#esp a lady cop

[literaticat]

Hi Jenn. Can I ask you some info about “cozy” mysteries? I’m part of a writers group and recently shared some details about the plot of my novel and others in the group keep throwing around this term in relation to my book. Thing is I’m not sure if what I’ve written is a cozy mystery. I mean, it sort of is but also not. It’s a murder mystery and it’s set in a cozy UK village but it’s also kind of dark, with themes dealing with grief and thriller elements. I’m also querying UK agents to start with before I query US ones and while it looks like the term is maybe international I’m also wondering if it’s more US than UK? My comps are Agatha Christie, esp her Poirot novels which I see some saying online are cozy and others saying aren’t cozy, plus modern authors like Graham Norton and Tom Hindle. I know I can ask some of this in my group but I’m embarrassed to as I don’t know if I’ve written a cozy or not or given it’s kind of darker, if I’ve just written a murder mystery. I know this isn’t your area but if you could help me I’d really appreciate it, thank you.

With the caveats that I don't rep adult mysteries, I don't really read adult mysteries, I don't know anything about the market for adult mysteries in the US *or* the UK, nor what terminology is in use for the UK since I am not in the UK? Uh. Sure.

In my opinion, there are four main attributes for a proper cozy.

A cozy mystery must:

Feature an amateur sleuth. In other words -- the main character's JOB is not to solve crimes -- they are not a cop or P.I. or FBI agent or forensic pathologist or whatever. They may be a reporter or a novelist or a little old lady who happens to have a passion for puzzles -- they may be a kooky barista or bookstore owner or chef or something totally not-crime related!

Have a charming setting. By that I mean, warm, cute, safe-feeling -- say, a village/hamlet/vicarage called Button-on-Twee with a delightfully quirky cast of characters. The kind of place you want to take a weekend vacation to. (Not all villages/small towns are like that. Plenty of REAL small towns are in fact impoverished and bleak -- that wouldn't be the case in a cozy small town). It doesn't HAVE to be a village, it could be something like a hotel, vacation resort, or on a large yacht or something -- as long as it's charming/lovely. If it is set in a city, it would be like a pocket-neighborhood within a city. Like, maybe there's a darling B&B and a brownstone full of chatty neighbors and pets on a street that has a kindly greengrocer and a bookstore etc -- and we stay in that little corner of town, far away from skyscrapers and dangerous bits. It would be much harder, IMO, for a cozy to be set on like, a remote and isolated desert planet or farm in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors or something -- those things are not cozy!

Be "clean" -- ie, no explicit sex or grisly violence on page. Obvs there may be romance/relationships, love/kissing, etc if you want, but it will be closed-door, ie, the actual uh... graphic bonking stuff may be implied but will not be shown. Obvs there may be murders, but think, like, the level of violence on Murder She Wrote -- MAYBE we see an assailant whack somebody on the head or something like that -- but when bodies are shown, they are rather discreetly presented, or are discovered off-screen. They aren't showing twisted bodies or guts and gore and maggots in eyes and whatnot, yanno?

Be comforting and satisfying. Like, idk, it's just a vibe. Though there may be murder and light mayhem and delving into some of the darker parts of the human psyche (after all, MURDER, hello!) -- and the reader may certainly experience SUSPENSE (how will our hero get out of this jam?!) -- they will not experience TERROR. The reader knows they are in good hands and that the problems will be satisfyingly resolved and the main character will be OK at the end. They should come away from the book feeling satisfied, with a smile, not upset or stressed out.

If your book ticks ALL of those boxes, you can deffo call it a cozy.

If it ticks 3/4, like, it's sorta borderline 4, as long as the vibe is still comforting, it still could potentially be a cozy, but at the end of the day: If you don't think it's cozy, that's fine. Just... don't call it cozy then! Call it a mystery and then describe it and put the comps and let people come to their own conclusions.

(FWIW, Miss Marple is an amateur sleuth whose books are mostly set in a small town or vacation destinations -- Hercule Poirot is a former cop and professional detective whose books are set all over the map, literally. So by my definition, Poirot books are not cozies. Marple books might be -- but I haven't read them, so IDK about the vibe!)

[halalgirlmeg]

Battle of the Hijabs (Under read more because this got longer than I thought and I started ranting about why representation in media fucking sucks atp and why the TV show Quantico is the worst):

Coming in at number 1, getting the gold: LITERALLY ALL THE HIJABIS IN WE ARE LADY PARTS like the variation in hijabs alone is so beautiful I love it, iykyk, Stream Bashir with the Good Beard. Like very real to life with different styles and personalities, don't you just love when shows actually treat hijabis as real human beings

All the hijabis from every version of Skam (except Italy fuck you)

Goldie is like next bc the actress isn't a hijabi but like I feel like they depicted being a hijabi really well for the most part like with her thinking she wanted to take it off and realizing everything about herself was nice it was very complex and well done imo

Qadri's next cause tbh I liked her style and the fact that she wore al Amira hijabs. I know everyone's like oh those are for little girls or they're ugly but tbh it makes sense bc I feel like being that she's training to be a surgeon and it is very convenient cause who's trying to be calling a code and fight with some chiffon or jersey material?? Not me! (They lose points for that one scene cause you mean to tell me she's only going to use her hijab to stop the bleeding and nothing else?? Come again?? She's in a hospital!!)

