#its getting extensive but its nice to see that the short stories will include

[steamingstewchunks]

The bots have tried to feed oil to Sari.

This is why I have the nanny-bot (the tutor-bot) be an actual character-

Fuck it it's fix-it. Fix-its in this now. Sari turns the tutor bot into a living being with the key or by accidentally leading the bot to the all-spark and it goes "yeah these guys are.... Look just show them how it's done." And he does.

It's a great time until like, a week in he's accidentally left with fanzone and in charge of the villains of the week. That's how he becomes a prison warden, his knowledge of baby proofing everything leads to being very capable at preventing break outs and with his own ability (provided by Sumdac) to defend himself and that baby to the last damn wire, he's a formidable opponent.

This was going to be something cute, like the bots going to a park and looking at all the other parents of all ages and like, trying their hand at all the types of parenting, maybe getting techniques from TV shows and all that. Which also leads to prowl joining that mom-group.

"we just need to let her run around a little! Get tired!"

"Prowl she can't walk."

"not with that attitude" type stuff.

I still might do it when I remember too.

[aquickstart]

i need to talk to you guys about the colors of the Cattons (Felix specifically) and Oliver. the clothes they are wearing are telling the story of Oliver taking over and leaving his mark throughout the whole movie, with Oliver's failures and successes and a final triumph. holy shit. get in. this is long and ends in ancient greek culture trivia. let;s talk please.

disclaimer: am starting from Oliver's arrival at Saltburn. before that the outfits are also very intentional, but it's a lot more complicated and it has been discussed before. the world distorts once we are at Saltburn and the story gets truly gothic there, and every detail—including color!—is enhanced in meaning. also, special thanks to @kivlaro for doing this with me, the thoughts on this specifically and the Saltburn craze on the whole. pics and detailed analysis under the cut!

let's start from the beginning. here is Oliver at the door. simple, blue shirt.

the shirt is sort of its own character. logically it makes sense as Oliver's suitcase is small and he spends the whole summer there, of course he'll rewear stuff a bunch. but it is blue.

in contrast to Felix, in yellow. yellow is one of Felix's colors (he is the sun, which i've talked about here btw, so this makes sense).

same to Pamela, in blue. first time we see her, she is next to Elspeth, wearing the color that is Oliver's, taking the place that he takes right away, in this very scene. the only other time she is physically present on screen is at dinner, in black and white, and black and white are a blank slate. she is stripped of color and gone very fast.

a bit of crucial data for later: Oliver, in blue, and Felix in pink. pink is very important on Felix. this is their first morning together. they are separate and opposite, solid, contained.

where it starts to get good is the morning after the vampire strike.

Venetia is a Felix extension, just as everyone in the house is to Oliver. i will eventually rant about Saltburn as a whole entity and Cattons as aspects of one self, and Oliver as psychosis, but not here. so, yes, Venetia is a pink riot, a euphoria of self-containment because Oliver gave her a piece of something she felt she lacked to feel whole (validation, attention, care), not a piece of blue, of himself. Oliver is expectedly solid blue. Felix is incredibly interesting and something i didn't pay much attention to at first: predominantly blue, incredibly upset at Oliver for ditching him, with a tile of bright red (on the left! close to heart! over-reaching here but like still!), which still tracks. i mean, really, if i had so much foreign color bleed into me and then abandoned, i'd be pissed, too. nice little touch is sir James' beloved hydrangeas, behind Felix, also pink, very pink, always pink; i don't think i've seen them blue in the movie, although the sort exists.

Farleigh. sweet baby Farleigh i love you. I'm not dead-set on my interpretation of this specifically but i think multiple things are happening with Oliver and Farleigh here. like Rent, which is their song, blue is their color of outsiders and the triers to fit in. Farleigh points out the favoritism and preference of Oliver to him and his mother here, so it may also be appropriation of color to draw attention to Farleigh as almost (but never quite) Oliver. it may also be as simple as that Farleigh, as much as he denies and resists, still retains Oliver's influence, which bleeds into him very slowly.

a nice little moment of Felix wearing blue swim shorts with just tiny specks of a pink pattern. Oliver's shorts also have a bit of pink, but less than Felix's. Oliver is pretty good at remaining unaffected and uninfluenced overall.

and we're getting to where it all clicked and started for me. the Quick family house, the failed reconciliation, and the immediate aftermath. oh it's so good.

on the drive there, Oliver is blue, Felix has a pink polo shirt with a solid blue pullover over it. this is the most blue Felix has ever been (this is the most blue he will ever be!), this is trust. however shaky and toxic it is, Felix loves Oliver and accepts him into his world. as a side note, Oliver's parents are also very blue, mom more so than dad. nice!

and then it crashes. immediately after, it's the evening of the same day, but Felix is not wearing the blue pullover anymore. this is very, very important. this is rejection. it's the end for Oliver in Felix's world and with his trust. Felix, again, in solid pink, Oliver in solid blue. Felix successfully rips him out with the roots and everything. ouch.

daddy. sorry. is that highlighter? sweat? fuck. let me- daddy. SORRY

no i actually have a point about this.

the clothes are replaced by the lights, but we roll with it. Oliver basks in the blue-green light, while Felix is on the other side, in pink and purple and red. sure, blue shines through, and Oliver also walks through the slashes of pink, but it is mostly pretty separate, Oliver watching Felix's pink in his own blue from a distance.

the morning after palette is deep. the wine color that is so prominent in these scenes is fascinating to me. if i were to over-reach again i'd say it's the Oliver in Felix's attributes and in his place that requires the robe to be so dark, not usual definite pink, because deep blue has leaked into the color itself, mixed with it, made itself integral to the shade. but it's also just a nice color, and it is pink in its core. the flowers (with sir James in the background) i think are also this specific shade for the same reason. you look at what remains of Felix everywhere here, and it is his color.

and finally oh the lunch scene. the last supper. the judgement day. the who's afraid of virginia woolf madness.

i think we've established what's up with Oliver, but i also think it's important that he is his own color at lunch but in Felix's pink/wine right before and after. lunch is where he attacks, whereas before and after is where he grieves and enjoys. Farleigh is almost completely blue save for a strip of the same deep pink, and he is soon cast out, and Venetia is striped, blue and pink/salmon, affected deeply by Oliver yet still clinging on to the Catton pink with grief, probably, but also love for Felix.

and after all this, Oliver leaves himself.

no, like, actually, literally himself. sure, he'd got a taste of the Cattons and the pink, but he is a monolith, a solid blue when he leaves Saltburn. he has not been affected by the house, he has taken what he wanted but stayed true and whole. what a power move, honestly.

but it's an even bigger deal that 16 years later, Elspeth runs into Oliver wearing all white and a blue scarf. oh, she's not let this go, alright; it was a long time ago, "but not to me," she says. What Oliver has been up to in that time is a great question, without a doubt he's been keeping tabs on the remaining family as much as he could; but Elspeth has never moved on, either. She has held on to Oliver's blue and the pink is not important at all now. Oliver, of course, is invariably, unwaveringly blue. welcome back to his show.

and welcome back to his triumph.

the only color (except for, again, white and black) we see him wear in the flashback about Saltburn inheritance is the all-too familiar deep pink. wine. bright pink mixed with deep blue.

now i will take a liberty and step back, over-reach, over-interpret and go insane. here's a fun bit on ancient greek culture trivia for you.

this is an interesting and complicated historiographical and linguistic debate that i will not even attempt to relay here, but the essence of it is this: for us, the sea is conventionally deep blue. historically, one of the most prominent civilizations considered "deep wine" to be the descriptor for it (not necessarily the color but the property. highly rec to look this up it's so fascinating). what it gives me here is that Oliver has changed color, but not his self. he has integrated, mixed, but persisted, completely winning over, triumphing. long live the king!

in conclusion, i would just like to propose "colors" by halsey as the next cattonquick anthem. thank you for your attention, please let me know your thoughts. yours, yes, you. cheers. god. peace out

[katatty]

Shifting Priorities

Thank you for all the nice comments yesterday! Some really helpful perspectives that gave me a lot of ideas on how I can tackle my simmer's block :)

Mostly, I think I need to trim down the number of neighbourhoods I consider "active" and the amount of projects I am doing in general. I have a hard time letting go of neighbourhoods, especially if I am still somewhat invested in them! But I also need to face the fact that I only have so much free time, and do not want playing the sims to be the sole thing I do with that free time XD

For some neighbourhoods I will also be trying out a more stripped-down approach to blogging, similar to what I've been doing with Driftwood. It makes me a little sad because I like my sims to feel fleshed out as characters and giving them voices is a big part of that! But maybe I can save the prose/dialogue for times when it is particularly needed, rather than including it as a default.

Finally, I am going to prioritise based on what I actually have the most fun with, rather than letting popularity drive my decisions!! Some neighbourhoods I feel sad about potentially retiring because I know people enjoy them, or I feel bad admitting I am never going to finish projects people were excited for, but I have to remember simming is something I do for myself, not for popularity or for other people.

So, plans for my neighbourhoods:

Pleasantview Plus - will continue in its current form for the most part, but holdholds I found less inspiring will just get short summaries rather than extensive documentation. This hood is waaaaaaay too big and I think not that many people follow it all that closely, but it's also my one true love and I would like to start prioritising it again rather than it always being on the backburner

Uberhood Challenge (YouTube Series) - This is a short-term series, and will continue as planned until I finish the challenge, which I'm over halfway through :)

Hollyhead - I hate to say it because I know a lot of people love it, but I feel like I have sorta outgrown this neighbourhood? Some simmers like their settings to be an escape from the real world, and when I made Hollyhead I think it was what I needed too, but these days I find how upbeat & wholesome it is a bit, idk, constraining?? I crave drama and conflict in my stories!! I also have kinda lost interest in the BACC rules and have started to find it more book-keeping and hassle for what I get out of it... Whenever I do open the neighbourhood I still really enjoy actually playing it, and I love the characters so much, but I just haven't found the events interesting enough to want to write about. I think this neighbourhood will not be retired completely (yet), but I will move towards writing much shorter updates in the form of newspaper articles and see if that helps. If by the end of this season I still feel ehhh about it, I might formally end it <3

Driftwood - no complaints about this hood, I'll probably continue with the current style of documenting major events & new builds only

Spruceburg (YouTube series) - I would like to do another season of this next year, after I finish the uberhood challenge! But I will probably go for a schedule of like, one season of series per year, rather than posting consistantly. I enjoy YouTube a lot, but its a lot of work too and I think has majorly taken away from my blogging time this year, which I am mourning now lol!!

The Fiero Legacy - it is probably time to throw in the towel with this and admit I just don't enjoy playing legacy style or with story progression that much! I always enjoy the period where the heir is dating but once they settle down and have kids it becomes a chore and a grind, plus with story progression's time system I always feel rushed and like I can't take a sim out of the house for an outing without potentially missing important milestones - the urban setting feels so wasted when its all family gameplay, haha. Hallie should be at the club!! It was an interesting experiment and a nice change of pace, but idk if I really see myself returning to it. I love the sims themselves and the setting, but whenever I actually load up the neighbourhood I just feel kinda stressed and overwhelmed :(

As for my building projects like Belladonna Cove, perhaps at some point I will get really inspired and return to them but for now they are on indefinite break. I remember saying a few time in the past that I didn't really feel much need to make over Pleasantview and Strangetown because if I wanted nice makoevers I would use frottanas, and tbh I feel the same way about Belladonna Cove - if I was playing it I would just use plumbtales makeovers XD With my past neighbourhood makeovers I was really inspired to make them because there wasn't anything out there that was exactly what I wanted but, well, there's loooooads of nice Belladonna cove makeovers these days so I just don't feel much drive to make my own version I guess?? I think I also have lost interest in building a little becasue I am no longer into super heavily decorated lots - I prefer lighter lots that won't cause lag lol! So yeah, I am probably not retiring from building forever but its no longer a priority for me :)

[igot-sarang-ggg]

Jolyne's Teacher pt. 6 (Teacher reader x Jotaro)

Chapter 6- Encounter with Dio

Chapter 5- Friday |Masterlist|

Small Summary: It's a new school year, you're a third grade teacher at an elementary school in Florida with Jolyne Cujoh being in your class.

Tw: mention of blood

Year 1984

It was my 18th birthday mom and dad were able to save enough money for us to go to Egypt. I was really excited, it's been ages since we've all been out on a vacation. When we arrived it was so nice being with them and trying new foods.

"Wow is that a castle?" Mom asked, "I think so." dad and I looked at what appeared to be a mansion or castle, it looked extravagant three-story, but seemed to be quite old, situated in one of the older districts of Cairo. The main building is surrounded by a wall and an extensive garden which includes numerous palm trees that were poking out. There are four towers on each corner of the rectangular main building. There was a bird falling around the building. My mom walked towards the gate, "I wouldnt go in there if I were you." One of the locals stopped us, "Why not?"

"There's something evil in that building. It would be best if you stay clear from it. Its been said to be guarded by a vampire or god and he could give you anything to your heart desires." I looked at the building and I could've sworn I saw a man standing at the window of one of the towers. A chill ran down my spine, "I think its best if we stay clear of the castle, mom and dad."

