#and writing wise she's probably my fave from the show

[antisociallilbrat]

Nancy is such an interesting character because as I’ve said before, she’s determined to change the shitty world around her but it’s not because she’s filled with some unbridled optimism. I wouldn’t even call her an optimist, she’s more of a realist.

Nancy Wheeler is a character that is filled with lifetimes of passed down feminine rage. We’ve seen this since season one. She has watched her mother and presumably her grandmother settle for lives they didn’t want. Marry the first ‘decent’ man that came along, not out of love but because it was expected of them. If they had dreams they didn’t get to pursue them because who would stay home to take care of the kids?

She’s not going to settle. She’s not going to become her mom. Nancy Wheeler won’t fucking stop till the world conforms to her. Even if she has to fight for it with blood and tears. She’s a damn way maker.

[lanymme]

it 1000% feels like, for the lack of time/aid/skill, the translators end up using machine TL for events, and that image you posted as an example feels like a prime candidate for that

fiammetta's file lines to this day are awkward and stunted because they're almost word for word machine TLs

Okay I was gonna wait a little while for this post but you hit the nail on the head.

My (apparently not-so) tinfoil hat theory about this game: nearly all of it is machine translated.

While reading Dorothy's Vision in preparation for Lone Trail, I came across a (probably infamous) stretch of critically story-relevant text that was not translated at all. A friend of mine directed me to the arknights story reader, where I looked into the EN translation and, yep, that's still Chinese. So I ran it through a Machine TL to get the jist of it. It was serviceable, a lot of the terms translated surprisingly well, but the moment to moment writing was obscured to me by the TL quality.

And in a moment of dread I realized it read EXACTLY like any old bit of Arknights story, and everything clicked. The problems I have always had with the sentence structure and word choice feeling strangely disjointed, lacking in logical flow--all of it showed up the same from this raw machine translation.

Y'all. We've been getting a poorly touched-up machine translation of the Chinese text this whole time. All the effort you have to put in to just figure out what's being said--it's not your fault, the story is not too smart for you, it's because you're being asked to read a machine translation, without the context that it will be rough and full of holes.. Everything that writing is--beyond merely conveying information or a sequence of events--we get none of that.

Think about all the nuance we missed of your favorite characters. Your favorite moments. How much of their nuance and depth did we miss?

How many other characters and moments did you dismiss or skim because the writing couldn't convey their emotional core? How many of those could have been as important to you as your current fave?

The fact that Kal'tsit comes across as unintelligible--does she instead sound wise and poetic, in the original?

How much of the full text of Arknights do you think is available to us? 80%? 40%? Who can say.

But I can say one thing. What we have now is not acceptable.

Edit: hey, it’s been put forward by people with actual expertise in this field that MTL is highly unlikely here, and I realize I was a bit bold for this. If this is coming up in your feed pls seek out their explanations of things instead of reblogging the root! Thanks!

[carlosoliveiras-wife]

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ .ೃ࿐ ┈┈┈┈ : . . . . : ─ hola, qué pasa. i’m chloë [she/her], biromantic[?]/ace-spectrum hispanic [white/mex] ladee who enjoys masc titles. here’s my main selfship carrd [still in progress]. here’s my general f/o list. here's my fandom ref drive. please like this post once read!

the guys shown above are My Darlin's, my main F/Os that I have super bad brainrot about and who are just part of my main squad but with a fancier label. rubs eyes. in order, they are...

Carlos Oliveira; Resident Evil 3 [Remake]

Pavia; Reverse: 1999

Miguel O'Hara; Specifically ATSV's Version*

Charles Smith; Red Dead Redemption 2

Lúcio Correia dos Santos; Overwatch

Lee; Arknights

Rei Sakuma; Ensemble Stars!!

the asterisk is that i largely use comic lore in reference to Miguel. in case that needed to be said. i just needed to put that out there i guess??

my terms on sharing are that i'm not comfy, and if you're too lazy(/nm) to read below, the gist is dni if we share, and if you reblog from someone who shares my f/os of any status, i'll just softblock for my mental health because i. am a bitch when it comes to sharing. sorry.

in the same sense: if you share any of my friends' f/os, i either will block or not follow just for their sakes and i have a personal bias when it comes to my friends' stuff. if that makes sense. probably not. here's the link to the list, which can be updated at any time.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ .ೃ࿐ ┈┈┈┈ : . . . . : ─ i’m specifically writing my new pinned to sound like i lack enthusiasm, because, y’know, i kinda feel that way a lot. don’t be intimidated, i don’t bite unless you give me a permit to do so, otherwise i’ll just stare at you from across the room. i’m not new to selfshipping in the slightest, and i’ve been doing this shit since i was a kid. i heavily love fictional characters and i see them as my bitches who should bow down to me. that’s a joke. i’m bowing down to them. sidenote: i put the question mark by biromantic because i have no idea if i’m aroace or not. sigh.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ .ೃ࿐ ┈┈┈┈ : . . . . : ─ i like a lot of things outside of fictional characters who make me wanna eat grass. i love to draw, i love to write, i love to design, i’d fucking love to not have seasonal allergies. i also really fucking love animals, however, don’t rely on me for knowledge because i obviously don’t know everything about anything. my faves are orcas and foxes! my favorite foods are salmon nigiri, tamales, and conchas. awkward thumbs up emoji.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ .ೃ࿐ ┈┈┈┈ : . . . . : ─ my dni and other stuff can be found on my main/introductory carrd. fandom-wise, you can find my info and trivia and all your need-to-knows on my ascendaries carrd.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ .ೃ࿐ ┈┈┈┈ : . . . . : ─ yes, i’m aware i have a rain theme going on. personal ties and i love the weather. shrug emoji.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ .ೃ࿐ ┈┈┈┈ : . . . . : ─ yes, i'm aware a lot of my selfships have repetitive themes and tropes. those themes and tropes are very comforting and also largely stem from personal things which is why i indulge them. tldr: if you hate childhood friends to lovers, hooh, you're gonna hate me.

little tidbits about me, i suppose. a good chunk of these are taken from my old pinned.

