#maybe I'm just not getting the phrasing of it?

[22ayla21]

Hi! First time doing this so a bit nervous lol

How would Anaxa help/react to his s/o having insomnia? To the point where they cover their blatant eye bags with face powder, get 4-5 hours of sleep a night, etc. Maybe they can only sleep comfortably when very relaxed (with head rubs or just being close)

Ty ty for reading

When insomnia departs with the night

Anaxa's wife was utterly exhausted by insomnia, but his calm care and tenderness gradually brought her sleep back.

Scientist, heretic, philosopher, man, one who defied the gods, magician... Anaxa was all of these. And yet, there were moments when all his titles lost meaning—she was beside him. His wife. His world. His silence.

But lately, something had disturbed that silence.

At first, he noticed it in small things, seemingly insignificant. Shadows lay under his wife's eyes, which she diligently tried to conceal with powder. The makeup was light, almost imperceptible, but he knew her face too well not to see this artificial freshness. The coffee cup appeared more and more often, the third or fourth of the day. She had become absent-minded, spoke in short phrases, and her smile seemed to fade, veiled by a haze of fatigue.

He was in no hurry to ask questions. He watched. Studied her like a fragile, rare element, touched with caution.

But one morning, when she dozed off right at breakfast, he realized he could no longer remain silent.

"Did you sleep last night?" he asked quietly, evenly, as if inquiring about the weather.

"A little," she replied just as calmly and went to the bathroom.

He didn't follow her. He heard the door close and the water running. She would probably stand under the shower for a long time again, trying to wake up. Probably apply powder again. Probably smile again.

But he wasn't going to leave it like this.

That day, he canceled everything. Meetings, letters, appointments with young scientists, even a visit to the Goldweaver. If anyone could afford to miss an audience for personal matters, it was Anaxa.

He prepared a decoction for her. Without a sharp smell, with a light aroma of lavender and something like honey.

When she returned to the room, already made up and with her usual straight back, he simply handed her the cup.

"Drink," he said briefly.

She looked at him questioningly, even with a slight suspicion.

"It's not medicine," he added. "It's care."

She sat down opposite him. Remained silent. Took a sip. Another. A warm, soothing heat spread through her body.

"I'm not weak," she suddenly said.

"I know. But you're not a machine. Even the gods get tired. And you are more precious to me than all the titans and all the truths combined."

He stood up, walked over, and sat down beside her. His hand rested on her knee. Lightly, gently.

"You're not sleeping. You're hiding your tiredness. I see it. Everyone sees it. The children too. Your shoulders have become narrower, and your gaze—quieter."

She turned away.

"I'm just… trying to be strong. Not to be a burden."

He smiled. Softly.

"A strong woman is not one who breaks in silence so that no one notices. A strong one is the one who allows others to be near. Allows herself to be loved even when weak. Especially then."

That evening, he didn't let her cook dinner or clean up. Instead, he sat her down on the sofa and covered her with a warm blanket.

He put his arm around her shoulders. Remained silent. Just was there.

Later, at night, when she lay as usual, staring at the ceiling with sleepless eyes, he lay down beside her and gently began to stroke her hair.

"I'm with you," he whispered. "I'm here. Don't think about anything. Just breathe."

He didn't even notice how he began to count her breaths, how their breathing became one, how his palm lay on her hand, pressing it to himself, as if protecting her from insomnia itself.

And that night, for the first time in a long time, she fell asleep. Deeply. Calmly.

From that day on, they had a new ritual. No serious conversations before breakfast. A warm decoction every evening. Embraces before bed. And words—rare, but always precise, like formulas behind which his heart could be felt.

And she began to change. First—a little less powder. Then—more smiles. More sleep.

He didn't try to break her defenses. He simply showed that in a house where love lives, insomnia doesn't last forever.

And most importantly—she no longer felt alone with it.

[thealogie]

Thea, girl, love you, but that comment was a bit unnecessary.

Not saying you should get the hate I am sure you are getting but you did jump to conclusions a bit. I get it's the current climate but I think you did jump a bit (maybe I am wrong but I didn't read the comment like that and I promise I am not OP).

I also have not enjoyed how they write 15 as much as I want to, but I think I am just a bit bored with the show in general.

