#i remembered that one post talking about that one scene in the tale of two stans where stan started teaching himself science so he could

[zyphyrr]

Me??? Finally doing a comic???? Since when?????

[writingforstraykids]

Letters Of Love - Hyunjin🖤

Pairing: Hyunjin x gn!Reader (poly!skz)

Word Count: 882

Summary: Your next message goes to Hyunjin - this time about a sunny day spent in a field of flowers.

Warnings/Tags: fluff

A/N: My bad, I was swamped with work yesterday, and I didn't have the energy to prepare the post😅I hope you guys enjoy it🖤

do not repost, translate, or plagiarize my works in any way here or on other platforms. ©️writingforstraykids 2024 -

Chan | Minho | Changbin | Jisung | Felix | Seungmin | Jeongin

You take a deep breath, your heart warming as you click on the next picture in your gallery. This one is a little different from the rest—so soft and dreamy that it almost looks like something out of a fairy tale. It’s from a day that still feels like a beautiful blur in your memory: a picnic with Hyunjin in the middle of a field of vibrant wildflowers.

In the photo, you’re sitting together on a plaid blanket spread out over the green grass, surrounded by an ocean of delicate blossoms. Hyunjin is facing the camera, his gaze slightly averted as he looks off into the distance with a peaceful smile. His long hair falls over his shoulders in loose waves, gently tousled by the breeze, catching the light of the afternoon sun. He’s leaning back on one hand, his other hand resting near yours as if he’d been just about to reach out. The flowers around him—poppies, daisies, and buttercups—seem to almost glow, their colors blending into a mesmerizing sea of red, white, and yellow. It’s as if he’s the prince of this floral kingdom, serene and perfectly at home in the midst of all that beauty.

You’re in the picture too, your eyes sparkling with joy and laughter. You’d been caught mid-laughter, looking at him like he was the only thing that mattered at that moment. There’s a basket beside you filled with fruits, sandwiches, and little pastries you’d baked together the night before. It’s all so peaceful, so soft, that you can practically feel the warm breeze and hear the distant hum of insects buzzing lazily around you.

That day had been one of those perfect, lazy afternoons that you never wanted to end. Hyunjin had suggested the idea out of the blue—his eyes lighting up as he mentioned a secluded flower field he’d stumbled across while out for a drive. He said it looked like something out of a painting, and you couldn’t resist the excitement in his voice. So, you’d packed up a picnic basket, grabbed a blanket, and headed out together.

When you arrived, the sight took your breath away. The field stretched out in all directions, a riot of colors dancing under the sun. You remember how Hyunjin’s face had softened as he looked around, his eyes wide and awed. Without a word, he’d reached out for your hand, tugging you gently into the middle of the flowers, spinning you around playfully until you were both laughing, the sound drifting up into the clear blue sky.

You’d spent hours there, eating, talking, and lying on your backs, watching the clouds drift by. At one point, he’d plucked a daisy and carefully tucked it behind your ear, his gaze soft and affectionate as he murmured that you looked like something straight out of a dream. Then he’d leaned in, his voice quiet but filled with that familiar poetic rhythm, sharing some verses he’d written just for you—words about love and beauty and the fleeting nature of moments like these.

You felt so close to him in that moment—like the whole world had disappeared, leaving just the two of you and the flowers swaying gently around you. He’d painted the scene perfectly with his words, each one lingering in your heart long after he’d stopped speaking.

With a smile, you select the picture and start typing your message, knowing Hyunjin will understand every sentiment behind each word.

Message to Hyunjin:

My prince,

I found this picture of us in the flower field, and I couldn’t help but remember how magical that day felt. It was like being in a world where everything was softer, brighter, and just… more beautiful because I was there with you. Watching you surrounded by all those flowers, seeing that peaceful smile on your face, I remember thinking, “This is where he belongs.”

That afternoon was perfect, wasn’t it? Just the two of us, no rush, no distractions. I loved the way you pointed out every little detail—the way the colors of the flowers shifted with the sunlight, or how you made up stories about each cloud that drifted by. I could listen to you talk like that forever, Jinnie. You have a way of making even the simplest things feel like art.

Thank you for sharing that side of you with me—for letting me see the world through your eyes, even if just for a little while. You make everything feel softer, more beautiful, just by being there.

Happy anniversary, my prince. Here’s to many more afternoons like that one, and to many more words whispered between us.

With all my love,

Your sunflower

As you send the message, you close your eyes for a moment, the memory of that flower field still vivid in your mind. You can almost feel Hyunjin’s hand reaching for yours, the warmth of his smile when he sees your message. He might blush a little, might hide his face in his hands because he’s so easily flustered, but you know he’ll treasure it, just like he treasures every moment you’ve shared. Because that’s who he is—your prince, forever finding beauty in the smallest of things and making you feel like the most precious part of his world.

Chan | Minho | Changbin | Jisung | Felix | Seungmin | Jeongin

MASTERLISTS | PROMPT LIST | GUIDELINES

Taglist (Please let me know if you want to be added to or removed from the taglist):

@zehina @jinnie-ret @atinyniki @galaxycatdrawz @silverstarburst @aaa-sia @lilmisssona @kthstrawberryshortcake @channieaddict @soullostinspaceandtime @rebecca-johnson-28 @lixie-phoria @kibs-and-bits @xxstrayland @ihrtlix @pheonixfire777 @mellhwang @palindrome969 @theo4eve @harshaaaaa @rylea08 @heeyboooo @manuosorioh @gisaerlleri @andassortedkpop @lailac13 @bbokari711 @kazuuuaaa @rssamj @wolfyychan @stellasays45 @chrizzztopherbang @ionlyeverwantedtobeyourequal @silentreadersthings @myforevermelody143 @sapphirewaves @5starluvr @dis-trict9 @minh0scat

[skykind]

A Clone Wars Episode Deep Dive

I didn't discover The Clone Wars fandom until 2021 and only started watching the show in mid-2023 (finished a few months ago), and I want to discuss and analyze all sorts of odds and ends—years after most people watched. This includes cool stuff in episodes I think some fans understandably skip when doing re-watches and therefore no longer remember well, but I’m digging into one of them anyway. So, have a long post about S2:E11, "Lightsaber Lost," and then come talk to me about it if you’d like!

This episode is saying three things at once, and the closer you get to the symbolic message meant for mostly adult audiences, the wilder things get.

The literal plot: Ahsoka’s lightsaber is stolen, and she recovers it with the help of a Jedi elder who teaches her life lessons along the way.

The morality tale for young viewers: gun control (a bold choice).

An eerie interlude for older viewers: A pair of brief scenes—only 45 seconds or so in length combined—communicate the future purge of the Jedi order via symbolic visual storytelling and a speech that’s being broadcast in the background. No dialogue required.

I'm going to focus on this third bullet point, but I also recommend a re-watch for the gun control angle. (Hint: if you think the writers are only arguing for handling guns responsibly, you haven’t taken the Jedi’s current context into account; also, the writers aren't referring to literal in-universe guns—Ahsoka’s lightsaber is the gun.)

Back to the episode’s message for older viewers: Split over two scenes, the audience watches Ahsoka chase a bounty hunter in possession of her lightsaber, then the bounty hunter partially damage and destabilize an enormous levitating billboard so she can get away from Ahsoka, and finally Ahsoka tumble down and precariously cling to the billboard’s screen. The billboard shows Palpatine delivering a—likely prerecorded—speech that is meant to sound supportive of the Jedi, but is instead priming Coruscant residents to believe anti-Jedi rhetoric; just before this two-scene sequence ends, Palpatine also begins to explain why he needs more executive power in order to support the Jedi.

It's great to pinpoint an example of Palatine's propaganda, but what does the visual storytelling communicate, with this speech for a backdrop?

Note: the text of Palpatine’s speech, shown in captions in the following screenshots, is not in alt text as that would chop the speech up between image descriptions, and is instead in a single paragraph after the final screenshot.

Palpatine's Speech

"I have no doubt that the Jedi are doing their very best to ensure the safety of every citizen in the Republic. The accusations that the Jedi created the Clone War to give themselves more power over the government is absurd and I will not stand for it."

Ahsoka as Symbolically at Palpatine's Mercy

After a scene break, Palatine's speech picks up mid-sentence and we see just how small and vulnerable Ahsoka is compared to Palpatine's soaring and vast projection. She appears entirely at his mercy, and somewhat at the mercy of Coruscant as well.

Palpatine's Speech, Resumed

"…Count Dooku and his droid army. To support the Jedi's efforts in the war, I ask the Senate to pass these new laws, giving more jurisdiction…"

The Genocide to Come

As this speech is broadcast to Coruscant, the seemingly trustworthy and dependable Chancellor of the Republic symbolically collapses beneath Ahsoka and leaves her stranded over a chasm. All while Palpatine spreads propaganda that will eventually convince the public to support her people's genocide.

Perhaps the best way to describe this is:

An unarmed Ahsoka struggles to hang onto the edge of a high precipice, that precipice is a symbol for Palpatine—and in a few years, Palpatine will shove the entire Jedi order off the edge of a much higher cliff.

Given how the sheer visual scale of Palpatine in this second scene represents the power he can wield over the Jedi—as the staging emphasizes Ahsoka's relative smallness and her physical vulnerability—it's clear the Jedi will not be able to rescue themselves when this future betrayal comes; Palpatine has amassed too much power and put too many plans in place. And no one who's bought into Palpatine's propaganda will try to catch the Jedi when they go over the edge.

Ahsoka’s Survival

Ahsoka’s individual survival of Order 66 is signaled here by her ability to get off the levitating billboard, but nothing about the staging suggests this comes down to unique skill—any number of well-trained Jedi could have gotten out of her predicament when the right opportunity (a single speeder that veers out of its lane and passes unusually close to the screen) presented itself.

In both “Lightsaber Lost” and "Victory and Death" (S7:E12, see below), her survival involves flinging herself through open air (and into an out-of-place flying vehicle), a nice nod to Ahsoka’s association with flight and Morai, though I feel like that’s a coincidence (?) as of season 2. Or maybe not. I have no idea if Ahsoka’s symbolic associations—flight in the case of “Lightsaber Lost,” rather than Morai specifically—were planned out in advance.

What About the Propaganda?

Returning to season 2, we come to the final big-picture takeaway of the "Lightsaber Lost" scenes: I’ve referred to Palpatine’s speech as something that plays in the background because Ahsoka doesn’t pay attention to his propaganda, even though it’s literally in her face. What does this mean if we treat Ahsoka as a stand-in for the Jedi, and Palpatine’s speech as a stand-in for his growing threat to the Jedi?   In these scenes, Ahsoka first doesn’t pay attention because she’s trying to stay alive in precarious circumstances, just as Jedi across the galaxy are kept distracted from the big picture by trying to keep themselves, their Padawans, their troops, and civilians alive as war swallows up the galaxy. Then, Ahsoka is distracted by tracking the bounty hunter who has her lightsaber; in the context of this episode (which asks, ‘who should be allowed to use a lightsaber, and when?’), Ahsoka’s lightsaber also comes to represent Jedi’s efforts to fight the Clone Wars as ethically as possible. It presumably takes more time and effort to fight a war when you’re concerned with morals, at least when the opposition is perfectly happy to commit war crimes.   By tossing the Jedi into a war, Palpatine keeps them too busy to systemically search for the Master Sith (in addition to Sith stuff diminishing the Jedi’s ability to use the force), as their time is eaten up by upholding the equivalent of the Geneva and Hague Conventions (etc.) when almost no one else is, by protecting as many other lives as possible, and by staying alive.

