#it's somewhat ott

[timetobeaghost]

Does Will have a crush on Mike? A helpful guide

S1 Will has a crush on Mike

S2 Will is in love with Mike

S3 Will is low key in a constant state of bittersweet agony out of love and desire

S4 Will goes full emotional tender music playing

and ends up basically melting into a puddle of goo

Hope that helps!

[ladystoneboobs]

anyways, speaking of cannibalism, wrt frey pies in particular, it just hit me that the rat cook song is not just a way for wyman to slyly telegraph what he did w/o any of his in-world foes noticing, it could also be his justification just as much as inspiration. let's look back at how we learned of the legend through bran:

"It was not for murder that the gods cursed him," Old Nan said, "nor for serving the Andal king his son in a pie. A man has a right to vengeance. But he slew a guest beneath his roof, and that the gods cannot forgive." -Bran IV, aSoS

so, in other words: 1) violating guest right is the most heinous of crimes and 2) if guest right is not violated then murder and even cannibalizing the murdered to feed to their own kin is a-ok so long as the motive is personal revenge. by giving guest gifts to the 3 frey envoys to end any guest rite bond asap and get to the killings, wyman not only gets just a feeling of moral superiority by at least not committing the same type of crime as the enemies he killed, he also ensured that his vengeance could be divinely sanctioned as a natural right correctly exercised, unlike how the rat cook did his. he learned his lessons from this northern legend and improved upon the actions of this nightfort cook accordingly. thing is, the justified right to vengeance has to be just an old gods thing, not fitting in with the seven (which house manderly had converted to 1000s of years ago back in the reach) as the christainity stand-in, which is just evidence of the depth of manderly northern assimilation and/or that old dark ways never entirely disappear, no matter the religion. wyman manderly can still worship the "new" gods with just as much urge toward old-fashioned bloody revenge as any old gods worshipping northman, not so different from his vassal ser bartimus in the wolf's den who bragged to davos that his ancestors were likely among those who once hung slavers' entrails in a heart tree as a bloody offering to the old gods.

[seoafin]

started reading daisy jones and the six this morning and im 80% through and on god this is the LAST time i take a tiktok rec

[otterbells]

A couple older doodles of an OC

[too-antigonish]

The Great S7 Rewrite: 7 July 2024 Update...

Posted this yesterday as a reblog update to the Great S7 Rewrite but now posting separately...

Here's a summary of where we are in the Great S7 Rewrite and some ideas moving forward:

Bone of Contention #1: Opera Rules

@astridcontramundum is in favor of keeping Opera Rules (voiceovers, framing scenes, etc.) as well as featuring more of the bespoke opera written for S7. I love her suggestion that Morse and Violetta have their own leitmotif! 

@oeuvrinarydurian suggested the possibility of leaning into Opera Rules—going a little crazy with tropes and techniques and being fanciful. 

I *love* the idea of leaning into Opera Rules and it’s actually what I’ve thought R.L. should have done all along. Now though, when I think of doing it within the context of the existing storylines we’re working with, I run into difficulties imagining it. The stories don’t fit into a “playful” world. That may simply be my own limitations. I’d love to see it done somewhere, sometime—especially somewhat whimsically and especially in the Morse universe.

One possibility I’ve considered is still having Opera Rules (voiceovers, framing scenes, etc. as well as opera tropes and themes), but actually taking them seriously instead of making them OTT. I’m heavily paraphrasing, but Astrid, in one of her stories has Bix say something like, “Real life isn’t like one of your operas,” to Morse. And it’s always struck me that for Morse, his real life *is* like one of his operas. His childhood? Being essentially orphaned. Evil stepmothers. Oxford? Almost marrying the princess so to speak. Being cast aside and cast out. What he sees at his job? Murder. Betrayal. Greed. Jealousy. Grief.

Basically, instead of making Morse’s life suddenly work according to Opera Rules, you could show how Morse has been living an opera all along by suddenly making all of the parallels visible.

Another thought that builds on Astrid’s idea about both Opera Rules and her later thoughts on the Towpath Case is to center the story on the opera that Morse attends at the beginning, "La Sposa del Demonio" (or "La Cura Per L'amore").  What if the story of that opera is reflected in the story arc of the Morse, Ludo, Violetta—whatever that ends up being? 

Bone of Contention #2: Ludo and Violetta?

Astrid likes the idea of having Violetta genuinely in love with Morse. 

@librawritesstuff brings up Violetta as “Unattainable Fantasy Woman” and points out that part of Morse’s attraction to her can be explained by the fact that by the end of S6, he’s been screwed over in just about every way possible. He’s ready to just say fuck it and go after something just because it’s there and he wants it for a change.

She then points out that the bigger problem with Ludo and Violetta lies in the implausibility of their storyline. What was the plan with Morse? Was there a plan? What’s the deal with the “pet policeman”?

Durian: Hates Ludo and Violetta as characters, but her big issue is with lack of logic in the whole opera storyline and too many implausibilities. Did Morse and Violetta meet at the opera by chance or design? Did Ludo know about them the whole time? What was the “pet policeman” about? Was Violetta actually involved in the nuts and bolts of engineering the accidents?

@fanficrocks Looks at making Morse’s relationship with Ludo more believable: less OTT as a character, maybe journalist friend of Dorothea, this gives a believable reason for him to be in all of the towns where the accidents happen and believable way for Morse to trace the accidents to him. Suggests possibly lose “pet policeman” concept and just have Ludo and Morse friendship poisoned by affair

Astrid again: Loves idea of Ludo as journalist; She notes with Violetta: Morse attaching to her out of recklessness seems reasonable but they didn’t make her attachment to him believable in any way. Also, while there was a reconciliation at the end of S6, Morse would have still been carrying resentment about having been pushed aside

I love the idea of Ludo as a journalist. I’m also intrigued by the possibility that he could be a music journalist. This would provide a plausible explanation for so many things—Dorothea introducing him to Morse, Morse actually wanting to become friends, his frequent travels, etc. 

It also gives me an idea re: the big opera La Sposa. What if it were a newly discovered opera? Morse goes to Venice for the premier. Ludo is there covering the premier but for some reason does not attend with Violetta. The plot of this opera could somehow also form a backdrop for the overall Morse, Ludo, Violetta story arc (story within a story).

I completely agree with Libra about the “Unattainable Fantasy Woman” thing for the initial two week affair. Where that starts to break down for me is with the extended affair and her cooking meals for them in their love nest at Beirut dancer’s apartment. There just seems to be no basis for their connection besides sex. Certainly not enough that he would be expecting her to leave Ludo and start a life together.

If we keep Ludo and Violetta as characters, which seems to be the way things are leaning, I do think they both more or less need personality transplants to justify Morse’s continued interest in them. I’m also with Astrid on having Violetta genuinely in love with Morse. I think they left it ambiguous in the show because they were playing on the whole idea of “If it's beautiful, does it matter if it’s real?” (“treason of images” ) thing, but it never really worked.

As for the overall implausibility of overall opera storyline: Yes!!!! It’s a mess. Every point raised by Libra and Durian is valid. Whatever happens with the storyline, those holes need fixing!

Bone of Contention #3: Towpath Storyline

Astrid: Universe within universe for towpath killings. Make it opera related. Gives more scope for Thursday/Morse conflict. Deranged fan? Thwarted performer? Also, while there was a reconciliation at the end of S6, Morse would have still been carrying resentment about having been pushed aside.

Durian: Eliminate clutter in Towpath mystery: get down to “is it or is it not Carl?” Leaves room to carefully craft the conflict between Morse and Thursday

I definitely agree that the clutter in the Towpath mystery needs to be eliminated. There was no clear throughline and the story pulled in too many directions. The specifics, though, depend on a lot of other decisions that need to be made first.

The conflict between Morse and Thursday definitely needs to be more carefully established. How do we get from the seeming reconciliation of Degüello to sniping at each other in Oracle? I completely agree with Astrid that Morse would have still been carrying resentment, but there needs to be something more to explain how it would erupt in such a public and painful manner.

Bone of Contention #4: The Episodic Storylines

Astrid: “I’d definitely keep those gay wrestlers!  I might feature them more! They could be another nod to it all. Thursday said wrestling was a lot like opera. Heroes and Villains. Faces and Heels.”

I love this comment! And I loved the gay wrestlers. They were just so unexpected and their presence was so understated in a way that I found hilarious. 

But it also gets at one of the themes of S7 that I did actually find interesting: How chance puts us on one side or the other, makes us winners or losers in the great game. Raga is the most blatant about it with politics, immigration, race, gambling, etc. but also with the Faces and the Heels in wrestling or the fate of  the firstborn son vs. the second born.

Ludo sums it up—while also perhaps referring to his crimes—by saying to Morse, “Life, death, rich, poor. It's all a roll of the dice, Morse. There's no reason to any of it. You're not responsible. Some people are just unlucky.” It's eerily reminiscent of Charlie and Conrad Greel in Ride.

OK, I think that's it for now. Please let me know if I misrepresented your comments in any way or missed something that was said! I assure you it was accidental.

[valenschmidt]

Thanks for answering my ask! Yes, that's very true, Ryan has been consistently hated/viewed with suspicion and skepticism for years, so the majority of buddie fandom (who are Oliver stans) wouldn't want to ship him with Oliver. I distinctly remember one particular post (in Ryan's tag) a year or two ago that was like, "ugh if buddie goes canon i feel sorry for oliver having to kiss that man" 🙄

Lol yes I guess we have to thank bt shippers and their OTT vitriol for turning the tide somewhat. It's been nice to see a recent influx of vocal Eddie/Ryan fans join the fandom. So refreshing and entertaining.

Yes also I remember the super cute bts vids that popped up during/toward the end of s6, and some people tagging positively about Ryan (albeit begrudgingly!). But definitely a lot more people were on edge about rpf compared to now.

Ooooh so about Oliver being single, that's what I thought too! But someone else I sent an ask(?) to a while ago said that he didn't actually say anything concrete in his insta live, and that he is still with his gf 🤔 does anyone have any further confirmation either way? I'd love to know!

"this happens quite a lot when ships are about to go canon. People start projecting the ship onto the actors, especially when chemistry is REALLY huge " - this is a really interesting phenomenon you've pointed out!

No provblem anon! I love receiving asks!!

YES!!! I completely understand why people were really mad back then, especially black people and I also understand if there are still black people who haven't quite forgiven him and it's totally valid, because what he did was not ok (even if he never said that word he was still trying to justify his then wife's actions and that should have been a big no no) the problem is that people let it get a tad too far and spreading things that were NOT true to new fans in the recent years out of anger, making him seen like a terrible person who is a racist and hates black people when that is not true... Aisha and Angela were really mad back then but they both clearly have forgiven him (since Angela invited him to his anniversary party and Aisha to his wedding) and he has never done anything remotely similar again so I think he truly changed and has become better so I really believe people have started to see that and the bt being awful to him probably was a changing point to most of the fandom (not all because some still hate him) but well you can't change someone's views on people changing...