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ i quite literally use myself in all selfships, and prefer each fandom variation to not be called a "self insert". it's legit just me befitted for a fandom (usually a f/o, ie, if a f/o is an eldritch horror then fuck it i am too) 😔 ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ i have a lot of interests and tend to show an interest in a lot of things at once— while i may not know everything about a media, i do immediately go searching for character analyses as well as consume media as much as i can. i do have an attention problem which involves finding it hard to sit down and binge. but i will read the info as much as i can, i do tend to like reading more than watching/playing. ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ again, as previously stated, i am a hispanic selfshipper. however, i look whiter than one would assume, and kinda act it as well. while meals and pronunciations are a big deal to me[minus the joking mispronunciations which earn me 'oh she's white' stares; listen it's kinda funny], i'm not fluent in spanish [i know a few phrases…] nor do i have many experiences many others may have. i admire a lot of the traditions, however i did not grow up with them. i’d love to meet other hispanic selfshippers though, y’all are cool and i’m giving you all a little kiss. ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ yeah, it's actually spelled “Chloë”, in case you had to know. ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ i love to indulge my friends and mutuals as best as i can! my inbox is always open for rambles and such, so don't be afraid to talk to me. i also don't mind infodumps on any of my faves because you'd more than likely help me understand them more anyways, which is always welcome. ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ i do love to portray myself as the more affectionate one in any of my selfships— while everyone loves affectionate male/female f/o stuff, i like giving out more love and flustering my dumbasses. ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ unfortunately, i am a lady who is very not okay with sharing. if that bothers you, just please do not interact. i know non-sharing selfshippers seem silly and childish, but it's just how i am. similarly, i do not care to interact with anyone who selfships with faves on the friend DNI list, meaning that i prefer their selfships above all else. i know that ain’t gonna stop anyone, but oh well. that list doesn’t apply to anyone following before that list was updated, so! yeah. ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ i'm uncomfortable with nsfw and if you are a nsfw account, please do interact on a different account. while i do have nsfw humor, indulging in actual nsfw makes me uncomfy, so please keep that in mind. ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ don't be scared of interacting with me. i'm not gonna leap out of the water and bite your hand off. as long as we don't share f/os, i don't mind interacting. ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ i don't mind being tagged in things. i find it quite fun, actually! and i feel honored! hehehe ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ fandom blogs PLEASE dni. there's nothing wrong with you guys...some of y'all, i mean. i'm just. i'd strongly prefer not to have fandom blogs follow me. likewise: ccxcc shippers for my f/os. sorry i'm still a person who's uncomfy w/sharing ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ edited last: 12/6/2023 — while this blog is by all means "private" (read: i have the settings that doesn't allow this blog to be searched up or something else), i don't think i'm too bothered by reblogs or stuff about my personal selfship content anymore. i had this rule in place initially so that way i did not burn a hole in my brain from too much attention, however, i will do my best in taking things easier so that way i don't hit that mark of burnout again, or at least, as fast. ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

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DNI

you fit basic DNI criteria, this includes being a zionist. i dont wanna see any proshippers or racists or pedos or lgbtphobes or islamophobes or anyone else who fits this bs criteria

if you share my f/os, this is just more of a comfort thing. im less likely to follow if you reblog from someone who does share my f/os just for my own comfort

if you associate with @/tealilii or @/glazelilii or whatever other handles she has. she's caused trauma for me and another friend of mine, and might still be doing harmful shit to my other friend.

you associate with @/lolthia. you can find posts on why you shouldnt associate with them.

javier escuella slanderers. i will throw you like a fucking dodgeball

people who like dark content, including but not limited to: yanderes, DD: DNE, noncon or dubcon, incest including stepcest, the glorification of abuse

see someone wearing certain things in fashion and immediately ask if theyre into nsfw things or why they're wearing "fetish gear". its weird, dont do that, esp not to me.

there's probably more but. hm. i'll update eventually

i don't know what else to add. glances to the side. so uh. yeahh. hi there guys...??

dividers are by @/cafekitsune!!

[freneticfloetry]

Okay, Nice Ask Week Ask -

Okay, because I know you've watched a bunch of the same old school fandom shows I've watched - what was your fandom journey? Where did you start? What did you first read? Where'd you go next? (following authors or shows?) Livejournal - yes or no?

The noise of distress that I just made cannot be accurately described.

Okay so, I started both reading and writing fic in OG Roswell fandom. As I’m sure you know, fandom activity back then tended to be splintered into silos by pairing, and I lived in Polar land (Michael/Liz. All the Roswell ships had names. It was A Time.). The compulsion was more about Michael than anything — broken boy soldiers are always my weakness. I was intrigued by the scrapped storyline that was supposed to be a love triangle, especially since they had chemistry, but I didn’t love Liz as written, she just made the most sense with him, to me. Canon-wise, I was mainly there for Michael, Kyle, and Isabel (something that was ultimately painfully apparent in my fics).

(I did finally watch the reboot recently, and while I liked Liz a hell of a lot more, Kyle and Isabel were still my faves. Go figure!)

I was a one fandom reader and writer for a long time, though I did dabble in crossovers. Then I wrote a tiny little ficlet for Lost, and it opened the floodgates — I started writing Firefly, then Smallville (specifically Chlollie, another silo, which was definitely a LiveJournal thing), then Supernatural. And once I signed up for my first year of Yuletide, all bets were off — I got into the habit of writing my one perfect fic in a fandom and then fleeing to flit off to another, never to return.

I just realized that I’ve only ever followed a few of authors to new fandoms — @earlgreytea68’s Sherlock fic, for instance, was what made me start reading Arthur/Eames. What happens most often is that I randomly get a bunny for a canon I enjoy (or one that’s wildly pissed me off) that won’t leave me alone until I start writing.

The Magicians is the canon that made me settle down again, and nurture more than one idea for the same fandom. And even though I’ve had to step away from it for awhile (because just thinking about it still makes me anxious and angry), I think it was exactly what I needed to prime my brain for the Tarlos takeover — I think I would’ve been overwhelmed otherwise, and probably never written anything for them at all.

Sorry so long. I’m ridiculous.

[dutchforstrangers]

Digimon Adventure: 2023 - The newborn chronicles 1/?

Since approx three weeks, I'm head deep into diapers, broken nights and feeding sessions, trying to navigate through life with a newborn. All the while, coming here feels like this could be both my escape from and way of dealing with everything. So I might as well throw in some drabbles about my faves during pregnancy/labor and/or with newborns! Don't expect too much shipping or even shipping at all, just these mofos being newborn parents and not knowing sh*t about all of this.

If you have any suggestions or requests for this series (character(s) and/or prompt/idea), please crawl into my ask box and leave a message (: It's great writing exercise for me after being out of it for so long! I'm taking everything on a scale from everyday domestic fluff to drama with a funny twist and from comedy with a serious touch to dark and heavy angsty emotional rollercoaster.

[1/?]

Episode 1: Taichi & newborn Souta, pt. 1

"Well, just kill me now..."

He said as he exhaled loudly, his hands desperately buried in his hair that seemed wilder than ever before. The bags underneath his eyes in combination with the messy hair and stinky boxers indicating the lack of sleep and showering.

A small piece of Taichi hoped his wife would hear him sigh, wake and come to his rescue. The biggest piece, however, wanted to let her have a peaceful night after all the tough ones she already had and show her he could actually do this by himself.

Thing was he wasn't sure how to.

He reached for his phone on top of the dresser, next to his one week old son. Their eyes met, one set of brown eyes expectingly piercing through his own pair.

"I'm sorry I'm letting you wait, I just... I just need to be sure. So stop looking at me like that."

Taichi's eyes quickly moved from the baby to his phone, scrolling through the names in his contacts.

If he'd call Hikari, or Sora, they would immediately mother and scold him for not knowing "anything". They were an easy skip.

He could call Yamato, but the scenario in his head made him skip his friend faster than lightning.*

Jyou could be useful knowledge-wise, but he'd probably be in a night shift and too busy picking up.

Mimi wasn't an option either, feeling she would leave him with unuseful anecdotes about her traveling life and more questions than answers.

Takeru he felt too awkward to call and Daisuke was simply a hard no.

That left him with one last option. And even though Taichi wasn't sure about that person's knowledge regarding this specific topic, he was sure that he would help him in the best way possible.

"Taichi-san?"

Plus, the voice on the other end weirdly soothed him.

With his gaze fixed on his son's overly yellow-brownish body, Taichi started rambling.

