#gonna just novelize crop--
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haha well guess who caught up with and finished season 5 of [insoâs law] and now has to wait until summer for season 6 and is super totally incredibly fine and ready for it and definitely didnt nearly throw up from crying so much from the last couple of chapters :D
#sophieâs idle chatter#i fucking hate this manhwa and the novel#WHY CANT THEY JUST ALWAYS BE HAPPY WHY DO U HAVE TO MAKE THEM GO THROUGH SM AND MAKE MY HEART FEEL AS THOUGH ITS BEING TORN FROM MY CHEST#FUCK THE REAL WORLD LET DANI STAY IN THE HAEGARIM WORLD EVEN THOUGH IK FROM READING THE NOVEL THAT THE OG NOVEL WAS JUST TRAGEDY AND#YEORYEONG ENDLESSLY PINING FOR DANI BC APPARENTLY WE READERS HAVENT BEEN BROKEN ENOUGH AND THE UPCOMING ARC FOR S6 IS GONNA MAKE ME BAWL#ESP WITH MY LOVE YEODAN AND THE WAY THAT JUST HAD TO SHOW HIS EXPRESSION IN THE LAST PANEL ???? LIKE FUCK OFF MANHWA ARTIST DOMT DO THIS TO#ME THEY WERE DOING SO WELL TOGETHER THIS SEASON I CABT TAKE THIS ANYMOREJFBKD#MY EYES ARE SWOLLEN AND MY NOSE IS STUFFY AND MY FACE IS HOT I CANT KEEP DEFENDING U LIKE THIS INSOS LAW BC FUCK U#ALPHA WOLF SHIRT TEAR RAAARHHHHH#anyway read [insoâs law] for clear skin and watered crops lol#its a fun time i swear
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loveâs never been much to me (but iâll come with you if youâre sure thatâs what you need)
// wednesday hates the new girl. //
warnings: minor character death (not that important) wednesday being mean, wednesday being a jealous asshole, sensitive reader, crying, harsh words. angst but happy ending <3
when your parents first sent you and your sisters to a boarding school in vermont, you tried your hardest not to be upset about it. you understood your mothers death impacted your father in ways you couldnât imagined. you were sure it impacted you in ways he could never fathom as wellâ but you couldnât help but feel like an outcast on the first day. your older sister elise was fitting in great, as soon as she showed up. her high grades put her in honors classes, and her contagious smile along with that charming, intelligent intellect caused people to migrate to her quickly. your younger sister sabrina was no different, she was beautiful, and had the best style out of anyone youâve ever met. it wasnât hard for either for them to make friends.
you however, tugged at the longsleeves of your tight black cropped top, and you kept your eyes open and aware of your surroundings. everyone at the school looked like they were either rich, or smart as hell. âhey i really like your jeans.â a tall, dark haired brunette tells you as she approaches you. you smile, âthanks! i love your cardigan.â you compliment her, and she smiles back at you. âiâm yoko. i think your my new roommate.â she admits, and your eyes widen. âoh shit, seriously? i havenât even gotten a chance to see my roommate yet. i just put my stuff on the empty bed⊠but the rooms nice. youâve kept it clean!â you begin to ramble, and yoko laughs. âyou seem nice. i think weâre gonna get along great.â she proclaims, flashing you a grin.
yoko was your first friend at nevermore academy. she was bright, generous, gave great fashion advice, and was someone you knew you could trust right away. it didnât take long for you both to become nearly inseparable. thatâs when you begin getting close to enid, divina, and even bianca; some of yokoâs other close friends. you and enid have the most in common. you find yourself hanging out with the blonde whenever your roommate is busy with nightshade society. it isnât until you and enid have plans for the mall one afternoon, that you end up in her room. thatâs when you see her. wednesday addams. her long braided black hair, her long lashes, and that all black outfit. you had barely seen her in the halls, but had no classes with her at all.
âi hope you and your friend arenât planning on staying here. iâm working on my novel.â wednesday states, barely looking up from her typewriter. you look at her with pure interest, âyouâre a writer? what are you writing about?â you ask curiously, and she rolls her eyes. âthings a peabrain like you wouldnât understand.â she mutters, and you giggle at her cattiness. âignore wednesday, sheâs allergic to color and all things nice. letâs go y/n, the mall closes at 6 today.â enid says, as she grabs her coat. âokay! sabrinaâs tagging along, she said she needs some new shoes.â you explain, and enid smiles, âthatâs fine! i love her! i heard she has a crush on joey from physics.â enid admits, and you gag. âew! he looks like one of those guys that doesnât wash their ass.â
enid bursts into fits of laughter as you both make your way to the door, âbye wednesday, it was nice officially meeting you.â you wave at the raven haired girl, who doesnât even spare you a glance. âi wish i could say the same.â she grumbles, and you canât fight the smile that tugs on your lips as you and enid make your way out. as you two walk down the hall, and towards sabrinaâs room, enid pipes up; âhey, donât take anything wednesday says personally, sheâs like that with everybody.â enid explains, and you shake your head. âoh itâs fine! sheâs pretty cute.â you admit with a blush, and enid shakes her head in disbelief. âwednesday and cute donât belong in the same category. maybe violent, or irritable; even sassy fits.â enid jokes and you laugh. âwell, sheâs still pretty. even if she doesnât quite like me.â you say as you walk into your younger sisters room.
âwho doesnât like you?â sabrina asks, as she looks away from the mirror where she was fixing her make up in, and over to you and enid. âwednesday.â you say, and sabrina furrows her brows, âwho?â she asks. âmy roommate. sheâs in our grade, super grumpy, wears all black.â enid explains bluntly as she takes a seat on sabrinaâs bed. âis she short?â sabrina asks and enid nods eagerly. âyup thatâs her!â the blonde exclaims. âoh god, y/n/n, you like her? sheâs emo.â sabrina points out, and you pout, âwhatâs wrong with that?!! sheâs totally cute!â you declare, and enid flashes you a pointed look. âand totally hates you.â she reminds you, and you blush sheepishly. âhate and love are two very similar things.â you joke causing enid to groan and throw a pillow your way.
you start seeing wednesday a lot more after that. you always go out of your way to say hi to her, or even talk to her. even though she never seems excited to talk to you, she doesnât ignore you, and you take that as a good sign. sabrina and you have always been the closest out of your siblings; she was only a year younger than you, yet you two were more like best friends than sisters. thatâs exactly why sheâs the first person you confess to about having a crush on wednesday.
âyou canât be serious, y/n/n. she hates your guts!â sabrina points out as you two eat lunch under the old oak tree. you had just admitted it to her, and the brunette was staring at you as if you had three heads. âi know! but sheâs so hot! and have you heard her voice? ugh⊠i got it bad, the other day i asked her if she came her often⊠to school!!â you groan, and she shakes her head, chuckling softly. âdamn⊠i for sure would have thought you wouldâve fell for yoko⊠or even enid. but wednesday? seriously? have you guys even had an actual conversation that didnât involve you trying to awkwardly flirt with her?â sabrina asks, and you nod.
âi was talking to her about her novel the other day⊠sheâs a smart ass, but sheâs definitely smart. like probably smarter than elise.â you admit, and sabrina laughs. âdamn, maybe you should ask elise how to tutor you in the art of being a bitch.â she jokes, and you giggle. âmaybe. sheâs definitely too busy with jake. have you seen the way she gets when he texts her?â you inquire as you eat a cookie off your sisters tray. âyeah, itâs disgusting.â the younger girl says after rolling her eyes. âshe still hasnât talked to me because i stained her flannel. i got her a new one and said i was sorry!â sabrina exclaims, and you laugh. âsheâs taking it personal. youâre gonna have to gravel. or just buy her food after her debate club. sheâs always hungry after arguing.â you retort, taking a sip of your chocolate milk.
âugh, she was made for debate. iâm thinking about joining the soccer team.â she reveals, and your eyes widen. âawww that would be awesome! youâd be great!â you say honestly, and she flashes you a smile. âthanks y/n/n.â she says softly as she finishes her sandwich. âhey that reminds me! my friend xavier was saying something about a book club on thursdayâs at the library. you should check it out!â she says as she opens her backpack and pulls out a flyer. she hands it to you, and you take it, skimming over it. your eyebrows raise slightly, âhuh, i actually think iâm gonna check it out. i need new book ideas. iâm tired of re-reading âblack houseâ.â you tell her and she beams. âi thought of you as soon as he showed me the flyer!â
unbeknownst to you and sabrina, wednesday also received the same flyer from xavier. thatâs how the two of you both ended up in the library on tuesday. youâre a bit early, and so is she, along with a few other students. you take a seat right beside her, and she glances at you. âare you lost? this isnât the romance novel book club. they meet on tuesdayâs.â she cattily remarks, and you chuckle. âi didnât even know they had a club for that.â you admit, ignoring her comment. wednesday canât help but continuously glance at you; youâre wearing baggy jeans, a tight fitted top, along with a pair of gray converse. wednesday is wearing an oversized black knitted sweater, fishnets, and a pair of black doc marten boots. her hair is braided and she looks gorgeous as ever.
âi actually donât enjoy romance novels. it makes me feel like iâm reading really cheesy fanfics. my little sister gave me the flyer for this club. i need new book recommendations.â you say simply, and wednesday purses her lips, âthis is a book club for thriller and horror novels.â she points out, and you nod. âi know. i read the flyer, addams.â you joke, and she looks at you. âwhatâs your favorite book?â she asks, and you blush sheepishly as you reach into your bag and pull out your old copy of âblack houseâ by stephen king. âi know itâs a bit basic but he really does have wonderful novels. i really enjoyed âsheâs goneâ by david bell as well. the ending was a plot twist. poor girl.â you ramble slightly, and you blush as you realize sheâs staring at you. you tuck a strand of curly hair behind your ear, your eyes meet hers, âwhatâs your favorite book, wednesday?â you ask her, sounding genuinely curious.
âthe original frankenstein book is unmatched. but i suppose the haunting of hill house is good as well.â she answers curtly and you smile at her as she avoids your sweet gaze. âi too carry a copy of frankenstein around because itâs my favorite.â she confesses, making you grin. âyouâll have to lend it to me sometime. if thatâs okay of course.â you say so gently she nearly grimaces at how soft your voice is. she reaches into her backpack, and pulls out the old copy, before handing it to you. you reach for it, but she pulls it away abruptly. âblack house. iâd like to read it.â she declares, taking you by slight surprise. you nod vigorously, âsure! here!â you say happily, as you shove the copy of your favorite book into her free hand. you gladly take the original âfrankensteinâ copy, and flash her a smile that makes her nauseous.
âhello everyone. i see we have quite a few eager readers. iâve picked out a few good reads, and weâll all have a vote on which one you all wanna read this week.â one of the teachers you hardly know interrupts your moment with wednesday, as she sits down in front of the group. wednesday doesnât say a word to you during the rest of the session. though, she cannot seem to stop thinking about you as she reads âblack houseâ. the little side notes you wroteâ the highlighted parts you thought were important. she finds herself enjoying the book, and she canât believe someone like you actually has good taste. perhaps wednesday misjudged you.
sheâs pulled out of her thoughts one evening by your giggling. youâre laughing at something sabrina and her friends were saying. thatâs when wednesday sees you take a hit of one of their wax pens, blowing the smoke in your younger sisters face, and giggling wildly. she shakes her head, prying her eyes away from you. nope. youâre still an idiot, she thinks. an idiot who seems to be interested in good books. but thatâs your only redeeming quality in wednesdayâs opinion.
âhey wednesday, are you enjoying the book?â you ask as you approach the raven haired girl. wednesday looks over at where you were just sitting with your group of annoying friends and little sister. they seemed to have scattered, and she hadnât even noticed you making your way up to her. âitâs not terrible. i truly enjoy the way he doesnât shy away from the gruesome details and thoughts.â she explains, and you nod in agreement as you sit next to her. she doesnât tell you to get lost even though she should. your girly perfume fills her senses, and she sticks her nose in the air as she looks away from you. âyeah, stephen king is already not afraid to cross any lines, but peter straub is totally fucked in the head. i like it.â you confess in a dorky way that makes wednesday turn her head and stare at you for a second.
âwhat?â you ask curiously, wondering what she was staring at. âhow did i never notice how much of a dork you are?â she asks, and you roll your eyes, blushing deeplyâ you pull your knees up to your chest, and you stare at your shoes. âmaybe because youâve never bothered to get to know me.â you joke, before looking at her. the sunlight is hitting your hair, and the way your bangs falls just above your eyelashesâ wednesday never noticed how brown your eyes are. they change in the sun and sheâs never noticed that about anyone. âwell, you are insufferable⊠but i suppose i donât mind speaking to you.â wednesday mutters, and you smile widely. thereâs that nauseating feeling again. she wants to kiss wipe that smile right off your face.
âoh! i finished frankenstein! it was so fucking good but so fucking sadâ i almost donât want to read âblack phoneâ. i know iâm gonna end up crying again.â you admit, and wednesday shakes her head. âyou cried? i understand frankenstein is tragic, but crying is a bit dramatic donât you think?â she asks, and you shrug. âiâm a sensitive person. hereâs your book, thanks for lending it to me. if you have any other book recommendations iâd really appreciate them.â you confess shyly, and wednesday takes note of the rosy pink blush coating your cheeks and nose. she doesnât understand why youâre so adamant on getting to know her and talk to her. shouldnât she have scared you off by now like she usually does with everyone else?
âthomas harris. silence of the lambs. i have a copy in my room, iâll lend it to you tomorrow.â she states, and you smile widely. god she wishes youâd stop doing that.
wednesday begins to notice everything you do. the way you laugh, or mess with the holes in your jeans when youâre bored. you heart your âiâsâ, and chew on your bottom lip when youâre nervous. youâre kind to everyone, and she hasnât encountered a single person who has spoken badly about you. wednesday finds herself at a loss because she actually wants to talk to you, but she realizes she never wants to talk to anyone. she canât for the life of her figure out whatâs so different about you. or how she went from hating you, to thinking about you nearly every hour of the day. she even catches herself thinking about your giggle in the middle of class.
in december wednesday finds you sitting alone in the garden; a spot she enjoyed coming to be alone. just when she was about to tell you to get lost, she got closer, and heard the sniffling. ây/n?â wednesdayâs voice causes you to jump a bit. you werenât expecting anyone to be here and see you like this. you look up at her; those bambi eyes are red and full of tears, and your cheeks were stained, as if you had been crying for awhile now. wednesday forgets who she is and immediately feels concern wash over her. did somebody make you cry? was she going to have to commit murder? âwhat happened?â she asks demandingly, before she takes a seat on the bench beside you. âi-itâs my moms birthday todayâŠâ you trail off, trying to hold back tears but failing miserably. âoh. did you call her?â wednesday questions, and you shake your head, âsheâ she p-passed away last year.â you explain, and wednesday looks at you intensely.
âiâm sorry.â she sounds sincere, and it takes you by surprise as you stare at her with those vulnerable eyes. âshe probably misses you as much as you miss her.â wednesday adds, and you feel your heart flutter in your chest. ây-youâre sweet. thanks for sitting with me.â you thank her gently, and she responds with an eye roll, âiâm not sweet, and if you tell anyone i sat with you, iâll cut all your pretty hair off.â she threatens, and you sniffle as you blush, an inevitable smile creeping onto your face. âyou think my hair is pretty?â you ask, and for the first time since you met wednesday addams, the heat rises to her cheeks causing them to turn a shade of crimson red. âshut up, y/n.â she says warningly, shooting a murderous look your way. instead of lookinh terrified like anyone else would, you stare at her with an expression of pure adoration.
things change after your encounter with wednesday in the garden. you catch her staring more than she normally would, and whenever you approach her, you notice she doesnât seem as annoyed as she used to. sure, sheâs still as grumpy as ever, but your presence didnât annoy her anymore, and that was strange. she normally gets irritated with everyone, but you somehow have become an exception. wednesday was not only okay with you coming up to her and talking her ear off, she was also looking forward to it. thoughts of you and even your voice would plague her mind. she thought of you before she fell asleep, and as soon as she awoke, there you were on her mind like clockwork.
it isnât until wednesday sees you talking to aaron from botany, he seems to be staring at you with a glint in his eyes. youâre smiling at him in that way that always makes wednesdayâs stomach flutter. but youâre directing it at him instead, and that nauseating feeling she usually gets, turns into a burning sensation in the pit of her stomach. suddenly she has never hated anyone more than aaron jeffery. she glares at him; sheâs certain if he notices heâll probably shit himself. but he doesnât notice; you do. you turn your head, and your eyes lock with wednesdayâs tenebrous orbs. you light up at the sight of her, and now your smile is directed at her. you wave cutely, âhey wednesday!â you greet her from across the courtyard before looking at aaron. âiâll see you next period!â you exclaim, and he nods with a smile as you rush over to the raven haired girl.
