#and i just don't know if some people are ready for the amount of nuance and care that that takes

[uncanny-tranny]

I'm tired of the idea that passing as a trans person is something you either are or aren't, that it is innate, and if you pass, you pass in every scenario otherwise, you don't pass, and if you don't pass, and it's because you aren't doing enough/aren't transitioning enough/aren't enough of your gender.

I'm tired of the idea that passing is this clearly defined phenomenon that happens to us all if we try hard enough, and that it's inherently our fault if we can't magically pass in every fucking scenario known to man.

[kremlin]

(@cheekedupwhiteboy @ffoxer)

sure, here is the recipe i'm using. it's worth reading all the way through once since it's ordered a bit strangely, i'll share what i've learned that isn't already in the recipe here. it was written with the intention of re-creating restaurant/takeout fried rice at home for real e.g. not something that sounds half-right but will turn out tasting like white people fried rice, if that makes any sense

moisture is #1 what you want to avoid, but doing so isn't straightforward, you can't cheat by cooking the rice with less water, you really just have to let it dry overnight in the fridge or under a fan

using too much oil will also make it turn out soggy, and the oil's job is mostly to coat the wok. i double the recipe but don't double the amount of oil, and it works better than if you use twice as much oil

you really need everything prepped and ready to go, *everything*, before you start cooking. i go as far to have everything lined up in the order i need to add them; the cooking happens extremely fast and you don't want to break your focus by having to refer to the recipe or measure something out. i think its crucial you're 100% focused, not so much to avoid burning, but to properly be able to "feel it out" and know when you need to keep things moving and when to let it toast

to do this right you need lots of heat. i'm lucky enough to have stove burners that pump out a lot of gas, but if you don't, don't bother fucking with a stove, just get a very cheap propane burner and wok mount and do it outside. cook it fast and hot.

the recipe does indeed specify to pour the sauce/wine around the rim of the pan, but it loses a bit of nuance: the idea is that with the rice packed in the center, you're pouring the liquid directly on the screamingly hot work and spreading it out so it heats up extremely quickly. this is good, but i don't know exactly why

if you screw up and get some burnt rice at the bottom, it's weirdly not game over, it doesn't ruin it as much as you'd think.

i substitute carrots for green peas which add nothing to the flavor, but they make the end result much prettier

use a heavy hand when it comes to the soy sauce (only the light soy sauce, really, the dark just adds color) and a lighter hand with the MSG.

the marinade doesn't need to sit a full 24h, i don't see any benefit past 30m or so.

don't bother trying to time the chicken to be 90% done when you take it out initially, just cook it all the way, it's fine

avoid starting fires & trips to the burn ward which seem to be incredibly conducive to this kind of cooking

[kanansdume]

I think it honestly just depresses me that Qui-Gon has become this character that fandom either turns into a saint or a villain. He's either this perfect "Gray Jedi" who is more enlightened than anybody else ever who can do no wrong, or he's an abusive selfish monster too focused on being right all the time to care about anybody but himself.

And it's too bad, because Qui-Gon is honestly one of my favorite characters. TPM was the first Star Wars film I ever saw, and part of why I will defend that film with my life is because of how much I enjoy Qui-Gon as a character. Yes, he's unorthodox sometimes. Yes, he takes risks. Yes, he can be kind-of an arrogant bastard sometimes. But he's hardly a villain or a monster or some kind of incompetent buffoon. Qui-Gon trusts his instincts and the Force above nearly all else, which allows him to make split-second decisions that he doesn't even entirely understand himself. He doesn't know exactly how things will turn out, but he trusts that it'll eventually work out so long as he keeps following his own instincts and letting the Force guide him to what he should be doing.

And that's SUCH an interesting character with really unique motivations! THAT'S what he means when he says to live in the here and now, to just trust that things will eventually work out if you keep following your instincts and the Force's will if you can hear it. Don't overthink it too much to the point that you talk yourself out of doing the right thing, even if you don't know why it's the right thing yet.

For people who aren't Force sensitive and who don't have that kind of connection to the Force, I imagine working with Qui-Gon could be immensely frustrating because he's so often doing things that SHOULDN'T work out for him and seem completely contradictory to his goals sometimes and maybe even entirely crazy, but then they just KEEP working out. A few hours, days, maybe even years later, Qui-Gon gets the last laugh. Imagine how frustrating that is to someone who can't hear the Force! All logic says this dude should keep losing, and somehow he just keeps getting proved right!

The level of faith he has is incredible, the amount of trust he has to place in others because of this is also incredible. It's not just Anakin, either, he has to do this with Obi-Wan, with Padme and Sabe, with the Council, even Dooku when he's younger.

And I love his relationship with Obi-Wan, the faith he has in Obi-Wan's abilities and the level of comfort and familiarity with each other that they've clearly built up over time. He can say something to Obi-Wan that to the audience (or to an outside viewer) might seem like it's only a half-formed thought, and yet Obi-Wan is completely able to understand what Qui-Gon means by it. They work together really well, Obi-Wan knows when to step up and when to let Qui-Gon follow his instincts. Qui-Gon trusts Obi-Wan when Obi-Wan does choose to speak up and often treats Obi-Wan as more of an equal partner than a subordinate. I love the subtle line Qui-Gon walks between allowing Obi-Wan enough independence to learn and grow because Obi-Wan is an adult who is clearly nearly ready to head off on his own anyway, and continuing to guide Obi-Wan because Obi-Wan is still his student and that's his role. I love how quick Obi-Wan is to tease Qui-Gon and how easily Qui-Gon chooses to take it when it happens.

Qui-Gon is SUCH an interesting character and it's really sad that fandom just keeps choosing to mischaracterize him no matter which direction they go, removing any and all nuance from him and the part he plays in the narrative.

[trojanteapot]

Alrighty folks buckle up because I'm gonna rant

Just feel like some of you out here just don't really understand nuance? And it's like what was I expecting because it's social media nuance is dead.

Anyway so all three of you out there who follow me that aren't bots, or people that I know IRL, know that my favourite character in Infinity Train is Simon Laurent, the French incel bastard man. And yeah I know he's terrible but also I must ask the eternal question: Is he actually though??????

Hear me out. Because look I know dude is a murderer and a hypocrite and a whiny little bitch but also consider the facts:

he's a teenager

he got trapped on some nightmare train when he was only ten. TEN!

his denizen was THE CAT, who from his POV manipulated him and then abandoned him!

Now I know what some of you already saying at this point:

-"uh that doesn't justify all the murdering!!!" -"he's an egotistical jackass!" -"he's not a child he's 18! he would go to adult jail in real life!" -"he died in the narrative thus justifying my hatred!" Okay well consider this: it's pretty much canonical that Grace did exactly the same amount of murdering as Simon but y'all are so ready to embrace and forgive her because she had a change of heart?

And which one of you when you were 18 made completely rational not emotion-driven decisions based on pure facts and logic??? Which one of you are capable of doing this now????

And he didn't have a normal childhood to develop his brain in a normal way, again he boarded the Train at age ten!!!! And finally which one of you was a teenager who wasn't a little egotistical???

If Simon was egotistical then what does that make Grace, the leader of the Apex who made a throne for herself???? What does that make Amelia who rejected the Train's attempts to help her move on and instead tried to recreate her dead fiance to the point that there are just renegade failed clones of that person just running around????

Also, I feel like it's important to mention that Amelia probably did more crimes than both Grace and Simon combined but she just didn't get her face eaten by Ghoms just because she was an adult at the time and could outsmart the Train. You guys are willing to forgive her and all the stuff she did... as an ADULT, but not Simon, a teenager, because... reasons???!!!

