#but why is THIS the story that they're going with?

[ronoken]

Nowdays, she would be wearing a simple white dress, and this entire scene, other dances included, would be greenscreened. All the Muppets would be replaced with CGI. The baby? CGI. Cute worm at the beginning? Bad CGI. Hoggle is CGI acted out by a grown man in a green body suit frawling on his knees who sounds like a bored Andy Serkis. Midway through watching this sequence, the video stops and offers you a choice of which Progressive ad you'd like to watch, along with a QRC code to shop policies.

Sarah's journey would end at the gates of the goblin city, with the second movie being how her and her friends, which now include one one those weird orange birds with the detatched heads because they tested well, get to Jareth's castle. The bird is named Skeebo and is voiced by Awkwafina. There's a twenty minute goofy chase sequence where everyone tries to catch Skeebo's head while Skeebo sings "Gotta Get a Baby" which gets a cover by Rihianna during the credits. It becomes the top song on Spotify. No one knows why.

The series is capped off by a two-part conclusion film that clockes in with a combined run time of four and a half hours. These movies would take six to tweleve years to make, with the final one going straight to streaming on Disney+. Instead of a dance party, the last movie ends with a three week jump where Sarah is moping around her home Skeebo bursting through Sarah's bedroom door with a flamethrower in hand begging Sarah to come with her, saying, "you're never gonna believe this." There's then a smashcut to a pop song title caption.

Don't worry though; you're not out of content. The sequel is ditched due to budget issues, but there's a series announced. It will cover Jareth's origin story, featuring Timothée Chalamet as young Jareth. It's a musical. No one remembers the songs from it, but one, "Castles Made of Dreams," was covered by Justin Timberlake. It's popular for three weeks and appears on Kids Bop. It's last heard in a Trolls spinoff movie. The Trolls movie also stars Timothée Chalamet.

Jareth Origins: Book One: The Goblin King's Genesis 8K Special Edition will be dragged out over 10 episodes that cost roughly $300 million to produce, and will then be cancelled within six weeks of being released due to pay disputes to the writers. The show will then vanish from all streaming platforms, along with the second and fourth movies. That's okay, though. They're available for $3.99 a piece on Poob, but only if you're good with ads. Also, the last two movies and the series are digital only, with purchased copied of the digital now gone from your Amazon account.

I fucking miss VHS.

Movie Costumes | Sarah's ballgown, Labyrinth (1986)

[kurzler]

in my opinion, many modern greek retellings/stories inspired by greek mythology don't fail because they're inaccurate. they fail because they have nothing new to say.

i don't mind changes to the original myths, as long as they make sense and they have a narrative purpose! i understand that making changes is sometimes necessary to convey a certain narrative, especially to modern audiences.

is epic the musical mythologically accurate? hell no! but the changes serve to tell a specific story and to convey a certain message. also, epic the musical is self aware about its "inaccuracies". and the music just bangs.

is hadestown accurate? no! does it make the change that I always dread, removing the kidnapping from the hades/persephone myth? yeah. but hadestown is barely about them, and it uses greek mythology as a "narrative frame" to tell a certain story. it has a point. it has a message.

what are stories like lore olympus trying to say? what is the messagge of the hundredth persephone/hades retelling? what are we supposed to take from them? "don't listen to your mother she's a bitch"? "mothers are irrational and you should forsake her for a man"? very feminist.

why are we still doing the medusa "feminist" retellings? it's BEEN done. too many times. and they're ALL the same. it's a worse crime than being bad: they are boring.

i'm tired of retellings that are just "what if this very famous story was THE OPPOSITE and the protagonist was an ASSHOLE the whole time and the villain was MISUNDERSTOOD and the real VICTIM" okay but why. why would that be the case. what's the point of the story you want to tell. or do you just want to use shock value.

of course, i dislike retellings that are so different from the myth that they go AGAINST the spirit/message of the original, because in that case what's even the point of retelling the myth? just tell an original story. but i would take stabbed poseidon and capitalist hades any day over the same basic story of medusa being a girlboss or demeter being bad because of... reasons?

tl;dr: stop being unoriginal and tell a good story. or at least an entertaining one. i beg you

[wellzofyouth]

I think what makes so much Superbat content unappealing to me is that it fails to recreate what made Superbat so interesting to me in the first place. It's two of the strangest people ever bonding through their shared experience of absolute grief and loneliness. It's about connecting with someone so different from you just because you're one of the few people who can truly see the other for what they are.

(WF #289)

Clark is grieving two sets of his parents (the kents used to be dead fyi) and a world he could never know. He's lonely, and he sees in Bruce a man who can understand and help alleviate his loneliness through understanding and connection. THIS is at the core of why I like superbat. It's not the identity porn, the sun and moon symbolism, or the homoerotic out of context panels (though all those are nice). It's two people desperately reaching out for connection and finding it in a person so unlike themselves yet so similar.

I feel that sometimes Clark's own experiences in regards to his own loss are often sidelined for Bruce's. Bruce's pain is a constant knife in the side that he refuses to pull out because he doesn't want to forget. Clark is a sharp pain that arrives when he's most lonely and vulnerable. One pain isn't greater than the other. They're both learning to cope with it by transforming themselves to help others.

When you strip all that away, it becomes another sunshine x emo love story. Whe you strip all that away, Superbat has nothing that truly separates itself from other ships.

Let me be clear, there is no right or wrong superbat dynamic. This definitely isn't the original one. But this is the most poignant to me because it speaks to something deeper in the human spirit. It's not just a simple "happy go lucky guy nurses sad boy to health" story that I've seen a dozen times. It's two people finding the best of themselves in the other and wanting to treasure that. Because they fit each other...