âhi.â you giggle as you tuck a loose strand of hair behind your ear. wednesday tenses up, âhi. what were you talking to jefferyâs about?â she asks, trying to sound as uninterested as possible. âwe got assigned to be partners earlier this year in botany class, and we just sort of became friends that way.â you shrug, and wednesday has an uncomfortable knot in her stomach. âoh.â is all the shorter girl responds with, causing you to furrow your eyebrows. âis there a problem between you and aaron? like some sort of secret beef i donât know about?â you ask half jokingly, and she shakes her head. âi donât like him.â wednesday answers quickly. âhe stares at you like heâs never seen a girl in his sorry little life. donât get me started on the way he dresses.â wednesday rants a bit, and all of your confusion seems to dissipate as a wave of realization washes over you. wednesday addams is jealous of aaron, because she thinks he likes you.
âbut aaron is crushing on stacey mathewâs.â you remind her and wednesday scowls. âi donât care. since when does that stop boys?â she mutters, and you tilt your head to the side, like a confused puppy. âwen⊠are you jealous of him?â you ask her, and the way youâre smirking makes her shoot a murderous glare your way. sheâs not an idiot. sheâs completely aware sheâs jealous of that tall boy and his kind smile that wednesday doesnât have. but to admit sheâs envious of him, would be to admit how she feels about you. wednesday would rather die before admitting that your voice is something she looks forward to hearing every single day. or even how every time she reads a stephen king book she thinks of you.
âjealousy is a feeling, y/n, and we both know i donât do feelings.â she declares trying to sound serious. you raise your eyebrows, âthen you wouldnât care if i said he was cute?â you question, clearly just trying to get a rise out of her, and it obviously works because she glares at you. âhe looks like a burnt chicken.â she hisses, and you giggle wildly. âno feelings my ass.â you retort sarcastically, and the raven haired girls expression stays firm. âi donât have feelings, y/n! much less any regarding you and that fried roach.â she snaps in that usually harsh tone she always saves for other people, and never you. yet today her stare is harsh and itâs directed towards you. the trace of softness you usually see in her big brown-black orbs is gone; instead thereâs something inscrutable in her gaze and you canât quite figure out what it is.
you frown, âno feelings regarding me at all? is that your polite way of saying you donât care about me whatsoever?â you ask uncertainly, and she rolls her eyes. âi donât care about anybody. everybody at this school is a dimwitted, supernatural moron with no concept of reality or the real world. if that bothers you, maybe you should just go run along and follow aaron jeffery around everywhere like a lost, pathetic puppy. the same way you follow me around.â her tone is so cold, and so unlike whenever she speaks to you. she sounds the same way as when you first met her. you blink a few times, and then, something terrible happens to wednesday. not the good kind of terrible that she lovesâ no, the terrible that makes her stomach twist and churn⊠your bottom lip begins to tremble and the heart sheâs been so intent on hiding from everyone, falls into the pit of her belly.
tears well up in your eyes, and suddenly sheâs replaying every cruel word she just said. they were all because you were right. she was jealous of aaron. âyou couldâve just said you didnât want to hang out with me. or that you donât like me⊠you donât have to be so cruel just because you know how i feel about you.â you manage to say while your voice shakes and wednesday can see the look of hurt in those chocolate brown eyes. you turn around and rush off, leaving wednesday alone with her thoughts and unwanted emotions. that interaction hadnât gone as she planned, but what could she do about it? chase you and beg for forgiveness? admit that what you said was not only true but spot on? she was jealous, and she did know about the way you feel about her. though you werenât aware of what she was feeling for you. the more she got to know you, the more she realized she liked. even the things she was supposed to hate, she found made those dead butterflies in her stomach resurrect and flutter around with pure life.
she found herself having to pretend to dislike your presence, but it seemed as though you could see right through wednesday and her grumpiness. you even dealt with it just to hang out with her. though, there were undoubtable moments where you just knew wednesday returned all those feelings she claimed she didnât have. you would ramble on and on about a book or show, and when youâd look up her eyes would be on you, taking in every word. even when she wasnât looking at you, she was listening. you knew because she remembered every detail, down to the silliest thing. though it was never silly to you, it always made your heart skip a beat. almost everything wednesday did for you, made your heart rate pick up. you noticed everything when it came down to her; the way her gaze would soften up whenever looking at you, or how she let you hug her and hold her hand.
yet, wednesdayâs words sounded so serious and cold. you couldnât help but wonder if maybe, wednesday addams has hated you this whole time. maybe everything was in your head, and she really didnât like you or anyone else at this school for that matter. maybe wednesday really was as heartless as she claims to be⊠but you donât believe that. you canât. thereâs too many things she does that prove her wrong, yet if you ever called her out on them, she would most likely deny everything. if she didnât want to like you, wasnât that just as bad as not liking you? she knew she liked you, and she still didnât want you. that hurt you more than anything else regarding your love life has.
when enid sees you crying she rushes in your direction, excusing herself from ajax and their mutual friends as she follows you towards your dorm. ây/n, what happened!?â she asks in pure concern as she follows you into yours and yokoâs shared bedroom. âdidâ did wednesday make you cry?â she asks cautiously, and you sniffle, nodding. enid feels a wave of nerves hit her. if wednesday was in a bad enough to mood to snap at you, maybe that meant everyone should stay clear from her today. thereâs no telling what sheâd do to people she actually hated. âwhat happened? did she say something to you?â the blonde asks patiently, and you look down at your converse. âdimwitted, supernatural moron⊠and a pathetic puppy. thatâs what she thinks of me.â you whisper, and enid frowns.
âyouâre none of those things, y/n. youâre a great friend and i know wednesday didnât mean what she said. sheâs just a grump.â enid points out and you shake your head. âi think she did, enid. i canât keep trying so hard for her to like me. i shouldâve taken the hint a long time ago and just left her alone.â you mutter, looking up and meeting enidâs eyes. her eyes are empathetic and sincere, âno, y/n, wednesday loves you! she just doesnât want to admit it! sheâs changed since she started hanging around you⊠sheâs been nicer in her own little wednesday way. thereâs less threats, and hate towards color or people. itâs because of you.â she insists, and you look at your fingers that youâre playing with nervously.
âiâve seen the change, but until she apologizes or tells me how she feels herself, i think itâs best to keep my distance from wednesdayâŠâ you trail off, and enid can see the words hurt you to say. she frowns, but nods, âi understand and respect your decision, even it means i will have to deal with a very grumpy wednesday.â she murmurs and you flash her a sad smile. âsorry, enidâŠâ you trail off, you thoughts immediate going to the raven haired girl youâre so helplessly in love with.
wednesday notices the change right away. itâs been a week since she said those mean things to you, and she couldnât stop thinking about you. wednesday went from being the only person youâd seek out to talk to, to being the only person youâre avoiding. she feels like sheâs been hit with the plague, because you wonât even look at her anymore. it drives her crazy when sees you and you donât light up the way you used to, or even smile in her direction. she never thought silence (one of her favorite things), would drive her this mad when it was coming from you. she hated to admit she missed your voice, and all the things she thought she hated about you⊠like the way you talk too much, and practically shower in that girly perfume that tickles wednesdayâs senses in the worst way. when she smells it in the halls her belly burns.
âsheâs been miserable without you.â enid cuts into wednesdayâs thoughts one lunch period, as she notices her roommate staring at you from the other side of cafeteria. you were sitting with elise and her friends today, looking absolutely miserable. it was no secret your older sister often was one of your biggest bullies, though it came from a place of love, the things she said still affected you. much like wednesday, she said things bluntly and honestly, not caring if she hurt anyones feelings. âsheâs the one that decided to stop sitting here.â wednesday says back, her tone harsh and abrasive. enid rolls her eyes, âbecause you called her a dimwitted, supernatural moron, wednesday!â enid points out, causing everyone at the table to look at the two.
wednesday shoots daggers at the blonde, âi said it in regards towards everyone at this school!â wednesday hisses, and enid shakes her head in dismay. âitâs the same thing. not to mention you called her a âpathetic puppyâ, donât you have any idea how much your words hurt? especially to someone who has feelings for you.â she states sternly, and the raven haired girls careless expression falters. a trickle of silence passes, and wednesday speaks. âi didnât mean it.â the shorter girl mutters, and enid raises a brow as she reaches for her fruit cup. âthen why did you say it?â the werewolf questions curiously, causing the short girl sitting beside her to sigh in frustration.
âbecause she was gushing over aaron jeffery!â wednesday snaps and enid raises both of her eyebrows in amusement. âand why did that bother you? i thought you and y/n were just friends; didnât you say you hated the idea of love and romance because of your parents?â enid inquires, and wednesday grips the edge of the table so tightly her knuckles change in color. âthis isnât romance or love, i merely believe that y/n can do better than someone like that gross ogre.â she declares simply, and enid smirks, clearly not believing wednesday. âshe can do better? as in someone like you?â enid asks with a shit-eating grin on her face, and wednesday glowers at her roommate.
âyou may be my roommate, but i wouldnât think twice about ripping your tongue out with my bare hands.â wednesday threatens the blonde, causing enid to giggle. âoh my god! you really do have feelings for y/n!â enid whisper/yells excitedly. âyou have to tell her!â she exclaims, and wednesday keeps a straight face as she looks back down at her open book, deciding to simply ignore enidâs presence. âi mean, sure, you may have royally messed up by saying those things to the only person whoâs genuinely not afraid of you, but sheâs a sweetie. sheâll understand if you just tell her you were jealous.â enid rambles, and wednesday snaps her book shut, glaring at the blonde.
âcall her a âsweetieâ again and i really will rip your tongue out.â she hisses as she stands up and walks out of cafeteria. enid gulps, and she looks over at you whoâs watching wednesday walk away. wednesdayâs head is plagued by thoughts of you. she goes to her room and tries to work on her novel, but she canât concentrate long enough to get anything done. her homework got done later than usual because of how much sheâs thinking about you. the raven haired girl sighs in frustration as she looks over at thing whoâs sitting on the corner of her desk.
âi messed up.â she says aloud, making thing perk up at the sound of her voice. he makes his way towards her, and she looks at him with eyes of vulnerability. sheâd never let anyone see her like this, but thinking about you and your face of hurt makes her feel enormously guilty. âwhat did you do?â thing taps, and wednesday purses her lips. âi⊠god this is embarrassing⊠i was jealous of aaron jeffery.â she says his name with disdain, curling her upper lip in disgust. âi know, i know. why should i, a superb young woman, who is by far the most amazing person at this awful place, be jealous of a burnt chicken like him? well, because y/n thinks heâs cute. can you believe that? she thinks heâs cute.â thing is silent while wednesday rants, finally allowing all of her feelings to come seeping out in her rushed words. âwhat was i supposed to tell her? that i think she has the most soul crushing smile on the planet and i would die to see it over and over again? that when she smiled at him it made me want to add him to the list of murders? she makes me sick every time she looks at me, like thereâs a bunch of moths in my stomach that are about to fly out of my mouth. i canât tell her any of that.â wednesday hisses, and thing taps, âyou are in love.â
wednesday viscously glares at thing, âlove is for morons!â she snaps, âyou are a moron.â thing taps back, and wednesday goes silent. âyes. i suppose i am. i mean, i did let her get a way.â she whispers, and thing taps again. âtalk to her. say sorry.â he insists, and wednesday purses her lips. âiâm not saying iâm going to, but hypothetically if i were to apologize, how would i do that?â she inquires curiously.
you rub your temples tiredly after you finish revising your essay for botany class. you had been doing homework all evening and were finally done. though, your homework was slightly prolonged due to the way your thoughts would trail off towards a certainly pig tailed addams. you would think about the way her eyes would pour into you, or the way her lips would twitch into the faintest of smiles as she would listen to you go on and on. yet, you canât help but think about what she said. truthfully, you wouldnât be so angry if sheâd just apologize. sure, the words hurt, but youâd forgive her if she just said sheâs sorry.
but she hasnât even tried to speak to you, and thatâs what hurts the worst.
*knock, knock*
the light knocks on your door cause your head to snap in its direction. an envelope flies under your door, and you furrow your eyebrows as you stand up and make your way towards it. you pick it up, your name is written on it and you recognize that handwriting anywhere. wednesday. you open the door, but thereâs no one there; you can see thing thumping down the hall towards wednesdayâs room. you canât fight the smile that tugs at your lips as you open the envelope, and pull out the letter inside.
ây/n,
please excuse how late this is. i understand if you donât read this, but if you do, would you do me the favor of coming to my room whenever you can? i wish to say a few things to you in regards of our last conversation. if you donât come, thatâs alright too. iâm deeply sorry for what i said. you were right, and i was jealous. you arenât a moron, or pathetic. you arenât like anyone at this school. â w.aâ
your heart flutters in your chest as you read the letter. wednesday wants to apologize? was this some kind of trap to hurt your feelings again? you chuckle at the absurdity of this, but you canât help but feel your cheeks heating up at the sincerity of the letter. you take a step out of your room, and close the door behind you. you hold the letter in your hand the entire way to wednesdayâs room. when you knock the door flies open, and thereâs wednesday standing in front of you with an unrecognizable look on her face. âyou came.â she states observantly, had she really thought you wouldnât? you were crazy about her after all. âyou asked me to.â you respond softly, and there are those butterflies in her belly again
âi didnât mean what i said. iâm sorry i hurt you.â she says, and her usual monotone is laced with vulnerability. your eyes often as you pull her in for a tight hug, âoh wednesday.â you gush as you squeeze her tightly, and she feels a wave of heat wash over her. she immediately feels okay as soon as you embrace her. âdo you⊠forgive me?â the raven haired girl asks carefully, and you pull away, nodding eagerly. âof course! i⊠i guess a part of me knew you didnât mean it. i know youâre not good with feelings, and thatâs why i try my hardest to understand your reactions to everything i do. but i really hope from now on, you try your hardest to understand my feelings as well.â you explain timidly and she reaches for one of your hands cautiously. you gladly accept and interlock your fingers with hers.
âi promise iâll do better. iâm barely starting to understand my own feelings for you, and theyâre a bit overwhelming.â wednesday reveals, causing you to blush. âwell, if you ever need help sorting them out, you know iâm here right?â you ask, and she looks at her for a moment. thing taps on the desk, âinvite her in, moron!â and wednesday blinks as the back of her neck gets coated with a crimson blush. âwould you like to come in right now and help me sort through them?â the goth asks smoothly, and now itâs your turn to blush. âi would like that.â you respond and she lights up as she steps aside, allowing you entrance into her shared bedroom. a wave of relief hits her, as she realizes youâre back and she doesnât want to ever lose you again. thatâs when wednesday realizes she may be in love with you, and that terrifies her.
though, losing you terrifies her even more⊠so if making you hers and keeping you by her side forever is what you need, then sheâll be content with doing so.
///////////////////////////////
a/n: this was my first fic on here!! iâve never seen the netflix series so excuse me if i get anything wrong, iâm just crushing sooo hard on jenna ortega rn đ
#wednsday addams#wednesday addams x fem reader angst#wednesday addams x fem reader#wednesday addams x reader#wednesday x you#lgbtq#this is my first post#be kind#lesbian fanfic
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do you have any tips for an artist who wants to start making one off comics? i really enjoy your artistic direction and style of story telling so iâm very interested in your thoughts on it
yes, definitely!!
-read lots of comics! and a variety of them, too--both ones in the sort of genre/style you'd like to make, but also ones in completely different genres, lengths, places of origin, traditionally/indie/digitally published, simple to experimental formatting, etc
-in relation to the last one, if a comic you read really speaks to you, take some time to study some page layouts from that comic! how do the panels vary from page to page? how much space is the text taking up? what sort of "shots" (to borrow from cinematic language lol) are they using? these shouldn't be fancy, just little thumbnails, but i find it really helps. here's a few i did from a guest in the house by emily carroll
-start smalllll. its really important to build up your stamina, just like with any new sort of skill. if you wanna make a graphic novel thats 200+ pages long, you should make some comics that are 1, 20, 50 pages long and see them through to the end before taking on a super big project.
-this is related to the last point, but i think keeping your cast of characters small at first can also help build up your comic stamina. signals was the first longer comic i made, so i specifically really wanted to focus on just jeanne (and occasionally her parents and peers when they showed up)
-character sheets are helpful, but i also think the easiest way to start getting your characters drawn consistently is through actually drawing the comic! there's also gonna be panels where they look "off" or whatever, and its literally fine, i promise
-through the smaller comics, experiment with how you go about writing your story! theres no right or wrong way to write/plan out a story so, it takes some trial and error to figure out what will work best with your work flow. for me, i've found success in making a timeline of events for the story -> loosely guessing how many pages i'll need/want per section of the story -> freewriting (trying not to edit too much, just dumping all the words out) -> thumbnailing/loose sketching/editing text (all sort of happens in the same step; i find i need the layouts in front of me to understand what i need/don't need from the text i wrote) -> tight sketching -> final . but, if that flow doesn't work for you, try something else! i know a lot of comics people find success in writing a script first, with indications of page and panel-by-panel breakdowns
-take shortcuts often and without guilt. its a lot of work to make a comic! theres just a lot of drawings involved, that most people aren't gonna look at for very long! i especially recommend for infrequent/difficult things, like buildings or crowds or cars or bookcases, using some sort of 3d asset/brush to make your life easier. if you can reuse a drawing and change the crop/expression, do it!
