#it's a mix of book and drama IG

[sanctissimx]

remember me + weilan... roleswap? hehe

meme.

Leave a “Remember Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about my character trying to get yours to remember them [be it from an accident, meeting them after years apart, feel free to specify.]

@yishuns

He liked the quiet afternoons sat with the begrudging professor, who took the time Zhao Yunlan had intended for them to get to know each other to instead grade papers in a terse silence. Shen Wei had refused to come over to his place, and had similarly refused to let him over, so outside venues were really the only choices they had. Unfortunately for Shen Wei, Zhao Yunlan was too much of a flirt not to literally talk his way into getting temporarily but embarassingly banned from the university library. But most fortunately for Zhao Yunlan, that just meant more proper dates to take the reticent professor on.

Shen Wei was determinendly avoiding Zhao Yunlan's gaze, fixating on the stack of papers while the tips of his ears burned a charming red at the attention hee refused to acknowledge. Zhao Yunlan watched as he tucked a too-short hair behind his ear. An almost reflexive gesture that struck Zhao Yunlan with a surge of nostalgia for the way the little ghost king used to do the same with his unruly hair so many eons ago. He wondered if Shen Wei remembered at least that. Even if he didn't remember him.

Shen Wei had only smiled when Zhao Yunlan had delivered the bouquet of bright fuschia Ice Soul roses. Even the little box of lollipops had been consumed without comment, and received with minimal acknowledgement. Today, he'd brought a beautifully decorated tin of snow chrysanthemum tea and set it between them silently.

Shen Wei lookeed up briefly from his papers. "For me?" he asked, almost a liittle exasperated.

Zhao Yunlan took no offense, knowing it was likely due to his work and not him or the present. "Mm. I thought you might like it. The flowers are yellow when dried, but the tea is a vibant red. I'm told it has notes of caramelize dark honey. Really, probably more my style than yours, but ... I thought you might appreciate it. It's quite rare."

Shen Wei reached for the tin, examining the paper label where an ink painting of a large mountain range lined the the background. "Is this Kunlun mountain?" he asked, curiously, turning it around fully before opening the tin to take in the scent. "Snow chrysanthemum. It must have been difficult to procure."

Zhao Yunlan's eyes brightened with that cursory recognition, though the realization that Shen Wei would of course know such a thing as a professor of classics was like being excited a mathmetician could count. But hearing his ancient names on those soft lips set his heart into a racing, wild gallop that he could only be dragged along with to oblivion.

Boldly, his hand reached out to rest upon Shen Wei's, expertly avoiding the red pen still lodged firmly in his fingers to slip his own within the creche of hiis grasp. The thought of Shen Wei drinking the flowers of his mountain, the soul of his ancient, primodial power within him could not have thrilled him any more completely. "Let's share a cup together one day?" he asked, his voice shamefully hopeful. But even after a hundred centuries and a hundred lives, his relic, archaic heart still knew nothing but hope.

[cosmicheartz]

Tbh if they ever made a psychonauts 3 I want them to bring back some of the edge pn1 had but have the respectfulness regarding certain things 2 has

[dayhair]

dr rants!

the squirrelly, inane edition that leaves you wondering why your eyes loom over certain semicolons and en-dashes [ how self-deprecating, i know 🎀 ]

also .. my first post, a liberating departure from the chains of shifttok

marauders; tell me why sirius black, heir apparent to the noble house of inbreeding, behaves like a broken analog clock — drinking at the sixth hour, and a mental breakdown with the occasional tactless jab when his little hand strikes nine ( i'll admit the metaphor is bizarre because i can't even tell the hour hand from the minute, anywho .. )

sirius black? oh, he invented sarcasm. and ebony locks of hair, chainsmoking ( whilst listening to lana del rey, crying in the shower ), sporadicity & a taste for gryffindor's finest, a bowie-loving werewolf

with him, it's always, "lonnie, i swear to god if you don't leave regulus alone," or, "let's deflower a firewhiskey after divination," no in-between

the insipid crash-outs & tantrums of an old-money dauphin must sound riveting, but a half-blood beauxbatons transfer can only behave so .. cordially; after all, my family's motto does translate to something like, "strike the iron while it's hot," and i'm not sure pulling sirius black's hair back as he [ i don't want to gross you out ] is what my ancestors had in mind whilst stitching gilded threads on our coat-of-arms

so .. do i ghost the anti-hero? i'm sure we'd have way more fun anyway if he was sorted into slytherin, or if i wasn't in his brother's year

gossip girl; serena van der woodsen, silver spring of her family, once said to me, "it's not my world, i just live in it." i'm pretty sure she was drunk, because she's no sylvia plath, no matter how hard she pretends. naïve me, in the dregs of upper east side bacchanals, more or less, teenage debauchery, and affairs on both sides of the tennis court — i'd no idea the roman holidays she was referring to, for death had always taken vacation on mine

picture this: a soirée, a suicide, a suit of cards ( hearts for the ones broken, clubs for the ultraviolence, diamonds for the [ well, we're bourgeoisie, there isn't much else to say ], and spades for my blackened luck )

i won't name-drop, but this ballot triggers easily to the unyielding imagination. let's just say an un-judging breakfast club was left fractured, and now i know to mark my julian calendar for the next time death and his blooded scythe strike

90s fame; how does one recover from the faux-pas, glossy tabloids of la la land? mixed reviews from critics and i questioned my steed in the oscar race, no golden globe nomination ( must they ignore me, so? and i know i could just script it in, but what's the fun in that?? ) and i'd already booked an month-off to st. tropez

a few things that i remember from this era

candid shots of me & heath ledger, drunk & the snl parody skit that followed

rumors of false behind-the-scenes drama, which then spurred into actuality 🤦‍♂️

appearing in britney spear's '.. baby one more time' mtv mv ( i was so nervous dbsndjwa )

i was on nirvana's 4th album cover ( scripted out kurt's death )

".. a pretentious performance that crashes into itself and shatters the film's narrative into something maladroit and unworthy of watching" ( some stupid critic about my acting; they don't know true talent or art. like at all. the movie's already a cult classic here so whatever ig )

oh, tinseltown. you pretend to be as glamorous as the age of beatniks & true cinema, but hollywood really is dead ..!

you've reached the post-script; i'd love to go on-&-on, but sleepiness strikes 💤

a reblog wouldn't hurt, eh? ( please )

ok. i'm done

ta-ta, happy shifting !!

[octahyde]

Do you have any original characters for TWST?

(As a preface I do have another OC I ship with Chenya, Beau Rhodes, but… I haven’t done much with him besides conceptualizing him. Maybe I should do more since I don’t talk about it enough but TreyRid really really is my romantic canonxcanon TWST OTP and I love it desperately even if I never talk about it. I’ve also been fucking around lately with middle freak Ortho having a form he can use on the surface but ehhh that’s not really an OC thing.)

Ok here it is… The #yumeshit lore post. I actually wanna start getting into like the yume community on BlueSky or something because it has a lot more male yumes than tumb (or rather twit does but my main is a permalocked personal and they’re all slowly but surely jumping ship to BlueSky LMAO), so I might as well explain The Lore in detail. 

As a preface I spend a LOT more time thinking about them when they’re older, because 1) self actualization and 2) why would I EVER want to willingly think about being a teenager again. I literally describe high school as “a haze of undiagnosed mental illness, and also drama club”. no thanx. It’s just not like… too lore noteworthy vs the stuff that actually happens in canon lol.  Here’s what they look like as adults. I’ve mentioned working on a Shrouds piece that took 2 months I finally finished last week, and this is it:

(Side note- along with being a tgirl I hc Idia is a double below the knee amputee after the incident that killed Ortho)

also feel like I should say… Trix’s views on Rook don’t reflect mine LMAO. I have mixed feelings on Rook, but overall my feelings lean positive towards him. He’s a total freak and it’s funny as fuck and I love it. So if you like him don’t try to take the dynamic too personally, it’s the way it is for a laff more than anything.

