#also they're so dumb i love them so much is beyond words

[transcriptasareversa]

I love them so much.

[all-pacas]

OKAY. 13 AND CHASE IN AFTER HOURS THO

The fact that when 13 needs help, she calls Chase. Why does she call him? Why doesn't she call someone else? She needs someone to deliver her a portable ultrasound, and okay, you could argue Foreman is a bad call because he's her ex and would pry. That House would just refuse. Taub would have been a good pick tbh, he would drop it off and just go home no questions asked. But no, she calls Chase

(And I love that call. "You doing anything?" "Oh, yeah, I'm just about to go out," Chase lies blatantly, asleep in bed with a book on the crusades on his chest. Like the loser he is. I don't know that it was done well but I love how S7 examines his Dumb Whore tendencies: it isn't really him, it's a rebound. He does it again when he gets stabbed.)

And of course the second he shows up he immediately sees through 13's excuses and pushes his way into the apartment. Because we love Chase's observation skills triumphing over his laziness.

13 tells Chase the prison backstory. Like! It's kind of glossed over. She hasn't told this to anyone else. She doesn't hide it. I killed my brother. It wasn't murder. Chase is just pacing, you just know he's twigged as hell, he's so anxious all at once as she tries to brush past it. The idea that 13 kind of had to tell him to explain Darrien's presence but she's also — House is the only other person who knows.

CHASE: Have you talked to anybody about it? I mean, are you okay?

Like we know this immediately triggered something in Chase, but 13 doesn't, and seeing him so anxious and pacing and ignoring the bleeding dying woman as 13 works, it's just. Incredible. It's good. He cares immediately, he's relating to this immediately.

But I love seeing them work together. Like they just immediately go in sync, Chase offering suggestions and 13 doing the work. They're just. It's nice.

SIDE NOTE: House says he called everyone before he called Cuddy. We see him call 13 and Taub. Chase is off picking up drugs, we don't see House call him, but like. He had to have called Chase first, right? Did Chase not pick up? Did he blow him off because he already was dealing with someone bleeding to death in someone's apartment??

The way they fight oh my god. The way 13 just is trying to fucking murder Chase. She punches him, she claws and shoves him, and then he just clocks her and stares horrified as she falls to the floor. Like it's an actual fight, it's brutal, it's so good. They hurt one another. I can't explain it but I love how brutal it is, that they both walk away with bruises, that it isn't pretty. Incredible. Amazing scene.

CHASE: You were defending your friend beyond all rationality, granting her the right to die in your bedroom. Was it really all because of a promise? 13: That word means something to some people. CHASE: Not that much. […] CHASE: You promised your brother you'd euthanize him and you think you won't feel bad about it as long as you can blame it on the promise. That's why you have this twisted obligation to keep all promises… or your carefully constructed defense mechanism could crumble down. 13: I saved my brother from a lot of pain.

!! Chase keeps bringing it up, he keeps bringing up her brother, not out of I can't believe you did a murder or I can't believe you went to prison but: you must hate yourself. He's calling her out on her coping mechanisms, he's calling her out on her guilt, and it's so fucking clear what he means is I get it but he's not saying that part. 13 killed her brother and now has to believe she did the right thing, no matter what, no matter how she feels. She's taking away her own agency: it was for a promise, it was his decision, she had nothing to do with it, it's fine, it doesn't feel bad. Chase killed Dibala and told himself it was for the greater good, it was morally just, it was the right thing to do, it doesn't feel bad. And it nearly destroyed him. And so he's pushing and pushing at it. He never goes 13 went to prison! he never goes it's so crazy you did that! Whenever he brings it up it's only in the context of how worried he is about her. Has she spoken to someone? Is she coping? Is this healthy? Is she okay? He's so worried. He cares so much.

I adore 13 and Chase running out of ideas with Darrien and calling dad. Most sibling coded of all time. Just. And the fact that House doesn't allude to also being in the hospital, actively bleeding and in pain, just, yes, we gotta help bail you two idiots out. Beautiful moment.

Chase getting 13 ice and coffee and still feeling guilty for punching her out, and 13 not blaming him at all. Like. You know. Don't beat people up. But in this one case I totally approve. Because I love it.

13: Darrien had to shoot that kid. It was the right thing. Completely justified. But it didn't matter. She destroyed her life trying to forget. I'm afraid that's what's gonna happen to me. CHASE: You really should talk to someone. 13: I've talked to a therapist. It didn't help. CHASE: Well, maybe you should talk to someone who isn't a therapist. 13: Do you really think you have any idea what it's like to live with something like this? CHASE: Let's grab a coffee.

Since the second Chase found out, this is what it's been leading towards. I love that he doesn't answer, he doesn't say a thing, but this is what he's been thinking all episode, why he's been pushing, why he's been so worried and caring: talk to me. Tell me you're not okay. Tell me everything isn't fine. And 13 holds it back until the end of the case, until it's over and she has no distractions. It's not at all clear Chase himself has talked to someone about Dibala, btw. He probably hasn't.

And how insane is that. He never told Foreman or House; they figured it out. He told Cameron: she left him. (Imagine being 13, hearing this. Realizing the timeline. She went to their wedding. What did she think happened when Cameron just … left? How quickly does she figure it out now?) House told Chase to talk to someone, Chase tried Confessing, but whenever he's tried to tell anyone it's gone terribly for him. I don't think he has talked to anyone. But he repeats House's advice to 13: talk to someone. (Talk to me.) He's offering her what he never got. And their situations are different, hers is much more sympathetic and easy to accept than his. Chase never goes I never got help or you have nothing to feel bad about or implies he doesn't think it's a big deal: his entire reaction is just empathy. He wants 13 to get what he didn't get, he wants to help.

The song that plays over the end of the episode is Bon Iver's Flume. And as much as you can apply it to House, and Cuddy, and Wilson, and all of that — it's a song about feeling isolated, feeling alone and being afraid of letting go. Of holding on to things that stain and hurt. The lyrics that play while 13 and Chase are having their coffee in the conference room, though:

i wear my garment/so it shows now you know

And I just! I love! Them! The ways 13 and Chase are so alike and so damaged, the way Chase reacts with empathy and care and wants her to have what he didn't, the way they know one another's secrets and worst moments and rely on one another so easily. 13's secrecy is a meme, in and out of universe, but Chase is absolutely no better: he won't even admit he's Catholic when talking to a nun. They're private to faults, they mask by sleeping around and taking risks and pretending not to care, they hide their hurts and then somehow, they punch one another in the face and know everything. I'm just. I'm so obsessed with them. I want them like this always.

[rainbluealoekitten]

this is definitely not a witchcraft blog but regardless i do participate occasionally with online witchy theatrics and i have an opinion i'd like to share.

there's too much pressure on learning the basics and not enough resources that teach damage-control.

this is in relation to fear-mongering discourse, bc almost every witchy "content creator" (hate that term) and almost every witchy book, podcast, whatever, seems to put a focus on protecting yourself, putting up wards, easy peasy baby beginner witchcraft. which! yes, that is important, but it also means that it perpetuates the idea (and often full out says) that you should never do blood magic. you should never talk to these entities. you should never make bargains, you should never do divination without cleansing, you should never curse, bla bla bla don't go outside at night!! it's spooky!!!

great, now we've got a bunch of witches who are scared shitless and won't actually do anything beyond blow cinnamon through their front door.

there are a lot of people who claim to be teachers, but a good teacher is someone who pushes you. not someone who limits you.

some witches love to tell you to fuck around and find out, but again, only provide resources on warding. we've got witches who ward so much that they can't even get friendly spirits to talk to them. banishment is seen as a basic skill, but if everyone is too scared to practice their craft, they're not going to even end up with an entity to banish!

i'm starting to ramble, but my point is that i want to see more content, more books, more generalised resources that teach you how to unfuck a situation. not prevent it, unfuck it.

you did blood magic? great, it's not always going to work out, here's how to unbind yourself from this entity, now you know to do this slightly differently. you've done a curse and it's backfired? don't panic, these are some ideas on how you can undo your spell, and next time you might want to choose your words/ingredients more carefully. you wandered into the wrong part of the woods and upset some ancient spirits? it's more common than you think! luckily, there are plenty of ways to go about this situation.

etc etc. people do dumb shit. that is part of life. just like with sex ed, teens aren't going to abstinate, they're going to be too scared to go to an adult when they get an sti.

yes, some practitioners will basically stop practicing out of fear of doing things wrong, and many others will do things wrong and end up entirely alone, scared, and with no resource that can guide them out of it, all because you should have known better, you should have warded, you should have stuck your head in a fucking hole.

anyways. this is the end of my rant but i hope it also comes off as encouragement to anyone who is in some way sharing their practice and sharing resources, especially the much wiser witches who have fucked around, please share what you've learnt. <— i'm asking this in a very sincere, very hopeful way, i really wish it was normalised to share spells and prayers and basic actions to help witches through really tough times.

