#it’s fun to be with somehting for long enough

[islandsaoirse]

[katatty]

Sims Say the Darnest Things: When you get this, list five of your characters and their best quotes so far. Then pass it on to five other storytelling simblrs.

Aw man, this is a fun one! I've been writing stupid stuff for my sims to say for so long it's hard to think of a top 5, but definitely have some funny moments I'd like to reminice on :)

“Who cares about work? Money isn’t everything, Raye!” “I’m just not sure I’m responsible enough for this. I feel like a kid myself half the time!” “Well, better grow up fast, because I’m keeping the baby! Bleh!!”

This line from Emmie is iconic to me and kind of sums up both the good and bad in her character! She's enthusiastic, chirpy and always ready to jump into stuff but can be kinda selfish/thoughtless with like, poor boundaries lmao. It also always makes me giggle adding "Bleh!!" to the end of her lines idk

Bella: Cassandra! Oh my, are you all right? Cassandra: I’m fine, Mom. Bella: You��re having a mental breakdown on our back porch!

idk this is just funny to me bc Bella is half concerned for Cassandra and half worried that Cassie is bringing down the vibe at her fabulous dinner party lol

Camellia: I keep thinking I’ve forgotten something!  Lori: Cami, I feel like that almost all the time. Nine out of ten times it’s nothing important!

I'm realising going though these most of them aren't even particualrly "great quotes" they're just things I found funny to write, haha. My way of escaping the "5 characters" thing by making them all require context or somehting. idk! RIP to Orion

Lilith: Since when you do you cook, anyway? Ashley: I’m teaching myself. It’s called having a growth mindset, you should try it. Lilith: Hey, I’m all about personal growth. You know I achieved lifetime happiness this week? Ashley: Our date was that good, huh?

Ashley & Lilith's unhealthy-ass relationship banter is always so fun to write, I really miss them! I really like having sims actually mention, like, game mechanics? Lilith saying "I achieved lifetime happiness this week" just tickles me. tbh i also think "it's called having a growth mindset" is really funny, really fits ashley's self-improvement-reddit-guy vibe

ok and my all time favourite scene/quote is this ripp moment idk this was 5 years ago but i still laugh thinking about it it was so unhinged

“So this makes us and the twins, what? Step-siblings? That’s hot.” “You are such a pig, Ripp!” Lilith kicked him under the table. “I’m gonna kill you.” “Chill out, Tank! It’s not like it’s real incest! You and Angela can keep fucking if you really want to.”

like most inappropriate and gross comments of all time????????? lmao. very sad that Ripp has grown as a person I miss writing him as an immature dickhead lol

ANYWAY thank u for sending this, it was really fun & nostalgic and has me really wanting to actually write posts again, maybe I will queue some up :)

tagging @potential-fate, @moocha-muses, @dunne-ias, @antisocialbunnysims & @rurpleplaysmuttingtonac if any of you fancy doing this :)

[yuukei-yikes]

A lot of people seem to not like the manga as a starting point but its what hooked me. I saw will stetsons lost time memory and I was like "what???" "thats it???" and found the rest with my brother at like 2am. the mangas slow fun pace that is instantly cut off by horror is fun, the flashbacks are great characterization.... the only part i didn't like was the dissonance between Harutaka in mangaroute1 and mangaroute2.

it was a bit confusing. anyway do you prefer the anime or manga's version of takane as she seems to be your favorite character. (for me its gotta be the manga, the anime just did not do it)

the manga is what hooked me too! back in january 2014, there was tiny vinnie binging all the songs and what was available of the manga at the time in just one day...

i think the reason ppl dont recommend the manga as a starting point is the second manga route. personally, i recommend the manga as a starting point but only until volume 4 after the route we start with is over. and then i'd come back to second manga route when im done with everything else!! my kagepro recommendation is 1. songs 2. manga until everyone dies lol 3. novels 4. finish the manga 5. anime.

the thing with the manga is that it doesnt rly go into what the normal route is for very long. we keep saying second manga route but its like, idk MOST of the manga is that route.

i do like the manga for the same reasons as u, but sometimes im a little eh bc of mahiro sato's obvious knkd shipping and stuff lol. and i did write a whole bigass answer abt why i hate what happens to takane's character in haruka's arc in the second route. otherwise i dont mind the difference all that much. and i love her as ene in the rest of it. its just a few things that drive me crazy ok ill just link the post lol sorry i just have. um. strong feelings.

OK UR ACTUAL QUESTION hmmmmm well yea i'd say the manga or novels. i get what u say abt the anime but truly the anime did not do it for any of them LOLL there was barely any time for anything let alone good characterisation. like come on there's 11 main characters and 12 twenty four minute long episodes. wdym u dont like anime takane she was there for like (checks) 40 or 50 min in total?

takane is incredibly sidelined in the anime much like everyone else cuz. lol. AGAIN. kagepro is not somehting u can fit in a 12 ep long anime. yuukei yesterday in the manga and novels goes a lot more in depth about takanes personality and relationship to haruka. not to mention they put kano's little Disguising Myself As Someone Dear To You That You Have Regrets About on her instead of shintaro which was crazy. to me that did so much damage to kano's character. i wouldnt call myself a kano expert bc he's an insanely complicated character to tackle LMAO but... i dont know. i just dont think he would do that to ene. shintaro is one thing, we all know kano's little thing abt shintaro, but ene?? its like, he does that to her BECAUSE of the thing with shintaro. kano's pissed and frustrated at everyone moving on while he's stuck behind and ESPECIALLY at shintaro and takes it out on ene for being the main reason why shintaro is moving on. its a little unfair. i dont think kano would be THAT disconnected to do that. not to mention when he pulls that trick on shintaro he isnt half as harsh as he is on ene!! he just kinda spooks him (tho ofc thats enough to send shintaro spiraling LOL) while to ene he's like YOURE THE WORST FUCK YOU and then the way ene kinda laughs it off after also pisses me off LOL yeah kano could do this im not saying its COMPLETELY ooc but he would be in an incredibly despaired rock bottom moment and he'd be super apologetic about it later. post str kano and takane friendship *holds head*

and if you read the novels and kano's feelings and thoughts over takane it makes me sad that's what they chose to do in the anime bc in the novels kano regards takane as someone he's jealous of bc of how confident she is and "her ability to doubt people" and how he thinks they're similar ppl. like we rly dont give enough credit that TAKANE is the first person kano ever opens up to in his life. he even says the conversation they have might as well be the first conversation he's ever had with anyone, and they both head out to the hideout being the ones who have to admit something to the people dear to them (kano the whole clearing eyes thing to kido, takane the ene thing to shintaro) and its not for no reason!!! kano sees something in takane. he knows theyre similar, but at the same time he is jealous. that together sounds a little like he wishes he could be more like her. OUGH. and how they just chose to translate that whole thing into kano being awful to ene and berating her for trying to save shintaro is soooo fucked up. it bothers me so much. #notmykano

WHY AM I TALKING ABT KANO THIS IS ABOUT TAKANE. OK i was driving my point abt how the anime isnt a good judging point to any of the characters LMAO and i guess i wouldnt be able to tell u which "version" of takane i like best, or anyone for that matter. to me all medias are the same version of the same character. im in too deep all of them. the takane that almost kills kenjirou for outing her as lightning dancer ene is the same takane who admits it by herself. idk. guess its a good question but i dont have a good answer. thats also why i hate second manga route takane bc she does shit i dont think she'd do and it pisses me off LOL

[maroon5-official]

Why do I have that summery George Ezra song stuck in my head??

[halion-halion-aito]

oh hello!! *pulling out notes i’d had ready for like weeks* i’m very very glad you asked!

so, alright, let’s start from the fact that, clearly, geoff johns didn’t know his characters at all when he started writing teen titans. so, even if he didn’t do this retcon (which, just as a side fact, was actually a theory he’d formulated and written to DC in a letter when he was twenty-one), he would’ve probably completely failed at writing kon.

which he did, retcon or not, since you can absolutely tell conner is so not the same guy as the kon we met in young justice and superboy.

but, going back to the retcon itself.

(putting a keep reading sign here because it turned out longer than expected, lol)

the thing it really does, in my opinion, is to really shake away what was kon’s greatest issue, the core of his character and what really started all the insecurities, if you want to call them that way, he showed in superboy.

(side side note: all this stuff is from his solo, which may seem like a fun read but is a rollercoaster of pain. but it’s 100% worth the read imo)

initially, kon was only created from the human dna samples of A Guy, whose name is paul westfield and was the scientist, 100% human, in charge of the superboy project. kon was then modified so that he could emulate suoperman’s powers through his ttk (take note: no superstrenght, no flight, no immunity to bullets or anything; just the ttk he can use in different ways) (it was also said at some point that there was a chance he might develop actual kryptonian powers, because they fucked with his dna that much, but there wasn’t any warranty about this)

now, there’s somehting that really is not obvious in the sense that they never really say it, but it’s something that probably comes to mind if you think about it enough aka all day long instead of studying like i do, lmao:

he is superboy, but there’s nothing “super”, nothing of krypton about him.

now, i wonder. who wouldn’t feel like a fraud, in his situation? who wouldn’t feel like they need to work twice as much to actually be worth the S they bring on their chest?

what’s so interesting about the superboy solo is kon’s process of aknowledgement (i will come back on this point later). at first he feels he’s entitled to have the name and the S – hell, he was literally born from this! he can do everything superman can!

but then it starts hitting him, through failures and other conversations. kara had taken the S away from him, after knockout’s issue – which was a little bit harsh and unfair of her, since he’d bee n manipulated and abused at that point, but that’s not the point. the point is that kara has all the right to take the S away from him. she’s a real super, she’s a kryptonian. she’s what kon really will never be, as a matter of fact.

and all the times he failed at saving people, and worse, the time people died because of him, indirectly or not. (the whole issue 92 is about this. it is agonizing to read, i’m not gonna lie to you.)

keep in mind that he also had no name other than superboy at the time. (also project 13, but uuuuh.) so, like. yeah alright i was born to be superman. now what do i do to be what i’m supposed to be? – ofc, you do what superman does. – okay. – and what does superman do? – well, he saves people. he is popular. he is an icon for everyone. he does good for people. – okay, and? – and what? – what else?

there wasn’t much else, if you asked him. that was all he needed to be superman – how can i say, to exist. without these things, he’s a useless human like any other.

this is also why he literally cried tears of joy when he finally got a name. the name is the first level of identity. in history, everytime someone was to be deleted as a person, his name was cancelled from everywhere; when their dignity was to be taken away, their name was replaced with a number; in romeo and juliet, during the balcony scene, when he says he’s willing to renounce to his name to be with juliet, he’s essentially telling her he’s willing to let go of all himself to be with her, to become nothing but love; in the odyssey, when odysseus says he’s “nobody”, he’s essentially saying he’s willing to let go of his whole dignity as a person in order to survive this.

literary note aside, he’s finally being told he’s more than just a superman copycat, a boy playing superman. he’s given the honor to actually be a super, with a kryptonian name, despite not being born that way.

but then again. friends die, he can’t save anyone, people die because of him (we’d all love to say it wasn’t his fault, and it isn’t, but indeed he was a dangerous catalyst; and if he can’t control what he has, he will inevitably lead to people being hurt and worse). he’s right back at square one. if he can’t save people, he can’t be a super, and if he can’t be a super he isn’t even meant to exist. this thinking process gets to the point where he’s literally suicidal, filled with self-loathing and just wishing he could disappear.

narratively speaking, i liked how the superboy solo went on a crescendo, it was literally tearing him apart issue after issue, and at the end there’s a softening, there’s the last pages that say it’s not okay at all, but it will be, say that he’s finally starting a healing process, at the kents farm.

