#does this count as meta? eh it’s short but it’s a thought

[kernsing]

the child from omelas but instead of the city’s survival and happiness being built on the suffering of the child it’s the child’s survival and happiness being built on the suffering of the city. that’s the oldest dream.

[kuronekonerochan]

The laziest compilation of thoughts about the mess that was Alice (spoilers)

I finish a lot of shitty dramas. Like a lot. I could review them, but I won’t bc there’s too many and I’m too lazy (when you ff some dramas from 45min to 5 per episode it doesn’t really count as watching too many dramas bc it’s really a commercial break, lol). Some I watch for the so bad it’s good content, or love hate watching or just to have something to watch while I eat, even if they’re boring af. It’s also a tiny bit of ocd bc I need to see how they end (even the ones I drop I check out the finale). I only drop the ones that as Marie Kondo says *Do Not Spark Joy, more specifically...annoy me and make me cranky.

I sometimes bitch about it on DMs with ranty spoilers without structure and that reference other unrelated dramas or shows, because ADHD and my mind refuses to stay on topic, which would make it probably unintelligible except if you are in the niche who happens to have watched the other unrelated dramas, so it’s probably useless as a review.

That said, here are some random disconnected thoughts about Alice.

MAJOR SPOILER ALERTS BEWARE

(this is like partly copypaste of DM rants bc I am that lazy biatch. Also, fair warning I will seem super harsh or this drama because that’s the thing about a bitching dm versus a proper review... I am not bringing up all the points and talking about the good and what I liked as well as the bad, it’s just the bad...and although the drama is imo a mess, it does have some good in it. So if it were a review I’d always argue pros and cons...ranty thoughs who cares about pros? boring..I will not be bothered with devil’s advocate).

This was fascinating to watch, interesting but not good... but like a trainwreck.

I continued watching this mess despite the headache inducing convoluted plot (I watched a lot of timetravel stuff and I love it...encompassing all the theories about it, from butterfly effect, to effectively changing the future (with characters forgetting it or keeping it in memory because “eye of the storm” theory, the “efforts are futile and you can try to change it but the future is set in stone”, to “small changes can be made but big events are fixed points in time”, to “every change creates a new time line” and multiverse, etc... and trust me, all of them can be done well when well written or turn out a confusing illogical mess and that has nothing to do with the theory chosen, but with presenting how time travel works for that story and what the basic rules are and sticking to them...or when something happens that contradicts them, come up with an explanation as to why that happens.

 I don’t mean the drama should be an exposition borefest with too much pseudosciency jargon...but this drama gives you too little in the way of rules and the viewers sort of figure out how timetravel works (which is not bad per se, huge fan of show don’t tell...but there’s a limit to how much they cannot tell or the characters chose not to ask just for the sake of plot and not without any logic to it). Anyways, the little “rules” that we gather along the way...the writing doesn’t stick to them and keeps contradicting itself without addressing or explaining it and hoping we’re so confused we don’t notice. Some dramas you just say “eh, forget it, it doesn’t make sense, let’s turn off our brains and enjoy it”, but here if I wanted to try and follow what was going on at all it required “brain on” mode for their convoluted plot twists...which also made me aware of so may plotholes the time road should have looked like Swiss Cheese. I could go into them...but I cannot be bothered and the list would be extensive and still incomplete, so I will just put 3 here bc I can’t help it:

 1) Hot Daddy with emotional turmoil the entire drama of “Oh no, I abandoned her in 92 and regretted it, it happened 1 year ago for me, and now I find out she died in 2010. How was she, did she suffer? What did she know? Oh god, if only I were a time traveler eventually going rogue who could show up and talk to her any time in the timeline between 92 and 2010...Alas, I have to live in misery with the consequences of my actions...there is just ABSOLUTELY no way of solving this. I guess I’ll just keep making unauthorized time travel journeys from 2050′s time agency back to the year of 2020 and only 2020 to constantly be blindsided by murder attempts on everyone everywhere without having a clue to what’s going on when I could simply go back to before 2010 and talk to the one person who is proven to know what is going on.” Here is where there could be a bullshit reason as to why he could go only go to 2020 and not before, but the drama didn’t even bother.

 2) They say Tae Yi’s mom was originally a time traveler who settled with her physicist dad in the past, eventually making way for her to discover time travel herself. The mom is missing and this is never addressed again. 

3) The book...who wrote it? Because I have guesses but they never outright answer it... and if the biatch author knew that stuff why the alice in wonderland stupid analogies?

 Coward, or petty, or both.... or maybe just a chaos gremlin godlike entity who wanted to watch them all squirm, like the author from Extraordinary You...and that I could get behind, but sadly they don’t go that metaphysical/theological with the plot...which is honestly the main problem with this drama. It seems ambitious in concept but it’s never explored decently in any way, not in the pseudoscience, not in the philosophical sense of the meaning of time/space/existence, not even in its relationships, with the constant back and forth and weirdness of it.

Besides the timetravel migraine, we had the weirdest directing, that made the relationship between the leads feel a bit too incesty...which was the main reason I kept watching this drama...morbid curiosity of how they wrapped up this mess of a plot AND especially the relationship payoff...would it keep being weird with trope romance drama scenes like the female lead and second female lead facing off and being jealous, or that weird hair washing that felt more sensual than maternal? I knew it wouldn’t happen but my inner chaos gremlin wanted kdramaland to grow some balls and go full “predestination: oedipus edition” with this mess. Alas they sort of did, mostly didn’t. Even that angle was a whole inconsistent mess: there were times where it felt too romantic, then for a short minute I misguidedly shipped the journalist friend, then it seemed the dude was ace, then they calmed their tits with the whole weird romantic vibes and it got platonic cute, then with the memory merge thing finally motherly vibes, then I shipped the journalist again for 1 sec only...and then the ending:

Alice ended with the lead solving every problem by shooting himself (technically) in the head...and that's the second meta perfectly fitting ending for a drama with a good cast and terrible writing that drove itself into a corner this year, after the sleepless princess ended with the leads jumping off a cliff. I don't think it's a self aware choice of the writers, or an admission that they themselves know it was bad, but the irony is delicious.

Spoiler for the ending: he undoes timey wimey stuff from when his mom first got killed in high school and closed the time travel door. So he became an architect and new Tae Yi just woke up in her bed remembering everything, but in reality she had just come back from a conference abroad and had never met him. So mom TaeYi didn't die then, but never got back on screen after the time undo so who the f knows what happened to her. 

Also, if new Tae Yi remembers, does that mean hot daddy from the future does as well, but he is just stuck in the future without a time door to ever see them again? The drama doesn’t care answering that and forgets his character is even a thing...I will miss you, my fave who looked emotionally and literally constipated 24/7 (it doesn’t care answering much at all tbf... a little known fact about the time travel paradoxes according to the physics of this world is that besides doppelganger chickenpox it induces severe lazy writing).

