#it might honestly be one of my fav scenes so far in this drama

[marymekpop]

⟢ highlight of the hour: flex x cop [07/16] ⟣

a full stomach and a happy heart

[autisticbokutoenthusiast]

pit babe ep 7 stray thoughts

- way made him feel undeserving of love….

- so jeff is like that cause he’s plagued by visions..

- ok now i get the peteway posts. oh ways pathetic nature and whiny bitch demeanor have captivated pete body and soul

- oh way might be my little meow meow of the show

- oh god oh fuck i might be a peteway boy

- kim needs to kiss winner to shut him up

- omg person who hurt protagonist was antagonist pikachu surprise face

- scream this is so dramatic. the scheming it’s all coming together (also peep kentakim this is for you le trash prince)

- ok so this is where we find out tony wants to sell babe for bitching

- AH CHARLIES THERE THE DRAMA

- do they know charlie’s powers also who WAIT IS THIS A NUTHPHOP BALLADnvm just sounded like ambivalent thoughts

- way seems happy i don’t trust this. is he about to break

- oh he is oh no it’s babe. oh i think someone’s gonna ugly cry it can go either way at this point. babe sweeeeep

- oh… maybe i don’t want this babe babe nooooooo nooooooo. oh he’s gonna close his heart off to other people now isn’t he oh fuck noooooooo SOMEONE STOP HIS THOUGHT LROCESS PPLEASE

- i don’t understand ways face here i need subtitles but for facial expressions

- oh poor puppy

- does anyone know if they make the music in house

- this ep might be my fav so far….

- is way an omega y’all

- there’s been a shift in babe…. i can’t explain it but something changed in the last 20 min

- babe being an easy cryer is so important to me actually

- ooo surveillance being a theme again lets goooo

- SCREAM CHARLIE BACKSTORY AND MOTIVSTION OH GOD ITS HAPOENING EVERYBODY STAY CALM STAY FUCKING CALM

- charlie trauma enthusiasts let’s gooooo

- tony is so fucking evil i hope charlie rips his face off

- how wild would it be if winner was an enigma. like he’s not but could you imagine

- actually i need kenta to rip tony’s face off

- does charlie know about his power. does anyone

- babe looking like a wet feral cat i need to lie down

- SCREAM HE JUST FLAT OUT TELLS BABE LIKE THAY?!,!?!?! like i’d be scared to get punched like ???? it’s wild he just flat out says i took your power like wow i thought he’d lie at least a little

- these flashbacks can never be happy can they… always gotta leave you horny and destroyed

- charlie being like “don’t worry i can fix this. if you want i can just kill myself” like broooooo

- scream do you think charlie woke up one day like “damn he smells fine today” skejdjfjejrjr

- “can mama not break up with papa 🥺” “ 😒😑😩 fine”

- honestly i get babe if someone took away my sensory issues id still fuck them. much more enthusiastically then before probably. i get him now liking kissing too like this makes perfect sense to me

- oh way….. oh god this pathetic man nothing can go right for him ever ima creaming

- i also get babe because charlie is so cute id fold immediately like so what you stole my super powers look at your cutie patootie self how could i stay mad

- oh here we go car sex scene- are they talking about booty holes rn is this happening on my screen… good for them

- oh way… i’m so sorry my baby boy im so sorry… honestly he’s stronger than me i would’ve been throwing shit THE BOUQUET

- ok so are the only ones with special powers jeff babe and charlie (and way ??)

- NORTHSONIC these absolute clowns. does he not understand adoption i love him. nosrthdaonic aenwwvehtjrngn l. what are these two talking about. way omega confirmation ????

- sonic get your boy on a leash his poor impulse control and lack of common sense is staggering

- kim kinda right like let him cook oh ew fuck tony for that too

well what an ep

[dylan-rodrigues]

God, this drama is so good, I love it so far. If it keeps up this quality for the rest of episodes, might be one of my favs for the year.

Umi is the cutest, I feel so bad for her. She's an innocent victim trapped in the middle of her mom's selfish decision. Natsu looks so traumatized and confused all the time, but I respect that he kinda wants to be the dad who steps up?

Her mom switched between being hostile and sympathetic to Natsu every 2 scenes. Ma'am, it's not his fault he didn't know he had a kid and he's so unprepared to be a dad, as you noted yourself. But still, it must be hard to face the man when your daughter suffered on her own for so long.

The scene of Yayoi crying was devastating. At first, I thought it was cause she got promoted to stepmom all of sudden after her bf's ex died. Or because it's obvious Natsu isn't over his college ex. But after the reveal about Yayoi's own abortion... Jesus, she was crying bc when Natsu said he murdered his kid... It was like saying that Yayoi murdered her child.

I think it's sort of wholesome that Yayoi wants to be Umi's mom and decided to support Natsu's decision? I'm honestly more interested in her relationship and feelings about Umi tbh

What is this Tsuno character even tryna do? Why is he inserting himself into a love triangle with a dead woman and her baby daddy? Who is he to say that Umi has no dad? I also like when Grandma pushed back at Tsuno acting like she's his MIL or something.

The way Umi ran and hugged him.. started telling him about her day... Bro got promoted to dad 🥲 oh gawd, the feels...

@ the previews: I understand Mizuki's mom's feelings but how can she say that?? Actually forget her, HOW DARE TSUNO SAY THAT?? WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT?? 🤬🤬

[a1li-ens]

hiii ^-^ what's your favorite slow damage route been so far? Also, what song is stuck in ur head and... If you were an ice cream flavor, what kind would you be?

THESE R FUN QUESTIONS im going to answer the slow damage one last because i just realized i typed half an essay.

⭐song in my head rn: honestly my neighbor is playing deafening shitty edm or something while washing his car so my brain only has room for one song at a time BUT before that was ningen mitai ne by kitani tatsuya!! go listen to it i have listened at least 500 times in 6 months.

⭐ice cream flavor - THIS IS HARD i have little concept of the self . maybe the pink/blue bubblegum flavor?? i am also pink and blue and focus on colour before anything else such as taste. I like eating pistachio and strawberry though but they are all nice!!

⭐SLOW DAMAGE QUESTION UNDER BREAK I WROTE TOO MUCH!!! has spoilers !!

⭐fav route in slow damage: DEFINITELY FUJIEDA!! I LOVE HIM SO MUCH HIS ROUTE IS SO BEAUTIFUL 😭 it's easily the best one from a plot standpoint as well like probably my fav vn route in general, I am going to avoid crying about literally the whole plot in this ask but the whole setup with the cardboard box and the other routes info!!! SO COOL AND AMAZING!!

and OBVIOUSLY I am crushed and scrunched up from the towa backstory stuff in his route WHO WOULDNT BE!!! THEY ARE SO PERFECT FOR EACHOTHER ｡⁠:ﾟ⁠(⁠;⁠´⁠∩⁠`⁠;⁠)ﾟ⁠:⁠｡ (I am emotional to the point I am struggling to be coherent) just two broken dudes living together as a married couple but they don't even think they are dating,……. Oh my god like legitimately they will be engaged before they are boyfriends. I think their wedding cake should have two bunnies on top tears are welling up in my eyes I might draw this today.

ANYWAY it's perfect and beautiful. Even I admit Fuji looks so fugly as a lawyer. And I hate that dumb penis CG quota filling out of character SA scene well at least towa liked it even if I don't. BUT tbh the contrast between 3/10 ugly lawyer Fuji and 10/10 nice looking Fuji makes him better actually ❤️ but he is so well written even if he stayed ugly I would love him I am just lucky he is cute LMFAOO 🥰

ALSO HELPP THE BEACH SCENE … HAVE U EVER SEEN ANYTHING MORE BEAUTIFUL AND MOVING IN YOUR LIFE ….. THEY ARE BOTH FINALLY SO HAPPY!!! WHEN THE DRAMA CD IS OUT…IT WILL BE. TRULY OVER FOR ME….. IF ANYONE FINDS A RIP AFTER ITS RELEASE PLS SEND IT EVEN WITHOUT ENGLISH…I LOVE THE ARTBOOK SIDESTORY TOO... MALEWIFE TOWA IS CUTE

I WANTED TO LOOK AT THIS AGAIN.. SO U CAN TOO!

OH YEAH .. I RLY LIKE FUJI BAD END AS WELL.. my fav out of those as well . besides towa looking great with his big smiley face it was really fun and thrilling in a scary way!!! u know those pics of like a mob boss sitting on a chair doing talking about crimes with a trophy wife next to them. thats what i think would be happening after this with fuji maybe ill draw that. (tangentially i was hoping madarames BE would have a cg like that with towa im a bit disappointed it didnt ! )

my next fav route was Reis!! i feel like ive written too much but do yall want other route thoughts. i like this game so much 🥺

[falsegoodnight]

a new header??? it matches better <3 these are the fics I read or reread and enjoyed this month! like last time, i’m separating it into different sections: main list, wips, and non-1d. rereads will be included in the main list and marked with a star (*). 

*note: this list encompasses the fics i’ve read from the 1st to the 28th only

—

main list ~

✰ Don’t Wait Up by reliablyimperfect | NR | 1k

Without Harry’s warmth next to him, he felt the chill of the air creep over his skin. He tugged the blanket down from where Harry kept one draped over the back of the couch for him, grateful. With the blanket, he instantly felt warmer, but it backfired when his eyes began to droop again. Trying to keep his eyes open was impossible, and he was consciously aware of how long his blinks were becoming. They stay closed longer and longer until, eventually, they didn’t open again.

so soft and sweet and lovely! made my heart feel so warm <3 will return to this for some quick comfort in the future!

✰ my ugly mouth kept running by @hadestyles | E | 4k

Sometimes second chances are more important than the first.

rori’s lush writing + abo + exes to lovers = absolute perfection. my fic cameo gives it a bonus too :’) definitely one of my rori favs 

✰ i’ve loved you three summers now honey, i want them all by @softloubabie | M | 4k

The restaurant was small and bright, soft colors filled the walls and tables and fairy lights hung from everywhere. From what Harry had read, the food wasn’t overly expensive but it was still comparable to what you would get at one of the more expensive places. If Harry could he would take Louis to the biggest most expensive and extravagant restaurants to do what he planned to tonight, but this would do.

After being led to their table Harry nervously tapped his jacket pocket, sighing in relief when he felt the small box still there. Tonight was the night. He couldn’t wait till it was time to surprise Louis with all the gifts he got for him. Then finally the big surprise.

so cute and sweet! their kids were so adorable and the proposal so lovely!! they love each other so much <3

✰ love me in between the future and the past by navigator & quitter | E | 11k

Harry's scared of history repeating itself.

this honestly hurt to read but in such a raw and emotional way?? was mad at harry and then sad for him :( this writer duo’s fics never fail to amaze me!

✰ sunshine on my mind by @raspberryoatss | E | 13k

Louis visits Harry in Portland

this was so sweet and lovely! the perfect addition to this wonderful universe! pip’s characterizations and fluff never fails to make my heart feel warm <3

✰ rapture in the dark by @stylinsonsupporter | T | 13k

Harry Styles is a breakout musician who has shed his boyband label in favor of embracing his inner brooding rockstar. His PR team think that his rebrand is the perfect time for Harry to come out of the closet and have devised the perfect plan for doing so. Enter Louis Tomlinson, up and coming (and very openly homosexual) model whose public image as America's Sweetheart is the perfect foil for Harry's new edge. From a PR standpoint, it's a dream come true - a power couple that can slowly coax the public into accepting Harry's altered image. The only problem? They hate each other.

always love a good fake dating au and this is no exception! and model louis >> really enjoyed this!

