#i'm working on something that's kinda related to this so it's on my mind rn

[flowerakatsuka]

thinking about kuroba going through the 5 stages of grief on repeat after remembering who karamatsu was only for him to hit them with a " it's a shame we were never in the same class together! :) "

[moonpie016]

Moon goes on a whole talking session.

*Walks in and realizes that this is becoming a frequent thing to post on here. And I'm happy about that, because I get to show what I make all the time. :]*

But now onto the drawings, and will eventually make a list on things I want to do next because that'll help me stay on track.

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Positive stuff below the drawing.

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It's the dudes inside my head, yay. Though they're all asleep, well two of em are. I drew this for whatever purpose it would serve, that being that my insides, while still a confused state and overall over reactive response to anything that needs rephrasing. Or just anything that happens, good, bad, whatever, that it has a way of comforting itself. It tries.

It tries to do the bare minimum of existing, even if it is tricky with having to always remember and think of more to do.

How to react appropriately, how to understand things to its full capability. How to understand others and everything more.

It's difficult, not in the way that doing things is difficult, but however that goes. These conceptualized beings of emotion have existed for some time, don't remember when but they have. But they always hadn't looked like this, obviously/lh.

But they all serve the same purpose combined or separate.

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And, to go completely off topic, to go ramble.

Songs have whatever emotional attachment they can hold, whether important or not, it's just something that sticks. Helps.

And as you can see how much art I make, how many times I've probably listened to most of all the songs on repeat by now, what random pieces of dialogue I'll spew to write.

Chonny's music is comfort. Now it isn't just his, other artists as well. But those aren't important rn. His music in general, not just CCCC. Through whatever emotional moment months ago that made me feel lost and confused on what to do, what do I do now. I needed to find something to latch onto, if not, I'd feel..off. like I wasn't doing anything, because I wasn't doing anything. I tried to get into stuff but it wasn't working, like it needed to naturally happen instead of force myself.

The music has related to my state of mind (no pun) at certain points. And I find that comforting. Concerning? Maybe, but comforting.

Like, getting into what's popular, what new game, but that didn't work. And I'm kinda happy my brain decided to be now fixated on this man's music. Sure every time I'd like to explain or show someone, I need to specify and always show specific songs. Cus. Yeah. But now, I see people's work and stuff, and it's all so cool. And though the inconsistency of this blog is very apparent. I've enjoyed my time on here, very much. Even if I don't always actually speak to someone, because I don't really know what to say or start a conversation. (Seeds/social anxiety). I'm still happy for whatever interaction I get. I'm happy to feel included in this bizarre/pos and silly household. Idk why I'm calling it a household. Just go with it.

Even if I linger around or just post a drawing, I'm enjoying it. Some artwork may be more serious than silly. But yeah.

And to also just say whatever without rethinking is great, now I'm not going to say anything out of word. But just being silly in general with my wording. Y'know? Make odd jokes or talk excessively. (Wow).

Sum it up, I appreciate you all. Though you don't know me or I know you, it means a lot. I didn't think a joke about Heart beating up Mind would be turned into anything else, or that people would actually say anything.

This is just a happy little appreciation thing. I don't know how to end it! I just felt to write this.

So, uh yeah. :3

*Runs back into the hills*

Thanks for reading my ramble/pos.

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[linawritestwst]

Hi! I saw you're request were open, if it's alright with you can I request riddle, deuce, silver and malleus with a reader who was a knight in their old world? Thank you!

riddle, deuce, silver and malleus x reader who was a knight headcanons (gn!reader)

that moment when you try to find a pretty sword gif but all you get is sao gifs 😔

thank you sm for requesting this, knight!reader is such a fun concept!

also i'm very sick rn and for some reason i have no inspiration to write anything twst-related at all, so.. i'm sorry if these headcanons sound boring, i'm trying my best 😭

riddle rosehearts.

♡ riddle would be very surprised to hear that you were a knight in your world, but when he thinks about it more, he realizes that it actually makes a lot of sense. you're always there to protect him, you're very brave and strong and you're good with a sword. you also mentioned that you have a lot of experience with protecting people from any dangers, so whenever you had to deal with someone who overblotted including riddle himself, you never went easy on them and gave it your all. so.. yes, he can see you being a knight.

♡ your dynamic would become even cuter after that, because now you can officially be the queen of hearts' knight! riddle would act a little shy about it at first, he'd try to assure you that he doesn't need your help, but you just smile and say that you know how strong and talented your boyfriend is, but you still want to act as his knight simply because this is how you show your love and loyalty for him. also you know that riddle secretly loves it and there's no point in trying to hide it.

♡ whenever riddle sees someone breaking the queen's rules again, you calm him down before he can say anything and you simply remind him that there's no need to use his unique magic on them or punish them in some other way, when you always have your sword with you <3 riddle is sure that you aren't actually being serious, but what he doesn't know is that you are serious. you don't hesitate to pull out your sword everytime someone makes riddle angry, because this school has way too many troublemakers and you think someone should teach them a lesson and it doesn't always have to be riddle.

deuce spade.

♡ he would lose his mind when he finds out about it, but when he finally manages to process that information, he is so?? proud of you?? like wow.. you were a knight.. that's so cool!! that explains why you're so strong and why you always can feel that something or someone is dangerous and others should be more careful. also he's totally not going to brag about dating a knight when he sees ace, haha..

♡ even though now he knows that you're literally a knight (or at least were one), he's still a very protective boyfriend and he always makes sure you're safe no matter what. it's not like he underestimates you or thinks you're weak or anything like that, it's just.. he kinda wants to be your knight too.. he just really wants to be someone you can rely on and someone who will fight for you when necessary (and when it's not really necessary. he's just always ready to fight for you)

♡ if you are the one protecting him.. deuce really wants to remind you that he can do everything himself, but he just can't control his feelings around you and instead of acting like a cool boyfriend, he just goes 😳😳😳. like wow.. you are so strong and brave and talented and- also, if you try to carry him, he will literally die. his face would be so red, he'd have to cover it with his hands.

silver.

♡ he is so shocked, but also so happy when you tell him that you used to be a knight. you're just like him!! he tries really hard to hide his excitement, but you can just see it on his face. he will ask you a lot of questions, like who did you work for, was it hard for you, did anything dangerous happen to you in the past.. he really hopes that it's not annoying, he's just so happy to hear that he and his s/o have something in common and it's also something he's very passionate about.

♡ he would love to train with you. spending time with you is always fun, but he can't believe that he actually can do his knight training with you now. or maybe you can watch him and give him some advice? he's sure that you have more experience than he does. silver always listens to your advice and makes sure to remember it. though he might get a little distracted sometimes because when you show him how to do something correctly, he finds it amazing just how much you look like a real knight.. ah, of course, you were one in the past, he knows that.

♡ of course, it's not like silver will stop caring about your other traits now that he knows you used to be a knight. he's just glad to learn something new about you and he's happy to know that you and him are actually quite similar. also a lot of things make more sense to him now and he can feel you two becoming even closer than before. and even though you used to be a knight yourself, it doesn't mean that silver doesn't want to protect you anymore. he actually wants to work even harder for you now and he secretly hopes that he will be able to impress you one day.

malleus draconia.

♡ .. what do you mean he has like three knights now. you being a knight as well is certainly a surprise to him, but a good one. he would love to know more about your past and as you tell him about everything you had to do as a knight, he just keeps falling more and more in love with you and now he admires you even more than before. he already knew that you were amazing, but now you've truly exceeded his expectations.

♡ he doesn't really need to be protected considering how strong his magic is, but after he finds out that you were a knight.. oh no. oh no, malleus draconia himself is actually much weaker than you thought he was. if only he could use some help- oh there you are, y/n <3 he knows that it's not good to lie to you, but he just loves it when you come to help him and you look like you're ready to do anything for him, so please forgive him for tricking you like this.

♡ he appreciates everything sebek and silver do for him, he really does, but.. oh no, it looks like he has a favorite now. whenever you come to his rescue, he just can't stop praising you for your strength and courage and he always rewards you with a kiss after that. yes, this is malleus draconia, one of the strongest mages in twisted wonderland. yes, he will pretend to be a maiden in distress just so that his s/o can remember their knight days and save him. also i hope you're ready for sebek's reaction because he won't be happy about this at all.

[buttercupbread06]

HELLOOOO HIIII sorrysorry, idk how this works exactly but uhhhhh yea <:3

1) Does ur OC have a voice claim? If so who? [any]

3) What song describes your OC? [any]

14) Who's a character your OC cannot stand! it's on sight when they see them! [any (but curious abt Michele)]

15) Will your OC ever retire? Do you see them making it? [either Gonzalo, Michele or Adri]

20) If they fight, what's their weapon of choice? [any, curious on Mika tho 👀]

27) What's their spirit tamagochi? or an animal you associate them with [any (although I have an idea of most of them dkxndkfn)]

29)Imagine a mood board for your OC! What's on it? (Make it if you want!) (not necessary, just sillying rn)

hii thanks for writing the questions i love you

1). Gonzalo kinda sounds like the singer in Dance With Me (Topline Addicts), but only that song in specific for some reason?? Michele sounds like Snufkin in the English dub (I dont even watch Moominvalley, I just saw a clip once and thought "yeah that's my daughter"). I haven't found Mika's exact voice irl yet, sadly.

3). Gonzalo is very Sucede/Desarraigo (by Extremoduro) coded, but I'd like to mention Everything She Wants (Wham!), High and Dry (Radiohead) and Lágrimas Desordenadas (Melendi). Very father of him for the most part, I like to think. He also likes all of those, by the way, Extremoduro and Radiohead are his favorite bands (GOD HE'S LIKE ME FR)

Mika depends on the time of his life, honestly, but I relate Using You (Mars Argo) and Cynical One (TV Girl) to him. There's more, though, I just don't want to yap too much.

Extra: The Mind Electric (Miracle Musical) for Michele, Califórnica (La Gusana Ciega) for Adriana, and basically anything sung by Betty Hutton could be Becky's :33

14). I'm going to be very honest, DMC doesn't have enough characters for Michele to hate someone. However, she IS bitter about Fortuna as a whole because no one even tried to protect them as a child. Sure, it was supposed to be a secret, but giving him away that easily and never wondering where the kid went is... Interesting.

Adri hates Kimball AND Caesar, as she should, but that could apply to basically any Legion dude/NCR soldier. I don't think I've ever told you this, but Mika has beef with Leo's parents especially after Leo actually gets famous (basically because they didn't support their son enough and he was there to see it, and because I believe they'd be fake about it years after and Mika just wants to strangle them with a coat hanger) (he keeps it to himself but he calls his mom to talk 40 minutes worth of shit right after they leave lmao).

