#fully got into poetry for a girl but then I actually liked it a lot :3

[cyb3r-mutt]

Hihiii, what’s your favorite piece of poetry?? I just have a feeling you have something in mind.

Hiiiiiiiiii!!!!!! And this is such a lovely ask?!!!!!! I do actually have an answer!!!!!!!!! I actually really got into poetry a couple years ago so there’s lots that I love but I’m gonna say one of H.D’s poems called Fragment Sixty-Eight. There’s yearning and desire and mortality and ugh please just read it.

I just think her writing is so beautiful and like soul wrenching a bit, initially I was drawn to her stuff because she used a lot of Greek mythology references which I’ve always been interested in yeah just fell in love with her writing (Eurydice was the first poem of hers I read I highly recommend it too). She was also just a really cool person and she was bi too and yeah just very interesting

[dailydemonspotlight]

Dante - Day 151

Race: Fiend Occupation: Devil Hunter Alignment: Neutral, with the Devil May Cry Agency January 13th, 2025

Okay, okay, this might seem stupid, but... I wanted to cover Dante for today for one reason, and one reason alone. A joke that only made sense in my head. 151 is the amount of Pokemon there are in Gen 1, right? And people say that SMT is just demonic Pokemon, so why not cover a crossover demon from SMT for the Pokemon number? Yeah, it only worked in my head. Still! Dante! While the fact that it's DMC Dante is just a victim of a stupid bit, Dante is an incredibly interesting figure to dig into, historically speaking- he's far more than just the silly, pizza eating devil hunter that Devil May Cry fans are familiar with. I'm not gonna be talking about his appearance in DMC, as that's not really the purpose of this blog (though I do fully recommend the DMC games, they're fucking fantastic,) but I do want to talk about the man from whom Dante got his name: Dante Alighieri.

Dante Alighieri was a complicated man, to say the least. Born to a rather modest Italian family in 1265, much of his life is recorded in his poetry, as he was an avid author and poet. Betrothed and set to marry someone- a girl named Gemma Donati- at the ripe age of 12, Dante was unfortunately in love with someone completely opposite, Beatrice Portinari. While this might seem like the setup for a romance book where they get together at the end in spite of their parent's protests, Dante instead spent his time pining over Beatrice and writing poems to her, frequent sonnets contained in the text Vita Nuova. What this is relevant to might seem strained on the surface, but Vita Nuova actually also serves as an important insight to Dante and his thought process- what led him to writing his most important work, and what'll make up the majority of this analysis: The Divine Comedy.

The jokes about the Divine Comedy being a piece of Bible fanfiction aren't... inaccurate, but it's doing a slight disservice to the work to proclaim it as just that when it really does expand on biblical study and serve as a fantastic piece of literature in-and-of itself. It's an honest to god masterpiece, and the reputation it's built up is well deserved. Split up into three works- Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso- the multi-part series of poems goes into depth about the layers of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, as well as their roles and purposes in the grander scheme of things. Driven and shown around by his mentor and main inspiration, the Roman poet Virgil, Dante walks through and experiences a heavily layered metaphor of the consequences of sins and the prizes of virtues, with Virgil serving as the voice of reason throughout.

I can't get too in depth with the work, because I've only read bits and pieces and this is more of a summary, if anything, but Dante's Inferno is where a lot of the conceptions of hell even come from- each layer being based on a deadly sin is a commonly recurring motif throughout much of literature that talks about hell, as well as the idea of the layers themselves. Shit, the layers of hell in ULTRAKILL are literally just the layers of hell in Inferno! Still, the separation of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven into layers is given a lot of weight, and while I do laugh at the fact that he kinda just put the people he doesn't like in hell and the people he does like in Heaven, the work overall serves as a multilayered metaphor for... a lot. It's incredibly complicated. Dante himself seemed to take inspiration from his own suffering and exile for the work, and it shows in how it develops and he uses it to understand his own issues- as it goes on and the comedy moves from part to part, the prose grows more beautiful and as Dante moves from Hell to Heaven, it begins to paint a picture of hope.

So, why was this guy chosen as the namesake of everyone(I think)'s favorite cocky devil hunter? I... don't know! It's probably due to the fact that Inferno is by far the most popular and influential work in the Divine Comedy, and it goes into depth about hell, demons, and devils, everything that Dante deals with on a daily basis. I personally haven't gotten very far into the DMC series (I'm only just starting 3) but from what I can tell, a lot of the literature themes seem to tie together in the whole family tree of Dante, Vergil, and later Nero. Many of the character's names are taken from poetry, after all. So, yeah. Not much else to talk about here, other than the fact that DMC is pretty coool. Also this blog is now featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series.

[redjennies]

i see you sometimes in different dragon age tags like "oh yeah the lae'zel fan with the redjenny url. who also likes oghren. extreme good taste" and then as an anders girlie i see your "anti"-anders post and im like "yeah they even have good taste in the way they hate my guy"

aw I really appreciate this! I'm really glad people like my takes on Oghren. I almost posted this long ass meta about him while doing my Brosca playthrough but ended up saving it to the drafts because I was like "girl you are the only person going to bat for this man and everyone else is just tolerating your right to be ornery about disliked characters." I just think about him at the Temple of Sacred Ashes a lot. to anyone reading this, if you've never brought him there, you are truly missing out on some fucking wild character work. he is a gem.

truthfully I'm not even really that anti-Anders when I'm not actively in a mood about how much this fandom annoys me. I'm extremely critical of him as a person and full disclosure, without trauma-dumping too much, I do have a personal history that makes it hard for me to not see him as very manipulative if not outright abusive. but I actually quite enjoy him as a character. I think he's got a lot of flaws and strengths that are really interesting to examine how they coincide with Hawke's larger story. how Anders and Hawke are arguably more intrinsically linked to each other than Varric and Hawke are. it might surprise people but I intentionally max out his friendship every time with my main Hawke because I think their particular story is more tragic if she has fully drunk the Anders kool-aid because he's the first unapologetic apostate she's met outside of her family and because he saved Carver in the Deep Roads and she feels like she owes him. even more of a surprise possibly, I love Sebastian and don't like Anders, but my canon ending is Hawke sparing him one last time and asking him to leave because I think that's the best ending for how I play their relationship. like "no, you have asked so much of me and I have done it for you over and over but I'm not going to give you this, even at the expense of my other friendships. you don't get the easy way out. you have to live with this and you have to do it far away from me." like fuck man! the drama! the poetry! the divorce!

honestly most of my vitriol towards him comes from over a decade now of having an extremely negative experience with what I fully recognize are not all his fans but a vocal group of people who plague the Bioware fandom who are just as bigoted as your average fanboy but in a way they can dress up as "social justice." I've said a lot about how I think the Circle and apostates is just straight up a bad metaphor for systemic oppression (see also: any setting with supers and/or legitimately dangerous monsters as stand-in for oppressed people.) and I won't get into it too much here, but it's worth mentioning because I believe the mage rights discourse and Anders particularly attracts this crowd because you know he's a cute queer whiteboy with legitimate problems and pseudo-radical politics. but I was in the DA Tumblr fandom when Inquisition dropped I remember what group of fans on Tumblr who were particularly rabid in their hatred towards characters like Vivienne and Sera (who are both critical of mage freedom, mind.) 'Twas not primarily the Cullenites calling Vivienne an Uncle Tom, no matter what people will tell you now.