"Alright we'll stay clear from it."

The rest of the day we spent it just going around and looking at different things nearby. Night came I stayed in my hotel room as my parents went out for drinks.

Afterwards they came home. I was asleep and didn't really notice them come into the room, that was til Mom woke me up, "Y/n why don't we go to that building we saw earlier today?" They are were acting strange; they seemed like zombies being controlled by something. 

"Wait what about what the local said-"

"We're going and thats finial." Dad spoke, "Get dressed. wear this." Mom handed me a black tight dress. I wore the cloth she wanted and we made our way to the building. There was a bird flying around... a falcon? He was leading the way.

As we entered the building there was something that felt Erie about it. "Guys can we go. I'm not liking this."

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave?" A voice spoke, "You are a guest at my home."

A chill ran down my spine, "I'm sorry to enter your home, we thought it was abandoned, we'll get going now." I grabbed my parents arms trying to get them to leave with me but they weren't moving. "Please I insist that you stay, After all..."

A man appeared in front of me, "It doesn't seems like your parents want to leave." I backed away from him, but he kept inching closer I bumped into a table and grabbed whatever I could to the man's head. I hit him with a lamp cutting his face, "That was rude." In the darkness I could see the man wiped the blood and licked it off his fingers. "I invite you to my home and this is the way you greet me." Candles in the room sudden were lite.

I took a good look at him, he looked pale almost transparent. He wore a black sleeveless turtleneck and a necklace. Our gaze met I quickly looked away; looking at my parents, "Why aren't my parents doing anything?! What did you do to them?!" I tried pushing the man away but he somehow moved behind me, "What did I do?" He whispered in my ear, "Aren't you assuming that I've done something to them without any proof that I did?"

I turned around to face him but he was gone, where is he? Why does he keep disappearing like that!? "Who are you?"

"I'm sure your parents can tell you who I am Y/n." He said my name, how did he know my name? I felt a shortness of breathe. "Mom, dad, please snap out of it and lets go!"

"We're not leaving. Lord Dio has ordered us to bring you here so he can feed on you. We must provide food for him." As those words left dad's lips I left a cold shift in the air around me. The man named Dio was gonna kill me, "We must provide for Lord Dio!." My parents ran towards me.

"I won't kill you... Not yet at least." He was in front of me again, my parents now stopping in their tracks. "I'll let you live, if... You agree to give yourself to me."

"I won't." I stated. He chuckled cross his arms, "You don't have a choice dear. Either you stay and nothing happens to you or... you don't and I kill your parents and then you," He wrapped his arms around my waist and got closer whispering in my ear, "So the last memory you have before death is me slaughtering your family and you knowing you could have done something to stop me from killing them." I pulled away from him.

I looked at my parents, "Don't worry about your parents love. They were willing to give you up just for money and riches."

"I dont believe you." I was scared, did they, really?

"They did. You see I have them under my control. I planted a Flesh bud as a from of contract with them. I'm able to manipulate my hair to create parasites, which can then insert into a human's head. These flesh buds pierce through the skull into part of the brain, thus making your parents compliant to my demands once they make that contract with me." Why would they sell me for money to him? Who is this man that they are willing to give me to him without a second thought? "Can you remove it?" I asked him.

"I'll say this again and I won't repeat myself. I'll let your parents live if you agree to be with me. Ive been drawn to you my love." He now stood in front of me, gently grabbing my face forcing me to look at him, I felt scarred and disgusted, I looked back at my parents, "You promise you'll let them go and live normal lives?" Dio inched closer to me our lips being inches apart. "I promise. I am a man of my word." His voice gave me chills. "I'll stay with you just promise that I get to live, you dont put a flesh bud in me, and you get rid of mind control bud you have planted on their brains."

"You have a deal." Dio smiled. A group of men walked in, "Take her to my room and for her parents I'll remove the buds." The men did as Dio told them to do.

Since that day I never say my parents again, I never knew if they lived or die.

Present Friday.

"Y/n he can stop time! HE IS A STAND USER WHY DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT!" why can't that voice leave me, "You must listen to your master!" I covered my ears, "You died and you continue to hunt me even after death. why can't you leave me alone?! I refuse to believe that he is a stand user and I refuse to believe that he has the extract same power as you!" I looked up at him, "You said it yourself stand users have unique powers and NO ONE can duplicate them, so why does he have the same one as you!? DID HE STEAL THE WORLD FROM YOU?! IS THAT WHY YOUR FUCKING HUNTING ME?! CAUSE YOU WANT THE WORLD BACK!?"

"He has information! That is a Joestar!... Ask that little brat her grandfathers last and first name when you see her again." If hes a Joestar then that means, "Jotaro was the one that killed you?"

Dio didnt anything, "Why do you torment me Dio?"

"Why? WHY DO YOU THINK!? THE MAN YOU'VE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH

 h̷̶̘̘̬ͭ̏͞͡a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡s҉̝̭̦͚̑ͯ̌͡ k҉̴̶̬͈̫̹͖̾̎ͭ́̍̐͜͜͝͠i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞d҉̴̷̧̢̛̖͔̤ͯ̔̑̄͢͟͡͠ m̴̵҉̸̲̗̰̼͗͌̃̇͟͟͟͠͞͠e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞, h̷̶̘̘̬ͭ̏͞͡i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠s҉̝̭̦͚̑ͯ̌͡ f҉̴̥͎̰̰̒͌͛͐ͧ̕͜͝͡͞a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡m̴̵҉̸̲̗̰̼͗͌̃̇͟͟͟͠͞͠i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝ȳ̸̵̩̜͔͍̔́͟͟͢͡ i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠s҉̝̭̦͚̑ͯ̌͡ t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡h̷̶̘̘̬ͭ̏͞͡e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞ r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡s҉̝̭̦͚̑ͯ̌͡o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝n̸͐̈́͟͟͝ f҉̴̥͎̰̰̒͌͛͐ͧ̕͜͝͡͞o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠ o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝u̶͖̖͆̊̈́͡͡r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠ s҉̝̭̦͚̑ͯ̌͡u̶͖̖͆̊̈́͡͡f҉̴̥͎̰̰̒͌͛͐ͧ̕͜͝͡͞f҉̴̥͎̰̰̒͌͛͐ͧ̕͜͝͡͞e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠n̸͐̈́͟͟͝g̷̵̸̡̼̱͎͎̞ͤͬ̅͢͟͞ f҉̴̥͎̰̰̒͌͛͐ͧ̕͜͝͡͞o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠ u̶͖̖͆̊̈́͡͡s҉̝̭̦͚̑ͯ̌͡ n̸͐̈́͟͟͝o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡ b҉͙̺̻̥̅̎͋̕͜͝͡͞͠e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠n̸͐̈́͟͟͝g̷̵̸̡̼̱͎͎̞ͤͬ̅͢͟͞ t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝g̷̵̸̡̼̱͎͎̞ͤͬ̅͢͟͞e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡h̷̶̘̘̬ͭ̏͞͡e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠ 

AND YOU EXPECT ME ACCEPT THAT?!"

"Leave."

"Y/n-"

"I SAID LEAVE!"

[orionsangel86]

Subtext Glorious Subtext! A Dreamling on Netflix analysis in The Sandman - Part 1

A Walk With Death

In order to make the story flow better, the show moved Men of Good Fortune forward so that it takes place directly after The Sound of Her Wings. This choice was brilliant for several reasons, and I already talked about that extensively in this post. The Sound of Her Wings comes at a point where Dream feels lost and without purpose, and his sister shows him the value in his role, and in hers, and reminds him of the beauty of humanity, and how to love it again. Then as Tom Sturridge has been quoted as saying, Dream realised that if he could feel so much for the people he met so fleetingly at the moment of their deaths, what did he feel for the man he had known for 600 years?

To help bridge the two separate issues into one episode of television, we get some new short conversations between Death and Dream that don’t occur at all in the comics, where Death asked Dream about Hob.

Death: “...And then there’s your ongoing project. How’s he bearing up after all this time?”

Dream: “Who? Hob Gadling? I don’t know I was forced to miss our last appointment.”

Death: “Well I’m sure he’d love to see you.”

They briefly speak of him again before they part when Dream says:

Dream: “I too am late for an appointment.”

Death: “Tell him I said hello.”

Whilst these exchanges seem minor, and are added to make the episode flow better, Death implies two things here that are non existent in the comics - 1. That she keeps tabs on Hob, or at least has her own assumptions about the nature of his and Dream’s relationship, given the emphasis she puts into the word “love”. 2. That she believes Dream tells Hob about his family, or at least her, and if he doesn’t, that he should.

In the comics, Dream never reveals who he is to Hob, and Hob only really figures it out during the Wake and then after when talking to Death. Hob is a character who is usually isolated from the main storyline. He doesn’t interact with anyone else other than Dream until his conversation with Death in the Wake, other than the one off story in World’s End told from Jim’s POV (Which I have written about separately here where I consider how Hob's relationship with Jim has the potential to add him to the long list of canonically queer characters in the Sandman TV show.)

In the show, Death telling Dream to tell Hob that she said hello gives some prompt that this Dream, in the show, should be revealling who he is AND telling Hob about his sister. Whether he does or not remains a mystery, but the implication is there. It puts an expectation in the minds of the audience, one that comic readers wouldn’t have. There is a prompt for audiences to imagine how Dream and Hob’s reunion should go, and that it should include him revealling himself and telling Hob about his sister. It ultimately encourages the audience to expect Hob and Dream to be closer automatically than they ever are in the comics.

Return to the White Horse

I could wax poetic about Tom Sturridge’s micro expressions as Dream, but there is already a really nice post from @mimisempai​ about his expressions in his scenes with Hob here which I love. When Dream first leaves Death in the park and sets off to find Hob we follow him as he makes the surprisingly short walk from Richmond to Greenwich (lol, its a 4 hour walk, 1 hour drive, and 2 hours by train FYI - though funnily enough the New Inn is actually right by Richmond Park so Dream would have to walk all the way back there from the White Horse Tavern. But the London that exists in The Sandman is clearly a different place entirely!) It is a connector scene between two comic issues that I think give some lovely little insights into Dream's state of mind at the time.

In the comics, Dream meets with Hob after dealing with Hector and Lyta Hall, and it is his desire to meet with Hob that leads him to neglect Lyta and not explain anything to her fully. Ironically Dream wanting to repair his relationship with Hob in the comics is very partially to blame for the bad impression he leaves on Lyta, which ultimately ends in the whole mess in The Kindly Ones. There is no such connection between Hob and Dream's untimely end in the show (which is an interesting element given how the show swaps out comic!Dream's foreshadowed ending in The Kindly Ones in The Sound of Her Wings with his happy reunion with Hob as well.)

Instead, we get to see Dream walking nervously through the busy streets of London. He smiles awkwardly to the man in the doorway, an attempt at human interaction that he fails at spectacularly when the man recoils, simply because Dream is strange and offputting to normal humans (which makes Hob’s reaction to him later even more meaningful). His reaction to the school kids is to close in on himself, shrugging his shoulders and looking down, as if wishing he was invisible. All of these moments indicate how uncomfortable he is in this setting, and also possibly nervous at this appointment he is late for. All of these moments are added in contradiction to how comfortable he is with Hob at the end of this episode. Still so freshly free from his traumatic experience in the glass cage, having had nothing but cruel words and mistreatment from humans for over a century, it is clear he is still getting used to being out among them again now that his sister isn't a comfortable presence by his side. The music in this scene swells and adds anticipation. This is building to something important.

When he arrives at the White Horse we get that beautiful zoom in of his face as he realises the tavern has closed down. The shock and hurt and loss flickering across his face. At this point the audience still doesn’t know the meaning of this, but it is the emphasis that remains in mind as the scene changes and we get a different Dream, with a paler face, a sour expression, and a terrible hair cut. I love this transition because it makes it so clear how he has already changed. If the microexpressions weren’t obvious before, they are now. This is a different Dream, and one you don’t really want to meet. A Dream who hasn't been unconsciously building a friendship over 6 centuries. A Dream who thinks very little of the humans in his charge.

It is this Dream who first meets Hob Gadling, in 1389. Please read on to Part 2 to dig into that meeting. :)

[kyndaris]

Hello Madness, My Old Friend

From Octopath Traveler 2, I decided to keep with the theme of hidden cults and try my hand at the remake Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. With only a few short weeks before my trip overseas, I didn't want to get sucked into a lengthy role-playing game and leave it unfinished while I was overseas. Which was why I chose to play games that wouldn't take too long but could still tell a compelling story. So, after enjoying the new direction of Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One, I was eager to see what Frogwares would do to change of their first Sherlock Holmes games. Coupled with my obsession with the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Cthulhu mythos, my excitement was tangible.

Unfortunately, The Awakened did not live up to the lofty expectations set by the predecessor. Still, given the developer is headquartered in Ukraine and the game entered production soon after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I can forgive its many foibles.

Besides, Frogwares has never been a triple-A studio.

As such, I struggled with the stripped back gameplay and the jankiness of the game models. There were also several moments when the lighting, especially for hats, looked terribly strange and pulled me from the scene.

