#attention - overused cliche

[ro-is-struggling]

Fireproof Series Masterlist || Johnny Storm x Reader

disclaimer: the pictures above are purely for aesthetic purposes and do not represent the physical appearance of the reader

Series summary: you and Johnny weren't supposed to get along. You were the exact opposite of each other. While he was loud and outgoing, you were quiet and introverted. He loved to be the center of attention and you actively made efforts not to be. He had made a name for himself as one of the biggest players on campus while you stood out for your academic achievements. You hated guys like Johnny, and he had no reason to associate with people like you since you rarely shared spaces. And yet, against all odds, you were able to forge a solid friendship. In fact it was the contrast that made the two of you work so well. You called out his bullshit and he pointed out yours. You were a good influence on each other, no one could deny that. It was a perfect relationship, you knew all the bad things about each other and still chose one another....

But what happens when romantic feelings start to flourish?

This series is a collection of one shots that will give you a glimpse inside Johnny and y/n's complicated relationship.

Warnings: slow burn, friends to lovers, mutual pining, a bit of angst, fluff, lots of cliches (like seriously, I was kinda playing the game of how many cliches can I put in the same story? lol) 2000s teen flick/ rom com coded (so I guess it’s a bit cheesy? read at your own risk!), FEMALE READER

This fic starts a bit before the events of the first Fantastic Four movie, when reader and Johnny are in college (but it gets to the movies don’t worry!)

English is not my first language

Author’s Note: I recently rewatched the old Fantastic Four movies and I had so much fun I just had to write something for Johnny. Yes it's terrible plot wise but I love the early 2000s vibes of it. So I tried to keep a bit if that vibe with very overused tropes/scenes and stereotypical characters (yk like the annoying popular girl, the playful fuck boy love interest with a heart of gold and the ‘I'm not like other girls’ main character). I have a soft spot for those kinds of stories and I thought Johnny was perfect for it! I tried to keep a balance as to not make it too over the top, I hope I did a good job

The idea for this fic is to make a sort of collection of separate one-shots that show different moments in Johnny and reader’s relationship, if that makes sense. I have most of the story planned and written, but it is not completely closed. What do I mean by that? That I have a beginning, conflict and ending thought out, but that doesn't mean that once I post those parts the story is over. 

I'm structuring this fic more as plot points than anything else (i.e. how they meet, when they have their first kiss, what the big love confession is like, stuff like that). Beause of that, there are parts of the timeline of the relationship that aren't shown. And that leaves me time to imagine a lot of things, if that makes sense? So if I have a random idea about a silly thing that happens between them in the middle of "the plot" (or if you guys think of something!), I can add it and expand the context without changing the whole story.

ALL PUBLISHED PARTS:

Part 1: First Impressions

Part 2: {COMING SOON}

[irohsteaa]

is it me or I think there is some misogyny within the monster fandom..i mean people treat Eva and Vera as the worst people in the wolrd when I can think of much worser characters,and they boil down Nina to "a nice girl" and ignore all her complexities,symbolism and narrative importance and say "she isnt that well developed and not important to plot"

Misogyny certainly plays a role here, it's esp. evident with how the fandom treats Eva (esp. before she grew as a character; and even after she grows, it's mostly about "she stopped harassing Tenma" and her relationship with Martin, while the more important thing here (imo)—how she started to take care of herself and stopped defining herself through the men in her life—is underdiscussed).

But I think it'd be reductive to say that the way the audience sees the women in Monster is only a result of misogyny; I think a crucial aspect here is the way the female characters are written and how they're treated by the male cast.

I think it's one of the many traps laid by Urasawa, traps that are very easy to fall into (which is perfectly understandable with a complex work filled with so many characters). I also fell into them: my first reaction to Eva was "oh, here we go again, female characters written by dudes" (yeah, Monster taught me to stop yapping about shit without 1) finishing it 2) looking at it carefully, because the devil is the details).

So what exactly are the traps built of?

Cliches

Subtle characterization and/or an apparent lack of information that shows in, for example, the namelessness or very little time on screen.

The fact that a large part of the story is the lack of a story.

Ad 1. I think a big part of Monster is the way it plays with cliches (and it does so boldly; it isn't afraid to introduce us to the most overused cliches and turn them into little storytelling gems), so of course there're also many female character cliches: the love interests, the damsels in distress, the naive & clueless woman, etc.

And when you don't pay attention, it's easy to think that these cliches are everything that can be told about these characters. When we stop here, we miss so many details that reveal the more complex character behind these cliches.

Ad 2. I think Nina is a perfect example of how the subtle characterization can leave many people thinking that she's underdeveloped, irrelevant to the plot, and just an addition to Tenma and Johan.

We also don't have access to her direct point of view, but I don't think it's necessary here and I think we don't have access to it for a very good reason; women are still seen mainly as caregivers, as people who serve others, and are socialized to be nice from a very young age. This can lead to ignoring one's own needs and, in consequence, losing yourself.

And Nina is a character who fits into this role perfectly; she's often shown serving others, bringing kindness where it's needed, being a beam of hope, etc. She's also very often overshadowed by her brother; she's referred to by other characters as "Johan's sister", as if this was the most important information about her.

Heck, Johan even takes away from her the monster title; the reasons behind it are, of course, ambiguous, but it doesn't change the fact that it was her who was kidnapped to the Red Rose Mansion and it was her whose memories were taken away.

And she's clearly upset when Johan tells her that it is his story to tell.

One of my favorite examples of her subtle characterization is the fact that in the beginning of the story, she wants to be a public prosecutor, and by the end, she wants to be a lawyer. It seems like a small change, but it tells a lot about how much her worldview changed.

When it comes to the namelessness and the little time on screen, a good example of it would be Věra. Please keep in mind that we only learn about her possible name in Another Monster; why do I say it's only possible? Because the only source of this name is one person interviewed by Weber, and the person identified Věra via a sketch. I wouldn't call this the most reliable source.

But let's get back to the main topic; what's the reason behind both the lack of a name and the little time on screen? It's Bonaparta.

Bonaparta doesn't let us see much of her, he doesn't let us learn her real name. But even when we see so little of her, we can still see someone compelling and complex, we see a wide range of emotions, we see her determination, we see who she could be if it wasn't for her circumstances, we see her deep guilt and fragility by the end of the story, we see someone who Bonaparta initially dismissed ("you are a funny woman" etc.) only to end up obsessed with her.

But since it's only a matter of a few panels and she's mainly discussed by other characters as the mother of the twins, it's easy for the audience to a) see her as a bad mother, b) think she's unfairly treated by the manga.

I don't think she's treated unfairly by the manga, I think she's one of the most important characters in Monster and it isn't merely because she's the mother of the twins, it's because we can see so much of her in other Monster characters: in the nameless, the dismissed, the robbed of a better future, the reduced to a certain role, all the characters we simply do not know a thing about their minds and that quite possibly, behind the awful clichés, there were in them gardens and twilights, and palace gates.

(I tried to stop myself from babbling about Lolita, but it's not my fault the quote fits so well here.)

Ad 3. I mentioned the lack of the story partially in Ad 2., but there are so many other examples: the little girl who lives with Hugo Bernhardt, Richard Braun's daughter and wife, Lunge's daughter and wife (the difference between how Richard sees his family vs. how Lunge sees his family is shown in the narration as well), Martin's mother and girlfriend etc.

Thanks for the ask! ‎(^人^)

[ceilidho]

Sorry to dump this here, but no one in my immediate and/or accessible circle reads as much as I do and this conversation came up at the right time.

I don't read a lot of romance and I started reading some popular ones last year to ease my way into it. I feel like such a snob to say this, but the plot and writing are never fully fleshed out nor are the characters. None of the romantic actions I see people swoon over are ever explained well enough for me to understand the hype. A scene in which there should be an emotional inner monologue is shorted to a paragraph and if the character is toxic (I understand a lot of people enjoy toxic/dark men, but romance books never write them well enough) and destroys the other character's life/says a relationship-ending lie/any other cliche, there is never enough explanation, justification, groveling, or any thought process behind the reconciliation.

It's always just one half-written and half-baked trope after the other.

Again, apologies for dumping it here, but I think there are such damning consequences for women (the main demographic of romance readers) who read things like this and don't give constructive criticism or thought when facing these problems.

no but you're 100% right. i mean, this is one annoying bitch's opinion (mine LMAO) but trad publishing is in the absolute pits right now. that's not to say that there aren't still some good books coming out because of course, every now and then you're going to get a gem. but i think the environment has become outwardly hostile to good writing.

i mean, i know this has been discussed a ton, but the "fast fashionization" of books has become a huge problem. every time there's a new microtrend or whatever, every author rushes to push out a book to meet the demand (see: the hockey romance trend). this, obviously, means that the editing time is severely compressed and you get books published by like harper collins and penguin with typos, grammar issues, and more.

i got some flack for this when i posted about it on twitter ahah but i honestly do not understand why the sequel to "fourth wing" came out so soon (not even getting into the messy qualities of the first book). sequels used to take a year or more to come out to allow for the book to go through several rounds of editing and fine tuning! what happened??!!

i think authors now feel compelled to get their books out as soon as possible out of fear that booktok/readers will simply move on after the initial hype and they'll lose their reader base. there's like an anxiety about being left behind in the current publishing world.

this is kind of in line with what i was talking about the other day with Bo actually - writing romance and smut is actually way harder than people think. you can't just use the same 5 recycled porn dialogue lines and call it a day. you have to care a little about the story you're trying to tell, not just churning it out to make a buck or to make people pay attention to you. i'm not saying belabour every single action and decision made by your main character or go crazy on description (i still think the sweet spot for a published book is between 250-300 pages, and maybe more if you're writing a genre specific book that involves a lot of worldbuilding), but as a writer you need to want to be writing that book in the first place.

no one who's legitimately excited about what they're writing is going to resort to cliches and overused tropes - they might lean on tropes they like, but there's inevitably going to be something original and exciting there.

also my lil controversial opinion about the state of trad publishing lately is that i think it's 100% influenced by this weird pervasive strain of purity culture that's on booktok where people feel like any enjoyment they get from reading a particular thing has a direct reflection on them as a person and their values. rather than it just being a book.