But that person didn't say they didn't enjoy the writing as much. That would be an incredibly fair thing to say. I believe you're sending this message in good faith but I'm about to lose my mind that you all do not see how it is incredibly off putting and racially-tinged to say you think (and I quote) "the acting and writing is great" but...again I'm going to quote "He [meaning ncuti] doesn't feel like the doctor to me" and that you just "don't connect with him." Mind you, I acknowledged that it could have been unintentional on their part, but the whole "this just doesn't feel like [traditionally white character] to me" is the exact rhetoric used over and over when a person of color is cast in a traditionally white role. I am genuinely concerned that you all do not see how that's incredibly weird way to phrase it in this specific context.

[crownmemes]

Hannibal Sentences, Vol. 7

(Sentences from Hannibal (2013-2015). Adjust phrasing where needed)

"Who among us doesn't want understanding and acceptance?"

"The dead at least have the luxury of being done with what they lost."

"I had hoped you'd come look for me, but I understand why you didn't."

"I don't mean to kick you when you're down. I'm just reminding you how you got down."

"After everything he's done, can you still ignore the worst in him?"

"I have known you to be absolutely reliable and capable of almost anything. Is that true?"

"Better to live true to yourself for an instant than to never know it."

"I like the night. It's more than a period of time. It's another place. It's different from where we are during the day."

"This is where I leave you - or, more accurately, where you leave me."

"This isn't how I intended to say goodbye. I imagined it differently."

"You may make a meal of me yet, but not today."

"Seeing as you let yourself in, forgive me if it's forward to ask, but who the hell are you?"

"I'm not even mad at you! To tell the truth, I'm fairly impressed!"

"If I saw you every day, forever, I would remember this time."

"The longer you're respectful, the longer you'll keep your tongue."

"Could I have ever understood you?"

"I don't want to know where you are or what you do. I don't want to think about you anymore."

"I was told you were told I was coming. Were you not told?"

"Are we no longer on a first-name basis?"

"We don't get wiser as we get older, but we do learn to avoid or raise a certain amount of hell, depending on which we prefer."

"It's good to see you so well, but I can't help wishing you weren't here."

"Have you ever seen blood in the moonlight? It appears quite black."

"All psychopaths are narcissists. They love to read about themselves."

"What we take for granted about our sense of self - everything we see, everything we remember - is nothing more than the construct of the mind."

"You haven't learned your lesson, have you?"

"In my own way, I've always told you the truth."

"It's okay to be confused. We spend most of our lives confused. It's rare to really figure anything out."

"You are almost blind to your own true feelings, no more able to express them than a scar can blush."

"I have seen a lot of hostility, but this was quantifiably bitchy!"

"Do you think I am your nemesis?"

"Fate has a habit of not letting us choose our own endings."

"I don't like surprises. I bet you don't either."

"It's a shame. You came all this way and you didn't get to kill anybody."

"However you think you are going to manipulate this situation to your advantage, think again."

"You know, you worry too much. You'd be much more comfortable if you relaxed with yourself."

"My compassion for you is inconvenient."

"I don't know if I can save myself, and maybe that's just fine."

"See? This is all I ever wanted for you. For both of us."

[moyazaika]

heyy genie, how r u doing??? i hope ur okay

can i ask u on how u do dialogue?? bc mine really sucks and whenever i look at yours im like wow. how can i do that??? bc wat tje characters say end up blowing my mind a little.

i also hope u don't mind that i go over ur writing and see what u do (obv not stealing the words) so i can adapt it into my own style 💓

all good with me nonnie, and i appreciate you for letting me know. i don't mind if you analyse anything i've written, it's lovely to know that my writing has the ability to inspire someone else's creativity :)

haha thank u sm. if i'm being honest dialogue drives my work so it's usually the first thing i put down in any new google doc and then the rest of the story i'm trying to tell sort of grows from that point.

regardless, here are some things to consider.

where is the dialogue coming from?

do you have any accents you like? changing words in small ways like turning darling to darlin' can build on characterisation and introduce variety into the dialogue.

is your character of a certain culture? introducing petnames or phrases from foreign languages adds flavour to dialogue. this one is risky and requires a little research, because doing it wrong may make readers cringe. but hey, high risk high reward ;)

even if you use 'normal' english, take a look at distinctive slang. there's a difference between calling it a flat or an apartment; a bird or a chick. using one or the other puts some pizazz into your writing, because it actually sounds like the speech is coming from your characters, and not just from you.

2. who is the dialogue coming from?

a character that's nineteen is going to speak really differently than a character who's forty-two. consider the simple sentence, "you're mine" and then the different ways that idea can be conveyed without making both of these vastly different characters say the same thing (which can potentially read as unrealistic, but not always. some 42 year olds are immature. some 19 year olds speak like poets. use at your own discretion) but here's an example;

19 -> "get that through your fuckin' head, babe. you belong to me." comes off as possessive, entitled, crude. then you can solidify your characterisation through their dialogue and make conversation flow by adjusting your darling's personality/speech in response to that. see the end of this post for interesting dynamics!