And The Clone Wars communicates all of this in a minute! Though I’ll admit my final point about Ahsoka’s lightsaber representing ethical combat is a stretch. I love it when TV shows and movies make full use of visual storytelling, and The Clone Wars is fabulous at it.

Whew—and that’s that! I’m grateful if even a single person has read this far and would love to know what you think, but regardless, I had fun analyzing this episode and organizing my thoughts about it. Cheers to the Clone Wars fandom.

[yzy-dragon]

I absolutely ADORED S2E9 "Three Stories" of Link Click and was a bit surprised to see the discontent here on Tumblr, and I totally understand the reasons why people didn't like it, especially in the context of the pacing of the rest of S2 (which I also have some opinions on but I won't talk about that here), but I also felt the need to just get my heart out why I love it so much. A bit of background, I'm Chinese American but have lived in and visited China numerous times.

Music and theater. As a western classical musician and an amateur Chinese opera singer enthusiast (I saw someone else post about the possible inspo this episode got from Chinese opera), I VIBED with the artistic direction of this episode SO much. The three-part structure was almost like a sonata/symphony (and remember that one scene where Qian Jin was air-conducting in a previous episode!!) or scene changes in a Chinese opera. Nothing needs to be said about the animation style that hasn't been said already, but I like how scenes from the three individual "stories" were interwoven and reused like leitmotifs. Especially that crazy, tortured laughter. Idk if any of the parallels were intentional on the part of the director, but it's what I got from it due to my personal experiences. I know that's a highly subjective takeaway though, which brings me to my next point....

Qian Jin's "tragic" backstory. I know a lot of people were upset that the extent of Qian Jin's tragic backstory was "oh his wife cheated on him", but I think the "basicness" of his struggles was the whole point (by the way, this segment displayed various attitudes towards work, family, marriage, individual pride, and life in mainland China so subtly but so well!). I also don't think sympathy was the main thing we were supposed to feel for him, although of course there is some. The whole "tragicomedy" aspect of Qian Jin's story is that it's not some horrible, terrible, rare thing that happened to him, but a common problem faced by so many hardworking but busy married men trying to provide for their families: infidelity. But Qian Jin sees himself as the main character of an elaborate play that rivals the great dramatic classics (which, funnily enough, often depicted very DRAMATIZED versions of a rather basic series of events). And his viewpoint is validated when....

Qian Jin meets the twins. That segment is still largely from Qian Jin's perspective, because we still don't really know how LTC and LTX even feel about him. But for Qian Jin, it's a stroke of fate and fortune that could only possibly happen in theater. He's very far removed from reality at this point. Reality is that a cop whose job it is to investigate violent crime comes across two kids who are the victims of a violent crime. Again, nothing particularly special or even coincidential. It's comical like that.

The fairy tale section.  Unlike the first two, I think this segment is from Xixi’s perspective, which not only justifies the cartoony artstyle but also makes it heartbreaking, due to her childlike innocence.  Like Qian Jin, she also perceives her reality as something it’s not, but unlike him, she doesn’t have delusions of grandeur of being a tragic protagonist.  It’s just a little fox trying to survive in a forest full of predators and hunters.  

All that tortured laughter. I’ve actually noticed in a lot of Chinese media that they like to use laughter as a way of signifying a person’s complete mental breakdown due to the tragedies they’ve suffered.  It’s a very internal thing that has people on the outside going, “WTF?”  In this episode we have a lot of characters crazily laughing together at the same time and it seems like they’re relating to each other, but in reality they’re all trapped in their own nightmarish hells and motivated by selfish purposes. 

Back to the topic of Qian Jin, even though he (innaccurately) may see himself as the hero of his own story, it's not enough for him. He wants to use Cheng Xiaoshi to change the past. He wants to become the director of the play.

I know a lot of people were disappointed this episode didn't advance the plot, especially in regard to Cheng Xioashi and Lu Guang's storylines, but I was actually prepared for a backstory episode and couldn't have been more satisfied. Again, I have other opinions on the rest of S2 but at least standalone, I think this episode was nearly perfect. And I really wasn't expecting this, but it's really elevated Qian Jin to one of my top characters.

[skyward-floored]

Discussion (Incredibles au)

The scene after the dinner scene :) going to try and post a few more movie scenes before October, we’ll see how I do.

Dinner scene (prev)

ao3 link

————————————————————

The moon was full, the night was young, and Time and Warriors were nowhere near the bowling alley.

Time reached over and swiped the cup Warriors had brought with him, taking a sip of the warm coffee inside as he listened to his brother talk. A fond smile formed on his face as Warriors waved his arms dramatically— his brother was getting rather into it.

“...so Volga has me cornered, right? I’m in big trouble, it’s like a million degrees in there, and one blast of his dragon breath and I’m barbeque. Somehow I managed to find cover, and then what does the great and terrible Dragon Knight do?”

“He starts monologuing,” Time said with an amused shake of his head.

Warriors threw a hand up. “He starts monologuing! He always did it! He starts this whole prepared speech about how ignoble I am hiding from him like a coward, and how I should duel him properly. And then he goes off about how when I do come out my defeat was inevitable, how I was a feeble weakling, how the world will soon be his! It’s the same speech every time.”

Time nodded. “Yammering.”

“Yammering! I mean he’d been after me for ages at that point, and when he finally had me, he wouldn’t shut up.”

The two brothers were seated in Warriors’ car, parked on a street corner on the opposite side of town from the bowling alley. Time was in the driver’s seat, having offered to drive, while Warriors waxed the tale of his great battle against the self proclaimed Dragon Knight Volga.

Time chuckled and shook his head at Warriors’ complaining. “Seems you’re just destined to have mouthy villains, Cryonis.”

“I know right? I don’t think I’ve fought a single villain that just shut up and attacked me,” he grumbled.

“Perhaps they felt as if they needed to fill the silence,” Time teased, and Warriors rolled his eyes.

“I wasn’t that quiet by the time I started hero work. I really do think I just got all the blabby villains. How come you got all the quiet ones anyway? I don’t think I ever heard Morpha say anything at all.”

Time opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the sound of the car’s radio crackling to life. Warriors perked up.

“Castletown, we have a 23-56...”

“23-56, what is that? Robbery?” Warriors muttered as he leaned in, and Time shook his head.

“Warriors, this is just sad.”

“Yeah, it’s a robbery. You want to catch a robber?” Warriors asked him with a winning smile, and Time let out a heavy sigh.

“Not particularly. To tell you the truth, I think I’d rather go bowling. Remember when we used to actually go bowling?” he said, leaning back in his seat. “Warriors, what if for once we actually did what our wives think we’re doing? Just to shake things up a bit?” he said with a raised eyebrow, and Warriors grinned.

Neither of them noticed the car parked across the street, nor the woman seated inside who was silently watching them.

“He’s not alone,” she murmured into her headset, gaze never leaving the man in the driver’s seat. “No, the big guy is still with him, they’re just... talking.”

Back in Warriors’s car, unaware of their observer, Time sighed as Warriors adjusted the radio, an uncomfortable feeling settling in his chest.

“What are we doing here, Wars?” Time asked, giving his brother a pleading look, and Warriors leaned back and firmly met his eye.

“Protecting people,” he said, crossing his arms.

“Nobody asked us.”

“You need an invitation?”

Time sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. “I would like one, yes. We keep sneaking out to do this Warriors, and I admit that it’s good to help people. But we just stop a few low-level thugs, barely make a difference, and then go back to being...”

He trailed off, and looked at the dashboard.

“You know Sky had trouble adjusting to civilian life too,” he said quietly, and the teasing light in Warriors’ eyes went out.

He was silent for a minute. “I know. A lot of us did. Do.”

Time hesitated.

Sky’s disappearance was still a deep wound for the both of them, their brother mysteriously gone missing over a year ago. The police had given up the search, and Time had largely given up hope, but Warriors still held on to hope he was still alive. But any mention of Sky was... difficult.

He needed to tread carefully.

“Look, Warriors... Sky wanted to do the same things you do, we do, wanted to keep helping people even though it wasn’t allowed, but...” Time looked down at the floor. “...look at where it got him. We still don’t know what happened, and I don’t want something to happen to you too. Not over something like this.”

Warriors stayed silent, and Time looked up and met his eyes.

“And Sky might not be the only one either. You remember Darmani, right?”

“Yeah, big guy, fire powers,” Warriors said thoughtfully. “...He had trouble adjusting at first too, I remember that.”

Time’s mind flickered back to the newspaper article he’d seen earlier, and he frowned. “When was the last time you saw him?”

Warriors shook his head. “I don’t see anyone else from back then, Time. Just you, the girls, and... and Sky,” he finished quietly.

“And we’re certainly pushing our luck,” Time murmured, and Warriors frowned at him.

“Aw, come on,” he urged, looking brighter, “with an attitude like that I’m going to keep calling you old man. Yes there’s risks, but we’re helping people here, Time! It’s better than sitting at home and watching the crime rate go up.”

“Warriors...”

“It’s good work! It makes a difference! It’s better than anything I’ve done as a mail carrier, that’s for sure. Besides... being out here is the only way we’ll ever know what happened to Sky,” he continued more seriously, then smiled. “And it’s fun using our powers! Doesn’t it feel good to be out here and be useful again?”

Time frowned. He didn’t like the direction this conversation was taking. “Warriors look, it was fun the first couple times, but if we keep doing this, we’re going to get cau—”

“We have a report on a fire...”

The two stopped talking and swung their attention to the radio for a couple seconds, listening to the dispatcher outline the specifics of the blaze.

“A fire. We’re close!” Warriors exclaimed, a grin pulling his cheeks as he heard the address.

Time sighed, though he started the car anyways at Warriors’ prompting. He could never resist the call to help people. Especially when he and Warriors were currently closer than any police or fire personnel. “We’re going to get caught...”

Warriors ignored him. “Yes!”

Time pulled off the street corner, rolling his eyes with a faint smile while Warriors pumped his fist in the passenger seat.

The woman in the car watched them leave, and silently started her car and followed after.

[indierpgnewsletter]

Every Game I Played in 2024 (So Far)

It’s time for one of my favourite posts to write every year. Here is every game I’ve played in the first half of 2024:

Series

Fathoms Deep (as GM): Let’s get my own game out of the way first: I’ve ran about 11 playtest sessions of Fathoms Deep, a game about a community of salvagers aboard a living ship in a flooded world. The game is my big project. If I was studying game design, this would be my masters’ thesis. It’s got a lot of parts – action-packed underwater dives using my flavour of card-based Forged in the Dark, a cool map where you move your ship around, downtime scenes, campaign arcs based on survival, hope and salvation, etc. There’s a lot of tinkering left to do and I am in no hurry to finish because, deep breath, it’s about the journey! Like in the game!

