#at least we fic writers can give the character the treatment she deserves

[imreallyloveleee]

look if your reaction to geriatric finale betty is "ugh of course she's the main character the writers are obsessed with her" i do get it but please keep in mind that

- they have kept her trapped in a cycle of emotional abuse with her mother for SEVEN seasons and all indicators are that it will last to the bitter end

- they tore her out of the one relationship in her whole life that made her feel seen and secure and loved for what will likely remain the most blatantly out-of-character plot machination I've ever seen in my life

- the seven years that followed are mainly notable for the fact that she a) was kept in a dirt pit by a serial killer for several weeks and b) became a cop

- they put her in a fuck buddy relationship that she proactively ended only to later accept being his second choice for [reasons not found], relationship then proceeds as a series of red flags clearly suggesting that not only are they fundamentally incompatible (which she already said, out loud, on screen) but that the relationship also consistently makes her feel inadequate and bad for being herself

- they made her the actual biblical whore of babylon (??? still don't understand this one)

- and finally when there's a full-on reboot her sole character traits are "horny for literally anyone at any time" and "constantly angry at mom" who, again, is still abusing her

so like, you're correct, the writers are obsessed with her. they're obsessed with TORTURING HER

[saintsenara]

HUGE fan of your writing! that snape & mcgonagall fic… omg 😍😍🤩. would love to hear about any of M, R, and X you want to answer please!

thanks for the ask, pal!

[writing ask game here]

m: any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

a recent conversation about voldemort and gender identity has inspired me to get back to work on a fic which has been simmering on the hob for a while: the entire story, from 1926 onwards, but with a female voldemort.

now, i'll be honest, i don't really care for gender-swap stories as they tend to be understood in fandom [or, at least, in the fandom spaces I inhabit]. i read and write a lot of voldemort-centric slash pairings, and the non-voldemort character is very frequently made female in these for reasons i am never particularly comfortable with - e.g in gender-swap tomarry to make harry totally powerless in the pairing, which is a portrayal of harry which is very much not for me. i also hate that gender-swapping one character is sometimes used to render slash pairings more "palatable".

however, i love the nuance with which many of my favourite writers have approached gender in their stories - which is, imo, crucial, given the author whose work we consume - and i think that playing with gender in fics is fascinating. and i think, then, that approaching characters even through a binary gender-swap can be interesting and valuable in both general stories and ones based around pairings.

and voldemort is a very interesting choice for such a thing.

after all, how is a female voldemort building power? how is her loss of beauty perceived? does slughorn and dumbledore's treatment of her read as creepier than it does for the canon tom riddle? does hepzibah smith's read as less so? what is she called and how does she feel about her name? does she still call herself lord voldemort and why? is bellatrix still her favourite death eater? how does she groom ginny? what is like to know your mother died in childbirth when you possess the anatomy to have the same thing happen to you?

it's turning out to be quite complicated to answer these questions, so god knows when it'll be finished, but it is there cooking away for now...

r: are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

i am an enormous murder mystery fan, and the basic structure of the murder mystery novel is how I start most of my multi-chapter writing. i'd like to think there's a certain agatha christie-ish tinge to my work, although for naming characters i like to channel the spirit of p.g. wodehouse.

my favourite authors, though, are vladimir nabokov and shirley jackson, and their style - the writing almost like cinematography, the lingering sense of societal ennui under the surface - is something i aspire to emulate.

x: a character you enjoy making suffer:

trevor the toad.

snape deserves the chance to kill him and give us all something real to argue about.

[xdevilrushx]

Context: Excerpt pulled from an AerS*ph fic. If you've ever wondered why I dunk on this "pairing" every chance I get, wonder no longer.

Imagine thinking you're cooking while forcing Aerith to say something this stupid, fucked-up, and vile to one of her closest friends. Just how bad of a writer do you have to be to think that this is in any way meaningful character development?

Further context: Against my better judgment, I decided to check out this story to see if I could at least tolerate AerS*ph. I've long avoided this largely unremarkable pairing, given how utterly disrespectful its devotees tend to be towards the rest of the cast, so much so at times that it borders on being self-parodic. I've been more than happy to give it a wide berth ever since my early encounters with it. But for some reason, I was feeling charitable today. So I'm thinking that maybe it's just a few bad apples giving me the wrong impression. Maybe we can all get along and ship together in peace.

But no. This story is emblematic of why this venereal disease of a so-called pairing deserves nothing but scorn.

The closing scene, in particular, is a vile, ugly mess, both figuratively and literally. The writer in question actually has the temerity to force Aerith to tell Cloud that he didn't do a good enough job as a bodyguard, and that he "sucked at it, and I died anyway", all while she is shacking up with the man who not only murdered her, but also Cloud and Tifa's parents, and altogether did his best to make their lives a living hell. There are no words for the sheer mental disconnect involved in such a disgusting display. It is so painfully obvious when a writer is clumsily forcing their own views and words upon an unwilling character, and whoever this literary meat puppet is meant to be, she bears absolutely no resemblance to the real Aerith. (In fact, she tells Cloud the exact opposite in Advent Children. You should all know this by now.)

Let's not forget that Sephy didn't just kill Aerith to stop her from getting in the way of his plans. He did it to harm her friends and cause them emotional anguish, as well. Just because she's come back to life doesn't mean that the damage has been undone, and to think that she would choose to inflict further harm and humiliation upon her friends in this way tells me that whoever wrote this either does not understand her as a character, or simply chooses to ignore how she would actually behave in favor of how they would like her to behave. (And is merely projecting their own simping tendencies upon a fictional character. One wonders what poor Aerith ever did to deserve this kind of treatment.)

Furthermore, if they wanted to do an AerS**h short, they could have simply left Cloud and co. out of the story altogether, but they just couldn't help themselves, it would seem. So instead, they wheel them out like this in order to manufacture cheap, contrived drama.

Garbage like this is why people rightly hate on the idea of AerS*ph (And S*fikura etc.) So here's to more hatred and scorn being heaped in its direction. The morons who prop up this blight of a so-called ship deserve every bit of derision they receive.

[elizabethrobertajones]

SPN deserves flak for handling sensitive topics irresponsibly, especially since it has a teenage audience. Castiel confessed that he's suicidal in season 8 (written by dabb!), the brothers were in a toxic codependency, Sam was sexually harassed by lucifer, a little kid -Jack- was driven to self-harm/suicide. and none of those issues were addressed or solved in 15 years. instead, the message was that people with troubled pasts could only "be forgiven" if they sacrificed their lives (Jack) or died

Yeeeeaaaah that’s something it was always getting criticism for consistently as it went along as a case- by-case basis of the treatment... There were some woke episodes later on with the newer writers which did handle some subject better but honestly usually in a motw way with side characters proving better examples to the Winchesters’ messed up coping. 

I guess one thing that I was leaning on a bit was that if it was all going somewhere that the resolution would be okay because the writing was aware that they did have these issues. For example, Carver era was really heavy on the codependency stuff but it was painting it in such a bad light that it was beyond romanticising it in any sense and the message seemed to be that the writing wanted them to heal. I personally think this was healed a fair amount over Dabb era along the way... But the finale as far as I can tell let Sam move on with his life and break the cycle or whatever, but also was so wildly unsatisfying on every front it probably would have been HEALTHIER for the fucker to go straight to Hell and petition Rowena for giving her an eternity of foot rubs in exchange for Dean back. Just so he could be like “what the hell what that, you nearly married that BLURRY WOMAN? What’s WRONG WITH YOU”

(I don’t know the fine details on this death scene to know or care how the Sam and Dean relationship wrapped up because it was clearly garbage and in my head they’re both still happy and alive and have a normal freaking relationship :P)

In any case, I know so much was carried by these characters that, to be serious for a moment, I don’t know if they ever could have lifted the whole weight of what we needed them to be, even in an ideal end. But I do know that by giving the show such a shaky resolution, especially with bringing Cas back off screen and not giving any real closure and telegraphed final scenes with anyone - i mean even the love confession and empty yeeting feel like Dean’s supposed to have another moment with him later and it doesn’t feel death scene-y enough to me because of the complete lack of closure the confession gives it by opening the new possibility moments before death - vast amounts of character work which could have HELPED bring some of these things to a conclusion just never showed up, it seems. 

Like, Sam’s Blurry Life With The Blurry Wife seems like an even worse state than his season 7-8 hiatus time with Amelia because at least she had a FACE and BACKSTORY and LINES ON SCREEN. At least she and Sam talked through their issues and related to each other and they had a reasonable reason for it not working out and they got to see what they both needed from each other at the time and what they couldn’t get from each other moving forwards. 

Even ignoring that Sam got the perfect endgame with Eileen, a Generic Blurry Wife ending for him is such garbage because so much of his bad coping is bound up in his hiding and running away... Just because Dean once waxed poetic about wanting Sam to grow old and boring and live a normal life doesn’t mean it’s what his character was best suited to or what he would really have been comfortable with long-term, especially when as far as I can tell Dean dies and he just up and abandons his hunting life and goes to be normal. If for garbage reasons you were ditching Eileen a happy ending for Sam would still probably involve a hunting-connected life, even if it was a montage showing him holed up in the Bunker being the new Bobby while nothing else changed and Dean was having bad drinks with the original Bobby in Heaven. Like just that one change would make Sam’s journey make sense that he stopped running away and accepted who he was and that the trauma shaped him but didn’t break him, and that he had moved beyond the harmful relationships with women who he valued for their normality, who he then told nothing about his life, bottled up his trauma and dismissed his past and then lived a sliver of existence right on the edge of sanity and coping. Blurry Wife might have the benefit that theoretically the cosmic nonsense is over and Sam might not be called back to that battlefield but the toll on Sam’s life from his history can’t just... disappear overnight. Literally his entire mental health arc which was based on his trauma and addressing it and overcoming it, and how Sam learns who he is beneath it and how it has made him uniquely Sam and stronger for it is all washed away. 

And that of all the examples you mentioned is like the only one I can talk about with any coherence without devolving into screaming about how better endings were owed all around. If the characters are denied meaningful narrative closure than everything they’ve carried with them, from just the way a plot will feel resolved or not, to all the stuff we reflect onto them about our own issues that we see in theirs, ends up dumped to the side and it leaves painful holes. 

