#i actually think they'd be good friends in any case when they're young

[craurpuri]

yall yall I just imagined something in my peanut brain

so this is some modern au shit but like, the girlies meet by pure coincidence, at a hospital of all places 😭🙏

oinao is finally getting checked out and just sits in the waiting room and mizu is there after being excused from school that day for an appointment for smth, and they just glance at each other like "don't I know this girl from school?"

I know. finding your future high school crush at a damn hospital is peak ✨ romance ✨

[celaenaeiln]

Small scenario ask:

A kid version of Robin!Dick gets teleported into the present day of the DCU, in particular during one of those times that Batfamily are split up and at each other’s throats with only Tim(my) and Alfred sort of trying to keep the peace.

They don’t know he’s present until he jumps in from out of nowhere to help the Batfamily take on a Scarecrow attack.

How would they react to this tiny version of Dick and his more chipper and lively attitude especially once he starts asking Batman if these other guys around them are their allies or something?

OMG I AM SO EXCITEEDD!!

THE FUNNY THING IS IVE ACTUALLY BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS TOPIC SEPARATELY IN MY HEAD!!

Not this exact scenario but just like how much Dick has changed over the years.

This is SUCH a good fanfic idea!!!

Okay so Dick would jumps into the future where the whole family is fighting and all of a sudden, a brightly colored boy just "POP"'s into the dark batcave.

Everyone at that point had been growling and snarling and screaming at each other over ethics and morals and course of action for a case that devolved into tearing at family lines and loyalties.

The tensions are high and no one is on anyone's side because as united as the batfamily is, they are just as divided.

They're seconds from coming to blows when - pop (goes the weasel. lol jk) - a 3 foot 2'' boy in the most canary yellow cape, scarlet vest, and emerald green scaled shorts blinks into existence.

The batfamily immediately goes for their weapons at the sound and most barely refrain from throwing them at the sight of a boy but some weapons slip out people's hands too fast for them stop.

They watch with their hearts in their throats and move as one to prevent it, their minds barely registering the sight in front of them, the only thought in their heads is - STOP! As if mere words could halt assailing weapons hurtling at breakneck speeds towards the child.

They've barely started moving when the small child - he couldn't have been taller than Batman's hip at the height he was - suddenly bounced on his right foot and used the moment to twirl horizontally in the air. The brilliant yellow cape swirled around his body as he turned, almost acting like a cocoon. The batarang sailed underneath their twirling body while two knives sliced the air harmlessly above him, all three weapons embedding themselves soundlessly into the cave walls behind him.

The batfamily makes an aborted move forward, halting in their tracks as the imminent danger passed and the walking traffic light of a child uses their split-second of decision to stop to take the time to gracefully land on his toes before flipping far out of reach. His back arched back into a perfect elegant little backflips which absolutely should not be possible or done so smoothly for a boy as young as he, but the kid manages anyway to land perched on a railing from the upper batcave level, looking down at them from his spot.

Duke glanced around to see if the rest of them had seen the same thing he did. Clearly not because Bruce, Tim, and Alfred looked like they'd seen a ghost. Jason and Damian looked grudgingly impressed. Steph looked openly impressed.

"So, we’ve got surprise visitors, huh? Gee, swell! You folks friends of B? Wait a sec-that can’t be right. B doesn’t have any friends except for me!" The kid chirped - and Duke swore, honest to god, chirped - with a cheeky grin, hands on his hips like he'd just cracked the world's funniest joke.

Duke just stood there, mouth slightly open, like his soul had momentarily left his body. The kid’s mask squinted as if narrowing his eyes at Bruce.

Duke blinked hard. Am I hallucinating? Did I eat bad takeout? He thought.

Bruce, meanwhile, stood frozen, looking like he was wondering where in his life he went wrong.

“Gee whiz, mister, I don’t mean to jump to conclusions or nothin’, but it’s kinda bad manners to go borrowin’ somebody else’s clothes without asking first!” He gave Bruce an exaggerated once-over, the grin on his face making it clear he wasn’t intimidated in the least. “I mean, that cape looks swell and all, but it isn't exactly screaming ‘your size,’ ya know?”

He tilted his head and piped up, “A friend of Catwoman’s?” His voice was light, full of curiosity and mischief.

Jason suddenly snorted. "A friend of Catwoman's, alright."

Cass gently smiled. Duke suspected she had known from the beginning who he was and thus had not moved a muscle during the chaos. Duke couldn’t shake the feeling it wasn’t because of uncertainty. Nope, Cass had known. She always knew.

He sighed internally. Why was he always the last to catch on to these Batfamily mysteries? On the other hand, maybe he should be grateful. He was still wiping off the remaining sludge off his suit from the last batfamily mayhap.

"Dick?" Bruce’s voice was raw, breaking apart as if it couldn’t decide whether to hope or mourn. It was the sound of disbelief and desperate longing, the kind of ache you didn’t just hear—you felt it. Duke’s chest tightened, a lump forming in his throat. He couldn’t imagine what it must mean to Bruce, but the pain was so thick it was almost unbearable.

"Who are you, mister?" Dick - holy fuck that was Dick. Wait- Duke whipped his head around. Where was their Dick?!

Tim was looking a little peaky in Duke's opinion and that was saying something since the other guy always looked pale.

Bruce raised a shaking hand to his cowl, dragging it down the back of his head almost looking like he wanted to do anything but. "Bruce. It's me, Bruce."

"I know you're a guy who looks like Bruce, but you're not my Bruce."

If his kids' previous deaths hadn't killed Bruce, then that one single sentence did, Duke thought, watching the man.

He saw a flicker of something break inside Bruce. The hardened mask Bruce wore cracked, revealing the raw, vulnerable man beneath. It was like hearing the one thing he feared most—that he wasn’t enough for them—and the way it pierced him was brutal. The light left Bruce's eyes for a moment, and Duke could almost feel the weight of that rejection.

It probably hurts to hear it from an 8 year old version of a person that adored you. Duke realized sadly. He wasn't there for Dick's childhood with the man - none of them were - but he was sure it wasn't called the Golden Ages by everyone for show by all those who had known them then.

"Wait, Alfred?" Dick asked, boring holes into the elderly butler.

So, he recognizes the same Alfred but not Bruce? Duke fought back a hysterical laugh. That's gotta sting. Sorry, man. Duke sent a silent prayer to the man who looked like he didn't know if he was going to start sobbing or glaring daggers.

Alfred cleared his throat, rather wetly in Duke's opinion. "Yes, son." He said and smiled warmly.

The boy gave a hoot of laughter that sent the bats in a flurry as he threw himself off the railing. Steph and Jason scrambled to catch him but mini-Dick (Duke was still half-panicking over where big-Dick went. Big-Dick. Haha) hopped onto Jason's shoulder used Stephanie's back as a personalized springboard and landed happily in Alfred's arms.

He hugged the man's neck like it was a plush toy and Alfred tightly held the boy with one arm under his thighs and the other around his waist.

Duke noted with no small amount of surprise that Dick perceptively didn't point of Alfred's suspiciously wet eyes and near-silent sniffling. It was damn loud for the cave though.

"Hey, did you whip up some cookies? I gotta say, that casserole’s a real knock-out, and your filet mignon? Spot on! Say, after we chow down, how about a rousing game of badminton? I’m on fire today! Let’s shake a leg, have some fun, and see who’s got the best swing!"

"Of course, Master Dick." Alfred said and the two continued conversing as Alfred carried the boy up the stairs of the batcave.

"Say, did you get to the next chapter of Lady in the Lake? I gotta tell ya, there's something fishy goin' on there, like a real gumshoe mystery. I can smell a twist coming a mile away, like a crook with a bad alibi! Whaddya think? There’s more to this dame than meets the eye, I betcha!"

Dick's voice faded as the rest of them dumbfoundedly realized they needed to follow after the two of them. Except for Cass, of course, who was already tugging a stiff Stephanie along.

Duke couldn’t help notice Tim. The guy was practically glowing in the corner like he was about to faint, his face flush with excitement. Duke knew all about Tim’s obsession with Grayson—Steph had spilled enough gossip to fill a novel. Tim had ranted about Dick for years, quoting everything from his acrobatics to his smile. But now, seeing the younger version of Grayson in front of him? Tim was this close to passing out. His eyes were practically sparkles. If there were stars in the Batcave, they were all shining in Tim’s eyes.