Also yes anon! A lot were completely against it calling it awful and whatnot and now are the biggest ryliver shippers (and getting viral over it when less than 6 months ago they would cancel you) and taking everything as ryliver signs but whatever I just hope they don't take things too far

To the Oliver thing... I watched that interview live and I'm 100% sure he said he's single but I can't for the life of me find a clip of the interview (if anyone finds it please send it to me!!!) But I remember that he said he was single and then kind of shaded his ex (lol) so yeah

As for the last thing... yup not many notice but it happens quite a lot. Just like how actors tend to fall in love with eachother (which doesn't happen all the time but it happens) in fandom it also happens that they believe they fall in love. Take heartstopper for example... Kit and Joe plan Nick and Charlie who are very in love but in reality they're just very good friends but people insist on shipping them or the Bridgerton actors that play Colin and Penelope as well... people project the feelings of their characters into their real life personalities because of the chemistry the actors have together. It's hard to comprehend the idea of acting so close to someone and play lovers and have so much chemistry but not falling in love

Wow now that was quite a lot 🤣

Sorry anon I got carried away

[sgiandubh]

Between 2018 and 2020, my sister secretly dated a very famous guy. To this day, no one has ever known about them, and all this time, they managed to fly under the radar of fans and the press because they frequented very exclusive places. One of the times I went to dinner with them, I was impressed because I never imagined that a restaurant that was already somewhat "exclusive" still had a VIP space. The same happened when they flew together or took vacations at resorts/hotels. They managed to visit cities like Paris, Venice, Vienna, New York, London and still not be found by anyone, precisely because they had decided to keep their relationship private (they were both in the same industry, but her work was not in front of cameras). So, from experience I can say : if a famous person really wants to keep a private relationship or just doesn't want to be found by fans or the press, they have a way to do that.

Dear Sister Anon,

There are organic relationships, and then there are OTT #shitshows, like this one.

Thank you for dropping by. Much comforting.

At the moment, I am dissecting The Brazilian Tourist's reels. The least I can say is that she is an obnoxious person, with a very nasty sotaque.

Also, one of my favorite restaurants in the world, La Pérouse, in Paris not only has a VIP area, but also separate VIP rooms, if you really want to remain undetected. French ministers used to meet there the very high-end prostitutes of the Belle Epoque, les grandes horizontales.

[jadelotusflower]

So I finally watched Andor...

...and naturally I have thoughts (hey, it’s me). Maybe they're belated, seeing as this show was released almost two years ago, but I've been on the outskirts of the Star Wars fandom for a while now. This in and of itself isn't usual - I tend to drift between my core fandoms in phases, but since TLJ the GFFA hasn't really been a pleasant place to be so I haven't really had a reason to drift back to it for any length of time.

Which isn't to say I've avoided Star Wars altogether, dipping in when something piques my interest like Obi-Wan Kenobi (which I liked aspects of but ultimately felt like just a setup to the show I actually wanted to watch), and have absorbed some of the rest through cultural osmosis. Andor is a show I've been meaning to get to for a while, although it has been praised to the point of being overhyped (and there was a whiff of Not Like Other Star Wars to the critical reception) so I was concerned it would not meet expectations.

But I was pleasantly surprised as how much this show felt spiritually and aesthetically in tune with the original trilogy, and especially A New Hope, as opposed to Disney!Star Wars. Even if the tone and content of Andor is very different, it feels in conversation with the OT in a way the rest of Disney’s output has not - building on the story we already know, rather than trying replace or rewrite it as something else.

Aesthetically, we have the 70's vibe of the set design and costuming in middle-class Coruscant, the stark white jumpsuits and surrounds of Narkina 5 evoking Lucas's early film THX-1138, even the way we are plopped right into the middle of the story with very little exposition, but still eased into the narrative is very reminiscent of the first act of A New Hope. Thematically, of course we’re seeing the Rebellion in its earlier stages - small disparate cells of seditious activity directly acting against Imperial interests that will become the somewhat ragtag but nonetheless organised and unified Alliance.

While Star Wars was a cinema pastiche throwback to Flash Gordan serials and Campbell’s hero’s journey as an antidote to the grimdark antiheroes of the 70’s, in many ways Andor brings things back full circle to the grit of neo-noir. It holds a mirror up to the OT and lets us see the other side of the coin - and the full cost of victory. So many people have to die for Cassian to make it to the Rebellion - just like Cassian himself will die for the Death Star plans to make it to Leia, like Obi-Wan will die to ensure those plans make it to the Rebellion, and squadrons of rebel pilots will die so Luke can ultimately destroy the Death Star.

A stone is dropped in a pond, and we see the ripples but the stone itself sinks.

Overall thoughts

Tony Gilroy is the showrunner here, a veteran screenwriter notable for the Bourne films, and we can certainly see this influence at work. He also wrote The Devil’s Advocate, which is by no means good but I do enjoy in all its ott mythological monologues-and-accents glory, and seminal romcom (of my childhood at least) The Cutting Edge. He also wrote and directed Michael Clayton, which I have not seen but was nominated for several Oscars, including Original Screenplay, Director, and Best Picture (Tilda Swinton won for Supporting Actress).

Of course he's also a credited screenwriter on Rogue One, and I understand his contribution was mostly to the infamous rewrites/reshoots. I desperately want to read a full breakdown/bts of what went down with that film (well all of Disney-led Lucasfilm really) and see the deleted/original material, because I am fascinated. It's also interesting to note that Gilroy took over showrunning duties from Stephen Schiff pre-production. The show does very much feel like Gilroy wanted to make his own stamp on the Andor character and use him as a vehicle in his spy-thriller/political intrigue wheelhouse.

Reading some of Gilroy’s comments around the series had made me wonder how much of Andor being reflective/referential to the OT was intentional (on his part at least), and arguably Gilroy did overwrite the character of Cassian Andor so…there’s nuance. But as a story, to me it felt in tune with what I love about Star Wars rather than at odds with it, and that's what I appreciated most.

But first things first. B2EMO made it to the end! Finally, my expectations are subverted in a good way, because I love this little droid with all my heart. There are several key elements of Star Wars to me that separate it from other sci-fi/space fantasy and that is Jedi, distinctive aliens, and sentient droids. Obviously there's no Jedi here (nor does there need to be), my issues with the lack of aliens I'll address below, but when it comes to droids B2EMO fits right in, and we can assume is a precursor to Cassian's relationship with K-2SO.

Overall I thought the show was excellent (with a few caveats). What's impressive is the sheer number of characters and plots interwoven together, every conversation servicing character, the overall theme or setting something up that will pay off later, playing with coincidence and fate (the will of the Force), the interlocking domino effect. Arvel Skeen recognising the tattoo on Cassian's arm leads to a conversation of his history, but also sets up Skeen later offering to take and split the haul with Cassian (and getting killed for it). The raid on Aldhani triggers the Empire’s harsh new measures that gets Cassian sentenced to six years in prison, but also inspires the rebellion on Ferrix (via Maarva). The Aldhani heist is a triumph for Vel, but traps Mon’s financial contributions to the Rebellion by the Empire’s crackdown on banking, leading her and her daughter into an unwanted family alliance.

I'm a big proponent of Star Wars Dialogue is Good, Actually - not saying there's not clunkers or stilted scenes (the PT moreso than the OT) but there seems to be this weird consensus that Lucas-era dialogue sucks despite being some of the most quoted/referenced movies of all time. Lucas was creating a modern myth, of course a lot of it is arch and operatic. I love the dialogue in Andor too - which rightly gets high praise, and while it's arguably tighter, in many ways it's no more naturalistic than that of the Saga with everyone constantly speaking in metaphor, it's just pitched differently because this is a different genre (and the acting is uniformly excellent because they are actually interacting with each other and being competently directed).

There’s layers of meaning in almost every scene and subtle moments of foreshadowing that I really enjoy - Karis Nemik muses on the role of mercenaries in a rebellion that must use every tool and weapon at its disposal, and obviously Cassian starts out as that mercenary who will be pulled into the wider struggle, but this also foreshadows the importance of Han Solo - at first only out for the promise of a reward but ultimately instrumental in bringing the Empire down. But it’s not because he’s treated as a tool - as the Empire treats its workforce as tools - but because he’s treated as worthwhile, he’s valued as a person. The Empire casts people out while the Rebellion draws them in.

We also see this in the arc on Narkina 5, and the Empire’s tightening grip backfiring against them. In order to force the prisoners to speedily produce parts for the Death Star they work in close-knit teams, creating a close camaraderie ultimately allowing them to escape - because when you turn people into cogs of a machine, the machine can be turned back against you. Contrast this to the jockeying over position and territory and power in the ISB - they serve the Empire, but never at personal cost.

We see the Republic of affiliated systems from the PT turn into an Empire of conquered planets, where local cultures are subsumed into homogeneous Imperial rule. Even Corpsec is replaced by Imperial oversight, and we know that the Senate on Coruscant will be dissolved completely in ANH. But ultimately this ferments rebellion and unites the outcast and oppressed - the Keredians on Narkina 5 hate the Empire for their prison polluting the waterways, and so let Cassian and Melchi go. Cinta’s whole family was killed by stormtroopers turning her single minded focus to destroying them. The people of Ferrix respond to Maarva’s call and riot against the Imperial forces even though it will mean violent reprisal.

The Empire forges the weapons that will be used against them. As Nemik’s manifesto states: “The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.”

And yet we're not there yet - it's important that this is still a Rebellion and not an Alliance, a disparate collection of segmented sedition with a myriad of agendas we see run by Saw Gerrara, Anton Kreegyr, Luthen Rael. They won't be a genuine threat to the Empire until they join forces, share resources and intelligence, and unite behind a collective goal. Although there may be sacrifices in this as well - Separatists, Partisan Front, Sectorists etc mentioned by Saw will either coalesce under the Alliance to Restore the Republic or be driven further to the fringes.

The thrust of Nemik's manifesto is that freedom is a natural state of being, while oppression is unnatural, and even though Andor has nothing to do with the Jedi it nonetheless echoes their philosophy: that the Force is in a natural state of balance, while the existence of the Sith who tap into the Dark Side upset this balance. As we see in Return of the Jedi, the balance is ultimately restored by the return to that natural state buffeted by the most powerful forces - friendship, love, sacrifice - forces that ultimately drive Cassian as well. While much has been said of the moral ambiguity and nuance of Andor, it's not incongruent with the OT, if anything it reinforces its power and message.

HOWEVER, I have my nits to pick - the lack of aliens is a serious flaw (and in particular, the lack of familiar aliens). In some cases they can get away with it and make subtle commentary - Coruscant is stark and grey as the centre of bureaucracy in stark contrast to the vibrant metropolis of the PT. Seeing the streets populated almost exclusively by humans where once it was a melting pot underscores the Empire’s segregationist policies. However the dearth of non-humans elsewhere - Ferrix, Aldhani, even the prison labour camp Narkina 5 - is disconcerting. These are places meant to depict the oppressive rule of the Empire and this undermines the strength of the rebellion as a group of diverse species fighting against the Imperial monoculture. It's odd, for example, that we see all the characters from Ferrix return except Vetch, the muscle employed "just to stand there" by Nurchi (a nice moment with Cassian!), and that Maarva's funeral procession seems entirely human.

