#and also PLOT hooks....ideal. literally ideal.

[barrencelenny]

one thing I loved to do when watching the flash as it aired was try and figure out how to get Len to reappear in the show + I love pov outsider so one of the funniest situations I had would be len reappearing early on during Julian Albert’s time on the show.

ideally the time stream drops len back into central city before Julian joins team flash, but after Barry knows len’s dead (because I like pain.) so based on episode air dates I think that’s between 29th November, 2016 (invasion crossover when ray tells Barry) and 6th December ( the midseason finale of season three is I think when julian is free from savitar/alchemy?) Len’s been dead since 12th May, so the time stream keeps him for like six and a half months before spitting him back out?

anyways, julian already dislikes Barry because he’s chronically late, probably got his job through nepotism, keeps taking personal calls during work hours, keeps clocking out early to deal with flash stuff etc etc etc (and as alchemy he hates the flash so there’s probably some subconscious memory of that too)

and once Barry finds out that len is alive that boy is DELIGHTED. He died a hero’s death he KNEW there was GOOD IN HIM. And he was so emo about his fav villain being dead but now he’s BACK :D

with Len’s records being deleted (which julian finds extremely suspicious) and anything after that cleared by the president (was everyone getting presidential pardons canon or fanon? I forget, but either way you know Barry would push to get len a posthumous one) he’s off the hook for his father’s murder and then breaking out of prison. So now Len’s just waltzing into Barry’s lab (read: break in via the windows because why would he want to see the cops on the ground floor when he doesn’t have to) and Barry’s crimes (being late, having guests in the lab, leaving early) increases manifold. Julian is So Pissed.

he talks to singh about it but technically there’s nothing he can do, and the one person that would be on his side re: the snart thing is Joe, who has to keep the flash secret from him (and is also Barry’s father, seriously this must be nepotism?) so julian has no allies in his crusade against the Barry/Len bickering/flirting that he is forced to witness

I literally have no plot to this except pissing julian off tbh (it may only be a week but it’s the worst week of his life) (if anything the Barry is the flash reveal goes worse because hello???? That is a clear conflict of interest Barry??? Why are you So Bad at being an enforcer of the law?????) (this is all part of my acab agenda and Barry just permanently resigns from the ccpd ☺️)

[yesimwriting]

I agree that Art and Patrick need each other.

How do you think their dynamic would change (if at all) if they were in a throuple with someone?

I want to know your Challengers opinions on EVERYTHING but I suck at coming up with things to ask

this is such a fun ask!

sorry if i'm all over the place, i just had so many thoughts :)

disclaimer: this is based on my interpretation of the plot and characters, so it's very opinion based,, and if you see them differently that's totally okay bc room for interpretation and analysis is what makes an artistic work art :)

okay so i think some of the dynamic changes would depend on the personality of the third person, if that person is similar to tashi (and they actually managed to get into an official relationship) i think everyone would be happy but still a little toxic

this isn't me fully blaming tashi for all their issues btw!! i think fully assigning blame to one individual ruins the point of the movie and oversimplifies their relationships, but i digress

i think part of the reason that the plot of the movie worked out the way it did is bc tashi helped bring out the "hubris" of both art and patrick--patrick's pride and art's ability to trap himself in his head

to me, these are the main traits capable of ruining their relationship

wanting someone like tashi drove patrick's desire to be the "best", i see him as someone with a slightly obsessive personality,, and having someone so desirable, strong willed, and talented kind of becomes an ego thing

however, wanting someone like tashi works the opposite way for someone like art,, he wants to prove himself "worthy" so bad it traps him in his head and actually makes him more insecure

so with patrick constantly working to maintain his improved ego and art struggling to keep up the way he sees himself, ofc things get a little toxic bc even though they care about each other, it's more about their headspace than actually wanting to compete with each other

also i think tashi wanted to want art more than she wanted patrick, but she just wasn't there, which brings me to the dynamic i think would work best

patrick cares about art sm, idc argue with me if u want but i will never be convinced that patrick wasn't in love with art that the entire movie would have been maybe 20 minutes long if art said he wanted to fix their friendship/relationship

this isn't to say that art doesn't love patrick, i just think that they express love in different ways

patrick is so open in his affectionateness, and that's ideal for keeping art from getting stuck in his head, and art loves in a way that emphasizes consistency, which is ideal for someone like patrick, who places sm emphasis on external factors when it comes to his self worth

bc of this i think that the ideal third person for them would be someone that prioritizes art a little more,, i'm not saying someone that would love art more, but someone that'd take care to focus on art's feelings to make sure that art feels like he exists at the center of things

that might sound like a reach, but if you think of the moments in which tashi and patrick connected most, i think it makes sense, for example:

in the dorm room scene when tashi and patrick are about to hook up, they're literally talking about and complimenting art, when tashi and patrick hook up in atlanta it's after finding out about tashi's engagement to art (which 'proves' that tashi loves art), and they hook up in the car after tashi explains why she'd want patrick to throw the match, which implies she still cares about him

also the conversation in which patrick accuses tashi of hating art is arguably one of their least connected moments, even if he's flirting a little, that moment kind of felt like patrick was probing, trying to see where tashi was at

if they were in a throuple, i think they'd be happy, especially with someone that balanced out their pride and insecurities

patrick would become even more affectionate, he's definitely the type to pull in a s/o and kiss them mid sentence and then say he just couldn't help it

art would be even more open about his feelings, he's the type to mention how much he loves his s/o so casually it actually knocks the wind out of you

[kingdomoftyto]

Hi, happy spooky month, I have a ✨manga rec✨!! And in the spirit of the season, it's a horror story! >:3c

I want to spoil as little as possible because I went into this manga essentially COMPLETELY blind and, honestly, imho, I imagine it's the ideal way to experience the story. I literally first heard about it from a random youtube comment on a video about an entirely different manga--one which, mind you, had VERY different themes, which colored my preconceptions and added to the surprises for me later on!

ANYWAY, what I mean by all that is I'm going to start with the simplest possible summary of the premise, and if that's intriguing enough for you to give it a shot, then I recommend diving right in!! But, if you still need more of an in-depth, slightly spoilery rec? Then I'll gush a bit more under a cut to see if I can hook your attention.

With all that out of the way,

The Summer Hikaru Died is a horror/supernatural story about a high school boy named Yoshiki whose best friend (Hikaru) went missing in the mountains outside of town. What comes back is... something else. It looks, acts, and talks like Hikaru, but it's not him, and Yoshiki is the only one who seems to notice.

The only other thing I knew going in was that the commenter made a brief mention of the "Hikaru"-thing protecting Yoshiki, which seemed odd but intriguing alongside the rest of the premise.

