#and I wish I could say it's melodramatic because it reads like it is

[jezabelle9299]

Read My Diary S.R x FEM! Reader

Overture- Spencer comes home to you sitting on the floor mid-closet cleanout reading a book he's never seen before. Also I only wrote one entry because I could not for the life of me think of another one.

C-W's- Kissing, yearning, general pining. And one use of Y/N

A/N- I wrote this on a whim to get my mind off a job interview tomorrow so if you hate it please don't tell me!

March 23- Spencer was so sweet today. He read over my shoulder, and all I could think about was how stupid happy he makes me. And yet– we aren’t together. Penelope thinks he likes me,  and I really wish I could believe her, but he doesn’t see me that way. No matter how much I want him to.

But now of course, you were together. And he was still making you stupid happy, and Penelope was right as always. So you giggled to yourself as you read through the rest of the entries. You, pining for Spencer, the excitement of your first date, until just about the first time you said ‘I love you’ and you stopped writing. Anything you wanted to say you could just tell him, you didn’t have to write it down anymore. 

“What are you reading…on the floor?” You looked up and couldn’t believe you didn’t hear the door open. You knew he was coming home, so you were just trying to bide time by cleaning out your closet. You got distracted by an old diary you hadn’t written in for months and ended up settled on the floor of your bedroom. 

Spencer was confused, both by the fact that you were on the floor, and by the fact you were surrounded by old clothes you hardly ever wore, reading a book he’d never seen before. And even more curious at what had gotten you so wrapped up you apparently didn’t hear him come in. Whenever you got that into a book, you always told him about it. Every detail of what you liked about it, and he’d listen to every word. But instead of lighting up and telling him everything, you got sheepish and replied with a sing-songy “Nothing”. He gave you a skeptical look, but left it at that. 

He set his things down to join you on the floor, reading over your shoulder like he always does. What was once an excuse to get close to you, looking at case files together, became a show of just how much he loves you. But when he kissed you on the cheek and you looked down, realizing what he was about to read, all rational thought was out the window. On instinct you threw the book through the open doorway and halfway down the hall, and because that wasn’t enough you even screamed “No!”

Spencer just shifted to look at your face from his position behind you, trying to figure out what that outburst was. “Would you like to tell me what that was about?” But instead of answering the question, you just turned around, propping yourself up and putting your knees on either side of his legs before settling into his lap. Of course, because you loved to be close to your amazing boyfriend, but also to essentially anchor him to the floor. 

“So babe–” You put your arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek to hopefully distract him. “Wanna go for a walk? Ooo! Or we could go to the movies!! You love the movies.” He laughed, but you knew you hadn’t gotten away with it. 

“I do love the movies, but I think I’d love even more if you told me why you’re so upset because of the idea of me reading that. You don’t have to tell me what it is, or let me read it of course. But what made you so upset that you had to throw it?”

It would be so much easier to lie to him if he was a worse boyfriend. But no, he had to be one of the most sweet, intelligent, caring people you knew. 

“Spencer, you know I don’t keep secrets from you. It’s not that, but–” You let out a melodramatic sigh as you buried your face in his shoulder. “If you read that you’ll think I’m so insanely, remarkably, dorky you’ll never want to go out with me again.” It was all he could do not to laugh. You were embarrassed, but you were also being completely ridiculous. The idea that anything on this Earth could make him love you less was laughable. And the idea that you would be too dorky for him? Of all people? Utterly insane. 

“Hey Y/N? Darling? Love of my life? Have you realized who you’re talking to? I love you more than anything, and the idea that you could be too dorky for me is as adorable as it is absurd.” 

“It’s an old diary… there’s– there’s yearning. For you specifically, and you’ll think I’m crazy and weird.” He laughed into your shoulder, and distracted you by kissing from your shoulder to your collarbone, before gently pulling you from his lap to set you down next to him. Then while you still had your eyes closed, he got up. He got up, and ran to go read the thing that you thought could ever make him love you any less. 

He opened up to a random page near the beginning and there it was. Everything that he thought you’d never noticed before you started dating, laid out on the page. Things he couldn’t stand about himself, you talked about with love before he’d even gotten the courage to ask you out. You thought that he didn’t like you back, and he wished he’d written down his feelings so that you could read about how he loved you before he could even think of telling you. He knew no matter how many times he told you, you’d never realize just how deeply you were ingrained in his very soul. 

And by the time he decided he was done reading, clearing half of the pages in just a few minutes, you had gotten on the bed, and buried your face –along with your shame– in the pillows. He gently rubbed your back to let you know he was done. “Hey honey? Do you want to come out of the pillows now?” And you just shook your head, not quite ready to face him yet.

“Ok, stay in there as long as you like, but for the record I would love to see your beautiful face. Now I’ve only read a bit of this, but I can say with 100% certainty that I don’t think you are weird, crazy, or dorky. I love you and I don’t love you any less because you loved me while I was too stupid and insecure to ask you out.” That finally got you to sit up and look at him. He didn’t freak out, or run, or decide that you were so totally lame that he could no longer be with you. 

“I love you too”

“Hey look at that, she’s back.” And he moved your hair behind your shoulder so that he could see your face. 

“No you tricked me with affection, you don’t get to tease me yet.” 

“You’re right. And for the record– I wish that I’d written down my feelings for you so that you could see how much I’ve always loved you.” He kissed all over your face, quick pecks to show you how much he meant what he was saying. 

“Well I’ll just have to see what secret shames are in the back of your closet, and we can call it even.” 

“Deal.”  

[pochipop]

＃FNAF MOVIE !! ♡ — IT'LL BE ALRIGHT (MIKE SCHMIDT X READER).

#. synopsis! — mike is used to walking on eggshells, just waiting for another tragedy, and you really don’t want to be just another person who's let him down.

#. characters! — mike schmidt .

#. warnings! — vague references to past traumatic events (canon compliant) , references to a verbal argument .

#. word count! — 1.8k .

#. alt accounts! — @ddollipop (nsfw) @hhoneypop (moodboards) .

#. others! — navigation & masterlist .

Mike is used to people leaving. They come and they go like stray cats who've found someone better to nab food off of, —leaving him with more ghosts in his life than he'd care to admit. At least these ones are metaphorical and melodramatic, though. His saving grace has been the fact that he chooses wisely who to introduce Abby to, just in case. She's been through enough, and she's so young that the absence of anyone would be duly noted. Not that it isn't when it comes to himself, it's just. . . He's learned how to live with loss. Maybe not effectively, but he does it, and for right now, that's probably as good as it's getting.

He's got more pressing matters to attend to. He always does. That's what he argued about with you, —what he fought tooth and nail to defend, even when you backed off. At the end of it, he knew he'd gone too far for no real reason. He wasn't arguing with you at that point, he was arguing with all the people that have left him starved for their affections and their care. The words he said to you were so far beyond your scope that it was almost pathetic to think about all the bullshit he unloaded on you like it was somehow your job to fix it, even when he knew it wasn't. So really, it's no wonder he's adding you to that list of people who've walked away.

For once, he truly deserved it. 

And now he's got to explain this to Abby. Because she likes you almost as much as he does, —almost being the operative word there. Mike sucks at a lot of things, and showing you he cares tends to be one of them, but he loves in his own ways. . . And now, he fears he'll have to do it from afar.

He sort of wishes Abby was the kind of kid he could bribe with ice cream for breakfast to break bad news to. It'd be easier to scoop her some off-brand Neopolitan and tell her she'd never see you again if that would help soften the blow. But it won't, and he knows that. He knows her too well to even try.

Still, he finds himself putting chocolate chips in her pancakes that morning in spite of himself.

When he places the plate in front of her, she narrows her eyes, as if to ask him what he's done so wrong. . . Asking what he's offering silent apologies for in the form of sweet pockets stolen away inside her favorite breakfast food. He opens the fridge in search of orange juice just to avoid her gaze.

Before she can even take a bite, he opens his mouth.

"Listen, Abby—"

She looks up at him with those big, doe eyes, and he probably would have cut himself off anyway if not for the knock on the front door. Mike mumbles for her to hold that thought, then goes to check who's outside.

And there you stand a little awkwardly on his doorstep, a brand new bottle of orange juice in your hand. Once again, it's like you've read his mind, and he's as sick of it as he is thankful for it, especially right now. Still, he can't turn you away.

"Morning," you say, almost hesitantly. "I brought juice. . ."

He tries to think of something to say, but hears the quick pitter-patter of Abby's feet fastly approaching. She calls your name so happily, and you smile at her.

"Good morning to you too," you laugh, returning the hug she gives you with no hesitation.

Mike just stares, as if he can't believe you're even here right now. If you're just here to grab the items of yours strewn about his house, he feels like the least you could have done was wait until Abby was asleep or something.

"Can I have some?" Abby asks, pointing to the orange juice in your hand.

"Yeah, that's what it's for," you smile, handing the bottle to her.

She scurries off to the kitchen to pour herself a glass.

"Mike," you say softly now that she's out of earshot, "can we—"

"I'll get your stuff together," he cuts you off.

Your jaw slacks.

"What?" Is the only thing you can manage to muster up in response.

"You could've done this at a different time," he snaps, trying to keep quiet so Abby doesn't hear. "It's gonna be ten times harder on her now for me to explain why you're not coming back."

You stare at him, trying not to cry. Out of all the things you expected to happen this morning, such a drastic change of heart on his part wasn't one of them.

"You. . . You're breaking up with me?" You question.

He pauses, a lot of the frustration dissipating from his features, replaced by genuine confusion.

"Didn't you already break up with me?" He asks.

Your brows knit together quizzically. 

"No? What are you even talking about, I never said I wanted to break up with you," you point out.

Sure, you didn’t say it. But most of the others had never said it either. It was like flipping a lightswitch. One minute they were there, and the next they weren’t. That's why he'd gotten so good at keeping his relationships at a distance, and he'd taken the biggest leap of faith in introducing you to his sister.

"Yesterday evening?" He says, but it sounds more like a question.

"We had an argument," you acknowledge. "It was stupid, and you hurt my feelings. I'm sure I hurt yours too. That doesn't mean I want us to be over."

Mike stares at you like he's not sure what to say, because he isn't. He's not used to someone caring enough to fight for him, and for what festers between himself and someone else. He's learned to let go before the thread pulls too tight, —before it wraps around his throat and slices through every defense he's built up for the sake of protecting himself, his heart, and the little girl that depends on him.

"Mike," you say softly, almost cautiously. "I care about you. One bad night doesn't change that. . . Not for me."

God, it was stupid. It was so stupid. You weren't even mad at him specifically, and you're fairly certain he wasn't really angry with you in particular either. Long days on both your parts collided like a warm front to a cold one, and the things both of you said in the wake of it were uttered through venom and gritted teeth. Sweeping generalizations, a lot of rolling eyes, some tears that were more about frustration than they were anything else. . . But you still loved him at the end of it, even as you found yourself walking home alone.