20). Michele has a sword (canon), Gonzalo technically owns a glock 22 because he's a cop but to me his canon weapon is his stupid little revolver in FNV, Becky likes energy weapons, Adri prefers dynamite and Mika doesn't fight or kill people but if he did he'd get an AK-47, I'm sorry.

27). I just looked through every single Tamagotchi thingy and I've decided to go with animals. Mika: Weasel

Gonzalo: St. Bernard dog

Michele: Something between a barn owl and a dove

Becky: Milksnake

Adriana: Either a coyote or a Mexican pink tarantula (it's not even pink wtf :c)

29). I'm not doing that right now but I might reblog this post with stuff I found on Pinterest/pictures I took that remind me of them.

[love-toxin]

miss ellie i'm realizing now that i never told you now revolutionary your ocs are. like. i've been on this website for literal years and the day i found your blog was with an oc post where you introduced such a dynamic lineup with so much variety, it was the first i had ever seen. maybe i wasn't looking hard enough but you had poc yanderes AND trans yanderes it was the first time i had ever seen any (i know it sounds crazy to say but i'm being so fr rn.) even when i look through your old posts and reread them i just get blown away by how each one is different and has their own personality even though you have so many?? anyway it's late and i just wanted to say that ty <3

will you marry me?? 🥺

LOL to be for real though that makes me sooooo happy you don't even understand, I'm really glad i get to be that way for you and all you lovely people 💕💕 it's a blessing to be able to write & post my work and I'm genuinely happy to see people connecting with it.

tbh, the representation i try to portray accurately is a really long-standing relationship i have with writing & authorship in general. this might not be a terribly interesting bit of lore but back when i was in my teens and consuming a lot of fanfic online in the early forms of it (ff.net my love </3) that was something that hit me a lot in reading self-insert fic, because I'd always been a huge reader and was just then tapping into self-inserts and community fiction posting rather than just books. and i remember distinctly (i think partly bc I've always grown up in multicultural neighborhoods/had mixed family growing up) reading fanfics and having the thought of "huh, i can relate to this description or this experience, but that makes me wonder whether other people can."

funny enough, it was partly when i would read descriptions of the author giving a self-insert long hair or referencing their hair in some way, and I'd start wondering how girls who wore a hijab would read that same piece, cause i went to school with a bunch of girls who wore it or a full niqab. and so i started wondering more like "if i was black, would i relate to this experience in this fic? if i was trans or gender non-conforming, are there characters i can relate to? if i were a mix of these things, could i find somewhere i belong in this setting?" and since then it kind of became a focus in the way i wrote stuff going forward.

i think using inclusive language in fic writing is really integral to a greater horizon of people enjoying it, and thinking on my ocs i always wanted to have characters that people could really relate to. I'd stop a lot in my process of creating my initial sets of characters and try to keep in mind those thoughts that i had in reading fics; "if i were this or that, could someone in that position relate to the stories I'm writing? and if not, what can i change to make that happen?" because if people are going to enjoy my characters or find comfort in them i want everyone possible to have the ability to. it's kind of intimidating at times to write for experiences i haven't had personally but it led me (and still leads me) to do a ton of research, and in doing so I've been able to learn lots of really fascinating things in the process. in doing so, it made it really easy for my characters to develop their personalities through my writing because i think they inherently have identities that are complex, which is always the goal you want for any character in the first place.

sorry that this kinda went off on a ramble LOL, but after so many years of writing and with my degree under my belt i still really think about it a lot. I'm really glad what i wanted to do has come across and i hope you continue to enjoy my ocs!! ❤️❤️

[spemtang]

This is gonna be a post of random Drakgo thoughts, blurbs and headcanons (maybe?) that aren't really categorized in any way I just need to talk about then rn.

A lot of fan stuff depicts Shego as being all suave and seductive towards Drakken. Which, duh. But I like to think their first kiss was him just awkwardly going for it in a never-kissed-a-girl-before, kinda-just-pressing-their-faces-together kind of way, before Shego sort of smoothens it out by the end. Dr. D is an oaf, but I feel he'd be the one with the boldness to do something like that despite sucking at it. It's his charm, really.

As much as I like the cuter aspects of DrakGo, Schooley's talk of their relations in the AMA get me thinking. Not that they'd end up with anyone but eachother, but that their romance post-graduation would be rocky and difficult. In "Emotion Sickness" we see a lot of Shego's affectionate side (to its extreme, mind you, but still representative of her in some ways). Despite her aloof attitude, I think she'd still have that grabby, persistence in ways that Drakken probably wouldn't be the most comfortable with (As seen in the episode itself). There could be tension between the two for that, maybe Shego would get too ahead of herself and become upset/feel rejected when Drakken declines further advances (Not that Shego wouldn't respect Drakken's boundries, but as in; she's not so level-headed in more personal scenes like those- she'd be more prone to getting emotional or taking things the wrong way)? He seems a lot softer, and new to romantic affection, so I feel their differences would create a disparity. Though, of course, I think they like eachother very much and wouldn't ever break apart because of it. They'd work it all out with time.

I had this small idea in my head of a little plot where Drakken would lose/accidentally trash his medal of honor he got during graduation, feeling distraught as it was a emblem of his only real accomplishment and moment of recognition. It'd only be after hours of searching in some dump with Shego's assistance that he'd realize why she was there - helping him. Not as a sidekick, or assistant, or henchwoman. But because she cared about it as long as he cared about it. It'd be then he'd realize the trophy he was looking for was with him the entire time 😭(I'm sorry if this one was cheesy or generic it just popped in my head and I wanted to write it. It sounded so sweet.)

They, obviously, watch Snowman Hank anually. Shego hates to admit that she kind of likes it in a weird sort of way.

When Drakken has nightmares, he now clings to Shego instead of calling his mother at 2 in the morning for emotional support.

[return-of-a-space-cowboy]

🧚‍♀️ Anon

To be honest I’m a little unsure for a Part 1 for Sins of the Father (I really love that title though)

So I’m completely fine and curious about what you would write for it (I currently have no ideas at the moment for SotF but I might get some later, I might need to watch the newer Scream Movies)

Here are a few ideas I have though in general, I’d like to hear what you think

Mostly I can see Darling use her mother’s last name to hide being related to Kira

Does Darling move back to Morioh?

What if the shock of the murders results in a Horror Movie being put in production (Maybe it’s called ‘Morioh Massacre’ or something) and a bunch of rumors spread about it being based on a True Story about Morioh’s infamous Serial Killer

I definitely like the parallel with Kira, Darling just wants to have a normal life (But unlike her father she doesn’t have his murderous impulses, but maybe she did inherit his rage whenever she feels like she can’t get away from his legacy) only someone in Morioh is after her, calling her, cryptic messages and gruesome murders whenever she goes

Maybe this is how her Stand finally manifests (Her Stand has always been apart of her life when Kira got it, but either she’s never been strong enough to fully manifest it or she new about its existence but never could grasp it’s full potential and abilities until her life was threatened and thrown into turmoil)

Darling uses her Horror Movie trivial, sarcasm and dry humor as a coping mechanism (In reality she’s angry and tired, but she doesn’t want to be the helpless victim, especially since she knows they’re always the first to die)

Maybe Josuke knew Darling? But she was known as that quiet nerdy girl? (His mom and her mom knew each other, before her disappearance) Maybe Josuke and Darling we’re friends but grew apart when she had to move away because of the bullying?

I wasn’t very sure with this and I just wrote a few ideas (My mind kinda went ham)

Also that fanart you drew was very cute I liked it a lot

Ok so I have a few idea, still want to keep things cryptic for now.

Reader was in her last year of middle school when the truth of yoshikage Kira came out and due to her last name this led to a lot of negative attention. Thus her grandparents moved and had her last name changed to her mothers.

I'm thinking that darling knows who Josuke was as he was a year above them. Probably though word of mouth as well as seeing him after leaving class but they never knew eachother personally. Perhaps Josuke knows her through association due this grandfather being friends with her grandparents, he probably saw a couple of photos that his mother had been shown. Perhaps even a slight push to befriend her but didn't do so.

I'm thinking that After graduation Josuke may have taken a gap year to America to see his dad and such before going to university and ending up in the same course not entirely sure on the subject yet.

The horror movie idea is really interesting. Perhaps it's brought up by a work colleague. They're really excited and start going on about it and darling is saying some stuff that is out of character from what they know. Leading to them asking why they aren't interested.

"Oh I just think it's a bit exploitive" she'd say.

"But you really like chainsaw massacre and that's kinda based off of Ed Gein" they'd point out. (It was the only example I could come up rn with that wasn't an out right exploitation film)

Perhaps it's brought up the case again as well and some of former students of the middle school bring up that there was a girl there related to him. She might even be confronted by a relative of one of the victims.

Putting her really on edge and Josuke might just walk in on a situation without context and immediately rush in to help. And probably gets some clues that she's being stalked or harassed.

Her stand probably developed after a particular incident back in marioh cho before leaving, she'd had hit her breaking point and retaliated against one if the other student. Her first outburst. After she left she started to receive texts and most likely followed by subsequent injuries. Act 2 probably developed a few years later after another incident. Perhaps her stand was trying to get revenge on someone on her behalf. (Sometimes it targets particular people who threaten darling, other times it chooses random victims)

Thanks for liking the design I came up with, currently sharing my laptop with my partner so I can't use it as often. If I could I would have done some photo bashing to get a idea for act 3s Appearance.

[swaglet]

One of the things that keeps me deep in ed is the fact that i hate having a "feminine body" I HATEEEEE having curves liek fucking hate it.

And the problem is no amount of weight loss will change the structure of my body so unfortunately I have to try to keep myself at a low weight to appear as if I have less curves.

Idk if you watched euphoria but rue (character played by zendaya) has my dream body she's so tall, skinny, "flat" like she looks "boyish" (i swear im not a creep 😭) and I so wanna look like that every time I wear something and see my curves pop out I wanna take a seesaw and just fucking remove them.

Whenever I discuss this w my friends they either tell me I'm humble bragging or they try to tell me that I'm non binary or some bullshit.