42 -> "you poor thing, nobody else would accept you as i have." comes off as benevolent, and somewhat infantilising. no 20-something year old is talking like that LOL

3. why is there a need for dialogue?

this one is straightforward, but can be difficult to actually implement. not all dialogue needs to serve some grand purpose in the machination of your narrative, i know that i'm guilty of indulging in a good one-liner, but it helps if you know why they're talking. what are you trying to tell me or show me that can't be depicted through their actions?

example; character A wants character B to be scared of them -> "my, aren't you a clever thing. did you figure all of that out yourself, hm? i'd almost be impressed if i weren't so fucking angry, love."

comes off as patronising, interrogative, makes me think B is on thin ice.

character C wants character D to not be scared of them -> "well, i always knew you were smart, so i suppose i can only blame myself. um, maybe just don't let it happen again. please?"

comes off as pleading, apologetic, makes me believe D has the upper hand. (but the fun part about writing is you can always flip the script later on—gap moe/contrast between actions and words. did C really aim to just forgive D or merely wanted to manipulate them into bringing their guard down?)

even if both A and C say the same thing (such as "i love you") the dialogue, seemingly simple, can open up some interesting exchanges and conversations depending on the situation and context its said in. dialogue works in tandem with action.

A; "i love you," he murmurs. you watch the expert way in which he wields the butcher's knife; cuts the beef down into smaller strips with deft, practiced hands. "yeah," you smile. "i know you do."

C; "i love you," he murmurs. you look down at him, on his knees. his arms cling onto you with fervent desperation, and when you reach for his face; you find him shivering. "yeah," you smile. "i know."

4. dialogue dynamics

since you're asking me for advice and i am a yandere oc blog, i'm going to give you some relationship dynamics to test out with darlings that can serve as a sort of structure for any dialogue you might wanna write in the future. it's easier to know what a character would say in a conversation or scene if there's a dynamic already present that may dictate how they act.

pleading/apprehensive. desperate for affection/selfish bastard. pathetic/apathetic. control freak/couldn't care less. bossy/outwardly timid, inwardly very opiniated. dominant/bratty. powerful/pissed off at the extent of said power. lazy genius/try-hard failure. ambitious/exhausted.

it's also interesting to turn the tables and subvert traditional archetypes. manipulate your readers. have dialogue mean nothing. characters say one thing but mean something else.

above everything else, treat it like a real conversation. if something sounds rigid and forced, scrap it; never force dialogue. (unless that's the sort of awkward vibe ur going for) always try to write from your character's povs' rather than as the author.

and don't forget to have the time of your fucking life. writing should be fun. make your characters say shit you wanna say. make them say shit you wish someone would say to you. make them say shit you never want anyone to tell you in your life. make characters respond in ways you would never dare to irl. make them respond rudely, nicely, strangely, or not at all.

HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and good luck <3

[mariusrenathyrs-crashout]

He for sure would try and leave. Gricko, Torbek and Gideon would probably get into a bit of a blowout argument with Frost and Kremy over the matter. It'd probably be a bit of a shock to Kremy and the others since it'd be the first time the guys would see Gideon get genuinely angry towards Kremy, let alone on Frost's behalf. Kremy would likely argue he's just trying to look at the big picture and he everyone else isn't thinking rationally about the matter which Frost would agree to and probably try and convince them it's best to allow him to take his leave. It's a whole debacle that nearl, if not, does come to blows between them as everyone gets pretty intense about the matter. In the end though, Kremy says he's not gonna be the one to bail everyone out if things go wrong and not to fuck up or else, and the words sound harsh, but Frost knows they're a Kremy apology and affirmation to everyone to stay safe.

Torbek honestly is the one I'm struggling most to figure out. I do think him not being affiliated at all with the krew prior to his Empire time would probably be easiest. Super weapon is honestly a good take since I'd think because Torbek's oddly natural resilience to injuries as seen in Witchlight proper, in this AU he and others would likely be sort of forced to endure experiments and whatnot by the Empire testing the limits of that resiliency. The Other in this would likely just be a sort of conditioned mindset and frenzy that could be triggered by certain conditions like phrases or situations, it wouldn't be a whole person rather a sort of vicious adrenalized state Torbek goes into. 🤷‍♂️ Maybe attack weapons good enough to kill a Jedi, who knows. 🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️

I do think that the Krew gets close, and while it may just be my Frostbek truther heart, I think even in this AU they would get very close. Starting off adverse due to Torbek's general fear of Force users versus Frost wanting to help but not overstep, to them bonding later on over their shared general fears of losing people and being left alone or of being the reason people become harmed.