Next is Adina from The Bold Type, tbh idk how to feel cause she's a lesbian and played by Nikhol Boosheri and I was excited at the time but tbh some of her choices def had me scratching my head and I feel like they could've did a bit more to showcase her identity ykwim

Marjan from 911 Lone Star cause bro what the hell was the praying scene, did y'all talk to one Muslim? Download the Learning to Pray app on your phone I'll send you a link like be SO FR, then them saying her masjid kicked her out bc her hijab accidentally came off (which happens so much in television) like...again did you talk to anyone, I could see backlash yes but I just *sigh* again which Muslims did you talk to like idk about y'all but a stiff tug or strong wind has tested my hijab before like it happens, we cover back up and move on

Bottom 2 but not thee bottom, Nadia from Elite (hear me out cause the bottom of the list will make sense) obviously its so low because she wore hijab and they had some decent commentary at first, and then removed her hijab, and for Guzman ol racist crusty lip ass like, this who you risking it all for??? GIRL??? Like if Vic Mensa asked to see my hair I'd let him see that and much else (I'M KIDDING, I'd marry him first ok, astaghfirullah) no fr like but it's even that like they made it that she's more confident without her hijab people like her more, like it's obviously same old song like hijab is removed and suddenly liberation like they could've showed it in a more tasteful way if they wanted to but what did I expect from Europeans esp Spaniards like

And coming in Dead Last Raina Amin, tbh girl its not even about you...WHO WROTE THIS. Cause I watched it back in the day cause you know representation but like *pauses before I sip my coffee* hold tf on. Like where to even begin, the cop propaganda? What do you have to prove, cause they tried to get me i would've been like get tf off my porch. Like and the FBI? How did they even recruit the twins? The government watchlist? Blair Imani slid up in the masjid to snitch? I mean, what the hell? And this show had so much talent to be so extremely questionable (and that is putting it mildly). But we're discussing the twins rn. Raina specifically. So it doesn't even stop there. Like so much was wrong, so you mean to tell me she's in love with a man who used to be an IOF soldier, who helped them actively target Palestinian women for God knows what (the show implied certain things), like WTF is this, like everyone wants to talk about her removing her hijab and kissing him but like we have bigger fish to fry, that is like at the bottom of the problem list. Like did we see the man they put her with and she still loved him later EYE. And then two more things and then I'll shut up. Okay so they were working for the Government to infiltrate terrorist cells whatever bc they were going to attack American soil. No mention of how terrorist groups like the ones they're depicting mostly target minority sect Muslims and lead to their deaths that usually go unnoticed by anyone who is not them, Iran and Nigeria, if I remember correctly are where a lot of the casualties are from. I hate propaganda cause its the same old shit like we really pushing the agenda huh? And hijab removal scene again worst part cause you know what I hated after this other stuff cause red flags with major red lights and a bullhorn. But there was something where they had to change their look because their twins but like as one person but one is a hijabi, the other is not. So they were like we have to find a middle ground, someone who's easily targeted because they're muslim but also loose (I'm paraphrasing but you see what I'm saying?) Like fuck y'all. Fuck whoever wrote this. Like from head to toe Quantico is like an absolute clusterfuck of everything terrible people do with hijab characters (not to mention the rest of the cast but that would be even longer) but dead last because like maybe some of the others on this list at least tried if they're not terribly misguided but this depiction is like dangerous, it's a reminder why we don't just get all our info from TV and other fictional narratives, we talk to real people and we learn real things because this is absolute bullshit to say the least

[radfemsiren]

I despise it when Kataang shippers say that Kataang "defies heteronormativity" because Katara is older than Aang and he is shorter than her. Like, no, the creators just have this weird fetish for mommy girlfriends so they made Katara older than Aang for that reason on purpose. They outright said it themselves that they like that Katara is Aang's babysitter. And of course Aang is shorter than Katara when he hasn't even hit puberty? He ends up the tallest guy in the Gaang when they're adults anyway. And a lot of what Kataang shippers claim about Aang being "not stereotypically masculine" is such bullshit since he's just a goofy 12 year old kid, not that he's more "feminine". He has a very traditional marriage with Katara where he is the husband often away from home to work while she ends up as a housewife who has to raise their two oldest kids like a single mom because Aang is too busy with his Avatar duties and favors the youngest son because he's an airbender. Kya's bio says she barely even knew her own father and she resented Tenzin because he's the only one of the kids who spent lots of time with him.

