#be accurate and give good info just in case someone is learning from your story

[hi-im-dazey]

A few things to think about when writing sex scenes

I want people who write fanfiction about gay relationships, when they are not gay themselves, to try to remember that men aren’t gay because they want to be women, they are gay because they want to have sexual relationships with men. One or both of the couple may or may not have a gentle, caring, lighter, more domestic side, but they are still dudes. 

When you take one of the couple and basically turn them into “the girl” of the couple, you may as well just write het fiction at that point.

 A gay man getting turned on when his boyfriend is in a sex-shop cheerleader costume, is not really an accurate portrayal of how it works. 

Also I think it’s safe to question the feasibility of how often, according to fanfiction, a gay man refers to his lover’s tender flower as, well, a tender flower, or a pussy, or (strangely enough in one fiction) a cunt. 

If you think guys are hot, then think about the things you think are hot about them. You like character “x” in a suit? Well, guess what, character “x” also looks hot in a suit to his boyfriend/love interest. 

His love interest is not looking at the way those dress slacks hug his ass, or how those sweatpants do nothing to hide his underwear choices or reciprocal interest, or how that tee-shirt really accentuates his arms and chest, and thinking:

“Wow, I bet he looks hot in a dress.”

You like the way character “y” holds himself when he’s walking? That’s probably one of the things his love interest likes about him too. You think he’s got a sweet smile and a nice rumbly voice? Guess what? So does your protagonist!

DO NOT TURN ONE OF YOUR MEN INTO A GIRL SIMULACRUM, that’s not gay, that’s stereotyping and projecting hetero-normative relationship roles and gendered actions onto characters who don’t need them.

 AND it is a big self-hate moment to have one man surprise another with feminine dress so he can convince the male presenting party to fuck him “Wow you look hot dressed as a chick, now I can fuck you”... This isn't a bugs bunny cartoon, let your gay male characters appreciate and love men, that’s what being gay is.

Also please note, panty kinks are much more prevalent amongst Hetero males. The amount of gay panty kink fanfiction out there is way over proportionate to its actual existence as a thing.

LUBE.YOUR.ANAL.SEX.

And please, please... please Try to remember Anal Sex just is not happening without severe damage to all body parts involved without adequate lubrication. Blood, spit, water (?!?!)*... these things are not adequate lubrication. And you need to remember that the receiving hole is not the only thing that will get injured, dick skin is delicate, it chafes easy just from enthusiastic, yet dry, hand jobs.

It’s not going to feel good, or in most cases, even be possible, to drive dry dick into a dry hole. So maybe you want your sub or bottom (not the same thing, BTW) to “really feel it” but you have to remember that that anal ring is gonna scrape the happy right off your Dom or top (again, not the same thing).

Attempts without will hurt both parties bad enough that in the future they will never not have lube with them when they intend to get laid or fuck someone. People who like anal play keep lube handy. And the “having to stop and do something else to get off” when you discover you are out of lube is a much more reasonable love-making option than going in dry and NO ONE who likes anal play will tell you differently.

*Blood clots, coagulates, and dries pretty fast, plus it sticks to things and sticks things to other things as it dries, There’s a reason bandages are treated so they won’t stick to wounds. Basically blood will not lubricate and in fact will make matters worse.

*Spit, unless you include a healthy amount of mucus, is not viscous enough to act as a lubricant, in other words, it’s gonna dry before you get the coated member anywhere near the licked hole. and if you think it’s sexy to fuck someone with mucus you should probably make a content warning tag for that so people can avoid it.

*Water dries fast and is not viscous enough to provide any lubrication. Also sex in a body of water is EXTREMELY difficult and in most case down right impossible, and the water will wash away any natural lubrication that maybe happening from a person capable of making their own, and any water based bottle lube you have applied (one of the many reasons water based is great because it WASHES OFF EASILY IN WATER)

Female anatomy notes:

Vaginas snap right back into shape, no matter how many dicks, toys, fists... whatever, have been in them. No matter the size, or number of times the vagina has been enjoying sex, it does not get “wrecked”, “loose”, or “flappy”. It tightens right back up. The only thing that can change the shape or “tightness” is giving birth and even that (barring incidence of medical stupidity during delivery) is temporary and once healed from, minor. Vaginas are built to take dick, squeeze out the resulting babies, and repeat the process. 

(Not that you have to use your personal vagina for any of that, but that is what it has evolved to do and recover from doing)

ETA: I think I pissed someone off because they got all reposty and annoyed about being “told how to write” I am not sure this post was the cause of it, because they were ranting about how they read it rather than what it actually says and did not repost the original with their comments because it would invalidate their claim.... So just to make a few things clear: When you are writing about two men in a relationship, forcing one to be the girl is the fan fiction equivalent of asking a gay couple “which of you is the woman?’

Relationships exist without straight gender roles. Men who want to be with Men, want to be with Men. So if your goal is a sweet, engaging, realistic, romance between two men, please respect your men. Or, if you need there to be a woman, write it with a woman. 

Also tips on writing believable gay romance is not the same as telling someone not to write what they want. Just pointing out things to avoid if you want to write it believably, is not attacking your writing. (and if you feel like it was attacking you personally, maybe you should examine that on your own time.)

If you really like putting a guy in a dress and turning him into the wife and your fans get off on that and buy you Kofi and whatnot, great. BUT these tips are intended for writers who would like to write realistic relatable romances between two (or more) gay men, when you yourself are not two (or more) gay men.

Second thing this person got weirdly pissed about:

Anal sex lube. ( they also got pissed about condom use as if I’d insisted on it, I did not mention condoms except in the tags where I point out that adults negotiate fluid bonding on the fly all the time. So not really sure where they got that panty twist from)

Ok so if you're gonna die on the hill of NO LUBE, (how dare I tell someone not to use three really bad choices for lube options, I must be a monster)

Be aware: Everyone who has actually had anal sex is getting to that dry entry/bad lube choice moment and Noping the fuck out of your story. 

Look, you can have one of your character spew magical unicorn lube, or have the no-tell motel provide it along with their hourly rates, or have one of your characters carry it just in case or whatever, OR you can get people to leave your story unfinished when you have them all turned on and ready to go and then suddenly drop the feeling of having a giant dry dick trying to to tear into them and yuck their yum. 

If your goal is to get people to enjoy your story thoroughly (insert dirty suggestive eyebrow wiggle here) then you really should strive for not destroying the mood you built with something as weird as steadfastly refusing to write as if lube exists and is needed. 

ALSO yes it’s fiction, but, unfortunately sex education in this country ranges from non-existent to super crappy, if someone is reading erotica and looking at porn to get a handle on how it all works, I’d rather be a person who advocated lube use, than the person who tried to pretend anal sex can happen without it.

[vaguely-concerned]

Ryder twins headcanons

Because I woke up this morning in a cold sweat going ‘I need to draw bb!Ryders RIGHT NOW’ and I need to channel that emotion somehow!

- alec used to call the twins (it especially stuck with sara) ‘tadpoles’ as an affectionate nickname when they were little, after they found some in the garden one time when they were like four or five and called him over to explain how frog development works. (this was one of my very first headcanons, actually!) 

- scott is actually very smart under his self-effacing ‘aww don’t you worry about me I’m the dumb twin’ exterior and probably would have figured out the whole reyes situation a lot sooner if he’d been thinking with his head instead of his... well let’s be charitable and also sadly accurate and go with ‘heart’ 

- scott shares his dad’s mannerism of running his hand through his hair when he’s stressed or thinking. his hair tends to flop back down instead of sticking up afterwards, though. 

- reyes does know how to dance properly and teaches scott with all the confidence of a man who habitually wears steel-toe boots for career reasons (to everyone’s surprise, especially his own, scott ryder does not have two left feet when shown how and gets pretty good at it!)

- less a headcanon but ellen and alec helping the kids learn how to control their biotics tho ;______; I like to think they had the least traumatic experiences growing up biotic than basically anyone and that’s why they don’t mention it very much, it was normalized in their household. I guess training in general would be where they had most contact with their dad, considering he gave them some N7 pointers.  

- scott grew a beard not too long before the arks launched to try to look older and it actually worked; if he ever shaved a lot of people would lose their minds over his little baby face lol

- alec ryder is one of those dads who’re only funny when they don’t really mean to be (I will admit that helpless exasperated “They’d only ask for a refund” caught me off guard lol). Based On A True Story

- scott has tremendous older brother vibes with his crew (except cora because cora has too powerful Big Sister Energy despite being an only child) and immediately reverts to lovable little shit whenever sara’s around. once he finds out about kalinda he’s like ‘peebee I recognize that you’re literally more than four times my age but I’m your big brother now and if she tries anything I am ready to punch her at your slightest signal. standing offer.’

- sara reads whatever non-fiction she can get her hands on, scott reads almost exclusively fiction and has incredibly varied taste; trash or masterpiece, he’ll go for it. however they do share taste in movies and tv and bond over it, including the joy of watching bad stuff together. yes, they both unironically love blasto and can quote entire sections of the movies back and forth. also while trademark ryder snarky, sara is mostly earnest and socially awkward in her private life, and scott is jovially closed off but definitely the People Person of the family after Ellen was gone. between his sister and his dad he has a lot of experience trying to make up for other people unconcernedly committing social faux pas around him haha

I’ve had a playthrough for each of them (sara first and then scott, who’s my canon now tbh), and sara is more a natural fit for the scientist explorer part of being a pathfinder and scott is better at the being the face of the operation part and navigating the politics. (sara Does Not Care and only grudgingly gets into it for the sake of Science, much like her father)  

- scott is incredibly soft for kids. I don’t think he’s ever imagined himself as a dad, but he is good with children and extremely protective of them. give it a couple of decades of maturing and he’ll probably end up adopting a bunch of orphans all in one day lol. *stumbles through the door with a krogan baby cradled against his chest while a turian kid clings to his left leg and one asari and one human toddler are sharing the right* “okay sara I know what you’re about to say and let me counter with all these reasons why it is in fact an excellent idea” 

- it wasn’t until after the end of the game, when there was suddenly some time to breathe, that scott finally realized his dad was actually gone -- he won’t come back this time, no matter how long they wait, he’s not away for work, he’s not coming home ever again. thankfully sara was there at that point to hug him; as much as he’s getting closer with the crew of the tempest I don’t think he’d let any of them close enough to help him through that yet. 

(it must be so strange and confusing to be presented with the possibility of getting your mother back just as you’re mourning the loss of your dad though. I don’t think scott ever really processed losing his mom either, so y’know he has a lot of shit to figure out) 

- my scott just has such beautiful dark soulful eyes ;____; that is my son (too bad I can’t give him the longer curly hair he canonically has in my head. oh well normal ponytail it is in-game). I quite like how my sara looks too, it’s surprising how close I got to my initial concept for how limiting the mea character creator is!

- scott had his ears pierced as a kid, sara didn’t. she took one look at the piercing gun, went ‘haha nice try suckers you’ll never take me alive’ and ran, while scott was perfectly willing to suffer a bit for sparkly things. (when he’s off-duty for a good length of time scott does still wear an earring when he remembers/bothers to)

- sara can only get away with seeming sensible when she’s standing next to her brother for comparison and is keenly aware of this fact, using it for all it’s worth haha. however, fun fact: in most cases outside his questionable taste in men scott is in fact often the more reasonable between them, despite appearances! sara has just inherited alec’s ability of being completely bananapants without anyone noticing because she speaks so earnestly and with such conviction you forget what she’s saying is crazy. 

(scott has inherited more of the ‘actually more like 15000 barely contained feelings in a trench coat than a man’ aspect of alec under the goodnatured sarcasm, though he doesn’t realize it. I like how naturally their shared traits with their dad sort of just... happened as I played them, actually, even before Initiation gave me more info. I’d love to have more stuff for ellen too but there’s less to work with there yet)

- the tempest crew is still rightfully skeptical of reyes, but they are also mollified by the way ryder keeps smiling dreamily for days whenever they set off from kadara. 

- I can never decide if sara would get together with someone as the non-pathfinder twin (I didn’t romance anyone when I played her, I panicked at the last moment about how much painfully earnest emotion I had to be witness to with jaal lol). I think she might easily end up with either suvi or jaal, to be honest. 

- scott sort of had a cute thing going on with a technician back in the milky way before he found out he was moving galaxies with his family, and it was an amicable breakup. one of the few uncomplicatedly nice men he has ever dated, but alas it was not to be. 

[scarletta-ec]

Original Sin Story: Re_Crime

CHAPTER FOUR: ~SETH'S PROJECT~

Scene 1

When Seth talks about Adam disappearing, he refers to him as “my adorably foolish child”.

Scene 2

Seth only ever saw Gammon’s rebellion as being a result of desperation. Apparently it was unexpectedly successful, though, as the senate (including Gavriil) had grown too complacent. Seth doesn’t mind— he’s gotten tired of messing with Gavriil, and Adam (who he was curious over) has fled the stage.

Scene 3

The revolution is underway. Seth is waiting for Gammon in front of the Levia-Behemo temple. Gammon arrives in the garden with pitiful Gavriil in tow, throwing him in front of him. He’s a mess but he’s still breathing, murmuring Alice's prophecy. Gammon dismisses him as a mere drugged-up madman now. Seth, as ever, is calm and a complete troll about it, despite the fact that Gammon knows Gavriil is like this because of Seth.

Gammon approaches him with a revolver in hand. Seth, hands up, asks him to explain what his research found out— so that he can correct him if Gammon got anything wrong.

Seth isn't taking anything seriously, and laughs inappropriately.

Gammon’s theory: Seth became Gavriil's servant over twenty years ago. Along with Gavriil, they developed a drug to brainwash Maria with— except in truth, it wasn’t Maria that was being drugged, but Gavriil himself, so that Seth could rule through him. As for Maria— she was already dead; Gammon’s not sure if she just died or was murdered. Gavriil has been having purple dreams, and passing them off as the queen’s prophecies. However, he’s been brainwashed into thinking that these prophecies are really coming from the queen, and that she’s still alive.

Gammon has no proof of his theory, though, so that’s why he’s come here to see her corpse for himself, demanding to know where it's being kept if it hasn't been disposed of already. Seth happily tells him Alice is where she always has been.

Gammon pistol whips Seth out of the way and heads inside the Hall of Glass. Seth, with a black eye, collapses with a smile.

Seth wonders what Gammon will see in the temple, and what will become of him once he’s come face to face with the “queen”, suggesting that Gammon’s theory is correct in some regard but also missing some key information. Seth pulls himself off the floor, retrieves his glasses (which had gone flying), and goes to a corner of the garden and opens a secret passageway buried in the dirt.

Right as he enters, he can hear someone's scream echoing from inside the Hall of Glass.

Scene 4

Seth reflects on things.

Adam is not Maria's child, but he also is.

To be accurate, he is not one of her twins, as Adam thinks. Yes, Seth "disposed" of them, but instead of tossing them into the river, he left the girl in the hands of a temple for her inheritor abilities (not that they knew he was the one to leave her there), and kept the boy in cryostasis.

Because the twins were irregulars, Seth found them invaluable for his research, but held the Ending Boy's value in higher regard than the Genesis Girl's. Still, he ensured both were alive for later reference.

He first met the real Adam when he fashioned him in his very own laboratory. It was partially to increase his “allies”, and partially on order by Maria. Through Gavriil he met Vaju, and through him became the head of the research institute, where he began to build his “ally” network. He would sometimes apply Venom for this purpose, though as the drug had several failings he tried not to rely on it too heavily.

Maria essentially gave him the okay to use the institute to further his efforts in creating artificial humans. After the disposal of her twins, and her resulting infertility, she desired an heir and privately requested Seth's assistance.

Adam was fashioned out of Maria's provided DNA. Seth has several stores of different racial DNA so he used foreign DNA to obscure Adam's resemblance to Maria.

Genetically speaking, Adam is the son of Maria and some unknown man. With the father identity-less and irrelevant, one could say Adam is her second virgin birth.

Adam was different from other Ghoul Children, having a mix of DNA, which improved his longevity. He's really no different from a normal human, the only difference is having been grown in a glass chamber than inside Maria. Seth doesn't really count him as a Ghoul Child.

After Adam's creation, a rogue Apocalypse attack destroyed part of the laboratory and Adam went missing.

Around the same time, Raijoou had left Apocalypse due to their increasing violence, and during an excursion, Seth as Horus met her and separately, her wife, Inanna. Seeing their disappointment at her inability to have children, Horus offered to her an ideal solution: use both the couple's DNA to make them a child. Of course, he added in something extra.

The result was a normal human child born from a glass vessel, like Adam. Seth had only recently learned Inanna told Raijoou she found this child in the river rather than it being their truly biological child. That was the logical decision, despite the irony.

As such, the child created from Held inheritor DNA exhibited the same abilities, which piqued Seth's interest in the creation of artificial inheritors.

Seth had wanted to see what came of the irregular twins, and track down his missing experiments once things calmed down, but he had a problem: his health was just beginning to decline, so he couldn’t just be running all over the place. Luckily, he didn't have to go too far to go find Adam, who had washed up on the shore nearest one of the exits of Lunaca Labora. Seth was also a bit surprised to run into Catherine there.

This was Seth’s first time raising a child— he tried to raise him by fostering his intellect, and his intellect solely. The emotional starvation he employed wasn't entirely deliberate, he simply wanted to create a mind similar to his, and Seth's warped view on his own childhood stopped him from seeing the issue with this.

It was a busy time— he was building his network, running the institute, drugging Gavriil, and had to solve the issue of his health going downhill. For the last problem, he researched this in Lunaca Labora, where he was “born as a human”. His current body was inferior to human ones— it aged at a much faster rate.

As he’s a genius, he was soon able to make a new, longer lasting type of body he could use using a similar method to the one he used for Adam and the Zvezdas. Pleased with his success, he made two other Ghoul Children (clones of himself) while he was at it, as another test in increasing his allies, giving them personalities based on his own. One was a failure, which he put in refrigeration in case of an emergency, as a backup body, and the other was a success. This Ghoul Child became Pale Noel. He entrusted Apocalypse, now abandoned by Raijoou, to Pale. Pale is still active to this day.

… Of course, Pale is such a terror that Seth’s own position could have been put in jeopardy, so he ordered Pale to keep from showing himself publicly and instead work behind the scenes. He then expunged all the information on Pale from his info network. After that he went to Raijoou and erased the memories she had of his appearance with Venom.

Of course, this didn’t really erase the mistrust that Raijoou had towards "Horus". Just memories of what he looks like.

His body was starting to fail then, so he decided to retire the Horus identity. He went back to Lunaca Labora and transferred his mind into the new, complete body. He could have changed the face but apparently it was just too handsome to mess with. As for still looking like Pale, he figured he could just tell people they were twins.

He decided to drop the false identities and go by his real name, Seth Twiright. He spent some time in Lunaca Labora while he waited for the excitement regarding Pale to die down, making more Ghoul Children. But he also didn’t want to make the same problem with Pale being identical to him. So he decided to make some that were completely new, different in face and gender— clones, but also not clones. This makes him think of Behemo, comparing himself to his work.

Seth says something profound— even geniuses have failures. Rather, being a genius in the first place is because you learn from your failures. Several attempts to create an inheritor Ghoul Child failed, so he had their organic compositions melted down.

After several trials, he made a Ghoul Child (he lists this as his official third) that was a different person, finally succeeding at installing an “inheritor” power in her for good measure. The moment he gave her a personality, she became rebellious, and as soon as he took his eyes off her she escaped Lunaca.

He was unable to find her for a while, but eventually received word that Pale had found her. She is also apparently very attached to Pale, which stupefies him because Pale is a clone of him despite her being rebellious towards Seth himself. He decides to leave her with Pale.

The way he talks about Adam sounds almost like he views him as a plaything. He gets tired of making Ghoul Children, freezes his current projects, and then goes to meet with Adam again as Seth. He recalls having fun the time Adam tried to kill him at Merrigod, though he was a bit flummoxed that Meta genuinely attempted to kill him along with the other researchers.

Seth was very intrigued by Adam, due to their similar upbringings and yet different personalities, and even sought to make him like himself. But Adam has quit the field— though in a way, Seth views that as “evil” like him, too. As for Eve— Cain and Abel’s deaths were not his own fault. He in fact would have preferred they were born alive, because they contained Seeds of Malice. But it's not a major loss of his either way. They died because Eve's blood was too diluted with Venom, which reduced the twins' survival rate.

Seth had fibbed a little bit when he told Adam that he derived Venom from a dead Gilles inheritor. In truth, he synthesized it from those melted down Ghoul Children, all failed Gilles inheritors before the success of Meta. 

Eve, as the Held inheritor child Seth created, was immune to its effects. The mind manipulating power of Venom has no effect on one capable of the same sort of power, especially one with the blessing of Held himself. Seth is relieved she never indulged this power to Adam or else he could have pieced that together.

While a single use of Venom does little harm to someone, many uses can hamper their cognitive ability. One immune to this would have no worries— unless they tried to have children.

Overuse of Venom had the tendency to cause severe deformities in the children of those drugged, so severe it often killed them in the womb. This was why making a Gilles inheritor was so challenging. The twins must have been dead for a while to be in that condition at birth.

