#i really don't know how to describe what they're doing

[comicgeekery]

I'm sorry to anyone who feels this way. It's awful.

But I also think it's wrong.

I try to not use the word talent in my life. Because 90% of the time what people describe as talent, an innate even destined ability, is actually skill, an ability that has been developed through practice and experience. And it's a super important distinction, because skill isn't up to genetics or god or some basic seed from which you sprouted. Skill is based in your choices and, essentially, your opportunities.

I don't want to turn this to the other extreme and say that you're not great at That Thing because you haven't tried hard enough. There are certainly many circumstances that can get in the way. Like money, like available time. Can you go to classes? Afford materials? Dedicate hours every week to practice and improvement?

And it's more than that even! Have you ever learned HOW you learn? Were you taught how to embrace failure? Because no matter what, you WILL fail at the thing you like a LOT on the path to getting good at it.

But I think the absolute most important element is, do you have people who support and believe in you? Not just for your interest of choice, but also in general.

OP strongly compares exceptional ability with fame. That makes sense. I know the kind of optimistic posts they're talking about with lists of celebrities who became famous later in life. But fame is a different game entirely. It's based in opportunity to the nth degree, on being attractive in a very specific way, and on having skill in one or two of just a handful of abilities. Sure, there's a fixation on singers, actors, and athletes, but how many people would know it if the world's greatest knitter walked on stage?

That wouldn't mean that the knitter wasn't incredible, just that there isn't an industry built around promoting them.

The celebrities in those posts are for a point of connection, as people you can recognize. But yeah, ANYONE can start again at any time. And to keep it mundane, I'll use myself.

I'm 36. I've spent the last few years rebuilding my life after living through many shitty things. I grew up in an abusive household. I was bullied a lot. I lost friends through death and through just being too much.

And now I've done SO MUCH therapy and work on myself. I find I have the strength to try new things. I've been taking local classes for fun; ballroom dance, juggling, and improv. I started a book club that just reads terrible books because I find that fun. I started ANOTHER club for doing escape rooms because I love those and they need about 4 people. I'm putting together a little business to help people with their writing.

This is a lot of stuff, but I chose it all one at a time. Some of these things may not particularly amount to anything. They certainly won't make me famous. But I get joy from the trying, from working with other people, and from having others who support and compliment my efforts.

So much of our self-esteem, for better or worse, is based in the love and attention of others. Is it really FAME you want? Screaming fans, paparazzi, and a billion strangers with some opinion on your work without knowing a thing about you? Or would you be overwhelmed with joy if a dozen people were proud of you?

I'm sorry you don't have enough love or encouragement or self-esteem right now. I hope that gets better for you as you live and build skills you need.

But most of all, I promise that it's never too late!

everyone says you can always restart. that your future isn't forgotten, just sort of misplaced. they name actors and singers and authors who started at 46, 59. they cite chappell roan's 10 years. they tell you to push and push, that some day you'll open a door and the truth will be behind it.

but what if you aren't a celebrity in sheep's clothing. what if you're just a normal person. most people aren't exceptionally talented or else talent wouldn't be exceptional - right? what if you're just another median person; not ever startlingly bad nor terrifyingly good.

you put the shopping carts back and you walk your dog and you write poems on the internet. you have grown a plant or two; killed a few others. you did okay, overall, and you've been okay most of your life. not valedictorian, but you were a smart kid. you had some hard knocks, but you got up again. your life is just - average. you probably will never sing onstage at coachella. most of the time you are at peace with that - someone needs to drive the speed limit. life isn't about extraordinary circumstances, it's just about building a life you love and figuring out how to live in it.

but you would like to feel as if you'd found "the answer." everyone else seems to have some kind of talent they are born nesting in - and meanwhile you just exist. is that why you cycle through crafts and hobbies and activities like a roulette wheel? are you waiting for the moment where it turns out - all this time, you've been a visionary. a genius. all this time, you were special. even you: someone who has-never-been.

crawling up your throat: something bitter and savage. not quite a feeling of wasted potential. after all, you need to first have potential in order to waste it.

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Do you have any ways to check in a fanfic is written by AI? I have no trouble detect if a work email is written by AI but when it comes to fanfic, I just can't. English is my second language too. There are a bunch of fics of this one author on Wattpad that when I was reading, it feels weird? A little bit uncanny. I don't want to misunderstand them if it's just a me problem but I also hate everyone using AI to write so I'd appreciate a method or a tool to check. Thank you.

I don't have any solid indicators, however, if it feels off, you're likely noticing something off about the writing. The "em-dash" claim (that AI uses em dashes a lot) isn't really something to rely on.

(A better way to identify AI is an overuse of bullet lists, which, uh, I'm about to do, so here goes.)

Inconsistencies and repetition. This is a tough one right out of the gate, but all writers have a style. There's a turn of phrase, sentence structure, or common words that tend to pop up in their writing again and again. AI, on the other hand, does not stick to a distinctive style. It may repeat the same sentence structure over and over, or seem overly formerly written, especially in dialogue. The longer a document/fic, the more repetitive writing structures you will see.

Lack of depth or subtlety. Do the descriptions feel stilted or odd? Are the metaphors mixed together in a way that doesn't make sense (describing something dark using a comparison to something bright, odd comparisons that you've never heard before, etc)? Does it feel like the emotions are flat and not connecting to the story? All of these things could be things to watch out for.

Perfect grammar. I'm still finding grammatical errors in stories I wrote years ago. No amount of spellcheck will save me from a typo. AI never has that problem, but it also won't use punctuation to make a point (like using commas to indicate a speech pattern).

Updated too damn fast. If someone is uploading thousands of words a day, there's no way they're writing the story themselves. Massive, rapid-fire updates are something to keep an eye out for.

Now, all of these things alone do not indicate someone is using AI. Everyone's written a bad metaphor before, some people are great at grammar, and folks new to writing may have an inconsistent writing style. As you have noticed, speaking English as a second language makes folks overly prone to being flagged as using AI, which is also not helpful.

There's also no perfect AI checker, as most tend to throw up false positives. But the longer the story, the more indicators will pop up. Scenes might get repetitive, or sex scenes start to feel the same.

I also, unfortunately, don't have any advice for what to do if you feel like AI is being used to write fanfiction. You certainly don't want to falsely accuse someone of using it publicly (though I'd reach out to friends to see if they have the same suspicions). Ultimately, the best case scenario is that people will identify when they use AI (there's a whole tag for it on AO3), but I don't know how common that will become. In a pinch, when I suspect something has been plagiarized or written by AI, I shift the writer to my "do not read" pile and move on.

