#general narration

[ginkovskij]

gin, we need your critical opinion about megalopolis. was it really that bad?

i mean.

is it unwatchable? no. but also it is not good for sure. would love for it to be a case of "so bad it circles back being somehow good", but unfortunately no, becasue in order to achieve such a thing coppola should have gone camp and embraced the style instead of taking himself too seriously.

there are. ideas. that considered by themselves sort of make sense if you are desperate to find sense in this insanity of a movie, but whether within or without context for the large part they remain disjointed. and are anyway very cringe at core. i don't know how to put it kindly but the script just sucks. and choices were made.

[blackkatdraws2]

The narrator and the ugly ahh protagonist [Blank Scripts AU/non-canonical]

[aro-culture-is]

aro culture is imagining yourself as a personal advisor to the protagonist in self-insert dating simulators

ooh i like that, where's an otome where you're literally the tutorial guy?

[ask-trialtale]

guys I got so inspired by y’all’s pieces of the dtiys that I drew a dtiys of my own dtiys

anyways combat duo >>>>

[tapestryundone]

when the god was made in the image of a man who infiltrated the mind of said god and in doing so made himself intertwined with the form that god took while also being the cause of that form creating a infinite feedback loop of what caused the god and his creator to evoke the very image of the death the creator feared through the form of an animal representing that concept, and the god has faint, undeniably human characteristics given to him by his creator while his creator retained none of it. fuck

[insomniphic]

Cover art for Lovebug!Narry’s Spotify Playlist!

WARNING: This playlist has some EXPLICIT SONGS, so if you’re not comfortable with that, please do not indulge or just block em

[pettyprocrastination]

as much as I love 141 medieval au's here the reader is a noble lady saved from her marriage or some lone townswomans rescued by the group of knights (looking @ my own nun!reader in this) I do love the notion of a lady knight.

A badass woman with no name or backstory that's taken up the life of a sellsword- who scoffs at the notion of "honor" when spilling blood on your blade- death is death. Honor means nothing for God or king.

Her hair is cut close to her scalp, because it's all too easy for somebody to grab a handful of those soft locks and be at the perfect position to slit her throat in a fight. Covered in scars and carried by aching bones that broke years ago but never quite healed properly.

Maybe Price is a king who sees this helmeted figure fighting at a tourney for his name day and asks for their name- their noble house only to learn you have none. Simply a desire for the money awarded to the winner.

Maybe Gaz is beloved prince who often sneaks out from his guards nose to mingle with the common folk- who enjoys sitting in a tavern with others and singing songs while drinking ale with a pretty little thing on his lap until he's walking back to the palace and finds a blade at his neck in a dark alley as you warn him that noblebloods should never walk unaccompanied- it makes the job far too easy.

Maybe a beautiful noble lady is sent to stay under the eye of a royal family in discussion for marriage- when the house offers to gift her one for their personal guards of the 141, she insists she more than happy with her own- you. The silent armor-clad figure standing close to her side. (yes I miss domentzia. she's my wife and always will be).

[anirritant]

like man the parallels between stan and bill are so so so so so fascinating to me ough...... the most obvious thing is that they speak so similarly, often using the same terms and i can't help but wonder how intentional it all was on the part of the writers. biggest one being "eenie meenie miney you" to me, it's so specific.

it could simply be bill picking up stan's mannerisms through ford's memories to further appeal to ford (is that canon somewhere? i don't actually know but i see it mentioned a lot) but some of these are things bill still says and does even when ford is absent. for a being that's lived for trillions of years would terms he picked up only a couple decades ago cement themselves in his behaviour so much?

(also, has anyone ever brought up dreamscaperers' deleted scenes where bill summons a paddleball in the mindscape? stan does the same thing in his own mindscape in the finale. again, that's so specific i can't help but wonder how intentional it was or if it was just a coincidence. i know deleted scenes might not be the best to point to as evidence but i think i've only ever seen someone allude to in one fic and nowhere else?)

i havent read tbob and haven't really kept up much with the new info from it but i have seen the poem about stan and gosh like. it really does seem like it's being consistently hinted at over and over that there's something there with specifically bill and stan. the axolotl's poem was already eyebrow raising with how much of it could be applied to stan and now there's even more..

[the3rddenialist]

• Give Up

Chapter 1 Start

Save the Hero!