I don’t think a better ending in terms of just wrapping up the show as it seemed to be on track to, until it abruptly wasn’t in the finale, would have ever fixed all of it or meant enough to some of us when it comes to things we’ve carried alongside the characters for a long time. Like I doubt even a full canon Destiel ending by their pen could have addressed ALL the issues we put on Dean and Cas and in our explorations in fic and meta and headcanon and crackposts and whatever else, feel like they’d need to talk out or resolve to be fully content on screen with each other. But there sure were things that could have been done with a few meaningful lines here and there and obviously Cas visually on screen with Dean at the ending that would have made things easier, or provided the paths to seeing these things resolved in our ongoing imaginings.

A lot of the finale pain seems to be the abrupt wall that the story just STOPS like that and so much of this is all left hanging and we’re all feeling the pain of many things that we forgave the story for along the way because there was a trust in the way storytelling works that we’d get that catharsis and closure at the end, and that all the painful stories we were told were being told for that reason. Like, the main reason to write painful stuff and dark themes is to explore it and look right at the horrible stuff, but then to find ways to bring it back down and let some of it go. And most of why I’m refusing to watch the end of the show is simply because it sounds like none of what any of us wanted to get out of it actually happened and there were NO paths to get these things we needed out of it. And at which point many of the terrible things that happened along the way now feel uncomfortable in a way that it’s torture porn without any relief or reason for doing it. The feeling is so universal and the descriptions of that last episode so laughably bad on that front that it’s the main reason I don’t want to watch it. Like, I can get a better sense of satisfaction bitching about how it should have ended than I’d get watching it so why would I do that? :P 

Anyway. Guess you got me ranting but this really is something I think in hindsight that might make rewatches really awful way back into the show just because you’ll be watching something and realise that for all the character is going through, they’re not going to get a resolution that actually would do anything to make any meaningful comment at all on what they’re going through. So now you’re just watching them suffer for the hell of it? Idk, this fear haunts me >.> 

[alphinias]

omg finally we are talking abut the in the elephant room. KIARA AS A CHARACTER AND THE TREATMEMT SHE GETS!!! It is time to explore Kiaras character more, her back story, her family’s story etc etc. Kiara was the only one in the crew that didn’t get a backstory/individual storyline and not to sound fake “woke” but something really REALLY pisses me off about the fact that ofc the only girl in the (OG) pogue group is the character that doesnt get the back story in season 1. Like of course it’s her. It needs to change. If it doesn’t happen in season 2 it needs to happen in season 3. And it’s the fact that literally barely anyone in the fandom is even talking about it (except for jiara accounts on tumblr). Like can this fandom stop with the jiara vs lesbian kie ship war for a second and just complain about Kiara as a character INDIVIDUALLY. Not Kiara with jj, not Kiara with Pope, not Kiara with Sarah. Putting all romance aside, can this fandom just think about the real issue. She deserves just as much treatment as Sarah gets, as JJ gets, as John b gets and as Pope gets. but she doesn’t, and that’s a problem.

You are 1000% correct anon. As a fic writer, I’ve had to scrape and scramble Kie’s story and family life together and that’s INSANE. It’s ridiculous. She’s a main character and she deserves to be treated like one, if not by the fandom then at least by the writers.

The lack of thought they put into her character motivations was painfully obvious. She was a plot point for the boys for a lot of the show, and in the last episode she became a nice guy wet dream that made no sense. I credit most of what she does have fully to Bailey, and I also feel angry on her behalf because it feels obvious to me that at times they didn’t even give her proper direction on what they wanted from her. She’s in such an interesting position character wise and they hardly even tapped into that potential.

Give Kiara respect and agency!

[4ragon]

Thoughts on Athena? She’s my favorite and I feel that she’s so underrated :/

Oh I love Athena so much and DD and SoJ did her so dirty.

I keep saying this, but I really do feel like there needed to be SOME kind of buffer between AJ and DD. They needed something else before introducing such a fun, bright, wonderful new character to the cast, because by DD we now have 3 main characters competing for the spotlight and it’s clearly so much of a struggle for the writers to juggle them. One of them always gets shafted, and a lot of the times it is Athena!

And also, I feel like so many of the times she does get the chance to shine, they do have someone undercut it. She’s the lead of 2.5 cases total! In one, she gets overwhelmed and Phoenix steps in to take over. In one, she gets overwhelmed and Simon has to jump in and help her. Like, don’t get me wrong, that case with Athena and Simon is really great in terms of their character dynamic, but Athena is a competent young woman and deserves the chance to truly show off without having to have someone step in and help her. She deserves that. 

If AA7 doesn’t let her take a fucking starring role, I will riot. “Oh but she’s already completed her character arc” So did Phoenix by the end of AA1!!!! You can have multiple arcs!!! I don’t need her to get the Apollo 20 Backstories treatment but she needs more time!! She deserves more time!! Capcom you are a coward!!! Give me the girl!!! Wipe away the debt!!!

Anyway.

On that note, I absolutely love Athena and everything she brings to the cast. She’s feisty and competitive and deeply empathetic. I know I really super connect with Apollo as a character, but I feel like I can really get Athena’s whole deal a lot too. She’s very sensitive to the emotions of the people around her, and I feel like she’s kind of a compulsive fixer, if you know what I mean? Not always a great trait to have, but she cares so deeply about the people around her. She’s a flawed individual and I enjoy watching her develop and grow.

She’s very charming, and I love the dynamics that she builds with every single character she interacts with. Plus she’s fun! She’s a lot more active and upbeat than Apollo, Phoenix and Edgeworth are, which is new for a POV character. She still has that snark of the other main characters though which I appreciate.

Athena. She’s tough and she’s fun and I need more of her in my life.

I fucking HATED the Mood Matrix though like??? I think I’ve gotten used to it and come to appreciate it but “Oh I can hear the SOUNDS of people’s HEARTS” what are you talking about??? I don’t know, I love using it when writing fic about her because it adds a really interesting layer to her interactions but for a while I just. What does that mean?? Fuck off. Like I know it’s more grounded in reality than the Magatama but still. 

Ah well, at least it makes for some good drama, and it’s a really interesting concept if I could just figure out how it works????? Like I understand how people can fool the Magatama, and I understand how people can fool Apollo’s bracelet, but the fact that Athena can go for MONTHS and not pick up on the Phantom’s schtick is so weird to me? How does it work??? Tell me Capcom!!!

[masterthespianduchovny]

Why I Don’t Read Scully/Other to RST/MSR fics Anymore

When it boils down to it, fics are all about interpretation and if your readers agree with how you view the characters. Your added insight could make or break a story. Does this line up with what we know of the character? Does it enhance them? What does your reflections potentially expose about them?

Even when stories have parts that readers are unsure about or dislike, a solid interpretation and great execution can catapult a story into fandom success. It can open peoples minds and get them to read things they never considered before.

For me, “No Regrets” by Mystphile had the opposite effect. It was the story that made me stop reading S/O to RST/MSR fics.

(Warning, they’ll be spoilers for the No Regrets and Iolokus.)

Don’t get me wrong, No Regrets isn’t a bad story. It’s not poorly written or anything, however it feels misleading. 

When an author labels something as S/O, I know what I’m getting into. I understand and accept it. This is also why I don’t read S/O standalone fics. But, when an author labels a story S/O and MSR it has a totally different meaning. This sets an expectation the reader expects to be met.

I read this story around 2008 and skimmed it today. How I felt then is the same way: dissatisfied.

I invested hours into this story. Reading Scully find herself as she embarks on a relationship with Det. John Kresge and has great sex. She looks forward to seeing him. My poor shipper heart, but good for her. At the same time, I can’t wait for Scully to realize her feelings for Mulder or for her to embrace them and be ready to take that step with him.

Back then, as I read the story and got closer and closer to the end, I kept wondering “where’s the MSR?”

The thing is: it doesn’t exist.

The last 3% of the fic, Scully’s lips graze against Mulder’s cheek and he gives her a peck outside of a bar.

Be still my shipper heart!

A friend of mine pointed out that this may have been a lot whenever the story was released, which was 2000 I believe, so during the original run. If I had read this during the original run, I know I would’ve been pissed. It was labeled MSR and there wasn’t any romance.

I read Scully having mind-blowing sex, how she loved this dude, blah blah blah, and all I get is a cheek graze and peck at the end?

It should’ve just been S/O OR “MSR if you squint.” Maybe she labeled that to give noromos a heads up. But, I don’t feel this story is for shippers or shipper friendly if I’m being honest.

And I’m willing to bet some shippers love this story, which is fine, I’m not saying others can’t. Except, for me, this story was just another story in the long list of stories that are S/O to MSR fics that really should be S/O. It gets to the point in a story where I’m like, “I don’t want her and Mulder to get together. Why even bother?” It isn’t that the S/O is so compelling, it’s that they have such a dim view of MSR and Mulder, it feels like this Scully wouldn’t even want Mulder.

These stories are framed as if Scully’s too good for Mulder (I know people joke about it and it’s occasionally funny, but some truly feel that way and I don’t) and he doesn’t deserve her (��� “).

No Regrets doesn’t necessarily behave this way, but the essence of it feels similar.

In stories like these Scully is given the keys to improve her life, but Mulder doesn’t get the same care. Sometimes he’s stagnant, sometimes he realizes his folly. I know he isn’t the focus, but why would someone who made tremendous strides in their personal life settle on him, which is essentially this version of Scully is doing, right?

She improves her life due to how Mulder has mistreated her, took her for granted, his quest robbing her of various things, etc, yet when she takes control of her life she decides to be with the person who she sees as the root of her issues???

Again, by no means was No Regrets bad, I just felt it as I wasted my time because my expectations weren’t met due to an inappropriate tag.

I didn’t need Mulder and Scully to have their own sex scene, but can I at least get a passionate kiss? Them being entranced by each other? Something that indicates they’re about to have he romance of a lifetime? Give me something to justify the MSR label.

Maybe I missed something.

I don’t know.

