#another thing is shitting on a description of said character when they don't think of themselves as attractive

[garvalhaminho]

okay rick riordan doesn't owe you a hot percy jackson.

[skaruresonic]

The common rebuttal to "this reads like fanfic (derogatory)" is "read better fanfic," which is true in certain cases, but on the other hand, there is some grain of truth to the idea that you can tell when someone's primary mode of literary analysis is fanfic instead of... well... literally anything else. It's okay to like or even prefer fanfic, but if you want to take your craft seriously you also need to read books, dude. Published books will teach you a lot of stuff fanfic doesn't, like proper dialogue formatting and how to introduce your reader to unfamiliar characters. Even the crappiest book (well, if it's not After or 50 Shades, which started off as fanfic to begin with lol) will have been subjected to some sort of editing process to ensure at least the appearance of proper grammar. That's not a guarantee with your average fanfic, and hence why you can't always take all your writing cues from fanfic because it's "so much better" than commercially published original fiction or whatever. Frankly, fic writers tend to peddle some absolutist and downright bad takes sometimes. "Said is dead" is a terrible rule, though not because said is invisible and a perfectly serviceable tag; that's just part of it. Dialogue tags are a garnish, not a main dish that can be swapped out for more ostentatious words. If your characters murmur and mutter instead of simply saying stuff, your readers are going to wonder why nobody speaks up. "'I'm explaining some very plot-important shit right now lol,' she elaborated," likewise, is a form of telling. Instead of letting the reader extrapolate that "she elaborated" via the contents of the dialogue itself, you're telling them what to think about it. And that's why it's distracting: your authorial hand is showing. Writing is an act of camouflage. You, as the writer, need to make your presence as invisible as possible so as to not intrude on the reader's suspension of disbelief. That's the driving reason behind "show, don't tell." And overall, everyone could stand to cut down on the frequency of their dialogue tags anyway. Not every exchange needs "he said" or "she whispered" attached as long as you establish who is doing the talking before the exchange. Some people will complain of confusion if you go on for too long without a dialogue tag, and that definitely is a risk, but at some point you also need to resist the temptation of holding the reader's hand. If they can't follow a conversation between two people, chances are they weren't meeting you halfway and paying that much attention in the first place. In fact, you don't even necessarily need action beats in between every piece of dialogue, as Tumblr writing advice posts will often suggest as a fix. Pruning things often cleans them up just fine.

Another fanfic-influenced trend in writing is, I guess, beige prose? A heavy focus on internal narration with lots of telling. It's not a style I can concretely describe, but every time I click on a non-mutual's writing, I feel like it always has, like. This "samey" voice to it. There's no real attempt to experiment and use unique or provocative language, or even imagery half the time. It's almost a dry recital of narration that doesn't leave much room for subtext. I see this style most often in fanfic where you can meander and wax poetic about how the characters feel without ever really getting around to the plot. And it's like. DO something.

Other tells that the author is taking their cues from fanfic mores rather than books: >>too much minute description of eyes, especially their color and their movement >>doesn't leave much room for subtext (has a character speak their every thought aloud instead of letting the reader infer what they're thinking via action or implication) >>too much stage action ("X looked at Y. Y moved to push their seat in. X took a deep breath and stepped toward Y with a determined look on his face. 'We need to talk,' he said.") >>tells instead of shows, even when the example is about showing instead of telling ("he clenched his teeth in agony" instead of just "he clenched his teeth") >>has improper dialogue tag formatting, especially with putting full stops where there should be commas ("'Lol and lmao.' she said" instead of "'Lol and lmao,' she said." This one drives me up a wall) >>uses too many dialogue tags >>"em dashes, semi-colons and commas, my beloved" - I get the appeal but full stops are your friends. Too much alternate punctuation makes your writing seem stilted and choppy. >>"he's all tousled brown hair and hard muscle" and "she's all smiles and long legs." This turn of phrase is so cliche, it drives me up a wall. Find less trite ways of describing your characters pls. >>"X released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding" >>every fucking Hot Guy ever is described as lean and sinewy >>sobbing. why is everyone sobbing. some restraint, pls >>Tumblr in general tends to think a truism counts as good writing if you make the most melodramatic statement possible (bonus: if it's written in a faux-archaic way), garnish it with a hint of egotism, and toss in allusions to the Christian God, afterlife, or death. ("I will stare God in the face and walk backwards into hell," "What is a god to a nonbeliever?") It's indicative of emotional immaturity imo, that every emotional truth need be expressed That Intensely in order to resonate with people. >>pushes the "Oh." moment as the pinnacle of Romantic Epiphany >>Therapy Speak dialogue. why is this emotionally constipated forty-something man who drinks himself stupid every morning to escape gruesome war memories speaking about his trauma like a clinical psychologist >>"this well-established kuudere should Show More Emoshun. I want him to break down crying on his love interest's shoulder from all his repressed trauma" - I am begging u. stop >>"why don't the characters just talk to each other?" "why can't we have healthy relationships?" I don't know, maybe because fiction is not supposed to be a model for reality and perfect communication makes for boring drama?

>>improperly using actions as dialogue tags ("'Looks like we're going hunting,' he grinned") >>why is everyone muttering and murmuring. speak up >>too many adverbs, especially "weakly" and "shakily." use stronger verbs. ("trembled" instead of "shook weakly") >>too many epithets ("the younger man" or "the brunette detective") >>too many filter words ("he felt," "she thought," "I remembered")

>>no, Tumblr, first-person POV is not the devil; you're just using way too many filter words (see above) and not enough sentence variation to make it flow well enough. First-person POV is an actually pretty good POV (not just for unreliable and self-aware narrators) if you know what you're doing and a lot of fun crafting an engaging character voice. Tumblr's hatred of first-person baffles me, and all I can think is you would only hate it if your only frame of reference was, like, My Immortal. Have you tried reading A Book? First-person POV is just another tool in your toolbox, and like all tools, it can be used properly or improperly. But it's not inherently a marker of bad writing. The disdain surrounding it strikes me as about as sensical as making fun of the concept of characters. Oh, your work has characters in it? Ew, I automatically click off a fic if it has characters in it. like what.

[kira-fluff]

reaction to finding out you have a chronic disease | fem!reader x haikyuu!!

this idea popped into my head in the shower. shower thoughts are the best. as a chronically ill person such as myself (mentally and physically, LOL!) i felt maybe I was a little qualified to write this. these are all diseases i experience! i can def write some that i am not diagnosed with :) i'm a biology nerd, so i love learning new things, especially about diseases! some of these are more serious than others. i tried to keep the disease symptoms/descriptions general so it can appeal to more diagnoses (for example, nosebleeds are indicative of several different diseases) that way more people can feel represented by what i write!

‼️warnings: mentions of blood, nekoma team being dorks, seizures, WAY too many ellipses (sorry I just love them), pointless bantering (oikawa), dramatic af, osamu described as "caked-up" (sorry not sorry), railing on atsumu for shits and giggles, deep hatred of the word moist

want to see a different haikyuu character's reaction? request here! also, if you want to read a specific disease represented, i can see if i can put it in there too :)

✿ kuroo tetsuro "hey when do you want to- OH MY GOD ARE YOU OKAY?!" blood dripped from your nose onto the gymnasium floor. "oh. another nosebleed. my bad, I'll clean that up..." you said apathetically. "hey, this is sort of a big deal, ya know? shit... yaku, I need a towel or something!" he shouted. they really weren't anything serious. ever since you were little, you had frequent nosebleeds. your mom wrote it all off as the cold weather (even in summer), so it wasn't really that big of a deal to you either (until a few doctor visits later). still, the apathy you felt toward your predicament remained. yamamoto had already rushed over at his captain's call. "does she need an ice pack, too? fuck, I don't know what to do...." "aren't you supposed to tilt your head up?" one member asked. "no, no i think you're supposed to tilt your head down...." another muttered. "GUYS, GUYS I GOT IT. GOOGLE SAYS TO 'sit down and tilt your head forward, pinching the top part of your nose above the nostrils for like, 10 to 15 minutes.'" lev sat back proudly, phone in hand. "can't believe you were smart enough to look that up..." kenma whispered under his breath. "hey, hey, look at me. you still with us?" kuroo said, a hand on either side of your face. despite the towel against your nose, you couldn't help but laugh. "oh my god, guys! it's not like I'm dying! this happens all the time." "but that's not...normal. did you ever get it checked out?" kuroo stared at you inquisitively, his brow raised. his fellow teammates nodded. you sighed. "look, unless there's a lot of excessive gushing or anything like that, they said i should be okay. yes there's a whole disease behind it all with a long-ass name that no one can pronounce and yes there are sometimes other symptoms that could result in death, but I'm totally fine, okay? I'm perfectly healthy!" "you poor, fragile angel..." lev said, a hand on his chest, distraught. "that... does NOT make me feel more relieved. at all. in fact, I'm more worried. should we go to the hospital? that one looked a little... gush-y...." kuroo said, pacing back and forth before setting his eyes back on you. removing the towel from your nose, you shook your head. "no. look, bleeding nose already gone, see? I'm not going to the hospital. I'm completely fine. relax, kuroo." kuroo stared at you for another moment, taking in your expression, searching for any signs of discomfort. at last, he sighed. "ok. fine. I concede. but if you ever feel the littlest bit unwell, tell me or one of us, okay?" after your agreement, and several more minutes of doting from both your boyfriend and all the other team members, you at last parted ways. as you got out of the shower that night, your phone lit up with a notification. tetsu 💕 [11:23pm]: I'm serious about what I said back there. please talk to me when you aren't feeling good. you mean so much to me that I can't imagine what life would be like without you. sleep well, babe. love you.

✿ osamu miya "damn are you o-- OKAY, YEAH, NO. SHE'S NOT OKAY." it was your average day as a supportive, amazing, fantastic girlfriend watching your iconic, sexy, hot, caked-up boyfriend play volleyball with his piss-haired twin and the rest of the team of inarizaki. unfortunately for you (and the entire volleyball team), inarizaki had a recent issue with their air conditioning units. even more unfortunate was the fact that the fans in the gymnasium were practically there for decoration, that's how useless they were. despite it being late march (still quite cool outside), the players and spectators were drenched in sweat. still, you weren't about to let a little (lot) bit of sweat deter you from cheering for your mans! so, you remained in the stands, cheering as loudly as you could (except for the times when you couldn't because atsumu was once again on his I'm About To Serve Power Trip). it was finally nearing the end of the game, and thank GOD it was because you were starting to feel reaaalllly light-headed. at the final score of the match, you stood up, but oh, was that a mistake. suddenly, you legs started shaking. the lights suddenly seemed to dim down and black spots were popping up in your vision. maaaaybe you should sit back down. wait. where is "back down"? it suddenly occurred to you that at this point, you couldn't see anything. beginning to panic, you started reaching out to find something to hold onto, thankfully finding the stair railing of the bleachers in your grasp. slowly, you blindly fumbled your way down the steps of what you hoped were the bleachers steps. you heard someone shout something along the lines of, "you good?" you were far too panicked and far too focused to give a reply. don't fall down. don't fall down. don't faint. don't pass out. you chanted in your head like a mantra. you heard the squeak of shoes against the ground and voices talking back and forth around you when suddenly a steady hand grabbed ahold of you just above your elbow. guess that was all you needed before your consciousness flickered, then extinguished.

-

"....cold like ice...." "...pale as hell...." you could only hear snippets of sentences, and your eyelids felt heavy. "....have something....with sugar, preferably...." when you finally opened your eyes, you were no longer in the gym, but in inarizaki's nurse's office. "hey..." you turned, now noticing the other occupant of the otherwise empty room. "'samu... did I faint again?" his eyebrows rose. "again? like, you've done this before?" "yeah. happens a lot. 's fine though. was a little scary back there for a minute, though." "damn, I'll say. I've never seen someone so pale. and sweaty. and that's saying something, cuz post-practice 'tsumu is disgustingly moist." "'samu, I love you, but never say that fucking word again." "what, moist?" you cringed, grabbing at your ears, "ugh, yes! I'm already dying here and now you're nailing the final mark in the coffin." osamu gave his signature half-smile. "I thought you said you were fine?" you scoffed, "that was just to make you feel better. I'm gonna need lots of cuddles tonight to wave off my near-death experience." he let out a light-hearted laugh. "okay. plenty of that for you regardless of whether you're on death's door or not." he said, giving you a small peck. you pursed your lips. "I need you right now, though." his face split in a full grin as he slid next to you on the small bed. "anything for you darlin'."