(by the way i actually completely agree with you that even dark romances are as bad as everything else we've been talking about - that's another conversation lol. i also kind of agree with the idea of more romance books coming with content warnings on the front page - this hasn't really caught on yet except with some dark romance authors but i think it's a really good idea)

i don't think there's anything wrong about people getting excited about books on tiktok and instagram and youtube btw. i think it's a fun way to share recommendations, commentary, and interests. what i think is the big problem is that the publishing industry has almost become beholden to trends and online perception because they've seen how much profit they can generate by catering to it, and i think that's why books now just feel bland and soulless. they're tapping into a FOMO on both the authors' and writers' side, of either being left behind and not being able to make a living, or missing out on what everyone else is reading and talking about.

[starry-night-author]

Take Me to Church

My submission for @thepenultimateword's Song-Story Writing Challenge Extravaganza! I got @save-the-villainous-cat's submitted song, 'Take Me to Church' by Hozier!

Villain would always say that they were annoyed beyond all reason that they’d wound up in a forbidden romantic relationship. Not because they had to hide it- but because of course they would fall into the most overused trope of all time. 

“My very life is the same annoying cliche story that’s been told throughout history,” they’d grumble. “All for loving you.” 

Hero would barely pay attention to their forbidden partner’s complaining, only noticing that Villain had admitted to loving them. Their stern, grumpy, difficult to read, gorgeous, funny, wonderful Villain loved them.

So they let Villain complain, if only to hear those words again. 

That was part of what made it worth it. Knowing Villain loved them, was in this for them, made it easy for Hero to face every horrible thing about a forbidden relationship. The running out of alibis for where they’d been when they’d really been seeing Villain. The juggling they needed for their schedule to find time to spend with their beloved in the first place. The secrets, the hiding, the lying, the inability to talk about their love life with their fellow heroes because if anyone found out about this they were both dead. 

It was all so unfair, and being around anyone at the agency made it harder. With every passing day, it was harder and harder to go back to them.

There were always constant reminders there of just how wrong Hero’s relationship was with Villain. There was always talk of how nasty all villains were, how vile, how horrible. The rhetoric drilled into all of their minds that spilled easily from their throats without thinking. Without considering that it truly hurt Hero to hear it. Made them sad, made them angry. How dare they talk about Villian that way. Hero’s Villain wasn’t like that, if only they knew!

But again, Villain always made it worth it. It was worth it just to see them. Their smile, their movements, their stunning eyes, their gorgeous hair. It was worth it just to feel them- their touch, their hands surprisingly soft without their rough gloves, their warm skin, their arms around Hero. And their voice, the way they grumbled, the way they spoke softly when it was just the two of them alone, the way they laughed. 

Hero couldn’t get enough of it. If they were going to be hated for liking a villain, for this worship of a false, fallen idol, then so be it. Nothing would be able to tear them away from their love. 

It was the nights when Hero’s hurt, their anger, their guilt got the strongest. With or without Villain, it always crept up on them. 

But Villain always made it better. They would’ve drowned in it if not for Villain. Lying next to them in the dark, awake long after they’d gone to sleep. Watching their lover’s relaxed face, their body rising and falling from their gentle breathing. The way the moon outside outlined their features in a gorgeous silver, a halo lit behind their head.

They were irresistible. 

Hero could never stop themself from reaching out to touch them, ghosting their fingers down their skin, sometimes leaning in to kiss their forehead. Moving close enough to feel Villain’s exhales against their neck, their warm body pressed close to Hero’s. There was always the need to touch them, to feel them close, to know they were here and they were safe. They were loved. 

Tonight, Villain stirred. Shifting partly onto their back, adjusting the blanket. Accidentally revealing more of their stunning figure Hero could gaze at for hours. “Hm?” 

“You’re pretty,” Hero breathed into the room. 

“Y’woke me up jus’ta tell me that?” Villain’s brows furrowed, though their eyes stayed closed. Their voice was thick with sleep, their words sliding together. 

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Hero moved close once more, tucking their face into Villain’s neck. “I’m sorry.” 

“Y’should be,” despite their annoyed words, Villain’s hand came up to gently hold the side of Hero’s face. Hero turned their head, kissing their palm. “What time is it?” 

“I’m not sure,” Hero murmured. “Late.” 

“You’re still up?” “Couldn’t sleep.” 

The hand on Hero’s face gently patted their cheek. “You okay?” 

“Yes,” Hero wrapped their arms around them. “I don’t want tomorrow to come. I don’t want to go back to the heroes, where they’re just going to keep telling me how wrong it is that I want to stay here with you forever.” 

Villain turned their head, kissing Hero’s forehead. “If this is so wrong,” Hero could feel their lips against their forehead as they spoke, “then why does it feel so right?” 

“That’s what I want to tell them.” Hero hugged them tighter. “But they’ll never listen. They’ll never change. They’ll throw me out.” 

“Hmm,” Villain’s hum was sympathetic, yet sleepy. Hero knew they were barely awake. They felt the criminal swallow, felt their head sag further against Hero’s, their soft breathing slow. Already back to sleep. 

Hero lifted their head, kissing Villain’s forehead. “G’night, love.” 

If only Hero could find it so easy. They pulled away, only to gaze at them once more. Admiring. Idolizing. Worshiping. 

God, they were everything to Hero. Hero knew they would go back tomorrow, they would face the agency. All to be safe enough to go another day seeing Villain again, without the agency getting suspicious. It was better this way. The safest place to swim was right beneath the shark. 

Closing their eyes, Hero took a deep breath, then opened them again, not wanting to look away from Villain for a moment. Memorizing their features in the darkness, the way the moonlight spilled over their face, their hair, their neck, their shoulders. Taking a mental snapshot, never wanting to let the image go. 

They let themself truly sink into the feeling of being with Villain, holding them close and taking another deep breath. They could have this, just for now. Tomorrow would be hard and the days after would get worse, but right now it was alright. 

With Villain, they were okay.

That assurance was enough to let them finally sleep.

[mirisss]

Pick-up lines & Library kisses

Pairing: Jock! Sunwoo x afab! nerd! Reader

Wordcount ≈ 2.1k

Warnings: very cliche, overuse of the word ‘cute’, Sunwoo sorta kissing reader with consent, flirting, I think that’s it. 

Summary: Kim Sunwoo is a campus flirt, well known for his attractiveness, his skills as a soccer player, his extroversion, and mostly for his flirtatious ways. The man can flirt with a wall and make it blush. Though the only one he wants to flirt with is Lee (Y/n), the cute girl who spends most of her time in the library reading books, and, unfortunately, doesn’t pay him any attention. 

Note: (Y/n) is Juyeon’s younger sister. All the boys are the same age, (Y/n) is a year younger. Though you can imagine her looking any way you want, if it helps imagine them being like step-siblings or something. 

Please reblog!

Sunwoo’s POV

“Great practice today boys! Keep up this energy for tomorrow and we’ll win the match!” As the coach yelled out his points for tomorrow I looked toward the bleachers, looking for a certain someone who would probably be nose-deep in a book of some kind. “Looking for your girlfriend?” Changmin jokingly said as he came up to me. I tutted, “She’s not my girlfriend, idiot,” “I heard Juyeon say that (Y/n) was gonna be in the library with Chanhee,” Eric said as he came over to the two. “Yah, don’t be so loud, it’s bad enough that pretty much all of the team knows of my crush, if Juyeon finds out, he’ll kill me,” “Dude, he already knows, I mean it’s so obvious that you’re head over heels for (Y/n),” I pushed Changmin and Eric a little as they taunted me. “SHUT UP! You idiots,” “(Y/n)!” I almost jumped a meter in the air as Juyeon called out his sister’s name. She was jogging over to him, she was facing down to the ground as she was embarrassed, she’s quite shy, how, I don’t know. “Juuu, don’t be so loud,” “Sorry sis, did you find the book you were looking for?” “No, the system said they should have it but I can’t find it anywhere, Chanhee and I looked through the entire fantasy section but couldn’t find it,” (Y/n) was pouting as she looked up at her brother, (Y/n) loved reading and she would often sit on the bleachers reading during soccer practice to wait for her brother, I loved when she did that because it gave me more time during the day to admire her beauty and also to do this: “If you wanna live out a fantasy, I’m right here,” (Y/n) looked at me as I began talking and she blushed and looked away as I ended my line with a wink. “Watch your mouth, number 19. Wouldn’t wanna be number benched tomorrow, right?” Juyeon gave me a friendly glare while threatening me. Though I knew he would never bench me as I’m the star player, I still raised my hands in the air as we all laughed. Throughout the years of knowing Juyeon and (Y/n), I’ve always felt something special for (Y/n). (Y/n) though, has probably never taken me seriously, whenever I tried to flirt with her or do anything to get closer she would always just look away and tell me to “be serious” before she would return to her books. “Can we go home now? I have to try to find my book somewhere else,” “Yeah, come on, I just have to get my bag. Wanna start walking to the car?” “Mm, see ya there,” “I’ll walk with you,” I quickly offered before she walked off. “See ya tomorrow, Sunwooooo,” Eric said in a high-pitched voice as he blinked his eyes at me, I’m so getting him back someday. 

(Y/n) and I walked in silence for a while, (Y/n) looked literally anywhere that wasn’t me. “So, what book were you looking for today?” “Um, it’s this one book, it’s quite new, so it’s popular, but the status in the library finally said it was available, however, someone must have taken it without logging in and checking it out, because Chanhee and I searched through the entire section without finding it and the librarian didn’t know where it was either,” (Y/n) began talking about the book, telling me pretty much every piece of information she knew on the book except for the name of it. She was so excited and cute. Too soon we had reached her brother’s car and this also marked the end of our conversation, if you can even call it that. “Why don’t you try looking for the book again tomorrow? I can help you during lunch and even after classes too, I have some time before the match,” “You don’t have to help me, thanks though. But I’ll just ask Ju and maybe Jacob to help me,” “Come on, Juyeon will be busy preparing for the match as the captain since Sangyeon is sick, and Cobbie is supposed to help Haknyeon with some project, so just let me help you, I’m good at finding things,” “Like what?” “Like your cuteness or your adorable smile,” “Be serious, Woo,” “I am serious, let me help you?” “Alright, thanks Sunwoo,” “See you tomorrow, cutie,” I gave her a wink and a little wave before I walked away. 