(which we didn’t see anything about, anyway. i think i would’ve liked to see not only his mental health deteriorating, but also him facing his demons and winning on them. i remember that at the end of graduation day, he tried to tell cassie it wasn’t their fault. even just trying to say it, he assured me he was making some process. oh baby boy. i wonder how he felt when he was alone again, though, and when he realized that donna attacked the android to save dick, but dick attacked it to save kon. i’m in tears okay.)

now, let’s skip to tt03.

and, let’s say the retcon specifically.

first off, i really want to tell you – it’s bland. like, wow! the child of a superhero and his nemesis! how original! (didn’t they do this already with bart, only that they gave off more dramatic and interesting vibes? i’m just asking.)

but, if we want to ignore this point and my personal opinion.

do you see how everything we said about his heritage is suddenly waste paper? he does have krypton dna, he’s got all the rigths to be a super. they basically said, fuck his character development of the last ten years and all the basis of his whole character.

also, the conflict is pointless if you think of kon. like, oh okay, so i have lex luthor’s dna, cool. that’s more of a personal thought, but i don’t think kon would’ve gone down that way of doubt. this guy is extremely self-aware, even too much for his own good, especially at the point in life where he was there.

i’m not saying he would’ve shrugged it off. but there are different ways he would’ve dealt with it.

and i’m also not again going on the way all of his traumas and issues and past were magically wiped away, like you could read tt03 and you wouldn’t say ¾ of the people he loved died, some of them because of him, he was manipulated by older women because they were interested in his body and his popularity, he’s looking for himself somewhere inside him, he’s terrified of being alone, he’s seen the one girlfriend he had a very problematic relationship with but was the most stable one die in front of him twice, and all of this in less than a year of life.

oh, an important note. i’m not saying tt03 conner is absoulte shit, even if it may look like it. he would’ve been a cool character if he was a different dude. he’s the definition of himbo, a little too much of a clark II to be notable, but anyway. a fun dude. looks like a cinnamon roll, is a cinnamon roll. looks like his super strong arms were bulit just to hug you.

but it’s absolutely horrible that a complex and original to the unforgettable character like kon was transformed into something that was anything but him. they are two different characters, and it’s the fact that they’re actually the same person that makes me angry, if that makes sense.

i think i’m done? anyway, my point is that geoff johns ruined what could’ve been a great character, and who could’ve been a true inspiration for many, like me if you believe i’m making a weird discourse.

thank you so much for your ask!! i had been thinking about making this post for a while but i didn’t find the occasion to <3

ALSO ALSO. if something wasn’t really clear, may i add as an exlpanation

i’d use this beatles albums to describe the difference between the two characters. alternatively – pre-tt03 kon was nirvana/marina and the diamonds; post-tt03 conner was the smiths/twenty one pilots. thank you for your attention. yes i’m a music person. kon was a music person. superboy was a music comic. they took the music dimension away from him isn’t this horrible.

[sortagaysortahigh]

is there any specific procedure or process or like inspiration u have for writing? ur fics are so well written and i love how you capture the characters so well. i want to start writing fics and i have one ready but i feel like my writing is icky and get embarrasment💀 anyways have a wonderful night stay hydrated :)

honestly i think i get the most writing inspiration from movies (specifically rom coms lmao) and music, thats where most of my ideas stem from, and from there I just kind of write. Like occasionally i'll outline an entire plot (for example my 20k steve fic had an outline bc i knew it was gonna be a long one) but i just kind of write as a go most of the time. I think a big thing about writing fics is to not overthink it bc thats when you start beating yourself up and thinking somehtings not good enough or literally giving yourself the ick. Just make sure you're having fun with it, and in terms of capturing characters I just honestly like to write characters and expand on their personalities from what we've seen-or in some cases i completely change them or just change certain elements to create a more fanon version of said character. As of lately ive just been expanding on characters personalities and trying my best to capture their canon traits.

If you have a fic ready just post it bb! if you want me to read it go ahead and tag me :) i love reading random fics ppl tag me in it literally makes my day <3

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

ok so we have seen over and over again people's assumptions about how gg main characters's instagrams would look like but how do you think their secret tumblr blogs would be? 👀

hmm! i just went over tumblr in general, because i don’t think all of them would have ‘secret’ tumblrs per say? everyone’s thing under the cut, cause it got SO long. i did not mention chuck because i don’t rlly see chuck as having a tumblr in any universe tbh - i feel like he would think it takes away from his businessy vibe or something.

dan's main would be something with a ts eliot url, like, a snippet from one of his poems, or it would be a whitman url, a snippet from a poem again (i see him with a whitman url of some kind & maybe his blog title is an eliot reference.) dan would 100% have the whole dark academia thing going in some ways, i think his blog would be organised as a grid, and he would reblog pictures of libraries, museums, occasionally of art, and also, quotes. so many quotes. so much literature. if you've been on tumblr long enough you know exactly the kind of blog i'm talking about.

dan's tumblr sideblog, on the contrary, would have nothing to link it to him. it'd probably be the tumblr default theme, pastel colours or something... i feel like dan is the specific genre of trans kid who uses a different set of pronouns online for anonymity purposes and then goes "wait a minute i like these pronouns BETTER". his url would be something extremely mundane and random like coffeeaddict779 or something, and it would be all #vent and #dont reblog. nobody who's following his sideblog knows what his main is, and vice versa.

serena would i think have one of those "be kind, do no harm :)" kind of hipster tumblr blogs, except she's incredibly sincere. she wouldn't have a sideblog, i don't think? and i don't think she'd attach her name to it in any way, probably just pronouns in bio and maybe a 'call me S'. she and dan would be mutuals on dan's main! her blog will be very, uh. aesthetic pictures, reblogs of dolphin videos and music and WIP art videos and anything else that'll catch her eye. she'll tag blair in fashion vids, nate in sailing posts, dan in literary stuff, and vanessa in film related/photography related things. she's having fun! every now and then she'll post a vent post but it's extremely vague and it's either something everyone who knows her irl already knows about her ('i hate my mom so much') or something that says practically nothing ('i am so worried about my brother and wish i could do more to help him.')

jenny's fashion inspo blog!!!! what more do you want me to say. she'd make it big in the fashion community and get anons all the time and she'd probably also have an etsy where she sells things she's sewn and made. everyone sort of knows she's an up and coming designer and she'd find a good community online hopefully!!! her blog would be something simple, with a url like jennydesigns or something (i bet that's taken rn, i havent checked) and her theme would be one of those themes that allows for u to have big images. she would probably post vents in the same way serena does, tag them #personal or #rambles, and have that neat code that allows for the tag to be filtered out whenever anyone views her page on desktop, you know?

i think eric would not have anything specific that he posts. he would just reblog random things - memes, things he finds interesting, jenny's original posts, stuff serena tags him in, cat videos, lgbtq+ positivity, etc. he'd try and stay out of drama (i think he'd turn anon off eventually.) he’d also post a lot of music reblogs or links, i feel?

vanessa's main blog would be one where she posts her own photos and films. because she's professional about it, it'd probably just be @ vanessaabrams. she'd have a sideblog specifically for reblogging other people’s work because she wants to support other artists, and it would be vanessareblogs or something like that, and her bio would mention “main tumblr @ vanessaabrams”. she’d be much adored in the photo/film community and just in general, because she’s one of the few people who hypes up other creators all the time and leaves nice comments in tags and all that. every now and then serena reblogs vanessa’s photography onto her blog and it almost always blows up, but vanessa doesn’t mind. i don’t think vanessa would have a vent blog or even a personal tag, she gives me big ‘i wanna keep my business totally off the net’ kind of vibes.

nate’s blog would be a lot like serena’s except, uh, more openly wanderlusty i think. a LOT of ocean reblogs. every now and then he reblogs keroauc quotes from dan which the girls find extremely hilarious. he talks a lot about sailing and gets a lot of sailing anons. he’d reblog a lot of positivity (mostly because he knows his friends are following him and he wants to brighten up their dash.) dan and vanessa jokingly dm him weed aesthetic posts all the time, but every time they do he reblogs and tags it ‘sent to me’ or somehting like that, and they cant decide whether to be flattered or embarrased. i think nate would also attract a lot of anons who ask for advice and it is something he never expected people coming to him for, but he definitely listens and shares whatever he’s got to say all the same. he’s this blog who should be weirdly niche but everyone sort of knows him and likes him.

saving the best for the last, lol. i have SO many thoughts about blair’s tumblrs. 

i think she’d have a main tumblr that’s solely for classic film stuff (audrey! and more) and that’d be @ blairwaldorf, because, well, duh. i think she’d pay for a tumblr theme and get one of those really fancy and cute ones, like a floralcodes ms paint theme. i think she’d also have a sideblog that’s less serious, where she’d reblog things from tv shows, reblog things serena or nate have tagged her in, write her own meta for fandoms she’s in, just generally be a multifandom mess with a #personal tag but nothing too personal. it would still be classy, because she’s blair, but on this blog, she’s just a girl having fun.

and then she’d have a THIRD blog, a sideblog that doubles up as a vent blog. and this one isn’t linked to her other two in an obvious way, nobody knows it’s her, etc. on here she’d probably post a lot about her ed (but i think in a  ‘i am struggling and i want to bitch’ way, not in a thinspo way - that’s a whole conversation i have no spoons for, so let’s not go there), she’d post about her insecurities and worries but it would be extremely untraceable. she’d have a fancy theme on this one too, despite it being a vent blog. 

hm. now im thinking of the potential of like. dan and blair interacting super frequently on their vent blogs and neither of them knowing it’s the other person!

[biaswreckermagnet]

Fate: The Winx Saga - My Thoughts and Critique - Part 1: Characters

Be warned: The following post will be quite long as I have a lot to say. Please note that this is all my personal opinion and this is just the thoughts and critique of someone that has watched the original Winx Club several time and I have watched the new Winx Saga, and this is in no way a blind hatred based on only word of mouth and seeing half a trailer. Enjoy

I will be comparing this new series to the original 4Kids version, as this is the version I hold close to my heart and grew up watching. So if there are any plot differences I describe from the animation, it is probably due to the slight changes made in the Nick Dub, which some people will know best (example, in 4Kids dub, Aisha’s name is Layla, and Sparks is known as Domino in the Nick dub)

CHARACTERS

Well, I have a lot to say about the characters, just like anyone else. I’ll break down, the casting, compare the character to the animation, and their personality in the Netflix series.