[the-peak-tmnt]

Hi Peak!! How are you? I hope you're fine!

I've read the last Reciprocity chapter right when you dropped it, but just now I managed to find the words to talk about it in a way that isn't joking! (I was the person who said smth along the lines of "amazing chapter! i will never be happy again!") Anyway I wanted to talk about the fic in general first; it's simply genius the way you wrote and planned the whole thing. The way you introduce the way this world is different from the world we knew in the movie, and now the series, is so masterful that it feels like Raph is taking the reader by the hand and gently, as gently as he can, guiding them through everything that happened like the reader is an old friend that came back from a long long trip and lost alot of things; at the same time that every new information we learn about the accident, about Raph's injurie, about what happened to Leo and the whole fallout with Splinter feels like THE punch in the middle of your face. Maybe it's just me, but at times the prose is so immersive that it makes me feel like I'm a friend that abandoned Raph in the when he needed most, hence the whole punch in the face feeling. I think that's the reason why the softer moments (like the Casey moments or when the brothers reach out to eachother) hit even harder, it's like seeing a friend who's struggling start to get better and find their footing with life again. Just like that's why the angst moments hurt so much. It's a cicle that gives the fic a whole new level of heart and spirit that's simply impressive beyond belief. ITS SO GOOD IT MAKES ME ILL ! Now, about that last chapter [cries]. When I read chap 18 I thought something along the lines of "Ok, we got the accident and we got the injury, but the flashback isn't over. What else could possibly happen?" AND OH BOY I WAS IN FOR A TREAT. And a threat. Maybe it's because I'm dumb but, even after seeing what the principle trigger warning was, it took half of the chapter for me to finally realize what was going to happen and I had to pace through my house like a mad woman just to keep reading. It's a masterpiece in how to write suspense, I STILL DIDN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT THAT ONE LAST SCENE! it's too sad! it's too good!

I hope this whole rant was, at least, understandable. I'm really happy I read Reciprocity and I'm really really reaaaally happy that you wrote it! Thank you so much for it!

Please excuse me while I go cry forever.

This was such a wonderful thing to get in my inbox, oh my gosh. I read this like ten times before trying to come up with a response.

When I started writing Reciprocity, I wasn't sure how readers would feel about the fic starting in the middle of the plot and having to wait for backstory to be gradually revealed. I didn't know if I'd be able to keep anyone's attention long enough with the suspense for the payoff of the eventual reveals...

But I just felt like this was the right way to tell the story, y'know? Raph is lost and confused and missing things in more ways than one, so it felt right that the reader should be a little lost, too.

The incredible way you just described the experience of reading and discovering pieces of the past makes my heart want to explode, and also makes me so glad I stuck with this style of storytelling!

I’ll admit that writing the story this way is more challenging than I was expecting, but it's SO rewarding to watch readers put things together and react to the big reveals! I love seeing people's theories, even if it pushes the limits of my self restraint every time someone is getting close to the truth! I wanna tell people when they're right, but I also don't want to ruin the suspense and buildup!!!

It’s overwhelmingly rewarding to hear that the story feels so immersive, and that the prose makes you feel so deeply for Raph. Because as much as this story is about unraveling the mystery of what’s happening with Leo, it’s even more so about Raph’s own journey of self discovery, forgiveness, and growth. It makes me so unbelievably happy that you feel like you’re not just an observer, but that you’re on this journey with Raph.

Comments like this just mean the world to me, so thank you so much!!!

[janeiscompletelyfine]

Opinions Part 2

Part 2 of the opinions- this time, on ships that seem to be pretty popular. Sorry again for how long this is!

Hinny- Okay. It was the absolute best in the books, complete bi4bi and I was THERE for it. In the movies it was quite bad, and GInny was just generally so incredibly flat as a character. I like the idea of this coming into play, but maybe not as endgame.

Linny- Love this. The whole thing. I can see it being friends to lovers and then back to friends, but it could be something else, too.

Perciver- Why did nobody tell me about this? Hello? It's completely adorable and I love it beyond words. Absolutely endgame.

Romione- there's an artist (@rivaldii) who I've been following, and they do the cutest Romione posts that have totally won me over. Also, I've been reading the book series again (all already bought, not supporting You-Know-Who) and Ron is much sweeter there. He's a bit of an asshole in the movies at times.

Drarry- Welllll, okay. There's a lot of dickheadery from Malfoy, and I'm not sure how to address that. If he was just a sarcastic emo kid that would be fine, but he's like genuinely kind of a racist? Idk someone convince me, I'm not quite sold. I do have some an idea where he does something over a summer away from his parents (maybe when his fathe goes to Azkaban) which shows him how dumb he's been and then he apologizes. Like individually. And Harry's like woahhh.... okay now hold up.

Neville and Luna- I loved this even when I was, like, eight and still thought I was straight lol. They feel like they would be at the very least really good friends who sort of got each other, they were both singled out as odd at Hogwarts, but I think it could be a romantic thing too.

Katie and Leanne- Just you wait. I'm going to develop them into the lesbianest.

Parvender- It's sweet! It works much better in the books as I feel like Lavender is really heavy on the straight vibes in the movies. I suppose we shall see..... hmmmm.....

Dramione- Nope. Absolutely nope. My boy Draco is gay as absolute fuck and even has some internalized homophobia, yay.....

Hedric- this was Harry's bi awakening and you can't tell me otherwise.

Wolfstar- Yeah, I'm boring, but this is my favorite and will be included.

Deamus- Wolfstar variant right in Harry's room?! I love it and they're perfect for each other.

Harry and Ron- You know, it could happen. I think I might like Ron and Hermione a little too much at the moment to consider it fully.

Draco and Pansy (Dransy?!)- This happened because neither one had figured out that they were gay yet. This was how they figured it out.

Hermione and Pansy (oh, boy. Hansy? Like Handsy?)- Yeah, she was Hermione's bi awakening. Idk if endgame but shit went down fs.

Jegulus- It's not too relevant to the era because.... they're all dead (sobbing).... but I really want to hint at it.

Jily- It has to have been endgame for how I plan to start it, but it's cute anyway. Bi4bi.

Barty and one of them (can't decide at the moment)- There's a whole year where Barty is a teacher. Therefore he's in Hogwarts. Therefore I can be in his brain. And it will be gay.

Harmione- I see them more as best friends who are both bi, and talk about their crushes together.

Apparently I had more to yap about than I thought, sorry for the length of this. Lmk if I forgot some!

[bisexualbard-writes]

Ella Enchanted AU where Kim has to do whatever he's told to do :)

OH SHIRLEY I LOVE YOU. Ella Enchanted MY BELOVED. So. I think Kim would Not Respond Well to being compelled to do whatever he's told. And by that I mean there are two Theerapanyakul recluse brothers in this story.

Kim hides away from everyone except his brothers. He's practically considered a ghost, most people who work in the compound think he's a ghost, the other half doesn't think he exists at all. Before his mother died, she told him not to tell anyone of his obedience affliction for fear it would be exploited.

It gets exploited anyway by Korn. His father commands him with a smile and a soft word and sends Kim on dangerous missions he's literally not allowed to refuse. Kim tries to hide from him, but then his father told him he wasn't allowed to avoid him. The best thing he can do is just try and avoid everyone else.

His brothers are the exception. They always try and make sure that they're asking him to do things, and if they accidentally give him a command Kim can yell at them and they'll change the command into a suggestion.

His only refuge is his music. He adopts the persona of WIK and releases his music on YouTube, but he never takes WIK beyond the four walls of his room. He can't even IMAGINE being a celebrity out in public. Fans scream the most ridiculous things, and even a single "wik, have my babies!" would ruin him. Thank goodness he doesn't have to obey the comments he sees written on his videos.

One day a new bodyguard starts, and Kim avoids him like the rest. But then the new bodyguard lures Tankhun out of the tower, and Kim is delighted for his brother and also kinda jealous and grumpy.

Then one day, a kid is allowed to just wander the compound and accidentally finds his way up to KIm's rooms. Kim doesn't have time to get his soundproof headphones or kick the kid out before he's flailing and saying, "hecking shit, I didn't know you lived here Wik, please be my guitar tutor!"