[wongataa]

@dragon-in-a-fez Let me share with you my horror story of doing tech support for AOL when it was huge. Had a guy call in that couldn't get his CD to work. First things first is the shiny part down? Yes it is. So we're good to go on past the most basic problem. I proceed to give him various mouse directions to get the CD going. But nothing happens at which point I assume there's something wrong with his mouse. Then I proceed to give him several keyboard methods to get the CD running. Still nothing. Check to make sure the lights come on the keyboard so I know its connected. I tell him to give me a few seconds while I try to think of another way to get the CD to start. After a short silence he asks, "Can I put my arms down they're getting tired?" I sit there stunned for a moment and have to ask why are his arms getting tired. He's holding the keyboard to the screen. I put my head in my hands and have to ask what EXACTLY is he doing when I tell him to click with the mouse. Yes he's just tapping the screen. At which point I inform him that the mouse and keyboard NEVER leave the desk. And I ask him how he's holding the mouse, whether the cord is out between his fingers or down his arm. Yes it was running down his arm. Its been a 1/4 century since that phone call and I still remember how flabbergasted I was that someone was that monumentally inept with a computer. But once it was explained to him, he was fine.

why does my mother suddenly fail kindergarten whenever she tries to do anything on the computer

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Hello, I am an amateur writer, and would like for people to see my original fiction. I've never posted writing anywhere, so I would be starting from scratch. My question to you though is, why host your writing on your own site, rather than somewhere like AO3? Is that an avenue you would recommend to someone who doesn't necessarily want to sell their writing at the moment?

AO3 is for fanfiction and is non-commercial. While it is true that they don't remove original fiction, and it's probably possible to solicit funding for fics on it by linking somewhere like Tumblr and then to Patreon or whatever, me taking advantage of their free labour and their server space to host my original fiction that I write to pay my mortgage would be what we like to call a "major dick move". I have no interest in skeevy bullshit like that. If you ever intend to sell your fiction, I'd recommend not posting what you want to sell on AO3 at all because you're just creating future issues for yourself when you monetise. (AO3 is, however, an excellent place to post to get readers who will give your other fiction hosted elsewhere a try. The first Curse Words readers were all people who liked my fanfic on AO3 and wanted to see more of my writing.)

Having my own website just works out best for me and the way I like to do things. It's certainly not the only option. There are plenty of web serial hosts out there, and they're a good way to get readers since people go to those places specifically looking for web serials. Royal Road and Scribblehub were the big names last I checked, and that's probably still true. If you don't have any particular interest in running your own website, a site like that is a good place to start, since there's a ready audience, a ready community of fellow writers, and it's all set up to add chapters to your stories as easily as possible without you having to add your own links or do anything fiddly, the reader is built into the website already.

[dellamortethelesser]

The Wigmaker Job

Notes and Thoughts - Part 3

pt1 | pt2 | pt3 | pt4 | pt5

DISCLAIMER: These posts I'm doing are my own analyses and are done with the intentional eye to examine the relationship between Lucanis and Illario. I try to source all my assertions from what the text is giving me. This is not Lucanis critical nor should it be taken as such.

Going to be a shorter post today because I have things to do this morning!

Starting off strong in the next scene with me… loving on the fashion notes <3 So glad to know that we get stiletto heels clicking against cobblestone. Surely hoping that no magister twists their ankle and falls and breaks their fucking neck because their shoe got caught in a gap!

Also, velveteen is in? Someone who knows fabrics weigh in and tell me if that would be an appropriate material for the climate.

"So the Wigmaker. Tell me about him." / "He's weird." ← Lucanis goes on to say that he 'finds the moment before a job crucial for focus, but Illario was never one for comfortable silence'. To me, that beggars the explanation that the following passage is Illario goading him a bit.

I: "Specifics, cousin. No one hires us to kill normal people." L: "I gave you a dossier." I: "Yes, but I want your assessment." L: "I wrote it. It is my assessment." I: "Humor me." L: "You'll see soon enough."

There was a little bit of debate in my previous post about whether or not Illario actually read Lucanis's dossier. I don't think that the text supports that interpretation, but everyone is allowed to interpret what they want.

I'll argue that Illario has read the dossier: throughout the story up until this point, Illario has made comments about the job that implies he has SOME understanding of what they are doing—even going out of his way to make arrangements with a tailor so that he can be prepared for the part of the contract that Lucanis asked him to help with.

He knows that they need to be in Minrathous, at a party, facing a 'premiere wigmaker', and aware of the fact that they're up against Venatori. He knew they needed to be at a mansion and all of this comes up previous to this point when asking about Lucanis's assessment.

Additionally, asking for more clarification on something that someone else wrote is actually normal when the plan has clearly changed several times. Illario has increasingly expressed confusion on how the navigation is being handled, and, when asking for more information, is specifically asking after the Wigmaker himself, not the entire plan.

Also, the narrator is telling us that Lucanis prefers to be quiet while Illario likes to talk. It was pointed out to the me that this is close third POV, so why would the narrator bring that difference up, and not reference the idea that Illario has a tendency to not read documents?

(A few paragraphs later, while balancing on the rooftops, it's stated that 'At least Illario was too busy concentrating to ask questions'.) ← I wonder why he'd need to ask so many… I'm not trying to be snarky, but I am trying to make a point and using the text to support it. This also is NOT Lucanis crit and I'm worried some people are interpreting it as such.

The commentary from Lucanis about the previous Minrathous parties is insane btw. Retching vases? Acrobats? An orgy? No wonder they kept us in Dock Town in VG… (shakes fist)

First mention of Lucanis's sensitivity toward the Veil. "The backs of his eyeballs itched like he hadn't blinked in days". I think he says this primarily about blood magic at some point in VG? Which tracks and keeps up with WMJ.

"Something's wrong." / "Yeah. We're up here, away from the fun." ← insane of illario to say this i'm sorry. bro there are blood mages down there.

L: "Focus." I: "I am." L: "On the job." I: "To be fair, you never told me the plan."

You guys get it at this point. (That last sentence loops back up to my previous point… Illario has read the dossier. He knows the contract. He does NOT know how Lucanis is going to HANDLE it beyond what he's been asked to do re: getting Lucanis inside).

Lucanis shrugged. "Find Ambrose. Slit his throat." "Sounds complicated." "It will be. The Veil's thin here. Thinner than I expected."

Illario seems pretty fine with this explanation so I am not going to keep dragging it out. I do like how in-tune Lucanis seems to be with his abilities! I wish we could've seen more of that in VG; iirc he doesn't comment on the state of the Veil or magic very often?

This is the part of the story where we get to see their back-and-forth and how Illario is a bit of a rake! Which I personally enjoy. I love a manwhore (*said affectionately). Sorry.

"Plenty of time for some good, old-fashioned debauch—" I think he's funny. And maybe a bit distracted.

The narrator describes Ambrose as 'of average height and build' which is a description that pisses me off when fanfic does it and published works are not immune to my ire. What the hell is 'average'. That's so subjective.