-use some sort of tracker to track your progress on how many pages you've sketched/inked/finished. even if you don't have an external deadline, i think it's still good to give yourself some sort of timeline to work on (i recommend setting "ideal" goals and "realistic" goals, especially if you're working/still in school/etc). for signals, i used google sheets, because you can set up columns to be attached to little circle charts, so as you check off your progress, you can really easily see how much you've done/how much you have left to do (as i type this i highkey forget how i did that before, with signals, so...you might need to do some sheets experimentation to actually do this lol. but there's probably other trackers you can use too)
-understanding comics and making comics by scott mccloud are both great books, highly recommend them (easy to get second hand/from your library/đŽââ ïž)
-lastly, haveee funnnnn
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hii, megan! I hope everything is going well for you. I was wondering if you'd be willing to share how you created the gifs and images overlay effect in this /post/727210103698259968/scott-pilgrim-2010-lgbtqcreators-bingo pretty set? Have a nice day.
I will do my best!
First and foremost shout out to @nelsonnicks Norah whose beautiful gif set here inspired me!
In order to make this as succinct but also thorough as possible, there are some assumptions this tutorial makes:
We are working in photoshop
You know how to make a gif using photoshop
You know how to use the timeline feature to make/edit gifs
Okay let's learn how to make this gif:
(Due to Tumblr's image number limitations, there is a PART TWO linked where I add that "item" and gif, which you can find by clicking this entire sentence.)
STEP ONE: The Image Overlay
Pick your image! Here's the one I've picked, I cropped a page of the graphic novel:
From there, I'm going to click on that magic wand tool:
And select subject (crudely circled for emphasis)
If it's not perfect, you can either use the quick selection tool to refine the selection before or continue on with these steps and use the eraser later. I do both, but it's up to you.
Now I have a lasso around the subject, and I'll click that "Select and Mask" button next to "Select Subject"
Now I can see what my lasso'd image looks like against a white background, and I see that it's pretty good, nothing I can't fix with an eraser if I really want to later.
If the image looks rougher than you were expecting, use the SMOOTH option and play around with that slider.
If it looks a bit more smooth than you wanted (not clear defined lines where you were aiming for clear defined lines) use the CONTRAST option and play with that.
And if you wanted a little more or less around the edges, you can use the SHIFT EDGE tool to grab like 1px-ish of additional space.
Anyway, I like what I've got, so I am gonna CLICK OK
And I'll either cut or copy it onto a new file, and throw away my scraps.
Now it's time to add my character details! I'll use the same format I did for the original set here, and create 3 equal-sized rectangles using this lovely shape tool tool:
So my working file now looks like this:
I move the rectangles closer, I'll want them behind the image of Ramona after but here's just what it looks like while I'm adjusting them.
Then I add the text:
Now, it looks like when I put the bars behind her it'll cut off her name! I don't want that, so I'll adjust the side of the bar for her name and scoot it over....
Nice!
Now I'll adjust those layers to be closer together and behind Ramona...
And this is what my screen looks like now!
It looks how I want it, so now I'm gonna merge all of the layers EXCEPT the background layer. This makes it so the part that's merged has a transparent background.
Highlight the layers, right click, and find the "Merge Layers" option
And now it looks like this:
Step one COMPLETE. Great job. Have you been drinking water? It helps you think clearer. Or something.
STEP TWO: Make the gif you want. Sorry I'm not doing this step-by-step it would be so long I'm sorry!!!
STEP THREE: Put Ramona on the gif!
So I just use the selection tool and make a square around my bestie Ramona here to create this:
And then paste her right on top of my gif here:
Woah! She's ginormous!
Let's resize her by hitting CTRL+T....
This is where we get a little creative. Personally? I think the font is legible, but doesn't look nice now that I've resized it. So I'm going to back to the original file and UNDO my last action (merging the files):
And hit CTRL + T on the Ramona layer (Layer 1 pictured) and adjust her size:
Time to merge these layers again, and redo the process:
MEGAN SHE'S LARGE AGAIN! I know, I'd rather work with big files I have to make smaller than small files I have to make bigger. Sue me.
Resize the layer, make any adjustments to the gif you have under it in terms of placement/size:
And WHEW we got this part done.
STEP FOUR: Add color overlay
I'm gonna make her color overlay blue like her cartoon hair, so I'll eyedrop tool her hair:
Go to Layer:
Add new, and then using a regular brush at like 5000px just click onto that new layer, and...
Bump that layer under your Ramona cut-out,
Go back to the layer drop-down menu, and select Blending options...
And this little menu will pop up:
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE PROPER LAYER SELECTED FOR THIS. Otherwise you're going to be very confused.
See where it says "Blend Mode" and it has a drop down under normal? For these purposes, I'm gonna use the drop down and select COLOR:
Now you can see that all-blue layer in the background now is showing the original gif behind it, but you know your original gif? "I know of it." It's all blueee. /ref
This is what it should look like:
Before I go any further, I'm going to check my timeline to make sure this is covering the WHOLE duration of the gif:
It does, so let's drag that bar on the right to line up with the end of the gif:
All fixed!
So now we've got this:
Oh man! See those white spaces between her arms? I'm gonna go back and fix those now, fortunately I can edit it directly on the full file itself, by just editing that layer.
Using my magic wand tool, I'm selecting those white spaces between her arms and her jacket and deleting them-
She's not perfect but you can always be nit-picky and zoom in really close and refine with the eraser.
PART TWO
#answered#Anonymous#usergif#userairi#usernorah#userbarrow#userhallie#usercats#tuserheidi#tutorial#gresource#gif tutorial#pscentral
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đđđ owen harper bisexuality masterpost đđđ
i've had this in my drafts for a minute but i figured i'd finish it up and post it today for bisexual visibility day :D
it hasn't cropped up recently, but i've seen a lot of people who've questioned owen's bisexuality over the years and i thought i'd compile all the 'evidence' (although it completely baffles me that we got a show with five canonical bisexual characters and people want to write two of them off as straight / "heterflexible" ?? there shouldn't have to be 'proof' of owen being bi, RTD said torchwood is about five bisexuals fighting aliens in cardiff which means they're all bi, full stop. also, bisexuals should never have to 'prove' they're bi, and in regards to fictional characters, i'm sick of people nit-picking who 'deserves' to be counted as rep and refusing to 'claim' certain characters if they're morally grey or if the fandom simply doesn't Like them as much-)
but i digress.
so without further ado, here's everything i've found that supports owen's status as a bicon :-)
explicit canon instances
â€â€ obviously, we have to start with his gay kiss in the first episode of the show. there's a lot to be said about that kiss, i'm not gonna get into all that here, but i've seen a lot of people say it's not proof of owen being attracted to men, and i wholeheartedly disagree. you can literally catch him smiling very happily after the kiss (and one of owen's few genuine smiles of the series, too). i don't think a straight man (or even a "heteroflexible" man) would beam at another guy who's just informed him that he wants to fuck him. a fair amount of people have also said they interpreted owen calling the taxi as him intending to get away from the couple, but i don't understand how they're getting that impression, because that smile makes it seem very much apparent to me that running away is the last thing he wants to do.
it's also, notably, the first time we see bisexuality IN the bisexual show, which i don't think should be discounted. like, we see owen do something gay before jack does, for fuck's sake. is it a good first impression of how torchwood portrays bisexuality? no. is setting owen up as a more sex-driven, opportunistic bisexual nicely contrasted against ianto & tosh's more romance-oriented brand of demisexual bi/pansexuality? in my opinion, yes. i love that the torchwood bisexuals all practice their bisexuality in different ways. that's very special to me. 'cause it's realistic! real bisexuals all experience bisexuality differently! obviously it'd be a different story if he was the only bi rep, because lord knows we've seen enough of that already, but torchwood makes an effort to show us five different brands of bisexuality, and five different bi stories that largely only exist in the subtext, that aren't the focus of the show, and it's fantastic. it's all i could ever want out of bi rep, honestly, even if it is a bit dated now.
â€â€ the other explicit moment in the show: asking tosh and ianto for an end-of-the-world threesome in sleeper (s2ep2). i've actually never seen owen bi-deniers (fhdskjf it's a conspiracy) even mention this scene. owen literally asks ianto if they can have sex with each other to his face, and he's dead serious when he asks it. that's... i mean you can't mistake that as anything else. like fhdsjkf??
â€â€ next we jump to some of the, i suppose, extended universe content. whether the books are canon or not is debated, but the novel 'another life' features owen playing an online simulation game, and it makes a point to depict owen flirting with someone with a male avatar + wondering to himself if the guy would be down for cyber-sex. [someone posted part of that scene here. for context, owen's also got a VR headset on during that bit.]
â€â€ another instance is on the website, which some also don't regard as canon, but, i mean, i don't know who worked on the things we see on that site, but obviously they got their information from somewhere. they probably consulted with the writers on the show, or at the very least got notes on what things to touch on. anyway, there's a portion of the site where you can find a 'background check' on owen, and it's just a collection of messages from some ex-lovers of his. one of them is a man.
again, some people disregard the canon validity of the website, but the way i see it, the information on this site was released while the show was airing for fans to look at and to gain further insight on the characters. one of the things they felt a need to tell us about owen, important enough to be featured in his background (wayyy before the katie plot was developed), was that he wasn't just interested in women. personally, i regard that as canon. you can find this here. and even if you wanna say fragments jossed this background, it doesn't joss his, like... identity.
next we have things said by russell t. davies himself + by burn gorman (owen's actor)
â€â€ again, RTD (who's torchwood's creator, but i'm assuming everyone reading this knows that) explicitly described torchwood as "a bunch of bisexuals living under cardiff and fighting aliens". that's not ambiguous. [i don't have a direct source for this quote, it was apparently said on the dvd extras.]
burn's comments on owen's sexuality include...
â€â€ (when asked who owen fancies) "Owen's pretty cocky, he'll try it on with whoever comes along." [x] and yes, this is vague, but vagueness is often interpreted as proof of bisexuality. (for example, in the pacific rim dvd features, newt's bio stating he was interested in "whoever will take him" was widely interpreted by the fandom as him being bi.)
â€â€ (in regards to owen's "let's all have sex" line) "I don't think he [...] thinks about the implications, or whether it's with a man or a woman." [x]
(ok i have to admit, although i absolutely adore burn, i'm not super fond of the way his 2006-08 self would talk about how torchwood handled sexuality*. however! he kind of hit the nail on the head in saying that, even if it's in the context of owen wanting end-of-the-world sex, because my take on how owen sees his own sexuality has always essentially boiled down to thinking he'd be like, "well, why wouldn't men also be an option?" (well, with sexual attraction anyway; i think owen's relationship with romantic attraction is far more complex.) i think he resembles jack in that way; anyone's a prospective sexual partner, if they're attractive and interesting and he decides he wants them, and he's also impulsive as hell, so he doesn't think too hard about gender in the moment if he decides he's into someone. there's not really any hang-ups.)
â€â€ and ofc...
(out of context this could look like he's just jokingly calling owen an alien-fucker, although owen makes his thoughts on alien-fucking pretty clear in countrycide lol, but it was said in the context of owen/andy as a ship [x].)
*if you're wondering what i'm referring to, it's a comment here [x] about how the torchwood team's bisexuality is a result of being in a pressure cooker environment and having a 'wartime mentality', and they just kind of 'take what they can get'. the implication that bisexuality is out of desperation/accessibility rather than attraction is pretty damn icky, BUT i love him lots and he generally seems to be pretty woke these days (+ otherwise has always seemed to grasp why torchwood's rep was so unique and groundbreaking and important) so i'll go ahead and hope that was just, y'know, simple 'being a straight guy in 2008' ignorance. fifteen years is a long time and i have faith his opinions have evolved by now, esp considering he used the word 'pansexual' at a 2016 con [x]. (actually, ok, you caught me, that last bit wasn't super relevant and i didn't need to bring it up, but i just wanted to gush about him doing it because how often do you hear that word out of celebs, especially older and presumably straight ones. and in 2016, too. kinda slay of him, ngl)
aaand finally, some random, non-explicit little things that i think support him being a bisexy king (several of these are goofy and half-serious)
â€â€ in episode 2, they make a point to cut to owen smiling after jack's line about "you people and your quaint little labels". one might argue he's smiling at gwen & carys on the screen, but cutting to him immediately after jack says it very much implies he's reacting to jack's words, and i think it's particularly poignant after, again, we saw him kiss a man the episode prior. (which, another thing - owen's literal introduction features him kissing a man, like that's gotta count for something. if the literal third thing i ever see a male character do ever is kiss a guy, that means something.)
â€â€ and of course, in the same episode, we get "period military is not the dress code of a straight man" .... owen's the only one of them with working gaydar. also what a fruity thing to say
â€â€ speaking of fruity things to say, in s2e10 when they're all watching the old film, owen goes "look at the state of them đ
" and he says it SO cunty for no reason it always kills me fhsdkjfd
â€â€ combat.
â€â€ no, really.
â€â€ bonus: in the combat commentary, it's mentioned that when RTD saw the above scene between mark & owen, he said it was "the gayest thing he'd ever seen".
â€â€ in the three monkeys, a big finish audio featuring owen & andy, owen flirts with andy repeatedly. even if he just does it to be annoying, it's still pretty damn gay. also the pet names... (he calls him sweetheart, sunshine, and tiger. it's half-mocking, sure, especially because it's owen, but there's also a domesticity to it.)
â€â€ and then there's the hope's "you're alive again and you want crisps?!" "be glad that's all i'm asking for" (owen was like 'i will not use this as an excuse to try to sleep w andy i will not use this as an excuse to try to sleep w andy i will not use th') these are the only two audios i've heard with this duo, i'm sure there's more examples in the other two. i know gooseberry literally has owen sabotaging andy's relationship with his gf and that is... woohoohoo.... i'll update this once i get through those.
â€â€ âŠ. this is my personal opinion but i lowkey think he kinda wants john hart a bit when they all first meet him in kkbb hdskjfds. gwen & tosh both seem very charmed by him and they're meant to, it's supposed to be like 'oh, look at jack's ex waltzing in and charming the pants off everyone (ha), and only ianto and jack see through him' - owen isn't given a flirty line of dialogue or even a close-up shot of him eyeing john like the girls get, but if you watch him closely he certainly looks⊠intrigued by him. i think owen's more of a bi disaster than he lets on.
â€â€ in episode 10, diane notes that owen has "beauty products" in his bathroom. obviously this shouldn't be indicative of sexuality, but how many Straight Men in 2006 were moisturizing lmao. hell, how many do nowadays đ
â€â€ gwen & owen's dynamic settles into a lovely little friendship in s2 and owen lowkey gives gbf vibes <3 them making fun of the movie in s2e10 together + the cheek-kissing at the end of s2e9⊠bi besties!!
â€â€ the peace sign he throws up in meat when he meets rhys fdsjk i don't even believe in some of the silly internet jokes abt bi culture but c'mon
â€â€ have you seen his taste in women. diane is soo butch and gwen's a total tomboy in s1. that's bi culture babey!!!! i too like girls when they're boys
â€â€ i already talked about it but the aforementioned scene where he asks tosh and ianto for a threesome... he asks them, like, immediately after they team up and bully him for not comprehending that there's "no phones. phones all broken. anyone there? no, 'cause the phones aren't working." that was suuuch a disaster bi owen moment for me. i too would get a little revved up if tosh and ianto both bullied me at once <3
aaand finally... the biggest Evidence of all....
â€â€ he's a leather jacket bisexual. need i say more
and that's all! thanks for reading!
[credit for the dividers used in this. didn't tumblr used to have built-in dividers? i miss that.]
#mine#torchwood#torchwood posting#owen harper#tell me why im nervous to post this fhdskfds#my anxiety is like someone's gonna get mad at me for this somehow#shhhhh#beating it with a broom#look at my post boy
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Braindead Reviews
The Walking Dead: Season 4
Overall thoughts:
Daryl brain rot.
Fuck the Governor.
What kind of ending is that!!!
S4, ep 1
Theyâve made the prison look good manÂ
Oh damn itâs a full communityÂ
Thatâs so coolÂ
Theyâve got a mini farm and vegetable crops holy shitÂ
Carl naming a pig even though theyâre gonna have to kill it for foodÂ
Everyone greeting Daryl and him not knowing what the fuck to do with thatÂ
âJust so you know, I liked you first.â Carol I love youÂ
HES SO AWKWARD I LOVE HIMÂ
THE AGGRESSIVE FINGER LICKING DARYL PLEASEÂ
The longer hair is lookin good damnÂ
Howâd they make my man finerÂ
âSorry, Pookieâ CAROL MY BELOVEDÂ
He is now my PookieÂ
Always and forever PookieÂ
TYRESE AND MAMA STILINSKI ?!?!?!?
BETH AND RANDO ?!?!?!?