Yeah hes not a “macho guy”… because hes literally a baby when we know him lol

God I hated how traditional and conservative they made everyone in the LOK, esp the family dynamics of Aang and Katara. The sons/airbender being favored, her becoming just a quiet mother, her whole story and passion for being a warrior and helping people (highlighted in the painted lady episode) being shut down in favor of Aangs important big boy adventures in republic city… toph being a cop, like ewwww, take it away! I like how they made it kinda realistic, like it makes sense of Aang to not understand a healthy family dynamic since he never grew up with one… but it was too much, like a huge bummer! Like lighten up, we can have a show geared for older teens and not make it insanely depressing… the tarlock boat scene genuinely disturbed and scarred me😬

[transmascpalamedessextus]

Jod's OG gang's names

Mercymorn -- Marianne. I figured being besties with a nun, she'd have "Mary" or some variation thereof as part of her name, and Marianne is a beautiful bitch name (affectionately)

Cristabel -- If she wasn't a nun, I would've said Crystal just for the similarity. But, the nun-ness makes me think it's probably Catherine (also, lol, I looked up Cristabel's meaning and it's literally "beautiful Christian." Jod is so boring)

Augustine -- considering the fact that his brother was named Alfred, and he was the lesser brother with a likely lesser name to match, I'm going to go with Archibald nn Archie because that feels like a fancy douche name

Alfred -- was Alfred through and through, tragically

Gideon -- I'm thinking Gabriel/Kapariera in Māori. This is one of the few Māori "G" baby boy names I can find online, and the meaning ("god is my strength," or "hero of god," as well as Gabriel being the one to announce Jesus' birth) jives. And, given his shared background with John, I don't think it's unreasonable to imagine he went by the Anglicized version of his name. I also think that John changes Gideon's name to Kiriona because he remembers, and possibly regrets, this translation and distancing from their culture

Pyrrha -- Really unsure. There aren't many details about her pre-Lyctoral process, besides she was Very Hot and a cop. I find it funny to imagine her being named Paula, in general, but especially picturing Jod going hmm what if I just scrumbled up some of those letters? and winding up with a name that emphasizes the red hair she has through G1deon

Cassiopeia -- Charlotte seems like a gimme, since she was a smart lady from England, but I'm more inclined to guess Chandra, esp with the connection between its meaning (moon, shining) and Cassiopeia as a constellation

Nigella -- we don't know much about her besides the fact that she was pretty and gay with Cass, so I'll say Naya, Naomi, or Nadia

[glitter-lisp]

If you’re still doing this game, I am highly curious about ‘Make Ariana A Grizzled Lady Cop NOW.’

Also, more Batgene sounds wonderful. I adore how you write Team Awesome and esp Eugene.

Love your work <3

ahhhh absolutely!! once again dropping this one under a cut for dead dove omegaverse content, non-graphic discussion of nonconsensual drug use, kidnapping, and csa under the cut (think svu or criminal minds levels of "holy shit??")

okay SO the basic premise: like every grizzled female detective in a crime procedural, ariana has to have a dark tragic backstory. the backstory in question here is that her daughter was kidnapped as a baby and she and her mate broke up a few years later when fred was like we need to accept that she's gone and ari said fuck you no she's not and im gonna become a grizzled female detective about it.

cut to about 15 years later: ariana and her partner get called to the hospital, because someone just dropped off an omega who appears to have overdosed on heat inducers. unpleasant anyways, and made worse by the fact that the omega in question is a literal child who's young enough that he shouldn't have even presented yet, and who DEFINITELY shouldn't be taking inducers

he tells them his name is varian and he's twelve and he needs to go home because his alpha will be mad that varian left without permission, and when they ask if he knows how he got to the hospital, he says he doesn't remember coming here but maybe his big brother eugene brought him?

anyways turns out they just uncovered a trafficking ring, eugene's an older omega who's been owned by the same dude since he was a kid and powered through an alpha command to sneak varian off to the hospital after their alpha gave him too many inducers (again) which made him so sick (again) that he nearly beefed it (first time). ariana and adira follow what little varian's able to tell them to track down the guy running the ring and find eugene, and from there manage to take down a ton of other freaky bad dudes and start finding kids and solving disappearances going back decades, including ~maybe arianas daughter~

im not normal so their alpha is the baron who just calls eugene his nephew to try to throw the cops off his scent about why this unrelated young omega lives with him

and anyways after that it's all fluff and angst and recovery and trying to reunite kids with their families and then it's more angst teehee

[grox]

I really liked smile I finally got to watch it. It did feel really good to watch that ladys life fall apart and I kinda wish they had done more with it like for even the cop to abandon her. Totally lost. Maybe have succeeded in killing herself alone. But that's just me. I'm not a director. Good movie. Lame ass monster but thats neither here nor there. Really cool monster design but I wish it didnt talk so funny. Like I liked the reveal at the end but I wished it had stayed more human esp during the therapist scene and the mother scene. But very beautifully shot. And the acting was nice especially the lady that this shits happening to. Really good faces. I liked the movie. Amen

[daz4i]

Heya Dan, what's up? :D hmmmm, can you rank the romance options in P5R? :O With or without reasoning, I just wanna see what your rank list would be!! 💚💚💚

hiiiiii thank you ^_^

not going by like. best content or w/e purely by how much i like them/their dynamic with joker

1. haru! who could've seen that coming. from previously tumblr user akeshuharu. but yeah she is my best girl and i like how she has a crush on joker when you can romance her :] and her scenes are sooooo cute they're just so soft. also shuharu is one of my fav p5 ships ngl 👀

2. hifumi!!! i tried romancing her in my first run but didn't get her rank 10 in time 😭😭😭😭😭 i like her a lot, her vibes are immaculate, and i think her relationship with joker is sweet and chill!