In fact, that walk was particularly sobering. The crisp chill of the autumn evening was enough to convince you that you'd rather be back at his place where he keeps an extra toothbrush for you in the bathroom and emptied out a drawer just so you could have a place to store some clothes. The sleep you got in the night that followed was shallow at best, restless enough to leave faint bags beneath your eyes by morning, and you were determined to make up any excuse in the book just to swing by.

So you went out and got some orange juice, knowing there wasn't any left in the fridge, and you stood outside his door for a while, working yourself up just to knock. You thought about all the things you'd need to apologize for, and you were ready to push aside your ego if it meant Mike could understand just how much you care, even when you're upset.

He swallows, just to give himself something to do while he prolongs his own response, because he's just not sure what to say. Somehow, a part of him is whispering that this would be easier if you just didn't give a fuck. . . If last evening was the end, and he could go back to finding comfort in silence again.

That's how it's always been. Someone leaves, and he copes, and then he files them away with the rest. But here you are, and Mike knows he can't bring himself to put you in with the others.

"Mike, I'm—"

"No, I am," he breathes, reaching forward to pull you into his arms. "I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings, and I'm sorry that I suck at being a boyfriend, but I don't know what I'm doing and all I can tell you is that I'm trying."

He feels the tension meld away from you, and it's then, before you even open your mouth to reply, that he starts to think everything is how it should be.

"You don't suck at it," you answer lightly. "I know you're trying, and that's genuinely all I could ask for, and I'm sorry about yesterday evening. I was in a bad mood, and I took it out on you, and that wasn't right."

"We both took shit out on each other," he corrects, ready and willing to share the blame.

"True enough," you acknowledge with a weary smile, finally pulling away from his embrace.

"I'm sorry," he says again. "When things go wrong, I. . . I've just learned how to slam on the breaks. If I stop things before they feel like they'll suffocate me, I can avoid them. But I love you, and I know I don't want to avoid that."

"This isn't a one way street," you remind him. "Relationships are hard, and sometimes things happen in a way that they shouldn't, but I'm here for you, and I want to be here for you. . . It's not contractual. One bad night doesn't take away all the times you've made me feel like the happiest person on the face of the planet, Mike."

He sniffles a little, then lets out a relieved sigh.

"Are you hungry?" He asks. "I can make you some pancakes. Chocolate chip."

You raise an eyebrow.

"Chocolate chip? Are you apologizing to Abby for something?"

God, a part of him hates that he's so obvious, but another part loves that you know him so well. It makes him feel even stupider for just assuming that you'd be willing to throw in the towel after one rough night.

"No, not really," he shakes his head. (Not anymore, at least.)

Mike glances toward the kitchen, just to make sure Abby's still preoccupied with her breakfast, then steals a quick kiss from your lips.

"I'm sorry," he says again.

You smile.

"Me too."

"And I love you," he adds.

Your smile widens.

"I love you too. Promise."

With that, he pulls you to the kitchen, and you sit down beside Abby at the table. She tells you that when breakfast is done with, she'd like to show you some new drawings she's done, and you nod, telling her you're excited to see them. And you are.

Mike stands at the stovetop, his back to the both of you, not bothering to bite back his grin. 

He feels his foot ease off the break.

[venusgirltarot]

What Would An Album About You Sound Like?

Disclaimer: This reading is for entertainment purposes only. Tarot readings are about possibilities based on your current energy. Energy is forever changing and nothing is set in stone. Always remember, you have your own free will to make whatever decision you feel is best.

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, envision the person you are thinking of and then choose the pile(s) you feel most drawn to.

Pile One

Ahhh okay this is so cute. Im going to try to explain this as best as I can, Pile 1. So this seems like a concept album. The idea of the album (not the sound but idea ya know) reminds me of “Melodrama” by Lorde. I’ll leave a quote here for a better description but it’s like a concept album about a single night

“Melodrama is described as a loose concept album that explores the theme of solitude, in the framework of a single house party with the events and moods that entail it”

The album about you is similar in the sense that it’s a “loose concept album” but it’s about the writer seeing you. It’s like you’re at this party that the songwriter is also at and they’re obsessed from the moment they lay eyes on you. You’re like this beautiful unobtainable being to them and they want to get to know you so bad but they just can’t seem to talk to you. This could also progress to a one night stand that never progresses to more because of a lack of communication to this album is going through the writer meeting you and watching you throughout the night and then goes into their regrets and what they wish they would have said to you the next day, if that makes sense.

They see you at a party and think you’re so beautiful but can’t seem to find the words to tell you that. I keep hearing “I like the way my bedsheets look on your body” from “hello!” By role model. (I believe that’s the right song but lmk if it’s wrong so I can fix it!) and I keep being reminded of this musician on TikTok “Chappell Roan” and their song “Red Wine Supernova” I think that’s similar to what this album would sound like and it also fits the aesthetic. I highly recommend you listen to this song because it fits your album so perfectly. I tried to find a lyric that resonates the best to include but they all work so well that I couldn’t choose.

Despite this entire album being about only you and just one night leading into the next morning, it’s still so diverse (I hope that makes sense) like you’d think there’s only so many songs you could write about a 12ish hour time frame and one person but this writer has endless things to say about you and the night you met them. I could see one song having a feature and it’s later in the album somewhere between tracks 7-12 or so. The aesthetic of the album is very neon lights, the dance floor on prom night after everything has died down and people are starting to go home, slow, melodramatic and just really pretty. Again, I highly recommend you check out “Red Wine Supernova” because it fits so well.

Track list:

1. Pretty

2. Blooming

3. missing you

4. Shinning Eyes

5. Dying Slow

6. Party Streamers

7. Old Fashioned (Feat. Another Artist)

8. Starlight

9. Nova’s Surprise

10. Sunset

11. morning after

12. You

Pile Two

Pile two, your album sounds like one written by Hozier, Noah Kahan or The Lumineers. It reminds me a lot of “Angela” by The Lumineers. Specifically the lyric “Angela, spent your whole life running away” and “vacancy, hotel room, lost in me, lost in you” it also reminds me of Ethel Cain in the sense that it’s a concept album about running away and starting a new life (but not as dark as ethel’s and with a much better outcome than she got. I heard “success story” it’s about leaving behind a difficult past and moving forward. There’s hope for the future in these songs, remembrance of the past and healing trauma. It’s a beautiful album with a good balance of different emotions. I could see this album coming with a short film or a series of music videos that piece together to tell a store. Similar to “III” by the Lumineers.

I keep hearing a few snippets from the deluxe version of “Stick Season” (that will be out June 9th 👀) like “Medicate meditate swear your soul to Jesus / Throw a punch fall in love give yourself a reason” or “we ain’t angry at you love, you’re the greatest thing we’ve lost” it’s such a beautiful album with so much soul and emotion.

I could see this album getting an acoustic live version that artists do sometimes like “Album, live from Wherever” you know? This album has very unique and catchy lyrics that stick with people, the type of lyrics people take and sell on things in their Etsy shop or use as a quote in their yearbook or put in their instagram bio. It almost feels like poetry. I also heard “escapism” this is the type of music that paints a picture and takes you somewhere else. This album will kind of chronologically tell a story about you moving forward and healing from trauma and finding a peaceful ending. Ending with a song like “Angelia”

Track list

1. movement

2. Adelaide’s Interlude

3. mother

4. farmhouse

5. leave me behind

6. baby blue

7. mustang

8. you’re gonna go far

9. more than this

10. peace

11. at your own pace

12. growing pains

13. at last

Pile Three

I feel like this album has a soft rock sort of sound? Like hozier with a rockier edge if that makes sense? It reminds me of the way hozier sings about love. He sings about a very deep and impactful love and his writing his like poetry and I think that’s what an album about you would sound like. I think this album could be about the writer/musician fighting feelings for you because they’re focused on career or are just concerned about the outcome of the relationship. They might have a fear of falling or something.

However, the last card I pulled was the 10 of cups so the outcome is very good. I feel like this album is coming from a reflective place like this is after yourself and your spouse have settled down and had kids or pets or whatever you would like and your partner is looking back at your relationship from the very beginning up until now and writing about it.

I keep hearing “I’m in love with an emo girl” I don’t think this is what the album will sound like but maybe that’s your aesthetic/vibe? This might just be conformation for you. I also keep hearing that Shania Twain song “you’re still the one” this is the kind of album that fans would dissect like narrow down the time you met your person and talk about every lyric and how that lyric relates to you and your relationship etc. this album talks about how devoted and in love with you your person is but also talks about the (I heard “trials and tribulations”) it took for you two to get there so it may include religious reference. Like religion by Lana Del Rey or Don’t Blame Me by Taylor Swift where there’s this slight aspect of religion/devotion to your partner.

You hear a lot about how you have to actively choose your partner everyday to make a long term relationship work and this album would definitely delve into that a little. It could also be produced by you and your partner’s mutual friends or people who have been there since the beginning or very early in in your relationship. I think this would be a longer album and there’s definitely 18+ songs on there 👀

Track list

1. October

2. Cosmic

3. Full Moon

4. Bourbon Street

5. She’s All Over Me

6. Starla

7. The Empress

8. Diamond Eyes

9. Find More of Me

10. Dreamscape

11. Escapades

12. Midnight

13. You’re All I Need

14. Mirror

15. Apartment 32

16. Deep End

17. Eternity

[toushindai]

totk spoilers but are we ACTUALLY meant to think it’s poetic or flattering or triumphant that Rauru was like “oh YEAH? Well in thousands of years this guy called Link is gonna kick your ass”

How much has he even heard about Link? He must have had at least one more conversation about him with Zelda because the Master Sword doesn’t come up in the Zelda and Sonia tear, and by the King’s Duty tear Rauru’s just like oh don’t worry, if we don’t finish Ganondorf off I’m sure your bf can handle him. As I’ve said before, his “We rely on your knight” line rubbed me the wrong way starting with its appearance in the trailer, and it really does not feel less entitled after watching said knight (and that legendary sword he carries) very very VERY nearly get one-shotted by Ganondorf at the beginning of the game. And Zelda knows this! What does she feel watching her Better Dad Substitute sacrifice himself and simultaneously sic the evil bad guy on Link—a siccing which explicitly shapes Ganondorf’s attitude towards Link at the beginning of the game? At what point did she have the emotion of “welp. I know why Ganondorf knew Link’s name now.” The musical blending of the LOZ theme/hero’s theme with Rauru’s theme seems to suggest that it’s not an emotion meant to be had at exactly that moment, but I cannot watch Rauru sneer “remember that name” without yelling HE DOESN’T NEED THAT INFORMATION at the screen.

I played through the GSI in Japanese recently and Rauru did seem a touch less entitled to Link than I’ve been reading him—mostly because of the formal, polite, outgroup-equal language he used with him—but I still can’t get over the extent to which Rauru heard about Link a few times and decided, sight unseen, that he was going to clean up Rauru’s mess. My man what made you think that. What gave you the right to decide that. And how frightening to be Zelda and watch Rauru pin all the world’s hope on her beloved knight who Ganondorf absolutely fucking wiped the floor with. We see this worry in her in the Master Sword in Time cutscene! To what extent can Zelda’s transformation and before that her petition to the other tribes of Hyrule for Link’s sake be understood as a forced action due to Rauru’s conviction that Link could do this no sweat? Almost entirely, I feel—but does the game know that?

