#for a well known classic idk how the fuck this goes

[neo-shitty]

i thought i’ve grown out of this phase

[kimbapisnotsushi]

i started writing this back in the last week of december going on into january bc we had so many karasuno bdays back then so uhhh TECHNICALLY this is a late bday post honoring like four people LMAO but let's go!!

during kageyama's first birthday at karasuno he gets a mysterious series of texts from an unknown number that goes like > happy birthday > not that this means you're forgiven > just thought it was the right thing to do > i know it's your first since. well. you know > you don't have to text back or anything!!!! > fuck fuck fuck just pretend this never happened BYE

he brings up it up two years later when he, kindaichi, and kunimi are better friends and kindaichi buries his red face in his hands and screams and kageyama isn't sure why

kunimi pats him on the back and tells him not to worry about it

ennoshita has a playlist that is solely just like white noise and creaking sounds and generally just things that would make you shit your pants alone in the dark and when asked why he just goes "it's the only way i can feel anything inside"

tsukki will NEVER admit it but he ASPIRES to be the level of deadpan that ennoshita is

tanaka: "so . . . why do you like him again?" ennoshita, watching a video he recorded of futakuchi walking straight into a lamppost bc he was playing pokemon go: "he makes me laugh"

no joke i think ennoshita is a dateko celebrity bc everyone knows about the guy that futakuchi kenji pines over bc futakuchi kenji is just known in a million ways and maybe like 90% of them are Not Good

a third-year has futakuchi by the collar and they're like "all right PUNK get ready to have your lights punched out you'll be seeing stars when i'm done with you" and futakuchi just sighs longingly and goes "ennoshita has eyes like stars . . ."

daichi is that type of upperclassman who knows very single friend of his juniors' but not in like a cool older sibling way he does it in a cringefail modern parent kind of way

kogane used to be soooooo scared of him before finding out what a huge dork he is

actually kogane isn't scared of asahi bc he's so used to aone and asahi cries over it

(sorry for plugging in dateko so much i just genuinely think they have such a fun relationship with karasuno i ADORE it)

onagawa: "man idk how you do it" narita: "do what?" onagawa: "being the only normal person on your team"

yeah no narita is carrying the weight of the world as the only person with the brain cell on karasuno

sometimes it's ennoshita but he's been dead inside since first year so

suga tells the first years he knows martial arts but all he really did was go to one (1) judo club demonstration during his second year of middle school and somehow managed to flip the captain over by sheer luck and never tried again

for takeda's birthday everyone teams up to get him a really nice fountain pen, a classical poetry book, and a quality bottle of sake. for ukai's birthday tsukki leads a powerpoint presentation on why smoking is bad for you and that he really should stop, backed up with everyone else standing behind him with their arms crossed and nodding along

okay that and they also get him a really cute apron (embroidered with crows!!) for him to wear around the store and a bag of good coffee

kiyoko has all - and i mean ALL - the snacks from the local convenience store on a tier list and when the vbc asked how the fuck she managed to do that she just went "my track team was a lot weirder than you guys"

actually the reason why daichi asked kiyoko to be the manager wasn't because kiyoko was the only one with no club activities going on it was because she gave asahi a hair tie when nobody else would and asahi had been trying to befriend her since (and also return said hair tie) but was too nervous to make the first move

asahi: "noooooo daaaaaaaiiiichiiiiiiiiii i caaaaaaaan't i'm so awkward and embarrassing!!!!" daichi, with all the confidence of a fifteen-year-old constantly winging it: "it's okay, i've got this!"

yeah he's just as surprised as you are that it worked out

especially considering he pitched it to her like a used car salesman

kiyoko carries a lot of hair ties with her when she starts just for asahi and when he leaves the team she doesn't stop bc she tells suga, daichi, and the second-years, "he'll come back, just wait and see"

THEY WERE FRIENDS TOO!!!! THEY WERE FRIENDS TOO!! THEY WERE FRIE -

[mamaito]

What are your favorite visual novels? And Otome?

I prefer dark/taboo stories so most of what I'll mention is filled with it. I might've forgotten some cause I pulled this out from what I can still remember:

Rondo Duo -> Nukige yuri/futa, porn with plot. Considered as the most impressive artwork out there, everything is animated through flash. The plot revolves around this half french half japanese girl who was raised by an overly religious father, constantly chastising her and presumably being blamed for being a woman as they are considered an enemy of god for seducing men into sinning.

She encounters a demon who teaches her to experience sexual acts for the first time and the rest is history. She moves into Japan with her mother and goes to an all girls school and decided to corrupt them and introduce the act of sexual depravity.

Euphoria -> Nukige, porn with plot. Extreme content but amazing story, despite the things it depicts, it is actually a love story. It's about 7 people, 6 women and 1 man trapped in this facility and they are forced to commit extreme sexual acts with the mc just so they can escape this place, the more you choose the same participant, the sadistic it gets. It tackles the hidden nature of a person and encouraging this sadistic nature out in the open despite the mc not wanting to.

if you can stomach what this vn churns out then feel free. I don't like the majority of the fetishes this game has, the mc needs to fucking wash his dick and the two girls you can choose are useless from a plot stand point, you are better off pursuing the three women instead as they are more relevant.

Butterfly Affection -> Created by the same creator of Teaching Feeling. You find a strange creature in the middle of the road and you decided to bring it home and take care of it. Throughout the game, the creature will start to become more humanlike.

Boyfriend To Death Series -> Not a dating game, this is a survival vn where you try to escape from a bunch of psychopaths. Depending on what kind of survive you plan to do, you can straight up give yourself stockholm syndrome, etc. It is was entertaining, it scratched a need for more dark games.

Determinable Unstable -> Created by the same creator of Teaching Feeling. You encounter a creature named fear in the forest in an attempt to visit your grandfather's grave, the curiosity overtakes you eventually and try to communicate with her. You can customize her, but idk if this has been completed.

Sayonaro wo oshiete/Teach me how to say goodbye -> Nukige, porn with plot, infamous denpa horror. I also consider this as one of the best for it's story. You are a man who is just starting to be a teacher in this all girls school but one day you encountered a girl who you call an angel and start to have thoughts of her being violated.

Throughout the story, you're mostly trying to figure out what's real and what's not as you will suddenly get into a H scene and then it will return back to normal the next. The mc is schizophrenic btw, says and thinks the most outlandish things. There used to be an english translation but the elite bullied the guy who did it because it was not up to their standard in regards to capturing this game's wording.

Katawa Shoujo -> One of the classics out there, it is about pursuing a romantic relationship with a bunch of disabled girls and you, the player, is a young man who just recently found out he has a heart condition and is transferred to this school after trying to confess your love to a girl. It made me tear up.

Saya No Uta -> Nukige, porn with plot. Well known eldritch romance horror, you are a man who just got into a car crash and now suffer from a strange condition where everything around you smells and look like meat. He is unable to function through everyday life to the point that it's affecting his previous relationships negatively till he met a girl named Saya. In spite of his surroundings only she looks normal as he clings to her for sanity sake.

Minikui Mojika No Ko/The Ugly Duckling -> Nukige, porn with plot. This is more dark and about revenege than anything out there, it deals with a deformed young man who is bullied for his appearance at school and was lured by a female classmate into thinking he was getting confessed at, he eventually snaps and assaults her. What they don't know is that he has telephatic powers since at the very young age and it is part of the plot. What I like about this VN is that it has impressive animation effects, like the words floating around every character to give you insight on what they really feel and the entirety of it is just you looking down their feet most of the time, making you disassociate with the world.

There is no translation but let me give you a bit of it:

There is a monster in this vn. Yes. It is very unique.. It is a large, sentient dick. A long time ago, there was this overly lustful monk, and was said to have seduced the empress and chased out by the soldiers, but his manhood was too big and so decided to cut it. After that, the locals decided it'd be a great idea to deify this large rod as they claim it brings good fortune and medicinal properties and started a cult out of it. This gigantic member gives blue aphrodisiac when they give it a sacrificial maiden, but they found it too taxing and so made a group of their own maidens through inbreeding so they can toss the children they birth out to this deity.

The MC and one of the main interests are inbred. And only through this bloodline are they able to gain this power called Mojika(Mind Reading). My gripe with this one is that the MC keeps repeating himself, making it a slog to read through.

Morenatsu -> You know what this is about, I don't need to explain it. It has a good story and it really gives off that nostalgic and isolated village feel where you are an outsider of it. My only gripe is the bad ends which seems to be out of character for even the mc and feels out of nowhere, also fuck Kounosuke.

Kana Little Sister -> Eroge, incest. An emotional story about a forbidden romance between a brother and his sick sister. The H scenes are mostly towards your girlfriend and there is only one for Kana but it is optional. It changes the ending but it's not a requirement, really.

--

As for the otome games, here:

Cancel A Format -> Fanmade game for hetalia, you play as a girl with amnesia in a private island where a school is set in. It is where all the country personifications go to as cultural exchange and alliance forming. You are pretending to be a guy out of fear of being targeted for being a girl and enroll there. Mostly crossdressing and misunderstand hijicks ensues, it also has the saddest routes because my eyes constantly hurt afterwards.

Girlish Love Revolution -> Yes. This is a dieting otome game, I hold it up in an esteem way. This was also one that lets you get together with your actual brother, blood relative, and he is the best route. There is already an english translation for it's DS version. I got the hardest guy to get in the game on my first try.

Hatoful Boyfriend -> Pigeon dating game, no ironic shit. This is peak. Once you've finished all the routes, you will unlock the true route and this is where this vn is heralded as one of the best.