✰ Maybe, Baby* by thoughtsickles | M | 16k | mpreg

It all feels too easy, too good to be true. It all feels like a scene from Louis' daydreams, the kind of life he'd always imagined he'd have when he was younger and bored at his momma's work, sneaking around the hallways of the maternity ward until the nurses let him in to hold the babies. He'd felt so important being allowed to touch them. He'd told them stories of the lives they were going to have, houses with nice wallpaper that wasn't peeling, yards filled with sunshine and flowers and grass that never went yellow. A hammock to nap in, cuddled up with his husband.

You can't stay here, he tells himself, but Baby doesn't want to listen.

have reread this one quite a bit of times now and it still makes me so happy <3 this Louis and Harry deserve the world <333

✰ Let Me Inside by reliablyimperfect | E | 18k

Louis is Harry’s boss, but Harry is the boss of Louis. 

loved this one! really enjoyed the balance between h&l and how they maintained their dynamic in subtle ways outside of the bedroom while also keeping it separate. very much enjoyed the jealousy as well <3

✰ a scintilla of predilection by @dehydratedpoolfics | T | 20k

There, in the far back of the room, next to the only available seat left, is none other than Harry Styles. Harry, who grew up next door to him, who knew all his secrets as a child and played FIFA with him on Saturday mornings after he would spend the night Friday evenings every week, whose curly hair would tickle his nose as they held each other during bitter cold nights that made his room glow a haunting blue.

love ex-childhood friends with misunderstandings!! louis was so cute and i loved his poetry <3 harry too was so stupid but so smitten and lovely :’) really enjoyed this!

✰ Keeping The Flame Alive by @crazyupsetter​ | E | 20k

Recording with One Direction never felt like this. There’s a couple reasons for that, Harry thinks. One is that they did most of their recording on the road, rushed and in busses and hotel rooms, never in one place long enough to really get an argument going. The other, larger and more important one, is that back then he had the sweetest, meanest little omega around to distract him from all of that frustration.

The first time around, when he’d been recording his debut solo album, it hit him pretty hard. He likes to think he’s better adjusted to it now, but frustration is warring under his skin nonetheless. He doesn’t want to be told what to do most of the time, and he especially doesn’t want to be told what to do when it comes to his music.

What he does want right now is that sweet, mean little omega right in front of him with his mouth on Harry’s cock. Unfortunately, the best he’s got is his own hand and a shared toilet. So. That’s really not going to work.

✰ like it’s a game* by @soldouthaz | E | 32k

There is little Harry hates more than truth or dare.

And Louis.

queen of enemies to lovers! it’s been a while since i’ve reread this but too absolutely no surprise, it’s just as amazing as always <3 sarah never misses!

✰ Too Young To Know by @2tiedships2 | M | 35k

Harry doesn’t present as an alpha… until he does.

really enjoyed this as per usual! exes to lovers is my jam and the added angst of Louis dating someone else at the beginning... love <3

✰ Some Things Take Root* by  navigator & quitter | E | 50k

Louis' ex doesn't get jealous of anyone besides Harry. Harry helps Louis use that to his advantage.

stumbled upon this randomly and decided to reread on a whim... ended up staying up to read it in one sitting! so good!

✰ Safe and Sound (You’ll Always Be) by @all-these-larrythings | E | 58k

When a failed case and a guilty conscience leaves Harry more than a little lost, his boss presents him with a new, less taxing assignment to help him cope. An escape from all the madness is just what Harry needs to get his life back on track. It's just too bad his new client has a grin like the devil, a pair of electric eyes that Harry simply can't get over, and no intention whatsoever of letting him catch a break.

i don’t know how i’ve never read this before??? it was absolutely amazing though! perfect blend of humor and fluff and tension and angst <3

✰ Mind Over Matter (You Under Me) by @youreyesonlarry | E | 74k

It’s dark outside when Harry finishes practice for the day. 

the slow burn in this fic killed me - which is to say, it was perfect! loved how they progressed from working together to being friends to something more and how much they genuinely cared for each other! the hockey was so fun too!

✰ Call Out My Name by frenchkiss | E | 102k

Apparently, it's bad PR to fall in love with the omega you hired to help you through your rut.

Harry Styles begs to differ.

ellen truly knocked it out of the park with this one!! had everything i could ever want: abo, famous/non-famous, fluff, humor, angst, drama, and more! i loved it from beginning to end!

wips ~

✰ ‘cause all our tomorrows lead the way by @loubellies | E | 64k | 7/11

So maybe Louis’ in over his head.

He had signed up for the Bachelor on a whim after his second bottle of wine and well, here he is. He’s just been announced as the twenty-sixth Bachelor and his ass is sweating. Like, literally sweating. He’s positive that if he was to turn around, the entirety of Bachelor Nation would get a nice peek of his ass sweat.

am thoroughly enjoying each chapter!! it’s been a wild ride so far and although things are currently calm, i am still on edge!! but i trust mar with my life <3

✰ Truth Behind Golden Eyes by @lwtisloved | E | 83k | 8/16 

Louis is a royal servant born with magic in a kingdom where his sole existence is outlawed with a war he has no idea he has a part in upon him. Harry is the prince on whom the burden of mending a broken kingdom falls upon and he might be willing to risk it all for a simple servant if only he admitted it to himself.

caught up last night! still really enjoying every chapter and can’t wait to see what happens next!! things are *happening* with h&l and answers are being given!! (love the jealousy too!)

non-1d ~

✰ Keep Me Close (I Need Your Faith) by @princelouisau | E | 23k

Somewhere along the way he had fallen in love and in doing so, had broken the one rule he knew he couldn’t come back from. As quickly as he realised, he decided that he must never dare speak it. He resigned himself to loving Draco in silence.

first foray into reading drarry... and, to no one’s surprise, i loved it! beautiful writing as always and beautiful atmosphere! it’s really not a shock that i fell for these characters and their story when danielle is behind it <3 it had me entranced from beginning to end!!

finally, i myself actually posted a fic this month:

my fics ~

✰ yesterday came suddenly by me | E | 49k | mpreg 

Harry the deadliest member of the NYC assassins’ guild, is forced to face a seemingly impossible task in hopes of finally leaving the underground behind for good, but when ghosts from the past come back to haunt him, escaping the darkness becomes that much harder.

If you read any of these beautiful works of art, remember to leave kudos and comment to show your appreciation!

*if i made any errors, please let me know :)

enjoy!

[radley-writes]

So, as someone wanting to study more and get back into literature, I need some suggestions/tips. I left college years ago/never got a chance to finish. So I am a bit behind, lol. My focus is on Anthropology and Theology, but I want to be open minded to new information and areas of study. In a way, I want to strengthen my rhetoric, core knowledge and challenge myself. I followed you so I can start doing that, but sometimes have a hard time following the context, if I am being boldly honest with you. I am curious what books you would personally suggest for a person re-entering the world of reading, writing and studying so I can get better? And even if you have any direction or guidance? I really respect your opinion and enjoy your content as well. I want to be able to follow along and be like, "Yeah, I know exactly what you're saying!" You're so smart and well read! I hope you have a wonderful day today! xx

You are a brave soul, if you followed me in the hopes of gleaning any intellectual or academic fulfilment. 99% of this blog is clownery. Nonetheless, thank you for the message!

As someone who ducked out of education after university, I'm not the best person to advise you on re-entering academia. However, as someone who, after finishing my degree, didn't engage with original fiction for over a year, but is soon (ish) going to become a trad-pubbed author, I can pass on some suggestions that helped me ease back into the world of writing & reading!

Start with books you enjoyed when you were younger. The familiarity makes them far less daunting. If you want to improve your writing skills, read those books critically. Try to identify rhetorical devices, establishing character moments, points where the momentum of the pacing changes, etc. Chart out the plot on a piece of paper, if you like visuals. Buy a second-hand copy and scribble all over it. Try to think of the book as a clanking, belching steampunk device and yourself as the engineer who's deconstructing it to understand how it works!

For specific reccs - I'm unsure of your likes or dislikes in fiction. Here's a random selection from my nearest bookshelf!

Bartimaeus trilogy, Jonathan Stroud (my comfort books!)

Monstrous Regiment, Terry Pratchett (another old favourite!)

The City We Became, N. K. Jemisin (glorious prose, Lovecraftian horror remixed & reclaimed.)

Vicious, V. E. Schwab (I prefer Vengeful and Addie LaRue, but Vicious is the OG masterclass in non-linear storytelling!)

Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (Multiple intersecting plots that weave into what I honestly think is one of the best novels of the 21st century...)

Silas Marner, George Eliot (Is is Eliot's best work? No. Is it her best writing? Also no. Did it make me cry like a little bitch? You fucking bet. Disney-film emotions in a classic adult novel.)

Nevernight, Jay Kristoff (This book is Problematic, to say the least. Its selling points are 1) gore 2) sex 3) more gore and sex. Some of that sex features underage characters. And, when you find out who the narrator is, the graphic nature of these scenes goes from 'ugh seriously?' to '...ew.' These sex scenes are, thankfully, skippable (why, you might ask, are they even there.....??). But this series means a lot to me personally, and I would recommend it based on the fact that it offers a great lesson in adding flounce and drama to your writing!)

Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (for quirky, comedic, OTT-in-a-stylistic-way writing (trust me, that's hard to pull off.))

Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey (for pared-down yet effortlessly descriptive & funny prose, plus some of the best character work I've ever read (later in the same series, at least). This is accessible semi-solid SF at its best; it explains complex physics in layman's terms.)

If you're interested in religion & literature from an academic perspective, The Stripping of the Altars is on my shelf - a fascinating delve into late medieval Catholicism. Of Giants: Sex, Monsters, and the Middle Ages is also a favourite - it features a lot of what it says on the tin.

Happy reading~

[englandsgray]

Sherlolly Self-Interviews 2020

Well hi 👋

Ignoring the internal image of Gilderoy Lockheart smiling smugly while flashbulbs pop and saying ‘In my autobiography, Magical Me...’ 🙈😆 I shall take the opportunity of this lovely event to introduce myself as a writer of Sherlolly fanfiction on AO3...

I am English and somewhere over 30.  I watched the show as it aired, and lost my heart as quickly to Molly Hooper as to Sherlock Holmes.  The kiss is British television history.  Series 4 is my favourite.  Moriarty on the beach is life.  The Holmes brothers break my heart every time.

I am extremely lucky to have been provided some questions to answer here by @ohaine and @mybrainrots - huge, huge love and thanks to these two lovelies, and not just for this.  I admire you both so much as writers, and your support means the world to me ❤️ Thanks too, to @sherlollyappreciationweek!

Where did you begin to write, and have you written for other fandoms?  I wrote my first fanfic when I was eleven years old - a 100 page ramble about The Monkees.  Oh yes.  Then in 2018, I fell for the characters of the Disney Pixar film Cars and began writing and publishing.  So far so random!  Writing in this fandom sprang from binge-watching all four series of Sherlock during lockdown.  I remembered reading Louise Brealey talking about being disappointed Molly didn’t get chance to ‘roundly kick Sherlock’s arse’ and agreeing with her wholeheartedly.  That, over a few weeks, turned into my first fic - Who You Really Are.  