Anyways new Tae Yi went looking for architect (? okay...I guess) ML after she woke up, at first he didn't remember her, but it ends with him meeting her, apparently remembering her and they stare at each other... you know, like any bad traditional romantic kdrama finale....so there is still THAT vibe. 

Honestly, the usual romantic ballad score for scenes between the leads WAS NOT the most intelligent choice for this drama in specific but boy did they stick with it (not to mention the ending song... that goes, in english “we be like Bonnie and Clyde we ride or die...which...k, sure)...so technically the ending was exactly the cliche post amnesia running back to each other and staring for the final scene while romantic music blasts trope. Take it as you will.

[thescatterbrainedwriter]

Crossed Wires pt.2

Flash Fanfic

——

Warnings: None

Word Count: ~2,000

Pairings: Oc x Canon

***Note: Emily is my own creation, I just like sticking her in random places***

——

They popped back up in the living room of Nash’s place, Harry holding onto Emily for a moment when they touched ground again not really wanting to let her go. “You good?” she asked making sure his footing was stable. “Yup, I’m good,” Harry assured. “You sure?” She asked with a smirk lifting their still joined hands. “Mhmm,” he repeated still holding on. Her heart skipped when he smirked making her tense for a second. “Ok, good,” she said letting his hand go and moving to take her shoes off. “So, I’m assuming you may be hungry? Want anything?” She asked making her way to the kitchen. “No, I’m ok for now,” he dismissed shaking his head. After taking off his shoes and jacket he followed her to the kitchen. Her heart rate picked up as he got closer and she bit her lip trying to keep herself together. “Theeeeen what.... did you waaaaanna do?” Harry shrugged. “I dunno,” he stated casually somewhat amused at her discomfort. It was his turn to make her blush and he was going to have fun with it.

“Ok, well, I’m gonna go.... make a snack. Or something. Should probably calibrate and affix your neural scanner first though.”

“Oh right, yeah. Should probably... do that....” he said pulling out the device and handing it to her. He followed her into the kitchen and took a seat, Emily standing in front of him given he was so tall even on a chair. As she concentrated making sure everything was in order, Harry studied her with a smile that slowly got wider the longer she took. He saw her brows furrow, her eyes fixate on her task, pupils dilate, mouth pouted and even her tongue stuck out the side of her mouth a little. “Hmmkay... that should do it,” she said completing affixing the small device to his forehead. Smiling satisfied she caught him looking at her with soft eyes. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked.

“Just... watching you concentrate,” Harry said with a shrug. “You know, you stick your tongue out and your pupils dilate when you zone out?” He smiled leaning forward and pointing at her. Emily smiled embarrassedly putting her hand in his face to push him away. “Pfffff— stop... staring at meeee,” she whines with a giggle. “Das rude!”

“Maybe I don’t want to,” Harry teased grabbing her hand and removing it from impeding his vision. Emily squinted before licking her other palm and planting it square in the middle of his face prompting him to release her hand in order to wipe the saliva off. She took the opportunity to retreat away all the while giggling at his sounds of disgust. “Uuuugh, why!” He complained.

“I need my hand to make snacks, how else was I supposed to get you to let go?”

“You could have asked!”

“Were you really gonna let it go?”

Harry paused. “.....yes, I would have.”

“You hesitated!” Emily accused pointing at him from across the table squinting suspiciously.

“I would have! ...... Eventually.....” Harry admitted sheepishly. “Mhmm, yeah sure,” she said with a smirk. “Anyway, I’m gonna go change into comfy pj’s and then make a snack. Technically this is your place too so go get comfortable or something. I’ll be back.” She poked her head back out of the door she had just disappeared into after a brief pause. “Don’t worry, I’ll wear pants this time,” she assured and grinned. Harry grinned with a nervous chuckle still sitting at the table and she disappeared again. He sat steeping in uncertainty, his ears beginning to burn as he debated telling her what was on his mind the entire time she was gone today. When she wandered back into the kitchen muttering her nightly to-do list he decided to blurt it out. As she said, how often would he get this opportunity again?

“Hey Emily,” he said quickly standing nearly tipping over the chair. Emily’s head snapped over to him in surprise having been jolted from her thoughts by both his voice and the noise of the chair. “Ack! Oh, you ok?”

“Yeah, ah, I’m fine,” he dismissed righting the chair and breezing over to her. “I.... have spent a lot of time thinking. Today. W-while you were.... out....”

“Ok?” she said raising an eyebrow curiously and leaned against the table. “Whaaaaat was it you thought about and conclusion did you come to? If you came to one.” Harry paused before averting his gaze and scratched his face. “Well.... as you can imagine,” he started. “Things were, well quite a lot for me to take in. Today.”

“Mhmm, though you handled it rather well from what I understand.”

“Yeah, well, I guess..... I guess a few... wires, may have been crossed. So to say.”

“I would say so, yeah,” Emily affirmed.

“No, you don’t understand, it’s more than just me being front and center. I’m talking about......” he paused, his breath seeming to catch and he felt really rather warm now. “Harry?” Emily said concerned.

“Emily I.... I think.... I think I’ve been, feeling things.” Harry stuttered trying to explain himself. “And I spent a lot, and I mean a lot, of time thinking it over because I wanted to make sure it was not just carry over from Nash or....” he looked up at her making eye contact, eyes both apprehensive and anxious. “Or me....” Emily’s heart stopped and her cheeks became rosy. “Whaaaat do you mean?” she asked trying to keep her voice level.

“Well, I— as I’ve said— I was doing quite a lot of thinking today, and going over past memories and doing a bit of.... self reflection I.... I guess. And I came to the conclusion that..... that......” Emily’s eyes grew wide in anticipation and she barely breathed waiting for him to speak. Harry relaxed his shoulders and his face softened. “I love you.” Her breath caught and all she could do was stare at him. “I know, I know,” Harry said after the awkward silence, “this is a really bad time to be bringing that up but, I just..... I was afraid and then Earth 2 was destroyed by the Anti-Monitor and..... and I really regret not telling you sooner.”

A tiny smile cracked Emily’s face and she looked down at the floor scratching her head. “And here I was thinking I scared you off....” she muttered. “Wait, you....?” Harry asked. “Yeaahhh,” she said smiling at him shyly. “But, I mean, you took your wife’s death hard and I thought at some points in time I was over stepping soooo...... I did my best to quash them. The feelings, I mean.” Harry smiled and sighed. “Mixed signals, god I hate those...”

“Eh well, I was.... admittedly, a little scared too,” Emily explained. “Being ripped away at any point and all that doesn’t exactly make for eager relationship mentality.”

“You know people go through a similar fear, called death, right?” Harry asked.

“Yeah.... I know. I’ve been told the before believe it or not,” Emily followed, “But by that logic, I’ve been through that pain, and inflicted that same pain, half a dozen times at the least. Does that indicate someone who would want to make another connection only to hurt someone like that?”