Ultimately, I think the setup is much stronger than the payoff, and while I appreciate the slow burn, the show does have sometimes have difficulty juggling the plots. Once set up, characters are parked waiting to be incorporated into the narrative (it feels like we watch Syril stare at his cereal forever) and looking back not much actually happens to a lot of them- there are a lot of threads left hanging and not much resolution. Which is of course because this was only intended to be season 1 of 5, with each arc a year of Cassian’s life leading up to Rogue One. But sadly Andor has been given a second season only, leaving 12 episodes to wrap everything up, so ultimately I fear the show will feel like a slow setup and rushed conclusion, which is a real shame.

Cassian Andor

I’m went into this as someone who doesn’t really have a strong connection to Cassian as a character - I certainly liked him in Rogue One! But let’s just say he’s not my blorbo. And this not the backstory I would have expected for the character five years before Rogue One as someone who has “been in this fight since [he] was six years old.”

Diego Luna has such a charismatic presence and it is nice to have a more internal, insular character, but it’s kind of sad that Cassian is really the least developed character in a show ostensibly about him. It’s not really his story, but he’s the fulcrum (pun intended) around which most of the other characters pivot; this is a story of the rebellion of which he is just one part. So, I can see if Cassian fans may have been upset by his lack of focus, and I personally would have wanted to delve a bit deeper into Cassian Andor on a show called Andor, you know? And it does feel a little bit skeevy that the actual Axis (pun intended) of the show is Luthen in his middle age white man glory, with a whiff of Gilroy’s self-insert about him.

I do wish LFL would abandon simply naming their shows after the main character - presumably it’s for general audience recognition and algorithmic reasons, but my god how boring. If the show had been marketed as the ensemble it actually is I would take less issue with the lack of Cassian focus. But sadly I’m not sure we know that much more about Cassian at the end of the show than we did at the end of the first three episodes - or really, what it adds to his character and arc we see in Rogue One.

Yes he’s further radicalised by his experiences and is now presumably "all in" on the rebellion, but the events of the show are kicked off by Cassian searching for his sister which is a motivation that is all but dropped thereafter - although at one point I was half-expecting (dreading) it to be revealed that Luthen's assistant Kleya Marki was Kerri (and sidebar, Kleya - what a stone cold bitch! I love a stone cold bitch).

This plot will likely continue in season 2, but it felt a bit undercooked and too deep in the subtext given the prominence it had in kicking off the narrative. We get a flashback to Cassian’s childhood, but ultimately it feels like lipservice to his Indigenous heritage rather than true engagement since we don't see him reflect on it in any way, nor does it seem to have any impact on his choices throughout the series that seem primarily motivated by his life and relationships on Ferrix.

We get a strong start to Cassian and Luthen that peters out - he's intent on recruiting Cassian, but then writes him off when Cassian flees after Aldhani and wants him killed, then goes all the way to Ferrix for him, but is about to leave without actually doing anything? I know Luthen's meant to be ambiguous, but this is one area where plot is obviously driving things not character. I get that it was important for Cassian to be the one to go to Luthen at the end and choose the Rebellion unfetted, but the relationship is undercooked. I almost feel like the series is a procession of things that happen to Cassian rather than a journey I was on with him. There's external forces, but very little internal focus.

However, what I did love about the show was the thematic resonance that was happening on a macro and micro level - while the show as a whole is a mirror/reflection of the OT, we also see dichotomy in the character pairings that are mirrors and/or foils of each other in various ways - we have the two sides of the conflict being Empire and Rebellion (with Cassian stuck in the middle), and we are also shown conflict within those two sides.

Cassian is without a reflective character pairing because his true mirror is Jyn Erso, and seeing Cassian’s struggles here does give real weight to his “you’re not the only one who lost everything” speech - in many ways the show is his journey from being Jyn, to being the man who says to her “we don't all have the luxury of deciding when and where we want to care about something.”

Mon Mothma and Luthen Rael

The most obvious mirror/foil pair as the two sides of the Rebellion, although arguably we have a third prong in Saw Gerrara, and kind of a mirror in Luthen as Cassian’s mentor as Saw was Jyn’s - and I do wonder about the show that was a two-handed prequel with Cassian and Jyn growing up in different factions of the Rebellion, but alas.

The artifact Luthen gives Mon represents “a sun goddess and a serpent sharing the same mouth” representing their differing philosophical approach to fighting the Empire. As mirror characters they are alike in many ways - both of the privileged class and living double lives on Coruscant, but while Mon makes political efforts to move the needle on the Empire's activities in the Senate while also funneling money to direct but small rebel efforts, Luthen outright pokes the bear, sacrifices allies, and knowingly making things worse to swell the ranks of the rebellion on the hope it will speed up progress. There's more than a hint of the incrementalism/revolutionary dichotomy here.

It also raises a lot of interesting questions without (rightly) providing many answers - the struggle of the oppressed, the moral weight of insurgency and revolution. Is it right to intentionally provoke an oppressive power into reacting with violence in order to fuel a greater pushback against them? Is short term suffering justified if it achieves eventual victory, and is it right for the few to decide what is a justifiable sacrifice? What are our responsibilities to each other under the threat of/struggle against authoritarianism? As social commentary it's more timely than ever.

Whether Mon or Luthen is right for the viewer to decide, although as Leia tells Tarkin in ANH: "the more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers." On the other hand, we know Mon survives to the end of the Empire while Luthen (I assume) will not. She will become a leading figure in the Alliance, and eventual Chancellor of the New Republic, while he will be another stone at the bottom of the pond.

This is foreshadowed in the dialogue (with a direct mirror reference):

“I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else’s future. I burn my life, to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see. No, the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror, or an audience, or the light of gratitude."

Arguably however, the mirror is the show - we are the audience.

We know Cassian joins Luthen at the end of season 1, and will meet Mon in season 2, so it will be interesting to see him struggle between these two philosophies, although we can infer from Rogue One that he aligns himself (out of necessity) with Luthen's veiwpoint:

"We've all done terrible things on behalf of the Rebellion. Spies, saboteurs, assassins....And every time I walked away from something I wanted to forget, I told myself it was for a cause that I believed in. A cause that was worth it. Without that, we're lost."

Ultimately, the Rebellion needs people like Luthen and Cassian to make not only the physical sacrifice, but the moral one as well (noting our first introduction to Cassian is him killing an informant so he can escape) - people who play the Empire's game so Luke can ultimately reject the Emperor's.

But I had mixed feelings on the Mon Mothma storyline. It feels a bit off for Luthen to be her entrée into the Rebellion, when we know she’s been on the ground from the very beginning with the Petition of the 2000 (cut from ROTS, but still canon I assume). She just felt very isolated and fragile which is at odds with her quiet steel that we see in Return of the Jedi and Rogue One. I could maybe see this Mon in the early dark days, but only 5 years before ANH? A scene with Bail Organa would not have gone amiss just to give breadth to her rebellious activities.

We get to see Luthen visit Saw Gerrara on Segra Milo, why not give Mon a scene with Bail to show she has other irons in the fire rather than relying on Luthen? In Saw we see the rough and tumble of disparate rebel factions, I would have liked to see the political machinations of Mon and Bail to serve the metaphor even further.

She is more than just a bank for the rebellion, and I think in the effort to contrast Luthen and Mon there was a bit of disservice done to the latter.

And Mon’s loser husband - ugh. Okay they’re in some kind of arranged marriage but there’s very little substance, nothing us particularly revealed about Mon by including him. Other than her cleverly using his gambling debts to deflect her rebellion spending at the end, the story wouldn’t really have changed by him not existing, and in fact would have been improved by focusing more on Mon’s difficult relationship with her daughter.

But on a purely shallow note, I want her wardrobe!

Dedra Meero and Syril Karn

In some ways Cassian and Syril are the narrative foils and there are parallels between them - their conflict instigated in the first episodes, their maternal relationships, both essentially exiles for the middle section before both end up back on Ferrix where Cassian saves Bix and Syril saves Dedra. But I feel Syril and Dedra work better as mirrors, and their arcs also parallel and intersect.

In the Empire, Dedra and Syril are two sides of the other coin (there's quite a few coins in this metaphor). Regimes need bureaucracy, and you have the true believers, the status-climbers, and those just going along to get along. In Dedra we have the talented star of the prestigious Imperial Security Bureau, and in Syril the over eager Corporate Security officer, two arms of the Empire’s control, although the latter we see becoming obsolete as the former gains more control.

But they're both middlemen who chafe against the inaction of their superiors, both desperate to rise above their station (although those stations are quite far apart). Throughout the series their plots are mostly in parallel; they are reflections of each other without even having met.

It's uncomfortable to watch both of them on screen - all unblinking stares, sucked in cheeks, and pursed lips - fittingly repellent. I’m surprised Gilroy has said he wrote Dedra to be relatable - she skeeved me out from the first, someone clearly ready to step over anyone and everyone if it served her purposes rather than someone gradually drawn further into an authoritarian regime. There's the slight subtext of sexism - there's only one other women in the ISB briefing and Pendergast alludes to it, but that certainly didn't engender any sympathy or admiration from me.

In episode 7 Syril’s mother Eedy says “Everything says something, Syril” and chastises him about tailoring his uniform (just as he did in the first episode, a neat little character tell), and immediately after we see Dedra donning her uniform perfectly in sync with the rest of the ISB. He’s trying to stand out from the crowd, she’s trying to fit in - or, from a different perspective, Syril adjusts his collar to resemble the Imperial style as a signifier of where he wants to be, while Dedra is already there and still looking higher.

But both are thinking outside the rigid Imperial lines and command structures, both on the hunt for Cassian - although for Syril it's personal and Dedra it's about climbing the ranks. Both take it upon themselves to investigate against orders, but Syril’s attempts are clumsy and random while Dedra’s are clinical and targeted.

She identifies that “systems either change or die” to push the ISB’s fragmented and bureaucratic inefficiencies into a cohesive power structure, but while it wins her approval it doesn’t earn her any loyalty; her troops abandon her to the mob on Ferrix. Inexplicably though, Syril does manage to gain the loyalty of Sergeant Mosk, who was also punished for the initial blunder on Ferrix, but ultimately draws Syril back there to in search of Cassian.

The point at which they first intersect in episode 8, Dedra is on an upswing, she holds the power and sends Syril further down, but when they meet again in episode 11, the roles are reversed as he is the one to save her from the mob.

I just hope they’re going somewhere more interesting than his creepy crush.

