#look objectively there's some meh things in the writing

[tenrose]

So... You're telling me that in the very beginning of the first book, there's an history institute that stated in the very beginning that time travel was used only to document history and NEVER EVER to intervene with history no matter what, DO NOT TOUCH A TIMELINE OR ELSE, and, by the end of the first book, the members of this institute decided to turn it into a rescue institute using time travel to rescue things that are supposed to have been destroyed in their own timeline....

Now I get why this is a 13 book series, it's gonna be a giant mess. I LOVE IT!!!!

[galadrieljones]

i read your theories. And i believe it but there is a feeling inside me and telling me that beth will never comeback. i don’t know.

I would be lying if I didn't say that every day, I deal with a similar nagging voice in my head: If she doesn't come back, is this all for nothing? I do truly believe that lately, there has been too many strange developments to be pure coincidence. But, at the same time, I have skepticism deep in my roots. It's simply in my nature to interrogate, which is how I got here in the first place, so I feel you.

I came into the Bethyl fandom about 6 years late. I saw "Coda," during my first TWD marathon during covid in 2020, and I had been accidentally spoiled a long time back. I knew Beth was going to get shot and that she was going to die, so while I was really upset about it, I knew it was going to happen. BUT. I didn't think it would be that...weird?? I just thought a rogue bullet would tag her during a shoot-out, and she'd die in Daryl's arms. But it didn't happen like that at all. It was just so WEIRD! It was so unlike any of the other deaths. And it just didn't sit right. The way Dawn was trying to convince Beth to stay, to do something that she said would be "the most important thing she'll ever do in her life??" Rick's repetition of the "Can't go back, Bob," line? The weird POV and high angle shots during the exchange? The bizarre audio and closed captions that don't match what we hear and/or see? The canted shots, which I remembered from a film class I took in college were meant to communicate messages of disorientation and even psychosis. I thought, is something wrong with Rick? Is he misremembering what happened? I was also stunned by the coda with Morgan, because it was just so...oblique? Like what were all those weird, random bits of inventory? The magazine, the little things he leaves at the altar, and how he seems to be laughing at some cosmic truth we can't see or understand. I thought, I have to be missing something!

Then I watched WHAWGO, and I knew something was like really off. I knew that the writers were playing some sort of game. I couldn't really put my finger on it, but like, I just figured they would address it later. I figured that whatever was being hidden, it would soon surface. But it never did. Around the time I was watching season 8, so maybe a month or two later, I found Team Delusional on tumblr, and I realized that my instincts were, if not definitively correct, than at least being shared by tons of other fans. It was amazing to me that, six years later, I could be asking the same exact questions, completely unprompted, that they were asking at the time the episode aired. How could that be a coincidence?

In any case, skepticism still finds me from time to time, mainly, I assume, as a form of self-preservation. I mostly cope with my creeping, inevitable skepticism by just...continuing to badger the evidence. Anytime I simply feel like being reminded of why I care so much about this, I go back and revisit "Slabtown" and "Coda." For me, the most convincing evidence is actually the Christ imagery. Why plant a bunch of Christ imagery if you weren't planning a resurrection? It really doesn't make sense. And it's really not that unusual for the GA of a show like this to just miss the signs. Because while "the signs are all there," if you don't know how to read them, you might just think you're looking at confusing writing choices and/or you might just tell yourself, "Meh, well, it's just a TV show. It's not that serious." And, of course, it's not. It IS just a TV show, but I have met lots of people who, because of TD, at the very least, have gone back and admitted that, um, yeah. "Coda" IS kind of weird. Like, what is it with that? And the angle of the gun actually DOESN'T make sense, and yeah, why DIDN'T we see Beth's funeral? Isn't a whole big deal made in "Alone" about Beth and how important she thinks it is to give dead people funerals? These are all objectively valid questions! They don't take "true believer" or "conspiracy theory" ideologies to entertain. They just take one single second look at the evidence and an open mind. Team Delusional really isn't delusional at all. We're simply very inquisitive, detail oriented people who really love Beth and Daryl.

All of that said, I definitely understand where your skepticism is coming from, and it's been such a long time. The best way I've found to deal with it, other than continuing to interrogate the show, is to just sort of let go of control and enjoy the moment as a hobby and/or a passion. For me, this kind of research and analysis is definitely a passion. But also, to (badly) quote @twdmusicboxmystery, "Until the powers that be come right out and say, 'Beth is dead and she is never coming back,' I'll be here." I do really think she's alive! And at the very least, I believe they'll create closure for Daryl, in some way that has to involve Beth.

Keep believing!! But don't let it cause you pain or anxiety. It has to be fun. Whatever will be will be, and if you're not enjoying it, it's okay to take breaks or to just take a firm "wait and see" approach. You can always change your mind and dive back in when you feel up to it again ❤️💕💫

[mostlyihyperfixate]

As per usual, """"quick"""" discussion of Spirit of Justice as I head into (??? I think ???) the final case.

There must be a bonus case, too, because I know there's one about time traveling and weddings and stuff?

Anyway, I really will try to be quick this time.

I love this game.

I'm really surprised, because going into it, I was really "meh" about the concept of Phoenix going to a fantasy country and aiding the legal system there. And I still am to an extent--the worldbuilding and the extremely literal pun names (which I realize were also there in the Japanese version) really do nothing for me as a whole.

But this is the best the writing has been since the original trilogy, in my opinion. Objectively, the trial segments are more difficult than Dual Destinies and subjectively (because I know a lot of people really enjoy it), I find the story to be less...I don't even know. I personally find it more interesting than Apollo Justice, but, again, that's an entirely subjective opinion.

The not subjective part is that Spirit of Justice doesn't have Turnabout Serenade.

I think the thing for me is that every single case so far has had some aspect to it that was memorable to me: The musical bits in the first case; the incredible asshole-ry of the culprit in the second case; the twists and turns--and Phoenix finally using spirit summoning to summon something other than a better lawyer--in the third case; Simon and Athena working together on the fourth case; Apollo and Phoenix going up against each other in the beginning of Case 5.

I read that people don't like Case 4 because of how condescending Simon and Nahyuta are to Athena. I just read it as Simon being a typical big brother. He stepped in because he didn't like the way Nahyuta was treating Athena, but as a big brother, he couldn't just say that; he had to act like it was because he didn't trust her. Additionally, he just wanted to be involved because he's a gatekeeping weeb. But just because that's how I read something doesn't make it true, so I'm not gonna, like, go after anyone that didn't like that case.

And I cannot emphasize enough how cathartic it was to see Apollo win a court battle against Phoenix. I know the narrative says that he'd never be able to if Phoenix was at his best, but whatever.

I love Rayfa. I understand she also isn't for everyone. I'm not actually crazy about tsundere-types myself. But a huge part of Phoenix's appeal to me is his weird-girl-dad energy, and her investigation segments gave me a lot of that. I'm looking forward to seeing what the last bit of the game does for her.

I'm also surprised by how much I love Dhurke (at least at this juncture). The games really don't have any good boy-dad representation, and his open love for Apollo is very endearing. Like, obviously he's flawed. He abandoned Apollo in America for reasons yet to be revealed, and that might sour me on him. But for now, just having someone around to encourage Apollo and give him fancy sushi and call him "son" just makes me very, very happy. I just want good things for Apollo.

Nahyuta is the weakest link for me here. I'm not going to say that he's scum or anything. I just...don't find him very interesting. I assume he's going to play a pretty big role in this last bit, so I'm willing to change my mind! But right now, he doesn't do anything for me. I know he's not a complete jerk. He's a reasonable authority figure to Ema. But I sure would have liked to see him branch out from just calling the defense "putrid brained" or whatever. His made-up hells were funny at first, but now they've just kind of devolved into nonsense, and calling everyone "putrid" is all he has. And I know. Godot only had coffee, and I liked him. But he just went up against Phoenix. Nahyuta goes up against Phoenix, Apollo, and Athena. I'd just have liked to see some variety beyond, "oh, you wear yellow, so you're a putrid egg." Wow, calling them names based on food based on their outfit colors. How original. No one's ever done that before.

