrm to them so that she can escape Nesta and Az. When Az starts asking questions about her hands not healing, she plays the awful dad card: “The man who fathered me used to burn my brother to punish him. The scars never healed for him, either.” As you can imagine, this resonates with Az, who lets it go.

Nesta asks Bryce about her star because it’s shaped like an eight-pointed star. Nesta is asking about it because it’s the same shape as the bargain tattoo she used to have on her back.

The Middengard Wyrm finally takes the bait, and Bryce ditches Nesta and Az while it starts to attack. As Bryce is running away, the Wyrm gets scared of Nesta’s power and backs down. Nesta plays dead, taking a guess that Bryce will come back. When Bryce stops hearing the sounds of fighting, she feels bad about leaving them behind and comes back to save then. When she gets there, Nesta and Az tell Bryce that they want her to play bait so that they can kill the Wyrm.

During the Wyrm fight, the Wyrm somehow eats Nesta’s power. To kill it, Nesta puts on the Mask and uses Ataraxia. Az has to talk her down by mentioning the people she cares about: Cassian, Gwyn, Emerie, Feyre, Elain and Nyx. Nesta then takes off the Mask.

Nesta and Az finally reveal that this was all part of the plan, that they waited for Bryce to escape so that they could follow her. Nesta also reveals that she has seen Bryce’s tattoo before, and not only because of her former tattoo: Nesta saw it in the Prison when she went to get the Harp.

Everyone is angry with everyone.

At some point, Nesta promises to give Bryce her phone back if she helps with the traversal of the tunnels. When Bryce does get her phone back, they all have a conversation about what it is and what it does, including that it can hold 1000+ songs and take pictures.

Nesta, Az and Bryce bonus chapter:

Bonding time!

Nesta tells Bryce about her horrible mother and how she would probably hate who Nesta has become.

While they're discussing mothers, Bryce asks Az about his. Nesta jokes that, "Az never talks about this mother, and neither will our friends, so I'm guessing she's even worse," to which Az responds, "My mother is anything but awful." Nesta starts to apologize, but Az says he doesn't want to talk about it.

Nesta asks Bryce to play music on her phone, and Bryce chooses Stone Mother (folk music).

Bryce plays them at least one song from each genre of music. Nesta has to cover her ears during the death metal song, but Az seems to like it. Nesta likes the classical stuff the most out of everything. Both of them are intrigued by club music.

After a while, Bryce tries to ask about their magic, but Az shuts her down. She asks about mates, because she knows that Nesta has one, but Az says he doesn't have a mate or a partner.

Bryce asks Nesta about becoming fae, including her now immortal lifespan. Nesta says she's still getting used to it, and then asks Az how he deals with it. Az says, "Find people you love - they make the time pass quickly. Especially if they'll forgive your occasional snapping at them over things that aren't their fault." Nesta then says, "Nothing to forgive, Az."

Az adds, "And I've been told having children makes the time fly, too." Nesta rolls her eyes, but Bryce sees a gleam in them. Nesta then says that she wouldn't know how to raise a child since she was raised by a terrible mother. Az says that just because her mother was terrible, doesn't mean Nesta will be a terrible mother.

Nesta admits that her mother was even worse to Feyre, and yet Feyre has turned out to be a perfect mother.

They listen to music until the phone battery runs out.

After the phone dies, Bryce can hear Az humming the Stone Mother song to himself, and she "could have sworn even the shadows danced at the sound."

The Prison:

The gang gets to the Prison and the doors close behind them. Az wants to go get Rhys, but Nesta points out that it would take a long time and they’re not sure if he would be close enough to hear them.

They get to the room with the eight-pointed star, the place where the Harp was. They can’t enter because of the wards, but Bryce can because she has a special amulet. She tricks Az and enters by herself. Nesta decides to watch what happens and not go in immediately. A little later, they all enter in the room through magic, so it doesn't really last long.

Nesta tells Bryce about the Harp being able to move between physical places and that it can stop time. Bryce asks if there was ever a Made object called the Horn, but they haven’t heard of one.

Bryce steps onto the star, triggering a kind of hologram of Silene, Queen Theia's daughter. She starts telling them her story.

Silene’s story (lore time):

The important players are: Queen Theia, her two daughters, Helena and Silene, her general Pileas and the Asteri (the Daglan).

When Az sees Silene, he says that she looks like Rhysand’s sister.

For five thousand years, The Daglan ruled over the High Fae of Prythian, and in turn the High Fae ruled over the humans. The Daglan taxed their magic to sustain their own power.

The Cauldron was an artifact from Prythian that existed before the Asteri arrived here, but they modified it so that it wouldn’t be just able to create, it would also be able to destroy. Then, the Daglan made the Dead Trove with the Cauldron: The Mask, the Harp, the Crown and the Horn.

Theia stole the Trove, which helped her take back the Cauldron from the Asteri. While they had the Cauldron, Theia's husband made Gwydion and Truth-Teller.

They defeated the Daglan.

Queen Theia became High Queen of Prythian along with her husband, the High King. She ruled over the territory where the Prison currently is, which used to be the Dusk Court.

However, Theia was hungry for power. When her husband was dying of old age, he wanted to pass the crown to their daughter Helena. Because Theia didn't want to give up her crown, she and her general Pelias arranged her husband's murder by a monstrous beast.

After his death, Theia took Truth-Teller and Gwydion. And then, she took the Trove.

Without recounting the whole story, I can’t stress enough how bad Theia, Pelias, Silene and Helena were. They all started ruling over the people, and the people had no choice but to bow to them. Theia and Pelias then decided that this wasn’t enough and that they needed to conquer other words.

Their council refused because they didn’t want to become conquerors. However, Theia and Pelias made plans in secret and, with the Horn and Harp, opened a door to Bryce’s world. There, they met an Asteri (at the time, Theia didn’t know that Asteri = Daglan).

When Theia, Silene, Helena and Pelias realized that this world already had humans, they conquered them too. The humans couldn’t fight back, obviously.

Pelias was a traitor and sold out Theia and the Trove to the Asteri.

Theia sent her daughters to spy on the Asteri, and they discovered that the Asteri were actually the Daglan.

With the help of Hel (another world), the fae and the humans, they began a war against the Asteri, while the Asteri put Pelias in charge of their army.

Their resistance was losing the fight.

Theia decided to open a portal to Prythian, but not to get help. She opened it to save Silene and Helena. Theia split her power in three and put a third in Helena, a third in Silene and a third in Gwydion.

Theia didn't survive her next fight, and Helena stayed behind in Bryce's world to allow Silene to escape with the Trove and Truth-Teller.

Silene did escape, and she didn't keep the portal open for all the innocent people near the portal. She heard them begging, and still did nothing.

Silene eventually married the High Lord of the Night Court and erased all evidence of the horrible things that she, her mother and her sister did. To conceal the Dusk Court mountain and everything in it, Silene brought horrible beasts to it and locked them in cells. It became the Prison.

Winged horses, originally from the Dusk Court, nearly went extinct.

We find out that Silene's High Lord wanted her to become High Lady, “as the other lords’ mates were,” which seems to imply that every court used to be ruled by both.

She keyed the wards of the Prison to her bloodline and passed on this knowledge to her sons, who passed it on to their sons, and to their sons, etc. This knowledge was lost at some point.

Fun fact: the starlight thing that Rhysand has? It’s from the Dusk Court, it’s part of Silene’s power. It’s the “light of the evening star, the dusk star.”

The Aftermath:

Az wants to go get Rhys immediately.

Nesta figures out that Bryce is the Horn and that this is the reason that she can travel between worlds. They really spell out how dangerous it could be for Prythian if Bryce kept opening portals, especially with the Asteri wanting to come back.

Az tries to go get reinforcements against Bryce, but she stops him. Bryce also realizes that Silene left the power Theia gave her in the Prison, and that she can take it because she’s from the same bloodline (on Helena’s side).

Nesta says that Bryce has to let them bring their High Lord (Rhys). Bryce says, “To do what? Lock me up? Cut the Horn out of my skin?” and Nesta answers, “If that’s what’s necessary. If that’s what it takes to keep our world safe.”

They fight and, at some point, fall down in a void. Bryce finds a crystal coffin with a woman inside, sleeping. The fight is about to resume, but they wake up the woman in the coffin.

The woman in the coffin is an Asteri named Vesperus, and she’s “muahahaha” level of evil. Slaves, power, conquering, all of it. So of course, Bryce frees her because Vesperus says she’ll answer her questions. Because that’s such a good fucking idea.

When she frees Vesperus, Bryce takes back Gwydion from Az by summoning it to her. Nesta and Az want to attack Vesperus, but Bryce tells them not to… so they don’t. Once again, the plot armor is strong.

Vesperus does say that that the Asteri pooled their power and “imbued those gifts into the Cauldron” so that it would work their will. Then, they bound the very essence of the Cauldron to the soul of this world. This means that destroying the Cauldron would destroy this world, one cannot exist without the other.

It turns out that freeing the “muahahaha” level of evil Asteri isn’t a good idea because she still wants to conquer worlds and feed on the magic of her slaves. Who knew, really.

Vesperus starts to fight them, and Nesta, Bryce and Az have no choice but to fight back.

We find out that Truth-Teller has other powers that Az doesn’t know how to use.

We find out that the Asteri hid pockets of their power throughout the lands in case or emergency, one of which is here in the Prison.

Vesperus even goes, “You should have killed me when you had the chance.” No shit, lady.

During the fight, Bryce summons Truth-Teller to her. With Gwydion, Truth-Teller and her power, Bryce significantly weakens Vesperus, but doesn’t kill her.

At this point, Az tries to immediately kill Vesperus (thank you, finally), but it doesn’t work. So Nesta pours her power into Ataraxia and kills her.

Bryce is very angry that they killed the no-good, evil Asteri, because for some reason, she was under the impression that Vesperus was going to give her all the answers she needed to fix the problems back in her world.

Nesta and Az seem very unimpressed by this. Bryce goes, “Trust me, I know better than you guys what the Asteri can do,” to which Nesta responds, “Then you have even less of an excuse for your actions.”

Az wants to get out of here and bring Bryce back with them. Bryce starts using the Horn to get out of Prythian with Gwydion and Truth-Teller. Az pleads with her not to leave, and he’s particularly fixated on Truth-Teller.

Nesta says, “You’re as much of a monster as they are.”

Bryce says, “Love will do that to you,” and goes back to her own world.