âItâs a damn romance novel.â Its ok Pookie, youâre just lonelyÂ
Michonne on a horse.. is there anything this lady canât do ??
Michonne bringing back comics for Carl - motherÂ
âYour face is losing the war.â YES PLEASE SHAVE IT BACK A BITÂ
Sheâs looking for the Governor and I get it but please stay safe my love
âDad, thatâs for kids.â You are the kids Carl.Â
Holy shit sheâs a personÂ
Not the kids naming the walkersÂ
HOMICIDE COP đ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł
DARYL FUCKING WITH HIM đ€Łđ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł
Oh holy crap - the helicopter crash and shit on the roofÂ
Michonne killing the cardboard cutout of the zombie in the shopÂ
Ex-army medic guy is kinda weirdÂ
Jesus christ dude thatâs one way to get the walkers attentionÂ
Oh shit not the roof caving inÂ
Idk how I feel about the chick in the woodsÂ
Oh YUCK the scalp being left on the floor as the walker gets upÂ
Beths rando getting killed shitÂ
Carol teaching the kids how to defend themselves during Story TimeÂ
Maggie thought she was pregnant ?!?!?!?
Daryl telling Beth - how was he the best person for that jobÂ
âJust tired of losing people is all.â PookieÂ
DOES HE NOT KNOW HOW TO HUGÂ
Oh god thereâs a sickness in the prisonÂ
DONâT USE THE COMMUNAL WATER DICKHEAD YOUâLL GET EVERYONE SICKÂ
OH SHITÂ
HEâS DEADÂ
S4, ep 2
WHOS LURING THE WALKERS TO THE PRISONÂ
Tyrese please donât singÂ
Please donât let Mama Stilinski dieÂ
Glenn taking a polaroid of Maggie and refusing to throw it away my loves I adore themÂ
Michonne is that boys mother, you canât tell me otherwiseÂ
âIt ainât a breech.â No itâs not pookieÂ
Jesus thatâs so many deadÂ
Carol having to kill that man and his eldest daughter deciding to do itÂ
Daryl knowing that one of the dead locked himself in cause he used to sleep walkÂ
âGotta be.â Pookie you can say youâre not ok
The mans 2 daughters are fucken weirdÂ
Michonne not wanting to hold Judith - hmm, I have thoughtsÂ
MICHONNE CRYINGÂ
IDSVUDSJKVNDS
NO THE POOR PIGS FUCK
WHYD THAT MAKE ME CRYÂ
THEIR PANICKED SQUEALINGÂ
NOÂ
PLEASE NO
THEY BURNT MAMA STILINSKI AND THE OTHER DUDE ?!?!?!?!
S4, ep 3
Daryl stopping Rick and Carol from stepping in with TyreseÂ
Rick and Tyrese fightingÂ
Sasha getting sick fuckÂ
âHeâs already given me fleas.â đ€Łđ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł
Tyrese dude, sheâs dead and its an apocalypse, keep others alive before you hunt down whoever burnt herÂ
GODÂ
NOÂ
NOT GLENNÂ
PLEASE NOÂ
Daryl working on the car.. fuckÂ
âPut a bolt in them for what they did.â Please do pookie
Why am I suspicious of the child ???
Carlâs growing upÂ
âWhatâs that word?â âZananavereâ âYeah, we need you.â So real for that - yes, I spelt it wrong
A voice on the radioÂ
THATS A LOT OF WALKERS HOLY SHITÂ
âMake a run for the woods and donât stop for nothing.â Daryl baby, if they donât stop for you, ill kill themÂ
Why is tyrese just sitting there? Run boyÂ
Not him sacrificing himself for the othersÂ
HEâS ALIVE
Wait
CAROL burnt themÂ
Holy shit
S4, ep 4
Daryl taking something back for the people at the prison - for a grave
Michonneâs smileÂ
Of course Daryl can Hotwire a carÂ
The 2 in the house are a bit.. idkÂ
More mechanic Daryl my belovedÂ
Daryl is so comforting in such a brutal wayÂ
âIt was easier than telling an ER nurse I fell down the stairs for the third time.â I know heâs dead, but imma kill himÂ
The chick from the house is deadÂ
âYou should have kept walking that day.â Fuck okÂ
Feral Daryl getting up in his face - JesusÂ
Darylâs growlingÂ
âYou take one sip before those meds get into our people, I will beat your ass into the ground.â I donât think that should have been that attractive to meÂ
Rick dude, they were gonna die. Yâall didnât even have a plan to go get the meds when she killed them.
Rick you canât kick Carol out the fuck is wrong with youÂ
If she goes, Daryl goes manÂ
RICK
DONâT YOU DAREÂ
I hate you Rick GrimesÂ
S4, ep 5
I hate you Rick GrimesÂ
The kid treating the walker like a dogÂ
OH SHIT THE FENCE IS DOWNÂ
Its all gone to shitÂ
Not Daryl and the others arriving back after itâs all been doneÂ
Oh god they have to tell DarylÂ
His instant concernÂ
NOT THE FUCKEN GOVERNORÂ
FUCK OFF
JUST DIE ALREADYÂ
S4, ep 6
Oh please donât let this be an episode about the fucken governor yuckÂ
Oh these poor people that have found himÂ
Yeah I skipped his episode soz fuck that guyÂ
S4, ep 7
Its still him fuckÂ
SkippedÂ
Not him coming across Michonne and Hershel at the endÂ
S4, ep 8
HE TOOK MICHONNE AND HERSHEL
Darylâs growl while talking about Carol being goneÂ
Whoâs leaving the fucken rats aroundÂ
Governor fuck off nowÂ
Go dieÂ
Jesus ChristÂ
Daryl donât let Carl do anything stupidÂ
The governor is fucking insaneÂ
Hershel looks so proud of RickÂ
NOÂ
NOÂ
NOÂ
NOÂ
ABSOLUTELY NOTÂ
NOÂ
WHAT THE FUCKÂ
NO
HERSHAL PLEASEÂ
YES THE GOVERNOR WAS HITÂ
DARYLS GROWL BEFORE HE STARTS SHOOTINGÂ
MICHONNE RUN
LIVEÂ
PLEASEÂ
YOU GOTTA LIVEÂ
Oh god not Rick getting shotÂ
NOÂ
DONâT HURT HERSHAL MOREÂ
FUCK
OH OH OH YES
THE NEW CHICK SEEING HIM BE SO FUCKING VILE WHILE HOLDING HER DEAD DAUGHTER YESÂ
Daryl my beloved with the grenadeÂ
Beth where the fuck are youÂ
The little kids killing someoneÂ
The Governor getting the best of RickÂ
MICHONNE GETTING THE GOVERNORÂ
YES
HELL YEAH
THATS MY GIRLÂ
Daryl throwing a grenade in the tankÂ
Well.. the prisonâs goneÂ
S4, ep 9
Michonne getting her walkers on a leash againÂ
Rick being a dick ngl
Theyâre both being dicks
FLASH BACK TO MICHONNEâS LIFEÂ
SHE HAD A PARTNERÂ
AND A CHILDÂ
Carl stop talking to your dad while heâs unconsciousÂ
âIâd be fine if you died.â CARL NO
Him running into the door and not being able to open it đ€Łđ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł
The walker in the houseÂ
âWalker in side. Got my shoe. Didnât get me.âÂ
Fuck MichonneÂ
Carl thinking heâs going to have to kill his dad is fucking heartbreakingÂ
â112 ounces of pudding.â That- Carl- ok
Michonne crying because sheâs so happy to find themÂ
WHAT DID RICK SEE TO MAKE HIM LAUGH
S4, ep 10
DARYLLLL
Conveying heâs sorry for the Hershal comment with his expression rather than words is such a Daryl thing to doÂ
ArmsÂ
Heâs so gentle but in a like.. brutal wayÂ
Throwing the crossbow on the ground so he can save BethÂ
Oh Tyrese has Judith, thank godÂ
I donât trust those 2 little girlsÂ
Whoâs screaming????
AYO GET OUR HAND OFF THE BABIES MOUTHÂ
The eldest kid is a fucking psychopathÂ
CAROLLLLLL
Terminus ⊠do we trust it ??
Glenn boy you better be okÂ
HEâS IN THE OVERRUN PRISON HOLY SHITÂ
âSheâs my wife.â Hell yeah she is buddyÂ
WHO ARE THESE GUYS THE FUCK
âWhat else you got?â EwÂ
S4, ep 11
Carl and Michonne acting like bestiesÂ
Not Carl ignoring her attempt to make him feel betterÂ
Her telling Carl about her sonÂ
What is going on in the house Rickâs hiding in ???
THE RICK GRIMES HEAD TURNÂ
Abraham, Rosita, EugeneÂ
How can he possibly know what caused this ???
How can someone in a fucking zombie apocalypse be that useless with a gun ?!?!?!
Oh yuck - those guys are disgusting - Rick, kill themÂ
Actually, Michonne, kill themÂ
Rosita going with Glenn and the other chick - the others followingÂ
Terminus againÂ
S4, ep 12
DARYL YES
Not him and Beth hiding in the trunk of a carÂ
The snake đ€ąđ€ąđ€ąđ€ą
Beth youâre like 17, youâre not having alcoholÂ
Daryl has forgotten how to talk I seeÂ
WHY YOU FLIPPING HIM OFFÂ
HES KEEPING YOU ALIVEÂ
DUMBASSÂ
Why is she so fixated on alcohol like girly leave it alone - if you gotta run for your life, alcohol is gonna make that so much harderÂ
Daryl keeping the money and the jewelsÂ
âRich bitchâ on a dead woman whoâs been posed on a mannequin - Beth being bothered by it and Daryl probably knowing people who would have done thatÂ
Daryl beating the crap out of the walker, even though he could have just killed him quickly - thats the first time heâs shown any outward sign of his rage at losing the prison and the othersÂ
âPeach schnapps. Is it good?â âNo.â CorrectÂ
Daryl throwing darts at the pictures of the people on the wall instead of the dart board - the anger continuesÂ
âAinât gonna have your first drink be no damned peach schnapps.â đ€Łđ€Ł
MOONSHINEÂ
DARYL SHES LIKE 12Â
âThatâs a real first drink right there.â DARYLÂ
Jesus Christ thatâs how Daryl livedÂ
âMr. Dixonâ eughÂ
WHY IS SHE DOING A DRINKING GAME WITH HIM
GIRLY IK HES HOT BUT YOURE A CHILDÂ
âI ainât never needed a game to get lit before.â Pookie pleaseÂ
Things we learn about Daryl in this game
Heâs never been out of GeorgiaÂ
Been drunk and done things heâs regretted - a lot of themÂ
Never been on vacation - camping was for hunting and survivalÂ
Him being offended when she does the ânever been in jailâ line - âis that what you think of me?â
âCANâT HEAR YOU! IâM TAKING A PISS!!â DARYL PLEASEÂ
Things we might have learnt but it could be fake cause heâs pissed
never had frozen yoghurt (now thatâs just cruel)Â
had a pet pony
got anything from Santa
relied on anyone for protectionÂ
relied on anyone for anything (you were abused pookie)
never sung in front of people in public like it was fun (ok that oneâs fair)
cut his wrists looking for attention (low blow)
Aggressively trying to teach her how to shoot the crossbow - wonder how much Norman apologised for the physicality laterÂ
âI want you to stop acting like you donât give a crap about anything. Like nothing we went through matters. Like none of the people we lost meant anything to you. Itâs bullshit.â âIs that what you think?â âThatâs what I know.â
âI ainât afraid of nothing.âÂ
Oh god his voice cracksÂ
A HUGÂ
FOR DARYLÂ
FINALLYÂ
BRO NEEDS ITÂ
NO NO NO NO DONT YOU DARE CRY DARYL DIXON MY POOR HEART WONT TAKE ITÂ
âYeah, Iâm a dick when Iâm drunk.â Pookie, youâre a dick like 97% of the time
âI thought I was dead. Over a dumb cartoon about a talking dog.â Daryl, sweetie, Iâm so glad your brother is dead.
âI was nobody. Nothing. Some redneck asshole and an even bigger asshole for a brother.âÂ
âIâm just used to this. Things being ugly.â
âYouâre gonna be the last man standing.â I see thatÂ
âYouâre gonna miss me so bad when Iâm gone, Daryl Dixon.â Fucken foreshadowing at this pointÂ
I can not for the life of me tell if sheâs flirting with him or notÂ
ARE THEY ACTUALLY GONNA BURN THE HOUSE DOWNÂ
Crazy assholes actually did itÂ
S4, ep 13
Who is this?
Is this the âbackstoryâ of the dude who wanted the alcohol?????
It is alcohol man!!
Ok so with Maggie and SashaÂ
Teaching Beth how to track and use the crossbowÂ
Dad!Daryl to the rescue when Beth gets hurtÂ
âThis is a serious piggyback. Jump up.â Daryl marry me
Holding hands for comfort: cute. But if its anything else.. GIRLY HIS BEARD IS GOING GREY ADN YOU ARE A CHILDÂ
Sasha trying to get them safe and Maggie lost in her griefÂ
Daryl yuck donât do that (do that to me tho) - the jar in the house by the cemeteryÂ
Whyâs she playing the piano - theyâre meant to be quietÂ
âThis is the comfiest bed Iâve had in years.â ITâS A COFFIN DARYLÂ
I am Concerned Daryl DixonÂ
How is a coffin the comfiest bed ?!?!?!? SIR??
I am trying really really hard to keep it that she is a child and heâs old enough to be her dad - PLEASE DONT BE A CREEP DIXON SHEâS 17Â
I did some googling cause it was bothering me - they met when Beth was 16, sheâs currently 17 and she dies when sheâs 18. If ANYTHING happens between them, Iâm turning off. (I knew she died itâs not a spoiler).
Maggie ditching the others to look for Glenn - writing messages in bloodÂ
Daryl is at peak dad energy this episodeÂ
A DOGÂ
CUTEÂ
Beth stop pushing the emotionally constipated man for his feelingsÂ
NOT JUST A DOG
PLEASE LET THE DOG BE OK
Making sure she gets out the house safelyÂ
WAS BETH JUST KIDNAPPED ?!?!?!?!
God he was running all nightÂ
ALCOHOIC AND SASHA KISSINGÂ
Maggie waiting for Sasha and Bob in the townÂ
Who the fuck has found Daryl?
ITâS THE CREEPS FROM THE HOUSE RICK WAS INÂ
Glenn found the Terminus sign, thank godÂ
S4, ep 14
Is someone playing.. with a walkerÂ
This eldest girl is fucken weirdÂ
WHY THE FUCK IS SHE WAVING AT THE WALKERSÂ
The younger girl is also fucken weirdÂ
Jesus Christ what the fuck is she doingÂ
Sheâs feeding the fucken walkerÂ
THE OLDER ONE KILLED THE YOUNGER ONEÂ
THE FUCK
She was feeding the walkers at the prisonÂ
Fucken hellÂ
Carol having to kill the girl she was supposed to protect is foul and cruelÂ
Telling Tyrese that she burnt the others, giving him a gun - holy shitÂ
âI forgive you.â OhÂ
S4, ep 15
Abraham is really good at reading peopleÂ
Glenn taking off when he finds the sign from MaggieÂ
Daryl bby leave those creepsÂ
Carl and Michonne having fun togetherÂ
Oh you did not just invade on Darylâs kill AND call Daryl Dixon âboyâ. You gone dieÂ
OH HES TALKING ABOUT BETHÂ
YOU GONE DIEÂ
Did this fucker just insinuate that ?!?!?!Â
Daryl kill himÂ
He looks like a lil kid having his candy taken from himÂ
Donât stop at noon - wasting timeÂ
âSome of you ainât exactly friendly.â Have you met you?
Did he just compare Daryl to a cat ???
Eugene is creepyÂ
And annoyingÂ
Rosita queenÂ
What did they see?Â
Dickhead needs to back up from PookieÂ
Telling Glenn to go yes, but he wonât
MAGGIE AND GLENN YES
Glenn not telling Maggie that Tara was with the Governor is certainly a choiceÂ
I get the feeling that Eugene isnât saying somethingÂ
Heâs leaving something outÂ
Or heâs lyingÂ
They killed dickhead holy shitÂ
THEYâRE HUNTING RICKÂ
CAUSE HE KILLED THEIR MAN TO ESCAPE
Glenn and Maggie arriving at Terminus - why do I have a bad feeling about this?
MaryÂ
S4, ep 16
WHY IS RICK COVERED IN BLOOD THE FUCKÂ
CARL ?!?!
MICHONNE ?!?!?!
OH GOD DID THOSE DICKHEADS FIND THEM ?!!?
