#all these coincidental parallels are taking me out honestly

[syncogon]

Link Click Bridon + Link Click Live Action: it's the hard knock life

[dearmrsawyer]

no year in review because it was all horrible really so instead i'm gonna take this chance to share a pile of incredible soc fics because they gave me somewhere else to be

these are all amazing stories and they made me feel a variety of things, and i've been compelled to return to all of them more than once. there are honestly more but this was getting very long. all fic authors thank you so much for putting such beautiful things out into the world ✨

To Everything There Is A Season by @basicbard, @ace-kaz-brekker

When times on the farm get tough, Jesper decides to make use of the old temple in the woods. Almost coincidentally, he meets a strange boy in the same woods shortly after. Are his prayers truly being answered? And why does the stranger seem to know so much?

Incredibly incredibly lovely little mythical fic that i am so enchanted by, this is a type of story that i'm always looking for and when someone who shares your interest happens to create it that is a gift from god, frankly

out of the forest (into a home) by stillthestars

Wylan is adrift in the city; Jesper and the rest of the Crows take him in. Daemon AU.

I have read this fic so many times, every couple of months at least, and the comments are turned off so i can never tell the author how much I love what they've created and i literally lie awake at night haunted by this (i do mean literally).

A Shot in the Dark by alex_kade

The Crows are on a treasure hunt, but when Wylan gets seriously injured the mission becomes one of saving their friend. OR yet another fic where Wylan is the bravest of brave little toasters.

The first in my love affair with fics where Wylan gets shot lol. "bravest of brave little toasters" lives in my head rent free always.

A Measure of the Sum of Parts by @kindness-ricochets

Wylan is trying to improve Kerch and Jesper is trying to be happy with his life. After an accident he heads for the Little Palace to learn how to control his abilities, and Wylan uncovers yet another dark family secret. Reunions in Ravka, political machinations, and the beauty of a strange little family.

The other fic i am biologically compelled to reread every couple of months. So so many fics by this author touch me, but this one is seriously everything to me.

Musée des Beaux Arts by @oneofthewednesdays

Six portraits of life and death in Ketterdam featuring the interwoven stories of Wylan Van Eck and Kaz Brekker.

One of the best fics i've ever read in any fandom, an utterly perfect character analysis fic about the Wylan/Kaz parallels

the handmaid by MaudeAlise

It’s a relatively straightforward job: Jesper will pretend to be the handmaid to the withdrawn and sheltered Van Eck heir, and convince him to elope with another mercher. That’s all Jesper has to do on his end, and then the Crows will walk away with 45 million kruge. It’s a simple task. Or it would be, if not for the fact that there seems to be more to Wylan Van Eck than meets the eye, and Jesper can’t help but be intrigued—and maybe a bit charmed, too.

Me reading this fic channeling whatever energy those instagram romantasy readers possess, like ok i get the feeling you guys are trying to express i really get it now. what on earth could be better than Jesper employed to be Wylan's handmaid. maybe nothing? SO compelling

under a merciless white light by @feelinglikecleopatra

Jesper decides to grow out his hair.

one of the most moving fics i've ever read ever, idek how to express it

Love is War (And War is Hell) by @silverbirching

Jesper and Wylan face their biggest challenge as a couple to date: dealing with a houseguest. (and that houseguest has done war crimes)

WIP. Nothing could've prepared me for how completely smitten I would be with the concept of Jesper and Wylan taking care of a wounded Ivan. Like i'm head over heels for this fic, its hilarious and sweet and emotional, it is just way too delightful, i can't handle it

Flight of the Butterfly / Symbiosis by @jazzythursday

travel time between Shu Han and Ravka. Jesper wanders onto the deck of the Hummingbird at night, restless and looking for… something, and finds Wylan instead. Conversations about sensitive topics ensue, and even Crows need sleep.

my fav missing scene fic inspired by SAB!!!! I was DESPERATE for more time on that ship and this fic gave me everything i wanted. the characterisation in this fic is flawless

If you hold me without hurting me, you'll be the first who ever did by gglow

Jesper and Wylan's first times at the Van Eck mansion, because we all need closure.

i can't get enough of fics set immediately after CK exploring how Wylan and Jesper settle into the mansion, this might be my favourite one i've read, its just so tender

somewhere full of bright colours and beautiful sounds by @jackwolfes

A Marya Hendriks Van Eck character study, aka Marya adjusts to life back in Ketterdam.

So many fics by this author, but i think about this fic all of the time. Its the fic i've always wanted and its everything i could've hoped for.

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Pentagram by @emmy-everafter

Nina Zenik is a vet med student who's almost done with her clinical rotations… but she's also secretly a very powerful witch. When someone brings a cursed, injured werewolf into the animal hospital, Nina decides to try to save his life, despite the bitter hatred that exists between wolves and witches. She enlists the help of her housemates, Jesper (who's also a witch), Inej (who's fae), and Kaz (who may or may not be a vampire). But breaking this curse requires more than Nina bargained for, and time is running out. Can the Crows save the werewolf before it's too late? More importantly, can they do it under the nose of their all-too-human housemate, Wylan? And--perhaps the most important question of all--will Nina finally get some decent waffles?

PURE joy, just made me so happy??? extremely delightful, fun, also super touching. Just so so so rich. One of my fav AUs, making all the crows a different creature and then putting them in a house together, A+.

To Live in Color by @sixofcrowdaydreams

As a child Wylan Van Eck was told by his father that domestic labor is all he will ever accomplish since he cannot read. He’s grown up cleaning his own family’s home. It’s not easy work, but it’s gotten easier over the years. If only he wasn’t so lonely. But now that his father has remarried and a has a new heir on the way, Wylan has the suspicion that he won’t be kept around much longer, even to clean. So for once in Wylan’s life, he decides to live for himself. Just this once. He’ll attend the King’s Masquerade Ball whether his father wants him there or not. However, his plan the night of the masquerade goes sideways when he meets a handsome sharpshooter and the criminal crew he runs with carrying out a heist at the palace. Wesper Cinderella AU

one of those perfect storm fics where not only is the writing wonderful, the characterisation on point, but the story itself is just SO engrossing. this was heartbreaking and uplifting

The In-Between by @sparrowmoth

Born into a world where a highly stigmatized and exploited series of genetic mutations can completely strip you of your humanity, Wylan has known since childhood that something was different about him. The same something different that is said to have killed his mother. Now, abandoned by his father, and his world shrunk to a cage, he must decide if to accept his fate or risk everything to change it.

WIP. The.... worldbuilding..... magnifique. this fic has me exclaiming GOD at least once a chapter lol. I haven't read many hybrid fics in my time but i fear i am now spoiled and no one can live up to this

Crows of the Saintly Days by Allthebestpeopleare

A very chaotic Inej, Nina and Jesper go to Ketterdam University. Things start to get interesting when Nina catches the eye of a cute jock in psych class, a very shy and sweet Wylan stumbles into their friend group, and a past associate of Inej's makes more and more appearances.

Prob the longest fic i've ever read, but genuinely would not sacrifice a single word. Weaves textfic and prose, and altho imo textfic can be kinda vapid/ooc what starts out as v light fun spirals into a wonderfully well developed story that really deeply moved me, and i loved the style!

Blood in the Water by hopeisbloody

Kaz Brekker runs the Barrel, his Wraith, and his Sharpshooter at either side for eternity. Jesper Fahey, ten years into his immortality, still a fledgling at heart, feels lost, alone, empty. Kaz and Inej have each other, and they have had each other for centuries. Even in their inner circle, he’s excluded from the millennia of memories they share. Their rule is disrupted. Bodies appear, drowned, drained of blood. Wylan is back, but what for?

This is one of the coolest Wylan characterisations i've ever read, such an incredibly engrossing story, I literally could not stop reading

We Keep This Dream Together by @magicandpizza

An entirely self-indulgent, vaguely chaotic, mostly sweet Six of Crows coffee shop/university AU, based (largely) on my experiences of the UK university system. Mostly focused on Wesper, but with sides of Helnik and Kanej too.

The most comfort fic ever, its not technically a Christmas fic (altho it does appear in a chapter) but feels like a Christmas fic to me because it makes me feel a sense of warmth and comfort that time of year embodies

a path to normal by seimaisin

Home is a difficult concept for Wylan and his mother. Jesper makes it easier.

so delicate and lovely, another fic set in the direct aftermath of CK focused on Marya returning home, which i can never get enough of <3333

In a Full Life, All Hearts Break a Little by alcove_words

Two years after the end of Crooked Kingdom, Jesper finally visits Novyi Zem and the father and life he left behind. But he isn't alone; Wylan comes, as well, determined to be supportive. Neither of them expects it to be an easy trip, but Novyi Zem holds more for both of them than they are prepared for.

Selling my soul for all fics set in Novyi Zem, but this one...... so SO beautiful. So conversation-based but full of story, so BIG hearted, such unbelievably beautiful writing.

Of Bronze and Blaze by amagicbeyond

This is a Wesper-centric reimagining of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, through the lens of the Shadow and Bones TV canon.

WIP. Oh my god????? Oh... my god. I don't even have words for this one, its just unbelievable

[queenofbaws]

tags so good i had to take a screenshot of them and send them to myself so i can find them later (the ashley/hannah parallels)

🥹

*sniff* i'm so flattered omg heheheheheh

seriously though!!! idk if i'm just not looking in the right places or what, but i see so few people bringing up the parallels between the two of them despite how CRAZY they make ME slkdfjksd

they're both presented as girls with huge, embarrassing crushes that lead them to sometimes not make the best choices; both a little geeky and on the meeker side; both fully capable of turning around and lashing out at the people who wrong them; and, coincidentally, they're both really close to josh

idk. idk!!!!!! i just think that, of all the blackwood kids, ashley would be the most likely to sit and really stew over what happened to hannah (and by extension, beth) because that prank could've been played on her. it wasn't. but it could've been. and i think it would've gone exactly the same way, honestly. the others feel guilty because of the parts they played, but ashley? oh, oh i think most of her shame comes from understanding how easily it could've been her out there in the snow

[kafus]

loved all the points you made regarding the episode, I honestly felt like it was a massive step up from the previous two implementation test episodes both in terms of writing (the pacing clicked, there was a Lot of nuance which was interesting to see) and in terms of animation everything looked amazing imo. I hope it's ok I'm adding a bit to your discussion of grusha and liko - I think it's a very good step for liko's characterisation that she has to deal with a loss that has to do not only with her own execution, but with her own opponents feelings. As you said, her failing the test seems questionable and wrong considering how well liko has done throughout the fight, but I think it's intriguing that, with her arc revolving around sensing the feelings of others and accommodating to them, maybe even at her own expense, we see liko have to deal with test results that have a lot to do with her opponents values, personal history and feelings that are very foreign to her. I think there are also hints that both liko and grusha, despite his harshness and strictness, have innate emotional intelligence which to me is evident in their connection to their pokemon. I don't think it's at all coincidental that there is a repeated focus on grusha's relationship with his cetoddle, because that's a clear mirror to liko - they approach pokemon with sensibility and sensitivity. I just think these parallels are interesting!! Apologies for this ask getting so long, it's just been a while for me since an episode spurred so many thoughts for me and I wanted to share them

I DON'T MIND AT ALL honestly no notes this is a really great evaluation of the episode and i appreciate your extra thoughts.