and I also get that there's this way Anders haters talk about him that makes even more otherwise reasonable fans dig their heels in about him. like any critique of him that boils down to "Anders bad because he did a terrorism and terrorism bad" is not really useful to me because yeah, I'm not super keen on bombings as the best course of political action, but terrorism is a very politically loaded and at this point somewhat meaningless term that is mostly used to justify extreme violence against a person or group by the state. I don't need to bring up real life examples because the politics of who is and isn't labeled a terrorist being shorthand for who is and isn't a person deserving of basic human rights has become so obvious over the last three decades that everyone knows at least one example of what I'm talking about. on top of that, I'm a big believer that fiction does not and should not exist in a vacuum and good art should provoke discussions about how we view people who do similar things that these fictional characters do. who are we being asked to give empathy to and who are we not? who are we naturally extending empathy to and who are we not? how do we immediately feel about these things? are we outraged? disgusted? moved? does sympathizing with these characters change our understanding of our personal ethical lines? are certain actions justified under dire circumstances or are there certain lines that should never be crossed? are people forever defined by it when they cross said lines? etc etc. none of these questions can be meaningfully answered by "no, thing bad because thing bad."

that being said, I still come down on the side of Anders is a shitty person at the end of the day. not because he blew up that church or even because he tried to kill that girl, but because there's a consistent lack of compassion for the suffering and/or oppression of others the second someone doesn't fit his mold. because he's honestly pretty sexist and racist in universe. because his romance plot is just a series of progressively worsening red flags in a way that's in my opinion, less sexy and more like he's gonna start punching holes in the wall right next to you. because he's lowkey a tankie. and I've said it before and I'll say it til the day I die, we can have a discussion about how ableism influenced his writing, but at the end of the day, as a mentally ill anarchist, I know buckets and buckets of mentally ill leftist whiteboys who act like this. shit I know women and nonbinary people who act like this too. while I can understand that Bioware wasn't necessarily coming from the same perspective I am and think people are right to call his overarching storyline a tired centrist liberal take on the dangers of radicalism, his character writing still feels not only coherent as a character but very true to a particular type of ain't shit anarchist boy I have encountered over and over. i cannot dismiss his flaws and worst moments as bad writing because I feel like I personally know this asshole.

for example, I once made a post about Dissent years and years ago where I was talking about Anders/Justice/Vengeance/whoever we're calling him depending on what's most useful in the moment's outburst of violence towards Ella through the lens of male entitlement even in leftist circles and like yeah I was being a little tongue in cheek about it because a) I'm pretty tongue in cheek in general, b) I have a tendency to get even more tongue in cheek when I'm talking about things that hit a little too close to home to me, and c) that quest is frankly terrifying if you've lived a life that makes you relate more to Ella in that scene than to Anders. I think it was something along the lines of "people can call Anders a revolutionary all they want but when a mage girl was afraid of him instead of grateful for his rescue, he tried to kill her. [insert anarcho-feminist ranting here]" and I remember someone arguing with me about how that's not what happened at all and how even though I was being pithy, their take on the situation was so utterly removed from what occurs that I had to go back and watch the scene to make sure I wasn't the one completely misremembering it which made me realize just how much Anders has been completely rewritten in parts of the fandom consciousness.

which in and of itself is not really a problem. I know some people just don't care for interacting with fanon at all and want to stay as true to canon as possible and I'm like that sometimes, but there are lots of characters I'm like "oh, I don't like how their story went in canon or think the writer had a neat idea but is too misogynistic to handle her in a way I like and I'm going to basically put them in an AU where they developed their traits in a different way and I can recognize this is more or less my version of them." there's characters I don't care for in canon but I love someone else's fanon version of them. I'm even fine with people doing this with Anders, if they want. I've read really good fic with him that is not my take but hey you do you, this is what transformative fandom is for after all. but I do get more than a little prickly when I'm interacting with my reading of canon that is of course informed by my experiences but still discussing something that just literally happens and someone tells me I'm wrong because of what basically amounts to their fanfics, you know?

anyway that's my very long post about my complicated and extremely nuanced Anders feelings. great character, shitty person, his fans are either really cool or really fucking not. also it's been almost fifteen years, and I still think we should've had Jowan in DA2 as a familiar face helping out in the mage underground to both flesh them out more and to serve as a middle ground between the more circle-aligned Orsino and the initially representing the mage underground before getting progressively more Kaczynski-esque, Anders, instead of Cullen just kind of hanging out in the templars not really doing anything.

[mylittleredgirl]

finally, m*a*s*h update!

season four disc two! ("quo vadis, captain chandler" to "dear ma")

there is a LOT going on in the frank and margaret department

i kind of tipped my hand here when i posted about my new obsession, but even if you are not circling the drain on this doomed ship... the Unresolved Breakup Tension is fuckin WILD in this disc

she literally punches him in the face!!! how was that not a breakup!

but then he buys her something or does something to charm or impress her, and it works! then he blows it again!! rinse and repeat!!!! i am 👀🍿

sam and diane from cheers are still theeee platonic ideal of slap-slap-kiss but these clowns definitely walked so they could run

i literally jumped off the couch when his wife found out, aaaaa it's so juicy

I'M SORRY i realize this doesn't speak well of me as a person, but those long close-ups on her face as she voluntarily eavesdrops on him dismissing their relationship (twice!!) and her heart gets fully crushed??? i could eat popcorn to this all day.

this is the kind of dysfunctional relationship that my artist friends would choose in our youth so that we could Suffer and Make Art, so i really hope margaret is writing terrible poetry about it

anyway, we're peroxide-roots deep into GIRL WHY??!??

and then bj very gently explains to radar that well, see, frank and margaret both kinda suck and we're in the middle of nowhere, so they're all they've got

and i had to spend three or four days staring at the ceiling about it, because YEAH. it's not just that they're each other's only rank-appropriate source of star-spangled orgasms

(and they both care far more about military hierarchy than they do about marital fidelity)

but they are so consistently unkind to everyone around them that they have no other choice for any human connection full stop.

i'm not even talking about their ongoing bullying war with hawkeye and trapper or bj, because that's dirty pool on both sides, but i could count on one hand the number of times either of them have interacted with a subordinate nurse or enlisted man without threatening them. like they literally would not have anyone else to talk to.

but the reveal that she still wants to MARRY HIM? oh god. ohhhh honey. noooo.

that fake proposal prank was so genuinely mean. mostly because they ruined her hot date! 👏 let 👏 margaret 👏 fuck 👏 random 👏 dudes 👏

"isn't general barker the one who wanted you to spank him?" lmaoooo

OKAY i swear i can talk about other things:

hawkeye continues to just NOT pull without trapper here. the nurses are fully dismissing or ignoring his efforts, and honestly is he even trying that hard?? have we seen him get even one date?