“Tim, dude, you alright?” Duke teased, but Tim couldn’t even form words. He just gave a thumbs-up so exaggerated it might as well have come with a marching band soundtrack.

Duke couldn’t shake the feeling that Damian was acting a little… off. The usually fierce, unflappable kid was clearly trying to maintain his tough exterior, but Duke could see the subtle signs. The way Damian’s eyes flicked over to Dick with just a hint of nervousness, his stance rigid, like he was bracing for something, but not quite sure what.

"Is it just me, or is Dick an absurdly happy kid?" Duke suddenly spoke, thinking about Dick's demeanor. The older Dick Grayson was so strict and while he joked, there wasn't a free-hearted levity in him that his child version carried.

The kid had been practically shining, bouncing around the Batcave as if it were his personal playground. This was the same kid who had grown into the stoic, responsible, and sometimes brooding Nightwing. The difference was like night and day. Duke could see the weight of the years had changed him, and as he watched this boy, full of energy and warmth, he realized just how much had been lost. This wasn't the Dick they all knew. This was a Dick that had never seen the kind of pain that had hardened him into the man they looked up to.

It was a version of Dick they would never witness - laughing so freely, so full of life - one that was locked away in Bruce's heart, his memories paying tribute to their god-like figure he'd embellished of their brother.

It was a homage Bruce had unknowingly clung to and fed into, and a part of Duke wondered how much of this Dick, too, had buried inside himself.

Duke felt an ache in his bones, realizing just how much was buried under the weight of Dick’s current life. The boy before him was a ghost of the past that no one would ever get back.

Jason groaned. "One depressing revelation at a time, Duke." He stomped his way up the stairs followed by near swooning Tim, and an anxious Damian.

Bruce hadn't moved an inch. It was as if the air around him had thickened, suffocating both of them with tension. Bruce, usually so composed, was now locked in a frozen tableau of silent agony. His face was unreadable, but his eyes - Duke could see them - betrayed a terrible storm. Guilt, loss, and a deep, unspoken grief. The kind of grief that didn’t make noise but settled in your bones and dragged you under.

But Duke was The Signal. He was the Light, that's what his emblem meant. While Bruce was drowning in his own anguish, Duke could not afford to drown with him. So he patted the man on the back and followed his brothers up the stairs, readying himself for more horrifying realizations about the loss of innocence and joy from their favorite brother.

[ivysangel]

listen, i think smut is great. i read it, i write it, i think about way more than is probably considered healthy, but i don't think it should be as readily accessible in bookstores as it is right now, and especially without warnings.

i went to barnes & noble with my friend a few weeks ago and in the front of the store was this humongous romance section that had hundreds of those booktok romance books that was trending now. i wish i had a picture to show you guys just how big it was, because there were like six or so book cases and then this big table with some "romantic summer reads".

naturally, because it's what's trending right now, so many of the books had those really cute cartoon couple drawings. you know the one's where the two mc's are standing next to each other, or back to back, or hugging or smth (ykwim) and all of them were completely innocent looking and not marked as having adult content in any way. this isn't my first rodeo or anything, so i know that a really good chunk of these books have graphic sex written in them despite having no warnings or indicators of such content. and sure enough as me and my friend are flipping through them we're seeing all of the graphic depictictions of sex that if you were just reading the blurb on the back you would not know existed in the book.

the rationale i've seen from a lot of the authors and readers of the book are that they want something "inconspicuous" that doesn't draw attention to the fact that they're reading smut in public or whatever. and while i understand the sentiment, there's got to be some kind of regulation for this kind of thing. because some kid who's just looking for a cute romance book accidentally picking up smut is actually very bad and shouldn't be normalized in the slightest.

and i always see people saying, "well their parents should be checking the stuff they read anyway" or "i read smut when i was young so i don't see what the problem is" which pisses me off so bad because:

A) i know that when i was younger my mom didn't monitor what i read because the books i was reading were never misleading. both the covers, blurbs, and warnings (if there ever were any) were in line with the content of the books i read and there was no reason to be worried. i'm almost 100% sure that when most parents go to the bookstore with their kid and their child picks up a book with a cute cover, and the info about the plot on the back says nothing about it being anything other than a cute relationship, they don't think anything of it. maybe if it was one of those harlequin novels with the shirtless guys and the ladies with their boobs spilling out of tight dresses they'd tell them to put the book down but because the covers of new age smut books are designed to decieve, that's exactly what they do. decieve. and if it works on your friends and family and everyone around you, why in god's name wouldn't it work on someone's parent.

and B) it's no secret that kids have been reading smut well before they should for ages. i read smut as a kid, some of my friends read smut as kids, lots of people have and will continue to do so, the difference is that it wasn't as mainstream and easily accessible as it is now. not that you had to scour the internet for it, a quick search on wattpad would give you a million results, but it wasn't something that wasn't so publicly advertised, and sold. in my experience, it was the kind of thing that you heard about from a friend who heard about it from another friend not fucking tiktok. the biggest social media platform rn.

i'd also like to point out that if you read smut when you were younger and grew up to not understand how harmful it is, even going as far to encourage kids to read it, you're a huge fucking weirdo. i'm only 18, still very much a "child" by some people's standards, and i get chills when i remember how young i and some of my friends were when we created our first wattpad accounts. which is probably why i care so much about this topic, i don't think children should be exposed to that kind of stuff at all, and i don't like how now anyone of any age can walk into a bookstore and either knowingly or unknowingly pick up some freak nasty sex because a bunch or horny people on tiktok can't understand how harmful it is to have these books in so many places without any warnings whatsoever.

also: this had already gotten so long but i forgot to mention that there's a rising interest in "dark themes" and those books DEFINITELY need a warning. i wrote an essay once on how unregulated darker themed media has contributed to the idealization of toxic relationships in young people, and i'd like to say that right now i think booktok is one of the biggest contributors

[terapsina]

For the ask game

Fandom: tvd 2

Ship: elejah 14 and 20

Character: elena 20

(from this ask game)

Fandom:

2. ...my three favorite characters and why I love them so much.

Oh. That's mean. I obsessively adore more than just three of them.

Well, one is definitely Elena.

Which is why what was done to her makes me so sad and angry. She has so much love for her friends and her family and she survives so much. And the scenes where she outmanouvers people far older and more powerful than her? Freaking glorious.

Another is probably Bonnie.

I have a soft spot for witches. And Bonnie was a complete badass. I just really wish they'd have given her better (more interesting) love interests because she was always far cooler and more fun to watch than them and it was a bit of a bummer.

Also. She should have been part of the central trio with Elena and Caroline (in the way of a show like Charmed), instead of centering around Elena and her two shadows.

And the third. Dammit. Okay, I think Rebekah wins by a slight margin over Caroline or Elijah.

She's so mean, I love her. But also, she's very wounded and lonely and I spent basically the whole time she was on TVD hoping she'd become full on friends with Elena, Bonnie and Caroline because every scene where she was edging on frenemy territory was always so fun to watch.

Ship:

14. ...which tropes I think describe them the best.

Conflicting Loyalty, Everyone Can See It, Grand Romantic Gesture, Inconvenient Attraction, Longing Looks, Love Across Battlelines, Third Option Love Interest, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Anguished Declaration of Love, The Big Damn Kiss, Held Gaze, Antagonists to Allies to Friends to Lovers.

20. ...how and when they should get/should have gotten together.

It's hard for me to decide on that with Elejah because they're one of those OTPs that I wanted together (a lot) but that in canon would have been hard to get inserted without a lot of work first.

I think... probably, I'd have wanted Elijah to make another appearance after American Gothic where he admits to Elena that he was never actually fooled. And have this clearly affect Elena but leave her a bit speechless.

Give them a moment. But have Elijah still leave, just with the possibility of them running in the background.

Have Elena survive the show, finally free of Mystic Falls, and not romantically tied to anyone. Leaving the doors for the future she gets to choose now wide open.

Letting us then decide what Elena's ultimate happy ending would actually look like (which for me would obviously be Elena and Elijah then running across each other at some point down the line and seeing those possibilities come alive).

Character:

20. ...my queer headcanon for them. Unless they're canonically queer, in which case whether or not I think they're good representation or kinda badly explored.

Hmm. I like the idea of Elena being bisexual but not having actually done all that much self-exploring about it? And being mostly oblivious to it?

