#between hunting and interpersonal conflicts

[tcfactory]

as a side note may i suggest a siberian husky for sqh. mostly because those things whine like nothing else. hardworking? yes. adaptable? absolutely. anxiety? tremendously. ready for harsh snow and winter at any point in time? delightfully. will relay to you the song of his people at the top of his voice and from the bottom of his lungs? god. dammit. yes. that thing will HOWLlike you have mortally wounded it. what was sqh doing? trying to give him a bath. also "he looks just like you my king!"

ahjsgfasdjh That's perfect. Shang Qinghua and his daemon, the whiniest husky in the whole wide word. Mobei-jun would be amused and pleased at having a good doggo stand guard over him while he sleeps in Qinghua's house, because he knows that if someone approaches who shouldn't, then the howling will wake even the dead. Perfect alarm system for demon princes who sneak into righteous sects to nap! Kind of a shitty alarm clock, but eh, he has heard worse.

I was thinking yesterday what Mobei-jun's daemon should be, because sure I could say demons don't have them (why would they want to have their vulnerabilities out in the open like that? also it would mean TLJ would have had to pose with snake form ZZL when he was wandering the human realm) but I think I can do something really funny with it.

Please consider: Mobei-jun is perfect assassin material, right? So he would, ideally, have some kind of ambush predator. But he's also a king, so some kind of territorial herbivore would match the vibes of that position. Besides, Airplane was watching a documentary on African wildlife the night before he decided to add the daemon elements to PIDW and only remembered that male elephants can be really aggressive and dangerous he absolutely forgot that it's specifically tied to a sort of reproductive cycle. So Mobei-jun's daemon is just. Straight up a woolly mammoth? That can turn invisible because he still needs to keep some of the stealthy assassin vibes.

He was considering invisible fluffy hippo, but decided that his king deserves something more majestic. So it was either mammoth or rhino.

A rhino might be easier to hide tbh and, you know, it can have literal blades on its head, but I don't remember if rhinos ever get territorial or not.

Anyway, rhino or mammoth, it loves chilling down in the forest around CQMS because it can eat its fill whenever its demon is up on the mountain to bother his human and the people this close to the sect are feeling safe enough that it had to tell them once that it belongs to a wandering cultivator visiting the mountain and they even give it special treats sometimes! Mobei-jun's daemon is living the good life here.

...honestly I just find the idea of an ambush rhino really funny.

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #9 – The Devourers by Indra Das

I was recommended this as an example of a contemporary work where werewolves are actually treated as monstrous and horrifying instead of either romance fodder or one interchangeable variety of supernatural in an urban fantasy kitchen sink. In one sense that was a blatant lie (the monsters are only werewolves in the vaguest sense), but in another one I care about much more it fit the bill perfectly. Funnily enough it basically is a romance (or at least, the overarching framing narrative is), but for once I’m not complaining about that. Excellent read, though does require a bit of a strong stomach.

The framing narrative follows Alok, a history professor in Kolkata whose approached by a mysterious stranger at a festival. The stranger identifies himself as a half-werewolf, an immortal man-eating shapechanger. In between being mysterious and menacing and flirting with Alok, he hires him to transcribe and digitize two historical werewolf manuscripts – journals etched into parchment made from human skin. Those journals are the meat of the narrative, and it rapidly becomes clear they are written by the stranger’s parents; first the ancient norse werewolf who had wandered all the way to the banks of the Yamuna, then the human woman he fell into something like love with and raped as she travels alongside one of his former packmates and hunts him down.

The framing device is the emotional heart of this, and incredibly well interwoven with the manuscript sections. It’s fundamentally a romance, though one somewhat interestingly devoid of real conflict or plot (well, from Alok’s perspective. There’s a whole emotional journey with him going from ‘future food’ to ‘romantic partner’, he just only gets small glimpses of it). There’s I think one real argument or point of conflict between the two of them across the entire book? And maybe one or two points besides that where Alok or their relationship encounters genuine difficulty or danger. Despite that, and despite (or perhaps because of) the ambiguous ending, it all just very much worked for me.

It’s also interesting – and the book does really call this out – that the whole plot is essentially arbitrary. The inciting incident is just a werewolf being angsty and lonesome, and the entire story and all its stakes are strictly interpersonal with nary an epochal revelation or looming existential doom to be seen. It is a sign of how much of my reading diet is genre fiction that this felt like a massive breath of fresh air, I think.

Speaking of love – the book is deeply and intensely preoccupied with the closeness of and overlaps between love and sex and pain and violation and consumption and death. Werewolves consume souls and memories as well as flesh, knowing and even becoming (for a time) those they hunt. This extends to each other as well – regeneration means mating and fighting to the death is an impossibly thin an frequently crossed line, and intimacy and memories are shared by literally allowing someone to take a bit out of you. Izrail kills and consumes both his mother and his father, and this is the only way he ever truly knows either of them. Both he and his father have fallen in love with whole strings of humans across the ages, and each been the ruin of all but one of them. This extends into the use of language as well – I didn’t take notes as I read, but the example that sticks in my mind was the description of one werewolf pressing a mush of chewed flesh into the mouth of another so he might heal as being ‘like a gentle kiss’.

It is just an intensely gory book in general, really. Or not even gory so much as carnal, in the older broader sense. There’s blood and viscera and sweat and sex and piss and shit and tallow made from human fat and game animals eaten bloody and raw. All of it seamlessly intermixed in one richly detailed and incredibly pungent sensory world the book conjures up for you.. This is taken to an extreme whenever the primordial god-monsters that are a shapeshifter’s second soul appears on screen, but even beyond that – like when I say you need a bit of strong stomach to enjoy the book, I really don’t’ just mean in terms of violence.

This ties in a bit with the lack of grand, world-shaking stakes I mentioned but – the book makes excellent use of its period piece sections to really sell this feeling of the weight of history and of being caught up in the wake of events larger than you can perceive. The 17th century sections really nail the sense of the past as its own living, breathing world full of richness and contradictions, rather than just a slate for the present’s psychodrama. Also it’s possibly the first book I’ve ever read which really mentioned the surprisingly widespread and violent history of werewolf hunts in Europe, which I appreciated.