"Koushiro, you've got to help me. What do you know about changing diapers and cleaning one week old babies after they covered themselves in their own poop?"

x x x

* The Taichi - Yamato scenario/convo I envisioned:

Y: "Oi, Taichi, why you're calling me in the middle of the night?"

T: "Why are you picking up in the middle of the night?"

Y: "... F*ck you." *hangs up*

[mejomonster]

Okay so. My ability to focus is weak af recently. Regardless, gonna liveblog if I do manage to read ToT. I found Huai Dao Way of Evil on one of ur recommendations, as an older priest novel that kinda felt like the rough first try at the vibe Modu would nail later? (Also i have heard in reviews its uh best case cringe worst case insensitive at handling mental health issues which... modu handles so well and nuanced so, i mean i guess worst case at least things improved? But ive ran into enough (unfortunately) novels that handle the topic shittily that i hope im kind of hardened to it. Like i suspect sci mystery probably handles mental stuff suckily but im still gonna give it a shot one day for its other qualities, etc.) Anyway back to my point: huai dao may not be lets say up to spec of "wow one of my new top fave stories ever" like modu was. But hey! Still lets go on this journey! See how skills evolved, see what ideas were older and got cherished and improved ya know. (Also reasons id love to read Iterant Doctor and The Blue Seal by priest).

Also? Frankly. I love a good murder mystery. I read the first few pages. And already I can tell, at least writing style wise, ill like huai dao more than In The Dark (sorry ITD i just dont click as much style wise). Huai Dao doesnt open on a scary or mysterious scene to make me wonder whats going on: which Lie Huo Jiao Chou, Zhenhun, Modu, and Can Ci Pin all do fairly quickly (and its a good choice from my perspective lol as it gets me sucked in). But it does open with solid CHARACTERS. A couple pages in and i already have a much firmer Feel of the characters than 100 pages of In The Dark. I can tell the police girl has some vibes in common with Zhu Hong and Lang Qiao (but priest just loves a few certain Types in the investigator work groups), but she also distincrly doesnt have a Little Sister big mouth vibe of Lang Qiao and also doesnt have a cold judging but fond vibe like Zhu Hong, she feels distinct enough for me to get a sense of her as unique (something i think priest does well that... again ITD just did not really give me until maybe halfway thru book 1). The main chief boss seems a lot like ITD's chief, and Modu's. Except modu even early on had hints the chief had secrets, was a certain social class and tied to powerful city people. This chief, at least on opening pages, seems more close and friendly to his entire team and closer to their level.

And the main guy. Shen Yexi. On first impression, oh boy. I like him. Hes around my age, he got shot and just got cleared to come back to work. The setup is standard for many a mirder mystery and danmei crime novel (Poyun and In The Dark open similarly, its just a common setup). But immediately i can tell who he is on some level. He's friendly but not nearly in the way Zhao Yunlan is (not charismatic and big) and not in the show offy almost perfotmance Keep In Control way Luo Wenzhou is. He exudes a certain Serious nature (more like shen wei maybe? If anything) but also is sincere to people he considers somewhat close (like his team). Again, i deeply appreciate the way priest can immediately establish at least some specific sense of character quite quickly. Ive read bits of a few other novels lately that couldnt do that as fast, and for me unique characters i can really grasp goes a Long way into holding my attention.

Shen Yexi is about my age, as stubborn as me, probably too much of a workaholic and a touch too sincere about doing what hes intending to do (at least on first impression). And i can tell im gonna like him. As the 3rd case solving murders type priest story ive checked out (after zhenhun and modu), i was a bit worried the lead might feel like a less refined version of zhao yunlan or luo wenzhou or tao ran. Happy to say, so far, he does not. (Tao ran may be closest in temperment but... fei du and luo wenzhous point of views painted tao ran as so perfect and put on a pedestal of normal sweet noble Great that Shen Yexi just has NONE of tao rans vibe).

Anyway, expect more commentary at some point.

Btw I am reading The Way of Evil 坏道 on WOC Translations, the translation is complete:

[twotangledsisters]

What have been your favourite 10 chapters of the Two Tangled Sisters series to write and why?

What has been your favourite fic from the series to write so far?

Oh, I love this question, although with your permission I will switch chapters to arcs cause that makes more sense for my series!

Answer under read more due to length!

1.-  No Detours, Just Romance and Shenanigans

Without any hesitation! This is the arc where CandyCaine became a thing after much back and forth. This is the payoff of all that flirting and I was looking forward to it! It was really fun to write, you have Eugene trying to prepare this perfect engagement! Keira, Catalina being mischievous. Lance taking a well-deserved break. Caine sooo excited to show Cass her pride and joy, her ship! While Cass is desperately trying to hide the fact she's terrified of the ocean.

I love writing arcs where there's a lot going on, lots of different emotions!

The way Eugene accepted the ship wasn't the right spot for his engagement allowing Cass and Caine to do their thing! And just, the setting sun as Cass really pours her feelings out, Caine accepted Cass as she is, Cass reiterating her feelings cause she's scared Caine doesn't understand and Caine's line:

"I want to be with you, and I would never ask you to give me more than you have to give. I can do a relationship on your terms. For you… I think I could do anything.”

You can't say she hasn't lived by that promise!

It was such a joy to write and lead to my fave ship to write to this day.

But anyway, talking about Eugene's engagement!!

2.- The start to Shimmering Stones and Uncertain Destinies

Technically this fic is in chapters not arcs but I wrote a lot of the start in one sitting and it was a lot of fun, very emotional, and still makes my heart flutter.

Cassandra trying to hide the fact she now sees her dead mother, Rapunzel having an actual panic attack at the idea of the moonstone and Eugene finally getting down on one knew asking Rapunzel to marry him! (For the first time, mind you!)

And she says yes!!

Digging into their emotions before the season finale or before any large conflict is something I really, really enjoy writing! And the engagement, adorable!

And then the appearance of Edmund to finish off! Cassandra giving that man a piece of her mind and of course acquiring her beloved axe.

3.- Birds and Magic

Based on the episode Freebird this was one of my favorite re-imagining! It only really kept the characters and setting but it was just sooo much fun lore wise!

Cassandra is aware she has magic (only she and Eugene know) and after hesitantly asking the group what they think of magic the response isn't great, and Caine especially is highly against magic. (I kinda love the miscommunication trope so writing this was ajoy) Cassandra goes and finds her own teachers and learns in private!

Caine respects Cassandra's frequent bird-watching excursions at first but eventually gets worried, goes to check on her and overhears a plan to kill Cass. She gets captured and Cass is told Caine was attempting to kill them for their magic!

A poor speechless Caine unable to explain the danger Cass is in while Cass's rambling on about how sorry she is for hiding the magic and she'd understand if Caine wants to leave and blah, blah, blah- I could not stop laughing as I wrote it. I love miscommunication. And when Cass does Caine the ability to speak and the woman blurts out an 'I love you'.

Caine could not have picked a more awkward moment and I love it and I love them and I think it's perfect.

Plus, Cass uses her magic to save Caine and Caine still loves her no matter how weird she is!!

Everything about this was a joy to write from the lore to Cass' awkwardness to the miscommunication, the supportive Eugene and Cass conversations, Caine giving Cass time to think about the declaration of love, just everything about this arc was sooo fun!