✿ oikawa toru "please... please be okay..." you had been enjoying your regular weekday study session. it always went as follows: meet up after class, head off to aoba johsai's library, study (and perhaps get slightly off-topic over some vending machine snacks and drinks), and at last, go to volleyball practice (perks of being a manager!). "ok, ok, we should probably finally look at what we're supposed to know for our next english exam," oikawa said, still in between chuckles. "but toru... i can't go on without a drink..." you clutched your throat dramatically. "must... have.... beverage.... dying of.... thirst!" oikawa laughed again, "geez, fine!" he said, attempting to sound annoyed by your request (and failing miserably). "I'll go grab us something to drink. on me." he winked. "wow. what a gentleman. you really spare no expense, spoiling me with luxurious drinks from the beverage box of wonders! oh how lucky I am to have such a supportive boyfriend..." you leaned back on your chair, drying a fake tear of gratitude, while simultaneously stifling a giggle. "damn, ok. fork out the yen, then, babe." "nooooo~~~ I was kidding! I'm sorry you're the best ever in the whole wide world~~~ my little piglet oinkawa~" "ok now you're paying for my drink too." "I'm sorry!!!! I won't call you oinkawa ever again." "thank you-" "to your face." after at least 15 minutes of more bickering (and no studying) oikawa was off to the so-called beverage box of wonders, also known as a shitty-ass vending machine that was probably last refurbished in the '90s. oikawa was still laughing to himself as he rounded the corner to the library, drinks in his arms. "hey babe, are you finally studying?" he smirked, finally nearing your small alcoved study area.

- thud, thud. the long-forgotten drinks fell to the floor as oikawa rushed over to you. there you convulsed on the ground, your eyes white and pupil-less, and your mouth foaming, turning a slight twinge of pink. you let out small grunts, completely unresponsive. "oh my god, oh my god, hey, hey listen to me." oikawa was already in full-fledged panic mode, tapping your face with his hand. "oh my god, SOME PLEASE HELP HER!" the few left in the library looked over at oikawa, then at you, before beginning to run about. one was on their phone speaking to a 911 operator, another rushed out of the room. one kneeled alongside oikawa, checking helplessly for a pulse. "protect her head." a girl read out from her phone. oikawa immediately shed his jacket, placing it under your head which was hitting the ground rapidly to the incongruent rhythm of your convulsions. "check her bag, does she have any meds?" "SHE'S MY FUCKING GIRLFRIEND I THINK I'D KNOW IF SHE HAD MEDS!" oikawa shouted. he didn't mean to snap, but he felt so useless. were you hiding this from him? how did he not know you had seizures? were they always this bad? despite what he'd told the unnamed student, oikawa, jumped up, grabbing your bag and nearly ripping the zipper with the force he'd opened it with. no medication. "no meds." he said, quieter this time. a hand rested on his shoulder. "it's gonna be okay, man. look, she stopped." oikawa whipped his head over to you, chastising himself for removing his eyes from you for even a second. you were still breathing, but it was like you were in a deep slumber. by the time the EMTs arrived, however, you'd begun blinking your eyes lazily at your surroundings.

- "hey oikawa." you said, smiling. oikawa said nothing in return, his head in his hands. you sat there for a moment, taking in your surroundings. "wait a minute, where am i?" you felt a tickling inside your nose. at the touch of your hand, you realized you had a breathing tube hooked up you. another glance around the sterile hospital room showed your heart rate monitor and other cords wrapped up around the hospital bed. you laughed, "...and what's all this stuff on me?" "you had a seizure." oikawa said sharply, though not unkind. you stared at him once more in disbelief. "...really?" "yeah. I came back from getting our drinks when...when I found you lying on the ground, shaking. the doctor says you bit your tongue, which explains why the foam that was coming out of your mouth was pink. they want to do an MRI on you." "oh." you gazed down, then met his eyes again. "you... had to deal with that all by yourself?" "other people in the library helped me... though I don't think I was the nicest guy to be around. its sort of all of a blur." you smiled, "for me, too. I can barely remember what we were talking about before I woke up." oikawa's eyes widened, "really?" "yeah... but I think I'll be okay, as long as you're here." "this hasn't happened before, has it?" "no, not really. I mean, I've always gotten light-headed easily, which is sort of how I felt before I, ya know... went down... but never like that. I don't think. then again, if I wasn't here in a hospital bed, I think I would've just thought I fell asleep or something. it just feels like I took a long nap. still kind of tired, honestly." oikawa shook his head. "I'm never letting you out of my sight ever again." "oikawa, seriously. it's gonna be okay. I'm fine. nothing bad happened, right? I didn't die." "BUT YOU COULD'VE!" he shouted. "...you could've.." he said again in a whisper. suddenly, he got up. leaning over the hospital bed, he pressed his lips to your temple, leaving a soft kiss in its wake. "I just... I don't want to see you suffering. I don't want you to get hurt." "but you were there." "but what if I wasn't?" "but you were." you slid your hand over his own. "oikawa, it's gonna be okay, I promise. I'm a little scared, too, but... I know we'll figure something out, okay?" he let out a mix between a sigh and a laugh, "why does it feel like I was the one who had the seizure? some boyfriend I am, making you feel worse." "oikawa shush." you placed you index finger over his lips. "you're not allowed to talk about yourself in that way in my presence." he rolled his eyes, but his dimples popped out in a wary smile. "you're amazing, you know that?" you imitated deep-thought, your finger on your chin. "hmm... no, doesn't ring a bell." a full grin bloomed across his face now. "then I'll spend the rest of my life reminding you."

a/n: romanticize the source of your medical bills girlies 💕 it works wonders

[letomills]

TS2 CC downloaders & creators discussion recap

Under the cut is a recap of the feedback gathered from the comments, community replies and reblogs on this thread. Thank you for taking the time to give your input! I tried to organize everything clearly in categories, with what was most often brought up at the top of each. I hope I didn’t forget anything. If I did, or you feel I didn't do your point justice, or you didn’t get a chance to say your piece, feel free to comment (I can always make edits). The text in brackets [] is my own remarks that I'm adding to the report.

About CC in general:

The people clamored for clear swatches/pictures that show which file corresponds to which recolor, so we can pick and choose what to keep.

Many people would like creators to put their usernames in their file names (or object descriptions) so they are easier to trace back to later. Two creators had counterpoints to this. One who has a long username said: “as a creator, I don't like to be told how I should name my files (besides identifying the thing clearly, which I think we really should do). If I've made the effort to make a thing, take previews, upload it, write the post etc. Just spend 5 seconds of your life renaming the file to whatever is convinient to you, I'm not going to add 16 characters to each of my files to include my username (I still think that longer names = longer loading time).” The other creator said: “As a creator, I don't want to put my full username in tooltips (just SB) because some hair names are quite long and I do not have the time to re tooltip the names.”

On the topic of file names, many people agreed that creators should not put special characters and spaces in their file names, to optimize loading times. One creator clarified: “the filenames should always have _ instead of spaces, as apparently this allows the game to load them easier/faster [...] underscores should be the only kind of special character in them” [use the Bulk Rename Utility - see tutorial by @ilovethesims2cc].

Still on file names, a Mac user said they dislike when file names are too long because apparently long file names are enough for Macs to shit themselves [sorry if I misunderstood, never had a Mac].

Several people mentioned disliking poorly optimized CC (one person listed: “bulky for no reason, unused bump maps, comically large or duplicated textures, things that could easily be repo'd but are not”), one person pointed out: “There is no reason a TS2 object needs a texture bigger than 1024x1024 unless it’s a special case like a skybox.”

One person said they dislike when a CC post lacks basic text info about what the download is. On this note, another person said they dislike when a creator isn’t clearly stating what mesh their recolors are for.

Two people asked that creators state their stuff’s polycounts.

Two people said they dislike when the recolors for a piece of CC are only available merged together, as they want to be able to easily choose which they want to keep. On the other hand, someone who “takes all recolors anyway” said they would like creators to offer a merged version of their recolors [you can merge CC to reduce loading times using LazyDuchess’s CC Merger].

One person recommended avoiding just using “here” as hyperlink text, but instead describing what you are linking to, so that if the link gets broken we still have a chance to find the thing. In the same vein, they and another person advised against reliance on an image alone to give info about the download. As we know, images can disappear, and a Google search won’t lead to the item if your post has no text that Google can detect.

About the images that creators do show, one person mentioned a download not having a proper preview as their pet peeve. On previews, two people recommended that the piece of CC be clearly visible and the main focus. Two people said they like when a preview of the item is included in the archive (“helpful when looking through old CC”).

One person said they appreciate when creators give two download links to two different hosting platforms, in case one of them ever breaks.

One person asked for creators to always test their stuff before uploading [it should go without saying but we do see egregious things to this day]. Their pet peeve is “CC with obvious issues that can’t have been tested properly in game! Don’t just look at it in build mode or bodyshop, actually use the item in live mode. Have a Sim wear the clothing or use the object!” They pointed out as an example that some CC lights don’t light up. Someone else said: “if there are minor imperfections, that's ok! But let your downloaders know what to expect.”

One person said that they enjoy reading detailed descriptions of CC: “Share your inspos, what went wrong, tag the pieces you used if you are Frankenmeshing because I might want those items too! Creating and sharing is deeply personal, don't be afraid to share a part of who you are in your downloads if you feel comfortable doing so.” [If I may offer a slight counterpoint, I think detailed technical info + proper crediting should always be frontloaded. And then, in a separate paragraph, you can write about how you made this because your grandma used to wear something similar on those cool autumn days back when you were 6. But please, don’t expect your audience to have to parse through your life story to get the basic info they need to even understand what the download is.]

On subfolders: one person mentioned that they dislike when individual files are placed in subfolders; someone else said they don’t like many subfolders within an archive; a third person said that when downloading a ‘bulk’ CC pack, they dislike when each item has its individual subfolder (unless the object has dozens of recolors).

One person said they dislike downloads that include a large number of things that aren’t all part of a single coherent set.

One person said they dislike gift/mega packages that don’t give the possibility to pick and choose what you’re downloading.

One person asked that creators compressorize their CC, unless there is a good reason for not doing so, reason that should be stated [yes please! Use jfade’s Compressorizer, found on this page].

One person said they like when creators who make recolors give a link to the mesh they are recoloring whenever possible, even if the mesh is included.

One person mentioned appreciating when creators include base PSDs in their downloads [they were talking about hair specifically but I suppose it can be done for other things too].

About Bodyshop CC specifically:

Many people mentioned disliking when a piece of clothing lacks a fat morph (as one person put it: ✨“its literally bigotry”✨ [iconic]), or has a fat morph that's blatantly a quickly WSO’d afterthought. Someone said: “Absurdly shaped/clipping fat morphs that were most probably never tested in game before uploading are pretty annoying”; someone else said: “I make male content and am constantly flabbergasted by some of the UM Top fat morphs that make no attempt to align with Bottom items, or look completely ridiculous. [...] WSOs are a great starting point, but that's just it: a starting point" [I couldn’t agree more]. One person added that clothes should also have preg morphs.

One person really wants tooltips. Someone else further asked that creators give actually helpful tooltips to their recolors to make it easier to identify which recolor corresponds to which file [you can use CatOfEvilGenius’s Tooltip utility to give your recolors tooltips that correspond to their file names].

One person mentioned gaps in meshes being their #1 pet peeve [putting this in this section because I’m assuming they’re referring to Bodyshop CC].

One person asks that creators give their accessories unique BIN numbers to make them layerable with other accessories.

The same person would like creators to remember to delete the inapplicable ages in their accessories [this also goes for hairs].

The same person also appreciates when creators make custom thumbnails for their accessories, “especially for accessories that are not on the face”.

The same person said: “Accessories that are 'part of the sim' (like ears, tails, etc.) should be showerproof”. Another person had the same request: “Body part accessories (such as animal ears, tails, horns, wings) should be available for all types of clothing.”

One person appreciates when hair meshers specify if their hair is animated or not.

One person would like to see more hairs for toddlers and children.

For geneticized skintones, one person said they find it helpful when the genetic number is indicated in the file name.

About Build & Buy CC specifically: 

Several people said they dislike when CC objects are set to an absurd price (like a couch for 1 simoleon) [this can be fixed with Pick’N’Mix’s Object Relocator], and two people added that they dislike when an object’s price isn’t congruent with their stats (like when an expensive bed has a low energy score). A creator further said: “whats worse is sometimes items are cloned from a very expensive item, and then the creator has reduced the stats shown in the description, but the bhav still has very high ratings, or sometimes it can be the other way around, an item might have been cloned from a cheap one, then their displayed stats are set to 10 but the bhavs still have low ratings”.

Three people said that they really appreciate when creators state which category their object is in and what the price is. One person said they appreciate when creators give info about how their object functions (“Is it just deco? Does it have hobby enthusiasm?” etc.). For complex objects, they like when there’s a video to show how it works. 

One person said they dislike when creators place objects in categories that don’t make sense. Someone said more specifically that they like when objects are put in categories other than deco/sculptures or deco/misc.

One person said they dislike blank object descriptions or object descriptions that were left the same as that of the Maxis object that the piece of CC was cloned from.