3. chihaya 🥺 i like her. this one's less about the dynamic with joker and more like if i could romance any p5 girlie irl I'd go with her lol

4. sumi!! again good dynamic with joker, super cute confession, like haru i like that she speaks out about her crush :]

5. ann! while the scene itself is kinda awkward bc she was just done crying abt how proud she is of shiho. i still love her and i think she and joker are cute together!

6. makoto! again a bit awkward (bc of the cop thing. esp if you get this rank after 20/11) but. i can't deny she and joker are cute lol

7. takemi. i am not immune to hot goth ladies. but she's low bc of the age thing + weird dynamic (to have with a teenage boy at least. she's welcomed to have it with me tho)

8. futaba. that's his sister 😔

9. kawakami. jail (like her as a character but the romance is. unnecessary and weird)

10. ohya. jail + she's a lesbian we all know it (like kawakami i like her but it feels even more forced to romance her than any of the others)

[monasticmaestoso]

I am curious. What r your top five video games

WHOOPS I only just saw this now lmfao sorry

I'll stick to one game per franchise but u can assume im recommending the whole series

5. Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

One of my two biggest childhood influences. Ps1/PC puzzle/platformer/adventure game about a funny blue guy escaping from slavery when he discovers his whole race is about to get butchered and sold as food products. Gets back in touch with his native roots and gets granted spiritual powers to help him free his fellow captives and topple capitalism while killing hundreds of cops along the way. There's no guns but there are grenades occasionally. Or you can possess the cops and make them use their guns to kill other cops. And then blow themselves up. Has a ton of sequels and a couple remakes, ports and remasters on PC and just about every other console. Cannot recommend enough. Also you can fart on command this game has a dedicated Fart button you use it for communicating (and then in the sequel you can possess farts too)

4. Myst

The other childhood influence. This game and whole series made me a huge wanderlust slut. Point and click adventure, puzzle solving, world exploring, journal reading. Some puzzles will definitely have you Stumped (but feel free to hmu bc I still have the first game memorised like the back of my hand and am happy to offer guidance ^^) my fave is actually the third game Exile, but I gotta pay respect to the OG. It's full of images and sound effects that remain engraved in my brain in vivid detail 20+ years later

3. Bloodborne

I'm actually not talking abt the whole "series" here I dont rly care much for dark souls etc. It's just this one lmao. Love the tone, love the gameplay, love the level design, love all the horrid monster designs. Love the Rally mechanic discouraging you from hiding and playing safe when you should be going full throttle wailing on everything as fast as possible. I love learning to party attacks with a firearm instead of a shield. I love the blood vials system. I love the doll I love Eileen the crow I love lady Maria I love all the funny little creachurs and most of all I love dying and being dead

2. Final Fantasy V

This ones kinda personal and maybe a bias I guess but idk this was my first FF and even now when I go back to it it just Hits Different somehow. Maybe it's nostalgia/bias but even comparing it to the other pre-ps1 FFs it's just got this vibe of its own. The music helps ofc the music is so fuckin good esp the new pixel remaster arramgements. Anyway it's a nice fun story about Four Complete Randos And Their Grandpa And Pet Chicken And Pet Dragon And Pet Sea Serpent And A Gay Pirate Gang And A Furry And Also A Tortoise At One Point who fight against a Giant Evil Tree that spent like a hundred years absorbing all of the most Evil souls in the world and now he wears a big blue suit of armour and calls himself Exdeath. He wants to conquer and kill and maim and destroy and eventually suck the entire world into The Void for no other reason than he's evil and loves being evil and badass. Not a whole ton of complex plot depth but that's why it's so approachable as a FF game. Also this game is where Gilgamesh and Battle on the Big Bridge came from, plus Omega and Shinryu, so if you like those then you're obligated to play this one. Also one of the main characters is a genderfluid twink with a thing for silver foxes and another is a non-binary/transmasc pirate

1. Kingdom Hearts

I couldn't not lmao. The entire series Of Course but also in this case I specifically mean the first one. Again it might be nostalgia bias but the first KH just has this unique charm to it, this warm atmosphere that none of the others have been able to replicate. Traverse town feels like a second home to me

[cinegeek237]

Random Captain Marvel Rant

Note this is a positive rant because I love her.