You’re a recent (and welcome!) arrival to the Sherlolly ship, and I was wondering if writing in an established, less active than it used to be fandom has been a challenge?   Thank you, firstly.  My experience of this fandom has been incredibly positive - the sense of welcome has been wonderful.  I will admit I was terrified posting the first fic - there are hundreds of times more stories posted daily in the Sherlock fandom as in the one I had some experience of.  But I needn’t have worried, it’s been a blast.  I will also admit, that it’s no small thing to be surrounded by such brilliant writing and the long-standing passion which goes with it.  But I find that inspiring in itself, and I’m very glad to be here - how supportive the fandom are makes me feel like I always have been!       

What’s your favourite place and way to write?  My aesthetic is Lin-Manuel Miranda in his in-law’s laundry room 🤣 I wrote my first ten-thousand words on the notes app on my phone before my other half told me to stop being ridiculous!  I switch between the laptop, my phone and longhand (I’m a sucker for a nice notepad and a Uni-Ball Eye) and, more often than not, not sat up properly at a table.   

Since you’ve (done something I’ve never managed successfully and) written a novella length fic... how did you organise/keep track of all the details and where you wanted the story to go?  Did you outline/plot in advance?  First of all - I would love to see a novella length fic from you @mybrainrots!  The final scene of Who You Really Are came to me very early on and I knew I wanted the fic to fit within TFP - a lot of it takes place in the timeframe of the final montage.  At first, it was going to be much more about Sherlock’s relationship with the ideas of sentiment and love (the phrase ‘I’m not sentimental about you, I love you,’ haunted me for a while) and I spent some time researching the psychology and playing with scenes from throughout the series - one of my favourites I didn’t go on to use was inspired by the final scene of THoB.  Using scenes from the canon gave an automatic structure, and I was always aiming for the final one I wrote early on - the two of them on the beach (everything is about the beach, with me!)  As I went along and started, inevitably, to slow down, I mapped out the chapters with a short note of what I wanted to be in each, then would add notes or phrases as they came to me - often emailed from my phone!  I had to force myself through a tricky section set in Baker Street at one point, but it came together in the end.  I did plot The Pathologist’s Skeletons on paper first, as I found with a casefic which remains a WIP, that I can get confused and lose focus when it comes to details and how to reveal them in a way which stays paced and interesting.  I’ll certainly do that from now on with longer stories and cases.  How did you keep up enthusiasm for the work?  I want to write an original novel, so I am forcing myself to work through the knotty bits and blocks as a learning experience.  Not everything is destined to be finished or finessed, of course, but I’m finding this process is building my confidence that I can overcome problems and slow periods.  I also find I know when I need some external inspiration - some of my favourite scenes have come to me while out walking the dog or sitting on the beach.  I’ve also been inspired by books or other series or things going on in the world, as we all are, and sometimes that’s pushed me on.  Plus, of course, I’m a newbie - I’m very much in the honeymoon period of my writing, even though I’ve loved Sherlock for ten years! (Ten years! Bonkers.) 

You’ve got a knack for writing Sherlock’s thoughts and capturing his voice.  That said, which character do you find easiest to write?  Which is the hardest?  Thank you so much.  I absolutely love writing Sherlock and Mycroft, and I’m sure that’s because they suit my somewhat over-the-top writing style!  I find Molly and her POV really difficult.  I want the scenes I write from her perspective to sound completely different to Sherlock, but that means writing in a style which doesn’t come as naturally to me.  I’m a long way off happy with that at the moment, but I’m enjoying the challenge.

Is there a scene or character that specifically inspired you to start writing Sherlolly?  The whole of TFP, but especially from the moment Sherlock arrives at Musgrave onwards.  I am desperate to see what a Sherlock Holmes who has been reacquainted with his own heart would look like.  I find his emotionality in those final scenes hugely compelling (Mycroft’s office is one of my favourite moments from across all four series) and, as I have always believed in him and Molly, I practically jumped up back in May after watching it and said ‘right, where’s my notebook?!’.

There’s a lovely peaceful, quiet feeling to your fic ‘We’re All Right At The Moment’.  Can you tell us what inspired it and if you’ve thought of doing the backstory that goes with it?  Thank you!  Like everyone, I would go back to January of this year and start again in a heartbeat, but I am hugely fortunate to be able to say that I have a lot to be grateful to the UK lockdowns for.  I might never have begun writing in this fandom otherwise, for one, and I have had a brilliant time so far and met some lovely people. Honestly, I don’t feel able to do any sort of justice in my writing to what has happened in the world in any broader sense than drawing on my own experiences of staying at home and enjoying my family.  This particular super-short fic sees Molly cutting Sherlock’s hair at home in Baker Street.  I wrote it in the evening after I had cut my other half’s hair and had been reminding myself that despite how horribly worried I was - and still am - about everything, we were all right in that moment, and to focus on that as much as possible.  I wanted to try to capture that, if for no reason other than to look back on this entire experience and remember something lovely, so I am so pleased to hear you felt the fic did that.  It was only after I finished it and reread it, that I realised it is ambiguous as to whether Molly is worried about Sherlock contracting the virus, or whether she is remembering him being treated for it... As I say, I don’t think I could write more about these extraordinary circumstances - perhaps it’s just too close at the moment - so I don’t plan on extending it.  But you know how it is, the plot bunnies hop where they will... 

Do you have a Sherlolly music playlist?  What are your top five favs from the list? Here’s a run down of (6 🙊) songs I have been getting emotional over in the last little while, leading my brain to assign their significance to my favourite couple...

Kissing You - Des’Ree - It’s so 90′s, it’s a bit cheesy, it’s oddly disturbing.  It helped me write A Request, Made Properly, and that gave me an excuse to have Sherlock kiss Molly in the snow.

How Long Will I Love You? - Ellie Goulding - part of the playlist, but also in remembrance of a friend who passed away recently.  Life is very short, love is forever.

High and Dry - Jamie Cullum - It’s made me emotional for a very long time.  The original is my partner’s version of choice, this is mine.  

Think About You - Delta Goodrem - Okay, this one isn’t emotional, and it’s not my usual vibe!  Blame the zoom exercise class I do!  But oh my goodness, it’s Molly.  Bless her.

Blinded By Your Grace (P.T.2. F.T. MNEK) - Stormzy - One of the best ever, I reckon.  Spent an awful lot of time thinking about angels and demons, grace and what it takes to save someone, while writing my latest - The Pathologist’s Skeletons.  This has been in my head most of the (blimmin’) time!

Love Me Like You Do - Ellie Goulding - I didn’t know I was a fan of Ellie until I wrote this list... I don’t subscribe to the theory that the love Molly wants or that which Sherlock has to offer is any lesser because it isn’t ‘normal’ or expected. I don’t think romantic entanglement would come easy to either of them. But it’s still love and it would be beautiful.

Thank you so much for reading.  Thanks and love to @ohaine and @mybrainrots. And thank you @sherlollyappreciationweek for the event and for everything you do ❤️

Feel like I should sign off with a quote from the show...

“You’re not a puzzle-solver, you never have been. You’re a drama queen!” Dr John Watson (Moffat & Gatiss) 2014 😜

X

A fav fic of mine by @mybrainrots

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7563193

A fav fic of mine by @ohaine

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10562904

My stuff:

https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnglandsGray/works

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 14: Don’t we all have a little WWX in us?

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 10

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 25

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 2

The Untamed / Chen Qing Ling drama Episode 2

In this scene, Jiang Cheng returns and learns Wen Ning was summoned. 

He is now positive that “Mo Xuanyu” is possessed by Wei Wuxian. 

He goes after him with Zidian, which has the power to remove possessed spirits, but is initially blocked by LWJ. 

WWX screws himself by running away from LWJ’s protection and thus gets whipped anyway.

Ouch.

-

More under the cut

Anyway, when there’s no change in “MXY” after being whipped by Zidian, the others try to convince JC that he’s wrong, and WWX has such good taste he wouldn’t possess someone like MXY. 

In the donghua and manhua versions, WWX obfuscates by capitalizing on MXY’s reputation as a cut-sleeve. 

His plan is to make JC and LWJ both so annoyed that they’ll leave him alone. It backfires delightfully.

I do also just want to note this manhua panel which caused fangirl me to drool all over myself:

Meanwhile in CQL world, the snowflakes censors couldn’t handle this last exchange, so instead we get Lan Jingyi mouthing off and making JC uncomfortable by reminding him about how he originally killed WWX

This poor tormented motherfucker.

Then we get a really weird segue where the camera angle on WWX gets all distorted and we’re supposed to understand that we’re travelling baaaack in tiiiiime (SFX: echo)

And this is where I begin banging my head against walls in the process of creating each post because I will be trying to reconcile four deviating plot lines in my head. Wish me luck!

So basically this scene is about a couple of different things for me:

Zidian

We saw Zidian before, but there’s increased focus on it here. You could say it’s the star of this scene in a way. It is cool and symbolic and full of personality (and purple!) so some of my criteria here is based on how Zidian is portrayed.

Manhua:

First off I love the motion and SFX here. We get a good feel of action despite the fact we’re looking at static images. I also love the lightning effect. Over all, masterfully done. 10/10.

-

Donghua:

Here, the more impressive shots of Zidian are more symbolic - the lighting and effects are still masterful, as is the framing, but the true beauty to this is that Zidian is used as a symbol for JC’s burning rage. Look at that furrowed brow of furor. Contrast with the reasonable, all-business expression in the manhua above. Which do we think is more JC? 11/10. 

-

Drama:

Here, a similar thing is done with Zidian symbolizing JC’s rage. The visual effects are quite nice as well, given it’s live action. The live action format, though, makes it less possible to really show those sweeping strikes at the perfect moment the way the donghua and manhua do. 9/10.

-

WWX being a brat

Of the many faces of WWX, this might possibly be my favorite. In this scene, he has the opportunity to be extra mischievous. First he is eluding discovery and capture, and then he’s (at least in the manhua and donghua) actively trying to extricate himself from the situation by pissing everyone off.

-

Manhua:

Here is WWX heckling JC from behind his donkey, and doing some expo for us, the readers on why the whip didn’t separate him 

(I don’t know what xianshe means, but XR translates the novel version as “I was forcibly given this body”)

Then here he is trying to be “disgusting” by flirting with everyone

Manhua!WWX is once again just a bit too cute and pretty to pull off the mischief I want to see from him here. I do like to see him hiding behind things / people though, and he’s clearly trying. 7/10.

-

Donghua:

Here’s WWX gloating smugly to himself about why Zidian didn’t work:

Here he is declaring his (fake (for now)) crush on LWJ:

WWX is super devious here and I love it. The little smug closed-mouth smirk is what does it for me. 10/10.

-

Drama:

This one is a bit different as Drama!WWX largely plays it straight (pun intended), and focus is on the other characters. Here’s WWX being miserable and sad b/c he was whupped, while LWJ glares:

Then incredulous JC demands:

Then I guess we are prepared for fisticuffs? (from safe behind glaring LWJ)

Yep so I’m honestly not sure what’s going on here but it’s cute and definitely cements the relationships between these three. 8/10.

Overall, we have manhua: 17, donghua: 21, drama: 17

My personal fav: the donghua. The portrayal of Zidian as both a symbol of rage and a vehicle of pretty purple lights is top-notch, and mischievous / fake-flirtatious donghua WWX delivers. 