The rest of the description is nice, though: hawkish gold eyes and a jaw that could break teeth. ← I know I said this was a breakdown of the brothercousin dynamic but I need to weigh in on other things sometimes. <3 Heart.

"They're never what you envision, are they?" Illario noted. "What did you expect?" "Hair, for one. Maybe a funny little dog." That got a chuckle out of Lucanis, if only briefly.

Stop being funny!!! I do like this banter back and forth because this feels like it's the least… leaden with underlying, complicated dynamics? I like it a lot and it feels natural for them.

Making notes on the fashion of the guard-captain. 'She wore an emerald gown with a high-waisted, low-tiered skirt and a fitted tulle bodice studded with champagne-colored crystals. Metallic body paint shimmered on her exposed arms and legs'. ← Fascinating.

It sounds like it might be a reference to the women's fashion from the Tevinter concept art. Bit gaudy.

Also it's described as silk-brocade. AGAIN PEOPLE WHO KNOW FABRICS WEIGH IN.

[shrek meme] she's not even wearing velveteen.

Lucanis "I need those keys" Dellamorte and Illario "your wish is my command, cousin" Dellamorte you will always be famous to me. Also it says that Illario 'flipped forward' which . why are we doing all that

Quotes are either paraphrased or taken directly from The Wigmaker Job, written by Courtney Woods.

[ladyshinga]

yeah gosh why would anyone EVER wanna turn a story around and play with the tropes to make a specific point?

especially when the story is heavily referenced in society by people who are blowing off warnings of ACTUAL "wolves"? ALL. THE TIME.

glad if you've never experienced this, truly... but certain big ol' marginalized groups (Jewish people, queer people, black people, indigenous, disabled, etc) have been screaming for YEARS about how much worse everything's getting and over and over and OVER were met with "god shut up, you're the boy who cried wolf" "stop crying wolf lol it aint that serious" "ugh ignore them they're just crying wolf, it's for attention"

So yeah actually taking THE SPECIFIC FUCKING STORY THESE PEOPLE USE TO BLOW OFF LEGITIMATE WARNINGS and turning it around on its head to tell a story of TRUTH being IGNORED by people who've overcorrected from the "lesson" of the original by smugly deciding with no evidence that the boy is always lying. Now no one is ever telling them the truth unless they "feel" it's true in the moment.

reimagined vs original as a broad storytelling conversation is a different thing than a situation where the LITERAL ORIGIN STORY is the reason for this discussion in the first place. If I make a wholly original story to call out the badly-learned lessons of the the original Boy Who Cried Wolf how am I to do that in a way that isn't just as DIRECT as going "fuck it just flip the exact fable on its head"

hell ignore the HUGE issues with the world for a second and ask yourself the last time you saw this comment thread:

OP: *posts a fairly mundane life story* Commenters: "LOL THAT HAPPENED" "fake story" "AND THEN EVERYONE CLAPPED" we're so obsessed in certain groups with being the one who catches the boy lying about wolves that inherent distrust without even CHECKING THE FACTS has become a core part of societal identity and a HUGE reason we're so easily lied to by those in power.

So yeah actually sometimes there's an actual fucking reason some one isn't creating a wholly new project from scrap and your old timey fable isn't sacred from being used for new lessons

Updated version of Boy Who Cried Wolf but there are actual wolves every single time and no one ever believes the boy - they get closer and closer every time he tries to warn them, until it's too late and the whole town screams at the boy for not warning them "enough", and blame him for the wolves at their door.

[typewritingyip]

You know what I've always found interesting about the "reveal" in the Mecha Pilot stories? That everyone instantly pegs the pilots as organics upon being caught exiting their mecha. Sure, sure, I get why they're pegged organic if they're caught working on their mecha as they might not be in their suits/full suits, or they had been removed due to injury then yeah it'd get found out real fast they aren't mechanical. Yet most pilot suits are covered in armor, sometimes with full face covering. If nobody got a really close look at them, why is nobody's first thought "very small minibot" like Minimus Ambus and the Magnus armor? I mean 'organic' has never been the first thought of any of the cyberstronians when dealing with the pilots. Just an interesting thought I'd share. Because further misunderstandings could be "oh shit, no wonder they're fucking tired all the time. They're tiny little guys, with tiny little sparks, trying to power bodies hundreds of times their size." Like I said, just an amusing thought I thought might amuse you too. XD

I love this thought so much, like, they’d just be little guys.

This is 100% what my version of Prowl thought upon seeing Jazz the first time. As he would still be in his assistance suit.

Unfortunately, with like Blue and Sunny, Sunny wasn’t wearing much of anything and Blue really didn’t realize at first what was going on. He just thought that the guy he was falling helm over ped for was asleep.

But yeah, that is such a fun concept and now at least canon to JazzProwl in Arcturus lmao.

Jazz one day after talking and hanging out with Prowl, comes out of the suit without his assistance suit on and poor Prowl nearly crashes. It was bad enough his tiny boyfriend was a small mecha who exhausted himself. Now he knows it’s an even tinier organic who exhausts himself and can in fact die from exhaustion.

[aubris-fox]

another fanfic idea, woah

tags: simon 'ghost' riley/john 'soap' mactavish, miscommunication, hurt/comfort, happy ending, slight angst, established relationship, marriage proposal -------------------------------------------------

johnny proposing to simon, and simon being so caught off guard that he just says "no" without even managing to explain why.

johnny gets upset, validly so considering they'd been together for years at that point, and leaves; stays with gaz for a bit, tells simon he needs space, leaves the man to sit and stew in guilt and regret.

after a few days, johnny comes back home. the tension is thick, and johnny keeps avoiding him, and they keep just barely brushing shoulders. eventually simon can't take it anymore. he settles down with him, and forces himself to explain that he said only no because he literally can't.

"what do you mean, you can't? do you not love me anymore, or something?" "no! no, that's not—" "then what? what could possibly be stopping you—" "im dead!" .. "..what?" "legally, i'm dead. i cant marry you because 'simon riley' isn't meant to be alive."

simon manages to put off explaining why he's legally dead for a later date, with the flimsy excuse that it's 'a long story he isnt in the mood to explain', and instead they have a long talk about alternatives.

the next day they're going out and buying matching rings. they may not be able to be wed officially, but who cares about what a piece of paper has to say about their relationship, anyway? they want to be married, and so they are.