Women usually are only allowed to have positions of power if it's in the shadow of men. Esp in comics. It's even under the male counterparts title which is evocative of the mysonist tradition of women' taking their male partners name in marriage thus erasing an aspect of their identity. The very identity of women superheroes are these shadows of men... supergirl, batgirl, lady thor, she-hulk, Kate Bishop becomes Hawkeye. Captain Marvel falls under this in the comics but is her own person in the MCU and that is extremely powerful. More than that she is one of the most powerful characters in the MCU and didn't get her powers at all from a man, and further doesn't fall into the crazy overpowered woman trope like the literal image on tvtropes.org  (Wanda which is a whole other sigh thing). It's important to see women can have power independent of men... esp when comic books have historically propagated this disgusting sexist trope. The Captain Marvel movie does this.

Further, Carol Danvers is told over and over that emotions get in the way; make her weak. This is something real women face every damn day and is hugely oppressive to them... esp in the workforce and in politics, which often bars them (and female voices) from legislation and policy making positions. Seeing Carol come to terms with her past and taking her power back from her literal oppressors and being her own emotional, human, independent, badass is very important for girls, women, (AND boys, men, and people in general) to see. Emotions are not a weakness.

I love that Carol doesn't fight Yon-Rogg. She doesn't have to. She's better than him. She doesn't have to prove herself, because he's a waste of her time. OH and unlike DC with Wonder Woman.... she isn't dating a dude either... YES women can exist without a love interest. F*cking this!

Lastly, Captain Marvel is a fun 90's buddy cop movie between Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson. A woman and a black man. Do you know how rare it is to have a movie with no white male leads? Like the only thing I can compare it to is Rush Hour. Like all these buddy cop movies are white guy with X type of partner - X being a black man, younger white guy, a dog, ect. 

[generationa1trauma]

plots please!

theres a very fun easy to match vibe w pearl ridge and the peaks like the general vibe of small town where something isnt right fits so so well that literally any muse could be shoved into tp and i think that it would fit perfectly blend seamlessly the vibes r just right

caspian & tatum. my main babies of course they r first in line this is like the free square in bingo. both have abusive shithead parents that harry should rescue them from i think. cassie is very laura coded and i do think that something should come of that. perhaps her family moves to town after lauras death and wherever she goes people just keep getting reminded of laura. or maybe years later even and its like a repeating cycle. somewhere between s2 and the return kinda vibes just. cassie is very laura and also very in need of help so it works. tate is a little shit delinquent whos probably had plenty of run ins w harry but its never like Serious Crime he is just stealing little bits of food from people and doing drugs and sometimes getting in fights. i think there would be a very fun dynamic of delinquent constantly getting busted growing up and getting the chances he deserves and reaching his full potential and harry getting to see it and be a part of it. also since he gets kidnapped on his wedding day i think its fun for harry to have to try find him even tho realistically harrys probably already sick a little by then but also its only like 10 years after hes a teen so whos to say where this slides in the timeline

axel. idk i think kid with visions going to the cops to try to help is a fun little vibe. he'd tower over everyone at the station which i think is also very funny bc hes so awkward and nervous hes just this giant guy standing in front of harry all nervous trying 2 explain that he saw a vision and that hes not insane its all real and he wants to help

crazy joe. local menace has probably annoyed the cops on more than one occasion. hes always so annoying and is also secretly killing people so one way or another he gotta be on harrys radar. where the log lady is strange and cryptic in an affectionate way joes strange and cryptic in an annoying derogatory way. i think he'd be exhausting

mitchell (and alex). the accidental killing of his friend and tryna cover it up is a very easy could tie in w harry sort of thing, investigations and interviews and the like. esp since before laura nothing like that had ever happened in town i fear mitchell would try to imply that maybe it was the same guy that got laura. and then his friend comes back to life and puts a whole wrench in that. i guess this is kinda a mitch and alex thing i forgot she is also a muse here. call that a two for one.

sebastian. idk old men being tired together. tryna help all the time but god its exhausting. thats kinda all i got for them idk i just think they should b buddies

[emeraldbabygirl]

okay hear me out: action movie based on beast/hl songs

we up: preparing to commit the crime, the main character is getting all their friends ready

beast is the b2st: actually going and committing the crime

highlight: creating a massive distraction to avoid arrest

yey: running from the cops

alone: the mc and their friends are in the city, looking for some rich lady who they hope will bribe the police out of sending them to jail

we up (again): fight the cops again

paper cut: theyre free from jail bc the judge said that the "victim" of the crime deserved it, then they go and hide out at the rich lady's house

OMGGG EMMIEEEEE I MISS YOU AND I MISS YOUR ASKS OMGGG 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 OK BUT HOW ARE YOU????? 😭😭😭💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

Sowwy anyway ok Idk any of those songs :( except Yey and I can totally see that cause that shit cums so that would be a baller song to run from the cops too uwu. I really need to listen to highlight so I can understand the songs and things you talk about I’m sorry I just haven’t done it yet :( but thank you for this ask I love getting asks esp from you, you’re so creative and funny <3

[castle-dominion]

6x4 number one fan

The misery episode liveblog

I LOVED THIS ONE SM. now that I think about it, it was probably a filler episode where they couldn't afford a million different locations so they had castle stay here most of the time. Like Still the floormine episode, they had one location & spent a lot of time on flashbacks. Still a great ep tho, I didn't even notice until I realized that hollywood works like that.

