#bait | calliope

[tournamentstuck]

On review, this tournament seems a bit convoluted. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

!! Freshest Artifact To Get Into Hands With Intent Of Harm !!

This is the masterpost for the tournament! I will be linking each individual poll underneath as the tournament goes on.

Propaganda is welcomed and encouraged! I will reblog any and all that comes my way.

Due to the size and diversity of weapons in Homestuck I have divided the tournament into pools. This is so we dont have two swords or two hammers or two assault rifles for the finals so on so forth. To keep track of pools with more than one round of brackets, these pool-brackets will now be called Acts. If a Pool doesn't have more than one Act it will not be refereed to with one.

--Round One Pool One Act OneCutlass of Zillywair VS Occam's Razor

Bec Noir's Body Sword Thing VS Human Pornography Sword

Caledfwlch VS Snoop Dogg Snow Cone Machete

Shitty Ninja Sword VS Unbreakable Katana

sord VS Bait and Switchblade

Scarlet Ribbitar VS Regisword

Royal Deringer VS Ancestral Awakening Sword

Saber Rattle VS Caledscratch

--Round One Pool Two Act One

MSPA Standard Issue Pistol VS Doc Scratch's Magnum

Calliope's Magnum VS Flintlock Pistols

Flintlocks of Zillyhau VS Golden Pistols

Fin's Fiveshooter VS Twin M9 Berettas

--Round One Pool Three

Jade's Newspaper VS Diamond Droog's Newspaper

--Round One Pool Four

Suitarangs VS Sollux's Throwing Stars

--Round One Pool Five Act One

Quills Of Echidna VS Thorns of Oglogoth

Thistles Of Zillywich VS Needlewands

Cue Needles VS Knitting Needles

--Round One Pool Six

Equius's Fists VS Roxy's Fists

--Round One Pool Seven Act One

Ψdon's Entente VS HIC's Double Trident

Meenah's Double Trident VS Brainfork

--Round One Pool Eight

Clubs Deuce VS Table Leg

--Round One Pool Nine

White Wand VS Empiricist's Wand

--Round One Pool Ten Act One

Broken Caledscratch VS Broken Royal Deringer

Broken Scarlet Ribbitar VS Broken Caledfwich

--Round One Pool Eleven Act One

Sledgehammer VS Warhammer Of Zillyhoo

Pogo Hammer VS Wrinklefucker

Pop-A-Matic Vrillyhoo Hammer VS Claw Hammer

Fear No Anvil VS Telescopic Sassacrusher

--Round One Pool Twelve Act One

Battlespork of Zillywut VS Skaia War Fork

Junior Battermaster's Bowlbuster Poking Solution 50000 VS Red Skaia War Fork

--Round One Pool Thirteen

Kanaya's Chainsaw VS Demonbane Ragripper

--Round One Pool Fourteen Act One

Fiduspear VS Jousting Lance

Cigarette Holder VS Daggerlance

--Round One Pool Fifteen Act One

Registickle VS Homes Smell Ya Later

Sickle VS Clawsickle

--Round One Pool Sixteen Act One

Green Sun Scepter VS Walking Can

Dragon Cane VS Gold Scepter

Black Scepter VS Spear Cane

Cast Iron Horse Hitcher VS Bull Penis Cane

--Round One Pool Seventeen

Con Air Bunny VS Liv Tyler

--Round One Pool Eighteen

Claw Gloves VS Action Claws

--Round One Pool Nineteen Act One

Ahab's Crosshairs VS Girl's Best Friend

Black Rifle VS Green Sun Streetsweeper

Harpoon Gun VS Proton Canon

Laser Gun VS Hunting Rifle

LE's AR VS Crockercorp Appearifier Rifle

Gold Rifle VS Blunderbuss of Zillywigh

Mom's Rifle VS Blunderbuss

DD's AK VS DD's AR

Previous Rounds Below The Break!

there arent any yet lol

[fir-fireweed]

Last night I finished writing the first half of Chapter 2, which includes the scenes where you meet Calliope and Vicente. And I have to say, I made myself squeal, lol. So many good moments, all the feels. Corinne and Bayram are next!