I can see Elena and Bonnie having been each other's first kiss because they're best friends and it felt safe. And it was nice but because they're such deep friends and because they were so young at the time it didn't spark any big revelations.

No Humanity!Elena era was probably when she had that particular realization (she did seem to be honing in on girls a lot during all her feeding scenes) which admittedly says a lot of of annoying things about the way media likes to glue together bisexuality, with predatory sexuality, and the 'hot and evil' aesthetic but if we take a step back from that particular can of worms it works as Elena's bisexual awakening in the wake of shaking off all the bells and whistles.

[rederiswrites]

Had a chat today with a friend that started with ignorant mfs on Facebook and ended with a joke about sex toys, but in between covered so much about current politics in the US that I got permission to share it here.

A — You know good and well humans can be mind-numbingly oblivious

RedEris — I do. I do. doesn't mean I have to accept it or think it's reasonable. lol

A — Good for a laugh, in any case. As long as it doesn't get a bipedal cheeto elected

RedEris — exactly I tell [Phantom]--because of course for them the prospect of another Trump presidency is really kinda an existential threat and it does scare them--that the thing is, if we could get actual progressives elected, then the chance of addressing the exact poverty, poor education, and desperation that's let Trump get where he is goes way up

A — Yup

RedEris — So while yes, politics is like housework and it does keep needing to be done all the time, it's…also kinda like housework in that staying on top of things makes it a bit easier? I dunno. it's a metaphor.

A — Shit's got to change, but if you change it too fast then half the people get all freaked out and tried to pull it all back to what they're comfortable with. Its a pendulum

RedEris — which is actually pretty much where we are WITH Trump. It's the strength of reactionaries, ironically, recoiling from the fact that actually a lot of things HAVE changed for the better really fast Trying to explain to the kids the other day what the state of mental health/neurodivergency understanding was when we were in high school The like, zero percent chance that we'd've been diagnosed with our fairly, in retrospect, obvious problems

A — It's really hard to conceptualize that while YOU may think all of these changes are good and moral and timely, there's fuck ton of people out there looking at it and thinking "What the fuck is going on? Who are these people? I liked it the way it was! What gives them the right?" And maybe you can ignore them, but unfortunately their stubborn, ill-informed vote counts exactly the same as yours does, so you're not likely to get too very far without them

RedEris — and now the changes are really speeding up, because people aren't getting entrenched and becoming conservative like previous generations, simply because we've built a system where getting older doesn't necessaarily give you more to lose, and middle aged people are still feeling disenfranchised by the system

A — Yeah

RedEris — So now you've got people of an age where they are seriously considering getting more involved in politics but who are decidedly not conservative so. We've got to get them to vote.

A — And allow them to vote

RedEris — RIGHT that's the other thing. These "decidedly not conservative" people have fucking work to get to. and quite possibly no car. and a kid that needs watching, and, and… assuming they haven't just been scrubbed from the registrations Honestly it's buckwild that voting day isn't a national holiday or a requirement. It certainly is in other countries and they haven't combusted yet

A — Well of course that's why there are major efforts to make sure those people can't vote If you can't win on the numbers, rig the system to change the numbers.

RedEris — it's amazing to me that they'll straight up say this

A — Empower the old farts who are so freaked out that their grandkid Julie wants to go by Michael that they forget about when they were crusty young hippies who wanted to stick it to the old fuddy duddies who were killing strangers in foriegn lands and poisoning the planet.

RedEris — like, Republican strategists UNDERSTAND that they have to win by restricting voting to their bloc they'll SAY it. it's amazing And then we have a system so riddled with disinformation and distrust that they CAN say these things, and not lose a significant amount of the vote or power

A — Of course they do. They can't change their platform. They'd lose their base. It's a house of cards. But they know they have a demographic problem, they can't win on a percentage of the population. Its no surprise that they've only won the popular vote for president twice since Reagan.

RedEris — I take comfort in knowing that that percentage is going down all the time. BUT we gotta survive this push of theirs first Because this push could be incredibly, incredibly damaging you need only look at how much of the current situation dates back to a guy who was president when I was fucking ONE to understand that

A — And before that, honestly

RedEris — yeah I mean we've still got baggage from the Puritans and Victorians, man

A-- Yeah, I know but that baggage is a convenient place to store sex toys.

[aspecpplarebeautiful]

Hey, big fan of the blog. Hoping for some advice with a developing situation i find myself in.

I made a new friend recently and we hit it off really well. We've been talking pretty much every day since then, and we're starting to realize we might have some mild Feelings for each other. We're both ace, they are allo and I am aro (or I thought I was; this may change some things). We're trying to figure out how to proceed and the possibility of a QPR has been raised. I think it would make us both pretty happy and I can't deny that I really want to see where these feelings go.

However, there is a catch.

We're both adults, but in very different life stages, with me being the one with much more life experience. I don't want to mess them up or skew their perceptions or otherwise do anything to hurt them inadvertently. That said, I know that QPRs are different than dating and can be whatever you want them to be. (And can I just say how frustrating it is to finally understand what i actually want from a relationship only for that relationship to have a strange complication) I'm looking for any kind of guidance with this, because if I do the wrong thing, I could really mess them up. And yes, we're talking honestly about where we see the relationship and we're both aware of the huge gap in life stages between us.

Do you have any thoughts or advice on how to approach this?

So these types of things can be really complex, and a lot is going to depend on the details. Not every relationship where one person has more life experience is necessarily a bad one, though it is a good idea to take an active look for potential power imbalances and be aware or correct them where possible. It's also a good idea to think about boundaries and if there's any you need to be aware of. One common example of this is if you're at a place in your life where you're making more money (note: this is just an example, I'm not saying this is or isn't the case for you), if you end up spending a lot more on them than they are on you it may make them feel more beholden to you, even if that's not your intention. So it might be a good idea to create a boundary where you're both spending about equal amounts of money on each other based on what they could comfortably afford.

My biggest no-gos would be if you're in a position of authority or trust (for example boss/employee, medical professional/patient, etc). If there's an age gap, those can be really complicated, but I would say in that case it matters less the difference between your ages than it does how young or how emotionally mature they are in general. And if you feel like you're in too much of a position of authority based on their age/maturity level, it probably won't be a good idea.

But if it's more an issue of you're more established in your life and career, have had more experiences, etc. but they're a mature adult, I would worry less.

One question to ask that may help too is if you do have a relationship and it ends, do you think it's likely they'd be in a better position for having had the relationship or no?

QPRs are also highly variable and can affect things too. For example a QPR where you're both more independent is less likely to cause issues than one that's more codependent. But it is one of the advantages of QPRs that they're heavily customizable and you can purposefully aim to set something up that you feel is less likely to cause issues. Remember there's no rules with QPRs, it can include or not include whatever you want. And as always good communications, and making sure both of you feel free and open to discuss any concerns, to voice when you're uncomfortable, etc. will go a long way too.

Hopefully this is helpful. I'd also encourage doing your own research as well on power imbalances in relationship to get a better idea of what those look like and how to create a healthy dynamic.

All the best, Anon! Good luck!

[y-rhywbeth2]

I think it would've been funny if instead of being a dragonborn by default, the Dark Urge was literally an actual white dragon.

For shenanigans.

[Disclaimer that this idea is ridiculous and I don't care.]

The bhaalspawn plot twist is largely obvious to players of BG1+2 and those who've already completed the game. Who'd see the twist that you've forgotten that you're dragon in disguise coming? If you play another origin they'd make a good excuse to add a brainstealer dragon boss battle. Alternatively, if you take the ceremorphosis ending, you play as one.

Plus white dragons instinctually lean towards being brutal, vengeful little bastards in a manner Bhaal would probably approve of and due to their slow development would be very easy to corrupt from a young age… but my motivation is still mostly for shenanigans.

Living most of their life in a city, I imagine they're used to being in humanoid form. They had a sibling rivalry with Abazigail, as the only other dragon they know ("White dragons are weaker and inferior to Blues." - "I'm sorry, I'm too stupid to remember something, can you remind me? Of the two of us, who's a dead failure who disappointed Father?").

They got shanked by Orin in humanoid form and just woke up with brain trauma and assumed they were whatever humanoid they appear to be. Sure they have some ancestral draconic memory and speak draconic, but that's just a sign of having a dragon ancestor. It's not that weird! It might also seem strange when they start growling at the Githyanki dragon steeds, but going by some dialogue Durge growls at people anyway so it won't even stand out that much. At least the "human flesh smells tasty" thing makes sense now?