But yeah! Overall, I've had a really good time with Spirit of Justice! I've had to look up solutions for the first time since Apollo Justice; I've talked myself through answers for the first time since Trials and Tribulations; and I've actually been excited to put the fanfiction down and play since that game as well.

I've heard this last bit in Khura'in lasts just short of forever, so I suppose all of my opinions could change. But as of right now, I'm pleased with this one!

[california-112]

Episode ask game!

-Beyond the Sea

-Irresistible

-Pusher

-Demons

(All my season favorites)

+ Excelsis Dei because I think you’ll be funny:)

Oh, multiple! This will be fun!

For reference and to avoid repetition, here is the scale:

Scum on Earth | Will Not Rewatch | Pretty Bad | Not Great but Charming | Objectively Not Good But I Had Fun | Neutral | Some Good Stuff Here | No Complaints | This is Great | This is Fantastic | One of My Favorites | Actually a Divine Work Nothing Will Ever Top This

S01E13 'Beyond The Sea' - This Is Fantastic

Sticks to the pattern of the Christmas ep going directly for the feels

Surprise Don Davis! But he dies basically immediately so :(

Scully's backstory gets quite a bit of a reveal though

Mulder whump! Complete with hospital scenes! The gods are kind to us today

I actually cheered when Scully went to Boggs after Mulder was shot and absolutely went off at him

And how Scully takes over on the case whilst Mulder is in the hospital and sees it through to the end...

The fake deal scene yesss

S02E13 'Irresistible' - This Is Great

I'm not gonna lie. First watch around I didn't find it too compelling

That said it was during the period when I was going through like seven episodes a day so...a lot of things flew right by me lol

Moe Bocks the UFO guy! Wish we'd seen more of him!

Mulder just took the case to go see the game and then all this happens. Bruuuh

Pfaster is creepy as f*ck just in general how did he ever get a job anywhere

Yet another Scully kidnapping :(

She does practically get away all by herself, though! You go girl!

Then when Mulder tilts her head after the rescue at the end...and the hug...your honour I have never felt more touch starved in my life who said that. Anyway

Great ep for Scully's character from an outsider perspective but sucked to be her :'(

S03E17 'Pusher' - One Of My Favourites

First of all the whole bit of Modell being able to just talk people into doing things is so interesting as a concept

This is the one with Dave Grohl in it for no reason so that's fun

The falling asleep in the car on the stakeout...

"Please explain to me the scientific nature of the whammy"

Modell looks like Sam Neill from The Dish or is it just me

The scene in the van where Mulder says 'smile, Scully' almost destroyed me

And then THE RUSSIAN ROULETTE. HOLY SH*T

Something something Mulder's mental state is secretly (!) really bad. Let's examine that in a fic (coming soon!) (hopefully!)

S04E23 'Demons' - One Of My Favourites

OH MY GOODNESS this ep.

First of all the scene in the motel where Scully takes care of Mulder I am DECEASED it lives in my head RENT FREE FOREVER

Particularly the line 'Did you take anything, Mulder?' as discussed in this ask

The rest of the ep though. Mulder's insistence to pursue the case despite his condition as he doesn't remember if he shot the Cassandras. The fact that he's actually literally having seizures and Scully is trying to get him to a hospital and he keeps refusing. And then the climax scene in the old house...waaa

And the fact that this is RIGHT BEFORE Gethsemane but we're not talking about that here

The amount of fics around this episode is obviously immense, but some of my favourites are Blood And Water by @agent-troi, Provisions by @freckleslikestars, and Dancing With Mephistopheles by Satchie, everyone go check them out!

S02E11 'Excelsis Dei' - Neutral

This is being kind. I might avoid it on a rewatch

It was boring even to skippy rewatch to write this but it would make good background whilst I'm working (recently I have been listening to episodes like audiobooks whilst doing particularly mindless tasks and it works surprisingly well)

I only really liked the climax scene in the bathroom and even that didnt climax enough imo

To quote the fic plan that I have for this episode:

The rest of the episode is meh due to the subject matter and portrayals etc.

The '''plumbing''' comment though 💀 Scully should have got to drop kick that guy

Also Teryl Rothery!!! Hello!!!

Thanks for this ask! It made my day a lot better to get to review these episodes! :)

[aromanticautiesworld]

If you write poly, can you do poly finntress? Also I'm curious will moth experience bi panic via finntress?

oh yes absolutely i write poly please send me poly requests! not 2 ramble about mushrooms but this first part (there will be multiple parts) kinda takes place middle of season 5-ish (sorry flame princess was with finn earlier in the timeline so mushrooms isn’t right after their breakup) there wont be any bi panic from moth abt fintress BUT! definitely in later parts (i love huntress wizard so much). ANYWAYS request time !

////

poly fintress with a gender neutral reader

word count: 1098

You squirm your way through the underbrush of the forest, following the path of the boy with the bear hat.

You were more introverted and withdrawn around other people than Finn, so he would sometimes take you with him (often very much like this) to meet new cool people he knew. Not that you object to any of this, most of the people Finn knows are cool with you too—as long as they’re not some sort of shapeshifting monster or illusion trick. That’s also happened before, unfortunately. While terrifying in the moment, you two look back and laugh about it. But still, never again.

So here you are now, legs halfway dipped into a creek, its weak current tugging at your clothes (which you regret wearing. Why couldn’t you have worn your waterproof pants today. Or at LEAST shorts).

“This is the spot where we usually meets. Me and yous just gotta wait,”

“And you’re a hundred percent sure she’s not a demon? Or a cursed witch?”

“Yeah I am dude. Hero’s honor,”

You consider. “Arrite,” You punch him in the shoulder, “I’m trusting you on this one,”

You both hear a rustle of branches and leaves coming from the opposite side of the river, and who you think is some sort of cat-person at first, based on the eyes that appear out of the darkness, effortlessly pushes her way out of the woods.

“What’s up, dudes,” She puts her bow back in its sheath, a bow that seems to have been drawn ready to fire a few seconds ago. You’re a little concerned about that, but if anything it makes you want to get to know this stranger more (also the name ‘Huntress Wizard’ could’ve spelled it out for you, but you didn’t think she’d be hunting right then).

“Meh, nuthin’ much. You said you wanted someone who can sing for this spell, right?” He gestures over to you, “They can sing,”

“Hey,” You pipe up awkwardly from where you stand, both still sort-of behind Finn and halfway in the water. Small fish swim past your legs.

“Hey,” She makes her way over to you, now also halfway in the river and half soaked, seemingly inspecting you, “Yeah. Yeah, you’re what we’ve been looking for,”

Ah. Pretty. Girl. Close to you. You are, at this moment, very normal and very functional. Both of those things.

“Thanks? Um. I mean I’m..I’m down to help with anything you guys need,” Glob, you feel like a student trying to talk to the ‘cool kids’ in one of those old teen movies right now. What is happening…

“Thanks dude! Love it when my friends are friends,” Finn grins, missing teeth only adding to his charm.

You now found yourself singing for a spell to bring forth some ancient magical plant. You wouldn’t say you didn’t care about that, it was a very cool thing, but your mind was occupied by…other topics.

The two taller people in front of you play their flutes, somehow in tune with your voice. Magic spreads in the air, emanating from both their playing and you, along with a feeling similar to when the air pressure drops before a storm begins (but with a more comforting feeling than that of impending doom).

…

Wait, no. That was actually the air pressure dropping.

The sky flashes with lightning, breaking open and letting loose a torrent of rain.

“Shelter! Quick!” Huntress yells out.

You start to follow her, when you’re quickly brought off of your feet and out of the now-muddy ground, scooped up by Finn. The water that’s suddenly pouring down on the three of you in the clearing and the flashes accompanied by thunderclaps do nothing to snap you out of your shocked and flustered state, and your face burns.

