#i wish that their written backstories— no matter how tragic

[kavalyera]

the world of john wick is very interesting and absolutely beautiful to me because of how much you could explore with the characters and the fact that many of their backstories are left vague or just straight up not even told

[meejijis]

"Why are all SK fans proshippers" Silence fetus

[chillwildwave]

Hello there fellow Disney fans, here's another update onto my "The Wishing Kingdom" rewrite, so here I created a little poster for a bit of promotion and just to get you an idea of what it is going to be: from the poster alone, my version is going to be about the REAL origin story of the famous wishing star with some scrapped elements included like the villain couple, a star boy, the idea of writing your wish on a tree, the village where people ran away from the villains and many more, and with this rewrite, I want to celebrate 100 years of Disney by showing you why it has made such a big impact on all of our lives!

Originally I wanted this to be half animated, half animatic but for some reason this is now going to be half written, half animated which means that in some sections I'll post some chapters with some sections of animation like the musical numbers and in some chapters, the scenes would be fully animated, so I'm looking forward to putting my foot forward into this!

During that time, it was taken to rewrite and redesign the main villain couple, King Magnifico and Queen Amaya, in the movie, I noticed that he had a tragic backstory which wasn't needed in terms of how far Disney villains go, but with a villain couple, they have a completely different story.

All Magnifico and Amaya wanted as their motivation is power, this was because they made a wish to become sorcerors who held all sorts of magic, but the stars rejected it as they feared that their magic would release the dark void which was used to suck all the power from the stars leaving them to slowly dissapear in the darkness, in response to this anger, they went to a cabin where they learnt incantations from a book, but there was one that gave them the power to become the sorcerors they always wanted to be, and with that power, they used it to create the kingdom of Rosas and anytime a few people came to the kingdom, they're immediately brainwashed into thinking that the couple's magic could be useful to grant their own wishes, for better and for worse.

During the story, they don't start off as powerful at first since when they are fostering Princess Asha, they keep their powers a secret by telling her the same story as to how they grant wishes for their people, kinda like they are gaslighting her in a way into believing that they can make other people's wishes come true, but as it progresses we get to see their true colours as to why they were hiding this power in the first place, it was a case of revenge from the star kingdom as they couldn't grant their own wish, with this, it kinda ties with the theme of despite having your wish come true being positive and happy, there is a dark side to it as well, and no matter what happens, you should have faith in yourself to make it come true.

Also, their villain song "This Is The Thanks I Get" will undergo 2 versions, the rewritten version and the rewritten reprise, I feel like the reason for this is because I want to try and give the essence of a true tribute to the villains of the past and the present, the title should be "Our Command" and the context shall be revealed in a few days once I get to it.

@annymation @uva124 @oh-shtars @kstarsarts @gracebethartacc @gracebeth3604 @thisnameisnotspokenfor @rascalentertainments @signed-sapphire @wings-of-sapphire @emillyverse @lunellasflo @mythartist21 @mafik-sun @artist-issues @hah-studios @pinkiemachine @synergysilhouette @tumblingdownthefoxden @kmixon

[sparrow-and-seed-scrawls]

Finding Real Life in Characters

something I’ve found compelling is the beauty of life in characters.

I recently finished a story about a deeply hurt character, one who’d been betrayed and shattered, one who very well could have been written as a dark, unkind, and brooding man.

The author could have brushed past his trauma, as so many artists and writers do, watering down the sharp gravity of pain into nothing but a ‘sad backstory, but he’s attractive so it doesn’t matter much’ beat. It’s certainly worked for sales in the past.

That sounds a bit harsh, I suppose, but I’d forgotten how it felt to see such understanding kindness displayed in media. I specifically remember a line that (paraphrased) said, “I want to tell you ‘I’m sorry’ again, but this isn’t about me. You don’t need to be reassuring me right now. This is about taking care of you. You’re allowed to cry. There is so much strength in allowing yourself to feel those things.”

And I can’t stop thinking about it. Despite everything this character had gone through—from being taken advantage of to losing everything he knew—he loved people. He found broken pieces of his own grief in others and helped them find their way to continue, showing that it’s okay to cry, it’s not weak to ask for help and healing, it’s necessary to feel.

He said, “I don’t know what you’re going through. These [circumstances] are felt and perceived differently by everyone. But I have been to dark places before, too, and you’re not going to heal by shutting yourself off.”

So often we write, draw, imagine characters as better versions of people. They’re more good, more attractive, more angsty—they let us forget the bad parts of ourselves. But characters are also meant to show us how to live through our mistakes and/or pain.

Yes, he had a tragic backstory, and it affected his choices, his words, his personality. Of course it did, it’s realistic. But the ‘tragic backstory’ gave him character motivation and realism, not something to make him appear attractive or mysterious to other characters.

He respected others’ boundaries because his had been ignored. He was scared of change and opening up because it had cost him. He was gentle when others were in emotional pain because he knew how it could damage. And we saw this in the everyday, not just the plot points and angsty scenes.

There is something so true and real about seeing how life affects everyone differently. Seeing how it’s possible to change and possible to live past hurt.

He was an absolutely incredible character. I wish I could explain this better, maybe one day I’ll be able to, but life in writing—life with a past of pain, life that changes to keep that pain from happening again, life that heals and helps, despite what happened, is absolutely unforgettable.

Realness in characters is what makes art and story so addicting.

[eldritch-spouse]

Let me start this off by saying PINNIE, YOU ARE SUCH AN AMAZING WRITER, AND I LOVE HOW WELL WRITTEN YOUR CHARACTERS ARE!

The way you write villains is so compelling because, while they are evil, they are multifaceted, three-dimensional beings. They are monsters who have families and friends, hobbies, likes and dislikes, cute quirks, soft and tender moments, and some even have tragic backstories that caused them to be the way they are. But at their core, they are evil.

First off saiders. If were real, I would HATE their entire race and truly only wish the worst for them. They copulated with humans, and when those humans bore their children, they were disgusted. Instead of, just designing the human body to not be able to get impregnated by saiders—like a breeder with a human—no matter how hard they try, it'll never happen. They decide to hunt down the offspring and then pack up and leave, letting humanity expire but not before they killed Krulu’s creations, then tossed him into the null, forgetting about him and permanently damaging his form, and giving him an everlasting hatred for humanity for something THAT WASN'T EVEN OUR FAULT. But Krulu can't fight with the other saiders, so, of course, he'll take it out on beings astronomical weaker than him.

The most insurmountable case of villains getting everything they want with no consequences in this series has been Krulu and by extension his lackeys. For presumably years, he and took the lives of countless people, but he got to find love with two lessers, had two children, and supremely rules over perdition and heaven through them.

Maria, as devious and suspicious as she is, hates people who perform abortions, and I assume by extension, people who get them. But she finds it acceptable and fully permits Krulu to grab random humans—innocent or not—and let them be raped, killed, tortured, and maimed within the clergy. Humans who could be someone's mom, dad, sister, brother, CHILD! She claims to care about children so much, but I assume after they stop being small, helpless and cute she couldn't care less. I mean why should she care? She already has her charm and numerous kids with them.

She would probably watch humanity go extinct at Krulu’s hands if he did it in the most entertaining way possible.

And the worst part about it is that they both will never be punished for their actions.

The other saiders are never coming back; they thought we were all dead anyway. That one extra saider you said might come probably will take part in the torture, rape, and genocide of the human race.