So yeah here we go babes! & my older bro is here too, hopefully he will be my voice of reason in clipping things. I mean rn he is watching his horror game playing guy so maybe... WAIT HE JUST FINISHED THE VIDEO BEFORE I EVEN FINISHED MY SENTENCE, YAY HE'S STAYING

*whistles* stop her!

Why were they there in the first place?

KB: (whispered) Castle. Are you asleep?

RC: (mumbled) Yes.

KB: Then why’d you answer me?

RC: I’m sleep talking. Also known as somniloquy. Just ignore me.

KB: sighs and drops her head to the pillow.

KB: I don’t know what to do.

That gets his attention. His eyes pop open.

RC: I have some ideas.

Older bro: girl I don't think that being a 14 year old without a job is considered "out of work"

(Bleed what? Bleed grut.)

She can't get her job back?

KB: C’mon, Castle, what are you saying? What am I going to do? Just sleep in every morning and screw around until the phone rings? What kind of life is that?

RC: Mine

Pi: mrs c-to-be

Martha my beloved

Alexis looks so pretty in a skirt

Beckett is so sad gates wasn't calling for her

Gates was probs SO sad when she had to call castle

Corkboard outdoors? Hm

Emma demands to speak to castle I loooove this episode.

No record. Hm.

KB: Well, if there’s one thing you excel at, Castle, it’s talking.

RC, on hostage negotiations: Boom! Believe it’s me now, Emma? Because I could play Richard Castle trivia with you all day. I will crush you.

Emma, ig knowing that's just how richard castle is: ya ok it's u

Castle just made a deal for getting Suki & her mom so yay!

Why aren't they wiring him?

What's your favourite food?

RC: wdym by that?

KB: shut the up. cheeseburgers.

(could clip)

I like how he still has his writer vest lol.

I think my first thought was "she's just a crazed fan trying to see markiplier castle" esp with the "I just want you"

Girl you are holding like five people hostages & u want to be cleared of murder? you're still going to go down for that hun.

Also what jurisdiction is this?

Won't clip the "no cheeseburgers" part

lmao nobody trusts cops hun

Oh poor girl, happy birthday. Oh dear he was going to propose...

Nightly two fingers.

RC: Scotch girl? Me too.

Oh older bro is gone now.

Wow this kid is kind of a dick but he;s either going to save the day or ruin everything.

Clipping Lanie

Ok so I use initials in my quotes, I sometimes even use initials in my fanfiction drafts/plans/outlines so I can ctrl-f them later, & i've gone so far as to use initials for ppl I know irl in my notebook for speed or online when I don't want to give out names, but the girl I'm seeing? Not likely. Unless I'm hiding an affair from my lover. nvm.

JE: Ladies and gentlemen, this is a booty call gone wrong.

Isn't clonazepam an anti anxiety? Oh wait I looked it up, it is also for seizure disorders. aripiprazole an antipsychotic but it is also used for neurodivergencies like autism & tourrette's syndrome in addition to the more obvious schizophrenia. It is also used for mood disorders like bipolar i & depression. Though I may have misunderstood all the words being thrown at me so this information is possibly incorrect.

Oh. Lanie confirms what I just said lol.

(mr drug cop man)

Also wow ryan's cheekbones

Castle maybe give her a hug?

How bad is the difference in texting? I even change my texting style day to day

Mickey nooooooo

Yay sully is still here

Oh I just watched misery! Maybe because mum watched this episode & requested it after hearing it here.

Not to get all derogatory pepperoni but sully shup.

VG: Your little theories no matter how fanciful <3

Maybe SH stands for 'silent habits' if you know what I mean. He did work with at-risk youth...

I like sully's accent

Ah sitting outside for an hour drinking coffee? scoping out a place.

Mickey: boom. I take her out. We end this, and then we meet at the bar around the corner and the first round is on me.

At least mickey immediately ran back to his seat. Tho tbh I feel like mickey COULD take her out, tho maybe not w/o someone getting hurt.

He could be celiac bro

HOW did you find her juvvie record? How did you find her old name?

How did Emma know that they told castle about billy koss?

Emma Riggs: I mean, what is the point of a sealed record when the cops can open it whenever they feel like it.

Older bro: she's right

Me: It is sealed until you commit a crime as an adult, which she did by taking hostages. Also it is sealed from employers, they don't even know you have a record. Unless cops get a subpoena, they KNOW you have a record, but they can't see what is in it. If you don't commit a crime, it remains sealed.

I love this character. She is a great character. Great backstory. If they are suddenly nice to you, there is something going on. That's cops for ya. Esp with a mentally ill person? Yeah.

Castle is so great, talking to her, believing her, even after they keep comin gback with "it was her, there is no evidence of anyone else being here" & "it was her she's killed before"

Of course she keeps track of him!

St Helena's home for children.