Kuni No Alice Series -> I've also mentioned this before, this is unapologetically problematic and we are all here for it. Alice in wonderland themed, while I want to explain to you the plot, it's other sequels don't seem to follow it and has turned into something episodic. The gist is that this entire world is a game, those with roles and those who don't have them. Go play the original if want to learn more, it already has a fan translation.

The men are filled with red flags and Peter is the superior husband because he has mud on his ears and don't listen to anything you say.

Monochrome Heaven -> Do not let the art style fool you, this has the most interesting plot line out there. Even the bad endings hold information for you to piece together what's happening and their relationships. I highly recommend this one.

You are an orphaned girl selling matches till a man approaches you, he takes you home to make you his wife within a limited time. If you fail, he will kill you so while you're in the house, you'll learn things about the family and why the men there seems to die so young.

My Vow To My Liege -> Chinese otome, takes place in the last years of the dynasty where you are a girl disguising herself as a man in order to get respect in being a ruler of a nation. This is filled with despair and many characters will die, I assure you. The story is amazing and GouJian is the best.

Nameless -> Has the best yandere for an otome game and the story can get very dark. Your dolls turned into humans, and by going through all of them, you will unlock a secret route which will reveal the true main interest.

Taisho X Alice -> Good protagonist, good characters, good story. Katakana Alice is number one. Not spoiling the plot twist but it is episodic, some connecting but has it's own story where fairytale characters have been genderbent for a good reason and the only one who isn't is this mysterious guy named Alice.

The Men Of Yoshiwara Series -> In a remote island, men and women have switched roles, the men in this island are born as courtesans and live in brothels while the women are free and work, they only go to these brothels to bear children. Despite the wonky translation, the story is very good and the characters are memorable. Every character has their own story, it has bittersweet endings in most of them and it has made me tear up.

My favorite is Kikuya but Ohgiya has the better translation between the two. In my opinion, this all in the matters of taste so if you prefer the men in Ohgiya then go for it, my man is in Kikuya so I am obliged to prefer that one.

TMGS/Tokimeki Memorial Girls Side -> I've said this on the previous ask, it is in fact, one my favorites. There is already a translation for the three games.

[fukia]

Fun Peanuts character facts #2

Marcie

I think Snoopy’s in love with her (or just her French lass persona) https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1991/04/11

She loves fucking with a jealous Pep; she called pep from camp and would pretend Charles was holding her hand or nibbling her ears- she’s such an ass lmao https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1989/06/15 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1990/06/22 - Charles joins in on the fun, although it’s hard to tell if he’s also fucking with Pep (I think he is) https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1989/06/13

Bro Marcie be pullin’ - she got the attention of Floyd, flirted with a random flautist https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1986/12/03, charmed a dog, got hit on by Joe Richkid’s caddy https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1981/07/02 , was called beautiful by Cormac https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1992/07/22 and may’ve charmed Charles too https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1987/07/13

She and Peppermint Patty have physically brawled for Chuck’s affections; there’s little resentment though https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1987/09/11

Low key enjoys causing trouble, she’d done so a few times besides this: https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1997/02/07

Uhh, maybe she wants to cause more than just trouble… https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1997/10/09

Kisses Charle’s cheek and admits she’s fond of him, “I hate to see you suffer all the time,” but she doesn’t believe she’s good enough 😭😭😭; https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1982/08/18

Feels pressure to perform well academically; seeks Charles for comfort;;; my hearttt https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1990/10/18

She doesn’t want to hurt footballs by kicking it so maybe she’s not low key a psycho

She’s also kinda stupid (literal-minded?) like the other characters outside of academics, and is now a bit worse at sports due to said stupidity https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1993/09/17

https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1993/10/23 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1995/09/16 She wants to be a cheerleader for the team, and she’d cheered on her golfer as a caddy quite loudly before back when she and Peppermint Patty worked as caddies

Frequently depicted wearing white in the strips

Peppermint Patty

Likes to change up her hairstyle: https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1979/12/12 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1981/08/27 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1997/09/08

Still likes Chuck; idk what happened to her situationship with Pigpen

A while ago, mentioned something about Charlie Brown and having to teach him something - she brings out a leash and he does not agree

There was a whole arc about how a butterfly landed on her, it was both cute and stupid; https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1981/07/16

Early in her appearance, Snoopy guesses prolly correctly that she’s starved for affection lmao

Goes to dinner and classical concerts (maybe been mostly field trips) with Marcie frequently

Horrible Petscop lookin ass; https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1993/06/04

Frequently depicted wearing orange in the strip

Charlie Brown

He gets a girlfriend named Peggy Jean (a new character entirely but she does resemble Heather from the movie) https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1990/08/10

He couldn’t say his name properly so she calls him “Brownie Charles”

He falls for a possible hallucination named Emily

Never mind, she’s not a hallucination

A girl named Roy starts crushing on him https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1993/08/17 - he too be pullin’ but this was already known to some extent

Became popular and a respected figure in camp when he puts a paper sack on his head (Mr. Sack)

Sally ships Marcie with him; “Kiss [Marcie] you blockhead!” (Multiple times) https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1982/08/17 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1983/03/26

Starts getting real sentimental over caring for Snoopy in the later comics which I found to have a sad undertone

He’s actually quite witty, especially whenever Sally says something stupid https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1993/08/07

Every time there’s a younger character, Charlie Brown tends to be there for them - from Schroeder, to Lucy, Linus, Sally, and now Rerun: https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1995/04/05 bro this guy’s nurturing

He mostly wears red in the colored strips (not the colored reruns- and I’m not referring to the character Rerun) https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1996/10/20 - https://schulzmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/PeanutsByNumbers.pdf

Linus

Has a weird hate-love thing with a girl named Lydia (who started off changing her name a lot for the fun of it) https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1993/10/06

Has a fairly nice thing with a girl named Truffles but I can’t ;;; she looks like the fuckin Momo challenge creature, absolute no go

Look, based on his reactions to losing his blanket, and the way he threatens Snoopy for stalking his blanket, I’m sayin’ Linus has yandere tendencies.

Loses his temper when Charlie repeatedly fails to speak to the little red-haired girl before she moved away

He keeps trying to play fetch with Snoopy but it never works

He keeps trying to get back at Lucy but it never works

Called Charlie a few times because he gets lonely and scared at night; https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1992/08/26 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1963/04/21 - (there were two more times where they spent the night at Charle’s)

Supports Snoopy’s career as an attorney and doctor (or at least plays along)

More and more Linus enjoys Snoopy’s company when the dog’s not being a nuisance: https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1995/03/16 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1996/10/08 idk it’s cute

Schroeder

Kissed Lucy on the cheek after she gave him a cupcake for Beethoven’s B-day https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1984/12/16 - I legitimately cannot explain this one as it is so supremely out of character; the best I can do is say he just went insane from Lucy’s delusional ramblings and general abuse or he just felt particularly generous during his beloved holiday

According to himself, is a bit serious : https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1983/01/01

Disapproves of Charlie being in love… I’m taking that out of context and will be interpreting it as jealousy; https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1990/09/12

Has cute interactions with Snoopy and Woodstock more frequently w/o much dialogue; https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1987/09/29 (this one is the wordiest)

https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1992/03/07 but unironically

They spend time together besides baseball still; https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1988/01/03 https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1988/04/18

Continues to support Charlie Brown https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1990/05/18, by calling him “low-key,” https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1988/03/29, and also doing this: https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1987/08/11 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1996/07/10 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1996/07/16 (I think he checked on Charlie before some time ago when Charlie was hurt too but I’m unsure) - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1996/10/03 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1996/10/04 [so sweet] - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1994/08/05 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1997/06/21

Is sarcastic to Charlie Brown still but hey, pretty nice considering things: https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1990/08/24 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1993/04/18

He starts becoming more blunt in the later comics and pulling the piano from under Lucy

https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1993/08/08 there’s something Schroelie here but I can’t quite figure it out - context wise, Charlie is still “dating” Peggy Jean at this time and is also pushing his luck with the red haired girl

Schroelie: https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1993/03/21

He likes to walk up and say random shit to Charlie Brown: https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1993/04/06 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1995/09/25 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1996/04/28 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1990/07/12 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1997/05/03

Bruh he has tinnitus 😭😭😭 https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1995/06/17 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1995/05/14 -

Breaks the 4th wall the most; see the comments https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1997/03/16

Lucy

Still an ass but is somewhat warmer to Charlie now; they kinda sit around and talk sometimes or she offers to help; https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1996/03/10 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1997/04/13 - https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1984/08/19

Did the occasional marriage-imagines with Charlie back in the day

I think she enjoys reading Snoopy’s fictional work despite always criticizing it

She’s starting to hang around Snoopy more

I’m now on Jan 1, 1998. What the fuck am I doing.

[mouseratz]

tagging game! tagged by @yarboyandy

-three ships

uhhhh. Off the top of my head. 1.lisacreature duh. the whole movie. they're not a healthy relationship but like they're fine they just destroy everything around them. i lurv it . also of fucking course I wanted a zombie boyfriend as a teenager. I won't lie to any of you

2. danbert bc gay people in my phone. classic case of toxic yaoi. so toxic I've been thinking about them for years. if only reanimator had like been gay on purpose we could've had it all

3. also based off of "what's in my camera roll". the evil scientists from mst3k are gay also. Dr Forrester and tvs frank.... is this even disputed. I don't care. I've known this since I was a child. "they're gay married and kill each other in looney tunes esque situations daily" feels like part of the character concepts.