Those dickheads have in fact found Rick
âThese people, youâre gonna let them go. These are good people.â Yes pookie save themÂ
âYou want blood. I get it. Take it from me, man.â UH NOÂ
OR WE COULD NOTÂ
DONâT
STOPÂ
NOÂ
FUCKEN HELLÂ
LEAVE HIM ALONEÂ
The Rick Grimes Head TiltÂ
Carlâs crying really reminds you that heâs still a childÂ
AYO
IS THAT DUDE GONNA RAPE CARLÂ
HOLY SHIT RICK
HE JUST RIPPED THAT DUDES NECK OUT WITH HIS TEETHÂ
HOLY SHITÂ
âHeâs mine.â Oh fuck
Dripping in blood, having just ripped someones neck out, and pissed off cause you dared to touch his son.. youâre dead dead deadÂ
He just gutted that man like a pigÂ
Holy fuckÂ
Michonne cradling Carl - thank youÂ
Carl lying on Michonnes lap like sheâs his mum - imma cryÂ
Daryl looking out for Carl, making Rick clean the blood offÂ
Daryl Dixon donât you dare blame yourself for those dickheads - you were trying to surviveÂ
âYouâre my brother.â
âWhat you did last night, anybody would have done that.â If someone tried to rape my kid, hell yeah I wouldÂ
Michonne and Rick have this way of understanding each other and itâs beautifulÂ
Theyâve made it to TerminusÂ
Her walkers on the leash were her boyfriend and their friend - they were high in the damn apocalypseÂ
Carl bby youâre not a monster. Youâre the product of your horrific circumstances and the shit youâve had to do to survive.Â
Gareth and AlexÂ
Donât take their weapons plsÂ
âHate to see the other guy.â âYou would.â
âThey deserve it?â âYes.â Carl bby, yes they didÂ
Rick seeing belongings from other members of their group - putting a gun to Alex, Daryl jumping in with 0 hesitationÂ
Even in a zombie apocalypse I cannot escape legoÂ
JUST TELL RICK WHERE YOU GOT THE WATCH BROÂ
YO
WHATÂ
THEÂ
FUCKÂ
WHOÂ
ISÂ
IN
THEÂ
CRATESÂ
Why does the letter âAâ keep showing up ???
GLENNÂ
MAGGIE
âNow theyâre friends of ours.â Yes they are pookieÂ
âTheyâre gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out.â ⊠âTheyâre fucking with the wrong people.âÂ
What a way to end the season fuckÂ
#° braindead reviews#the walking dead#daryl dixon#rick grimes#michonne#glenn rhee#maggie greene#carl grimes#twd#° braindead watches#season 4
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Undeath on the High Seas
Chapter 1
They ended their time in Southeast Alaskaâs Inside Passage with patches of clouds intermittently covering the sun. Fate had been smiling on them for the last couple of days. The forecast had predicted a cold rain, but all the sleepy little towns were graced with clear skies instead of the usual âliquid sunshine.â
As the ship slowly made its way out of the inside passage, a gentle breeze ruffled Penelopeâs hair, bringing the crisp, soothing scent of the ocean. The sun is perfectly positioned, warming her legs without blinding her, and the clear blue sky and untamed green forests are reflected on a deep, dark sea. The distant roar of the ship covers all other sounds, and Penelope is just getting into the first book in her bag when Teagan and Courtney stop by.
Courtney slams the sliding glass balcony door open, something Penelope hadnât thought possible, and yells, âFound her!âÂ
Penelope jumps hard enough at the interruption that she nearly throws her book. Maybe she should have saved the horror novel for later.Â
Or at least for when her friends werenât scaring the bejesus out of her. Â
Teagan pops her head out after Courtney. For once, her chestnut hair is loose from its usual severe, slicked-back bun. As usual, sheâs distracted by her ancient phone, probably texting her boyfriend as she says, âHey! Should have figured youâd be hiding away.â
âWell,â Penelope begins, tucking her feet under her chair. She doesnât really have an excuseâshe was hiding. âI just wanted to avoid the crowds.âÂ
âCourtney wants to explore the ship, maybe take some aesthetic pics. Wanna join?â Teagan asks before Courtney can.
Penelope gets more comfortable and smiles, âNo thanks, I finally got comfortable.â
âBut itâs gonna be fun!â Courtney whines, giving Penelope puppy dog eyes. Unfortunately for her, it's much less effective now than in elementary school, when sheâd had the big doe eyes and dark curly pigtails to match. âWe can even see the boring parts of the ship youâll like!â Â
âI find reading just a liiiittle more comfortable than posing for you forever.â Penelope's already done three shoots for Courtney and wasnât feeling up to more.
Courtney pouts, crossing her arms over her stark white crop top. She looks like sheâs going to argue more, but Teagan cuts her off.Â
âOkay, weâll see you at dinner then.â Teagan looks up from her phone long enough to smile and wave, braces unable to diminish her pearly whites. As they leave, she shouts, âEnjoy your book!âÂ
Penelope half-salutes, watching through the balcony door as they grab another bagâlikely full of props and clothesâand head off. Penelope knows theyâll probably take way too many pictures that Courtney will edit and then pass out to the rest.
Presumably, to post on their own socials.Â
Even if she were into that lifestyle, Penelope will wait to post anything. Sheâs heard one too many stories of people coming home to find that they'd been robbed. Even though she has roommatesâand sheâs probably more at risk of them stealing her stuffâsheâd prefer to avoid that.Â
Penelope settles in again and relaxes into her book, letting her dark hair loose around her shoulders to help keep the cool breeze at bay.
Sheâs glad theyâre all still friends, but a vacation is supposed to be relaxing.Â
Even if they did go to see stuff like the engines or the shipâs bridge, sheâd be the only one enjoying it. Though, they would get some cool pictures if they were allowed to take them.Â
...---... ...---... ...---... Â
After a while, Penelope notices the slight catch in her throat and thinks about getting a drink, only to be startled again by the door to the room slamming open.
âYouâre never gonna believe it!â Melissa shouts as she crashes into the room, shattering Penelopeâs peace again.Â
Penelope hopes Melissa will get the message by burying her face in her book. However, she continues to chatter, obviously missing the fact that Penelope isnât paying attention. Resigning herself to her fate, Penelope chooses to actually pay attention to her friend.Â
Melissaâs tousled blonde hair bounces as she flits around the room, gushing the guy she met. â-Heâs so sweet and such a good listener! And I was telling him about how Iâm looking for a job-â
Penelope listens to her besotted friend as Melissa puts on clean clothes and chatters away. She's wearing the same sundress she wore last night when she went to âwatch a movie.â Other than her hair being a bit of a mess, she looks happy.Â
Glowing, really.Â
Maybe Teaganâs wedding isnât the only one weâll be going to soon, Penelope thinks to herself, nodding as Melissa keeps talking.
â-He says that thereâs a school district near him looking for art teachers, and you know I minored in that, but I was thinking it might be a good idea to apply there anyway-âÂ
She seriously doubted it would actually happen. Though it is fun to see how Melissa acts, bouncing and moving through the cabin with vitality, whenever she meets someone new, she always plans their whole lives together immediately. She would make a decent life coach if her dreams didnât bounce around as much as she was now. But she was happy and could be as âin loveâ as she wanted as long as she could hold down a job.Â
â-And if I do get a job there, maybe having a friend there can help me get settled. I mean, heâs gotta know all the best places to hang out and-â
Penelope smiles and nods as her friend talks. Even though the interruptions are irritating, the rest of the cation will be perfect for reading. Besides, this will be the last time she sees her friends for a long, long while. She'd only come on this trip because of the lull between her summer job ending and her big new fancy job starting.
â-Heâs just so nice, and he constantly talks up his friends. Can you just imagine him doing the same about me? I mean, not that I expect him to, but heâs so outgoing and just-â
She tries to enjoy it while she can. Usually, Melissa gets too into whatever sheâs working on to remember to tell the others about her current boy toys, often leaving them confused when she shares news without updates in between.
And while Brody is apparently the best man ever, Penelope is sure heâs just another in a long line of them. However, he probably will hold a special place in Melissaâs heart just by virtue of being her first love at sea.Â
â-Iâm probably just getting ahead of myself again.â Melissa stops, looking over at Penelope.Â
Penelope freezes, her muscles tensing. Should she say something? What? She hadnât been listening, and that didnât sound like a question.Â
She tries to cover up her panic, but Melissa shrugs before she can say anything.
âEh, at worst, I have a job, right? So Brody lives in-â Â
Crisis averted.Â
Penelope allows herself to go back to thinking. Sheâs really enjoying Alaska. A beautiful cruise ship with stunning sights, friendly people, and lots of sun. Not to mention tons of time with her friends. Kodiak was gorgeous, just like all of Southeast Alaska. There were undoubtedly upsides to living in this part of the world, friendly people aside. Maybe she can get a job traveling in this part of the world. There is always a need for tech people, and stuff on the cruises probably needs fixing.Â
Who would I need to talk to about that? She wonders.Â
â-But he probably knows about some places that might be cheap or easy to rent, right? Not that I need him to help me find a place. I can do it on my own, but itâd be nice to have someone to help with all the bills. I wouldnât ask Brody to-â
Although Information and Technology wasnât Penelopeâs first choice, it was a good path, and she'd make decent money. The biggest downside sheâs noticed is that everyone goes to her when they have computer issues.
Her mom disapproved, but her mom had met her dad before leaving college and thought a Mrs degree was the most important one a woman could have. It doesnât mean that Penelope wants to do the same.Â
She just needs her mom to stop setting up blind dates for her without any warning. Well, the one with Frakenlin hadnât been the worst blind date, except that she was a woman, and that really wasnât what Franklin was looking for in a partner.Â
She should call him when she gets home; if nothing else, he was fun to talk to.
âDo you think I should invite Brody to dinner?â Melissa asks her, and Penelope thinks for a moment.Â
She taps her lip as she thinks. Itâs not something sheâs crazy about, but sheâs pretty sure theyâre not allowed to have guests. She isnât going to tell Melissa that, though.
âI thought we were going to spend some time together. You know, like weâd planned?â Penelope does her best to avoid wincing. She can admit it came out a little⊠well, a lot worse than sheâd planned. âYouâre spending so much time with this guy. Letâs have a girl dinner, and you can introduce us later.âÂ
âYou know what? Youâre so right. And I am all over that.â Melissa says, coming over and giving Penelope a quick squeeze, briefly enveloping her in a cloud of sweet perfume before returning inside.
Penelope sighs with relief, then notices Melissa packing an extra change of clothes. âOr are you just planning to not see us until tomorrow if we wonât have dinner with him?âÂ
Melissa blushes, a pretty thing influencers wish they could replicate. âI need them for dinner, obviously! Iâm not just going to dip on you guys.âÂ
Penelope is pretty sure they both damn well know that the clothes are for her next overnight stay with Brody. She smiles at her anyway. âGo have fun, just message one of us if youâre not coming so we know not to wait around.â
Melissa beams and calls, âOkay-love-you-bye!â Â
Even though sheâs mostly out the door, Penelope calls back, âI do want to meet that boy of yours! Eventually!â
If you're interested in this so far, preorder now on Amazon!
Penelope Rose thought a cruise through Southeast Alaska would be a relaxing way to celebrate getting her degree with her friends.
She couldn't have been more wrong.
After a week of sun, fun, and visiting all the little attractions that every town had to offer, all that was left was a week at sea.
Then came to request to stay in their rooms. Hours turn to days, and the food deliveries stop. Penelope and her friends have to leave the safety of their room, only to find most of the ship's passengers dead, or infected with a disease so terrible that Penelope can't even think the name.
Or consider following me on Patreon:
#writing#writers#female writers#my writing#writer#travel#alaska#inside passage#cruise#friends#friendship#vacation adventure#vacation horror#adventure#fall vibes#reading on vacation#nature#relaxation#female friendships#funny moments#chapter one#undeath on the high seas#Penelope Lundon Rose#chapter 1#preorder#novel#Patreon
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Reading Throne of Glass (1-3)
TW: mentions of slavery and suicide
Disclaimer;
I'm gonna be nitpicky but it won't reflect my overall enjoyment. Besides the racist Nehemia plotline (which I don't like at all) I don't mind the general vibe or story of ToG. Also because it's so popular I have been spoiled for the overall big points of the story like endgame ships and character death but I don't know anything about the world, the magic, the character personalities, histories etc
Chapter 1
I instantly prefer the 3rd person POV.
SJM loves using slavery - and like, the worst type of slavery - as trauma porn.
Notorious Assassin - are you not then just bad at your job? Why does everyone know it was you?
SJM knows how to write her protagonists being observant, it's maybe her best trait.
WAIT. WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING??
If they're escorting her and trying to confuse her or even just to treat her like a prisoner - why isn't she blindfolded?? Why not put a bag over her head?? Like SHE CAN SEE WHERE SHE'S GOING?????
Okay I know Chaol is gonna be important and a love interest at some point so he has to have a serious position despite probably being 17/18 - but CAPTAIN of the royal guard?? The whole royal guard?? Be fr. Just have him be the Prince's right hand or personal knight or something.
The Captain of the Royal Guard would be an interesting opponent. Maybe even worthy of some effort on her part.
She was scared of him 5 sentences ago:
...Chaol Westfall, Captain of the Royal Guard, and suddenly, the sky loomed, the mountains pushed from behind, and even the earth swelled toward her knees. She hadnât tasted fear in a whileâhadnât let herself taste fear.
"How lovely it was to hear a voice like her ownâcool and articulateâeven if he was a nasty brute!" Sorry the slaves weren't well spoken and there aren't any political prisoners to keep intellectual company with
The only thing all the intended disorientation had accomplished was to familiarize her with the building. Idiots.
Yea, I agree, they are idiots - they should have blindfolded you
Why is this big manor?hall?thing? by the slave mines? Like so close it's literally next door to where they sleep
The world building is pretty good so far
"...the opulence felt like a slap to the face." sjm don't lie
Chapter 2
close-cropped chestnut hair >>>> team Chaol already
I might consider Celaena an icon for not bowing to the Prince, if I didn't know she ends the series as queen. What a waste.
I'll probably like Dorian but his words mean nothing. If he had a problem with people being forced to bow, he would have said something earlier.
Duke Perrington came from Rifthold to see the treasurer?? The treasurer doesn't live at court? Or at least in the capital?
(Gold crown+)...black doublet, an emblazoned gold rendering of the royal wyvern occupied the entirety of the chest. His red cloak fell gracefully around him and his throne.
Dorian's first outfit eating up all of Rhysand's 3 black on black outfits.
Black hair blue eyes, he was definitely the first endgame love interest. A YA classic.
Princes are not supposed to be handsome! Theyâre sniveling, stupid, repulsive creatures! This one . . . this . . . How unfair of him to be royal and beautiful.
This. And some other sentences (that also end with exclamations) come off as weirdly childish in their tone and don't fit with the rest of the writing. Eg
What a miserable state for a girl of former beauty!
Like stop. The vibe is she thinks she's gonna die and she's being humiliated by her enslavers. This is off
I won't rag on SJM's writing too much because she was young and it's her first novel but this:
At a passing glance, one might think her eyes blue or gray, perhaps even green, depending on the color of her clothing. Up close, though, these warring hues were offset by the brilliant ring of gold around her pupils. But it was her golden hair that caught the attention of most, hair that still maintained a glimmer of its glory. In short, Celaena Sardothien was blessed with a handful of attractive features that compensated for the majority of average ones; and, by early adolescence, sheâd discovered that with the help of cosmetics, these average features could easily match the extraordinary assets.
"But now, standing before Dorian Havilliard as little more than a gutter rat!" Girl, stfu
Acotar ellipses >>> ToG exclamations
I like Dorian and I like the story of Celaena's escape attempt. BUT. It would have been better if Dorian and Chaol had heard the story and used it as their reason to recruit her - a hectic story that proved Celaena was not only all that her reputation said but also that the mines hadn't broke her.
Then later, when they have more of a connection, have Celaena reveal it was essentially a suicide attempt.
Secret business? The Crown Prince, the Captain of the Guard, a Duke and like a dozen + royal guards isn't exactly low profile. In fact, it's the highest fucking profile, Sarah
Chapter 3
Dorian đ€ Cassian; ogling starved women's bodies.
"My father has gotten it into his head that he needs a Champion." Even Celaena knows the Champion is supposed to be a knight or a lord or a holy warrior or something, not an assassin and definitely not an enemy of the crown. If you need an assassin just hire her as one
No one gets hired in an sjm book without being offered a "considerable salary" I think she doesn't understand much about money irl
She barely heard his last few words. A competition! Against some nobody men from the-gods-knew-where! And assassins! âWhat other assassins?â she demanded.
âNone that Iâve heard of. None as famous as you...
The exclamations... Also those assassins are better by simple virtue of not being famous
They're acting like she's weakened but honestly shouldn't she be absolutely shredded? Shouldn't her arm strength be crazy from a year in a mine?
...but could only recall a solitary line from the mournful bellowing of the Eyllwe work songs, deep and slow like honey poured from a jar: âAnd go home at last . . .â
SJM is actually so vile because I know this isn't gonna really matter in a way that centres these enslaved people.
-
Overall not bad. I like these 3 characters and I much prefer 3rd person POV.
Celaena is a little erratic in her moods and thoughts but whatever.