Beatrice “Trixie” “Trix” Hart is a catch all self insert of mine; mostly for platonic yume. (She was made as a self insert assistant for Klavier Gavin, hence the name, and is also platonic with syl(gags) sylv(throws up in my mouth a little) Sylvain Jose Gautier. If you wanna know about those you can ask ig, I don’t have a ref for 3H Beatrice but I did draw AA Trixie when I came up with her.) She started out as a girl (and I still view her as such in those universes) but for TWST he’s specifically a guy because. Well. This game made me realize I was a transhet man and especially yume helped me sort that out along with being st4t exclusive LOL

Trix is a Pomefiore second year bnuuy beastman from the Shaftlands, Class C (same class as Azul and Jamil). It just kind of really conveniently worked out that my sonas usually have upright brown bnuuy years like the Snow White bunnies and I’m so artistic Pomefiore was the only dorm that makes sense LOL. His Book 7 cameo on Rook’s shelf…

He’s in Film Research Club, and is unique because he joined specifically for crew work, not acting. He’s very extroverted in club and with people he’s close to, but he can be surprisingly introverted when he’s not comfortable. (Ambivert moment). He specializes in practical magic with his sewing and art, and Hates PE. (He likes flying, though.)

His unique magic is My Sweet Heart, which lets him see memories and emotions from people if he grasps their right hand and puts his hand over their heart. 

Caycay is his Number One BFF. I don’t know how they met his first year, but it was basically an immediate click (#trans recognizes #trans. #real #recognizes #real.). Trix walks to class with him every morning, and they frequently go to cafe collabs on the weekend and after class, being sure to leave some of their food out of their magicam posts lest they earn the wrath of their wardens LMAO. If Trix needs someone, Caycay is There for him.

Him and Vil are also VERY close. During his first year, there was an incident that lead to him being roommates with Vil, despite her being a second year and him being first. Trix Really does not like to talk about it, and while Vil would be fine telling people, she doesn’t out of respect for him. She also appreciates someone around club that’s enthusiastic about crew work, and tends to let him lead costume and prop work.

It’s Very clear he has a huge crush on her and that she doesn’t reciprocate. Sometimes she might throw him a bone and give him a little extra praise though LMAO. They do have a very bad fight toward the end of Vil’s third year though, and they go years without talking after. 

His closeness with Vil leaves him some leverage for defending Epel. (#nonpassing recognizes #nonpassing. #real recognizes #real.) It’s mostly in vain, though, but Epel appreciates being looked out for a LOT. Especially because, despite how artistic and fashionable Trix is, his personality is MUCH more down to earth than other Pomefiore students. He’s the biggest advocate for Epel transferring to Savanaclaw his second year and someone who Epel confides a lot into.

Rook’s nickname for him is Monsieur Lapin (Floyd’s is Sea Bunny. Floyd doesn’t come up so I figure I might as well say it heh.). He hates Rook. He thinks Rook is a freak. Especially as a beastman he thinks Rook is super fucking weird. Rook loves Trix’s artwork and his personal journey with beauty and adores him a lot as his beloved underclassman. He knows Trix hates him. He doesn’t care. Trix hates him So Much.

He doesn’t know Ortho much minus the guy who sits next to Caycay’s companion pre Book 6, but once Ortho joins Film Research Trix gets attached REALLY fast. He’s always wanted a younger sibling so he dotes on Ortho constantly, and they rec each other anime and games all the time. (Trix gets him into Professor Layton and he LOVES it.) He learns… a lot about Idia and Ortho’s relationship through this.

Lilia also got asked to tutor him for history once because Trix can’t do homework For Shit and needs help finishing assignments despite his test scores. This backfires because they don’t get anything done ever, but most importantly for The Lore they trade socials and thus Trix is friends with Muscle Red and knows who he is.

Ok. Now the meat of it. The #yumeshit. 

I think it’s probably obvious, but Trix is a nonpassing trans guy. NRC being an all boys school makes him feel safer, but… when he’s not at NRC, even if it’s just in the foothill town, he girlmodes. Being misgendered hurts a lot less that way. (No this is not projecting. Just kidding it is. Please help me.)

As a way of getting respite from this, he VTubes as a magical boy with a voice changer. I don’t have a proper ref but his sona is like the best design I’ve ever done and I’m lowkey mad about it. Anyways. While his interests aren’t really a secret irl it’s always kind of surprising when someone that doesn’t know him finds out he’s into nerdy things, but he gets REALLY invested in the games he’s playing and he has A Lot of info and interpretations to share. And despite his bright design, he gets most excited from horror. He’s not a huge indie by any means but he has a solid following. 

And when Muscle Red sees there’s a well known horror game Gloomurai likes on the docket, well, he HAS to invite them to watch his friend with him! They’ve been telling him how their favorite speedrunner retired and they need someone new to watch, anyways. 

Idia’s very pensive at first, seeing such a bright and sparkly character playing Resident Evil 7, a horror game with a very disgusting atmosphere and themes to match. Probably going to overreact to everything and pretend to be super scared and upset to look cute for views. But he’s watching with Muscle Red, and he wouldn’t make her watch something cringey like that, would he…?

As the game starts up, he starts gushing about what an amazing atmosphere the game has. The entire thing is filthy, and that leads to an overwhelming feeling of dread and disgust- even moreso with the family. His eyes light up when he points out an early scene is referencing The Blair Witch Project.

When it comes to things outside of gameplay itself, he really knows his stuff. Despite how mad him dying for the hundredth time on an extremely easy stealth section makes her, it’s nice to see such a passionate horror otaku. She almost doesn’t mind it because she likes listening to him talk. (Almost.)

Idia starts watching him with Muscle Red regularly. She’s too shy to talk in chat, so she just gives a lot of questionably large donos when he does things. 

He gives a lot of half joking “thank you for funding my doll collection” responses at first, but then says Gloom should chat if they’re comfortable. He’d love to get to know someone who is giving him all this money, and they’re considered a legend in chat for it. She’s nervous (she has no idea why), but she does slowly start chatting and attaching messages to her donos. Soon, she’s a regular in the chat and community. 

So active, in fact, she finds herself with a dm asking for her discord one day. A message follows shortly after about how he appreciates her involvement and wants to get to know her better- now that she’s more talkative, he thinks she’s really funny. 

From there starts a quickly blooming online friendship. They talk whenever they get the chance, though he strictly has to go to bed early or he’ll get chewed out by his housewarden. (A female housewarden…? Is he even forced into the girl dorms at his school?) Idia’s never forthcoming with private info, though, and he seems pretty hesitant with how feminine he is irl to give much past vague detail, either. 

Meanwhile, Trix has to be incredibly careful when lights out and Rook makes the rounds with how late he’s staying up. He is the number one person Trix would rather Die than see his conversation history when confiscating his phone. Gloom’s rude but funny and he loves hearing about X Obscure Game Yaoi Ship. (Sometimes he becomes a casual fan of the series and ship in question- he has been commissioned a LOT to draw her Star Rogue OTP by her.) (He also gets converted to Luisley probably.)

Offline, though, Idia and Trix’s relationship is… awkward. One time during remedial gym lessons when both of them had to run laps in his first year, Trix started complaining about missing club and how he needed to fix his make up, and Idia, being Idia, made a really snide comment about it. Trix snapped at her, and while to him it was just having a bad day, Idia… never really recovered from it. 

In the next year her only exposure was daily convos that were way too peppy for so early in the morning with the extrovert that sat next to her. (I’ve always hced Idia and Caycay sit next to each other in class and straight up forget this isn’t actually canon on a regular basis.) At some point, he started taking curious glances at Idia, which didn’t help at all.

Trix starts getting suspicions about Idia from the few times he does hear her talk, and how similar it sounds. Has he met her before…? But surely he would remember knowing someone as distinctive as Idia, right? 

He has absolutely zero involvement in Book 6 also. With everything going on (because their vice warden ROOK LITERALLY LEFT WITH NO WARNING OR BACKUP PLAN, BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DID, HE IS THE WORST PERSON ALIVE WHO HAS EVER BEEN BORN), him and his roommate end up being the ones to take charge and keep Pomefiore in order. I feel like with Idia yumes in particular Book 6 is a Big Thing because like, Book 6, so I feel like this is important info.