Fuck you too, Bryce :)

The Collateral:

A lot later in the book, after a lot of shenanigans, Bryce returns to Prythian (House of Wind) with her parents and her mate. She has a plan that she’s going to ask Nesta for the Mask and leave her parents here as collateral. It also means her parents will be safe from the Asteri, which is really good.

Her parents are unaware of this, by the way.

At first, Nesta does not want to give Bryce the Mask and also asks Bryce to leave Truth-Teller before leaving. Rhys is already on his way, and Nesta tells her to leave before he arrives.

Bryce pleads with Nesta and says she will return both the Mask and Truth-Teller after she’s done with them. Bryce does more pleading, offers her parents as collateral, and even asks Nesta to take her parents even if she won’t give her the Mask.

Nesta takes a leap of faith and gives her the Mask.

Just as Rhysand gets there, Bryce leaves with her mate

Her parents stay in Prythian.

Ember and Randall bonus chapter:

Note: Ember is Bryce’s mom, and Randall is Bryce’s dad.

So, Rhysand gets to the House of Wind and he’s very angry.

They give Ember and Randall a translator bean.

Nesta, Rhys, Amren and Cassian go into another room to argue, while Azriel stays with Bryce’s parents.

Rhys says that Nesta had no right to make this choice, especially because it puts their entire world in danger. Nesta says that she had every right because the Trove answers to her, and also because Bryce’s pleading resonated with her. Nesta wanted to give her the edge she needs in the fight against the Asteri. After what Bryce did, Rhys is of the opinion that Nesta should have killed her on sight.

Ember and Randall are brought into the room. They tell them about their version of events, meaning that they didn’t know what Bryce was planning.

Ember says that they won’t cause any problem while they’re here. Rhysand says that he’s not concerned about them causing problems, he’s concerned about Bryce. She already proved the lengths she’s willing to go to for the people she loves, and he wonders if she would betray Prythian to save the people she loves.

They end the meeting, and Amren tells Nesta to pray Feyre changes Rhysand’s mind before they meet the next day.

Ember and Nesta bond that night.

In the morning, Rhysand, Cassian and Nesta come to the House of Wind. Nesta’s head is bowed, and both Rhysand and Cassian look angry.

Ember stands up to Rhysand to defend Nesta. It breaks the tension, and everyone calms down a bit.

Randall and Rhys bond.

We find out that Feyre did intervene on Nesta’s behalf.

We also find out that, according to Nesta, Cassian is actually the one who is the most furious with her out of everyone.

Nesta and Ember bond again.

The Return:

After Bryce is done with the Asteri problem, she comes back to the House of Wind. Cassian, Nesta, Ember and Randall are all there.

We learn that Randall and Rhys bonded over being overprotective fathers.

Bryce gives Nesta the Mask and Truth-Teller.

We also hear that Rhysand and Azriel have not being happy with Nesta’s decision about the Mask, but Nesta stands by her choice.

Ember says goodbye to Nesta, who started seeing Ember as a mother figure.

Before leaving, Bryce gives Gwydion to Nesta, saying that she thinks it should go to her. Bryce doesn’t think it’s a coincidence that Nesta had an eight-pointed star as a tattoo on her back.

The end!

[lia-land]

A Court of Silver Flames

3/5 stars

Spoilers for A Court of Silver Flames*

How this book made it past an editor is beyond me.

I read a review where someone said that this book felt like reading smut about a cousin and I couldn’t agree more. I can’t connect with Nesta. She will always just be Feyre’s sister to me and not a main character as she was supposed to be in this book. I feel like we were set up to dislike her in the earlier books and that dislike was set in stone for me.

This was kind of like a long fan fiction and had the same vibe as A Court of Frost anf Starlight because there wasn’t a strong plot and it read like A Court of Nesta and Friends. What little plot exists was mainly there to set up for the sex scenes and Nesta’s redemption arc. When a book is over 600 pages, I expect a strong plot, not for things to conveniently happen solely for the purpose of Nesta and Cassian having sex and for her and Rhys to salvage their relationship. The pregnancy plot came across as nothing more than an excuse for Nesta to come in and save the day so that she can redeem herself. I also think we should have seen the pregnancy through Feyre and Rhys, rather than having it happen in a book where they are side characters. Especially since it involved the death pact backfiring. I have many issues with the death pact regardless and it was a plot point that was set up for failure, especially since it was thrown into the end of ACOWAR. In fairness, we did get a bonus chapter of them finding out she’s pregnant, but after three books of their relationship developing, this seemed like a big thing to leave out. Perhaps we’ll get a novella of it one day. Although, it doesn’t seem like Feyre was getting up to much in this book while she was pregnant, so maybe it would have been somewhat uneventful to read about her pregnancy from her POV. Then again, this book is over 600 pages of nothing particularly eventful, so it wouldn’t be out of the question.

As many other reviews have said, it makes little sense that Cassian’s guts were falling out in ACOWAR and he lived, but C-sections do not exist. As I said before, a lot of things were just too convenient for the ‘plot’ so that Rhys and Nesta could have an excuse to mend the relationship. And the whole thing at the end where Nesta quickly throws in that she changed her hips as well so that she can bear a winged baby?? That’s not the sort of execution I’d expect from an author who has published multiple series and has been writing for years. 

The stairs specifically don’t make sense because if Nesta is so tired from going down them, how does she make it back up the stairs every time? Surely going up is more effort than going down. This is a huge plot hole and I don’t understand how not one person picked up on it before the book was published. It’s stated that she is completely drained and doesn’t stop until the can’t take another step down, so it’s not like she’s strategically conserving enough energy to go back up. There’s one occasion where she goes down more than halfway, and then gets too tired so she goes back. Like… would it not have been easier to go down when you’re already halfway there… This bothered me the most out of everything else. The House of Wind in general is a plot hole because as far as I can recall, it’s never stated that there is another way to get in other than flying. So my question is why and how would they use it for their ‘official’ meetings and parties? Do Rhys and co go back and forth to fly all these people in? Especially during those weekly meetings Rhys and Feyre do with the citizens that was mentioned in ACOFAS, because I doubt everyone would be willing or able to go up those 10,000 steps while dressed for a party or meeting.

Also, how did Rhys and Feyre build the River House so quick? Hasn't it only been like 8 months or so since Rhys gifted her the land in ACOFAS? Has the rest of Velaris been rebuilt with this same speed since the Hybern attack? Are there still Velaris citizens living on the outskirts with their houses lying in rubble while their High Lord and High Lady built their fourth house (on the biggest plot in the city, I should add)? Let’s not forget Rhys only purchased the land because the house previously on it was ruined in the attack and the owner didn't want to rebuild. The timing is just in poor taste.

Then there’s the Valkyrie. How do Gywn and Emerie win the Rite after being dragged into it unprepared with a few months of training when we’ve been told multiple times that it is nearly impossible? Even for Illyrians who have trained their whole lives. I could maybe justify it by how it was implied that the Valkyrie had specific training methods and skills, but were those skills really that much more advanced than those of the Illyrian males? So much so that Gywn and Emerie won with only a few months of training? If so, this should have been made more clear, but I’d still find it unrealistic that said skills are so advanced that one could win the Rite with only a few months of training. If Nesta alone had won, I could maybe justify it and think about how her powers made her an exception.

It also didn’t fully sit right with me that Feyre essentially locked Nesta up in the House of Wind after what Tamlin did to her. I know it’s not the exact same situation, but it felt close enough. Even if it was truly and completely the last resort, which it seemed like it was, Feyre didn’t seem very bothered by the decision. I say this specifically because of the scene after the first meeting with Nesta, when Rhys has sent all the servants away so him and Feyre can have sex. Read the room. I get that they were both extra horny from the pregnancy, but I don’t think that scene was necessary. It felt more like SJM just being like 'don't worry! Your favorite couple from the original trilogy are still having lots of sex!' Although, I forget this is the same couple that got it on to ‘the distant cries of the injured and dying' in ACOWAR, so what do I know? At least their characters are consistent in that sense. Is there a situation they won’t fuck in? Now I’m curious about what the limit is for them to say ‘no, it’s inappropriate for us to fuck right now.’

The original trilogy made me want to read slower because I did not want the pages to end and I could read about that story forever. With this book, I ended up listening to the audiobook for 2/3 because I wanted to get it over with because I’d like to know what happens to the characters. I really only got through it because I wanted to read about Feyre and Rhys, but even they were out of character and not enjoyable. Feyre often seemed like she’d aged 30 years in the way she spoke and acted. Being High Lady and the things she went through would undoubtedly have made her more mature, but it’s only been like a year. It would have made far more sense if this book was set 50 or 100 years after the events of the last book. This didn’t feel at all like the badass and sometimes reckless Feyre who escaped the weaver, had water wolves, killed the Attor, and turned the Spring Court on each other—all of which happened approximately under two years before this book.

I would happily pretend that this book does not exist if SJM one day asked for it to be ignored so that certain plot lines could be rewritten. I didn’t like the direction of any character in this and it has not left me excited for the upcoming books in this series. In this case, I think the characters would have benefitted from having their story end in ACOWAR.

I did enjoy the dance scene between Eris and Nesta and I’m excited to read more about Eris and his side of the story. I don’t care much for Mor, though I wish Lucien made more appearances in this book.

Azriel Bonus chapter: Angry Rhys and the whole “My office. Now” is hot, but he was far too harsh with Azriel. He literally told him to go to a brothel if he’s that desperate for sex. I can see where Rhys was coming from, but he straight up threatened Azriel. Not sure how I feel about that, but maybe some justification from Rhy’s POV will help in the future. It's okay for Rhys to almost cause a war over Feyre, but Cauldron forbid Azriel even entertains the idea.

I find the Evil Rhys theory entertaining and this book made me happy in that regard, but nothing else.

The only thing this book somewhat attempted to do well is set up for another book in a different SJM series, which I will not delve into due to spoilers, but iykyk.

2.5 stars, really, but 3 because Azriel called Cassian out for the dining room. In saying all of this, I will absolutely be reading any upcoming books in this series because I love the characters and I’m invested in their stories, but this book was frustrating and slow.

[sejjiplinth]

hi everyone! i watched tbosas a few days ago and i’m finally ready to share my thoughts, SPOILERS below of course.

so i’ll speak on the things i liked first.

— the tributes. i was the most moved by their stories, their deaths, and their actors/actresses’s performances more than anything else. i was in tears when reaper ripped the flag down! and lucy gray hurt my heart. i also appreciated the dynamics between them, that’s something i wish the book had touched on more and i’m so thankful the movie delivered!