I just. Isn't it intentional? Doesn't it have to be? The fact that Rauru already needs the correction, once, that he cannot and should not face the Demon King alone. Then his melodramatic claim that Link has got this on lock. Then Zelda being like 😬 not sure about this actually and going through the whole process of talking to the ancient sages + draconifying for the sake of the Master Sword. Because Rauru absolutely set Link up to fail and Zelda is the one making sure Link has the resources, including the support of others, he needs to succeed. And the game is so much about community, about not doing things on your own.

And yet the way the scene is scored and animated and the way all the other characters talk about Rauru's sacrifice seems to treat this as a a moment of culmination, of triumph. I am getting such mixed messages here.

Understand, I’m saying all of this with an aching fondness for this poor self-deluded hypocrite. And also teeth-grinding frustration. I think he deserves to feel suffocatingly humiliated when Link almost didn’t survive Ganondorf’s attack and I also have tremendous sympathy for the shame and terror that it might be far too late to correct his mistake that he must have felt as he waited for Link to wake up. Both of those things. Hopelessly lonely man who found people to love him and built himself into a role he was never adequate for. I wish the game looked at this a little more. I wish I could tell if the game intended this at all.

(This is not the most intelligently written post but I assure you I mean every word of it.)

[sleepysuburb]

I love your crossover headcanons! If you could transport 5 tlog characters into 5 inside n9 eps who would they be and how would they change the eps?

ohh tumblr user kookaburrito this is a WONDERFUL question!! thank you!! 🩷🩷

1. Jed Hunter/Simon Says. Just a silly thing, but it would be really entertaining to see him looking vaguely shell-shocked and nodding politely as Simon performed a melodramatic monologue for him. Not sure it would change the episode much, though possibly Simon would have his ego deflated a little by Jed's scathing passive-aggression.

"...see, Simon, you're really passionate, and that's brilliant... but you're not quiiite what we're looking for, yeah?"

"What? How'd'you mean?"

"Well, you're not exactly a physically imposing figure, are you? Maybe you'd be better suited for, I don't know... a gremlin?"

2. Unserious and wishful, but Stella/The Last Weekend. Right after Joe says his corny line about eating his sad man moussaka cold she busts in the door because her big sister senses screamed that something wasn't right, beats Joe up and rescues Chas and that's how the episode ends. Rate my rewrite? 10/10 thank you

3. Ollie/Tom and Gerri. I know he's mentioned - and believe me, I squealed when I realised who Gerri was referencing - but how nice would it have been to see a snippet of him directing D-Day Doris, being his usual angry self? I suppose if we had seen that, Gerri wouldn't have been a hallucination after all, which would fundamentally alter the episode. Probably not for the better!

4. Judee Levinson + Iris/Zanzibar. Oh how wonderful it would be to see Judee in a fancy hotel, speaking in iambic pentameter. Purely self-indulgent, but I did notice that most of the characters in Zanzibar (bar a few) arrive and operate mainly in eccentric duos, so I think they'd fit in perfectly! Iris and Tracy would get on like a house on fire, and I can totally imagine Judee trying it on (to no avail) with Henry - aka, Reece flirting with himself.

5. Chinnery/Cold Comfort. Poor lad - I can so picture him vying to get away from animals for a while by volunteering at a comfort line, and ending up inundated with animal-based calls that he obviously just makes worse. I don't think he'd fundamentally change the outcome of the episode but it would be fun (read: devastating) if he was indirectly involved in killing the cat that the old lady lost.

[jean-meowreau]

Oh shoot I forgot to share this here lol. Kinktober over on Twitter.

Read on AO3:

or here! (below the cut)

Tags: Trans Male Character, Trans Andrew Minyard, FTM andrew minyard, Phone Sex, Mutual Masturbation, Praise Kink, Multiple Orgasms, Sexual Roleplay, Sex Toys, Dildos

Andrew looks at himself in the mirror and sighs melodramatically. Was he this desperate? Perhaps.

Wearing one of Kevin's spare jerseys to send him photos while he's at an away game would be considered desperate. But he was a man with needs. His boyfriend is annoyingly attractive.

He moans quietly and reaches between his legs to rub his fingers across his already throbbing dick as flashes of Kevin dance through his overactive imagination. Sweaty in practice, lifting his jersey to wipe sweat off his face, exposing abs Andrew wants to drop to his knees to lick clean. A rare genuine smile as he presses up against Andrew's side & bends down to kiss him when Andrew picks him up from the airport. Large hands settled on his hips, lifting him, throwing him into bed. A tongue peeking out as he grins & disappears between Andrew's legs.

He groans in frustration at the fact Kevin is gone for another two days as he sets a dildo on their mattress beside his boxers and snaps a photo to send to Kevin. His phone starts ringing a few seconds later and he does his best to sound annoyed when he picks up.

"What do you want, Day?"

"Andrew, you can't send me a photo like that and not expect me to call you."

"Well, you're not here to help me."

Kevin scoffs. "I'm out making money that I spoil you with."

"Would rather have you here, now."

"You're playing dirty."

"I distinctly remember you like it that way," Andrew says, cursing himself for how breathless he sounds. He lays on his back on the bed and reaches between his legs, sighing quietly as he rubs against the underside of his dick.

"You're going to touch yourself and not let me see?"

"You think you deserve to?"

"Yes," Kevin says without hesitation. "Because I know you're thinking about me while you do."

Andrew groans in a mixture of affectionate annoyance & a bit at how Kevin's confidence makes him feel. "You should be illegal," he mutters as he sits up & moves his nightstand from the wall to prop his phone against his alarm clock. He puts in an earbud & switches to FaceTime, laid lazily across the bed with one of his legs propped up. Kevin accepts the invite in record timing. When his face pops up on his screen, Andrew winks at him. "A little excited, are we?"

Kevin doesn't reply, his dark eyes darting back and forth as he takes in the sight of Andrew laid across their bed. "Andrew..."

"What?" He asks as he trails his fingers down his inner thigh, between his legs.

"You're a dick," Kevin mutters. "May I join?"

"Only if I get to watch, too."

"I don't tease," Kevin huffs out, shuffling around before propping his own phone against a nightstand in his room.

"I don't wear your fucking jersey and send cryptic texts."

"Big man is acting like he's not already leaking," Andrew scoffs, reaching for the dildo as he greedily takes in the sight of Kevin's dick. "I hate how pretty literally every inch of you is."

Kevin groans quietly at the praise, grabbing the base of his dick to give it a squeeze before stroking from base to tip.

"Good boy," Andrew murmurs. "Wish I could blow you right now."

"Fuck," Kevin mutters, hips shifting as he sets a steady pace with his fist around his dick. "What I'd give for some decent head right now."

Andrew reaches over and ends the call. Kevin immediately calls back and Andrew lets it ring a few times before answering. "What the fuck--?"

"Call my head decent again and I will never blow you ever again."

Kevin whines high in the back of his throat. "I didn't mean--"

"I don't care," Andrew interrupts as he reaches between his legs again. "Say 'Yes, Andrew'." He rubs over his dick as he hears the words, moaning quietly after. "Good boy, Kev."

"A-Andrew--"

"Yeah?" He asks, smirking as he groans softly, slowly fucking into himself with the toy as he watches Kevin run his thumb across the slit and gather his pre.

He raises his thumb close to the camera so Andrew can see the way it drips down. "I'm so fucking wet for you."

"Motherfucker," Andrew hisses between clenched teeth, legs snapping shut around his arm as he buries the toy in to the hilt and rubs against his dick, trying to enjoy the sudden onslaught of an orgasm tearing through him. "Fuck you, Day."

Kevin whines quietly and stills his hand, squeezing the base of his cock before whimpering, "Want you in me, Drew."

"Yeah?" Andrew huffs out as he turns and aims his spread legs to the camera. He sits up so Kevin can see his jersey before grabbing the base of the dildo and slowy fucking into himself again. "Best I can do is let you watch."

"Fuck," Kevin breathes out, shifting closer to his phone. The sound of his fist around his cock grows in volume, and the angle shifts so Kevin's face is in frame. "Drew, fuck. Fuck, you look so fucking good."

"I know," Andrew huffs, annoyed at the way he blushes at the words. "Shut up."

"No. I'll never stop telling you how handsome you are."

Andrew groans quietly, he tells himself it's in protest, but his thighs are already shaking again and he speeds up his own movements, fucking into himself with the dildo a bit faster.

"D-Drew," Kevin stutters, fumbling with his phone so his dick is back in view. His cockhead is an angry red, pre dripping steadily from the tip as his fist pumps up and down, shifting to just the tip. "I-I'm gonna--!"

"Wait for me," Andrew gasps out, closer to a plea than he wants to admit to himself.

"Drew!"

Andrew moans happily at the desperation in Kevin's voice, reaching with his free hand to rub the heel of his palm against his dick. "God, you sound so good when you're a whiny bitch."

"𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘸!" Kevin cries out, arm trembling. "Drew, I need--"

"You wanna cum?" Andrew coos. "Go on--" His voice catches on a loud moan, the edges of his vision pricking with little black dots as he strains his eyes to keep them open, to watch the way Kevin curls in on himself and his eyes screw shut, his jaw drops as he moans Andrew's name and spills across his hand.

"FUCK!"

Andrew moans, takes another second to drink everything in, then falls back on the mattress as his second orgasm tears through his system. The bedroom door opens and Kevin stumbles through, crossing the space and grabbing Andrew's knees.

"I couldn't keep it up, Drew. Fuck, c-can I-?"

Andrew laughs breathlessly, shifting on the bed before slowly parting his legs. "I'm surprised you made it that long..."

"I wanted to, you wanted to try roleplay-"

Andrew shushes him, taking a handful of his hair & guiding Kevin's face between his shaky legs. "Show me you're sorry."

Kevin shivers & licks his lips before diving down, squeezing Andrew's thighs before wrapping them around his head.

"Good fucking boy, Day," he moans happily.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hello Ms Steph

It's me

(I don't know if you remember me)

(I send you lots of kisses and good wishes for you and your future. For all you have done for me in the past.)

Either way, I'm here to tell you that it would be a great idea for you to do a "dangerously yours: masquerade AU "

For what? You may ask, mostly because it's my personal fantasy to read this conversation in the very voices of the two men we're hopelessly devoted to. if you understand me. the same is the following:

“You’re very clever, aren’t you? I can read you like a book now. You thought I was young, and easily swayed, that you could make me love you, and I would throw over my country—my duty for you—!”

“Thats not the way to look at it, Catheryne.”

“You weren’t so wise afterall! Because you’ve lost you hear me?! Lost! You’ve guessed wrong in our little duel of wits! You forgot how close hate is to love!”