You’re eventually put down, now in the safety of a nearby cave, and are still recovering.

“Sorry about that, haha…” Finn chuckles nervously, “I might have panicked a little,”

You say nothing for a second, still stunned, before zoning back in.

“No, I would’ve done the same thing…at least, I would if I was as strong as you are,”

Finn ruffles through his backpack, while Huntress casts a spell under her breath to light a pile of twigs you guys’d found ablaze.

Finn then dumps out the contents of his backpack (a copy of Ble, an old sandwich, an uncursed dagger, the head of a mini cyclops, an energy bar, miscellaneous pens, and many other items now strewn across the floor.

“Guys. I don’t have my emergency sleeping bags,”

You both look up, Huntress now finished starting the fire.

“Looks like we have to huddle. We can use my cape as a sleeping bag for now,”

“Well…wait. Who’s gonna be where?”

“What’chya mean?” Finn asks from where he gathers the contents of his bag back to where they came from.

“I mean who’s gonna be on the edge, who’s being in the middle…”

“Hmmm…It’s just for one night, so…What do you think, Huntress?”

“I think you should be in the middle,” She turns towards you as she talks.

Your brain is flooded with both giddy excitement, and slight embarrassment.

“Yeah, I’m good with that. What do you think?”

“Yes. Yes. Good. Cool. Very good,” You nod quickly, shooting them a thumbs up. Words aren’t working too great for you right now, it seems.

Huntress takes off her cape, her hair (leaves?) are very pretty, spreads it out—this thing is big—onto the floor of the cave, and rolls herself up into one side of it. Finn then drops down his bag (he’s managed to put everything back) And rolls into the cape on the other side. Your turn.

You snuggle in between the two, heart practically beating out of your chest, and unbeknownst to the two surrounding you, a large grin on your face.

You were the first to fall asleep, of course, and both Finn and Huntress reflected on today.

You’re cool. A cool person to add to their weird little relationship-hangout thing they have going on. Based on what Huntress has seen today (that you’d tried to hide, to no avail. You were way more obvious about your crush on her than Finn was), and on what Finn knows about you, you wouldn’t object if they asked. If you did they would back off of course, but he knows that’s not the case.

Drip, Drip, Drip…

Honestly, it was very peaceful in this cave. The sound of rain outside, your steady breathing, the warmth you all shared.

You guys should do this every night.

[jseobsky]

hi hi, me again!! had kind of a rough day so I was wondering if I could request some best friend!minjae fluff? like just a minjae hanging out with you trying to distract you and make you feel better kind of thing? hsjshjdksjshsj sorry it's not v specific idek myself what exactly I want I just know I need some comfort :(

Bad days like these.

Pairing ! bestfriend!Minjae x gn!Reader Synopsis ! after a bad day and only wanting to be hug by the blankets and watch your favourite show, your best friend Minjae comes to your door. Genre ! Fluff, hinted romantic ending but can be read as like platonic Warnings ! Swearing, haven't proof-read anything- W/C ! 0.8k a/n ! omg I hope you feel much better now!! I'm sorry to hear that :(( I'm also having a quite meh day, so this was also just what I needed. thank you for requesting!! I loved writing this KSJHSDKFJ

Main masterlist <3

There are days when you can fight against the whole world. Those days are the ones that people appreciate the most. I could’ve solved a world’s problem, and people would be happy. However, if I, for whatever reason wasn’t doing good one day, it wouldn’t count. People don’t count those moments as valid. People don’t count any moment as valid unless you are strong. But I can’t always be strong. 

There are days when all I can do is lie around. Those days are the ones I hate the most. I am ashamed of those days. Days where I try to hide behind a big screen. Sometimes trying to escape the little lie that I live in, in hopes of some comfort. People love to ignore my struggles. People ignore you unless you are fighting. But I can’t always fight.

Today is one of those days. Watching TV seemed the best answer to today’s mood. The characters hold each other as I hold my plushy. “You don’t have to be strong” Says one of the characters. “I know, but it’s hard” They hold each other even closer. Their breathless voices quivering at each word. “When moments like these, please call out my name. I’ll be there, whenever you ask for me, wherever you ask for me” Oh shut the fuck up. I wanna cry now. “Please just let me help you” Said the same character, reaching to kiss the person they were holding. Fucking finally after 14 episodes. “Mia. I” He breathed out. Ding, ding, ding. Who dares interrupt their moment ffs. I walk towards the front door, random objects are lying around the floor as I walk. I walk past some school books, some clothes that I must have thrown, and some random papers that might be more important than how I’m treating them. I finally reach the door and open it. 

The cold air hits my face as soon as I open the door. Outside, the sky was dimmed, definitely a representation of how I felt. Even with my tear-stained face from the scene, I was just watching, I get to smile. “I hate you” I say out loud. Minjae, who was standing outside my door with a big puffy jacket, and a big grocery bag, slapped his empty hand on his chest and gasped. “How dare you. Should I turn around?” I stopped him from turning around completely and pulled him inside. “How did you know?” I asked. “You changed your Instagram notes from BARBIE NEW MOVIE I CAN’T to: alexa play voices by stary kids” Minjae said while taking his shoes off. “You only do that when you’re sad as fuck” “Touché” I say while grabbing his bag I walk again towards the couch. He follows behind me, crouching down for a moment to pick my music notes and placing them on the table they fell from, not before shaking his head. I take interest in the scene again. 

Although I couldn’t see more of the scene, now being paused again a little less than a second before their kiss. I make an annoyed face and turn to look at Minjae who paused my show. “What happened?” He asked. “If I ignore my problems, they won’t hurt” He got a little closer. “They will, and you know it. That or you’ll end up punching someone” I gasp. “Okay, that was ONE time. And the guy deserved it anyways so who’s the one at fault?” “Still you, that guy just approached you because you were crying, you looked at him, flirted with him, and when he said he didn’t like stray kids you punched him” I giggled remembering the moment, the second I look at Minjae again he’s looking serious so I straighten my posture. “Still his fault, he said that I was jobless bcs I liked those stupid dancing boys and that I spent too much money on them after talking about my collection” “How much of that is true?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Not my point” I pouted jokingly. 

“Okay let’s do this. I help you escape from your problems” I nod. After waiting for two seconds and him not continuing I ask. “Aaand?” “Nothing, you just get bragging rights because you got the best friend in the entire world” “Well that’s arguable, Felix is Hyunjin’s best friend so like” Minjae stands up. “Okay sorry, sorry, you’re the best, you’re the best” I grab his arm again and pull him towards me, making him fall on the sofa. We stay laughing for a bit, but our laughs come to a stop when we hear the show playing again. Minjae hugs me closer to him and we start watching the show from where it was left. “You don’t have to be strong” Says Minjae after a while, him looking me directly into my eyes. I nod. “I know, but it’s hard” He hugs me closer. He pets my head and smiles. “I’ll make the pain go away, I promise.”

[astralfrontier]

I think I've figured out what I don't like about Star Trek Discovery. But to explain it, I have to talk about what I do like, and where I am - which is midway through Season 2.

First, Michael Burnham, herself, is a good character. She's confident, talented, driven, capable of making mistakes (and makes a very big one at the opening of the show), but also capable of taking big risks and coming out on top. She admits when she's wrong, but she's not afraid to tell other people when they are. For the most part, she's the sort of character we're told Starfleet wants to have as officers.

Second, she's surrounded by interesting oddballs. Stamets is a wonderful academic who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, and he's got a loving and tender relationship which is a fucking rarity in Starfleet. Tilly is like a visitor from a more mature Lower Decks. And so on. It's really Michael's show, but she's got a good crew around her - some of whom can give her orders.

Third, the ship's concept is really neat. It's a combination flying science labs and black-ops project, like Half-Life's Black Mesa in space.

So I'm still watching the show, because I feel all this potential there, but I sometimes wrestle with it. And here's why.