The shapeshifters (werewolves, rakshassa, djinn, ghuls) themselves are absolutely great. Horrifying and disgusting and sublime, with exactly as much detail given as the story needs without succumbing to rpg splatbook syndrome. The idea of werewolves as things which are deliberately created through a(n incredibly violent and traumatizing) ritual process is one I don’t think I’ve seen before? It works here, anyway – though instead of a hereditary curse or contagious infection, it leaves shapeshifters feeling like one of those elite, elevated fraternities who put new inductees through a hell of physical, social and sexual violence for hazing and indoctrination purposes (the usual modern versions being military units, sports teams, and just actual fraternities). Which ties into all those themes of the fine line between love and violence, I suppose.

Or well, not technically fraternity – werewolves are all functionally genderfuild (can take a big nap and wake up looking like whoever they ate last) and while their second selves can fuck I’m not sure either human genders or, like, genital arrangements apply to them. But 3/4 of the werewolves who get any lines are one caricature or another of masculinity and this absolutely informs how the condition and culture are presented. So like, I’ll just go with it.

Anyway, great book! And ‘abuse regeneration by sewing dozens upon dozens of bones and trophies taken from prey into your skin’ is a great look for a werewolf’s human form.

[autisticandroids]

Hey ur my fave spn blogger by far (heavy is the head that has the crown etc etc) it occurred to me I've never heard u talk in Bobby? Any thoughts? Id love to hear em.

hey! so this is an interesting question. probably the reason i don't post much about bobby has to do with the fact that... well... i actually broadly enjoy bobby, and i enjoy him for exactly the same basic, surface level reasons as the show expects me to.

like, normally, if i'm watching supernatural, i am at least somewhat in conflict with the text. it expects me to like things i don't like (these are called "dogshit episodes" and they're a common hazard), and when i do like it it's often not really for the reasons that the show is expecting me to like it.

like... if you really want to see me shout and cheer, you should see what it looks like when i rewatch exile on main st., but neither a randomly selected mainstream audience nor miss gamble herself would necessarily agree with or even understand why i was doing so. like my enjoyment of that episode requires a lot of interpretive effort.

but fast forward three episodes to weekend at bobby's, and i could sit in a room with a general audience person, a reddit bro, a wincestie, and dabb/lofflin themselves and we would all basically have the same watch experience. i might be critical of the treatment of japanese culture, or annoyed by the way crowley's heel turn was handled, or something else, some specific element. but in terms of the broad strokes - bobby going around doing things, hunting a case, existing in relationships with a series of other characters - i like it for exactly the reason i'm meant to.

and that's kind of how bobby as a character is for me. there just isn't a lot of distance between what i'm supposed to enjoy and what i do enjoy. and it's that distance, and the interpretive labor required to close it, that generates thoughts, and thoughts are what generates posts. which means i don't really have a ton of posts about bobby.

i guess i will say... i used to be cautiously pro-killing-bobby-off in s7, definitely more than other characters who died in gamble era. because i was like "man, you gotta kill the father figure." that's the nature of these things. but upon rewatch, i actually think bobby's role as father figure is overstated. certainly it's overstated by the fandom, but even in the show to an extent. although i will concede a bit because i love when soulless sam tries to kill him. only good thing that happens in appointment in samarra. but overall bobby is as much just a friend as he is a father, you know? he engages with the boys on much more equal terms than a parent does.

but anyway. i don't like that they killed him because 1) they kept bringing him back, frequently stupidly. i liked safe house, but otherwise i am against basically all of bobby's appearances post-s7. i guess inside man was fine, but like. that's just the thing. it was fine. resoundingly okay. and safe house could easily have happened with bobby alive, just like. have him having the flashback. and 2) i think it has a bad effect on the show because like... after bobby died, the interpersonal conflict became even more dour. and it's already so fucking dour. there are no outside characters whatsoever to observe when things happen and so stuff spirals into madness even more and worse than it used to. no one is there to yell at dean the way bobby did in season four, you know? and then 3) i just enjoy bobby a lot i'm an enjoyer. i would have liked the show more if he stuck around in a meaningful way (and not just as a constantly recurring oh he's back from the dead for an episode plot).

[synchodai]

HotD Episode 7 Live Reaction

But if you close your eyes, does it always feel like nothing's changed at all. But at least there be dragons.

I stiil don't like that Seasmoke fell in Addam's lap. Addam should have been the one to actively claim Seasmoke. I just really don't like HBO's insistence on "power is better wielded by those who don't want it."

"I may appear lowborn but I know much and more of service." Those two statements shouldn't have a "but" between them.

Maester Orwyle continues to be the surprise MVP of the greens.

The Master of Laws Iron Rod getting dialogue? The rumor mill works fast in Westeros.

I like that the nobility are putting so much resistance to lowborn claiming dragons. If there's anything that threatens highborn, it's social mobility.

For "20 years the lords of this realm levied insults against my sons," Jace confirmed to be 20. So he's just one year younger than Aegon? Now that wouldn't make sense because Rhaenyra wasn't even married during Aegon's first nameday during that hunt episode. Good to know Jace has been aged up though. He, Aegon, and Cregan are probably all in the same ballpark age.

I love Addam's acting, he's almost as expressive as TGC. But why are the interaction scenes on this show so short? "The family doesn't know how to communicate their feelings" yeah, yeah, but at least write down for them to have SOMETHING to say. Corlys came to this room literally just to say 6 words.

They should have given Oscar Tully red hair to make him stand out from the Riverlords. The scales on his armor are cool, but there should be more to visually signal that this kid is basically a petty king.

The camera following it's actors from the back is kinda...not doing it for me. I don't wanna see their hunched backs, I want to look at the sets and their faces.

"We honor the old ways." Most of y'all don't, though? Only certain houses in the Riverlands worship the Old Gods, one of them being the Blackwoods who are being accused of going against the "old ways." What do the HBO writers think the "old ways" mean?

Out of all decapitations on this series, this one had the least punch. Music and sound design did all the heavy lifting.

STOP SHOWING THEIR BACKS I DON'T WANNA SEE THE ACTORS' BACKS ANYMORE

Also, I can't imagine how this war will end if the Blackwoods aren't black loyalists. With Daemon executing their House head, I don't see them being that enthusiastic about supporting Rhaenyra anymore. Are they just gonna replace Benjicot with Oscar? And Aly is just...gone now? Who's gonna stop Cregan Stark then?

Again, we're just letting whoever inside the king's room even when he says they can't come in? Guards really suck on this show.

