What's your fav [or one of your favorite] scenes in Frayed Knots and/or Origin of the Pixies?
Thanks for the Ask!
One of my favorite Origin chapters is Chapter 42, "The Unicorn Years." Sanderson is finally an adult and it shows in how he sticks up for himself and calls H.P. out on his procrastination habits. He's no longer the suck-up he used to be, and their duality is great:
I lay across my desk, hands grasping the far side. That's what I was doing when Sanderson pinged in. "How much have you written, sir?" he asked primly. He didn't try to suggest he'd been pushy and overbearing this morning, but the milkshake in his hand was a peace offering. That was obvious enough.
"Um…" I looked down. "I have 'Hawkins, I like how you made square motions instead of pretty elf swirls' and 'Wilcox, if eggs didn't suck, you'd be an egg.' Um. It's a first draft."
I think he muffled a snort. "And mine, sir?"
"Oh… yeah. I forgot you were getting one too. I'll start it later." He shook the vanilla milkshake a bit, and I finally swiped it from his hand. "Compliments aren't my thing, Sanderson. And truthful critiques on Day 1 might shatter them. I'll get into the flow one of these days, but breaking the ice is hard. What did you tell them?"
"Boss, I'm going to stop you right there because that would be plagiarism." He hovered behind my shoulder, sipping from his straw… then grabbed the papers from my desk and pinged away. Okay, wow.
I flopped back in my chair, kicking up my legs. Knowing him like I did, there wasn't a doubt in my mind he was presenting those to Hawkins and Wilcox right now, articulate or not. Sanderson's a person who gets things done stupid early and then sits on his buns all week waiting for new instructions. I may struggle with procrastination, but at least I do useful stuff during said procrastination time. Who's more successful each day, I ask you.
But, I got my preening circle after lunch on Friday. The instant they all left, I pinged to my office and scribbled my reports. It pleased me like nothing else to thrust those into Sanderson's hands when I saw him in the hall.
"Here. Shove these in your uptight pouch and do a backflip, punk."
"How many words?" he asked, scanning them.
"400 apiece."
"I wrote 800."
He broke a smile when I yanked the reports back and smacked them at his head. Stupid punk kid.
^ This is quintessential Sanderson (to me)...
In "Unicorn Years," Sanderson finally recognizes his role as alpha retinue drone (i.e. that it's a legit high-ranking role in Fae society and his co-workers respect and report to him- it's not a fake title H.P. made up because of his separation anxiety).
That moment H.P. tells Sanderson the reason Hawkins and Wilcox are nervous is because they want to impress Sanderson, not him... That's /chef's kiss.
In the next chapter ("Letters and Numbers"), Sanderson cuts a deal with H.P. that he's willing to give up his alpha drone status as long as he gets to keep his music. I really like how I showed how Sanderson values his job, appreciates the status, and is good at this job all in one chapter before he throws it into the void. Love that for him.
Chapter 34 of Knots is a favorite. I really like the migration arcs, especially the recent one in the mid-30 chapters. I love when Anti-Cosmo mingles with other Anti-Fairies and speaks in Vatajasa. I love him asking his relatives for interspecies love life advice- It's such a contrast to H.P., who was tossed out of his family just for being born with freckles.
I like when he asks his nana about her Fairy ex-husband and she straight-up tells him that if he's into fairy wings, he's better off finding an Anti-Fairy willing to dress in costume. Such a slap in the face and it fuels him with stubborn rage.
I love how Anti-Cosmo flits around migration blatantly explaining to the reader all the convoluted reasons why he's totally not cheating on his betrothed. He's such a mess.
I love Prince Eastkal demanding that his anti-fairy counterpart be brought to meet him and Anti-Cosmo just stands there in shock at how rude and inappropriate it is to show up and expect Anti-Eastkal can drop everything to meet with him. It's not a big moment, but those hints of culture and Anti-Cosmo experiencing things that H.P. wouldn't think about in Origin are my favorites.
I like the conflict between Anti-Cosmo and Jorgen when Anti-Cosmo absolutely refuses to admit that he saved Prince Eastkal's life several chapters ago. I like Jorgen's dawning realization that Anti-Cosmo got arrested for being over the border... Jorgen's starting to put the pieces together.
I appreciate how Anti-Cosmo stands up for his culture and his friends but he's also just blatantly sexist because that's how he was raised in Anti-Fairy World.
The parallel of Anti-Cosmo calling out racial inequality H.P. is oblivious to while H.P. calls out gender inequality that A.C. overlooks really emphasizes that both societies are flawed and you can compare and contrast the cultures... I like the worldbuilding a lot.