Faults aside, there were also many elements I loved about the game. Namely the story and the callbacks to Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One. This, more than anything else, made the two games feel connected. What's more, the backstory in Chapter One also felt conducive to the descent into madness that was Sherlock's story arc throughout the game. Yes, I would have liked some more backstory on the ultimate villain, with perhaps a nice tantalising story connection to our characters beyond a reference to the previous game of the same title, but alas.

Now, if you've ever played a Frogware Sherlock Holmes game, there isn't many surprises. In fact, I felt there were fewer instances for minigames. Gone is the combat and chemical mixing introduced in Chapter One. Sherlock is wholly dependent on the power of investigation and the occasional use of his extensive archives (which he seems to carry with him). This meant the story flowed better as Sherlock and John traipsed to several corners of the world in order to unravel the mystery of a missing Maori servant in the employ of the bullish Captain Stenwick.

It isn't long before Sherlock and John stumble upon their first major clue: The Black Edelweiss Institute. There, they unravel the mystery of the mental institution, including how the previous director was disposed and taken over by the distasteful Professor Gygax who brutalises the patients and uses the Institute as a cover to procure sacrifices for an unknown ritual.

Despite a brief encounter with the unknowable, Sherlock and Holmes find letters pointing them to New Orleans. So, off they trot across the Atlantic where they learn details about an auction selling precious black opals and journey into the bayou to save Mr Arneson, a local man. There, they retrieve an ancient book.

Returning to London, the local bookseller is manages to decipher the unknown language, which points to a mythical sea god that looks very much like everyone's favourite eldritch being. With the help of maps at the bookstore, Watson is able to pinpoint the location for this grand ritual. Everything culminates in a 'battle' atop a lighthouse on the Scottish coastline, with the duo putting a stop to the summoning of Cthulhu to our plane of existence.

Riveting stuff, I must say! Although, as I've stated before, it would have been interesting to have had some more focus on the villain and their underlying motivations. Still, the relationship between Sherlock and John was compelling. Especially as they were still finding their feet as flatmates at 221B Baker Street and had yet to establish the strong rapport they would come to develop in the latter games.

As I've stated above, the gameplay itself isn't as good as its predecessor. No longer are there multiple cases to solve. The Awakened is primarily focused on the one major mystery of a disappearing manservant, which dovetails into a world of secret cults and their attempts to ritual summon something beyond human ken. Of course, in so saying, the case does come to a proper conclusion instead of leaving it open-ended to the player. No longer did I have to ponder if I made the right choice when it came to the cases Sherlock closed as I interpreted the evidence to their logical conclusions.

And because of this the game is also much shorter.

I finished The Awakened in only a few short hours and Howlongtobeat.com seems to indicate it's about 9 hours at most. That isn't to say short games are bad, and I'm thankful I didn't have to pay an exorbitant amount for it.

Another gripe I had were the mechanics themselves, such as the map not providing an indicator for where Sherlock was located. Thankfully, though, each of the sets were quite insular and there wasn't any significant fear one would get lost. Although, I'm sure if I had my direction challenged friends play, they might still lose their way.

Yet, I must confess I was still hoping for a meatier experience. Time will tell what the next Sherlock Holmes game will be or if there might be any new changes implemented to the pre-existing formula. I, for one, would be keen to see a slew of quality investigative games for my favourite detective. But for now, I will continue to wait even as madness beckons to me.

[deaku]

Phantastic Memories

While working on dinner I was watching/listening to some videos on Youtube about the Phantasy Star series (specifically the classic games) and I remembered back to when I first played the games. Now I have an urge to write about those memories. Anyway… please pardon my ramblings as this will probably be very rambly. Also there will be spoilers.

Phantasy Star was one of those series I was aware of for a long time because I'd see ads and articles in various gaming magazines but never played because I didn't have access to a Sega system; I didn't own one and nearly everyone I knew were Nintendo people. From what I had seen in magazines and a few short times seeing a friend's older sibling playing PSII & PSIII I thought the Phantasy Star series looked pretty cool; although this was a bit before I got into RPGs so I wasn't rushing to play such games. The first Phantasy Star game I actually ever played was Phantasy Star IV. I didn't own a Sega of my own at this point I had a SNES then; though I had a friend with a Genesis and when there were games on the other system we wanted to play we'd swap systems for a while. And one of those time we exchanged systems was when I found PSIV at a local rental place and thought it was time I checked the series out firsthand. I thought it was an awesome game; nice graphics, great music, good battle system, and a story that pulled me in right away. It had a unique presentation with many cut-scenes being depicted with comic-like panels; giving it a more cinematic feel than many other rpgs of the time that depicted their cut-scenes with their usual in-game sprites. But something that really grabbed about the game, and the series in general, was the setting. The setting was a lot more sci-fi than many other similar games and that made it stand out to me. Sure it has the usual fantasy stuff like swords, magic and monsters, but it also has things like robots, lasers, spaceships and interplanetary travel. In PSIV specifically it's actually a bit post-apocalyptic due to events in one of the previous games, civilization is slowly recovering but it's obvious things were pretty bad because of what happened. I completed the game, but unfortunately I had no way to check out the rest of the series at the time because none of the local rental places had any of the other games nor did any of my friends. It'd actually be several years before I was able to check out and play the rest of the classic Phantasy Star series when I gained much greater access to the internet and I discovered emulation. Now I've played all four of the classic PS games; as well as reading about the history of the games, character backstories, as well as a good bit of fan fiction.

Now here's some thoughts and memories about the specific games.

Phantasy Star: The original way back on the Sega Master System, back in the starting days of console rpgs. Not only was the setting even more unique back then but it also had a heroine as the main character, an even greater rarity at the time. While Alis would fit right in the usual fantasy setting with her look and being a sword user some of the first things you see are some stormtrooper-like robotcops and you're near a spaceport, establishing that it's not going to be a typical fantasy world. I thought the game had a unique hook into the story. Alis wasn't out to save the world; sure she did end up saving the whole Algol system but she started her quest for revenge, to kill the man she considered responsible for the death of her brother. Even though I first played it so long after it came out I thought PS1 was still quite a good game and that it must have been outstanding when it first came out. You get interesting characters, including an animal companion that's a full party member instead of being basically an extension of another character or simply a mode of transport. Three planets to explore, both on foot and in vehicles. I think it has a great story for a game of its time and once you beat the evil king Lassic whose rule is responsible so much of the bad in the story you find that it's not over yet; you gotta face the ancient evil behind Lassic that appears to terrorize the Algol system every thousand years.

Phantasy Star II: Firstly I must admit that this is the only game of the classic series that I've never actually finished. I've actually started multiple times, but every time I'm only part way through when something comes up that eats up my free time for awhile or I get busy with something else. By the time I get back to the game I figure it's been so long that I'd better restart. However I've read about and watched enough videos to know the rest of the story. Anyway… PSII goes even further into the sci-fi side of things with tech-y looking cities, clone labs, bio-tech, more robots and not to mention a master computer running everything. I really liked the general aesthetic of PSII, it really caught my eye even when I just knew it from the ads and articles from game magazines. The game starts out with Rolf the government agent being sent out to investigate some odd happenings and things generally go wrong from there. By the end you've permanently lost a character, end up with one of the three planets of the Algol system destroyed, had to destroy the master computer Mother Brain since all the stuff that went down was under her direction, then you find out what's really behind everything. It's quite a ride through the whole game. Though something I always found odd was the way you gain new characters for your party. Rather than when you get to a new town and you have a story bit about meeting someone new, when you get to a new town you need to pop back to Rolf's place in the first town and then you find the new character waiting for you at home.

Phantasy Star III: Ah the black sheep of the classic Phantasy Star series. Upon a quick initial look much seems to have changed. The game starts with Prince Rhys getting ready to marry the mysterious Maia who washed up on the kingdom's shores one day with no memory. Everything seems to be a pretty standard fantasy kingdom with no signs of all the tech stuff from previous games. The wedding begins and then a dragon swoops down grabs Maia and flies off, so Rhys sets out to save her. Petty standard fantasy stuff really. But once you set off on the quest things start popping up that show things maybe aren't so far removed from previous games. At one point Rhys needs to take a boat but the captain doesn't ever set sail without a cyborg aboard, which leads you to tracking down the red-headed cyber Mieu. Then when you have to travel to a different land you need to go through a cave; entrance to the cave looks normal enough but when you get inside suddenly everything is metal and tech-looking. Turns out the game takes place on a generational spaceship, one of a fleet that blasted off before the planet that was lost in the last game went boom. While a lot is different from the other games in the series I did actually enjoy PSIII, and I gotta respect the ambition of making a multi-generational story in a console rpg back then. And not in a single storyline either; in the first and second generations once you complete the main quest you choose from two potential brides and proceed as the resulting child in the next generation, while the third generation is the last that's still four potential protagonists there for that generation. And depending on what path you take through the game you experience different events and meet different characters. Well except for your cyber friends Mieu & Wren, once you pick them up in the first generation they're with you always through all the generations. It would have been nice to have had more characterization and character interactions than what was there, but I can understand the tech limitations of the time put a limit on what they could do. Anyway, for those wondering I've been through and finished the whole game twice so far and gotten Sean's and Adan's endings.

Phantasy Star IV: I suppose I kinda already went over many of my thoughts on PSIV earlier in this. Like I said it's an awesome game, definitely one of the best of the 16-bit era. And an excellent finale for the classic series. PSIV is very story heavy when compared to previous installments; not only is the main story is a lost more detailed there are lots of character moments and interactions as well. It even has lots of links and shout-outs to the previous games in the series from talking about previous events to characters having links to those from the other games; though there good amount I missed the first play-through due to me having played PSIV first. But even not knowing much about the lore of the series at the time didn't prevent me from enjoying the game.

So to sum things up I think classic Phantasy Star games are quite an enjoyable series for games of the time. While certainly not perfect if you like old school rpgs they're definitely games to check out. Some stand out things about the games (at least to me)... The Setting: The sci-fi setting rather than just being a more standard fantasy; sure you can plenty of rpgs like this now but Phantasy Star was one of the progenitors. Plus the sci-fi stuff is right there in the setting from the start of the story as a current part of the civilization; rather then being something like tech from an ancient fallen civilization, used by invaders from somewhere else, or even just random techy things with no explanation. The Music: These games have some good music and there's some memorable tunes all throughout the games, I particularly enjoy the intro tunes. They do some clever stuff in PSIII too. Like the battle music changes depending on the situation; like an uplifting tune for when you're powerful enough that'll be an easy fight or something darker when there's a good chance the enemy might get you. Or like with the overworld tune it gets additions as you gain characters that builds up the music, and if anyone is knocked out the bit that goes with their party slot vanishes until they're revived. The Characters: The series has some interesting characters, though to get all the details you need to read some backstories since not everything gets revealed in the games themselves. The designs are good too, especially if you like an anime aesthetic. Very good enemy designs as well; ranging from cute to creepy to monstrous and threatening.

Okay I think I'd better stop my rambling here and maybe think about playing around with the series again. I actually have all the classic series in various forms now as parts of different collections. I even have Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe too, but those are perhaps discussions for another time.

Also if you would like to see some art I've done of some of the characters you here's a link over to my deviantart which has all the pics in one folder over here

[d010811sh]

suddenly the story of how my mom and my second dad (technically step dad but i like to refer him as my second dad) met for a second time struck my mind.

during their wedding speech or somewhere i can’t remember, they shared that they have known each other since they were a kids. not only because my second dad is a best friend of my mom’s brother, but he also often times came to my mom’s house. yet, it never occurred to them to start a conversation with each other, let alone date.

until one day, when they are both grown ups and had experienced unfortunate events that ended their marriage, they met again at the supermarket near their houses.

since then, their paths crossed again.

their story reminds me of the meeting someone twice theory – which people describe as a second chance for us to be with someone that we may overlooked before or simply because we weren’t ready for the first time round. this theory has been discussed by many, and interestingly, lots of people agreed with this one.

actually i believe that this theory is similar (or even the same) as the “right person, wrong time” theory that in reality, so many people are against it. for me, i think it’s just an extension if not a different name, because the words “wrong time” have a negative connotation to the theory.

personally, i do believe there are reasons why the first time isn’t always a “good” time for two people to be together. if we talk about the short reason, i think it’s mostly because of the situation and an incompatible personality between those whose in a relationship. when they met for the first time and started getting to know each other, they might have found something that didn’t resonate with them or align with their situation. so after all the efforts they were trying to make, all those dissimilarities, disagreements and of course, ego are the ones who won.

but after some times, the universe funnily says, “well here’s a second chance guys, let’s see how it turns out this time” and they meet again somewhere, unintentionally.

if we’re talking about the theories above —especially meeting someone twice theory — in most cases, people find the second-time relationship works better than the first one. in my personal opinion, here’s why :

1. they both realized that the situation is somewhat a blessing in disguise. for some people, meeting someone from the past is definitely something they don’t look forward to, because deep down the feelings they have for each other never really leave them and they are trying so hard to bury it. yet, when they meet, there’s a spark that ignites inside of them, and they finally surrender to and embrace whatever feelings they have for them, including their fondness.