@ellis-elpetal , @idiotrxccoon more tags for moral support dsjfhsd

[shehungers]

FATHOMLESS

eldritch detective x reader |18+| 2.1k

you'd never noticed detective arsenè in the precinct before, even after a number of years working in the office. when you start to ask around about him, they confirm that he's always been there, but you're more worried that they're not mentioning that he has no face...

story warnings; dark content, dubcon leaning sort of noncon (blackouts and spotty memory), sexual content, grotesque + horrific details, this leans more mystery and uncanny valley than anything else, mentions of mc being a drinker, smoking, roughly proofread.

reposted from my deleted blog: theoxenfree.

please share your thoughts with me + reblog!

this is possibly a concept piece to a much larger supernatural, psychological piece. if you'd like to see that, let me know!!

Everyone at the precinct called him Detective Arsené, but they never said anything about his face.

It was simply that there wasn't one there, not that you were able to discern in any instance you'd seen him wandering the floor. You had blamed the long hours, glowing blue screens, useless eye prescriptions, corporate greed, and mixing alcohol with allergy medicine before you finally accepted what you were seeing was real, yet no one else noticed it apart from you.

“What's wrong with his face?” you'd ask anyone with the time to spare to listen.

“Who? Arsené?” they'd laugh, whether in disbelief that you were speaking about Watt City’s genius detective in such a fashion, or that they thought you were the funniest person in the office. “What are you talking about? He's always looked like that! Lay off the booze, yeah?”

Those responses had never been satisfactory enough, going as far to set you ill at ease for the remainder of your shift, sufficiently distracting you from furthering your workload because your mind always came back to the detective and his non-existent face.

“He looks pretty normal to me,” said a senior member in your division. An older man you'd come to know as forthright and virtuous with a history showing that integrity. He had taken eyes off his computer screen, bifocals aside, and pinched the high-point between his brows. “What's this about, really? I've worked with Arsené for years. You know that. He's been here since before I started. Good guy. Hard worker. Drinks too much, though. Just like someone else I know.”

But, this was the first time you had heard he'd worked with Arsené, let alone acknowledged his existence at all. There was no reason for him to lie; he had spoken without inflection, warily, almost accusatory towards the end when he mentioned the alcohol.

“Detective Arsené? Well, I think he's really handsome. He just has that look about him, y'know?” The next person you questioned was a junior at the precinct. A pretty woman who was all silky black hair and long, blunt nails that never touched a surface where they'd be put in peril.

She always used her knuckles type on the clunky keyboard, and did so as she went on, “I've heard he has a really specific type, though. I've also never seen him take anyone out, or take a partner on cases, now that I think about it. Isn't he just a stand-up guy? I'd say he's the sort to bring home to mom and dad, but I hear he's got a drinking problem. Why do all the hot ones have vices like that?”

She particularly enjoyed her gossip, especially if it involved the detectives at the precinct. You were positive she'd never mentioned Arsené before now. As smart as she was, she didn't look below the surface very often when it came to men, so for her to say nothing at all of the detective’s smooth face was mystifying.

After that, you started paying attention to Arsené in a way you convinced yourself was discreet, which meant slowly peeking your eyes above your computer screen to observe his movements across the floor. Always in motion, he stalked around the place with undaunted familiarity, maneuvering the razored corners of desks and blockades from doors and walls, and languidly sidestepped the oncoming traffic of bodies in such a way that seemed premeditated.

Practiced.

Rinse and repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

This staunch dedication of yours lasted well over a week before anything came of it until one morning you found him waiting in your seat, teetering a bloated manila folder on a thigh while bouncing it impatiently. A very real sensation of unease took hold of the back of your neck, like a cold hand stroking lightly at the downy hairs there until they stood straight.

You thought about pretending you hadn't seen him, swiveling around, and leaving in a burst of urgency. It'd be easy to call in to say you had a personal emergency or became suddenly, very viscously ill and wouldn't be able to handle staring at a screen for twelve hours. No one would ask questions because you were exemplary, always on time, and seldom took time off as you couldn't afford to do so.

Arsené’s head slanting sideways and the waxy, flat face pointing directly towards you prevented you from acting on that impulse, however. He gestured you over with a lethargic wave, though the jitteriness in his leg seemed to worsen from impatience into sheer excitability.

“Clocked in early, aren't you? You have quite the habit of doing that, I've noticed.” He greeted, voice simultaneously undefinable and velvety. It wasn't so deep that you felt like it was gravelly or reverberated in the same way a baritone would, but there was a heftiness to it that weighted in your mind, as if it were possible for someone to reach through all your blood, tissue, and bone and press down directly on your brain. “I've seen you come in a few times, hours before anyone else. And you know what I think? I think, ‘That’s the kind of person who keeps a place like this running. That's the kind of person we want here in this precinct. That's the type of person who believes in the work that we do and who I’d want as my partner’.”

As much as you wanted to get away from the horrid sight before you, the no-face and potent voice wriggling around the wrinkles in your brain, you couldn't bring yourself to do so just yet. Not while you had questions you couldn't find answers to, not while you needed to sedate yourself at night because they ruthlessly endangered your dreams and were thieves of peaceful slumber.

“I've never met you before,” you said, giving a cordial handshake when he had offered it to you. The skin of his palm was warm and humanlike, though his grip was all wrong and entirely too firm. You didn't convey this dissonance to him, though. “I've seen you around, though. Were you transferred from a different department or precinct? Everyone says you've been around for a long time, but I find it hard to believe I've noticed.”

“Oh? Well, they'd be right.” Arsené said, finally releasing your hand to take up the thick folder. “I've always been here, and I'm always here. Now, that aside, I've cleared it with the Chief and I'd like you to help me on a case that I'm stuck on. If I've read right, you're the most recent person who's looked through everything to update the records, correct?”

“Probably.” You didn't move when he rolled up another chair from a desk nearby. “I'm a Recorder. It's my job to go through files and periodically update them. I'm not qualified to help detectives on their cases, though. You'd need to speak to the Chief about getting an Assistant for that.”

“Ah, didn't you hear me? That's all been handled. Sit down. Sit down.” He waved you close, then took you by the arm to sit you in the chair next to him. “We have a lot to cover. I think we should start from the beginning and work our way through the evidence list, and then the interrogation tapes. After that, it'd be a good idea to revisit the site of the crime. Don't worry about clearances, I've got everything we need.”

