#also don’t know how they’re gonna make the meta verse come back this time

[fakecats]

p5x looks so bad my god

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #498

Top Ten Movie Cameos

The first time I think I ever noticed someone cameoing in a movie was Steven Spielberg. I was watching The Blues Brothers, and there was this guy, who I was sure was Mr. The Berg. I must have seen him in some behind-the-scenes something or the other. But he was a director, not an actor, so it couldn’t have been him, right? Then years later I was reading Empire, and sure enough, I was vindicated. It was indeed the play mountain himself. But more on that later.

So, cameos, then. What is a cameo? Now, in my opinion, I think it really has to be small. Really, it should just be one scene – or even one shot. The smaller the better. I’ve seen people online refer to Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love or Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder as cameos, which is very, very daft, as those are clearly supporting roles – even if they are quite small (and remember, Dench didn’t win her Oscar for “Best Cameo”, she won it for “We Meant To Give You This Last Year”, which is a very important category in the Oscars). I also think the best cameos should be unexpected; a nice surprising treat. And usually they’re funny – the incongruity of seeing that person in this film. Because that’s the other thing: for a cameo to really work, the person cameoing has to be kinda famous. For instance, some might say that Ashley Johnson in The Avengers is a cameo, but whilst she’s obviously awesome and prodigiously talented, I don’t think she’s instantly recognisable enough (which, y’know, she’s mostly famous as a voice actor); also there’s nothing inherently funny or surprising about her role, she’s a waitress who’s saved by Captain America. It doesn’t feel like it’s saying anything to have Johnson play that role, other than I guess Joss Whedon wanted her in the movie (it’s actually funnier that her brief scene is referenced in Loki, because Kate Herron had the whole of the MCU to draw from in a montage, but chose to use an unknown character who’s in one tiny bit of one film, entirely because she’s a huge fan of The Last of Us – see, that is arguably a cameo).

So my rationale for what is and isn’t a cameo might seem complex or even arbitrary, but when has that stopped me in the past? And so, with no further ado, we now get deep into the weeds of it and celebrate my favourite movie cameos of all time. Oh, and there’s no Bill Murray here; I know, I know, it’s a really famous cameo, but, er, I’ve never seen Zombieland. Sorry.

Stan Lee in Pretty Much Everything (2000-2019): I mean, who else? The absolute King of Cameos. Lee was a massive publicity hound all his life, and passed up no opportunity to get in front of the camera, so once big, proper movies were being made of his comics, he was right there, selling hot dogs in X-Men (2000), rescuing children in Spider-Man (2002), and then right through every MCU film until his sad death in 2019 (and even popping up in Teen Titans!). Hearing him tell Miles Morales “I'm going to miss him,” in Into the Spider-Verse chokes me up every time.

Carrie Fisher & George Lucas in Hook (1991): this has always been one of my favourites because unlike virtually every other entry in this list, you only know this if you’ve been told. But it’s funny and it’s sweet. When Tinkerbell takes Peter to Neverland, she flies over a bridge, where a silhouetted couple are seen canoodling. Her pixie dust falls across them, and they begin to float into the air. And apparently the unrecognisable couple are played by Princess Leia and the director of Star Wars. Which, I think you’ll agree, is pretty cool (Hook is really good for cameos).

Brad Pitt in Deadpool 2 (2018): having an invisible character offers plenty of opportunity for some good gags, especially in a Deadpool movie, but the real laugh in the film comes when the Vanisher is electrocuted and we get to see his face for a split second. And – ha – it turns out to be the hugely mega-famous Brad Pitt. It’s funny because he’s a massive star.

Martin Sheen in Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993): it’s one thing for the movie to do an Apocalypse Now gag, as Charlie Sheen’s Topper Harley sails down a river on a military boat, but hanging a lampshade on it by making it cross over with Martin Sheen’s Willard from the classic seventies Vietnam epic is another thing entirely. And then both actors notice each other – ha, funny, they’re father and son in real life – and say in unison, “I loved you in Wall Street!”. Very on-the-nose all the funnier for it.

Steven Spielberg in The Blues Brothers (1980): well, I mentioned him, and here he is, a totally nonplussed-looking administrator bloke just merrily eating a sandwich. He’s frightfully young (I’m guessing he was probably about 32 or 33) and he’s got a big brown tache instead of his usual ‘Berg Beard, he’s dressed very smartly and he’s awfully polite. His demeanour is hilariously in stark contrast to the mayhem around him, and his public persona is also hilariously in contrast to the raucous and ribald mood of the movie.

Cate Blanchett in Hot Fuzz (2007): this is one I didn’t even notice till I read about it after seeing the movie. In a very funny scene where Simon Pegg’s Nick Angel chats to his ex-girlfriend Janine, she is head-to-toe in forensic gear throughout, with a mask covering her face, so all we see are her eyes. But the gag of it is, she’s played by the phenomenally famous Cate Blanchett. You get a megastar to do one scene but make her unrecognisable. So funny it beats Peter Jackson’s evil Santa.

Don Ameche & Ralph Bellamy in Coming to America (1988): this is another one I remember finding hilarious when I was a kid. Walking down the street late at night with love interest Lisa (Shari Headley), Akeem (Eddie Murphy) nonchalantly gives a huge wad of cash to some poor homeless bums. But it turns out that they’re played by Murphy’s old Trading Places co-stars Ameche and Bellamy – and they refer to each other by their character names from that earlier film. “We’re back!” declares Ameche, referencing the end of Trading Places, when their crooked broker characters were defeated and ruined by Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. It’s a great bit of shared-universe tomfoolery, and very funny for fans of Murphy’s movies. Oh, and speaking of Aykroyd…

Dan Aykroyd in Casper (1995): in 1995 it had been six long, bitter years without a new Ghostbusters film; back then, we could still hold out hope for a proper Ghostbuster 3. Sadly that never came to pass, but it was a very pleasant surprise when Ray Stantz himself popped up in Casper, of all things, fearfully running out of Whipstaff Manor in full ghostbusting regalia and declaring, “Who ya gonna call? Someone else!”. I mean, after facing down Gozer and Vigo and who knows what else, you’d think three sarcastic arsehole ghosts would be no match for him, but maybe the ‘busters were having tough times. Maybe this will all be backstory in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Maybe Cathy Moriarty and Eric Idle will return the favour and do cameos of their own. We can but hope.

Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth, & Sam Neill in Thor: Ragnarok (2017): twenty years ago you could point to Goldmember as the, er, gold standard in multi-character cameo pile-ups. And while that is great – Danny DeVito giving the finger, Spielberg back-flipping – I think it’s been surpassed by this minor gaggle of stars hamming it up. Matt Damon – famouser than anyone actually billed in the movie – is An Actor Playing Loki. Dr. Alan Grant from Jurassic Park is An Actor Playing Odin (whilst Odin’s actor, Anthony Hopkins, plays Tom Hiddleston playing Loki playing Odin – do keep up), and Thor’s Real-Life Brother plays An Actor Playing Thor. It’s all delightfully meta and hilarious.

Ollie Johnston & Frank Thomas in The Incredibles (2004): this one’s really sweet, and like the Hook cameo, would very easily slip you by. At the end of the film, after the climactic battle, two old men cheer on the superheroes – “That’s old school!” “Yep, no school like the old school!” – but what’s great is that they’re voiced by – and designed to look like – Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, the last two surviving members of the famous “Nine Old Men” group of Disney animators, who’d worked on many of the classic Disney films. This was Pixar and director Brad Bird giving a tip of the hat to the legends who came before them, and made all the sweeter by the fact that Johnston and Thomas (both sadly now deceased) were absolute best buds in real life. A cameo that educates and makes you think! How nice!

There you go. Sadly no room for any of the many great Star Wars cameos, from Daniel Craig through to George Lucas’ entire family. Oh well!

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep13

The true mystery of this show is trying to figure out how to even talk about each episode without just repeating myself or talking about other parts of the franchise, lmao.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut. Plus probably spoilers for both Umineko and Ciconia.

I’m not even sure where to begin talking about the fundamental issues this show has at this point, lol. It’s easy to just say that Sotsu on it’s own is bad, but I feel like it’s highlighting the fact that right from day one there were problems with the show’s structure and it’s intentions that have just become more and more of an issue as time’s gone on.

At the very least, I think that it was a huge mistake for them to have the gun cliffhanger happen midway through Gou, and to then spend so much time on backstory stuff and answer arcs. That just cast a negative shadow over all of those arcs because everyone was just impatient to get back to the cliffhanger. At this point I think they shouldn’t have even had Nekodamashi be in Gou to begin with. If they transitioned straight from Tataridamashi to Satokowashi then you could keep the general cliffhanger of revealing that Satoko’s the culprit without making people so impatient to go back to it and see what happens afterward.

But there’s also the issues like how Satokowashi revealed everything we needed to know about the howdunnit of the mystery, or how the whole gimmick of reusing the same scenarios as the VN in order to play both sides and make it technically accessible to new fans really wrote them into a corner and forced them to spend more time on the answer arcs than they needed to.

If we at least assume that the whole story ends in this arc, I think you easily could have condensed it all into one 2-cour season if they’d just committed to aiming this at old fans.

I guess there’s still a chance we’ll get some sort of continuation, but at this point I feel like the only way to get that much more content is if it ends up mostly retreading Satokowashi from a different perspective, which might actually drive me insane, lol.

In general it just feels like we’re already at the climax of the story one way or another, and there’s not many ways to keep it going for much longer without it seeming super forced. Like, Eua and Hanyuu are having their big confrontation with each other, and now Rika and Satoko are both on the same page, so they’re going to basically be stuck in a stalemate until one of them gives up. There isn’t really any mystery left to answer aside from giving more info about what’s going on between Eua and Hanyuu, so I’d rather they just cut to the chase and not drag this out.

We also know from TV listings that a different show is going to taking over Sotsu’s time slot next season, so unless it changes time slot for some reason, we’d probably have to wait until at least January to get a continuation, and I just dunno if that’d even be worth it.

I’ve already gone over my general ideas for how I think this will end, but I still think it’s entirely possible to wrap things up in just two more episodes. At the very least, if we get another full cour out of this then that’d probably just end up only having a few more episodes of actually new content, so my point still stands, lol.

I don’t think this episode did much to change my mind about where this is going, but it did at least clarify a couple of things. Like how Eua explicitly calls Hanyuu a ‘part of her’, which means that I’m probably right about my interpretation of them being two halves of the same being. There’s still a lot of different ways they could explain it, but at this point it’d basically still just boil down to the same idea of them being two parts of the same person.

It’s also more clear now that Rika more or less didn’t really know about Satoko being the culprit until the last minute, and was starting to get flashbacks to the end of Tataridamashi. I’m not entirely sure how to feel about that. It’s kinda hard to believe that Rika wasn’t at least suspecting Satoko by that point, but I do like the implication that Rika wasn’t fully dead when Satoko arrived, since that at least feels like pay-off for Satoko being so cocky and openly monologuing about how evil she is when she thinks Rika’s dead and can’t hear her.

I guess this episode also shows that there wasn’t anything particularly special going on with how Takano decided to confess to Rika in this one specific loop, which is also kinda underwhelming. Basically it seems like it just boils down to her feeling guilty about all of the stuff she remembers doing, but it’s still kinda weird that she didn’t confess to her in any previous loops. One of the weird issues with Gou/Sotsu’s storytelling is that Rika seemingly put no real effort into trying to investigate Takano even though she remembered her being the culprit, and I think that could have been really easily resolved if there was a scene like this in Onidamashi where Takano confesses her sins to Rika and leaves the village, since that would at least give a reason for her to not try and investigate them, and to assume that somebody else is behind these new loops. They could have even just had that happen off-screen and only be shown in Oniakashi if they didn’t want to spoil new fans. It just seems like a really easy change to make that would have made Rika’s passivity and hopelessness in this series way more understandable.

I think we’re also meant to assume that Satoko reacting to the box in this episode was just her faking it, since there’s no real indication that her conscience has returned or anything. But I’m not really sure why Satoko would go out of her way to fake that, when the trap box hadn’t even come up in that timeline. Maybe it would have made more sense if we saw her inner thoughts in that scene, but it kinda feels like they had to come up with some sort of scenario where Satoko would accidentally display knowledge that only a looper would know. Compared to how she’s been almost overpowered and hyper-competent in this series compared to Rika, it has a weird vibe of her being stupid because the plot demands it, lol. Either way it just seems kinda weird and contrived.

We also ended this episode on the gun cliffhanger again, which I saw coming, but it still kinda stings, lol. Hopefully the payoff is worth it. Realistically I think Satoko will just immediately shoot Rika, and we’ll cut to them having a proper confrontation in the meta world. With how they compared it to the ‘miracle’ scene with Takano in Matsuribayashi, it’s possible that they’ll somehow stop Satoko from shooting her, but I dunno. The stuff Hanyuu said about how this ‘isn’t the world that Rika fought for’ makes me think we’re probably not gonna stick with this loop for very long anyway, so I’d rather they just cut to the chase and get to the part where the two of them fight it out in the fragment world once and for all. Which at least seems to be what that one part of the OP is teasing at.

On that note, the only other mysterious part of the OP [and the key visual] left is the older club members in new outfits, which still feels like a bit of a loose thread, but it’s entirely possible that it doesn’t really mean much. For one thing, it could be as simple as it being related to an epilogue scene back in the Matsuribayashi timeline where they’re in different outfits to the ones we saw them wear last time we saw them. Either way I don’t really think the other club members are going to be super relevant to how this all ends, so one way or another whatever that stuff is related to could still just come up in the next two episodes.

Basically the question is just how exactly the big conflicts are gonna get resolved, and what note we’ll end things on. Which also ties into the larger question of whether or not this is genuinely meant to tie into Umineko [and maybe Ciconia] like they’re indicating, or if that’s some kind of elaborate troll.

I know i’m biased, but I think all the Umineko and Ciconia stuff is totally sincere, and Ryukishi really is using this as a way to start tying the wider WTC-verse together in a more concrete way, so that’s what I’m basing my theories off of.

With that in mind, I still think this will end with Rika and Satoko officially abandoning their humanity and becoming witches together, with the sword maybe being an in-universe plot device to depict that process. And with the reveal that Eua and Hanyuu are for all intents and purposes two parts of the same person, I feel like their side of things will probably end with them merging together in a way that creates Featherine, which would at least explain why Featherine’s personality is more mild than Eua’s, and also why Bernkastel is her miko, and why Featherine’s whole name is a giant pun about Hanyuu. It’d also fit with the whole religious motif that Hanyuu has going on if she basically ‘sacrifices’ herself to neutralize Eua. It’s at least the closest I think we’ll get to seeing Eua be ‘defeated’.

And on that note, I don’t really think this will end with anyone like Eua or Satoko being used as a villain who everyone else defeats so they can go back to their happy ending, since that’s the exact sort of thing that Ryuukishi regrets doing originally, and is why we’ve gotten so many redemption arcs for people in Gou/Sotsu. So I think at most we’ll see Eua get turned into Featherine so she’s less actively hostile towards everyone else, but I think this will ultimately end with Rika and Satoko reconciling and mending their relationship.

