#but that doesn’t guarantee that that is what the writers are intending

[honorarybuckley]

..

[dcafanzine]

We’ve been getting a lot of asks about what the application process will look like and what to do, so here are a few tips that should help you out! (This is not required reading if you’re looking to apply, but it might help!)

When you’re applying for a spot on the DCA fanzine, we will be asking to see examples of your existing work. You might be wondering what would be considered a good fit, and which of your existing pieces to choose to show off in your contributor application.

NOTE: PLEASE do NOT create pieces you are intending to submit to be included in the zine itself as part of your application! Zine pieces are to be created by contributors in the three month period following their being selected to be on the zine. We cannot guarantee you a spot, so please don’t burn yourself out trying! There will be other chances!

(Oh, and please ensure viewing permissions are on when you’re sharing any links in your application, so we can see your work!)

Now on to the fine details …

For all applicants:

This zine is a celebration of our beloved celestial jester(s), the daycare attendant(s) - you will need to submit at least one example piece in your application (preferably more) that features these characters, with depictions of them in a canon-adjacent* form being a huge bonus.

Pieces submitted in your application should ideally be safe for work, as this will be a safe for work zine. This zine isn’t playing to a specific mood or genre, so feel free to go wild with depictions of fluff, angst, horror, etc. so long as these fit broadly under the PG-13 rating. Shipping ideally shouldn’t be the focus of every example provided either as this zine will not be specifically focused around romantic ships but more on the character(s) of the daycare attendant(s) themselves.

A limited number of AU spots will be available but in order to accept AU works as final pieces in this zine we request that you must either be the creator of the AU, or have express permission from the AU’s creator.

*Canon-adjacent here doesn’t mean the depiction has to be biblically accurate, just that the design should not differ so substantially from what would typically be recognised as the DCA to essentially be a separate character. This fandom is intensely creative and we love and applaud the originality of the many different variants of the DCA, but this zine aims to focus primarily on canon-adjacent depictions, with a limited number of slots for AU content as well. Having canon-adjacent depictions of the DCA will massively help round out your application for this zine!

For some positions, you will be asked to give 1-3 idea pitches, with at least one idea pitch being required. Pitches should summarise what you might be thinking of creating for the zine, showcasing your creativity and helping you brainstorm ideas for what to make if selected. Your pitch will be especially useful if you are hoping to write or illustrate any AU content, to give us an idea of what sort of thing you expect to contribute. Your pitch may be on the longer or shorter side depending on what you prefer, just as long as it illustrates the idea(s) you are aiming for. If you are selected, you will not be required to create the idea(s) you mentioned in your pitch, and will be able to change your mind on what you wish to create for the zine at a later point.

For writers:

We are looking for around 5 writers to join this zine. Upon being selected to be contributors, writers will write a short self-contained story (around 1.5-2k words) which will be illustrated by the spot artist they pair up with.

What we’ll be looking for in a writer application is readability (how well the example writing submitted for the application flows and how easy to follow it is), pacing, vividness of characters (characterisation of Sun and Moon in this fandom tends to vary a lot, so we’ll be looking more at consistency and imaginativeness here!), and how engaging the example writing is, as well as the ability to wrap up a short story. For this reason, while excerpts reaching around the 2k mark will be happily accepted, at least one of the examples should be a self-contained story or scene that fits within (or close to!) the word limit listed on the application form!

For page artists:

We are looking for around 23 page artists to contribute to this zine. Once selected as contributors, page artists will create a full page illustration featuring the daycare attendant(s) for the zine. A page illustration should fill the space on the page nicely and play to your strengths. This could be a coloured illustration depicting one or multiple characters with a background, a neat photograph of a sculpture or traditional piece you’ve made, or even a nice neat one-page comic! So long as it fits nicely on the page without compromising its quality, it will likely make a great fit for the zine!

What we will be looking for in a page artist application is composition (how elements in the example pictures submitted for the application like the background, props, characters, etc. work together), atmosphere (how the example pictures build a mood), creativity (unique and quirky representations and ideas!), and the level of polish the example pieces have (so overall how neat and nicely finished they look). At least one example provided will need to have a full background (so something containing complex background elements or designs or scenery, like a room or a scene).

For spot artists:

We are aiming to have around 5 spot artists for this zine. Spot artists will be paired up with writers, illustrating smaller scenes written for the zine. The mood of these pieces might vary greatly, but should match the tone and content of the writing.

What we’ll be looking for in a spot artist application is how well their example pieces convey a particular mood and/or feeling, as well as how well they present a scene in a smaller space. The example pieces submitted might not need to be as detailed or polished as those required by full page artists, but should be just as expressive!

For merch artists:

We will be looking for around 2-3 merch artists for this zine. Merch artists will design merch to go with the zine when it potentially hits certain sales targets. Prior experience making merch is greatly preferred for applicants applying for this role.

What we’ll be looking for in a merch artist application is the ability to make neat, simple designs that translate well as physical and digital merchandise.

Hopefully that clears a few things up - and please don’t be too daunted by all the details or feel you have to play perfectly to all of the ideas given above, every single one of us is different and the most unconventional of application pieces might be just the thing we need! This is just to make the application process a little clearer for anyone who’s nervous about what to submit. If anything is still a little unclear, please feel free to send us an ask on our Tumblr or CuriousCat!

[wingedblooms]

How do you interpret "A thing of secret, lovely beauty" in the bonus chapter? The first time azriel used it to describe the necklace. But the second time it was used to describe gwyn's happy smile.

Hello there! I feel like this is a trap. But as I’ve discussed before, readers interpret this differently and that’s wonderful. Interpretations can also evolve over time after rereads and new information. Mine has mostly remained the same (except for some specifics surrounding the second usage 😆). Part of my interpretation drifts into theory. As a reminder, theories are predictions of what might happen based on patterns of evidence in the text. No theory is guaranteed and it’s important to read any new books in the series with that in mind.

That said, Sarah is a fairly predictable and repetitive writer, so I try to pay close attention to her patterns. Many of my theories are based upon those patterns. For example, one of the most apparent patterns is that fate comes in threes. There are three faces of the Mother. Three sacred sister peaks that are barren and thrumming with power. Three stars that shine above Ramiel, the heart of the Night Court, each spring. Three blessed sisters who have been marked by fate and Made fae. Three winged males who found each other and are drawn to the three blessed sisters. There’s more evidence, but I think you get the idea. It can be helpful to use patterns to interpret and predict what Sarah has planned (e.g., the first and second sister have had their stories told, so it would follow that the third is next; there is also strong evidence that what she contributes to the narrative is needed next).

You’re probably wondering how this relates to my interpretation of the phrase secret, lovely beauty. Before I connect it to another clear pattern, I want to put it in proper context. When we first see the phrase, it is used to describe the necklace Azriel gifts to Elain. The setting in which this occurs is romantic: faelights dimming to cast little pools of gold amid the deep shadow of the longest night of the year. Put plainly, this is Sarah setting the mood. 😂 Azriel, who feels lonely despite the company of his shadows, finds himself suddenly moving into the foyer and there she is:

The Faelights gilded Elain’s unbound hair, making her glow like the sun at dawn.

On the longest night of the year, Elain glows golden like the sun at dawn. Like a pool of gold amid the deep shadow. This description follows a pattern in their imagery together, and it is lovely.

Their interaction is also raw and vulnerable, and therefore distinct in this bonus. When they come together, Azriel allows himself to feel and those feelings run deep enough to question his people’s traditions later on. Unlike every other interaction in this bonus, he doesn’t feel the need to put on a show for Elain (i.e., a cold mask, fake smile, or lying repeatedly to avoid emotional topics). In other words, he is himself with Elain. They share a quiet understanding and powerful attraction.

Now that we have this context in mind, we can move onto the the necklace and its chaos-inducing phrase:

The golden necklace seemed ordinary—its chain unremarkable, the amulet tiny enough that it could be dismissed as an everyday charm. It was a small, flat rose fashioned of stained glass, designed so that when held to the light, the true depth of colors would become visible.

A thing of secret, lovely beauty.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, lifting it from the box. The golden faelight shone through the little glass facets, setting the charm glowing with hues of red and pink and white. Azriel let his shadows whisk away the box as she said softly, “Put it on me?”