Pasion de la Pasiones (as GM): We took the spanish telenovela game and set it in a X-men-like school. Sadly we didn’t get to play past the first couple sessions but it’s a slam dunk concept and a great game. My game of the year for 2023 if I remember correctly!

The Wildsea (as GM): This was the big campaign that marked the first half of the year in my (online) home game. It has a lot of overlap with my own game, Fathoms Deep – both are pirate-games-without-pirates. But Wildsea has a very different tone – it’s optimistic high fantasy in the vein of some of the best D&D 5e games I’ve played. I would easily recommend it as a game for people who are playing 5e and want something to easily switch to. The world and setting is lovely – a solid thematic core garnished with a variety of fun ideas, great flavour, and lots of stunning, evocative art. I had so much fun playing zany characters to match the vibe of the zany world. The system isn’t my cup of tea for a variety of complicated reasons but this is a fantastic achievement, especially since it was the designer’s first game afaik!

Rich Kid Problems: Last year, I played Capitalites by Sam Mui and this year, we returned to that classic genre of rich people behaving badly with this game by Maria Mison. It’s a light storygame – improv heavy but good fun.

Last Fleet (as GM): We’re one month into this Battlestar Galatica-inspired game by Josh Fox. It’s far future space opera with humanity on the edge of extinction – all inter-personal politics and feelings in the face of almost certain doom. I love this game already. It meshes perfectly with my directorial GM style and helps me serve up some fantastic moments. It feels like every session, I am throwing some impossible decision or loyalty-threatening revelation at my players who pick up the ball and run with the ball unflinchingly. It definitely helps to think about it as prestige TV and frame scenes using that language – lots of walking and talking in corridors, that sort of thing. The characters aren’t on the same side, there aren’t missions – just agendas and obstacles. Will write about some of the cool design stuff going on when the campaign is done.

One Shots

Okay, got to rush through these!

This Ship Is No Mother (as GM): I ran 4 great games of my little lets-make-Mothership-a-storygame game. These were mostly at online cons or things like that. I love playing this game.

Wizards Grimoire and Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands: Getting to play two games from the Bakers was a real treat. Wizard’s Grimoire is the start of a series of games that flip the GM-player relationship in great ways. You should check it out. Firebrands is a game of daring mech pilots told in dramatic vignettes where the less you force a narrative, the better!

Steal away Jordan and Tales of a Fisherman’s Wife: These are two games from designer, Julia Ellingboe. I think Steal Away Jordan is my favourite of the two. Even as you wrestle with the discomfort (if you’re not Black) of playing Black slaves in the American south, it’s still a game about being heroes with a lot of delight and joy at the heart of it! Fisherman’s Wife is a game of Japanese ghost stories with tentacle porn on the cover. I’m not sure what else to say!

Navathem’s End (as GM): This game by Pam Punzalan and Sin Posadas fits well with Wildsea on this list because it feels like an alternate take on the genre that is D&D 5e. It’s that light-hearted brand of heroic fantasy but with a different ethos – less colonial, more grounded in community.

Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast: A book which is probably as fun to read as play. You probably have heard about it enough but if not, go listen to the Yes Indie’d episode about it.

After the Mind, the World Again: This is a Disco Elysium inspired game where there’s one player and four GMs who play facets of a detective’s mind. It’s not really a one shot game – definitely takes 4 hours or more but we rushed the ending and got somewhere. Also, free!

City of Mist (as player): I always joke about wanting to read this game but bailing as soon I as open the PDF to see that it has more than 500 pages. The new version has cut half of the system out so maybe I had a point.

The Hunted (as player): This is a slick one-shot game – Forged in the Dark folk horror in the vein of Blair Witch Project and the like. Easy to play and run, would do again.

Swords without Master (as GM): This game should’ve inspired a whole design lineage. The text is a bit tricky to parse but if you get a chance to play this, you should take it!

Damn the Man, Save the Music: If you like Empire Records and don’t mind doing some improv, this game is great.

Cloud Empress (as player): The giant psychic cicadas are a great linchpin for a setting. If you play the game, head straight for them.

There was a bit more here and there. I already wrote about playing older games like Metamorphosis Alpha, Bunnies & Burrows and Dallas RPG on here. There was also a lot of playtesting including a very fun session of Protect the Child by Mint about a found family of monsters looking after a child a la Monsters Inc. Overall, another very satisfying half-year.

[myloveismineallmine]

Sydcarmy & Beauty and The Beast

So, The Bear is a story with many themes and messages in it. The process of creating a story a lot times is just frankenstein-ing other stories and elements you like plus your owned lived experience.

I don't really remember how I started thinking about it, I do remember it was like 3am so that definitely has something to do with it, but I started thinking about Beauty and The Beast. And then I started comparing certain elements of it with The Bear. And then I started reading the Wikipedia page for Beauty and The Beast. And then I looked at the clock and it was like 4am so I was like okay, I should sleep now actually.

I did notice a lot of interesting similarities between the two, so I wanted to compare some of them in this post here. I think it's a really interesting lens to look at the story of The Bear from.

Chapter 1: The Beast

So, while it would be cool to do some kind of role reversal with the two romantic leads, this story does not do that, and the obvious parallel for Carmy is The Beast.

Rundown of The Beast's character traits, via wikipedia:

"In the original tale, the Beast is seen to be kind-hearted for the most part, and gentleman-like, with only an occasional tendency to be hot-tempered. Disney's interpretation of the Beast made him more constantly angry and depressed, due to the shame from his unkind actions which led to his transformation, and particularly his struggle of reconciling his hideous appearance with his inner humanity which made him feel hopeless about breaking the curse. Supervising animator Glen Keane describes The Beast as "a twenty-one-year-old guy who's insecure, wants to be loved, wants to love, but has this ugly exterior and has to overcome this." Upon his reform under his love interest Belle, his personality changes to refined and more even-tempered, while naive about the world at the same time."

Obviously this isn't to shame JAW's appearance, he's a pretty attractive dude, I'm looking more at the personality traits here.

The Disney version of him is way more unhinged and animal-like, which I'm not sure perfectly fits Carmy, but I feel like the insecurity, anger and depression is pretty accurate.

I don't think the "beast" element is entirely irrelevant, however. Let's think about what the namesake of the show is: The Bear. In reference, or course, to the main family having the last name Berzatto. They do also refer to each other as "Bear."

It's Cousin Michelle who makes the connection between the Berzattos and literal bears:

When she mentions this quote someone had said to her.

Stevie likens the Berzattos to bears later on in this episode:

It's pretty clear that the Berzattos = bears. Aggressive, but also kind and emphatic.

I also want to talk about the very first scene of The Bear:

Carmy is letting the bear out of it's cage, walking slowly towards it. He says "I know" to the bear, trying to calm it, or maybe trying to empathize with it. The bear growls and attacks him, and he wakes up from the nightmare.

It's clear that the caged bear represents something in Carmy. His rage, his stress, his grief. And he can't control it, it escapes and it consumes him.

Backstory of The Beast, extremely paraphrased:

Disney version: A prince is spoiled, cold-hearted and extremely selfish. He's transformed into a hideous beast as punishment, and told he won't transform back unless he earns the love a beautiful young woman.

Fairytale version: The prince's father died before he was born, and his bio mother leaves him in the care of an evil fairy godmother. Things get weird and incesty, this was the 1700s ig, the godmother tries to seduce the prince when he's an adult. He rejects her and she curses him to become a beast and says the curse won't be broken until he receives a maiden's act of true love. There's then a lot of really irrelevant fairy-lore and other stuff that I don't really want or need to get into.

I feel like evil mother figure one might be more accurate? Especially because Donna's one of the people who gave him so much trauma that he still carries with him? Generational trauma and addiction is "a curse" in a way.

Chapter 2: The Beauty

So it's very clearly Sydney.

Beauty in the OG fairytale doesn't have a super interesting personality outside of "pretty, caring and kind." so I think we'll look more at the Disney version here:

"While the studio wanted Beauty and the Beast to resemble an old-fashioned film, the writers envisioned Belle as "a woman that was ahead of her time"."

"...  the screenwriter conceived Belle as a headstrong feminist to avoid creating another "insipid" Disney princess."

"Beauty and the Beast's story department was predominantly male. Woolverton often argued with the more traditional story artists over Belle's role and personality, but continued to be supported by Katzenberg and lyricist Howard Ashman, the latter of whom also lobbied for "a thinker and a reader" who "wasn't a victim"."

So, Belle was basically a strong and independent woman for Disney at the time. I wanna hone in more on these character traits they mention specifically.

Sydney is very intelligent, even an overthinker at times. She literally shows up to, like, week 2 of work with a full book written on how the business can be improved.

We know she's a reader. Not only from the coach K book, she also mentions lending Marcus books at some point.

I also think Sydney fits the "not a victim" criteria. Sydney is shown pretty consistently to stand up for herself and fight back in situations.

On Beauty's backstory:

In every version of The Beauty and The Beast, Beauty's a daughter to a widower (much like Sydney is.) Beauty has many siblings, most notably her evil older sisters. They are omitted from the Disney version, and Belle is an only child.

In the Disney version, Belle is well known for her beauty, but looked down upon for not conforming to more traditional feminine roles.

Being a headstrong woman of color in the very white and male dominated world of fine dining, I can see how she fits this.

Her father has doubts about her career as a chef, she has had bad experience with chefs in leadership positions before, and the crew of The Beef really looks down on her at the beginning of the series.

Chapter 3: Beauty and The Beast

So now let's talk about the actual relationship of the Beauty and The Beast.

Belle/Beauty is lured into The Beast's castle because her father is being held captive inside. And interestingly....

Sydney references her father as the reason for why she applies for The Beef.

In the fairytale, The Beast is immediately smitten with Beauty and asks her to marry him every day. That would be a very obvious HR violation in The Bear, so I think it might be better to look at the Disney version of this story.

So in the Disney version, The Beast is more annoyed that Belle and her father showed up at all, but he does know she's a pretty woman and allows the release of her father so she will be his prisoner instead.

Their relationship is pretty bad at first, like you'd expect a captor and prisoner relationship to be, but he does allow her a nice lavish room. He orders her to have dinner with him, and she refuses to leave her room to protest against him.

Carmy and Sydney were friendly at first meeting, but after The Stock Incident, their cracks really start to show. It's when Sydney really stands her ground and argues back at him. This is not the end of the arguments and tension between them.

Belle and the Beast end up getting in a fight when Belle snoops around his room. He yells at her more loudly this time, and Belle flees the castle on horseback. She gets attacked by a pack of wolves and The Beast saves her. She takes him back to the castle and nurses his wounds.

This to me matches with the final fight Sydney and Carmy have in season 1. Carmy displays the worst of his anger, and it causes Sydney to want to wipe her hands with him completely. She grabs her stuff and leaves, telling him she's quitting.