“No, not really,” Harry admitted. “So then.... why Nash?” Emily pursed her lips and shifted very wide eyes to the sides. “I..... guess I have a type? I’m sure Sherloque could relate,” she smiled a cheesy smile. “Besides, in case you didn’t notice, he had to do an awful lot of convincing.”

“Yeah, I guess,” he sighed. “Didn’t hesitate like I did either.”

“No, no he was.... quite persistent. Took him a while to pluck up the courage though.” Emily smiled and Harry mirrored it. “Soooo, then I have a..... question. For you,” he said slowly walking over like he was embarrassed or too shy. “Can I kiss you?” He asked after a hesitated pause. Emily tensed at the question and chewed on her top lip trying to keep goosebumps from erupting all over. “Why don’t you, try and find out?” She asked smirking a little with hints of deviousness. Harry’s heart stopped, he half expected a yes but didn’t think it would come in the form of a challenge. Tentatively he leaned forward after shaking off his surprise and met her lips with his. They stayed like that for a moment letting the kiss linger between them as they absorbed the tingling feeling that came with it. “So that’s what I missed, hmm?” he commented after they parted. “You’re not half bad yourself,” Emily observed with a smile. Harry chuckled. “If Jessie saw me now. By the way, have you seen her? How is she?”

Emily’s smile dropped a bit. “I.... I uh....”

Harry’s entire face dropped noticing her change in body langue. “Jessie.....”

“I haven’t seen her since, uh, since the universes merged,” Emily admitted causing Harry to turn away, she thought he would pass out with how pale he became. “But! Buuuuut, that doesn’t meeeean she doesn’t exist anymore,” she said rubbing his shoulder, he leaned over the table and stared at the surface with a blank expression. “Cisco traveled around to study and catalog all the changes that have showed up including new metas. And we haven’t seen Wallie around in a while, it’s possible they’ve come across her.”

“Yeah, yeah I guess you’re right,” he muttered.

“Why don’t you, uhm, make a list of things you’d.... like me to ask her. When I do find her, hmm?” she asked trying to distract him.

“Yeah.... yeah I’ll.... I think I’ll do that.” Harry nodded. He slowly shuffled his way into the bedroom and sat on the bed. *Yet another thing to absorb,* he thought to himself.

“I’ll be out here if you need me. For anything,” Emily assured with a gentle smile. Harry nodded and she closed the door to give him quiet. *I think now would be an opportune time for brownies,* she thought to herself. *Not that there’s ever a wrong time for them.* She smiled to herself and headed off to raid the cupboards for ingredients.

——

Harry wasn’t sure how long he sat in the quiet room, but he knew it was an hour at the very least by the ringing now very pronounced in his ears. He had compiled a short list of things he wanted to know about Jessie, short for him anyway, mainly pertaining to how she was doing to making sure she was taking care of herself and he wished to tell her he loved her. He also wrote down a few things he wanted Emily to do for him occasionally in regard to keeping an eye on her. Rubbing his face with a hand he sighed deeply, too much thinking and digestion of information for one day had made him very tired and for once he really wanted to not think about anything. He decided to exit the room and find Emily to see what she had found to make for a snack, and what she considered a snack.

Peeking out of the door he first found a smell of chocolate wafting through the air, then heard humming coming from Emily and similar buzzing from a drone or two. Coming closer to the kitchen, he heard bare feet tapping on the floor and laughter every now and then. He stood in the doorway and leaned against the frame watching with a smile, and after a short while Emily happened to turn enough to catch him watching. “What are you doing waaay over there?” She asked with a giggle.

“Oh, you know. Watching,” he replied.

“Being a creeper, eh?” She smiled making her way over to him. “Creeper? What?” He responded in mock insult. She smiled a little wider. “Creeeeeep-errrrrr,” she said and poked his nose leaving a substance on it. Recoiling at the unknown, Harry touched it to find it was brown and smooth in texture. “Fudge?” He asked confused.

Emily grinned again making her way back over to the counter. “Fudge brownies! My favorite, and guaranteed to cheer anyone up,” she said gesturing dramatically to the still hot bake pan. Harry followed and inspected her handiwork. “Is it all done?” He asked. Emily nodded. “Yup, should be cooled enough t— hey wait, what are you doing?” she asked suddenly noticing Harry move to put his entire open hand right on top of the fudge icing she had finished spreading moments ago. Before she could stop him he firmly planted it in the middle of the pan thoroughly coating it. “Ahh! No, my brownies!!” She near screeched. “Why did y—“ her sentence was cut off by the sudden chocolatey hand plopped into the middle of her face. She froze in disbelief leaving Harry to just smile smugly. “For calling me a butthead earlier,” he explained noting her questioning look. “And the saliva handprint.” Emily’s shoulders dropped. “Fair,” she relented. “But did you really have to ruin such beautiful brownies?”

“I really had to ruin your beautiful brownies,” he confirmed. “But are they really ruined? I think they look better.”

“You know, this isn’t what is meant when the request for a hand is given,” Emily replied washing her face. “So I’ll not ask you for a hand in anything any time soon because of this.” She sighed when she turned and saw him proceed to lick all the icing off his hand. “You want a towel or something instead?”

Harry shook his head. “And waste all this fudge? Never,” he smirked. “Want some?” he asked holding his hand to her face. Emily gave him an unimpressed look fueling his smugness before gripping his wrist and licking from the base of his palm up to the end of his middle finger. Harry swore his heart stopped, he did not anticipate a reaction like that in the least. “Mmm, yum. I love fudge, so much. Good call,” she said with a wink. Harry just stared at her as she casually started cleaning her baking mess like nothing happened. “You’re dangerous,” he commented finding his voice again. “I dunno what you’re talking about,” she replied feigning innocence. He squinted at her with a pause before washing his hand, no way was he risking something like that again. *She seemed too confident doing that,* he thought. *I’ll bet Nash instigates that behavior a lot.*

“So, did you manage to make a list?” Emily asked after a brief silence. Harry paused letting the water run down his hands. “Yeah, I did.”

“Good,” Emily replied finishing wiping down the counter. Smiling she turned around. “Now, eat a feel good brownie, properly this time, and then we can go to bed. No more thinking today, sound good?” Harry nodded with a relieved smile. “Yes, very.” Emily stayed in the kitchen while Harry left to change, brownie in hand, and wandered around closing up for the night. When she made her way to the bedroom, she found him staring off into space sitting on one side of the bed. “Hey,” she said breaking his concentration. “I thought I said no more thinking?”

“Ah, right. Sorry, couldn’t help it I guess,” he said with a chuckle before settling into bed. Emily gave a sympathetic look and made her way to the other side. “Alright, tell me what’s on your mind,” she said sliding under the covers and settling in herself. He looked over making eye contact and his face softened almost immediately at her quiet concerned but attentive look. “Too much,” he says with a sigh. “But, I think mostly, I’m scared.”