[metanarrates]

orv's usage of symbolism is interesting because it rarely has symbols As Simply Symbols. a good 95% of the time, its symbols are often primarily plot-related mechanical stuff, like the fourth wall, or unbroken faith. they are things that move the plot along and are used as tools in-universe to solve problems. one of the genius elements of the skills/stigmata system is that those abilities do INCREDIBLE heavy lifting for characterization, by both being talents the characters can apply in ways that reveal who they are as people, and by being symbols that reveal aspects of a character by the mere fact of the character possessing them.

this is very unlike a lot of other stories! most of the time, if something exists in a work to be a symbol, the symbolism is its primary narrative function, and any other plot-moving functions are secondary or nonexistent. and most of the time, that's totally fine. orv has symbols that work that way too: the white and black coats (and by extension white page/black letters) and the squared circle. they're images that serve to inform the reader about integral ideas to the story.

but it's brilliant for a story that is primarily fantasy-action-adventure to take its mechanical plot items or skills, which are incredibly necessary to the progression most fantasy action stories, and then have them be incredibly symbolic. it's not new ground to break, either. this is something a lot of fantasy stories do. but it feels very unique because of how symbolically charged nearly EVERYTHING is, and how in-depth the symbolism often is! especially for the really major plot mechanics (fourth wall as ultimate example) they often serve as metaphor for a number of things simultaneously. it makes for a reading experience that is very engaging because there's always so much going on, and it often makes the reader feel clever for noticing it!

[sparvverius]

"And he also feels a tenderness such as he had never known before surging up in is heart, he wants to weep, he wants to do something for them all, so that the wee one will no longer cry, so that the blackened, dried-up mother of the wee one will not cry either, so that there will be no more tears in anyone from that moment on, and it must be done at once, at once, without delay and despite everything, with all his Karamazov unrestraint."

what a beautiful passage.. and if i'm not mistaken this is the first time that we're led to believe being a karamazov might not be so much of a terrible thing after all...

[blackkatdraws2]

Narrator Grey reference.

↓ [down below are the individual close ups of the outfits in chronological order (past to present)] ↓

The Stanley Parable Demo does not exist in this AU.

[bethanydelleman]

"the General's unjust interference, so far from being really injurious to their felicity, was perhaps rather con- ducive to it, by improving their knowledge of each other, and adding strength to their attachment"

I was thinking about this quote. Did Jane Austen mean by "adding strength to their attachment" that Catherine and Henry's attachment was not a strong one before the Colonel's interference ?

Colonel seemed more involved in Henry's "courtship" of Cathy than Henry himself. And her feelings for him seemed more like infatuation or teenager crush than a real steady love. Add to that that line about Henry being interested in Catherine because she liked him. And the proposal seemed to me more due to him feeling guilty for leading her on and making fall in love with him and taking responsibility for his father's obvious hints about a wedding. You know the " honor bound " thing. I mean he did mean it and he liked Catherine well enough.

Do you think that Austen meant that their relationship became strong after the Colonel delayed their marriage ?

To understand the last paragraph of Northanger Abbey, you have to remember that this is a satire and Jane Austen is being a bit more blunt than usual in this last bit. I will highlight the jokes:

Henry and Catherine were married, the bells rang, and everybody smiled; and, as this took place within a twelvemonth from the first day of their meeting, it will not appear, after all the dreadful delays occasioned by the General’s cruelty, that they were essentially hurt by it. To begin perfect happiness at the respective ages of twenty-six and eighteen is to do pretty well; and professing myself moreover convinced that the General’s unjust interference, so far from being really injurious to their felicity, was perhaps rather conducive to it, by improving their knowledge of each other, and adding strength to their attachment, I leave it to be settled, by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward filial disobedience.

Green: Austen jokes about this delay earlier, "The anxiety, which in this state of their attachment must be the portion of Henry and Catherine, and of all who loved either, as to its final event, can hardly extend, I fear, to the bosom of my readers, who will see in the tell-tale compression of the pages before them, that we are all hastening together to perfect felicity." So the joke is that we, as readers, know it will end happily and we know it will end happily soon, because there aren't that many pages left.

Blue: It is extremely common in fiction for the protagonists to be brought closer together by interference instead of being torn apart by it, so General Tilney, in opposing marriage, strengthens the probability of it happening. He plays his stock character part very well in this story. It's a meta joke because it is so inevitable in this sort of narrative that it makes his actions silly.