[vazaez]

It has come to my attention that someone has been shittalking me and twisting up My words to make me seem like a creep, so i'm here to defend myself.

Here's what they said:

Good job making me look like a piece of shit over a fic i read out of curiosity because people kept mentioning it under my art, here's the conversation in question we had on Instagram, because You didnt give three shits before sharing bits and pieces of out of context messages no one else saw, making up your own version, i don't feel bad not giving a shit about showing the whole thing because i got nothing to hide.

And since you were too much of a coward to be straight with me i'll respect your wishes and keep you anonymous too.

I will translate the conversation, word for word, and i want everyone to judge if it actually correlates to what the initial post says, get your own conclusions, i don't need to fight to defend my point.

-about the possible fanfic they're mentionin on tumblr was possibly by a usar named izosso, but that guy is a proshipper and all the other fics in the tag are really weird💀

Telling you here because my tumblr account doesnt let me comment

•i saw them lol and i blocked izosso, but theres another fic by someone else [literally the only one of the ship that wasnt posted by izosso] who isnt a proshitter [as far as i know] and the fic is relatively good

-send me the link

•some things didnt really sit right with me but over all it's pretty good, they describe the dynamic almost the same as i imagined it skhd

It has a lot of smut, i just let you know because maybe that content is not your cup of tea

-going into the wild kratts Tag in AO3 is like playing the Russian roulette

Just send it to me to see what it's about

•yeah 😭 that's why i found it so weird so many people talking about the same fic

(I send the link) Here it is

-ahh yeah i found this one but i found the food sex tag weird

(Replying to my prev message) Me too

• ah yes, but it's not that much, it was put there more like a caution but no one stuck any food down any holes fortunately 🙏(clearly joking btw)

Well, besides the mouth

-thank god lol

Lmao hey out of curiosity, can i know what about it was it that you didnt like? I found it weird to see Chris as a bottom because i can't imagine him like that

•oh yeah no i do see it, he's too much of a diva 💔 (also clearly a joke?? Are we serious??) what i dislike the most is that Zach acts super weird

And the fact that there is smut at all, because it's a topic that causes me a lot of debate because he's a self insert and all

So i don't know how to feel about it, but it is well written at the very least lol

-same, it's like a 50/50 , in any case i think the fandom is gonna to form a dispute because there's a Lot of artists who font like that and when that happens i'm gonna be like Italy during WW2 lol

And yeah that thing with Zach was really weird *proceeds to call the police*

•LMAO yeah, i just try to not touch that topic much because it could always cause problems

Now where did i ever mention that i consume that content because i like it? Where did i ever sound like "an average Fujoshi"? When i very clearly said that what threw me off about the fic was the fact that there was smut at all

If what made you nauseous enough to try to ruin me was that i jokingly said he was a diva then i don't even fucking know what to tell you ??

The same curiosity you had to come and ask me for the link was the one that caused me to give the fic a try in the first place, so am i really more to be judged than you when we did the exact same thing??

Im an adult, i don't appreciate you going around saying "she still has some years for her brain to develop so i'll have faith!!" Like i'm some sort of idiot, you're barely a year older than me so be serious.

And i don't need you to go to some rando's asks to shit talk me and confess you had plans to talk crap about me to my friends because you had your own conclusions from a very specific conversation, and act like i was the one who still needs to get her shit together

Like what even is your point-?

Check yourself

And to call me a hypocrite on top of it all,,, just unbelievable

Who really is the hypocrite?

[the-sol-eater]

okay so I was thinking about tetro's cast again, specifically about how much more real and emotionally impactful they feel in comparison to even some of my personal favorite fangans. and it made me begin to think about something that I hadn't really thought about until now I'm not sure how to describe this exactly, but in a lot of fangans, the characters...don't really feel like they have lives outside of the killing game. let me explain what I mean by that. in a lot of fangans, unless it is story-relevant or trauma, we don't ever really get to learn about the personal lives of these characters. we don't get to know much about their family, their friends, any (possible) romantic partners, colleagues, or any other relationships they might've had outside of the killing game unless, again, it's story-relevant or something traumatic and let me just say before I say anything else; this is completely fine lmao. I'm not saying this to put down anyones danganronpa fanfiction, that aint what I'm here to do. and it makes sense to only focus on what is the most important for the story rather than details that on the surface may seem innocuous

but here's where we circle back to tetro, because not only do we learn a lot about the personal relationships each student has, but the prologue combined with the student terminals work together to paint such a clear picture of what each student's daily life was like before the situation they find themselves in, and I find that having that clear picture in your head while watching the actual series makes the death of each student hit all the more harder. when a character dies in tetro, the tragedy of their death doesn't just lie in the potential they had, or what they were trying to achieve, but in the people that they left behind, the people who will also be affected now that they're gone, and thats not a feeling I experience with most fangans.

[the-gnoblin]

Dracula Daily Digest: May 5

Annotations:

Jonathan is back in business which is to say he keeps writing down recipes.

I saw this posted somewhere else but the number one thing about reading Dracula is just appreciating the dramatic irony of all the characters in Dracula not knowing they're characters in Dracula. Case in point: "(Mem., I must ask the Count about these superstitions)" in regards to the landlady and the coach driver discussing vampires and the occult. Like, Jonathan, you've got a big storm coming.

Speaking of big storms coming, uhh, Jonathan, let's think about our life and the decisions that led us to this point. A crowd just "made the sign of the cross and pointed two fingers towards [you]." That's nOT GOOD.

We have some more Jonathan characterization which is to say further emphasis on his curiosity. Even with all the locals acting like he's a dead man walking, he's able to become so entranced in the countryside that he forgets about all the bizarre happenings of the last three days. He even gets distracted in his distraction by sharing fun trivia about the region! He's too precious for this world, and this preciousness is 100% being established for some juicy character contrast later.

I can sense something significant in Jonathan being offered so many outs by the people surrounding him. Of course there's the immediate significance of "hey idiot that's Dracula's castle you're going to, I'm a human person with an at least half-functioning conscience and I don't want you to die," but I feel like there's some thematic significance that I'm too tired to legitimately ponder.

Another top comedy moment: Dracula pretending to be a service worker.

"...a long, agonised wailing, as if from fear." I am the number one fan of this imagery. Holy cow. Stunning. I don't even know why I like it so much. I think it's because of the chilling tone it helps to establish, but honestly it could be just how classically "horror" it reads.