Which is a command, and Kim is really disgruntled by that, but he can't not obey.

So he tutors the kid, Chay, and he tries to keep it as short as possible, but then Chay tells him to stop and listen to his song. So Kim has to do that then. But then... Kim really shouldn't be spending time with this fan, but...but his music is lovely. And Kim isn't going to admit it anytime soon... but he might be lonely.

And Chay's not dumb, he realizes Kim's a shut in, or there's something clearly wrong with him. Sometimes Chay can't find him, and then when he reappears he's extra grouchy. Sometimes he's hurt. But he also seems happy to hang out with Chay. And when Chay suggests they go out into the world, Kim agrees! (because "please, P'Kim, let's go to the movies" is technically a command.)

But Kim is finding he doesn't mind being ordered around by Chay. He should probably avoid Chay, it's risky going out into the world, especially in public with other people and without someone who knows about his afflection. But oh no, it's the curse, he can't help but spend time with this cute boy.

But Korn takes notice that Kim has been distracted recently. He commands Kim to tell Chay he was just playing with him and that he never wants to see Chay again. Kim screams at his father, and is commanded to speak politely. He tries to attack Korn and is commanded to never let Korn come to harm. Kim tries to destroy his father's office but is commanded to stop throwing a tantrum and respect his father.

Kim has no choice but to obey.

He leaves Chay like he does in canon, walking away while Chay is on the ground crying.

He thinks that's it. Kim locks himself away again, not opening the door for the staff or his brothers or anyone. The only one who can get in his Korn, and that's because Kim is forced to pay him his respects. But then he gives Kim another command: A coup is happening soon. Find Chay, bring him as leverage.

Kim dreads this and resists as much as he can, but he's compelled to go. He finds Chay at hum bar. The only thing is, he also finds his uncle's men there. Part of brining Chay to his father means keeping Chay alive, right? So he fights off his uncle's men.

In this version Chay turns around and sees Kim fighting for him. After Kim wins, Chay throws himself into Kim's arms, which is a blessing and a curse because he gets to be close to Chay but also he's one step closer to bringing him to Korn. Kim draws out the conversation as long as he can.

Chay: You kept me safe? Kim: I wanted to. Chay: You broke my heart though Kim: I had no other choice.

But eventually the curse fights him and he slowly brings Chay back to the compound, trying to delay at every moment. Chay can tell something is wrong, Kim is physically fighting for something, but he doesn't understand what.

Kim brings Chay to Korn before Porsche and Kinn get there. His father has a different plan now, keep Chay locked up with his mother. It's leverage over both Porsche AND Kim.

Kim refuses to help. He's not going to let that happen, not under his watch. He's not allowed to resist though, and he feels like his body is going to tear itself apart. Chay holds him tight as Korn keeps giving orders and Kim screams and shakes and falls apart and builds himself anew. His determination and Chay's help break the curse. Finally, Kim rises, shakey on his feet but whole again. Korn: Don't hurt me Kim. You cannot hurt me. Kim: I do what I want

And then he kills Korn.

After that he and Chay have a lot to talk through, but it's much easier now that Kim's lips aren't magically sealed.

(send me a trope, maybe one you hate, and I'll attempt to kimchay it)

[gamesplication]

So I beat Echoes of Wisdom the other day. (Not having a job makes beating the latest Zelda game very quick)

Some thoughts (spoilers ahead!):

I really enjoyed messing around in the overworld, traversing, and exploring the mechanics. The echos system is really great and makes for some very expressive gameplay. There's a lot of really interesting ways to use bind as well, and I know for sure that I underutilized it in my playthrough.

The story is a small step above for the typical top-down Zelda game. The NPC dialogues are usually a bit more expressive than the past few games, and some of the side quests go beyond, emotionally, the usual depth for Zelda. This is partly because Zelda as a character has a defined family and connections that are deeper than those of Link, whose usual interactions and relationships are fleeting and brief. The primary example of this is the interactions with your dad, the King. Although there's only one main side quest involving him that I can think of, the tone of the dialogue with him is something we don't frequently see in Zelda games because Link has never had quite the same kind of relationship with another NPC before. A real focus is placed on the kings love for his daughter and the admiration and love the rest of the people of Castle Town have for the princess.

I think the biggest issue I have with the game is the dungeons and especially the bosses. There's a few reasons for this, I think. Because the use of Swordsman mode is extremely limited (especially early on), all of the bosses require a certain amount of experimentation to figure out a viable strategy. It's not always obvious which echoes will be useful for any given encounter. This wouldn't be a huge issue, except that you have to rely on NPC monster echoes a LOT. This means you have to deal with their limited AI. (As an aside, it feels weird to use that term here now because the well has been so poisoned) It leads to extremely frustrating boss encounters where you're pitting dumb and weak enemies against huge bosses (unless you've managed to pick up just the right echo beforehand), and it's often a bit of luck getting them to attack the right place at the right time. It also doesn't help that the amount of non-enemy echoes that can be used for combat effectively is very low. Combine this with very sparse swordsman energy drops from most bosses, and it often becomes a war of attrition. I usually resorted to cheesing the boss encounters, but then again it seems that's what's called for in this situation.

The only exception here is the final dungeon and boss encounter. I won't say more, except that despite the issues I listed above it was still enjoyable and fun.

As a side note, and not something I have much room to speak on myself, I did notice that they really tried to play to stereotypical "girl" interests and themes throughout. It makes sense that they'd want to make sure this reaches a wider demo, but I think the idea that they had to do anything more than just make Zelda the hero is a little misguided. I don't have their market research available, but I suspect that the Zelda series is already popular enough young women and girls that some of their choices seem unnecessary. For example: instead of items to equip, they're called "accessories". Instead of meals, you make smoothies. Horses have never been used in a top-down Zelda before, and I feel like their inclusion here is to grab the attention of horse girls. I don't know, ultimately it's for someone else to talk more about, but I just wanted to point out what felt like a very deliberate attempt to incorporate what marketing departments usually think of as "girly things". No that it's wrong to try to aim the game at young women and girls, just that I don't know if this is the way to go about it especially considering the wide appeal the games already have.

Side note two: why are they moving away from using the term "Triforce?" I don't think that word came up once in this game (and it didn't come up in BotW and TotK either iirc). This time they called it the "Prime Energy", though they did acknowledge the three parts of Power, Wisdom, and Courage and (SPOILERS) the Triforce itself does appear at the end of the game. Anyway, just something I noticed.

Overall I really loved Echoes of Wisdom. It was really exciting to finally play as Zelda after all these years, and the incorporation of her role as keeper of the triforce of wisdom deeply into her gameplay was very satisfying and I think it paid off very well overall.

[mins-fins]

HEAVEN KNOWS I'VE TRIED (P.GW)

SUMMARY . . . in another universe, they're happy, and they can be together. unfortunately, this isn't the universe.

PAIRING . . . park gunwook x male!reader, mentions of park gunwook x fem!oc

GENRE . . . angst, fluff

WARNINGS . . . none!

WORD COUNT . . . 2.5k

NOTES . . . DO NOT watch everything everywhere all at once if you have a rocky relationship with your mom, i cried and rotted in my bed for like thirty minutes. the title is from let you break my heart again by laufey because her music makes me sad in an unhealthy way!!

for every person, another version of them exists in a universe beyond, bearing a different fate..

the words were etched into y/n's mind, yes, but they were never of much importance to him.

he'd heard stories about how there are many other universes, a different fate set for each person in every one of them. he never truly thought they were anything real, because he was mostly a child when being told those tales.

even if the many different universes did exist, y/n doesn't even know what his fate in this one is. he doesn't have time to be wrapped up in these dumb yet interesting stories, because he has to deal with reality.

and he absolutely hates having to deal with the reality of his situation..

y/n always freezes and his face scrunches whenever the bell above the door rings and he hears the familiar giggles of them, watching them hold hands, seeing them be happy, watching them be cheesy and corny whilst he just observes.

he wishes he could look down and pretend he didn't exist, but that was pretty much impossible because it's him.

it's park gunwook.

"y/n!"

god, y/n wishes that he could just turn away and ignore gunwook, but how do you ignore your best friend of five whole years? the one person he has so many similarities with he could count on more than twenty fingers?

so, he curses at himself in his head, shoves his feelings down into the recesses of his mind and gives gunwook his fakest of smiles. "hi gunwook—"

gunwook pulls him into the tightest hug ever, and y/n pauses for a moment, processing the whole thing before wrapping his arms around gunwook, basking in the hug. "woah, what's this for?"