[Cnt'd under the cut] -
I really like the scene at the end of Knots Chapter 35 where Anti-Cosmo visits H.P. to get a letter of recommendation for school :)
I like how Sanderson comes to the door all groggy and it's not even because he was sleeping, it's because he was carving soap sculptures.
I like Sanderson pausing before knocking on the wooden door to ask Anti-Cosmo if that will give him a migraine and Anti-Cosmo being surprised that Sanderson thought about that.
In Origin, H.P. regularly diminishes Sanderson's abilities in an attempt to deny connection and/or excuse his own neglect towards Sanderson. Anti-Cosmo gives Sanderson all the dues he's owed (and will continue to do so for the rest of the story).
In the 130 Prompts, Sanderson's relationship with A.C. is very complicated... so I like slipping in these foreshadowing clues so that when everything breaks loose later, you can see these hints of why Sanderson starts to waver in his loyalty and why Anti-Cosmo tolerates him.
I also like Sanderson's comment that if H.P. is "too busy to find out what Sanderson wants, he's too busy to be mad that Sanderson made his own decisions." Even sleepy, Sanderson is better at handling things than he's normally allowed to be- he is the alpha drone in the retinue, after all.
I love how Anti-Cosmo notices that H.P. went out of his way to design hotel rooms for Anti-Fairy visitors even though Anti-Fairies are banned from visiting. It foreshadows H.P.'s upcoming neutrality and we start leaning into the reasons why H.P. and Anti-Cosmo are future allies and friends- because H.P. (for all his horrendous cultural blunders) will still make the effort to cater to others' needs).
I love the entire concept of A.C. asking H.P. for a letter of rec even though they barely know each other. All those side mentions of babysitting from earlier chapters came back to pay off.
I love the breakfast scene, especially H.P. talking about Iris:
"If she was after money, she wouldn't have turned me down when I tried to court her. I'm very desirable. By the way, her toxic trait is that she roots for the Centipedes in saucerbee and their roster totally sucks. Other than that, she's pretty dazzled."
"You're interested in courting her?" I asked, pulling back. "Oh. I thought you were a…"
The Head Pixie turned to look at me again, stone-faced. "Be very careful in considering how you want to end that sentence, Anti-Cosmo."
H.P.'s choppy cadence (with all his random casual words) is my favorite to write. I also think it's hilarious that he's still pining after Iris but doesn't even ask A.C. to put in a good word for him to her (in return for the letter of rec). Instead, he just wants A.C. to help Iris network. It's the little things... He cares.
I love how A.C. is so smart and yet so oblivious. He spends the story thinkin the Pixie race is dying out. Absolute shock to him when he finds out their population is reproducing exponentially. My dude, how did you screw this one up. No one can be more wrong than you.
H.P. tells him to his face "I don't experience attraction" and A.C. twists that in his mind to mean "He's embarrassed to admit he likes someone." It's one of those little things that Anti-Wanda gets and A.C. doesn't. I love the A.W.-H.P. dynamic so much.
I really like the bit where Anti-Cosmo asks H.P. for interspecies romantic advice and H.P. turns a circle, clearly looking for something, leaves, then comes back with nothing. Just... dipped.
Literally everything about the A.C.-H.P. dynamic is comedy gold to me. There are a few specific instances where Anti-Cosmo gets to take shots at H.P. and embarrass him, but it's usually H.P. being snarky towards A.C. and it cracks me up. Look at them:
"Show affection someplace nice and she'll want to keep coming back. Don't be weird and kiss at the grocery store or in an old shed or you'll be stuck circling back around to it. And if you want something long-term to come out of this, then you'd better build a yidreamu. Traditionally it's the partner with the smaller lift who builds it, so…" He stopped then, surveying my crown. "… Yikes. Start clipping coupons, maybe."
I reached up to graze my black crown with my fingertips, my face flushing dark with cold. I did have a pathetic lift, barely two finger widths above my head, but did he really have to say it? "Th-thank you for the advice… That's all I need to know, really."
I like how we had that previous chapter where Anti-Lance called H.P. out for being "a creep" towards the much younger Anti-Cosmo- which is very justified! But also, they just hang out like this:
"Back in the Spring of the Silver Silk, I placed a curse on you that prevents flowers from lasting more than one night under your roof. I believe we confirmed said curse was still active this past migration. Did you find the counter-spell?"
"No. I just started keeping commelinas in my house because they die in like, one day anyway, so it's not a waste. I'm giving them a home."
"Why do you bother replacing them?"
The older pixie looked at me, caught off guard despite his practised pixie patience. I could tell. "Because it means I win. Here." He took one of the blue flowers from the vase and handed it to me. "For you."
[...]
"Your attention to detail is impeccable," I remarked, twirling the commelina in my hand.
