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itsclydebitches · 4 years ago

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Welcome back, everyone!

We’re now on Chapter Eight and once again the story is told from Velvet’s perspective. So our starting question is: why is she getting the most attention so far? If memory serves, the PoV order has been Coco, Velvet, Sun, Fox, Yatsu, Velvet, Scarlet, Velvet again — meaning that in a text balancing eight main characters, so far four of them have received a single chapter, two (Sage and Neptune) zero chapters, and one three chapters. That seems rather imbalanced. I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense if we factor in RWBY viewers’ familiarity with Velvet, but I’d wager we’ve gotten far more screen time with Sun overall. My only point being, why Velvet? It’s not that you can’t make her a focal point of the narrative, I just haven’t seen anything to explain that choice in the first 100+ pages. Her perspective hasn’t brought anything unique to the story, something we couldn’t have gotten from the seven other characters involved in these events… but here we are, back with Velvet for the next six pages.

Yeah, this chapter is short. Silver lining?

We learn that Team NOVA is on their second mission — why bother showing us the first when they’re an entirely new, volatile team, right? That would be silly! — escorting a technician “through the Grimm-infested mountains just outside of Oscuro Combat School.” So Shade students regularly conduct real huntsmen work but throw a fit over having to spar with one another? Interesting. See, if I were a civilian who got even a glimpse of what goes on inside these schools, I would not trust these kids with my life.

Lo and behold, things go horribly! We learn right off the bat that “The technician had been knocked unconscious in a skirmish with a band of Dromedons.” For those of you with an iffy memory like mine, these are the camel-like creatures that spit acid and… that’s about all we know about them. That’s really all we need for this scene though because this grimm nailed the tech in his leg, a wound which now requires “serious medical attention.” Great. Gus Caspian, who I learn is a younger friend from the previous novel, is trying to treat the wound as best he can, clearly a little freaked out about being here, “but apparently Oscuro teachers didn’t coddle students any more than Theodore did.”

Do you expect them to? Despite Atlas being the only one who combines their academies with their military, we can’t pretend like these schools aren’t teaching teenagers to wield deadly weapons and kill things with them. There’s no institution on Earth (or Remnant) that should “coddle” those looking to take on that responsibility. I mean yeah, we had moments where Ozpin encouraged them to be kids, like after the food fight and during the dance, but he still took a hard stance whenever there was an actual lesson in the works: “No. You will be falling.” Based on the age of the students, the academies are akin to colleges. In real world college if you don’t do your work or don’t pay attention in class, well… nothing that bad happens. This is by no means a call to not do you work, merely an acknowledgement from a formerly grade obsessed student that individual test scores really don’t have the impact on your life that it feels like they will at the time. Trust me on this. So yeah, some leeway is great in the real world… but when the students are fighting monsters and defending others from death? Then the schools should absolutely discourage any slacker-esque attitude. The concept of any institution “coddling” huntsmen is horrifying.

Note though that the chapter starts after all the action has taken place. We skip the rest of reinitiation. We skip NOVA’s first mission. We skip the attack that landed Velvet in this predicament. It’s not automatically a bad technique provided you’re skipping over boring parts to get to the interesting bits… but this isn’t interesting. We learn almost nothing new from this scene: Velvet misses her old team, her new teammates don’t believe in her, Nebula is mean. Those are the emotional beats here — things we’ve known for at least three chapters now. The only thing that’s introduced is the advertisement on Gus’ scroll, which could have been been added to any other scene.

Let’s revise a bit:

We get to see the battle against the Dromedons wherein Velvet uses her camera, revealing her weapon to Team NOVA and earning more of their respect. Information about Gus’ improvement is shown through his combat abilities as he’s unexpectedly chucked into this battle (perhaps with him using his semblance to further his growth there too). While taking a hit he loses his scroll, slightly damaging it. In the aftermath Velvet retrieves it for him and finds this ad displayed, growing curious. Over the course of Gus’ explanations the rest of Team NOVA is clued into Velvet’s worry and suspicion. What’s wrong? It’s just an ad. But you’re clearly hiding something… Now, does she tell her new team about the Crown, or keep it silent and risk the tenuous trust they’ve just created?

Why is Myers skipping over all the action and potential growth?

Instead we get the boring stuff. Velvet admires Gus’ uniform because of how it’s built for the heat and recalls that “Coco had been messing around with new outfit designs for Team CFVY.” I swear though, 95% of my enjoyment with this novel comes from the throwaway details. I would actually like seeing how Coco combines her personal love of fashion with the necessity of designing combat gear appropriate for the environment. Maybe they frame it as merely a hobby outside of their huntsmen work, giving them an excuse to keep helping their former teammates. That could be cool!

Though of course, this is the series where Cinder, Neo, Hazel, and Emerald all walk into the ice Kingdom with skin bared, so...

(You all are going to freeze to death, have fun.)

“Velvet’s ears swiveled around, listening for danger.” That’s anything detail I like. At the very least Before the Dawn remembers that Velvet is a faunus and frequently incorporates that into her character. She’s on the lookout because other than Gus tending the unconscious technician, she’s alone “on the sidelines.” It’s framed simultaneously as the group rejecting her and as an unavoidable necessity: “it wasn’t like she didn’t have an important task of her own [repairing the relay], one that none of her teammates had the expertise to perform.”

Wait. Why does Velvet have this expertise?

The justification is that she’s “handy with electronics” and “Anesidora was incredibly complicated, and she’d designed it herself,” but that’s like saying “I built a computer so I’ll come fix your refrigerator. That’s easier.” I don’t know, maybe someone with the ability to build a computer from the ground up could figure out a refrigerator on the fly, but they feel like different skill-sets to me. All electronics are not built the same and claiming that because you understand one you automatically understand all others — even supposedly simpler pieces of tech — seems a little suspect. If that were the case, we’d have no need for experts who fix your phone, your television, your toaster, and your watch. Surely if you understand one you understand the others, right? It’s the same assumption here: If Velvet can understand building a hard light weapon, then she must understand relay communications too!

…right.

She even goes so far as to say that they “probably should have left the technician at Oscuro—she could have done this on her own” yet just a few minutes later it’s, “Velvet double-checked everything. She didn’t know what was wrong. She glanced back at the technician, Gus still at his side. The guy was out cold. He’d taken a pretty hard knock to the head. Well, she had tried.” So she’s confident enough to think that the technician is unnecessary one moment and then looking to him for help the next? Which of course isn’t followed by any sort of revelation. Velvet doesn’t acknowledge that her knowledge isn’t as specialized as she had assumed it was, or that huntsmen rely on non-combat experts for other things. She just shrugs and…

…kicks it.

Yeah. Velvet’s skill amounts to kicking the box until it works. Which, of course, it does.

I can’t with this novel.

More seriously though, that’s terrible characterization. Not only does it undermine Velvet’s actual skill to reduce it to being “handy with electronics” — isn’t every huntsmen “handy with electronics” then, considering they all build their gun/energy/dust weaponry in school? — but it adds another layer of supposed uselessness to the adult professionals around her. Theodore doesn’t teach them anything because, as their headmaster, he’s removed from everyday interactions. Rumpole can’t be trusted now and every lesson she tries to impart is rejected. The unnamed technician who is referred to only by his professional title is deemed unnecessary, knocked out, and then indeed proves useless when Velvet magically does his job for him. So why are any of them in school? Why aren’t they just running the world with their superior knowledge and skill-sets? Every time the RWBY franchise puts its characters in a position where they might actually learn something through failure, it pulls back at the last second. ‘Never mind, they actually knew this all along!’ Or, ‘Never mind, the things they’ve been taught are stupid, so best to forget them!’ I struggle to understand what kind of story I’m reading — or watching — when the characters are already framed as perfect. Or rather, flaws absolutely exist (as these recaps attest), but the story pretends they’re not there.

I hesitate to use the term “Mary Sue” here due to its origins and history. Meaning, the Mary Sue was conceived of as a parody, a deliberate exaggeration to comment on the types of characters written in the Star Trek fandom. Then people began using “Mary Sue” as a catch-all term for any female character that people deemed too talented (regardless of how talented their male counterparts might be), we started acknowledging the sexist undertones of that, then started reclaiming the term as something to celebrate and embrace… but we haven’t quite gotten there yet. “Mary Sue” is still a pretty loaded name to force on a character and it carries a lot of implications that I absolutely do not want to attach to Velvet. Yet it’s also the closest term I know to describe the act of an author giving a character what feels like a badly justified skillset. Such as “handy with technology” actually meaning “can fix anything powered by electricity or Dust as the plot needs.”

Velvet is the action movie hacker going, “I’m in” is what I’m getting at. It’s not a compliment lol.

During all this grimm watching and relay fixing, Gus wants to know why they don’t just high-tail it out of there. Especially since the person they brought to do a specific job can no longer do that job. Mission’s a bust. Velvet gives what sounds like a decent explanation: “Retreating from Grimm isn’t an option when you’re fighting this close to a settlement. If we leave without destroying them, the Grimm will just look for another target.” AKA the settlement itself.

Thing is, by this logic any grimm that are currently close enough to attack them are already close enough to the settlement to latch onto those people as the next target. They’d pick up on the civilians whether Velvet’s group was there to kill them or not. The group is there though, so they feel responsible, but why not just head to the settlement anyway? If the grimm follow you, fine. You can still fight them AND you now get the additional benefit of any other huntsmen/students who might be there. If they don’t follow you, great. If they were close enough to the settlement all along… again, this was always going to happen.

Which, to be clear, isn’t the worst stance to take. I understand them wanting to avoid any potential risk by leaving/leading the grimm towards anyone else. I only want to point out the additional stupidity of fighting them when you’ve already got an unconscious civilian in your care, a barely trained student, and the whole reason you came out here might now be for naught. Yeah, Velvet gets the relay working with her magic kick and yeah, the rest of the team handles the grimm just fine, but none of them are able to see into the future and know that both these events will occur. Gus’ ‘Why are we staying here? It’s dangerous and pointless’ question has merit.

But of course, no one in RWBY would ever consider retreat. It’s a very iffy characteristic at this point.