Initially I thought that Jonathan just kind of brushing off Dracula's weird little Road Moments was really confusing and frankly dumb on his part, but it's actually made more sense to me on this read through, particularly with my emphasis on the "otherness" of this world. Over the last three days, we've seen Jonathan be constantly bombarded with strange and unsettling and unfamiliar behaviors, all of which he seems to be simply chalking up to regional differences. He doesn't find Dracula's behavior on the road to be dangerously odd because he's already been inoculated to confusing behaviors by the townspeople.

"I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do." Me too, bud, me too.

I find Dracula's first explicit introduction to be very uncanny. I think he falls really interestingly into the uncanny valley. He's described in a far more traditionally western way than the rest of the setting so far, which puts Jonathan and by extension the reader into much more familiar territory, but there's something off about him that raises our hackles a bit. His clothes, though nice and more familiar, are all black without a speck of color. His hair, though neatly trimmed, is starkly white. A really concise example of this contrast can be found in Jonathan's description of his speech: "...in excellent English, but with a strange intonation...." Dracula is simply so close and yet so far from Jonathan's known world that he is able to plunge into new depths of his unknown world.

This unsettling nature is only emphasized by Jonathan's later careful examination of the Count's appearance. There is something viscerally upsetting to me about the way Dracula is described here, and that's definitely on purpose. This description also serves to establish a physical baseline for Dracula (specifically his "general [affect of] extraordinary pallor"), the contrast of which will be used to create creeping horror later on in the novel.

Dracula's comments about the wolves and their "music" also helps establish that uncanny contrast I talked about earlier. Up until this point, the Count has been a welcoming and fairly normal host. These comments of his serve as an additional reminder to Jonathan that he is not in a familiar place, and certainly not a safe one.

"I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul." Glad to see that that famous Jonathan Harker Repression was able to make an appearance.

Sorry for the longer notes. My brain was absolutely flowing in terms of stuff to yap about today so I had a grand time. Today is also definitely a really important moment in the story because you know things are about to get real when you meet your titular character.

[heretherebedork]

This precious boy. He deserves so much better than what happens. He deserves a better love story than this. He deserves to be loved as much as he loves. And to not have BaWoo judge him so harshly for everything.

You know what, HaMin? Feel free to get between them. Taking BaWoo for yourself. Help them both move on because JiHoon deserves better.

This most precious boy is baring his heart to BaWoo, trying so desperately to save the friendship most important to him and most important in his life, the one person he has loved for so long he almost doesn't know how to describe that love because he loves him so much. But BaWoo doesn't give a shit because he's determined to be a victim. He confessed once, got misinterpreted, gaslit JiHoon into thinking he didn't confess at all... and then got really mad that JiHoon never realized that was what was happening.

The worst part is that BaWoo took the exact wrong lesson from his witnessing the rejected confession in the cafe and that drives me bonkers. Like, boy, learn to learn! Please! Learn to learn and stop being the worst towards your supposed best friend and crush.

You know what, BaWoo? Go to HaMin. Cut JiHoon out. Leave him alone. Go away.

JiHoon, you deserve better. You can do better. I'm so sorry that your longtime best friend and crush feels this way about you. Y

No, seriously, poor JiHoon. He has done everything and tried so hard. Are we even sure they're endgame at this point?! I don't see any coming back from this. Please, just set him free. I have never wanted a happy ending for the main couple less. Okay, that's a lie. But this is a pretty strong one!

[rivereverie]

It's not even depicted on-screen at any time, but Astarion's experience in that tomb is something that has affected me in a way I don't think any event in any other piece of media ever has. That first time I listened to him describing what he went through, it took me a while to even process. Now I literally can't think about it too hard without breaking down. I don't know if it's my hyperempathy or my intense love for this character or just that such a thing is so unimaginably bad. Probably all three. So naturally I wanted to play the interactive fanfic about it and upset myself on purpose. I played through A Dream Of Silence. It's a masterpiece. I can't describe how it wrecked me. The mechanics of the game alone are perfect in creating a sense of helplessness. It's so brilliant. I may have been shaking and crying all the while, but I was having a great time. Yeah. I may have to write a longer post about this at some point but I can't not talk about it right now. I'll be replaying it, I imagine, when I'm in a better headspace. There are so many branches; lines to read, things to witness, choices to make. Much like the kind of repetitive, exhaustive imaginings one could occupy their mind with over the course of a year in silence. I'll stay with Astarion in those grey stretches of eternity. Although it took a LOT of emotional energy, so I will need to remind myself to take a lot of time between sessions or playthroughs. It's not the kind of thing you do for fun. There was clearly so much thought and care put into this fanwork, with a healthy dose of hope and healing at the end of the horrors. It really is so special. Thank you to @abigailmoment for this incredible fanwork and making me sob uncontrollably. And @oonalovesastarionssimpleplan for mentioning it in a post which made me decide to check it out.

-

I was having a full-on breakdown over playing through it and fell down a rabbit hole of several soul-rending (incredibly-written) fics about Astarion immediately after being freed from the crypt, and I was so deeply upset that I had to write some comfort for him.

Here and here are two of the lovely fics, if you too want to suffer. They're very hard reads so don't be like me and read them when you're already feeling bad, probably.

[uniquethingtastemaker]

I love your dating in a dream series, please don't explode on May 24th 2025 🙏

thank u! I'm excited and glad you like it!! I have no idea what's happening on that day, but thank you for the... concern? heads up? Also, I love your pfp. I love Danganronpa too. It's so good. (don't come for me regarding the "wrong" lads tag. i'm working on a Rafayel x reader on the side. It's not a priority, but it's there. I address it at the end).

However, I'll give you a little update, because I haven't done that in a while for this series:

Overall, I've been working on the Rook x Observant Reader fanfic. However, the Dreaming of You series is what I work on as well.

I've been focusing specifically on Riddle's Dreaming of You. As I mentioned, his story is the closest to finished. Plus, I just overcame a writing issue that was stumping me. Therefore, it's on track to come out first.

Azul's Dreaming of You is the second most finished. I mentioned it before, but all of the first dream is completed. I have completed moments of the second dream. My biggest stumbling block right now is the cringe portion. Actually, some help or suggestions would be appreciated, so I'll explain my issue.