“Why are you scared?” She asked scooting a bit closer to him. He sighed again turning on his side to face her. “I’m.... I’m afraid of being lost. I’m afraid to go to sleep because I don’t know if I’ll get the chance to manifest again. That never crossed my mind before today.” Emily sighed softly and gently place a hand on his cheek. “The stubborn and persistent Harry? You’re too assertive to ever disappear.” He chuckled sadly continuing to look at her, his mind calmed and he remembered how he felt the day his mind began to slip and she was there to assure him. “I’ll keep you safe,” she assured softly. “I know,” Harry replied.

“Hey, c’mere,” Emily said after a brief thoughtful pause and stretched out her arms. Harry looked at her quizzically but did as she asked. “What are....?”

“Nash sometimes has nightmares,” Emily explained pulling him close. “This never fails to keep him calm and get him back to sleep.” She wrapped her arms around him gently cradling his head close to her chest and rested her head on top his. Harry stiffened at the close proximity but soon relaxed feeling safe and wrapped his arms around her in return. It didn’t take long for him to drift off to sleep to the sound of her level heartbeat and Emily soon followed.

———

[sayonaramidnight]

In which I’m so not a fanfic writer after all

Asking myself these questions in one go, because the answers are short, welp.

1. How do you approach worldbuilding (if it’s an AU) or research (if it’s an established canon)?

Worldbuilding? In fanfiction? There are people skilled in this field I admire greatly, but in my case it mostly means adding a bunch of OCs and then thinking: hey, why am I even doing this, I might as well go back to writing my original stories... Because every time I attempt to be creative in someone else’s universe, I feel like an impostor and I can’t help it.

(On the other hand, I love worldbuilding in my own stories, but I still have a lot to learn about it, because it’s never enough (or so I was told by some readers).

2. What do you do to understand the characters better and get into their head space?

I talk about them with my friends (if we share the fandom) or read meta-texts from intelligent people. If the character happens to be my favourite, I make a lot of screenshots and reread their lines. orz

3.  How long do you usually spend writing a chapter? (considering only the actual hours you spend writing/typing!)

I spend a lot of time staring at my writing and getting a headache and probably very little time actually writing.

4. How does your writing happen? Do you visualize scenes playing out in your head, or do they come out in words as you type?

Kiiiiiiiiiind of both. Characters’ dialogues and thoughts come to me as words, while action scenes and descriptions come visualised - and then I have a big problem finding the right words for them.

5. How long do you spend editing each complete chapter/story?

I usually close it and post it/send it to friends as soon as I finish, before I start hating it. Only later do I find some silly mistakes and edit them frantically.

6. When you write emotional scenes, do you feel what the characters are feeling?

I usually do.

7. To you, what is the most important part of writing a romantic relationship?

Um... making it seem believable. Which is a big (and tricky) dead for one such as I, who doesn’t do romantic relationship IRL and mostly knows how they work from stories.

8. What are three things you’re proudest of when it comes to your writing? Dialogue, descriptions, humour, romantic fluff, kisses, action, pacing, worldbuilding, setting, anything! Even small things like sentence structures and the way your characters banter counts

In terms of fanfiction... I mostly write it in English, which is my second language and makes me feel very limited, compared to native speakers. But I try to break these limits or at least bypass them somehow and I often fail, but I’m proud of myself trying nonetheless. And I’m still trying to find my own style, because writing in a second language feels very different than in the first language, at least to me.

9. What are three weaknesses in your writing that you’re very aware of, that you’d like to spend time working on to improve your works?

Eh? Everything.

10. If you were to visit your past self now and give them a piece of writing advice, what would that advice be

Don’t you bloody dare posting this stuff in any public spaces. Sure, send it to friends, when they’re genuinely interested, but  don’t post it. It will only hurt you.

[radramblog]

A handful of hot cardboard takes

So due to having assignment work to do and a relatively busy day tomorrow, I’m going to be writing both today and tomorrow’s blog articles tonight. Unnnnfortunately, it’s approaching 11PM, and I haven’t even figured out what I’m writing this one about- it has to be relatively short, since I don’t have that much time, and I want the tomorrow one to be an album, and that always takes time, and ehhhh…

I guess it’s been a hot second (read: a week exactly) since I talked about Magic, so that’ll do. But what specifically?

I mean, I guess there’s these new spoilers to go on about. I guess I’m hotting some takes.

First of all, we have the D&D set, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. I feel like this set’s creation was inevitable. WoTC has had D&D and Magic for decades now, and the only crossover we got was the Un-Card Sword of Dungeons and Dragons? And yet fucking Walking Dead got a whole-ass secret lair? Yeah no way this wasn’t happening. So far we only have 5 cards, so one by one I suppose.

Tiamat was obviously going to be a thing, but she feels exceptionally underwhelming. Admittedly, cramming her massive list of abilities and flavour into one 2.5 by 3.5 inch card was going to be difficult, but this is just meh. She finds five dragons, whoop de fucking do. This is never going to see any play outside of Commander, and I can’t imagine picking her to lead your 5-colour Dragons deck above The Ur-Dragon, it’s Scion, or even Morophon. And, I’m all for underrated jank commanders, but I also don’t like tutors, and if you’ve ever resolved Conflux (which this kinda feels like) you know it can be a huge pain. A solid Meh/10. I do like that they didn’t give her an epithet, though.

The Vorpal Sword is actually pretty sick. Not only is it a cheap coloured equipment that slots great into Black/X Voltron Commander lists, not only is it an alternative wincon that isn’t complete shit but also requires going all in and is very interactable, but I actually think this has a slot in cubes interested in Black Aggro, Black Artifacts, or both. The arts for this card look sick aas hell, and I’m extremely interested in seeing in snicker-snack someone to death.

I was wondering whether or not Halfling was going to be a creature type, and that question got answered fairly quick. Citizen on the typeline is interesting considering it’s only been seen on 4 token producers so far (and also Mobilized District becomes one), and the recent Edgewall Innkeeper being a peasant. I guess this guy is too prosperous for the peasantry.

Oh, the card itself? Well, I was never a fan of Wily Goblin, but I don’t really think that’s why we’re here. This charming fellow is a second Green Soul Sister, supporting the Witherbloom lifegain archetype from Strixhaven, and it’s nice to see colours other than White (and occasionally, Black) get to do life things. It’s always been secondary (tertiary? They don’t get lifelink) in green, or only on shite cards, so it getting pushed is an interesting twist.

It is an utter tragedy that you can put a Bag of Holding in a Portable Hole in Magic now, and it doesn’t even do anything. I get the feeling this is going to be either everywhere or nowhere, though I’m leaning towards the latter. Any permanent type is really nice, but 2 or less is restrictive enough that this misses way more often than you’d like. But, if it ends up being good, you’re going to see a lot of Portable Holes exiling Portable Holes, and that’s just kinda funny.

