#does anybody have any insight or advice on this

[midknightwritings]

im having the biggest brainrot over this idea so yay req time

au where knights (seperatly) are royalty and their s/o is their own personal knight,,, and Shenanigans happen with each of them,, God i hope this makes sense im not very good with words 😭

Royal!Knights & their Knight!S/O

Synopsis : Being the personal knight tasked with protecting and directly serving your kingdom’s ruler often leads to eventful, and memorable, moments. Especially when said ruler is also your lover.

Era : N / A

Warning/s : "Beauty" is used once as a gender-neutral descriptor

Mentioned Character/s : G/N!Reader / Tsukasa / Leo / Izumi / Arashi / Ritsu

A/N : Anon… YOUR BRAIN IS SO MASSIVE FOR THIS !! Omg now I’m brainrotting over this idea too cuz I’m such a sucker for royal AUs 😭 But for the sake of the fluff, just imagine that their kingdom is open to the idea of royals being in a relationship with anybody, regardless of their status LMAO

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Tsukasa Suou :

Tsukasa deeply respects your opinion because he knows that you want the best for him and his people. During meetings, he would often seek out your advice. From military tactics to what colour the banners should be for the upcoming festival, Tsukasa trusts you with all his heart and will accept your guidance with open arms. If he's busy with important matters, other castle personnel would seek you out instead as they know that your insight will be the closest to what their king would desire.

He always invites you to tea time !! Tsukasa says it's a reward for working so diligently but you know the truth~ This is the only time he can drop his royal facade and be himself. He wants to share these intimate moments with the one he loves the most !! Mmm~ The taste of this brioche is marvelous !! Here, take a bite. You'll love it~

Tsukasa deeply admires your skills as a knight and secretly desires to train alongside you. One day, you noticed this and decided to personally train your lover in sword-fighting. Now, sword training became a part of his weekly schedule and, even though it gets tiring at times, Tsukasa still holds these moments with you close to his heart~ After all, he's doing something he's passionate about with you !! What more could he ask for?

In the late hours of the night, when the castle is quiet and everyone's asleep, Tsukasa would sometimes sneak out of his bedroom and into the kitchen to try and teach himself how to bake. He does this because he wants to give you a [ F/F ] cake one day !! It's quite difficult to be quiet AND to teach himself at the same time but he's trying his best !!

During royal balls, he's such a gentleman when it comes to entertaining the guests, but if you catch him at the right moments, you'll be able to see how his eyes often glance towards you. How his gaze lingers on you for a while as a soft smile grace his lips. Once the ball is over, he'll gently take your hand and guide you to the castle gardens, where he would ask if he could have this dance. Eyes full of love and his smile never faltering, he'll take your hand in his and hum a familiar tune as you both dance under the moonlight.

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Leo Tsukinaga :

You’re the only one in the entire kingdom who can somehow find your king every time he gets lost when he’s out composing. Initially, your fellow knights were panicking as they ran around the entire castle trying to track down the king. After all, he couldn’t possibly have gone far !! R-right…? Well… As the royal guards were checking every nook and cranny to ever exist, your instincts casually guided you to where your lover was. Without hesitation, you found Leo instantly. To this day, nobody can truly comprehend just how impressive your Leo-radar is, and it amazes them every time.

Leo straight up wouldn’t let you call him “your highness”, “your majesty”, “my lord” or any honorific similar to those. This is because he loves the way his actual name rolls off your tongue as he finds his royal titles to be too suffocating. Hearing “Leo” come from you, his lover, makes him feel like Leo, a person, rather than Leo, the king. He would get pouty if you use honorifics in royal meetings or gatherings but understands why you used them [ no matter how much he dislikes them ] but, if you use those same honorifics when you're both alone, he would either pretend that he can’t hear you or say things like, “Aaahhh~!! Who are you talking to? I don’t know who this ‘your highness’ person is~”

The amount of songs Leo composed that's inspired by you is astounding !! You don’t realize just how much inspiration Leo gains from you as his muse. Your eyes could tentatively scan through the crowd for any dangers and Leo already came up with a whole symphony !! You glanced at him from across the room and gave him a soft smile during a meeting? Well… Now the meeting turned into several advisors holding their king back from composing on the royal map !! No matter what you do, whether it’s a conscious or unconscious choice, a melody immediately fills Leo��s mind and he can’t help but write !! He hopes to one day create a symphony that, in his eyes, can truly capture your beauty entirely.

During royal balls, Leo would flat out refuse to dance with anybody except you. It doesn’t matter if they’re the heir to the richest kingdom in the country or if they’re the most sought out ruler for marriage; Without hesitation, he'd immediately turn them down. For Leo, waltzing is something intimate as he views it as a way where partners become one as they synchronize with one another through music. He doesn’t want to share something as sacred as this with anyone else except you.

Even when you're not on duty, Leo would still find a way to be with you. Oh? You're going to town? What a coincidence !! Leo needed to check the progress on the upcoming festival, why not accompany him there? You're relaxing in your room? Knock, knock~ The king is free for tea time and is wondering if you could please grace him with your presence~ Whether you're on duty or not, being by each other's side gives you both a sense of comfort that no one else can give.

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Izumi Sena :

Izumi deeply cares about you but shows it through more subtle means. Actions speak louder than words, after all !! He tries to keep up his image of royalty but, if you squint hard enough, you can easily see that facade crumbling if he notices something off from you any way, shape or form. So here, take a seat !! You've been standing all day long, right? Huh?! What do you mean "You're ok”?! Are you disobeying the direct orders from your king? Mhmm~ That’s what he thought~

If you’re not on duty, Izumi's seemingly more grumpier than usual. This sometimes causes the entire castle to practically walk on eggshells because they don’t want to inconvenience their king even more than he apparently is. Though, his mood would instantly shift the moment his eyes land on you. He’ll definitely request for the two of you to walk around the castle gardens just to compensate for the lost time you were not with him~

Izumi hates seeing you fall into unhealthy habits even if you can’t help it sometimes. As the knight that directly serves him, it’s your duty to protect your lover but, even then, he still wouldn't have any of it !! He’ll make you swear to go to bed after escorting him to his bedroom, never skip meals even if you have training right after and take adequate amounts of breaks. This is to help you stay competent in emergency situations and it’s totally not because he’s worried for your personal well-being or anything like that !!

Izumi will personally style your uniform when it comes to important gatherings such as balls, festivals, meetings, etc. He would often add small trinkets from his own accessory collection as a subtle way to connect the two of you together. Izumi would never say anything, but when your gaze alternates between the shining brooch on his tie and the similar one he’s putting on you right now, you can't help but softly smile. If you're quick enough, you might even catch just how much his eyes shine with love and admiration for you, and you alone.

Although Izumi puts up the “strong king” facade for his people, during the rare, quiet moments between the two of you, filled with comfort and relief, he’ll shed away that persona and become a man who’s completely head-over-heels for the amazing knight that’s been by his side this entire time. Embracing you protectively in his arms, he’ll hum a soft tune that lulls you to sleep as the rhythmic beating of his heart accompanies the sweet lullaby that’ll only be heard by you.

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Arashi Narukami :

Arashi definitely has an entire section of the castle gardens dedicated to flowers that reminded her of you. Ranging from roses, to honeysuckles, to sunflowers, peonies, hydrangeas and more. This section of her garden is honestly the most stunning and guests are often left in 'awe' by its sheer beauty every time they visit the castle. Arashi personally maintains the flowers herself as a way to further dedicate herself to you.

She dresses up in pretty gowns and outfits in order to impress you. She would sometimes sneak in subtle questions or comments to figure out what your favourite colours, aesthetic, and overall style is before she would ask the royal tailor to incorporate those elements in her next outfit. Her heart never fails to skip a beat when you look at her with wide eyes and lips slightly agape when you see her wear the outfit for the first time. Don’t worry though~ She’s always one-step ahead as she requested the tailor to create a matching outfit for you. So now you’re both matching !!

She openly dotes on you and doesn’t care if others are watching. You’re actually the one that tries to stay professional but that plan immediately fails the moment your beloved queen cups your cheeks in her hands and plants a ton of kisses on your face. It doesn’t matter if you just finished training or if you were tasked with guarding the dining room door, Arashi wants to show the world how much she loves you~

During the more stressful days, you would help sneak Arashi out of the castle and take her to a secluded area of the town that’s filled with stray cats. You would feed them, play with them and take care of them together as a way to help her unwind and de-stress. Arashi even named every single cat and they love her so much that they would often sneak into the castle grounds just to visit Arashi for some caresses !! From then on, during tea time, there would be a ton of cats surrounding both you and Arashi as the two of you would caress them while enjoying each other's presence.

If Arashi ever needs a partner or an escort, she will always choose you without any hesitation !! It doesn’t matter that you’re literally her personal knight [ which puts you on automatic escort duty ], she’ll still say your name first without any second thoughts. A free pass to hold your hand and have you protectively stay by her side outside her kingdom? Sign her up !!

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Ritsu Sakuma :

Being Ritsu’s personal knight automatically makes you his pillow !! He gets lulled to sleep so easily when he’s touching you, whether he's laying on your lap, feeling you gently stroke his hair, hugging you, or just feeling your uniform in between his fingers. They all give him a sense of comfort that relieves him from the stresses of being a royal. Oftentimes, if you’re not by his side, Ritsu would reach out to try to find you and, when he finally does, he’ll pull you close and snuggle into you. Good luck trying to escape his grasp~

His most common mode of transportation during the day is you carrying him bridal style. The kingdom is nocturnal in order to accommodate for the royal family but, there are times where he needs to stay awake during the day for meetings or other important gatherings. During days like these, castle personnel can catch you carrying him in your arms. Ritsu would be snuggled close to your chest as you try to wake him up with a soft smile and gentle voice.