So if that's enough for you (plus the fact that I'm telling you I haven't stopped thinking about this story since I read it two weeks ago), then please check it out! There are only 5 volumes so far!! Suffer through the wait for the rest with meeeeee ಥωಥ

More spoilery extended rec below the cut:

📣THESE MOTHERFUCKERS GAY*!!!📣

📣GOOD📣FOR📣THEM!!!📣

I know what you're thinking, and YES, it appears to be BL between the TIMID HIGH SCHOOL BOY and the ELDRITCH HORROR WEARING THE SKIN OF HIS BEST FRIEND.

And it's SO GOOD.

No SERIOUSLY, for real though, I had NO inkling going into this that it was even in the realm of possibility that it would involve romance

Let alone a nuanced, slow burn, VERY QUEER romance layered with ruminations on grief and identity and one's relationship to society

(ON THIS NOTE, I must advise up front that I DO NOT KNOW if this story will end in tragedy... It's still ongoing, after all! BUT, I think either way it will be an amazing story and... maybe I'm just delusional, and though this may be considered spoilery in itself, the most recent chapters have me optimistic that we might indeed be on track for some sort of happy ending... eventually.)

Anyway, I cannot express enough how incredible it was to uncover this aspect of the story organically without knowing about it beforehand. Born and raised in a rural village, Yoshiki is deep in the closet, and that's reflected in how subtle the hints are at the beginning. Over time, it starts to become clearer and clearer, but always with a layer of plausible deniability, at least if you're not expecting it to take such a queer turn. ("Hikaru" literally makes a ton of "no homo" style jokes early on, which... god don't get me started--)

As you might guess, Yoshiki had feelings for the real Hikaru before his disappearance, and ooh boy does that affect how much the grief and guilt and fear play into things. It's delightfully fucked up.

So yeah. I 100% expected the plot of this manga to revolve around the intrigue of the monster finding out Yoshiki knew its secret, the fear of not knowing when the monster would strike next, etc, but NO! That particular "reveal" happens within the first 10 pages, and then the entity just kind of... lives the life of a high school kid! He's kind of a little shit, but for the most part, he's a nice boy! Yoshiki is the only one who knows who "Hikaru" really is, but much of the tension comes from him having to come to terms with that, rather than the fear itself.

...and also the OTHER horrors and mysteries. There's tension there too, considering it's where the actual plot lies, lmAO. Just because "Hikaru" isn't a totally evil monster doesn't mean there aren't a lot of grotesque and scary things in here. Most of this manga I would classify more in the "supernatural" genre than "horror", but in those moments it DOES delve into horror, it goes pretty damn hard. I remember more than one moment where I felt sharp regret about reading it in the dark at 2 a.m. 💀

Still, if you dare, it's worth the read. I can't recommend it enough.

P.S. I wouldn't say it's a "funny" manga but it does nonetheless have an amazing sense of humor. There are a handful of actual jokes and gags that did have me rolling, but more importantly there's an unspoken, implicit acknowledgement of how absurd this all is, in that way only good self-aware horror can achieve. Take the main character Yoshiki for example. The image I used of him up above? The unsettling camera angle, the haunted look in his eyes? That's just how he always looks. The panel after that one shows that all he's looking at on his phone is a text from his sister reminding him to pick up wasabi flakes.

P.P.S. There's apparently an anime adaptation coming out sometime? I'll probably watch it, but I expect something will be lost in translation. We'll see, I suppose.

*- To be precise: Yoshiki is gay. The creature that takes Hikaru's place has a more nuanced (and alien) perspective on sexuality, and... I'll leave it at that.

[quill-of-thoth]

Letters from Watson: The Boscombe Valley Mystery

Crimes in Context

Blackmail, again The mystery in Boscombe is remarkably similar in structure to Gloria Scott. Not only is the crime here committed by a former criminal who turned their life around to live as a productive community member, after a time of being blackmailed by a previous representative of the law / legitimate authority (which matches Trevor Sr. in all respects except the "actually committed a murder" part) but the story focuses on how the case affects the innocent adult children in that situation.

It has less-strong similarities to other blackmailing plots in the stories, (see The Second Stain) in being impossible to resolve without the death of the blackmailer, and difficult even then. I will save a full analysis of the Holmes' series attitude towards blackmail compared to other crime for it's proper place in Charles Augustus Milverton, but Holmes very clearly believes that it's not his place to deliver people ridding themselves of a blackmailer to justice, so long as there is any possible way to prevent someone else from taking the fall.

Bigamy, technically

The lack of follow through in the story to McCarthy Jr's marriage to a woman of lower class, (or to her statement that actually she's already married, whoops!) appears to have a lot to do with the class of the alleged bride. In the Noble Bachelor, the fact that the wedding is highly publicized and the bride is briefly presumed dead heighten the drama, but the class and wealth of the engaged couple definitely color Holmes and Watson's perspectives on Hattie's impulsive marriage to her gold rush sweetheart. They are much less sympathetic to the unnamed barmaid who has married McCarthy Jr. To untangle it from the period typical classism and misogyny tangle, lets look at this marriage from her perspective. It's 1890, you're a youngish lady working at a bar in Bristol, making a relatively average-ish wage compared to every other woman you know. (Because you do NOT know women who have fifty pounds a year and work as governesses or typists - your daddy does or did physical labor of some kind, your mama worked in some kind of physical job all your life too, your sisters and cousins and neighbors are never gonna be the idealized house angel of the middle class. You aren't in a workhouse and you aren't dying of working with caustic chemicals in a factory, life is certainly better than it could be! You even have enough education to be literate!) You meet a man who you really want to bang. Despite being above your station he also wants to bang, but hooking up with him is out of the question on both religious grounds, wanting to have a good life where your neighbors don't scorn you grounds, and the practical considerations of wanting a guarantee that this fling won't leave you worse off financially if, say, your boss finds out you're banging someone out of wedlock. Even if you were a hundred percent certain you could keep actually banging this guy a secret, effective birth control is not a thing yet, safe abortions are not a thing yet, and even if you're aware of the theoretical existence of either, even trying to find out more information about how you'd get them could have dire social, financial, or moral consequences. But he's also aware that hooking up is immoral and might send him to hell, so he's willing to marry you. Your best option is to low-key marry the fuck out of this dude. This way if you fall pregnant you've got a piece of paper somewhere that says your baby is not a bastard, the banging you've been doing whenever he bothers to drop by is absolutely moral and justified, and in your wildest romantic dreams you live a life where you have access to nice things because he's willing to spend money that a laborer will never have on you. This is the kind of nefarious "clutches" you've got young McCarthy in: a perfectly sensible arrangement that's only hindered by the fact that your have to keep it secret because your husband knows his family won't approve. (Unless you've got a similar thing going with a sailor as well, then you have to keep it secret or somebody might put two and two together and realize that you absolutely have banged more than one man and ONE of those marriages means that the other is invalid. You've been banging out of wedlock! Technically.)