— the score and the music. they fit so well and near perfect as to how i imagined them sounding in the book, so so good! and the score was amazing. it was so haunting at times, sejanus’s song was beautiful omfg.

— part two: the prize. i think this was by far the most accurately paced part of the entire film. part one felt too fast for me, and part three felt long. i really loved it.

okay… here’s the bits i didn’t really love.

— sejanus’s writing. i felt like his character was watered down completely, from his dialogue to his relationships. movie sejanus contradicts book sejanus multiple times and i was honestly so shocked 😭 they left out so many key quotes and actions from him that would’ve benefited him greatly. for example, having coriolanus suggest feeding the tributes? insane. he does that on his own in the book. also, his thoughts of suicide are completely skipped over, they made him take morphling for his knee injury instead. and as for his relationships, his past with marcus wasn’t explained at all besides the fact that they were classmates. what about what he did for him when they were kids? like omg. the fact that they made sejanus seem frustrated with him too? i was nawt happy. and coriolanus, it seemed pretty book accurate to me. i have my nitpicks but i’m not sure what else they could’ve done. AND MA!!!! one scene and that was all :(

— the pacing. like i said earlier, i felt like part one FLEWW by compared to the other two. a lot of plot points were missed there.

— clemensia’s storyline. i was definitely surprised by this one, why did they not show her after the snake bites? that would’ve been so interesting to see, and in my eyes, would’ve clicked with non-book readers about peeta’s hijacking. the meanness and appearance she had afterwards in the book? so so chilling. i was expecting it to be altered because it was described to be quite graphic, but not THAT altered.

— no mention of the games being erased. i didn’t realize this until after the movie but wow, what a huge part of the book AND in the hunger games universe that was completely forgotten about.

well, that’s all! of course i have parts i wished would have made it or scenes i felt were unnecessarily added, but i know not everything can make it. overall, i enjoyed it, the flaws are there but i would still say it was a good adaptation. anyway, these are my own opinions. i definitely recommend seeing it for yourself!

[twixitativi]

do you have any tips on writing an au? normal fics i can usually handle but i’m working on a kunichuu grease au and i’m finding it quite difficult.

hiya! thanks for asking :3 also good luck with that, that seems like so much fun omg; feel free to send when you start releasing, i'd love to check it out!

ill be using splinters as my example here purely because thats closer to what you're trying to do (movie/musical as reference)

this is going to be long as fuck because i tend to ramble and go into detail, so im adding a read-more. i sincerely hope this helps because i know its a LOT (potential spoilers for splinters included)

1. The Foundation

when i first started working on splinters, it started with a lot of idea bouncing. who would suit what role? why would that role work for them? originally, i had looked at dazai as jd and chuuya as veronica, or dazai as veronica with fyodor as his jd.

then, i also started thinking about story 'beats'. to be clear about what that means, i like to think of different parts/scenes that i need/want to hit, and kind of the order if possible. this usually intertwines with the original story-- in your case, grease.

all this starts falling into the next step:

2. Research

it may not be entirely apparent, but i did (and still do) a FUCK TON of research for splinters. by choosing to have multiple source materials to base your work off (both bsd AND grease), depending on how close/accurate you want to be, you're going to want to get in touch with the material.

you've mentioned grease-- i'm assuming you're doing this based off the movie (love the movie. need to rewatch). what i personally do with heathers the movie is that i watched it the entire way through first to refresh myself with the material. it might help you to take notes about different characters, ideas, plot lines. i found a copy of both scripts online in case i wanted to see about throwing an iconic line in during an important scene without diving through the whole movie to find it.

i dont know HOW historically accurate you want to go with your fic--you may be choosing to explore the concept of grease rather than the actual setting itself-- but grease takes place in the late 50s, TECHNICALLY early 60s (movie itself came out in the late 70s) (my mom LOVED it when it came out). so, you may want to do some basic research: fashions/trends of the time (this has gotten harder to search online, you may want to even run to the library and find some books if possible)? societal norms? what did normal teens do during that time? did they have arcades, did they go to restaurants, what was the average place they hung out at?

a lot of times, i have to double-check if some of the stuff in splinters is period accurate. each decade has different lingo, slang, and general information that was normal during it. hell, looking back at the 2010s versus 2020s, if you were to write a story during, saying, 2011, and have your characters saying "slay" and "yas queen" and "road work ahead, uh yeah i sure hope it does", i regret to inform you that that will NOT be accurate, as those phrases are more late 2010s + that vine came out in 2016. now, could you quote/potentially reference these things? absolutely! but you have to be more strategic about it.

ALSO. look up fun trivia about your source material! you know where i got my title from? its the english translation of the italian name for heathers. im not even kidding. also, mix and match material! hell, even throw references in to other material! i had my mean girls reference in there! because its bsd, i like to throw in authors i like from time to time where they fit!

another silly one: what music came out around that time, playing on the radio? HOW did they listen to music? i specifically listen to a 1989 top hits playlist when im trying to figure out what songs might be playing on the radio while my characters are driving-- and even THEN i still will look up specifically when that song came out, because i made the choice to be horribly specific with my timeline.

on that note:

3. If you can, DON'T SET A SPECIFIC MONTH/DAY/ETC.

i made my choices. do i regret them? YES. is it still fun to work with? absolutely, but also the heathers timeline is lowkey a mess and you could simultaneously claim it takes place in 2 months or several.

honestly, avoid specifics. having to keep track of a timeline is an absolute bitch, and it's going to make your life a lot harder, because then, you HAVE to make sure it all matches up. if i say that kunikida went and got his glasses in march, i cant say that his glasses are brand new in may (this is a hypothetical example).

timelines suck. unless you think you can dedicate the time and energy to keeping with one, don't do it.

4. OUTLINES.

i've been writing fanfics for years, which is wild to me. i was writing fanfics in single digits (didn't even know what fanfics were). one thing that i have especially found useful with splinters is to make outlines for where you want the story to go.

let me break it down for you:

you're gonna have MULTIPLE outlines, and they are NOT set in stone. they are guidelines for you to use so that you're not sitting there going "shit i don't know what to do next". they may be scenes you want to have in the fic. they may be important plot points. they may be absolutely stupid shit that youre like "if i dont get this in here i will cry" (diarrheazai is a threat that i intend to keep)

FIRSTLY. try making a general outline for your whole fic. you don't need super specifics, but think of what events occur during grease. in it, danny and sandy meet in the summer before their senior year. sandy meets and joins the pink ladies. there's a dance competition. danny and sandy fly off in a car into the sunset. etc. TO BE CLEAR, you don't have to keep all the details! it is your story, and what you want to do with it! having that structure can be helpful when you start though.

THEN. once you have that general outline? start trying to plan out chapters. you dont have to make outlines for them all at once. more often than not, i'll sit there before i start a new chapter just trying to outline what'll happen in it. this helps a LOT on multiple levels. i'll provide an example of what that can look like below (SPOILERS IF YOU'RE NOT UP-TO-DATE WITH SPLINTERS):

(the blacked out bit is spoilers, everything else should be clear to see)

a quick explanation: i dedicate a small document to outlines for each chapter. as you can see, with chapter beats, i have diff things i want to try to hit. the stuff highlighted in green is stuff that i come back post-chapter to confirm i hit. sometimes, if it's not EXACTLY in there, i'll leave a note in bold (ex: WAS MENTIONED).

but you can kind of see what im talking about here. i have some things that im trying to knock out per chapter.

other things in my doc to outline:

yes i talk to myself in my notes.

i highlight different scenes according to their relevance to certain characters sometimes; i add scenes in where i need to, and then ofc as you see ill go into detail about specific scenes. and AGAIN these are not set in stone. for example:

as you can see, shit changes over time. that boiler room make-out scene during the homecoming pep rally appeared in ch 11. i did not make this sequence fyodor's pov.

sometimes? i just dont have the time or energy to write shit/dont think its relevant to the plot. good bye, corn maze. you'll be remembered in my thoughts and my outline

also try to have fun while outlining. it doesnt need to be something serious. literally my outlines are a mix of dialogue, scenes, my own thoughts, etc. get silly with it. this is supposed to be fun and enjoyable!

ANOTHER THING:

5. LOOP SOMEONE INTO OBSESSING OVER THIS WITH YOU.

i was inspired by ardeidae to write splinters, and i have successfully trapped them in splinters world for almost an entire year now. by both of us loving it, we can keep ourselves focused on it.

what also helps is bouncing ideas off other people. me and lu have had conversation after conversation after conversation about different plot lines, scenes, etc. sometimes, i don't know what to do and i will ask lu (or other people) for advice about the progression.

you may have also heard of the engineering rubber duck method. if you're unfamiliar, engineers will sit there with a rubber ducky by them and talk to it about what they're working on until they figure out what they need to do. sometimes, just ranting about the fic is enough to help you spawn ideas about what to do next.

OH also

6. If you do end up making a timeline? Have a calendar on hand.

this is no longer 100% accurate to the progression of splinters and the chapters, but it helped a LOT. laying it out like this can make one hell of a difference. im a visual person, so doing this helped. also, can help you keep track of holidays and shit. if you want to give your characters a day off from classes, check a school calendar for holidays. be like "uhhhherrrr yeah they're taking, uhhhh veteran's day off" yk

7. Write, but don't force it.

splinters doesn't have an actual updating schedule because i work on it at my own pace, and update once i finish a chapter. now, i usually finish chapters after a month, but i don't say it updates on x day. don't box yourself in unless you truly think you can handle it. some people are very good about schedules. i am horrible at them, bc ykw? LIFE HAPPENS.

when im in the mood, i write. i will sit for HOURS and just write. grab some snacks, maybe pop on some music, get a buddy to sit with you, but just go for it. sometimes, i'll pull a 25-10 method-- 25 minutes of writing with ten minutes of relaxing and bullshitting--and that helps me not burn out as quickly. but honestly, you cant always brute force it.

have i had to brute force it sometimes? yes. you will get stuck. it naturally happens. sometimes, a scene fucking sucks and you're like "i hate this scene but it HAS to be in there" (if it doesnt fuck that shit. throw it out. blegh) sometimes, you need to mix things up to make it more appealing to you, because i am of the belief that the readers can tell when you're not invested in a scene. if im writing a scene and its going slowly and i just want to get it done? the quality's going to go down, and i KNOW it. so, i evaluate. what do i need to do for this scene to work? can i add something to help? do i need to just rewrite the bastard and call it a day?

and sometimes? you can just go ahead and put a little "<'scene'>" in and move on. depending on how much your fic relies on that scene, that won't always work, but sometimes, you just gotta leave it and come back to it. you can also do that with certain dialogue/details. if you're trying to get your characters from point A to point B, don't shove them there if they run out of gas. make a detour, and see what happens.

eerrrrrrr yeah, i THINK that's the majority of the advice i can give? sorry that that's a lot, but uhhh hope it helps! :')

[periru3]

I know I’m hella late to the Dragon Prince party, but I have some thoughts

Okay, so I just finished the first three seasons of The Dragon Prince, and it was really good, I really enjoyed it, but there was one glaring issue (or maybe more accurately a handful of closely related issues) that makes it really hard for me to love the show, or to think it quite lives up to it’s reputation as the “new AtLA.” The issue? Pacing. Dear god, the pacing. 