She comes back when he apologizes to her, and they have a real bonding moment when they decide to open a restaurant together.

The Beast and Belle start to have a better relationship after The Beast heals. They become more friendly, The Beast more docile, and they're both really happy for the first time in the film. There's a scene where The Beast shows Belle the castle library and tells her it's hers.

I think the equivalent would be seeing Carmy and Sydney plan the menu together. In those scenes they seem less like co-workers and more like friends. You can also tell it's one of the few things they get actual real enjoyment doing.

I think the main parallel I see for this relationship is how Carmy and Sydney improve each other. Like with Belle and The Beast, you can actually see Carmy learn how to better handle conflict and communicate more efficiently when he's placed with Sydney.

He's more vulnerable. He apologizes more. He's able to better control his temper.

There's two very concrete examples of Sydney being able to help stabilize his emotions, actually.

Sydney is quite literally "taming the beast" in Carmy. Cognitive behavioral therapy would also achieve that, but Carmy is too much of a workaholic to attend a session, so Sydney will have to do for now. They didn't have CBT in 1700s France, either, unfortunately.

I will also say that this isn't a 90 minute Disney movie, so the slow-burn will be slow-buring for awhile until we get to the actual conclusion of the fairytale.

Chapter 4: Gaston

so I have two characters in mind for this role: Richie and Marcus. But def more heavy on Richie than Marcus.

Gaston is a villain made exclusively for the Disney movie. Here's some description for him:

"In direct contrast to his adversary the Beast, Gaston is depicted as physically handsome with an unattractive personality, both physically and emotionally embodying hypermasculinity. "

"Gaston has been generally positively received by film critics, as his lack of "magic power or political influence" means that his villainy tends to resonate with audiences who often identify someone similar to him in real life, although critics regard him as a less memorable villain than some of the studio's previous efforts."

"The Huffington Post described early drafts of Gaston as "a weaselly, sort of wimpy character." In fact, Gaston was originally intended to resemble more of an annoying than antagonistic character,"

So I think Richie kind of fits the "hypermasculinity" thing, in terms of some of his mindset and sexist behaviors.

Richie, for at least the first season, really looks down on fine dining as a concept. He makes fun of Carmy and Syd for their background in it and makes snide comments about it whenever possible.

Gaston also looks down on Belle for liking books, and encourages her to live a more "simple" life with him instead.

Here's a really interesting parallel I found with these two:

Making fun of the main character's book and then throwing it away? In the intro of the story? Very interesting.....

As far as the similarity with Marcus: it begins and ends with Marcus and Gaston both having unrequited feelings for the main female protagonist.

Other than that, Richie is way more Gaston coded in the grand scheme of things. Just not as evil. I feel like he gives first-draft Gaston with being "More annoying than antagonistic."

Chapter 5: What about Claire?

I see Claire fitting into this as almost like a faux-Belle. The love interest that's supposed to "fix" the main protagonist, but something doesn't work.

Again, there's two scenes I wanna look at specifically to showcase this:

This reaction shot of Carmy. This is the last shot of the sex scene, and there are some other previous shots of the sex scene overlaying this at times. But I've been wanting to do a deep dive into it for awhile-- why have this shot? What's the purpose of it?

I think that this shot clearly tells us that Carmy is either pensive and/or dissatisfied with what has happened. Laying with his eyes open and just staring at the wall, deep in thought, possibly regretful. This isn't the expression a man who's just had sex with a pretty woman usually has. This is one of many clues that this relationship isn't something that he really wants or enjoys.

Aaaand, the panic attack scene again. If Claire was his "true love", she would be able to quell his anxiety and panic, if this whole "beauty and the beast" story arc I'm putting together is to be believed.

Claire is the perfect girl. She's pretty, smart, talented. His family loves her. She loves him. But she does nothing to fix his problems. Because it's not true love.

Carmy not being happy at the thought of Claire vs Carmy cracking a smile because he looks at containers of radichio + fennel, ingredients Sydney cooked him once.

It is ABUNDANTLY clear that his feelings for Syd help his mental state in ways his feelings for Claire do not. Because what he feels for Sydney is closer to true love.

Conclusion:

Am I saying Christopher Storer took the plot beats and characters 1 for 1 from Beauty and The Beast? No, obviously not. Am I saying that maybe he sat down one day and this movie was on and he was like "hey maybe i can do something with this"? Possibly!

This is just speculation at the end of the day, but I really loved looking at all the possible connections between these two things. Tell me your thoughts on all of this: cool interpretation or am I just talking out of my ass?

[the-real-couchrat]

@biplet JUST RELEASED A NEW CHAPTER (OF PORTAL FANTASY)AND I DIDN’T NOTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT

(I don’t have an AO3 account so I’ll just put my thoughts here)

AAAUUUUGGGHHHH THAT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!!!

I DID NOT EXPECT FOR FORD TO BE DEAD. Uugghhh that’s so sad (but so good for angst) this comment said it perfectly:

I was expecting to have a scene similar to that one edgy comic from a few years ago (where Ford shoots Dipper dead on arrival bc he thinks he’s posses by bill) but this was AMAZING (also the comic was called You Missed or something Ike that. While I couldn’t find the original post on Tumblr, I found this comic dub on YouTube, and it credits a Tumblr blog called boomsheikas-art-blog )

Stan’s going to have a lot of explaining to do to Dipper (after he missed the whole Tale of Two Stans speech) and I wonder if we’re going to learn more about Mickey?

I don’t think Soos knows yet, how will he react? Will he just go to work one day and have everyone acting weirdly like grieving, and a random man in a magician costume claiming he’s been there for a month? Honestly he’d probably be totally normal about it.(as far as I know, I haven’t watched the show in a while)

Oooh he’s wearing gloves! YESSSSS I LOVE THE IDEA THAT HE HAS TO DRESS DIFFERENTLY TO HIDE HIS CHANGES

Also I really like how you literally gave him a voice in his head who refers to them as “us” rather than “me”, implying that they’re separate from his normal thoughts. Is it the demon-ness that he’s tried to repress until it manifested as a voice in his head? Either way it’s awesome.

Wendy seeing auras? Now THATS cool!! Uuggh I can imagine that reminding dipper of Willow (like in chapter 9) and making him sad again ☹️☹️ also a screenshot of the scene im talking abt bc I want to be able to find it again

(It also has another one of Dipper’s mind voice 🙂)

Ah yes, the good old deer scene:) this is from chapter 7 but I love it so much I just wanted to bring attention to it. Also I can’t remember what it was but I think it was implied that he did this multiple times? Anyway badass creepy possessed child goes hard.

I hope your husband is doing well, (and congrats on your marriage!!) also congratulations on your new job! Don’t let yourself feel pressured to work on this, take care of yourself and your loved ones! (Besides, quality is always better when the creator enjoys what they’re doing)

[noemitenshi]

You're not really my type~

A Daniel Sharman x OC fic (more or less written for kinktober)

Summary: After a chance meeting (two, actually), Daniel becomes interested in Ally – from the looks of it a sweet and thoughful girl, though not afraid to go after what she wants, even if it may offend. However, she may be more than he bargained for.

Author’s note: I, unfortunately, don’t have the bandwidth to truly participate in kinktober this year (since I’ve got about a billion other projects to juggle (and yes, this is me still starting something new, shut up)). But since this kinky idead popped into my head not too long ago I thought it would be fun to try and get as much of it done in October, as a kind of ‘kinktober adjacent’ work. Rpf isn’t normally my cup of tea… but I guess this is a case of never say never. Can’t promise that every entry will be as detailed as this one, I had originally just planned on doing a summary type post with maybe some more detailed scenes slotted in here and there… we’ll see.

Chapter 1

Ally watched her sister’s drawn, miserable expression unhappily. Her and Bob had just broken up – Ally had known it was coming. In fact, everyone had known except for Liz herself. And though Ally was glad to see him finally go (in her opinion he was a selfish, childish man not above taking advantage of her sister’s good (though sometimes naive) heart. The very heart he’d broken in the process – and that thought made Ally simultaneously angry and sad.

Therefore she’d invited Liz along, into her favorite café, hoping that being outside, listening to Ally’s work tales would …well maybe not cheer her up but at least stop her thinking about Bob for a hot second. And Ally had really tried everything to take Liz’s mind of what was tormenting her. And so far she’d failed spectacularly on all fronts.

Liz hadn’t even touched her hot chocolate, her favorite drink. Ally was at her wit’s end. She tried to remember another funny story she could share so that Liz could stop thinking about stupid Bob for a moment – but she’d already shared her best ones (and honestly, the thing she really wanted to do was put all her frustration that had been piling up for months about Bob into words but just now wasn’t the time for it...)

The silence stretched between them almost uncomfortably long. Then her sister’s face transformed, her drawn eyebrows relaxing, her head lifted… She’d seen something that had caught her focus. Oh god, please don’t let it be Bob, appearing all of a sudden in that café!

Trepidatiously Ally followed her sister’s gaze… and breathed a sigh of relief. No sign of that asshole after all!

But then… what had captured Liz’s attention like that. Or should she say who? There was a guy standing at the counter, trying to decide what coffee to get, from the looks of it. Slender and tall, slight curly, dark hair… She stared for a moment, the uncanny feeling that she’d seen him before suddenly coming over her.

A quick glance back at Liz’s face told her her sister was enthralled. And slowly it dawned on Ally who that was.

“Isn’t that… that actor you like so much?”

“Ssh!” Her sister shushed her without sparing her so much as a glance, though a slight blush colored her cheeks, “Not so loud, he’ll hear…”

Ally looked at the guy again who seemed happily oblivious to their conversation, She doubted he could hear them.

“Wanna go talk to him?” she asked, glad her sister wasn’t in that pit of despair anymore,

“What? No! That’s embarrassing…”

“Just a quick ‘hi’? You’ll be hardly the first person to approach him…”

Liz shook her head, her gaze still glued to him. Ally looked back at him, too (and yes, she could see why her sister was so into him; he was fairly attractive). It seemed he had finally decided on what to get and was in the process of paying. About to walk out in a moment and then Liz would be back to pining over Bob… Ally made a split-second decision, standing abruptly and with a decisive “come!” at her sister, she walked towards him… what was his name? David… no. Daniel. Daniel… something.

“Hi!” She greeted him with her best customer service smile, her sweetest ‘let me help you’ voice. “Are you Daniel—” unfortunately his last name still evaded her “—the actor?” Her smile didn’t lose its radiance despite her faux pax.

Daniel (if indeed that was his name) just blinked at her and she felt compelled to add as clarification, “From that werewolf show?”

“...Teen wolf?” He sounded somewhat uneasy. She didn’t let that stop her, she was a woman on a mission after all.