Vel Sartha and Cinta Kaz

One of the major faults of Rogue One was its Smurfette Syndrome, where Jyn is a great female character surrounded by men, but Andor has pleasingly course corrected from this. See what happens when you don’t have one woman having to embody everything and bear the weight of her entire gender in the narrative (and therefore, also bear the criticism)? Andor happily treats its women as characters, not faux-empowering meme-fodder. Although there is perhaps some valid commentary that it’s still white women on the whole - Dedra, Mon, Vel, Maarva - who get the meatier roles, and I have my issues with Mon’s characterisation, but one thing I will give Disney LFL credit for is it’s ongoing efforts towards gender parity.

In Vel and Cinta we have two more sides of insurgency - from wealth and privilege in Vel, the cousin of Mon Mothma struggling with the weight of it all, to Cinta with her cold fire and unwavering drive, her family killed by stormtroopers and for whom the struggle will always come first.

Cinta’s cool reserve is a contrast to Vel’s nerves (as seen in the Aldhani raid); they’re coming from very different places even if their cause is the same. There may even be a bit of classism in the subtext - Vel leads the mission on Aldhani after asking for the mission from Luthen, when really Cinta is the one who is most committed, and she has to push Vel though several times when she falters.

Vel still has one foot in the Imperial world and the complications of rebellious machinations - worried for Mon and her family, wanting to prove herself to Luthen, jockeying with Kleya - but for Cinta none of that matters, she loves Vel but there's often a sense she's disappointed in her. There's a dichotomy within Cinta - she's not unfeeling, showing kindness to Cassian when he joins their group, yet accepting the mission to kill him later without hesitation.

It seems to me that Cinta is the revolutionary Vel wants to be but can't quite divest herself of enough to become - the metaphor is made explicit with these two - Cinta tells Vel: “I’m a mirror. You love me because I show you what you need to see.”

Which is a pretty interesting dynamic, especially as a romantic one, and I’m interested to see where it will go (and hope that Cinta will get more focus, even though I do love Vel a lot too).

Their storyline did run out of steam by the end through, was there any point to either of these characters being on Ferrix at the end? It very much felt like all the plot lines were being forced to intersect at the climax without all of them necessarily needing to. Although Cinta stabbing that guy in the heart was pretty cathartic.

Bix Callen, Maarva Andor, and Ferrix

I loved Ferrix as a location, with its own distinct aesthetic, culture, and populace - the work gloves all hung on the wall, the metal tapping warning system, the daily hammer and anvil (the Time Grappler, according to Wookieepedia), funerary practices. etc. The first few episodes set up Cassian’s community on Ferrix which we come full circle on in the final two, but I did have some trouble keeping track of who was who at that point.

It is interesting that the trope of “just another brick in the wall” is turned on its head here - rather than representing a cog in the machine, in Ferrix ashes of the deceased are mixed with brick and added to a wall in remembrance - a literal touchstone for Cassian as he remembers his adoptive father Clem. A wall is strong, a bulwark against outside forces, and every brick added makes it stronger. Stones dropped in a pond, bricks built into a wall - reminders of the dead that spur the will to fight.

I do love the relationship between Maarva and Cassian, especially in a franchise that has never really had an interest in mothers and sons. And we have another mirror in the overcritical and cold relationship between Syril and Eedy as the inverse of Cassian’s complicated but loving one with Maarva - contrast the reception Syril gets when he returns home to the one Cassian gets from Maarva, as ultimately Eedy's pointed disappointment is sharp where Maarva's is borne from love and concern for Cassian.

But again there’s a disconnect with the history we’re shown - Maarva and Clem kidnap/save Kassa from Kenari but we don’t really get any sense of how Cassian feels about it or the connection he has to his heritage/childhood. I’m not saying I need everything spelled out, but sometimes I feel the show does err too much on the side of subtext, and as a result we don’t delve as deep into some of the relationships as we could have. Even her final message to Cassian - that she loves him more than anything he could ever do wrong - is a beautiful sentiment, but is it earned? He hasn't really done anything wrong, arguably she did wrong by him by taking him from Kenari but it's never even mentioned, it doesn’t even seem to be a factor in their relationship as adults.

On the other hand, I didn’t mind the treatment of the post-romantic relationship between Cassian and Bix - there’s a sense of history there but it didn’t need to be explored further. Bix's involvement in the Rebellion is interesting though, it's implied she was recruited by Kleya through the black market but are her motives purely profit or does she have rebellious fervor? Luthen knows of Cassian through Bix - did she see him as a candidate for the Rebellion or just another person from whom Luthen could obtain tech? What piqued Luthen's interest from what Bix said about him?

I don't think all these questions need answers, but it is unfortunate that she does get a bit Damseled, spending most of the runtime threatened, captured, and then tortured. On the other hand, there's less to criticise in employing that trope when it's not the only one at work and the breadth of female characters on the show.

I do wonder if we will see Bix, Brasso, and B2EMO again though, or if they’re a part of Cassian’s past he had to leave behind to fully commit himself to the Rebellion.

On nostalgia, fanservice, and the state of the Star Wars universe

A tangent into my frustrations with the sequel trilogy, skip if you’re allergic to salt.

Andor has been lauded for its lack of fanservice, although I’d actually argue it’s a show that (perhaps despite Gilroy's intention) is rooted in nostalgia. Well, perhaps not nostalgia per se, but it’s a show that relies on the audience’s knowledge and affection of Rogue One and the Original Trilogy, and it’s successful because it manages to feel authentic and fulfilling rather than ham-fisted and overly meta - a story set in the Star Wars universe, not about the Star Wars universe.

I know Gilroy intended this to be able to stand alone, but would the story have the same resonance if we weren't aware where Cassian's path leads, that the efforts and actions of Mon and Luthern, Vel and Cinta, Nemik, Bix and Kleya, are ultimately justified? Perhaps it would work in a generic sci-fi setting rather than the GFFA, but would we feel as much watching it? Personally, I think not.

Because nostalgia isn’t inherently bad. It’s a vital part of how we consume media - the stories that resonate with us in childhood will continue to resonate in adulthood because they are foundational, it's a shortcut to that incredible feeling of discovering something new that's nonetheless something very old. It's partly why Star Wars was such a success in the first place - a mix of myth and fairy tale, matinee serial and Kurosawa - a familiar story told in a new way. And like in Hadestown, "we're gonna sing it again and again."

The problem with nostalgia is when it’s empty; window dressing intended to evoke that feeling but without any substance behind it, so it feels cheap and unsatisfying. Andor doesn’t completely escape from this (blue milk, mouse droid), but most inclusions feel organic.

Sometimes I think we go to far decrying fanservice, and of course it's subjective - as I like to say, everyone hates it until they’re the fan being serviced. But there is criticism, and then there's dismissing any references to existing material as mere "fanservice" and therefore contemptible. For example, I’ve seen the treatment of Luke, Han, and Leia in the sequel trilogy defended because to actually have them interact at all would be “silly fanservice” rather than natural because, you know, they’re family.

The difference, for me, is does inclusion of a known character/object/trope/line of dialogue serve the character and/or story, or is it Leo DiCaprio pointing meme, designed for “hey it’s the thing” nostalgia and YouTube compilations with no substance behind it? Ultimately, is the inclusion Watsonian or Doylist - and if the latter, what of the former justifies it.

Mon Mothma or Saw Gerrara in Andor doesn’t feel like fanservice even though they’re existing characters, because it makes sense to include them in a story about the Rebellion’s beginning and they had a part to play in Rogue One, to which Andor is ostensibly a prequel. Conversely Leia and Vader’s inclusion in Obi-Wan Kenobi (even if I did enjoy them both) tip over in the side of fanservice because they really have no place in Obi-Wan’s story at that point and require fanwanking around their dialogue in ANH (and to be fair, Lucas was guilty of this as well). I don’t need to see random object or minor character no 6 from the PT/OT/Clone Wars, iconic catch phrase shoved where it doesn’t make sense, or obscure Legends reference divorced from context, just tell me a good story! Give me characters to care about! Make me feel something! Andor did that, where much of the other Disney Star Wars content has not.

This is my fundamental, and possibly at this point, irreconcilable, issue. Disney wanted to get away from Lucas-associated Star Wars as quickly as possible, replacing every character, planet, and theme with their own wholly Disney counterpart, killing off Han, Luke, and Leia so the old and classic couldn’t distract from the shiny and new, tearing down the conclusion of the original trilogy only to try and tell the exact same story (just not as well). They did it so quickly and so shoddily that many were understandably unsatisfied, leaving Disney to frantically course correct, going back to the well and shoving nostalgia bait into every conceivable project even (especially) if it had no place.

If they’d actually had any sort of plan for the sequel trilogy, if they’d made their focus to conclude the Skywalker Saga in a way that even approached emotional resonance, imo the vast majority of the audience would be happy to move on and embrace the next chapter - new characters, new stories. But people can’t move on from the characters they love because the treatment of those characters and the post-ROTJ timeline was so unsatisfying. Luke wouldn’t have needed to show up in The Mandolorian to try and placate the fans if treatment of the character in the ST hasn’t been so abysmal.

So LFL have been stuck in this weird ancillary storytelling space, where every project seemingly needs to be adjacent to the Skywalker Saga but not actually engaging with the Saga direct - Han has a prequel film no one asked for, Rey is a Skywalker for name recognition only, Luke pops up in pointless cameos but isn’t there when he arguably should be (just recast the damn role already!), we get young Leia in a story where she has no place rather than in one she does, who knows what’s going on with the whole Ashoka/Thrawn/Heir to the Empire stuff, Boba Fett is There with a parade of Hey it’s that character/ship/thing with no contribution to the actual storytelling.

What does this have to do with Andor? Well, Andor is perhaps the only quality tv product of the Disney era, which is fitting since Rogue One is imo the only quality film of the Disney era (TFA being retroactively diminished by what came after). Andor is the type of story Star Wars should be telling - expanding the universe, using known elements and characters where it makes sense to do so, not a collection of ideas on a whiteboard thrown in front of an LED screenstage and a bunch of meaningless easter eggs.

To be fair, this does seem what they are attempting to do with The Acolyte (which I am actually enjoying!) but the planned Rey-focused post-ST film…eh. Admittedly I never bothered to watch Rise of Skywalker, but where can the story possibly go? Is there any investment at all after the mess that was the sequel trilogy? I can’t see how the narrative can possibly be redeemed at this point, which is a shame because I do believe it started with a lot of promise in The Force Awakens that was squandered by a lack of vision, planning, and oversight, and the bizarre need to brutalise and kill off the legacy characters, marginalise the genuinely original and interesting new characters, and waste the immense acting talent they had at their disposal.

They’ve made no meaningful in-universe progress after the ST, the New Republic and Jedi have to be rebuilt again, except Rey is going to do it this time somehow, so what what the point of the last 30 years in the timeline? It’s different with Andor - we know where his story ends, but the series only makes Cassian’s sacrifice stronger, there’s emotional resonance in seeing his journey to Rogue One in knowing that it’s in service of the overall victory of the Rebellion (however undermined that victory is made by the ST).