Over on the Matsuribayashi timeline side of things, I feel like this is gonna end up paralleling Nekodamashi a bit, and we’ll find out that Satoko ended up planning to kill herself in the Saiguden, but Rika and the club will show up at the last minute and she’ll choose not to. Then we’ll probably see her and Rika talk things out properly, and maybe Satoko will find out that Satoshi woke up from his coma or whatever, and that way they’ll all still get their happy ending, while also simultaneously we can still have Rika and Satoko split off their witch selves into separate entities that become the Bern and Lambda we know in Umineko.

It’s possible they’ll do something with the idea of Satoko losing her game and being sent to a world without Rika, but that also might just not happen at all. So who knows.

If they really lean into the idea of this directly setting up for Umineko, then it’d be neat if we also see Satoko and Rika meet Ikuko in the future of the Matsuribayashi timeline.

There’s also the Ciconia teases to think about, but they seem to be going in the direction of Ciconia taking place before all this even happened, so I think that’ll be kept kinda nebulous and unexplored until Ciconia itself finishes. Ryukishi might announce a release date for phase 2 after Sotsu ends, but I think it’s way too early for anything like an anime adaptation of it. I’d rather they wait until at least after it’s finished before they do something like that.

On the other hand, Umineko’s been over for like ten years, so it’d be much easier to do something like a remake for it after this. I have a lot of thoughts about how that might go if they do that, but I’m gonna wait until Sotsu ends and then make a separate post about it.

Anyway I guess now I just have to wait and see what happens next week, lol.

[bethandstars]

We're three days from the Loki finale and I’m back to spout more meta and theories about episodes 5 & 6! It’s a long one (again.)

I really enjoyed episode five. People have complained that they felt it didn't do much to move the show forward, but one of the things I've loved most about this show is the time it takes to sit with the characters and learn about their backstory, their feelings. (I'm always a little bugged when critics say that an episode hasn't done enough to move the plot forward, because without adequate character development, why should I care about the plot?) I thought the pacing of it was really well balanced.

….and I have never been so nervous for a finale in my entire life. There’s a lot of reasons.

The first is just the fact that I’ve been waiting for this show for a whole year, and the anticipation and excitement of it literally helped get me through the pandemic--so when those final end credits roll I’m going to be a whole mess no matter what happens. (I really hope the rumors floating around about season two are accurate) I also just feel like it’s somewhat inevitable that this is our final farewell to Tom’s Loki, and like—I’ll never be ready, but especially right now, amidst all the rampant controversy around this show, I’m just not ready to deal with that. I have a *small* modicum of hope that this won't be the case, but it feels unlikely. Anyway, guess I’ll die.

I really want this show to stick the landing, so to say. I loved the last episode, but a lot of the response has been that it felt like a lull in the plot. I want this show to end in a satisfying bang so it can get the credit it deserves.

Also I’m a whole hypocrite eating my words from last week—I’m fully on-board with Loki/Sylvie now (not that I was ever really against it)--I’m not sure why I’m surprised. They’re so adorable and wholesome, and I’m in love with seeing Loki in love. It’s so precious. (Just as a PSA, if you’re not into them that’s chill, and you’re allowed to dislike a ship without trying to justify your opinion by labeling shippers as morally problematic. Selfcest isn’t a real thing, therefore there isn’t a moral high ground to stand on here. Okay? Okay.) Wherever it ultimately leads, their relationship is still a really sweet exploration of them both growing and learning how to love themselves and trust others. Also, them cuddling under a tablecloth is the cutest shit I’ve ever seen with my two eyes.

MY THEORIES:

I love Sylvie so much, SO MUCH — and she is 100% going to stab Loki in the back by the end of the next episode. I don’t think the betrayal is going to stick, and by the end they’ll both be on the same page again, but the conversations on trust have been way too one-sided for my comfort. If nothing else she's going to seriously consider it. Here’s one way I can see that going. Spoiler alert: it hurts.

Sylvie betrays Loki at one point—and we see Loki’s growth and arc come full circle as, even after being betrayed by the person he hinged his entire development around, he still believes in doing the right thing, in saving her regardless. It ends in a heart-wrenching self-sacrifice of some kind, and his actions serve as the catalyst for her full development as well. We keep seeing different versions of Loki die for their ‘glorious purpose’, just like how Classic Loki shouts the phrase as he was consumed by Aloith (RIP King, I love you).

Loki has already called Sylvie his glorious purpose (or inferred it). There’s been backlash around him saying that, but the way I see it, it’s less “I’m obsessed with this girl she’s my purpose now” and more “I believe that she’s the best version of us and I’m going to make it my purpose to help her succeed and be what the rest of us aren’t”. That’s why seeing all the other variant Loki’s at their worst in the Loki clubhouse (? what do I call this lol) only fuels him more to find her. I think about what Mobius told him: “You exist to cause pain and suffering and death, all so others can achieve the best versions of themselves”. I don’t think Loki truly believes he can be the best version of Loki — I think he saw Sylvie and thought, "it's her". He’s decided he’s going to help her achieve the best version of herself, but he'll do it giving her love and trust and devotion, rather than through betrayal, pain and suffering. He’s re-writing his pre-determined role, in his own small way. I’m so proud of him.

So who’s behind it all and what’s truly going on here? (This isn’t really one theory, more like a string of possibilities and I don’t really know how they’d fit together.)

I still think it’s another version of Loki. And if it is, I can’t help but appreciate the connections between his position dictating the end of time in the show in relation to Loki’s role in the Norse myths, where he’s the catalyst for the destruction of all things. It feels relevant, considering the whole idea that ‘the end of time hasn’t been written yet’ has come up twice now. That would be a fascinating tie-in to the mythology. (Also—Alioth looks like a giant dog. And Fenrir’s role in Ragnarok was devouring the world—I realize this is a reach but am I the only person seeing this connection?) The thing I really can’t predict is the motivation. What would cause a Loki to want to prevent Loki’s from changing? Was there something that happened in the sacred timeline this Loki is trying to preserve? (I also like the idea of us maybe seeing another version of Sylvie behind it all, but I’m just going to leave that rabbit hole alone. )

But here’s the theory I can’t stop thinking about. There’s a theory floating around tik tok (by user twelvepercentcredit) saying the ‘castle’ we see beyond Alioth looks like a place called the House of Ideas, something that appeared in a (discontinued?) Loki comic. Here’s the wiki page on it. Just looking at the imagery of this compared to the location we’re seeing in the trailers, it’s too similar to be a coincidence. The huge bookshelves, the towering ceilings.

Here’s a description from the wiki:

“The House of Ideas is also home to a library which archives the exploits of every hero who has ever existed in the form of books, written unconsciously by the collective minds of their believers. This collection is curated by Now and Then, two of the children of Eternity. Now and Then routinely seek out heroes to bring into the House of Ideas to bargain with them and give their collections more pages, therefore more time for adventures and exploits. “

And later on the page on how Loki ties in:

“Heeding the desire in Loki's heart to do more with his life, Now and Then approached Loki and brought him to the House of Ideas,[5] where they struck up with him the deal to give more pages to his collection of exploits, rewriting the Books of Loki with a hero's stories in exchange for an eventual hero's death.”

Are they gonna play with the exact happenings of this? I don't know, but it sounds pretty cool!

It would be gutsy to go this route with the show given how meta it is, but I love the idea of it. Would they put characters that embody the abstract ideas of “Eternity” “Now & Then” into the show in the last episode? I’m not sure. Something I could see as a possibility though is an alternate version of Loki having overthrown whoever was previously guarding the timeline, and Loki and Sylvie will have to take them down in turn, thus ‘releasing�� the multiverse to its default, chaotic state.

What if our Loki’s ultimate destiny, ultimate Glorious Purpose, is to release the timelines--restoring all the variants back to their original timelines--and remain in this place for eternity, guarding the timeline and ensuring the multiverse is allowed to exist in its natural state? It seems a pretty fitting role for the God of Chaos. It would also explain why whoever’s behind the TVA would be so desperate to eliminate all variant Loki, if that was his ultimate destiny.

It would be an effective way to remove Hiddleston’s Loki from the movie-verse without killing him, AND place both Sylvie and any other Loki variants back in the the main timeline for use in future films—which we know has to happen somehow, because Young Avengers is definitely happening, and Kid Loki has got to get out of the void somehow.

And yea, this outcome would hurt like a bitch. Because even though that would truly be a lovely glorious purpose for our Loki, he’d be alone. And the whole point of this show is that he doesn’t have to be alone! It would be a very poetic sacrifice for him to take on the burden of watching over the timelines alone for all eternity so that his other variants could be the best versions of themselves, but I really just want him to be happy. I will be crying my eyes out if this happens. I’ll be proud but I won’t be okay.

And this all is probably speculative nonsense and could go off in an entirely different direction. Who knows. All in all, I just really want to see Loki fully believe in himself and his ability, to truly absorb what he said about being stronger than he realizes, and to take control of his destiny.

WHAT I WANT (NEED) FROM EPISODE 6:

Let Hunter B-15 and Mobius team up to burn the place to the ground. She was nerfed in the time-keeper fight, I want to see B-15 kick some ass.

I kind of want Ravonna to escape and be a character that carries over into the films for her tie-ins with Kang? I want to see more of her.

Give Loki a new badass costume. I’m begging. If he’s gonna go down, he deserves to go down in something other than khakis.

And then I want to see him and Sylvie fighting side by side in matching outfits.

I want a Mobius-level hug between them. Or a kiss. Or both. But I want the hug more. And you know what? I want her to initiate the hug or kiss or whatever it is because I want Loki to experience receiving love and affection from others as much as giving it. He deserves it ok??

I expect Mobius on a jet ski in the post credits and if I don’t get it I riot

@marvel these are my demands.

As always, if you've made it this far I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[justalittlebluetiefling]

idk if anybody has freaked out with you about this song before, but last weeks's Fjeast has me listening to Sleeping At Last's "Two" on repeat...I mean, "Tell me, is something wrong? If something's wrong, you can count on me," "It's ok if you cant find the words," the ocean imagery in the chorus, "It's ok if you can't catch your breath you can take the oxygen straight out of my own chest," "I just want to build you up til you're good as new and maybe one day i'll get around to fixing myself too"

OKAY BUT I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH IT’S ONE OF MY FAVORITES

This song. It’s SO GOOD. And it’s SO Fjorester. 

you know i’ll take my heart clean apart, if it helps yours beat.

LIke. Who gave them the right?

i will love you without any strings attached.

This entire fucking song. Sorry. I’m getting excited. 

Fjord has literally once given her the oxygen straight out of his own chest. Like, literally. And it flows so beautiful between both of their POVs. Okay. Gosh. I’m gonna get carried away. Hold on. Let me just loosely meta this whole song underneath a cut lol.

sweet heart, you look a little tired. when did you last eat? come in and make yourself right at home- stay as long as you need. tell me, is something wrong? if something’s wrong you can count on me. you know i’ll take my heart clean apart, if it helps yours beat.

I mean. We’ve got Fjord at Travelercon finally reaching out and telling Jester that she can come to him with any problems. We’ve got Jester in the last episode asking if he’s okay with everything. It’s just. Their entire dynamic? In one verse?

it’s okay if you can’t find the words, let me take your coat and this weight off of your shoulders.

The way they’re constantly trying to make sure the other person has someone to share their burdens with. So they’re not holding it all inside. Someone safe to go to? But they’re also not going to force the other person to talk. They can just sit and deflect and goof off.

like a force to be reckoned with, a mighty ocean or a gentle kiss, i will love you with every single thing i have. like a tidal wave, i’ll make a mess. or calm waters if that serves you best. i will love you without any strings attached.

The OCEAN imagery! The way Fjord just loves Jester with everything and that love comes with zero strings. He is content with it not being reciprocated as long as she’s happy. The way Jester backed off of things when she assumed she was making Fjord uncomfortable, because her love for him doesn’t have to be about that if he doesn’t want it to be?

it’s okay if you can’t catch your breath, you can take the oxygen straight out of my own chest.

They’re so ride or die for each other? Jester gives up spell slots to help him close out his past. Calling Vandran when he asks her. Offering to call Kotho with her sixth level spell slot. And then Fjord? Constantly jumping into danger after Jester so she won’t be alone. Giving her the necklace because her safety matters more to him than his own. The way he made sure that seeing her dad was a priority. The way he made sure that protecting her mom was a priority. Any time either of them are too nervous to bring up their own needs, the other will do it in a second.

i know exactly how the rule goes: put my mask on first. no, i don’t want to talk about myself- tell me where it hurts. i just want to build you up, build you up ’til you’re good as new and maybe one day i will get around to fixing myself too.

I MEAN.

Come on. This is so both of them. It seems a lot like Jester at first, but it’s totally Fjord, too. How they both have to be pushed into talking about their feelings and they tend to deflect. The way supporting each other takes priority. Jester building up Fjord’s self-esteem again and helping him feel like he can be his own whole person for the first time in his life? Fjord constantly prioritizing Jester’s needs and feelings. The way they support each other and build each other up and reassure each other about their powers. 

i don’t even know where to start, already tired of trying to recall when it all fell apart. and i just want to love you, to love you, to love you well. i just want to learn how, somehow, to be loved myself.

They’re BOTH learning how to love and be loved. They have big first love vibes. And Fjord’s never been loved unconditionally like this. And Jester’s never had an example of a healthy romantic relationship. And they both have so many self-esteem issues it’s hard to count them all. It’s so much easier to love each other than to love themselves sometimes.

and what a privilege it is to love, a great honor to hold you up.

OKAY BIG EPISODE 108 BRJEAUS CONVERSATION VIBES HERE. Fjord just feels so lucky to have Jester in his life. 

But yeah, this song, right???

[elementalsight]

For the writing meme: 18 and 20?