Humans could NEVER fight back. The possibility of killing a saider is simply non-existent and even their WEAKER IN COMPARISON kids cannot be touched

Dorem sure as hell isn't going to do it despite the fact he CAN. He'll just groan that he has over a billion souls to deal with, and since no new humans will probably be born, souls will be eaten by the millions or reincarnated into monsters, demons, and possibly angels.

The supreme beings who are above it all—above the saiders and possibly every cosmic force—would not intervene in the name of complete cosmic neutrality.

Even if other monsters, demons, the clergymen, Adrul, Adelo, and even Miara's kids take human spouses their kids will not be human. I wanna say after 4 generations it'll mark the permanent end of the human race but even then not really.

What happened to breeders I assume will be what happens to humanity a very small group taken to an extremely remote area where they're experimented on, forced copulation, treated like a human zoo, and sold to the highest bidder who'd like to get their hands on the last rare piece of the once honored human race.

UGHHHH, I KNOW IT WAS A LOT. I LOVE YOUR BEAUTIFUL MIND! 💕💕

Well, I should clarify that this isn't really a happy universe or a very "black and white" one. All the characters in my blog, save for very few, are morally evil. In a bit of a bleak turn of events, even gods are great evil-doers here.

The siadar are a failing society of incredibly powerful entities, and as their sims, we all suffer because of that. They may have faded into obscurity under the much more hopeful fabrications that replaced them, but some never forget, such as the celestials- Who are "doomed" to forever revere the ones who left them to die.

Krulu is, to most, blatantly evil. And even if he ends up calming down in the future, he will never truly heal. The chance to heal was stolen from him, his state of mind is always reflected in how he executes things, how he governs the space he claimed as his own. He wants to be feared, he sees most humans and monsters not as actual people worth a shred of his time, but as reminders of what his worthless kin did- The flawed, grotesque things they preferred over his own immaculate brilliance, his care. And so, even if no one is there to see it, to be offended, he hopelessly tortures them.

Miara is not good. She doesn't claim to be. She doesn't care to prove herself to anyone. Miara has come to enjoy time on Earth after having thought hard about the state of her existence. She wants the surface to herself, if Krulu's plan comes to fruition, having no desire to intrude on his way of life beyond that. What he does is hardly her concern, she wants her own slice of peace, and that's that.

Dorem is a bum in a complete rut who just can't be bothered to do anything to help himself and sees no way to go back to his earlier life. The souls in this planet have become too chaotic, and he hates it all, he hates everything he just wants it to fucking stop- But it won't. It never will. This is his life. His eternity. And he rots away, eating the souls that bother him, hoping the two gods on Earth stay relatively placid.

And the Betrayer. Well. Certainly won't be better. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thenk you for your thoughts though! I'm happy you like stuff here. :7

[chasing-posts]

I have very complicated feelings about Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Growing up I really liked the old man. He was presented in the first half of Natuto as a very kind, caring and compassionate old man who had a hand in teaching EVERYONE in the Hidden Leaf. He was a super strong bad ass who was well respected, funny, stern and had a quiet dark side from being a ninja. However one of his flaws was that he could never give up on the people he loved, no matter ehat they became. Its why he let Orochimaru go the first time after he found him doing illigal experiments in his layer, its why he cried when he saw Orochimaru sacrifice his own students for the edo tensei.

Watching his funeral used to be a top ten saddest moment in Naruto, but then... everything changed when Itachi's backstory is revealed. We learn he's not as kind as he appears, that he was partially responsible for the death of the Uchiha clan. We learn about Danzo's multiple coup attempts and Hiruzen just...letting it slide. In fact, letting MULTIPLE Danzo incidents slide, letting Danzo's entire career slide, which was basically war crimes on steroids.

Because of his passiveness, he ends up enabling Danzo to do whatever he wanted. He becomes guilty by association, even though Kishimoto made sure to point out that Danzo is responsible for all these atrocities... but because of their close connection and his abilities to stop him but never doing so, Hiruzen's reputation and character was destroyed. Especially in the eyes of the reader.

And part of me knows he deserves it. That he, by proxy is responsible for the Uchiha genocide and letting things get as bad as they did...

But then, I see an episode where he hangs out with little Naruto and tells him stories over a camp fire and my heart melts. I see clips of him talking to kids at the ninja school about stories of the past and how they can apply themselves and I'm smiling. I see him die looking at Orochimaru who's cursing his name and demanding his arms back, and remembering when the monster was just a young boy, still kind. And hik smiling as he passes away

I wonder if Kishimoto always planned for this reveal about Itachi? I feel like to make Itachi the tragic anti-hero, Hiruzen and his reputation had to be destroyed. But the narrative never treats Hiruzen as evil or berates him for what he does. He's never truly called out even when he's brought back via Edo Tensei. He still has genuinely kind moments to almost everyone in the series. Everyone still has mostly good memories about him.

At the end of the day, I just don't know how to feel about him. I wish the Itachi reveal never happened. That he was written to be a villian like he appeared to be at the start of the show. Then Hiruzen's character would not have been dragged through the mud and I could view him as a flawed but genuinely good character who lost his way. Which I think was the writer's original intention.

I'm not defending him it's just...complicated.

[nonbinarypirat]

I’m catching up on Bungou Stray Dogs and I got to chapter 39 and wow… what a bad chapter. Or I should say, I VERY purely written, mishandled chapter. So I wanted to talk about why I hate this so much (even though so many people have probably talked about this here and other platforms.) Get ready for a rare known Iruma breakdown. But also I’m so mad about this chapter so this is going to be more of an unhinged rant then a well written post. Warning: child violence, abuse, abusive cycles, and sympathizing an abuser

This chapter is somehow a thousand times worse than what the anime did? I wonder if the people in charge of the anime also didn’t like this part and decided to cut it short and get through it as soon as possible and move on. Though it could also just because of how fucked up it is. No matter the reason, I went into this chapter hoping that maybe there was some context lost from the anime to manga but nope! In fact the manga goes further with trying to make you sympathize with a literal child torturer? It honestly makes me appreciate the episode just a tiny bit more for not including his oh so tragic backstory 🙄. Look, no matter what you have gone through, you don’t get the right to abuse a child. Plain and simple. Just because you were abused doesn’t give you the right to do it to someone. I get that the abuse cycle is not easy to break but once you fall down the same path you are ALSO a fucked up person! And you deserve to suffer for your actions. I wished he got a worse death than a car accident tbh 🤷.

Anyway, I hate how every character in this chapter acted like Atsushi was being irrational about not wanting to know why the headmaster was around? That’s his torturer, the man that literally made his life hell? If he doesn’t want to know, don’t force him. Like, could it give him closure, I guess. But he should be the one seeking that out. Quite frankly, once it was found out the headmaster was involved Atsushi should have been pulled from the case. Give him some distance to process everything rather having to learn about his abuser’s life story or whatever. Like I said, if he wanted to learn that info he should but only if he wanted. Idk why it treated him not wanting to know as acting irrational. I feel like every character treated him like this, from Tanizaki to Akutagawa to Dazai. Instead of comforting him in this difficult time they just… didn’t do anything? Obviously Akutagawa wouldn’t but why didn’t the other two do anything to make him feel better? Only Dazai did really and it was shitty. Full stop bad.