Bloom

The actress chosen in my opinion was a good choice. The problem I have, is her personality.  They got the determination and hot-head traits right, of course. But in the animation, Bloom is warm, friendly and bubbly. Easy-going and popular among her peers. I don’t know if they were trying to appeal to the oh-so-angsty teenagers that don’t want to go outside and have few friends. The typical “I’m not like other girls” trope. Tropes are popular, and as someone who has written stories in the past, I have used that trope once, but usually it’s a trope I like when it’s to show the character’s beauty compared to others who may be catty and selfish; not so beautiful on the inside. Here, to me, Bloom is just unlikable. She may be angsty and a rebellious teen, blah blah blah, but she was so rude to people like her Earth mother, and inconsiderate of her own actions and how it could affect those around her. Even if Aisha told her “That is a bad idea, you’re going to regret it” she runs along and does it anyway, and then she gets into a bad situation which also affects everyone, Even if she helps clean up the mess, damage is still done.

In Fate, Bloom’s relationship with her parents is not amazing. Yes, she’s an angsty, rebellious teen who almost kills them because she lost control of her power, but I found this cold, rude relationship so unnecessary.  As a teen, sometimes it may seem like no one is listening nor can understand,  parents just seem nosy and overbearing, but communication is key. That’s what I find so many shows are missing now: communication.

Looking at Bloom’s relationship with her parents in the animation, it’s not only simpler for them to know from the start that she has powers, but it makes the communication between both parties better. This strong relationship Bloom and her parents have is always present, but we see the beauty of it in Season 1, episode 13, “Meant to Be” when Mike and Vanessa sit her down and talk to her about how they realised she had magic before that fateful meeting with Stella.

There is none of that warmth and love now. Bloom curses at her mother, gives her attitude and is overall just a brat.  Bloom may feel remorse towards herself for burning her mother, but then, why is the attitude towards her so ugly? I really don’t like it.

Aisha/Layla

Next is Aisha, who is the only character that was not whitewashed from the original. The only reason I think she wasn’t is because the creators of Winx Saga knew there would be a true uproar if they dared to replace her with someone non-black.

She is the general voice of reason in the group, and the babysitter of Bloom and company. She will support and be the shoulder for Bloom to lean on in a few cases, but generally she’s the only one calling Bloom out for being rash and insensible, but then she gets ignored or sneered at for it, despite rbeing the only one with awareness for consequences.

There isn’t much to compare to with her animated version except for her being athletic; made very obvious in episode one where she says “I swim twice a day, every day”. (Even though that is the only episode we see her following said routine.) Other than that, her backstory is not expanded upon like the animation, obviously due to the lack of screen time and actual length of the Netflix series, therefore for me, I didn’t really bond with her character like in the original.

Stella

The actress is pretty. Not too hard to cast a pretty blonde in a series. Moving on.

In the original Winx, I adore Stella. She’s bubbly, she’s fun, she’s bright. Literally the sunshine of the group. Yes, she has her snooty privileged princess moments, but she is a likable snooty, privileged princess. Why? She showed that she really does care for her friends. Stella can be self-centered and insecure, but she’s never afraid to say that she’s wrong when she realises her mistakes. This is shown several times, but right now I can speak of two instances: Season 1, Episode 8 “Spelled”. Technically, she was under a spell that made her moody and rude, but she still knew she had to set things right after upsetting Musa. Another memorable moment for me when she showed her caring side was during the girls’ stay at the no-magic resort in Season 2, episode 21 ““Trouble in Paradise”. She went after Aisha/ Layla to check if she was all right, they connected and Stella earned her Charmix. Overall, Stella in the animation has her flaws, but she is loved by all and she herself loves the people she’s close to.

However, Stella in Winx Saga, I detest. I was really disappointed with what they did to her character. Honestly, it would have made more sense if she was Diaspro (Sky’s ex-fiance from season 1 and 3) and not Stella. She’s  a snob, rude and dismissive of others’ feelings. They did try to toss a sympathy card at our faces later when they eplained the reason why Winx Saga Stella is so - her toxic, overbearing and abusive mother - but honestly, maybe it was because it happened so fast because of the limited time, butI was not feeling any sympathy towards her. I felt like I should have, but I couldn’t. I hope her character changes in Season 2, if I even bother watching it, because I was enormously disappointed with Stella’s new persona for this first season.  The Solaria ring was nice enough though.

Musa

Well, here we go. One of the infamous whitewashing cases.  To tell the truth, I'm not surprised but disappointed that it acueallyhappened. You mean to tell me they couldn't find any capable Asian actresses for Musa? Yes, small production and low budget, but still. If you are going to make a live action for a cast that is well loved, respected and recognised for the diversity, you should keep it. It just feels like they do it on purpose at this point.

 Winx Club Musa I like a lot. I love all the girls, but she's just so laid-back and cool, but she's not afraid to call someone out for being unfair or on their attitude (namely Stella most times). She cares for her friends and she cares for Riven. She's family oriented and she's so passionate about music.

 In Winx Saga, she's a mind fairy who used to be a dancer and listens to music with headphones to block out the emotions of people around her when she gets overwhelmed. Interesting new concept and it comes in handy for the new show material. I wouldn't say she was completely unlikable in the WS series but there wasn't anything much besides her ability and that she and Sam (Terra's brother) had somehting more than a fling going on. They were a nice couple. Good chemistry in kisses. I don't know why they decided to not make Riven her man - who knows what the plan is. Riven was not hers in the beginning of the animation either, but we saw a great bond form later on. Their relationship had problems unlike the other Winx couples, but they still are a fan favourite. Let's see how this new match goes I guess?

Flora/Terra

Terra We all know she's supposed to be Flora, no matter how they try to spin it. Before anyone says she's a different character so it's not whitewashing, I have seen a video on Youtube where a girl explains that in actuality, it was supposed to be Flora because there are (now deleted) clips of characters talking to Flora, not Terra. And the adresses portfolio said she was to play Flora. They seemed to change it to avoid heating up the hot water they had already landed themselves into.

Therefore, I will be comparing Terra and Flora. I was extremely disappointed when I saw the trailer and realised Flora was clearly not there. I am not usually one to care whether or not someone looks like me in a show, but I do relate to Flora. I may not always be one that likes to get close to nature honestly, but everything else about her I relate to. I love pink a lot, I am a mixed race person so her looks are what I identify with the most, and our personalities are quite similar. 

Terra, on the other hand, is obviously white. The love of plants is there and her sweet and gentle personality is there. Though, it doesn’t get much time to shine because whenever she speaks, she’s either cut off or ignored, unless she’s spouting information the others want to hear at the moment.  They did make her quite chatty, and at times even I was a bit annoyed, not because she was chatty, but because that trait just seemed to be a gateway for the scriptwriters to hit you with details about Alfea and its history, and information about fairies without making much effort. Terra didn’t have much screen time, but whenever she was on screen, she was always the butt of a joke and treated poorly. When the situation became dire, she did have some moments of strength, but then the other characters still treated her the same so it seems meaningless.

One main reason Terra stands out to the audience is the fact that she’s the only plus-sized character. I’m all for representation, but I don’t like where they went with Terra. She’s shown to be insecure about her body (shown when she avoids her roommates to change alone). Yes, she’s supposed to be a teen who has heard non-directed comments about weight by other characters, but why couldn’t they make her a confident plus-sized girl? I have plenty of friends that are plus-sized and confident about themselves, older or younger. In media, it’s rare enough to see a plus-sized person, but also one that has confidence. This show is directed to teens, and those who may look and feel the same as Terra won’t have a good example set for themselves to be more confident. If you’re going to include a certain figure in your story, yes, everyone has insecurities and all, but if you have the power to shine light and empower, do it right!

Sky

One reason why I bothered watching the show. Danny Griffin. The man playing Sky. Iin the original Winx, I did not really care for Sky as I’m not really into the long blonde hair, I prefer shorter hair. So I was quite pleased to see this casting as it fits more into my personal type.

Anyways, let’s continue.

I found that the casting was done well for Sky. A hot blonde warrior that can wield weapons well? They nailed it. However, that’s kind of where it ended for me. Due to the plot, his character was pretty much ruined for me. Winx Saga Sky was sadly unremarkable personality-wise. The story didn’t allow for much expansion for him besides having the hots for Bloom and the whole boo-hoo story about his father. There was something of a nice relationship with his mentor, but I’ll get to that later.

Danny Griffin’s performance was quite good. My only issue was one part of his first appearance where his first few lines. . .sounded like lines. Not so much the result of bad acting, but it just was another case of sounding like lines written for a script than natural conversation. But I only really saw that in the first episode, and since everyone would have been getting into character at that time I can let it pass. Otherwise, he performed well as an actor.

Riven

Winx Club Riven does not have the best first impression. According to Musa, he’s “a little rough around the edges, but that’s kind of his charm”. He’s a troubled, moody guy who falls for the wrong girl. He has a very competitive side, especially with Sky, who always manages to beat him in combat. He is indeed often arrogant of his abilities, but he proved himself to not be just all talk during his escape from imprisonment in Cloud Tower during Season 1, and even Sky admitted to being impressed with his knowledge of survival and strategies, even going so far as to say he always thought Riven was the “Red Fountain Slacker”. Animated Riven also has a sweet side that was displayed in season 2 when he comforted Musa during the girls’ first mission to Shadowhaunt, and much more so after they started dating. He expressed how much he cared for Musa in shy but blunt ways. Flawed, but a character that developed throughout the series.

Winx Saga completely threw that out of the window. Riven is now just a clown that does bad boy things. He’s clearly still being portrayed as the “edgy” character with troubles and insecurities, but the rest of the show is so aggressively dark and edgy that he really has no way to stand out anymore. I don’t know what they’re planning to do with his characterr later on, but I really dislike what they did to him. The only thing done right is his competitive nature towards Sky. Side note, this is also my personal preference, but I must add that I am not feeling the minimal facial hair. I’d prefer a clean shaven face. The little spikes just looks messy. But then, facial hair always looks messy to me. 

Faragonda

Faragonda. Or as she is known now, Farah Dowling. I’m not sure what to say for her. The actress did well, I can say that. The problem always lies with the characters themselves.

 Faragonda is a beloved headmistress that always has an eye out for her students, whether she watches them through her magic mirror in her office or just personally. She gives them enough guidance so they can grow on their own and helps them when she sees the need to. However, she is also strict when needed and will not condone disobedience; this was seen in season 1 when the Winx were punished for breaking into Cloud Tower to get Stella’s ring from the Trix. She is a brave, just and kind woman, well suited for a principal position.