Third person POV

A few minutes later Juyeon came up to the car and we got in and drove home. “I’m sorry I can’t help you search for your book tomorrow, I just have a lot of preparations to make for the game and I’m also working with Kevin to prepare some things for the dance on Saturday, maybe we can go on Monday?” “It’s fine Ju, don’t worry about it. Sunwoo said he would help me tomorrow so hopefully, we can find it. If not, I’ll just have to wait until I find it. Oh, by the way, how’s the dance prep going? Chanhee said that they were a bit behind schedule since Younghoon caught a cold,” “Well, yeah it’s a bit behind schedule with prepping the dance hall so Sangyeon, Hyunjae, Eric, and I are gonna help them after the game tomorrow so I can’t drive you home cause we’re gonna stay until everything is fixed,” “I can help out too, the dance committee really need to get some more members, there’s so few of them,” “No, you should go home tomorrow, or you won’t have any energy for the dance. And, yeah, you’re right, the dance committee is so short-staffed, everyone loves their events but no one wants to help them,” “Mm, I’ll text Yeji and ask if she can give me a ride, it’s on the way for her anyway,” “I don’t think she can, Yeji and the other cheerleaders are doing prep of their own for the dance,” “Oh, then I guess I’ll just take the bus,” “I could ask Sunwoo to take you home, he’s not helping out with the dance prep cause I’m scared he’ll start bickering with Chanhee and ruin something,” (Y/n) looked at her brother a bit quizzically, (Y/n) was pretty confident that Sunwoo had a crush on her and if she knew, that meant Juyeon definitely knew. (Y/n) was surprised that Juyeon would still allow Sunwoo to be close to her, last time someone had a crush on her, Juyeon literally chased the guy away, with the help of his teammates. “I wouldn’t want to bother, Sunwoo, I can just get home on my own,” “He’ll gladly do it, besides I don’t want you to go home on your own that late. Here, take my phone and text him,” “Okay,” (Y/n) took Juyeon’s phone and opened it to text Sunwoo. *Hey, can you drive (Y/n) home tomorrow after the game?* *Yeah, absolutely, no problem, see ya tomorrow, cap* “He said he’ll take me home tomorrow,” “Great,” Not long after, the two siblings arrived home, ate dinner, and then headed to bed. 

Sunwoo’s POV

I swear that time was moving slower than ever this morning. My classes seemed to take forever, maybe I was just too eager to meet up with (Y/n), I don’t know but I’m certain that the clock in that lecture hall was only moving every fifth minute instead of each second. Not a second too late the lunch bell rang and I ran out of the room to begin sprinting toward the library, where I was gonna meet (Y/n). “(Y/n)! Cute shirt,” As soon as I reached her I noticed her wearing a very familiar t-shirt, it just so happened that Juyeon accidentally brought one of my t-shirts with him home one day and (Y/n) probably thought the shirt belonged to Juyeon, but nope, it’s mine. “Hi Sunwoo, thanks, it’s Juyeon’s shirt, it was cool so I took it, he didn’t seem to notice though,” I couldn’t help but smile even wider at how cute she was as she looked down at the print on the t-shirt. “You sure it’s Juyeon’s?” “I mean I took it from his wardrobe so I’m pretty sure,” “Have you ever seen him wearing it?” We walked into the library and began scanning the fantasy section for her book without her answering my question, she looked really focused so I thought she might have forgotten about the question. “Now that you mention it, no. I’ve never seen him wear it but I think I remember seeing someone else wearing it,” “Really? Who?” She looked toward me with a somewhat embarrassed look, “You,” I tried to quiet down my laugh as I nodded resulting in her blushing like crazy. “That’s right, it’s my shirt. However, I think it might be yours now, 'cause you look so cute in it,” I walked closer to her while she covered her face with her hands. “(Y/n)?” “Yeah?” “Look at me,” “No,” “I found your book,” She removed her hands from her face and looked up at me happily, “REAL-mm?!” I swooped down and gave her a peck on her lips, “Shh, we’re in a library,” (Y/n) froze, she just stood there staring at me while one of her hands lightly covered her lips. “Why?” “Why what?” “Why did you kiss me Sunwoo?” “Because I like you,” “Seriously?” “Yes, (Y/n) I’ve liked you for a long time and I haven’t been subtle about it, I’m surprised you didn’t know already. So, do you like me back?” “Mmm, I will if you can find my book for me,” “That’s easy then, considering that I did find it,” I reached over her head and took down a book, the one she had been looking for, and handed it to her. “But, I searched for hours yesterday, how could you just find it in 30 minutes??” “I had my good luck charm with me, everything is easy when I have you with me, but, since I found it, that means you like me?” She turned her back to me as she clutched the book to her chest. “Yeah, I like you,” She tried to walk away from me but I followed after her, probably smiling like a dork because I was so happy. As we stepped out of the library (Y/n) finally stopped to look back at me for a second and then she began walking again. “Wait, (Y/n), I have two very important questions to ask you,” She stopped and turned to face me once more, her face was as red as a tomato from how much she was blushing. She’s so cute. “Alright, what’s the questions?” “This isn’t one of them but do you not want to spend time with me? You seem to want to run away?” “I’m embarrassed and don’t know what to do right now, I need to find Chanhee to get advice,” “You don’t have to be embarrassed, I like you and you like me, no need to feel embarrassed. Anyway, my first question: (Y/n), would you do me the honor of going to the dance with me?” “Yes, I’d like that,” “Great, secondly: be my girlfriend?” She took a step closer to me and leaned a little closer, kissed me on the cheek, whispered ‘yes’ and then she ran away before I could react. “See ya after school, good luck on the match, bye,” She shouted as she ran. “YESSSSSS!” I shouted and did a little dance before I walked toward my next class. Lee (Y/n) is officially my girlfriend and I couldn’t be happier, let’s just hope Juyeon doesn’t kill me for dating his sister. 

[moldybonessmell]

The Umbrella Academy season 3 review post

I finally finished season 3 of tua even tho I've watched first two seasons first day they came out and oh boy do I have things to talk about-

To begin with, the things I like about new season:

- The way we finally dug into Allison's trauma and how she starts going psychotic is actually a good plot line especially the accent on how she just like any other Umbrella Academy people indulges in self-distructive behavior, she's really just like them

- Diego getting a kid as someone with the biggest daddy issues out there is a realistic plotline because having a kid (even if Stanley's not actually his) heals him in this regard tho he and Lila would get a kid anyway eventually but they really should've been more sad about Stanley thanosing out of the existence you know

- Five being the founder of The Temps Commission makes so much sense as he's the one with the power to travel time of course he's more powerful than it seemed

- Good music scenes. Music is what season 1 was incredible for and what I love about the show. In season 2 there weren't many scenes that caught my attention but in s3 it's definetely better. We got Klaus's death montage with "Crystallised" by The xx and celebration scene with "Another one bites the dust" by Queen + Luther on moon and "Friday I'm in Love" by The Cure these were really nice.

- The Oblivion Hotel is such a cool location and concept (a place for everyone) I like the change of place of action a lot, but the way it's a portal is kinda overused imo

- Lila and Five are still the best characters and carried the season

- Fei is such a cool chara with a distict character design (which most of Sparrow Academy lack tbh)

Now things I don't like:

- Ben being just a placeholder character is such a bummer because instead of getting angst and drama we got a mostly one-dimentional anti-hero who has a completely different personality from Ben. We got a tiny bit of his character when he admitted he just wants to be involved with everyone but it's really minimal.

I can't believe Klaus says "He's an asshole and he's dead to me" like WHAT DO YOU MEAN fuck no Klaus would not say that shit and he would not just give up on him. Yeah Luther says stuff like "I'm glad to see you even if you're different" or whatever but it's Klaus who've spent the most time with Ben.

The way literally any other actor could have played Sparrow Ben and nothing would change is lame af I hope in next season we will see more changes

- Same goes to my dear Grace who's just a placeholder for black hole worshipper like what do you mean we just got one phrase from Diego and that's it??? This whole bit with fake god and stuff really threw me off it didn't go anywhere

- The Sparrow Academy being one-dimentional characters in general like I get producers probably didn't have enough episodes to actually develop characters but holy shit are they boring.

Even if you want to make them just antagonists we had such cool villains in two previous seasons they were original and interesting (aka The powerless podcast-fan male manipulator Peabody and The Cunty Handler)

Also the way the fisrt Sparrows who died were the most annoying and cliche assholes makes them just filler charas

- How show tried to make us feel compassion to Reginald Hargreeves holy shit do I hate this guy- After Klaus realised his father was basically killing him over and over in his childhood instead of Klaus getting mad or upset and having a breakdown we got nothing.

He even came back to new timeline Reginald who's "nicer" for this asshole just to hurt him AGAIN

- Klaus mostly being a comic relief in this season is so fucked I love this character and in previous seasons we had a great look at his life and experiences but now he's just kinda there being high and that's it

"mm I guess he died a few times it's probably enough" - plot writers

no character development whatsoever is just upsetting.

And the amount of unnecessary traumatising aka Reginald training him was really not it, even if it's supposed to be a joke.

- Reginald being a two-faced ass like holy shit is this terrifying. Pogo was the one who gave Sparrows pills and now Klaus helped him to stop taking them and this asshole is taking advantage of naive and vulnerable Klaus.

It is in fact a good plot twist but bro I really did prefer Reginald being a cartoonish villian instead of actual pure evil like how does he have shitty motivation but still does just so much shit.

- The Umbrella Academy family having no improvement in their relationship. They still don't care Klaus relapsed, they still don't care about Viktor. All they care about is their own misery which is really in character but with three seasons out of the way and only one more left I would expect at least something you know.

- Viktor is still left out. Like bro the only compassion he had is only when he transitioned but this is it?? Bro's still waiting till someone comes and cares about him but not only this doesn't happen, he even gets rediculed by Sparrow Ben for that and called emo are you actually kidding me what's with all the hurt with no comfort???