(He IS in Book 7 though. His dream is in between Epel and Rook’s. It’s about being amab :’( He doesn’t take waking up and being back in his actual body well.)

Her and Ortho coming back clear any doubts in his mind: Gloom suddenly leaving on the night of the incident, with zero word since, only to long back on with a “sry, irl stuff happened,” the day after the Shrouds come back? She’s Gloom. Especially getting to know Ortho in club and listening to him talk about her, there is literally no other option. 

He was planning on confronting her about it… then Book 7 happened. Obviously how it ends could change this, but for now once everything’s settled Idia gets a discord notif saying he has to talk to her, and he wants to in person. She tries to say it would be too hard to arrange, only to get a simple response: “Ignihyde Lounge. One hour. You’ll know when you see me.”

She is, unsurprisingly, horrified. How did he figure out? Does he hate her now that he knows she’s a freak? Is he coming to tell her how he can’t believe he befriended someone so pathetic? He’s going to tell everyone all the things she said in confidence. “Lol, you guys thought Shroud was a freak before? Get a load of this!”

Luckily, Trix told Ortho about it. He’s able to coax Idia out and helps her to the dorm lounge, holding her hand along the way. 

And indeed, the one Pomefiore uniform in Ignihyde’s dorm lounge sticks out like a sore thumb. Her heart rate explodes. He’s who she’s been talking to this entire time?! No. No. Absolutely no way. She’s not doing this. She tries to turn and run away, but her brother’s death grip (why did she give him all that strength?) keeps her in place.

He looks around awkwardly as he walks up. “Hey, uh… sorry about that time I snapped at you. Ortho told me it really freaked you out.” Trying to calm her down would hopefully make this easier.. “Do… you want to go somewhere more private? You’re even paler than normal.”

Yes. I do. Alone. And I want to forget this even happened. Unfortunately for her, the look on her bother’s face told her it was a mandatory quest. Defeated, she leads him back to her room. 

He sits uncomfortably stiff on her bed. Idia hides in her chair, turned away from him. He tells her that he doesn’t hate her, that he doesn’t think she’s pathetic. No response. Luckily, he invited Ortho for backup. 

“He really wants to be your friend, Idia! He’s the still same person you’ve been talking to online. And he’s really nice. He’s the one who recommended those games to me!”

Taking a cue on how exhausted she is mentally, Trix gets up and walks to the door. “Just… think about it, okay?”

Think about what? The fact that this person she got close to was actually a loud extrovert who hung around a bunch of normies? That he knows all of the rumors about her? Forget real life- he could go online and tell everyone what a freak Gloomurai was irl, too. 

They don’t talk anywhere for like a week and Trix doesn’t walk to class with Caycay, but then they do talk it out. It’s really hard and REALLY scary for Idia, but she’s able to accept him into her life as a friend. He ends up being a really big pillar of stability for her, and he already knows about her own transness and boymoding which makes him even safer.

And… that’s how they are to the end of her third year! Friends. And really, not looking for anything past that. 

Idia gets a really REALLY nice condo in the Kingdom of Heroes for her internship. (Which she mostly even only uses the upper half of. Smfh) She also gets two cats; a white one, Clear, and a gray one, Ryoji. I’m sure you can guess who they’re named after. Reminder that Idia is canonically a fujoshi. Anyways.

Trix visits during school breaks with Ortho… he also stays in Ortho’s room with him while he’s there. For the most part it’s a lot of just comfy stuff like gaming and watching movies, Ortho taking Trix out to see things and such. Over Winter break while visiting Trix edits one of the Film Research pieces for the culture fair bc he’s club president now… By the time of said fair with 4th years presentations it’s very obvious to like Everyone how they feel. (And they probably know it themselves but try to ignore it because neither feels ready for a relationship).

A really REALLY big point worth noting during this time period (and this is all I’ll say bc I know it’s a difficult topic) is that they see each others cutting scars for the first time. They never really comment on or talk about it, but there’s a wordless understanding and comfort between them afterwards. 

Idia’s staying on the surface for at least a few years to see if researching with Olympos resources can give any new perspectives on blot or her curse. If Trix wants to stay for his internship, there’s plenty of room. She doesn’t admit it, but she really wants him to stay. Unfortunately, though, he’s always been interested in the Queendom of Roses and opts for an editing internship with a publisher there.

It’s more of the same; he visits her more regularly because he’s not limited to NRC’s schedule, and he still streams and she still watches and talks to him. He also adopts Chunky who LIVES FOREVER AND NEVER DIES, EVER. There’s an undeniable closeness between them but neither are still ready to actually act, even if it’s clear they may as well already be together lol. 

During this time she also starts getting him transformation potions to help with dysphoria from STYX while he transitions.

After his internship, he’s able to get a job at the Kingdom of Heroes office of the publisher he interned for. He may or may not have chosen to transfer on purpose- there’s plenty of space there, anyways, so much so he can have his own room big enough to both sleep and work in. Ortho’s out on his own acting internship with Vil’s agency, so for the most part it’s just them and their cats in this huge place lmao. It’s really easy to coexist because there’s space when they need it and Idia’s like entire gamer zone on the upper level when they wanna do stuff together. It works out really well.

There are a whole bunch of headcanons of mine about STYX and the Shrouds and their relationships that I’m not really comfortable going into. However, when they overblotted together, Idia and Ortho did something… really traumatic unrelated to Middle Freak Ortho’s death that Idia blames herself for. She still has regular nightmares about it, and while Trix usually isn’t around from the breakdowns because he’s in his room when they happen, this time he fell asleep upstairs and heard all of it.

He goes in to check on her, and she’s really closed off. He’s eventually able to get her to tell him what happened and her guilt, but… He already knew. Ortho told him years ago when they were all still at NRC. He was waiting for her to tell him on her own terms.

Idia does uhh not take this being hidden from her well! He rationalizes that knowing it and never judging her and standing by her side this entire time means he truly does care and doesn’t blame her. He holds her hand and for the first time says it:

“I love you.”

Idia looks at him wide eyed for a second before turning away.

“You need to leave.”

He’s allowed to stay- she’s not going to just throw him on the street- but he is not allowed upstairs near her. She needs time to process everything. Especially how he hurt her trust. 

Eventually they are able to talk it out though and end up in a relationship. YIPEE!!!!!! Ortho moves in permanently around this time with his internship over with his 2 dogs to add to the family. :)

There’s a lot of stuff with STYX and Woe I haven’t fuuuuuully sorted out the details of, but Idia does eventually have to go back for a while to put her research to use and put an end to things. I think this period is really tough because she does Not want Trix to see what a horrible place it is and how it’s the source of so many awful things it was so she tries to leave him. She doesn’t obv and she’s able to successfully find a solution to the Phantom problem.

Once she’s back, though, she does have a near immediate breakdown- with it all over, her brain can actually like. Process what her life was up to that point and she just kind of snaps. She ends up hospitalized for a few months to keep her safe from a HORRIFIC schizophrenic break. Trix uses STYX Bux for a place to stay so he can visit her near daily and help her through it. There’s also a REALLY bad incident with Ortho.

Minus that though from there it’s… really just them being happy, healing, and transitioning with each other. Idia becomes an indie game dev and Trix becomes a horror writer. He still streams (she started vtubing somewhere along the way too), but they’ve never publicly posted about their relationship. It’s really funny because it’s like blatant but they just try to act like it isn’t LMAO.

As they get older, they move to a small, quiet place in the Queendom of Roses. They have 3 kids (who I also have ocs for but that’s WAY too cringe) who are very well loved. Ortho also lives with them and they have a very happy family. :)

TL;DR: Idia wins the VTuber Fuck A Fan contest.

[thetentaclecommander]

Thaks for the tag @damadisangue! Lesse:

When did you start writing?

