#its a good series and if you hate on it i hate you too

[meazalykov]

expect the unexpected

crush!vivianne miedema x reader prologue (lynn wilms x reader series)

this is the prologue to a new series coming february 1st.

the chill of an early spring evening seeps into your jacket as you step into the cozy apartment vivianne shares with beth.

the warm lighting and faint scent of coffee create a comforting contrast to the cold tension that’s been suffocating you at arsenal. 

tonight is supposed to be a break. this is a chance to escape the drama that seems to cling to jonas’s shadow.

you clutch a cup of tea vivianne made for you, settling onto the couch next to gio, who’s scrolling absentmindedly on her phone. 

beth is in the kitchen, joking with vivianne as they finish up the snacks for the night.

“you look dead,” gio remarks, glancing at you with a small smile that doesn’t quite hide the concern in her eyes.

you shrug, sipping the tea and letting its warmth anchor you. 

“long week.”

“jonas again?” she asks knowingly, and you nod, not trusting your voice to not say anything respectful. 

vivianne enters the room, setting a bowl of popcorn on the table. 

“what did he do this time?” she asks, her tone edged with frustration as she sits down across from you. 

you hesitate. it feels like every time you bring it up, you’re just adding to a pile of grievances too heavy to carry anymore. “same thing he always does. benched me for no reason, made some comment to kim about how i ‘don’t fit the system.’” the words come out bitter, and you hate how small they make you feel.

vivianne leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees. 

“he’s an idiot.”

you look at her, gratitude mixed with something heavier—a yearning you can’t shake. viv’s expression is kind, steady, and unchanging. she sees you as a friend. a teammate. nothing more.

gio knows your liking for viv, lighting frowning with sympathy as your eyes twinkle at the dutch woman. 

“thanks, viv,” you mumble, looking over to stare at the steam rising from your tea.

“he’s lucky i’m leaving,” gio interjects, tossing her phone onto the cushion beside her. the statement hangs in the air for a moment before anyone responds.

“wait,” beth says, stepping out of the kitchen with a plate of cookies. 

“what do you mean, leaving? like, leaving on loan again?”

gio shakes her head, her jaw tightening. 

“no. for good this time. i told my agent i’m done with arsenal. atletico madrid’s interested, and honestly? i think i need to go back. jonas is draining the joy out of football for me.”

the room falls silent. beth sets the plate down, her expression softening. 

“gio…”

“i’ve thought about it for a while,” gio continues, her voice firmer now. 

“i can’t stay here and keep pretending like everything’s fine. i want to love the game again, and that’s not going to happen under jonas.”

vivianne nods slowly, her gaze dropping to her hands. 

“i get it. i’ve been feeling the same way.”

you look up sharply. 

“wait, what?”

vivianne sighs, running a hand through her hair. 

“arsenal’s not renewing my contract. i found out last week. honestly, i’m upset about it but my nervous system is relieved. i need a change if he is going to stay there.”

“where are you going?” gio asks, her brows furrowed.

vivianne glances at beth, a small smile tugging at her lips. 

“probably manchester city. it’s the most appealing option right now.”

you force yourself to smile, even as something twists painfully in your chest. of course. city. beth. you’ve always known vivianne had something serious with beth—everyone did—but hearing it out loud still stings.

“that’s... that’s great,” you manage, your voice steady enough to hide the ache. 

“you deserve to be somewhere you’re happy.”

“thanks,” vivianne says, her smile widening slightly. 

“and hey, if you end up staying in the wsl, we’ll still see each other plenty.”

you swallow hard and nod, but you don’t respond. 

you’re not staying. not here, not in the wsl, not under jonas.

beth sits down beside vivianne, her arm brushing against hers. “well, i’m not going anywhere,” she says lightly, though there’s a trace of tension in her voice. 

“at least not yet. i figure jonas won’t last forever, and i want to be here when he’s gone.”

gio snorts. 

“good luck with that.”

you take a deep breath, setting your tea on the table. “arsenal’s not renewing my contract either.” the words feel heavy, final, but there’s a strange relief in saying them out loud.

beth’s eyes widen. “what? since when?”

“my agent called me about it last month,” you admit. 

“i haven’t told anyone until now.”

vivianne leans back, studying you carefully. 

“are you staying in the wsl?”

you shake your head.

“no.”

“so, did barcelona finally knocked on your door?” vivianne jokes, a playful smirk on her face. 

“sorry– i mean, you’ve only been obsessed with them since forever.”

you laugh, the sound more bitter than you intended. 

“no, not barcelona. it’s... it might be the bundesliga. wolfsburg, specifically.”

vivianne’s expression softens. 

“that’s a good move. wolfsburg’s a great club, and i know a lot of people there. i can introduce you to some friends to help you settle in.”

“that would mean a lot,” you say, your voice quieter now. the idea of leaving everything you’ve known is daunting, but her support makes it feel a little less terrifying.

“wolfsburg suits you,” gio adds. 

“they’re lucky to have you.”

“thanks,” you reply to your bestfriend, though your mind drifts to what it will mean to leave—leave arsenal, leave the wsl, leave both gio and vivianne.

the four of you sit in silence for a moment, the weight of everything unspoken settling over the room. it’s beth who breaks it, her voice soft but resolute. 

“we’ve been through so much together here. it’s hard to imagine us all going our separate ways.”

“yeah,” vivianne agrees, her gaze distant. “at least i will still be here with you but its a same difference. a fresh start.”

“it’s just... sad,” you admit, your voice barely above a whisper. 

“arsenal was supposed to be an amazing team, you know? but now it feels like i have to leave if i ever want to feel happy again.”

vivianne reaches out, squeezing your upper arm. 

“you’ll find that happiness again. i know you will.”

you look at her, and for a moment, you let yourself believe her. maybe wolfsburg will be the fresh start you need. 

maybe leaving vivianne will help you finally let go of feelings that were never meant to be with her.

“to moving on,” gio says, raising her glass of soda in a mock toast.

“to moving on,” the rest of you echo, clinking your glasses together. and in that moment, surrounded by your teammates, you start to believe that leaving isn’t the end.. it’s the beginning of something new.

series coming 2/1

[sturnsmadl]

the boy next door

contains- mentions of issues with dad, swearing, no use of y/n, mentions of anxiety, extremely light angst, mentions of death (ish)

pairing- player!matt x newgirl!reader

authors note- i wasn't gonna carry this on but i kinda wanted to do a part 2 so here :) im still gonna work on a new series too aswell as mute and boy next door which is gonna be hell on earth but im feeling slightly motivate so yeah! headcannons also coming soon!

requested by anon :)

You watch as he drives off in complete awe, his cars nice and you can tell his family is quite wealthy just looking at all the fancy additions to the outside, you can't even begin to imagine what the inside looks like compared to yours. 

thankfully you don't miss your bus, but you sit in the back corner alone with your headphones in, you think about what happened with your dad and even with matt. 

You're sick of dads behavior but even if you begged he wouldn't even consider how it may be harming you, which honestly made your days feel 10 times more dreadful than they already are. 

once you finally arrive at your new school you look around, just a typical American high school which you see in the movies is your first thought but as soon as you try walk your path is blocked by someone very familiar looking. 

you look up to see the person you were trying to avoid most, matt. 

"You lost newbie?" he smirks at you, and you roll your eyes as you usually do when someone talks to you like you're a kid as if you don't have enough of it back home. 

"no. I haven't even got into the building yet." you sigh as he looks you up and down just like the first time you met on your driveway. 

"Well, cutie-" 

"no." you huff at him as you cut him off before he can even continue. 

"Okay! okay. jeez..chill out a bit. I'm your tour." 

"Are you? or are you just taking that upon yourself to miss a few classes buddy?" 

