#anyway this has a target audience of one but so do the rest of my posts

[birdiedoesdc]

songs from the great impersonator that remind me of--you guessed it--jason todd

(ego, dog years, darwinism, and arsonist)

[physalian]

What No One Tells You About Writing #4 (100 Follower Special!)

Have you got any that deserve to be on these lists? Don’t be shy! Send ‘em over.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

*This list contains mentions of assault, #4

1. Zero cursing is better than censored cursing

I made the mistake in the early days of writing a self-censoring character, and every “curse” she said just took the teeth out of the rest of the statement. I’m talking gosh, darn, dang, etc, not world-specific idioms a la “scruffy nerf herder” or “dunderhead” instead of “dumbass”.

Look to any American TV show that so, so badly wants to use f*ck or sh*t but has to appease the sensitive conservatives who still somehow believe strong language is worse than graphic violence and horrifying psychological damage. For shame! Your characters can be angry without expletives, so rework your sentences to include equally damning insults that don’t resort to potty mouths if you’re concerned about ratings.

Or go full-throttle into the idioms of the world or the time period like Pirates of the Caribbean. Or just… don’t. There’s zero modern cursing in the Lord of the Rings adaptation and not a single sentence that censors itself. The dialogue is above vulgarity and feels more *fantastical* that way anyway.

2. “Yeah, you aren’t the target audience.”

It’s kind of hilarious seeing the range of reader reactions to two characters I intend to have a romantic relationship. Some will go “I ship it!” after the first page of them together… and another will go “wait, I thought they were just friends” up until they kiss. Sometimes you might be too subtle, other times it might be better to just accept that you can’t rewrite your entire book to please one naysayer.

When I’m pitched a fantasy adventure book that turns out to be a by-the-numbers romance where no one is allowed to be a peasant and every important character is royalty in some way, with a way cooler fantasy backdrop, I get severely disappointed. That doesn’t mean the book is bad, it just means I’m not the target audience.

3. There is no greater character sin than making them boring

Unless you live in the wacky world we find ourselves in where any flaws whatsoever are apparently harmful depictions of so-and-so and not at all written with things like ~nuance~. I will gush over your heinous villain committing atrocities because he’s *interesting*. I will not remember Bland Love Interest who’s a generic everyman with zero compelling or intriguing traits or flaws.

There’s another tumblr post out there that I cannot find that says something like this, and I believe the post goes “his crimes are fiction, my annoyance is real”. Swap annoyance for boredom and you get what I mean. So, I don’t care what your character does so long as they’re memorable. I will either root for their victory or their doom, but I do need *something* to root for.

4. The line between “gratuitous” and “respectful” is actually very thick

Less what no one tells *you* about writing and more what no one tells screenwriters. Y’all do realize you can write a character who experiences assault without actually writing the assault, right? Fade to black, have them mention it in their backstory, or have the horrific aftermath as they come to terms with it. An abrupt cut to this devastated character when it’s all over and they’re alone with themselves can be incredibly poignant and powerful. This goes with anything sensitive, especially if it’s not coming from experience.

If you want to write it or film it respectfully, romanticizing assault, for instance, is when it’s framed as if either character has earned or “deserves” it. If the narrative in any way argues that it's justified. The victim might have "earned" it for any of the BS reasons we use in the real world, or the perpetrator might've "earned" it because of temptation, desire, pressure to assert dominance, etc. Representation is important, but are you “representing” to shed light on a misunderstood and maligned topic, or are you doing it to satisfy a fetish or bias in yourself?

5. Don’t let your eyes get bigger than your stomach

Fantasy has no limitations, which means you can dig way deeper into the well of your worldbuilding than you realize, until you look up and realize you’re stuck down there. I have never seen a more obvious inevitable disaster looming than the pilot of GoT season 5. Why? Nobody has any plans. They’re all just led around by whatever side quest the writers throw them on, twiddling their thumbs until the writers deign to pull the trigger on the White Walkers.

To the point that what should be a major character can skip an entire season because his arc is meaningless. Everything in the last half of that show was one big “eventually” while the story toiled around in an ever-expanding cast of characters and set pieces (seriously, it’s hilarious how jarring the extended version of the theme music became compared to the pilot episode to fit all these locations).

When you have too many directionless characters, too many plot elements, too many ideas you want to fully mature and get their due spotlight and then somehow combine them all together for a common foe in the end, writing can get tedious and frustrating very quickly. Why, I imagine, the book series remains unfinished. Fantasy is great for being able to create such complex worlds, but don’t be the snake that eats its own tail trying too hard.

6. No one cares about your agenda if you insult them to push it

This deserves its own post but here we go. Peddling an agenda is a paradox: those who agree with you won’t need to be preached to, and those who you want to persuade will instead reject you further because they feel belittle and disrespected. This is why so many recent “strong female characters” fail on both sides of the aisle. Feminists see an annoying caricature of the movement they’re passionate about. Antifeminists see an insufferable, shallow, liberal mouthpiece when they just want to be entertained. You have failed both sides, congrats.

The answer? Write a strong, nuanced, well-developed character. Then make them a woman. I know this has been said before but this BS keeps happening so clearly the screenwriters aren’t listening. Entertain me first. Entertain me so well I don’t even realize I’m learning.

7. Today’s audiences won’t react the same way as tomorrow’s

Sometimes genres or tropes get oversaturated and need a few years to cool off before audiences are receptive to them again—teen dystopia, anyone?—that doesn’t mean your story is inherently bad because it’s unpopular (nor does it mean it’s amazing because it is popular).

You should always write the book you want to read, not the book that chases trends. I can pick up a well-written teen dystopia I’ve never read before and enjoy it. I can continue to ignore Divergent because it has nothing to say. Write the book you want to read, but then accept that you might make no money because no one else wants to read it, not because they think it’s bad. And, who knows? You might get a boom of chatter months or years down the line when readers stumble upon an uncut gem.

8. Your characters don’t age with you

Depending on how long you’ve been working on your world and what age you were when you started, the characters, concepts, morals, and story you set out to tell might no longer reflect who you want to be as an author when all is said and done. Writing can take years, some of which can be incredibly turbulent and life changing. I wrote the first draft of my first original novel in my freshman year of college. Those characters and that draft are now unrecognizable and has left a world I’ve poured my heart and soul into in limbo.

I’ve slowly creeped up my characters’ ages. My writing has matured dramatically. The themes I wanted to explore in the height of the 2016 election are just demoralizing now. That book was my therapeutic outlet and, as consequence, my characters sometimes reflect some awful moods and mindsets that I was in when writing them. But nothing in that world grows without me tending to it. It’s not alive. Despite all the work I’ve done, there’s still more to be done, maybe even restarting the plot from the ground up. When I think of what no one told me about writing, staring at characters designed by someone I’m not anymore is the hardest reality to accept.

—

If you think I missed something, check out parts 1-3 or toss your own hat into the ring. Give me romance tropes. Mystery, thriller, historical fiction, bildungsromans, memoires, children’s books, whatever you want! Give me stuff you wish you’d known before editing, publishing, marketing, and more. 

Also, don’t forget to vote in the dialogue poll!

[fever-project]

I’m not DEAD, Daniel (2904 words) by FeverProject Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, Danny Phantom Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Danny Fenton & Wild (Linked Universe) Characters: Danny Fenton, Wild (Linked Universe), the rest of the LU gang are also there but they aren’t important Additional Tags: This isn’t crack but it sure is silly, very much so for me, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Tired Danny Fenton, Wild (Linked Universe) is a Little Shit, might be ooc hopefully not, Misunderstandings, just a little bit Summary: DPxLU crossover because I couldn’t help myself. Surprised I didn’t do this earlier considering gestures at my everything Wild has an encounter with the Ghost King. It is definitely an experience.

Uhhh fanfic, yeah. I’m going to explode. Art

Enjoy 👍

▼

Wild was bored. Which wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence, but it was one that he hated. It was night time now and he was supposed to be asleep, just like everybody else in the inn. But he wasn’t like everybody else, he already slept for 100 years straight, sleeping was only useful to him if and when he wanted to be more healthy. And sleeping every night was generally considered to be healthy, but Wild didn’t care, he needed to move.

Out the window he went, quiet as a mouse. Hopefully no one would notice he was gone, and that he would be back before morning came. But there was an entire forest nearby to explore, and he felt like he could-no, should explore to his heart’s content. The wilderness called to him, beckoned him in. That’s what he kept repeating to himself in his mind anyway, as a way to reassure himself, that as a hero who had saved Hyrule, sneaking out at night and potentially worrying the other heroes wouldn’t be a stupid thing to do. Zelda would’ve thought otherwise, and he knew that, but tried not to think about it too much.

The forest was mostly quiet, save for things like the chirping of birds and crickets. The faint rustling of trees was like music to his ears. There was a light breeze, which felt nice against his face as he ventured further into the forest. He tried his best to walk in as straight of a line as he could, to more easily find his way back. He really wished his Sheikah Slate worked properly in this time, maps made everything much easier. But then he would have to go searching for those towers, and while as fun as they were to activate, took up far too much time, much more than he and his group were currently willing to spare.

Wild was suddenly on edge. That odd shapeshifting, Lizalfos-looking, portal opening thing was still out there. Not to mention the black-blooded monsters that thing infected. Wild sighed as walked, now paranoid and frustrated. After a few moments of that, he finally gained enough brain cells to figure out that he should probably head back. With another sigh, which was more of a groan, he spun on his heel, turning around to make his way back to the inn.

Soon enough, something in the air…shifted, he couldn’t tell what. An oddly familiar yet unnatural feeling enveloped his senses as the sky started to turn into an odd shade of pinkish purple. The few clouds up in the sky, only a slightly lighter shade than the sky itself, swirled around above him, as the space in front of him split. Wild felt his heart drop and his breath leave his body as the rift continued to grow. Green glowing light bleed out from it, lighting up the trees and grass and him. Something was happening, something bad, and it was targeting him. He stumbled back, he had to, he had to get away and yet. And yet. It was calling to him. It was scaring him, the world behind the rift hated and loved him all the same.