-first ship

Inuyasha x Kagome, most likely. it's like one of the first obsessions I can remember where a show had like, a romantic throughline I cared about at all. although, to be fair, I was still mostly into the comedy and supernatural stuff, and this was Very Young.

-last song I listened to

I stumbled upon the tiny desk concert performance and well. I am not immune to popular things. chappell roan is pretty awesome. I love the videos and performances, but the pop music is also really solid, and I find myself enjoying it way more than expected. this songs good but I haven't listened to it a lot yet....my first time actually

-currently reading

Perry Mason and the Glamorous Ghost. I'm only like a chapter in. idk it was an impulse buy on my birthday because the cover was awesome. also pictured: my copy of Frankenstein. I read that in October. loved it

-currently watching

uhmmmm. still rewatching always sunny in Philadelphia. forever. watched a couple episodes of space ghost coast to coast earlier. I still want to keep watching twin peaks the return but I haven't because. idk. its hard to be me....

-relationship status

very incredibly single. it is very hard to date when u can't drive where I live. I mean it's hard in any circumstance but whatever shots I had are dust. would love to date sometime in my life possibly. I have been feeling that way for um. like four years now. so. we will see how that goes.

-current obsessions

Lisa Frankenstein, obvs.....my hobbies and such though? kind of in a slump. I've been like.....learning how to apply makeup for once for fun. I'm still very bad at it but idgaf it is what it is what's always made me uncomfortable about it was that it never "looked right" and I didn't want to be judged. instead of just treating it like a for fun thing. ie I want Colors On My Face I don't even cover up my acne atp. oh and the gender thing. like if I didn't do the makeup right I was being bad at being a girl. and now I do not have to worry about that at all.

-currently craving

like, food? um. I hope the brownies I made tonight taste good in the morning. I let them cool overnight so idk how they taste yet.

-favorite color

green, but I'm a big fan of what pink and black (I KNOW it's not a 'real color' IDC) and some shades of blue and yellow and orange have going on. I just like colors lmao

-tagging

hiiii I won't mind if you don't do it this is just a little shout-out okay :) @mahkari @jokeryuri @homokommari @mushroom-in-space

also anypony else who wants to do it can.....I won't be mad

[time-is-restored]

ted lasso 3x11

got through the latest episode tonight, below are unassorted ramblings abt a kansas ending (which i, despite being almost certain is where the show is heading, am still ardently rooting against):

so i was talking a little with my family abt the extremely likely kansas ending*, and was mentioning how much i really don't vibe with it. i said smth like 'i mean, what's even there for him in kansas?' to which they said (fairly, and rightfully!) 'his son!'. like, that's a pretty bulletproof argument, so i guess im just writing this to figure out why i feel like even that isn't. idk. enough?

[*though if that is the ending, what's the point of the cliffhanger? it's the most obvious + expected outcome, how would it be a 'reveal'? idk, some part of me is still praying for one of those classic Twists™ ig]

like. we've known that ted has a kid since day one. we've known that he loves + misses that kid since day one. according to the text, the number one reason ted left kansas was as a last ditch effort to save his marriage, by giving michelle as much space as humanly possible. they were divorced by the middle of the season, and ted chose to stay at the end.

so like. idk. am i missing something? did he just stay bc he felt an obligation to the team? and now that they're doing well (absurdly, breaking the bounds of belief well), he feels okay moving on? like many ppl have already pointed out, that's a pretty standard plot line in these kind of stories: the mary poppin's style exit stage right. but, say ted goes home (potentially even without beard???? agh??). what's happened to him, these past few seasons? what's different now?

like, it kind of feels like im only gonna be hurt by reading in between the lines here, but kansas doesn't seem to hold a lot of good associations for ted w/o the bedrock of his + michelle's marriage. he's reduced to a morose, spaced out mess within 5 minutes of talking with his mother, he very nearly goes through the Extremely fucked up move of paying someone to spy on michelle after seeing her + jake together for an afternoon, and ofc if anything even remotely reminds him of his dad he gets triggered really badly.

and of course, maybe the idea is 'well, he's started to cope with that all now, and he's starting to talk openly with his mum + grieve his dad, so he has the tools to return' but like. does he???? his support system are EXTREMELY london based. setting aside sharon since he could always telehealth w her, all of the positive progress he's made in his 'home' life seem to exclusively come after he talks w his support group at richmond.

he ended up admitting he was mad at michelle after speaking with the diamond dogs, he was pulled out of his obsessive spiral by rebecca, and he was able to put words to his feelings abt his mum by talking w jamie. to be clear, those are all massively positive things for ted to have done, and i think they at least make a good case for ted progressive positively w his mental health (even if its all gotten a bit tell don't show in this last season). but like. what happens when all that's on the other side of an ocean?

to be clear, from the perspective of real life, it absolutely makes sense that ted would want to return to his son. but on a narrative level, im just. i feel like im being expected to take certain things about ted + henry's relationship for granted, when the text itself hasn't even tried to make those things apparent.

is henry miserable or even generally upset when he has to leave his dad/go back to his mum? not that we ever see! im pretty sure the only time we've seen henry explicitly upset is when ted was ignoring him while he was like five feet away which, yeah, mood! and last we saw, henry even sees more enthused abt richmond winning the whole thing than ted is, so its not like he thinks his dad is just going away to do absolutely nothing of import.

do ted and henry not spend a lot of time together/talk very often? technically we don't see enough of ted's daily routine to know for sure, but the casual mention of playing roblox seems to imply they spend a lot of time together! and ofc none of their phone calls ever have the vibe of 'i haven't spoken to you in ages, here's ALL THE THINGS you've missed!'. they're almost all abt stuff that happened that day.

is ted struggling with being away from henry? well... yes, duh, but i don't even think this season's done particularly well establishing THAT (incredibly obvious and free) piece of ted characterisation.

is ted capable of feeling anything other than vague nostalgia (ie: all of his annecdotes being set there) or extreme distress wrt kansas? apparently not! like, seriously, what is there for him? does he have any friends? a job? family that isn't his mother? where's he gonna live? does he miss the weather? his neighbours? like i am literally on my hands and knees give me ONE (1) concrete opinion ted has about the fucking place that isn't about its FOOD (<- ESPECIALLY coming off the back of an episode where ted was able to experience texan food So Authentic™ that it inspired a literal career-changing epiphany?? like HOW are we supposed to take that as anything other than 'ted is at his best when he acknowledges BOTH of his lives rather than cutting one out in favour of the other'???).

idk. i guess my real problem this late in the game is i can see so many POTENTIAL versions of this show, but what ive been given doesn't feel like it matches up with any of them.

i can imagine a story in which ted's avoidance + variations upon running-away tactics for dealing w conflict get thoroughly deconstructed and challenged while in london, so at the end of the show he's finally emotionally prepared to return to his life in kansas even though it's never going to be a fairytale picturesque no-problems-ever ending again.

i can imagine a story in which going back to kansas isn't good for ted, and will be a major sacrifice, but it's a sacrifice he will be making with the support of his new friends + family, and something that he is determined to make in order to be there w his son, all meaningfully juxtaposed w how he feels his dad 'quit' on him.

i can imagine a story where ultimately, the life that ted's made alongside richmond is just as important to him as his life in kansas, and so he + michelle work out a more equal and long-term custody arangement* with henry (it definitely seems like the 'you get him for the whole year and i get him on school break' was something haphazardly worked out while they were both still under the assumption he'd be in richmond for less than a year), and they alternate who goes to whose home for holidays and shit.

[*side note, why hasn't that come up at all? i'd personally think somewhere around the six month mark of working overseas i'd want to have a talk w my expartner + kid about a schedule that isn't so much of a 80/20 split? like, it's fine if henry moving isn't on the table at all for one reason or another, but at least take the time to actually SAY that??? like, what does michelle do for a living? why is SHE so happy to stay there? give me Literally Anything here gang!!!]

...but ultimately what ive actually seen on screen feels like it fits into none of those categories. eleven hours (in as many episodes!! HOUR! long! episodes!!!!!!) in and i feel like i know infinitely less about ted + his mental state than i did in s1. like, from episode to episode, the writer's aren't sure if he's stuck, or progressing, or going through that classic recovery 'one step forwards, two steps back' dance, or just completely and utterly depressed. there's no continuity. nothing that happens to him in one episode seems to have literally any bearing at all on the ted in the next episode. if u scrubbed all of the notable Ted Scenes™ of any overarching plot references, and shuffled them all up, i genuinely think you would end up w a plateau of scenes totally indistinguishable from each other!*

[*of course, this is my main critique of s3 for like. literally everyone, but it's paticularly damning when im left feeling this lost about the main fucking guy.]

i don't know. i guess after the past few weeks of being really genuinely hurt + angry + upset abt the choices made this season, the feeling im left with near the end of it all is. underwhelmed. and im really not sure what 3x12 could possibly do to change that feeling... even if i am still regrettably, but sincerely rooting for a last minute switcheroo.