"you'll see." He walks off, expecting you to follow and you do as much as you hate him, he's your only hope of finding your way to your classes. 

You keep following him as he storms through the halls, saying hi to almost everyone on the way. 

"This is art. it's an optional subject but I'm assuming you've already picked all that shit out?" 

"Yeah... I picked art, history and food tech." 

"Wow. We've got the exact same. who's your math teacher?" 

"Mr... Westwood?" 

"Ah. Yes. its hell in there." He laughs slightly while looking at your timetable in your hands. 

"you're in there?" 

"mhm." 

you sigh and think about how much you hate math already with the added annoyance of matt and his friends on top. 

He takes you around the whole school, forcing you to interact with people you would otherwise rather die than communicate with and he finally takes you to your class later than everybody else. 

"Seriously? now I have to walk in late on my first day?" 

"Problem with that princess?" 

"Don't call me that. and yes." 

"Okay, okay. what you got that anxiety shit people claim to have?" 

You just stare at him before walking off in the opposite direction of your class. 

taglist! @bellaonthelow @hopelessfawn @moonk1ss3d @sturnclouds @christophersgf @ellizzyy @fratbrochrisgf @phoenix062 @pixxiies @conspiracy-ash @blahbel668 @monroesturnns @gwennybenny @sturnobsessedwh0re @xoxo4chrisss @pixie-sticks-are-good @wurlibydominicfike @anitahunt @ilusa @mattstrombolii @stvrlighht @asherrisrandom @amelia-sturniolo3 @pvssychicken @owensbabygirl @ncm9696 @sturniolo-fann @watchu-mean-baby-keem @babyalliah-777 @imtheprett @coochiedestroyer1 @scarlettbitches @slutniolo @idkwhatthisis2009 @anabanabanana @chriscorqutte @slvttie-zx @hi-7-hi @sophand4n4 @pasteldreams

[melpomenelamusa]

Melpomene´s whump stories archive

To celebrate the new year, I've decided to share with you some of my favorite whump stories I read this year as a thank you to all the authors who share a little bit of their world with us 💜✨

My plan is to update this list annually and have it function as a sort of personal archive for me, hehe, but you can use it too if you'd like! 😁

Smile for the camera! (by @morning-star-whump ): A boy is kidnapped by a psychopath from the deep web. His parents and his little boyfriend try to find him (Andre Vazquez is the best character).

Shattered (by @oddsconvert): An anti-human-blood-drinking vampire doctor tries to save the life of a human who for years was the bloodbag of a vampire I really hate.

Total $hit$how (by @befuddled-calico-whump): 5 misfits escaping prison for their criminal records are hired by a mysterious organization to stop another mysterious, but more evil, sci-fi organization (Benji, my son).

Darius & Mianu (by @geode-crystal): A traumatized prince and his faithful knight/boyfriend want to live happily ever after, but something always happens.

The Bahkauv (by @deluxewhump): Three friends decide to buy a magical creature to study; but what seemed like nothing more than a monster or an animal may turn out to be a companion.

Overloaded (by @fleur-a-whump): The son of a supervillain wants to join the good guys, but discovers that "heroes" can be just as cruel as villains.

Blood and tears (by @whumpisgoodwhumpislife): A little half-vampire is suffering too much and a human decides to take care of him and protect him (They are both my babies).

Rehabilitation (by @sowhumpshaped): A former kidnapped victim is faced with her former torturer, who is now in a mysterious rehabilitation program that looks more like a torture prison.

The moral conflict is strong in this one.

A taste of your own medicine (by @oddsconvert): Whumper gets kidnapped and torture along with his ex-whumpee by an even evil whumper. Only one person is having fun here.

Humanity Collector (by @rabbit-flaying): A cosmic creature who likes to collect human things decides to add a real human to its collection (A cosmic horror one-shot).

Writemas 2024 (by @tildeathiwillwrite): A woman suffers the mysterious death (or murder?) of her husband.

This is the kind of story I would love to read in a printed book and recommend to my entire family.

Whumpcember 2024 (by @kabie-whump): An evil wizard has turned Santa's reindeer into humans, who now have to live with their new bodies. A series of shorts with very interesting and cute characters that I definitely need to keep reading if I could.

The siphon (by @spencers-secret-whump-account): Like a bloodbag, but instead of blood is magic. Also, it´s lady whump in a fantasy setting and there will be lesbians (I hope).

[twig-tea]

GL odds and ends 29 December 2024

The end of the year kicked my ass, but I wanted to get one last one of these out for 2024! The last one before this was 10 November. If you're interested in GL older than that, check out my GL rec list through Feb 2024 and my #gl recs tag for the other odds and ends posts. New series marked with an asterisk*.

Currently airing (with thoughts up to 29 Dec):

The Fragrance You inherit 5/8 (Japanese, Friday/Saturday-ish, no official distribution but fansub on @isaksbestpillow's blog [thank you Siiri!] I have been really enjoying this show and have been writing when I have time (last post was for ep4). At its core this is a gentle show about kind people who love each other doing their best, which is always my favourite thing. Subs are on pause for the moment so you have time to catch up before the finale!

Pluto ep 11/12 (Thai, Saturdays 9:30 AM ET, YouTube) This plot continues to be absolutely wild. There's a lot of discourse around Oom this week, to which I'll just say: Setting a test to see if the people you love will hurt themselves in order to make you feel better is not loving or healthy behaviour, even if your motivations are understandable and sympathetic. Namtan is doing a great job making these twins feel like different people, and she and Film are still gorgeous together. And I have no idea what's up with the messy lesbian sides, but I'm on the side of all of them need a time out! I've been pretty dialed out of this show because it's not my thing, so I'm not that invested in any of the relationships going into the finale, but it's been a wild ride and it seems to be holding together for those who enjoy the high drama of this plot.

*Petrichor ep 5/10 (Thai, Saturdays, 10:00 AM ET, iQIYI) The procedural aspects of this show are unfortunately not well executed, but Engfa and Charlotte have fantastic chemistry. I'm also really loving seeing Na and Max again even though I am very worried about getting too attached to their characters. It's always hard for me when a show is about a police officer trying to do good work in a corrupt system because the only takeaway I can accept is that that is not possible lol but I'm enjoying seeing these two on my screen every week (except this week, because we sadly did not get a new episode today).

*Mate, 6/12 (Thai, Tuesdays, WeTV (uncut version)) This one is hard to describe. It seems to be trying to do for trauma in a GL what Love in the Air and Bed Friend did in BL--show a realistic depiction of trauma in one of their characters and have them fall in love, and be taken care of and healed that way. But that also makes it extremely hard to watch. The trauma flashbacks and trauma responses is rough. The main character is not very likeable but that's kinda the point, I'm not minding that part of it so much. There are a lot of things I like about this show, so I don't want to discourage views. Just go into this one informed, and make the decision that's right for you.

*INTP 1/? (Korean, Fridays (?), YouTube) This is the latest short series from RedQ, who produced some of my favourite GL short series including More than or equal to 75 degrees C, and To the Ex who Hated Me. No info on how long it will be or if it will be weekly, so that Fridays release schedule is a total guess. The setup of this one reminded me of Semantic Error if SangWoo realized he was attracted to JaeYoung at their first group assignment meeting.