Alyn's voice is like honey. I could listen to this man read audio books.

And they just let the Targaryen princess run off like that? The guards on this show really suuuuuuuuck.

Poor Rickard Thorne dragged into Alicent's impromptu camping trip.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEY JACE, LOVE CLASSIST JACE. LOVE AEGON'S DREAM CRITICAL JACE. EEEEEY JACE AWARE THAT WHEN RHAENYRA DIES PEOPLE WON'T ACCEPT HIM. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. Finally some character drama and juicy interpersonal conflict that makes sense with characters clearly stating their stance through dialogue and we don't have to fill in the blanks as the audience. I was so starved. They actually made what was in the book better with this one.

I like Hugh the Hammer's new storyline, sue me. It's a cliche call-to-adventure fantasy peg, but I like it.

"I need more dragons to end bloodshed." Rhaenyra, what do you think dragons do? Rhaenyraaaaaaa

Beautiful Vermithor shot. And of course they leave all these innocent poor people to the mercy of a merciless behemoth. Ugh, beautiful, blood sacrifice, cruelty, impressive sfx, yessss.

CLAIM THAT DRAGON. CLAIM THAT DRAGON. DO IT NAMED CHARACTER, you have a name and backstory so you can do it!

"Come on!!!" Vermithor: Well...when you put it like that, I suppose.

Nana Silverwing! She looks gorgeous.

WAIT, WHY DID THEY TAKE HER TO KING'S LANDING??? WHY IS KL AND DRAGONSTONE LITERALLY 5 MINUTES AWAY

[james-vi-stan-blog]

to your knowledge, did King James ever abuse George in some way? I’ve seen people throw that word around

tw abuse, child abuse, coercion, violence against animals and stuff

It depends on what you mean by abuse. If you consider a severely power-differentiated relationship abuse, then the whole thing is abusive, but also every interpersonal relationship in the 17th century is abusive.

I don’t know of any reported instance of James hitting George, nor of overt sexual coercion (though we know very little about their bedroom life, such as it is possible for historians to argue that they never had sex, although this is a minority view now). James was VERY into marrying off his courtiers, including his favorites, and when George married Katherine, while James still expected George to be constantly at his side, he encouraged them to go at it and make babies. Most of James’s favorites seem to have transitioned out of sleeping with him, and he remained very affectionate with them. Also, remember how James called Carr not wanting to sleep with him “a mere unkindness”? He was hurt, and I read those words as being whiny and guilt trip-y, but it’s not like he was demanding constant service. (Also, many historians think George was probably not having sex with James towards the end of James’s reign simply because James was very sick. Yet this is the period of James’s most intensely romantic letters.)

James, we should remember, hated violence (at least between humans) and had trauma over being shouted at. This doesn’t mean he would never perpetuate it. He did have a temper (nothing like Henry VIII levels though). He led armies, personally oversaw torture, sentenced people to brutal death, etc. — although in this period these would be seen as just actions that a moral king should do, protecting his people against criminals and outlaws. James was popularly criticized for being too soft.

There is an oft-repeated story about him trying to strike a teenage Henry Frederick with his cane during a hunt. This would have been considered acceptable discipline for a father to mete on his son, if “justified” by bad behavior. However, Henry Frederick simply rode off and most of the hunting party went with him, signaling that the prince was more popular than the king and James was not considered justified in this case. (Though, I heard this story told once where HENRY FREDERICK is the one who tried to hit JAMES.)

James and George did argue with raised voices, James publically snubbed George during problem periods of their relationship, but I don’t know that these would really be “abuse” rather than conflict. There is the aspect of the power differential, where George has to grovel and apologize to get James to forgive him, because James was the king. However, James very readily gave his forgiveness (and not just to George, he was generally very eager to forgive any of his friends or favorites for anything if they promised him their love).

Robert Carr DID yell at James, and the main thrust of James’s extremely long feelingsdump letter to him was that he felt hurt and betrayed that Carr wanted to “hold him by awe” (fear) “rather than by love”. So James felt Carr was controlling him by threats and angry outbursts, which James resented, saying that he would do anything for Carr for love, but if he felt he was being taken for granted and Carr was bullying him, that that love would swiftly turn to hate.

(Of course, we must remember that James was a divine right king, so we should be suspicious of his characterization of Carr’s behavior. When James is this massively entitled, such that he genuinely thinks it is a religious sin to resist his will, is he correctly perceiving this situation? Is he overreacting to a relatively modest drawing of boundaries by Carr? I’m inclined to think James genuinely felt betrayed and Carr really was yelling at him and scaring him, but we can’t fully trust James’s perspective.)

So, the short answer is, I don’t know of any instance between James and George that is unambiguously abuse, although of course their whole relationship is colored by power and manipulation. But I’m not a historian or biographer or anything. I’m just a James enjoyer, constantly learning new things, so there could have been an instance somewhere, I simply haven’t learned of it yet.

In the Mary & George trailer, there’s an instance of James wiping George’s face with blood, but this is not from violence against humans; this is a ritual of the deer hunt, where the leader of the hunt (James) marks his companions with the fresh blood of the kill. So this is an act of favor and weird homoerotic intimacy rather than violence towards George.

[msfcatlover]

Still with the Reverse!Robins

…Eddie never forgives Steph for the fight at the Tower.

(CW: Yeah, this one gets borderline graphic with Jason’s injuries after the Tower fight, and especially Eddie needing to cauterize one of them.)

Jason & Steph work through their lingering issues after she saves Jason from the Joker (neither of them puts the word ‘forgiveness’ to it, but they come to an understanding, recognize how things got to that point, how they got to from there to where they are now, and figure out how to move forwards. This is seriously the most emotionally fraught & complicated purely interpersonal conflict in the story, and there’s no way to summarize or breeze past it without sounding pithy, so we’re just going to acknowledge that and move on, okay?) The rest of the family, they only saw the aftermath once Eddie was done patching Jason up and could call for help, and to a certain degree that is overridden by the image of Steph carrying Jason’s broken-but-still-breathing body back to them so careful & gentle, and of Steph hovering around Jason for weeks as he worked through his recovery, always there the second he needed her but always careful of his space. The other Titans, they were off on other missions (or possibly cursed to sleep for a couple days,) and didn’t even get to see Jason until well into his recovery, and so only know how bad it got by hearsay—when Jason says it’s cool and Steph’s his sister now, it’s weird & disconcerting, but they can come to terms with it.