I'm frankly not certain if the Bermuda Dockyard husband letter is the truth. Sailors are not known for their fidelity and any relationship with one would be difficult at the time, since they'd be away and un-contactable so often and for so long. On the other hand, put yourself back in the shoes of our friend the Bristol Barmaid. One day you wake up and read in the newspaper that your secret husband of two years, who you don't know terribly well despite the marriage and all the banging, has murdered his father in a fit of rage and is likely to be hanged for it. You're shocked and you probably want as far as possible away from the social and legal ramifications of that, so if you instantly write to him and make up a story about having already been married to a sailor to make sure he doesn't presume he has any connection to you in the future, I don't particularly blame you. It's certainly less messy than many other methods of separating from your husband we'll see in the stories

[asterpollux]

Hello! My name is Oli and this is my 1x1 roleplay finding blog.

Upfront, I am 32 and will not RP with people under 21. I am from the UK, and am trans masc nonbinary (he/they pronouns, no preference).

At the moment I'm seeking lazy literate, multi times a day replying, third person POV writing roleplay partners. Some of my favourite genres and settings include medieval high fantasy; modern with magic; Sci-fi; Cyberpunk; Solarpunk; Steampunk; real life/modern world; and finally historical periods e.g. from the Ancient world to the early 2000's. I tend to prefer MalexMale, MalexNonbinary, and associated pairings, generally. I will sometimes play a more Masculine role in other pairing types, too, such as MalexFemale, so feel free to ask nicely. I am much pickier about these, though. Trans and otherwise queer characters are always, always welcome.

I like playing older men and/or playing against them, either as an older man myself or a slightly younger character. I'm 32 and find life experience brings something to an RP that an 18 year old character just can't. I will not RP against muses or with muns who are under 21, and generally prefer relationship muses to be over 25 and have a faceclaim that fits that, if we're using FCs at all and not just descriptions. Generally my character will have at least a Carrd Dossier style profile but I often write some of their history too. This will be provided on request of course, or when we start to RP.

Most of my favourite faceclaims are in their 30s or 40s, though some are older than that.

I am not much of a fandom roleplayer and tend to only write as OCs who have real world faceclaims or no faceclaim at all.

I am happy to double/multimuse so long as we both get fair time RPing our favourite pairings. I strictly only RP on Discord in personal servers at the moment, though I could be convinced to do otherwise for the right plot/pairing/etc. I have Nitro and def don't mind using Tupperbox or similar too, in fact I prefer it highly for anything multimuse.

I have very few guidelines which can be summed up with this: Don't ghost me, bring the same enthusasm and energy I will have to the RP and plotting, and talk to me OOC if there's any kind of problem! RL always comes first. I love moodboards, playlists and generally bejng really into my characters and their loves and lives.

I definitely enjoy smut and ERP, but it has to be based in a plot for me. Same with adult themes otherwise, and kink or dead dove. I don't have many triggers or squicks, and I'm very much open to kinkier/darker plots or scenes. In fact, I can get bored if there's no smut whatsoever in romantic plot lines. Platonic plotlines are different, but generally I like to base an RP around at least one solid romantic couple to be honest with you.

Ideally you'll be someone over 21 who enjoys talking OOC and becoming friends or at least acquaintances, and who loves doing things like playlists, mood boards, graphics and other fun little bits and bobs. You'll also be someone who can reply a few times a day. I am online most of the day due to disability stopping me from working, so while I don't mind slow RPs or ones which vary in intensity, I'd love to find people who can reply as often as possible.

Check out my interest tracker form below and fill it out if you think you'd be interested! I'll then get in touch with you via Discord or Tumblr and we can have a chat.

LINK TBC

You can also check out my guidelines, my contact page, RP ideas and hooks, and my other info at this Carrd link. This link also includes some of my favourite characters profiles too.

LINK TBC

[fandom-fae]

okayy so i just finished watching that new disney peter pan remake (“peter pan and wendy”) (also spoiler warning btw-) and honestly. i liked it actually- like the pacing was a bit weird/kinda too fast imo and i’m not a fan of the ending (but to be fair that’s just bc i generally don’t like the ending where the lost boys leave neverland but peter doesn’t so that one isn’t the films fault), but other than that i think it was really good and fairly well made tbh. i would’ve liked some more musical numbers- like the two pirate sea shanties are okay and i don’t wanna complain but damn there’s so much music potential for a story like this tbh. like you could’ve had a song where peter pan actually sings or wendy (im ignoring the lullaby bc i want a song actually about her yk?) or maybe even a duet with them!!!!! i had hope for new music but well meh.

anyway!!! i loved almost all the visuals in the movie and the instrumental background music was really good too! i liked that it was very obviously inspired by the background music of the original tbh!! and i liked the casting tbh, i actually think all the actors did pretty good jobs !!

and the special effects were really good imo! like- not to compare this to the 2003 peter pan movie, but in that older one i always kinda cringed when characters flew around bc i just idk didn’t like how fake it looked- like obviously that’s bc of technical or budget (or both) limitations but still idk- but this time i actually rly liked the way they did the flying for the most part, especially in the scene where they flew to neverland. i also think the set design was really good!!

AND!!!!! i like how literally every aspect (except for the ending lmao) that i disliked in the animated movie was changed- like tinkerbell isn’t blinded by jealousy anymore, the native characters (or well in this case character, since tiger lilly was kinda the only plot relevant one) aren’t such flat caricatures anymore and hook didn’t act so unbelievably ridiculous yk? also i generally just like how well tinkerbell and wendy and tiger lilly got along tbh, because in the older film as we all know they were written in a almost misogynistic way tbh with the way they were reduced to jealousy so much yk? except for wendy kinda but eh. this modern version is SO MUCH BETTER at that, like i don’t think there was any scene where any of the three were really jealous at all unless i missed something lol.

like idk i just like it. it’s definitely different from the original story and from the older movie but not in a necessarily worse way. its similar enough to be familiar and nostalgic but different enough to have its own charme yk? like its no carbon copy and that’s a good thing because it doesn’t try to be and it doesn’t need to be. it humanised almost every character more (even though the pacing again was kinda not ideal lol but it was still enjoyable)!!