-

P. S.: I want to thank all the very patient followers who have stuck with me so far and even reblogged some of these ridiculously long posts of mine. I will now be attempting to put most of each post under a cut, so they don’t clog up everyone’s dash so much. I should have done this earlier, but a year or two back, tumblr erased some of my lengthy essays that I placed under cuts, and I have had a debilitating fear of including a cut in my posts ever since. Like other random tumblr malfunctions, it seems to have since evaporated and I’m left wondering if it was my imagination or possibly user error. Anyway I just wanted to thank you for your dedication in interacting with my posts even though they were so long as to be rather rude :)

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[serahne-is-here]

Female characters and sexist tropes in Danganronpa

Because why not, I’m bored. This is... some data ? Do of that what you will, haha. It’s another set of data I collected for a larger analysis, but since I will never publish it ( probably ), here we go.

List of tropes :

- Manipulate men with her womanly ways : pretty self-explainatory, some character will manipulate men’s emotions through seduction, or emotions at least. Honestly there are a lot of great characters out there that fall into this trope, but these characters are often seen as ireedemably evil, or - at best - femme fatale, with a cold, cold heart.

- Victim of sexual abuse/harassment : Whether it’s played for drama or for laugh. Can range from verbal abuse to straight-up rape. Of course there is nothing inherently bad about having female characters that are victims of sexual abuse in your story, but this topic needs to be treated with respect.

- Revolve Around Male Character(s) : Pretty self-explainatory, again. Can lead to fridging, especially in Danganronpa. Usually used to prop-up a male character’s developement.

- 'Waifu’ material :  I decided to use it for any female character that will fit these criteria : a) is of course incredibly attractive b) is completely unaware of that or of the way that her body is perceived by others c) is incredibly naive when it comes to dating/sex d) had actually very little contact with men through her life, because of specific circumstances e) will fall for a completely average guy, despite the fact that he is... well, completely average and does nothing specific on his end, just because he is the first guy that she spends time with.

- Sexist language or behaviour : Toward men, or women. Obviously we notice it toward men - some people on tumblr approve... to each their own, I guess - but it’s a lot less noticed toward women.

Danganronpa : Trigger Happy Havoc

Observations

- If you’re in Danganronpa and you’re manipulating men with your womanly ways, you are evil. Celes, Sayaka and Junko are probably the most hated female characters in the first game ( when, I remind you, a serial-murdered in included in the casting ).

- I absolutely despise the ‘pass’ given to women to be sexist in DR. I don’t mean just sexist toward men, but sexist toward women as well. The comments made by Toko toward Asahina are despicable, unfunny, and frankly uncomfortable as far as I’m concerned. Way more than, let’s say, Hifumi’s. You could justify Kyoko’s comments by her daddy issues, and Junko/Monokuma’s comments by... well, being herself.

- Asahina is the only one I qualified for the Waifu trope. I don’t know if I’m being unfair, but her ‘sudden’ crush on Makoto, her gratuitious fanservice scenes and her childish behaviour made me think that it made sense to put her here.

- Toko was such headscratcher, because while, yes, her entire goal is to please her ‘Master’, Byakuya, I’m re-reading the definition of this trope that I just wrote and... she doesn’t qualify. She isn’t fridged, she doesn’t prop up Byakuya’s developement, and she, de facto, does have her own shit to deal with beside her obsession with Byakuya. So just... take it as it is.

Danganronpa 2 : Goodbye Despair !

Observations :

- A lot less of evil manipulative women in this game. Mikan only qualify when hit by the Despair Discease, as for Hiyoko, it’s a complicated grey zone. She doesn’t exactly manipulate the others with her womanly ways but more her very-young looking girl ways which is... better or worse, you decide.

- Half of the female cast was sexually harassed/abused. Sonia is sexually harassed during the first scene we see her. That seems a lot. Sure, this game relies on the characters having heavy backstory, but I wish they were a bit more creative with theit backstory. Also, this is really played for laugh multiple times which, I don’t know about, but create a cognitive dissonance.

( I didn’t include Mahiru in the list, even if technically, we can watch her naked without her giving her consent because a) I didn’t drink that much bleach back so that I still remembered this scene, thank you very much b) this is a ‘bonus’ scene that I don’t consider as canon, fight me )

- On my first draft, the ‘Waifu’ trope was the ‘Born Sexy Yesterday’ trope, but it could only be really applicable to Chiaki, as she is literally created as a naive child that doesn’t know what holidays are in the body of a over-sexualized teenager. As it is, though, for the Waifu trope, Sonia qualifies big time. Akane and Mikan barely don’t.

- Also Chiaki is lucky I’m not taking into account Dr3.

- Ibuki was almost the unproblematic fav of the list, and then I remembered her behaviour whenever Mikan was humiliating herself, and so she will never be at Sakura’s level, sorry Ibuki.

Danganronpa : Another Episode and Danganronpa 3 : The anime

Observations :

- The difference of treatment between Kotoko’s sexual abuse and Komaru’s sexual abuse is baffling. I don’t know how this happened.

- Ruruka, being, you know a woman with womanly ways, is evil, and I love her.

- Chisa’s character is a trainwreck, but I genuinely have no idea if his character revolve around Munakata. It has to, right ? What would it revolve around, if not ? She does prop up his development, so I was like ‘good enough’.

- I will not subject myself to the anime once again, so it’s totally possible that one of these character had sexist language and behaviour. If it’s Chisa, tell me, because she would almost hit a bingo with that.

Danganronpa V3 : Killing Harmony

Observations :

- Are all the FTEs in NDRV3 really, really stupid ? Yes. But at least, that means no sexual abuse in half of the female cast’s past, and I will say it’s a win.

- That said, I’m not taking in account the Love Hotel’s events. Once again a) bleach ain’t cheap, you guys b) it would create such ridiculous bias when compared to other games... like, arguably the entire cast would have been sexually assaulted by Shuichi, and the ‘Waifu’ trope would also rack up a lot of points. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. These events are still... a thing. Unfortunately.

- Angie is perfect, and blessed by Atua. Obviously.

- While Tenko’s behaviour is making Himiko’s uncomfortable and could be considered sexual harrassment, I still didn’t put Himiko in the ‘victim’ category, though I suppose I could have. Double standards also get me, sometimes.

- Do Maki and Kaede revolve around a guy ? I personally would say no for Maki. Kaito is the one that props up her character development. Hell, he is the one getting fridged. I knew I had to mention it anyway, but to me she doesn’t qualify. Kaede is a bit more difficult. No, until her death, would be the most correct answer. Then it’s damn Shuichi, we get it, you have a dead girlfriend, shut the heck up about it, thanks. Same thing for the Waifu trope for Kaede. She is fine when we are playing her, but during her FTE... damn.

- If you were wondering, Kaede threatens - and actually start - to rise Tsumugi’s skirt until Shuichi can see her panties. Tsumugi might be an evil mastermind, it’s still sexual harrasment in my book, though obviously not at the level of what we have in earlier games.

[quidfree]

hi! hope you're well and that you're having a good day:) I absolutely adore LMV - I genuinely think it's the best fic I've ever read. anyway, the point of this ask was that I was wondering whether you had any thoughts about sirius as a godfather? like, was he suited for the job, did he actually do a good job... idk, maybe you've answered that question before, in that case, sorry! and ofc don't stress abt answering:))

this is so nice of you ty!!!

ive never talked about dogfather sirius, actually!! what an interesting pair of questions.... i would have to say a qualified yes to both?

was sirius suited for the job: personality-wise, maybe not entirely (raising a child alone in the event of jily deaths would have been Rough, and he’s not exactly a stable parental unit, not to mention he would have spoiled harry rotten), BUT he has the most important prerequisite, which is undying love and loyalty for the potters and for harry, and that means he would have done everything in his power to be a good parent figure to him, which is what really matters, so. not to mention that jily realistically weren’t contemplating he would have to be godfather alone for the majority of harry’s life- with jily around he could have been just The Coolest Godfather Ever instead of harry’s first living parental figure who didn’t treat him like shit.

did he actually do a good job? i would say a resounding yes. bearing in mind he was stuck in azkaban for twelve years (let’s not get into that), we only actively see him godparent harry for three years (plus when he was a baby). obviously baby harry was spoilt v much by his dogfather; what we see of sirius + teen harry also speaks favourably of him, i think. ok, little bit of a rough start what with the unhinged prisoner vibe, but the FIRST thing sirius does when free is go check up on harry- and he keeps tabs via crookshanks etc once at school, knows his interests well enough to send him the firebolt, and he values harry’s opinions enough to not murder peter on the spot despite his thirteen year revenge vendetta. obviously, the fact harry is the spitting image of someone sirius hasnt seen except for in his nightmares for over a decade doesn’t hurt, but he’s just so awkwardly sweet to harry afterwards- when he offers harry to come live with him, expecting him to refuse and completely understanding of it, it’s so endearing (and it always broke my heart how excited they both were about it- i bet sirius was thinking about another time a potter asked to live together). and from the start sirius ALWAYS speaks to harry like a whole person, not a child to be kept in the dark (which, if everyone else had done, looking at you dumbledore...)- the speech he gives him before he escapes is so important for harry to hear, especially from someone who knew his parents. sirius is always so careful to tell harry things about james and lily. now, it’s not that sirius treating harry like an adult would be ideal on its own, and i do think in part the issue is that he skipped his entire childhood and harry looks so much like james, but i also don’t think sirius actually treats harry too much like a grown man, apart from slipups- just like a grown teen. he advises him against threats, tells him the edgy backstories harry SHOULD know (and no other adult ever wants to tell him), looks after him as best he can (HE LIVES IN A CAVE EATING BONES TO LOOK OUT FOR HIM), listens to his teen melodrama. even when he’s fucking up by encouraging harry’s risk-taking i don’t think he’s treating him like an adult- he’s treating him like a *marauder*, because at that age, that’s what he or james would have done; being able to make informed choices is what sirius would have wanted at his age. i don’t think molly or sirius necessarily have the better argument- both make good points; sirius gets what harry wants and molly gets what harry might need even if he doesn’t want it, but that makes perfect sense- molly is an older woman who’s raised seven children, and sirius is in his early thirties and lived with kids for (1) year. james and sirius were order members by age /eighteen/ and sirius was in azkaban at /twenty-one/- he was basically a kid HIMSELF before he got put in the torture prison. i always found it so unfair that literally none of the other adults ever mention the debilitating mental issues he must be suffering from- remember the lifelong PTSD hagrid got from a MONTH there???- and that’s without even mentioning dumbledore’s purposeful exacerbating of them. not to say that mental health excuses poor parenting, but sirius both /isn’t a parent/ and really does very well at filling that role anyways, on the whole, so i think he can be cut some slack for once in his life. harry loves sirius SO MUCH and sirius loves him right back- and sirius teaches him some of the most important lessons in the whole series, even if he himself never managed to learn them- lessons that i really think shape the adult harry becomes, and the kind of lessons his parents might have taught him. so overall i’d give him kudos- and considering the absolute bullshit he’s living through, with james and lily dead, azkaban sucking the light out of him for over a decade, peter running free, and dumbledore QUARANTINING HIM IN THE HOUSE WHERE HIS ABUSIVE DEAD MOTHER IS (?!?!), i would say he does a stellar fucking job.