Ritsu loves to tease you as he enjoys seeing your reactions !! Most of his teasing would happen when you’re being serious or stoic because he wants to see how much you can handle before your persona breaks and you become a blushing, stuttering mess. To others, it’s quite the sight seeing their majesty get [ playfully ] scolded by his personal knight, but Ritsu would always laugh it off and tease you even further. This results in you losing your cool completely as you try to hide your blushing face with your hands. He’ll give you a ton of kisses to make up for it though, so don’t worry~

He’s very perceptive when it comes to your emotions and would often bring you to a quiet area of the castle [ under "your majesty's orders” ] if he ever notices you getting overwhelmed or stressed. No matter how many times you insist that you’re fine and nothing’s wrong, Ritsu knows better and will ignore your comments as he gently pushes your head onto his lap. Now this time, you’re the one who’s now laying on his lap as he gently strokes your hair. Ritsu will even sing you a soft lullaby, helping you relax as you eventually fall asleep; The comforting melody from his voice filling your ears.

You’re both protective over each other but Ritsu can be quite clingy~ He tends to stick to your side rather than the other way around. Usually, you’re ordered to provide the royal family with enough space, where you’re far enough for them to interact with others comfortably, but close enough to protect him from any sort of danger. Though, if you're too far from him, he’ll just pull you back close and ask why you’re trying to “escape” [ he knows you’re not, he’s just teasing you~ ] So now, Ritsu's draped over your shoulders as you support his weight, trying to explain for the 100th time that you're "just outside the door" and that you'll "be back once lunch is over."

[otakuhotgiirl]

i think i realize why i haven’t been trying to shift realities lately, here’s a lil insight of my dr job

so i’m actually a social worker in my better cr, although i think that i might change my career because after hearing a lot of cps horror stories & things like that, i think i’m actually scared to shift because i don’t wanna encounter something horrific, does anybody have any advice or tips ? (also in my cr, in the future i was gonna study in social worker but i think i changed my mind)

also if anybody can help me, please recommend me some important things to put in my script (for safety, not being traumatized & etc—also i’m sick of mfs saying that i can’t script out trauma, dude this is the multiverse stop playing rn .. i’ll js script that i don’t remember the trauma or something, okay ?)

[lunarifie]

The King and His Jester

Royalty AU part 1 / part 2

Story summary undercut

Kai The Jester -

- Kai is a runaway refugee finding solace in Adams kingdom. The kingdom he ran away from is similar to a third world country. The King and Queen don’t care for their subjects, all they care for is gaining power and winning wars.

- Kai’s King and Queen don’t take kindly to their citizens running away. They make deals with neighboring kingdoms to capture and return their refugees, in return for peace (not waging war) and trade.

- It is quite common for refugees to simply lie about where they come from, which is what Kai does.

- While in Adams kingdom, one of his favorite pass times is singing and playing the lute at pubs and on the streets, telling stories to whoever would listen. He is discovered this way and brought to the King as a potential Jester. (An idea recommended by either Reeve or Mira in Adams royal court, stating he should be able to have a laugh once and a while.)

- Kai immediately takes the position, enjoying his ability to entertain. (And perhaps receiving more protection against his previous kingdom in the confines of the palace walls.)

Adam The King -

- Adam took the title of King at an early age, shouldering a huge responsibility and forced to mature quickly.

- He was crowned King when both of his parents died leading their soldiers into battle. From then on, he swore to never fight in any war, making a deal with the King and Queen of his neighboring kingdom to return their refugees for peace.

- At first, he denies Mira and Reeve’s advice on the matter of a Jester. There are much more pressing matters to attend to, like leading a monarchy. He cannot waste his time entertaining frivolous concepts.

- Without his knowledge, a Jester is found. Adam is ready to deny the proposition, that is, until the Jester interrupts and is able to force a shocked laugh out of him.

- He is still a bit hesitant over the idea but agrees, adding the Jester to his royal court, as well as giving him a chamber in the palace in return for his entertainment.

- Adam realizes, that even though they’re both tense at first, they grow fond of each other over time. Adam finds it refreshing to have someone who can banter and state their opinions without fear of being reprimanded.

- At some point, Kai is practically an advisor to Adam. Adam asks what his Jester thinks of issues presented to him, and Kai will usually follow it up with advice hidden beneath a jest.

- Kai tries to use his position as a way to persuade Adam to stop sending refugees back to the other kingdom. But this issue seems to be the only one Adam won’t budge on, frustrating Kai immensely.

Jester Fun Facts! -

- “Only as the lowliest member of the court, can the jester be the monarch’s most useful adviser.”

- Something I love, is how the Jester had a special privilege. They had the ability to mock and joke freely without punishment. Jesters actually had symbols to represent this privilege, their hat representing a crown and their (marotte) mirroring a royal scepter.

- Thanks to this privilege, the Jester would be the one to give bad news to the King, news that no one else dared to give.

- In literature, the Jester is symbolic of common sense and honesty. In King Lear, the court Jester character is used for insight and advice on the monarch. A regular man would be detained for these ‘accusations.’

- Jesters were occasionally used as psychological warfare! Jesters would ride in front of their troops and provoke or mock the enemy. Imagine riding into battle the the first thing you hear is a Jester roasting you to your grave. They were also there to raise their armies spirits, singing songs and reciting stories.

- Jesters could be anybody. A university drop out, a denounced monk, the apprentice of a blacksmith, a poet, a musician, a scholar. They were often recruited by noblemen, and most were picked with dwarfism or ugly features.

[drdemonprince]

Have you read any of Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinhas works on disability? I find her stories especially about activism initiatives and groups like sins invalid but I've been completely thrown off by their use of "femmes" as an umbrella term. I'm worried I might be missing some context on the usefulness of the term because of my white context but ur recent post in response to a question abt womxn seemed like an insightful and confident assertion of the terms limitations so I wondered if you had any advice for navigating the kind of jarring experience of seeing someone use identity language in the pursuit of justice that feels super uncomfortable in its vagueness but being worried that your own internal prejudices might be the source of that discomfort.

It all comes down to discernment I think.

Fundamentally there's a degree of self-trust you have to build in your own ability to pool information and thought from a wide variety of sources, taking what is useful, releasing what is not, reflecting upon what challenges you in a meaningful way, and then synthesizing all of that into a greater understanding of the world that is distinctly your own, without finding it threatening that others are also doing the same thing with what information that they have and will always arrive somewhere slightly different.

I don't agree with their use of femmes. I have seen other activists of similar orientations use "femmes" to highlight the fact that a lot of organizing labor falls onto women, and I get what they're trying to do with the term -- and I think it's completely misplaced and that they'd have a better way of talking about it if their work was more informed by the contributions of transexual people, especially trans women. I think the perspectives of butch people and trans mascs are also largely absent from that analysis, particularly Black trans men.

But I don't expect anyone that I'm reading to be a perfect reflection of my own beliefs and my politics. I am the reflection of what I know and believe, I don't need anybody else to be that, and thus somebody having a slightly differing view or base of knowledge from me is not an existential threat.

Whenever I notice that someone does use different language from my own, I pay close attention to what they are meaningfully saying, and I ask myself whether their use of language reflects a set of biases that skews their overall worldview.

In many authors who use language like "women and femmes," I do very much see an exclusion of butch women, nonbinary people, trans men, and trans women, and a lack of awareness of how being perceived as masculine effects Black trans people. But this is revealed to me by their broader attitudes, the way they summarize and explain social problems, the examples they choose to give, and the overall deeper content of what they are saying -- not their choice of a single term or another. I take a person with a grain of salt if they use that term -- but I still take them.

On the whole there's a lot to be valued within that authors' work. And they also have areas where I think they are less prepared to be a reliable source of expertise. And the same can certainly be said for me. In general I think we need to stop searching for catchall gender terms -- especially those of us who are transmisogyny exempt and/or non Black and distinctly positioned to not really "get" the ways that we're failing at it, and that includes both Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinhas and me.

[aniposting]

something weird i've noticed in my life is that my depressive state often revolves around whether or not i've had good sleep.

and this is even more evident now that i sleep with a CPAP machine -- it's a really insightful thing, because i'm actually able to dictate whether or not i will be able to do anything the next day

if i don't use my CPAP for 4+ hours during sleep, i notice i wake up super drowsy, and experience what i can only describe as "low spoons"/"no spoons" with the spoon theory. it causes my depressive thoughts to be worse, my anxiety to be worse, more inflammation, more... everything bad that can happen to me.

does anybody else experience this?

also side note, any CPAP users have advice for tearing the mask off while i'm asleep? i don't wake up during the night, i sleep right through and find it's off in the morning.

my chart usually shows i either sleep with it on all night or take it off ~2hr into my sleep. it's really annoying because i'm not within compliance anymore like this and i'm so lucky i'm not in review right now, but i'll be up for it again soon so i need help

[luveline]

𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐣𝐚𝐝𝐞 —this one might be silly but I'm always asking you guys for advice so I thought it might be fun to offer the same, ask me a question about love or life or something much less dramatic and I'll tell you what I think

hey baby i need some advice however i am in fear of sounding silly. okay so i get into these obsessions, right? whether it's a tv show, music or an artist, a movie, book, or character, i am constantly raving about it. at first it was just fun and normal but now it's evolved into something else and it becomes pretty toxic. like, for example right now (and yes i am aware of how stupid i sound) it's spencer reid. and i kid you not i have screamed into my pillow and sobbed to my mother about how much i love him. he's FAKE. HES NOT REAL. so how do i get these huge feelings over people who don't even exist?? it's hard to put into words because it feels bigger than i can say, but it's becoming a problem. i have friends who are so outgoing and carefree, and they could just walk up to somebody and tell them they are interested in them. but the thought of that makes me want to bawl. and it's not even like i would have people to like anyway! i would never in a million years be interested in anybody remotely close to me. and why does it have to be me that reaches out? i want this SO bad but i think i'm just too insecure that there is no one out there that would treat me the way i want to be treated. i don't think i'm ugly, but i also don't think i'm gorgeous either. i have my moments of feeling really confident but those are brief and only ever when i'm wearing makeup. i'm just feeling like one colossal mess and i don't know how to fix it. is this normal? cause it doesn't feel normal. im a teenager but it feels like this will last forever. that was a lot im sorry, you don't have to respond i just really needed to vent 😭 however if you do read this i will take whatever you give me. i have lots of respect for you and i'll love whatever you have to say. xo 🩷

I don't relate so heavily to your interests becoming toxic to you, I don't mean to insist or assume medical diagnoses on you, so if I'm out of bounds I apologise deeply, but there's something called 'hyperfixating' that could give you some comfort or some insight into why you may be feeling this way if you wanted to have a look!