I remeber as a lil tentacle in human 3rd grade writing this meandering, long, just where was this boat going like 25+ page story for English class and just had a ball in making up the story. I didn't care that the story was a hot mess, I unknowingly realized I liked lore building. But, I realized that after I wrote it one, I went way over what the class wanted cause of my overachieving tentacle tendency and two, that I hated editing, grammar and all the boring English stuff. I didn't try to write a story again till many years later and realized the story itch had come back to me.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I actually, genuinely like slice-of-life and very inspirational/good vibes type of stories. But I simply like writing drama and assholes too much to write that sort of stuff often.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

My writing style recently got compared to the book House of Leaves. I need to read this but considering the few pages I've seen, I'm honored and can see the comparison at points.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

My big black desk with a standing desk attachment to force my tendriled self to get up, covered in paper that sometimes gets neatened only to get it ruined again due to time or my cat familar. Headset, dual monitors, pc w normal tentacle ergonomic peripherals, crystals, eldritch symbols covered in dark purple black ichor. Normal desk set up.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Do a ritual seance with burnt wormwood and channel into Nemesis' headspace. Find myself mentally projecting on the 56th astral plane with spoitify playing something dank and bizarre to mortal ears and chant ioioioioioio-

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

sheding of human fear sheding of human loss yet knowing such removal only brings more weakness to the fore the loneliness of being the only one the question of faith both internal and external to want is to long to love is to harm until you become one's true self free from greed, from selfish power games and inflicted misery and living in truth not lies strength in finding self not fighting for a control that isn't yours to demand no gods but us  no masters but us utter the lies the waking profane io io io

What is your reason for writing?

breathe and become as we only can bring you hope-

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

- oh and we're back. Sorry, I had a walk about and forgot to finish this. But I hope to be known as a trolly, yet fun author that challenges your sense of taste, and makes you question what is. Though, being known as that fucking persistant Nemesis and Jill shipper is good enough, lol.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Um, I can make up shit on the fly and not need drugs to do so, ig?

How do you feel about your own writing?

Eh, my pre 2010 stuff I think are lame but meaningful as my baby steps as one has to start from somewhere in this dimension?. I think I hit my stride in 2020 when I entered my erie sacrilegious era but so far, I'm pleased that my writing is passable and singularly me.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

Pfft I've never given a damn about what is popular in the greater fandom or fleeting reading trends. Readers will get from me stories under my terms as I've had to fight tooth and nail to get to where I'm at and so, this tentacle writes for themself first and foremost and secondarily to entertain. I am a showtentacle at heart after all. I do enjoy when readers read, mind, but love it most when they take this betentacled offering from me and savor it, like really eat into it and see the wormy layers of plot and intricacy I've baked into there. Just envisioning them consuming, ingesting my work, feeling the trailing of my worms down their throat, into their belly to really get what I'm putting down is wonderful. Hoy, my minions! Feel free to join in! @naerwenia @vopecata @coiled-dragon @s-dei @lmshady

@depraveddove​ @the-bar-sinister​ @unchartedperils​ @sweet7simple​ @meltic-daze​

@misch3fbunni3​ @autistichalsin​ @villaindevotee​ @coffinliqueur​ @scroggles​

@goth-automaton​ @azulas-daddy-kink​ @katophoenix​

and whoever else wants to I'm not your parental aid (edit: what is with tumblr not tagging ppl ahhh)

[cumscrotesailboat]

I finished Citrus, the "infamous" GL that i keep hearing about and as far as i've seen, its only the anime thats insanely weird. The manga is super different from the anime adaptation. There's a lot to critique with this series BUT the argument i hear saying that it caters primarily to men is not quite accurate. It was made by a sapphic woman, of which the story was inspired by a real experience she had, published by a company that caters to QUEER women. It certainly wasn't made with men in mind.

(Also, spoiler at the bottom if you have plans on reading it)

With that out of the way, the "incest" subplot of the series felt like it had little significance to the narrative of the story. The only time it was being mentioned was the Blonde MC's inner dialogue about how she can't possibly be with the Black haired MC because they're sister and that's it. At the end, their parents agreed to not get married so the two can legally be married. There was no push back on the parents or anyone they knew, it was just there. I can't tell what the author's purpose with it is. In another wlw series i read, the incest subplot was there to shut down the argument "If same-sex love is ok, then that should mean incest love is ok too bcs it doesnt affect anyone right?", but in here I can't be sure if its for drama or if its for the "spicy forbidden love awoogawooga" japanese anime fans seem to love. Personally, i think its the former. It's drama but very weak drama. I don't wanna write off the latter that fast either. Sapphic women can get weird with incest fantasies too. I personally am not into it bcs its incest, crazy take i know, but sure ig? This one I don't really care since it had such little effect on the narrative that you can just ignore it or even delude yourself with thinking it wasn't there at all and your understanding of the series would still be fine.

For the sexual assaults in the early chapters. I dont fucking know man, why did she do that? I mean, we know why, she was trying to push the Blonde MC away as seen in the letter but uhh.. 🤷🤷🤷? Sexual misconducts, harrassment, and assault just makes me feel uncomfortable so this is the one I dont like with the series at all. To give meaning to it (just bcs i dont wanna gloss over it that fast), the black haired MC did that as an impulsive act of selfishness, isolation, and fear of companionship. Early chapters has her shown as shackled by her family's legacy so she was cold and also fucked up.

Another thing are the supporting characters, there's this middle schooler that just fucking REEKS of trauma and the series just doesn't address that. It's so funny bcs you are 13 girl, don't talk as if you're in that grown up world you keep talking about. They're all great tho, even if they felt flat. One thing i keep noticing with nowadays consumption of literary is that every character has to be well-rounded, no it doesn't! its fine if the main cast are the only rounded ones! but yeah, that middle schooler has to be stopped. Please author, what the fuck is wrong with that kid😭☠️

Overall, its really not as bad as its reputation precedes it to be. Its weird yeah but not as weird as the majority of people say it to be. Its fluffy and drama and it definitely wasn't made for men. It's really whatever and only got its reputation bcs of that weird ass anime adaptation thats trying to cater to those freak ass "otakus". Saying that word makes me feel disgusted, jesus christ. I have mixed feelings if its a series I'd recommend bcs there are other series that are better but what i'm sure is its an okay read. I'm big to romance and drama and this series has that. It didn't make me cry but it made me feel tense and sad for the characters, and in my book thats a successful attempt at those genre.

My only gripe with it really is the unnecessary incest and SA, thats why its getting a low score for me. Everything else was fine

anw balls

[nono-bunny]

Heya! Just wondering, since Netflix Geeked Week will probably show a trailer for the live-action Avatar on Thursday, I want to ask a few things:

Are you excited for it?

What do you think they'll keep, cut, and expand in this live-action of ATLA - Book One: Water (Season 1)?

Since Bryke are not on the project now, do you have a good feeling that this live-action could be a lot better than what they come up with at Avatar Studios?

(By the way, were these "Braving the Elements" episodes recent from your last posts? And were Bryke really acting like complete stooges in them? :O )

Hi, thank you for the lovely ask!