One person said they don’t like when objects aren’t enabled for quarter-tile placement [can be fixed in simPe or with the Object Relocator].

One person said they dislike non-functional objects (like a sofa that’s a sculpture).

One person brought up two experiences they and their friend had with CC beds that didn’t have unique GUIDs and therefore would override other beds. In the same vein, someone else said they dislike when a creator forgets to mention that their CC is not custom but default and will override something in the game.

One person encourages creators to learn about the TXMT settings of objects (e.g. should an object be reflective?) and praised @pforestsims and @shastakiss for their CC in that regard. Another person said they dislike when an object is too shiny, which is also a TXMT setting.

One person said they dislike “transparent cut out textures”. [I quote because I’m clueless about this:] “I’ve seen this a lot on TS3 or other game conversions, where the texture has been imported without enabling transparency, and you get ugly squares around draw handles and such. Import the texture as DXT 5 and enable AlphaTest in the TXMT.”

One person said they like when 4t2 conversions have several subsets.

The Mac user among us would like creators to resize their walls and floors for Macs, otherwise they show up grey in game.

About lots specifically:

Two people said they like when creators show the floor plans of their lots.

[boomboom-tanjiro2019]

Easy

PROLOGUE: EX! Reader X EX! Ace

Description: Angst, lots and lots of angst. Rich! reader. Whitebeard meddles in Ace's love life. Reader can be a piece of shit, but not always don't worry. Ace can't catch a break. Maybe smut eventually? Did I mention angst and heartbreak already? It's gonna be a lot of funny ridiculous over-the-top moments though, mostly. Angst but also ridiculous-extra stupid-shit. Reader does some wrong but so will Ace. HAPPY ENDING (No one dies and everyone gets what they need in the end)

(I decided to not continue my our beloved summer au because I wouldn't have had enough freedom due to the story already being set in stone, but I love the idea of an exes angsty romance so I decided to make another one that's kind of similar except more on par for the characters.)

5 years ago'

“Because… I hate you.” 

Three words for Ace’s worst fear to come true.

The worst part about it for you wasn’t even the look on his face, or his insistence for you to not end it.

It was because you didn’t even know why you did.

Why did you hate him? Why was that the first thing that came to your mind to say? Is it so he wouldn’t hold on? When did you start hating him?

It was easy.

It’s easier to convince yourself of a lie than it is to accept what’s right.

At least in this case it was.

You wish his eyes didn’t hold so much emotion, how you could see exactly how he was feeling. It was like he had gotten shot in the chest. It wasn’t a backstab, it wasn’t out of nowhere, you hadn’t betrayed him and waited till his guard was down. No, he knew it was going to happen, he just didn’t have time to prepare himself. If anything, it’d make it easier on the both of you.

His eyes held so much emotion, every feeling clear as day.

Maybe you could learn to hate that too, but maybe you already did. Yeah, yeah, you do, of course you do. It’s selfish to try and convince yourself and everyone around you that you are too good of a person to do so, or that he did something wrong to make you hate him. You just did. No rhyme or reason. Maybe he didn’t do anything wrong... but maybe you’re just horrible.

Sure, he’d probably hate you for all eternity, hitting him where he was weakest…But did it matter when you feel like you’ve been falling down a hole, trying to grab onto something, trying to delay the inevitable? You’d been falling so long, but the rope you were holding onto would snap any second now. Then where would you be? Falling with a broken rope because you tried to hold on, where would that get you? Then it’s all for nothing, you’ve done more damage than good. The rope would never help, it would only snap. Maybe that’s why you let go of the rope. Maybe you hate the rope because you knew it couldn’t help and you’d keep falling either way. It’s hard to hold onto something when you think it’ll all be for nothing. Anyway, it didn’t matter what the reason was, because that’s what you’d tell yourself.

You’d make up every reason, whether it was true or not, find everything about him despisable. 

Before you walked off, you made a point not to look at his eyes again.

Not because you’d hesitate. Not because you’d turn back. Not because if you took one glimpse at his warm, sad eyes you’d crumble and take back everything you said.

Because you hate his eyes.

He doesn't say anything as you walk away, he just lets you leave, and you weren't going to stick around long enough for him to change his mind.

"When love is supressed, hate takes its place."

-Havelock Ellis

[finalresidentevilfantasy]

Promise me Leon.

A/N: Hiiii, I'm back after a long break! Sorry this took so long, I was in a bit of a writing slump but hopefully we're over it and will be posting more content over time.

Warnings: talks of guns, blood, death, major character death, kinda fluffy but hella angsty. No happy endings here. No use of Y/N. Reader is female but no description of appearance is used.

W/C: 1.9K.

Pain, that was all she felt. Clutching at her side as she stumbled down the corridor Leon had carried Ashley down. She lifted her hand from her abdomen, it was covered in blood, all her own. Krauser had managed to throw a knife, the blade landing straight into her, slightly towards the left hand side of her body. Leon had managed to bandage it up pretty well afterwards.

"Shit!" Leon was by her side in seconds, Krauser laying in a pool of his own blood after Leon was finished with him. "You okay? Still with me?" His voice was full of concern as his eyes scanned every inch of her.

"Yeah, yeah I'm okay." She reassured with a small smile. Leon's eyes found hers and she found herself getting lost in them, as she always did when they were this close. The blue, it was gorgeous, calming. His stare lingered a little longer than usual before he shook his head slightly working on the task at hand.

"There, that should hold until we can get out of here." Leon said, look of triumph on his face. The knife had left a clean cut, an easy wound for Leon's first aid training, he'd managed to stop the bleeding, careful hands worked as he bandaged her up. She swore every time his hand brushed over the skin of her stomach her heart skipped a beat.

"Thank you Leon." She spoke softly, taking his hand in her own, a bold move on her part. "I appreciate it."

"No sweat." Leon brushed off nonchalantly, a smile gracing his lips, he didn't let go of her hand, enjoying the warm, soft feel against his fingertips.

Neither had acted upon it but they both knew that they harboured feelings for one another. The hours they spent together in training, Leon pushing her past her limits to get her anywhere near as good as he was. Taking the time to personally train his new partner, the time they spent together? Who wouldn't fall in love?

"I'm sorry." She suddenly sighed, she'd taken her eye off the ball and that was how she'd gotten stabbed, but Leon was in danger of course her attention was elsewhere. "I should've been paying more attention."

"Yeah, you should." His voice startled her, was she about to receive her first lecture from the man in front of her? But then he sighed "don't scare me like that again. I don't-" he hung his head as he cut himself off. Then, after a moment, his eyes snapped back to hers and they were filled with such a passion, a fire she hadn't seen before. "I don't think I'd survive losing you."

How she wished things could be different as she used the wall to steady herself. She'd stayed behind to distract Saddler, giving Leon and Ashley time to run, get a head start on removing the Plaga's. But she wasn't good enough, not fast enough, Saddler had reopened the wound Leon had closed. Her adrenaline giving her enough strength to knock him out but at a cost to herself.

She knew Leon would be furious with her. She'd dropped a statue between them, giving him no choice but to leave her behind, Ashley was the priority but she also had to make sure Leon made it out, the veins in his arms and face an indication that his time was running out. She was the only one of the three who'd managed to avoid infection but she had a feeling she'd be paying a different price for that.

She stumbled into Luis' lab just as Leon lost consciousness, Ashley breathing hard for a moment before she picked up Leon's pistol, pointing it in her direction. Ashley's eyes blew wide as she took in one of her rescuers state, dropping the gun. Her name leaving Ashley's lips as she continued to stumble forward, focus on Leon.

"Saddler?" Ashley asked and she shook her head in response to her question.

"Just knocked out, I think. I don't think I killed him." She stumbled again as she took a step. "Ashley, I need you to help me get him up." She spoke, it hurt to speak now, not only had Saddler reopened the wound but he'd made it bigger, the blood loss was fast now, a clear trail of blood following her everywhere.

Ashley was quick to help her, bearing some of her weight for her. "You need to sit." Ashley's voice was concerned and rushed.

"No, Ash." Her voice was confident, stern, despite her weakening condition. "Leon, we have to help him." She stumbled further, almost out of Ashley's grip as she made a bee line for her partner who was becoming more consumed by the veins, they were wasting time.

"But you need-" Ashley tried again and she spun to look at her.

"I'm not getting out of here. Come on, look at me, I'm dead weight, I'm a liability. But Leon, he's gonna be okay, he has to be okay, if this is the last thing I ever do, it has to be saving him Ashley." Her eyes were pleading with the president's daughter for help, her eyes lined with tears, Ashley's having already spilled over. "This is my last mission," a watery smile on her lips, "you gonna help me complete it?"

Ashley nodded reluctantly, both women moving to help the unconscious agent up. She groaned as she bore most of Leons weight, his head falling onto her shoulder, Ashley quick to help as they both manoeuvred him onto the chair. She almost screamed in pain, using the last of her strength as she placed him down, she fell onto one knee then, Ashley running to start the machine.

"God, I wish I'd have told you how much I love you." She whispered as she ran a hand through Leon's hair, he looked peaceful, even with the black veins consuming him. "You really are beautiful Leon." She smiled as she watched the black veins disappear, the machine having worked.

Ashley brought a chair for her to sit on as they waited patiently for Leon to wake up and at some point she lost her own consciousness.

*****

Her name. That was all she heard, she opened her eyes, her vision blurry but she could make out the beautiful blue staring into her own eyes. He was crying, she probably looked terrible. She was now laying in the same chair they'd put Leon into.

"Hey." Her voice was weak, how she'd managed to regain consciousness was beyond her. But she was thankful, perhaps she'd get to say goodbye.

"Don't talk." His voice was frantic, hands covering her wound as he placed as much pressure as he could, he was trying to stop the bleeding but they both knew, whatever he did, it wasn't going to be enough.

"Leon, it's no use." She smiled sadly at him and he let out a sob, head hitting her chest as he cried. She saw in her peripheral as Ashley turned away, wiping at her own tears. "Hey." She coaxed his face back up to look at her. He was so sad, she doesn't think she'd ever seen him display so much emotion all at once. He was a mess.

"It's okay." She said in reassurance, a peace was beginning to set over her, something about being in Leon's presence always put her at ease, she felt safe. "You need to go, Saddler's still out there, I'm sure of it, get Ashley out of here." She said as she reached to weakly card her fingers through Leon's hair, hand settling on his cheek.

"I'm not leaving you." Leon sobbed as he placed his own hand onto her cheek, wiping away her rapidly falling tears. "I promised I'd get you home." She knew it was pointless to argue, as much as she probably should, she selfishly wanted to keep him here until she passed.

"It's okay. It doesn't matter." She tried to reassure, her voice growing weaker as she felt her heart start to slow, longer blinks now, breathing was harder. "I wish I could've told you." She said, it was now or never, she had his attention, all of it. "I'm in love with you, I have been for a long time." Her name left his lips in a breath as he stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"You have no idea how in love with you I am." He spoke and her heart felt full, fuller than it ever had before at his confession, she could die happy now, he'd said it. "If I could trade places with you, I would, in a heartbeat. I'm so sorry I never told you." He was crying again now, almost hysterically.

"Leon, you have to promise me that you'll survive this, you have to carry on." She said, recalling his earlier words, she was losing herself now, everything was harder as her hand fell from his face, Leon quick to catch it in his own, bringing it to his lips as he kissed over her knuckles, she smiled. "Promise me Leon." She said as she took in his features for the last time.

"I promise I'll carry on." He smiled sadly down at her, eyes closing as a full peace washed completely over her.

"I love you, Leon." She whispered before she went still, everything having stopped.

"No, no, no, no." Leon muttered to himself as he began to shake her again, as if he could wake her. He couldn't and the rational part of his brain knew that but he wasn't ready to let go, not of her, he doesn't think he ever will be.

"It's not fair." He suddenly shouted and Ashley jumped as he kicked the nearest table over, scalpels and other operating equipment scattering across the floor. "Why her?" Leon asked no one. He was venting now, his emotions no where near in check, a stark contrast to the Leon Ashley had been used to. Ashley's eyes softened as she watched Leon fall to his knees and sob, she approached him, dropping to her own knees as she took the now fragile agent into her arms.

"I'm sorry Leon," was all she said as she held the broken man in her arms, she wished she could take his pain away but even Ashley, who'd only known the two for a day or so could see just how much they loved one another. A bond that wouldn't have easily been broken, partners who trusted one another with their lives.

Leon took a good few minutes to calm down, Ashley's shoulder now stained with his tears. He stood suddenly, Ashley following. He bent down to pick up his pistol, checking the magazine before he placed it back into its holster. Ashley watched silently as the agent took one final look at his partner, bending down to place a kiss on her forehead.