People who write S/O tend to be Scullyist who believe Scully deserved better. I don’t fault them for their feelings. I get their feelings, but if you’re going to include MSR and barely write MSR, at least gives readers a warning.

That’s why I appreciate writers who didn’t label their shit at all. If I read their fics, I knew it could literally be anything and I’d have to deal with that. S/O, M/O, UST, RST, MSR, case file--who knew, but that was the chance you took. Yet, when you label things and don’t follow through on it appropriately, that’s misleading.

Of course people are entitled to write whatever the fuck they want, however, I’ve always been of the mind that if writers want to explore those traumatic sides of Scully, the fics should be dark. I know some have issues with Iolokus and, ironically enough, the treatment of Mulder. They believe he was a push over a times. Although I see their point, I LOVE Iolokus.

It doesn’t position Mulder or Scully being better than the other or that the other is lucky they were chosen.

Mulder and Scully are both traumatized and unable to properly deal with the fucked up shit they’ve endured. Mulder was baptized by fire much earlier than Scully, so when Scully’s trauma overwhelms her after Mulder leaves her, it devastates her. She falls into depression, she isn’t taking care of herself, she doesn’t know how to ask for help--she doesn’t want to. She’s in a dark place. It’s not necessarily because Mulder left her, but because he completely shut her out of his life. She was his everything at one point, and then he moved on and left her behind. For a while, he was her rock and normalcy, and then he wasn’t there anymore.

I know not everyone wants or enjoy enjoys dark stories, which Iolokus definitely is. Personally, when I look at stories that want to explore all of the shit Scully went through and have her empower herself, imo, these stories are inherently dark. Stories that want to explore Scully’s trauma allow her to feel, be tragic, and occasionally lost in ways that feels unfamiliar, yet authentic. I suppose that’s why S/O that tries to tackle these issues aren’t my cup of tea. They want to explore the tragedies and ignore the inherent darkness that comes with it.

Like, if you’re going to keep it light and have Scully fucking another man for most of the story and falling in love with him (maybe), at least give me the MSR you dangled. If not, I’m just going to read the stories that will devastate me and give me the romance it promised. 

No offense to S/O and their writers, but it’s been a hard pass for those stories ever since 2008. For the most part, I haven’t been wrong in my assessment. When I have read these stories, very rare, it’s been heavily vetted

[drivingsideways]

k-drama rec list

Prior to 2020 I’d maybe watched 2 k-dramas in my entire life, but this year I got sucked in, thanks to some great recs, and y’know, *gestures * everything.  

I think I’d held off watching kdramas because my impression of them was limited to romances that I didn’t enjoy at all. But this was the year I discovered the equivalent of “gen fic” kdrama- dramas that had wonderful ensemble casts, strong story lines that weren’t entirely romance focused and also a variety in terms of themes and styles. A big plus was that I found so many of these dramas had women leading the writers’ room, and seeing the effect of that in the story telling. (Notable exceptions: a certain “star” writer who should please stop inflicting her badly written, formulaic crap on the world, yes Kim Eun-Sook, I mean you, and whoever wrote that trashfire Flower of Evil)

So here I am with my own rec list! Caveat- these are mostly not the dramas released in 2020, I’m still playing catch up! :)

Under the cut for length

My Mister/ My Ahjussi  (2018, Written by Park Hae-Young, Directed by Kim Won-Seok, starring Lee Sun-kyun and Lee Ji-eun aka IU) 

This was definitely my absolute favourite of the shows I watched this year across western/ asian media. It’s a story about the thread that binds us all and the ineffability of human connection. It’s also a story that deconstructs ideas of masculinity and honour and shame in a non-western context, but with an extremely compassionate touch.  It’s a story that doesn’t shy away from showing the consequences of material and spiritual poverty; and how one can so easily feed into the other. It’s a love story that isn’t a romance, except that it’s a Romance. It’s about finding salvation in one another and in the kindness of strangers.  It’s about choosing life, and picking yourself up off the floor to take that one last step and then the next and then the next. The one quibble I have with the series is that it could have been better paced, it does get extremely slow after the half way mark. But god, do they land the ending. Both Lee Sun-kyun and IU turn in absolutely heartbreaking performances, and fair warning, be prepared to go through an entire box of tissues watching this series. 

Life  (2018,  written by Lee Soo-yeon  and directed by Hong Jong-chan, starring Lee Dong-wook, Cho Seung-woo, Won Jin-ah, Lee Kyu-hyung, Yoo Jae-myung and Moon So-ri.)

Medical dramas are very much not my thing, and I wouldn’t have taken a chance on it except that @michyeosseo said I should, and she was right! It’s a medical drama in the sense that it’s set in a hospital, but rather than a “case-fic” format, this is actually a sharp commentary on the corporatization of health care, and the business of mixing, well, money and what should be a fundamental human right. Writer Lee Soo-yeon was coming off the global success of Stranger/Secret Forest S1 when this aired, so I understand that expectations were probably sky-high, and people were disappointed when this show didn’t give them the adrenaline rush that they wanted. On the other hand, I thought that this outing was really much more nuanced in terms of the politics and also how the ending doesn’t allow you the luxury of easy-fixes. This show has a great ensemble cast, and while it took me a while to get used to Lee Dong-wook’s woodenness (i ended up calling him mr.cadaver after watching this and was surprised to learn that he’s very popular?), in the end I was quite sold on his version of angry angst-bucket elder-sibling Dr.Ye Jin-woo. His best scenes were with Lee Kyu-hyung who turns in a lovely, achy performance as the paraplegic Dr. Ye Seon-woo who just wants to live a normal life. The love story between the two brothers is actually the emotional backbone of the story, and I think they landed that perfectly. 

My one quibble with writer-nim is that she ended up writing in a forgettable and somewhat (for me at least) uncomfortable romance between the characters played by Won Jin-ah and Cho Seung-Woo. I think part of my uncomfortable-feeling was that I got the strong sense that the writer herself didn’t want to write this romance, it was as if she was being made to shoe-horn it in for Studio Reasons, and she basically grit her teeth and did the worst possible job of it.  I do wish we could have absolutely had the OT3 of my dreams: Moon So-ri/Cho Seung-woo/Yoo Jae-myung like, c’mon TV gods MAKE IT HAPPEN, just...look at them!!!! 

Anyway, that apart, I think this was a very engaging series, and by engaging, I also mean thirst-enabling, see below. 

 Stranger (aka Secret Forest  or Forest of Secrets) S1 & 2 : (2017-, Written by Lee Soo-yeon, directed by 

2017′s smash hit aired a much anticipated second season in 2020, and I managed to catch up just in time to watch that live, so that was thrilling :D . Writer Lee Soo-yeon  mixes up thriller/office comedy/political commentary in an ambitious series. I think S1 is more “exciting” than S2 in terms of the mystery and pacing,  but S2 is far more dense and interesting in terms of political commentary because it takes a long hard look at institutional corruption and in true writer-nim fashion doesn’t prescribe any easy solutions. Anyway, please enjoy public prosecutor Cho Seung-woo and police officer Bae Doona as partners/soulmates kicking ass and taking names in pursuit of Truth, Justice and just a goddamn peaceful meal, along with a stunningly competent ensemble cast. Also yes, Han Yeo Jin is a lesbian, sorry, I don’t make the rules. 

Search: WWW  (2019, Written by Kwon Do-Eun, directed by Jung Ji-hyun & Kwon Young-il, starring  Im Soo-jung, Lee Da-hee, Jeon Hye-jin)

GOD. Where do I start? +1000 for writer Kwon Do-Eun saying “fuck the patriarchy” in the most grandiose way possible, i.e. absolutely refusing to acknowledge that it exists. Yes, this is that power fantasy, and it’s also a fun, slice-of-life  tale about three women navigating their way through work, romance, national politics and everything in between. It’s true that I wasn’t entirely sold on the amount of time spent on the romance, and I really wish they’d actually had a textual wlw romance, though the subtext through the entire series is PRACTICALLY TEXT. But still, it maintains that veneer of plausible deniability and I think queer fans who are sick of that kind of treatment in media have a very valid grouse against the show. On the other hand, personally I felt that the queer-platonic vibe of the show is very wonderful and true to real life, and it was only reinforced by the ending. This is a show written by a woman for women (like me), and it shows. 

Hyena  (2020, Written by Kim Roo-Ri, directed by Jang Tae-yoo & Lee Chang Woo, starring  Kim Hye-soo and Ju Ji-hoon )

Those of you who’ve been watching hit zombie epic Kingdom are probably familiar with Ju Ji-hoon’s brand of sexiness already. I had not watched Kingdom and got hit in the face by Mr.Sexy McSexyPants’ turn as a brash, privileged-by-birth, up and coming lawyer who gets completely runover by the smoking hot and incredibly dangerous fellow lawyer/competitor from the other side of the tracks in the person of Kim Hye-Soo. When I say they set the room on fire, I mean it, ok. Every single scene between these two is an actual bonfire of sexual attraction and emotional hand grenades, and they’re both absolutely riveting to watch. “Flower of Evil” wishes they had what this show has- an actual grown up romance as opposed to a thirteen year old twilight fan’s idea of an adult romance. 

The “lawyer” shenanigans and the “cases” are hit or miss, and I think the occasional comedy fell flat for me. But that’s not why I mainlined like 6 episodes of this series overnight like a coke addict, and that’s not why you’re going to do it either. It’s so RARE, even in these enlightened days to find a female character like Jung Geum-ja: hard as nails, unapologetic about it, and not punished by the narrative for it. The best part for me is that she feels like a woman’s woman, not a man’s idea of what a Strong Female Character should be. Anyways, when I grow up I want to have what Kim Hye-soo has ok?

Other dramas that I watched this year, quickly rated:

The King: Eternal Monarch (3/10 and those 3 points are only for the combined goodness of second leads who deserved better- Jung Eun Chae, Woo Do Hwan and Kim Kyung Nam. Please head over to my AO3 and read my attempts to fix this garbage fire and rescue their characters from canon)

Flower of Evil (-10/100, dont @ me)

Tale of the Nine Tailed (5/10, I think it succeeds at what it set out to do, which is a light hearted, sweet fantasy-romance-melodrama, plus “second lead” Kim Beom will make you cry as the hot mess of a half human/ half fox spirit ALL TEARS character. I think if you’re into kdrama romances as a genre, this is probably a good bet?)