Purple: Novels in this era were supposed to have a moral, but Austen jokes that her moral may be interpreted as "disobey your parents" or "be a tyrant to your children" to come to the happy conclusion. Obviously, that's not the real moral of her story, but what a cursory reading may lead someone to think.

To understand Henry and Catherine's love story, you need to know that at the time, men were supposed to have feelings first and women second, developing them as gratitude for the man liking them. So the "proper" order is:

Man has feelings

Man expresses feelings

Woman develops feelings in gratitude

Now this is extremely silly, since it's not like a girl won't develop a crush on her own. Austen is mocking this particular order of events. She's not saying that Henry Tilney doesn't love Catherine, he does, she's saying that the love happened in a wrong and scandalous order.

She was assured of his affection; and that heart in return was solicited, which, perhaps, they pretty equally knew was already entirely his own; for, though Henry was now sincerely attached to her, though he felt and delighted in all the excellencies of her character and truly loved her society, I must confess that his affection originated in nothing better than gratitude, or, in other words, that a persuasion of her partiality for him had been the only cause of giving her a serious thought. It is a new circumstance in romance, I acknowledge, and dreadfully derogatory of an heroine’s dignity; but if it be as new in common life, the credit of a wild imagination will at least be all my own.

That is why it's harmful to Catherine's dignity, because she DARED to have a crush. And obviously, Austen knows this happens all the time, which is why she jokes about it.

I hope that answered everything.

[employee052]

this is your reminder to make ur cringy n self indulgent art bc cringe is dead and you gotta live life (I say, despite the fact i still feel a bit cringe but im being so brave abt it)

lettin myself post n do more art for myself so apologies for the more selfshippy art than usual

[amelikos]

Amethio.

[walkingstackofbooks]

Julian wasn't certain why, exactly, he was pulling away from Garak, but ever since their return for the gamma quadrant, that was definitly what he was doing. He'd never minded Garak's small, discrete touches before - in fact, he'd courted them: a hand on his back, the brush of their shoulders - but now, he found, he couldn't stand them.

Having no explanation for why, though, he took to avoiding the Cardassian entirely, rather than risk facing questions he could not answer. He ignored the growing guilt, too, for whatever reasons Garak would be coming up with for this new turn in their relationship. He was just taking time, he reasoned to himself, and that was fair enough, wasn't it?

On the other hand, Julian knew exactly why he was avoiding Miles. While he wondred if he was maybe overreacting, his friend's comment had cut him deeply, and it was obvious that Miles hadn't even thought twice about it. So it was logical, really, for Julian to take time off from their darts evenings and holosuite sessions. If Miles had found him difficult to get along with before, what would he make of this new Julian that had returned from the camp, who seemed to have had any light, positive thing ripped out of him by the Dominion?

--

His closest friends shut off from him, Julian found his refuge in Jadzia. Not purposefully - he'd assumed, with Worf's injuries, she'd be looking after her partner - but the Klingon, seemingly, hadn't wanted to be doted on, so Jadzia had found someone else to be her target. Namely, Julian.

He wasn't going to complain. Her hugs were warm and her smiles were soft and Julian could let his guard down, a little, around her. Not completely, of course - there were more than a few things he didn't want getting back to the captain, lest he find his leave of duty extended even further - but enough to allow him to feel truly relaxed, at times.

Quite quickly, it became normal for him to spend the evenings in her quarters, not really doing much, but not needing to do much, either. Worf often joined them— although, really, on those nights, Julian felt as though he were joining them, and wondered how much the Klingon resented his constant intrusions into his and Jadzia's alone time. Jadzia didn't stop asking him over, though, and Julian couldn't bring himself to refuse, no matter what Worf's unspoken feelings might be.

As it happened, he was mistaken, anyway. One night, Martok appeared for dinner, greeting Julian loudly and immediately taking the seat next to him. Julian stiffened, fearing the resurgence of memories from the camp, or that inexplicable urge to withdraw, that Martok's presence might bring out. Neither came, though, and he didn't even flinch when Martok brought a heavy hand to land on his shoulder. The evening all but flew by, and when it was time to leave, Julian surprised himself by accepting the Klingon's offer to walk him back to his quarters. He was quiet company - despite Julian's best efforts, he was still not good company, after the camp - but Martok was kind enough not to point this out.