Y'all don't know how hard I've been trying to mesh my two hyperfixations together. I've really been down in the ol' AU mine chipping away at a Star Wars x Legends of Avantris AU. I need Frost to have a fucking light saber so bad.

[butwhatifidothis]

Nice blog you have hear. Your VW rewrite is great and I adore the idea of a Claude-Rhea rapport, but there's one thing I'm struggling to understand.

How is Claude becoming tolerant of the church--an institution mostly run by white people--in VW any different to Nader being scolded by Lorenz about the Almyrans' behaviour in GW (from what I've seen--I have no intention of playing Hopes ew)? Especially since Rhea's need to hide her identity is a more abstract exploration of othering compared to Claude's which is more grounded in reality, thus running the risk of making their (personal) connection problematic.

(If you don't want to answer this publically, please make a post saying so and I will come off anon.)

Hm. I don’t think I quite understand the comparison being made here.

Claude becoming tolerant of the Church would be a result of the Church itself being tolerant to outsiders and foreigners, at least per my rewrite that you're referencing. He is accepting of a good institution doing good things that he already agrees are good things, with no requirement of the "mostly run by white people" institution telling him these are good things.

Meanwhile, in Hopes, you have it to where Nader - a POC man - is turned into someone who enjoys pillaging conquered lands, when that has never been established in his character before. Building onto that you have Claude - a man of the same POC race as Nader - saying nothing against him doing this; he is either enabling Nader, or is outright also fond of/okay with pillaging conquered lands. It is only Lorenz - a white man - who steps up and reels Nader back in a good moral line. It would have been one thing had Claude been the one reprimanding Nader, or even showing disappointment in specifically Nader doing this (which would indicate it's a pattern of behavior for specifically Nader), but him saying nothing at all speaks volumes on how Almyra's culture seems to be like. These are two out of a whopping four Almyran characters we ever see (when counting Cyril, even though he explicitly doesn't adhere to much of Almyra's culture), meaning that half of the game's known Almyran characters participate in or otherwise allow for pillaging.

I don't mean to be rude, but what you are trying to compare are two entirely different scenarios. Claude accepting an mostly-white-run institution being open to outsiders/foreigners is... not the same as him and Nader being used to paint Almyra as a pillaging bandit continent that have to be calmed down by the good white man. Not to be rude, but I'm having a hard time understanding the point trying to be made here.

Nor do I really understand what you mean by "Rhea's need to hide her identity is a more abstract exploration of othering compared to Claude's which is more grounded in reality, thus running the risk of making their (personal) connection problematic." Rhea's need to hide her identity is... absolutely not abstract. Like, at all? The most "abstract" thing about it is that she's a nonhuman entity, but pretty much every else aligns almost perfectly with Claude's need to hide his identity. They both experience the following:

A sense of being unable to truly trust/open up to those around them due to how they've been treated because of their race

A real, logical, physical danger that looms over them should their identities be revealed too callously and to the wrong people

Being seen as strange and untrustworthy in extremely large part due to how they come off because of them hiding their identities

While the depths of Rhea's trauma includes far more immediate tragedy than Claude's, both experience very similar feelings because of what they went through. I don't see what risk would be ran should they be written to have a personal connection to one another?

Again, sorry if I come off rude or standoffish, but I genuinely do not get what you're trying to say here

[3v3rl4stingbr4in]

Hi. Is this anything.

At first, Vere would make more sense but I think it would be more funnier if it is Leander getting headlocked by Ais.

[riiver000]

sorry this is a different fandom LOLOLOL i got back into adventure time and have been majorly hyperfixating on fern. its terrible i started crying randomlyu like 3 times today because of him

[bthump]

I’m sorry maybe I’ve misinterpreted your posts, but to clarify: Griffith selling his body to Gennon you consider rape/SA, but Grifith forcing himself on Charlotte is just "having sex"?

I'm gonna take this in the best faith possible and assume at some point I referenced one or both of these without an accompanying explanation or link to one, so here:

charlotte

gennon

That said, two things:

a) if you've already read those or similar explanatory posts and still sent this then there's no real point in engaging because we're coming at this from two different incompatible angles and I can't have a productive discussion with someone who responds to the characters as if they're real people when I'm talking about narrative framing, thematic resonance, and authorial intent.

b) I hope you didn't mean to imply that you think an adult having sex with a prepubescent child can be consensual. I can respect the position that they're both rape, even if I think that ignores the aforementioned narrative framing themes and authorial intent, but if you think I got it backwards then yikes.