It feels a lot like when you're mentally ill and your family kinda "walks on eggshells" to not trigger you but it's in quotes because they don't actually care. They act nice just because they think you're psycho and you would make less problems if they pretend. And this is very sad, Viktor is such a tragic character.

Okay that's it for now. If you have any thoughts please share in comments!

[karatekels]

TIGmas Day #3 – Clear As Mud

Hello and happy third day of TIGmas, everyone – and sorry I’m late! Today’s story is dedicated to @senka-mesecine (aka @terrence-silver), whose stories are always among my favourites! This is actually an idea that I initially wanted to explore during Dark Desires October that I couldn’t get to in time. I’ll admit that the idea was heavily inspired by senka’s deliciously dark writing, so when she asked for this to be her TIGmas story I was over the moon! I hope you this story was worth the wait!

All that being said, this story is very dark and in no way full of Christmas cheer.

Summary: You’ve tried to get Terry to open up about his time in Vietnam on more than one occasion, and while he’s been doing his best to help you understand, he ultimately decides that the best way to help you is to put you through something similar, hunting you in the middle of a forest at sunset.

TW: Discussions of PTSD, stalking (more like hunting), horror, rough sex, graphic sex, outdoor sex, dubcon/(consensual) non-consent (it’s really hard to tell how much say anyone has when it comes to being involved with Terry Silver, after all – regardless, it’s not something I condone irl)

Note: Sections in italics are flashbacks to previous conversations about the war.

---

Clear as Mud

---

This was hell.

“War is hell,” he had told you countless times before – he’d made use of the cliched saying on numerous occasions, but it had always rung hollow, an expression rendered meaningless from general overuse.

But now, trudging through the thick, muddy woods surrounding Terry’s chateau in the mountains in the hot, humid night, you think you’re beginning to understand that the saying was in no way hyperbole.

“How many times do we have to have this discussion, Y/N!? I told you, I don’t want to have this conversation,” Terry had growled, his body visibly thrumming with tension as he tried to keep himself under control. You give him a pitying expression, your heart going out to him, but you’re resolute in your pursuit to get him to talk about his trauma.

“Vietnam was such a significant time in your life, Terry. I know you’ve got a lot of repressed to protect yourself, but if you’re not willing to see a therapist about it, you have to at least try to let me in,” you beg, trying to deescalate and keep him calm, reaching for his hand. He moves out of your reach in a quick, jarring movement, his eyes wild and angry, and you try not to let it upset you too much.

“It’s okay, Terry. I’m not upset, and I’m not scared of you. I know that you’ve killed people, a–”

Terry interrupts you with a guttural noise, pushing you against the wall roughly. You stay perfectly still.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong, baby girl. You don’t know,” he murmurs quietly, pressing his body tightly against yours, overwhelming your senses. “We didn’t ‘kill people’; we eliminated obstacles,” he says flatly, stroking your hair absent-mindedly while he glares at something off in some imagined distance.

“Some with weapons pointed at you, many without. Men, women, children, we tried not to pay that much attention. It’s when you see them as people that you start to think, so we were trained to use our trigger fingers, not our brains.”

Despite being sandwiched between the wall and Terry’s chest, your body still finds a way to tremble with fear, though you try to suppress it.

“War is hell, Y/N,” he says, smiling sardonically at the cliché, his grip on your hip and your throat tightening; you don’t even remember him starting to choke you, but you find the edges of your vision getting blurry. “Not because you’re being shot at constantly, watching your brothers die, losing your will to live, but because you find yourself doing the same thing right back to somebody else.”

Terry reaches between your bodies to his belt, and you feel yourself tense minutely, knowing he would notice. He always needed to fuck you after talking about the War; he said that you helped him forget, even though what you desperately wanted was for him to remember, to work through it, to ease his conscience.

Sure enough, he’s got you slid up the wall, your legs around him as he fucks you deep and rough like he’s trying to crawl into your body. You do your best to hold on, every noise that passes your lips indistinguishable as either a moan or a whimper, Terry whispering nonsense into your hair as he chases after his orgasm like a man possessed.

“Makes you wonder if you’re the damned or the Devil,” he pants in your ear, licking up the single tear that trails down your cheek.

A branch snaps somewhere close by and you attempt to stifle the cry of pure, primal fear that bursts forth from your lips. Your body aches from the tension of holding still, freezing as every part of you strains to hear him, to see any hint of movement through the thick foliage.

He had proposed to you three nights ago, the heavy ring now safely on your bedside table – he’d suggestedthat you remove it during tonight’s… activities. Terry has always been mercurial, but this sudden turn from lavishing you with extravagant gifts and his love as you celebrated your engagement to outright hunting you through the forest for sport is demented, not to mention terrifying.

You aren’t sure what his goal is, what the end point will be, how you’ll know that it’s finally over. Does he mean to hunt you forever?

Can you even be considered ‘prey’ if you’ve willingly walked into the trap he set for you, and continue to stay in with full awareness and knowledge?

The sun continues to set, bathing the woods in bloodred light.

“You could be hiding in the muck, in a hole in the ground blown open by landmines for hours, days even,” Terry had told you, his gaze hardening as he looked off into nothing. “You’re scared to breathe, scared to feel sunlight on your skin – it leaves you exposed. Then you watch your friends get picked off like flies, bullets in their brains or landmines turning them into mulch.”

You try to force yourself to breathe slowly, deeply, regularly, but quietly; Terry would pick up on the slightest hint of noise on the wind. The small part of you that wants to just stand out in the open and let him find you – to end this – is drowned out by the thudding of your own heartbeat in your ears. You know there’s no reasoning with him; you can’t even reason with yourself.

You hear a piercing whistle from Terry’s lips, a chilling tune that echoes through the mountains that make your hair stands on end; at least, the hair not plastered to your skin by the thick mud smattered across your body. Unable to help yourself, you flee from your hiding spot, aimlessly sprinting, your sense of direction narrowing to just away.

“Fear keeps you alert, keeps you sharp. Keeps you alive.”

You hear his pounding footsteps coming after you, crunching leaves and twigs underfoot. You know how silently he can move; he’s stomping around just to scare you.

It’s working.

Your shirt snags, caught on another branch, and this time you just tear it off, leaving the tattered scrap of fabric behind you, dangling like a flag at half-mast. Your torso now bare, the cuts from your previous run-ins with the foliage are exposed to the air, stinging faintly. You wonder if he can taste your blood in the air, like a shark; it wouldn’t surprise you at this point. Nothing could.

“They were chameleons, blending into the jungle to lie in wait. We couldn’t see ‘em even five feet in front of us, sometimes. I learned to be a ghost, but in the end it still wasn’t enough – none of it mattered. Except I had John.”

You wonder if John had ever stalked his significant other – or anyone, for that matter – through the forest for his own amusement. Somehow, you doubted it. And while you’d always had a healthy dose of fear for the only man who could keep Terry Silver in line, at this moment you wish more than anything that it was Kreese hunting you instead. At least he could be reasoned with.

As if to prove your point, Terry lets out a maniacal cackle that scares off the remaining birds, and you dive behind a fallen log, pressing yourself against it in the hopes of avoiding detection. The thick mud is chilly on your bare skin yet you find you want to burrow deeper into the puddle to conceal yourself, and would if the noise wouldn’t attract his attention.

Terry enters your line of sight, so silently you wouldn’t have known he was there unless you were looking right at him, and you narrow your eyes into slits, not wanting so much as a glimmer of light reflecting off of them to give you away. Watching the fluid, controlled way that his massive body moves through the trees as he hunts you, you’re reminded of the xenomorph; something so big shouldn’t be able to move so smoothly, so silently.

He finally moves out of your field of view, but you wait a good minute or two before daring to breathe normally. You shakily get to your feet, looking around you for Terry and for any indication of which way the house is; you’re completely disoriented on the side of this godforsaken mountain. You have to squint due to the fading sunlight, and that’s when you see him, calmly surveying you from the distance while leaned up against a tree, his mouth twisted into a smile. Despite the low light, his eyes seem to glint at you from across the clearing.

“T-Terry!” you exclaim, your voice an octave higher than normal. He makes no move towards you or to answer your question, his head still cocked to the side as he observes you with interest.

“Terry, please stop this!” you beg, your arms wrapped around yourself. He chuckles quietly in response, the low sound creeping across the space between you and sending shivers down your spine.

“Oh, doll, that’s not how this works!” he tells you with a cold laugh. “There is no surrender.”

“What do you want from me, Terry?!” you exclaim, your voice hoarse with fear. “I just want this to be over!”

“It’ll be over when there’s only one man left standing,” he explains patiently, as though it was obvious. “When there’s a winner and a loser and the spoils of war are taken.”

You have no idea what that means, but you’re certain it’s nothing good.

“You either hunt or you are the hunted, Y/N,” he leers at you, finally moving to crouch into a runner’s stance that has you immediately stumbling back and away from him. “Get back to the house and I may show you some mercy.”

You cling to the likely empty promise like a lifeline, turning away and sprinting as fast as you can. You’re not even sure if you’re running in the right direction; he could be herding you somewhere else. Still, you have no choice but to keep moving forward, sensing him rapidly closing the distance between you.

But in the end, it doesn’t matter. You step down and feel something tighten around your ankle, the snare trap set off and lifting you into the air with a sickening crack of your ankle that has you screaming out in pain. Terry stops running, leisurely walking up to your dangling form and howling in victory; the hunt is over.

“I was so hoping you would run into one of these,” he confesses breathlessly, eyes bright as he takes you in, crouching down to be closer to your eye level. “You know what it does to me to see you helpless, Y/N,” he adds with a feral expression, his tone suggesting that you were intentionally tempting him.

“Terry, please!” you whimper up at him, tears blurring your vision as they slide around your eyes to drip off of your forehead and onto the forest floor. “I think my ankle is broken!”

“I’ll take care of it,” he says dismissively, but you do believe him. “For now, let me take you in.”

You do your best to ignore the pain and keep quiet as you hang by one leg, your body rotating slowly like it knew that Terry wanted to stare at you. As you slowly swing back around to face him again, you see he has pulled out his cock, pumping his shaft with a gloved hand. Seeing you watching, he closes the distance between you, reaching up above your ankle to steady the rope and keep you from spinning.