2. unfinished business that both of them indeed, wanted to solve. some relationships end without closure, and for me, it’s the worst type of separation. but when this once in a lifetime time coincidence happens to us, its probably a sign from the universe that this is the right time to figure out and fix things that didn’t get handled very well in the past. how nice isn’t it?

3. better situation. there’s no denial that each person’s situation is also one of the main aspect of how the relationship works. so maybe, this can also be a chance to start over or continue the things that had to be forcibly done in the past? well you decide if it’s worth to try or not, but the universe definitely says yes.

4. character development. it is no doubt that people change, whether it takes a short or long period. no matter how long it takes, hopefully those changes bring them good, allowing them to solve their puzzle in the relationship and work together as a team not as a components or strangers as they used to.

so in conclusion, i do believe in the theories (both meeting twice and right people, wrong time theories) and it applies to every types of relationship – friendship, romantic relationships or even a certain relationships that you wish would stay in your life.

ultimately, i am a believer that all of this requires both parties’ efforts. because a relationship won’t work if only one side is willing to put in the hard-work, right?

[fussyspace]

Explorers of Rinth, John L. Simons Jr

Word count: ~208,000

Cover: It's an interesting cover, and the kid on the front (Isuelte, I think) suggests it's not aimed at adults. In hindsight, she does look perhaps a bit too young for YA, which is what this book was marked as, but I'll get into how this is relevant to the content later. There's a nice big tree in the background, which wouldn't mean much on its own, but the little wibbly light artefacts around it suggest something vaguely digital or spacey. All in all, a pretty neat cover.

Blurb: Relatively short, but it covers the two main threads of this story and keeps an air of mystery about whatever the strange secret is that binds the two groups together. I'd definitely take a nosey at the sample if I was seeing it for the first tine,

Vote: I voted yes to continue at the 30% mark (my personal vote, not necessarily team vote) and carried on to read the full book.

Content: Explorers of Rinth is a surprisingly long read for something marketed as YA, but when you see just how extensive its setting is, that becomes more understandable. Rinth's setting is wild and wacky, and it was probably the part I enjoyed the most.

However, it is also a book of contradictions. While it says it's YA, the general advice is that characters in books for teenagers should be a year or two older than the intended audience so that it's aspirational. There are many PoV characters in this book, but the main group are between 11 and 16 and they certainly act towards the lower end of that scale. The writing also feels more geared towards younger readers, but every now and then you get an f-bomb or a kid smashing someone's face in with a hammer that might not fly with a younger audience. Because the characters were young teenagers, they immediately irritated me. Thankfully, this improved about as soon as they stopped playing netball and got thrust into danger.

Our netball-loving teens, after all, live on a space station in a hollowed-out asteroid. They've made their own little group called The Explorers and like to snoop around bits of the station that they shouldn't, including the mysterious black staircase that leads to a labyrinthine network of tunnels. But what begins as a neat place to hold secret girly gatherings becomes a vital escape route when their slightly dystopian world comes crashing down on them. The Greys, soldiers under the command of the mysterious Grey Lady, come to shut the kids' school down and a riot erupts, which is what prompts the kids' escape.

There had been some interesting bits of information dropped about collaborators – people who sided with the Grey Lady and got special privileges because of it – and the exact circumstances were explained later, but at this point I thought they were about to embark on a colonisation mission because of things mentioned in Indira's chapters. So at this point I was confused – the events that prompted the riot seemed very childish and dumb, and I didn't get why the Greys didn't just explain the situation. Even the more senior Greys seemed abysmally trained. My confusion was explained away some time after the 55% mark, but that was still an odd moment for me, and that was a long time spent confused.

It's not just the girls we follow, however. At first we have Aristotle (who bags the first chapter, in fact), a man who wakes up with amnesia on top of a pile of corpses and gets taken in by a tribe. We have Indira, a doctor who gets woken from cryosleep only to discover most of her fellow travellers won't survive being woken – the ship's AI has made them oversleep by several decades. These are the core three at the beginning, although they are joined by many more later. I quite liked how Aristotle and Indira's chapters tended to answer each other's questions despite being separate for a while, and I enjoyed the adults' chapters more than the kids' chapters for the most part.

Slight spoilers follow from here, but it's only for one paragraph if you want to skip over it.

It turns out that the asteroid is a set of superimposed realities, a multiverse, with many of our characters existing in different ones. Throughout the course of the book, the girls visit many of these, coming face to face with minotaurs, gun-toting cowboy robots, six-legged bears and much, much more. By 55%, I was very confused, as I had the conflicting goals of 'go on a suicide mission to fight some aliens' and 'act as an ark for the remnants of humanity' rattling around in my head for the girls' original reality. Despite the multiverse having been introduced by this point, the two ideas were similar enough that I thought they must be the same timeline until it was explicitly mentioned after. Thankfully, all those weird bits of multiverse floating around made my confusion worth it.

The writing was a little harder to get on with, but more as an accumulation of little annoyances. It likes to repeat words and has some punctuation issues. Dialogue lacks natural contractions. Despite naming its chapters after their respective PoV characters, it seems to slip into omniscient or at least drift away from the PoV sometimes, which made it difficult to connect with them emotionally. (While they weren't the PoV at the time, I found the fact that the girl who smashed someone's face in with a hammer had no emotional or physical response unlikely, to say the least.) It also seemed allergic to using the past perfect tense where it should have been. Given it had an annoying habit of having characters show up somewhere, saying something had happened to them, then skipping back in time to show how, this made things confusing.

Towards the end, PoV characters starting rolling in in their droves, and not all of them seemed to advance the plot that much. I also got confused by what seemed to be a continuity error where a character was in prison in one chapter, then mysteriously free in the next. I might have forgotten him being freed because there was so much going on, but I don't think so. I definitely lost track of what was going on a little bit because of all the time and PoV jumps.

Still, I was looking forwards to seeing these many storylines tie neatly to a close, so you can imagine how disappointed I was when it set itself up for an obvious sequel and resolved almost nothing.

Overall, Explorers of Rinth is a solid slab of a book full to the brim of imagination and interesting characters, even if it can't work out what its audience is. It just doesn't quite manage to pull off its multiverse setting in a way that isn't confusing, and its proliferation of plotlines never get resolved in a satisfying way. I'm at risk of sounding like a stuck record with my reviews so far, but I see so much potential for this to have been made into several shorter books. There would have been more space to explore the amazing setting and to resolve some of the many plotlines towards the end of each book. As it is, the lacklustre ending after 200,000 words would put me off reading a sequel.

[dsandrvk]

Wednesday, May 10 - Tainan

Today we headed towards the west side of the city along the ocean in a part of Tainan called Anping. This was the first settlement here, and strangely enough, also has some of the newest developments and tall buildings. It's about 6km from the center of Tainan and the train station. The Dutch built a fort and established a trading center on what was then an island, but has since become part of the mainland (or at least connected by bridges and relatively far from the water). There is also a lot of reclaimed land here in what was once salt ponds and fish ponds. We had instructions to take the number 2 bus, and approximately where to get it (Confucius Temple), but not which side of the street to catch it on. We took a chance and wound up headed for Anping and not the train station. Success!

The pretty little doorway is part of the Confucius Temple complex - the grounds were crowded with school groups, but it was quite lovely and shady. On the way to the temple, we passed an intersection which has two significant architectural buildings. The five story one in the picture is the Hayashi Department Store building and was constructed n 1932. It was the first department store with an elevator in this part of Taiwan. It managed to survive WWII, even though at that time it was the tallest building in the area. It has been declared a Municipal Heritage Site (similar to our National Register), and after sitting vacant for a while, was reopened as a department store again in 2014. Across from it is the Land Bank, also built in 1932, in a neo-classical style interpreted by the Japanese, which is somewhat reminiscent of European fascist architecture. I will try to include a picture in a future post.

After we got off our bus, we went first to the site of Fort Zeelandia (also called Fort Anping), the original Dutch fort and outpost. Not much remains of the original, except for one wall and another low fortification, but the Japanese rebuilt much of the fort during their occupation, and did a very good job with red brick and the local cement mix of crushed shells, syrup and glutinous rice. At the top of the fort there have been several styles of buildings and the latest contains a gift shop and small museum. Above all of it is an observation tower that figures prominently as a local symbol, but which adds nothing historically or aesthetically to the site. The views from the top are fairly nice, but since it was encased in plexiglass at the top, it was hot and airless and we didn't linger.

We then chose to walk north towards an estuary where there was supposed to be a "birdland" park. At one time, perhaps, but in the time since they built nice little viewing platforms, complete with an extensive bird list, the vegetation has taken over, and we could only see glimpses of water through the foliage, and no shore. There were lots of birds along the path, so we strolled for a short while before heading towards the harbor area and some waterfront parks there.

On the way, we passed this incredible cemetery, filled with tombs and altars, with almost no space between the monuments. Nearby we found another large temple dedicated to Mazu, all decked out with flowered wreaths and sprays, most likely for Mazu's birthday, which is this week. (Mazu is a god, but then even gods have birthdays). Inside were more offerings, including a large column of Heineken beer. We arrived here just as 4 large tour busses were leaving - we realized that we were not only at the temple, but also back by the fort, as we had come full circle.

Our next destination was another fort, a bit of a walk south, and sometimes called the Eternal Golden Temple, which is a bit confusing. It is the remnants of a fort built in 1875, and designed by French engineers. It has a 4-point star-shape, and the outline of the fort is a symbol of Anping, with its likeness on everything from brochures to manhole covers. It is surrounded by a large moat, which according to our guidebook, had swan boats at the time of printing, but no more. The picture of the huge cannon is from there - there are three and they are all replicas, since the original British made 18-pound guns went missing during the Russo-Japanese war. The entire area was very park like and serene, with the sounds of birdsong only occasionally being disturbed by the scream of the fighter jets training overhead (yes, here, too, and these are probably the same group since the island isn't that wide). And then 4 large tour busses arrived and made their quick circuit around the place, too, and all semblance of peace was shattered.

We knew there was a bus stop here, but no idea which busses stopped or where they went from here, but there was an electronic sign that showed a number 14 heading to the train station in about 10 minutes, so we hopped on and got off near our hotel. One of the handy things about the iPass cards is that you never need to know what the fare is or have change - you just tap on and tap off the bus and it charges according to the distance traveled (or zone). Occasionally you can check at a 7-Eleven to see the balance, and add money to the card, if needed.

It was only about 5 PM now, so we walked to the South Gate, which is the only remaining gate and section of wall from when Tainan was a walled city. The last shot is of the building inside, but unfortunately the gate itself was closed for the day by the time we got there. The soccer drills were being set up in the park outside the gate, on what should have been a grassy lawn. There is obviously a drought here, as we are seeing added sprinklers in parks and there are notices everywhere to conserve water.

Notes on some of the other pictures. The "creature" was one of four guarding a statue at the Fort Zeelandia - it may be a lion. The tunnel and bridge are from the entrance to the Eternal Golden Temple, and the whale structure was in a waterfront park adjacent to a kid's place area. We passed this area on our 3km stroll from one fort to the next in Anping. There were very few people in the waterfront park, but many in the park surrounding the Eternal Golden Temple. Most were walking, but one woman was doing an exercise routine along to a class on her little laptop.

We finished off our day with some ice cream and snacks at the hotel before cleaning up and going down for more food at "evening snack". The only time there doesn't seem to be food available here is from 10AM to 1PM. It's all pretty tasty, too, even if I'm unsure what I'm eating some of the time.

Tomorrow we are off again further north to a smaller city of Lugang (also spelled Lukang). It isn't on the train line, so we will be taking a bus from a train station further north. This will be our last stop before our airport hotel and subsequent flight to Fukuoka, Japan. Every place we have been so far is very different, and an interesting mix of urban and rural.

[bestintheparsec]

Between the Lines

Frankie Morales x F!Reader

Summary: A trip to the bookstore brings you more than you’re looking for.

A/N: This is just something short/sweet I came up with (it’s probably the least deep or angsty thing I’ve ever written, unlike my usual). It’s a standalone, but obviously I have a thing for coffee...anyways, I hope you like it!

Words: 1.8k

Warnings: none

(Masterlist pinned to my page)

~

You've found it.

After countless stops at multiple bookstores, you've managed to track down the book you've been searching long and hard for. It's a new release you've been eager to get your hands on—collector's edition, special content included. Every store you've gone to has been completely sold out of it, but after many phone calls and Google searches you'd found a store, one town over, that still had it.

Determined to get it this time, you'd shown up as soon as the store opened today. Stepping inside you see that it's a fairly big store, but it seems to be a local place since you'd never heard of it prior to your extensive search. You make a mental note to come back here more often, taking in the quaintness of it. There's plenty of books, of course, but there's also a section full of cute memorabilia and stationery, and a cozy coffee place tucked into the back corner.