[andiv3r]

Having to block everyone who has "wincest dni" in their bio not because I ship wincest (because I have come to the conclusion that I actually don't) but because I do think it'd be fun to poke around at the very real weirdness of their relationship that I've noticed in the show so far. And I'm 99% sure that my poking around will get seen as shipping.

[astradyke]

being very truthful i wasn't feeling particularly positive about the trailer for TIT (still bought tix though hi nyc <3) and am holding out hope they do a little more teasing for what this tour is actually about in future videos,

but i cannot deny that this specific frame of it

("we basically raised half of them." - phil)

like very specifically got me? like obviously yes the bit is like, they're our dads i started watching them age twelve et cetera but. i don't know. with the way all of this is laid out, the contrasting colors that blend together and the silhouettes on their respective sides (as we always view them, dan to the left & phil to the right) and the screens, it says so loudly like... it's dan and phil, side by side. it's the two of them. it's been them for the last fifteen years.

it's a we, it's a testament that this kinda sacred thing of 'dan and phil' has lasted a really long time, and survived a hiatus, solely because dan and phil themselves have known each other and existed alongside each other for those fifteen years. and yes, obviously, this trailer is all scripted, but this exchange still has this feeling of it being about them, not just their brand together-- they aren't really talking to the audience, here, are they? it wasn't solely 'dan and phil' content that raised the audience; dan and phil did. (maybe a redundant point, but i am working off of the negative space here. a lot of this feels like intertwining themselves with their online personas, and simultaneously walking that line. letting us see only what they want to be shown, and now examining that introspectively).

i hope that makes sense, i'm not much of an analyst or theorist. i don't know what the dan and phil renaissance really is yet, and i am a bit afraid of it all, but i'm really excited, both for everything that's to come but also -- more importantly -- i'm just fucking excited for them.

for this bond between them and the phandom to blossom in the healthy ways it has been lately, for the opening of new doors amidst this phan renaissance... and for them to take back what the internet took from them.

[frederickabberline]

Seeing a theory that the doctor was will because of the similar silhouette and staring off into the distance as I am torn between "uwill things I really wish would be canon" and "utwill things I think are simply too extreme and sudden to be canon"

[coquelicoq]

most of the things about the main couple in blossom i could take or leave but i do love the recurring bit where she's doing something he interprets as foreplay and he's just sitting there quietly getting turned on and savoring the anticipation waiting for her to escalate and then it's revealed that she was leading up to something totally else the whole time and has no idea why it's taking him so long to react to whatever it is she's doing. like hellooooo earth to yantang i just revealed my secret that you've been dying for me to tell you for months and it's that i can see the future as you can see here from the red string conspiracy board i have stitched onto my inner robe. you should be overjoyed to have finally been let in on the secret! chuckling awkwardly is not a reasonable response to this information. but for yantang it's like. My Wedding Night and my wife starts taking off her clothes and tells me she has something to show me she's never shown anyone before and it turns out to be Not Her Naked Body. so he's gonna need a minute to recalibrate.

[leatherbookmark]

Every once in a while there will be a blogger I'm not following, but whose posts I know and whose blog I visit from time to time. They can either be a generally popular user, a fandom-popular user, a mutual-in-law, or simply someone whose posts I've seen reblogged by other blogs I visit. You know how it is on tumblr dot com.

Anyway, impressing me -- and at the same time making me take you for a Cool Person Who Knows Things, And Whose Opinions Are Important And I Should Defer To Them -- is only a little bit harder than biting into an overcooked noodle, or accidentally stepping on an ant. So, I'll often admire these people from afar and feel sad and inadequate if we disagree on something, or of they criticize something I think is fine (especially if they do it without giving a reason, like 'well, it goes without saying that X simply sucks').

However -- sudden salvation -- every once in a while this blogger will have an opinion that's so nonsensical, or they'll behave in a way that's so unnecessary hostile to someone who doesn't really deserve it, that it's honestly both sad and surprisingly relieving to me because ohhhh okay you're just a fucking asshole. You're not a special, sophisticated mini-god, you're just an asshole who's mean for no reason. Phew! Aaaaand block.

[thedawningofthehour]

Finally back to working on the fic again and I just want you all to know that the entire time period the next two chapters encompass, Bella is face-down on her mattress hungover af and completely passed out the entire time.

[dasloddl]

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