Notice something interesting here? Both Elain and the necklace glow with their true depth of color—golden and rosy, like the dawn—when faelight shines upon them. Dawn is when first light appears (pun definitely intended) and the world reawakens. Elain is linked to the rose amulet, and that follows a pattern of imagery she has already established in the text. This is the pattern I mean:

“I painted flowers for Elain on her drawer,” I said, sawing and sawing. “Little roses and begonias and irises.” (acomaf)

She was a rose bloom in a mud field. Filled with galloping horses. (acowar)

Even in the middle of winter, she was a bloom of color and sunshine. (acofas)

She plucked another figurine from the mantel: a rose carved from a dark sort of wood. She held it in her palm, its solid weight surprising, and traced a finger over one of the petals. “He made this one for Elain. Since it was winter and she missed the flowers.” (acosf)

Her gaze shifted to the carved wooden rose she’d placed upon the mantel, half-hidden in the shadows beside a figurine of a supple-bodied female, her upraised arms clasping a full moon between them. Some sort of primal goddess—perhaps even the Mother herself. Nesta hadn’t let herself dwell on why she’d felt the need to set the rose there. Why she hadn’t just thrown it in a drawer. (acosf)

This gift not only reinforces the pattern, but it also holds a secret message that has become central to Elain’s arc: the rose (like Elain) has hidden depths. The Feysand bonus echoes this theme. Elain’s outburst stunned her family and Rhys suggests there is more to her than they’ve seen thus far.

“I think she’s kind, and I’ll take kindness over nastiness any day. But I also think we haven’t yet seen all she has to offer.” A corner of his mouth tugged upward. “Don’t forget that gardening often results in something pretty, but it involves getting one’s hands dirty along the way.” (Feysand)

Feysand then agree to help Elain after Nesta, which is Sarah’s way of reinforcing the other pattern she put in place (fate comes in threes—first Feyre, then Nesta, and now Elain).

With Elain’s character arc in mind (and the fact that she herself has suggested she doesn’t feel seen), Azriel’s gift is actually incredibly insightful. He gave her something that says, I do see you, and he knew she’d be able to appreciate its meaning. Even the words that describe her gift—secret, lovely beauty—refer to specific things we learn about Elain in the text.

Secret: Feyre compares Elain’s ability to learn and keep secrets to Azriel’s own secrecy (one of many parallels). She is a seer, after all. What other secrets might she know and keep hidden from others?

Before Feyre could reply, Azriel said, “What about Mor?”

Feyre smiled. “Elain was the only one who guessed. She caught me vomiting two mornings in a row.” She nodded toward Azriel. “I think she’s got you beat for secret-keeping.” (acosf)

Lovely beauty: We learn from Nesta that their mother predicted Elain would marry for love and beauty, which I think @juusworld5728 observed sounds a lot like lovely beauty:

My Nesta. Elain shall wed for love and beauty, but you, my cunning little queen…You shall wed for conquest. (acosf)

This last phrase, love and beauty, is connected to the rose Papa Archeron carved for Elain. It is a symbol of love and beauty and goodness in the world, and for such a simple carving, it has unexpected weight just like the rose amulet has unexpected depth (Sarah hit this theme hard).

Her father had died for her, with love in his heart, and Nesta held love in her own heart as she pulled the small, carved rose from her pocket and set it upon the gravestone. A permanent marker of the beauty and good he’d tried to bring into the world. (acosf)

Why does this little rose matter? It is also linked to Wyrd. In acosf, Nesta felt the need to place Elain’s rose next to a figurine of what we now know is farseeing and benevolent Wyrd. Wyrd, the higher force of the universe, found Elain so lovely that she gifted her such powers and purrs like a kitten in her presence. They even share the same blooming imagery. Over time, Wyrd became known as a goddess (probably because she uses female forms as vessels, if I had to guess based on the evidence), but she is in fact a force, a mother to all, a cauldron brimming with creation. Now, where have we heard those terms before?

Gwyn huffed a soft laugh. “In part. We honor the Mother, and the Cauldron, and the Forces That Be. We have a service at dawn and at dusk, and on every holy day.” (acosf)

Gwyn’s words nearly echo the Under-King’s in hosab and hofas. The priestesses worship Wyrd. Let’s look at the description of their worship:

The music was pure, ancient, by turns whispering and bold, one moment like a tendril of mist, the next like a gilded ray of light. It finished, and Merrill spoke about the Mother and the Cauldron and the land and sun and water. She spoke of blessings and dreams and hope. Of mercy and love and growth. (acosf)

Elain’s strength lies in finding beauty even in dark chapters. She is a rose bloom in a mud field—the embodiment of blessings and dreams and hope and mercy and love and growth. The priestesses, including Gwyn, honor that benevolent force and seek to bring it into the world with their services. They are the voice of the Cauldron. And in this world, we know like calls to like. Now that we’ve read hofas, it’s highly likely that the ancient, spell-like music the priestesses perform is ancient summoning magic, which is magnified by the properties of the cavern (ahem, witch glass) in which they sing. So, is it a surprise that Azriel had every intention to return Elain’s rose amulet, a symbol of love and beauty, and found himself at the library during their worship of such things instead? No, it actually makes a lot of sense.

Azriel expressed no forethought in giving the necklace to Clotho for Gwyn. He did not select it for her and did not intend it to be a romantic gesture, which is why he tells Clotho to give it to Gwyn or any other priestess who might appreciate it. The setting and interactions in this part of the bonus are not described romantically because they are not intended to be romantic.

Clotho, who is observant like Elain, can see the shadowsinger’s sadness despite his deflection and offers him comfort in a dark moment:

Clotho’s pen moved once more. She deserves something as beautiful as this. I thank you for the joy it shall bring to her.

Her words spark hope in him and for whatever reason, he is able to picture Gwyn’s eyes lighting upon the rose amulet in his mind. The vision is a thing of secret, lovely beauty.

Some interpret this moment, a vision of Gwyn described as a thing of secret, lovely beauty, as an indication of Sarah shifting romantic pairings. I think this interpretation falls short of the full context, especially since days (in acosf) and months later (in hofas), Azriel is still upset and refuses to even discuss the topic of mates.

Rather, I think that—like the sister caverns, which are linked in song and dreaming—Elain and the priestesses (especially Gwyn) are also connected. They are part of the solution to the problem that was introduced in the first half of this bonus as well as the overarching plot. Like @silverdreamscapes, @silverlinedeyes, @offtorivendell, @willowmeres, and others I’m sure, I believe Elain—a seer chosen by Wyrd—will work with the priestesses that worship her (the most logical partnership in the series, when you think about their respective powers). It wouldn’t surprise me if a dawn service, especially if it involves groundings, helps Elain push the limitations of her powers like the dusk service did for Nesta.

I also agree with many (notably @silverlinedeyes and @merymoonbeam) who think Gwyn’s voice holds magic and, depending on what we learn, relates to being a lightsinger. That is likely the hidden depth (a thing of secret, lovely beauty) that was hinted at in the image since her eyes light upon Elain’s rose amulet. I believe @silverdreamscapes and @silverlinedeyes have suggested her voice, which summons and pierces during the dusk service, could clear mist and shadow in a vision if needed. I also think it is interesting that Gwyn is the first to sever the Valkyrie ribbon, a string tied not to a rib, but a post. Perhaps she and the priestesses could help Elain sever an unwanted bond and weave a different fate for herself, one that binds her to someone she loves? That would be the most epic end to the near-constant arguments over ships.

[tender-emotional-music]

Guys, I truly do not get byler doubt over things like this. Some leaker said “Mike and Will do not have a romantic relationship in Stranger Things 5.” Okay, let’s look at that, because I know the tag will go into a frenzy anyway.

This guy has been right about Marvel leaks in the past. He has also been wrong. The vibe I get is that a lot of leakers build up credibility by saying things which are correct or easily predictable, meaning they have more leeway in the future to make things up for clout and still have people believe them. The byler plot is very contentious and is guaranteed to get attention if you post anything about it, so I don’t really believe people who are being loud and open about it on twitter with broad, unspecific claims. A good example is the RejectedScooper guy, who had the Will’s love interest leak. He also made claims like “Will’s love interest is a boy” (duh), “the UD merged with Hawkins” (popular theory given that’s what the final s4 shot indicates), and “the military is still after El” (another popular theory). He makes believable claims that might end up being right, but that doesn’t mean he ever had inside knowledge. A lot of leakers are like this

The very phrasing of this is weird. Thanks @merth-or-nothin for pointing it out, but legit leakers will give information on what IS happening, not what isn’t, since they often lack context and filming isn’t even done, so there’s half a season missing. If byler truly wasn’t happening, they’d say “Mike and El are still together in episode 4,” or “Will meets a new boy.” They wouldn’t make a broad “this doesn’t happen” statement. They would provide a scene that DOES happen which leads them to that broader conclusion

I don’t have my own direct confirmation on this, but I’ve seen many people say that everything is extremely locked down this season, and that’s why it’s hard for people to get leaks. I think I even saw a screenshot where someone asked Noah on tik tok for a video on set and he said they’re being extra strict this season. There have been other claims, like cast and crew members getting redacted versions of the scripts that only contain their parts (standard practice in productions like this) people being instructed to leave the set as soon as their part is done, and the Duffers overall being very tight-lipped. Even Millie had to beg the writers to know what El’s ending is. The only people who know the ending of the byler plot are probably the main cast and writers, and high-up members of the production team. Their NDA’s must be so tight. I don’t see how some random leaker would have that info just because he had marvel leaks in the past. If I had info about a sensitive spoiler, I wouldn’t be yelling about it on twitter either. I’m not sure about how the legal process works here, but I feel like you’d get into some sort of strife.