i just think it would’ve been good for the movie to have some more transitional scenes or to drag some moments out longer tbh. like there was no moment in my opinion that was really too long, which is good, but there were a few that i think should’ve been longer tbh. it felt not like the movie was rushed but like the viewer was rushed through the plot yk? like there weren’t really any moments to dwell on a situation or to let it sit, except for when wendy was swept onto that beach and when she walked the plank. those two moments were imo well timed. but like especially that scene in james’ peter’s room could’ve handled a few more moments, or the scene before peter left london again when he was talking to wendy yk?

anyway uwu the cinematography was rly well done too imo, and i definitely liked the fight scenes and that scene when they all arrive in neverland :3 and the set design was very good too !!! i also think i liked all the costumes except maybe wendy’s and hook’s jackets cuz like idk, they’re fine but i’m not vibing with them lol. anyway yeah sjdkdjkdjdk- peter pan’s and tinkerbell’s outfits were really good tho imo. and tinkerbell in general was rly good!! idk the actress’ name but she did a great job and whoever did the casting for this whole movie also did great !!!

[ripplequest]

THE GRAND WEAVING

hello beautiful bubblefolk here is my homebaked worldbuilding system called "The Grand Weaving"! It was heavily inspired by the map making ttrpg The Quiet Year particularly their use of prompt cards. It is intended for 2-6 players however it can also be used solo. There at 14 prompt cards that can be assigned to a suit of playing cards (Joker being 14)

There are 3 Stages of the game:

First Weave

Development

Final Weave

Within a Weaving stage players take turns drawing from a deck of prompts and add their own personal touch to the world being created. There are 3 Steps in your turn:

Create Something! Can be literally anything; a creature, an item, location, etc

Draw from the Deck! Taking a card from the Weaving prompts and resolving it.

Create a Character! Making a character who inhabits the world, no matter how important or minor (for example you could make the ruler of a powerful kingdom that was added, or a wizard or just knows how to create hotdogs)

After all 14 First Weave cards have been used everyone moves onto the Development stage which is an open conversation of people changing, adding or removing anything they would like collectively to develop the world. Finally, the Final Weave is functionally the same as the first but with a different set of 14 Prompts!

Last but not least here is the 28 prompts :)

FIRST WEAVE

An Allpowerful God has manifested, who are they? OR New powerful magic has been discovered, what is it?

There's a giant body of water, what is it? OR There's a giant man-made object, what is it?

What is the most feared predator? OR What is the most commonly domesticated animal

Anicient technology is discovered, what is it? OR A supernatural enviroment is discovered, what is it?

What is the most famous landmark? OR What is something hidden?

What is the most beautiful thing? OR What is the most hideous thing?

There's something in the skies, what is it? OR There's something underground, what is it?

Create a civilsation with a strong ideal OR Create a civilsation with a strong desire.

Create a monster the land fears OR Create a mythical creature with a great legend around them.

What is the strongest military force? OR What is the dominant religious order?

Create a nobility line OR Create the highest title to be earned.

Create a lesser known community OR Create an isolated community.

There's an otherworldly presence, what is it? OR There's a paranormal presence, what is it?

Introduce a mystery OR Introduce a worldchaning invention.

FINAL WEAVE

A tragic death occurs, who was it, what are the consequences? OR A tragic accident occurs, what happened, what are the consequences?

A powerful artifact empowers a group, what is it and what is it capable of? OR A deity pledges to aid a group, who are they and what to they grant?

A supernatural disaster occurs, what is it, what was effected? OR An old prophecy comes true, what is it and what happened?

Another Race is created, who are they? OR Another kingdom is created, where is it?

A conflict breaks out, between who? OR There's a disappearance, what was it?

Create a crime group, what is their defining heist? OR Create a monster, what did it attack?

Create a mystery OR Create a legend.

War tensions begin to brew, between who, why? OR An alliance is made, between who, why?

Magic mutations effect a group, what are they, how? OR A great disease infects a group, what is it, how?

A revolution breaks out, who is revolting, why? OR A great power desparity is put in place, who is on top, how?

Something is stolen, what is it, from who? OR A gift is given, what is it, to who?

A character is now famous, who are they, what did they do? OR A bounty is placed on a character, who are they, what did they do?

Innovations fix a problem, what is the invention, what did it fix? OR A hero fixes a problem, who is the hero, what did they fix?

Create a plot twist OR Create a plot hook.

[ma-lark-ey]

So I did this with Harry Potter, I’m working on doing it with Mortal Instruments. Only fair I do it with Grishaverse trilogy as well.

Will I read the novellas? Lol no probably not. Am I having a bopping time with the main series? Yeah. It’s good distraction of being a trans high schooler in America right now.

Here’s what I knew going in:

Nothing! I knew it was connected to Six of Crows and set up the fantasy better so I was recommended to read it first so I DID. i had no idea about ANY of this plot.

Spoilers for all of Shadow & Bone trilogy. I have thoughts <<3

1.) Shadow & Bone ( 24/3/23-27/3/23 )

(8/10)

I really liked this first book !! I wasn’t particularly. Attached to any one character but I will say that I fell for the Darkling hook line and sinker.

Alina is. Alina? I don’t hate her. I don’t love her. I think she’s a pretty basic main character, she’s definitely not my favourite mc ever. I think she’s certainly the right fit here, I know some books I read and go “this main character is NOT for this” but Alina !! She works.

I think this book could’ve been more interesting if Alina, rather than being like “the chosen one” was the kind of person who decided to make themself the chosen one. Does that make sense?

All this critique makes it sound like I hated this book, I think it’s genuinely really wonderful and totally worth it’s hype. I made playlists for this book. Like not just my standard “title - author” playlist. I’ve got playlists for Alina and the Darkling and Nikolai (WE’LL GET TO HIM.)

2.) Siege & Storm (27/3/23-30/3/23)

(7/10)

This book IS GOOD. im going to say that because I did enjoy. Almost all of this.

I think Mal and Nikolai’s little. Whatever that was. Was so funny and I think that so many problems could be avoided if they just had a little kiss. Throuple it up baby. Alina has two hands. Also Mal you’re DOWN BAD for the prince and we can ALL tell.

I LOOOOVED the pirate arc. Obsessed with it. Gobbled it down. It was SOO good. Love pirates. Love Sturmhond not taking the Darklings shit. Love the fact that none of these people take any of the grishas shit.

LOVED ALINA PUNCHING HIM.

i think Alina and Nikolai and Alina and Mal are both equally good endgames honestly. I wouldnt be mad with either. But IDEALLY they’re all holding hands and making out. I am PUSHING the Nikolai/Mal agenda. I am FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE.