You don’t actively get to pursue or flirt with anyone yet. MC is 17 at this point, and you’re jail bait to half the ROs, lol. But I think you’ll enjoy the interactions nonetheless!

[girl4music]

A tribute to queer warrior women that fight for life, love and the greater good. If you can think of any more, please add accordingly. They do not have to be in a ship but they do have to be either queer or queer-coded in sexuality (meaning: gay, lesbian, bi or pan) and they do have to be some form of a female warrior or fighter - whether that be physically, mentally or supernaturally.

I’ve only listed 10 in TV art/entertainment. 20 if you count them individually and not as a ships. Add more. For the sake of keeping to the gif format, please only list characters or ships in TV art/entertainment. Video games also count so long as it’s a popular video game.

They do not have to be canon but interpreted that way by a majority of viewers that watch/engage with it and by the creators/cast/crew of the content. I recognize that this is a very rare scope of characters or ships. In fact I can only think of Xena and The Legend Of Korra where they’re not explicitly canon but are interpreted that way so much, they may as well be explicitly canon. It’s the area of canonship where whenever you think of the TV show itself, you immediately think of the ship even if the ship was not confirmed as canon within it and the creators/cast/crew were not only aware but fully agreed and embraced those characters as a queer ship. So before you mention them,… Kara and Lena (SuperCorp), Emma and Regina (SwanQueen) or Jane and Maura (Rizzles) do not count for this tribute. They are not queer ships. They are queer-baited exploitations by both the homophobic networks and showrunners and to include them in this tribute is a grave insult.

I’m sure there’s many more. At least I hope there is. 👍

Xena and Gabrielle (Xabrielle or WarriorBard)

Willow and Tara (Tillow)

Waverly and Nicole (WayHaught)

Calliope and Juliette (Calliette)

Ava and Beatrice (Avatrice)

Caltlyn and Vi (CaitVi)

Sara and Ava (Avalance)

Clarke and Lexa (Clexa)

Korra and Asami (Korrasami)

Carmilla and Laura (Hollstein)

[davekat-sucks]

Well, let's suppose you can change some things and plots from the epilogues and hs2 that are straight-up rage bait/disgusting material, how would you make the post canon given that it's an angst-filled continuation?

Remove the dog dick plus Harley being overly desperate for one. Fuck them for Jade's character assassination. At best is that Dave and Jade have a kid, but then Dave fucks off and leaves the two alone because he thinks being gay is the correct choice, making him a deadbeat father. Unironically being worse than Bro that he left his kid. Some could say it is either Alt Calliope or Ultimate Dirk making Dave act this way as they plan to ship him with Karkat instead. No cheating involved so no Cucknaya or fucking Rose. It's just Jade being a single mother having to raise her child while still saddened that Dave left them. Same for Jane cucking Jake with Gamzee. Just follow the similar plan of her setting up to be a villain like it was implied in the Snapchats.

[trailmixedup]

Was fucking haunted by a calliope on my way home from a hike yesterday… it was legit so loud and I couldn’t figure out where exactly it was coming from. Hope this doesn’t mean I’m stranger bait

[writing-for-life]

Analysis bait (if you want to):

What attracts Morpheus to a romantic partner in the first place? Like, is there a common "theme", or is each person different?

What's the main reason that Morpheus' romantic relationships fail?

Ah friend, I’m always up for analysis bait! This question has the fandom intrigued, and not for the first time 🤣

I recommend my aimless ramblings that I brought to the page here (more geared towards what might attract him in the first place):

And here (answers a lot about why they fail):

I also had an ask about Dream and Calliope a while back which answers a few additional questions:

I’d say the common theme is: They’re dreamers, or have a strong connection to the Dreaming or meet him there in the first place. There’s naturally also that pesky topic of Desire meddling here and there, but even so, I think the common theme still stands.