The first dream is actually not completely cringy. Sure, the setting and concept are. However, Azul himself isn't. He's a great boyfriend in this. That isn't to say that the octo-mer isn't a good one in the second dream. However, the path to get there is... I'm sure it will be bad. I think my solution is that I have to power through it and find solace in the party's reactions. I think that's the best and only way to pass this section.

...you know, I tend to solve my problems whenever I have them when I tell people about it. I've already written it and perhaps people will find it interesting.

I've started elaborating on a new one. I mentioned it in another post, but it's Vil's Dreaming of You. This one is good... It's hard to describe how much I like it, but it elicits my calculating, slightly evil side. The one that steeples my fingers and gives a silent smirk. To clarify, that reaction is me, as the writer, not the character's.

I really like the Reader in this. They round Vil out well. They are more relaxed and amused by Vil, rather than having a more emotional reaction when criticism comes in. They let things roll off their back. They're encouraging and supportive, but casually point out Vil's faults. It's not necessarily confrontational. They think it's amusing that he isn't doing what's most efficient. He tends to value that, so it's kinda funny he hasn't realized his error. Regardless, they show Vil why they believe what they do by supporting it with evidence and even an experiment. They know exactly how to handle Vil.

There's also a heavy dose of Vil's envy coming back full force in this, which is so good. I don't usually touch on it, but it's perfect for this. The second dream is also so impactful.

I have a document open for Rook's and Jade's. However, I don't have much else on the subject. I've written more of Rook's than Jade's. The hunter's dream has changed significantly since I first conceived the concept. Jade's Dreaming of You hasn't. It's still hilarious as intended. I do plan to have a cute scene during Azul's dream, where he's gushing about mushrooms and Reader is interested in actually listening to him. Very cute.

Silver's Dreaming of You is on the far back burner. His fanfic will probably be on par with Rook x Observant Reader. I suspect it will be shorter. However, the amount of thought and effort and length will be time-consuming.

I refuse to just put in the romance willy-nilly. I'd be doing a disservice to the canon and the themes of Book 7. I write fanfiction because I love the characters and the story. I want to honor that and keep the integrity of what I love about this franchise. It feels cheap to make the solution to Silver's emotional depth and problems be romance when the whole section is centered around family.

That's why I suspect I'm going to have to start the story much earlier than to when Malleus overblots. I have to establish how Reader integrates themselves into the Diasomnia family. I plan for them to affect every character in a meaningful way. To do that, I have to take time to set it up.

I have no idea how everything will turn out. I have a few, but who knows? I'm sure a lot of stuff will go to scrap, because it's too aggressive. Regardless, this one will also be harder because I don't have a close connection to my family. This one will take extra work. However, I think this will be a fun challenge. I will probably pick up this one as the long fanfic I have once I finish Rook x Observant Reader.

Side Note: I've gotten into Love and Deepspace. I very much like Rafayel. I was surprised, but extremely inspired. So, I've been working on a Rafayel x Reader fanfic on the side. However, I am focused on twst because I want to get those out. I have many more ideas and obligations for them than Raf's

That's it for now! Look forward to future updates!

[markantonys]

My Mom Reacts To: wheel of time season 3 episodes 1-4 (no book spoilers)

season 1 (book spoilers)

season 2 episodes 1-4 (no book spoilers)

season 2 episodes 5-8 (book spoilers)

she found her handwritten list of characters from when we watched s2 back in 2023, i couldn't believe it haha below is her summary of some of the gang as she was trying to jog her memory

lan: the one i really love mat: the one who got recast perrin: the big guy nynaeve: the healer rand and egwene: the ones who should be a couple but probably won't be

(i don't know if she meant that *she thinks* they should be a couple, as her personal opinion, or if she was just describing the general narrative framing of them as "should be together but won't be". we'll see what, if any, reaction she has to all the mess between them this season!)

ahead of s2, we rewatched all of s1 to prepare, but this time, we just watched the 20-minute recap of the first 2 seasons by unraveling the pattern. i get the sense that my mom is more lost and struggling during s3 than she has been in prior seasons, probably due to a combination of not doing a full rewatch first and to s3 just being so much more packed with Stuff than the first 2 seasons. but she knows all the main characters well and cares about them, it's mostly other stuff like plot and terminology that's hard to keep track of! and she did seem to settle in more once the hectic first episode was done and once she could focus more on the new storylines that are happening right now instead of trying to remember setup from previous seasons.

beginning of the recap: it's easy to get lost with all the different characters and terminology my mom: that's for sure!

during the recap my dad asked "is the dragon good or bad?" and i was like "that's kinda the big question of the whole series" haha

onto the episodes!

3x01

mom: didn't moiraine get banished from this city? me: yes, that's why she's hiding mom: she's not doing a very good job

me to my dad (who used to work in local government) at the beginning of the meeting of the hall: it's like town meeting dad later during all the shredding: town meeting never got QUITE this violent

mom: how did they not know there were this many bad guys lurking inside the tower? me: that's exactly what siuan is wondering too

my dad at some point during the street fighting: they need that guy who thinks he's a wolf to come and help

could perrin emerge as a fav for my dad if he was his first thought for somebody who would be useful in a situation? watch this space

mom after liandrin gets healed from double-stab out in the streets: ugh, she's unkillable!

huge gasp when ihvon died

mom when lan went to find nynaeve amid the rubble: oh yeah, they're in love right? [i will say, the recap was highly plot- and lore-focused and left out quite a lot of important info regarding interpersonal relationships!]

rand's line about "you know what prophecies are like, nothing's clear" got a chuckle

loial's line about leaving at dawn got a big chuckle!

mom: [smiling] he's one of my favorite characters me internally:😬

the girls' gossip session was instance #1 of my mom going "who's that???" about elayne because she "looks different" this season and she didn't recognize her (i suspect it's the hair throwing her off, in this scene especially it looks REALLY blonde and pale)

she definitely had some grumbling about it being stupid of the boys to go around town while so many bad guys are looking for them, though i forget exactly what it was

then later on she said "considering how many people are after them, they keep engaging in some pretty risky behaviors" (but this comment was just when mat was going to get himself a midnight drink at the inn, let him live, mom!)

mom: does rand know selene is evil? me [seeing my opportunity to get her sympathetic to rand's perspective early]: he knows she's lanfear, but she's been manipulating him hardcore, so he still thinks maybe he can fix her and help her be good again

i think it was during siuan's convo with egwene and nynaeve about being prepared to stop the dragon that my mom quietly said "...........is rand the dragon?" evidence of how overwhelmed this poor woman is with everything going on this season haha she's questioning everything she thinks she knows!