Farah Dowling does not have much besides her position. She’s very secretive and those secrets seem to be there to cause drama when it could have ben avoided. It could be an irrational thought process that humans have, but I’d expect that from someone who hasn’t experienced much in life. The type of past Farah has, she should know better than to keep secrets if she knows it can put the whole school in danger. Her lack of disciplinary action was evident, whether it was the scene of a villain making their move or Bloom blatantly disobeying orders and making choices that moved the plot forward a bit. It was odd to see that even if she knew this person went dilly-dallying in her office or broke a rule, ut wasn’t met with discipline unless something really bad happened. Whereas, we all know that in a school setting, small rule breaking is also punished. I did like the part in the last episode when she and Bloom finally had a warm interaction, I found it very sweet and it was nice to finally have her interact with Bloom without having to expect some impending doom to arise in the next scene.

Beatrix

We did not get the stylish trio we know and love for Winx Saga, but I must say, I was not disappointed by Sadie Soverall. She portrayed the character really well.

She’s a blending of the famous Trix. She’s cunning and does not let anyone get in her way, much like Icy. Seductive like Darcy and I’d say she has Stormy’s malicious nature. (I mean the Trix are all malicious but Stormy generally could let her viciousness rule her judgement). As well as the fact that her power kind of looks like electric bolts, like Stormy’s.

A manipulator that was being manipulated. She’s icy cold, cunning and she knows who she should attach herself to in order to reach her goals. Just a sub-villain I say, but I enjoyed the character. Minus the odd little plots her character was mixed into, which I will discuss later.

Rosalind

A new character who so far seems like the puppet master of all the characters - both good and evil sides. A master manipulator and charismatic. Very enjoyable to watch despite her short screen time. She was the one person that actually had me excited to know what was going to happen next. Very well performed in my opinion.

Mike

The only time I saw this actor truly in character was in the last episode when he was wearing this blue shirt. He really looked like Mike. It may always be necessary to dress a character exactly like the original, but some things are just subtle and yet iconic. Imagine Shaggy from Scooby-Doo without his green shirt and brown pants combo. It wouldn’t feel like him. Otherwise he’s quite a basic looking man so not too hard to cast. I do think this actor really matched Mike though - looks wise, at least.

With Mike, there are less interactions with Bloom besides having very basic “How are you doing?”conversations. There’s a lame joke here and there but nothing really worth commenting over.here now The focus when it came to mentioning the parents in Winx Saga was mostly to Vanessa.

Vanessa

Vanessa in the original series is warm, loving and a good mother.  She and Bloom have a strong relationship and have great communication between them, and Bloom not only respects her but also goes to Vanessa when she needs advice and support. The ideal mother-daughter bond.

Date’s Vanessa is more. . .trying to be a good mother but not quite nailing it. As I mentioned during Bloom’s analysis, she’s met with hostility or downright rudeness if she even mentions going out and making friends to her daughter. There were a few moments when it could have been touching to see thieir interactions, but apart from the scene when Bloom was feeling homesick, it felt a bit rushed. Perhaps it was the acting, perhaps it was that the awkward interactions overruled the positive ones, but the Winx Saga relationship between Bloom and Vanessa didn’t feel as connected.

In conclusion, mot of the acting was well done. The issues I have were mostly due to the writing of the characters, not the ability of the actors.

Other minor characters will be analysed during the plot discussion.

[baeddel]

i literally last week was searching about insects "playing"!!! i have a pet scorpion & was wondering if it was possible to engage with it in a way it found fun rather than threatening. i agree that i don't think the answer is yes or no, more like "if they do it's incomprehensible to us". birds play, even some fish play... people often think of nature as between "life or death" and about survival only, which isn't totally wrong, but i think "pain or pleasure" might be another way to look at it...

Yeahh yeah, its a really hard question. My impression has been that minibeasts really just want to be left alone but this might be different in the case of a pet where you have opportunities for familiarizing yourself to them. So I guess the question is like, does your scorpion recognize you & how do they recognize you? By smell, by sight, etc.? & you can maybe start trying to experiment with signaling techniques from there. You could in principle invent a kind of play or some kind of framework for social signaling between human & scorpion this way. Because even if scorpions dont normally play, your scorpion is not a normal scorpion, its a pet scorpion, so its already a kind of enculturated scorpion, an artefact of the ‘pet-form’. I think a lot of the kind of advice you get on ‘exotic pets’ is kind of - with good reason - cautious and conservative, so they say: dont handle your tarantula, etc... but this stuff isnt based on any kind of research, right, its just armchair speculation based on a very basic, perhaps even outdated, knowledge of their physiology. This isn’t to say we should carelessly handle our animals, just that ‘prometheanism begins at home’!

On the last point, its important to note that the majority of pet ownership practices are not ground in any research, especially among non-dog pets. A particularly striking example is with goldfish. When asking what size of tank you need for a goldfish people will tell you somehting like ‘40 gallons per fish’, or 40 gallons for the first fish & a certain amount for each additional fish. They will also add that the tank needs to be wider than it is tall, perhaps reasoning that it is because goldfish swim horizontally more than they do vertically. If you dont do this, they’ll tell you, your fish will become sick, depressed and claustrophobic. They will tell you that in the right tank a fish can grow to about a foot long, and they might tell you a gory story about a fish in an undersized tank suffering as their body stops growing but their organs keep enlarging, killing them from within (this is strictly untrue).

What is the basis for all this? A brief study from the 1960s on aquarium water oxidization. Huh? Prior to mechanical filters, getting enough oxygen in a tank was a big issue. The only way you could get air in the water was to ensure that there was a high ratio of surface to volume so that you had as much air in contact with the water as possible, so that the water could oxidize naturally. Adequate oxidization was only possible by having a very large, wide tank. Since then the aquarium industry set on the problem and came up with filters that, among other things, pump oxygen in, along with ‘bubblers’ that make bubbles that rise to the top and break up the water’s surface allowing it to take in more oxygen, and even ‘oxygen tablets’ for oxidizing tanks without access to electricity (such as when travelling). This study no longer tells us anything productive about fish care, and certainly doesn’t authorize our claims about fish health, mood and growth. As far as I’m aware, there has not been any research into the relationship between tank size and goldfish health, mood or size.

It’s important to mention here that whats going on here isn’t that people just misapprehended a study and tricked themselves into a whole discourse. It’s probably that our goldfish care habits were mostly developed in a time before mechanical filters when water oxidization was dependant on tank size. So fifty years ago it was good advice; now its no longer applicable and we dont know what the good advice is, so we keep going with the old habits. I know, anecdotally, that when I was a stupid kid and kept my goldfish in an unfiltered fishbowl it was very sick and very depressed (whoever sold a 9 year old a goldfish and a 2 litre tank with no filter should be broken on a wheel, btw; thankfully petstores seem to be better about this now). When I got a little older, read about keeping a goldfish, and got it a big, filtered tank its mood immediately improved, it swam around all the time where before it had only sat still, etc., and its health improved a lot; and it grew by a few inches. So there is anecdotal evidence for a relationship between tank size and mood, health, and size. I don’t know what relationship. But the advice, for the most part, does what we want it to: it gives us big, healthy, happy fish, and so we repeat it.

The disadvantage of this kind of conservative discourse is that its hard to innovate on the traditional care habits because we aren’t given any basis for innovation. This might be fine for dogs, cats and even goldfish where their needs are fairly well understood, but for ‘exotic’ pets like tarantulas I think its a problem. If we take seriously the fact that, as I have recently learned, spiders are always engaging in complex, asynchronous communications, keeping a tarantula means severing it from a meaningful social world. It becomes, in some meaningful way, blinded; a moroseful cyborg, artifical only by means of an amputation; an animal like the Macaques in Harlowe’s menacing Pit of Despair. If we are to keep spiders as pets I think we have a strong ethical obligation to develop new forms of human-spider sociality that meaningfully replace those lost, and if we cannot do this we should not keep them.

I do think this is possible and in fact already goes on. If you ever watch videos of people with tarantulas they are interacting in some sense. The carer reaches in a little locust hed by the abdomen in a pair of forceps and the spider, perhaps even knowing by seeing or sensing the forceps, adjusts a little in anticipation... After dealing with the locust, it grabs the forceps! Many spider-owners also poke bits of straw into their little tunnels and they grab them and they tug on them, etc. People discourage this in comments and so on but without evidence (I think people tend to make an uneared inference that ‘threat posture = distress’ when their signaling is really much more complex). I think even just the usual processes of feeding and watering does contribute to a special sort of meaning, but we should probably go a lot further (there’s a nice thread on the Reptile Forum UK about ‘habitat enrichment’ thats instructive here).

Anyway, the question of how to develop this kind of ‘interspecies technology’ is intereting to me. If the metaphor I make is an amputee, being severed from some part of the life-world, perhaps we can find inspiration in the solutions real amputees have developed for ambulatory problems: the cane, the wheelchair... Unlike the prosthesis the ambulatory aid does not replace the lost limb, nor does it attempt to: it addresses the amputated body as it is and augments it. It provides the body with new capacities and new possibilities which, in turn, play on the bodies desires (I could not before have desired concrete over soft grass for its feel under my wheels), it creates new ‘pleasures’ and ‘pains’. For the social amputee is there a solution which is less like the prosthesis - a simulation of the ‘natural’ habitat, as in the zoo - and more like an ambulatory aid-- an augmented reality habitat?

[bluejaytaco]

Jay plays DND. Again.

(Back in the room with the statues, we’re trying to figure out how they all fit into one another. Each statue is missing a piece and there are pieces of rubble on the ground.)

Wreybar: (Sees the pieces glowing) The stones are glowing

The rest of the party: (sees no glowing)

Hector: (Starts to wake up from his little fear coma)

Wreybar: I wanna throw Hector at one of the statues!

DM: Okay. Anyone have any objections?

Art: (Just shrugs and looks at Alabaster)

Alabaster: Well... if you believe it will help.

(After a quick near misstep of Wreybar nearly throwing Hector while Boblin was still attached, Hector gets thrown at a statue of Mrs. Red where it looks like she’s stepping on somehting. His head ends up under her boot. Then her eyes start to glow green and she starts to step down.)

Art: Uhhh, we probably shouldn’t let this happen!

Alabaster: (Quickly pulls Hector out from under the statue before he’s comepletely crushed)

Wreybar: (Crushed that we didn’t let Hector die (For Context: she’s slightly insane right now.))

Art:.... Letting that happen could interfere in the way the statues work. If we let the statue finish, we could end up trapped in here.

Wreybar:... Guess you gotta point.

(Stand around figuring out the rocks and such for a while. Most are too heavy for a good amount of us to move. Wreybar’s able to kick one accross the room, but then Boblin tries to move one and goes “yeah, that ain’t moving.”)