It doesn't take you long to find the section you're looking for—you easily spot the beautiful cover on a display at the center of the store. There's only one copy left, and you're giddy with excitement and relief as you reach for it, sliding it out of its spot. It's the last one on the shelf, but it's in impeccable condition—no wrinkles or folds on the cover or pages, and not a single fingerprint on the jacket. Usually the last ones to go are ones that have been handled by other readers, shoved aside for a more pristine copy on the shelf. But this is your copy now, and it's perfect.

Smiling to yourself and cradling it in your arms, you walk hurriedly back to the front to pay for it and finally take it home. Turning quickly around the corner and not paying attention to anything else in particular, you wonder how long it'll take you to finish it.

And then you crash into something large and sturdy. The book falls onto the floor with a clunk and you feel something hot splash onto your skin. Someone steadies you, only for a moment before stepping back.

You gasp and blurt out an ouch! before realizing that said large and sturdy person was holding a cup of coffee, which is now spilled all over the front of your shirt and the floor.

“Shit, I'm so sorry, are you okay?” a deep voice asks frantically. Still processing what happened, you haven't looked up, focusing on shaking the brown beverage off of yourself.

Some of the hot liquid is on your arm so you briskly brush it off and shake out the front of your shirt, trying to cool off your skin. It's not until a large pair of hands gently takes your wrist, dabbing your arm with a napkin hastily pulled out of his pocket, that you finally look up at this person—and find an unassumingly handsome, albeit panicked-looking, man with wide brown eyes and a face that looks about as hot as your skin feels. You let yourself imagine that if this weren't an inconvenient moment, you might be looking at him as if something clicked into place.

“I'm so sorry, we should get some cold water on that,” he says again, urgently, wiping away at your skin before realizing he's still holding onto your arm and awkwardly letting go.

“No, it's fine, I'm a klutz, really,” you mutter to yourself, dropping your eyes to the book on the ground. It's covered in coffee now, too, much to your disappointment. Way to go, you chide yourself, deflated at the sight. Not only have you ruined the book you've gone through so much trouble to find, but you've also embarrassed yourself in front of this cute stranger in the process.

This is why you stick to books.

“I've ruined your shirt...and this book,” the man murmurs, bending down to pick it up. His furrowed brows and pursed lips make him appear softer than you might expect.

He meets your eyes, swallowing hard and peering at you with what can only be considered as puppy dog eyes. You really look at him for the first time, noticing the unruly dark curls poking out from under his cap, and the distinctly “outdoorsy” attire he has on, worn-out flannel button-up and suede jacket and all. Honestly, he looks mortified, but it's sort of endearing that he's so concerned when many others would've just muttered a curt apology before leaving you to your business. In any case, you find yourself wanting to know more about him. It's a thought you immediately push away; after all, you'd only just met him and he probably only thinks of you as some clumsy girl.

“It's okay, really, it's my fault,” you shake your head at him. “I'm an idiot, I wasn't watching where I was going.”

“But that coffee was really hot, it might've burned you—” he insists.

“I'm wearing another layer under this,” you reassure the man. Taking the book from his hands, you sigh quietly. “I can't say the same for this, though.”

He looks like he's about to ask you something else when another man, probably his friend, walks up next to him, glancing back and forth between you before making a face like yikes when he sees the large stain on your shirt.

"It's not his fault," you sputter at the same time that Coffee Man mumbles, "It was my fault."

After inquiring if you're alright, his friend reaches down to pick up the now-empty cup from the ground, then playfully smacks the man's arm.

“I can't even leave you alone for one minute,” he shakes his head jovially and you almost miss the mischievous eyebrow raise he gives him before turning back to you. “You know...you should let Francisco here take care of that. He's military—first-aid-trained and all,” the friend says with a grin and knowing wink. Coffee Man's jaw clenches, glancing timidly at you as his friend keeps talking, then shooting him a glare that says please stop fucking talking.

"Now you've ruined my coffee and a pretty girl's shirt," his friend jokes.

Coffee Man tries to smile but is visibly embarrassed as he swats his friend on the arm. “Get your own fucking coffee, then, Santi,” he tells him under his breath, which elicits a grin out of you.

Santi throws his hands up in mock-surrender. “Alright, alright. It was nice meeting you,” he nods and smiles at you before walking away.

“I really am sorry,” he tells you again as soon as his friend is out of sight. He fidgets with his hat, removing it for a second to smooth out his hair and then pulling it snugly back down. “I—I'll get you another copy of the book. And a new shirt…”

You chuckle, trying to put him at ease. “Seriously, it's fine…um, Francisco, was it?”

“Oh—Frankie,” he tells you, the smallest of smiles on his lips. He peers at you with that concerned gaze again and you both keep eye contact for what feels like several moments longer than necessary. Despite yourself, you start to feel heat creeping into your face.

Smiling softly back at him, you suddenly feel self-conscious and hug your arms to yourself. “Well, Frankie, it's no big deal. I was going to go home after this, and this shirt is old, anyways." You examine the damage to the book, flipping through the pages. "Mostly I just wanted this book—it's the last copy in the store...but that's okay, too. There are worse things.”

“What's it about?”

“Hmm?” you reply, looking back up at him.

“What's, um, what's the...book about? It has to be good if you were so excited to get it.”

You hadn't expected him to care what you were reading, and you can tell by the shy look in his eyes that it's a genuine question and not anything more.

“Oh. Well…” you start, and it doesn't take long for you to go off about its synopsis and why you've been waiting forever for it. It takes a while for you to realize that you're rambling, and you stop your muddled train of thought. But by the soft look in his eyes as he listens, you get the feeling that Frankie doesn't mind. That, or he's the kind of person who always makes the people around him feel comfortable.

"Anyways, I should let you go on with your day…" you trail off, but both of you remain where you are, not seeming to want to move.

“Wait—will you let me pay for the book?” Frankie insists. “They'll want someone to cover the damage. It's the least I can do.”

“Actually...I think I'm going to keep this copy,” you tell him. “It's still in decent condition and I can read it while I wait for them to get more in.”

Frankie smiles at you, genuinely and without embarrassment for the first time. “You really are excited for it, aren't you?”

“Yep,” you reply with a nod. “It's the same story, even if covered in your friend's drink,” you tease.

“Okay, if you're sure,” he continues. “I'm sorry again, um…I didn't catch your name.”

You tell him and he smiles again, repeating it.

“It was nice meeting you, Frankie,” you tell him as his large hand shakes yours. “Please don't worry about all this.”

Returning the sentiment, Frankie turns to head back to his friend. For a second you consider calling to him, asking to see him again. Not that you'd be bold enough to actually do that. But he quickly disappears behind the rows of shelves and you figure he has other places to be, anyways.

~

It's almost a week later when you return to the bookstore.

You'd given the front desk your number so they could call you when more copies came in, so you asked them to hold one for you, which they happily did. When you get to the register you find the same cashier who helped you last time, greeting her with a smile. She knows what happened last time, grinning as she hands you the book carefully wrapped in a plastic bag.

When you reach for your wallet she shakes her head. “Oh, no, honey. You're good to go,” she tells you. 

You look at her, confused, and she smiles again. “Think of it as a makeup for the last one you already paid for.”

After her insistence, and many thanks on your part, you take the book and leave. When you get to the car, you take it out of the bag, pleased to finally have it. You find the smooth receipt neatly tucked in between the pages and pull it out.

What you don't expect is, at the bottom, it has some handwriting scribbled in pen along with a phone number jotted down under the note. Warmth sneaks into your cheeks and you smile as you read the words.

Would you maybe like to get coffee sometime? I promise not to spill it on you this time. -Frankie

 ~

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[potteresque-ire]

🏳️‍🌈 Rec post!! A queer film + a queer TV series from Hong Kong ~

1) Twilight’s Kiss (叔·叔) (Dir. Ray Yeung 楊曜愷; 2019)

Twilight’s Kiss offers a very realistic depiction of two elderly, in-the-closet gays in Hong Kong, who have dedicated their lives building a conventional family before unexpectedly falling in love with each other. It is a quiet film, and the romance is told in the same subtle manner as love is expressed (and not expressed) in their generation. The actors were phenomenal at playing regular Hong Kong men of their age (Pak mentioned he “came to Hong Kong”, ie, he was a refugee from Mao’s China, as the vast majority of his demographics was), which added to the resonance of the story ~ they could’ve been anyone, and anyone could’ve been them. 

The director of the film, Ray Yeung, is an openly gay man.

(Long review: Hollywood Reporter) Streaming link to film (with English subtitles; pls ignore and close the pop-up window)

2) Ossan’s Love (大叔的愛) (2021)

The unlikely (and hilarious) love triangle between Muk (Left), Tin (Center) and KK (Right) in Ossan’s Love.

For those who found the name familiar, it’s because the series is a (faithful) remake of the popular 2018 Japanese series of the same name. The Hong Kong version is longer (15 episodes; ~ 40 min each) compared to the Japanese original, and its mood is cheerier, sweeter, and also ... more BL, with the lead characters Tin (Haruta in the original) and Muk (Maki in the original) played by two idols, Edan Lui 呂爵安 and Anson Lo 盧瀚霆, from the very popular local boy band MIRROR.

(Being idols didn’t prevent them from kissing. Not in Hong Kong, 2021.) (Yes, they kissed, and hugged and fought and bantered...)

Ossan’s Love is culturally significant in that it became the first gay drama to be aired primetime in Hong Kong, and by extension, in China. Beloved by the locals, it was also very much discussed—hk-queers expressed their (surprised) joy that finally, they got to see a respectful, dignified presentation of who they are and how they love. More importantly, they got to see HKers, older generations included, glued to the TV for their kind of love story, rooting for the lead male characters to get together. 

This signifies a broader acceptance of LGBT+ in the city than previously assumed; this is very important and comforting to the community in June, 2021, when the future of LGBT+ rights in the city is very uncertain. After the 2019 protests, pro-democracy leaders have been arrested and jailed in large numbers; newspaper that advocated for freedom has been shut down. Meanwhile, during the airing of Ossan’s Love , the (in)famous pro-Beijing politician, Junius Ho, claimed the series to have violated the city’s much feared, much abused National Security Law—the law that officially aims to catch “traitors”, but has been used as a “catch-all” excuse to arrest political dissidents and suppress the freedoms of the city. Ho was of sufficient prominence that his words could draw the attention of officials who have been sent from across the mainland-HK border to do Beijing’s bidding.

Also, Ossan’s Love was produced not by the powerful, once popular TVB (local TV station), which, with Chinese investors becoming its major shareholders like many other HK press and media companies, has become very pro-Beijing and conservative. The series was produced by ViuTV, a much smaller station preferred by young, pro-democracy Hong Kongers ... which means the future of the series, of its stars (MIRROR’s members are once-contestants of a ViuTV talent show), of even the station itself is also uncertain.

Hence, I’m recommending Ossan’s Love now ... even if the official version doesn’t have the best English subtitles. The full series is on Youtube (links below); the soundtrack is in Cantonese and (Traditional) Chinese subtitles are available, but English is only available via Youtube’s built-in Auto-Translate function. 

For those who would like to catch a short scene of two cute HK boys in love, the last 5 minutes of Ep 11 would be a nice place to watch. You can see how comfortable these two bandmates were with each other—Edan (Tin) had played two supporting roles before this series, while Anson (Muk) had never acted before. Edan and Anson have claimed that being close friends in RL meant their intimate scenes were easy to film (BTW, Anson is gay, Edan isn’t).

Edan Lui (Left) & Anson Lo (Right), Harper's Bazaar HK, May 2021. Edan was a uni student before joining hk-ent. Anson was a dance instructor.

(You can also see why, when I watched the Gg + Dd Happy Camp episode very, very early on in my turtlehood, I assumed Gg and Dd would have ample opportunities to work together again, to play and be happy in front of the camera ... just like how I remembered on-screen couples from my days in HK—the couples, the CPs of the time, would collaborate repeatedly after having demonstrated chemistry and become commercial success—in film and TV projects, in variety shows, in awards ceremonies as presenting guests etc etc. This multi-project collaboration was, and still is, viewed as a Very Good Thing, and not only for commercial reasons. The inter-personal fate (緣份) to play on-screen couples repeatedly, per the tradition of HK-ent, is something of a blessing, talked about as a small-scale version of having the destiny, the luck to be together across multiple lives, multiple incarnations. Actors treasure this kind of collaboration and the HK audience celebrates it, regardless of the marital status of the actors in RL. Entertainment news dedicate articles about it.) (There’s actually an example of that in Ossan’s Love: Kenny Wong 黃德斌, the actor who played the titular Ossan, KK, and Rachel Kan 簡慕華, who played his wife Francesca, had already played husband and wife three times before. Rachel had retired from acting in 2017 and moved to Canada; she told reporters that she returned to shoot Ossan’s Love primarily so that she could play Kenny’s wife again).

* Below is a small warning for Ossan’s Love ~ *

The humour of Ossan’s Love is often wild and zany, especially where it adapts from the Japanese original. Some of it, i-fandomers may find uncomfortable. Notably, the titular Ossan (Japanese, meaning “Older Man”) was Tin and Muk’s boss; and he and Darren, another superior of Tin and Muk, were also part of the romantic story line.