Oh no, Ryan had to call & talk to a sister lol.

Castle just has it on speaker phone with Emma.

Angelo's gift to her on her birthday was knowing her bio parents! That is so sweet!

Mickey no! But hey I mean I'm proud of him in some ways.

Except that she's freaked out that she just killed richard castle. & then becks just runs in w/o anything on? ok babe. Reminds me of the bank episode tho. Did esposito have experience in esu? swat training? he always gets the big swat guns. I'd like to know more abt his history. Anyway yeah Mickey is just standing there while she still has the gun & castle is in the glass table? What is even going on?

CHEESEBURGERS!

She dotted the i! (clipping that)

(girl I used to really like castito & I still love ryckett but rystle is just so good)

Beckett accidentally giving orders to her boys

I would say "Not because you asked me to, but because you're right."

Only three days ago?

(btw ryan looks so pretty when he does smart stuff)

I love this kid. opening files, closing files.

(Totally going to gif that ryckett handcuff nod)

& you knew she had a file under a different name? rly?

At least ryan said "he's going to need to call you back" before hanging up the guy's phone

(clippin that)

civilian employee like the records kid, & non-civilian non-employee like castle XD

Where is esposito?

Oh there with sullivan

"His big house for THE big house" would have worked if you put the emphasis in the right place castle

VG: *protecting her boys*

KB: Captain, I don’t have a career to risk. How about I back you up in there?

Oh... I don't think it WAS this dad!

"No, no. Maybe tomorrow."

Wait maybe it is him nvm.

'Yes, and' between rysposito with the "so" & finishing each other's sentences.

Oops again!

Well no, castle, t is NOT over. She is still getting charged with, threatening people.

So sweet he's meeting her! This is genuinely so amazing & I love it a ton!

Aw gates sharing a drink with becks.

MISTER GOLFING BUDDIES WITH THE POLICE COMMISSIONER DOESN'T HAVE HARD FEELINGS ABOUT BEING ACCUSED OF MURDER & HE GETS BECKETT HER JOB BACK? AWESOME!

& then sully disappears lol

Well there was 1x1 when they THOUGHT castle's fan did some murders but then it turned out the brother killed his sister & framed the kid she was working with.

Caskett: *about to kiss*

RC: Whoa. Actually, no. We can’t. Not here. It’s inappropriate. (he looks around) This is the workplace. We’ve gotta be professional.

KB: Ah, well, you know I’m not officially back until tomorrow.

RC: I see

*start making out*

Glad I watched Misery. Actually it was directed by Rob Reiner. Mum just listened to an audiobook with us on the making of the princess bride she started watching all these rob reiner movies like spinal tap (which wasn't nearly as good as people made it out to be imo), when harry met sally, a few good men (which was a drag but if I think about it for 10-30 seconds it was a good movie, just not if I think about it for any longer), stand by me, misery, & others so we probably watched Misery NOT because of Castle & its mention in this episode, but rather because we were on a rob reiner kick. Now we are watching movie versions of Stephen King works. (sorry, I used to love reading but now we can spend two hours as a family just being with one another. If we had any road trips then yeah sure we'd read an audiobook in the car ig.)

Anyway the point I was making was wow I'm glad I watched misery between my first watch of this ep & my second. I got the references this time.

[chaotic-orphan]

I would also like to chime in on this discussion!!

Okay so my personal opinion on the lack of female whumpees is because, kind of like what mj-iza-writer said above, that the androgynous they/them for whumpees is easy to consume for the reader because they can imagine whoever they like for the whumpee, but it is also easy for the writer! Like I love they/them especially in whump drabbles because it’s quick and easy for me.

Also, a large part of the whump community is LGBTQ+ so androgynous applied to everything and everyone and we all love it. If you want m/m homoerotic subtext between a hero/villain, boom, they/them works — if you want f/f, f/m etc. It is so useful, and it helps a lot of people enjoy the drabble.

I made a lady whumpee drabble for June of doom or a prompt calendar challenge and I got an ask telling me to tag it as #ladywhump #ladywhumpee, and I was like “what?” But i tagged it and thanked the anon for asking because I didn’t know that it was different rules for men and women whumpees. Then I did a deep dive into female whumpees/ lady whump, and I found a lot of interesting perspectives on why whump writers don’t write lady whump.

I’ll list the most interesting reasons (that I found) why:

People don’t like seeing lady whumpees because women get whumped irl and it’s not a fun thing to imagine if whump is your escapism of choice

Now, I know that men also get whumped irl, esp men in LGBTQ+, I’m not ignoring that fact, it’s just that whump is a form of escapism (for me anyways) and as a woman I can see why some people wouldn’t like to read lady whump because it is too like real life, and they’re not comfortable with thinking, reading or writing about it

Another reason, was that the Whump community loves women and didn’t want to see women getting hurt and beaten and bloody, but a man? A skinny little man getting overpowered and bloody and absolutely bollocked — yes please.