“Yes!” Thus clarified, she got to her request, “I’m sorry to bother you but… would you maybe consider taking a quick picture with my sister Liz”—she glanced around just to see that Liz hadn’t moved from their table, had her face buried in her hands. Typical—“Liz come over here! Liz is a big fan of yours! And she just got through a horrific breakup today. I’ve been trying to cheer her up but no luck so far. It would really mean a lot to her if you’d give her just a few moments of your time. So today won’t be the day her heart got broken but the day she met you…?”

She tried her best soulful look on him, big brown eyes gazing up into startling blue ones – while she gestured for Liz to get over here, now!)

Daniel looked at a loss for words.

“You wouldn’t want to be responsible for her having a bad day, right?” Ally added conspiratorial, an attempt to joke that fell flat judging by Daniel’s still blank look.

But then his own blinding (though also fake) smile broke out.

“Sure. Wouldn’t want that.”

Mission accomplished.

As her sister stood awkwardly besides her favorite actor (and finally, finally flashed a real smile), Ally snapped several pictures in short succession. Liz then stammered her thanks. Blushed, when Daniel told her to “forget him, yeah?” before she hurried back to their table.

“Thanks,” Ally told him, the first earnest thing she’d said to him, “You really made her day.”

A wry smile curved his lips upwards. The first earnest thing he’d given her.

*

Some days later Liz asked her sister to accopmany her to a bar. Her newfound sense of adventure probably fueled by her meeting with Daniel (a complete success thanks to Ally, even if she had been a bit pushy about it). Of course Ally agreed to go with Liz – she’d wholeheartedly agree to anything if that meant her sister got over Bob sooner.

And so she found herself sitting in a bar, nursing her drink on her own while she watched Liz dance with no less than three gentleman. Whatever helps her get over it, Ally thought benevolently.

“Hey.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw that someone had approached her table, greeting her now. She half-expected it to be some dude wanting to buy her a drink and so she turned, prepared to turn him down.

It was some dude, alright, but one she knew. The same wry smile playing on his lips as the last time she’d seen him.

“Hey!” she greeted back, in her surprise adding too much enthusiasm. Daniel gestured with his half-full drink to the empty chair besides her, asking to sit and she nodded.

“How’s your sister?” He leaned in for the question so she could better hear him over the music. That way she could see the boyish look on his face all the clearer. Oh – he expected Liz to be better after meeting him? That confidence was kinda cute (and it wasn’t like he was wrong there).

“Look for yourself.” She nodded towards the dancefloor.

“Got over him then?” Daniel said, more a statement than a question, a certain satisfaction in his tone.

“Definitely in the process of,” she countered. No, Liz wasn’t over Bob yet but tonight was a good sign.

“And what about you?” Daniel asked, “Dancing not your thing?”

She shook her head, her long curls swaying with the movement.

“No, I love dancing. But tonight I’m… the chaperone.”

“Chaperone!?” He laughed a little, making him look boyish again. For a moment she wasn’t sure if he was laughing at her.

“Making sure she doesn’t get her heart broken so soon again… what about you? All alone here?”

Oh, that sounded way more like a come-on than she’d intended.

“Uh, I wasn’t…” he started saying, his hand moving in a throwaway gesture “but, you know… pretty girls seemed to be a more enticing company than me…”

Ally’s mouth formed a little ‘oh’ of understanding.

“And you didn’t… want to join?”

“Ah, well… that is… no.” All the while he was talking his hand had gone to his chin, moving restlessly along his jaw, his cheek.

Oh. She nodded her head in understanding.

“No! I, I like girls! I do!” He was quick to assure her and she couldn’t help herself but laugh a little at him. “Just… not what I was looking for today.”

“What were you looking for?”

“A night out with friends.”

“Aw, I’m sorry—Oh! Is that why you came over here? Did you think you and I…” she gestured between them but before she had finished her question he shrugged, somewhat awkwardly and tried a grin. It seemed more embarrassed than genuine. So yes, he had thought they’d been in the same position. “Sorry to disappoint but my solitude is self-imposed,” she told him, her gaze going to Liz. He followed it and then, when she was looking at him again, he told her,

“You’re a good sister.”

He seemed to really mean it, she noted, pleased.

“Why thank you!” she beamed. That wry smile lit his face again.

“You know I…” his hand had gone to his face again and as he broke off it went over his mouth. He didn’t seem to want to say. It only made her want to know more.

“What?”

“Ah, no, I…” again he broke off, not having taken his hand off his face yet.

“What?” she asked again with more emphasis. He shook his head, dropping his hand.

“Oh, come on. Now you gotta tell me!”

“Well…” he did a helpless grin before his hand was back on his chin again. “I thought you were… quite rude the other day.” His gaze had jumped around restlessly while he talked but her sudden laughter had him look at her again.

“I was!” she agreed readily, “I know I was… but you saved the day! You truly did. Thank you.”

He watched her bemusedly and then nodded.

“I honestly wouldn’t have done it if you’d asked like that for yourself…” he told her and then after a slight hesitation he added, “Uhm, actually, I uh, I kinda expected you to still jump in and want a picture with me anyway…”

She blinked at the awkward way he looked at her before another bout of laughter burst out from her, bashful, this time. It was nice to hear him talk honestly (even though he hadn’t thought too kindly about her – or maybe because of it).

“So I made a real good first impression, huh?” she asked, still giggling.

He swayed his head.

“There… have been better once…” he said as if he was confiding some great secret to her.

“And yet, you’re still here,” she pointed out, slyly.

“And yet… I’m here. Futily trying to bond over being abandoned by those closest to us.”

She laughed again.

It continued like that, slight teasing and at some points even some flirting. He was smooth though that awkwardness she’d already seen in him glimpsed through now and again. It was fun, though and passed the time well enough.

They even discovered they had a shared passion – art. “You’ve got me at a disadvantage,” he’d said, “I don’t even know what you do.” And so she had told him about the art supply store she’d opened just months ago. How before she’d worked in a B2B and how it had sucked the life out of her. How she prefered what she did now to it even though it was harder to get by. But helping her customers realize their visions, the connections she made, that really made it worth it.

That was when he had told her that he loved to paint. Confiding, it had felt like. And the conversation had remained on that subject for quite some time, his drink long empty when he finally started to say his goodbyes.

Then he hesitated for a second before asking,

“Listen. Would you… consider giving me your number?”

She looked at him, startled. Sure, they had been flirting throughout the night – but for her it had just been a way to pass the time. Nothing more.

“I’m sorry,” she said, feeling bad about it. It hadn’t been her intention to give him the wrong impression, “You’re… not really my type.” She tried for a soft tone, a regretful tone.

“How can you tell? We don’t really know one another yet.”

“Oh, I can tell.”

He was a sweet guy if somewhat awkward feeling in his skin at points (though that could be endearing, too. Was, endearing, she had to admit). Attractive, yes. She could get lost in his eyes alone, if she let herself. Honest and passionate. And definitely, 100% painfully vanilla.

“We… had fun tonight, didn’t we?” he asked carefully.

“Oh, we did.”

“Then… ” he furrowed his brows as he looked at her closely, as if he could read what the problem was on her face. “...what’s your type?” He settled on asking. It was her now that searched his expression, unsure if she should share that. But he looked so earnest. Pleading almost but not quite and so she beckoned him close, to whisper in his ear,

“My type of boy loves kneeling at my feet, thanking me when I degrade him, wanting me to treat him like nothing but a toy…”

He recoiled and stared at her with wide, wide eyes.

“Not your thing, is it?” she asked, not expecting an answer, “That’s ok. I did enjoy tonight. Thank you for keeping me company.”

He nodded, a bit lost, then shook his head.

“No that’s… my line.”

Poor guy, she might’ve frightened him more than she intended.

“Goodnight, Daniel. No hard feelings, right?”

As she watched him go, she couldn’t help herself but imagine him kneeling at her feet… what a pretty sight that would be. Alas…

[thelioncourts]

I've been real absent online the last couple of months, but I can't miss out on @iwtvfanevents 'a meal to remember' because we are so incredibly blessed with beautifully creative and talented people in this fandom who constantly inspire and allow me to forever-wander in the world of Louis de Pointe du Lac, my most darling and favorite character ❤️ this won't be nearly as organized as I'd like it to be, won't say all I want to say, and I will inevitably miss somebody and/or some fic, but just know that there is so much wonderful content out there, especially by so many of the people on this list that anyone can check out at any point:

twelve days/nine months by @devotiondroid & @weather-mood daniel/louis/armand modern human au quite literally the fic that saved the holiday season for me. when new chapters of 'twelve days' would post, I would drop everything to go read it and would count down the days until the next update was set to happen. 'nine months' is a wip in the same verse and just as stunning. it's no surprise it's amazing; it's toni and it's bri, two people shining with so much talent it's blinding. and their powers combined?? oh my god. (there's also a one-shot in this verse called 'saint valentine' and my brain broke reading it, idk) now, just a list of @devotiondroid fics that changed me as a person: daniel/louis (and a little louis/armand as of now) human au quicksilver/mercury a danlou noir au that I reread a couple of weeks ago just to feel something again and then toni up and posted its prequel 'mercury' and I simply couldn't cope. the noir vibes paired with the gorgeously yearning story is just !!! everything.

daniel/louis modern human au

baby, I'm your man

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WOULD READ 1000000k of this world. the idea of it, the complete ache of this story, has stuck with me, buried somewhere between my ribs, and I'll forget about it for a second then remember and it'll hit me like truck how wonderful it is. toni................m o r e lestat/louis human au my neck, her rope solar plexus hit of a fic. oh, oh the loustat dynamics....it's gorgeous and the concept is !!!!!!!!!! everything to me and now, my list of @weather-mood fics that, when posted, I quite literally become/became a dragon needing to hoard the newfound treasure immediately: armand/louis (armand/louis/REAL RASHID) canon-verse instruction real rashid, my beloved ;;;; no but, honestly, bri has made real rashid so important to me and to loumand, she's why he exists in my first (unfinished) loumand fic 'facio ut facias' because he's just that important. but bri also just always puts into her fics the gorgeous way that loumand are so perfect together, the way they are consumed with one another's existence. armand/louis canon-verse-esque rumpelstiltskin

FAIRY TALE AU. bri is also the inspiration behind my unposted and ongoing fairy tale au because no one does it like her and this one is......oh god, the way armand is the only character that could have ever been in this, the way he fits into louis' life to be this exact character.......don't talk to me lestat/louis; armand/louis; armand/louis/daniel siren au THE ENTIRE PART OF YOUR WORLD (ONCE UPON A WINE DARK SEA) VERSE y'all don't need me to tell you how perfect it all is. I think about it constantly, I've told real life friends about it, it's everything, every single fic of it is everything. lily/lestat pirouette by @weather-mood and @nlbv/@ouizaya

it's so interesting thinking about lestat in those weeks and months of hunting louis, of how he found out things about him from others, how he got lily so involved, how she died because of it all, and the way bri and zaya took all of that and then showed the mental state of lily throughout it all, how much lestat's vampiric control ruined her....................amazing. it's everything.