18: Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them. Ohhhhhh so for Complicated Creation, one of my initial ideas was that after the Spirit Realm, Aizawa would give Izuku his contact number, and Izuku’d have a moment of “My phone doesn’t actually make calls, but I use wifi for email” (cue FEELINGS there) and Izuku taking off but promising to show up when they need him. And then the LoV setting off a bomb, essentially, with anti-quirk bullets inside that hit multiple people and Izuku has to come in and save the day. Thankfully the Dadzawa vibes were too strong, and I absolutely prefer this version. The MUCH BIGGER VERSION CHANGE is that originally? Ryujin is resurrected in chapter 13 straight up. Like, Izuku falls into the ocean, very nearly drowns, and Ryujin is the one to rescue him. There was a point where Izuku demanded to be let go so he could go home and Ryujin, being Not Very Good At This, just drops him for Mizuchi to catch on his back, but Izuku 100% thinks he is gonna DIE as he falls. I do love that scene and their exchange, and of course this means Aizawa is scolding Ryujin directly for the storms, but something felt off about it. I finally tossed it to @redrobin-detective for feedback and they were kind enough to sit as we worked back and forth about if Ryujin’s comeback was too fast after his death. So we came to the idea of Ryujin being essentially tied to where he belongs/was born and needs to stay there. For a year? A century? Who knows. He’ll be able to speak to and guide Izuku, but he won’t be physically there. Which changes some of how I expect the sequel to go, but I 100% think the story is stronger for it - and it entirely came from me reading comments and everyone telling me HOW MUCH THEY WERE EFFECTED by Ryujin’s death, which surprised me. Since I knew it was coming, it didn’t punch me in the same way I think it did for other readers. 20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?) Oh man CC is SO full of symbolism and repeated motifs and hidden notes. Some of my favourites: 1) Izuku starts and ends (more or less) at the Takua river. He starts there treating his wounds, wondering if he should fall in and let himself drift away before Tamamo-no-Mae drags him back. He ends there on the bank, expecting Mizuchi to arrive to kill him. He’s passive, feeling empty and used up and like an awful human being. And in the first round, he is offered help (from TnM) and rejects it and runs and goes to ground to hide. And the second time, after shenanigans Ryujin offers him help and Izuku more-or-less accepts it (he asks for time to think because he’s overwhelmed, but he does accept) and more importantly, he doesn’t run away: he asks to go back to Aizawa, to the one person who has helped him feel safe. I really wanted to examine how far Izuku’s come, but also reflect on how far he still has to go! Poor kid needs more than three weeks of Aizawa and good meals before he’s stable, but it’s a good start! 2) Tamamo-no-Mae. Things like “Do not fall in, I cannot swim” and later on her talking about how she met Mizuchi was by falling into his domain (one of his rivers) and she still can’t swim, I dunno why but I love that? Also she has at least one line, possibly more, that hint at more secrets folks don’t yet know about her that I am excited about. She is one of those spirits who becomes DEEPLY connected to her humans, and so she connects to Izuku easily and for Izuku, he really is attaching onto her a bit like a mother. 3) ALL THE FORESHADOWING ABOUT AfO I spent SO MUCH TIME trying to CARRREEEFULLY craft the hints: I didn’t want to make it too obvious, but at the same time it seemed so obvious to me - even the adults in-verse are like ‘this kid could be connected to AfO because of quirk manipulation’ and still it surprised so many people but importantly no one thought it was a complete heel-turn ass-pull. The minute you go back and reread (I have had multiple people comment as such) it’s obvious.  [[You are not what you are made to be. You are not what you are made out to be. Both things are untrue. You have surprised me,]] she says, like she’s making all the sense in the world. [[ I look forward to seeing what you become.]]  Also when Izuku meets OfA, he tries to protest ‘hey, I am not what everyone says I am, sure I’m apparently the bridge, but I just want to help people’ and OfA’s response is [[ That remains to be seen. You are young: age makes monsters out of men. ]] They know the context that Izuku doesn’t, that they somewhat think Izuku does know, and so they’re not trying to be cryptic. OfA is really just being passive aggressive, and TnM is trying to be reassuring! They just... don’t realize Izuku’s working with less information. I could probably go on, but I’ll wait and see if anyone else asks for the same # XD

[studiesof-fandom-primaryblog]

My Life as an Acafan: it’s complaining time!

Right now, I’m reading the key works of fan studies. I’m reading and selecting works that will bring the type of debates I want to have in my classroom. It’s an exercise any competent teacher does - no matter how long they’ve been teaching. I’m not well versed yet on most things related to fan studies because I’ve started studying it kinda recently, but I’m slowly reading most of things any fan scholars should read and I’ve a couple things to say. Most aimed to non-fan academics.

If any non-fan academic is reading this, I think you should be aware that it is glaringly evident that you have never set a foot on fandom more than necessary and don't understand the core of fandom. You all try, you all make some good points and, somehow, you’re always off the mark. You do not get it. 

As a black bisexual woman, I’m going to do an analogy to make it easier to understand. The feeling I have when I read a non-fan academic talking about fandom and fans is almost the same feeling I get when I read a white person or straight/cis person trying to explain racism and homophobia/transphobia. You do not get it and you will never get it because you didn’t go through it and, probably, won’t ever go through it. It’s not your standpoint - and take this standpoint I’m saying here as the same one from standpoint theory. It feels off place and like missing several points about fandom.

Another thing is that non-fan academics come off, not sure if it’s intentional, as people that believe their analysis are impartial or mostly impartial because they are not fans. I’m gonna say this as a historian: there’s no such thing as impartiality. Everyone has a bias, especially if you ‘re studying something. If you commit to do research, and one that ends up being your lifetime work, it’s indisputable you have a bias and it shows. My God, you’ve no idea how much it does show, even if you think you don’t. I can read between the lines and understand most of you think we are akin to cultists - which shows you do not understand fandom at all. The least thing fandom has, as collective, is a behavior of venerating or excessively admiring anything at all. Fandom is a bunch of ruthless critics that even if they swear they love something, they’ll absolutely tear it down at any time and any place without hesitation if they feel like they are entitled to. Nothing is sacred and nothing is safe from criticism or fandom’s cruelty. If you do not know or understand this very basic notion, you truly have no idea what you’re studying or talking about. 

Also, I think the terms fan and fandom are used carelessly by some non-fan academics (I’m so close to calling them local academics, just so I have a label to identify them ahahaha). Everyone that has an intense enthusiasm for a particular work is a fan for them and, kinda automatically, are part of fandom. I don’t agree with that notion at all. Those fans are not part of fandom. Fandom is a collective, they are people coming together and interacting and forming relationships. It’s a social thing and I say this as a fandom fan since 2005. Listen, I’ve always been a fan in the sense of getting obsessed with several media works. I mean, by the time I was 10, I knew how to recite every single line and sing every song of The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Mulan. Does that mean I was part of Disney fandom? Hell no. I just became a fandom fan in 2005 when I became part of the community and started consuming fanworks. Non-fan academics need to start listening to fans, because we set ourselves apart from those people. It’s so disrespectful to us to take our terms and apply them in a way that they are not supposed to be used, especially to explain experiences that are not related to us. 

But maybe the problem stems from the name of the field itself. Maybe if it was called Fandom Studies, we would not have this kind of controversy in relation to the use of terms like fan and fandom. After all, Fan Studies implies all kinds of fans and not only the ones that are part of an organized collective. Maybe the solution is to have two fields: Fandom Studies, to deal with the social experience and the individuals that carry out fan practices (like Jenkins pointed out that, when people identify themselves as fans, they are not focused in just one particular work, but rather a range of works and apply sets of practices on them) and Fan Studies, to deal with individual and isolated experiences of being enthusiastic (read having emotional attachment) over mass media works. Like enthusiastic people, they might identify themselves as fans because fan is a common word nowadays, but they do not use the term fandom because, most of time, they don’t even know the word or what it means. So, how can you reduce fandom to any experience of emotional attachment to any kind of media? I mean, if fandom fans so many times differentiate their investment to a particular work by saying ‘I watch this, but I’m not part of the fandom’ i.e. consume/create fan practices in this media; how dare you to take our term and apply to people that don’t even know what it means just because they’re emotionally attached to a piece of mass media work? 

If someone does not partake in fan practices (aka content created by fans in an organized community), they’re not part of a fandom. And, when I say partake, I mean consume and/or create, not just one of them. This is fandom 101. This is a problem that I see with non-fan academics, they do not respect what we establish in our community.

Someone who watches a series or movie regularly or just really loves them is not a member of said fandom. It’s not that simple. And, if you think that it’s not like that, I dare you to do just one thing: go to a movie premiere of a big franchise like Marvel and, without proper context, start asking people who seems invested (aka wearing shirts or looking really excited to be there) things like ‘So what is your favorite fandom discourse/meta about this franchise you’re about to watch?’ and then you come back to me and tell me how many people actually knew what fandom is and what meta/discourse means in that context. I’ll bet good money not even half of the people who are wearing t-shirts of said franchise will understand what you’re talking about.

So, being part of fandom means being engaged in particular social practices. That’s how, among ourselves, we differentiate us from the people that just love very much certain mass media works. It’s different. Non-fan academics need to remember they are studying living and breathing subjects who are incredibly analytical, so I think maybe it’s time to take a step back, rethink your attitude and respect the norms dictated by the community you research. I mean, I’ve been part of fandom for 15 years and I haven’t ever seen one single fan defend the idea that people who just love intensely some work of fiction and do nothing more than buy a t-shirt cause it looks cool are part of fandom.

Ever.

[trickstercaptain]

JACK, MASCULINITY & BISEXUALITY.

          so I’ve made absolutely no secret of the fact that one of the big things I love about Jack as a character ( among plenty, plenty of other things ) is how he challenges traditional ideas of masculinity, and I’m gonna use this meta opportunity to elaborate on that and hopefully connect it to Jack’s sexuality ( mostly within his canon verses, though a lot of this does also apply to his modern verse ). the long and the short of it is that Jack is simultaneously allowed to be a badass and admirable to the audience and display selfishness, cowardice, his own quirks and his desire to avoid violence wherever possible. the first two demonstrate the perks of being an anti-hero, but it’s the last one that I’m going to talk about first: Jack does not like violence. he will choose methods of solving a problem that avoid, where possible, the use of brute force, even when it puts him at a disadvantage. he chooses not to shoot Will in order to escape the smithy in CotBP despite that proving to be the easiest way out, and he is told by Barbossa in that same movie that it’s likely the mutiny would not have happened if he hadn’t been such a merciful captain. we are encouraged to like him as an audience because he uses his wits to get out of trouble, and we are encouraged to like him in spite of the fact that he is the worst swordsman of the franchise, relatively speaking, and that he in fact loses every single fight he is a part of ( unless he cheats, which he does frequently ). 

        second, he is also allowed to be quirky. a lot of this links in with the idea that Jack is an archetypal trickster: he is transgressive on purpose because that is what a trickster does. he breaks the rules because it’s fun, he manipulates others because it’s fun, he gets bored easily and uses trickery and deceit to get ahead of his opponents while casting himself as a fool. tricksters also tend to have a very fluid attitude towards gender because, once again, it is another way to transgress boundaries, and there’s certainly an undeniable sense of androgyny to Jack. I’m not here to label him as anything because a) in Jack’s canon any modern ideals just wouldn’t apply and b) he is still a man and, more importantly, still benefits consistently in his narrative from being a man, so this androgyny is purely in how he outwardly expresses himself rather than the result of any internal struggle. he is experimental and individualistic and this is one of many ways in which Jack’s character draws on the rock star tradition ---- particularly the rock star tradition of challenging masculinity with the way they dressed on stage ( think Bowie, Jagger and Hendrix ).

         but this sometimes effeminate expression of his sense of self does make it more difficult to be taken seriously by others, both within his own social strata of fellow pirates and outside of it: he wears kohl that, while practical, accentuates his pretty boy, fey image, he wears his hair long and braided ( which isn’t necessarily a sign of “femininity” in itself, though he combines this with tying trinkets and beads and jewellery into it ), he sways as he walks ( again, a practical response to being on a ship for long periods of time, but isn’t something that Jack ever seeks to correct in order to appear more intimidating ) and is fond of theatrical gesturing which, yes, feeds into a stereotype but means that in no way does he carry himself in a typically masculine way. for instance, the way Jack sits: while yes there are times when he deliberately kicks his feet up on the table to occupy extra space and piss people off, he doesn’t consistently sit down in a way that emphasises his physical power or dominance ---- in fact, in the last multiple Jacks scene in AWE, when Jack is talking to himself in the brig, we see one of the clones crossing his legs with his hands on his lap as he sits on the bench ---- something I would argue is rather reserved and not overly masculine in nature.

        now there’s an argument to be made that Jack uses his effeminacy to his advantage, in the same way that a trickster would bend any rule that benefitted him, and that this isn’t the true him, but I’d argue that, while there is of course an element of using that behaviour to encourage others to dismiss him as a fool of no consequence, it is too consistent for it to be an act, particularly as it causes him as many problems as it does solutions. it’s absolutely in his nature. another great example I want to draw on is in The Price of Freedom, where Jack uses his “sexuality” ( I use this word loosely as it’s really the only way to describe what he does lmao ) to unsettle one of Teague’s lieutenants and jailors and throw him off, both while he’s been searched airport security style and while he’s trying to conspire with Christophe to break him out of Shipwreck’s cells.

“Roger, old chum, unless you want to cause me embarrassment—and yourself a lifelong case of envy—by demanding that I actually produce the goods for your delectation…er…inspection, I’d suggest you desist.” He batted his eyes at Teague’s lieutenant.

[...] Without answering, Jack abruptly turned to confront Mortensen, who was looming behind him, scarcely a handbreadth away. “I don’t care if you’re present, Roger, but must you breathe down the back of me neck?” He rolled his eyes. “Or are you trying to work up the courage to grab me backside and give it a squeeze?” He’d spoken loudly, and his voice carried to all Christophe’s crewmen. The cell-bound pirates laughed, whistled, and jeered obscene suggestions at Mortensen.

        I love this scene because it shows how Jack switches effortlessly between typically masculine and typically feminine behaviour and uses both to achieve what he wants. the seductive act of flirting with Mortensen ( despite the fact that Jack is twenty in this scene and is very likely half the age of the jailor in question lmao ) to throw him off is a very femme fatale sort of solution ( and that is an archetype that Jack plays around with a lot ), but being a man adds an element of what I spoke of earlier too ---- that he’s more likely to be dismissed as an irritating little shit and not someone who is conspiring to break someone out of the cells. he also relies on the hyper-masculinity he is surrounded by when he speaks loudly enough for all of the pirates in the cells to hear and jeer Mortensen in response, further embarrassing him and diverting his attention long enough for Jack to make his intentions to Christophe clear.

        because this is the thing about pirates, friends. yes, they were largely accepting of and/or unbothered by homosexual behaviour, and had crews who operated in a far fairer way than many merchant or naval ships of the same period, but they are still male-dominated environments. female pirates are rare as far as historical records show purely because we only know for sure that a few were women. women would, for the most part, have to adopt masculine traits in order to exist in the same space, and many would and did disguise themselves as men in order to achieve this. Jack is therefore something of an anomaly in his challenge of male gender norms ---- he could act more like your typical brutish, violent male captain and have a far easier time of it because that’s ultimately the sort of behaviour that is rewarded in this hyper masculine space, but he doesn’t, and this is where he stands out and positions himself as an outsider even in the profession he had literally branded into his arm.

        Jack has also been directly hurt by this culture of hyper masculinity, too. it’s clear that his grandmother sees him as an easy target for her abuse because he both struggled to and didn’t want to conform, and he faces similar criticism from Teague because of his non-violent personality. in his attempt to not become like Teague, too, Jack internalises his own anger and aggression which makes him self-destructive as opposed to outwardly destructive to others. Christophe is the most similar pirate in the franchise to Jack in terms of the flamboyant way in which they both present themselves ( and Jack is no doubt influenced by Christophe in that respect, though that’s another meta entirely ), but Jack does not share his ruthless, amoral personality. and he is mutinied against by Barbossa because people are easier to search when they’re dead. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but it speaks to the strength of Jack’s character that he remains a largely good-hearted individual when it ultimately comes down to it, and did not contort his sense of self in order to make his life easier.

        so linking all of this into his sexuality, while Jack is bisexual by modern definitions of the word and does not have any shame associated with it due to the openness of pirates to living outside of the established norm ( and the fact that Jack grew up among these pirates, so would likely have not realised the extent of the prejudice that existed until he joined the merchant service and entered into civilised society ---- and I mean, when he did he was called a molly at one point by Mercer ), he was never properly taught how to have a healthy relationship with another man, whether romantically/sexually or not. Jack doesn’t really have many positive close relationships with other men to draw on ( Robby and Gibbs are of course the exceptions, and they are both extremely important ) and all of the betrayals in his life until Elizabeth come from men. moreover, just because pirates were more accepting of homosexual relations between men, doesn’t necessarily mean that pirates should be held up as paragons of healthy behaviour lmao, both in general and in regards to male on male relationships. ships are male dominated microcosms in the same way that all-male prisons are. and this is why Jack does develop one toxic male trait: the inability to express his emotions in a constructive and open way.