It wasn't often that you saw the inside of the precinct after that day as Arsené particularly enjoyed his busywork and bringing you along for it.

Most days you simply operated as a Field Recorder by transcribing statements into the handheld device provided by the precinct to maintain a digital trail. The work wasn't especially difficult, but it did take a level of skill and technological literacy to be able to do effectively, more so to be the sort allowed to tail after a detective on his cases and still maintain an overall ninety-eight percent accuracy.

Despite your job dictating it as such, Arsené never allowed you to fade into the background or stand around as a fancy accessory to go with his title. Oftentimes, he utilized you as his sole confidant as he worked through evidence and suspects, waiting in revered silence for you to offer your insight (however weak it actually was), and afterwards only let you bask in a glow of confidence through streams of unending praise.

“Egads! Eureka! Genius! How is it that it never occurred to me that way? Truly, you're spectacular! You're divine! Who knows how long I’d be running around in circles if I didn't have you as my partner.” They were all slightly variating compliments, though essentially all the same at the core and all very untrue.

You'd never forgotten about the things your colleagues had said about him, of his unrivaled prowess and veneration as the best detective Watt City had ever come to witness. He didn't need you. He had never needed you to solve a case, so you had learned to take his praise in the same vein as you did the silky-haired woman’s comments on men: uninspired and shallow.

When your disinterest became palpable, he seemed to only rely on you more as though he couldn't stand to be burdened with the idea of a rift. He had started calling you late at night about cases, going as far to come knocking at your door and walking inside reeking of stale smoke and a haze of booze, neither of which you could comprehend as possible considering he had no face.

“I just don't get it. I just don't get it! Where am I going wrong?!” He said so wretchedly, sides of his head cradled in his hands that were tucked between his legs. “This case, it’s getting to me. It's getting under my skin. I can't figure it out. Have I finally met my match? Have I finally been defeated? You! You’ve got to help me. It can't end like this.”

For all his dramatics, there was something obscenely cruel behind his words. Perhaps he thought you wouldn't have caught onto it because you simply a Field Recorder, just a person at the end of the day.

“Why haven't you mentioned anything about the victim? You're acting like they don't exist, Arsené. Is this about solving the crime so they get justice and the family gets closure, or is this for your reputation?” you asked.

He immediately stopped complaining and jolted upright, taken by surprise like he had realized this oversight and wasn't sure how to navigate around it. On that glossy slate of a face, one you knew was piercing deep into you despite a lack of hollow sockets and rolling gelatinous orbs within, you could tell he was now thinking of an answer.

“Neither,” was what he gave you. “It's neither of those. Come here. Sit down and talk to me for a while. I can't go home like this.”

The pitying part of you usually won in those moments where Arsené presented himself as his weakest. There was a part of you that believed he was taking advantage of your feeble heart, your kindness, your blind generosity because at his worst, he'd find a way to strip you down and fuck you.

At least, that's what you assumed happened. You never really could remember as the memory was pitch black, his body was unfathomable above yours, but you were sure you felt his cock penetrating you, his hands desperately fondling your flesh and fat like there was too much to touch yet too little time to feel it all. He said things to you inside your head, words that you couldn’t seem to piece together yet ignited the tension between your legs, lit your skin on fire, and delivered lewd, high-pitched sounds to his ears that he reveled in.

He never left you a mess and he never spoke about those times after they happened. Since you were never sure of them yourself, they suffered the same indifference as his praise and the days simply moved onward in a similar way.

“Another case solved!” Arsené cheered, lifting a stout mug in the air for you to reciprocate with the long stem of your wine glass. It was a fragile tinkling sound, a gentle vibration up your fingers and into your wrist as you toasted his success. “I couldn't have done it without you, my beloved partner! If it's you and I, I could do this forever.”

You swirled the liquid inside; a light and dry, raspberry and vaguely earthy smell wafted up your nostrils before you tasted it and let your cheeks pucker. As you drank, you watched as Arsené lifted the stout towards the expanse of taut, clear skin that should've been his face, and saw liquid inside empty into nowhere.

[nqueso-emergency]

In response to this anon: "Fetishisation … as opposed to BT shippers who did literally that the second Buck came out and entered a relationship with Tommy. Instead of looking at the relationship the way the writers/creators intended it to be, BT shippers looked at it through the ‘two hot white guys’ lens and refused to see anything else."

BT fans have been accused of this for 10 months. I have a dozen screenshots of Buddie fans responding to every single twitter comment I made with "fetishizer." Yet for those 10 months, BT fans, INCLUDING ACTUAL GAY MEN, have tried to explain why we're so invested in this ship and that it really does have to do with a lot more than wanting two dudes to kiss.

The thing is, BoB's ignore those pleas, every single time. Or you mock them. Then you come back, for the 1000th time, with the same goddamn accusation. Meanwhile gay male BT fans continue to be called f**s, are sent photos of burning pride flags, are told they're a betrayal to queer culture for the sin of shipping someone different than them, etc., etc., etc. It's horrific.

But don't take my word for it. Here's a nice stroll down memory lane of just a few of the countless times BT fans have explained why they care so much about the character of Tommy, and are so invested in the relationship.

https://www.tumblr.com/mattdoestevan/756740520651489281/my-two-cents-on-the-whole-queer-women-projecting?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/bucks-beast/752097399447699456/its-been-super-disheartening-and-angering-these?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/nqueso-emergency/774947518720212992/for-a-fandom-so-obsessed-with-an-adult-mlm?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/saintnoname2/751619199843139584/blech-when-bobs-go-after-actual-queer-men-for?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/nqueso-emergency/774480853888811008/were-you-a-gay-man-decades-before-prep-came-on-the?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/bucksboobs/751954725168201728/i-know-i-know-yall-are-desperate-to-find-any?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/usercelestial/752120141831192576/real-gay-men-in-real-life-buck-and-tommy-both?source=share

That's like...the tip of the iceberg. So fuck everyone who makes broad sweeping generalizations about BT fans while simultaneously ignoring that we've spent the last 10 months trying to get BoB's to actually listen to us.

p.s. don't forget this video, which Tim reposted, about why Buck and Tommy's story is actually deeply romantic given the red string of fate theory (https://youtu.be/OMx6gcF6OAQ). Yet another reason people latched onto this relationship so quickly that has, guess what, zero to do with fetishization.