Every plotline has to orbit Michael Burnham. Most recently, she takes a mentally tortured Vulcan to a planet for help and the point of being on that planet, seemingly, is to just tell her a story about what happened, then see some exposition. That trip could have just happened, she could look angsty while specialists do their work, and then there's a scene of truth if not reconciliation.

But this isn't an isolated case. Just over and over, the writing pushes her to the center of the action. She's got personal connections to every single thing that matters. Some hypothetical time traveler could apparently screw up the Federation for centuries just by messing with her timeline a tiny bit.

The times when this doesn't happen - like when it's Stamets, not her, in a time loop - are so delicious, because she's smart and clever and has this out of context problem thrown at her repeatedly, and she prevails. It's episodes like this that convince me Burnham is a good character independent of the spotlight the writers seem intent on locking onto her 24/7.

(This is also my problem with Voyager - some of the characters there are good, some are meh, a few are fantastic, but MY GOD the writing is like a vampire that just sucks the enjoyment out of watching it)

The show is having wild hate-sex with TOS-era canon. The show really, really wants to remind you that it's the immediate prequel to TOS. Like look, here's Captain Pike, here's Spock, there's the Enterprise, but we're also going to drop this multiversal mushroom network on you out of NOWHERE, we're going to a lot of stuff with Klingons, we're just doing all this wild shit.

I'm glad they're swinging for the fences though. The Sphere is probably the most impactful encounter they have in Season 2 in terms of its story impacts, and it's just such a wonderful TOS-era thing. There's this big weird object in space, there's literally nothing like it anywhere else, it's dangerous but not malicious, we're going to pit Federation ingenuity against the puzzle it represents, and we're going to have a good outcome if we're lucky.

The show sure likes to sleep on its ensemble. I love Saru and Stamets and Tilly, but I wish we'd heard more about that weird cyborg lady, Airiam, who's on the bridge before she's under it. They dropped TIG NOTARO on us as a sassy engineer, give her more love. Detmer clearly has a ton of emotion she's processing. I want to see her actress, Emily Coutts, in more stuff. It feels like they almost put in too many characters and then shone spotlight on the same few all the time, and then would pull others from their back pocket for moments of drama.

All of these things are why I'm looking forward to Season 3, where it seems the writers hit the reset button on a lot of this and are trying something new. I don't know if it'll be a better new, but it'll solve the problems Season 1-2 have given me. And I want to see what Strange New Worlds does.

[templeofvengeance]

[Pet name from externalconceit!]

The small spearpoint at the butt end of her halberd scritchscritchscritches as she sweeps across the temple toward him. She leaves little footprints in the sand (never mind he's never found any after her visits until now), the hem of her rose-colored robe fluttering. With an 'oomph!', she leaps onto the opposite shoulder of the Khonshu statue and perches there, birdlike as the moon god himself. She squints, making a big show of leaning around the stone head to survey him.

(It's a bit like one of those makeover montage scenes in the movies as one of a dozen new outfits are considered and then dismissed.)

"Quincy." Shar tests the name, staring deep into the open pits of his eye sockets. She wrinkles her nose, tries another. "Irving." Egh. "I knew a rather striking 'Hardicanute' in my youth." Chewing on her bottom lip, she leans around the head again, this time looking at him from around the front, not the back. "That won't do either." For one thing, they're from the wrong part of the world. "It's lacking the--" she waggles a hand-- "gravity of an elderly raven at a writing desk the others have."

And also, still the wrong part of the world.

"Heart-Eater. Soul-Swallower." She points at him with the head of her weapon, as if to say 'aha!' All at once, her grin is big as the--well, moon. "Sickle-Edged Devourer of the Wicked."

With the both of them perched on either side of his statue, one might assume they were some sort of team, or twin manifestations of similar concepts. (The way he and Thoth had been in a way, both viewed as moon gods.) Luckily no one had come stumbling in while Shar was visiting.

He waited for her though, tilting his skull head, refusing to flinch as the head of the halberd was suddenly waved in his face.

"Is that your final answer?" He sighed.

GIVE MY MUSE A PETNAME AND SEE HOW THEY REACT! / @externalconceit

Never call me that again | meh | idk how to feel about it | i'm ok with it | i like it | i love it | please call me that all the time

"It is acceptable." But despite the words, he sounds pleased-- she did land on a good one in the end. He did come close to objecting. Eating hearts was more closely associated with Ammit than him.

[thessalian]

Thess vs The Demos Strike Back

I find myself at liberty tonight and all of a sudden I have downloaded twenty new demos, plus the couple I still had left. Hopefully I'm not boring anybody. Just ... I like celebrating indie games in my own small way. The AAA games with the huge-ass budgets can take care of themselves. I will give the indie stuff the attention I feel they deserve - well, as best as I can, anyway. Sure, a lot of it is puzzle games etc, but c'mon - they're not as exciting as big flashy ARPGs or shooters, but we don't always want that! So here we go (with a break for a trip to the shops and a bath).

Tiny Tales: Hidden Object - Not much to write home about, and honestly more of a "find the difference" puzzle game than hidden object exactly, so it feels a little disingenuous, but it does more or less what it sets out to do. It's definitely worth looking at if you like that sort of thing. I'm personally more straight-up hidden object or messing-with-the-set-dressing puzzle games than find the difference, though.

Blood Bar Tycoon - bar management simulator, but with vampires. Low-priority, but still a little more interesting, particularly considering extra mechanics like ... well, frankly getting your vampire minions to feed on human customers so they don't starve to death.

PrimRows - it's kind of a sudoku thing, with a few extra rules and mechanics, and flowers instead of numbers. Randomised flowers, so it's not so much as getting the board perfect, but getting as many points as possible. Interesting, at least.

Mushroom Picnic Party - if I get sick of cats? Mushroom hidden object! It's cute, and I like it. Honestly, I kind of like those ones that are just "FIND THE THINGS" more than I do the ones that try to have a story. If I want a hidden object game, I really just want to find objects, y'know?

6-Sided Stories - Meh. It's kind of a puzzle game, but a little overly simplistic ... at least in the demo. It'll go lower on the list until I can find out whether there's more than just "flip whatever hexagons need flipping".

Fix This House - Sort of a puzzle game, sort of a house-builder. Like, very simplistic house-builder. You get pieces of a house and have to figure out how they go together. Controls are a little iffy in terms of camera settings, but something that probably belongs in a mid-position "maybe" on my list.

CraftCraft: Fantasy Merchant Simulator - This one's a merchant / crafting sim that really focuses on the crafting element. There's a lot of moving parts and mechanical tweaking, rather than just Click The Thing To Create. Which is a good thing sometimes, but not going to be a Forever Zen game, really. Still makes the list; it's amusing and interestingly, probable-hyperfocus fiddly. Though I might change my mind if they keep hiding the Quit key. (Also the dev has made a few more games and they all have demos, so playing demos is getting me more demos.)

Critter Cafe - Okay, this is another one that when the demo ended, I went, "Wait nooooooooo!" This one is another cafe simulator time management game, with puzzles and exploration and decorating and creature collector with some interesting Zen-platformer mechanics. And the character creator is adorable. I want this one.

That's probably enough for one day / evening. More tomorrow. For now, tidy up the wish list again, and start to wind it down for the night. I feel a little better, but that might have to do with having used my air fryer for the first time. It's a good one, though I will want a larger one when I have more kitchen.