Unlike Gilles inheritors, Held inheritors are capable of turning their mind manipulation powers onto themselves. Seth isn't sure because he can't read minds, but he's certain Venom did not break Eve at her stillbirth, because she was immune. Instead, Eve's power was attempting to keep her from breaking by preserving the belief that Cain and Abel were still alive, as a subconscious defense mechanism.

Of course— he doesn’t feel obligated to tell Adam all that. After all, Adam used Venom behind his back. It took no effort at all for Adam to piece that much together. Seth may have made it, but Adam has only himself to blame.

[seenashwrite]

The Fall ‘18/Winter ‘19 Edition of…

It’s a better-late-than-never situation, but it’s finally here!

*~* New to The Nail? *~*

The Nail isn’t about perfection. It isn’t about award-level contenders. It isn’t for highlighting certain genres of fics or specific ships. It’s about seeing real effort and hard work radiate off of the screen - the sole focus is quality. Character dimension. Writing with clever readers in mind. Well-built worlds. Killer starts and clutch endings. Crazy crisp dialogue. Incredibly tight plotting. More shows, less tells. Big emotion.

Find past editions HERE. Find what factors are considered when constructing this rec list, and learn how to get your recommendations to me HERE. Find info on the structure of these rec posts HERE, with answers to FAQs such as “Why did someone make up a title for my piece?”, and more.

>> The Basics On What’s Below <<

- All from the world of SPN (unless otherwise noted, i.e. cross-overs), across all genres; these are organized by length for the most part, so you’ll need to click thru to see if it is a theme of your preference; I aim to not have too much that’s of the same genre/length in a given edition, and limit the times a writer can appear on a given list (if they had more that fit the bill, I’ll chuck ‘em to next edition’s list); when applicable, unique projects, original stories, and any anecdotes/personal essays/family stories/etc. are near the end.

- You’ll see icons throughout…

If it has NSFW elements / walks an NSFW line - ⚠️

If it features / blatantly alludes to a specific ship - 🚢

If it has less than 100 notes (at time of this post) - 📌

And that last item is very important.

- A main priority of The Nail is to have at least 50% of these one-and-done SPN stories (so, drabbles and one-shots) be those which have less than 100 notes (give or take a few self-reblogs by the writer, and not counting mine) in each posting, and for this edition, out of 36, these comprise 26 so the goal was met!

Highly encourage you to at minimum hit the heart, ideally reblogging along with a note of feedback if you enjoyed. To do my part, I’ll be queuing these low-note fics one per day after this edition is published.

- Reblog of this rec list by “big blogs” (let’s say 1K followers and up) is especially appreciated, and not for my sake; it’s to get these wonderful writers with low note fics as much exposure as possible.

- Writers, make sure you scroll - you may be on here more than once!

- “Notes from Nash" at the very bottom of the post.

- For your mobile convenience, here’s The Nail Master Post of Editions

- And finally, shameless plugs....

 See Nash Write: Master List

You Totally Made That Up podcast - @youtotallymadethatup

Note: Just a line or two excerpt to paint a little picture - no specific feedback on these drabbles because each writer nailed it in the entirety - all are poignant, well-structured, thoughtful, and they did it all in a limited amount of words. Well done, all of you. 

181 words

The Wishes 📌  -  @sixtysevenandwhiskey 

It’s a lot of nothing, until nothing is all there is.

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182 words

Stars 📌  -  @covered-byroses

She loved looking at the stars.

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223 words

Storytelling 📌  -  @always-keep-writing

He shouldn’t be surprised that it ends up being a story.

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230 words

A Long Forty Years  -  @babybluecas

Sometimes, he’d wish he was so much older.

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352 words

Control 📌 -  @idreamofhazel

If only Dean knew the other, more biting things he holds under his tongue.

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370 words

His Hair 📌 🚢  -  @gabrielfallstonight  

He often wondered if, by spending as much time on Earth as he did, he was growing almost human.

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427 words

Topper  -  @alleiradayne  

Coffee. He just needed a cup. Or four. Okay, maybe the whole pot.

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483 words

Tedium 📌  -  @smi727  

This situation was something Michael simply could not abide.

555 words

Kids These Days 📌  -  @revwinchester  

A little behind-the-scenes interlude wherein Dean has an interaction with some kids in town. In medias res, OCs developed in a short amount of space, thoughtful/nice message without being preachy.

.

560 words

Four Months Expired (But Still Good) 📌 🚢  -  @bendingsignpost

A delightful scene based on a premise that could've gone saccharine but stays the just right amount of sweet and humorous.

(I cannot tag this lovely, if someone would be so kind as to try to do so in the comments, it would be appreciated!)

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570 words

Black 📌 - @sculptorofbeginningslibrary  

An introspective look at Dean in the time between waking up with his demonized soul and when he left the bunker; doesn't merely recap what we know; nice take on the physical changes; excellent characterization.

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633 words

Smoked  -  @ameliacareful

A snicker-worthy tale of what should be an ordinary shopping trip, but as we know nothing can ever be simple for the brothers; well-structured, solid characterization, concise  descriptions that put you right there with them.

(I cannot tag this lovely, if someone would be so kind as to try to do so in the comments, it would be appreciated!)

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664 words

Last Night  -  @atwistoffate

A brief interaction between you and Dean that is a perfect balance of snarky and cute, and (thank Chuck) Dean is portrayed realistically, and I personally salute the writer for not uttering a single Y/N or sweetheart (it can be done, folks). I'd also be remiss not to highlight this beauty: “You know what? I don’t even care,” Dean says, caring deeply.

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714 words

Stay  -  @there-must-be-a-lock

Absolutely beautiful moment between you and Sam that doesn't get weighed down by over-dramatic pining, in part thanks to a sandwich. In medias res; descriptions that paint the picture without diving too deep; lovely from beginning to end.  

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812 words

Carolina 📌  -  @atc74

A first-person, introspective tale of an interaction Dean has with a stranger. In medias res; sets the stage from the opening paragraph, putting you right into Dean's shoes; well-developed OC in short amount of time; great closing lines.

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841 words

Strange Gifts 📌 -  @lastactiontricia  

Michael gives you the "gift" of knowing your potential fates. In medias res; great structure/descriptions that convey the mood without being belabored; clutch open-ended ending.  

1.1K words

Syruped and Feathered 📌 -  @mrswhozeewhatsis

A snicker-worthy on-the-hunt tale where you and the Winchesters get in a... well... a sticky situation. Ahem. Sorry, couldn't resist. Oh, and there's a surprise guest star that'll make you grin. In medias res, nice flow, creative use of prompts.

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1.2K words

Don't Panic 📌  -  @koedeza

Beautifully written, somber tale about what eventually happens in the lives of hunters. In medias res, excellent structure/flow, fantastic characterization, clutch ending. Keep an eye out for this writer - they are consistently solid and do not disappoint.

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1.3K words

'Til It All Falls Apart 📌  -  @lipstickandwhiskey

Angst done right in this story about what Dean might've gone through after Michael was cast out. Good flow, no laborious explanations of what we already know, reasonable actions/reactions from all.

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1.4K words

Bite Me, BitFit 📌  -  @shy-violet-soul

Exactly what you think from the title - a funny story about Dean's battle with healthy living. In medias res, nice structure, great characterization, several killer lines.

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1.4K words

Eggshells 📌  -  @hunenka

A coda to Nightmare Logic, this tackles Dean's internal processing of life as he now knows it, Sam in charge and what feels like a million people in his home. Beautifully written, Dean is as accurate as it gets, excellent flow, plausible scenario.

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1.7K words

Told You So   -  @there-must-be-a-lock

How to do hot and sultry without smut - read and learn. This is a story about what should have been just an ordinary post-hunt night back at the bunker, when it turned to something more. Great opening paragraph, easy flow, trifecta of snarky-sweet-sexy.

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1.8K words

Brother 📌  -  @sixtysevenandwhiskey

An exquisite look - to use the writer's words - at Dean over the years, through Sam's eyes. Excellent structure/verbiage, no unneeded repetition of things we already know, good use of song inspo, plausible within canon, feels genuine throughout.

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1.8K words

The Lie 📌 -  @sophisticated-angel

Stunning tale (and add this to the pile of "Why the hell doesn't this have more notes?!" stories) about what happens to those who are left behind after a loved one dies - but as always in the Winchester world, nothing can ever be routine. In medias res, creative plotline, moving and heart-grabbing that leaves you with both a sense of rightness and a sense of unease.

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2.9K words

The Unexpected Guest  -  @crispychrissy 

Per the writer's summary - "A day of researching takes a turn when you see something from your past that leads to some interesting discoveries." But, wait - this is so much more. Pay attention as you read, because the writer has left you clues along the way (starting with the title), and it's done quite deftly. In addition - nice blending of humor and drama, time taken to research the creature featured clearly evident, clutch ending.

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3K words

Easier To Be Me 📌 -  @alleiradayne

A Sam + Reader story labelled "floof" by the writer, but it's sweet without bending saccharine; in medias res; great opening/closing lines.

[Nominated by @atc74 who said - “So I have read a couple things of hers, this I read a while ago, but it deserves some love, because it is just that good. Hope you like it This was so wonderful. Well written and beautiful."]

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3.1K words

Teeth 📌   -  @lastactiontricia

Do you want to read something spooky that’s based on a true story, with a fantastic plot that has roots in a true story, which features well-developed characterization/accuracy in characterization, and is - in case I didn’t mention it - based on a true story?!

Read this. Find you a cozy corner, grab the drink of your choice whether it’s bourbon or hot chocolate, wrap up in a blanket, and Read. The. Story. It is unique, it is well-written, quality top to bottom, and it’ll give you the feels, tips to toes. Stop wasting your time on the same ol’, same ol’.

READ THE STORY

(Part of a collection, all are fantastic, so see also: Halloween Horror SPN One Shots Masterlist)

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3.3K words

Lay Me Down 📌  -  @stusbunker

A solid case fic here that balances itself with some cheekiness thrown in amongst the drama (and a bonus for me, not a "Y/N" in sight - it can be done, folks). In medias res, moves at a quick clip, great line here: "The spell spread quickly, like spilled water on a tabletop..."

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4.9K words

Shadow's Edge 📌  -  @saenalife 

A story of what happened one night when a routine retrieval of an item goes sideways. In medias res, excellent opening line/paragraph that perfectly sets the scene/mood (I mean - "Dark seems like too shallow a word for this. It goes beyond the absence of light - more like the light has never existed here at all..." - hello), creative plot, great structure (specifically: flashback/forward done right), and bonus kudos for switching things up with a feature not seen with regularity, that of a gender neutral lead.

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5.6K words

The Wonders of Modern Technology ⚠️ -  @littlegreenplasticsoldier

If you aren’t familiar with Greenie, she’s another one of those rare writers ‘round these parts who gives us consistently solid stories with a unique style that’s all her own, and this one is no exception, a humorous tale of a piece of equipment that doesn’t exactly malfunction, but we’ll just say there’s, ah, user error [wink]. 

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5.7K words

Like Ocean in the Desert 📌⚠️  -  @saenalife

Borrowing the writer's summary - "Baby needs some work before Dean can get back on the road. He went to the salvage yard for parts, but what he found was a human connection." In medias res, well-developed OC, nice premise, great structure/flow.

[Nominated by @littlegreenplasticsoldier who said - "Here’s a prime example of notes misaligning with quality. Pfft. Criminal. This is the third time I’ve read this."]

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6.4K words

The First Bite 📌  -  @shy-violet-soul

A story from the way-back-when, and as for feedback, I’ll let the curator take it away....

[Nom'd by @mrswhozeewhatsis who said - "Confession: I love Weechesters. So, this fic was already up my alley from word one. Add in pie mentioned just in the author’s note, and I was already a happy camper! Imagine my surprise when I was sniffling halfway through because wee!Dean was just killing me! The OCs are very well fleshed out, without being distracting, and the whole story was just so well-written I finished it just wanting to hug everyone. The grammar and other technical stuff was at least flawless enough that I didn’t notice it, and the whole story just unfolded in front of me like a cootie-catcher. I think I’m in love, and I might go read it again, even though I should be writing. *swoon*"]

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6.8K words

Gutted  -  @idreamofhazel

A case fic with some Dean + Reader sweet-n'-sultry on top. Nice opening paragraph that sets the tone, solid characterization, very creative plot/creature featured, excellent structure.

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6.9K words

About Dean's Dreams   ⚠️ -  @fanforfanatic  

This writer has yet to disappoint - and this story is damn near pristine from start to finish. It’s an actual, on god, Dean-in-character dive into the woman of his dreams. Sound fluffy or angsty? Nope. You’re wrong. It isn’t either. What it is, is just right. I’m not telling you any more - when you next have time to sit and read and really absorb an introspective Dean piece, make this your first choice.

Say hello to a new (-ish!) writer, @salt-n-burn-em-all !

Doors 📌

You will not believe this is just her 2nd SPN fanfic - captivating and moving, and even if you're swiping a tear away, I think you'll find yourself with a smile at the last three words.

East of Nowhere ⚠️  -  @thecleverdame 

You and Sam are strangers trapped in a desolate mountain town where you live alone, isolated from the outside world, for five years.

Very creative scenario that takes you on an intimate journey and - most importantly - has quite the satisfying reveal.

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How You and I Will Be  -  @katehuntington  

When a hellhound case in the mountains goes sideways, Dean and you find yourselves trapped in a small cabin, miles from civilization. Rescue is on its way, but will it be in time?

Opening paragraph sets the scene perfectly, you'll find yourself there immediately, and it's a plausible scenario of a hunt gone wrong. (We do love our case fics here at The Nail!)

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If This Is A Dream  🚢 -  @wendibird 

Sam receives a tip about a restless spirit haunting a particular patch of woods in South Carolina - one who has asked for him by name. He must now deal with the thought of putting to rest someone he once cared for, but will things go that simply?

Phenomenal opening line/paragraph that puts you in Sam's headspace from the jump, and boy howdy can we all empathize with him, and it's a plausible scenario, one I personally haven't seen tackled til this.

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Men of Cold Cases  -  @smi727

Sam had uncovered hundreds upon hundreds of cases the Men of Letters had never closed, [and the] idea was to investigate what those stodgy old nerds never got around to. Given the cases were at least 60 years old, the chances that any were still active were slim to none. They should all be milk runs…

Fantastic concept, completely original, and well-written to boot. Bonus? The writer has based the plots on actual cold cases and mysteries, and provides you links to the stories behind the story so you can learn more.

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The Ellison Lane Legacy  -  @sixtysevenandwhiskey 

Sam finds a case. You’re reminded of a past you want to forget.

Cheers for a well-rounded original female character who is tough and vulnerable all at once. Interesting and creative story that's heavy, yes, but thanks to skilled writing the flow keeps it moving vs. getting mired down.

Wrath 📌  -  @waywardjoy

Shakespeare gets a run for his money here with a small fic inspired by some of his words. Beautifully composed, from the title to the usage of the lines, flows like a dream, evokes big emotion, and puts you right there in the action, breathtaking from start to finish.

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The Runaway Vessel 📌  -  @butiaintgonnaloveem 

A creepy re-working of a popular children's story that will stay with you after you read it. Killer first line, clutch ending, and a detailed, stunning piece of artwork to boot from @lostmymuseagain, what a match made in heaven. This one dug deep, and definitely read like a cautionary fairytale about fate and choices that grandparents would tell/read to the children on a dark night around the fire, give ‘em a bit of a chill in spite of it. 

Ring-A-Ling  -  @winchester-writes & @littlegreenplasticsoldier & @mrswhozeewhatsis

To think, it all started with an innocent post about a tiny bell - get ready to laugh.

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Ten Years Gone  -  @cinnamonanddean  

This is a short-and-sweet, most worthy exception to a The Nail rule that no RPF will be on the list, wherein Jensen reflects upon his time on the show.

Carriers  -  @violetwolfraven 

Daddy Loves To Be Murdered   -  @gabesnonnie 

Slay Ride  -  @bendingsignpost 

The Awakening  -  @rmeisel 

The Chosen One  -  @copperbadge 

The Night  -  @later0varies

Bedtime Stories & How Chad Got His Name  -  @lostmymuseagain (also see the artwork related to the Chad story here)

The Author  -  @thebibliosphere

Notes from Nash

The document with my little summaries and personalized feedback for each of these got eaten - basically, I had to re-do the list and time’s been scarce, so forgive me for the lateness.

Also, there was a good handful of stories that disappeared due to what I presume was the purge/people deleting or losing their blogs. I did make effort to check AO3 but I’m afraid some stellar work has been lost for good.

There were a lot of repeat writers and folks I’m friendly with in this edition, more than I typically feature - I strive to highlight mostly lesser known writers and, as noted, mostly fics with <100 notes - but they earned it (and I even chucked a few more from some of these peeps into the folder for the next edition, that’s how hard they’re rockin’ it). That’s why it’s so important y’all let me know about the unsung writers and their undiscovered jewels - submit the story links and your reviews to me (links to your reblogs with your comments is perfectly fine) any ol’ time. 

That’s it! What’re you waiting for??? Get to reading!

[skyechaser]

Silence in Atlas 7/?

Once more, this is a dark take on Volume 7 from a Bumbleby standpoint. It has scenes of graphic violence. If there are any specific trigger warnings I will indicate when that part starts and ends. 

I’m so grateful for all of you out there reading this story and commenting. It means a lot and gives me lots of motivation to write. The end of the previous chapter (6) is one of my favourite scenes yet. If anyone would like to draw something related to that scene I would be forever grateful because I can’t draw at all. Well, here we go...

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They took off her blindfold about an hour after they had arrived at the mine. When she saw the place she was in, her heart skipped a beat. Blake was reminded of Illya’s parents, dying inside a mine without their employers even caring. Would that happen to her? All the faunus were taken into one of the mines and divided into two groups: men and women. They walked into the tunnels for half an hour or at least that was what Blake estimated. Three men and one woman were behind them and one man was in the front, leading them into the darkness. Blake wanted to knock them out and run but she couldn’t act without thinking of the consequences. Now there were others involved.  

“This is your new home” the man leading them said. Click. Nothing. All fifteen faunus flinched. “Don’t try anything funny or I will electrocute all of you”. There were two cages, dug into the mine and covered in bars, one next to the other. Blake tried to identify any weakness or possible escape. There were none. She couldn’t risk electrocuting all of the other faunus.

“Okay, now get in” one of the men ordered, opening the cage. Blake walked in with the other rest of the women. One of them, however, fell to the ground from exhaustion before going in. She seemed about Ruby’s age.

“This is no time to rest, you piece of shit!” the same man yelled as he took a whip out of his belt. “Get up!”. The girl made her best effort to stand up but she just couldn’t. He readied himself to strike her and was surprised when someone blocked his attack. It was Blake. She used her arm to block the whip and it hurt like hell.

“Looks like we have a feisty one here” the man laughed and so did his mates. “We’ll have to do something about it”. Blake was able to evade the first kick to her face, the second one, however, took her by surprise. It was the man who had led them into the mine. They both laughed when she fell to the ground. She shivered. Was it a good idea to intervene? Where they going to electrocute them all? She heard the whip cutting the air before she felt in on her back. Once, twice… She stopped counting.

“Now get in, bitch” he said and Blake obeyed. They locked the cages and all of them, except for they guy with the whip, left the mine. He sat in a bench and leaned against the wall. Blake could see the clicker in his hand.

“Thank you” she heard behind her. It was the faunus she had defended. She had small bear ears on top of her head and light brown hair. Her eyes were light blue and she had huge bags under her them. Blake smiled the saddest and emptiest of smiles. “I’m Agape. What’s your name?” the black haired girl sighted and pointed to the scar on her throat. The sutures were never removed and her skin had started to grow around it. Agape gasped “You are silenced… I’m so sorry”

Blake looked down at the floor, kneeled and wrote her name on the dirt.

“Blake?” Agape said. She nodded “I’d like to say it's nice to meet you, but I think we are in hell”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” the man with the whip yelled. Everyone flinched, waiting for the click. It didn’t appear but Blake could feel her body shaking.

Hell. That seemed pretty accurate.

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“WHAT?” Weiss exclaimed, unable to believe what she was hearing. Her father couldn’t have gotten this far… Or could he?

“That is what The Traders I captured said to me and what they told the military” Yang replied, sounding more stern that she originally intended.

“I don’t think this bastards have any reason to lie at this point” Qrow added. The rest of the group seemed to agree silently.

“I can’t believe this” the former heiress lowered her gaze. “I knew he was twisted but…”

“You need to go and talk to him. Tell him Ironwood is on his tracks, maybe we could get some information on where Blake is” Ruby proposed. Weiss trembled lightly at the idea of seeing her father again. “We’ll be there, of course” she added, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“I’d rather not go” Yang said, turning both her hands into fists. “I might not be able to control myself”

“It's absolutely comprehensible” Nora replied. “We’ll go and get all the info”

“Then we’ll send Ironwood and his guys in” Jaune added. Yang was glad she had her friend’s with her. It was already a week since Blake had gone missing. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. Too many things could happen in seven days. She tried to remain calm. Two hours later she was sitting on the couch looking out the window and waiting for the team to be back when she heard her uncle’s voice.

“Firecracker?” he said. Yang turned around to look at him. “How you holding up, kiddo?”