But I digress. This rant really ended up being kind of off topic - apologies.

Anyway. Andor is good! I liked it! Looking forward to season 2!

[swiftiefirefighters]

on eddie diaz, relationships, and why the whole ‘he terrorizes women’ narrative feels wrong and inaccurate

because meta is what i do now apparently

side note: i am just a fan and this is just my interpretation of eddie diaz. im not implying that he hasn’t fucked up or been messy or that he’s perfect, just that some of the interpretations of his actions feel very ott.

i decided to throw this under a read more because it got long and i’m not sure anyone will read this absolute fucking essay i wrote in an hour at 7am but i wanted to get my thoughts out.

eddie diaz is so interesting to me for so many reasons but one of them is the way that people (both fans jokingly and people who don’t like him in a very harsh and unsympathetic way) talk about his past relationships. canonically in the last 6 going on 7 years we’ve seen him have 3 serious relationships (and, based on on screen canon those are the only relationships he’s been in in his LIFE) and 1 emotional affair. people talk about him like he’s terrorized women (as a joke) or like he’s a horrifically misogynistic near abuser who only dates women for a free babysitter (not a joke and these same people usually think he’s a bad friend who abuses his friendship with buck and doesn’t give back anything in return which is such a weird interpretation of this character but i digress).

Shannon - Eddie and Shannon started dating in hs. We don’t really know exactly when but it’s been implied she was his first SERIOUS girlfriend. (he says in a deleted scene she wasn’t his first gf but that contradicts previous statements somewhat and besides i think she could be his first serious relationship and not his first actual gf anyway.) We don’t know much about their relationship prior to her pregnancy but I don’t think it’s a wild assumption to think or wonder if they wouldn’t have gotten married if they hadn’t felt that societal and religious and parental pressure to do so at the time. Eddie ran first. He did. He ran to the military and I do think some of it was being scared and some of it was just feeling like he didn’t know what else to do. The Army Will Solve It propaganda is STRONG in this country. He found himself married and needing a steady income and good insurance and without a lot of options at 19.

For me enlisting wasn’t the problem it was the reenlisting without talking to his wife. So Eddie ran and he admits it but he was scared and needed a steady income and made bad decisions and left Shannon in a horrible situation. He came home different and broken by war and trauma and neither one of them handled it well. So then it was Shannon’s turn to run. Ultimately, for me, their problem was that they were young and scared and pressured to get married and Eddie was told from a young age to Be A Man and Provide - that a husband was a provider and being absent was normal, and Shannon needed a partner and it was messy and bad and they were KIDS.

She left in the night and Eddie didn’t take off his wedding ring or date for years. He wasn’t going to break that vow for whatever reason. When they met back up those cracks showed even more deeply. They were great at sex, bad at talking. They were both bad at communicating, both bad at understanding the others needs. And ultimately because Shannon was Doomed By The Narrative they never got a chance to figure it out but to say eddie terrorized her is so wildly unfair. He was forced to marry his first girlfriend and the only example of a marriage he really had was his parents and he saw his absent father and was parentified at 10 years old and thought now i have to be the man of the house and provide and long as i do that im doing right by my family because that’s what a man does. Eddie and Shannon were Doomed because Eddie learned the wrong lessons and two scared kids didn’t know what the fuck they were doing.

Ana - Ana, poor poor perfect on paper Ana. I really really think Eddie tried with her. But she was his first relationship after losing his wife. His wife who we’ve now heard him say was the love of his life. Eddie wanted to listen to everyone, to get back out there. And he really wanted to love Ana. I don’t think he ever did wrong by her except for maybe letting it go on too long when he realized he was never going to love her even though he wanted to.

They had a nice relationship, and when he ended it he wasn’t harsh or disrespectful. He was just honest. Chris loves you but I don’t think I can. I don’t know why people would see that as being awful. Maybe his mistake was letting it go on too long, but I felt like they left it on decent terms. She was hurt, obviously, but someone always is and that doesn’t mean Eddie did anything wrong.

Marisol - oh the marisol of it all. she’s probably the one (besides shannon) that got the worst treatment and i think some of it was the writing itself. They threw them together in the 11th hour of season 6 because they wanted a nice little bow in case no one picked them up. I think season 7 showed they never really knew what to do with her. They used her to open Eddie’s catholic guilt arc and then just kind of dropped it which was a strange choice at the time. I know it’s because they wanted to do the Kim stuff, but I really think it was a product of a rushed writers room and need to get the season out but i digress.

They move in together and ultimately decide, actually, maybe it’s too soon. Now at this point, I’ve moved once and now I have to move again? I’m telling Eddie to fuck off but Marisol takes it well (which makes me wonder if she had her own doubts about living together by this point but they didn’t even give her a last name so who knows if they thought about her in any of this).

But after this Marisol just feels like an afterthought. To the writers especially. To Eddie because suddenly the Kim of it all and the ghost of his dead wife has come back in a very very real way and he’s about to hit rock bottom in ways he never knew existed. But part of the problem with Marisol is that it seemed like the writers always knew that wasn’t a Forever Relationship while at the same time not really knowing what to do with her. Like Ana, prior to Kim their relationship seemed….fine? I’m not really sure Ryan and Edy had that much on screen chemistry but you know.

And then we have the Kim of it all.

People sure love to judge my messy messy Eddie Diaz for how he handled this situation but my god I want to ask everyone how they think they would handle running into a duplicate clone of their DEAD WIFE that they’ve never quite been able to escape that’s always been there haunting every decision and relationship and moment. And now you feel like suddenly you have a second chance.

I don’t think Eddie thought he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He wouldn’t have lied about it to Buck. But I actually think he didn’t even think he was protecting Marisol. I think he thought he was protecting Chris from this. He was messy and stupid and handled everything badly because he’s a traumatized mess of a man and if he were a real person that wouldn’t excuse it but he’s a fictional character and it explains it.

The second he was called out by Buck he admitted he was also worried and scared for himself and he did the right thing. He came clean to Kim, she left, and he thought it was over. Now who knows if he would have come clean to Marisol. Who knows if they thought that far or he thought that far. But Eddie thought it was over in terms of Kim.

This is the part that I feel like so many people fail to understand or maybe just don’t want to get. And why was Marisol hanging out with Chris? Idk I don’t think Eddie’s whole thought process was free babysitting like some people seem to think or imply. I think for Eddie it’s the same as Chris hanging out with Buck. And it terms of storytelling it’s a convenient way to tell the story - they both need to find out about Kim at the same time.

Anyway. So now you think that whole thing is over and your girlfriend and son have gone out to pick up dinner or something and they’ll be home soon and suddenly ex emotional affair comes back and she isn’t just a clone is IS your wife. She got a hair cut and a new wardrobe and she’s standing in front of you crazy face and she doesn’t just look like your wife she’s insisting that she is your wife and you need this. you have never let yourself scream about the way your marriage ended and you’ve never let yourself be hurt and angry because there’s never been a day in your life where you didn’t blame yourself for how everything went down.

But Miss Kim is here like I’m Shannon say what you have to in some weird unlicensed immersion therapy session that you didn’t sign up for and it feels good and you feel better because this is what you’ve always needed. This closure.

But she wasn’t supposed to be here and now she is and then your girlfriend and son get home and now your son is seeing his dead mother.

I don’t blame Marisol for not giving him a chance to explain. I maintain that they didn’t kiss and it was cut for a reason but in any case - the man your dating is hugging a clone of his dead wife and crying when you walk in and he’s been lying about it and you’re probably gonna run for the hills because you cannot deal with this man’s mountain of issues. Like he already had a full on breakdown about the fact that she went to nub school or whatever and now this??????? My girl Marisol said NOPE IM OUT and she was right to.

I am not excusing Eddie. My dude was messy and made some fucked up choices but my god what choices would ANYONE make here??? And I see people be like he didn’t care about Marisol he hasn’t even thought about her. Okay but.

He’s losing his son. Christopher is his entire life. Outside of husband and father and then widower and father he hasn’t really LET himself be anything else and suddenly the son he’s tried to do everything right by his entire life is gone. I think a girlfriend would always take the back burner to that. But this post isn’t about Christopher and that’s a whole other can of worms.

I’m not making excuses for poor choices and messy actions. My guy did those things and I think there should be consequences but some people act like my man is a serial cheater who has never even tried in his relationships and takes advantage of everyone in his life and it’s so frustrating. That’s just not who Eddie Diaz is.

Eddie Diaz is a good man who tries very hard but is still haunted by the ghost of his ex wife and still feels pressure to be A Certain Way because at 10 years old he was forced to be the man of the house (???) even though his father was still around for some reason and has a mountain of catholic guilt he doesn’t know what to do with.

And it’s wild because I feel like some people talk about him like he’s the villain of the story. Like he’s not a great firefighter and part of the team. Like he’s not Evan Buckleys best friend, like they haven’t had each others backs for the last 6 years.

Idk i’m just a fan. These are just my opinions and reading of the story and how I interpret Eddie Diaz and his motivations. I think it’s so strange how little sympathy some people seem to have for the trauma and torment this man has been through that he hasn’t dealt with. (And he has tried. It’s not like he hasn’t tried therapy and changing jobs.)

[geminimoonmadness]

☄️ASTEROIDS

Part 1 • Copywriters Reserved©️GeminiMoonMadness

The asteroids show how you react to certain situations in your life, you could say they add shape to it. If you have strong aspects to an asteroid it’ll be more prominent in your life. Some asteroids will have minimal effect on you, depending on it’s placement in your birth chart.

ATE (111)-

It’s Assertiveness that's bordering on intolerance. When you respond OTT to a real or imagined threat. If ATE is afflicted with Squares or Oppositions there’s a chance you have issues letting your guard down. You may take things too seriously where you’re unable to take a joke.

BEER (1896)-

If prominent in your chart, it can indicate an issue controlling alcohol intake. Alcoholics usually have aspects such as;

BEER Square NN/SN

BEER Conjunct Moon

BEER Conjunct Jupiter

Any aspects to the asteroid ATE(111) -Trine especially

CLOELIA (661)-

If this asteroid is prominent in your chart you’re someone who has a fighting spirit with a strong sense of justice. Cloelia conjunct an angle (IC, MC, ASC, DSC) or personal planet can indicate an someone who is able to free themselves or others. This Asteroid can be seen as a response to hardship, for example; Cloelia conjunct IC, an individual may have the ability of freeing/liberating their family members from limiting ideas or practices that keep them in metaphorical captivity. This asteroid is prominent in charts of people who often speak up for those in trouble and advocating for causes close to their hearts.

ELPIS (59)-

If prominent in your chart it can indicate that you’re a positive, hopeful and expectant person with a consistent sense of desire. Due to this enduring desire, the individual is able to reach the goals they set easier then most. If Afflicted with squares and oppositions, a person may have a negative outlook on life. If Aspected with conjunctions, sextiles & trines, a person is able to successfully renew hope in their lives even after facing situations where most would lose faith.