        Jack therefore, for the most part, just doesn’t like men. he knows how to get along with them, he certainly has a brothers-in-arms approach to his crewmates and isn’t beyond liking the odd one or two, like Robby and Gibbs ---- and it is certainly a theme that Jack is drawn to those soft, non-threatening, nurturing sorts of men ( to fill a void of nurturing behaviour in his life, imo ). of course he has trashy taste too thanks to the lingering damage of his crush on Christophe and living and growing up in the sort of environment that rewards hyper-masculine behaviour, but his most successful relationships with men are those he doesn’t perceive as threatening, and those who are happy to compliment rather than challenge him in his position as captain.

       meanwhile, he loves women. absolutely fucking adores them, and I don’t mean this just in a sexual way, but in a genuinely appreciative way too. he craves their company and prefers their company to men ( he is honestly so much happier sat at a table with five other women than he is sat with five other men ), and I think this is because he’s more likely to find acceptance with them than he is men, and historically speaking in his life has found greater understanding and affection and care from women than he ever has from his own sex. and I think in turn, because he too is a very non-threatening sort of man, absolutely a woman’s man like my god, is why he is generally adored so much by the women in his life in spite of his flaws and lesser traits lmao. why do Giselle and Scarlett constantly let him back into their lives?? because yes he’s fun and  good in bed but, if Jack’s list of corrected lies to them at the end of AWE is any indication, he also spends a considerable amount of time just talking to them, spending time in their company and getting to know them.

[thisstableground]

Two, seven and twenty?

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

ooooh the festive-ish fic coming up in december i am VErY excited to write - i’ve had bits and pieces of it for ages and it combines some of my favourite things which is Usnavi Trying His Best To Deal With Mental Health and Soft Loving Trio Feels and Big Romantic Moments. that’s my christmas fic this year, it’s gonna be gooood and a little melancholy with an extremely positive ending, which is my precise writing wheelhouse. i’m also kinda looking forward to finishing both that and watch with serenity, bc i feel like they’re both things that i need to finish before i can have freedom to write whatever bullshit in whatever part of the timeline i feel like (i know technically there’s nothing stopping me doing that now but idk, that’s just how my brain is telling me it must be done). so like, lookign forward to writing them but also looking forward to when they’re done and i can kinda just play around.

7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

i don’t analyse my writing that closely but i think that maybe callbacks/running threads through a story is something i really like to include - like, having an analogy or an extended metaphor or a thematic line that reoccurs and threads through a whole fic, so maybe that. and i would like to think that the way i write a very close limited third person perspective is something very recognisable about my style - trying to mix the way my poetry background influences my prose with the way i think the characters actually sound in their own inner monologues. whether that’s always successful is another matter but the attempt is recognisable, i think?

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

there’s honestly way too much of it at this point for me to be able to pick something off the top of my head (though i do love babbling meta about my own fic verses so people should feel very free to ask me specific questions at any given time). and i love a hidden reference/clue. very often even if i don’t write something as a clue i like to go back and retroactively make it one so by now i just have a billion of them.

[sugarcomatosed]

Ramblings for my Sekifuyu playlist bc what is self control  This isn’t clear at all, I am sorry.

Accidentally, this is sort of an A Side, B Side Playlist. Full of accidental parallels because im a dingus and genius. Fun fact if you look at the dates on desktop spotify you can see that I was def listening to this while working on my huge fic.

You start with Iori, like in the game and it’s all shoujo swirls and poppy sounds (Teenage Dream, Spending All My Time). Both of which are focused on first love, and just that overwhelming excitement of being in love and first love. I picked the cover because it has more of Iori’s spunk.

Then, we take a small dive, but stay poppy with (Love Me like That), when Iori mistakenly believes Ei loves Ryoko, followed by things constantly pushing them back together (Magnetic Field) which is something the two of them constantly think about wait for the meta on that i have screenshots.

Takes All Night is just the motorcycle confession, “So it's now or never, Before you're gone for good, Seconds count, I'm coming with nothing to lose”

Given It All Sort of accidentally sets up a call and response to Two More Minutes, but is sort of that in between where Iori really owns up to all her feelings and is all in, you can call her silly but she’s in it.

Devil’s Backbone specifically is something about Tomi’s warning to stay away from Ei, and her affirmation to Ei, that it doesn’t matter if he’s an assassin. Iori’s in love with him. This is also a weird sound transition  but I accidentally echoed this later with him....so...shrug emoji...

Heavy Weather is a song in his musical styles I used in the second have, but Iori’s feelings. I suppose it’s...Iori’s feelings when she asks Ei to fight the deimos with her, “come on lightning, try to strike us”.

Dream I found on my spotify recommended and I lost my mind over...it was perfect for both Ei asking her to start looping, and returning to register his Sentinel.

Then we whirl back around into Iori’s pure shoujo pop sound for her feelings when Ei goes missing between routes (Untouched). Also the instrumental break makes me go feral. 

FINALLY, we start to bridge the gap with the two of them on Meet Me Halfway, which is here for Iori waiting for him after school, patiently and for him to show up again.  

Last Iori song is for her feelings in Destruction, “I’m not giving up on love”.

Now that we’ve finished with Iori we start to change musically to less poppy sounds, Light of Love is another duo, verse one is for her, verse two is for him and they’re both trying to figure this feeling and each other out.

Formally this is where “B Side” begins, and the songs are a lot more muted. We’re also going backwards! What’s a sentinels playlist if I can’t fuck around with ordering.  Going backwards was a pain for ordering and my brain but I liked how it sounds. 

We go to Ei’s feelings in destruction, reflecting on how Iori’s changed him, and how he was so used to doing things alone, but now he’s got her. (I was an Island)

Ocean Avenue is the last official duo song, and it goes right for the lines in destruction where they talk about going to the beach. I cry....

Lover is Childlike is the accidental echo of Devil’s Backbone, where Ei is very aware that Iori is soft, naive and how that’s what makes her...her. Something about the way he reflects on her before he summons his Sentinel in his finale.

Ei at the end of his story (Superstar), where he’s finally able to tell her; yes this is the start of something and that he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her. We also get to bring up the run away lines again. This sound is more...her style his words.

Then, backwards continues to Ei struggling with his feelings and how much he cares for Iori (Two More Minutes), and despite everything he’s learned about himself and his scattered memories, he still wants her. 

Ei’s music is all like...slow stripped sounds and angsty lmao. I love it but also Ei-kun please..stop angsting. We go back to Ei trying to process his  meetings with Iori after memory loss with Neptune; “I want to love you but I don’t know how.”

Finally, Memory Loss! (Jet Pack Blues), Musically i like how this breaks up his melancholy but still keeps to theming. He’s completely baffled by her when they meet here, that she’s been waiting for him and that she loves him! He doesn’t know who this girl is, but she knows him. 

Ei registers his sentinel and leaves her all alone (Verona), where he wants to confess...but doesn’t. Instead he’s aware that everything is going to change any day now when he loses his memory and how things could have been.

Ei’s messy feeling spiral continues as we backtrack to the park, in which he asks her to runaway with him in a moment of weakness. (Outside), it doesn’t matter if the world is ruined, he wants her.

With Analog boy we come around to Ei sort of making that call to go ahead with the Memory Back up; less direct things here but it’s got his illness and hollowness vibe.

End it off with time traveling assassin who didn’t expect things to go this way (Predator and Prey), and the assassin who was totally ready to just straight up commit a crime (Paralyzed) 

....and that’s my long ass playlist write up im gonna go take a nap

[throwingideasatthewall]

Clone Wars:         Season 2

      Episode 1 Holocron Heist

We just   had     a heist

[One   nonsense    enough    to knock    me into   nonsensical   incoherent      rambling...]

    Two

Okay...

I’m prepared...

To do.   nonsense...

  Urgh

   Okay..

[Title      Screen]

  [Woah!]

    ....  ..    

Aight

    Okay

A lesson learned,    A lesson earned

Oh..

     That         snapped me out of it,

     A lesson earned                  is           a lesson earned

        [you don’t need a        person to tell you     basic         common sense                                you can figure out yourself]

  ....

   Assumed authority is     bullshit                                       Don’t need to                                    earn any-      [Sorry,              Still           Recov-       er-         ing           From           Last          ep-        Isode]

                  Okay...

                   Any-way

                   Jedi on a                        planet                             . .

                     Some-how                         tr                            ap                               ped                                 -                          Surrounded                               Clones                                  -                                Right-                                     -                           Why?

                           Like - if you needed parts-

                           Okay-

                             I’m                                  in  

                               -terested

                                 Any way...

                                     Wait                                      cruisers?  

                                      Gun   ships?                                                                   R-escue

                                       Oh                                              wait-

                                          That’s                                              Good

                                            Oh                                                  No,

                                              It’s                                                    Plo..

Jokes       About       How       He      Got       His      Men      Blown      Up                         Just                                gonna                                 put                                   this                                 over                                 here

                              Been a                                 while

Also Hey     yeah      what         is         he        doing         here?

  Doesn’t         he       have      Jedi        things        to       do?

      Get           a         new         fleet?

        I mean                th-            (Don’t                Condone               Child               So-                L                diers!)

  But    every     time       it’s     always    Obi-Wan      and    Anakin    because        all         the           rest        of          them        are         too        busy

     So             What-

     Alright          -          Whelp           -          I      don’t       care         —-

   Whelp          —        Ex-plo          —         Is      this       just       going         to       be       an     action        piece?        (Nothing       wrong        with           that;           just        need           a      different      mindset,)

     From          the     applications             of        child       soldiers           -          To          Shoot-

    -Why?

      It’s-       Nice-

-Droids

   Plo-

 General-

     ?

Ev-

Neat-

Good-

 Whelp-

  Grab ‘em to the medic        And Go!

   (Seriously       Windu figured this out yesterday.)

    Grunts

    You’d         think        the Jedi would give the      order?

Seriously,         Good miss,          Five           Min-           Got          Some           One-          Killed

   “ Asoka,”

   First Asoka       mention in the first five minutes

                                [maybe they got her character                                     better.]

                                  -Jungle

                                    You sent-                                         A child

                                    That                                        Logically can’t improvise                                      ...                                              Into                                              a jungle

                                      ....

                                      The  

                                     Fuck    

                                    Skywalker?                                     

Con-tact      Her        -         Dead      -       She’s very likely      dead-       -      Anyway       -        Hope   Anakin     taught       her    those    moves-       -      That’s       a      lot       of     emotion          -           In        the        movements;         Again;

     Monotonous,           Stunted,            Robo              Tot              -ic

         That’s                How              Child-

Nope-

   Tone’s          Off

So,         just           to           go            over;

       1. Tone ❌        2.  Dia-                  Log                   Ue- (?)

        3. Move               -ment    ❌

              I’m hop-

Extract-

     Taught-  

     Okay- 

     Teach         -ing   s

     Aight           Mary          Sue-

      I’m        sorry         but         the        light          is       literally       coming         out!

      Whelp-

      Okay-

        So it’s Ahsoka an    adult yet?

         Like that can be explained away as   acco-untability

          Otherwise,     she should   have a hard time        with        one       Droid!

      (No wait didn’t Obi-Wan just call her                  ‘young one ‘)?

                 Nope!

           Movie, get over there in your               shame corner

  That-        Was painful       over-      reacting

 And         Focus-

   I    Don’t        -      You    couldn’t      have     forced          it     more             if     you    tried         -

        The             Force-           d cha-          nge i          -n         Perspective           Not      Apprec  -iate      D-        . . .    .      Moving         on

  Whelp        ...

    Get            In          -

   That’s           a      direct      order-         -

  “Can’t-”

   Nope!

   That’s            It-

   Tone ❌

   Dialogue; ❌,?

   Move;   ❌    Ment

  Turn in your bad  

  writing card,    

   Movie

   ❌

 (Not a series strike,        Just             A          “Fuck         You,          Strike

          On the            Movie                 And,                This            Chara              -cter

                               (We just had such a good-

                                              Maybe; it gets better?

                                                                               Skipped ahead;                                                                                          It doesn’t

                                                                                       Sigh-

                                                                              *Puts on earmuffs

                                                                                 Meta-phorically

Aight      Back        To       19:06      (Original      time     stamp;           Play

*Think

 Friendly      Fire-

 Nvm

*Thing      Ex-plodes

   In-       stantly

Whelp-     

 You   called       her   before      a   council            ??

   Child          -ren          Can’t          Think           -

Okay

        Movie

       Children                  can’t                         think-

    From ag-

      “This is-”. 

       It should                    be   

         -But                           The              writers                        -                refuse                      to                  write                                  her                                   as                                   child                           -       

The       Pro-

“I-

The          Pro-            Blem         As         the     story       seems   to         be        placing            the               Jedi            on            a            high          pedestal     

        .....                Their             actions               here                as              reasonable       

           .....                         But                          it’s                  not                            ...                If Ahsoka was a child it would be a cruel use of power showing how used only to put the younger generation down before they’re                  old enough to understand it

              And how they’ve given Anakin the illusion of power   

                  -Boomer                               Bait

              If she’s an adult;                           This would be a show of        how             she’s childified by her peers

               As it stands;       

               The writers refuse to chose

Concerning,  due to the fact that  

Child-ify                 Ing            An                Adult       ......    Is    Wrong

  And      adult-ify        ing        a       child       is    wrong         ...      

  Un        equivocally,

Tally    Of       How     Many       Times       Ahsoka-        Is        Adult          -ify          Ied-           ;     

      This is necessary

 [Excuse for odd formatting           The “Movie”,                (Under the                picture)                  Caused                    Tumblr                    To                  heck                   up                  my               spacing)

           Continuing                   on;

“Time    away      from     the      battle-       field,”

  Good,        For          A        Child       Solider        -     (And   would’ve     been       a     good     show      that      any     kind   -ness     from     them       is   performative           ...

                   “Guard duty,”

Tally   Of      How   Many      Times      Ahsoka-       Is      Adult         -ify        Ied-         1

 Cite;      Child     ren    Don’t       have     that    much   emotion,        Nor    Pre-      fer      ence-        -

                 “Longer                       now,”

                    Dick                         —-                     Kinda

                     It’s                          better                            for                           children                             not                              to                               be                                in                              battle                                  —

                              So                                 not                                     a                                  complete                                    dick...

                                But                                   not                                    optimal...

                                 “Sorry”

So he said by people who don’t wanna take accountability for their actions and just stop doing the thing and     stop bringing the toxins into the world                                  

Point;     If you    were sorry    you would       stop     doing it,       stop     bringing         it        up,       and            do      better...     —-       Trying         to       control         the      narrative         isn’t          nice          (When           the          truth            is        objective)

       Only           the           self           may            be          both             .....

Security      -

  “Knowledge,”

    *Bag-age

      “Hm,”

  . .. .

   ...

...

Fisto  

...

 In-side

 St-upid      Forbid       Den    

Know-ledge

   (It’s likely   about     plants        Or      Weapons)

Also;

     Boomer         Bait!    

     (That’s something they offer younger         generations to follow their           stupid outdated tradition)

      It’s always          worse...

     (Also, this isn’t about Ahsoka trying to steal the         Holocon thing is it?

      Because her character is already                                                  -hateable- enough

        And if she has enough initiative             to steal the holocon

          - She’s an adult

           And should              be allowed entrance             anyway

          “Jedi            Council,”

             So,                  lady was a Jedi?