Lacking any memories of past enemies to plot against, dragon Durge simply adds their new friends' enemies to their list of grudges.

Those of us who play by looting everything in sight and refusing to share it with the party members have a valid reason; dragon hoard. Yes I do need to break my back carrying all of the money, enchanted weapons and six thousand books I'll never read; no, we're not selling any of it, fuck off.

We get to act 3 and the party gets the Bhaalspawn reveal possibly followed up by "also I'm a dragon." ("what the Actual Fuck.") Gale has already formed a hypothesis about Durge's true species, but we should also get to play Sharks Are Smooth over it. You get the standard -30 disapproval from Gale, but if Astarion is there he'll also want to play and you get 30 approval from him and Gale's disapproval doubles to -60.

Lae'zel as our resident horse dragon girl would rather travel with a red, but perhaps a mere white dragon will do for a steed in the meantime. It's training for her future, you understand.

I want to pick up Mizora with teeth and shake her like a dog with a chewtoy when she invades my camp to torment Wyll and refuses to leave. Maybe throw her around like an orca with a seal…

Romanced Wyll, Shadowheart or Gale introducing them to their parent/s (+Tara, in Gale's case) would be fun to watch.

Duke Ravenguard has hopefully learnt his lesson about not jumping to conclusions and hearing Wyll out and showing some tolerance for what appears to be an evil alliance, but a chromatic dragon sired by the god of murder who's also a reformed serial killer might be putting some tension on that... Maybe leave some details out.

The Hallowleaves are remembering the tolerance their Selûnite faith espouses and that they too are a loving couple involving one person who is technically a monster but I feel like Arnell is still on some level internally going; whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck.

I think Ms Dekarios will be mostly unphased. She's a wizard herself and Gale's been bringing weird shit into her life since he was born. Her son came home with a dragon for a fiancé/e. Sure. Must be Tuesday.

[b-lightwalker]

FNaF Movie Ramble

Long story short, I really like the movie, I really like Mike, Vanessa, and Abby, and I want them to be happy.

There be spoilers beyond this point.

I love the little found family that started forming between Vanessa with Mike and Abby. I know it hasn't gone anywhere yet, but we all know the signs. Please, Mr. Cawthon, let Vanessa take on an older sister/mother figure role like Mike.

I love how Mike has a roundabout way of talking when he's being emotional. He doesn't just say, "I love you," or, "Thank you," to Abby and Vanessa respectively, he rambles and goes on whole tangents about why he feels that way and it works. It works so good. And I am also talking about game Mike.

I love how William was handled. I was surprised he didn't get a lot of screen time, but it works. William is a behind-the-scenes guy. It's not until he comes on stage, front and center, that you realize what he's been doing this whole time. And the scenes he is in, he kinda steals the show. I didn't expect William to have an outburst near the end when the animatronics started turning on him, but of course he would. In his eyes, he made them better than they were ever going to be alive, and not even seconds ago, they considered him a friend. And the sheer confidence of this man to put the Spring Bonnie head back on while actively being spring locked is insane. (Anyone else think William may have forced Vanessa to learn how to treat wounds for whenever he had issues with the spring lock suit?)

William giving a young Vanessa the toys from his victims makes me wonder if game William did the same. Of course, when game William started killing, his kids were long since dead, but still. Imagine, Michael going into his siblings' rooms that aren't touched unless they're being cleaned, and he starts seeing these toys that don't belong to Elizabeth and Evan, but they look like toys they'd like. At first, Michael ignores it, thinking he just didn't notice it at first, even though he knows. He knows everything that's supposed to be in that room and he knows those toys aren't supposed to be there. Eventually, he asks William and he just says he bought them 'cause they reminded him of Ev and Liz. It doesn't 100% work for Mike, but it works enough, so he leaves it alone. After all, people celebrate a passed loved one's birthday, so why wouldn't they get gifts too? Even if they just stay in their old rooms. Then one day, Michael randomly gets a gift from William. I can't think of anything better, so let's just say a cassette tape for his Walkman. It's a tape that Michael would actually listen to, and it's relatively new, so Michael's confused why it's just the tape and no case, but since a gift means a good day, he doesn't question it. At least, not out loud anyway.

I wonder what happened to Aunt Jane. I know she was most likely killed by Golden Freddy, but there's a chance Mike brought her to the hospital and neither him or Abby are visiting 'cause neither of them like her. Imagine your niece and nephew visiting the hospital almost every day, but to see someone who is borderline a stranger to them and not you. I'm absolutely "making" a game counterpart to Aunt Jane, though. She's William's younger sister and she's almost as vile and manipulative. Just not keen on murder. Directly, anyway. Though in the games, she wouldn't have a trigger to want to get rid of someone like she does in the movie, but if she did have one, she'd be willing to kill. Maybe she could talk William into it. She still smells like cigarettes and is the reason the Afton kids hate the smell.

I initially thought Garrett was Abby's imaginary friend, but--save for the fact that it was essentially deconfirmed--it wouldn't make sense for Garrett to haunt his sister and not his brother who he would've known was kind of losing his mind from the trauma of his kidnapping. In any case, I'm currently going with the theory that Garrett is the Puppet and the one behind the "Come find me." message at the end of the credits. We'll see.

Since FNaF 2 is a prequel, I wonder if the FNaF 2 movie will also be a prequel. And if so, will Jeremiah be our protag? I know he was probably just a reference to Jeremy Fitzgerald and nothing more, but if he's not, then game Jeremiah and game Mike are work buddies. And if he is movie Jeremy Fitzgerald, I wonder if he wanted the dream theory book Mike has because he also had weird dreams while working at Freddy's. Maybe. Maybe not.

Tutorial Lady/VHS Lady/Kim and Phone Guy are totally married and their kids are Phone Dude and Tape Girl.

I know Mike being an Afton is basically impossible now, but if another twist is Mike and Vanessa are twins or related in some way, and Mike was given up while Vanessa was kept, I'd be 110% down. Then it'd be found family in the most literal sense. It doesn't 100% work, sure, but it'd be neat. (Imagine recognizing the son you gave up 'cause you recognized his last name 'cause you killed his brother.)

In any case, I really love this movie, and I want Mike, Vanessa, and Abby to be happy. Family dynamic, please, Mr. Cawthon.

[godsofhumanity]

Do you mind writing about Artemis's relationship with the Olympians?

haHA!! fine. only because you asked nicely :)

ZEUS

i'm aware of interpretations where Artemis is considered to be one of Zeus' favourite children,, but personally, i don't really see this as being the case.

i think Zeus loves Artemis (and Apollo) the way he loves all of his children, and maybe he gives Artemis a little extra as tribute to Leto-- this is related to my hc that Leto breaks things off with Zeus because she knows that Hera is meant to be with Zeus, not her. so like, its compensation kinda.

one thing about Zeus is that he respects all the decisions of his children; so like, Artemis choosing to go chaste and solo is not something he ever questions about, or tries to get her to change her mind about-- he's just like, "yep ok sweetie, that's cool with me", and i think he actively tells the rest of the gods, "my daughter is off limits".

i think Zeus is probably one of the first people Artemis runs to when she's in trouble.. i guess she's a bit of a daddy's girl.

HERA

they hate each other.

Hera hates how "not like other girls" Artemis tends to come across, and Artemis hates Hera because of how she dislikes Leto and sent Python to attack them.

after Zeus brought Artemis and Apollo to Olympus as Olympians, Hera kinda isn't really able to actively pursue them, but she still glares at them a lot.

Apollo, at least, isn't actively rude to Hera, so she kinda tolerates him.. but Artemis will straight up ignore Hera or just be incredibly curt.

it's always awkward.

DEMETER

ah. you'd think that since both women choose to live outside Olympus on their own, they'd have a lot more in common.

but honestly? i don't think they do. this is probably partly because Demeter and Hera are so close.. i can't imagine that Demeter is over the moon about Artemis, or Leto for that matter.

they're not rude to each other, but i don't think they interact much.

HESTIA

a mother-type of figure to everyone. i think Hestia is just a supportive goddess on the side that everyone can kinda trust i guess.

of course, Artemis already has Leto for a mother, so yeah.

POSEIDON

they DON'T get along.

Poseidon has a baddd track record with women. i think everyone knows this. i can see Artemis keeping WELL away.