"with her arc revolving around sensing the feelings of others and accommodating to them, maybe even at her own expense, we see liko have to deal with test results that have a lot to do with her opponents values, personal history and feelings that are very foreign to her"

this words something i was struggling to figure out how to express really well actually and i very much appreciate it lol.

god liko is so fucking interesting and i'm glad that her implementation test episode is so good cause like you said it was a big step up, i was left feeling really disappointed by roy and dot's implementation tests (dot's in particular was super underwhelming but she gets most of the best episodes of this show so it's okay she can take an L writing wise)

[ayuventi]

Okay, so another deep dive into symbolism in relation to that one scene with Law vs Big Mom (Wano arc spoilers)

I have honestly loved this bit of the fight against Big Mom and the absolute symbolism we get just from the color choices alone

Sure, we can argue that it's just a cool monochromatic theme going on with a color pop. But considering that at that moment in the fight, he was literally fighting for his life for a payoff with Kid's combined attack, it's VERY much the callback for Law when he was fighting for his life as a child. The fact that they not only decided to use a monochromatic palate, but also make Law's hair WHITE is such A MAJOR thing when you consider that one of the late stage symptoms with White Lead Disease was the hair turning white. But what really really gets me about this scene, is that you have this part that's in full color when Big Mom asks if he's dead and Lands a major punch on him. Also interesting (and perhaps a small bit of a reach) is that Big Mom's hair is pretty much made of flames at this point in the fight.

And then you get this cut which looks like blood falling on a mostly white background, which ofc is symbolic of where Corazon died and also can be meant to for the blood spilled in the White Town of Flevance. What’s also interesting to note is that the smaller splotches of blood look very similar to the splotches on Law’s hat when he was younger, which I don’t think they would have made this choice if it wasn’t meant to be a parallel. Also upon closer examination, there is a shape of a heart that is made both with the larger pools of blood, and the negative space, if you really take a moment to look.

I think it's also important to note that the shot with the sword is also in monochromatic colors as the K-Room is in black and white rather than the usual blue, and the magma is the same red/pink as his tattoos and hat spots. He was enduring all of Big Mom's punches to stay alive long enough to ensure he could carry out his goal, much as Corazon did.

And when he calls for Kidd, and he says "Don't make me repeat myself, Trafalgar! Don't tell me what to do!"

You get Law's smiling blood stained face that looks like Corazon's face paint extending from the corner of his mouth.

And then of course his crew is threatened with giving up their lives to Big Mom and he tells them that they should be the ones getting away

Then in order to save their lives (and Kid's crew along with everyone else in earshot) He uses the Re-Room

What else I find even more meaningful is that the bubble in which Cora-san enables Calm is always shown in purple too.

Obviously the purple enveloping Law when he uses Re-Room was also due in part to Kid's Damned Punk, but it's too coincidental not to have not noticed

Anyways, thanks for coming to another one of my Ted Talks!

[writing-for-life]

Yes yes yes!

Listen, I don’t consider myself a shipper by any means, but that one hasn’t left me alone since I first watched S1 since it seems so obvious to me, and it makes so much sense for show-narrative reasons IF they wanted to/needed to streamline it (and it’s Netflix, so…).

Apart from all the excellent points you’ve already made, @tickldpnk8 , and all the parallels I’ve already drawn here, I’d also like to point at something that would be so easy to tweak for the show and that no one ever seems to talk about:

Johanna’s family’s past, the boon Morpheus grants her after rescuing Orpheus and Thessaly extending her life by making deals with whatever agency she deems appropriate.

Now, we all know that 1789 Johanna eventually dies of old age in the comics, we see her gravestone on Naxos.

What if, what if they switched it a bit for the show though, and Johanna had actually been granted a boon that grants her a very long life/rebirth, which would truly elevate her to crone status just like Thessaly?

Sounds outlandish? Bear with me…

The first instinct everyone will have is to say, “But she doesn’t remember Morpheus and she doesn’t remember any past lives in the show, that doesn’t make sense.” I think that would actually be fairly easy to handle, because I honestly have enough imagination to turn that into a logical consequence of her being “reborn” in some way (she could just lose her memory every time). How that exactly works probably doesn’t matter, I have confidence they could make it plausible if they wanted to. Also, Murphy is the master of wiping memories, so that really doesn’t strike me as an issue at all.

I just can never get over the fact that 1789 Johanna and modern Johanna look exactly the same in the show. They made no effort whatsoever to even remotely suggest she is a different person.

With that out of the road, here come some “exhibits”:

Exhibit A:

In the comics, we get this conversation:

But what do we have in the show? Johanna explicitly asks for immortality.

I tried to hunt for a gifset of that scene because I’m sure I’ve seen it on here before, but as usual, the Tumblr search is pants. But she says that Dream has been sharing gifts/immortality, which he will now share with her. That’s a massive change, and I can’t believe that’s coincidental because with Gaiman, nothing ever is.

Exhibit B:

This whole scene, which we also get, in a manner, in the show. What are the old ghosts? What regrets does she have, what open scores? And what about the whole nightwalkers affair and Jack Constantine? Nightwalkers are commonly thieves/criminals/lowlives, but it’s also a more archaic expression for sleepwalkers and even vampires. There is SO MUCH to play with if one really wanted to. The world is the show-writers’ oyster here…

Exhibits C/D:

The actual boon. What is it?

Morpheus pretty much excludes, let’s call it financial compensation because a) Johanna is rich and b) it’s not his to give. And even Johanna hints again that she won’t settle for “cheap”. So what is the ominous thing Morpheus can give to her as payment?

Pleasant dreams would be the obvious choice. Taking her nightmares/old ghosts away he knows she had in 1789 (and may I draw the parallel to modern Johanna, because he does that for her, too).

But what if that weren’t all there is? What if the fact she explicitly asked for immortality in the show, when she didn’t in the comics, is not coincidental? Could he grant immortality himself? Probably not (although you never know with these Endless folks 🤣). Could he ask his sister though? And wouldn’t Death honestly owe him a bit for having had a part in Orpheus’ fate?

I know I know, this is all wild speculation, but I can’t shake the feeling there is something in the series that very strongly hints at a) some sort of rebirth cycle/immortality thing they didn’t play on in the comics and b) 1789 Johanna and modern Johanna actually being the same person without necessarily knowing she is.

Yes, I’m a writer, my imagination is a curse, sue me 🤣

@rey-jake-therapist You’re killing me btw 🤣

A Morphanna Theory

So it occurred to me as I was rereading A Game of You over the long weekend, that we might have already seen Johanna Constantine replace Thessaly in Season 1.

So bear with me while I put myself at risk of looking like this guy:

What we know

So we know a few things already given the BTS tidbits we've gotten so far.

We know that Season 2 will be significantly compressing the storyline between Season of Mists and Brief Lives. (baring something incredibly surprising such as having filmed a LOT for this season during filming for Season 1 and also filming ahead for Season 3)

A Game of You has to be either cut or significantly shortened/overhauled at this point considering the BTS shots of Wanda's character and the above outline of episode names.

We know (due to @writing-for-life's excellent analysis) that the music themes for both Morpheus and Johanna blend together well.

Pure speculation

So what struck me on this reread (and don't worry: I've got a draft started for my analysis) was just how much the interactions between Thessaly and Morpheus mirror the interactions between Johanna and Morpheus in S01E03.

First we get both women being generally unimpressed by Morpheus' ordering them about. With Johanna, it's in response to Morpheus turning up and demanding she take him to the sand.

With Thessaly, it's over him scolding her for acting rashly in taking the Moon Road to save Barbie.

This one felt more thematic to me than a direct comparison or direct quote.

Next, we get both of them lecturing Morpheus on his inaction where mortals are concerned.

(yes, I did learn how to make gifs just for this post: feel free to use) Johanna's lecture comes when Morpheus is ready to walk away after retrieving the sand...potentially leaving Rachel to her fate. Essentially blaming Johanna for leaving the sand there in the first place.

Thessaly's lecture comes as Morpheus is ready to walk away after removing the Skerry from the Dreaming. Although he hasn't stated his full intention yet, he's clear that he's not going to help them get home or get off the little bit of land that is left.

And finally, you see a bit of them both denying any interest.

(okay, so I made 2 gifs...) When Ric the Vic says that Morpheus is "not unfit", Johanna replies that he's not her man in a tone that makes it sound like she wouldn't consider it.

Meanwhile, Thessaly stews over Morpheus after he scolds her in the panels I posted above, saying that she's not buying his cool act and that he looks too skinny anyways.

So there you have it: scant evidence to be sure, but I found the 3 themes of each of them standing up to him for ordering her around, lecturing him in turn, and then also denying any attraction to be some fun parallels.

Given that we don't see much of Morpheus x Thessaly on-page, it feels like we have ample suggestions of Morpheus x Johanna in comparison. If they do go this direction, I really hope we see much more of it on screen than we did of Thessaly's blink-and-you-miss-it suggestion they were together.

[mittensmorgul]

since there’s no spn on the tnt loop today, i’m rewatching the Winchesters pilot. this is just general episode notes and things I haven’t talked about yet, for reference purposes mostly :D

Their meet cute... it feels “true-ish” to the story Dean shared with Mary in 12.01 as proof of identity. They met coming out of the theater where Slaughterhouse Five was playing by running into each other physically. But so many details-- TINY details-- aren’t quite “right.” They’re edited, but in a “the story became the story” way that we all probably have “sanitized” versions of our life history that we share with outsiders, you know? Or our kids... 

This was a major thing that Dean did throughout spn canon. I have whole tags about it: “the story became the story” and “sanitized for sammy,” and if we’re being completionist about it, also “sam vs reality.” And Dean began doing this ON JOHN’S ORDERS. He was to keep the truth of their lives from Sam, and there was a whole episode about Sam losing his innocence about monsters and hunting, and Dean blaming himself for it while STILL attempting to reframe the truth in a way that was more palatable and comforting, you know? Sam still didn’t get the details, he got “Dad’s a superhero” and “he always comes back.” Even though he didn’t, really.

The Story of John and Mary feels similar, especially since Dean’s our narrator now. The details are all the same-- ran into each other, they even joked that Mary really got John there even though Mary was the one knocked to the ground. Mary didn’t even see the movie but commented to John that the book was probably better-- i.e. she didn’t love the movie like Dean’s story before. It wasn’t Mary who apologized by taking them to a diner for coffee, it was John bringing her coffee trying to get her help/help her in their parallel searches for their respective fathers that feels FAR too coincidental, like a cosmic set-up scenario.