anyways harry & sirius’ relationship is so important to the series- even the GP was upset when sirius dies in OOTP, largely because everyone could see how bad it hit harry. that scene in dumbledore’s office? oof. they just care about each other so v much and we were robbed of a lifetime of sirius as harry’s absolute fav adult. if sirius had held onto harry that day- if dumbledore hadn’t decided to place him with abusive bigots for a plan which would only pay off by OOTP- i honestly think sirius would have outlived the series. because with harry he’d have been less unhinged by grief, able to testify properly, gotten support from other order members, not gone to azkaban- and with harry he would have had a reason to live. thirteen years of raising harry would have made harry the snarky little fucker he is at his core by age eleven, confident and happy and very good at quidditch indeed; thirteen years would have made sirius as whole as he can get. they would have patched things up with remus. there’d be no OOTP tragedy of errors. sirius would have punched dumbledore at some point. harry would have sent a pic of him and his new friends over week 1 of hogwarts and sirius would have punched through a wall and then calmly strolled over to hogwarts and taken ron’s pet rat over to minerva mcgonnagal, where unspeakable things happened to it. he would have gently butted heads with hermione (but won her over via crookshanks if nothing else) and gotten on very well with ron; snape would barely have been able to be such a dick to him because sirius would have gleefully sent him howlers for every minute of his day until he cracked. lucius on the school board terrorizing the other parents? not on sirius “billionaire heir to the toujours pur line” black’s watch- he’d happily invest even more obnoxious wealth into the school fund to get first call, not to mention lucius’ imperius excuse would not get very far with sirius around. “who’s nicholas flamel? we can’t ask adults- we’d get in trouble with the teachers and our parents are either muggles or wouldn’t know- oh wait nevermind, sirius, who’s nicholas flamel?” no more expelliarmus-ing for four years; harry Trained Duellist By Age 11 more like. dobby the house-elf? oi dobby sirius is family too- now spit it all out, won’t you? chamber of secrets? yeah, sirius knows what that is. parseltongue? yeah, sirius is familiar, and fuck those other kids for being weird to harry about it, does he want to come home for the holidays? weird creepy diary? oh, sirius’ family will have Magicke Moste Evile around somewhere. book 3 is just Harry’s Holiday: The Book because there’s no sirius subplot. you think snape would have dared treat remus the way he does with sirius hovering around paying half his checks? i think the fuck not. you bet your ass they had box seats for the whole of gryffindor house at the Quidditch World Cup. barty crouch? yeah, sirius knows THAT asshole- and remembers his son. catch harry whizzing through all the challenges minus the nerves ahead of time while sirius and remus do half the investigating for him. yule ball? no sweat, just go with ron; that’s what james and sirius would have done. if the maze went the way it goes in the books, “moody” wouldn’t even have been able to drag harry off without sirius intervening. and sirius “ptsd” black would have been The One Person who Got harry’s feelings in OOTP- not to mention sirius Skilled Legilimens black could have coopted that shit from snape and gotten harry up to scratch. sirius-raised-harry would have given umbridge twice as much shit. no kreacher lying here- and harry has sirius’ mirror anyways. so no massive drama in the ministry, and no suicidal recklessness / desperate first taste of freedom on sirius’ part means no veil incident even if they got there. hence book six through seven going Quite Differently. sirius shows up book six to be DADA teacher, why not. him and remus think it’d be funny, and besides he’s petty enough to steal the job from snape. move over firenze, new hot teacher in town. half the books are avoidable.

[comicteaparty]

June 8th-June 14th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from June 8th, 2020 to June 14th, 2020.  The chat focused on Devil Tongue by Samuel Soto-Saines and Lucas Soto.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Devil Tongue by Samuel Soto-Saines and Lucas Soto~! (https://deviltonguecomic.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until June 14th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

1. I really appreciated how this comic felt really authentically shonen manga right off the bat without feeling tropey or overwrought. 2. I liked when the protagonists confront the ghost in the theater. I just really enjoyed the ghosts dialogue and dramatic jestures. 3. Moira is my fav so far. She's got a sword and seems capable, though is also still an apprentice so I'm looking forward to seeing how she grows.

boogeymadam

1, ALL THE CATS!! :D but more seriously, the way the characters are introduced through their job, and yet their personalities still shine through~ 2, i liked the scene when they're leaving the Lemaire house and walking on a dark misty neighborhood street at night. It's so atmospheric and perfect for their discussion on what kind of ghost their target might be, as well as what kinda threats it may pose :0 3, I can't decide, they're all interesting. Leera was introduced last but I like her enthusiasm! 2, Moira and Leera during the scene where Moira is explaining tinctures to Leera. Moira's so goal oriented and focused while messing with some apprently-very-dangerous stuff and Leera's just trying to avoid boredom. Moira seemed patient of Leera (for the most part) and willing to explain stuff, which was cool. It made me smile. 5, Oh Man, a lot!! The lines are so very clean and precise, every characters' silhouttes is distinct. It's hard to pick which page is my favorite, but I'd have to say https://deviltonguecomic.com/comic/chapter-01-page-32/ because of all the dynamic angles and expressions on the characters. 6, Pupils taking over from the mentor. I like how Emery is allowing his pupil, Moira, to prove herself, and she seems extremely eager to do so and also: good at it! I can only imagine what Emery is like at this job :0 8, A fun and classic premise of paranormal investigators, of a sort, but with magic of their own, making it even more interesting. It's easy to root for the protagonists and feel curious about what got them into this business, or what they were like before they reached this level of fame and skill. And also, there are talking cats!! Huge draw!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I agree with your #6 Boogey. I do really like how Emery is like "I'm just here to mentor, this is Moira's job." I like seeing the apprentice really get to take point on the mission. I did see though on the cast page that Emery's magic type is just "?????" which definitely makes me what to see him throw down some magic now XD very curious what it is

boogeymadam

OHHH i hadn't spotted that! a secret, how exciting :0c

copperine (Lady Changeling)

I'm not familiar with this one, but I'm intrigued now (and should stop reading this channel till I've read the comic...)

I'll read in the morning and try to give some thoughts

RebelVampire

What I like about the beginning is the character development. Cause we get a lot of it and find out things like Emery being an ex-magician, his relationship with Moira, etc. Yet, at the same time, the plot is not sacrificed and the story is still moved along smoothly, which is a great balancing act. My favorite moment in the comic so far is actually all the times Emery feigns that he doesn't care but then we get those shots of him peeking and spying. I find those adorable but just also really nice character moments. My favorite character at the moment is Emery. I like aloof characters and he fits that bill. I also like his general cynicism about life. Emery is the sort of character who I'd have as a friend in real life. XD As for characters interacting the most, probably Leera and a combo of Emery and Moira. Leera has pretty different motivations for being there, is somewhat opposite in personality from the main pair, and just all around adds an interesting dynamic too the group that kind of makes certain elements of the story seem more grounded. I really just in general love the comic's linework. Not only is everything super clean (making the action easy to follow), but it really knows how to bulk up the shadows to create specific atmospheres that really work for each panel and add so much to each scene.

In terms of themes, I like that the comic somewhat explores with Emery the concept of what to do with your life after your previous life fails. I think we all kind of like to believe we'll do X forever and X comes to define us in a lot of ways. But then suddenly X might not be there and it's like, what is life now? How do I deal with life? And with Emery, I do think we get to kind of experience one path that kind of takes. What I like about the comic's overall content is the...strange mix of fantasy and realism. I can't really put it into words. Like this is definitely a fantasy story, yet there's elements of realism thrown in I wouldn't expect. Like things are almost scarily normal in some respects like the houses or journalism, etc. So everything about the world really intrigues me since it feels super unique in tone. Finally, for strengths, I'm referring back to the art here. I think the atmosphere the art adds to each scene really helps give the comic that extra oomph.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Everyone's covered all the stuff I like about the characters, so let me just throw in some extra praise for the backgrounds. Those elaborate buildings! That towering opera-house interior! That one sequence with light streaming through elegantly-patterned windows!

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. What do you think Emery did that caused him to be exiled by the Magician Order? How does this factor into his general cynicism and bitterness? Also, do you think Emery will ever be a magician again?

10. How do you think Moira became Emery’s apprentice despite Emery being an ex-magician? Similarly, why do you think Moira hasn’t joined up with the Magician Order? As the story develops, how do you think Moira will grow and change as a magician?

11. Besides following Emery and Moira around, what role do you think Leera will have in the story? How might Leera’s presence hurt or help the duo on each case? Also, how will Leera change as she experiences things firsthand?

12. How do you think Moira and Emery will resolve the haunted opera house situation? Can the kidnapped girl be saved, or is she truly gone forever? Additionally, what other sorts of cases do you expect to see after this one?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

Honestly, I get the impression that Emery was good but also just a rebellious rule breaker type. So he probably got exiled for just not fitting in with the club regardless of anything else he might have done. Which to me would explain the cynicism cause it would show him how much of life is just a popularity contest. As for being a magician again, maybe, but the bigger question is would he want to? My current theory for Moira was that she's just ill-suited to the order. I'm sure she's heard awful things about it from Emery, so why join team lame when you can join Emery and be on team winner. As for how Moira will grow, I think she'll just learn to take things a bit more seriously and mature (though probably still pretty happy and excited). I've talked about Leera a bit already, but I think her major role in the story is the grounding element and reader's eyes. Cause someone needs to ask questions for the readers, and I think that will be Leera. But in terms of plot, I also think Leera will just help them get more work by spreading their name to lands far and wide. I think in terms of how Leera will change, I think mostly she'll maybe find better things to publish about and the power she wields with words. I think the kidnapped girl can be saved, but that it needs to be done quickly. As for how this will ultimately resolve, I assume epic battle followed by emotional ghost revelations. As for other sorts of cases, I actually am expecting lots of drama ones with heavy emotional reveals from side characters. I could be wrong, but that feels like the route the comic is going. O_O

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Ryccomics

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? Very good dynamic introduction between Moira and Emery. Very quickly and effectively I understood Emery is an older cynic, and Moira is the energetic and out to prove herself. 2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)? The magic reveal of what the potions/chemicals do is fun. I do not really understand how they work at this time, and I don’t really need to. 3. Who is your favorite character? Mauretta, she’s a lot of fun in design, and she gets to talk more than usual character type. I’m not sure what this character type would be called, but I’m going with person who starts the Scooby Doo mystery. 4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most? Moira and Emery have good chemistry. Having the young rookie be more powerful than the experienced partners adds to the dynamic. 5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

So much going on in this panel. All 5 characters are doing something. 6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores? I don’t have an answer yet, because how this encounter goes will shape the narrative, everyone could die. It could be resolved peacefully, it could wrap like a monster of the week story, or lead to bigger things. 7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content? I like the map in FAQ area of site is cool. Gives information for those who want it, but can be safely ignored by those that don’t. 8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are? I like your line art, a lot. The silhouettes read really well. And when working in black and white having distinct shapes is so important, you’ve color code your characters. 9. What do you think Emery did that caused him to be exiled by the Magician Order? How does this factor into his general cynicism and bitterness? Also, do you think Emery will ever be a magician again? I know from the Cast FAQ, he broke their laws, in what contest will tell a lot about Emery and the Order. I am a little unclear what the Magicians are at this points, how powerful they are in this society. Are the Magicians outside of the Magician’s order?