We learn — or at least I learn now — that Gus’ semblance is the ability to enhance others’ emotions, so basically the opposite of Ren’s. That would indeed be incredibly handy provided he has good control over it. We get another reference to Yatsuhashi’s “meditation exercises” that helped Gus’ grandfather in the last novel. Velvet theorizes that his improved memory has more to do with Yatsuhashi’s semblance than any generic meditation: “No one knew for sure what Yatsuhashi had done with his Semblance when he’d tried to heal Edward’s mind … even Yatsuhashi wasn’t sure. His ability was to erase memories, but it was possible that there was more to Yatsu’s Semblance than that.” Um… subtle yikes? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad things have turned out well for the guy, but if I were the grandfather—or a family member of his—I wouldn’t really want a student messing around with my mind when he “wasn’t sure” what he was doing. Especially when the base skill is to erase memories, not recover or strengthen them. Honestly, I love taking a good look at fantasy series because half the time you realize how horrifying things actually are, once you strip away the common place aspects of these skills. An equivalent third year college student is running around experimenting with peoples’ memories to see if he can achieve something other than erasing them. Great!

The good thing is that Yatsuhashi is just as suspicious of this power as I am. Velvet things that he “hated messing with people’s minds.” Understandable, bud. I’d hate the ability too.

While they’ve got this time alone, Gus mentions that he had planned to contact Velvet soon anyway. Two of his classmates have gone missing and though his school has told Shade about it—there’s at least some of that additional info that Rumpole mentioned—he wanted to let her know too because remember, no one in this franchise trusts the professionals to fix problems. It’s a mindset I’d better understand if the professionals were actually inept. Or the protagonists weren’t training to be those professionals. It’s still exceedingly weird to me that there’s so little respect and trust for huntsmen while they desperately try to become huntsmen…

Something something broken systems, but RWBY isn’t interested in exploring that.

So yeah, Gus ropes Velvet in with the hope that she can help. He says that they were last seen attending a new club called Mirage that hosts one-on-one fights for a championship title. So… it’s not really a club, right? Sure, sure, we’ve all seen Fight Club, but generally that’s used to describe dancing, not fighting. It’s a rather misleading term for what they were actually looking for. No one else finds this odd though. Nor that the information was sent out to select, powerful individuals. Nothing shady about this, folks! Velvet obviously recognizes all these details—a club, powerful semblances, a crown in the advertisement—and asks Gus to pass it along to her.

Our plot forwarded ever so slightly, their conversation ends as Arslan calls Velvet on the now fixed connection. One of the first thing she says is that Octavia used the other students as bait for the grimm.

At least Velvet shares my reaction: “What?!”

Octavia then takes an already bad situation and makes it that much worse. Listening in, she defiantly says, “That’s right. And it worked. It’s called strategy.” She confirms that the students are “mostly” okay and taunts Velvet about inviting them to her “Baby Brigade and you can all cry about it!” I hope I don’t need to take up precious document space by explaining how awful this is. Overlooking the fact that these would-be huntsmen are willing to put their younger peers’ lives in danger like that—and then mock them for needing mental health resources after the fact—why is Octavia the one pulling the murderous Mean Girl act? Yeah, she was an asshole during reinitiation, but wasn’t the whole point of that to demonstrate that she and Velvet got a little closer? Even if she won’t admit it? She saved Velvet from flying down that hole, but now she risks the lives of students at least three years her junior? If anyone should be this violent and antagonistic towards Velvet, it’s Nebula. The most she’s done for Velvet is offer a hand up, otherwise we just watched her express glee in getting to fight her and mock her for not abandoning Beacon… the same sort of behavior we’re seeing from Octavia now. Does Myers think that these two characters are interchangeable? That he can just pick one willy-nilly per chapter and let her play at being Velvet’s Mean Girl?

As a lovely anon reminded me recently, these are also the girls that were created and backed by fans. If I had put money and creative energy into these OCs, I’d be pretty frustrated with how the RT team has been treating them.

Arslan at least is complimentary towards Velvet for fixing the relay—“Truly, great work today”— and Velvet herself is appropriately shocked at Octavia’s behavior. That’s more emotional consistency than I’ve come to expect of this book, so I’ll take whatever little bits I can get.

Arslan signs off with plans to meet back up soon and Velvet thinks about how “everyone was safe after the mission, which was no small thing.” I’d agree… except for Velvet’s early thoughts about how easy this mission supposedly was and Octavia’s decision to put her teammates in danger. It sounds like if anything did go sideways, it’s in part because you chose to enter this overconfidently and then actively made it more dangerous.

Finally, the chapter ends with Velvet believing that she might be able to make her new team work with time. Our final line, in its own paragraph is: “If they had time.”

Am I the only one who finds this weird? The line reads like an omniscient bit of foreboding. Velvet thinks about how she just needs time and we, the reader, hear that this won’t be possible. Except this chapter is told from Velvet’s perspective. So why does she think they might not have time? Because of the Crown? I assume there will be an attack towards the end of the novel—can’t have a RWBY story without the final, epic battle—but right now Velvet has no reason to believe that an attack is imminent, or that the teams will change back, or anything else that would interfere with her hopes of strengthening this relationship… so why the rather confident sounding pessimism? I don’t know. I don’t pretend to know anymore lol.

At least this chapter was short? As said, silver linings. We’re still treading water though: Velvet’s bond with her new team seems to have regressed after two missions, rather than improved, and Gus didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know, just further confirmed it. I assume that next chapter Velvet and the others will visit Mirage. Let’s hope something actually happens then.

See you! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #mymetas #Before the Dawn #BTD Recaps

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swamp-spirit · 4 years ago

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So! A lot of people have trouble with fic summaries, and, to be honest, a lot of fanfics lose me at the summary, so I thought I'd offer my (biased by my personal taste) tips. Fic is for fun, so if you're not worried about it, don't, but if you're looking to bring in readers, a good sumary is your first date.

The type of summary you need is based on genre. A 40K drama has different needs than a 1K fluff.

But, in my opinion, here's the basic ingredients of a summary:

WHAT A SUMMARY SHOULD TELL ME

What type of fic is this?

Fluffy, steamy, horrific? The summary should set the tone. I don't want to see plot summaries about A and B's complex emotional tension when the tags make it clear it's all smut (or vice-versa). Your summary should give me a good idea what kind of tone you're setting.

What is this fic about?

This seems like it should be the basic of any summary, but I'm amazed how many fics miss it. You don't need to summarize the entire plot, but give me the basics of who is there and what sort of thing they're doing. Don't make me go to the tags to get the most basic details Word definition summaries and quote summaries are a common “okay, but what is this fic actually about”, but even things that try and touch on plot... don't. Think the statement paragraphs you probably had to use for essays. There are a whole lot of ways to say a lot without actually saying anything.

'A tries to save the world, but everyone tries to stop them' – What is A trying to do? Who's trying to stop them? How?

Again, this might not mean getting into details. For example, “A joins the school, but things aren't what they seem” sets a bit of a tone, but “A joins the school, but the teachers seem to be hiding something. Why won't anybody talk about the missing student?” pulls me in more.

For a fluff, this might be as simple as “A and B get groceries and run into an old friend from school”

What makes it special?

Big fandoms tend to have trends. Criminal AU or Coffeshop AU, it's often safe to assume your reader has already read 20. Your summary should make yours stand out. There are some bad ways to do this (see 'breaking the 4th wall' below), but put something in the summary that shows your special flavor.

Imagine your reader has read twenty 'A and B work in a coffeeshop' fics. They are probably happy to read 20 more, but if your summary just gives that, you'll look like a watered down version of something they've already read.

Like adding a little pop of color to a dull outfit, this doesn't need to be a plot shattering twist. The little details can make all the difference. Is B working at a coffeeshop to pay their way through beauty school, or do they hope to own the cafe someday? Is it a soulless churn of a job, or a friendly local atmosphere?

What's the hook?

1K fluff is exempt, but this is one of the biggest things a lot of summaries miss for me.

What is the tension? What are the obstacles? This is part of what gets your reader in. How will they defeat the giant lizard beast without their weapons? How do they convince their warring kingdoms to let them marry? How can they learn to love themselves when the world around them treats them like trash? And why in the world is their soulmate tattoo a squid crushing a watermelon?

SOME THINGS NOT TO DO (in my opinion)

“Basically”

Starting your summary off with a nervous conversational filler is not a strong way to go.

Typos

You already know typos are bad. As a reader, I'm actually pretty chill about typos, but the summary is your chance to pull me in. If it's riddled with obvious typos, it gives me two warnings A) This fic might be unreadable B) This author hasn't put in much effort

If you're like me, it can be hard to find typos in your own work, so I recommend showing it to a friend. If you're writing in your second language, ask a native speaker to take a look. Summaries are short, so it's a smaller ask than looking for a beta, and it can really make a difference.

Apologies

“I'm not very good at summaries” is a pretty famous way to tell your readers not to read your fic. Even if the fic really is amazing, almost nobody is going to take your word for it, and a bad summary will always get more eyes than just telling people summaries are too hard. (Not to say you should never complain about summaries being hard. They are. Just don't do it in your summary)

I understand the anxious impulse to warn the reader so they won't laugh at you, but hold is back. No “B might be kinda OOC”. Definetly no “this isn't very good, I'm sorry”. I'd even avoid “this is my first fic/fic in this fandom/long fic, please be nice”, at least in your summary. This is your pitch to the reader! Don't start it trying to lower their expectations!

On the flipside, your summary is also a bad place to get aggressive with potential haters.

And no, don't shuffle your apologies to your tags either.

Breaking the 4th wall

I 100% violate this in one of my fic summaries, shhhh, but keep the summary about the story, not the kind of stuff you'd talk about in an author interview. This includes

-What inspired you (“based on a dream I had”, “based on an RP”, “wrote this while bored”) Exception: It can be good to nod what works your fic is based on -Your various beefs with canon and other fics (“made this character less of a wimp”, “wrote this because not enough people ship it”)

Ending questions

This is the most personal taste thing, but I tend to find a lot of “end on a question types” really cheesy, especially when it's an easily answered question. Questions should pose the mysteries and struggles of the story, not read like a clickbait headline. Here's some examples by genre.

Romance -

Makes me read - “What future is there for a spaceship in love with it's pilot?” Makes me skip - “Will they be able to find love?”