We know the cupids had to work overtime to get them together, you know? What better than to give them an Epic Quest to work through together? Which feeds directly into Chuck’s Process, his favored method of getting his characters to do what he wants. I.e. making people believe they’re seeking/doing something they personally want to by placing carefully orchestrated problems in their path. Even if Chuck isn’t the one TELLING us this story, since Dean is our narrator/storyteller now, he’s narrating events that had ALREADY HAPPENED, in theory. At least that’s the PREMISE we’re being invited to observe here, so until the narrative tells us otherwise, that’s how I’m personally observing.

I have no doubt that the reveal of The Trick Of The Thing in episode 13 will shed new light on this viewpoint, or shift our understanding of what we’ve watched to that point, but I do think they are laying out clues in the small details that we already think we know about the Winchester family history, you know? So how they’re choosing to present them to us now feels important, too.

There’s also the demons. That first one they encounter outside the clubhouse that Mary knocks into the holy water kiddie pool, I think that one ESCAPED rather than having been exorcised. That’s the only reason it was able to take a new host so quickly without having been redirected through Hell, you know? Even if we only saw John give about half an exorcism in the alley behind Ada Monroe’s place, I think we’re supposed to understand that’s what a successful exorcism actually looks like-- not with the smoke running off the way it had before, but sort of... poofing in the air and disappearing. Only at this point was it returned to Hell.

John and Mary are already doing the whole “stealing glances at each other when they think the other isn’t looking” thing, and it’s giving me brain worms.

Mary saying “there’s no secrets in our family,” I honestly had to pause it here to laugh. Five minutes later, it’s still fucking hilarious.

She’s never heard of the Men of Letters, but her father definitely has. Ada has. And now John learns his father had... and even Millie had... So was Samuel keeping this from Mary to protect her from the mysterious fate that befell the entire MoL organization 15 years prior to this time? Or shielding her from the heaviest of it all because he believed it had been defunct? Questions questions questions...

John being goofy asking Carlos how he got involved in hunting feels very Sam-like. 3.01 anyone? Carlos’ answer is fantastic though. The only thing worse than how someone gets into hunting is how they end... feels very Dean (it ends bloody or it ends sad, etc.)

John and Lata... really does feel like a thing. And it’s being framed as Mary SEEING it happen, and thinking John has feelings for Lata, and vice versa.

Mary’s deal here-- when we find my dad I’m walking away from hunting-- feels VERY Sam in early seasons. The only reason Dean was able to convince Sam to go with him to hunt their dad in the pilot was on the understanding that Sam was going back to his “normal” life as soon as they were done. After the pilot, it became “as soon as we find Dad, I can be free, be out, never hunt again” for SAM. That was Sam’s deal, for YEARS.

And even when Mary came back in s12, it was what she thought she was fighting for, working with the BMoL (maybe thinking they were the same as the MoL she’d known prior, if she retained any memories of any of this, which remains to be seen) to make it so her children wouldn’t HAVE to fight monsters, if there were no monsters left to fight. It’s kind of horrifying, her believing that’s what Sam would’ve wanted (and Sam... kind of going along with it in s12, even hiding it from Dean for a while). But the parallels between parents and kids are never 1:1 and never had been, either. There’s so much “Mary is just like Dean, John is just like Sam” commentary happening, that I don’t want to brush off “Mary’s also just a bit like Sam, and John of course shares some traits with Dean,” too.

Mille telling John that she hid the truth about monsters and the MoL from him because she would do anything to keep him safe, and that maybe one day when he had kids, he’d understand. And like... yeah maybe. The immediate reaction was PFFFT NO. HE MADE HIS KIDS INTO HUNTERS, INTO WARRIORS. But... not at first. He and Mary had been trying to keep them safe, normal. Until the demon came for Mary and flung John back into the life. Like... how different would things have gone if not for that? If not for The Story™ coming for them?

And again, this also feeds into “how much will they actually retain from this entire experience, or even possibly “how real is this entire experience to our known SPN Prime Universe?” Those seem like important questions to bear in mind.

I feel the need to put this link here now, before it gets pushed waaaaay down the google search results by results from the show... but Akrida has several definitions I think may all be relevant to some extent or another. It’s a garden, a place of leisure and play or sporting. A “play-ground,” created by the king either exclusively for the royal family to enjoy, or for the public to enjoy. And isn’t that what The Winchesters is? I mean, Dean is our King in this metaphor. But the Akrida in the show is a force intent on devouring or destroying all of existence, too. It’s a very ouroboros concept from that zoomed out perspective, you know? Creation devouring itself. More on this as our understanding expands through the season.

The last thing I think I really need to mention here: Dean, our driver picking the music. Our Storyteller. Also functioning as the Man of Letters chronicling and precepting for us. One other important thing that I’ve seen discussed since we got the first promo with Dean writing in a journal: THIS IS NOT NEW FOR DEAN, NOT OUT OF CHARACTER, and NOT GROUNDBREAKING.

In early seasons, it was clear that Dean DID keep his own journals. He didn’t just use John’s Journal. It sort of became their default master collection of lore at some point, and obviously was their “clue book” during s1. But all through the early seasons we’re shown Dean writing in other notebooks, keeping records for himself. Off the top of my head, we see it in 1.16 Shadow, and it looks like it’s very well organized and that Dean had been using it regularly, even if we only see it for a brief moment. I know that wasn’t the only time we saw it, either, but I don’t have time to scour the first few seasons for references today. We know he and Sam both eventually came to rely more on John’s Journal since they were partially using it as a clue book to find JOHN HIMSELF, and to follow the trail of clues laid out for them by John, you know? That journal functioned sort of like a codex to follow their family history, more than just a straight-up hunter’s journal of lore and info the way Dean’s journal worked. But now that he’s the storyteller, we’re finally getting HIS family history, written by him. I just needed to say all this, to note it down for reference.

[strangerthings4theories]

I’ve been thinking about the ‘Dear Billy’ episode title and thought it was interesting that the Welcome to California promo opens with Eleven saying ‘Dear Mike’.

Do you think ‘Dear Billy’ will be a parallel of that / maybe it will be Max writing a letter to Billy?

I love your blog so much btw it’s keeping me alive while we all wait in anticipation for ST4 :’) ❤️

Oh shit, you just asked a GREAT question. My answer will be long-winded, so bear with me...

"Dear Billy" is the fourth episode of the season, which places it right after the traditional Episode #3 Twist™. If we want to speculate on what happens in E4, we have to take the Twist into account, because it always changes the course of the story in a big way.

S1: State troopers fish Will's fake corpse out of the quarry. The boys go home to grieve, and Hopper leaves to tell Joyce. E4 ("The Body") follows everyone's reactions to the news: denial, grief, fights, funeral preparations. It also follows their investigations and growing suspicions. One by one, they come to the belief that Will's not really dead.

(Do you feel the oh-so-coincidental thematic resonance yet? 😉)

S2: Will gets possessed by the Mind Flayer. E4 charts the fallout of this event for Will and his loved ones. It also follows the development of other plotlines because, in S2, the characters' stories are less cohesive. However - and this is an important rule - the episode is named for the main plot ("Will the Wise").

S3: El meets Billy in person. The Mind Flayer realizes she's the one he's been looking for; El realizes something's wrong with Billy. As in S2, E4 juggles multiple plotlines, but its main job is to chart the fallout from the Twist, which culminates in the episode's namesake ("The Sauna Test").

The pattern is clear:

The name of E4 always ties into the main plotline.

In E4, the main plotline always deals with the E3 Twist.

This is pretty damn exciting. It means the name "Dear Billy" is tied into both the main plot and the big Twist™!

So what does this mean for your question? Well, while there's certainly room for Max to write a letter, I doubt the episode is named for her storyline. It's named for the fallout of that big fucking Twist, which will happen wherever El and Will are located (another pattern: the Twist is always centered on El, Will, or Billy). I now believe it involves El meeting Billy's mother out West.

In case you haven't read:

S4 "Welcome To California" teaser

More musings on the California teaser

A Twist like that would place the significance of "Dear Billy" somewhere in El and Billy's mother's story. Maybe we find out Billy's mother wrote letters. Or, since El says "Dear Mike" in the teaser, maybe we're supposed to see "Dear Billy" as a parallel or contrast from her perspective.

Honestly? I'm mystified by how a letter-writing mechanic could play into the main plot of E4. I love that, though, because it means the Duffers have stumped me! I can't wait to find out what they've done.

(Fun fact: E6 always has another big plot development that is somehow related to the Twist. In S4, E6 is called "The Dive." I don't think I have to explain the Billy vibes that has!)

[betweenlands]

zedaph or martyn inthelittlewood!!

both again

zedaph:

First impression: oh yoooo it’s the other guy that was in minecraft toy box alongside simplysarc! i didn’t know he was a hermit, i wonder what he’s up to?

Impression now: SCIENCE GUY OF ALL TIME. severely underrated hermit. i love him a lot and he deserves to go apeshit. incredibly brilliant redstoner

Favorite moment: idk man like all of s8. The Chamber was brilliant

Unpopular opinion: whoooboy. okay. potential Hot Take: i really, really feel like people tend to infantilize him and/or heavily diminish the role he has in team ZIT, to the point where it feels like some people don’t even really care about him as a character compared to impulse and tango? like for some reason there’s been a big uptick in zedaph content that literally could not be further apart from the way zedaph actually works as a person and hm. don’t like that!

Favorite relationship: uh i’ll be honest i don’t have a favorite dynamic of his rn. they’re all roughly equal in my mind. would love to put him in the same room as grian for longer than just a base swap and shake them a little bit. also obviously the dynamic i have wholesale invented between him and sarc Owns, but that’s because i made it up for myself

Favorite headcanon: @autisticlalna‘s alpha-z au, baybee! i really love the added layer of depth that comes with the implications of “zed is a clone of The Original Original Lalna That Worked At Yoglabs” and i think it adds a fun addition to his sciencey thing. it’s just really unique and also it means he can be little a sinister. as a treat

Idea for a story: uhhhhhh idk what if zedaph invented a new weapon called a gun i’d like to write a sequel to stormwatching the sandbox someday! of course, that relies on simplysarc uploading enough for me to squeeze more lore out of him, but. yeah

martyn:

First impression: oh yooo there’s a yog in this grian series? i didn’t know grian knew any yogscast members! i don’t know much about martyn but i’m excited to see where this goes!

Impression now: i rattle him gently and his one mcc coin falls out of his pocket. every time i watch his teams in mcc they do absolutely awfully and the one time i didn’t watch his team, he won. i’m very sorry martyn. also his lore is alright i guess

Favorite moment: i honestly think his double life series through cleo is hilarious in every possible way and it kinda owns

Unpopular opinion: ...yeah i’m still not a fan of the watchers lol. i tend to justify it with “this is some kind of entity pretending to be the watchers” but i just do not vibe with watcher lore. i feel bad because i know his lore isn’t intentionally the exact same as the fanon watchers i have disliked for so long, but it’s way too close coincidentally for me to be comfortable with it

Favorite relationship: just like with 3rd life ren. its renchanting duo. how could it ever be anything else. however also like i’ve mentioned in previous asks i would go absolutely insane over the thematic implications of a true impulse-martyn day one alliance in a traffic game, you would never get me to shut up

Favorite headcanon: anything bridging third life and yogscast i am SUPER down for. i think @strifesolution is the person i’m thinking of who likes drawing explicit parallels between the sacrifice at black heart altar and whatever the hell parvis and strife are doing in blood and chaos? and i think that OWNS.