4.- Mirrors 

Probably the most tragic chapter in this fic... perhaps amongst the most tragic of the series.

Basically Ari and Frederic are looking through these old mirrors of Gothel's that depict tests done in a lab on a young Cassandra.

And the last mirror they stumble upon they discover that Cassandra, their Cassandra, is only the latest in a series of lab experiments and all of those who came prior to her were 'terminated'.

I mean, my heart is heavy to this day thinking of this chapter... It was a chapter that was very hard to write but in a good way. It's a chapter that whenever I re-read I have to re-read it slowly due to how heavy what's going on is... and that's something I really really love.

This is also one of those moments where we see Frederic being more of a rock for Arianna as her heart is absolutely broken as she thinks of all those who came before Cass, but Frederic is able to focus in one their Cass, the one who's still alive and out on an adventure!

What can I say, I love writing angst.

5.-  To Burn a Witch

Talking about heavy emotions this is another arc I was looking forward to for a long, long time! This is where Equis tries once more to kill Cassandra.

It's the arc in which Quaid dies, a chapter that was very emotional to write.

But it's more important the first time Cassandra has knowingly and purposefully killed somebody.

It's a very dark arc, but I really enjoy writing dark stuff, I enjoy writing stuff that makes my heart sink, I enjoy digging into the emotions and I enjoy pushing characters past their limit.

6.- The Wishing Fountain

I also enjoy fluff! Even if this does end with angst...

This is the arc in which Rapunzel and Cassandra throw coins into a wishing fountain and the very innocent wish of 'I wish we'd gotten to grow up in Corona like normal children' become Arianna and Frederic's problem (is it really a problem?) when their adult daughters are handed to them as a baby and four-year-old.

I think it's not a secret I ADORE writing cute kids fluff, I mean, it's how this series starts!!

And this one is just so sweet cause Ari and Fred lost their chance at raising little children so be to given these few days is a true gift that they enjoy... you know, until the babies need returning to the fountain.

7.-  Criminals of Corona

Everybody wants a Caine redemption right? Well, Cass is no exception! After an argument with Eugene about boundaries she decides to try and help this Lady Caine using community service!

At first Caine is skeptical but accepts and slowly it seems Cassandra is getting through to her until she admits to overstepping one of Caine's boundaries at which point Caine shuts down, stops opening up to Cass and all that.

Caine kidnaps Cassandra the very next day as part of her escape plan but apologizes in advance as well as eventually letting her go.

Here we get to see one of the main ways Cass varies from series-Cass, wasn't raised by Captain, instead her first experience with a criminal is Eugene who despite their banter she's very close to, because of this she is determined to just redeem every villain ever!

Caine proves two things to Cass: That it won't be easy, but it's very much worth it. (not both in this arc)

But writing Caine as she tried to be stern and against this princess while struggling... The way she eventually lets Cass go, the way Eugene shows up to rescue Cass. It was sooo much fun to write!

Most important, this is my first time properly writing Caine as a character and I obviously fell in love with her.

8.- .Paint and Law 

This arc takes place after the 'Queen For a Day' re-imagining. Snow is gone but the damage is still very much present! We see how Rapunzel and Cassandra cope with the aftermath of trauma and stress. Rapunzel disassociates and wants to make no decisions. Cassandra buries herself in her work.

We get to see Arianna's stress and how Frederic supports her.

We see our first disciple of Zhan Tirir which was sooo fun to write especially with Sugracha aknowing of Cassandra's origin!

Arianna gets to be a really badass mum, obviously!

And all the fluff mixed in with the drama and the recovery, it has all the stuff I love from a good arc :D

The conversation Frederic has with Cassandra after she overworks is still amongst my fave moments of the father-daughter duo. Honestly, I love writing heartfelt conversations!

9.- The ending to The Princess, The Pirate and The Prosecutor

From the moment Caine rescues Cass, the race to get back to Corona in time to save Eugene from the gallows, the gallows chapter, Rapunzel's rescue! And the recovery and politics that come after...

Again, all my fave things, angst, fluff, epic fights, fantasy politics!!

How could I not love writing this?

Although the truth is at the time I actually didn't like what I wrote (that's why it's so low on the list), I enjoyed writing it but didn't like the results, but reader reception is amongst the best I've ever has so I guess it goes to show sometimes it's fine.

10.-  What Mother Wouldn't Do Anything For Their Child 

Amaris' first introduction!!! Do I need to say more?

This arc takes place in the Inn of Yesterday's Tomorrow and each of the three main cast has a weird dream. Eugene is visited by his ancestor, Rapunzel talks to Arianna and Cass sees her late-mother. Three dreams with different tones and there's no way to know how real or not any of them are!

I love writing dream sequences and I love writing weird cryptic characters, so this was great!

Favorite fic to write??

Within the Walls of Corona, definitely!

It was soooo fun to write this fic because I had all this relationships to build from New Dream, Eugene and Cassandra's friendship had some growing, Arianna and Frederic both needed to bond with their daughters a bit more, Lance has a first appearance, Keira and Catalina have a first appearance, characters like Cap and Nigel learn the princesses are to be respected, Caine has the start to her redemption....

And all of this while having a very clear roadmap which is the show!

Don't get me wrong, I love the current fics but as far as enjoying the process goes I have to put in a lot more work to figure out the order of things and balancing lowers and higher stakes... I didn't have that problem in Within the Walls of Corona XD

It was a very, very enjoyable experience and those first four fics, Two Tangled Sisters, Two Princesses, The Coronation and Within the Walls of Corona, had that perfect lightness with dark undertones but they were the calm before the storm (quite literally cause to Rule A Kingdom is all about a storm!! XD)

-

Anyway, thanks a ton for such an awesome question!

I hope this served as a nostalgic look back for you as it definitely did for me :D

[useyourtelescope]

yuletide 2023 recap!

This yuletide exchange was fun, though as usual I am still making my way through the collection (here's hoping this year I actually finish reading all the open tabs in Jan/Feb at least).

For my gift, I received a gorgeous fic for The Borgias - some Cesare/Lucrezia hurt/comfort post-season 3 with lots of my fave tropes, you can read that on ao3 here:

One Touch of Your Hand

I wrote five fics - 2 for Only Murders In the Building (Gen) & 1 each for Nancy Drew (Nancy/Ace), The Borgias (Cesare/Lucrezia) and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans (Frankie/Bobby). I did end up with 3 unfinished treats sitting in my drafts, 1 of which I wrote about 3k for, but it was probably wishful thinking that I might have completed them in time too. The published 5 are the most individual fics I’ve managed for Yuletide, or any exchange for that matter (though it’s about 1k short of the total words I’ve done for an exchange thanks to the long fics I wrote for Yuletide 2019). 

Summaries of the fics themselves and thoughts on writing them below the cut:

A Whole New Direction - OMITB, Charles & Mabel & Oliver, Banter Post S2, ~800 words [ao3 link]

"I know yesterday we said we’d kind of shot ourselves in the foot podcast-wise by limiting ourselves to the building only, never mind whose idea that was—“ “It was your idea,” Mabel and Oliver replied in unison. “But never mind! I thought of a way we could continue the podcast without betraying the original premise.”

I enjoy writing their banter so this was a fun quick one; the main section came easily, it was just trying to decide where I wanted to end it that took the most time.