10. How do you think Moira became Emery’s apprentice despite Emery being an ex-magician? Similarly, why do you think Moira hasn’t joined up with the Magician Order? As the story develops, how do you think Moira will grow and change as a magician? I think Moira will have to confront what caused Emery’s cynicism. I expect she will get more powerful as the story begins. 11. Besides following Emery and Moira around, what role do you think Leera will have in the story? How might Leera’s presence hurt or help the duo on each case? Also, how will Leera change as she experiences things firsthand? I Leera’s role will be mainly to ensure the characters get back onto the plot. Most stories have some form of this function, whether it is the Greek gods, a ticking clock to motivate the characters to act right now Given she works for a newspaper, she can prod the characters to do news worthy things. 12. How do you think Moira and Emery will resolve the haunted opera house situation? Can the kidnapped girl be saved, or is she truly gone forever? Additionally, what other sorts of cases do you expect to see after this one? I feel it will have a happy ending, monster defeated girl saved. This is because the character dynamics would change really drastically if Moira had to confront extreme darkness so early, she would get cynical. 13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic? Will be interesting to see how the combat functions with regard to group dynamics, are the other characters going to plan a part in the combat, or are they on the sidelines. 14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic? I was sad when it ended.

RebelVampire

I am looking forward to finding out more about Emery and what Emery is capable of despite the circumstances. As for final words, this is just a lovely comic with tons of unique aspects about it that I really like.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Devil Tongue this week! Please also give a special thank you to Samuel Soto-Saines and Lucas Soto for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Devil Tongue, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://deviltonguecomic.com/

Devil Tongue’s Story: https://deviltonguecomic.com/store/

Samuel’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sainezart

Lucas’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/lucaswordcraft

[armyvetswife]

My 2 cents worth on Kdramas

So, earlier this year (2018) my 12-year-old granddaughter turned me on to Kdramas.

Started out with 'Boys over Flowers' in January and we're still arguing about which one of the guys Jan-Di should have ended up with....Gu Jun-Pyo or Yoon Ji-Hoo. Since I'm a sucker for the whole Soul Mate thing (been married to my own soul mate for over 30 years) and Ji-Hoo became my favorite right from the start, I actually wasn't too happy with the way things turned out in the end.

But that's all beside the point and the only thing that matters is that it only took this one series to get me completely and absolutely "hooked" on Kdramas.

Since Kim Hyun Joong became my first favorite as Ji-Hoo, I started looking up other parts he starred in and came across 'Inspiring Generation'. Wow! What a difference! The character of Shin Jung-Tae is just about as opposite of Ji-Hoo as it can possibly get. But I guess that's what makes a truly great actor, and Kim Hyun Joong was simply amazing playing the part....even though it bothered me to see that handsome face getting beat up way too much.

But then it was also 'Inspiring Generation' where I found what would become my next favorite...Song Jae Rim, in the character of Mo Il-Hwa.

I can't quite pinpoint what it was that endeared me to that part, but of course I had to once again look for other Kdramas, featuring Song Jae Rim. And that's when I came across 'Moon embracing the Sun' with Song Jae Rim as the King's swordsman, Woon.

Absolutely loved Jae Rim in that part and still do, even after having watched the entire series about a dozen times by now. I also liked Song Jae Rim in 'Goodbye Mr. Black', even though his wasn't a main character role, but didn't care much for the part of a hitman/killer Mr. Kim he played in 'Two Weeks' since I really don't like my favs playing "bad guys". Of course, watching 'Two Weeks' made me find another new favorite...Lee Joon Gi

Okay, so I just said I don't like my favs playing "bad guys", but the main character, Jang Tae-San, isn't really a bad "bad guy" and if that story doesn't tear up your heart, then you better check if you still have one.

I actually had to do something I usually NEVER do...about half-way through the series I had to watch the final episode to see how it turns out, just so my old nerves could take watching the rest of the story. Yeah, I know...terrible, isn't it? Don't worry, I got more than an earful about it from my granddaughter, and I promise to never do it again! ;)

But while I thought that it could not possibly get any better than Lee Joon Gi's performance in 'Two Weeks', I quickly found out that I was wrong when I watched 'Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo' next. OH, MY...!!! Not only is Joon Gi with long hair pure eye-candy (to me at least), but he absolutely nailed the part of Prince Wang So. 

Ladies, how many of you were ready to strangle Wang So's mother with your bare hands. I definitely was! And what's the big deal about that scar? I guess it's because Princes had to be "perfect", but come on...  Scars are just proof that you were stronger than whatever or whoever it was that tried to kill you. And apparently back then the phrase "chicks dig scars" was unheard of. And also apparently I'm not the only one who wasn't happy at all with the way the story ended, considering there are numerous fan videos on YouTube with different, happier endings. I got more than just a little upset with Hae Soo for leaving Wang So. How could she not see that he was trying his best to NOT become some blood-thirsty tyrant??

Anyway, after only about 3 days of some serious editing work, the final episode in my own DVD collection of 'Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo' has a much happier ending now...many thanks to Daria Zyuzina who created the wonderful fan video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj0r9zE5Le8) where Wang So finds Hae Soo in the future. And like so many other fans, I'm also still hoping for a Season 2 with this kind of scenario.

On another note to 'Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo'... aside from the despicable character of Queen Yoo (Prince Wang So's mother, who treats him like s**t), my other least-favorite character is Prince Wang Yo (Wang So's biological brother, and also a son of Queen Yoo). However, while I hated the character, actor Hong Jong Hyun did an excellent job portraying the mean, spiteful, conniving 3rd Prince. But if you're like me, you would much more enjoy seeing Hong Jong Hyun in the role of Wang Rin in 'The King in Love'

or, even better, as Seo Chan Hwi, the vice-commander of the Royal Guard in 'Jeon Woo Chi'

(that is, if you can get into things like wizards and magic and tolerate some occasionally slightly over-done special effects of people flying through the air and such...BUT at least in 'Jeon Woo Chi' ONLY the wizards have that ability, unlike in some of the Chinese dramas where seemingly anybody can have such super-human abilities...if you ever watched 'General and I', you might understand what I'm talking about... I couldn't make it past a trailer that had a fight scene between Chu Beijie and He Xia, but that's just me, I guess).

As far as wizards and magic are concerned, however, I did very much enjoy the ones in 'Mirror of the Witch' aka 'Secret Healer' and my favorite character there ended up being the Taoist Yo Gwang, played by Lee Yi Kyung.

Don't ask me why, I just found him adorable (maybe because he was so awkward, dealing with the girl  Soon Deuk who clearly has a crush on him). SPOILER ALERT -- 'Mirror of the Witch' has a rather bitter-sweet ending!

I want to get back to Lee Joon Gi for a moment since I just finished the 'Lawless Lawyer' series....which is an excellent nail-biter and I had to seriously restrain myself NOT TO watch the final episode first again. If you've seen it, tell me is it just me or did you think too that Joon Gi looked too skinny in that series? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying at all that he looked "bad" in any way and his performance was awesome as usual...I just felt that he looked like he'd lost a whole bunch of weight and "celebrity life" was taking its toll on him. Kind of worries me, because I would definitely like to see him in many more future performances.

I still have some Lee Joon Gi binge-watching left over for now, since the only other movies and series I made it through so far were 'Iljimae', 'Arang and the Magistrate', 'Gunman in Joseon' and of course 'The King and the Clown' (which was way too sad for my taste). But most likely 'Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo' will always be my absolute favorite and I'll keep hoping for a 2nd season...even though that will probably just remain wishful thinking for myself and many others, but we can always hope, right?

Some of my other favs I’d like to mention would be Kwak Dong Yeon as swordsman Kim Byung-Yeon in 'Moonlight drawn by Clouds' aka 'Love in the Moonlight'

and he also played an excellent part as young Shin Jung-Tae in 'Inspiring Generation'.

Then there is Seo In Guk for his outstanding performances as Prince Gwang-Hae in 'The King's Face'

and also as Lee Hyun / David Lee in 'I Remember You' aka 'Hello Monster'.

An excellent yet unfortunately somewhat overlooked performance of Kim Jae Young as Moo-Yeon in ‘100 Days my Prince’

And last (for now) but certainly not least is Jung Il Woo whose sad role as Prince Yang-Myung in 'Moon embracing the Sun' cost me plenty of tissues,

but required even more of them in 'The Return of Iljimae' (even though it has a happier ending for Jung Il Woo’s character)

I'll probably get "yelled at" for saying this, but I honestly have a hard time deciding whom I liked better...Lee Joon Gi as Iljimae in 'Iljimae: The Phantom Thief', or Jung Il Woo as Iljimae in 'The Return of Iljimae'. (Sorry, Joon Gi, but be assured that you'll still always be my #1 fav).

So, thanks to my granddaughter, back to some more binge-watching...hey, I got to blame someone else for things not getting done around the house, right? ;)

[riddleredcoats]

So I just finished AC: Odyssey...

I have thoughts...Many, many thoughts. 

(This is mainly for me so I can remember what I loved about this game when I replay it, or when my friends buy it and I don’t forget anything, but anyone wants to discuss Odyssey is 100% welcome)

Spoilers!!

We’re I’m doing this in parts.

1. The overall

Man, I always loved Greece, I always wanted to go to Greece and I always loved  Greek history... This game only made love it more and it actually made me look up price flights to Greece  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This game is really, really cool in that aspect - it made me feel like I was there, enjoying the sun, beaches, the killing bears/sharks/fucking boars. It looks amazing, the graphics are awesome and the views are to die for. Aesthetic 10/10

The boat mechanics are practically identical to Black Flag - but hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. But the lesbian crew? perfect. talented. inspired. worth the 35$ I paid for the game alone.

The music is decent, but the sea shanties deserve a soundtrack of their own lbr. 

The fighting was really fun, the movements fast and the animation was distinct, really fun feel.  (full disclosure I played on easy settings, cause I enjoy feeling like my character is a badass that can just walk into any fight and you know what, that’s exactly what I got, some enemies fell down with one blow. Super fun experience. Next playthrough Imma do a higher difficulty tho.)

2. The Family Storyline

I actually finished this one pretty quick. Everyone came out alive and well and living on the Adrestia. It was good drama, and I really loved Myrrine - she was incredible lbr, the only woman who can make Kassandra do anything with a single look.

I kinda liked Nikolaos too, in a weird way - even if he’s still an asshole. Spartan’s determination to have/be the best Nation was eventually its downfall, so I think it fits Nikolaos...He is a shitty father, he’s a good Spartan.

 Stentor is kinda meh, but his little spats with Kassie/Alexios are golden.

Deimos!Alexios is such a little shit, and his VA does a good job of portraying the asshole/bad guy, even if there were 1 or 2 cringe moments.

Barnabas is the only valid father figure in the game, there I said it! Y'all can @ me.

Herodotus is the weird and yet boring uncle. I approve of him and anyone who even looks at him funny will have to deal with me. 

Phoibe... Oh, Phoibe. The only moment where I actually felt a tear slide down my eye. I was emotional in other parts, but Phoibe’s death murdered me. 

3. The Cult of Kosmos...

I just wanna say to the asshole who spoiled me who the Cult Leader was... Fuck YOU! I mean honestly, it was a really cool reveal! Luckily he only spoiled it for me when I had done everything with Aspasia and I thought I’d never see her again, LMAO.

So yes, I saw Aspasia and I immediately fell in love with her. Like the second she walked into the scene I was hers. Just like that. 

I already knew of Aspasia - the real one - and like, it never even occurred to me that she might be the Ghost... Real!Aspasia was such a badass woman that needed no man but fell in love with Perikles and I never ever would have suspected her.