Some nice hints of worldbuilding but also standard "sjm doesn't really understand the concept she's included"
#ae read#throne of glass#sjm critical#anti sjm#but not really#anti tog#just in case#ae read throne of glass
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Scherzo liveblog and analysis (from my notes app @ about ten past ten pm last night) (Spoilers!):
Okay, starting off with a fairytale with fascism vibes, nice. Bodes well, love the themes that tend to crop up with fascism (repression, truth, creativity, the ungovernableness of life). Kallocain vibes (<- says the person who thinks everything good in life is about her favourite novel).
What are we doing in the tardis? They're on speaking terms again? Did I miss something? Oh, he's unwell?!! YESSS (edit: as in: mentally and emotionally unsound. This guy is NOT coping with Zagreus.)
Loving the existentialism. Angst is my lifeblood.
Oh this episode knows how to make use of the audio medium. Brilliant! You couldn't tell this story on screen, or in writing.
Don't fight? đą Doc you're an ass
OOO WEEE OOOOO
Okay, story time again. So the doc and his desire for solitude is the king, is that it? He thinks he longs for a world without conflict, because he cannot stand the conflict in his heart(s), but what he'll find is that conflict is what life isâas foreshadowed by Charley walking away before he called her back. Charley is his music, that keeps the world from being fully known, predicted and without interest? The distance that allows for desire and pining and chasing, the hunt that is core to romance and passion (see: Contrapoints video on Twilight). Okay, I need to tone down the academic brain and just enjoy this, but I've spent all day writing about cultural theories for uni. Can't wait to see doc no doubt be put through the seven rings of hell before realising what he actually wants, cause solitude ain't it chief. 21:28 in, more than 2/3 left to go. Carry on.
ooo wee ooo? Haven't we done this already?
LITERALLY THE NEXT THING HE DOES IS TELL HER TO STOP HUMMING. BIT HEAVY HANDED NO?? (I'm not complaining đ)
Going to bed and listening through my headphones in the dark was the right decision, really suits the whole vibe of the story.
"When do I ever sulk" skdjhfashaö *cough*stranded*cough*
Those echoes are genuinely unsettling, especially that loud glitch. Why did I turn out the lights? Horror is exciting though, I don't often feel scared by media, it's nice it to know it can still get me. I was right about the story knowing how to use the audio medium. (The audio is paused and I can literally hear my own heartbeat, though that might just be because I had too much sugar before. Probably both.)
Oh my god? Doc you're completely useless. Stop it with this structuralist analysis, I think we need to get a bit more phenomenological or possibly interactionistic about this, focus on the instance and not the structure? She's right there in front of you speaking plain English you blithering space mole. I realise me using this language isn't giving me much of a leg to stand on criticising him for being overly analytical, but in my defence I think I'm more on the money than he is likely to get within the next half hour (current timestamp: 32.55).
Oh that promise is coming back to bite you in the arse doctor you mark my words.
Fuck you doc don't call me out like this I don't need to think of my heartbeat any more than I already do.
đ¶Broder Jakob, broder Jakob, sover du? Sover du? Hör du inte klockan? Hör du inte klockan? Ding ding dong. Ding ding dong. (Ha Charley, I know the lyrics!)
Strong stomachs on those two huh
OOO WEE OOO halfway mark!
Back to the tale! "Anything could be born with music, and nothing could be born without it" love that sentiment. No love without expression and no expression without love. Yeah, this is what doctor who is about!
Right, so we're just doing the theme twice around the fairytale ig. It's a banger though.
Okay??? Guess the cover makes sense now? Kinda horrifying.
Ueeeghhh that soundddd. Stop pushing đ©
Sisyphus.
Oooooooohhhh this is good this is good. They're getting there. So now it's out there what are we gonna do about it huh, doc?
Yeah throat cutting is more fucked up than I expected from this story.
ooo wee ooo
I didn't expect that turn to the fairytale⊠yeah guess there is always yang in the yin and yin in the yang. How come I can never manage to think past the midpoint to the break into the third act when beginning a new story?
Uugghhh that sound again. Most fucked up "kiss" in who history?
1. wtf is going on. Why is he her daughter? 2. STOP IT with the audio glitches! It's past 1 in the morning!! People are sleeping in the next room I can't make a noise!
Oh, it's the creature.
I don't get it, why must anyone die?
Even in the audios, doctor who people can't just fuck normal apparently
And it just. Ends?
Do we find out how they make it back to our reality? Do they? Tune in next week to find out if it was all a dream!
Thoughts the morning after
I liked the story at the beginning better than the ending, but I struggle to keep up with plot at the best of times, let alone overtired and without a visual. I'm more of an emotional arcs kinda guy anyway, so pure character study is more my thing than the plot. Hats off to the audio editor and writer, this is the best use of the medium I've heard yet.
Okay, looking up the meaning of the title. Translated from Swedish Wikipedia (cause it was more concise than the English one): "Scherzo (plural: Scherzi), Italian for joke, is a musical form in classical music." Typically it's found somewhere near the middle of a classical piece, and it's a kinda fun/funky/up-tempo thing (more info here). Like this or this, which yeah, sound very much like this story feels.
So I'm guessing the title is in reference to the FrĂšre Jacques melody, a kid's play song that is usually sung in rounds (the same way it echoes in the story). What with the whole growing up/evolution theme that goes along with it, that would make this a story about the value of mimicry and how that allows you to learn, but that single-minded obsession will never allow you to develop your own identity, because independence requires playfulness and creativity, without which we regress and wear out and tear apart what we cared about in the first place. Which relates back to the fascism-related themes I mentioned at the beginning, and also applies pretty obviously to the Doctor and Charley's relationship.
This then becomes a story about the value and limitations of stories themselves. Really affirming of fandom communities in a way, that make stories into something more, and more their own than they could ever have been if they were left as they were. Feels especially poignant coming from what was at the time an offshoot of a TV series that was cancelled but the fans refused to let die.
I'm also seeing a lot of references to minuets in relation to scherzi (since the scherzo is an evolution of the minuet), so is this the same writer as a minuet in hell? Nope, apparently not, these guys just all like their musical terminology. Overall really enjoying the complexity of the references in these older audios though, it's nice when stories introduce you to new thingsâespecially in a show all about the wonder of discovery.
Very good story, this one has layers on layers and the onion certainly isn't made of glass. Emotionally I kinda prefer the raw angst of Zagreus, though I think this is one of those stories that will grow on you over time and as you re-listen. Yet another thing to look forward to. I like it more just from having written all this out. Love that these audios give the audience something to digest, those are always the kinds of stories that stay with you.
I'm so glad to be here.
#I can only think when I'm writing#can you tell?#hopefully this makes at least a little sense to anyone else đ#big finish#scherzo#eighth doctor#charley pollard#maddie's dw tag#maddie's writing tag
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FABLEHAVEN AUDIOBOOK ON YOUTUBE??
I'm screaming and crying and laughing my crops are growing my skin is clear my aching bones are healed of creaking- ya'll my inner child hasn't been this happy in years.
Deep Voice Narrator, I would like to personally shake your hand and treat you to a coffee as thanks for this wonderful gift you've given me.
I've had my (positive) rant post about Fablehaven on Tumblr for a literal decade and every now and then it gets some note traffic, but for the longest time I was convinced I was the only kid on earth who ever read the dang books. I was so sad that, in the wake of Jerk Kraven Rowling's bulldozing of fantasy media franchises at the time with the release of the HP movies, nobody would ever pick up these books. They were overlooked, tossed aside for the hot new films made for the fantasy series Harry Potter, and forgotten by everybody except the few folks who bothered to pick up the interesting covers or were gifted copies for their birthdays. I was among the latter, and god as my witness I would not be the same person I am today if not for these novels. I still have all five novels with the original covers, and they're among my most cherished possessions.
Are they perfect? No, they're products of their time and have some flaws. They're the first book series ever penned by Brandon Mull, who would go on to write and complete many more fantasy book series, but for his maiden voyage into writing, they're incredible! The flaws are nowhere near the level of some of the BS that Just Kidding Rowling pulled in HP.
Do they still slap severely and commit really fucking hard to the fantasy? YES. A MILLION TIMES YES.
And you have seen fit to gift the world with a digestible audiobook format I can send to my friends who are unable to purchase the books, that also serves as a giant middle finger to Amazon. I could kiss you, but I'm ace and respect boundaries, so I will instead grab you by the shoulders and shake you vigorously like a maraca. And you're doing ALL FIVE BOOKS-
EVERYBODY READING THIS POST- GO READ FABLEHAVEN OR LISTEN TO THESE WONDERFUL AUDIOBOOKS BY DEEP VOICE NARRATOR, AND COMMUNICATE TELEPATHICALLY WITH ME ON A SPIRITUAL LEVEL ABOUT HOW INTENSELY THESE BOOKS SLAP. I HAVE INCLUDED LINKS TO BOTH THE PLAYLIST AND DPN'S YOUTUBE, YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE NOW.
I know Tumblr's gonna nuke this post from search bars due to the external links, please spread the word of this audiobook I'm begging-
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Bit of a NSFW drabble idea for the LARP Steddie: they could do a scene at a club?
Hey anon! I took some liberties with the idea of a club, mostly because there's like three ways I could interpret that. Also I don't think this is like, LARP AU canon (unless I decide later on to expand it), but it's definitely that version of those characters!
I hope this is what you wanted! I really had fun with this one, thank you so much for the request <3
[Drabble request series on ao3]
---
2.9K words - Steddie - Rated: E
Contains: Public humiliation, riding crops, pain play, ball torture (with the crop only), spitting, Eddie IN LOVE, Roleplaying (cowboys!), Bondage, handcuffs, and a fade to black kind of ending otherwise I would've been writing a novel about it LMAO
Of all of the ways that Steve's pushed him before, the crazy shit he's gotten up to since the first time Steve got him on his knees, this has to be the one that he should be tapping out of before it even begins.
It's so. Public.
Safe, Steve assured him, detailing exactly how he went about it, making sure that the bar they were going to was so far underground that it's never been raided before, that it's so illegal that nobody's going to even ask him for a fake, community minded in a way that means bad actors are thrown out so people can get up to their freaky shit in peace.
Yeah, because peaceful is totally the word Eddie would use for this.
Hard metal cuffs digging into his wrists â he'd asked Steve to leave a mark on him and meant it â as he struggles against the wood column he's strung up against, the chain of the cuffs hooked up high behind the pole and over one of the low wooden beams that spans the ceiling.
He has to hold onto it, to acquiesce to his position â in life, in this bar, in Steve's hands â otherwise the handcuffs are gonna really hurt him. His feet are tied together too, boots bound behind the pole with rope around the ankles, those and his socks the only fucking stitch of clothing he's got on.
He doesn't know it makes him feel more naked or not, but his dick is way ahead of him, physically sticking out like a red beacon and also way more on board with all of this than the part of himself that houses his common sense.
The cowboy hat on Steve's head tips back as he looks up at him, surveying the outlaw he'd captured, riding crop steady in his hand as he walks around him.
Their audience â because this place of Eddie-style freaks draws people who love watching helpless men get trussed up like a fucking Halloween decoration â is watching, eager to see what he does with it.
Eddie's⊠scared.
In his planning Steve had practiced with the riding crop, gave Eddie all of the details on how he tested it out on his own skin as Eddie's hand had crept into his shorts to get a hand around himself, and that kind of worries him. Because Steve knows how to wield it, he's not going to hold back. He promised he wouldn't.
Steve caught him, Eddie The Bad, the outlaw cowboy who'd been causing trouble in town, and Steve The Protector was giving him his very public punishment.
The light brush of leather over his thigh makes Eddie jump, eyes flying from where they were locked onto Steve's to watch him tease the crop up to where his balls are hanging â tight and ready despite the fact that they haven't gotten to the best part yet â ghosting over them just to drive home the fact of his vulnerability.
They'd set limits, but that doesn't change the fact that Steve could do whatever he wanted. He'd never, which is why Eddie even agreed to this, but with so many eyes on him he feels like he's truly at everyone's mercy.
Meeting the staff earlier had been interesting. They'd been fully dressed, normal, themselves, as they went over things with the bouncer and security and the bartenders. Steve had apparently been planning this for like three weeks, a lot of secret phone calls, letting the staff in on things that Eddie has no idea about.
The smirk the bouncer had given him, the "good luck!" he'd called as they headed in to set the scene, had not made him feel very confident.
But despite what he's cultivated his whole life, tonight isn't about being confident, about impressing anyone. It's about obeying, about fictional atonement, about mutual gratification through breaking him so far out of his comfort zone he thinks he's landed on mars.
His dick gives a heavy throb as he struggles again, trying to stay in character so he doesn't just attempt to get some friction from the crop.
Steve laughs, deep and beautiful, mocking him. His usually sweet smile is twisted into something that lights up further every time Eddie shows a sign of distress, and he wonders if the audience can tell that he's so fucking in love with him.
"Alright tough guy," Steve says, not bothering with a shitty western accent. "Can you count to one hundred?"
No fucking way is he hitting him with that thing a hundred times.
Eddie swallows hard, ice water fear trickling into his veins, and he widens his eyes at Steve, forgetting to look defiant for a moment. He's sure he just looks like a panicking loser, but a riding crop hurts, he's never even been had his ass slapped that much with a soft hand before.
"What? You can't? You can rob people of a thousand coins but you can't even count them?"
Steve brings the crop back up to his balls, toying with him, all cat-and-mouse about it as he gives them a light tap. It doesn't hurt, but Eddie still flinches.
"And you're not even gonna answer me? That's pretty rude, tough guy."
Eddie screws his face up into the evil villain frown he usually employs in way more G rated situations, gathering spit in his mouth. He has to aim carefully, doesn't want to get the borrowed cowboy hat dirty, but he's good enough with it, spits on Steve's flannel shirt, right over where his heart is.
How romantic.
Steve slowly looks down at it, his hat almost covering how he's fighting the twitch at the corner of his mouth, Jesus. Eddie really didn't think that would make him have to fight against laughter.
"You son of a bitch," he says like a threat, head whipping back up to glare at him. "Screw counting, I'm gonna have you here until the sun comes up, and then I'm gonna leave you for the folk you stole from, and they're gonna have you until I get back at sunset."
He twirls the crop in his hands like it's not long and unwieldy, and then whips the head of it smartly into Eddie's thigh.
He didn't really expect to be broken into a moan so fucking quickly, but the intention to curse at him drowns under the way his whole body tries to roll into the pain.
There's a few whispers in the crowd, most likely talking about how heâs a slut for the pain, how they either expected that or not, and Steve smirks, nailing him in the exact same spot as the first time.
That fucking hurts and he hisses, fingers clenching into the wood of the beam above him, bracing himself through the initial pain of it.
"Fuck. You!" He yells, knowing that all Steve will hear is a beg for more.
"As if I'd ever let you inside of me," Steve says, bringing the crop down on the inside of his other thigh, eyes sparkling in the incandescent lighting as Eddie gasps.
He's not sure he'd be able to describe the feeling he has now, a mountain made up of so many different layers of things that should be their own mountains, as big as they are.
Love and humiliation are locked in a fierce battle, while pain and pleasure have linked arms to mess with his head. Then of course there's the feeling of joy he gets whenever he gets to take something like this seriously, the drama and creativity of it forming summits of fun. A sprinkle of the little pride he has left feebly dusts the tops of it all, quickly melting away with each new smack of the crop.
Later he'll feel even more, when Steve rescues him from Evil Steve, Steve Who Wields This Fucking Weapon and Also Undressed Him In Front of Like Thirty People. Appreciation and exhaustion and the soreness that tells him he's going to wake up feeling both super well rested and hard as nails.
But for now he has to endure the way that he overhears someone pointing out how much his dick is leaking, pre-cum dripping in humiliating rivulets down the big vein in his cock to get his balls all wet, has to endure Steve reaching up to whip him right in the nipple, hard enough he's going to feel it against his shirt all day tomorrow.
He has to endure how loudly he moans, how he almost cums even though Steve's usually the one with the sensitive nipples, how if he doesn't try to keep his attention focused on Steve or on the ceiling, everyone's eyes feel like they're seeing deeply into him, and it's bad enough his skin is bared for everyone, but for them to read how much he loves it too?
The crop caresses his face before there's a quick-soft-glance of a whip over the head of his dick.
"No!" He yells, gasping as his hips buck forward, chasing after the pain. "Fuck!"
Steve laughs, as mean and beautiful as always, his cheeks a little flushed under the shadow of the hat. Getting to see him like this, all put together in a proper costume, having so much fun with roleplaying in public, it makes him fall even harder than ever.
They haven't even broached the topic of a date, or making this something between partners and not friends who do freaky shit together, but Eddie's been finding himself daydreaming about illegal backyard weddings for a while now.
The riding crop rips his attention away from the curve of Steve's mouth when it slaps up into his balls, hard.
There's a sound that must come out of him, broken like the craggy rocks of Mount Humiliation, the pain causing lights to sparkle in his eyes as he looks across the expanse of his reality and finds that his existence really fucking hurts.
"Are you going to comply with me now?" Steve asks, leaning back against a table, hip cocked all pliant and easy.