Recently Completed:

Apple My Love 6.5 50-min eps (Thai, Oct 12-Nov 16, GagaOOLala and YouTube) I ended up feeling like this one bit off a bit more than it could chew, as much fun as I had with it, it was a wobbly landing. I was ok with the ending at the end but I spent a lot of time watching the finale uncertain about how I felt about all of it. There's a 30 min "episode 5.1" that is an important bridge between episodes 5 and 6 (and also includes a 10-min fingering scene, thank you show) that I think resulted from either poor pacing or realizing they needed to set up the episode better? It was odd but something to make sure not to skip. The show does a lot of what I love about Kongthup's latest BLs: it avoids the worst drama pitfalls and calls them out in the show itself when it uses them, and it is largely about being kind to its characters who are figuring themselves out. Warning for extremely hard to watch secondhand embarrassment in the first couple of episodes lol Kris is such a cringefail lesbian I love her. With the caveats above, if you don't mind secondhand embarrassment and want a comedy GL and are willing to be a little patient with the ending, give this one a try!

The Loyal Pin 16 65-min eps (Thai, Aug 4-Dec 1, YouTube) Anin was the bravest right through to the end. I really liked a lot of this show, but I found the pacing a bit uneven and the finale a little rough. It's hard, because I actually am happy with the way the show ended--it makes perfect sense and was where I was hoping they would get to the entire show. What I didn't like was how we got there. It seemed wild that Pin and Anin didn't at least talk about this possibility before we got there; and didn't feel like we ever resolved the disparity between the two leads, though the show was aware of it the whole time which I did like. And you may have seen the shouting about the prank in the finale, it was in really poor taste. In the end, this show was beautiful, gave a platform for promoting Thai culture (food, clothing, history), and had excellent intimacy. I really enjoyed the slow burn between Anin and Pin, and I loved that every character had and used the agency they had, but that the show was realistic about what was in and outside of their control. If you want a slow-burn and high-heat romance and are willing to be a little frustrated for the sake of the drama, and/or you really like a pigtail-pulling romantic dynamic, you should watch this show.

Red Whisper 8 10-min eps (Korea, Oct 2-Nov 11, YouTube) Honestly this show never got better after what I wrote about it a month ago about how its portrayal of bisexuality and nonmonogamy was upsetting. For the record one last time: Not all bisexuals are nonmonogamous, and entering a monogamous relationship under false pretenses and then acting like your partner is being unreasonable by not wanting an open relationship is shitty behaviour. This one is sadly not recommended.

The Nipple Talk 10 30-min eps (Taiwanese, Nov 8-22, GagaOOLala) I highly recommended the first half, and so I am so sad to say that I can't say the same for the second half of the show. I was really enjoying how much the show seemed to support a mix of monogamy and nonmonogamy, but the second half of the show leaned heavily into 'everyone wants a monogamous relationship when they meet the right person', which disappointed me. The show also tried to introduce some themes that felt very dated in terms of how they handled them (e.g. HIV) and I ended up just not really liking the Pony character as a person by the end. The lesbian relationship was super messy in a way that I did not find fun too. Mama was the best part of this show, and I hope we get more characters like them in future (better) shows!

*Soul Sisters 24 12-min eps (Chinese, iQIYI) This entire show dropped this week so I binged it in one go. The basic setup is a GL version of Meet You At the Blossom, except the gender fuckery lasts for most of the series and they don't actually ever get to kiss. I loved this little show; it is a frenetic, very silly and censored comedy, so calibrate your expectations accordingly. But it walks the line in a way that is palatable (or was for me, anyway). Without giving too much away, it is an open happy ending. The caveats for this one are that there is no wasted tape, so the pacing is rollercoaster fast, and the cuts are sometimes jarring. But it's a surprisingly beautiful show for the budget, and I really appreciated all of the ways they came up with to give these women shippy moments. Also, good lord this main character is so competent, which is a major weakness of mine. I had a great time!

*Whisper Me a Love Song 12 25-min eps (Japanese anime, Apr-27 Dec, HiDive) This started airing in April but there was a delay and the last episode didn't air until yesterday. High school lesbians in a band having embarrassing confused and misunderstood feelings all over the place (with good endings including a kiss for at least one of our couples). I appreciate that this anime is not playing with the 'are they friends who joke about wanting to touch each other's boobs or are they more' line, they outright say they want to be more than friends and then kiss. The music is good too! Recommended if you are feeling like a high school dramedy with good tunes that stays pretty light and is in the 'bubble'.

Recent One-offs, Side Couples, etc.:

My Hot Butch Roommate (actually a 2-parter) aired on bilibili 1, 2) and was subtitled by @douqi7s on YouTube (1, 2) These two are very cute, and this little short does a ton with the very tiny 5 minutes of total runtime it uses. Give the original bilibili uploads a stream so they get views, even if you watch the YT subbed version!

Fufuknows put out a new lesbian short titled The Choices of Two Lesbian Couples in Love on YouTube This was a great short (11 min) film featuring the story of two couples at different stages in their relationship, and the different choices they make about their futures. I really enjoy Fufuknows as queer short filmmakers, and I appreciate that they regularly include lesbian and wlw content in their bi-weekly (as in, every other week) fictional shorts that they produce and release. This one is recommended!

Aim's Lesbian plotline in the new Love Sick 2024 remake concluded (this was not a plotline in the 2014 version and it's one of the changes I really like and that I think works really well) Spoiler: she doesn't get a romance happy ending but her story ends with acceptance from her friends about who she is, which was lovely to watch

There was a brief of-the-week lesbian couple who wanted to marry in Spare Me Your Mercy Spoiler: their story is tragic, which is par for the course in a murder mystery

I am suspecting wlw sides in See Your Love I may end up eating these words but I was getting vibes, and so I'm putting this out in the universe now in hopes I'm right lol

There is a new Korean shorts production company on YouTube called Lovememory (Their first BL ep is out and the GL, First Love, has a trailer)

Mom Ped Sawan started airing but I don't have a source so I can't give any info or links unfortunately. If anyone knows of a subtitled source for this show, please let me know!

My Ex's Wedding came out in Thai theatres waiting for an international source for this too

Korean short film What's In my Bag was uploaded to Matchbox I haven't seen it yet but the trailer is on YouTube if anyone is curious! The film is available now for a small fee on Vimeo (runtime 12 mins).

Sastra film app YouTube channel has several short Cambodian GL series that come out weekly Honestly they are not to my taste but I don't like gatekeeping GL especially from smaller markets. I check in on these time to time and if there are any that I think are great I'll give them a shout-out

Ditto above with JPC media YouTube channel for Thai GL shorts if there are any that stand out to me I'll say so; that being said I haven't had time recently so if I've missed anything good let me know!

Starting soon:

Us the series, Thai, 18 January 2025, most likely YouTube (as this is a GMMTV show) Caveat that this date is a rumour, see comments

Fragrance of the First Flower s2, Taiwanese, 18 February 2025, GagaOOLala ok this isn't that soon but I'm just so excited we're getting this second season after all!

It is so, so nice that we have this much GL to keep track of, I can't complain! This covers a whole month of content and it was a month I was very distracted from my QL consumption so while I always welcome anyone pointing out stuff I missed, I would particularly appreciate it this round.

[futuristicanoe]

the virus of life

do you remember where it all went wrong?

Of all the bars, of all the charming places, he just had to walk in here. Right where you hated to be.

no smut & this is probably going to be a series. Mark! [ unnamed health issues, food/eating, alcohol & blood mention, uneasiness, ambiguity. mature themes. ]

He pushed the door open gently.

The door chime shook with only a hushed imitation of its usual noise. Had it been some other day, you would have missed it. But in that moment, you had a strange feeling in your gut, the sort you get after a migraine turns your brain into a mushed pulp of agitation. You could even hear the restless cicadas buzzing outside, and the sound got louder for a second as he slipped into the room like a ghost, shutting the door behind him quietly.

Your position was quite comedic.