Isn’t there supposed to be a colon in there? This is just a more splashable, flavour-twisted variant of Victim of Night- though that card ends up being one of the best Terrors Mono-Black gets to run, out of a long long list. This, unfortunately, is a bit worse than that is in competitive formats, and considerably worse in EDH where giant Angels, Demons, and Dragons are often the targets you want to tell to die. I’m just going to stick with Doom Blade. And Go for the Throat. And Snuff Out and Hero’s Downfall and Victim of Night and Heartless Act and

So, I actually really like these basics, but specifically for this set. Box text is an essential part of D&D, and putting it on the basics is just a lovely bit of flavour. I don’t know if they’ve said whether every basic variant is going to have this, but I kinda hope they do. The art for these is top fucking notch, too. I’m not convinced this should be a permanent thing though.

 But of course, that’s not the only set we have spoilers for, because Magic Spoiler Season is a sine wave of hype now and it will never end. Modern Horizons 2: because the first one didn’t fuck enough formats up. That’s not very fair, that set was cool as fuck, but in my eyes that’s for the kookier designs rather than the bonkers powerful shit. More Throes of Chaos, less Hogaak. Anyway, we’ve got 3 new cards and some reprints, so let’s get into them.

I’m really not sure how to feel about this art, but hey, that’s just my opinion. Brainstone is a solid role-player in all sorts of artifacty, eggsy decks, probably the best Egg we’ve seen in a while. It’s going right in my Radha deck, I’ll tell you that much. Considering how expensive the worst card ever made, Sensei’s Divining Top, is getting, having a colourless topdeck manipulation option that’s likely not too spenno is nice, even if it’s a oneshot. I like it.

Oh, haha, it’s Lion’s Eye Diamond but they drew the rest of the fucking Lion. While this looks absolutely gorgeous, it doesn’t go into Cat tribal, and I’m not that much of a degenerate, so meh. For real though, this doesn’t actually look broken to me- LED is powerful because it’s a lotus, whereas this takes that and makes it a slow, multi-turn Pyretic Ritual. I also don’t think having an LED effect in Modern does much for the format, so. Eh?

Ok, here’s the one everyone’s talking about. Urza’s Saga is such a slam-dunk on a meta level. It’s a card named after a set, a fun reversal of Time Spiral block all being named after cards, and considering Modern Horizons was basically Time Spiral 2 I wouldn’t be surprised if MH2 was TSP3. It’s also an Enchantment Land but doesn’t look like it, referencing the fact that Urza’s block was actually Enchantment Matters but no-one remembers that because basically none of those cards were the good ones. This card is blatantly powerful, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see it pop up in a loooot of decks in various formats. In commander, this is a land for 3 turns that then turns into a Sol Ring, while also maybe making you a token or two and maybe even finding a weird hate piece or combo machine (…or Top) instead. In Modern or Legacy, it tutors for all sorts of nonsense, while making potential threats for artifact decks in the land slots. This card, while slow, has potential to be patently absurd, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it was banned in at least one format by the end of the year. We’ll see which ones.

Counterspell in modern is something a very specific group of people were counting for. Personally, it’s not the vintage spell I would have been hyped for, I was wanting Swords, but here we are. I almost feel, however, that Counterspell’s potential in Modern has been wasted at this point. Like, how many decks are even running Mana Leak these days? And how many of those decks want to be holding up UU on turn 2? Because in a fast format like this, Mana Leak might as well be Counterspell most of the time. The new art is baller, ill give it that.

I…don’t know enough about how this card is in Legacy Death and Taxes to know how well it would be in Modern Death and Taxes. It seems pretty good? I like that they’re doing old-border reprints again, though, that was like the only good thing behind Time Spiral Remastered.

Fucking Finally. With that said, I’m not convinced that finally reprinting these fetches is going to keep the price down much, and for long- the Horizon lands from MH1 see a fair bit less play, and they are creeping up to $20 a pop for some of them at this point. I guess if you need them, buy them now, because they aren’t going to stay low. It’s going to take more than a single reprint in a premium product before I’m satisfied in the reprint quality.

 Anyway, that’s the lot of them. My takes on these cards was probably a bit chiller than what you’d see from someone who’s actually in the know of competitive formats these days, but if you came here for serious analysis, then I’m not sure what to tell you. More well-thought-out Magic talk, uhh, next time I talk about Magic.

[braincoins]

3, 15, 24

Thank you, @eloarei!!! [many hugs]

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway) does the entirety of V:LotD count? [ahem] Um, I guess there was the 3rd Epic Hellfic and how I was going to get the SFW version of “Allura’s Magic Spell” in there?

For those who are new here, when I very first got into VLD fandom, I started the Connection-verse. While I was still writing “Connection,” before it had a name, I referred to it as the Epic Hellfic, because it, like many of my fics, had started out as a short thing and then it wound up being just under 33k words. @__@ Then I wrote a few short filler fics while I was working on Epic Hellfic 2, which became “Components.” I did a few more shorter fics after that, building up to EH 3, but then abandoned EH3 when season 2 came out.

One of the shorter fics after “Components” was called “A Kind of Magic,” and it concerned Allura’s ability to walk up to Shiro, say ...something?... to him and short-circuit his brain for a bit. (Not literally.) The paladins were very confused. The answer to this was found in the NSFW fic “Good Morning.” (It was his name, his actual first name - Takashi - because she only calls him that when they’re alone together and making love.)

Now, I’ve always maintained that you shouldn’t have to read smut if you don’t want to. And the answer to this “magic spell” that Allura kept casting on Shiro was going to be in EH3, along with a corresponding “weapon” of his own that Shiro developed during the course of “Good Morning.” (The phrase “my princess”, especially as part of the longer phrase, “Command me, my princess,” - I’m not going to go into the hows and whys of it, but that’s necessary for this explanation.)

So, at some point during EH3, our heroes were going to go up against Haggar. Remember, I was writing this after season 1, before anything else had happened. And I was thinking of how Haggar made herself look like (Galra Prisoner!)Shiro in that fight with him. During the fic, our heroes get separated into three parties. Two of them eventually find their way back together, and then have to go after the third. There are also prisoners with them that they’re working on freeing.

Haggar magics herself to look like Allura. And then, of course, we have to have the scene of “TWO ALLURAS?! But which one is the real one?!”

Shiro steps forward, drops to one knee, and says, “Command me, my princess.”

Allura 1 says, “Very good, my paladin. Kill her, she’s the imposter!” Allura 2 goes full-on red in the face, and hisses, “Takashi!” in embarrassment.

Shiro pushes off and up from his kneeling position, swinging his activated hand at Allura 1, who turns into Haggar and disappears.

...and then Shiro gets teased relentlessly about it by Pidge and Matt (they were there in the first place to rescue Matt and Sam). 