Which leads me into the crutch of it, I hate how they made the headmaster out to be a father figure or mentor. He’s not?? What the fuck are you on about. Like, I could see it if there was fake comfort, subtle or advert manipulation by being nice sometimes. Then it would have been a situation of, he’s the only father figure I ever had but he hurt me in the worst ways. And that’s where the ending could be. Not to say it would still be a well written depiction of abuse, it still tries to get you to empathize with the man, however, I could get where all the complication in Atsushi would lie. But this man was literally the worst human being to walk the face of the Earth the entire time we see him in the manga. So it makes ZERO SENSE. I guess that’s the angle they were going for, he’s the only adult man I know but it does NOT work at all. How is he a “mentor.” Just because he said to hate me not yourself? Fuck that shit, Atsushi does not need to feel bad for that man just because he was trying to make him strong or whatever bs excuse he has. Oh wow, he got him flowers. How ‘bout you pay for his therapy bills?!

If they really wanted to have some nuance, instead I feel like the conflict should have centered around Atsushi still not feeling safe or like he isn’t really dead. Like he can’t allow himself to relax despite the fact that he knows the facts. Especially since the headmaster was a big threat throughout his life, having him suddenly die would be a large shock to the system and go into denial mode. Thus, Dazai or someone else could help him move on and he could finally breath a sigh of relief. Or maybe he’s scared that other workers of the orphanage will try to find him. Maybe he tries to go back to normal, doesn’t give himself time to process, and it all comes crashing down and he has to grapple with the fact that he will never know WHY the headmaster treated him like this. Honestly, not having it answered would have been better because often people don’t get an answer why abusers act the way they do. This idea could add another reason why Atsushi is conflicted between happy and deeply upset because the headmaster is gone but now he’ll never understand why he was treated so horribly. And grappling with the idea that maybe he will never know or understand. Which is tragic but would be a better written and understandable conclusion.

BSD just really dropped the ball with that chapter. It had a great opportunity to bring a nuanced perspective onto why Atsushi may not be elated with his death and get further perspective on him as a character. But instead it focused too much effort on making a child abuser sympathetic because he also faced abuse in an orphanage and some people died and so he tried to make Atsushi strong or whatever. Atsushi deserved a better end in than chapter that Dazai calling that gross piece of shit his father.

Edit: I wanted to add that as much as I hate this chapter I liked the parts where we got to see how bad Atsushi’s life really was at the orphanage. I mean, it hurt for sure but getting to see this put into perspective fully why Atsushi has a hard time pushing through his trauma and past. Like, PTSD is no joke and that was reason enough, but seeing how far it got really showed that. Which makes me mad when people imply he should have gotten over it already or similar statements. Like, dude if that was me I wouldn’t have made it to 18. It’s actually impressive his resolve to live despite everything. Kind of wished we saw that in the anime as dark as it was but once again, I think it was not included specifically because of how poorly it handled this topic. Not gonna lie, it would piss me off enough to not finish the show (not that it’s too much of an improvement but it at least is like, bad writing but a pass).

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Hey! Don't know if you've seen the latest article from The Direct, but it says Marvel Studios reveals that Sylvie is not genderfluid like Loki.

Well, according to the Loki series writers and director, Loki himself isn't genderfluid either! Oh excuse me, I mean the other Lokis "haven't got there yet". 🙄

You know why I think they're erasing genderfluidity from Loki's identity? Because they want the fact that Sylvie is female, the only female Loki, the only "good" Loki, to be what makes her so superior and special. That's it. That's all they've got. Oh, and the fact that she has the most tragicest backstory that a team of writers have ever made up as they went along, and that somehow gives her an element of "specialness" that dumb ol' inferior Loki could only dream of achieving.

I wish with all my heart that they had just let Loki be genderfluid, instead of forcing this poorly written, slapshod "original character" to be the most special thing ever, just because she's female. I honestly wish that Sylvie just didn't exist. I don't know if it's because they think Loki is just a shit character, and that's why they need Sylvie to be so special, and created her with a mix of Enchantress and Sylvie Lushton because being just Loki or just Lady Loki isn't enough? I don't understand why but I don't think I've ever despised a character more than I do Sylvie.

Of course I don't mean this in a misogynistic way. They want us to think that what they're doing is feminism and that it's empowering to girls but it's really not. It's a patronizing pat on the head. It's insulting. The whole "oh baby you're so superior" thing is crap, and it's costing us dearly. It's costing us the characters we love, and it's ruining the potential of other characters.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I just needed to unload after seeing that this morninng.

Hey that's alright. I understand the frustration, believe me 😉

And please, don't worry about the so-called "misogyny". You can dislike as many female characters as you want, in fact, if anything that's what is truly feminist here: to like or dislike fictional characters without a care in the world as to whether they're men or women or everything in between.

I hate the "she's superior because she's a woman" trope too. There's nothing empowering about that, quite the opposite, and I couldn't agree more with you when you call it patronizing.

They give us a woman, tell us she's perfect and she's the only woman that matters (wow, that is so feminist, huh 🙄) and of course she has a tragic backstory because they want her to be complex but they won't ever put in the effort to write that complexity, so the easiest way to go about it is to claim she has a rough past.

And of course, in these cases the woman needs to be compared to a man because no matter how much they try to tell us the woman is the most perfect creature in existence, she still needs to be evaluated against a man so that she can earn her place in the story (you never see this with men). So she's superior to the male lead in absolutely everything -- but she's not going to show that (we know the writers don't really give a damn about her to write her as complex) so that superiority will be spoken, said by those around her and especially the male lead, who will do everything in his power to remind the audience time and time again of how perfect she is -- lest we think a woman has any value until a man decrees it. What of all this doesn't sound feminist...?! 🤦‍♀️

They were never going to have Loki as genderfluid because the entire purpose of the series was to 1) belittle him and abuse him, 2) retcon him to be the most palatable, basic and normative character of all. Genderfluidness would have ruined that. Just look at what they did with his bisexuality: he comes out, Sylvie says not a single one of his relationships were ever real, he falls in love with her and he's then beaten in the time cell. That's what you get for coming out in Disney.

But what can we expect from people who do this...

LaufeySON for a woman (they changed that in the series so bonus points for that, I guess) and they write her race is Asgardian but her birthplace is "unknown". She's the spawn of Laufey, she confirmed she was adopted, how the fuck is her birthplace unknown?!

[trlvsn]

I want to state I don't hate Kristoph or anything, I think I just get irritated sometimes at the attention the male characters in ace attorney get. I love Kristoph as a character and I've drawn and written about him a lot because he's cool! I just wish more people could give the leniency to female characters that they gave male ones. and Dahlia n Kristoph are good examples of similar characters for me.

why people should try to give Dahlia Hawthorne a chance (imagine this has been presented like a PowerPoint)

- she's so fucking funny first of all. fail girl of all time.

- literally got roasted so hard she went to hell

- so so much potential in her character

- Capcom mishandled her because they hate women but we don't have to hate women as well

- she killed a pedo, and someone who likes Britain (girl win!)

- she technically stopped Godot from his coffee addiction with an.. intervention. and it worked for a few years. to be polite.

- a woman

- a lesbian

- transgender

- her backstory is actually there even if it's a mess. unlike other poison loving gay ass characters.. (THIS IS A JOKE PEOPLE PLS DONT HATE ME I'M BEING SILLY N JESTFUL!)

- since her backstory and character is a mess you can just interpret her however u want and ur right!

- Capcom genuinely wrote her character while hating her and forgot that she was a child when Terry Fawkes "dated her" and that she was even YOUNGER when she apparently manipulated her father into dropping off Iris and abandoning her at a temple?? like you were so right for pointing this one out.

- It really feels like the narrative hates her more than it likes being a good story and smooth ride. It just wants to demonise her over and over again than write an impactful journey of a character becoming filled with hatred and jealousy.