               Aight,

                Keeping an eye                     on that                        ...                  Aight                       -   

                 No

                 Went through one.                     drug trip

                   Already

                   .....

                 [Okay...

                ..Got                   a Drink                  of water                   ——                        Interrupt                     -ion

                  Wait I thought he was just a                     ball of                     fuck your plot

                  You’re telling me he actually works                      for                       Palpatine?

After   threaten       ing      Palpatine?

   This      dude           -        fucking         drug           trip            -

...Ser     vices

    I       honestly       thought          he         was             a          [fuck           your          shit]            guy

Now    he’s      a     de   tec- tive

Noir    ....

Movie     that’s      too      many     genres        .....

  You-     need       to    slow   down      .

          Your main            Chara-                   Isn’t                 Even               Esta-                    Blish                      -ed                      Prop                          er                         Ly

            Nevermind                    the           characterization

                 Note if it had been established he changes things every so often that would be neat

                 As                   it stands

               This                  dude is a                 fecking roller coaster

             Not any                thing                resembling                   good

[Giving    your      aud-   ience     a       drug   trip   isn’t   good   writing]

      It makes        them         dizzy!]

      So...       

    Holocron

    Like Palpatine is literally doing this just to fuck over       Ahsoka?

     Also, this is going to result in Ahsoka    being     unchild     -like       To take them out      too?

   I’ll get the -      counter     ready

[yes I have seen it    literally            every   Mall cop/ security guard movie   ever

The   fun     .    seeing how your    (Good)    chara      cters         -     interact     with      the   scenario          -       That’s      not   happening       here        -          If she was a child this would show how    Anakin‘s orders react with the environment

    If       she’s      an    adult;        We’re working through a checklist;         About        what we know about         her;

      Likes, dislikes, how they might come up in a   situation...

       The suspension...            coming when they do

With      Ahsoka...

  What do we know about her?

   Honestly?

    We know she likes         fighting         (Already in enabler of toxic behavior           -against other living beings)

       We know literally       nothing else about          her

       Except...

      That she’s      perfect...

Re-moving         All      Tension;

  Deal

I’m surprise he just wasn’t like    oh      yeah      sure,”

   [Ditches         with       the money]

    ...         ..

   Oh they’re actually talking   strategy

   Usually it’s just         ‘fuck em’ up            And that’s all             we ever           hear

Er-

Whelp-     Yodi’s    dead

Alas,       Poor      Narc

[assuming he can actually sense     disorder in the ranks]

 Gen.      Leader      Ship.      Tox

 He should know     he shouldn’t be doing that

  Focusing     on him       self

    And        practic        ing     accountability          ....       Constantly     micromanaging           and      checking            in            on             your           peers                   ..            Isn’t           going          to make             them           more           likely           to be       accountable..

        It’s         going            to          piss         them             off              ...

      Your (evident) distrust creating a toxic environment              As you were refused to               trust their   char   -acter

  You can’t give me   respect the guy that was just snooping      (Through the whole   uni-verse)

      That’s           the         point...

         A         dis-turbance          in the force

     Yeah?

     Intruders there will   be

     Okay, bullshit       he can see that

   Like;           Peri-pheral            Okay

    (Still tox that you don’t expect your peers          in a peripheral.          to be able to hold             accountability)

But this is galaxies     away        (Ac-tually.    on    Corousant)

  But.      He         Should        n’t       Know        That-

  ‘The      Narcs    pulling    authority     again,       master,”

  “Shh,       this         is         what         we        train-    I mean groom -        you         for!,”

     “But          You            Said,”

      (Con-tinuing             Earl-ier,)

   [Seriously        I meant to bring it up                                earlier,

             But are they really inhabiting                      Zero the hutt’s                         old hotel]

Like it could just be a Noir hotel

 But the positioning       and location         seem         familiar             . . .

     Tell        me...

    Who          the       frick           is          this?            ?

   “What            you        are      doing      back      there?”

    ...   ..

  Aight...

 Assis      -tance

    God          Lord,           He’s           Try             -ing

        -

    Main     tenance

     If I don’t idea   (who this guy was )or what was going on    then maybe that would make sense

       As it stands,             Nope,

        Crash-               es

        What’s             that?

         ....

       What?

       Seriously.             all he did was put another thing into another thing?

        ???

        ...

      Aww, he actually trusts           Bane..

    Thank you         ...

    Door..

    Techno         Service         ...       Droid

     As in a      “tech      -nical  service droid?          (Rt          (IT)     Tech             Guy?

     Or a technical     assistant         (One made of       tech)?

      (Or one specializing in    techno dance moves?)

     Also   is he supposed to get them      in?

  Is    that thing?

 They-   didn’t     really     establish     much-

 Butler      Droid...

Change?

 Todo...   “You are what I say    you are,”

Roomba- kicker

Also, having a roommate is just straight up       detective fiction...

 Like     buddy-cop detective but still     detective

  With noir,      Which       is supposed to be focused on independence        Dis(trust) in society        Which is       admittedly       (toxic)

   Or         seems          to be

    ��Those two   themes...

          Directly contra-      dictory

[with   Griev-      ous     they       made       it    work,     But     he   wasn’t      this    -         ]

“Uh,”

You    are    not   “The   Doctor,”       -      [that work      ed as    manif-   estation      Of    Greiv-     Ous’s      Toxic    Be-      Hav       -ior-         And      Human      Want        For        Com-        Pan    Ion-        Ship        -       Or         At        Least-      Vul-          Ner-          Aba-              ili            Ty-           -           This          Guy            -          So far he’s a       n(e)igh        invulnerable       Douche          Bag            -            With           No            -thing          Humane-            -           Not           quite      Ahsoka         levels              -       Intend       -ed           To be          an adult            -          Just-            -            Really needing to go     ham -           On the arrogance            And            inhumanity               (He sold his soul for      money- But makes it look      so good- what                    he                   does-                  Gets a sick       kinda  enjoyment from it,”)

             That’s how you   have,  to pull it off

             As it stands;    there’s      no    emotion     with      this    character

Is   the   robot   supposed to be like his   morality pet?

But he’s a   dick to   him   too

Really   he gets nothing   from me

How do even in the    “I-don’t-feel-anything-I’m-so-edgy-and-cool     look at me!’

  Vibes

   There’s nothing     fun...

   Yeah you can throw all the   ...clichés         you want in there

   [But that doesn’t work       if you don’t use them          properly]

     [I see the team up        with a female bounty       -hunter]

    [Predictable         “I work Alone...]           The only thing          those stories               share

            In minute]

But ‘once the effect of’   ‘wow that’s a lot of things.    Has worn off

 The story and character left   heartless

“Non-of- your       Bus-        iness,”

  Doesn’t have the     cockiness to make it      work

  [this isn’t    power-         Ful-]

    Down       right        ..cringe

      As it tries to shove shove two genres.. .    At least...        That don’t          Quite          .work                ...

        Least not the   way they’re trying to make them     work  

.....

..Today

 It’s noir

 The point is      no one’s          in a    good mood.. ...

Aight,

Wasn’t that-

Also,   shouldn’t      he    know-

 Based on how      open-     She     is-      To un-     veiling        her       mask..

   - -

   Robot

So sh-   ouldn’t she ask the robot to leave the room?

(If it’s such a big deal     to her?”)

   He can just run their       face through a     face scan       no?

 Mid-rim

   I thought he didn’t have a way   in?    [That’s a   pretty pathetic   way in.. .]

    [Palpatine’s      screwing           with            him]

       [Giv           -ing            Him             a          hard          time         and       satis    -iating           -          The    ab-    omin-      ations    desire      for    blood🎵,

    Two      birds,         one       stone,

     Also,       Movie,           That’s           the       wrong      amount         of      planning           for        the      wrong      genre          -        We don’t care how the   bank ro    -bbers      Art      -thieves

      Got           There

       This           isn’t           Heist              -           [Money           Heist,              Not              Terr-              Esc]             Got              It           Wrong              [Pre              dict-                   The                  Plot-]               Last                Time.                -

           The                 Focus              isn’t           Character              building-                  - it’s the                   ‘out of depth                     characters reaction to the                    scenario,’

And the wacky hijinks that    ensue

 Using their   talents...    

   Contrast-      ed against the environment        (Mall        cop        example]     

     Which seems to be the best       fit

   Stealing         the-  Holocron-           -         WHAT WAS THE         PURPOSE-

        Well-                At least they ack          -now-ledged                 Planning          really isn’t part of the subset,

                 Good                    (For them?)

                Aight                    Impossible                     ...

             What are the              emotions?

           [like they              literally.             just through in                   the              “the only place...”

             Why..?

             So quick rehash                    (Sorry                      but I can feel the                        drug                          trip coming through,)

                      (Effects-                             Of                            Dealing-                           With                              (bad) excess character;

                         (Deserts                               Metal...)

                       [Refresh]

                       He has a map of the Jedi temple                            Chip                            (Oh so that’s what that-                              (Isn’t he                            still-)  

                    [Changlin’]

                     Aight

                 Bog

                  [Refresh                        End]

                  [Voice                       acting?

                  [Mouth                         sync]

                      ...                        ..                      Aight

                      ..

                    In                         Tru-

                   Maybe                       take                        the                       teen- off guard duty

                     A thought

                    [but-seriously

                       No high                           Alert?

                        Only these   two..?

                        Info-     -Mation

                      Baggage

Seriously money would be a better   option

                        Or       just    street     cred

                     (Adult) humans,                         Aren’t that Liniar...

                    Any way...

                    East   Tower                          ....

  Well that’s better than some   dusty    old     books        -      Holos

  (Seriously at least that’s   present    baggage.)

  Whelp

   Nobody       notices         this       bullshit!

       On a supposedly          secure a       military          base            ....        ...

      Also in the Mid- day break           fecking           daylight!               (With the         hiest it made sense,                 That was a hostage                 political situation                Meant                  to draw in a huge                                              crowd;

               How?

              Cool                   Alright,

               Hey                   isn’t                   she                supposed                     to                      be                    standing                      still?

                 (Guard)

                  Doing patrols?

                   Like                       no                    emotion,                       Face                     Forward,                    Professiona                  -lism

                Not                 Greeter

             (Didn’t they literally call it       guard duty?)

              Like just say you’re sending her to   library service...

              Assis                  -tance

              Again,                  Wrong                     Field...

              They’d                    be                  talking                     to                    the                  library                   helper                    (Official)                      Con-

                 Bother

Not   how a   child   reacts Tally   Of      How   Many      Times      Ahsoka-       Is      Adult         -ify        Ied-         2/3  

   Cite;      Asoka       shows    intentional       over involvement      instincts        more       befitting          of          an          adult            ....

     Good

     Fully    understand        able      reaction          (Kinda)

    (Don’t          yell         at       children)

      Don’t      over involve       yourself             in          the          future            ....

    (But if you’re an        over-         involv         ed         and           (un-)childlike       abomination              (Getting          shoved             for              this                is               likely                 going                  to               happen)

              Dude was actually nicer than       an adult

             Enabler

             (Rule                    Of                    Excess                   Society;                    While                   excess                  verbalization                         is                      ex-                  pected,                   Getting                   in                     someone’s                   way                    (non-sport                        Ing-)                         (Or con     -ferr       ed-)            U-pon

                       Is                          not,                            Attemp                          ting                            to                          move                           them           ��                 away                               the                           customary                                five                              times                                is                            expected)

                            Aight,

So the librarian was right there as     she     harassed        her     client)

    (Not saying;           But           you should get involved        in tox that doesn’t involve you)

      Just don’t         think that would excuse           Her         from ire

      “I can’t do anything right,”

Tally   Of     How   Many     Times     Ahsoka-      Is     Adult        -ify       Ied-       3/4

 Cite;      Child         -ren          Aren’t aware of      self        Ahsoka would repeat a line      blank       -ly

   “Likely      ‘sorry’

   Then back   away

  [Or      the      or     dered    rea       ction-)

    Aight

   Whelp

   Yes

   Just at the librarian be the      pro tag

(She’s      Tox        But..    .        Less         Tox..    ...

   But           Still..

  [Make         [Better]   Pro-ta  g        Than      Ahsoka           ]     

   In..   ...

  That’s a        library   computer..

   You      need        a      pass-        word.       -    The     robot-

   How?

  -

  What?

  Weak     Point?

  You know for     Boomer bait         They      mis-construe        How the library        works a lot

     [I know           -Hav-             Ing            Dealt-]

       Talk-ing            in the            library,

         Is pretty           off

         Like there’s        a reason people are encouraged            to go into the hallway             to take phone calls

          Loud

         These are the guys that value    meditation

          Dude.     Would be shushed       By   Several     irate      Jedi          ...  

    Told to     take it      outside          ...      ...

   I-

[I feel bad   For the Roomba]

[like dude, gaslights him      and then takes       his memory]

Like, Adults      Out     of     it.   ...

  But      ...Droids

   [we don’t know much about the       sentient ones     Or how much   senti ence]

    But          this         whole       scene...

    Makes me feel     dirty

    Like;       it’s played     for humor

    When;       it should be played            to how much         a bastard           this guy               is

      Screw-   ing         with       anything-  

       Like            That              ...  

      Toxic            ...    

      Sick..

  How?

     Aight..

    What.         .

    Re-          Cyc

    Why?         ... ..

Kenobi

Jump-ing coincidence

     [i’m con   -clusion]

       Damn,        the narc

         [No one   tell him   anything]

   [Might       fake         a       heart       attack]

    Comm.

     [How half assed is         Yoda’s peripheral?]

     Venti -lation

  -That’s        Smart-

   Almost       -Too             -Smart-

        👍  

  -Tower

    High         Alert

   Place            the       Temple        -

    Wasn’t, already?

    Left it undone

   Way to go     smart     guy           -      Cool        -        But      kinda    pointless..

 Aight-       Never mind

  I-  Might’ve       Been      Wrong-

 Al right

[Seriously,   no one hears this?]

 [In most heist movies      they at least had the    intelli-     gence-

    [No hate       -villains can be stupid]

  Do you some small well           re-lativel unknown library

   [or at least not the one     at the place they were robbing]

   Because everyone would      recognize that the actions occurring match up to what he’s describing         And the description        Of their       building.]

   Aight

   Neat-

   Past

  Whelp-

  Aight-

  Shred-          (Un-acc         Oun         T-able)

     K-Pop

     Well        that’s            a       name...

    Whelp..

Cool.. ..

Bane    ...

Whole..     temple

   And I heard you very          obviously        plotting...  

   So...  you’re getting kicked

Also he could be possibly looking up     intruders plans.. ...

Like pretty one dimensional     opinion    of on ‘High Alert’, lady

  [Especially       for a         librarian.]

Thank    you

 Whelp...

  There went my expectations

   Also,     Every Jedi leaving the library didn’t notice that that     shit?

   Like,  they didn’t have guard’s ready to apprehend him 

   ...On the           Other              Side?

         Okay...

         You just           moved her...

         Do you know this could’ve been an episode             with a lot of emotional depth              Showing how terrifying adults that abuse children can be             adults that            swear to have their interest in heart               And how overinvolvement               Is harmful              regardless of who it’s coming from                (Neglect- of child-                   And - accoun                       tability)                   Working off the                “blank line”,                 ‘I can’t do             anything right,’                    And the Jedi                -Council’s treatment of                   her                “Foreshadow                   -Ing,”                    (I use              that word              loosely)   

            Their            down-                fall

             Instead                     we                got                  this-

           And              he just abandons            the computer-

     Aight,             Just contin          -ued on - with          -out his         instruction

       Despite          see-ing           how bad           that          went.       Al-right

     Okay-

    Aight

    Really?