As for the rest I totally know how you feel, I think many young women can relate to feeling extremely insecure — I think it is very common (but that's not to say fair) to feel as you're feeling, like a big mess! I understand that it doesn't feel normal because it is your life and every feeling becomes all encompassing, the mess feels out of control, and you feel maybe a little alien in society and even your own body, but if you're worried that this isn't something other people are feeling I can confidently tell you that lots of people feel this way. but I'm so sorry because that's not going to make any of it better. I'm only two years (nearly three) older than you and I can tell you that this feeling has gotten better and less rampant for me as I've gotten older, I wouldn't say I was more confident but just having more control, more autonomy, and more perspective has helped me feel less like I'm going to explode into nothing constantly. Plus, there are resources to be used if you can manage it that can help you feel better, because while it is common for you to feel as you do it isn't normal per say, like. I feel like most people I know can tell you they've felt that way, but there's a huge majority of people who don't. If you're feeling like you have low self esteem, like you're never going to be loved, this isn't a totally hopeless thing in my opinion, and there are things you can do and help you can seek to help you cope with these feelings before they metastasize. You're perfectly loveable as you are, but it's okay to worry about the future so long as you dodon't start thinking it's hopeless —starkly, if you start to worry or feel that way, it could be that you're becoming depressed, which is again normal but not something you need to do alone.

I'm sorry if I sound like a freak but i wanted to give you advice that was both personal and helpful. My biggest point is that you're not alone in feeling how you feel and that you don't deserve to feel that way, because you're someone who deserves to feel confident and loved and to have a healthy relationship with love, and so that's why I'd encourage you to seek some help or just some comfort if you need it. I really hope you feel okay and you feel better soon!

[tiredassmage]

Glass case of emotions, but also Tyr under the microscope again, I still have no answers. Only many thoughts. Maybe some vague insight extrapolated from... whatever the fuck is going on in this. No promises though.

Hottest rotating record at the moment is... the unintentional(?) mirror Tyr’s developed. The emotional damage uncovered in this answer (last question in particular) hasn’t weakened in persistence and I’m suffering from the realization that it’s... how Tyr’s relationship with both the Minister and Ardun Kothe ultimately plays out.

They’re father figures. They’re his mentors. He respects them. They made mistakes. They speak in veils and out of the corners of their mouths and only in private about the depth of the relationship. Explicitly, that bond doesn’t get stated. While they did what they could, maybe it didn’t save him. They ran as much damage control as they could.

Tyr has never been able to explicitly trust someone. Even in family, there was always a purpose to interactions. Can I really be surprised then that, even with someone he loves, he would think “duplicity in the name of the greater good” is viable? Is it really any or such a surprise that he’s willing to remold himself for a cause, to make ends meet, even if it scares him that he has no good answer for who he is, what he values at the core?

It’d maybe almost scare him that he’s willing to mutate and mutilate what those values are for the sake of another, so that they don’t have to. He’s not a perfect ideal, but what he keeps fighting for.. Ideals. Ideas. Are people really grounding points if he’s willing to risk himself for the goal? So uncompromising, yet so, so malleable.

They’re, of course, not the only contributing factors, but I’m a little not okay about it all, lmao.

But the care that’s still there!!!! Acknowledging their missteps. The indirect recognition of their similarities. Idk where I’m going anymore, like three directions at once, probably.

Possibly the one glaring difference between Tyr and the two men he considers mentors and father figures is that he chose Intelligence. The Minister describes it as an initial “distraction” to his military career. Ardun was a Jedi mentions the change, that maybe whoever he was as a Jedi isn’t compatible with who we meet as the SIS operative. Tyr, however, was offered a place among Imperial Intelligence’s ranks and didn’t hesitate.

As Keeper, the old man muses that he’s perhaps idealistic. He believes in serving the Empire, though Keeper’s worries about not being wholly prepared for the bleaker reality of that task are semi-misplaced just as much as they are ultimately wholly accurate. Tyr isn’t as blindly rose-tinted about it as he could be, but what he goes through is still more than enough. (Something something prepared for it to not be a beautiful oil painting, still incapable of ever being prepared for just how deep the rabbit hole went and, really, could you expect anybody to be that prepared without a heapload of prior digging?)

Anyway, what he did believe - what proves to be so idealistic is genuinely working for that checks and balances. That the purpose of having something like Intelligence at all was to defend the Empire and its people. It’s shredded, like so many other similar efforts, by the infighting and the power plays. Absolute destruction within their own borders does naught to stay devastation, so why would it be any different against their enemies?

It crops up again in one of those last conversations - goals instead of ideals.

How to heart did he take that advice? Lokin and Tyr never grow particularly close, but there’s almost never been a finer assessment than how he walks a thin line - Lokin says between “ingenuity and obedience,” I believe. Some mutation of ideals and goals seem to be the basis of Tyr’s bottom lines - what very few it seems he’s capable of holding to.

The standards for him, for Cipher Nine, have always been shifting, changing, mutable, amorphous - the inescapable nature for being a librarian and keeper of secrets for a career, so he continues to inflict such upon himself.

On one hand, maybe it’s one of the only supporting beams that keeps something as ludicrous as challenging the would-be immortal once-Emperor of the Sith within this realm of “why the cursed hell not as if we weren’t already all insane enough” instead of sending him running or cowering like maybe anyone with an ounce of good sense would. What’s a wayward rogue operative with a blaster against one of the most powerful Force users that ever lived?

Tired of your damn shit apparently is what he is.

He can’t think too hard about his problems and I can’t think too hard about his problems. He’d probably have a breakdown if he did and I’m left here making concerned scientist faces at the complex jigsaw puzzle I just found under the rug and maybe he does have the right idea, what if we left that there kaldnflkadfnla;dsfnldsf

[realtalk-princeton]

I am a riding junior in ECE, and I’m wondering, does anyone have advice on deciding whether to do independent work/research during the carlab semester? I’ve never done any independent work at Princeton and want to gain experience, but I also don’t want to have to compromise either the independent work or carlab due to not having enough time for both in the same semester. Would you recommend taking on IW during carlab?

I am a rising junior ECE major, and I’m wondering if anyone has any insight on whether I’m prepared to take COS429 (computer vision)— I saw on the course page that it is highly recommended that students take COS217 before attempting 429, but it is not required. I’ve taken COS 126, 226, and 324 and have no experience with C programming language . Anybody who (knows someone who) has taken 429 and can offer advice on whether I should have some familiarity w assembly code or should take cos217 before 429??

posting both of these in case any readers have insights!

[resumewriting]

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[pangolinheart]

Oh, thank you for taking the time to write this up, and for the interesting insight! The big bang story sounds like a good read with an interesting concept, so I'll definitely have to keep an eye out for it! Writing for exchanges or events or as gifts for friends are really the only writing I do anymore (and the most fun kind - though I haven't done one in many years.) The concept for this one sounds like something up my alley, so maybe I'll peruse the tag this coming April!

Writing is hard work, so I'm always impressed by people who put the time and effort into it! It's a skill you have to constantly practice, so I always assume that people who write a lot must have a lot of passion for it. One of the reasons One of the reasons I gave up on my own writing was because of a (good!) piece of advice I was often given: you should write for yourself and because you love it, not for other people to read. Even though I've done it on and off since I was in elementary school, writing is still a slow, difficult, and painstaking process - less like "flowing," as some people describe it and more like taking a pickaxe and prying individual words out of a stone wall, then trying to cobble together sentences and stories using Elmer's glue and string. I was never happy with the end result, no matter how much I reworked and edited. Everything always looked so much better in my head! Then I would be so mortified by it that I would have to work up the courage to go back and edit it, which is kind of silly in retrospect (I definitely wouldn't count myself among my own readership lol). While it was an interesting challenge sometimes, I'm not sure that I could really call it fun, or say that I "loved" it. The part I mostly enjoyed was having something I could share with other people - though most of the time I only shared it with a handful of friends, who tried to be encouraging. I recognize that's not always a healthy place to create from, so I figured writing wasn't for me. Once in a very long while I'll get the inexplicable urge to type something up, but usually it's not accompanied by a corresponding idea of what I want to type up. (I did write one thing this way but only posted it because the tag was so dead I felt like I didn't have to worry about anybody seeing it so it wouldn't be too embarrassing.)

I definitely enjoy little ask games and character questions - it's a nice way to connect with people and usually doesn't require the envisioning of a scenario. But I don't know if I'll ever do any real writing for Rhiki. I don't even have a backstory for her after all this time, so it's hard to say if she has any "selling points" or quintessential features that define her or make her unique. I'm not sure she would even be fun to read about. (I had, like, 1/3rd of an idea during ShB but by the end I realized that fundamental lore made it logistically unfeasible. Plus I couldn't think of any satisfying way for it to end.) Coming up with interesting concepts for characters has never been a particular strong suit of mine (which is why I'm terrible at TTRPGs like D&D). That's what got me wondering about how other people generate and develop characters and stories, and what other people find interesting about the things that they read, and I really appreciate the responses I've gotten! Though you're right, it is quite difficult to apply most advice to your own work.