I’ve seen byler-positive and byler-negative leaks. Chances are a lot of them are wrong. Maybe some are right. Who knows? They’re very contradictory, so I think the only conclusion I’m taking away from it is that people like the attention posting byler “spoilers” gets them, and no one has a straight story (no pun intended) regarding what is happening next season, so I’m likely to take most things as fake, especially broad claims like this one

[psychic-refugee]

Wenclair as a ship in itself I understand. It can be fun, and interpretation is up to the fan content creator. Wyler, Wenvier, Enjax, Wenclay and AroAce Wednesday I think are all equally valid interpretations. Just as any other combination.

Shipping non canon relationships is a choice made by personal preference.

I less understand the expectations of Wenclair being actually possible to become canon. I feel like it’s only possible in the sense that “anything is possible” because no one can ever truly predict the future.

However,

Tim Burton does not have a history of producing LGBTQ+ focused projects. There are barely any background characters that are prominently and explicitly queer in his long CV.

The Ottingers are outliers and background characters with a second of screentime. I have doubts we’ll ever see them again, and honestly, they are the farthest I think Burton is willing to go.

Millar also doesn’t have a history of writing main cast LGBTQ+. He and Gough only reference the relationship between Enid and Wednesday as “friendship” and “sisterhood” when confronted with the idea of Wenclair. (NME, 24 Dec 2023).

Netflix has a documented poor history of treatment of shows with prominent lesbian leads (First Kill, I Am Not OK With This, and Warrior Nun).

Given all of that, I’m also not in the writers’ room, so time will ultimately tell if my skepticism is warranted.

Nonetheless, there is overwhelming evidence that Wenclairs have detrimentally affected Jenna and Emma. I don’t see them wanting Wenclair to happen and they certainly aren’t entertaining the mere possibility of it any longer.

Jenna has not mentioned Wenclair in a positive light since that one interview in Teen Vogue, 9 Dec 2022. It’s been over a year since; a lot of stuff has happened. Plenty of reasons for Jenna to have changed her mind.  

Emma made a non-committal comment about “how anything is possible” when it comes to S2 and Wenclair. (Variety, 30 Jan 2023)  But, again, that was over a year ago and a lot of toxic behaviour has happened since then.

Just as with Jenna, Emma has a lot of motivation now to not support Wenclair becoming canon.

Emma also pushed off the possibility of Wenclair beyond S2, she gave the excuse of Wednesday needing a “season of singleness.” Id. Wednesday WAS single in S1, she never claimed anyone as an SO. It sounds more like Emma was a hostage trying to appease her kidnappers by telling them what they wanted to hear. She pushed off the idea of Wenclair to a season that’s not guaranteed to materialize. That’s called passing the buck. If S3 never happens, then she’s not responsible for adhering to an implied promise of Wenclair being possible at all.

Now, Emma has made it a point to stress that shipping is fine as long as it doesn’t cross over into real people. (NME, 27 June 2024).

Wenclairs failed to do that in a spectacular fashion.

Emma admits that Wenclair was a joke they told amongst themselves when it first became apparent it was a popular ship. Id. Wenclair is “funny” to them because they never intended for it to be a ship, but fans choose to interpret it that way.

People ran with Jenna’s comments, but I believe she was supporting it in jest in the way Emma reported in June. Jenna even framed Wenclair only happening in “a perfect world.” (9 Dec 2022) She said it would only happen in an impossible circumstance. I don’t get how people took that to mean she was trying behind the scenes to make it happen, or that it was a secret interpretation fans were meant to figure out on their own.

I think if she knew how much her “fans” would sexually harass her and Emma with the idea of Wenclair, she would not have said it at all. I think with how careful Jenna is with what she posts now, she knows better to say things off the cuff or in jest.

Wenclairs have taught her harsh lessons on how to interact with social media and interviews.

I think it says a lot that Jenna has only been photographed with her stylist in the past several years. She has had plenty of opportunities to do pictures with the cast since filming started, specifically Emma and yet…

Wenclairs have been so rabid and hostile to anyone challenging their fantasy that she only feels safe being seen with Enrique Melendez, her employee, or her family. That’s not normal.

I think there’s a reason why Wenclairs hyperfocus on Jenna making the ship happen and not Emma.

Jenna clearly doesn’t mind doing roles that involve sapphic elements (Miller’s Girl and The Fallout). The same cannot be said about Emma. Wenclairs are so quick to jump on Jenna’s CV of “kissing women” and pointing to that as proof of her queerness. By THEIR same logic, what does it mean if Emma has not done any role where she kisses women?

Jenna’s a great actress and I think could have chemistry and a rapport with a tree if the script called for it. I think she didn’t mind the idea of Wenclair at the time (regardless of how farfetched the possibility was or that it was never originally or seriously considered), but I don’t think she ever intended for people to interpret her characterization of Wednesday that way.

I think both Jenna and Emma regret implying or joking about the possibility of Wenclair as the fans started to sexually harass them on IG with comments on how they are for sure lesbians (neither have stated so) under their posts that have nothing to do with the other as well as everywhere else. Neither can celebrate their own separate accomplishments without Wenclairs mentioning the ship or obnoxiously asking “Where’s Jenna/Emma?”

Wenclairs also post explicit art of Jenna and Emma’s likeness in public forums such as Twitter/IG (and tag them or send it to them directly), and harass male coworkers Jenna has romantic scenes with (Finest Kind). Emma’s male co-star in AGGGTM has also experienced harassment.  

Jenna has outright said she quit Twitter because she was sent explicit AI art of herself right after Wednesday took off.

I 100% believe it was sent by a Wenclair account and it was sexual Wenclair art, given the timing and their appalling behaviour to date.

“I ended up deleting [Twitter] about two, three years ago because of the influx after [Wednesday] had come out, these absurd images and photos, and I already was in a confused state that I just deleted it…It was disgusting, and it made me feel bad. It made me feel uncomfortable” (Entertainment Weekly, 25 Aug 2024) (emphasis added).

I think Jenna coming out and specifically saying there would be no romance for Wednesday (Digital Spy, 8 June 2023) after the December 2022 article is another direct consequence of Wenclair harassment. She changed her tune very explicitly and Netflix has not contradicted her, nor have the showrunners, writers, or Burton ever shown committed support for Wenclair. At most it’s “we’re open to it,” and that was before the harassment got as bad as it is.

Jenna’s playfulness is completely absent in all these interviews since Wenclairs started to harass her. Whatever they were “open to,” the Wenclairs shut it violently.

I wasn’t aware until recently that the Wenclairs were so creepy, invasive, and lacking even the barest of social graces that they were also harassing Jenna’s family.

Here is Aliyah, Jenna’s sister, scoffing and clearly exasperated by the shipping. I highly doubt this frustration comes from being asked just once, she’s probably fielded this question way too many times. She no longer follows Emma on IG.

There are also reports of other IG Lives by Aliyah outright stating that the shipping was out of control and detrimental to their family. Of course Wenclairs are completely crickets about this.

It’s bad enough Wenclairs shove their personal fantasies in Jenna and Emma’s face, but they do it to their siblings? Likely when the siblings were minors or barely adults as Aliyah is only 20.

Emma in the Variety, 30 Jan 2023 article also says her sister would show her stuff, meaning her family was also getting exposed to it.

The latest Vanity Fair article states that Jenna won’t ever make any romantic relationship public. (6 August 2024). She states that her relationships are “hers” and that her fans can’t separate the real her and the celebrity they have built up in her head. Id.

She makes an effort to use gender neutral terms when it comes to a romantic partner. I respect that she doesn’t want to come out as either heterosexual, homosexual, or anywhere in between or outside of the binary. That is her choice, I think there’s a vast difference between keeping things private and being in the closet. Either way it’s also NONE OF ANYONE’S BUSINESS.

But I think it’s undeniable that even though she would get a lot of support if she were queer, Wenclairs have made it so unbearable that she won’t reveal a partner or come out at all.

Wenclairs have made it unsafe and hostile for her to acknowledge her own sexuality publicly, much less a partner.

I think it’s too late for Wenclairs to back off, it looks like they already ruined the friendship or at best drove it underground if the total lack of social media content of them together is indicative of anything.

If they are still friends, then they don’t trust Wenclairs with knowing about it and don’t want to share it with them. It looks like Jenna doesn’t want to share any friendship publicly anymore.

Unless it’s to promo movies or a brand deal, she rarely posts pictures on social media anymore. It’s very rare she posts personal pictures of herself doing non-work outings. She’s keeping her personal life extremely close to her chest.

How exactly do Wenclairs expect a friendship to survive constant, sexual harassment? How can they hang out together when everything they do together is sexualized? Why would anyone think the actresses would encourage a storyline that would invite more?