elayne delivering letters out on the street was instance #2 of going "who's that????" about her

no comments at all on any of the rand-avi, avi-elayne, or rand-elayne interactions this episode. i don't think she's particularly invested in either elayne or avi at this stage since they're newer characters compared to the OG crew, but we'll see!

moiraine: where do you really want to go? rand: where do i REALLY want to go? home mom: i was going to say, i bet all he wants is to just go home

she gets him!

rand: i was there [scaring egwene in her arches trip], wasn't i? mom: he's too smart for his own good

first time anybody has ever said that about rand dkfjgh but she's right! he's a lot more perceptive than much of show fandom gives him credit for!

mom: that guy perrin killed [bornhald], was he a bad guy? me: well, he was a whitecloak, so yes, but as whitecloaks go, he was better than some dad: a fitting description for his tombstone

mom during the inn attacks: it's so dark, i'm glad i can't see everything [because it's scary]

mom when lanaeve are saying their goodbyes: oh, why can't they just stay together?!

relatable to all of us who watched our favorite ships part ways in this episode!

"since perrin is going home, does that mean he won't be in the story anymore?" perrin wishes that was the case!

me: rand could've at least told moiraine the change of plans before she spent all that money on the boat mom: i know! it's like they think she has bottomless pockets! me: well to be fair she kinda DOES have bottomless pockets

dad after the episode: that felt like a lot more than just one episode

mom: will lan and nynaeve see each other again? me: not this season, but they should if there are more seasons mom: [sighs sadly] i just want lan to be happy

she followed this up with "this doesn't seem like an easy world to be happy in" you can say that again!

"if you counted how many times these 5 people got attacked throughout the show, i wonder how many it would be" very dangerous new WOT drinking game just dropped courtesy of my mom

the next day, she said "dad said he'll be home after [whatever time] and we can watch more then, it sounds like he really doesn't want to miss any" could've fooled me since it's never obvious that he's paying attention let alone invested, but it IS rare for him to even so much as imply that he wants us to wait for him to watch something!

3x02

me: this is elayne's mom pregnant with elayne mom: but she has two kids already me: yes, elayne has two older brothers mom: so why is elayne the one inheriting the throne? me: it's a matriarchal throne succession mom: i'm glad i have you here to explain things

huge gasp when the assassinations happened. "elayne is so nice, but her mom is so terrible!"

my dad's thought on the assassinations was "now this DID happen a lot in town meeting" lmao

as soon as they showed gaebril my mom went "i think i've seen him before", it turned out she was mixing him up with ishy since they have similar hair/beards, but i was cracking up imagining that rahvin had compelled her through the screen to remember him being in previous seasons

the music got a shoutout from her in this episode during the travel montages! there's some particularly groovy tunes in this episode's travel montages

several chuckles over galad getting made fun of in various scenes, as is only right

another chuckle at "the prophecy does not say i must enjoy the task"

elayne: that's the first time anyone's accused this room of being big mom: it looks pretty big to me!

first my mom was upset that no one was coming up to perrin to say hello when he arrived in the village, and then after finding out the whitecloaks have a bounty on him, she was upset that he was walking around out in the open and so many people had seen him arrive

she was also like "why did moiraine just let him leave and go home?" and i pointed out that moiraine's goal was to separate rand from his friends and that she really kinda only cares about rand at this point and not the other four so much, which my mom semi-accepted haha

mom after finding out min's viewing of dead aes sedai & warders wasn't referring to the 3x01 battle but was actually another battle still to come: is there ever any hope at all in this world?!

much appreciation for chiad's line about asking the lion to protect you from the bear and ending up in one belly instead of the other

perrin: i'll turn myself in mom: oh perrin, you're too good for your own good

once again my mom asked "does rand know she's evil?" about lanfear, so i took another chance to explain that rand knows objectively that she's evil but she's been careful not to do anything evil in front of him as a way of manipulating him, and that he really loved her during the months they were together so it's hard for him to just turn that off. i'm doing my best to seed in Rand Sympathy! we'll see if it pays off in the remaining episodes.

then my dad sneezed really loudly and distracted us all from the quick reveal that lanfear is disguising herself as renna to torture egwene, so i had to catch them up on that. classic dad behavior.

mom: [trying to jog her memory] was min romantically involved with anyone? me: no mom: she and mat might make a good pair me: NO they're like siblings to me!!!!

if she makes any kind of shippy comment during the CPR i'm going to pull out the "rand's the one who gave him CPR in the books, would you have considered THAT romantic too?" card hahaha

after gaebril told elayne about the trouble in andor, my mom was all "why would the queen leave the country if there's trouble?" "why is she leaving all her advisors behind at the tower if there's trouble?" she was starting to pick up on Something Fishy Going On Here

the scene of siuan taking the horn from mat was a big hit, naturally!

elayne: i learned from the best [morgase] mom: i don't know, i don't think SHE would ever kill her rivals dad: *i* think she would

mom about elaida: is she evil? dad: no one in this show is fully evil or fully good, they're all some of both

continuing his tradition of remaining mostly quiet and seeming not to pay much attention and then coming out with completely accurate takes

3x03

at first when my mom saw "gaebril" skulking around she was laughing because she thought morgase accidentally forgot him at the tower and left him behind, i was dying and am going to think about that every time i watch this scene forevermore

at the reveal that he's evil: "ugh! of COURSE!"

then i was explaining that he's not just evil, he's a forsaken, and explaining more about how he planted fake memories, and also giving her the list of all the forsaken we've met so far to add to her notes. we did pause for most of this, but sadly sammael's rug line got talked over so they missed that one, alas!

while nynaeve and elayne were walking through the streets my mom said she thought she saw somebody lurking around - it must have been the gray man, i was impressed! i hadn't caught him myself!

mom after hearing elaida's plan to cage rand: [unhappily] there are so many different groups of bad guys, and only one of good guys

she remembered the tuatha'an well from s1! she said she remembers s1 better than s2 since she'd watched it twice (and also said that s1 was the easiest one to follow since it was only about the main small group of characters)

we both keep fretting about wanting to know exactly how much time has passed, so in the scene with laila's tree we were like "well i guess however long it takes for a tree to grow that tall is how much time has passed" (and then in the later scene when perrin was like "don't you remember what happened at bel tine?" my mom was going "five years ago? last year?" trying to prompt him to specify haha)

she thinks it's very foolish for nynaeve and elayne to go off to tanchico on their own with so much danger afoot