"i missed you" gunwook mumbles into his neck. "obviously.."

"gunwook" y/n begins. "we saw each other two days ago?"

"two days is too long of a gap" gunwook laughs, his perfect smile on display as he pulls away from the hug, staring lovingly at his best friend.

only platonically, though. gunwook would never look at him like he'd want for him too..

"anyway, how have you been?"

"i've been.. fine! yeah! fine!"

y/n hates lying, but what other choice does he have?

gunwook narrows his eyes, as if suspicious by his answer, but he smiles anyway. "how's your mom? is she recovering well?" he jumps up excitedly, giving that familiar smile which always makes y/n crumble.

"she's okay! she's still in the hospital but she's recovering well".

gunwook nods, smiling. "i'm happy to hear that, i— well.. aeri and i are planning on visiting her".

y/n's mouth sours, but he sighs. "the both of you?" that question left his mouth with such disdain, he hopes it wasn't obvious he was glaring.

"oh, do you have a problem with that? we don't have to go if you don't want us to—"

"no no" y/n shakes his head; "it's okay".

but it's not okay.

when has it ever been okay? y/n has always been horrible at expressing how he genuinely felt, he always masked his feelings with a fake smile, or fake words, he always pretend he's okay.

he can't do that to gunwook, he wouldn't do that to gunwook, ever. is he extremely pissed off that gunwook's girlfriend is now doing everything that they do together? yeah, of course he is.

but gunwook is his best friend.

he'd never do something of that degree to his own best friend.

y/n sighs, smiling. "when visiting hours open, i'll call you two, i'm sure my mom would love to see you".

gunwook nods, looking to aeri, who also nods, yet slower.

y/n pauses, scratching his hands under the counter. gunwook stares at him, blinking, he looks to aeri for a moment, smiling at her. "um, you can go, babe, i'll meet you outside, yeah?"

babe, y/n shuts his eyes, gritting his teeth.

"yeah, just don't take too long!"

"i won't!"

when aeri leaves, the bell above the door ringing as she opens the door, gunwook looks back to his best friend, smiling. "why are you..? shouldn't you be going?"

"y/n, remember when we were kids and your mom would tell us these stories to get us to go to sleep?"

gunwook completely derails the topic of the conversation, not answering y/n's question. y/n blinks curiously, not knowing why he'd randomly bring that up.

"yeah? what does that have to do with anythi—"

"well i know it's only been two days, but i saw you and it reminded me of, you know, that tale your mom told us about the countless different universes and how there's a version of us in each of them that bears a different fate and—"

y/n had heard this tale thousands of times, but he watches fondly as gunwook rambles, his eyes lit up, stars in them as he talks about the insane possibilities of who they could be and what fate they could have in other universes.

"i don't know gunwook, it seems like just a dumb story to me".

"y/n!" gunwook whines, grabbing his arms. "your so boring, you don't even believe in this".

"sounds like something from a marvel movie".

"you love marvel movies though!"

y/n shakes his head, looking away. "okay then, in another universe, would you still be park gunwook my best friend in the whole entire world?"

gunwook's face flushes lightly, but he shakes his head and smiles. "in every other universe that exists, i'll always be in your life".

"wow, romantic".

gunwook giggles, looking away, still holding y/n's arms. "in another universe we might hate each other".

"please that would never happen".

maybe, in another universe, i finally get to have you.

for every person, another version of them exists in a universe beyond, bearing a different fate..

y/n scrunches his nose, staring at the book before him. the words on the page strangely piece together in his brain, as if they make no sense but also make sense at the same time. after a while of pausing, he snickers.

other universes? yeah right.

"whatcha reading?"

"ah!"

y/n jumps, and when he turns around he's met with the smiling face of his partner. "jesus christ, gunwook, you need to stop sneaking up on me like that".

only a cheeky smile is earned from his boyfriend, who jumps over the bleacher to sit beside him, stretching his long legs forward. "sorry, your reactions are so funny, though" he leans his chin onto his head, staring at his partner fondly.

"what are you reading?" he asks, resting his chin on his boyfriend's shoulder to look at the words on the book page. y/n hums, content with the feeling of gunwook on his shoulder, he looks back to the page he left off on.

"some psychological multiverse book thingy" he responds, not really knowing how to explain it, and gunwook chuckles at his explanation. "it talks about like, how everyone exists in many different universes and how each version of them bears a different fate".

gunwook blinks, tilting his head, then, he smiles. "that sounds interesting! why do you look bored y/n?"

"because.. it just sounds like bullshit".

"hey! you'd never know if many other universes existed anyway, not like you can jump through them or anything".

y/n snickers, amused by the way gunwook is so into this. "okay then, in another universe, are you still park gunwook my lovely boyfriend?"

gunwook's face flushes at y/n's words, and he pretends to cringe at y/n's flirting. "in every other universe that exists, i'll always be in your life".

y/n pauses, the words hit him in a spot that warms his heart, makes him want to giggle and kick his feet in a giddy way. "your so cheesy".

"you started it! dumbass!"

y/n shoves gunwook by his shoulder, a short giggle coming out of his lips. 

"in another universe, we might hate each other".

y/n gasps at gunwook's statement, making him laugh and almost fall back. "please, that would never happen".

maybe in another universe, we both grow old together.

for every person, another version of them exists in a universe beyond, bearing a different fate..

the words ring through y/n's head as he pulls out his key, going through them and sticking them in the keyhole to unlock the front door. he sighs as he entered through the door, dropping his bag on the kitchen counter as he tries to blink away his tiredness.

y/n is hungry, but he's too tired to comprehend any of that. he slips off his uniform and puts on the first comfortable looking thing he could find, an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants. then, he shuffles towards the bed, immediately letting himself get wrapped in gunwook's arms.

he stirs for a moment, reaching out for y/n as he feels him crawl into bed with him. "hm.. hi" he mutters, resting his chin on y/n's head as the other yawns, burying his face in his neck.

"hi" he simply replies, his arms around gunwook's waist as he pulls the blanket over the two of them.

"how was work?"

"tiring, as always".

gunwook opens one of his eyes to stare at y/n in his peripheral vision, he finds the sight of him being tired cute, with his arms wrapped around him, he lets out a light giggle. "you look cute, y/n".

"as you've said before" he mutters, slowly removing his face from gunwook's neck to stare at him.

his gunwook, his husband, his everything.

"do you think.. that in another universe, we're both happy? and together?"

as soon as y/n asks that question, he buries his face in gunwook's neck, slowly beginning to drift off to sleep. gunwook stares, processing the question asked to him.

"in every other universe that exists, i'll always be in your life" gunwook states, running his fingers through y/n's soft hair, watching as his partner basks in the feeling.

y/n chuckles lightly, shaking his head. "your so cheesy".

"i'm just being honest.." gunwook starts. "in another universe, we might hate each other".

y/n lightly scoffs, tightening his hold around gunwook, as if afraid to let him go. "i would never let that happen" he says. "never".

maybe in another universe, we remain lifelong partners.

for every person, another version of them exists in a universe beyond, bearing a different fate..

y/n sighs as he closed the box, handing the last order to the person in front of him. "here you go" he smiles tiredly, and the person takes the order in excitement, smiling brightly at him.

"thank you!"

"no problem, come again soon" he waves, and when the door finally closes, he lets out another sigh, this time of relief. the door closes for the final time that night, and y/n smiles to himself.

"ah! were done for the day!"

"oh it's been a long day.." y/n mutters, his head almost falling onto the counter because of how tired he is from working all day with no breaks.

gunwook giggles at his boyfriend, lifting his chin so that his head is now back up. "come on, the faster we close up and clean the place the faster we can go home".

he pats y/n's back and the other just chuckles, quickly jumping over the counter and flipping the sign to say 'closed'. he grabs the map and begins cleaning the floor, repeating the routine he does every single day.

gunwook hums as he begins organizing the stuff on the shelves. y/n is pretty distracted, though, he can't focus that much on cleaning the floors when a certain phrase continues running through his mind.

"gunwook?"

"yeah?"

"in another universe, do you think were still together?"

gunwook pauses at the question, continuing to sort the stuff on the shelves. he thinks hard for a moment before turning to his partner, whose now mopping the same spot on the floor waiting for his answer.

"in every other universe that exists, i'll always be in your life" gunwook states, smiling at the way y/n's face goes red and how he pauses what he's doing.

goddamnit park gunwook and his perfect smile.

y/n chuckles, looking back down at the floor. "your just trying to fluster me" he says, and gunwook shakes his head.