Idea for a story: ohhh i dunno this is a hard one. maybe something with hopperhawk martyn, like he gets trapped in the breaker world that is trafficseries and then when he busts out he promptly decides he wants to dimension dive into other dangerous realities? yeah. maybe that

[ladyoftheblackpaint]

Dad-for-One Theory Breakdown

So now that the big man is out and on the loose, I was reading about this theory, and honestly it’s pretty interesting.

All For One being Izuku’s father.

Other people could probably write better analyses of the theory itself than me, but from what I understand these are some main arguments to support this being a possibility:

Firstly, let’s talk about AFO’s appearance.

He’s shown with white hair in the anime when he was younger, as does his younger brother. His eyes are constantly shadowed even before his face got jacked up by All Might.

So genetically speaking, here are the traits that constitute Izuku and his parental figures:

One of Izuku’s parents would need to have freckles

One of Izuku’s parents would need to have green hair (check)

One of Izuku’s parents would need to have curly hair

One of Izuku’s parents would need to have green eyes (check)

One of Izuku’s parents would need to have his eye shape (check)

One of Izuku’s parents would need to have his skin tone (check)

The thing with genetics, though, is that they’re weird things and parents are not always the sole givers of traits.

As we can see, from the parts of All For One’s face that is visible, he doesn’t have curly hair OR freckles, which is sort of a big kick in the gut for this theory.

Irregardless, I do have to say that theory, though, does have a point with the fact that his eyes are hidden. Most of Izuku’s traits seem to come from his mother, and the fact that two of his most telling traits (his curly hair and his freckles) just so happen to be in the same spots that are covered up by scar tissue in the design of present-day AFO is pretty interesting.

Coincidental New Abilities Given To Izuku & Izuku’s strange pain threshold.

So this is one that I have been asking questions about. OFA is a stock piling quirk, but from the looks of it, only strength is actually passed down from one individual to the next, like an energy reserve. However, if that is the case, why is it that all of a sudden the vestiges decided to change the rules of the game and bestow onto Izuku all of their abilities.

Why not All Might? He was the closest to killing AFO in the past, so if they had done so with him he might have actually done it.

It’s possible that the reason they chose Izuku was because of the impending catastrophes that were obviously coming to fruition with the League of Villains and Tomura.

I’m left to wonder if there was another reason, though:

One of the themes of My Hero Academia is how quirks harm the user over time. All Might gets wounded and then forces himself to keep using his quirk,  Bakugou hurts his arms if he uses his quirk too much, Aizawa gets dry eye, Ururaka throws up, and the most obvious of them is Izuku-- who breaks his bones with the intensity of his quirk.

This didn’t happen with All Might and apparently not with any of the past users, either, since All Might seemed surprised at the extent since it was easier for him, even though he suspected what the consequences might be. Add onto this that the ability is now supposed to be stronger than All Might’s was, and you get the picture.

The point is: Izuku gets wounded a lot and yet seems to have the pain resistance of a freaking monster I mean:

COME ON.

Taking that into consideration, AFO has been described as being concerned about how his quirk affects his body. Since he has so many quirks that could potentially harm him and overwhelm him. I mean, look at the experiments with the Nomu-- people are obviously not supposed to have more than one quirk.

So someone with the capability of wielding multiple quirks with possibly painful drawbacks would, probably, be able to pass on some of the needed traits to keep that up genetically to Izuku, amiright.

And it’s possible the vestiges could tell that Izuku could handle it because of this genetic connection.

He didn’t have a quirk, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t get other traits from AFO if he was his father, such as his endurance and pain threshold.

Which leads me to my next point:

Extra Toe Bone

I actually just thought of this when I was writing the last point, so if it makes no sense welp...

Izuku was born quirkless, something that is considered relatively rare, expecially as the generations go on. Quirks are genetic phenomenon, and so if two people who have quirks have a child, it is VERY slim that their child will be born quirkless, unless they had a grandparent or someone else down the line who was quirkless.

Now, AFO was part of the first generation of quirked people. Meaning, his parents would have likely been quirkless, something that would have made it much easier for his offspring to be quirkless, as well.

Fire-breathing Absent Father

This is one of the more easy and obvious ones.

Horikoshi has said that Izuku’s father would show up later in the story, meaning that he has had a plot planned out for Izuku’s parents. Whatever that might be.

So that obviously shuts down the idea that his father is simply an unimportant character. To be introduced so that into the story as if he’s a vital piece for the future story seems...strange. Pretty suspicious.

Anyways, there’s also the information that’s been given about Izuku’s father having the quirk of fire breathing, and, obviously, a man who has numerous quirks would have the possibility of being a fire breather.

There’s not much else to say about this point.

Parallelism

OH, this one’s my favorite.

Okay, looking at Tomura Shigaraki’s character for a moment, we see the connection he has with Nana, one of the previous holders of One for All.

This is a plot technique that is basically just a twist in the narrative. How could someone SO GOOD and someone that All Might looked up to have a grandchild so inherently evil? His family was relatively normal, even if his father was abusive (god, that’s a terrible thing to say but I digress). His father’s abuse came from the trauma he experiences when he was abandoned by Nana, but all in all his family was full of ordinary people. He had grandparents, a mother, a sister, and his abusive dad (oh god).

Even with the heroic heritage and the normal family life, Tomura becomes one of the worst villains in the series.

By parallelism, I mean, imagine the DRAMA if Izuku-- pure, wanting-to-be-a-hero, saving everyone’s ass, sunshine child Izuku-- was the most powerful villain’s child...that’d be fucking awesome. I would shit bricks. It’d be amazing!

Possibly predictable...

But amazing!

Plus, if you look at both Izuku and Tomura’s parents, if the Dad For One theory is true, they would each have one caring parent and one “bad” parent.

It would fit so well. With the narrative of the “heroes” of society not being inherently good (Nana abandoning her child-- even if she believed it was for his best interest) and villains simply being misunderstood until the point that they snap (look at literally ANY villain in the series. There’s some type of narrative about being abandoned by society).

One of the best heroes ever producing one of the greatest villains, and vice versa.

It’d be beautiful.

THAT’S some badass parallelism.

PLUS, it would fit with the narrative of ending the cycle of violence. For a story so based on the intricacies of society and what is truly “evil” and “good”, to have an ending where the two characters stray from their genetically defined path and decide their own destinies would be SO satisfying I’m getting excited just thinking about it.

ANYWAYS, I’m not so sure how much I believe this theory might come true, but I know that it’s not a silly theory at all. Looking at the narrative, the possible hints, the parallelism (GOD the PARALLELISM) it would make sense in the long run and, in my opinion, be super interesting.

[rinasparker]

5x08 meta

Riverdale Meta:

So I feel like trying to predict season long arcs for Riverdale is honestly kind of pointless considering how little they seem to prepare in advance, HOWEVER, I do feel like I could have honestly figured out at least what the overall theme for the season is.

It wasn’t until I was watching 5x08 today and took extra notice of Jughead’s opening monologue that the theme became highly apparent to me:

“A lot can change in seven years, but the more things change the more they stay the same”, which is coincidentally (or not so) the caption that RAS put in one of the first b*rchie stills - pointed out to me by @andsmile.

And I really think that this quote applies to most of the characters this season and how although most of the characters will end up in the same positions/ relationships/ places by the end of the season they have changed as *people* which allows their scenarios to be more viable now- because honestly most weren’t by the end of the s4 they had some sort of obstacle blocking them from completely thriving.

I also think that this quote about things changing yet staying the same could be about how certain characters (particularly Archie, Veronica and Jughead) have found themselves in similar situations to their parents.) But for this meta I really want to focus on the b/a/v triangle as that was also the focus of the episode.

So when we look at how Archie’s story has stayed the same yet his character has grown throughout this season I think you really have to look at his treatment/ relationships with both Veronica and Betty and how his relationship with them has both evolved but also stayed the same.

With Betty, obviously Archie’s relationship with her had evolved this season because there was the added sexual nature to it, but also (and more importantly) it’s now changed because they've finally set the boundaries that they needed when they were teens and even kids. For years they’ve been living in this limbo of ‘what could have been’ and never really exploring if there was any romance between them mostly because they were in relationships and didn’t think there was anything there- but now as adults who have a less sentimental view on sex they’ve finally been able to communicate and set the boundaries with one another to keep their relationship platonic once and for all. Thus showing that their relationship has stayed the same as they've agreed to be best friends and be there for one another at times of need, but also that it’s changed and developed as they finally had the conversation they’ve been waiting two decades to have.

Whereas with Veronica, after 5x08 Archie’s relationship with her hasn’t changed at all as they are pursuing a relationship with one another (to what extent we don’t know yet) but it’s also changed as their communication has improved. Whilst I personally think that va have always had good communication I do also think it’s fair to admit that this communication majorly faltered during season four. For the majority of the season Archie was consumed by grief and PTSD that it was obviously difficult for him to be an active participant in a relationship (probably why we had multiple episodes in a row where they wouldn’t interact, compared to the fact that they’ve interacted every episode so far post time jump) and when the cheating plotline occurred we received very little of Archie’s perspective and headspace regarding the matter and was more focused on Betty’s (something @andsmile has also talked about multiple times). This is such a juxtaposition to his headspace in season five where he has been openly honest about his feelings and intentions to Jackson, Betty and Veronica, something that is miles different to his silence from the previous season.

I think that a lot of this has to do with Archie’s maturing from a PTSD ridden teen to a grown man, and whilst he obviously still has PTSD this season from the war I think has a character he has developed and *changed* in order to be better equipped to deal with it.

My personal favorite parallel of this season has been the similar themes in music from the bus scene in 5x03 to the music that plays in the background of 5x08 when he and Veronica kiss:

5x03 lyrics= “will you follow me into the dark”

5x08 lyrics= “carry me over, carry me through the night”

Whilst both lyrics centre around the idea of darkness, teenage Archie wishes to stay in the darkness (proven by the fact he wanted to join the army, which causes destruction) whereas adult Archie wants someone to guide him out of the darkness (and the scene takes place in a fire department which intends on saving lives)

So basically I think his change in relationship with Veronica lies in the fact that he is a lot more open with her and more intent on communicating.

And I know a lot of people have been a bit upset at how quick Veronica and Archie have reconciled, but I think that this quote or theme or mantra or whatever you want to call it really does help explain this too.

Did Archie and Veronica get back together relatively quickly? Yes.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? No.

Most importantly was this out of character for either of them? No.