[wubwubnparmaham]

You writers are soooo incredible, I don't understand how you do it. i've been following you for years, and you JUST. KEEP. HITTING. i've never reeally tried to write, well maybe once but it wasnt that good. what is it even like to create something this massive as love endless and get to look back on it like "dam i really did that." ig on behalf of all of us readers, i just wanna thank you! <3 <3

You're a gemmm. By "this massive" I know you mean by word count, cuz it definitely isn't a famous fandom tale by any means, more like an underground cult classic people happen to vibe with, but I digress. Writing is fucking stupid hard, and anyone who tells you differently doesn't put much emotion into what they do. I'm a drug addict (9 years clean but God do I miss the rage), so love endless to me is a HUGE allegory for drug abuse, and sometimes it took a lot out of me to write about overdoses and cravings and whatnot, because I go through life constantly just wishing I could have all that back even if it ruined my life (gettin real stupidly deep here, bear with me), and I wrote things like all the opium they did to live even more vicariously, sooooo jealous of the fact that they could bask in opiates indefinitely and nothing bad would ever happen to them and they wouldn't experience the bad sides. I've also lost a lot of people, friends and family, to expected or unexpected and tragic deaths, some of them drug-related but all, so I wrote in the return of the dead cuz, ya know, what I wouldn't give to bring some of those beautiful people back in my life. OYCBMA (the story I'm ironically more known for) has tons of personal life shit baked into it too, of a different kind.

Overall, it's no overstatement to say that one puts one's soul into one's writing, and the same goes for any creative expression / passion. It's a release, and sometimes, therapy for trauma. I have other books in the works that deal with other things absent from my ao3 stories, like sexual abuse and that sorta shit that I went through for years, and it's just all around liberating to write through emotions like that, but also immensely difficult sometimes, and potentially re-traumatizing.

That said I am proud, yes, and sometimes I'm like hell yeah, this is my legacy, as small as it is, it's enough—because actually, my deepest, darkest feelings are irrevocably entwined with it, so to say it means everything to me for people to support the story is an understatement. It's so much more ❤️ in my twisted perspective, it's like you're supporting MY life story without knowing it lolol, even if I'm just the man behind the curtain.

Ig my advice if you do wanna write is just to let your emotions guide the way. If you do that, it'll touch people, and a sort of pseudo-bond will grow between author and reader, and it'll feel nice and communal. Idk man I have lots to say on this topic, but I'll cut it. Didn't mean to say this much anyway.

In conclusion, thanks for your support! I appreciate it ☺️

[ardl]

yo ardl I’m trying to get back into metal in general and you are top metal poster. Would you drop like a top 5 black metal albums to check out? no pressure or rush

ye i can do that, im usually more biased towards proggy black metal these days but theres some rough shit i still like so itll be a bit of both kinds.

ulver - nattens madrigal, this is one of my favorites to come out of the 90s. the riffs are gas the sound is nasty real cult shit.

bathory - under the sign of the black mark, fuckin classic. near perfect album. like the blueprint for early black metal afaik. blazin riffs real raw.

for some more modern black metal bands, batushka - litourgiya, real real real good stuff goin on in this one. it takes a lot from eastern orthodox christianity aesthetically and really runs w/ it in a neat way. got some orthodox chants and hot damn its sick as fuck. like holy shit it goes so fucking hard.

panopticon - kentucky, coal minin appalachian folk inspired black metal, black metal & pagan inspired folk music fusions are pretty common and theres some groups that have done it real well[agalloch is probably the most well known of them?], but workin songs & black metal isnt somethin ive seen a ton of. the structure of the album is a bit typical of modern proggy black metal, soft song harsh song repeat, but the spoken word sections hold it together and tie the softer folkier parts into the harsh sections thematically.

bosse-de-nage - III, actually kind of interesting lyrics & structure of their delivery, which is weird for a black metal project. another more progressive black metal band, it takes some cues from post metal as far as structure of the songs & like the dynamic contour of the songs as a whole. their whole discog is like laser focused on like exactly what i like in harsh music.

honorable mentions: agalloch - pale folklore, real good. kinda goofy folky type of thing. fuckin loved this album in high school but it doesnt hit like it used to, probably bc of how many times i listened to it. ashes against the grain is also real good but not rly black metal.

amesouers - self titled, real good another blackgazey thing but not super black metally. neige from alcests side project but i like it more than most of alcest. alcest pretty much started blackgaze iirc?

thurm - self titled, real good, havent listened to it enough to say a ton. some type of blackened death or somethin idk its real fuckin good.

last one, feminazghul - no dawn for men. it has an accordion. and a violin. folky for sure. pretty new to me so i dont have much to say abt it.

[wooshofficial]

okay obscure blaseball ships lets gooooo:

bevan wise/annie roland: based on my specific interpretations of them where bevan was a human who ended up becoming a wizard for the fae court and annie was her knight. lots of classic chivalric pining but sapphic.

cantus hojo/mindy kugel: wivesssss. very comfortable weve been together 30 years and know each other well vibes. mindy is poly and also has a husband named bertrand and they’re cute together too.

kichiro guerra/parker meng: DISASTER COUPLE. DO NOT KNOW HOW TO COMMUNICATE. been together on and off since highschool. both alternated from the same universe and then both ended up on the worms but only together for about a season bc they both kept going elsewhere (and then kichiro STAYED elsewhere)

jenna maldonado/raúl leal: what if we were non human immortals who gave up our immortality to play blaseball together because we loved humanity and music and then one of us ended up dying and the other later gained a way to protect other players from dying.

winnie mccall/chorby short: this is a ship that my partner got me into and i love them sooooo much. they have the kinda relationship where it feels like they’ve known each other their whole lives. also winnie later getting like demon sound powers plus chorbys whole soul scream makes me go aaaaaaa

winnie mccall/patty fox: ALSO GOOD. love when there is a tiny grumpy butch and a big chill femme. patty doesnt do her own make up or nails but has learned how to so she can pamper winnie and do it for her.

also tillmikejay who i dont talk about much bc i am afraid to get ejected from a salmon cannon but i am an annoying bisexual who loves to make up other annoying bisexuals to think about. also they all have a lot of parallels in lore and sim events. slaps this polycule they can fit so much guilt and only one braincell into them.

I SEE MILLS ON THIS LIST OH BOY

Bevan and Annie - oh that’s such a cool interp!!! Before ur art I only saw the drip wizard interp so I am eating this up gimme more I wan. Moar.

Cantus and Mindy - idk much about these two but that’s so cute I love that

Kichiro and Parker - this is just me. Don’t date me I’m awful at communicating JABDKWNWKNWWK anyways I am rotating it. Maybe both the common Kichi/Allison ship could factor in where on those “off” times Kichi got into this serious relationship with Allison and then Allison died and Kichi. Does not know how to cope with that so she goes back to what she knows and Parker hates it. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaates it.

Jenna and Raúl - Raul does it all in the name of Jenna and then fucking Explodes, lol, and then they kiss in the hall the end

Winnie and Chorby - did you know that the Cas Commute (where Chorby Short and Castillo Turner were routinely EE’d for each other over the course of 5 seasons) happened during the s17 elections, a season after Winnie died? Did you know that Winnie died the SAME SEASON as Chorby joining the mills as an attractor, literally. 59 days after she was on the team. Chorby, dissociating and confused and in a new city clings to the one thing she knows (Winnie) and then that thing DIES, and she’s not even there because she’s in the shadows. This is so tragic and I’m so in love with it omg

WAIT ELI I THINK YOU MEANT SOUL INSTEAD OF SHORT. IVE SEEN THAT SHIP BEFORE I am half and half on it, because I see Chorby Soul as gay, but also in the context of how that season played out it is SO tragic and I eat that shit up. Basically I like both ships

Winnie and Patty - oh that’s cute! See I ship Patty with Hatfield Suzuki in the infamous Patty/Hatty/Ana polycule but I can so get behind this. Sometimes you are a slightly workaholic chef and your chill demon gf has to tell you to get some fucking sleep oh my god. But then she dies and you join the lineup in her memory (I can’t remember if Patty took Winnie’s spot in the lineup but it would absolutely hit if that turns out to be true).

Tillman and Mike and Jaylen - I like to think of this disaster trio as “Mike Townsend Has Two Hands” because while Till and Jay are friends, Till is straight up a gay man who wants to kiss him some baker lips, and Jaylen does not find Tillman attractive in the slightest. Mike Townsend’s bisexual ass, however, finds both of them hot and will gladly give them both his baker lips to smooch. Theyre cute as hell.

[daywalker-rr]

some hc’s (or well. lore? this is my interpretation of them) for future silvs and gold below the cut if you even care. theres a lot.

Gold is the reigning champ of Johto for 10+ years. He wanders off similar Blue & his gym and actually is very tired of his champion title but feels some sort of obligation to keep it.

(I’ll make a whole new post for my hcs on Gold because god are there a lot.)

Whenever Gold’s gone he asks Silver to fill in for him. He knows Silvers one of the few people on par with his skills as a trainer. That being said Silver could arguably also be a champion? he’s not in the hall of fame, but he’s as close as one could get to a champion level battle.

but obviously if Gold is learning new things his rival doesn’t wanna fall behind. so sometimes Silver will tag along. He’s much more diligent about their responsibilities though and constantly nags Gold abt how much of a flake he is abt his league position. he doesn’t go overboard with it though, he understands how gold really feels about his title.

they’re best friends. they argue so fucking much but they basically live together and care for each other. Gold makes Silver lunch everyday and Silver always complains about how it tastes but he always finishes it. theyre so used to how close they are that they arent able to tell how blurry the like between dating and friendship is for them.

They’re rude, mean, and jerks to one another, but there’s no true malice behind their actions anymore. the foundation of their rivalry and therefore friendship was built of how much of an asshole they both were/are, so it’s natural for them to keep it going.

they eventually earn the title of battle legends. Gold and Silver are recognized for their strength alongside Red and Blue (and Leaf? She has that title. right.(???)). Could be argued that Gold is “stronger” than Red, but they both know brute strength isn’t all that goes into a battle. (Even if that was Gold’s main strat for a while.)