“You don’t know what you’re saying Catheryne.”

“You never loved me—! You knew that I loved you, and you used that!”

“Catheryne stop talking like a child—we’re playing for countries now!”

“Yes we are, aren’t we!”

“This is a gun in my hand, Rudolph… i’d advice you to be careful what you say.”

“Well… rather melodramatic, aren’t you..? Tell me, will I be the 7th notch on the gun or the 8th?… haha…. d’you mind if I smoke?”

“…Smoke?!”

“…I always smoke at the theatre. Somehow it enhances the performance.”

“You can do anything you please, Rudolph, but you have very little time to do it in.”

“…You mean you’re actually going to kill me..?”

“I mean just that.”

“Well… go ahead.”

“…I’ll do this my own way… Look… you already know my purpose in being here. Now you will either give me my information, or I will kill you. You have until 9 o’clock.”

“You won’t do it. You can’t pull the trigger. You can’t pull it because you love me. It takes a very brave and a very cold woman to do that Catheryne, I don’t think you can… Isn’t that true? Isn’t that why you’re waiting…?”

“Thats not true!”

“Or is it that you want to watch your victim? You want my heart to constrict with agony, my hands to shake! You want me to plead for my life so you can make a generous gesture and spare me… Sorry Catheryne, I don’t seem to be in the mood for prayers tonight.”

“You don’t think i’ll do it? Thats why you’re so brave… You don’t think i’ll do it… You wouldn’t be so brave otherwise…! You’re a coward at heart! You lied to me, you decieved me—“

“You tried to decieve me.”

“—I’m tired of listening to you!”

“You gave me your heart you know… You’r like me to hand it back—whole again. But I won’t. You’ll live a long time yet Catheryne, an eternity without me. You will look into the faces of passers by hoping for something that will-- for an instant-- bring me back to you. You will find moonlit nights strangely empty because, when you call my name through them there will be no answer. Always your heart will be aching for me, and your mind will give you the doubtful consolation that you did, a brave thing.”

“You dare to talk of bravery…!”

“What else do we have to talk about Catheryne? For me— there will never be another woman but you… but for my heart there is another love that must come before you… my country!…… You’re so still, your face is like ice… what are you thinking Catheryne…?”

“What does anything you can say matter…? You betrayed me with words… What good are words when your heart is breaking… If I fail now I should deserve to die. You tricked me into loving you.”

“You’re forgetting that you came here for the same purpose!”

“I couldn’t have betrayed you… I tried to tell you and you said you already knew! I was as honest as I knew how to be!”

“Do you think I wanted to love you…?! Knowing where ya came from and what your mission was?! Don’t you suppose that every hour that we were together I was just thinking ‘Shes just pretending’?!”

“I wasn’t!!! I loved you!!!”

“And I loved you so much I let you pretend… because you brought something to my days I couldn’t stand the thought of losing…Listen to your heart Catheryne. Feel it pounding.”

“Your time is up.”

“Then my last words… I love you Catheryne.”

“You’re determined to die with a lie on your lips?!”

[BANG]

“I—… Love you.. Catheryne…!!”

“…Oh God..”

Dangerously yours was a radio show from the mis 1940's with 16 episodes (You can only find 13) each one 30 minutes long, everything was published (?) By Vicks. 'masquerade' is the first one. I had to steal the transcript from a comment in s Youtube video. For the younger generations, this one is that infamous sample in "cigarrettes out of the window" by TV girl. Do You know about anything like this in the fandom? Also an analysis is coming in another ask. I wish this finds you on excellent conditions.

Yours.

-id

Hey Lovely!

Ahhh, good to see you back!! I missed seeing you in my notes, hahah! Glad you're doing well!

SADLY, I do not know anything more about the suggested AU that you would like other than what you posted here, hahaha! But YES that would be an AMAZING convo for the boys to have!! I'm going to add this post to my prompts tag, but if anyone has a "Dangerously Yours" AU to suggest, please do!!! <3

[gerbiloftriumph]

Floating Castle Liveblog (third read)

In 2020, I read the first king's quest adaptation novel. Again. Because 2020 was awful.

August 22, 2020 –

page 0

I'm not going to read this aga--oh wait no who am I kidding I'm trapped at work for another four hours and it's *not* a good day and I just want my tea drinking wizard tree and frog prince and mcguffin king and headless ghosts and the soft delights of smarmy sassy villains. (also the kq series is the only series i have easy access to rn so shhh)

page 3

"Castles do not fly." The title of the book says otherwise, sir.

page 10

Gotta admit, Telgrin's perpetual single thundercloud over his castle still gives me ridiculous amounts of joy. I'm sitting here grinning honestly for the first time all day. I love my melodramatic sassmaster.

page 14

I comment on it every single time I read this (yes this IS the third time I've read this in three years, leave me alone), but I seriously love watching Graham being an actual king. I love adventures, and I love royals, and I love adventuring royals, but I also really like the sturdy basis of kindness and clarity Graham just has as a leader. It's really pleasant.

page 20

IT HIM. Heeeeeeere's Telgrin! Do you think Telgrin spent hours shuffling around trying to perfect that gliding walk? Stars, I hope he did. I mean in any other villain it would just be natural but with my emo goth drama king who tries too hard, everything is carefully plotted for maximum visual aesthetic.

page 22

Totally seriously, though, the contrast between Graham's tightly contained fury and balance of how he's been treating the assembly and Telgin's wide swept theatrics and overblown personality is SO good. This sort of subtle contrast really does raise this book from generic game adaptation to surprisingly pleasant fantasy. It's still genre light, but it has confidence and solid bone work.

page 23

"The news reached me that you were gathering all your knights here today, Graham, so it seemed a convenient time." Because Telgrin won't do anything without an audience to oooh and ahhh over his antics.

page 30

"Everything seemed muted, vague, unreal." Oh, did you mean my life right now? No? Close enough.

page 33

"and a small pear." Yes, a crucial thing to make sure you pack on your voyage. Good call.

page 38

TREE WIZARD oh stars my whole heart is happyyyyy. What a mood improvement.

page 40

"So, that castle belongs to this guy named Telgrin." "Oh yeah, Telgrin. He's evil. Don't mess with him." "You know him?" "I know his reputation." Stars, Telgrin would be SO PLEASED to know his reputation precedes him now. I hope he started some of those rumors himself.

page 40

I still can't handle the density of this conversation. "Telgrin is a stealer of souls." "A stealer of souls? What's that?" Alexander. Alexander, pleaaaase think about what you just said. Please. I love you, but seriously.

page 45

Even when you are a tree wizard, that is, a wizard slowly and literally turning into a tree, it's still important that you get your morning cup of tea. Morowyn knows it. So should you.

page 47

In other words, Alexander, you're just a glorified babysitter. You could have asked Big Knight Brian Blessed to be your partner in crime on this heist and gotten a better result. (i'm kidding of course I love Cyril to absolute pieces, look at this farmboy wizard lad he's so squishy and blond and round and I love him.)

page 54

heist heist heist heIST let's plan a HEIST.

page 58

The moat monsters also have a taste for the finer things in life. Like feather-capped adventurers. Castle Daventry is literally the most perfect fantasy castle there is. It even has a hoard of moat monsters. Like, you can't get more Fantasy Castle than this place. Telgrin only wishes his castle was that cool. He just has to make do with personal thunderclouds.

page 63

A small thing, but I super love Mills's emphasis on color. From the rain slanting golden in the yellow torchlight, to the hills here slowly changing from an angry maroon to a deep indigo with a band of yellow slowly disappearing as the sun sets...it's heavily visual, like he's literally painting a screen from the games, and I find it rather peaceful, somehow.

page 64

Literally just the ringwraith scene from Fellowship of the Ring, but with King's Quest protagonists instead of Frodo and friends. The audacity of this book. I love it.

page 69

Mills was absolutely just rereading Fellowship of the Ring when he was asked to write this book. It's not even subtle at this point. .........and I super love every single reference with all my silly fantasy heart.

page 89

I can't think of a single other fantasy in which the protagonist lassos a kelpie and attempts to ride it. I can't imagine why not. It's a flawless plan.

page 96

I feel like that's just magic homemade whiskey. Getting the prince drunk might not be in everyone's best interest.

page 97

Alexander, you gotta stop calling people "ho." You're gonna offend someone. (I'm kidding, of course. "Ho there" is as traditionally delightful as "Who goes there," and highly welcome to behold.)

page 99

platform boots

page 100

I'm sorry, I know I commented on this when I read this last year, but...again. Telgrin has One Single Lone Stupid Thundercloud, which "hovered over a high central tower. From time to time, this cloud would light with an internal fire, and a low, menacing rumble would break across the land." It's like the Winnie the Pooh raincloud, with ambient sound effects. The audacious aesthetic of this guy is a DELIGHT to behold.

page 107

Aaah yes the Road to El Dorado sequence. Truly, this book is nothing but the best hits of adventure tropes crammed into a book 300 pages long.

page 108

Does this mean that Telgrin has also been to Narnia? Oh dear.

page 112

Again. "The cloud." Not many clouds. Just the one. A single, lone, silly, thundercloud.

August 24, 2020 –

page 114

Wait, what came first, this book or the Muppet Christmas Carol movie? Because all I can picture is Scrooge's Statler-shaped Muppet door knocker, but with extra teeth, shrieking.

page 117

Is Alexander is the only person in the series to ever have a proper sword fight? I mean, not counting....uhhhh is it Owen in KQ8? (Super didn't play KQ8, everyone said it wasn't worth the effort.)

page 123

Like, I gotta say: binding souls to armor, cool. Great scheme, very evil. Making it so that just knocking the helmet off releases the soul into the night forever? ...nooooot the most ideal.

page 126

You know in Princess Bride, when Westley tries to wrestle Fezzik, and just kinda runs at him and squeezes him and absolutely nothing happens? Alexander, right here, vs the black knight.

page 131

A barikar is not a real fantasy monster--the only google result that comes up is that, yes, Telgrin owns one. But it's a huge rabbit with a rat nose, dog fangs, fish scales instead of fur, and human like hands with claws. It sees about as well as a human, but it can hear well, thanks to the rabbit ears. It's absolutely ridiculous. I love it. I wonder if I can convince my dm to make it a fight in our campaign.

page 133

My sweet babiiiiies. Alexander making Cyril stand behind him to protect him and Cyril absolutely refusing and taking the front anyway. I love these kids. I say, fully recognizing that they're semi-close to my age and know how to handle swords and magic.

page 133

Oh, no, excuse me, the Bariker doesn't have rabbit ears--it has bat ears. Which just kind of further emphasizes how much I want this thing in a campaign. It's so ridiculous.

page 139

Where was he? Yes. Who was this beside him? Yes. How long had he been asleep? No way of knowing. Alexander, those are not answers to questions, except maybe the last one. You've answered nothing. Alexander, please.

page 141

headless ghost headless ghost headless ghoooost i can't stop smiling he's holding it like a football it's amazing