What does everyone else think?

@saiyanblood2 ask answered

[imaginedreamwrite]

Lover(s)

Part 3: An Offer

The warmth of the day hadn’t yet evaporated with the setting sun, and even if it had there was no feasible way you could have been cold. With Alexios sitting on your left and Kassandra on your right, you were trapped between two golden kissed Greek space heaters. There was no amount of chill that could have broken the barrier of heat their bodies created even when a breeze had settled upon the outdoor patio. 

Regardless of the lack of a chill, the night sky was beautiful with a seemingly endless dusting of stars against an onyx background. The sky was captivating, and there were several moments during dinner when you found yourself gazing at the stars rather than engaging in conversation. It was a draw toward the glittering night sky that had rendered you often silent while the others were speaking. 

Your dedication to watching the stars instead of paying attention to the conversation around you was fueled by your regret over not bringing your camera. You loved the nature of beauty and the world around you, it was your passion to capture it’s essence in images, and this night seemed perfect. Of course, your attention could only stay on the starry night sky blanketed above you for so long before it was stolen.

���Calliope asked if my sister and I would give you the full Greek experience,” Alexios’ thick and husky voice had rendered your attention back on him, and as your eyes had fallen back toward him, a smile had graced his face. The kind of smile that was warm and alluring, easy to disassemble anyone’s guard leaving them vulnerable to his charms. 

“She mentioned that I would have someone showing me around while I was here, I didn’t think there would be two of you.” You hadn’t been able to pull your attention off of this Greek adonis, the kind of man who was beautiful and strong. 

“And what do you want to see in Greece, hmm? Or would you like my brother and I to take control?” Only when Kassandra had rest her hand upon your bare forearm and questioned you with her own charming voice did you manage to look at her. Her brown eyes were identical to Alexios and yet the two of them had slight differences in their irises that drew you in simultaneously. 

And when the two of them spoke it made you breathless. Your heart had begun racing in a pattern that was aiding your lightheadedness and fluttering stomach. Though you had just met them tonight it was impossible not to be drawn or attracted to them—the siren’s call that they clearly embraced. It was not just a reminder that you were single but that your ex was a long forgotten memory you wouldn’t dig out of the depths of your mind. 

And you were in Greece, you could have fun and enjoy your 6 months here without having to think about the piece of shit back home. 

“I have a list,” you finally responded to Kassandra and your attention had briefly flit toward the hand she rested on your forearm, her fingers squeezing ever so slightly, “the agora, the acropolis and Olympus.” 

There was so much you'd wanted to see in Greece, so much you had wanted to do and even if you were here for 6 months it didn’t seem like enough time. While 6 months wasn’t any small measure, your time here would be split between wedding preparations for Dessa and Calliope’s wedding, and then everything in between. There was going to be a formal party held at Calliope’s family estate, one that was both an engagement party of sorts and a family dinner to welcome her to the family. 

And you by extension. 

“You want to have a true Greek experience?” Alexios had once again taken your attention, and you turned your head toward him, your breath hitching in your throat when he had leaned in. “The ruins are fine μικρό but there is so much more to Greek life than ruins and old myths.” 

“Like what?” You tilted your head to the side, taking the baiting question and firing your own off in response. 

“You like fishing?” Alexios had rested his elbow on the table and rest his cheek on his knuckles, his brown eyes sweeping over you with an air or cocky yet charismatic charm. “Have you ever been fishing?” 

“I’m not a good fisherman.” You lifted your wine glass to finish what was left and snorted as a statement to his question. 

“You need a Greek to teach you.” His accent was thick and husky, leaving a trail of goosebumps to rise on your skin. “I can take you fishing.”  