"in another universe we might hate each other".

the comment makes y/n raise an eyebrow, and he stares at gunwook for a specifically long time. "i would never let that happen, i could never hate you".

maybe in another universe, the two us achieve our dreams together.

"so?"

y/n snaps out of his daze, looking at gunwook in front of him. "woah y/n, did i scare you?" he inquired with a raised eyebrow, and the other blinks.

"how long was i zoned out for?"

"a good fifteen minutes".

"oh— shit! um.." he tries his best to piece his words together, and gunwook stares for a moment before laughing, seemingly finding his display amusing. "aeri must be getting impatient, you should go now".

gunwook stops laughing, pausing for a moment as he suddenly makes eye contact with y/n, who freezes at his sudden stare. "come on y/n, don't be so boring, think of what we could be in all of those many different universes.."

"gunwook" y/n begins. "why did you even feel the need to bring this up?"

"well, because it reminds me of your mom!" he exclaims. "and you seem to be down, so i wanted to help lighten your mood".

y/n's gaze softens. oh god, gunwook, you and your attentiveness, if only this was a universe where your mine.

wait— what did y/n just think?

"well maybe in another universe" y/n begins. "my mom never told us those stories and you wouldn't currently be running late".

gunwook scoffs and snickers, lightly nudging y/n who giggles. "fine y/n, hopefully i do hate you in another universe".

"i would never let that happen!"

y/n winks at gunwook, who gasps. for a moment, they're in silence, before gunwook moves forward and presses a kiss on his cheek, making y/n freeze once again. "huh—"

"see you tomorrow y/n!" gunwook gives no explanation for his sudden display of affection and simply bids a goodbye to his best friend, making his way out of the shop, the bell above the door ringing as he leaves.

he stays frozen, processing the act of affection as his mind races, the words piecing together in a complete nonsensical way.

in another universe..

in another universe?

in another universe.

maybe, in another universe, that action was romantic and not platonic.

maybe, in another universe, gunwook could finally be his.

but unfortunately, this isn't the universe.

[bettsfic]

possibly dumb question but… what exactly is structural editing and how do you do it? i assume it’s shifting the order of stuff around in a draft but how do you do that to end up with a cohesive story that flows in the end? it sounds very daunting!

not a dumb question at all!

structure is, at its core, the organization of a story. for the most part, stories are organized chronologically. we are given information in the order of time passing, and often at the same time the narrator experiences it.

if your story is chronological, structural editing will mostly involve major turning points for the story, ensuring that your tension (even if it is a very loose tension) is escalating. for the most part, writers focus on the escalation of external events while drafting, but the internal escalation sometimes needs to be reorganized or totally re-envisioned. your narrator's epiphany lands after the sequence of events that would prompt that epiphany. i know i have a terrible habit of making my characters realize important things far too early, and in revisions i have to move that realization later, which, yes, involves cutting and pasting and changing the order of things, but also affects the narration based on what the character does not yet know, and sometimes even the action of the story.

so it's cyclical logic in that way, which is why revision can be so hard and frustrating: if you change the character's inner growth, that may affect their actions in the story. if you change their actions in the story, it may affect the rate of their inner growth.

an example is the fanfiction italicized "oh." in other words, the moment your narrator realizes their feelings for their romantic interest. let's say in drafting, you put it in the climax. the narrator spends the story grappling with their feelings, then realizing them, acting on them, and then the romance culminates in a confession and/or a kiss and/or sex, and the story ends.

but how would their behavior change if "oh" was the inciting incident of the story? if they figure it out during the exposition, or maybe even before the story begins, and spend the rest of the story pining, with some other conflict keeping them from expressing their feelings?

very often my developmental edits for people involve something like, "your resolution is the inciting incident of the story you're really trying to tell," which no one ever wants to hear. but it's a good practice when pre-writing to ask yourself if the end of the story you're trying to write is actually the end of the backstory.

drafting (or what i sometimes call the discovery stage) is the order in which your story arrives on the page, and revision is working with what you've written to figure out the order of what must be known. one of the hardest parts of writing is figuring out what your reader needs to know and when they need to know it in order to have the contextual information and emotional priming of what happens thereafter.

although i do very much love when weird shit happens that makes me go ??? and *then* i'm given context in a form of a reveal, or what i call an illuminating moment that casts light on the previous events of the story. many people mistake this for a "twist," which is when the story sets up an expectation and subverts it meaningfully.

of course, you're not obligated to write chronologically. in fact i don't anymore. i prefer framing devices, long backstories, multiple timelines, and alternating points of view that sometimes overlap in time and space. a lot of writing advice will tell you these things are bad. they're not. they're just hard to pull off, because it requires an extra step: telling yourself the story in the order it comes in, figuring out the cause and effect sequence, fixing the cause and effect sequence, and then figuring out the order you want the information to be revealed in beyond the constraining device of time. never let anyone discourage you from experimenting with structure. it can be fun and challenging as both a writer and a reader.

tl;dr: structural or developmental revision is the process of putting your story in the order of the clearest escalating tension and stakes, both internally and externally, with an eye on the organization of the information revealed in the story as the reader would experience it.

[suffersinfandom]

I’m still thinking about dumb discourse because my brain is broken and guys there’s so much “Ed and Stede are not as queer as Izzy” out there what the heck. 

Anyway. I said this in response to a different post:

There are so many ways to be queer and so many kinds of queer experiences. Not everyone is going to see themselves in Ed or Stede, and that's fine. Some people are going to see themselves in Izzy, and that's also fine. What's not fine is asserting that your pet white guy (who, yes, conforms to pirate standards of masculinity better than anyone else on the Revenge) is the only character with a valid queer arc.

But why do some Izzy fans (can we call them Izzy Heads? Izheads? I want a word for that specific flavor of fan) relate only to the queerness in Izzy's story? I can't stop thinking about it.

It seems that at least some people who consider Izzy the best example of queer rep in OFMD do so because they relate to the character. They don’t have a romantic partner or they’re in love with someone who doesn’t feel the same way. They’re disabled and focus on the intersection of disability and queerness. They feel as though they’re outsiders, even in a queer community (or a largely queer fandom like this one). They’re not cis men and they’re not trans in the same way as Jim is, so they don’t see their gender explicitly represented onscreen. 

On paper, most of that describes me too. The thing is? I do relate to Stede and Ed and I don’t relate to Izzy at all.

I’m an AFAB nonbinary person who’s physically and mentally disabled. I’m aromantic and asexual with the sliders all set to 100%; I have never so much as dated, and I almost never engage with romantic media because I just don’t get it. I feel like a freak in most circles, like I’m missing a fundamental part of what makes humans human. There isn’t a character in OFMD who shares my specific gender or sexual identity, but Ed and Stede are absolutely queer in ways that are understandable to me and, I think, a lot of other people in this community.

Ed and Stede both grow up and live the first decades of their adult lives in societies that don’t want them to be themselves. Stede can’t love flowers or bright and flashy fashion; he needs to dress down and become a family man. He’s forced to marry a woman he doesn’t love (and who doesn’t love him) and father children to inherit his wealth. Ed can’t fancy a fine fabric or pursue a peaceful life because his world is one that demands cruelty and violence. He has to wrap himself up in leather and layers of myth and legend to survive. They’re both GNC and wearing masks and entirely miserable.

I know -- I think most of us know -- what it’s like to suppress who we are so we can fit in or be who the people around us expect us to be. I think we know what it’s like to be miserable and lonely for ages -- to bury who we really are deeper and deeper until we barely remember who that person is -- right up until we find out that there are people out there who get us. There are places where we can be who we are, or at least experiment a bit and discover ourselves.

Even if we don’t know what it’s like to find a great love like Stede and Ed do, there are parts of their relationship that we understand. I'm sure plenty of us know what it’s like to meet someone who doesn’t ask us to pretend for the first time. We know what it’s like to be on the same silly, stupid wavelength as someone else, and we know how it feels to play with someone who gets us. I think that the friendship that Ed and Stede share, even with the romantic and sexual elements removed, is a distinctly queer one. 

So I guess I still don't know why Izheads only relate to his queer experience when Ed and Stede, in my opinion, are both extremely queer even beyond, like, the thing where they're wildly in love.

I want to think it has something to do with Izzy's status as a side character and not racism, internalized homophobia, or anything else like that. Characters without fully fleshed-out backgrounds provide opportunities to project whatever we want, you know? If you want to see your specific gender or sexual identity in a character, just grab one with little canon lore and fill in the blanks. Maybe I can be happy with characters who aren't just like me, but I don't expect everyone to be content with that.