But Eddie. Eddie watched her stab Jason, saw the blood spray out of a major artery. Eddie had to burn his best friend with his own hands, just to make sure Jason lived long enough to make it to medical. Eddie had to listen to Jason bite back screams, while the person who hurt Jason walked out of the Tower like it was nothing. Eddie will forever be haunted by the feeling of Jason’s leg trying to jerk away from his touch, of pinning it down while the flesh sizzled, of the smell. Eddie patched Jason up while Jason cried himself out over his childhood hero hating him. Eddie held Jason while Jason got it “all out of his system” before he had to explain things to the rest of the family. Eddie washed the vomit off Jason’s face & suit. Eddie sat there, alone, after Jason finally passed out, waiting for someone (anyone) to come help them.

No. No, Eddie will never forgive Steph for what she’s done. Eddie will never trust Steph, no matter what. Maybe once in a while on a joint mission, he can “trust” her to get the job done, but beyond that? Were it not for the whole Batfamily standing between them, that boy would’ve smote her on sight.

(After Steph helps save Eddie from Hell, Jason thinks the two have made their peace. In a way, Jason’s right. What happened was: Eddie found Steph alone sometime in the next day or so, thanked her for her help, but also told her, “Don’t think this changes anything.” That all the help in the world can never make up for what she did, that Jay’s too big-hearted for his own good, that Eddie knows what it’s like when your personal hero rips your heart out and leaves you for dead, and it’s not something you get over. That no matter what happens, no matter how ‘good’ the relationship gets, Jason’s going to have to carry that hurt for the rest of his life, and there’s nothing she can do to change that. Eddie tells Steph he won’t move against her because Jason wouldn’t want him to, but that Eddie will never forgive her. And if she ever hurts Jay again, there isn’t a force in the multiverse that will stop Eddie from hunting her down—not Red Devil, not Kid Devil, not any other identity he might take on, Edward Bloomberg will hunt Stephanie Brown down—and dragging her back to Hell.

Eddie stands there, trembling, fists clenched, smoke curling off his skin, glaring Steph down as she stops sharpening her swords and stares cooly back at him. “Thank god,” Steph says, “someone in this community still has common sense! I thought everyone had lost their minds while I was dead.” Eddie stares in shock. Steph shakes her head. “Red, I have done more fucked up shit than you will ever know about. And I’m going to keep doing fucked up shit, because honestly? I don’t regret most of it. I still think it was the right thing to do.” She looks down at her reflection in her sword and frowns. “Hurting Jay is not one of those things. It was wrong. I can’t take it back, but I—no. No, no ‘but’s. No justifications, no excuses.” Steph looks up, meeting Eddie’s eyes. “You want to hold me to account? Good. I’ll hold you to that.”

She spits in her hand and holds it out to shake. Eddie does the same, smirking a little when Steph winces at the near-scorching heat of his skin. “I’m glad Jay’s got someone like you looking out for him,” Steph says. “When he lets me,” Eddie grumbles, unable to keep the fond exasperation out of his voice. Steph snorts. “Tell me about it! Fucking brat just can’t stay out of trouble, can he?”

The single, slightly-trippy moment of 3am conciliation is interrupted by Jason shuffling into the room with a yawn and a muttered, “You better not be talking ‘bout me.” “Of course we were,” Steph says before Eddie can even open his mouth. “I was just about to show him your baby pictures, actually. Do you want to join us, mini-me?”

Jason mutters something about fuckin’ traitors and gets a snack from the fridge, then grabs Eddie by the arm on his way back out. Eddie gives Steph a shrug. “I’ve been summoned. Goodnight or something, I guess.” “You kids be safe!” she calls after them. Jason doesn’t even look back, just flips her off over his shoulder. Steph laughs.)

.

(Eddie soon finds himself laying down with Jason protectively curled around him, softly snoring into Eddie’s shoulder. And Eddie realizes that, for the first time in years, he has his whole future ahead of him—no time limit, no conditions—and feels a little dizzy with it. He wonders how he got so lucky, just to have Jason in his life at all.)

[iztarshi]

Watching 03 after watching Rise has been interesting because it's not just that the turtles' personalities have been shifted between continuities it's that they're in mildly different genres.

03 is primarily plot driven. The turtles have been given personalities that bounce off each other in a fun way because it makes their adventures interesting to watch, but most conflict comes from outside. At worst something like Mikey wandering off or Raph picking a fight causes complications to a situation that was already happening.

As a result they live in a dark world but are themselves pretty chill. Raph can be antagonistic to Leo and antagonised by Mikey but drops both if his brothers need him. Interpersonal issues are often sorted out quickly and sensibly by turtles who know each other well. Raph being furious about not searching for Splinter immediately while the others argue it won't help to run around New York without a plan is resolved by Leo deciding it also won't hurt for Raph to try and sending him out to blow off steam. Leo wanting to do something about the Foot driving them out of their home is resolved by Splinter guessing what he is planning and asking him not to (which twists the knife further when Leo gets hunted anyway despite not doing anything wrong).

Rise is primarily character driven. The ways the turtles react to each other is often the driving force of the whole episode. Leo being bad at teamwork because he can't bear to hand someone else the spotlight or Donnie treating his brothers as something to fix or work around because that's how he always handles things he finds frustrating can make them the "villains" of their own episodes.

Even episodes containing big events and outside villains are often centred on interpersonal conflict. Bug Busters is about a number of serious problems but the heart of it is Raph and Leo fighting and Raph learning the danger being heroes puts his brothers in is real - villains aren't always bluffing.

As a result the Rise turtles are more emotional and also just... much, much messier. But they’re also still my faves <3

[fanbun]

do you have any predictions or wishes for r&m s7 and beyond?

Oh definitely.

First and foremost: Morty needs to have a central role in season 7. And I don't mean just as Rick's sidekick while he hunts down Rick Prime. I mean we as the audience should get to know how exactly Morty is feeling about being swept up into Rick's revenge plot. If season 6 was primarily about Rick’s character then it’s only fair that season 7 should be about Morty’s and how he is reacting to the situation.