- my femcel queen

- objectively the funniest character and also the most tragic (to me so actually not at all objective but but but)

- really good showing of how even though she was so distant from the Fey family and her bio mother, she still suffered due to their family's generational trauma and baggage.

- cool design!!!!!!!!!!

- incredibly underrated for the final villain of the ace attorney trilogy. Like other villains in ace attorney are cool and all but pls pls pls I know she's not a twink in a homoerotic relationship but she's so cool..

I think Dahlia Hawthorne could be really interesting if people gave her a chance and I really wish they would because as a person or someone who is seen as a girl a lot and demonised a bit due to my uh.. issues.. I find myself relating to parts of her character. Also evil women go fucking crazy, love em. This also kind of goes for Iris as well, she doesn't... really ever get talked about outside of her relationship with Phoenix n that's in part fault of the fandom AND Capcom (my sworn enemies.)

Anyway thanks for listening - or well reading! :3

anon while we have vastly different interpretations of her character you are so incredibly correct in the general message of it all. like..you are correct with every part of this obviously it's just the matter of me having a different approach, but people seeing her as someone only tied to phoenix is so real and true. what capcom did was make dahlia a manic pixie nightmare girl (a female character created solely for the development of the male lead but in an evil way this time) and tbh we need to reject those behaviors and come up with cool shit for her

actually that manic pixie nightmare girl thing was so smart of me to say. i love myself i'm the smartest girlboy alive. you are also a genius anon honestly go off with this?? if i were you i would already be creating art and unhinged essay posts about this whole thing

[ctlightner]

Book Review: The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland

Grade: Solid A Category: YA Trigger warnings: Body horror, intense scenes, discussion of abuse toward women, murder of women, flaying skin

Back in November, I went to YAllFest and picked up a healthy bundle of ARCs. Their release dates are starting to come up, so I thought I'd finally get to them.

The Invocations follows a trio of three young women--Zara, Jude, and Emer--all of whom are turning to witchcraft, aka cursebreaking, to solve their current problems. The book is perfectly suited to its intended age category (YA), but I think it has a lot of crossover appeal with the adult category. It starts slow and builds up speed, but goes a little too breakneck into the hairpin turn of the ending. Besides some awkward pacing toward the end and a bit of lost character arc for one of them, this is an excellent book for the young horror enthusiast who also enjoys a witchy aesthetic.

This book releases on January 30th.

Further discussion and spoilers under the cut

I might have to look into more books by this author, as I really appreciate her pacing. Although I think the climax deviates very far from the more deliberate buildup of the first hundred pages, it's not so out there that it ruins the story. The majority of the book is a well-paced whodunnit that plays off the different class strata that the main three come from. It's dark, a little gruesome, but it ends in a positive place.

It is still YA, so please don't expect a lot of subtext that asks a lot of the reader. YA is supposed to be straightforward for the sake of the main demographic, but that doesn't mean it's inherently shallow. If anything, I'd say The Invocations avoids being a "head empty, no thoughts" vibes-only book by dint of it tackling such heavy subject matter.

I do think it can be read in a very gender essentialist way, though. At one point, Emer (the one who writes the spells; the only explicit witch, as it were) says that she's written spells/curses for transwomen, as it's the soul that matters, not the physical body. Likewise, the rules of the magic say that only women can write curses, which leaves it unclear where nonbinary people exist in this world, according to its metaphysical forces. This is bypassed by completely ignoring nonbinary people. I don't think that's the best route the author could have gone, but I also don't think the book would have been enhanced by diverting several hundred words to go into the specifics of how all genders work in this world with the magic.

If the author wanted to be wholly inclusive, then she probably needed to rewrite the magic from the ground up. Which would have necessitated rewriting the plot, as part of it hinges on them not immediately suspecting a guy as the killer.

Besides that, the book manages to do a good job with its horror. There are several terrifying scenes, including one that has the potential to keep people up at night. However, I would say most of the horror comes from body horror and grotesque descriptions of the dead rather than psychological horror. The book in general steadily becomes more of a mystery as it goes on, as well.

I wish that Zara's storyline had been done better, too. She feels like the odd duck out of the trio of main characters, often doing her own thing and having her own motivations separate from Emer and Jude, which don't necessarily wrap her back in step with the others. She also suffers a small mental break at the end of a chapter that is never repeated nor built upon and is sadly forgotten by the resolution. I thought for sure it foreshadowed her becoming a villain, or at least a temporary antagonist, but no. All of the young women have tragic backstories that are softened and glossed over a bit for the sake of pacing and the age category, but Zara's feels heavier due to how interior and secretive she is. The reader is privy to her complex feelings, but she tells comparatively little to her new friends.

Regardless of that, it's a very good book. If you can ignore the gender binary of it all, then I'd highly recommend it, and I would especially recommend it for the teen in your life who's frustrated with everything and just wants to burn everything down and then retire to a cottagecore hut out in the Irish countryside.

[oh-shtars]

1.) Sometimes like in my case, the reason I’m rewriting the movie is because I’m really passionate about it and I grew up LOVING Disney. I wanted to see their best. And it hurted that what came for their grand 100th anniversary was something….mediocre.

And besides, in the end, all that really matters is that you’re having fun and letting your creativity shine with what could’ve been. Maybe it’s what Walt Disney would’ve loved to see. How his works still inspire people to ‘create.’

So I hate when people just quickly assume that everyone in the Rewrite community are just a bunch of ungrateful and whiny people.

(Okay admittedly, I’ve seen some rewrites done just to spite Disney and well….where’s the fun in that if you go about it that way?)

2.) “Starsha is incest because Sabino is meant to be Star”

Guys, Star-Sabino was only one of the concepts considered. There are multiple other concepts that don’t have Starboy as Sabino.

Besides, it’s a concept that’s not used and not even canon. People are making up their own versions of what Disney didn’t even use. And most of them don’t even have Star related to Asha in a familial sense.

Heck, not everyone even ships those two romantically. Just look at the WRTS!Au. Those two are just as cute in a platonic sense.

3.) “Starboy and the Evil Villain Couple would’ve made the story so much better!!”

As much as I like the concept art, No. I don’t think this is the case. It all still highly depends on the execution of these ideas. If they included these concepts but still don’t utilise them, I’ll still think the movie will need a lot of work.

I also probably would’ve like the actual canon movie more if it was executed better. Even without the concepts. I’m sure it could’ve still worked if we kept Star as the little plushie it is, Amaya as the good queen, and if Asha and Mag were written better.

Unfortunately, it just flopped to me.

4.) “Starboy was originally meant to be Asha’s love interest.”

I don’t think it was? And this is coming from a Starsha shipper myself too.

I like the idea but I don’t think it was even meant to be that way at all. Julia Michaels only said she wrote “At All Costs” so that it sounds like a love song to be played at weddings. But it was all meant to be sung towards the wishes. (Even though it’s weird in the movie’s context.)

Idk, unless someone could find more evidence for this case, the only other thing I could find about this concept is that “They were soulmates.” But even then, they could also mean it in a platonic sense.

Soulmates aren’t strictly romantic.

5.) “Asha is selfish and Magnifico was completely innocent.”

This take itches me the wrong way.

Sure, I found Asha a little whiny but I don’t think she was selfish. She only wanted people to be able to remember their wishes and pursue them. Not that she wants ALL OF THEM granted. I still wish that she went through at least a bit of character development but…this movie didn’t want to put their MC with actual flaws I guess.