How do they expect Jenna to support Wenclair to become canon if it means her future male coworkers will be harassed? If it means any romantic partner who isn’t Emma in the future will be harassed? If it means that if she were indeed involved with Emma, that there would probably be a bigger explosion of porn that is shoved in their face?

How do they expect Jenna or Emma to support Wenclair if their families are being harassed about it?

Wenclair has been a curse upon them, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

[extasiswings]

i don't understand how some people see this as the death of buddie romance like this is literally the first step to buddie...you gotta have at least one of them show interest in men. they're not doing this for shits and giggles, they're doing this because they absolutely intend make buddie canon.

No fr it’s an absolutely batshit take that doesn’t make any sense and I honestly think it boils down to homophobia/biphobia and purity culture. These people claim they want Buddie, but what they actually want is a super sanitized version where Buck and Eddie are each other’s one true loves and therefore can’t possibly experience attraction for anyone else because god forbid they aren’t each other’s first and only. God forbid they be sexual and not just domestic soft boys, and if they must be sexual well okay fine maybe that’s okay sometimes but ONLY with each other because wanting or having sex with anyone other than whoever you’re spending the rest of your life with is sinful and bad and wrong, ESPECIALLY if it’s *gasp* queer sex—

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 anyway, I grew up with that shit and have no patience for it anymore. People are people. Most people date and experience attraction and have sex. Most people do those things with more than one person in their lifetimes, hell, many people fall in love with more than one person in their lifetimes. That’s life. Idk if the people clutching pearls in my inbox are purity-culture-poisoned or ignorant or what, but shockingly enough people can and do date other people while having feelings for someone else all the damn time. I’ve certainly done it!

It’s also just extremely bad media literacy. They have spent years telling this love story for Buck and Eddie. Years. The audience knows them, the audience loves them. The writers would be the biggest fools on the planet to throw away their own hard work like that. Tommy isn’t going to be an endgame LI for the same reason that none of these other random women were endgame LIs—because in order to get the audience on board for that in the face of such a long and developed arc with Buck and Eddie, it’s a huge lift that requires them to be SUPER well-developed in their own right, and the writers haven’t shown any interest in even attempting to make that effort. And furthermore, the complaints about making Tommy a carbon-copy of Eddie are like…that’s the point? Buck likes those things about Eddie. Buck is attracted to those things about Eddie. But Buck is too close to this situation to figure it out—he needs to have his queer awakening with someone else to be able to see what is right in front of him, namely that he’s been in love with his bff for years, which is an experience that has afflicted countless bi people before him, including myself. You don’t have to be a genius to see the vision, you just have to stop approaching the subject with the absolute most bad faith imaginable, and also stop assuming the writers are approaching the subject with the most bad faith imaginable.

Because I guarantee you, even if it’s for the purely selfish reason of wanting their names to be attached to the love story that made tv history, the writers are not going to throw years of storytelling in the garbage for no reason.

[the-cryptographer]

As a disclaimer: This is very deep in the DA2 approval lore. And this is a very buggy game and I can in no way guarantee that this wasn’t just a programming mistake. And beyond that I think many of the approval point calculations in DA2 were poorly considered, and I would totally be brushing this as one of them if it was about any other two characters. But I’m going to let myself indulge this one and feed my merders agenda m’kay.

Very obsessed with the change in Anders approval rates between the first and second passes on giving Merrill the Arulin’holm. And I really do wonder if it was on purpose and what, if anything, the writers intended to say here.

Without, like, installing the new EA app on my dying laptop and running off to get the screenshots as proof, iirc the first pass happens right after Marethari has given Hawke the Arulin’holm. Merrill is at that point breathing a sigh of relief that Marethari has relinquished it in the first place, and largely taking for granted that Hawke will hand it over.

It’s after that first pass that Merrill realises she has to make a rhetorical claim to the artefact. And her argument is basically this isn’t Hawke’s decision to make and she knows what she’s doing.

And Anders doesn’t have any dialogue here between these two choices but I am intrigued by the possibility that he did find that argument at least partly convincing. Note you do still get +10 approval for refusing to hand it over, so he’s def not broken up about whether Merrill actually gets what she wants here or not. But I like the idea that for a moment he recognises part of himself in Merrill. Like, he may not support what she’s doing or approve of giving her the Arulin’holm, but maybe he approves of the fact that Hawke is deferring to another mage’s decisions and expertise. They are living in a time when the general consensus is that mages shouldn’t be allowed to be in charge of their own lives, in a time when Anders himself is constantly dealing with others’ judgement about the choices he’s made with Justice and the Underground and the sacrifices he’s made with his time and health to sustain them. So maybe Hawke understanding that and responding in defense of mages’ right to those choices is as important in his eyes as whether Hawke agrees with his feelings about the actual choices themselves.

(And all that being said, Marethari handing an ancient Elvhen artefact to a human, knowing Merrill would do anything to get it, knowing Merrill is isolated in an environment when Hawke holds clear social privilege over her, is fucked up in ways Anders won’t even begin to understand. So, yeah, this post isn’t trying to erase any of the ways he’s still being awful in this scene as much as trying to examine the specific nature of how.)

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

VH - The Notice

(TW: the worst, lamest knifeplay you’ve ever read)

Villain was angry, disappointed, and most of all, confused. Fortunately, nothing can clear the ideas up like a good notice. Unfortunately, this was the one they were reading:

Congratulations for your new purchase of the All-Cutting Tool™ ! The All-Cutting Tool™ combines the ancestral knowledge of mankind and the new * cutting edge * technologies by combining an elegant, comfortable, ergonomic wooden handle with a sharp stainless steel blade at the end. Simple and easy to use, the All-Cutting Tool™ will remind you that a problem with no solution doesn’t exist...as long as you have the right tool by your side ! In the comfort of your own home, connect with your ancestors by cutting your belongings with your own hands , and feel the life force you have taken from a piece of wood, a steak, a mighty carrot or your own foes !

“Yeah, yeah, a lot of meaningless stuff, what I want to know is how to deal with problems with the product – cutting objects, cutting food, cutting remarks – ah there we go, cutting your foes, section D.”

Caution ! This usage is widely considered illegal. The All-Cutting Tool™ Company does not condone acts of violence. As such you won’t be refunded in case of misuse.

“Aw man, of course the guarantee won’t work. They count on it, the bastards.”

Warning ! Most people are reluctant at the idea of being cut up. Before beginning, if your victim is alive, make sure it’s tied up for your own security. You risk to be severely injured if it can move. For more security, think to add a gag or even a blindfold (see our other products on our website).

The process is similar to cutting meat, as it is more or less the same fabric. The main difference is that if the victim is alive, it’s likely to be squeakier and twitchier. For a precise cut, secure the place you want to stab. (See 1b, 1c, 1d). Maybe write an x on the skin or something. We don’t judge. If you want to hit a lethal part of the body, stab these parts (see 2a, b, c, d).

Warning ! If you hit a lethal part, your victim won’t be able to move or to make a sound anymore (except the occasional aaaargh, maybe). This action can’t be reversed and should be reserved for experienced users. Think wisely. Also it’s illegal (for related problems, contact our lawyers).

To cut your victim, take your All-Cutting Tool™ by the handle. Take a deep breath. Look at the body part you want to aim. Think of fun One-Liners to say at this moment (for ideas, you can consult the forum on our website). Then strike (use your shoulder muscles, not your wrist so you don’t damage your joints). The pointy part of the tool should interact with the meaty part of the victim with enough strength to pierce the skin. Bleeding should ensue. If not, repeat the same movement at the same place until the expected result.

“Yeah, but that’s the problem, assholes ! The expected result is...never mind. Let’s try one more time, shall we ?”

Hero shrugged as much as a proper tied-up foe could shrug. Villain carefully put the notice away, took their shining new tool in their hand, and then, their lips pursed in concentration, recited:

“So, the pointy end towards the victim... I aim at a fun body part, let’s say kidneys...the impulse is coming from the shoulder and here goes nothing -”

They struck with all their strength in a move that would have made any notice writer proud, except the result. The blade did hit the skin as intended, but then it bounced, making a sound like this:

“Zdiiiiiiiingbonnng”

“Aw, come on !”

They shook the blade to no effect. With a skilled tongue movement that would have made many an eyebrow arch, Hero could finally get rid of his gag with which he was struggling since a while, and said:

“May I explain ?”

“I’d rather you’d bled.”

“Yeah, but it won’t happen.”

“But why ? This All-Cutting Tool™ is new !”

Hero slipped a hand out of his bonds to rub the bridge of his nose.

“It’s a knife. It’s literally a knife. Listen, my deal is that I’m actually a vampire. Hypnotism, super strength, super durability, the whole package.”

“Okay, but -”

“I’m supposed to pass myself as a victim so I can see how you act.”