What was I even typing about?

Oh, right.

Ed and Stede are super fucking queer. You don't have to relate to them because there are infinite ways to be queer, but you do have to acknowledge that there is nothing heteronormative about their relationship or them as individuals.

[nothingtherefornow]

"Marinette doesn't have abusive parents, so her trauma is invalid" is honestly most braindead "double standard" in ML Fandom

Are people so foolish that they think trauma only comes from abusive parents and abusive family ? They should go watch the legend of Korra, where the heroin has good parents, but the end of season 3 and the season 4 did't hold back showing us that Korra still ended up traumatized from the hardships and fights that almost killed her and pushed her to her mental and physical limits.

If those ML braindead "fans" were less dumb , they would know that trauma comes from singular event that occurred in the past, and that the examples of such traumatic experiences or event go beyond parental abuse. For example : sexual assault, death of a spouse or child or a friend, accident, natural disaster or war, but also a distressing, repeated and prolonged harmfull experience like sexual or physical abuse, are all things that can give someone trauma

What Chloé did to Marinette was a form of mental and physical abuse, this is the very definition of what bullying can be.

I repeat : BULLYING IS A FORM OF ABUSE AND MANY PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE CAN BE TRAUMATIZED BY THIS !! AND MARINETTE WAS BULLIED FOR YEARS BY CHLOE !! AND SHE WAS ALSO SUBJECTED TO A REPEATED STRESSFULL AND HARMFULL EXPERIENCE IN THE FORM OF LILA TRYING TO RUIN HER REPUTATION AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH LIES !!

There was a lot of new about teenagers that commited suicide in my country because of school bullying, but judging by the parents' s reaction (including one saying she would never forgive those who pushed her daughter to suicide), most of those who commited suicide because of school bullying didn't come from abusive home or family.

Yet the bullying was brutal and hurtful enough to the point that the victims found no comfort in their families and preferred to put an end to their suffering. In the worst cases, victims of bullying don't even inform their parents about the bullying (many testimonies from the victims family confirmed that fact).

I have read and listened to testimonies of people who were victims of school bullying, and the problem was often that their parents just couldn't protect them when their children were at school and the parents at work.

No matter how much the parents would complain to the teachers, wherever they have gone directly to threaten the harassers and bullies, in many cases the bullies would continue their atrocities outside of the school, on social networks, or by going directly in front of the homes of their victims to insult them and tell them to go kill themselves, and since they are generally minors, the police rarely intervene (and often the parents of the harassers bullies are just as much trash as their children, the apple does not fall far from the apple tree they say)

And in cases where the victims manage to change school (which is unfortunately harder than it seems in France), the harassment and bullying starts again even in the new school, because unless the parents completely move out in another town, in the same city words spread by word of mouth and social networks, and when a victim tries to escape from their school abusers, the latter will not hesitate to encourage other bullies from other schools to take over and torment the victim that tries to escape from them (that's how fucked up some bullies are in the head).

In many of the testimonies I've read and listened to, the victims confirm that to the present day, they're either still affected by the bullying they went through, or needed a very long time before fully healing from this school trauma.

It doesn't matter that Marinette's parents are good loving and supportive parents, in the end they were powerless against the power Chloé was given by her father and which she used to manipulate even the teacher in her favor and into victim blaming Marinette. in the end, Tom and Sabine were never able to protect Marinette from bullying, and even though they are the exact opposite of abusive parents, the show showed us that they were not perfect, that they could be very passive even when their daugther is distressed and victim of terrible false accusations. Such passivity from people that you are supposed to look up for comfort and protection can only worsen the impact of the abusive you go through at bullies's hands.

For my part I was very lucky, my school took school bullying very seriously, so at the first sign of harassment against me, my parents (who are among among the greatest in the world in my humble opinion) pressured the principal so that it wouldn't happen again. As a result my teachers were on the lookout, and when I slapped a boy who spent his time making fun of me, I immediately informed my teacher who congratulated me outright and since then the boy and his friends no longer made fun of me. It also helped that my twin sister, who was in the same class as me, had a good reputation. Not all young victims of bullying are lucky enough to have had good teachers who don't blame the victims and who would be happy to punish the bullies or let the victims fight back.

Under's Chloé reign, Marinette's school adopted this terrible and horrifying habit of blaming the victims and let the bullies get away with their misdeeds.

And to those dear braindead fans I want to ask them ... have you forgotten about CHAT FREAKING BLANC ?!! About the fact that Marinette literally saw her beloved Paris destroyed, her beloved partner and friend lost to madness ? Have you forgotten that she saw HER OWN CORPSE TURN TO DUST ?!! AND DEAD PARISIANS TURNED INTO STONES LIKE PEOPLE WERE AFTER THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION THAT DESTROYED POMPEI ?!!

Are you telling me that such horrifying sights wouldn't have given you trauma had this happened to you in real life ?!!!

[twilightguardian]

Lilith wasted no time. You gotta wonder if she loves Fixing RWBY just as much as the rest of us. She's just a tsundere for Raymond! We all know that she's a lying piece of living garbage but let's see what kind of laughs she has for us this time.

"Random" PTSD. Because as we all know, PTSD isn't triggered by things that can be tangentially related to the thing that we have issues with in question. So flashes of red going into a dark tunnel reminding her of Adam's red and the dark cafeteria of Beacon. Nah. Not similar. The episode was totally out of nowhere.

Breaking news: Conman is better at gambling than teenagers. More at 11.

lmao WOW she's pressed. Over basically nothing, too. What is the issue with Blake wanting to talk about what's bothering her? What's wrong with former classmates wondering what's eating at her? Is it because they're men and you don't like those things? Is that it? Like seriously what an odd thing to have a freak out over. How dare men exist and do things.

You can tell Lilith doesn't pay attention because they don't barge in to talk about how totally better people they are. They come into the room to talk to everyone and finds only Blake there and are surprised, because they never knew she was a faunus.

Victimized. That, Lilith, is called past tense. I know you haven't noticed, but it's called character growth. Cardin and Velvet worked past their differences.

Plus, they're not love interests. Yet. Raymond is still on the fence about it because it's not important to the story. But he's blushing because it's a girly thing to have on his weapon and he's a burly manly man, so being teased about it makes him embarrassed. But no, it can only be because he's in love with Velvet. I forgot. Blushing doesn't exist as a psychological involuntary response triggered by emotional stress associated with passion, embarrassment, shyness, fear, or anger. No. It can only be from romantic stimulation. Shoujo anime taught us that.

Why is the main villain of the arc appearing in the arc?!

Stop trying to make transphobia happen, Gretchen. It's not going to happen.

I already explained why this is stupid, but I wouldn't put it past liars to deliberately ignore it or twist my words no matter what I say. So there's barely use explaining anything beyond what I already said. After all, only a moron would genuinely take me saying 'I don't believe you could use your sexuality as an excuse to not know how flirting among this sex works because you're not that dumb' and skew it as queerphobic and me calling Lilith an idiot. Then again, tumblrites were never known for their intelligence. There's a reason I also called out rwde for also having their own Liliths among them, after all.

What? You mean in a series where the main purpose is to stay as close to the original show as possible where it doesn't need to be changed doesn't change things that doesn't need to be changed... doesn't fix shit that doesn't need changing? What a fucking concept.

It's almost like this series is a reconstructive exercise to show how with only a few little tweaks, RWBY could be great and doesn't require a big overhaul to make it good for those who have issues with it or something. That Raymond thinks the show is mostly fine, it just failed in a few things in terms of execution, worldbuilding and other fundamental things and was primarily fine and not completely broken. Wow. You can tell when someone fundamentally doesn't understand something when...

You know it's really funny because we're currently arguing with a guy over the rewrite, because he also thinks it's subpar. Which is fine, but he has his head up his ass to smell his own farts trying to teach Raymond (and subsequently ALL of Hollywood) how to properly write fiction and that he's going to REVOLUTIONIZE the industry. Truly, this guy is what these people claim Raymond is: arrogant, and delusional about his own abilities. Anyway, based on what I've seen his spelling error-riddled script basically makes the girls into murderous psychopaths who will throw everyone else, even their teammates, under the bus to save their own skin and he calls that character development. Truly we live in a clown world.

He might need to be looked at, too, but as per agreement, only Raymond is allowed to look at his script so far. Because he seriously thinks his ideas are so good that people would want to steal from him.