Co-Location - OMITB, Gen (Charles & Mabel + some Oliver), Canon Divergence in S3, ~1k words [ao3 link]

Charles offers a solution to Mabel's apartment-hunting woes.

This is a bit more sentimental than the general vibe I go for with writing the show (though not as angsty and internal as the Will POV post-Oliver’s heart attack fic I wrote for the last exchange I did), but the idea lent that way and I had to follow. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to end this one either, but when my beta mentioned that perhaps next season in the show Charles might not be able to stay at his apartment after the latest murder and would have to go to Oliver’s, the image of all three of them having to sleepover together made me laugh so I had to work that in.

Got A Lot To Learn - Nancy Drew (TV 2019), Nancy/Ace, Post-Canon Fluff, ~1.7k words [ao3 link | tumblr post]

Nancy and Ace approach a minor relationship milestone soon after breaking the curse.

This was my assignment! My recipient wanted something in canon which gave me an excuse to return to the the idea of Nancy learning ASL for Ace/his dad, which I thought was really sweet when they mentioned it on the show but the timing of that reveal meant it was angsty and I wanted it in a cute scene. Still getting the hang of writing the characters/universe but hopefully I'll be able to play more with them later this year (maybe even with the unfinished ND treat I started, though Nancy/Ace was more background in that one).

Power Over Me - The Borgias (Showtime TV), Cesare/Lucrezia, Explicit, Modern AU - Alpha/Omga, ~15k words [ao3 link | tumblr post]

Cesare has always been protective of his sister. When she unexpectedly has her first heat he worries that he might need to protect her from himself.

This got a bit away from me lol! It's not a trope I expected to write but the recipient's prompt really clicked as Cesare/Lucrezia do have that intensity that lends itself to this type of AU. It was still supposed to be a 5-6k thing initially but then I got the idea of putting Cesare through it on his special shopping trip for Lucrezia lol and started to consider more about the character arcs and showing more of Lucrezia's side of things and it snowballed into a much longer piece. That meant I had to leave aside the other Ces/Lu fic I started writing as a treat for this Yuletide, but even though I think that'll be shorter the storyline is more complicated so this was probably the better one to pick to finish for a deadline and a fun experiment for me.

The Very Thought Of You - Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, Frankie/Bobby, Mature, Love Letters & Reunions, ~6k words [ao3 link | tumblr post]

A few months into their marriage, Frankie has to return to Marchbolt without Bobby. Finding the telephone insufficient for maintaining their usual level of intimacy, she starts to write to him.

There was a note in the recipient's letter about how they show each other their affection and they prompted letters for another ship which gave me the idea of Frankie and Bobby writing to one another. I was originally going to mostly focus on their time apart and just see a little bit of them reuniting at the end but once they were together I wanted to spend more time with them in the same place and thought it made sense to follow through on some of those spicier letters with giving them a bit of alone time too so it became 6k rather than 3 lol, but most of it flowed quite easily. It was just the letters and some of the historical aspects I spent time rewriting, especially Bobby's letter since that's the emotional point of the fic.

All in all, I really liked all 5 I managed to complete, but probably going to take a little exchange break for a bit and write whatever is flowing easiest rather than trying to write for a deadline.

[timeandspacenovelist]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you for the tag, @eriadu-in-the-wildwood!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

77 currently. Writing is one of my ways to relax so I've written a lot over the last three years.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

A nice roundy 446,376 (so far)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Doctor Who and some occasional jaunts into the world of WWE

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

You Must Remember This (one of my all time faves) 2. Bus Ride (unexpected, but still a fun one) 3. An Impossible Reunion (another all time fave) 4. Wounds (This was a cute one shot but it did so damn well) 5. Hopeless Romantic (another all time fave)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

As much as I can. I want people to feel as welcome in my comments, as I've felt in others.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'd say Replay. The ending does have closure but it's certainly not happy.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'll say With You, I'll Stay As Long As Possible. It gave Yaz and 13 their relationship that they deserved with the promise of it being a decade long.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I do not, no.

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

I don't, no. Don't think I have the skill for it.

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

I have in the past, yes! Doctor Nightmare features Rhea Ripley meeting the 13th Doctor, The Victorian Visitation has 13 and Clara meeting Queen Victoria (more specifically the version from the 2016 show), The Impossible Nobody had Clara meeting Rey from Star Wars, Bus Ride had 13 meeting Johanna Constantine from the Sandman and Warrior...Princess...Doctor had 13 and Yaz meeting Xena and Gabrielle. In terms of craziest? Probably Doctor Nightmare for how different both universes are.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of!

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

I have! The on-going For The Woman Who Has Everything was written by myself and @anotherfrench. She's given me free rein to finish it however, so I'm on my own now!

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Might be a tie with Thasmin and Whouffaldi at this point.

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

I've had this idea of the Doctor and Yaz and Clara heading back to the 90s, and stopping an alien who is using anti-aging cream to suck the youth from people. But I've never been able to make any sufficient headway with it. No matter how much I try.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Personally, I've no idea. But I've been told my dialogue is very realistic and sensible.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions are just not my thing. I cannot naturally do it and need all the help I can get. Which involves getting help books.

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

I've done it before, but just for small moments.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Gotta be Doctor Who.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Jeez, that's a hard one. Umm...I'll give a finished and unfinished one (you'll understand in a sec). In terms of finished, it has to be You Must Remember This. Just a really fun concept that I really wanted to get right and I exceeded my own expectations for it. It feels so real and so powerful while still feeling true to both characters and their histories. Unfinished wise? Has to be Heaven Knows I've Tried. My first proper AU and it's been bundles of fun. I've come to just adore the characters and it feels like such a labor of love. I feel writing it has made me a better writer as it has gone on and for that, it has to be my favorite

I'll tag @lex144, @colemansdimple and @sweetbraveclara. Excited to see what you guys talk about! Thanks again for the tag, @eriadu-in-the-wildwood !

[wiseatom]

i need you to elaborate on the danny phantom au immediately 🤲

omg ella elekinetic in my ask…the artist formerly known as nancysglock….i will give you anything and everything but i will start with the danny phantom au 🤍

i already talked about it a little bit here!

i am going to put this under a read more because i know it’s going to get long! also disclaimer i am Not a casual watcher of danny phantom i have seen every episode several times you have been warned 🫡

FIRST AND FOREMOST I WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE TO THE PEOPLE FOR NOT EVEN ATTEMPTING TO CAST EL IN THIS AU AND NOT EVEN REALIZING IT UNTIL 2 DAYS LATER. yes you can come to my house w pitchforks it is what i deserve!

el would be danny’s “cousin” dani, and if you are unfamiliar — she is literally an experiment/attempted clone of danny (will, in this case) himself created by vlad, who i would probably cast as brenner or split storylines between brenner and henry, potentially brenner and owens? like i said in my first ask, it’s hard because there are more st characters than there are dp, so there’s no way to really neatly assign everything!

i hesitate on the henry/vlad casting because although vlad is essentially the Big Bad of the series (especially in season 3), there are a lot of other really cool villains — specifically pariah dark, who is The Ghost King, uses a puppet general (fight knight/mind flayer parallels), and is one of (if not the) Big Battles of the show. there’s also dark danny, and it could be flayed!will, but there’s also an opportunity to make him henry bc of Foils, Your Honor! any input on this from anyone (even other dp villains that could work) would be so fun!