Poseidon doesn't really care about Artemis. she's just another one of Zeus' many kids... i don't think she sticks out too much to him.

HADES

again. they're civil. but not much interaction.

they actually do have a similar personality; particularly in that they can be silent and brooding and cold.

PERSEPHONE

a little hc i have is that, when Persephone comes to Olympus for the first time, and everyone's all excited that there's finally another young goddess BESIDES Artemis (Athena isn't born yet), Artemis immediately is like "you should join me and my hunters".

i think she's a little disappointed when Persephone very politely declines, but they remain very good friends.

ATHENA

like i said in the previous post, they get along well.

they have a similar personality, and i can't think of any myths where they're rivals.

APOLLO

WELL.

obviously they're tight as siblings. maybe a little too tight.

i like the idea that Apollo and Artemis keep each other in check.

Apollo knows how important it is that Artemis keeps true to her oaths of chastity and remain with her hunters.

things get complicated when Artemis meets Orion-- and Apollo is very aware of the danger he presents to the hunters.

so, i actually do like the idea that Apollo is the one who tricks Artemis into killing Orion.. or he sends the scorpion to kill Orion.. i can't decide.. but Apollo was definitely the instrument behind Orion's death.

and for the longest time, Artemis hates Apollo's guts for doing this. they don't talk, she doesn't even look in his direction.

but eventually, she comes to terms with it. she knows it was the wrong thing.

Artemis is also the one who kills Coronis when she cheats on Apollo... and i think Apollo would've been pretty distraught about that, but yeah. that's what they do.

so i think they "look out" for each other in that way-- it's always a bit dangerous when you love someone so much you'd kill for them, but i think that's the way their sibling-relationship is (do NOT read into that as romance please!!!!!!!!!!!).

HERMES

they get along nicely.

they have a pretty regular sibling relationship.. not to the extent that it is with Apollo, but you know.. they make fun of each other, they pull pranks on other people together. the usual.

ARES

many gods push Ares to the side. but i like the idea of Ares and Artemis being especially close.

she has a completely different fighting style to Ares- she's long range, he's short range. and i think this makes them a good fit.

i like the idea of Artemis and Ares going hunting together. even though Ares has a pretty lengthy list of lovers, his stories are never like Zeus' or Poseidon's or Dionysus'.. there's no trickery or deceit. and i think that makes Ares a little easier to trust.

he wouldn't hang out with Artemis' hunters, but i can see him participating in her hunt on occasion.

HEPHAESTUS

not much of a relationship. they're very cordial and polite, but most importantly- Hephaestus makes Artemis' hunting equipment.

i think there's also a version of Hephaestus' myth where Leto is one of the goddesses to help raise Hephaestus? i don't agree with that version, but in tribute to that relationship, i can see Hephaestus and Artemis getting along.

DIONYSUS

hm. i think it would be the same as with Hermes.

APHRODITE

surprisingly, i think they actually get along decently well.

i think this is because Ares and Artemis are close, so since Aphrodite is Ares' wife, they get along well.

i have a hc that when Aphrodite first came to Olympus, before she gets a grip on her domain and her role, she sees all the other young Olympians and how they can fight really well, and wants to learn to fight as well- and Artemis, at Apollo's recommendation, is the one who trains her.

so yeah, all in all, they get along well.

[krikeymate]

What if…

…Papa Carpenter had taken Tara with him when he left? Do you think Sam would have stayed in Woodsboro with her mom? Or would she have left even earlier? Would she try to hunt down Tara? Or would she tell herself that it’s for the better? Would Christina fight for custody? Or would she just not really care?

I’d imagine that Tara would have grown up more sheltered. Mr Carpenter probably wasn’t a bad father (although A GOOD ONE would not just leave his daughter(s)). Maybe he gets married again and his new wife treats Tara well. Maybe they even have more kids and Tara gets a bunch of younger siblings. Away from her Woodsboro friends, Tara might never get involved in the Ghostface attacks.

Even if he doesn’t get married again, they could just be a super cute single-dad-daughter duo. I actually think that this would have been the „best case scenario“ for Tara. She would have missed Sam of course, but she was still young enough to eventually move on, cause kids usually move on pretty quickly.

I also think that it would pretty much be a worst case scenario for Sam, though. Although she probably started pulling away from Tara after the diary incident so maybe she’d have simply accepted it…

Do you have any thoughts on this?

I feel like I've touched on this topic before, but I can't find it so we start from scratch!

So, easy answer is he takes her away and that's that. But that's boring. There also wouldn't be a story! Because Sam would have nothing tying her to Woodsboro and her mother, and once she leaves, that's it. Tara's 8, she's helpless in that situation. Maybe she'll think about her mother and her sister, but what can she do? By the time she's old enough to do anything, it's already far too late. Maybe they're able to reconnect as adults, through social media. Maybe Sam sees the notification, maybe she ignores it, thinks it's better that way. Maybe she never stops drinking, maybe she still takes drugs, without a sister waiting for her to get better. Maybe she never lives that long at all, without her reason for living.

So, fuck that.

Tara's a good kid. She's always known that acting out will get her a box around the ear, her mother won't take any shit from her if she remembers she exists, and she never has a reason to act out when Sam's looking after her.

But Tara's spunky. Her father grabs her arm and drags her away from her screaming mother and crying sister, and she won't have it. She struggles and yells at him to let her go. She cries out for her sister. He doesn't like that she's fighting him. He didn't mean to knock her out, it was an accident. It doesn't stop him from taking advantage of the situation. He throws Sam back off of his arm, where she tries to push past him, grabs the smaller girl and leaves.

All the neighbours are watching from their doorways. They'd been loud. They watch Christina Carpenter turn on her daughter and scream about how this is all her fault. Sam runs to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

When Tara wakes up, her father tries to apologise, to explain. Her mother's a whore he says. Tara doesn't know what that means, but she knows he says it with anger and disgust. (Like the time last summer when mother found her and Sam napping together in their underwear. Mother said some words she didn't understand either in the same way.)

Then he says Sam's not really her sister, the she's just a monster, that he had to take her away because Sam would hurt her.

He's a liar. He's the monster, Tara knows. He hurt her. She wants her sister.

She remembers the advice her sister had told her once, if someone tried to take her and she didn't want to go, to scream. So she does. She kicks out at him, knocks over the dresser, and screams and shouts and continues to do so right up until the police knock on the motel door. Her chest is hurting so much by then, and she begs the officer to take her home, that she needs her sister, that she wants her inhaler.

"You've got that the wrong way round there, huh?" he says kindly, holding her on his hip, hand rubbing her back. "Nu-uh," she mumbles, wheezing into his shoulder.

He takes her to the hospital, and sends an officer to the Carpenter house for more information on the domestic They come back with a distraught 13-year-old, who barrels into her sister and clings to her. The smaller girl clings back just as hard.

The officer tells Mr Carpenter that if he's got a custody dispute, he can take it up in court.

Tara bounces between her mother and her father. He uses the unsafe home argument, to claim he should get full custody. "Then you should take your elder girl as well," the courts declare. He can't bring himself to admit the truth, that he was deceived, cuckolded, for so many years. That he was raising a tainted child. He drops the case, too proud.

Sam misses her sister every moment she's away, and holds her tight every time she's there. Tara gets clingy. She hates having to leave Sam.

Sam goes to parties when she's alone, to forget for a little while, but the very first time she's offered something a little stronger, she thinks about the argument her fa- he used. All he had to say was she's not my daughter, and she could have lost her sister forever, all because her mother likes to drink, to take those pills. She goes home early and vows to do nothing that will risk her sister being able to come home.

She can't lose her. She won't lose her.

[lords-of-mayhem]

i'm just gonna dump my thoughts onto your blog here cause you're really interesting: a big part of the reason why loc has stuck with me even though i've only watched it one and a half times is because cetain scenes made me deeply uncomfortable, which is good! i like being made uncomfortable. but it's a little surprising cause i have seen some shit, and yet this little film gave me two murder scenes that made me need to get up and walk around for a few minutes, squirm in my seat, want to constantly look away, all of that. and i really applaud it for doing that, i just don't really understand how that effect was achieved, of making it all seem so strangely personal to the viewer (or maybe just me, idk). faust's murder scene changed a little something in me.

I completely agree with you on that, anon.