Wild had to escape.

Wild tried to breathe, in and out, slowly, calmly, he looked for a way out. Trees, there were only trees and more trees and bushes and grass and even more trees-slowly, in and out, his breathing, his breath. He was alive, and he was going to make sure he would stay that way, bright green portal notwithstanding. The portal was growing bigger, quickly, but not as quick as Wild’s mind was when it was panicking. Maybe that meant that panicking was a good thing. Wild almost stopped panicking completely once he realized how stupid that thought sounded. His panic swiftly returned when a white boot stepped out of the portal. When matching white gloves also came out, Wild went to get out his sword and shield, fumbling with his slate as the person emerged from the rift, it closing behind them soon after.

“Excuse me?” The person asked, their words 

echoing, despite the conditions for that to logically happen simply not existing here. Wild stiffened, having only gotten his sword out. But he knew deep within his soul that it wouldn’t be very effective against the higher being standing before him. Yet his grip tightened despite that. He wouldn’t run away, not now, he would try his best to fight this being off if he had to. And if that failed, he would retreat, tactically.

The being was dressed in an odd black and white outfit, having tan skin and white hair. Their bright green eyes, glowing body, and their crown that was literally on fire were very clear signs that this person wasn’t anything he’s seen before. Not to mention the hovering. And the portal they just came out of. And the weird voice-and Wild needed to start focusing on the situation at hand.

The being raised their hands up defensively, “Hey, put down the sword, I’m not looking for a fight,” they said, “I’m just. Looking for someone, yeah.”

“Uh huh,” Wild dumbly nodded, keeping his eyes on them.

“Right, okay, let me just-“ they looked around, suspicious at their surroundings, “-okay, don’t tell anyone you saw me, or that you saw this. Actually, it doesn’t matter, forget what I just said.”

Wild nodded again, watching as a ring of light came out of their waist, enveloping them as they donned a more hylian appearance. They had even odder clothes on in this form, baggy and worn. Their skin was paler and their hair was pitch black. They looked like death in the form of a teenage boy.

“Are you Death?” Wild asked blatantly. Listen, he was curious, he need to know this. The being raised an eyebrow at him, confusion evident on his face. “Like,” Wild scrambled to rationalize his less than rational thought process, “I don’t know, you seem scary? And corpse-like? Are you dead? Am I dead-well, no, I can’t be dead, that would be silly, ha. But are you?”

“Well I am the Ghost King, king of ghosts,” they said plainly, with a shrug, “Name’s Danny, Danny Phantom, and that’s really all you know about that. Listen-“

“Aren’t you like, twelve?” Wild knew they probably weren’t twelve, but this ‘Ghost King’ guy looked pretty young.

“What? No! I’m not twelve, I’m like-“ they pouted, like a twelve year old, snapping their fingers in thought, “older than you!”

“Oh yeah, I’m-“ Wild stopped, wondering if it would be smart to tell the Ghost King that he’s technically one hundred and seventeen years old. “I am at least seventeen! And I look like it as well.”

“You’re the same height as me.”

Wild looked at the ghost, glared at them, walking a bit closer to them. He placed his hand on top of his head and moved it forward, towards the Ghost King’s head. His hand brushed against their hair, but it clearly didn’t reach the top of their head. Wild grinned, well, wildly at the sight of being taller than them. They looked unimpressed.

“You’re the one acting like a twelve year old you know,” Danny scoffed, pouting.

“Says the pouter.”

“Look, can you just help me find this guy, since you’ve clearly calmed down now.”

“And why should I?”

“I’ll make your afterlife terrible otherwise.”

“Fine, I’ll help, gosh,” Wild was probably going to help anyways, he liked helping people. He just wanted to be annoying. “So, who and why?”

“Great! So, I’m looking for this guy named Link,” oh no, “Clockwork-he’s a time ghost, don’t worry about him-told me that he was hoping around other times with other guys also named Link.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Well-okay, you’re annoying so I’m just going to ignore that-“

“Time isn’t real.”

The two stared at each other, and Wild both wanted to punch himself in the face, and thought he was the funniest man alive. Danny seemed to think the same way too, with their bewildered expression suddenly turned into one holding back a lot of laughter.

“Al-alright, that was good I’ll give you that,” they chuckled, “Anyways, I’m looking for this specific Link because they’re supposed to dead, and I’m supposed to like-do something about that. I think I have a picture of this guy that Clockwork gave me, hold on.” They stuffed their hand through their goddess forsaken chest, and rummaged around like their own body was a mere storage container. Wild was instantly jealous of them. Sure he had his Sheikah Slate, but it wasn’t a part of his body.

Wait, Danny had a picture of him. Oh no, they were going to kill him. He didn’t need them to say word for word that they were going to kill him, but Wild didn’t know what else they could do to him. He needed to be on his toes and hone his quick reflexes in order to survive this ordeal.

“Annnd-nope, that’s my thermos-here it is!” They pulled out a piece of folded paper, and just as they started to unfold it, Wild snatched it from their hand and shoved it into his mouth.

“Wha-WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!” Danny shrieked, hands on the side of his head, horrified.

“‘Cause,” Wild responded in a muffled voice, chewing the paper. Tasted inky.

“Okay, you are definitely the weirdest person I’ve ever met, an I know a ghost who whole personality is boxes, just boxes. Actually, I don’t think he’s that weird compared to some other fruitloops I know of-but that doesn’t matter, spit that out!”

“No.”

“You are acting like a twelve year old-no, even twelve year olds wouldn’t do this, you’re five.”

Wild gasped, photo smushed to the side of his mouth, in between his cheek and teeth so it wouldn’t fall out.

“You’re just mad I’m right.”

“Nah uh!”

“Then how about you spit that out, like a normal, seventeen-you’re seventeen right?” Wild nodded, “Right, like a normal seventeen year old would, or I’ll phase it out of your mouth by force.” Wild did not like sound of that. So he spit out the photo, the slobbery mess falling onto the grass. Even Wild was grossed out by what he had done. Danny clearly was.

“You’re going to have to unfold that yourself, I’m not touching that,” Danny looked sick.

“Yeah, that’s fair, I’ll do that,” why wasn’t the paper metal, then he could use his Sheikah Slate to pick it up. Good thing he had some spare gloves stored in it, so it was fine, it’s fine. He started to unfold the paper, Danny peering over his shoulder, both with matching disgusted expressions. Wild was right about the contents of the drawing. His face, blast scars and all, was right there. Wild looked at Danny. Danny looked at him. Wild wanted to punch them in face and run off, but they are a ghost. But Wild still slowly raised his free hand into a fist, retaining eye contact.

Danny began to speak, “So-“ Wild swiftly punched them in their face, and skittered backwards, trying to look for a way back to the inn safely. The ghost had stumbled back, clutching their face in pain.

“Huh, so you can punch ghosts,” Wild noted.

“You can definitely punch this ghost,” Danny rubbed their hurt nose, “Didn’t even get me a chance to speak.”

“Please don’t kill me.”

“I’m not going to kill you, that’s not what I’m here for.”

“Oh.”

“Bet you feel stupid now, don’t ya?”

“A little bit, yeah.”

Danny sighs, pinching their nose, not in pain this time, but annoyance. “So,” they started again, “what I’m trying to do is get you on the ‘Supposed to be Dead but Came Back Anyways’ census. Basically, the name’s a work in progress.”

“And…I’m supposed to do something about it?”

“Kinda? Look, just sign here, and I’ll get out of your hair.” They pulled out another piece of paper out of their chest, with already had a few other names on it in neat little boxes. Wild couldn’t read any of those names, but Danny probably could.

Wild’s face scrunched up, trying to think about what he should do next. They hadn’t really explained their reasoning for any of this, so he still didn’t trust them too much. Maybe this was some elaborate ruse to kill him.

“Will me signing this ‘census’ give me any benefits-will it give you any benefits?” Wild pointed accusingly at Danny.

“Well, are you dead?”

Wild groaned, “I’m not DEAD Daniel,” Wild threw his hands into the air in frustration, “Just use your stupid ghost words to explain to me what I need to do and why.”

“Okay,” Danny squeaked out, “But first off, name’s just Danny.”

“Uh huh.”

“And secondly, I’m doing this because there’s a bunch of ghost legal jargon where your name was already listed on both the ‘dead,’ and then also the ‘not dead’ list after you came back to life. You signing this will help fix that.”

“…Aren’t I time traveling right now?”

“Yes, but it’s still good to note down who had came back to life. Please just make my life easier, this is themost stress inducing part of my job I’ve ever done.”

Wild was starting to feel a bit bad now. So now, with a better understanding of the situation, he took the paper from Danny’s hands.

“Here’s a pen to write with,” Danny gave him a pen from their chest.

“Can all ghosts store stuff in their bodies?” Wild asked as he wrote down his name in the next free box, adding on his title of ‘Hero of the Wild’ in the same box, just to specify things.

“No, but I sure can,” they said with a big smile.

“That’s so cool.”

“I know.”

The two laughed a bit as Wild returned the paper and pen to Danny.

“Well, sorry for not explaining my motivations fully, I’m a bit…tired, ha ha,” Danny rubbed the back of their neck, clearly embarrassed.

“Yeah. Sorry for punching you.”

“Now I’m going to go take a nap. Or sleep for once.” A ring of light enveloped Danny yet again, returning him to his more ghostly form. Then he turned around and held out his hand, before cutting the space there, opening the bright green portal.

“See you in the Ghost Zone, Link! Eventually!” They waved as they stepped into the rift.