This is just another day of tormenting bad guys, for him.
Eddie shakes his head no, can't trust he'll open his mouth and anything better than drool will come out, though once he has control of his muscles again he might use it.
"Guess I'll do it some more," Steve says, twirling the crop again.
The head of it shines dimly in the light, Eddie's pre-cum on it.
It's a stark reminder of his aching dick, pulsing so hard that it defeats the entire scientific concept of gravity.
Steve straightens up slowly, and Eddie sees people watching him, interested in the tilt of his hips as he walks back up to him, and. He's not possessive, and maybe it's a relief to have less of the sharp gazes assessing every inch of him and how horny heâs gotten, but he knows that he'd hate it if Steve paid them any attention.
They just don't know him like Eddie does, their mouths wouldn't fit over him like his does, their hands are all wrong. He knows that without seeing them.
Steve doesn't even notice them, though. Eddie's getting all weird about it for no reason, wedding bells chiming in the back of his mind even as he sees the crop â practically in slow motion â headed towards his balls again and all he can do is tighten up and brace himself.
ExceptâŠ
Steve pulls back at the last second, the only thing touching him is the air, and Eddie thinks he might cum too early just from the sheer relief.
He sags, blowing out a breath, letting the handcuffs hold him up for a second to give his hands a break.
"I'm not that predictable," Steve says, and smacks the crop into his one of his sore thighs.
It still hurts, but after the rolling tsunami of pain from his balls, visceral enough to wind him, it's practically a loving caress. He groans, lets his legs shake as he rolls his body forward, seeking out the sensation of it.
"I'm also not that kind, either," Steve says and -
Fuck.
There it is.
It hurts so badly this time that he blacks out for a moment, teeth clenched so hard that spit drips out of the corners of his mouth, his abs clenched in a too-late brace against the pain that has his brain tricked for a moment, made him think he's cumming.
He's not, there's no orgasm, it's all just the agony of his throbbing balls, of the tears welling up in his eyes and spilling out, no chance to try to blink them away to save whatever minuscule amount of pride he has left. There it is, melted right off the mountain by the hot rays of Steve, rivers of it trickling down to drip off of the end of his jaw.
Steve's eyes look black under the shadow of his hat, big and beautiful but wicked, the sadism Eddie never thought he'd love seeing anywhere but in the mirror spearing him right through the heart.
He'd give it over in his own heartbeat, still pumping on a leather platter, tied up with his handcuffs and rope, if that's what Steve wanted. If he planned carefully for three weeks and broached the subject only after clearing the idea with a literal team of people staffing the venue where he wanted to sink his teeth into it.
"Yeah, you thought you could take it, huh tough guy?" Steve asks, tapping the crop firmly against one of his cheeks, mixing pre-cum and tears together. "Give up yet?"
Eddie shakes his head, feeling a bit dizzy but not weak, still good to go if he wants.
And fuck, he hates himself for it, but he wants it so badly at the same time. He's been knocked down several pegs in the past few months, what's another one?
So, of fucking course, he wants it.
"Never met someone who had to rely on torturing someone's ball sack to scrape out a victory," he says, and spits on him again, getting it right on his mouth.
Steve goes still, and quiet. The twitch of laughter isn't there like before, this time he slowly wipes the spit off, every inch of movement broadcasting the danger of a snake about to strike. Eddie's dick throbs hard, greedy.
"There's going to be nothing left to torture when I'm done with you," Steve hisses, prodding his chin with the end of the crop. "You're going to regret ever stepping foot in this town."
Eddie thinks that if he's not careful he'll start to melt right out of his skin, letting the hard nudge of the braided leather guide his head upwards, baring his throat for everyone.
"Can't wait," he says, his voice strained and dry.
Steve watches him for a minute, taking him in, maybe giving him another moment to rest before he starts again, kicking it off with a hard flick to the tip of his dick.
He groans, his eyes squeezing shut against the sharp pain even though he's trying to find Steve's hand again, wanting to press up against him.
"It's like you want me to do this to you," Steve says, flicking him again.
His eyes roll back, his hips roll forward, he's⊠yeah. He does.
"Maybe you should shut up or make good on your threats, Pretty Boy," he says, dredging up a smirk through the haze of intensity that grips at him.
Steve laughs, smacks the crop against the same nipple as before, and flicks his dick again. It's a heady combination, has him writhing against the ropes holding his ankles together, his calves squeezing around the wooden column.
"Maybe I should punish you by leaving you here," Steve says, stepping back a few paces, twirling the crop in his hands again. "Do you think anybody would take pity on you? Cut you loose? Maybe smack your cock around, since you love it so much?"
Eddie catches himself before he begs him to stay, just stares for a minute as he tries to think of something to say that isn't so incriminating. He knows he was technically defeated before they even walked in here, that's how they planned this would go, but he's been fighting against it the whole time. It doesn't make sense to give in yet, especially not if it reinforces the idea of Steve threatening to leave him in order to get what he wants. Even if it's just acting.
"It would be a soothing balm to my sorry eyes if you walked on out of here," he says, making it obvious that he's starting to gather more spit.
Steve's eyes flick to his mouth, sharp like the whip they'd vetoed last month, and in one fluid movement so graceful it has Eddie impressed in the split second of brainpower he gets to have, he takes two prowling steps forward and hammers the crop against his balls again.
Eddie goes somewhere for a moment, brain stuttering on the image of Steve's arm, crop in hand, flying through the air, blackened pain shot through with exploding lights, his bones maybe starting to disintegrate with the feeling, and he thinks this must be what all of those romantic comedies are about. The kiss so good it sets off fireworks in your skull, rattles love deep into your spinal cord until you'd do anything to get more of it.
His eyelids struggle when he opens them, but he's glad he does, catching the worried furrow of Steve's brow, the alert way he stands tall and strong, waiting on him.
"Harder," he croaks out, and spits on Steve's shoe.
#griefabyss69 writing#drabble requests#steddie fanfiction#steddie fanfic#stranger things fanfic#stranger things fanfiction#for the anon who wanted these on ao3: they should be up tonight!
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Do you have any advice on making time for writing and avoiding burnout? I'm impressed by the amount of projects you have and how they're consistently high quality.
oh love. sunshine. you tiny fresh vanilla seed (precious & delightful // it is a luxury to interact with you). so first iâm gonna apologize because thereâs a 99% chance this is not the advice youâre looking for and SURPRISE i wrote another novel. (so also jot this down⊠my being prolific is helped by the fact that i literally cannot shut the fuck up to save my life). anyway here are my rules for writing
1. donât look at the man behind the curtain (in this case thatâs me). I had 70% of window and probably 90% of sweatshirt girl drafted before i even started revising && posting individual chapters/ installments. it gives the illusion of me cranking out a new chapter every week but i do NOT do that. i just try to revise once a week. maybe write a half+ chapter of something new. itâs not an illusion i create on purpose. i just know i need TIME to rest my brain before I come back and revise or itâll start all looking the same to me. so i def frontload my writing before i start posting.
i also do this because i need at least the ghost of an ending to keep writing
i also never originally intended to post window or sweatshirt girl - i was originally just writing for me. so they were mostly done before i even decided to post
i ALSO work at a school and while i do have hours over the summer, i am doing much less (imo) important things when there arenât students around, sooooo i end up daydreaming and drafting a lot
my writing is also powered by depression (âwrite the world as i want it to beâ) and frankly i donât recommend that to anyone ÂŻ\_(ă)_/ÂŻ
so if i look like iâm producing a lot itâs just because of the way this year has unfolded, and once we get through the next few chapters of window iâm sure Iâll hit a lull because Iâm still struggling to write those chapters (sorry in advance folksss)
2. i swear to god creativity (like everything in nature) happens in cycles. blah blah no flower blooms all year && no tree bears fruit every season. fallowness is IMPORTANT for growing gardens. if you are in a slow space - let yourself be slow. sink into the quiet season. speed&&quantity are SO overrated and if you overcultivate your soil there will be no nutrients left for your crops. let the snows come in && blanket you on occasion. they are their own kind of blank page (i swear to fuck sometimes i sound like some kind of ai generating bad proverbs but you knew what you were getting when you came to my asks i guess! i am unashamed)
tbh i have a modest art side-hustle and am working on painting a project that WILL take YEARS - and this whole summer, i have neglected that project in lieu of being a rocket fangirl because frankly my brain needed a break. guess what? my followers understand and it has not been a problem. because any fellow creative should know that the process takes time and is always in flux
(3) a lot of people will tell you - write a little every day. write even if itâs bad. you can always come back with fresh eyes later. I support these ideas in theory. i keep my writing && my sketchbooks where i can access them almost anytime, and even if itâs only for ten minutes, i do write something most days. but more than this - listen to your body and your brain and your heart. and for fanfiction especially - ONLY write when itâs fun. if you start writing from obligation instead of love, you will burn out faster, create less, and even resent this thing that should be an escape for you. (and your readers will feel it, even if they donât know why). (also your readers - if they are good people - will understand this && support you) (and if theyâre not good people, they donât deserve your heart like that). if your body says take time off then TAKE TIME OFF. donât let capitalism brainwash you into believing all your joys must entail consistent labor, that every good thing comes with a side of drudgery, or that you canât stop something once you start it. they donât. it doesnât. you can. let yourself have a scrap of unfettered && unpressured happiness in this place. you deserve it, i fuckin swear that to you on my goddamn life.
(4) maybe im inadvertently repeating myself but please. be kind to yourself. let your community be kind to you too. we are supposed to take care of each other. give yourself grace && know we are on your side
okay wow iâm so sorry. fuck me thatâs not what you were asking for but it is the best && most earnest && most true advice i can give you. âcarve some time out every dayâ is nice and aspirational and maybe give it a try, but life is hard and donât blame yourself if you canât. let fanfiction be a force for joy in your days/nights, not a chore. nope im just saying the same shit over and over LOOK. i love you. you are good. life is short. have fun. thatâs truly all & the most important things I have inside me, and Iâm sorry for my limitations. for whatever that is worth
âĄâĄâĄ
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Sightshipping for 001?
Also answering for @over-roaming-waves, who was curious.
Sightshipping
when I started shipping it: Back in 2017, I started drafting a fic about their adventure in Egypt trying to hide the God Cards. It was really supposed to be a drama/humor fic about Isis having a constant headache and finding Pegasus to be an annoyance (because I personally found Pegasus to be an annoying character at the time), but as I kept writing, I really fell in love with both of the characters and imagining how their personalities would clash and complement one another
The adventure fic was up for a while, but I yanked it offline not long ago. The story is undergoing revisions and I want to redo it as a comic because I'm a masochist
my thoughts: Do you like to read novels?
I have so many thoughts, but for the sake of the ask, I will try to keep it short.
I really like the idea of them being so set in their plans pre-series and not really being amicable at the start, the both of them so committed to their pasts and their Items that it blinds them from seeing any alternatives from their personal life scripts. Then both their plans go up in flames (Pegasus loses Duelist Kingdom and Seto shows Isis the grim fate she believed in is not infallible), they both lose their Items, and with Atem crossing into the Afterlife, they're no longer tied into the Great Game. So now they have this freedom to explore the future and what the world has to offer, but there's also uncertainty and powerlessness in not being able to foresee what is coming, not knowing what other people are thinking, and not knowing what to do next.
And somewhere in there, I like imagining them going from business acquaintances to friends to lovers.
(also my constant daydream about Isis wanting to confess to Pegasus that she foresaw him getting the Eye ripped out of his head but didn't say anything back then because she didn't believe she could alter destiny with a warning but uh oh-oh no Seto proved you can change the future so she feels like utter crap that Pegasus nearly died and fears he won't want to talk to her again and the looming sense of dread and judgment haunts her; she's so scared he's gonna kick her to the curb when he learns she could have saved him so much grief if she had just said something
and she's so absorbed in the guilt of her past inaction that she doesn't realize Pegasus can plainly see she's torturing herself with all these thoughts so he reaches out and touches her hand and
ok I'll shut up)
What makes me happy about them: The possibilities--in the anime timeline. They're both alive and there is a chance something could happen. Daydreams and headcanons abound
What makes me sad about them: They stand in a room staring at each other for less than 10 seconds in the anime. Isis talks about wanting to "fulfill his wishes" offhandedly in the manga (by getting the God Cards back from her brother). The most dialogue we see exchanged between the two of them is in a GBA game
MY CROPS ARE THIRSTY AND I AM KEEPING THEM ALIVE WITH A NOVELTY SHOT GLASS
things done in fanfic that annoys me: Oh
Oh honey
There is not enough fanfic of this rarepair for that to be a thing
things I look for in fanfic: I dunno I have to look at my WIP folder
Who Iâd be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Isis with her job and intermittent dates with Aileen Rao; Pegasus sober with his art supplies and comics
My happily ever after for them: Married with 5 kids but one of them is a daughter biologically fathered by Seto Kaiba after Isis and Pegasus have a heated threesome with him in Marrakesh. Isis and Pegasus know the kid is Seto's, but they don't tell him because it would make things complicated, but Seto does eventually find out at his daughter's 13th birthday party. Seto punches Pegasus in the face and tells him he isn't surprised Pegasus could be that cruel but he can't believe Isis hid the truth from him, which leads to Isis' oldest daughter resenting her because she believes she was the product of an affair, even though she wasn't, but the fine details were not disclosed as Isis thinks the news that Pegasus isn't her biological father was already traumatic enough and she felt it wasn't appropriate to tell her teenage daughter she was conceived during a passionate threesome
Like it all works out in the end when all their kids are adults with their own lives and it gets better after a lot of shit hits the fan but that's my future/next gen "happily ever after" headcanon
who is the big spoon/little spoon: It switches, but I'd say Pegasus is the big spoon 70% of the time. He likes to hug Isis to his chest and doesn't want to let go because she is warm and comfy
And he has PTSD related to this
what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Morning, afternoon, and evening tea time--and movie night.
#ask#sightshipping#pegasus#maximillion pegasus#pegasus j crawford#isis ishtar#ishizu#ishtar#aileen rao#yugioh#ygo#dm#duel monsters#seto kaiba#headcanons#fanfic woes
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P3R while I was gone, part 2: featuring unnecessary romantic issues, ride or die, and the last full moon.
In the last two weeks before the end of everything, we visit Fuukaâs class next door, where Natsuki has an announcement to make!
âGoodbye everyone, Iâll remember you all in therapy!â XD
More seriously, though, Fuuka is very upset. But they have a lovely conversation on the roof, and Natsuki promises to keep in touch. It helps Fuuka realize that she finally has real friends and a place to belong, and it leads to her persona evolving.
Juno is cool. ^_^ I like the wings.
I spend my time after school with Bebe to finish off his social link. Heâs taking the kimono back to France to show his uncle, in the hopes that heâll be allowed to continue living in Japan.
Iâm not sure how leaving in the middle of the second semester works, but I guess itâs okay?
Considering Maiko, Iâm starting to think most of my social links are going to end with people leaving. The bookshop couple didnât, but like⊠they own the store. But anyone not specifically tied down has a chance of disappearing.
âŠ.DANGER NOODLE! I was wondering if you were here!!
Iâve only got one ongoing nighttime social link, so I have some time for browsing the websites Iâve bought from the deep web informant. This time, weâre going to check out a blog that guarantees to increase the yield of my crops. ^_^
âŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠ.is⊠is this really the website link we bought from a sketchy dude in a club? God. At least it told me where to buy golden tomato sprouts.
The next day, weâre heading back to Tartarus to retrieve our monthly victims who wander in, as well as another cat!
Another one of my social links is in trouble, and itâs Maiko this time, which⊠how dare? That is a child?
Maiko was supposedly moving away that day, so⊠I wonder if itâs always the same links that go missing, or if itâs random. Because both times, Iâve been warned of dire consequences if I donât save them, but itâs also been people Iâve already maxed. So thatâs kind of silly.
Weâve also found the last(?) memoir piece in Monad, whichâŠ
Prince, huh? Does that make me the princeâs consort? :D
We had to leave Tartarus because weâve reached another border floor. I GUESS weâll never get to see whatâs past it, since Tartarus is going to disappear after the next full moon. Itâs SO SAD that weâll never see the top. Canât believe the game is almost over.
Lmao
Anyway, back to social linking and school. XD
Never change, sensei.
Iâve been helping Yuko train some elementary schoolers to run a race against the middle-school kids who want to take over their play area. They tied their race and apparently made friends with the middle-schoolers, so weâre having a party to celebrate their success, even though they keep calling me Yukoâs boyfriend. I laughed it off, and so did Yuko.
No problem! Your roomâs nice. Cool stereo.
We laughed that off, right???? So why are you asking me about whether Iâd want my hypothetical kid to be a boy or a girl. In conjunction with talking about your future kids?
Yeah, apparently picturing our future children. XââââD Look, Yuko, youâre great, and Iâm glad youâve discovered what kind of career path you want to take in the future. But I donât think this is gonna work out.
I forgot that eventually Iâm going to have to start turning down people developing crushes on me. It always makes me feel a little bad because I do like them, I just donât want to date them?