I've been completely ignoring the huge Geeked Week banner so I have no idea what's up with that or that it's possible we're getting a trailer soon, so that's cool information to have lol

1. I honestly can't say I'm excited for the live action. The last Netflix live action for a beloved childhood franchise of mine was such a dumpster fire because they focused on being edgy and dark and abandoned the source material for the worse, so like? Past experience has made me extremely cautious in regards to live action adaptions coming from them. In general I am not a fan of this trend- the Disney ones are shit, and I only really find myself watching and enjoying the (sometimes shitty, but like, in a fun way) J-drama adaptions of old shoujo manga as I don't really fuck with any other genre nowadays. Anime has a long history with shitty adaptions for action shows, and as action is inherent to ATLA after all, even if it's not technically an anime, I know that's gonna be a hurdle they'll have to clear- just having good effects and fight scenes. It's not MY personal focus as I do find charm in shitty effects (I do like J-dramas after all!) but honestly that is probably what's gonna make or break the initial hype for the show imo. Rn I'm honestly just... So neutral about it to the point where it surprises me (I'm. Very much not a neutral person usually lol) and I think it's just a matter of like.... Being burned AND pleasantly surprised by ATLA stuff before so I'm kinda hedging my bets until I know which way it's gonna go for me. Honestly I can very realistically see me LOVING it, but the other option is that it's bad and that's kinda what I'm preparing for rn ig? I can't imagine I'll be too upset if it's just... Bad or unsatisfactory given that I already spend way too much energy on the shit the OG did wrong lol, if the LA follows suit with those I think I'll just kinda... Ignore it lol. Idk, A LOT of mixed feelings

2. I... Really can't even begin to imagine what they choose to do with the reduced time frame, but I know I for sure have my own thoughts on what I WISH they would! Mainly I want NO Kataang, if there's Kataang I'm not gonna even bother with it tbh unless it's completely one sided (which it was in the original, yet we still know how THAT turned out)... I obviously want endgame Zutara, but I'm not hard pressed on it tbh- it would be funny as fuck for it to happen after Bryke left over creative differences though! I REALLY want the Blue Spirit to stay, I really DON'T want The Great Divide (no way it's staying in though so we're probably safe on that front), and overall I kinda just? Want Aang to be more sympathetic- him being irresponsible in the original show only makes sense until a certain point, and I want an Aang that shows an ability to grow from early on. Aang's an awful, awful Avatar, and I truly want him NOT to be one here- honestly, a good way to get around some of his early issues would be to borrow a bit from Korra and twist his love for slacking off into an enthusiasm for all four cultures (rather than just their rideable animals), which I feel like he was CLOSE to having... But as usual with him it was all tell and no show- I wanna see him having friends in all four nations, I wanna see him being multi cultural even before he gets freezed, I wanna see him embrace all four bendings and cultures rather than fixating on air, I wanna see him fail and take responsibility... But I also still want to see him being a kid, because that's crucial, and while the original show never allowed him to grow up, I also don't want him to be immediately seen as and treated as wise and powerful- I want him to struggle with what it means being an Avatar who knows about it at such a young age, I want to see him meaningfully interact with his past incarnations, I want him to ACTUALLY find a balance! I think I maybe just... Want a whole new main character still named Aang tbh, because I DON'T like who he is in the original show, but I do like who he could've been! I REALLY don't want the show to be intentionally edgy- if it goes into any dark topics, they should be ones already raised in the original. I want some more light shed on how the North Pole and Pakku's sexism never went away, I want the show to acknowledge that the monks didn't go down without putting up a hell of a fight, I want to know what the fuck Zhao was doing to get promoted like that despite his constant failures on screen, I want to really dive deep into Aang and Bumi's relationship and maybe how Aang failed him on a personal level (he's literally the only one who would've missed Aang, not the Avatar for all this time) and how he mourned him for years, I want Aang to contend with and realize that he's in a war and how he's FOR SURE killed people and will have to again even before Koizilla (he kills so many people in The Northern Air Temple!!)... I could honestly kinda do with an abridged version of some of the Gaang's travels, like, a lot of them are neat but only matter tangentially or from a world/character building perspective and can be dropped/merged/replaced pretty safely tbh. For example, Haru doesn't really need to exist tbh, what Imprisoned does for Katara can and maybe even SHOULD change gears to focus more on her rather than this random guy who only ever shows up once more to get laughed at because he has a lame mustache. The Fortuneteller should be dropped or altered severely because its message doesn't hold up under scrutiny. Yue should be a bigger presence and be more of an established character. Jet should maybe get his role expanded. Suki should be more of a presence throughout. There are a lot of ways to make the first season better tbh, and also it NEEDS to change to fit with the new timeframe so? Yeah I hope they do a good job at separating the wheat from the chaff because god knows the original show did not know how to do that.

3. I'm honestly pretty confident in saying that Avatar Studios will never ever make anything good, or at the very least, anything that I'll like, but as to what the lack of Bryke means for the LA? Honestly, it's all up to the people working on it- Bryke being bullheaded and bad writers isn't exclusive to them, and if the staff is made up of writers that lean too heavily on the source material or drift too far from it that could honestly sink the whole show. Of course I'm happy they're not on board given their awful track record, but like... I know nothing about any of the people working on it in their stead, so a lack of Bryke doesn't necessarily equate to good writing (it certainly does leave out THEIR bad writing though!!)

Braving the Elements is soon gonna start reviewing the third season of ATLA, and it started in 2021 so everything there is very recent! And yeah, every time Bryke are on they prove themselves to be assholes all over again, they keep topping themselves somehow istg!

I feel that this isn't my most eloquent post but tbh I'm quite sick rn so this is the best I can do atm, hopefully I managed to answer properly anyway?

[seamayweed]

Drama fanart suggestions/requests

Been meaning to get back into art since forever, so I decided to take a page out of @convenientalias' book and ask people to send me screenshots of the shows I'm currently obsessed with (i.e. Bloodhounds and MCTNA) so I can redraw them. I'd be grateful if most of those shots included Woo Do Hwan because my main goal right now is to get some practice capturing (or trying to capture) his beautiful, fine-boned features on a digital canvas -- thank you! 💙

A convo with the loveliest convenientalias boosted my confidence enough to share a small primer of what some of my Seon-ho doodles / lineart looks like:

(plz ignore the color pencil swatches above -- was trying to mix the colors and skin tones, but then I completely chickened out of actually using them on his face 🤣)

Edit: Oops, totally forgot that you can't take screenshots from Netflix and that most people don't dl the episodes. In my recent reply to an anon ask I revealed where to get HQ videos, though ig not everyone wants to own such relatively big files and it takes a while to dl those.

Maybe you can tell me the timestamp(s) instead and I'll take a screenshot of that moment and send it to you so you can confirm if it's the one you wanted or not?

[piduai]

Thanks for answering my ask before. If you don't mind me asking (again), can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......

they're all fictional stories but i perceive ones that come with a visual element (manga/moving picture) and ones that lack it (books) in very different ways so i cannot really mix them since they fulfill different roles

top 10 anime/manga

golden kamuy (manga), there's nothing else like it and it excels in both story and character writing, with good and polished visuals. it took tremendous effort to create and it paid off... one in a million work

fullmetal alchemist, it's been around since forever there's not much i can say at this point. the golden standard really

saraiya goyou, phenomenal ost, pleasant story, unique visuals, overall a favorite work of mine due to its production and atmosphere. very slept on but it's ok... watching it is like chewing kinoko mochi

shouwa genroku rakugo shinjuu, has its faults but it's undeniably a masterpiece. great story, good visuals, good character writing, good ost

berserk (up to golden age arc only), again it's ancient so i don't really have much to say. it's a classic for a reason

hoozuki no reitetsu, it's everything a comedy needs to be. funny and enjoyable but has its own twist on what it's trying to present, and the setting is rather uncommon. very pleasant visually, fun character designs. also slept on but ig it's a west issue bc it was popular in jp at its peak

shigurui, very edgy and #problematic but i enjoyed it a lot. it's very atmospherically heavy but i love the kind of drama it engages and i love the pacing & the kabuki-esque mood

trigun (og anime), a childhood favorite of mine i don't have much to say i just love it a lot because it made me sad

michiko to hatchin, it's a good story and very enjoyable. setting unusual for an anime. feels like watching an action movie...

dorohedoro, it's just very fun and pleasant it's a good watch. very likeable characters

books

ningen shikkaku by dazai osamu, i don't have much to say it's been obscenely popular with emo losers since forever. i read it at 16 for the first time and was like wow this is really the i'm a creep i'm a weirdo manifesto #relatable #letsjumptherope

of human bondage by somerset maugham, it's a long boring book and i read it in my teens too but i just love it... the journey of going through mc's life since childhood into late adulthood is just so charming i like this kind of stuff

all quiet on the western front by erich maria remarque, i like war stories and it's a sad read

i forgor the rest 😭 there's a lot of books i read and many i liked but they usually don't really stay with me at all it's more of a 👍👎 thing

for movies i only like park chan-wook's vengeance trilogy + the handmaiden i don't really go there. and i don't watch tv shows

[themyscirah]

Jess? Or Hal? For the ask game (And if you've done both of them, just pick your favorite super)

I haven't done either yet! I'll do Hal in this post and maybe Jess in another after this

Tw for canonical past suicide for later in the post (skip the story idea section)

First impression:

My real first encounter with him was probably as a guest appearance within Green Lanterns, but the first book I read with him was GL/GA. I don't remember too much of what I thought of him there, it was probably more of a general "oh he seems cool I guess" kind of neutral/positive attitude. By the time I read a Hal comic I'd already met Simon, Jess, and Jo so he wasn't a contender for the spot of my favorite lantern. I never fully finished GL/GA though bc I had the book on loan

Impression now:

Mixed. There are some Hal moments I genuinely do love and like, but tbh he can get on my nerves very easily. Of the Earth lanterns he's either my least or next to least favorite (which doesn't mean I don't like him!) but he's also like the "main character" of GL so I get annoyed when I feel like other GLs are being ignored in favor of Hal.