Makes me read - “Why does nobody else seem to see the ticking box on floor five?” Makes me skip - “And what's with that mystery box?”

Makes me read – “What chance does she have against an entire school with powers?” Makes me skip - “How will she show everybody she's the best?”

The clickbaitiest is ones that ask not the concerns of the story or character, but 'what will happen' (ex: “How does he prove to everyone he's the best? You'll see.”) Not a question, but imperitives to read also hit this nerve. I click away extra fast for anything that ends in “read to find out”. But maybe that's just me???

ON USING QUOTES

For lots of fic writers, a chunk of text from the fic itself is a good way to ease into a summary. I don't think this is a bad idea, but it follows the same rules as any other summary.

Chatfics are especially bad about choosing a random section of text the author finds insightful or funny for the summary without paying attention to if it actually matches the tone, themes, or even the characters the fic focuses on.

“I'm not sure we can make this work,” said X. “I thought we were doing okay, but when was the last time we actually enjoyed one of our dates?”

“So we're just giving up?” asked Y.

“I don't know.”

Tells me what the fic is about. I can expect a dramatic interpersonal fic about the relationship strain between X and Y. I have tone, plot, main characters, and a plot hook.

So, in short, if you use a quote:

-Can I tell who is speaking/thinking?

-Is the speaker or subject the characters I should be focusing on?

-Does the quote give a clear idea of the themes, tone, and/or tension of the story?

#fanfiction #Writing tips

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mrslittletall · 5 years ago

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Title: Off Balance (Chapter 3) Fandom: Hollow Knight Characters: The Pale King, The Pure Vessel Word Count: 5.263 AO3-Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21805333/chapters/53757349 Previous chapter: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/190159993574/title-off-balance-chapter-2-fandom-hollow Summary: A story is told. A name is chosen. And a trip is made.

“Are you alright? Let me see your face!”, the Pale King helped the Pure Vessel up which had a hand in front of their face. He was certain if they would have been able to make an expression, it would be pain.

The Pale King slowly and gently removed their limbs, flinching once again at the ice cold sensation. This was something he should get used to. As their face came in view, he saw the crack in their mask. “The floor of the White Palace can be rather hard.”, he sighed as he raised his own hand and focused soul. The crack healed up promptly under this treatment and he took a step back. “You should be careful with turning around, that still brings you off balance.”, he said and got a nod from them. He then remembered why he even had been out, the letter for Herrah.

He turned around to find a Royal Retainer to give it too, only noticing that he had left the Pure Vessel standing there as he intended to return to his quarters and they were still standing where he had left them.

“...Can you come with to me quarters?”, he said and the Pure Vessel cocked their head, it looked like a gesture of confusion. The Pale King then realized his “mistake”. They weren't used to follow a polite plea, they were used to follow orders.

The real mistake in this case was his old self that had thought that treating his own child like a thing was fine. He cursed at himself for this thought as he felt the so familiar stab of guilt in his chest.

“It... it means that I would like to show you something in my quarters, but you can decide if you want to come or not.”, he said, fidgeting with his claws beneath the cloak. He felt how his tail involuntarily clutched his feet, that hadn't happened in a while. One of his common signs for getting nervous.

After what felt like an age of waiting, the Pure Vessel finally nodded. “You want to accompany me to my quarters?”, the Pale King asked once again, wanting to confirm if he had read them right. They surely needed to find a way for them to communicate. Another nod.

“Very well then, follow me.” This seemed to be more of their liking, because this time they followed him without trouble. As they entered the quarters of the Pale King, the Pure Vessel stepped in, then they stayed in the doorway.

“Please take a seat.”, the Pale King gestured to the table and then was quick to prepare some paper and a quill for them so they could communicate. He sat down opposite to them like the day before and cleared his throat, searching for words. “I know this is a lot to take in...”, he said. “And... I have no excuse for what I intended to do.”

His let his head hang low as these words came out. He wondered why the Hollow Knight didn't hate him. Why they were accepting him as their father. He started to loathe himself at the thought of him delivering the Pure Vessel to the Temple of the Black Egg and then walking away like nothing had happened. Like he fully had intended to do. He felt bile rise at the back of his throat and quickly swallowed it down.

While he had been busy with drowning into self hatred, the Pure Vessel had written something down and pushed over to him. He looked at the words in front of him with dull eyes.

“You did what you thought was right.”

Someone like him surely didn't deserve a child like that. They may have been not of the purity he had strived for, but there was certainly another kind of purity in them. A purity that made them even able to forgive their horrible father.

He spend some time trying to regain his composure, his tail had clutched his legs again, so hard that it started to hurt. He forced himself to release them, for his body to relax and took a few deep breathes before he spoke.

“The reason I have called you here.”, he started. “I want to ask how much you know. About the state of this world. About the infection.”

They looked at him for a split second before they wrote for a while. Once they were finished he picked up the paper and read.

The contents were what he had thought. They were aware that there was an infection that made bugs hostile. They were aware that they were made out of void and came from the Abyss as well as they were his child, obviously. And they were aware that their role had been to act as vessel for the infection and for this purpose they couldn't show their feelings. The last sentence made the Pale King frown a bit. They also had written that they were aware that they had siblings.

He never had introduced Hornet to them and he was sure that they had been the only vessel that climbed out of the abyss. So this last sentence confused him a bit. Siblings? Maybe his root had told them about their stillborn ones though he didn't take his wife as one to say something like this to her own child.

“That is the gist of if, pretty much.”, the Pale King confirmed. “But the root of the infection is another story. I will give you the short version, so pay attention.”

They leaned on the table as if trying to be closer to his words and he feared that they would fall again, these horns were just too big, but they got a hold on themselves and cocked their head at him in a curious manner.

“When I was still in my original body, I came across this land.”, the Pale King started his tale. “I had a certain feeling that I should stop there, so after I spend a while to observe the living creatures in Hallow's Nest, I decided to shed my shell and transform into a form that would make it easier for me to interact with them.” His thoughts wandered to the leftover shell in Kingdom's Edge. He had been much larger back then.

“I wandered this land and whenever I came upon a native bug of this country, it felt like they were controlled by a hive mind. I used my powers to grant them free thoughts.”, the Pale King told further. “I continued to traverse the lands and free bugs of this hive mind, but then I came upon a clan that already was worshipping a god.”

The thought about his old nemesis made his gaze darken and his tail twitch. “She was the source of the hive mind and she was simply referred to as the Radiance.”

While the Pale King thought about how to continue his story he didn't noticed that the Pure Vessel had written another thing and only noticed when he felt a nudge, briefly flinching at the ice cold sensation, which made them retract their limb and stare at it in a way that made the Pale King's chest hurt.

“No, don't worry, I was just lost in thought...”, he said and picked up the paper to read. It read: “What happened between the two of you?”

“It's actually a rather long story.”, the Pale King said, “I will try to reduce it to the bare minimum for now. So in short, we clashed. I was thinking that every bug should be able to decide who to follow of their own free will and she was thinking that everybody would be much happier in her hive mind. So we fought a battle against each other... and she lost this battle and nowadays almost no bug remembers that the goddess named Radiance ever existed.”

He grew silent again which the Pure Vessel used as opportunity to write something down. As he picked it up a sad smile flashed over the Pale King's face. “You want to know why we haven't tried to find an agreement? I have tried... I decided to visit there and offer negotiations, but before I could even present my conditions she decided to get rid of me once and for all.”

He shuddered at the thought of being hit by her lightning blast, heavy enough to get kicked right out of the dream realm, at the thought of the pain and the memory of the blood he had seen on his claws... slowly realizing it was his blood, slowly realizing that he was dying.

If not for his ability to heal his wounds by focusing soul he would have been done for.

“I survived her attack but it left me bedridden for a good while.”, he said. It was Grimm that had helped him back on his feet after this and who also had given him the warning, that it was better not to search a fight with his sister.

“After this I knew that negotiating wasn't working, so I put the fight into finding more followers and slowly but surely Hallow's Nest started to follow me over the Radiance until there was only one clan left who still worshipped her... and even they turned their back to her... ”

He of course was talking about the moth clan, the strongest worshippers of the Radiance. Even today he had the feeling that a few of them still believed in the Radiance, but they slowly but surely had started to die out. Nowadays they were barely a moth alive anymore.

The Pure Vessel scribbled another thing: “So the infection is the Radiance?”

“Correct.”, the Pale King said, lying the paper down with a sigh. “She's upset about having been forgotten and tries to reach out to form her hive mind again, but because she is so upset every bug that gets touched by her hive mind becomes violent. It is a serious danger for Hallow's Nest. And there isn't any chance for us to change her mind. It wish there would be another way, but she can't continue threatening this kingdom by throwing a temper tantrum. And.. you know what my original plan was...”

“Sealing the infection. Means sealing the Radiance. Inside me.”

Seeing it written down like that made him shudder again. “Yes. I wanted to trap her into a being without a mind. The Radiance can only control beings which have a mind. She would have never be able to escape...”, he trailed off and didn't finish the words he wanted to say. An empty vessel. This felt just wrong.

And the next thing the Pure Vessel wrote made him feel even worse. “I am sorry I couldn't be pure.” He shot up and banged his claws on the table.

“What? No, no, don't apologize. It is not your fault. It was never your fault! It was mine!”, he blurted out, breathing heavily, only realizing his outburst when he saw how the Pure Vessel had taken a step back and hugged their tiny nail.

“Sorry, I am sorry...”, he said, sitting back down, leaning his head into his hands. “The last few days have been a lot...”

He only looked up when he felt the icy sensation of the void on his back and saw that it was his child that tried to comfort him. Even though it should be the other way round. They stayed like this for a while until he managed to rise and sit straight on his chair again.

“But enough talking about this.”, he said. “For now it is enough that you know the truth about the infection. We can talk further about this another time. For now I would like to know another thing. Have you chosen a name for yourself?”

They wrote for quite some time after this, making the Pale King a bit anxious and his claws started to tap on the table as he waited. Once they were finished he read: “I asked the others how they got their names. They said that their parents gave them their names. This means... shouldn't it be you who gives me a name?”

As if he hadn't been anxious before, this felt like a whole another stab in his heart. He had been so close to give them a name. He had thought about fitting names before he went to sleep and then convinced him, that it didn't need a name. It was the vessel. There was no need to name a mere tool. And he had buried every name he had thought up deep into the back of his mind.