Wild waved back, “That sounds pretty ominous, but okay!” Danny laughed at that as he went all the way through, the portal closing soon after. Now Wild was left all alone in the woods.

He needed to get back to the inn.

It took him some time, but he eventually found his way back to the inn. In through the window, as quiet as a ghost, he was back in his room. He flopped down onto his bed, mentally exhausted. He would’ve rather been bored than have had dealt with…whatever that was. Not really, but Wild was certainly ready to go to sleep now, and pray that he wouldn’t have to meet that Ghost King ever again. Not because he was scared, but because he was a bit embarrassed about what happened. He acted a bit stupid there. But none of that mattered now. All that Wild had to do now, was to sleep.

ー

“Has anyone seen the champion yet?” Time asked, looking over the group that were all hanging around the inn’s dining room.

“Nope,” Warriors said with a pop, “He’s likely still asleep.”

“But I’m hungry,” Wind whined, “Captain, do you know how to cook?”

“I know how to make things edible and nutritious,” Wars plainly answered, receiving a few groans from various Links.

“We could just have the food they serve here,” Twilight suggested.

“Champ’s better,” Four retorted.

“How about we all wait a bit longer,” Time said, “It hasn’t even been half an hour since we woke up after all.”

They all muttered their agreements, and choose to occupy themselves with taking count of their resources for the time being. A few more minutes passed before Legend noticed something.

“Hey guys, I think I see the champ coming down right now,” Legend pointed at the staircase, and the other heroes scrambled to see their resident chef stumbling down the stairs.

“Are you doing alright?” Hyrule asked.

“You seem exhausted,” Sky added.

“Ye-yeah,” Wild yawned, stretching his arms, “Ghost problems and all that stuff.” He set out to make some food for his companions, who were looking at him with confusion and concern.

“Ghost problems?” A few of them asked at once.

“Is this place haunted?” Wind looked around with an excited grin on his face.

“Nope, but I sure got haunted in the woods out there,” Wild waved in the vague direction of where the forest was, “Now I’m going to make something to eat, want some?”

Of course they wanted some, food was important. They continued to ask questions about the ghost, but Wild didn’t answer, he didn’t feel like it. Maybe in like, two days he would. But for now, he just wanted to eat some Vegetable Risotto, maybe with a few Endura Carrots thrown in as well. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to deal with that Ghost King again anytime soon. At least, hopefully not before this time traveling adventure ends.

[actualhumantrashcan]

I can understand a silly workplace comedy about pirates not being everyone’s jam but I really can’t understand the amount of queer people I see hating on ofmd.

like for one thing most of the debates turn into gatekeeping queerness (which I think has a lot more to do with the ages of the main couples than actual concerns about authentic representation but that’s another post) and the rest are just hateful because it doesn’t directly name or label it’s queer characters but like why do we need that at this point?? listen I love heartstopper with all my heart but it is exhausting to watch them explain queer identities sometimes (even though I do think it’s super useful for younger audiences I’m just not the target demographic!) and ofmd is an explicit, violent, adult show that doesn’t NEED to explain it’s character’s identities.

queer people past their 30’s are usually very well aware of their queerness and have had (hopefully) plenty of time to go through the arc of discovering that. so why would we need to see Stede or Lucius or Ed going through turmoil because they’re attracted to men when they have already come to terms with that at this point in their lives?? i for one find it so fucking refreshing to watch a show where the characters being queer is not their main arc, they just ARE queer and life is still happening to and around them. maybe that’s just the millennial gay in me talking, but it gets emotionally exhaustive to watch show after show where the queer character’s arc is overcoming homophobia. yes obviously homophobia still exists and yes obviously if ofmd was trying to be historically accurate these characters would be living in a very dangerous time to be queer but it isn’t trying to be accurate!! it’s trying to be fun and diverse and kind!!

and also, they aren’t pretending homophobia doesn’t exist!! it’s just addressed in a different way. Stede was emotionally abused by his father for his entire life for being “soft” and then was chased down by his homophobic childhood bullies, one of which explicitly told him that he “defiled” the great pirate Blackbeard by simply falling in love with the man behind that name. Meanwhile Ed was forced into the world of piracy at a young age and developed the entire persona of Blackbeard (who fits the toxic, violent masculine stereotype of the time) to hide the fact that he’s actually an incredibly sensitive and deeply queer man! and is told multiple times by male figures in his life that sex with other men is fine but it is absolutely unacceptable to be in love with a man. both of their arcs contain homophobic rhetoric that is still present in society today, but its never presented as a problem that they have to wrestle with. they don’t have to come to terms with what it means to love each other, they just have to overcome some trials that go along with the complicated lives they both lead as a pirate and former aristocrat. the homophobia in ofmd is woven into the backstory of each and every character, it shapes them into the people they are at the beginning of the show when all of their walls are up and they are performing the “pirate” roles they are supposed to play. and then we get to see them grow and realize that they are in a safe space, part of a community not just on the ship itself but in the life of piracy (which in the show is pretty much explicitly an allegory for queer lifestyles.)

anyway, I could rant about this all day but just truly why do we have to tear people down for enjoying something? why do we have to find reasons to hate something so obviously created with sensitivity to it’s queer audience and with so much queer joy? if historically inaccurate gay pirates going on silly adventures and falling in love are not your thing, fine! but perhaps just let people enjoy things and find your own things to enjoy.

[bambi-kinos]

I don't know much about Brian Epstein other than that he was the manager and that he was gay. Do you think it made a difference for John and Paul? Better or worse? He must have known about the two of them, don't you think? This might be the craziest ask but do you think George and Ringo had "bisexual experiences" with John and or Paul too apart from that circel jerk?

A paragraph summary: Brian Epstein was a gay Jewish man born in a family established in Liverpool. He faced a lot of anti-Semitic prejudice as a child and an adult which affected his sense of self profoundly and riddled him with self doubt. He was very intelligent and astute businessman who was close to his mother, father, and younger brother Clive. He was one of those aimless people who wandered through life, mastering skills and solving problems quickly and then becoming bored once there was nothing left to do. He attended RADA, served briefly in the British army (there was still a draft at the time), and then went home to manage the family business as his father got older. He built up the Epsteins' furniture business and then moved on to the family record shop in Liverpool proper. Brian was good at keeping his ear to the ground regarding trends and realized teen clients with pocket money were his new target audience. He caught wind of The Beatles through them (the bugs had recorded a record in Germany with another musician and tried promoting it during their gigs at The Cavern, leading their fans to NEMS, Brian's record shop.) He observed them at The Cavern and eventually approached them to be their manager.

The rest as they say is history. The Beatles as a group, a sound, and an image were built and promoted by Brian Epstein. He was the one who believed in them from the start and he is the reason why we know and love them today.

When it comes to John and Paul and their specific mess: it is reasonable to assume that they clocked Brian pretty quickly and decided to go with him anyway. I can speculate that Brian paid people off if suspicion arose and that he shielded them in other ways like the written room assignments. (John and Paul did not actually room together that often on paper though the reality was probably very different.) I don't know if Brian had to go so far as to arrange "beards" or anything, Cynthia and Jane functioned well in that role and then John and Paul both have sincere sexual interest in women. It's reasonable to think Brian realized what John and Paul were to each other early on but the specifics are completely up to interpretation and speculation. It's a big opaque wall that we can project whatever we want onto.

Brian is still very opaque in many ways. Lots of rumors about him abound, some good and some bad. It's impossible to know what is true and what is not aside from Brian's brushes with law enforcement and what has been reported about him by The Beatles themselves. I think he loved his boys very much and that he did his utmost to protect them in every way he could.

That is ultimately why The Beatles (John, Paul, George, sort of Pete at the time) decided to go with him. It's hard to say if Brian being gay was a minus or a plus for them but ultimately what drew them to him was that he respected them as performers instead of treating them as money factories. That's what Allen Williams did when he dumped them in Hamburg. Allen did love them but he wouldn't respect them and they kicked him as fast as they could. What separated Brian from their other managers was that he respected their act as a unit and tried to improve their presentation instead of changing their sound or telling them to repress their personalities. He was more interested in refining and polishing and they responded to that.

I guess my take is that the homosexuality thing didn't actually loom that large for them. The boys had enough show biz experience to realize how many gay men were involved in performance arts and that Brian's assets (a good eye for costumery, adaptability, his respect for their hard work and talent) simply outweighed the gay thing. Everything else is unknown and open to projection/interpretation/fanfiction/whatever.

Wrt George and Ringo, I think they had bisexual experiences with John and Paul, yeah. I'm a subscriber to the idea that all four of them had sexual tension with one another. It's another blank space that we can project whatever we want onto it.

Considering John and George did a lot of LSD together I wouldn't be surprised if they had sex while stoned (which would add another layer of Paul's icy refusal to take the LSD until John tricked him with the rooftop thing.)

Ringo is a little bit of an enigma, all the industry gossip online says that he's really just that heterosexual but considering how beautiful Paul is and how close they all are, it's hard to think he didn't at least try out gay sex to see if he liked it or not. George is the most likely candidate for sex with Ringo, not just because "pair the spares" but because George is the only Beatle that Ringo could try out gay sex with and he wouldn't make it weird. Can you imagine John or Paul's flutters in the aftermath of having gay sex with Ringo instead of each other lmao. George is very low maintenance in comparison so I can imagine him and Ringo trying it out just to see and then coming to an amicable agreement after regardless of the outcome. And I've often wondered if Ringo and Paul started hooking up after John died.

I don't know if George or Paul could have made it work in any capacity, casual or serious. I think they were attracted to each other (Paul certainly comes off as wanting to fuck George and Ringo on the DL in the Eye of the Storm photobook) but whether or not either of them could have actually coped with that is a big question mark. I'm not sure they could without a lot of growing up from either of them.