Gold and Silver seen together more than theyre seen separately because they train together and work together basically.

Anyways. onto the actual Paldea part. since Scarlet & Violet came out close enough to the 25th anniversary of pkmn i was like…. it would be so chill if gold and silver were there. originally I had ideas for them to be involved in Sword & Shield, but then Paldea was revealed. A Spain inspired region… how could I not pair that up with the one protagonist I swear up and down is a latino (🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽 Mexican Gold real and true btw.)

Now granted I haven’t properly beat SV bc I’m BUSY. but Afaik there isn’t any sort of battle tower in the region? even swsh had one.

so Gold and Silver’s attentions are grabbed by the region (initially for different reasons) and theyre like hey. we could do some good here.

The champion title for Paldeas pkmn league is one of the reasons they’re so interested. arguably it’s the best out of all the regions. only having 1 strongest trainer is kind of silly (it sort of resonates with whatever deal they have going on it Johto)

they reach out to Paldean officials like hey. we want to set up a space where the strongest trainers can duke it out with worth while opponents. and theyre like wow thats so smart. so i was thinking maybe they make it like a dojo? still pondering. idk. i was thinking Silver runs it and Gold is just one of the higher ups (he’s still champ bro)

anyways they talk to the florian/juliana like “heyyy 😁 we heard ur the new champ! thats chill mind battling us so we can get a grasp of the skill around here???” because yk. classic young child champ. real recognizes real

(i don’t think Gold (and esp silver) are as well known as his kanto buddies, but he still has his fair share of fame.)

i think that’s all i got for now. semi irrelevant stuff. silver wears heels. gold is a gymrat. hes also very annoying. gold thinks silvers the prettiest person ever but he thinks everyone just sees him the way he does (i’ll draw silver in his eyes soon.)

(oh and btw. the loverival future au still holds up here. gold has beef w wally and brendan for some reason. i’ll elaborate one day.)

ty for reading (they make me feel like this)

paldea if it was based

[beaversatemygrandma]

You know, I’ve been finding a lot of odd similarities between my most recent ex and the guy I’ve been talking to as of late. Most just minor things, and an usual same level of color blindness, which literally doesn’t matter at all but it a weird similar thing all the same. (This guy LITERALLY Caused me to do a science project on colorblindness because i was curious how he saw my old sparkledog OC. The look was weird btw. He didn’t get her full vibe.)

Though this one is So Much More Positive. Both are so sweet, so odd in the best ways, such cute little vocal/texting quirks which are also oddly similar, and just... idk it’s weird. I mean, soft, gentle, nerdy, kind guys. Can’t go wrong.

What weird is my thought of, what if i liked my ex because of the familiar feel from this guy? Like, I’ve known him for years. He’s always been an odd source of comfort. He’s positive with an oddly innocent outlook on the world even though the world has fucked him over ten ways til sunday. He listens to my stories with such an attentiveness and goes along with my mindless making of future plans that likely won’t even happen until late next year. I’ll tell him the most chaotic and slightly traumatizing story and instead of going along with my vibe of telling an interesting story for the hell of it, i get this overly caring “Are you okay” and a whole “I’m glad you made it out of there” when I literally look back on these as some odd story i can tell and not like a personal experience, whether that’s a coping mechanism or avoidance. Hell, he talked me through a mild anxiety attack i had yesterday morning because tasks just stacked up on me out of nowhere and I just couldn’t work it through. And he gave me that solid voice to rely on to get past it on my own. It feels fresh and new and i feel so cared for and i haven’t even seen this guy physically since we were 17.

And with my ex, it was sort of the same way, just those months of endless talking until one day we were like “Let’s go on a date” and well, it was this Very Intensely romantic weekend. I came to work afterwards covered in makeup smothered hickeys and just BEAMING Happiness, so much that my coworkers were like “Alright, you met the one.” And I have a weird feeling this will work out in a similar way.

It might even be a little slower building, which honestly could even be healthier. He quickly took note of taking it slower and not rushing in on things. He listens. He adjusts. He just does the right thing each time somehow? Why is this odd to me? I don’t feel like i need to keep anything from him. I literally just went on this entire tangent about classic cars which i have Never Done to somebody other than my dad because my dad is the one who taught me all that. I was raised by a car and this guy Enjoyed every second of me ranting off about how shitty Chevy SSRs look. Hell, there’s even another potential plan of hitting that classic car museum in the hometown because my granddad’s car is now On Display There. Which honestly, is pretty cool. That thing was the car I worked around when stuffing my things into his garage and now it’s On Display. Rightfully so too. It’s a classic 60s Triumph TR-3 in Mint condition if you ignore the fact that the top doesn’t go up anymore. Just an old an unique British sports car. You do not see those much in the states. I just talk endlessly and he’s there hanging on my every word. I try to do the same for him, but there’s hardly any stories there but I keep getting the most interesting little facts about his life that I had never known before.

I’m not even going to lie, I Regret not delving further into a relationship with him in high school. He’s interesting in a boring way. Like, it’s comforting. Comfortable. I feel like being around him i could finally feel normal again.

Yeah. I’ve come to the conclusion. I’m doing this. I’m going for this one. He makes me happy, if not slightly distracting at times because we’ll go on this entire tangent of joking around with each other when i should be doing something productive.

But then again, holy shit, I’m falling for the weird guy who puppy dogged along behind me through all of high school. Hell, should’ve been a sign when i literally couldn’t get rid of him. I liked talking to him but DAMN, was that boy obsessed back then. And now i want to return all of the affection he has had for me. It’s a long time in the making, so might as well, right?

[call-me-aesthetic]

If Twisted Wonderland was an American Public School

WARNING: There are some slight sensitive topics that are featured in here! Reader discretion is advised!

Part 2 can be found here

Heartslabyul

Riddle Rosehearts:

- That one preppy girl who takes all honors and AP classes 😑

- Wants everyone to know that he’s becoming a doctor one day for his strict parents or he’ll dishonor the family

- Reminds the teacher about homework, knowing well that he’ll get slander for it

- Complains about how he got a 90 on his test or a B on his report card, a try hard much?

- Wears a cardigan with thicc but cute glasses since he’s one of those people with can’t see shit on the board so he has to move to the front of the class

Ace Trappola:

- The SoundCloud rapper, that’s it

- “Wanna listen to my mixtape? It’s pretty fire, my guy.” 😩🔥

- You will not miss him BLASTING out some song on his Bluetooth speaker, that shit be echoing through the hallways

- Tells you to stop what you’re doing only for him to either sing horribly or do a backflip, thinking that he’s so cool

- Wears a Supreme jacket with AirPods and waves on his head

Deuce Spade:

- Assuming that he’s still a delinquent, he’s that kid with the most fucked up school record

- Not much of a bully but will still talk shit to your face without caring, might even throw stuff at you during a lesson and you would be the one getting in trouble instead of him 🗿

- If he ever gets mad, it would be overdramatic like kicking the desks, punching the lockers, or walking out of the classroom unannounced and everyone would look at each other wondering wtf happened

- Covers the entire desks with drawings of skulls and those “s” if you know what I mean

- Wears Champion hoodies, wants you to know that he’s broke and rich at the same time

Trey Clover:

- The guy that’s not really popular but everyone knows him since he’s in all their classes

- Most people might have a crush on him because he’s REALLY nice 😳👉👈

- Gives off “older brother” vibes based on the way he looks and acts, like offering you a ride home if you beg ask nicely

- Secretly bakes creme brulee but doesn’t want to mess with the flow so he sticks to the status quo

- Wears the school’s hoodie just because he thinks it looks good on him, and the fact that he doesn’t know what else to wear

Cater Diamond:

- Hot Cheetos girl 🥵

- Has a whole buffet of food in his backpack and will not hesitate to eat them during a lesson, no sharing either sorry

- Excuses himself to the bathroom or full on skips class just to film a Tiktok

- Has about 100 followers on Instagram Magicam and brags about how he’s famous

- Wears a Thrasher hoodie with large hoop earrings and his hair in a bun

Savanaclaw

Leona Kingscholar:

- The kid who flunked their freshman year that also sort of vibes with new classmates

- Always gets mistaken as a teacher by people since he looks and sounds old

- Knows the lessons but still fails them anyways, didn’t really give a damn either 🙄

- Captain of every sports club you can think of, never actually plays but has a lot of knowledge on them

- Wears the school’s letterman from years ago since it used to be his brother’s and that he’s too lazy to buy a new one

Ruggie Bucchi:

- That one kid who NEVER has money for the book fair or any other school event

- Always has to ask his classmates for some cash

- If he somehow does, then he’s one of those kids who buys Diary of the Wimpy Kid or the World Record books

- If he’s feeling cheap, he’ll buy the “cool stuff” like the chocolate scented calculator or fruit snacks 😭

- Wears oversized hoodies and basketball shorts that are clearly hand-me-downs

Jack Howl:

- That one athletic kid who’s both scary good and competitive when it comes to school games like football or soccer

- Literally the best player on his team and without him, they’re trash as hell 💀

- Tries his absolute best to support his teammates without yelling at them for how dumb they are

- “KICK THE FUCKING BALL! DO YOUR LEGS EVEN WORK?!”

- Wears the school’s jersey just to show off his “school spirit”

Octavinelle

Azul Ashengrotto:

- The kid who sell snacks for “charity” but everyone knows he’s keeping the money to himself

- If you don’t have cash or try to negotiate with him, the only thing he’ll do is raise the price up

- “What do you mean you don’t have ten bucks? I can see it in your pocket.”