You were looming over the mini fridge that Henry had put beside your chair a while ago— he was the owner of this rusty diner-bar-whatever, and he thought it would be a nice gesture to give you a tiny fridge, so you wouldn't need to go all the way back to the kitchen, if you wanted to help yourself with a cold something. The only reason you worked there was that you needed some money and needed it more than sleep, too. Obviously– Henry had been a godsend. Nobody looked at you twice, let alone tried to guess your age or doubt your work experience. So, it was easy to ignore how the lights flickering inside the empty fridge were plucking your nerves one by one.

Sitting behind the counter with your back hunched, you were hidden from the view completely. No need to worry about how absolutely silly you must have been to the stranger.

When you heard the soft clicking of what were undeniably short heels accompanying the earlier, supposedly graceful entry, you had been almost ready to look up and greet a woman.

Well, you had been ready to greet anyone, but someone like him.

You straightened your back, fixing your hair that was getting greasier by the second, even though you had washed it last night. It frustrated you.

After quickly throwing away the couple of ice cubes you had been holding in your hands, you wiped your numb fingers on your apron. You felt a bit flushed, still. There was no name for that, the sudden rush of warmth staining your skin red from time to time, but it had started only a few days prior, so you blamed it on everything from the passing flu to hormones.

The stranger was not expected. There was no "Hello," yet he kept walking in.

Unlike you, who did not need more than a mere sign of someone entering the room to analyse them already, your full attention drawn in an instant – for a good while, he did not even look at you. Instead, he simply took his time to look over the dingy little place, stealing glances at the old furniture and the wallpaper, a different shade in each corner. It was as if you did not exist, so you said nothing. Best to not ruin the fantasy that didn't belong to you.

Cicadas always did a good job of being entertaining, with their shrilly little noises. And if he gave that up, crawled into this bubble of momentary comfort that you had built around yourself and even had the audacity to ignore you, then it was only fair to continue analysing.

The colour of his shirt was an odd yellow, like a warning signal. And it was open at the top, no doubt adorned with tiny details that you did not really want to see up close, because they would linger in your mind afterwards. He had a suit jacket on, too. The darkest shade of grey or blue, not quite black. Or maybe it was just the weird lightning. You blinked almost aggressively to keep yourself wide awake, and regretted it right away when you felt your eyelashes sticking to each other, dry mascara making your eyes sting.

He walked to the counter, acknowledging your presence only when he was within an elbow's reach. Sat down in the squeaky chair, placing his coat and his leather bag on the one next to him.

"How can I help you, sir?"

The stranger flashed a smile. Sincere only for a second and tastefully impersonal all over.

"Good evening," he said, to which you responded with a nod and parroted the words quietly. Somewhere in the back of your mind praying that you did not look too ridiculous or too childish. Not that you were trying to impress him, exactly, just that you were neither ridiculous nor a child, and you didn't want him to get the wrong idea. "The air feels so dry today... I would like something fresh and cold, maybe. How about that?"

You got up instinctively, hoping that the soft thud your shoes made on the wooden floor did not give away how your chair was made for someone taller. You paused when you faced the shelves, looking at him over your shoulder.

"We are out of ice, sir," you said with a slight frown and squeezed your numb hands together.

"Ah, I see." He nodded, placing a thumb on his chin. Then he looked at the refrigerator, which stood in the corner, looming over you.

"That's– yes, it is working..." You felt your face warm up when you made your way to the fridge and almost tripped over your own foot. "But there is no more ice left, sir. We only have some softer things in there. For children, mostly. Like fruit juice and... ice cream."

He raised an eyebrow. "Ice cream, but no ice. I think I got it."

You smiled out of awkwardness, fidgeting with your apron.

He looked at your smile. The lipstick you had put on in the morning needed to be reapplied, evidently. Smudged traces of crimson along the seam of your lips almost made your mouth look like a fresh wound, about to bleed.

His gaze flickered back up to your eyes.

"The sign outside said something about pie, if I can recall correctly," he said, his voice suddenly monotonous, like looking at you was the most boring thing in the world.

"Yes." You nodded. "We–"

"Two slices of pie, then."

He smiled to make up for interrupting you.

You just looked at him, caught off-guard.

"Two?"

"Yes. There are just the two of us here, I'm assuming."

"No, yeah, but–" You stopped.

Was that sarcasm?

You felt a sudden need to get out of there. Alone.

"Well, I'm not feeling hungry at all, sir."

"I'd like to buy you a slice. Just because it is getting pretty late and you look a bit... out of it." He paused, as if mimicking you. "You don't want to be lying with me now. So, please."

You did not really know how to answer, but you remembered what your job was.

"I think we have some cherry pie left."

Your voice was monotonous, too.

Mirroring each other already.

"Perfect."

You went to the kitchen with a rickety mind.

It felt weird, the whole thing. The way he was overall polite but almost rude, if you looked too closely. He smelt like something – an expensive cologne, yes, but there was this chemical scent around him. Like paint. Or acetone. Something bitter and torn apart, but nothing new.

By the time you got back, he had taken off his suit jacket. You did not know he had been wearing braces beneath it the whole time. They looked nice. Even if you couldn't see where they were clipped onto his pants, and you never would, the dark lines digging into his shirt looked good.

You sat down the tray as carefully as you could.

He looked at you with a curious gaze and then stared at the plates with the same curiosity.

"You know what would make the cherry on top?" He waved a hand over his slice of cherry pie, amused by his own joke.

A cup of coffee?

"Some ice cream, of course." He answered his own question, too.

You were glad you hadn't sat down in your chair already, because you would have really hated to get up again.

The lights did not flicker inside that fridge, and it was not empty either, which was a relief. You stood with your back to him for a moment too long, pretending to look for the expiration date when you just wanted the cold air to cool down your face.

He looked almost hungry. And you did not really understand anything about him or his hunger. Or his hair. Not that unusual for men like him to come here and order a drink, obviously. But this had never really happened before – he was acting overly nice while maintaining an aura around him, the one that told you how easy it would be for him to forget you. To erase you — you shuddered as your finger accidentally touched the ice cream you were putting on top of your pie. You almost licked it clean, as if you were home. Alone.

It felt like he could tell what you were thinking of, knew exactly how much you wanted to avoid thinking while he was right there. The grin on his face disappeared only when it was necessary. As he took a forkful of his dessert and brought it up to his mouth, he looked at you.

"Hmm. This is to... pleasant surprises," he said way too formally before putting the fork in his mouth.

Dramatic.

"Oh." You did not know how you could break the silence and avoid cutting your fingers with the shards later.

You took a bite, careful with the lipstick at first before just dragging your lips across the fork carelessly.

He chewed slowly, and the cough after he swallowed suggested that he would've much preferred a cold drink. You almost winced.

The pie was very good, all cherry sweetness sticking to your gums and with the thick ice cream on top, it felt almost heavenly after a tiring day like this one.

"Splendid," he said.

You wanted to tell him it was not a compliment, because you did not make any of it. But you still nodded as a thank you, popping a cherry in your mouth and mentally grimacing at the lines of glossy redness on your fork.

He shifted in his seat, preparing to say something else. "Forgive me, I don't mean to pry, but I noticed a guitar over there, in the corner. Is it yours?"

You swallowed quickly to avoid talking with a mouthful.

"No, no." You sighed, playing with the melting ice cream on your plate. "It was my dad's. He used to play. Not- not anymore. So I thought I could give it to someone. That's why I brought it here."

You felt exposed. It was unusual for you to talk like that. Maybe it was the pie, or he just seemed like the person who would do everything but let you keep your mouth shut. All tangled up in charm that you'd never understand or mirror.

He looked puzzled and put his elbows on the table, clasping his hands together in front of his chin. "Somebody could steal it. It seems to be in a rather vulnerable position. And it has an old soul, doesn't it? You shouldn't keep it all bare and dusty like that."

Even though his voice sounded soft, the tone of his words was eating away at your patience.