“Right - “

“I swear that usually I’m smooth. But then I told you to get the notice for the knife – a fucking knife – and it was supposed to be banter, you know -”

“Uh-uh -”

“-But then you’ve actually read it out loud with a straight face -”

“Yeah -”

“-And then I’ve lost all hope about this mission. So here’s the deal: I’m going to bring you down, you will not resist and I won’t tell anyone what happened.”

“Fine. Fair enough.”

*

Vampire Hero is now a recurring character. His job is to troll current villains. Check the Vampire Hero Masterlist or Tag for more snippets with him.

Or back to Hero x Villain Masterlist.

[fatalism-and-villainy]

Okay, further rumination on the topic of ao3 comments and why they’re a less-than-satisfactory form of communication for me, because I have been rotating this topic in my mind and it is now smooth as a river stone (thanks @Hannibal watch buddy for that turn of phrase) -

I think part of what feels so foreign to me about ao3 comments is that I’ve just… very rarely felt the urge to talk to an author of a work of fiction that I’ve enjoyed. It’s not a natural impulse for me. When I have felt that urge, it’s usually been in response to theory and other such academic nonfiction, because part of the point of that stuff is to open a conversation. It’s a foundation that invites others to build upon it, in a way that includes the author. Fictional texts are also always open to more criticism, and when they’re really good they’re like a constant ever-expanding interpretive universe unto themselves. But with fiction, the author isn’t a part of that interpretive process, and in fact it’s detrimental for them to be.

So when I’m compelled to write up a reaction to a piece of media, it’s usually not an “author-friendly” form of engagement - either because it’s critical in some way (and it’s very rare that I have absolutely no quibbles with any piece of media, even if I like it and agree with what it’s doing interpretatively), or because it’s authoritative in such a way as to be overbearing and presumptuous when presented to the author themself. Or, to explain that second point more - most analytical points I might make would come together to form a “reading”, a claim on my part as to what a story is doing. And that doesn’t seem appropriate to me in author-reader interaction. So I often feel stifled when trying to share my thoughts on a story, particularly in a formal commenting context.

Another option for interaction with authors would be asking authors what their interpretation is, or what they were trying to get across, or whether they intended to evoke what I took away from the story. But the problem with that is that those feel more suited to a work that is still in progress, and ao3 isn’t a writers’ workshop. The fics are either already finished, or they’re ongoing, but readers aren’t a part of that writing and editing process.

And the other thing is that I’m just… very uncomfortable with intense displays of emotion. Even if I loved a story and was powerfully moved by it, it’s very difficult for me to express that enthusiasm in text form - it feels affected and stilted and unnatural. (And I also get uncomfortable seeing others’ unbridled enthusiasm in ao3 comments, when it’s presented in the form of “squeeing” - you know, with a lot of exclamation marks or keyboard smashes and whatnot. There’s nothing wrong with form of self-expression, but it’s not my thing and it’s not a cultural aspect of the site that I feel comfortable engaging in.)

So, my question to myself is: when and in what way does it feel natural to me to engage with fic writers on ao3 via comments, or to have readers engage with my fic?

And the answer to that, I think, is indicative of how academia shapes my approach to fandom. Because given the adaptational quality of fanfic, and the fact that it’s arising from shared contextual knowledge of the source material, my instinct and what I’m most comfortable with is to take the conference approach, and use the specific fic I’m reading or that I’ve written as a starting point to discuss the canon itself. And while some ao3 comment exchanges are centered on discussing and coming to a richer understanding of the source material, it’s far from guaranteed.

And on top of that, the comment culture on ao3 doesn’t have a lot of back-and-forth, or space or invitation to expand on your thoughts or build off each other. There’s no room for discussion to evolve. Everything you want to say has to be contained in one single comment - so if you don’t already know the author, it’s hard to gauge what kind of discussion they would even be open to. So frankly, I feel that the culture there incentivizes bland, form-letter comments and shallow discussion.

I feel a lot of these points from the author side of things, too. Sometimes I’ll get comments where people are interpreting or emotionally responding to my stories in a manner pretty distinct from my intention - and that’s inevitable! That’s what fiction does! Everybody takes away something different, and stories gain new life when they’re liberated from their creators’ meddling. But it makes me faintly uncomfortable, because I just… don’t know what to do with comments like that. It feels against my principles to correct people about their interpretation of fiction, because of, well, pretty much the entire ideology re: fiction and interpretation that I’ve laid out here. It’s different from meta, where it feels not only appropriate but the entire point of the format to engage with people’s interpretations of what you’re saying, and to say, “I actually interpret that differently” or “that’s not quite what I meant there”. But with fic… if I can’t discuss my own ideas and interpretations, as the author, I’d honestly rather not know what people think and feel. Or at least, I’d be open to a conversation about that, between fellow fans who are using my fic as a starting off point for discussion about the source material. But I’d much rather do that on discord, or some other platform that feels like it engenders actual conversations, rather than the one-two punch of “[compliment][gratitude]”.

And honestly, the reason I started writing fic at all, back in 2020, was because I wanted to retreat into my own world. I was weary of meta, and having to explain and justify my responses to the text. I still love meta, and it’s still the primary point of doing fandom at all for me. But sometimes, I do need a break from that, and need to be able to ensconce myself in my feelings about the text in a format that people can’t as easily poke holes in. So that’s partly why I’m considering turning off comments on ao3, at least just as an experiment, and having conversations about my fic on other platforms.

That, and perhaps I just need to start posting more meta to ao3. :)

[chrkrose]

Hey, firstly I really like your blog and opinions on ASOIAF. I wanted to talk about the fandom perception of Jaime and Cersei, especially Cersei and how weird it is lol. I was on another blog and the person was talking about 'overly/unfairly hated female characters due to sexism and misogyny' and there list included Shiv Roy, Skyler White, Alicent, Catelyn....and then Cersei. And I was just ???? I saw another person say this but, I think a lot of ASOIAF fans are not willing or are incapable to meeting GRRM where he is at with some of his plot points or characterizations. People will say 'ohhh the fandom claims that Jaime and Tyrion are less worse than Cersei and that is misogyny' and I just want to be like, is it misogyny or just...a correct reading of the text lol? Like, you can argue that it's problematic that GRRM made Cersei the most evil out of her siblings, who are male, but that doesn't change canon? That is still his authorial intent lol. Like, she killed her friend at the age of 11, she murdered literal babies, threatened Mya's life, sent women to be tortured, etc. like she's written to be an evil sociopath the criticism and 'hate' for her is warranted lol.

Not to defend Robert, but people constantly using him as a shield for Cersei when she literally murdered his children and threatened to murder Mya when he wanted to bring her to KL?? Like, I know fandom refuses to acknowledge this, but I guarantee GRRM considers Robert a better person than Cersei, not like that's saying much. I think GRRM telling us Cersei aborted Robert's babies is not like some.....Feminist Girl Boss move....Martin literally wants us to be disgusted by her actions, yet I've seen metas applauding this for taking her AgEnCy lmaoooooo? Like you're literally applauding sociopathic behavior that the author intended to be sociopathic and evil LMAOOOO????

I feel like people want to point out valid sexism against female characters but have over corrected to the point that female characters like Cersei, that are meant to be hated and make our skin crawl, are now being defended because *checks notes* some shallow reading of feminism meaning you have to support every female no matter how gross her actions? I just don't really get it and this twisting of canon to fit the 'Cersei is actually a victim not a villain you guys and if you disagree you are SeXIsT' is so bizarre. Just say you don't agree with the characterization by GRRM and go, instead of trying to re-write characters to fit an agenda.

100% everything you say. I’ll repeat what I said about HoTD writers and their girlbossifying of Rhaenyra: we have several female characters to represent several archetypes in the main saga, why do we need to whitewash/justify/girlbossify Cersei to fit her into one of those archetypes? Why can’t a female character be a villain and be written as such? Why do we have to always give some sort of “motherly” background to a female character so her actions can be justified under the guise of feminism? Why can we have complex male villains who are discussed and have engaged metas written about them but we can’t have the same for female villains because that’s “anti feminism” if you don’t find some sort of justification that puts her into a box of “actually she’s not bad she’s just a victim of patriarchy and that made her like this, she’s just a mother in pain”. Like do they think THAT is more of a feminist take? That’s D&D level of feminism analysis that’s what. Denying cersei the agency of being both a victim of patriarchy while also being an abuser just makes her so one note. It’s much more interesting and complex to analyze and empathize with her under the lens of how she doesn’t have to be perfect, or even GOOD, to be a victim, that her abuser might actually even be a better “person” than her in terms of their inner thoughts and feelings and still doesn’t make it right what she went through, while also showing how she can be evil by nature and do horrible things because that’s who she is, and she doesn’t need excuses or justifications or be labeled a “mother in pain” for doing those acts and being an abuser herself.