Ticket Master: Mmmph! Hrm! (Art undoes the cloth again) Blech, please don’t put that back on... Anyway, hello!

Art: Hey, what’s up?

Ticket Master: It seems like you’re having trouble with a puzzle! Stones and statues and such. I would like to assist.

Art: How do you know that if you can’t see?

Ticket Master: Oh, I can see through your eyes!

Alabaster: (with all the sarcasm in his body) Oh good!

Ticket Master: Why yes it is! Now, go and place me on that stone over there.

Art: Uh... okay? (Does so)

Stone: (Starts to glow green)

Ticket Master: Mhm, just as I thought. Remove me. (Art pulls him back) you’re not very smart, are you?

Art: I mean... how long have you known me?

Ticket Master: The stones are of a specific type of magic that center off different abilities. You just have to match them to their statue. 

Art: Ah ha... simple enough. (As Art pulls away, he gets a vision of Ticket Master in a prison cell.) ... you’re in jail?

Ticket Master:.... yes, but we’ll get to that soon.

---

(We get through one of the statues that’s focus is on Charisma. Art’s able to convince it with a double disadvantage as he was the last one allowed to speak for the simple face that he was the one holding the stone to power it.(Bards and charisma, so it makes sense.) We move onto a stone for intelligence, where Hennessy is guiding it.)

Statue(Turns to Alabaster:) Tell me the name of the general currently in power at Avandra’s gulch.

Alabaster: Oh... well... ehm... hmm...

(DM:No one help.)

Art: (wants so badly to help.) C’mon... you got this. (filled with frustration.)

Alabaster:... um....(takes a random shot in the dark) Billy.

Art: (facepalm)

Statue: Incorrect. His name is Zerg. (Turns to Art as the tiefling is looking at Alabaster in annoyance.) You. What is the name of the bartender you bedded?

Art:....fuck.... 

Alabaster: Oh, you shame me and yet you cannot recall the woman with whom you copulated?

Art: I remember the woman I copulated with, Alabaster. I just didn’t want to recall the act. Her name is Shia.

Statue: Incorrect. Her name is Shia. (just pronounced differently.)

 Art: No the fuck it isn’t!

Statue: (Turns to Hennessy) You, wizard. (Art, in the background: I call bullshit!) What is the name of your lover?

Hennessy: Vincent. (Undeniably, the right answer)

Statue: Incorrect. (The statue then starts to go into the ground and spazes out.)

(This is the statue Wreybar threw Hector into so.... clearly we broke something.)

(Before we can figure out what to do, a tornado drops down in the room. Art and Wreybar are able to dive out of the way while Alabaster and Hennessy get sucked up. From his spot on the ground, Art recognizes it as a god’s ability. Shawn, the god of Winds. The one who guides them to the rooms with the other gods. He shouts this over to Wreybar and then dives in with her.)

Shawn, looking horribly tired: Alright. Wreybar, Alabaster, Art... your gods are ready to speak with you.

Art: You look like you could use a break... you okay?

Shawn, brushes him off: yeah, fine whatever. (Leads them to Art’s god) This is you, Art. You can bring someone in with you. Or everyone. I don’t fucking care.

Art:.... (turns to Alabaster) you wanna come in with me?

Alabaster:... why yes! Yes, that would be lovely. 

(Both head into the God room)

---

DM: Art, Alabaster. You walk into the room and see a man lounging in a throne. He looks exhausted. Art, from your hand, you can hear Ticket Master getting excited.

Art:... uh, a little enthusiastic there, sweets?

Ticket Master: Oh, he’s just an old friend. It’s good to see him again!

God: (Looks up at them)

Art: ...hey there.

Alabaster: Hail and Well met!

God: (stands up. He towers over Art) Do you fear me?

Art: ...No. Should I?

God: No, of course not. But do you trust me? (When Art doesn’t answer, he puts out a hand) If you trust me, shake my hand.

(DM: which hand is Art gonna shake with?

Me: That all depends on which hand he put out. (We spent a little too long on whether or not it would be the Ticket Master hand or his normal hand. Makes me wonder if I should have gone with the Ticket Master hand.))

As Art put his hand into the god’s, he was pulled in closer so the god could whisper in his ear.

God: I cannot be your god as Ticket Master has already claimed you for himself. However, I can help you as he is a good friend of mine. (Let’s go and hands Art a coin with his symbol on it.) If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to speak with me, crush that coin.

Art:...This sounds like it’s a one-time thing.

God: it is. Now, there’s more I must say, but I can’t with those bracelets in place so give me your wrists. 

Art: (readily gives the god his wrist and watches with glee as Task Master’s bracelet is shattered)

God: (turns to Alabaster) You as well.

Alabaster: (very hesitant)

Art: Look! No more Task Master! (Happily showing his wrist)

Alabaster:....(Gives the god his hand)

DM: He takes the bracelet off your wrist, but he’s not really all that gentle with you. It falls to the ground with Art’s and he looks at both of you.

God: No one wearing those bracelets can know what I’m about to tell you. Can I trust you to keep this secret?

Art:.... I mean, I’ve been keeping plenty of secrets. What’s one more?

God: There is a war you have yet to see. A war between the gods. Many of those on the side of light wish to rid the world of everything and start with a clean slate. Others believe this would be unnecessary. Myself and Ticket Master are on the side of the latter. The god you serve, Alabaster, will work to rid the world of it all.

Alabaster:... And how can I be sure to trust you?

God: Honestly, you can’t. That decision is up to you. But know this; the other symbol on your coin was mine. If you denounce Pelor, you can still find solace under me.

Alabaster: Yes. Yes... (turns to Art a little too enthusiastically) Would you like to go speak to Pelor now???

Art: Uh, sure... (Turns to the God) before we go.... what’s your name?

(Koejin’s player: (tuned in at this point) yeah, gods don’t like when we don’t ask for names.)

God: (Slightly exasperated) My name is Cerephim.

Art: Right, Cerephim.... Thank you... (Walks out with Alabaster)

--

Shawn, very tired looking: Okay, this is you, Alabaster. Bring someone in if you want. Or don’t; I don’t care.

Alabaster: (stares at the door with Pelor’s symbol on it) Hmm... (Turns to Art) Would you like to come in with me?

Art:... I mean, do you think that’s a good idea?

Alabaster: (Smiling) I haven’t the slightest clue.

Art:.... yeah, okay.

(Art and Alabaster walk into the room which is basically Pelor’s hall of light. Art is doing his best to hide behind Alabaster so he’s not noticed. Unfortunately, I would have needed to roll a 21 in stealth to not be spotted, so Pelor sees him.)

Pelor: (Looking at Art, immediately judgmental and suspicious) You there. Are you a believer in the light as well? And ready to rid this world of darkness?

Art: (pretty intimidated) Uhhhhh, well, you know.... I’m actually.... more of a moral grey guy myself. You know, trying to figure it out and such.... Maybe work towards... becoming part of the light? (Jay’s Fun fact: if you’re standing in front of a God of Light, say none of these things!)

Pelor: Get out.

Art: You got it! (turns on a heel and heads for the door)

(Alabaster’s Player, The DM, and I spent a full minute laughing at this. Somewhere, in a different plane of existence, Ticket Master is ramming his head against the wall at the sight.)

DM: You could of lied to him, you know.

Me: I have literal darkness as my right hand. Last thing I need is Pelor seeing through my lies, grabbing my hand, and having Ticket Master going “Helloooo~!”

Pelor:(Talks to Alabaster about following the light and not being so indecisive with his calling) Enough of the “Well, maybe”s. You have to be forceful, my boy! You must fight to destroy the darkness!

Alabaster: Yes, I understand.... I’ve also heard rumors.... of a war happening between gods... possibly a disagreement?

Pelor: (laughs) There’s no such war, my boy! We gods work together. The people who says otherwise fill your head with lies!

Alabaster: (Relieved) Yes, quite. That is what I wished to hear. Well, I guess I must be off then. (Heads for the door)

Pelor: One last thing before you go. A quest you must fill. If you wish to continue to serve in the light... you must kill your daughter.

Alabaster: (Stops)..... (Turns with a smile) You see, I felt as though that might become a situation...

Pelor: And you must see why. She was born of the darkness! A child like that cannot be allowed to continue on.

Alabaster: But, I must ask... Would it simply be possible to guide her over to the light? Surely she can be saved.

Pelor: (clearly not pleased) ....well, if you must try.

Alabaster: You are most wise. (Leaves)

---

(Meanwhile)

(Theodora, Koejin, and Oskar are walking through tunnels looking for Mrs. Red. Instead, they find a passed out Eltbalm, a passed out Shia, and a half digested dead body. Shia and Eltbalm wake up around the same time.)

Shia: (Incoherent and insane from Ticket Master’s power supplied through Art’s dick, apparently)

Eltbalm: (Uses Remove Curse on her)

Shia:....ugh... what happened?

Theodora: You went insane thanks to the God of Death and Deceit.

Shia: ..... Art’s the God of Death and Deceit??

Theodora: What? No.

Koejin: But he did fuck the God of Death and Deceit.

Shia:...guess it’s true. You fuck a bard and you’re fucking every girl that bard’s been with.

Koejin and Theodora:....

Shia:... the God of Death and Deceit is a woman...right?

Theodora:...Honestly, it would be fitting.

Koejin: but no, Ticket Master’s a guy... we think.

Shia: wait. So Art slept with a man?! ugh....

(Me: Art slept with a homophobe??

DM: I had to make her terrible in some way.)

Koejin: I suddenly regret saving you.

(Shia might not make it back home at this rate. Pretty sure if Koejin doesn’t kill her, Hennessy will.)

---

(Eltbalm ends up carrying Shia out of the tunnel they were in and leaves Koejin and Theodora to continue their search for Purple, who they find shortly after. 

Koejin then has a secret meeting with her god. When she comes back, she tells General Purple to shift into something that would then read her mind. Upon doing this, Purple sees Bahamut, gets scared, and becomes the purple gem. Theodora is very confused as Bahamut is her god.)

Theodora:... You saw Bahamut?

Koejin: As a kid. I didn’t think it was him but it turns out...

Theodora: This... doesn’t make any sense. How? Why? 

Koejin: I could tell you. But you’re wearing something that prevents me from doing that.

Theodora: (looks down at Task Master’s bracelet.)

(Task Master is summoned shortly after this. He ends up controlling Skelly and that’s where this particular session ends. A lot of shit has happened since this, but mental issues kept me from typing this out sooo yeah. More will probably come very soon!)