“Open,” he demands with a firm tap to your cheek, his hips level with your face. You suspect he had measured it out in advance for the express purpose of having you blow him while caught in a boobytrap.

“Terry, it hurts!” you manage to get out before he’s thrust himself inside your mouth. You reflexively stop trying to speak and relax your throat; he has trained you well.

“Spoils of war, doll. Gonna need you to earn your freedom,” he jokes, thrusting himself fully into you until you’re choking around his cock before releasing you, allowing you to catch your breath for a brief moment. “Now suck.”

You obey, just trying to focus on getting free before all the blood rushes to your head, the forest silent save for the lewd, wet noises coming from your mouth around his dick and Terry’s occasional grunt of pleasure.

“It’s not the same, you know,” he murmurs quietly after a prolonged silence. “You’ll never understand what it was like being there, no matter how many times I try to tell you, try to show you.”

So that’s what this was all about, you realize with equal parts pity and dread. He had grown weary of trying to explain his time during the War to you, and was trying to show you instead.

Christ, he was fucked up.

Somehow, in spite of everything, it only strengthens your resolve to help him.

“You’ll never know what it’s like, to be faced with someone and not know if they’re with you or against you, and only having a fucking second to decide!” he snarls while fucking your face, his large hands holding your body steady, fingernails digging in past the mud and into your flesh.

Next thing you know, he’s lifting your body up, cradling you against his chest, one hand reaching up and yanking the trap free from the branch in one sharp pull, lowering you both to the ground and crawling on top of you.

“But you don’t need to know it, baby,” he continues, though you’re unsure how much he’s really talking to you at this point. His hands tear at your pants, pushing them and your underwear down to your knees, pointedly not exacerbating your ankle. He wasn’t completely out of his mind, then. Why couldn’t he just talk about his issues? This perverse simulation is just creating issues of your own.

“You don’t need to know it,” he repeats, looking down at you, muddy and scratched and hurting, like you were his salvation. He pushes your knees to either side, working his length inside of you and pushing you further into the ground. You feel tree roots press into your back, bound to give you bruises.

“I’m gonna keep you from all of that shit; gonna keep you safe, babygirl,” he pants, breath hot against your neck as he ruts into you. You find yourself clinging to him desperately, nails digging into his broad shoulders as you cry out into the night – for yourself, for him, for your pleasure.

“You’re my saving grace, baby, my own little Lady Liberty,” he coos, baring his teeth all the while. “Flip over for me.”

You roll onto your belly, gritting your teeth against the pain radiating from your ankle as you do so, and push your ass up towards him. Terry is immediately on you again, his arms bracing himself on either side of you as he presses against you, fucking you into the mud with an animalistic growl.

“You save me just how you are, just like this,” he hisses, punctuating each word with a brutal thrust that has you groaning into the soft earth against your lips. “And you’re gonna stay just like this, sweet and warm and mine, my little haven, my little sweet spot, isn’t that right baby?”

“YES!” you howl, throwing your head back as you dig your nails into the dirt, bracing yourself as he pounds into you. “Let it out, let me take it for you!”

Your words seem to make Terry snap; he pushes your face down into the mud, hips hammering against yours hard and fast and deep until he’s coming hard inside you with a guttural snarl.

Fisting your hair, he pulls your head up and turns it to the side to let you breathe, even as he collapses on top of you. You gasp for breath, trying to wipe the mud off of your face, but it’s hopeless and you give up after a moment, stroking Terry’s arm where it’s wrapped around you.

Eventually Terry sits up, tucking himself back into his pants, somehow still barely muddy, and looks around the forest floor. He finds a thick branch, snapping it into pieces, and sets about making a splint for your ankle, not saying a word. You observe him quietly, the odd wince escaping you as he secures the splint to your foot. Satisfied with his work for the time being, he shrugs off his jacket, wrapping your naked body with it to get you warm before lifting you into his arms, mindful of your injured leg.

“Thank you,” you offer quietly, looking down at your foot instead of up at him as he carries you back home. You’re nearly embarrassed at how close you were this whole time. Terry adjusts you, his gaze never faltering as he moves you to look him in the eye.

“Thank you, my love,” he returns with a sly grin. “For helping me talk things out,” he clarifies, letting out a laugh at his twisted euphemism.

You don’t see the humour in the situation, but won’t be pushing him to open up about the War again for the foreseeable future.

---

This is far and away the darkest thing you can expect from me this month, I promise! That said, I can’t say I’d mind something in this vein as a Christmas present… 🥵

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hello!! I wanted to ask a question about editing out repeated phrases.

Particularly if I focus on facial expressions too much. I know that I can describe body language and tone of voice, ect, but I found that I focus on the face a lot. Example like “they looked surprised” “Their face looked horrified” “they kept their expression neutral” (simple examples) Do you or anyone have any examples of what can be said instead?

But I have problems with other repeated phrases as well. One of the problems being how to find them in my chapters. Like, how to find out what you’re repeating more than once if you don’t know already. Do you know how I could do that?

(If you answer can you please tag me as “cupid” ? Thank you so much!!)

Facial Expressions; Finding Repeated Phrases

Describing Facial Expressions

There are two issues with your examples:

-- "They looked surprised." -- "Their face looked horrified." -- "They kept their expression neutral."

Issue #1 - "They looked surprised" is not a facial expression. It's a a statement of emotion.

Issue #2 - When you state a character's emotion, you're telling the reader how the character feels, not showing them with facial expressions.

Let's try these examples again, only this time using facial expressions to show the emotion rather than stating it directly:

-- "Their jaw dropped and their eyes opened wide." -- "They placed a trembling hand over their mouth and backed away." -- "Their straight-lined lips and impassive eyes gave nothing away."

Those are facial expressions, and those are descriptions rather than statements. Which isn't to say you can never just say "They kept their expression neutral." In practice, that probably sounds better than "their straight-lined lips and impassive eyes gave nothing away..." But the point is you cut down on the repetition of "they looked this" and "they kept their face that" by showing when you can, and telling when it just sounds better.

If you need help knowing what facial expression, body language, and internal cues go with different emotions, I highly recommend getting yourself a copy of The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. You may also be able to borrow it from your local library.

Finding Repeated Phrases in Your Writing

Option #1 - Read, Find, Zap

Read your first three chapters in one sitting and pay close attention. Keep an eye out for phrases and uncommon words that seem to be popping up a lot. Highlight them, then make a list when you're done. Now you can do a "find" search for those words and phrases in your WIP and replace them with other things.

Option #2 - There's an App for That

Editing software like ProWriting Aid, Grammarly, Hemingway App, and others will go through your writing and search out repeated words/phrases and cliche phrases.

Option #3 - Alpha, Beta, Crit

Alpha readers, beta readers, and critique partners are a way to get other eyes on your writing, and part of what they can do is let you know what words and phrases you overuse.

I hope that helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I've been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I've learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[koalaforlife]

Happy Birthday, Hange Zoë

This is a story of how Hange became one of my favorite characters now after so long, and how I think they are one of the most underrated characters, always pushed aside (probably due to a lack of an emotional backstory and lack of the relatability factor). 

For starters, I will note that I will most likely end up referring to them as she/her because in my mind (thanks to the anime), I can’t help but see this character as a female and honestly, I’ve been struggling for Idk, all my life? to find a female character in any media that ticks all the boxes for me (I have plenty of ultimate faves in terms of male characters instead) and to my utmost surprise now, I think Hange just might be the one so allow me to fulfil my long-time desire of finding a great female character that I can call my ultimate favorite.

Also, it's important to mention that for the longest time, my favorite AoT characters had been Levi (ultimate bias) with Erwin coming in a veeeery close second. 

Let me start with the beginning. When I first saw her in the first season of SnK, the exaggerated reactions that were meant to be comic relief only made this “mad/obsessed” character more cringe to me. Not to say I hated them, I just…got second-hand embarrassment from watching them. I didn’t quite get a good grasp of the character and probably like 90% of the fandom, I just saw them as just another character fading in and out of the background, that at times helps the plot advance with some new bits of info.

Then, at some point, I probably saw some cool scenes of them that gave me a pleasant surprise (eg. when she threatens to push Pastor Nick off the wall) but as I was getting distracted by other, more impactful and shocking scenes, I wouldn’t really think much of it and I didn’t actually use them to form a full character portrait/depiction in my mind. These scenes, few and far between, were forgotten in the end.

When I became a more active reader and passionate fan, about 4 years ago I would say, somehow I ended up learning about the pair LeviHan, and it really won me over with their dynamics. Whether people choose to ship them romantically or not, there is nothing that can deny the fact that they had a special friendship in canon AoT. 

In any case, to my shame, I have to admit I started paying attention to Hange because of that ship, and though I didn’t realize it at that time, I liked her for the most part because of that ship. So basically, I liked her because of my favorite character, Levi. Of course, I still liked the legendary trio, Erwin, Hange, Levi, but again, I don’t think I was that attached to her as a singular character.

Soon after, I dropped out of fandom when the manga took a really weird turn for me. I started disliking it and it went on for a while. I lost my hope in it getting any better. I don’t know why it affected me THIS much but I can only assume it had something to do with my mental state back then. 

Now, after almost 4 years, I reprised the manga and watched the final season of the anime. I felt differently, way more tolerant and accepting of whatever direction the story was going to take. And I can’t say I am unhappy with it, I just think that certain parts seemed like cliches and overused tropes, which is not very characteristic of Isayama, but oh well. I think the poor man was exhausted and wanted to finish it asap, and I can’t blame him. 

Speaking of mental health, a few months back I had gone through a major shift where I started thinking more positively overall. I think this is important to mention because it’s probably why I also saw Hange with such different eyes this time. 

And, I think this is also why I finally got ready to read the rest of the manga, despite knowing she dies. That was the only spoiler I got, and when I first heard it years ago, I was “disappointed, but not surprised” - at that time like I said, I had lost all hope in the manga. And once again, I had felt more sad about it because of Levi, who’s lost everyone he cared for deeply and who understood him. Once again, I had failed to see Hange as a singular character with massive importance in the story, instead of just a convenient accessory to Levi. 