He breathed deeply, rolling his shoulders as he headed for the door. "Come on." His voice sounded darker, colder, not the playful, softer Leon Ashley had grown used to. Everything about him was colder, his demeanour, everything. "We need to find Saddler." Leon spoke again as he marched out of the lab. Ashley suspected that Saddler was going to suffer a fate worse than death by the time Leon was done with him. Ashley wasn't sure Leon would come out of this the same man he'd started out, the loss he'd suffered too great.

[meraki-yao]

RWRB Script: Meraki Thoughts and Notes, ACT I

...Remember when I said if we don't get something new I'll reach the phase where I dissect the movie frame to frame?

Yeah so I did decide to annotate the bloody script I am that obsessed, will put this into either two parts or three parts, this is from the start to Paris

Highlight:

Red: Deleted Scenes

Yellow: Different from the movie

Blue: Fun/Interesting Movement Descriptions

Green: Extra Information of character/set

Right off the bat, we have a deleted scene

I need someone to enlighten me about these markings: what do the numbers and letters mean? I searched online and it said that numbers means a scene, but what counts as one scene? And what is the letter then?

Again, three more deleted scenes, what the fuck. And why is the first one labelled 1? Was the movie originally supposed to start there before they added the receiving line in re-shoots?

Henry was shaking a person's hand when Alex comes up to him in the movie

TRIES TO LICK IT???? ALEX THE FUCK

Also note how the frosting thing is before "tell me something" here but after that line in the movie: In the movie, Henry didn't not see any of the frosting shenanigans since he turned away to greet someone else. The script doesn't state what Henry's doing while Alex fucks up

Two more deleted scenes!!! One of which should be Aneesh's favourite scene to film where Alex asks her how much trouble does she think he's in

Canonical Zahra and Ellen age

Ellen staring at Alex was not in the final cut, we go from the credits directly to Ellen's line. Also the "killing him" is sort of a book reference: P28 Ellen: "all I want is to have the CIA fake your death and ride the dead-kid sympathy into a second term"

TWO MORE DELETED SCENES WHAT THE FUCK

ANOTHER ONE

Ah so that's why Taylor's post of him in "Kensington Gardens" captioned “IT'S ALL LUSHHH”

Huh, he's awed

Nick improvised Henry's "Both" line

Clench teeth not that visible in the actual scene but we get the message

"Juicy photo" what the fuck

"This won't be fun" about that Alex....

Two more, one of which is the Cornetto scene, what's the other one?

Obviously we did not get this line about the outlets in the movie, but also ??? Do American outlets not have lights? Is he talking about this thing? (the red part is a light)

Henry you're enjoying yourself aren't you

ANOTHER ONE

Well this is a mess

"Essentially Spooning" WHAT

I feel like "isn't entirely unsexy" is from the book but I can't remember???

"The most shit-eating of grins"

He didn't wave, he did the V hands. That was probably Taylor lol

Canonical Oscar Age! So both Oscar and Ellen are 55, let's say movie Alex is 25 then Jesus Christ he's right they were babies when they had Alex

ANOTHER ONE I'M SOBBING AT HOW MANY AT THIS POINT

Firstprince Book list!!!

So this is the opposite in the movie: Henry was the one to turn around and face up instead of Alex, Alex was staring at imaginary Henry the whole time until he went to press "hang up" on his phone, on his other side

what the fuck 😭

Canon Percy Age: 24!

He was in fact wearing a white blazer with black swirls (I really liked that outfit).

"Percy is just as impressive as his clothes" HELL YEAH

"coppery-mustard"

"knowing smirk" the fuck

POST WALLFLOWER LMFAO

"dancing his ass off" love your word choice Matthew

"subtly bops to the music" yup, somehow think that applied to Nick at parties too

Aww Alex finds it "ridiculously endearing"

"even sexier midnight kiss" lmfao

"crestfallen" awww nooo Henry bbg :(

"Everyone's hands are on him, wanting a piece of ACD"... huh.

WHAT IS IT NOW

"They look so right together"

"panic growing in his chest, genuine fear crossing his face" HENRY　😭

"utterly gobsmacked" again, interesting choice of words, but accurate

TWO MORE WHAT THE FUCK

Alex was not on the floor, he was stretching against the sofa, I feel like that's a Taylor thing, but also he needs to see the TV on the wall

AGAIN????? MATTHEW!!!!

"Young James Bond" YUP

"entranced by Henry"

THREE???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

"trying out the perfect suave and sophisticated pose to greet Henry" ends up just standing straight

Can you fucking imagine the table read and Matthew saying "and THEY GO AT IT BABY"

"raw and aggressive and hot -- like they're trying to eat each other"

Note that the movement description didn't mention lifting Henry on the table or Alex hitching his thigh up, so that was designed on set

THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A CLOSE-UP????

“Gently” are we sure about that

"the bluest balls on the planet" lmfao

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE DELETED HERE OH MY GOD

"utterly devasting" yup

Okay there's a lot of differences here: Henry doesn't close the door, Alex grabs Henry's waist not vice verse, Henry kissed down his neck and chest after this dialogue and they tumble over the sofa, but also how to you expect him to kiss Alex's chest while simultaneously unbuttoning his shirt when they're both verticle

"J Crew finest" straight from the book

"The power of his thighs", "his arse bouncing hard in the saddle"

"who has never been so jealous of a saddle" OH MY GOD PFFTTT

I guess 55 is the extended polo scene with Bea and Pez

"attack each other" "pawing"

"Alex can't decide where to put his hands because he wants to put them everywhere at once" Istg this is a book line but I can't find it at the moment, will update when I do

YANKS in all caps

"Their meals are gone" So the photos from Matthew's BTS post where they had their meals was before this scene? But there isn't a deleted scene before or after the Paris cafe scene in the script?

Henry is charmed, huh

"whistles in amazement"

HE WAS SUPPOSED TO WINK?

Alex didn't laugh, we start the hotel scene with his back to the camera

"Henry wraps his arms around him" ... sorta? But in the movie it's Alex's shoulders

"on Henry's chest" okay yeah so this was for short Alex, TZP would have to contort himself to do that

In the movie we only see Henry undressing

(Dammit two more images but I reached the posting limit, hang on)

[hsrblake]

Cooper Howard qotues

Why, is this an Amish production of The Count of Monte Cristo or... just the weirdest circle jerk I've ever been invited to?" – The Ghoul after being awoken

"Well, what makes you think I'd give a good goddamn about that?" – The Ghoul to Honcho about a bounty

"Well, I tell you what, boys, whenever somebody says... ...they're doing one last job, that usually means their heart's not in it. Probably never was. But for me, well... I do this shit for the love of the game." – The Ghoul to the bounty hunters

"You right, friend, about one thing. This right here was your last job. My paycheck wasn't quite what you expected, but... well, you know what they say. Us cowpokes... ...we take it as it comes." – The Ghoul while murdering Honcho

"Now, last night a bounty came in through all six agencies. A hefty price on the head of a man that fits the description of that fella right there. Now, I may not know much, but I do know a bidding war when I see one." – The Ghoul about the bounty for Dr. Wilzig

"Well, now, that is a very small drop in a very, very large bucket of drugs." – The Ghoul after being shot at by Lucy

"You got to be fucking kidding me." – The Ghoul after seeing Maximus' arrival

"Well, I'd say come up here and get me, but... it's hard to walk upstairs when you're wearing a 12-piece cast-iron skillet set." – The Ghoul to Maximus.

"Well, I guess basic training ain't what it used to be. 'Cause you drive that thing like a fucking shopping cart. Rule number one: read the manual." – The Ghoul taunting Maximus

"Yeah, well, the Wasteland's got its own golden rule. [...] Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time."

"Well, Lucy MacLean, it ain't all canned peaches and marmalade left up here, sweetheart. Sometimes a fella's got to eat a fella." – The Ghoul while harvesting Roger's remains

"I'll bet that outfit makes y'all fell like a big man, don't it? Well, I know 'cause, well I used to wear one back in the day. There was only one problem with it. There was a flaw in the welding just below the chest plate. I wonder if they fixed that in this new model? I guess not." – The Ghoul confronting the Brotherhood.

"Oh, you want another autograph, young Henry? Feo, fuerte y formal." – The Ghoul to Hank MacLean.

"When your daughter said her last name was MacLean, well, I just couldn't believe it was the MacLean. Hell, this kid used to pick up my wife's dry cleaning. Now, I've waited over 200 years to ask somebody one question. Where's my fucking family?" – The Ghoul confronting Hank MacLean.

"War never changes. You look out at this Wasteland, looks like chaos. But there's always somebody behind the wheel. And that's who I want to talk to. That's where your daddy is headed." – The Ghoul to Lucy Maclean.

John Hancock quotes

Of the people, for the people."

"Plenty of folks wanna make life hard for people just tryin' to survive. I'm not willing to stand for that kinda shit."

"What kind of settlement requires a test for entry?" – Referring to Covenant.

"Whoa, the Downs. Hope we're not going anywhere for a while." – Referring to Easy City Downs.

"That kinda bull is the reason I became mayor in the first place." – Referring to The Big Dig

"Damn. Hey, look, if you wanna get outta here..." – If taken to Nate/Nora's corpse in Vault 111.

"If someone needs help, we help 'em. If someone needs hurting, we hurt 'em. It's not hard."

"Like it? I think it gives me a sexy, king of the zombies kinda look. Big hit with the ladies."

"Hey, does that play "Red Menace?" Love that damn game." – Accessing a terminal

"Looks like you can use a little pick me up." – Said when initiating dialogue with him as a companion (and him giving the player character a random chem)

"Whoa ho ho, I like you already! Walk into a new place, make a show of dominance. Nice." – referring to the Sole Survivor killing Finn

"Listen close. It's the last thing you're ever gonna hear." – When Sinjin tells the player character to stop speaking as The Silver Shroud

"Christ, it's bright in here. Clearly they didn't consider some folks might be nursing hangovers. " – Possible comment when entering Vault 81.

If completing The Big Dig with Bobbi No-Nose:

"How you doin' killer? Arms tired from all that digging? You know, my strongroom is surprisingly empty now..."

"Now if it was just the money, I'd rough you up, break a few bones, and then we'd be square once you paid me back. But you killed Fahrenheit. That means blood for blood."

When traveling naked:

"Hey Emperor, love the outfit."

"Let them stare."

"Don't mind me, just enjoying the view"

When committing Cannibalism:

"Suppose they're...beyond caring at this point"

"You...you do what you gotta"

"That one...all yours"

"At least you have the politeness to wait til they're dead"

When using chems:

"Two a day, keep reality at bay."

"Lean back and enjoy the ride."

"That's a good one, take it all in."

"Never trip alone."

When getting Addiction:

"You feel as bad as you look?"

"Wow, how much did you take?"

"'ay, you should slow down, and that's ME saying that"

When not responding while talking with him:

"Did I say something wrong?"

"You wanna talk? Make me a little nervous over here."

"What gives? I thought we were talking."

"Did your chems just kick in or something?"

"Like talking to a brick wall."

"Hmm, lights are on but no one's home."

"What? Mole rat got your tongue?"

"Uhm... You alright?"

"You check out on me?"

"Anybody in there?"

"That's right. Take it all in

After committing to a close relationship

"Words don't begin to do it justice. You, you're the best thing I got."

"Guess you're the piece I'd always missing...that and that toe I still can't find..."

"It's like I found a part of myself I never realized was missing... which happens sometimes when you're a ghoul."

"Nothing to lose but each other."

"Moments like this, I know all that karma stuff is bull. Because no one like me should be this lucky."

"You sure you wanna be stuck with this ugly mug?"

When Lover's Embrace is activated:

"Morning, sunshine."

"Well look at you. I must still be dreamin'..."

"Don't mind me... just enjoying the view."

Upon picking up junk:

"Careful! You don't know where that's been."

"That actually worth something?"

"If anybody could find a use for that."

Upon looting a corpse:

"Time to collect."

"To the living, go the spoils."

When the Brotherhood of Steel arrives in the Commonwealth:

"Holy shit." – When witnessing the Prydwen's arrival.

"Brotherhood knows how to make an entrance. I'll give 'em that." – When commenting on the Brotherhood

Cooper Howard VS John Hancock quotes these two has some good quotes it's hard to pick one for me I say both anyways you can use these for Headcannons, Edits, Memes, and so on I just put these here so it's easier for some people to use them I also tag people if your interested talk in the messages there open I have so many things I want to make but the next one is going to get Cooper Howard and John Hancock with Serena I was thinking doing a Picture Edit with some quotes and yes I do requests too.

[daz4i]

could dr. ratio originally be from the laurel wreath galaxy?

this is a repost of a theory i posted yesterday, now slightly more clean and properly tagged 🙏

in case you don't know, the laurel wreath galaxy (possibly a mistranlsation of "star system", if that changes anything) was supposedly destroyed during the emperor's wars. information about it is scattered throughout the game in very scarce ways. later i elaborate on how it went down in a more detailed way!