As for Magnifico, he’s not entirely innocent. The worst he was in the beginning of the movie was a big jerk. But he didn’t come off as evil. Yes, keeping the passion and wishes of his people and making them forget them is a bad thing. I agree with that.

He’s a complex character. I didn’t see him as evil in the beginning but the movie didn’t want to expand on him so he comes off as horribly written. Maybe he would’ve been so much better if they just didn’t add in the tragic backstory.

But this take above in blue? It is crazy.

6.) “People who dislike Wish are racist”

Omggggggggg, it’s not that. Asha is a flat and badly handled main character that just HAPPENS to be POC.

If she was white and still handled the same, I would still have the same complaints about her character. Just stooooooop…

What are Wish takes you heard that just makes you wanna

[ice-and-starlight]

So, I’ve been reading a lot of Old Guard meta lately (so obsessed, go watch that movie if you haven’t already, it’s so good), and I’ve seen a lot of good stuff re Booker and his relationships with everyone else, but there’s something I just haven’t see that keeps bugging me, and it ties into some of the, uh... woobification of Booker that gives me seriously creepy vibes.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore Booker and his storyline, it’s one of the best, most genuine betrayal storylines I’ve ever seen, with the foreshadowing and the psychology of the character so flawlessly set up that it didn’t come as a shock even when the twist totally still got me. (I remember reading in a meta for a completely different fandom that ‘twists are supposed to make you go ‘oh shit it all makes sense now!’ not ‘wtf where did that come from???’‘ and that’s what the Old Guard did so right here.) To set up a story where we, the audience, can still sympathise with the betrayer even in the moment he is actively betraying his family? -fans self- I aspire to this level of storytelling, truly.

But! Let me talk about that foreshadowing and psychology a moment. Because I’ve seen meta about the Don Quixote book, and I don’t think I need to explain why the multiple defensive ‘I don’t know’s after Joe and Nicky get taken are a little red flag, but here’s the thing that never gets talked about re foreshadowing Booker’s betrayal.

His backstory.

Oh, I don’t mean how his backstory explains why he’s terminally depressed, lots of people have dipped into that, Once you know what he’s planning, it’s very easy to see how he got there, how so much loss drove him to foolish, desperate acts in an attempt to make the pain stop. I don’t think I need to go into the details of what losing a child (even an adult child) does to someone.

No, I’m talking about the fact that Booker’s son didn’t trust him.

It’s written into his backstory, guys.

I will be the first to admit that my standards for parents in fiction are, uh, rather high, so maybe it didn’t look like a red flag to most people, but I watched that flashback scene, and more than just feeling the tragedy of Booker’s side, I felt a genuine little thread of horror at his son’s side of the story.

Now... that sort of severely extreme situation is hard to truly empathise with, but just try, for a moment, to imagine that you have a terminal diagnosis. You’re in pain and you know you’re dying. And your dad happens to be an immortal, who heals from greivous wounds and, presumably, doesn’t really get sick. It’s not exactly a stretch to imagine longing for that for yourself, right? Obviously. Anyone would. But... I try to imagine my dad, sitting at my bedside, while I’m dying, saying ‘I wish I could give it to you, but I can’t’, and... not believing him?

Honestly, I don’t believe that could happen unless there were already cracks in that foundation. Unless there was already some part of that man that whispered doubt in the dark recesses of his psyche.

I’m not saying that Booker’s son was right, not at all. The movie does show us that Booker is willing to sacrifice for the people he loves, but the movie also clearly shows us that he is not above making decisions for other people, regardless of their feelings on the matter. He’s also very good at keeping things to himself and/or not really trusting other people with them. (If he was so sure Andy wanted to die just like he did, why didn’t he tell her about his plan?)

My point, I guess, is that, yes, Booker’s backstory is tragic, it’s a horrible situation, but he’s not entirely innocent in it, either. He is one half of the equation that produced a relationship where a son felt he could not count on his dad when he was dying. I’m not even saying it was Booker’s fault that it was like that, but it was, at least in some part, his responsibility, as a father, to make sure his son knew he could count on him. And somewhere, somehow, he failed. And that’s not some sort of condemnation of him, because we’re all human and we’re not perfect, but that still doesn’t absolve him of his responsibility.

Booker tells that story like his experience is universal. Like it couldn’t happen any other way, and that’s just not true. It may be more likely in this fucked up world than anyone likes to think about, because no one can really escape life unscathed, but it’s not a guarantee that it will always be like that.

(PS: And also, while I adore the ‘found family’ trope that is executed so well in this movie, I will admit that the ‘they’ll die long before you do so there’s no point in making a connection at all’ bit that never really got rebuffed (the ‘don’t bother saving them it’s pointless’ did get rebuffed, and that was great, but not the more personal aspect) and in fact got subtly reinforced by Nile’s decision to cut ties with her family really bothers me.

Like, geez, hamster owners, better just abandon those little guys right now, they’re going to die way before you so better not get all attached. Advocate for their safety but don’t actually bond with them and love them and enjoy their company, because it’ll only end in misery. /sarcasm

What nonsense.)

[chromes-corner]

Dark Choco will (probably) not be redeemed, and here’s why

alternate title: i would rather brainrot about chapter 13 than do homework

Very long and ramble-y post under the cut ^-^

Chapter 13 has been out for a little bit now, and it’s all everyone in the fandom wants to talk about -- and for good reason! After the goofy aside of the Hollyberry Kingdom story, fans had been thirsting for something a bit more serious. Well, as serious as a cookie game can take itself, anyway.

Chapter 13 came with what might be the most anticipated moment in the entire franchise: the clash of father Dark Cacao and son Dark Choco. The confrontation was a pinnacle moment for the game as a whole, just as much -- if not more -- of an edge-of-your-seat moment as Dark Enchantress’s identity reveal. 

now there’s one question on everyone’s mind: will Dark Choco, our tragic hero-turned-villain, be redeemed?

with the confrontation currently happening in the game, now more than ever fans are crossing their fingers for a redemption arc to unfold for our unfortunate little meow meow, Dark Choco. A character with a tragic backstory; a hero with intentions more pure than freshly fallen yogurt snow; a young man who only wished to rescue the lives of his kingdom; cursed to be the kingdom’s end in his quest to save it. surely his arc will end as a happy one, where he can make peace and reconcile with his father?

well...

things are looking grim for our forsaken prince. The odds are stacked against him, and I would like to discuss that in this mini essay. So here are my thoughts:

(cue title card)

Dark Choco will not be redeemed, from a character, writing, and marketing standpoint.

(cool intro music)

Not everyone is meant to be a hero

Dark Choco might be one of the most fleshed-out characters in the entire franchise. He is complex and an interesting character study (which might also be why I enjoy writing him so much) and GOD i could rant and rave about him all day (but maybe that’s for a future post so ill be brief).

Dark Choco sees the world in black and white. When he failed to be the hero, he believed the opposite path to be the only one for him. Dark Choco is not a twisted villain. Dark Choco is not an innocent little meow meow. He is a tragic prince of good intentions who is forced to live with immense regret over the things he’s done (most of which he had no control over, since he was, yknow, literally cursed). The weight of the sorrow he carries with him has forced him to believe that the only path for him is that of darkness. He believes he is no longer capable of anything good because long ago a cursed artifact took hold of him and caused him to unwillingly lay waste to the very thing he wished to save.

To suddenly pirouette into goodness and reconciliation is just... very unrealistic. Dark Choco is burdened by his guilt and he has told himself he is bad and evil so many times that now he believes it. He wants to be good, he wants to help the people he loves, but he can’t, because he has convinced himself that he is only capable of causing pain and destruction, no matter his intentions. This isn’t to say Dark Choco is all sunshine and rainbows on the inside. he’s done bad while fully conscious, but that’s a dissection for another post.