If we’re going to listen to Jughead’s opening lines (which is what I intend on doing) whilst the characters might have grown and changed their dynamics with other characters haven’t. Archie and Veronica at their cores are head strong, passionate and honestly a little brash. Time after time we’ve been shown if they want something or want to do something they will go for it 9Archie literally ran into a burning building in the last episode and in this episode Veronica wanted to redecorate her apartment and the day after already had the plans in motion and wanted them done ‘yesterday’) why would their approach to romance be any different?

Archie made his intentions very clear this episode, he wouldn’t try anything with Veronica if she was married- and by the end of this episode she was not.

Veronica and Archie were never going to get the slowburn whole season build up because at their core that’s not who they are, they don’t overthink and analyse their lives in the same way that Betty and Jughead do because at the end of the day their lives might have changed drastically in the past seven years but they have not, and their feelings for one another certainly haven’t either...

[procrastinatorproject]

Fic writer review, thank you to @thelaithlyworm  for the tag <3

how many works do you have on AO3?

Ten? Oh no, it’s actualy 12 now!

what’s your total AO3 word count?

86,468

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Grand total of 1: Star Trek: Picard - although my latest offering might branch a bit into other Trek as well.

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

“Passengers”

“And a Barrel of Gagh”

“CMO’s Log”

“Preparations”

“Game Night”

Which is actually kinda interesting. I wrote Passengers, Preparations, and Game Night while the fandom was still a lot more active (especially in the Aramis in Space corner), so that makes sense. The CMO’s log has had chapters added every few months, giving it probably the most exposure of any of my fics. Barrel of Gagh, though? I think I’m gonna attribute that to Thimblerig turning it into a truly, TRULY brilliant piece of podfic. Also the fact that it’s whump involving a character played by Santiago Cabrera. ‘tis A Thing..... :D

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I really try to! I love talking with people in the comments and just... thanking the people who found the time and energy to leave comments. But especially in the last few months I have gotten very bad at keeping up with the comments and now there’s about two dozen that I have neglected to reply to for a painfully long time 🙈

But I will get there! Because I love that kind of interaction!

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

So far, none of them have had angsty endings. Angsty middles, yes, but not endings. I’m just a sucker for everyone being happy in the end. Or at least on the way to being better, and supported and cared for on that way.

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven’t yet, but I’m definitely not opposed. One of the threads of my 200k unpublishable whump scenes takes place in a continuity that has existed in my daydreams for... I wanna say six years at the very least, probably longer. It’s mostly straight-up Star Trek, but with the twist that it involves the Wraith, the telepathic, hive-minded alien race from Stargate: Atlantis that suck the life force out of you with their hands? Or, well, at least a variation thereof.

I once typed up the world building for that particular setting and it took me three hours to try and make it all make sense. So it’s... involved. But not necessarily “crazy”. And I’m not sure I’m ever actually going to publish any of the stories I have set in it (not least because that would envolve finishing any of them and bringing them into a form that is interesting to read for anyone but me...)

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

Hm, not yet. I do enjoy reading smut, but only under very specific circumstances. I think I may eventually try my hand at smut, but the inner prude is still very strong. Writing about Rios and Xyr making out (which, honestly, was really tame, all things considered) made me melt in a puddle of blushing embarrassment, so full-on smut is probably beyond me at the moment. One day!

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Though litigating that in a fandom like ours would be... tricky. ST:Pic is way too small to steal stories outright. But similar or the same ideas pop up all the time. And it’s a complete coincidence. Reading the book that recently came out and that has a kinda similar setting to a lot of my stories (pre-season 1, early in Rios’s history as captain of Sirena, dealing with original characters, holo shenanigans, friendship with Raffi, etc.), I was struck by just how many elements, both scenes or story beats and little details, were similar to things that have cropped up in my writing. And it is entirely coincidental, because I am beyond certain that the author doesn’t read fanfic. Just... for legal reasons. Not to mention I wrote a bunch of the things I saw parallels to while the book was already in production, and some of them are only in my drafts.

So there is a ton of convergent evolution going on in this particular section of the fandom, and trying to litigate who came up with certain plot ideas or character beats when would be a sysiphean disaster. Some things are clear and whenever I use any of them I give credit where I can, but people will have very similar ideas. It just happens. So no, I haven’t had either a full-on story or “an idea” stolen, and I might change my tune if it ever does happen, but so far, I’m trying to practice equanimity, so I’ll be better at it should I ever need it.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Sadly no. My dad keeps complaining that all my fic is in English so he can’t read any of it, but honestly? I’m kinda glad for this very convenient excuse. Maybe if I ever feel like I want to practice my interpreting skills, I will give translating the stories into German a shot. We’ll see. Otherwise, if anyone feels inspired: Have at it! Just let me know, okay?

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not quite. I have a draft of off-the-cuff worldbuilding that I wrote on Discord with @curator-on-ao3 and that I would love to turn into an actual short fic (letters from a conference on holo-ethics), but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

I don’t really do shipping.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I WILL NEVER ACCEPT DEFEAT!!!! One day, I will write the next installment of Star Trek: La Sirena! I have so many ideas for that continuity and those characters. I’m not going to abandon them!

what are your writing strengths?

Hmmmmm. Probably detailed worldbuilding? Ask me something about, say, a technological or cultural aspect of Star Trek and chances are, I have thought about it in the past or will come up with three different sets of intricate lore within half an hour. (Things like... the architecture of San Francisco, or Will there still be taxi drivers? or the treaty between IKEA Intergalactic and the Borg Collective, or the Universal Translator, or Emergency Services or Why There Are Very Few Ambulances On Earth Anymore etceterah etceterah...)

I’m also good at slapping together off-the-cuff plot ideas (if, say, you need an explanation for how Seven and Agnes ended up stranded on a desert island, I could probably give you three different scenarios pretty quickly. Just don’t ask me to make them poignant or actually write them.

I’m also very, very good at beginnings.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Everything that isn’t a beginning. Especially endings, or rather: finishing something, but also just... keeping momentum.

I think my dialogue is somewhat samey and not distinct enough between characters. (Also my witty banter is... let’s just say it doesn’t come to me naturally...)

And I also struggle with keeping things brief and to the point. I can write you 30k of whump covering a span of three hours, but fitting a whole story in the same space? Much more difficult!

I have also avoided writing full-on action so far, but where it has crept in it has always been a struggle and been workshopped a lot with the indefatigable beta.

Otherwise, I don’t know. My self-perception is always a little warped, so I’m not sure what other people would say my weaknesses are.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Oof. Well. I have used Spanish sentences in my fic and done the thing where they’re translated in the end note, but I’ve mostly done it sparingly. I’ve also done the ‘“What do you want?” he said in Spanish.’ It’s tricky. But I will likely keep doing it in some instances, even if it’s a bit annoying.

(It also really helps to have a native speaker of Spanish as a beta, even if it’s Spanish from a different region than you’re character.)

Speaking of regional: I’m also torn about the whole “phonetically writing out accents” issue. Some people love it, some people hate it, I’m really unsure because I’m not a native speaker of English, so I’m not even sure I’m consistent in my narrative voice’s regional quirks. So far, I’ve mostly gone with describing that an accent is happening, and only writing out when phrasing actually differs from standard English. Like Ian (Scottish) saying “dinnae” but not writing “I” as “ah” as you’d see on, say, Scottish twitter.

Though it can be a very useful tool if, for instance, you want to indicate a characters accent getting stronger as they get tired or upset. 🧐

Anyway, I don’t think there is one right or wrong answer here and everyones milage will vary.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Published? ST:PIC

Actually first? Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Pretty much simultaneously, though I did write more for LotR. On graph paper, mind, with my fountain pen turned upside down so I could write smaller. I still have folders worth of those stories that I urgently need to digitize before they fade and I lose them forever...

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I’m going to quote @thelaithlyworm here: I Love All My Children Equally! I honestly couldn’t say. They are different and I love them for different reasons but I love them all.

Thank you for the tag! ❤ I’ve kinda lost track of who all has done this already or has already been tagged, so feel free to ignore me! But I tink I’m tagging @curator-on-ao3, @aini-nufire, @29-pieces, @flowers-creativity, @highfunctioningflailgirl, @cristobalrios and @the-goofball. And anyone else whom I forgot or who feels inspired to do this!

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Chain of Iron Theories on the Killer’s 5 victims

tinSo we know that the chain of Iron will have a mysterious killer who will kill 5 shadowhunters. Here are my theories on who will die.

1.) Maurice Bridgestock

Lets start with the obvious first, of course this man will be killed. He is Inquisitor and that is a powerful yet cursed position, take it and you will die a horrible  death. I am hoping he dies pretty early, because I have a feeling until then he will be gunning for the Fairchild family. Remember he and his wife were the ones who really wanted Charles and Ariadne to marry. Charles and Ariadne were originally friends, who both figured that being forced into a hetro marriage was inevitable and that they could both do worse. Charlotte and Henry gave there blessing because they thought Charles and Ariadne were actually in love. Once Charles told this parents that he and Ariadne weren’t they immediately gave him permission to break the engagement and gave their blessing for him to marry someone else (who he doesn’t love either, Oh poor messed up fairchild family). This infuriated Bridgestock. Charles and Charlotte know to avoid him unless it is for official business, done in public, with witnesses. Does Matthew? Chapter 4 is called “The King is Dead”; so maybe the Inquisitor is the “King” listed. The next half of that phrase is “Long live the King” symbolizing the transition of power, so that would mean choosing a new Inquisitor. The most obvious ones to get the promotion is one of the TID dad’s given how close they are with Charlotte and the sway her vote would give. According to the cards it looks like she gives the position to Will (cough Gideon would have been a way better choice cough), we will see how that goes.

2.) One of the Wentworth’s

The Wentworth’s will have importance in the COI.They have been referenced and set up like the Lightwood’s in CWA. We know at least 3 of their names, we know that Martin Wentworth is kind of a thorn in Will and Gabriel’s side. We know that Piers and Rosamund have a... tense relationship with our mains, but do have their own friends and seem close to each other. Honestly with how much this family is mentioned/established I was thinking for a while that it would be just like the Lightwoods in CWP. Like maybe Piers was Eugenia’s ex boyfriend, maybe he had wanted to marry her but bad stuff was happening at home, his dad keeping secrets, and he couldn’t get blessings. Then that snip-bit at the party came out and I read about Eugenia being done with suitors and Piers hitting on Catherine. Piers still may be Eugenia’s ex, and he may trashed her rep and then moved on to courting his sister’s best friend. If so and he dies I will not miss him.

I would say Rosamund is pretty safe. She has a fiance now, and is planing her wedding. Wedding are actually great places for interactions and drama. Rosamund is good friends with Ariadne. Maybe Ariadne will try to bring Anna to the wedding, or maybe Ariadne will have Eugenia ask Anna to accompany her to the wedding, because Anna is less likely to say no to that, and then use that as a chance to “win her back.”