- Just bring nothing with you, he’ll doing anything to steal your stuff 🤭

- Wears a collar shirt with a tie and khakis that have pockets to keep his glasses and money in

Jade Leech:

- The kid who puts on a goody two shoes facade but is actually a stoner

- Only does “safe” drugs like vape but occasionally smokes weed, mostly in the bathroom or behind the school 🌬

- Can play it off and hide the scent when he’s high, teachers never suspect anything from him

- No one really cares to stop him unless he gets caught or something idk

- Wears clothing that either makes him look like a businessman or a junky, there’s nothing in between

Floyd Leech:

- The kid that’s plays basketball or volleyball just because he’s hella tall, and is actually good at the sports but doesn’t put much effort into them

- Always stays behind after gym, even though the teacher tries to make him leave for his next class 😬

- “I swear after this one shot, I’ll go to class.” *He never made that shot*

- Will jump you no matter who or where you are, and will get angry if you step on his new shoes

- Wears the jersey of any famous team with the latest pair of Jordan sneakers

Scarabia

Kalim Al Asim:

- VSCO girl at best, don’t lie to me now 🤡

- The only words he knows are “And I oop– sksksk.” and “Save the turtles.”

- Walks during a track meet while everyone else is running and sweating hard, the teacher doesn’t care either

- Doesn’t really do anything in gym but talks to his classmates and stands near the water fountain to refill his Hydro flask

- Wears tie dye shirts with cute scrunchies

Jamil Viper:

- That one quiet kid who everybody thinks is a serial killer but he’s actually not, I swear

- He just wants school to be over and spend the rest of his summer relaxing 😔

- Although he shouldn’t abuse his “power,” he‘ll move his hands in his pockets or backpack to make it look like he’s about to pull a weapon out.

- “Chill, I’m just grabbing a pencil.” *Everyone in the class started crying*

- Wears dark colored hoodies that intimidates people but are actually comfy

Pomefiore

Vil Schoenheit:

- The baddie popular girl 😌💅✨

- Arrives to school late with a Starbucks in hand from his local Target

- Fixes himself every 5 seconds like reapplying his lipgloss or spraying Bath and Body Works cherry blossom perfume

- Uses acrylic nails and long hair extensions as weapons during a cat fight

- Wears a crop top with ripped jeans and those clout sunglasses

Rook Hunt:

- That creepy guy in the hallways who tries to get your attention, even if you don’t know him

- Scares people when he says, “Ayo, where my hug at?” 🥶💯

- Uses at least 10 cans of Axe body spray a week after gym class, which stinks up the locker rooms

- Waves at you if he passes your class, even walking into the room just to say hi

- Wears literally anything but always include a hat

Epel Felmier:

- The artist girl who just wants to be alone 🧑‍🎨

- Purposely draws in front of you but pretends like you’re not looking

- If you complement him, he’ll just brush it off and proceeds to diss himself

- “Thanks but I’m not THAT good at drawing, teehee.” *Insert Radio Rebel face*

- Wears a hoodie or a cardigan with big pockets to put his art supplies in

Ignihyde

Idia Shroud:

- I don’t even need to tell you who he is, y’all already know ahaha 🥴

- Sneaks a whole PlayStation in his backpack so he can play with it during lunch

- Is on his phone 24/7 even in class to the point where teachers don’t care anymore

- Tries to get people into anime but only to little success

- Wears a shirt of any anime character or that damn ahegao hoodie, girl bye

Ortho Shroud:

- The nerdy kid who’s known for destroying others at many games

- Plays classics like D&D, Yugioh, Pokémon, the whole shabang

- Daily Beyblade battles during recess with everyone surrounding him, the menacing aura radiates off of him

- Will steal your things if you lose to him but gives it back a week later cuz he’s sweet 🥰

- Wears light up Sketchers shoes and those Minecraft shirts you find at Old Navy

Diasomnia

Malleus Draconia:

- The theatre kid who also goes to band practice, change my mind 👁👄👁

- Takes his role seriously when it comes to school plays and concerts, even if he gets casted as a damn tree or doesn’t go solo

- Remembers the songs and their lyrics to any musical you name, a really good singer at that too

- Plays almost every instrument, you definitely know this since you can hear him down the hallways during a test

- Wears a white button up shirt, black pants with fancy dress shoes, and top it all off with a fricking Rolex watch

Lilia Vanrouge:

- The weird guy who pranks people and vandalizes school property in every way possible

- If you ever get a textbook with a message that tells you to go to a certain page only for you to found a picture of a dick, yeah that was him 😒

- When using a Chromebook, he’ll leave a tab open on YouTube so when the next person uses it, pray that your ears will still work by tomorrow

- During lunch, he is a literal DEMON that mixes milk with chicken nuggets together and having the audacity to eat it too

- Wears an oversized raincoat or a windbreaker but idk wtf kind of things he has hiding underneath

Silver:

- That guy in class who consumes Monster energy drinks and falls asleep 99% of the time but somehow manages to pass the class 🤷

- Whenever he’s awake, he’ll talk to the teachers since he’s basically friends with them for some reason

- Writes his name out of boredom on any desk you sit on but in different places, sometimes around the corners or the sides

- Has a sixth sense because he’ll wake up if you try to draw on his face and if you did get something on him, it’s on sight

- Wears those colorful hoodies that zips all the way up to cover his face with a matching backpack, it’s pretty cool ngl

Sebek Zigvolt:

- That kid who literally knows everything about historical wars and will show it off during class

- Also has knowledge on weaponry, which has people questioning him but he’s just very dedicated on serving his country and people

- Knows how to fight and defend himself from a bitch since he spent his summer at a military boot camp, put respect on my man’s name 😤

- Honestly a great partner for a group project, actually does the given work but not the whole thing for you

- Wears anything that has camo pattern and chunky combat boots

I only made this because me and my friends were talking about our school memories so yeah. This is based from my experience so they might not be exactly accurate. Might even be a part two if you want.

[kanayaks]

silly little meetcult

tw icky sex and coercion implications? if any cult survivors are following me idk maybe skip this one

so morel's got this "friend" a little lower down on the ladder than her. coworker really. said friend escapes the mlm into the arms of the cult. she comes back saying "oh lindy, it's life changing, you have to come see it." morel says "you're fucking crazy, I'm the furthest thing from spiritual." friend says "I was like that too. but I see the whole world so differently now, it's incredible, just trust me." morel is so intensely fucking miserable with her life that she says oh what the hell and goes along. why not.

so she gets a tour of what is not yet a compound and it's all exactly what she expected. and she's fucking furious that some stupid, naive little part of her buried deep thought it might actually be something.

the grand finale is introducing her to the fearless leader, and the friend is damn near creaming herself about it. there's some obviously contrived "emergency" the friend has to go take care of, you'll have to do the energy reading without me, but don't worry, you're in great hands ;)

nasty shit.

"well, looks like it's just you and me."

it is, isn't it?

alone in a room with a man she does not respect, and her afternoon's been wasted, and it's just a lowercase cult - not a Cult, they're not dangerous yet.

So she actually speaks her mind. like she so, so rarely does, honesty she doesn't let herself access even privately, internally: you're selling the same shit I do. promising transcendence if they get in on the ground floor.

gale says I didn't ask for what they've built here. I don't control them, everything you see they've been moved to do of their own volition.

morel says oh bullshit. this whole persona you're doing right now is just another part of it! the aloof, benevolent, larger than life figure who yet conceives of himself as down to earth? it's so classic and transparent. incredibly convenient how them believing themselves to be the masters of their own destinies suits your purposes perfectly.

and gale is so pissed off because she's entirely correct about him, and he's so horny because damn she is intelligent and sharply insightful and fuck if he's not being seen and known. she speaks with absolutely authority and experience, far too canny to be the coke-addled, misguided, pretty young thing he was told to expect.

and then something she doesn't expect happens.

he says okay. I'm all that and more, you're right. but clearly it's not working. so, what would you do?

she's a little off-balance. he's all mild-mannered and curious and it feels genuine? what is going on. what is his fucking deal.

"well. a lot of it is working."

"is that right?"

"sure. you know, you've got some amount of presence."

wow, they're standing quite close together.

"I mean, it worked wonders on what's her face."

he drills down into what he cares about, easily brushes past what he doesn't. "gravitas, some have said. would you agree?"

"charisma tends to be a little more what people are looking for. a bit broader appeal. that's what you should try to cultivate."

"and what about...magnetism? are you looking for that?"

oh god, he's close enough that she can smell him.

"-because I am."

yeah, they fuck naaaaaaasty.

afterwards she feels sick with dread as the horror slowly dawns. there's no mystery here. she fell it for it SO easily, just like she fell for V (daughter of the business's founding family).

"wait. where are you going?"

"you can drop the act, you got what you wanted out of me."

he busts out the 🥺. "it's been years since I last slept with anyone while sober."

huh. come to think of it, she doesn't know when she last did that either.

"....fuck. I need a cigarette."

"would you mind if I joined you?"