I also think that John's "Greek island" fantasy also included orgies but that's because John is such a horny and jealous guy, putting his three best mates in a single stretch of land where they can't avoid him? You bet he wanted group sex lmao. I'm sure that included Brian to some extent.

Maybe its a good thing that it didn't work out because Paul would gone and burned John's face off over that.

[sidequestsinlife]

calling any/all phannie software developers/video game designers/idk all ur job titles technology people

in the this post from @yonpote (and some of the notes) you see the beginnings of an almost guaranteed successful get rich quick phannie business plan:

so who among us has the skills to build this game???? or if there are more than one of you, you might also have help!

you'll have business for sure. presenting my phannie mobile game business plan:

make phan town mobile game (name not final lmao). (this is where my own skills fail us lmao) (my brother does work in this field and he said it didn't seem that hard but also that he has a real job and a six month old baby and a sick mother in law, and even if he didn't have all that going on, does not want to participate in my "weird obsession with two gay british men pretending to play video games" - his words because he says based on the videos I've showed him he is not convinced they know how to play video games for real, he a video game snob ig - because he has no taste and clearly does not support my passions.)

anyway. so game is made. now post about it on Tumblr to get some of us to download it for proof of concept (plus we can be your beta testers or whatever).

pitch it to dnp as a sponsorship opportunity (and opportunity to help build their own community and support fan art!) in order for the phan mobile game to reach the full phandom incl those who are not active on any dnp themed social media.

profit. become 2025's PHERSON OF THE YEAR! add a graphic bragging about that win to your icon on the App Store.

enjoy your new mobile gaming empire (and potentially chat rooms or something ig idk what's possible but as more social media might be regulated in various places, having a niche phandom space that is unlikely to be targeted by government regulations could be nice) for the parasocial phreaks out here.

*~*~*~BONUS CHARITABLE ROUND~*~*~* if dnp do a charity livestream for the pcrf or another charity, announce that some share (details can be worked out later) of the profits of the game will go to that charity if it is downloaded in their birthday month (or the month of the livestream if it is not a birthday focused one i guess), that gets the rest of the phannies on board AND gets money for a good cause!

and then, everybody wins! we have a phan-themed game and possibly a new space for some phandom convos. you have a media empire, a business deal with dnp, and a chance to also help raise money for their chosen good causes. dnp get to appreciate the skills and creativity of their audience on a whole other level and have a sponsor they can genuinely be enthusiastic about bc it's basically fanart and they love appreciating fanart!

the only losers are the moms whose credit card info is in their phannie child's account. bc they will all steal $3.99 for a phan town game. sry non-phannie moms of phannie youths. ur collateral damage i guess.

[disclaimer i know nothing about intellectual property law and you might also have to have some kind of legalese convo w dnp about profits or something i'm not sure and if anyone seriously wants to take this as the beginnings of a business plan you might also want to consult a lawyer about this issue and if you do not please do not hold me responsible]

[bloop-bl00p]

Rewriting the Hollow Knight of Hazbin Hotel

So, am I the only one who finds it weird that Carmilla isn’t getting jumped by the higher class?

The girl has an arsenal of weapons that can kill Goetia’s members AND neutralize their powers. And she sells it at affordable prices? Stricker can buy those weapons for God’s sake! That’s how he kills Blue Bloods, shouldn't that ring a bell in the Royal Class?

It’s surprising that an uprising hasn't happened yet, some imps managed to build successful businesses (Bliztø, Crimson, Stricker, Barbie I guess?) imagine the disaster if one day they have enough of being treated as lesser and just happen to have enough money to arm a large population of imps.

I intended her to be Velvette's mother, but I changed my plan and turned her into my OC. One thing I don't like about Viv’s Hell is how small it looks. You're telling me that everyone either comes from somewhere in America or Europe, Nifty is the only Asian character, and Cherry Bomb is the only Australian but that’s not enough for me.

Add to that the fact that her POC characters are grey. Or that she simply doesn't add any features/accents that could help the audience guess which origin are her characters.

I know Velvette has an accent but that’s the only character who has one. They should have done more research to make everyone have a dialect at least as unique as Zestial.

Anyways, Carmilla is from South Africa. Don’t get mad at me, Viv’s Hell feels extremely small and I needed multiple POVs to diversify the backstory.

I want my Version of Hell to be a clash of multiple origins, musically speaking you can give the aggressive Spanish guitars to Vaga. Carmilla is associated with Kwela and Soul.

Nomsa Mbatha was born in 1959 and grew to be an impoverished black woman in South Africa during the apartheid, she eventually married gang members to survive.

The Gang was primarily focused on smuggling and economic activities and she participated as a new member when she got married. She partacked in smuggling weapons, drugs, and other contraband into prisons and served as well as an informant gathering intelligence from the outside world and relaying information to gang members in prison or on the streets. Nomsa also provided alibis. All of that is in exchange for protection and money to have a somewhat normal life.

She had her two daughters at 35, the two were twins. Nomsa interchanged between mother and Gang members and, unfortunately, had to bring the girls to do some of the dirty work.

The two girls died with their mother at 20 during a police raid. Nomsa was struck with guilt as she thought she was the reason Odette and Clara went to Hell with her.

In Hell, she renamed herself Induna and used her knowledge to start selling weapons, normal ones at first. Until she started commercializing Blessed Steels.

She didn’t get away with it, she was targeted by many Goetia members scared to lose their position of power since it’s the only thing that can kill them. It’s only through negotiation that she comes up with an arrangement with them with the help of Zestial who’s well-known and respected.

You need to be legally approved (A card to hold one in public) and only royal members have access to it Induna is the exception. The utilization is up to them once purchased.

The weapons are actually mostly harmless to The 72 Lesser Keys of Solomon. It’s the rest of the Goetia, their children who can be killed. The Seven Deadly Sins or The Other Fallen Angels are also safe.

Her employees usually seek the lost Angelic Weapons just right after extermination, they operate during the cleaning of roads and are trained to recognize blessed steel as they can't be noticed with metal detectors. They wear uniforms and it’s usually during these weapons harvesting that people follow them to steal from the company. It’s rare since her workers know how to fight but it happens and a small black market occurred from it, that’s where Stricker got his personal dagger. He also steals from the rich.

Details:

→ Nomsa speaks Zulu and Induna means leader of a group of warriors.

Nomsa means The Mother of Compassion and Mbatha can mean Protector. She’s a mother and the protector of her children.

→ The Twins work for their mother and she insists that they work indoors. One works to design the weapons, and the other tests them. Induna regularly trains them on how to fight and defend themselves.

→ Vaga worked for a few years with Induna and sees herself in her. She keeps her daughter safe the same way she tries to keep her brother out of danger.

My take on human Vaggie → here ←

Appearance:

Watch me fight my biggest enemies, front-facing, and side-profile. I feel like I messed up the head shape in the side profile.

Vivziepop when she learned it’s easy to moisturize and draw POC characters with actual features.

Anyway, I don’t really know what I want to do with her sinner's forms. I think I’m gonna make her a bear because Mommy Bear. I’ll keep the big paws as a way to say she has the weight of the people she killed on her hands. You could say…

“But she never killed anyone.”

Yes, but she still sold weapons that killed people later, willingly participating in a sin will get you to Hell.

That’s all for the rewrite.

[artificial-transmutations]

Getting into the song

"Oh! My! God!" Evan cried out in amazement over the whirring of fans. Him and his lifelong friend Joel were in Evans basement room, reviving the tradition of their yearly LAN party after a hiatus of several years.

Of course, there was no real need for physical presence anymore, now that internet connections were stable and cheap enough. Still, Evan was a bit of a traditionalist and had begged his best friend until he had finally caved. They had already played for one and a half day, and currently, both nerds were tired and taking a break, surfing the internet.

Joel, the way bigger one of them both, turned around with his hand in the bag of chips and looked at him quizzically.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Starblush is releasing a new album next month!" Evan said excitedly.

"Star...blush" Joel repeated. "That's some kind of band I suppose?"

Evan frowned. "It's not 'some kind of band'. It's *the* very best band on earth!"

Joel had quickly googled the name and rolled his eyes.

"Oh god, I think I remember. Is that this Japanese boyband you're so obsessed about? With that idiot front man?"

"Komori Yoshitora" came the answer at once. "And he is not an idiot, he is just the most wonderful man - on. Earth. He has such a good voice, and his lyrics touch your heart, and..."

"Ookay." Joel raised his arms, with some crumbs falling to the floor in the process. "I admit I overlooked something very important in my opinion. That you are obviously utterly and deeply in love with that guy. Seriously, do you think he writes those songs himself? I wouldn't even count on him singing himself. It's a fricking boyband. The target audience are 12 year old girls!"

Evan was slowly getting agitated. "It doesn't matter if he writes the songs himself. He sings them, yes, no playback, and he just gives the words so much... soul! Why would I care about the target audience? Also, I'm not gay, but that guy is so ridiculously good looking that I would give him a blowjob any day."

Evan turned up his speakers and went to YouTube. "Here, I'm gonna show you one of their tracks. Once you heard it, you are going to love it, I'm sure!"

With that, he started a music video featuring the charismatic Japanese lead singer along with the rest of his boyband, singing a Japanese pop song on stage.

Only a few seconds in, Joel interrupted the singing: "Do you even understand what he's singing? Do you speak Japanese? Because I don't."

"No, I don't *speak* Japanese." Evan replied. "You have to look up the translated lyrics of course!"

Joel shook his head. He did have to admit that the soft, sensual voice of the lead singer didn't sound too bad, although he couldn't understand the meaning of the words. As the track ended, he said: "It's okay, I guess. Still a boyband." After a short hesitation, he added: "Show me another track."

Evan grinned in triumph and started the next song. This one was a bit faster, and the lead singer moved around more on stage.