*Spoilers and long-windedness below the cut*

The first three seasons take place over about a month, and during this time a handful of things happen, including but not limited to: 1) multiple people travel across what are implied to be huge distances at GoT-levels of inconsistent speeds, 2) Viren attempts a coup, is foiled by the rightful king Ezran, who spends less than a week on the throne before handing the crown back to Viren, 3) Callum and Reyla overcome all of their human-vs.-elves prejudices and fall in love with each other, 4) Callum becomes literally the first human ever to learn primal magic, never having previously studied it, and 5) a bunch humans and elves and dragons band together to defeat the forces of evil despite hundreds of years of conflict that they have not resolved and there being NO WAY most of those people even know like 70% of what’s going on in the plot of the show. 

Seriously. That happens. In one month. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about why I feel this show was written this way, and I think a lot of it has to do with how TV shows are made now and how that differs from when AtLA was made, for instance. Specifically, most shows these days, The Dragon Prince included, have really short seasons (9 episodes to Avatar’s 20), and are made for streaming (and therefore binging). 

Let’s be real, streaming is doing WEIRD things to how stories get told, and many of them are not for the better. With the advent of dropping whole seasons at a time, the art of writing good episodes of TV that are at all distinguishable from one another sort of feels like it’s vanishing. So much of the goal of streaming shows is about getting you to just keep watching, so the episodes sort of intentionally bleed together. It’s all dramatic cliffhangers followed by autoplay kicking in and suddenly you’re picking up in the exact moment the last episode ended on. And there’s definitely a place for that in stories, but when it becomes every episode, the whole thing starts to feel more like one ridiculously long movie than a season of varied stories that form a satisfying whole but still work on their own. Anyway, I’m rambling and I know all of this has been said before. 

The point though, as it relates to Dragon Prince, is that when every episode flows right into the next, it’s a lot easier to get rid of something that I think is pretty necessary for most TV shows to function: time jumps. Not big ones, just little, normal time jumps that you don’t really notice that let us cover more time with the characters without having to constantly be with them every step of the way. I think when you spend a week waiting for a new episode, it feels natural for the characters to have also passed some time, and instances of this not happening tend to be reserved for two-parters or near the end of a season when the plot is really ramping up. But while many streaming shows do still do this, other’s just... don’t. And Dragon Prince is one of those shows. We’re with the main characters practically every moment of the month this show takes place over and while that does wonders for getting you in a binging mindset (I watched 3 seasons in 4 sittings), it means the actual timeline of the show is ridiculously short. Also, crucially, it means that if we don’t explicitly see something happen (eg the conveying of crucial information), or if something feels to us like it’s happening too fast (eg a relationship or skill developing), we can’t rationalize that by assuming things happened off screen. 

Another huge factor, as previously mentioned, is the nine-episode season, which is simultaneously too short and, weirdly enough, too long. Lemme explain. For all the stuff they are trying to fit in to this show, for the complex political situations and the relationships and the character arcs to all unfold believably, I as a viewer want to be able to spend more time with this story. I want this plot to unfold over more episodes and in more detail, but also I want enough episodes to be allowed a break from the plot. There’s no filler! Filler may get a bad rap, but it’s the filler episodes that give us time with characters and relationships and world-building outside the confines of what’s crucial to the plot! It’s one of the key things that separates TV as an art form from film and often allows us to feel that we know the characters and worlds of TV shows better those of movies. It isn’t just that we spend more time with them in TV, but also that we get to see them in all sorts of situations that movies don’t have time for! Where is Dragon Prince’s “The Zeppo” or its “Lars and the Cool Kids” or its “Ember Island Players?” We need more episodes not only so we can spend more time with the plot, but also so we can spend more time away from it!

But wait, didn’t I also say nine episodes per season is too long for The Dragon Prince? Yes. Yes I did. Because a story that takes place over the course of a single month being told in 27 episodes is straight up bonkers. That is practically one episode per day. See what I mean when I say we’re with these characters all the time? What we really need is for the show (or first three seasons at least) to take place over 6 months to a year with between 15 and 20 episodes per season. Then we get plenty of time to do the plot justice and plenty of time to ignore the plot for a bit and have fun! We also get more time with our beloved characters and they get to spend some time offscreen! 

Anyway, I think these issues seriously impact the effectiveness of the show in so many ways, and I know I’ve rambled for a long time now, but I’m gonna ramble a little longer just to touch on some of the things I think would be improved with more episodes and a longer timeline. Let’s go list format just to spice things up: 

Callum’s whole arc - He’s the first human ever to use primal magic and he figures it out after I think something like 12-ish days. I honestly really love the idea of humans being able to do magic by attaining a deep understanding of and connection with the primal sources, but this only works if we see, like... lots more work put in than we do. Having Callum really struggle and work and grow in the pursuit of this understanding would justify no one else having done it before and make it feel like he is totally revolutionizing how humans and elves alike even conceptualize magic by thinking about it from a different perspective, and I think that’s rad. As it is, he barely does anything, he does it super quickly, and he has a magic dream give him that final shove, and he comes off as just another chosen one which is way less interesting. Also him struggling with the ethics of dark magic and the decision to use it or not use it and the repercussions of using it could have been just so much more. I mean, I haven’t seen season four though so who knows. 

Callum and Rayla’s romance - As far as obviously-endgame het protagonist couples go, I liked them. I really thought there was a lot of great stuff in their relationship and I think the show did a way above average job giving us specific beats that made it feel like the characters really knew and understood and cared about each other. I just would’ve liked it to have more time to get there. Specifically I would’ve loved to see even more of the lingering issues of being from super different cultures and raised to fear and hate each other, as well as some more time on them each realizing their feelings for each other and sitting with that a while before they get together. 

Janai and Amaya - Give me so much more of this I am begging you. Not (just) because I’m extremely gay but because it’s so interesting and there’s so much potential and it mostly happens off screen and I want more build up to them trusting each other and working together at the end. I know Amaya saving Janai and later warning her about Viren does a lot of trust building, but I also want the slow burn (hah. burn. get it? Cause she’s a sunfi- never mind). Give me Janai awkwardly learning sign language! Give me them realizing they aren’t as different as they grew up being told they would be! Give! Me! More!

Grief - I know it’s a kids show and we want to not spend toooo much time being depressing, and they have very important things to worry about, but like... their dad died. The scenes where they’re actually addressing this are great and super emotional, but the minute it isn’t the focus it’s sort of weirdly upbeat for two newly orphaned children

King Ezran - Honestly his whole plot of going back to take up the throne and then leaving basically right away is sort of a mess. This is on the writing as much as the pacing. He doesn’t have time to do anything good as king, like we get no time seeing if he can even be a normal ruler at all before suddenly he’s shoved into an impossible situation and he takes a strong moral stance, you love to see it, but then there just... isn’t a good solution so for some reason the solution he chooses is to give the obvious supervillain the crown? And all of this happens so fast it sort of makes you wonder... why any of this needed to happen? Like if Ezran stayed with the others and the initial coup had been successful.... nothing changes. 

Villain stuff - One recent trend I’m loving is complex villains in kids shows. Viren is such a good villain, but I feel like he’d be a much better one if we had the time to do a slower ramp up in evil. Like, he starts as the king’s best friend and most trusted advisor, I wish we saw him dealing with conflicted feelings about the king’s death, especially after their last interaction. I wish he spent more time seeming like someone who believes his own justifications and who slowly becomes more ruthless and power hungry and looses sight of what he initially stood for or something like that. As is he’s sort of an instant supervillain.

Evil family drama - This may be the area I think needs least improvement, honestly. I think Soren and Clauda’s arcs and their relationships to each other and to Viren are the most interesting and well-executed in the show by far. They’d just - and I know this opinion might come as a shock to you - be better if they took place over more than the span of a month. Perhaps more than 27 episodes. You know, all that good stuff. 

Travel - Okay I know sometimes they’re on animals and sometimes they’re on foot and sometimes they fly and that all impacts how fast they get from one place to another but like..... there are times when that isn’t the case or where it is but it still doesn’t justify the drastically different amounts of time it takes people to travel certain distances. How did a massive army on foot catch up with the protagonists who’ve been traveling for 2.5 seasons in 2 episode? How did Soren get to the mountain so much faster than the main gang? How did the sunfire elves get there before the human army? These are the examples that are freshest in my mind cause I watched it like an hour ago, but I swear to god this is all over the show. This is another half-pacing half-writing issue.

Communication - And yet another “equal blame goes to the pacing and to wonky writing” thing. I literally have no clue how or when so many people found out so many things in this show. I’m struggling with specific examples on this one, it’s more of a constant vibe of “I do not remember seeing this person find out about this situation, there’s no way news of this had time to spread, what is going on?” Like people knowing enough to show up in the right place at the right time, or to suddenly change their stances on centuries-old global geopolitical conflicts even though I swear no one has specifically told anyone all the relevant information for this to make sense and there isn’t enough time for me to buy them finding out some other way. Anyway speaking of global geopolitical conflict...

Global geopolitical conflict - This! Just! Needs! More! Time! How did Viren have time to get this popular? How did How did Lyanna Mormont Queen Aanya know where to go or have enough relevant information to feel this was worth joining a war over, technically on the side that killed her moms? Why is there suddenly a critical mass of humans who suddenly want to end an ancient conflict with people who literally just assassinated their king just because they I guess found out their side didn’t assassinate the prince of the opposite side???? I swear I find this plot good I just need it to go so much slower and so much more... thoughtful I guess? I need to understand why individuals and groups other than the main characters are making the decisions they’re making, and things happening very fast makes that difficult!