This! Adding the video because I love watching it.

[loveandleases]

I have a question in the monetary issue of the ros. You said Chris was rich, so Cam too? Besides how is the economic life of the ros

While his family is rich from generational wealth, Cam isn't. He hasn't received any form of support from his parents since he was 16 and got his first job. Everything he owns (except Em's old couch, and his bat plush) he purchased on his own. Many assume he benefits because he is a Clarke, but he doesn't. He paved his own way.

I'll answer this in regards of their economic lives currently, since some will change.

❤️ Cam - (I did so much world building before starting the story, so I could tell you how much he earns currently even how much their rent is.)

Currently, Cam is doing alright. Since he's self-employed he has to hold quite a bit back for taxes. He prefers to do freelance, but you will notice him take on contracts from time to time (ex: the studio he was working at in ch. 1) for financial stability. He's great at managing money. (he will of course start doing better once MC starts working. but for now they manage.)

💙 G - Being a veterinarian is already a demanding job, even more so since G owns the clinic. They earn good money, but they do have to watch their spending since they have business expenses and student loans. (which their father offered to pay off if G decided to become a surgeon like him.)

💚 Kara - Unlike Cam, Kara benefits from her family's wealth—but she doesn’t want to rely on it. She’s aware of her privilege and strives for self-reliance, which is why she works. She also earns a decent income from social media.

💛 M - They do well for themselves. The last book they published has been raking in some money. Granted they can't just rely on that, because their income isn't always consistent. But currently, M is doing well. They can provide for themselves, and their mothers.

💜 Isaac - Not doing as well as everyone else. Isaac makes ends meet by delivery jobs and (spoiler). Which is why they're always on the go, two jobs and not enough time in the day. They struggle, sometimes having to live paycheck to paycheck. (So, Kara spoils him.)

🖤 Ardent - Financially, I would say he falls somewhere in the middle in comparison to the other Ro's. He doesn't own the apartment building, his parents do. So, majority of that income goes to his parents. And as what was hinted at in Chapter 1. The apartment isn't doing the best in terms of tenants. But it was the first building his parents lived in after they immigrated, so at this point they just stick with it out of sentimentality. He has money he saved over the years when he lived in Greece and worked at his parents restaurant. I would say he's comfortable, and if he starts to feel a little less, he will do some shifts at his Uncle's bar. (though most of the time he does it for free.)

[bookshelf-in-progress]

What If? is the question that drives most retellings. This works best with the well-known fairy tales. Everyone knows the original story, so readers will be interested in how you twist it.

You can change

Plot: What if Cinderella didn't go to the ball?

Character: What if Snow White was evil?

Setting/Genre: What if Sleeping Beauty was set on a spaceship?

Theme: What if Beauty and the Beast was about family love instead of romance?

There's a variation of the plot What If? that asks:

What's Next?: What happens after Cinderella marries the prince?

In this case, you're writing a sequel. The fairy tale is backstory, and your story is something new.

There's also a mash-up What If? that asks:

What if these two stories were combined?: What if the prince in Cinderella was also the Beast in Beauty and the Beast?

Here, the readers are pulled through the story because they want to see how the plot and characters of these stories fit together into something new.

In all these cases, What If? is the question that motivates your readers. They want to see how your changes make for a different story.

With traditional retellings, you have to ask different questions. You want to tell a story with the same plot, characters, and setting as the original--maybe because you love the original story so much, maybe because you're retelling an obscure tale. But then what's the point of your story? What question are you going to answer in a way that can't be satisfied by reading the original tale?

The questions that work best here are:

Why?: In fairy tales, things usually happen "just because". There's very little explanation of why events happen a certain way or why characters act the way they do. Asking Why? allows your story to give an answer that explains confusing or ambiguous points in the original story.

Who?: Fairy tales don't dig very deeply into the psychology of their characters. A retelling allows you to enter into the perspective of one of the characters and explore what it would be like to live through the events of the story. What kind of person acts the way this character does? What fears and hopes motivate them? What do they think about the events of the story?

There's a variation of Who? that asks:

Who is telling the story?: This is your classic POV switch. Your story can have the same plot, setting, and characters as the original, but if you focus on the viewpoint of someone other than the traditional main character--the love interest, the villain, a side character, a confused bystander--you can wind up with a very different, sometimes almost entirely original story.

Almost every retelling needs to answer at least one Why? question. Even if it's a minor plot point, your story should offer a clarification or a rationale behind some element of the original. Asking Who? is a great way to expand upon the fairy tale and make it something more psychologically complex. First-person point-of-view is very helpful in this case, because it instantly adds something new to your telling of the story, even if you follow every beat of the original tale.

What If? retellings also need to answer Why? and Who?, but they're not the driving force in the same way that they have to be for traditional retellings. What If? allows for a twist that's the driving force behind the story, but when you're not changing anything, the depth that Why? and Who? provide is crucial to making your story feel new.

[and-the-times-we-had]

Fully agree with the original assessment that Feanor and his decisions haunt the narrative in a significant way, but sometimes I think that this idea is overstated. He is important, no doubt, but I wouldn't call him a protagonist. He's also not the only character to make life altering decisions that affect others long after (truly Finwe could be argued to be unparalleled on this front). Honestly, I'm not sure that there is a character in the Silmarillion that can truly be said to be the protagonist (no, I don't think Fingolfin and his line are protagonists either) because it is simply not that kind of story on the whole. Individual parts of it have their protagonists (Beren & Luthien and Turin come to mind), but no character or even group of characters jumps out at me as the overall protagonists in this book. And given that it is supposed to be a history/mythology, that seems only right. History isn't made of protagonists, and no one is the main character even if they do a lot of important things. They're just individual actors in the long and winding path that the story takes, which is why it can and does continue on without them.

All that being said, I'd like to address some of the points made in the above reply to the original post.

I think that the idea that "everything of importance done by the Noldor in the actual war against Morgoth is done by the children and grandchildren of Indis" is not exactly accurate to the text. Sure, Fingolfin and his children and Finarfin and his children are very important in the fight against Morgoth, but it is untrue to say that they did everything of importance (with the evident implication being that the Feanorians did nothing of importance). I'm also unclear about what your definition of "the actual war against Morgoth" refers to specifically (i.e. which battles qualify).