One can argue, therefore, that Ossan’s Love contains a *very* “Me Too” situation; however, this is also why I find Ossan’s Love interesting beyond being a Chinese-speaking gay drama—it is clear that the production team of this series meant no disrespect, and from the series’ reception, it’s also clear that hk-queers and other more progressive members among the audience didn’t see disrespect in the product. This series therefore offers a glimpse to the answers of some questions I’ve had: how does Hong Kong of 2021 translate respect for queers (as well as for older men and women) into day-to-day words and actions? How do these culturally-specific habits in speech and behaviour compare to the norms in, for example, the United States (that I’m familiar with)?

“Political incorrectness” was also found in some of Tin’s internal monologue. However, I thought, perhaps, that was why the series has proven to be disarming to the general audience both in HK and Japan, places with a tradition of homophobia stemming often not from malice, but from ignorance, from sex being considered taboo for so much of the places’ history. Tin, as someone who haven’t seemed to have spared a thought about homosexuality before the story had taken place, spoke the minds of the audiences who aren’t familiar with homosexuality. Muk, meanwhile, presented the perspective of someone who already understood what being gay was and wasn’t about. Tin, therefore, led the audience towards Muk and his views step by step, all the while without being judgemental—how could he be? He was one of them too during his journey. He was the student, and he was also the protagonist who everyone—and I mean everyone—loved (in a rather funny manner :D). 🌈

(Long review: BLwatcher)

Links to Ossan’s Love, official version uploaded by ViuTV: EP 1 EP 2 EP 3 EP 4 EP 5 EP 6 EP 7 EP 8 EP 9 EP 10 EP 11 EP 12 EP 13 EP 14 EP 15

ETA 2021/09/16: Streaming with English subtitles is available here.

[azucanela]

being zuko’s s/o would include hcs?

BEING ZUKO’S S/O [GENDER NEUTRAL!READER]

BEING KORRA’S S/O | BEING SOKKA’S S/O

SUMMARY: being zuko’s s/o from the confession to the weddin’ [say this but make it rhyme the way those singers do ya know]

WORD COUNT: 2.5k

WARNINGS: kissing, very mildly implied nsfw, soft zuko, a dragon

A/N: these are gonna be extensive bc there is no scenario but if you want whole fics there are like 6342 zuko fics coming since everyone is a zuko simp. also wow this is really long um i hope its what you wanted!

GETTING INTO THE RELATIONSHIP

you guys have probably known each other a long time, because homebody does not fall for just anyone, so if you become the object of his affections, you better feel HONORED. hehe honored 

i feel like it takes him a lot of time to actually accept his feelings for you are beyond platonic. the main reason he falls for you is probably your consistency in his life since thats something he tends to lack. like his mom? gone. his dad? kicked him out of the only place he ever knew. his life is filled with major changes so if you guys have known each other since childhood then consistency is key

once he realizes he likes you he kinda panics because what if you don’t accept him? what if you leave? even worse, what if you leave because he likes you? so now he’s panicking, and naturally, as one does, Zuko avoids his problems. You, being the problem. And his emotions, but he is in denial so

definitely talks to his uncle about the two of you A LOT, especially when he is first figuring out his feelings and trying to figure out what to do about them

his uncle is an elite wingman, constantly tries to get the two of you to be alone in the same space or get information out of you in regards to you

when it comes to confessing i can see a few situations

situation one is that zuko confesses completely by accident, freaks out, disappears, avoids you even more, like homie is a mess. after you get fatally injured, or maybe when he thinks you are asleep, or he just kinda blurts it out in conversation when you guys are doing something domestic. regardless, it is entirely by accident, and now zuko is freaking the heck out. 

“i really like this tea.”

“i really like you.”

“excuse me-”

“i goTTA GO FEED MY DRAGOn Y/N!”

“you don’t have a dragon!”

so that’s how zuko gets his dragon from LOK, storytime over

you kinda have to find him and get a word in before he runs off because he is really scared of rejection, he doesn’t want you to leave and assumes that if the situation is never addressed then you can’t leave woohoo problem solved. 

his uncle yells at him lol

when you corner him you gotta confess super fast and handle his anxieties because he is super worried about you hating him now even though it is the opposite. 

“please don’t leave me.”

“i’m not gonna leave my boyfriend.”

“your- your what?”

“we are dating now. i like you, you like me, so we are dating.”

situation two is equally chaotic, but far less dancing around the feelings since you confess! congrats! you have more balls than me! im so proud! good job bb!

when you confess, its probably late at night, a comfortable silence between the two of you, or maybe he’s ranting about something, like how dumb the concept of tea is idk. regardless this is DOMESTIC, so it’s soft and cute and you are just like you know what screw it this nerd is so easily flustered by me maybe he likes me back! look at us cuddling like a couple! might as well make it official!

zuko.exe error, not working

you broke him good job. 

he externally panics and internally congratulates himself while panicking. he is very shocked you feel that way for him because he is an oblivious boy. 

“honestly, i don’t understand why my uncle likes those flavored water leaves so much-”

“i don’t understand why i’m in love with you.”

“WHAT.”

if y’all were cuddling on a bed or smth he THROWS YOU OFF BY ACCIDENT SKJDHJFHKHWJKF oopsie, he just gets up so quickly that you kinda go tumbling.

homie literally asks you why so naturally you gotta start listing all of these reasons why because hes like perfect and beautiful and yeah we all love him a lot :D marry me zuko <3

you gotta give him a hot minute to process all the information you just gave him, he is in shock for a short while, kinda just sitting there confused. once it gets through his thick skull that you like him he’s gonna thank you 💀

then he’ll ask you how you wanna handle this and boom you have a boyfriend now good job! 

DURING THE RELATIONSHIP

dating during a war is hard so when y’all first start dating, probably towards the end of the war when he finally joins the Gaang, its gonna be really chaotic and you guys are still gonna be sorting through everything, like what kinda couple do you wanna be? neither of you know

kisses are rare during this time, especially since zuko is a generally private person who doesn’t really do PDA much, especially since he wants to avoid teasing and judgement from others. he’s a real people pleaser at the end of the day, he literally spent three years of his life looking for someone the world thought just disappeared permanently because he wanted his dad’s validation.

when you two do kiss, it tends to be a night in your shared tent, even then Zuko is weary of Toph’s seismic senses.

his kisses tend to be soft and sensual, he really just wants to take his time and enjoy it. however, bb does have a temper so you can expect some spice on occasion when he gets frustrated.

this comes later on in the relationship, once the war is resolved, but that just brings about new problems! like having to deal with the new fire lord who is always busy as your boyfriend!

especially at the beginning, when he’s newly crowned and everything is busy and new and he’s struggling with being organized, he rarely has time for you. however, you are likely his right hand, main advisor, general, whatever your area of expertise is he will find you a position in the castle, unless you tell him you want to stay out of politics. though, deep down, he wants to give you a position so he can spend time with you

once things calm down and he’s got being fire lord in the bag, he starts blocking in time during his day to actually take you out on dates and stuff

at one point just disappears for the whole day with you and everyone thinks he’s been kidnapped until they realize you aren’t around either

that’s not very responsible of you guys smh you have a nation to run 

is soft with you, though zuko’s temper definitely lessened when he became Fire Lord, but it no doubt shows itself sometimes, but never with you

well need your assurance sometimes because he gets insecure

like why is the beautiful amazing intelligent woman dating me i do not understand what the heck why have you not left me yet

knock some sense into him

also gets worried that he is a horrible ruler and wants you to tell him that he in fact does his job very well

did you forget you helped end a war zuko?

kiss. his. scar. give him love, its one of few physical parts of himself that he is insecure about and if you kiss him there he might start crying because wow intimacy didn’t know what that was

speaking of intimacy, he is a touch starved boy so when you start giving him love do not stop, never deprive him of cuddles he gets grumpy

lol play volleyball with him

very domestic??? like his parents highkey did not like eachother so now he just wants to hold your hand, lay with you in the morning, wake up to your pretty face, and just cuddle with you while you read aloud 

overall you two are a power couple and zuko simps for you 25/8 you rule as a team and he values you and your opinion VERY much, tries to take you out as often as he can despite his VERY demanding job, and expresses his love to the best of his ability

MARRIAGE N STUFF

zuko took the throne YOUNG he was like 16, so he is not proposing until y’all are at least adults, but i imagine that he is probably gonna wanna date you for like at least three years before proposing

he wants to make sure you are there to stay even if you’ve been around since childhood

there are two ways he is gonna propose here

situation one is where he kinda just does it,,, randomly? like out of nowhere he realizes that w o w he wants to marry you, he wants to spend the rest of his life with you and dedicate everything to you because you are HIS forever person

so he’s kinda just laying with you in the morning, nice soft kisses here and there, will not let you leave the bed and you are definitely complaining, especially if you have a position in the palace and need to get to work

regardless its a soft moment, there’s light filtering in through the window in your shared room, and its shining on your face, and yeah you are lowkey a mess because its the morning but you are just,, so,, beautiful??

and you start telling him about your plans for the, playing with his hair and stuff, and he’s listening to his heartbeat when he breaks from your hold and looks up at you and is just like

“marry me.”

“we also need to feed your dragon- wait what”

you are kinda just in shock for a moment, so you sit up and look at him, mouth gaping open like

“are you serious?”

he suddenly realizes he doesn’t have a ring and it is 7AM in the morning and it is not the best time for this

“...yes”

now you are laughing, falling back onto the pillows, and maybe there’s a tear in your eye as you nod rapidly, “okay, yes.”

now you are thinking of the fake story you are gonna tell people when they asked how he proposed because you are NOT saying it was in bed at 7AM while you were looking like a whole mess

“yes? yes as in yes you will marry me? are you serious?” 

such an idiot, but he’s cute its okay

you kiss him and its passionate and adorable, and he kisses back but he quickly breaks apart and is like “you’re sure? because i don’t have a ring-”

“how have you successfully run a country.”

“good thing you are gonna join me on the throne i suppose.”

“oh my god you’re right-”

“you aren’t reconsidering are you?”

“NO.”

have fun being the fire god woo

now y’all go back to making out and traumatize whatever advisor comes to check on you because they’re like where are the people who rule this country??? 

situation two is where he has been carrying around the ring for MONTHS but is looking for the perfect time to propose because you are perfect so this must be perfect

he couldn’t sleep and in the middle of the night he was like WELP I WANNA GET ENGAGED and kinda just decided he was gonna marry you

since you were asleep he couldn’t ask you right then and these

confides in the gaang and everyone is super excited

now he’s been walking around with this ring for months and what is he supposed to do now oh god

the gaang is like stop procrastinating bro, just ASK HER, and hes like NO IT NEEDS TO BE PERFECT

they help him set up the palace courtyard and make it all nice, there are lanterns, and candles, and a path of rose petals, and this time around he does have a ring so yes its great

he’s like hey let’s go for a walk! and you’re like okay??? lol

so you two are walking around the palace, holding hands, when he leads you to the courtyard and you are just like DAMN this is romantic AND pretty

“i think we are interrupting Zuko let’s leave”

“what do you mean interrupting-”

“well someone clearly put in a lot of effort!”

“that someone is me!”

:O

its not that he isn’t romantic its just that he’s never done something like this so now you’re confused

“did i forget our anniversary?”

“no.”

NOW you understand, looking around, you turn back to him to find that he’s on one knee, you two are in front of the pond with the turtleducks and wow it must be raining why is there water on your face? haha...

he tells you he loves you and that he wants to spend the rest of his life with you, and how he hopes he never loses you because you are just so vital to his life and his being and everything he’s done to make this world a better place has been for you and damn zuko you wonder if he got possessed

obviously you agree

and obviously something goes wrong

when he stands you tackle him with a hug and you two fall into the pond

oops 

the wedding[disclaimer: i have never been to a wedding so i do not know what happens in weddings, feel free to educate me pls] is either REALLY intimate and private, or really big and stuff, since you gotta go through that whole coronation process now and like public weddings n stuff

no matter what his uncle is the one who walks you down the aisle.

change my mind.

you cant. 

the intimate one is almost similar to eloping, probably happens in the court yard where he proposed, and you are wearing a AMAZING outfit, whether its a tux, an amazing dress, a jumpsuit, you gonna look FIRE

hehe fire

anyways it’ll probably be the people who fought with him in the war, the gaang, the white lotus, kyoshi warriors, maybe a few others, 

its a really nice ceremony, and the courtyard is decorated so beautifully, though Zuko considered putting a fence around the pond considering what happened when he proposed lol

if its a more public wedding, then its going to feel like the entire Fire Nation came to watch y’all get married, much more flashy, there’s a band performance, a banquet, y’all gotta use the ballroom so that everyone can dance 

kinda nerve wracking ngl

regardless, after you two get married nothing really changes because you always acted like an old married couple, and even as the other ruler of the fire nation, you always had an important job in the palace so its kinda just the same but more official

its a vibe

moral of the story is zuko is a simp for you and your marriage is mutual simping, that is all

A/N: i kinda went off ngl, also im about to hit 200 followers and i feel as though i should do something special so i am taking suggestions pls

taglists[lmk if you wanna be added or removed :D]

zuko: @shawni-h @lil-lex1 @boxofteenageideas @izzieserra @eridanuswave @bigbuckyenergy @outerxorbit

permanent: @chewymoustachio

[the--descension]

i would die for a "how to use html and css to format ao3" lesson from you 👀 no pressure but i'm genuinely in awe :)

Hello! So sorry it’s taken me ages to get to this. 