Anyway, I swear I really did like this show a lot, despite my ranting. I think I’m so hung up on this because I liked it so much. Like, I think it could be on the level of AtLA if it had better pacing and it really really frustrates me that it doesn’t. I’m also sure these aren’t very original complaints but here I am anyway, extremely late to the party, having basically just mainlined three seasons of a show and immediately sat down to write an essay on it without taking in even a hint of the existing fandom or discourse so.... sorry? If I’m just repeating something many other people have noted? It’s 4:30 am what am I even doing with my life.

TL;DR - Great show, it’d be an A+ if it could only have the “giving TV shows actual good pacing” of a decade ago while retaining the “kids shows are allowed to have gays in them” of today

[sigmashuffle]

I have a question!! So I’m a long-time BSD enjoyer but I haven’t read nearly as much of the manga as I would like. I’ve seen all of the anime though, most of it multiple times through. I didn’t realize until looking at the comments on Danny Motta’s video at how much people fucking hate Fukuchi and his sword. Up until this point I’ve thought it’s cool as hell and he, along with the sword, bring something kinda new and fun to the series.

HOWEVER, I know BSD is FAR from perfect and there’s a lot of dumb shit that faithful manga readers have a better perspective on. Would you mind explaining why Fukuchi and the sword are such a sore point? I hope this isn’t too much to ask. I just really want to know.

Hi anon! Its not too much to ask at all!

Unfortunately the answer to that is best explained in the context of ALL the issues I have with the manga/show so... this is going to be v long... and im done giving this show more credit than it deserves but don't take it that seriously lol I hesitate to even consider my pov to be on par with the average manga reader but ig we'll see how my opinions hold up after i post

And disclaimer: I don't mind answering this but ONLY with the context that this is 100% my opinion (as of late, bsd as a whole has just been REALLY bugging me so im just gonna take this opportunity to explain my gripes since most of them apply to or tie greatly into fukuchi's character/design/motivations/development)

I simply don't want anyone to come for my head bc of anything I say here tho, bc I feel like I may disagree with a large portion of the fanbase but WITH THAT SAID...

***from this point forward there will be a few spoilers from s5e11***

Here are my gripes with BSD...

1. BSD and its "magic system"?

bsd powers suffer from what i like to call a "lack of scope"

granted this could be due to the fact the story isnt complete HOWEVER im sure any anime fan can tell you this story doesnt feel like it is leading anywhere its just... going... (ill get to the awful pacing later)

for comparison sake im going to also talk about The Case Study of Vanitas since it is the world I have the most experience in

what does BSD not have that VNC does?

simply put, the magic system doesnt reinvent itself character to character

in VNC if you have an ability it is EXCLUSIVELY connected to "manipulations of the world formula" which is essentially elemental control (fire, ice, gravity, etc.) based on a sci fi version of chemistry (alchemy, if you will) and this rule applies to EVERY CHARACTER in VNC

its a structure that starts developing from the beginning

BSD however introduces a WHOLE NEW magic system for each character

some character abilities are similar, yes, and can be classified as such, but many cannot be classified

again a magic system doesnt NEED to have strict rules (its actually more boring that way if the rules are too simple) but it DOES need RULES... and solid ones

otherwise its tempting to use the MAGIC system to fill in PLOT RELATED gaps

and if that system isnt defined, well, to me that looks like lazy/sloppy/illogical writing

if you like the whiplash of not knowing whats gonna happen next, fine, (i did for awhile too!) up until the unpredictability started to come from powers that as a whole look like an authors way of trying to write themselves out of their own plot hole

ie: time travel

specifically time travel that isnt introduced FROM THE BEGINNING...

2. Fukuchi and his "deus ex machina" sword

time travel is NOTORIOUSLY difficult to pull off and especially by my standards

I have watched Doctor Who since 2008, before I even knew what tumblr was I was doing my own solo fandom stuff (basically just watching a LOT of youtube video essays) but basically I have high standards when it comes to time travel in stories

Amenogozen has the POTENTIAL to be a great weapon if used in a logical context... but theres one thing the sword (and BSD as a whole) does not follow

RULES

time travel is TRICKY mostly bc it has consequences... in BSD fukuchi gives nothing in exchange for his powers

lets even toss time travel aside for the moment

what is Fukuchi's innate special ability? Mirror Lion... (read below)

its essentially an attack multiplier of x100 at CLOSE RANGE

lets say your average untrained human punch is 150psi (pounds per square inch) which is the pressure equivalent of a point 100m below the surface of the ocean...

with Mirror Lion's multiplier you get 15,000psi which would be 10,000m or 10 kilometers

a pressure equivalent to the deepest part of the ocean (i dont need to remind you how powerful water is... we all know about oceangate)

MY POINT IS HE'S OVERPOWERED AS FUCK

dont even get me started on his motivations too

im glad we got backstory for him in ep 11 and im sure we are just supposed to sum up his motivations into "he was willing to pay the high price for world peace" but tbh royally fuck that

dont TELL me thats what he believes

PROVE to me how you made that conclusion

also the only reason he even dies is becasue he wants fukuzawa to kill him... we dont have any sense of accomplishment for stopping his scheme because NOW the scheme has been PLOPPED right into fukuzawa's lap which fukuchi intended to do from the start... apparently

and this seemingly retroactive decision-making is a problem A LOT of bsd characters have, especially the one and only character i hate THE MOST... *drumroll*

3. Osamu fucking Dazai

oh boy...

I have thought long and hard about Dazai... im not going to lie, after ch109 and ep10 I was about to admit Dazai might actually have grown on me BUT

this was all erased after 6 minutes into ep11 when he was confirmed to indeed NOT be dead

Dazai just *knows* everything thats gonna happen

Chuuya was never a vamp... he knew this... and somehow his ENTIRE escape plan was just hinging on that? bc yknow... hE kNeW fRoM tHe bEgiNniNg

OSAMU DAZAI IS A PLOT DEVICE USED *ONLY* TO FILL IN NARRATIVE HOLES

HE IS A WAY TO FORCE PROGRESS ON A STORY WITHOUT EVER GIVING A REAL EXPLANATION

HIS CHARACTER IS AN INSULT TO INTELLIGENCE

His character is paper thin, with motivations that do not translate to his actions

and frankly... im tired of it...

additionally... if sigma doesn't survive, all of Meursault was literally useless... so why pick him for nikolai's prison break game?

even if he does, it means the ONLY thing we get out of the arc is information about fyodor... as to WHAT information, who knows... but regardless, a villain arc that has been going on for TOO GODDAMN LONG (40 chapters?) should have a resolution that isnt "i knew what was gonna happen all along"

we spent the whole time being SHOWN that fyodor and dazai were of equal intelligence levels... or at least higher than what dazai was used to dealing with

if dazai could just predict shit like this from the beginning why was fyodor a villain for so long? makes ZERO sense, dazai would've defeated him AGES ago... what makes THIS time any different?

also... why is he even suicidal? yeah ok the author was... but like... why make it such a present character trait?... so we can fake kill him over and over? idk

can you tell i dislike him?

4. THEORY vs PRACTICE

I am a "show dont tell" girlie

ALL BSD DOES IS "TELL TELL TELL" ...its infuriating

almost every power/special ability has an element of "trust me bro" ok SOME OF THEM DONT but most of them do

ie: atsushi is a tiger (what does that even mean), kenji gets strong when he's angry (ok hulk?), and THIS JUST IN we STILL don't know how fyodor's ability works... and now he's DEAD?... we also dont know almost any detail about sigma's ability and he might ALSO be dead

but thats only regarding abilities...

when it comes to writing stories using people of high intelligence it is VERY difficult to not get into the aforementioned "trust me bro" mindset which BSD does REPEATEDLY

im not listing off every example but off the top of my head is one scene from s4...

ranpo explains his plan for saving yosano loosely involved "replacing the engine [of an armored vehicle] with an electric motor and playing engine sounds over the speakers so no one noticed" ...and only i can pick this claim to shreds lol (i engineer electric vehicles for a living) but this is so wrong on so many levels...

Internal combustion engines and Electric motors are IN NO WAY EQUIVALENT

ranpo would never be able to power a vehicle the size of an armored truck with a motor that he installed an hour before the truck was put to use... he just wouldnt... the vehicle is too big... ugh *facepalm*

and dont even get me started on batteries...

MY POINT IS

if you want to write some *genius move* at least TRY to do some research to make the action believable

thats like saying "oh yeah i ran out of gas so a threw a couple AA batteries into my gas tank until i could make it to the station"

BUT THAT WOULDNT FLY BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE KNOW THATS NOT HOW CARS WORK

*sigh*

5. Manga Readers' POV

the.chapters.are.too.short

especially for a monthly released manga

i am relatively new to anime and manga... like late 2020, so I am part of the "new gen" I guess you could say so i know i dont have any right to complain about pacing in comparison to like... the dressrosa arc of One Piece

with that said, not enough in bsd BUILDS on itself

it all feels like a self "one-up"

its been too long since any of my large questions have been answered

honestly its rare that any of my questions are ever answered because the narrative rarely follows logical progression anyway and any scenes thats ARE useful are cut from the anime

characters do not *develop* their powers, they just simply ARE

whatever ability you are born with limits what you can do and thats that... which leads me to...

6. Types of Ability Users

the most coherent thing i think i can speak on so this will be short lol

there are 3 types... i think (excluding lightnovels, i have not read 15, Stormbringer, or any others)

(1) natural abilities (ones that can be nullified by dazai or stolen like in Dead Apple)

(2) human/god fusions (chuuya) -> but this can ALSO be nullified???

(3) when an ability isnt an ability (it CANT be nullified) -> ie: whatever the fuck Lovecraft is

Sigma -> ??? (he could be part of the natural ability category but like... it feels weird to put him there)

but... there is never a comparison between these types so im not even sure of this "list" is exhaustive

this is just another way the story is leaving open ways to dig itself out of a plot hole... which isnt fun... bc now there are no stakes... there are no rules... its disorganized chaos where anything can happen

everyone will always be fine because there is a way out of everything

and thats BORING... and for me, downright infuriating

fukuchi likely falls into the first category... but then again he's also using a tool from another ancient ability user... so does he even fit there?

7. Anime Adaptation

rushed

rushed

RUSHED

and i know why...