"they're like paris fashion models" about liandrin & co's new getup in tanchico djkjfg

"i've never seen someone try to turn themselves in and fail" was a big hit!

though later my mom wondered if faile might be lanfear in disguise, which i accidentally shot down because first she just asked "is that lanfear?" and i said "no, it's a new character" thinking she was just mixing them up, not that she was suspicious lanfear might be in disguise as faile

mom about galad and gawyn: they remind me of, we used to call them "big men on campus", pompous and arrogant but also popular

mat: LIANDRIN?! nynaeve: keep your voice down! mom: he's always shouting about things that should be kept secret!

mom: i don't think elayne will be happy if mat kills her brothers me: he's not going to KILL them

3x04

mom while moiraine is watching lan and rand spar: why is she just sitting around? me: there's not a whole lot else to do in the desert

over the course of this episode, aviendha progressed from "that girl" to "aviendra" she's getting there!

me: [mentions something about the car'a'carn] dad: speaking of, were you able to find a parking space for the car'a'carn at the dentist earlier?

rand: tell me you won't try to stop me or use me moiraine: i will do nothing to hinder you from fulfilling your destiny mom: [disapprovingly] that's not what he asked

whether she'll understand rand's perspective in his upcoming conflict with egwene remains to be seen, but she does seem to understand his perspective in his conflict with moiraine! and kinda always has, i think, i remember her expressing distrust of moiraine in the prior seasons too.

"rand sure has a lot he needs to get done before he goes mad" WOT: A Summary

the first sight of the dragon tattoo with rhuarc got a "that looks cool" stamp of approval

earlier in the day she'd asked whether everything in the show was from the books or if some stuff was made up and i'd said the show made up/altered some stuff, and here i gave an example of how in the books mat is part of the waste trip and he's the one to go to rhuidean with rand and to get the moment of pulling a bunch of different knives out of unlikely places and my mom said "ha! i can see mat doing that. more than i can see moiraine doing it." i agree!! [cries in Mat Being Yoinked Out Of The Waste And His Silly Character Quirk Moment Given To Another]

[shot of rand's broad shoulders from behind as he's walking] "he looks like he's gotten a lot more muscles since the first season"

as rand is stepping into the columns: "i bet he's wishing he could just go home to his farm"

i gave a rundown of what to expect for the visions, with rand seeing real events from the past through the eyes of his biological ancestors starting with the most recent and getting further back and with moiraine seeing many possible but not definite paths for the future, because i feared she might get confused otherwise and i thought she would appreciate the experience more if i clarified this firmly ahead of time

and she did appreciate it! not much commentary (aside from "he should get an award for playing all these different characters" and "it's like they were on drugs when they wrote this episode" djkjfgkh but i think this was Complimentary rather than Derogatory), she was mostly just quiet and taking it all in

although she was very indignant about moiraine "stealing something from the tree" haha she was like "that can't be allowed!" and i said "moiraine doesn't really care about what's allowed"

and of course she was horrified by the future vision of lan dying and hastened to seek assurance that these are not definite futures

rand: [collapses in exhaustion after all the visions are done] dad: i agree

aviendha: as you wish, wetlander mom: [chuckles] like the princess bride me: [silently giggling in avirand]

i don't know if this episode struck either of them as particularly noteworthy or standout the way so many WOT fans feel about rhuidean, but if they make any additional comments on it later, i will be sure to note them!

[elderwisp]

HEYHEYHEY WISP!!! as always i freaking love yer visuals and the effort you put on your edits so i gotta ask this fun Q for ya:

show us your first ever edit of all yer OCs vs their last edit !!!

FLO i would like u to know i sat and looked at this message for thirty minutes and YELLED. omgg this is about to be so rough HAH. i opened up my cloud storage and broke out into HIVES OH GOD ok but i will do it! I'll also add the dates in the alt text :D

Atlas: Glad to know he has those silly ears- Also, these are a decade apart? OMG

The rest under the cut bc Tumblr said no to condensing the photos on desktop U_U

Frances: Frances had a pretty cool design! Also I remember it took me hours on learning how to add that drop shadow in photoshop BAHAH

Kai: Kai spawned later on after I wanted to expand Taryn's family. In his most recent update, I did reference his TS3 model a bunch!

Taryn: JUMPSCARE! Taryn went through a lot of changes, actually in revisiting her folder, I got the perfect ideas for her tattoos! So I guess that's a plus but yeah, when I was a kid, the time I joined simblr, I thought every sim needed to be stark white. That was a thousand percent not it at all and I'm glad I grew from that

Icarus: Icarus was one of the newer additions, so I really tried to stick to how he looked in TS3 just a bit more elevated! Although his personality is where the shift really happened

Dan: Dan was born because I felt like Atlas needed a friend. Man I do love their friendship many years later!

Theo: Aaannd Theo is the latest edition so there is no TS3 counterpart! Theo spawned in after I spent some time in CAS and I was like,,, They're really cool *plops into Tessellate*

Gabriel: Gabriel was originally an angel in an old supernatural RP I was apart of. He had these like cool black wings in my mind and YEAH! haha but I loved him sm I was like, he's joining the crew. Fun fact, he was also another contender for Frances' romance options. I have thought about it a lot lately, and although I wouldn't pursue it, the thought does sound nice :")

Ares: Ares is older than any of these goobers by a longshot. He was the child of a main character in a youtube series I did as a teenager,, ahh de nostalgia of those summers,,, anyways he looked rough those genetics were NOT working with him sksks

Gum: Gum was named after Gum in JSR and I wanted to play around with a super bubbly character however as time proceeded, I do like the alternative fashion with the contrast of the bubbly pink hair <3

Syx: Syx is such a cool cat through and through

Rowan: Ok I'm gonna be so honest with you, for this one, I COULD NOT I COULD NOT DO THAT TO HIM AND SHOW YOU GUYS HIS oldest picture. I'll describe it to you, the year is 2015, he looks like a posh douchebag standing next to Taryn- It's literally seeping with male manipulator SO i'll give you his first appearance on this blog when he went by "Unnamed"

(HE LOOKS LIKE MAXXIE FROM SKIN HAHAHA)