You had glanced at her from the corner of your eyes, watching her lift her glass to lips to sip on her wine. There was a roll of her eyes followed by the usual back and forth that was common between brother and sister. 

“Fishing?” You set the glass down before you cast your eyes over your shoulder, looking at Kasaandra momentarily, just in time to see her roll her eyes and mumble something under her breath. 

“My brother thinks he is favoured by Poseiden.” Kassandra quipped and leaned over, her shoulder brushing against her back in a move that was deliberate. “You are no better fisherman than pater was.” 

“Maybe I need a good luck charm.” Alexios let the comment roll of his back like water off a duck’s and quickly recovered with a wink in your direction. “I’ll take you around the islands, show you the best place to fish.” 

“And I will show you the real Greek talents of wine, πέταλο.” Kassandra had slipped a hand around your shoulders to shove her hand into Alexios’ shoulder, in a playful and sisterly manner. “You should spend a day at our family’s vineyard, I would love for you to try the freshest wine from our award-winning vines.” 

The kind of heat that radiated off their bodies was enticing and debilitating all at once, making you wish to coil yourself around the heat like it was a Lifesource. Of course, you could have debated with yourself and tried to reason that it was the wine that you were drinking. Or perhaps it was the environment you were in, the breathtaking views of the white stone villa and the mediterranean sea that lapped at the shores that made you yearn like this. 

Regardless of what it was, of what the true cause was, you had turned toward Alexios and stared at him more head on than you had been before. Everything but Kassandra had faded, creating a muffled background that was void of importance to you in this moment. Even Dessa and Calliope, who had left the table for their own intimate moments by the edge of the outdoor patio, had become blurs to you. 

“That’s why you’re here isn’t it? To give me the authentic Greek experience?” Your comment aimed at them both brings a smile to his face, equally as charming and devilish as before. And there’s little room for you to say anything more in rebuttal to Alexios before here’s a kind of electricity that pulsates between you three—and you are caught in the middle. 

“Don’t worry your pretty little head, Y/N. Between my brother and I, we’ll make sure your 6 months here will be unforgettable.” Kassandra’s hand moves from your forearm to your shoulder as her soft, yet callused hands fix the tapered straps of your dress. It was a touch that sent shivers through you and made your heart race thunderously in your chest. 

“I don’t doubt that.” With your own air of teasing and sarcasm you had fully embraced being trapped between the two of them, at least until Calliope and Dessa had joined the two of you again. 

The tension between Dessa and Calliope was similar yet not so intense, of the tension between Alexios, yourself and Kassandra. It had made your stomach flutter with the possibility of what might have come in the future while leaving you hopeful that there was mutual attraction. 

“Sorry to interrupt this,” Dessa’s eyes were alight with amusement as she grinned at you, giving you a very knowing and poignant look, “but we should get back, Y/N. We have a fitting in the morning for the bridesmaid dresses.” 

You had registered what Dessa had said and yet your feet were slow to move. It was as if your mind was plagued by a fog that made your legs and feet feel like lead. Eventually you had pushed your chair back and had risen to your feet, standing between Alexios and Kassandra. You could still feel the heat radiating off their bodies that had still kept the chill of the Greek night away from you. However, you were aware that once you had moved from between them, that chill would nip at your skin. 

“Before you go,” Alexios had reached for your wrist, holding you back and dividing your attention between the siblings, “your Greek experience starts tomorrow, μικρό.” 

Your eyes slowly ran over his appearance from his dark brown almost black hair that was secured in a bun at the nape of his neck. You had admittedly looked at him too long, studying the silver beads attached to pieces of his hair, something you missed before. 

“We promise not to be too hard on you, we have to work you into Greek culture.” Kassandra had taken your attention next, and like Alexios you had been all too attentive to her. The thick braid that was over her shoulder, the fine and delicate yet strong features that were entrancing you, and her eyes that stole your breath. 

It would’ve been impossible not to completely fall under the spell of both Alexios and Kassandra, and trying to pretend otherwise was useless. 