He stood up from the table and walked to a window, looking outside. There normally wasn't much to see. The White Palace was build far from the bustling zones, he always had enjoyed some peace and quiet. Some of the kingsmould were patrolling the yard and he he could see Ze'mer and Isma talk to each other.

“I... have forfeited my right to give you a name.”, he finally said.

He heard the scribble of the quill for a short while and when he turned around the Pure Vessel was sitting there and presented a piece of paper to him.

“In that case: Call me Hollow.”

Hollow... like in their title, the Hollow Knight. With their face that couldn't bear any expression and without a voice as well as their intended purpose it truly felt like the most fitting name for them.

“Hollow.”, the Pale King said, “Are you sure about this?”

A shy nod.

“Then Hollow shall be your name from now on.”, the Pale King said.

Hollow laid the piece of paper down and hugged their nail again. Had they been worried that he didn't like the name? He had accepted each and any name they had chosen, he was sure of it. He walked back to the table and looked at the nail.

“You are really fond of it. Thinking about it, you have been fond of it since you were a child, but isn't it a bit too small for you now? How about we get you a new one?”, he asked.

Hollow looked at their nail for a long while and then cocked their head. “I won't take this one away from you if you want to keep it.”, the Pale King said, having the hunch that this weapon was some kind of emotional comfort for them. “But you can't fight with this. And you want to continue your training, right?”

They slowly nodded at his words.

“Perfect. Then let us visit the Nailsmith.”, the Pale King said and got up. As they didn't move, he realized that they had never been outside of the White Palace since he had brought them from the Abyss. “It isn't that far away, don't worry.”, he said. “Wait...”, he rummaged around in his desk until he found a map. He spread it on the table and stood next to Hollow. “See, this is where we are.”, he pointed at the White Palace, which was build near the Abyss in the Ancient Basin. “And we have to go to the City of Tears, that isn't too far away. I will help you with climbing up should you get off balance again, alright?”

Their head followed the movements of his claws at the map and they gave another nod. As the Pale King followed their movements he noticed the stag station near the White Palace. While it would be a lot quicker and easier to use it, the stags hadn't approved of his decision to build the tramway at all and he very much preferred to not pay them a visit until absolutely necessary. Besides, he had the feeling that Hollow would appreciate the scenic route. “Now that this is settled, let's leave.”

As soon as it had been decided the Pale King went to his root to tell her that he would take Hollow out (she seemed to be delighted about the name) and then left the Palace alongside Hollow, making some of the Royal Retainers turn their head in surprise, he wasn't know for leaving the White Palace very often. Even Isma and Ze'mer who still were in the yard looked at him surprised, asking if he needed a guard, which he denied.

He had enough confidence in his own abilities to not get ambushed by a bunch of infected bugs and besides they only were going to the City of Tears, which wasn't far away. The two knights exchanged a look but let them go.

As expected, Hollow had a few difficulties when it came to climbing the steep tunnels of Hallow's Nest. Their wings didn't provide flight to them, but they possessed a natural skill in jumping and climbing up walls, only that their balance problems were very apparent and instead of climbing up gracefully they struggled to not fall down to the ground and get a nasty crack in their head.

The Pale King had stayed at the ground and called them down once he saw them struggle. “Let me carry you.”, he said, unfolding the extra pair of arms he usually hid beneath his robes, which now came in handy to get a good grab on Hollow as he extended his wings to fly up the tunnel that led to the city. He still was glad that void didn't weigh much. It wouldn't have been any trouble in his old body, but he had decided to transform his body into that of a usual bug.

Hollow just let themselves hang limply as he carried them and carefully set them down once they were at the top. After Hollow regained their balance they looked around, seeming to take in all these new sights. The Pale King assumed that they must have a million question, a million questions they couldn't ask because of their missing voice. He just decided to talk a bit about the areas on his own behalf to satisfy their curiosity.

“You can't see them from here, but this path leads to the Royal Waterways, which we use to keep the city clean. It's Ogrim's favourite place.”, he told and then pointed to another path. “And this one will lead to the City of Tears. You will see why we call it that once we are there.”

Hollow hang to his words when he spoke and looked around when he was silent. The City of Tears was close now and soon they entered it. The Pale King just wanted to tell Hollow where they were headed next when he saw them rush towards the windows build into the city walls, both hands on them, staring at the rain.

Of course being underground weather wasn't a thing and so it didn't surprise the Pale King that Hollow was fascinated by the rain, that wasn't exactly rain, in fact it was the water of the Blue Lake that poured constantly onto the city. He walked over to Hollow and spoke: “Yes, that is the reason why we call it City of Tears. Because of the constant rain that is pouring on it.”

Hollow didn't show the slightest inclination to move, all they did was watch the rain, their head going up as they followed the movement of the droplets from up and going down once the droplets fell down. After they did this a few time the Pale King noticed how they started to sway and extended his arm to support them. “It's a quite beautiful sight, isn't it?”, he said. He wasn't leaving the palace much. And standing there with Hollow he realized just how beautiful this City was. Or maybe he had forgotten about it during the constant worrying about the infection and the guilt about the Vessels that was eating him from inside. But right here in this moment he felt like he could be at peace.

This peace didn't last long. Naturally the city was bustling with bugs and sentries and every time another bug crossed them, he could hear them gasp and then bow. This continued until there was a small crowd of bugs bowing making him turn around and state: “Our presence here is simply for business reasons. Continue with your every day lives.”

He knew that his soft whispering voice was more to the bugs then just a sound, it kind of was able to touch their minds. After he had stated this the bugs started to rise one after the other and continued with whatever they had planned beforehand, though the Pale King could hear some shushed discussions.

“Let us go, Hollow.”, he said and Hollow reluctantly averted their gaze from the window, following him, though their brief sadness was replaced with more wonder as they crossed the city and they saw more and more of its beauty. The Pale King wished they would have been able to get to the Nailsmith quicker but he didn't have the heart to deny Hollow to take in the sights and besides, every time they encountered a bug or sentry they bowed to him and he sometimes had to remind them to go back to their duties.

Soon they came along a lone hut from which only the sound of hammering on an anvil was heard. “We are here.”, the Pale King said and entered the hut. Once the Nailsmith noticed the visitor he said: “What do you want? I am busy.”

“We require your services in forging a new nail.”, the Pale King said and the Nailsmith nearly dropped his hammer and swirled around, bowing as he said: “Your majesty... It's a rare sight to see you so forgive my earlier rudeness.”

“Your rudeness is forgiven.”, the Pale King said and stepped aside to let Hollow come into view. “We would like for you to forge a nail for our companion.”

“Of course.”, the Nailsmith said. “But you are aware of the rules of the Kingdom. You have to provide the materials and the geo, there isn't an exception, not even for royalty.”

“Of course we remember rules we helped to establish ourselves.”, the Pale King said and produced an item out of his robes. “This should suffice.”

The Nailsmith's eyes seemed to glow once he saw it: “Pale Ore... such a rare material.”

“Hollow deserves only the best. We instruct you to forge a nail with this ore. We have the geo you need ready to exchange.”

“Of course. It will take a while though, so would you like to come back later or wait?”, the Nailsmith said, accepting the Pale Ore and counted down the geo he needed.

“We prefer to wait.”, the Pale King said, not being too eager to run into all the bugs outside again. He also had the feeling that Hollow wanted to watch the Nailsmith work.

The Nailsmith led them to nearby table and even provided them with some tea before going to work, the clanging of the hammer a constant source of noise in the house. The Pale King slowly sipped on his first cup while Hollow was already on the third.

“Don't drink too much, there isn't a bathroom nearby...”, the Pale King murmured, prompting Hollow to put the teacup down and the Nailsmith to briefly stop hammering and turn around.

“Your majesty, who exactly is your companion?”, he asked. “I have never seen them before. They aren't a grub anymore but they don't look like an adult yet.”

“Adolescent. They hatched only a few days ago.”, the Pale King said. “Their old nail has become to small for them, that is why we are here.”

“But who are they?”, the Nailsmith asked further, turning his attention back to the smithing. “It's hard to believe that royalty would just bring a random bug into my smithy and request one of the finest nails for them.”

“They are...”, the Pale King said, looking at Hollow. They had been the Vessel. Now they weren't the Vessel anymore, but something more. “...our child.”, he finished.

The noise of the hammer stopped again and the Pale King could hear the Nailsmith audibly gasp. “They are your child? You mean you have an heir?”, he asked. “And so big already? Have I missed something?”

Now that he mentioned it... the Pale King would need to make Hollow known to the public. The Nailsmith's reaction was completely understandable but it didn't help the churning anxiety in his stomach. How should he explain why he had kept his own child hidden for so long? He had planned to introduce them as the Vessel who would safe Hallow's Nest and not at his heir. He felt like he should find an excuse.

“They have been born mute and wouldn't be able to speak to the public so we refrained from introducing them yet.”, he said, hoping that this would sound convincing enough. The Nailsmith made a sound of agreement and then continued his work. After a while Hollow came closer to be able to watch the Nailsmith work better. It took him a good while to finish but once he was he presented a truly fine nail with a cleft blade.

“This is truly one of my finest works.”, he said as he weighed the weapon in his hands before offering it to Hollow, who looked at the Pale King who told them with a nod that it was alright.

Hollow took the nail and weighed it in their own hands, before trying a slash and falling down on the floor at their full length. Not only the Pale King but also the Nailsmith had to chuckle at this sight. “Still off balance, aren't they? It doesn't surprise me, with this horns. They are quite huge.”

The Nailsmith glanced at the Pale King for a brief second and he had the assumption that he had stared at his own crown like horns. The Nailsmith helped Hollow up, wincing a bit as he felt their cold body and said: “Training with it should help you regaining your balance. Cherish it. It is a gift from your father after all.”

They nodded and the Pale King felt that churn in his stomach once more. It still felt wrong for him to be viewed as Hollow's father. It wasn't like he didn't love them, he was sure of it, it was just... he felt like he didn't deserve this.

“We would like to ask you to keep our and Hollow's relationship a secret until we made it public.”, the Pale King said and the Nailsmith bowed and said: “You can count on me, your majesty.”

Once they left the shop Hollow looked at their new nail nearly falling over their own feet. “Careful.”, the Pale King said. “You are already off balance, you don't need to fall because you ignored where you were walking.”

They looked at him and then put the nail on their back, next to their old one they still had insisted to carry around. While the Pale King would have liked to go back to the Palace right away, now that they were in the city it was the right time to get a few more things for Hollow.

“Hollow, I would like to get a few more items for you. Just stay near me and don't say anything when someone talks to you.” He needed a few seconds to realize how insensitive this had been. “I apologize, forget about this.”, he said, though Hollow didn't seem to be hurt. Maybe because they had lived their whole life without having a voice they didn't view it as a disadvantage.

A while and a dozen bugs bowing before him later the Pale King handed Hollow a small journal and a quill. “Until we found a better way for you to communicate you can write down your thoughts in this.”, he said.

Hollow didn't hesitate to open the journal and write something down. When the Pale King took it he read the following words: “Thank you, father.”

“Don't mention it...”, the Pale King said, warmth swelling up in his chest. Though he was surprised that had been the only thing they wrote. “Aren't you having any questions?”, he asked.

After they finished writing and handed the journal to him he read the question he would have at least expected. “Why are you referring to yourself as we when talking to anyone besides mother and me?”

“It's the royal we.”, the Pale King explained. “It's the way that royalty talks to their citizens.” He then provided to give them a impromptu lesson about royal speech until they arrived at their next destination.

“Here we are.”, he said, stopping in front of a tailor shop. “Now that you have grown it is time for you to get some proper robes.”

They entered the shop and the bug running it came towards them with a big smile: “Welcome to...” before her smile dropped into an expression of surprise and she deeply bowed: “Your majesty, thank you for blessing my humble shop with your presence.”

“Rise.”, the Pale King said. Maybe he should show himself in public more often, he felt like an ancient being. In a sense, he was an ancient being, but that fact wasn't relevant at the moment. “We need some robes tailored for our companion here.” He presented Hollow to her.

“Of course.”, the tailor bug said. “I need to take their measurements so could they please come with me?”

Hollow looked back at the Pale King, the familiar look for his approval and he gave them the now familiar nod. He really needed to get this mindset out of them. Hollow followed the tailor and while the Pale King waited for them to be finished, he could hear how she marvelled over them, especially over their horns and their cold body.

A while later some geo exchanged their owner and Hollow was dressed in an intricate looking white robe that resembled that of the Pale King but left enough room for them to move quickly in it.

“What a good and obedient child. I wish all my customers would be like this.”, the tailor said, not knowing that she shoved a nail deep into the Pale King's heart with this words, making him practically running out of the shop leaving a confused bug behind.

“Now that we have everything let's head back to the Palace.”, the Pale King said and intended to straight go back but Hollow had other plans or more, they were intrigued by a booth selling sweets. The Pale King only had to give them one glance and then said: “Do you want to try one?” As soon as Hollow was visibly vibrating at the opportunity to try the new food they stood at the end of the queue and managed to be the very first ones once the bugs in front of them noticed who it was who was standing behind them.

On their way to back to the Palace with Hollow eating the sweet in their unique way and feeling like they were happy the Pale King thought to himself that he had made the right decision. (Author's note: Headcanon time. The Pale King's appearance isn't that clear in game, but I headcanon him to look like some bug dragon under this robes, with four arms, legs and a tail as well as wings that he normally not extends so they are invisible and let his robes shine through. Blood in a bug? They are practically man-bugs so I like to think they have a little blood. Not as much as we but they surely can bleed. The Vessel's can't bleed though, they would leak void instead. It's canon. Pale King expressing concern that Hollow needed the bathroom? Headcanon that once Vessels start to intake food and/or drinks they also need to pass waste. Just a dumb thing that you can ignore, I just wanted the Pale King to say something typical for a parent. I don't think the Nailsmith in game is the same that once was in the city. It probably was the Ancient Nailsmith. But the nail he made is one you can get in game. Just larger.) Next chapter: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/611130227175849984/title-off-balance-chapter-4-fandom-hollow

#hollow knight #fanfiction #the pale king #the pure vessel #littlewritesstuff

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migleefulmoments · 5 years ago

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The Book Club: My Analysis

I just posted a long look at the ATOM analysis but I couldn't comment on their posts because it would have been too confusing. Here is where I will make comments to their analysis. As always my comments in parenthesis and italicized.

In this first post, notice that Abby isn’t looking for big themes and symbols-although she did catch the big ones- instead she is picking out single words and short phrases and drawing analogies to Darren. This is the literature version of cutting up an already short video into 1-2 seconds, slowing it down for drama and making it a gif. It’s how you distort the truth.

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December 26, 2019 by this is a submission to ajw (X)

Submission from a friend (I posted my brief thoughts at the end). Major spoilers below. Scroll past if you haven’t read and don’t want to know.

First off, just in the note to the readers, I knew this book was going to be full of some good stuff.

Obviously, all interpretations are my own, after my first read through.

“A tale of magic follows a group of young fairies as they fight for acceptance in an oppressive world where magic is outlawed and despised. This story is very close to my heart, and writing it was the most challenging and emotional process I’ve experienced as an author to date. …… I hope it encourages and comforts anyone who may be fighting their own battle for acceptance and equality.”

Fairies= anyone feeling different or told they can’t be who they are, perhaps including the LGBT community? Hmm.. Close to his heart? What closer to his heart than the reality he’s living? (Yes, it is definitely the LGBTQ community. If you couldn’t tell from reading the story Chris says “For me, the magic in A Tale of Magic is an allegory for being gay.” and faires are the people who have magical abilities. This is a story he calls “close to my heart” because he is a gay man who grew up in a town that is now represented by Devin “the dunce” Nunes- so super fake-religious, judgemental and intolerant. He’s been getting mail from gay kids for a decade and he wrote a story to tell his truth and Abby is turning it into a story about Darren and the reality she has created for Chris to be living)

“If we want to change the world’s opinion it must be encouraged, not forced– and nothing encourages people like a good spectacle.”

Hmm… a spectacle? Sounds familiar. You can’t force anyone to believe anything, but it can be encouraged by opening your eyes to a good spectacle, like say a wedding, and realizing that it just doesn’t make sense if you open your eyes. Nuff said. (Except in this case Mrs. Weatherberry is saying they need to encourage people to accept magic not force them to and a good spectacle is the best way to encourage change. For this to be a reference to the wedding, Chris would have to be happy about the wedding).

One of the books that Brystal comes across is by Daisy Peppernickel. I think that speaks for itself. It’s clearly known that Daisy is a certain someone’s nickname, especially used by the part of his fans that believe in Daisy. (This is stupid. It’s a silly, British-sounding name- not a reference to Darren. I can’t imagine a Chris celebrating the fandom’s fetishization of Darren’s efferent movements by labeling it “Daisy”)

“.. each author’s cause of death was EXECUTED FOR CONSPIRACY AGAINS THE KINGDOM. … It was a graveyard for truth and an archive of people the Justices had silenced.”

Deleted tweets, accounts vanishing into thin air. This sounds a lot like the conspiracies against (str8) fandom. It’s no secret that people have been silenced. (yes, deleted tweets, accounts vanishing in thin air (what?) are exactly conspiracy against the fandom. Both Chris and Darren are super worried about a handful of fans in the Str8 fandom. You guys MATTER so much Chris included you in his book. He loves you, dudes).

“All the books in the secret room were written by people who felt and thought exactly like she did, by people who questioned information, who criticized social restrictions, who challenged the systems set in place, and who weren’t afraid to make their ideas known.”

Questioning information? Challenging the system? Not afraid to make their ideas known? Can’t think of anybody that might do that. (It’s almost like Chris was talking about all the brave people who push back against society’s unfair treatment of the disenfranchised and minority persons who are discriminated against whether that is because of their race, nationality, gender, age or income. I know for a FACT he was NOT talking about the cc fandom. who do not do these things for the better good of society but rather for their own needs. Chris was honoring people like Mrs. Weatherberry and MLK, Rosa Parks, Harvey Milk,, people who push boundaries to make positive changes for the good of all people. What you all do is petty and based not on genuine inconsistencies in the system but rather your own refusal to accept that you are wrong and have always been wrong.)

“Personally, I think life is way to complicated for anyone’s life to be set in stone.”

Even though D seems to be in a death sentence, there’s way more to life and his fate is not set in stone. C believes in his man, and knows he can overcome this. (Um what?)

“Sometimes as a survival method, fairies suppress their magic so deep within themselves that it becomes extremely difficult to reach it.”

This reminds me of D’s dudebro persona that he brings out. He’s suppressing himself so far that at times he’ll turn himself into a different caricature of himself. We all know Daisy is in there somewhere under the layers of D-bag. (LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. You mean when Darren is acting exactly like Darren? People are like onions, they have layers. Dude bro is one of Darren’s layers. Not understanding that Darren is who Darren proves that you aren’t are the one who isn’t actually paying attention. It’s so obvious )

“It’s very hard watching someone you love in so much pain.”

C watching the person he loves get knocked down over and over, he’s speaking directly from his own experience here. (How do you know this? Chris has never once suggested he finds life difficult right now or that he is in pain. It’s almost like you made it up)

“Horence had the misfortune of falling in love with a witch. … Naturally, such a relationship was forbidden, so for over a decade, Horence and the witch carried on a secret affair. When Horence’s soldiers discovered the relationship, the men betrayed their commander. They burned Horence at the stake and forced the witch to watch it happen.”

Using LGBT to equal ‘magical’ (As I’ve found countless references I haven’t even put in here) D fell in love with someone magical (gay), and their relationship was forbidden and secret. Once their secret was out, the team made D pay for it and C had to watch it all go down with nothing that he could do. (Except throw all his angst into his books ;) ) (Good job Abby- you got the most obvious allegory. The one that Chris acknowledged “For me, the magic in A Tale of Magic is an allegory for being gay.” The rest of your nonsense is silly- the secret isn’t out and nobody except Abby has ever suggested anyone is making Darren or Chris pay anything).

“We must pity the people who close to hate, Brystal. Their lives will never be as meaningful as those of the people who choose to love.”

The pathetic souls that do nothing but hate on C C and spread hate will never have as meaningful of life as those that chose to love and support our boys. (Um...I guess you don’t believe in coincidences but you believe in Karma. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. I am 100% positive that karma will get the people who don’t support cc. Both Chris and Darren have both denied a relationship and neither has ever suggested any of it is true).

“We all know how terrible keeping a secret can feel. Secrets are like parasites, the longer you keep them inside you, the more damage they cause.”

The longer D is force to stay closeted, the more damage it does to him.

“If we had had everything we wanted then, we might never have found what we needed now.”

This to me feels like C is actually a little bit thankful for the bumps in the road. He’s trying to look on the bright side. If things had always been easy for them, they might have taken it for granted. Everything they’ve been through has only made them stronger. If they can get through all of this shit alive, they can make it through absolutely anything. (What twisted mind writes crisscolfer so that Darren’s life is a living hell with literally nobody to trust or on his side except his one true love and his mommy and daddy but also Chris is happy to have been put through the “bumps” in the road? )

“She dreamed the fairy was repeatedly knocked to the ground by a ferocious monster in a fur coat and snowflake crown.”

The ferocious monster in a fur coat? Makes me think of another monster that wears a fur coat. Shade. (Chris is a vindictive dick when he writes?)

“You can stop pretending, Brystal. I know you’re aware of much more than you’re letting on.”

C knows that we know. He’s not living under a rock. (yes, this is exactly the kind of sentence anyone would add to make sure your fandom knows that you are on to them. I agree- Chris is sending you messages of support because though all of this, he’s worried about you).

“I don’t know about you guys, but I refuse to sit back and let a frosty old witch take Madame Weatherberry away from us.”

Frosty old witch= Obviously M (wait I thought Mia was the monster in a fur coat and crown? She can’t be all the villians)

“Do you guys know what your love languages are? Mine is quality time. It used to be physical touch, but that wasn’t working very well, so I had to change it. People are so picky about personal space and–”

C cherishes any quality time that he gets to have with D, since it’s not always available. (I can’t.... the 5 love languages are specific and about how you communicate with other people. You don’t pick a love language based on what is going on in your life.)

“Sometimes good people do bad things for the right reasons.”

I have this bookmarked, along with some other passages about the Snow Queen / Mrs. Weatherberry. I know that there’s /some/ significance around this, but I haven’t fully figured out exactly what all it symbolizes. I have a few ideas, but nothing really seems to line up completely to me. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it at some point! (The significance is that Brystal has to made a tough decision to do something that at first glance is reprehensible but is much more complicated than that. Sometimes- like in war- people do bad things for the right reason)

I think those are the big things that I’ve bookmarked. There’s so much more I could talk about, but I’m afraid it would start to not make any sense if I just started rambling, so I decided to go off of passages from the book and my thoughts on why I think they’re significant or tie into C C.

You can feel free to just keep this for yourself, or post it at a later date, or take pieces parts to post. Whatever you want!

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ajw adds: know I’ve been really bad about posting on the book. I saved this submission because I thought it was brilliant and a lot of great insights.

My opinion on the Madame W/Horence/Ice Queen? C is Madame W/Ice Queen and D is Horence. I too thought frosty old queen at first referred to m. But once the twist was revealed I’m convinced it’s c and his dual personality like the twins. He is a Gemini as he likes to remind us. It’s his struggle between being happy with the love he was blessed with and his desire to destroy for the people that have so gravely hurt them.

The quote above to think about most.

Sometimes good people do bad things for the right reasons

That’s him talking about their Pr life and I’d guess directly addressing the fraud in NOLA. He’s believed in d and he wants us to believe in him too. (No, it is just a plot point in a story about “good and bad” written for kids)

#crisscolfer #crisscolfer lol #darren criss #Chris speaks through ATOM #Book Club analysis

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octaviangrey · 5 years ago

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My Top 20 Fanfic Recommendations

Aka what to read to understand me/my tastes or what fanfic I’d bring to a desert island to avoid boredom.

First off this is my personal favorites and most highly recommended list, you may not like some or all of them, that’s fine.

Secondly, I’ve been wanting to make this sort of list for a while - a collection of my favorite fanfics and authors in one place which I can refer back to/up date as time goes by.

This will be mostly Naruto fanfic, since I’ve been in that fandom the longest, though I have included works from other fandoms such as; The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Inuyasha, MCU, American Gods, Girl Genius, Labyrinth, Van Helsing, and Batman The Dark Knight Rises.

Links to fic, and author page, included. I try to mention if I know someone is on tumblr. Let me know if I missed anybody.

Be sure to read the tags, and pay attention to the warnings before reading any of these - you are in control of what you consume in fandom. If you are feeling unsure about a fic and want to ask someone about it before reading, feel free to contact me! I try to check my messages regularly.

Please try to leave a comment/like/kudos if you enjoy the fics, the authors all deserve them. (If you can’t leave comments, that’s fine too - real life be like that sometimes. Don’t stress over it.)

20. To Trammel Some Wild Thing By Anon E. Mouse

This is completely self indulgent and a delight to read. The characterization is good and its plot is so much fun. I’m an unrepentant Dracula fan, in all his forms, and this ones damn entertaining. Incomplete - Anna/Dracula - Van Helsing

19. Nukenin By WhisperingDarkness

This fic, and the works inspired by it, are so much fun to read. Basically a 3 for 1 recommendation (be sure to check the links at the end!) A great Kakashi centric work, their characterization is excellent and the kids are great! Complete - No Pairing - Naruto

18. Fear By Almighty_Hat

I know, I know this isn’t the OT3, but bear with me, this is a really good series, looking at what ifs and giving us All the Jagers. Great slice of life Girl Genius style. Complete with an Incomplete series - Agatha/Jorji - Girl Genius

17. Klepto By DeGlace

This so much fun! A rare pair for sure, but it is so good. The chemistry between these two is amazingly portrayed. This fic is sexy, it’s vicious, it holds no bars and delivers on every promise. Also be sure to check out their fic Marrow, which just missed this list. Complete - Catwoman/Bane - Batman Darknight Rises

16. More Fair Than Snow By Jalen Strix

Oh man, this is such a good series. This author in general is very good, and has several other excellent fics, but this series is my favorite of the lot. Great balance of magic and real world, interesting use of fairy tales and a wonderful romance. Complete - Jareth/Sarah - Labyrinth

15. The Woods Are Deep, My Dear by Azzandra

Baby Agatha! World building! AGATHAS AMAZING GRANDMA! A delight to read, it is so fricking cute, and Grandma here kicks ass. The author also has some other great Au’s so check those out. Incomplete - no pairing - Girl Genius

14. RED KING By VesperChan but also on AO3

This author has so many great fics, but this is my favorite. They are also on tumblr! This fic is so gripping and atmospheric, a real feast for the mind. Can recommend the Obleisk series too. Complete - Sakura/Madara - Naruto

13. Lost and Found By NovusArs

Fem!Bilbo Baggins finds and adopts baby dwarves and the adventures thereof. The fic is cute, the characters are cute, the lore is great and this is so fluffy you guys. So fluffy. Incomplete - Bilbo/Bofur- The Hobbit

12. Lord Charming by forthright

This fic is sooo good. The drama, the lore building, the execution, all perfect. Now I know the chapter numbers look intimidating, but they are written in 100 words chapters, so don’t fear too much, you’ll get through it! Complete - Sesshoumaru/Kagome - Inuyasha

11. The House that Luck Built By TheBlackestFrost

This is so well researched, it’s use of belief and mythology is superb. I had so much fun reading this, but also I cried during some of it too. An amazing fix that convinces you of the romance with one of the parties being dead for most of it. Author on tumblr! Give! Them! A look! Complete - Laura/Sweeney - American Gods.

10. The Company of Trees By theroadkillcafe

This is my favorite Mokuton!Sakura fic ever. It’s amazing, it really captures the trials and tribulations of a young girl who’s life is changed so drastically. The supporting cast is really good too. Incomplete - No Pairing - Naruto

9. Kill Your Heroes by TheLightAtLastAndAlways aka Evil Is A Relative Term

Aaaaaaaaaa this is so good!!! The lore! The character growth! The plot twists! This is a masterpiece of writing, and I adore it. This author is never afraid to give gritty consequences, while keeping it fun and action packed. Incomplete - Itachi/Sakura sort of - Naruto

8. Retrograde Motion by Crunchysunrises

This is a fantastic example of the Time Travel trope, and tackles some really interesting lore and world building. I unreservedly love the part were we see Sakura’s seals from her family. It touched me so much I reread the whole thing 3 times in short order. Incomplete - No pairing - Naruto.

7. Amaryllis By silverfootsteps

This author is on tumblr, go check them out! And also this fantastic AU fic! I fell in love with this world, and the characters in it. A rich setting to sink your teeth into, with masterful twists and turns. Itachi is a very delicate flower and it’s great. Incomplete - Itachi/Sakura - Naruto

6. Sansûkh By determamfidd

This fic is amazing, I was able to get my mother in fanfic with this. I think it’s really well written, it feels very organic with the Tolkien world. I’m gonna get this hand bound in leather once it’s complete and gift it to myself, I want this in hard copy. Bilbo/Thorin - The Hobbit & LotR

5. Meeting Like This by FettsOnTop

And also the rest of the series. This Author is a prolific Boba/Leia writer, and all of it’s good, so give it a go and check them out! This series really defined this ship for me, and is my favorite work by the author so far. Complete - Boba Fett/Leia Organa - Star Wars

4. The Pilgrim Soul By jachap

Holy heck in a hand basket this fic is a feast. You will drown in this, the richness of this world will linger long after the final chapter ends. This is a historical fic, starting in the 1920’s and just keeps going even in the sequel. So much research has been done for this, and you can tell. Be warned you will cry. Has a sequel that’s just as good and being updated. Complete - Darcy/Steve/Bucky - MCU

3. Hermione Granger and the Serpents Renaissance by epsi10n.

This is my absolute favorite Harry Potter fic, it’s incredible. The author is very good at building tension, and then ending their chapters on cliff hangers, so you spend plenty of time on the edge of your seat reading this. Incomplete - Hermione/currently undecided. - Harry Potter

2. The Eyes Have It By Shana the Short

Written for FaNoWriMo. I adore this, and it’s incomplete sequel. It’s. So. Good. I can not recommend this enough - it’s fun, it explores interesting lore on what it would be like to develop a brand new Kekkei Genkai, and it has great character development for those who would usually go over looked. Complete - Sakura/Chojuro in the sequel. - Naruto

1. Five Kingdoms for the Dead by Evil Is A Relative Term

This is it, this right here is my favorite fanfic of all time. I LOVE this. I love the characterization, the plot, and is one favorite depiction of Madara Uchiha in fiction. Of all time. This author has already appeared on this list before, and I cannot recommend enough going out and checking out their work. Complete - Neji/Sakura - Naruto

This is not the be all, end all of good fic I’ve read, let alone all the good fic that exists, and I am very tempted to just add a list of authors I like too, but that would be a very ambitious list. Seriously, the number of stories I had to put aside because I love them but they are not quite on the list.... I have 1760 subsripctions just on AO3 alone. I couldn’t fit them all on here.