[arthurdrakoni]

Hover Car Racer might be aimed at kids, but don’t let that dissuade you. It is a high-octane thrill ride that can be enjoyed by all ages. This is my review.

Hover Car Racer takes place in the not too distant future where transportation has been revolutionized thanks to magneto hover drives which draw power from the Earth’s magnetic field. The sports of racing has also been revolutionized by hover technology, and hover car racing draws millions of viewers and captivates countless nations. The book follows a fourteen-year-old hover car racer from Australia named Jason Chaser. Jason has just lost one of the biggest races of his life, but he’s also attracted the attention of former racing champion Scott Syracuse. Before long Jason and his little brother Bug are whisked away to the International Race School in Hobart, Tasmania. Jason and Bug are about to be in for the ride of their lives.

Yeah, if you’re thinking that this book kind of sounds like Harry Potter meets Speed Racer, you wouldn’t be too far off. That having been said, it doesn’t make the book any less enjoyable. What makes Matthew Reilly such a talented writer is the way that he is takes concepts that seem cliché and manages to make them feel fresh and exciting. He may write books that are primarily intended to be fun and entertaining, but it’s clear that he puts a lot of hard work and effort into his books.

This book had been on my to-read list for a while, and I’m certainly glad that I finally got around to it. If you’re sick of books that spend too much time on filler, padding and introspection then you’ll enjoy this book. Everything that happens has some significance in advancing the plot. The plot and action moved by like a speeding hover car, but it never felt rushed or poorly paced. This was a really fun book, pure and uncut fun. Blame it on all of the Mario Cart I used to play, but I’ve always had a soft spot for racing stories.

What I liked about Jason wasn’t so much what he was as what he wasn’t. A lot of people’s complaint with Speed Racer is that Speed is a boring invincible hero who is guaranteed to win no matter what, but that’s not the case with Jason. He has to actually work for his victories, and there are just as many times that he fails as when he succeeds. This makes all of the races genuinely suspenseful sense there’s no guarantee that Jason will come out on top. It also makes his hard work and victories feel genuinely satisfying.

There’s a ton of references to classical works scattered throughout the novel. For example, we’ve got a hero named Jason who pilots The Argonaut, flies through two clashing icebergs and towards the end of the novel he retrieves a Golden Fleece as part of the final race. Jason falls in love with a girl named Dido who ultimately proves to be a distraction on his quest. Later we see a Greek racer who pilots a car called the Arion, after the horse of Heracles, and there’s a few other references as well. You don’t have to catch any of these references to enjoy the novel, but it gives you a little something extra.

There is an audiobook version narrated by Sean Mangan. Initially I wasn’t quite sure if it would work out, since Sean is American and Jason is Australian. However, I’m happy to report that Sean more than delivers. He really does a great job bringing all of the characters to life. I guess it makes sense that the producers didn’t go with an Australian, given that Jason and his family are pretty much the only Australians in the entire book.

All in all, Hover Car Racer is a high-octane thrill ride powered by Rule of Fun and Rule of Cool. If you’re looking for a science fiction take on racing, this novel can’t be beat.

Have you read Hover Car Racer? If so, what did you think?

Link to the full review on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2017/02/book-review-hover-car-racer-by-mathew.html?m=1

[clouds-of-wings]

Probably the biggest culture shock for me when I got into metal was that all the bands wrote their own songs. This was such a new phenomenon to me. When I was 11 and discovered a-ha, who became my favourite band right away (not difficult, because I hadn’t had one since I had ‘outgrown’ the Spice Girls at about the time I graduated elementary school), I was extremely proud of the fact that they wrote their songs themselves, because I saw it as an anomaly - and it kind of is in pop, especially with teen-oriented groups. Then I started to get into metal with HIM, Hammerfall, and Nightwish, and I was really pleasantly surprised that it was so normal there for bands to write their songs themselves.

I see the same pride I felt in a-ha back at age 11 in fans of Taylor Swift or BTS today - this feeling that you’re following an artist, not just some pretty face with a nice voice who gets mass-produced hits written for them, probably with a money-back guarantee by the writer to the record company. And I’m not knocking that pride in pop fans, just like I’m not writing this to make fun of my past self. It just proves that, despite all cultural cynicism about art-related "industries”, a sense of authenticity and self-expression matters to a lot of people. The fact that some people, newspapers and magazines even, see it as worth debating how much songwriting Taylor Swift really does proves that artistic intention is not just a tiny insignificant detail. The fact that people who are really into films, not just casual watchers, care more who directed a film than who starred in it points in the same direction. It’s not just about the immediate sensory experience.

And I just randomly thought about that in the shower today, but then I realized that it also relates to AI art and how I feel about it. One (much derided!) argument against AI art is that it’s ‘soulless’. Supposedly a silly, romantic thing to be bothered by. But I don’t agree. Why shouldn’t intention and ‘soul’ matter? I think it’s only natural, especially for people who connect more strongly with art, to care about this.

And sure, there are a lot of caveats. The matter of artistic intention is thorny. Ultimately the intentions of the artist are unknowable because art doesn’t communicate them perfectly. Fake meaning can be generated, artists can lie about what their intentions were - the marketing teams behind more money-intense artistic projects can do so even more efficiently - and I think viewers/listeners/readers by default read things into the content that the artist never intended. But I don’t think it’s silly to see it as a negative if you’re 100% sure that there’s absolutely nothing behind art, considering that we (or some of us at least) do care about the backstory of art when the artist is human. Human art gets criticized for being ‘soulless’ oftentimes too, sometimes unjustly, and it’s a pretty damning thing to say.

And perhaps the fact that we can’t be sure whether a human artist is being honest about their intentions is an aberration anyway that is brought about by mass society. For the first 95% of human history, nearly every artist whose work we encountered was someone we knew in person, and we would interpret their art as an expression of their personality and their relationship to the people around them, including us. It was supposed to mean something to us and to communicate something. Subcultures do an imperfect job of simulating this environment among people who don’t really know each other. If the archetypal art experience is painting the day’s hunt on a cave wall with your cousins, seeing a stranger’s art in a museum or on the internet is far from that. But there can still be meaning in it, and I think we should allow ourselves to care about that.

[aeoki]

High and Low: At World’s End - Chapter 13

Location: Outside ES II Characters: Hajime, Midori, Shinobu, Yuuta & Hiiro

Season: Autumn Writer: Akira

< Early the next morning in front of the “ES II” entrance, right after “Late Departure Group 3” arrives. >

Hajime: Ahh…

I’m so worried, just so worried… Tomoya-kun and the others are okay, right?

They’re not injured, are they? They’re having proper meals, right? They’re getting enough sleep at night, right? They’re not in any sort of trouble, are they?

Please say it is so, Takamine-kuuun!

Midori: Yeah… They’re fine. They’re probably fine.

Hajime: “Probably” isn’t good enough~! Please tell me they’re “definitely” fine!

Midori: Uhh, I can’t guarantee that… And if they’re actually not okay, then that’ll mean I’m lying and that’s way too much guilt for me to handle…

Hajime: Since you can’t guarantee that, that means things are looking bad for them, right? Does this mean I won’t be able to see Tomoya-kun and the others ever again? Uwaaaaah!

Yuuta: What on earth happened to Hajime-kun…?

Shinobu: Ahaha. Shino-dono is latched on to Midori-kun ~de gozaru ♪ Are you pretending to be a koala, Shino-dono?

Hiiro: Indeed. I thought Shino-kun had a more calm and relaxed personality.

One that watches over everyone warmly and tenderly like a mother.

I don’t really have many memories of my mother, so that’s just my guess. Mothers are usually written like that in books.

Yuuta: You don’t really remember your mother? Did she also pass away early like mine?

Hiiro: Indeed. I’m sure my older brother remembers what she was like, but I was a toddler who didn’t know anything about the world back then.

If I’m honest, I don’t even remember what she looked like.

Midori: Can you guys not talk about something so depressing right after arriving…?

It’s making me depressed. Makes me wanna die.

Hiiro: Indeed, I’m sorry. I’ll apologise if I made things gloomy.

I’m always like that. It’s a bad habit of mine.

Midori: That’s okay… I’m relieved Shinobu-kun and the rest of you guys got to Australia in one piece.

We’re getting a lot of stuff to do so we’re getting to the point where we can’t keep up… And Shino-kun gets more depressed as the days go by…

Hajime: That’s because I’m just so worried~! I haven’t gotten any news about Tomoya-kun and his group ever since that day!

Shinobu: I’m worried as well ~de gozaru… We were given a summary a little while ago, but actually, I got the gist of it after hearing Shino-dono rattling on and on about the situation.

Why are Tetora-kun and the others subjected to something like a punishment ~de gozaru?

Midori: We don’t know… We tried asking the staff at this “ES II” over and over.

But even though they’re also ES, no one knows about the happenings at the head office in Japan. Or more like, they’re not in a higher position to know stuff like that.