“The dress fitting should be done at 11:00.” Your tongue moved on its own accord as you stepped out of the blanketing warmth their bodies provided and moved toward Dessa. The shiver that ran down your spine was almost immediate the further you had gotten from the two of them. There was a standard goodbye that had taken place before you and Dessa had officially left, with Calliope kissing your sister and bidding her a goodnight, and then one from Alexios and Kassandra. 

“Goodnight, Y/N.” Alexios and Kassandra had simultaneously bid their goodbyes, while Kassandra looked over her shoulder towards you, eyes sweeping over your body with a lilt of a smile on her face. 

"So..?” Dessa had only asked as the two of you left the restaurant and began the trek back to the guesthouses you were staying in. She had looped her arm in with yours as you walked side by side, your sister's questioning would now begin out of earshot of Calliope, Alexios and Kassandra. You knew she would want to know your impressions, your thoughts about the brother and sister duo that would be showing you around for the next 6 months. Dessa was probably also ask about how you were feeling about your parents complete dismissal of Calliope and Dessa’s relationship, and the fact that they thought it was doomed. 

“So... Alexios and Kassandra are very confident.” That was the only way you knew how to describe the two that would be your guides for the next 6 months, though there were other terms that you wouldn’t verbalize to your sister. 

“If you feel like they know you better than you know them, that might be my fault.” Dessa squeezed your arm and sighed, craning her neck back to look at the blanket of stars above you. “Between Calliope and I, we’ve talked a lot about you. And Kassandra and Alexios are good friends with Calliope’s family.” 

What Dessa said had made sense, it had seemed as if they knew more about you than they had let on, and now you knew why. 

During dinner they had asked about yourself, the basics that you would have been asked on a first date. Since Dessa had confessed that she and Calliope talked about you than you knew that the siblings asked to hear it from you. They had asked and you had told them about your passion for photography, for travelling. You had conveyed that you wanted to make a career out of your love for the art of photography, and they had likewise shared about themselves. 

“Tomorrow I’m sure one of them, or both, will want to do something. There's so much to see in Greece, I don’t really think a person can actually see it all.” Dessa had commented again, walking side by side with you as you both went to seek rest for the night. “Calliope was right, this trip will be amazing for you.” 

[orionsangel86]

Hi! I wanted to wish you a good day. I have been reading your blog and now I understand more what is going on. It was honestly so confusing to see a ton of subtweeting in the main tag. Honestly it really got to a place that it was just rage bait posting.

Which it is shame as there is sandmanfemslash week coming soon and people I follow seems interested in participating and this is honestly a perfect opportunity for more people to try out new ships. We are a small fandom and for what I see, there is not many people posting stuff frequently now that the hype die down.

Hey, im sorry it spilled out into the main tag. Frustrations had clearly been rising for some time as I often came across angry posts in the main tags clearly raging at the state of fandom but tried to ignore them. I'm just disappointed that an important topic that does need civil discussion turned into such petty ship hate and targetted attacks.

I don't know who is organising Sandman FemSlash week, but I will support it regardless. We must must MUST devote more of our efforts to keeping these spaces welcoming to POC, particularly women of colour and I do think that to do that we need to raise up creators devoting their time and efforts to the characters of colour and the amazing women of Sandman.

I know there are some Gaultienne/Gaulcienne works on its way very soon. As well as some Johanna x Calliope work which I'm excited for.

I'll see if I can raise some more awareness and support for the SandmanFemSlash week as well. After all this hurt and discourse emotions are running high and we need to good event to channel our energies into.