So why is this character important? There are many reasons why she was integral to the story, and inspirational to us readers, so I will try to summarize all that.

1. Open-mindedness

I don’t think most people remember (I know I didn’t) how she was the only one who first tried to challenge our perspective on titans. 

For decades, we've tried to fight the Titans with hatred in our hearts. I want to try and see them from a different angle than the current norm.

Call it maybe foreshadowing, or just Isayama trying hard to come up with a unique, arguably crazy character (that’s what I thought at the time), but when you think about it, it’s something that was desperately needed. When you don’t understand and know something, try to look at it from a different point of view. When you are afraid of something and the situation is dire, try to dare to hope there might be something good in it.

Armin: They decided we're devils without knowing our intentions? Why won't they consider a path of peace?

Mikasa: I think...because they don't know. They fear us because they don't know what we are.

Hange: That's right. They won't trust people whose faces they haven't seen. So let's meet 'em! If you don't understand something, go figure it out! Isn't that what we Scouts do?

That positivity, openness, and exuberance shines throughout most of the scenes we get with Hange in the first season, and when things get serious in Season 2, we also get a glimpse of their duality: though they were someone that faced titans with excitement, they were not to be messed with when it came to protecting people.

2. Humanity  / Emotional Intelligence

That duality becomes more apparent in Season 3, where we see them shine on their own. And btw, one of my kinks in this season/arc was the fact that the OP, goated trio, EruRiHan, were each on their own having to call the shots and contribute to the team’s success with little to no communication at times. Fills my heart with warm fuzzy feels and pride :D Anyway back to Hange. :D 

Hange displays some nice people skills as she is trying to tie the “reputation” loose end and clear their names and seek answers, truth, and justice, by collaborating with Flegel, Roy, and Beaure.

Some notable quotes here are the following:

[speech to flegel] Well, you have a point. The thing is, that doesn't sound like living to me. Look at it this way, Flegel. Instead of scampering around like a scared little mouse your whole life, wouldn't you rather face up to your enemy, even if it means risking your life--?

and one of my most favorites,

“What are you talking about? Defeat is all the Survey Corps have ever known. (said with a fucking sunshine on their face, because they are literal sunshine)

And when all is cleared up,

Levi: Looks like the gamble paid off.

Hange: Yeah. It wasn't just Erwin though. The lone choices of many managed to change the world.

This sentence  just made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside because it sounds inspirational to me: it's the small things we can all do that help shape the world, and it's not just the more inspirational, brave, and special people that bring change, it's all of us.

If for some reason the previous scenes weren’t enough to see what an empathetic and people-oriented person she was (eg. when she tries to befriend Eren, Levi and his friends, when she gives Sasha a potato as thanks, when she admits she wasn’t going to harm Pastor Nick, and was visibly disturbed by his death)….well this line I think perfectly shows how Hange encompasses teamwork, people’s unity, compassion, friendship. 

3. Mental Strength

However, at the same time, they are not afraid to get their hands dirty. Just like pretty much every relevant character in this story, they have to kill (or torture) to survive or to help humanity. That ability to know what needs to be done and get it done comes with a certain life experience and maturity that a lot of our main characters still have to achieve, which is probably why Hange gets overlooked as she already is a matured, developed character for the most part of the story, who doesn’t really need to make any life-altering decisions that shape their personality in one way or another.

But for me, that was a plus, actually. Don’t get me wrong, I love Armin’s growth, Conny’s development, Reiner and Annie’s inner conflicts, Historia’s whole arc, and some other minor character developments (Sasha and Ymir). But I can’t help but admire Hange now when I look at a more complete picture: a person with love for knowledge and love for life, but with a feral instict and strength to protect that same thing she loves - the lives of innocent people and the access to truth and knowledge.

There are people I want to bring back, too. Hundreds of them. I've had to say farewell since the day I joined the Scouts. But...You know, don't you? No matter who it is, there comes a day to say farewell. I know it's impossible, but you have to accept this. There will be times you can't keep your sanity. It's tough. Very tough. I know. Even so, we have to keep moving forward. 

4. Honesty and Accountability

Hange is blunt ("I agree. I thought it should've been used on Erwin...") and always takes responsibility for her decisions especially when she knows it might affect someone's mental state. ("The decision was mine. You were just a factor."/"I said the decision was mine."). I don't think people appreciate how important this is.

5. Flaws

When she gets overwhelmed with politics, responsabilities, and stress, and overpowered by the Jagerists, it is almost humiliating to see her cuffed and rendered useless, unable to do anything but follow the stronger ones. You can see how she slowly realizes that this surpasses her abilities to tackle the politics and the grim reality that the world most likely wants them dead. Defeated, she says

Erwin, you only made one mistake in your life. Why did you make me a commander?

I am sure some people would agree with her, but honestly, I disagree. First, there was literally no better option. Second, Erwin had an ability to see, understand, and manipulate people. If he nominated her, he must have believed in her enough, just as he believed in Levi and Armin when he entrusted them with crucial tasks. And third, some may argue that Erwin would have handled the situation better. But while Erwin might have probably been less stressed and overwhelmed with the political discussions, the reality would still be the same, and he would have had to work with the same equations and factors: world wants them dead, eren doesn’t want to sacrifice historia, eren wants the rumbling, what’s there to do? what could have Erwin done better in these circumstances? 

This new side of Hange’s character is really sad, but it makes her relatable in my opinion. I know a lot of people find other characters relatable instead, but for me this part right here speaks more to me than others. This sort of impostor syndrome (which Armin also suffers from), and the clear showcase of a character’s flaws and failures for the first time (when did we see Hange fail before?), all these things bring her down from the sort of “great character with no mistakes” pedestal and make her seem more like…us.

How many times did we not get some huge responsibility that we felt we were not good enough for, and doubted ourselves? Be it a project at work, leading a team, parenting, or even simple things like not being good enough at some hobby that you want to pursue, or good enough to be in a relationship with someone. These doubts are human and okay to have, and there's nothing wrong with that, but...

6. Resilience 

But what’s important is to keep moving forward and do your best, do whatever you can to change the outcome for the better, and if you fail, don’t go too hard on yourself. Hange knew that she did all she could, and she kept moving forward, even though she felt so down at times and almost as if she wanted to give up. 

Looks like my turn has come...even though I thought I did the right thing. Times change and you end up in a cell....What do you say we live out here, forever?

[a few moments later]

Levi: There's no way in hell you can stay out of the action.

Hange: Yeah, I can't. (bittersweet smile)

She does what she does best: she moves forward. She saves Levi and nurses him back to health, risking both of their lives in the process (I guess she was possessed by Erwin’s gambling spirit? :D or she was just THAT determined to ensure their survival). She seeks to form an alliance with the remaining survivors, including the Marleyans. 

In the forest scene, you could say that she is the one presiding over them, and the funny thing is, she does it while cooking dinner. It’s kind of symbolic if you ask me, as food is crucial to our survival, but it’s also something that brings people together. 

7. Integrity

One of the most powerful quotes in my opinion, is this one

I’ll be damned before we justify genocide somehow.

[manga: There is nothing anyone can say to change my mind about that.]

It really showcases her determination to save human lives and a core belief that makes her just more admirable in my opinion: genocide is wrong.

But I'm sure none of them would have been so selfish as to say..."as long as the island has freedom, that's all that matters."

Her demise is so characteristic of her - she’d always been fascinated with titans, but that never stopped her from killing them in order to survive and to save people’s lives. Her goodbye words to Levi and that lovely chuckle of hers once again reminded us of that familiar “all sunshine and rainbows” energy she always had. And then she fell like a burning star. 

The music choice couldn’t have been more perfect. I admit I didn’t even remember this song before, but now it’s one of my all-time favorites, and I can’t help but feel all kinds of bittersweet and nostalgic when I hear it now.

Hange is now my favorite character, up there with Levi, and irrespective of Levi and their relationship. I love her because to me she is relatable, because she encompasses pure things such as willingness to understand and accept things and people she doesn’t know, exuberance, love for life, and curiosity. I love her because of her duality- both flawed and strong, both sweet and menacing, and I love her because she never loses her integrity as a human being. Hange brought more to the story than most of us think, she wasn’t just comic relief or a vessel to share information about the lore, she brought our beloved characters together and nurtured them, and she was the embodiment of what the Survey Corps represented: exploration, understanding, and bravery. If Erwin was the mastermind that pushed them forward, and Levi the one that protected them the most, I like to think Hange was the glue that kept them together, and kept them going with her positivity and passion for life.

[shabdforwriting]

Seven things to Avoid while Writing a Story

Here’s a description of each of the seven things to avoid while writing a story:

1- Ignoring Character Development: Characters are the heart of a story. Failing to give them depth, motivation, or growth can make them feel flat and unrelatable. A well-developed character engages readers and makes the story more compelling. Ensure that your characters have desires, flaws, and undergo changes throughout the narrative.

2- Neglecting Structure: A solid structure is essential for guiding the reader through your story. Without a clear beginning, middle, and end, the narrative can feel aimless or confusing. Pay attention to the arc of your plot and ensure that events flow logically and build towards a satisfying resolution.

3- Overusing Cliches: Relying too heavily on familiar phrases, tropes, or predictable scenarios can make your story feel unoriginal. Readers crave fresh ideas and unique perspectives. Strive to put a new twist on classic elements or delve into themes that haven’t been explored in the same way before.

4- Excessive Exposition: Info-dumping or telling too much too soon can bog down the pace of your story. It’s important to reveal details about the world, characters, or backstory gradually through dialogue and actions. This keeps the reader curious and engaged without overwhelming them with too much information at once.

5- Forgetting About Pacing: Pacing is crucial to keeping a story engaging. If the pace is too slow, readers might lose interest; if it’s too fast, they might feel rushed and miss important details. Balance high-action scenes with quieter moments of reflection or tension to maintain a rhythm that keeps readers hooked.

6- Inconsistent Tone or Style: A story with shifts in tone or style can be jarring for readers. If a story starts as a lighthearted comedy and suddenly becomes a dark thriller without proper transition, it can create confusion. Stay true to the overall mood of your story, while allowing for subtle changes as the narrative evolves.