i've been trying to come up with an "intricate rituals" joke about hawkeye and trapper but where the rituals are... girls. you get me.

i re-watched the pilot and the desk ep (for frank/margaret reasons DON'T JUDGE ME), and hawkeye and trapper LITERALLY end the pilot handcuffed together, and in the next episode talk about sharing a nurse. how am i supposed to take this???

speaking of nurses, you know that little 🙄 you have to ignore in 2024 whenever the women on m*a*s*h get called honey and sweetheart and baby on the job (though tbh i worked on a construction site and an ad sales office in the 2010's and got the same treatment -- but in the modern day it's done ironically babe)

BUT when potter calls margaret "good girl" after he gets shot??? total opposite feeling. i literally had to pause and take a moment. he's her dad now.

also when he tucks radar in???? everyone's dad actually

in loving memory of radar's other dad though, two important points:

how proud would henry have been of drunk & disorderly radar??

and henry's "i've always wondered if i might be radar's dad" bit is genuinely 900% funnier now that we know radar's mom looks EXACTLY like him.

i don't think i have ever circled back to talk about klinger, who became so so so awesome

it's so funny that in klinger's very first appearance and 30 times since then, he has been told straight up that wearing women's clothes will never work to get him out of the army. there's no explanation for his commitment to this particular form of passive resistance except that he genuinely loves it

the swamp rats built a still and klinger got a sewing machine and learned a craft. he's so good at it!! his looks are 🔥

i feel uncomfortable when i see him in fatigues tbh. it happened a few times in this disc and i would like it to Stop actually

also precious baby father mulcahey... Protect Him.

i LOVE that everyone showed up for his church service when the grand poobah chaplain was in town. they love each other!!! (also the life magazine jeep shoot!!!)

"quo vadis, captain chandler" was really good. i'm still over colonel flagg's whole deal but i now understand why everyone loves sidney freedman, and the guest actor they had playing not-jesus was incredible

bj continues to be the best little brother hawkeye could have asked for

also he maybe invented cpr?

i didn't say much about him here but I LOVE HIM and also his off-screen wife

forward and onward!!!

[sayakxmi]

Me: I don't really care about GamTav

Also me: Gamzee and Tavros have exactly one (1) conversation divided in half, and truth be told we only know that Gamzee has a crush on Tavros, literally asking him out in said conversation, and making out with Tavros' corpse later. We don't really know what Tavros answer was, though given we don't see them interact ever again, and Tavros never mentions anything in general, it's probably safe to assume Gamzee got turned down. That being said, it's also quite possible the reason why we don't see them interact is Vriska's tendency to isolate Tavros from others.

Still, ignoring all of that, their singular conversation is actually quite good at showing what their relationship is like, and why they had developed (Gamzee) or could eventually develop (Tavros) feelings for each other. Gamzee especially. It's very notable that pretty much everybody Gamzee knows treats him poorly (understatement), even those that very genuinely care about him a lot, like Karkat. Tavros appears to be the only person that we see Gamzee interact with, who doesn't do that. He doesn't make fun of Gamzee or his religion, and in general he seems to take him seriously, though he's also a bit confused. Their interaction is a bit cringey, to be honest, but in a way it's also quite endearing. Tavros is the only person who's nice to Gamzee, something that he's likely to value a lot, given the way everybody else speaks to him and the fact that he's a victim of neglect. It's actually no wonder Gamzee developed red feelings for the first person to treat him like a normal troll rather than a pest. Tavros doesn't expect anything from Gamzee save for his company.

On the other hand, while Tavros' feelings in that regard remain unknown, he does seem to be somewhat comfortable with Gamzee, actually sharing how he feels about his disability, albeit through slam poetry, and while Gamzee doesn't seem to fully register the pretty depressive tone it takes, the fact remains that Tavros is actually willing to open up about it. Gamzee also doesn't give him any pity treatment nor does he try to make Tavros feel like he's in any part guilty of what's happened, be it for playing games for girls or in general for being disabled. Granted, it still connects to the fact that Gamzee doesn't seem to fully register what Tavros' saying as as concerning as it is, but in that case it must be actually a nice and refreshing thing for Tavros, being allowed to simply vent with zero judgment, hell, being encouraged to keep doing that. Gamzee ends up giving him a healthy outlet for all these pent up emotions. All of this leads me to believe that given enough time and care, he could eventually develop feelings for Gamzee as well, and that could result in a somewhat unexpectedly wholesome and mutually fulfilling relationship between two kids that desperately deserved some love and kindness in their lives.

[chappell-roans]

The bait and switch thing is very interesting and it something you do become accustomed to with her releases, I just think this specific promotional cycle and “dark academia” is something that’s hard to pivot than bubblegum hyperfemininity or ‘punk rock moment of female rage’ (sry lmao).

I’m going out now so maybe I’ll refine my thoughts more later but DA is an aesthetic that’s very specifically rooted in its subject matter and intellectualism and she did promote based on the apparent “torturous poetry” which created specific expectations for the subject matter and quality of the album. It’s easier to make a bubblegum album and have it actually be about how you’re falling apart or depressed because that’s more of a subversion of expectations that still works in the framework of the original idea? It’s oxymoronic from what people expect but the subject matter isn’t as important as the look and sound of the album for Lover.

Dark academia is also just difficult because when you pick something and promote it based on an aesthetic that’s rooted in intellectualism or the perception of high quality art and then underdeliver people will judge more harshly. Similarly with midnights the promotion was based on sleepless nights and toil and a lot of the negative thoughts were based on the not only the lower quality of the album but also the quality in contrast to the promotion.

lmao no i think the same thing about that particular description of rep because it's inaccurate lol. there's more moments of that on ttpd than rep lol. i mean, yes, and she was leaning into that aesthetic but not necessarily marketing it with those words idk. it definitely wasn't folklore or evermore in terms of quality and also to be clear -- i enjoy the album and have been a fan of taylor since love story in 2008 -- but not all poetry is good? i think hers is but idk. it's also named around a song and again the bait and switch thing. i can see why you're disappointed that it didn't fully deliver to you on the dark academia vibes but i didn't expect that really, so i don't have the exct same feelings around it. i think the aesthetic lets people read into it what they want to see, whether it's sad girl on the moors or da or whatever. but i agree about lover.

and i mean, i don't think she was lying about what inspired midnights. i definitely had hoped for a 70s sound akin to promotion (unlike ttpd where i really didn't think dark academic was part of it at all, especially once we got the tracklist, i figured it'd be more of a coping mechanism album and heartbreak and manic episode, which she literally described it as) but like it definitely did seem like being haunted by exes and her own decisions and depression and fame, as well as deciding whether or not to end her long-term relationship. midnights isn't specifically a breakup album, but it's an anticipatory breakup album and recognizing patterns really. which is fun to analyze as a fan who loveeees patterns. but it also isn't my fav album to listen to, i def skip around while listening to that one too. (my favs off midnights include hits different, maroon, bejeweled, yoyok, labyrinth, dear reader, would've could've should've, anti-hero)

[goodoldfashionlovercorpse]

The Setting Sun

fandom: omori ship: suntan (kel x sunny) note: angsty (?), and sunny might be ooc

       The smell of joy was in the air. Aubrey and Basil were eating cookies and pasta on the ground, sitting on the large blanket – identical to the one they used with Mari. Hero sat closely next to the basket, you could tell he misses Mari – a lot, might I add –, but he’s moved on and got with a girl from his college. Kel, however, breathed in the air less today. Sunny came to visit. Kel would usually celebrate, have a good laugh, and totally not act off his big-ass crush on Sunny. But this morning when Sunny arrived was less than the usual; this morning he and Sunny had a little disagreement. It wasn’t big, they’re currently next to each other as they eat, and Kel talks about the game for next week. But it feels off. He feels as if someone now knows exactly how many cracks are actually in his act.