Like I jsut wanna have a slender body. Curves to me jsut make me look trashy and too "sexed up" I wanna look like a stick with no shape ffs

under a cut cos its kinda triggering material obvs and im yapping

oh nonnie this is exactly what kept me sick for so long too i'm so sorry to hear this is what you're going through as well :'( my mind always felt at ease when people told me i looked more like a little boy than a grown woman for reasons i'm sure we all have experienced at one time or another (COUGH misogyny and harassment and sexualization and objectification and and and)

i'm actually dealing with the fallout of it rn and it still messes with me mentally... 6 months ago i started birth control to stop my periods entirely to manage my pmdd and the excessive amount of blood i was losing during every period, and while my weight itself hasn't drastically changed at all (it stays within 5 pounds maintenance thanks to the lifting and protein usually i think), any of the body fat i DID has redistributed to make me even curvier than i was before. my boobs and ass are prominent parts of my figure now like they got HUGE compared to how they used to be (FLAT) and i have a small amount of new stretch marks on the inside of my thighs which means they must have gotten meatier and that checks out because a lot of my pantlegs and shorts feel tighter. literally because of that i almost relapsed so many times in the past 6 months but ive had the mental fortitude to just ignore the urge

what has helped me a lot is that, as i have gotten close to the people in my life that are related to my accomplishments that i am proud of (a lot of it having to do with college and my local music scene) and have become comfortable with opening up to them about feeling the way i do, almost all the women in my life have shared that they relate at least a little bit, but that my appearance and certainly not my weight or amount of curves i have don't bear any weight (pun intended) on determining how much they respect me, how talented they think i am, how good they think i am at my job/the things i do, how willing they are to work with me, and stuff like that. many of them have also offered me the advice that we only get one body, and there's only so much you can do to alter the natural shape of your body, and then within those limits there's only so much you can do that's healthy and won't disable you or damage your organs for the rest of your life, and it's unfortunate that men have made our bodies out to be this sexed object but we do really only have one shot at life and ultimately i think it's pointless trying to meticulously control how everyone around us perceives us. to be honest i have felt a lot better about it since i have been making less and less men as friends and making more women friends.

i want to say that curves, or any body shape, aren't trashy or too sexed up, they're just neutral forms that your body takes. you have little to no control over how your genetics and environment shape your bones and distribute your fat patterns aside from exercising in a way that keeps your body working and eating a nutritious diet to fuel you, so the shape of your body literally cannot have like. moral implications like trashy or slutty or sexed up or anything. i repeat that to myself when i look in the mirror every morning. my body is completely neutral no matter how it looks; my body is not the vessel that i, a formless brain, pilot around in the real world; my body is not a physical representation of me.. my body is just part of me, i am my body, my body is me, and anything my body looks like is how i look and that's how life is. i don't have to like how i look, i am allowed to be uncomfortable with it, but nothing is wrong with my body unless something physiologically about me is unwell (ex. joint pain, something is swollen or red, a medical issue basically) or is making me sick or unable to function. if it's something i can't control and can't change drastically without surgery or severely under- or overeating, like my boob size, butt size, thigh gap size, the shape of how my bones fit together and how my muscles and fat lays on top of the bones, then i just do the stupid therapy thing where instead of thinking negative thoughts i think a different thought and don't let myself ruminate on the negative ones i'm fixated on. for example, "my strong healthy non-starved body lets me play my trumpet very loudly and march strongly with force; underneath my gigantic ribcage is a gigantic set of lungs" or "my strong healthy non-starved body lets me go on bug hunts often without getting as tired and weak and needing to stop because now it's full of food that fuels me all day long and i eat like a cavewoman who was built to endurance hunt and gather trinkets all day" and one that i'm sure not many can relate to is "my healthy body lets me sweat now so i don't overheat and although sweating may be unpleasant and very uncomfortable it lets me know i'm alive and that my body is working correctly" and then i try my best to move on with my day

another thing i do is i pay A LOT of attention to the women around me who i look up to and respect; what do they look like? do i ever notice their weight or their curves and feel negatively towards them and have diminished respect towards them or feel disdain towards them? or do i feel a kinship with them if i do ever happen to notice, like "oh she is like me in that regard"? there has never been an instance where i have felt negatively about a woman in my life or lost any respect for her because of her shape, curves or no curves. i'm much more concerned about other things tbh, especially as i get older. idk how old you are nonnie, but in my experience it's very easy to be "boyish" anorexic when you're in your teens and like at the oldest 19 years old... even without synthetic female hormones (birth control) being added to my body, and even with a hormonal imbalance, at about 21 i started rly "growing up" and that's when i got hips and a little bit bigger boobs (still A cups nonetheless) and put on a bit of a belly pooch even when i was still way too underweight. those are just parts of a woman that exist on our bodies naturally and there isn't any judgement to be ascribed to them. every professor, every janitor, every coach, every grown 21+ student walking around my campus (and town!) looks like that regardless of what shape or size we come in. naturally underweight, naturally overweight, neither, curvy, blocky, straight as a board/fridge, regardless of what shape that's just how women are shaped i think. i wouldn't ever judge another woman for looking the way i look, i wouldn't judge another woman for her shape Ever, regardless of what i think her circumstances are, so by that logic i ought to apply that to myself.

another thing that brings me comfort, and you may not believe me with this one but im serious; nobody notices all the things you notice about yourself anywhere NEAR as much as you do. ppl who have known me for 4 years think im 120 pounds (i am 30 pounds heavier than that and they are always in disbelief when i tell them that) and always have no idea i have a small potbelly until i lift my shirt and show them. it's like one of my biggest insecurities in the world and literally no one knows or cares which is insane to me. if i ever get sad about it i tell myself that's where i keep my ovarian cyst at + all my air for when i sing/play instruments and it will go away with time as i get more gains and start eating right again

and nonny!!!!! "slender/stick with no shape" is still just as much of a shape as "feminine/curvy" ! male is not the default no matter how much society wants u to believe that i promise......... there is nothing wrong with the way women's bodies are this is how we have existed naturally for thousands of years since we first got here. our bodies are just as neutral as men's bodies are. it took me a long long time to feel this way about myself and about my body and about the human body in general and recovery is never linear, my outlook changes every day and i have good days and bad days and some days i absolutely just will not go outside because i don't want anyone to look at me. but those have been far and few between lately

i love u very much anon. food definitely tastes better than how skinny feels. living life freely feels better than looking perfectly skinny in an aesthetic outfit. aesthetic outfits are for 1 day. aesthetic outfits and a skinny slender form will be in pictures and they will only last in the pictures. i don't want to scare you but you will either die like that (very slowly) or you will get very unwell and realize you have to choose recovery and you will have to gain it all back slowly and you will have to choose yourself everyday. idk. i put myself through so much agony that i didn't have to go through and looking back on those pictures im thinking in my head. what was all that for? i felt better then but it's so scary to me now. i looked so sick it makes me so sad for little me. i wish she could have lived a life where she wasn't preoccupied with being perceived as a sex object and could have lived free like i do now. BUT WE THRIVE. I BELIEVE IN YOU NONNIE I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH

[valyrou]

Hi!! Could I request dazai with a weird person? (Ik it's not the term, maybe artistic, maybe something else, weird is the only global term which isn't that wrong). Basically they're extremely drawn by art, notice the most niche and least noticeable things and 'it makes sense in my head sorry' is their daily sentence which leads them to feel alone and not understood. Like this with dazai would be interesting I think (like the dynamic, i cant go on bc its starting to get so long but the whole 'dont feel like a proper human being too' ahhh i cant put the right words). There again- I'm sorry it makes sense for me-

Anyway have a good day and sorry <33

A/n: Hello Anon!! Of course I can do that!! I am working on multiple requests at once, kinda overworking myself with studies and work and on top of that I have finals soon and I should study a bit more.. ANYWAYS I related to this a little too much so I think I know what you mean by „weird person that can’t really describe what they think“ kinda stuff. But this isn’t about me so I HOPE YOU ENJOYYY

Warnings: to lazy to read over this rn so not proof read at all.. ALSO INSPIRED BY „no longer human“ by osamu Dazai lol?? Don’t know why but here we are :) reader doesn’t have a gender aswell, so GN reader

Dazai x Misunderstood! Reader

You couldn’t quite remember how you got to the art gallery with Dazai, but here you stood Infront of an magnificent piece of art. You could see how old it was by the cracks and discoloration, yet the way it was drawn, with such delicacy was as if it was drawn only a few minutes ago to you. The emotions and thought behind it, still visible to your eye. The way the eyes of that women were slightly casted down, the dark colored theme, the way the posture was drawn, everything seemed so right.

That was something everyone could see, yet even the way the clothes hung from her body made an important difference to the picture „Can you see her naked shoulder and the robe that almost seems to be put on lazily?“ you had begun your sentence, „it resembles her innocence and purity, no men could ever touch her..“ your voice got a little dreamier on the end. It took you some seconds to notice that’s Dazai didn’t respond. You immediately got embarrassed „it made sense in my head.. sorry“

You looked to your feet, cursing yourself out for saying such stupid things to him as if he could understand what you were thinking… if he could ever understand how you felt when the art practically screamed for you to tell its story, because you knew no one else could quite think like you. No one could. You were alone in this world that seemed to abandon you. Reject you from society as if you weren’t a human being. As if, the moment you shared a piece of your mind, you were no longer human..

You snapped out of your thoughts as you felt a soft hand on your shoulder „Yea, but also look at her hips, the way her robe curves there.“ he pointed subtly to were he meant, „she also seems tense, as if to say that she knew what the men around think of her.“ impressed you looked up to the tall brunette „You saw that?“ in response, Dazai only chuckled „Of course, you are not the only one that has a unique way to see and think.“ his hand gently squeezing your shoulder

„You are not alone. Not everyone might understand what you are trying to say, but I promise you there are always a hand full of people that do. Don’t push yourself down, see the ups of having a unique way to think, even if you can’t voice it.“ he shot you a cheerful smile and for the first time, you felt accepted. Accepted in this so shallow society you always had claimed not to be a part of.

[phantomoftheorpheum]

PLL: OS (Summer School) 2x07 thoughts

*Spoilers for 2x01-2x07 of Summer School + the trailer for the final 3 episodes.

Okay, this is it, y'all, the last chance to make any predictions! I suspect this is going to be very long.

Unfortunately I have a lot going on rn, so I'm pretty exhausted and I fear this will not be my best, but I'm going to do my best to push through the brain fog. If I struggle with expressing my thoughts, at least you'll know why.

I think, for the final analysis of the season (I will post something about 2x08, but it will probably be a much shorter post, since I don't anticipate doing much speculating [outside of loose threads]) I'm going to break things down by girl, but fully go through every character most closely linked to each girl, then move on to stuff that doesn't fit well in those categories. Okay, let's do this. I hope you're ready for overthinking. (P.S. there are weird breaks in the formatting because of tumblr's limits of how long a single block of text can be).