I hope this didn't sound like complaining! I'm just turning things over in my mind. It does mean a lot to me that you replied to my post, though! I'll definitely keep doing little ask games and things as long as people keep sending them. Maybe I'll do some thinking about trying writing again, though I can't say if I'll work up the courage or if I do what form it will take. But you've given me some things to mull over, so thank you!

Writers are so powerful... How do you come up with things to write?? Where do the ideas come from? How do you know what people want to read? I will never understand.

[starryglittermaiden]

There havent been many times where I have explicitly been like "I'm ignoring canon" but today I truly found out how that feels

[megsmulti]

Chenford + you should break up with him

Thank you for the prompt anon!! This takes place after 4x17.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tim and Lucy were walking and talking in the hallway after parking the shop back in the garage of the district. It's been a couple of days since Chris sang the song that haunted Lucy forever at the DA's office. Tim wanted to know how that went since he wasn't there and he missed her, even though he wasn't going to admit that out loud, especially to Lucy.

"I was standing there with Tamara and the intern when out of nowhere, Chris just starts singing that stupid song and-" Lucy relayed as she was stating to Tim the exact details of the events that occurred.

Tim furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait. What stupid song?"

"That song I sang in the barrel on the day I got kidnapped." He widened his eyes. "Dream a Little Dream."

"What?" Tim asked, stopping their stroll momentarily. He could not believe what he was hearing. The DOD, as it was dubbed, traumatized Lucy, and when people exploit that in any kind of way, it pisses him off.

"Yeah. He claimed that he had it stuck in his head."

There was a brief bout of silence before Tim resumed the conversation. "Can I give you a piece of advice?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure," Lucy replied. Even though she didn't need it, she will always listen to Tim. Sometimes, he had very insightful words that not even she thought of.

"You should break up with him." Lucy raised her eyebrows. Who does he think he is? she thought as she was still processing what he said.

"Excuse me?" Lucy fired back. "Since when do you tell me who I can and can't date?"

"Since he traumatized you even more by singing that god damn song!" Tim exclaimed, matching Lucy's tone. "He knew that that day was terrible for you, yet he still did it anyway!"

"You may be right, but it could've been a mistake." Lucy tiled her anger down a little bit. "He saw the footage too!"

"Maybe so, but you and I both know that he also might've had an ulterior motive."

Lucy crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you have it out for Chris or something? You barely know him."

"No, I don't have it out for him." He may be jealous of him because he's dating Lucy, but he doesn't wish death upon the guy unless Chris takes things further, then Tim makes no promises. "I care about you, Lucy, more than you could ever know, and I hate it when people take advantage of that day or of you in general."

Tim wasn't usually one to bare his soul to anybody, but Lucy was the only exception. Well, maybe Angela in certain instances too. Point is that he doesn't do it often and when he does, he's saying everything with his entire chest.

"You do?" Lucy was dumbstruck by Tim's revelation. The feeling was mutual for her too, but hearing him say that for the first time melted her heart.

"Yeah. I thought you would've known that by now," Tim said, stating the obvious.

"Well, thank you for the advice. While what Chris did was wrong, I may not actually love him like I thought I did." Lucy spouted a truth of her own and if Tim was being honest, he wasn't surprised by that statement in the slightest.

"Really?"

"Yeah. He's kind of boring. I don't like that in a relationship."

Tim chuckled, which prompted Lucy to follow suit. Their radios interrupted them before either one of them had a chance to speak and that led to a collective groan.

Lucy was scared to tell Tim about her day at the DA's office at first because she knew damn well that he would march on in there and beat the living daylights out of Chris, even though he may have deserved it at the time. But, admitting that her feelings for her boyfriend have started diminishing to someone she really cares about felt good and she knew that Tim wouldn't judge her on anything she has to say whether he agrees with it or not.

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Be Very Afraid

This is the best story arc episode in season three and arguably the best written episode since The Great Tree, but it’s still season three so there are still issues with it. 

Summary: When Zhan Tiri tells Cassandra she must destroy Rapunzel in order to wield the Moonstone's true power, Cassandra discovers that she can create, with fear, red rock spikes that cause fear and freeze their victims. Varian discovers the red rocks and teams up with Rapunzel to use his amber solution on them. Meanwhile, Eugene and Lance decide to throw a talent show to distract everyone from their fears. 

Why Can’t Cassandra Control The Rocks?

The series never gives an actual explanation for this. She could control them just fine in Rapunzel’s Return, so what’s changed? 

There is No Destiny!

There’s no prophecy, no oracle, no grand design nor master of fate to fight back against; the characters literally have no reason to do what they do. If you want destiny to be a goal then you have to establish what that destiny is first. 

What does Cassandra want? How does this connect back to Gothel, Rapunzel, and the Moonstone? Why she just failing about like an idiot here? Did she not have a plan when she threw her life away for this stupid rock? 

And of course Zhan Tiri is lying here, but why should Cassandra believe her? What does she gain by listening to a creepy ghost girl? This ‘destiny’ has not been established, so therefore there’s no hook nor bait for Zhan Tiri to trap her with. 

Leading directly into “you should kill your bestie’ should logically put Cassandra off of Zhan Tiri’s advice for good because Zhan Tiri isn’t actually offering anything. Temptation requires the person to be, you know, tempted by what they want, but Cassandra doesn’t know what she wants so none of this makes sense. 

The writing is desperately trying to make Cass sympathetic here, but all it winds up doing is making her look like a moron instead. 

This Isn’t Consistent

Not only does this fail to explain why Cass could control the rocks previously but no longer can, but it’s also contradicted just a couple of episodes later with the incantation bullshit. 

You need an established magic system in place in order for the character’s actions to make sense show!

This Ultimately Goes Nowhere

Ignoring how Varian should have been in season two and how translating the scroll should have led to freeing his father, which we’ve talked about previously; this subplot should have had more impact on the narrative than it actually did. Yes, Varian’s translation winds up driving the plot of Cassandra’s Revenge, but 90% of that episode winds up being utterly pointless, including the incantations themselves, so.... 

I Like This Sequence; Shame It Winds Up Being Undermined Later  

Unlike the majority of dream sequences in this show, this nightmare has an actual point. It more firmly establishes Varian’s fears and gives the audience some insight into what happened to him back in season one. Something we were sorely lacking. It also becomes the core conflict and drive of Varian’s character development through out the episode. 

Only for the episode to ignore Varian’s real issues and fail to adequately address anything. By series end this plot point will be completely forgotten. The show acts like bringing it up once and then never acknowledging it ever again just magically revolves Varian’s character arc. It doesn’t.  

So How Come Quirin Isn’t Affected By the Rocks? 

He’s right there next to them and he shows no reaction to them at all. You’re telling me the man who lost his home twice to these things, almost died to them, and nearly lost his only child because of them, is just not going to respond to new creepy red ones popping up? 

Quirin would have a treasure trove of trauma to explore in his own right, that undoubtedly would connect back to Varian’s own issues, but we’re just going to ignore it and have Quirin off screen for the majority of the episode?

Are These New Character Models?

Are you shitting me!? 

They built five new models just for a short two minute scene, one where none of the new characters are named nor given lines, only to never appear ever again!

What the fuck? Why did you waste time and money on this? What happened to all of the other background characters you already built? Did a bunch of season one models just get lost or deleted or something? 

Also why are they all wearing green? Is it St. Paddy’s Day? 

This Plot Point Wasn’t Established Enough Beforehand

Look, I’ll buy that there are people in Corona who still blame Varian for what happened in season one and for the Sapoiran take over. I mean they’re only getting half the story and were directly effected by his actions whether or not he intended harm to them. But we needed to see more of it beyond just this one scene.

No one was bullying him in Lost Treasure or The King and Queen of Hearts, so for all purposes he appeared to be integrated back into society, and now you’re telling me he’s not and that Rapunzel risked his well being by forcing him to interact with people who were hostile to him back in Lost Treasure? 

And yeah you can’t really move Lost Treasure back any further than it already is cause that’d leave a giant hole in the wall of the throne room for over a year. Which also makes no sense either. 

Or hey, maybe it’s just Feldspar being an asshole. In which case why should Varian or the audience care? 

Eugene is Wasted

Look I understand that there’s only twenty five minutes to tell this story and that Eugene isn’t the focus of the episode. I also understand that the B-plot is meant to be comedic in order to relive tension from the A plot, but this wasn’t the best way to go about it. 

The B plot swings too far wide in the other direction that it dilutes the tension too much. The A plot now has to work over time to keep the urgency going. I could understand it, if the show wanted start off with small fears first, but it needed to ramp up the drama as it got closer to the climax, not under cut it. 

We never see Eugene freak out over anything other this this cowlick. In fact we never see him scared of anything else beyond this one scene, which undermines Rapunzel’s arc this episode as she’s suppose to be the only one bottling things in. What makes Eugene so special that he can keep a lid on it with out consequences, or are you telling me that a dumb cowlick is his only fear? 

Either answer is stupid. 

I Hope You Have Copies of the Map

You went through all that trouble to steal the journal for this very reason and now here you are prancing around without it like it’s not that big of deal. Way to undermined past story arcs. 

It’s like the writers know that season one was their most successful season, and therefore try to make callbacks to it whenever they can, to make up for ignoring it in season two completely, but they still don’t want to actually acknowledge anything that happened during that season so they just refer to it in the laziest way possible, rendering the previous events pointless. 

So Close and Yet So Far

I’m mainly posting this whole conversation so that you dear readers will have context for what I talk about next. 

For you see, this scene starts out okay and it looks like we’re finally going to address the elephant in the room regarding Rapunzel’s involvement in Varian’s past trauma, only for the scene to immediately side step the issue all together and not resolve the conflict at all. 

No! Don’t Interrupt; Listen! 

Or at least go all the way and accept some of the blame yourself. 

It may look like Rapunzel is comforting Varian here on a superficial level, but without her verballing acknowledging what she did wrong, this action just winds up taking the focus off of Varian and what he needs and places it upon Rapunzel, both narratively and physically.