Favorite moment:

With that said there are sooooooo many Hal moments I just love. He's very much a character made by specific moments for me (rather than a general appreciation of who he is overall). Some Swishy fave contenders include his "Avenge me" internal monologue when he fights Mongul in GL (1990) #46, and OFC the Emerald Twilight arc a few issues later. Also in the very first issue of that book, where he jumps off a cliff in front of some campers (waiting until the last moment before using his ring) was an important moment for me in reading Hal, because it was the first time I went "oh! This guy is crazy!"

Idea for a story:

An exploration of the fact that Hal literally killed himself on panel in GL (2011) #19. Because like what the hell, why did this happen and then NO ONE EVER TALKED ABOUT IT. (This is insane to me). I think I'd probably revisit it in a dream sequence, maaaybe doing a rewrite/reimagining of his Knight Terrors issue (which I have NOT read lol) to kind of address that and talk about his mental state and things that had an impact on that, stuff like his parents, the Guardians, PARALLAX. Basically it'd be Hal and the ghost of Tomar-Re just talking about how he is not okay. A pretty heavy response to a pretty heavy topic.

Unpopular opinion:

I'm going to be so real here like 95% of my Hal opinions are unpopular bc its just me talking about how I think he's overrated. Like we're bros ig but still. Overrated.

Like I LIKE him but I'm annoyed at him like 80% of the time bc DC is always putting out a mid story focusing on him while ignoring my faves WHO ARE SO COOL AND DESERVE STORIES 😤💔😭

I guess one beyond that is I'm not a fan of his friendship with Barry. Maybe this is just because I haven't read anything where they're like... interesting? But I just don't get the hype. ESPECIALLY compared to his relationship with Oliver which is absolutely insane in comparison. Like why are we talking abt Barry rn when OLLIE LITERALLY SHOT HAL AND HAL RESSURECTED OLLIE. like guys. Guys. Are you seeing this shit.

Favorite relationship:

Like ship wise? I'm not a huge Halcarol fan personally but I do think they're kind of the epitome of "you're perfect for each other. Never involve anyone else in what you have going on," kind of messy drama-filled relationship with a lot of history.

I also really like halollie and their relationship but not in like a "they should date" way or anything like that. Like they're bros to me who emotionally have a whole complicated little thing going on like idk

Within the lanterns I think the frenemy whatever thing Guy and Hal do is SO funny. I love especially the beginning of GL (1990) where Guy just in his free time shows up to ruin Hal's life while Hal is just so sick and done and mad about it. Peak comedy, Guy never change

Fave headcanon:

Do I have any headcanons about Hal? Not really. I try to think about him as little as possible (kidding). No um I'd say I don't really have any, and if I did they'd probably be really basic or smth like that he cries watching both Top Gun movies.

[windycityazan]

Looking to make some Penpal friends

Been searching around trying to find any pen pals from Instagram mostly, dont really trust the FB groups that are made for pen pals.

I did meet a pen pal on IG but she had stopped really with the letter writing or damn USPS got lame and may have lost her letter that she said she was gonna send months back so not sure if I am just personally bad at making any friends in the real World.

I haven't done one in ages since i was prolly in my elementary days but i guess being in the late 30's can be boring. But would love to meet new people either online or on paper which I rarely have done.

Is anyone on Tumblr looking to make Real Life friends?

I am 35, American (Korean) born and raised in the hell hole Chicago has become now with all the crazies going on. Likes: pretty much all sort of tv dramas from the American to Kdrama and C dramas and some animes (will take on recs for any other Asian style dramas if there good plots) If you want to know more I can post a list. Music: Kpop (mostly the boy bands like BTS, ATEEZ, SF9, Astro,Seventeen) some Black Pink- had some favs as teen but been so long since I listened to girl bands and cant remember much, have gotten back into Kpop for about the time Covid started but slowly building into liking more bands) Also love listening to certain Kdrama OST's which lead me to fall in love with korean music more as the shows aired. But i have a spotify playlist i build for a bunch of KDrama songs. Also Chinese music has also gotten some of my likes from Ren Jialun (Allen Ren) has some great songs and acting, Zhang Zhehan who was a good actor now mostly into singing is pretty good too. I like also being creative with digital art like fan art of tv dramas like making gifs or plane fan art posters and such, used to do a lot on LiveJournal if you know that site. Been mostly making short vid clips for Twitter here and there haven't really done gifs in a while but I sometimes do for the fun of it. I also graduated from Uni with a BFA in concentration in Graphic Design since all I love is being on the computer so have that as a hobby. Fav foods: korean bbq love spicy pork and pork wit lettuce also the short ribs marinated. American wise Pizza, pasta, Chinese cuisine a bit of mix of everything. Fav books: scifi fantasy, romance, mangas ( Sailor Moon, Haikyuu, Shadowhunters series, Harry Potter series, Twilight saga, Fifty Shades series, Gabriels Inferno series)

If you have any questions you can DM if you want to snail mail hopefully t doesn't get lost in the mail on both ends or we can chat before deciding on giving out addresses.

Twitter: judy1987

IG: jca_creates (online store coming soon and where some of my art gets posted or judychodesigns (was made mostly for university senior art class reasons) has some of my works kind of

[delewlew]

meet the team principal ༘⋆༄.°⋆

i'm getting back into writing on this acc + i've had this blog for a few months but never made a meet the admin post so here it is!

name: four (yes like the number, no 1-3 weren't taken)

age: 22

birthday: august 1 (i'm not into astrology so idk my birth chart)

pronouns: she/her

sexuality: queer

non-f1 hobbies/interests: kpop, reading books, crocheting, crosswords/sudoku, coloring, baking, cooking, travelling

yes i'm a fantasy book girlie- mostly poc written but not exclusive to it so lmk if any of yall be reading books cuz i'd love a book friend!

favorite shows/movies: avatar the last airbender, legend of korra, marvel, star wars, hunger games, harry potter, she-ra, the owl house (basically anything gay, nerdy/dorky, or slightly loser-esque 🤌)

favorite singers/groups: sabrina carpenter (i'm an OG veteran stan of 10+ years!), sza, tyla, twice, aespa, nct 127, many others

how'd i get here: i needed something to watch bc i just finished the live action ATLA series and got bored. i saw DTS sitting there in my suggested cuz season 6 had just come out so i tuned in. then i tuned into the actual races and realized just how great they are, 2024 season was actually a great time to come in cuz wow the drama!

when did i start writing: i had a few kpop fic accs where i wrote wlw content for about 5 years but i lost interest from lack of engagement and a lot of my friends left. so i turned to ao3 and posted a few things there for ATLA and my old sideblog where i wrote for marvel characters. but once i got into f1 i just made this blog and started writing for a few drivers because i didn't see too many black fem reader fics so i write to help add more.

when do i post: whenever i can really. i don't like to pressure myself too much because then i get overwhelmed and it's not fun to write. so when i get the ideas or energy to write i do, but there's no set schedule as of right now

favorite drivers: lewis, lando, and charles are what i call my podium or top 3. however oscar has wiggled his way up in the mix and mick has my entire heart plus ollie and kimi are my sons...i also love our honey badger. i could go on really.