Faran

I'm starting with Faran because she is both my personal favorite, and because I think she may be the simplest to talk about. So while it does feel like Faran's gotten to grow this season, a lot of her story is really an internal journey for her character development, and I think a lot of it isn't super directly linked to the BR plot. Despite her character getting a lot of physically strenuous scenes, I think her confidence/emotional strength was what was really tested this season. So like I said, aside from being linked to the church through the characters outside of the girls that she interacts with the most, Faran doesn't feel super tied in to the BR motive. I've really enjoyed Faran this season (and relate to a lot of aspects of her personality), but her story does feel a bit peripheral to the main events of the season (which is fine, tying to deeply tie villain motivations back to each of the girls in this plot seems like a lot. It worked with their moms, but would be harder to do repeatedly). That being said, there are characters and plot lines attached specifically to her, so let's take a look at those.

Henry - I think he's irrelevant. He was mentioned one time this episode. I think this is just a character (or maybe more the relationship) they just wanted to cycle out. He's felt doomed (figuratively speaking) all season, and if he doesn't make any kind of appearance in 2x08, that doesn't feel like a loose thread. I've never hated or loved Henry (and I think that's a bit of the problem and the reason they've basically written him out), he's just kinda there. And now he's just kinda not there. If they have a third season, I could see him possibly making very minor appearances (depending on the availability of the actor), but it does just feel like the show is pretty done with him. Considering his connections to Kelly's church, it is possible he "sold the girls out" in some way, but that just feels unnecessarily complicated, tbqh. This is probably the last time I will talk about him at all, unless he pops up in an important way next episode.

Coach Rhodes & Stringbean - It feels like this storyline was here to close out Faran's arc of finding herself and feeling confident/comfortable in her strength, both physically and mentally. Obviously Coach Rhodes has Faran's number, and they still haven't explained the info showing up on SpookySpaghetti, but that always felt like a distraction anyway (Coach Rhodes, I mean). I'll be surprised if he has any kind of important role.

Greg - I guess it's time for me to really talk about Greg, because I've mentioned him and Faran/Greg a little over the course of the season, but mostly in passing. It now feels like it's time. Listen... Greg is (I think) in my mind benefitting massively from the fact that I didn't bother to rewatch season 1, because I don't think I have as many negative feelings about him as people who that season was fresh for. I barely remember him in season 1, so I've forgotten a lot of the stuff he said/did, so basically season 2 Greg exists in my mind by himself. BUT, please don't get me wrong, he is still annoying and problematic and I think they've rushed (and cut) key stuff they really needed for a good redemption arc for a character like him. And I do think he needs a redemption arc if they want to move forward with him as a protagonist, even a background one. In the scheme of the show, sure, Greg is probably not the literal worst (I don't think he's murdering anybody, anyway), but the show has also made him intentionally an example of toxic masculinity, misogyny, etc. etc. etc. and because the show has chosen to center a lot of these topics, then ignoring that Greg has spent the majority of his screen time as an embodiment of all those things, just having him say a few "Sorry, I'm better now," kind of lines just doesn't cut it, imo. I actually really respect the idea of taking an incredibly privileged, toxic, and even harmful character and deconstructing them, to show that it's hard and it's a process and that people can change, but it's not easy to unlearn all that stuff. It can be fascinating, and also a reminder that, as hard as it might be for us to like someone like Greg, the message that "once a shitty person, not always a shitty person," is ultimately, if executed thoughtfully, a positive. So yeah, I think that kind of storyline can be done well, but it takes time, which is something this show lacks in a lot of ways (lots of characters, lots of elements, very few episodes). Personally, I think they should have played the long game with Greg, if they really wanted to turn him into a protagonist and possible love interest. I don't know why they wouldn't, except maybe that he's going to be sacrificed to add to the body count of the finale and so they knew they didn't have time to do a developed arc with him.

Faran/Greg as a ship - If you told me I had to write a follow up to season 1 and make Greg a love interest for Faran, here's what I would have pitched- Use season 2 to show that he's questioning things and people around him (maybe we introduce his gay cousin [I know that was a Riverdale reference, but that could have been anyone] who's visiting for the summer and he's someone Greg already loves/respects who calls out his inappropriate comments and toxic masculinity). Show him listening and absorbing the thoughts/behavior of the people that he's now surrounded by (his cousin at home, Faran and Ash [and Shawn if he existed enough to be anything] at work), instead of his usual group of friends from school. Show him becoming unsatisfied and embarrassed with the way that he's been acting. Make him realize, now that he's starting to open his mind a bit, that he does really respect Faran, shown through interactions of them working together. Have them clash at the beginning of the season, but also have them talk and have friendlier moments, because they're stuck together at work and there's a lot of just sitting around, basically. Let us, the audience, watch him change, while Faran maybe doesn't see it that much, because the change is slow. If you have to have Faran/Greg "romance" in season 2, make it casual. Faran will have spent enough time with Greg by mid-season that she's friendly-ish with him, but after her breakup with Henry, she's just looking for a FWB kind of situation and, now that she's seen a slightly better side of him, she thinks Greg's kinda hot. She sees him shirtless all day, she finds that their bickering has evolved into less serious topics and now it's evolved into some sexual tension, she doesn't see him as a real romantic option, but he and Kelly are broken up (which I would have had happen earlier), so why not? Get them to a point by the end of season 2 where you've set up a "he's completely smitten with her, but she thinks it's just casual and it doesn't even occur to her they could be a real couple," dynamic for season 3. If you get a season 3, great. If you don't, that's okay, too. That way, you still get your ship in season 2 (and it's PLL, they tend to have to have their ships), but it doesn't feel entirely unsupported, and you can continue to have that relationship evolve into something deeper, OR you can have it fall apart easily, whichever direction you want to go if you get renewed because there's groundwork for either (scenario one, Faran develops feelings, scenario two, she doesn't and realizes he has and that ends things). So that would have been my pitch if you told me I have to try to make this ship work (would I have pitched this ship in the first place? no, I wouldn't have, but that won't stop me from trying to retroactively work out how it could have been handled), anyway.

As it is, I really don't get the Faran/Greg thing from a pacing/storytelling/character POV. I get the tropes that they're leaning into with this relationship. I get that there's limited time. I think I entirely get what the intent was. I just don't think they've done enough with Greg's character or his relationship with Faran to support where we are now with them. Mostly. I said last week that I thought it was good they cut the 2x06 kiss, because while I could see where they were trying to go with things, it just didn't feel like they'd managed to actually get those characters to a place where it makes sense, but now I kind of want to take that back because I think this felt even weirder? Like I don't know what was said in the 2x06 conversation that led to a kiss, or what other Faran/Greg content they might have cut from earlier in the season, but I just didn't feel like they'd had enough legitimately friendly interactions (yeah, Greg apologized to her that one time, but they've not really talked about anything of substance with each other, ever) for them to suddenly be legit hanging out and hooking up. When Greg said, "You know why," I thought to myself- Yeah, I do, but what if I didn't know about the cut kiss from 2x06 and/or I haven't been paying that much attention to the show, would I? That conversation makes a lot more sense with the context of that not being the first time they've kissed, but since that scene was cut, I guess it canonically is and hhdfjshfkjsdfs. Because romance is not central to the plot, and you have 5 main characters, this is the perfect opportunity to plan multi-season romantic arc that doesn't ruin anything if it's not resolved, and I just think they should have taken that. Y'all, I want to be very clear that my critiques of the show come from a place of fun for me. I like thinking about how things that I believe are particularly weak elements could have been different. If I weren't enjoying myself, I wouldn't be watching, and I definitely wouldn't be making posts like this. So when I say I think something is done poorly, that doesn't mean that I'm horribly upset or I don't like the show. I just like talking about what could be done better. The only time I am legitimately annoyed (and it's more frustration than anything) is when I feel like I just cannot understand what/why/how the creative decisions were made. I don't think Faran/Greg has been handled particularly well (too fast, too unsupported, not enough change on Greg's part, etc.), but I do think I understand what the intent/goal was, in this case, and so it doesn't bother me as much as it easily could.

Kelly

I'm giving Kelly her own section this time, and I think it makes sense for it to follow Faran's, since their plots are tied together this season.

Kelly's actions are quite interesting to me this episode. She seems to be genuinely investigating the Bloody Rose plot, and she seems genuinely suspicious of her mother. And also she could be dead now. (I do not think Kelly is dead, because if she is, then Faran didn't have to find her right away. I assume Faran will be able to save her, tying up the "Faran rescuing people from drowning," arc).

The question remains- is Kelly genuine? She does a lot of things in this episode that point to "she doesn't know what's going on," like calling Sandy's mom and asking where she is, questioning her mom about who she blames for Karen's death, locking her mom up and fleeing her house. All these things are consistent with actions a character would take if they don't know what's going on and are trying to find out.

My problem with this is... I think that there is a plan from the BR team (I'm calling it a team, because I think it's minimum 2 people and likely 3 or more) to frame someone (or someones) for the Bloody Rose attacks, so also all of those actions (along with a possibly faked attack intentionally witnessed by Faran) could be part of Kelly setting up her mother as a fall guy (so in this scenario, Kelly is playing out the "concerned friend & investigator" role by doing things like calling Sandy's parents to establish actions that would make her seem innocent). When you think about it, it would make sense. A lot of the BR stuff ties back to the church, which her mother has a major role in. Whoever BR is, they were able to convince people that their victims are still alive and not trigger a murder investigation or search parties. Whoever BR is, they are covering their tracks. Mrs. Beasley would be a great fall guy if Kelly were involved, and Mrs. Beasley is abusive towards Kelly, giving her motivation to frame her.

So, for that reason, I haven't cleared Kelly from my list. That being said, her behavior this episode does more likely point to her innocence, as it's a simpler explanation and allows her to stay in the show as a sometimes protagonist, sometimes antagonist. I also think this episode makes it pretty difficult to think Mrs. Beasley and Kelly are involved. If they were, a lot of their conversations don't make any sense.

However, if Kelly is involved, I can't help but wonder if her BR attack was staged (I mean, she may really be injured à la Billy and Stu) because she was tipped off about the girls beginning to close in a bit by Faran's conversation with her. She could also be pissed at Faran for her thing with Greg (though since the show seems to have cut a lot of that, it's probably not that important to the plot) if she somehow found out about that.

Mrs. Beasley is obviously incredibly suspicious at this point, but since PLL properties favor twist villains, she may very well be too suspicious. She blames the girls for what happened to Karen (and what warped thinking, that this happened to Karen because of the video is. Ma'am Karen's doom did not start with a video, it started when your husband r**ed Angela), which is certainly motive. She also specifically ties Karen's death to The Orpheum, which is another arrow pointing at Tabby's storyline. Anyway, obviously she's growing roses (but literally anybody could go cut some) and she's connected to the church and we know she's hurting Kelly, so... But those reveals are all pre-finale, and also all of those things would be a great way to frame her.