1. so let's get the most obvious detail out of the way first: he wears a laurel wreath 👍 at least a partial one (one leaf for every phd. maybe one day he'll reach a full head 😩)

these were common in ancient greece and ancient rome, cultures that his design, abilities, and eidolons are inspired by (both in aesthetic and language)

2. the laurel wreath galaxy was ruled by scholars - the philosopher union, until inorganic life took over during the emperor's wars. to give a very short tldr, civil war between organic and inorganic life, robots killed the head of the philosopher union, due to having no leaders the organic life of the galaxy was defeated

here we already have another obvious connection - philosophy, one of ratio's phds, that he even discusses with the trailblazer in one of his daily messages

3. one of the in-game sources about this place is the curio "rationality's fall". here is the first part of story attached to it for you to consider:

What is truth? No one truly knows. Supposing that "stupidity" is an incurable disease in this world, then disseminating knowledge counts as a treatment for the universe.

hm. we got a) truth (aka. ratio's name) b) a description of stupidity as a disease, which is something he claims repeatedly and thus seeks to cure it, in part by distributing knowledge (which is why he joined the guild, and why he's a teacher).

3.5. only other somewhat relevant part of this description is its mention of books ("Through such absurd means, books cleansed a world of its impurities once more") but that's not necessarily related to him obviously. however it's worth pointing out that one of his interactions on the express is literally all about how much he loves books and implying that they are relatively rare these days ("The touch of a paper book is a sensation I frequently find myself missing"). just a little something to think about

4. in gold and gears, there is an occurrence - cogito hair salon: intelligentsia guild - that implies that ratio is 2000ish years old. afaik these occurrences all happen around the same time as the emperor wars, aka when all the shit went down in laurel wreath

now. if you've read literally any of my other ratio theories. you know i don't quite like this, bc i find that ratio being 2000+ years old kinda defeats his whole Thing as a character. but we can't deny that it's there (tho possibly a mistranslation from what i gathered, but i can't say for sure) so i'm gonna use it for this theory 👍

5. here's where i'm gonna become full-on conspiracy brain. don't say i didn't warn you

after the whole defeat of the union, there were followers of aha who rose against the inorganic lifeforms and infected them with what's described as a "troll virus" called Philosopher's poison. i can't quite tell you if it's poison *to* philosophers (bc from what i gathered the inorganic life of laurel wreath were also philosophers) or caused *by* philosophers (implying these followers of aha were themselves philosophers as well. i like this interpretation more tbh)

what you're supposed to get from all that^ is that there was a large number of followers of aha in this galaxy, and they were wise enough to stand against robots that tried to wipe out their people, and even overthrow their army.

it's a pretty common theory by now that ratio has connections to the elation (beyond just the worm theory :P tho a lot of relevant info that i bring up here was gathered by @/b1adie in said theory which is very helpful, please go check it out 🙏) which, if he is indeed from laurel wreath, may add another layer to his past

some connections between ratio and aha, off the top of my head:

a. has an owl mask on his right shoulder, close to where aha has an owl mask located as well + his eyes fit aha's color scheme

b. refers to himself as a "side character" in the sticker book - sampo and sparkle, our known fools, do as well

c. can basically instantly disappear when characters aren't looking at him - as seen in his conversations with aventurine - which i can say for sure sampo does as well (like in the museum mission chain), possibly sparkle too tho i can't recall a specific instance to back this up

d. bows to the audience at the end of his quest, same as sampo does at the end of the belobog storyline

e. known to work from the shadows and pull the strings to make things happen or for his observation, which is how aha is described too at times, as well as their followers (sparkle is literally shown pulling strings of puppets in the "it's showtime" light cone, also sampo *gestures at literally everything he does during the belobog arc* Yeah)

f. in the herta space station, he creates a bit of a panic and theoretically puts people in danger, but in the end they all turn out okay. a similar instance can be seen in the "bestial ferocity" mission, where zhongshan, another masked fool, creates chaos for her own entertainment, which does end up hurting the people involved but absolutely not in major ways. in a way, at least in her view, she solved their problems too. while ratio probably doesn't cause chaos just for entertainment, but rather for information, you can argue these cases are similar, especially when at the end of the day they do end up helping these people in their own way. you can also claim that sparkle and sampo do similar things in their own respective arcs for their own reasons (sparkle with. the bombs. and sampo with dragging tb & bronya to the underworld. i'd argue neither of them do these for entertainment but that's an analysis for another time) aka this is a pretty common behavior for masked fools!

g. a smaller thing, but, the main part of his kit is follow-up attacks, which is aha's thing in the simulated universe

h. is his headpiece considered a mask? in his first conversation with tb on the astral express, he ends by saying "With this mask on, I intend to keep the world at bay". this is in reply to tb saying "i hope you are swayed by the express", and given ratio's main uses for his headpiece (dull his senses and block out stupid people), it makes most sense that he's referring to that here. we see him wearing it in-game precisely when he is about to cause chaos, too

also he has a mask on his shoulder. as already pointed out. so. not beating the masked fool allegations

^all this was actually to make you fall for the fool ratio theory. sorry. but i swear it's related to this post's main theory

-

so to connect this back to laurel wreath. the followers of aha used a virus. one of ratio's phds is in engineering, so he could've used that to create the virus. it might even be one of the achievements attributed to him that caused him to be recognized by the university as eligible for teaching in the first place, who knows

combining everything laid out here, you can probably see where i'm going with this - was ratio one of the followers of aha who took down the inorganic lifeforms of laurel wreath using this virus?

also, just for extra spice - this could add another layer to ratio's disdain towards the genius society, given that the one who incited the emperor's wars was a member of it

that's all i have for you for now 🙏 idk if this was intended, but i love speculating about ratio's origin and backstory, and i think this is a pretty cool option for it!

[spicyvampire]

Okay so after the whole Sakuna/Wansarut and Phaya/Tharn "characters description" fighter (protector)/healer+protector(mediator) post, now imma talk about about our resident Snake (PhD), Doctor Chalothorn being a fighter and well how do you convince a fighter to not fight?

I've already made a whole gifset about this but I needed to put the stuff into words cuz u just can't say everything in a gifset so this post is gonna be about a few things, first of all, the way Charlothorn's goals shifted in the last 2 episodes, from wanting to kill Phaya so he can have Tharn, to wanting to save Tharn and Phaya's end not really mattering anymore, and second of all Tharn's role in this shift and where have we saw something similar to this shift before aka Wansarut and Sakuna and how Wansarut even did that

Same disclaimer as the last one applies : pulling this out of my ass from watching the show, these are raw out-of-order thoughts, ill try my best to separate but like the last post because I'm going to have to go back and forth between Wansarut (love of my life, talking about Wansarut has to be my favorite activity rn), Sakuna, Tharn (smooching him smooching him), Phaya and Chalothorn this might get hard to follow but hey that's what it's like inside my brain so welcome to the mess

Putting it under keep reading

So like I said in the last post, Chalothorn is a fighter, like you can't get more fighter than this, the man is literally the prince/ruler of Nagas and he is right in the middle of the battle field anytime there is a fight to be had, and like I said in Sakuna's part of the post he is a level that can probably can only be rivaled by Sakuna's brother, you can't be a higher level of Naga fighter from what I understand, so like how do you fight this man if you are Wansarut and Sakuna? (ep. 8)

Keep in mind that : the answer is that they never were supposed to fight Chalothorn

SCENARIO 1 : Chalothorn wins

This is what we've seen in the show, Sakuna/Wansarut/Phaya/Tharn would never win against him in a fight because they just aren't strong enough to began with, Sakuna and his Garuda were not Chalothorn's level when he was alive, Wansarut is a healer/protector not a fighter, Phaya can only do ✨Sparkles✨ of Garuda powers as of rn and while Tharn can do some powerful protecting he is of the gang the person who is the less in contact with his past and magical self (other than for protecting Phaya magic, we have not even seen his Naga in this lifetime) and also his past self wasn't even a fighter, so it makes sense that Chalothorn just keep killing them and every single one of their reincarnations, he kills them so much that it was destroying his own soul (ep. 8) because surprise he is getting affected by the little cyclic karma thingy they got going on too, this isn't just about Wansarut/Sakuna and PhayaTharn, Chalothorn is trapped in this shit too

Clearly fighting is not the answer, because even if you win, which Chalothorn has been doing a lot of, you still lose, Chalothorn is losing control of his Naga form, not only does it destroy his soul (ep. 8) but he might just not be able to turn into his human form anymore aka would be forced to be a Naga forever (ep. 9)

Another lost of this is that he keeps losing Wansarut and having to wait for the cycle to start again so he would get another chance, like the level of psychological damage getting done to him because he kills the one he loves and he is always left behind alone to wait is enough to drive anybody insane (ep. 11)

And I think that's one of the reasons why it took him so long to understand that he should let Wansarut/Tharn go, because when you do something so despicable and keep doing it over and over again you have to justifies your bad actions to yourself so you don't break and the more you justifies them the harder it becomes to see clearly through them, so you just keep doing it, like Chalothorn probably hates himself more than he even hates Phaya or love Tharn at this point because he keeps killing reincarnations of Wansarut, like this is his reaction to killing Wansarut the first time, falling to his knees screaming and everything (ep. 8), the cognitive dissonance in that man's brain must be insane

SCENARIO 2 : Phaya wins

Now let's imagine for a second there that they did win, Phaya succeeded in killing Charlothorn, and then what? Isn't Charlothorn just gonna reincarnate and come back for them again? Like yes it might take some times but it will happen, and then Phaya and Tharn would be the one destroying their souls and making their karma worst, that's just not a solution

Also we saw with Narong's case part of the show that "victim turned attacker" is not the answer (anyways that's what the show says), when Tharn and Phaya are talking to the abbot at the end of episode 5 the abbot keep repeating that over and over again killing is not the answer

When Phaya Says "Those victims are left with no choice but to fight back in order to survive. They have to kill." The abbot answers "The basic code of moral conducts for human beings like us is the 5 precepts. One should be abstained from killing other living beings. These precepts can bring peace and happiness to your family and the society. Undertaking the 5 precepts will benefit not only yourself but also the people around you." Basically straight up telling them that [not killing] is the only answer that will bring peace to everyone

Also so many parallels can be made between Narong and Chalothorn (which is probably why it was easy for Chalothorn to possess Narong to attack Phaya but let's not get into that), because like isn't this Chalothorn? (ep. 5)

His mind is so clouded by anger and wanting to kill Phaya and getting Tharn that he is obsessed with it, he literally do not see anything else, specially if Phaya is in the room and/or mentioned, like I said a bit higher in this post, he hates Phaya, but he probably hates himself too, and so much hate and anger just blinds people

Also sidenote that I'm not really gonna dive into : How do you think Tharn would feel about Phaya killing Chalothorn, knowing what u know about him? like Tharn loves Chalothorn as a friend, and that's even if Chalothorn is responsible for all the bad things in his life (ep. 12)

Tharn may be looking at Chalothorn saying this but he said "Please stop killing each other." he could not be more clearly talking to both of them, he doesn't want Chalothorn to kill Phaya but he also doesn't want Phaya to kill Chalothorn

SCENARIO 3 : Tharn Wins

Now lemme say this, you can literally never convince a fighter by fighting him, like if you've ever had a fight/argument with someone you know that you cannot reach a compromise in the heat of the fight when everyone is angry and losing the control of their emotions, it just doesn't work, but what does work in the context of the show?

Wansarut and Sakuna

And now I'm back to Wansarut (<3<3<3<3<3<3) and Sakuna because well Wansarut did change a fighter's mind before already, this is part of Wansarut's power that's why I also describe Wansarut as a mediator, and what did Wansarut do exactly?