So what happens is that, in universe, it comes across like she’s just consoling Varian for her own personal comfort rather than genuinely trying to help. 

Why Would Varian Ever Think This? 

Okay, first off this has nothing to do with what Varian was talking about previously. Why would he jump from discussing his trauma to praising Rapunzel? You know the woman who is responsible for said trauma? 

Secondly, this switches the focus of the conflict off of Varian’s specific trauma and makes it about a generic “over coming fear” lesson mixed with an out of place validation issue. Which is not what’s actually needed for his character development; nor for Rapunzel’s for that matter. 

Third, being the sundrop has nothing to do with Rapunzel as a person. Her being born with magical powers was an accident of fate, same as her being royalty. She’s not innately better than anybody else because of this and nobody has any narrative reason to assume otherwise. Especially since her powers are utterly disconnected from her actual personality, choices, and actions. All three of which have become unbearably unpleasant by the last season. 

Finally, Varian, of all people should be the last person on earth to ever think so highly of Rapunzel. Them being friends again is already pushing believability. Him suddenly kissing her ass the same as everyone else this season is just flat out bad writing.  

Varian knows better than anybody what an awful person Rapunzel is. He’s seen her at her worse. He’s seen her not live up to her hypocritical ideals. He knows the larger problems that steam from placing people in power on pedestals. As her former victim, Varian by all accounts should be the one person who can bring Rapunzel down to earth and poke holes into her ego, even while still being her friend. Especially while still being her friend. She needs that! Writing Varian as another blind Rapunzel stan is not only writing him out of character, but it also damages Rapunzel’s own development. 

Also Varian hates magic. Why would he now worship someone just for having magic? 

THIS AIN’T ABOUT YOU BITCH!!!

I literally yelled that at my tv screen when I first saw this scene. Those were my exact words upon the episode’s first airing. And believe it or not, I’m not one to usually scream obscenities at inanimate objects. 

I understand what the writers were trying to accomplish here. They wanted Rapunzel to ease the tension by saying something funny and to make Varian laugh to distract him from his woes; thereby defusing the situation. But it doesn’t work because of season three’s tendency to make Rapunzel the most egotistical, smug, self-centered, abusive, self-righteous twat in the show. 

It really boggles the mind just how unaware the writing is. Like, surely no one makes their protagonist this unlikable on accident. Clearly they meant for Rapunzel to be an ass on purpose right?  They wanted Cass to have a reason to hate her so they decided to make her insufferable to the viewer in a misguided attempt to make Cass more sympathetic? Right? 

Then where is the bloody comeuppance? 

I genuinely thought this was all going to lead somewhere. That Rapunzel was going to learn to be a better person and I would have been fine by that. I would have applauded the show if they had turned her into an asshole intentionally so that they could teach a mature and nuanced lesson about morality. 

But they didn’t, and here I am; still shaking my head in confusion over a year later. 

Seriously what the fuck happened behind the scenes to cause this? How can processionals paid by the largest animation company in the world be so incompetent? 

Having Trauma is Not the Same Thing as Having a Phobia  

This is where Varian’s arc falls apart. Not only does the episode fail to have Rapunzel acknowledge her past wrongs for a second time, but it also completely mishandles Varian’s trauma because it equates it to being an irrational fear. One that can be overcome through pure force of will at that, same as Lance and everyone else’s fears in the episode. 

Ok first off Varian’s fear isn’t irrational. He even just said so at the start of the conversation. Varian’s trauma is very real, it’s not a hypothetical unlike clown-spiders and cowlicks. Also has been given very little reassurance that it won't happen again. Varian has no reason to trust Rapunzel or anybody else in the show. They never owned up to abandoning him previously, and both he and the audience have little reason to believe that Rapunzel wouldn’t just neglect him again if it was convenient for her.   

Secondly one does not simply ‘overcome’ trauma. Oh you can deal with trauma, you can manage it and learn to live with it. But it never goes away. It doesn’t magically disappear just because you ‘faced it’. 

In fact confronting it head on is actually the opposite of what your suppose to do when going through something traumatic. Studies have shown that distracting your mind after a car crash or what have you actually helps with PTSD later on. And ‘dealing with it” doesn’t mean ignoring the problem out right, but rather learning how to function despite the pain. 

But as the show acts like Varian’s trauma never even existed after this episode. 

This Doesn’t Resolve Anything!

What does “being special” have to with fear? How does this help Varian with his trauma? Empty validation has nothing to with what we were just discussing. 

Everyone gets afraid. Everyone has trauma of some sort. Are you telling me that my need for therapy some 20 years after being physically assaulted is just because I’m not special enough? Fuck you show! 

Moreover, this doesn’t resolve the story arc from season one. Varian and Rapunzel’s conflict with each other has nothing to do with self esteem. It was about personal responsibility, conflicting needs, and abuse. Yes, self image and acceptance was a small factor in their motivations, but it was never the driving goal behind their decisions. 

This is yet another broken narrative promise to the audience. There’s no closure to be had from this and leaves the viewer wanting, if not outright frustrated. 

In order to justify this exchange fans have to ‘read between the lines’ and make shit up in order for any of this to make any sense. People who still defend season three do by doing all the heavy lifting that writers themselves should be doing. 

If it’s not on screen, it doesn’t count. 

If Rapunzel never apologizes on screen, then she never apologized. If Rapunzel never checked up on Varian on screen, then she neglected him outright. If Rapunzel never acknowledges her wrong doings on screen, then she’s never learned anything. The characters pretending like she has doesn’t make it so. 

Why Does Cassandra Even Want a Destiny? 

Yes, Zhan Tiri is lying, there is no destiny, but Zhan Tiri being a liar doesn’t absolve Cassandra of her own actions. 

Cassandra herself believes in destiny and is looking for her’s, but why? 

Why does she want a destiny? What is this destiny she’s after? Why does she believe such a thing exists? What does she believe it’ll gain her? Why is she willing to risk so much for such a vague goal? What does any of this have to do with the moonstone or her mother? How does this destiny connect back with her personal feud with Rapunzel? 

It’s all disjointed and confused. Nothing lines up. It’s like the writers just had this dart board full of ideas for Cassandra’s villain arc, but couldn’t decide on which one to go with, so they just threw darts randomly each episode and went with whatever stuck for any given scene.

“Oh she want’s revenge for her mother during this scene, or wait no, she’s actually looking for destiny this episode?” “What destiny?” “Who knows. Now for this scene we need her to be sad because reasons...” “What reason?” “I don't care, make something up... Uuuuh, she’s sad cause she’s not a royal guard still” “But she became a guard during season one.” “Ignore that. Kids won’t remember. Now she needs to be angry and threating here” “Why?” “Because it’ll look cool.” “But why is she angry?” “Cause it looks cool Bob! Geez! Oh but she still needs to be sympathetic so give her a frowny face afterwards. Just have Zhan Tiri remind her how much she hates Rapunzel later, so as to egg her on and keep her doing stupid shit?”  “But why does she hate Rapunzel?”  “Do I have to think of everything BOB!!!???”  

There, there’s my non-so-accurate behind the scene’s glimpse into the Tangled writer’s room when discussing Cassandra’s arc. I could be wrong. There could have been some intricate and complex plan thought out that just didn’t make it onto the screen for whatever reason, or maybe everyone involved was so far up their own ass that they just forgot to give their main villain an actual reason for being the villain. But regardless the over all effect is that Cassandra is handed the idiot ball for a whole freaken season in order to even have a conflict and that is never good writing; or rather she’s hit in the head with it repeatedly. 

This Actually Goes Against Zhan Tiri’s Plan

Zhan Tiri’s short term goal is to be released from her dimensional prison and apparently she needs Cass and Raps to fight into order to do this. This was never established before hand and goes against her disciples pervious plans, but whatever. One could argue that this is just a lie in order to get them to fight later... 

However, this lie jeopardizes her long term goal. She eventually wants to wield both the moonstone and the sundrop herself in order to destroy Corona, but Rapunzel is the sundrop and you can only take her power during an ellipse, supposedly, which means if Cass actually succeeds in killing Rapunzel before then, then Zhan Tiri is up a creek without a paddle. Also if Cassandra did manage to steal Raps’ power with or without an ellipse then Zhan Tiri would still be out of luck. 

This was wholly unnecessary; you didn’t have to go from zero to sixty in one fell swoop. Have Zhan Tiri claim that fighting Rapunzel will award the power to the winner or something. There’s no need to bring up the ‘kill her’ option. That should logically just drive Cassandra away and puts Zhan Tiri’s plan at risk. 

The series wants to act like Zhan Tiri is this master manipulator, a chess master like Zantos or Palpatine, but she couldn’t even tie their shoes. Her plans make no sense and often contradict one another. They only work because the rest of the cast are reduced to imbeciles in order for them to work. 

This Plot Point Contradicts Season Two

His fear of spiders was establish early on, and I’ll accept the clown thing as there’s nothing to contradict it, but Lance has preformed numerous times before now and has never show stage fright. He’s a huge ham and back in Return of Quaid he mentioned how much loved acting and preforming and apparently been on stage before, so where does this fear of singing in public come from? Heck he sung in public just a few episodes ago in Rapunzel’s Return. 

If you have to sacrifice established character into order to make your plot work then you need a new plot. 

This Song is Nice; It Just Needed to Be in a Different Episode 

I’m glad Lance got a solo. He deserved one and the song is good. However it breaks the tension of the climax and gives the episode tonal whiplash. 

More than a song, Lance needed an actual focus episode in season three. One that was fully his. If anyone else shared it with him it needed to be Red and Angry, not Varian and Cass. 

Just imagine if this song came during an episode where he had to watch the girls. Imagine if he was singing it just for them. How much more impactful would that have been? 