"I wasn't gonna sell it. I just want to get rid of it. Better than throwing it in the trash or burning it for Christmas, no? If someone were to steal it, I mean."

He smiled gently.

Your appetite still was not present.

"Do you know how to play, sir?" You asked him, putting your fork down.

The look on his face remained somewhat unsure, though you did not know what he was so perplexed by. Maybe it was because of a stranger asking him a question like that, but he wouldn't be so surprised by something he had just done, surely.

"I do, yes." He nodded. "Would you take me for a musician at the first glance?"

You pondered his question, looking him over. Taking in the way his eyes sparkled, how his posture was steady, the modest tilt of his head demanding an honest answer.

"Sure," you blurted out, grabbing your fork again. "You do look like an artist."

"How intriguing."

He could not stop thinking about something you said earlier, but he still kept asking you about himself. "Any artist in particular?"

"No," you said, confident with your answer.

He paused before speaking up again. "So, what does an artist look like, then?"

You sighed, sliding your fingers over your forehead to soothe your headache, at least a bit. It felt good to have something you could focus on. Even if the thing in question was a man, somebody you did not know in the slightest—it was just another workday you had to live through, and it would end soon.

"It's not about appearance, you just have to know what you are looking for... Sir."

He responded with a nod. "Ah, here I thought that all of this lurid yellow would be a cause for... an association," he grinned. It almost looked like he was genuinely enjoying all of this, but his quick toothy smile was not coming from a place of happiness, still.

"What, you wanted me to say Van Gogh or something?" You laughed, feeling the tension in the room slowly easing up, and it just felt nice to laugh. But the headache only got worse when you were laughing. It only lasted three seconds.

He chuckled. "No, but it's–"

"No, you aren't Van Gogh."

His eyes widened slightly when you interrupted him, when he heard that playful tint in your voice.

"But you can wear it– you could be a part of his..." You closed your eyes before blinking harshly and catching his gaze again. "Maybe you are Mr. Gauguin, Sir."

He stared, his interest piqued once more.

"Something is telling me he isn't your favourite."

You hummed, gripping your fork tighter and covering your mouth as you chewed. He had already stopped eating, but you decided that the excuse a mouthful of pie could make for your silence was great. "I think his paintings are interesting."

"I think it is rude to judge a complete stranger," he said with a small smile.

You gulped when you felt how the pain beneath your temples was making your eyes water, stinging horribly like the mascara hadn't been doing that well enough. "Well, you told me what I should n' shouldn't be doing with my dad's guitar."

You did not have to say it like that. You did not have to say anything at all.

His face seemed unreadable as he looked at you, leaning back in his chair.

The sugary mess was making the back of your throat feel almost sore, and you jumped to your feet. Your knees lacked certainty as you walked to the fridge for a bottle of water.

"It just surprised me," he said. His voice sounded much lower than before, not bursting with curiosity. His words were just pieces of the giant mess you would call honesty, and the idea made you shiver. That a stranger would be willing to give that to you.

He laughed before adding with a lighthearted tone, "I'd have never guessed that Henry could play the guitar. He always thought I was a fool for loving music."

You froze. "I'm—" As if it was your first time feeling this way. Cornered without receiving an actual threat. "I'm not Henry's daughter, Sir."

A sense of dread hollowed your stomach out, reaching your heart and tugging on your tongue, and you needed to get some water down as soon as possible before you got sick.

He did not seem to doubt your words, like he already knew what you would answer with, and just made sure that his assumptions were correct.

He knew what to expect, you thought, a man like him would not waste his time talking with a liar. Or a complete stranger.

Maybe you had an imaginary world in your head, home down the road to let your old memories gather proper dust on the shelves, but you were just a waitress here. Not somebody's daughter, not anyone he has met before, or was hoping to meet, apparently.

"Oh," he said, "Right. Of course."

There was nothing you could do to have a look at his thoughts. You were not even looking at him.

It was just like the beginning. But you were the stranger this time. Avoiding a piercing gaze and a wave of questions that would make you feel more vulnerable than being out there in the dark. Alone.

You wondered if he was feeling confused. If he was trying to pinpoint the exact moment when he had miscalculated something. With a furrow in his brow, staring at your silhouette like he was the one casting the shadow over you and not that lifeless place, not that miserable town you have been suffocating yourself in.

It did not matter what you had felt, but that you turned around despite it. You looked him in the eye.

"I guess you don't have to pay for my pie now, sir."

He tilted his head to the side. "I did not have to do anything, it turns out." He smiled after that, like he was joking. "This could be a pleasant surprise. Please, don't frown."

"I'm not," you murmured.

"Very good."

He nodded and grabbed his bag.

You looked away, feeling ridiculous. Somewhat like a child who just showed their parents a painting, beaming with love, only for them to ignore the meaning of it. When tears began clawing at your throat and the sticky mascara had nothing to do with it, you wondered again, going quiet as if checking a pulse. Curious if that child still lived inside you.

Of course it did not.

You watched him put the money on the counter, and hated that you would have to look away from his hand.

"Thank you," you said.

He took his coat, took his bag and started walking towards the door without saying a single word.

Funny how he did not need to put the coat on, because he had a car waiting for him, and yet he still brought it inside.

He halted his steps when he reached the door, turning around on his heels.

"Will you tell him about me?" he asked.

It took you just a second– he was talking about Henry. Henry, who did not even know what your birth name was or where you lived.

"Plenty of people come here, sir. And this is the first time I've tried the thing– the pie I've been giving to them."

His mouth twitched to a smile.

"To answer your question– no, I will not. Will you, sir?" You asked.

You knew the answer when he put his hand on the door handle.

"There is nothing for me to say."

If he murmured a "see you," then it must have disappeared in the sudden of whoosh of wind as he left, closing the door modestly.

You had refused to look at the money while he was still in front of you. But something caught your eye, shining among the green bundle of figures and numbers.

You grasped it with your clammy hands.

It was a business card.

TRANQUILITY BASE

HOTEL AND CASINO

AWAITS YOU, COME

AND STAY WITH US

You flipped it over with a quiver churning in your fingers, like the other side was beginning to burn your skin.

Contact us at:

— (132) 411 33 51 42

There was something written below the phone number, clearly added to the card with a regular pen, all jumbled and messy.

— ASK FOR MARK.

You sat back down in your chair.

The dull pain loosened its circle of rope around your jaws and settled in your stomach.

[elainsgirl]

Hey! Just wanted to say I love seing a strong Elain supporter on this app!

And to make a quick comment on what makes me giggle about the over blown fascination with Gwyn's character that I noticed. I see the same argument that Elain is 'boring' and Gwyn is a 'warrior'. Even while reading fanfiction I see the same pattern. Elain is usually portrayed in rather canon fashion. Demure, gardening, trying to help, getting spying lessons from Az and twins. Helping her family through non warrior strenght. You can actually see it playing out like that since its close to the canon material.

Yet Gwyn is always 'the warrior'. The savior, hero of Prythian, leader of Valkyrie. With a sword healding hand protects the world and the man she loves! And I always smile at this, cause it just proves how majority of tiktok fandom has created their own fictional version of Gwyn. Cause in the canon material we never saw her be a warrior.

They say Elain did nothing, but neither did Gwyn truly. All she did was cut a ribbon and manipulated a beast (which again begs the question - lightsinger?). But apart from that, she really wasn't written in a warrior way. According to the book she didn't even finish the rite technically. Book Gwyn is rather gentle and shy, trying to rebuilt herself from the traumatic events in her life. She's afraid of everything and if they wanted to pick a mate for Az they should have picked Emerie. She carried Gwyn up the mountain. She's an illyrian, and having an illyrian love interest for Az who hates him illyrian side would have been awesome. But no. They pretty much picked a red-haired Elain.