(I want to date Mitsuru, but Iâm not a ~*genius*~ yet.)
At least Aigis is having fun with her yakuza novels.
After school the next day, I receive a call from Kenji, who is freaking the hell out.
Dude, what the fuck. Were you just going around talking about this to people other than me? I thought it was a secret.
But the man in my dreams insists that I remember the consequences of my actions, so you should too. I donât know what you expected to happen when you decided to court the ETHICS TEACHER. FFS, Kenji. Keep it together. I donât even know if I can offer advice for this one.
At least Strega is having real problems.
They grew up in a lab, with only each other. I can understand their feelings regarding that, at least. Itâs the same sort of thing as with Goro in P5R. Removing the memories of those experiences would completely change who they are as people. Like, theyâre not a good people, but the solution to that is not wiping everything and making them someone else.
Jin still remembers what Takaya told him, to get him through all of that.
Taking that away would be⊠cruel.
But we canât keep going like this, either.
Thereâs two days left, and only one of my Sunday social links is ready to rank up, so letâs go hang out with my track rival!
...you know, at least you have parents and siblings. Mine are dead. Please donât assume anything about me. :/
So now, at last, itâs the night before the finale! Time for one last team meeting. Everyone is grateful to me for being leader, and Mitsuru is finally willing to fess up what her real reason for fighting is. Itâs not entirely about righting her familyâs wrongs. Itâs about protecting her father.
Sheâs been doing this since probably even BEFORE middle school. No wonder she wants to bring an end to it so badly.
Well, we all know whatâs coming. Strega is going to try to stop us. But we canât stop now.
Takaya, youâre still not wrong, but youâre being willfully ignorant of what the actual problem is.
Jin is a Fortune arcana, and his persona looks like a spinny dice. :D
But thereâs more of us than there are of them, so this was never really a contest, even if they are strong.
I dunno if evokers are really ânaturally awakenedâ, but⊠yeah. Forcing it isnât good for you. That should be obvious.
Mitsuru wasnât aware of the fact that the Kirijo Group was experimenting on people. Which, she was a child, so Iâm not surprised. But based on the note Takaya gave me before, part of the reason to experiment on other kids was to make things safer for Mitsuru. So⊠we probably shouldnât tell her that.
Iâm starting to think we donât know a lot of things.
Takaya is willing to shoot himself with his real gun, but Jin stops him. Even if itâs just so he doesnât go by himself.
They fall back over the side of the bridge, and then itâs just us and the final shadow.
Honestly, I hate the Hanged Man. The fact that itâs being held up by hooks in its skin is gross. XâD The gimmick was interesting, though. It could give itself a bunch of extra turns, and it hit really hard. Not quite final-boss hard, but it was a challenging fight.
But we won!
We can go home content in the knowledge that the world is now safe from the Arcana Shadows.
...I didnât even know you could exist outside of the Dark Hour, honey. Wow. This is surreal.
What do you think of the sun? Have you ever seen it before? Have you seen it through me?
Yeah. Things are good. ^_^
âŠâŠâŠ.
Can you at least tell me why you have to leave?? What did you remember? What ruined this miracle? I might need to know that?????
If you cry, Iâm going to cry.
I wish I could hug him, but⊠God forbid a protagonist be allowed to hug anyone. Except Yukari in Yakushima. XââââD
Iâll see you soon, Pharos. Love you.
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assorted translation notes on the novel opening sprinkled with peanut gallery comments (or possibly vice versa, idk):
yes that is a cluedo reference in the case title i couldn't stop myself and i'm not sorry
"âŠof the sixth month": not july, because this is in lunar calendar
"lucky pattern lotus parlour": ok i spent like at least One Whole Minute considering whether or not to talk myself out of this one. still didn't, still not sorry, alliteration funny
"bingshan town": could also be pingshan, flip a coin
anyway li lianhua arriving in their main street with his wholeass house like. it's Free Real Estate
"town god/local shrine": original term here is ćć°ćș for the record. anyway who's gonna write the crackfic where li lianhua wakes up one morning in some random town to find that the locals have set up an entire shrine offering right outside complete with massive incense burner and all
wait hang on li lianhua was spring cleaning for TEN DAYS STRAIGHT??
"surname Li, named Lianhua": if anyone has come up with a better way of rendering ć§æïŒć«èČè± please tell me because i haven't
pov you're swiping through tinder when suddenly one of the profiles is just like Jianghu's #1 Most Very Mystery every biodata field is We Just Don't Know, Man and the pic is a badly circled cryptid sighting (idk i don't use tinder)
(li lianhua voice) "excuse you i didn't do two things i just did the same thing twice. technically speaking"
"lifelong learner": well Actually what the results for çéŠç©·ç» kept insisting on giving me was "hoary head" but i didn't go with that, so there but for the grace of me goeth you, shi wenjue
im sorry but the true utter crack au where he picked æäčéŸ instead (because yknow. turtle. house and all) and we are forced to live with the consequences
yunhe my dude you should've just bought a roomba instead of wasting your money on that incense and letter paper
"precious softwood": specifically nanmu, which (to collective unsurprise) was also used for shipbuilding, among other things
just........ the sheer over-the-top hercule poirot short story energy of this entire intro part, really
"king of hell": none other than éçœç ofc
"a sound of dismay": he straight up "aiya"s here. i just could not figure out how to work it in for the life of me
"dust and sawdust": curse this stupid language that made both of these words contain dust this sounds So Awful
it has been 0 days since li lianhua last said "ah" (the counter never moves past zero)
toss em eggs, bystanders, we believe in you
(cheng yunhe walking in) you live like this??
"could only work with what he had, dead or otherwise": the original actually invokes æ»é©ŹćœæŽ»é©Źć» (a saying which Literally means "treat a dead horse as a live one"), blast the english language for not having an equivalent
fang duobing's intro paragraphs? 10/10 sheer hilarity no notes
....why is "commit robbery"" up there on the list next to "plant crops"
"melancholic young master": ć€æć
Źć (he's got 99 worries and somehow li lianhua is all 100 of them)
how HAS fang duobing known li lianhua for literally just as long as he's been in the jianghu tho
ok three crackfic proposals in one post is a bit much even for me but. the one where li lianhua keeps accidentally digging up non-dead people/lost treasure/unmentionable secrets when actually he just wanted to borrow some onions for tonight's soup. honest
(this may possibly just be canon)
aaaand fifty taels, welp
#mysterious lotus casebook#me? serious on main for more than ten seconds? it's less likely than you think#èČè±æ„Œ
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Fantasy, feminism, and philosophy
Recently, I picked up two novels published in the late 1980s by CJ Cherryh. Iâve been avoiding reading books since I finished my dissertation, as the act of opening a physical book seems a little too reminiscent of work, no matter the content - Iâve been enjoying audiobooks, but find it more difficult to listen to fiction than non-fiction, and so my consumption of published material has been skewed one way for several years.
I decided to break that cycle by returning to one of my pre-teen loves, which I read voraciously: high fantasy, the kind of novels with swords and sorcery right there on the cover, in all their pulpy â80s glory. I am a fast reader and can finish a ~250-page novel in an evening, given few interruptions, so long as I am hooked. I was looking for that hook.
I found it! And one other book by the same author, which I thought was high fantasy, but turns out to have a science-fiction, world-hopping backdrop. But I also am now armed with a lot more knowledge of feminist theory and the rise of womenâs and feminist fiction* (well, science fiction) during the â70s and â80s, and so I found myself reading with an eye to the representation of women and a constant feminist narrative analysis going in the back of my brain (donât be sorry; it was rad as hell). It takes a lot more for me to be satisfied with a narrative these days, and itâs not necessarily any sort of literary snobbery on my part, although I do consider myself to have higher standards now. I will read the pulpiest genre fic that I can find, but I will only truly recommend it if I find something redeeming in it - and not just plot and characters. Iâm looking for a specific kind of feminist philosophy in the narrative.
Seems like a lot to ask from genre fiction, right? But to me (and to scholars in the entire discipline of English literature going back centuries), stories arenât just stories: theyâre vehicles embodying cultural attitudes and messages about the way the world works. Even a hastily-written piece of flash fiction will still contain the authorâs biases and worldview in it, from the characters, the plot, and down to the words they choose to use (or avoid). Science fiction are stories (often) told in the future, but they are actually about present issues; fantasy are likewise stories (often) told in the past, but they reflect the authorâs (and audienceâs) view of and struggles within the present.**
And so I couldnât help thinking, as I was reading, about my thesisâs second chapter, which was all about gender and post-apocalyptic science fiction during feminismâs second wave, because I think thereâs a fair amount of those conclusions which are cross-applicable to fantasy from the same period.*** Not to put too fine a point on it, but post-apocalyptic sf is itself a fantastical narrative, and though itâs not âfantasyâ as we think of the genre, it certainly draws from some of the same imaginative sources.
Some background
Iâm gonna try to keep this brief, not least because others have written on it better and more comprehensively. In 17th century Europe, the Western scientific enterprise as we know it today was coalescing, and unfortunately for all subsequent practitioners of science, the values of 17th century European cismales were hard-coded into the philosophy underpinning the scientific worldview. Hence fun things like scientific racism, eugenics, devaluing animals and nature, and sexism, which keeps cropping up throughout the subsequent centuries, and is also what Iâm going to focus on now.
You know what else was happening in 17th century Europe? Witch hunts. Iâll spare you a history lesson about it but in short, thatâs the background cultural context of what was going on at the time. The milieu of misogyny, you might say. Carolyn Merchant, who wrote a pretty foundational ecofeminist text tracing this history, points to the writings of Francis Bacon as instrumental in advocating for âthe control of nature for human benefitâ in which he âused the language of nature as female to articulate an experimental philosophy that would extract nature's secrets.â (ENVIRONMENTALISM: FROM THE CONTROL OF NATURE TO PARTNERSHIP, 4).
Merchant argues that scientific discourse about nature codified the gender of nature as a female to be exploited, inviting abusive interrogation much in the same way as a torture victim on trial for witchcraft; her link between womenâs persecution and the ramping-up of the exploitation of nature is echoed by socialist ecofeminists such as philosopher Val Plumwood in articulating the fundamentally misogynist underpinnings of a rationalist economics system that glorifies a separation of (masculine) intellectual reason from denigrated (feminine) bodily situatedness. Thus developed a scientific ethic that saw no problem with manipulation and use of the earth to satisfy scientific curiosity and capitalist gain within a patriarchal system of society.
Still with me? The female-nature connection in western culture is actually a lot older than 17th century, but before the industrial revolution there was emphasis on the mystery and power of nature and the life-giving capacity of women, which inspired respect or, at least, fond feelings for a âMother Natureâ. This crops up a lot in a lot of fantasy narratives, by the way, since most of them are set in a pre-industrialized past and also in some post-apocalyptic sf that assumes a catastrophe of some sort will set humanity back a millennia or two and with it will come this older worldview. Merchant argues that this older attitude served as a âcultural constraintâ on the actions of human beings, since â[o]ne does not readily slay a mother, dig into her entrails for gold or mutilate her bodyâ (Death 3). The advent of the industrial era and of scientific inquiry was made possible not just by advances in technology but in a philosophical shift in attitude to view feminine nature as invitingâand deservingâof violation by scientific and technological enterprises - which were, of course, male-coded.
Feminist critiques of (old) feminist fantasies
These two different attitudes - letâs call them the science fiction (post-17th century) and fantasy (pre-17th century) attitudes - arenât as different as they might seem at first glance. Both adhere to an essentialist logic that is hierarchical, valuing âmasculine civilization/cultureâ as inherently superior to âfeminine nature.â Iâm just going to mostly quote my thesis in the next two paragraphs here:
Essentialism understands âthe feminineâ as a repository of unchanging truths, determining substances, and ground of being, quite literally: it holds the historical European cultural conflation of women and nature as truth, and radical feminist political thought (and many feminist utopian fantasies) of the 1970s leaned into this binary, but flipped the moral hierarchy. Publications such as Mary Dalyâs Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism (1978) and Starhawkâs The Spiral Dance (1979), for example, embraced the identification of non-human nature and the feminine, celebrating the power of chthonic forces, the moon, fertility, and historical goddess worship. Radical, goddess, and other essentialist feminisms drew on deep ecology, following the same binary logic as Francis Bacon did, but reversing the moral weighting, holding the âmaleâ forces of civilization, culture, and science as bad, or at least incredibly sus, given their collaboration with/outright endorsement of the systematic oppression/torture of women and the earth, if not the very reason for womenâs suffering. Ciswomenâs bodies, traditionally the reason for their exclusion from cismale-only spiritual and intellectual spheres, were instead celebrated by some feminists as the ground of human life and part of the mystery of creation itself. ***
Feminist community based on an essentialist notion of cisfemale experience was and is a fantasy that, in addition to being violently exclusionary to trans and genderqueer persons and invested in creating and maintaining a distance between ciswomen and all others, at base replicates the same power structures that fuel patriarchal ideology, only with the values reversed. There is still a hierarchy in place, a flipped version of the fantasy attitude: there is the same conflation of women with nature and its consequent essentialist logic. Female empowerment is crucial to the realization of womenâs full humanity, but its celebration at the expense of others leads directly to an ideology of exclusion, perpetuating the structures of oppression that make it necessary for female empowerment in the first place.
For example, some questions that bubble up when I encounter certain stories ask things like, Is this lady knight actually a strong female character, or a vehicle for a male power fantasy with a ciswoman subbed in and nothing else changed? Is this story about a witch/sorceress/magick-user main character really compelling, or is it subject to tropes from both the science fiction and fantasy attitudes, so she is either an evil conniving force to be subjugated (or romanced, depending on flavour) or a mystical feminine cipher in touch with the natural worldâŠ. or both? Both happens a lot.
In my thesis, I have a whole paragraph following those paragraphs on essentialism to disclaim that Iâm not dissing the enormous contributions of many writers to fantasy whose works completely upended the hierarchical gender binary, boldly challenged gender roles, and stomped all around a genre that up until the â70s was almost exclusively made up of male writers. Iâm convinced that weâre politically and socioculturally in those authorsâ debt! Iâm just skeptical of the fantasy genre because of the abovementioned history of the fantasy attitude. In my view, it takes an author who has an attitude (fantasy OR science fiction) that is consciously disloyal to its own roots in essentialist, sexist nonsense to write a narrative that isnât fundamentally regressive.
Moar, thoâŠ
Itâs nice to fantasize about a world where the people whose gender that we identify with are pedestalized, taken care of, comforted, respected, given the benefit of the doubt, empowered, etc. Especially in this day and age when the demands of neoliberalism and late-stage capitalism pile up into an exhausting, overwhelming, threatening force against which it feels impossible to stand alone. Escaping into a world where powerful women are actually respected and can make tangible change in the world (through politics, or magic, or swinging a big sword around) is pretty great.
But itâs not wrong to demand more of our narratives. Itâs not wrong to be critical of something that you love (I often joke that itâs the things that I love most that get the most harsh criticism). Itâs not wrong to ask that the stories that I read articulate a non-binary, non-hierarchical society that people of all genders can move freely in, instead of being expected to act a certain way (and punished if they donât perfectly conform).***** Flipping the gender hierarchy just isnât enough anymore and isnât even all that feminist, in the end.
In any case, I can highly recommend the work of CJ Cherryh; I think even thirty-five-odd years on, it still holds up because of the way she writes her characters, regardless of gender or age, as human beings and not essentialist tropes. Iâm not surprised she won the Hugo, multiple times. She seems to have an underlying philosophy that values humans for who they are, not who they are supposed to be dependent on their predetermined roles in society.
What are some fantasy novels you would recommend? Iâm not a huge short-story reader, and Iâm a fan of wordplay and have spent the last eight years or so thinking about novels written by and for people living in the 1950s-80s. I need some good contemporary stuff! Or perhaps there are classics I am missing out on? Let me know in the comments!
PS: Iâm indebted to the works of Donna Haraway, Celia Ă
sberg, Myra Hird, Helen Merrick, Ălisabeth Vonarburg, Joanna Russ, Carolyn Merchant, Lisa Hogeland, and way too many others to list for influencing the direction of my ruminations here. Any issues are a result of my taking research on historical Canadian SF and bending it to apply to fantasy. ___
*They arenât the same. Itâs akin to assuming all Jewish people are Zionists. One is an identity category, the other a political one.
**Caveat: Iâm not saying authors of sff sit down and are like âah yes what issue griefing me right now am i going to put into this bookâ - itâs usually a subconscious thing. Sometimes authors do that! But itâs rare.
***Again, they arenât the same: Iâm not a scholar of fantasy, merely an observant fan who has a bit of a scholarly background in another genre literature.
**** This attitude is alive and well today in the politics of trans-exclusive radical feminists (TERFs), a subgroup of radical feminists whose reification of biological essentialism leads them to deny trans peoplesâ identities. Fuck TERFs. Their philosophical worldview is warped.
******Itâs also not wrong to love something even though itâs Problematic (tm), or just want to turn your brain off with a fluffy read. So long as youâre self-aware.
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