Now imagine that we had a Rapunzel and Varian duet in it’s place here. That would have tied the episode together better and helped to further their own stories. Glenn Slater can write lyrics far better than Chris can write dialogue. I bet you a thousand to one Tangled the Series would have solved like half of it’s problems had Menken and Slater been allowed write and actual apology duet between Raps and Varian. 

Such a duet was proposed during Rapunzel’s Return but it could have worked here too, and you could have placed Lance’s solo in Day of the Animals or something, just leave Rapunzel out of that episode all together. 

Nothing honestly needed to be cut music wise, yet for some reason season three has less songs than the other seasons, even when counting the reprises, and they’re mostly shorter too. 

That’s mismanagement right there. Plain and simple. Someone at the top didn’t know how to balance the budget or resources and didn’t know where to the throw the money at. 

You Have a 70 Foot Shield Made of Magic Hair, Rapunzel

You couldn’t think to just block those rocks instead?

Giving your protagonist a big hero moment doesn’t work if they placed the person the have to save in jeopardy to begin with show. 

I Do Not Care About Rapunzel Right Now, Show

Yes, she’s the main character. Yes, her feud with Cass is the main conflict of the season and kicked off the episode. That does not mean that I automatically care about her personal feelings at this moment in time. 

Rapunzel has kept such a tight lid on her real feelings for the whole episode that this just comes out of nowhere. I was never waiting with baited breath for her to confess her deep dark secrets or whatever. 

It’s not even an interesting reveal. It’s just “Oh, see Rapunzel’s human too. She’s gets scared just like everybody else.”. I already fucking knew that, thanks. And what she’s afraid of isn’t even that compelling either; it’s a just a rip off of the prophecy dreams she had back in season one. The same ones that had no explanation and never furthered the story, so why should I care about this one?  

You have to earn the audience’s investment in your conflict. The character’s likability, as little as that may be currently, will only carry you so far, you have to establish shit first.  

Varian’s conflict has been the focus of the entire episode so far, and it’s a conflict that was set all the way back in season one, so of course that is what I’m invested in seeing get resolved. Rapunzel is once again just butting in and making it all about her when it’s not actually her story. 

And if you wanted it to be her story then you should have made her the actual focus to begin with and had her learn something by the end of it. 

This is Poor Choice of Words, Writers 

I could be generous here and pass this off as Rapunzel not fully believing in this prophecy. After all Corona’s destruction is still a hypothetical at this point and Cassandra really has left already. Since the episode is about fear, Rapunzel is of course more afraid of losing Cassandra’s friendship as it’s real tangible possibility. 

More than a possibility even, Rapunzel’s been dumped. Season three is a classic break up story, right down to the poor plotting and tunnel vision, hence why it’s so gay baity. 

However, this reading only carries so far. For starters this is Rapunzel’s what, fourth prophecy dream so far? Haven’t the past three already came true, so why would she think this one wouldn’t? 

Secondly, all that good grace goes right out the window once it becomes clear that, yes, Cassandra is indeed a threat; a threat that Rapunzel refuses to take seriously because she cares more about her own personal validation than her kingdom. 

Even as Cassandra does succeed in destroying Corona, and no doubt harms other people while at it, Rapunzel still is obsessed with ‘winning Cassandra back’. Oh and make no mistake, this is not because she actually cares about Cassandra as a person and her needs or feelings. Nope. Rapunzel just doesn’t like being dumped. 

Why Does Varian Need to Shove His Feelings Aside for Rapunzel’s Bullshit?

Rapunzel’s ‘confession’ has fuck all to do with Varian’s current issues. They do not connect in any way.  

Varian is dealing with real trauma, trauma that she helped cause, while Rapunzel is only dealing with a hypothetical prophecy and one very shallow, self-centered fear. There’s nothing to relate to here. Neither for Varian himself nor the audience. 

Yet for some undefined reason this is what gets Varian to ignore his PTSD flashbacks? What? 

This is once again break the narrative promise. I was promised closure for Varian’s story arc and instead of that the writers just brush it up under the rug. 

From the outside looking in this doesn’t come across as Varian ‘overcoming’ his ‘fear’. It looks like an abuse victim using learned helplessness to placate his abusers.

And yes, for the last time Rapunzel is Varian’s abuser. 

NEGLECT IS ABUSE!!! 

And and even though he is no longer her ‘responsibility’, she is still neglecting him emotionally as his supposed friend. 

Varian’s and Cassandra’s Stories Undermined Each Other’s 

Varian stopped the rocks. Rapunzel had nothing to do with it. Zhan Tiri blaming Rapunzel for it steals agency away from both her and Cassandra. 

However, if Rapunzel had used the hurt incantation to stop the rocks and Cassandra had felt it rom the other side, then you’d have something to back up Zhan Tiri’s claim and an actual point of real conflict to carry the rest of the season. Not to mention an actual tangible goal for Cassandra to work towards, survival. 

Cassandra’s conflict with Rapunzel not only prevents the resolution to Varian’s arc from being satisfying, but Varian fulfilling his arc in turn winds up cutting off Cass’s story at the knees. 

It didn’t have to be this way. Varian’s and Cassandra’s arcs should have complimented each other, but instead the creator decided to make them complete for screen time and relevance. 

It is such an gratingly stupid and petty decision that winds up being a disservice for all the characters involved.   

Cassandra’s motivation and goal should have been revealed back in season two. Varian should have been the sole focus of Rapunzel’s Return and gotten his big hero moment there along; with an actual ending to his conflict with Rapunzel that didn’t feel so lopsided and half assed. Then Rapunzel and Cassandra could have both been held accountable for their conflict in season three, instead of pretending like their shit smelled of roses the whole damn time. 

Lance Got a Whole Crowd Cheering Him On For Singing a Song, Varian Just Gets One Asshole Giving Him a Single Line of Congratulations

Did I mention this show has an odd anti-Varian bias? Cause it does. For whatever reasons his own creators hate him and that’s just utterly baffling to me. Like why create a main character that you don’t like? 

I look down on professional writers who treat characters they didn’t create poorly within their works, like with James Gunn and Scrappy Doo in the Scooby Doo Movie, Adric in the Doctor Who spin offs, or even the treatment of Doofus in Ducktales 2017. I don't care how much a character is liked or disliked by fandom, that shit is just tasteless and often unfunny. But at least I understand where they are coming from when they do it. 

But I’ll never understand what compels a writer to sabotage their own work; one that they are getting paid to write no less. Especially when said character is super popular with their fans. And Chris knows this. He knows the ratings plummeted without Varian in season two. He knows the merch didn’t sell because there wasn’t enough Varian products. That’s why he hyped up Varian’s return a whole week before Season Three’s airing with a massive online campaign, but he wasn’t smart enough to treat the character decently afterwards? 

I mean congrats, you convinced a just enough viewers to come back to season three to keep the show on the air I guess, but you left them all pissed off and have nothing to show for it to the higher ups a Disney. 

And Chris wonders why he wasn’t asked back to work on new Disney princesses shows that are currently in the works. 

That is Not Quirin. That is a Plank of Wood Pretending to be Quirin.

*Beep* *Boop*...*Dad Bot Is Proud. exe* 

Quirin is such a pale shadow of his season one self that he might as well not exist. I genuinely don't know why the writers released from the amber so early if they weren’t actually going to use him until the season finale. 

For the longest time I honestly thought that Rapunzel sucked out his soul with that decay incantation; what with that lyric about “setting the spirit free”. I genuinely thought that would be a later plot point, but nope, it’s just bad writing

Him just saying hi to son once and smiling blankly isn’t compelling and it’s isn’t fulfilling. It doesn’t actually resolve his arc. I mean he’s at least shown spending time with his son, but that’s not enough. We need to see him acknowledge past, we need to see him acknowledge his own flaws, and we need to see him being more attentive when Varian is in need. .  

Season one Quirin would be trying to stop Varian from going near the red rocks, a post season one Quirin should logically go after his son to make sure he’s alright, even if he’s know longer trying to actively stop Varian like he once did. 

There’s also that damn note and it’s secrets! 

You know what? That’s it. That’s the problem. The focus is all wrong in season three. Episodes get pulled into to many directions trying to juggle too many characters rather than dedicating the needed time to each individual arc. 

Season two’s finale should have been a three parter with Cass’s full motivation and goal laid bare before leaving.

Rapunzel’s Return should have been solely about Rapunzel and Varian’s conflict and resolving that arc fully 

Either Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf or Day of the Animals should have been a Lance episode about him and the girl’s, no Rapunzel. 

And this episode should have been about Quirin and Varian resolving their issues, with the Rapunzel and Cass stuff as the B plot not the stupid talent show 

There, all fixed. You don't even have to cut much, just rework the focus and leave Rapunzel and Cassandra out of conflicts they have no business being in. 

This Does Not Excuse Rapunzel’s Later Negligence Regarding Cassandra

Just because the red rocks was an accident doesn’t mean Cassandra should get a free pass for all the awful things she does later. Rapunzel uses this one interaction to excuse everything else Cassandra does in season three, as if she was just some poor lost baby and not a grown ass woman out to kill them. 

In fact Cass showing hesitancy here actually makes her later actions even worse. This means that she fully acknowledges that what she’s about to do is wrong, but goes ahead and does anyway, even gleefully so at times. Then she has to gall to act baffled when people see her as a threat? 0.o 

When fans say Cass isn’t redeemable or shouldn’t be redeemed, it’s not because he actions are so much worse than everybody else’s (even though they are), It’s because she doesn’t act like she wants to be redeemed half the time. The show doesn’t properly set up her ‘redemption’, instead it just lazily has Rapunzel yell at us how she’s ‘not lost’. 

Like below for instance. 

What Does Cass Need Saving From?

Cassandra is not in danger. She is the danger. 

She made the conscious decision to leave taking a world endangering artifact with her, and she later makes the conscious decision to come back and be an asshole for no adequately defined reason. 