That final scene I have 2 complaints:

Why isn’t there an option to talk about Phoibe? I feel like it would be important and the forefront of Kassandra’s mind when she saw Aspasia again.

Aspasia sounded a little crazy? I mean I get HER, I do. The world was a mess - and let’s face it, it still IS - and I get her motivations and ambitions but her voice, her tone was too...dreamy, crazy? The VA for her was super good throughout the game, but I wonder what that part might have sounded like played differently... I dunno, it was hard to take her seriously. But I did let her live (and I kissed her...I am only human after all.)

4. The ‘’Atlantis’’ storyline.

So um... Kassandra dies, which, OUCH.

That part where she speaks Ancient Greek as she dies practically stabbed me in the heart lbr here, cause I imagine she hasn’t really spoken it for soo long (and no one has spoken it in so long). So, she says a prayer for herself cause she knows no alive knows how to do it the proper Greek way and I just... sobs. And as if it isn’t enough she just sounds so tired, so defeated, as if seeing humanity making the same mistakes over and over again broke her a little bit.

Loved going around Greece and fighting all the myths. ISTG, it was honestly one of the most fun parts of the game. The Minotaur is my fav, the aesthetic of the labyrinth was everything and Ardos was such a cute/asshole kid. Really liked the ‘’Medusa’’ too, but more the fighting it part -  it required a little more brain than the others - but that sick looking forest was 10/10.

Pythagoras was an asshole, but I knew that in fifth grade when I had to learn his fucking theorem.

Now we wait to see what Layla does with the staff. It will probably break me and I won’t be able to look at Herme’s staff the way ever again...

5. The Romance...

Kyra was my favorite romance in the game, their scenes were romantic but with a little air of tragedy still. It was well done, really. And the characters - Thaletas and Kyra - felt as if they had a little more thought put into them than some others. 

I really liked Roxana too. They were adorable, by far the best ending for any romance that I saw. 

Odessa was the only one I didn’t romance, mainly cause she gave weird vibes... 

Yes, I felt weird vibes with Odessa - who arguably also ends up with a decent romance ending - but not with Aspasia? I’m hopeless. My love for slightly evil women will be the end of me. I’m at least 30% sure I’ll end up unknowingly married to a serial killer...

But my favorite pairing for Kassandra tho? Aspasia. No doubts, no regrets, no takebacks. Everything about them is bathed in history, drama, and attraction.

We all agree that the first time Kassandra sees Aspasia, she basically has heart eyes. Right? That scene was so gay, I felt straight in comparison... And Aspasia was practically eating her alive with her stare. 10/10 sexual tension. 

The dynamics are really interesting... They both want the same thing but feel there are different ways to get it.  Yes, I know Aspasia was in the Cult that put everything in motion but like that the beauty of it. Aspasia knows its wrong, she knows she did wrong (and she probably wasn’t in the Cult when they interfered with the Oracle to throw Alexios off the Mount Taygetos). 

Also, Kassie is Spartan and Aspasia is Athenian (technically). Two lovers -  a Spartan and an Athenian - in the Peloponnesian War? Yes, please.

So, Drama? Double Check  

The Kiss. Like, don’t get me wrong I loved it and I definitely kissed her (#noregrets), but I wish it would have a little more build up

[kasienda]

2018 Fanfic Year In Review

1 List of fics completed this year: 8!! Though I might be cheating by including each reveal as its own fic, but to be fair to myself, each reveal is a self-contained story, so… I think it counts!) Going it Alone – finished the last two chapters in 2018 after almost a year with no updates! It’s still surreal that this is a finished product!  Box of Chocolates – Series of One-shots for @mamousaweek 2018!  Reveals - where various characters (usually UsaMamo) figure out someone’s or each other’s identities: Touch Gratitude Unworthy Secrecy Fatherhood Disappointment I also started these two new gems: Cravings for Chocolate Milkshakes - my dive into writing comedy Coming of Age - sequel to Going it Alone that loosely follows the Black Moon Arc of the anime and manga.  And I pulled off a whole single update way back in February for: Invisible Wounds - Kind’ve a medical drama that includes a romantic plot for Ami x Zoi. And has some major feminist themes (that I mostly haven’t gotten to yet...)   2 Number of words written: 77,816!!!!!!! Holy shit! That is so much higher than I thought it was! It didn’t feel like that much! I have felt sooooo slow. (I apparently just have too many projects going at once, so it often feels like I’m not making forward progress). I’m so excited. Thank you for making me do this @floraone​, if only for this revelation! 3 Your most popular fic: Going it Alone – this story has twice as many hits, comments, follows, and faves than the next runner up in my writing library. To be fair though, it didn’t collect all of those in 2018 as this story took me four years to complete. I think Coming of Age and Cravings for Chocolate Milkshakes may surpass it, as they have way more follows/faves than Going it Alone had in its first year.  4 Your personal fav: Coming of Age – I know I’m not that far into this one. I truly think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, but goodness, I love this story – both what is already there, and where it’s going.  5 Your fav scene: Right now? Probably the opening chapter of Cravings for Chocolate Milkshakes. But I reserve the right to change my mind! I just like the dynamic of mixing Usagi into Mamoru’s head. It was so fun, especially when he has absolutely no clue what is going on. It’s an easy piece for me to read over again and it still makes me laugh!  6 A fic or scene that challenged you: What fic doesn’t challenge me?! Invisible Wounds and Coming of Age both feel so big!! And that feels overwhelming at times (So did Going It Alone when I was in the middle, so there’s definitely hope!). In Invisible Wounds I feel like I’ve JUST finished the intro arc (assuming a three arc structure) and it’s already 33k words long! Sheesh! And with Coming of Age, I’ve barely dipped a toe in and it’s already stretching me because I really want it to live up to the vision in my head, which is EPIC!  And then there’s Cravings for Chocolate Milkshakes. This is a romantic comedy! And comedy is HARD and not my natural genre at all, especially when I don’t want it to fall into the category of crack fic. I love how light hearted a fun it is though! And I am so proud of it, even though I have to fight for every bit of it, or maybe I’m so proud of it because I have to fight for every bit of it!  7 A line of writing you’re proud of: Again, it’s hard to pick. Let’s go with this exchange… “I love you too Usako,” Mamoru whispered back. “Are you okay?” “I am. It’s just much easier to imagine now.” “What is?” “What it must have been like for you,” she confided. “After your parents died.” His arms around her tightened. “Let’s make it different for Chibiusa.” 8 A comment that touched you: Guys! There are too many. This month it has been FuN FiFi. This person has slowly methodically gone through every one of my stories this past month, and left a gushing review on each of them. This was the last one they sent just this past week completing my library. I haven’t had the energy to respond, but after a few days of crying, and then a few days of pulling my hair out, these were the absolute best pick me ups. 

Pia Bartolini was another that sent me so many reviews for lots of different stories, and got me writing again after a period of writing inactivity. 

Whenever @floraone​ starts rambling with everything in caps. Like you can just tell how overcome she is with all the feels – it just rolls off the page EVEN IN HER REVIEWS! 

Here’s something similar from @queenrisa14​! Where you can just tell, this fic touched her. That means the world to a writer. 

And this last one holds a truly special place because it’s from my sister. She knows all my fandoms – we were obsessed with them together growing up! And yet, she doesn’t always read them right when they come out. And then suddenly I’ll get a million reviews from her or better yet, a phone call and we’ll talk about my stories and these characters for hours! Cravings for Chocolate Milkshakes was inspired by one of these phone calls.

9 Something that inspired your writing: Honestly? Mostly life probably. I wrote the majority of Going it Alone over two years while feeling isolated, depressed, inadequate, and hopeless. You can bet Coming of Age already channels (and will continue to do so) my experience as a parent, and Invisible Wounds is definitely a product of spending too much time in hospitals and learning to become some kind of nurse myself for my medically complex son.

A lot of the reveals and one shots, I feel were inspired here on Tumblr. From people sending me ideas and prompts! From lovely artwork and fan art. From brainstorming sessions with @floraone​, @tinacentury, and my husband​. Also from comments and reviews!! I cannot tell you the number of times getting a gushing review after a long time of silence has specifically sent me opening up all the story documents determined to finish something! 10 Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc): Can I go back up to that word count?! My life has been insane (and hard) this year (especially since June), and just to see that I never stopped writing through any of it, even though it felt like I didn’t have any time, well, that just feels really good!!

[mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker]

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows Vol 2 #6-7 Thoughts

Previous thoughts here.

Okay I’ve finally caught up to where I left off with RYV in 2017 so these are my thoughts on the X-Men arc.

I have very mixed feeling about this arc depending upon what POV I look at it from.

As a general story unto itself and an instalment in this series it was pretty great.

However in the context of an AU series with a limited shelf-life as is and in a context when Spider-Man had so often been sharing the spotlight (and the Spider-Marriage hadn’t been seen) making what amounted to a standard paint by numbers X-Men story just from the Parker’s POV was very questionable even if I like the X-Men.

Finally from the POV of a guy who likes the X-Men but isn’t hardcore but is very much in love with 90s X-Men (which this version is based upon) my feelings are very mixed.

And that boils down to what I love about the X-Men and that era of the X-Men vs. how Conway apparently feels about them.

But let’s get general perennial opinions out the way. I’ve grown to begrudgingly accept the conceit of this series as a Spider Family book and a book where we are just going to ignore the child endangerment issues at play. But i’ve spoken about that before in my older coverage of issues #1-5. Similarly in those issues and it still holds true for this arc, Stegman is the goddam man when it comes to the artwork.

Whilst there was one panel in which he tried to draw MJ shocked and upset and it came off just goofy, over all the artwork in this arc was stunning and I genuinely said ‘wow’ out loud when I got to the splash page of Spider-Man and Wolverine.

Keeping on the visuals for a moment, I goddam love the costumes chosen for the characters here. Yes even the reimagined looks for Toad, Crucible and Mist Mistress.

Obviously I don’t talk X-Men here much but I adore the 1990s X-Men costumes from the 1992 cartoon, which originated under Jim Lee. And honestly they genuinely are among the most iconic and visually dynamic looks for the characters so it’s not purely personal preference. This is especially resonant for me with Wolverine. Spider-Man is my favourite (American comic book) character and following him are various Spider-Verse characters like MJ, Norman Osborn, Ben Reilly, Mayday, etc.

But outside of those Spider-Verse characters, Wolverine is my absolute fav Marvel character and it’s always annoyed me that Marvel were like embarrassed to put him in his classic Giant-Sized X-Men uniform once Whedon began writing X-Men.

That is THE iconic Wolverine look and in this story Stegman brought it back baby!

Similarly I appreciated that the Magneto of this story both looked and acted like classic Magneto. Not the aweful black and silver shit he was wearing around this time in the comics and I’ve never been fond of him as a good guy member of the X-Men.

Honestly, whilst I get it was well executed character development, Magneto is inherently more interesting as a morally grey antagonist for the X-Men than among their ranks. So much of the core premise of X-Men is built around the fundamental philosophical conflict between Magneto’s beliefs and Xaviers that you lose a not insignificant chunk of the essence of X-Men when you put them on the same side. Not to mention in a superhero story you want strong characters as antagonists and Magneto is arguably the best X-Men villain, scratch that best comic book villain, ever.

Okay now let’s chat story.