[arleniansdoodles]

THE REVELATION IS CLOSE EVERYONE THIS IS NOT A DRILL

well...relatively close anyway lol

And Sindri's heart of stone is finally melting~

I really enjoyed the calliope-sindri interactions, i think this is my favourite from any sindri-calliope chapter. Calliope just being a sweetheart all the way <3

Its good that atreus finally broached the kratos subject. Obviously cause we've been waiting for the reveal with baited breath lol but also i think calliope needed to hear it. She cant exactly hide away forever (even if she wants to)

Great chapter! I cant wait for next saturday

lololl it's definitely getting closer!! Especially since I had to merge some more chapters together aaaaaaaa

I'm happy you enjoyed the Sindri-Calliope shenanigans! They're such cuties together hahaa :D And Atreus is definitely making a good call with giving both Kratos and Calliope a heads-up ... We'll just have to wait and see how it goes from there!

Thank you so much for reading! <333

[dangertoozmanykids101]

Paranormal Romance Book Covers & Titles - Tooz Prompt!

Over breakfast this morning I opened Tumblr and this post caught my attention - the book cover to the book "Morning Glory Milking Farm."

I had to look the book up, of course. The title was just so funny to me, let alone the perfect cover art. [Link to book on Goodreads.]

But I really had fun looking through the Recommended Books. I love a fun titles that make me laugh and sound ridiculous - so you know the author has a great sense of humor. Besides, y'all know I don't shy away from any monster. Don't these sound fun? Imagine your favorite author here writing a fic with a title similar to these. OMG, now I'm begging for some crazy stuff! Such as.....

"Titan: Romancing His Stone. A Daddy Dom Gargoyle Romance", by Jullian Graves.

"Love, Laugh, Lich: Sex Rituals Are Not OSHA Compliant", by Kate Prior.

"The Orc At The Office: Mate-Bonding With A Co-Worker Is Against Company Policy", by Kate Prior.

"Knot Today Satan", by Calliope Stewart.

And I can't forget "Morning Glory Milking Farm: A Monster Bait Romance", by C.M. Nascosta.

Okay.... Tag you're it. Add a fun crazy title and book cover for a Paranormal Romance, or whatever. Something that catches your eye. Maybe some of us will be inspired to write something off the wall? Or create your own book cover and title. Oooo, then maybe someone will write a story to it. Or someone might make a cover for your title? Challenge yourself!!

Here are a couple people I'm tagging to throw a monkey wrench of a challenge into your day - week maybe? Obviously no pressure. Just for fun.

Open to everyone!!!

Whatever muse you want - turn him into a monster or a paranormal creature of some sort!

Instructions:

Find a fun paranormal romance book cover and reblog, maybe challenge someone else?

IF you get inspired to write your muse as a paranormal creature, or do a mood board, artwork, book cover, - whatever creative outlet you do, it'll be amazing!!! Please tag me or message me.

@caffiend-queen @nildespirandum @latent-thoughts @ladyoftheteaandblood @wiypt-writes @so-easy-to-love-me @acidcasualties @deceitfuldevout @jtargaryen18 @tarithenurse @muddyorbs @michelleleewise @xorpsbane @talklokitome @mooncat163 @coldnique @emeraldrosequartz @kikster606 @nonsensicalobsessions @jtargaryen18 @lokischambermaid @lokisgoodgirl @holymultiplefandomsbatman @vbecker10 @ijuststareatstuffhereok89 @myoxisbroken @skinnylittleredwrites @redfoxwritesstuff @imanuglywombat @alexakeyloveloki

[chrisringrose]

“Gone Fishing” April poem #28, 2023. Writing a poem each day over 28 days gets you to wondering where they surface from, and it’s natural to think of depths and daylight, and even remember the look of a float on a lake at dawn . . .

Gone Fishing

Take a black-barrelled fountain pen

and a notebook from the hoard;

Ink some looping words

that become a fishing line

cast out upon a glassy lake.

The float knocks,

slides beneath the surface.

It may be a fat bronze tench

that takes the bait,

maybe a minnow.

They had been there always

lazing in the depths

till called by Calliope

to gasp for a few seconds in the grass

before being returned below.

CR April 28, 2023

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 5,103

Calliope: Tidy up a little.