August 25, 2020 –

page 142

Lydia's mom caught Anime Mom Protagonist Disease. It's a tragic illness. No hope of recovery.

page 142

"Owen took a brief pause, while Alexander reflected on the fact that he was getting used to carrying on a conversation with a beheaded man. It was starting to seem almost normal. Almost." How is this a real book. I love this book.

page 143

tragic telgrin backsto--oh wait it's not tragic at all he's just always been a brat.

page 144

"Somehow a beheaded man on his feet was infinitely more alarming than a beheaded man quietly seated." o rly?

page 145

Look, it is a *little* creepy that he would install magic mirrors of spying in his daughter's bedroom without her knowledge, but considering Owen admitted to teaching Telgrin everything he knows, including presumably soul torturing magic, we can kind of assume Owen isn't actually that good a guy after all.

page 149

Glowing moss in fantasy must be the most useful plant ever cultivated.

page 155

Obviously, there's nothing wrong with describing Alexander's haunches, but it's also just a little weird. It's not...a word I hear often, especially in reference to humans.

page 156

I like a good wizard who knows that a cup of tea soothes most ills. A man after my own heart.

page 156

"After allowing himself to wallow in depression for a short while, he pushed his mood aside with a firm effort, squared, his shoulders, and said, 'Well, the sooner we get going, the sooner you'll get your bath and your tea.'" Ah, yes, of course, just push aside your wallowing. Why didn't I realize it was that easy?

page 158

"A few wary, rather mincing steps, brought him to the vestibule." Alexander, your author is making fun of you. Just a bit.

page 161

The book is very, very clear that it's just Graham's face floating in the soul-capture orb. The book is very, very wrong. It's a tiny Graham floating around in there. Like, full body, but like two inches high. This is fact, and better than a disembodied Wizard of Oz-style face. I'm just letting you all know that the book is misprinted. Every copy. It's a full body'd Graham. Just smol.

page 162

YEAH BOI PUNCH AN UNDEAD KNIGHT...oh no, your arm, why did you just literally punch a suit of armor, you donut, you know better than that

August 26, 2020 –

page 167

To be fair, the door is now open. As is the floor, and the wall, and...well, the room, to the sky. Definitely very open.

August 27, 2020 –

page 169

It's turned into Dragon's Lair instead of King's Quest, for this scene. Super into it. Wouldn't want to play it as a video game, though--the amounts of game overs....

August 31, 2020 –

page 169

"But this insignificant event raised within him an unexpected fury. He cursed the poor root to withering, black perdition, cursed it deeply and sincerely, cursed it with all his soul." Gods, Alexander, I get it. Man, do I ever get it. I'm so tired.

page 177

"This was it, the nadir. It could not get any worse than this." You sure about that, kid? I think we've got one more scrape at the bottom of the barrel we can squeeze into."

page 181

Alexander is thiiiiiiiis close to snapping. Kid, I understand you. Critically and crucially, I understand.

page 183

FROG PRINCE. I told you there was one more level we could reach. The royal family gets transformed into animals rather frequently. At least this time he's not a snail, poor kid.

page 183

"With a sense of profound shock, he realized that he had been transformed into a frog--a rather large and handsome frog, it's true, but still a frog." You can't make this stuff up. This book is perfect. The ideal. The author is calling Alexander a handsome frog. He's a frog, but a good looking one. I can't handle this.

page 185

"Did you speak, Sir Frog?" "That's Prince Frog, to you." Alexander, be nice. Don't pull rank. I don't think you have rank to pull anymore. Smelly swamp rank, at best.

page 186

I like to think that was just Alexander swearing, but it was masked as a ribbit.

page 187

To be fully fair, Alex, you do kind of need him to reattach Graham's soul, so maybe it's for the best that he doesn't go far.

page 189

If I were a soul-armor, and this frog decided to enter the castle, to be honest, I think I would probably just let it. Because it's a frog.

page 194

There's fanart of this scene too because it's hilarious. She kisses a frog, he becomes a man hanging half over the rim of a fountain, and all she can say is "Goodness! But...you're beautiful." Ridiculous.

page 194

HA and then she tries to recover saying, "I haven't seen that many men in my life. Hardly any, actually. I'm sure that you're really very ordinary." Kid. Please, stop insulting him, you're going to make him sad(der than he already is)

page 198

It's at this point that Alexander just sort of gives in to the sass and the snark and starts leaning into the nonsense. "Creature?" "She's not entirely human." "Uh, in what way is she not human?" "To begin with, she has two heads, no hair, only three fingers on each hand, and is fully seven feet tall." "You're right. That doesn't sound entirely human." Pleeaaaaase this book is a deliiight.

page 200

That twilight area between wakefulness and sleep, with thoughts centered on nothing at all? my brain, today. fully. I've got nothing left to offer anyone, except not-very-funny remarks on this book.

page 202

Nothing Telgrin does is ever common. Overblown and ludicrous, maybe, but never ever common.

September 1, 2020 –

page 209

When the two headed guard calls to the intruding man like a person tempting a kitty cat. "Come here, man, pspspsps. Man, man, maaaan." Instead of catnip, she can bring tacos.

page 211

Again, I just gotta let you all know that the books have been misprinted. It's not a disembodied head floating in the orb, even if it's probably supposed to be an Owen's decapitated head parallel, because that's dumb. It's a tiny two-inch tall Graham floating in the orb, not just his face. I don't know how all the copies got misprinted like that, but they did. It's really a tiny Graham. Cute. Okay? Okay. Onward.

page 212

I love One Stubborn King.

page 216

I can't actually make snide jokes about the text when I'm actually just outright enjoying it. The sheer blissy silly triumph of Telgrin, the stubbornness and sharp agony of my dear sweet Graham, Alexander standing there ruminating on what loyalty means--this is exactly my flavor of fantasy jam.

September 17, 2020 –

page 225

I still kind of sort of love that Telgrin apparently decided that the best way to use the magic staff was to make it respond to wishes. "I wish for a giant fireball." And thus, one appears. It just...speaks to some strange childishness that I find totally hilarious in this big bad villain.

page 230

Again, the book is misprinted. I'm not about these weird Wizard of Oz style floating faces. They're weird. It's a fully bodied apparition of Telgrin yelling at Alexander, hands on hips, just as it's a tiny full bodied shape of Graham in the orb. My version is better.

page 231

"I could kill you now, if I wanted." "I don't think so," Alexander said defiantly. "Is *everyone* in Daventry this obstinate?" Sir. My dude. My man. Palberto. You messed with the wrong royal family, and they come from knight stock, not actually blue blood at all. They're going to *wreck* you.

page 232

"I'll live, I think." Alexander, your ability to comfort others leaves a little bit to be desired.

page 234

I'm not actually kidding. If Mills hadn't read Fellowship of the Ring at least a week or two before writing this, I will eat my whole entire adventuring cap. That's the Watcher in the Water, as there was literally lembas bread earlier and a ringwraith before that. Fantasy tropes or not, this is just sneaking Tolkien references in because Mills is a fanboy (I mean, obviously: he's writing company-approved fanfic).

page 237

Again, Alexander, realize this: Telgrin learned everything he knows from Owen. One might assume, especially knowing how dark those mirrors felt, that Owen himself is *not actually a very good guy.*

page 241

It's kind of like cheerfully presenting Sweeney Todd with his shaving tools. "At last, I am complete again!" Not.....super great, I feel.

page 242

I love that it's not actually magic keeping the castle moored, but a big ol' safety pin. That's not even actually much of an exaggeration. "At the bottom of that well you will find a large golden pin embedded in the paving stone. You are to remove this pin. It may not be easy, but you must do it. It will set the castle free from the moorings of the earth."

page 248

The fact that Telgrin now has to wear an eyepatch is great enough. The fact that he took the time to make sure it perched on "his bald head at a jaunty angle" is almost too much to bear. I hope he stood in front of his cracked and smoking mirror adjusting it just so before coming down for this final confrontation.

page 248

"I'll probably never see out of this eye again, I hope you're happy with yourself." "I mean...you *were* trying to kill me." "Irrelevant." Boys, please, there are serious issues at hand.

page 250

"All I've ever asked in return is that you marry me, and that you not burden me with your opinions." Telgrin, the ultimate flirt. Magnificent.

page 251

Telgrin's snarky sassy meltdown is the greatest. "She's now willing to marry me, merely to save your worthless life! Willingly! Well, I won't have it, I tell you. She shall marry me unwillingly, or not at all!" Telgrin, you are absolutely bonkers and you're my favorite villain in any piece of media ever, full stop. The sheer ridiculousness of *you* with your wish-magic and bloviating and grandiose posturing....divine.

page 253

Telgrin's pasty complexion is enough to "make a marble statue appear dark by comparison." If this were a modern AU, Telgrin would be that emo kid hunched over twitter mansplaining at everyone, while listening to the rainy mood app constantly. He's an absolute delight from start to finish, especially because he *is* a threat and he *could* win if he wasn't so obsessed with the *aesthetic* and the need to show off.

page 255

Ahh one of my favorite lines in the whole book: "It's blame-everything-on-Telgrin time, is it?" What villain talks like this?? Who does this?!! No one but Telgrin, author Craig Mills, and this goofy novelisation of the very sassy, very cliche, very delightful, King's Quest series. Fantasy tropes, sass, snark, and everything. This book is nothing but pure sugared joy for me.

page 266

No more than two feet of earth held the entire castle in place, and now they're floating away again like the house in Up. Delightful.

page 270

Telgrin, you can't behead someone who has already been beheaded. Be sensible.

page 273

"Can you think of any way for us to get down from [this steadily rising floating castle]?" "I could attempt to fly you down!" All in all, Alexander thought he would rather just jump. Boys, please.

page 288

A Valanice story, I think, would have been very welcome. I'm glad for the trilogy we got, but I really would have enjoyed an official novel from her perspective. This lonely image of her standing alone before the throne, with her husband dying in the next room and her son gone for at least a week to face an unknown villain alone, while her kingdom is ravaged by evil knights....it feels worth exploring.

page 291

I absolutely one thousand million percent love this strobing effect of two Grahams floating together, his transparent and delicate soul settling down into his body again. It's delightful.

page 292

Pleaaase Graham, say "A heart is a heavy burden." I know this book came out like a decade before the Howl's Moving Castle (the movie at least, I don't know the book's publication date), but pleaaaase. I know you won't, but I want you to.

page 293

SHRIEKING. I don't ever ship things, but this is my otp for liiiiiife look at these two precious beans together I'm just THRILLED the smile on my face is enormous ahhhh Valanice and Graham have hardly anything going for them in the original games since they hardly ever interact on screen but this book and this scene is just DELIGHTFUL.

September 17, 2020 – Finished Reading

Again, five stars out of five stars

[liesmyth]

General ask:

Have we found plotholes or contradictions you've found the Locked Tomb series? Any that are like, "why didn't this character just do X since they had this power?" or "how could this character have known this information?" or anything of the sort?