Signal  (7/10,  This was the first full kdrama I watched this year and would definitely recommend. It’s a police procedural with time travel shenanigans and has an engaging plot, good pacing, texture and compelling performances. My one disappointment with it was the way they wrote Kim Hye-soo’s character. As literally the only female character to survive in any way, she was given short shrift, and toward the end it really began to grate on me.)

Six Flying Dragons - (7/10, also would recommend if you’re interested in Korean historicals. It definitely already feels a bit dated in terms of styling and production values, and even scripting and acting choices. But it has a good balance of fantasy and history and political commentary. I was not a fan of Yoo In-Ah’s performance in this series, but it’s not anything that would make you want to nope out of the series. It’s GoT , if GoT was thoughtful about politics and characters and not the misogynist, racist trashfire that it became.)

My Country: The New Age - (3.5/10, and that’s 3 points to Jang Hyuk’s fan and 0.5.points to Woo Do Hwan’s heaving bosom. If you like your historical drama/fantasy with very pretty men, very gay subtext -seriously RIP to show makers who thought they could hetero it but didn’t account for Woo Do Hwan’s Tragic Face- lots of blood and tears and very nonsense plot, this is right up your alley. I probably would have enjoyed it more in other circumstances, I think? But this one just annoyed me too much at the time! 

I have a couple of more dramas to watch on my list, that’ll probably carry me over into 2021, so see ya on the other side! :D

[outropeace]

elotito tagged me on this so i’m gonna do it for her <33333

1. describe how you first started writing and when you first posted

i began to write in general since i was around 14 like any other emo kid kdjdjsks and o began to write fics when a friend asked me for one as a birthday present. it was written in a hurry and it’s not my favorite but i really enjoyed doing it. i posted that exact same fic on their birthday

2. which of your characters do you typically resonate most closely with? do you base any characters off of yourself?

it depends the fic i guess. and not really, i think the closest i’ve been to do that is in the rockstar au (coming to the @bottomlouisficfest very soon), i put one or two of my old insecurities in h so he could connect better and wouldn’t be persieved as just an asshole-y dude cause i don’t like that and louis don’t deserve that uwu🌸

3. where do you often find inspiration?

music, movies, tiktoks (DONT JUDGE KDKDKS)

4. has quarantine helped or hindered your writing process?

before the quarantine i had around 3 wips, now i have 8

5. do you listen to music/noise while you write or do you prefer silence?

i listen lofi youtube playlists shjdkld

6. what is your biggest writing pet peeve in your writing or in general?

me repeating “Oh...” over and over again through tall my fics, it shouldn’t be legal

7. describe your ideal writing setup

rainy day, good coffee, comfy sweater, my cat besides me, arely sending texts about teeth/imessage games, snacks

8. favorite time of day to write?

nights (it’s usually when i have time)

9. favorite genre to write + one you’d like to try writing in the future?

i’d LOVE to write a thriller

10. do you struggle with writer’s block? how do you typically overcome it?

i just leave the fic for a bit, i don’t really like to push myself about this cause i’m just doing it for fun

11. what is the easiest part of your writing process and the most difficult?

the easiest is the dialogues, i could write pages and pages of just dialogues in hours and the hardest is the smut dhjdd

12. how do you come up with original characters? (if applicable)

it depends, is the antagonist? i ask myself how’d i feel if i were them, like a third party just trying (and usually failing) to get in between

13. what is your favorite and least favorite word?

i like “wet” i just... yeah.... and least favorite i don’t really know tbh

14. what is one thing about your writing that you’re really proud of and one thing you hope to continue working at?

i like that people conect with the characters because i always put a lot of effort in making them realistic (as much as i can), i make them flawled and sometimes even messy but with good hearts and intentions, all of them are (even the antagonists). and my grammar OH MY GOD MY GRAMMAR

15. what work of yours has your favorite ‘verse/world building? how did you come up with it?

hands down the ice prince fic. and funny thing is, i already had my prompt for the fic fest but i just couldn’t stop thinking about one particular prompt about a bratty prince and an alpha who hated omegas and the amount of POSSIBILITIES that had. two days later or so, the mods of the fest gave us the opportunity to pick another prompt if we wanted and the rest is HISTORY

16. what font and size do you write in? single spaced or double?

11 and single

17. what is a typo(s) you find yourself making consistently?

baby do we have TIME FOR THIS ONE?

18. (if applicable) do you separate fic writing from fandom?

yes, always 100000000%

19. what emotion is your favorite to write? which is the most difficult?

angst, sadness, anguish, sorrow, jealousy, i love to hurt hearts. and it’s not an emotion but after they get together it’s really difficult to me to actually keep going (oh god dkdkdkkdd)

20. what is one thing you hope readers always take away from your works?

that that’s okay to fuck up, that no matter the circumstances you have to respect your partner and TALK WITH THEM and that a person can be successful, independent and a badass while being soft and a c*mslut

21. what is the best and worst writing advice you’ve ever received?

i think “write whatever you like, you’re not being paid for it anyways” is the best and only advise i’ve actually listened to

22. which one of your works would you most want to see turned into a film/television show?

it’s complicated cause my two favorites are abos and idk how that would work dkskkss but the ice prince and the alpha/alpha fic

23. do you write scenes chronologically or out of order?

chronologically but i have a document apart where i write everything that comes to my mind at the moment, that one is A MESS

24. how do you handle criticism?

i think good, if it’s respectful

25. what is the advice you would give to someone who is looking to start writing?

trust yourself, have fun

26. what kind of feedback on your work always makes your day?

ANY type of positive feedback makes my day tbh

27. which fic ‘verse of your own would you most like to exist in? which fic’s characters would you most like to befriend?

none tbh dkdkks and louis, obviously

28. what do you always enjoy getting asks about/wish people would ask about more?

about my stories, i love when people just come to rant to me about certain things the characters did and ask me why they did it

29. what has writing added to your life? how has it changed you?

it relaxes me a lot. i just can write for hours and hours and it just feels nice and in some way exciting

30. why do you write?

refer to question 29 kdkdkxk

boost yourself + tags!

1a. share the last sentence you wrote

from the exes to lovers au:

The second hiccup of the night came in the form of his ex smiling to a boy sitting next to him on a couch. The boy had gorgeous, dark and wild hair, clear hazel eyes and a pretty pouty mouth. Their body language screamed attraction and that they both were ready to devour each other. Louis was familiar to the smile Harry was giving to him, bright and seductive, ready to give anything you asked for.

2a. describe the wip you’re most excited about

right now i’m very excited for the happiest season au, my “cliche story” au and for my exes to lovers au dksks i’m excited about a lot of my wips i’m so sorryjdjd

3a. share the piece of dialogue from one of your works you’re most proud of

from the alpha/alpha au:

“I’m not giving up on love,” He softly touched the hand that was still grabbing his thigh. “To me, love is like flowers. Each one needs a special treatment, if you give an orchid the same treatment you give to an iris, the orchid will die. Same thing with love. I’m not giving up on love, I’m just changing the treatment. We might not be an orchid, but we could make such a pretty iris.”

4a. share the best first and last lines from your work(s)

favorite first line from the sugar baby au:

Powerful people only end up with powerful people. The rest are just playthings in their lives. Louis Tomlinson was many things, but he wasn’t anybody’s plaything.

favorite last line from the ice prince fic:

“Who would have guessed…” Harry whispered after a while, smiling against Louis’ lips. “the dragon finally got to keep the princess.”

5a. link the last fic you read

HAYLEY’S MASTERPIECE

6a. link the last work you published

that’d be the ice prince fic

7a. link to your ao3 (if applicable)

hereee

8a. someone that inspires you

louis teheeee

9a. a comfort fic/work that you’ve been grateful for this year

god, again, there’s so so many of them, like the amount of authors i’m so grateful for, the list is infinite but these are a few that comes to my mind

all elote’s (@defencelesst) fics makes me really really happy and never fails to give me a cozy/wintery feeling, her louis IS THE MOST PRECIOUS THING ON EARTH AND HER HARRY IS JUST PERFECTION, i’m in love with her descriptions and how she just takes you THERE. hanis @loulicate-recs always makes me smile so fucking hard. ris @falsegoodnight fics NOW.... well.... ris fics they make me smile but also make me want to throw my phone to the other side of the room BEST OF BOTH WORLD IG. MAR’S FICS (loubellies on twitter, idk their @ here i’m sORRY) ARE LITERALLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE AUTHORS AT THE MOMENT, such a pretty louis IM SO IN LOVE WITH MAR’S LOUIS ITS UNFAIR

10a. other writers that you’d like to tag!

omg i’m probably so late to this and idk how many of you have actually done this so here goes nothing @allwaswell16, @runaway-train-works, @greenfeelings, @kingsofeverything, @thepolourryexpress, @larents

[thesaltyoceanwaves]

You know Jack Ryder? The reporter in the game Batman: Arkham Knight? He reminds me of the type of reporter/person Alya is slowing turning into. Especially in your story. You get a good taste of his character by watching a playthrough of the side quest Most Wanted: Lamb to the Slaughter

With Alya’s interlude in “Paper Sky” and the first chapter of “All the Laughs” out, I think now is the time to give some commentary on Alya.

I have mixed feelings on canon!Alya. On the one hand, I think we’ve all had to sit through some toxic relationships or rough patches in our friendships in our life. I, for example, was not a good friend in elementary school. I would actually go up to my friends and tell them “I don’t want to be friends this week” only to go up to them three days later and ask to be friends again. Of course, as I got older, I stopped doing stuff like that.

And I’ve been on the other side of the fence too. I can think of three friendships that really messed with me at different points in my life (one in middle school, one in high school, and the third in college, which I alluded to in another post), as well as someone I would have been friends with if things were different (as in better, but that’s another story). 

With how Alya has been acting this season, and her growing friendship with Lila, I thought it would have been an interesting plotline to have Marinette and Alya have an actual fight. Marinette isn’t allowed to disagree with anyone, not without either being wrong or suffering for it. But her and Alya have legitimate sources of conflict that ought to be addressed - I stand by my opinion that The Puppeteer 2 would have been a great place to address this.