And other stuff I feel like should be mentioned here:

I think it's important to consider why episode 4 of season 3, came right before episode 5, you know the one where he kills Tuba. Episode 4 was when we learn a ton of info about Simon. Notably that the Cat was his denizen and we all know how the Cat is!

I'm pretty sure we were supposed to draw several conclusions from that episode namely:

- Cat is a schemey little shit - he was a kid when he knew the Cat - he seems to claim she was fake and manipulating him - that seems believable from what we know of the cat - ep 5 hits, Tuba and Simon have heart to heart - Simon then kills Tuba

So why did Simon kill Tuba? IT'S BECAUSE SIMON THINKS TUBA IS MANIPULATING HIM LIKE THE CAT WAS

And my friend brought up a good point where if you think about it, the Train was using Tuba to manipulate him, and using Hazel to manipulate Grace.

The Train we've seen just runs on pure algorithms and doesn't give a shit about the passengers. The Train just sees them as a number that increases or decreases. It just calculated that if Hazel & Tuba met Grace & Simon then it would have the maximum likelihood that those denizen + passenger combos could get their numbers down the most efficiently. It of course did not account for the fact that the Cat went on vacation and then ran into Simon, thus reminding him to not trust denizens.

Simon had as much of a likelihood to do a change of heart like Grace did! But hey, spanner in the works and all that.

Some of you just like hating on him because he's a white guy and coded cishet and it really shows.

I'm sure y'all are gonna say I'm defending the patriarchy or whatever for defending cishet white guy colonizer man Simon Laurent as a queer femme POC but also fuck off with that bullshit and just look at the actual text of the narrative presented to us instead of reading bad takes on Twitter.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[fruitzbat]

There is this bizarre mischaracterization problem with Kingsley in the CR fandom that I think shows a certain level of contempt for the character himself — and honestly, I think it’s really revealing about a troubling hallmark of conditional support of nonbinary people in real life, which I find beyond hypocritical given…well, let’s get into it.

For starters, I'm not bothering with leaving a disclaimer about how not all fans do xyz or why I think that anyone should listen to me over anyone else. We’re adults here, we should know that things are nuanced by now. I also think talking about my own qualifications here is silly and masturbatory given that this is fandom and I'm very much doing it for free along with almost everyone else, so I'm not gonna waste the space.

Getting into the exceptions and such is well beyond the scope of this post, and I frankly don't think anything I say in this will convince anyone of anything — I just need to get it out there. If any of does change your mind, great! Icing on the cake.

*eyes glowing* anyway,

Given the admittedly considerable amount of work I do relating to his character, I wade through Kingsley's character tag a lot, and in many different places. On here, on Twitter, on AO3, his tag is full to the gills of bits of people writing stories in which he steals up to a certain member of the Nein and showers them with gifts and forehead kisses and...for lack of a better term, 'Mollyisms', and lays there enraptured while they talk about their relationship with Molly — who, obviously, is him. He's called "circus man" and is unbothered by it; it's testimony to the fact that this person and Kingsley have a history that transcends silly things like death.

Thus, the general depiction of Kingsley within the fandom is one that is not unlike Molly's, if not a 1:1 replica: a fun-loving, carefree libertine whose sun often rises at a certain other member of the Nein's forehead and sets are their toenails. He's curious about his past lives, but sees minimal distinction between them and himself.

And that's utter motherfucking hogwash.

The thing is, Kingsley's not an act II of Molly. He’s arguably a very different person from Molly, and the drift in Molly’s canon and fanon depiction is an essay on its own (not to mention the shift in perception in-universe, also brilliant and fascinating in its own right).

And I sincerely want us to think about that oversight in the same vein as if there were a considerable amount of Critters making content about, say, Beauregard Lionett falling in love with a man when she's explicitly a lesbian. Like, to me, it is that dire. And I will explain why that is momentarily: once I finish talking about who he actually is, and one of the principal culprits that I blame for this schism.

"But fruitzbat," some people might cry. "But fruitzbat, we have so little to go on. He's hardly shown himself on stream and he does, in the end, come from Molly!"

To that I would reply "skill issue," because Kingsley very much has distinguished himself from his siblings. Fandoms have extrapolated way more about a character with far less in the past. I didn't live through Superwholock on this website for anyone to tell me that they can't pull a fully-fledged character out of one episode of something. With all due respect, git gud.

Kingsley is a hustler and a cutthroat. He's driven, micro-managey — like, PAINFULLY Type-A, and interested in staying alive and making a name for himself; but in contradiction with this sense of self-preservation, he’s also ready to impulsively give himself up for a greater good and/or "make new mistakes", which can be read as altruistic at its best and unhealthy and self-deprecating at its worst (a trait which he definitely shares with Molly). In commenting on his new outfit, I’ve shitposted in the past that Kingsley is frum, but it's really not that far off. He doesn't like to leave things to chance, and also strongly believes in taking care of his own — he notably takes excellent care of the Nein Heroez’s crew. He doesn't suffer fools, he's snarky (too many examples to list them all, but have a few of my favorites), and also thoughtful and analytical and a skeptic. And most of all, he’s eager to learn and curious — not just about Molly and Lucien, but in general.

He jokes about being Lucien at one point, but makes it very clear that it's not him when people in his life make that slip-up. He's also been making the point that he’s not either of them as early as the campaign finale. And within the special, too, it’s pretty unambiguous. And then there’s Taliesin himself, also making it very clear that he’s a separate animal and on top of that, that he’s an absolute fucking badass.

And as mentioned, it's true that there's overlap with some of Molly's business — he's theatrical and loves fashion, for instance. But honestly, this character has far more in common with Lucien than he does with Molly. Lucien, who spoke multiple languages and lead a mercenary group into Aeor and back multiple times. Lucien, who even the mere prospect of him being resurrected was enough to reassemble the Tombtakers. If that’s not the makings of a Plank King, I’m not sure what would be.

And here's another thing: "Kingsley came from Molly" in and of itself is a misnomer. Based on both the stream and the addendum from the Lucien novel, Kingsley is mostly the reforged soul of Lucien — Molly's soul fragment was reintegrated into the rest of Lucien's. Kingsley is what was born from that fusion. When interceding on the failed Raise Dead spell, Caduceus said "put it back...whoever it was." There's just as much potential to say that it was Lucien's soul returned to that purple body by Melora as it was Molly's.

In all candor, I think it has a good deal to do with how many vocal Molly fans wanted Widomauk to be canon or somehow endgame.

The inherent tragedy of the dynamic between Caleb and Molly is that there is a constant specter of what could have been. Neither encountered each other when they were at a point to pursue their attraction, and Molly was dead before anything could come to pass. As a passive observer, I think that this what could have been has bled into the fanon interpretation of all kinds of purple tiefling content, mostly because there's so little to analyze otherwise. One only has to glance at the tags for the Lucien novel or the Molly origin comic to see what I mean. And I think that this has also significantly impacted the fanon depiction of Kingsley.

I find that this fandom in particular has a huge problem with sacrificing characterization in the name of fanon archetypes and tropes, but due to the distinct nature of Kingsley’s character this can veer into…I mean, pretty ugly territory.

People love the reincarnated lovers trope, and I see that applied here the most, to which I always want to remind people that Kingsley is probably more like a joined Trill. He has these past lives and memories, but just like Ezri isn’t quite Jadzia isn’t quite Kurzon Dax, Kingsley isn’t Molly isn’t Lucien. Ezri didn’t hop up and get busy with Worf, even when Jadzia had been his wife. Far from it, actually. Similarly, Jadzia had an entire exploratory episode dedicated to encountering Kurzon’s spouse and deciding that she (regretfully for lesbians everywhere) felt differently.