The ending was mid. I didnt like it very much. I think the Darkling STILL SURVIVING was BULL.

And if NIKOLAI IS DEAD I WILL NOT FINISH RUINS AND RISING. I WONT

especially if we get a Darkling redemption arc like I think we might be.

I literally. Nikolai and the twins? I’d die for them. Alina and Mal can die and I wouldn’t mourn but if ANYTHING HAPPENS TO MY PIRATES I’M RUINED.

Be back when I finish R&R.

3.) Ruins & Rising (30/3/23–5/4/23)

8/10

My vow going into this book was that I’d be happy is Nikolai lived. I had so much faith. SO MUCH FAITH!! For 240 pages!! I was a FOOL!!! I was a stupid optimist who thought my lovely little princeling would get to live a happy life!! I was rooting for them !!

I WAS WRONG !!! Death is too good for our Nikolai even though he’s literally never done anything wromg EVER !!

Hi guys. This man ^^ up there?? In those paragraphs ^^ he was in the agonies.

Me? ME NOW? Me who just finished Ruins & Rising and is living my best life holding my babygirl? I’m thriving.

I. Literally. Texted my mate who had read this series and said “Does Nikolai get a happy ending yes or mo I’m dnfing if he doesnt. I cant do this.” And GUYS!!

He’s KING!!! KOROL REZNI!!!! My BOY!!

He is baby girl.

You know I COULD talk about how Alina’s relationship with the Darkling is very good portrayal of grooming victims/codependent relationships and I could go into how Mal’s whole deal was batshit in the best way or how Tamar is the love of my life. But this isn’t a book review.

This is Lark. Being gay. For the bastard pirate harpy prince boy. On main. I will NEVER be normal about him. I’m holding him like a soaked cat after a bath. Dont you love him.

Anyways yeah not doing a post mortum on every book like I did with HP bc I have no further tjoughts on any of the other books.

Stan Nikolai Lantsov, haters be SILENCED. I’ve heard that he has his own book and I??? Society isnt ready for me when I read that.

I would’ve liked to know what Alina and Mal changed their names to. Thats all I can think of in my hazy mess of Nikolai thoughts.

Also in my perfect world they’re in a throuple. Maybe Tolya is in there and its a polycule but its MUCH funnier if he’s acearo and covers for their stupid asses all the time and is SO annoyed by his king and his kings girlfriend and his kings boyfriend.

Thank you. That is all.

Time to go start Six of Crows so my little sister can get off my back about Kaz <<3

[chemos-factories]

Would love to hear you talk in more detail about your thoughts on episodic chapters/writing, e.g. pros/cons, fun things it allows you to do, any tips and tricks, etc.!

so to me, the main draw of episodic writing is that i don't have to worry about an overarching plot. i struggle a lot with connecting the disparate scenes and scenarios i imagine in my brain, so giving myself permission to not have to do that is what keeps writing fun for me. (incidentally this is also why i enjoy running ttrpg games so much, all i have to do is come up with a hook, some possible endings, and story beats, and the players fill in the connective tissue for me) a downside, i suppose, is that it can leave a timeline and characterizations feeling somewhat hazy. this doesn't particularly bother me much, but if you're interested in writing something heavy on the character development, episodic format is probably not the ideal for you. as for tips. literally just write out a single conversation between some characters. something low-stakes, that gives a snapshot of their dynamics. i'll put some of the writing i've done for godswap as an example of what i mean under the cut

[shoujo-helado]

my semi-long rant of a literal who

i’m going to go on a small rant bc this has been bugging me since march and i can’t keep this to myself any longer. SPOILERS BELOW +++ if you've only watched the ova of magic user's club, i don't blame you for not knowing there's a tv series. i initially thought they were two episodes until i realised the rest of them were unavailable in my country. the series focuses on the relationships between the characters whilst highlighting all of the shenanigans they get into. one example i can think of right away is when sae and aburatsubo are stuck in the club room - meanwhile on the other side of the school nanaka literally has to convince takeo to stop being a wimp and go look for them bc there is no way sae would “just leave and then think there's nothing wrong with that”. takeo then has a minute-long exaggerated monologue about his feelings for sae, which was a treat to watch. i’m a sucker for slice of life so i binge watched the show in less than a week. now, here's the issue with one of the characters - in fact i can't bring myself to call him a character since he's devoid of any personality, especially for a show that runs for 24 minutes. i fail to see the reason why the little blonde boy was included in the series. jurika is not human, but a magical construct given life by sae's true ideals and wishes about magic - which makes sense since her magic is so powerful. i’m relieved that they gave an explanation because i initially thought he was a second-year who was curious about magic but was too shy to ask anyone from the club (don’t ask) 

he's introduced as this “mysterious silhouette” gazing at sae at the end of ep2. tbh, i was hooked - at first i thought it was a reincarnation of jeff-kun until i realised “nah the little bear isn't coming back”

he's just there. whispering words of nothingness into the mcs' ears like “you should realise the true power of magic!” and “you shouldn't hide your feelings for this specific person so i'll keep reminding you until you do!” it felt cheap. i’m not saying there had to be gazillions of plot twists to make the show interesting, but at LEAST a spoonful of mystery would of been nice! and by that i don't mean “introduce a supposedly important character and then do absolutely nothing with them.” all of my red flags went up when i reached ep10. i love takeo a lot, don't get me wrong, but the fact that he casually let jurika into the club bc “he knows much more magic than we do” okay but where's the proof? would of liked to see that he wasn't all talk and no action HOWEVER we see how much jurika is capable of.. nearing the end of the second last episode. the fight scene kept me at the edge of my seat (which is a surprise since no fight scene has left me like that) afterwards i could come up with one question: “why tho?” what was the point? and why was he suspected to be a threat when he has done absolutely nothing throughout the series? DO NOT get me started on that scene also in ep10. why did he steal sae's first kiss?? that was not for you, that was for takeo!! i had to pause the video and process what the diddly darn i watched. i can't think of any reason as to why that happened. shock value perhaps? ion know.. lastly, sae and takeo's confession in ep13? either i’m terrible at recognising unexplained things or i’m just dumb overall but i can't tell if they're in a relationship. maybe the manga could tell me more, if there weren't 3 chapters fan-translated. i’m super desperate to get my hands on them, only problem is i have never purchased anything online. gotta persuade a relative of mine to help me out ANYWAYS im going to wrap up now and i hope my disorganised rant made sense! see yaa

[hkcomplex]

(re: @likelyseraphim)

Ehh, sort of. Not a very good one. Language and translation are all about context. 葬送 very much does not at all mean “Slayer”, and “Frieren the Slayer”, absent any context, is simply an incorrect translation of 葬送のフリーレン. It’s just not what those words mean. However, when Lügner calls Frieren 葬送のフリーレン, the line is clearly meant to be an intimidating nickname which suggests a lot of killing, so “Frieren the Slayer” very much conveys the same feeling in a way that a literal translation of the source syntax simply cannot. But unless the reader already knew it was supposed to be a nickname meant to suggest mass-murder, they’d never interpret 葬送のフリーレン that way.