And in general, I haven’t been a big fan of how Alya’s been acting this season - with the dismissiveness in Chameleon, the pawning off of babysitting duties in Christmaster and Timetagger, and the pushiness in Puppeteer 2, and no consequences to be dealt in sight, it’s a wonder she hadn’t become my least favorite character in the entire show. I don’t blame anyone who does feel this way.

But on the other hand, I definitely get where the backlash to the backlash is coming from. Alya is one of the few dark-skinned WoC characters on this show, and black women in media tend to get the worst treatment from writers of their own shows (mostly referring to shows where these women aren’t the protagonist, or are co-protags with another character, likely white) and fandom. 

By contrast, fandom tolerance for white dudes and their antics tends to be a lot higher, even if they make the same bad decisions like Alya has. So when you see enough salt fics going the direction of “Alya is a bad friend” and sometimes take it even further than that (”Alya is the absolute worst!”), it can feel particularly hateful and even racist, even if the writer isn’t intending to be.

I’m a white woman, so I was anxious when trying to respond to this. How far is too far? While it seems most people tend to like how Alya has been handled so far and the trajectory of her arc, it wouldn’t be fair of me to just write off anyone who feels like that’s not true.

I want to note however, that I don’t think fic writers should just stop critiquing Alya in their writing or feel like they have to have Marinette and Alya makeup just because of this anxiety. Different writers have different ideas for how they want to handle the scenarios presented to them, and depending on execution, that’s not an inherently bad thing. Fiction is the space meant to explore possibilities, after all. I just think, in this specific case, it’s a hard rope to walk, mostly if you’re white. If there were other prominent dark-skinned girls in the main cast, or if the story didn’t always focus on the rich, white kids (coughChloeandAdriencough), this probably wouldn’t be as much of an issue. 

I don’t want all writers to feel like they have to go this route if they don’t want to. I chose to give Alya another chance because I like the redemption arc that was set up for her in Nice Guy Adrien and wanted to do something similar for TOtMiS. I wanted Marinette and Alya to work things out in the end, regardless if they remain BFFs or teammates. And at the end of the day, every character on this show deserved better writing (yes, including my least fave Lila and Hawkmoth).

TL;DR: Alya hasn’t been a good friend to Marinette in canon and should answer for it, but I don’t think she’s The Worst™ and should be crucified. 

Anyway, I actually really liked writing commentary on my own story, so I might do something like this again in the future - maybe with Chloe or Adrien when we get further along.

[jinxofthedesert]

Hi there!!! It is the same anon that requested some fic recs ☺ Thank you so much! I may give them a read! They look very interesting! But tbh I'm looking for fics that deal with some more in-depth approach to the twins' psychology and character (I don't mind the romance. In fact, I think it's a really interesting plus to the story when handled well).

(Below this is the rest of the messages, put together. Farther down, below the line, are my responses)  

 I’ve usually seen that the twins are portrayed as soft, loving and caring guys with their partners without real motives for such drastic change of dynamics in their twisted personalities. I mean, the usual Valeska centered fic goes like this: they meet the OC in Arkham or during their childhood in the circus and for some reason they reunite in the present, and then it is just the twins somehow falling for them, changing their whole way of being and only wanting to bang the OC the whole time (without taking into account the lack of the OC's inner conflict about loving such twisted men, because these OCs usually are "sane" and good people that somehow are dragged into the twins' world and for some reason they just fall in love with them without questioning it). But for me the least realistic thing about these fics is that the twins become super nice guys all of a sudden. I mean of course there can be character develoment and growth (up to a certain point), but I haven't really found a story that contains such deep explanation. Let's face it, they're still psychos no matter what, even if they have a partner.  In the last season we get a glimpse of how Jeremiah treats Ecco, someone that he used to appreciate and care for deeply, and she still meant little to him. So it doesn't add up to me when the twins are magically turned into these super sweet caring guys while their twisted, evil and manipulative side is completely ignored. I am not saying they can't love, I am just saying that they surely have their own twisted perception of what love is 🤔 Sorry for my rambling, damn, it took soooooo many comments hahaha!!! OMG, Sorry!😂😂 I had a LOT to say 😂😂😂 But I just find these characters very interesting and I would love to read a story with a more realistic approach to the construction of their personalities (and their twisted way of loving too!). Let me know, please, if you happen to know about some fics/authors 😘 thanks again! 

- - - - - - - - -  Hi again, anon! I’m sorry my list of content in the previous ask wasn’t exactly what you were looking/hoping for. As of right now, besides the ones I sent you that may delve a little bit below the surface, I can’t think of a true ‘character study’ type story that I have read so far. But, again, I usually stay in the area of romance so I wouldn’t be surprised if there are such fics out there under a different genre.

I’ll be quite honest, it’s been a very long time since I’ve read any oc/(input character here), including ones with the twins. Normally, I forget they exist until someone brings it up or I stumble across one on Tumblr accidentally. I do agree, the twins suddenly changing for an OC (or anyone) can be a bit unrealistic but from my years of reading and writing, creating stories with such things is a bit of ‘wish fulfillment’ which, to be honest, isn’t a bad thing. Sometimes a reader just needs content that is kind of good-feeling type fic (though not in a sense of how murderous the twins can be but in them getting some kind of positivity in their lives, whether it be through an OC or another character in the universe). When I wrote Oc’s at the beginning, it was either wish fulfillment for me or simply just wanting these characters I adored to finally have some kind of happy ending which they probably did not deserve, at all. 

A reason you might not find such content is also because, character studies are hard. Especially if you don’t have a complete picture of the character. With the twins, a lot is just coming up with stuff, imaging their past and how it still affects them, even if, on the upper layer we’re shown, doesn’t portray those scars left behind. 

With Oc’s, they can usually be pretty hit or miss. It’s not like you’re taking an already known character with known flaws and putting them in your story. Those characters have a foundation already built. For an Oc, the writer has to literally make someone from the ground up, which is equally as hard without making them seem too whiny, too mary-sue like, or just too problematic. This can leave a lot to be desired which can create something unrealistic as well. That’s why I usually only look for content centered around characters from the show, instead of Oc’s; like with Bruce and the twins because canon-wise there is already something there (depending on how you look at it and write it). 

In regard to Ecco: firstly, I think it’s arguable what type of relationship she even has with Jeremiah when we first are introduced to them. We’re shown some concern on his end when she’s clearly been hypnotized but this can be seen as a boss concerned for an employee, an employee who he’s probably had for awhile now and is one of the very rare few who he trusts to an extent. However, we just don’t know much of anything about their relationship or past together. She might have hardly seen him, only contacting him through phone calls and text messages; she may have only brought him supplies through the maze and never was in his inner personal areas. This treatment is all possible given how Jeremiah is quite literally a paranoid mess before the spray, no matter how well put-together he appears. And, if we’re to compare this to his eventual obsession with Bruce Wayne, we can take a guess that Jeremiah and Ecco probably didn’t get very deep with this connection they had. Mainly because with just a few compliments, Jeremiah is invested in Bruce, something we don’t see with Ecco before or after the spray. So we have Bruce enter the picture (someone who has run into his twin on multiple occasions, a fact Jeremiah must know to some extent with his paranoia probably leading him to constantly check newspapers and the news for info on Jerome) and, if you look at things from Jeremiah’s perspective, besides complimenting him, Bruce looks at him and only sees Jeremiah. And this would be baffling to Jeremiah if he knows the affect Jerome has had on Bruce, for him to look at Jeremiah and not see his twin after everything would be just as big a compliment as anything because it’s differentiating him from his twin. Someone who has probably feared being compared to his brother, for people to look at him and only see Jerome (such as what occurs with Jim and Harvey only hours prior). Because of this, when compared to Ecco, we can deduce that either their conversations never went in such a direction, or she hardly had the extended physical contact to ever bring up Jerome or compare or compliment. If so, it’s possible with how Jeremiah is that something similar could have happened with Ecco. And this eventually leads into the spray where his only true attachment is not Ecco but with Bruce, especially, after his initial spray, Jeremiah’s hatred for Jerome is far worse than it had been before, making Bruce’s assessment of Jeremiah simply being himself and not his brother, far more endearing as well. So, in comparison to Bruce, Ecco means absolutely nothing to him, a means to an end. 

I’ll admit, reading content where the twins are somehow in a relationship (with an oc or canon character) while still being rather insane, are quite interesting. However, for stuff like that to work in a compelling and ‘actual’ way, characters like that have to be bent because these characters logistically working in that kind of environment may never be realistic anyways. This can be worked around of course, but it takes so much time and effort; even now, as I write my stories for Gotham, I’m still trying to work around how to make these ships work for the twins because they’re stubborn and although they have obsessions they, at their cores are not good people and while they may try, seriously try to better themselves, there will always be slip-ups.

I do agree, they can love but it would always be twisted in some way or another (look no further than Jeremiah with Bruce). They’re also a lot of fun to take apart and analyze or try and come up with a type of background that works with all the hints we’ve been given. Background-wise, the twins are really something a writer can make their own which is an interesting concept.

This turned more so into a long ramble of writing and Ocs and lots of Gotham lol but anyways, I wish I could give you a story to fit your needs. I quite hate when I have an itch for certain fics and I either can’t find them or the number of fics is so daunting that I don’t dare even try. I would recommend just going through them, possibly looking for complete content first, or ones with high hits or kudos (depending on the site you’re searching on) because I don’t have any at the moment I can suggest. 

(Honestly the ideas for the twins never stop coming lol, perks of their backgrounds and everything else being so hazy.)

I hope some of this message was at least interesting lol and I do wish you luck in finding good twin content that delves into their character or, maybe you’ll get lucky and someone will publish something like that soon! Either way, I hope you find something 😘

[elektra121]

Dear Yuletide Writer!

Dear Yuletide Writer!

It is this time of the year again and I’m very happy we both take part in Yuletide - and that I have you as my assigned author (or, as a pinch hitter)! You seem to be a talented writer and very giving person, and also to have quite good taste in fandoms - otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this, would you?