Dark Choco is too far gone into his spiraling mindset to suddenly step onto the side of good. He is the only one who can change his perception of what it means to be “good” or “evil,” but honestly, with how things are going for him, I do not think that will change any time soon.

Context is key

With that out of the way, I am now going to step out of the lens of a character in the game, and instead look at this from a developer’s point of view.

There are many things to say about the Cookie Run games. They are cute little time-passers with simple characters and silly gameplay. Sure, the story can get intense at times, but the game still remains the same -- a goofy mobile application about talking gingerbread men.

Dark Choco is, as mentioned, written to be a tragic hero. Every single piece of his dialogue feels like it was taken straight from a Naruto villain or something of equivalent edginess. That is his character. Fullstop. Period.

To give Dark Choco such a wide arc would not work from a writing standpoint, as it would simply just not make sense at all in the context of the game. To have Dark Choco redeemed, yet all his dialogue from before the redemption remain the same would be an utter juxtaposition and might even confuse many players. It’s not like Devsis would redo all his idle dialogue in Kingdom, either, as that is a huge sink of work and money that would more than likely not return a profit -- what are they supposed to sell, a resource pack with the new lines?? If it doesn’t make money, it will not be developed.

You could argue that there are characters who have inconsistent dialogue and stories, such as Cotton (her story ended with her being a lot older than her playable character) or with Twizzly Gummy (taken back to her timeline by the TBD), but those are malleable in terms of turning them into playable characters. They don’t have arcs that change the intrinsic traits of their character. They remain mostly static throughout their side stories, thus making it way easier to incorporate them into the game as their personalities are more easily pinned down.

Having a character who is already fully incorporated into the game go from black to white is just entirely unfeasible and it would be baffling regardless of what direction the devs would take them in in terms of idle dialogue and characterization -- to have Choco be redeemed and remain the same in the overworld would confuse new players but also make his redemption feel entirely inconsequential, but changing his idle dialogue and such would also confuse new players and Dark Choco would straight up just lose the part that makes him actually complex.

so uh em er basically, from a dev standpoint, this makes absolutely no sense and would only cause problems in the storytelling.

(ok this part was really fucking hard to explain my brain is going brrr but hopefully you get my point????)

That wasn’t very cash money of you

Finally, we all have to take a look at what Devsisters truly is: it’s a company, just like any other, and companies have one goal: making as much money as possible.

Dark Choco is a fan favorite. Why? Because he’s complex and tragic, and let me tell you, fans ADORE tragic characters. When a character - especially one with good intentions -- has been scorned and undeservingly punished, fans go wild. fanart, fix-it fics, and dissections (Like this one!!) run rampant in fandom spaces both online and IRL. All fans can talk about is their poor little skrunkly and how he/she/they deserved better.

And do you know what happens when people rant and rave about their favorite characters?

It begins to interest their friends/followers/mutuals, thus bringing in more players/viewers/readers to a piece of media.

And do you know what happens when more people start following a game/book/show/comic?

The creators make more money.

Dark Choco is a fan favorite indeed. Everyday, I see people on my dash talk about him, draw him, write about him, all because they love him and are sympathetic towards his strife and his flaws and his story. Dark Choco is an interest generator for the franchise. His tale of woe interests people in the games, and thus, makes them play the games.

What would happen if his problems, the very things that make him who he is, were solved?

He’d lose his appeal.

When he loses his appeal, people lose interest in him and talk about him less.

When people talk about him less, the game reaches less people.

When the game reaches less people, the game does not make more money.

If he were to be redeemed, the appeal would disappear, and with it, potential customers. Devsisters will not redeem Dark Choco because they are a company, and baby, he’s workin’ his 9-to-5 on the reg.

So, there we have it, a few reasons why Dark Choco will not be redeemed. Now, I can’t see into the future, so I might be wrong, but I am pretty confident in my analysis. I will actually probably make a followup post on why Dark Choco could be redeemed, but for now, this will quell my insane brainrotting over the Cacao family and chapter 13.

If you have comments about this, feel free to say something! This is all purely speculation, and I’d love to hear who agrees and whos opinions differs!

thank you for reading my long post about a stupid mobile game!!!!

[deanwinchesterswitch]

Run To You ~ Chapter Four

Chapter Summary: Kasey learns the tragic backstory of her ‘not a serial killer’ guest and makes a consequential decision.

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Kasey Belmont (OFC)

Warnings: Mention of murder-No detail given; Language; Dean is getting flirty (yes, that’s a warning)

Rating: Mature 18+ (due to later chapters) NSFW

Word Count: 1849

Beta: @princessmisery666

Movie Reference/Quote: Zoolander

Author’s Notes: This is an AU. While there are several SPN characters mentioned, basically no one has the same connections as they did in the show, and Dean and Sam are not related.

Series Master Post

Written for: @jay-and-dean -Jay’s 3K Celebration and @spnaubingo. This chapter includes a square for the @spnquotebingo.

Jay’s Prompts: Third Character ~ Victor Henriksen; Someone is ~ pregnant; Quote with 3 ~ “I have nothing to offer, 3 dollars and a bad bottle of whiskey, nothing more.” It was also inspired by the movie Labor Day with a hint of The Fugitive thrown in for good measure.

SPNAUBingo Square Filled: Fugitive AU

SPNQuoteBingo Square Filled: Free Space; “Wow, you’re ridiculously good-looking.” - Zoolander

**ETA - Updated title card and format 3/13/23**

Kasey settles back into the cushions, putting her feet up on the small ottoman she pulled around from beside her seat. The dark blue floral cotton of her sundress hisses softly as her fingers push the material over her thighs to straighten the hem. Resting a hand in her lap, the other reaches for the glass of water on the table; taking a sip, she discreetly watches as her striking captive skips using a glass once again and chugs the contents of the pitcher.

In his haste to quench his thirst, water seeps around the rim, and rivulets run down his chin, leaving watery trails through the dirt on his neck. With no shirt to stop its descent, Kasey watches a single drop of water leisurely slide over the freckled skin of his pec and down the toned muscles of his stomach before finally slipping beneath the waistband of his jeans. After setting the container back on the floor, he wipes his free hand over his chin to rid it of the dampness, then brushes his thick fingers over his denim-covered thigh to dry them. She nearly chokes on her water, coughing slightly as a cover.

How can drinking water be so fucking sexy?

“Wow, you’re ridiculously good-looking,” she mutters.

Kasey wants to facepalm herself when she realizes she said that out loud. Living alone for so long, she has acquired the now regrettable habit of talking to herself. She glances at Dean to find a knowing smirk adorning his face, confirming that she had, in fact, said it aloud. Wishing the cushions would swallow her whole, she stifles an embarrassed groan by taking another sip of water. Thankfully Dean keeps his thoughts to himself. A gentleman and a rogue. Definitely a dangerous combination. The type of man her grandmother warned her about.

She clears her throat, trying to reign in her lust-filled thoughts and get back to the matter at hand. “So, let’s hear it.”

He leans back against the wall, one knee bent, fingers splayed over his thigh. “Can I ask your name first?”

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.” She throws him a look that dares him to claim it’s John and would swear that a hint of admiration flashed in his eyes.

A lift of brow, a purse of lips, and a mischievous grin precede his cheeky reply, “Winchester. Dean Winchester.”