You stow the delicious mess in your sylladex. You might be inclined to snack on it now, but due to the nature of your JUJU MODUS, you cannot access it. Once you captchalogue something, only your brother can use it. And vice versa. You always make sure never to captchalogue anything that is particularly important to you. You think sometimes he chucks stuff over to your side of the room just to bait you into captchaloguing it for him, and getting it into his inventory. You kind of don't think he was engaging in such machinations this time though. It looks like he was just being a petulant brat.

[tickldpnk8]

The other thing I hate is when an author unveils new tags as they write. I can see why folks wait for finished stories because of it. Because I try to curate what I’m reading based on tags. So if you suddenly up the rating or add trigger tags several chapters in, I’ve just wasted potentially months of becoming invested.

And ok, some things are pretty minor and I can skip over a scene in a chapter or two. I might read the fic anyways if I come across it in a tag and know it’ll be something minor to skip. Maybe you didn’t know where the characters would lead you. But imho, if you know, tag it upfront.

Meanwhile, I might miss out on something I’m looking for if you don’t tag it. I’d rather catch your fic in progress and cheer you on with comments as you write until it’s finished than miss it altogether or discover it the next time I’m searching.

Here’s a practical example: I’ll never be ok reading about rape. A lot of people aren’t, and for some it’s actively harmful to them: tag that, people! So for most fanfic, I filter that shit out. But for Calliope, it’s integral to her character, so I leave it in when searching and base my judgement on the other tags and the description.

TL:DR It’s just as exciting to me to figure out how we’ll eventually get to that thing you tagged. I’d rather know than miss your fic altogether. And there’s some things I just don’t want to bother with, so tag it early and folks can avoid the bait and switch.

me, a stupid baby fandom newbie apparently: hey, i think if people are triggered by a fic, that tags should be added for the triggering thing

quote unquote “mature fandom”, apparently: you just lack perspective and it’s harassment to talk about this

jeez, maybe it’s just me, but if people get triggered reading my stuff, i would desperately want to know so i could add warnings. it’s just for fun fandom, right? why the actual fuck would i want to risk someone getting triggered when they were only trying to have fun with me in our little fandom sandbox.

partial tags are much worse than no tags at all – it gives a false sense of security that is absolutely not real. if you don’t want to tag, have the honour to say “warnings are untagged, read at your own risk”

[marciliedonato]

If you can't accept first kill as anything else other than genuinely good you're weak and won't survive the winter....

[mr-marsmallow]

cal and jules deserve love

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

About your last meta, since TV series Dream is going through his character development more rapidly(changing Gault into a dream, admitting he was wrong and apologizing to both Gault and Lucienne, saying that he will try to listen more) do you think he'll survive his tragic fate? I'm desperately hoping he does

honestly, i've almost written so many metas on this, and never ended up posting any, because the short answer is i just don't know

but if you want my evidence either way...

reasons the ending may change

everything is kinder in the tv show. the world it's working towards is just a better place. john not killing rosemary, unity and desire's relationship being consensual and meaningful, the changes in tone to sound of her wings, the fact that dream seems actually open to calliope's suggestion of reconnecting rather than just outright saying no, the corinthian actually taking care of jed rather than just stuffing him in the trunk of his car, i'm sure there's more i can't think of right now, but this adaptation is astoundingly accurate, most of the scenes are taken from the comics word for word. whenever a scene isn't lifted directly from the comics, i invariably find it's more hopeful than what was originally there

when neil was asked why john didn't kill rosemary, one of the things he said was that he didn't want comic fans to think they always know what's going to happen

as you mentioned, the entire gault plotline. dream's entire problem is that he doesn't believe he's capable of change. by making him realise that one of his nightmares is, that's certainly setting some kind of precedent! (and, while i'm not assuming neil won't pull a bait and switch here given the disparity between what lucifer's actually planning to do to dream and what it sounds like they are, "a new age" is certainly a Choice of line if you're planning on killing dream five years later)