Joel found himself really digging the rhythm. At first, he only tapped his foot to the song, but quickly found himself moving his massive body to the electronic music, doing something similar to dancing.

Although Joel hated every kind of body movement, getting into the rhythm came surprisingly easy, as if he had heard the song a hundred times before, not right now for the first time. A gurgling noise came from his belly, as his body mass slowly vanished. Before long, he had to hold up his pants or they would fall down. Evan didn't notice, too glued were his eyed to the music video.

It didn't take another request from Joel to start up the next song after this one ended. Between the videos, however, Joel had to get rid of his glasses, because his vision was getting blurry with them on. They were too big anyway, as his face was getting smoother and smaller. Moving his slim body had become easy, natural even. As he moved to the beat of this new song, slowly all body hair, including his beard silently fell from his body, sinking to the ground like snow.

There came the bridge, then another chorus. As the chorus began, Joel started to sing along. He knew the lyrics by heart and closed his eyes while singing, putting all his soul into the words.

As Evan heard the singing, he turned around, only to freeze with his mouth open. There, in his mom's basement, singing and dancing was... not Joel anymore. No, that was Komori Yoshitora, himself! The last few details changed along the last notes of the song. Komori's hair became night black, and his facial features turned delicate and well groomed, with a slight smile on it.

There was a long moment of silence between the two before Komori spoke first in broken English: "So, did I hear that right? You would give me a blowjob any day?"

As Evan nodded, still speechless and still with his mouth open, Komori smiled again and removed his shirt. "Good. I love fans like you that aren't 12 year old girls."

This story was written as a request by a subscriber over at my riot page who chose to make it publicitly available! If you, too, want to request themes or ideas, consider joining the Transformation Titan tier yourself :)

[mermaidsirennikita]

As always, I'm hesitant to discuss Bton, but I find this Variety article on toxic fandoms influencing creative decision-making so concerning on a creative level... And the fact that Michaela/Bton is name-dropped and included in the image collage attached is so...

Because it's easy to blame racist, homophobic white fanboys for most of the backlash to the inclusion of people of color and the LGBTQ+ community in conventionally cishet white-centric fiction. I think that probably, the biggest and loudest voices often are cishet white guys, right? The Acolyte comes to mind.

And I do think there's something to be said about media that targets women being treated as something you MUST alter significantly during adaptation to "appeal to a wider audience" (men), whereas there's more of a demand to be faithful to media directed towards men, or to at least incorporate highly anticipated arcs, scenes, into the final product. I grew up with the constant litany of "your girly thing that's being adapted must be changed to appeal to a wider audience". However, again... that audience... was primarily male. And we are accommodating men when we say "Maybe Galadriel shouldn't pick up a sword after all".

BUT. We aren't only accommodating men, and the Michaela storyline is a prime example.

Bton is a show that has a male audience, sure. But we've seen so many thinkpieces, which aren't incorrect, about the power of the female audience for that show. And on a related note, the power of a romance audience that is primarily driven by women.

Except... it seems that the women most often listened in both spaces are white cis women who want to watch a man and a woman OR PERHAPS TWO MEN fall in love. Because I don't think this article just pulled Michaela as an example out of thin air and angry redditors (many of whom, I must say, have been truly disgusting). The article has anonymous insiders giving information. I would not be surprised at all if at least one of those insiders was from the Bton team.

I've said before that while I don't like the show at this point, I think there's a lot of positive things this show could do with Michaela and Fran, both on a social level and a creative level. And I TRULY don't get why people are up in arms about this either way—I don't think the intro was done in a way that forecasts like... great sensitivity, but I'm also at this point so done with the show's choices that I could just be counting my critiques before they hatch. (And truly, how critical can I get if I'm too checked out, etc., I'm aware of some hypocrisy there.)

But at the end of the day, the show has never been a very faithful adaptation, and I'm not talking about the diverse casting. If Michaela had been Michael, you would have had a lot of changes to the plot anyway.

The thing is... if the show listens to a bunch of fans who hate that "Michael" is a Black woman, they're going to downplay the Fran and Michaela story. The series has one CONFIRMED season left. I would be kind of surprised if they didn't get a renewal for more? But maybe not. That season will not be out until 2026. It won't be about Michaela and Fran, at least not at the forefront. And like... what would it say if the show made this big shift to provide LGBT+ rep, in the form of a sapphic interracial relationship at that, and then... gave them a subplot romance.

And again, maybe I'm counting my critiques before they hatch. I can say that some things I saw online circulating about Michaela's casting made me think that she would have a more significant role than "supporting B-plot love interest". And when I see articles like this, I would hope that the response to fan backlash would be "fuck them" and not "oh, let's give the people some rep, but not TOO much rep".

Look—for all my misgivings about how that plot was introduced, I hope Fran and Michaela get a center stage season, and I hope it blows all the rest of them out of the water, and I hope they get to be on posters as a romantic couple and merch, and I hope they get someone to rewrite WHWW so that people who see themselves in that story onscreen can read something that ACTUALLY reflects it.

(And if the show doesn't, I hope they refer people to some of the actual sapphic historical romance novels on the market right now. I know that's pie in the sky, but I'm just putting it out there.)

Most of all, I hope the show's team protects Masali in a way they didn't protect Ruby Barker, or even Rege-Jean Page.

(Ya haven't seen much of an effort to combat the issue yet, a la the way Amazon addressed the ROP issue, and it's been LOUD already.)

I guess it's just articles like these COMBINED with what I'm seeing not only in Bton but in shows across the board that concern me. It would be horrible to think that something was or is in the works, and gets downplayed because of backlash from people who just neeeeeeded to see a fictional character.

Especially when we're in the age of Another White Heathcliff in 2024 and "Dorian and Basil are brothers, actually". It feels like we're going backwards, and it feels like that storyline is going to be a statement from Netflix whether they like it or not. What are they going to do on their Big Romance Show?

[ataraxiasflame]

Did Aemond want his brother dead?

(That scene from my pro-Aemond perspective.)

I’m still struggling to severe ties between the book-version and show-version of the characters, so I think that also influenced my interpretation of the scene (and I’ve tried my best to focus on the show-characters here).

Personally, I don’t think Aemond wants Aegon dead, necessarily. I actually think Aemond doesn’t really give a shit about what happens to him anymore.

Aemond was, however, clearly pissed that his brother showed up unannounced, especially given that Aegon has been portrayed as incredibly incapable in both strategy and battle.

But from a battle perspective, Aemond is warranted in his reaction because Aegon compromised the strategy they had to lure out a TB dragonrider and eliminate them while gaining control of Rook’s Rest. Aemond (just like Aegon) has his own motivations driving his need for glory, but at the very least, his brother was forcing Aemond into submission and obedience as the expected reaction would be to abandon the original strategy and save the King.

We see his frustration when he sights Aegon’s arrival. Though it does appear he delays joining the battle to let Aegon ‘suffer’, I personally interpreted that as Aemond deciding to stick to the original strategy and defy the expectation to go to Aegon’s aid. He doesn’t allow Aegon’s arrival to change the decisions they made (and when the signal is given, that’s when he and Vhagar finally take to the sky.)

Aemond doesn’t respond well to Aegon compromising his plan, and due to their brotherly-feud, he stubbornly disregards saving the King and instead focuses on what he came to do, making Aegon collateral damage.

Personally, I interpret this look as more “You should have stayed out of my way” rather than “now I can be King.” (But that’s just me.)

Is it stupid? YES. And that’s one of my several issues with the changes in the show. Book Aemond (even if he was feuding with Aegon) would not have eliminated one of their dragons when they were already specifically strategising how to eliminate TB dragons to gain some advantage. Aemond is should be smarter than this (thanks Ryan Condal).

However, I think his loyalty to Aegon is now non-existent and he has his own priorities, and Aegon was basically in the way of those priorities, which started with eliminating Rhaenys and Meleys. And given the way that the show is portraying Aegon, I wouldn’t be surprised if the narrative becomes that ‘he was pretty useless as a dragonrider anyway, so no real loss if it means the target was eliminated’. Collateral Damage.

Many people are convinced that Aemond was about to finish Aegon off but in fact he was actually sheathing a sword, not removing one. If you ask me, he was ready to have the same moment with Aegon that he had after killing Rhaenys, but in a more powerful and triumphant way because now Aegon has to live with knowing that even has King, Aemond was and is more powerful than him. To me, that is far more impactful for Aemond than killing his brother. He will relish that his brother will have to live with the truth of this outcome, especially given that he will now likely be named Prince Regent in his brother’s place.

I don’t really like it, tbh. It’s petty and theatrical and I personally feel like they could have gone several other ways which still left both these characters on the same path as they are now. I still feel that, had this feud been inevitable, it should at least have been done over the course of the entire season, not in the space of 3 minutes 3 episodes, and this should not have been the place for Aemond to exert his dominance and power over Aegon. As their first real battle with TB, it was vital that TG prove their power and unity (even if faked) in this battle and rise as a true threat to TB, but not even the audience sees them as a threat now.

Because the way Aemond looks on his dragon after killing Rhaenys is a clear sign that this side of him has been unleashed and his is now a potential liability to TG if not contained.

So where do they go with Aemond from here? If he is already appearing to be willing to sacrifice his brother for his own priorities, how does this arc continue? What does he do next that is even more shocking? I fear what the showrunners will have his character do to stay on this path they’ve only just started him on.

I’m obsessed with how Ewan Mitchell is portraying Aemond but unfortunately I’m just not sold of the rewrite of his character if the rest of his arc continues with this overt characterization.