The drop in his voice almost does her in. Thank god he didn’t throw in a wink, or she might have had to dump her glass of water over her head. She ponders the name for a moment, letting it slip off her tongue in a soft whisper. “It suits you. Much better than John Bonham. I mean, really?” she laughs.

“Hey, don’t knock a man for dreaming about being a rockstar.”

“Even if it was just to cover his ass?”

She notices the quirk of his brow. He clearly wants to make a comment about her checking out his ass but apparently thinks better of it and asks, “So? You going to tell me your name or make me guess?”

“Kasey.”

“Kasey,” he repeats and then nods, giving her a broad smile. “Nice to meet you, Kasey.”

Her pulse skitters a little at how it sounds passing through his lips, especially the way he dragged out the long ‘a’ the first time like he was testing how it sounded in his throat. And that smile… it’s like a perigean moon in a midnight blue sky.

Dean discreetly coughs, and she realizes she’s been caught staring, again.

Christ, I’ve lost my mind. Stop flirting with the self-professed, not a serial killer!

“Oh, uh, sorry. Go ahead; I’m listening.” She reaches for her glass and gulps down a drink to once again hide her embarrassment.

“Well, I’m sure you know by now that I’m the one plastered all over the news.” He huffs out a disdainful breath. “It’s nothing but lies.”

Remaining silent, she simply stares at him over the rim of her glass, intently watching his face as he begins his tale.

Twenty minutes later, Kasey leans forward, tears pressing at the backs of her eyes. “Wait, wait.” Dean pauses and looks up at her, emotion pooling in his eyes as well. Kasey stands, puffs out a breath, and begins pacing around the room, hands motioning animatedly as she speaks.

“Okay… so… you’re telling me that you and your wife were arguing about the affair-” she briefly pauses along her trek and then holds up a hand like she’s forestalling any comment from him, “affairs, plural, you discovered she was having. You left to cool off. When you came back a couple of hours later, you found her bleeding out and called the police. You became the prime suspect, were wrongfully accused, and subsequently convicted of her murder.”

She stops pacing, wraps both arms around her middle, and stares up at the ceiling taking in deep calming breaths before turning to face him and asking, “Did you do it?”

“No.”

Dean’s response is barely audible over the pounding of her heart and the blood rushing in her ears, but she sees the conviction in his eyes and the tears trailing down his face. She’s desperately trying not to imagine what he saw, what he felt, upon finding his dying wife. Even if their relationship was rocky, he loved her. Perhaps that love had faded or changed over time, but still, it must have been horrific for him.

Kasey can no longer hold back her tears. With a quick step forward, she reaches down and grabs the pitcher, causing the tiny bits of unmelted ice to clink delicately against the glass. “Excuse me a minute.”

Vision blurred and mind racing, Kasey stumbles into the kitchen, nearly dropping the pitcher. It lands on the island with a heavy thump, and she leans against the counter for support. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Her entire body shakes as she heaves in lungs full of air.

She had watched Dean intently as he spoke, saw every shift of his body and tick of his jaw. Stared into the eyes that never wavered from hers unless he became too emotional. The whole story had sent her into a tailspin of emotions, but her gut and the little voice in the back of her head had helped to keep them in check, reminding her to hear him out before forming any kind of judgment.

She plops down on one of the barstools, trying to even out her breaths and slow her heart rate, mind spinning like a snow globe that’s been violently shaken, words and images spiraling about only to land in nonsensical patterns. When she finally has her breathing under control and gains some semblance of coherent thought, she pushes away from the counter.

“Okay. First things first.” She’s had to pee for the last ten minutes but was too caught up in Dean’s story to interrupt him.

Once in the bathroom, she quickly does her business and then takes a moment to stare at herself in the mirror. “What are you thinking? You don’t know anything about this man or what he’s capable of. This is getting messy, fast, Kasey. You’re not in that life anymore. You’re letting your emotions cloud your judgment. They’ve caused you enough pain. You need to let them go. You need to walk away now, hand him over to the authorities, and wash your hands of him.”

“You know he’s not lying,” her reflection tells her as she sees the certainty in her eyes. “You’ve seen your fair share of guilty people over the years. You know what true guilt looks like, and Dean wears none of those countenances. Those emotions were genuine. You can help him. Your instincts have never been wrong before.” Kasey tilts her head, pondering the image in front of her. “There’s always a first time.” The roll of her eyes is almost painful. “This isn’t it, and you know it. Come on, Kase, why are you doubting yourself?”

“It’s been a long time. It could go terribly wrong. It’s the Fremont case all over again.” Shaking her head, she turns away, hearing herself say, “No, what happened with Bill Fremont wasn’t your fault.”

“But, if I let Dean go without trying to help and something bad happens to him later, it will be my fault.”

Her fingers tap nervously on the countertop as she weighs the pros and cons. She should be terrified of him and what he could possibly do to her. Yet, she truly believes that he will not harm her.

She watches herself breathe in the mirror. The waning light diffused by the lace curtains covering the small window casts intricate designs across her face, like a Columbina mask worn at a masquerade ball—dark and light, truth and lies, uncertainty and faith.

“What’s it going to be, Kasey? You need to make a decision, and it needs to be done now.” The buzz of electricity surges along the old wiring behind the walls, and she flips the light switch to illuminate the room, literally and figuratively dispersing the shadows of doubt and shedding light on her dilemma.

The world has more than its fair share of darkness and evil, but there is also plenty of goodness and light. She knows in her gut that Dean is a point of light, despite the darkness of his current situation.

Wow, did I just argue myself into working a case? Well, that’s splendid.

Decision made, she flushes the toilet and washes her hands. The negligible bit of doubt still floating about as she contemplates her next move is unceremoniously dispersed when her stomach rumbles, reminding her that she hasn’t eaten since yesterday. The apprehension and dramatics of the past twenty-four hours have kept both hunger and sleep at bay.

“Shit!” Kasey shakes her head at her reflection. “You’re gonna be in deep for someone you don’t even know.”

A splash of cold water to her face washes away the tear tracks before she heads back out to inform Dean of her decision and make them both something to eat. She figures it’s been a while since he’s had a decent meal, most likely stealing food from wherever he could. Probably stole his clothes as well. Running around in a brightly colored jumpsuit wouldn’t have exactly let him blend in.

She wonders what else he’s had to do to survive since he escaped. She’d cut him off before he had the chance to tell her how he even managed such a feat in the first place. Escaping federal custody is not as easy as the movies make it out to be. He may not be a murderer, but there’s not much a desperate man won’t do to save himself, and Dean is most certainly a desperate man.

Desperately handsome, too.

She mentally slaps her own cheek to get herself in check.

“I need more information, and we need a plan.” Smiling at her reflection, she taps her fingers on the countertop like a drumroll. “Alright, let’s do this.”

Previous // Next

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@muchamusedaboutnothing

[bookofmirth]

i’m a feyre stan first and foremost so out of loyalty sometimes her hardcore stans make me feel like i have to hate nesta and elain or i’m an abuse apologist but then i think about it for a moment and

obviously i understand that sjm always has the main fmc have a tragic backstory but in this case it’s just so utterly ridiculous that 2 girls that are like maximum 3 years older than feyre sat on their asses and stared at a wall for 5 years and it honestly makes me hate them less. i feel like i can’t even be mad at them for not hunting because it’s so cardboard cut out evil older sister villainy that it’s honestly just funny like sjm didn’t even care to give them realistic reasons for not hunting because all that matters is they can’t hunt because it’s feyre tragic backstory

and it doesn’t even really fit in with their characters. elains a literal gardener and they live near a forest? i’m sure sjm couldve had her plant some vegetables. it doesn’t make sense that elain didn’t plant vegetables. i know sjm threw in that lame ‘but the soil wasn’t good’ excuse but come on 😭😭 and how is nesta so selfish to not hunt when like the second time we see her in acomaf she’s championing human lives to be saved?? obviously poverty and trauma does things to people but nesta doesn’t even find herself a husband to take care of her and elain when it’s literally what she was taught and raised to do

love sjm but i wish she fleshed out the beginning of acotar wayyy more.