At the end of season 6, Rick tells him that it's going to take over his life and Morty looks like he wants to run away. That leads me to believe that Morty isn't going to be entirely on-board with Rick's plan and he might even be the one pushing for them to return to "classic adventures." OR maybe Morty is back to missing school again and he starts to resent that Rick is consuming his life more than ever.

In whatever form it takes, I expect to see some sort of push-and-pull between the main characters. That seems like a very Rick and Morty writer thing to do to preserve a balance between the episodic and serialized elements of the show. And thankfully it would also provide some good interpersonal conflict to keep things interesting between the leads.

Think back to this scene from 6x01. Here Rick is pushing forward with his revenge plot and Morty is pulling him back. This is the dynamic I’m talking about.

As for my own personal wishes for the series as a whole, I want the Prime kidnapping Morty plot sooo badly, dude. The drama that would result from that is just irresistible. Or if that's too much to ask for, I at least want Prime to try turning Morty against C-137 by highlighting how abusive Rick has been to him. That, to me, will speak to the heart of the series. It will cause Rick to face the realities of his own actions while also challenging Morty's devotion to Rick.

I think it would be funny if C-137 had a romantic past with Prime before his family was destroyed, since it would show just how self-absorbed Rick is, but honestly I could take it or leave it. It wouldn't really change all that much aside from how much people sympathize with Rick, and I'm much more interested in what will happen with Evil Morty in the future.

Perhaps Evil Morty will be the one capable of defeating Rick Prime in the end and C-137 will have to prove himself different from other Ricks in order to gain him as an ally. That sounds cool.

[puphoods]

What ocs do you have?

i have a lot blushes... i have a tag for them (just "my ocs") but i will list the different settings i have and the ocs (or at least the main ones) i have for them ill put it under a readmore though

the first one is about claire my friend claire. he is a vampire raised as a hunter by a family of vampire hunters who is learning to navigate interpersonal relationships and understand himself after the death of his father leads him to run away and become involved in a conflict between one cities main vampire coven and a mysterious cult that i have yet to iron out all the details for... some of the ohcees from this one are: -claire: main guy (gender neutral) you get it ^

-amber: human also caught up in the conflict while attempting to reconnect with her sibling who is a member of the coven (and she is claires eventual girlfriend)

-ambers siblings jake and (i dont have a name for the other one atm): ambers older sibling was turned into a vampire as a teen and drifted away from their family because watching their younger siblings age and outgrow them was too difficult and caused a lot of tension and conflict in the family. jake is a 16 year old boy and likes basketball and being taller than his adult siblings

-annie: a minor antagonist and claires "sister". she is trying to kill claire because she believes their fathers death was claires fault and has become obsessed with revenge

-zachary: dead father. the patriarch. a proud man who never once gave any of the people who depended on him what they needed

-magdelene: amber and claires mother. a resentful woman who hates her children and what they have become and is manipulating them to further the conflict between them

-opulence: leader of the local coven. french nobility turned vampire who fled the country and eventually wound up in [wherever this is all set] who has made a comfortable life for herself and her coven but is struggling to keep people safe in the midst of the conflict

-apotheosis: leader of the cult. a mysterious man who claims to know the truth to eternal life

there r a lot of other more minor characters... and a lot more that should exist but dont yet because im not a writer and this is more of a setting than the story i would like it to be 💯

NEXT STORY egress/regress. this is the only setting with a title. the description i give people:

A self-contained short story focusing on the lives and relationships of three people several years into a zombie apocalypse.

there are only three characters for this one, though i would like to flesh out their backstories and past relationships at some point:

-cooper: the main character. cooper kills people and feeds them to zombies. he does this because he believes he has to, because of the violence and destruction and pain he has seen committed against others since the outbreak.

-elliot: elliot lives nearby coopers residence, sharing land (but not property) with dahlia. they rely on cooper for protection and safety but his actions and the isolation the three of them experience has led them to become paranoid and distrustful (moreso than would be expected)

dahlia: dahlia is reclusive and does not trust the others, but trades her crops with them in return for safety and assistance with upkeep of the farm. she feels she has to keep the other two in check, but does not consider them trustworthy

-honorary mention: coopers dead father: a strong and very traditional man. raised cooper to the best of his abilities, alongside his hunting dogs

NEXT: i call this one "party story" when im talking about it... a (would be) visual novel following katherin, a young woman who finds herself face to face with the victim of her childhood bullying while at a university party and the conversation(s) they have

-katherin: a uni student in the last year of her degree, kat bullied dorothy as a young teen and outed her to the entire school one day after overhearing a conversation she was having with her "friend". kat has since realised that she is gay and had crazy internalised homophobia that made her a huge asshole and struggles with deeply regretting what she did. shes also a doggirl

-dorothy: dot is attending the same university, pursuing an arts degree. she holds little ill will for kats actions but is still wary when kat approaches her. depending on the choices you make throughout the conversation, you come to learn about the person she has become and about her partners

-aelyn: aelyn is one of dots partners. they are the manager at a clothing store and also makes and sells jewelry as a hobby. she lives with their other partner rebecca

-rebecca: dots other partner. she has an office job. thats about it these two dont have too much detail in the story its really just kat and dot. the other three are demons btw for no reason other than its fun

NEXT: last cohesive setting with multiple ocs! this follows two humans, an angel, and a demon, who are attempting to solve a murder and get into situations along the way

-zoey: a woman who, in the span of 24 hours, lost her job, found out her brother died, found out her brother was a warrior of heaven and that his guardian angel has now decided that she is his replacement, and found out that heaven and hell and angels and demons all exist. she is not happy about any of this and is trying to find the cause of her brothers death

-antares: a guardian angel who is being punished for the death of her charge. antares believes that, seeing as her charge has a twin, that she has a second chance, and is trying to convince zoey to come with her, and promises to help get to the bottom of what happened in an attempt to convince her

-[demon that doesnt have a name yet]: insists that it did NOT cause the death of zoeys brother, intentionally or otherwise. it claims to be able to lead them to the truth, in exchange for them helping it out with various things i havent decided on yet

-[guy that doesnt have a name yet]: pizza delivery guy who has an affinity for attracting supernatural forces and is the most scared guy in existence. hates that he is being led around to find various otherworldly beasts but refuses to leave the protection of the literal angel who he believes is the only way he can stay safe