lestat/louis canon-verse tides by @nlbv/@ouizaya

zaya, my love, she takes some of the sexiest loustat scenes and makes them even sexier before gut-punching you with something insane and devastating and it reminds me so much of the show's writing, the way you'll be like 'look at my family <3' and then suddenly their conversation has gotten dark, the room looks cold, and you wonder how they'll ever truly come back from it......... god shallows by @nlbv/@ouizaya

REPEAT ALL THAT I SAID ABOVE AND THEN SOME. like???? the episode 6 elaboration???????????? oh my god. it's real. it's what happened. we all know it.

roadkill by @nlbv/@ouizaya and baberainbow I think about this fic so often. the car wreck, lestat and claudia being so in-tune with one another hunting because they're the same, the way they're both aware of louis, the way the family works and fits in, the gore and beauty of it. obsessed. TIME TO TALK ABOUT BABE. lestat/louis canon-verse glass the capturing of louis during those earliest vampiric days, paired with lestat's doting as he tried to solidify his wooing, and then just -- everything else, it's all so good.

disruptions that scene in ep 7 where the entire family teams up on that poor man at their door is crazy and this fic takes that concept and just runs with it in the best way

lestat/louis non-traditional a/b/o verse lioness listen.............i'm such a sucker for a good a/b/o fic and we have a severe lack of them in iwtv, thank you, babe, for writing a beautiful one armand/louis canon-verse luna the way that loumand have been together through some of the most insane historical events will haunt me and also I'm in love with the idea of it, thank you, babe, I want every single year and something they experienced together

armand/louis; lestat/louis; louis/others canon-verse catacomb a required read leading into season 2. that's all you need to know.

armand/louis/lestat cannibalistic modern au cleave/tie by @kittyldpdl

a couple of years ago, I went through this obsessive body horror phase where all I watched and read was something that had some kind of body horror and it would make me nauseous but also I was so intrigued, so fascinated, I couldn't stop. this is that. oh my god.

armand/louis; lestat/louis modern au capillary by @kittyldpdl and @salmoncakepls

WIP. I think about it once a week. falling in love with louis while dressing him??????????? oh my god, the concept, the idea, I want to drown in it armand/louis; lestat/louis robot&android au design; intricate by @salmoncakepls

every time I see concepts for this fic my brain short circuits and every time I read it I just !!!!!!!!!!!!! the brain behind this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the most brilliant

goat goat goat time <3 <3 <3 armand/louis prey drive by @iwtvdramacd18

HI I THINK ABOUT PREY DRIVE EVERY TWO DAYS AND FEEL FAINT. like idk what else to say, it just sticks with you and you're like 'wow they're just like that and it's insane and beautiful and raw' and goat just writes it perfectly, always lestat/louis exposure by @iwtvdramacd18

I've never actually heard of this fic, but if I had, I would assume it was the most batshit crazy thing I'd ever read......full compliments lestat/louis WIP lunacy by @iwtvdramacd18

I seriously always admire people who can write the 'monster' so well. I struggle so much with actual horror/monsters/suspense and so to read it so well done always makes me a little crazy armand/louis/daniel canon-verse after s1 gathering dust by @knifeeater

non-linear narrative !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

armand/louis canon-verse esque alluvium by @knifeeater

I see the tag service dom armand and my brain blacks out, comes back, and is forever changed. that's all. armand/louis/lestat perpetuum mobile by @knifeeater

sometimes you read a fic and the opening is the most insane thing you've ever read that you're like 'how can they keep this up?' and then they do and you're like 'oh so you're that kind of talented....okay' that's this fic.

armand/louis canon-verse

dirges by @dictee

'He had told Louis once, a lifetime ago, as a kind of bedtime story, about his work with cadavers in the nineteenth century, in the catacombs under the Parisian graveyards. Louis, half asleep, made some comment about Mary Shelley, but in his mind it was his skin under Armand’s scalpel, as loving a part of Armand as any. Shuddering and offering up the red jewels of his insides. ' please read it. oh my god.

MORE DANLOU NOIR THAT IS JUST i'll let you win by @diasdelfuego

danlou prophet. daniel just being so overcome by louis...........daniel just being so enraptured, so in love. the noIR. ily. need to reread asap actually oh my god.

daniel/louis post s1 nothing left to give you now by @diasdelfuego

'When he turns back around, Louis is still facing away from him, eyeing the coffee table as he shrugs off his coat. It slides gracefully off Louis' elegant frame to reveal a deep burgundy button-down underneath. In Daniel's mind, he thinks as he takes in the sight, Louis is always wearing black —mourning black, the writer in his brain supplies. Daniel takes stock of him while Louis stands at the edge of the carpet and looks over Daniel's apartment. The vampire is just as preternaturally young as he was half a century ago, just as beautiful, looking entirely out of place in Daniel's mundane, chaotic environment.' like imagine the whole fic being this beautifully written................................w h a t

lestat/louis; armand/louis murdery mystery au WIP overlords by @diasdelfuego and @shewhomustbecalledking I'm behind on this (work is the worst, let's all quit our jobs) but what I've read is just !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO INSANE. cannot wait to catch up, I have spring break in three weeks and honestly just want to read the entire time, catching up on this and drowning in its beauty

lestat/louis a/b/o verse WIP house of gold by @shewhomustbecalledking I think this was the first a/b/o fic I read for this fandom and it's the blueprint, it's the reason, it's everything. the way lestat is so perfectly lestat in this is everything to me. I love an in-character lestat so much.

armand/louis; lestat/louis AU gothic horror WIP rhodedendron by @blueiight

'Let the Devil tempt me not, Louis thought, as he crawled to the mirror. Hollowed out eyes stared back at him, light-brown mawkish physique barely visible, swallowed up by loose pajamas, twists slightly askew but still meticulously sectioned off.

You look a fucking mess, bruh. Hardly fit to carry on the Du Lac name, what lady would want troubles such as yours? His Mother’s voice blended in with his own. But alas he could not be, could not sit in his sorrow and forever laud the man he was not.' true southern gothic horror. the last two chapters changed everything for me.

lestat/louis modern human au dreaming put to shame by @downstairsbar

I read this every single weekend. the beginning??? louis classing lestat?????????????? louis knowing lestat's eyes are on him but not understanding it???????????? the way I'd give anything for a million more words about how they got to the last part, about what all follows.

lestat/louis canon-verse modern era WIP

murmur by proval the way these are still our louis and our lestat, reunited after everything, still so the same, still so not..............this author seems to have such a good hold of these characters, I can't wait to see where this fic goes

armand/louis; lestat/antoinette; lestat/louis modern succession inspired au WIP dirty, sexy money by thevintage I've never seen succession but I love a business au and these first three chapters are so good. lestat and louis are divorced, they have claudia to tie them together, lestat is marrying his mistress, and louis has just met armand who is business rival of lestat's and the sparks are already flying and ohmygodohmygodohmygod

[thewritersaddictions]

Day Thirteen: Klaus Mikealson + Die Hard

“It’s not a Christmas movie love.” Your boyfriend counters as he rounds the island in the middle of the kitchen. Rolling your eyes you scoff at him, you two had been arguing about whether or not a certain movie was either a Christmas or action movie.

Why the verbal fight had started you don’t remember. You just know that you’re standing by what you told Klaus. Die Hard is one hundred percent a Christmas movie.

“What doesn’t make it a Christmas movie, huh?” You ask him crossing your arms over your chest getting more and more fessed up with the argument at hand. “Well for starters….” Then the silence takes over your kitchen.

The breeze from outdoors filters in. The French quarter compound is open with lots of space for the Mikealson family to live with all of their significant others and family.

“See your silence is a tell tale sign you don’t know shit. The movie starts off with the office having a literal Christmas party, sure it’s not in any way connected to the main storyline but it snows at the end doesn’t it?” You ask into the air.

Klaus eyes furrow down ward giving his face an odd shape. “Are you asking me if the movie I have seen many times a year has a snow scene at the end?” Klaus asks you totally ignoring your rambling talking from elalier.

You nod, humming as you grab a packet of popcorn from the cabinet. “I for sure know it doesn’t have a snow scene, it’s cause of the decorations anyways.” You can still hear him as you unwrap the popcorn bag and lay it flat on the tray inside the microwave.

With ease you glide back into the conversation after pressing the handy popcorn button on your microwave. “Are you sure? Mister I’ve seen that movie so many times.” You’re the only one to ever ever be able to talk to Klaus in such a way like this. This was your friendly banter, the teasing that had drawn you two each other nearly four years ago.

He loves this side of you, and sometimes he hates it. Hates how you manage to get under his skin without even trying. “Are you suggesting I don’t know the movie?” He counters arching a brow. Your conversation is paused when the microwave beeps and you have to gather a bowl from underneath the drawers.

As you shuffle popcorn into the bowl, you look at Klaus. “I am, but I bet there’s a way to redeem yourself.” You tease. It’s his turn to roll his eyes at you. “How about we just watch the movie, and then we will actually be able to see.” You say’s crumbling up the useless bag.

It’s a quick nod from Klaus and off to the couch you are. “We are only watching the first one.” He says like he actually means that. Once he’s seems the first he’s got to watch the second. You know the drill because it’s always the same with Klaus Mikealson.

The both of you get comfy on the old couch with your dozens of blankets and pillows. Snuggled up together you forget about the argument in the kitchen as you recall lines that are your absolute favorite. It’s not until Hans is falling to his death and the main chapters are sitting the back of the limo does it remind you of your little bet.

The song starts to play and when there’s no snow. Klaus jumps up in excitement having won a bet where he had nothing to lose you shush him. Letting the tv roll the credits. “Whatever!” “I was oh so right, hmm I wonder what you should owe me for that lost bet.” Klaus smirks. “Nothing I owe you nothing cause it wasn’t a bet, just simple banter, now came down here and watch the next one with me.” You beg Klaus. Fluttering your beautiful eyes up at him. He scoffs and rolls his eyes before climbing back onto the couch with you.

An hour into the second one you hear the tiniest, quietest “I was right!” Come from beside you this time you don’t think twice about grabbing the pillow and chucking in to Klaus face.

Completed on: 11/24/23

Posted on: 12/13/23

The Originals-

The Originals Master List // Christmas Stories Master List

[meraki-yao]

Ok I saw a post before saying what if we put all of Nick’s characters in one room (I can’t find op anymore) and after the last reblog it got me thinking so here’s some weird multiverse imagination

Note that I’m only gonna use the characters I’ve seen/know about, so that’s Henry (RWRB, duh), Conor (Handsome Devil, watched the whole movie and really liked it), Timmy (The Craft: Legacy, only watched Nick’s part lol), Robert (Cinderella, the first time I actually saw Nick, I watched… enough, plus a bunch of video essays on it because I am a musical theatre person and a fairy tale person), Jeff (Bottoms, from what I can get from the trailers), and Luke (Purple Heart, which I love you Nick but I will not put myself through that, based on what I’ve heard about it and reading the synopsis on Wikipedia) if you can think of more please join in on this mess

Let’s say some weird random ass multiverse magic got all of them into a room. After the initial “Good God is that what I look like with a buzzcut?” and “Why the fuck are they British- is that kid Scottish?” and “HE’S A PRINCE? OH THAT GUY WHO’S SINGING IS A PRINCE TOO? HOW AM I A PRINCE???” then someone (honestly out of the six I listed probably Henry or … Luke?) telling everyone to settle down and introduce themselves so they can figure out their differences, what’s gonna happen?