Here's an alternative I was just chatting with some people about -

acotar should have been a trilogy and all this spin-off stuff shouldn't have happened without the foundation to support it.

Which, because Elain and Nesta were such fairy tale tropes in acotar, we didn't have a good foundation for them. Now, everyone is arguing about how big a bitch Nesta really is and how useless Elain really is, and a lot of it is based on content that was not supposed to go beyond explaining "here is what Feyre was dealing with before she went over the Wall". Nesta and Elain were written as if they would barely make cameo appearances in the rest of Feyre's life, but surprise! Now they are/going to be main characters.

I wonder if it would have been more believable if sjm had embraced the way she wrote Nesta and Elain, rather than trying to make excuses for them. idk. Gardening is hard (just ask my fig plant which just lost all its leaves, and I have time, knowledge, and resources to care for it!) but if Elain's whole personality is Good at Plants, why couldn't she have done better? Nesta was ready to marry the one dude, but she was also like 23 in acotar which is Old Lady status in fairy tale worlds, so why hadn't she done that years before? And obviously Papa Archeron was there. They just... they were such stereotypes, and now we have to try to understand them as fully developed characters based on those two-dimensional tropes.

It's no wonder we disagree with one another, but if we could just not be so mean about it, jfc. It's based on sjm being half-assed! Not any of us being bad readers! Be mad at her!

Don't let the fandom make you feel like you need to think or feel anything in particular, though! It's perfectly possible for us to like all three sisters. I know I wouldn't get along with them all equally irl, but I appreciate their characters.

[sokkabaddiebender2021]

An ATLA Rant: Imperialism & Nuance

Just to start off, this is coming from a girl who’s grandmother was Filipino. No, I have not personally experienced imperialism in my lifetime, but it is a subject that I think is very serious and important to me because of my heritage.

That said, I have absolutely zero idea how you could watch avatar: the part airbender and come out of it saying that it is pro imperialist. Absolutely zero.

I agree because this is a pan Asian inspired show that was written was created by two white men (with the help and advisement of several poc as well but that is a topic for another time), people, especially people of color, have every right to be critical of it. But this argument that the show is somehow pro imperialist just doesn’t make sense to me.

The fire nation is in the wrong. The show makes that VERY clear. Their actions towards other nations is called out by several characters (Zuko, Roku, etc). Their destruction of other cultures (southern water tribe, air nomads, attempted earth kingdom) are seen as diporable and downright inhuman. Not only that, but we see the devastation this cultural genocide brings upon main characters like Katara and especially Aang and how they must heal from it.

Moving on, the show absolutely was not teaching people to stand docile and peaceful against their oppressors. Katara and Aang literally destroy a whole fire nation factory!! When the fire nation was attacking the northern air temple, they were kicking their asses off the cliff!! They planned a whole invasion to attack the fire nation capital to end the war!! (Let’s not forget Katara incititing a riot against the fire nation in the imprisonment episode with the earth benders). I could on and on about all the times the gaang meets the fire nation with violence and encourages others to fight back against them, but that would be going wayyy too in depth.

I think where people get far too simplistic here is that they think that atla is telling people to not use violence against their oppressors because the show is critical of people like Jet and Hama. First of all, the characters are given a lot of nuance in the show. Both are introduced with tragic backstories of the horrors that the fire nation inflicted upon them (I still get chills with the scene when Hama explains her story).

Despite this, both characters have every chance to use their abilities to fight back against the fire nation in a way that helps. You know, like fighting against the army and not innocent people who have no idea that the fire nation is actually in the wrong. The narrative is not that violence is bad! Peace is the only way! I think it’s that you can’t let your veagance lead you away from fighting the right people. That’s the issue: neither Jet and Hama were fighting the right people.

And we first see both characters fighting soldiers in their first scenes. Hama in the flashback when she’s defending her home (and rightfully uses violence to do so) and Jet when he helps the gaang take down some fire nation soldiers in the forest. This is just violence directed at the right people. But instead, both attempt to murder and in Hama’s case, torture people who take no part in the atrocities the fire nation has committed. Are they ignorant? Well of course they are because as we very obviously see, they’ve been fed propaganda their entire life while also living under an authoritarian regime, something that’ll give you no will to think other than the things that are spoon fed to you.

So let me ask you this, was it right for Jet to try and murder an entire village of innocent people, literal children included? Was it right for Hama to imprison and torture lord knows how many innocent citizens just because they belong to an nation that they have no actual knowledge of its evil? I’m hoping your answer is no, and the show would also say no as well.

When both Katara and Aaag choose not to kill, the narrative is not saying that they shouldn’t kill these men. The narrative allows both characters to make their own choice in what ways they wish to do, and it has nothing to do with what is actually right or wrong, because ultimately it is up to what each character wishes to do. Katara sees Yon Ra as the pathetic old man that he is, so she sees no purpose or healing for herself in taking his life. This is a personal choice made for herself, and that is all that matters.

The same goes for Aang. This poor boy is desperate to uphold the beliefs of his people, so he finds another way. A way that still upholds his beliefs while still ending the tyranny of Firelord Ozai. It is ridiculous to say that this is a passive take to imperialism, because yes he doesn’t literally murder someone but he still takes the dude out. And honestly, Ozai’s fate is worse then death (especially considering who Ozai is). Once again, the narrative is not saying be passive to your oppressors and don’t use violence. Its saying that because Aang is living in a world where his beliefs have been forcefully removed and disrespected, he has every right to continue to defend them in the ways he sees fit.

While some may see the narrative as more sympathetic to Iroh and Zuko, I think it’s just because they ARE some of the main characters of the show, as compared to those like Jet and Hama. We see much more of their story just as we see much more of the gaang’s story. Not only that, but their narrative purpose is far different from these two other characters. Iroh and Zuko are meant to show that despite them being from the fire nation, they are not inherently evil people. Jet and Hama are meant to show that even while they are against the antagonistic force of the show, they still can commit evil. Not only are Iroh and Zuko’s actions never justified, but they both must go on a journey to unlearn the hateful propaganda instilled into them, and remedy their ignorance. The narrative never says that neither Jet and Hama cannot also redeem themselves, but Hama feels no remorse for her actions, and Jet does attempt to redeem himself, but ultimately falls back into old habits (I believe he could’ve redeemed himself, but I’ll agree the writers were a bit sloppy in his end, like I’m not sure why they had to kill him other than to make him a tragic character but whatever).

To finally wrap up this essay, ATLA is not a black and white show. The show is not pro imperialist for condemning the violent actions of two characters who happen to be victims of imperialism. The show is not pro imperialist for allowing two children to decide for themselves whether or not they want to end the lives of someone. The show is not pro imperialist for not making the antagonist of the show a one note and one dimensional bad guy.

I’ll end this with the speech that Zuko makes to Ozai when he prepares to leave on Day of Black Sun:

No, I've learned everything! And I've had to learn it on my own! Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the War was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it! We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness.