#more segues than you remember

[mudwerks]

(via The Who - My Generation / Medley (1970)

[taiey]

a minor analysis of Manepear's manipulation (mane-ipulation)

A few thoughts to frame the discussion: Clownpierce has the mace; Clownpierce has not yet died. Clownpierce doesn't log on very often, and of everyone on the server Clownpierce is closest to Kaboodle.

With that in mind... 1hr 13min into 'A New Leaf..?', after a lot of open honest conversation about the war, morality, honour and Mane's potential as an interior decorator, Kaboodle brings up her constancy towards Clownpierce and Manepear starts telling her she should put herself first, because Clown doesn't.

He starts with the basic, obvious facts: Clown doesn't log on very often, he's never attacked Mane for her, he's never sacrificed himself for her like she has for him. Even... Woogie..? backs him up on all that.

Then she starts bringing up counter-examples and he pushes back, with subtle mis-framings like "it would have been easy for him to say I searched for Mapic on purpose so that I could get back for you" when, like, I saw that video and I bet you did too, he said that to Mapicc, and not to Kaboodle. Or brushing off that time he did fight Mane's team as if there's "10 people he knows he's not going to get targeted and if he gets a kill on Main and Flame that would be huge for him", when, uh, it's not that Mane has specific knowledge that the other group chat was considering jumping Clown for the mace earlier in the day, but I do feel that dynamic is sufficiently common knowledge.

I've actually had this thought before because I thought that he was, I was, I was confident that he was betraying me cuz I was thinking like "why would Clownpierce betray and and use everybody except for me? how does that make any sense? why would I be the only one?" and it doesn't make sense like nothing would make me special

Drawing parallels digs into her fears without him directly saying she's not special so as to elicit sympathy and not offense. (and pay no attention to the dissimilarities in their relationships to clown)

I think it was easy for him to defend you from Subz because he knows that he can kill Subz but if it was me in that situation I'm not so sure if he would he would have done the same thing

(y'know i didn't actually notice at the time that uh that's a very different line than his Subz Glazing to Zam&Mapicc)

Mane: did he leave my alliance or did I force him out? Kab: you did force him out Mane: he didn't have a choice not to choose you Kab: yeah that's a horrible... Mane: [crosstalk] he could have at least shot me a DM—wait! Oh my gosh! I just remembered

Things I did not notice on first listen: sorry, when could he have shot you a DM? When you turned on him?? No, no, that segue makes no sense. Mane absolutely did not "just remember". DMs only came into this because he wanted a segue into: his climactic reveal.

When I was looking for your base, I told him about my, my plan to find you using dogs, and he was telling me how to do it more efficiently.

So. Let's look at [the screenshots that i copied off someone else o7]

The first thing that stood out to me, as I was watching the stream, was this: Mane says "he was telling me how to do it more efficiently", and then he lets Kab stew in that for a bit, and then he sends her these screenshots. The framing is set up. But there is not one line in there that is Clown giving Mane advice on how to track her.

The nearest he gets to advice is "she knows when you do tho". Mane glosses that to Kab as "he was telling me exactly what not to do as well", but listen: look at it. The closest he gets to advice is: maybe don't track her. Maybe you shouldn't even try.

Mane asked "what should I say", he relates it like it's another example of advice, which looks like it could lead to advice, and then the screenshot cuts off. And... it's shorter than the first one. We know for an absolute fact that the height is not limited by, say, the height of the screen. It cuts off there because whatever comes after that does not back up the narrative Mane's selling her.

Laughing about her, saying she's scared: it's emotionally affecting, but it's not actionable information. It does not help Mane find Kab. All it does is give the feeling that Clown is on Mane's side.

After exiting the conversation Kaboodle grieves to chat about it; she starts off thinking of it as"actively telling Mane how to find me is, is..." but a few minutes later she's caught on to "if you look at the messages he's not actively selling me out"; she has prior history of coming back the next day going hang on...

Very interested to see how far she gets with it. That thing with the dogs was streamed live; I watched it. The memory of it tickled at my brain, so after today's ended I tracked it down, and found:

Clownpierce: Did he find the manepears? What? Kaboodle: So all the manepears teleported to me when they hit, when he hit them. Clown: [AWKWARD LAUGHTER] Kab, fearless: I'm thousands of blocks away, I'm really far away. Clownpierce: Maybe they... they sometimes do move in the direction they teleport to, maybe he knows the location. Maybe - maybe move around.

Clownpierce was DMing Manepear saying "ok good idea"—and then, on a call with Kaboodle, telling her Mane's tactic and what to do about it.

:)

(He doesn't maximally betray Mane, he doesn't tell her he knows Mane's doing that or tell her before it starts happening; there's a degree of trying to stay on both sides. But he isn't neutral, and he is ultimately, materially, on Kab's side.)

I, like Kaboodle, saw Manepear's "removing all netherite" video and really enjoyed it (the twists genuinely surprised me) but there was this doubt where—videos and not streams usually feel this way to me—I wasn't sure whether, to convince the server that he wasn't the guy on his friend's account, he had to actually convince them. I just knew that was a kind of story he wanted to tell, and hoped he'd try it on Lifesteal.

Now, though, I believe it. I've seen maybe two other fandom people even doubting this. I believe he did because I see he can. And oh my goodness I love it.

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

Hiking Trip (2) | Yandere Diasomnia

First Chapter

Not long into your night your time with Lilia ended as the tent you were in went up in flames

Cuddling into Lilia’s side for the rest of the night 

by sunrise your tent is no more and everyone was waking up to your unfortunate circumstance

“That’s awful. If you like my sleeping bag is large enough for two, (Y/n). It can be hard for someone not as familiar to sleep in the open.”

“Thanks Silver.”

You help the others pack up and begin on the trail once again

The question of the tent is playing on your mind as a coincidence or…something planned

Sebek made his dislike of you quite clear 

but you didn’t think he’d take it that far

He also seemed to have calmed down staying near Lilia and looking away everytime you two made eye-contact

You brush it off instead attempting talk with Malleus 

“So you’d like to speak with me? How brave. I see why Lilia chose you.”

Despite his weird Chunibyou complex that came up every now and then he was interesting to talk to

Offering his incite when it came to architecture and the like 

He was fun to talk to 

“(Y/n) how do you think of Lilia as a partner? Does he satisfy you?”

“That’s a little–”

“You do not have to answer, your hesitance speaks volumes.”

He seems to have the wrong impression on your relationship with Lilia

Often using this to segue into the various resources and riches his birth family had access to 

Somehow he didn’t make it sound like he was bragging 

but rather trying to sell you something

“I would like to offer my tent and sleeping bag for your convenience. It might be better to make Silver and his father sleep in the same bag. After all I’m sure it’s something they’re familiar with.”

“That’s quite the assumption but I remember hearing from you that you wanted to bond with Father.”

“You might have misheard.”

“Did I?”

“I–am not opposed to providing you shelter.”

“Really Sebek? Looking to make friends with my future fiance?”

The green haired boy was blushing and turning away as he loudly babbled something about getting wood

For the second night you let Malleus take your time with him, saying his only job was making sure Lilia did no such thing as cook

Apparently Sebek would have normally done this, 

shooing Malleus away with a ‘MASTER MALLEUS IS MUCH BETTER THAN COOKING WITH HIS OWN PRECIOUS HANDS.’

But for whatever reason when Malleus mentioned him and you looked his way he rean away to grab more wood

Silver who looked as though he wanted to join rolled his eyes as he pretended to need Lilia’s help with setting up the camp

“You owe me Malleus…Father! Will you show me your expertise in preparing the campsite?”

“I thought I taught you this? Oh well I’ll teach you again! Listen closely whippersnapper.”

With him looking nowhere near the fire you and Malleus could organize the dinner they would be having 

“I’m glad I brought some spices of my own. Here want a try?”

“That is spectacular! Not only are you good company but you are an excellent cook as well.”

“Well thank you!” 

“I only speak the truth. Perhaps I feel regret for not meeting you first.”

You don’t know what to say to this…

Only brushing it off as he invites you on a stroll

Magically surrounded by fireflies he looks ethereal when he asks for your arm

You give it to him

It’s only his heritage which is why he’s so polite 

Which is why he’s so much like a prince charming

Complimenting you and seeking you out 

even as your eyelids grow heavy and yawing more frequent

“Like I said before I believe you will find the best rest in my tent. It is much bigger than the others.”

“Don’t be fooled (Y/n) he sleeps like a wild man. He’ll likely crush you before you can get to sleep.”

“I OFFER MY TENT, IF ONLY TO RELIEVE MASTER MALLEUS OF HIS SPACE HE’S SO GRACIOUS TO GIVE UP.”

“Oi oi you all seem to forget who’s partner they are!”

Hushing them all Lilia encourages them all to retreat to their tents 

Grabbing your hand as he leads away from the campsite

“I’ve been waiting this whole trip to have you to myself.”

“Have you? I was worried you’d forgotten I came at all.”

“Please you’re the highlight of everyone’s trip so far.”

Letting him draw you close under the stars, you trust in your boyfriend to take care of you 

Ending the night with you leaning on his chest, you let your eyes rest as you cuddle into him

Lilia looked happily down at your resting face 

Not needing to look up at the woods behind to know who was watching him

“You can look on as much as you like. In the end it’s me they’ll always return to.”

Something about the way he said that made the one watching that much more determined to defeat him

[tackytigerfic]

tacky! if you’re not fed up with talking about it: what was your macro process for first watch of the night, soup to nuts? wondering about how you broke down outlining, drafting, editing. was it different in scope from your ordinary process, or just scaled up?

soup to nuts, baby (i had to google that, it is one of those delightful phrases that we don't use here and i'm hopelessly charmed by it).

thanks for the ask, pal. i'm always interested in people's processes myself, particularly since I came to writing so late (late 30s) and have never approached it formally. i do read an awful lot and that i think is my main influence and teacher (less so in recent years but am trying to get back to incessant reading). i have also been trying to read more works in translation and to revisit classics too, as well as try more formally inventive works. this i struggle with as i'm a bit basic when it comes to reading, i like the segue 'twixt page and brain to be seamless so it's like i'm absorbing it rather than thinking about it, while ofc a more experimental style does often necessitate thinking about it. My partner (approvingly) described my original work as a 'stylistic blank' (the cleaner the better i say) and that's exactly what i like best to read - though it's always a pleasure to be dragged by the throat out of my comfort zone too.

I would always have described myself as a pantser - I never outline, never do writing exercises or character work or beat sheets or whatever (i'm quite resistant to a very structured formal approach). every fic i ever write starts with the germ of one very specific idea - a cameraflash-quick image of a scene, a piece of dialogue... whatever it is. and then i usually start to write at the start and then work my way through.

This one was fairly similar in approach, initially. I opened one doc for loose note-taking — it's where i jot down any ideas i had for scenes, any snippets of dialogue, anything I'd need to remember. I then started writing the fic itself - in this case, I actually skipped through and wrote out of order, not that I knew what order things were going to go in, as such - but I just wrote any scenes I had thought of that felt interesting to me, and skipped a lot of the world-buildingy scenes or the sort of "texture" scenes, the ones that construct a sense of the world they're in and the relationships they have. I then found myself in the position of having to go back and write those bridging scenes, and make the connections (which in some cases did not naturally fall into place) - it was not easy, and I wish i had taken a more linear approach to the writing, in retrospect.

So by the end, some scenes in this fic were written in 2021 and some in late 2024, which means that when I finally finished the rough first draft, the writing quality was patchy, the pacing was off, and some plotty stuff really didn't make sense. That's when the real hard work started.

A few people had looked over very early scenes, but the bulk of the fic was written with no input from anyone else - just three years of writing it into a vacuum without any sense of perspective. Showing it to my alpha/beta people was so nerve-wracking. they read it at different times, which was great as i could concentrate on their feedback one by one, and all three of them had different suggestions (as well as lots of overlap ofc). It was extremely helpful to see what made sense to them, and what they liked - but more significantly, what bits they went 'what the fuck' at, or which bits all three of them had issue with (i'm thinking of the ending here, i really had to kill some darlings there when all three were unanimously just like... tacky no). i had different docs for all three of them, and i worked off one master doc, deciding which changes i wanted to incorporate and how i wanted to approach them. plot stuff was a HUGE issue. the writing quality could be smoothed out - but i'm not a plotty writer and sadly this fic has A LOT of plot. so i needed to work on that. i also have some wolfstar (including a sex scene) which i was nervous about, as i have never read any wolfstar.

Once i finished all the edits, i then did one more read-through myself. I've never edited on such a significant level before. my other two longer fics were written for fests, usually in a scramble to get them done on time — this felt expansive in a way i couldn't have imagined allowing myself to be before i was in it, but as i was working it didn't feel necessary to try to force myself into speed i couldn't hope to achieve or maintain.

@sweet-s0rr0w and i had a really happy morning organising the chapter breaks, and then i had to decide on a title and write a summary. tagging was easier as i had my friends to advise.

another big difference to previous processes is the posting schedule. now i'm posting a chapter every two days, i spend the day between posts working on the upcoming chapter one more time. in all but one chapter i have made quite a few changes immediately prior to posting, which just goes to show that the work is shaping itself as it goes. It's been fascinating to me how putting the fic out into the world is giving me a sense of perspective, creative distance, and dare i say a tighter control over the narrative now that it's not just in my head anymore? so i do think any tiny remaining wrinkles are more satisfyingly flattened than i could have ever hoped for.

so in short, this work is different in scale, ambition, and process in almost every way to anything i've ever written. I can't imagine i'm likely to be able to pour myself into something so profoundly ever again, tbh. it took me by surprise, but it's been the most creatively satisfying thing i've ever done. having people finally reading it (and so generously too) is like getting a very special gift.

Regrets? Being the slowest writer in the world, being too perfectionist (not that i think it's perfect in any way, just i wanted it to be the best i could make it, when it probably would have been grand if it was ehhh fine, you know?) Also, i think i could probably have refined the pacing a bit more. We're on chapter 7 now and six months have passed, so basically the last three months of the fic take place over the last 14 chapters 🙈 But that's because this is where most of the romance and plot develops, so it makes sense that it would take up more space. And i do firmly believe that fics should be a bit self-inulgent, so why not stretch out in the parts i'm most interested in writing?

tagging @citrusses @maesterchill and @sweet-s0rr0w who i can never thank enough for the work they did to get me to this point. everyone already knows what brilliant writers all three are - what a lucky bastard i am to have had their insights and advice.

[dearly-somber]

a…s…m…r | | m.jh

-> pairing. boyfriend!myung jaehyun x f!reader

-> genre. established relationship, (domestic) fluff

-> rating. 13+

-> w/c. 863

-> warnings. None!

-> a/n. Inspired by the Tingle Salon interview he did with Woonhak. I think they both have very calming voices 😪 PSA: this ended up not including anything about what this whole thing was inspired by (aka: the asmr) but oh well 🤷🏻‍♀️

-> bnd ficlets, oneshots and series m.list

-> started. May 28th, 2024 @ 22:29

-> fin. Mon., Jun. 10th, 2024 @ 23:41

-> edited. Thurs., Jun. 13th, 2024 @ 23:38

-> divider credit. @plutism

You and Jaehyun have, more than once, been told that your relationship is peak “black cat x golden retriever”. And honestly?

You wholeheartedly agree ((─‿─)).

You’d hated it at first—you don’t even remember why; maybe because you didn’t like people trying to box your relationship into a fixed dynamic, but nowadays you embrace it with open arms.

Really the only reason you don’t mind it is because Jaehyun’s started calling you “kitty” and, as much as you hate to admit it, you think it’s kinda cute. And also a little hot, but that’s a whole different thing. You just recently changed his contact name on your phone from “Loml💕” to “Puppy😻”, actually—mostly because you don’t have the guts to call him puppy out of your own mouth just yet…

…but that doesn’t mean you don’t think about it!

Anyway, that’s beside the point. The only reason you brought it up was to (very amaturely) segue into what you actually wanted to talk about via some strange, semi-related metaphor(?).

Imagine this: you’re planning on sleeping over at your boyfriend’s house Friday to Sunday (because school and work have been keeping you apart and you miss him); you arrive late Friday evening tired as fuck from a twelve hour shift and ready to pass the fuck out—but wait!—your sweetest Myungjae waited up for you the entire night and is coming to greet you before you’ve gotten your foot halfway through the door!

“Hey, kitty.” Jaehyun takes your duffle bag and drops it somewhere next to the shoe rack, pulling you into his chest with his arms around your shoulders.

You hum into his chest as your hands slide around his waist, closing your eyes and burying your nose in his shoulder (where you proceed to deeply and unabashedly inhale his natural smell mixed with the vanilla of his shower gel, letting out a satisfied sigh after which makes him snort). Your hands slide from his waist to the small of his back, your fingers naturally running over the muscles in his back.

“I missed you,” you mumble.

Jaehyun hums sympathetically, cupping your face and tilting your head back to look at you proper. You catch a glimpse of the soft smile on his face before he leans in and kisses you all over, your eyes fluttering shut at the loving onslaught. “Missed you too,” he says against your cheek, giving you one last peck on the lips before taking you by the hand to lead you to his room.

“How long have you been waiting?” you ask as he crawls into bed, letting out an old-man groan when he’s settled under the covers on his back.

“Not long,” he assures you noncommittally, patting his chest in invitation for you to join him, visibly eager to have you close.

“Let me change first,” you laugh, shaking your head at the overdramatic whine he lets out as you turn around to dig through his cupboard for something comfortable to wear.

“How was work?” he asks.

You groan, throwing your work shirt to the floor as you pull one of Jaehyun’s looser shirts over your head. “Don’t get me started on work,” you grumble, kicking off your slippers.

“Not good?”

“When is it ever,” you sigh, waving a dismissive hand when the fluffy grey sweatpants you pulled on at random starts slipping down your hips—you can’t be bothered to change into something that fits.

Finally turning around, you’re greeted once again by the highly inviting scene of your boyfriend patiently waiting for you to join him, bedsheets pooled around his hips.

You climb up the bed and into his warmth with a soft grin, throwing your leg over his waist and resting your hands above his shoulders. You hover over him as his hands gravitate to your hips, tenderly pulling your waistband a little higher up your stomach before focusing his eyes on your face.

You stare at him long enough for him to smile and raises his brow at you in that probing, flirtatious way he used to before you got together—it’s an expression you like to tease him for whenever you can (except you’re too tired to come up with anything good to say).

“What is it?” he asks, letting his fingers drum against your side while his eyes sparkle at you questioningly.

“Nothing,” you mumble. “Jus’ pretty.”

“Me?” he laughs.

You hum with a tired grin, leaning down to tuck your head under his chin while moving your hands to rest on top of his head. “Puppy.”

“Puppy?” he repeats, high-pitched and squeaky.

“Puppy,” you confirm, turning your head to place a loving kiss against his throat. “‘M tired now, Jae… can we talk in the morning?”

“S-sure, babe,” Jaehyun stumbles over his words (probably because he’s still stuck on the whole puppy thing) before he kisses the crown of your head, wrapping you up in his arms.

“Love you,” he whispers.

“Love you, too,” you whisper back, letting out a long, satisfied exhale and smiling into his neck as you immediately doze off to the sound of his heartbeat and the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

[nights-ofren]

I genuinely don't understand why anybody (besides Jensen) is excited at the idea of more Supernatural. If they do bring it back it'll just be more of the same. It'll be worse than the finale, I guarantee it. It'll be written by the same shitty writers and directed by the same shitty directors and produced by the same boring old straight white paycheck-cashing producers. Misha either won't be in it at all or he'll be in it just enough for them to make a joke of his goodbye scene. I guarantee if the confession gets mentioned at all it'll be a one-scene awkward brush off with the cheesy its-a-joke! no homo! comedy segue music behind it. They'll have Cas and Dean both act embarrassed and agree to never mention it again and then cough bacon cough football cough guns haha oh no we're being attacked by monsters! Here's a shitty ten minute fight scene to fill time so we don't have to talk about this gay shit anymore! Seriously. It'll be a boring cringe fest, directed by Bob Singer. Just like the finale. But longer. NOTHING has changed in the three years since the show ended. Nothing. If it comes back it'll just be more of the same. You remember how Andrew Dabb said at Comic Con the year before the show ended "if you hated the end of Game of Thrones just wait!" and people thought he was joking? Yeah. That. But "if you hated the SPN ending just wait til you see the garbage we haven't got planned for the short season streaming reboot!" Oh you thought it couldn't get any worse than the finale? Just wait til you see what they can't do with an even LOWER budget now that all the white dudes involved are even OLDER and have LESS time to make it! You thought The Winchesters special effects were embarrassingly bad? Just wait! You thought we couldn't possibly treat Misha Collins any worse? Just wait!

*deep sigh*

I have to agree with you anon. As much as little day dreamer me would love a new season (or at least a better epilogue) where Cas returns, Dean declares his love, they get married a go live in a white picket fence house, we WON'T.

so I would honestly keep living in "fix-it" land where marvellous authors and artists give us the ending we all hoped for and deserved, but not get canon ruin it even more for us :(

[wannabanauthor]

Some BuckTommy thoughts while my county is on fire

Irony that I watch a firefighter show that takes place in my actual county. I am fine and safe, but one of my friends lost power and another friend lost her home and her entire neighborhood.

Anyway, bad segue:

I just saw a gifset of Tommy, and it reminds me of something I've noticed about him since season 7.

He is very reserved, but also warm and open once he gets comfortable with someone.

My first time watching 7x05, I was actually surprised when he said "you already know I'm interested" and my first thoughts were, "we do?"

Yes, he was all cute during the date, but I was also surprised when he said, "Evan, I think you're adorable." And he was so genuine, but then his mask slipped back on and he said he didn't think Buck was ready and that he'd see him around.

Being an older gay man who was in the army, I can see why he is reserved at first glance. Remember I've mentioned that he has butch lesbian energy, and he does. All tough on the outside, but once you get to know them, they're teddy bears who can be so affectionate and sweet.

I think he knew from the start that Buck was going to ruin him. He was charmed by the golden retriever hunky firefighter who was so determined to get to know him.

Buck was the one for him, and he couldn't help but lean heavily into that. Tommy romanced the hell out of Buck, he was an eager and dedicated boyfriend, and you could tell that he genuinely loved being in a relationship with Buck.

I think he got a little "too" comfortable and fell hard and fast for Buck. Once Buck asked him to move in, his walls went back up, and he was back to being kind of stoic and reserved. Maybe it's a panic response to past trauma, I don't know, but that's what it looked like.

Maybe he realized that someone had finally gently taken down his walls and repurposed the bricks for something else or the bricks were just set aside. He made a point to mention that Buck was impulsive which probably fueled his fear of Buck breaking his heart. Maybe Tommy hated himself for falling for Buck and opening himself to future hurt/harm or heartbreak.

Tommy was scared of finally having what he truly wanted because that meant he'd have to be more vulnerable and open. So it was better to retreat to what he had done in the past and just walk away before someone gets hurt, but he ended up hurting them both in the process. Being cool, calm, and collected was much easier than putting his heart on the line.

Just look at his expression after their first kiss. He didn't even smile until Buck said "yeah, that works". He was ready for rejection. Then he softened and asked Buck if kissing him was okay. Then Buck made him laugh, and then Tommy was back to being cool and suave, asked him out, and then reminded Buck to call Eddie.

Maybe throughout their relationship he kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe he doesn't believe that he can truly ever be happy.

[luna-rainbow]

— Sebastian Stan (2016), source

Overall a fairly similar sentiment to Mackie’s comment about platonic male friendships, but I did find an interesting angle I hadn’t considered before and which - Seb being Seb - he’s made up an entire headcanon about, and which of course was never addressed in the movies.

We often focus on Steve’s sense of guilt towards Bucky. “All I had to do was hold him”. It is certainly billed as one of the drivers for Steve’s strong sense of obligation towards Bucky “he’d have done the same for me”.

We have often talked about Bucky’s sense of guilt for hurting Steve as the Winter Soldier, but rarely have we talked about Bucky’s guilt for falling, and (in his mind) failing. “You don’t have to (do it alone)”, “the little guy who doesn’t know how to run away from a fight” — Bucky (Seb) saw them as vows. He stayed back in the war because he vowed to protect this guy, who — yeah, might be bigger and stronger now — but he’s still his little Steve who’s too sincere and too noble and too passionate to run from a fight.

We remember the fall for Steve’s despair at the end, and it is an easy segue into Steve’s guilt.

But I think Seb’s words put Bucky’s desperation into a different perspective.

This wasn’t just a man trying to reach for a life line — of course he doesn’t want to die.

But more than that, he had to get back to Steve, because he had a promise to keep.

Even if Steve didn’t know it, Bucky had never blamed Steve for the 70 years Hydra put him through. He blamed himself for not being there when Steve needed him.

[ask-an-epidemiologist]

So how do you change an anti-vaxxer's mind, anyway?

First, understand that sometimes, the answer is simply: you can't. Some people are very firmly entrenched in anti-vax narratives, and will become extremely aggressive in response to challenges.

Second, understand that in this case, saying nothing is better than saying the wrong thing. Becoming hostile, or expressing judgment (no matter how well-deserved) is likely to entrench them more into these conspiracies than it is to make them see reason, making them less likely to be receptive to even gentle challenges in future.

Third, understand that change isn't something that happens after a single conversation. It takes repeated discussions, and a lot of building up trust, to start making people change their minds.

So, then, how do you change an anti-vaxxer's mind?

First step: understand why anti-vaxxers feel this way. This can be summed up in one word: fear. Irrational fear, but fear nonetheless. There are a lot of reasons they may have gotten to this point. They may be deeply distrustful of physicians due to past experiences. People of color in the United States are very prone to vaccine hesitancy and refusal, not because of conservative views, but because of the racist history of the medical institution- in particular, the atrocity known as the Tuskegee experiments. Some, particularly those in the United States, are very prone to distrusting the medical-industrial complex, and extend that skepticism to vaccinations as well. Some may have encountered misinformation, such as the infamous Wakefield farce, which convinced them that children were in danger of being autistic (which is still heavily stigmatized) if they became vaccinated. There are also other reasons, but these are the most common.

And how do we deal with other fears people have? Empathy.

How to have an empathetic conversation about this issue:

First, you need to do just that: have a conversation. Ask open-ended questions, and listen to the answers no matter how much they anger or upset you. The most important and most simple: "what are your reasons for not trusting vaccines?" Other good questions are, "why do you feel this way?" "Are you interested in receiving information about vaccines from me?" "How can I help you work through these difficult feelings?" You need to then tailor your conversation according to how they respond.

You need to build trust with the person you are talking to. If you are in a position of privilege over them, particular if you are white and they are black, you cannot attempt to speak over their concerns about bias in the medical community. This also includes disabled people who no longer trust doctors to have their best interests at heart. Empathize with their concerns, don't erase them, and then segue into the facts. "This is an unfortunate reality, and should never have happened to you. May I share a counterpoint about (specific issue), with the understanding that this does not erase the systemic biases in the medical community?" It is worth noting that breakdowns in trust in the doctor-patient relationship are a key factor that leads to the development of antivax attitudes. This person already feels they can't trust their doctors or the government, and they have, in desperation, turned to a community of other afraid people to be heard. If you remember this, you will have a chance here to gain their trust and be an ambassador for vaccination.

Another way of building trust is to emphasize to them that your goals are aligned. They want what is best for them and their kids, even if they are misguided, and so do you. One rhetorical strategy (that is, incidentally, also used by lawyers in jury trials) is to ascribe positive traits to this person, and then challenge them to live up to it. "I know you love little Tommy very much, and want him to be healthy. I want him to be, too. I am sure, since you care for him deeply, you will look into this issue thoroughly."

That last point is also key. You need to start small, as counterintuitive as it might seem. Don't come right out and say for them and their children to get vaccinated; they need to make that decision by themself. Instead, say that you have information about vaccines that you would like to share with them. It is especially good if you have something saved for a particular claim they made. If, for example, they believed the Wakefield study, there are many refutations out there you can show them. If they are concerned about mercury, you can explain that the kind of mercury in vaccines isn't the "bad" mercury that we find in tuna- and even if it was, there is less mercury in the vaccines than there is in tunafish. Keep it focused, and keep it neutral; one claim at a time.

It is very likely that they will respond to you with a study of their own. Read it carefully before responding. "I noticed that the Wakefield paper has since been retracted. Here is a peer-reviewed study that reaches a different conclusion; it seems worth examining."

You need to show that you are actively listening to what they have to say, and that you appreciate them talking to you. "Thank you for trusting me to talk about this." "Thank you for showing open-mindedness." No vague-posting about anti-vaxxers, no eye-rolling, and no distractions while talking to them.

Another key for showing empathy is to make sure you acknowledge the root of each claim. You don't need to repeat it like a parrot- but for example, using the mercury example above, "it is understandable that you fear mercury! Normally, it is a dangerous substance. Thankfully, there are different kinds of mercury, and the one that can make you sick, methylmercury isn't the same as ethylmercury, which is the one found in vaccines."

Don't start right with debunking myths; always begin with an affirming statement ("that must be scary" or "I know there is a lot of information out there; you must be overwhelmed trying to sort through everything!") before pivoting to correcting misinformation.

Keeping your tone positive in nature is also very helpful. You don't have to be shooting rainbows from your mouth/keyboard, but positive statements help build trust and make people more receptive.

Remember that debunking myths is only one part of what you are seeking to do here. If the person you are talking to starts to feel like you only want to hear their thoughts so you can correct them, they will stop sharing them. No one likes to talk with someone who only wants to be right, even if they ARE right!

Unfortunately, these steps may not work. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, the person won't be receptive. That's okay. Simply tell them again that you are here if they have questions, and you wish for the best for them and their children. Let them come to you if they change their mind.

And please remember, above all else: while these are important conversations, you are never obligated to accept verbal abuse. You have a right to have your boundaries respected just as much as they do. If the person you are talking to name-calls, uses bigoted language, mocks you, wishes bad things on you, etc, it is okay to walk away. Maybe they'll be ready to hear it one day, maybe not, but you don't need to set yourself on fire to keep anyone warm here.

I hope that this guide helps you if you are interested in discussing vaccine hesitancy and refusal! Please let me know if you need anything clarified.

[uhhhhjhfrogs]

Uhh a quick lil 1.8k of Corroded Coffin Steddie | ao3

Eddie woke up to Steve running his fingers through his hair, he purred like a cat and buried his face in Steve’s chest, “can I just stay here forever?”

Steve chuckled softly and Eddie luxuriated in the vibration, “I mean forever is a long time but the rest of this Sunday seems doable.”

“I can’t Sunday I have…” Eddie's eyes snapped open and he sat up abruptly, “band practice! Shit!”

“Since when do you have band practice on a Sunday?” Steve pouted as he watched Eddie scramble out of bed, grabbing whatever clothes he got his hands on first.

“Since you seduced me into skipping practice on Thursday.”

Steve smirked to himself, “I don’t remember you complaining.”

“Well my mouth was pretty busy if you remember,” Eddie scoffed as he hopped around the room pulling up his pants.

Steve sat up in bed to watch him, leaning against the headboard, the sheets pooled around his waist and bare chest on display, all Eddie wanted to do was crawl in between his legs and take him under the sheets again but he had already flaked once that week he couldn’t flake again. Instead he groaned and came to Steve’s side of the bed, tilting his chin up to kiss him sweetly, “it’s torture leaving you dear but maybe you want to come by practice later? In like an hour or two? Watch us play a little bit?”

Steve hummed and kissed him again, “yeah sounds fun, but you should go now if you don’t want to be late.”

“What would I do without you?” Eddie grinned, giving him one more kiss before sprinting out the door. And if Steve didn’t mention how half the clothes Eddie had grabbed had been his? Well he would find out when his friends asked why he was wearing a Hawkins Varsity Swim shirt and Steve’s boxers.

____

Eddie was only 10 minutes late to practice rather than his usual 20, Steve must be a good influence on him. The rest of the guys were already there but they were still setting up so Eddie quickly put his stuff down and started setting up his own sweetheart.

They all started tuning their instruments and tuning turned into a little bit of a jam and then Eddie transitioned into the opening of one of their songs and they were off. It was messy and a little uncoordinated, but their first song at practice always was. It was fun though and Eddie jumped around like they were playing for an actual audience instead of just the garden gnomes in Gareth’s garage. All that jumping in Gareth’s sauna of a garage and Eddie was already sweating, he shed the jacket he had come in with and decided to play the rest of practice in just his tshirt; or what he thought was his tshirt.

“Is that Steve Harrington’s shirt?” Gareth questioned from behind his drum set.

“What?” Eddie looked down and realized that in his haste to get to practice in time he had picked up Steve’s shirt instead of his own, ‘Hawkins Swim and Dive’ plastered across his chest in varsity font. “This isn’t Steve’s… I must’ve swiped this from the locker room a while back, I was in a rush to get here on time - wasn’t looking at what I was grabbing.”

“Dude. It literally says Harrington on the back, why are you lying about this?”

“Shit. Uh I guess it is Steve’s then, whatever, maybe he left it at my house, should we do ‘stagnant’ next? We should practice it for the gig next weekend.”

It was a shameless segue but it worked, they dropped their line of questioning and practice went back to normal for a little while. Until Eddie dropped his pick and had to crouch down to pick it up.

“Who’s boxers are those!” Gareth threw his drumstick towards the revealing gap between Eddie’s shirt that was riding up and his pants that were riding down.

“What the fuck does that mean? My own?”

Jeff stepped forward and put a hand on Eddie’s shoulder, “Eddie, I think I can speak for all of us when I say, we’ve seen you in your underwear enough to know that those are not yours, so whose are they?”

“Maybe I bought new underwear? Have you considered that?” Eddie crossed his arms defensively.

They all burst out laughing and Eddie pouted at them, “I don’t know what’s so funny.”

“I literally gave you underwear for your last birthday because you never buy them yourself.”

“Think if we checked the waistband there would be a nice little ‘S. Harrington’ embroidered in script?”

“No!” Eddie squeaked, because he knew it was there.

Gareth stood up and came around his drum set,“I think we know what we have to do boys.”

The other two nodded in unison, “It must be done.”

The boys started wrestling, trying to pin Eddie down and he was scrappy but 3-on-1 is never fair and soon enough Eddie was immobilized under the weight of his entire band sitting on top of him.

“Holy shit I was joking but it’s real, he’s wearing Steve Harrington's underwear.”

Eddie braced himself for the next logical leap, for them realizing that he and Steve were dating and all the questions that came from it but instead Jeff just laughed, “I can’t believe you stole Harrington’s underwear, like we know you’ve had a thing for Harrington since Sophomore year but we didn’t know you were so desperate that you’d stoop so low to a panty raid.”

Gareth grinned, “this is great blackmail material.”

“What? you’re going to blackmail me because I’m gay? That’s kind of homophobic of you guys.” Eddie said as he tried to wiggle out from under them.

“Not because you’re gay, we would’ve done this if you stole a girls underwear too, it’s the underwear theft itself which is the blackmail material, like sure everyone had a crush on Steve Harrington at some point in their lives but I doubt more than a few went so far as to steal his underwear.”

They finally let him up and Eddie just rolled his eyes, “ok whatever, I don’t care.”

“You’re saying you don’t care if Harrington finds out that you like him soooo much that you stole his underwear?”

“No I don’t care, especially because I know you’ll never have the guts to actually tell him.”

“I mean he kind of has a point there, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you even stand within five feet of Steve Harrington.”

“Ooh your ears must be burning!” Gareth’s mom laughed as she led Steve into the garage, “Steve Harrington is here, asking for Eddie.”

“Hi, Eddie said I could watch you practice today.” Steve waved.

All the band members looked at Eddie with wicked smirks.

Eddie kicked his band mates in the shins subtly as he crossed to Steve, “Yeah, we were just gonna start going through our set list for the next show, you can sit on the couch over there.”

“Cool.” Steve smiled and settled on the couch to watch.

Thankfully, the band valued rehearsal over the potential humiliation of their lead singer and they followed Eddie’s lead-in to their set list. Going through the set list and fixing all the mistakes they made along the way took another hour and afterwards the boys were beat. Eddie dropped to the floor where he was, sprawling on the floor with Jeff, Gareth spun around on his stool and Kurt sat on the couch with Steve.

Eddie popped his head up and grinned at Steve, “so what did you think?”

“Loud,” Steve chuckled, “but really cool, there were some new songs in there right?”

“You know our music well enough to know which songs are new?” Gareth leaned over his drums.

“Yeah, Eddie gave me some of your tapes.”

“And you listened to them?”

Steve furrowed his brow, “yeah? What else would I do with them?”

“Huh.”

Breaking the awkward tension that had begun seeping into the room, Jeff popped his head up, “Do we have any beer?”

_____

A couple beers in all the guys were a lot more relaxed, Steve had slotted into the dynamic between them surprisingly well. Eventually Jeff had enough of the puppy dog eyes Eddie was giving Steve so he decided to stir the pot, “so what do you think of Eddie’s wardrobe today, Steve? Think we should add more jock style to the band?”

“I think you should,” Steve snorted, “imagine, you could be the only metal band out there in varsity jackets.”

“Yeah? You think so, Harrington? Would you lend all of us various athletic paraphernalia?”

“Playing multiple sports since middle school has prepared me for this,” he nodded solemnly, “if you wanted to you could all take a different sport even.”

Eddie laughed, “ok but I want your letterman jacket.” He shot Steve a secret little smile, he’s worn Steve’s letterman jacket before, he’s worn only Steve’s letterman jacket before, and he didn’t want any of his other band mates tainting that memory.

Kurt pouted,”aw you already got his underwear! I want the jacket.”

“Oh come on! There goes our blackmail dummy.”

“Your what?” Steve chuckled.

“Oh shit. Sorry Eddie, we really didn’t plan on saying anything, it just slipped. Fuck! Sorry man.”

“I told you guys, I don’t care if you try and tell Steve.”

“Are you sure? Because I think it’s so funny.”

“Go ahead” Eddie made a flourish with his hand from the floor.

“Hey Steve-“

“Yeah?”

“You know Eddie is wearing your boxers right now?” The band burst out laughing and Eddie just shrugged shamelessly at Steve who was grinning like an idiot.

“Huh, wonder where he got those.” Steve chuckled.

“You don’t care if we tell him the second part either?” Gareth poked Eddie on the floor.

“No go ahead, I would argue that’s the funnier part.” Eddie smirked directly at Steve.

“Well we assume that he stole them from your house because he likes you sooo much.” They cackled like hyenas the way that only drunk 18 year olds can.

“Hmm, and Eddie, you really don’t care that they told me this?”

“Not a bit,” he gave Steve a small knowing smile.

Steve popped off the couch and for a second the band was afraid he was about to kick Eddie when he was literally down but instead he laid next to Eddie, interlaced their fingers together and smiled, “Well I think it’s a good thing he likes me so much considering we’ve been dating for about 6 months now.”

There was a moment of stunned silence before the garage erupted into pandemonium. Steve and Eddie just burst out laughing and Steve leaned over to kiss his boyfriend silly like he had wanted to ever since he saw him shred the guitar solo in the first song they played.

[physalian]

Segway Characters (Or when your protagonist knows jack about the story)

This is the protagonist of a sci-fi or fantasy world, generally a nobody who gets dragged in either by circumstance or by being the long-lost-something prophesied to save the realm. They know absolutely nothing about the plot, the other characters, the magic system, or the new world, the audience proxy that asks all the questions on the audience’s behalf.

I call them Segways (read; not segue) because they look dumb and you ride their ass through the narrative.

This is a very, very broad concept for a protagonist, everybody from a superhero origin story to Harry Potter, as opposed to a character like James Bond, an expert in their craft and a *seasoned protagonist*.

Segways usually aren’t a problem… until it becomes rather painfully obvious that they only exist to be the audience proxy to ask those questions, when another character could and should be the protagonist because they’re far more interesting, usually because the protagonist is way less cool and active in the plot than their constituents. Or, they’re a perfectly fine character, but the exposition dumping to them is sloppy and unrefined.

The difference between just a protagonist and a Segway is how smoothly they integrate into that story.

So.

—

Inception

I love this movie. It has inspired so much of my writing.

Ariadne is a poster child of Segway characters. Aside from the villain, Mal, she’s the only woman in the cast, and though Dom (DiCaprio) is the hero, Ariadne is his protege, the audience vector through which all the world mechanics and important backstory stuff is told. Every other character already knows how dream heists work and who Mal is, so explaining redundant information between experts would look weird—enter the Segway, Ariadne.

For what it’s worth, she’s not useless otherwise. She’s the new ‘architect,’ she builds the mazes the rest of the team runs through and is the innocent cinnamon roll dragged into problems that Dom created. Her name could not be a more heavy-handed symbol.

She’s active in the story and her perspective foils against Dom’s well enough, but Inception is a movie with layers and an infamous amount of necessary exposition to understand the story. Someone has to be there to ask all the questions the audience has. Ariadne unfortunately gets the lion’s share, instead of the script figuring out how to weave more of it into the interactions of the other characters. They spent so much time on the complex narrative it’s like they forgot about a layman audience and threw her in too late for a seamless integration.

—

Netflix’s The Old Guard is better than it should be, given its budget. I didn’t read the comic it was based on and have no idea if Nile’s character is the same in the original, but she’s another Segway with only one reason for existing in the plot otherwise: Andy’s got to pass the torch to someone.

Yes she comes to save them in the end and yes, her advantage in the story is being unknown to the villains, but she’s there, in this version of the story, so the other four heroes can info-dump to her about all manner of things from how immortality works to their backstories to the setup for the sequel the movie never got.

I just rewatched it recently and if the script just had two or three passes to tackle the exposition problem, it could have off-loaded some of the burden onto other characters, or better told it through action, and not just info-dumpy monologues. When the movie came out I remember a critic I like commenting that it could have been a more interesting story if it had been told from the sympathetic villain’s perspective (Not Dudley’s). As in, if he was on a mission with all his conspiracy-level research and dedication to track these people down, throwing out his own theories for them to then correct or something.

Like this, the story is just waiting for Nile to ask the right questions. Nothing is volunteered freely without Nile directly asking for it, because it runs into the same problem as Inception: Every other character already knows everything, and they wouldn’t exposit to each other.

—

A lot of isekai anime also do this. I’ve tried getting into older, tentpole shows like Sailor Moon and Bleach and Yu Yu Hakusho and I don’t know what it is about anime pilot episodes, even modern ones but particularly the old ones, the exposition dumping is atrocious. To the point where it feels like they all know it and are like “listen just bear with us and we’ll get this done fast and sloppy and get to the good stuff later”.

I just can’t. I think I made it 15 minutes into Bleach before noping out of there years ago.

—

Obviously all these movies and shows have their fans, but if you’re a writer struggling with exposition or noticed this trend like me, here’s some suggestions to avoid the need to info-dump, assuming you do want to keep your Segway.

Try not to give all the exposition questions to one character, and don’t wait for that character to ask, out-of-character on behalf of the audience, what’s going on in the story. Instead, let it flow more naturally in conversation and let the more experienced characters brainstorm with each other, or let the protagonist uncover some of this information actively on their own through other means, for variety’s sake.

Figure out a reason why these questions are necessary to the story in this moment. Why is the hero asking now, as opposed to any other time? You can also let the hero draw their own conclusions and have the other characters correct their misassumptions, feeding that information in a more natural way.

Give the hero more to do in the story beyond being the exposition vehicle right from the start. I don’t care if they’re the chosen one and the plot just falls into their lap, why are they the chosen one?

Spread out the exposition to come only when it’s necessary. Front-loading it can tarnish the immersion and overwhelm the audience, especially if it’s complex, or if there’s a lot of it. You can pepper it all the way through the story if you want.

If you really want to front-load it, you can go to the extremes and slap in a prologue or meta-narrative dump that’s fun and entertaining from a third person omniscient perspective. First thing that comes to mind is the opening 2D scene from Kung Fu Panda that covers a lot of ground. Go ham.

None of these characters are bad, I just think with a few more rounds of revisions and forethought, they could have been integrated better into their stories.

[fallenclan]

so!! starting off to say Moon 263 [part 2] might be one of my favorite fallenclan updates ever. here are some more specific thoughts because i have A Lot

the first panel with the "not actually chosen" ones chatting is so nice. the colors for this update are so tasty and really have a mystical vibe, but i especially like this first panel with the mushrooms. also, the textboxes look so neat overlapping. i like how wolfbite is quieter and not saying much while feathersight is speaking the most. it can be inferred that he's explaining about how starclan/the glowcave usually works with darkstone and honeysong occasionally adding on, and at the end wolfbite is just like "all right guys, i get it."

the way the starclan cats are drawn is so cool... the "fading" effect that makes them look all watery, as if bits and pieces of them are drifting away?? incredible. i love it! i also really like how the stc textboxes are a different shade. it's just a neat detail. the star effects surrounding them is so pretty also. i just love how you draw the starclan cats in general, they look so magical. i like how away from the glowcave, their colors bleed past the lines, but at the glowcave they appear more solid, as if they're stronger there. i just,, i love it

the cameos! omg. i literally never thought i would see nick again but here we are. i'm a big fan of all the appearances!!

silverbelly is adorable. i love how excited feathersight is to see her. also, when she first appears, i like the detail of darkstone sweating. despite being a medicine cat, he's literally never seen a fully formed starclan cat before. he's nervous!! wolfbite looks shocked but i feel like this is more about the idea of her being "special" rather than seeing silverbelly tbh. she's like "damn i guess i actually am plot relevant."

salmonskip... i was so happy to see her... she's such a goober. nick's "we all had our own cats we hoped would come" was such a fun line as well for its thought provoking effect. i feel like it's a nod to how there were so many different "fourth cat" theories in the discord server but i could be wrong. we all had our ideas! now i'm super curious as to who nick was rooting for... and also who each of the previous leaders wanted (should i send another ask with my theories on who specific starclan cats wanted to be the fourth cat?)

big fan of the "you weren't actually chosen, you chose yourself" yada yada. wonderful! i love choosing your own destiny narratives. i'm sure nothing bad will happen to our little feline heroes

sleepycloud :(

"you sound different than i thought you would" - honeysong, had me in shambles. honeysong is older than lionsong was when he died... he looks so young here

poppyfeather made me laugh. i love the "not that this isn't heartwarming..." that i read in a 100% sarcastic tone. she is not in the mood for happy reunions!! she has a dictator to depose, guys. time to see her vengeful trait come into effect...

the ending! darkstone and honeysong look so envigorated whereas feathersight looks exhausted and wolfbite... looks ready to "do what has to be done." i love how happy she was to see sandsnap, and then how her happiness is buried once the poppyfeather and cherrystar step in with their plan, as if seeing sandsnap only strengthened her desire for revenge.

i had a dream after this post where the squad was about to confront ravenstar and he was all like "you thought i didn't know about your little schemes? cute." and his little gang rolled up (sleepydawn, flamefall, levi, patchback, etc.). i don't remember much else of what happened but i woke up like " oh no . . . the little guys are in danger . . . " anyway this segues into my prediction that there will be at least one death as a direct consequence of their attempt to depose ravenstar.

-🐉 (giggling and swinging my feet)

as always dragon... you literally never miss

i'm so glad you picked up on the textbox thing, you basically got it in one!!! feathersight and honeysong explaining helpfully, darkstone chiming in with his little snips and jokes, wolfbite talking less because she's got somewhat of a listening role there etc

IT WAS SO FUN TO DRAW THEM LIKE THAT... the white lines made it kind of difficult to see the white cats (looking at you sleepycloud) but otherwise. so fun. your assumption is correct, they're more solid there than they are as ghosts, and then in Starclan they arent wispy at all, just faintly glowing with those white lines (though they're so fun to draw like this i might have to just draw the ghosts like this always. idk)

cameos!! Nick was a special request from my sibling that I agreed with wholeheartedly. he was so silly

"damn I guess I actually am plot relevant" LMAO

yup it was a nod to all the guesses!! if i had infinite time and energy i would have put in more starclan cats as nods to specific guesses (Canarywish aka the greatest red herring I ever fished comes to mind), but alas. and you KNOW id love to hear all your thoughts fuck yes!!! (I didn't have anyone in particular in mind for Nick, but if I had to choose I'd say he was hoping for Snailpetal as well, she's his only surviving descendant)

i'm sure nothing will happen ! nothing bad at all!

sleepycloud :( indeed. i will let slip that i've got some plans as far as the sleepydawn situation but that's all i'll say about that for now

SHES ALMOST TWICE THE AGE HE WAS WHEN HE DIED... i always forget how young Lionsong was. not even 30 moons :(

i love Poppyfeather she is ALL business. "listen you guys can come back to the glow cave literally any time after we kill ravenstar's bitch ass can we get on with it pls"

YES EXACTLY!! Honeysong and Darkstone are the Young Optimistic ones, Feathersight is very cautiously optimistic but has seen a lot of shit and is more realistic about the odds they're facing, Wolfbite is in Get Shit Done mode. she's locked in. her thirst for blood has died down a bit upon seeing her dad and now it is HER job to save her clan. weight of the world on this poor girl's shoulders

i'm sure there will be no consequences. dont worry

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello!!!!

What order do you think the titles go in and what key events are likely happening in that particular episode that reflects the title? IMBD has "Don't Be Afraid, Start the Tape" as episode one, but it's the only title noted so far.

Hmmm.

So. (Full disclosure, I talked about this with @virginiaisforvampires, and mostly align with her^^, though I lean into a bit of a different order^^).

I personally think we might start with:

Episode 1: What can the damned really say to the damned

Louis and Claudia, on their travels through Europe, encountering the revenants. Not much to say, they're both bitter, for different reasons. The revenants also do not have much to say, and what they encounter is bleakness, and despair. Also the more than... difficult situation in Dubai, because let's face it, Armand and Louis seem not to really have something left to say to each other either.

Episode 2: Don't be afraid, just start the tape

The Devil's Minion in the past. I'm not sure how they'll trigger it in present Dubai, but I believe Daniel will remember and things in Dubai will continue to heat up over the season, until it becomes truly "explosive".

Episode 3: Like the light by which God made the world before He made light

Claudia and Louis arriving in Paris, in the "City of Light". Armand was also called a "light in the dark" for Louis, so I think that is them arriving there, learning to live again, falling in love. The good times. Daniel and Armand were in Paris, too.

Episode 4: I want you more than anything in the world

Armand has fallen for Louis, which leads to things. I have theorized this title could also be used at a later time, and reused for someone else, but if they use it as in the book then here. Armand wanting Louis leads to... repercussions. Likely echoed with memories to Lestat here, too, since Armand and Lestat also share a very interesting relationship. And of course Armand falls for Daniel, too.

Episode 5: I could not prevent it

The trial. Claudia's and Madelein's death. The harrowing realization of not being able to do something about it. Daniel's realizations, too. Possibly flashback to Armand not being able to prevent his coven being upended by Lestat.

Episode 6: No pain

Louis torches the theater. Armand takes his pain. In the (more recent) past Daniel might become a drug user to numb the pain of Armand refusing to give him the dark gift. A lot of pain for Lestat. Tower, possibly.

Episode 7: Do you know what it means to be loved by death

Now this... I bet this will culminate in Louis' suicide attempt. And Daniel's realization who he actually loves. That he loves him like that, too. Maybe Louis visiting Lestat.

Episode 8: (this will be an eye-opener, I'm sure^^)

Whatever is needed to segue into s3. I DO hope they will not save the twists for the last minutes once more, I think this shift will need a bit more time. And so I personally hope that this will the episode where the last threads will be resolved and that shift treated properly.

So that is "my" order. What do you think? :)

All threaded through also Louis hallucinating Lestat, plus Armand telling of Lestat. I think that might mostly happen in episode 4.

[ladyknight1512]

Thank you for tagging me @welcometololaland and for kicking this off @thisbuildinghasfeelings . This was such a cute idea.

This is kinda weird for me because I only started watching the show last, idk? May? And a lot of it has been a blur so I’m just going to pick 5 random Lone Star-related memories.

1. The Before Times

By which I mean, the weeks before I even started watching the show. I know. It's weird. Just come with me on this journey.

I started watching 911 OG because I saw Oliver Stark online telling people who were angry about bisexual Buck to GTFO, and that sounded like a show I wanted to support. So I binged it and fell in love, to the point where I caught up and then I didn't want to watch Lone Star because I wasn't ready to let the OG characters go and because I thought there was no way I would love Lone Star that much. One of my IRL friends told me I had to watch it because Lone Star was better and I would love it even more. Finally I gave in and it turns out he was right.

This is one of my favourite memories because I think back to that past Marie who didn't know what she was about to get into and how much she was going to fall in love with these characters. There's a weird nostalgic anticipation that I remember so fondly.

2. The Art of Persuasion

When I love something, I want all my IRL friends to love it too and I really went in hard with Lone Star. I pestered my IRL friend B for weeks the first time I watched Lone Star. I told her all about it and about Tarlos and how much I loved it and how much she would love it too, if she would just give it a go. Finally, in a last ditch attempt, I sent her the clip of the Tarlos hook-up scene from 1x02 and she was convinced. Her reaction to that scene was hilarious and will hopefully stay with me for a very long time. Also I was right: she does love it.

3. Write the Fic You Want to See in the World

This year will be 20 years since I started writing fic (omg, I'm so old), although that hasn't been consistent. The last time I wrote anything substantial was in 2021, and the last time I was prolific in a random was during 2020 and 2021, for Rusty Quill Gaming. Tarlos changed all that. Those guys brought me back to writing in a big way and I've written something Tarlos-related basically every single day since the middle of last June. I published the first two fics in what became the ‘Fathers and Sons’ trilogy, and I'm currently writing the third; I wrote and published 26 one-shots for the ‘In Every Life’ ABC collection; and I've published three other short fics. There are others I've started and not finished, as well as a list of others I want to write once I've finished The Jonah Fic. I love writing for Tarlos probably more than any other fandom or couple I've ever written for.

4. Community Spirit

Which I guess is a great segue into the fandom! Joining this fandom was intimidating, because it felt so established and it's been around for so long. Coming in felt like walking into a party where it was clear everyone already knew each other and I was the odd person out. I'm one of those people who always kinda feels like no one actually wants me around, so carving out a little space for myself was rough, but everyone is really so nice. I still don't talk to many people because, again, I feel like no one would actually want to hear from me but I've made a real effort to comment on fics that I read, and I've had brief conversations with a couple of people. But the interest I've received from people for my own fics, particularly the ABC AUs, has blown me away and I just love getting to be part of this community.

5. In Real Time

Season 5 is the first season I've watched as it's airing and it's so fun while also being heartbreaking. Because I love that I get to experience this first-hand with all of you, but I'm also so sad that this is the only chance I'll get to do it. I wish I'd found this show sooner so I could have been a part of the weekly excitement for longer, but I'm glad to have gotten even just these 12 episodes. I can't believe how fast it's gone and I get all teary even just thinking about the last episode airing next week.

Honourable mention: Basketball

I read 'your first string' by @strandnreyes with no knowledge or interest in basketball whatsoever. Out of curiosity, I decided to watch a game or two, just to try to understand it a bit more. And it worked! But also, it turned me into a basketball fan, much to the amusement of my long-suffering friends and family, none of whom care about basketball but listen to me talk about it now at length.

In short: I've loved being part of this Lone Star community, even if I really only tapped in at the end. I'm glad I got to at least have these 8 months with you.

[quietbluejay]

Dark Imperium #1

guess who's back back again

so okay i really liked this trilogy first time i read it, you know, chewing on the furniture in a good way type of deal so i'm hoping it'll hold up

okay so let's start out with DEATH OF A PRIMARCH so the whole thing starts by going on about how human minds just can't grasp the size of space and reality, especially if you add in the warp etc etc I'm pondering, whither this somewhat-flowery prologue why did Haley choose this way to introduce his book? honestly, I got nothing right now

this is what it segues into btw yeah i'm remembering how i didn't like this opening blah blah two fleets are fighting hey wait okay let's look at this

right from the beginning, we're doing this, huh right from the beginning, Haley is drawing an equivalence between them

anyways the narration goes on to talk about the space marines

yeah this is continuing to not pull punches again i am wondering why people say Haley unironically thinks the Imperium is the good guys etc etc even a giant void battle that seems all consuming is nothing compared to the death of stars, etc etc

"care how they are spent" nugatory that's a new one

dangit, haley, why'd you make me eat my words and now it's time for our narrator to judge Fulgrim's decoration abilities

narrator: even though Guilliman's ship had more gold on it, it was still in better taste than Fulgrim's "an affront to decency"

Fulgrim and the EC managed to outmaneuvre Guilliman and turn a rout into a trap [4:40 PM] I feel like when your whole thing is being plan guy, and the guy who just wants to go back to Margaritaville and who has quit fights before because they're boring regardless of the strategic consequences outmaneuvres you, that you should take a good hard look at yourself and also not compound the mistake by being a leeroy narration: Once, Guilliman wouldn't have made such an error

narration: he's at his freakin limit

i thought that was the funniest way to phrase that sentiment, in case you are wondering

I'm not really a fan of the style of the beginning, tbh i don't think haley can really pull off this style it just feels kind of obnoxious ah! it's like what thorpe did except thorpe did it for the entire book it's basically writing prose as if it was game fluff like if this was game fluff i'd say it was great

THIEL THIEL BBY ITS BEEN SO LONG Guilliman is going out in the armour of reason, which sounds like something a redditor from 2011 would make up and with Captain Andos and Thiel who is a captain now i do especially remember this section and how Guilliman and Thiel are written felt pretty jarring after Know No Fear and I was complaining about ooc thiel he's got more sass than this but you know what i'm gonna let it go as a different writers thing ok back to the story as per usual when a primarch shows up, there's the obligatory simping annnd also im just gonna let it go as a "this is guilliman's pov of thiel"

guilliman sadly thinks about how the new kids look so reverently at him and like dude thiel isn't one of those but like "thiel" and "modest" don't really go together anyways, i'm letting it go, i say