“I.. I just need to find her” she replied, trying her best not to sound broken.

“I get it”. Qrow sat next to her. “I know you and her… I mean… I know”

“I think everyone knew all along but us” she sighted.

“I know you are worried but we are going to find her” he placed a hand on her back affectionately.

“Even if we do... You didn’t see the place they had her in. It was… It was just filled with blood”. Once the tears appeared she just couldn’t control them. “What have they done to her? Is she even still… Is she...” she covered her face with both hands and cried. She cried the tears she couldn’t cry at The Trader’s hideout. The image of what was left of Blake’s clothes, broken and bloody, would not leave her mind.

Qrow wished he had something encouraging to say. He wanted to be the adult and tell her niece everything would be okay but he knew it would be a lie. He was scared, in the back of his mind, that they wouldn’t get to Blake in time, that maybe they were already too late. But he couldn’t say it. He didn’t even want to think about it. Not just for Blake, but also for Yang. He knew losing the faunus would absolutely destroy her. Qrow didn’t know how to help, he didn’t know how to comfort her. So he just stayed there, next to her, until her tears quieted down and she could breathe again.

Weiss and the others entered through the door. Yang looked at them with pleading eyes.

“We might know where she is” the former hairess said “And my dad is more than likely going to jail”.

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The work itself was not hard, at least not to Blake. It mostly consisted in breaking rocks with a pike, putting them on a wagon and pushing it outside. None of them were allowed to leave the mine. They had sensors, just like the ones on the room The Traders have kept her in, that would electrocute anyone that tried to escape. However, while she was trained for battle and could do the job, for several of the other enslaved faunus that wasn’t the case. Most of them fell from exhaustion before their first day was over.

The man with the whip, who Blake had learned was called Yudok, would grab anyone that could no longer work and throw them back into the cage after a beating. When the night came it was only Blake, Agape and two other faunus that were still standing. They send them back to the cage and Blake was thankful they weren’t whipped like the others. Her body was aching like it had never before. Her aura tried its best to heal her, but she was so weak and starved it could only cure scratches.

“So that’s how life is gonna be now” Agape said to her almost in a whisper. Blake nodded with her cat ears down. “Outside here, what did you do?”

Blake used the dirt in the floor to write “Huntress”.

“You are a huntress?” the bear faunus said, visibly surprised. “That’s so cool. I was just a schoolgirl. I wanted to study psychology somewhere outside Atlas but… I guess that won’t happen”

“It will” Blake wrote, making a promise in her mind to take Agape with her when she left.

“I hope so” the girl replied. “I just wonder if my family is still looking for me…” Agape was so young. Those fucking Traders had no limits. They had taken away her future. Blake was so mad but she didn’t want to show it. Maybe she could give Agape some hope.

“They are” the cat faunus wrote once more. The girl smiled weakly.

“I wonder how long will it take my boyfriend to start dating someone else” she snickered. “Do you have a boyfriend, Blake?”

The world stopped for a second. She clearly didn’t have a boyfriend. She had a Yang but… What was Yang to her? Blake thought of her face, her smell, her smiles. Yang was her sun. Yang was her sky. She was the reason Blake could keep going every day since she had been taken. She was her hope. She was her dream. Blake smiled, something she thought she might never be able to do again, and wrote in the dirt again.

“Girlfriend. Yang. Huntress”

“She’s a huntress too? That’s awesome… Maybe she’ll find you and get us out of here” Agape said, a fake smile on her lips. Blake touched the girl’s shoulder and nodded.

“She will” she mouthed “I know she will”.

[queenangst]

Hi! I kind of want to write something revolving around mythology. How important is the source material? I’m kind of tempted to create something new about it, but at the same time, I want it to stay true to what it originally was. Staying true to source material would mean restriction but kind of reliable foundation for people to follow. Changing it would mean more freedom but having to go through more exposition (hopefully without boring people). Which side would you lean more towards?

writing about mythology can be a tough path to follow. the first thing i think you should do is examine your story. sit down and think about why you want to write about mythology. where does it come from? what are its ethnic and cultural roots? importance? do you have a personal connection to the mythology you want to use as source material (you don’t necessarily have to), or did you just see it once and think it was cool? 

there’s a wonderful blog here on tumblr called @writingwithcolor i love to refer to. here’s an excerpt written by them about cultural appropriation:

When applied to writing, cultural appropriation/misappropriation is what happens when you write about a culture that is not yours and either perpetuate racist stereotypes about it or egregiously misrepresent it. It’s taking a culture for your story because you think it’s cool or interesting, but when you don’t bother to look into the aspects of how that culture works. Why is this harmful? Because writing about these marginalized cultures in such a way leads readers to believe that your work is presenting the truth about them, even when that’s not the case. Members of these cultures already have a difficult time finding proper representation—that is, seeing themselves as they really are—and it’s incredibly important that outsiders wanting to write them do so with care.

How can you do this? Do your research. Read books by people from that culture. Talk to people from that culture. If you’re writing a story, get someone from that culture and have them read it and point out the inaccuracies. The key is that you’re depicting these cultures with care and respect.

the source material is important. when you create something new based off an existing mythos, for example, a new creature in chinese mythology, you run the risk of being disrespectful to the source material if you don’t understand how chinese myths and legends are formed and told, or the importance of x or y element to chinese people. depending on what ‘changes’ you want to make, you could really be altering a traditional idea or belief. and that’s a no-no. (take, for example, alison goodman’s ‘Hua’ in her series Eon... essentially the same thing as the chinese qi. the way she used and described it as a tool and an almost magic-like energy was... not very accurate to actual chinese belief, practice, and medicine, and i don’t really know why she called it something different, either.) and these, like WWC has written, can harm representation of a mythology, and thus a culture it is tied to.

i’m not saying “don’t use mythology at all in your work ever!” myths are stories. and we retell stories all the time, across cultures. there is so much rich and interesting information in mythology that you can use to create new stories from, but you should do your research, talk to people, and learn. 

there’s also no problem in creating your own worlds and mythology, if you don’t want to stay tied to something that already exists. like many fantasy writers who develop their own languages, religions, cultures, pantheons, etc. this comes with its own caveats—creating your own mythology still means you have to do research. 

it’s hard for me to fully answer your question because i don’t know specifically what you’d like to ‘change’ about the original mythology. take, for example, rick riordan chucking greek and egyptian gods into the 21st century. oh, cool! (i’m not saying that rick’s writing is perfect, but it’s a good and popular example of twisting mythology.) take, for example, alison goodman who i mentioned above, combining several east asian cultural beliefs/mythologies, misnaming practices and beliefs that still exist today, etc. maybe not so much. 

“staying true” vs. “changing” the source material of a mythology should be handled carefully. doing your research is your best bet. WWC has fantastic posts and resources, so i always recommend starting there (and your local library) before branching out on your own. 

finally, the writing part: regardless of what exactly you are writing, there isn’t a side i would lean more towards, per se between having a foundation or freedom. good writing and good worldbuilding will slowly unravel a world and mythology. readers should not feel completely in the dark, but you shouldn’t dump info either. what you need to do is tell the story and handle the information well. no one’s going to slog through chapters of you explaining the stories about the chinese zodiac, but as readers continue in your story they should learn from the text the basic horoscope animals. it’s like we say, show don’t tell. in either case you don’t want the story to be boring, so giving readers mythological information using different aspects such as character actions, plot, dialogue, and events will help you flesh out your story anyway.

[please take this post with a grain of salt—i’m not a perfect person or a perfect writer! when in doubt, research it out. my examples in this post come from my knowledge as a chinese person of chinese mythology (or what i know of it though somewhat limited), and advice as a writer and avid reader.]

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT Rewatch 4X14 - Enter the Dragon

Sorry for all the delays with these reviews! I’ve really been DRAGON my feet through this whole season, haven’t I? 

...You don’t come here for smart puns, Regina! XD

Anyway, there’s a nice juicy review under the cut!

Main Takeaways

Past

I love how this plays as the evil version of every “young person melts the heart of older person and convinces them to go back to doing what they love” story! While it’s not a parody -- and is in fact played deadly straight -- it’s funny as hell to watch because of that!

It’s kind of weird seeing such vague mentions of Mal’s backstory. All throughout the episode, we hear clues, but are never given anything concrete. I wonder when or even if we ever would’ve gotten a backstory for Mal and Briar Rose.

Present

Wow, I gotta say, considering how DESTROYED Mal was by what Snowing did to her kid, stealing another kid is just horrible (The fact that he’s turned back into August and she may or may not have known that is irrelevant for me since she stealing a son from his father at the end of the day) ! I don’t know if it’s exactly poorly written or not -- a case of extremism turning her into what she hates or mishandling a character who is supposed to be more balanced between being evil and sympathetic. I guess it’s up to interpretation, but given that the there doesn’t get to be a reaction from Marco to Maleficent over the fact considering how big of a deal it is that she reverted a little boy back into being a grown man, I feel forced to say the latter.

This also applies to Regina too, ESPECIALLY considering her conversations with Marco in the last episode and this is more of a problem than I realized. She’s stealing a child, putting him up against three villains, AND disposing any direct means of contact between herself and her backup. And the fact that Rumple reverts him into being August at the end of the episode changes nothing here because that wasn’t an anticipated move. It’s even more distracting given the gravitas of the moment where Emma and Regina try to figure out whether or not to steal him in the first place. Regina says she’s going to protect him and pull out if he’s in danger, but what does she think they’re going to do to him if not threaten his life? Even just the emotional duress of those kind of threats is crazy to do to a kid. And then to drop her phone so he can’t even be tracked? It’s played as this necessary evil, but is never given the payoff to back up what a horrible and reckless thing this was to do. They STOLE his childhood -- what was essentially his happy ending -- and that has to be answered for by ALL involved parties: Maleficent, Regina, and Emma too for ultimately agreeing to this.

This segment has a really interesting theme of not being overly insistent on complete control. Throughout it, Regina insists to her friends that she can handle the Queens of Darkness. Even as the stakes raise, she makes risky and riskier decisions that she says she can manage. This culminates in a horribly risky decision (See above) that, in her insistence in keeping control over the situation and her sureness that she’s right, has Regina abandon her means of getting backup. And this all ends with Regina, forced by her own hand, to relinquish control to Rumple. I think that this is an important lesson for Regina to learn, and while I didn’t like the big decision that she had to make for lack of a proper fallout (I’ll actually discuss in a bit why I choose this episode to take the issue with it), I think the rest of the story is good!

Stream of Consciousness

-Regina, you trying to KILL ME with the cut of that shirt?! Because it is working!

-Damn, Regina is AMAZING at acting evil! XD

-HOW THE FUCK DID YOU CRUSH GLASS?! ARE YOU THE FUCKING HULK? XD

-I love how Regina looks between Mal’s castle and her book like “I’m gonna get my favorite author to sign my book!”

-Wouldn’t someone just win “Don’t Be a Hero” by only saving themselves?

-I love how there were freakin’ BETS on the game! XD

-We got another Henry and Belle scene!!! Tbh, I wish there was a bit more substance here too. Belle ADORES books and this is literally a mystery surrounding a book! Why couldn’t she give him some advice on maybe where to look or just talk about the nature of books! You have two book fans sharing a scene! Why not use that?

-I would KILL to know how Regina’s night of drinking with the Queens of Darkness went! Like, they drank a whole bar! XD

-To be fair, Emma, Regina’s probably not reaching out because she’s hungover as FUCK after DRINKING A WHOLE BAR! XD

-MAL, DRUNK AS FUCK, SINGED A COP CAR! XD WHERE ARE FICS OF THIS! THIS IS THE TRUE SEQUEL TO “THE HANGOVER!” XD

-”Some drinking.” SOME DRINKING? YOU DRANK AND ENTIRE BAR! XD

-I like how Regina’s “pathetic” flame was more of a matter of nervousness than inexperience. It shows that Regina’s learned a lot during her tenure with Rumple while still having a lot of space to grow.

-Maleficent is introduced as a druggie! She literally stabs herself with something that “takes the edge off!” XD

-”You need to remember who you are.” “That Maleficent had a foul temper, and if you insulted her, she’d turn into a dragon and eat your flesh.” Holy hell! My eyes are filled with hearts!

-”Where the hell have you been all night?” I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW THAT AS WELL!

-NOW WHAT KIND OF CRAZINESS HAPPENED IN THE VAULT?! XD

-To be fair, Emma, Regina’s been ROCKING this undercover mission so far.

-This episode is full of sexy, badass people, but this cake is the sexiest thing of all!

-”Well, look at which two survivors found a dinghy together.” ...Rumple, HOW ARE YOU SO BAD AT BEING KILLIAN? IT’S NOT ESPECIALLY HARD AND YET YOU SOMEHOW FAILED AT IT! It’s like trying to pet a puppy and instead doing a handstand! XD

-I love how Storybrooke can appear on a GPS system! Is someone in town just a really good techie or is Google our new God? XD

-”The only magical thing you’ll find here is duct tape.” Accurate! XD

-”You didn’t ask your questions more forcefully.” Oh trust me, she did. It was scary.

-”One little snafu?” YOU WOULD HAVE TO STEAL A CHILD!

-”Break some rules.” YOU ARE STEALING A CHILD!

-A Pirate’s Oath! XD What the hell? Someone’s just looking to cop a feel!

-I love the fact that it is 100% canon that Regina rode on the back of a dragon. Maleficent gave her the best piggyback ride in the UNIVERSE!

-Wait: GOLD HAS A CABIN?

Favorite Dynamic

Rump-illian and Belle. I absolutely love Rump-illian and Belle’s subplot here. Rumple, for better or worse, knows Belle and is exactly slippery enough to forge a story to get the dagger back for himself but also not infallible as to still fail to  discuss things he wasn’t privy to. Major props have to go to Colin. He’s playing Rumple playing Killian and that is AMAZING! His lines and delivery are just awkward enough to capture Rumple’s failure to perfectly capture Killian, but they’re close enough that they could fool someone who’s just getting to be close with Killian like Belle. He’s always a little off center in how he conducts himself, making the reveal something that could feasibly be guessed but also surprise everyone! And the transitions -- the one at the docks the one as he walks into the pawnshop, and the one outside the pawnshop are done so well as to make the whole subplot even better!

Writer

David Goodman and Jerome Schwartz are in charge of today’s episode! So far, they’ve had a perfect season! But...well… Look. This episode isn't bad, but I do wish the present segment had some more polish. Considering that the three people involved in that final decision are all mothers and to not do more with that idea is really distracting in hindsight.

Rating

8/10. I’m torn about whether or not I should punish this episode for what goes down with Pinocchio. This episode is more setup in that regard than payoff and it’s not bad setup. But at the same time, I do have to ask myself if that payoff was ever going to happen and if it wasn’t, then the setup of something that upon inspection is so fucked up. And I do think that the payoff wasn’t intended to come up -- they had to know -- and so I do find fault with this episode for executing this idea in such an irresponsible way. Otherwise though, the storytelling is really good. Everything makes sense, the story’s engaging, the pacing works, the characters are for the most part in line, and the theme of the past segment lines up in a way that’s subtle, yet effective.

Flip My Ship - The Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness”

DRAGON QUEEN - This is my JAM! Look at Regina’s face as Mal enters the room. That is the face of a woman realizing “I am gay for LIFE!” And in the present, could these two flirt any MORE?! <3 Just look at the aspirin scene! Mal and Regina are both letting their guard down (Regina’s being more of a casual spitfire, Mal’s not wearing the jacket and is giving a bit more info), Mal’s helping Regina out a bit, there’s candles everywhere, and there’s a touch of loose tension in the room. It’s enough to make the moment pretty sexy. ALSO, they go on a mission alone and the presentation to it plays out exactly like an impromptu date! This is the BEST! I just love how Regina smiles for Mal. It’s big, but natural and just kind of happy!

Swan Queen - Dude! Emma is so worried about Regina! That panic in her voice is CRAZY and her dedication to having Regina’s back and protecting her really shows how much she cares for Regina! This as some of their best shippy moments by the sheer amount of concern Emma has for her!

Captain Swan - While it doesn’t work exactly, Killian does a really good job assuring Emma that things with Regina will be okay.

Mal/Briar Rose - “What happened to you?” “A Rose. A Briar Rose.” Mal says that line in the same way someone talks about someone who they had a bad breakup with!

-----

Hi!!! Thanks for reading and shout outs to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales and to the lovely @daensarah! See you all next time!

Season 4 Total (121/230)

Writer Scores: Adam and Eddy: (34/60) Jane Espenson: (20/40) David Goodman and Jerome Schwartz: (38/50) Andrew Chambliss: (22/50) Dana Horgan: (6/30) Kalinda Vazquez: (22/40) Scott Nimerfro: (14/30) Tze Chun (8/20)

Operation Rewatch Archives

[heinrichklaasen37-blog]

The White Pages Game

It is possible to search by name and location during the white pages.  In the instance of free white pages websites, you can use no more than the very first few letters of the name you're hunting for as a way to bring up some results from which to select.  You would think and believe that to be able to discover absolutely free white pages, you must utilize Google.

When you visit our website you will see a box where relative information must be inserted.  All you will need is the suspicious telephone number, type it in the search form on their site and press enter.  Of course you won't always have all the information that you need, however you will still require some way to limit your search.

All you need to do is go the online white pages and click the choice for the reverse phone search. A recognized example is Uber. All you need to do is visit the site and click on such an option. If you're looking for an accurate and speedy answer, go to paidreverse search websites. Therefore, should you want to conduct search with the telephone number that keeps on bothering you day and night, you may use white pages online from free websites that you can test out. Paid search sites are some of the the favourite mode of searches in the net. White Pages - the Conspiracy With quite a few sites specifically devoted to helping people find different people and a small info, you'll find nearly anyone. They, for various reasons, need to know the background of other people with whom they interact, for example, employers need to check out future employees, etc.. Read about a few of the ideas that you could attempt to use to find people in foreign nations. Another fantastic approach to locate some information regarding someone is merely by typing their name into Google. All you need to do is to enter the number that you've got to determine if anything will come up. These white pages turn into a book with all types of stories that say that which we become. The Tried and True Method for White Pages in Step by Step Detail Getting in a position to track down a mobile phone number is a strong thing but needs to be practiced legally. You are able to easily do people search, phone number look up, when the toolbar was installed and you may conduct it at no cost. You might be able to chance upon a number through a paid service, but there isn't any completely free mobile phone number directory you may use. Rather than looking up a number, you're going to be looking up a name once you already have the telephone number. What can happen is based on the number. So in regards to tracing a mobile number, your only option is `online reverse cellular number directories' All you have to know about that unknown number! Searching the person using the telephone number may not create many results in the event the individual hasn't listed the number on any public sites. The absolute most important reason that you are having a mobile phone is that you want to communicate with others by sending messages through text and calling by using your mobile phones. If you are quite seriously interested in looking up somebody's cell phone number, you must stop by a dedicated mobile phone lookup site with good reputation. With cell phone numbers, it's a lot harder. There has been some concerns over attempts to make they available in standard white pages but because of privacy issues they still remain private. Cellular phone numbers are normally more private and secure. 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You don't understand who's behind the website Not to scare you, and it doesn't happen a whole lot, but there are such websites that contain malware that may wreck your PC. Up in Arms About White Pages? The response is `NO', even when you read on several websites on the internet you could do that but the truth is that can't do it free. Most people don't even have a clue regarding what the services are. The number of internet folks search resources that you could now use to find someone is currently endless. Again, the results could be inaccurate as people may continue to keep the exact number when changing addresses, or the number could have been transferred to somebody else. Whether an unknown number is causing you a little grief, your very first thought may be to find out who is on the opposite end of the line. These white pages turn into a book with all types of stories that say that which we become. 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If you wish to look for people by phone number then the subsequent paragraphs have some answers about how you can locate them. Why Almost Everything You've Learned About White Pages Is Wrong Actually it's one of the essential approaches to do a people today search free of cost. People search can assist you in your quest to locate your long lost friend. Usually, they use the white pages to attempt to find the person's name. Again, the results could be inaccurate as people may continue to keep the exact number when changing addresses, or the number could have been transferred to somebody else. Whether an unknown number is causing you a little grief, your very first thought may be to find out who is on the opposite end of the line. At times you won't locate a number in this manner, but it is normally a fantastic first step in your search, and might even be the only one you want to try. Ok, I Think I Understand White Pages, Now Tell Me About White Pages! 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To conclude, there's absolutely no authentic free mobile phone directory or totally free people search by cell phone. If you would like to look up cell phone numbers, there are plenty of matters you can do online. Meanwhile, mobile phone providers are only interested in a directory if they're in fact the ones providing it. For instance, some data brokers might allow users to eliminate raw data, but not the inferences derived from it, making it hard for consumers to understand how they've been categorized. Cell numbers continue to be thought to be private by the law, and there aren't any directories for such numbers that were put out by the providers. The issue with doing a completely free reverse phone lookup is they don't show unlisted numbers and mobile phone numbers. Reverse White pages lockup offers you the ability to be in charge of the circumstance. The reverse mobile phone lookup service can be found through the internet so the service is readily accessible and it's very convenient to use. Now if you prefer a complete study on the telephone number you will need to spend a small money. So it resembles cell phone number lookups are throughout the web, but the vast majority of the sites out there give cell phone owners the selection of entering their telephone number and due to little demand as of yet, aren't comprehensive. Of course if you're on the lookout for a person mobile phone number, it can turn out to be much more challenging to track down the and merely a landline number. Want to Know More About White Pages?

People searches'' are intended to help you to find contact information for the person you're browsing for.  Rather than starting with the name of the person or business whose number you wish to find, you begin with the telephone number as a way to figure out the name of the entity that's calling you.  By typing in some specific information you will secure the name, address, city and far more.

Our address look up will be dependent on the kind of information available.  You will receive the Owner information if you're lucky.  Following that, you'll need to cover extra information about the owner's individual information signed, which is perfectly accurate.

Actually, finding someone with internet directory searches is possible with any part of contact info.  An unlisted phone number search provides you with the name of the individual in addition to the street address of the individual and the background too.  A speedy Reverse Phone Lookup may confirm whether the caller is a friend or only another telemarketer attempting to sell you something.

[rosetaylor51-blog]

White Pages Ideas

There's also the choice to cover their private background report.  There are fundamentally three distinct methods you are able to apply to locate persons by a telephone number, and you may determine which one is proper for you by evaluating your circumstance.  What's more, the resulting directories have to get put together manually, which is a time-consuming and costly process.

Top White Pages Secrets

If you would like to learn more about white pages online then do read on and learn more about the way to use them to hunt for people.  The reverse white pages on the internet can very well be everything that you will need to try.  Therefore, if you're trying to investigate people, the internet offers you an effortless means to find a whole lot of information.

White Pages - the Story

You might already know that it is possible to call information through the local phone company to see whether someone has a listed phone number. There are several steps that you can follow if you would like to trace a mobile number and also locate the person who owns the number quickly. If you're interested in finding peoples phone numbers then you'll locate the info provided here quite helpful. How do you select the finest reverse phone number look-up support. Just imagine that you're receiving regular prank phone calls via an unknown caller. On both phones, however, you could observe a number you don't know and you might not need to answer the call if this is true. The Appeal of White Pages If you are searching for information about an individual in the United States of america, Whitepages will be in a position to find information for over 200 million people. 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When you go on the internet for a reverse phone lookup, you put in the number as opposed to the name to find out what comes up. Thus, to trace a name from a telephone number, don't hesitate to see the reverse phone look up websites and enter the telephone number for the information that you need. Whenever you do a reverse phone lookup, you are not only getting somebody's name. How do you select the finest reverse phone number look-up support. Just imagine that you're receiving regular prank phone calls via an unknown caller. In the event the number calling is a landline, you might locate what you need rather easily. Most Noticeable White Pages Also, you'll need to discover who the business number belongs so you can in case the company representative you've just spoken to is a truly legitimate employee of that firm. It may be possible that the man or woman selling house isn't its true owner and maybe he's a criminal and only want to earn fraud. The typical person can easily produce an initial collection of over 1,000 contacts. White Pages Explained All you need to do is to enter the number that you've got to find out if anything will come up. Normally, individuals utilize the white pages to try to discover the individual's name. There are a lot of things in your life that may be considered toxic for you. Top White Pages Secrets You may also search the information of the individual on online white pages. There are numerous search engines on the net today. You can attempt to find out what it is possible to find if you search the name of the individual by means of a search engine. White Pages Explained You're able to access what you won't be in a position to access out there in the general public. Unique packages to pick from If you wish to generate an offline bin database search, then there are packages on the market which include the BIN or Bank Identification Number to a particular nation. Even the completely free services can only supply you with a limited quantity of information. After the page comes up, you put in the number into the box and submit for your results. What you could do is to find out what would come up if you have a look through some on-line resources. It is basic at best, but you have the option to pay a small fee for any additional information. The Definitive Strategy for White Pages All you need to do is go the online white pages and click the choice for the reverse phone search. If it is a landline number you're looking for, there are an infinite number of on-line directories called white pages that archive the names and phone numbers of people all around the nation. Though many individuals who have tried the completely free methods know they only become poor or limited info, there are a number of who are still fans of the totally free searches for individual details. You have to locate another source for your information. 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Things You Won't Like About White Pages and Things You Will In the event the number IS listed, it's still true that you may not become much info apart from the name of the man to whom it belongs and what social networks that person belongs to. It may be possible that the man or woman selling house isn't its true owner and maybe he's a criminal and only want to earn fraud. A person does not need to put stress in locating the name and address of an individual. New Ideas Into White Pages Never Before Revealed Online Directories specialized in Reverse mobile phone lookup is a superb service that can be found on the net, which individuals can access after making a little payment! Also, users were made to await days in order to be aware of the initiators of such calls. If you aren't comfortable using your phone number you've got the choice of using Google Voice. Whether you're trying to try to remember the name of a client that you've got a telephone number for or you're being harassed and you would like to learn who it is and set a stop to it, using 411 reverse lookup may have the answers which you're looking for. With all these hundreds of millions of searches involved, it's no surprise that individuals wish to get a complimentary reverse mobile phone lookup service to find the answers they want. Now that folks utilize cell phones more than land line phones, Caller ID isn't the ideal solution for finding information regarding the number. What to Do About White Pages All you need to do is to enter the number that you've got to find out if anything will come up. Normally, individuals utilize the white pages to try to discover the individual's name. Or a friend whose number you've lost when you were moving to a different residence.

Up in Arms About White Pages?

In case you have, you know they are utilized to find info about any number that you want.  Learn from the next article which ones it is possible to utilize to find a person's phone number.  Cell numbers continue to be thought to be private by the law, and there are not any directories for such numbers that were put out by the providers.

How do you select the finest reverse phone number look-up support. Then you'll get a call at which you will be requested to deliver the verification code.  If you wish to get into the number that keeps on calling you hour by hour, and you feel it is hard that you get the person supporting the telephone number, you're erroneous.

[twiddlebirdlet]

Post Digest

I had so many posts yesterday, and I could not possibly answer them all in this lifetime. My apologies for not addressing these, but here they are.

The words belong to the anonymous original writers. They do not reflect my opinions. My posting of them doesn’t imply any endorsement.

· Anonymous said:

Chris really is trash for ruining another relationship maybe him and Jordyn woods can join the home wrecker club

·  Anonymous said:

Mood, give up. People will blame you, the girl, the weather, everything but Chris, who could have easily avoided any assumption by not taking the pics. Pics with kids, pic of dog, hospital visits, videos for sick children all this is good PR and he used in the past. But where is the good on taking pics with dancers? They were not fans. He is not helping to make them being respected or less objectified. He is not bringing any discussion about their work conditions to the table.

·  Anonymous said:

People saying this is nothing how do they explain her boyfriend deleting all of her pix? If it was nothing if she wasn’t with him why is boyfriend reacting that way?

·  Anonymous said:

That girl was so completely lusting after Chris in her pics and posts that I think she absolutely would jump out of her current relationship if Chris so much as blinked her way. She was going to go anywhere he was. I will wait to see what happens but it looks like Chris may have made another poor decision. Why is this man so intelligent in some things but when it comes to women he is just so way off? If he thought SSH was bad, just wait for a young social media millennial. Disaster.

·  Anonymous said:

Bella & her bf are still following each other on Instagram. Maybe he deleted those photos of her as a way of protecting her? Maybe he didn't want to make his Insta private & thought this would be a better way of doing things. In any case, he doesn't seem angry enough at her to unfollow her. But I don't think they broke up before the Chris thing, as he still had their professional couple photos up & they were still posting gushy comments to each other. So it's still weird and suspicious.

·  Anonymous said:

What is up with Chris and taken women

·  Anonymous said:

So I guess Chris really is a home wrecker

·  Anonymous said:

I just want to say thank you for all the information you're providing about this whole Chris situation. I'd rather have the full (or as full as we can get it) story with all the pieces together so I can make up my own mind what to think, vs bits and pieces and people misreporting information that they heard third hand, etc. So your summary post with receipts was very much appreciated by me.

·  Anonymous said:

To me the whole intern thing just seemed like she was trying to be linked to him judging by the times the ig pics went up. I guess everyone has their own opinions I know people who have basically said it was nothing and refused to talk about it but if it was someone else they would be all over it. It seems with him people pick and choose what issues of his they want to discuss. All of just seemed iffy especially know knowing that her bf deleted her pics. Hope you're have a lovely day.

·  Anonymous said:

I’m worried about the people worried about your health. They’re so invested in this celebrity that they are policing your blog. He’s a successful, famous actor. He has a whole team of people to handle this. And, none of those people are contacting you...

·  Anonymous said:

I don't get anons coming in here and complaining that you answering asks about the saturday night events is somehow blowing this thing up and causing drama. This anon should go to twitter where there are accounts that tag CE, JS, enty and provoking more and more ridiculous accusations, including Chris roofying Bella's drink etc. Twiddle at least sticks to things we can prove so if you wanna complain, go there and set these people straight. They make real damage not anonymous tumblr

·  Anonymous said:

The boyfriend could just be fed up with her throwing herself at ce and then getting comments forcing him to go private. That would be enuf for a 20 yr old in a long distance relationship. Doesn’t mean she is shaking up with ce. He’s too paranoid to do that

·  Anonymous said:

From what I've seen on Twitter, there's a little bit of talk about the burlesque aspect of it (mostly "Ugh, you're all such prudes, get over it!") but no one seems to be picking up on the intern part of it except for like 3 people. I'm torn. I kind of want to see him get shit for this, because he was very stupid and irresponsible, but OTOH I'd hate to see what kind of PR crap his people will pull up to distract everyone. A PRomance with Brie Larson, perhaps.

·  Anonymous said:

Just a funny coincidence but it appears her (ex) bf and Chris share the same birthday lol. But either way not looking good. We can only speculate but it looks like her ex bf/bf didn't like her behavior towards him or something really did go down. 🦊

·  Anonymous said:

I think everyone needs to accept their portion of responsibility in this situation. The people that harassed or contacted the interns, the girl and the performers need to respect boundaries. I understand you posts Anons, but you also decide which and how many. Yesterday you provided a platform and it had consequences, people felt emboldened and crossed lines. I think everyone can learn from this experience and correct their future behavior.

·  Anonymous said:

So you keep saying your not sure if mark was there when multiple people keep saying he was.YOU keep saying that the pics were taking at the same or about the same time but theres no proof that they were. YOU keep putting out info that isnt accurate or just coincidental. that girl bf realise his gf is a thirsty ass and she got what she got but it doesnt mean anything happen between her and chris. NOTHING HAPPEN WITH THE INTERN STOP SPREADING SHIT!!

·  Anonymous said:

I think the bf just wanted people to stop harassing him about her so he did that instead of privatize. Seemingly less like a breakup.

·  Anonymous said:

It’s possible and probable her boyfriend deleted any pictures of her/them because he was tired of being harassed and getting bombarded with comments. He still follows her. He could have just muted the comment section, but maybe he was hoping by doing that it would help this all die down, and for people to lose interest. Which is laughable, because this particular fandom has a hard time letting go. Either way, I don’t necessarily think this is the beginning of a new relationship for Chris.

·  Anonymous said:

Sending you love! I truly enjoy your blog and your commentary. What you wrote about your struggles with OCD resonates with me (I had anxiety issues as a teenager. Mild in comparison to some, but they dominated my life). I will try not to clutter your inbox from now on, but, please know you are appreciated and I love the discussions we have here.

·  Anonymous said:

I think that putting the blame on this or other blog is a total waste of time. You know what would have avoided all this? Not taking those pics. How hard would be for him to STOP doing something that is doing no good to him? As you said, nothing positive comes out of this. He is not attending the ask of a cute kid. He is not visiting a hospital. He is helping a club to promote their name, something totally uncessary for an actor who reached his fame.

·  Anonymous said:

The intern thing didn't make the rounds in the internt, but the meeting with Dan Creshaw did. Chris is being criticized for that and for the twitter interaction.

·  Anonymous said:

Oy, its looking like she really did risk it all. Dumb childish mentality, what did anybody honestly expect from this situation? That poor boyfriend.

·  Anonymous said:

I don't think it's a proof that something happened between her and Chris but for sure her bf (probably now ex) didn't aprove her behaviour and probably he thinks that some limits were crossed. I have to admit that I would not like to have a bf acting like that around a famous woman or any other woman and leaving traces in SM which is worse. I really, really hope that Chris is smart enough to stay away from that or another kind of fame will get attached to him besides the "f*ck boy" image.

·  Anonymous said:

WHOA! Deleting all her pics? Does that mean Chris successfully ruined another relationship??? Whuut!?

·  Anonymous said:

You are very kind and your head is definitely on straight. You’re less of an “opinion” blog and almost more of a news blog anyways. Don’t listen to the haters. You aren’t being overly invested, cruel, silly, or anything else. I’ve always found you to be fair.

·  Anonymous said:

I looked at mark’s following list and he followed one other intern (a girl) who was also in the city but didn’t post from the box!

·  Anonymous said:

Tbh, good for her bf-her behavior (the comments) were completely inappropriate IF in a relationship, long distance or not. Unbelievably disrespectful to him. Hope her thirstiness was worth losing a relationship and (maybe) an internship. I am several years older, but there is no way I would have behaved that way during my college internship. Morality clauses apply to personal time as well.

·  Anonymous said:

Omg he deleted every pic with her. So now we know for sure that something happened that night lol

·  Anonymous said:

And now apparently twitter thinks harpy was there with Chris and they're back together. Oh for fuck's sake!

·  Anonymous said:

It's funny because many Chris instagram fan accounts just share the pic of him and the black singer/stripper but skip posting the other with the women group with clothes close to the nothing that they find I guess too trash for share with their followers in saying Chris with a fan in NYC without details.

·  Anonymous said:

In the name of everybody sorry for the large number of asks we sent you and the tiredness we,people agree or not agree, have caused you. We don't think when we send you an ask that you will receive many, everybody, after seeing one and your answer, wanting share their opinion about what an anon or you said even if it's for exprime our agreement. It's a circle without end. I hope you had a good night. Let's forget that,this girl is history now,the fire is extinguished now. Kiss

·  Anonymous said:

I've been seeing this gifset on my dashboard lately from Chris' interview captioned "I'm smarter than I look". No idea if the quote is real because I've never seen this particular interview but I think given the turn of events of the past few days it's appropriate to say "no, Chris, you aren't" LOL

·  Anonymous said:

Ok, I can't believe I'm saying this, but this whole messy situation really turns me off. I've always known Chris isn't a saint, that he's NOT Steve Rogers irl, going to clubs like The Box is not a new thing for him, but he should've known better. I want to believe he's not that dumb, but he's THAT dumb. This is really upsetting and I'm so disappointed. After all those good days working on a serious project in DC, does he really not care about his image being sleazy like that? Damn it, Chris.

·  Anonymous said:

So Chris alone went to greet the dancers? From what Manuel submitted, that’s what it seems like. She wasn’t there with him and his friends exactly, but somehow found out where they were and met up with them? I’m so over talking about this. Idk how you’ve done this all day Twiddle. My bedtime prayer is dedicated to you tonight.

·  Anonymous said:

Thank you Twiddle for taking your time to answer here and on DM. I know you also do it so that you will be best informed to answer any questions here, we appreciate that some took the time to gather more information for the rest of us. It seems like at the end of these gossip we all end up confirming our first guest. I feel we shouldn't give this girl more room. My conclusion for the day is either he never thought that girl was that thirsty or he's really just dumb. I'm going with cute but dumb

·  Anonymous said:

It's not a great look for him to be pictured at places like that, particularly when he's employed by a family-friendly company like Disney. He's been obsessed with protecting his image ever since he got the role of Cap. Btw, I am not surprised he goes to places like that but you'd think he'd be smart enough not to get his picture taken.

·  Anonymous said:

Have people forgotten that one of these thirsty hanger-on types (just like this intern seems to be) is someone who sent a video of Chris to tmz? I mean, he wasn't doing anything bad-just partying it up after a super bowl and he looked like a drunk frat boy. But even that got a dodger pic response. My point is that he should be smarter about people around him, especially when he's drunk.

·  Anonymous said:

Denying pics comes with its own risks. You don’t want to piss people off because that can have its own dangers. This has happened with other celebs. There have been several occasions where his pics have been in return for free bottle service or other perks. I am not saying that is the case here though. Not trying to argue with you mod, just saying it’s not black and white. A lot of mistakes were made here and the worst part is how avoidable it was. But most seem to hinge on Bella’s actions. 🐩

·  Anonymous said:

Mark follows a few of the interns from DC, 2 of whom (Bella & another woman) posted from NYC Saturday night & this evening. Also a few of Mark's friends are NYC as well. It's not far fetched that going to The Box was his idea. Also Mark would've needed to make a reservation to ensure they got in.

·  Anonymous said:

I think you hit the nail. What Chris gets from taking those pics? For sure he is being polite and the people involved get happy but taking how society works and how many people think and what they can do with that information, he got nothing good on posing for those pics. And saying that is just pointing out and realising how society works. People are hypocrite and mysoginist.

·  Anonymous said:

I feel you on the eating away at your Sunday. It’s not my blog and even *I* can’t believe how much time I’m devoted to this, much less the swamp you must be dealing with. Really appreciate your views and your time. I feel so silly that I’ve gotten so caught up in it but it’s like a car accident you can’t turn away from. Get some rest and lots of love. 🐩

·  Anonymous said:

People been posting Info but clearly no one believes it. That tree anon mention it.

·  Anonymous said:

People who are saying Mark was there and that she was there with a group of friends are just assuming as much as anyone else who says Chris and the girl were there with each other. The only thing we know for sure is that they were both on the same place, at the same night, around the same time, after meeting the day before. We can't deny that.

·  Anonymous said:

I’d like to say this girl blew her chances but this is the same guy who gave MK & JS multiple chances despite their fame whoring ways. Whatever it is it won’t last long but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re seen together again. Too bad. His political project was exciting. Now it’s tainted because he’s proven what a lot of people thought of him to be true.  

·  Anonymous said:

You need to let it go now. This is a non story. It’s looking more like two separate trips were in the works and it was a “oh hey us too maybe we’ll see you we were thinking of checking out this club” now apparently you think because he’s ancient and she’s an impressionable child and burlesque shows are akin to live porn he should have shut it down. But those of us in the common sense world see this for what it was. Which is a giant nothing. So tip to TMZ. Guarantee they will think the same.

·  Anonymous said:

For gods sake. Read and post my second ask to you. Stop all this madness. Yes they know each other. That is it. They were at same club and of course hung out a little. So what They met at first dc meet I think. He was nice to her She was nice back. Nothing wrong with people meeting and being cool. Even if famous

·  Anonymous said:

Maybe I should rewrite this but Your acting as they were they in DC together. They MET and photographed but wasnt there together as Your wording puts it. Like I said you dont know of they were backstage together. Pics can be upload at any time of the night . Your just jumping to conclusions like everyone else.

·  Anonymous said:

The way some of you talk about women is so damn depressing ugh this fandom is on one today.

·  Anonymous said:

Liked what the PR/crisis anon mentioned, that it's wrong to think Chris was uninvolved in JS and MK's stunts when he dated them. It's naive to think he is that helpless and easily controlled.

·  Anonymous said:

What i really don't understand is how chris could have been so so dumb and didn't think of the consequences. Also his pr underestimated the whole situation. The girl was blatantly seeking attention and a story to tell, and any person with a brain would have got the danger of the all situation. I know that he loves partying but he was so superficial i can't even put into words. In my opinion the project has been hurt by this and everything happened today showed that.

·  Anonymous said:

2/2) as if he wanted to do that. I doubt he asked, but was asked to do it. 3) The girl jumped on the chance to go backstage after the invitation and took the pic. 4) People put the pieces together because the girl was thirsty the day before and liked the attention she got from her friends but now there is a chance she ruined the trip a little as people ran to protect their privacy.

·  Anonymous said:

I think if Chris wants to be taken seriously in what ever he decides to do. He needs to grow up and act his age and stop drinking as much and hang around different people that includes his friends from Boston. I feel most of his friends are just there for the ride including Tara. If he does ever get married she will have to trust him to no end.

·  Anonymous said:

"it's not at all weird for people here on a blog that is predominantly about Chris to talk more about chris' antics than about anyone else's. It doesn't mean they're more worried or think what he's done is worse, it's just that this blog is a place to talk about him more than anyone else. Nice try though." Nice try what? If you read the full ask, as Chris's fan, I'm more concerned that's he's doing publicity pics with treasonous Nazis than hanging at a burlesque show w/ an intern. But you do you

·  Anonymous said:

Hi! Sorry for this question but I just don´t understand what is going on here with Chris and this intern? I try to scroll down your page but I still don´t understand what has happened.

·  Anonymous said:

Some who don't have problem that Bella flies to NY and post the picture at the same place where was Chris was the first to be offend that Jenny posts pic when she was at the same place that Chris whereas she was dating him. Be careful anons I'm not a pro Janey but people were rude with her when it was normal(even if she trolled), she was spending time with his boyfriend but when another women did the same, without dating him, they think it's okay. Why?

·  Anonymous said:

I'm genuinely curious about what kind of impression he was trying to make on her? like you wanna hook up with this chick & you're letting her know that you like to gawk at other half naked chicks in your free time? Unfortunately this will never blow up, if his PR team can bury homewrecker scandal then they can bury anything.

·  Anonymous said:

He seems to unconsciously be attracted to attention-seeking women who view him as a prize. I wonder if it’s a defense mechanism to prevent him from entering a serious relationship? Also, seriously, why wouldn’t you just make it clear to her that she shouldn’t post their escapades on social media from the start? Has he learned nothing from the Jobby debacle????

·  Anonymous said:

Okay, from her comments and that pose, that's a girl that has no problem pushing someone out the way to get noticed. Like the pic, the side she was on was trying to get four people in, compared to the 3 on the other, so they had to turn sideways. I can see her making sure she was the one next to him. She didn't have to put her hand on his shoulder or stomach. She was trying for his attention. Did she get it? Don't know. Don't really care, but that's a college-age Janey. Just want that fame.

·  Anonymous said:

Now that there are pics of them together and seeing the way she's posing with her hands on his chest and shoulder (it is very reminiscent of SSH, isn't it? Which would hurt if I was js lol) taken with the comments from her and her friends, all I can say is YIKES. And also, SMH. I am not a prude and I actually like burlesque and have been to The Box and fully expected him to hook up with somebody in DC ~on the low~ but even I can say this is not a good look for him. This boy will never learn.

·  Anonymous said:

I’d like to think that he’d cut all ties to Bella now the he’s created a PR nightmare for himself, yet again. But considering for almost 3 years he was involved with a woman who was married when they originally met & got involved, I don’t think he will care. At least Jenny was almost the same age as him. He’s looking like an upgraded version of Dane Cook. For anyone who doesn’t know, Dane Cook’s girlfriend is 19, they started dating when she was 18, but were “friends” before that 🙄🤢

·  Anonymous said:

The more I see from this girl the more I think she’s just a thirsty very immature little girl. And has no idea what she could potentially cost Chris. But he’s not innocent as she found out where he was going somehow.. And then posted it everywhere. Him or his team should have warned them to be cautious. And once they arrived not continued to entertain them and allow them backstage. An adult would have said nice to see you I’m going over here goodbye. Just another dumb d*#k brain decision.

·  Anonymous said:

Oh, man... the boyfriend. I didn't even think about him. Can you imagine if the situation was reverse and her bf was acting that way towards a famous woman? I can imagine myself on that situation and I wouldn't like it. Even if she was just joking, which i don't think she was just doing that, it would be disrespectfull. I hope he is not hurt.

·  Anonymous said:

Tks for the clarifycation for don't hate the player. So the girl had no shame to run after a man who has close the double of her age just because he is famous. Not sure she is again with her boyfriend but if she is, he would be very happy. It's clear,even if Chris makes bad choices in women, he wouldn't do nothing with her, discretion level he couldn't count on her. 5min with him and she shared and tried already trash things.

·  Anonymous said:

And Chris, wearing that Red Sox cap in NYC will bring you a lot of unwanted attention ;)

·  Anonymous said:

He was probably advised to stay away from twitter or he decided to do that.

·  Anonymous said:

"He doesn’t deserve to be placed on a pedestal. " Literally no personal should be put on a pedestal. NO ONE. Mothers, fathers, friends, siblings, celebrities, every single person does stupid shit or has 'problematic' opinions. If you place anybody (family, friends, celebrities) on a pedestal, you're only looking to get disappointed.

·  Anonymous said:

Lets be real-Chris is charming, he is a schmoozer. He was working the crowd in DC. If you are nice to someone, than you get your interview. This time he snagged a desperate fan girl & hung out with her. Not the type of guy I would ever want to be involved with. I could not be w/ a guy that wanted to go to those types of clubs. I think SSH didn't like it either. If this is the life he wants to live he will either have to find a person ok with it, change or be single. 10 steps back for me.

·  Anonymous said:

I think she is just a fan with a crush and people are reading into this way too much. I don’t think that’s her hand on his shoulder and the pose is also something we’ve seen in comic con pics. Her “way good friend lol” to means she is joking because he isn’t. The “don’t hate the player hate the game” is again joking and means don’t be mad at her because she got to meet him and her friend didn’t. Was there flirting ? Maybe but we know he does with everyone and she might thought it was just her.  

·  Anonymous said:

I don't know how publicits work. Do they keep track of the mentions of their clients in SM? I wonder if Chris' publicist is already checking the situation. TIME FOR A DODGER PIC IF YOU ARE READING HERE!!!!!

·  Anonymous said:

I find it hard to believe Chris would use this venture to go fishing for a college aged hookup or girlfriend. He mentions age and sneaking into bars in that video, so he also knew her (Bella’s) approximate age. I have no doubt he gets plenty of action and isn’t a saint, but this truly seems like she is playing up something that doesn’t exist. I question her more than him here, again, because he knows this is an important project with “real life” important people, not hollywood actors.

·  Anonymous said:

Chris seems so immature. I know we want to put the blame on Janey and MK and all the other girlfriends but honestly am I the only that thinks maybe it’s HIM who’s the problematic one? Idk I’m young so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about lol

·  Anonymous said:

All this shot is crazy. I’m know Chris is no saint but come on! At least let her be in her late twenties or early thirties! That’s nasty because she’s two years younger than me!

·  Anonymous said:

I’m not down for slut shaming in any regard. If anything happened, Chris was most definitely down for it. I just think it was dumb on her part, because she posted about it. Any potential employers could see this as a red flag. They don’t want to deal with the fallout of an employee causing a potential PR scandal, especially in the political world. Like if she did this once, she’ll prob do it again. I don’t think she’s gunning to be Mrs. Evans, but she def wanted to party and maybe hook up.

·  Anonymous said:

There was another video of him sending a message to a different person on a different day. I don't think the fact she ask him to do that means anything

·  Anonymous said:

For someone who seemed smart enough to get near a HW star, she sure was pretty naive and had no clue on how this fandom work LOL

·  Anonymous said:

But what damage could be done ? It’s not like he did something bad. There is no need to excuse his behavior because nothing illegal was done it’s not like he was caught with a 17 year old in a “massage parlour”. You guys also need to stop with this “he is almost 40” like he was supposed to stop having fun and living his life at 35. If you don’t like it fine don’t live YOUR life that way but don’t be mad at him for refusing to just settle and die because he is “almost 40” .

·  Anonymous said:

Not be agree with the places Chris frequents doesn't mean we think he is Cap. I have enought to hear this explication, like we are too much stupid to make the difference between the actor and the role he plays. With the conversation we have here, the majority of anons aren't teenagers i guess. A lot of people don't feel comfortable with the sex industry(porno,stripclub or the one night stand). It would be my brother,my neighbour,my cousin,it's a vice we don't understand not naivety about Chris.

·  Anonymous said:

I don't have much to say about this situation but I wouldn't be surprised if it does turn out to be something sleazy. I mean, this is a guy who had an affair with his married co-star and just a few weeks after she actually left her husband for him, he was going to strip clubs & she was tweeting about how that upset her. So he's not always a stand up guy. Mostly I find it funny that even when the girl is a young intern not in HW, she's STILL an attention seeking type. His picker is so broken.

·  Anonymous said:

Well, Chris definitely has a type.

·  Anonymous said:

I don't think that people are being judgemental but more worried about the consequences that this could create. Internet can make things scalate too quickly and even change the facts. But let's be honest. Chris is white, male, straight, rich. He will be ok. But he has to stop taking pics in those places. Remember when he was dating JS and he went to a certain place in Canada? No pics, people left it behind. That's the right thing to do. No pics, so it's as if it didn't happen.

·  Anonymous said:

Burlesque clubs in NYC are often listed in magazines as “things to do” in the city. They are seen as touristy activities. I can see a young girl being excited to go & asking for a hookup to get vip treatment. The place is not what you guys are making it out to be.

·  Anonymous said:

Oh please. How should he have celebrated international women’s day ffs. This is starting to get ridiculous. Women. Including 20 year old ones are allowed to go to burlesque clubs. Get out of here with that comment. And if you’re going to invoke a feminist day maybe consider the fact that she went of her own volition? I mean this insinuation that he took a naive child to a strip club. It’s starting to get a bit unhinged up in here.

·  Anonymous said:

Are we forgetting he got involved with a whole ass married woman? Lmao, this whole situation is not much of a stretch as people are making. I wish he’d grow up like all of you. He talks the talk of wanting to be a husband and father. He paints himself as a family man. Which yes, he is family oriented. But then he does things like this, which are unfortunately also on brand given his past. Megan, his publicists names I believe, better be getting paid time and half putting out these fires lol.

·  Anonymous said:

Right but this is like barely a scandal. We’re just focused on it and there are some social media comments. So for all those saying he should be seen doing serious things umm he is? For the casual fan his serious image is 100% in tact. And my guess is will stay that way. This will blow over in 48 hours tops. It’s not getting any traction other than gossip corners of the internet. Being seen seriously doesn’t mean living like a monk ffs. He didn’t do anything wrong, y’all just dramatic and judgy.

·  Anonymous said:

I think we can all agree no matter what the reality might be, the optics aren’t great. If him &his friend are trying to get this new project off the ground in DC, and hes being photographed in a burlesque club in NYC in the same vicinity as DC interns, the DAY AFTER giving interviews, the optics are awful. Politicians would be quick to distance themselves from their project and with those hes already met, potentially wouldn’t give him their time again, especially if their interns are involved.

·  Anonymous said:

fans saying he should live his life however he wants-nobody is saying he shouldn't. But people shouldn't be naive enough to think that optics don't matter. They matter a lot.

·  Anonymous said:

If the other interns were there they were smart not to post about it. Like that other anon said I imagine the people in D.C. will not be happy about this I’m sure there are social media rules about how to behave.

·  Anonymous said:

Mark's been to The Box before, he's posted stories from his trips there.

·  Anonymous said:

Some are ok to see a 38 years old man having habits in strip,nightclub and before Playboy party. Good. Some women don't like men like it!Chris or not Chris! I find it perverse,it's all. Frat boys aren't my type of men and great my man isn't like it. And i don't see Chris change when he will be married. There will always be a Mark or an Adam for ask him to go. Scott seems to enjoy trashy club but Zack too so they go as a couple. Maybe am i too prude 😒

·  Anonymous said:

This truly blew up fast. Not a Pats fan, but a few years ago, Edelman hooked up w/ a girl he met out partying & she posted a pic of them in bed the next morning on Snapchat. I’m not saying that Chris hooked up with her, we will never know & honestly it’s no one’s business. But both situations definitely seemed opportunistic, but at least with this one people are holding Chris accountable too. The other girl got slut shamed majorly. Like girls, you don’t have to post everything on social media.

·  Anonymous said:

Even if there were more interns there, even if Mark was there with Chris... if they went with the interns it's still not a good look. They are both near their 40's. It's a no to rang out with 20's, principally in that kind of enviroment that revolves around sex. This could be used to damage his image, his career, this could be used to damage their initiative about the political site. It just take one article or one tweet from a Trump supporter with many followers for that.

·  Anonymous said:

She may or may not have been the only intern with him. She may or may not have ended up with him last night. This time it’s slipped on social media. Imagine all the other times it hasn’t! Disappointed if he’s on the same Leo, Cary Fukunaga and Jake train but are we surprised? Women around his age think differently, and clearly he’s not settling down this minute. Wonder what else would leak. I’ll be here with my tea and popcorn.

·  Anonymous said:

This doesn’t look good, but at the same time I feel bad for this girl and her BF, fellow interns, friends, etc. Suddenly a rabid fan base is combing through their every move trying to play detective. I get the curiosity, I’m curious too, but I know how people overreact. And while most are fine, already people are crossing the line and commenting. Not a kick on you, just kinda crazy the lengths that some go to. I’m so glad I grew up without social media for most of my life.

·  Anonymous said:

don cheadle once saying on a talk show that the cast of the avengers(including chris of course) all went to a burlesque bar in london. ALL of them. it's not a crime...or is it??? and as for that bella chick going wit him?? who the hell wouldn't go if we were invited? good for her.

·  Anonymous said:

I feel that a conveniently timed Dodger video (or photo) is imminent. Or will we go really old school with a video for a sick child? Some sort of distraction from the current (I agree ,totally inappropriate) drama. Thing is that sort of tactic will only work for so long, less and less people will forget each time. While there's no problem visiting a burlesque club,hell I've been myself, it's the company you take to the club that should be more carefully considered. Not a smart move.

·  Anonymous said:

Of course he has pr. But people don’t understand how pr works. He doesn’t clear every private dumb decision with them and ask for professional pr advice. He lives his life (and makes dumb mistakes clearly!) but typically a professional pr team isn’t involved unless it affects him professionally, like blows up into a scandal affecting his image and work. They don’t babysit his private life. We’re all fired up about it on our corner of the internet but we’re not really at a true scandal.

·  Anonymous said:

People were rightfully dragging Cavill for dating a 19 year old.Chris went to a strip/ burlesque club with a young girl (since one woman posted about them on the birthday video we know they were there together) and there are people still thinking this is ok? (Not saying you do mood) He is stupid many times: one for doing it, one for thinking that is ok, one for leaving traces of it.Oh, wait.The girl is the one who left the traces. That remember me of someone else who used to leave proofs behind.

·  Anonymous said:

Ok. I remember when him an Janey broke up, and a few weeks later he was in Houston for the Super Bowl. Him and his friends met some girls at a party, and he invited some of them back to the house with them. Some videos were uploaded. I don’t think this is that different. He went away for a trip, met a girl, and invited her along for the ride. More than likely this is nothing, and this girl is just being opportunistic. He really needs to pick ladies who can use discretion in the future.

·  Anonymous said:

I think this is just an example of how celebrity image works. If you aren’t part of Chris fandom or gossip you have no clue. Just a basic google news search for him right now shows his DC rounds and Captain Marvel tweet. And that’s the image he wants to have (and I think genuinely does to a point). But isolated Instagram pics that don’t fit easily into a narrative are never going to get traction. Sure they’ll always be there because internet, but give it another week and it’ll barely be a blip.

·  Anonymous said:

Chris is this guy who invite strangers during party/games night in his house or girls who his friends and him met to à bar for partying in friend's house(the tmz video after the end of round 1),it's seem to be how he is but he is the guy, in doing that who trust in everybody and after there are these kind of pic/video not flattering in not flattering place. I see some say he is single so he's enjoy it but he did it when he was with JS, her tweet where she was upset to his bf going to stripclub.

·  Anonymous said:

This would not be blowing up if this bella girl had seemed to be in the company of the same friends at the box as she went to NYC with but that is not the case. Mark might have been with them too but why would this rocky lanes person only follow bella's IG and not Mark's too?

·  Anonymous said:

All of this stuff is already on twitter and instagram tagging Chris, Megan and even Josh for some reason...

·  Anonymous said:

Maybe i missed something, but what’s wrong with Chris taking pics in that club or wherever he was & why couldnt the girl(s) put the pic on her ig

·  Anonymous said:

I haven't heard the video but the "my way good friend" comment seems like a joke. Like "this is my very famous friend who I just met and we're already close" And I think that if he denied those girls of taking a picture he'll be criticize, and considering what they work in and those outfits, seems to me like he ows them that little courtesy 🙄 cause

·  Anonymous said:

My phone was acting weirs so I don't know if my last ask got through: this bella girl is in NYC with friends from DC and a guy named doug, who works in DC, and has also met Chris is with her. If you go through their IG stories they spent the day together but she is the only one of them to post from the box something.

·  Anonymous said:

High end club or not, I checked the pic bellanovemberr posted with the women in her stories and their room seems cheap and have holes in the ceiling. It doesn't matter how expensive those places are, I always at least side eye how they treat women. Their employees deserve better and more respect.

·  Anonymous said:

C'mon! It is one of the most exclusive night clubs in NY. I read the reviews of The Box on the web and there’s nothing wrong with attending such a place. It is not absolutamnete a local “hard”. as he quotes a review I found: “It’s definitely not a local hard if any of you are asking, it’s fun, crazy and weird … it totally reflects New York.”

And, maybe, it was the birthday video girl who invited Chris to go there.

·  Anonymous said:

Do you think it’d be weird if Chris hooked up with a 20 year old...I mean look at Leo Dicaprio and his girlfriend

·  Anonymous said:

Some people have serious problems with celebrities (here: Chris), pedestals, and managing their own fantasies and expectations. They build them up up up, and inevitably get SERIOUSLY broken hearted, hurt, and bitter, when the celeb in question obviously fails to live up to them. I mean, how can they? They're human, and almost never actually aware of these expectations. And I wish I could say that these fans are young and inexperienced, but a lot of them are adults, so...

·  Anonymous said:

"Her IG is also followed by Mark Kassen, who is also in New York." Mark followed her the same day she posted that video.

·  Anonymous said:

I'm not naive to think single/married man and other famous actors don't go to those places but how many of them have pics taken there? None. I checked the club and it's a sort of freak show club too and celebs are part of the customers. A Vanity Fair article mentioned some names. But no pics. So it doesn't stick with them. It can be said that it's hipocritical go there and refuse pics but it would be the best decision for his image. Let's bet he will post a pic of Dogder?

·  Anonymous said:

Recently I came across this Don Cheadle interview on Seth Meyers, where he talked about him,Evans,RDJ,Hemsworth & Renner going to Burlesque club in London & nobody recognising them on street so I guess they all are into this kind of entertainment but only this guy is dumb enough to take pics

·      Anonymous said:

That girl’s comment about SSH made me laugh! Hope he had fun at that burlesque bar! Establishments like those are sooo nice.

                                                                                                                                 ·      Anonymous said:                                                 

The fact his boyfriend(ex now) deleted all the pics of her means himself discovered how is she is: at the same time she was dating him she doesn't have qualms to touch too much a man who has the double of his age, play like she said and pursue him in NY in a burlesque show, that imply naked women and alcohol when he was in far away of her. She didn't do all the things without have something in mind. She lost her boyfriend for have the attention of Chris for few hours. Well play girl.      

·     Anonymous said: 

I don’t think that one who makes a happy birthday video like this to a girl for her twenties, surprising her age so young, then he decides to have fun with a girl of the same age or little more.

[nightqueendany]

Daenerys As Antagonist

Alright, time to go to school children. Get your notebooks out and pencils ready. We’re gonna talk about what an ANTAGONIST is, how it’s used in literature and film/television, and whether or not it’s accurate to refer to Daenerys as one.

The definition of Antagonist as a literary device from Literarydevices.net:

In literature, an antagonist is a character, or a group of characters, which stands in opposition to the protagonist, which is the main character. The term “antagonist” comes from the Greek word antagonistēs, which means “opponent,” “competitor,” or “rival.” It is common to refer to an antagonist as a villain (the bad guy), against whom a hero (the good guy) fights in order to save himself or others.  In some cases, an antagonist may exist within the protagonist that causes an inner conflict or a moral conflict inside his mind. ...Generally, an antagonist appears as a foil to the main character, embodying qualities that are in contrast with the qualities of the main character.

Also from LD.net, they give us the purpose or function of an antagonist and say this:

Conflict is a basic element of any plot. The presence of an antagonist alongside a protagonist is vital for the typical formula of a plot. The antagonist opposes the protagonist in his endeavors, and thus the conflict ensues. The protagonist struggles against the antagonist, taking the plot to a climax. Later, the conflict is resolved with the defeat of the antagonist; or, as in tragedies, with the downfall of the protagonist.

Britannica.com defines an antagonist as the following:

Antagonist, in literature, the principal opponent or foil of the main character, who is referred to as the protagonist, in a drama or narrative. The word is from the Greek antagnistḗs, “opponent or rival.”

Both the Britannica definition and the Literary Devices.net definition mention the word’s etymology, the Greek equivalent, and that the direct translation is “rival or opponent.”

TVTropes.org gives us this:

The Antagonist is the opposite number to The Protagonist. This is because antagonist exists for the purpose of opposing the efforts of the Protagonist. They don't have to be a Villain, or even morally objectionable in any sense (though they often are); they merely have to oppose the Protagonist. For example; if the Protagonist is evil then the Antagonist is the one standing between them and their goals. The Antagonist usually provides the conflict and thus the story. Because of this, the Antagonist is about as Omnipresent as the Protagonist, though there are stories that have No Antagonist. The Antagonist is usually the Big Bad, or at least an Arc Villain.

I find this definition particularly interesting because it says the Antagonist doesn’t need to be a villain, they just need to oppose the Protagonist.

In summary, the ANTAGONIST opposes, stands against, fights, or competes against the PROTAGONIST and makes it difficult for the Protagonist to reach her goals. The Antagonist may or may not be a villain and usually embodies characteristics that stand in contrast to the Protagonist.

But before I get into all this as it relates to GOT and Daenerys, I’ll also give you guys the definition of Protagonist:

LitDevices says this:

A protagonist is the central character or leading figure in poetry, narrative, novel or any other story. A protagonist is sometimes called a “hero” by the audience or readers. The word originally came from the Greek language, and in Greek drama it refers to the person who led the chorus. Later on, the word started being used as a term for the first actor in order of performance.

In the Function section on Protagonists: LitDevices also adds this which I think is super interesting:

Some stories weave many characters into an ensemble story, but even in such stories there is often one character that is more important to the story than the rest. For instance, in The Lord of the Rings trilogy there are many characters that have great significance to the story, but Frodo Baggins is the one who stands out, because everyone else’s destiny rests in his hands.

Which gives another layer to what a Protagonist is, or could be: Someone who is responsible for the fate of all the other characters.

Last piece of info I’ll throw at you guys before applying all this to GOT is describing what natural story-arc is:

Even if you have a story told out of order/chronology a là LOST or anything by The Nolan brothers (Westworld, Inception - I’ve got Batman on the brain, to be explained later), you still inevitably have a story that is presented in this arc. The beginning of a movie or story is the exposition phase (even if it’s a flashback or flashforward), middle is rising action, rising action hits the climax, then the rest of the movie/story is falling action and resolution. Any story, any movie, any show, ever, follows this formula.

Exposition: Beginning of the story, introduces characters, setting, other important information the audience needs to know. Possibly sets up the “goal” for the Protagonist.

Rising Action: The series of incidents or events that create suspense, tension, or interest in the narrative and lead to the climax. This is where all the “problems” and “obstacles” come in that prevent the Protagonist from reaching her “goal”.

Climax: The “turning point” of a story, the “crisis” of a story, where the action of a story reaches it’s peak. The ultimate “fight” or “showdown”, when the Protagonist confronts her problems head on.

Falling Action: When the main problem of the story is resolved, begins to lead to closure, gives the audience a feeling of relief, chance to catch their breath again, when the audience gets to see the “fruits” of the protagonist’s labor.

Resolution/Denouement: The essential “end” of the story, where the conflict is explained or clarified, typically is the “epilogue” in stories, answers the “so what?” of the falling action, the outcome. Often can be combined with Climax and Falling Action.

In television, if it is not the series finale, the Resolution/Denouement scene/episode often also contains a *NEW* problem/sows the seeds of future obstacles/conflict that leads the audience into the next episode/season and keeps them interested in continuing watching the series.

Now how does this all relate to Daenerys and Game of Thrones in general?

Let’s take it Point by Point according to Story Arc

Exposition: The exposition of our story is the first episode/season 1 as a whole. We learn all of our key players and we learn of all the major/key conflicts.

Nothing and no one introduced after the Season 1 either a) lives to the end or b) has a major affect on the endgame/is a key character anymore.

Think about it. Season 1 told us everything we need to know that is still 100% relevant to the endgame now seven seasons later:

Our key characters now are: Jon, Dany, Cersei, Jaime, Tyrion, Sansa, Arya, Bran, Sam, and Theon. Every single one of these characters was introduced to us in Season 1. Hell, they were all introduced to us in Episode 1 (save Sam). Everyone else on the show simply functions as a part of one of the above characters. Euron, for example, though he’s a prominent character now, only really functions as a side-kick for Cersei and a personal antagonist against [mainly] Theon - who is not the main protagonist.

We learn about key issues in season 1 that are still relevant: Daenerys’ exile and her family’s history, Jon’s bastardry, Cersei/Jaime’s incest, the conflict between the Lannisters and the Starks. AND, of course, we can’t forget the main one, our very first glimpse into the world of Ice and Fire in both book and show: The White Walkers. All of these elements are still incredibly important going into the final stretch and will most definitely have an affect on the outcome of next season.

We learn of our key locations in Season 1: Winterfell, The Wall, and King’s Landing. I would be incredibly surprised if we spend much time next season outside of these three locations.

All of what we need to know for the endgame was introduced to us back in S1. We even learn how to DEFEAT the army of the dead back in S1 (courtesy of Jon): FIRE. And of course, we’re introduced to our final element of the story, the main piece in play in the whole story (the piece that also contains the element to defeat the main antagonist): the fire breathing dragons.

(I say piece in play because the dragons, though we love them, don’t really serve as characters. They are more tools. And, as we saw at the end of 7x06, we now know that BOTH sides have this tool to use).

Rising Action: In ASOIAF/GOT, of course, there is A LOT of this. All of it relevant to the endgame in it’s own way, but of course, some pieces are more relevant than others:

The Starks vs The Lannisters/Cersei’s Rise to Power: essentially began the War of the Five Kings, put the nation at war for years, greatly depleted the countries resources and of course, fighting men. This most definitely has an affect on the endgame because it necessitates outside forces in order to defeat the army of the dead. If there had never been that war and Robert were still alive and serving as King, then there would be plenty of men to send North to take care of the Walker problem. It would be a terrible war. But the country would have enough men to handle it. Renly alone commanded a force of about 100k.

Trouble at The Wall/Jon’s Rise to Power: throughout the series, we see just how in disrepair the Wall has been in and what the men at the Wall have had to go through. Not only have the Night’s Watch dealt with wildlings attacking, depleting their men, weapons, and other resources, but of course, many Night’s Watchmen were lost to the army of the dead when Jeor Mormont took his host beyond the Wall in Clash/Season 2.

Essos/Daenerys’ Rise to Power: Parallel to the decline of the Seven Kingdoms due to the War of the Five Kings, Daenerys rises to power in Essos, hatching her dragons, gaining her armies, gaining her legions of dedicated followers, and of course, all of this leading to her finally returning to Westeros.

Those three elements or “plot points” (I know they’re more plot lines but this is condensed remember) have been leading us to the climax of our story and the ultimate showdown next season. Every other little dispute, fight, problem, conflict, etc. has been directly tied to one of those three major ones.

So far as Climax and Resolution, we will see those next season.

So with all of those in mind, how does this apply to the definitions of Antagonist and Protagonist in the series?

With a series like GOT, again, it can be difficult to pin down who the “main” characters are or who the “protagonist” is when we’ve got characters like Ned and Robb being killed off in the first few seasons.

But again, going back to Episode 1, it’s relatively straight forward if you pay attention. Our main Antagonist is introduced to us in the first scene of the entire series: The White Walkers. The main conflict connected to that, of course, is first getting people to believe in them, Ned telling Bran the walkers haven’t been seen for thousands of years. It’s something Jon struggles with up until the very last episode of S7 - convincing people of the real threat.

The series is called A Song of Ice and Fire. Right there, we’re given a Pair of Opposites: Ice and Fire. If we were to try to guess characteristics of main characters without any context of the story whatsoever, the natural assumption should be that there will be two and that there would be one male and one female - a pair of opposites....but maybe that’s just me projecting.... 

Watching the first episode also, it’s not difficult to identify one male character and one female character who both stand out from the others: Jon and Dany. Even if people didn’t fully understand it then, those two even in that first episode 1x01, are fundamentally different from everyone else. Out of every single character introduced to us in 1x01, they’re both the ultimate underdogs. We learn right away that Jon is a bastard and therefore looked down on by society. And we learn Daenerys is not only an exiled former princess but she’s also a pawn of Viserys’. Out of everyone in the series from that first episode, they both have the most against them.  

In the 1x01 commentary, Dan and Dave only talk about three characters: Ned - of course, he’s the “main character” of Season/Book 1; but they also talk about Jon...and Dany. That’s it. No one else is mentioned, not even Bran’s fall or Cersei and Jaime’s incest. No other storylines are mentioned. We were told straight from the beginning by the producers who to watch. These two.

The question that arises then, mostly from antis, is: but is the series setting Jon and Dany up to fight against each other? Is Daenerys the “other” antagonist aside from the White Walkers?

To answer this, let’s first establish one thing: I don’t think anyone would argue that Jon is the main male character in the show. He has more screen time than anyone else in the series, he is obviously pegged as the “hero”. So Jon is the main male “Protagonist”. Anyone arguing that? No? Good.

So to figure out who Jon’s “Antagonist” would be, looking at the definitions of antagonist, functions of an antagonist, and the natural arc of the story, we first need to figure out what Jon’s main Goal is. After all, whatever stands in the way of our Protagonist’s “Goal” would be the obstacle or Antagonist.

What is Jon’s goal?

Of course, like with any television series, Jon’s “goal” changes throughout based on what he experiences. In the beginning, he’s looking for a sense of belonging and also recognition/a little bit of glory. He’s grown up a bastard and knows he will never inherit or be able to make a name for himself elsewhere, so he goes to the Wall with Benjen to join the Night’s Watch.

We could say Jon’s “antagonist” in the first few episodes is Lady Catelyn as she’s the constant reminder that Jon is a bastard and Jon even thinks about her long after he left Winterfell.

Jon’s also a little bit in conflict with himself in these early episodes because he is rather arrogant and thinks himself better than his companions at the Wall. This is something Tyrion helps him overcome by giving Jon a different perspective on his own, actually privileged upbringing.

Thanks to Tyrion’s help, Jon soon realizes another goal of his or a purpose of his: to help/protect people. At first it’s on a small scale, sticking up for Sam, helping Pyp and Gren to improve their sword skills, etc.

Jon’s antagonist throughout this storyline is very obviously Alliser Thorne and of course Ser Alliser makes comebacks throughout Jon’s time at the Wall to oppose him at crucial moments.

But then Jon’s goal/purpose becomes helping/protecting the world of men at large once the two bodies of the former Night’s Watchmen are brought back to Castle Black and attack Commander Mormont.

In that first season, we see, on a small stage, Jon facing off against his main opponent: the dead. Jon is the first of our main characters to face off against the dead so I absolutely believe it was foreshadowing of the final showdown in Season 8 - it will be Jon against the dead (as opposed to Robb or Ned or Bran). Pretty incredible actually to look back and know we were told the ending of the show wayyyy back then, huh?

Jon being our first main character to encounter the dead, he is also the one who discovers the primary way to defeat the dead: FIRE.

(Interestingly, the scene DIRECTLY following this one between Mormont, Jon, and the wight, is a Dany scene, the character in the series who is most closely connected to fire). But I digress...

Again, as the series progresses, Jon’s GOAL, again, gets a little muddied. He discovers what Craster is doing with his baby boys and realizes Mormont knows and isn’t doing anything about it, he’s taken captive by the wildlings and asked by Qhorin Halfhand to spy on them, he’s tasked with defending the Wall from Mance’s attack...Jon’s got a number of “small scale” goals he’s got to accomplish and get through and obstacles/small scale antagonists he’s got to get through/go up against throughout the show.

But they all connect to, and they all go back to, the primary one: defeat the Night King, save the world. (having a flashback, save the cheerleader, save the world (anyone, anyone?). Now if only Jon had a cheerleader...)

So again, as we get closer and closer to the close of the series, we realize what Jon’s ultimate goal as the Protagonist is: DEFEAT THE NIGHT KING.

Now, the question becomes: Does Daenerys present obstacles to Jon’s goal of defeating the Night King? OR Does Daenerys actively work against Jon’s goal of defeating the Night King? OR Does Daenerys present a threat to Jon’s people?

OR even: Is Daenerys working with the Night King?

Because those are really the only reasons Daenerys would be considered an Antagonist in the series. She would have to be working against Jon’ and his goal(s). It would have nothing to do with what happened in Meereen or even against the Lannisters because the slavers of Slaver’s Bay and Cersei/Jaime/Randyll Tarly are not the Protagonists.

So lets take this one question at a time:

Does Daenerys present obstacles to Jon’s goal of defeating the Night King?

YES. For all of about twenty minutes of screen time. Daenerys refuses to accept Jon’s word as truth about the Night King and then doesn’t meet with him again for a few days (at most a week), leaving Jon twiddling his thumbs on her island when he needs to be planning on how best to protect his people.

THEN Jon asks Daenerys for Dragonglass - the weapon which will help his people in their fight against the Night King...and Daenerys GIVES it to him. Rather than present Jon with another obstacle, not only does Daenerys REMOVE an obstacle for Jon, she gives him ASSISTANCE or an AID in achieving his goal.

Does Daenerys actively work against Jon’s goal of defeating the Night King?

No. While her war with Cersei does prevent Daenerys from further ASSISTING Jon, it does not stop Jon from going to fight the Night King.

Seeking AID and not getting it and having someone actively work against the hero’s efforts are TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS.You cannot equate the two in order to reason that Daenerys is an Antagonist to Jon. That’s not the way story/rising action/conflict works.

Does Daenerys present a threat to Jon’s people?

YES. For all of about an episode and a half. When Jon receives Tyrion’s scroll he now knows there’s a new queen in town with an army and dragons that could POTENTIALLY pose a threat to his people. And at this point, Jon doesn’t know what Daenerys’ intentions with him are. So up until Daenerys gives Jon the dragonglass, she could be perceived as a threat. That’s 100% fair.

BUT again, when Daenerys goes from “I don’t believe you about the army of the dead” to “I will give you weapons to help you defeat the army of the dead” her character moves from “Potential Antagonist” to “Passive ALLY”. I don’t say “potential ally” because there’s nothing potential about it. Dany’s not just thinking about helping Jon, she actually is. She’s not fighting alongside him yet, but she’s helping. That’s an ally.

Is Daenerys working with the Night King?

HAH! Oh gods. Uh...No. Let’s see:

Went to save Jon - the hero - FROM the Night King

Lost a dragon AT THE HANDS OF the Night King

Pledged to Jon - the hero - to fight with him AGAINST the Night King.

I’d say it’s safe to say at this point, Daenerys is just as opposed to the Night King as Jon is.

Which, according to our definitions of Antagonists and Protagonists, if Daenerys is in opposition to the Antagonist and defeating the Antagonist is now her main goal, that makes Daenerys, A PROTAGONIST and a HERO.

Now, I’ve seen some people argue, well, Daenerys will help Jon defeat the Night King but then she will threaten his people/go mad/try to kill someone in his family, and that will make her the “ultimate” antagonist.

However:

All of that is SPECULATION. It hasn’t happened yet. And unless it does happen, it means Daenerys isn’t an antagonist in the story.

After defeating the Night King, Daenerys’ resources will be severely dwindled - her army will be smaller, her dragons may die. If she is without the resources to threaten Jon, it doesn’t make her the “Ultimate” Antagonist. It makes her a weak threat if she so chose to then attack Jon - which is what the entire argument rests on: IF SHE ATTACKED JON.

I honestly don’t know why this is so difficult for people to understand. According to logic and literature, Daenerys is NOT an Antagonist and there are no signs that she would “become” one in the future. Her plight is Jon’s plight now. If anyone believed Daenerys was on some kind of a “villain” arc or “anti-hero” arc or “antagonist” arc with her story, then that ended the moment Daenerys gave the dragonglass to Jon and it was even more solidified when she pledged to fight alongside him in the Great War ...and then actually left for the North in order to do so.

I’ve seen some people bring up the Two-Face Argument (this is why I had Nolan and Batman on the brain earlier): You either die the hero, or you live long enough to see yourself turn into the villain.

But if we are to apply this logic to all heroes, it would mean Jon too MUST die in the Great War OR ELSE he will turn into the villain of the story.

However, the example of Two-Face is highly specific. Think about what happened in the story: Harvey Dent’s girlfriend, love of his life, was murdered. And, due to some weird reasoning on Dent’s part, he believes this to be Batman’s fault. So, of course, he wants revenge against the man he believes is the reason his girlfriend is dead.

Jon’s “girlfriend” is Daenerys. Daenerys’ “boyfriend” is Jon. If either of them die, it will likely be at the hands of the Night King. So the person they would want revenge against...would be the Night King...the main antagonist anyway.

But Batman examples aside, I’ve already talked at length about why Daenerys wouldn’t go mad next season after the Great War is over.

If Jon dies - she’ll move on. She’s lost a husband she loved before.

If she has a miscarriage or her baby dies - she’ll move on. She lost her son before.

If Drogon and/or Viserion die - she’ll move on. She lost a dragon before.

If she’s captured and tortured - she’ll move on. She’s been held prisoner and beaten/raped before.

If she’s betrayed - she’ll move on. She’s had people lie to her, join her enemy’s side before.

There is nothing that could happen to Daenerys next season that would make her turn mad at the end of it all. She’s already been through everything imaginable. She’s learned to cope. Yes, she has become a harder person. She’s become more ruthless. That is absolutely true. But ruthlessness does not equal madness. Tywin Lannister was one of the most ruthless characters in the series and yet he’s seen as one of the most cunning characters in the series as well, no madness accusations thrown at him ever.

It’s time to face facts: Daenerys is the other half of the Protagonist in A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones and she is a Hero. She and Jon will work together to defeat the Night King. She will not betray him. She will Jon. She will not challenge Jon. She will not fight against Jon. Whether they both live through the end of the story, who knows? But she is NOT an Antagonist.

[gretchensinister]

Operation Welcome Mat (preview)

I usually like to post a fic for my birthday, and well, this is a few days belated, but sometimes that’s how it goes. This is a preview of something I’m working on, now, and it’s a branching out of my usual fandom territory! I hope you’re curious, and I hope you enjoy!

It all stems from the question: Why does so much stuff that only Superman can deal with happen on the planet that Superman is on? That’s not the question that Lois Lane asks, but it’s the one she’s going to find an answer for.

Lois Lane always checks her spam folder. In fact, she always opens each individual message in there. Ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent of the time, what’s in there is garbage, but garbage is not synonymous with useless. Consider the journalists in Portland who went through the District Attorney’s garbage to make a point about privacy. Her daily ritual isn’t on that level of significance, but she feels the point still stands.

           Today, she opens an email that isn’t promising free trials of herbal supplements, contact info for hot singles in her area, or insurance policies that will cover damages caused by any and all anomalous events for as little as $10 a month. (These last annoyed her enough to ask Louise in Business to do a small expose on such companies—turns out, the fine print stated that given the regularity of attacks on Metropolis by aliens, robots, metahumans, etc., etc., these events could not be considered anomalous. Fucking scammers. She’s pretty sure they’re involved in a class-action lawsuit right now.)

           Instead, it reads thus:

           I am sending this to you because I think you are the only person in the world who might have adequate protection after I tell you this. It is for my safety and yours that I have not used your name or described what that protection might be.

           I ask you to use any and all resources you have at your disposal to investigate Operation Welcome Mat. I cannot tell you much more without compromising the slight chance this communication has of reaching you. However, I do not exaggerate when I say that the revealing—anything more I dare not hope for—of this operation will affect every human life on Earth.

           Sincerely,

                       One who works in the organization that knows you always check your spam folder

           The remaining message is a long and rambling series of testimonials for anti-aging and potency supplements, but Lois sees no reason to consider these as marks against the authenticity of the original message. Camouflage is important. As is covering one’s tracks. She opens her desk drawer and retrieves a high-quality digital camera that’s nevertheless old enough that it needs an actual physical cord to transfer the pictures on it to any computer. Lois has kept it in excellent condition, save for, oh, the pesky matter of the fact that the delete function doesn’t work on the camera itself, and that she just can never find the right kind of removable memory cards. Darn, what a problem! Fortunately the camera contains a 5000-image capacity non-removable internal memory. She takes a picture of the relevant portion of the email—well, ten pictures—and then sets about blocking every IP address that’s sent her something that ended up in her spam folder today and deleting every email indiscriminately. She’d like to perform a more thorough delete, but she never does that with any of her spam, and she’s got a feeling that now would not be a good day to start.

           Amateurs might worry about how she deleted the original email, but Lois knows that if she finds anything, she won’t need that email, and for another thing, the writer of that email most certainly doesn’t want anyone to be able to analyze their word choices and phrasing.

           She rests her arms on her desk and starts letting her mind work through everything the email told her. So, she’s the only person who “might have adequate protection” after learning about Operation Welcome Mat? The only unique protection she’s had under any circumstances is Superman. In a few well-known incidents, he’d appeared to give preference to getting her to safety before others. Lois isn’t one hundred percent sure that’s true, as she knows very well that she might’ve been the person in the greatest danger during each incident. Over her career, she’s tended to disregard danger for the sake of the story. And she can argue persuasively that in order to be a successful female journalist, she has to be prepared to face a certain amount of danger; she can argue that her years of experience have given her the ability to accurately evaluate the potential danger of a situation. These arguments have been, and are, vital to her public persona.

           But under a few layers of “I have to do this” is the chewy center of “I want to do this.” It’s true! Believe it or not, Lois Lane, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, is a bit of a thrill-seeker!

           Good thing that might be exactly what her email contact needs.

           So. Back to the email. Back to Superman. She knows well enough that she doesn’t have a raven-haired alien angel at her beck and call, but, based on what the public has seen, is it more likely that she does than any other investigative journalist? Yes. So, if only Superman can offer her adequate protection, then—

           “Hi Lois,” Clark says, setting a paper cup on her desk. “Two sugars, no milk—” He breaks off into an almost cartoonishly exaggerated yawn that Lois nevertheless is familiar enough with to know is genuine.

           “You ought to buy some coffee for yourself,” Lois says, digging a few dollars out of her wallet and tossing them at him, which he barely catches. “I mean, if you’re going to volunteer to walk down to Reeve’s every day, anyway. And didn’t you grow up waking up at 4am to milk cows or whatever?”

           Clark smiles shyly. Like he always does. It’s a good smile, and on a kid who’s six foot three and probably better built than any of the barns he ever helped raise, it could very well explain why he always seems so exhausted in the morning. Though if Lois’ theory is true, she hasn’t seen or heard any other evidence of it. A gentleman never tells, Lois thinks idly.

           “I can and have milked cows in my sleep,” he says. “I can’t do anything in my sleep, here.” He looks down. “Uh, the truth is that I haven’t been sleeping well since the—what did they call it? The Chirauga Incident?”

           Lois grimaces. Yeah, Clark and half of Metropolis. Including her. When an army of aliens that big showed up all at once, there was no way to avoid some level of freaking out, special protection from Superman or not. “Yeah, the Chirauga Incident. Ugly sons of bitches, in my opinion. I killed one personally, you know.”

           Clark’s eyes widen in shock, and Lois grins. “What? I verified they weren’t bulletproof before going out to start, you know, researching my story.” But, because she is committed to the truth, even though Clark seems like he’ll believe anything she says, she has to add, “Well, okay. I’m pretty sure I mortally wounded it. Superman took care of it before I could find out for sure.” It had been clean. Heat vision through the Chirauga equivalent of the spinal cord. And Superman had turned to her with that red glow still shimmering in the back of his eyes. “Are you all right?” he’d asked, hovering a foot above the ground like it was nothing, looking at her like she was something. And she’d looked into the terrible weapon of his gaze and been stunned by the perfect surety that he’d never use it on a human being.

           And for all that, she’d never seen him look so alien.

           “Weren’t you watching? I had this one handled,” she’d said, with a rasp in her voice she hoped he’d attribute to the heavy dust and smoke in the air.

           “Well, in that case, I guess all I can do now is tell you to be careful out there,” he’d said.

           It would be nice if there was a discreet little jump cut in her memory right after that, but, unfortunately, Lois remembers with perfect clarity that she’d responded, “Sure thing, spaceboy,” like a complete and utter dumbass. But then Superman hadn’t laughed at her, no, he’d given her the smile and wink of an old-fashioned movie star before flying away to continue saving the world. She, on the other hand, had staggered off, feeling as emotionally churned-up as a teenager.

           The worst part about it, in her opinion, is that she knows very well that Superman has this effect on almost everyone who encounters him.

           “Ah, Superman,” Clark says, drawing her back to the present. His shocked expression has been replaced by the little smile she’s often seen him wear when talk of Superman comes up. She’s always thought there was something secretive about that smile, something notably different from the rest of his farm-boy guilelessness. (Though, she doesn’t quite believe he’s as transparent as he otherwise appears. And she doesn’t think that’s just her natural suspicion kicking in. For one thing, the Daily Planet is big, but not big enough that someone who was hired as a journalist could fall through the cracks and become nothing but a friendly coffee boy. She’s read some of his articles, the neighborhood news stuff he generally covers, and the writing is as solid as he is, with words chosen with care and sensitivity. There’s more to him than meets the eye, and if he ever decides to get ambitious, Lifestyle is in for a big surprise. For another thing, he’d moved to Metropolis during a metahuman surge, and that, frankly, was not what normies did, no matter how clueless they were.)

           The running undercurrent of what she knows about Clark and the smile that’s the one noticeable discordant note in the melody of the person she works with suddenly gel into a possible conclusion, one that Lois could’ve kicked herself for not even considering earlier.

           Talented kid moves from small-town Kansas, where he could’ve been a big fish in a tiny pond. And he doesn’t even move to a city in the same state or region, where he could have been a big fish in a medium-sized pond. Instead, he moves to Metropolis, where he won’t be a big fish at all, but where it’ll be a big project for anyone who knew him in Smallville to ever visit, or know anything about him he doesn’t want them to know. Metropolis, which, despite its dangers, still lives in the cultural mind as a place where the good kind of anything can happen. (Where Superman is often seen.) And when he’s here, he never, ever says anything about even going on a date with anyone, and mentions of Superman bring out that secretive smile. And he started off writing his articles with a clear awareness of issues that Lois has seen other straight white male coworkers fail to grok even after clear, baby-step-style explanations. And he’s never, ever tried to turn getting her coffee into something uncomfortable.

           So, possible conclusion: Clark is some flavor of queer, and still closeted/uncomfortable about it. But he can’t completely hide his crush on Superman because, well. Superman. And the kid has an honest face.

           Just goes to show, she thinks, how slow and unreliable gaydar can be, even if you are bi.

           But this does give her an idea on where to send him as she starts her initial investigation of this Project Welcome Mat. If it is big, bad business like it seems, Clark doesn’t need to get mixed up in it, even to the point of overhearing a phone call. And besides, it might help him accept himself, if he needs that.

           “You know what, Clark?” Lois says. “You need something to take your mind off shit like alien invasions.”

           Clark grimaces. “I don’t know if anything can.”

           “Yeah, it’s a toughie, but you’re a Metropolitan now,” Lois says, with more bravado than she feels. Some things you don’t get used to. But some of those things you have to at least pretend to get used to. “Get outside. Write your cat-up-a-tree article tomorrow. Do something completely out of the ordinary.” And then, as if she’s just thought of it, “Powtown Pride is going on today. Powtown’s a neighborhood. Pride’s something to write about. You could go there and see what you can see.”

           “Powtown?” Clark says, raising his eyebrows. “That’s the metahuman neighborhood. That’s…a bit more interesting than where Rowlands usually sends me.”

           Lois waves her hand. “Rita is seventy-eight and still thinks anything involving a metahuman is a front-pager. Perry can tell her otherwise when you bring back something nice.”

           “Well,” Clark says, warming to the idea, “there are a lot of misconceptions about Powtown that ought to be worn away by a reliable source like the Planet. I mean—there probably are. I don’t know, personally. But if everything written about Powtown was true, no one could live there. It’d be a smoking crater in the ground.”

           “So you see? Needs you,” Lois says. She smirks. “Be careful, though. They’ve got twinks down there that could rip you in half.”

           “Says someone who just told me about personally shooting a Chirauga,” Clark says. “No, no, I know—you had it handled. Anyway. Yeah, I will go.” He looks towards the windows and sighs. “After all, it’s a beautiful day to be outside.”

           Lois waves at him as he leaves, then glances towards the windows herself. It really is a beautiful June day, not too hot, vivid blue sky, puffy clouds slowly drifting by. Does Superman prefer days like this for flying? She wonders. Or would it not affect him at all? What would it be like to fly with Superman on a day like today—Lois sticks her tongue out in an exaggerated expression of disgust. She’s better than that! She has to be!

           Anyway, she’s got something new to investigate. Before Clark interrupted, she was thinking of what things out in the world only Superman could be adequate protection from. Well, aside from horrible things from space, that leaves a very short list that prominently features a house of a certain color and a building of a certain shape. And the name—Operation Welcome Mat—it has a very particular ring to it.

           But she’s still going to look into the rest of that short list. A direct assault isn’t the correct approach here, and besides, there might be connections, even if the person she’s going to call is officially blacklisted from government contracts.

           She scrolls to the contact in her phone for “Louis L’Amour,” and reaches out to someone who definitely isn’t a dead writer of Westerns.

Notes: I’ve decided to have Superman’s code against killing be specifically about humans/earthlings because for one thing, I don’t have to answer to Standards and Practices, and for another, I don’t feel like having every alien army be robots (which with sufficiently advanced AI doesn’t help anyway), and what do you want me to do, have Superman knock all the aliens out? If they’re going down long enough to be essentially counted out of the fight, they’re getting life-threatening brain injuries anyway. 

[ehyde]

A Void Between Two Stars

Chapter 3

Fandom: Akatsuki no Yona Series: Alien Larp AU Wordcount: 8253 (so far), projected to be about 25k total Characters: Suwon, Judo, Keishuk, Minsu, Zeno, Kyoga, Yonhi, misc OCs Ships: there are several spaceships

The latest installment of my sci-fi au, in which Suwon is an AI leading Kouka in a rebellion against his former extraterrestrial masters. When the connection between the AI and its human host is severed, Suwon–both of them–must learn to live as only half of himself, while Judo faces the challenge of trying to figure out which one, man or machine, is truly his king.

For more info about the AU and other works in the series, check out the series masterpost. Thank you to @greymantleish for beta reading!

Keep reading below the cut or read from the beginning on AO3.

He didn’t sleep again that night. Or perhaps he did, unknowing—it felt like too little time passed, but this body could not keep accurate time, after all...at any rate, he was awake when dawn broke and a servant brought the morning meal he customarily took alone.

All through the night, Won—easier to think of himself as Won than Suwon while he wasn’t fully himself—had searched for a solution to his problem, and still it eluded him. His mind kept turning to other worries. Normally, of course, he could think through whatever caught his fancy, but a human brain could only do so much. He didn’t have time to wonder when or if he could have opened up to Minsu, to wonder if Judo was resting as ordered. Those weren’t priorities...were they? He certainly didn’t have time to worry about the headache that had never quite faded away, or what it might mean. It shouldn’t be like this. With such a limited, human brain, shouldn’t not thinking about things be easier?

He needed his power core. That was his priority. It was out there, and he had hostages...it should be so simple!

“Your Majesty?” Minsu’s voice and a tap at the door greeted him. “You have a...very strange visitor. I should probably turn someone like this away, but���” He paused. Won opened the door so that he could come inside and speak in private. “He says he came on behalf of Princess Yona.”

Princess Yona, who had been in orbit in a ship of her own. It wouldn’t be impossible to land without computer guidance, and if she had, that meant there was a ship within reach. “Show him in,” Won commanded.

“Yes, sir. You’ll be ready by then?” Ready? Belatedly, he realized he hadn’t changed out of his sleeping clothes. “Though he was nearly naked when he arrived, so it hardly matters in this case,” Minsu muttered as he bowed and left the room.

Image did matter, though. Won knew that. Even if he wasn’t truly Suwon, even if his visitor had arrived at the palace...wait, naked? That made no sense. He spent so long trying to puzzle that out that when Minsu returned, he still wore only one layer of his robes. His guest, Yona’s yellow-haired companion, wore a tunic identical to Minsu’s, and might look less out of place than Won did at the moment.

“Ah, it’s been a few decades since Zeno’s worn this uniform! Thanks, lad! Now the boy won’t scold Zeno!” With that, Minsu departed once again.

“Ouryuu,” Won greeted the dragon with a nod.

“Hi, Mister Compu—” Ouryuu stopped. Stared. “Ah, you’re not! I suppose Zeno has to call you big brother king then!”

There was something about Ouryuu he knew, something important. What was it? “Ah, and Mister Computer was supposed to have a long life, too. It’s too bad!”

“I’m not dead,” Won said sharply. “Ouryuu, why are you here?”

“Oh! It seemed important. Zeno wanted to find out what was going on. See, Seiryuu noticed a big ship that was trying to hide. It was taking Mister Computer’s eyes and Seiryuu didn’t like that.” He looked into Won’s eyes. “Neither did the miss. So, it’s a good thing Ryokuryuu had practice being a pirate!”

“You...stopped them?”

“Well, mostly. But our ship got damaged so we had to take theirs and then one of them escaped in their little ship, and it turns out the big one can’t land, and even though most of the metal boxes are still there, we couldn’t talk to anyone. So Zeno decided the best way to find out what was going on was to come down here and ask.”

“...without a landing craft.”

“Ah, Zeno jumped!” He laughed. “Zeno thought it would just be like falling a really long way…”

“Instead, you became a shooting star.” Ah, yes, that was what he’d forgotten about Ouryuu. Useful. “Did it hurt?” he heard himself asking. A pointless question. He didn’t have time for pointless questions.

“Zeno’s fine now! Although, Zeno’s really hungry! Big brother king won’t mind—?” He reached for a bun from Won’s untouched breakfast plate.

“Communications are down,” Won said. “How are you going to report back?”

“Oh, if Zeno writes a letter really big and goes up to the roof of the castle, then Seiryuu can read it!”

“That’s…”

“Well, Seiryuu can copy it for the lad to read. Seiryuu’s still learning!” No, that wasn’t the piece that shouldn’t be possible. Though no more impossible than for Ouryuu to survive falling to earth from orbit without even a suit. “Seeing you gives Zeno most of the answers he needs already,” said Ouryuu. “Ah, Zeno’s glad Mister Computer will be okay! But,” he added, “I’m glad I was able to speak to you, too.”

Won was glad, too. More than glad. Ouryuu’s story, disjointed as it was, had given him hope again. His satellites weren’t gone. His enemies had been subdued. He should probably thank Yona...ah, no, she wouldn’t want to hear that. He remembered that now, too. “The landing craft,” Won said. The final piece he needed to formulate a plan. “When it got away—did it land?”

“Yep,” said Zeno. “If you find it, give Zeno a ride back, ok?”

Won nodded. He could do it now, he was sure of it. He finally reached for the cup of tea that sat waiting for him, long since cold, and then pressed his fingers against his skull, trying to ignore the still-aching pain. He would be himself again. He would.

Judo did, finally, sleep. He woke at dawn and went to the training grounds, as was his custom. But the king had been right—one side of his body was stiff and sore, protesting with every step he took. Luckily, he wasn't here to practice his usual sword katas.

He usually avoided training with his own blast rays. Even after seeing them in action—feeling them in action, now—they just didn’t feel like weapons in his hands. But now, with who knew what future waiting for them, he had to be ready.

And...they didn’t work. “Damn!” he shouted, drawing a few startled glances from the few soldiers training this early. It really did get everything, didn’t it? The attackers last night, they’d had nearly identical weapons. The prison guards must have put them somewhere—but now the flow of his training was ruined. He fell back into his sword katas with a scowl on his face, and after one stumble too many, finally had to admit that he was getting absolutely nothing out of this.

As he stomped back to his office, he met the king coming from the opposite direction. “General Judo, there you are.” Suwon looked every inch his normal, confident self—the only thing out of place in the picture before him was the black-feathered Keishuk at the king’s side. Judo couldn’t tell if the fact that the aven still wore his normal clothing made him look more or less alien—he’d cut off the sleeves of his robes, but the long winglike feathers on his arms had nearly the same effect, and everything else, up to his now-functionless hairpiece, remained the same.“Come with me. We have work to do.”

Thank god. “You have a plan.”

Suwon nodded. “Our prisoner can give us everything we need.” Judo’s heart began to sink. After last night, he wasn’t so sure about that. “Just follow my lead.” He handed Judo a translator as they approached the prison cells, and Judo noted that he did not don one himself. That was a good sign, right? Whatever knowledge he’d lost, it wasn’t everything. Maybe this could work. Computer or not, Suwon seemed like himself again, and Judo trusted that whatever he had in mind, he could pull it off.

The lead aven—Judo still hadn’t learned their name, and didn’t intend to—was a mess. Their feathers were dirty and bent out of shape, and bloody bandages covered more than just their wrist. Suwon shot a glance at Judo, who shook his head. He hadn’t left them like this—but the palace guards did not look kindly on would-be assassins, let alone those who were monsters.

“You!” the aven growled as Judo, Suwon, and Keishuk stepped into the dim candlelight. “This is barbaric! When the Company hears how we’ve been treated—”

“Yes,” said Suwon before Judo could speak. “I should have done more to ensure you received proper care. I was not myself last night,” he added. “As you are well aware.”

“If this is an apology, then why is that here?”

“I did not come here to apologize. I came here because you’re still useful to me. And General Judo is here because you know exactly what he is capable of doing to you if necessary.”

“What makes you think—”

“You want to leave here, don’t you?” Judo frowned. Just what was Suwon planning? “I want to send a message to the Company. But you’ve taken my satellites, and my agents’ ships—” all two of them, but the aven didn’t need to know that— “are out of reach. I will allow to return to your landing craft, go back to your people and seek medical treatment, if you deliver a message for me.”

“Computer!” Keishuk protested. It seemed that he didn’t like the sound of this any more than Judo did. “After what they tried, you can’t possibly expect them to help you! You’re not operating at full capacity—” As Keishuk spoke, the aven prisoner seemed to grow more confident—and that was when Judo knew that Suwon’s plan, whatever it was, was going to succeed.

“I’m keeping your guards here as hostages,” Suwon continued, ignoring Keishuk’s objections. “You must have planned on a location to meet your landing craft. Summon it, and I will escort you there.”

“...why not confiscate my ship and send one of your own people?” the prisoner asked.

“What people?” Suwon asked. “This isn’t something a human can do, no matter how much knowledge I’ve given them. And I need Keishuk here. Warn your friends, of course, if you’re worried about that.” A ridiculous concern, his tone said, and the aven seemed to agree.

“I’ll do it,” the prisoner said. Quick to agree—they thought they were getting the best of the situation, and Judo still couldn’t see how they weren’t. But whatever Suwon’s plan was, the aven was playing right into it. “My hand,” the prisoner demanded. “You kept my hand, didn’t you? On ice?” Judo gaped at them. They’d really been serious about aven doctors sewing it back on!

“...oh,” said Suwon. “I wasn’t thinking clearly yesterday. You understand.”

Even after this, the aven tried to push their luck, asking Suwon to simply let them go rather than escort them to the landing site. But when Judo reminded them that it was for their own protection—that any off-duty soldier who saw a monster wandering free might not hesitate to take their head—they shuddered and didn’t ask again. Keishuk shuddered, too. Suwon allowed the aven to send a brief message via one of the confiscated communicators—no conversation, of course—and then, reluctantly, the aven agreed to lead Suwon to the landing site.

A military cart carried them high into the mountains above the castle, but they had to abandon the cart and travel the last hour on foot. Judo rethought his earlier caution—no one, soldier or otherwise, would have stumbled across them by accident out here. The forest shade scattered the day’s bright sunlight, and Judo almost mistook the shimmering metal hull of the ship for a mountain stream. The only other space-ship he’d seen was the one belonging to Lady Lili’s companions, and this was much smaller.

As the ship came into view, the gleam in their prisoner’s eye was impossible to miss. Judo almost pitied the other aven guards, who they undoubtedly planned to abandon—almost. Then the door of the ship slid open. The monster standing inside was not aven—it was some sort of furred beast, with ears like a cat. Was there no end to them? “Arouk!” cried the monster. “Thank the balance you came. The natives, they had some weapon—they took the carrier—I’m the only one who…” She trailed off, ears twitching in confusion, as she registered the others who had met the ship. “Arouk. What—?”

The aven spun around to face Suwon, feathers flaring in outrage. “You—you knew! You tricked me!”

The cat-creature drew a weapon and fired, but Judo dodged it in time. He didn’t know what sort of force the aven—Arouk—had expected to find waiting for him, but one creature was easy to subdue. He took her weapon and bound her wrists. “We’ll take the shuttle back to the palace,” said Suwon. “Keishuk, can you pilot?” With a nod, Keishuk stepped inside, then Suwon and Judo led their two prisoners before them.

Outside, the ship had seemed to be made of solid metal. From inside, nearly half of it was transparent. Judo had known of ships like this for half a year. He’d never been inside one, let alone flown...but he could marvel at the novelty sometime when he didn’t have prisoners to guard. “So you were toying with me?” Arouk asked. “What you said before is still true, you know. There’s no one you can spare to use the ship.”

“This shuttle is what carries your pulse weapon, is it not?” Arouk stubbornly didn’t budge, but the other prisoner nodded. “Once I learned you used it for multiple attacks, on the satellites too, well—its power source is exactly what I need.”

“But—your message—”

“Oh, I think my message will be quite clear,” said Suwon. “Don’t you?” He looked from Judo to Keishuk, then stared out the wide window at the earth below. “I’m sorry for including you in the deception. Every time I tried to put it into words, the plan fell apart in my head. This human mind is still…”

“This—” the new prisoner began with a start. “This is the AI?”

“He’s not the AI!” Arouk spoke to the new prisoner, but looked directly at Suwon. “He’s an infuriating human who thinks he’s the AI. I don’t know why you’re doing this,” he continued. “Powering up the computer won’t make you part of it again. Your nanobots are dead. You have to know that. You should be happy you’re free.”

“Enough.” One word from Suwon was all it took to silence them. Judo stared at Suwon. Free? He wouldn’t question his king in front of their prisoners—but there were suddenly so many things he needed to ask.

“Your Majesty—”

“We shouldn’t keep them in the dungeons indefinitely,” said Suwon as he, Keishuk, and Judo left their two prisoners with the palace guard. Onlookers—courtiers and soldiers alike—crowded the courtyard, staring at the ship in awe. Even after Lili and several other aven tourists had spoken publicly, the rumors of the monsters’ near-magical technology had been met with doubt. Well, here was their proof. “Every offworlder is an important prisoner. Perhaps an estate near the city…”

“Your Majesty—”

“Ah, yes, Keishuk, I trust you to handle the reboot. Some of these soldiers can help you dismount and move the power source.” They’d already left the courtyard behind, but he gestured as if the soldiers were still right behind him. “Oh. I don’t...I’ve forgotten the name of the craftsman who can help you with my circuitry. I…”

“Minsu can look that up, computer,” said Keishuk. “While I admit that level of detailed soldering and wirework is beyond me—just what were you planning to tell the man? The work has to be done in your chamber.”

“Ah…” Suwon paused, then brightened. “Minsu knows enough to explain what’s needed.”

“No, he does not,” Keishuk countered. “He doesn’t know—”

“He is not to know that it’s me!” said Suwon sharply. “But he knows enough to explain you. Tell him...tell him whatever seems fitting.” Keishuk sighed. “If you go into the city, I suggest you wear a cloak,” he added, unhelpfully.

Keishuk looked as if he wanted to speak again, but he only sighed, turned, and left. Whispers followed him. Rumor must have spread through the palace—it seemed everyone knew who he was, even if they watched him with suspicion.

“Now, Your Majesty—”

“Until Keishuk is ready, I have several mundane tasks to take care of. I’m going to my room now; you need not follow.”

Dammit, the king was definitely avoiding the subject on purpose. “Your Majesty, are you going to address what just happened, or not?”

“We got the power source we needed. I don’t know what else there is to discuss.”

“Dammit, Your Majesty, are you going to be yourself again or aren’t you?”

They were near the king’s chamber, now. Alone. Suwon slumped to the floor. “I don’t know,” he said. “My nanobots are fragile. If the pulse hit them...but we weren’t in the castle. We were in Kuuto. It isn’t certain—” He lifted a hand to massage his temple as he spoke, and  Judo remembered the screaming pain in Suwon’s head. Uncertain, is it? “But I’ll be functional again soon. I’ll be myself. Whether or not I can reconnect to this body, I’ll still need it to act as king, so…”

But you are this body. The computer was still offline. Everything the king had done over the past day had been just this body. Of course he was— “What did that aven mean by “free?” Judo asked sharply.

“Find out what equipment Keishuk needed from the university,” said Suwon, ignoring the question. “You can ride out to get it.”

“Your Majesty—”

Suwon stood up, straightened his robes, and looked Judo in the eye. “Go,” he repeated.

And because Judo knew that the man before him was still his king, he left.

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Write A Essay For Me There are instances if you’re given an task, not by word count, but assigned by the number of pages. For instance, “Write a paper four pages lengthy.” If you get an assignment to write down four pages, one of many first questions that will likely come to mind is, “How many phrases are in 4 pages? ” If you should figure out words per web page, you need to use a words per web page calculator. To take easy studying to the following degree, strive using sub-headers every paragraph to 3 paragraphs. This is relevant to blogs and internet pages, and to a certain extent, in educational writing. By assigning a word depend, lecturers get a extra accurate size of essay than they'd if they assigned homework by pages. Can someone clarify to me why so many individuals are obsessive about word count and web page count? If you’re a author, shouldn’t writing properly be crucial thing? Why do writers appear to obsess over word count and web page rely? When you hit an online page for info, what do you do? I have a look at the header, after which I scan the sub-heads to get an idea of the writer’s strategy to the topic. If it appears like fluff, I kill the page and transfer on. Just bear in mind common guidelines of how to write a brief essay and it’s probably that a great mark is already in your pocket! Some problems might still happen, though, for quite a lot of causes. You could be too exhausted to research and write something or simply have some other plans. The purpose that teachers don’t assign a number of pages anymore is because it’s too easy to manipulate pages. When college students used to put in writing on typewriters, it was frequent for lecturers to assign essays in number of pages. With the adoption of computers within the classroom, lecturers switched from pages to work depend as a result of it was too straightforward for the computer systems to manipulate the font size and page dimension. Introductions are often the hardest half to put in writing since you’re making an attempt to summarize your complete essay before you’ve even written it but. Instead, attempt writing your introduction last, giving your self the body of the paper to determine the principle level of your essay. Honestly, all through most of high school and school, I was a mediocre essay author. But if the sub-headers are fascinating, and seem to tell me there’s something price studying, I’ll read the whole piece. You can assume industrial writing and news reviews may have paragraphs approximately half as long as those you’d see in tutorial or essay writing. This is essential to crafting an interesting, thoughtful essay that all readers will get pleasure from. If you wish to learn about something and in case you have private investment in a topic, you’ll undoubtedly achieve success since you’ll be part of your personal viewers. Professional customized essay writers for hire to create your essay from scratch. If you have a daily writing tutor or use a writing company frequently, name for assist. You may have to pay an emergency payment to get an appointment or help, however they can help you finish the essays on time. If you pick an thought you want, research it, and develop an outline, you’re already half carried out. You’ll remember to choose probably the most interesting information. Passion is all the time evident in writing, even if it’s an educational paper, and it'll convey you better outcomes than if you’re to choose something simply because you understand it’s popular. Writing may be robust normally, however academic writing is a sphere of its personal, with a set of specific quirks. There are different rules about the way to create great fictional story for everybody and how to write a short essay for your professor, for instance. Let’s look at the listing of six suggestions for effective academic writing. During 2019, we saw a number of students who merely don’t have the patience to deal with the company anymore. The writing is still not as good as on different similar services and the customer service has seen higher days.

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How to Write a Testimonial in 2020: 7 Tips (+ 9 Examples)

Want to learn how to write a great testimonial? One that’ll build trust with readers and woo potential customers (or clients)?

In this handy guide, you’ll learn:

The proven structure your testimonials should follow to increase conversion rates and land more jobs;

The importance of statistics, storytelling, and authenticity;

How to ask someone for a testimonial;

And much more.

Let’s dig right in…

Tip #1. Follow a Proven Structure

Sometimes, the best way to identify “good” is to figure out what “bad” looks like.

So, what does a bad testimonial look like?

Well, bad testimonials usually make one or more of these mistakes:

They lack credibility. Who is “John”? What does he do? And why doesn’t he have a photo?

Too outlandish to be believable. Did this person really help you go from zero to $1,000,000 in three days? Even if it is true, it will be hard for people to believe. Be a real person, not an infomercial.

They’re boring and generic. A testimonial that goes on and on about unrelated, meaningless details isn’t going to convince anyone to do anything. Neither will testimonials that lack detail or authenticity.

With this in mind, let’s go over the elements of a good, persuasive testimonial.

The Structure of a Great Testimonial

Good testimonials should include the person’s full name and photo. Adding their company name and what they do gives a testimonial additional credibility.

But the best testimonials also contain these four elements:

Clarity. They paint a clear before and after picture.

Purposefulness. They guide the reader towards an action.

Positivity. A testimonial isn’t a snarky review on TripAdvisor or Amazon — you want people to be honest, but you want the overall tone to be optimistic.

Focus. Don’t ramble. Stay on point.

Examples of Testimonials With Good Structure

Here’s an example of great testimonial structure from Marisa Mugatroyd’s Live Your Message:

Full name and photo? Check. Clear, purposeful, positive, and focused? Definitely.

Here’s another good testimonial example (from Ahrefs’ newly-revamped homepage):

Both of these testimonial examples nail the basics.

Yours should too.

Tip #2. Be Specific With Details

Words and phrases like “way up” and “it was good” are ambiguous and can mean anything.

Did an article get over 10,000 tweets and LinkedIn shares on social media? Did revenue increase by 30%?

Don’t be vague — if it’s so, say so. Testimonials with statistics are excellent social proof.

But keep in mind:

Statistics aren’t the only way to add details to a testimonial.

In fact, sometimes, you’ll be in situations where specific figures or numbers can’t be shared. In those instances, explain the details of the problem, concerns that existed beforehand, or share pertinent background info that paints a compelling before-and-after picture.

Details In Practice

Let’s compare two testimonials I’ve received:

“Nyaima was pleasant to work with. I would work with her again.”

That’s nice, but does this testimonial really tell you anything? Not really. Compare it to this one:

“Nyaima was not only easy to work with, but her communication was also excellent. She met every deadline, and also offered sound suggestions that added to the quality of each of our projects. Because of this, we were able to complete a project that generally takes six weeks in only four weeks.”

The details in this testimonial help you envision what it’s like to work with me. A potential client thinking about hiring me doesn’t have to guess how this other client benefited.

Tip #3. Pull on the Heartstrings

A heartfelt story can move even the most cold-hearted person.

Remember your favorite comic or fairy tale from your childhood, like Batman or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Each sentence reeled you in, line-by-line. You could relate to Batman’s losing his parents or the horrific treatment of Snow White, and you wanted to know how those situations would end.

There’s a reason for this — psychologist Lani Peterson says people are wired to pay attention to narratives and stories.

Translation? Telling a good story — one that weaves in narrative elements that sparks emotion within the reader, making them want to keep reading and take action — is a great way to craft a persuasive testimonial readers can relate to.

When your prospect relates to your customer testimonials, they take a step closer to working with you. They think, “wow, I have the same problem, maybe they can help me too” or “I am stuck at the same place, maybe working with this person will give me similar results.”

And one of the best ways to capture genuine emotion and story elements is using video testimonials. When done well, they instantly build trust with potential clients.

Storytelling In Practice

Airbnb rocks storytelling in their series featuring Airbnb hosts. They successfully display the humanity of hosts that prospects can relate to:

Here is another masterful demonstration by Intel:

The story is so rich, you can barely tell it’s a testimonial.

Tip #4. Be Authentic (But Don’t be Boring)

Have you ever read a college dissertation?

No offense to the hard-working women and men who pour countless hours into them, but they are not my first choice to read. They’re dry, clinical, and cerebral — all the things you don’t want your testimonial to be.

Boring testimonials will put your prospects to sleep. And prospects who are asleep can’t take action.

But it’s not enough to simply not be boring. Your testimonial needs to be truthful and authentic too.

That means being genuine, sounding natural, and using conversational words. Your goal is to spark internal conversation within the reader. And to do that, every word in a testimonial must be true.

Remember, when someone reads a testimonial you want them to relate, they should say, “Man, he or she sounds just like me.”

That’s why slang works and stringent grammatical rules don’t have to be followed. As long as the point can be understood and it is not an unintentional typo, leave it alone. The flaw adds realness.

Authenticity In Practice

Here’s an effective testimonial that Smart Blogger’s Kevin J. Duncan gave to Henneke Duistermaat for her copywriting course:

From his testimonial, you can (accurately) surmise that Kevin has probably known Henneke for a while, which makes his words feel genuine.

Tip #5. Use the Right Testimonial, at the Right Time, in the Right Place

There are several types of testimonials, but I’m going to focus on the big three:

Persuasive Testimonials. These demonstrate the impact the service had on the client or customer.

Overcome Objections. These are testimonials that speak directly to common objections and diffuse them.

Success Stories. These are miniature case studies where people share positive outcomes and happy endings.

Though they share the common goal of reducing resistance, each type of testimonial is most effective in different circumstances.

The Right Time

If you want to defeat objections, implement testimonials that address potential resistance on your sales page.

If a prospect sees another customer had similar concerns that were overcome, it will boost their confidence that moving forward with you is a good choice.

The Right Place

Avoid old school testimonial pages.

Most people only scan websites, and few visitors make it to a testimonials page. This is why you want testimonials sprinkled throughout your site to solidify your marketing messages.

Best placement:

Homepage

Product page (think of Amazon)

Sales and landing pages

Most popular page of your site (other than your homepage)

Inside emails, newsletters, print materials, and blog posts

Right Time, Right Place In Practice

Ramit Sethi, best selling author and creator of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, is a master at strategic placement and timing. Check out how he addresses potential objections using testimonials in his email sales sequence:

By implementing the right timing and placement, you seem like a mind-reader, answering the questions and objections of your prospects, moving them one step further in your sales process.

Tip #6. The Art of the Ask

Knowing the structure and components of a good testimonial is fantastic, but it won’t matter if you don’t have any testimonials to share.

Testimonials don’t automatically come unless you ask for them or put a system in place to keep them rolling in.

Similar to sales, people get timid when it comes to asking for testimonials. They feel like they are being a nuisance. But when you deliver superb services to a client, this is a small ask.

Why not remove all friction points and make it easy for you and them?

Ramit does a good job minimizing pressure by providing a template when he asks someone for a testimonial. He understands that even though your satisfied customers want to help, they are busy, and may be plagued by blank screen syndrome. A plug-and-play template remedies that.

Another option is to simply write the testimonial yourself and ask the contact to revise it, as needed.

How to Ask for Testimonials

Ramit uses the following script to request testimonials:

Her Business gives clients a simple plug-and-play template to complete:

And this leads us to the final tip…

Tip #7. Automation Makes it Easy

Savvy entrepreneurs and business owners systemize and automate as much of the collection and writing of testimonials as possible.

So should you. Collecting testimonials should be embedded in your business.

For example, Marisa Murgatroyd has a system that gets her a steady flow of testimonials — the “ask” is embedded right into the completion of her courses.

Students provide a testimonial as part of their graduation process. This process has landed her over 700 pages of testimonials that she can use in every area of her marketing.

You don’t have to copy her exact method, of course. Every system will vary based on your particular business. The key is to take friction points away that may interfere with you getting great testimonials, and to automate as many parts of the process as possible.

It’s Time to Write Persuasive Testimonials

No matter who you are or what you do, a well-written testimonial is a powerful tool that can boost your credibility.

In this post, you learned about the proven structure of powerful testimonials, as well the essential ingredients needed to turn good testimonials into great ones.

Now it’s time to put what you learned into action.

Want to build trust with your readers? Want to boost your credibility to potential customers or clients?

Testimonials are the answer.

Go get them!

The post How to Write a Testimonial in 2020: 7 Tips (+ 9 Examples) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/how-to-write-a-testimonial/

[williamlwolf89]

How to Write a Testimonial in 2020: 7 Tips (+ 9 Examples)

Want to learn how to write a great testimonial? One that’ll build trust with readers and woo potential customers (or clients)?

In this handy guide, you’ll learn:

The proven structure your testimonials should follow to increase conversion rates and land more jobs;

The importance of statistics, storytelling, and authenticity;

How to ask someone for a testimonial;

And much more.

Let’s dig right in…

Tip #1. Follow a Proven Structure

Sometimes, the best way to identify “good” is to figure out what “bad” looks like.

So, what does a bad testimonial look like?

Well, bad testimonials usually make one or more of these mistakes:

They lack credibility. Who is “John”? What does he do? And why doesn’t he have a photo?

Too outlandish to be believable. Did this person really help you go from zero to $1,000,000 in three days? Even if it is true, it will be hard for people to believe. Be a real person, not an infomercial.

They’re boring and generic. A testimonial that goes on and on about unrelated, meaningless details isn’t going to convince anyone to do anything. Neither will testimonials that lack detail or authenticity.

With this in mind, let’s go over the elements of a good, persuasive testimonial.

The Structure of a Great Testimonial

Good testimonials should include the person’s full name and photo. Adding their company name and what they do gives a testimonial additional credibility.

But the best testimonials also contain these four elements:

Clarity. They paint a clear before and after picture.

Purposefulness. They guide the reader towards an action.

Positivity. A testimonial isn’t a snarky review on TripAdvisor or Amazon — you want people to be honest, but you want the overall tone to be optimistic.

Focus. Don’t ramble. Stay on point.

Examples of Testimonials With Good Structure

Here’s an example of great testimonial structure from Marisa Mugatroyd’s Live Your Message:

Full name and photo? Check. Clear, purposeful, positive, and focused? Definitely.

Here’s another good testimonial example (from Ahrefs’ newly-revamped homepage):

Both of these testimonial examples nail the basics.

Yours should too.

Tip #2. Be Specific With Details

Words and phrases like “way up” and “it was good” are ambiguous and can mean anything.

Did an article get over 10,000 tweets and LinkedIn shares on social media? Did revenue increase by 30%?

Don’t be vague — if it’s so, say so. Testimonials with statistics are excellent social proof.

But keep in mind:

Statistics aren’t the only way to add details to a testimonial.

In fact, sometimes, you’ll be in situations where specific figures or numbers can’t be shared. In those instances, explain the details of the problem, concerns that existed beforehand, or share pertinent background info that paints a compelling before-and-after picture.

Details In Practice

Let’s compare two testimonials I’ve received:

“Nyaima was pleasant to work with. I would work with her again.”

That’s nice, but does this testimonial really tell you anything? Not really. Compare it to this one:

“Nyaima was not only easy to work with, but her communication was also excellent. She met every deadline, and also offered sound suggestions that added to the quality of each of our projects. Because of this, we were able to complete a project that generally takes six weeks in only four weeks.”

The details in this testimonial help you envision what it’s like to work with me. A potential client thinking about hiring me doesn’t have to guess how this other client benefited.

Tip #3. Pull on the Heartstrings

A heartfelt story can move even the most cold-hearted person.

Remember your favorite comic or fairy tale from your childhood, like Batman or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Each sentence reeled you in, line-by-line. You could relate to Batman’s losing his parents or the horrific treatment of Snow White, and you wanted to know how those situations would end.

There’s a reason for this — psychologist Lani Peterson says people are wired to pay attention to narratives and stories.

Translation? Telling a good story — one that weaves in narrative elements that sparks emotion within the reader, making them want to keep reading and take action — is a great way to craft a persuasive testimonial readers can relate to.

When your prospect relates to your customer testimonials, they take a step closer to working with you. They think, “wow, I have the same problem, maybe they can help me too” or “I am stuck at the same place, maybe working with this person will give me similar results.”

And one of the best ways to capture genuine emotion and story elements is using video testimonials. When done well, they instantly build trust with potential clients.

Storytelling In Practice

Airbnb rocks storytelling in their series featuring Airbnb hosts. They successfully display the humanity of hosts that prospects can relate to:

Here is another masterful demonstration by Intel:

The story is so rich, you can barely tell it’s a testimonial.

Tip #4. Be Authentic (But Don’t be Boring)

Have you ever read a college dissertation?

No offense to the hard-working women and men who pour countless hours into them, but they are not my first choice to read. They’re dry, clinical, and cerebral — all the things you don’t want your testimonial to be.

Boring testimonials will put your prospects to sleep. And prospects who are asleep can’t take action.

But it’s not enough to simply not be boring. Your testimonial needs to be truthful and authentic too.

That means being genuine, sounding natural, and using conversational words. Your goal is to spark internal conversation within the reader. And to do that, every word in a testimonial must be true.

Remember, when someone reads a testimonial you want them to relate, they should say, “Man, he or she sounds just like me.”

That’s why slang works and stringent grammatical rules don’t have to be followed. As long as the point can be understood and it is not an unintentional typo, leave it alone. The flaw adds realness.

Authenticity In Practice

Here’s an effective testimonial that Smart Blogger’s Kevin J. Duncan gave to Henneke Duistermaat for her copywriting course:

From his testimonial, you can (accurately) surmise that Kevin has probably known Henneke for a while, which makes his words feel genuine.

Tip #5. Use the Right Testimonial, at the Right Time, in the Right Place

There are several types of testimonials, but I’m going to focus on the big three:

Persuasive Testimonials. These demonstrate the impact the service had on the client or customer.

Overcome Objections. These are testimonials that speak directly to common objections and diffuse them.

Success Stories. These are miniature case studies where people share positive outcomes and happy endings.

Though they share the common goal of reducing resistance, each type of testimonial is most effective in different circumstances.

The Right Time

If you want to defeat objections, implement testimonials that address potential resistance on your sales page.

If a prospect sees another customer had similar concerns that were overcome, it will boost their confidence that moving forward with you is a good choice.

The Right Place

Avoid old school testimonial pages.

Most people only scan websites, and few visitors make it to a testimonials page. This is why you want testimonials sprinkled throughout your site to solidify your marketing messages.

Best placement:

Homepage

Product page (think of Amazon)

Sales and landing pages

Most popular page of your site (other than your homepage)

Inside emails, newsletters, print materials, and blog posts

Right Time, Right Place In Practice

Ramit Sethi, best selling author and creator of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, is a master at strategic placement and timing. Check out how he addresses potential objections using testimonials in his email sales sequence:

By implementing the right timing and placement, you seem like a mind-reader, answering the questions and objections of your prospects, moving them one step further in your sales process.

Tip #6. The Art of the Ask

Knowing the structure and components of a good testimonial is fantastic, but it won’t matter if you don’t have any testimonials to share.

Testimonials don’t automatically come unless you ask for them or put a system in place to keep them rolling in.

Similar to sales, people get timid when it comes to asking for testimonials. They feel like they are being a nuisance. But when you deliver superb services to a client, this is a small ask.

Why not remove all friction points and make it easy for you and them?

Ramit does a good job minimizing pressure by providing a template when he asks someone for a testimonial. He understands that even though your satisfied customers want to help, they are busy, and may be plagued by blank screen syndrome. A plug-and-play template remedies that.

Another option is to simply write the testimonial yourself and ask the contact to revise it, as needed.

How to Ask for Testimonials

Ramit uses the following script to request testimonials:

Her Business gives clients a simple plug-and-play template to complete:

And this leads us to the final tip…

Tip #7. Automation Makes it Easy

Savvy entrepreneurs and business owners systemize and automate as much of the collection and writing of testimonials as possible.

So should you. Collecting testimonials should be embedded in your business.

For example, Marisa Murgatroyd has a system that gets her a steady flow of testimonials — the “ask” is embedded right into the completion of her courses.

Students provide a testimonial as part of their graduation process. This process has landed her over 700 pages of testimonials that she can use in every area of her marketing.

You don’t have to copy her exact method, of course. Every system will vary based on your particular business. The key is to take friction points away that may interfere with you getting great testimonials, and to automate as many parts of the process as possible.

It’s Time to Write Persuasive Testimonials

No matter who you are or what you do, a well-written testimonial is a powerful tool that can boost your credibility.

In this post, you learned about the proven structure of powerful testimonials, as well the essential ingredients needed to turn good testimonials into great ones.

Now it’s time to put what you learned into action.

Want to build trust with your readers? Want to boost your credibility to potential customers or clients?

Testimonials are the answer.

Go get them!

The post How to Write a Testimonial in 2020: 7 Tips (+ 9 Examples) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/how-to-write-a-testimonial/