[petz5]

HIIII i doodled this the other day and was like "i should try my hand at writing a little drabble to go with it" and now its been several days and i wrote way too much. and its like. basically what would amount to as a random chapter a third of the way thru this fanfic that only exists in my head. rambling + link below the cut

i've always felt like it was a missed opportunity to not have had a scene where akane and ranma actually have a conversation about her mom and how she died and how it affected akane and the rest of her family. i mean okay sure, we do get the scene where they visit her grave, but nabiki changes the subject so fast and idk i think ranma should have approached her one on one later and had a serious heartfelt moment. that's all to say that i knew for this warrior cats au to even work i'd have to make so many changes that they'd wind up being closer to ranma and akane themed ocs so i was like fuck it, if they're gonna be ooc anyway then i'm gonna make mama tendo a very significant and unavoidable character. tenderclaw has akane's confidence usually............ but i did make her blaming herself for her mother's death something she really really struggles to move past (she didn't recover from kitting and passed about two weeks after having her)

other than that i think the other major personality overhaul is how obvious streamswitch is about his feelings compared to ranma (who is already painfully obvious....) which is about 20% the fact warrior cats are pretty affectionate in general and don't have much reserved strictly for romance, and its 80% the fact they also don't do engagements and their equivalent of dating is more akin to courting....... so.... streamswitch has to put himself out there more openly than ranma, especially since she has so many others also trying to court her and she's pretty exasperated. streamswitch is the only one she's given permission to try, but this is set before she's decided to officially pick him as her mate. this is like... the equivalent of just before the nabiki fiancee switch happens

(i also gave streamswitch chronic back pain partially for plot reasons but mostly bc i have it too lmao)

ANYWAY SORRY i didn't mean to go on for so long but here is the link. i did not reread for clarity or even use an outline so theres a decent chance it reads like shit 💀 what the fuck ever i dont need to bother defending this, the overlap of these fandoms is so small the target audience is basically just me

[mx-pokirby]

Episode 1 review of Sakura Trick

I'm conflicted in a way that makes me curious to watch more

The explicit "selling point" of this anime is that there are girls, and they kiss. Genuine, unapologetic, not-a-joke, canon, on screen, love-fueled girl-on-girl kissing. "These bitches gay. Good for them, good for them."

When the two leads kiss in episode 1, and even when they're just yearning for each other from afar, it's really sweet and wholesome and makes my gay little heart go :)

Now here's the middle part of the compliment sandwich where the not compliments come in.

Less than 15 seconds into Ep 1, the very first time we see of one of the leads is a cliche, albeit not explicit, slow pan-up shot of her bare legs, then the rest of her doing a cute post for the camera. No, it's no "grave offense", it's just a nice single example of a pattern we quickly noticed throughout the episode.

Despite essentially being about lesbians, the show (ep 1) also absolutely has "cute girls doing cute girls things/moe appeal/male gaze" written all over it. The way the girls are generally framed by the animators says everything. Even the OP shows them all off in bathing suits and 'family-friendly' naked. Except for the actual kissing scenes, which feel like they were intended to evoke feelings in a specifically lesbian audience.

We're thus led to the conclusion that this anime's ideal target demographic is not myself; it's myself (or more specifically Isabelle) like 10-15 years ago. An anime for growing "boys" who want to gawk at cute girls, and get a funny feeling in her chest when she sees these girls kiss, even though she's totally not gay like the characters are because she likes girls, and she's "totally" a straight boy, which then makes her sad cuz it means the characters could never be interested in her for being a boy.

... What was I talking about? Oh, right. Anyways I think this already shows the potential of once being able to be one of my favorite Slice of Life's as a teen.

But anyways we highly doubt a work like it would've ever been made with the intent of specifically appealing to pre-out trans lesbians, so I've no clue what the actual goal was to tell if they succeeded or not.

[authoralexharvey]

INTERVIEW WITH A WRITEBLR — @daisywords

Who You Are:

Daisy || She/her

I'm a fantasy enjoyer about to graduate from university with a degree in editing. In addition to writing, I like to draw/paint and play the piano. Also interested in linguistics and bookbinding

What You Write:

What genres do you write in? What age ranges do you write for?

Fantasy and Sci-Fi. Young and New Adult, Adult.

What genre would you write in for the rest of your life, if you could? What about that genre appeals to you?

I love specfic in general, fantasy in particular (but the line between fantasy and scifi is blurrier than one might think). I particularly like the potential of alternate worlds to set up situations and character dynamics that simply couldn't exist in a historical or contemporary novel

What genre/s will you not write unless you HAVE to? What about that genre turns you off?

I don't read or write smut/erotica but other than that everything else is potentially on the table. I couldn't see myself doing straight historical fiction, either, honestly, just because I probably wouldn't be able to resist adding some specfic elements and/or unanchoring it from time (Fantasy is freedom to me, whereas historical accuracy is something extra to adhere to.)

Who is your target audience? Do you think anyone outside of that would get anything out of your works?

You mean other than myself?? Ok but actually it's pretty broadly just people who like fantasy. I have one wip that's technically YA just based on the age of the characters, but it could definitely be enjoyed by adults. My other wip is adult/NA but could also definitely be enjoyed by teenagers.

What kind of themes do you tend to focus on? What kinds of tropes? What about them appeals to you?

hmmm….something about the juxtaposition of violence and tenderness? Guilt/responsibility and free will/predestination a la the Chosen One trope. Memory loss trope (so juicy)

What themes or tropes can you not stand? What about them turn you off?

I personally am not a fan of immortal love interests. sorry everyone.

What are you currently working on? How long have you been working on it?

My current main wip is called Deep and Dark, Beautiful and Bright. I started it in November 2020. I also have a back burner project called Fear Me, which has been ship-of-Theseus-ing since I was like 10 lol. And I'm working on two short stories that are being more trouble than they're worth

How long have you been writing? What do you think first drew you to it?

I've been making up stories since I knew what stories were. Mostly started out playing elaborate pretend games with my sister. In second grade my best friend suggested we "write a book" together since our teacher would give out blank spiral-bound paper packets. (I think she was mostly interested in my illustration abilities tbh) Anyway we created a series centered around a character named Natalie (who was basically a ripoff of Ramona/Junie B. Jones.) But anyway I think around then is when I actually became interested in writing books as an outlet for making up stories. I didn't actually do a ton of writing as a kid, but I always collected story ideas and had a ton of ocs that I would draw in my secret sketchbook.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Is that how you got your inspiration for your current project? If not, where did the inspiration come from?

Honestly I get inspiration from everywhere. My brain is a very productive idea factory (but not a productive draft finisher, sadly). Other media (for example taking one specific concept or plot point form a move and running in the opposite direction with it), dreams, songs, historical events, offhand comments from friends, etc. Sometimes justt out of nowhere I swear.

Have you published anything? Do you want to?

Not yet and yes eventually

What part of the publishing process most appeals to you? What part least appeals to you?

I want my projects to have a final form and I want other people to read them. I don't want anyone I know irl (or anyone else for that matter) to psychoanalyze me about them. I'm not looking forward to anything to do with marketing, writing to market, tight deadlines, adhering to standardized formats/lengths, etc. but so it goes…

What part of the writing process most appeals to you? What part is least appealing?

I love coming up with ideas and characters and scenes. I love rambling in my notes doc. I love drafting in the rare moments when I actually do it. I really struggle with getting all the pieces of my plot to fit together. I like editing (I'm literally an editor). I cannot do project management to save my life.

Do you have a writing process? Do you have an ideal setup? Do you write in pure chaos? Talk about your process a bit.

Right now what's working fro me is to have three distinct documents. One goes strictly in order. Another is to put all of the scenes I want to write that don't fit into that order yet. The third one is for me to yell about it all (notes). When I'm lucky, scenes form the chaos doc (scene bank) eventually find their way into the order doc.

Your Thoughts on Writeblr:

How long have you been a writeblr? What inspired you to join the community?

I joined tumblr predominantly for the writeblr community in 2018 (don't remember the specifics but I remember seeing writing posts on pinterest and was like hm well might as well go directly to the source)

Shout out some of your favorite writeblrs. How did you find them and what made you want to follow them?

in no particular order and not an exclusive list: @aohendo @mecharose @scarvenartist @woodhousejay @baroquesse @tracle0 @klywrites @garthcelyn @incandescent-creativity @zmwrites @ashen-crest @ambiguouspuzuma @ettawritesnstudies @megarywrites @magic-is-something-we-create @pinespittinink @isherwoodj just a few of the many excellent people here

What is your favorite part about writeblr?

I just love the community aspect of interacting with other writers, or even just seeing what everyone's working on and how it's going. Even if someone's wip isn't my exact cup of tea I still like seeing posts about their work and people encouraging each other.

What do you think writeblr could improve on? How do you think we can go about doing so?

A lot of people say that interaction is dead etc. but I don't really think that's true. I think focusing less on reblogs and more on comments/asks as a form of interaction would strengthen the feeling of community. Not everyone is obligated to reblog everything and comments and asks can be more personal anyway. I like knowing other people are seeing what I put out there, and I especially love getting comments on my work, but that doesn't mean I need everyone to share it. I'd rather have 5 followers that interact with me than 1000 who don't. Quality over quantity, you know?

How do you contribute to the writeblr community? Do you think you could be doing more?

Of course everyone could always be doing more. I like to read other's snippets when I'm in the headspace for it, but sometimes I'm just here to mindlessly scroll and that's okay too. If I read something and I think it's cool or interesting or well-written or anything I try to either leave a reply or reblog with something in the tags. If I can't think of anything to say just quoting a line that I liked will suffice (I like when people do that to me). I do want to try sending more asks to people—I try to always send one when I see someone's reblogged an ask game, but I think everyone would appreciate some out-of-the-blue asks as well :)

What kinds of posts do you most like to interact with?