"Thanks. I'm imprisoned by obsessive compulsions, severe hyperfixations, and crippling executive dysfunction."
H.P. is so stubborn. He's so shocked that Anti-Cosmo would even ask him why he bothered. He's so blinded to his own quirks. It's great.
I like how H.P. straps Anti-Cosmo in a bungee cord harness and lets him steer his cloudship, but in the far future, Anti-Cosmo never lets Foop drive his cloudship. It's just a fun, dynamic chapter all around.
My writing style has improved a lot since I started this 'fic, but I still like Chapter 2. I really like how it opens with Anti-Cosmo being dragged down the hall by his foot and forced to commit emergency marsupial pouch-slicing rescue procedures.
I love starting longfics off with that reminder that you're in for something weird, so if you can't tolerate this splash of weirdness upfront, the rest of the 'fic won't be to your tastes either. Frayed Knots really throws you in and I like it for that.
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Davit: Well, ah, we got a call from Torus Entertainment.
Yeon Hee: Lost Boys’ agency?
Davit: Yeah, that’s what this is about. Apparently, they were working on a soundtrack for SMBS’ new drama, but their vocalist dropped out.
Yeon Hee: But there’s vocalists in Lost Boys?
Davit: That’s… not what I mean.
Davit: They needed a female vocalist. But the original girl got sick, and they’ve got a deadline. So they asked for you.
Yeon Hee: Oh! I, um… it isn’t as VEiLA though, is it?
Davit: Well, not as a group, no, but VEiLA’s recent popularity is why you got that call.
Rae: You’re not sick of us by now? I thought you’d love getting away from us for a few days.
Yeon Hee: I just… I wanna be VEiLA, always. And idols getting solo work really skews popularity…
Rae: It’s no different than Aemi or Noa’s modelling stuff. None of us are going to be offended.
Yeon Hee: If you’re sure… I mean, if you’re sure I can even pull it off…
Rae: Yeah she’s doing it. Tell them she’ll be right there.
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going on a 1am rant cuz I can't sleep but i personally HATE seeing comments as in " so underrated" "it's such a shame they aren't known" "they deserve more" i get that the sentiment itself is with no malintention it bothers me
usually it happens to come from random people who aren't fans of said idol or group which always rubs me the wrong was as in you're just passing by throwing a penny as charity
I've been recently engaging more with woo!ah ! content for exemple and keep seeing these type of comments on their covers stages mv..... it's more prevalent than any other discussion about the actual video or members itself
in my opinion it both under values the effort idols make to get themselves out of the mud but also drown away all opportunities to have a talk about their abilities and performances
again it might just be me nitpicking (i am very sensitive to these kind of things ) but it's somehow even worse when its coming from someone who's a fan of a bigger group ? it feels more or less like a pity remark that goes more along the lines of " oh you poor little thing"
if i was someone who worked day and night to make my group or career more known i would be pissed seeing these comments undermining my effort pointing out at how insignificant and insufficient they are
just needed to get that out of my chest
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i just really dont get it like how does cube just keep fumbling the bag over and over and over again,,, multigenerationally!!!! there has not been a single group under that label that hasn’t been mistreated and it’s so crazy to me because they just keep getting new trainees and training them SO well to be idols and then they pump them out into a new group and now all of a sudden theyre dead to them like HOW do they keep getting away with this!!!
anon do you LIVE INSIDE MY HEAD cause i have been thinking about this exact same thing for WEEKS now, like. the quality of the groups they debut is so high, especially considering blue box entertainment is not one of the big 3 (or big 4 ig but idc about h*be). like, you would think that should not be possible. and the kind of success their groups had? cannot be ignored either. btob's missing you, pentagon's shine, beast's, like. entire discography but songs like fiction, on rainy days, shock, beautiful night, 12:30 ETCETERA ........ those are songs that are part of the canon of, like, the general public's pop cultural knowledge. we are talking about people who don't give a damn about the whole kpop machinery just knowing these songs because that is how undeniable they were and still are.
anyways, and then you have fucking cube entertainment, the evilest entity to grace the industry past h*be's and lee sooman's gates or whatever ....... at this point, it is baffling. and i don't even get anymore what they are doing. what is the point of debuting new groups only to immediately forget about them? what is the point of antagonizing your groups until they sue their way out (and form their own label. historically. lol)? what is the point of all of this, it is not even for the sake of, like. success anymore. because if cube would have had one business savvy bone in that company they would have never treated beast the way they did, and pentagon would have had 3 cbs since feelin' like to capitalize on that momentum. but, like. whatever.
it is just so aggravating to watch it happen over and over again. it's like no group will ever be good enough for them. you can sell millions of singles and they won't give a fuck either way. 😭
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