Andos is concerned-

yeah cmon man

andos: this is a bad idea guilliman: have you considered that IM BITING FULGRIM BITING HIM BITING HIM BITING HIM

oh, so he did actually put a little thought into it she said, throwing aside a large rock

okay but like the defenders have the advantage guilliman, bro

etc etc "he would not let his sons pay the price for his mistakes" well well well let's see what happens next like yeah okay guilliman is being stupid here but once again fulgrim is proving that he got smarter after he went full chaos

guilliman has weird experiences when being teleported

they're back to reality though it's not a very pleasant reality lol, there's a brief summary of the weird and horrifying places and things Guilliman fought in the heresy oh huh i thought it was going to say Fulgrim's ship was worse but it just says it's "of a similar ilk"

as we all know guilliman's special talent is microsoft excel yes that's relevant here it gets a brief mention

symbolism it's also lmao Haley took the whole thing about painting with bodily fluids and ran with it and was like "yeah everything is covered in mold" oh, hey, it's Corvo, I remember that name Novamarine dude (all the chapter masters are checking in with guilliman as they're fighting) Guilliman remember the last time he was on this ship and feels sad okay time to for real go into the main room everyone: it's a trap! guilliman: exactly! thiel: he could kill you guilliman: yeah i know thiel: dude i'm worried that the reason you want to do this is not entirely practical guilliman: what do you mean? thiel: pride goes before a fall guilliman: pshaw don't worry about it guilliman: anyways if i can't kill fulgrim in single combat i'll call you guys all in

and the chapter ends on guilliman walking into the room and yes this prologue has at least 3 chapters

Guilliman enters the Heliopolis which is full of bones and smells like "smoke and stale musk" grudgingly, i have to admit that at least some of Haley's style here is doing it for me even if i know he can do better

it's once again creepily silent and empty meanwhile he's getting the updates on his helmet

also we get informed that Fulgrim always kinda sounded needy but now it's the main tone of his voice "a poison masquerading as confidence" Fulgrim twits Guilliman about breaking up the legions which is an interesting first choice

Guilliman: I got honoured Fulgrim: nah, that was me Guilliman: anyways I'm a winner because I was slow and steady whereas you raced ahead into damnation Fulgrim: yeah actually I'm saved Guilliman: for fuck's sake and he gets a good look at Fulgrim

Fulgrim: yeah look what MY god did for me, a much better god than Emps Guilliman: the Emperor isn't a god yeah we really are getting a chunk of the high points of the trilogy established here

Fulgrim gets up in Guilliman's space enough for "his hot perfumed breath to caress guilliman's face" and either he's got really strong breath or - actually wait how does this work isn't he a giant snake is he leaning down to talk to guilliman like a child Fulgrim: join me Fulgrim: waggles eyebrows Fulgrim: aren't you tired of being nice Fulgrim: don't you just want to go ape shit Guilliman: nope, you got tricked Fulgrim: no, it's YOU who were tricked Guilliman: no YOU you can tell they're siblings Fulgrim twits him about loyalty and being more loyal to his little domain than anything else Fulgrim: oh yeah and how much of that is left after Angron and Lorgar? lmao Guilliman: bite bite kill kill kill Fulgrim: well that's convenient because i'm here to kill you as well

oh yeah Fulgrim revealed that the whole thing was a giant trap not just this but them showing up in the first place

as usual i'm not going to cover the fight scene Guilliman almost immediately calls in Thiel and Andos and then Fulgrim one-ups him by having a whole bunch of Emperor's Children hanging out silently in the room Fulgrim's evil sword cuts into Guilliman's armour and Guilliman somehow feels it "a spicy agony" ah, so, allergic reaction Guilliman manages to break the sword, which gets Fulgrim mad

meanwhile there's a ferocious battle going on between Guilliman's troops and the EC, and his side is rather outnumbered

Fulgrim is by this point pissed off with Guilliman he comes over and yanks off his helmet Guilliman gets a whiff and gags Fulgrim: pathetic is this foreshadowing for the mortarion confrontation yes, not even i am immune to making mortarion stinky jokes

Fulgrim aimed for where Kor Phaeron got Guilliman with the athame

guilliman collapses meanwhile the Ultramarines rush in to save him

:D Andos is panicking and uhhh i thought the whole point of making Space Marines not feel fear was to avoid this kind of thing??

that's a great bit "his armour caught on the corpses of his sons" he hears a voice and can't place if it's Thiel or not, and once again thinks about how many Ultramarines died to save him they teleport him out

and realizes he's dying for real and that Andos was right and he starts to panic about what's going to happen to the Imperium without him

and that ends the prologue!

[siryouarebeingmocked]

Found an Self-Insert Cyberpunk fanfic.

Except it's not the usual type. It's the type where it's told entirely from the perspective of people other than the SI, which makes it more interesting.

Problem 1: Current events.

Almost all the references people make are ones you'd expect from someone today, like Batman or other pieces of pop culture.

Cyberpunk 2077 often references fictional in-universe media. Like the dead rock star stuck in V's head. In a world where everything and everyone is disposable and temporary, why would people usually reference 80 year old media?

At one point, a character explicitly compares another character's clothing to Danny DeVito in Matilda.

Okay, the CP timeline divergences mainly started in the 90s. So it's possible that the movie was still made, but it's still odd. Especially when the same characters don't recognize that the story's lead is heavily based on Walter White. Shaved head and everything.

Except he's using his chemistry potential for good, not evil.

And it's not just media. It's also Current Year memes, like V describing certain people as a "corpo bros who watched too much American Psycho", or himself as a "disaster bisexual".

Oh look, a segue.

Problem 2: Rainbow connection.

The story puts a lot of emphasis on LGBT characters.

There's Judy Alvarez, obviously. But also, V's in with Meredith Stout is Stout's explicitly non-binary ex who, you guessed it, is they/them.

Adds nothing to the story. The SI provides that info, and Meredith tries to trip V up, but he sees through it.

Since Meredith is a Militech Corpo, and V is an Arasaka ex-Corpo (who still isn't over it), why doesn't V…just use that connection, somehow? Militech and Arasaka are rivals. There could be some friction there. Or V could sympathize with how Stout would do anything to keep her job.

Why are non-binary characters always just they/them? Why not he/she/they? He/She? Xi/xir? or Lunagender? Or using regular He or She interchangably while IDing as enby? Why is it always the basic, simple, "normal" version? Got a Rochester's Wife situation going on?*

Also, in fanfics, things like this often suggest even more awkward left-wing political insertions, down the line.

Problem 3: even more awkward left-wing political insertions.

Well, just one.

Panam Palmer just didn't fit. This wasn't rare in Night City. Lots of people who didn't fit in, were awkward, had no social groups, didn't choose to be loners. She expected to be alone in the city and no one cared. But it was personal hate. Her skin color, nomad markings, speech, just being a woman. The list went on and every day there was some new jerk who needed to find out, because they messed around.

Panam is canonically native American, according to the devs, but she looks like a random white biker lady wth a tan. Wouldn't be the first white-passing Native woman I've seen.

Also, she lives and works around Night City. Which is extremely diverse.

Judy Alvarez and Jackie (both Hispanic) were both POV characters, and race wasn't really mentioned. You'd think ex-Arasaka V or someone would mention Arasaka's racism, but nope. River Ward was a viewpoint character, and he's much more visibly non-white, down to his necklace and dreamcatcher (if romanced).

He only brings it up in the fic when Misty asks him if he ever had his fortune told. Apparently his granny did a "spirit walk" when him and his sister were born.**

I've seen playthroughs of the game, and I don't remember sexism really being a thing. Why would skin color matter much when anyone can change that and other ethnic features at will?

Why did race only come up as a significant thing now?

I'd expect Panam to get the most stick for being a Nomad, not brown, or a woman. Especially in a city where any woman could sprout mantis blades and go Cyberpsycho at the drop of a hat.

This feels…reductive. Like the writer wanted to give Panam challeges to overcome so she could be a Tough Woman™, and just…piled too much on, like a Chicago hot dog.

I would've gone with something more subtle. "Her back itches without her Nomad tribe behind her, and she's uncomfortable in a city instead of a desert, or a road. Even the echoes sound wrong."

So, yeah, this was the last straw.

Also, I checked the writer's profile, and, very stereotypically, she's from Portland.

*Also, you might recall that there was a nontroversy over an soda ad in the game featuring a lady with, ahem, a rather substantial bulge. Based on an actual trans woman. Somehow, portraying a (possible) trans woman in the same sexually objectified way as ads featuring non-trans people is transphobic.

I never worked out that logic.

My best guess is that some people were uncomfy with it, and it's about a trans person, so it's must be *phobic somehow.

Wouldn't it be ironic if the ad was just Photoshop in universe? Or the in-universe model was a non-trans woman who strapped on the junk just for the ad?

(Though depending on who you ask, that still counts as being a trans woman, somehow.)

**Come to think, that kind of feels like it's stereotyping. I can't find evidence Pomo Native Americans do spirit walks, but maybe my Google-fu is just weak.