I can't find any, but these books are so dense and other people are better at close reading. I've been so impressed with the way things roll out, the fact that rereads are so satisfying because you suddenly know why a character did/said something that seemed odd or just innocuous at the time. for THREE BOOKS and counting (dear jod I wish I was an outliner). It seems impossible there haven't been any contradictions.

OK. I thought about it Long and Hard and could only think of a couple. Well, one for sure, and a couple more that could be plot holes / worldbuilding issues, or could turn out to be planned all along in AtN.

Lyctoral privacy and Cytherea

This is the big one. Lyctors are “black boxes” to thanergy unless they are being touched by other Lyctors, and this is something that should have alerted the gang in GtN to Cytherea’s true nature, much like Ianthe and Harrow figured out Pro was dead all along.

Regular necromancers aren’t able to “perceive” the organisms of the people around them to the degree Lyctors do, but some of the Heirs at Canaan House are powerful enough that they SHOULD be able to sense in some way those around them, and figure out that “Dulcinea” was sus. Especially since Cytherea-as-Dulcie had a couple of moments of fainting dramatically and becoming increasingly sicker (one of the reasons why I think Cytherea had a lot of control over her cancer cells) and several necromancers used aptitude on her to check her health, including Palamedes. They shouldn’t have been able to. Assuming that “touching Lyctors allows you to interfere with their bodies” extends also to non-Lyctors, they should STILL have noticed something was off.

The fact that Palamedes was able to manipulate the cancer cells inside Cytherea’s body to turn it into a bomb is very unlikely, even assuming he was touching her the whole time (I can buy it if he distracted her with sex like in this fic). And the fact that Lyctor Harrow in Act 5 is able to visualise Cytherea’s body and “see” the cancerous mass goes against the canon established in HtN because they weren’t touching at the time.

The smaller ones!

Ninth House demographics: If anyone younger than Ortus died when Harrow was conceived, and Ortus was around 17/18 at the time, this would still leave plenty of young adults of reproductive age. There should be SOME children on the Ninth, even assuming that people were scared to have children for some times after, even assuming that some people moved away (the Houses aren’t aware that the Ninth is dying out so it can’t have been a mass exodus). I can excuse this as Gideon’s melodramatic narration saying that there are no other young people on the Ninth, because she’s 18 and a few dozen kids of ages 14 and under probably wouldn’t register to her, just because to all intents and purposes, she was raised completely alone with Harrow. But look. There should be some kids.

Who are the Cohort fighting? I talked about it a bit here; the population of the known universe just doesn’t seem big enough to sustain a continued war of aggression by the Houses (the implications in GtN/HtN) because what we see of the Empire in NtN seems to be a colonial power who are firmly established in most of their “sheperedered planets” and only have to contend with insurgence movements, not an enemy army. BUT the Cohort seem to constantly be fighting and dying. I'm very curious to find out if we'll discover more.

(There are a couple more things that will leave me ???? if they aren't cleared up in AtN, but they're even more minor)

[legaltrashgoblin]

It's over.

I've finished The Raven Cycle.

Without the excitement of the impossible possibilities presented to the Gangsey, and the shock at turns in the story and the grief over dead boys and resurrected boys and dying boys and lonesome boys and the absolute joy I felt reading about these whacky teenagers, I feel positively empty.

Music no longer feels like music. Just a jumble of strange words and sounds that used to make sense but no longer do.

Light no longer feels like a beacon. Just a hopeless, annoying shine in my eyes.

Coming home to sit on the bench seat outside with a cup of tea and a Mars Bar no longer feels possible, because I have no longer got anything to long for.

It honestly feels like grief. It's as if I had absorbed these boys and these psychics and these angry tree girls and these magical forests into my soul, and now that it's over I feel I've lost a giant part of myself.

And yes, this may seem very melodramatic, but I am melodramatic. This is a big thing for me. I cannot stay in one universe forever. I have to move on. And books are the only way of experiencing the feeling of life for me. And these books are by far my favourite things ever. Each character was relatable in so many ways, and each felt and saw and heard and did so many things I wish I could.

I'm gonna pull a Gansey move, and instead of saying "What do you know about dead Welsh king's?" I shall ask "Do you read?" I have to make everyone I ever become friends with experience The Raven Cycle.

Also, to make light of everything, I'm so glad my copy of The Raven King had Opal in it, because I absolutely adore Opal, I absolutely adore her way of thinking. I love her curiosity, her love for Adam and Ronan, and the way she loves things.

But one of the highlights of the little story was the fact that OPAL. WATCHES. ADAM. AND. RONAN. DO YOU KNOW WHAT IN THE LAUNDRY AND THE CAR AND STUFF ABOUT BELT BUCKLES AND KISSING AND SKIN AND RIBS AND HIPS BECAUSE SHE'S A CURIOUS LITTLE SHIT

She's such a mood.

Anyways... I'm going to go mourn my lost bone marrow books and my lost soul chunk books. And mourn Noah. Noah was the greatest. And I'll also order Greywaren, because I don't think I'm gonna be posting anymore if I don't get my hands on it. If I come up with more stuff about The Raven Cycle, I'll post about it.

Excelsior,

Squash One, Squash Two,

Me.

[rosesradio]

fanfic ask game

i saw this ask game i wasn’t tagged in so let’s do it 🤠 & i’ll tag whoever wants to do it as well

1. how many works do you have on Ao3?

27 :-)

2. what's your total Ao3 word count?

466,409 (oh cool i’ll most likely hit 500k by the end of the year 💪)

3. what fandoms do you write for?

currently pjo & once in a blue moon hsmtmts, but i have written for like 10-12 different fandoms in my life

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

ceaseless eve 🌙 (a leo, nico, & piper quest + valdangelo)

camp triple pine 🌲 (a lawrusso summer camp au with fwb 👀)

talk to me, deep in the night (& i’d tell you something i never thought i’d admit) 🏕️ (a surprisingly non-smutty first caswen fic in which ricky talks with ej about how he works too hard, written in s3 era)

Cobra Kai/Karate Kid one shots 🥋 (fluff, humor, angst, smut…what it says on the tin 🤠)

he’s only here for one thing, but (so am i) 🔥 (valdangelo college au smut + camboy nico 👀)

(because i can’t tell a lie, i did skip over one or two stranger things fics on this list. i have complex feelings about them & keeping them up due to the controversy, but also abandoning them or deleting them…i’m sentimental, and i procrastinate lol. i’m glad a higher volume of people enjoyed them by nature of it being a more popular fandom, but i also feel like the kudos aren’t as genuine or earned as they are for my longfics in less popular fandoms for that reason. at least To Me. i hope that makes sense 🧍)

5. do you respond to comments?

i try to reply to every comment around the first week of posting something (because by then it’s an “old work” and it’s “weird” to comment on it, but that’s another post 😐). i still haven’t replied to the last of the ceaseless eve comments & i feel terrible, the sentimentality of it all overwhelms me but know i appreciate it 😭 i wish there was like a code word though that people could comment that lets you know if they want you to respond or not, because it’s hard to know if people want an author response or if it’ll scare them off yk

6. Which of your fics has the angstiest ending?

i don’t do a lot of angst, but when i do, i do (meaning i lay it on too melodramatically thick lmao) but i thought i’d give a list of some of my angstiest/darkest fics 🤠

the moonlace & the sunflower 🌻 (in which grover dies protecting a demigod, so the empathy link causes percy to pass away as well)

games long lost 🌳 (in which luke must drink annabeth’s blood for kronos’s reformation, it covers the dark lukabeth of it all & there’s some death)

the smallest casualty ♟️ (in which it’s slowly revealed over the course of a luke & annabeth chess game that the gods lost the war, and percy & friends have been subjected to dark magic experiments to make them compliant to luke’s fantasy)

rewired 🤖 (okay. i usually try to be humble or self deprecating or whatever but this 1400 word fic is an actual fucking masterpiece to me idc. it just came out of me and makes me physically nauseous to this day. showing this to my hypothetical therapist etc etc. oh wait what’s it about lmao—the concept of daniel rewiring his brain & morals to fit into silver’s desires. ft that sick sick silverusso dynamic)

7. Which of your fics has the happiest ending?

i have a variety of fluffy fics, but i’d have to say my happiest most sugar coated ending is—

who said anybody would? (a ej/gina/ricky road trip fic that literally ends with an ot3 picnic scene 😭 it’s just too much 🫶)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i’ve gotten unwarranted criticism (i like to ask for constructive crit comments at the end if it’s like a longfic) that’s been surprisingly rude…i won’t say which fic but someone got so mad at one of my chapters they left a lengthy mocking crit comment and then stopped reading 😭 but that’s their prerogative, i hope they found something they enjoyed afterwards. other than that, surprisingly considering some of the controversial dark fics i’ve written…no sign of flames, so thanks! 😅

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i have four different smut fics (hopefully a fifth if i can ever finish it up)…i fear they’re repetitive but also not really, they cover different fandoms and explore different kinks. i’m not really sure what to say about them, hopefully people find them hot ! or whatever !

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

i’m not a fan of crossovers currently, but my longest fic i wrote when i was 15 (it’s 97k i’m beating it someday 😭) was a crossover between sanders sides, voltron, miraculous ladybug, and gravity falls (doesn’t that feel like a kick in the gut lmao—did i mention i was 15? 😅)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of 👁️👁️

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

not that i know of 👁️👁️

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i tried, myself and another author had a shared Google doc & everything…but we both just didn’t commit. i don’t think i’d work well with another writer…i don’t mind bouncing ideas around with a beta reader/editor (like @heavens-vault 🤠) but ultimately i’d prefer to write on my own

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

it changes—it’s currently valdangelo, but the ones I’ve written the most over the years are: prinxiety (😐), lawrusso, caswen, and valdangelo. i’m excited to explore a bunch of other ships as i continue writing as well

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

oh gosh, i mean i hope i don’t have any like longfics in question…i hope i can finish + deliver on Ivory Rain, but i’m sure I’ll manage even if it takes a while. i haven’t really mentioned this a whole lot to “the public” but i have what i call a “scrap fic” i’m working on, with a bunch of like 800 word chapters i just kinda bounce around when i have time. the concept is really exciting but the execution still needs work, so i’m kinda seeing how that’s gonna play out, it might not be posted. i hope it will though !