The timing of Kelly's attack is difficult to pinpoint. It looked like it was daylight when she locked Mrs. Beasley up, and Kelly is attacked after dark. It's not totally clear, but I think the only side characters with alibis during this particular attack are (actual Rose, Mouse's grandmother, Shawn, & Greg). Since I believe that there may be multiple people dressing up as Bloody Rose, this isn't really helpful. (Finally a BR attack where it seems like Shawn has an alibi, though).

Mouse

This is probably going to be a pretty short section, since Mouse doesn't have a ton going on, though there are some interesting implications in her story this episode.

So... how did Mouse get exposed on SpookySpaghetti? It still feels like there's someone with inside info on the girls (phone numbers, their redemption house info, now this), but as far as we know the only character who knows Mouse made the Angela video is Ash. Are we supposed to believe people just recognized her/her voice (which tbf, was not particularly disguised)? Or was the laptop she was brought a trap? (or even if it wasn't, could someone have remote access to Mouse's computers?) Is someone tracking her digital info, and possibly even watching her through her webcams? It's interesting because we've only seen this happen once, but Mouse accepted that video chat with Bloody Rose, so could the point of that have been for Rose to gain access to her computer? That's never come back around.

Speaking of Mouse's computer, we did meet her "computer teacher" this episode, and he is clearly a character who would be capable of all that, but it feels waaaay too late for an important introduction.

Ash - Again, I don't have a lot to say here. The fact that he knew about the Angela video does look not great for him, particularly with the leaked phone numbers, since he's someone who probably had all the new numbers at that point. The girls say they didn't give the numbers to anyone, but I think they mean new people, because they were all still talking to their boyfriends, so I assume they were excluding people they really trust. But... I just don't see how Ash fits in as a good villain for this season. He's been very background and the biggest part of his story is Pride vs Hell House, and that just feels really genuine. He's nowhere near the top of my predictions.

Mouse's Grandmother & Rose - I am glad that this plot point is going to get addressed to some degree, because I've been wondering why they had Rose jump off of a bridge. It would have been really easy to just have her be unwilling to speak to the girls or not coherent when they found her. Whether or not she actually is Rose Waters, and what her connection to stuff might be, does still feel like it needs to be resolved. I don't have much new to say about Mouse's grandmother. I suppose she might have known Rose back in the day, since her daughter obviously knew Angela.

Imogen

There are a few elements to Imogen's storyline this season that need to be addressed in the finale, the most obvious being if BR is pretending to be her mother and why.

I still think we're building to Imogen stabbing someone (quite probably Johnny), just not sure whether that's going to be a hallucination, a bad guy, accidentally a good guy, etc. I don't think the fact that she's had two meltdowns where she's grabbed knives and Johnny has talked her down from both of them is in any way an accident (rule of threes).

I'm still unsure why they introduced Rebecca, when it's had absolutely nothing to do with anything (I guess it's informed Imogen's mental state and kept her relationship with her mother at the surface). I just don't see how they tie it in with any sort of satisfaction because we've literally met this character one time.

In general, I'm honestly really not sure how Davie ties in to everything, unless she doesn't, really, but it's part of the storyline BR is crafting for a film or something.

Johnny - He's continued to be super chill about all the stuff Imogen is throwing at him. Out of the three new love interests, he is the least developed, which I think makes him the least likely to have a big twist reveal (though I do have a theory that includes him, but we'll get to that later because there's a lot of other stuff I need to bring up first), but that shot of what appears to be Imogen dragging his body across the creamery floor is something. I've thought it is most likely a nightmare that she has (because if he was revealed as a villain and killed or injured, why would she need to move his body? Surely under those circumstances she'd just call 911, like do we think Imogen is going to hide a body this season???), but I also kind of expected it to be in tonight's episode. I think I also instinctively discredit it a bit because if it is real & what it looks like, that feels very spoilery and I would never put something key like that in a trailer, but also sometimes they really do put stuff in a trailer that you probably shouldn't. Since I have no new information on his character, this is about all I've got for you on this one.

Imogen/Johnny - Johnny has one point in his favor with me, and it's a small point, which is that he got the 2x06 Greg treatment this episode, AKA they gave him a shot were Imogen leaves and then he's all smiling and smitten. There's literally no one there to see it. But I only give that a tiny bit of weight because it could just be editing. The choice to linger on him in this moment feels weird if he's going to be evil, but weird choices happen sometimes. It also makes me very nervous that Imogen keeps talking about how safe she feels with Johnny. That seems like terrible foreshadowing. I just really want Imogen to not have to relive the trauma of dating people who have literally always had an ulterior motive.

Small note, but- "Stop analyzing me." Imogen, I love you, but do you know what a therapist is for?

Dr. Sullivan - Okay, this is still a big thing, even though we got some kind of explanation out of her in this episode. It's hard to know how honest she's being. Even without her vanishing and the rose petals appearing, her past with this situation didn't feel resolved. Archie murdering her son for revenge against Dr. Sullivan for simply not reporting his situation doesn't totally line up to me. Like I get that she should have done something, but he had apparently already escaped at that point, so... She's from Millwood. Did she know the girl's moms? Did she know Davie? We know she knew Rose. Also Imogen couldn't find anything about her son online. He has a gravestone, so it feels like he's real (though she could have scouted the cemetery and found a Sullivan and then used that person's first name in her explanation to Imogen), so that makes me question if Dr. Sullivan is Dr. Sullivan. I mean, I know that Dr. Sullivan is a character from the original and she is definitely actually Dr. Sullivan, but with all the theories around twins, could she actually be Dr. Sullivan's twin, impersonating her to gain access to the girls (would also explain why she was so willing to risk her license by recording the girls without their consent)? But that feels overly complicated, too.

Obviously Imogen has that dream where Dr. Sullivan is BR and impersonating her mother. But Imogen's story is so intertwined with motherhood, she clearly spends part of the season looking up to Dr. Sullivan as a kind of stand-in mother figure, and Dr. Sullivan and Davie do look a little alike. This is clearly unresolved, but I'm conflicted in where I think it's going. It could be more about Imogen's personal journey, and I would probably assume that if BR hadn't (probably, we didn't actually see it) been wearing a Davie mask.

Dr. Sullivan's flashback scenes were weird, like tv (or film) recreations, rather than legit flashbacks (another SpookySpaghetti film? Or possibly the movie BR might be making?) and what was with Archie's mask in the flashback??? That looked like a Christian monster mask, rather than the A mask we're used to seeing. That's another reason I wonder if the "flashback" might be a dramatized recreation for the film. And is that supposed to be Archie's "real" face?

I still haven't forgotten that someone pushed her down the stairs (according to her) and we've just avoided bringing that up again.

"Something about Rose compelled me," is a very interesting wording. It's also very "The power of Christ compels you!" feeling.

And then, obviously, she disappears and the rose petals are left behind. So presumably she's either been kidnapped by BR or she's in on it. I'm still very conflicted about this character.

Noa

Here we are again. That's it.

Okay, no, I'm actually going to talk about it. I'm not going to continue to go on about all the stuff leading up to this episode because I have discussed it in length in previous posts. Yes, I'm still frustrated with this storyline, and yes, that's still mostly because I cannot figure out what the show is trying to say/do here. Either Noa is getting set up for a big fall/surprise, or they genuinely didn't see how this arc was going to be received. It's one or the other.

While I can understand why Noa would feel so connected to Jen and why she might grow apart from Shawn and why this love triangle situation happened in the first place, what I struggle to understand (from a character perspective) is how she'll go from casually discussing the fact that she's been cheating on Shawn (those are her own words, it's not like she's in denial about her actions), then crying and seemingly genuinely feeling guilty, but then she'll turn around and think she's justified in smashing up his car because... he was angry at her and Jen for their affair?

Characters respond to things emotionally, and I do think Noa is someone who operates on her gut instincts, rather than spending a lot of time thinking things through, but what in holy hell was she thinking? Of course he's gonna be really pissed, Noa. You cheated on him (and it's not even addressed if he's aware this happened while she was in juvie, too), literally moved the person you're cheating with into your house under his nose, asked him for 2k to bail out the person you're cheating with, continued to instigate a sexual relationship with him instead of breaking things off, didn't actually do anything when the person you're cheating with literally robbed his own house (which he may also still not know), then dumped him without even being honest about why. But he's the bad guy because... he yelled at the person you were cheating with a put a hole in the wall? Wild. And like... listen, someone putting a hole in the wall in anger is a red flag to me (irl), but considering the circumstances and his lack of a history of violence, if we are supposed to think this in any way warrants Noa then smashing his car (which like... at least equally big red flag irl as punching a wall) then I don't get it.

So that brings me to the fact that I'm not convinced Shawn actually did damage the wall (he does not specifically deny this when confronted, but he's also a little distracted by the fact that his ex is smashing out his car windows). I mean, who the hell knows? We literally only have Jen's version of events and she's got a history of lying and twisting situations around to suit her ends. We also don't know what her reaction to being confronted by Shawn was. Her pattern in confrontation that we've witnessed is to get angry and accusatory with the person confronting her. She also basically taunted Shawn to his face with the comment about not getting much sleep, so why would I believe she didn't intentionally escalate that situation as well? She hardly seems like a character who would sit there and be all shaken up by it.

All that being said, if Jen is going to get majorly exposed as a villain, then this storyline will make a lot more sense to me. I'm frustrated with this storyline because I feel like I don't feel the emotions they imply we should with things like the cinematography, lighting, music, editing, etc. but if that is an intentionally contradictory choice, then that removes my frustrations. I mean, it's still a trope I don't particularly enjoy the journey of, but at least it will have been on purpose. And that's the thing I've been asking myself this season, is this on purpose? If it is, then great. It's not my kind of storyline, considering I really dislike love triangles, but they did what they wanted to do. If it's not, then someone missed the mark big time.

I'm going to discuss Jen further in a later section, so I'm not going to give her character too much attention here, but I do have one thing-

"Some lies are helpful," 👀 okay, Jen, are we gonna find out about yours? Is this going to be a "Well, yeah, I originally came here for nefarious purposes, but now I actually love you, so it's all good, right?" type of thing?

Shawn - If he's not a villain, then sorry bro, this has been a rough season for you.

Tabby

We've made it to Tabby! Our ultimate final Final Girl of season 2! At this point, it very much does seem like Tabby is at the absolute center of all this (which is why I am the most suspicious of characters directly tied to her) and that probably means some really not fun things in store for her in the finale.