Hajime: Yes~... The staff at “ES II” were dispatched here sometime before and have been as busy as a bee in order to get things up and running.

It seems they hardly had any time to spare any attention to the head office.

Apparently, “ES II’s” priority is to firmly establish idol culture in Australia and doesn’t really know anything else.

Midori: Yeah… They did contact the ES in Japan for us.

But they responded with something like, “Just as it’s written in the proposal ES accepted, Tetora-kun and his group are just cast in a TV show, so there’s nothing to worry about~”

Hajime: Well, I suppose that’s true… It seems “High and Low” is an official project.

Hiiro: But according to what I’ve heard, Captain Nagumo and his group didn’t intend on being on that suspicious travel show, right?

Midori: Hmm… I smell a conspiracy…

Hiiro: Even if it is a conspiracy, why would anyone do such a thing?

Yuuta: …Well, we should try and look into the areas we’re curious about.

But putting that aside, we’ve got to fulfil our own work as well.

Hajime: That’s true too~... Uuu, you’re not worried about your older brother, Yuuta-kun?

Yuuta: Not really, he can basically survive anywhere.

Hajime: That’s not true, surely? Hinata-kun is a child the same age as you.

There's no way he’s not struggling after being tossed out to another country with little to no preparation, right?

He must be having such a difficult time. I think you’re a little heartless for not caring for your family member like that!

Yuuta: …Is he going to be rescued if I worry about him?

Hajime: That’s not what I’m saying but–

Yuuta: Do you think I’m really not worried about my brother?

Hajime: ………

Yuuta: But he’s really fine even if I don’t worry about him. He won’t ever abandon me, after all.

It’s just not possible. It’s always been like that and it’ll definitely be like that in the future, too.

Hajime: H-How can you be so sure? Is Hinata-kun an invincible hero or some kind of god?

Yuuta: A-Aniki’s always like that, so…

← Previous Chapter ᠂ ⚘ ˚⊹˚ ⚘ ᠂  Next Chapter →

[fae-fucker]

Breaking Time: Part 5

Chapter 21: Klara

Klara wakes up in the middle of the night and DUN DUN, Llaw is there!

What is also there is the mysterious weird sparkly dust stuff that I assume will be relevant at some point. It’s similar to the dust she saw in the forest earlier but also different.

Llaw explains that he can’t hurt her “here” because it’s “neutral ground”, we don’t find out exactly why not or what “here” is as per usual. Klara is worried about the magic dust in the air and that’s the part Sasha thinks we need explaiend at the moment:

“What is this?” she asked, fearing the worst. “Have you done something?”

“The matter between worlds.” Llaw outstretched his hand. There was reverence, even awe, in the gesture. “One cannot travel between them without bringing something along, too. With enough discipline, it’s like any other material.”

Klara remembered her meeting with Cernunnos. An idea took hold. Her eyes snapped back to Llaw. “I’m dreaming.”

He clapped his hands. He strode across the room and settled himself in the armchair Klara had fallen asleep in. “Now you’re getting it, Pillar.”

“I prefer Klara, thanks,” she said easily. “If I’m dreaming, then why are you here?”

He shrugged, but the gesture looked unnatural on him. Inhuman. “It’s your dream.”

She scoffed. “It’s a nightmare, then.”

“A nightmare. I like that.” He flashed his teeth. “In the flesh.”

Sooo ... “neutral ground” just means her dream? Why don’t you just say that, sir? Neutral ground has different connotations, especially when this setting deals with different worlds.

Also, I’ve never seen “outstretched” used as a verb and I think I hate it? I don’t think it’s a verb, native English speakers don’t correct me if it is because you’re wrong.

Llaw suggests that they work together, somehow, even though he needs to kill her. When Klara points this out, he just skirts the question, and I don’t think Sasha intended that. She just can’t write dialogue for shit, so Llaw spouts the same type of mystical wank that doesn’t mean anything, sounding exactly like Arianrhod and Aion and Cernunnos and Grams.

“You don’t have to die,” he said. “Klara.”

“You don’t have to kill me,” she quipped. “See? Two can play at that game.”

Omg the girlboss is quippiiiiing! Sooo badass and quirky!!

Kill me now.

Anyway, Llaw jumpscares Klara into waking up. Then she mopes for a bit and gets ready to leave for the next mystic center. Riveting chapter all around. And so enlightening!

Okay, to beat a dead horse, I need to talk a bit about the, uh, storytelling choices of this book. I know it’s becoming rather unpopular to cut down scenes and dialogue and description for the sake of plot and keeping things in motion to hold the reader’s limited attention. I agree that encouraging storytellers to focus on action and moving the plot forward at the cost of character and world and emotion makes for very drab and soulless works of art. The Marvelization of storytelling, if you will.

BUT, I feel like you, as a writer, still need to know why a scene exists in your book. You’re writing a book, not a fanfic, so you have a limited word count by definition of the medium. Part of being a writer is to use words wisely. Not every scene has to move the plot forward, but every scene needs to serve some sort of purpose, multiple if you’re sexy, and it has to be as clear as you can make it. On one end there’s cutting vital parts of your book to hold the reader’s attention, on the otherthere’s wasting your reader’s time with bland, boring scenes or monologues that repeat themselves because you have nothing else to put in your book.

I’m an overwriter and following the “keep everything and just ramble for the art of it!” is a very dangerous philosophy to follow, which means editing is vital for someone like me. Luckily, it’s something you can outsource if you’re, say, publishing traditionally. If you’re, say, a popular YouTuber with a guaranteed audience who can definitely afford an editor.

So ... WHAT is the purpose of this scene? What new things did we learn? About the plot, about the characters, about the world? What things did we learn that required a whole chapter, that couldn’t be included as tidbits in previous exposition-dumps by previous characters fulfilling the same role? Klara and Callum just keep unintentionally summoning random mystical beings that spout nonsense at them and then vanish. Why did it have to be Llaw this time, why did it have to be in Klara’s dream again, why did he need to reiterate that Klara’s powers are growing? It’s just filler. It’s just Sasha trying to keep us interested by reminding us that the threat totally exists, guys! He just can’t do anything in this particular scene, but he’s totally gonna show up in the climax, so stick around for more boring bullshit first!

Moreover, what does this say about Llaw, as an antagonist? He reaffirms his want to control the worlds, shit we already knew. He’s apparently willing to heed the unconscious summons of his enemy, which paints him as either powerless to stop her or petty in a very pathetic sort of way. Neither of those are the intent. The only new thing we learn is that he’s potentially willing to work with Klara, but he doesn’t even offer why or try to entice her into it, and reverts back to death threats the moment she says no.

Like?? What is the point of this lmao.

Chapter 22: Callum

Their next destination is a place called Maeshowe, and they’re planning to infiltrate a tour bus and then ditch it to go explore on their own. They get on a boat, hug while Callum thinks about how much he cares about Klara and how he must protect her like he couldn’t protect Thomas, same old crap. Then Callum spots the bean-nighe on the shore! DUN DUUUN!

Nothing much happens, as you can see. Here’s a nitpick to compensate:

The bean-nighe — the omen of death—turned to him. Time seemed to slow. Her handsome face twisted and melted into a horrifying mask punctured by black, unblinking eyes and a mouth that opened to reveal a yawning maw of darkness.

The use of “handsome” here bothers me. Not because “only men are described as handsome!” which I think is stupid, and in fact more women and fem-presenting people should be called handsome, both for gay reasons and for Jane Austen reasons. My beef here is that it’s such an anachronistic term used by a character that has otherwise sounded perfectly modern throughout the book. Like, Sasha has made Callum’s inner monologue/voice sound nearly indistinguishable from Klara’s (he’s not as Quirky TM), so this archaic use of the word jumps out and points a finger at how fucked the rest of his language is. Like, it’s more correct, which is why it’s wrong. That’s impressive in a weird way.

Chapter 23: Klara

“Acting like everything is normal” had always been her superpower[...]

WHY IS THAT IN QUOTES?! AUGH!

They get on the bus with a bunch of tourists and the tour guide provides exposition. At least it makes more sense in-universe, even if the way it’s written makes the fascinating historical site sound really boring.

I won’t recap it here. Go research Maeshowe on your own, it’ll be far more interesting.

Either way, the most important bit is that something something winter solstice, which triggers this tasty morsel of bad:

Meán Geimhridh. The winter solstice. The shortest day. The longest night. Her scientist brain churned, considering it in astronomical terms: during the solstice, the earth’s northern hemisphere was the farthest from the sun it could be. Farthest from the light. The cold expanse of space unfurled in her mind. She imagined its darkness spilling onto earth in the lengthening shadows of winter.

HER SCIENTIST BRAIN, you guys. Klara is SO SMART, I PROMISE. Look at her thinking scientifically about the SCIENCE that SWEDISH MIDDLE-SCHOOLERS learn.