It’s true that it’s not completely baseless; I’m genuinely not saying that. It’s true that one of the first things King did was flirt with Caleb when he woke up. And then when he’d come more into his own, there was all that wild talk they had during the…

Oh wait, that’s right. They didn’t speak one on one even once during the reunion. So the argument could easily be made that in the chunk of the stream that showed us the most about who King was as a person, he didn’t touch Caleb with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole. Meaning that at this point in time, the basis of the ship is predominately Caleb’s relationship to his elder siblings.

I don't have time and ultimately have no interest in unpacking that in terms of it being solid foundations for a romantic relationship — we all can read, baruch hashem — and will also assume that there’s content about that dynamic that explores that weirdness with all the complexity that it deserves. But my central point here is that I’m seeing vanishingly little of it, and far more of it being used in a way that denies Kingsley his own identity. The point isn't hating on a ship. Widoking in and of itself is fine, the point is that people aren't actually shipping Kingsley with Caleb. They're shipping him with someone wearing the skin of his dead older brother.

Which brings me to my next point...

I find this aspect to be incredible given the extraordinary way that this campaign explores trans identity and narrative. Plenty of other folks have written about the extent that campaign 2’s focus on identity as a theme has resulted In one of the most comprehensive studies of several different types of trans stories. Like, VETH?!?

BEAU?!?! Not to mention FJORD’S UNRELENTING T-BOY SWAG?!?!?!

And yet.

And, yes, it is that deep. Let me explain.

Molly and Lucien are canonically genderfluid. Kingsley hasn't come out as anything yet, so the jury is still out... though many people, myself included, headcanon that he's some flavor of not cis.

For me, this is because Kingsley’s narrative is arguably more a traditional trans one than Lucien or Molly's: being born with the expectation that he would be one thing, then coming to his family — who hold that expectation quite dearly — and asserting that he is someone and something else completely different from that. Lucien and Molly are trans characters, no doubt, but their stories are not about being transgender. And there is an intrinsic quality to King's that definitely is.

The notion of "trans narrative" is also something applied to someone like Nott/Veth, even in a world where transness is not stigmatized. So while transphobia is not a thing as we understand it in Exandria, that doesn't change that Kingsley “came out” and transitioned in a more recognizable way to us than Lucien or Molly ever had to — in the same light as Veth arguably struggling with her self-image in a way that many trans viewers find exceedingly familiar.

If we can apply the queer critical lens and think of Fjord being a trans guy deconstructing toxic ideas of masculinity, or of Beau being a trans girl dealing with transphobic parents that wanted a son, got one, and cast her aside, we can also use that same level of discernment when it comes to Kingsley. There's precedent.

I don’t mean to get personal here, but the flat out dismissal of Kingsley's identity as an individual and not as the sum of other parts reminds me so much of my own experience of having come out as non-binary and then telling people that I was going to start HRT. The support dried up almost immediately the minute I made it clear I wanted to switch pronouns again and pursue medical transition, though I still conceived of myself as effectively genderless.

So long as you’re fun and funky and trans in a way that isn’t obtrusive, it’s fine. Well, “fine” isn’t the right word, but people are so fucking terrified of you becoming one of “those” trans people and taking the scary hormones and changing your body and getting the surgeries. It's the cousin of that perennial TERF talking point of "why can't you just be a tomboy/effeminate gay guy". As if being a tomboy/fem guy is somehow easier, too!! But I digress. To a lot of folks, Kingsley can be whatever he wants..........so long as he doesn't reject Molly as a foundational part of him, if not the, and heaven help him if he diverges from the mold Molly left for him.

For this reason (and for other transgender reasons that I don't want to get into), that has made engaging with a lot of this faux-Kingsley content difficult. Because Kingsley came out! Kingsley has told everyone who he is and what he's about, and folks are ignoring that in favor of an interpretation that centers a different person's existence entirely. And with this coming from a group of fans that tends to trend towards being trans, too, that's quite the bitter pill.

Creatively, I firmly believe that people can do whatever they want forever. And everyone has the right to make content where their Barbies scissor. I, for one, also am 100% guilty of it in other contexts. That doesn't bother me.

What does bother me is a collective delusion where a significant chunk of the fandom, in missing their tragically dead non-binary character, effectively stuff a separate one that resembles him back into the closet without noticing the cruelty of doing so. In fact, relishing in it.

And while these people are fictional and aren't real and can't feel pain aside from what we inflict on them narratively, it gives me pause about the way this trend mirrors common transphobic behavior I have experienced as a non-binary person myself. Thus, I cannot possibly watch it happen and not feel compelled to say something about it.

In essence, Kingsley has told us time and time again who he is and what he's about. If we say as fans that we respect the narrative integrity of Campaign 2, I think it's important that we listen and honor that.

[lemonhemlock]

That anon does have a point when saying that lots of Aemond x OC fics (especially where the OC is a daughter of Rhaenyra) use some of the same plot points for their made up character. For example they will have their OC, instead of Luke (sometimes he will not exist at all in the fics and she takes his place), be the one who takes Aemond's eye which is even more startling when, as an adult, he will hopelessly fall in love with OC, is ready to sacrifice everything, abandon his family and switch sides just to marry her something that will almost never happen in the opposite case. While yes, Aemond developing an obsession with the person who took his eye is very normal, falling in love is a totally different thing and seems forced and just…unrealistic? And it's very weird when you see team black stans complaining from time to time about the amount of Aemond fics on AO3 paired with a daughter of Rhaenyra's falling in love with him and betraying her side when 99% of the same fics are written by other team black fans and have Aemond doing the switching sides thing lmao.

Of course people are free to write whatever they want about fictional characters, but after a while these type of fics are quite tiring since they're following the same plot points and tropes, more or less: she takes his eye or defends her brother doing the same without even trying to understand Aemond's POV, is either a Strong or Daemon's bastard masquerading as a trueborn Velaryon, rides Vermithor or Cannibal and knows how to control them unlike Aemond, behaves and sounds like a modern day feminist or is a girlboss who, unlike all the other ladies, knows how to fight using a sword and so on while Aemond behaves like a dumb simp all the time and is constantly villainized by the narrative (as well as most of the commentators) for being a misogynist who hates seeing women in power because why is he not swearing allegiance to his half-sister in two seconds????!!! Not to mention that in most of those fics the greens are villainized to the point where they seem like cartoon characters, especially Alicent who is always characterized as the worst mother ever who doesn't love her children at all or as a religious extremist. I've had to quit reading some precisely because of reasons like these despite them being popular and amongst the fics that were very well written otherwise. Nowadays if I really want to read an Aemond/OC fic (or an Aegon one) I'd probably search and choose one in which the OC is a lady from some random house…at least with these ones you have a lesser chance of being disappointed down the road if you're a green fan.