She’s never shown to be in any physical danger from the rocks, the moonstone, or even Zhan Tiri herself. She apparently can take care of herself in the wild for over a year. She also has the capability of getting a job else where and just living out her life if she wanted to. Nothing is forcing her to listen to Zhan Tiri. 

Heck, even her hurt arm, the one thing Rapunzel is responsible for and could potentially be a continued threat to Cass’s well being, is just completely forgotten about.

And no, mental illness and past trauma are not excuses as well. In fact it’s rather insulting to both people with mental heath problems and abusive survivors to suggest otherwise. We don't need ‘saving from ourselves’ and we aren’t automatically dangers to anybody. Nor do we get free passes if we hurt someone. A jerk who happens to have a mental illness is just a jerk who so happens to have a mental illness; coloration is not causation. 

Conclusion 

It’s better than Rapunzel’s Return, but this episode was still a disappointment. A small part of me whishes this was a two parter because it has so much untapped potential, but I know it’s just be wasted in Chris’s hands. 

Anyways, I consider this to be the true mid-season finale of S3. Not only did the hiatus kick in after this episode, but it also clearly divides the season between the first half filler and the later Cass conflict. As such the next entry will be the mid-season recap. See ya, then. 

Ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

Redbubble https://www.redbubble.com/people/RBH129/shop?asc=u

[cyokie]

Jack Vessalius as a Symbol for Depression

Ever since I first read PandoraHearts, I have interpreted Jack Vessalius as at least a partial symbolic representation of depression, especially in his relationship with Oz. 

(Skip to “keep reading” to go straight to the analysis; this beginning portion is little more than a disclaimer.)

Jack is a complex, fascinating character, and it is precisely due to this that I believe any number of interpretations regarding him contain merit. Whether you view Jack as an abuser, a manifestation of mental illness, or an extraordinarily-written character that does not require a figurative understanding to be interesting, I think this is valid. 

I am saying this first and foremost because I want to be clear: this is not a persuasive essay. I am not trying to change anybody’s minds about liking or disliking Jack Vessalius, nor am I trying to devalue any other interpretations of this extremely nuanced character. Some points may be a bit vague and connections disjointed, though I attempted to minimize this. Any discussion of mental illness and abuse is based on either my personal experiences or those of people I know. I do not intend to offend anybody. 

This post is simply the product of years of disorganized yet in-depth thoughts about this concept. I hope some of you will be interested.

Major spoilers for the entire manga below the cut. Manga panels are from the Fallen Syndicate fan translation. This...is going to get very long.

Emotional Abuse

Jack exists within Oz’s mind. When these two interact, it almost always occurs within Oz’s head, providing every conversation with an inherently emotional and symbolic element. 

Jack initially appears to Oz as an unknown but crucial figure. Whether he is trustworthy or even harmful remains to be seen, but his input is necessary. He is the only insight Oz has into his lost memories; he knows something Oz does not. Oz is suffering an identity crisis, realizing he has endured something he does not completely understand, something that could potentially change his entire life once he does understand it. And yet, this mysterious voice within his head understands it.  

This desperation makes it almost irrelevant whether Jack is credible, whether his advice is well-intentioned. Normally a rather cynical and distrusting young man, Oz follows Jack from the beginning despite wanting answers. He does indeed receive answers, but they are perhaps not quite what he bargained for, in more ways than one.

Once Jack’s true nature is revealed, the extent to which he has used Oz’s memories and emotions against him becomes apparent. Jack does present Oz with new insights into his experiences, but he only ever provides Oz with enough information to convince him to act a certain way. He never willingly gives a fair, all-encompassing portrayal of an event from Oz’s past. He manipulates Oz’s perceptions of his memories to fit a particular emotional narrative, one that is inevitably perplexing and demeaning to Oz. 

This bears a resemblance to the way depression warps how we view past events. When we look back at our experiences, we don’t see the entire picture--though we are convinced that we may. We see a skewed version of an incident that actually occurred. Perhaps this incident proves little to nothing about ourselves in reality, but viewed through the lens of depression, everything about it seems to scream that we are useless. And it is nearly impossible to try and perceive these events any differently, because when depression overtakes our minds, this perspective appears to be the only one through which it is possible to examine any of our pasts. 

By the time Jack’s intentions have been exposed, he is also explicitly emotionally abusive towards Oz. It is easy to recognize Jack’s statements as not only psychologically damaging, but disturbingly similar to what we hear in our own heads when suffering depression. Think about these assertions without the very literal plot elements that support them: Jack declares Oz less than human, insists that nobody loves him, and claims that he has no future because the only thing he’s good for is hurting those around him. He convinces Oz that he is useless, hopeless, and worthless. 

Jack drills these ideas into Oz’s head when he is at his most vulnerable. This is when Oz breaks down and becomes convinced that all of Jack’s statements are true. He is not who he thought he was; he never has been, and so his life is meaningless. 

This is arguably when Oz reaches his all-time emotional low. While it was already addressed that he had been struggling intensely with his mental health and was probably suicidal, up to this point, he always retained some level of self-preservation (however slight). Now, he silently accepts that the world would be better off without him and offers no physical or emotional resistance to his own execution. Jack’s words worm their way into his heart and corrupt his self-image to the point where his only reaction to Oswald’s sword swinging towards him is a blank, unflinching stare. 

Trauma Response

It’s not uncommon for Jack to manifest during catastrophic moments--that is, whenever a situation triggers (or comes close to triggering) overwhelming memories of Oz’s trauma. When Oz is losing control over his emotional and physical faculties, Jack often encourages him to make the trigger disappear using the quickest and easiest method available. Unsurprisingly, this method generally takes advantage of Oz’s extraordinary powers. In other words, the “tactic” Jack advises Oz to use is simply mindless destruction.

In the second half of the manga, Oz is at his least emotionally stable. It is not a coincidence that this is also the point during which Jack gains the ability to completely hijack Oz’s body. This development allows Jack to commit impulsive acts of aggression through Oz, while Oz himself retains little to no control.

Jack overwhelms Oz with unnecessary flashbacks to traumatic events and makes an excess of harmful connections between past and present circumstances. Oz’s panicked, distressed responses to this are tools he uses to further coax Oz into acting in a self-destructive manner. These tendencies may not only connect Jack to the concept of depression, but the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder as well. 

Identity Crisis

Although Jack is introduced extremely early in the manga, one of the story’s main mysteries is the exact nature of his connection to Oz. This relationship shifts several times, especially with regards to who is “in control” and who is the true “owner” of the physical body. 

Once it becomes public knowledge that Jack is “within” Oz, the identity of the former overcomes the identity of the latter in the eyes of the general populace. Figures who never before gave Oz a second glance begin to pay incredibly close attention to him; many directly address him through his connection to Jack rather than as a separate entity. 

Oz is deeply troubled by the way others ignore him in favor of an aspect of his identity that he feels does not truly represent him--an aspect of his identity that is at least partially out of his control. However, he is also relatively resigned to being judged in this manner. He lacks knowledge of how to change this circumstance because even he does not truly understand the extent to which he and Jack are connected. 

It is true that at this point in the story, Jack is practically worshipped. His destructive actions and devastatingly selfish nature have not yet been exposed. Because of this, Oz as Jack’s “vessel” is typically viewed through a positive lens. Still, this situation reflects how people with depression are sometimes reduced to nothing more than a mental illness by their peers. Because others do not understand (and mental illness is stigmatized), they start to see us as “different” in some indefinable but undeniable way, and our existence becomes that particular part of ourselves in their eyes. 

As time passes, the line between Jack and Oz becomes more and more blurred. Questions are raised about whether they are the same person or, on the contrary, whether they are similar at all. At what is arguably the climax of the manga, Jack declares that Oz’s body is, was, and will always be his possession; he claims that in reality, there is no “Oz,” only “Jack.” 

This thought haunts Oz intensely and sends him into a rapid downward spiral. Like the sentiments expressed near the end of the “emotional abuse” section of this analysis, the idea that Oz’s body belongs to Jack is backed up by rigid, literal plot elements. However, if we view this emotional catastrophe using a symbolic perspective, it is a representation of yet another common struggle endured by those with depression.

We come to ask ourselves who we really are. Was there truly a time when we weren’t “like this?” Could we truly escape this misery in the future? Who would we be if we were to stop feeling this way? Do we even exist without depression? Does Oz even exist without Jack?

Visual Symbolism

It is a classic literary device to represent hope through light and despair through darkness. The manga is rife with this exact type of symbolism, utilizing it to describe how the Abyss has changed throughout time, Break’s dwindling eyesight, and the oscillating emotional states of various characters. 

As I stated previously, Jack and Oz interact almost exclusively within the latter’s mind. The landscape drawn in the background of these conversations initially possesses a watery, clear appearance. However, as it becomes increasingly clear that Jack’s presence is deeply damaging to Oz’s psyche, this same landscape becomes overwhelmingly tainted by dark, ink-like shadows. 

Closer examination reveals that this “pollution” originates directly from Jack--and it reaches its peak once Jack’s intentions have been fully disclosed. Not only is Oz’s mind visibly corrupted by darkness, but Jack himself appears as an almost inhuman figure composed of these shadows. 

There is another level of visual symbolism as well--namely, the fact that Jack becomes increasingly physically aggressive and disrespectful towards Oz. In the first half of the manga, he primarily speaks to Oz from a distance, occasionally reaching out a hand in his direction. This is clearly not so in the second half of the manga, at which point Oz begins to defy his influence and it becomes vital that he subjugate him as quickly as possible.

By this time, Jack is almost always seen either restraining or caressing Oz. Even in the latter situation, when his touches are lingering and vaguely affectionate, they are possessive and constraining. In other words, though they appear different on the surface, both actions are ultimately methods of forcing Oz’s submission. It can be said that this represents his desire to gain complete control over all aspects of Oz’s being, as well as his total lack of respect for Oz’s physical and emotional autonomy.