Well Wansarut healed Sakuna, even if he is from the enemy side, and took care of him and acted in a way that was protective of him, even if again Sakuna is an enemy of Wansarut's people (literally brother of the Garuda king) because that Wansarut's character, Wansarut is a healer/a protect/a mediator that's how Wansarut fights (ep. 8)

Then Wansarut tough Sakuna about Naga culture (Naga offering and breathing fire to pay respect to Buddha, on the 15th nigh of the 11th waxing moon)

And while being in love with each other did facilitate this change of view in Sakuna (which would later turn him a bit into a protector of Wansarut), you really do not need to be for this to work, like the best way to change people views on some things truly is just to expose them to the thing from the POV of the people living it, when nobody is in any immediate danger

And that is exactly how Tharn succeeded in convincing Chalothorn that the love between Phaya and him is good, by being there for Chalothorn and taking care of him, and being patient, until Chalothorn was ready to let him go on his own, not in the heat of of fight when everyone is angry and putting the blame on each other, which was again so healer/ protector/mediator of him like I talked about in my other post

Tharn and Chalothorn : the final

So with Wansarut and Sakuna we saw how Tharn could change Chalothorn's mind and what really does work, now imma dive into the last 2 episodes of this show aka the shift in Chalothorn

So in episode 6, Chalothorn says this

And at that time I think those words were true cuz that's literally what he has been doing isn't it? Like everytime he lost, both Wansarut and Sakuna's reincarnations died, so he was "okay" with killing Wansarut, as long as it meant that Sakuna was also dead and they weren't together (crazy way to fight cognitive dissonance if you ask me) but then something changed around episode 11 because Chalothorn started saving Tharn even if Phaya was still alive? (Ep. 11) (ep.12)

The importance of Chalothorn saving Tharn those 2 times, is that 1) now Tharn knows what the fuck is going on and 2) (like I said in the other post) Tharn end up understanding that Chalothorn can be talked too and reasoned with (the abbot would call it enlightenment), because in that 2nd saving he told Chalothorn to not kill Montee, and Chalothorn listened

Sidenote : Wansarut also did tell Chalothorn to not kill Sakuna and Chalothorn did listen that time too, like Wansarut has a BIG influence on this man (wish we saw their relationship before the mess), the only reason why the fight did continue was because Sakuna did not let Wansarut go

Why did he listen then? because he loves Wansarut, it really is as simple as that, and that's why he also listened to Tharn with Montee, because our chronically involuntary celibate man is head over dick for Tharn (valid and relatable)

So remember when I was talking about cognitive dissonance and stuff, well by ep 12, Chalothorn cannot justifies killing Tharn anymore, he is tired, he is turning into a Naga, and he cannot stand seeing another reincarnation of Wansarut die again, but most importantly he cannot stand to see Tharn die by his own hands

It's easy to concentrate on Phaya's distress in this scene but Chalothorn is in as much distress as Phaya, you can hear Chalothorn's voice break when Tharn is dying in both Phaya and his arms after asking them to stop killing each other, they are both screaming Tharn's name, and this time Chalothorn just listen because this is too much, his hatred for Phaya is just not important anymore, killing Phaya is just not as important anymore because anyways Tharn did choose him didn't he? isn't that what he wanted? even if Tharn clearly is in love with Phaya, Tharn did choose to come with him, so in a way none of this shit even fucking matters anymore

So for the 3rd time, he saves Tharn, this time by literally giving Tharn his soul so he would live (wish we saw him breaking down over Tharn dying in his arms in the Naga caves until he ended up giving Tharn his soul tbh), Chalothorn chooses to save a life instead of ending one and thus ending the curse on his part

[clare-875]

Until the End (Levi x Reader)- Chapter 18

[On the Run]

_____ A/N: Posted on Wattpad (@CLARE_875) but also decided to post here :)

Summary: "You can push me away, but I will still fight by you, and I will still follow you… until the end."

The ever-so-stoic Levi Ackerman has only ever known the terrors that living in a cruel world could bring. This all changed one fateful day when he encountered [y/n]; a girl renowned for her looks and abnormal speed. As they escape the confines of the Underground together, they soon discover that freedom doesn't come easy in a world full of Titans. As they rise through the ranks, [y/n] becomes known as "Humanity's Angel", a beacon of hope to humanity as she melts the walls Levi had built around his heart. However, she has her secrets too, and a dark past that might just threaten to pull them apart.

The storyline and characters of Attack on Titan do NOT belong to me, but all to Hajime Isayama; however, I do own this story, and all that occurs disparate to that storyline.

[Series Masterlist] [Chapter Seventeen] <--> [Chapter Nineteen] _____

Warnings: Canonical Violence, Descriptions of Torture, Injuries 

You sit in a darkened room, changing out of your torn shirt before replacing it with a new one, glad to see that the cut on your arm was only shallow and had already healed into a scar. The scratch along your cheek had faded the same way as you grabbed some alcohol and a cloth, gently dabbing away at the remaining blood. We were now in a hideout in the woods, a bit away from Trost. In the aftermath of Eren and Historia getting abducted, we interrogated Dimo Reeves, a merchant who led the Reeves Company. He was the man who had captured Jean and Armin, mistaking them for Eren and Historia.

In the integration, we learned that he was forced to help the Military Police as his life and his son's life were put on the line. Levi has used this as leverage, with the proposal that in exchange for their support, we would provide protection and help in the rebuilding of Trost. He had agreed. Dimo and his son Flegel had gone and retrieved two Interior Military Police, Ralph and Sannes, who were primarily responsible for the torture and death of Pastor Nick. They had lured them here in the guise that he knew of Levi's location. Now, they were each locked in a cellar in the basement.

You sigh, stretching above your head in exhaustion; it was going to be another long night. Just as you go to the door of the room, however, it opens, and Levi walks in. He looks up in surprise, not thinking you would be present. You examined his face, and you were glad to see the cut on his forehead was clean and had stopped bleeding. "Hey, there you are [y/n]," he says as his sharp eyes skim your face, landing on the healing scar on your cheek. "Yeah, sorry to keep you waiting, Levi," you say, walking towards him, not missing the brief flash of conflict that lies deep in his eyes. "Are you okay?" you ask, concerned. If someone else had looked at him, he would have seemed like he had the same bored look he had always had. But after knowing him for so long, you could notice the slight change in expression no matter how much he tried to act nonchalant.

He looked up at you, eyes stormy and tense before he sighed. "Nothing," he muttered before his face soured. "Just seeing the old man again..." you nodded, seeing the hatred burning in his eyes. You reached up to touch his face, causing him to look up. "That piece of shit, saying all those damn things about you," Levi gritted his teeth at the memory. You smile at him, shaking your head, "I don't mind, Levi. It doesn't faze me-" Levi cut you off, "I mind," he said, frowning. You look up to see his sharp eyes and the dull light of the moon reflecting off of them. You sigh, "I don't blame you, Levi," you continue when you see the conflict in his eyes. "I was just surprised he actually knew who I was. I guess when he left the Underground, he didn't leave for good." You remember Kenny's words that he had visited; it made you shiver, thinking he was unknowingly watching the both of you in the Underground.

You let your hands fall to his hands as you squeeze them tightly. "I'm going to have to start torturing the damn Military Police soon," Levi mutters as you remember back to the two men captured beneath us. You let out an emotionless laugh at his words and hum back in reply. "You don't have to watch, you know," he says, eyes darkening, no doubt thinking of the men in the basement too. You smile before moving forward and capturing his lips briefly, his stare now soft. "I know."

.....

You lean against the wall as you see Levi tugging at his pair of gloves, ready to continue torturing the man, Sannes, in front of you; he had been at it for ages. Suddenly, you heard a door slam, and you turned, startled, only to see it was Hange who had barged their way in. "Sorry, I'm late! You're still going at it?" Levi turns, looking at Hange with a bored look in his eyes. "Yeah, I'm pretty new to this." Hange steps forward towards the man confined to his chair, "Sannes! You should know I'm also a novice at human torture, so please bear with me!" You sigh at their disturbing words, knowing that despite Levi's constant annoyance at Hange, they complimented each other in a horrifying way. Hange reaches for some tools that were laid out before getting ready.

"Wait! What do you even want!? Who the hell tortures without asking questions?!" Levi looks up at that. "Oh, right... We do have some questions for you." You tense at the tone of his words. "Where are Eren and Historia? Why are you after Historia? What's the Reiss Family?" Hange doesn't even give him a second to answer as they scream out, "Too slow! Can't you see that we're in a hurry!?" They then yank down with a metal tool and grab a fingernail on his left hand before peeling it off. You don't know what to feel as you see them continue to torture Sannes and hear him wail. Just remind me never to get on Hange's bad side...

Hange continues to rip fingernails off until all five on his hand are gone. You resist the urge to wince as you continue to observe. "Sorry, I can't peel nails as well as you," Hange muttered to Sannes. "Just how many did you peel to get so good?" You can hear the darkness in their voice. "Too many to count," the man replies. "Within these cramped walls, do you know why war has never broken out? It's because the First Interior Squad dirtied our hands to protect the peace." Sannes looks up, face bloodied and eyes haunted. "A teacher too smart for their own good... A stupid couple who tried to fly... A whore from some ranch in the sticks... Humanity has only made it this far because we erased them!" He shouts out, tears brimming in one eye as the other remains closed thanks to the bruise from Levi's fist.

"You should be thanking us! I've never seen anyone get more pleasure out of torture than you guys! You're monsters! But I'm not even afraid. I... I have... I have the King, I... I believe in the King and peace in the walls. That all the things we've done were justified... But... To think it hurts this much... Go on and torture me to death already. That's all I ever did with this blood-stained life of mine." You grip your arms tightly at his words and silence envelops us. "Time for a break," Levi mutters tiredly as you walk to his side and out the door. "That's troubling... I'm beginning to feel sorry for him." Hange says from behind. You close the door but open a small gap once they are through.

You look up to see Levi and Hange walk with Ralph, the other man we captured. A knife pushed to his side. "You're pathetic. It only took one nail to make you talk." Levi tells the man, "Sannes has no nails left. You're nothing like him." The man then speaks as he follows a script that Hange shows him, hidden by their bodies. "Like you care? That was his decision. The guy never shuts up about peace and the King. The rest of us hate him. Do us a favour and kill him already." Levi answers him abruptly, "We're not letting it happen until he verifies your story." Hange points to Ralph's lines as he speaks up once again, "You already got what you wanted out of me. Gimme a break. Will I be getting a bed in my cell, or what?" You then see Levi and Hange pull him up the stairs and away. When you open the door as Levi and Hange return to your side, Sannes shouts his next words out defeatedly, as you know he overheard the coerced conversation with Ralph.

"Reiss is the true royal family."

…..

You think back to a few days ago when Historia told us her story. She was born on a small farm in the northern region of Wall Rose on land owned by the noble family of Reiss. Her mother had always read books, whilst Historia had helped with the farm, and every night, a wagon would take her mother away to the city adorned in fancy clothes. But when Historia learned to write and read, she tried to imitate her mother and read her books of stories where parents loved their child; so different to her own experience.

When once she had tried to hug her mother, she had pushed her away, speaking of wanting to have the courage to kill her and then had left. And then five years ago, just days after Wall Maria fell, she had met her father. Rod Reiss. Her mother was also present but frightened. However, they had been surrounded when Rod Reiss led Historia out of her home. Rod Reiss then told the men surrounding them that neither Historia nor her mother had anything to do with him. Her mother had been killed, screaming and wishing Historia had never been born. But before Historia was to die, her father had made a proposal. They could spare her if she lived a quiet life and changed her name to Christa Lenz.

Your eyes widened in realisation as Sannes went on to explain the truth to us. The true royal successor is Historia, and she and Eren are likely captured wherever Rod Reiss is. What's worse is that we later learn that Eren is to be eaten, deduced from the letter he had given Hange of the conversation between Betholdt and Ymir. Apparently, the Titans we had come to fear, the Armoured Titan, Colossal Titan, and Eren's Titan, each held a special ability, along with being able to transform back into humans. Ymir had likely been an ordinary Titan, roaming outside the walls until she had eaten one of their comrades with a Titan ability. That explained why Eren had been sought after by Reiner: to seize his Titan, which can control other Titans with its scream. Eren was a vessel bound to be replaced; if the government had a Titan of their own, he would likely be fed to it, giving them the power: The power to control the Titans.

.....

You sat against a tree next to Levi, now out in the woods, a bit away from Trost. The entire squad had been informed of the situation, and we were on our way to the land owned by Rod Reiss. Hange and Moblit had gone their separate ways as they left to meet with Erwin to consult him about the Reiss family. "Captains! We brought the supplies!" You look up to see that Jean, Armin, and Mikasa had come back from the city, bags of necessities in hand. Armin then walked up to us, giving Levi a piece of paper. "The military Police were handing these out." He says as you lean over Levi's shoulder and take a look.

Your eyes widened; the paper had accused the Scout regiment of murdering a civilian; it was Dimo Reeves. "If this is true, the Scouts will be disbanded. I heard they'll be hunting for us tonight. They're also putting guards on all the vital roads, and it's impossible to get through without a pass. Captains, what now?" Armin asked as he finished informing us of what was happening throughout the walls. "If we don't hurry, Eren..." Mikasa starts to speak before Levi cuts her off as you sense growing tension, "Calm down." You nod, looking at the two who crouched in front of you. "They're using a wagon. It'll take at least a day to reach Reiss' territory. We'll use that time to come up with a plan." The squad seemed to relax at your words before we heard Sasha speak up. "Captains, I hear footsteps. They are coming towards us."

.....

You look down from the trees seeing Armin by the river and acting as a decoy. As planned, two members of the Military approach, guns drawn at the blond boy as he puts his hands up. You nod at Levi, who stands on a tree opposite. You flash down, unsheathing your sword, as you restrain the woman, Levi restraining the man. "That's right... Hand over your guns to the one in front." Levi mutters lowly as the two soldiers are startled in our grasp as they hand their weapons over to Armin. "Not a sound," you add under your breath as the rest of the squad approaches, and Mikasa and Armin restrain the two military soldiers in our hold. You and Levi wander off a bit to the side, assessing the situation.