My personal thoughts on how it was achieved was the fact they make the contrasts so extreme. LOC did a really good job of showing that at the end of the day, these were kids. Faust was 18 years old at the time, he'd been an adult for four months.

And LOC does a really good job of tapping into that.

They don't ever portray any of them as these completely heartless villains. They show them laughing with their friends, drinking, going to parties, watching movies, listening to music, talking in diners.

When you take away this aspect of "this person is bad, they're evil and heartless" and replace it with "this was a young person just like you (either currently or in the past), this is someone you might hang out with (or might have in the past" amplifies the brutality of it.

It's easy for us to emotionally disengage from a person/character when we can put them into the "bad person" box and say, "well that's nothing like me or anyone I know."

LOC did a really good job of reiterating the fact that these are people.

There's also contrasts in the scene of Pelle at the show and him in the diner after. The show is dark and chaotic, everyone is having fun, it keeps cutting away from him and showing the audience. But when we see the actual damage done, it's very bright and not as stylized. Pelle's quiet and very visibly not doing well.

I think the quality of acting really makes the difference in some cases too. The impact of Varg murdering Euronymous comes a lot (at least to me) from how talented Emory and Rory are. They really captured the tension, the desperation, the conflict that made the scene a lot more impacting. (Although, I wish they'd stuck more to what "actually" happened, but that's separate.)

With the Faust scene, I also think how long and drawn out it is adds to the uneasiness of the scene. From the first second they see each other to the very end of the scene, it's almost five whole minutes. Plus there's a lot of tense buildup to the actual murder.

And once it starts, it doesn't really cut away. It shows you everything and in a pretty "real" way. It's not effortless like it is in some movies. (Thinking specifically about Faust getting shoved away, losing his knife, etc. and having to come back.) I also think the shot of him towards the end is so haunting. I can't explain exactly what it is about it, but it's impactful to me.

[clairelsonao3]

Hey, Claire, take two of your OCs (😇) and switch them, so they're now playing each other's role in the story and/or life in general. You can make some modifications for gender roles, etc. How would they cope? Would they survive/thrive? Would they not last a day?

:)

Wow, Kate, what an absolutely brilliant ask! However did you come up with something so clever? 🤣

No, but seriously, thank you. And an equally big thank you to @romanceandshenanigans! You were just edged out by a few minutes asking me the same thing!

Okay.

For my MCs from Good Slaves Never Break the Rules, I wouldn't want to completely switch their personalities around. I think at the core they'd remain the same.

But we're definitely looking at a very different (and much less initially likable [Name redacted]. Like Louisa in the original, he would have absorbed many prejudices, some of which, as a rich, privileged male, would likely be downright toxic. That doesn't mean he couldn't grow and change, or that his transformation would be any less rewarding, it's just that the character we initially meet would be very different, and harder to get to know and like. He's probably more reserved, much the way Lou was at first. And of course, his life has its own tragedies -- maybe his sister has similar problems to Lou's brother. Maybe he has a troubled relationship with his dad, who was implied to be not a great guy in the original. But the sense of humor, cleverness, and charm would all be still there, so hopefully he wouldn't be too hard for people to come around to.

Lou meanwhile, would have been exposed to the harshness of the world much, much earlier, so we're definitely looking at a character who's tougher, sassier, and more cynical, though I still want her to keep that idealistic, open-hearted quality she has. Even if she has to be much more guarded because there's no way she would have been able to get to that age as a slave girl without being abused in countless ways, both physically and emotionally. Maybe she was even sold to a brothel at one point and is dealing with baggage from that. In any case, getting her to open up and trust a rich, powerful, charismatic young man who can literally take anything from her that he wants, at any time, with virtually no consequences? Yikes. That's gonna take time.

For [redacted], trying to get her to open up and trust him while trying to tamp down his own lust and his knowledge that he can do whatever he wants -- coupled with pressure from a society that tells him he has a right to do whatever he wants -- is probably just as hard. In fact, in this universe (yes, it's true, I'm so sorry🤣) he and Corey have been BFFs since childhood until he realizes -- one night when Corey tries to go too far with the beautiful slave girl -- how truly toxic his "friend's" attitudes are.

On the other hand, his power is still not limitless. Assuming it's his parents who own her he still doesn't have the power, or likely the money, to free her. And even without the stigma against having sex with or even forming a "relationship" (whatever that might mean in this context) with a slave girl, there would still be the assumption that he would never treat her as anything more than a concubine/mistress, whether he was able to free her or not. Not to mention, Lou has goals and dreams of her own and is not interested in being anyone's mistress, in ANY form.

As for how the rest of the plot might play out? Well, idk, let's throw some ideas out there. Lou of course shocks him by being intelligent and educated, and maybe even has the knowledge of literature that he doesn't, and -- hard as it is for his male ego to take -- offers to help him pass his required English course, which drives them closer. Maybe [redacted] actually has Corey's internship working for Jake and/or Resi, who "innocently" ask to "borrow" the slave girl that she saw at his party, leaving Lou in a position similar to Maeve's in the original. And [redacted] in an impossible position if he wants to keep his prestigious job, support his mother and sister, and not be destitute after his dad gambled away the family money? What if Lou agrees to go because it would help him, with an agreement that he would keep working and try to buy her back? And then if you want a really wild twist, maybe it turns out Keith and Zoe have been out there looking for Lou because she was kidnapped from them as a child and sold into slavery? And then when they find her, they get the totally wrong impression of [Redacted]'s involvement in it all, leaving him to have to prove his love by saving her from whatever evil scheme they've discovered is being concocted?

Idk, just spitballing some ideas. CYOA! (And who would have thought I would ramble for this long answering my own ask?)🤣

[haleigh-sloth]

No because I literally just saw somebody refer to Dabi as the "root" of the League's toxic nature. There's so much wrong with that statement I can't even wrap my head around it.

L O L

I think my favorite part of that statement is that it implies that if Touya were like...removed from the LOV, that they would be this perfect, well-adjusted, not-completely-mentally-unstable-at-all little friend group. Like yeah, Touya being there totally kills their chances of being a perfect happy family with no issues, because they didn't all have issues well before meeting Touya or anything 🙄.

Well, first lemme say that I don't know if "toxic" is the right word for them tbh. They're very unstable individuals and they are absolutely NOT doing each other any favors. Spinner is not helping Shigaraki in any way, Toga is not helping Touya in any way, Touya and Toga both are not helping Shigaraki in any way, and Shigaraki isn't helping any of them in any way. Idk I guess when I hear "toxic" I think of soured relationships where they just hurt each other over and over, and that's not really the case with the LOV. They all need help individually lol.

With that being said, I have a lot more to say on this.

You've opened up a can of worms for me so here I go I guess lol:

Idk if I should guess that this is a villain hater comment or that one corner of the villain-standom that hates Touya specifically, but either way this take is still dumb.

I wrote a whole thing a while back about how the LOV ALL have tunnel vision to some degree, not just Touya! So enough with blaming him already lolol.

Anyway that actually really irks me because there is honestly nothing about the LOV that is healthy, happy, or well-adjusted. I really hate the take that they're this happy friend group who are destroying society for funsies, when in actuality it's a severely neglected group of young adults (and one teen) who have lost all healthy emotional outlets and have zero capacity to deal with their emotions and trauma in a manner that doesn't involve lashing out at others. And absolutely none of that has to do with Touya 😂

In fact it's literally the opposite? I mean Shigaraki went on an entire spiel about how literally no matter what he will never feel good again? There wasn't really anything in that speech that implied that having the LOV in his life would suddenly change that. They'd been there with him the whole time and he still felt that way....so idk where the sentiment came from that he was like....happy with them lol.

Spinner literally only feels like a real person with an existence if he finds something to follow in someone else (which is a character flaw!).

Toga still feels unsatisfied in never having her love returned because she isn't able to find a healthy way to express it. She found it with Twice and the LOV, but they clearly weren't enough to fill the gaping hole in her heart. Hence her chasing after and seeking validation from the handful of UA kids consistently throughout the story.

Touya...I mean do I need to say more? His tunnel vision is so bad he was able to watch Shigaraki writhe on the floor and just impatiently tap his foot waiting for the go-ahead from AFO. He's focused on his dad and that's it. I mean....idk what else to say. I think that disappointed some people and that's understandable, but that's his character. His arc is tied to his family.