"god help me, but no. I wouldn't mind at all."

so she becomes his shepherd. because she's damn good at manipulating the weak to get powerful people where they want to go. and he's damn good at following orders. they are each experts at shaping themselves into what other people want from them.

further reading:

I like this idea for gale's background pre LSD (not my tweet)

please please PLEASE look at jade's disco gales

don't ask me about mystra and what the stand in for the orb incident is in this universe I don't know. I also don't know the exact nature of the legal trouble these two are going to get into down the line. there WON'T be more im done I mean it

what you know about 80s businesswoman multilevel marketing exec morel x started dropping LSD in the 70s and lowkey became a cult leader gale toxic not so modern AU morale

[greensaplinggrace]

honestly THANK YOU for saying all that abt baghra bc i thought i was going crazy from not liking her??? bc i haven't read the books and only summaries of them on wiki and like. i dunno why ppl like her actually even in the show bc this guy, her son, is like "i wanna make the world better for us grisha" and she's just like "no." even tho he sees that she's MAKING HERSELF SICK from suppressing her powers! she's literally like in bed coughing in the flashback yet seem much healthier at the little palace. also like after everything, after her disapproval, after the fold, after centuries of waiting for the sun summoner.. he never abandons her. he makes sure she's cares for. he doesn't harm her. and i have to wonder if baghra has ever thanks him for that, for just not leaving her alone. like i dunno how im suppose ro believe aleks is a heartless villain when he still cares for his abusive mom like this. like has baghra even told her she loved him (honestly she reminds me of a classic emotionally unavailable asian parent but maybe that's just me). also im wondering if baghra ever told aleks that he had an aunt.. bc like.. now that u bring up her isolating him it's like hmmmm...

not at me being like alina... why do u trust the bitter old woman who literally beats u with a stick and verbally abuses u every chance she gets.. just bc she showed a bad painting... like.. pls use two braincells to see that who u figured out as his mother... is also using his protection..

like baghra could've upped and left with alina. but no. she stayed bc she knew she was safe under aleks's protection.

alsoim just impressed that after his first friend tried to drown him and harvest his bones... he didn't go into hiding???? he still wanted to make a safe heaven for grisha!!! HE STILL WANTED TO PROTECT GRISHA EVEN AFTER HIS GRISHA FRIEND TRIED TO KILL HIM FOR HIS FUCKEN BONES. like... this is the guy im suppose to believe is the villain???

honestly i feel like part of the reason why LB's plotlines seem so bad and disconnected (and sometimes outright racist but that's another rant) and why darkles is disproportionately more violent and villainous in the later books is bc she didn't expect the darkling to be so popular and wanted to stick with her guns of making him the villain. but also wanted the money from aleks's popularity. but like you can't have ur cake and eat it too.

Well thank you for sending this ask! It's very sweet and very passionate. I'm glad you liked my post! I didn't put as much thought into it as some of my others lol. I kind of just talked. But it was nice to be able to finally talk about some of the problems I have with both her character and the fandom/author's perception of her.

HERE is the post this is referring to, in case anyone's wondering.

👀👀 You've hit the nail on the head for so many things, here!

Baghra is extremely emotionally unavailable, basically to the point of neglect. She's also verbally and physically abusive, traits which I doubt were only reserved for her students and not her son. Baghra claims she would do anything to protect him, but I've known a lot of parents who have that mindset and yet still harm their children because they think it's "good for them".

Aleksander stays at Baghra's side for years, and even when they're opposing each other she's never too far away from him. Idk if you've read the books but he does eventually hurt her. And as much as I don't like Baghra, I think his actions were horrid. But I'm also honestly kind of surprised it took him so long lmao.

Yeah I mean, in terms of isolation, let's not forget that she never wanted to introduce him to his father, either. Baghra's sense of eternity clouds a lot of her judgments on relationships, which means she views most people as dust and therefore teaches her son to as well. The problem with that is that he's a growing child, and he needs those social and emotional attachments for healthy development.

I would bet quite a bit of money that Baghra has either never told him she loves him or she has told him so few times it's practically forgettable.

And everything becomes more complicated because so many of Baghra's actions are understandable because of her life and her history, but the impacts they have on the people around her, especially Aleksander, are permanently damaging. And the fact that that's never gone over in critical depth in the books or how it's glossed over in fandom is just very disconcerting. Like, acknowledging Baghra's failings doesn't mean we're excusing Aleksander's actions, it just means we're holding Baghra liable for her own. Which the fandom should be doing, considering she's the epitome of an abusive parental figure.

And Alina trusting Baghra over Aleksander is even more confusing! Especially in the show!! This is the woman who beat her and abused her and tortured her friends when they tiny little children (and who probably still does so now that they're adults). This is the woman who mocks you and harasses you and insults you on a regular basis. Why does Baghra revealing she's Aleksander's mother make Alina change her mind?! Like fuck, I'd just feel bad for Aleksander. No wonder he kept it a secret, I would too! And that painting is enough evidence?! Really?! A random painting shown to you by this abusive mentor that's been making your life hell. That's what you're going to betray your new lover over?

The friends trying to harvest his bones thing is a good point, too. I think Aleksander, especially show Aleksander, is incredibly idealistic. I think he cares too much for others - those he's deemed worth his care (a sentiment given to him by Baghra). Despite everything she's tried to teach him about hiding and abandoning others and never caring and never doing anything to help or reach out or connect with people, Aleksander still continues to do so. It's likely because he never got it from Baghra growing up, and so is desperate for those emotional needs to be fulfilled elsewhere.

His turning point, when Baghra tells him it was understandable that those kids tried to kill him because the world is such a hard place for them - that's crucial. And the reason it's possible as a motivating factor is because of that idealism and that desire to help and that desire to be everything his mother isn't. Baghra tells him this trauma he just experienced was because of the oppression of his people, and instead of following her lead and accepting that, going into hiding and abandoning everybody to their misery, he goes I can do something about that. I can make it so this never happens again. Which is usually how trauma like that combines with one's core personality traits at a young age, especially when there's none of the essential support systems in place to aid in recovery (ie, the role Baghra should have been filling but wasn't, because she decided to exacerbate the problem instead).

And yeah, one of my biggest problems with the ham-fisted "beating you over the head with a sledgehammer of evil deeds" look-how-bad-this-character-is! portrayal of the Darkling in the later books comes from the impression I get that Bardugo doesn't trust her readers. She's so desperate to have us hate this character and think him an irredeemable villain, not trusting any of her readers to engage critically with a morally gray character, that it feels quite a bit like condescending fucking bullshit. Which ew, I know how to engage with literature, thanks.

She really does seem to look down on a large part of her fandom, and imo, the infantilization of the female characters in her books seems to carry over to her impression of most of her female readers as well. Which is why the Darkling's character arc gets fucking destroyed. But he's still a good cash grab, of course, so she'll shake his dead corpse in front of the fandom for money every time she wants something from it.

Also! Another reason I think her plotlines feel disconnected (I'm sorry Bardugo I respect you as a person, but shit-) is because the writing in SaB is just bad. I mean, nevermind the absolutely nauseating implications of the way she portrays the Grisha as a persecuted group who's situation is never actually fully addressed as it should be, considering Grisha rights is what her main villain is fighting for (imo for a series called the Grishaverse, LB seems to be pretty anti Grisha), but her characters and story alone are just wrong for each other. They don't fit together.

And the ending is one of the main pieces of evidence in that regard! You can’t say the ending where Alina isn’t Grisha anymore is her “going back to where she started” when she’s always been Grisha. She just didn’t know she was Grisha because she denied that part of herself that she was born with.

Alina is reluctant to move forward or change, she struggles with adapting, and she’s very set on the things she’s grown attached to throughout her life. She also has some latent prejudices against the Grisha, and so denies the possibility of being Grisha for those reasons as well.

Alina’s lack of powers in the beginning of her life because she willfully doesn’t learn about them to avoid change versus her lack of powers at the end of the book when she’s accepted them and then they’re stripped away from her by outer forces are two entirely separate circumstances. You can’t make a parallel about lost powers and lack of Grisha status bringing her back to the start when she was always Grisha and she always had powers and she simply refused to come to terms with it because of personal reasons.

The first situation is an internal conflict that indicates a story about growth and a journey of self acceptance. Denying herself the opportunity to learn about her heritage and to find acceptance with a group of people like her because she’s tied to the past and because of the way she was raised is the setup for a narrative that tackles unlearning prejudice and learning how to connect with a part of her identity that was denied her and learning how to grow independent and self assured. It’s the setup for a different story entirely. The second situation is an external conflict that centers around the ‘corrupting influence of power’... for some reason.

In a world where Grisha do not have social, political, or economic power and they are hunted, centering your heroine’s journey of self acceptance and growth around an external conflict about... the corrupting influence of power (in a group of people that don’t actually have any power?!) just doesn’t work. It is literally impossible to connect the two stories Bardugo is trying to push in Shadow and Bone without seriously damaging the main character’s developmental arc.

The only way a narrative like this would work, claiming that she has gone back to where she started, is either a) if the Grisha weren’t actually a persecuted group and instead were apart of the upper class, or b) if the one bad connection between the two instances is acknowledged - that Alina denied a part of herself crucial to self acceptance and growing up, and that losing her powers at the end has also denied her. It is a tragedy, not a happy ending.

Alina suffered because she didn’t use her powers. She grew sick. It was bad for her. This was not a resistance to 'the corruption of power and the burden of greed', it was her suffering because she couldn’t fully accept herself.

Framing the ending as a return to the beginning can’t be done if you don’t address how bad the beginning was for your main character. You brought her back to a bad point in her life. You regressed her. This should be a low point in her arc. It should be a problem that’s solved so she can finish developing organically or it should be something that is acknowledged as a tragedy in it’s own right, for the future the world (the writing) denied her.

This is a ramble and it makes no sense and I’m really sorry, but my point is that Bardugo put the wrong characters in the wrong story. The character arc required for organic development doesn’t match the story and intended message at all. The narrative doesn’t fit the cast. She's got two clashing stories attempting to work in tandem and she ends up with both conflicting messages that fans still can’t comprehend in her writing and an ending that doesn’t suit her main character to such an impossible degree that it’s almost laughable.