P. S. If you wish to reblog with any fic recs of your own, please do so! I’m always looking for new reading material!

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blacknerdproblems · 5 years ago

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It’s hard enough to make a quality TV show these days without any more added pressure. The market is saturated (and had been even before the streaming wars kicked off), everyone’s attention is divided and folks are less likely to wait out a show to get better. I think about shows we think of as classics that had slow starts and it’s hard to imagine all of those shows would’ve lasted as long as they did if the began in this era. The even taller obstacle for fantasy series is the dubious task of following Game of Thrones.

I’m guessing that history may include a very dubious and non-consensus opinion (unlike say a Breaking Bad or The Wire) as plenty of folks believe it failed to stick the landing. But there is no denying that it was the biggest TV phenomenon ever and easily the most successful drama that used fantasy or sci-fi elements while keeping viewers every week. Now that it’s over (and HBO has already cut one of the two prequels it had planned) every network is looking for the next Game of Thrones. Any network not named HBO would benefit from that kind of bombastic fandom as it would probably pay bills for years.

The Witcher, debuting for Netflix subscribers on December 20th is not the next Game of Thrones. Which isn’t to say that it can’t be as good. The source material, for my money, is just as strong if not stronger than the collective of George RR Martin’s epic A Song of Fire and Ice. While it has been billed as possibly the next Game of Thrones, it is a wholly different show, despite the similar aesthetics. As much as we love it, the medieval look/time association where magic and creature exist is still a trope. The Witcher is no different. If you didn’t know the below the surface stories and character details, you could look at Game of Thrones and make a comparison. The similarities end quickly though.

The challenge of adapting The Witcher was always going to be a question of when you started from the source and then of course how. In Sapkowski’s book chronology, the story begins with two books of short stories before the novels begin (which is BEFORE the games). Yeah, there’s A LOT of story in The Witcher series. You of course want to see the story from the beginning, but the short stories are just that, vignettes often not tied together too much and not necessarily chronological. The show tackles this ambitiously but telling the story the same way. To avoid it being a jumbled mess though, the story is anchored by three characters: Geralt, Yennefer and Cirilla. Yennefer (played by Anya Chalotra) is a sorceress with an extremely pragmatic nature herself, desiring power and control above most things.

The show gives Yennefer more backstory, at least explicitly than even the books do to explain her often cold and selfish nature. Cirilla, better know as Ciri and embodied by Freya Allan, is the sole princess and heir to the kingdom of Cintra. Her grandmother, Queen Calanthe (who is magnificently played by Jodhi May) rules the kingdom absolutely. Cintra plays a major turning point in the story in the ongoing war the North has with the empire of Nilfgaard (think of the British empire at the peak of its power and expansion).

Read on here. [x]

#tv review #netflix #the witcher #black nerd problems #yennifer of vengerberg #geralt of rivia #blacknerdproblems

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paradise-of-guilty-pleasures · 5 years ago

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Shattered Reflections {6}

[Helsa RP- Fanfic]

Fandom: Frozen

Genre: Post-Frozen/ Canon Divergence

- Hurt/Comfort, Drama, Romance

Pairing(s): Hans/Elsa, Kristoff/Anna

Previous Chapter: 5. Words of Wisdom

A/N:

If you wish to read Shattered Reflections with slightly better formatting (since Tumblr tends to mess it up), I suggest checking it out on either:

AO3

FF.net

Wattpad

6. Most Memorable

Hans seemed to be recovering quite well, according to the doctor. He was taking the antibiotics and bandages without complaint or fuss, though the doctor still suspected he was downplaying his pain. He was even allowing some degree of physical therapy (though they didn't call it that, at the time) in testing Hans' shoulder movements. There were a number of salves and bandages involved in the healing, and Hans often ignored a shirt in his own time, but as Elsa entered again he at least picked one up and threw it over his bandages, so she might not see the scars that the bandages didn't cover.

"Good afternoon, your Majesty. Or I believe it's afternoon, anyway." He didn't have a clock and didn't ask for the time. What did it matter to him, but for greeting the Queen?

"Have some new questions for me, I hope? Or will I entertain you with another story? I have a fair few about my travels, if that so, suits you. I think my range of motion may almost be well enough for the Harp again." He was light and conversational, his forced neutrality ignored for a moderate lightheartedness. In spite of being a prisoner, he was quite chipper. Being treated so well by the doctor did put him in brighter spirits. If he wasn't otherwise treated well, it didn't show.

Elsa had made a habit of visiting the Prince most everyday, trying her best to make time in her busy schedule to have even a brief visit to check in on him.

There had even been a couple times Elsa had dropped by while he was asleep. Even then she would find herself lingering for a moment or two. There was something captivating about watching him sleep, it was the only time she was certain she could see Hans' true self without his defenses, so she tried her best not to wake him up.

Today she had a bit more free time than usual.

" Good Afternoon," Elsa replied, he had guessed the time correctly. She made her way to the bedside.

"It's good to hear that your motion is improving, I can almost hear the harp, but it's probably still best not to push it." She smiled, as she sat at the foot of the bed, she had made herself a bit more comfortable than in the beginning, no longer afraid to approach him.

" I'd be pleased to listen to your travel stories," she said sincerely. "But first I would like to know if the newest books that were brought to you, were to your liking?" They had made a habit to have a small book review, Elsa enjoyed finally having a fellow bookworm to talk to.

"Still working on The Hunchback of Notre Dame and glad I didn't elect to try to read it in the original French, it is agonizingly long." he admitted with a chuckle. "And my French is very poor."

"Frankenstein was very good and much easier to make it through, though perhaps a bit close to home. I rather enjoy the Shelley's work, Mary in particular has a keen understanding of seeing the lighter side of darkness, and how the road to hell is paved with good intentions- or alternatively, that one should not attempt to play god and be surprised when it goes awry." Hans was quite a reader, astute and taking an interest- not because he wanted to read the books, per se, but that he had little else to do, and it gave them something to talk about. Elsa chose the books, so he would take an interest and see what in it she took a liking to.

"Now I have one for you, 'Confessions of an English Opium-eater.' Some say that De Quincey is not negative enough, I'm afraid I must agree if one takes it as a document for 'what to expect of opium', but I take it as 'one man's personal diary, attempting to make a great and painful change worth something'. In ways, it's both saddening and inspiring."

An odd choice for an admiral, and no doubt there were reasons, but he figured she didn't need a lecture on what he knew of the occasion.

"Of course I can always recommend Shakespeare, but everyone has read that- yet, few mention Titus Andronicus. It may be one of his earliest works, but it certainly is one of his most entertaining to read in the modern day. Personally, I have Macbeth memorized, but that's for other reasons. Partly to give me an excuse to say 'Macbeth' at home. Mother was an actress, it was my little revenge, petty as it is." He couldn't help but smile a little at the silly little thing. He thought it was quite amusing.

Elsa enjoyed a long read, she often got lost in book and end up staying up way past her bedtime reading, slightly regretting it the next busy morning.

"I'll keep those titles in mind for my next read," Elsa nodded. She was always curious of his recommendations and made sure to read or reread them to try to gather some more insight on Hans, herself.

Elsa noticed Hans had mentioned his Mother once again, he definitely seemed to carry some resentment towards her, yet Elsa was too sensible to ask, she didn't like to pry and only inquired about Southern Isles when Hans was the one opening up himself to talk.

"Mind, Titus Andronicus may not be Appropriate for a young lady, but it's Shakespeare, and everyone seems to make exceptions for him. Perhaps that's why everyone reads Hamlet and Macbeth instead, no-one wants to read about the grim business of killing families and turning them into pies." He shrugged a little, considering it offhand. "Hm," He seemed highly amused by a thought, but he let it go. "Anyway, you asked for travel stories? Have a theme in mind? The open sea? China, India, Japan, how the English are doing, anything in particular? Hot memories or chilly ones, fond or foul, city or country, high culture or low? I have a great many experiences, though perhaps fewer stories, but I'm certain I can remember something interesting in any of them."

She enjoyed listening to his stories, he really did have a great many experiences, more than she's ever had and maybe ever will. It made her almost envious of all the freedom he had, while she'd been trapped in her room for almost half her life. Yet, Hans was a wonderful storyteller, momentarily making her forget all that; His words painting vivid images in her mind that made her feel like she was actually there experiencing his adventures herself.

"Hmm," she considered. "What would be your most memorable voyage? Why don't you tell me about that."

He smiled a little. "Well, the siren story, for certain." He pointed out with a little shrug.

"But, what of places I've been...?" He thought a moment.

"Hm, there's many reasons to be memorable. In many ways, Arendelle was my most memorable visit, unfortunately. But perhaps not for the reasons one might think. Maybe I should have kept that to myself." He grimaced a bit. "Oh, how about this fun little piece: I learned to walk barefoot on hot coals in India, simply because I was curious to see how it was done- and I wanted to spook my crew a little bit, too. They were so convinced I'd die horribly. It was uncomfortable, but watching Captain Janssen pale and fetch a bucket was priceless. I think I was more damp by the end of that than burnt, though that might have been his revenge on me for giving him such a fright." He smiled and laughed at the thought. More fond words about his Navy men, it seemed- and this time, a name. "The old man who taught me was very pleasant. I think he was just surprised a white person stopped to talk to him about his practice. I'm not afraid of much, certainly no man, nor pain. There are very few experiences I'm not willing to try at least once."