   Without    instructions?

   .

   In

    Calls       friend

     You were               fine       without him       the last few        seconds              .....

      “Give-”

   Not gonna      question that?

      “Voice-”

       She’s            a changling..

            “Now,”

          Hidden

          You’re              in a vent?

           Oh, Skywalker has           immediate            intuition               ...

           And a breech           didn’t somehow sound off alarms

          Yeah. .             Good..thing you didn’t close up the thing              ..

        Whelp..

        How?

       Okay. .

      Shame..           they didn’t get a hold of a force sensitive         kid             (I- don’t want it to       happen)

       Just-

      .. .

   .. Here

     Hurry          I can         Hear..       .        Bull-        Shit         .

   You have rocket boots        they have the force

    You shouldn’t         hear shit-

   Sur-prisingly,         No Ahsoka

     Good

    The lower       the counter stays..   

       The        better          for       humanity

 [and my      brain]

   [Vent]

   Seriously,       you didn’t tell your       partner?        About the Jedi on       High Alert?

   Ser-          Force-

   How deep         is that        thing?

   [Aight,          Pat-

    You’re telling me they still haven’t figured out the        Holocron?

     We only           saw-

     Shouldn’t one of you go one way and the        other go the other?

    To cover     more ground?

    They’re-        Really       putting       a lot      of faith-

In the   Comms

  Also shouldn’t there be more   Jedi crawling over the place?

   Seriously,         it’s just these two?

     [We know Plo       isn’t doing anything important.]

    [We saw       him near the opening?]

    And        Kid Fisto..

     Heck...          Is   everybody else doing?

    A-ight

   “Closer,”

    Shouldn’t it be      ..further

     Archive..     [Library]         Comms?

     Got it-

     Whelp..

      Okay..

      Not, putting up that       door,

      What are you         smiling about?

      There’s plenty of lasers

     And      you don’t even know        where the thing       you’re looking for               is

           (Inside the compartment)

      ....

   Aight

   Might- not have been a   smile-

    Look for       the open         vent   

    (Dude clum-           Un-          Acc             ountable)

       With             Vents

        Also look at all these        assholes standing around          doing nothing

  Also, no one’s going to check up on the child 

  Like, Ahsoka surely got that message      right?

   Temple-

   Deep in the         temple-

   Use-less

      ...

    ‘Cause you’re idiots       who don’t check for open vents           Or cover      more ground?

   Or...  

    [Get, anyone to help you, in this big ass vent,”

   It’s not very hard to see       why.. .

   Ass         -itance

  Ahsoka’s,         not gonna get blamed for this      is she?

   Won-

   Yeah, the narcs      pretty     useless

    Also, why can’t you have the dude just shut off those lasers like he did the rest?

  Done

    Oh, they address it   

     Good,

     Yep,

     How?

     But...

   Okay...   

...

    Okay   

   ....  

    What’re you         still       doing          ...

   Okay,

  What’re        you      doing?

   [Is the Holocron seriously right       there?]

     That’s. lucky

      Weirder               and             Wei-rder

         Hey isn’t your personality        over-written?

           By the               chip?

            Aight

          S-eriously?

         Still              Here?

         On- alert-?

Coin-     cidence?        !

  Augh

    Is that’s seriously the alert?

     Several          minutes-

       No wonder         those guys           were so late...

          ...

       Sense           De-          Cep          Tion

     Po-          S-ing            As            A           Jedi.

       Okay           now         Yoda’s            just         reading             the          death               report

     Jo-casta

     What?

       But           that’s         actually             a           good            idea                -              If shits about to go down you might as well find the person who might hold them accountable instead of letting you get the shit beat out

       Run-

       Serious-ly           shouldn’t she just shout out her name?

       [Like I know                       - High Alert-                     But Ahsoka isn’t going to be much use against a                    Adult...                Either way                                        Might as well   find her [and     scare off the intruder-]

  Also how come     “innocence”        doesn’t get           the same notification

       Did they forget his              wristwatch?

       [Like-            seems important-]

       Who are you?

           Dang                 It?

            You               were             supposed                  to                report                 back!

               Also no one           heard any of this before

           Also; are you going to tell me that AHSOKA, the child   soldier,      Is going to beat this guy       When      the fully trained elderly Jedi got her ass kicked?

   Nah.. .

   “You,”

    Dead

Tally   Of      How   Many      Times      Ahsoka-       Is      Adult         -ify        Ied-           4/5

   3x

-Un-orthodox show of initiative              1x

-Counter          1x

- Surviving this            1x

(4x) 

  Getting her on the           run!

        1x

Tot; 7/8

-Surviv-ing;

   - 1x         - 1x

    -1x

    -1x         -1x

    -1x

    -1x

    -1x

    -1x

   -2x         (I’m tired of counting them        one by one-)

     -2x

     - 2x

     - 2x

     - 2x

     - 2x

    - 

    Er

    Okay

     Whelp

    Aight

    -Right

    Shape

    -Skill

     -Ew

     Whelp

      Okay-

      Where did         your get your skills from?

     Abomination?

     Aw-  

     Todo-

   -Yet

    What-ever

    Butler

    Tech

   Neither         of       which       have     anything        to do         with       ironing        doors        open           ....   

      ....       There       he goes

     Sy-mpathesize-  more with him            than this douche bag even if his          turn does make a little sense

     Aight.

     Whelp

      Finally found that          vent.. .

       Right

       No, he wasn’t

      “Comms,”

        Not            Holo-          Cron

      .....

     Completely un-realistically        

Tally   Of     How   Many     Times     Ahsoka-      Is     Adult        -ify       Ied-        28/29        And         1/2

    (1/2 because referring to the action what respectively doesn’t count as a whole- sin-          It does deserve note that you decided to repeat your bad writing-)

         Jedi

   She       Says-

  (Un       Be        Li       Ev        Able)

 Holo      -cron

 Jedi       To      Open      It     ..  

Okay,   

..   

Up-     To-

 Again, with the   communication     center-!

  Dude, just wanted a   Holo-cron

   (Seriously        that was very tortured      logic,       Think the writers;     just wrote this scene        Then realize but wait       “why are they in the Holocron/             Comm           Cent,?”

     And that’s how        Anakin/Obi-Wan           Obsession with the com      center began...

    [sorry but there was no reason for them to be in the        Com center!

      That I’ve heard!]

   In

   Aight,      What?     What       -ever

   ...  ..

  Wrong-

    Yes

    Com-          Center-

    Ser-iously     even he doesn’t know what’s up

   You   heard      me

  And        my     stupid      plan

    To send you to the     Coms center to justify Obi-wan’s     obsession-

    Craw-          ling

     And we have no reason      to-o

   Why?

    Now!

   Yelling- doesn’t mistake the clear lack of   reason

   What-     ever-

    Right

    That’s one way      to do it

    Really

  Also, how does   -that not-

That was less than   one minute

Also,   but no one else will hear that but   these two      . .

 And they’ll   still progress to the   comm center        ...

“It came from the com center,!”

   How!?

You, guys,

  Comms,       Archives,

   Aight,       Nice

  Com-munication        center-

    Ha-           ha-          ha-    (I’m sorry   but that has come back around      to kinda funny,”

 [something Happens across the     galaxy]

Obi-won; It was the com’s center

—-

Aight,    right, 

...

O-kay

...

How??

 Where?

 Okay      ...

Cloak       Ing?

 What?

[you can’t defy the   rules of logic that much       (Physics)       You need to explain where he went   otherwise it’s a loony tune      Of    sus-    pen    sion-

Okay?

What??

I thought-       the thing-  

....

O-kay

right

Take it,

Which       ,One

 That-

 Right

What-      Ever-

  Aight-

He knews

 What-      Ever

  Don’t call   your eggs

   Move

  Restraint

  Whelp

 Use-less

    Just     There

     Whelp

     Nope-

      Okay-

       He           Try

      [Hey         guys,]

       Off               That’s           some         assumed          authority              over         familiarity..

        Aight..

      Okay,

      They’re really            letting             him             get            away             with              the             story

         Tries-

       What?!

       -When-

      Bomb-  

        Both-

[Also   Mace   Windu        is     still      the       only       semi-efficient      Jedi...

   Asshole !

    (Can’t          make the text bigger enough to display my           outrage!)

   [they      played that off         as humor!]

     That was a scream of death!

     Of         Murder!

   [if that was a sentient-       And my God     it seemed damn close!     Dude was just murdered

   The surprise-        “ I didn’t        see it coming, h        onestly not his fault kind!”

      One that would call for      immediate robotic vengeance!

    * im-mediate    ac-countability

      If sentient,

   What the Hell?!

     That-

     Horror        -        fy-            Ing-

      Oof

“Was        it     sentient?      Crud, I      might       lose        my       least       toxic    credentials

  (           )

   Whelp

    How?

     No        Way-

   A-ight

   Shit

  -shit

- she did     nothing  

   I-

  Call      Sec-

  Whose       that?

    Whelp

     Okay..

     That          Who

    Dys-   functional          family          road         trip             -           War

       No          shit

 Oh wait at           the comment table was by all the other Jedi

       So...

       the whole time Obi-wan was just complaining        he didn’t want to do the job

     Skywalker          agreeing with him...

      And...  wanting to ditch their post

 In chara,

   Just, a little bit funny      when you think about it

  Right,

 You bought            them      all the way         here?

      ...

Also look isn’t the unchild-like abomination adorable when she’s talking about punishing people more severely

Holo-cron

The heck     is a       holocron...

Wait-

 What-

   Why-

   How-

   ??

 Why is this     being allowed to      happen?   -

    ...

  Snitch

[like seriously how is it helping her   case, whatsoever?

Plea     Bar-gin

Aight,

Okay

That was just a completely random target   on his list...

- -

The one accountable adult

Keeper       Kydra      Crystal-

- Holocrons

   Data

     -

   You get out of here         youngling

     Force         Sensitive       Child ?

     Are we really going to get into the        powers        eugenics?             (Or         power        genetic       superiority)

       Also would it be a kin to basically every child or just any child destined for leader ship

   (Like gen       leader ship?)

    Cause..

Also, yeah   good idea keeping that around

And you named...

...

Young’lings

 Future

Oy!     You put that back where,   it came from so help me

Future  

vision

is cheating

In reality,   if you did have that power,    you should keep     your mouth        shut

And it completely negates   the point of a choice based universe

   (Takes all the       risk out of it)

    Making the story     completely useless

    (For the sake of tension       I’m going to ignore        that..)

    Going on the       assumption...

     That’s the Jedi           are just a bunch of          narcs

       Who           like        claiming they know the future

       When in reality only the future              knows the future...

           Worn.                 Them

              Oh so it’s just School    roll call...

    Contact

   You must

Ya no dude’s already a    headstart...

Ahsoka

 Dude,  he just override   the punishment   

  Does he   have the authority to do that?

   [I     don’t     think        so]

 Cad bane

   He      probably isn’t

   And you already know him From the previous episode

    Good for         Obi-won

      Aight

     Mace Windu         don’t give a fuck

      Kid Fisto              disappeared

      And. .       Luminara(?)

       Went to go get a snack....             ?

        I don’t             know

        Yoda

        Got          Overruled

       Aight,           Okay

  .....

     This episode...

         Makes me feel disgusting              Watching                The middle                 At least

           It’s very clearly                 boomer bait...

           The beginning...

          Focus-ing on the           importance of taking orders           (With no                       sarcasm                                   to my understanding,)

       Progressing,               Into, 

             Dah, de, dah,                          Generation                        ____                    doesn’t               understand                  books!

                  *We might  if they got out of our way, let us do our thing, dis-covered and pract-iced excess, on our volition

                   *if we wanted   to

Honestly   convinced.  I should’ve      given       them          a        strike       right       there 

Out     of  

Malicious

 Won’t   (Out of restraint)

But     a   thought   none-       the-  

 less

Being        a     (toxic)      Boomers     Fantasy        in   which    they,      the     all   powerful      all   knowing       adults     must       help       poor     Ig-      nor        -ant       (Child)-

(I’m sorry   this really       disgusts me)

  -with enough initiative            To praise their Brilliance

         (It’s re-ally   di-sgusting)

           This isn’t            seen as an overreach                   Or con-                Des-cion                      Of                       A                     Gen

And gives no   in-dication it recognizes how creepy what it’s doing is

Apart from the lighting in the council room

  *Which       I’m now convinced is permanently broken

    And continues with the assum-ption of a   life-time                       Over the future

     Breaking; the story pretty thoroughly

     And announcing the       return to      mediocrity...

     (Border       -ing on attempt at          lower        standards)

 (Also they playoff the death of a semi-sentient species      For            Humor?

       He          died        screaming!

[nrgburst]

Podsa Ship Manifesto

I know, I know, there's like three of us that ship this and I'm probably gonna get anon haters in my askbox for the trouble, but here's my reasoning for thinking they could still be endgame post-canon, and it's not just because they're both still alive! (Which is totally reason enough, but I have like, actual reasons beyond NOW KISS.) This meta is based on Game of Thrones the TV show, not the A Song of Ice and Fire books. The canons have diverged pretty starkly (hehe) and both characters are much younger in the books as well, so while I know there is also supportive evidence in the books, I'm not mentioning it on purpose, though feel free to add your own addendum with book evidence! GIFs were all made by me.

I like that both Sansa and Podrick started out as Bad Minor Players: Pod's a bumbling squire; Sansa is a spoiled nobleman's daughter. And yet they both learned, through painful mistakes and persistence, how to get to their Ultimate Goal by series end. Character parallels abound; they're both idealists who have to learn to be pragmatic, endure abuse and disrespect, having hidden skills and strengths, flourishing once learning to both play within and outside The Rules), their trajectories crossed a bunch of times and while I know D&D threw in as many red herrings as actual foreshadowing details, this was their Meet Cute in 3x08:

Tyrion is supposedly talking about himself, but do you see who else is framed in that doorway, literally entering her life?! Combine this with how intensely Sansa grows to regret this particular statement from 1x06:

and what kind of person Podrick shows himself to be, and I'd argue that seeds for this ship were subtly planted waaay back when.

After Joffrey's murder, they're both hustled out of King's Landing, and they don't share screentime again until 5x02, although they don't actually meet or speak in the scene. However, Pod recognizes her voice from across a tavern and sees right through her disguise of dyed hair, identifying her from behind via a single phrase and her face turned in profile once.

I'm sorry, but that kind of instant magnetic knowing is Romance Tropey AF and I'll be forever disappointed at fandom for not going off about it. Siiigh.

They don't meet again until Sansa finally escapes the Boltons in 6x01. And when Brienne offers her sword and service again (and by extension, Pod's), this time Sansa replies like a true lady and accepts. She starts off her vows correctly, but she's been ripped from the life of knights and ladies for so long that she falters partway through. Podrick's gentle assist to jog her memory, right after winning a swordfight to protect her clinched it for me: that was her brave, gentle and strong man, right there. (That scene was such a huge highpoint in all of their arcs, actually. *sobs* THIS SHOW WAS SO FREAKING GOOD.) 