-zoeys brother: the big question... what happened to this guy? someone who was supposed to become one of the strongest people on earth? what could have happened to him in the few seconds antares stopped watching over him

and thats it for stories... i have a lot more individual ocs that dont have a proper setting or are just one offs etc. or are fan ocs for something :) and one or two more settings that are old and i need to rework such as my superpowers ones. also i have another setting that is a game idea i have but that has less developed characters atm because i havent thought about it in a while. sorry this got so long omg i hope this explains these ones okay at least

[makima-s-most-smile]

Oh... Oh no, watching Fool's Gold campaign part 30. (Starts hilarious and suddenly your heart gets ripped out) I am so normal about this. The talk between Gothi and Xanu... Spoilers jfyi

Gothi: It doesnt have to be that way. Xanu: Stop, being so naive, they are a threat. Gothi: I know they are a threat! I am pretty sure my face is a good indication of that. So don't you be so naive that I don't know that they are not a threat. Xanu: Yet you still defend them... Gothi: Because I don't want a genocide, there is no coming back from that, because you will no coming back from that. Xanu, there is not peace in revenge. The foreclaimers that tortured you are dead. You can wipe out this generation, too. But they still live with you, torturing you over and over again, forever. It doesn't go away. Unless, you let it go... Xanu: They kept me captive for 300 years! Gothi: i know Xanu: They tortured me! Gothi: I KNOW! I know- Xanu: And you want me to let it go! Gothi: Because you have to! Or it will kill you. Holding onto that anger and pain is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. You have to move on. And I know it will be the hardest thing you will ever do in your life Xanu: Then how? How could I possibly do that... Gothi: Forgiveness. And true forgiveness, like I have Xanu: I can't. I can't. I am angry. I am so angry! Gothi: I know. And I am sorry. I am so so sorry. You are allowed to feel angry. But that anger will consume everything if you let it. So you must let it go. Because with time and care, you will heal. ... Gothi: The choice is now yours, Xanu? What are you willing to let go? The anger or me?

(They decide on a third option, between absolute genocide and letting the maniac empathyless society go on like it does.)

-

And since I am in Trigun hell... I was thinking about Knives and Vash and how they talk but don't communicate with each other.

Gothi tries to stop Xanu from his genocidal tactics. But not by being the defender of the foreclaimers, but by addressing Xanu's pain. It is not purely about the foreclaimers, but about saving her friend. Sure, the morality of genocide is not the way to go and such is in the whole talk and Gothi is vehemently against it, but Gothi knows where the core of the conflict lies and that is Xanu's trauma.

Vash is showing vulnerability, but also by focusing on being humanity's defender, he doesn't do that. Knives knows what he does it not the nicest thing to say the least. Knives does not care, because his hurt and anger is so much louder than any morality. And Knives needs his pain to be seen. Knives as a hurt person needs to be seen and addressed. Vash cares for his brother, but his focus is on humanity and Knives role as the one who is trying to kill it and Knives his hurting brother. That's why he doesn't get through his brother.

Vash has not the interpersonal experience nor maturity to bring across that he cares for Knives. Vash doesn't allow himself the space for anger. He can't have these selfish feelings for the whole Rem loves humanity shenanigans. (I am not saying, Vash should kill, but Vash should learn to defend his own agency and take control in his life. There is a saying that you need to love yourself before you can be loved. Because if you love yourself, you set boundaries, which deflects abusers.) His forgiveness does not feel like this "true forgiveness", for me at least. Vash martyrs for humanity and forgives the things they do to him. How many scars does he have to show that people betrayed him, shot him in the back and hunted him down? Vash doesn't process this trauma and adds new one to it again and again. (I mean, both brothers don't process their trauma. But Vash' way to deal with it is by putting all the agency and control into the other person's hand and putting himself into a pure reaction position that makes him open to get hurt and victimised. Knives on the other hand has an iron hold on control and restricts everyone else's agency. Both brothers are on the opposite ends of a spectrum.) Without showing his anger and let it have room, Vash takes a very important opportunity for himself and Knives to grow and communicate. He also takes away a connection they both could have. Both are so emotionally stunted and it is sad.

The Fool's Gold talk brings down the Knives' problem pretty well. There is no peace in revenge. There is also no safety in it. And our scared little hydrogen bomb baby needs that, safety. But he needs an equal for him to tell him that to his face and he has none. Gothi and Xanu are equals in that talk. It is also Gothi - the please don't genocide a whole race person - who reaches out to Xanu - rightful anger baby goes wrong. Like Vash does to Knives. But without showing his ugly emotions or his struggle with them, Vash is unable to find the connection point with his brother and thus can't get through to him.

[mercury-waters]

Review: Killers Of A Certain Age, by Deanna Raybourn

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Rating: 3.5/5

Killers of a Certain Age has a lot of things going for it, not least of which a focus on a demographic that almost never gets the spotlight, older women. It also has a very compelling premise; four women retiring from an extragovernmental organization that secretly hunts down and kills primarily Nazis, but also dictators, drug kingpins, and sex traffickers.

In doing so, Raybourn has written a spy thriller that is essentially free of the moral weight that can sometimes accompany those books, knowing that spy organizations and their governments are, in real life, most often engaged in work that reasonable people would find extremely distasteful. This approach gives the whole novel a beach-read feel, and I cruised right through it.

I think one of the best things Raybourn does in the book is manage the relationships between the four principal characters and the small number of people around them; they are familiar without being overly codependent, their interpersonal conflicts never feel contrived or forced. They do really feel like retirement-age women who have years of experience under their belts, and who are more mellow and less volatile than the youth around them.

Some things I didn't like that stopped it from rating higher – adding to the beach-read vibe, the plot was not extraordinarily complex; there were not a lot of names or concepts to keep track of, and the reveal did not shock me too much. It gave me an, "oh, huh" instead of an "oh, SHIT" which is what I like to feel when reading a thriller. I also think that Raybourn does a great job showing how older women (and women in general) are underestimated, but I also think that some of the legitimate struggles of the elderly were not dealt with in as much detail as I would like, and it could have created some complexity that was missing for me.

But, overall I enjoyed it! This is the first book I have read from Raybourn and I see she's also written the Veronica Speedwell series, and since Victorian mystery is an absolute love of mine, I might check it out.

Bottom line: if you're looking for a cozy-ish spy thriller from a new angle, give Killers of a Certain Age a try!