Now, here are some things about me: I am German (so feel absolutely free to write in German if you are able and want to!). I work as a teacher for biology and German literature and I love all things artsy and crafty. Which, of course, includes fanfiction, since it is both artsy and crafty. In order to help you find some inspiration and ideas for the story you’re about to write, I’d like to tell you some things about what I like and dislike and what I love about my fandoms. Here we go:

Likes: I like Happy Endings! :) Yay! Especially at Christmas. Really, I do. I honestly believe Happy Endings to be one of the things that made mankind tell stories in the first place. This world can be scary and mean and unfair and hard - so why not use our creative mind to create a different world that is peaceful and good and fair (in the end)? Don’t get me wrong, a Happy Ending need not be all sweet sunshine and sugary cupcakes and unicorns. From time to time, I enjoy a good darkfic, but especially at Christmas time I prefer something at least optimistic in tone. I hereby confess that I’m a hopeless idealist and romantic. (Although, I think, the Nibelungenlied may be a story that really is not made for a happy ending, so you absolutely can go darker with this fandom.)

While I appreciate some good humor, yet for some reason plain comedy isn’t really my cup of tea.

I like the characters in my fandoms! Very much. They are the cause I chose those fandoms for yuletide! And likely you like them, too. So show to me what makes them special, what they can do that no other person could, what drove their authors to tell us about them in the first place, and most of all, what you love about them! I’d love to read about the lesser known sides of characters - but that does not mean I won’t enjoy their established traits very much, too. It is both that makes them complex and life-like. I should add that I really am much more interested in the “good guys”, who - in my eyes, too often get disregarded in favour of “the interesting wicked guys”. It is my sincere opinion that the goodies can be at least as interesting.

What about porn? Yes, please - if you feel like it. Personally, I’m not so much into the technical details as in the feelings for the participants, the intimacy, the thrill, the thoughts, the small things, a touch of realism. And I much rather would have a story without any sexytimes than one with a scene that does not stick true to the overall vibe or has make you feel uncomfortable in writing. In case of kinkyness - if you can justify it in-character and in-story, this is absolutely fine! Maybe a little festish may work wonders to symbolize some deep-rooted feelings or wishes? (I believe, this could work quite well for the Kudrunlied…) Of course, if you do not like any of it, that’s completely fine, too! 

Speaking of which… Dislikes: As I’m sure you may have guessed from what I said already, I don’t like fics that include character death(s) and accurately described cruelty (physically or otherwise). I’d prefer the (main) characters to stay alive. At least at Christmas. Please  - do not let anyone die and please don’t make atrocities the point of your story. Otherwise I don’t think I’d be able to enjoy it.

What I like about the fandoms: Charité (TV, 2017) There is so much I like about this series - somehow it seemed to be a dream come true: all the loving research that went into the tiniest nerdiest details of medicine history (Virchow’s bureau, the notion that not everyone instantly bought the “illness is caused by little animals”-idea of Koch, injections being given into the shoulder, Behring using his own horse for research purposes etc. etc.), the charming aesthetics, the overall idea of a series about an important moment in medicine history, the nod to the crucial part deaconesses (women!) and Diakonie (the idea of Christian charity!) at whole played in the establishing of modern medicine! Being a biology teacher, I knew about most of the persons shown, yet had never had a chance to see and show them to my pupils this lifelike, even if of course the series is fictional! Also, it is great how so many diverse life styles of the Wilhelminian Era were shown… I’ve never seen anything the like before.

Here are some plot bunnies that you may or may not use: I'd love to have a "Chrismassy" fic - Advent and Christmas time at the Charité. How do the people we love from the series celebrate? How do they prepare for the season? Do the give or receive gifts? What do they love (or dread) about Christmas? Does it bring back memories or do they make new ones? Would like the mood to be light and warmhearted and festive in general, even if darker tones are inevitable, I think, given the time period and it being a hospital. Obviously, my greatest love is for Therese/Ida or Therese&Ida, but feel free to include as many people from the series as you like. I'm sure Matron Martha and Nurse Edith for example would lend themselves nicely to this. Or: Sister Therese is sent to a sanatorium - maybe there she comes to terms with herself, gets visited by Ida or meets another love interest – more or less a more optimistic, feminist version of the MagicMountain ;) Or solely some little getaway of her with Ida on a Sunday leave in Berlin.

Feel free to use as many characters from the series and make up as many OCs as you like! I would be especially delighted if Matron Martha makes an appearance.

Kudrunlied I really like the dynamics between the women of this epic. Especially Gerlint - Kudrun - Ortrun.

Gerlint  could have been shown so easily as simply the evil queen, but isn’t. The author calls her “she-wolf” and tells of her cruel deeds and plans on Kudrun, yet in the same instance, shows her as competent queen, dutiful wife and loving mother who may have deserved death, but not like this and not what happened to her body. I love the complexity in this! The relationship between Gerlint and Kudrun seems to have something of a hate-love, with not so little sexual undertones in the scene, where Gerlint plans to whip Kudrun by herself, with no one around. If you want to elaborate on this impression (not neccessarily this scene!),

And think of Ortrun, who seems to be the nicest person who ever lived! Caught between two stools, with her duty and love for her mother and brother - and on the other hand side her loyality and friendship (or is there even more?) for Kudrun. Comparing her to the other two women, she seems the weak one - but is she? She was the only one who dared to protest Kudrun’s ill treatment - even if only by crying in public.

(Also, Hildburg, the quiet, yet totally loyal friend – why is so so steady and persistent when everybody around her is not? From where does she takes her resources – in a situation as bad as hers is?   And how did Hartmuot perceive all this? He seems a knight in shining armour, a good man through and through - and yet he did not gain the one he loved.) Feel free to use as many people from the epic as you like. My favourite, I think, would be Gerlint, though. And I really would enjoy some femslash – although absolutely, this isn’t necessary, especially if it isn’t your coup of tea.

Not a person in the story (or maybe, in some way, it is): I really love how much this story is about the sea! Ships and crashing waves, castles that have windows that look out to the ocean, whole battles on sandbanks, longing for your loved ones on the other side of the great water, standing in the foam with naked feet, freezing and washing and living and loving by the banks of that wonderful, enigmatic, overwhelming, epic force of nature.

DSA – Das Schwarze Auge (The Black Eye – Pen&Paper Roleplaying Game)

If you are not familiar with this fandom (which is highly likely), it is something like „the“ German Dungeons&Dragons. And, sadly, because of its overwhelming mass of fantasy world folklore and history would not make for a good substitute fandom, I’m afraid.

In this world, I always felt most „at home“ in Nostria, one of the two „warring kindoms“. People from the Empire may look down upon that small swathe of land in the North, with its mostly unlettered people, prone to superstition and fatalistic resignation, doomed to war against their neighbor country forever. Yet it is the land of helpful, hard-working, resourceful people at the same time, persevering all strokes of fate.

And the story of „our beloved Queen“ quite touched me. Just imagine being a student learning for exams, then the news of an epidemic in the city – and the next thing you know is the information that everyone of your relatives is dead and – congratulations! you are queen! (And bound forever to this jerkwater country and shark pool of nobility, shattering all dreams of seeing the world and becoming a great magician.) I really liked her depiction in Carolina Möbis‘ „Mehrer der Macht“. And despite me normally not being a big fan of romance (sub)plots in novels, found the one of Yolande and Eilert highly believable… and highly sweet. There is no fiery passion, no brimming-with-desire-underneath, no epic declaration of undying love, no princessy behaviour, no shining armour. They are two adults that happen to share a lot of the same problems and ideals, understanding each other only too well, and their mutual love and fondness for each other stems from deepest respect for the other person. Even if, on the surface, they have so little in common, even if they disagree about a lot of things (or maybe, because of this) their love story was one of the most convincing ones I’ve read in my lifetime. So sad their fate will be some state of constant arguing, since this is Nostria and they are bound to the magic of the land.

I would love to have some happy little refuge for them both – some short time, somewhere, little getaways from the oppressing dutys of everyday politics for a queen and prince consort.  I’d like to see their fondness for each other (and, growing love) fleshed out a little more, sneak a little into how they settle into their private lives as newlyweds or how they stand their ground against the higher nobility and, Rondriane von Sappenstiel? How they negotiate their relationship, in private and in public? What do they love about each other? How do they tackle their quarrels?

Hm… and I think that’s pretty much all I can think of. :)

  May the Muses be grateful! Have fun writing!

Ute (elektra121)

[ferrerochocobo]

Okay SO.

Pending that I have most of my oc retcon taken care of, I'll give my review on the anime briefly-

1- I want to punch Gilgamesh in the face.

Like. So hard. You don't even know. We were gyped when it came to his look in the anime versus how he looks in game. I hope he aged so fucking hard. That broom on his face is the real fashion crime and the broom did nothing wrong to deserve that. It was a murder.

2- No matter what- I think Somnus is a dick.

It doesn't excuse Ardyn's actions against an unknowing Noctis in-game, but it DOES give me fuel as a fan-fic writer to fix that. I don't think Somnus is hot, either. And him looking similar to Noctis won't stop me from stabbing him. Hard.

3- Aera is a sweet and darling character, but also a damsel like Lunafreya was.

It hurts me so much that Aera was treated like Lunafreya was. It hurts me more that she got that treatment. But I'm going to try my best in fan-fic form to give her the best friend and support she deserved before death. Furthermore, WHY THE FUCK DON'T ORACLES HAVE BETTER PROTECTION AND SECURITY? Is there some SHORTAGE OF KINGSGLAIVE OR TENEBRAE EQUIVILENT GOING AROUND?

I'm making at least Aera a stronger force than that. Someone my oc s/o for Ardyn looks to. Because if Ardyn can have Somnus roaming around in his mind, Vivian can have Aera roaming her's.

4- Tell me whatever you want- but I'm keeping Ardyn's eyes hazel. Regardless of the scourge or not.

Because blue to hazel doesn't make sense to me. Even if the eye took on that trope of rot and death and any of that- wouldn't it be lighter? It doesn't add up. That doesn't add up to me.

Have I missed anything? No? Good.