[tangerinefreckles]

Tell me abt ur ocs!!

thanks for ur ask!!! so since u didn’t ask about anyone specific i’m just gonna?? try and quickly (lol) introduce some of the ocs i’ve been thinking/working on lately lol

iah is a human boy who is just one giant flirt on legs (well actually he’s quite small but let’s not tell him that). he’s very loud and hard to ignore, which means a lot of people are annoyed by him but at the same time anyone knows that if you want to have a fun time at a party, you should definitely invite iah. not many people know him any better than that, though. he has a rough time at home, where his dad is genuinely trying but still neglecting iah anyway. after the birth of his younger sister, lisanne, his mother got into a really bad postnatal depression and most of his father’s attention goes to trying to help her. because of this, iah doesn’t try to spend too much time at home and has moved out a while ago. because i cannot ever create an oc that is genuinely happy, iah is aromantic but doesn’t realise it. he’s desperately trying to fall in love and doesn’t understand why even if he finds a person he adores and admires, he never manages to. since he doesn’t know there are other people like him out there, he never talks about this and just goes through life falling in and out of relationships and wondering why he’s broken. (also he’s absolutely terrified that his mother’s depression might be genetic and does anything and everything to keep feeling things, which often leads him to very.. unfortunate situations)(i also have a tag for him!! its mostly pictures and poems and stuff that remind me of him)

yelena (pronounced yell-uh-naa) (tw suicide mention for this one) is a centuries old dryad, which means she shares her life force with an old oak tree in the woods of serbia. a very long time ago she made the mistake of falling in love with a human boy. dryads are known for the fact that they have blood of the ancient gods running through their veins. despite knowing better, she tried to build a life with this human boy, but he slowly turned mad because of her heritage. once she became pregnant, he was convinced that he needed to make a sacrifice to her and her unborn child. yelena tried to stop him, but wasn’t able to. in the end he hung herself from her tree. heartbroken, yelena wasn’t able to look at her daughter once she was born and gave her up to an orphanage. unfortunatley, this wasn’t enough to forget him. due to the release of power of his sacrifice, the branch he hung himself from is stuck in time. even now, centuries later, the leaves are a bright spring green throughout the entire year. worse than that, the body of the human boy has never decayed and is still hanging there, looking as if he only just died seconds ago. all of this lead yelena to do somehting no other dryad did before - she left her tree. she is now uprooted, wandering along the earth without any purpose. the other dryads of her woods judge her, and often try and harm her tree in retribution. 

nemo is one of my more recent ocs. he uses he/him pronouns but identifies as nonbinary and thinks gender norms are dumb and confusing (don’t we all tbh). he grew up as any other kid, with two parents that cared about him and a nice yard to play in. when he was around 10, he started realising he could do something other kids could not, however. he was able to visit the dreams of other people. after his first ‘visit’, he very quickly stopped being able to have his own dreams. he learned the hard way that going without them was not an option, as it would lead to both insanity and cognitive decline. his parents let him visit their dreams so he could survive, and it didn’t take him very long to develop his skills. his gift was no secret in the town, and people with problems such as nightmares or insomnia started to come to him for help. the head of one of the old rich families in town started realising the bigger implications of his gift, however. when his parents died under unusual circumstances, this man stepped forward to adopt him so nemo could “still live in a familiar neighbourhood”. i haven’t really fleshed out this part (obviously, because right now it’s still “the powerful head of a family” lmao), but basically he has persuaded nemo to spend so much time in dreams that he has slowly started to forget himself. his new father is now using him to put subtle ideas into the minds of powerful people for his own profit. 

(nemo also has a tag)

this ws,, longer than i expected lol oops im not rly surprised but!!! i hope this was interesting/fun to read rip

[v0rd1g4n]

The Thunder Games

This is it, the last episode of the Thundermans. I wanted to write this the day after I watched it, but I needed more time to write all I had to say about it, and it’s pretty long so... let’s start.

This episode begins right after the previous one, with Max and Phoebe impatiently waiting for President Kickbutt’s call to announce if they made it to the Z-Force championship, and of course they did, so they immedately celebrate in their own way.

The twins got prepared and right before teleporting to the Z-Force facility in Metroburg, they gave us a very interesting scene of Phoebe staring at Max,which made me think: “Find someone that looks at you the way Phoebe looks at Max”

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrived? Being so close to each other like they always do, of course.

There’s a short scene where Phoebe tries to be friendly with one of the girls, but she didn’t react the way she expected. There was a time when I mentally said; “What the hell?” What is this girl doing in a Hero contest? Is this girl a hero or a villain? I don’t know but we got one last chance to hear Phoebe’s recurring joke of faking her voice, something I always loved xD

Then a guy from the Z-Force appears in the room and presented the heroes to the first test. I don’t know about you, but I hated this guy since the first time I saw him. He’s not even funny, but I guess that was the purpose of this character.

After the heroes escape from a dangerous situation, they meet a new character called “The Gamer” (Balfour), who immediately flirts with Phoebe. Of course Max was not gonna let that happen, so he started to make fun of him.

This guy proceeds to demonstrate his powers (which turned out to be body controlling via a gamepad) and after a funny situation, Max and Phoebe decided to team-up with him.

I’m gonna be sincere with you guys, I didn’t like this new character, but trust me, it doesn’t mean I think it’s a bad character, no, not at all, it’s just my opinion. Somehow, he reminded me of Link.

Once I cleared this up... Back in the Thundermans house, Billy and Nora try to replace Max and Phoebe as the protectors of Hiddenville, but there’s somehting I immediately noticed: they looked younger than they looked in the previous episodes, at least one year younger. I know this is because of the order they filmed the episodes, but at least they should’ve tried to delay this all they could. Again, just my opinion.

As I was saying, Billy and Nora tell their parents what they were planning to do, but of course they underestimate them and decided to protect the city without them.

Back in the Z-Force facility, Max, Phoebe and the rest of the competitors are facing the second test, which consisted in a tough fight against each other. The twins were really close to lose but they’re saved by their new friend, The Gamer.

Let’s make a pause here to talk about the fight. It was a pretty cool scene I know, but I personally believe that Max and Phoebe could’ve ended the battle a lot faster. They both have a very advanced telekinesis, I mean... they stopped a meteor in mid-air. I’m sure they could’ve thrown a telekinetic wave and push everyone out of the green circle.

It’s a competition guys, and if I was in a situation like that, I wouldn’t risk to lose just because I don’t want to win the easy way, but yeah, that would’ve been so boring xD

Once the final competitors are selected based on the results of the test, we can see a funnny scene, where the writers showed us how they get rid of a non-important character xD Again, what is this hero-villain girl doing here?

When Balfour tells the twins about his sad story, they decide to invite him to their house for dinner, but did you see Max’s reaction? I don’t think he’s very happy with him being so close to “his Phoebe”, but let’s pretend it’s just my imagination :)

Back in the Thundermans house, Max and Phoebe arrived with their new friend, and they quickly get along together, but not before Hank insisted to tell one of his classic stories, and one of them reminded me of the episode “Who’s your mommy?” I think he mentioned the same villain back then.

Max and Phoebe made it to the lair, and then there’s an incredible reveal;  Balfour is actually Dr. Colosso’s son. I don’t rememer who said here in Tumblr that Dr. Colosso would have a son in one of the last episodes, but by the time I was watching this scene I totally forgot about it, so it was a big surprise for me.

After the dinner, Billy and Nora finally demonstrate their parents that they’re not the little kids they think they are, and are capable of being good heroes too. Oh I almost forgot, Bradford was there too xD

Back in Metroburg, after the final test has began, Balfour reveals how mad he is at the Thundertwins for ruining his life, and he quickly shows his trully hate by betray them.

But Max and Phoebe were smart enough and managed to defeat him in the last second, which only make him more angry, to the point of yelling he will get his revenge.

Max and Phoebe are so happy for getting in the Z-Force, but the dream of spending so much time together immediately vanishes, when that annoying man says that they have to fight against each other in order to chose one of them.

Did I mention that I hate this guy?

Max and Phoebe talk about what they have to do. On one hand they don’t want to fight their “partner in crime”, but on the other hand they really want to get in the Z-Force, so they agreed to fight so one of them could fulfill their dream.

And this is another moment that should not happen in this episode. In a perfect world the twins would never fight to each other just to be part of an elite group of heroes, but I understand that there must be a confilct so... yeah.

Far away from there, Balfour arrives at the Thundermans house and he immediatelty controls everyone with his powers, just to have fun and get his revenge, but he also turned his father back into a human, which is really cool because we haven’t seen him since the episode “Better Off Wed”.

In the meantime, Max and Phoebe’s fight begins. Thanks to this annoying guy, we get to see the Thundertwins fighting against each other, and we finally see how skilled they are. It was a pretty cool fight where they had to use all of their powers to win the battle.

Personally, I’ve been waited a long time for a fight like this, but I didn’t want to see the twins fighting against each other like that.

And yeah, in the heat of the battle, we could hear Max’s recurring joke about Phoebe’s pointy elbow one last time xD I still don’t know how they came up with this, but it’s cool they did.

Once Phoebe takes control of the fight by telekinetically lifting Max in the air, everything seems to be coming to an end, but then something happens.

Phoebe is having doubts with the idea of defeating her twin brother, and seems to lose her concentration.

Suddenly Max uses this on his favor and quickly breaks free from her telekinesis, and then he throws Phoebe out of the battlefield, winning the battle in an epic way.

But after seeing his beloved twin lying on the floor, finally defeated, he starts regretting for what he did. That’s when he realized that proving he was better than his sister all along, is not what he thought it would be.

Just look at his face, he genuinely looks so worried about Phoebe, but it’s too late for him to go and see if she’s okay, because he’s practically dragged out of the place by all those people..

After the though fight at the Z-Force, Phoebe returns to Hiddenville High and explains Cherry what happened exactly. She stated that her hand got hurt during the battle, but then we see that’s not true.

All right, at this point I’m sure of one thing, Max did win the battle. Some of you may disagree with me, but that’s what I think. I know that Phoebe said she let him win because she didn’t want to take Max’s dream away from him, but all he did was seeing an opportunity to defeat her, and that’s what he did.

He was focused on the fight and she wasn’t. He didn’t put all those feelings in the battlefield and she did. So in my opinion, Max earned his place in the Z-Force legitly.

Phoebe arrives at the house but she’s quickly controlled with one of Balfour’s micro-chips, and in a pure act of evil, he decides to put them all in a big cage, just like the one where Colosso used to live.

Max is finally in the headquarters of the Z-Force, and at some point he finds out what Balfour has done, so he wants to save them, but when that annoying guy tells him to put aside his family, Max realized that the Z-Force is not as cool as he thought, so he leaves the headquarters to save his family.

Once Balfour realized that Dr. Colosso seems to love Max more than him, he turns him into a rabbit again. Then Max arrives and tries to save his family, but he’s captured in the cage too. 

There was a time where Dr. Colosso disagrees with Balfour about Max’s fate, and that was very interesting because after all they’ve gone through, I knew Dr. Colosso would never hurt his best friend. He even prefered Max over his own son. That’s a friendship.

The villain explains his cruel plans to all of them and that’s when the family knew it was over, they would never be the same after this, so they began to cry and say good bye to each other. Everyone starts holding hands but when Max and Phoebe do this, something happens. (Yeah, they hold hands!)