3.) At Least One of The Carstairs Parents

Risa Included. We all care about this family, we all wish their troubles could be over, and tat things and the next two books could be rainbows and sunshine for them. And we all know that will not happen. Terrible things will befall London. Elias is unbalanced from PTSD and weak from detoxing after years of addiction, Sona is weak from a difficult pregnancy/ recent childbirth, Risa is a mundane and lacks the ability to kill demons. They don’t have a lot of friends, all three are old. It is not fair and I hope whoever dies is at least given a good death.

4.) Cecily Lightwood Nee Herondale

I hope I am wrong, please let me be wrong. The family tree and CWP2 epilogue say that she will live through this, but those were written 7 years ago and are no longer accurate. The Second book always has one tragedy that will emotionally destroy us and leave us crying till the third comes out. It is unlikely that all The TID gang will live through another series. Other people have been guessing Gideon, but his branch already lost Barbara in COG2. In a book with so many nuclear families why kill from the same one twice? No it won’t be Gideon. After careful analysis I have determined Cecily is the most likely of the one to die.

First off Cecily didn’t come into TID until the final book and she was mostly squeezed in as a secondary character. That means that CC put less time and development into her and while she probably likes her, is maybe less attached to her. Secondly Cecily is some one very important to Both Will and Gabriel, two people Tatiana hates more than anyone in the world. She also played a key role in Killing the Lightworm, she caused it to wound itself to were Gabriel was able to kill it. For Tatiana Cecily would be three birds with one stone. Another reason she might die is Cecily is the only one of The TID characters who I cannot find any information on what her job/role in the clave is. Everyone else has a job listed, is seen investigating or talking at meetings, Cecily is just a mother, okay the best of the TSC mom’s. But having to take so much time off shadowhunting to raise her children might have put her out of practice, and having such a strong bond with her children, nieces, and nephews would make it all the more heart breaking if she died. One final reason is that unlike her Gabriel does have an overall arch. He idolized a fantasy of who his father was, had that come crashing down, then wanted to become someone different. His wife dying would put Gabriel just were Benedict was when Barbara Lightwood the first died: A single father with three kids, one of whom is coincidentally about the same age as Gabriel was when he lost his mother.

I love Cecily and writing this has made me very say (Please let me be wrong about her dying) but moving on...

5.) Tatiana Blackthorn Nee Lightwood

She will die. Tatiana probably joined Belial willingly, she probably does not see it, but Belial is not her ally. The truth is she is just as much Belial’s pawn as anyone he has tricked. When he is done using her and no longer has any use for her, he will kill her to keep her quiet. She will probably die last, her blood is Jesse’s and can be used as a sacrifice. She dedicated her life to resurrecting her son so she could have him back, and she will die with the knowledge that she has doomed him to Belial’s plans.

Bonus 6.) Charles Fairchild

Charles will not die. I originally I thought he might, but he is actually necessary as a foil/parallel to Matthew. Two brothers who grew up in the same family, yet have personalities and struggles that are literally flip sides of the same coin. Cassandra Clare has said she is planning on “developing” their relationship. She has also said Charles will be away for a lot of the book. So that does not leave a lot of space for this development in COI, and Charles has to make it until COT. I believe that he will disappear. No one will have any idea were he went or why, His parents will send out a search, while that is taking place Charlotte task Matthew with assisting her the way Charles usually does. Matthew will hate it. He will hate the piles of work and stuffy meetings; he will hate having less time to see his friends; and especially the cranky, foul mouthed, horrible politicians he has to deal with instead. As time goes by and the Killer at large Charlotte will become more desperate to find her older son. When she cannot find him her and Henry will start to fear the worst and cry over it at home.

Matthew will eventually start looking into his brothers disappearance, not because he misses him, but their parents are miserable and Matthew is tired of having to do Charles chores.  He might learn Charles and Alastair were “good friends” before and try to force information out of Alastair, Que to him learning one of his brothers secrets. While I do think Matthew will be the one to find Charles I do not think it will be until the end of COI or early COT, when Matthews life has morphed into a much bigger mess than it was before. I also do not think Charles will be in the same... way as he was before his disappearance. There will be a whole new list of issues when the brothers meet again.

[anextraordinarymuse]

Time for another trip down the Nathan x Elizabeth rabbit hole

Because it's Monday, and you know what that means my dears - we have more Nathan x Elizabeth things to discuss! Hopefully this won't be too disjointed, but I have a lot of things I want to discuss, so bear with me if it is.

To start: Elizabeth sure is giving away a lot of advice that she should be taking. Honestly, nearly every talk she had this episode with Ned, Katie, and Florence had me wanting to leap through the screen and shake her. Are you listening to yourself, Elizabeth?? DO YOU HEAR WHAT YOU'RE SAYING!? Actually though, I think she is - I think the fact that she's saying these things is a sign that she's moving into a better headspace now - she's making sense of herself again, and replanting her feet on solid ground. One of the things I have always believed is that if you can explain something to someone else, then you have a real understanding of that thing. And if you aren't sure, sometimes trying to explain it to someone else can help you: you'll either learn that you do understand it after all, or be able to identify the gaps. But Elizabeth doesn't look at all uncertain in the scenes where she's giving advice: she appears at ease, and thoughtful, and maybe a little inspired. In fact, the only times we really see any hesitation or doubt from Elizabeth this episode is when she's with either Rosemary, or Lucas. Interesting, huh?

From a purely positional standpoint there were a lot of interestingly staged shots in this episode. Note, I mean positional literally: the way they had the characters standing, and the way some of the shots were framed, definitely felt curious. And intentional. All of the HV couples are pretty lovey-dovey when they're together in this episode, with a few exceptions ... scratch that. They're all lovey-dovey in the scenes they're in together, with the exception of Elizabeth and Lucas. If a couple is in a scene together then they are touching in some way - in this episode, they either have their arms linked, or an arm around a shoulder, or have established contact in some other way. Notably, the only actual couple that we see not like this is Carson and Faith, but that's only in two of their scenes, and in both of those they are still standing close together and giving off a clear "couple" vibe.

This is not the case for Elizabeth and Lucas at any point this episode. In fact, they have little interaction this episode as a couple. Elizabeth talks to Lucas in the saloon about the Katie and Ned situation, but there is nothing in this conversation to indicated that they are involved in any way. No physical contact, no references to their relationship - if someone who had never seen this show saw this moment they would have no way of knowing that these two people were anything but friends. And even though they go to the wedding together, the same is true there. But, more interesting than that, is where the directors decided to seat Elizabeth and Lucas. If you go back and watch the wedding scenes, you'll see that there is a clear distinction between the two sets of pews: on one side, they've seated single people ... and then Elizabeth and Lucas. I mean single literally, not as a statement on their relationship. We have Fiona (single), Robert (single), Minnie (Married, but alone in this moment due to circumstance since Joseph is officiating and Angela is playing the piano), and Molly (single, for now), and then we randomly have Elizabeth and Lucas. But they're not touching, and they really don't even look at each other for most of the ceremony. Then, on the other side of the aisle, we have all of the couples/families: Nathan and Allie, Clara and Jesse, Faith and Carson, and Rosemary and Lee. Why such an obvious split? This was purposeful on the directors' part. This is a subtle but pointed nod to where Elizabeth and Lucas's relationship is headed.

But there are a few other interesting things to note in the wedding scenes. When Joseph is officiating, he says "You've declared your desire to be one, giving yourselves to each other in a life-long covenant. To be neither selfish, nor self-serving." Now, as the camera zooms in on Lucas and Elizabeth, there are some things to note: the way Lucas moves his one hand into his other hand as Joseph talks about the life-long covenant makes me think that he wanted to take Elizabeth's hand in that moment, but didn't. Instead, he folds his hands together and can be seen kind of rubbing his thumb over the back of his hand in what I think is a sign of frustration (because he wants to hold Elizabeth's hand). But Elizabeth's hands have been folded in her lap this whole time. The camera pans over a little to Elizabeth's hands and we watch her play with her wedding rings as Joseph says "to be neither selfish nor self-serving." Joseph says a few more lines, and then we get to this moment: "With humility, gentleness, and patience," and we see Elizabeth subtly glance to her side, where Lucas is sitting. There is so much to unpack here! None of this is coincidental. Elizabeth's relationship with Lucas is entirely selfish and self-serving, and it has been from the get go. (Note: self-serving means "having concern for one's own welfare and interests before those of others."). This is a moment where Joseph doesn't know, but we do, that he has essentially just a held a mirror up to Elizabeth and made her take a good look at her actions. But! The adjectives that Joseph chose are fascinating, because they are most definitely Nathan's: humility, gentleness, and patience. If I could only use three words to describe Nathan, they would definitely be those ones. Humble, gentle, patient; yeah, that's Nathan. Then, Joseph says, "... and keeping no record of wrongs, because you will be wrong." At this point, the camera pans to Nathan (and Allie), who have both struggled this season and been wrong in one way or another. So has Elizabeth, of course, but this moment is more about Nathan and Allie still having a loving, stable relationship despite their mistakes (some of which have made things a little harder on the other one at times).

Then we get to the reception where, once again, all of the couples are together - except Elizabeth and Lucas, who are not together and do not share a single moment together. But we get a lot of information about where this "triangle" is going from other sources at this point. I haven't mentioned it yet, but one of the things we see this episode is that Allie has found a new person to focus on lately: Paul. We haven't seen a lot of moments with her and Robert, but we do see Paul, Robert, and Allie together in the phone room, where Robert looks a little displeased with how happy Allie seems to be about getting to spend all this time with Paul. Remember, Allie's had a bit of a love triangle of her own this season: she like-likes Robert, who has decided he like-likes Anna. But now, when it looks like Allie might like-like Paul, guess who comes around and suddenly starts taking notice? Yep - Robert. At the reception, Robert compliments Allie's hair and then asks her to dance. This is obviously a sweet (and funny/innocent) parallel to the Nathan/Elizabeth/Lucas triangle. And, based on that little look on Allie's face when she finds out that Fiona likes to fish, and knows how, I won't be remotely surprised if we get a moment in 8x11 that's presented in a way to make Elizabeth jealous of a possible hinting at a Nathan/Fiona pairing. I don't think it'll be on purpose, but I'm wondering if maybe Allie will invite Fiona fishing with them or some similar situation will arise, and Elizabeth will see it - and be jealous.

Moving on, though. Aside from this scene, I think the last three-ish minutes of the episode tell us some very important things. First, we get the conversation with Lucas and Nathan where Lucas tells him to stop pressuring Elizabeth. Which Nathan handles surprisingly well despite how much it upsets him. This is what's important, though: in this moment, Nathan has no way of knowing if this comment is Lucas being a dick, or if he's saying it because of something that Elizabeth has said to him. It's entirely possible that Elizabeth told Lucas that she feels Nathan is trying to pressure her, and Lucas is simply warning him off. Elizabeth and Nathan haven't actually spoken since their moment in the Mountie office, where Nathan once again told her that he was in love with her - and she ran away. Again. So, I think it's entirely reasonable that right then Nathan might be feeling a lot of things: upset, vulnerable, discouraged, weary ... he has no way of knowing (yet) if Elizabeth is feeling pressured. He walks away, and walks past Elizabeth without a word. He glances at her, but doesn't stop, and doesn't even offer a hello in passing. He just walks by. And, seconds later - seconds after Lucas has just told him to stop pressuring Elizabeth - who seeks him out but Elizabeth? Unprompted, unencouraged, unexpected - there's a tap on his shoulder and there she is. HA! Who's doing the chasing again, Lucas?