Because I have had my own writer's doubts blocking me all night with feels and worries about doing cliche writing. I have been rubbing my temples and panicking like a chicken. I lost my cell charger battery pack, too.

Oh wait. There's one more-

5- Y'all can't stop me. I'm saving Ravus.

(Credits to maty-yami for this art)

Ravus is getting saved in mine. Because killing Ravus was illogical. It had me going-

And don't tell me it was to anger Noctis. Don't tell me that when Ravus gave fuck-all about how he treated Noctis. I'm very salty about that.

6- If possible, I'm going to keep Lunafreya alive.

See that? Yeah. That right there was her in Kingsglaive. And I LOVED her outfit in it. She looked like she was ready to go to war for Insomnia. In order to do this- I'm going to have to figure out how to allow the Tidemother scene to happen. To put Luna in some critical condition where Ardyn and Noctis thinks she's dead. As MUCH as I would love to have Noctis paired with Iris- this is an opportunity to me I won't pass up. Maybe that's something I can consider, but I want to make that happy ending happy and possible. My hand was forced by what the Prolouge did. But I'm not going to let it act out of emotion. If it does, I'm going to let it fuel my passion for filling plot holes.

Bearing all that in mind? I'm tired. But I got this.

This is the most challenging plot hole fill I've ever done. As my Editor-san and @count-bassifer know, I love broken storylines. I love broken things and repairing stories for the joy of others. I'm going to TRY. And this kind of thing can only further my talent for quick plot and story repair when it comes to my own original lore.

[wistfulrat]

i am....wildly invested in this convo. OP i hope u don’t mind others chiming in bc this resonates so much.

im constantly mulling over the unforgivable curses in the wizarding world vs. the anglican xtian theology around unforgivable sins, post-war penance, jkr’s ambiguous as hell justice/law systems, and the different types of drarry fics that choose to deal with redemption as a character’s relationship to change as opposed to proximity to baseline goodness. bc you don’t have to ascribe to religious conceptions of grace in order to tease out those themes in your characters. honestly? i meant what i said in this post, that a shit ton of transgressive drarry fic is interesting bc they’re essentially socratic dialogues set in a love story.

as in, i think a lot of drarry writers (which includes the down-and-out trope) whether religious or not, bc they are compelled by an inherently anglican-shaped text (hp canon), are constantly responding to questions about deservedness, absolution, and grace. the entire premise of the h/d pairing pulls two literary foils together and asks for a reckoning and reconciliation—a collision, an aftermath, and recovery. and i think drarry writers thrive in that tension bc they’re interested in human longings to be good, free, desirable, wanted, forgiven, respected, seen but not hypervisible, left alone but not lonely. or at least, those seem to be driving themes.

we can talk about moral event horizons all day but i think drarry at its most nuanced is not actually about self-flagellation and “earning the reader’s sympathies” — it’s about the contradictions that exist in all humans who do shitty things. down-and-out draco then, doesn’t even always need a morally upright harry to save the villain because it’s not about contesting human worthiness at all. the fic trope seems set up to push back on the idea that a human can move from deserving of humane treatment to undeserving of humane treatment in the first place.

flannery o’connor said, “there is something in us that demands that what falls at least be offered the chance to be restored. the reader of today looks for this motion, but what he has forgotten is the cost” — she talks about the grotesque in southern literature, the christ-haunted south, and stories fixated on what many readers at the time considered ugly, irredeemable, fucked-up-beyond-repair characters. flannery’s writing focused on story arcs that humanized the worst of us by saying “yes, even they experience acts of grace and it is uncomfortable to witness that and you should wonder why you’re upset.”

now, as an indigenous woc whose people have been colonized to fuck and were almost wiped off the planet during WWII, like...of course i am hyper aware of that when im reading dracos characterization in fic. maybe it’s morally rigid or unfair, but i am looking for that rising and falling action anyway. that is not a xtian sentiment but an oppressed one. not because i need to be convinced of draco’s base humanity or goodness — but because rehabilitation comes at a personal and communal cost. i want to see that movement. as someone who lives in a place that was and is ravaged by war and militarization, i know that our relationships to oppressors are constantly shifting. our islands that were once carpet bombed and occupied by one imperial group were intermarrying with those same people only a decade later. how does that happen? on an interpersonal, communal, and cultural level? when does it become okay? the reality is, you can’t control human responses to that at all. the mess of post-war rebuilding for us was seeing that grace is as indiscriminate and random as violence. that anybody can receive and give it. that it’s not hinged on some arbitrary measure of morality — but it’s an experience that anyone can have. yes, even tragic posh racist shits who were indoctrinated by their fucked up parents.

and honestly? down-and-out draco is cathartic for that very reason. bc marginalized readers (or at least for me) want to see that in the fantasy world, there is a human possibility beyond repeating patterns of oppression. it’s not about wanting to make someone suffer gratuitously and publicly. mostly, it’s an escape into unreality: where a privileged people can be interested in real change, however unavailable that seems to be in real life.

Meta: Down-and-out Draco Malfoy in Drarry Fics

I’ve been thinking about the discussion of down-and-out Draco Malfoy trope in the bonus episode of GallaPlacidia’s Gallapod as part of the reflection on her Dad Says. Like a lot of thinking, because it’s probably my favourite Drarry trope?

I’m going to leave aside the parallels to history bits. I’m also going to leave aside where much smarter people than me have talked about how in the original HP series, forgiveness/redemption comes from a distinctly culturally Christian sensibility, because I think this is true AND that the trope also serves a narrative purpose in Drarry fics. 

So here’s the scene: it’s the aftermath of a Wizarding War that destabilized their entire society. If a fic begins post-War, that is sort of the background regardless of how many years it has been. In most fics, there are Death Eaters that are going straight to Azkaban, no question. The question becomes what to do with people who are DE-adjacent. Usually in Drarry fics, it’s a reparations payment, possibly probation or house arrest, sometimes a work project, the loss of the use of magic or a wand and possibly exile. That’s the justice part of it. 

Then there’s the social stigma part of it: people refusing to serve Draco in their shops, refusing to hire him and all the way up to vigilante justice. Harry Potter is a series that’s very much about good triumphing evil, so that is echoed post-War. JKR also wrote, intentionally or not, a very ruthless streak in Wizarding society even among “good” characters, so this is a little bit drawn out here. 

But I think, even if the punishment is wildly unfair, this takes care of the societal part of crime and punishment. Adult Harry is a narrative moral compass a lot of the time, but when he rejects some excesses of black and white thinking and is able to shift from suspicion to compassion or indifference to an appreciation for people’s ability to change, he brings the fic back to centre. 

Having evidence of a societal punishment in the world-building removes the burden from Harry to have to forgive Draco on behalf of everyone. It’s a matter of complicated, thorny, and often difficult interpersonal forgiveness but just that. They can grapple separately or together about what this means about the world they are in or in Draco’s case, may have been thrown out of.

But it also stops Harry, most of the time, from being the tool that metes out justice by himself. He is not the decider. There are times when he’s part of the apparatus of the Ministry as an Auror, but to my knowledge, it’s pretty rarely Harry’s choice whatever has come to pass even if he was able to testify at the Post-War trials.  

Sometimes other characters are able to make their peace with Draco before Harry can bring himself to. Sometimes other characters can’t believe Harry would forgive Draco at all. 

There’s a whole separate essay here someone could write about the fanon depictions of how that’s done and which characters are depicted as forgiving, whatever that may look like,  but this is long enough! This is just a few thoughts that have been rattling around my brain that got way too long!

[gasp-iwrotesomething]

Don’t know if you were aware, but the blog u wrote xenia fanfic for recently had mods exposed for doing racist things and were downplaying it, along with deleting posts and pretending to be the victim. Considering you are dedicating this time for BLM, I just wanted to let you know who you’re working with.

Thank you for reminding me, anon, I had almost forgotten. I do know about when that happened and I don’t condone the behavior that had taken place--but the death threats and the hate messages the mods had supposedly received weren’t okay and I don’t agree with that part at all. 

Before I get into it, I just want to make sure that everyone reading this knows I have nothing out for the people involved in this situation nor am I making excuses for them. Just sharing my opinion.

This is going to be a long post of me explaining my opinion and thoughts so fair disclaimer, this is long.

I’m assuming you’re talking about the incident where someone wrote a fic about how a character from Choices would handle/react to the BLM riots/protests as a police officer and one of the mods showed support and everything exploded after that. I don’t agree with nor condone the fic that was written--using an ongoing and very real movement for the setting/plot of a fic is insensitive and wrong, especially in terms of inserting a character to act the way you want/believe them to act. I think I heard that it was to bring awareness to BLM but that isn’t a valid reason for the fic to exist, nor a reasonable decision. I don’t think it’s appropriate to idolize an entire community’s struggle for justice and peace, and I do believe that person deserved to be told that--not threatened or harassed, just informed and scolded appropriately. I hadn’t seen it go down so I’m not even sure if this person had received harassment but likewise, I believe people who make an insensitive mistake can receive criticism and have the chance to grow. 

Does this make the person who wrote the fic racist? Not necessarily. 

Does it make them tone-deaf and uneducated? Yes. 

What’s right is to take responsibility, explain why your fic was insensitive/racist to people who may be unaware, apologize, and learn from that to better yourself going forward. Again, I didn’t see the entire thing go down firsthand so I have no idea what happened with that writer and if a post was made addressing the fic (besides the posts made on wlw-lovesruck-fiction), so bear with me if I don’t mention certain pieces of this.

In terms of the mods, I know that two were involved with this and that one left after receiving hateful messages. I don’t think their behavior is excusable either but I can see why they acted the way they did. Mod Viv left a comment praising the writer for their work--this isn’t appropriate behavior either. This encourages the writer’s behavior and tells them that writing about BLM in a way that misrepresents the events occurring is okay. It is not. As far as I know, Mod Viv doesn’t live in the United States, thus making her out of the bubble of the wider range of BLM and its protests, not to mention the continuous unfair treatment of black people. 

However, this is no excuse. 