Their hands start to glow and suddenly their twinpower is activated, which turned out to be some kind of electric wave that destroys the cage and the micro-chips at the same time.

They quickly escape from the cage and defeat Balfour in just a few seconds, but when Barb explains what could’ve unlocked their hidden twinpower, Phoebe tries to convince them about never holding hands before. Yeah, right.

As a punishment for his acts, Balfour is turned into a rabbit, just like his father, but you can clearly see (for waht he says to Max) that he’s still evil, even more evil than his father but... that’s how they solve the problem.

If you ask me, I think they should’ve sent him to Metroburg Superjail. Dr. Colosso is just a guy who likes to annoy people, but he’s not really that bad. On both season 2 and season 3 finale, he demonstrated how important is Max for him, but Balfour is dangerous, and deserves to be in prision, not Juvenile Jail.

And yeah, the twins share another look, just like old times. Please, just look at their faces and tell me that’s not love :)

During the last scenes of the episode, Max and Phoebe hold their hands again, but it’s clear that they have to practice how to use their new power. (Yeah, they hold hands again!)

Soon after, President Kickbutt arrives to explain that she fired this Commander guy, but re-hired him as her new assistant. Sometimes I love that woman xD

Evelyn proceeds to announce that Max and Phoebe are going to be the head of the Z-Force, but they’re not planning to work alone. 

Some time later, the whole family is ready to save the day, but that’s not an excuse for Max and Phoebe not to look at each other, like they always do. (Please, look at them!)

And right before running out of the house, Max forces me to change a big part of my fanfic Cornerstone, because he decided to rename the Z-Force to T-Force, and so other details too. Thanks Max, thanks.

And then we finally see the last scene, of course it was all we’ve been hoping for. An awesome way to end with an awesome show.

Overall, I really liked the final episode. Yeah, there are some things I didn’t like but that doesn’t mean it was bad. Like I previously said, I didn’t like the main antagonist, I would’ve prefered to see a powered Dark Mayhem fighting the thundertwins again, but just the two of them in a more dangerous battle.

I’d like to say that this is my favorite episode but I would be lying, my favorite is still Thunder in Paradise, but that doesn’t take away how awesome this season was. I didn’t call it the “Thundercest season” for nothing.

Thank you so much if you read this far. I’d like to read some opinions here :) Eveyone can write a comment, come one... they’re free! xD

[imagine-shenanigans]

Matchup for :> anon!

Can I have a matchup for Awakening/Fates? I'm a girl whos willing to date anyone that i get along with. I usually try to be cheerful when I'm with other people and I like to pull some small pranks my friends as well. I do tend to get more grumpy and pessimistic when i'm alone since I end up overthinking alot of things, and I also have low self esteem since I constantly compare myself to my friends. I have a tendency to hoard small things that just pile up in my room or workspace. (1/2)

I also tend to wear a jacket everywhere since I get cold really easily. Also, the jacket usually has at least 4 pockets that I can store items in until I drop them into my hoard. I'm also not the most expressive so I tend to bottle up my emotions that I don't like. Around my s/o I'd probably be kinda awkward since I'm not really used to giving any type of affection. The most I would do is try to draw or handmake a gift for them. I also like to spend quiet time with them relaxing. (2/2)

I just did awakening for this one, sorry! I was having trouble with the fates one so...

Awakening: Lissa, Gangrel, Vaike

For you, I picked Lissa as my top choice. This is because I feel like the two of you would just click on a base level, and possibly bond over pranking the shit out of Chrom and others. (Lissa takes the heat for the Chrom pranks, even if it was your idea. And the Frederick ones. Neither of them believe it but they just don’t have enough evidence to disprove it.) She has her own insecurities as well, so she knows where you’re coming from, and she’s very helpful! She just sort of naturally has this way of making you feel better, without even knowing because she just happens to say a lot of the right stuff. She speaks from the heart, so when she says she understands and starts saying all the things she loves about you and stuff? You know she means it. I’m one hundred percent convinced Lissa adores handmade gifts. I mean, she likes ones that have been bought too, but she prefers the homemade stuff, since it shows that you put the time and effort into doing something with her in mind, and it’s got much more sentimental value than if you’d just bought her somehting. I mean, she is kinda a princess, and while she appreciates the thought behind gifts more than the gifts themselves, she CAN sorta just buy stuff when she’d like. So, yknow, she likes the homemde stuff because she can’t buy the time and effort and thought you put into something for her. 

Also, she totally thinks the hoard is adorable, and definitely will help get you shelves or something to show off all your items. She loves seeing the things you like.

She’d also not mind the affection being awkward, and would encourage you to show affection. She’d be patient though, and more than willing to initiate touches and such, as long as she knows that you’re awkward about it simply because you aren’t used to it, and not because you don’t like her. On that note, an issue I could very much see becoming a semi-to-pretty-big-problem is the matter of your insecurities. Lissa has quite a bit of her own, considering her brand never appeared, and she’s constantly comparing herself to her siblings and others, and she really just wants to do her best. I could see the two of you getting lost in your own problems, and possibly hurting each other, but, yknow, no relationship is perfect, and it’s simply part of being in one. You’re going to have fights, and you’re going to argue, and you’re going to be upset at each other, and that’s okay! It’s perfectly normal to do that (just.. not constant fighting of course) and healthy, so as long as the two of you take a breath, realize what’s going on, and actively repair it... things will be okay. 

Okay onto the next ship, because I had a LOT of thoughts about Lissa.

If you’re okay with villains, I picked Gangrel for you. I feel like he would be a good match, considering he genuinely feels bad for the things he did while he let power go to his head, and abused it. He has his own insecurities, and although he’s not the best at it, he genuinely can’t fathom why someone as amazing as you would be insecure, when he’s such a big fuckup - like, it’s a miracle you’re even with him??? It’s going to be a point in the relationship that becomes an issue at some time, but the two of you will learn healthier ways to cope with your issues and come back stronger. 

He’s the type who thinks pranks are great. He loves watching your handiwork play out, and will join in on the particularly harmless ones that won’t have people upset at him because it’s, well, him. (He’d totally join in on all of them, but he also doesn’t want to get in trouble...) He definitely loves to join in on the pranks when he can, and loves laughing at them with you, watching your teamwork come to life. He’s totally enamored with you, ngl. Speaking of, he’s totally in love with your hoard, and constantly tries to find things he thinks you’ll like (even if you don’t add it) and he’s almost always thinking of you. And while he’s definitely still just a touuuuch materialistic, he genuinely loves anything you get, or make him, because it means you like him! It means you were thinking of something he would want or like! And that means a lot.

He would probably be upset with your awkward affection (the hypocrite) because he wonders if you’re disgusted at the sight of him and don’t want to touch him (goddamn gangrel get it together man) but when you explain to him that you just... aren’t used to giving affection (and possibly receiving?) he has like, a lightbulb moment, and ends up hugging you and decides that from then on he’s going to give you SO much affection that you burst. You’ll have to tell him to back off a touch, but he just... loves you too much to let you go without receiving affection and even if you’re still awkward about it, he wants you to be comfortable around him.

I also picked Vaike as an option for you, on the chance you aren’t okay with villains, because he’s a decent fit in my opinion. He’d be half and half on the pranks you play on people, but he’d think they’re fucking great tbh. He laughs at them as long as they aren’t on him (which he’ll laugh about later, don’t worry) and he’d love the fact that you always have pockets. Man he’ll never forget anything now, because he can just ask you to carry it for him! Except his axe, that is....

He’s not without insecurites either, but they’re not too terribly bad. He’s awfully confident in himself, but he completely understands comparing yourself to others - I mean, look at his relationshp with Chrom. He’s trying his best to be the best, and he’s not one for words, but he hopes that he can help you, either by helping you by showing you how much he cares, or just by sorta saying whatever comes to mind. He’s a bit of a blockhead, so uh, just know he means the best. despite that fact he’s a dumbass.

With affection, he’s really big on it, so just tell him outright that you’re not used to it, and he’ll be more understanding! Not that he’s going to stop on his end, unless you explicitly tell him to (even then he’s just a big teddy bear... he cant stop hugging you when he sees you or throwing an arm over your shoulder with the biggest, dumbest grin)

Honorable Mentions: Cordelia, Cherche, Noire, Owain

I picked Cordelia fleetingly and on a whim, because it felt sorta cute, but her perfectionism just.. would not end well with you. The two of you would probably not click because despite her own insecurities, she’d probably jsut make you feel worse about yourself on accident, or unintentionally, while trying to help, or just by being her. I mean, look what happened with Severa... but that doesn’t mean she’s awful, it’s just I feel like you two would just end up not being good for each other.

I picked Cherche because she’s very caring, but... I felt she might suffocate you. She’s a very strong person, and although she’s not without some sort of insecurities, she’s very confident and I feel like you might be constantly comparing yourself to her. I mean, she’s strong, and brave, and she’s kind, and she’s incredibly skilled in the domestic arts, plus she has a dragon? You would probably end up seeing most of her good sides, and not her flaws, and it wouldn’t be very good. Cherche is also pretty confident, so despite any insecurites she may have, she might have trouble trying to connect with you on that level. 

Noire is someone who has insecurities she knows about, and that she could connect with you on, but I felt like she might just end up too enveloped in how cool you are and how not she is, and vice versa. It’s just one of those ones where both of you are just insecure enough that you can’t really help each other. Which isn’t a bad thing! That happens and there’s no need to be ashamed of it. If you don’t click with someone, you don’t click with someone, yknow? I think the two of you could certainly be friends, once you’re in a little better place (both of you that is) or you jsut won’t. I feel like it’s one of those where you’ll either click instantly or just turn up with nothing tbh

For Owain, I picked him because he’s going to be able to connect with you over insecurities, and your pranks remind him of the times he and his mom would play pranks on family members when he was younger, so it’s really fun to have fun with you! He’s pretty loud though, and dramatic, and I wasn’t sure how you’d take that, but I think, just base personalities, you and Owain could really connect! But I also ship you with Lissa, so I could see this going either friends or you’re his parent sorta route, more than relationships, which is why I put him in honorable mentions. He’s very good, it’s just that I wasn’t sure about it yknow

[dxmedstudent]

hello dr. dx (i hope u dont mind me calling u that), i've noticed that in a lot of medical tv shows/movies there's always an ep where the patient/their families refuse medical help bc of their religion (Jehovah's witness seems to always be the reason) and the doctors portrayed almost always just gives up. im curious about how you and other docs go about this in the real world. i understand u have to respect the pts. wishes but do u just give up after informing them of all the consequences?