rose and lyta. first off, rose is allowed to remember what happened to her, which immediately gives her a lot more agency over the plot. and she knows lyta a lot better, which means that lyta has a support system in the show that she did not have in the comics. if daniel goes missing, in the show, rose knows the entire story, and she's gonna take that straight to dream, if she can. i am sure the "if you have the power to destroy the world, then you have the power to destroy him!" "i don't want to destroy him" line is going to be relevant in the future

reasons it may not:

daniel's still a character. one way or another, i don't think morpheus is going to make it through this and remain dream of the endless

there's no changes made to desire and dream's last scene, where dream talks (in vague terms) about how that was a murder attempt desire just did, killing family will bring the kindly ones down on his head, like desire vowed to do way back when (and given one particular mason interview where they talked about looking forward to the audience understanding all the backstory behind that conversation, i believe this line is still foreshadowing, dream will still have to kill orpheus and lyta will harness the kindly ones against him)

i think the addition of matthew to the scenes in hell adds a lot to later comic scenes (see: this post for more on that)

tragedies are a specific form of storytelling with their own rules, they're not the same as "regular story, but you made the characters lose at the end". sandman, as a story, follows the rules of a tragedy. and as much as i would also like good things for dream, in order to tell this as a story with a happy ending, a lot would have to change right from the start. which, just personally, i don't really want it to, because a lot of the scenes i really like and find the most meaningful of this story would probably have to get cut or heavily modified to support that new story

and further on that, just from a writing perspective - in a story with a happy ending, tension is created by placing obstacles between the characters and what they want, things they have to surpass and fight for. in a tragedy, getting what the character wants has to be so easy, if they were anyone else in the story. tension is created through the fact that everyone involved can see the exit out of the tragedy, it's right there, but the qualities that fundamentally make the character who they are are the same qualities that keep them from acting.

the conflict in this story is undoubtedly between dream and himself. his need to abandon this burden that is far too heavy, vs his inability to take any action that runs counter to his duty. and it's made interesting by who he's placed in opposition to. what is the point of lucifer as a character, of destruction, if dream could listen to them? if watching someone change for the better could actually change him, then what's the rest of the story? he's already learned that from gault, you could cut it right here. and sure you could test that a few more times, but if we were writing a story about an immortal being who learns they're not beholden to their universe given duty, who has to overcome millenia of responsibility and feeling like they're not really a person in order to realise they're in control of their own life and can live how they choose - that's already lucifer's story. and destruction's. why aren't we writing about them, instead?

one of the big questions we ask in storywriting is why here, why now, why this person? and what makes dream unique is his utter unyielding dedication to the rules and to his responsibilities. and that means that, despite every other character in this story pointing out the glaring neon exit sign from the tragedy, he could never have done anything other than what he did

and you could do it, don't get me wrong. if you wanted to write sandman as a story with a happy ending, you could take dream down a path of learning to be someone else, to change enough that he's no longer the character that gets grabbed by the tragedy (though it'll still be a tragedy for lyta). and if we were gonna do that, and do it well, season one has been a good setup for it. but that's a different story, that will require different challenges, ones that actually make him learn, rather than making the situation progressively worse with every challenge he ignores. and it really comes down to i don't know how much neil is willing to entirely rewrite his masterpiece like that

i think s2 will tell, one way or another, because season of mists is where the tragedy properly starts. as much as i ended up writing a longer thing under reasons why not, that's just because they were more complicated concepts to explain, i genuinely cannot predict what neil is gonna do here. every time i think about this i feel like my opinion falls on a different side. but like i said, whether you're aiming for tragedy or a happy ending, you have to sow those seeds early on, or it's gonna leave the audience feeling betrayed, no matter which you choose. preludes and doll's house, they're early enough and unconnected enough they could fall on either side. but i think season of mists is gonna make it evidently clear