BSD is so thin on STABLE plot the story would feel like its dragging if Bones wasn't animating at the pace they are (see Manga Readers' POV)

so to try and counteract the feeling that nothing is happening they are cutting "irrelevant" scenes BUT ALSO important portions relevant ones (ie: aku's death)

do all the plot points from the manga happen? by definition, yes... but the nuance the manga has is lost almost entirely

Atsushi doesn't physically throw an injured Aku's arm over his shoulders... Aku doesn't smile upon his demise... Aku doesn't reach out through the fog of the fire extinguisher (the adaptation of this scene was personally my last straw)

and then we have the new anime content...

why did we tack on an additional fight? zero context... didn't even tie up loose ends from fukuchi like...

is sigma alive?

are chuuya/dazai/nikoali still in france? europe?

is fyodor going to return in some way? (we know nothing of his motives, ability, or MOST importantly, what information did he learn from Sigma??? his ability is an EXCHANGE so why even have that happen if they are both dead anyway?) why would you fucking kill off a character like this

WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS ENTIRE ARC??? The mere reason I'm asking this question is, in and of itself, unacceptable

we MAY get an answer later... but its been 20 episodes... why the fuck dont we know anything about the arc we just completed? ...ludicrous

Final Thoughts

BSD does not have enough reliable rules in its magic system to form a solid foundation of... anything

Fukuchi is a disjointed character trying to do too many things at once, he doesn't have solid motivations, and his arc provides more questions than it answers

Osamu Dazai is not a character... he is a plot device used like a saving throw in DND

BSD frequently insults my intelligence to cover it's ass in its storytelling

being a manga reader is like taking 30 days to rip off a tiny band aid... the pacing is unbearable

even with the end of fukuchi's arc now known, there was no sense of accomplishment in defeating him bc technically we didnt… he gave himself up... so the sword was just to make him overpowered... it was pointless

the anime adaptation was rushed, scenes cherry picked, and plot narratively thinned into water... there was no depth this season

In my opinion...

There are very few redeeming characteristics about BSD now

The few meaningful scenes we do get in the manga are overwritten by later context that negates any emotion initially associated with the scene

even with the end of fukuchi's arc now known, there was no sense of accomplishment in defeating him bc technically we didnt... he gave himself up

Dazai is the worst written character I have ever read

It is very likely i drop this story entirely

If I seem salty/upset/etc. its because I am. However is NOT directed at you, it is simply a manifestation of my disappointment in this story.

...

And there you have my opinion... in way too many words... thanks for sticking around if you made it this far im impressed bc i am salty as hell lol

fin

[bones-and-bondage]

The first time I cleared Act 3 of BG3, I was playing as the Dark Urge and I went into it totally blind. I went in with 0 spoilers, no interaction with the community at all, no looking up resources or guides, nothing.

Because of this, I had some really weird holes in my experience and my already simmering distaste for how flippant the party was about the Dark Urge and their actions and struggle full blossomed into rage.

My first Durge never got the Coronation scene with Gortash. I got to Wyrm's Rock Fortress and the Steel Watchers were all saying to go to the Coronation chamber and immediately all my alarm bells were going off. THIS IS A TRAP.

It felt so much like Irenicus leading us into the prison of the Cowled Wizards to continue his experiments. I was convinced that I was going to be ambushed or thrust into combat with one of the BBEGs that I was in no way prepared for so early into Act 3.

And so I walked my ass straight through that bridge and out the other side and didn't ascend to see the Coronation. I had no clue about what Gortash says and does in that scene, and being that it was a first playthrough and I was flying through it in a stumbling haze and not scouring for everything, I had no clue about the Durge's involvement in the plot, in their connection to anything, any of it.

By that point, before the big reveal dream with Bhaal, I had figured out that the Durge was at the very least Bhaalspawn. I love the original games too much and spotted those signs early on. But beyond that, I was in the dark.

So I, hyperfocused on the fact that Bhaal wanted the Durge to reclaim their temple, of which they were long standing high priest, I waltzed my happy ass to the Steel Watch Foundry and disabled them. Fought my way back into the Wyrm Rock Fortress since everyone is aggro at that point and obliterated Gortash in the coronation hall without a single bit of dialogue triggering. No fanfare or commentary from my party. Karlach said she was pissed she wasn't there for it, but would be fine if I just took her to see the body.

And then I did the Murder Tribunal-- shocked to see all the faces of the people I had to kill in Throne of Bhaal staring back at me, not to mention Saravok, whom I obliterated in the original Baldur's Gate, and then ABSOLUTELY REFUSED TO BRING BACK when the option was given in Throne of Bhaal because absolutely not (my Gorion's Ward was a Paladin struggling with nature vs nurture, which back in 2E days was a human and lawful good by requirements). I learned more about Orin, sacrificed Valeria, and moved on to the temple.

Orin's transformation into him, the face of my Durge, his voice, telling me all about Durge's roll in the Absolute plot, was the first I had heard of any of this, and as such, was the first time any of my companions had heard of it. It was just revealed to all of them that the Durge was born of Bhaal, that he was the head of the Bhaal Temple, that he was to blame for them all having tadpoles and this whole messy war on multiple fronts, and that he was here to reclaim his place as Bhaal's Chosen, not just to take Orin down.

Up to this point, everyone had just brushed off his murder of Alfira like it was nothing. They hadn't commented on his murder of Isobel and the destruction of Last Light. They didn't have much to say about him becoming the Slayer. None of them pushed him to struggle, to fight against it, to do better, be better. They just kept following him into the dark, and so by my reasoning, why would he struggle? It's his nature, after all, and no one has seen anything wrong with it, or at least hasn't voiced such discomfort to his face.

And with all that revealed? Did they have any commentary on it?

No. They didn't say a word.

No one had anything to say about it, and it was the singular point that absolutely broke my experience. It was the thing that made me pick up a notebook and seriously start writing again, after almost 10 years of not writing. I was so angry I wanted to do it right, to do it justice, BECAUSE NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD JUST STAND THERE WHEN THE VILLAIN OF THEIR CURRENT ENTIRE EXISTENCE WAS JUT REVEALED TO HAVE BEEN SLEEPING FEET AWAY FROM THEM AND BREAKING BREAD WITH THEM EVERY NIGHT FOR THE PAST MONTH.

I have since done other Durge runs. I have gone through the coronation. I've picked up the broken pieces of them scattered across the Shadowed Lands to the crypts of Baldur's Gate and still, AND STILL, the lack of reaction, the lack of care, it gets to me.

This could have been so much better.

[lil-xiao-200bc]

just finished the first season of blue exorcist and i’m so underwhelmed because literally what was that ending .

(spoiler! sort of ? idk it came out in 2011 but i was late to it too ..so tw anyways)

it’s so mary sue? and while yes, having satanic powers is obviously going to override a lot of logic in the show for plot holes (see below) but the show had so much potential especially being released in 2011 to be stepping stone for what anime could be. or at least i had high hopes for the show idk but instead it felt as if blue exorcist was a unique idea that was executed in a very copy paste format and is downright predictable at times. it’s because the concept and characters are so intriguing that the writing is hard to overlook

like why rin was granted mercy and released? why would the vatican release rin if they gauge him as a threat large-scale enough to forcibly arrest and execute him?? why

wouldn’t it be smarter for them to be the ones to be in possession of rin? like it’s very strange that these vatican people are just chill with letting rin free to essentially roam around and cause unnecessary trouble when the predominantly exorcist society see the twins existence as an abomination (not to mention their satan-relation being a secret primarily due to the vatican threat towards them) it’s just weird that there’s no lasting repercussion after a vatican event and yes i said event since there’s been multiple.

it’s especially weird since the vatican is portrayed in the blue exorcist universe as this authoritative branch with legal power strong enough to arrest mephisto, the dude with the elite title as the preceptor over the alluded prestigious cram school. twice at that. AND being confined long enough for yukio to become the new preceptor (why yukio’s allowed to do that? we don’t know!)

AND ITS TRUE that this can be overlooked because mephisto is a powerful demon with unknown intentions and therefore untrustworthy (like yknow him calling satan father and not really having empathy for rin cOUGH he sits in a chair and drinks tea while watching rin fight powerful opponents despite being his new legal guardian ((right? that’s what the whole shift to the cram school was about like he pulled strings just to get rin in and he gave them a separate dorm and ..allowance? and randomly filled in as a cook in their dorm for comedy i guess but shiro entrusted them to him and mephisto really couldn’t care less about them dying which is it’s own whole thing that the show doesn’t dig deeper into))

HOWEVER

it still remains out of character for the vatican to let rin roam free in favor of letting rin continue his studies because rin attending an exorcist school is pointless.

while we’re on the topic, the random “i’m gonna be a paladin” ambition from rin is such a plot hole because it’s what drives him to fight enemies from time to time, yet he’s learning none of the material but comedy? and to follow in shiro’s footsteps i suppose though it’s wack to take yukio’s ambition idk that paladin talk would’ve suited yukio way more and actually made sense

*PSA I ENJOY THE COMEDY I’M NOT BASHING THE SHOW I’M BASHING THE WRITING*

you could also say the vatican allows rin to resume his studies at the cram school because of its prestigious nature, but rin isn’t even a good student. he’s notoriously a bad exorcist. and again, the vatican is portrayed to be hostile towards demons, especially satanic-related demons so the leniency is truly so puzzling. it could’ve been really interesting to have insight on the vaticans perspective to answer those questions of why but they’re basically only used as pawns that serve as an obstacle for rin from time to time and have no lasting impact.

rin becoming an exorcist is only for his best interest, he does not use exorcising practices to eliminate demons like he’s being taught to do in his classes, he has only ever used his satanic power. (which sure, could be overridden for the plot point of rin needing to learn teamwork and gain confidence in his abilities at the cram school parallel to rin’s alluded job troubles and inferiority to yukio’s success at the start)

but it’s questionable if that made rin stronger or helped him grow as a character as post-yukio possession’s rin has no interest in changing his fighting style, as clearly seen in the final scene of EP 25. he’s still disobeying his teachers and butting into demon fights to only use his satanic powers and he experiences no strict punishment for doing so despite the cram school previously acknowledged as prestigious like bon being taken aside and warned that his scholarship could be revoked for picking fights with rin. (ahem mary sue mechanic of either rin being someone not to be messed with or the school having a policy against violence between peers that’s later abandoned anyways as seen with:

The Sheer Lack Of Legality Troubles post-yukio possession????