We already know (from the trailer) that she's going to fall down the steps at Christian's house. She's also MIA from the riot at the Orpheum scenes (Riot At The Orpheum sounds like a PATD cover band or something, lol), so I think she's getting a lot of solo screen time in the finale.

This may not matter, but I wanted to note it here that Wes calls the owner of the movie theater "Mrs. Orpheum," which stuck out strangely to me. "The Orpheum" is a super common theatre name, so I have to assume this is a nickname (and not her actual name) Wes is using to refer to their boss, so then... considering how much is centered around Tabby this season, who actually owns the theater? And could they be behind the LLC that turned Imogen's house into Redemption House? Clearly whoever owns this place has a ridiculous amount of money, considering they're running a 35 mm capable theater that appears to have practically no customers.

Wes - So. Yeah. How likely do we think it is that Wes is dead now? Or at least kidnapped? His storyline is clearly completely unresolved (masks in his apartment, mysteriously missing for days, no BR attack alibis, his relationship with the film festival stuff, etc.) and he pretty much either has to be evil or is being framed. Him suddenly moving away (I mean, I don't think he's gone, but he did clearly tell Tabby he was leaving, so it's not like that was entirely fabricated) makes me wonder (assuming he's not BR) if he's been threatened to do so somehow. I also have no idea how Tabby is not suspicious of him. He's been acting weird, you have no idea where he is most of the time, you know he's a total asshole, and you found masks at his place and evidence he was using SpookySpaghetti, but he's not on your BR suspect list??? He's ridiculously suspicious! So suspicious, in fact, that it makes me slightly less suspicious of him. But the fact that no one has brought him up as a suspect circles me back around to being super suspicious of him again. While I'm considering some other options heading into the finale, if he were behind BR (though it has to be more than one person, imo) I wouldn't be shocked. He certainly has potential motive (I mean, if you're a terrible, terrible human being, which he is) with his film storyline and his "things are so hard for straight white men these days," mentality. I just don't love this theory as much as I did before the show started pointing at him so hard.

Mrs. Langsberry - I don't think I need to talk much about this. If she is part of the BR plot, we all know why. She has also been confirmed as a member of Kelly's church, so she does have links there, and it seems like someone on the BR team must be directly involved with the church.

Christian - I didn't want to be so suspicious of him, but we're here now. Also, Tabby, I love you, but someone is dressing up in special effects makeup and masks, both a horror mask and a hyper realistic one (we think) and your response is, "I'll ask Christian if he knows anybody," with absolutely no suspicion of him?? Like, WHAT??? And then you spent the night at his house??? I absolutely could not sleep in a house I knew had all those terrifying masks in the basement, particularly if someone was dressing up in masks and trying to kill me and friends?? I also think we spend a lot of time with Christian this season (without learning much about his past or him having his own separate arc), which makes sense if Tabby's the center of the story, but also if Tabby is the center of the story, then the villains are more likely to be directly connected to her. I also wondered why Tabby didn't question Christian suggesting they leave town together (don't you think some parents might have some opinions on this?), and because I am very suspicious of anyone the girls are not suspicious of, it made me think, "Are you trying to set up a situation where people won't think to miss her right away?" Like with Sandy or Pastor Malachi.

When Tabby asked Christian if he would help her make her movie, I thought, if he is part of the BR plot, and if that plot does involve making a movie, wouldn't it be absolutely wild if he responded to this with, "Already done." (like saying it in a friendly, 'of course' kind of way, but then meaning it literally). I feel like that's the exact kind of fun/silly thing this show would do. And if he's not involved, what a missed opportunity to creep your audience out and make them spiral (but I'm doing that anyway, so) about his character.

I want to be super fair, since I just wondered how Tabby is not suspicious of Christian and how she felt comfortable staying at his house (also where are anyone's parents? Like at least with Noa we understand why there's no parental supervision, but everyone else just stays over at their SOs place anyway?? this is one of those things I just have to not think too hard about because I don't think there is a good explanation), all of that applies to Imogen with Johnny and Noa with Jen, as well.

While horror has always been referenced in this show, it really does feel like horror films are making a huge appearance in different ways, and it just feels fitting for this to be Tabby-centric.

Speculation & More

With the "trio of villains" imagery on the poster (that has literally predicted the first 4 tests, so seems very relevant), I can't help but wonder if it could be as simple as all 3 of the new love interests. Johnny, Christian, Jen, all in it together. They're all new in town and we haven't met any of their family, so they're all pretty mysterious. I have at least one big thing about each of them that bothers me.

With Johnny it's simply those shots from the trailer (well, plus my incredibly far fetched theories about set decor and his line about his dad, but I wouldn't call either of those things compelling evidence), which make it seem like he may die in the finale (or at least be incapacitated), and since it seems to be Imogen that is possibly trying to cover that up, that doesn't bode well for his innocence. I can't think of anything that's been mentioned about him that would indicate motive, so I would have to assume that he's related to someone (like Chip) and has a revenge motive. But the shots from the trailer could still all be a dream.

With Jen it's the contradictory ways they've portrayed her storyline with Noa, and the fact that we know that we cannot assume she's being honest. It's not been specifically brought up a lot, but she could easily have a financial motive to be involved. Her stealing has been a consistent part of her character, and she says this is because she and her mom need the money. I don't know whether or not to believe that, but regardless of why she needs/wants money, it seems pretty clear she is a character who could be tied to the events of the season for financial gain (or it started that way and she regrets it, but is in too deep). It's also possible production just didn't realize how unpopular this love triangle would be (but it's hard to imagine, when they were emphasizing how loving/trusting Shawn is all season, like it feels very intentional, but then sometimes it doesn't) and the contradictory tone is not intentional.

With Christian it's his special abilities (horror makeup), the fact that he fits well into the "someone is making a movie" theory, and that he's directly tied to Tabby this season. His motive would presumably be film related (though there could be a personal element as well, since we know basically nothing about his past). But he could be a red herring or a fall guy.

Anyway, my problem with these three as a trio of villains is that it doesn't obviously connect back to the church in any way that I can think of, and I think it needs to. I guess all three of them could be supporting villains with someone else as "Rose," or maybe only one or two of them are involved.

Another consideration is that any of the love interests could be secondary antagonists, not in on the BR plot (or aided it without realizing how serious it was) and they will have a separate villain reveal (like Chip last season).

I certainly haven't forgotten about the online faction of the BR cult, particularly since it looks like they're rioting next episode (The Reckoning?), but how specifically they tie in, I don't feel confident in predicting. If the film theory is true, then I suppose their purpose could be to provide a "grand finale" for the film. I mean, it's kind of hard to get extras when your film is also an actual murder project, so brainwashing people into creating a big action sequence for you is the next best thing, I guess.

Dr. Sullivan's past just really feels like it also needs to come back around and be resolved, and I keep forgetting about the fact that she vanishes in this episode because I'm thinking about so many other things.

I'm bothered that I don't feel confident about where they're going with the Davie stuff.

I am putting a certain amount of faith in the show that they heard the criticisms of season 1 and the villain reveals will be characters we've spent a lot more time with. They have seemed to take other feedback (like the Ezra thing) and apply it to season 2, so I'm hoping this is the case for this, as well.

Anyway, I think this is all I've got right now. If you're still reading, thanks for sticking with me! I know this was a long one. I probably didn't need a whole "if they had to have Faran & Greg as a couple, here's how I would have done it," section, but Faran is my favorite and I've criticized Noa & Jen loads this season, so I gotta be fair and call it like I see it. If I think of anything else, I'll do a part 2, because this post is clearly long enough.

EDIT:

This literally doesn't matter, but I forgot to mention it & didn't want to make a whole new post about it, but I just now noticed Christian's movie on his name tag is Attack the Block, which is a absolutely ridiculous, underrated film, imo.

CLARIFICATION: I called all of the 3 new love interests "new in town," but I'm not sure that's really accurate. Christian is new in town, Jen (I think) lives elsewhere but reasonably near by because she mentions having to come to Millwood for summer school and clearly does not usually attend their school, and Johnny we really don't know. I didn't get the impression that he's recently moved like Christian, but we don't know where his house is, and none of the girls seemed familiar with him (and Millwood seems pretty small) and he mentions Rosewood when he's asking that girl out, so I kinda assumed he might be more from the Rosewood area. Anyway, "new in town" might only technically apply to Christian, but the point that all their pasts are pretty unknown still stands.

[haljathefangirlcat]

Some more character backstory speculation in the Volsung-Nibelung-Dietrich cycle. Sigurd/Siegfried spends his childhood in the woods under the watch of Mime/Regin the dwarven smith in all versions of his story except for the Nibelungenlied itself, which goes out of its way to make Siegfried RESPECTABLE. Even in the Scandinavian material, which presents him having two living parent figures and a grandparent (Hjordis, Alf, and Hjalprek), he still gets fostered and tutored by Mime. Though he does keep in contact with his family, as he says he's used to getting anything he asks for from them. His childhood with Regin makes sense in the versions where he's a foundling, but it seems a little weird for his family to hand him off to Regin of all people for his upbringing. Svend Grundtvig discusses the theory that Regin related to Hjordis through his sister Lofnheid, which would provide some reasoning for choosing Regin, but Reginsmal darts between the origin of the hoard to Sigurd meeting with Odin on his quest for vengeance, so it's hard to figure out what's going on. What do you think is the in-universe rationale for Regin being chosen as Sigurd's foster-father?

"[...] except for the Nibelungenlied itself, which goes out of its way to make Siegfried RESPECTABLE."

I kinda love how you phrased that because it immediately made me think back to Lang's movies, which generally stick close to the Nibelungenlied but still have Siegfried be fostered by and learn to forge metal from Mime -- so much for all efforts at respectability! XD

As for me, I like Regin being related to Hjordis. I think it makes sense, especially as Hjordis' side of the family seems to already have some pretty strange male figures on it (hello, Gripir!), I like how it neatly ties up the Volsungs' supernatural weirdness with the (back)story of the cursed gold, and I feel there's some good potential drama fuel in it. (Not to sound like a broken record -- tho I probably do, lol -- but Stephan Grundy uses the Regin - Lofnheid - Hjordis connection in his books, and I really enjoy both his take on Hreidmar's family and its ramifications through the later events of the story.)

However, it doesn't quite feel necessary to me. Part of it is that Volundr/Weland, too, gets a "taught by dwarves" story, and while the guy's admittedly the Master Smith and sometimes a giant/elf/other supernatural being himself, that sort of takes the edge off Sigurd's upbringing for me, making it, in my view, just a Weird Thing That Happens To Heroes Because They're Built Differently (And Sometimes Get A Little Too Close To The Borders Between Human & Non-Human) and something Hjordis and the rest of the family might have agreed to, even if with some reluctance/wariness, after noticing the kid wasn't exactly your average boy and needed something to balance off the otherwise all-human normalcy of his life.