The reason for this I think is media. The superheroes, the cool cops, the FBI, the undercover agent — men, men, men, men, men — and if it’s a woman superhero (like super girl) men don’t like it!!! Why do we have to have a woman superhero, it’s so boring, unless she’s over-sexualised we don’t want it — which is kind of what the Boyz touches on a lot!!! How Starlight had to completely change her outfit and look to appeal to the male gaze instead of being a role model for little girls.

So a majority of whump OC’s are male because that’s all our references in media — men, heroes, covered in blood and going back home to his wife/ girlfriend, y’know, the stereotypical caring, nurse/doctor girlfriend who knows how to treat wounds and asks him why he’s so reckless saving the city — while she sits at home and worries about him because that’s all women are good for

an overwhelming number of whump writers saying they don’t write lady whumpees because it doesn’t get as much attention as male whumpees does

I think any whump author can agree with this statement, unless they only write lady whumpees (in which case it ot would be moot). But, in general, women in whump don’t really satisfy the whump itch for some people and that’s totally fine, but I personally love lady whump and I never see it, because compared to androgynous/male whumpees, people don’t like it as much. For whatever reasons! So, when I picture a female whumpee and I know people wouldn’t like it if they knew it was a female whumpee — i will make whumpee they/them, then change to she/her pronouns in part 6/7 of a series because then the audience likes the whumpee because they know the whumpee.

(This last point is kind of crazy and sorry for rambling but) Some Whump writers want revenge against men — now I don’t mean they hate men, it’s just a powerless vs powerful thing

This last point I can’t really speak on because I don’t understand it, or have thought about it enough to do it justice — but essentially the point is, if you feel powerless in a patriarchal society where a majority of world leaders are men, or if you have had a man be awful to you in your life you can write them into whump as cathartic revenge — which I thought was a pretty fucking metal point when I was searching why the Whump community doesn’t like lady whump/whumpees. Anyways, that’s my two cents on the issue —

Can someone explain why so many people of the whump community don’t like writing female whumpees??

Like very often the whumpee is either a male, or whumpee is referred to as “they”. But in that case it’s still pretty obvious that the whumpee is intended to be male most of the time.

I mean I’m judging nobody’s preferences in oc’s or writing but it’s just very confusing to me, since so many people even state that they don’t write “lady whumpees” at all.

Hoping for some explanations and this is not intended to be judgmental! mwah!!

[giantkillerjack]

I have been awake for so so long but like what is the message of Hellraiser (2022) ?

Like I don't need a clear moral; that is generally not a feature in a Clive Barker joint as far as I can tell

But usually there is like

An intentional subtext that I can track in one way or another.

From what I recall of the original Hellraiser film, the central character was almost like a MacBeth-type. Selling her soul and sacrificing others for her own selfish pleasure while her hairstyles got TALLER and her shoulder pads got BIGGER the more evil she got. Classic. She was 90% shoulder pad by the end of the movie. It felt more focused. The story made sense.

But Hellraiser (2022) still seems to end in a lot of innocent queer people being tortured in hell for all eternity as the (very well-acted and honestly very likeable) protagonist accepts that, hey, sometimes our gay brothers get sent to Hell because of our actions and... that is that, I guess.

She is given the chance to resurrect her brother and she turns it down.

And like, it'd be one thing if he was just dead and she chose not to resurrect him because it'd probably be fucked up in a twisted monkey paw way - Grief and regret as a form of torture that impresses even the Cenobites? That is a cool concept! I liked that! Refusing tainted gifts from unknowable and cruel beings and thus taking some control of your own narrative? Cool!

But... if her brother is not in some unknown afterlife and is in fact being eternally tortured, then her choice not to resurrect him takes on some very different tones.

I mean, the movie was effective. The monsters were scary in an unknowable existentially horrifying way. Neat.

But, like many horror stories, I came away feeling like the writers didn't think this all the way through, and so they tripped up at the end.

(Sidenote: Everyone go watch Fear Street 2021 and Candyman 2022 for examples of people not fucking this up. Check trigger lists tho. The former is gory, the latter is Heavy.)

12/10 on Lady!Pinhead tho. Loved her whole vibe and how she was framed.

The torture effects were way less abhorrent than most CGI, but I still yearn for the days of practical effects in horror. DUMP SOME FUCKIN BLOOD AND GOOP ON THE ACTORS SHOW A LITTLE HEART FOR GODSAKE

Anyway, this is just to say that if you make a horror movie with no point to it, I hope you rip your pants while you're on a date.

And if you make a BORING horror movie with no point to it, I hope you get haunted by a real-ass ghost.

And if you make a 12-hour horror series with no point, well.... I found this really cool box, and-- yeah, it's like a puzzle... no, you can hold it; try it out, see if you can solve it....

[pandapinku]

So I just finished The Merciless.

I have so many things to say.

The agony and bittersweet feeling.

I really have SO many things to say about this show.

[galaxy-print-dragons]

VERY excited to tell customers No this weekend!!!

No, we dont have chocolate covered strawberries. No, you can’t dine in. No, you can’t come in right now, we’re at our occupancy limit.