“It was the first thing I thought of.” “The first thing you thought of was sex?!” “It wasn’t something Haggar would know!!” “Wait, wait... does she call you Takashi during sex then?” “Pidge...” “THAT’S THE MAGIC SPELL! I HAVE TO TELL THE GUYS!” “Commander,” Shiro pleads with Sam, “they’re your kids, can’t you do something about this?” “No, sorry. And... really, you couldn’t think of anything else?” And then Allura busts in with, “Can we focus up on finding Lance, Hunk, and Keith?!”

So... yeah, the sexy talk was going to have plot relevance and this was also how non-smut readers would find out what Allura kept saying to break Shiro’s brain.

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)? They’re all hard, but the prize DEFINITELY goes to Titles. DEFINITELY 100% It’s very rare that I get a title easily (or that I start with a title; “The Paladin’s Guide to Dating” was a very rare exception where I started with a title and developed a story from it).

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time? I mean, I’ve been writing stories since I was in elementary school, so I sure as hell hope so. Since I joined the VLD fandom? I think so, but I’m not really sure. 

Thank you for asking me!!  Fun Meta Asks for Writers

[pinkevilbobdoesthings]

So this is for the prompt Healing .This might be a bit loose of a use of the prompt, but eh.

Here’s “The Adventure Begins”.

_________________________

Caleb had never really given the days of the week much thought. They would come and things would happen, so why have a favorite? None of them had ever stood out to him as special. At least, that was before he started dming for his friends. Now he had to say that Thursdays were the best day of the week.

The group had only been playing together for a couple of months, but Caleb was already finding himself getting really into it. Now most of his free time was spent imagining new scenarios for his players, The Strong. That night’s game was promising to be a good one.

The Strong had just finished their first dungeon and gathered the components the local shopkeep, Phillip, had requested. Now all that was left for them to do was return to the village and get their money.

“Fiona should be the one that gives Phillip the supplies,” Nott suggested. It tripped up Caleb at first that her wizard had his old name Bren, but he was getting used to it.

Fjord nodded his head. “Maybe she can get us a bonus.” His fighter, Captain Tusktooth, had already been banned from price negotiation after accidentally insulting Phillip’s mother.

“Just leave Traci out of it,” Beau said. “I don’t want to do an awkward flirting session with Caleb ever again.” Caleb had to agree with that.

“That sounds like a fine plan to me,” Caduceus said. He played the firbolg cleric, Caduceus. No one was certain if he really understood the point of dungeons and dragons.

“Does that sound good to you, Jester?” asked Yasha, aka Janet their gnome rogue.

Jester smiled. “Like you guys can keep Fiona away from Phillip.” Fiona being her human bard barbarian.

“Okay, you’ve successfully made it to the village. So, what are you guys going to do now?” Caleb asked.

“Well, Fiona’s going to go to Philip’s shop,” Jester said.

Fjord grabbed a handful of chips from the communal bowl in the middle of the table “We’ll wait outside.”

“Right, so Fiona goes into the shop,” Jester said. “Is Phillip there?”

“Behind the counter of the shop, you see the familiar sight of a pale red tiefling, Philip. He smiles as he sees you come in and goes ‘Miss Fancypants. You’ve returned. Were you successful?’” Caleb liked doing Phillip’s voice. It was softer than his own and was the first NPC that Caleb had a firm grasp of.

Jester nodded. “‘Yeah!’” She did the cutest voice for Fiona and Caleb couldn’t blame Phillip for being infatuated with the bardbarian. “Fiona pulls out everything that Phillip requested from her bag. ‘Here you go!’”

“Phillip’s smile grows wider. ‘You will never cease to impress me Miss Fancypants.’”

“‘Wait until I play for you sometime. I’m going to be performing at the inn tonight.’” Jester leaned forward with a big grin on her face.

Caleb pulled out some of his notes. “‘I look forward to.’” Everyone else at the table ooohed as Jester giggled. “‘Let me go get your payment.’ Phillip grabs his crutch and makes his way to the back and keeps talking to you. ‘I’ve heard there’s good work for folk like you up north in Bucher. Folks say that there’s a kobold colony that needs wiping out up there.’”

“How’s that spelled?” Beau asked.

“B-u-c-h-e-r,” Caleb said.

Jester frowned. “‘I think we were hoping to stay here a bit longer.’”

“‘There’s not much work for you here after this.’ Phillip returns to the front with a bag of coins. ‘Here you go 45 gold just like we agreed.’”

“Fiona smiles and takes the money. ‘We’ll miss this place’,” Jester said, bt she still seemed a little sad.

Caleb rolled a die. Seventeen. He rolled another die and added two to it. Eight. “‘Then you’ll need to come visit us sometime then.’ Suddenly a spear pushes through Phillip’s chest and he slumps over dead. On the other end of the spear is a gnoll.”

The whole table erupted into screams. “You can’t do that!You can’t just kill Phillip!” Nott yelled. Jester just sat there wide eyed in shock.

“Things don’t always go as you have planned.” Caleb had actually been planning for this attack since the start of the campaign. He hadn’t expected them to get so attached to Phillip, but that made the moment all the more poignant. “What does Fiona do Jester?”

Jester sat there quietly for a moment. There were a few different options. She could run out to the others to let them know what happened, attack the gnoll by herself, or scream to bring the other characters to her. “Fiona jumps over the counter, pulls the spear out of Phillip, grabs her healing potion, and pours it into Phillip’s mouth.” Or she could do that.

“But that’s your only healing potion,” Caleb pointed out. He didn’t mean to have her waste her items on an npc.

“Well, I don’t have any healing spells, so I’ll have to use the potion,” Jester said. The Strong were only level four and only had a couple of healing potions including the one Fiona used on Phillip.

Caleb scanned the table for complaints, but the rest of the players seemed okay with Jester’s decision. He rolled for the potion and added it to Phillips sheet. “Phillip gets back up and stares at you. Don’t forget that gnoll’s still there. Actually, it’s going to attack you now. Does a 19 hit?”

“Yeah, that definitely hits,” Jester said.

Caleb rolled again. “That’s 3 damage.”

Jester wrote down her new hp count. “Okay, so Fiona picks up Phillip and disengages from the gnoll to get them both out of there.”

“Picking up Phillip counts as an action. So if you want to disengage, you’ll have to leave him there,” Caleb pointed out.

“Right, so I pick up Phillip and leave triggering the gnoll’s reaction then.”

Caleb stared at her. Phillip was just an npc. He could understand getting hurt for another character, but not an npc. Npcs were disposable. “Does 14 hit?”

“Just barely misses,” Jester said. Relief filled Caleb. He would never forgive himself if he killed Fiona Fancypants. “Fiona carries Phillip out the store and yells ‘GNOLLS!!!’ for everyone to hear.”

“And that’s when gnolls start to swarm the village. Everyone roll for initiative,” Caleb said.

Jester bit her lip looking at her notes. “Wait, Fiona didn’t grab Phillip’s crutch and he has a bad leg. If I put him down, can he get to safety?”