Another part is that, a couple of years ago, I was trying to find out more about smiths in Norse and Germanic society. Unfortunately, nothing specific's coming to mind rn, only some vague recollections, but I remember reading about a seeming discrepancy between literary smiths appearing as isolated, mysterious, often not-quite-human figures and historical wealthy, well-respected smiths who were actually probably very socially active and connected to their communities. (Obviously, there was more to it, and I doubt the whole story was as straight-forward as I'm making it sound rn, with every literary smith fitting in a box and every historical smith fitting in the other, but again, this isn't all exactly so fresh in my memory.) So, I think it'd be kind of sweet for the adults in Sigurd's life to encourage him to pursue an interest that couldturn out to be very advantageous for him in the future in both a pratical, know-how sense and by giving him a possible new way to connect and work with other people with ease. Even if I do see Regin as a bit of a recluse himself, given his own history... XD But, hey, it's not like Regin's personality would necessarily rub off on Sigurd as he teaches him, right?

[kamiversee]

MY FACE IS BEET RED AT WORK HELPPPPPPPPP

Kami!!!! 🤝🤝🤝🤝🤝🤝 THANK YOU 🤝🤝 THANK YOU 🤝 🤝THANK YOU 🤝 🤝 omfg the Choso girlies are eating GOOOOOOOOOOOD with this chapter 😭 omfg and that Gojo wet dream blurb was too fucking good aaaaaAAAAAAA i miss that blue eyed beauty every day 🤍🤍🤍 ok yeah pls consider a filthy noncanon poly ending i need these two to ruin the reader expeditiously

my mind is so hazy from reading everything. oh my god. Choso was such a menace in this chapter 🥹 this is definitely what we needed after looking at all those deleted scenes you had for him. art majors are always hidden freaks so this was just *chef's kiss*

"The man had you ruined as someone else once had you before." KAMI I JUST ABOUT DIED!!!! YOU KNOW HOW OBSESSED I AM WITH THE SUKUNA CHAPTERS AJHKAJHDASD AS SOON AS I READ THAT HER HEAD WAS BEING PUSHED INTO THE BED MY MIND IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT OF THEM 😭😭😭😭 every Choso fic/headcanon i've seen so far always makes him so subby not that i'm complaining but seeing this dominant and demeaning side of him was sooooo fucking good omg. that coupled with the cute aftercare seriously makes me contemplate on making this my favorite chapter 🥹

that part where you mentioned the night the reader first slept with him and how he had thoughts of doing other things with the keys... depending on how the sequel's going to go, i can't even imagine how some people are not going to let this go 😅 ALSO WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ALREADY SPOILED THE ALT ENDING??? i'm about to spend the remaining 7 hours at work scrolling and scheming omfg Kami pls

"You were his now, and he was yours. Nothing and no one would change that." this warmed my heart soooo much because i've had this weird anxiety that he'll eventually find out the details of the list. i just hope this statement will stay true!! maybe it's my paranoia but this also felt a bit ominous? idk i prob just need to renew my anxiety meds lmao

KAMI YOU COOKED FR

-☃️

Haha I love these sm, gimme kiss rn.

I do have the extra scene tht you & some others requested in mind so Ig I’m just curious if I should write both men dom with the reader or both subby with her since they’re both down terrible😭 Or even one dom & the other subby, IDK. But I am excited to write tht smut, TRUST.

It’s not an ending tho, just extra what if stuff !!

AND YES ART MAJORS ARE SECRETLY FREAKS !! Especially Choso bc like… look at him and tell me he’s not having horny thoughts abt his lover 24/7…

OH OH AND I HADDDD to reference Sukuna again, him and Choso do have their slight relation soooo I need to make a parallel or two ><

& as for Choso being dom… I once saw someone say how Choso would be the kinda’ guy to rage on video games based on how mad he gets in the anime & his facial expression… So like, with tht in mind for some reason I’ve just pictured Choso as the kind to only be subby when he’s still learning something in regards to sex or when he’s with someone knew & he’s just shy…

BUT ONCE THT MAN GETS COMFORTABLE? Oh yeah, its ONNN 😩🙏

Also, I didn’t explicitly say what’s gonna happen in the alt ending! I just kinda said what it’s gonna be… Like, y’know how a lot of chapters are ominous cliffhangers? Haha, imagine that but x10 ^.^

[inacastleimadie]

Are you dating anybody?(just trying to make you mad)

That is actually up in the air rn 🤕

I'm between a rock and a hard place. I genuinely love her so much but we kinda had a rocky phase where she really distanced herself and it kinda put me in a weird place mentally where I started to doubt things with us.. then, Erika found her way back into my life at that period of time and all of those old feelings came back, and now they're even stronger. El is being so understanding and it's so difficult. Realistically, she's a whole ocean away & we'd still have a few years of working really hard before we'd actually be together. I genuinely love them both and it's incredibly painful.

I know what the realistic choice is, but, it will absolutely kill me losing El. It's so confusing. El is genuinely so important to me, but sometimes I think I'm not as important to her... And idk if that's the truth, or just my head hc she has a hard time showing affection regularly. She's INCREDIBLY affectionate when she's tired lol.

It just feels like she's someone different now, and she's changed SO MUCH (for the better) but I feel like those changes kinda brought her away from me. When we first met she was crazy hypersexual like me, super charming and affectionate, and now it's like I gotta beg for her to be flirty or send pics and even then she always says she'll do it later and later never comes. I know it's not all me, but my mind tells me it is...

Jesus Christ I'm sorry for dumping that I'm just really really upset about the whole situation. I've never genuinely loved more than one person before. I keep blaming myself like I did something wrong by even talking to Erika again but it was supposed to be just a quick catch up.. once we started talking daily it really started progressing it feels like we're picking up where we left off. Like, El was just a kid when Erika and I were in each other's lives lmao like I've known this girl for fuckin 13 years man. She was in my life when my parents were alive and I was a punk ass hoodrat teenager. I feel a big part of my soul healing when she's in my life, like a big portion of my pain and confusion over the years was rooted in losing her. I genuinely forgot how important she was to me bc of certain life stuff going on and whatever. So, it all started to come together again.. and the hardest part is she is just as crazy about me. We are on the EXACT same level. I genuinely think she's my twin flame. I've said that about a million girls to make myself feel like I've made the right choice with them .. but when you look into the actual process of a twin flame relationship it's scary how relatable it is. Like, we had stopped talking for at least 10 years.. and we are the EXACT same person. It's CREEPY. She collects oddities and loves concerts and music, she is a fuckin pervert but has never played out those fantasies irl (just like me) she is obsessed with morbid and dark things. She's very charming and poetic even tho she doesn't know it. She gives me the love I give her and that's the most important thing to me in life. I want it to be an infinity loop ♾️ not a set of testies (0 o)

The love Erika has for me is unmatched. Like, she's flying me out to Ohio and driving me halfway across the state to see my grandma because she knows it's important to me... I genuinely can't think of another person I've EVER loved who would do the same ..

Not to mention Erika is a manager at a really high end fashion store and makes bank, I can honestly see her becoming a GM for the entire store. - I won't have to worry about being the sole provider in the relationship and that is very important to me. It's ruined too many relationships in the past.

[miss-oranje-disco-dancer]

rant, anti-capitalist internet hot take

the worst thing about old games is that they are hard, but the best thing is that there are game guides online that are actually helpful and correct bc they were made before articles on the internet were all just for making profit :( i'm playing RE1 remake rn and i've looked up walkthroughs bc i keep getting confused and i just find lil guides on neoseeker and game faqs (also steam community, but that's newer i assume?), but i see stuff from 2002 posted on the internet and it's so cute to me and also "wow" bc we didn't have the internet at my house until maybe 2007? (I was born in 2000, so obviously i wasn't using the internet in 2002). it's like your friend's big brother or dad sitting on the couch with you and your friend and helping you beat a hard level of a game 🥹 like it's just some cool guys you know and look up to when you're a lil kid playing the gamecube and they help you out and idk shit like that gives me happy tears bc everything sucks these days!!!! (in my holden caulfield era, my therapist called it)

instead of big companies (ew capitalism) like ign and gamerant which consistently give 1. less information than what i needed and 2 wrong information - verifiably incorrect, like, i was looking at something about RE4 remake (mind you, i have 150-200 hours, and i'm working on getting 100%, so i know a lot about the gameplay at this point) and there was something blatantly wrong on one of those sites, plus, they have fucking endless ads, so if i'm on my phone (bc i don't wanna use my computer on the couch) loading it is impossible!!! (i have horrendous wifi bc i live in SC).

i hate that like every article on the front page of google is written for profit (and half of them by AI)!! i look up writing advice a lot and i almost never find anything useful. but once I found like the best page ever and i looked to see when it was published and it was clearly a super old webpage (tbh kinda hard to read) and it was someone's advice from their book published in 1999. back when we could have good advice.

also, people really discount fanfiction but all the romance related fanfiction that i've read is so much better than contemporary romance writers (colleen hoover et al.) and it's bc we don't get paid to do it! we're literally just getting excited about things we like and bonding (and even the people who do commissions and stuff are people who actually care, not like a big shitty corporation)

i should ask ign/gamerant for a job as a fact checker of some sort. i'll be like "please, ill literally do it for free bc it pisses me off so much". me emailing them: your articles are so bad i want to kms

also, fuck ign for giving until dawn a 7.5/10, that game was at least a 9 if not a 10 and i'm strict with my 10/10s!!!! reading that article i can truly say, wholeheartedly, that i rarely see worse opinions than that

basically, in conclusion, the industrial revolution and its consequences yadda yadda

[elizabethshaw]

thoughts on "echoes"!! under the cut bc of spoilers:

this boxset absolutely came out at one of the worst possible times for me (my busiest day of the week, at a time when i have 6 different exams, a presentation and also assessments for my home uni to prepare for), and i fear it may have regnited my 8das fixation somewhat which is. not something i have time for rn lmao. we'll see how it goes i guess! anyway personal stuff over now-

i definitely enjoyed it overall! i'm still not entirely sure where i'd rank it in comparison with the other post-stranded boxsets but it was a lot of fun, and it was (as expected) a joy to hear this tardis team together again :)

i will say however that i did have one major qualm with it, which is that i felt a bit let down with how little it followed through with the emotional plotlines set up in the preceding two sets. i got the feeling when listening to "what lies inside?" and "connections" that they were very much going somewhere with this team's (particularly helen's) emotional arc, and while i won't deny there were some nice scenes with them in this set, the fact that these threads were otherwise left to one side most of the time was a disappointment. there was potential to do some really interesting character work in continuation from the events of those previous episodes and it just. didn't happen. i don't want to sound too down about it because i did still really enjoy these stories, but i think this side of things was missing a little bit for me. hm.

anyway, episode-by-episode thoughts:

birdsong

i think this was my favourite of the set. i really love audio drama that leans into more horror-adjacent aspects (even though i'm not a massive horror fan otherwise tbh), and also love it when audio drama just gets kinda fucked up with it. this story hit on both counts for me :)

love that this continued the running trend from the previous boxsets of the episode starting with eight, liv and helen just getting to be silly for a bit before the Horrors inevitably happen :D

lowkey actually love the concept of barcodes as a written language! part of me wants to try and work out how that could work now

scots pine trees... it never rains... bracken... sand... they're literally in breckland lmao

saying that it does also have the Suffocating Quietness going on so i think i'm onto something here...

when the vortex previews for this set mentioned a family member of helen's first mentioned in doom coalition being relevant to this story, i wasn't expecting it to be the grandmother she mentioned in "ship in a bottle". however it was actually really nice to have helen's relationship with her developed further, and it was woven into the story well i thought

being Normal about the scene between liv and helen at the fireside. i am being so normal about it

"i'm not sure i could do this with anyone else, you know? everything from exploring strange new worlds... to talking about my family." i'm fine. i'm fine!!!