And he continues to serve her right up to the end of the series, when it's shown that he's become Bran's Kingsguard, which opens up so many delightful possibilities at last. Like I love this cleverly edited GIFset from 8x04, but since Theon had just died and Pod was still in her service, nothing could have happened?

Politically, they aren't a good match, but only on the surface: Podrick is a distant cousin to Ser Ilyn Payne, who was responsible for executing Sansa’s father. (House Payne is a vassal house to House Lannister, and he comes from a lower branch of it.) However, Pod helped Brienne rescue Sansa from the Boltons, trained soldiers and fought for the North in the Battle For the Dawn. He earned his knighthood with his own merit, and he continues to serve her brother. He is still an unlanded knight (and there's this pesky vow not to marry or father children that may still exist) but Sansa's no longer waaaay out of his league now that he has a title and battle experience. And actually, the fact that he's an unlanded knight is actually a good thing. (More on that later.)

As for why Sansa might find Pod an attractive prospective for her consort beyond the fact that he's you know, attractive and rumored to be fantastic in bed (and I think she would consider how to get herself a Stark heir very pragmatically now): he's still one of the people she trusts absolutely, who was there for here at every stage of her journey, even the worst bits, and he was loyal and supportive throughout. He's of noble blood and well-educated, but he has no power base, so no army will swoop in and claim her throne/lands by deposing her in favour of their child. (She's seen this happen too many times now; she is NOT going to let it happen to her.) He has no political ambitions and his defining character trait is  loyalty- he's always just wanted to be a knight, and to serve somebody worthy. And yet he's not just some grunt in armor either- he's well versed in the politics of “which House married which and who hated who,” he speaks up when he doesn't think something is right, and they actually have similar interests: they both like to sing.

All in all, I think they'd make a sweet couple post canon. I also think there's a kind of delicious irony in Tyrion's former squire ending up with the child bride he didn't want.  

Fic recs:

The first time I actually saw Podsa in the wild was in @scrubclubwrites​'s amaaazeballs Gendrya HP AU fic love, war and a few things in between (M, 52884 words.) Pod and Sansa aren't just in the background here, they have a sweet, slow burn relationship in this and if you don't scream when they finally kiss, you probably aren't human.

I've already recced my own fic, The Watcher, which is a Podsa pre-ship fic. (It’s more of a Sansa deals with her trauma fic, and there’s explicit Gendrya sex in it, although it’s not meant to be a shippy Gendrya fic. E, 6833 words)

Also love this young Pod/Young Sansa fic by bryndentully, which shows how they both started out as romantic idealists perfectly: i loved a maid as white as winter

I'm still trawling the archive (the pain of shipping a rarepair means they get tagged in lots of fics that they are barely mentioned in) but I will add to this post as I find more fics I love! Or if somebody else could do a rec list, that would be wonderful!

[allsassnoclass]

15, 18 (specifically for the tie me down 'verse ending since i KNOW you were talking about that but if you don't want to disclose then that's cool i just think about it a lot), and 20 go crazy love you a lot xoxo bella

Thank you bella :)

okay these are going under a read more because they got ridiculously long. I really enjoy talking about my writing lol

also some spoilers ahead....

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)? I think this really depends!  On occasion, I’ll have a title while I’m writing a piece, but otherwise titles are pretty difficult for me because I really want them to have some sort of meaning. I don’t like just plucking song lyrics for them unless the song has some sort of significance to the fic, but sometimes I have to because I can’t think of anything else and that’s the accepted way to name fics.  Something like All I Really Want Is You is okay because I referenced slsp in the fic.  Something like Puzzle Pieces was taken from a running metaphor in the fic, which I feel better about because it’s something that is more specific to the fic itself.  Summaries are also difficult because sometimes I don’t have a few lines that I feel properly introduce the fic and hook the reader without giving things away, but I feel like people are less likely to read if there isn’t an excerpt??? idk.  tags are pretty easy though even though I’m always guessing a little and worried that someone will say I should have tagged it with something else or that it doesn’t fit a tag I added.

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them. For the most part, I don’t have alternate versions unless it’s a prompt fic that I started out going one direction then deleted and flipped it around.  HOWEVER the Tie Me Down trilogy DID have a possible different third installment (spoilers ahead)

If I had written the epilogue from Jack’s perspective, it would’ve been a little bit of a different ending.  Something I mentioned in both of the first parts was Jack’s restlessness and Alex’s desire for something more settled, and one day I was listening to peace by Taylor swift and was like “wow this is Jack from the tie me down verse,” and that song could’ve very easily been the inspiration behind the third part.  Alex’s epilogue was based on best years because he recognized that he hadn’t treated Jack the best but resolved to then make up for it by giving Jack the best years possible ahead with all of his love.  peace as an epilogue song would’ve pushed the story away from a crystal-clear resolution.  that would’ve focused a bit more on the struggle of making it work with two people who want/need fundamentally different things.  It would’ve had much more to do with the compromise of Jack being able to give Alex infinite love and devotion, but not the peace that he craves.  Inevitably, something would go wrong.  “The rain is always gonna come if you’re standing with me.”  The epilogue would’ve then been about Jack living with that knowledge and trusting that Alex would stay anyway and that their relationship would be enough, but there’s still a lot of uncertainty of an imperfect relationship in that song, and it inevitably would’ve ended up in the fic.  that’s why the Alex epilogue was the one I went with: I needed a strong, conclusive, and positive ending for them, and Jack’s epilogue would not have given that

otherwise though I don’t think my fics shift too terribly much between when I think of them and when they get published.  nothing is coming to mind, at least not for things that I have completed.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?) Okayyyyyy a lot of my symbolism is in the short angsty fics and when I talk about it I feel like I didn’t do it well lol but for my unrequited lashton (I was done but you undid me) (spoiler) the buckling of the seatbelt was something I thought about a lot and ending the fic with that action was important to me because it was Luke making the conscious decision to protect himself in this situation.  there’s a lot of symbolism in the lie to me music vid in general but back seat of the car/no seatbelt is very significant because 1. he can’t swerve, he just has to take the crash and 2. he isn’t doing the bare minimum to protect himself from the hit, he’s letting himself take maximum damage from it.  while Luke may be in the passenger seat in the fic, he can still take that little step to protect himself metaphorically, which goes along with the decision to protect himself by not trying to pursue something with Ashton or try to get the validation from him that he wants but that would ultimately be a lie.

also fun fact! my angsty Luke song is putting the dog to sleep by the antlers, which partially inspired the bear-trap metaphor despite bear traps not being mentioned in the song at all.  when I wasn’t listening to a version of lie to me while writing that, I was listening to that song.

the tie me down trilogy also included a whole bunch of metaphors that first appeared in tie me down and I hate that for you.  when I do song fics, I really look at the songs for inspiration, so a lot of the figurative language and images in the songs were incorporated into the fics, then I combined stuff for the third installment.  best years arguably had the least amount of influence over the installment out of that trilogy.

I have had a few people ask if the cocktail chats reference in off-screen was intentional.  it was.  that moment in cocktail chats inspired the entire fic.  it all stemmed from a desire to put that one little moment into a fic.  also my personal thought is that off-screen Ashton pretends to dislike petunia but he actually adores her and calls her darling all the time when they’re alone.  Luke heard him do it once and teased him mercilessly.

now for puzzle pieces!!!! sorry bella I know that you asked this question and haven’t read this one yet but I want to talk about it so you can stop reading now because that’s what the rest of this ask is.

I talked about this briefly once, but the colors for puzzle pieces were chosen specifically!  there was thought behind it! 

Michael got red not just because of the iconic red hair, which is how I almost think of younger Michael, but because it’s a pretty loud and brash color.  Michael (especially when he was younger) doesn’t really filter things and wears a decent amount of his personality on his sleeve. that’s red to me, baby!

Calum has always been forest green to be.  This is partially influenced by the empathy hoodie (even though that’s a bit brighter than forest green), but it’s more because my associations with green have always said it’s a very dependable, stable color.  It reminds me of pine trees, and I think Calum can give off that same sense of reliability in weathering the seasons.  It’s a quieter color but can really pop next to another one.  It also worked out nicely that Calum and Michael’s colors were compliments

Luke gets gold because he is a sunshine boy!  Luke actually was the person I had the most trouble with, because I was flipping between gold, a lighter blue, or pink.  Pink ultimately was too close to red to make me be able to visualize what the marks looked like on each boy to my satisfaction like it just looked ugly.  I went with gold because there is a lot of outward brightness in Luke.  He’s the kind of person where if he’s happy everyone else gets a bit happier, and gold also seemed fitting for the eventual shift into a rockstar and the amount of talent he has

Ashton gets purple, but a deeper purple.  Dynamic but still relatively stable, has a lot of depth.  Purple is a secret color, but it’s still beautiful and it draws people in.  When I visualize it it ends up being a really dark shade, but in reality he’s probably more of a royal purple than a plum purple

I have a lot of favorite moments in that fic but one that’s standing out now is right when Ashton and Michael do their first touch: “The dark purple reminds him of spilling grape juice on his clothes as a kid, and when he collapses into Ashton he feels like they could have known each other at that age, too.”  There is something so charming about meeting someone later and feeling like you’ve known them your whole life, and that was significant here because Michael has known Calum and Luke since they were younger (although Luke did come in the picture when they were tweens/young teens instead of kids).  I wanted to be sure that although Michael, Calum, and Luke are the triangle, Ashton is an equal part of their soulmate group.  He doesn’t have the same history, but that doesn’t matter because it feels like he does.

also pretty early on in the fic (I think it’s when Calum is in Brazil) I say that Michael is always touch-starved for Calum, and I brought that line back in the hair dye scene because baby seasons change but people don’t!  one thing is consistent about Michael and that is his love for Calum, expressed here through the love language of physical touch

As for clues for future scenes... :)

anyway! ask me some fun meta writer asks!

[musaeon]

okay so this is going to be a very long post of how i’m handling p5r on this blog now that i’ve beaten it! it’ll be under a cut for length/how much content i’m talking about and for spoilers of course!

the tl;dr of this for people that haven’t completed p5r are this: i’m tagging any and all content involving royal (especially third semester + the endings) and i’m no longer going to be tagging spoilers for vanilla p5.

with that out of the way, for those of you that have completed p5r, it’s time to get right into it!

okay starting with the most obvious the two muses on my blog that are the most affected because of p5r are akira and akechi, primarily because of third semester content, but ann, yusuke and futaba are affected mostly because of their third tier personas (and showtime attacks + futaba being able to cause all out attacks) and their choices of what they want to do in the true ending! but for the most part their personalities are remaining the same so there’s no real noticeable changes being made to them for royal verses

as for akira and akechi...akira is mostly staying the same as how i write him in vanilla p5 (other than a bit more emphasis on his relationship with akechi in practical because yeah, akechi does mean a lot to him especially looking at third semester) but as for akechi...oh boy.

akechi is staying the same as how i write him during vanilla p5′s events but as for third semester...akechi is not dealing with his ‘pleasant boy’ personality during this point bc yes, akechi have very valid reasons for being as ‘feral’ as he is during third semester. i don’t 100% agree with some of the stuff that he does during this time (manly just that yes, he has a reason for being as feral/anger as he is, and he has no reason to hide behind pleasantries at this point in the game’s canon unless it’s necessary re: right at the beginning of third semester events but he doesn’t enjoy killing as much as the game/mostly the battle dialogue would suggest but uh. that’s a topic for a another day. the tl;dr of this is yes, i’m keeping him being genuinely pissed/angry during third semester but no, he’s not as feral/bloodthirsty as the game says he is)

and for well...that stringer at the end of the true ending’s credits, i am going with yes, akechi did survive and that the akechi we see during third semester is the real akechi. how he survived is something i’m unsure about since canon doesn’t give us much but what i’m going with is that akechi doesn’t remember how he survived bc he himself says during the 2/2 conversation that he has a gap in his memory from the fight up until meeting up with akira again (on 12/24 aka when he turns himself in for akira), so really, he doesn’t know. so he’ll be vague but in post true ending scenarios, all he’ll be able to say for sure is he remembers what happened in shido’s palace and the events of third semester. (also just as food for thought with this - canon does establish that memory loss is a common side effect for those that get put into a psychotic breakdown berserk state and just what does akechi do to himself during his boss fight? here’s a meta post for just some more proof)

(also as a sidenote to this post a lot of the meta posts/translations i get are from that blog and they’re what’s helped me to make my decisions so just throwing that out there for reference!)

now, moving onto my muses relationships with sumire/maruki! (and time for me to break my formatting bc why can’t i do bullet points and block quote thanks for nothing tumblr) so first up: sumire!

for ann and yusuke: they both don’t hold super strong feelings towards her other than she’s around the same age as us and she’s like us. really, it just that yes, they she her as a friend and teammate, but that she’s not someone they’ve known for a long time, so they don’t have the same level of friendship/attachment as say, akira does.

for futaba: she does see her as a friend and teammate, and tries to be casual with her since they’re the same age for most of the game. she’d like to talk to her more and honestly, she’s one of the few people i can say that futaba might get a crush on so i do ship them.

for akechi: the devs already said that quite frankly, he doesn’t care for her that much. the literal term they say is to death (also here’s a post that translates about the royal trio and akechi’s feelings toward both sumi and akira) so really, unless they seriously talk then akechi isn’t gonna be as friendly as some of the other thieves with her. he’ll be polite if he has to but we know that he can be quite blunt and no nonsense as seen in third semester.

for akira: he does care about her, as a friend and teammate. he’s the only member of the thieves that’s really talked to her for longer than the time in third semester + the christmas/new years stuff and the ending and he does want to support her. he wants to help her, to see her regain her courage and strength and she here become who she was again (especially in third semester, he wants to help her become strong so she can live as sumire and not kasumi) and if he has to help her, he will.

and in terms of shipping, she’s neutral for ann and yusuke, liked for futaba, notp for akechi and for akira...somewhere in being neutral to notp.

and now for maruki!

for ann, yusuke and futaba: they’re firmly neutral in terms of opinions. yes, the stuff he did during third semester does make them mad but they’re also mad at themselves for giving into his dream world and turning their backs on akira during this time. plus they all talked to him and yes, he’s not a bad person but also his actions in third semester are just...a lot for them to deal with (especially with the whole falling into his dream world) so while they can’t forgive what he’s done, they do think that his goals are well...not entirely moral but they’re better than the other adults they’ve taken down.

for akechi: oh boy. most of the reason why he is so pissed off in third semester is because of him. akechi during third semester does harbor something akin to anger towards him, especially because he’s the one that created the dream world, and for as far as he knows is the reason he’s alive and hasn’t committed any crimes in this world. akechi states that he refuses to be a puppet on a string (again, mind you) and this dream world? it’s basically everything he hate because yes, he’s done so many things wrong and deep down, doesn’t believe he deserves to be forgiven for what’s he’s done. he’s going to crave his own path, and not have it handed to him or be a puppet to someone else (again). i do think that post p5r, if he got the chance to speak to him, while he wouldn’t be able to forgive him for the events he caused, he wouldn’t be so openly hostile towards him. 

for akira: out of all the thieves, he’s probably the most reluctant to truly agree to stopping him because maruki has a point. he wants to help others and save them from suffering. but his methods in doing so are just wrong. the dream world created is both something akira wants to give into but also can’t give into. because it’s not right. it’s not right to him, or any of his friends because while they’re happy, they also didn’t go through what caused them all to change and grow. plus akira helped him with his research and knows that yes, maruki is not a bad person but what his methods are will not help out everyone in the long run. i will say that akira almost folds on 2/2 from stopping him because of that conversation (and well...also because of his relationship/feelings with akechi but that’s a story for another time) but ultimately stands up against him because taking his offer is taking the easy way out. and akira has never, not once taken the easy way out at any point during his time as a thief. plus in the end, even when maruki said he was done, akira still leapt to save him (which ties so heavily into the savior complex/chronic hero syndrome - it’s one of the two i swear-  i write akira with aka wanting to help people no matter what) because yeah, you can be hurt but you can move on and heal. post p5r while akira can’t forgive his actions, he’s probably the most willing to talk to him and try to reestablish some kind of bond with him again.

and well...as for verses i’m adding because of royal, i’m technically adding four but i’m really adding three because one of them is so selective but there’s a part of me that wants to write it anyways so yeah! i’m adding verses for main p5r canon, third semester, post p5r’s true ending and (selectively) bad ending verse (aka when you accept maruki’s deal - but for akira and akechi only as they’re the only ones that will know the bad ending isn’t right.) i will say i vastly prefer the true ending to the bad ending, the bad ending is something i think would be fun to explore. all of these verses will have their own tags and i will be using the p5r spoilers tag for all of these posts which brings me to...