All kinds but I am most likely to interact with shorter posts about peoples' process or something about their characters. @klywrites will post about tiny interactions between her characters and I literally love them just from seeing tiny scenes on my dash every so often. I really like to read longer snippets and short stories too (there's some amazing writers here y'all) but I'm more likely to scroll past those if I can't spare the focus. Also I love seeing art! even from people who don't consider themselves artists like aww you drew your little guy and I love them now

What kind of posts do you most like to make?

idk I end up just vagueposting about my process most of the time. I love to infodump about my characters/worldbuilding but I don't do it too often. I also like to post about writing things in general, but I don't consider myself an expert or anything so I'm not putting out a ton of advice—just what works for me

[zapsoda]

Wanna share your 13 reasons why opinions?

YES thank you for asking. i would have done so unprompted but i had a class.

so the controversy was that people were saying its portrayal of suicide "glamorized" the act and would thus make "children" want to kill themselves, and that that meant it shouldnt have aired. i have a lot of thoughts on this so ill go bit by bit.

in response to the criticism, the creators added a little pre-show bit with the actors clarifying that suicide is bad and that 13 reasons why is a fictional show and not like. a how to guide. personally i would have found that irritating and condescending if i was a tweenager tuning into the tv show but whatever. thats whatever in and of itself i dont care.

but specifically theres one part where one of the actors says that if you are struggling with self harm or suicidal thoughts "this show might not be for you." and thats fucking insane right? thats insane? a tv show talking about issues YOU struggle with. YOUR ISSUES. and youre being told not to watch it? that its not actually For You???? thats fucking ridiculous. i understand they intended it as a trigger warning but WOW was that probably the worst possible way to do it. and whats funny is in an interview, executive producer selena gomez says that she Intended the show to help people! who struggle with self harm and suicidal thoughts!!! but dont watch it i guess.

anyways i havent watched the show itself so thats actually the extent of my opinions about it. the rest are about the discussion and controversy.

something i noticed was that. every single motherfucker i saw talking about the show. good or bad. was an adult who made no claims of having experienced mental health issues. and yet they had such strong opinions about the effect the show would have on those groups. as an adult who has tried to kill himself. who was a child pretty recently. i find much of what they are saying to be a load of fucking useless horseshit. i cant speak for every teenager or mentally ill person i can only speak for myself. but i think i have more of an authority than random mother of a teenager #4.

and these people dont even make an ATTEMPT to empathize with the groups they are trying to "protect." every single one of them talks about teenagers as if they are a faceless mass of impressionable statistics rather than people.

and they keep using the word "children" and referring to "children." this show is not for 6 year olds. this show is for teenagers explicitly. it is about teenagers it is making an attempt at representing what teenagers struggle with. and uhhh i think it goes without saying teenagers are a LOT smarter and more developed than people give them credit for. yes they are crazy and stupid and insufferable but they are rapidly becoming adults every day and i think they should be treated with the appropriate amount of respect! what do they think about this, as the target audience? when 13 reasons why first came out, i met a girl who, like me, struggled with depression and self harm. and she watched it and enjoyed it, which surprised me given my familiarity with the drama surrounding it. and i think about that a lot, yknow? what about her?

there is this prevailing idea that, regardless of intent, any depiction of suicide will immediately result in someone killing themselves in imitation. thus, they say, suicide should never be depicted in media and nobody will kill themselves ever again. zero nuance. that doesnt seem right to me. am i crazy? that sounds like bullshit. thats not how anything works.

obviously , i can only speak for myself as a previously suicidal person (albeit thats more than 99% of these bozos can speak for any suicidal person), but in my experience, if i want to kill myself, then i want to kill myself. regardless of whats on tv. regardless of whether its depicted or "glamorized." i didnt want to kill myself because i saw that it was something i could do on tv, something "cool." i wanted to kill myself because i was fucking miserable constantly and i didnt want to be miserable anymore. i find it wring and demeaning to reduce that pain to "oh he watched the wrong tv shows."

there was also the claim that otherwise mentally well people would see it and suddenly become suicidal. i dont even care about getting into this because its basically an unprovable claim. how do you know they were otherwise mentally well, how do you know the show directly caused their suicidality? claims which lack nuance have no place in a discussion like this one and should be Destroyed.

anyways i hate how taboo suicide is. i hate it i hate that you cant say it that you cant talk about it. i find that so fucking unhelpful for destigmatizing and generally improving public mental health .

its even more infuriating seeing mental health professionals PERPETUATING the taboo, saying that suicide should never be portrayed at all. i think thats evil and i hate it. like my personal disdain for censorship notwithstanding i think that is harmful actually. how are you supposed to deal with feeling suicidal if you cant even TALK about it!?

i think the crux of the issue is just that these people are uncomfortable with the topic of suicide and they think that that must mean it is a bad topic which should be sanitized until it is tolerable to them and acknowledged as little as possible. i hate that. sometimes people die. you can talk about that just fine. sometimes people do it to themselves. sometimes they want to. its a fact of life and it would be a fact regardless of whats on tv, regardless of what people think about it, and regardless of what you think about it. people should be able to talk about facts of life. i think its disturbing to cut off bits of reality that you or random mother #4 find uncomfortable and make them off limits or pretend they dont exist.

i dont think the quality of the depiction, or whether or not its "glamorized" matters when determining whether or not a depiction of suicide should be allowed to exist, because that is inherently subjective and every individual will come away with a different interpretation. its not like people are being held at gunpoint forced to watch it!! i think people can generally make an informed personal decision about the media they engage with.

[gameshowtrainwreck]

Mostly Disjointed Ramblings About Game Shows, and Why Making Good Game Shows is Easier Now Than They Have Ever Been (mostly as a letter to myself)

When it comes to producing game shows (at least as far as they go in the USA), the "here's how you play the game" is often one of the furthest down the depth chart on "reasons why this should be A Thing in commercial television." Budget, targets, media planning, strategies, and contingencies are often what will get a commissioning executive's attention. A lot of time here lately they are interested in a known quantity of some sort being attached to it (being successful in another market, a well-known brand or celebrity on board with it, etc). That was meant neither as a complaint nor a complement, simply the state of play as currently on the field.

That doesn't mean your game shouldn't have some thought into it, just that media buyers are looking for a lot of other things in addition to how unique or compelling your game idea is. Ideas are everywhere, ability and the demonstrations thereof are a little harder to come by. Just know that your audience are going to be the ones interested in the game, one that is just as fun to watch others play as it is to play along at home. The point is to cut out the middleman and play to the people who will be interested in what you have to offer, not somebody's conception of what will interest the right number of the right people for what they need.

The fantastic thing about the progress of knowledge and technology (as witnessed just over the course of my lifetime, at least) is that the internet has lowered so many barriers to entry that if you have at least a microphone and some kind of computer device to connect it to, the only reason to not make something is lacking the knowledge of how to put it all together (a hurdle I'm still trying to cross myself, but flight day is coming).

Don't worry about stats or metrics or demographics-- If you make a good game, the rest will follow. Everybody complains about nothing being on or that the wrong shows keep going while the good ones get cancelled. Not everybody is a Fred McPheely Rogers, because he felt that the best way to fight bad content was to produce the content he felt the world needed. I would like to follow his lead in that regard.

I wholly cop to the idea that this smacks as more than a little self-important coming from an amateur quiz producer in thinking the world needs game shows, but I'm focusing on Mr. Rogers' actions on this: he made what he wanted, how he wanted to make it, and he made it for a number of reasons that weren't solely to do with money. He was successful with the resources he had available; whether that was because of or in spite of his limitations is a debate for another day. An unexamined faith is worthless, as are unexamined motivations. A good project is easier to complete with the right motivations behind it.

Sturgeon's Law holds that 90% of everything is shit. Who cares? Make your shit anyway.

Even if you don't roll a crit on this attempt, take notes. Even if you crit-fail, nothing is a failure so long as learning took place. Find points in the logistics where things have slowed down/broken/were absolutely non-functional. Find ways to untangle the knots you can, cut and reroute around the knots you cannot. Be honest with assessing your own work, but give yourself the same credit you would give a friend showing off their art to you. This is something you want to be proud of, work to give them something they can be proud that you would share it with them. Art is never a gamble, creating anything is never a gamble. You will have better standing to get that 10% on your next attempt, even if you draw nothing more from it than the joy and satisfaction from the act of creation and seeing something you've always wanted to see in this world.

Put a game together, write and research some questions for it, learn OBS, invite your friends to a discord call and have them play it. Put it online.

Congratulations, you have now joined a pantheon of notable people including (but not limited to) Goodson/Todman, Barry/Enright, Hatos/Hall, Heatter/Quigley, Stone/Stanley, and Dewey/Chatham/Howe.

Game shows don't have to run on the payout offered or the people hosting it. the British Broadcasting Corporation has certainly got a lot of mileage out of the idea that people will line up and wait months to win a punchbowl* if it gives them the chance to show off their knowledge of something very few people may have even heard of. Lord knows in the episodes I have seen of Mastermind, there have been artists or writers or historical events I've looked up afterwards because of the questions a contender answered on them. Which I think is an absolutely wonderful byproduct from it.

Information Please ran for years on radio on the driest game possible –a simple question bee with multipart questions sent in by listeners with a reasonable request for accuracy attached (usually asking them to get 3 parts out of 4 right)– but it was the American QI before QI was even a thing. It worked on the strength of the panel's interplay with one another as they would bust each other's chops (or moderator Clifton Faddiman's chops for some of the questions he sprung on them), sometimes it would be in a guest panelist showing off knowledge of a field nobody would have thought was in their wheelhouse. (Groucho Marx and his always being there for questions about Gilbert & Sullivan may not have been one of those times, it was something of an understanding that the man was crazy for their operas over the multiple times he guested on there, even though he never got to perform in one until the Bell Telephone Hour had him play Koko in The Mikado. Considering that the part of Katisha usually was being played by Margaret DuMont-types, it's not like Groucho wasn't dropping hints his entire career)

Got a group of friends for a podcast but can't decide on a how or why for it? Make it a panel game. There are many ways to gamify a conversation, games that provide the launching point for conversations, and what makes them work often times lies in the panelists' frustration in working within the constraints the game presents. Don't worry if you think you'll be bad at them, people love to laugh at situations that didn't (but could just as easily have) happen to them.