so, to recap and try give Some semblance of a plot:

will is danny! he got lost in the ghost zone as an accident and ended up with half-ghost powers. lucas, dustin, and mike tried to find him and got into amateur ghost hunting/fighting as a result, and they become a little ghost-crime fighting team (they Absolutely refer to themselves as the ghostbusters in their circle and everyone just thinks they’re nerds, which is true). lucas and dustin share the tucker role and mike takes on most of the sam role (i say Most Of bc upon further reflection - i think lucas and mike might share sam too)! el is an experiment meant to replicate will’s powers, brenner/owens orchestrated that, and max comes in adopting most of what valerie’s arcs would be. i think it would be cool to have billy be a ghost or ghost-obsessed and have max’s hatred for them be because of that!

family dynamics would be the same as to how they are in st. in dp terms, there is no jack fenton, but joyce and jonathan share maddie characteristics! erica of course would just be there as an addition bc she’s the best, and jazz’s role would be repurposed for nancy, with the only difference being that she’s part of mike’s family obviously instead of will’s!

plot wise i would just. take my fave danny phantom eps and rework them to fit what i wanted (me acting like i’m going to write this). definitely would include the “movie length” episodes like reign storm and reality trip, potentially the ultimate enemy depending on who henry ends up being — and obviously just flesh everything out.

ella i am so sorry to have rambled all over you but thanks for reading and for asking!! i am accepting any and all input on this bc i just think it’s neat!

[brekker-by-brekkerr]

You know what I find hilarious, is how all these gicky fans/ricky fans keep coming to your asks defending Ricky when they keep hating on EJ for all the things he did. Like if you want to go after EJ fine, but then look at your fave too. Stop being so biased. Very rarely I've seen gicky fans be more open to accepting that yes Sofia and Joshua have chemistry (and I was a rin@ myself in season 1 and I still like their chemistry although I don't ship them anymore) there is no denying that. But them being the best slow burn in the show and Ricky really upping his game and genuinely deserving a relationship with Gina imo is a far stretch when there have been others who have been there for her more than Ricky has ever been. Not saying this from a shipping POV, just as a friend.

Truth is Gina is a doormat for Ricky. She will forgive him for everything he puts her through as long as he picks her. That's all she wants (I'm saying this more from whatever ensued in S3) and unfortunately EJ was never "that guy" for her, the guy who she would keep trying for. She gave up on him, he didn't. He couldn't make time for her but he didn't want a break up. Even if all this happened at East High, she would always break up with EJ for Ricky because unfortunately she likes the guy who doesn't deserve her. I feel this from the Gina we saw in S3. But if we go by S2 Gina I feel she'd probably evaluate her relationship with EJ and not break up with him. She seemed to see him for who he was and genuinely felt like he tries his best even if he fails a lot. And that Gina was nowhere to be seen in S3. She felt different. And seemed to put herself first, which isn't very Gina 2.0 of her. And unfortunately the writers cannot keep the characters consistent and to get gicky to happen they imo changed Gina and made such contrived issues between PW, which S2 PW would've fixed. Even the part where EJ doesn't go as her date to the prom in S3 seemed ooc for him, S1 EJ would break the rules and go with her, maybe even S2 EJ, he always seemed to go the extra mile for Gina.

Another note, Ricky gets too many free passes from this fandom and I really dislike it. He's quite unlikeable as a character, especially after the way he seems to be so dependent on others, every season he "needs" a partner one way or another. Someone like Ricky needs therapy/counselling, not a relationship.

Sorry just had to rant somewhere. I'll always be upset how they handled the ships here with poor writing and seems that no relationship lasts longer than a season. And Gina was my favourite character, but with the way the writers have messed her up I don't think I even wish to follow upcoming seasons.

R*nas dni

Thank you so much for this ask!! I don't understand their need to argue with people who use the anti tag. Why can't we have our differing opinions? Especially if they're going to destroy one character with much more understandable actions and defend someone who has objectively done much worse.

Yeah, Gina and Ricky have great chemistry. But having great chemistry doesn't necessarily make a good relationship. It makes them interesting to watch for sure and chemistry is obviously necessary but the writers haven't matched that chemistry with anything compelling writing-wise.

"But them being the best slow burn in the show and Ricky really upping his game and genuinely deserving a relationship with Gina imo is a far stretch when there have been others who have been there for her more than Ricky has ever been."

This yes completely agree.

I think in season 2 Gina was good about eventually verbalizing to Ricky that his behaviour was not okay and was able to stand up for herself, which is why it's frustrating to see them getting together with little work in between on Ricky's part. also, them being the ultimate slow burn thing isn't really true because Ricky just suddenly decides he likes Gina and that's that and we don't have him slowly realise he's been an idiot this entire time and realise all he has done wrong and verbalise that, and we don't get to see Gina slowly warm back up to him. we don't see him understand the way he runs to relationships instead of dealing with his problems. he sings "finally free" and that's supposed to just be him dealing with everything in a three-minute song and that's not satisfying. because Gina gives the speech (which makes no sense for so many reasons), we don't know how Ricky actually feels. did he like her before this season? was he repressing his feelings? how is he going to prove he's going to show up and how is he going to prove she's not just a third choice to him?? I was thinking about this the other day, like how r*na could have been done well. the chemistry is there. they needed to fix some things and handle portwell in a respectful way but instead here we are.

i agree with you anon about all of this like the way the fandom excuses Ricky and the way gina and EJ should work (and it's more than their couch scene, as I've seen some r*nas say is our only excuse for everything. that whole season is a love letter to how well they work together. think about the camera scene when EJ is the first person to genuinely listen to her--especially in comparison to ricky in that season, who always ends up talking about his problems but not Gina's--or them working together to come up with a cover story on the fly or him showing up with a granola bar just when she needed it most; they're so in sync with each other and they understand each other so well and stars people don't have to like it but to pretend they have nothing?? i see people saying they would rather have had jack and gina get together than EJ and gina and I'm like you hate EJ with her that much?? considering all that EJ has done for her do you hate Gina?? yeah jack was sweet but that was one episode of them hanging out lol).

don't be sorry for the rant!! i welcome it and i completely understand. it's frustrating. I'm here for you friend <3

[kcrabb88]

Oh fun questions! 🎬 If a movie or show were based on your fic, which fic would you choose and who would you fancast? also, who is the hardest to write for you?:D

Ohhhh gosh that is a HARD choice, but my first instinct was my girl Raoul/bisexual Christine fic, She Was Bound to Love You? I feel like it could make a good little miniseries, and it would make Andy Lloyd Webber SO MAD probably, which is a bonus. Plus plot wise it's one of the simplest to do, and it has super high drama (not that all of my fics don't ahahaha) which would be good for a show or movie. For my Christine I would want Meghan Picerno, probably, who was my favorite Christine that I ever saw. For Raoul it's a little tougher, because I picture a kind of Theresa Palmer-ish person in my head, but a younger version of her. For Erik my fave performer for him is Hugh Panaro, and so that would be my first choice!