I would disagree that Feanor dies pointlessly (or that it is embarrassing, tbh); he thinks (incorrectly, due to ignorance about Morgoth's forces in Angband itself and his overzealous wrath) that he has a chance to take down Morgoth then and there based on the fact that he and his forces have just spent the last 10 days reducing Morgoth's forces to "no more than a handful of leaves". This doesn't really seem that ridiculous to me from his perspective. He's mortally wounded fighting a host of orcs and several Balrogs (including Gothmog!) all on his own. That hardly seems pointless or embarrassing, in my opinion.

I'd also argue that while Fingolfin's duel with Morgoth is dramatic and heroic, it's not really climactic either. Despite him managing to injure Morgoth, Fingolfin doesn't really accomplish that much more than Feanor does against Morgoth in the grand scheme (though his death isn't pointless either). The Quenta Silmarillion goes on for 100 more pages after said duel, and even the "Of the Ruin of Beleriand" chapter itself goes on for several more pages detailing how Morgoth's forces continue to gain control over areas of Beleriand after Fingolfin's death.

Honestly, I think that both of their deaths are tragic (which yeah, they are both under the Doom, that seems like how it should go) and I have a lot more to say about some of the similar language that is used to describe them both in the course of these battles but that feels like a separate post. For the purposes of this post, I'll just say that both Feanor and Fingolfin are great examples of powerful figures who are just as vulnerable to the march of time and history as any other character.

Moving on, I do think it would have been significantly more difficult if not downright impossible for Nargothrond and Gondolin to come into being and exist long enough in peace and safety for Beren and Tuor to arrive and set those events in motion if the Sons of Feanor had not had/been a part of major victories earlier on in the story. And they are a big part of several key early victories. The text says that the Battle-under-Stars was "renowned in song" and that the Noldor were "outnumbered and taken at unawares" but that they "were yet swiftly victorious". That "the orcs fled before them, and they were driven forth from Mithrim with great slaughter, and hunted over the Mountains of Shadow". They were so effective that the orcs who were attacking Cirdan and the Falas had to come up as relief only to be swiftly taken out by Celegorm and his host. I will once again mention the "handful of leaves" thing. Morgoth is said in the text to be "dismayed" by the outcome of the battle. Feanor's death, while influential, is basically the only negative outcome of this battle for the Noldor. And I don't think it's out of line to postulate that a least a small part of the reason Fingolfin and his people are able to essentially walk off the Helcaraxe and into Mithrim unopposed (in the Silmarillion version, not the Shibboleth version) is because of the success of this early battle (the other major part being the rising of the Sun causing what remains of Morgoth's servants to flee into Angband). Also, the fact that the Feanorian host inadvertently helped to relieve Cirdan has wide ranging positive consequences considering the role he plays in later events, even if it wasn't their intended goal.

Fingon saving Maedhros absolutely does help the Feanorians since it helps the Noldor  as a whole end their strife and unite, but I don't think it's because Maedhros is only one with "a demonstrable ability to negotiate". It's possible that Maedhros is just the only one who is actually able to transfer the crown. None of his brothers are canonically the King while he still lives as Morgoth's captive. The Feanorians also don't seem to be actively antagonistic to Fingolfin's host just prior to the rescue. The text has them moving to the south of Lake Mithrim of their own volition to avoid strife and says that "many of Feanor's people indeed repented of the burning at Losgar, and were filled with amazement at the valour that had brought the friends whom they had abandoned over the Ice of the North; and they would have welcomed them, but they dared not, for shame". It is Fingolfin's host that felt (understandably) grieved and angered when they arrived and faced the Feanorian host ("no love was there in the hearts of those that followed Fingolfin for the House of Feanor, for the agony of those that endured the crossing of the Ice had been great, and Fingolfin held the sons the accomplices of their father. Then there was peril of strife between the hosts.")

I also disagree that the Feanorians become secondary to the story after the abdication. They are dispossesed of the Kingship and the Silmarils, not of narrative importance, and they actually do quite a bit between the time of the abdication and the Nirnaeth. Just after the abdication, for example, the Noldor (including the Feanorians) are said to be united and it is said that they had "set a watch upon the borders of Dor Daedeloth, and Angband was beleaguered from west, and south, and east; and they sent forth messengers far and wide to explore the countries of Beleriand, and to treat with the people that dwelt there". Maedhros is said to be willing to take the chance that "the chief peril of assault should fall upon himself" by placing himself at Himring and he is said to remain in friendship with the houses of Fingolfin and Finarfin including when he and Maglor attend the Mereth Aderthad.

I would say, though, that the most clear example of the fact that the Feanorians do play an important role in the fight against Morgoth is the role they play in the Dagor Aglareb and the Siege of Angband. The text says that "Fingolfin and Maedhros were not sleeping, and while others sought out the scattered bands of Orcs that strayed in Beleriand and did great evil they came upon the main host from either side as it was assaulting Dorthonion; and they defeated the servants of Morgoth, and pursuing them across Ard-galan destroyed them utterly, to the least and last, within sight of Angband's gates". Then the text says that "the princes took heed of it, and thereafter drew closer their leaguer, and strengthened and ordered their watch, setting the Siege of Angband". It is the Siege that truly allows the kingdoms of the Noldor to flourish in safety and peace and the Feanorians are very much contributing to that Siege by holding the line on the entire Northeastern part of Beleriand. In fact, the two times that Morgoth does attempt an attack on the Noldor during the Siege, he aims those attacks at Hithlum. He doesn't do this because he thinks that Fingolfin is a bigger or more important threat but because Maedhros's constant vigilance makes Fingolfin and Hithlum the easier target.

I do agree that Morgoth regards the Oath of Feanor as being useful for his purposes in the time period post Nirnaeth. Anyone involved with the Silmaril or the Oath at that time does a fantastic job of playing into Morgoth's desires for division among the Eldar.

To return to my initial point, I think the fandom tends to center certain characters (Feanor in particular) more in its discussions of the text than the text itself might do. I hope that everything I laid out here goes to show how multiple characters can contribute to the flow of events without any of them being the protagonist specifically.