[stellerssong]

For the Fan Fic Writer Asks: 9 and/or 10

9—do you write every day? if you wrote today, share a sentence of what you’ve written!

this is actually the only piece of writing advice or technique that’s ever worked for me and my swiss-cheesed brain: somehow i managed to convince myself, in the depths of a very bad creative injury, that Increasing The Fucking Thing by a sentence, just a few words, every single day, counts on some nebulous cosmic scale as Increasing The Fucking Thing, and therefore has value. this is why my creative output is so [wiggly hand gesture] in terms of quantity, but hey, This One Weird Trick has kept me in the game for some years now when i would otherwise have quit, so we’ll call it a good thing overall. Doctors Hate Her!

here is my contribution to the cosmic scale today, in screenshot format because moving the annoying formatting from my notes app to any other rich text field is, as previously stated, annoying. and yes, i am definitely looking forward to having to reformat this entire fucking fic line-by-line when it is uploaded to ao3 (lying) (lying so hard) (was looking at another section last night and just experiencing profound despair)

10—is there a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

something that is true in every single fandom ever is that you will publish a high-effort longfic that you poured your heart and soul into and people will be like “meh” and then you will publish an off-the-cuff gag ficlet that you barfed out in a day and a half and people will come crawling out of cracks in your walls to tell you this is the FUNNIEST and SMARTEST thing you’ve EVER written and OMG PLEASE WRITE MORE LIKE THIS and then you will be like. how did you get in my house. please get out of my house. i didn’t even go to the effort of looking up Finnish syntax and sentence construction for this fic i’m an EMBARRASSMENT. STOP CRAWLING AROUND IN MY CABINETRY

to that point, and to the original question: “we’ve got the power now, motherfuckers” has far and away received the most enthusiastic response of anything i’ve posted for Control (2019) fandom. and part of that might be because i did dash it off without taking myself overly seriously, and part of that might’ve been a fandom actually getting interested in a fic centered around a major character who up until that point largely hadn’t been utilized in fic, and idk maybe i actually did better than i thought i did in terms of mimicking the style of the in-game lore collectibles…but also y’all. please. “laterna magica” and “barren face, desert eyes” are better. like objectively. you are tearing me apart Lisa

[historia-vitae-magistras]

Hi! I really loved a post you made earlier about how society is only now returning to a variety of religious beliefs and was wondering if you could talk more about it. Any thoughts on countries taking up their original religions? Magnus and asatru? Rhys or his siblings with druidism?

TW discussions of religion, religious skepticism and fictional depictions of religion in historical fantasy. I feel like they pick up things they themselves remember but the modern human iteration is... Meh. No shade to believers, I did some time with the Nordic pantheon before the Nazis took it over but the modern iterations of almost all European pre-Christian religions are unfortunately mostly constructed between the 18th and 20th centuries. Almost none of it dates back further than revivals during the enlightenment. Would they see echoes of their lived experience in these revivals? Sure. I just don't know if they'd be adherents to the modern form when they can remember at least some of the real thing, otherwise now dead and gone. So I do think there's things in them that survive but they can't quite look at modern paganism as a belief system.

But two parts I think would really feel important to them: a lot of the pagan revivals are about a rejection of the Calvinist themes of Reformation and counter-reformation Christianity that emphasize individuality, created the belief of the elect who are saved by god and stripped Christianity of a lot of its older emphasis on community and mutual aid and responsibility. I think a lot of the pagan revivalism would very much appeal there and in its counter-culture themes.

And second, because I'm a weirdo who uses hetalia to get into really niche topics and practice writing historical fiction I want to publish when I'm grown, I try to stick to what we actually know. I want to replicate the perspectives of history. The fantastical aspects are often just adaptations of what magic was actually believed in, as far as I can adapt from a very limited pool of knowledge. I have written Alasdair carving the symbols we have from some Pictish standing stones and Ogham, a Gaelic form of literacy into objects and sacred trees to make them into portals and protective objects. I have written Arthur's primary contact with their mother as being not when he visits the site of her barrow and the Kirk that gives them their name that was later built on he same site, but after he drowns or is caught in a storm, because we know the Britons of prehistory and the Roman era and even into the early medieval believed water was a kind of portal between this world and the sacred. I gave Rhys their mother's bronze age sword because magic swords are everywhere in every flavor of Celtic Mythology. Arthur keeps Cromwell's head on the mantel partially because he's a stubborn fuck who can hold a grudge for centuries but also because we know that the ancient Celts believed the head specifically to be a very powerful magical object.

Norse paganism as we know it today is based on things like the Icelandic Sagas and the descriptions of the temple of Uppsala by Adam of Bremen. Those are fantastic documents but they only come into being centuries after the end of the Viking age and are written by Christians, usually clerics, and usually men. Our heads are full of images of powerful priestesses, shield maidens and goddesses, but more than a third of human women were starved as children compared to under ten percent of boys. Every Norse grave is different, with only general categories being able to be sussed put based on grave goods, the style of inhumation or cremation and marking ships or stones. We just don't know fuck all about the specifics what the people of this era really believed.

Or with the British celts. We know what the Romans said. That they burned criminals in wicker men, committed human sacrifice, that the Romans slaughtered the druids on Anglesey in Wales. We know the names of their gods when they are twinned with Roman ones or archaeologists find inscriptions. But so many of them are only known by one or two inscriptions. There are only eight for Brigantia and she was the patron goddess for the largest tribe by territory in Iron Age Britain. We know they offered sacrifices of value to bodies of water, we know from medieval Irish sources, also written by Christians, that they had 4 holidays aligning with the seasons and divided the year into half light half dark. But we don't know shit about songs or prayers or even how much the Romans made the fuck up. Which was likely most of it but we'll never know. What the Picts in Scotland may have believed is especially lost, we don't even have most of their language or even sheep counting like Cumbrian.

There's been a lot of push back against terms prehistory and dark ages and rightly so in that they conjure images of a filthy past, people living in their own shit and grim misery. But on a historical level, on an archival level, there really are such things as dark ages and prehistory where we just do not know the details and when discussing and writing religion I err towards what we know the most about, especially where archaeology and history can support each other.

[pyropsychiccollector]

Thoughts on Ace Attorney?

Ace Attorney and Professor Layton were the main games I played in the mid-2000's, outside of Pokemon. They weren't bad, although I confess Phoenix wore on my patience a bit (his origin story is very lackluster). He got better in Trials and Tribulations, but I definitely was not a fan of the spirit medium elements in the series. Call me old-fashioned if you like, but I generally prefer grounded court dramas. Stuff that doesn't heavily involve channeling spirits, seeing victims' final moments, or even magical bracelets.

... Although the last one could be explained pretty reasonably, I think. So I tend to cut Apollo more slack than Phoenix, who's more like a bull at a rodeo and goes where he pleases. I'm also in this apparent minority of people that didn't fall in love with Maya at first sight... or thirtieth sight... or... Yeah. lol Don't get me wrong. I'm cool with loveable goobers. There's just... a number of things that I don't like that much about Maya. The medium stuff is one thing, the running gag of getting kidnapped or framed for murder is another, she doesn't help Phoenix understand crime scenes or law better (she's literally a teenager in that first trilogy, and still a kid at heart in Spirit of Justice), and this incessant shipping with Phoenix by her cousin Pearl is one of the most uncomfortable things I've had to suffer through... XD It's just my opinion, but Phoenix feels more like an older brother to Maya and Pearl. They're related to his old boss Mia, and it's cool he wants to look out for them... I just don't ship Phoenix x Maya. That's just me~...

That said, do I have Ace Attorney ships? Ehhh... A few. I'm not too passionate on shipping in AA. I like Phoenix x Iris. I like Phoenix x Franziska. Mia x Diego, of course. I don't mind entertaining Miles x Kay when Kay grows up a bit (for some reason I vibe a lot more with Kay than Maya, probably just the fact she's a 'thief' and not a medium~...). Gumshoe x Maggey is alright. I like Apollo x Ema. Apollo x Athena is fine. I wouldn't mind Bonny and Betty joining the Wright Anything Agency, though I don't necessarily ship them with anyone... Maybe Apollo, if I was so inclined. Rayfa is cute, but she's a kid. No pedos in this house, no sir. (人◕ω◕)**

I honestly have no ships in the Great Ace Attorney duology, though. I'm neutral to Ryunosuke x Susato, I don't object to them. They are cute. I just don't ship them cuz my mind's on the lovely plots and characters of GAA~...