It's no pressure at all! I have tried to cover the basics of HTML/CSS on AO3 here, and instead of writing very extensively about the syntax which is very Google-able, I have tried to include little tips and tricks that have come in handy for me. 

This, by no means, is a complete guide but I hope it can get you started with HTML and CSS on AO3!

It got pretty long, so the answer’s below the cut.

Okay, so let’s start at the very beginning, shall we?

What is HTML and CSS?

Well, HTML is Hyper Text Markup Language and CSS is Cascading Style Sheets. 

But that is something that probably doesn’t help a lot, so to put it very simply, HTML provides the structure of a webpage while CSS does the styling, that is, fixing how and where the elements should exist, how to shape them, how to space them, all so that the webpage looks great.

Something to keep in mind is that all web pages can run only on HTML but the end result is not going to be something that’s nice to look at. In fact, without CSS, the page might not even make a lot of sense. Here, take a look at Tumblr itself with all CSS disabled (there’s a very useful extension called Web Developer that allows you to do this):

Not very nice to look at, but all the elements of the page are here only with the help of HTML.

And look, this is what the above section looks like with CSS enabled:

This was just a brief visual walkthrough to show what HTML and CSS really do, but let’s move on to HTML and CSS in the world of AO3.

Where does the HTML and CSS go on AO3?

The HTML part of the code is put into the text box when you post a new story/new chapter. You must have noticed the two options — Rich Text and HTML — and it’s important to have HTML selected for AO3 to identify the HTML tags that you’ll be using.

All your content goes into this textbox. Whatever text you may be writing, whatever images you may be hosting, whatever links you might want to add— everything goes here.

Now, for styling all the content that you’ve put into the textbox, you need CSS, and that happens through work skins. It’s super simple, and all you have to do is go to Skins on your AO3 panel and then to My Work Skins, and then create a new work skin where you can dump all of your CSS code.

Okay, so onward we go.

How to HTML and CSS?

I’m no expert in web design and my knowledge mostly comes from Coursera, one summer internship, one class in college, and extensive online searching. And, I’ll tell you this, the most I have learnt is from extensive online searching.

Because at the very heart of it, web design is not so much about understanding and applying concepts (as with other coding languages) but more about visualizing elements and testing them out. I must add that this is completely my opinion as a person who rather enjoys data structures and algorithms as compared to web dev, and I’m certain that seasoned web developers will disagree with my views here. 

Right, so the online searching. The best in the business when it comes to explaining HTML/CSS is www.w3schools.com. They have sample code, short and sweet explanations, and an online IDE to test your code. Really, it’s a win-win situation.

Alrighty, so now you know where to look for your HTML tags and CSS properties but how do you figure out which ones to use?

HTML Tags

I’ll talk about the HTML that’s required for coding on AO3 exclusively.

But before that— every HTML document has two main parts: the <head> and the <body>. But here on AO3, we only code the <body> which, as its name suggests, holds the content that’s going to appear on the browser. The <head> part is not required for AO3 work skins at all.

Okay, so how to code HTML on AO3? Well, your best friends are going to be the container tags such as <div> and <span>, and the paragraph tag <p>. What these tags do is they create areas on your browser — you can imagine them as small rectangles and squares — where you can put in your content via HTML, and then later style using CSS.

See this? The entire shaded area belongs to a <div> which is styled by a CSS class called “tumblr” (to keep things simple, we’ll only focus on CSS classes, and not id’s. It won’t really hamper developing a workskin in any way.)

This above belongs to a <p> that is styled by a CSS class “tumblrbody”. And, this <p> exists within the <div> mentioned above.

Here’s a <span> styled using the CSS class “tumblrtags”, which comes within the <div> and <p> we just discussed.

Basically, the idea is that the entire page will have to be divided into all these subsections, nested within each other if required, so that they can then be styled using CSS.

Other HTML tags that come in handy are the <a> and <img> tags.

The <a> or anchor tag is used to embed links. Want your reader to be led to a separate page while they’re reading your story? This is it. (This one’s quite common, and authors use them quite frequently in their notes to link to their Twitter/Tumblr etc.)

The <img> tag is used to embed images as the name suggests.

See how the picture is within an <img> tag styled by a CSS class “tumblrimg”?

Again, I’m not talking about the syntax of these tags or how they have to be written because that’s something which can very easily be found on w3schools or any other web dev tutorial website.

So, that’s pretty much about HTML. Now, CSS.

CSS Properties

So, when I talk about how most of my web dev happens through thorough internet searching, I’m mostly talking about CSS. Because HTML tags aren’t difficult to remember, they stay in memory when you keep designing web pages, but CSS properties... ugh.

But before we begin, a short note on CSS classes. To simplify matters you can look at them as labels given to your HTML container tags (<div> for example). Once you assign the label to your HTML element, you can then style that label in your CSS, and introduce properties to it which you want to see in your HTML. It basically forms the link between your HTML and CSS. 

Say, I have a <div> that I want to style, then I’ll give it a label like this: <div class=���mongoosesurprise”>Your code</div>. The class name is mongoosesurprise, and when I have to style that particular <div>, I’ll have CSS code that looks like this:

Now, about CSS properties. 

You see all the words in white followed by a colon? max-width? border? background-image? That’s it— CSS properties. I can never remember if it is maxwidth or max-width, whether it’s margin-right or right-margin, whether it’s padding-right or right-padding, and that’s where the Googling comes in.

Again, like with HTML, I’ll only talk about CSS on AO3. Unlike regular CSS, CSS here always has to start with #workskin. And then, #workskin can be followed by our class name. (The class name must be preceded by a fullstop though, like in the picture above.)

My CSS design procedure is all over the place. I entirely work on the basis of trial and error. I keep adjusting properties like max-width and padding and margin to see how the elements fit best. (It doesn’t take me as long as it did four-five years ago to estimate these values and I’d attribute that to practice and inspecting a lot of web pages. On a related note, it’s great to learn web design by inspecting other pages.)

I realize this isn’t great advice but like I said, it’s always been about trial and error when it comes to CSS. What I can say conclusively is that with properties width, height, display, position, padding, and margin most of your HTML tags will be placed properly. But when it comes to styling, the list is really quite endless. From a number of font-related properties to border, there’s a lot— and, thus, Google.

And, finally, what you must know for HTML/CSS on AO3 is how to host images.

Hosting Images

If you want your work to contain images, it’s best to host them somewhere online. Imgur is a great option; it’s free and really simple to use. Once the image is uploaded, you can get the share links and put it in your HTML <img> tag (under the src attribute— again, very syntactical so I’m not getting into that), or if you want you can put it in your CSS as an attribute for the property “background-image” (like in the code above).

You’ll have to make minor changes to the share link though, that is, add the image extension (.png or .jpg) to the end of the link. Also, sometimes the image doesn’t render if there’s no ‘i’ preceding ‘imgur.com’. Here’s a sample link that works perfectly: http://i.imgur.com/aSMSztl.png.

And, I think that’s pretty much it.

This covers the absolute basics of how to code HTML/CSS on AO3. But I’d like to repeat that by no means is this everything. If there’s a particular area you’d want me to explain, please feel to drop in an ask!

Happy coding! 

[thesims4blogger]

The Sims 4: Official “Sims 411” Recap

The Sims team has released a recap of the November 23rd, 2021 Inside Maxis stream.

Hot Topics

An update on the non-binary pronouns

This past May, we opened up about our pursuit of non-binary language in The Sims. Since then, we’ve researched global language characteristics, connected with consultants, and collected data on areas where a change may be needed. Although there is a path ahead of us before we are able to update the game, we’d like to give you a look behind-the-scenes and show you where we are in the process. In January 2022, during the first Inside Maxis of the new year, we’re hosting a fireside chat with members of our development team where we will share an update including the research completed to date, more on our partnership with external experts and the work-in-progress wire frames. Make sure to tune in!

An update on the NPC overhaul

We did not forget about our Townies update that we mentioned back in August. [In fact, the better word is NPCs or Flagship Characters. We’ll use NPCs moving forward to keep things simple ]. On the contrary, we have been working behind-the-scenes with a talented group of people including concept and character artists, our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that help us to create inclusive experiences in our game and of course, members of the Sims community who have shared their valuable feedback with us based on their extensive knowledge about the histories of these characters.

While we don’t have a date to the release of this update, we do have some work-in-progress images to give you an idea of the direction we’re heading. Please note that these are WIP concepts and not final. What you end up seeing in-game might differ from the images that we show you; this NPC update is a process that goes through changes as we continue to research, adjust and collaborate.

We’ve picked out some before and after concepts of the Goths and the Calientes. Take a look at the images from the latest Inside Maxis.

Next Patch Sneak Peak

Neighborhood Stories

Do you ever wonder what your neighbors are doing? We bet your Sims do! And now they’ll even be able to influence their neighbor’s lives…

Neighborhood Stories will spice up your gameplay as a free update coming to the Base Game on November 30th 2021.

Check out all the details in the Neighborhood Stories blog post and watch SimGuruPJ and Game Designer Nate walk you through this new feature.

Upcoming Scenario

Surviving the Holidays

Let’s be real, the holidays are not just about nice presents, good food, and cheerfulness. These joyful days may also challenge us to let go,  forgive and open up our hearts –  even to those we might not really want to!! Easier said than done? Ask your Sim who’s stuck living with their worst enemy but still has to get through the holidays. Will they find a way out of their grudge?

Jump into the Base Game to play Surviving the Holidays from December 1st 10AM PST through January 5th 10AM PST.

Upcoming Sims Delivery (SDX)

It’s happening! The first Sims Delivery is on its way to your Base Game.

As a reminder, Sims Delivery Express (short: SDX) will bring free content to your Base Game as a complementary, more spontaneous little sibling of our regular game updates. For more details check out the Hot Topics in the previous Sims 411 Recap.

Please kindly note, we’re correcting ourselves coming out of the Inside Maxis livestream with the following – and correct – timing of the upcoming SDX launches.

The very first Sims Delivery is this gorgeous curly low ponytail that will drop into the game on December 7th, 2021.

We showed you the following nine beautiful Seasonal Sims Items during our livestream. Please note this Sims Delivery will release December 14th, 2021. Add these tasty treats and festive touches like the wall bows and decorative fruitcake to your Sims’ space to help them get in the spirit!

We wish everyone a wonderful holiday break. Whether you celebrate or not, we hope all of you will get some well-deserved rest Until next time, see you in the new year!

[kinsey3furry300]

5 ships I hate, why I hate them, how to (kinda) fix them, the better ships you should be doing in that universe, and why you should ignore me and keep writing them if it makes you happy.

Note: this is done for amusement, please don’t be offended; I’m not attacking your ship, I’m just listing some ships I do not always care for, and how I think they could be improved, and maybe made brilliant, by clever writing.

In no particular order, and focusing on ships that often annoy me, with no attempt by me to say anything meaningful or popular about the current state of any particular fandom. I’m also a firm believer in the idea that there’s no such thing as a bad ship, only a badly executed ship, so my objections to these is less a dislike of shipping, or the paring, and more that they raise writing issues that I think are difficult to fix in a satisfying way. That’s why in a lot of the examples below I prefer AU ships to ones that try to messily work it into the cannon. Anyway, enjoy... I guess?

 Marco x / anyone (Animorphs)

Why I hate it: Animrophs is an intensely character-driven story, where the tension of each book comes from the conflicts, external and internal, that the five Animrophs (and Ax) face during a long, hard, traumatic war.  And while several of the character are paired off romantically, it’s always to emphasise character conflict over their different points of view. Jake and Cassie are a pair because Jake’s struggle with having to make hard, grey, morally ambiguous choices as leader is highlighted by Cassie’s burning need to make the right choice, the lesser evil, the choice that leaves some small shred of humanity and dignity and kindness left in this bleak world. Tobias and Rachel are a pair as their arcs deal with literal and figurative loss of humanity, as the slow accumulation of trauma over time turns these happy(ish), normal kids into psychologically ruined husks of their former selves and destroys them slowly, one fight at a time.

Marco’s arc, isn’t about either of these things: Marco’s arc, is about the bright, clear line between A and B, between problem and solution. Marco is a utilitarian, a pragmatist: his concern isn’t the burden of leadership, or the cost of the decision, but about how to put that all aside and make hard decisions that actually work regardless of cost. It’s not about what to do, the path is obvious: the bright, clear line of ruthless logic, but how to do it. His match, his counterpoint, the other character who’s all about the logic of taking awful decision in a way that actually works for the team, and his foil, his female counterpart in this, is not a romantic partner, but his mother: Visser one, making the exact same hard, difficulty ruthless decisions using logic and maths, but for the other side of this war. A romantic paring gets in the way of this arc because a partner doesn’t help him with that bright, clear line, and worse, any attempt to pair him of with either Rachel or Cassie breaks up not only a cannon paring, but their respective character arc.