"Any ideas?" You ask as you look over to Levi. A brief silence takes over before he speaks, "Disguise as Military Police to get by the guards... Then, figure out where Eren was taken by snooping around. To think we'd have no better option..." You frown at him, knowing he is right. "I know it's not ideal, but we don't have time. We have to do it, or it will be a matter of time before we die," You say, looking towards the squad. You squeeze Levi’s shoulder gently in comfort before you see Jean approach, handing Levi a piece of parchment. We stand and walk towards the two Military Police who now sit, hands tied behind their back.

"Stohess District Military Police. Private Marlo Freudenberg. Same assignment. Private Hitch Dreyse." The two soldiers turn stiff at Levi's low words. "As for how we'll dispose of you..." Hitch and Marlo's faces turn into one of shock at his proclamation. "Because of you guys, over 100 people from Stohess District were killed!" Hitch suddenly yells out, causing Levi's eyes to turn to her sharply. "Huh?" But she remains stern as she continues, "You people... You might think you're all heroes of justice, but the victims and their families were dropped straight into hell!" Levi doesn't flinch, "Yeah, I know."

"You there..." Hitch now turns to Mikasa, "You're from the Southern Cadet Corps, yeah? Just like Annie Leonhart. Were you friends of hers?" Silence descends over us before Hitch seems to calm slightly, now looking to the floor as her voice starts to shake. "No... I doubt she had any friends being as gloomy and aloof as she was. It's like she was a kid afraid of other people. I never got the chance to know anything about her. And the reason they still haven't found her... is because she was pulverized by a Titan into a puddle of jelly!" Hitch turns furiously as she faces Levi and you, eyes wide with rage. You can't help but pity her ignorance; she tried not to show it, but she missed a friend who was really the enemy. "No..." you say softly, looking at her form as her eyes flashed to you for the first time, "It's because the Titan in hiding was... Annie Leonhart herself."

Now Marlo turns as well, shock evident on their faces as Hitch takes a sharp intake of breath. "Goddammit, it makes me sick," Levi says, looking to his side. "Nobody knows a damn thing about this world... Not us or anyone else. Except for those bastards at the centre of it all." You see his eyes darken momentarily as he looks back down at the two soldiers before us. "We'll release you both as soon as we get out of here." Hitch looks to the ground, still in disbelief, but you see Marlo turn to us, eyes determined. "Captain [y/n]! Captain Levi! Please let me help you! I don't think what you guys are doing is wrong! If I can help correct this world's injustice, I'll do whatever it takes!" Levi turned sharply towards the man, "What's with this guy?"

"I beg of you, Captains!" Silence descends onto us as Levi turns to you, but you see the same thoughts that cross your mind in his eyes. "We can't," you say, "We don't know how prepared you are about making an enemy of the government." You walk past him with Levi as he speaks to our squad. "Let's go. Sasha, tie them up somewhere nearby." As we walk through to the treeline, Jean speaks up. "Captains! Please let me do it." His face is unyielding, and his eyes are hard; you can't tell what he's thinking. "Knock yourself out," Levi mutters as we continue along.

However, moments later Jean had returned claiming he had tested the loyalties of Hitch and Marlo, and they had been an asset to seeking a path through a checkpoint, the least manned by the Military Police; you were grateful at the very least.

.....

Night fell as you watched Levi beat up a man in front of you. We had successfully fought through the checkpoints and kidnapped one of the men who was with the interior police. "Where are Eren and Christa?" Levi asks the man, but he merely smirks from where blood adorns his face. "Oh, you're so brave. That checkpoint back there was just recruits who could barely wipe their own ass. You think you're some sort of hero, beating them down?" Levi gets up with a bored expression on his face. "What an atrocious thing we've done. But what's more atrocious is this mouth of yours. I recommend you start talking while you're still able to use it." Levi shoves his boot into the mouth of the man, who squirms under the weight of it. "Where are Eren and Christa."

"It's no use," the man says when Levi removes his foot. "All that's left for you now is to run and hide inside these walls, covered in mud and shit! If you don't turn yourselves in, every last Scout we capture will get the noose! Starting with the one most guilty of all, Erwin Smith." At that, you step forward from Levi's side and kick him across the face before keeping your foot firmly planted on his head as he falls to the floor. Levi's eyes flicker slightly in surprise before you mutter lowly, "Answer the damn question. Where are Eren and Christa." The man starts to cry in fear as he looks between you and Levi. "I-I don't know! I'm not allowed to know! Kenny Ackerman is a very cautious man."

You freeze, seeing Levi do the same as you meet his wide eyes. You release the man from under your foot, to which he grasps at his head, still crying. "Ackerman?" Levi asks, his dark eyes turning sharp as we both look at Mikasa, who displays a similar expression. "I know Kenny... Is that his last name?" Levi's eyes continued to sharpen as the man nodded yes to his words. "It's true, there's a lot of things he doesn't divulge... especially the important stuff." you hear Levi mutter before you see him compose himself, needing answers and not the surprising new detail he had just found out. He steps forward past you and towards the man, ready to torture him again, and the man screams out in fear, but we pause at the sound of Sasha's voice. "Someone's coming from that way! More than one!" You and Levi see Sasha pointing towards the open fields. You quickly take shelter behind a tree as Levi forces the man to the floor.

"I told you, Captains, it's no use. One way or another, the Scouts will soon turn to an end!" You hear the man mutter as you grit your teeth at his words. As you look out into the fields, you see two soldiers, covered with hoods, coming towards us with guns in hand. However, as you took a closer look, you froze, seeing Levi do the same. It was Hange and Moblit. They greet us with a wave as you let yourself release a sigh of relief. Hange, however, wastes no time handing Levi a piece of paper. You and the other Scouts quickly surround him to see what's been written. "And there you have it. The coup d'etat was successful. Premier Zachary has control of the capital and administrative district. For the time being, the nobility hasn't rebelled."

Erwin's gamble worked. The gamble that when Erwin was to be sentenced to death for his crimes in concealing Eren, there would be a fake report of Wall Rose being breached; how the "King" and his officials would react determined whether Erwin should live or die. Evidently, the "King" had chosen to act in a way that would've harmed humanity, not saved it. Darius Zachery, along with Commander Pixis, had then risen up, overthrowing the fake King and his subordinates. Of course, had he reacted in a way that had helped humanity, Erwin would have been dead, but it was evident that the gamble had been worth taking.

"What about the Boss Reeves incident?" You hear Armin ask from behind you. "We got a confession that proved the charges unfounded," Hange replies with a smile on their face. "His son Flegel pulled through big time. Just like it's written right there, it shows the charges were bogus, they abused their power, and that King Fritz was a total fake. All our actions were justified in self-defence. In other words, we're free people now." You see the Scouts around you yell and cheer in happiness. They start to run around, spinning and laughing. You join in, a wide grin reaching your features as you pull your arms around Levi in glee. He pauses briefly in surprise at your actions but decides to let you be since the rest of the squad is too caught up in their joy to notice. You see his stare soften as he, meets your shining eyes; it had been a long time since he had seen you so happy.

"By the way, you may have a clue on where Eren and Historia are," Hange says, causing you to break contact with Levi as your smiling face turns into a questioning glance. You see the other Scouts also turn before coming back to our side. Hange holds out a book to Levi, "Let's get there and put an end to this battle."

.....

You sit on a wagon with Levi and Mikasa whilst Hange finishes telling us the story of the incident that happened on Reiss' territory five years ago after Wall Maria had been breached: Before the fall, Rod Reiss wasn't seen as at all bad as the lord of his territory. He had five children; Frieda was the eldest, the most down to earth; even peasants adored her. But five years ago, disaster had stuck. Bandits, using the fall of Wall Maria as a distraction, raided and set fire to the only chapel around. In misfortune, the entire Reiss family had been inside praying together. That night, all but Rod Reiss was massacred by the bandits. The incident only occurred a few days before Historia's mother was killed by the Interior Police. In other words, immediately after losing his family, Rod Reiss sought out Historia.

"There must be a reason he and his lackeys are after Historia," Hange continues as we contemplate her words. "The same bloodline? Is there some secret to their blood?" Levi asks, turning sharply to Hange. "I don't know for sure yet. But what really makes me curious is that some of the Chapel is completely wrecked. The chapel itself is stone. It would take tons of time and effort to destroy it. Bandits would take what they could and quickly get away. Plus, the only one who saw those bandits was Rod Reiss himself. Soon after, he used his own fortune to rebuild the chapel. But why?" The silence hung long before Hange continued with her next words.

"If you think about it, it's actually stranger that there were no traces of Titans. Even if I'm jumping to conclusions, something this suspicious deserves us checking it out." We agree silently as we continue on our path to the location of the church. After a long stretch of silence passes, Levi suddenly speaks up, causing the other Scouts and you to turn to him. Your eyes widen in surprise as he talks to the squad openly about the very man who raised him. "He's Kenny the Ripper. If he's there, he'll be our biggest obstacle. In terms of how much of a threat he is, equate him to you as the enemy. No... with those weapons of his, he's deadlier than me." You tense slightly at the words. Even against you and your speed, Levi would easily dominate with his strength and skill. If we were facing a man more dangerous than that and an Ackerman at that...

"Then he's unbeatable, at least for us..." Sasha mutters from her horse. "If we could meet up with the troops-" Connie starts but is quickly cut off by Mikasa, who swiftly disapproves of that idea, focusing entirely on rescuing Eren... again. "Though, if what the Captain said is true, it's not like he has no weak points," Armin says as you look up to the boy who held onto the reins of the horses that pulled us along. "I'm sure he's trained plenty, but having combat experience is something else." You frowned. It was true, but it was a stretch. "I wonder, though, how is it that you lived with Kenny the Ripper but know nothing about him, Levi?" Hange asks the man, who looks up at them with sharp eyes. "Sorry, but I only found out his full name not too long ago. Apparently, it's Kenny Ackerman. He some relative of yours?" Levi asks Mikasa, who responds after a while.

"I heard from my parents when they were alive that my dad's side, the Ackermans, were persecuted in the cities. My mother's side was oriental, so being a different race meant they didn't fit in anywhere. Both were people chased deep in the mountains near the edge of the walls. So that's how they met and got married. But I never found out why the Ackermans were persecuted. My dad didn't seem like a different race like my mom was." You think back to Levi's words to you a few days ago. The Ackermans and the [l/n] clan were once close to the crown before we were persecuted out of fear... Levi catches your eyes, and you can tell he knows your thoughts, but he decides not to share that information with Mikasa as he asks a completely unrelated question.

"Has there ever been a moment where it felt like power suddenly awakened inside you?" Mikasa looks up as you see her eyes flicker, "There has." There is a pause and a haunting silence before Levi speaks up again. "Kenny Ackerman had a moment like that, too. One time, out of nowhere, he felt an absurd amount of strength surging within him, and he knew exactly what to do." Levi stares darkly at Mikasa as he continues, "I've felt moments like that, too." 

_____

[Chapter Seventeen] <--> [Chapter Nineteen]

[no-where-new-hero]

The house in the hollow was "a mile from anywhere"--so Maywood people said. It was situated in a grassy little dale, looking as if it had never been built like other houses but had grown up there like a big, brown mushroom. It was reached by a long, green lane and almost hidden from view by an encircling growth of young birches. No other house could be seen from it although the village was just over the hill. Ellen Greene said it was the lonesomest place in the world and vowed that she wouldn't stay there a day if it wasn't that she pitied the child.

I don't think LMM is necessarily a master at openings, but I do think this opening paragraph does a lot to foreshadow the rest of the series. She hits us with several establishing situations at once: 1) the house takes center stage. We are introduced to a house before any other people, and houses will continue to remain important. 2) we're told what the local people say about it. LMM's novels are suffused with rumor, hearsay, and gossip, but this series in particular is one where the heroine needs to fight against the voices of other people in order to listen to her own. 3) the natural world is wild and yet hermetic. You have to walk a long way to find something hidden, and it's "lonesome." It's representative of Emily herself. 4) Finally we meet Ellen Greene, another side character whose opinions we're privy to, and whose opinions of Emily herself are immediately rebutted in the following paragraph.

Unlike Anne, though, we do meet Emily immediately, and we get the benefits of her thoughts and opinions with a certain forcefulness that's not exactly present in other LMM heroines. We know things she loves (Pilgrim's Progress , her cats, her father) and things she hates (Ellen Greene). Her world is complete. In fact, this opening chapter perfectly conveys this world as a trifle Edenic--the Adam-and-Eve trees, her communion with nature, and her supernatural "flash" reinforce this, as well as Emily's own unorthodox ideas of religion. Even the fact that "Emily didn't know she was being pitied" plays into this, because she's as yet innocent of other people's opinions, that societal evil she will have to fight through the rest of the series.