Awe, Thank you 💕

Elain has always and will always be my No.1 girl,

Gwyn is a sweet character. She has the perfect, likeable traits. Flawless. Little depth or complexity. Besties with Nesta. Perfect at everything. Badass. Etc etc. She has enough background to give you the general gist of who she is but not enough that her stans can’t self-insert or shape her to be the way they want which is evident in their fanfics, theories and Hcs. Fanon Gwyn and Canon Gwyn are two completely different characters, canon Gwyn is not that popular. Fanom Gwyn that Gwynriels have built up is. Thats why Gwyn is so popular, she is the ideal fmc gwynriels want whereas “boring” Elain isn’t. Lmfao, even eluciens change Elains personality to be more extroverted and fit Lucien better instead of adhering by Elains canon traits, are we suprised? No. Canon and antis do not mix well.

The hilarious thing is - People did ship Az and Emerie bcs of the reasons you listed. But then Emerie turned out to be possibly gay so anti elriels had to find another character to ship Az with God forbid he ends up with the woman he actually wants. In comes Gwyn and Ta da! You have her being shipped w gwynrieo despite neither showing any romantic interest in each other. The whole gwynriel ship is based on fanon which cool. Thats good for them but you can quite literally do that w any characters.

If Mass wanted Az to end up with a badass, bubbly warrior she would have had Mor and Az end up together. Instead of bringing in a whole new Li for Az so late into a series that too in a standalone book. There is 0 difference between Moriels dynamic and Gwynriels. Same ship, different font. Yet Mass broke up Moriel and chose to develop Az and Elain romantically and plotwise. Why? Bcs she wants the two beautiful, quiet introverts to end up together.

[starmage-constellar]

chat im gonna be reblogging so much wednesday fanart soon i started watching the netflix series

will be rewatching the movies too dont you worry

[lizzybeeee]

THE ENTIRE DRAGON AGE AMA IS A DUMPSTER FIRE

They avoided all the high-rated questions with genuine criticism (not blind hate!) and went for questions that were safer and allowed them more leeway. After that awful IGN article and that treatment of Davrin...God, just put it down. I have no faith that BioWare will be able to continue Dragon Age or Mass Effect with the respect it deserves.

Edit - They had an opportunity for genuine discussion with fans who were concerned/unhappy with the way Veilguard was -> people unhappy with the story, the marketing, the lack of 'RP' options in an RPG, etc... Instead they just doubled-down even more, avoiding those critical questions, with no real acknowledgement that fans have very reasonable problems with this game.

Some Highlights & My Initial Ramblings Below:

The Executors

"They attempt to manipulate events in the most subtle way they can manage."

So, very clear that they're not simply observers of what is happening in Thedas: they're manipulators...

"Magical Illuminati Confirmed! Lizard People Did 9:30 Dragon!!!!"

All that complexity of character -> his hatred of Orlais, his experience as a general, his relationship with Cailain, and the influence of Howe...all diminished. Any influence from a shadow cabal is too much influence - all the humanity of Loghain's choices/consequences...God, what a waste.

Not to mention what this does to other events/characters in the series -> they imply they've been intervening as far back as the magisters breaking into the golden city. I do not find this compelling! At all!

2. Solas and the Executors

Oh my god, he sounds like such a fucking Mary-Sue I'm so sick of Solas at this point -> "Actually, I know more about the Executors than anyone alive - not even the rest of the Gods know as much as me."

("I'm also, like, an Ancient Elven God, I'm responsible for the Blight and the Veil, and I kind of locked the Gods away cause they were evil - but, like, I'm really sad about it. Also the Herald of Andraste thinks I'm cute <3")

<- Previous comments: massive oversimplification, obviously

But I miss the days when not everything was about Solas. It removes so much interest and wonder in this world when the fucking egg is behind it all. I loved him as a character in DAI and now I just feel this bone deep tiredness when I see his stupid face.

Don't you dare threaten to bring Gareth David-Lloyd back -> keep him away from this mess!

3. The Fate of the Rest of the Evanuris

Yay. I'm so looking forwards to "The Return of the Elves: Electric Boogaloo 2" - it was done so well the first time!

"It was the elves all along!"

The only character with any potential to be interesting is Andruil*, but how they handled all this lore was done so shallowly and so poorly that I find it hard to give a damn anymore. Not to mention that the game literally mentions Ghilan'nain mourning Andruil - so is this a retcon/redirection/or have you confirmed that one of the most interesting members of the Evanuris' is dead?

*interesting in that she's established in lore to potentially have a tonne of really cool things attached to her (the void armour, the great weapon she has etc...). The rest of the evanuris are nowhere near as well established as she is.

4. Southern Thedas, Sociopolitical Issues, and Future Games

NOW YOU WANT TO INCORPORATE GEO-POLITCAL EXPLORATION?? You avoided any meaningful discussion like the plague in DATV but now you're acknowledging it?? OkaY. okAy.

They couldn't even give us the long-term ramifications of the mage/templar war how the hell am I supposed to believe that they will be able to pull off 'elven gods are real' etc...? For a game series that totes : your choices matter -> they have not proven that they have been able to show that in a meaningful way. They literally cleaned the slate with this game to avoid doing that.

So, what, does that mean that the Veil is never going to come down now? Or are you going to have the entirety of Thedas build themselves up again just to have the Veil fall and send things into chaos once more?

What a fatalistic, miserable outcome for Thedas -> why the fuck would anyone bother to live in Thedas if you're going to keep throwing meteorites at them? By all means, change/conflict has to happen for the series to move forwards...but this is just so miserable at this point.

(The Elder Scrolls, at least, gives people room to breathe between crisis' or sets them up in different areas of the world! Bethesda treats past installments/your decisions with greater respect than DATV does.)

Even, then, if the Veil remains up, that means that the spirits are just trapped in the Fade being miserable for the rest of existence. The entire series has been humanizing spirits, from Justice to Cole, and now they're just throwing in the towel? I guess they can stay in the fade now! Problem solved!

What do you mean the Evanuris are not a threat anymore? IN A PREVIOUS QUESTION YOU LITERALLY SAID SOME ARE STILL POTENTIALLY KICKING AROUND THE BLACK CITY?

Weakened, sure, but Solas was 'weak' in DAI. You're giving yourself an out if you decide to go back to the elves again. Please do, I'd love more content on how the elves alone fuck everything up!

5. More Southern Thedas, the Chantry, and Tevinter

Thanks for the confirmation that things in the South are so fucked up that they have to work alongside the 'Slave Capital' of the known world to rebuild!

Slavery was one of the biggest things that caused a rift between the north/south chantry system -> one of the reasons why there were exalted marches -> a uniting belief in the south is that slavery is fucked. They didn't address slavery in DATV - what hopes are there that they will do so effectively in a future game?

Don't tell me that Dorian fixes everything off screen either -> either he solves slavery off-screen or the south is being forced to work the slaver-capitol because their land is nuked and they have no ground to stand on.

I'm so thrilled.

6. Solas and the Idol / The Blight

I will never get over Solas fucking curing the Blight off-screen and no one asking questions/giving a shit. Hello?? The Hero of Ferelden would like a word with you???

So the Blight is calcified in Minrathous, at least, but everywhere further away is still fucked! Once more, the South is doomed to suffer from the long-term effects that regular blights have -> not to mention the red lyrium (which still exists according to the AMA) across the south.

I don't care; it's lame. It's a lame way to conclude the blight and I hate it. This game did not earn 'cure the blight from thedas' at all. You could have had us learn how to soothe a titan and see how that can diminish the blight but you did it this way.

Another 'magical ritual' because Solas has such a good track record with them lmao.