favorite team: honestly i'm just going to say mclaren but i'm not too picky about teams i just don't like redbull at all (not the drivers the TEAM)

any other motorsports: i did watch Born Racers and thought it was neat so i may tune into MotoGP at some point. i didn't watch F2 or F3 much last season but i'll be tuning in this year cuz i want my money's worth ($10.99 a month ain't cheap). i watched F1 Academy though and kept up with it closely.

are messages open: i love a good internet friend. as long as you're not a minor or a big effing weirdo then feel free to message me to be friends, i need more f1 friends but if we share any other interests that's fine as well!

any last thoughts: one thing i will note is that i don't keep up with the drivers personal lives like it's my own life. i don't stalk their IGs, locations, etc. i don't know when max's private jet took off and when it landed, i don't know all of the drivers friends and family names and who knows who and who's what to who. i don't keep up with the tea between WAGs. and most importantly i don't bash drivers for nonsensical reasons like their team building a better car or not liking the way someone said three words to someone else. it's really just not that serious to me so just a heads up that if you're that kinda fan i won't match your energy in conversation 😅

[symphorine]

im playing a sword and shield warrior elf rook, nonbinary, warden, on mouse and keyboard

im about 40 hours in rn? about to enter the cauldron and ive done most side and companion quests available to me so far

- combat. im enjoying it! its dynamic and its the first time ive thought of warrior playstyle as fun in da. its the right difficulty for me, it feels rewarding. obviously subjective but its enjoyable

- weisshaupt. fun! i likes the way it was set up, making you feel the urgency and drama, then the confrontation with ghilanain. i enjoyed the boss fight, and i liked what it said abt ghilanain as well in a way. confused as to why ppl dont understand why davrin didnt die? p clearly its bc ghil absorbed the blighted sould before leaving. but now that im typing this i dont remember if the soul thing is warden knowledge or smth morrigan told us in dao...

- responsiveness to background. rly good so far! ive had quite a few warden dialogue options or even sometimes straight up interjections from rook.

- responsiveness to race. ive found that i had a fair amt of options when talking abt the gods, as an elf, though a few hiccups regarding, like, whether or not im included when ppl are like "our gods" (sometimes its fairly clear theyre not including rook). also i used a vallaslin but it seems a non vallaslin elf (so ppl playing as city elves) get the same options... which doesnt super make sense in most places ive seen them. so mixed bag there

- gender... rly good. ive had quite a few occasions to respond with rooks own nonbinary/coming out/etc experience to ppl, esp taash! and its so nice seeing trans characters?? not just the pc

- speaking of taash. gender stuff in their quest? good! cultural stuff? what. are you doing bioware

- actually this is more abt how qunari are handled. theres a few npcs around, plus taash and their mom, that seem to give a more fleshed out and diverse account... but then in general the qun is still presented as stifling and backwards and violent - bc even tho ur reminded a lot that the antaam broke away from the rest of the qun wnd they are the qunari enemies u will deal with, theres also plenty talk of conversion, how they treat mages, etc. in taash's personal quest, i could encourage them to listen to their mother or do whatever they wanted, and i was like cool but theres a pretty clear choice yknow, and its very much designated as so in their narrative. but when I hovered over the options, the "bad" path was underlined as "encourage taash to embrace qunari culture more", which was absolutely not the vibe i got? and the "good" choice was associated with encouraging that to embrace rivaini culture more. like thats such blatant bullshit. AND! a lot of dialogue with taash so far has been abt how they are BOTH! so what the hell is that about! they dont have to choose! like. no the writing is both muddling the point AND being offensive there. its a shame.

- ig irt gender thing other than how its being forcibly tied to culture its good. kinda nonbinary and trans 101 which is good for a wide public but wasnt particularly gripping for me.

- lords of fortune. meh. their outfits? bad and very heavily orientalist imo. like u can see a lot of the inspiration is just... very exotifying?? like ooh shiny riches and barely covering clothes. associated with rivain. ://///////// bad. and the worst offender - WHAT IS ISABELA WEARING. for the love of god let her have pants this isnt fucking funny. other ppl have already spoken on this but oh my god. its infuriating. also criticism applies doubly for the antaam - ur telling me theyre running around in underwear and a mask? it makes me rly uncomfortable in terms of depiction. its like. disney jungle book level imo. and if u add that to how theyre basically just ennemies and fodder for the pc to kill... man i wasn't expecting perfection but its just bad.

- oh yeah cameos from characters - not carrying over any choice other than those 3 makes all writing around them suffer imo. morrigan talks abt her mother, wouldve been great to talk abt kieran there! also the well of sorrows! but no. hawke apparently never existed for isabela or varric. and shes also mostly a set piece (as is varric) so its disappointing. the inquisitor... as far as i can tell its a repeat of hawke in dai. no personality - and i know the inquisitor already didnt have much of it, but if you hated solas you cannot have that come through at all. which sucks! forget any nuance. and its silly how theyll juuuuust not go into details about the inquisition decisions. literally harding talks abt inquisition ppl - including... sera... who u can just Not Recruit. so what does that mean bioware. obviously i love her so im not advocating for not recruiting her but like. what. makes no sense. im still mad about getting rid of decision imports it was bad and stupid. give me back my worldstate.

- yeah varric is basically just saying platitudes. he better have a point bc otherwise he should have been killed off.

- companions. i love them all tbh. i LOVE the voice acting for bellara i think its one of the best performances. ive enjoyed time with all of them and their personal storylines and im excited to have more

-banter. good imo! i do think this is a front on which inquisition did better tho, in that the relationships between companions could be more overtly fraught or antagonistic, and that made it more interesting overall. kinda miss that. but im enjoying what im getting so far still! could trigger more often

- item upgrade system. i like it. im usually not super into crafting tbh so again, subjective.

- misc: theres a lot of... handholding i guess. that i wish i could turn off. a lot of announcing that x decision will have consequences, and y thing is happening bc u made x decision. but in a lot of cases its like... it didnt need to be announced, u could let the game mechanics/narrative do the work perfectly fine. and i dont like that its announced even for the bigger stuff, especially when, again, its obvious anyway.

- i dont rly like the little varric narrations... feels in the same vein of having to. idk. make sure the player is spoon fed whats happening and knows Something Else Is Coming when its pretty clear anyway. im hoping itll have a point later in terms of. hmmmm. narrative structure? like how da2 was yh varric was actually telling. but other than that i dont like it.

- visuals. pretty. hair physics amazing. colorful and varied environments. combat can make the screen very cluttered tho

- music. varies. some parts ive rly noticed and liked but most of the time it doesnt register

- assan. adorable. i love him.

- ive actually rly been enjoying the level design! nooks and crannies to explore in maps but usually u can like, trust the design where u need to if that makes sense? like itll loop back around to bring u where u need once uve explored a part a lot of the time. things arent too far apart, even tho i do wish we could move a bit faster.

- lore things. ill wait to be done with the game for judgement there i think? by itself the elves' origin is cool. in universe + context of how bioware handles them... hmmmm idk

think thats my thoughts for now... i should sleep

can't sleep so gonna jot down some thoughts abt davg under a readmore. itll have spoilers!