“He can crawl,” Caleb said.

“Okay, then Fiona will just hold him until she can put him someplace safe.” Jester mimicked like she was holding someone in real life, and Caleb could feel a blush creeping up on his face.

“You’ll get disadvantage if you do that.”

Jester shrugged still holding an invisible Phillip in her arms. “Fiona can handle it.”

“Alright then. Okay initiative. Anyone get 20-25?”

******************

Somehow the Strong managed to survive the encounter even with Fiona at disadvantage for most of the fight. Most of the group agreed that it was a fun game, but Beau did threaten Caleb if he tried to pull something like what he did to Phillip again. Jester was the last one to leave that night.

“I had a lot of fun,” Jester said. “Fiona got to save Phillip!”

Caleb smiled. “Have to admit that took me by surprise.”

Jester raised her eyebrows in confusion. “Why? Fiona adores Phillip. Besides I know that you like playing Phillip, and it’d be really sad if your character died so early in the game.”

“Oh, danke.”Caleb never really thought of it before, but if he had the option, it was Phillip that interacted with the party. It was also a lot of fun to have Phillip talk to Jester and flirt with her a little bit. Even if he wasn’t good at it. “But I’m the DM. My characters are just npcs and don’t matter much. They’re not that interesting of npcs anyways.”

“Don’t sell yourself so short Caleb,” Jester said with a hint of a pout. “Phillip’s part of why I come every week.”

A blush crept over Caleb’s face. “Really? Then I guess he better move to Bucher so you can keep seeing him.”

“That’s good cause Fiona would be heartbroken otherwise.” Jester grinned brightly, but then became more serious. “Caleb? Do you think that Phillip feels the same way about Fiona?”

“That would be meta knowledge.”

“Cay-leb,” Jester pouted. “I won’t cheat or anything. I just want to know for art purposes.”

Caleb could feel his heart beating hard as he thought about how Phillip felt about Fiona since it was the same way he felt about Jester. “I think he holds Fiona very dearly.”

Jester squealed. “But he doesn’t realize how Fiona feels about him yet does he?”

“He doesn’t believe that someone as amazing as Miss Fancypants could love a man like him.”

“He’s wrong you know. Fiona could love him real easily.” For once, Jester appeared to be one hundred percent serious.

“What about Captain Tusktooth?” Caleb asked.

Jester waved away the comment. “That’s just a fling. Besides, Fjord isn’t really interested in pc romance.”

“Ah. I’ll need to keep that in mind then.” Caleb closed his DM screen and set it on his books.

“You better. Fiona needs a whirlwind romance. I’ll see you later!”

Caleb watched her as she left and sighed. He knew that nothing could ever happen between him and Jester. But that’s what the fantasy of Dungeons and Dragons was for.

___________________________

Notes:

Phillip and Fiona Fancypants were created in the Widojest discord. We ship them so much.

[muggle-writes]

do I have that book challenge

tagged by @elizabethsyson and while photos were absolutely helpful (for example, in explaining the first question) I did this mostly from memory in downtime at work so I couldn't exactly take pictures as I went, and tbh I don't trust tumblr not to eat my post if I upload a bunch of pictures at once

Do you have a book with deckled edges?

thank you so much for the picture because if that's the thing with the pages not exactly matching up, (but within a small deviation from perfectly square) yes, my copy of the first three Dragonriders of Pern books in one volume has deckled edges. also probably some other books, but I've been reading that one recently so I'm sure about it

Do you have a book with 3 or more people on the cover?.

yeah: Inverloch (Volume 1)

it's the printed version of (the first portion of) a webcomic, which I didn't know when I picked it up at a garage sale or something. I hadn't even heard of webcomics yet

and. hm. don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the premise of the story and it was never really bad... I was thrilled when I realized it was a webcomic and still online and i could read the whole thing.

but

the major plot twist, one the author had apparently planned from the very beginning, honestly had some very unfortunate implications that would haunt me if I ever attempted a reread.

Like, it was set up well enough to be a surprise but not a shock. and it enabled the happy ending. but I probably would have preferred almost any other happy or vaguely positive ending, or even a meaningful depressing ending, I was that disappointed

on the other hand the rest of it was written well enough that I cared so.... eh. it is what it is

I'm just not sure I still love it enough to recommend, but I also wouldn't stop someone from picking it up off my shelf to read, you know what I mean? Especially just that first part, which was plenty good.

Do you have a book based on another fictional story?

D&D guidebooks are totally based on Lord of the Rings, right?

lol in reality uh

the copy of Scandinavian folk tales including my favorite fairy tale ever was always my dad's, not mine, no matter how many times I read it before moving out

uh

my wife has several Halo books? like the video game. I'm not actually sure which came first and I haven't read any of those, but they are on "my" (our) shelf

I also have a lot of Harry Potter meta/derivatives, including that themed Haggadah I think I posted a picture of recently. But the phrasing of this question makes me think the intent is "fiction based on other fiction" so none of those quite count.

so yeah, Halo's the closest I've got. also there's a Star Trek book on that shelf that I didn't even know we had until I went looking for clocks on covers

Do you have a book with a title 10 letters long?

Sadly I don't have my own copy of Dragon's Kin, which kicks off an excellent subseries of Pern books, (nor Dragonsong but I didn't expect to have that one) but what I did find was

The Visitor (which is animorphs#2)

Do you have a book with a title that starts and ends with the same letter?

Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye

Do you have a Mass Market Paperback book?

does my solid half of the animorphs series all on one shelf count or is this looking for specific branding?

Do you have a book written by an author using a pen name?

(immediately thinks of Lewis Carrol) um Edwin Abbot was also a mathematician but sadly not a penname, but I do I have a copy of Flatland

Oh, but I'm pretty sure I have some of the ghostwritten animorphs books, do those count? Specifically someone mentioned recently that animorphs 25 was the first of the ghostwritten books and I definitely have that one

Do you have a book with a character’s name in the title?

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Ender's Shadow on my shelf, the rest I mostly have as ebooks. also the first Erec Rex book (mentioned above) and the entire Kirsten (American Girl) series plus the first Kit book.

Do you have a book with 2 maps in it?

the first one I found was The Malloreon Volume 1 (also has 3 characters on the cover). it's got a map of the western kingdoms before the first book and a map of Mallorea in the middle of the third book

Do you have a book that was turned into a TV show

Animorphs again

Do you have a book written by someone who is originally famous for something else?(celebrity/athlete/politician/tv personality…)

I definitely had a phase of buying books by famous people, so I have the worst bulkiest copy of Origin of Species which is printed in a terrible font (it also has deckled edges for that matter), and The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, that I could find at a quick glance. Probably something by Steven Hawking hiding somewhere

my phenomenal copy of The Elements (Euclid) doesn't quite count because he's most famous, now, for writing those so...