Hello! I’m fine with you calling me Dr Dx, even Dx is fine. Unless we’re in hospital and you’re my patient, then I’m pretty much another normal person * :) Medical ethics is a really interesting subject; like many of us, I could probably wax lyrical about it all day and still have things to say. It’s sometimes clear cut, and sometimes it’s less than evident what the ‘best’ way forward is. But what’s important is knowing what the laws are, within the country we are working in. I’ll start with something important. People usually (almost always wrongly) quote the Hippocratic oath, which is archaic and technically legally irrelevant. But that’s not the only ethical code we have. More simply, and importantly, we have four basic pillars in medical ethics; four rules that fundammentally govern how we act:

Autonomy – we must respect the patient's right to make their own decision.

Beneficence – we must 'do good' for our patients.

Non-Maleficence – we must aim to  'do no harm'

Justice – we must treat people fairly and equitably.

So it’s built into the basic rules of doctoring that we have to respect the patient’s right to choose what happens to their body and their health. In the UK, the laws are clear regarding whether a patient is capable of making this choice; that is, whether they are competent. Every adult is presumed competent unless we have reason to suspect otherwise, in which case we assess their competence.  Teenagers can be found to be Gillick/Frasier competent if they are mature enough to understand the decision, but that’s a more complex issue. Exactly where the line is for whether a patient is competent can be complex. But to summarise the essence of competence, it’s something like this:  that the patient has the ability to take in the relevant information, retain that information long enough to decide,  process it and weigh it up, come to a decision and communicate that decision to us.  It’s absolutely vital for us to realise this: the decision that the patient has come to does not need to be rational to us; patients, if the are competent, have the right to make a ‘bad’ decision. We as a society don’t go around interfering with everyone’s lives when they are making a decision that may be regrettable, and that holds true for medicine as well. Someone like a Jehovah’s Witness (and I’ve treated a few) has firmly held beliefs about which treatments they will consider, and which they won’t. It’s absolutely fine for us to discuss the potential options with them (including alternatives to blood products), and the risks of refusing treatment we think is medically necessary. To be fair, most Jehovah’s witnesses are very, very informed about this already, because it’s one of their core beliefs. So quite often, they already know everything there is to know. And it’s important to realise that they aren’t acting out of ignorance, but out of beliefs. Ignorance of medical science is something you can potentially change, if you take time to build up their trust and discuss things together. But beliefs are a different matter; it’s unlikely that I or anyone else will change how they feel about something that was never based on fact to begin with. Now, I can attempt to inform a patient who just doesn’t know enough to make a decision, and I can work with a patient to clear up any misapprehensions they may have about treatment options. But I probably will not be causing any massive changes in peoples’ idealogies. I’m not out to convert people to a different religion or make them stop believing in what they already practice; I have to respect that this is a part of them, and support them with this in mind. The conversations we have with each patient is different, and so are the pressures acting on them. So with some patients you can barely touch on a topic at all because their mind is decided, whereas with other patients it is much easier to have an indepth discussion about a difficult topic. But there’s only so much talking we can do before the clinician has to accept that the patient has made their choice. I don’t watch many medical dramas (heh, you can have such a thing as too much medicine, I usually flick the channel onto somehting else as if something awful came on, whenever I happen upon a medical program on TV these days!), but perhaps they aren’t quite doing these kinds of interaction justice when they portray the topic. I guess that happens because TV likes to show medicine as being dramatic, with constant life-and-death decisions and people butting heads over everything, and egos blazing on all sides. But in real life, everything is much more slow-paced, most decisions aren’t imminently life threatening, most people are more mellow and eveything is generally a lot less exciting. I dare say nobody would watch an average doctor’s shift on TV if it wasn’t jazzed up a bit. From where I’m standing, I don’t see it as ‘giving up’ if I respect that my patient with particular beliefs will choose to go along with them. The rules are there for a reason, and I must follow them, but it’s more than that; I have to respect the free will of the patient to choose for themselves. I have to respect them as an individual capable of reasoned thought and free will, even if I disagree with their choice. Although it’s sometimes uncomfortable when patients choose what we would consider to be a bad course of action (most frequently, self-discharging when we think they still need treatment, please don’t do this), it’s part of our job to support their right to decide. And it’s just as much a vital part of doctoring, being one of the 4 core tenets of our care. If I think someone will die as a direct result of refusing treatment, I’d be pretty negligent to not make that clear, and it’s never fun to have to go the ‘you know, if you continue with this, you may die, and I have to make you sign this paperwork to demonstrate that you understand that I’m telling you that you may die, because you may die’ route. It’s never a path we like walking down, because we like treating people, and we like fast solutions, and we like to know that we’ve done our best, sorted someone out and they are now safe. That is literally all I want from every patient interaction, for them to be stable, safe and be getting better. In the end, doctors are simple people at heart. We want to make things better and keep people safe. But, in the end, I have to respect their right to decide, if they have capacity.  It doesn’t matter if someone decides to refuse treatment A because of their beliefs, or because they think it won’t work, or because they prefer holy water and homeopathy, or because they just don’t like me and think I’m stupid. As long as they are competent (i.e. mentally there enough to be able to decide), then it’s their call. Now, sometimes people aren’t competent to decide. In which case, in the UK we treat them either according to the mental capacity act (if the illness is physical) or the mental health act (if the illness and treatment is mental health related). We can treat people in their best interests (i.e. to save their life) knowing that they cannot make a decision at this point in time, because their ability to do so is significantly impaired. This might be due to something physical like an infection causing them to be delirious, or something mental like an acute episode of mania. If they can’t make the decision because they lack capacity, we act in their best interests, with the aim of restoring their ability and capacity. We try to be the least restrictive or invasive that we can be, and to act purely with their interests in mind. And if the patent is a kid, things get more complex. If doctors believe a kid needs lifesaving treatment and the parents refuse (whatever the grounds), odds are that the doctors and hospital will probably have to take the family to court and treat the child in their best interests, regardless of the beliefs and reasonsings of the parent. Because, although we’re allowed to make rash or silly decisions about ourselves, we aren’t necessarily allowed  to do this for our children. Because our children are not chattel, and have their own inviolable rights to life and to treatment. So if a child is involved, things get a lot more complicated, tend to go to court, and the doctors will err on the side of actively treating the child wherever possible. That’s where things can get really complex and bitter. Nobody wants these kinds of situation to arise, and it can be hugely stressful for everyone involved. But for the most part, it’s not as dramatic as TV will have you believe. For the most part, even patients with strongly held beliefs who refuse treatments are generally cooperative and able to make a plan for their present and future care. It adds another layer of complexity to our work, but we don’t sit there every day stressing about what might happen if a Jehovah’s Witness came in. It’s just a situation we have to address every once in a while. * in hospital, I’m just a normal person with a stethoscope and too many things to do...

[henkie36]

This should end well. *Deep breath* Here we go.

Alright, so after looking over this year's top runners for the Korrasami week prompts, none of them really caught my fancy. Unlike last year, where there were maybe one or two I was a little 'meh' about, this year, it were more. A lot of them felt kind of safe, same-y, pretty broad and generic, even. Any one of them on their own could make for a fine one-shot, but all of them together doesn't really do it for me. I felt like you could write all seven in a 24-hour window of time passing, and that just isn't a stimulating challenge for me. I shared these thoughts with a friend, Kainorian, and she... pretty much felt exactly the same way.

So we talked about it, and it wasn't long before we came to the conclusion that it would be more fun if we would just write for Korrasami week ourselves, only working with a different set of prompts. A more... diverse set, allowing for a little bit more variety. Still with enough room for creative freedom, but not so broad that virtually any story would meet the criterium. And yes, I am well-aware that this sounds pretentious, that we (especially myself, because it was my idea) are somehow above this whole notion of democratically chosen prompts. Basically, Kainorian and myself came up with seven other prompts, a list that goes as follows:

1. Memories 2. Superhero 3. Addiction 4. Tech Support 5. Doing an Activity Together 6. Stuck 7. Partners in Crime

And if some of those look familiar, yeah, that makes sense, because there are some on here that were on the original prompt suggetions that ultimately didn't make it. On the whole though, we thought this was a more colorful way to go about it.

We will be following those prompts, and what I'm hoping to achieve with this message is that you'll join us. So please, if you think we're on to somehting here, reblog and share this message, but if not, just write or draw for the seven original prompts of Korrasami Week 2017. After all, that's what it's all about: sharing our love for this totally awesome ship.

~ AA7

[billweaslys]

im just so sad like i thought he was the one !!!!! i was in love w him for years n it didnt work out n that sucks !!!!! n we broke up 4 months ago but im so shitty at processing my FKIN emotions !! and sooooo much abt him was so great he is one of the best people i know hes amazing n i loved him n i care about him still so much but it wasnt right !!! we werent right for each other! n he blames me but that was the situation !! but what if he is right? what if i just gave up and didnt give enough and didnt compromise enough n ive wasted a good thing ? n im moving to another city on the other side of the world in a month n in my head im just picturing me meeting someone n them being perfect n finding my soulmate but .. like im still me? i consistently fuck up any kidn of possible relationship like its my fkin JOB n thats not going to change just bcos im in another country. i always go for guys that are so nice but just ... not exciting? enough for me. guys that are aloof and quiet n i get drawn in by the mystery but then it just turns out theyre pretty quiet guys n then i get bored n then i feel bad bcos theyre lovely and genuine n care abt me and im just the bitch who dumps them cos theyre ‘too nice’ when its my own fault for not seeing the situation and them as they actually were. i just want someone who is fun !! really fun who makes me laugh my butt off an d makes everything funner n brighter but i always go for these broody boys who are way too emotional for me n then freak out and put us both through a load of pointless sadness n stress. i just feel like i never actualyl know what im feeling. either in the moment or after . i feel like i just make up my feelings and lie to myself and other people n i dont know what my actual genuine emotions about anything are. like my only feelings are yes and no. either i like somehting n its good or i just feel nope n dont wanna. im like a child. n ill just stop feeling a situation n i dont know why and i dont know if i genuinely dont like the situation or i just freak out n get scared. like did i actually want to break up with tom bcos it wasnt right or did i just get scared of the idea of deep feelings n responsibility n bolt. n EVEN IF i was right n im jsust overthinking it all now, how do i stop worrying about him so much. he was dealing with a lot of shit and i just left him ??? i just made everything worse for him and did the one thing he was the most scared of. like his worst nightmare was me breaking up with him and i knew that but i still did it ??? an what if hes super depressed n what if he doesnt let anyone into his heart again for a long time bcos of me what if i forced him to come out of his shell and open up to someone else and put himself out there and make himself vulnerable only to turn around and hurt him as hard as possible. no thats not even a what if ! thats what happened !! thats what i did to him . i made him trust me and love me and depend on me and then i left. n i HATE myself for that. i dont knwo why im putting this on fucking tumblr dot com but i just need to work out these feelings n my friends are sick of hearing about him lol its been four months since we broke up n i still havent dealt with this shit properly. n i think the issue is i dont know how. i avoid all negative feelings bcos i have no idea how to process  them i just dissociate until i forget abotu them. i dont know how to process this guilt and sadness fuck my life