Well...

Luke and Jeff will definitely get into a fight at some point. Maybe Robert gets unintentionally involved too

I dread to imagine the conversation/confrontation between Luke, the conservative marine and Henry, now a gay icon in a loving, committed relationship with the bisexual POC son of a democratic female president (I’ve heard some folks call Henry the rainbow prince and oh my God I love that) interacting, but Henry is still a prince and a lot stronger and willing to stand up for himself and his relationship at the end of the movie, I want him to win in that argument

Henry and Robert will definitely judge each other. Robert on Henry’s clothes and how proper he is (think about his fucking line “dancing at these things are so mannered! And formal! And we look like fools!” and oh God I hate that I can quote that line) and Henry on Robert’s eccentric, borderline-childish mannerism, and wonder how on earth is this guy a prince (I know royal protocols are strict and Henry does definitely find them stifling at times but a large part of that is just… manner and etiquette? Like look at the pained face he makes when Alex devours the cornetto and then speaks with his mouth full of ice cream, he was definitely exasperated by his choice of men at the moment)

Luke and Jeff will get annoyed at Robert spontaneously bursting into song and tell him to shut the fuck up, but Henry might find it amusing and somewhat charming (come on I absolutely don’t believe that Alex and Henry don’t sing to each other, especially when they have Taylor and Nick’s beautiful singing voice in the movie verse) and maybe Conor starts shyly strumming his guitar to Robert’s singing

Jeff trying to bully Conor and Timmy then realizing these boys are no less strong than he is and gets his ass kicked

(The next couple of points are the main reason I wrote this post lol)

Henry recognizing Conor and Timmy’s struggles, seeing bits of his younger self in these queer kids that look like him, remembering what Alex said about getting to be someone his father didn’t see growing up, thinking he can do something similar for these two boys and taking them under his wing, pulling the both of them to a corner to talk

Conor telling Henry that he doesn’t believe there’s a place in the world where he could just be himself, and Henry remembering feeling the same until a certain American boy with fucking eyelashes, black curls and dimples stormed his castle

Timmy explaining how he feels like his bisexuality isn’t being validated (Nick did amazing in that scene please go watch it) and Henry gently telling him that that’s absolutely not true and that his boyfriend is in fact, bisexual, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with liking both boys and girls

Henry and Timmy sharing their grief over their lost parents

Conor and Timmy suddenly having a man who looks like them, who's in a position of power and in a committed relationship with another man in a position of power to look up to

Henry telling them his story and how he found love and support, giving the boys hope, and realizing that this is what making history can mean

I don’t know how my brain came to this but Henry as an older brother to Conor and Timmy now lives rent-free in my head, might write more on that alone

Very intrigued about how this is gonna be expanded when Mary & George comes out and we add George Villiers to the mix, Henry will pass out

[caeli0306]

chapter 16 of castles crumbling (aka Tales from the Airport Bathroom extended version) now posted!

Chapter 16: Meltdown is now up on AO3: READ HERE

WE ARE SO FREAKING BACK!

I'm so sorry this one took so long, but as you guys may know, the last couple weeks/months have been really tough for me and writing has been like, impossible. I was stretched too thin and over committed myself, and I just needed a break. Admittedly this probably would have been posted on Saturday but my college football team lost and I had to spend a few days in mourning. This chapter is way shorter than I originally planned bc I just wanted to post something so bad so I can get back into my writing habit that I was like fuck it we'll just go with what we have. I hope people enjoy this one - chapter 17 will not take as long (assuming another grandparent doesn't die and Alabama wins the rest of its games this year lol)

Summary:

Violet should already be dead. People whispered about her weak body and how she would never live up to her family's martial accomplishments. Violet rose above them all, however, fighting and killing to survive the Navarrian Intelligence Agency's brutal BASGIATH training protocol. Now, people whisper about Violet's swift ascension through the NIA's ranks as one of its most valuable operatives and assassins. The whispers don't matter to Violet: She has her own agenda, and it's a dangerous one - finding out what happened to her father.

But one mission changes everything: Suddenly, Violet finds herself in the crosshairs when she stumbles on information Navarre wants buried, and the country she fought for begins to turn on her. Violet knows too much, but she's determined to do what she does best: Survive. Her only hope is the son of the man who they say killed her brother, but their partnership is far from assured. Some grudges run deep, and trust is a currency too valuable to give freely. Xaden realizes Violet may be the key to everything, but with enemies seen and unseen closing in on all sides, the consequences of failure are deadly.

===

Xaden opens his mouth to argue back, but Liam intercedes.

“If you two are going to do this now, can you take it elsewhere?” he asks with a grin. “You’re making a scene.”

And that’s when, once more, I return to reality. I can’t help the blush that fights its way up my neck to my cheeks, because he’s absolutely right. Everyone still in the armory is staring at us. Kill me now.

“Fuck me,” I mutter. I throw another glance in Xaden’s direction, but I can’t get a handle for what’s going on in that head of his. I huff, then turn on my heel, marching towards the doors. I hear the sounds of someone following me – no doubt Rhiannon. Or maybe Liam.

When I get to the doors that lead out into the maze of hallways beyond the armory, I’m surprised to see that it was Sawyer who followed me this time. Then I remember that he’d wanted to talk and slow my pace.

“You ok?” My friend asks after he’s matched his steps with mine.

“Absolutely dandy,” I reply.

I don’t have to look at him to know he’s rolling his eyes. “You’re a horrible liar.”

“It helps that I’m not trying to be a good one.”

[maybeamiles]

Alright it's time for PART TWO OF MY ONE PIECE OPENING ANALYSIS. Turns out you can only add 30 images to a post lol.

Anyways you can find part one here, but if you've already seen it or just want to skip to the good shit, Hi. I'm anime only but have seen manga spoilers for Kid, Law, Kuma, and Bonney, so that will affect my analysis.

Anyways remember last time when I talked a bit about the line "When random contexts / Start to make sense on their own" and the deliberate parallels between the fights with Luffy/Lucci, Kid/(manga spoilers), Law/Blackbeard, Zoro/Seraphim Mihawk, and Garp/Kuzan? Well those continue here except it's Sabo and the Revolutionaries against the ENTIRE WORLD GOVERNMENT. These random contexts? They're all tied to the fight Sabo is in right now.

"When random contexts / Start to make sense on their own / The threads of time are spun back together"

This sequence of shots gives me chills every time. Every single time. The parallels between the Revolutionary Army's crows and the World Government's seagulls? The falling papers and books. Fucking Wapol??? The FUNERAL???? and the SWORDS??? God if those swords in front of the world government's throne DON'T end up being used to stab someone by the end of this story (either in the past or future or maybe both) I will eat my shirt this is CHECKOV'S SWORD THIS GOVERNMENT WAS FOUNDED ON VIOLENCE AND CONQUEST I SWEAR-

*ahem* Anyways. "The threads of time are spun back together." All of those "random contexts" we saw before? The fights that are paralleling each other and driving towards a single end point? To stick with the string metaphor, the world government has unraveled the thread of history. Everything happening now is going to spin it back together into a cohesive narrative. Time is running out. The end is in sight. Their string is going to be cut.

Again with the parallels. All of the men who Luffy impacted in the past, Sabo, Kid, Law, and Coby. They're all rising to take on this enemy. They have been beaten, but they will rise again, and they will charge forward into the future (at least, that's how I read the storytelling here). I think this theme of rising from major defeats is going to be a huge one in this arc, especially for these four. They are going to get stronger and be Luffy's competition. The Whitebeard and Garp to his Rodger, if you will.

Also, speaking of the men who Luffy impacted, HOLY SHIT IS THAT VIVI

Law, Coby, Kid, and Sabo may all be rising from defeat, but you know who's charging forward? VIVI. Vivi is going to be so fucking important this arc just you wait.

And listen- I saw a theory a few weeks ago that Vivi *might* eat a certain devil fruit that I will not name because (manga spoilers), but looking at this picture, with the way she's reaching out towards that specific shape? Yeah she's totally gonna eat that devil fruit. Wish I could link the theory but unfortunately it's deep in my youtube watch history by now and i didn't save it.

EDIT: As a couple people have pointed out, it might be Bonney in that scene and not Vivi, as indicated by the pink highlights on the hair. That honestly makes a lot more sense than Vivi eating a random(ish) devil fruit.

Finally, I want to talk about this last shot. The Theme of this opening. All of these separate, winding paths, leading towards one final destination: Laugh Tale. The truth of the world. Law, Kid, Luffy, Sabo, The Revolutionaries, the Marines, Coby, Garp, the World Government, everyone is on the path to Laugh Tale, we're in the endgame now, and everyone is going to be vital to whatever lies ahead. I imagine some of the poetry is lost in the english translation, but there's a reason that the music keeps repeating the words "all of us"

"All of us" are going to reach Laugh Tale.

[shanofarcadia]

i’m bored, here’s a list of tales of arcadia characters that are main characters that nobody treats like main characters:

(it’s probably going to be a long list)

varvatos vex

the movie doesn’t do him justice at all, but he’s quite literally the secondary lead of 3below just below aja and krel. the deuteragonist, if you will. he’s one of the 3 in 3below, its pretty self explanatory. also raise your hand if you’re attracted to him.

steve palchuk

i dunno if this is a hot take, but i’d argue that steve’s been a main character since the very beginning and i personally see him that way. yeah, he’s not really a lead in trollhunters (though i’d argue he’s could be 3below’s tritagonist), he does have a major role in the first half of the season with the play + bullying jim, and the second half with the spring fling competition season B plot. and by season 2 we of course get the creepslayerz. while steve takes a major absence from trollhunters season 3, he’s still a major character in the following two shows.

eli pepperjack

unlike steve, i don’t consider eli to be a main right away. personally, i see him come into more of a main spotlight by 3below, and is a supporting character of trollhunters. his major involvement with the tarrons definitely makes him a main character, he’s basically the toby to krel’s jim in my eyes. obviously, 3below is the only show where he’s main since he decides to be absent from wizards. eli why did you do that to me.

blinky and aaarrrgghh

this one feels redundant to add because i’m certain people do see them as main characters, it’s just that so much TOA talk is always centered around the human characters rather than the trolls/aliens etc, so i just want to show them some love and acknowledge them 💕

strickler

only applicable to trollhunters, as his roles in 3below are reduced to a few cameos and exactly 1 speaking line. strickler is one of season 1’s primary antagonists, so of course he’s going to be a main/major character. i feel like his absence in season 2 causes people to forget that he really is a main, because he really is a heavy part of the plots to seasons 1 and 3, not just with jim but with barbara, too, which leads me to my next one.