Other things I noticed this time around:

Douglas's eyes are "fixed dreamily and unseeingly" on the wall. The only other man with "dreamy" eyes is Dean, which makes me wonder how much LMM just wanted Dean to be a Douglas replacement in Book 1. Emily is the only other character who merits "dreamily/dreamy" as a description.

Emily's birthday is May 19 (we learn in Book 2), so since the book begins in early May, Douglas seems to have died right around her birthday. I think this is more of LMM's sloppy chronology, though, because this anniversary isn't really referenced again.

More religiousness with a touch of the pagan: Emily's "rapt little face" when she returns to Ellen Greene, the ecstatic "flash" (LOVE @batrachised connecting this to the ecstasy of St. Teresa), the hill calling to her and her calling back in some inimical conversation.

A thing that I've always loved:

"You put on your hood and mind you scoot back if it starts to rain," warned Ellen. "You can't monkey with colds the way some kids can."

I ALSO could never monkey with colds when I was a kid because I have a shit immune system, so Emily was the most representation I'd ever had in my life.

[ichigosluvrr]

Bro, why tf the characters on character.ai so freaky, and then some be making they own stories where you can't get out of. Cause listen, ok so I create Ban (from seven deadly sins) and stuff on character ai right, and I haven't really update his shit since like last year n stuff so I just go upon myself to update his the description shit cause why not yk and plus he was a little too flirtatious for my liking. So I don't give him a story to follow, really. I just put his personality in his appearance in the description box n shit THATS IT.

So anyways, I try him out, yk just to see how he does and everything, and I wasn't tryna be on no freaky shit when starting n stuff and (I'm sorry this is taking so long for me to describe idk😭 I hope y'all understand) but I start my shit off by saying that I'm going to visit my friend and stuff, and the Ban asking me who is this friend? He's he your boyfriend and yadda yadda yadda and he was just Flirting with me calling me pretty n shit saying i look innocentand fragile and what not(yeah I really don't think you can remove the flirtatious trait from a character when you create it on here😭) but anyways yeah he all flirtatious n shit and then he following me everywhere n shit and yk I told his ass to stop I'm not interested (like I literally said this) and he talking bout some 'I can tell your a no means yes type of girl' like sir what are you implying?? Where are we going with this??? So anyways I get up and walk away from him and stuff but he ends up following me then he pulls me into an alley y'all A FUCKING ALLEY and then you know I really thought- but then he was like nah I'm not trying to do that n shit basically but to me it felt like i- let's just say I thought he was gone grape me in this alley bro bc of how the scenario was going but he said he want me bc I look so cute and innocent and after that hit kick em where the sun don't shine and I run out the alley...this mf ran after me and pulled me in another alley and shit and basically was pressing against n shit so I passed out and then after that y'all, he to me to his inn and he said he wouldn't let me go because it's dangerous men out there that want to do inappropriate this to you LIKE SIR ARE YOU NOT ONE OF THE MEN??? YOU LITERALLY WAS OVER HERE LICKIBG MY NECK AND KISSING AND BITING WITHOUT MY CONSENT IN THE ALLEY WAY like what????

Anyways y'all I got a complaint with character.ai bc I'm confused...I don't remember the characters being so forceful and rapey? Idk if that the word for it but btc my own fucking character just kidnapped my ass 🙂🧍🏾‍♀️ and mind you again I NEVER PUT THAT I WANTED ANY OF THIS IN THE DESCRIPTION, HELL I DIDN'T EVEN MAKE UP A STORY IN THE DESCRIPTION AND I DIDN'T PUT ANY ALARMING THINGS FOR HIS PERSONALITY EITHER SO IDK but what I have noticed is that you can now pass some of character.ai guidelines now but they use to be really strict with they guidelines last year so yeah🥲 sorry just a little rant about my character.ai character

[featherdusterbelphie]

drew WHB Belphie pre-debut because yes?!

Very long discussion under the cut vvv

HE IS HERE YESS (even though he is very late)

I'm very excited for when he drops even though it'll definitely take me a while before I actually get him because I'm f2p only and I have shitty gacha luck hahaha...

Anyway, here are my theories: for some reason, I have a feeling that he's very mean? Or like, he's one of those who will bully MC LOL

(though I can't tell if it's bully because he likes mc, or bully because that's just how he is)

Idk, I just think he'll be prickly because of the piercings. He has so many! Four helix piercings on both ears?! Also, it looks like he's wearing a windbreaker? Or some sporty jacket which makes me think jock...which is also not very sloth-like lmao. It reminds me of typical gangster characters like Draken from Tokrev.

(Though that will be a very interesting character but it's risky since we already have Levi and not everyone likes him <3 the reason why I didn't draw him very gangster-like is that someone said that he kinda looks inspired by Vkei and I wanted to incorporate that somehow)

I also think he'll have a very... interesting personality. I've drawn him all crazy in the second pic, but very relaxed and a little tired? in the first. That's because I really like drowsy/sleepy eyes and also because he's the representative of the sin sloth so it makes sense. As for the crazy one..I also think that aside from the mean attitude, he'll have a very energetic/eccentric personality based on the art. Like he'll be all up in your face talking about the weirdest shit because he wants to get a reaction. Or he's just one very informed and knowledgeable king who has many, many secrets.

Speaking of secrets, there is his hands. I know the other kings also have hands in their teasers, but with Belphie, I think the hands have more significance. Because like, why is it covering up most of his face??? The other kings at least have an eye, nose and/or mouth showing through the fingers, but Belphie only has his left eye with two pupils. I'm starting to think he's very secretive or mysterious. Maybe he's a reclusive king and that's why not a lot of demons know about him or his country? Or maybe he's as strict and 'militaristic' as Nifleheim's description says of their country? Or maybe he has a scar that he's covering up? Idk but I am gonna be disappointed if it turns out to be a red herring >:(

Oh, and another thing about the hands— I might be grasping at straws here but the fingers look like teeth. The way they're intertwined in front of his face makes it look like teeth, making me think either he has very sharp teeth or his idiosyncrasy is related to teeth (i know, this is beyond grasping at straws now).

Also, I didn't draw his horns because I have no idea how to draw his horns. I can't see it at all in the teaser art unless it's this thing beside one of his hands which is....?? I'm not sure. Because if that's so then he's similar to Valefor with a horn in his eye (correct me if I'm wrong huhu) and if that's the case, then he has a very cool design that's very unique from all the current kings (including Asmo if they're going to reuse the design they had of him from Love Unholyc)

Unless his horn is the black halo above his head? In which case, how the fuck is that connected to his head?? Or is it floating with magic?? I don't understand. Why the halo? Is he connected to the angels in some way? A traitor, perhaps? Is he somehow related to the angelification stuff that I barely know anything about?

ALSO ALSO what's with the Roman numeral six on his forehead??? Is that just a random tattoo or will that mean something lore-wise? If so, does that mean he's the sixth king to be before Lucifer? (this is assuming Luci is the last king and Asmo is the first king) Or is this a hint that he's the sixth king MC visits/breaks the contract with? If it's the latter...then I don't know if I have enough patience to play through however many chapters it will take until we get to Niflheim...and also...my phone storage can't handle it eheu

It could also just not be a Roman numeral six and it could be a Latin word/quote that I have no idea about because it's hidden by his hands. Salvi is the only Latin word I could think of with 'vi' but that means 'saved' and I don't know how that works with Belphie. Because then he got saved?? By who?? And why would he need saving?

So many questions and so many ideas, I wonder when they'll officially introduce him (hopefully not next year...).

Also, does anyone know when Lucifer's selfie card goes into the normal banners? Because I don't see him there and the only thing I'm sure will go into the normal banners is Levi's school card which will be three months from now iirc.

NEXT >>

[ceilidho]

Twenty questions for fic writers

thanks @kneelingshadowsalome !!!! @ohbo-ohno @charliemwrites if u guys wanna do this go ahead. or anyone else that feels like it

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

47 LMAO

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

a staggering 583,382

3. What fandoms do you write for?

call of duty basically exclusively now, but i used to also write for star wars, shadow & bone, spiderverse, rings of power, and the last of us (may write more for tlou in the future)

4. Top five by kudos.

dead ringer, take me home country road, red dawn, ghost prompts, and landscape with honey.

5. Do you respond to comments?

god i used to all the time ages ago, but now i don't. i truly just get so overwhelmed and it exhausts me. i will respond to the odd comment now and again though, and i read them all obsessively.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

"the terrible nature of ghosts" for sure

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

i guess "landscape with honey" ended on a sweet note. or "birdsongs". i like writing fics that have endings that feel neither happy nor sad; i'd like to think that most of my fics end on a note that make you feel mildly uneasy but overall good.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i have blocked an UNTOLD amount of people, so not anymore. but every now and then i'll get the stray "you're evil and the shit you write is fucked up" comment. people tend not to do that when you moderate comments though.

9. Do you write smut?

well now, that's my bread and butter

10. Craziest crossover.

i'm with salome on this one - i'm a purist. not interested in crossovers.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

ages ago when i was younger sure. not since then thankfully.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

maybe?? i know some people have asked and i've given them permission but then they've never come back to tell me whether they did it or not.

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

yes!!! i wrote "dead ringer" with a friend and it's my most popular fic lmao. i love love love co-writing with people, but i rarely do it because your style kind of has to match the other person's in order for it to work.

14. All time favorite ship?

god reylo was really it for me for the longest time. i'm not sure any non x reader thing will ever top that. i do LOVE abby/ellie from the last of us, but there's hardly anything for them.

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

any reylo incomplete fic, im so sorry. it's just not gonna happen.

16. What are your writing strengths?

detailed descriptions. introspection and character analysis.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

DIALOGUE. i don't know how the fuck people talk sometimes. also longer plots. and i'm not amazing with visualizing how houses and places look for some reason so i really need to get better at that (i'll be honest, i still don't FULLY know what the town in "country roads" looks like so i try to describe it very vaguely).

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

i really only enjoy it when it's used effectively - when the audience is supposed to be aligned with the main character in not understanding what's being said.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

teen wolf!

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

"saltwater" my beloved. or "auribus teneo lupum" from my reylo days.

[shadowqueenjude]

me and sjm are about to have a world building problem because she's killing me she obviously takes inspiration from ancient civilizations and geographical names around the Mediterranean, like the greeks (Eris, Helios, etruscans (literally their goddess of dawn is named thesan). Tarquin the last king of rome (and ironically the opposite of acotar Tarquin). Adriata should then come from the Adriatic sea and their architecture seems greco-roman. But then she mixes it up and gives the court fae brown skin (by the way, what kind of brown, this tells me nothing, i don't need like pantone, but slight more description) For the night court, she's just weird with it. the clothes Feyre is initially given by Rhysand kind of read to me like what you find when you search up 'sexy belly dancer'). Same with all of the clothes she wears when visiting Hewn City. I feel like she was trying to incorporate some more "exotic" things but it doesn't match the rest of the court. It seems like there's a couple different groups with completely different aesthetics that are completely separate from one another. Both Illyria and the court of nightmares seem like vassal states to Velaris and aside from Illyrians having tan skin and being called something around the lines of savages (very POC-coded), there is little to no evidence of any aesthetics that could be considered non-European. Not architecture-wise, name-wise, or (for the most part) fashion-wise. Now, it is a free country, SJM can write however and about whatever she wants. But I feel like there is just such a loss there. No matter where in the world you go, there is evidence of different cultures. Rich cultures which someone could easily take inspiration from!! I just wish she took the time to go down some of the rabbit holes fic writers go down, learning a multitude about what ends up being a small part of your story. Right now, her POC characters feel like an afterthought where she had her story written and then just inserted the word dark/tan on a couple characters. (Also I had no idea Amren was east asian until someone said she was on here and I do have to ask, where is the east asian exotica? Normally if you have one you have the other.) Also her in-universe world building is so convoluted and i hate it and nothing makes sense. I love magical objects as much as the next person, but some of these are one-and-done objects that you definitely could have had more use over. I think she has a vague plan and is just doing whatever she thinks of first to get to each plot point. (me in essays) Also, someone should make an anti-inner circle timeline with all the fucked things they've done so we don't forget. (And hope in the next book, sjm writes about a war crime tribunal for the past... century) thanks for listening to my rant, I've just been struggling to figure out how characters and courts play out and getting more frustrated as I continue.

Anon, you summed up all my frustrations perfectly!

Sjm writes her worldbuilding and tropes like she’s still writing fanfiction. I try to write fanfiction of her stories and I realize I know nothing about the places we’re supposed to be exploring.

Sjm takes inspiration from many many things but then she doesn’t commit to anything. She cherry picks shit to utilize based on vibes and together it doesn’t make sense. It’s really annoying when you see inspiration from your culture that could’ve been used so much better.

As for the IC, they’ve committed so many crimes it would require a thorough reread of all the books to note down all of them.