16. What are your writing strengths?

i think i’m pretty good at characterization, good romantic moments with good buildup, and humor :-)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

action scenes i hate you so much 😭 why do i insist on writing pjo fics when i can hardly write a fight scene

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i should do it more, i hate that i don’t, especially considering nico being Italian and leo’s native language being Spanish. but I’ve used & been disappointed by Google translate too many times…perhaps I’ll find another way to translate to include that for more character accuracy

19. First fandom you wrote for?

actually i think percy jackson, i’ve come full circle. the first fic i posted was sanders sides, but i remember when i was probably nine or so i wrote with pencil and paper and stapled a book together with a hand drawn cover 😭 it was about a son of Apollo, a satyr, and a daughter of Demeter on a quest…so really, richard took some creative liberties from my hand written fanfic i think 👀

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

like the ships, it changes—I love all my fics, it’s hard to explain how there’s little fractures of me at different points in my life at any given time in my works. no amount of over-explaining could make anyone understand how i express myself through my character’s emotions and desires and fears and journeys.

at the moment, my favorite fic is CE. it just got completed, myself and others are excited for the sequel. i think all my pjo works in particular are pretty good, and of course i tend to shy away from my older works because my writing…probably wasn’t as good. but that just means I’ve improved, so that’s good.

that’s all the questions, but this was fun ! :-)

[miss-oranje-disco-dancer]

liz 🫶🏽🫶🏽 i understand why you're thinking abt leaving, but i have reasons why you shouldnt. i really hope this brings back some of your faith in us, bc i havent really done much to keep it 🙏🙏🙏

you're VERY talented.

i feel like there's not much to elaborate on this? like, i've been stalking a few of my (now mutual) amazing fic writers and artists for a while, even before i got an official account, but you've always been one of the first.

2. you're inspiring to ALL.

one of the first leon fics that i ever read were one of yours. back when i first got on here, your account was recommended to me first, and im so so so glad that it was. you were someone that wrote leon, and the further i delved, the more i realized that you were really talented, not just a horny teenager looking to get likes. you were ACTUALLY WRITING. and that's so so inspiring because let's be fr, who does that anymore? ik for a fact that a lack of likes gets me discouraged (but that might be my praise kink yapping)

3. your fic ideas are so creative AUGH

honestly? sometimes i wish i could go back in time and just... think of that idea first, because they are always stunning. especially your cool mom's countdown, that had me enamored. i looked up to you and thought, if she could brush herself off and get up, write this and still manage her life outside of writing, i could at least try, right? so i have you and a multitude of others to thank for this, but you for being my first inspiration on here.

4. you're very mature about everything.

in the sense that personally i would freak any time i get anon hate in my inbox, you handle things very well, like a cool older sister (not the one that gets in fights and gets expelled, but the one that's calm and calculating. i've always seen you like that, not an insult, but a compliment <3) having an online presence is hard when people hate on you, and i'd just like to say one more thing

5. you are NOT unoriginal.

i have no idea where the fuck those asks are coming from, saying that ur unoriginal and that ur dialogue is repeated, because it's not???? everything you write is well thought out and precise, even if you hadn’t meant it to come across that way. not to mention that ur blog is one of the very few that i’ve seen that actually has a set theme, in this case, the music! the demos, the singles; a lot of work went into it, and i dont know why the fuck people aren’t appreciating it and instead hating, but lets end on a good note, which brings me to

6. we respect your decision.

this is not to get you to change your mind, please never think of this that way. i’ll completely understand if you still want to go through with becoming an archive idea, because that is always up to you and don’t ever feel pressured to do something you don’t want to. this is more of a response to the hate that you’re getting for no reason, and also just because i feel like i haven't really been showing up, as of late? i’ll always look up to you, no matter what you choose <3

ily!! made my day with this one, sweetheart (i didn't see a name on your blog, so i hope that's an okay name for you)

people like you make me want to stay (and i'm never going to stop writing, i've been in love with writing since long before tumblr), but if i stop posting/post less, we can always chat in the dms/discord :)

the horny teen thing made me laugh bc i was a melodramatic hopeless romantic teen who wrote poetry during class - for better or worse, i feel like poetry being my introduction to writing (and ultimately, what i like most/think i'm best at) shows in the way i write fic sometimes?

i'm happy to hear that you find my fic ideas original because i feel like my creativity/imagination is limited, especially when i'm not into AU's and such (i'm so stuck on making characters not OOC). i feel like this is different from a lot of writers but brainstorming and plotting is my least favorite part of writing, like i love the actual writing things down part and even the editing sometimes! this is such a random side note but i always see posts about people being like "i have an idea but i don't want to write it out" and i'm like omg pls feed me the idea, i would love to write it!

(also, i don't really have a life outside of writing at least atm... which definitely contributes to my whole emotional state rn)

i don't think i've ever been called mature before lol! i'm glad it seems like i'm handling things right but ik it's probably best to ignore anons, i'm just the type of person who won't start fights but won't back down from them either? i also think a lot of the people are easy to clown on lol

the older sister comment makes me want to cry, genuinely bc i am an older sister in real life (to my brother, who is my favorite person in the world) but i've been writing and thinking a lot about how i wish i could go back in time and be my own big sister (not to get too deep, but i wish i could hug baby me :( )

the funny thing about my theme is that i actually feel like it's v disorganized (tho i love maximalism and color and it is v me, plus i had to do a disco theme for miss oranje)

if i did quit this blog, which i doubt i will entirely bc i still want to support other people even if i post less of my own stuff, i would definitely leave it as an archive or leave some way for people to read my fics because I HATE when authors delete their fics, like i totally get orphaning a work on ao3 if that's something you want to do but as much as i don't like some of my older fics and might do a revised version of not old enough in the future, ik that there's probably someone out there who loves that fic and would be sad if it was gone

btw i am trying not to cry bc i'm in the same room as my dad and it would be awkward but "i look up to you" is quite possibly the biggest compliment i've ever received, like that means a lot to me because i struggle with the idea that younger me wouldn't like me now so the fact that someone else finds me worth looking up to for any reason at all makes my heart cry tears of joy

also, you have absolutely been here for me, like every reblog/comment on my fic makes me so happy, and ik a lot of people don't have the time to leave comments and such so it makes my heart smile knowing that you put in that time and care!

[sandshadow9]

You know what puts me down? It feels like this fandom cares more about dragging Tui and her work through the dirt as much as possible so they can act like they're "superior" to her or "better" than her, and they do this by nitpicking as many flaws in her work as possible, even flaws that aren't actually present in her books to begin with. Thoughts on this?

The quick answer: Yeah, I completely agree.

The long answer: Buckle up because I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while actually and have some thoughts. Ultimately reading a book is like having a conversation, and everyone will experience it differently. What some people find annoying others may find charming, and what some may think of us a frustrating plot hole others may not notice or care.

I will start by saying that, indeed, this fandom loves to drag Tui, and I myself like to pick apart her books to see how things work or don’t work, but at the end of the day I have immense respect and admiration for her. Tui’s writing is extremely immersive, full of personality, and engaging. Wings of Fire is one of the few series I’ve read that fully engrossed me in the world and characters. 

When it comes to reading books, there is definitely a bias towards seeing the things that can go wrong. When things are done right, we don’t really notice, but Tui does a lot of things right. There are a lot of factors that go into making a good book/series and I’d like to point out some of the maybe lesser appreciated aspects of the WoF books. 

Emotional scenes and tension: Tui is supremely good at writing those heart wrenching scenes, as well as those endearing scenes that steal your heart. Perhaps I speak for myself, but I cannot think of any scene that came across as melodramatic or weak in the emotional sense. She does not hold her punches. There have been several emotional scenes in these books where I had to just stop reading and stare at a wall for ten minutes, many of them in the Darkstalker Legends book. Writing intense emotions in characters is hard enough, but Tui manages to make them compelling and believable. 

Characters: I think this is the main reason most people are in the fandom. We all have at least one little creature that lives in our heads rent free. In my opinion, Tui really put her whole ass into the Arc 2 characters, but in general, when Tui is writing from the perspective of any character, she’s does an amazing job of pulling you through their emotions and perspective... although due to the point below, sometimes the character development can kind of slip away from her. 

Plot: For better or worse, Tui puts the plot ahead of everything. This isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing, it’s just what Tui decided to focus on, and when she does, she does it extremely well. Keeping a story moving at a good pace, while keeping things interesting, is pretty much a necessity for any good story. While some books in the WoF series are stronger than others, Tui is able to keep the plot moving both within a single book and across each arc. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve read, YA and adult fiction, that can’t even manage to do that. When I read WoF I was glued to the book. I’d have to force myself to slow down when reading because I’d finish them in a day if I could. The downside to this, as mentioned in the above point, is that sometimes the character development that happens in previous books is lost. 

Writing style: What can I say? Her descriptive language is amazing. She knows how to make the most basic scenes interesting with her writing. There are many times when reading that I wished to myself that I could write like that. I think some people might not completely agree with this point, as Tui loves to use all caps and a modern sounding language in a fantasy world, but I personally don’t really mind that, but I can understand that some may find it unappealing. 

Conflicts: In terms of writing, “conflict” is another one of those super important components. They can be internal or external, and whether you agree with how the narrative handles them or not, Tui writes conflicts that stick with the reader.  Tui also knows how to keep things surprising and unpredictable but in a well written way. Seriously, how many of us were floored when the Prophecy turned out to be fake? Or when we learned that it had been Gill that Tsunami killed? Or that Turtle had been the one to turn Anemone into an animus? That is some good drama and conflict!

                               Other factors

This section is mostly about other factors that I, personally, keep in mind when I think about the series as a whole.

Timeline and publishers: This woman was pumping out a book each year. That’s a wild pace. I have been trying to learn more about publishing contracts, the agreement between authors and the publishing company, and haven’t learned much other than each contract is unique. Some authors have more creative freedom than others as certain contracts allow the publishers to request changes to the text. The main goal of publishers is to sell the book and if they think the text has content that will negatively impact sales, they may have the power to ask for it to be changed. I have no idea what type of contract Tui has, or if there was a contractual deadline for each book, but it’s something that should be considered. I bring this point up because it may explain her priorities and why certain elements had to be set aside in favour of finishing the books rather than fleshing them out. For every published book there is probably another novel’s length of deleted scenes and paragraphs.

                                Conclusion

Ultimately Tui’s strengths can create imbalances in other areas. Her prioritizing of Plot can mean world-building and maintaining character development falls to the wayside. Also, perhaps the biggest issue that fandom notices is that Tui asks complicated questions in her books but then tries to give black and white answers when really, no direct answer should be given. In the first arc we get questions like Am I enough just as I am? Even if I’m not the smartest or bravest or strongest or fastest or biggest, can I change the world? In the other arcs we get questions like Is there such thing as pure good and pure evil? And when faced with someone who continues to make choices that hurt us and others, even if we love this person, at what point do we offer compassion and when do we draw the line?

This post isn’t intended to discuss whether or not Tui succeeded in answering these questions - I’ll leave that for others. What I do hope came across in this post is that Tui does indeed know what she’s doing and I hope that we can all take a moment to appreciate the things that made us love this series to begin with ❤️

[ga-yuu]

Hi! I just wanna ask if you're from India? Just wanna make sure cause I saw it once on the blog description. The reason I ask is actually for a stupid reason. And feel free to ignore.

Lately, I've been coming across Indian tv scenes meme where people die by getting strangled ridiculously by the scarf getting caught in a fan of them getting slapped and pushed into it. Or one where a girl rescued a guy who fell and did many backflips in the air, by riding a large kite. Are these really what's in Indian tv show? I wanna know who their target audience is. And what they think about it?😅 I find it quite humourous and it gives me a good laugh.