It never ceases to amuse me that Feanor’s narrative arc ends like THAT.

like this guy is built up to be a genius in 2384739847 different ways, charismatic as fuck, insanely spiritually powerful, made the magical artifacts the book is named after, he’s got Sexy Protagonist Energy for days, you’re only like a few chapters into the actual story of the Silmarillion, so you’re like “yeah, alright, this guy’s our guy, i can’t wait to see what crazy shit he gets up to in Middle-earth, what kind of character development he has–”

and then he gets to Beleriand, tries to fight Satan, and IMMEDIATELY dies. like. Battle #1. he beefs it. literally spontaneously combusts.

AND YOU STILL HAVE MOST OF THE REST OF THE BOOK LEFT. absolutely ICONIC of tolkien to kill his main character in the first third of the story, and then despite elves being able to return from the dead, he literally never does, not even post-canon. NO ONE ELSE CAN PULL THAT OFF. this is SUCH a power move.

….on a more serious note, Feanor’s decisions and motivations leave a huge impact on every other character, almost every other plot point in the entire story can be traced back to what he did, and killing him off not only increases his narrative importance to those he left behind but also makes it impossible for any character to actually confront him or reconcile with him. he’s a ghost throughout the whole rest of the story, but he’s haunting everyone in myriad ways, through the Oath, through the Silmarils, through his sons, through the repercussions of the First Kinslaying, through the unrest of the Noldor and the rebellion against the Valar, through everything.

So like. Feanor might die as soon as he sets foot in Beleriand, which is hilarious from a narrative standpoint - but only at first glance. Because he’s still there for the rest of the story. You can’t escape him, no matter how hard you try.

[elven-child]

I swear to god discussions about sexual assault bring out the most brain dead and lazy takes from people who don't want to believe the victims, because anyone who's ever been raped, assaulted, told a sexually charged and inappropriate comment, catcalled, you name it, knows how hard it is to prove it happened and if people just LISTENED for one goddamn minute they would understand.

sexual assault is most often committed by people the victim knows so unless we all start wearing full body armour made of cameras 24/7, it's going to be near impossible to prove cases like that. and even when it's a random occurrence... attackers know how to hide. they're not stupid.

far from a drastic example but when I was working as a waitress (two/three months after turning 18 (and I just wanna say for the sake of the story, I NEVER looked older than I am. always younger. today I'm 25, 7 years over drinking age, and people still ask me to show my ID when I'm buying non-alcoholic beer. anyway)) I messed up an order and had to go to a table and explain to those two ~50yo men that I'm sorry and we don't have what they ordered anymore so can we substitute it with something else. one of them looks me in the eye and without missing a beat says it's no problem and as a compensation a little bit of strip-tease from me will do. I laugh uncomfortably (something for which I'm angry at myself to this day and I want to believe that today I would have snapped back and told him to fuck right off) and leave.

can I prove it happened? fuck no, the only people who heard it were me, the guy who said it and his goddamn buddy so. yeah. and like I said it's far from being drastic assault, thank god I was never physically assaulted, but it is assault. and I can't prove it for shit.

if something like this happened to you, you understand very easily how you can have absolutely no proof, and I wish people whose only contribution to discussions about sexual assault is "let's see what happens in court" would just shut up and listen for once

READING COMPREHENSION CHECK because I read one too many ignorant comments on youtube regarding the Daniel Greene case today: did I say we should sentence people without proof against them? (no) did I say you shouldn't take sexual assault cases to court (no) did I say people are not allowed to express doubt? (no, but they should take a moment to think why expressing doubt in cases like this may be fucking stupid)

[srrynrk]

even if it takes an eternity . . . 西村力

hai im back maybe ! short kinda angsty drabble of vampire ki cause iv been obsessed with @hoo-n-i-ki's vampire/twilight rk story (๑ △ ๑)* not proofread bbbtttwww

"So, what? You're just gonna leave again?" Her voice was sharp and stern as it always was, even when she was being sweet, her tone never faltered.

And she spoke like someone who knew what they wanted, someone who knew exactly what to do, and she told herself that she was that person. Whether she believed that or not was a different question

Riki could sense the disappointment that crept up her throat; he knew it was his fault, she'd drag him back home with continuous quotes of "You can change", and "deep down there's still human in you", but he knew there wasn't. He knew that despite how much hope she had, he had lost all desire to ever rekindle his old human nature. At some point, her convictions and comforts had turned into silent prayers that he'd believe in himself and they knew that, but seeing his eyes, so red and cold, just past them she saw someone worth forgiving, someone worth fighting for.

Riki looked to the ground, his way of channeling his shame. "Why won't you give up?" Cold demeanor falling as his voice shook "Why won't you just move on. Iv accepted this and you should too."

Looking at him, so beautiful and so ruined. Sighing at the sight you thought for a moment, truly pondering on whether anything you said would help at all. "I think..." His eyes flickered up slightly, her voice sounding much less confident then it did a few moments ago. "If you were truly gone, the human side of you i mean. If he was truly gone, you wouldn't keep coming back. You'd stop hearing me out when i plead, and you wouldn't bother holding me when i run to you again and again. But you do, so clearly, even though you won't admit it, you have hope that you can be happy again."

His cold eyes softened slightly, only enough for her to notice. "The day i give up on you is the day i see you bleeding out in the snow. Until then ill keep trying, i mean... we have forever anyway right?"

"Don't you get tired of waiting on me?" The cold air filled her lungs as she took in a deep breath and hummed "No, not really" "Were doing nothing but going in circles." She sighed "If it's you, i don't mind going in circles, even if we have to do it for eternity." She smiled slightly, and he hated to admit it to himself but maybe a piece of him was still human. Seeing her smile, her fangs slightly peeking out from her lips, was something he missed more than anything while he was hiding, it made his heart feel like it was beating again, even for a split second.

He was scared of hurting her, of draining her of all her hope and happiness, but more than that he was scared of losing her, even if he'd never say that.

He'll probably run away again, and they'll probably have to start over like they have for months now, but their cold hands feel warm within each other, and their past regrets disappear when they're together, so even if they do keep going in circles, he knows he'll keep coming back, no matter what.

note: haii!!! Im back for now, the riki vampire fics have made me want to write again, and i currently have a weird obsession with vampires! idk why! But I'll probably expand on this/write a new rk vampire story in all !! ദ്ദി ˵ •̀ᵥ_ᵥ- ˵

lowk couldn't figure out how to end this so it's poorly done and this whole thing is lowk ass dookie, sorry ^^