[tobiasdrake]

Honestly, I'm looking forward to Ahsoka season two. Mainly because, now that the obligatory plot on loan from a different show is done, maybe the show will finally do something.

The entire first season feels like simultaneous cleanup work and setup work. Cleanup for Rebels and setup for the big Thrawn crossover event that they've been hyping for years.

Like. The reason the show exists is fairly obvious. Rebels promised a story to bring Ezra and Thrawn back from "Wherever they fucking went". Which is the sort of thing that has enough substance to fuel a season premiere of the cartoon but not nearly enough substance for eight hour-long episodes of a miniseries. But that was the only idea they had so they had to stre-e-e-e-etch it.

So we have Star Wars's favorite idea: A treasure hunt to find the ancient lost secret map to Wherever Thrawn Went, which is a thing that exists for some reason. Makes as much sense as the Secret Map to Wherever Luke Went or the Puzzle Quest to Wherever Palpatine Is. Star Wars creatives play a lot of video games.

We have Ahsoka training Sabine which is a cool idea, but before that we have both of them being distant and pissy over absolutely nothing. They have no grudge between them; During Sabine's training, Ahsoka abruptly decided apropos of nothing that she wanted to drive a wedge between them for drama. Both of them already want to reconcile from the moment we meet them because there is no conflict here; Just vague gesturing at what interpersonal conflict looks like. But we gotta pad the runtime so they're going to be obstinate about it for a while.

We have your typical "New Republic is obstructive because Star Wars hates democracy only slightly less than it hates fascism" stuff. As usually, this allows the heroes to be rogue actors sticking it to the man even when "the man" in question is supposed to be the good guys that we've been trying to establish this whole time.

We have Ahsoka inexplicably teleporting into the Timey-Wimey Realm so she can have the version of her confrontation with Anakin that Filoni probably would have liked to have written if the movies' Official Vader Plot hadn't forbidden him from doing so. One where she finally surpasses Anakin, defeats him, and transcends into being her own master.

(Which is honestly a lot cooler than "Anakin killed her but then Ezra time-traveled her back to life". But, much like the Boba Fett and Cad Bane showdown in Book of Boba Fett, it feels weirdly out-of-place to be doing this here and now, and winds up feeling awkwardly forced in.)

And we have the most incredibly nobody villains in Star Wars history. Like. Who the fuck are Baylan and Shin? Baylan is Something Something Ex-Jedi and Shin is some rando Baylan started training. There's a point where Baylan's fighting Ashoka and he starts talking about "Anakin told me this and that" and I'm like, "Okay? WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?"

The answer to which seems to be a commercial for next season. Baylan signed on because he wanted to go to the other galaxy because he can feel through the Force that the plot for season two is there, and also he separates from Shin because he only brought her along to put her where season two will need her to be: Separate from him and doing a different Villain Thing entirely.

Even the answer to where Ezra and Thrawn ended up is "Dathomir Zero. Yeah, there's just more Original Star Wars Galaxy stuff in the New Star Wars Galaxy. It's exactly the same. But hey, at least I unwrote the shortsighted genocide of the Nightsisters so Star Wars can have Dark Side witches again."

I appreciate that. Dark Side witches are a cool idea and their extermination made the universe smaller. But it's still a demonstration of how few ideas this season had beyond "Finally do the thing."

But now The Thing is done. They actually have to do something else now. So maybe season two will be better? I don't know.

[awesomesunnysworld-blog]

Unlocking Success Through Team Building Events

In today's fast-paced business landscape, fostering strong teamwork and camaraderie among employees has become essential for achieving organizational success. One effective way to accomplish this is through engaging team building events[^1]. These events not only provide a refreshing break from routine but also offer a platform for employees to connect, collaborate, and enhance their interpersonal skills. In this article, we'll delve into the world of team building events, exploring their significance, how to conduct them, and the different types available.

Fun Team Building Activities: Creating Bonds that Last

Team building activities are designed to be enjoyable and interactive, promoting teamwork and trust within a group. From outdoor adventures like obstacle courses and treasure hunts to indoor challenges such as escape rooms and problem-solving exercises, these activities facilitate communication and problem-solving[^1]. Companies like [Sunny's World] offer a variety of exciting team building events that not only entertain but also instill important skills that can be transferred back to the workplace.

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Executing a successful team building event requires careful planning and consideration. Begin by identifying the goals you aim to achieve, whether it's enhancing communication, boosting morale, or breaking down silos between departments. Choose activities that align with these goals and the interests of your team. It's crucial to create a comfortable atmosphere where everyone feels encouraged to participate and contribute[sunnys world]. By incorporating professional facilitators, you can ensure that the event runs smoothly and the desired outcomes are achieved.

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The 4 C's of team building serve as guiding principles when designing and assessing the effectiveness of team building events.

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[warrioreowynofrohan]

Yes, this. It’s extremely clear what is happening here. The Teleri are a people with no weapons of war and no concept of war, with zero experience of serious interpersonal violence since their long-ago arrival in Eressëa. (And while Tolkien’s messing about with years is confusing and conflicting, he intended the Teleri to be in Eressëa long enough for their language to significantly diverge from the Noldor, so that’s, like, supposed to be a longish time even for elves. And the time the Teleri spend in Valinor between their arrival and the Darkening is, roughly, 10 times longer than they spend in Eressëa. So yes, I think it’s very fair to say that violence is basically alien to the Teleri at this point.) The Noldor are a people that, incited by Morgoth, have been preparing for the possibility of fighting each other for years, and are now delberately going to war in Middle-earth. Both weapons-wise and psychologically, they are in utterly different places.

Every single Teleri is a civilian. They would have bows for hunting, as they might have spears for fishing. The idea of fighting other elves has not even been on their radar.

When the Noldor show up asking for boats, the Teleri tell them, “We care about you and we think that what you’re doing is a bad idea, so we want to talk you out of it.” The Noldor respond by resorting to violence and trying to take the boats by force. The Teleri resist this and the Noldor start stabbing them. Every stage of escalation here is by the Noldor.

The Teleri are less prepared and less armed, so the only thing they can have going for them is greater numbers; the Fëanoreans alone are a smaller portion of the Noldor. When Fingon and his forces enter the fight, it’s enough to overcome the Teleri, even if numerically the Teleri still had more people. But numbers being the only thing the Teleri can have going for them – it’s certainly not training, preparedness, or weaponry – means a lot of them die.