[benevadeca]

SAW the new cyrano movie and wow i liked it! anyway thoughts about it under the cut as it's like the 4th adaptation i've seen of cyrano lol.

so yeah in a lot of respects i do still prefer the national theater live's version in its rap translation thing. very obvious that these are two different adaptations that focused on different aspects of the source material made for different intents.

overall it was fun, i liked it! very artsy. one of roxane's songs was like kinda weird horny but it's the u know. romantic period drama sensuality and it was like at least tastefully done so eh! makes her a more understandable character than how she appears in most versions where it just feels like she wants to be in a better book club lmao

i DO think the musical adaptation of it was like, a good translation of a historical work for a modern non-french audience. but the songs, while fun and good and artsy, were kind of still at the same time sorta? idk generically...not Hollywood but idk. like songs u hear and go "yeah this is part of a musical"

[spoilers after this]

like cyrano the movie focusing on the romance plotline and the whole societal expectations/body image thing. loved the leitmotif of like, i forget the wording but "everyone wants to be loved for who they are" basically. the parallels betw christian and cyrano's deaths were rly good!

kind of mixed feelings on both of their death's honestly? but to focus on positives the parallel between christian sort of. giving up on roxane "i only want to be loved if it's for myself, and what roxane loves isn't me" and uhhh running into bullets basically. that paralleled with cyrano's "i have given up and am dying today". like it is the extreme lack of faith and emotional low that makes them easy pickings. i def had other thoughts but they are eluding me i need to marinate them a bit more maybe

but yeah on the cons side, i do think w/ the changes they made to cyrano's death scene (him getting his epic 10 seconds of mutual love and mouth on mouth), while more uh "positive" than other versions sort of undercuts the "tragedy" title of it. missed connections, too much has happened between the beginning and where we are now, cyrano's refusal to let go of his own pride and penchant for drama to fully accept its reciprocacy.

tho on that not his "and i loved...my pride" line was raw and epic it's like yes the realization all too late that you are your own worst enemy, you might've said you loved her but it was your inability to love yourself that affected your relationships with others, made it so you could never actually have any real faith in the person you love, that it was your simultaneous idolization and denegration of her image that got in the way. etc etc etc.

but yeah ANYWAY like it's bc the focus of the movie was fully on the romance and not any of the other themes that christian kind of got a worse deal than he usually does it almost feels like. like, the scenes he got were good ofc, but how he was fully cut out of the entire finale almost and basically just a prop for said 10 seconds of happiness that don't usually occur. also im still confused on that sequencing from christian's dead body to jesus i still don't get it but another thing marinating in my mind.

this is all to say ig that nothing goes as raw as national theater live having his dead body on the floor and then his actor physically between them in the entire end scene. also like idk there could've been just a little more of a focus on the "war is hell and it is the boys who never got to grow to be anything more than boys" bit

List of things cut:

OK so they cut a LOT from the original bc the original has that "art is controlled and censored by the people in power when it should be used to fight for the people" subplot, so basically everything from that is cut. which i get bc of time constrains w/ movies compared to theater productions, and like the director being the pride and prejudice director and the entire marketing of the movie being on the romance aspect of it and not that. so yeah i get the rationale! but sad tho

tbh i dont think it even explained specifically WHY cyrano said fuck that guy to montfleury in the beginning the whole convo cyrano had w his bro abt it just centered on roxane, and the "cyrano getting into a fight in the night to save his bro" scene was also subsequently refitted

cyrano's boyz night scene where he's dramatically reinacting his fight the previous night :( like instead it just has him angstily boxing in the corner which doesn't showcase his extreme chadness. also christian's introduction as just being kind of a mouthy brat lol

degich? i can never remember or spell his name but bitchy rich, they cut out his "war is bad and it's made me a better person" redemption arc but who cares so lol. moving on <3

roxane's epic girlboss moment was cut out. SAD. and subsequently the scene w/ the baker being a recurring character was ALSO cut out. quite the loss but ig they at least showcase roxane's ability to be an active character in other scenes so not a total loss

both of cyrano's moon monologues :( sad! also the timeskip being dramatically shorter and only three years. i do think switching his gradual health decline to be A-actualy consequences from the war and B-less him refusing to stop pissing people off without accepting help from others to just full inability to take care of himself. like yes really showcase his issues and also that poverty and its consequences exists outside of an aesthetic backdrop

Favorite changes things:

there was a musical/dance number in the bakery :) we only got to see the baker in that initial scene but love him

boyz night did get cut but the christian musical number kind of fucked hard so all is forgiven actually

OK depending on the variation the way cyrano dies changes, like he gets assassinated in diff ways so in one they drop bricks on him or smth and in another a carriage runs him over. (im p sure it's the 1990?) i think they referenced the carriage running him over version bc they had post-timeskip him walking and a carriage barrel pass and him collapse as it does (like. not it running him over just these two seperate events framed together) and i was like haha...i get the reference. kinda mean but i did laugh in the theater a little i was like brooooo

OH the movie starts not w in the theater but w roxane getting ready for it! so yeah epic girlboss moments. she didn't get to be angry at the very end like she was in the national theater live modern rap version but she did get a "im angry" song around the middle of the plot so u kno. girls who get to be angry

i do admit i cried at the scene where the ensemble cast of soldier's got to sing about their loved ones and accepting that they're being sent off to die. anyway

anyway yeah! i liked it it was good but i DO think if they were gonna strip it down to its bare romance they should've had cyrano and chris kiss also tho like it's simply only fair

[koishua]

Hiii, here to tell you that I'm (surprisingly) still alive 🤭🤭 He's a handful when his mother enters the house, but as the majority of the time we're alone he has been actually behaving better than what I expected.

Finally I'm not staying for a month, I'll be going back this weekend, but I'm *thinking* 🤔 of coming here to study (there's better chances than at my country), the only thing taking me back is having to learn another language 😩😩 they all say I'll learn it quickly but I just don't like languages 🤧

It's actually really cold here but I don't go out more than to take my cousin to school so no problemos, thank you <3

As I've been really unoccupied these days I started a drama called Law School and I'm currently obsessed, but I'm planning on watching All of us are dead after 👀

Besides, apparently even if my other friends are studying they appear to be free everyday for an anime hangout 🤔 (but who am I to reject?🤷🏽‍♀️)

I end up sending such long asks bc I accumulate so much info 😔... But please do tell me, how are you baby? Elaborate as much as you want. Seen you've been feeling under the weather, hope you're feeling better, I gotta work those reconnections to my good vibes, seems they aren't reaching you 👀✨✨

Have a great day tomorrow (today?) bubs 💕 - 💐

well hello there miss 😭 i kinda wanna ask why you're up so late but then again that would be hypocritical of me so i'll stay quiet bahaha it's so nice to hear from you again and im so glad to see that you're still all intact 😩 i'd be going back home asap too lmao also ooh studying there? i have heard that it was quite nice there but yeah the language problems </3 what do you want to study anyways?

that area is freezing istg im just glad that where i stay, it doesn't go lower than -10° c or else i would literally die of hypothermia or something regardless of how many layers i have on 😶 they call me michelin man on the streets smh

OMG LAW SCHOOL AS IN THE ONE WITH THE GIRL FROM ITAEWON CLASS?? or did i mix things up? anyways!! all of us are dead is SO goddamn good oml korea really has apocalypse movies down like man train to busan, happiness, this. all of them are *chef's kiss* ugh

any animes y'all are watching other than the new aot season? im gonna start this new badminton anime and it literally looks so good and the animation is PERFECT 😭 i think i'll enjoy it a lot like haikyuu since i actually used to play for a team too so that's nice 😩

also no worries i love your asks!! i just like talking to you in general haha as for me... idk man things have been all over the place but we're getting there ig 😔🤚

my mental health has been jumping everywhere every two seconds lmao it didn't seem too bright for me last night and im just glad im still here and breathing tbh 💀 i DID transfer schools again though so ig leaving my old school has helped me regain some sort of stability? (we are just going to ignore the fact that most of my issues are probably BECAUSE i had to move schools every six to ten months the past ten years 💀)

good news tho omg i am getting better at italian 👏it's similar to spanish, yes, but the speed and the way things are pronounced while natives speak made it difficult for me at first but bless easy italian bc it literally is my saving grace 😭 ive been binging their videos the past week while under quarantine no thanks to my siblings bringin covid back home with them lmao

i had the biggest urge and inspiration to paint something yesterday, but i ran out of the necessary paints and it pained me greatly that i was stuck inside till next week 💔💔 BUT‼️‼️i ordered A Thousand Splendid Suns, champion (marie lu) and They Three Body Problem and im so so excited to read them oml i read cixin liu's The Wandering Earth over and over so many times and am now in the process of reading all of his other books starting with the three body problem haha

i really recommend him if you like reading sci-fi‼️‼️and that's it from me <3 take care and stay safe >:(