7. The Agents of Fen'Harel / The War with the Qun / The Crows

Turned him against the idea of being a leader???!!

Fen'harel's Call to the Elven People After the events at the Winter Palace, elves left the Inquisition under mysterious circumstances, as did elven servants across Thedas. None could say where they went, but those who believed the Inquisitor's story about Fen'Harel wondered just how large the Dread Wolf's forces were... and what the ancient elven rebel had planned. This is from the Trespasser Epilogue, Epler!

Your concept art for Joplin literally had him as a leader of a faction of elves. Just be honest that it's a retcon and you changed course - don't try to save face with this reasoning.

About the Antaam: "We needed some big mindless bad guys to fight and so we did this because we didn't want to address the Qunari War/Invasion we set up in Trespasser".

You had to canonize Sten as being alive and Arishok in order for this reasoning to work -> you didn't even come up with an alternative Arishok to take Sten's place.

Yeah, the exchange that set up the Crows we see in the game as "idealists" did not make the game. I can confirm that!

I'm sorry, "Caterina kept Illario in check?" as in, 'kept him an idealist and not the usual Crow'? The woman that beat him with a cane and starved him and his cousin to train them as Crows. Fuck off.

lmao -> tell me you're coming up with this on the spot without telling me that you're coming up with this on the spot.

8. World State Discrepancies - Isabela

Outright ignores the very real criticism about the marketing from this game and World States.

"there are absolutely places where we unintentionally suggested there was a hard canon (...that Isabela is always assumed to have joined Hawke's party.)"

Unintentional?

Excuse me, you have her talk about Merrill and the Kirkwall Crew as family - that was not unintentional in the slightest. Not to mention Sten, Blackwall, Sera, and Cole are canonized as being part of your world state no matter what.

You had a story you wanted to tell - one that only fit a few world states - and you went ahead with it and disregarded those choices. Don't try and lie about this all being a big misunderstanding.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edit - They could have taken the opportunity to address the very reasonable criticisms that people had with this game but they cherry-picked questions and avoided/minimized anything remotely critical.

They could have provided us some insight into the game development time but each time they approached the topic they settled for "we're happy with what we delivered and it was well optimized."

They had an opportunity to acknowledge that people were bothered by the handling of the lore/stories (to potentially mention they could course-correct/ rethink their plans) but instead they doubled down on everything that they did and even 'justified' some decisions. They doubled down on the Executors, Solas's changing motivations, the destruction of Southern Thedas, and the elves/Solas being at the heart of everything etc...

This AMA basically confirmed that the only reason they did what they did to the south was for a reset -> It's not a compelling or fulfilling narrative to have everything we've done reset back to ground zero off-screen. BioWare games differentiate themselves from other RPG's by their import system from previous games - it was compelling and exciting! With DATV they set the expectation that BioWare can outright throw out entire games worth of choices/build up, not solely retcon them.

Justifying your choice to water down the lore/world of your story by saying you'll address it in the 'next game' does not instill me with confidence, BioWare! It doesn't explain that lack of it in this game either!

They avoided every question that, rightfully so, pointed out the misleading comments made by devs in the pre-order period of the game:

the fact that there were only 3 imported choices from previous games was leaked by a reviewer -> BioWare was vague from the start about choices

that this game was the most 'romantic' in the series

that world states/ headcanons wouldn't be disrespected

that there are 'lore' reasons for bad darkspawn design

that there are lasting, impactful choices/consequences to be made in this game

that the lore/world was not watered or toned down

that companions are deep and you can disagree with them etc...

BioWare's behavior towards their customers in the lead up period to this games release was downright scummy. I absolutely felt misled after playing the game for myself and recalling what I read in interviews put out. While EA is undoubtedly poison, you can't hold them solely accountable for this.

I feel for the individual developers who worked on this in what was undoubtedly a toxic environment from EA - but I feel that it's pretty clear that BioWare itself has a lot of problems within and in their leadership/executives. Working for EA does not give them an excuse to mislead their customers.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I already had a very grim outlook on the franchise from the end of DATV but this literally look my interest out the back and sent it to God. What a disaster.

[spaghetticat3899]

When you absolutely despise something a lot of people like, and no matter what way you look at it you cannot see the appeal, but you know you can’t talk about it in public or else you’ll get dogpiled to hell and back, so you just kinda sit there frothing at the mouth like this

[luck-of-the-drawings]

[<==PREV PAGES] [NEXT PAGE==>(not out yet.wait a year.or maybe more.imagine.]

saw alot of comments on prev pages; saying 'i HATE that mean teacher! im gonna FIGHT HIM!!' & i LOVE the energy!! it WOULD be nice. to have that catharsis. but the story of young tidestrider is Not one of catharsis. it is a story of being so small and so special and sucking so bad.

[genericpuff]

vent post

[nomidreams]

god i finally watched new episodes my honest reaction is jgiwoaoKzmxmkwkakkak

[lycorid]

Sometimes venturing onto the For You side of Twitter sparks joy.

Based take. Shoujo and Josei are fucking top notch, both in characters and art style (how can you not think they’re beautiful?)

“Ruined the JJK and MHA fandoms” is WILD. I avoid fandoms for the most part (except perusing tumblr for the occasional fucking thesis women write about character motivations i love you women <3) because they usually suck. Seriously, I kept up with OPM for a bit because it was entertaining but holy shit the subreddit (very much full of men) is literally just… sexy woman. More sexy woman. Memes about artist constantly drawing sexy woman. Memes. Occasional power scaling arguments. Low quality page colorings of the exact same page. There is NOTHING. How the hell can women ruin the fandom when the fandom IS the women?!

It’s the women creating in depth analyses on characters; it’s the women writing fanfiction, creating doujinshis; it’s the women creating fandom centered accounts; it’s the women buying every new merch piece that comes out AND giving free advertising by posting about it online. And then men will go on and rag on women for doing all these things. It’s infuriating.

Longevity of a series is also something these idiots ignore. Seriously, look at Katekyo Hitman Reborn. The manga ended in 2012 and the creator is working on a different series. Katekyo Hitman Reborn still gets regular merch releases. This is a series that ended over a decade ago and still has an incredibly dedicated fanbase of, I wonder who, that regularly spends enough money to keep it consistent. You cannot look me in the eyes and tell me that series is supported mainly by men. I do not care how hard Amano Akira tried to alienate her female fans with her treatment of the female characters you know exactly whos spending the money based on who is constantly getting merch (minus the titular character, because of course he has to be there.)

Honestly I don’t give a damn that fandom can often be absolute insanity; you get a group of people together and it’s always going to be a shitshow, that isn’t unique to fandom, people just like to pretend it is because as always, there’s an undercurrent of misogyny because people know women carry that shit but they only want to acknowledge it when they can use it to criticize them.

I love that she came for the JJK fandom as well. I’ve been following the series because honestly it is really fucking funny because it is the epitome of shounen tropes. The author literally baked them into the world. Explaining your abilities to the opponent makes them stronger. So this entire series you get giant pages of just white with text explaining every little fucking thing like theres a narrator standing over your shoulder making sure you can’t possibly miss anything on the first read. Fuck dude, I don’t mind exorbitant amounts of text in my manga, but you cannot be serious in pretending that is good writing. There’s a deus ex machina that every character can pull out of their ass called a binding vow. Black flash also falls into this category.

Hell, the latest arc has literally just been flashback after flashback playing during the battle of the characters forming a bunch of plans in preparation for the fight we currently are following. This is genuinely one of my most hated tropes. The characters just get off screen power ups that then get handwaved as “well we showed you the flashback right?” there is NO anticipation, any excitement you feel for the battle is purely manufactured rather than genuine. It’s not “I can’t wait to see how the growth I followed of these characters affects the battle” it’s “wow, what cool ability will they pull out of their ass next?” I hate it I loathe it and it’s even worse with emotional moments. Why couldn’t you write this into the story in the first place? Why are you giving it to me in a shitty flashback?