FIDES (37)-

The asteroid of Truth, trust, faith and honestly. FIDES conjunct, sextile & trine personal planets makes a person Trustworthy, Honest, Dignified and hold moral integrity. This person is seen as truthful & fair by others. If afflicted with squares & oppositions, a person may have trust issues, be dishonest and seen as somewhat disrespectful.

NARCISSUS (37117)-

If Prominent in a chart it can indicate someone who is physically attractive but self absorbed, selfish, or simply thinks too ‘highly’ of themselves. If Afflicted with squares and oppositions, a person may have issues understanding other peoples point of view or sympathising with them. It overall indicates a narcissistic personality/NPD. For example: Narcissus conjunct North Node- Will become a narcissist in this life. 

PERSEVERANTIA (975)-

This asteroid is associated with the idea of never giving up and having the strength to persevere for the long haul. The sign & house your Perseverantia is in is the area of life you have perseverance, dedication, endurance & discipline. Example: If it's in Cancer/4th House- Dedication to Family, you’ll do anything for them. When not feeling yourself, they keep you going and the source of your strength. Capricorn/10th House dedication to your career and reputation. You will do virtually anything to get to the top, get rich and gain status.

THALIA (23)-

If Prominent in the chart it can indicate someone with a happy, bubbly, entertaining and funny personality. If you have thalia conjunct personal planets you may be known as the 'Class Clown'. You’d be someone who'd make a good Host. If afflicted with squares and oppositions it's not necessarily a bad thing! It just gives an individual a dark sense of humour, one that tends to shock others.

ASTROWIZARD (24626)-

Represents an entertaining yet educational outreach (especially to children). People with this asteroid prominent in their chart have a talent at educating and entertaining others at the same time. They have a fun instead of a boring personality, for example- Someone who has prominent aspects to the asteroid Astrowizard will dress up, sing, dance and be hands on to get their point across rather then use the average whiteboard approach. If prominent in your chart it can also show a deep interest in Astrology and Astronomy.

BELLONA (28)-

When prominent in a chart it indicates powerhouse type personality. Someone that isn't afraid to stand up for themselves or others, people who are be ready to 'battle and defend what they perceive is right. With mixed aspects a person can balance going over board at times and still have a healthy amount of assertiveness. Easy aspects like Trine or Sextile make a person seem to know how to be assertive when & where needed. They easily stand up for themselves and others they care for. Hard Aspects like Square & opposition can cause a person to have assertiveness that borders intolerance. These people take offence easily.

ELVIRA (277)-

This asteroid brings mournful qualities, a hopeless romantic, someone with a sedimental heart. If aspected with Squares and Oppositions, a person will be very dark and depressing to interact with. Prominent aspects will make someone a pessimist, having a cup have empty rather than cup half full outlook.

MELANCHOLIA (5708)-

This asteroid is associated with long term sadness and depression. Having square & opposition aspects will give a person depression, moments of sadness and mourning. Having trine &' sextile aspects seem to be able to cope with the events in life that trigger these emotions. Ability to Cope is more developed if easily aspected.

FELICIA (294)-

It’s our ability to maintain a happy disposition in life and a certain degree of luck. If Prominent in a chart, regardless of what they’ve been through they remain happy, bubbly, cheerful. If negatively aspected or not aspected at all individuals may have a hard time maintaining happiness throughout their life circumstances. TIP- If poorly aspected, Work on your mindset!

HARMONIA (40)-

If prominent in your chart you have more chance in succeeding in the Music Industy/Field. Having conjunct, sextile and trine aspects to this asteroid gives you a natural affinity for creating music that's pleasurable to the senses. If negatively aspected you may still have musical interest but not necessarily be good at it, for example: Someone who loves to sing along to the radio in the car. Hard work needs to be put in place if you want to succeed.

SOPHIA (251)-

This asteroid gives an above average sense of wisdom, insight and intuition that can surprise others. The house & Sign it's in can also show where you have wisdom, for example; Someone with Sophia conjunct Uranus may have natural wisdom when it comes to individuality, Standing out from the crowd and innovation. With Sophia Conjunct Neptune, Same may apply but to the matters of Spirituality, religion and the ego. When Aspected with trines & sextiles this wisdom is easily perceived by others as a gift. If aspected by squares & oppositions, others perceive your knowledge to come from a place of superiority or a bit of a know it all.

AGRIPPINA (645)-

If Prominent in a chart it can show someone is an opportunistic person who may take unorthodox actions to meet their goals. They have the ability to rise through the ranks of society or obtain power in ways others do not. If aspected with squares and oppositions an individual may be tempted to resort to deception and manipulation to obtain what they desire. If aspected with trines and sextiles an individual will stay on track, experience less resistance & pursue their goals with ease.

 ARMISTICIA (1464)-

If Prominent in a chart, someone can be given a natural talent as a peacekeeper or effective negotiator. The glue that holds family, friends and even co workers together can be seen with trine and sextile aspects. If poorly aspected, with squares and oppositions you'll see people who cut ties with those dear to them or have broken relations. These individuals hold grudges longer then most. If positively aspected, An individual will readily forgive others when hurt or harmed.

☄️✨

Let me know what you think of that! Do you have any of these asteroids prominent in your chart or know someone who does? Any asteroids you want to see in part 2?

[connorsnothereeither]

You know what now that I’ve created a reputation for soundscaping somewhat, I wanna talk about the Brink Audiobooks-

Every chapter I have to hold myself back from making it like, fully immersive soundscaped with footsteps and clinking and sound effects because it would just take forever, BUT there are some elements which are soundscaped.

Notably, almost every chapters in Brink has 3 audio tracks. The narration, the music (which I’ll come back to) and the sound of thunderstorms. In Edge, this has gone up to 4: The narration, music, thunderstorms, and a crackling fireplace. Thematicallly, I want the audiobooks to feel like a scary story being read to you. I want that atmosphere was reading in a thunderstorm, curled up under a blanket or sitting beside a crackling fireplace. Since Edge is specifically the “Nether-coded” book of the series, the fireplace felt thematic to add here too.

There are some exceptions however. Not every chapter has the thunderstorm sounds: sometimes there are additional/substitutes. Chapters set on a train (such as Brink V) have the sound of a train instead. Brink XX has howling wind and slamming doors, as is appropriate for the atmosphere of the setting. And notably, any chapters in which there are gunshots, have gunshots, to emphasize the importance/danger within the story. Several chapters in Edge, because of the new locations, have additional sounds too. Ocie chapters, such as the prologue, or any set on boats, replace the thunderstorms with the sound of crashing waves. Galahad and Athena chapters replace the thunderstorms with dry winds and horses hooves, and there’s more to come still. And flashing forwards to the Border audiobook which is in early testing stages: Purgatory has nothing. No ambience at all. It is entirely empty…

Music is another big thing for me with the series. Each faction/realm within Brink gets its own “theme” collected from various royalty free artists and collections online:

Ominous Bane/The Overworld focused chapters use “Call of Cthulhu Dark Orchestral” by Graham Plowman, from the channel Cthulhu Mythos Music

Auspicious Boon/The End focused chapters use “From the Vaults of Miskatonic University” by Graham Plowman, from the channel Cthulhu Mythos Music

The Aether focused chapters likewise use “The Haunting” by Graham Plowman, from the channel Cthulhu Music Mythos.

Nature Fam based chapters tend to use “Reminiscence”, but Ólafur Arnalds and Sarah Ott

And lastly, as will be introduced in Edge when it’s released, Nether focused chapters use “Tumbleweed Texas” by Chris Haugen.

It gives each subplot of the story its own subtle but unique feel, and I really like the effect it gives. Barely noticeable, but really fun in my opinion.

And the same with the ambience. It gives it a really subtle level of difference and immersion that is barely noticeable, but that adds a ton to the experience of listening, and I genuinely believe that I’ve only gotten better with it over time moving into Edge.

[dangermousie]

Wallflower live action ep 1

Wallflower (also known as Perfect Girl Evolution) is one of my all-time favorite mangas. The story takes the simple Cinderella/Pygmalion fantasy and turns it on its head. Four pretty boys who rent a house get told by their eccentric landlady that if they can transform her niece Sunako into a lady, they get to live rent-free. Always broke, the boys enthusiastically agree. Enter Sunako - spotty, unkempt, horror-loving, people-avoiding Goth. Good luck, boys!

Wallflower features perhaps one of the most awesome heroines to ever exist. Sunako is beyond TOUGH. And I mean tough. You mess with her (or with anyone she likes - one of the boys, her girlfriend Noi etc), an army will not save you from her wrath.

The boys (blunt, food-obsessed Kyohei, the "caring feminist" Takenaga, the playboy Ranmaru, and the sweet Yuki) do not know what is about to hit them. Wallflower is NOT about them reforming Sunako - the boys give up fairly quickly (they just try to pretend they are continuing so as to continue to get the deal from the landlady) and just accept Sunako for who she is - a violent weirdo who can cook. Sunako makes no excuses for being who she is - she has no interest in transforming herself into a barbie, she makes no bones about loving her horror movies or living with skeletons, her lack of interest in her hot neighbors 'that way', or in any pretensions about being ladylike.

Wallflower is really a celebration of being different and being happy in that difference. All the characters are somewhat odd - Yuki is delicate and shy, Takenaga is some sort of benevolent Moriarti, Ranmaru is a shameless, older-women-loving slut, and Kyohei...Oh, Kyohei. He is probably the only character who is almost as weird as Sunako is.

Nor do all the boys fall in love with Sunako magically or anything like that. Yuki has a long-standing girlfriend, Takenaga and Ranmaru acquire OTPs (Takenaga's girlfriend Noi is one of my favorite characters ever. God, I love her!) Kyohei and Sunako are the OTP but it's not because he sees her inner princess or anything silly like that - they are both blunt, violent, not too bright people imprisoned by their looks who like to do the same things for fun (one of my favorite things in Wallflower is the parallel it draws between the 'creature of darkness' Sunako and the ultimate pretty boy Kyohei - nobody sees them as a person, not really, because of the facade being so all-engulfing. Sunako freaks out the passerby and Kyohei can't keep down a job because the staff and customers start fights over him - underneath all the OTT hilariousness, Wallflower has a lovely point about inner persons).

Kyohei, Sunako's eventual boyfriend, is first introduced when he is (a) getting groped by his boss, (b) has screaming ladies disrupting the restaurant wanting to have him be their waiter; (c) loses it spectacularly, smashing the ladies' table, punching out the boss, and quitting. This has clearly happened to him umpteen times before.

The other three guys are Oda Takenaga, smart and cold-blooded:

Yuki, the sweet one:

Ranmaru, the older ladies' loving slut.

Together, they are Wallflower's very own F4, only much better adjusted. Let's call them W4, like the tax form.

Their rental is a gothic looking castle which will suit Sunako but why their landlady owns one is manga logic.