(Side note: there's another thing about this moment that we're going to talk about on its own in a minute).

When Elizabeth asks to speak with Nathan outside, he looks both surprised and nervous. By the time they get outside, he looks downright anxious, honestly. I think he was prepared for Elizabeth to tell him that she felt pressured, and that he needed to move on because she didn't feel the same way (or something similar). But again, Elizabeth does no such thing. She tells him with earnest sweetness that she doesn't blame him for Jack's death; she finally relieves him of the burden that he's been silently carrying for three years. YES!!! And then Nathan takes her hands, and there's a lot to unpack here, as well. Now, some people think that this was a romantic gesture, but I don't. I think this was just a moment of connection between two people who have been bearing a heavy burden for some time; I think Nathan is just so relieved and grateful to know that Elizabeth doesn't blame or hate him that he can't put it into words, and tries to express himself through another avenue. BUT - again, the directors have chosen to present this moment in a very curious way. First of all, Nathan reaches for her left hand first - the hand with her wedding rings, and yet we don't see them in the shot despite having seen them prominently displayed in several of her scenes with Lucas. Secondly, the way that they chose to have Nathan and Elizabeth standing is absolutely reminiscent of a bride and groom at the altar. I mean, we just saw Ned and Florence in this position a few scenes ago. This actually kind of drives me nuts. WHY did they choose to frame the shot like that? And then we see Lucas through the window, clearly outside of and apart from whatever is happening with Nathan and Elizabeth. But there is NO REASON for this moment to be shot the way it was. And IN THE SAME episode as a wedding (just a few short scenes after said wedding, even).

Which leads me into another point: I have seen some people speculating/hoping that the "huge/shocking surprise" (or however Brian Bird phrased it) in the finale is a sudden wedding between Nathan and Elizabeth, or at least a proposal. Speculation that I have outright dismissed, honestly, because this is the show that took FIVE FREAKING SEASONS to let Jack and Elizabeth get married, and has drug out this damn love triangle for a whole season longer than it needed to.

BUT.

This episode has me feeling like I ... might be wrong. I mean, I've been wrong about pretty much everything else this season, I think, so who knows? But let's look at why I'm starting to think that those possibilities might not be so far fetched.

In 8x02, Nathan is going to look at Bill's land and he tells Elizabeth before leaving that he thinks it's time he settled down. When he does see the land, he immediately starts talking about building a house. Fast forward to 8x05, where Nathan and Elizabeth share that scene in her house where Elizabeth tells Nathan that he will always be the measure of the quality of man that Allie uses as "she chooses who to marry." The wording here stuck out to me (and others) as being somewhat odd, because Elizabeth doesn't talk about falling in love or building a family or anything - she says "chooses who to marry." Sounds like that wording applies to someone other than Allie, doesn't it? Now, fast forward to 8x07 and Allie surprising Nathan and Elizabeth with that moment in Bill's office. You know what scene looks like? A sudden wedding with a judge/justice of the peace. I don't say that because that's what I want it to be - I say that because I have been to weddings just like that, and that's what that scene immediately made me think of. It looked like a freaking elopement.

Now, on to 8x09, where we get quite a bit of this wedding/marriage imagery and symbolism. First, we get Lucas's conversation with Allie where he tells her about the man that tried to come between his parents. Now, the way the story is told, it's clear that Nathan and Elizabeth are in the place of Lucas's married parents (and thus, in the role of Allie's parents) and that Lucas is the other man, the interloper. So, now we have someone outside of Nathan and Elizabeth's relationship painting them as a married couple. Actually though, let's back up a second: in the beginning of this episode we get Rosemary talking to Elizabeth where she says "I wanna know why Florence and Ned took so long to commit to each other," and then goes on to outline that they've worked closely together for awhile, have known each other for years, and both lost their spouses a while ago. We literally start the episode with a mention of time, and how ridiculous it is that so much time has passed between Florence and Ned sort of being together, and actually committing to one another. Coincidence?

Later, in the party scene, when the men go to join the women to combine their parties, there's a moment where it shows the women from the front as the men walk over (who have their backs to the camera) and Elizabeth turns and half rises out of her chair. She looks at Lucas first, but her eyes are inevitably drawn to Nathan - she actually glances between the two of them a few times in quick succession, so it's easy to miss. But the real takeaway here is the way the shot is framed when Nathan takes Elizabeth's hands: he's holding both of them again, and he draws them closer to his chest, and then they just stand there ... looking like a couple at the altar, again. Of course, since Elizabeth is blindfolded, Fiona literally has to "give her away." Now, they're not alone in this scene, but it's framed so much like a wedding shot! Elizabeth is "alone" in the scene in that we can see Fiona's hands behind her, and a hint of the ladies sitting down in the background, but Nathan is standing squarely in front of her with a man on either side of him ... almost like there's a pastor on one side, and his best man on the other. (Side note: I laughed too hard at the image of Lucas as his best man, which is who it would be just based on position since the best man is always to the left of the groom in shots from this angle).

And then, we have 8x10. An entire episode about a wedding, in which Elizabeth has no significant scenes with the man she's actually dating, and nothing but significant scenes with Nathan. Alrighty then. Now, there are only two moments left in this episode that I want to talk about. First - and I only caught this because I watched the episode with headphones and captions on - is the moment that Elizabeth approaches Nathan at the reception. Nathan is talking to Bill, and if you listen closely he says: "I want to be married. I've been in this town three years ..." and then is interrupted by Elizabeth's shoulder tap. Y'ALL!!!! I WAS SHOOK! I mean, the statement isn't really surprising on its own since Nathan said way back in the beginning of the season that he wanted to settle down, but the fact that he just outright says it like that and that's the conversation that Elizabeth (unknowingly) interrupts!?!?! Second - this moment is then immediately followed by Nathan and Elizabeth holding hands once more like a couple at the altar, complete with Lucas in the window behind them simulating where the pastor would be standing to officiate? Damn. Everyone on this show just suddenly went "subtlety, who?" That moment of hand-holding outside still just boggles my mind, honestly, because there's just no reason for it to have been framed like that ... unless they purposely wanted to engender that wedding imagery.

Like ... at this point I'm kind of like, hell, I don't know, maybe the surprise in the finale is a freaking spur of the moment wedding. Even if it isn't, though, not only is it clear that Elizabeth is going to choose Nathan, but it's clear that they'll be getting married at some point. If we keep with the tradition of the last few years of having a wedding every season (or nearly that), then it would not surprise me at all if Nathan and Elizabeth get married in season 9. At this point, the only question is whether or not Faith and Carson will get married before Nathan and Elizabeth, or not at all.

So. This basically turned in to a novel, but there was just so much to talk about (and I'm sure I missed a few things I wanted to talk about!). If you stayed all the way to the end, thank you, and - as always - let me know what you think!

[snarktheater]

Hey, d'you have any French book recs? I'm trying to work on my French, and rn I have downloaded one of my favourite book series' French translations, but I figured maybe books already written in French might work better? Also have you read the Ranger's Apprentice series? 1/2

RA's def flawed - the books' narration does like to point bright arrows at the protagonists' intelligence, and the last few books def have the tone of 'old white man trying to write feminism', although at least he's trying? - and it's aimed more to the younger side of YA, but it is still a very fun series, and I can ignore the flaws fairly easily, at least partly due to nostalgia? This rather long lol but I'm wordy.

I'll start with the second question: no, although every time the series is brought up I have to check the French title and go "oh, right, I've seen these books in stores". But I've never purchased or read them. It sounds like something I probably would have enjoyed as a teen but I just missed the mark, and these days I'm trying to drown myself in queer books, so that probably isn't happening.

As for your first question, geez, I haven’t read a French book in years, so this is gonna skew middle grade/YA, though that may not be so bad if the point is to learn the language. I will also say that as a result, these may read a little outdated.

I'll put it under a cut, even if Tumblr has become really bad with correctly displaying read mores. Sorry, mobile crowd.

It's also likely that old readers of the blog will have seen me talk about most of these. I don't feel like going through old posts.

One last thing: while I was curating this list I took the time to make a Goodreads shelf to keep track of those.

The Ewilan books by Pierre Bottero

(It's a testament to how long ago I read these books that these are not the covers of the edition I own, and I can't even find those on Google. I'm settling for a more recent cover anyway since it'll make it easier to find them, presumably)

There are at least three trilogies (that I know of) set in the same world.

The first trilogy is essentially an isekai (so, French girl lands in parallel fantasy world by accident) with elements of chosen one trope, though I find the execution makes it worth the while anyway.

The second trilogy is a direct sequel, so same protagonist but new threat, and the world gets expanded.

The third one is centered around a supporting characters from the previous books, and the first couple of books in it are more her backstory than a continuation, though the third one concludes both that trilogy and advances the story of the other books as well.

Notably these books have a really fun magic system where the characters "draw" things into existence. It's just stuck with me for some reason.

A bunch of stuff by Erik L'Homme

I have read a lot of this man's books, starting with Le Livre des Etoiles.

They also skew towards the young end of YA, arguably middle grade, I never bothered to figure out where to draw the line. They're coincidentally also using the premise of a parallel world to our own (and yes, connected to France again, the French are just as susceptible of writing about their homeland), but interestingly are set from the point of view of characters native to the parallel world.

It also has a very unique magic system, this one based on a mix of a runic alphabet and sort-of poetry. I'll also say specifically for these books that the characters stuck with me way more than others on this list, which is worth mentioning.

This trilogy is my favorite by Erik L'Homme, but I'll also mention Les Maîtres des brisants, which is a fantasy space opera with a pirate steampunk(?) vibe. I think it's steampunk. I could be mistaken. But it's in that vein. It's also middle grade, in my opinion not as good, but it could just be that it came out when I was older.

Another one is Phaenomen, which was a deliberate attempt at skewing older (though still YA). This one is set in our (then-)modern world and centers a group of teens who happen to have supernatural powers. I guess the best way to describe it is a superhero thriller? If you take "superhero" in the sense of "people with individualized powers", since they don't really do a lot of heroing.

...I really need to brush up on genre terminology, don't I.

The Ji series by Pierre Grimbert

This one is actually adult fantasy, though it definitely falls under "probably outdated". It is very straight, for starters, and I'd have to give it another read to give a more critical reading of how it handles race (it attempts to do it, and is well meaning, but I'm not sure it survives the test of time & scrutiny, basically).

If I haven't lost you already, the premise is this: a few generations ago, a weird man named Nol gathered emissaries from each nation of the world and took them to a trip to the titular Ji island. Nobody knows what went down here, but now in the present day, someone is trying to kill off all descendants from those emissaries, who are as a result forced to team up and figure out what's going on.