oh definitely the aemond x oc fics really started to get very derivative after a couple of months and the template you provided is really spot-on. but those traitor!aemond fics (where luke is replaced by another black-aligned OC) were never really written by greens anyway, so it's funny that anon thought to complain about that in the askbox of a green account :)) i also noped out of quite a few fics when they started with the alicent-bashing, i just don't have the patience for that & it was rarely even nuanced criticism anyway, at least not in my travels

i don't really know what the state of the nation is nowadays, if lucemonds really discovered body horrror, but at the time i was complaining about it, their dead doves were, at most, ridiculous dungeon sex slave fics that would be on par, comedic-wise, with Unhinged by Vera Valentine or Stuffed by the Were-Turkey by Tate McKirk. and, like, good for you if you enjoy the silliness of it, bc it's never really that serious, but, equally, be aware that people are going to poke some lighthearted fun at you for it

the thing about lucemond is that, while there is definitely basis in the enemies-to-lovers trope or the idea of obsessing over your tormentor, at the end of the day they have to be honest with themselves and admit that they started shipping it after they watched hotd. it's an entirely show thing, no one shipped those two when only Fire & Blood existed. and, say what you will, but there is no shipping subtext in the show about this either, PLUS the visual discrepancy between the actors' ages makes it really not secksual at all. like, that is clearly a grown man and a barely pubescent teenager, there is no "story chemistry" to speak of :)) and i'm not even talking about the squeamish implications of that taboo topic, but there is 0 such <chemistry> or buildup in the text of FB and there is 0 in the media text of the two hotd episodes where both of them appear. not from the part of the actors and not from the part of the technical crew that filmed and edited it. i would love for someone to point out at least 1 such frame that indicated lust or longing or some kind of repressed romantic feeling. so it's only natural people are treating it as some kind of crackship.

anyway it's funny people are still in the grips of lucemond more than one year on. by all means do what you want, but, man, you gotta make some allowances for the goofiness of it all :))

[stworzonka]

tell me about the dahlia and pheonix dynamic in your head

sorry if it takes long to respond but I started Shaking when I saw this ask /pos

my headcanon about their dynamic comes back to. the class trial when Phoenix started looking up to Miles. they (Dahlia and Phoenix) only met in uni of course but the mock trial is Important to the Phoenix's character as a whole so here we are

ok, looking back to the mock trial we can see that Phoenix is a person that starts looking up to people the MOMENT they do sth significant/nice to him. some kid defends him? friends forever now. some girl goes up to him and start flirting? love from first sight. personally I believe that means he isn't really used to any of that

Dahlia on the other hand. she is used to that. to the attention and also kinda to ppl being willing to take her side (even if she's wrong. let's just look at Iris who used to help her). I believe thats the biggest reason she hates Phoenix so much tbh, I don't think she ever expected that he'd just say "no" to her when she asked him for the necklace back (it was Iris asking him but you know. he thought it was Dahlia)

sorry it's a bit chaotic but I want to talk about the moment Dahlia gave Phoenix her necklace. I think most of us look at this scene in a "Dahlia The Mastermind" sense (which is pretty fun) but I think it's also worth it to acknowledge that she was probably. kinda scared during this scene. scared for selfish reasons (scared of being found out to have murdered someone) but scared regardless. and Phoenix. we saw it time and time again that he feels like he needs to help everyone who is scared. I think he might have picked up on her being scared and that might be a part of why he fell (or more accurately.thought he fell imho) so hard so quickly

then. Dahlia didn't see him for some time but she spent a Lot of time thinking about him (NOT in a romantic sense of course but in a "I hate him so fucking much for not giving the necklace back and I'm now afraid all the time" sense) the next time they interact is like. when she wanted to kill him and them when she was on the witness stand.

I don't believe she persuaded him in any way to eat the necklace btw. I truly believe he just realized it on his own that she was guilty and he saw she was scared and wanted to protect her. in the weirdest way possible

and then. she says THE line. "how can any woman count on you" or sth like that. and then he learns she tried to kill him. Fucking Hell! now, I know the reason he still was kinda on her side after that is because he was genuinely confused because of the Iris Dahlia situation but it also shows sth else which is. he is READY to excuse fucked up behaviors towards him if it's from ppl he loves. which sucks

now, did Dahlia actually hate Phoenix? yes. but less for him as a person and more for the circumstances around them. on the one hand he was the perfect person she could have given the necklace to, on the other hand he was the worst person she could have given the necklace to. and all because of The Same Reason which is, Phoenix gets connected to people and things extremely easy if they show him (even if for a brief moment) that they are "on his side". do you get me. anon do you get me. does it make any amount of sense. I'm not sure myself

Dahlia. Dahlia Dollie Dearest. I made her seem like someone who always gets everything she wants which is both true and extremely untrue (I mean. Morgan is her mother). so many things about her are contradictory and I choose to interpret that as her being a nuanced character and not bad writing decisions. and in that spirit. I think her thoughts about Phoenix are contradictory as well. and Phoenix's thoughts about her. I think that's the theme of their weird dynamic, it's contradictions, it's Dahlia pretending all the time and it's Phoenix pretending right back. pretending he didn't know she was guilty. pretending he didn't see her umbrella on the crime scene.

did I answer your question? I'm not sure, I actually don't think so. but I don't think I can put it into words what I think is going on BETWEEN them. I just can point out things I think are influencing it

[epersonae]

director's commentary for what makes me kind and the cannonball series: your stede and ed povs in both these fics/series are SO perceptive and in character and well done. can you expand on how you tackle the pov writing process/style for both, and what you find most challenging and most fun in writing from each character's pov?

First of all: thank you! I care a lot about doing that well! I think a lot of it is about inputs:

Some of that is on my somewhat bananapants process of writing Hungry for love, ready to drown, which involves watching an episode over and over and over and over again, sometimes in chunks of just a couple of minutes. And every time I do I catch some nuance or detail that I hadn't quite gotten before, plus I think I absorb a little bit of the dialogue style as I go. That ends informing everything else I've written, for sure!

I've just watched a lot overall, not so much the last couple of months, but I am officially in the "has lost track of number of watches" camp.

I've also read a LOT of fanworks: what I can only describe as an unconscionable amount of fic, as well as a ton of meta. And I have opinions and preferences, and I've found myself nudged into different reads over time. I don't write meta, generally, but I find myself incorporating other people's into how I think about and write the characters. (A few people who I would like to give special mention: @chuplayswithfire, @knowlesian, @amuseoffyre, @meanmisscharles, and @triflesandparsnips, which I know is leaving out lots of folks with interesting takes!)

Writing process wise, there's a lot of reading out loud to make sure it sounds right, but also just, I dunno, VIBES?!?!?!

For Ed in what makes me kind (and sort of in can't cross the same river twice), it's "do I feel like my head is full of bees?", while in bad taste in our mouths/twinkle in your eye, I wanted to capture something of the tiredness of his life before Stede. (that one was also heavily inspired by the line "the old Blackbeard would have seen that coming a mile away", which I think is a fascinating bit of insight.) Ngl, anything post-S1 there's also just a lot of my grief feels in it.

And Stede is also lots of run-on sentences, but more like the thought just keeps going somehow? One of my personal criteria for a good Stede characterization in someone else's fic is whether I yell at some point "Stede fucking Bonnet you absolute dipshit", and so if I can do that at my own work then I know I'm on track. For post-S1 Stede, I'm also very consciously aware of trying to work on his growth arc, that he's going to try talking about his feelings, and it's going to be hard, but he's committed to it!

Reading out loud helps a LOT, because then I can hear if the cadence works, and the word choices feel in keeping with how the characters talk in canon. (FWIW, reading out loud is one of those classically great pieces of writing advice in any genre. It's kind of a pain in the ass but I never regret doing it.)

Which, here's the big challenge with Stede, which is also one of my favorite things: his verbal register is all over the place. A lot of people lean fancy, which I think is an easy mistake, and then people complain about how that's not how he talks, but it's not NOT how he talks, either. "Forthwith" and "kick their asses" are in the same sentence. "Sometimes a man has to take responsibility for the things he's done and the people he's hurt" is right before "Calm down Mister Wavy Blade." Getting the balance right is so fucking hard, and when it's right, it feels really good.