Sunny, of course, fell quiet. But it hadn’t felt neutral to him, it felt judgy – judgy to Kel. But the young boy had to let it go, his best friend/crush was home, and he couldn’t let it go to waste. 

So he did. He let it rest in the back of his mind – a concealed tattoo.

As for later that night? He couldn’t. He wanted to talk to his older brother Hero, but unfortunately for Kel, Hero was fast asleep on the couch with his girlfriend. What was her name again? Samantha? Sam? Maybe Mag? Alex– this was a distraction. He should leave the lovers to rest. After all, he hadn’t heard anyone say they weren’t tired after studying it. 

Walking towards the door he played with the doorknob. 

I should probably change clothes, Kel thought, Or I could pick up hockey. 

He knew he had to step out of that door, and check up on his dear ol’ friend. But how deep of a sleeper can one teenage boy be? So he opened the door, greeted by the same air that filled his lungs. Joy to the world, melancholy for Kel. He walked to Sunny's house, knocking on the door rhythmically. Lucky for him, Sunny was tiredly awake, as if he had just been living in his own little dreamland and got a sudden nightmare.

“Hey, Sunny!” Kel smiled.

“Hi.”

“So umm… wanna take a walk with me?”

Sunny looked from left to right outside his door before fully walking outside and giving Kel a nod. 

“Where are we going?��� Sunny asked. Kel knew he was a man of few words, not straightforward, but not entirely aloof either. Mostly right in the middle, not a talker, but instead a listener. 

Kel thought of being poetic, it’s just what the 12:00 am fever gives you. “To the stars.” While it was admittedly corny, he could still see the other smile. A smile he hasn’t seen in quite a while. 

As they walked Kel kept quiet. He thought of confessing, though it would only be too rash, too soon, he didn't want to burden Sunny with anything he’d be forced to accept. So he kept walking till they reached the park, “Nice view isn’t it?” Sunny only responded with a glance, stars reflecting in his eyes. Kel brightened; his face felt flush and brand new. “It’s beautiful for stargazing.” This was lame. Generic. A raccoon would have come up with a better excuse. “I say we lay on those tables, perfect view!” Kel kept a loud whisper to his voice, it was beautiful to Sunny, but then again, Sunny barely spoke about it, only writing sad poetry and then seldom love poems; it would be a wonder if Kel ever knew.

The tables weren’t comfortable, only a masochistic liar would even think of playing devil's advocate for the damned things, but they made the close. Physically, that is. It felt intimate to spend a relaxing moment like this with your crush. The stars grazed the sky like silver paint dots on an inky night sky. Sunny looked so deep in thought, yet so focused you would think he was about to sleep. 

Words weren't spoken, but you could feel the lullabies in the sky. Similar to Mari’s hums. Kel remembered them. He remembered them clear as day. He remembered slowly going to hold Sunny’s hand. Identical to what he is doing now. His hand slowly slides into the others, fireworks exploding so much so that the New Year's sky would be jealous.

Sunny can feel the touch, but he isn’t going to try to move. It reminds him of the times when Kel used to say their hands are kissing. He doesn’t anymore, he seems too shy. Yet if both talked then they would know how the other still saw how their hands would peck when brushing and how they are kissing under the stars when holding. 

“The stars look just like how I remembered them.” Sunny was a poet, not a published one, but he was a damn good one, enough so that he would outsell everyone in the field. “You’ve always seen the same stars, Sun.” They both knew the nickname was false. Sunny was – and has always been – the moon, yet he shined so brightly under the stars. “I know.” The smile had faded into a light one, yet still viewable. Still beautiful. 

Some time had passed before any more words were spoken. 

“Did you know how Hero and his new girlfriend met?”

Sunny shook his head. 

“Well, mom says it’s romantic, but I say it’s funny. Turns out that they met in the college cafeteria. That day they were serving milkshakes, right? Guess what happened.” Kel possessed the normal Kel Smile™. “They bumped into each other while she was talking with her friends and he was holding his drink! It got all over her clothes apparently and she told him that she wouldn’t accept any verbal apology. So she had him walk her to her dorm! A few days after that he offered to cook her a meal as an ‘actual apology’ and that's when they first became friends.” 

Sunny looked unbothered, yet he still remembered when Hero and Mari started to date, she reminds him a little of her. Kel could sense it a little, so his laughter died down to a small chuckle. 

Sunny would be leaving tomorrow afternoon. And he didn't wanna make the first and last night of his visit unbearable, anyone with eyes could see the mosquito bites. 

“Hey, do you wanna head to my place for a snack and ac?” 

“Sure, I could go for some popcorn.” 

And so they left, minimal conversation made on the way back. Once they reached Kel’s house he warned Sunny that they probably shouldn’t turn off the TV as Hero and his girlfriend are asleep and that they probably shouldn’t wake them, if they know what was good for them.

Slowly entering, the door thankfully not creaking, they walked like mice to the kitchen. There were a few things left in the fridge and a lot of dry, warm snacks in the pantry. Going for the chips, their hands kissed. “Oh, sorry.” 

“You say sorry, a lot, y’know?”

Sunny quietly replied, “Yeah, habit, sorry.”

“There you go again, Sun. We really need to teach you how to tone down the apologies. No matter how cute they make you seem.” 

Time had stopped. Kel's words weren’t ancient, everyone called Sunny cute at some point, especially after how much he’s grown since moving to the city. “Sure.” He smiled, while mildly forced, it was a view to see. 

The night soon went away with them playing around with the snack and drinks, and sneaking behind the couch to watch whatever generic Halloween movie was playing on Freeform. “Ugh, Hocus Pocus again?!” 

“Shh,” Sunny pointed at the people who were sleeping right below their heads. 

“Oh, yeah, right.” 

After a few laughs and jokes, tiny heart attacks from Hero almost waking up, and going up to Kel and Hero’s room to read a few new issues from a comic book they liked, it was almost 5:30 am and they had to get Sunny home soon before his mother woke up. 

Dashing through the doors of both houses and, quietly, slamming them, they got Sunny up into his room. Quickly getting Sunny’s bed ready and looking as “I totally slept throughout the entire night” as possible before he actually got in the bed. Sunny told Kel that he heard his mom’s footsteps and that he should get running. Though, it would be nearly impossible for him to go through Sunny’s door without getting caught. So, Kel did the absolute smartest thing to do and jumped out his friend’s window. It felt like hiding a secret from a forbidden romance novel. The type of scene that Aubrey would gush to him about before swearing him to secrecy. 