So....all in all, no lol Touya is not the reason for the LOV's "toxicity". And he's definitely not the reason for their individual misery, that was already present in all of them well before the LOV formed. Sooo yeah. But let them continue to think that lol

[blueflyingturtleontheway]

Okay hmm. ...I think we can go with 'former friends' with that ask game? If so: Victor and Esteban: 1,3,5,9,13

Yesss thank you!

1. When I think they became friends (if canon already hasn't showed how they became friends)

Some time when they were young teenagers, maybe almost teenagares. I think since Victor's father was the royal treasurer he was also part of the court and so Delgados attended all of the important events at the palace. I imagine it only happened after Esteban started living at the palace and maybe they got into some mischief during a ball or something like that and since then they became partners in crime (unfortunately literally :'))

3. A random headcanon I have of them

They're really good at codes and secret communication, and would've used it a lot for their shenanigans in their childhood.

5. A scene I wish we had of them

Like everyone I think, I'd like to see their reconciliation after the finale but almost as much I'd like to see them actually facing each other in battle. Ironically I think that's when their dynamic could really show itself and who knows, maybe even some crumbs of friendliness would peek out from below all the resentment.

9. Would I change anything about their friendship?

Hm I don't know, because honestly right now their relationship is perfect, it's in character, it's consistent and has great potential, if only, like with almost every one, we'd get to see a little more of it, but when it comes to their past relationship I usually see two ways of interpreting it.

One is that they really were great friends as children and teenagers, they could both have fun and just casually hang out and they were there for each other in all of their personal hardships, and only Shuriki and all the other things culminating destroyed their friendship, while the other... I could also very well see their friendship as being, maybe not toxic, but dysfunctional from the beginning, in the way that they had a bad influence on each other. We know that Esteban felt underappreciated and not understood by his family and I can see Victor helping that feelings grow in him, agreeing with Esteban when he was saying that they omit him in stuff on purpose or that he has to prove them just how much he can accomplish. I also headcanon that Victor had a difficult relationship with his father and kind of lacked a purpose, but at the same time was convinced of his own greatness and Esteban definitely would tell Victor's side against his father and only encourage him to rebelling (I'm not saying he'd be entirely wrong in that, but I think I've already talked in another post that Victor's relationship with his father was really difficult and neither of the sides was fully innocent) and in general they'd both strengthen in each other the belief that they need to show the world just how much they're worth. In this case their fallout was kinda imminent and Shuriki was only the spark to the gunpowder.

So back to the question, I wouldn't change anything in their relationship because it already gives a lot of room for various fantastic interpretations.

13. What I think would have happened if they never met

I think a lot would change... and not that much at the same time.

First of all I think Shuriki would've still attacked and while her chances might've been smaller, I think it's still very possible she'd take over, except there'd be much more fight, destruction and victims. I also think that Victor would've still parted with his family, either from his own will or he'd get kicked out, but either way it wouldn't be pretty.

But I think they'd be much lonelier. I firmly believe that they were there for each other and understood one another like no one else did, and they were for each other the kind of person from whom they really didn't have any secrets, they helped each other and supported through the tough times (be it more or less healthily). I think it'd especially show on Esteban who we know already doesn't have that great communication skills and emotional maturity, but if he was completely lonely in the palace I think he'd be even worse. Victor definitely got more opportunities thanks to Esteban, the ones coming strictly from him being part of the royal family but also I think he learned a lot of the personal and social skills from him.

I think it's difficult to say how exactly their lives would look like at the time of canon, if they never met, since it'd also depend on how the Shuriki situation went, but I think in general it'd be much worse because wether they like it or not they were really important in each other's lives.

Okay that was really interesting to talk about, honestly I feel like we see really little of their friendship on screen but at the same time we know so much about it already, that it's so fascinating to delve into it even deeper and think about what was in the past or what could be in the future for them

Ask game

[swimmingleo]

Changes: or to take the higher ground before it's too late

I'm going to be real here folks, I cry ugly tears to this song. Bad.

Changes is a song on Cam's album "The Otherside". It's country, it's folk and it's an album a bit influenced by changes in Cam's life (a change of label, personal life). She collaborated with Harry on the song Changes, as she opened for him on a venue and was already working with Tyler Johnson.

From what I gathered: Harry sent her the demo of the song, implying he made most of the writing on this one. What I'm basing this claim on is her interview for Rolling Stones (read it here):

I heard [the demo] and was just like, “Oh, this ache to outgrow something that you don’t want to outgrow!” It felt so good. I normally don’t take outside songs [...]

‼️DISCLAIMER‼️when analysing this song, I'm gonna go from the idea of it being written with a queer mindset (how surprising of me). Cam rendered the song beautifully and it is very much her own, but I believe Harry's input is consequential. After all that's his lil whistle and cute fishsona in the MV.

Sad queer analysis ahead.

Let's analyse the lyrics first:

There is a town

Somewhere down a country road

The speaker describes the town to us, from memory, from experience. "There it is, down the road, can you picture it ?"

I see it now

I take it everywhere I go

The speaker doesn't currently live in the town, they're on the move (nice throwback to the coutry road). But despite all the travelling, they realize the sedentary smalltown never leaves them. It's part of them. It left a mark on them.

The river sways, I can almost hear it now

As if to say, "You're not the only one who wants a way out"

The town is so real to the speaker they can sense it, eyes and ears. But it gets a bit dark: the river sways like it's trying to leave its bed. The river is envious of the speaker who managed to leave. The town is so toxic even nature wants to get away from it. Or the speaker resents the town so bad that they project their own resentment on the river.

So, I go

'Cause I don't wanna feel like I don't know you anymore

I memorize those roads

This is the call for the speaker to leave for good. Their motive doesn't seem to be ambitious or anything grand. They leave because they apprehend a feeling. Apprehending a feeling, something that may not even happen, is the way of an anxious person. Anxiety is the motive of their departure. However, they still memorize the roads leading to the town, just in case. Perhaps one day they'll come back.

Somewhere out in the big wild country

Someone's fallin' in love in a backseat

Givin' it away

Like their hearts won't ever break

Suddenly it's about love ! Young love, one that is lived in the small compartment of a car, somewhere hidden and safe in the big wild country. As if the countryside was unexplored and threatening.

God bless the young hearts sippin' cheap wine

Gettin' drunk with their friends for the first time

Thinkin' nothing's gonna change

'Til everything changes

The speaker looks at the youth with tenderness, wishing them the best. But once again, they're not in the town in the present time, they don't see the youngsters fooling around, they can only guess from first-hand experience. And it's very specific: falling in love, getting drunk with friends and thinking everything's gonna be easy like that forever until it's not and heartbreak ensues.

From there I hop in with the raw queer theme of those lyrics. It started by falling in love and it ended up in a heartbreak. In between, the speaker got drunk for the first time with their friends, people they trusted enough to let go a little, but in the end everything changed. Why ? Alcohol makes you forget about code of conduct, how you're supposed to behave. It makes you say or do things you might not have done sober.

We can interprete this chorus as the beginning of the end for the speaker. It's the only part of the song evocating the past, and it's fun and easy, but it's also where things started to get bad the way they are in the present. Something might have happened that first time the speaker got drunk and it marked the end of innocence and careless childhood, and it probably has to do with love as no other factor is provided apart from falling in love and heartbreak.

They never leave

They're all havin' babies now

Watchin' daytime TV

Livin' off the gossip of a cruel small town

They. With Harry, it's always You, Me, and They. They are having babies, all of them, like it's not a very difficult thing to do, it's just natural. They have the leisure of the day, not a thing to worry about, if not gossip. It's not implied anymore, the small town is downright cruel. Gossip fuels it, but on behalf of someone else, and that someone is most definitely the speaker who left and who describes its inhabitants in the most mundane way, perhaps with a hint of contempt. The speaker seems bitter.

So, I go

'Cause I don't wanna feel like you don't know me anymore

Don't recognize my face

Reprise of the pre-chorus except now, the speaker provides another reason for their departure. Not only they feared they wouldn't know the town anymore, they also feared being seen as a stranger. It's not like the speaker actually changed physically: but it might as well feel like it. Again, apprehension, anguish. As implied in the chorus, things changed to the point where the speaker feels they would seem like a whole another person to the rest of the town, a stranger, a threat to the integrity of the conservatives. So they leave before this shift in perception can happen.