Maybe I didn’t explain it well enough because I launched into a rant. The reason I hated it so much is because it forced the reader to be an observer rather than an active participant in the manga. Everything is spoonfed to you. You don’t need to reread the chapters over and over to put together the pieces on how, where, and why each action took place, the author does that for you. You don’t see everything from a new perspective when you read it a second time, catching lots of things you may have missed because you’re not allowed to miss anything the author deems important.

I enjoy this manga. There is good things about it. But it is nowhere near the god manga (“kamige” would be the term if it was a visual novel; I don’t know a manga equivalent) men like to pretend it is. It genuinely seems like they think everything being explained every page is good writing.

Based and succinct.

Anyway, you shouldn’t restrict yourself from experiencing specific genres because they’re for “the lessers” because that’s actually fucking cringe and maybe you should touch a Josei manga, or even a Shoujo manga. Maybe it’ll open your eyes and you’ll realize, hey, women’s media is actually- oh who the fuck am I kidding just pull the trigger.

[petorahs]

me, gearing up to explain why the dragon prince's latest seasons have continued to disappoint me, that while i love the lore and worldbuilding and characters there are clear pacing issues that are so jarring it takes me out of the experience, and that i say all of this with great love for the series but there's only so much good concepts can do before animation has to catch up in order to retain the average viewer's attention. that although season 4 and 5 have been branded as "the mystery of aaravos" the titular character barely appears and that is a crime to me, that even if it's for the suspense and intentionally leaving the viewer/main characters in the dark it's not doing a good job at building up his character and i fear for the exposition dump that will inevitably happen later on. that i will be harsh in critiquing this series because i love it so much and want it to be the best it can be: *inhales*

also me the moment i actually finished the goddamn season:

[unproduciblesmackdown]

among the boundless billions zaniness like laugh track as it definitely has that moment of expressing "rolling my eyes as The Left makes a kerfuffle of Acting like they have a stance as a veneer over the true belief that [xyz] is cool & chill actually" like what, approximate 0.000% chance wendy isn't, as usual, given the Objective Stance of "yeah yeah ohh we are cancelling involved parties talking about how we Don't watch this But. we all love this damn epic movie & already have it memorized so shut the fuck up, kids today" like. don't wanna really delve into how much billions thinks taylor or anyone is "really" trans / nonbinary like not too much benefit of the doubt in this material including what does provide info abt that specifically

& the general like [head in hands. what do you think any of this could possibly be about (you're the one that made your show at all about Power)] of "yes, it's bad/wrong to be someone that someone has done something to / victim of something" like that to be anti misogyny All Women Must Be Epic Winners b/c there's something to be proved: that they don't Deserve to be victims (of misogyny), not taken as a Given. while when we see some epic winner men stepping on other men (who need not all be guaranteed Winners so as to say misogyny is wrong), that's often Good, well beyond any assumption that various forms of basic disrespect / violation / patterns of emergent/entrenched power difference as Bad (for being things done to people, not for there being people they're being done to), & generally billions has to take an extra step when ppl get shitted on & tell us the Specific Cases when it was undeserved actually & someone was being mean to a specific person who didn't deserve that. & the specific cases when hey guess it wasn't that bad(tm) or when hey It's Okay that you're someone something was done to, in this case. & tell us what we were supposed to know all along like when someone who something was being done to (wrong Of Them, whether b/c they inherently deserve it no matter what, &/or b/c they failed to be someone who could make it Impossible to do anything to them, which, how do you do that besides being The Authority / Superior yourself, exactly? nonrhetorically? what if the in group vs out group / fascism / authoritarianism protected Me?) was actually being treated Too Well b/c ah well the abuse meant you were getting any attention, maybe it meant you were claimed as any superior's property, maybe it meant you weren't Already disposed of, as all Losers were in the end, You're Welcome.

obviously referring to winston where it's spelled out all the abuse towards him was deserved, & More than he deserved in the case of rian having more access & taking advantage of that, all for billions' enjoying its own sendoff there of, again, maximizing violation & violence short of [real violence is physical & leaves bruises / draws blood / Literally kills] which would be distasteful in general But doesn't it make wags look like the winner & winston the loser is that the former's completely unrelated completely impersonal ego blow gets way amplified taken out on winston, the most vulnerable recurring character when spyros as [first & ultimate Everyone Hates Him role] is more entrenched in there & billions still magnanimously pities tuk, as it does winston too, just not quite as much. again that like completely surface level realized power fantasy of forcing the mirror up to the Inferior so they're like nooo my inferiorityyyy & in doing so like, the projection in that lmao, we get it re: the valuing of & need(tm) for such Power Tripping & Reaffirming My Superiority & My Ego Restored; Everyone Claps like good god. & then for all ben & tuk are the slightly softer Two Too Nice Boys duo to the rian & winston quant duo, also like too nice i guess but not as much, ben is in charge of tuk but Any instance of rian being in charge of winston outstrips them in that "yay interpersonal abuse" dynamic, like then in the end billions may be like "yeah it's possible to be mean to them unlike how being mean to winston is actually Nice b/c he deserves everything he gets, we only vicariously enjoy it vs Feeling Bad for tuk & ben sometimes (still magnanimously & it's Not That Bad / just goofin)" like ben & tuk still Fail by not being people it's impossible to do anything to. & not Exceptions who anyone is really being Too Mean to. like if they were women, in which case, no problem surely with a "positive" kind of victim blaming where there is something Inherent that Will be victimized so hey how about to cancel that out there's this special Paternal Protection you Need always, Or Else? :) but instead they are men who are asian & is ben gay & w/tuk & winston nobody mentions glasses or fatness but billions doesn't really do much or very in depth textual mentioning of Anything, even w/nonzero mention that there may be gender & race in this world. a gay man, once. no disability. we just Know who are the inferiors who deserve it when they're treated inferiorly, or if they don't, they start deserving it when they fail to stop/avoid it, but if you start mentioning the factors behind who we all totally agree is inferior like whoa nobody was Saying any of that? being the real agent of oppression on the basis of the factors only You spelled out, much? nonbinary? i never say anything about the Gender Binary when i'm subscribing to it, sounds like You've created & enforced it. obfuscation & deflection onto [so Just Normal nobody has to label, explain, or argue it] couldn't serve a purpose & protect the existing power differences as they are. maybe You're the problem? perhaps you brought it upon yourself & now you're causing too much trouble standing up for yourself while everyone else's criticism is laser focused on you as the prior & continuing negative actions done to you are taken as a given / unquestioned / covertly protected to overtly encouraged?

anyway so wild if the Completely Normal(tm) Victim Blaming is uncritically recreated & oft embraced for "if you're watching this & don't wish you were axe / find him appealing" [billions as a sequence of vicarious power trips] purposes in this series....but a bit wild considering like this is your multiseason show that wasn't just purporting to be those power trips for [enough demographic & apparently specific personal tastes overlap w/creators] & was at all purporting to question the matters of power at play in the material, or yknow, at least to not be completely superficial material while said material is textually & thematically all about power difference being leveraged, how, the consequences, & so on. thus i will have to intermittently talk about it forever like this like lord unbelievable. & the funny little & sometimes less funny less little characters it has trapped in there so that those of us who were never meant to be in the audience can be cursed with this knowledge. like i have some feedback. "imagine not victim blaming" & "imagine adjusting your perspective can go beyond superficial layers added to politely defer to some other ppl while they're present but really like cmon do they deserve that. am i not just saying what we're allll thinking"

[skrunksthatwunk]

just finished the original devilman manga. wuh!!