Similarly, the challenge with Ed is getting a very specific balance, that I can honestly only describe as "bees but not too many bees." He's so smart and he's thinking about so many things, but again, the trap to avoid is making him too manic (or in grief mode, too maudlin).

Here's a funny thing, actually, about what I enjoy writing each of their POV: I always crack myself up, writing Hungry for love, ready to drown, when I get a bit where Stede is just phenomenally unaware of what's happening, either in his own head or what's going on around him. Something where it's super clear in canon but I'm pretty sure my dude had no idea, yeah? And so that's one of the great pleasures of it, playing with that irony. On the other hand, one of the things I enjoy in writing Ed POV is how much he notices: like in bad taste in our mouths, he knows that Jack is probably playing him, and he decides to see where it goes. So I guess there's something about those two sides as something that I like digging into.

(which is probably a personal thing, but also heavily influenced by all the very interesting posts about unreliable narrators, which is a thing I haven't played with much in my writing over the years, until I started writing for OFMD.)

Thanks again for asking, this was fun to think about, and I may have actually figured out some things about my process that I hadn't considered before. I do run on vibes quite a bit, as a writer.

Fanfiction writers: director’s cut

[thecolorblockcurator]

I’ve been kinda struggling with one of my housemates. When they’re in a bad mood, sometimes they make snide comments that feel like I’m their nearest punching bag. I know part of it is that I’m more privileged than them in general, like they’re brown, trans, and grew up poor, and in white, cis, and grew up middle class. We’re really close friends actually but it feels like they’re more likely to interpret things I say or do with bad faith if they’re already irritated.

Last night we were talking about work because they’ve been struggling with a new job that’s not been going well and they’re planning to quit soon and hopefully find something better. My job is fairly tolerable and stable sometimes with lots of down time depending on the season. They got really mopey and quiet and said “yeah you’re lucky to have that job. You’re lucky on a LOT of things…”

I didn’t know how to respond of course, because I know it’s coming from a place of frustration and discontent with their life and current work situation. But it really made me feel like shit. Not to mention I had to deal with a good amount of bullshit before I managed to get my current job.

I’d like to talk to them about how these kinds of backhanded comments make me feel so unwanted and small but I’m not the best at communicating, and I worry that they’ll write me off as an ignorant whites woman who doesn’t know how good I really have it.

Any advice? It really bothers me and I lose sleep over these kinds of comments

Yeah that's passive aggressive. and a bit manipulative - you're allowed to be happy. I actually know someone who does something similar. & I've slowly stopped talking to them- because it's not healthy.

Three potential things I can see. & It depends on what you're comfortable with.

I don't think confrontation is right here- Personally. I think they aren't ready to hear it. all they will hear is an attack. but you can diffuse those moments. by saying something like- (hey that's not nice- that's not cool. Or even like putting it back to them with something like - you've got a lot to be lucky for too)

distance- If they are acting like this more and more - setting some boundaries until they're in a place where they can be kind is a good idea. You don't have to tell them your boundaries - your actions will show them. So like if you're hanging out & they start being passive aggressive trying to get you to feel guilty- find a reason to end the hang out time. You've to call someone, you have to pick something up. And just keep doing that- they might get the hint, and you won't be putting yourself in that situation to be hurt over and over.

So I've used this with my abusive parents (and I don't want this to sound toxic positivity because it's not it's very active and very conscious, very trauma informed?) - but look into karma. not in the bad things happen to bad people way. But karma as the way that when you have interactions with people who you know they are struggling and hurting, as a chance for you to act as your highest self (that might sound a bit too spiritual but I can't think of another way to word it) So You're acting in a way that puts good into the world. That doesn't mean let them walk over you- or continue to abuse or manipulate or hut you. It means to take some time- think about your values really define what they are. and know that whatever comes out of these conversations you're proud of what you put out there. It's such a complex, and nuanced idea so I'm sorry If it's coming off like very black and white. But it's definitely helpful in those moments where there is no easy solution. & hopefully will help you feel like you don't have to wrestle with it every night because you know you're actions are reflecting your values.

[dorizardthewizard]

HSM (2006) rewatch pt 10

10: In which I do a strange amount of maths for a DCOM commentary

Chad: Hey. Look, we need to talk Taylor: Go.

You know for someone whose first lines in the whole movie are making fun of jocks and insulting Chad's intelligence, she listens to him real quick. Perhaps... she already had a bit of a crush on him but covered it up with insults to stick to the status quo? Also what happened between her last convo with Gabriella and now that made her suddenly want to break them up?

Hkjfdkf the way Taylor looks so baffled and then goes “whatever” at Chad’s watch thing. He’s a dork really

You want to be one of Charlie’s Angels Chad? Ok

If I were an East High student I would hate the basketball team so much, like wtf is all this Wildcat shit everywhere I don’t even know those guys fuck off

Ahh the intervention. I kinda wanted Zeke to be a bit more sympathetic to Troy, maybe be more reluctant to take part in this plan or actually not take part at all? Idk just to show some more nuance within these groups, although I guess baking is different and doesn’t interfere with basketball, Chad probably convinced him that this was necessary

Chad: Who was the first sophomore ever to make starting varsity? Wildcats: TROY! Chad: So who voted him our team captain this year? Wildcats: US! Chad: And who is gonna get their sorry butts kicked in Friday's championship game if Troy's worried about an audition? Wildcats: We are...

They sound so dejected on that last bit FSJDKKD

EXACTLY. WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING. Also this scene is where the contrast between Troy's blue outfit and the Wildcat red is most obvious, and Gabriella's in blue too. Costume symbolism!

Chad: I think you're forgetting about one very important 13th member of our squad. Troy: My dad. Chad: Yes, Troy. Wildcat basketball champion, class of 1981.

Wow Chad really played the dad card, huh. Guys it's not that big of a flex to be a champion at high school basketball 20 years ago, you don't need to look up to a guy that peaked in high school and seemingly never left.

Wait let me do the maths... so if Jack Bolton was class of 1981, i.e. 18 years old then, and Troy turned 17 in 2006 so was born in 1989, that means Mr Bolton was 26 when he became a father and 43 at the time of the fist movie.

There was a tiktok recently that the actor reacted to, where the person theorised that Mr Bolton had Troy at 18 and that's why he pressures Troy so much to go make a life for himself. Except they used the actor's age which is a bit silly, so that was my debunk. He was 26. Mystery solved that didn't need solving.

Ah, the “why do athletes get paid that much” debate

Taylor’s being so dramatic maybe SHE should join the drama club? In comparison to Troy's intervention where they actually bring out stuff that's important to him, this one's got a lot of waffle haha

Side note Taylor's fit is quite nice though

“I thought that you’re my friends. Win together, lose together, teammates” SO TRUE. GET 'EM.

KJHDFGKDFG THAT LAPTOP AND WEBCAM IS SO UNSUBTLE HE LITERALLY SETS IT UP AS HE SPEAKS

Obsessed with this video player screen and how the word “receiving” is misspelt. How are they even livestreaming this to her when it just looks like a normal video player hahaha

This is actually so mean wtf 😭 You made her cry! And Taylor’s reaction is terrible, just casually inviting her to the decathlon and lunch straight after

Why wouldn't Gabriella question this whole setup anyway? They were clearly planning for Troy to say this since they were ready with the webcam. Wouldn't she recognise that this was engineered on purpose? I guess it doesn't matter to her either way, as he still said those things.

OKAY to be fair they were trying to get Troy to quit the callbacks, it didn’t necessarily have to result in Troy dumping Gabriella (well they’re not dating but still) but it was Troy who took it to that level, even if he didn’t mean any of it.

This also shows a flaw of Troy’s and that's that he’s a bit of a people pleaser – he DOES argue with the Wildcats when he says he thought they were his friends, Chad doesn’t even offer a rebuttal, and instead of putting his foot down, in the same breath Troy dismisses the singing and Gabriella. Yeah his friends may still not have listened, but the right thing to do would be to draw his line in the sand and say they can't be friends if they won't support him. Because yeah they're being really mean about this! It's interesting because comparatively, Gabriella is better at setting boundaries and we'll see more of this in the second movie.

What is this random Wildcats gathering

[joe-moi]

Just chiming in on the gator-verse conversation and sorry for my brain dump.

I think that like some anons have said... Gator is a character that many JK fans are just not necissisarily ready for but here we are.... Ya know?

I've seen people post about watching only the scenes Joe is in. Ok? And for what? You don't get the context so of course you're gonna be like 😱 when something is a little off kilter for your morals because you're not watching the show, you're consuming Joe Keery Content. Which can be done in Tumblr, Twitter.. like you're not "watching Fargo" if you're fast-forwarding to these scenes.

And I LOVE that Fargo is getting new viewers from this little JK/ST fandom space if they're really watching and enjoying and that's a really great thing about the series because they cast SO well and many seasons bring in fans of those specific actors or their prior projects so easily because of the anthology set up. And that's awesome when MANY of these actors we've seen in a variety of roles before, meaning the fan base wasn't pigeon-holed into having their head in the clouds about a certain type of typecast. Fans and fandom is different though, and I think many of us (not all but many) here know that.

And JK unfortunately has that certain type of typecast meaning a fair amount of his fans, especially younger ones may find themselves fans of the idea of this typecast and his pretty face (God bless!) Instead of actual fans of his acting. That's the difference to me .... At least 🤷‍♀️ like... Loving Steve or giving Keys heart eyes all comes from Joe himself. Steve is layered but only because it's been literally driven by Joe and his own involvement and their desire to keep him. And to be fair... I think most of the layers that exist about Steve are actually concocted by the fandom in head cannon, fics or through their own interpretation not because the Duffers actually wrote him well.... Because they really havent. Joe is just fucking good at acting. He has SERIOUS ability to incorporate micro-expressions and make his character immersive. Like we could all pick out at least a few Steve mannerisms we find iconic. His story is NOT layered and nuanced. It's not.

Gator IS layered and nuanced. And we're gonna get the same great acting and Joe's same beautiful fuckin face.... But Gator has a real story written specifically for the character (not Joe) and driven by the storyline (not incorporated as a side plot of the main story) and it's not meant to be a good character. So someone who is riding JKs coattails because of objectification or the type of work he's already done is gonna fall short. Because Fargo is not a show for everyone if you don't consume that type of media. It's gritty and bad. Even good people do bad things in this show. Ths about pushing people to limits and seeing what they'll do. So yeah, ok I'll up your panties and be ready to see and hear things you don't agree with. You don't have to. It's a character. And stories literally need antagonists or what's the point?

So if you're along for JKs acting career....YES... Enjoy! and know you're gonna see some questionable shit in this show. Otherwise opt out and oggle the gifsets people post. Because this character IS good for Joe and if you hate him, like actually think what he does or says is despicable, then he did his fuckin job.

And that's the end of my TEDTalk 🐊

this was very well put. And I’m not sure I have too much to add. I think you’re pretty spot on with what’s happening. People are not consuming all of gator, and there’s people who have head cannoned, the type of character that Joe can play, and they don’t like that he’s not playing one that they’ve head cannoned.

not consuming all of Fargo, It’s going to shock you when gator says something a little bit off kilter. And also only thinking that he’ll play characters like Steve is not fair to him as an actor.

[the-firebird69]

The huge number of people who don't get it and their son does they're doing the gods of Egypt routine and they might not be required but it is a good safety. And it is an odd day and they know about it and heard about it and researched it. And it is not a mystery to some and he has a moron showed up and he's being a dick a fan too sitting there studying him constantly like it's going to help him it's kind of an act ive and every nuance and we are actually going to stop him now because he's such a huge a******.

-the event would happen after 9:00 a.m. and as her son says it's not exactly 6 hours moves and it does and it's going to be like 9:12 a.m. but for half an hour after you could happen as the tide goes out well no it's going on now it's absolute low tide at 9:12 a.m. and you got out of there tell me just in time no the only dropped about foot in the canals and right now it's like a 3-ft drop at the mouth and there's a chance that it could have gone the next chance would be 3:00 p.m. cuz that's when it starts going out and it's a huge group here it's tons of people in front of them and you probably won't get his meal for ages

-it's another thing going on they're just about as pathetic as possible now they're paying attention and there's a huge huge difference between them and others and yes where's the bus going so that's important

-and we have a big day ahead of us if it doesn't drop you might be able to pull some stuff out if it does drop if you need junk it has to be pulled out either way and people want it out at this point and it's more happening and it's all over Florida and they're saying it too this is happening all over Florida and fort Myers is next and we do know it's down a foot at the mouth and that will only cause it to happen more and that happens at 6:00 a.m. I mean this to happen this morning and it's going to go two more reps and we think or three and then it will plow out that whole entire day of today offshore here tons and tons of fun are going to grow huge huge amounts of it's going to be more growth than anybody has seen in ages it's a huge huge number of things of seaweed and so forth growing already it's a giant number of that's out there growing from this morning we have that stuff growing at a rate of around 1 inch an hour across all of it I thought it would suffocate people not very bright

-and there's other things that are happening there are about 50,000 people at Charlotte county border and it's not true it's more than that and soon it will be about anymore it's about 30 miles out and they moved in more light tanks and troop transports to the entire buffer zone and the kidney clear and they're making several traffic stops

-is more recurring than one would think there's about 300 people with huge attitude he knows who that is so he doesn't mind it's BG

-and it was a coated number but we are also experiencing that he is the city there and stuff might be ready

Thor Freya

[astromechs]

Hopefully this isn't seen as too forward but I could hug and kiss you for explaining so eloquently how Vader was done well in a way Thanos wasn't. I don't want to get into my complicated history but it actually hurt to see people making excuses for Thanos when I and people I know have been in similar abusive situations as Gamora. It wouldn't have mattered if Thanos was decent every day pior, that doesn't excuse his actions in IW. The fact that some people not only found it acceptable but also retrospectively tried to sweep under the rug all the past treatment Gamora endured, was unsettling to say the least.

Another thing that made me uncomfortable is the fact that right or wrong to a large portion of the audience Thanos is white and Gamora isn't due to who plays/voices them. I do find audiences/fandoms are ready by default to side with or identify with characters based on those those traits. There were a lot of excuses for Thanos floating around different fandom spaces while scrutinizing the actions of characters that actually loved Gamora and whether Gamora was worth ressurecting at all. I've seen people surprised by some of the dismissal of Gamora after vol 3 but truth is people started doing it after Endgame. I saw suggestions of who could replace her on the team and it was always white characters or those played by white actors.

I'm still trying to sort out my feelings regarding vol 3 and how much I feel it did to support Gamora's character vs what could have been better. Either way more people should be seeing the strength in Gamora's character. She got dealt a crap hand twice over and still managed to be so much more than Thanos made her. There were some really great character beats and shifts for her in vol 3 that people are missing and I hope that changes.

that's really what was so unsettling about this, and about how all of it was excused or dismissed; there are too many parallels with the way abuse gets excused and dismissed in real life, and real life people are affected by this. i don't even have those experiences in my personal history directly, having only worked with that particular form of trauma secondhand as a mental health professional, and i was deeply unsettled by not only the portrayal within infinity war itself, but also the discourse after it and what has still endured in the years since — so i can't even imagine the full horror of what it's like to be watching all of this go down with that in your history. i'm taking you into my arms, dear anon 🫂

there really is that element, too, just like you said, of gamora being played by a woc and thanos being played by a white man, that plays into a lot of the racist tendencies of both general audiences and fandom specifically. as i'm white, i don't feel qualified to speak on all the nuances of this, but it's something that's very much there and something i've very much noticed with respect to, in this particular instance, how gamora's character gets treated. that also gives this whole... undercurrent to the story of what thanos did to gamora, taking her from her home and her culture and assimilating her into his own design for what he deemed she should be, that i think a lot of people aren't thinking about.

and i'm right there with you; i, too, am still sorting out my feelings about vol 3, especially with respect to gamora, because it's very complicated! there was good stuff there, but i also wanted a lot more and don't think she got nearly the amount of focus that she should have, especially with the narratively seismic events of infinity war and endgame. it really sucks to see people just... sweeping her under the rug. she deserves better than that.

[animehouse-moe]

Bocchi The Rock, or, Slice of Life as Artistry

Bocchi The Rock came into this season incredibly quiet and sudden, with no long forecast trailers or any teasing information for what it would bring. We're now 6 episodes in, and I can confidently say it's dominating its season in incredible fashion. I mean, yeah, you can see Chainsaw Man fight crazy devils, and see Yamamoto get ready to attempt to solo the Wandenreich in Bleach, or see Mob Psycho's crazy 2d art. But none of those contain what Bocchi does. I mean, look clip above, where else will you find a pixelart fractal of a girl's imagination? The short answer is: nowhere.

So what makes it so incredible?

Well, there's an incredibly long list, but I think it starts at its simplest with the director of the series, Saitou Keiichirou, and to expand on that with only two words, faceless characters. Saitou has had a penchant for faceless characters in their directorial work for a good while, and is probably most notable in series like Sonny Boy, where it's used for creative effect. Now, it's possible to be like me and think, "well, there's not really room for that here", but somehow, Saitou, uh, finds a way. Impressively, the way faceless characters integrates with Bocchi The Rock ends up really nuanced, and places a focus on Bocchi and their personality.

Bocchi-chan is typically the only one that has a faceless character design through most of the episodes, but today's plays out different during her street performance. It all starts with Bocchi having her eyes closed when she starts playing, due to her anxiety. She can't face the crowd and so she chooses not to look at them, to revoke her sight to calm herself down. She want to blend in and just play the music without anyone look at her, but this slowly begins to change. She starts to gain confidence while playing, and partially drops her shield. Suddenly, it's the crowd that's faceless and Bocchi's the one that has facial features, most notably only one eye that's visible. She hasn't found all of her confidence yet, but she's certainly found a way to step forward into the spotlight.

You can see so many similar pieces throughout just a single episode, take, for example, the aggressive camera angle from Bocchi's guitar. We see plenty of low (or high) angle shots in a given episode that provide a great amount of variance from the typical safe and mostly flat angles you'll see elsewhere. There's just so many simple pieces to the incredible work on Bocchi that it's a near endless list. There's camera angles like I had said, but there's also the overall composition of scenes. There's pieces where Bocchi's isolated and distant in the scene, or ones where a group of people are far away but close to each other to show a contrast to Bocchi's isolation, and there's even the cramped close ups of Bocchi herself that can show her comfort in confined spaces.

There's even the incredible work on the near photorealistic (and often times essentially real photo) backgrounds. I'm sure people have seen some of the stuff posted elsewhere about it, but they integrate "real" backgrounds in to so many scenes, and it really can give some of the moments entirely different vibes.

What I'm Saying, and could say for ages, is that the prowess and incredible ability and creativity of Bocchi The Rock doesn't allow itself to get tripped up and confused. The staff know they're there to tell the story of a socially awkward girl trying to find her place in a Kessoku Band, they don't try to make it something different. Instead, they push the creative limits within these boundaries. They pursue crazy and unique ideas and approaches that don't isolate Bocchi, or take away from the message or actions of the characters. They know when to break out into their crazy ideas, and they know when to allow the characters themselves to sell the moments. The creativity stems from Bocchi herself, not the staff. Her imagination is the driving force in the insanity of the heights that the show can reach, but she's also what allows the staff to find solid ground, and provide truly incredible work. Crazy animation doesn't suddenly make a series "art" to me, in the same way that incredibly detailed pieces of work can be less beautiful than rougher ones. That's because, artistry doesn't lie purely in chasing after the sun, because in doing so you'll lose your wings. Bocchi represents an idealized form of its story, not a perfect version that pushes the limits of animation as a medium, but one that pushes the limits of Bocchi itself. And that's what makes it art to me. Seeing how far this staff takes the story while still presenting the story as the daily and normal occurrences of the group of girls named after the Asian Kung-Fu Generation.

[liz-allyn]

Oh my god this was fantastic. Some parts took my breath away, just like the first one. First off, you are such a creative writer. I can see the detail and research you put into this to make a truly unique story (even tho I feel like I’m not smart enough to catch all the nuances), it makes me think you’re a historian in your day job.

Some of my fav takeaways (gonna add a break here so the post doesn’t get too long)

He surmised that nearly two hundred people were present, all recoiling from each other like magnets of similar polarity. They all sought the unfamiliar faces of influential attendees, more than ready to fall into opportunity. Networking. He had an unique disdain for the word.

Oof. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a more apt description of what networking felt like. What a great analogy to describe Peter’s perception of that event.

Also Flash Thompson wtf bro, he came in HARD and I was worried for Peter’s job, but also like “omg finish him!”

"No, but apparently you know something I don't, because how else would you be able to afford that find piece of ass you walked in here with? Pretty bold too, wouldn't have pegged you for an escort kinda guy."

Flash almost met Jesus today. I actually feel like Peter did a really good job of keeping it together. Also the little jealous reaction Peter has when she starts talking to Flash and “she didn’t ask him if he was enjoying himself” made me literally lol.

Also the tension building in the ballroom when she lets Peter know something is wrong. The whole crowd looking her way. I was so freaked out—not really sure what was transpiring but also terrified that shit was going to hit the fan!

The whole ‘dream sequence?’ where Peter imagines killing her was so intense. You called back to some of the best moments of the first part, and then I thought Peter was really going to kill her—I was so confused and I flipped my shit! Then he catches her mid fall, how awful it must be to snap out of it into that situation.

The way you described his overwhelming guilt was heartbreaking. He folded up in on himself and cried, only feeling relief when she held him. My eyes were leaking for sure.

Here is one of my favorite parts:

For example, the morning after we had sex, I woke up alone in an empty house and despite my best efforts, my body just decided it didn't want to function properly until it had cried and hyperventilated for an unbearable amount of time."

And Peter is shocked to hear this. Her whole confession here is so interesting to me. She has an inhuman perception of humanity, and she’s learning it, almost like an android learning sentience. It is definitely not an easy character to write, so I loved the effort you put in with little pieces like this. Where she talks in a way that reminds you she’s not originally human, and then says something randomly that is so intensely human.

Oh and… peter is a hot commodity? What did she mean that there were others there looking for him? Like other demons??? Ooh I smell a sequel

Also peter having that convo with her while sucking her nipple = RIP MY OVARIES

The smut scene was so passionate, I loved that.