The Landlady is living her best life and the story is sprung in motion when she requests W4 turn her niece Sunako into a lady and that way rent is free. Watching Kyohei go from disgruntled by the idea to ecstatic at the mention of free rent is priceless.

Our first look at Sunako and she is just as gloriously odd as she should be. She also is utterly displeased to be sharing her living quarters with "creatures of the light." I adore her!!! She wants to avoid light, wear her hood, watch her horror movies, and roll in her creepy memorabilia.

W4 entrap Sunako by strewing a trail of horror items.

But the makeover fails because Sunako is supernaturally strong and frees herself, causes an electric storm and escapes back into her lair. Good luck, boys, you will need it!

Meanwhile, the boys aren't the only ones trying to make cash. Here is Sunako's friend taking pics of Kyohei to sell to fangirls for money.

Said friend gets in trouble (she's been giving all her money to a host. Because of course) and Kyohei is also forced being a host or else Sunako's friend gets it. Manga logic is present.

But here is where we get to meet the REAL unhinged Sunako, who is not keen on either her friend or her roommates being taken advantage of and comes to the rescue herself.

Before you get carried away, being around too many good-looking people causes her to freak out ahahaah.

It's OK, her backup aka the rest of the boys are here, in drag.

Eventually, everything goes to hell and Kyohei and Sunako end up being caught and tied up. (Now that I think about it, the manga had a serious people being tied up fetish :P)

Too bad for the bad guys, Sunako is strong and violent and unties them both, and they go on to the violent rampage through the club, knocking hordes of opponents out in unison and Kyohei FALLS IN LOVE. (I will always be into the fact that he fell for the woman after seeing her headbutt people and crack their skulls ahahahah.)

Having destroyed a metric ton of goons and rescued whoever they needed to, Sunako and Kyohei gift exchange - she gets cookies, he gets a skull. And a start of a beautiful new friendrelationship is born!

Honestly, the first ep is just as fun as when I watched it ages ago. Nothing will ever be as good and as wildly out there as the manga but this is a good adaptation tbh.

[d-lanx]

New WWE AU Idea: Newscaster AU

Ok, I need to put this down somewhere before it drives me insane. It's a stupidly niche AU idea but it's taking up so much brain power for me right now for some reason. It's a journalist AU where the WWE is a TV news channel. Details below the cut.

But basically I've been thinking about all the people who've been running the PLE pre & post shows & hosting PLEs this year a lot. And with the whole news-style interviews and sitting around on sets that often look like news studios, what if they were all actual reporters in a news channel? It's a bit of a weird one I know, but it's been rolling around in my head all weekend.

Btw I have no idea if USA news channels call their emplyees the same sort of titles as we have in the UK so excuse me if the job titles are a bit scuffed. But basically here's all the roles they have, why I chose those roles for them (in brackets), and what they get up to as part of this AU news channel:

Michael Cole: Senior Newsreader- (Because of his commentary work and journalism background). Out of all the people currently regularly on TV, he's been there the longest and is highly respected. Always trusted to keep a level head in times where the world feels like it's gone to hell.

Corey Graves: Business Correspondent- (Because he has a degree in marketing). Feel like he'd do a segment kinda like "The Martin Lewis Money Show" we have in the UK, where he goes through government changes to finance-related stuff, explains it and how it'll affect the average person, and then answers questions from a live studio audience and gives them advice.

Wade Barrett: Environmental Correspondent- (Because he has a degree in marine biology). I get the vibe his favourite animals are tiny and obscure things like a specific type of sea pickle on the verge of extinction or something and he defends them aggressively to get people to help save the species. Has memorised his evidence for global warming and can reel it off with ease, but is sick of having to do it so much cos people STILL DON'T BELIEVE IN IT????????

Pat McAfee: Sports Correspondent- (Do I even need to explain why? He's a mad man and I can't imagine him doing anything else, even out of a whole cast of people on a sports show like WWE). Feel like most people try to keep somewhat calm and professional on a news show, but he's just himself the whole way through, making him one of the most popular reporters on the whole channel because people want to see his OTT reactions to certain events. Feel like he'd also probably be in charge of the news station's radio show, too, what with how he has the Pat McAfee Show in real life.

Big E Langston: Political Correspondent- (He just gives me that vibe being all analytical about wrestling feuds). He's just as tired with politicians' nonsense as we all are, to the point it's hard to hide his dissappointment when they say something stupid and he has to remain unbiased. Never lets politicians get away with evasive answers when he interviews them, but smiles the whole time as he makes them wish they were never born.

CM Punk: War Correspondent- (The man is always scrapping for the love of the game, so of course he'd be in the centre of a war). He's had bombs dropped on his head more times than he can count and regularly goes for runs as a workout to make sure he's still fit enough to run for his life when he's in active warzones. Can tell you all about the complex international relations and battle strategies but secretly has a morbid interest in death & gore which is what actually got him into the job. Once got shot on live television, showed off the wound on camera and finished his broadcast before getting medical treatment. Was only mildly miffed about nearly dying, mostly excited by the whole experience.

Jackie Redmond: Justice Correspondent- (Basically her analyst role in WWE gives me the vibe of someone discussing a crime case). Can tell you all about how 17 people have been skinned alive and cannibalised in graphic detail so casually as if she's talking about the weather. At this point in her career, pretty much nothing can phase her. So if something actually manages to leave her speechless, you know it's bad.

Cathy Kelley: General Reporter- (Basically cos it's just what she's doing in WWE). Going wherever she needs to be to interview people and get to the bottom of a story. Has interviewed some really dangerous people that are twice her size all in the name of finding a good story and everyone's just like "for the love of god please think about ur own safety for once."

The Miz: Media Correspondent- (Cos of his reality TV background and generally over the top vibes). He'd be all over red carpet events and he's definitely still hoping to use his media journalism as some leverage to get into show-business himself. Celebs see him at events and pray they haven't been spotted so they don't have to talk to him, cos he can be a lot. But this little bastard has the eyes of a hawk and will hunt them down. Especially if he's persoanlly a big fan of them and their work.

R-Truth: Weatherman- (Cos he's a ray of sunshine :) ) Just imagine the batshit insanity of him telling people about a storm or how nice the weather's gonna be or something (I'm thinking like a Bob Hale skit on the original Horrible Histories, that kind of madness).

Sheamus: Tech Correspondent- (Cos he's a former IT technician so he can be all brainy). Constantly treated like IT support rather than a journalist and is sick of having to switch on servers people promised were already on, and listening to people with no idea what they're talking about prattle on about the benefits of AI. But at least he gets to talk about flying cars and robot dogs all day and muck about with new tech for a living.

Triple H: Editor In Chief- (Basically the top role in journalism to match with his current role in real life). Running things is like trying to herd cats, but hey, he can put on a pretty damn good show. Trying desperately to move on from the scandals of the days when the previous editor-in-chief was in charge of things.

Obviously some of them wouldn't be able to use their ring names in those environments. Plus I'm probably forgetting some people who should be in this AU that have been involved in pre/post shows, hosting, and commentary, but my brain's a bit too frazzled to go thru all the PLEs right now.

But like... come on... look at them and just imagine for a second... do you see the vision???? Or have I finally gone a bit mad??

LIKE JUST LOOK AT THEM!!

Also it gives me even more reasons to think about punk in suits <3

Also also if he were a war correspondent and had to go out into dangerous places, they'd make him wear gear which means more of this. vvv

Also CM Punk & Big E Langston are the two people I'm blaming for putting this AU in my head just so you know. Cos look at them!!

But also since punkintyre died, I've been reliving my sheamus/punk shipping days and just imagine sheamus waiting for his husband to come back from reporting in an active warzone and being worried for his safety (especially if he's been hurt before [whump time?]). And then all the excitement and relief when he gets back and giving each other special attention cos they were both so stressed and now they're just so happy to see each other again.

Also imagine Punk being inept with technology and needing help from tech savvy husband who's so proud that punk's finally learnt how to attach a file in an email. Punk probably sends Sheamus facebook minions memes and Sheamus despairs.

And then Punk excitedley explains all about battle strategies and war history and Sheamus excitedley explains back about the complexities of designing a self driving car or some shit. They're both just being massive nerds together. Even better when their interests overlap, like the design of tanks or something. Feel like they'd be talking for hours and everyone is like "guys come on, we have a show to run" but they're too busy with their hyperfixations (autistic sheapunk anyone? [is that what the ship name is??]).

Just think of the shipping potential!!

And this whole countdown show also was major inspo cos to me it just looks so much like a news show.

And these three just give me the vibe that E (being a political correspondent) would obviously be doing a show for the elections. And since law and war are both very close to politics, he'd get punk and jackie in to keep him company and the three would do an overnight show reporting on election results as they come in, chatting shit the entire time.

Btw I still don't know what this all means for the other WWE wrestlers. Defeats the point of using commentators and hosts if I also have all the wrestlers also being journalists. So maybe they can be the people featured in the news. All having "normal" jobs like politicians and military and scientists and shit. And these guys can be reporting on their nonsense and bullying them in interviews.

I feel like I could add more people to it, like having ring announcers as general news readers, and Shawn Michaels, Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis as editors or something. And I'm probably forgetting other people who hosted PLEs or were presenters on pre/post shows, and other commentators. So there'll be plenty more that could be added.

Sorry about the info dump but I needed to put this somewhere. I'm not the only one seeing the vision on this am I????

[choicesficwriterscreations]

July MC of the Month: Harper Gale

Please welcome our sixth MC of the month! Each month, we will highlight one MC or OC that is currently on our Meet My MC / OC List. The MC / OC is selected randomly on the Wheel of Names, and eligibility requirements can be found here. We accept MC / OC profiles on an ongoing basis. Please feel free to send yours in!

This month's MC of the month is...

@karahalloway's Harper Gale!

To learn more about Harper and her creator, see below.

In your words, tell us what you like most about your MC. 

Probably the fact that she knows what she wants and doesn’t hesitate to go after it.

For instance, Harper has had a dream of going travelling around the world for several years, and at the start of (Un)Common Attraction (my somewhat modified rewrite of TRR1), she jumps at the opportunity to go to Cordonia, figuring that this is her chance to kickstart her around-the-world adventure. And even though things don’t exactly go to plan, Harper still tries to make the most of the opportunity at every turn.

She also realises relatively early on that she is much more interested in and feels like herself with Drake, and even though Drake tries to push her away — out of loyalty to Christian (my version of Liam) and in a bid to avoid a scandal — Harper refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer, knowing that Drake has feelings for her too, and eventually convinces him to come around. Obviously, the press scandal on the night of the Coronation Ball throws a massive wrench in the works, but Harper refuses to throw in the towel, despite a lot of proverbial sh*t hitting the fan.

Other things I like about Harper are that she has a very strong moral compass and will fight for what she thinks is right, even in the face of resistance from those she loves and cares about. And she has a big heart — she is always trying to find ways to surprise Drake, be moral support for Max, Hana and Christian, and is always the first to offer help, even if she doesn’t really like the other person.

Do you feel your MC is like you at all? How are you alike or different?