“The greater part of their mariners who lived in Alqualondë were wickedly slain” is not intended to convey a minor skirmish. “The greater part” means that the majority. All the interactions when Fëanor shows up are described as “the Teleri felt/did X”, not “the handful of Teleri who happened to be in Alqualondë felt/did X”, and Fëanor went to Alqualondë to get them on side precisely because he wanted numbers as well as boats, which logically means there were a lot of people there.

This is a cultural wound that endures for centuries. It’s not intended to be read as minor.

Sorry, but I've got to contest the concept that either of the first two Kinslayings were Totally Fine And Chill or that there were totally few civilian deaths or that the people getting killed gave as good as they got (which even if they did! the responsibility for starting a murder party remains with the aggressor!) Alqualondë is especially egregious because do you know what only one side of that fight had? Swords. Since, you know, murder only got invented last week but Fëanor was canonically brainstorming about it for years beforehand. The Noldor and specifically the Sons of Fëanor were the only people with arms made for slaughtering other people and a whit of experience using them. And while yes, you can do some damage with a fishing spear or a a harpoon, there's a reason why fishing spears are not regularly brought onto battlefields. I cannot see Alqualondë as anything but a slaughter; if it has fewer casualties than later Kinslayings it is only because of the shortness of its duration and the confusion that defined it.

[castielcommunism]

spn would have benefited so much from having a proper ensemble cast, even if they still wanted to make everything about the winchesters. show off sam’s leadership abilities, his affability, how his educational background allows him to conduct research and help others and navigate undercover work when hunting. show off dean’s desperate need for community and support finally being filled, him figuring out how to make friends in a normal mundane setting (and probably being kinda bad at it at first!), how wonderful and amazing it is having friends that you can share secrets and in-jokes and have fun with. even cas man like. he so desperately wants to feel like he fits somewhere, that people want him around outside of his usefulness as an angel, and him forming genuine connections outside of sam & dean allows him to get the validation and the support he wants so badly (& make his relationship with the brothers much healthier as a consequence).

and then all the juicy interpersonal drama that would stem from that! messy breakups between mutual friends that the brothers have to manage! living in the bunker with roommates who don’t clean up after themselves and touch shit they aren’t supposed to! literally any goddamn human conflict that doesn’t revolve around sam and dean arguing about the same fucking thing for an entire season!

[lesbianmarrow]

watched legends of tomorrow 5.13 “i am legends.” good episode. i personally really detest zombies so i was not thrilled that this was a zombie episode but i still thought it was really good. i feel like this episode hit a lot of common zombie movie tropes so i bet people who are fans of those movies really enjoyed the episode. 

i feel like the overall theme of the episode was demonstrating how precious life is by contrasting it with senseless death. you see it both in the main storyline and also the side plot with gary and astra. i guess this is probably a common theme in zombie movies. so it’s cool how they used the zombie story conventions to explore this theme. and then i guess there’s also the trope of a person only understanding the preciousness of mortality after becoming immortal. so you sort of have that in this one since they became temporarily immortal. the main storyline had a lot of mushy romance stuff both with sara & ava and with zari & constantine and i think that worked really well in conjunction with the plot of them being hunted by zombies. that dire situation makes the emotional stuff feel even more poignant since the stakes are so high. the general team bonding stuff like them breaking out of the transport vehicle and them sitting around a table drinking together while waiting for the courier to charge was very nice for the same reason. these interpersonal connections are what matter - everything else is just to get us to the place where we can explore them. 

i love how calm sara was about heading to her death. on the one hand you can read it as her having cheated death so many times and expecting to do so again but i think more than that she just knows there is no better way for her to go out than by sacrificing herself to save the rest of her team. ava’s reaction was so heartbreaking. i love how this show is able to tell this tragic wlw romance story in this episode but then have the characters come back to life in the next episode and it’s fine. the show gets to have its cake and eat it too. even though we know nobody is dead for real i thought the scene where they finally get overwhelmed by the zombies was very powerful, especially with the added tragedy of ava watching the woman she loves die in front of her. good stuff. also i thought it was so cute how sara & ava called each other co-captains. i firmly believe that sara and only sara should be the captain and ava can just be like her little companion or consort or what have you. but it was cute. 

yay zari constantine romance :) you know i think constantine has a thing for being negged and thats why he likes zari so much (i am joking). when zari scolds him for smoking and shes like “ugh it’s so gross” but really she’s worried about his health....oh its so sweet. i guess the essential conflict between them is that zari has a strong will to change the world for the better and constantine believes such efforts are futile and he just wants to look out for himself and the people he cares for. because of these differing perspectives i dont think a romantic relationship between them would last long. but oh the sexual tension! it’s so cute how they both really care about each other and are kind of embarrassed and annoyed that they do. and then of course they have sex on the mission. zari and sara can start a club for people who had sex with constantine while on a mission. i liked when charlie realized what zari and constantine had been up to and we got to see her reaction, very fun. 

return of gary’s BUNNY. when they said the bunny was having tummy problems it gave me secondhand anxiety bc tummy problems are no laughing matter for bunnies! the rabbit who plays gary’s rabbit is so gorgeous and so well-behaved! world’s most chillest bunny. i bet he rakes in the big bucks. ok i should probably talk about gary now instead of just his bunny. the stuff with him and gideon was absolutely bewildering to me. it was just like so bizarrely horny and i felt like i was watching something that was not meant for my eyes. it was nice to see human form gideon though. where gary really shines in this episode is when he’s talking to astra. asking her about her mom and the good memories she has of her....i found it so touching. because you know gary isn’t just saying it to save his own skin, he actually genuinely cares, because he’s gary. i think it was a very good choice to have astra and gary interacting, because astra is so doom and gloom and gary is so positive. even though they are so different he is able to get through to her! shows that astra isn’t as evil as she wants people to think. astra’s and gary’s deaths hit the right emotional beats for me. even though i know theyre not dead forever, seeing them both murdered still had an impact on me. 

oh i also did want to mention when all the legends were saying how they would reshape their lives with the loom i thought most of their answers were pretty much what i would expect but when mick said he would go back to being a criminal i thought that was unexpected and fantastic. literally his life is so much better now and he’s kinder and happier but things were just simpler then so of course he misses it! but he knows he can never go back. very honest and powerful. sometimes you become nostalgic for bad times.