So yeah, there's a few reasons why I think the story and the plot feels so bad and disconnected. I hope you don't mind me making this answer so long! 😅 I was not expecting to write this much.

[s1utspeare]

y'all i am losing my entire fucking mind

so if you know me like, at all, you know that i am absolutely obsessed with theatre, especially musical theatre, and lately, I've been trying to study foreign musical theatre, especially Asian musical theatre (which is entirely due to the Korean Hamlet rock opera, which i discovered like three years ago and listened to on repeat even though i had no idea what anyone was saying lmao). ANYWAY i've found as of late that Korea has numerous musicals based on Western classic literature, which fucks because 1) musical theatre 2) most of those stories would be made better by being musicals but western musical theatre either won't do them or fucks them up (like there's a Dorian Gray musical??? i've been waiting for one of those for fucking ages???? help)

so today i am going to talk about the Korean musical Frankenstein (프랑켄슈타인 ), which will be opening Nov. 12, 2021, and running through February of 2022 at the Bluesquare Shincard Hall (if you have a chance and can go see it for me, please do) and how fucking GALAXY BRAINED IT IS. NOTE: I am not a Korean speaker, nor do I have any connections to the culture, so if I make an error or say anything offensive, please let me know (My credentials are that I have a degree in theatre and have read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein an unfortunate amount of like four times). Also these are my personal opinions and interpretations of the text, so don't take them as fact, and feel free to discuss your own interpretations!!

The show was first written and directed by Wang Yongbum, with musical composition and direction by Lee Seongjun, in 2016, where it sold out its 23-show run and was given a 3-week performance extension because of how popular it was. It's since been performed 3 times, coming back to the stage in 2021 for a fourth.

As far as my knowledge goes, Korea has a fairly limited musical theatre canon, at least for original Korean musicals. Typically, when they perform musical theatre, they outsource to other countries for shows, or adapt shows from other languages for Korean audiences, which is absolutely fine, but that makes Frankenstein very exciting, because it is an original Korean show, and made by a team that is known for their original shows. They're also known for not casting kidols in productions in order to draw ticket sales, so the fact that this show did as well as it did with odds stacked against it is incredible (also the amount of tech work in this production is??? incredible).

Anyway the songs all slap and the production value is ICONIC and they double-cast every single part, which brings me to my main topic of conversation: the absolutely galaxy brained decision to make this incredibly gay and also good.

so in the original version of frankenstein, victor is a terrible disaster bastard man and i hate him. If i saw him in real life i would punch him in the face. He is gay and homophobic. a terrible person and a terrible scientist. actually the only character i like in this book is Henry, who deserves the world actually.

WHICH IS WHY THIS MUSICAL GOT ME SO HYPE!!! because they MADE HENRY A MAIN CHARACTER!!! and not only that, but they changed the script so that Victor is like, a military general, I think? idk he's tasked with creating like superhuman soldiers for the military, and since his parents died when he was young, he's got some sort of weird notion that he's cursed, so he decides to go PLUS ULTRA and just. make people. and to do this he grabs field surgeon henry dupre and is like "bitch let's make some people" and henry's like "fuck ok"

now, in the novel, victor is obviously. very into men. given the fact that he creates the most perfect man imaginable with the best proportions and all of his kinks as his creature, but then becomes disgusted with him due to his repression. BUT IN THE MUSICAL henry gets accused of murder and sentenced to death, but before he dies, he sings a whole love song to victor and they hold hands through the jail cell bars and he asks victor to use his body for science, to complete their shared goal, which UM. BITCH. THAT'S????? FUCKING ROMANTIC AS SHIT anyway here's the love song bc it's making me go insane i literally started sobbing when i watched it for the first time. not only is it gorgeous, it's also so full of love and lost dreams and the desire to stay with someone even after death? catch me crying in the club. please do yourself a favor and listen to it, it's gorgeous

Edit: I watched a version with dialogue at the beginning and basically Henry takes the fall for a murder Victor did and when victors like “why did you do that when you’ll die?” Henry says, “because you’ll live” 😭😭😭😭

BUT THEN. THEN. VICTOR HONORS HENRY'S WISHES AND USES HIS BODY TO CREATE THE CREATURE, BRINGING HIM BACK TO LIFE. WHICH. FUCK. makes SO much more sense than him just being like "oh fuk big scary monster lol" and freaking out. if he freaks out because that's his lover, the person he cares most for, and he's just sentenced him to a lifetime of being almost-human-not-quite? I'd freak out too. (Also the lab set when he’s making the monster FUCKS HARD)

(anyway then he like??? sells him to a fighting arena?? idk there's this whole dance number with them throwing henry all over the stage and chains and he gets punched a lot. very very fun you know).

i won't spoil the ending but just know that it's WAY better than the book, with like, an actually satisfying ending for both the creature and victor (satisfying plot-wise), and I'm obsessed with the changes they made, and also just how this musical is tonally and everything overall? i'm gonna start learning korean just so i can go watch theatre.

uhhhh this really wasn't that much of a post just??? i needed to scream about this??? also the love song is once again gorgeous, please go watch it if just to see how beautiful the actor playing henry in this version is

if you're interested in watching more of this show, they have a whole performance of the first act songs here. The cast album (with at least half of the songs) is on Spotify.

The writer said that in the future he hopes it could come to Broadway or West End and I fucking hope so too!!! pls cry with me about this show i'm absolutely not okay

[melrosing]

I'm 99% sure JB are going to end up tragically (GRRM said he loves tragic love stories so I don't trust him.) My hope is that the relationship doesn't die, even if Jaime does, and Brienne knows he loved her. But I have a feeling that death might not be the worst thing to happen. For all we know, it might end up in betrayal and rejection and pain and I can't go through that again. Most heroine/villain ships are written like that, as cautionary tales about how naive the heroine was for trusting the villain and doesn't she know that he can't change, that he's only evil and will definitely disappoint her. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure if that happens, it won't be like the show and GRRM will write it well, and it'll be fleshed out and maybe even enjoyable to read. The only thing I won't forgive is if Jaime ends up being a corrupting influence on Brienne. That's how some heroine/villain ships are written too.

Yeah, I also tend to think they’ll end tragically, but D&D’s definition of tragic is… so different to GRRM’s. Like with D&D, their idea of tragedy is all based around the hopelessness and despair of the Red Wedding – that was the thing they were looking forward to writing, and it’s that horrified audience reaction they’ve been trying to win back ever since. Audience hurt is a measure of brave and disruptive writing in their view, and along with utter fucking carelessness, JB’s story fell victim to that.

Meanwhile, I remember this from an interview with GRRM:

One particular letter, sent by a waitress, remains fresh in his memory. “She wrote to me: ‘I work hard all day, I’m divorced, I have a couple of children. My life is very hard, and my one pleasure is I come home and I read fantasy, and I escape to other worlds. Then I read [the Red Wedding], and God, it was f–king horrifying. I don’t read for this. This is a nightmare. Why would you do this to me?'” the author recalled.

Martin wrote her back, “And basically said, ‘I’m sorry, I do understand where you’re coming from.'” (X)

I think GRRM has enjoyed some of the appalled reactions his biggest twists have earned – which is fair, and I do believe that the Red Wedding is a justified (if upsetting) twist. But his memory of this letter goes to show that he’s well aware people don’t read just to be upset: tragedy has to mean something, you can’t just deal out hurt and call it a story.

If Brienne, after a lifetime of rejection, is dealt a final blow by the man she truly loves, the man who truly knew her – what meaning is there? Because that’s the end of her story, it’s not some halfway point. I could go into how senselessly hurtful the rejection narrative is for Jaime’s story as well, but I think it’s always Brienne’s that gets neglected when we talk about this. Because it’s downright miserable ending if you’re Brienne, isn’t it? It’s downright miserable to read if you give a single shit about her, right?

And can anyone tell me why GRRM would even write such a thing? What he’d even be trying to say about people like Brienne with an ending like that? That people like her just don’t understand the way the world is and can’t know love? Something tells me that’s not what was on my dude’s mind when he wrote JB as his own personal BatB. He believes in tragedy, not pessimism.

In JB’s case, I can see their tragedy being Jaime’s choice between love and duty (that theme we keep seeing in ASOIAF) – maybe Jaime could live the rest of his life with Brienne, but he needs to save his children, or stop Cersei, or otherwise do his duty as LC of the Kingsguard. If his story starts with him choosing love (Cersei) over duty (to protect the innocent, i.e. Bran), perhaps his ending sees him having to abandon love for duty. That’s a tragedy, but a classic ‘human heart in conflict with itself’ that leaves Brienne’s narrative perfectly intact. The show, meanwhile, seems to get it the wrong way round.

As for whether Jaime would ever ‘corrupt’ Brienne, I really don’t think that’s on the cards. He’s not a classic villain in that he doesn’t represent some force for evil, and he’s never tried to recruit Brienne to his ‘side’, instead he’s shifted over hers. Plus her morals are steadfast as ever for having known him, he’s actually reinforced her belief in many of them. I imagine Brienne will enter greyer areas in the final books, but that will be more to do with her own arc of learning the complexity of the world, and perhaps discovering the things she’d do for love idk.

Anyway perhaps this sounds myopic but I genuinely don't even worry that book JB will end as the show did. Their ending in GOT made a lot of people feel deeply unhappy, but A) that was basically their sole intention and B) they really didn't give a fuck about these characters, it's not worth reading into it.