it was the CLIMAX of the show and there was so many elements not in the twins favor for once: the vatican being (very impulsively might i add) led by a vengeful grandpa, rin and yukio not communicating with each other, arthur auguste angel preoccupying shuru during the RIN SAFRIFICE AND YUKIO POSSESSION (truly the school system let them down mephisto was sipping his tea watching it unfold)

the show leaves out all the details regarding what happened after the twins closed the gate and still had yukio in charge of the school FRESH OUTTA A TRAUMATIC ENCOUNTER WITH THEIR DAD like did mephisto start clapping and pull a “oh btw the vatican let me go so i’ll be taking my position back and disposing of the remaining firearms that store demon blood in them that’s so unethical yukio how could you ever agree to that”

and even though that arthur auguste angel dude gets on my nerves how did he feel about getting his paladin status back? he seems like the type of character to have been deeply upset over the tossing around of THE ELITE OF ELITE exorcist titles that was probably a huge deal in the world of exorcists especially at their school AND IT GOES UNMENTIONED. also i feel like yukio should’ve gotten punished at least a little for assisting in the gate ceremony and all while being the paladin and preceptor like only getting demoted is such a head scratch decision it could’ve ended DISASTROUSLY

another mary sue moment

not to mention the Random?? character growth exhibited from both yukio and rin which, granted, could be written off as the twins operating as “two separate halves of their true power” except the show doesn’t elaborate on that at all post-yukio possession and yet the writing skips ahead to yukio being more acquainted to being the son of satan than rin

AND WHAT ABOUT RINS REACTION TO YUKIO HAVING KNOWN HE WAS INHERITING SATANS POWERS FOR AWHILE??? we were robbed of a brotherly scene right there it also makes zero sense on why that didn’t happen OR yukio telling rin that he looks just like yuri when he ASKED WHAT SHE LOOKED LIKE.

and it just upsets me because it’s insulting towards the story’s potential. rin is an iconic character and the show has a good popularity so to have a rushed and exaggerated ending that imo creates several plot holes in favor of tying the story together only to air a second season 6 years later is so ridiculous. as an anime-only fan (though i plan on reading the manga!!) it’s just bad writing. i’m really hoping the anime doesn’t do the manga justice and perhaps were low on funding and couldn’t do a more thorough approach towards the characters and let the story depict their ideology change (namely YUKIO seriously he is such a wildcard)

i’m not upset that yukio has the potential to do what their legendarily strong paladin dad couldn’t and overcame satans possession AND controlled his satanic powers despite being under immense pressure. i think that’s a pretty badass concept much like eren from aot, but this flawless execution from a COWARDLY character who put a lot of work into becoming a strong exorcist shouldn’t master wielding satanic powers during his first time ever having them. it’s character growth that doesn’t add up as he should be feeling betrayed and guilty for allowing their grandpa to manipulate him and cause a world changing threat to occur. not to mention all the innocent students being terrified by the events unfolding

he’s a responsible guy and is much more sensible than rin so it just sounds more like yukio to have volunteered to be punished that dude has already established his sacrificing and selfless tendencies i would’ve been content had the show ended with the twins being on cleaning duty for the school and them bonding (and talking about yuri of course) while scrubbing toilets that would’ve been a much dorkier and comedic ending rather than the choppy ending we got :(

[sunset-synthetica]

Got any takes on Optimus that would seem “controversial” within the fandom?? I’m curious bc I really like your meta and analyses on him!

I've talked abt this with a friend (partly due to ROTB) already but I don't think Optimus being brutal during fights/in general is an issue itself. What matters is why he's like that. This is also gonna contain spoilers for Rise of The Beasts, so beware.

See, the reason I dislike Bayverse Optimus is specifically because his brutality is never put into question or contrasted with what he has to say about peace and second chances and all that. He rips off limbs and threatens violence because it looks and sounds cool. That is my issue.

To contrast this, ROTB Optimus' brutality stems from Bumblebee's death and the general, long lasting despair and self hatred that comes along with the destruction of Cybertron.

His anger is a direct response to that, which the movie makes clear multiple times. I have a lot of issues with the writing and pacing of the movie, particularly in this area, but at its core, Optimus acting the way he does makes sense. It's a very interesting plot point that needed a lot more setup and, in general, time it couldn't get because of how absolutely stuffed the movie was already.

It's not a betrayal of his character, imo, to have him act out and express his anger in unhealthy or dangerous ways. He is a person like everyone else, and the weight he carries around with him is bound to make him snap in one way or another. I just wish it was handled with more care and understanding of who he is and why.

[jacuzziwaters]

I have multiple questions, thoughts, and theories about Suzume that I'll be writing. The stuff below the cut is going to contain spoilers so be warned. I have a couple grips about how I wished the story would go but I've made my peace with that. I've just accepted that we got what we got.

Edit: Upon reading other's theories and analysis I've realized that me and my autistic brain obviously missed a lot. (I'm terrible with symbolism.) This of course means that I'm going to have to watch this movie again. So read on while keeping this in mind.

The ML had the same English voice actor as Shiro from Voltron so of course I fell in love with him. (Also long black hair and a beauty mark under the eye *swoons*)

The focal point of the movie was about how short human life is. We're constantly grasping at every second of our lives trying to make the most of it.

I loved Daijin by the end of the movie. He grew on me after a while. Also he's a cat so it didn't take much.

Most of the doors were memorable places for the friends that Suzume had made on her journey. I think that it's quite interesting.

Daijin reminded me of Kyubey from Madoka. Except unlike in Madoka where being a martyr sacrifice was a choice that the girls made from their own free will, Sōta was forced into the role due to Daijin's meddle.

What exactly did Daijin even want? Is the answer really he just simply liked Suzume and that's why he passed on being the keystone?

What was the worm thing exactly? They explained why it needed to be sealed away. They explained how the Ever After is a world parallel to their own in which the dead reside. But never the function of the worm. But Makoto Shinkai loves to do that with his movies. I still have questions about Weathering With You.

What exactly are Sadaijin and Daijin? I know they're keystones but I kinda thought they were just small pieces of something bigger. Like more cats or something. I guess the answer is that they're just keystones but a girl can hope.

I know that they explained why Suzume was able to see everything that was happening. However, I feel like more people should be able to see these things. I'm sure many kids at some point have just opened a random door. Kids are curious. I kinda thought it was gonna be more of a chosen one type thing but it is what it is.

Back to Suzume. How'd she get the chair the first time round? It's shown at the end that she gives her younger self the chair but how'd the original Suzume get the chair? (the first Suzume to ever do this in the timeline if that makes any sense) Also how did the chair break? I thought that would've been a bigger plot point but again, I've accepted that not what the story intended.

How does the time travel work in this movie?

Why was there only one door that opened into the Ever After?

How'd Sōta's grandfather know who Daijin was? And why'd he call him old friend?

Why did Daijin's form change after Suzume said that she didn't love it? (Referencing back to bullet point where I question its existence.)

The romance seemed mostly one sided and I wonder if that was intentional. Like maybe when time passed and they met again maybe then there will be a romance. But that wasn't the important part of the movie. Just kinda mad about the build up that didn't deliver a kiss but that's not important.

I might add on more later as I remember stuff but this is what I have so far.

[estellamiraiauthor]

The Stars May Rise and Fall: The Annotated Re-read (Chapter 24)

This is another LONG chapter, and again I think it’s interesting to see how my writing style sort of evolved during the writing of this book. Of course I went back and edited the whole thing many, many times, but I didn’t really notice the way the chapters get longer and more complex as we go, and even if I had, it’s not necessarily something that needs to be corrected. But in the first half, basically, each scene is it’s own chapter, but chapter 24 feels more like an episode of a TV show, with multiple scenes and plot lines going on.

As always, spoilers under the cut!

It also introduces a couple of new conflicts after the relative peacefulness of 23. Teru has decided that he needs to tell the band about his relationship with Rei, since it is affecting them too, but he almost doesn’t because Minori is in a pretty terrible mood in the first scene here. I do wish I had kind of introduced a LITTLE more foreshadowing about the family problems that eventually lead to Minori deciding to quit the band, but there’s a little of that going on here. We can assume the phone call he gets in the middle of the band meeting is related to that, and I think his frustration with Rei wanting to include Saki’s song on the album and then not even showing up at the meeting to discuss it is related, too. He knows this album might be his last chance to make it as a musician, and Minori is a good enough composer AND businessperson to know that Rei is better at BOTH of those things than he is… in other words, working with Rei is his last, best chance, and it understandably annoys him when Rei doesn’t do everything he possibly could to make it a success.

But Teru does come out anyway. Looking back at this, I kind of wonder why I didn’t have him talk to Rei about it first… he probably should have, I guess. But I guess I didn’t think about it at the time because Rei IS “out”? Maybe not specifically to the band members, whom he doesn’t know that well, but I don’t think he’s actually HIDDEN his sexuality for a long time. So Teru isn’t really outing him, per se (again, he sort of is to the band, but because Rei is openly gay to anyone who cares to ask, it’s not the same as outing someone who’s closeted). And Rei DOESN’T mind, in the end, that Teru does it… but I guess if Teru were a little more worldly he probably would’ve realized that he should’ve asked first, just in case. 

The band’s reactions probably aren’t too surprising. Seika already knew, and as someone who’s been there, done that, is proud of Teru for coming out. Nao doesn’t know Teru that well, and doesn’t really have a reason to care (unless he was a raging homophobic or something, so at least we know he’s not). Yasu is… just being Yasu, I think. He’s an allocishet guy, and he’d assumed that his best friend was too, so his mind’s a little blown. It takes him awhile to get used to the idea, but he’ll be okay with it in a few chapters. He sort of jokingly asks how old Rei is… Yasu’s defense mechanism is always to kind of joke around, and while this isn’t particularly funny, I think he’s pretending to care about something that everyone knows he doesn’t really care about, because the questions he REALLY wants to ask are ones he needs to really think about first to make sure he’s not being rude.

Minori’s reaction is a little more complex. Teru tells Rei that night that he seems angry, but his initial reply is just kind of curt. I don’t think he has a problem with Teru being gay or even with him being with Rei, but again, it goes back to the idea that this is the band’s last chance in Minori’s eyes, and now he knows that choices are being made for emotional reasons that have nothing to do with good creative or business sense. I think he also feels a little like he’s being pushed out of his own band; it’s sort of become the Teru and Rei Show, and this is maybe where Minori decides he isn’t really needed anymore.

There’s also a passing moment earlier in this scene where Minori mentions a couple of new planned concerts: this big countdown on New Year’s Eve, and a “three-man” on January 5. A three-man is just a show with three bands instead of the usual six or seven, which means they each get a longer set but also have a higher ticket sales quota before they make a profit, so it’s a good indicator of success.

Super observant readers MAY notice that the date of this three-man is also the anniversary of Saki’s death, and that the show is NOT at Rock Eden, meaning that Rei probably isn’t going to attend… Teru doesn’t make the connection until later, though.