There ain't nothing here for me anymore

They say they don't hear from me anymore

And I don't wanna hear it anymore

The town is not outwardly hostile. It's still the town that saw the speaker as a kid. The town doesn't understand why the speaker left, but the speaker won't give in and get in touch. They want to be as far away as possible, until they don't hear the questions, the river, everything. It's almost like the speaker doesn't carry the town in their heart at all. They want to forget it all, and it hurts everytime the town tries to lure them back in. The way Cam sings it is painful to me man

Somewhere out in the big wild country

I was fallin' in love in a backseat

Givin' it away

Like my heart won't ever break

Had such a young heart sippin' cheap wine

Gettin' drunk with my friends for the first time

Thinkin' nothing's gonna change

'Til everything changes

Yeah, just the confirmation of the chorus being the speaker's experience. I went ahead and assumed it was already lol but it's like a plot twist effect. It's dramatic. It's a personal song to someone.

TO MAKE IT SHORT to me this song is intense and very in touch with the queer experience. Though it describes a specific situation, it is surprisingly not that detailed or full of metaphors the way Harry often writes: this town could be literally any smalltown in the countryside. The backseat could be the one of any car, cheap wine is something any teen can afford. I like to think Harry wrote it for himself but is also aware so many people went through the same thing, and still will. I have to admit I'm heavily biased writing this, as the experience of a queer kid struggling to find their place in a well settled smalltown is familiar.

GETTING DRUNK AND QUEER IDENTITY is an analogy Harry already used in Fine Line when he sang "We'll get the drinks in so I'll get to thinking of her". To drink is to let go, to unveil the most subconscious aspects of yourself you might not want to deal with otherwise. You don't care about judgement and you get to explore those parts freely. In Changes, this is the last memory they recall before stating the changes and their departure. Perhaps getting drunk for the first time would be when they realized they're queer. Or acted upon it, causing their little world to shake. They chose to leave before it eventually wouldn't feel like a choice anymore. There is no life for people like them in a cruel smalltown.

SMALLTOWN BOY

This song reminds me an awful lot of Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat. The song is about a queer boy having to leave the smalltown where he grew up because of persecutions and no future prospects.

Mother will never understand why you had to leave, Smalltown Boy

They say they don't hear from me anymore, Changes

But the answers you seek will never be found at home, the love that you need will never be found at home

There is nothing here for me anymore

Other people not understanding why they leave. People who can't truly empathize even when they mean no harm. They would never understand the speaker's departure, because those people get to find love and have babies and live a peaceful life in the countryside.

You were the one that they'd talk about around town as they put you down

Livin' off the gossip of a cruel small town

Yeah yeah. I really struggle with just seeing this song as nostalgia when such harsh words are being used. I do believe there is a part of fondness for that town, that countryside setting and the early days. But it's not all tender memories.

CHANGES AND ERODA

Of couuuurse we all noticed the adorable purple fish with the pearl necklace. It represents Harry, no question, as it whistles Harry's part. And of couuuuurse we all made the link with the erodian fish, and some even noticed they formed the bluegreener pair when their colors are inverted.

It makes sense for those fishes to be connected with this interpretation of Changes. Both works are about a small town, lost in the nature, where the people are watching, aware of everything that isn't normal, that is peculiar. The early life of the peculiar boy is similar in every way to the early life of the speaker in Changes. The fish in Adore You grows too big for the island and has to leave, and though Eroda makes amends with the peculiar boy, he leaves as well because his future, his fulfilment, is somewhere else. So does the speaker in Changes.

IN CONCLUSION

The more I write posts like this, the more endeared I am by Harry's world. How Harry writes for himself, but also for other people with songs like this. How nature finds its way in all that he does. How grounded he is, how he doesn't seem to forget where he came from. It really is such a rare thing to see in a mainstream popstar's writing and art. How can someone say he sold his soul to LA is beyond me

[rorodawnchorus]

C-drama rec: 《我在他鄉挺好的》 or Remembrance of Things Past

The literal translation of the title is "I'm doing fine in this place away from home." But I think the English title was well chosen and quite relevant to the core of the series. It's only 12 episodes (which is too short when it's such a good one!). I'll try to give away as little spoilers as possible.

[TW: Suicide]

Before anything else though, I'd like to add a very big trigger warning of suicide because the series opens to the scene of a girl jumping off a bridge. This girl is one of the 4 main characters; her name is Jing Jing. The series then follows the story of these four characters with them often recalling memories of Jing Jing as they stumble through life in Beijing city. Their struggles are very relatable and perhaps all too realistic. If you're looking for a feel good, escapist story that will lift you up, maybe this isn't the one. But I can tell you it's a great drama with well-written characters and a realistic and sensible plotline. Also, I ditched every other series I was watching just to watch this.

(Where to watch: Links at the end of post)

If I were to liken this to any other story that I know of, this series does remind me a little bit of the book by Celeste Ng, 'Everything I Never Told You'. The 3 characters and also one of the male characters grapple with the trauma of Jing Jing's death. For the 3 female characters, they're Jing Jing's closest friends and also one of them is her older cousin sister. (In China, as I've observed, cousins tend to be addressed as their own siblings and some of them do share very close bonds.) The story follows these characters as they go on with life but also each episode reveals a little bit about what might have led to Jing Jing's death. They realise how much they do not know of Jing Jing and each episode, they discover something or someone they'd never known. It prompts its audience to think, you may know someone and you may think you know everything about them but things may just turn upside down when you least expect it. And you won't even know what went wrong, who this person that you love so much was, and how people left behind deal with the trauma.

One of our main characters, Qiao Xi Chen (Qiao), works in the marketing department of a coffee company. She works hard when she has to, is very competent and smart, and is very confident in her work. But office politics throws things off balance. She then gets into a series of unfortunate events. The first one being swindled of her half year rental fee which she gave to the agent. She was kicked out of her house and it's honestly the most horrible and terrifying thing to lose a place to live in overnight. For those who might have rented rooms or houses in cities, you might have had some experience that are bad or your worst living nightmare. I personally have had a series of those. Her story is also very relatable for young women who live alone and work in a big city.

Jing Jing's other best friend is Xu Yan and she works at a company's customer service department. All day, she deals with phone calls of grumbling customers complaining about the products. She sometimes have to deal with calls from customers who speak with a heavy accent or dialect but she does her job pretty well too. However, her story arc is less relatable to me personally. She has an unhealthy obsession with branded handbags and items. She and her boyfriend are the typical "Moonlight Clan/Generation" who barely manages to have any savings because they're spending on rent, bills and all the miscellaneous luxury goods that are trending. She struggles with her self image because of her work environment and feel pressured to keep up with fashion trends or a lifestyle that she can show online. I don't think it's inherently wrong to want to pursue such a life. Enjoyment and leisure can be very different to many people even if it doesn't appeal to all. She may appear a little childish but she isn't actually hateable.

Jing Jing's cousin is the oldest in the group and they all call her "Nan Jia jie" (older sister). She's an entrepreneur who started her own events management company in Beijing. She's 35 and she's pressured by her mother to quickly get married. Problem is, her mother thinks she should just get married to anyone (literally ANY MAN) who is willing to marry her. She also considers purchasing a house but property prices in Beijing are impossibly high and she barely manages to put together money for her first instalment. I think we're living in an era which has made property ownership impossible difficult. And capitalism may still want you to think that you must own a house, this may not necessarily be the case anymore.

I really like all the tiny details of this story. The way everyone finishes work late and each go their own way because sending your colleague home at 3 or 4am across the city would mean you basically do not get sleep (like you might as well just stay in the office), or how you live further away from your workplace because you can't afford a place nearer. The commute to and from work during rush hour. The list is endless. But this feels like a story that is close to the hearts of many, it tells the tale of the average salaryman living in a metropolitan city (especially in Asia).

It's the kind of drama that will leave a mark on me for life, and in a good way. I feel like part of it is already engraved in me. The cast is also doing great at stringing you along in sharing their emotions (I don't think I've cried this many times at the very beginning of a series). The writing and pacing are all great. Characters are also very well written. I do have some qualms with certain characters and their actions but... Not too big and they aren't grave sins.

I also don't think they're doing the best job at depicting trauma of witnessing a suicide and dealing with the aftermath of the suicide of a loved one but, to me, it's handling these issues quite well. At least the story is indeed about them coming to terms with the suicide of Jing Jing and them trying to make sense of what led her to this end.

Where to watch Episode 1:

Remembrance of Things Past - MangoTV

On their Official YouTube Channel