"Hold me down. Make me take it."

An electrical current ran all throughout him at her request, self-control an inch away from snapping with how badly he wanted to do exactly as she said.

"I'm here. Not going anywhere," he promised her. She was looking at him in that way that made him willing to swear on anything. "M'yours. You already have me. If you still want me to hold you down, I will, but I want to be sure it's what you really need."

Peter fought his own tears back, seeing how much she needed him in that moment - to be constant, to be reliable. To hold her down, but not with his body.

"Yes. I promise."

And it wraps up with a fairy tale! Its so sweet! I love it!

And Peter’s line—

"I'm gonna make love to you in a minute, I just want to know how the story ends."

That boy is a menace and I love him. I really love the universe you built here, and once again I’m blown away by your creativity.

Thank you for sharing this with us!

As Within, So Without

Summary: When a night out on the town goes south, Peter learns that catching feelings for a mythical creature comes with its own unique challenges. He just wishes that for once, they would be less life-threatening.

Pairing: Peter Parker x demon!Reader (now human!Reader, but you know, once a demon…); relationship troubles of a very unique kind, supernatural/mystical occurrences, fluff, 18+ mature, smut, sappiness, idiots in love, jealousy, some violence, happy ending :)

Words: 12K

As Above, So Below (read here)

——————————–

He was crawling out of his skin.

The night was still young and the danger had been avoided, but Peter hadn’t counted on his own mind and body betraying him like they did. Like they were still doing. Why couldn’t he get the stupid thing off her? Why were his hands shaking so badly?

His eyes were focused on the curve of her spine, a delicate opening in the silk dress tempting him with smooth skin. She wasn’t wearing a bra. She wasn’t wearing much of anything. The wispy garment that a designer had deigned to call a dress melted onto her body’s every curve like chocolate over -

They shouldn’t be sitting on the bed. He shouldn’t be touching her. He shouldn’t be inhaling the scent from her neck.

“You can use your strength. I don’t mind.”

Her words summoned an electrical current that reset his brain.

“Or we could try bolt cutters.”

He wouldn’t be bringing any sharp tools near her skin. He’d already fucked up by taking her out tonight. Granted, this particular situation was decidedly not his fault, but he wasn’t going to make it any worse. He just wished he knew where exactly things had gone wrong.

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[the-badger-mole]

So there's definitely the traits about Aang you don't like. If you had the chance, how would you have gone about making sure Aang got called out??

Any other changes about other aspects of the show that you would have done??

OOHHH!!!! There is SO much I would have changed.

Starting with Aang:

Aang should have been called out about not helping Katara with the chores. One of the lessons he should have learned on Kyoshi should have been importance of not leaving one team member to do all of the work (Sokka should have been taught this lesson, too, of course, but at least he was learning other lessons about respect for women in particular). I'm not asking for Aang to face consequences for the sake of making him miserable (although...). What I really want is for him to consider people other than himself in a way that actually leaves a mark on his character and doesn't just make his superficial reputation better.

In Bato of the Water Tribe, he should have been taken more to task over his selfishness in hiding Hakoda's letter. I feel like the danger he put Hakoda's mission in with that bone-headed move gets overlooked in favor of his sadness about the possibility of his friends wanting to take a detour to see their father. Aang gets half an apology for that, but only half an apology, and not to Katara- the one he's supposed to have a romance (???) with.

He should have been called out for lying his way out of actually solving the problem in "The Great Divide". Yes, it was a tough problem, but he's going to have to solve even harder ones as the Avatar. Not even lightly chiding him for taking the easy way out doesn't bode well for how well he's going to do at his job in the future.

The fact that he was instrumental in the deaths of several Fire Nation soldiers in the Siege of the North should have been the beginning of his understanding of what he's expected to do to end this war that's been going on for a hundred years. He should feel some guilt over the war that's been going on for a hundred years. Even if ultimately he's not centrally to blame for either, neither could have happened without him making the decisions he made. I can understand it not occurring to Aang on his own that he played a part in (lets be honest) millions of deaths, but it should have dawned on him through context clues what the world- what his friends!- expected of him. He should have been looking for a non-lethal solution to the Ozai problem from the beginning of Book 2 at the latest! The way his reluctance to kill Ozai plays out in the show makes Aang look inexcusably stupid, unbelievably short-sighted, and dangerously selfish.

He should have been brought to task for how he treated his friends- especially Toph- in the desert. Yes, it's understandable that he was upset about losing Appa, but he took his anger out on his friends. That's not ok. He should have apologized. We should have seen him apologize. It wasn't Toph's fault Appa was taken. She didn't deserve that.

Katara should have had more of a voice in her relationship with Aang. He forced kisses on her twice, and aside from avoiding talking to him about feelings, Katara doesn't get to tell him how she actually feels about him, about them, about the fact that he doesn't respect her enough to talk to her about how he felt before he even thought about trying to kiss her. I hate Kataang, and there is no version of that ship that I would actually like (at it's best it's boring), HOWEVER, there is a version of Kataang that could have been less infuriating, and it's the version where Aang realizes how selfish he's been with Katara and apologizes, and then actually puts in the work to be more respectful of her. Not to get the reward of her affection for doing something he should have been doing in the first place (*ahembrykeahem*), but because he actually sees the error of his ways and his need to change for himself. Then maybe, after Aang had put in actual work on himself, maybe his "romance" with Katara could have worked, and Katara would have actually had a chance to thrive after getting with him.

The war should have had more of an impact on Aang. As the Avatar, he should have seen more people suffering under the Fire Nation's campaign of imperialism. Sure he sees refugees and even spends a couple of days getting to know a pregnant lady, but it never seems like he makes the connection between the abstract evil of the war and the real world suffering it caused. It never seems to sink in for him how bad things are. Like not even for his friends. Not even for Katara specifically, the girl he allegedly loves.

There are more things I would have changed about Aang, but this is already long, so moving on!

As for the rest of the show:

I would have spent less time on Aang and his feelings and done more with the world building. There is a ridiculously small amount of time dedicated to the Water Tribe cultures. Most of Book 1: Water is spent in the Earth kingdom! Why??? Most of the main cast is from the Southern Water Tribe! Then there's the question of the Air Nomads. A total annihilation of a people group is incredibly unlikely. Closer to impossible. It hasn't even happened in our world, and the European colonist had raised murder and genocide to an art form. You mean to tell me that not only did the Fire Nation manage to murder millions of people to complete extinction, they did it in a day? Seriously??? I'm not buying it.

Speaking of the Air Nomads, even if they decided not have any other air benders in the show (but seriously, why not?), there was no reason not to explore their culture a little more. There could have been history texts in those temples they visited. Aang could have discovered some scrolls on defensive air bending forms. Guru Pathik could have been less racist given more time to explain at least a bit of the nuance of Air Nomad culture and philosophy. Aang has a 12 year old's understanding of Air Nomad culture and philosophy. What could you tell anyone about your culture or your religious beliefs at 12? Maybe you'd absorbed a lot by then, but to be able to accurately explain either to someone who didn't already know? Well, we get the bulk of Air Nomad philosophy from Aang- the kid who couldn't even acknowledge that his own people had killed in self-defense.

Toph, Sokka, Suki, and, yes Katara should have been given more development and had more care shown to their inner workings. Aang and Zuko have way more time devoted to them (though the time spent on Zuko had more plot impact than Aang's). The other members of the Gaang deserved more shine, too. Especially Toph.

Obviously, I think Katara and Zuko should have ended up together, but I've written so much about that, so I'm going to end this here, because it's late and I still need to get ready for bed.