As is the case for many authors and their OC, Harper and I share some similarities. We’re both curious, pragmatic, and down to earth, love to travel and have new experiences. We’re also both quite outdoorsy, love animals, as well as OTT action movies 😆 

However, Harper is a lot braver and a helluva lot more resilient than I am — I would never have taken Maxwell up on his offer to go to Cordonia for the social season, and I am not sure I would’ve coped with all the things she goes through in Cordonia the same way she did.

Also, while we both tend to say it like it is (and this gets us into awkward moments sometimes), Harper is a lot more outspoken than I am and will call out BS then and there, while I just do the silent eye-brow raise, akin to Drake 😅

What is most important to your MC? What is their motivation in life?

One of the most important things for Harper is being able to be herself. 

This was a big reason why she turned down Christian, because she couldn’t see herself living a ‘fake’ life whereby she had to constantly present an ‘idealised’ image of herself to the public, always having to watch what she said and did, and no longer being able to live a ‘free’ life (in my rewrite, for various reasons, I moved the timeline of this conversation up, so it takes place during the social season, rather than at the end of the engagement tour). 

This is also the reason why she gravitated towards Drake very early on — because Drake has always taken her at face value and never expected anything more from her other than exactly what she already was (whereas both the Beaumonts and Christian focus on, and try to use Harper’s status as a lady — and subsequently a duchess — to further their own ends, whether overtly, or covertly).

In terms of where I am with Harper’s story at the moment, her main motivations are clearing her name after the press scandal that broke during the Coronation Ball — in part to set the record straight and restore her reputation, and in part because she doesn’t want to have to keep hiding her relationship with Drake. Because this is kind of an all-consuming thing at the moment, she doesn’t really have mental space to think about more generic motivations 😅

What are their biggest pet peeves/dislikes?

Harper’s biggest pet peeves are being made to feel like an idiot (which is the main reason why she has a hard time getting along with Bertrand, who is a perfectionist taskmaster when it comes to etiquette), and being woken up at stupid-o’clock in the morning for a stupid reason (she very much wants/needs her beauty sleep).

She also takes issue with the two-faced nature of the nobility — outwardly presenting perfection, while inwardly falling prey to infighting, lies, manipulation and entitlement. This is another reason why she gravitated towards Drake almost from the very start because both of them can see the rot of the aristocracy through the superficial glitz and glamour.

If your MC could change one thing - anything - what would it be? 

I’m not sure Harper would want to change anything — she believes that things happen for a reason and every cloud has a silver lining, even if you can’t see it at the time.

So even in the midst of her worst experiences, Harper is able to find some kind of light on the horizon (even if it feels intractably out of reach) and focuses on that to get her through whatever hardship she is facing.

What is your MC’s favorite quote or song? Harper has a lot of songs she likes to listen to, depending on her mood, but one of her favourites is Life is a Highway by Rascal Flatts. It very much captures her attitude of freedom, adventure, and curiosity, and the belief that great things are waiting for you if you’re willing to step outside of your comfort zone:

Life's like a road that you travel on

When there's one day here, and the next day gone

Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand

Sometimes you turn your back to the wind

There's a world outside every darkened door

Where blues won't haunt you anymore

Where the brave are free and lovers soar

Come ride with me to the distant shore

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your MC:

I have had a ton of fun getting to know Harper over the 3 or so years that I’ve been exploring her view of the world. But like with any relationship️, you are always learning new things about each other, so I’m sure that as I continue fleshing out Harper and Drake’s story, I’ll learn new things about both of them ❤️ 

Because unlike some other characters I’ve written — who arrived fully formed — Harper actually developed somewhat slowly as an OC. For instance, when I started my TRR1 rewrite, I didn’t even know what she looked like, and it took me about a year to find an FC for her! 😅 

But from the very start, Harper has always had a very clear and distinct voice, which is part of the reason why I ended up writing her story from first-person POV. And the more I write her, the more I love her — almost like a sister — because she feels ‘real’. She has good qualities, yes, but she also has flaws — she can be too trusting, she isn’t always completely honest, she tends to overthink things, she gets heated and emotional and will rip into people (usually legitimately, but that doesn’t make the confrontation any less intense).

And I love her dynamic with Drake 😍 Nine times out of ten, their interactions just write themselves because even though in the big scheme of things, they haven’t known each other for that long, they are very in tune with each other and in many ways they are two sides of the same coin, which means that their interplay is always a perfect storm of snark, sexual tension, and humour.

To learn more about Harper, please see her character bio.

[cranberrysoap]

Hi! Quick question if you’re not busy. If your characters could talk, what would they sound like?

(Feel free to ignore if you don’t know how to answer this.)

Sure! Just as a foreword: I imagine almost all of my OCs would sound like at least coming from somewhere in the UK, but wouldn’t necessarily have to be sounding like they’re all from the exact same region, ofc, lol.

Except Stacey, I wouldn’t mind if his accent was randomly american or smth lol. Anyway…!

—

Rani: somewhat low, Has a presence to it that makes you listen, but she’s also very friendly/amiable/charming

Lias: Low to medium pitch. Voice sounds just slightly older than his appearance. Pitch can raise higher if he’s agitated etc but it is not his default. He can sound serious or down to earth, depending. His accent would never ever be ott vain/“rich boy” sounding.

Helen: High, bright, silvery(?). Very confident and self assured. She is well spoken, but doesn’t sound snobbish.

Dawn: soft spoken, low and warm. she has a very pleasant and familiar voice.

Stacey: a little higher than one might expect, friendly and excitable. Also, he is the only OC who I think could be possible to have an american accent, maybe? lol

[artwithoutblood]

Oh man… I think I’ve worked out why I’m such a menace to Dorian.

It’s because I want to simp for the demon girlies however there are forms of affection I’m not comfortable with expressing… And also there are many forms of flirting or affection the characters wouldn’t accept.

It’s hard to know how to interact.

Eri ironically is the easiest to interact with. You know he likes quiet parallel play, little gifts, being allowed to infodump. As long as you don’t cross some very clear boundaries you could acts of service and uwu the hell out of him and eventually become somewhat close. He also spends a bit of time interacting and talking with you, even shows a twisted form of empathy.

Genesis actually doesn’t strike me as ‘just a guy’ in any sense of being generic. There’s no issue with his characterisation or look that would cause him to get less fan attention. Quite the opposite. He has an exciting extroverted personality and a cool look.

It’s more that there’s this vibe of him not really being available to bond with? In old canon Genesis was gay and aro so maybe that was a smaller audience of people who wanted to self ship, but even now that’s changed there’s the feeling that his life is very full and he’s self sufficient. Friendly and chill but not too interested in you. He’s a butterfly, here one moment and gone the next. He’s a dad, busy with his child! He’s not even home, he’s on tour! Leave the poor man alone! 

Also it’s kind of that we (player) didn’t spend a ton of time interacting with Genesis. Like he probably had a lot of the screen time in the old demo but he was more just doing his thing with you tagging along, and spent more time on the phone or interacting with Eri.

Aeron hates touch that they didn’t initiate and hates being looked at, so it feels weird and invasive to compliment or do art of them even if it’s just a fictional boundary. 

Their whole deal also doesn’t feel exactly romantic in the way they think it is but is more like… stimulation seeking? As in they’re kind of aroace coded (Demi romantic grey ace at best in my head). Aeron may only experience aesthetic attraction and fascination/obsession with a person. They flirt for excitement, to seek social interaction (and assert dominance). 

You’re like a shiny new toy or a special interest that will be a companion and give them interesting reactions until they break you. Cat with mouse. I think any private fun they indulge in with Dorian is more about novelty and strong physical sensations or causing strong emotional reactions.

In a twisted way all this is their way of expressing affection. It’s (temporarily) making them feel less empty, soothing their loneliness and boredom. Even negative reactions are feedback. Even breaking you down is sharing an intimate experience. So is metaphorically consuming you via the parasight, the mementos, or the blades. They think this heady emotional mix is love. So unless you’re into all that scary stuff it’s probably not wise to attract Aeron’s attention.

Dorian… I have no clue how to even approach Dorian. He wouldn’t stand for the babying that Eri might accept. I really don’t know how to flirt with Dorian in ways that aren’t incredibly obvious (and slightly uncomfortable to me). He seems like he’d want OTT grand mushy romance and scandalous behaviour! 😳

Plus knowing about his volatile temper yet knowing how well he covers it up makes me want to constantly test his limits to know where they are. To avoid going along in blissful ignorance then triggering him unawares and getting a really nasty surprise. In the demo bro turned on a dime. 

So I’m really curious about what he’ll tolerate from you out of love (and to what extent). Can he actually care for you a little as a person, in his own way, or whether it’s all just a projection of his own loneliness onto an ideal of someone he doesn’t even know and will inevitably disappoint him. Wondering how long he might bother to keep the soft gentle act up and not being able to stand waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I also feel like Dorian has abandonment issues but ironically also gets mad and pushes people away?

So… yeah. Lub the demon girlies but some of them have serious emotional barriers. (Understandable - this is who they are! Also I’m aware there’s no canon romantic intent in the games outside of 10:16/AWB and that’s fine!)

And I genuinely don’t know the acceptable ways to interact with them as blorbos… so it defaults to constant ‘affectionate’ teasing which probably gets old and unintentionally comes off as being a jerk. 🙁

Hmm… I am really thinking over what makes them (and me) tick.

Ps. I also just keep picking animal forms because I don’t know how I want to represent a human self insert, I don’t really have any fleshed out OCs I identify with. Also the story shenanigans are just fun. The forms will get lore.

Adding your second ask as well:

I forgot to get to the point. Basically I tease the demons due to not feeling comfortable or able to be affectionate in other ways. (Which probably doesn’t always land well and shouldn’t be the go to.) But I am also very much trying to gauge what will or won’t make Dorian snap.

You've got the main three pretty much marked down. Erebus loves and desires attention, but he won't come to understand or appreciate it until he dies a second time. I make jokes that the second death will make him an asshole. It won't, it'll just make him...more positive

Genesis's love is in family, not necessarily romance. He will leave after the first kiss. He has always been a floater. He goes where the music goes, where the world takes him. Fate is the woman he follows with her blindfold and her lyre.

Aeron wants to feel, but isn't sure how to. Or what they like. But they love reactions. They love to see what work they've done is displayed on others. True love and desire and anything else is beyond them. They will sate a companion's sexual desires with a delusion that feels all too real, while they sit and do their work. Maybe one day, they'll learn past the viscera. But after how they have been treated, the desire for true softness is not there. That is okay. They are a demon. They need not the romance.

Dorian would love if you try to test his limits. It's a game to him. He would find it very fun! He loves cheesy, over-the-top romance, but he also loves small hints at scandal. Risque attire in a public place. Making out on his work desk. But he also just loves to garden and spend time. His personal love language is quality time. Just spend time, and that's love for him. Dorian can learn to love. He's been trying. You're the first step for him to know what he likes.