After all of this, Teru goes home and has a fight with Rei… there’s not much to add beyond what’s on the page; I think he’s just sick of having to carry out all of Rei’s arguments with Minori on his behalf, and wants Rei to come to the meetings and rehearsals himself. On Rei’s part, I think he’s partly starting to feel jealous (which he’ll admit to later on) now that the band is starting to have some success, and starting to feel some of the physical effects of overwork, which is both causing him pain and making him worry about his own future. So even though they’re only partly frustrated with each other, they say some pretty terrible things to one another here. 😢

The next scene is Teru telling Kiyomi that he’s dating Rei… not everyone loves this. I know a lot of people don’t really understand why Kiyomi thought the relationship was so serious when they’d only been on a few dates… and honestly that reaction blew my mind, because this scene is PARTLY autobiographical. It was in the Kabukicho Doutor, not the Shibuya Starbucks, but I once showed up for what I THOUGHT was a coffee date with a guy I’d been out with a few times and REALLY liked, only for him to tell me he couldn’t “hang out with me” anymore because he’d gotten MARRIED since our last date. Like Teru here, he CLEARLY knew that I considered the relationship more serious than he did (otherwise he would’ve just not contacted me again, right? No need for the one-on-one confession?), and while I have to admit I pretty must just cried and left, rather than spilling coffee and ripping off jewelry like Kiyomi does, when she says “Give it all back”? That’s what I remember thinking at the time… that he’d taken something from me in the emotional energy I’d been putting into him while he’d clearly been having another more serious relationship all along. (I later found out he’d met his wife the same night he met me and just kinda… dated us both until he decided which one he wanted to focus on.)

So. Kiyomi isn’t being super mature here or anything but that wasn’t the point. Yet again, my fictional book is not a manual for how to have healthy relationships! 😬

Kiyomi does actually show up to work the merch tables at the band’s next show, which IS pretty mature of her. 99% of the reason she’s working for them in the first place is to get closer to Teru, but even when that falls through she does show up to work one last show and tell Minori she quits in person. She’s still really young and inexperienced and can do some really socially inept things, but this was supposed to be Kiyomi growing a little.

Teru’s also really worried about Rei during the show… this is where we sort of start to see the effects of Rei not taking great care of himself. He blames the weather, which is probably a part of it, and he definitely definitely didn’t help anything by falling into a table during the fight with Teru earlier in the chapter, but he’s also got about a million repetitive stress injuries that are definitely getting worse as the result of working on the album 24/7. And I think this TERRIFIES Rei. Up to now, he’s at least been able to rely on his left hand, but because he’s overusing it to walk with a cane, to type and play the keyboard all day, he’s starting to realize that he might not have that forever, either… so he’s starting to see a future in which Teru gets more and more successful while he gets more and more disabled. And that’s understandably scary. Of course, we all end up disabled someday (I mean, unless we die young, and that’s not exactly better.), and Teru is nothing but genuinely worried about Rei… but Rei is beginning to see the possibility that he might not be able to help Teru in the same way forever, that he might be more of a burden on Teru instead… and that obviously influences the awful, awful thing he’s about to do.

[whatcha-reading-today]

Hello Beautiful | Ann Napolitano

I read this as it's appeared on multiple best of lists including GoodRead's most read books of the last five years, and I absolutely hated it.

The plot

The plot is apparently based on or pulls from Little Women. I'm sorry, I see so little of LW that I'm confused by the attribution. The plot here is loosely that four sisters, close in age and in familiar bonds draw apart over time, especially because of an absolutely boring man. They eventually talk again after one of the sisters dies. That's it. Yes, the story takes place over forty some odd years, but with no connection to clear characters with any kind of clear motivation, the story just falls flat. I think there could have been some really interesting conversations here about different kinds of family dynamics and the impact of time on our relationships but this rang so hollow and missed any sort of landing.

The Writing

I don't like Napolitano's writing. I found her writing simplistic and direct with clear telling of how each character felt about everything. When William said he was sad, Julia felt sad. Ok? Write a description, does Julia's face turn down in sorrow? Or is she disgusted and confused in relation to the type of upset she's feeling? I also found the pacing bizarre. There were clear sections that felt like rough draft outlines where we zoom through months or years of time with just descriptions of what happened. I read a book a few years ago that felt similar in style to this that focused on familial relationships throughout the duration of the Civil War. I can't remember the title but what I do remember is we watch a few families grow and change particularly in their relationships to each other around slavery, trade, enterprise, and rights. The book was about 700 or so pages long and so had space to really flesh out how and why everyone held their particular positions which I think was deeply beneficial to understanding every character. I feel that Napolitano wrote a book that is a simulacrum of that idea. Yes it was significantly shorter, but the characters suffered and didn't feel like they changed or grew over forty years.

Lack of character growth

As stated in the writing section, none of the characters really grow or change. William always loved basketball and is quiet, Julia is a bitch apparently the whole time, Rose is selfish. The twins are there. People change over the course of a few years let alone over decades. We see none of that as the reader.

Lack of LGBT representation

One of the twin girls is a lesbian. We are told this and see the sister on page once in the middle of the book. Her supposed love interest, who is named, never appears on page and never says anything. This felt like a pathetic attempt at being woke without doing any real work. I also have to say the comparison between the (spoiler) fact that one sister marries another sister's husband and being a lesbian is frankly a disgusting comparison.

Let's call it a 'twist'

I think the big shocking twist is that Julia, our FMC towards the start of the book marries William, a man who was good at basketball in high school but injured his knee and would never play as well again. They meet in college and Julia who we are told is smarter than William, marries him hoping he one day will be a smart professor dude. Within a year, Julia becomes pregnant and realizes oh shit William didn't want this nor is he good at being a dad. William in response tries to drown himself, survives, and TWIST/SPOILER ends up with Julia's younger sister for the rest of their lives.

This to me is such a strange twist and is positioned that Julia is the problem here. Which seems wrong? Yes, Julia and her sisters constantly tell us that she was more into the idea of who William could become and not who he is now and that's never good to put such pressure on your partner but...and stay with me here. Both characters are 21ish-25ish when this baby, grad school, busted knee, suicide attempt, etc happen. Both parties are at fault. Julia never should have put such pressure on William, but William should have expressed himself at any point. This latter point is especially pertinent because when Sophie (or whatever her name is, I have the book next to me and finished it yesterday and I frankly can't be bothered to check) dies, William still doesn't have his shit together. If we're going to map people over years of their lives they should change, or express regret or something.

Who is this book for?

So, is this the worst book I've ever read? No, not by a long shot. It however did not appeal to me as a reader in any capacity. I do think that there is an entire generation of women who this would appeal to. There is a lot of talk around societal expectations that women are domestic, have children, etc. And that I think was the reality in the 80-90s, so seeing it here may bring comfort or stir up conversation in that generation of women married in those years. But for me, I expect way more from a man and found the focus just so basic.

Format: Physical copy

Read in: October 2024

[mr-glove]

Massive lore/plot info dump

The reason why I'm doing this is if I don't put this out I feel like the [REDACTED] in my head will get me

Just a bit of background

I like yuri and Shantae x Risky has high potential for great stories. And I've been sitting with this story for a while. I've red stories of this ship on AO3 all great but there was just something missing to me, the 3 examples stories on AO3 are (spoilers for these 3).

My precious treasure by CEproductions [finished]: the idea that Shantae and Risky have a secret relationship behind everyones back and the danger of being found out is thrilling. But it's short.

Rogue tides by MalkavianCake [finished]: the idea that both Shantae and Risky need each other for adventure and Shantae joining Risky's crew and maybe have a child together. It's also kinda short and doesn't have any fallow up.

Daughter of the morning by Hardman5509: Shantae carrying Risky's child and Shantae realising that she acctually has fallen for Risky is wonderful and all. But the artist hasn't [as of writing this post] not updated it since 2017, that kinda makes be pissed

And my mind having ADHD + autism and making up stories as it does. It started very small but than it spiraled into something that I just couldn't keep in my head anymore. So what's this long term AU about?

The full serues will be called "The princess and the pirate"

The first thing is that I wanted this AU to span over a long period of time and games [tho I have the tendence to switch from game to game and story to not get bored] and I know ½ Genie Hero is suppose to be a soft reboot but it has a lot of potential if it took place in the same time-line. Also I want to write Shantae having multiple "phases" in her relationship with Risky.

And now for a little synopsis. Shantae 1-3 (even tho 2 hasn't come out yet) I will not write that, maybe in the far of future I will write it as a doomed prequal like the Star wars epsidodes. But the important part is at the end of Revenge Shantae discovers something about herself.

6 months later, ½ way through Pirates Curse Shantae and Risky WILL do the dirty deed (R18+). And at the end of it Shantae and Risky decide to keep their relationship a secret from everyone.

Now after that Shantae and Risky will go on adventures behinds Shantae's friends back, the Genie With 2 Lifes (GW2L) volume. This wil have 13 arcs spread over 1 year. And it includes as Shantae visiting Risky's new island, going on a few raids with her, finding genie artifacts and of course the Valentine special and more. Shantae will also gain the new transformations seen in ½ Genie Hero and a original one. I want to write a reason how and why Shantae has those in the ½ Genie Hero game.

Now ½ Genie Hero (½gh). It will start near the couples anniversary but thanks to [REDACTED for spoilers] it's get interupted and their relationship goes public with all the effects that fallow. It will also have some changes, including 2 defectors, 1 "level" removed and replaced with 2-3 new locations, a new/original transformation, a little glimps about Risky's past and don't worry, Shantae will get her well deserved anniversary gift.

Now I didn't want for 7 Sirens to take immidiatley after ½ Genie hero. I wan to give the 2 some breathing room about that they don't need to hide anymore. This shorter volume the 2 will meet a silver haired hunter and give Shantae another original transformation. More pirate gear and [REDACTED]

7 Sirens is a bit of a road block for me both because I haven't played it in a long time nor finished it but I want to make sure that this adventure is just the coupme having a realy weird first vacation

Now there is a gap because I don't know if Wayforward is gonna make another/more Shantae game(s) in the future so I'll skip it for now and go the Future parts of my AU [again I tend to jump form arc to arc to not get bored]

Shantae Future: and of course I want Shantae and Risky to get married, but let's just say that the honeymoon got an unexpected extension and after that the couple will have to deal with a bun in the oven.

I even have some drafts of the next Generation. Including Shantae's ½ genie daughter and her friends going on their own adventures. Like at the age of 10 she sneaks out of the house to find a genie artifact or at the age of 13 going to my version of Africa