7- Ignoring Feedback: Feedback is a valuable tool for refining your story. Dismissing constructive criticism can prevent you from seeing issues that others might notice. Be open to input from beta readers, editors, or critique partners, and use their insights to make your story stronger.

Source -

[mybg3notebook]

I know you have not uploaded in several years and might not even see this, but I wanted to say thank you SO much for your amazing explorations of Gale. He is a very complex and often misunderstood character and I think your meta posts on him hit the mark perfectly. If the spark arises I hope you will return after the full release :) Thank you again for all your wonderful posts! Have a nice day!

Hello!

Thank you very much. I am still around, it's simply work and other games have got my attention, and after playing EA so many times, I am already burnt out to the bones. I am also deeply disappointed with Larian's latest changes.

Hopefully, after release, I will continue with more analysis if the game is worthy of that. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how well these analysis of Gale will hold with the apparent rewrite of his character. If the new description of him ends up being true and it's not a terrible lie to the player, since nothing of that was shown or hinted in EA, these analysis will fall apart. In fact, if he ends up being another boring, overused, cliche wizard who wants power because he wants to be the biggest wizard of Toril :rolling eyes:.... I may lose any interest in him. All what made him interesting and a bit "original" within the context of Forgotten Realms has been erased completely with that new description.

I'm also disappointed with Larian in general, because it's obvious their two fave chars are forced through the player's throat like Liara was in Bioware's case. You don't care about them? It doesn't matter, they will always take priority in conversation and scenes, they will be key in showing another side of the main plot (as it was Fane in DOS2) and the rest of the companions become secondary or forgettable.

And Karlach's final face is a horror. It's a variation of Shadowheart's face, a barby-Karlach, because clearly Larian feeds bro gamers who want yet another doll-faced woman. I find annoying that nobody complained for this change: her first potential face (not the placeholder), with half face burnt and scarred, hard eyes, and a longer and pronounced nose, was the face of a warrior who went to hell and back... now you have the baby-doll face, Red!Shadowheart, almost, lol. It's a bit unsettling. It reminds me when Larian made their big-boobs lizard women in DOS1.

At least they did what I thought it was a must: to truly write Wyll, because that char was inconsistent, lacked of depth in comparison with the rest of the other companions, and was, basically, a future Beast (dos2) in BG3. That's why I didn't even bother to write a general overall analysis of his character. I suspected he had to be written at some point because it's was a cardboard character in there, just there to be your black char token. You know, the black char we add to a game so we look "progressive" but still has bad development as a char or it's simply shallow when compared with the depth of the other chars. Pretty much like Larian does with their lgbt representation too.

Larian's lgbt representation also bothers me. It is mostly hidden in books and lines of text in this world (yes, yes, Astarion is the only char shown and written lgbt openly, but the rest of the world has no lgbt integrated chars, or the few two couples we saw in EA are unhealthy and horrible-the gnome lesbian-or absolutely hidden in one single line that, if you miss it, you can confuse them as brothers -the husband gnomes-). We can have a long discussion about how Larian does playersexual characters that are not any representation of lgbt, because they are not written like bi but hetero, and their "bisexuality" only appears when you romance them (and this was done in DOS2 too, with barely a line or two hidden in Lohse's origin to show some potential, little bi inclination). It's so strong how they write their characters as hetero, that even in several parts of the romances of DOS2 you have descriptions where it shows that the default was clearly "man tall and woman smaller", even when in DOS2 world that may not apply to some hetero couples (elves and lizards). But all this discussion about playersexuality is a long one I'm not even sure the fandom can have at this point. I wish to be wrong and see more lgbt characters naturally integrated to the world, and not reduced to short stories in books or to whom you romance with your Tav. But I doubt it. Larian follows the masses. And Masses care nothing about this. Thank you for the ask, and have a nice day too!

[huntinglove]

pistachio and matcha for whoever’s on your mind rn!!!

Hi hi!! Thank you so much for the ask!!

Pistachio: When was the last time that you or your F/O cried during a movie?

I usually cry if the story hits a little close to home, which isn't very often thankfully! When it happens I usually just try to brush it off so I can keep paying attention to the movie instead

Ennui has never cried because of a show or movie, she's not usually a fan of most of them because of overused tropes and cliches. She's hard to impress but she doesn't mind watching stuff with me if it means we get to spend time together!

Charlie usually cries at animated movies or if anything bad happens to an animal during it, which is honestly very understandable... When it happens, I usually just hug and hold him until the shock or emotional wave passes

Alma doesn't usually cry, but they'll absolutely rant about whatever makes them upset during the movie... While the movie's still going. Thankfully I don't mind their commentary and critique!

Sir Pentious cries quite often during movies, he's not a huge fan of technology itself, but being able to actually see a narrative already makes him a bit captivated! He usually gets emotional over romance and musical movies

Matcha: What kind of gifts does your F/O give you? Are they always buying you little presents or do they invest only in larger items for birthdays or holidays?

Ennui's "gifts" come in the form of saving up a bunch of things she thinks I'll like/want to see, then showing it to me while we're hanging out! From outfits she thinks I'd like to wear to silly and cute videos, she always has something nice to show me!

Charlie usually gives me a lot of food, both because it's not expensive to give often and because it helps him get to know my tastes more easily! He does save up for special dates like our anniversary, holidays and our birthdays!!

Alma usually gifts me with little trinkets and money for the machines at campus! They would also scare the life out of anyone who gave me trouble too, even got a couple of teachers to leave the facility. Now that we're bound, they mostly like to share fun facts and stories as they slowly remember their past life!

Sir Pentious loves to give me welded metal trinkets! Flowers, animals and little dolls of himself and our little eggs too! He's very crafty and he puts so much effort into all of it as well, I love it so very much!!

[koraesrambles]

GREAT READING ADVENTURE part 2

Just finished reading the first volume of SAGA by Brian K Vaughan, which covers the first six issues of the story.

I'm. Um. Holy crap guys.

Sandman's horror was beautiful but a little much for something I'd usually read just for fun, but dang it, Saga is EXACTLY my kind of story in almost every single way. To say I loved the volume is an understatement. I have to again add reading the entire series to my list which aaaaah if I have to read the entire series of every single book on this list I'm probably going to die. Why am I doing this to myself? I make terrible decisions.

The Writing

I've never heard of Brian Vaughan before, so I don't know his history in comics or how much he's done, but I did read his end letters and saw how he'd been nervous about cancellation and how happy letter to the editor letters made him, so he seems like a pretty alright guy.

The writing in this volume is well-paced and engaging. It started En Media Res, which is something I tend to favor myself. It's a bit of a cliche to start with the birth of a baby, but it didn't stick out or feel dull to me. Also, the mom didn't even die, so it's already doing a lot better than 99% of stories I've seen that begin with a birth story.

Brian made me fall in love with the two main characters almost instantly. I'm glad he started out in a high stress situation, because we were able to get to know who they were and how they handled stress and danger in record time. He made me care about these two star-crossed lovers when romance is normally a pretty hard sell for me. I also really liked that he made the decision to have them be an already established couple who clearly loves each other instead of a will they/won't they situation. I also really loved that I never doubted their relationship's strength, even when they were bickering and fighting.

Anyway, the writing was beautiful and vivid. I felt like the story was well paced and that he introduced the characters in an easy to follow way. I liked the choices he made to try and get us to like each character (obviously I like Alana and Marko best, but the mercenary guy won a LOT of points by being willing to kill a dude to save a child, and the fact that the robo dude's wife is pregnant gives him immediate sympathy (though he's kind of on ice for being racist and trigger happy. . . )

The theme of children and saving children extends to all of the main cast of characters throughout the book. Even the bad guys who want our heroes dead are disgusted at the idea of harming a child, no matter how unfortunate their birth, and all of this with the voice over of Hazel talking about being born and how all children begin as simple ideas.

Honestly, it's downright poetic. I love stories like this, stories about families, stories where people are willing to do anything to protect the people that they love, it's just my jam. The only complaint I have is the fridging of the spider creature thing at the end of issue 5. He'd done such a good job of not using the death of a woman to motivate a male character at the beginning of the story, so I was bummed out that we still got a "he killed my girlfriend" storyline. But just because it's overused doesn't mean it didn't work in this instance. So, trope is annoying, but not incompetantly done.

The Art

The art is drop dead gorgeous. I wish I could draw like this. It's the type of art that I see and it makes me itch to pick up a pencil and start tring to figure out how they did it. The artist, Fiona Staples, is incredible. I found myself studying the backgrounds, how she was able to pull our attention to the things she wanted us to see while still making sure every frame was full and felt grounded in the world. I started taking notes on the way she was drawing the action scenes! How she made them poigant and the way they were all pieced together. It's freaking amazing. I would love to be able to produce art like this some day.

Some of my notes, just cuz I think they're cool:

don't just draw the action, draw the moment before and the effect after.

you don't always need highlights

background can be lower rended, which adds to the style

move the camera around the character, it doesn't have to always be from the same angle.

These are probably super obvious tips to anyone in the world who knows anything about comics, but I dunno, they just absolutely stuck out to me this time. The sense of adventure and fear and excitement the art invoked was just perfect for me. I loved it.

The Characters

As mentioned earlier, the writer did a really good job at introducing everyone and making me interested in them, at least a little. I cared immediately for the couple, the mercenary grew on me and the robot is clearly doing his best even though he's in a crappy situation and is kind of an asshole.

The character designs were all distinct and I had no problems telling anyone apart. I always knew where we were and the stakes for each character was very clear.

I can't remember all of their names, but I dunno if that's the writer's fault so much as I just can't remember names for the life of me. I can remember Hazel's name. Hazel's name stuck with me.

Usually when I start a story that has the cast separated at the beginning I'm looking forward to them meeting up. Even during times where one of them is hunting the other, like Zuko hunting down Aang from Avatar the Last Airbender. But uh. . . I do not want them catching up to each other in this one xD how bout we just say that Marko and Alana raise Hazel in a happy family, and nothing bad happens to them ever again, the end?

Yeah, not that kind of story. But I'm enthused by the lack of both child and parental death so far.