There is a tough character in every fandom I every write for, I think! For Les Mis, it's usually Valjean? I feel like I've gotten a lot better handle on him in recent years, but trying to wrestle him into being happy is always kind of a Trial, and I'm always trying to write fics where he is. In Phantom it's Erik because ... idk, he's Erik, and he's frustrating. In Star Wars it's definitely Ahsoka, because I find her POV just difficult to pin down because she kind of changes a lot from show to show in SW world, and it just makes me ???? Much as I love Flint in Black Sails, I've also found him tough to get down on the page when I've written him, because his POV is SO layered, and it's hard to get him to like, talk to me??? He's just SUCH a intriguing character that I think I get nervous when writing him, too, like I won't do his simmering rage and grief justice.

[live-love-laugh-lesbian]

hii!! me again and damnnn you have taste!! and true crime>>>>>

also i almost died when i realised you watch hazbin hotel this is literally fate idc im so obsessed w it rn!! its probably the only one i know a lot of stuff about askdifkejskfr so this ask will probably be focused on that akskrjens

so!!! who's your favourite character(s) x and your favourite ep (if you have one) fav dynamics?

aksjrkwd sorry abt my limited knowledge abt everything else haha!

have an awesome day!!!

-swiftie spring anon exchange

:D :D :D We have similarities!!

Okay so my favourite character is a complicated question...see, I have a soft spot for Lute and Velvet (because my type in fictional women is evil, basically), and I would consider Velvet one of my faves based on how cool she seems so far (cool and evil). But Angel Dust's character has been expanded on so much it's hard not to adore him, you know? And I love Vaggie and Charlie, courtesy of their dynamic. Charlie's so :D and Vaggie's so >:( and it's great, I love it. I also didn't expect to enjoy Sir Pentious so much?? He's a dork and a sweetheart and he's great.

(Ship wise I still ship Vox and Alastor. I can't help it, there's just so many scenarios that would be cool with those two. But I've found I'm pretty fond of most ships that have come about from this show, which is interesting to me.)

I think my favourite episodes are...actually idk. I tend to go based on the songs that stand out XD But episodes 4, 5, 6 and 8 (so only half the episodes...) were especially good to me. And Hell's Greatest Dad, You Didn't Know, Poison and Respectless...ahh I loved them so much. Respectless was what sold me on Velvet. I was like, yes, she's perfect, she's great. I love an evil respectless woman.

I look forwards to seeing where they go with season 2. I'm hoping the Vee's become bigger villains, but also I want to see Lute have a bigger villain role. But also I want to see what's going on with Lilith and Alastor?? And also I feel sad for Sir Pentious being seperated from the others so I want him to see them again :( I really hope we get more than 8 episodes too ngl XD

As I write this, my girlfriend is taunting me with her fanfiction in which she's about to kill off a character >:( She tells me it'll be ok in the end but she's written very sad endings before and is an evil evil writer (affectionate) so do I believe her? ...a little, but not fully. XD

And you don't need to apologise!! I look forwards to hearing from you again!

[echantedtoon]

Allison Chapter Eighteen

(Hey everyone. I just wanted to thank everyone who read this far and liked my story enough to read it to it's end. I had a lot of fun writing it and it makes me happy knowing some people loved it enough to read it fully. Thanks to everyone for reading this, faving it, or leaving a nice comment. If you liked this consider checking out my other works. And thank you to Vivziepop for creating such wonderful characters and giving me the opportunity to make this wonderful story. The ending is referenced from Zootopia by Disney )

Two Months.

It had been two months since her little adventure and the first things she did that night was take a long deserved shower and FINALLY get her some good freaking food!! A whole minced meat pie she cooked herself and as much leftovers she wanted. She deserved it after so much work to back here. Chesire was a bit sheepish around her blaming himself for getting her stuck down there in the first place but she forgave him. How couldn't she? He meant too much to her and helped her too much to NOT forgive him, and he gladly accepted her accepting him. But he also promised to never keep anything from her again, and next time she wanted to go exploring he'd make SURE he was right there with her to help her out in any sticky situations. Well Allison wasn't planning on going back there anytime soon, and she had a feeling she would be able to handle herself a little bit better from now on. Besides. She was currently all adventured out and perfectly content to be staying here for a long, long time.

Present day she was busy working in the garden out back watering the flowers and pulling out all the weeds. Hard work, but hard work was always rewarded and her reward was having all these beautiful flowers WITHOUT faces to look at. And off course a giggling blue companion to talk too as well. Her red eyes looked over to the blue cat who was currently reading over some kind of red paper in his paws with a raised brow, from the ground by the flower beds. She had asked Chesire about her weird eyes and he shrugged. Telling her it was probably a side effect from being exposed to Wonderland's strange magic, like how his magic's rapid power drainage was a side affect of hers

"Hey. Whatcha got there?"

Chesire hummed but didn't look up from the paper. "Oh nothing important. Just an invintation to Queen Hearts Wedding. Apparently after all this time the wise old Fortune Teller is finally stepping out into the public eye, and marrying her no less."

"Oh, are you going?"

...."Nah!" He snapped his fingers and the paper disappeared as he looked at her. "Never was a big fan of weddings anyways. Always so boring and cliché."

"You know, she probably sent it to show there wasn't any hard feelings between you two." She went back to tending the garden and he chuckled again watching.

"Yes. But Im perfectly content spending my time with my bestest friend!"

"Bestest?"

"Better than best!~"

"Oh haha very funny."

"Oh come on. You know you love me.~"

She hummed and looked over her shoulder with a raised brow. "Do I know that?" He chuckled and rose a brow back as she smiled. "Yes. Yes, I do."

[bigskydreaming]

Spoilery thoughts on the Wheel of Time Season 2 premiere:

The casting remains the show's biggest strength. Nynaeve is still pitch perfect and my absolute fave. She is everything Book Nynaeve always had the potential to be if gently (forcibly) removed from Robert Jordan and his complete inability to write female characters. That scene where she drank the water just to get out of that lesson without technically losing ground......lmao this woman absolutely will cut off her nose to spite her face and say you're damn right I meant to do that, who needs a nose anyway?

Ishmael is also perfectly cast....I'm not familiar with his actor but he conveys the character's emblematic charismatic menace PERFECTLY. His scene gave me chills. Rosamund Pike continues to be great as Moiraine, what more is there to say about Lan other than Best Warder Is Best, I would kill people for Perrin as long as they were completely hypothetical people who don't count stop looking at me like that its a figure of speech you KNOW what I MEAN gosh, and Egwene's character isn't even close to getting to the real meat of her character arc but her actress has already displayed more than enough range to convince me she's going to nail it. Liandrin is perfectly awful, A+ depiction, and of the new characters, Verin is everything I hoped that character would be. Too early to say if I'm sold on this Sheriam though. Same with Elyas though he seems promising, and we only got a glimpse of Lanfear in the 'this season on Wheel of Time' preview, but what little we saw has me excited. (Lanfear is my ultimate fave baddy, I have such high hopes for her character though, you don't even know).

In terms of characters who don't have rave reviews from me, its mostly just a lack of content so far, leaving me undecided as of yet. I still don't know why they recast Mat before last season even ended up airing, and I liked the original actor for Mat quite a lot, but I THINK I'll be just as happy with this one. He didn't have much to do this episode so its hard to gauge, but he seems likable enough, and its not like Mat's currently in a position to be his usual devil-may-care self at this point in the story.