How to (kinda) fix this: Marco’s arc is, at the end of the day, a trolly problem. So make sure whoever you ship him with is one of the people tied to the tracks. Introduce a character he crushes on, and then in the second act reveal that they are either a Controller, or in the family of a Controller or the proximity of the target of their next mission in a way that will make them collateral damage ,and let Marco struggle with what happens when that bright, clear logical line from A to B cuts through someone he actually loves; you know, like it did with his mother. See, even trying to fix this ship is weirdly Freudian.

The far better ship you should be doing: Ax x / EVERYONE. Ax in human form is described as a worryingly pretty, worryingly androgynous male of indeterminate race. He is a literally Bishonen alien hedonist with no familiarity with human senses, poor impulse control in human form, and no knowledge or understanding of human courtship rituals, and he can shape-shift, including into other members of the core team if needed to compel a mission, he calls Jake his prince,  and he is incredibly close to Tobias, the lonely outcast woobie that the LGBT fans adopted as their poster boy. Come on, the potential for shipping, both with wacky hijinks and sad, tragic star-crossed lovers’ trope is endless. Every line dedicated to Marco shipping is a line of text that could be dedicated to Ax trying to eat a Cinnabon erotically on his first date as a human and hulking out mid way because he forgot just how good they are. What could be better than him leaning into to erotically kiss a team-mate, and then fucking up due to his failure to understand human mouths, making weird mouth sounds, and then licking crumbs of the table in the middle of the mall, in front of the entire school, while his crush awkwardly tried to pretend this is normal? What’s wrong with you Marco-shipper people, do you hate fun?

 Riz/Tem (beastars) Why I hate this ship: Okay, just to quickly ask a question, to people who un-ironically like this as a serious ship and not a dark joke, just one little question: What’s wrong with you? I mean,are you okay? Keep taking the meds: the show is VERY clear on that point.

It’s like those people who say Joker X Harley Quinn is their ideal dark, edgy relationship: no it’s not, it’s abusive! Morticia x Gomez is dark and cool but CONSENTUAL and HEALTHY. This… this is a deeply imbalanced person murdering someone and telling themselves after that fact it was special and rare and magical. ITS HOMICIDE! And even if you write that out (and you shouldn’t, because that changes the character arc of every other major character) it’s still got more red flags that a soviet military parade. This is the botulinum of a toxic, one-sided teenage infatuation. Riz’s entire arc is about how he projects his thoughts and feelings about himself onto this idealised, made-up version of his and Tem’s relationship which, from Tem’s point of view, never existed. Riz never loved Tem: he loved the idea of Tem, the idea that someone would see the real him, see his inner pain and accept him anyway, but he never once told Tem this. He didn’t warn him “Hey, because of you I don’t feel I need my meds any more, do you mind if I try not taking them and we can meet and talk about this in a safe, well-lit pace?” He’s not honest with Tem, and on top of that It doesn’t make sense from the point of view of either of the characters for them to be actually, romantically in love (although  they were clearly close friends), because it undermines and cheepens Riz desire to just be seen and accepted for his real self, and the cannon Tem X Els ship. It also doesn’t make sense from a story point of view: Riz is a shadow archetype for Legosi. He’s what Legosi would have become if someone hadn’t interrupted his attack on Haru. That’s why Legosi needs to beat Riz with his own hands: because then he’s beating the darker version of himself he’s been carrying with him, and he can finally move on with Haru guilt-free. Having Riz and Tem’s relationship actually be what Riz imagined it to be undoes that. It undoes Riz’s interesting, dark inner struggle between truth and fantasy, it turns Tem’s tragic, unsolved murder that sets the entire story in motion into a just sort of weird Romeo-and Juliet suicide. It’s ruins the character arc not only for Riz, but for Legosi, and also, by extension, Louis and Haru, because Legosi’s internal angst over whether or not herbivores and carnivores can have a relationship as true friends needs this example of a tragic, flawed, toxic, failed friendship to bounce off of.

How it could (sort of) work: an AU where Riz’s attack on Tem is interrupted and Tem lives with a slight arm injury, and doesn’t tell anyone out of his complex feelings for Riz. Meanwhile, that bunny girl from the gardening club had been brutally devoured and Rz and/or Tem are so horrified with how close this was to their own near-miss, they start to investigate the murder, and in doing so get caught up in Louis’ inner struggle. Because that’s how the story needs to work, it’s about duality and struggle: and if Riz takes Legosi’s role, and by dating a herbivore he de facto takes the role, so Legosi must take Riz’s. This could be a great AU!

The better ship you should be doing: Pina/Riz (with a dash of Pina x Els), no, seriously, I’m not shitposting. You want to give Riz a redemption arc with a cute woolly boy? How about a story where Pina, out of a need for closure about at happened to him, starts to visit Riz in jail and they talk, mockingly at first, confrontational at first, but later Pina slowly becoming more fascinated in Riz and Tem’s life and asking Riz for more and more detail until they both bond over their shared traumatic experiences and their sense of loss for Tem’s senseless death, Tem’s unfished life casting a shadow over both off them. Eventually, the two of them find, from Legosi who still has the diary, that Tem had planned out an elaborate and beautiful first date with Els that he never got to take her on, and Riz, guilt ridden and sad than Tem never got this beautiful moment, decides to ask Pina take her on that date for Tem, with Riz coaching him by phone cyano-de-Bergerac style, Riz finally getting some closure that he helped one of Tem’s wishes come true and finally acknowledging to himself that Tem had a life and loves outside of him that were cut of short by his actions, and just crying over his lost friend, as Pina and Els slow-dance in Tem memory. Or if you just want to see Tem awkwardly date a carnivore boy from school, why not something less creepy and more wholesome and ship him with Jack? That would be cute AF, and more importantly, not romanticize brutal murder. Or an AU where everything is happy and nice, I’d argue at that it’s no longer Beastars at that point, but if it makes you happy, go for it. Let’s not shame anyone here.

 Snape X Lilly (Harry Potter)

Why I hate this ship: honestly, it’s not for the reason you think; I just like Snape too much as a tragic character, and making him in any way happy destroys his arc in my opinion.  The objection’s others have raised: that Snape acts in a worryingly possessive stalker-ish way towards Lilly, and that if Voldemort had gone for Nevil rather than Harry as a child Snape would have remained a loyal death eater, are true and I acknowledge them as having some validity, but that’s not why I can’t stand this ship. Snape is supposed to be a morally and emotionally complex, tragic figure. That “After all this time?” line was the best line in the Deathly Hallows.  Snape is supposed to show the equality destructive and redemptive power of  love. It’s sort of trinity: Lilly shows the pure power of true, unconditional love in her sacrifice to save Harry, Voldy shows what self-destruction and cruelty a life without understanding love leads to, and Snape sits somewhere in the middle: his one-sided  un-requited love being both the cause of his darkest, and his greatest actions. His curse, and his redemption, fall and rise. Making him happy messes that up.

How to (kinda) fix this ship: make them miserable. Make them fall for each-other only to be pulled apart by circumstance (you know, like they were in the darn original source material). You’re serious about making this a tragic, dark romance? Don’t ship them when they’re at school: Ship them during Voldemort’s rise to power, in the 80’s, after Lilly is married. Have the original Order of the Phoenix send her to meet with Snape and use their previous relation to try to milk some information out of him. Have her feel conflicted about it, have James furious about it, but have her do it anyway for the greater good. Have her meet up secretly with Snape who is angry and distrustful, knowing his must be a trap, and talk. Have the relationship slowly build over time against the backdrop of a cold-war spy thriller, as Lilly slowly realizes that she has some lingering feelings for Snape, but can’t reconcile them her loyalty to the order and her family. Make this a love story of conflicted feelings, divided loyalties, and spy-work against the background of drawing war-clouds. Have Snape offer to leave Voldemort, if she’ll leave the Order, and run away with him, but by that point she knows she’s pregnant and chooses to stay, out of loyalty even though she’s crushing on Snape. Have him show up at the rendezvous expecting for her to be there only for James to lead an Order Ambush, and a fight to ensure, on top of Tower Bridge in the howling wind and rain, Snape surviving but having his spirit crushed and fleeing before Lilly can tell him her true feelings. Make it big, and melodramatic, but above all, make it tragic.  Because that’s the only way Snape works as a character. Always.

The better ship you should be doing: Ginny X Nevil or Luna x Nevil: You want tragic lovers, at school, with divided loyalties, who never get together in the main cannon because a Potter ruins it and gets the girl? Ginny X Nevil. Write what was happening that final year Harry wasn’t at school when they took Dumbledore’s Army and make it work in earnest. Heck, you could even have Snape, as headmaster, hated by them but secretly trying to protect them as a secondary character to their secret, forbidden love. You don’t want to break up Harry X Ginny? Luna X Nevil is sweet and wholesome, but also tragic as they never get a chance, having their school life taken over by the horror of that final year and the need to fight for their very souls in a school run by Death Eaters and the trauma of the Battle of Hogwarts meaning that in order to put away the past and move on, they need to leave each other behind. Hell, do an AU where they canonically end up together, why not? They deserve happiness.

 Dean / Sam AKA Wincest (Supernatural)

Why I hate this ship: They’re brothers. The show even makes a joke about how squick this is. Several times.

How you could (sort of) fix this ship: You can’t: They’re brothers. The show even makes a joke about how squick this is. I guess a body-swap arc could fix this, as it’s less squicky if its just their bodies with someone else’s minds,  but seriously, the reasons why this shouldn’t exist are extensively covered in the show, and it was hilarious.  To be honest, I don’t hate this ship done as a joke, but I have seen some dark spots on the internet, and I can say with all honesty it’s not always treated as a joke. Some folks are really invested in this, and all I can ask is, is your home life okay?

Now, done as a joke, I’m 110% behind this. This is exactly the sort of insane wacky bullshit that makes for a good crack-fic. For example imagine that the supernatural threat of the week was book that made anything written in it come true, and the brothers are trying to find and destroy it, but they keep getting distracted by their burgeoning romantic feelings for each-other, and suddenly realise that the owner of the book is a fan on the in-universe novels, and writing slash-fic in the book. They need to find the writer before they make them do something they’ll both regret, but it’s just so distracting when Sam’s beautiful eyes are right there and- dammit, Sam, it’s happening again! Make Sam less concerned and even a little amused, with it, but make Dean hate what’s going on. Especially when the writer’s description suddenly makes Sam noticeably better hung that him. Make the villain turn out to be Becky from “Sympathy for the devil” and end with them trying to take the book away as she writes frantically to force them to do her bidding, and you’ve got yourself a good fic.

The better ship you should be doing: Cas/Sam or Cas/Dean or Cas/Sam AND Dean fic. Duh. Once again the show-runners beat the fans to the mark and pointed out that this is the best ship, and then they took it away just to fuck with us.

 Any Katniss ship that ignores her obsession with Emotional Security Logic. (The Hunger Games)

Why I hate these ships: Katniss is, briefly put, a mess before the books ever start, her father’s death and harsh upbringing have arguably given her PTSD before she ever volunteers for the reaping, and it doesn’t get better from there.  In psychology, Emotional Security Theory (EST) is a hypothesis that the heightened emotions surrounding repeated violent exposures leaves children vulnerable to dysregulated distress responses and eventual psychopathology, aka, why Kat be so messed up.  Her internal monologue makes the books completely clear that her choice in partners is not motivated by normal affections, but by deep, deep fear. A fear of loss, abandonment and death that leads her to make every decision about what minimises her, and her sister’s, exposure to potential physical and emotional harm. It’s frantic, fraught, cold survivalist thinking. And the other characters in the book notice and acknowledge it! “Which of us will she pick?” “She’ll pick whoever she can’t survive without.” Kat doesn’t like herself for it, but she does eventually admit to herself that she makes her decisions like this.

How do we fix this ship: Ship Kat with whoever you like, but give her a good reason to pick them: and in Kat’s mind “A good reason” is based on Emotional Security Logic, she needs to have a pressing reason why this ship makes her and her sister safer. Do that, and you’ve got yourself a good Katniss story. Don’t do that, and while you may or may not have a good story, the person staring in it isn’t Katniss Everdeen anymore.

The better ship you should be writing: Finick X Annie. Or, Haymitch prequel ships

FinAnn. This, this ship has some real potential to it, and is criminally underutilized. Finick and Annie’s relationship is one of the most tragic and romantic in the story, and has so much to offer. Or, if you want to have a hard-bitten character from district 12 struggling with trying to find love in the hellish combat of the games, do a prequel in which Haymitch finds love in the capitol during training, but loses then in the area and turns to drink as a result. Heck, you could even have some fun with this and turn it into a dark comedy, or a great tragic love story, whatever you like. It’s got potential, and his backstory is vague enough you could do a lot with it.

So, tell me below why I’m wrong, and have fun with your writing: just because I hate that ship doesn’t mean you should. Enjoy yourselves.

I’m off to write awful Ax/Pina/Luna Polyjuice’d into Nevil/Cas/Finick fiction set at an anime high-school that fights a magical war against other fictional schools, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!