A person who isn’t educated with the topic shouldn’t insert their opinion, especially if it is to praise/compliment a person for creating something that misrepresents. That tells a different story than what’s actually happening. What it spreads is this false belief that police in America are handling protests respectfully and peacefully, when in reality, hundreds are beaten, shot with rubber bullets, tear gassed, arrested, and charged for participating in BLM protests--most peaceful. Even if the fic was just fiction, it gives the reader an untrue pretense/hope that all police officers will react like the character in the fic does. False belief is the least of what the black community needs. 

They need truth and justice, peace and equality, allies and support. 

Police officers should not be written to be idolized/respected in something bringing awareness to BLM. The truth of their actions and their mistreatment of black people should be the centerfold of the post but by all means does not mean their pain should be incorporated into fanfiction just for the sake of attention/entertainment. Mod Viv made a mistake because she was most likely uneducated and unaware of the current state of BLM here in America. BLM is happening in other places as well, but America is where a great deal of police officers are being unethical, cruel, and unruly. The right thing for her to have done was address she was wrong, make it clear that she knows why her comment was insensitive, and apologize for her misjudgment. Again, I don’t believe that Mod Viv is racist, I just believe that she was oblivious to the damage of the situation and to events happening elsewhere. Still, she shouldn’t be readily excused for her actions by people her actions don’t affect.

Lastly, Mod Wrath had stepped up to defend Mod Viv and had received hate and backlash for her response. It was said in a post by her on the wlw-lovestruck-fiction blog that her post had come out as rude or rash or something along those lines, but I can’t personally say firsthand whether or not there’s truth to those statements. Again, I don’t believe it was Mod Wrath’s place to say whether or not Mod Viv was to be forgiven/was in the right. The issue directly ties back to black people and their struggles, so it’s up to them to determine whether or not she’s to be forgiven. If they find it unforgivable then we, as non-black allies of BLM, should respect their decision and their opinion and take their word for it, and the same goes for if she is to be forgiven. I can understand why Mod Wrath would feel like she should intervene and try to set the record straight, but it just wasn’t appropriate and respectful in the execution of it. Just like the other two, I don’t readily think Mod Wrath is racist, I just think she was unaware like them and acted for the sole reason that her friend was being told off for something she saw as not racist. People do that sometimes just to protect a friend, but I want to make it clear that choosing to disagree and scold a friend who is wrong is not a bad thing; it’s completely fine and is a responsible thing to do. Especially in this climate. It’s better to educate others rather than let them be unknowing and oblivious.

Just an FYI for anyone unaware: posts bringing awareness to BLM should be educational and factual, sharing important and necessary information for people to understand and side with black people through the BLM movement. Names of discriminated/abused/deceased unarmed black people should be spread, cops who have discriminated/abused/killed unarmed black people should be shown and made aware of, petitions for justice and change in the community regarding black people should be spread, charities for BLM should be spread, protest information should be spread, history of black people should be spread and learned and renowned and respected. Spreading awareness should be in the form of something that your followers can gain from to help them understand BLM more and the people whom it concerns. Awareness should be direct, truthful, unrequited, and passionate--not something you post just to “join a trend” or because you feel forced--do it because you want to and because you know it’s the right thing to do. Fanfiction is NOT the way to spread awareness, especially if that fanfiction inserts a character as a way to idolize the pain and rejoice of black people to put said character on a pedestal. The fic in question was more harmful than the writer realized it to be and I hope that they, along with both Mod Wrath, Mod Viv, and anyone else who jumped to their defense, now understand the negative impact of their actions and know that this entire situation was wrong from the start to the end.

Sorry for the long post, but I just had to share my thoughts on the matter. I didn’t accept nor decline the apology shared on their blog because it doesn’t concern me, though I can entirely understand why people would be quick to be unforgiving and label the people involved ‘racist’. 

As of lately, anon, I haven’t been writing for the blog in question because of both personal reasons and my passion with bringing awareness to Black Lives Matter. The Xenia fic you mentioned had been finished almost two weeks in advance of its post on their blog, and is the last piece of work I’ve ghostwritten for them. I am still a ghostwriter for them, though. I will take into consideration any previous events that conflict with BLM before I submit any works, however, and I’ll make sure that I don’t ignore any conversations concerning BLM for the sake of being involved.

If there’s any other situation that happened regarding that blog, its mods, and the BLM movement, something that needs to be addressed, please do let me know.

[serensama]

V route asks

Hi guys I’ve just gotten a couple of asks that might be a little spoiler-y so I’m answering them here under the cut so no one has to be forced to see it!

WILL UPDATE THIS POST FOR EVERY SPOILER-Y ASK I GET SO YOU’RE NOT INUNDATED WITH IT ALL :) 

@mc-of-my-life I am one of the camp leaders honey! I am all about V being happy but then Ray being happy too! I need that boy to live happily ever after, my soul depends on it. Granted this MC... WHO DOES THAT? Who lets themselves be kidnapped? Man as soon as the driver said that if i didn’t wear the sleeping mask that he had sleeping pills for me to use I was like- SERIOUSLY??? WHY NOT JUST CLUB ME OVER THE HEAD? 

Yes. Yes they are my darling. I just want to hug Mama V so tightly, bless her. Also- I love her voice actor, such a beautiful calming voice, I wonder how V would have grown up differently if he had heard his mother’s voice as he went to sleep TT__TT sorry I have a lot of feelings about this TT__TT

Let me tell you, coming from a psych background did that throw me in for a loop. I was like- you can see her morality? REALLY? Her ethics?? LIKE PHYSICALLY SEE THAT?!?!?! What you're likely seeing is her ego , what she’s portraying to society to meet societal norms. Her superego... that was becoming more and more distorted so if you could see that V... and you did nothing... I need to whoop your ass. Then again he’s quoting Freud so he may need an asskicking anyways. But I agree Nonny- I do believe that V can see more than most people, but i think that’s because he genuinely cares more than most people. Like he wants to take the time to get to know people and help them... sometimes to his ... and their... detriment. 

OMG I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. THE SASS. THE FACE. I AM HALF IN LOVE AND I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HIM. MULLET AND ALL. BLESS HIS FIESTY ASS.

I understand that, trust me- i above all people do. I think V tried his best and got overwhelmed, thought that he could handle her issues and “love” the darkness out of her. I just really hate that Rika discontinued her treatment, knowing full well that she was capable of hurting anyone and she stopped it, that kills me, it makes me furious. It’s one thing if your mental illness is only affecting you but the moment it becomes detrimental to the people around you, becomes dangerous for the people around you- you have a god damn duty to take care of it. The emphasis is on choice, correct- but it also shines upon the consequences of choosing wrong. 

Im pretty sure there’s going to be a Saeran route too, to make him so loveable is probably a ploy to see how we all react and how much we want to have one as well. So everyone please continue supporting Cheritz and letting them know how much we love them for their work and please- please let us have a Saeran route. It’s time to right all the wrongs here! *Zen is shocked to learn that tears have moisturising properties!? Immediately goes into his room and starts method acting to cry himself to sleep to wake up with glowing skin,.... but puffy AF eyes*

I know honey, I know- I am here for you!!! I have to say that I DIED when they incorporated how much he loved art and painting and the good ending where he mentions canvases etc- I WAS REBORN! I was like.... am  I psychic or what?!?!? Hahahah I always figured that heh was an artistic person as a son of a people (who i thought was a painter and a singer) who are patrons of the arts, he would definitely be one to explore his artistic options. I was saddened to see that I wasn’t completely correct in that HC but I still love that in his blood, he is an artist. And at least one parent saw that  and nourished it TT__TT *cries for Mama V* OH GOD TT__TT Don’t even get me started on Ray, that poor fragile innocent bean. I will save him. Next time. I will save him and they will all be happy. 

First Nonny: The only bad end I’ve ever done was Jumin’s and that was because I loved his little smirk in the bad end (yes you know the one). Cheritz would have done that on purpose, without a doubt. Kudos Cheritz, kudos!!!! They have some great writers on their staff who should be proud :)  Second Nonny: I know. In my head, i didn’t see him die so it didn’t happen. He got out. Saeyoung saved him and he’s alive and well. I saw it happening from day 4 with the way he acted when V came to save her- the level of possessiveness and panic he displayed proved how unstable and how reliant he was on her for his happiness... if she was to go away... and WASNT saved by the RFA... there was only one place for him to go TT__TT.... i hate being right. 

WHY!?!? WHY WOULD YOU EVEN PUT THAT INTO MY HEAD NONNY?!?!?! DONT YOU KNOW I LIVE FOR ANGST AND LOVE TRIANGLES?!?! TT__TT *scribbles down all the fic ideas she’s just been given*

Jumin is a saint in every route. He is the Best. EVER. (not a jumin fan girl at all).  The sarcasm and eloquence to which he destroyed Rika made me smile and clap. She deserved to have all her preposterous ideas and excuses thrown back at her. But- but... she does need help. Serious psychiatric help and all the people who she brainwashed and manipulated need help too.... but omg... if it were just me and her, in a quiet room before she was taken away for treatment and still rather lucid- I would rip into her for hurting my babies. For breaking Yoosung. For betraying Saeyoung and destroying Saeran. For manipulating Jumin and crushing V.... and well thanking her for giving Zen a pat on the back and some flowers I guess and just leaving Jaehee alone... and then wishing her a good recovery and a lifetime to think over the wrong she had done!

I don't think it’s a bad thing I mean... it’s kinda that same in the deep route- the one you’re romancing is almost always threatened of being overshadowed by the one still trying to win your heart. Only difference is that we didn’t get to really win Ray’s heart/get a good ending with him. Which is fair. BECAUSE I NEED A ROUTE JUST FOR HIM GOD DAMN IT. HE DESERVES ONE. HES GONE THROUGH THE MOST AND NEEDS THE MOST LOVE!!!  But I think V did shine in all of this- the reason why there’s so much support and outpouring of love for Saeran is because of what happens to him in the route. I honestly believe if Saeran got his happy ending and got reunited with Saeyoung and joined the RFA the amount of angsty love for Saeran would be cut by like HALF. We are a sucker for pain, and seeing a beloved character in pain makes us want to rally and support him... and now that V got his happy ending... everyone wants one for Saeran too. It’s only natural :)