By the next day, neither of them got in trouble and they got away with it like total spies. Except for the fact that both didn't wake up till around 4:55 pm – around 35 minutes before Sunny had to leave. And while Hero was quick to wake up his brother, Sunny didn’t have that and slept an extra 10 minutes. During which, Kel had gotten decently prepared to say goodbye till he came back. 

“Hey.” a half-awake Sunny stated.

“Hey, Sunny.” Kel could feel himself sweat, he was the last to say goodbye and he had five minutes – too short.

“Why don’t you just call me Sun?” 

“Oh, umm, it was an accident and I thought you didn’t like it and-”

“I liked it,” Sunny stared at Kel, “it felt, ironic to us.” To us. That one stuck. He forgot how ironic the nickname his half-awake mind made up while breathing the poisonous air polluting his thoughts. 

“Well then, I’ll use it more often. Goodbye, Sun.”

And, in a low whisper, Sunny muttered words only Kel’s ears were exposed to, hands kissing. “Goodbye, Sweet Moon.”

That damned poet. The city had changed Sunny, the whole group noticed, but damned be Kel as that newfound confidence had only worsened his already big crush on this man.

Sunny left after those words. That sweet retort of a nickname. His hands ached for a kiss, the words ‘My Sun’ lingering in his mouth, though, ironically, his sun was already setting.

He just didn’t know when he would rise again.

[fleetinggabi]

Hi wife <3 was wondering if you could give us the story of how you got into poetry

Omg hi wife 🤯🤯🤯🥰 I actually do have quite a bit of a story for how I got into poetry proper!!!

I was always the the type of kid who was into reading and writing, so I don't really remember my first contacts with poetry or what I had read (probably something at school to do with Shakespeare or Catalan writers), but I do know very well when it was that I actually started writing myself.

Back way then (I must have been around 14-15 but maybe slightly more) I joined a summer long film course at my country's most I guess prestigious film school, as I had given up hope of getting into it proper due to the ridiculous high costs and the bad fame it had amongst people in the industry. During that course I was basically humbled to hell and back by everyone in there, as it was mostly adults or people my age who boasted some serious skills and dedication.

From the beginning I had an eye on this girl in my class, since we were the only teenagers in it, but I think I hadn't talked much due to being too focused on catching up for the class proper, until one day we coincided on the same train back to my city since the school was an hour or so away from it. I am not ashamed but a little embarrassed to say that younger gabs had a Big Girl first gay crush on this girl, and I mean BIG TIME. She started talking to me about what music I liked or what books I read and dear reader let me tell you I was Panicking and losing my shit the first day, legitimately couldn't and wouldn't get any answer out of me (which I think she found endearing as she kept on talking to me).

So what does this have to do with poetry you may ask? Well as any Honest person would do, I did manage to claim that I liked reading but most crucially, poetry. So when I got back home I found a small empty notebook and wrote anything and everything I could come up with. The genius plan was to PRETEND I ALREADY HAD A FULLY WRITTEN POETRY NOTEBOOK. I WAS DOWN BAD HORRENDOUS.

Additionally I also tried to decorate the book with drawings since the girl had said she liked birds or something to that effect, and I was quite proud of some of those little drawings. One thing lead to the other and I actually just was writing in my time between classes all week because I started liking it, and no I didn't ever get the girl or confess or so anything but be an awkward sad lesbian loser all summer.

Funnily enough I also started getting into Lovecraft a lot at that time so most of my poems were either tragically romantic or horribly nihilistic, so I'm proud to say my writing has evolved ever since.

[lil-miss]

Butch/femme ask game!

For you: 1, 2, 8

For the girls: 1, 3, 6

Answers for the girls were kinda long so they're under the cut

Me <3

1 . when did you discover you were butch, stud or femme? This is actually a hard one. So I would say this journey for me started around the time I broke up with my ex about 3 years ago. I wanted to explore my own identity as a lesbian a lot more because they kinda tried to push me into identifying differently for reasons I still cannot fathom. So I read a lot, like, A LOT of lesbian literature and poetry and essays and I really identified with the way these lesbians described being femme and concerning butch/femme dynamics. Yea, it was kinda a slow piecemeal discovery but I fully figured it out like around the time I started writing Galaxy Girls.

2 . when did you discover you were a lesbian? It's a long story that involves abandonment, private school, essentially child neglect, and Mount Lassen. The long and short of it is I walked up a mountain by myself and I came down a lesbian.

8. can you share the story of you coming out? UHHHHH. No. Coming out was kinda weird for me where I kinda did, kinda didn't. Like I'm out to my parents but we never had like the sit-down "Mom, Dad, I'm a lesbian" talk. So there's not really a story, sorry to disappoint. And even when coming out to friends, I mention being a lesbian in casual conversation so sometimes I'll get "Oh, I didn't know you were a lesbian" reactions and we just move on.

Girlies <3

1 . when did you discover you were butch, stud or femme? Dib discovered it pretty much at the same time that she figured out she was a lesbian. It was more personal for her, she met other, mostly older, butches and spoke with them and discovered her own identity by asking questions and listening to them talk about their life experiences. From there she got like really into it and picked up a lot of butch and lesbian literature, she'd always been a tomboy and had a weird relationship with her femininity and girlhood even at a young age. So I feel like her finding her butch identity was super comforting since the idea of being butch encapsulated her relationship with gender a lot better than being a tomboy or just masc. You guys are actually going to read Zim's discovery of her identity as a femme! So I won't say too much because some of the moments are really emotionally impactful (at least for me). Zim explores her sexuality with a more academic approach and discovers herself that way through literature, research, and other writings. She's entering this building her identity from scratch so she's cautious about talking about things that only a few months or a year ago she would have deemed "defective behaviors."

3 . what does being butch/stud/femme mean to you? Dib sees being butch more as her gender than being a woman. Another part of her feelings around being butch relates to her desire to be with a femme. She desires the closeness and validation of her identity that being in a butch/femme relationship would bring her on a personal level. But also she's had such generally bad experiences with people she doesn't really seek out meaningful relationships despite her desire to be in one. Zim experiences being femme as this piece of her that she was pretty much barred from because of her upbringing in the empire. Zim repressed her experience of sexuality and gender to fit into being an "ideal Irken" but now that she's free of that she can exist as a fuller version of herself. All this to say she associates her femme identity with her freedom from the empire.

6 . how long do you take to get ready in the morning? Dib: 20 minutes, 30 if she needs to shower. Zim: 45 minutes to an hour at minimum, but usually about an hour and a half. She's a high-maintenance girl.