The general became a regular guest after that, to Julian's muted delight. Muted, since in reality, it was more a dim awareness that Martok's presence pleased him, more than anything else. But even more than it did Jadzia, an unmistakeable sense of safety emanated off the large Klingon, and Julian could hardly believe that he was invited to share in it - and more, that all three of them seemed willing to put up with Julian, evening after evening.

He would find out much later that it was Worf's orchestrations that had brought Martok to their table - Worf the pragmatist, the romantic - who was already looking forward to the day when Jadzia might agree to join the House of Martok, and saw in Julian an opportunity to smooth the way. Jadzia laughed as she told him how her husband had hoped that Julian's admiration of Martok would rub off in her, and that his fondness for her would influence the general in return - and how apparently, Worf's plan had worked! Julian laughed too, glad to discover that he hadn't been quite as useless a guest as he'd imagined himself to be at the time.

--

After the debacle with his parents, and the discovery that his life hadn't actually imploded, Julian finally went to confront Miles. He couldn't quite figure out how he felt about the way Miles had been so supportive two nights before, but the fact was that Miles had been overwhelmingly supportive, even if Julian had only realised afterwards how much, once the shock had worn off enough for him to start thinking about anything other than his own feelings.

So he went to the chief's quarters and rang the chime, and Miles welcomed him in with a worried smile and an assurance that Keiko and the kids were all out and so did Julian want to talk? Are you alright?

Julian faced him bravely. "Do you think I'm difficult to get along with?" he asked.

He wasn't sure what he'd expected, but it certainly wasn't for Miles to straighten with a scowl, vibrating with anger, demanding, "Are people giving you trouble about your enhancements?"

Julian wasn't sure how to answer that, because yes of course some people had, but it wasn't that big a deal, and besides, that wasn't what he'd been asking. So he shook his head, backtracking.

"I meant— You said, the changeling was easier to get along with..."

In an instant, Miles' face had shuttered, falling completely. "Shit," he said, looking for all the world like Julian had just punched him in the gut. "Is that why you've been avoiding me?"

Julian nodded uncertainly.

"Fuck," said Miles, wiping a hand over his face. "Shit, Julian, it was a joke, it was— I never thought you'd take it seriously. If I'd have known... I'm sorry, Julian. God. I'm sorry."

A joke. Of course it had been a joke. That's what he and Miles did, joke and jibe and pretend their feelings ran no deeper than that. He really had been overreacting.

"Well, I don't know... it's pretty difficult to get along with someone who avoids you for weeks over a joke," he tried quipping, but his voice came out devoid of humour, and he winced as Miles' face fell even further.

"God, no, that's not what I meant at all - it was a stupid thing to say, I should have known that. You're not— that's not— You're my friend, Julian..."

Miles trailed off, seemingly unable to meet Julian's eyes. It was strange, his words should have made Julian feel better, but Julian wasn't sure that they had. His chest was still thrumming with anxiety, he still felt kind of tight and sick and damn it, earlier he'd known why Miles made him feel like that, but now— now he didn't.

"Fuck. It really upset you, didn't it?" Miles asked quietly. "But why— why tell me now? After all this time..?"

Julian shrugged. "I had to know," he said. "After my parents... you know. The other evening, some of the things you said - they just, I don't know. Seemed like something a friend would say—"

"Fuck," Miles said again. "Fuck, Julian. Shit, if you feel like that, I—"

He broke off, his face lighting up with an idea. "Julian?" he asked, quickly. "The research Zimmerman did on you - do you think he still has it? Do you think we could hack into it?"

"I-I don't know," stammered Julian, the sudden change in topic putting him at a loss. "Why?"

Miles shook his head. "I'll explain if I manage to do it," he said.

--

The next day, Julian got a message from Miles. I hate sending you this, it said, but I definitely couldn't do this in person. Attached was a audio clip, which, when he clicked on it, played Zimmerman's voice, then Miles'. This was the answer the the hacking question, then, Julian presumed.

He ended up playing it on repeat, feeling quite awful that he'd ever doubted his friend.

"...the truth is he's an extraordinary person. A real sense of honour and integrity, great sense of humour, warm, caring. You're sure he's not going to hear this?"