...how i’m tagging spoilers! basically, everything involving something exclusive to royal will be tagged, and all royal verses will have the spoiler tag, crack posts being throwing into the tag as well (because honestly, i can’t help myself) but basically, if it’s in royal, it’s getting tagged (especially third semester and post true ending). also i’m not going to be tagging spoilers for vanilla p5 anymore. the vanilla version has been out for three and a half years in japan and three everywhere else. my rules will be updated to reflect this soon enough. (and as a sidenote to all of this, to keep myself from spoiling the truth about sumi, i’m referring to her as kasumi in my image tag for her and on the pages for my muses for shipping but in threads, if they’re in anything other than canon timeline (aka before third semester and the truth comes out) she’ll be referred to as sumire. otherwise she’s kasumi so i don’t spoil anyone about that twist!)

and one last point to this very, very long post! i’m working on a post for a headcanon of mine i’ve had since the game released in which royal is ng+ to akira. it’s a very headcanon heavy and in some ways self-indulgent verse but something i hold dear to me and want to write really badly. however it isn’t my default verse for akira when it comes to royal content. i don’t want to force people to write this verse with me but i want it to be an option because it means a lot to me and it also makes sense within p5r’s canon.

anyways! if you’ve read all of this post thank you so much for reading it because of how long it is but i felt it was important to get all of this out on the table now that i’ve completed p5r!

[scoundrels-in-love]

1,8, 20 for the meta asks if you please my dear :-)

Thank you so much for asking, love!!

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  –   what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it? 

glances askew at her 20 WIPs as she tries to pick one to talk about

But alright, let’s narrow down to more recent ones! One is my Braime fic exchange fic, which I cannot speak much about, other than if it doesn’t break me, it could turn out great. And my longest work yet!

The other is DYSTOD, the third chapter of which I already have 1.5k words down and if I hadn’t been so set on working on my Braime fic exchange fic, I might’ve already finished. oTL It has gotten a whole lot of revision, but I am happy with outline (never have had a multichapter with more than 1 chapter published, and definitely not as solid outline). I definitely like that about it and I miss the story itself, I truly do, it was oddly hard and comforting to write at the same time.

I also have decent bits of written from a Long Night re-write where Jaime’s act of selflessness plays a major role. And a vaguely Dragon Age x GOT mashup that I’m excited to come back to! (So, basically 2 apocalyptic AUs, both in canon-like verses, but one is actually canon-ish and other is not). I am really excited to explore something yearning, yet plot driven, yet contained (hopefully) with them.

And there’s second part to both I (don’t) want to be out of this dream (forever) from Jaime’s POV later into the Soulmate/Arranged marriage verse! And the modern soulmate verse part 2, from Brienne’s POV. I am big, big sucker for exploring different POVs and where their sights overlap and what they miss entirely. Plus, both pieces would let me complete just a bit more of the bigger picture.

I’ve not forgotten the Makeup verse, either!! There’s solid progress on part 3, which was actually written first of all, and I love it very much, it’s something that was unique for me to write at the time (unique in my fictography, that is) and I am very, very attached to the verse, the nuances that I think friends to lovers ought to have in some ways, the whole world of it!

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read? 

I am not a picky reader... At least not too much! Still, not everything will brand itself in me. I definitely have preference for pieces that manage to punch me somehow with emotional line, some yearning and tenderness, and caring. The self loathing and catching a glimpse of how loved you are, marveling at it and the fear it will be lost any minute now. Basically, give me the complexity and sometimes the sheer paradox of human emotions, thriving on their own or in interaction with someone else, and I will love it. Write those fics that make me feel things, consider something new about a character, depict emotions that you feel alone in feeling almost and make me feel home and Seen, and I will love it.

And while it’s a bold claim to say that’s what I write, I think it’s some shades of what can be found in my writing and what comes to me most naturally. Those little crystallized pieces of thoughts about characters (Brienne being perceived as responsible and stalwart, whereas she feels anything but, for example), the pining and the yearning. I don’t try to be particularly Unique in my Takes, just honest in my view and in my depiction of emotions.

Another thing - exploring characters through various AUs, to see what makes them them and what makes them tick, how a shifted canon event would change them in a shifted way, yet not that different, etc. I do love to write that, just like I love to read it.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?) 

.. I really really love artist Brienne. There are several AUs (of which, so far, only one has seen light of day, sadly) that are based around this concept. And I think it’s very symbolic for these verses in general, her reclaiming a sort of creative/gentler space while still coming to terms with her physical strength and valuing it, and sometimes even finding a creative use for it. It usually sets her in a different emotional space overall, than the verses where she’s other career focused, though the end journey is the same, it’s just that she has approached it a bit differently and some parts of the mountain road have been harder, while others easier, whereas different life path makes other bits easier.

Also, actual recurring symbolism and callback in my stories!

In If I’m gonna (lose) love someone, Jaime compares her (them both) to a fortresses and how he wants to live in hers and she has said that she’s someone who goes to war, not someone for whom wars will be fought, romantically, or someone that will ride for days just to hear and hold. (And then he does just that.)

There is a rather direct callback to that in DYSTOD, when Jaime asks why she’d rather be a knight than a maid in a song and she tells him no one would’ve ever gone to war for her. And then he goes to think of her as fortress he doesn’t wish to conquer, but set campaign on to win over. I don’t think anyone picked on that, and I can’t blame them because it’s such a Braime imagery, but secretly, I wrote this with no small amount of glee and with Soulmate/Arrange marriage verse specifically in mind. Especially since both verses basically include ‘fake relationship but by gods I (we) wish it was real’ and Jaime is in it for slow, but cautious long haul. 

Maybe soulmate marks aren’t a thing in modern world ascending from Soulmate/Arranged marriage verse and they’re finding echoes of words that feel Familiar? Who knows. :’)

In less intentional way, Brienne thinks of herself as fortress in We draw a line in the sand, a fortress that wants to let him in, almost openly asks him for a reason to let down the drawbridge, but he fails to do so in the situation. If I didn’t feel it was too repetitive, I’d actually like to repeat the motif, the way he thinks of her as castle versus herself and her want to allow him in, and also to explore more how he is willing to step out of his own keep to move into hers... And how sometimes they might need to meet on the road in the middle.

Send me meta ask about my writing?<3

[bloodfcst-a]

Hey, y’all. Tumblr’s been setting off my anxiety in the last few days, thus the reason I’ve been away. I’ll give you a full explanation under the cut for those who are interested (though I’d really appreciate it if you all read it anyway), and provide some contact information for places you can find me.

Discord: conjure. ☆#6443 Twitch: ninabeanxo Twitter: mishtadelet

I’ve been kind of quiet on Discord lately & I’m the most active on Twitter. I also announce when I’m streaming on Twitter, so... yeah. Sorry about this.

I want to be here. I really do. But there’s something about the summers on Tumblr that are really hard on me. I also think people’s attitudes change & idk why, but people seem to treat me pretty rudely? I try so hard to be approachable, to be kind and positive and supportive, but the amount that people try to take advantage of me or are just plain rude to me is?? So wild. So for those reasons, I’ve just kind of been isolating myself lately, and I may seem a little distant/less approachable/not talking much about myself because tbh... some of y’all are just haphazardly setting off my anxiety / panic attacks and I seriously can’t do it. I already have PTSD, so it’s a fucking nightmare lmao.

There is no gentle way of saying this, but it really needs to be stated. Please respect my triggers, or I will not talk to you. Please respect if I ask you not to mention something or someone to me.

and this is a really big one....

Please respect my boundaries.

If I have mentioned to you that I am not vibing with someone, do not send me media of them / that includes them, do not ask me about ships with them, do not tag me in posts of / with them, and please stop asking me about group verses / affiliated servers. In my time on tumblr, I’ve dealt with theft, bullying, emotional abuse, sexual harassment & solicitation. I’m constantly asking myself ‘ Why me? ’ but more than that, I’m really trying to avoid further situations from happening. I haven’t found an answer. I’m guessing it’s ‘cause I’m soft / nice? idk. Stop ruining a good thing. Y’all are gonna make me bitter, dang. 

When I made this blog, I was explicit that I do not want to be in mainstream FF fandom. When I promo this blog, I even say primarily fandomless & canon-divergent. There is way too much messiness in the fandom, extremely toxic people & tendencies there, and I just don’t like fandom discussion. Regardless of my reasons, the point is that I’m not interested, so please stop trying to entice me to go back. It’s so blatantly rude & shows you think your interests & wishes are more important than my comfort level, and I don’t appreciate that sentiment in the slightest.

That being said, I know Yufi reads differently. That’s why I put so much work into her metas. I even have two tags for all the content. At some point I’ll even have a less minimalistic blog & with more links so it’s super accessible ( in the off chances searching for the ‘  meta ’ and ‘ kisaragi ‘ tags don’t work ). But in the meantime... ask questions. Read. Join a stream. I’ve literally streamed games & movies for folks privately & occasionally stream now. I actually started a new file of VII not too long ago and just got Yuffie, so I could literally have a gameplay stream where we go through canon together. I’m like... nearly begging. Don’t make assumptions.

Again, there are so many resources. There’s wikis, there’s the tags, there’s the inbox ( just ask! ), there’s streams, there’s gameplay & commentary videos, there’s stuff. If you are confused or unsure, I would much rather you reach out. This is regardless of how long I’ve known you, ‘cause some of us have known me for a while and still don’t know anything about me or my portrayal or how to interact, in- or out-of-character.

On the topic of assumptions (because it really is that important, so many issues stem from assumptions & you continuously making the wrong assumptions will leave me less inclined to speak with you, nevermind interact), let’s address some.

I do not write a hyper-sexualized muse. I know this is fanon because of her choice in clothes... however, clothes are a fashion choice, and do not reflect a person’s... existence? I don’t know if it’s the masculinity or the rape culture or what but... what she’s wearing does not mean she deserves any hypersexual treatment... and also as an extension, myself ( bc this happens way too frequently-- please stop seeing my muse and then approaching me about your personal sexual fantasies. It is extremely uncomfortable, as someone who is sex-neutral & demiromantic, to be randomly selected to talk about sex? with me personally? via my muse? Or about my muse when we have zero chemistry? Why do y’all think this is okay??). When I do choose to write sexual / nsfw content, it’s always after conversations ( plural!! ) with my writing partner & after I feel comfortable with the topic and with them. But even if I had her hoein’ it up on the dash, that doesn’t mean to make assumptions about her character (bc maybe there’s character motivations I need to write a meta for & it’s part of her background) or me (the mun is not the muse!! say it with me!!).

I do not write a kleptomanic. Again, this is entirely fanon, because Yuffie says in literally everything she’s mentioned in that she does not steal without a purpose-- and the highest purpose is that she’s stealing items that would restore the power and glory of Wutai or for her personal safety. However, I very rarely write theft... I try really hard to steer clear of the topic because I’m aware that it’s like the #1 thing she’s reduced to. She’s a thief class, yes, but that is not the only dimension to her. I could go on, but I think that’s enough.

Just because our characters share canon does not mean they’re going to have chemistry. I am canon-divergent. But not only that... Yuffie just doesn’t vibe with most people as a canon fact. She is an outsider to like... 99% of people, exclusion being Godo ( Wutai ) & the Turks & the WRO. She doesn’t even claim herself as a member of AVALANCHE. Not only this, but the dynamic she has with one Reeve or Cloud does not represent every duplicate-- that comes with plotting and with chemistry. We will have to plot & work together to figure out exactly how our versions of characters mesh. This is a collaborative hobby.... so the collaborating shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. 

If you come guns-a-blazin’ without clearly having read anything about my portrayal, with completely inaccurate characterizations & just assume because we’re friendly out-of-character I’m gonna be pleased with it.... you’re dead wrong. I’m actually just... a very kind and nice person. I may just gently offer you some suggestions or corrections. But if you repeatedly come with your assumptions &  pre-conceived notions and it’s clear you’re not paying literally any attention to me or my ideas about my portrayal...  I’ll probably just recommend you to another duplicate. I know one who stole a ton of my content & former friends, so you’ll be in good hands. 

If you’re here, I assume that you want to write with me, not the idea of me. I’m a person with feelings & interests too, y’know ?? I feel like somehow that’s easy to forget with me for some reason, given how often people feel inclined to overstep my boundaries & act so disrespectful to me. Which is... fucking wild, honestly !! I’ve even had a person deadass say to my face “ I didn’t think/know you’d want to be treated with appreciation and respect. ” What the actual fuck does that mean? What kind of dominant abuser mentality ??????? Y’all on this site stress me out!!

The last two weeks have been legit stupid stressful on me, and I’ve had some interpersonal changes with folks in the last month (mainly in private) all regarding these subjects. About people here feeling entitled to be rude to me & finding all sorts of justifications for it (I’ve heard everything from “my grandma was sick” to “work’s hard”-- what’s that gotta do with you curb stomping me & my ideas/feelings, and telling me my emotions aren’t relevant in comparison to yours? It doesn’t). And it’s just been weighing down on me a lot. I don’t usually go on main here to discuss issues like this, but because it’s been OVERWHELMING in the last few weeks (and also, bc being nice to everyone is kinda common sense ? and idk why folks here seem to think I’m excluded from the ‘everyone’???), it just seemed like now, while I’m isolating a bit in an attempt to focus on some self-healing, would be a great time to discuss things.

I know this was a long post... but there’s been a lot of injustices done to me on here & in life, so....... if it burdens you to read all this, imagine how shitty it feels to have to experience it. Yeah. It’s rough, pals.

I don’t know how to really end this post godhsaohof. I’m hoping this will kind of open someone’s eyes & like... maybe things will change. I’ve stated before, but I have chronic illness so I really can’t handle stress or, for lack of a better term, a lot of bullshit tbh. If you wouldn’t say it to someone with a dying illness or cancer or a soft sweet grandma, don’t say it to me. Because that’s literally me! I’ve got an illness I’m dying from & I’ve had cancer & I’m soft and sweet! tl;dr, stop being so mean to me dang. I didn’t do anything to deserve this.