(Also, most of the demons speak using sort of unusually-polite language in Japanese. As a nickname, it sounds a little weird even in the original Japanese, but given how the demons speak it basically sounds like something they’d say.)

But the demon-slaying is really the B-plot of the story; the overarching theme is about how this long-lived elf Frieren experiences the comparatively-short lives and deaths of her friends and loved ones. You sometimes see the title 葬送のフリーレン translated as “Frieren at the Funeral”, which is a pretty literal translation, but it gets the meaning of the title across insofar as it speaks to this primary theme.

… Of course, on top of that is the added cultural context that a title is meant to be an eye-catching hook for prospective readers, and should ideally convey the general tone of the work. “Frieren at the Funeral” is a bad title because A) it’s not very eye-catching, B) it sounds weird, and worst of all C) it suggests that it was translated by someone who thinks that translations ought to be extremely literal, even when they would lose the feeling of the original text and make something sound weird. “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End” is again definitely not what the original title means, but it’s a good title, has Frieren’s name in it, and conveys a sort of classical-epic-adventurey vibe which fits the story well.

There is a fairly significant bit of wordplay in Frieren that will escape the notice of most English-speaking viewers, but I quite like it so I’ll explain it here. The title of the series in Japanese is 葬送のフリーレン (Sousou no Furiiren). “Furiiren” is of course Frieren; “sousou” means “funeral rites” or “attending a funeral”, but can literally be translated as “sending to the grave”. Since the story opens with Frieren watching her old adventuring pals growing old and passing away, we’re naturally led to the simple interpretation of the title: she’s attending her friends’ funerals.

(The full official English title is Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, because literal translations rarely make catchy titles.)

Later, as Frieren is fighting Aura, Lügner explains that Frieren is the most prolific demon-killer in history. In the English translations I’ve seen, this earns her the nickname “Frieren the Slayer”. But in the original Japanese, this nickname is 葬送のフリーレン: “Sousou no Furiiren”, the title of the series.

In this context, this line (and the title, too) could be more literally interpreted as “Frieren, who sends you to your grave”. It also means the line is a little more impactful in Japanese — you’re supposed to point at the screen and yell “hey that’s the name of the show!!”

There’s really just no way to preserve wordplay like this through translation so I can’t fault the translators at all for not trying, but it’s a fun thing that’s worth pointing out nonetheless. I just love that this was clearly something the author was setting up from the very beginning.

[crystalelemental]

Triangle Strategy continues. I'm on chapter...13? I think? I forget exactly.

To go through decision points I've had to make:

Visit Aesfrost (I did both in the demo, and fuck Hyzante in particular)

Refuse to surrender Roland.

Refuse alliance with that one house I can't remember. Silvio. That loser.

Reveal the illicit salt trade.

Refuse to hand over the Rosellans.

About to make a choice on battle tactics, haven't decided yet.

The game's events are coherent and interesting enough. If that sounds lukewarm, it's because it kinda is. I feel like the most interesting tidbits tend to be in the history books, which is not really where I'd want the focus of the game. Don't get me wrong, the general political machinations are interesting, and I think as a novel this would be pretty engaging. It's just...this is a game. And I'm doing a lot more reading than playing. Moreover, this being a game, they can insert little side shots that...kinda completely ruin the vibe of a game that attempts to force meaningful decisions.

Take the Silvio situation. Now, in an ideal situation, I would be looking at this through Serenoa's eyes and thinking on what I know. Logically, I'd probably take that deal. We're running on empty and can't fight this forever. But. The game insists on having a bunch of side scenes, including one of Silvio actively cursing your success in the last battle as ruining his intent. And because that scene played...we know exactly where this is going, long before it goes there. In a novel, a brief aside would just tip off the reader about what's coming, and probably be innocuous enough, or a hook of "oh man, that motherfucker, how are they gonna get out of this?" But when I'm playing the game, the tension of the decision is gone. I know what you're up to. Serenoa wouldn't, but I do, and I can now make decisions outside the scope of what the character should know and feel.

Which leads to problem 2: pacing and the general gameplay loop. So far, the voting sessions have been fairly...let's say not my favorite. In some situations like Silvio, it's actively annoying thanks to knowing exactly which way this goes regardless of your choice. Even when the decision is a bit more complex and you don't know exactly how things are going to go, sometimes there's a really obvious answer and instead of just pointing it out, you have to go hunt for specific pieces of information in a slow, drawn out exploration sequence to use as argument, one at a time, against the people opposed to your intended action. A good example is whether to go along with the illicit salt trade deal, or to expose it. And it's like...guys. Listen. If we do this, the guy running the show has so much dirt on us. We do this? We become the fall guy when he's done with us. Completely under his control. We can't take this deal. But I can't argue that with people outright, I have to dig through dialogue options to find the way to just bring up this very clear point.

The back and forth also leads to an odd situation where I feel like your characters are still fairly flat, despite talking so much. They're all very "Strong convictions, loosely held." Once you realize that the unlock dialogue isn't always beneficial to swaying someone, you can kinda crack everyone. Like I broke Erador down regarding Silvio's alliance first try, despite being told this would be like talking to a brick wall. Everyone claims to have strong personality and beliefs, but they all can be swayed in ways that average out to the whole cast being kinda mellow and, if I can be blunt, uninspired. No one stands out. And I am a character-centric kind of person. I don't care how involved your worldbuilding is, or how actually coherent your complex political plot is. If I don't give a shit about anyone in it, I'm going to stop caring. And the setting doesn't really do much to endear characters to you, really. Everyone is kind of an asshole? Like, Hyzante has a literal slave class they justify as goddess' orders, and Aesfrost's whole freedom scheme is quite blatantly stated to be a privilege of the strong while the weak are trampled. It's been very difficult to care about events, because no one had really gripped me.

Fortunately, there are two (2) characters I am now wholly invested on as of this chapter. Cordelia and Avlora, I'm a big fan of what you two have going on right now. Keep up the excellent work. I hope Cordelia gets her desire and stabs Gustadolph in the throat. Probably not given how the tone of this game operates, but I like her moxie. I remain cautiously optimistic on her tale. Every character named Cordelia is a winner in my book.