Ok you know what? After going through this I was pretty impressed with the growth. It's also pretty neat to see that I've always had an experimental phase with editing. Idk I just think we all experience a lot of different emotions and when I think of art and editing, I never want to feel like I'm doing the same thing twice. I've always enjoyed that fluidity in creation and I don't think it'll ever stop. Under the cut I've included some of my very first edits with TS4 and now that's pretty shocking in comparison to now! Also thank you for this question I had a lot of fun putting it together and being vulnerable for some parts! (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡

+ earliest ts4 edits below ↓

[kiyomitakada]

okay so i have actually already read up to (and including) chapter 2 so here are my thoughts so far. i am obviously extremely spoiled on The Main Twist so i will put prologue + chapter 1 thoughts under the cut

prologue: from the way mello writes i am convinced that he wrote this in a manic haze right after he made the decision to kidnap takada. it's why he says "I imagine that by the time anyone lays eyes on these words I will no longer be alive" and also "the best dresser that died like a dog" he is already 90% certain he is not making it out of this.

the one thing that is throwing me off is the line "I once called myself Mello and was addressed by that name, but that was a long time ago" since it makes absolutely no sense in this context because the mafia and matt still call him mello all the time. so i have to assume that the a long time ago part refers to calling himself mello. maybe he shifted internally to mihael keehl and never told anyone else.

chapter 1:

fascinating that raye is described as "the most obvious example of the agents who had a high opinion of her (not that this stopped him from begging her to transfer to a less dangerous department every time something happened)" like okay fine that's kind of sweet. theres the whole benevolent patriarchal sexism in that last bit but i don't think he was violent or anything.

fascinating that L calls raye naomi's "friend"

It seemed obvious that the reason her laptop had been turned on was that L had hacked it, and she was more than a little depressed that she would now have to randomly destroy the new computer she had just purchased a month before. “I don’t mind… I mean, I do, but…”

god L is such an asshole for his FIRST MOVE being to order naomi to destroy her computer EVEN IF SHE DOESN'T ACCEPT i love him he sucks so much

real cute that they're all locked rooms. beyond wants to be written about sooo bad

this naomi is like dead on accurate to silent partner unfinished business i am retroactively extremely impressed. what an interesting personality. fundamental sense of insecurity but also a biting sarcasm that she keeps locked away… SO fun. notably mello is the one who attributes her leave of absence to discrimination but naomi doesn't think so, all of naomi's thoughts are about her Mistake

He would hardly kill a fifth victim when the number of dolls had reached zero.

ha, ha.

L bragging about being able to solve beyond's super difficult crossword puzzle that no one else could solve lmao

i got so jumpscared by beyond being under the bed even though i already knew he was there 10/10

Misora jumped backward instantly, forced down the surge of emotions this sudden turn of events stirred up, and put her fists up. She didn’t have a gun with her—not because she was suspended, but simply because she had never really gotten used to carrying one around. With no gun, she had no trigger to pull. [...] She put one hand inside her jacket, pretending she had a gun. The man raised his head.

this characterization is catnip to me

Natural black hair. A plain shirt, faded jeans. He was a young man, with dark lines under his wide, bulging eyes. Thin, and apparently fairly tall, but his back was curved, leaving his gaze two heads lower than Misora’s so he appeared to be looking up at her.

it is so interesting to compare beyond's description to what Isn't there… notably naomi does not make note of his hairstyle. the dark lines have to be makeup but i don't know how he would fake bulging eyes maybe hyperthyroidism simply runs in wammy's house. i love that the black hair is natural i always assumed it was really shitty dye

[lost-inanotherlife]

some thoughts about addictions in LOST

there will be spoilers and, obvi, I'll talk about addiction as a narrative theme/motif in this post, so be warned if this is triggering to you.

In this post I've said that, on rewatch, I didn't particularly like Charlie and I've also added that, perhaps, one of the reasons for this change of heart (I used to love Charlie back in 2004) is the show (not particularly brilliant, imho) handling of his addiction/recovery storyline. This post, though, won't be specifically about Charlie but it will be about the way the show portrayed addictions mainly as signifiers of 1. the possibility of being "saved" and 2. clinical depression.

To be honest with you, I don't agree with the people that say that LOST is a character-driven show. But I don't agree with the people who say it's plot-driven either. To me in LOST characters and plot go hand in hand. So how can i describe LOST? Well, I would say that LOST is theme-driven: both plot and characters must adhere to the show's main themes. And it makes sense, right? I mean, never believe TV writers when they say they have everything planned out in advance, you know that it's a lie. 99% of the time they just have a half-baked story and, perhaps, some more or less well thought-out characters. The rest is "just" some very general and very big Themes and they rely on those to write their story like water in a desert.

One of LOST's big themes is, of course, destiny. Like all the tales about destiny the more the characters struggle against it, the more they end up enacting it. In LOST the struggle takes the shape of a rejection of the past: in one way or another all the characters are compelled by their past or by one event that happened in their past/childhood that has molded the direction of their lives and the way in which they experience the world. In other words, as you all well know, these characters can't let go, they can't move on.

One of the ways in which this compulsion is portrayed is substance addiction. Charlie and Jack are the two main characters who struggle against it but they do it very diffrently. Or, better, the writers portray their respective addictions very differently.

In Charlie's case, his heroin addiction is a very prominent feature of this storyline: you take it away from him, his story loses most of its pathos and meaning. Charlie's addiction and his recovery from it are an integral part of his character that you can't substitute with anything else.

On the other hand, Jack's addictions are treated as a motif to basically telegraph the audience that The Character Is Not Doing Well. If you take away Jack's alcohol abuse, for instance, from his story, you won't end up changing it that much. Like, with or without his alcohol abuse, Jack's still pretty much a depressed man with a difficult relationship with his father and a general lack of belief in the value of his life per se.

However, in both cases, the ways in which these addictions are written are never realistic, they only serve a narrative purpose, aka to signify something else: in Charlie's case his addiction stands for his possibility (or lack thereof) to be "saved" while in Jack's case his addictions signal his clinical depression.

When LOST writers write Jack sitting in a sea of empty bottles, popping pills like there's no tomorrow, they want to show without telling that "Jack Is Not Doing Fine!". Theirs is a narrative device to say something without saying it, it's not active interest in exploring what it really means to have substance abuse-related problems. In other words, it's NOT a way of telling the audience "Look, there's a quite big and deep element of substance abuse in this character's story that actually plays a big role in the decisions the character makes because hey! he's not okay, so we'd like to portray this in a realistic way and explore it in depth". They dont' say that because they aren't interested in that. And they're not interested in that because LOST is not EXCLUSIVELY a character-driven show. Characters and plot must go hand in hand and the plot is fast-paced, chop! chop! let's go! we don't have time to go THAT deep into character analysis.