Who are Raymond's pet characters who drove the plot forward?

Roman didn't do shit this episode except hide underneath a table, so that's not true.

Cardin got two scenes where he nudged Blake forward. It's not like he went out and did the work and repaired her relationship with Yang or anything, and then after that he and Russell mostly did the same thing Dee and Dudley did. So unless you're saying D&D were integral to canon and overshadowed the girls, I'd also say that's not true.

Adam? For once she tells the truth. The villain causes stuff to happen. Like in the majority of fiction. Villains usually drive the plot, yes, congratulations, you figured it out. Have a cookie.

Nora and Ren saved Roman. Nora goes and fights with Team RWBY on the roof. Ruby goes and retrieves the weapons. RWBYN take centre stage in the train car scene. Ruby cuts the train car.

But for as much as she loves screaming about how Raymond is misogynistic for this, that and the other, Lilith never really talks about the girls of Fixing in relation unless degrading them, calling them useless, or saying they only exist to be love interests for men. She has some major projection going on.

[qpjianghu]

Just finished the cdrama PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE and my god what absolute delectable chaos. I understood none of the plot but the vibes were impeccable. HIGHLIGHTS:

Takes chaotic bisexuals taken to a hitherto unseen level of lunacy

Lead characters with such staggering levels of self-destructive tendencies that it boggles the soul. My main man Li Wu, traumatized orphan lying liar who lies, just wants to Be Bi and Do Crimes but inadvertantly gets roped into joining the secret police, gets embroiled in a conspiracy, yada yada yada, suddenly he's devoted his whole life to this one guy Lu Zheng, to the extent that he rises through the ranks and alternatively supports and sabotages the whole freakin' empire just to KEEP THE GUY SAFE (???)

Fucked up found families!! you love to see it!!

I can count on one hand the number of m/f ships I love, but this show has such a delightful pairing. Their meet-cute is her (badass assassin ninja Shu Tang) casually walking around trying to figure out where to hide his body while he (lying liar who lies Li Wu) pathetically pleads for his life. At some point she wakes up piss-drunk in a brothel surrounded by like 20 other ladies. No further explanation given.

Shu Tang: "I can't marry you because I have too much shit to do." Mad respect, girl. Go finish up your murders, sweetie.

They end up fake dating to real dating!!! Or more accurately fake dating to ruthlessly divorced, to confused pining, to

Back to the two male leads. How do I even. There are no words to describe their relationship. I can't even justifiably say it's queer coded because they are not so much devoted to each other as utterly and completely unhinged about each other. Every time meet up they either flirt so dizzyingly even THEY lose track of the plot or they get violently and messily divorced. Or both!!! Then in the next scene they're dying for each other. Li Wu cuts off the fingers of like 38 people just to ensure that Lu Zheng.... look I honestly don't even know how the logic tracks but it was fuckin' nuts. Then at some point Li Wu devotes his whole life to making Lu Zheng hates him because he thinks he deserves the brunt of all of Lu Zheng's anger and pain and rage??? babygirl alert

At some point another character just screams at them to kiss and make up, and they're both like No. I hate him. I would die for him. Fuck off.

HE HOLDS HIS HAND WHILE SHOWING HIM HOW TO WRITE THEIR VOWS TO EACH OTHER I CAN'T MAKE THIS UP

So much crying <3 <3 <3

Lotsa stabbing <3 <3 <3

HE IS BABY

SUCH BABY

homies, w h a t

STOP MAKING HIM CRY (keep making him cry)

(I need to gif this scene, he just caresses his chest for like 5 whole seconds)

Bro what if we wrote our catchphrase of devotion on a lantern together and we were both boys

Maybe I should have had more knowledge of what went down in the 25th year of the Emperor Hongwu but I had zero clue what was flying most of the time or why anyone was doing what they were doing or why that random white dude with the terrible haircut showed up but I blame a lot of it on the terrible subtitles, which I honestly suspect were just fucking with me most of the time??

At some point a key character is kidnapped and we legit just never find out what happened to him (OR MAYBE I'M DUMB AND MISSED IT)

Realtalk though, some of the whiplash was probably intentional in the sense that the show devastatingly presents a time and place in which imperial edict was the rule of law and everyone underneath was ruthlessly subjected to higher powers beyond their control. That sense of utter chaos and helplessness was beautifully and brutally portrayed.

You can also still catch me lying in fetal position on the floor because of lines like "I'm not a good person or a hero but I tried to be a good father" and "Do you know why they cut a condemned person's neck? If they cut on bone, the blade will be destroyed" and love declarations like "If it weren't for all this I'd like to just sit and watch the sunset with you" and “I was happy every day before I met you”

The costumes. The aesthetics. The cinematography. The fire motif. CHEF'S KISS.

I have yet to watch a cdrama (or kdrama for that matter) where the music didn't rock my socks off, and this one's no exception. The bromance theme is an absolute goddamn banger and the m/f duet ending theme slays every time.

handssssss

(Anyway, gonna go queue a bunch of reblogs and then go back to crying over Mysterious Lotus Casebook for the rest of my life, probably)

Okay I saved this for the end so I can slap a ****SPOILER WARNING**** here first, though it doesn't actually give away any plot details or anything (because, again, I HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS HAPPENING MOST OF THE TIME), but this is LITERALLY the last shot of the series:

GOD. WHAT. A CHOICE. ASHDFOIAHSIODH.

[seancamerons]

i am sooooooooooooooooooooo glad finally the world is seeing what scum justin is. he profitted off slandering women. multiple women. unfaithful, scummy, cultural appropriating and made a career off of ripping off michael jackson. the beatboxin', the improvizational vocal styling, the layered tracks, the dancing, the slandering his 'crazy' exes, the luxury he must've had.

must be nice. what a little cry baby bitch boy. what goes around comes around, like it's a friggin boomerang. ew. it takes two to tango, you're the one with the victim mentality. a class act, and i mean that in the most downright low down way i can muster. he is horrible. the absolute worst. he did the women in his life so dirty, it's never his fault, god forbid. pathetic.

boo fuckin' hoo, your anniverary was interrupted by your own dirty laundry, so what? what else is new, besides the fact you slandered britney. you threw janet and her 20 year (at the time) career under a bus. idk what he else he did, but he also cheated on jessica "let's evolve" biel, but that's not about her but, bold words for someone who took back their scoundrel, cheating ex boyfriend who cheated on her. i guess she likes sloppy seconds, they seem like they're so great. must be nice, once again. even if he has the upper hand, or control of the narrative or had it for, oh wait, oh about 20 years.

you know what the ex, the puppy love turned real, your childhood love, arguably the once 'love of his fucking life', in a romantic sense best friend, the girl jt was so into that he apparently was about to give her his name, and you do her dirty? dude, you can be so dumb, sure it was a sly dick move, but damn. that says way more about him that it be about her. life hands you lemons, you blame others and squeeze the juice in their wounds, liar liar liar.

so justin, while britney nursed a broken heart and had to grapple with a decision you issued this 'ultimatium' whatever, you didn't say you were gonna be respectful? i imagine they probably talked beyond the text to be like, whatever it's done closure for the pair, par for the course. when you were the first to be cruel, you were the aggressor, you were the liar, you weaved this narrative that it was ALL her. remember this, there's not a relationship with you, there's the other half, who should be your 'better' half, who was miles humble and sweet compared to him.

not to be all will smith or nothin' but keep her name out your fucking mouth if you have nothing good to say, that goes for everyone. like who are people who don't work, have retail, food service, regular people jobs with regular people problems, middle class judging a woman who makes money when she shits, sleeps, eats, dances and posts videos on instgram. why is it such a thing as to have silence in the peanut gallery in regards. "it would never happen to anyone" sure, jan. keep sippin't he coolade. cool.

so weird flex, idk. i'm glad i never bought into "big bad britney" the worst girl, the delinquent deviant, the seductress Jezabelle manipulator, evil woman, ice, stone what have them, there's always gonna be haters, but like f that. I'm on the right side here, not that it's a contest, race, spill tea, money grab whatever. idc who you are, but britney should be referred to as someone who isn't a tabloid joke, but a survivor with resilience and humility and someone who had unrealistic sometimes or big dreams but never really gave up completely even if times were shitty. she always had things to live for, and to do, but some f the things she endured were totally beyond her control.

she was very much chewed up and spit out. adored and then hated, and all the people going, "oh i had no idea, i feel so bad" i really think it comes too little too late, because for years i always assumed there was a lot we didn't know, and that wasn't really anyone, especially her family who treat her like a prized racehorse or cash cow, and not a human.