(Einstein's Relativity - in translation obviously because I know very little German - is deceptively short but that was my parents' book that I tried and failed to read, not my own)

Do you have a book with a clock on the cover?

Disappointingly, An Uncommon History of Common Things does not. I do have a Doctor Who coloring book with a clocklike gear pattern on the cover which is the closest I'm finding

Do you have a poetry book?

yeah someone once gave me a book of Japanese death poems, translated of course. I've been meaning to read them. for that I have to find it, and I can't right now :/ now that I remember the book I want to go read it

Do you have a book with an award stamp on it?

not that I can find? apparently Dragonflight or Dragonquest won "a Hugo or Nebula award" (bc McCaffrey was the first woman to win one of those) but wikipedia isn't telling me which award or which book, and I don't have the dust jacket for the original-trilogy-in-one-volume copy that I have so there's no telling if it "should" have an award printed on the front

Do you have a book written by an author with the same initials as you?

ooh wouldn't that be fun. I don't seem to :/

what I do have is a book written by an author with what my initials would be if I had taken my wife's last name instead of the other way around which I guess is close enough

Do you have a book of short stories?

yes, surprisingly. The Girl Who Heard Dragons and I haven't read any of them, not even the story I got it for

oh, and First Meetings, which is a bunch of short stories in the Ender universe

Do you have a book that is between 500-510 pages long?

That's... really specific. Closest I could find was 483 pages and 513 pages (Volume 2 of The Belgariad and The Malloreon, respectively) In general I have a lot of books around 300-350 pages and a fair few over 700 pages, but not many close to 500

Do you have a book that was turned into a movie?

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, for sure. I think Flatland was also made into a movie and it was as phenomenally terrible as you would expect of a story about 2d shapes. not even shapes with faces, just shapes, and one sphere.

Do you have a graphic novel?

I was going to make all sorts of qualifications of "well... if something originally published as a webcomic is now in physical book form.... (Inverloch again) but actually I have volumed 1 and 3-7 of Tomo (manga-style "preteen protag moves in with Christian family members and has both fantasy adventures and learns the benefits of being Christian" no-subtlety series that I picked up at Family Christian Stores when they were still everywhere. also I probably still have the first six Serenity "books" but I can't find them (not fantasy: rebellious "sinful" teen moves to new school and hangs out with the Christians because she wants to sleep with one of them, eventually sees the errors of all her ways, un-dyes her hair, and converts. Also no subtlety)

I had a phase when I was "too old" for veggie tales but still thought FCS was the best place ever but if that really was the best of their "teen" content it really wasn't great

Do you have a book written by 2 or more authors?

are we limiting this to novels? I have The Great Snape Debate (meta published before Deathly Hallows, with short chapters by two alternating authors, plus they got Orson Scott Card to write a chapter to draw reader attention with the big name and hey it worked, I bought it, arguing (between all of them) both sides of "will Snape turn out to be on Harry's side after all" and also The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern which as the title implies, is more of a guide than a real story.

Oh, but I do have a copy of Invasive Procedures (Card & Johnson).

Did I miss any questions? tumblr's being particularly weird today.

anyway I suppose I should tag some fellow bookworms. @knightbusofdoom @copperscales and if anyone else wants me to edit to in so you're "really" tagged, just may me know, and if you just want to do it please do and tag me back

[spaceorphan18]

SO’S GLEE EPISODE RANKING: NO. 63

I started a Full Glee Episode Ranking between seasons 5 and 6 over two years ago now (!!!). My opinions have changed somewhat since then (retrospect is an interesting thing), and I need to include the thirteen season six episodes I neglected in my original list.  With the two year anniversary of the show being over a few months away, I thought I’d count down to by posting an episode every day.  I’ll tag using: glee episode rankings

Here we go…

63. Hurt Locker 1 (6x04)

Written by: Ian Brennan Directed by: Ian Brennan

A lot about season 6 was pretty cracky, but here’s where we get full on insane, as the plot revolves around Sue smashing the fourth wall in just about every way.  It’s kind of weird to see the characters go on with their lives, as if they’re not aware they’re in a television show, while Sue becomes full on cartoon villain, and seems to be aware of the Matrix. 

While I prefer the second part of the Hurt Locker duo, probably for obvious reasons, there’s a lot of enjoyable things in this one - not to mention that while the show has gone totally off the rails at this point, it’s still incredibly hilarious.  

So - we have Sue pissed off at Will, which starts a whole other round of S v W, which c’mon writers, it’s a dead, dead horse already.  She’s also go a giant Klaine shrine, which is slightly insane, and yes, is poking fun at the Klainers - but I don’t think it’s as mean spirited as some people took it to be.  We also have Sue meddling with Kurt and Blaine’s lives, which is fun.  Because ultimately, why does she really care? Why does she even have a Klaine shrine? It doesn’t matter - because we want it, the show is saying, fine, here you go. 

Meanwhile, they hypnotizing of Sam does get a little skeevy, even if he and Rachel’s romance is nice for the short thing that it was intended to be.  And then there’s the Invitationals performance (which I don’t think we’ve had since season one) - which kind of ties all of this together, and is only mildly entertaining with all of the other nonsense going on. 

High Points: 

Sue’s Hurt Locker, which is amazing and horrifying and brilliant and perfect. 

Blaine being super sassy - whether it’s telling Kurt and Rachel no to throwing the competition or teaching Rachel and Sam piano.  

Sue meddling in Klaine’s lives.  Fantastic. 

The Sam/Rachel romance worked for me (in a they need each other in this moment but not otp kind of way). 

Principal Figgins-Gunderson! OMG!

Sue’s massive, meta take down of Will.  

Klaine angst! 

Low Points: 

Too much Vocal Adrenaline -- did they really need two songs? 

Sue hypnotizing Sam, eh, kind of crossing a line there, glee. 

Walter - as in he was an unneeded plot device. And also, this is kinda a creepy introduction. 

Music: 

Bitch: Never has there been a more perfect song for a character.  I’m kinda surprised they didn’t use this earlier in the series. 

Thousand Miles: Rachel and Sam’s voices blend pretty well, tbh.  This is a sweet song, and nicely done.  I think it’s a little too long in the episode, but the episode had such little music in it, I’m sure that’s why a longer cut was there. 

Rock Lobster: I mean, it’s fun, and kinda weird, but VA songs feel incredibly unnecessary as we wind down time on the series clock. 

Whip It: Like Rock Lobster, the performance was kinda crazy in an entertaining way -- but we really didn’t need the last five minutes of this episode dedicated to VA performances, and this one could have been easily cut.  It almost feels like they didn’t know what to do with their time here (maybe this script was originally one script), and added on another song just to have another song.  

Final Verdict: This episode is definitely hilarious, and has moments of absolute brilliance.  Sue meddling with Klaine is incredibly entertaining.  There are some tired elements, the resurgence of Will v Sue and too much heaviness on Vocal Adrenaline performances, but otherwise a pretty solid hour.