OMG. Lol. Okay. I'm gonna rant okay! I'm also gonna be referring some tv shows and use show hindi terms that are very popular among these shows.

Indian tv serials or Indian tv dramas are EMBARRASSING AS HELL and I'm not proud to say that. If I could describe it in one sentence I would say---"It will give you a brain tumor, so please don't watch it."

About 90% or more, Indian tv serials are like that. I'm not joking. Let me tell you why?

Ekta Kapoor. Ekta Kapoor or Ekta didi (we'll call her like that!) is a very infamous name in India. She's basically a producer and has produced more than 100 tv serials. Apart from two or three good ones, the rest are dog shit. Also, all of them are soap operas. The problem with her tv serials is that, they don't have an identity. For example, let's take K-dramas or C-dramas. They have shows for different genres like romance, mystery, thriller, horror, historical etc. But when you take a look at most of the Indian shows, almost all of them have 'saas-bahu' melodrama ('saas' in hindi means 'mother-in-law' and 'bahu' in hindi means 'daughter-in-law') and nothing else. There is no actual plot or goal or even an ending. They don't even have a genre. For example, there is a tv serial called 'Sasural Simar Ka'. It started a normal soap opera melodramatic show, but then out of nowhere it ventured into supernatural stuff. Yeah, I'm not joking. Simar is the name of the main protagonist and is a normal human being who got married into a rich family (like every other ekta kpoor tv shows) and then after IDK 1000 episodes later, she turns in a fly. .....yep, I wish I was joking. You can check that on youtube if you don't believe me.

Seriously, the writers don't know what they're writing. They're just doing whatever to milk-out each episodes. Another problem with these shows is that, they just never want to end. Some shows starts with a good message but then after like 50 episodes when the message is conveyed and the goal is achieved, the best thing we must do for the show for it to remain as good as it is, is to end the fucking show, right? But Nope! They just keep going and going and going and going and going...I remember when I was nine years old, my mom used to watch this one serial called 'Yeh rishta kya kehla tha hain'. I finished my school and started college and the show was still going on. After reading your question, I simply googled to see if the serial was still on going but thankfully they ended it after 14 YEARS! WITH 4000+ EPISODES! 4 FUCKING THOUND EPISODES!!? WTF IS THIS EVEN ABOUT? One piece could never. Oh before I forget, 'Yeh rishta kya kehla tha hain' is also a soap opera. So as you see, unlike k-dramas that ends with about 20 to 22 episodes per season, Indian tv serials doesn't end. This also burdens the writers because they have to keep churning out new drama for each episode and after some time, its clear that they are running out of ideas. Writers are also human beings. If they are ordered to writer each episode everyday, they would obviously feel burned out and run out ideas, which would lead them writing shit like this:

and also the funny clips you saw on youtube. Unlike K-drama, whose episodes are once or twice a week, indian tv shows are daily (except for sat and sun) and there would be a watch party in my house which starts right after 6pm. 6pm is when my family pray and the tv would be on around that time, because my family members don't wanna miss a single scene. It starts at 6pm and ends at around 9 or 10pm on avg. depending on the number of serials they watch.

Now earlier when I said about Indian tv shows having no identity, well, almost all tv serials are centered around 'saas-bahu' drama. No matter what the story is, everything ends up being a story about a rich family wearing heavy makeup and saris and their boring household affairs where the daughter in laws and mother in laws try to conspire against each other for no reason and the men in these serials are nothing but props. Also there is always this grandma character who for some reason never dies despite having grandkids and those grandkids having grandkids and even if one of those grandkids die, this old lady never does.

Another thing, which I'm quite embarrassed to say is that, Ekta didi had been trying so hard to remake many popular american shows like the Vampire dairies and the Game of thrones. Now personally, I have not watched either of them. Ekta didi has tried remaking Vampire diaries and Twilight 3 times! The first one is called 'pyaar ki yeh ek kahaani' was something my sister used to watch. It was fine at first but soon becomes boring as hell. There is no story or setup or mythology, nothing. She just made it because she wanted to copy Twilight, because it was a blockbuster around that time. Her second attempt was 'Fanaah' and I don't remember it at all despite it having well known actors, it flopped so hard. Her third attempt and the most embarrassing one is the recent remake of the Vampire diaries who's name I don't even remember and I don't care to look it up, because I'm so embarrassed to even talk about it. Yeah, that's why.

You what's the best and worst thing about India? India is a country that has people speaking many languages. I come from the South and I speak Malayalam. There are other languages like Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati etc. Although I don't speak most of them, I do understand them. That's great. But you know what is not great? The tv shows that I mentioned above, they are all in Hindi. Which means....THERE ARE TV SHOWS LIKE THAT FOR OTHER LANGUAGES AROUND INDIA! Like I said, I come from the south, so my family watches Malayalam tv shows and although they are not as cancerous as the hindi ones, they are still shit and the writers doesn't know when to end it. I swear to god, if my grandma understood every languages in this world, she would watch every tv serials like this forever.

Now the audience. Basically all ages can watch these. But, not everyone wants to. Especially we young teenagers and people with brains, don't wanna watch these kinds of serials because we know it's not worth our time. Instead of watching that, we'd rather waste our time watching a normal anime or manga or play games or even study. The only people who watch these are kids (as in babies) who don't know what the fuck is going on but watches them because others are watching it, grandparents because they don't have anything to do in life so they just watch for entertainment, and people who have no job irl and watch these shows just to taste that spicy drama that we don't get to taste irl. I mean, I won't blame them, who the hell would wash laptops in real life with a dish soap? They all gather and form a watch party and once this starts, no one is allowed to disturb them. My grandpa was bedridden, so my grandma would feed him dinner before 6pm every night so that he won't disturb her during her shows. My dad told me that the watch party is so intense that they won't even be conscious about their surroundings. He said "Even if a robber enters the house, steals the things around the house, makes coffee and leave, these idiots still won't know." and he's not exaggerating.

Also let me tell you, its not always been like this. In the earlier days, before Ekta didi became a producer, Indian tv serials were not like this. There used to be good tv serials with good messages and not to forget the epics 'Mahabarath' and 'Ramayana' these are literal gold even to this day. But now, Ekta didi is the Queen to indian television, so we can't do anything about it. :(

[bestworstcase]

Does it ever bother you when people slide back into culturally Christian thinking even as they simultaneously acknowledge the dangers of that kind of thinking in media?

Like with the Curious Cat and Salem?

it irritates me when folks try to pick arguments with me on the basis of their punitive moral readings, and in general unless the text in question is an actual morality play any textual analysis done from a christian moral lens is pretty worthless because most writers don’t write stories with the intention of teaching christian moral lessons. but when i see it happening out in the wilds i kind of just roll my eyes and think mean thoughts on my way past.

with the cat specifically i’m just finding it really hysterical. people are more melodramatically aggro about this cat than the tts fandom was about zhan tiri and that’s saying something—and it’s so funny to me because the cat’s villainous reveal is like. save ruby from neo -> betray ruby -> explain motives (the motives are laughably easy to resolve) -> neo saves ruby from the cat -> the cat possesses neo -> the next episode opens with known cat hater jaune arc having a “the cat was right” epiphany which gets them all to the tree -> the next encounter with the cat begins comically and the cat doesn’t turn adversarial until wbyj are standing between them and their (perceived) way out.

like this could not. more clearly be telegraphing an imminent turnaround. the cat is “power of friendship the villain” on easy mode with training wheels and helpful tutorial pop ups. and then the fandom largely is like oooooh i can’t wait for ruby to unlock super mega awesome god powers in the tree so she can vaporize this horrid demonic little BEAST. i wish them enjoyment of their two weeks of slavering hatred before 9.10 blindsides them. lol

[petrichoraline]

Tag 9 people you want to get to know better

i did this some time ago but most answers are gonna be different so let's go!! thank youu, @fangirlmedstudentblog and @markpakin 💞

Three Ships

TinnGun - no surprises here, these two have become everyone's comfort couple so quickly

HiraKiyoi - again, not a shocker in the slightest, they are my insane comfort bfs

DaisyIntouch - in honour of opp's viral moment with The7's Get Loose i can't not mention the most gentle, sweetest couple in SCOY; i wish their arc was handled a bit better, it felt rushed by the end; they're amazing nonetheless

First Ever Ship

let's go with first bl ship (live action) which i beliiieeve is kenji and shiro from kinou nani tabeta? and if it's not them it might be junjae and takuya from the lover

Last Song

Last Movie

i procrastinated on this just so the answer would be worth it (cause i watched a mediocre french movie but mostly didn't pay attention and that didn't sound like a good answer); the movies i saw today instead of the indian movie im procrastinating on seeing:

She's Dating the Gangster (2014) - this philippino movie made me realise that netflix's "true love" category should've been called "heartbreak" but they renamed it so well

the intros and summaries truly suck because i thought i was going into a light "fake dating" romcom with a pair of cute silly teens as the leads! what i got instead was so sad and a tad bit melodramatic that at the end i didn't know how to feel.. i did cry though! i was hanging in there and yet it got me; it's a sweet movie, although it could be overwhelming, and i would recommend it! it's kind of my fave out of the three, i wasn't too sure how it was gonna end too; one really strong point is the sweet twist on the makeover trope that the movie doesn't even use to promote itself, it's kinda naturally in there and it made me so happy

Jumping From High Places (2022) - this italian romantic-but-more-about-self-growth movie about a young woman with anxiety was not technically confusing but it had me bored halfway through (again, the sample video thingy netflix shows had an energy that imo was not there throughout the film, i found it misleading); i'm just happy i picked up on smth that is probably supposed to be a surprising reveal hehe; i wouldn't not recommend it, i feel like it could be relatable and a sweet experience for some

Your Place or Mine (2023) - a typical hollywood movie, what can i say, it's been pushed onto me and i was kinda interested, gonna lie if i say the cast wasn't a part of the reason i caved in (i'm curious bout what kutcher and witherspoon are doing now, yeah);

i think it's kinda bland, it had some good sentiments but at the end i found the female lead too unlikeable and the story kind of stretched out and a bit rushed at the same time (maybe it was actually well paced and a proper length, just not my thing, that's possible. the gray overlay (?) was so depressing though, even her bright and green home felt awfully unwelcoming)

Currently Watching

literally only My School President lol everything else is in either "on-hold", "plan to watch" or "have to catch up on!!"

Currently Reading

oh how i want to say svsss vol.2 but i'm stuck once again, i mostly read long posts and student books, not even manga

Currently Consuming

"too much media at once in theory and not nearly as much in practice" is a valid answer, isn't it lol

Currently Craving

more convos w moots ig

i might be tagging people who have done it or don't like tag games, it's very hard to track these sometimes so sorry 🫶 @hello-n-goodbye @himbodelamain @soundgun @sillsif @jingyanwang @catwalkninja @catboyjosten @belladonna-and-the-sweetpeas @chinzhillababy