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats | Wild Goose Chase (Stagliano, 1991)

This is a wrestling-themed porno noir, but as the title suggests, narrative tightness is not one of its concerns. Like John Stagliano’s seminal earlier work The Adventures of Buttman, there is an implicit derision here of the idea of plot-based pornography, but also like that movie, the results are not so much smug and condescending as half-assed and goofy. Calling this a noir parody would probably be a stretch, as it doesn’t try too hard to ape the real thing stylistically, and there aren’t too many actual jokes here aside from a running gag about inflatable geese. This is definitely in the vibes over gags vein of comedies from the era, and it helps that Stagliano casts as the protagonist not himself nor his frequent leading man Rocco Siffredi, but Joey Silvera, someone who can actually act and gets intentional laughs from the material. I won’t pretend any of this is particularly sophisticated, but I got a good chuckle when Silvera, dressed in retina-searing tights, gets his ass kicked in the wrestling ring by a bunch of bikini babes. "Jesus Christ, lady, this is fake, isn't it?"

Stagliano himself does appear in a supporting role as a photographer, who tries to convert Silvera into a butt man like himself and expounds on his passion with unexpected poetry:

"This is the most magnificent sight in the world, isn't it? Oh, I love the... ass, tush, rear end, derriere, posterior, bottom. It's incredible the number of words we have for this, most beautiful thing in the world."

I fear he is not one of our great actor-directors, and is perhaps a better thesaurus than a thespian. But I got a good chuckle out of that line. And the movie carries on in the spirit of his words, featuring, like his other films, plenty of shots of nice looking butts.

This is shot on film, which I don’t think is fully conducive to Stagliano’s usual style, as the shot lengths are shorter than what would be possible on video and the camerawork is less fluid. He does get an amusing stylistic running joke with POV slasher-style sequences where the “victims” are poked with something less lethal than you get in actual slasher movies. And there’s some decent stylization with the black background and harsh lighting in the wrestling sequences. Also, I know fuck all about wrestling, but I appreciated that the fights are done with more effort and physical exertion that I expected.

Pornographically speaking, the girls here all have big hair and shapely derrieres, so if that’s your type, you’ll probably enjoy this. There’s lots of long ass in this, is what I’m getting at. I always enjoy seeing Jeanna Fine, who earned a permanent place in my heart thanks to Party Doll A Go-Go!, and her interrogation-turned-threesome with Sean Michaels and TT Boy is easily the highlight of the movie, thanks to her energetic performance and husky voiced dirty talk. Sadly she’s only in this for a few minutes, so it isn’t a perfect movie.

[fraudulent-cheese]

OK SO I'VE WATCHED EPISODES 2 TO 4 OF SEASON 2 OF TOTAL DRAMA 2023

MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!!!!

I think these episodes were... fine. I think the third might've been the best one overall, i liked the challenge and it was pretty fun; especially seeing MK fucking cheating and the team's reactions. i think Ripper not interacting with his team is good actually, because he's funnier on his own or when he's crushing on Axel.

SPEAKING OF WHICH: i didn't expect for Ripaxel to win me over... at all? But i think it's pretty cute actually! I think it's funny seeing Ripper crushing on the girl that spent the entire previous episode trying to commit violence on him. He's ridiculous when trying to impress her in episode 2, their interactions in episode 3 were also fun (they managed to make a fart joke plot relevant! how??) and i really enjoy how in episode 4 the dude went out of his way to make something she'd like (the little poem he made her!). I REALLY don't think Ripper's interested at all in poetry so i think it's cute :D ALSO THEY'RE STILL IN THE GAME SO WE MIGHT SEE MORE FROM THEM. MAYBE IT'LL FULLY CONVINCE ME!! Honestly i think it could've been worse! Could've been a whole lot worse! She could've been kissing Chase. That's all im saying.

What i do know is that Priya x Caleb is NOT gonna convince me. I genuinly do not care it's insane. they are just here to be straight and i don't think they'll convince me. (especially since im pretty sure Caleb just wants an alliance)

Fellas... we might be getting Rajbow divorce. Or at least an actual conflict in their relationship that they'll need to work throughout the season; i really hope they don't split up but also they might just split up over this and i am NOT READY.

I'll go over the eliminations + challenges before i go over my favorite aspect of these episodes: Chase getting booted second is amazing. Glad he's not here anymore and im glad Emma got to take her revenge on his dumbass. Im more mixted on Millie being kicked off this early? sure she wasn't gonna last until the end but the conflict between her team just felt! so! forced! Guys, Damien's alive, and he's FINE NEXT EPISODE CAN YOU GUYS CALM THE FUCK DOWN??? I know it was a breach of trust but she did it to win the challenge and it WORKED! And she got booted for it! Emma getting eliminated this early also kinda stings, especially the remarks about her gut feelings being wrong (but then they were right so like,,, what is your point). I do think her not being as good at reading people as she thought is a good conflict but i don't like how it's excecuted.

As for challenges: I think a straight up basketball one would've been cool (take notes, season rewritters!), but the basketball slides was pretty fun too. The sticky sap one is really fun too, it's got plenty of potential. the one in episode 4 is real eh, i would've preferred a straight up would you rather with a lie detector maybe? but oh well!

what i did like tho? MKULIA!!! I LOVE THEM BEING FRIENDS!!! THEY ARE FLERTING SM

THEY'RE JUST BE GAY DO CRIME OMGGGG THEY BETTER FUCKING KISS I SWEAR TO GOD

I WILL SIMPLY COMMIT CRIMES IF THEY DONT END UP BEING CANON

im exaggerating obviously but FR!!! They are canon to me!!! I fucking hope MK doesn't immediatly get eliminated in episode 5 because if she does i will cry

OK! LETS HOPE I DIDNT JINX ANYTHING BY SAYING THESE WORDS!

[petorahs]

☀️ its fascinating that you say P3 has shaped your worldview because... Well not to trauma dump here but back then when I discovered the game (it was back then when p4 was already out) i was... In a REALLY bad place and wondering about unaliving myself. I wont go into much detail but kids are trash man and teens are even worse. and then this game came around. With an aesthetic I really liked. i am not a native english speaker so it was hard for me at first but somehow this game just... /spoke to me/. A game about life and death and what it means to be alive and what it means to have a REASON to live, somehow... Convinced me to go a bit longer. I mean it when I say this: Persona 3 saved my life. And no other game can ever come close to such an experience. (Even tho from a quality standpoint P5 certainly is up there)

oh dude that is so valid thank you for sharing this. seriously though, im happy that youre here! and im sure many others are too! the ☀️ brightening lives and all that :]

yea i can see why p3 just clicked with so many people since it first came out. i was always curious on why it's so beloved by fans, when p5 and even p4 are literally right there with their overall better gameplay experiences. p5 literally got the franchise mainstream to insane heights lol. im... so glad i got into persona the way i did. of course, everyone's experiences w these games are different and special to them in their own way.

i got into persona 3 as an adult and as a result the lens in which i viewed the story's themes were heightened, in a way. as a teen i just know i would have reacted more volatilely i struggle to think about it LOL but both experiences would still be pretty intense. it's just that, as an adult there's more room to digest it when im not troubled by algebra hw. i was just more equipped for it (also i played omori two summers ago LMAOO). ofc i only turned 20 a few weeks ago LOL but i get why p3 means so much to people.

because it's like... 2000s nostalgia coupled with a game that figuratively holds your hand through the uncertainty of death yknow? p3 is a friend, basically. its entire thesis is based upon companionship (exactly what i highlight in an analysis i have drafted somewhere but HHH i dont want this to get too long lmao)

in the shaping my worldviews thing... its really more like it cemented my 'philosophies' :] like i said, equipped with the stuff i learned before, p3 having the message that it did just... hit super close to home! like yeah! that's what i've been saying dude!! kindness really is enough!!