If I had to do a tier list for Ace Attorney games... Let me see...

Tier 1 (Masterful) - Great Ace Attorney 1&2, Ace Attorney Investigations 2, Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright

Tier 2 (Great) - Trials and Tribulations, Spirit of Justice

Tier 3 (Passable) - AA1, Investigations 1, Apollo Justice, Dual Destinies

Tier 4 (Abysmal) - AA2 (Justice For All)

Obviously, not a perfect tier list. A couple titles in the 3rd category are close to Tier 2 level, there's just some aspects of each game that take away my enjoyment somewhat. I loved Rise from the Ashes in AA1, and I liked the ending of Case 4... I enjoyed Edgeworth's flashback case in Investigations 1 (Detective Tyrell B A D D~). Apollo Justice had sleek designs and a more tempered protagonist I thought. And Dual Destinies introduced Athena and had mostly okay cases....

It's just. The rest of AA1 was meh to me, outside the last two cases. Investigation 1's Case 5 was dragged out so unnecessarily. Apollo Justice's Case 4 felt short to me and tried covering way too many bases; not to mention he kept getting shunted to the side by Phoenix, getting led along by the nose. And Dual Destinies, well... Overall, I just wasn't wowed by the writing. Phoenix was brought back, and Apollo and Athena took backseats; they had cases, but they weren't anything to write home about. By the time you hit the case at the space center, I'm barely sold on the bonds they have. XD Although I will say this: Attorneys interacting are much better than spirit mediums thrown into the mix. For all the criticisms we can throw at Phoenix, Apollo, or Athena depending on people's biases, it's nice to see the Wright Anything Agency get a staff again... Athena might not be level-headed like Mia, but I feel she'll get there in time. In her own way. Apollo's rebuilding a whole judicial system in a foreign land, so his arc's pretty much over. lol

I'd love for more Miles adventures. See more Agent Lang, Judge Courtney, even Prosecutor Debeste... But it's up in the air if they'll ever do a 3rd Investigations game. I've already been proven wrong about ever getting an official localization of Investigations 2, so I'll shut up since Capcom's been on a roll recently. (人◕ω◕) Took them some thirteen years, but they finally brought the best Investigations game over. Or will, in a month's time. Honestly, though? I'll probably be stubborn and favor the Scarlet Study fan translation. That's been around for the past decade, and they worked hard on it. I can almost guarantee you their fan translation will have fewer typos than the official one... But I'm looking forward to having Investigations 2 on a portable console. So. I'm sucking it up. (人◕ω◕)

I've rambled on enough, but the gist is that I'm more for plot and characters in Ace Attorney franchise than shipping. XD Not too surprising that what ships I do have tend to stray from the mainstream favorites (Phoenix x Maya, Miles x Franziska, the yaoi and yuri which I don't touch... and yes, I'm aware of the absurd amount of that in the fanfic community...). I'm built differently from most people, I guess. (人◕ω◕)

And I'm aware some people will have different opinions on my tier list for the games, too. Fite me. I stand firm. (人◕ω◕)

[signiorbenedickofpadua]

20 questions for fic writers!

I was tagged by both @honeyteacakes and @acedragontype. Thank you my dears!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

7 right now. I think I had three or four up on my first account, but that one was randomly deleted by the site in like 2019? Or something? I never could get it back, and I never republished the fics, because I kind of lost motivation for writing for a while because of that, and now that I'm back in the game, it's been so long since I wrote that stuff that I either don't really like what I wrote then, or figure that I'd rather rewrite the one fic that I do still like. Oh, god. I just remembered that there was ONE fic that I actually orphaned back then, which means that it's still up. Oooh Christ... I'm not going to name drop it, because I orphaned it for a reason - the reason being that it's the crackiest crac!fic imaginable, born out of sleep deprivation and giggly group chats... I'm looking at it now, and it's apparently 10 years old. Oh. Oh no. I reread it. Oh, god. This was the first "attempt" at smut I ever wrote, and it was between a woman and a sentient inanimate edible object. 8d10 psychic damage, do not recommend.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

At the moment: 296.290 words When I'm finished updating This Dream Is Over (Another Has Begun) it will be around 350.000 words, and I just hit 105k on the Regency fic I'm working on, so by the end of the year we might be close to 500k... written in one year...

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Just Sandman, currently. On my last account I wrote for Merlin, ACD Sherlock Holmes (a school project, believe it or not), and a LotR/HP crossover (yeah, I don't really feel like re-publishing and finishing that in 2023, for obvious reasons). I might go back to writing for Merlin again, some day. I sort of want to rewrite that one fic I did post, because I quite liked the premise...but I feel like I would need to rewatch the entire series before I did that, and who's got the time?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. My Stranger, My Dream - 1507 2. Totus Mundus Agit Histrionem - 818 3. Yours for the Taking - 579 4. Body and Soul, Always and Forever - 565 5. Stay, Just this Once - or - GroundHob Day - 499

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to reply to almost every comment, because I want the commenter to know how much I appreciate that they took the time to comment. I crave that validation, perhaps a little too much, but that's robably common with authors... When I'm updating a fic one chapter at a time, I usually manage to reply to all of them, even if it's just with a couple of heart emojis (if I couldn't think of anything else), but once the whole fic is up and I get one reader who is leaving a bunch of comments in rapid succession, I sometimes skip the one's that are just emojis or exclamation marks and focus on the ones I have real replies to - not because I don't appreciate the emojis just as much, but because I worry that I'd be spamming the reader with like five identical heart-emoji replies :P

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hm, I tend to end things rather happily, but I suppose Stay, Just this Once could be read a bit angsty, since it ends with Hob in 1889 going "Dream kissed me and then left with an implication of potential future kisses? Oh boy, I can't wait until 1989!" when, you know, Dream won't show in 1989.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably This Dream Is Over. I mean, they're all pretty happy, but that one is just so hopeful and soft... You'll see what I mean when I post the last chapter ;)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really. There was one reader who left a couple of comments with very much unasked-for advice (and fairly bad advice, at that) which made me feel a bit meh, but that's hardly hate. Then there was this one comment that went a bit like "Well, that was stupid," and to this day I have no idea if they meant the writing or the characters (who were, to be fair, being very stupid in that chapter). Tone can be very hard to read in text, so I'm trying to give them the benefit of doubt. But no, no real hate, thankfully.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yup. When I started writing again about a year ago, I decided to give it a try, not really thinking I could make it work, considering the last time I wrote romance I had trouble even describing a kiss (which was almost a decade earlier), but it actually worked (I hope)! Then I just couldn't seem to write something without smut. I tried to deliberately leave things off before the explicit parts in one or two stories (making them "just" mature) for people who aren't into the stuff, and I also try to make all the explicit content skippable for those who want to read the rest of the story. What kind of smut? Idk, I've written M/M and M/F so far, I'll probably write F/F at some point too. I think most of it has been fairly vanilla so far, with some light themes of BDSM maybe, if you squint.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Only that LotR/HP one I mentioned earlier, which I abandonded when my account was deleted. I did start planning a Star Trek AU for Merlin, but I think I only wrote a chapter or so before my motivation died and I never published anything. I think I'm generally more interested in AUs taking place in other franchises than "real" crossover with actual characters from both universes.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. Let's keep it that way!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet! I suppose I could do it myself, but as the only language I speak well enough to translate into is Swedish, and Swedes tend to read stuff in English anyway, I don't know that there would be much of a point.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I'd be open to trying! Could be either super fun or incredibly frustrating, but you never know until you try!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I mean, I think it's a draw between Merthur and Dreamling. If I went back and started reading and writing fic for Merthur again, I'm sure I'd fall right back into it, even if Dreamling is my current obession.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Only the couple of WiPs I have from my first AO3 account, I think. I'm trying really hard this time around not to jump between projects too much, but finish what I have before I start something new. If I give myself free reins, my ADD is going to make sure nothing ever gets finished.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, for sure, and characterisation - or at least I fervently hope that my readers would agree on that point.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions, definitely. What does anyone look like? I don't know, I couldn't decide, make it up yourself. I had to go back and make myself add a sentence about Hob's friend Dana being blonde in the last two chapters of This Dream Is Over, since she's an OC and my readers would have no idea at all what she looked like otherwise. It's a struggle, and I do try to practise, but it doesn't come as easy as dialogue and character.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Fun! I've written a few scenes with some Middle English in them, and I have this vague idea of part of a scene where Hob and Dream are walking in London or something and Hob overhears a couple of Swedish tourists discuss how to get somewhere or something, and him turning to them and giving them directions in hilariously outdated Swedish, and Dream going, "When did you last visit Scandinavia?" And Hob says, "Um, 1745, I think. Why?" and Dream is like, "...Nothing." I just don't know how funny that would be to readers who don't speak Swedish... Might still use it some day.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Technically? The Redwall series. I was like 10 and we had to write a story in school, and I was obsessed with Redwall and wanted to write something with talking animals, and I couldn't come up with a better name for the place, so in the end I straight up copied the world and wrote more or less a self-insert who ended up there, entirely oblivious to the concept of fanfiction, but I suppose it counts anyway. I won a prize for it. I have no idea if the adults who judged it knew it was fanfic or not...