God, this is sad.

Anyway, they sneak off without issue, and Klara once again begins to feel the Mysterious Plot Pull as they enter Maeshowe. They get inside and discover some runes and other totes mystical stuff, and Klara steps into a special square of runes and then gets blasted with some magic and travels through time, seeing modern construction people but also Vikings. It’s honestly difficult to tell what the fuck is going on, so y’all help me out here.

She was moving through time—or time was moving around her while she stood perfectly still, the eye in the center of a storm.

People came and went, bearded and robed. A group of men set light to a fire beside them, axes and round shields in their hands. Vikings, Klara thought, carving runes upon the wall. Then they, too, were gone.

Rubble fell, crashing to the ground around them, revealing the sky above. Men emptied the fallen earth and stone.

Clouds tore across the heavens, the sun and moon cresting across an alternating gray-blue and starry-black skyscape. Then the view was blocked, the modern men closing the ceiling once more. Light, electric and artificial, flared into existence and expired. The scene turned back again, the sun and moon spinning like a top.

And then, just like that—the scene around her came to a standstill again.

So is she going back? Forward? Or is it just sort of a slurry.

Either way, the slurry stops and DUN DUN! Thomas is there!

A bright-eyed boy dressed in a plain cloak stood in front of her, clutching a torch. His freckles spread like wildfire across his cheeks and a roguish grin.

And a roguish grin ... what?

God, this is so bad. Literally who edited this?

Anyway, they touch and it’s all mystical and power surges through her and then Klara is like “oh naur” for some reason and is yanked back into the present.

Chapter 24: Klara

Klara wakes up and Callum is gone, but she brought Thomas’s torch with her through time. Cool. She stumbles outside and Callum is fighting a shadow beast again, and he’s losing. He loses so bad he gets mortally wounded, apparently. Klara turns back time a few moments to give him an advantage and heal his wounds. It works, but Callum ... *longsuffering sigh* drops the sword and it spins in the air and lands blade-first in the ground next to Klara and she doesn’t have time to think so she grabs it and leaps into the air and stabs the monster in the mouth.

To give Sasha some credit, Klara falls over immediately and the monster isn’t dead, but then she, of course, remembers Cernunnos’s epic words in italics.

An odd sense of calm overcame her as she stared into the beast’s snake eyes. What surprised her most of all was the soothing voice that suddenly filled her head. Cernunnos’s voice.

It comes from the breach between worlds.

[...]

She held the entire being within her mind, imagining down to the smallest atom where it had come from.

And where it must return.

The powers of a god, she thought. I’ll have to be good enough.

She blasts the monster back to whence it came. Very girlbossy of her.

Chapter 25: Callum

We time skip to them in another inn. No recap of what happened or what Callum saw while Klara was doing her thing, because who needs that?

Klara patches up a wound on Callum’s leg that seems supernaturally infected. They make out for a bit, then the innkeeper tells them to get a room and they do. Callum thinks about how he has to protect Klara and how he’s willing to die for her, because that’s his only personality trait.

Klara explains that she saw Thomas, but that something was off about him, which is news to me but ok. Callum doesn’t take it well, and even though Klara doesn’t specify how Thomas felt off, Callum assures her that Thomas is totes trustworthy. I have no idea what is happening, but the bad dialogue is really revealing Sasha’s heavy hand.

“Maybe,” Klara said. “He definitely seemed...confident.” She shifted from foot to foot. “But, Callum, something about him was wrong.”

“Wrong?” Her words sparked in him. Too many people in Rosemere had judged Thomas and Callum—for being poor, for being rough.

But Klara only grew more confident, and stepped out of his embrace. “There was something off, Callum. Some kind of energy—”

“Thomas is the most trustworthy man I ken,” Callum insisted. He heard the tinge of desperation in his voice.

“To you, of course. You were best friends.” Klara paused. She then softened her gaze. “I know what I felt, Callum. I just don’t know what it means yet.”

“Well what does it matter now? He’s dead.”

Callum is impressively stupid for a guy who not only thinks and speaks like a modern man, but also was the first one to insist and believe time travel was real and had happened to him. Like ... yes, Thomas is dead now, at this moment. But he’s alive if you travel back in time to before he died. Keep up, kiltboy.

Sadly, no dramatic fight breaks out. Instead, we get another “breakthrough.”

“His words, they must mean something...significant. Could it have been an offer of help?”

“Well I’ve been thinking about that, too. It reminded me of something Arianrhod said.” Klara stared at her hands. “You’re right, my powers are growing stronger. They must be the key.”

“What do ye mean?” he asked.

“You’re not going to like it,” she answered.

Klara stretched her arms out in front of her, a kind of wonder and fear dancing in her eyes and the way she flexed her fingers. “I think the Otherworld may be the only place Llaw couldn’t reach me. And with my powers...”

Callum waited for her to finish. When she didn’t, his mind filled in her meaning. “Ye think that with your powers, ye could escape into the Otherworld?”

I ... I mean ... Doy? Isn’t that what you were doing in the first place? Not the escaping to the Otherworld part, but the “my powers are the key” part? Were you not traveling to all these mystic center to help Klara unlock her powers?

Also, what indication do they have that Llaw wouldn’t be able to reach her there? If he’s collected the powers of all the other Pillars, wouldn’t he be able to enter the Otherworld just as easily as one Pillar? Is she getting this from Thomas saying that the Otherworld is the key? But Llaw has also summoned supernatural creatures from a “breach” between this world and the Otherworld and can control them to some degree, so he clearly has some sort of influence over it?

Am I insane? Am I going fucking insane? This book is gaslighting me, I swear.

Klara also says that she can send Callum back to his time before she leaves for the Otherworld, but Callum is all “Nooo I wanna stay here with you and die for you potentially because that’s my only character trait!”

They make out some more, but are cockblocked by Klara’s dad who knocks on the door.

We’re almost at the end, y’all. We’re getting there. One or two more posts and then we’re free!

[marketingprofitmedia]

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[munsons-maiden]

Hey Kiks! I had sent this to someone else about the book, but I thought I’d send this to you as well, since I know you have some feelings about it, and maybe it could make you or some of your followers feel a bit better?

It’s basically adding context for those who may not understand licensing when it comes to the ST books. Licensing, for anyone who doesn’t know, is basically when you acquire the rights for a certain amount of time to use the intellectual property of company to create media and/or products for a specific project. For Ex Hello Kitty/Sanrio. Your company wants to make notebooks using Hello Kitty characters but you don’t own the copyright, so you license the rights from Sanrio to specifically make notebooks. Same with movies based on video games, they license the rights from video game companies to make those movies. Same with the ST books, the publishers don’t own the rights, so they license the name and likeness of characters owned by Stranger things/Netflix to write their own stories. From this point on, the books can be about anything, but from what I’ve seen of the ST books, they try to not interfere too much with canon(though the various books tend to both contradict each other and the show). At the end of the day, the purpose of licensing in this way is essentially to generate extra income and as a form of cross-promotion/to increase visibility.

There seems to be some confusion around this, since the staff writer contributed to the writing for S4 and Eddie to some capacity. I think some people may be a belief that this book was handled a different way than the other, but it was licensed by the publisher the same way the other novels are, it wasn’t a special partnership of any sort. And staff writers have been involved with the creation of the other books, for example Hoppers book. That author worked with Paul Dichter, a staff writer, for the creation of it. While no one from the ST team has made statements on Eddies book, it’s been stated that some of the books(rebel robin and Lucas’s book for example) aren’t considered canon.

Additionally in terms of Paige, I actually liked Paige’s character and felt for her, but people were confused about what a small role she ended up playing. it’s possible that a romantic interest was something that was not originally planned for but was at some point required from those that are higher up to include in the novel, to appeal to a YA audience. Not saying this is was what happened, but it’s possible. If this was the case it could be that those involved in the creation of the book tried to include Paige in the least intrusive way possible romantically so as to not put off readers. Or maybe Paige was intended to be a romantic interest in the beginning. The point is, especially with a more commercial project like one, where Eddie’s likeness and popularity is being capitalized to generate profit, the process isn’t straightforward, it’s guaranteed that there were many changes in the process and hands in the pot. From someone who is in the profession - there zero chance the writer thought of a plot and then saw that original plot through more or less unchanged to the end, without copious amounts of“feedback” from higher ups/stakeholders etc.

I think for those that want to fold the content of the book into their own HC and lore, the book has plenty to offer and had very background stories. But if thinking of licensed projects from more of a business perspective helps those that want a bit of mental separation, maybe this would help. Think of movies based off video games - any characters, plot points, etc those movies might add, aren’t typically considered canon. Viewing of FOI as a multiverse version of Eddie is totally valid :)

Thank you so, so much for shedding some light on the matter of canon! It definitely helps to understand the process of creation of this kind of project 😅 And it's nice to know that both perspectives on whether it's canon or not are equally valid.