"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life... Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of."

LIKE YEA GIRL THATS EXACTLY IT!! its so cool! i actually admire people who grew up with p3 because man if i heard this line ages ago... well, again, idk if i would be able to grasp it fully at the time... but still! this is so good, poetry in motion. and like u said its aesthetics are gorgeous and aim to capture the essence of its themes - and it did.

im a p5 baby like bro i love p5. soft spot for it. thats the closest persona game i "grew up" with and it came at such an opportune time for me, being a teen stuck between a rock and a hard place. typical. and p5 validated my teenage angst bs so much. its so refreshing to see a game's theme being rebellion. that was me i thought. those characters are going through something that similarly happened to me. teenage rebellion is such a fun thing to explore!

so p5 validated my struggles while p3 did something deeper than that, somehow. i think it just made me .. stronger? like it made me move on from struggles. "by remembering death you learn how to live" so... i guess p3 taught me how to live as crazy as that sounds. but you get me

persona 5 overall is great -- everyone agrees, like its objectively just a better game. but persona 3 ends up more beloved because of its subjective value as a piece of art. there's a lot of heart and soul to put into it.

it's more simple when compared to p5 at first glance, but simple doesn't mean less. which is why more people experiencing it will be nice to see

[mobolanz]

For the soft OC asks: 12, 19 and 14.

Knew I could count on you!:D

12. What's a childhood memory they cherish most?:

Evelyn: a very sentimental individual, who actually believes she took them all for granted and wasted them back then- so the least she can do is cherish the memory fondly.

But one I think about a lot would be a time her father showed her his own ship, just by the time she began elementary school; he told her that in a few years when she's old and responsible enough he'd take her on a trip with it and maybe even inherit it to her when she's fully grown. It was big and impressive for her eyes, of a girl in sheltered upbringing not allowed to leave the safe home (and quite literally, even go outside to the gardens without strict watch. So growing on the unnatural light and limited space of the mansion, as big as it was.)- the idea that in a matter of few years she can finally go wherever she wants. All she needs to do is earn it and do her best and hardest

By the time she reached said age the man decided that for as far as he's concerned he doesn't have a daughter.

( @ ME WHAT PART OF "SOFT ASKS" DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND-)

Mia: first time she showed someone a thing she drew and they went "well this girl should do so much! Like grow to be an actual artist or something". She's been since forever believed to be meant for great achievements on her own uniqueness... so what's stopping her now...?

Cecille: Honestly,, just about anytime she was reading by herself in the personal libary/ the tree. Rather likely whatever she pulled each time was dark poetry/folktales/myths. On the later's case any weather was a good excuse for her too (outside rains & snows obvy), otherwise sitting by the window.

14.What's the most touching gift they've ever received?:

Evelyn: gold pendant with a stone almost shaped like a heart the color of fire she got as a surprise from someoneee after a certain festival in secret (🤭). Even a certain patient of hers (his name is incoming fic spoiler) noticed and bluntly pointed out a very unusual smile as she kept observing it carefully while wearing it to the last of details. She wears it often as possible and takes extra care of it even in dangerous times, not leaving home without it.

Funny thing you asked... The ending got me to doodle as I type this the reinelyn hug before he gets on the ship to paradis in the epilogue,,, and as I mentioned in one of you previous asks.... a ring might be involved this time 🤭🤭✨

Mia: she's got a lot that'd be for sure, but the two things that allowed her to create her most precious creation were individually given to her by the two most important people in her life, so technically it's like a gift from them both. One is a diamond ring, the other is her crystallizing ability, and the she gifted herself with a protected version of the flower that made someone see the spark in her eye and love it.

Cecille: Nothing exactly. And she tries not to care too much. If anything the ribbon is more of a momentoum just innocently handed to her by her tounger sister the only time they saw each other.

That said, she never threw it.

19.What's a guilty pleasure of theirs?:

Evelyn: working late. Also idk if that counts but adressing people in an overly polite manner even if she's been told casualty is just fine. (Although if they specifically state to hate formalities she'd correct herself)

Mia: ah that'd be romantic films, dressing fancily for casual daily routine (which drags the ask "you're invited somewhere...?" ) And giving Sapphy analogies on self development x"3

Cecille: bringing up a random quote to prove her point in a conversation/argument. Also long hot showers.

SOFT OC ASKS

[graylinesspam]

Well well if it isn’t the foreshadowing of the clone rebellion on kamino we’re witnessing (is it? IS IT??? Please be it).

No but really, are you actually planning on writing this kind of ending or you’re sticking to the canon?

Anyway im having a lot of thoughts, most of them are AGAFAGGAZGAVAVAVVAAGHAVSVSSVS I LOVE IT. IT WAS SO CUTE AND THEN GOT SO FREAKING SAD AND THEN GOT CUTE AGAIN AND THEN THE PLOT TWIST????? ALPHA PLANNING A COUP RIGHT UNDER THE LONG NECK’S NOSES HELLO????? BRILLIANT

Also

DID REX OFFICIALLY ADOPT AHSOKA MANDO STYLE ???? Did the rest of the torrent do the same omfg they’re literally family 🥹🥹🥹

Rex trying to keep teenage cadets away from Ashoka is both cute and hilarious. He is such a dad.. ahem… brother material 👀

And I absolutely love the way you characterized Shaak Ti. Everyone always portray her as this wise Jedi that cares about the clones just like Plo Koon. And that’s true to some extent but she is so wrong for sitting in her own bubble and refusing to see the way kaminoans and trainers abuse them. She's a kind soul and means well but she totally lacks critical thinking. (but also yeah I would love to see her finally being able to adopt a few baby clones and raise them as her own sons. Such a touching moment it was, right until the aiwha baits ruined it that is)

And Kamino being compared to the eye of the storm is such a poetry honestly yk it rhymes

In conclusion, wonderful chapter as usual.

Okay. So much happened this chapter. Let me bullet point my response.

I likely won't get around to writing a clone rebellion in SH, though one is definitely planned for ASOI. I just can't see the war ended (without the empire's rise) and there nit being a clone uprising. But yeah ask me about that for ASOI and I might tell you my plans.

Yes, Rex officially adopted Ahsoka previously in SH. Off-screen. He knows her name as his sister and all that. I chose Rex partially because he's more traditional and sentimental than a lot of her other brothers. Kix has also said the vows but the rest of Torrent didn't feel the need to. They heard that Rex adopted her and basically went,"Sister? Ah ok, sister." *vigorous nodding*

I don't like to focus too much on Ahsoka's relationships with boys, but also y'know everyone (within age or developmental range) had a crush on her during the war. Cal, Kannan, Lux, Korkie, some clone cadets. She's just a pretty girl. But yeah no Rex overheard like one remark about her and moved an entire class and had them running laps for hours. He does not play.