I wasn’t pleased with  the deaths in this. Banshee might be few people’s fav  but Beast was and in both cases their quick shock deaths were unearned and unworthy. Kind of overly dark to be honest with you given the nature of the RYV book and it gave the impression that Conway isn’t fond of either character.

But that sentiment shines through far more poignantly with Jubilee and Cyclops. Whilst Cyclops gets screwed over slightly less badly than he did in the X-Men movies, the same problems occur. He gets undermined in favour of Wolverine and so Logan and Jean can be shipped together. Which is only a different flavour of frustrating if you LIKE the Cyclops/Jean relationship as I do, than when Jean got screwed over so Scott and Emma could hook up. I still despise that.*

But at least this was kind of believable, at least to me. No X-Men expert so maybe their break up was OOC, but the idea that Cyclops and Jean broke up because Jean didn’t have faith in controlling her Godlike powers whilst Cyclops did is an interesting piece of relationship drama. And at least the characters in RYV didn’t get fucked as hard as they did in the 2000s.

Still you can kind of tell Conway isn’t a big fan of Cyclops (understandable he has his haters, I hate 2000s-2010s Cyclops) but you can equally tell he really doesn’t like Jubilee.

Again, not an X-Men expert here but I’m pretty sure Jubilee being a traitor to the X-Men and being disillusioned by Xavier’s methods is immensely OOC for her character.

Now that isn’t that big of a deal because this is an AU at the end of the day. But if you like Jubilee or just know her character then it will probably annoy you. Unfortunately for one reason or another Jubilee in my observations seems to get a lot of hate that Kitty Pryde and X-23 don’t and I do not understand why.

In the cases of both characters I could tell instantly that Conway was setting one of them up to be the traitor and honestly if you are doing an AU book, Cyclops is kind of the more interesting choice although I grant you maybe not in the context of 2010s Cyclops who already murdered Xavier in AvX and has been a douchebag for a long time. But in the context of this story and 1990s X-Men which this story is trading off of, it’s the more interesting choice. I will give it to Conway though for at least bothering to give us 2 suspects. These days most writers wouldn’t even bother with that and just think they were being subtle when they have Jubilee say shit like “Maybe your human friend wouldn’t like you if she knew you were a mutant!”

On some final notes about the X-Men themselves I feel like there was maybe something more interesting you could’ve done with Jean and Wolverine’s child than what we got with Shine. In her personality and powers she could be any one of the army of Summers/Grey children or any given generic mutant. There is no Wolverine in her to be seen.

That’s not me inherently hating her. She’s just more of a missed opportunity. She was adorable unto herself and even moreso in her relationship with Annie and I hope that gets revisited in consequent issues.

My final little note regarding the X-Men themselves was that I didn’t care for Magneto being mind controlled at the end or his over all plan.

Okay, it’s more like I felt his plan was underdeveloped. Because it’s not that it didn’t make sense because it was literally the same plan from X2: X-Men United. But Conway basically expected you to have just known  that because of the visuals and results of the plan. And for comic book and comic book movie fans like me, sure I know the shorthand but it’s not good storytelling. Similarly Emma Frost shows up at the end, barely talks but just kind of takes over as the main villain when Magneto had been the guy built up in the story and...he, he’s Magneto dude. That’s like having Puppet Master show up towards the end of a story where Doom’s been the main villain and take over.

Also doesn’t his helmet shield him from psychic control? I mean again it’s an AU and I feel like that wasn’t established until way later about Magneto but still.

I also wanna talk about how this arc more than anything else just blows up the continuity between RYV volume 1 and volume 2.

In RYV vol 1 #1 it was a big deal that the X-Men got wiped out by Regent and the implication was that the universe diverged in the early-mid 1990s.

In this arc though it’s made crystal clear that obviously the X-Men are fine and that in this universe (the dumpster fire clusterfuck that was) Civil War 2006 was avoided.

Which is again an example of Conway subtly saying screw you to stuff he doesn’t like but I don’t mind that because yeah screw Civil War it was hot trash. But it does make RYV volume 1 way more confusing in terms of continuity, especially since literally no other post-Secret Wars ongoing series (including X-Men ’92) seemed to radically alter their universe after the event like RYV did.

Honestly I think the only way to have it make sense is to just say RYV volume 2 is an alternate version of the RYV volume 1 characters and that prior to volume 2 a guy called the Regent showed up, stole some people’s powers then Spider-Man and his family stopped him. He didn’t kill anyone, he didn’t take over the world, he wasn’t trying to kill God Emperor Doom or whatever and the world didn’t know who Spider-Man was by the end of it.

This actually jives way better with what Houser would later establish in her run on RYV that Annie isn’t a daughter Peter and MJ had INSTEAD of Mayday, but in fact the daughter they would’ve had if OMD hadn’t fucked everything up. I guess in the RYV universe though Spider-Man never joined the Avengers and fashion was stuck in the 1990s even in the 2000s.

I’m not complaining I’m just trying to get all this stuff straight.

Okay let’s move onto the Parker family.

I loved the payoff to issue #2 with MJ planning a party and it turning out to be for Peter’s birthday. That was the best scene in the whole story. Normal life drama with supporting characters we know and love. This is the heart of Spider-Man! And it came with adorable scenes like Annie confronting the horror of gluten free desserts and acknowledgments of Aunt May and Aunt Anna’s deaths.

The heart of the story was the stuff related to whether Peter and MJ should make Annie stay at the Xavier school or not and the scenes exploring this were really good.

Spider-Man deal with relatively relatable everyday issues and failing that stuff that s clearly allegorical to said issues. In this case Annie’s powers are allegorical to a kid with a disability, special learning issues, or someone with a particular aptitude for learning that would make a normal school more challenging.

Special props goes to Peter relating to how he struggled in school and not wanting that for Annie. In MJ’s case though she wants to keep her daughter close. This makes sense retroactively when you consider she’s already lost one child and if you pretend RYV vol 1 happened then she spent years keeping Annie close out of fear that she died.

Putting those aside though it could be a commentary upon MJ’s own childhood growing up where she was constantly being uprooted and saw her family and her sister’s family fall apart. For MJ it’s likely very important that the family unit stay close together.

Conway’s writing shines because he organically (albeit not as subtly as he could) has them switch positions creating yet more potential conflict and makes sure Annie has her own view on the matter. She likes the school, she likes Shine but she doesn’t want things to change and justifies this in a childish way by making out a popular kid in her school is a bigger deal than she actually is.

My major point of condemnation though is that I feel way more could’ve been done with the premise (e.g. having MJ and Jean connect over super powered kids) than actually was because so much of the plot is dominated by villains invading the Xavier school for the umpteenth time.

Actually goes into two other problems with the arc. This is an incredibly generic X-Men storyline because obviously it’s from a Spider-Man perspective. Like if an X-Men story tried to present a window into the world of Spider-Man it’d be a typical thing about him making rent, working for Jameson and missing a date or whatever. It’s like default setting X-Men and whilst I like that because I miss those days before X-Men became a clusterfuck, it’s not the most compelling main plot in the world.

And honestly it wraps up too quickly and easily, MJ just decks Emma Frost and the story is done. Annie and Peter don’t get involved enough which is weird because isn’t this a team book? I mean as the story highlights it makes Mj look cool but I don’t like doing that at the expense of the other characters.

Now in fairness that might’ve been set up for the next arc, which I know is about MJ becoming Venom. The last page or two of the arc implies this because it features an overtly villainous Liz Allan.

At first I raised my eyebrow at this. Around that same time Liz had been presented as evil in the 616 books and I thought this might’ve been lame out of nowhere synergy.

But in thinking about it, if this really is a Liz Allan who is recently went through the stuff she dealt with in DeMatteis’ Harry Osborn arc from the 1990s (as is the implication) then Liz would be a darker person, would be more hard hearted to protect her son and she wasn’t the nicest person to the Parkers at that time.

Although issue #4 had MJ refer to Normie as creepy implying the Osborns and Parkers generally aren’t all that close in this universe.

Regardless Liz with the Venom symbiote targeting MJ and having the there be an explicit thematic connection between them via their shared motherhood was a darkly delicious moment.

As many mixed feelings as I have for this arc over all I give it a solid B.

*Hence I personally also loved Emma Frost just being a plain villain and getting decked by MJ because I goddam hate Emma Frost I really do.

[kyunsies]

Hi angel!!! Ahh the baverse episode was so good, I love how introspective and emotionally connected kyun is. It’s so interesting to hear him talk about his connection with loneliness and sadness, he has a very unique perspective that I don’t think I’ve ever heard before, but I think it suits him. Also I loved all the part with Joo where he was like, yes kyun is kind of a loner and has a quiet personality, but he’s still cute and a very good friend (the part where he called kyun cute and he just looked into the camera and smiled made me smile so hard, I love them 😭) I’m really loving this series so much (bc the woodz one was super good too!) Congrats on your exam yesterday, I knew that you would do well! I’ve been gone for awhile again, this time it was because I started watching Jinyoung’s newest drama (the devil judge) and fell in love a little, I’ve watched so much jinyoung content this week it’s a little concerning sksns I can’t wait to see your gifs later, I’m sure they’ll be stunning!! Love you 😘

-💜💜💜

ANGEL HI i’mfinally on my lunch break !!!!!!!! I’ve missed you so much :( how has uni been treating you so far hun? you should be on your second week now yeah? i really loved his episode 💕💓💖💞💘💗💕💓💖💞💘💗💕💓💖💞💘💗 i’m sure ppl were expecting more out of this, like how woodz was really emotional (including myself lol) but after watching it i was just like ,,,,,,, you know what ? this is changkyun 🥺 he might not get too emotional about things, which is okay <3 he has his way of dealing with hardships that are a lot different than how other ppl express and that’s what i love about him so much :( and even more so maybe he’s just not Wollongong to get to that emotional point with mbb and honestly that’s fine too bc at the end of the day we got to learn more about him which is i think most valuable so :) i know i sound super corny right now MDJJF but i enjoyed this nonetheless 🥺

HOW DID U LIKE PURPLE IN THE MIND THO !!!!!!! hearing that little snippet of the song made me sooooo excited i wonder if he’s going to release that anytime soon !!!! it’s not the same as the song ‘loop’ he’ll be releasing later this week but GOD I NEED THAT SONG LOL <3 also yes yes yes when joo was explaining seeing him read with his headphones on KDJD it’s so cute :( i can tell how much affection JOOKYUN have for each other and honestly it’s so touching to me 😭 ugh and when kyun says he likes being lonely and he loves the feeling of nostalgia :( like it makes me admire him so much bc when I feel lonely i see it as a weakness but he sees it as something pleasant and :( i just want true happiness for him ya know :((

ANYWAYS !!!! i’ll never shut up if i don’t stop hhhhh but thank you so much about my exam :) it’s always nice to get the first one out of the way, and have a decent score at that 🥰 and AHHHHH about jinyoung LMAO i always tell myself if i were to rediscover got7 i feel like my bias would be jinyoung instead of Jackson DJJDJD <3 i’ve heard nothing but good things !!! maybe i’ll check it out :)

and THANK YOU FOR UR SUPPORT lol i kinda would like to compline all of my fav moments in one little gifset and i know the coloring will be all over bc the scenes thing match but 🥺🥺🥺 i’m excited to make it !!!!! thank you for everything angel <3 i hope you’re doing super well, it was so nice to talk to you <3 have a good rest of the week okay!!!!!