Case in point, when Jack's on the island his addictions seem to disappear. He's not only Suddenly Fine but even characters who are close to him and know about his issues conveniently seem to forget about them. In S5 Kate and Jack go back to the 70S to live in Dharmaville and they literally PRETEND that nothing has happened in the previous three years between them, like nothing at all. Jack's addictions are not treated as something that the show really wants us to pay attention to because, if we do, we are bound to realize that, even if, when he's on the island, Jack doesn't experience any withdrawal symptoms, he's still NOT in a healthy place, mentally speaking. And not like, "I'm sad because I've ruined my chance with Kate", but more like "My mind is a minefield, I can only think about one thing and I need it to feel better, to make myself feel better again or I'll kms". This is what "We have to go back" really means: symbolically, it's Jack's compulsion wrt his past trauma, in much realer terms, it's Jack's being an addict and thinking that the island is his last dose, his ultimate chance at HappinessTM.

Something very similar happens to Charlie as well and I think it's no coincidence that both characters end the way they do and both deaths have scarred an entire generation of people watching TV in their teens, lol.

Charlie's perhaps the first character that introduces the theme of destiny when he writes "fate" on those thingies he has on his fingers (I'm aware that "destiny" and "fate" are not necessarily the same concept but let's use them as interchangeable terms bc, come on, we only have 5 fingers per hand and the word "destiny" doesn't fit, lol, okay?). He's also the only character whose story is decidedly connected to drug abuse. And, I think, this wasn't necessarily a good move on the part of the writers team because I personally think that you can't write a character who's struggling with addiction and then write said addiction solely as a way to talk about something else. You gotta factor in what it really means to be an addict and what it means to be an addict on a fucking island with tons of free heroin on it. The reason why I think that the writers didn't really think it through is because nobody on the island shows an ounce of compassion, or just plain sympathy towards Charlie. Like, Charlie's addiction is written like The Bad Thing and everybody around him treats him like The Bad Man Who Snorts Heroin and it's just so... moralistic!!!

Not only that, S2 is a season where almost every character starts having some sort of hallucinations. Mental health is a whole sub-theme in S2, the season where we have episodes like "Dave" where Hugo/Hurley's past history in a mental health facility is revelead. So people are, beliavably I'd say, starting to get a bit weird on the island and they all begin to See Stuff and the people around them seem to understand this, they're sympathetic and they all go like "you have to rest" or something. Not with Charlie. Charlie has visions and nightmares because he's a Drug Addict. No other explanation. Not even one person who was like: "PERHAPS if it's hard for us who don't have to struggle against a fucking heroin addiction, maybe, MAYBE, it's even HARDER for Charlie so, not saying we have to justify the shit he does, but at least let's all try to understand him". Nope. Charlie's bad and does bad thing because, CLEARLY, he was using drugs and he was using because he's bad person and an addict. Like, no, don't write stuff like this, please.

If you add the fact that his recovery story is LITERALLY compared to being baptized, aka "be saved from the Original Sin", I'm sorry but I can't shake the feeling that there's some veiled, surely unconscious, Christian propaganda at play here.

Aside from that, Charlie's whole "Heroin Arc" ends in S2. Like, it's done, it's over, he throws all the heroin into the sea, Charlie Pace Is Saved. That's good, right? Weeeeeeell. To me no, it's not good because then S3 starts and we have the "Charlie Is Supposed to Die" arc and I asky myself why? Like, I can feel that the writers didn't know what else to do with Charlie besides Charlie having drug problems. So when the drug problems are over, they "redeem" him with a storyline of self-sacrifice that feels a bit forced, to me at least. Not only that, it also reduces Charlie to his former drug abuse storyline and this reinforces the feeling that Charlie is an addict, can only be an addict and, once he's not an addict anymore, he must die because he can ONLY be an addict since the writers hadn't figured out anything else for him. What I'm trying to say is that I don't think the writers understood and/or cared about the consequences of the things they had written and the other possible takeaways people might have inferred from the way they wrote addiction stories.

I'll say one good thing the writers did and it was what I consider the actual Big Reveal of S3 finale. Des' flashes weren't about Charlie dying, they were about him not allowing Charlie to die because Charlie was the one who was SUPPOSED (not to die) but to go the The Looking Glass station and stop the jamming signal because he's the only rock musician on the island (which means that, surely, he'd know "Good Vibrations"). So, to me, Charlie was not "supposed to die", he was "supposed to be there" which is a whole other thing. And Charlie can "be there" because he accepts that he will die. This was a very interesting thing but, I mean, S3 is a fucking mess, we all know that, so for one good thing there are at least three more that aren't so good (let's all remember that S3 is the "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Further Instructions" season, and many more laughable episodes written just because they had to write the show and the network wouldn't "free" the writers from LOST, lol).

I'm reaching rambling territory so I'll stop now but, basically, I personally don't like the way LOST handles addictions. I understand that this is a story, a narrative where things means something else as well, I understand that both Jack and Charlie's addictions are strongly connected to the issues they have with their respective family members and, therefore, the reason why they were on that plane in the first place. So I understand that addictions mean many different things in LOST. And, ngl, it'd be fine by me if both characters didn't end up self-sacrificing themselves thinking that THAT was their redemption. But they do, both Charlie and Jack die in order to save other people and this is great and noble but I simply can't forget that these were two characters struggling with addictions who ended badly. The nobility of their acts doesn't make them less sad and, frankly, wrong.

[deaddove]

the plum in the iron vase on ao3—

baoxiang/third prince

rated E

iron widow au verse. no iw spoilers

ayu uses his concubine-pilot as a vehicle to have gay sex (don't do this)

baoxiang uses his brother's imminent mortality as a vehicle to have gay sex (this is fine)

[aethersea]

it is funny though how kids' shows are so so so careful about death, no one's ever killed except MAYYYYBE the big bad, all those random side characters are fine, here have a quick shot of them before we leave just so you know they really did survive that 50-foot drop into a stormy sea,

and meanwhile kids' books nearly all agree that it's not an adventure until it has a body count.

[sysig]

Cards 👏 cards 👏 cards 👏 (Patreon)

[seaofreverie]

GUUUYYUYSSSD !!!!!

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

KIMONO MY HOUSE VINYL!!!!!!

Also funny story which is that when my brother took these to the cashier he said something like "oh... Sparks... they were here one year ago"