Honestly, Rand remains the weakest link in the show so far, to the point where even though he's nominally the most central character, the fact that he was barely in this episode didn't bother me even a little bit. I think it was a good choice, pacing wise - I'm just not sure what it suggests about the production's view of the character/actor that they were confident they could sideline THE 'main' character of the series for almost the entire first episode of a ten episode season and nobody would mind. And the fact that I didn't really miss him this episode has a lot to do with him easily being the least compelling of the cast in the first season.

That said.....over the course of the books, Rand's character undergoes the most dramatic evolution out of all the major characters, and we're still at a very early part of the narrative where he's just....at most mere hints of the character he ultimately becomes. His character hasn't yet been given a ton to do, relatively speaking.....like in terms of screentime, he's certainly been front and center, but as of right now he's SUPPOSED to be hesitant, mild-mannered, unsure of himself and all that....which is exactly what his actor is delivering. Its just.....not as interesting as what other characters are already undergoing, and especially when you have his book character arc to compare it to, knowing what kinds of things are coming for his character makes what we've seen so far feel a bit like treading water.

Which brings me to my next point, which is that I am pretty impressed with the show's pacing so far. In hindsight, the books start out pretty slow compared to how the story flows once it fully gets going, probably around the fifth book or so, IMO.....and those first books were still just as long as the later ones. So I do think the show's done a good job of condensing an enormously long narrative into something that can viably be told in ten seasons or so, & in such a way as to 'get to the good stuff plotwise' without actually cutting out too many of the early events necessary to build a foundation for the more complicated later storylines.

I do not envy the writers trying to figure out what to keep, what to streamline, what to alter and what to cut out entirely, so it is pretty impressive that as of this episode we very much FEEL like we're in familiar territory, like I recognize whereabouts in the narrative we're supposed to be, but most of the storylines' specific events have been so heavily altered as to make it feel unpredictable and I'm not sure what entirely to expect, in terms of how the show will get from where it is to certain major beats that I'm expecting to happen. Rand's storyline in particular has been pretty dramatically deviated from how the events after the Eye of the World stuff played out in the books....but he's still positioned to be right where he needs to be for all the Lanfear stuff. On the flip side of things, Mat's storyline technically doesn't have him too far removed in the show from where he was in the books at this point, but they've changed just enough that it FEELS completely different and has a much more ominous tone to it than the way that part of his storyline in the books felt like just kinda.....him sitting around until the Seanchan were in place and his storyline could really get going.

And speaking of Mat's storyline, ugh Liandrian is just the worst. I mean. She's supposed to be. So....good job, I guess.

Elayne and Aviendha should be showing up soon, and definitely impatient for that. Aviendha's a fave. I don't dislike Elayne by any means, but Elayne showing up soon also means that Elaida, Galad and Gawyn are all about to show up and I literally hate all three of them. Gawyn hasn't even appeared onscreen yet and I'm already ready for him to shut the fuck up. LMAO. He.....irritates me. Like Galad's full of himself and self-righteous as fuck but at least he KNOWS that and is like yeah, I get why other characters don't like me. Book Gawyn spends several volumes absolutely convinced he's in the right about certain key things he absolutely is NOT in the right about, and he never is actually made to own that or face it, once its made undeniably clear the narrative just kinda....moves on from anyone ever being in a position to point out hey dude, you just spent five books being an absolute dick about this thing that never even actually happened, maybe you should reflect on that. And like. Change. As a person.

Book Gawyn: Nah. Even though I wasn't right I didn't KNOW I wasn't right so I was basically right to do all the stuff that I now know was completely wrong.

Me: Ugh, shut the fuck up Gawyn.

Ohhhh just realized, Faile should be showing up soon too. I love Faile, so that is also something to look forward to. I'm STILL pissed about their totally unnecessary decision to introduce a whole extra helping of backstory trauma upon Perrin when like....nobody fucking asked, and Im very curious who's idea that was exactly and what their precise reasoning for it was, like what the fuck did they think it added to Perrin's arc that he needed, how does it benefit his storyline at all, you didn't need to fucking do that lmfaaaaao, but oh well. Course, its inevitable that its going to alter the shape of his storyline with Faile, particularly their earliest interactions, and I guess I'll wait and see if that's for the better or not, I just....don't see the point of those specific changes. Whatever. I'll die mad about it I guess. Its fine.

Other than all of the above, my biggest remaining thoughts are I want them to hurry up and clarify just which of the Forsaken made the cut and will be appearing in the show and which five got left on the editing floor. I hope they don't drag it out, they better at LEAST get named this season so we know who we're working with and don't have to wait a whole additional year to like, find out whether Sammael will be in the show or if he got scrapped for someone like Belial for some random reason.....mostly I just want to know if Demandred the Dull is going to be taking up one of the slots simply because the books like to pretend he's important even though he literally only appeared in one book and a chapter and there's nothing he does that can't be done just as well by far more developed characters like Aginor. Who unfortunately probably WON'T make the cut. Even though he's fantastically terrible. As a person. Not a character. He's the worst. But in that 'I can't wait to see him get murdered' kinda way. You get it.

Also I hope Asmodean's passive aggressive ass is in this season because the only thing better than Lanfear is Lanfear vs Asmodean: The Passive Aggressive Olympics.

[starcrossedjedis]

For the Writer (& Artist) Ask Game :

* Who was your first ever OC? Do you still “use” them? How have they evolved over time?

What are your favourite relationships between your OCs? (romantic or platonic!)

What was you first major project? How far along is it?

You have no idea how far back this old lady had to go for this xD

Who was your first ever OC? Do you still “use” them? How have they evolved over time?

My first OC ever was called Selina (FC Kristin Kreuk) for the TV show "The Tribe" - and yes I wrote her while it was on the air, so it's been a while ^^'

She was one of those "universal OCs" where I would write different fics (different plots, different LIs, some AU, some pre!Show, some completely unrelated to the shows plotline etc) for more or less the same character (same name, FC, minor tweaks regarding background). I don't know if I would say she has evolved over time, but I came to love one of her incarnations more than any other so that I only think of her when thinking "Selina, The Tribe OC".

What was you first major project? How far along is it?

(have Selina's last and most important LI for reference^^')

I'll answer this next, because it ties in directly with the last question. My first major project (as in "written only by myself, no collab etc") was the last incarnation of Selina. I had finished the pre-Tribe / prequel story "The Way to Power and Chaos" and was about midway through the second story "From the Shards of Power and Chaos" when the old fan forum died (about a year or so after the show went off the air) and the fandom kinda scattered. That left the whole project at about 70 pages and I still sometimes catch myself wondering where I might have taken it from there ^^

What are your favourite relationships between your OCs? (romantic or platonic!)

HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME PICK FAVES? T_T

My favorite romantic relationship... oof... okay... I can do this...

fandom wise Imma have to go with my children Nyka'a and Jaren from my Star Wars prequel story "Star Crossed"

as for my favourite platonic relationship, I think it's nearly impossible to beat the brother/sister dynamic between Mila Lebedev and Sam Wilson from "Breaking Pointe" <3

Don't ask me for my favesfrom my original stories though, because I can't choose T_T (the most fleshed out relationship tho is probably Alex and Caleb from "Shadow of Olympus")