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I think it's the Dreamling Regency AU I'm currently working on. If I manage to pull it off as well as I'm hoping to, I think it will be the best thing I've written so far. I'm even considering looking for beta readers for the first time, because I think it has potential and I want it to be the best it can be.

21. CHEEKY EXTRA QUESTION BECAUSE I FELT LIKE GIVING ADVICE - What's the best advice you have for other writers?

If you write longfic, NAME YOUR CHAPTERS! My first couple of fics just had numbered chapters, and whenever I had to go back to double check some detail, or rewrite some sentence I had to retcon, I had to be like "uuuh I think it might be chapter five??" and then waste a bunch of time checking. Now, I have chapter titles which are descriptive enough to remind me of exactly what the chapter is about, and it has made my life so much easier... Also, connected to this, actually using the chapter headers etc. in your word processor so that you get a list of chapters you can pull up to navigate.

Tagging:

@pellaaearien, @arialerendeair, @hardly-an-escape, @ml-nolan

[cannoli-reader]

So I know you love Wheel of Time, and from some of your posts it looks like you enjoy the Dresden Files. And you’re critical of Sanderson, which as someone who finds his work pretty meh is a breath of fresh air given how often he’s recommended and how vocal his fan base is. So I was wondering if you have any recommendations for fantasy series or even standalone novels?

Well, my big three are WoT, A Song of Ice & Fire and The Dresden Files, as well as the traditional stuff like Tolkien, Pratchett & Robert Howard. Other fantasy works I liked include:

+Glen Cook's Black Company series

+Robin Hobb's Farseer & Tawney Man novels, though I found her Liveship & Rain Wild series less engaging.

+Jacquelin Carey's Kushiel & Sundering novels

When I was a kid, I read and enjoyed Ursula LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea, and Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, along with Narnia, of course.

I also like Bernard Cornwell's "Saxon Tales" & Sharon K Penman's works, though those are historical fiction and not actually fantasy. There is a lot of overlap in the areas of medieval warfare & politics, which I generally don't find as well done in the genre (Jordan and Martin being notable exceptions, and part of the reason for my interest).

Another series I go back and forth on is the Locke Lamora trilogy by Scott Lynch. Initially a lot of fun, I grew exasperated with the characters by the end.

Katherine Kerr's Devery novels were another thing I read in high school, though I lost interest later in the series, whether due to growing out of it or the series losing its way, I'm not sure.

I have to say regarding Sanderson, I haven't really read his work. I tried to get into Mistborn a couple of times, but his writing style didn't really click with me, although there were some aspects of his writing I found interesting, like the creative way the magic of the setting was used in the early action scene. I'm generally "live and let live" with books other people like but I don't. My main objection to Sanderson is his performance with WoT, and most recently, his take on aSoI&F, both of which I feel he understands in only the most superficial fashion. I'm grateful for his hard work in bringing the conclusion of the series to us readers, but only in the general sense of seeing the plots concluded and giving us enough material to appreciate the character arcs in their entirety. The actual execution and delivery left a lot to be desired, and I will push back hard on any assertion that he somehow improved on, or even maintained, Jordan's story.

Anyway, I hope this was helpful.

[anyways-wonderwall]

Eurovision Special!

I would just like to start this by saying woah. I have been keeping up with Eurovision for the past 7 years and have written about the last four, and this is easily the biggest shitshow I have ever seen. Never before has my Twitter been solely about Eurovision, and never have I seen Americans actually kinda care.

Just to make it clear from the beginning, Israel should not have been in this competition and should never be invited back after all they did this year, although we all know that since they own Moroccan Oil they will never face any consequences. Not only that but their song this year sucked! It got the lowest rating from me this year, even putting controversial stuff aside.

Anyways, it is time for the annual tradition of me telling you what my five favorite songs were and what I thought of the entries this year. If you've read any of my other Eurovision posts (I've reviewed 2021, 2022, and 2023), you'll know that I go through and grade all of these songs on a spreadsheet through a very objective rigorous process. I grade on five categories (which are eerily similar to what the jury does): Singer, Song, Catchiness, Performance, and the bonus points category Diversity. The max score is technically a 40, but that last category can and has put some songs over the edge. Oh and this ranking is based on how much I like the song, so the order may not fully match the scores.

All the drama aside, this was one of the best years song-wise for Eurovision (this was definitely the hardest its been to rank the songs ever). I think countries are starting to understand that being quirky pays off, so now we're getting real song diversity and really amazing performances. Also, Eastern Europe really gave it their all this year and I cannot thank them enough. (Oh and all of these songs, minus Croatia, are NOT IN ENGLISH!! Truly an incredible year)

5. Netherlands - Europapa by Joost Klein

Score: 35/40

Notes: good energy song itself is meh

Final Ranking: uhhhhhh, that's a long story

Look I get it, this song truly embodies Eurovision in every way. It's in Dutch, one of the silliest languages out there, he's out there wearing crazy outfits and has a silly haircut, its a euro-techno hit, he has the emotional angle since it was dedicated to his parents; this is one of the most perfect Eurovision songs to enter. All that aside though, its not that interesting or awesome as a song. The main riff is incredibly catchy and the production choices with the piano are pretty cool, but it just feels like a rip off of the silliness of last year's "Cha Cha Cha," down to ending in a boring techno breakdown. I think this song is a clear response to that (down to the shoulder pads) but it still is pretty good and did a great job making this year even crazier than anyone thought possible.

4. Greece - ZARI by Marina Satti

Score: 33/40

Notes: I've never been more flummoxed

Final Ranking: 11th

This song on the other hand, is one of the most interesting things I have ever heard. Marina Satti as an artist and this song has been occupying my thoughts nonstop, because what the hell is happening here. It's like Rosalina-style cumbia got lost in the East Mediterranean and the music video leaves me even more confused. The crazy jumps from Arab traditional flute sounds to strings to a cumbia baseline to a men's choir, to a melodramatic echoey bridge? I took a whole class on writing about music and I can't find the words to describe this one. And all of her media around it uses 2005 word art fonts and clip art? And she is serious about everything the entire time. Everything she does is hilarious and off the wall, yet she continues the persona of a pop diva. I seriously cannot get enough of her.

just want to point out that this is one of her real album covers. The word icon doesn't cover it.

3. Armenia - Jako by LADAVINA

Score: 41/40

Notes: Trumpet player hot or not

Final Ranking: 8th

Speaking of icons, look at these two! I really think this year was countries really embracing their native genres, whether that be Eurodance, Mediterranean Cumbia, Eastern European Emo, or Armenian folk music. This song just truly embodies fun. The lively beat, the screaming and yipping, a crowd cheering, the wailing trumpet, the random instruments whispering in the background. Listening to this makes you feel like you are a part of the coolest party ever, with flute and ukulele solos, and freedom to yell as loud as you want. I cannot get enough of this song and the energy these two bring to it, and I am so glad Armenia picked an absolute banger to represent them this year.