Kinda got sidetracked there...the pacing generally feels off, because it's like an hour of talking, 20 minutes of exploration, 15 minutes of playing a map. Which is not a great ratio. It may be because I'm coming off of Unicorn Overlord, which is delightfully fast-paced and engaging to the point I can drop three hours on it and feel like 20 minutes passed, but this game is like the polar opposite. Those 15 minutes of map fucking drag, it takes forever to beat one thing. I mean it doesn't, it takes like 15 minutes, but you get what I mean. It feels much longer than it is because things just move slowly, and actions take forever, and I have to keep fist-fighting the goddamn camera to stay at an angle where I can fucking see anything, because every time an enemy moves it has to whip around to some bizarro shot like it's trying to hide what it's doing from me. The camera thing actively gives me a headache, it's probably my least favorite part of the game. And the fact it keeps spinning means I keep having to orient which way my buttons work, because this game just cannot fathom looking at something directly, it always needs to be at a 35-55 degree angle, and depending on which side of 45 it is, the down button is either left, right, or maybe sometimes actually down. Drives me nuts.

My stance on the game is that it's fine. I'm enjoying myself enough to keep playing it, but I'm less able to binge it. I find myself needing frequent breaks just to work up the energy to slog through more narrative about characters I'm not invested in, or resting my eyes from dealing with the camera. But it's not bad, and there's at least some promise to how thing could resolve. Like with Cordelia, I remain cautiously optimistic.

[explorerspack]

man. megadungeon. WIZARDS!

[horrorlesbion]

top 5 or 10 movies you think riverdale should reference next plus optionally like what the storyline incorporating them should be like

i’m sorry this is so much more than 5 to 10 movies i got carried away

child’s play franchise - literally any movie

ideally seed/bride or the tv show. i think it was @girlbossreggie​ who proposed a chicles bride of chucky au which would be perfect. alternatively i want jennifer tilly to guest star. it is not elaborated if she is playing herself or jennifer tilly as possessed by tiffany. a bound reference is obligatory and it has to be made clear that she hooked up with jugheads mum (this can be combined).

devil’s carnival

dream musical episode. works perfectly if they want to pick up the “war between heaven and hell” plot from rivervale again. even if hiram would have slayed as the devil part i know they can make it work now. i’ll even tolerate some fanservice and give choni the june/cora storyline (toni is june of course).

alternatively i’ll settle for a veronica & hermosa single musical performance of a song from repo! hermione can cover the third sibling part if needed because i remember marisol said she wanted to do a musical performance i know we can get her back for this.

saw/escape room/hostel

saw is of course the classic and my favourite. i want a bunch of the characters trapped in an insane torture maze. i love single location horror. i’m sure we can dig up a villain weird enough to do it if glee managed it. if they’re cowardly they can also reference the escape room movies instead since those are more mainstream and less gory. hostel would be hilarious if only for the insane worldbuilding implications but we could make it work. if they suddenly revealed the blossoms went on a summer trip to hunt people for sport every year i’d believe it.

rope (alternatively: swoon/compulsion/thrill me)

honestly any leopold & loeb adaptation would bang. i know they already riffed on funny games for the chicles wedding but rope is such a fun set-up it’s easy to replicate (AND classic cinema at that). could do it with a bunch of characters though of course a gay couple hosting is always funniest. but i wouldn’t even be mad if it’s barchie or veggie who killed a man and have to hide a body in a trunk while everyone else is at the house for a nice little party. not a movie but thrill me is my favourite reference option you all know my opinion on this. even if it would have fit better during earlier seasons i know we can make it work. if it’s a musical episode they’re obligated to give chicles at least one of the songs (superior? life plus 99 years? thrill me?)

gone girl

veronica realised hiram actually seduced/paid off the russian assassin and pulled off the exact plot of gone girl to fuck with her because he was mad she exiled him. ideally this is how hiram comes back on the show. funnier if hermosa was in on it.

malignant

jason is reborn as a tumor on cheryls brain that possesses her body and kills people. we have magic now might as well go balls to the wall insane i KNOW ras loved malignant i just know it. for another insane cheryl plot to run in the background: velvet buzzsaw. her paintings come to life and start killing people. her fursona painting needs to be prominently featured in this episode.

us

everyone is confronted with their rivervale counterparts (who are even more deranged now) who all realised they were stuck in a timeloop and broke out of the pocket universe to take their places in the main narrative. doppelganger fight to the death everyone gets to try and flex their acting muscles.

the purge

you KNOW this would slap. would have fit ideal for early season 5. archie comes back to riverdale ruled by hiram not knowing it’s purge day in 3 days. however given the vibes of percival pickens i’m confident he’d be down to institute a purge day we can still fit this in. can mash it up with some references to assassination nation since that’s basically teenage highly aestheticised camp purge movies with three times the plot so a natural fit for riverdale.

psycho goreman

an episode entirely dedicated to what jb has been up to during the timejump years. and the answer is she found a space rock that lets her control a giant violent alien monster. since its set during the timejump we don’t have to explain why the actress still looks so young.

the descent

alternate bottle episode: all the riverladies take a girls trip going caving in a secret passage cheryl discovered in the blossom mines. they get attacked by fucked up cave creatures and barely survive. maybe one of them dies and cheryl has to resurrect her with necromancy. none of this is ever referenced again.

hard

now that gay kevin is becoming a cop what better time to pull off “gay cop gets over his internalised homophobia while hunting a gay serial killer and hooking up with him” everyone watch this movie btw it’s criminally underrated. 90s messed up gay cinema for the win. on THAT note i don’t know how they would pull it off since i don’t think the network would let them so much as breathe the name of this movie but referencing frisk would be so fun. i would bet ras has read some dennis cooper and probably seen this film. and speaking of really messed up gay content it’s a huge shame we don’t have blue velvet video anymore and already did snuff films in season 4 because an underhanded playdurizm reference would be fun. that was such a movie. if anyone takes this as a rec list do NOT even look up summaries for frisk and playdurizm without a strong stomach.

also: not gay but talking of extreme horror if we’re folding rivervale back into this season’s narrative i want an explicit martyrs reference for archie. he doesn’t have to get like skinned or anything but the vibes were already there in 06x01

any david decoteau movie

riverdale already spends a large amount of time with hot men wandering out shirtless. it’s a natural fit and they’re gay culture. funniest option would be 1313: giant killer bees and it ends with cheryl showing up to save the day bringing back the fact that she can control bees with her mind apparently.

raw / excision

i want betty to eat people or take them apart surgically. just let her do some fucked up violence. really get into it. alternatively a Came Back Wrong plot about archie and bettys new superpowers turning into something more malevolent and giving us a jennifers body/all cheerleaders die type plot. archie already gets a bunch of female abuse victim coded plots he can fit into this. however girl homoeroticism is still obligatory. let’s say beronica to make up for their lack of interaction since the timejump. (honorary mention for beronica thoroughbreds scheme. don’t know how to pull this off with hiram gone but you will always be famous)

orphan

one of the couples (through gritted teeth i guess barchie) decides to adopt and the exact plot of the movie plays out except the audience is not surprised the child turns out to be a 30 year old serial killer in the end because she’s also played by one of the hot young adult cw actors in pigtails but through the whole episode no one acknowledges that.

nine lives

hiram comes back as a cat. i’m somewhat convinced they cast mark consuelos as hiram off of his role in this movie.