Final Thoughts

Saga is extremely fun, fast paced, well written, well illustrated, interesting and fun fantasy/scifi comic that I can absolutely learn a lot from. I knew the comics on this list would be good, but I was still pleasantly surprised by how this comic, that I had never heard of or run across before, was able to draw me in and attach me to the story so quickly. Beautiful. I'm very glad I read it.

[didnt-hear-idsb-live-again]

don't make me defend that vile man. My bf is a huge fan of him and he always says Matty gets off on provoking people. Whatever he does on stage and in public is to rile up people. He thinks this is high performance art or whatever. He will lie,tell stories,perform the most sexual and filthy acts on stage only if gets him attention. Never believe a word from his mouth because he speaks a lot and says contradictory things. Trains are a very common metaphor and Taylor uses train and other similar ones from the beginning of her career. It was even in sbt and speak now era. Does this mean it was for the same guy? Also the one that got away is the cliche and old overused theme in art.

Consider: doing those things you’re saying Matty does is wrong and makes you a fairly shitty person to be around imo. It’s not the justification you think it is

Also you completely lost me once you mentioned trains fgshdjsj

[iphigeniainaulis]

...You know how sometimes we are filled with warm thoughts that, for some incomprehensible reason, we refuse to let out? So here are mine.

I've been scrolling down your blog, and post by post, this warmth kept knocking on my heart. I think it is fair I mention here that I don't see there being much merit in forced positivity -- and that I stress that it is very much not the thing that I see here.

However, things are all the more precious this way. Whether I see pain in your posts, understanding and strength acquired through struggle, or "just" sweet joy, it is all so immensely warm, gentle and honest. It feels like walking through an art gallery, except it is also your home and you are wrapped in a warm blanket while enjoying a good mug of tea.

[I think I've used the word "warm" in every second sentence here... But truth be told, I simply cannot find any better word for that pleasant feeling that spills over one's chest and makes one want to smile.]

Even if it’s shameful, narcissistic or simply selfish, I have to admit that I’ve kept rereading this message over and over again.

Lorei, you once wrote that people might pay no attention to your disappearance because of how small your blog is in comparison to others. But I strongly disagree with you. 

Your contribution to Ikemen fandom is everlasting beyond a shadow of a doubt. But this is not the case (or, better say, this is not the only thing that matters). I’ve been here long enough to witness dozens of talented creators. Brilliant artists, gifted writers. Some of them are still here, while others decided to follow a different path. Yet, your place among them has always been so special. It is not just talent, it is your courage to try new things. Warmth (pardon me for quoting you here) that you share with every person approaching you. Endless kindness. It is hard to be a good writer but being a good writer and person is in another league. I haven't seen a single person here who wouldn’t mention how your posts, whether they are personal or for the public, brought a smile to their face or made them reflex, encouraged them to go further. It is very cliche of me, but you seem so dazzling, especially because I know the struggles you’ve been facing, and watching how you deal with them with so much grace, modesty and optimism simply makes me speechless. I am no stranger to jealousy, but with you it’s always been admiration and nothing more. 

So, thank you. This is such an overused phrase, but my limited mind can come to nothing more than that. I think that probably this is a special gift of yours. Knowing what to say when it is needed. This week was too much to bear. Exams, uncertainty, doubts. I tried to never lose hope, but those ‘what if’ thoughts occasionally happened to win the battle. So, hearing that I am strong enough to handle it, when, in fact, I felt nothing but void, was a great relief. 

Thank you.

[starseedfxofficial]

Hidden EURCAD Secrets: Mastering the Business Confidence Index for Success The Underground Guide to EURCAD & the Business Confidence Index: How Hidden Trends Could Boost Your Pips Ever felt like EURCAD is just that friend at the party nobody pays attention to, quietly sitting in the corner while EURUSD hogs the spotlight? Well, traders, it's time to give EURCAD the love it deserves. This pair isn't just about two economies awkwardly dancing around each other; it's a hidden gem that could lead to some unexpected trading opportunities—if you know where to look. And what's the secret ingredient? Enter the Business Confidence Index (BCI), that sneaky little indicator that makes all the difference, yet no one talks about. Today, we’ll spill the beans on how to harness the BCI to make your EURCAD trades as sharp as a samurai sword—no fluff, no overused cliches—just proven strategies with a dose of humor. Why Most Traders Sleep on EURCAD (And Why You Shouldn't) If EURCAD were an ice cream flavor, it would probably be vanilla. Reliable, often overlooked, but hold on—add a bit of caramel drizzle (or in our case, some smart economic analysis), and it turns into a surprise favorite. Many traders tend to stick to the classic big hitters like EURUSD or GBPUSD because, well, those pairs are the rock stars. But here’s the thing: rock stars have drama. With EURCAD, you’re looking at a pair that's often steadier and more nuanced, thanks to the economic relationships between the Eurozone and Canada’s resource-rich economy. So, why is the BCI such a game-changer here? The Business Confidence Index offers an insight into how businesses feel about future economic conditions, which can directly influence market movements. Think of it as the crystal ball that might not predict everything, but sure gives you a heads-up when something’s about to hit the fan. In Canada, a rise in the BCI generally means businesses are optimistic about their future, suggesting potential CAD strength. For the Eurozone, it’s a similar story—and when you combine these two economies' BCI trends, you get a unique predictive angle on EURCAD. It’s a bit like seeing the spoiler before the movie—not perfect, but enough to give you an edge. The Hidden Patterns That Drive EURCAD Everyone likes to think they’ve got an edge, right? Some have high-frequency trading bots, some have insider gossip (okay, less legal), and some… well, they have a nuanced understanding of economic indicators like the BCI. EURCAD reacts in interesting ways when these business confidence numbers come out. For instance, a surprise uptick in Canadian business confidence can lead to stronger CAD, meaning downward pressure on EURCAD. However, if the Eurozone releases equally optimistic BCI figures, it can become a battle of wills—and that’s when things get fun. Picture EURCAD like an arm-wrestling match between Canada and Europe. Who's feeling stronger today? The BCI is like that quick motivational pep talk each side gets before putting their arm down on the table. Understanding this can turn you from a spectator into the referee—calling the shots, and knowing when to anticipate a dramatic swing in strength. Why the Business Confidence Index Is Like a Moody Barometer Here’s where it gets real: The BCI isn’t just a number; it’s a pulse. It's like the mood ring of an economy. One minute it's green and everyone’s all "yay, growth!" and the next it's red and you're in "doom and gloom" territory. For EURCAD traders, this mood shift offers a fantastic early warning system. When European businesses suddenly feel like the outlook is bleaker than a Canadian winter, EURCAD will often start its slide south. Conversely, if Canadian businesses think they're about to hit the jackpot, you’ll likely see the loonie gain some traction. Let’s face it: macroeconomic data can be drier than that sandwich you forgot about in the back of the fridge. But the BCI? It’s got a bit of personality, and it’s all about how confident people feel. Like when you’re wearing that brand-new suit—confidence is contagious. Understanding this can be the difference between a wishy-washy trade and one where you feel like you’re walking in with all the swagger of a seasoned pro. How to Use BCI Reports to Predict EURCAD Movements Alright, let’s get practical. Knowing that the BCI can influence EURCAD is one thing; using it is another. Here’s a step-by-step guide to take advantage of those numbers and give yourself a strategic edge: - Stay Ahead of the Reports: Subscribe to economic calendars that highlight when BCI figures are released for both the Eurozone and Canada. Knowledge is power—missing a report is like forgetting your best friend's birthday. - Anticipate the Market Reaction: If Canadian BCI shoots up while European figures are meh, it's time to consider shorting EURCAD. This isn't a guarantee, but it's like a nudge from the universe. - Wait for Confirmation: Don’t rush in! The markets need time to digest. Look for corroboration—maybe the price starts moving in the anticipated direction, or other indicators back you up. As much as we'd all love to be the hero who buys low and sells high at the absolute best moments, let's aim for solid, confirmed trades. - Check the Sentiment: Tools like TradingView and sentiment indicators can help gauge whether traders are overwhelmingly bullish or bearish. Sometimes, if everyone and their cousin is buying, it might be time to start thinking contrarian—provided the fundamentals back it up. - Risk Management: Never forget this one. Confidence indexes might give you a clue, but they’re not clairvoyant. Place your stop-losses like you would put on a seatbelt—you may not plan to crash, but you want to be safe if it happens. How to Get an Edge With StarseedFX's Exclusive Tools If you’re looking to level up, tools like the StarseedFX Smart Trading Tool can be a lifesaver. Why? Well, let’s say the BCI gives you an edge. Now, with a smart trading tool, you can automate your entry points and lot sizes, leaving less room for human error (you know, like that time you accidentally bought 10 lots instead of 1… whoops). And speaking of tools—don’t forget that StarseedFX offers a free trading plan and a community membership to keep you ahead of the game. Being part of a community isn’t just about learning; it’s about having accountability buddies who will keep you from hitting the panic button when the markets wobble. The Forgotten Strategy That Outsmarted the Pros Most traders think they need to reinvent the wheel. But the secret to successfully trading EURCAD lies not in fancy algorithms or high-risk maneuvers, but in understanding sentiment and confidence. The BCI, while basic at its core, is overlooked precisely because it sounds boring. But there’s a reason seasoned traders—the ones who aren’t making a big show on Instagram—use it to inform their strategies. It's steady. It's predictable. And it offers you a unique angle on the market that others are too busy chasing shiny objects to notice. Time to Reconsider Your EURCAD Game Plan? If you’ve never used the Business Confidence Index to trade EURCAD, now's the time to reconsider. It may not be the flashy, adrenaline-filled strategy that gets your pulse racing, but you’ll thank yourself the next time you spot a trend early, quietly smile, and profit while everyone else is left guessing. The next time you’re contemplating a EURCAD trade, think about how Canada and the Eurozone feel about their economic futures. Confidence might just be the secret ingredient you need. So, what do you say? Ready to add EURCAD and the Business Confidence Index to your arsenal of secret weapons? Let’s continue the conversation. Share your thoughts below, or check out our community where these hidden trends are uncovered daily. Until then—happy trading, and may your pips be ever in your favor. —————– Image Credits: Cover image at the top is AI-generated   Read the full article