2. Estonia - (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi by 5MIINUST x Puuluup

Score: 44/40

Notes: EASTERN EUROPE IS BACK BABEY

Final Ranking: 20th

This song is just awesome, in every way. You have this weird Estonian string thing, voices so low that it sounds like throat singing, all mixed with that kind of techno that feels so intrinsically Eastern European. The music video has them driving around a Soviet-style building complex just messing around in abandoned warehouses and parking lots. This is what I'm talking about when I say that countries are going back to their roots and not just trying to send what they think is the most marketable. I see this as a sequel to Moldova's entry last year, which involved a Eurovision veteran with some new faces, mixing old and new to make a masterpiece that has so much personality.

Croatia - Rim Tim Tagi Dim by Baby Lasagna

Score: 43/40

Notes: Meow cat, please meow back

Final ranking: 2nd!

Look at this guy, he looks like someone who you would love to bring home to your parents and would like cats. He wasn't supposed to compete for Croatia this year and was put in last minute and I'm so glad because my life would have been so much darker without this banger in it. It's a classic emo anthem about leaving your farm-filled hometown to go to the big scary city, but he doesn't take himself too seriously with a name like "Baby Lasagna" and a chorus of nonsense words. The music videos as sped up farmers dancing and a cat that looks exactly like mine (both one-eyed and orange), and is a perfect mix of vulnerable and silly. This really seems like someone who was genuinely making something fun and expressing himself, and just happened to almost win Eurovision in the process.

Here's to hoping Eurovision actually happens next year after everything that went down, and if you're curious my least favorite songs were the offensively boring entries from Israel and Albania.

[hollowfaith]

Pick 2 in every section except Canon Muses and Fandoms (pick 1 from those) :3

Questions for the mun

this is long so imma cut it lol

BASICS x2 What caused you to start writing? What was your key point?

in 3rd grade we watched the cartoon movie version of the legend of sleepy hollow and had an assignment to write a summary of it. i was barely out of ESL at the time but thought it was a neat assignment (and prided myself on my memory for details) so i hecking did my best and wrote a long detailed one (with pictures because it was elementary school and you could illustrate your stuff) and for some reason my teacher and the principal were all happy about it and made a big deal complete with ceremony and applause and made me feel important and cool.

after that i was like "yeah! that was awesome. can't i write more stories like that even outside of school?" and thus it kicked off my journaling obsession besides writing diaries of my daily life. i did a lot of original fics and sailor moon/digimon-inspired stuff but when i found ff.net it was like discovering a whole new world where you could control the characters to do whatever you wanted (while staying IC, cause that was definitely part of the "rules" of the challenge) and that was amazing.

realizing writing meant i could take destiny into my own hands for these made-up blorbos was such a fun power trip. i have tried to use that power responsibly ever since.

Do you still write your first muse?

dahlia hawthorne was my first real muse on tumblr and i poke her now and then, but she seems content in her semi-retirement in my brain. sometimes she wakes up to snark people but she's enjoying her vacation in peace right now : )

CANON MUSES x1

Have you ever written a canon muse that you first thought of ‘meh’ when they appeared in their canon show/movie/book?

don't shoot me but before i wrote yagen toushirou for touken ranbu i was like "yeah yeah okay this is just a standard big brother x cool doctor type trope," i actually didn't even pick him up until i wanted to try someone new and my other friends (playing other swordboys at the time) suggested him

then i had to research him and really fell in love with the dichotomy of his character, about how he's very human with his brothers but also 100% a weapon and embraces that fact, about the juxtaposition of DUTY vs. FEELING and the HUMAN HEART vs. OBJECT/TOOL he's been balancing all his life on a very fine line (and does flawlessly, because he's yagen) and i was like, heck! this is gonna be so fun to RP and make him deal with stuff

tho most of the time i got into crack threads again and shipping with Fudou it was still very very fulfilling and im glad my friends convinced me to try him out :D

OCs x2

Do you have developed dynamics with the OC of another mun that has influenced your OC or Canon muse?

yeah I mean this guy wouldn't exist without Jade's Klaus u know? his template might've been taken from his faceclaim guy but the rest of him i molded to fit Jade's OC, specifically his personality and to an extent his looks. in some ways Klaus has everything Aurelius lacks and vice versa, they have this classic balancing scales thing going on that i like very much and try to fill intentionally.

i also wanna say Klaus is one of the few windows to Aurelius' genuine gentle/good side, the side he might have been all the time if his father didn't screw him up from birth (of course i can't say his dad is all to blame, but he sure takes 60~75% of the blame).

as for developed dynamics im guessing this is asking about interactions with another OC that influenced this one...why do i feel like they've all been humbling experiences... Issy has shown him some humans are worth treating with care, Constantine has demonstrated how not everyone takes his shit, Dar is there to inspire working business relationships while highlighting Aury's awkward aspects fitting in, Huey undos all the good work everyone else puts in by proving how crappy some humans act, etc.

idk how to answer that part aside from "they help subvert expectations, but i don't know if that's enough to actually change the way he acts" why did i pick this Q the second part's hard to answer hahah

Who was your first OC?

time to get embarrassing so my first OC with an actually established backstory and stuff was this girl with a randomnly generated Japanese name i thought was pretty (Saikoubi) for a digimon RP group

and i intentionally gave her a happy-go-lucky personality and positive outlook because looking at the rest of the applicants everyone was like either emo or orphaned or both and my 14-year-old self was like "well! how are we going to save the world as digidestined if we're sad all the time" and basically made her the complete opposite of everyone else

it was rad, people got to be edgy, she got to be sunny, we didn't really get past the first region between our threads before the group died down but i think we all had fun and that's what matters in the end xD

FANDOMS x1

What is your favorite fandom in which you write?

i still like touken ranbu but it's more fun to write (RP) that when other swordboys are around, plus the fandom's so saturated with new swordboys these days it's hard to keep up with latest lore stuff. i still try to write 1 fanfic for it in the annual xmas secret santa thing the english-speaking fans host, tho i'm very very slow these days

beyond that i've been dipping into FFXIV fic writing a few times but i haven't grasped the language of the world well enough yet so i'm not satisfied with my work ehhh it is what it is for now

SHIPS x2

Do you plot a ship or see where it goes?

it's more fun to see where a ship goes because i like unpredictability. like the unscripted stuff feels more genuine to me especially if it surprises me u know? i do acknowledge the value of a well-planned romance but in a fall first vs. fall harder relationship i'm definitely invested more in the "fall harder and beautifully in all the disastrous ways" kinda person

i think that's how my past ships have generally gone, finding a connection between 2 muses, expanding on it, referencing it, and then boom! one day you know so much more about the other muse and you're always thinking about them and wait, what, we're hanging out together? just the two of us? is this a DATE? kinda revelations are very fun

What are you looking for in a ship?

i enjoy ships with room to develop. like it's cute when they come together and are all kiss kiss/blush blush but the process to getting there is half the fun! and the pining. and maybe a little misunderstanding here and there.

uhhhh i guess what im saying is i like the journey to get to the ship even more than the ship itself sometimes

or if we're in a ship let's go crash the boat for fun!!

hehe drama

TUMBLR x2

What was your first blog / URL?

preciousdollie

if it sounds cringe it's feenie's fault he came up with the nickname...even announced it to everyone in court of all places

Do you still have your first blog / URL?

yeah the blog's still up tho the theme's so old it's a little broken. i basically keep all my RP blogs around for archive purposes, i like going back to read the stuff sometimes (also the reblogs of art and aesthetic posts are cute + good cause some tumblrs delete and you lose that post forever otherwise)