[pink-blue-red-from-everhood-zero]

Hi- midtime fan, first time caller, excited for the chance to share my thoughts with you in a "given express permission" style!

Broly (original), a.k.a Z-Broly, is best understood as the answer to the question "What was that 1,000 year prophecy about, if every saiyan can go super now?"- as written by a pro wrestling bookie who needs a fresh villain for Da Movies who can intimidate Goku with like zero new story setup.

Like every Saiyan introduced as such until Trunks, he represents the premise of the Saiyan race- "alien martial artist who is impossibly jacked, can fly, and has a fireball game 1v1s your entire planet" in a package even more visually impressive than all the Saiyans that currently exist,

and he's noticeably the most direct of the "Evil Gokus" because- instead of screwing around with hostages, backup, evil parasitic trees, or even much of his own plot setup- his backstory is that he's The Evil Super Saiyan, Trained by Evil Grandpa Gohan to Evilly Do Martial Arts on Planet Earth-but-Crappier.

This means literally all of his production value went into making him a living Greatest Hits album of DBZ villain fights (pre Androids); a freaky alien overlord with an uncertain phase progression who can effortlessly keep the protagonist out and overpowered (Frieza), who is also a giant, bestial monster (Gorilla-Vegeta), who also shares Goku's exact bodyplan, history, and powerset.

That's why he's loved- he's the perfect final boss. He's memed because his dialogue consists of 2 pages generic wrestling heel banter and the explanation that his only motive for fighting Goku Specifically is that he (Broly) swore Bloody Vengeance against an Infant (Goku) for having Bad Vibes.

-

Twelve-ish years later (I'll cite my sources when it's less busy), for Dragon Ball Super; opinions on both the Goku (Black) and Tournament of Power arcs were mixed to bad and Toriyama finally Broke Glass In Case Of Poor Ratings- Movie Canonizing Fan-Favorite Character.

Of course, Broly was made no less than 6 arcs ago even if you've completely memory-holed GT. He's an entire seperate prophecy out of date, and we had anywhere between 2 and 4 mindless punch-em'-up arcs to get sick of them. He can't be a petty heel anymore or else he'd've been tapped for the ToP etc. etc.

So, for Super Broly Movie, Toriyama made the brilliant move of treating his total lack of motive or narrative impact like a plot point. He's a more sympathetic character than the franchise protagonists (in the context of this arc), and almost textually an Autistic Survivor of Abuse- dragged around by his Jackass Father-Figure with a literal shock collar, forced by that figure to conform to the Saiyan Ideal (incredible violence) through repeated torture, and sold into the service of a Space Fascist (Frieza again) against his will, for gas money.

People love THIS Broly for 2 reasons: one is that the back 90 minutes of his movie is a gorgeously animated marathon fight scene between him and The 4 Strongest Dudes In (This) Universe;

the other is that his movie's plot is a deeply intimate character study of Him Specifically, taking the angle that he Could Have Been Goku, but was Failed By Society; setting the stage for his peaceful denouement by making every other conflict of the movie a petty streetfight in an empty backlot, introducing a budding romance with Parallel Chichi, giving him the contexual and dialogic status of "determined, taciturn underdog" in a fight that he's otherwise handily winning for 75 straight minutes, giving him deliberate mirrors of Goku's pre-transformation dramatic traumas, and banking the climax on the emotional twist that you REALLY don't want to see [the guy who has been framed as the antagonist for the last hour and a half] die to the Textbook Last-Minute Heroic Team Super Move.

TL; DR he was the purest possible Super Saiyan Title Bout for Goku; and got given an actual narrative hook when they brought him back 12 years later.

Hope that helps!

i only read the manga, who the fuck is broly

[funkymbtifiction]

Ne or Se dom?

Since you're an ENFP who has god experience with the enneagram I wanted to ask: do you think different core types can affect what aspects of Ne dom an ENP embodies? I've been trying to type the protagonist of a k-drama but she stumps me: definitely strong Fi/Te and an EP, she's the only detective in the drama who's great at connecting seemly disparate cases across decades, and the only character who easily accepts and deals with the time traveling/twin universe aspect of the plot (most characters are ISTJ/ISTP, and even after having first hand experience with the anomalies they desperately try to find logical explanations for them). She's changeable and excitable, gets hooked on things then drops then cold turkey, easily adapts to changes and is quick to catch on things not explicit. So ENFP seems correct.

But there's a catch: she lacks a major Ne dom trait, the idealism. She does have a fantastical streak (on the first episode we learn her secret is that she's really into fanfiction when off duty), but is very matter of fact and realistic, even harsher than her STPs colleagues when dealing with suspects. She keeps her romantic feelings locked away and detaches from then because saving the world is more important at the moment. I asked abut enneagram cores because I suspect her to be a 3: she's definitely a competency type (even the childhood flashbacks show this focus on measuring up and performing well at school, even during playtime), 5 really doesn't fit at all and ENFPs are never 5s anyway. I don't think she's a 1 because she sure can break rules with no remorse or anxiety, and justify herself when acting badly. 3 fits because how others view her clearly affects her ("You made me look stupid!" is literally her main friction with the new intern she has to mentor) she never wants to look weak or unprepared. 

So now I'm thinking: is she an ESFP really in touch with her intuition, or an ENFP who's not dreamy and romantic? 

Sometimes if you get stuck, it's worth considering a third type to contrast and compare them -- for example, what about ENTJ? Would being realistic, matter of fact, but also highly intuitive / insightful and impulsive, while putting aside her feelings fit ENTJ better? Which type does the evidence fit best? If it's between ESFP/ENFP, if she's really intuitive and insightful and trusts those hunches without needing evidence to prove them to her first, ENFP is right.

3s can put aside feelings to get things done and care very much about being seen as competent, but 3/Ne is still idealistic in their desire to change and affect the world through their intellect.