If you're lost as to figuring out what to play, look up what has been played around the world-- One of my favorite types of games are the ones that have inspired extracurricular clubs outside of their productions: Indian college students have made the BBC's Just a Minute into something of a high-level academic tournament akin to American debate clubs.** The dearly-departed moderator for Just a Minute, Nicholas Parsons, took a trip to India for the BBC to document not just one of those tournaments but the program's fanbase there. Just a Minute's Indian Adventure was the documentary produced back in 2018 (coinciding with their recording episodes of JaM in Mumbai), do give it a watch if you have the opportunity.

In the Cyrillic-speaking world, the game show that has got homebrew of its own going is known as Что? Где? Когда?† It is one of the few shows that has the "Underground Countdown" subculture from The I.T. Crowd being a thing in real life. Not just in other countries doing their own version on television, but in regular tournaments where all the teams write questions to try and stump all the other teams, while trying to solve the riddles the other teams brought with them. I mean, all we're missing is the hardest phonk soundtrack you've ever heard and some adidas-branded clothing and you'd touch every single stereotype Americans associate with Russia in one package. Bingo, a full house, hands-down, eyes-up.

Old Man Goodson could have set a real nasty precedent back in the 1940s if he and Bill Todman thought to patent the lockout system he used for 'Winner Take All,' (nobody ever tried to do a quiz set up like a jump ball in basketball until that point) but their lack of capitalization on what they had has been the genre's overall gain as far as what or how to get in. See a game you like that ain't on anymore? Write your own, original questions for it, don't use their graphics, their sounds, or their trademarks, and get to producing something. Learn from Reg Grundy. Only seven stories in the world but an infinite number of ways to tell them? There's an equivalent amount of games in the world, and an equally equivalent number of ways to play them.

The idea in jazz is that you have to learn to imitate before you can innovate, to make your own contributions to the genre. I see no reason that same logic cannot apply to game shows or those looking to making any kind of art. Better content begins with you.

—in terms of a work update, I still ain't cracked shaders in Godot 4, but I am still trying. If I can get past this, I can start putting them on the main scene, and start getting the logic for it built. More info as it develops.

Sniff you jerks later.

Footnotes:

* [a very fine, artisanal, handcrafted crystal punchbowl that the BBC commissions especially for Mastermind, but a punchbowl nonetheless. For American conventions in the genre, prize descriptions containing fewer than ten words in it are usually reserved for 'zonks' or gag prizes; a cultural difference that is neither good nor bad but simply exists because​ the more airtime spent on it, the more the manufacturer/supplier/sponsor paid the production in order to have George Gray or Rod Roddy or Gene Wood or Johnny Gilbert say that about it. And Americans have been conditioned to be more impressed by prizes than they are by trophies.

That's also without mentioning the fact that British game show productions work a different compensation scheme for their contestants than their American cousins; a lot of times it will include spotting a contestant the train fare and a hotel room to be at the studio on tape day, as opposed to the absolutely non-existent mass transit system we have in the USA. Whatever; that's a soapbox for another day for a mentally-ill neurodivergent trying to keep their head down as it is in a country that absolutely loathes the disabled.]

** [The OG radio show works like this: one player is given a topic (e.g. "my favorite joke") and, on the moderators' cue, will speak on that topic for as long as they can without violating one of three standing rules: "Hesitation" (meaning you can break this rule if you don't immediately begin speaking on the moderator's cue), "Repetition" (down to the word, but some allowances are given for words as part of the topic itself), or "Deviation" (Stay on target. Your anecdotes have to have some bearing on the topic. Objections on factual inaccuracies stated by the speaker have been upheld as deviation, but monologues that are presented as flights of fancy are more or less allowed as long as they conform to the three standing rules). The other participants are listening in to raise objections whenever the speaker breaks one of those rules, and the prevailing party to an objection is given a point -- if overruled, the object-ee continues on the moderator's cue, if sustained, the object-or assumes the role as the current speaker on the topic to be continued on the moderator's cue. The topics are timed, and the current speaker when a minute ("Just a Minute") of total speaking has elapsed is given a point.

The Rule of Funny, although never stated outright, takes precedent over all of those rules; the moderator is empowered to award points for objections that normally would be overruled but drew a decent amount of laughs from the audience (the current speaker is still awarded a point for prevailing on an objection). The moderator is also empowered to have the audience decide stalemates based on a cheer/boo system on the moderator's cue, the loudest noise prevailing.

These particular rules do not appear to apply to the collegiate play I have seen, which I totally understand the reasons for why they need to would do that. Collegiate play also includes an extra rule or two to discourage competitors from metagaming, which I also totally understand.

From what I can tell, JaM is the first British game show format to ever be imported to American television screens. It ran on the DuMont network as One Minute Please in 1954 but could not find a sponsor after a year. Unfortunate, but that seemed to be the operative word for the DuMont Network's fortunes.]

† ['Chto? Gde? Kogda?' or literally 'What? Where? When?'-- totally different kettle of fish from the American Who, What, or Where Game

A game show that has flourished across two modes of production, the game's usual play loop involves a team of six experts playing against the viewing audience. Viewers send in riddles (a lot of downright clever ones from ones I've amateurishly-translated) for the experts to argue over for sixty seconds before the nominated captain for that round submits an answer. If the experts get it right, they take the round. If not, the viewers take it. Regulation matches are a best-of-13 affair, with a tournament structure I've not quite understood having the expert teams vie for position in order to square off against the viewers in an annual championship game.

Tom Scott's absolutely phenomenal Laterial is the closest analogue I know of currently in the English-speaking world (and if anybody in this world decided to become The Riddler in real life, we would be doomed seven ways to Sunday if his producer, David Bodycombe, decided he was to be That Guy. He's been a cool dude in my interactions with him but I'm still gonna try to stay on his good side, just in case). In 2011, Merv Griffith Productions took the black-tie-formal aesthetic from the original Russian production and converted it into a high-stakes, James-Bond-at-a-Bacharat-Table-tensioned type affair (complete with Authentic Mancunian Vernon Kay in a white tux to emcee) as Million Dollar Mind Game for ABC, a network who (apparently not knowing what to do with it) burned it off putting it on Sunday afternoons against late-season NFL games that were so inconsequential that not even season ticket holders were bothering to show up to.

But the original show and the story of its creation are why I put Ch?G?K? on my shortlist game shows as a legitimate work of art, along with Korea's Genius Game and USA's $25,000 Pyramid and a bunch of other shows that have really come to stretch even the least-plausible definition of 'shortlist.' ]

[lucy-the-cat]

ok so @daffodilsinspring asked if someone could write the red queen characters reacting to King's Cage and while I don't want to write that exactly (I think that style of fic tiptoes to the line of actual plagiarism because they use so much of the original text) BUT I do kinda have brainrot for canon characters reacting to the text of Newblood Queen since I do actually (somewhat) own that. Anyway read the original first bc it's a better way to experience it but here, some low-effort react content, No promises that this continues bc I am the sole target audience for it. Also this is not the full chapter just the first few paragraphs

_

“Well?  Read it.”

Cal wavered, voice cracking.

Mother never liked fairytales.  Especially those I caught from Coriane.  Her enemy eternal, the neighbor she couldn’t shake, the mother of her son’s bastard brother.  I made the mistake of swiping one from her brother's collection, certain she'd applaud my swift hands and smuggler's eye.

She threw it into the river.

“Coriane.”  Mare’s voice was soft, strained.  “‘Her son’s bastard brother’ . . . I don’t suppose that’s you?”

Cal stared, strangely pale.  “Has to be.  Maven’s not–”  He trailed off.  “She had three miscarriages.  Maybe they survived.”

“Maybe.  But I wouldn’t count on it.”  Mare laid a hand on his shoulder.  “Elara’s still Elara.”

His fists clenched, and he ducked his head back in the book.

“Silvers have no need for fairytales.”  She’d polished a dish as though it were a blade.  “We have our history.”

Mare snorted.  Cal eyed her, cautious.  “What’s funny?”

“Nothing.”  She shrugged.  “Just Elara washing dishes.”

“Maybe she did.”  He laid down the book, leg jittery.  “She went to the front, you know.  Had chores and rotations like the rest of us.”

“Huh.”  Mare frowned.  “Not the same.”

“I mean it.”  His voice strained.  “It’s not all silk and jewelry–”

“Whatever.”  She looked away.  “Continue.”

He cleared his throat.

A history that would’ve seen her winner of Queenstrial, disposed of Coriane before she could bear a son, and kept Tiberias alive long enough for her to reign through him.  A history long tarnished by Newblood kings, by war waged ever since the first Titanos took the throne.  The Calores had fled.  The Lakelands did not.

“I’d laugh if this weren’t so weird.”  She stared out the window.  “Coriane for your father.  I guess they couldn’t both live.”

Cal tightened his grip on the book.  “Yeah.”  His voice was faint.  “Why Titanos, though?”

Her heart raced.  “It could–”  She stopped.  “Never mind.”

Mareena Titanos.

She shuddered.

When you are king, you may not flee.  Mother’s words had flown from ink to paper, the journal I kept my most regal of notes.  Nor shall you make a fool of yourself on the battlefield.  Your blade will be wit, your shield careful lies, all powers balanced to bicker in your favor.

“Aaaand he has evil dictator journals now.  Great.”  Mare rubbed her temples.  “At least they’re accurate.”

_

I might write some reactions to my Maven POV series idk, I feel that's more transformative