He is absolutely her Dad-ish in the beginning. They develop a more on par relationship as she grows up and then eventually he fully relinquishes social rank to her. IE not being her elder anymore. But the whole Brothers raising brothers, line was the most important from that section.

Shaak Ti is traumatized and depressed. That's what this is. The Jedi never should have been in a war. That's it. And trying to run a war when you're completely unqualified hurts everyone. Which isn't to say they have a lot of choice. Realistically if she stood up one day and decided that the Kaminoans needed to surrender all of the clones to the jedi and stop producing them she'd be removed from her station and ignored. There's really nothing she can do. And she knows it. Which is why she lives with her hands over her "ears". Because if she just holds on and does a little good every day maybe she can actually change something one day. (the pessimistic view being it's futile in the face of the rising empire of which she's an active participant in building.) (and the more optimistic AU view being that Ahsoka succeeds in ASOI and the clones go free but they have to unpack their abuse in a plee for citizenship forcing the galaxy to realize what Kamino did and what Shaak participated in. Likely resulting in her retirement.) either way not pleasant for her.

Maybe she does end up with some sons, depending in which older clones decide they want to ally with her. It's all gonna be communal raising of the children.

The whole theme of this arc was really that there is no peace in war. So long as the storm rages you'll always have to step back into it. Only by pushing through to the other side can you escape it. But yeah I put SO much effort into the environmental symbolism. I was planning this for months before I started writing it.

So thank you so much for the ask and for reading the latest chapters. I had a blast writing them. Fingers crossed no one is too mad about my characterization of Shaak, I guess we'll find out.

[the-commonplace-book]

ok ok a real one: Seamus/Sinead obvs obvssss

Send me a ship for the ship bingo chart: Seamus O'Neill / Sinead Hanigan ( Original Characters )

Before anything else I'd like to say I fully intended for this art to be just a little sketch like I've been doing for these, but then I got carried away and whOOps! Art! (still forced myself not to do detail work)

Seamus and Sinead! They make me feel INSANE! I am in no way normal about them. 

For those who don’t know, Seamus and Sinead are two of the main characters of the scifi-fantasy series Beth and I are writing. They also have a modern AU continuity that we’re writing for funsies and will post on Ao3 eventually. And OH DO I HAVE A LOT TO SAY ABOUT THEM.

On paper, Seamus and Sinead are a recipe for disaster. A rich boy involved in politics with buckets of trauma, a screwed up family, commitment issues, and a laundry list of addictions. A driven, optimistic small town girl with a lot of prove, naive eagerness to trust, and a bit of a savior complex now and then. It’s a textbook dysfunctional romance novel situation at a cursory glance. 

But Sinead isn’t really so naive, she just likes to try and see the best in people. And Seamus, while a mess, is proactive in seeking out help in getting clean and processing his trauma. Sinead, while keen for authoritative approval, will never seek it out to the detriment of her morals. Seamus commitment issues? Turns out he’s the most loyal person on earth when he’s actually in a relationship; he just hasn’t been in one in a long time.  And the love that grows between them is born first out of friendship. They support each other and inspire each other to learn and grow and change for the better. They bring out the honest in each other, and through that bring out the best.

They bond over a love of poetry, music, art, and literature. Over empathy and curiosity. Over the macabre, the absurd, and the hopeful. Over the ways in which they seek to make the world a better place. Seamus is Sinead’s tether when she shoots for the stars, keeping her from flying off into space in her optimistic idealism. Sinead helps pull Seamus to his feet when his grounded, practical nature spirals into pessimistic nihilism. They have an insane amount of respect for each other and balance each other out beautifully. They are partners in the truest sense of the word. They aren’t each other’s sole reasons for growing and changing, but they are positive catalysts of change in each other’s lives, and they support each other through that ever evolving process.

Not to mention the themes of trauma recovery that are involved in their story for both of them. Learning what it is to trust and to feel safe and loved and secure in a relationship which is like candy to me. I love putting a little of that in my stories and so does Beth so it’s little surprise trauma recovery plays such a large role in this one.

And there’s the whole families aspect of things of inserting Sinead into the O’Neill mess which is just a delight because she’s a huge wrench in Seamus’ father’s plans. Sinead’s parents are wonderful (honestly another favorite ship) and adopt Seamus so fast. Sinead’s dad and Seamus have one of my favorite relationships in the story actually. 

I had to also grab the “I could make it SO fucked up” and “I could make it SO stupid” for them because we’ve written an insane number of AUs about these two and there’s one where we tried to see if we could screw up their relationshi, but somehow they worked their way back around to being healthy about it again and that continuity now inspired some of the narrative choices in the main canon.

Look I could talk about these two for ages. I mean, we’ve got entire books about them. They’re just so *chef’s kiss* 

Thanks for sending these two in! ugh I love them so much

[iamnotawomanimagod]

Awwww, why don't you like is there somewhere?

I like it! There's only like, five or six Halsey songs I truly dislike (not counting collabs lmao.) I'm just really surprised it's such a deeply beloved fandom song.

I remember there was some small grumbling when Halsey took it off the Love & Power tour setlist because it's considered "the fandom song." That's the first time they clarified that "Darling" is for us, and I think, on some level, Halsey does intend for "Darling" to kind of replace it in terms of the sentimentality connected to it.

I know they used to go out into the crowd (sometimes even crowd surf, in the early days) during the final part of "Is There Somewhere," so I'm sure that's a big part of why hardcore stans like it.

But - and I'm almost definitely projecting here - there's part of me that wonders if Halsey doesn't fully get why it's so popular either. She doesn't talk fondly about it the way they'll sometimes reference "Gasoline" or "Colors." "IST" also never saw the same "mainstream" exposure, though.

Tbh though, I think it's just kind of a mid song when it comes to Halsey tracks. It's got a very sweet, dreamy, nostalgic sound - but so do a lot of the songs on Badlands/Room 93, that was kind of just Halsey's sound back then. The lyrics are poetic ("you're writing lines about me, romantic poetry/your girl's got red in her cheeks/'cause we're something she can't see" is so vivid,) so I have no complaints there.

Buuuut it's also very non-subtly about cheating with someone who you know has a partner, lmao. (And uh, it's hard to forget that it's [rumored to be] about Matty fucking Healy these days.) Not my favorite message.

It actually kind of reminds me how "One Last Time" became the Ariana Grande fandom song even though it's also about being the other woman. (The rumors it was the last song before/playing during the Manchester arena bombing are false, fwiw.)

People just love the wistfulness of a forbidden romance, I guess. I can't knock it, even if I don't feel the same way, typically.

But I think there are much better songs in Halsey's discography, and "IST" is actually my least-favorite (not most-hated! that's important!) track on Room 93. There's an alternate universe where H didn't abandon "Empty Gold" and I'd get to sing that with the crowd at her shows instead. I yearn for that world.