I'm not going to spoil past that, though I will say it has (surprise) a really unique magic system! I guess you can start to piece together what my younger self was interested in. Which, admittedly, I still am.

Once again, this one also has a strong cast of characters, helped by rich world building and the premise forcing the characters to come from many different cultures (though, again, I can't vouch for the handling of race because it's been too long).

The first series is complete by itself, though it has two sequel series as well, each focusing on the next generation in these families. Because yes, of course they all pair up and have kids. Like I said: very straight.

A whole lot of books by Jean-Louis Fetjaine

OFetjaine is a historian, and I guess he's really interested in Arthurian mythos especially, because he loves it so much he's written two separate high fantasy retellings of them! I'm not criticizing, mind you, we all need a hobby.

The former, the Elves trilogy (pictures above) is very traditional high fantasy. Elves, dwarves, orcs, a world which is definitely fictionalized with a pan-Celtic vibe to it. The holy grail and excalibur are around, but they're relics possessed by the elves and dwarves with very different powers than usual. Et cetera.

Fetjaine also really loves his elves (as the titles might imply), and while they're not exactly Tolkien elves, there's a similar vibe to them. If you like Tolkien and his elf boner, you'll probably like this too. And conversely, if that turns you off, these books probably also won't work for you.

This series also has a prequel trilogy, centered around the backstory of one of the main characters. I...honestly don't remember too much about it, but I liked it, so, there you go, I guess.

I said Fetjaine did it twice. The other series is the Merlin duology, which, as the title implies, is a retelling of Merlin's story. Note that Merlin is also in the other trilogy, but it's a different Merlin; like I said, completely different continuities and stories.

This one is historical fantasy, so it's set in actual Great Britain, and Fetjaine attempts to connect Arthur to a "real" historical figure...but, you know, Merlin is also half-elf and elves totally exist in Brocéliande, so, you know. History.

Okay, that's probably enough fantasy, let me give some classics too.

L'Arbre des possibles et autres histoires - Bernard Werber

Bernard Werber is a pretty seminal author of French sci-fi and I should probably be embarrassed that the only book of his that I read was for school, but, it is a really good one, so I'll include it anyway.

It's a novella collection, and when I say "sci-fi" I want to make it clear that it's very old school science fiction. It's more Frankenstein or Black Mirror than Star Trek, what we in French call the anticipation genre of science fiction: you take one piece of technology or cultural norm and project it into the future.

It has a pretty wide range of topics and tones, so it's bound to have some better than others. My personal faves were Du pain et des jeux, where football (non-American) has evolved into basically a wargame, and Tel maître, tel lion, where any animal is considered acceptable as a pet, no matter how absurd it is to keep as a pet. They're both on a comedic end, but there's more heartfelt stuff too.

L'Ecume des Jours - Boris Vian

(no cover because I can't find the one I have, and the ones I find are ugly)

This book is surrealist. Like, literally a part of the surrealist movement. It features things such as a lilypad growing inside a woman's lungs (and, as you well know, lilypads double in size every day, wink wink), the protagonist's apartment becoming larger and smaller to go with his mood and current financial situation, and more that I can't even recall at the moment because remembering this book is like trying to remember having an aneurysm.

It is also really, really fun and touching. Oh, and it has a pretty solid movie adaptation, starring Audrey Tautou, who I think an international audience would probably recognize from Amelie or the Da Vinci Code movie.

I don't really know what else to say. It's a really cool read!

Le Roi se meurt - Eugène Ionesco

Ionesco is somewhat famous worldwide so I wasn't even sure to include him here. He's a playwright who wrote in the "Theater of the Absurd" movement, and this play is part of that.

The premise of this play is that the King (of an unnamed land) is dying, and the land is dying with him. I don't really know what else to say. It's theater of the absurd. It kind of has to be experienced (the published version works fine, btw, no need to track down an actual performance, in my humble opinion).

The Plague - Albert Camus

You've probably heard of this one, and if you haven't, let me tell you about a guy called Carlos Maza

I'm honestly more including this book out of a sense of duty. The other three are books I genuinely liked and happen to be classics. This book was an awful read. But, um. It's kind of relevant now in a way it wasn't (or didn't feel, anyway) back in 2008 or 2009, when I read it. And I don't just mean because of our own plague, since Camus's plague is pretty famously an allegory for fascism, which my teenage self sneered at, and my adult self really regrets every feeling that way.

Okay, finally, some more lighthearted stuff, we gotta talk about the Belgian and French art of bande dessinée. How is it different from comic books or manga? Functionally, it isn't. It really comes down more to what gets published in the Belgian-French industry compared to the American comics industry, which is dominated by superheroes, or the Japanese manga industry, which, while I'm less familiar with it, I know has some big genre trends as well that are completely separate.

The Lanfeust series - Arleston and Tarquin

This is a YA mega-series, and I can't recommend all of it because I've lost track of the franchise's growth. Also note that I say "YA", but in this case it means something very different from an American understanding of YA. These books are pretty full of sex.

No, when I say YA I mean it has that level of maturity, for better or worse. The original series (Lanfeust de Troy) is high fantasy in a world where everyone has an individual magical ability but two characters find out they're gifted with an absolute power to make anything happen, and while it gets dark at times, it's still very lighthearted throughout, and the humor is...well, I think it's best described as teen boy humor. And it has a tendency to objectify its female characters, as you'll quickly parse out from the one cover I used here or if you browse more covers.

But still, it holds a special place in my heart, I guess. And on my shelves.

The sequel series, Lanfeust des Etoiles, turns it into a space opera, and goes a little overboard with the pop culture reference at times, though overall still maintains that balance of serious/at times dark story and lighthearted comedy.

After that the franchise is utter chaos to me, and I've lost track. I know there was another sequel series, which I dropped partway through, and a spinoff that retold part of the original series from the PoV of the main love interest (in the period of time she spent away from the main group). There was a comedy spin-off about the troll species unique to this world, a prequel series, probably more I don't even know exist.

Les Démons d'Alexia

Something I can probably be a little less ashamed of including here.

Some backstory here. The Editions Dupuis are a giant of the Belgian bande dessinée industry, and for many, many years I was subscribed to their weekly magazine. That magazine was (mostly) made up of excerpts from the various books that the éditions were publishing at the time; those that were made of comic strips would usually get a couple pages of individual scripts, while the ongoing narratives got cut into episodes that were a few pages long (out of a typical 48 page count for a single BD album). Among those were this series.

For the first few volumes, I wasn't super into this series, probably because I was a little too young and smack dab in the middle of my "trying to be one of the boys" phase. But around book 3 I got really invested, to the point where I own the second half of the series because I had canceled by subscription by then but still wanted to know more.

Alexia is an exorcist with unusual talents, but little control, who's introduced to a group that specializes in researching paranormal phenomena, solving cases that involve the paranormal, that kinda stuff.

As a result of the premise, the series has a pretty slow start since it has to build up mystery around the source of Alexia's powers, but once it gets going and we get to what is essentially the series' main conflict, it gets really interesting.

Plus, witches. I'm a simple gay who likes strong protagonists and witches.

Murena

There was a point where my mtyhology nerdery led me to look for more stuff about the historical cultures that created them, and so I'd be super into stuff set in ancient Rome (I'd say "or Greece or Egypt" but let's face it, it was almost always Rome).

Murena is a series set just before the start of Emperor Nero's rule. You know, the one who was emperor when Rome burned, and according to urban legend either caused the fire or played the fiddle while it did (note: "fiddle" is a very English saying, it's usually the lyre in other languages). He probably didn't, it probably was propaganda, but he was a) a Roman Emperor, none of whom were particularly stellar guys and b) mean to Christians, who eventually got to rewrite history. So he's got a bad rep.

The series goes for a very historical take on events, albeit fictionalized (the protagonist and main PoV, the titular Lucius Murena, is himself fictional) and attempts to humanize the people involved in those events. Each book also includes some of the sources used to justify how events and characters are depicted, which is a nice touch.

It's also divided in subseries called "cycles" (books 1-4, 5-8 and the ongoing one starts at 9). I stopped after 9, though I think it's mostly a case of not going to bookstores often anymore. Plus it took four years between 9 and 10, and again between 10 and 11. But the first eight books made for a pretty solid story that honestly felt somewhat concluded as is, so it's a good place to start.

[aashiqeddiediaz]

I feel like as a Buddie fanfic writer, I need to clear a few things.

I do not agree with a single thing Ryan said in his live last night.

TW for mentions of racism

For those that aren’t aware, he openly admitted to using racial slurs with his Black friends and other persons of color (he named Black, white, Asian, Indian, Korean by name) because they’ve “allowed” him to. As a nbpoc who’s Indian, I know that this entire sentence made me uncomfortable because this is basically cultural misappropriation. And especially knowing that he was doing it to defend his partner’s use of the n-word? No.

Honestly, nobody outside of a race has the right to use terms that belong to certain races (which is coincidentally Oliver’s response to it as well, in the context of the n-word). Ryan also mentioned that he didn’t mean slurs in a later tweet, he meant stereotypes but honestly? You’re a grown man, you can understand what the difference is between the two and you can understand why it’s so important that you NOT propagate them.

The words he said, point blank, are offensive to me as an Indian, and I can only imagine how it must be for Black people and he should be called out as such. He doesn’t see the point, neither does his partner (who released a statement too) and neither of them have issued an actual apology, just a bunch of essays without any apologies.

However, I do not believe in cancel culture. I believe in unfollow and move on. Because the problem with cancel culture? It stops them from educating theirselves and basically sets up a precedence. It stops growth because at one point, no one’s going to want to listen to try and help them be better. I will not tell you how to react, or what to do, but this is how I feel about it.

I just want to let you all know, that it’s okay to want to stop watching Eddie Diaz. It’s okay to want to continue watching it. It’s okay to keep writing, it’s okay to stop writing for Buddie. Do not let anyone stop you from reacting as you see fit.

Personally, when I write Buddie? Ryan Guzman doesn’t step anywhere near my work. It’s purely my construction of Eddie Diaz, who just happens to share a remarkable likeness to Ryan. Same goes for every other character I’ve written, including Buck.

When you write fanfic, at one point, those characters become your own and the archetype image of the actor melts away. For me, that’s how it’s always been, and will always be. The actors have nothing to do with my work and I am going to keep it that way.

Yes, it’s hard to separate actors from characters. The man who usually plays on my screen is a whole parallel universe from the man I watched in the live video last night. And while I hope there are repercussions that lead Ryan to learn to be better, Eddie Diaz will always remain someone different for me. His storyline has important representation, especially with Christopher.

Again, these are my opinions and I don’t expect anyone to share them. But I will continue to write for Buddie, because it has never been about the actors, and I refuse to let them ruin this brilliant thing our fandom has going. We’re approaching 3000 on AO3, countless other things going on on Tumblr and it’s just ART out here. A lot of us have met a bunch of friends and co-writers (@ao3theskyisblue 🥰🥰) from this fandom.

I refuse to let anyone take that from me.

Stay safe. ❤️