[putting on my clown shoes] this is how liv/helen can still be canon in some form before helen inevitably dies! :))

i love how vivid this story felt to me. i always end up getting visuals in my head as i listen with any audio drama but some stories end up, for storytelling or sound design reasons, or both, creating really clear and vivid pictures in my mind and this was definitely one of those

i hope to god that when i visit home over the summer and listen to these with my mum (who loves these audios but refuses to listen to them without me, which is kind of sweet of her), my dad is not in the same room. i love him but he absolutely would be asking me to pause it every few minutes so he could identify the bird calls and then also getting really frustrated when i inevitably end up being unable to guess any of them correctly myself lol. the pains of being related to an ornithologist

big fan of the way things got increasingly more disturbing towards the end. i do think the eight-liv-helen era has been lacking in terms of properly creepy stories (this is just my personal taste tbf), so it was cool having them properly lean into that for once. i have to say though the mental image of the scout's body with all the roots forcing their way into her eyes is not going to be leaving me for a long time

also thought the sound design was really well done on this one!! you could really feel the discomfort of the silence i think

got slightly choked up at helen and liv singing to bex as she died. i might have just been in a weird mood while i was listening to it but. yeah. it did something to me

anyway had a lot of fun with this episode! it had a lot of elements that appealed to me personally, and the character work it did was nice. i look forward to listening to it again one day :)

lost hearts

m.r. james episode!! i've only ever read two of his stories (both of which are products of me knowing this episode was coming haha), but was quite excited for this one regardless because a) ghost stories! and b) he's actually got connections to a village in the area i grew up in, and as i've never actually seen/heard any stories set where i come from in my life, it was neat to have a story in my favourite show, featuring some of my favourite characters, star someone more or less from where i'm from :')

have to say though i am disappointed to have lost the unofficial "will they namedrop great livermere" bet i had going on with my mum and brother. it's such a middle-of-nowhere village (it's not on the way to anywhere, has 3 streets (one of which is named "the street" and another of which is actually a dirt track), and you invariably see more chickens there than actual people), it would have been deeply amusing to me for it to have canonically existed in the dwu

loved all the direct (and indirect) callbacks to "the red lady" in this story! it felt fitting seeing as on some levels they do share certain elements in terms of plot/setting, and was also just fun for me as that is one of my favourite stories :)

was also a big fan of how active the story felt (not sure if that's quite the right word?) - each of the characters had a clear role to play and all the main cast got something to do, it never felt hugely like any of them were being sidelined, which does happen on occasion with 3+ person tardis teams

if helen had punched someone at some point in this story i honestly wouldn't have blamed her

"he's like the museum of cairo, stuffed inside a... well, a-" "a rude, ungracious little twerp?" oh my god askdfjdsfjkds

(let her swear!!!)

i like how the story was riffing off some of the plot/vibes of m.r. james' actual short story "lost hearts" (helpfully one of the two i've read)! it gave it that nice kind of connection, without feeling overly derivative and like it was straight-out copying it

my only main issue with this episode was that robert felt kinda underdeveloped. they started off well in his opening scene with liv, but i don't think we got enough of a chance to get to know him as a person after that point and i think the story suffered for it a little. i don't think it helped either that he's not a family member helen had ever mentioned prior to this episode, so they were essentially having to start from scratch and with everything else going on in the narrative, didn't quite find the time to give him sufficient detail

loved the emotional moments that were brought out when helen got erased... "helen, she's my- she's everything i have left" ough

and the salzburg parallels?? liv attempting to fly the tardis in a desperate attempt to rescue her friends, much like helen did? this is so... it's a lot

i won't lie, it did feel a bit odd to me that they would go to such lengths to avoid actually naming the uni in this episode as cambridge. i suppose it may have been to avoid spoiling the "it's m.r. james!!!" reveal at the end, but given that i think anyone who would have guessed it was him from the setting being cambridge probably would have guessed it anyway beforehand either from the episode blurb or the fact that the episode literally starts with him reciting one of his most famous short stories, it feels a little pointless. i mean i clocked it as an m.r. james episode when the set was announced and i had never read any of his work at that point lmao. not a glaring issue or anything, but felt like a weird choice

anyway loved helen getting to geek out a bit at the end... i love her :')

i think i'm going to have to relisten to this at some point so i can fully get my head around it but i did enjoy it!

slow beasts

this was a solid ep. not my favourite story this tardis team has ever had, but i did absolutely enjoy listening to it, and thought there were a lot of really good ideas in it!

the colonialism plotline especially worked really well for me, it felt pertinent in just the right sort of way. it's not necessarily something new for dr who, but i think it was definitely a good example of how to do it well.

i think "simple, but effective" is the way i'd sum this one up tbh. not exceptional, but it knew what it was setting out to do, did it, and did it well, and i think that worked. it did admittedly feel a bit strange after two more complex/experimental sort of stories, but i don't think that's any reflection on its actual quality

"here is the psychic paper. be confident. it only works if you're confident." "but... i- i'm not confident?" me if i got asked to use the psychic paper tbh

enjoyed the use of the translation circuit in this one :) i have a lot of thoughts on it as a general thing so i always like seeing the ways it gets utilized in different stories

so! had fun with these! a couple of things that maybe could have gone better, but overall a set of three stories i had good fun with and i suspect will enjoy listening to again. fingers crossed the december boxset is with these guys again and they do a bit more with helen's emotional plotlines next time :)

[storiesofsvu]

https://www.tumblr.com/storiesofsvu/756561724151414784/ask-game-for-fanfic-writers

How about every integer of 10? 🙏🫡

10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90,100

(or less if that's too much)

ooo bless!

10. at what point in the process do you come up with titles and how easy or hard is that for you?

fuck. i HATE titles. 99% of the time it's the very last thing I do and half the time i forget about it until i open tumblr to make the post. For one shots i generally read through it again and pick a phrase or repeating word and use that. For series: i'll usually pop onto discord with a brief summary and ask if ppl have ideas, otherwise i have a note in my phone of potential titles that are generally song titles or lyrics. i like my series titles to actually mean something and tie into the story whereas i dont give a fuck about the one shots LOL

20. what is your favourite trope to write?

forbidden love? we're gonna pretend that's a thing lol. like, stories have to have conflict and what's better than two people who wanna fuck/date/whatever and either can't or shouldn't, or like, their bosses would frown upon it, right? like, any and all degree of it, not particularly totally forbidden.

30. most inspirational quote you've ever read or heard that's still important to you.

christ. i cannot think of anything rn. My mind went straight to disney because there are so many things that light up my passion/motivation. the last time we were there we saw the "new" (lol) fireworks show and it had this little speech that was all "no go, let your dreams guide you, reach out and find your happily ever after" and it was kinda the resurge i needed at the time to be all "oh fuck, that's right, i just need to focus" as the old fireworks show had a bit that i like, wished on every fucking night and always made me cry about cause of how i related to it. wow i'm SO cool HA.

in high school (performing arts) certain people got to sign the theatre crossover wall at graduation and i got to and i singed it with a Fosse quote but i cannot remember it anymore for the life of me loll

40. best piece of feedback you've ever gotten?

bruh ive got no clue. i dont get/ask for feedback basically ever. esp recently people have been more just "omg so good" or "next part??" uhh... yeah, i dont think anyone ever has minus like a comment here and there with a friend when spitballing and i have a goldfish brain so i cannot remember.

50. do you plan or do you write whatever comes to your mind?

bit of both! for one shots it's usually just the prompt i was given/found and MAYBE a bit of a blurb scenario.

series: i will not start until i have a much more detailed outline and a rough idea of how it's going to end. nothing is specifically labelled and as i work on the story the outline gets longer, more fleshed out, sometimes there's full conversations or smut pieces in the outline and eventually ch's get labelled and sometimes it's like "ch 4, they go to this hotel and fuck" lol

60. where is the most dangerous place that you're written fic?

work. was stuck in the bar (that guests dont have access to) during service time with nothing else to do. my manager literally came in and teased me about not working and then later asked what i was working on and i said "fanfic, but that's all i'm telling you cause a lot o its real gay and real dirty" LOL

70. are you ever critical of your own writing? how much do you find yourself editing (either during or after the fact?)

i'm SO critical, but it's like, when i'm rereading it months down the road and it's been posted and too late to edit LOL. and it's mainly me just looking at old works that are SO trope filled and slightly cringe and include lot of the stuff that i no longer write.

I don't edit too much at all lol. I'll catch most typos or grammar while going/on a brief read through but it's VERY rare i'll actually go back to edit a full passage the next day or anything. Hence my very detailed outlines! i will edit from there to the fic cause i'll add to the outlines whenever something sparks in my brain and i know its good lol.

80. do you try to put themes, motifs, messages, morals, etc in your writing?

uhh... no? LOL. sometimes i do, and sometimes they just end up there completely by accident.

90. do you notice your own voice in your writing style?

absolutely. why do you think there's so much profanity? LOL. but also as someone who writes mainly reader insert, there is a little bit of me in every yn i write

thanks for asking!! <3 (and that's never too much lol)