barbara lake

honestly in my opinion, barbara just barely makes this list, cause i really only see her as a main character in season 3 of trollhunters, as opposed to seasons 1 and 2. in those seasons, her appearances are just a scene or two at most per episode, save for a few. season 3 is where she shines more by remembering jim’s double life, being brought into the fold, etc. not a very long tenure as a main but still worthy of giving credit for i think!

zadra

she may not be in every episode like aja, krel, and varvatos, but zadra takes part in some substantial storylines in her role in 3below, such as working both sides against morando for the resistance, and discovering the traitor in the midst, getting to earth and finding a way back for the royals. also she’s a lesbian and i think lesbians are neat. 💖

morando

same reason as i say for strickler, as the overarching main villain of 3below, it should earn morando a spot at the mains table, especially for season 2 when he finally makes a move on earth. i don’t like talking about him much though because he’s one of the weakest villain this franchise has seen and i wish he’d been done better, but that’s a post for another time.

kubritz

kind of like barbara, her as a main only lasts one season. she’s more the secondary villain of the season behind morando, but her heavy involvement in season 2 and subtle character arc that she gets is enough for me to qualify her as one of 3below’s main characters. fair warning these next few are gonna all have the same reasoning so if you get annoyed reading it over and over i apologize.

bular

third time’s the charm with this reasoning, but seeing as he was the main villain of season 1A, he’s definitely a main character in that season of trollhunters. obviously after his death that goes away, but in those 13 episodes he’s for sure a major character.

angor rot (i hit image limit on the hottest troll character are you serious. anyway.)

the travesty of no hot angor gif able to be added aside, despite being introduced halfway through season 1 as the primary villain to replace bular following his death, that very reason is why i see him as a main for seasons 1 and 3. in season 3 he’s most certainly not the primary villain again, but he does get a small arc where he begins to question his loyalties after being resurrected which gives him focus.

gunmar

i’m honestly unsure how people see him in terms of main vs supporting, but i definitely think he’s a main character of trollhunters seasons 2 and 3, and a minor character in season 1 since they were just teasing him at that point. once again, the main villain of those seasons of trollhunters (not including all that nonsense of morgana actually pulling the strings all along) which gives him a reason to be classed as a main. i also think he’s pretty hot too i won’t lie.

and that’s about all i can think of! you really don’t have to agree with me on this, especially cause tales of arcadia isn’t one of those shows that exactly outlines their cast billing into a “starring” and “guest starring” designation (can you tell stuff like that is something im very passionate about) so it’s all up to interpretation really, and this is mine!

[trivial-writing]

I’m back! It’s earlier than I expected. Here’s some updates with the family before we get into the main topic of the post: my brother’s spouse is now cishet. She is currently in therapy right now with my brother. The younger of my older brothers stayed at our house instead of moving out.

On to the main topic of the post. Masculinity and femininity in Avatar the Last Airbender. More specifically, the parallelism between Ozai, Hakoda, and Iroh for masculinity. As for femininity, I want to look at Kya and Ursa. This is mainly going to look at the effects of lacking masculine and feminine figures in a family and how loss affects individuals in the family.

If your tiktok and youtube shorts algorithm is anything like mine, then you keep seeing the Fresh and Fit and Whatever podcasts spew absolute mockery of what they think being a “man” is like. If I were on those podcasts, I would call them boys, because that’s what they are. They are not men. They are boys in a man’s body.

Iroh, however, is a man. He has patience, compassion, confidence, loyalty, wisdom, joy, and other positive traits. HE is the peak of masculinity. I remember when watching Overanalyzing Avatar’s Day of Black Sun analysis, something caught my attention. He said that Iroh was Zuko’s loving father figure and Ozai was Zuko’s actual father. I would disagree. Ozai is Zuko’s fake father. Iroh is Zuko’s actual father. When Zuko lashes out, Iroh doesn’t clap back with equal aggression. When Zuko leaves Iroh, Iroh doesn’t prevent his “nephew” from choosing his decision. Iroh follows Zuko until the “The Chase.” He doesn’t tell Zuko anything. He lets Zuko make his own decisions. After Zuko betrays Iroh, Iroh isn’t mad at his son. He’s sad. He mourns the fact that, in a sense, he lost another son. He mourns Zuko’s path of destruction. After Zuko leaves his first prison visit, we see Iroh crying in his cell. During Tales of Ba Sing Se, Iroh spends his biological son’s, Lu Ten’s, birthday tending to other young males, things Iroh would’ve wanted to do with Lu Ten. I’m sure of it. Soon, the writers reveal that it was Lu Ten’s birthday. Iroh finds a setting like Lu Ten’s grave. Then, one of the best songs committed to lyrical music for television plays. Iroh doesn’t blame Lu Ten’s death on the Earth Kingdom like Jet did with the Fire Nation and his parents. Instead, he blames himself. In Sozin’s Comet Part Two: The Old Masters, when Zuko comes to apologizes to Iroh, he is on his hands and knees pleading for forgiveness. He cries with a raspy voice. And in that moment, Zuko is immediately taken in a warm embrace with his loving father figure. Zuko is baffled saying, “How can you forgive me so easily? I thought you would be furious with me.” To which, Iroh, a true father, a true man, says, “I was never mad at you. I was sad because I thought you lost your way.” He is proud in Zuko that Zuko found his way on his own. Iroh doesn’t take that time to praise himself. He focuses on Zuko. Zuko, the son he found after he lost his previous one. Zuko, the son who wnet away just like Lu Ten. But the difference here is that Zuko, Little Soldier boy, Brave Soldier boy, came marching home.

Speaking of that Zuko scene, let’s trash talk about the Fire Loser Lord. Like I said earlier in Iroh’s section, Ozai is Zuko’s fake father, if you can even call them that. In The Storm, the origin of Zuko’s scar is revealed. A thirteen year old boy wants to be a good Fire Lord, and in doing so, he finds his way into the Fire Lord’s meeting room. Zuko stays quiet as told by his true father until a general devises a terrible plan. Zuko is challenged to an Agni Kai. He is confident because he thinks he’ll fight the general. Instead, he steps up to the ring and finds his father. He is on his hands and knees, begging his father for forgiveness. Ozai, the absolute monster, seeing his SON on his hands and knees, decides to burn his face. He says suffering will be your teacher.” When Zuko kidnaps Aang in the North Pole, he reveals Ozai told his SON that “she was born lucky … I was lucky to be born.” That is not a father, let alone a man. Please tell me, how is Ozai a man? How is Ozai a father? Can you call Ozai a father? I think not. But Zuko is not the only victim to Ozai’s “parenting.” Azula too is a victim. In the first or second part of Sozin’s Comet (i forgot) it is revealed how she is afraid of her father. The very idea of her father leaving her behind. She is afraid of Ozai treating her like Zuko. She is a mere puppet to Ozai. Ozai manipulates her to find joy in being Fire Lord, a clear downgrade to being the Phoenix Princess. Ozai molds her into being daddy’s little monster. I’m not a psychologist, but I think Azula has problems with perfection. She can’t face the idea of her being imperfect in her father’s eyes. She tries hard to please her father. She tries to please him as much as she can. Now, I don’t really call the comics cannon. I think it’s inconsistent to the show, but I really like Ursa’s backstory. She is forced into an unhealthy marriage. There are subtle undertones of sexual abuse. She is walking on egg shells with Ozai. May I pose another question? How is Ozai a husband? Can you call Ozai a husband? I can’t. It’s impossible. With Hakoda next, I want to mention this parallelism, Ozai has two children. A firstborn son and second born daughter. The daughter catches the attention of everyone while the son is viewed as a lower individual to his sister. Ozai sends both of his children away. He forces his children to fight. He sends CHILDREN to a war. Not just CHILDREN, but his own BLOOD RELATED CHILDREN.

Now, let’s look at Hakoda. Hakoda is a chieftain. His children consists of a firstborn son, a nonbender, and a gifted waterbending daughter. Katara, the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. Hakoda nurtures both his children. He treats Sokka as an equal to Katara. He favors both of them. He ensures one child is treated the same as the other. Hakoda goes out to fight in the war. In Bato of the Southern Water Tribe, a flashback shows how mich of a man Hakoda is. Sokka wants to fight in the war. Hakoda stops his son. In Hakoda’s willingness to protect his children, he forces Sokka to stay home, and protect his sister and the rest of the tribe, probably assuming the war wouldn’t affect the tribe anymore, with the Fire Nation assuming the last Waterbender is dead. Hakoda forces his kids to stay home while he fights in war. Ozai forces his kids to fight while he sits on his throne, like a scared little boy. As a reiteration, Hakoda forces his kids to stay home, safe and sound, while he fights to protect others, like a protector and true father. Hakoda tells his children how proud he is of them and says how their mother would be too. Like a true man, Hakoda fosters care for his children, teaches his children, and supports his children.

Hakoda and Iroh are true men. True fathers. Ozai is a coward. Ozai is a monster. Ozai is a child in a man’s body. Ozai is a 30-ish (i’m guessing his age) child who steals the honor of the 16-17 year old man that is somehow related to him.

As for femininity, Ursa isn’t the angel some people and even the writers want to push. Ursa didn’t even bother trying to steer Azula to the right path. If Ursa had given Azula the same amount of guidance that she did with Zuko, Azula would’ve gotten the redemption arc she deserved. Ursa plays favorites with Zuko while Azula suffers. Azula needed a proper mother figure. Ursa is a woman that shows the virtues of femininity. She is caring, wise, protective, proactive, reactive, durable, and supportive, but her folly is in how, or rather who, she shows her femininity to. A true mother would nurture both her children no matter what. Ursa isn’t as terrible as Ozai, but she’s not an angel either.

A better mother figure could be Kya. We don’t know much about her, but what we can gleam from her very few appearances and the comics to my chagrin, she was caring. In the Southern Raiders, it is her care for her child that makes her lay down her life for the sake of her child. Kya does have favoritism towards Katara over Sokka, but I can be completely wrong. Kya is firm in handling Yon Rha. Unlike what toxic masculinity says, Kya is firm. She is also a protector. She doesn’t marry Hakoda for status. It’s clear in North and South that she married Hakoda out of true love. Hakoda married Kya not for her to be child bearer, but as a person who can care for him and he for her.

A very important theme in Avatar is how war affects the household. It is the lack of positive feminine and masculine figures in Sokka’s life that makes him sexist in the first few episodes of the show. It is the lack of a healthy parental figure in Azula’s life that makes Azula mentally breakdown. It is Ozai’s lack of fraternal care that pots Zuko and Azula against each other in the Final Agni Kai. It is Ozai’s lack of true masculinity that steers Zuko away from the path his mother and Iroh set him to follow. It is the lack of a maternal figure in Katara’s life that forces her to mature into a simile of what a feminine mother is. I didn’t really talk about Toph’s parents here, but the same applies here too. It is Toph’s parents’ lack of personal quality time that makes her leave. It’s her parents’s lack of understanding and open mindedness that forces them to see their daughter as a fragile object. Objectification can go in many ways. Whether it be in lust, in utility (think Azula), in entertainment (Zuko and Ozai probably), and, in Toph’s case, false care and compassion.