It can be argued that both of these aspects of symbolism reach their pinnacle even before this point. Oz realizes his own worth when Oscar says he loves him and reveals that his greatest desire is for him to be happy. When Oz is at last able to grasp that he is loved and there is hope within his life, Jack immediately reaches out to grab him. And in one of the manga’s subtlest but most poignant moments, his hand crumbles to dust upon touching Oz. 

What follows is an extremely impactful display of Oz’s character development. He recalls Jack’s previous statements declaring his achievements worthless, denouncing the love he received from others as fake, and degrading his worth. Then he furiously rejects all of them, thrusting out a hand to push Jack away from him and consuming Jack in an explosion of light. 

The conclusion to be drawn from this is that Jack essentially lives off Oz’s misery. When Oz understands and is able to accept that he is not worthless, Jack is suddenly rendered utterly powerless. 

The manga culminates in a scene that coincides with this symbolism. This late into the story, Oz has succeeded in transcending Jack’s influence almost entirely, but Jack is not quite ready to let go. Though they stand together within a void, glimmers of light linger around Oz--despite everything, his life has come to be surrounded by hope and love. 

As Oz floats towards the path of light above, Jack reaches out and takes hold of his wrist. But his grip is feeble and hesitant, representing how little control he truly holds over Oz at this point. Perhaps attempting to provoke guilt or regret, Jack asks Oz if he is certain that he is prepared to move on without him, but Oz has grown too much to succumb to this manipulation. 

Without delay, Oz replies that there is no reason for him to stay, and Jack finally releases him. He escapes into the light--into a world full of people who care about him, into a life where he is happy to be alive. 

[cyrenesroom]

Advice for IGCSE English Literature

Hi there! So, I recently finished my final English Literature examination and I wanted to share some tips and resources! Hope you guys find them useful :)

Please note that not all of the tips provided below may suit you but I suggest trying some of them to see if they work :)

During the exam

1. Remember that you’re supposed to provide an ANALYSIS and not a summary for an answer

2. ADDRESS the question and only the question — it’s easy to drift away from it and ramble so watch out for that

3. Identify the KEY TERMS in the question and which sections of the poem/story/play you are going to use — for my mock examination, this was the question I received for the poetry section in Paper 1: 

How does Hopkins vividly convey thoughts and feelings about the bird in The Caged Skylark?

the key terms here are “how” and “vividly convey” so focus on that when answering the question

4. Ensure that you have a sustained personal response throughout the paper — avoid making statements like “his/her work is quite brilliant” and try to focus more on the effect the author intended to evoke with a particular phrase/quotation and comment on how said phrase/quotation would affect the reader 

5. WHY? — don’t just state that the writer has used imagery. Talk about WHY they used it in that particular moment in the piece and their intentions

6. ALWAYS mention the:

themes

tone: gloomy? lighthearted?

structure:  this is especially important for poems

literary devices: imagery, repetition etc

7. You can also score more marks by commenting on parallels — it shows that you have a good critical understanding of the story and that you’re able to show individuality and insight!

8. Further to this, you can also mention contrasts in scenes and their impact on the overall effect of the piece

9. Don’t use lengthy quotations, examiners detest this!

10. Time — You’ll have two tasks in each paper so devote 45 minutes for each one and stick to this plan! It becomes really easy to add some extra points but it ultimately affects the quality of your second answer so avoid that at all costs! BALANCE your time!

Some websites I found useful:

1. https://www.enotes.com/  — I suggest typing the title of your story and “enotes” along with it for immediate results

2. http://sittingbee.com/ — like enotes, just type the title of the story and “sitting bee” along with it in the search bar

3. https://poemanalysis.com/educational-syllabus/cambridge-igcse-literature-english-0475-2020-21/

4. https://www.litcharts.com/

5. https://www.ibdocuments.com/LitCharts/ — this site contains litcharts guides which you can download free of charge!! it saves you a lot of money and hassle so I highly recommend it!

6. https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/

7. https://igcse.school.blog/category/literature/

8. https://igcserevision.wordpress.com/english/english-literature-0486/

Some extra tips:

1. I highly recommend going through as many notes or analyses online as you can! They really help you get different interpretations of the text from a variety of perspectives which widens your overall understanding. However, it’s important to ensure that you’re not too reliant on them as it restricts you from providing an informed personal response in your paper

2. Read on characters, especially for paper 2 because sometimes the questions are based on the character and their significance within the story

3. GET FEEDBACK FROM YOUR TEACHERS! — This is so important because when doing past papers and trying to mark them yourself, you’ll find that the mark schemes just provide a rubric for reference. So, try to do some past papers and get them marked by your teacher for some detailed feedback and so that you know which strategy is working for you and what you need to work on

4. Go through some example candidate responses — Cambridge provides multiple pdfs filled with different candidate responses and you can even see the examiner’s detailed comments on the common mistakes the candidate made and how they could have improved their answer! You can find some at this link:  https://learning.cambridgeinternational.org/classroom/course/view.php?id=3198

5. Annotate your texts and focus on aspects of language, structure and form used to convey ideas or experiences — I usually avoid annotating since I don’t find it particularly helpful, but for literature, I focus on the important bits of the story/poem/play and note down a few points on the significance of that particular moment. It really helped making my revision for my final examination a LOT more easier since I could just skip to the parts where I had made the annotations and reinforce those concepts in my mind!

That’s all I have for now! I really hope this was helpful to anybody struggling with literature. If anyone has any other questions or more tips feel free to reblog or send me an ask/message! :)

[theressomethingscrewy]

The Boys In The Band Sequel (The Men From The Boys) Summary!

If anybody wants more details to this or any pictures of quotes I’d be 100% happy to send!

Trigger Warnings: Death, Cancer, Rape, Drug Use, AIDS, Alcoholism (Let me know if I missed any)

Act One

The play starts with Michael, Donald, Emory, Hank, and Bernard in the same apartment from the first show, and they’re holding a ‘celebration of life’ for Larry with three new boys named Scott, Rick, and Jason. Scott is Michael’s new ‘boyfriend,’ and he’s very introverted, Rick was Larry’s Asian American nurse at the hospital, and they were extremely close, and Jason is a gay rights activist who was just one of Larry’s friends and occasional hookups. As it’s been 30 years since the original play, three of the main characters, Michael, Bernard, and Emory, joined Alcoholics Anonymous and became relatively if not fully sober. In the first lot of pages, it’s described that a lot of the things the original characters do now are politically incorrect (sayings and so) and the new characters are developed. (the basic info I gave is learned) Then, the group conversation shifts to Larry, and Hank gets very emotional saying how, surprisingly, he never actually knew him that well, despite physically knowing him for so long, and in general, the conversation gets extremely dark about how Larry wanted Hank to help him die in the hospital. Jason assumes Larry died of AIDS, and Michael inserts that, ”gay men do die of other things,” but they do clarify he died of pancreatic cancer. Conversations shift once again, and Bernard is revealed to be married to a woman and ”gay going hetero” as described by Emory. Emory then proceeds to go off about flowers. (I don't know either) The original men question where Harold is. Rick and Donald go off into the kitchen when the rest of the guys go outside onto the balcony, and it gets revealed that Rick loved Larry, and he assisted in his death by giving him extra morphine, and Donald is just beyond sweet and comforts him. Once Rick gets his act together, the two join the rest of the group but Michael and Scott have gone upstairs to talk about their relationship. In short, what happens upstairs is that Scott is 26 and essentially mooching off Michael, who is now 59, but Michael just wants love and affection from him, (which he isn’t getting) so that’s why they’re talking. Scott hates being touched by anyone, so Michael, being who he is, pushes his boundaries more than he should, and he breaks and tells the story of how he got raped. (I don't feel comfortable typing it out if anyone would like screenshots of it send me a dm) Scott then takes a final bit of money from Michael before leaving the apartment. Once Michael returns downstairs, understandably unhappy from what just happened, the doorbell rings announcing Harold's arrival. He enters and greets everyone in high spirits, even Michael who he’s mended his relationship with, and act one ends.

Act Two

Act two begins with everyone on the balcony, but it starts to rain, so they all have to run inside. Rick and Emory do performances in honor of Larry. Rick sings a song he liked and plays the guitar, while Emory gets into full makeup and also sings a song. (specially written for the play, which I thought was interesting) Everyone applauds both performances, and they do a sort of toast to Larry, saying how great he was and how he would have loved to be at the apartment. The group takes a picture to remember the day, and everyone starts to question where Scott went, and Michael explains he went home. They joke how Harold doesn't like him, and he explains how it’s because he’s on extreme drugs all the time, and he's crazy. Michael doesn't believe for a second that Scott does drugs, but the others confirm it and tell Michael he was being used for drug money. All of the guys then talk about how the world, although becoming more inclusive for minorities like gay men, still isn't as inclusive as it should be for other minorities like people of color. The rain starts to clear up, and the group takes that as their cue to start leaving. Hank makes a final statement about how they all gathered there for Larry, and how that shouldn’t be forgotten. Everyone gives very kind goodbyes to Michael, hoping to see him again soon. Harold kisses him on both cheeks, and many of the others do the same, eventually leaving him and Donald, who is very tipsy, alone. Donald tells Michael thanks for the memories and the afternoon, and they just had a thoughtful conclusion before Donald left. Once Michael is alone, he gets a knock on the door. He opens it to reveal Harold, standing there once again. He invites him inside, wondering why he’s back, considering he offhandedly mentioned earlier he had a cute guy at his apartment he wanted to get back to. Michael rants about Scott, and Harold offers some insightful advice before switching the topic. He tells Michael that he has AIDS, and he’s too old to go through with the medication for it. As expected, Michael is beyond shocked and upset, but he offers Harold his full support. Harold stays numb to the whole thing, which makes Michael angry, but he gets over it. Harold then quickly lashes out at him for no reason, which makes Michael bite back, and the two end their exchange as Harold leaves screaming at Michael. The play ends with Michael going to his alcohol cart and mentally questioning whether or not to drink again as the lights fade.