for 13 years, almost 15 years, she was a second-class citizen in her own home, a literal prisoner, she had zero say in anything. she couldn't drive or vote for a president/elected official. she was unjustly put under a hold that turned into a little over quarter of a decade imprisoned, her civil rights were infringed upon. yes that is something to share that must burden her, sometimes the truth is something that will set her free. her speaking i believe, equates to her healing. i know i said i wouldn't say things about this until i finished up the woman in me memoir, but i can't keep this from coming out.

it's just for once, this girl can catch a break and do what she loves. she speaks very candidly on her fans who she appreciates even at her lowest point, even if she wasn't necessarily 'running the show', she still had personality, passion and intensity that will keep her 'youthful' in the eyes of the world forever. her legacy is so strong, and i hate that it'd been marred by lies for years. slanderous, sensationalized journalism and south park, punch lines, digs, and general biased hate from other fans of pop (tbh all genres) music and more. if beyonce did any of the things briney did they'd (general public) turn their back too or they'd fight for her just as strong as barmy/fandoms related to britney spears/fans of other artists. some artists could get away with literal killing or unaliving someone, and britney would be like going to prison or some mental hospital for LIFE locked up till the 12th of never to be released and her family would assume control and she would die in literal captivity. people act like jamie was looking for brit's

his meal ticket, of course. of course she's married this guy who (i will say he takes care of mostly if not all of his multiple children with more than one mother, not that there's anything wrong with having biracial or even children who are from different mothers. out of his idk how many kids, he has 2 children with britney from when they were married for roughly three years who don't speak to her because they'd been fed this narrative for so long they see no different. federline literally implies she's nuts, so she's not credible so people find her narrative to be false, or use the rhetoric she has mental illness, while that could be something, if she didn't have dementia or some schizoaffective or bipolar diagnosis, well well, she might have some horrible version of post-traumatic stress disorder. everything i'd expected and even things i didn't know or weren't confirmed officially at any time are being corroborated like i didn't want to be right, but i was so on it and everyone thinks she's crazy, and gaslit, enabled this farce of a conservatorship, she needed to be taught how to be an adult, and her family mainly jamie failed her by making every decision for 13 years for her.

i was also ranting that, what kind of crappy luck to have a sister like who ignored her pleas, saw her struggle, and didn't do shit to help her, but freely went on dancing with the stars, the special corps for money grabs, looks so desperate.

she (jamie lynn) wouldn't even be a name out here if she didn't have a sister who was like it or not, britney spears. similar to the plight of ashlee simpson (jessica was the more 'famous' popstar sister, famously had a reality show with her ex-husband nick lachey in 2003 until 2005 or so which the show seemed to seemingly caused them to split by late 2005/2006) , nick & aaron carter (he was the 'kid' brother of one of the lead singers of the backstreet boys, famously dated paris hitlon, was accused by a former girllbander from the girlgroup in 2000-2001 dream.) if my sis was being talked neg about or was being infringed of her citizens rights, i rest my case. i'd go the f off!

i mean let's be serious for a sec, there was so much SO MUCH animosity and jealousy and "living in the shadow" or being "less famous" or too young to remember when things were normal in their families. ashlee simpson famously had a song called 'shadow' (Autobiography, 2004) not to be confused britney spears' "shadow" (In the Zone, 2003)

i do not sympathize with her. in wise the words of mean girl janis ian. listen up.

As Janis Ian once said, "There are two kinds of evil people in this world. Those who do evil stuff and those who see evil stuff being done and don't try to stop it."

[chamomileteainabuttercup]

currently writing a Steddie situation where they are both DROWNING IN ANGST because they're madly in love with each other but both afraid to talk about being "in love," Steve because the last/first time he was in love he got told it was bullshit, it broke his heart and he's afraid he'll ruin things by being too needy and clingy (of course, he's completely incapable of not behaving that way because he adores Eddie and is perpetually all over him and calling him shmoopy little pet-names and Gazing at him with hearts in his eyes, but he's like "as long as I haven't used the L word it could still be okay, do not jinx this Harrington") and that he doesn't actually have anything good to offer beyond being attractive and fun, that the heart that he offered so eagerly to Nancy is an obvious dud that no one would want; and Eddie because he's acutely conscious of his total inexperience pre-Steve and afraid that if he says he loves him Steve will think he's naïve and ridiculous and putting far too much pressure of expectation on a very brief and new relationship and that he's a dummy who thinks that just because they had sex they're in love, when obviously Steve doesn't need to be in love with someone to have sex with them and Steve has been in love before so he knows all about it and would surely say so if that was how he was feeling now, so Eddie needs to just keep his stupid feelings to himself and not lose what he's got by asking for more (he is also completely incapable of not acting like he's in love, but figures he can get away with that because after all Steve treats him the same way and isn't in love with him).

They're dumb, it's fun.

All of this has been exacerbated by the fact Steve has made a few joking references like "haha Robin thought you were totally in love with me" to let Eddie know he understands it's not like that and he's totally cool with that, everything's fine everything's cool, he's definitely not crying in the shower about it sometimes, haha! - thereby reinforcing to Eddie that Steve doesn't think they're in love and the very idea is funny to him.

[sparklywatercolors]

hello! tell me about Sonya? ( gimme all the deets pls )

ahhhh!!! hi!!!! Sonya is my baby, they are everchanging and always growing, but they started out as a flower shop assistant for this old woman, that takes care of their entire town with money she acquired in her youth (babushka my beloved, i don't have a name for her yet, she's just called babushka). And Sonya only got the job because they studied so hard when it came to plants (special interest of theirs), and said to babushka one day, that one of her plants was sick because of a rly odd and overly specific reason. And that's how they got their first job, and was pushed by babushka to study (at least part time) botany. Which they did. They passed with flying colors. People think they are dumb but they're really smart, they just don't like showing it. This is where the story @humhum235 and I have been collaborating on comes in So because of Sonya's high marks, they ended up being allowed to basically be a gardener for a program to bring plants to another planet. And Sonya didn't want to leave because of their dog Benji, and babushka was like "I'll take care of him until you come home to us. Go." aND SO THEY DID. When they were getting close, their ship was attacked (by the my favorite bastard ever but that's for another day), and they nearly died, but the nameless king of the land rescued them. And Sonya pretty much latched themself to him. Sonya is actually a low key trouble maker and would beg the king to let them leave meetings and not do boring stuff. They'd make silly faces behind the council's back and sneak these alien bugs they found into the palace, with the help of something that goes beyond what we know as AI, but their name is Receiver (Baby Receiver comes a lot later). And as time went on, and Sonya and this king eventually fell in love, and Sonya made many new friends, such as a their friend Mars, who doesn't know his past (and gets horrific visions when he tries to find it), and is called the prince of the stars, and their friends with the common folks, and finding a planet full of penguins, Sonya began to harvest these new powers, but they didn't know it yet. Remember that bastard I mentioned? He attacked one day, and hit the king a little too hard, and Sonya just froze. Their eyes dialating, their foe laughing saying they wont do anything. Fun fact, their pupils momentarily changed into the shape of flowers that are dangerous to humans such as aconitum and oleander. Sonya lifted their hand up and slammed him into a ship, using plants. And he like basically refuses to fight with them now. (Spoiler: after many months, their foe is now sort of a friend, he denies it though, he just likes visiting the penguins). Sonya hated that they did that, and they try to apologize to him about it. They decided to play around the castle halls (much to the council's dismay), and see what they can do with these abilities. They can also cry to where it causes a flood, and they have a scream that can break walls. But they use their plant powers to entertain the public, and make the planets they visit some gifts. Mind you, this power isn't exactly magic (Sonya calls it that though), it's different elements. And yet here's Sonya with the newest element: nature. (In Sonya's words though: PLANT). Mars can move the stars, and he's isolated when it comes to that. Him and Sonya often bond over being younger in the group, Mars is immortal just like the king and the foe, but he's a lot younger. (Fun fact: Mars and Sonya often call the other 2 in the "squad" old men when it's just them bullshitting together). Sonya is fascinated by the fact that Mars has stars embedded into his face and neck and star dust on his fingertips. Sonya is low key jealous tbh. LMAO. Remember Benji? He gets to go to space with Sonya later on, and he meets the wind people. They're so fascinated and excited by him, and their element rubs off on him. YEAH MAGICAL DOGGIE!!!! >:DD Anyways, that's just some of the basics/ lore. ENJOY :DDDD