So, Arendelle. She shouldn't be surprised. 'But perhaps not for the reasons one might think'? Those words lingered in her mind, distracting her from paying close attention to his new story like she normally would. She had to know what exactly he meant by that, she couldn't let it go.

So she dared to ask: "Not for the reasons one might think?"

He gave a bit of a rueful smile.

"I knew you'd hang on that," He admitted."You'd think, 'for his treason'. I'd think 'I've managed to see magic and that's mighty impressive. Not simple street performers playing at magic with cards and sleight of hand that any idiot bored enough can learn, but true magic. I'll always remember my crimes, yes, but I am glad I got to see magic once more in my lifetime, after the sirens. There is little more memorable than that. At least this way, I know I didn't imagine the whole event. I do wish things had gone differently, of course, but a wish is like a shiny bauble, I suppose: nice to have, but not particularly useful."

He thought a while, and leaned back. He tilted his head a bit and closed his eyes, his only acknowledgement of the slight pain his back was giving him. He likely only did that so she would be reassured that he was telling the truth.

"More than that, perhaps. I got to meet you, and you are, yourself, a memorable person. With or without ice magic. Your sister as well, but I had a whole day to converse with her, to get to know her. I don't believe we exchanged more than cursory warnings across a fjord and the few words I could get in edgewise around Anna when we were 'engaged'. I would have spoken to you first, ideally. I wonder how that would have gone." He didn't like that line of thought, but he couldn't help but think of it.

"I suppose I'd have followed you up to the ice castle a lot sooner. I tried to convince Anna to stay, but she wasn't having any of it. She ran up the mountain in a dress and short sleeves, I remember thinking she ought to have at least paused to get a coat. I was so busy passing out blankets and maintaining the kingdom... incidentally, you really ought to retrain your guard staff. No offense but your kingdom is woefully under-defended and it's unnerving." He had rather spiraled off into other thoughts.

"Sorry, I ramble away from home." He waved himself off with a bit of a sigh.

Magic. She looked down at her hands. She often dreaded her magic, considering a curse rather than a blessing. She didn't realize how impactful magic could be, having lived with it all her life. She easily forgot how marvelous her powers could appear, to those that found it more alluring rather than frightening.

He thought she was a memorable person? With or without her ice magic? Elsa felt a sudden flush overcome her. Elsa turned her face away.

Her mind briefly wandered. What would have happened, if he had approached her first? She probably would have still pushed him away like she had pushed everyone else...or maybe not. Had he been persistent he might have broken past her icy walls. Why was she even contemplating this now? She shook those thoughts away, besides she knew it really was senseless dwelling on a hypothetical.

Yet she asked herself: Would Anna have been spared a frozen heart had Hans come sooner? Hans had a knack of lowering her defenses, that not even Anna had, she recognized that.

She stayed quiet for a long time, lost in her thoughts.

Elsa finally ended up letting out a deep sigh, that brought her back to her senses.

He had mentioned Arendelle's defense and the tail end of his ramble, she thought it was the best thing to address, rather than anything else, to try to rekindle their conversation.

"You're right," she admitted letting out another hefty sigh, as she placed one hand over her forehead holding her temples.

He was right Arendelle had not properly re-trained their guard staff, even after the coronation incident. A few more guards had joined the royal brigade, but even then they were definitely understaffed and ill-prepared. The rumors of Arendelle's Ice Queen's wrath had really been the only deterrent keeping potential invaders at bay.

Hans wondered which part he was right about. He let his own mind wander while she thought, and her words brought him back.

"About the rambling, or the guard staff?" He asked, only mostly as a joke. He could see by her frustration that it was probably the latter.

"Both your guard staff and castle staff are, and I do apologize, too gullible. Even without prompting, I was practically handed control of the kingdom in Anna's absence. Granted it's not like I could have passed laws- but I was able to bring together a small army of foreign troops, and everyone seemed okay with that. Nobody minded crossbows on a 'search and rescue' mission. Not with wolves in the woods." He frowned a bit.

"Nobody asked questions when I claimed to be married to Anna after we'd known each other for what, two, three days? Most of it apart? No witnesses, and no-one checked the room when I claimed she had died. Somehow I ended up with castle keys, because somebody trusted me. I haven't had keys to my own room since- Never mind, that's not important. The point is your castle is hardly safe. I could educate them about how to think about cons, but you'll need a guard staff with good training. Perhaps import somebody, our sword master in the Isles is in good form yet, I believe. But your guards have a preference for pike weapons, I suppose? Some variety wouldn't kill them."

Hans' voice made Elsa look back up at him.

His words, reminding her how quickly Arendelle had fallen to shambles after run away to the North Mountain, made her wince. It made her annoyed with herself, feeling it was all her fault. She thought she was fleeing to protect everyone when instead she ended up endangering them even more.

Hans had seen an opportunity and taken it, yet no one even questioned him, they had been gullible indeed. Yet, could she really blame them? They were scared and leaderless, he appeared to be a hero amidst a snow queen's tempest. That they'd unquestioningly allow anything to stop the endless winter. Elsa continued to blame herself.

" Thank you for your recommendation, it is something I need to sort out right away." She said letting out another sigh. "I don't know why I haven't addressed this issue yet."

The truth was, even now, Arendelle was still dealing with the aftermath of the coronation incident, it was a lot to put on a new Queen's plate, cleaning up the mess she made (on her first day) on top of all her new duties. Even if she tried her hardest, things still easily slipped through the cracks. She hated to admit it, but was still young and inexperienced, with no one to guide her.

Hans waved a hand. "The life of a Queen is a busy one, there are a hundred thousand new things to address every day and one can only complete half of them." He assured.

"Besides, you were going through a lot that day. I've known desperation, I can understand what you did." He sighed a bit and shifted to lean back against the wall, to cool his wounds a little through the bandages and cotton shirt.

"I've given you truths, might I ask for one in return? Did you intend to die up there in your castle? You left without food. I remember the fear in your eyes when we met there, but it wasn't fear for yourself. Then I put on the mask for you that told you not to become the monster they thought you were. Unsaid, the monster you thought you were. I've known that feeling, too. All too well." Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut, but his curiosity was boundless.

Hans had opened up to her (countless times in fact), it was only fair that she return the favor, besides it was something that had constantly been on her mind and would be good to let out, now that it was prompted.

" If it wasn't painfully obvious already, I aimlessly went up the North Mountain," Elsa softly scoffed at herself. "I wasn't in the right mindset to really think things through. All I wanted to do was get as far away from Arendelle, to keep Anna and everyone else safe. The cold never bothered me, and I didn't think anyone would be foolish enough to follow me," A sad smile crossed her lips thinking about her headstrong little sister. "I should have known better than to think that the girl that spent years knocking at my door, asking me to build a snowman with her, wouldn't come follow me up the North Mountain without a second thought."

She technically already truthfully answered his question, yet she felt impulsed to continue (over)explaining. It was as if the question had opened up a floodgate of information that was just waiting to come out.

Elsa let out a melancholy sigh before carrying on.

"Aside from distancing myself from Arendelle, I had pointlessly gone up the mountain." She acknowledged. "When I finally reached the summit, I recognized my isolation... I realized nothing was holding me back anymore... I no longer had to conceal the power raging inside me, I could finally let it go... that was my new purpose." she spoke with a strong sentiment. "After years trapped inside my room, I was finally liberated! It was truly exhilarating to let my powers flow freely as I tested my limits creating the Ice Castle." Elsa looked down at her hands as she spoke, remembering the sensation.

"I was so overcome with ecstasy of finally tasting freedom for the first time in forever, that food and survival never even crossed my mind," she admitted. "I know it was selfish of me to believe my actions of leaving Arendelle were be honest, I didn't even realize I started an eternal winter until Anna arrived."

"After sending Anna off...there was a brief moment... after realizing I could never be truly free...and not knowing how to stop the storm I started, that, I did wonder if the world was just better off without..." she trailed off. "But then you and the other men arrived and brought me back to Arendelle."

Elsa reflected on what Hans just revealed about their North Mountain encounter. How he put on a mask for her, telling her not to become a monster she feared. If it was only a mask he'd put on, it made her wonder: What was he hiding behind? Did the mask conceal his true fear of her? She didn't know why it stung a little, thinking that might have been the case, but whatever it was, wasn't really important, all that mattered was he helped her snap out of her fearful rampage.

Her thoughts lingered on the encounter. Her voice was softer than before.

" Hans..." It was the first time she addressed him without a title, but she was too lost in thought to notice. "Even if it was a mask... and regardless of what happened afterwards," she said pensively. "...Thank you," she said sincerely. "Thank you for stopping me from becoming the monster I feared... I don't know what would have happened or how I could live with myself, if I actually..." She trailed off again.

Elsa never wanted to hurt anyone, she had gone to all the trouble to distance herself from everyone to avoid that risk. She only started using her powers to protect herself against the Duke's Men, but she almost lost control and crossed the line, had it not been for Hans' words bringing her back to her senses. She wondered how things would have played out; Had he not been there and not spoken up. Had she prevailed in killing those men, she feared she would have pushed herself past the point of no return. She would have become what she feared most of all an irredeemable monster. The mere thought sent shivers down her spine.

Hans listened with interest. It filled in a lot of context for him, a lot of things he had been missing.

"Here's a funny story," He began, and offered her his hand, in case she needed some support.

"When I was a boy, I learned to love exploring, running off with my horse into the forests along the beaches, until I learned to love the sea. It was a wider range of unexplored places and unknown things. I took to making rafts and trying to sail off on them. Had I had any foresight, I might have thought about the fact that if I left, no-one could watch Sitron. Soon my father caught on, and set out a rule that until I was sixteen, anyone in the Isles at a boat who saw a raft at a drift was required to find me and pluck me out. The Captain of my ship to this day is a man so old that he was old when he was plucking me out of the water and growling at me about 'Shirking princely duties' that I didn't have." He laughed a little.

He still called his navy ship 'my ship', in spite of everything.

"You never had time to be shortsighted or explore you and your needs. It was overdue, there's no shame to be had in that. Unfortunate that it unfolded as it did, but I'd not blame a child for accidentally starting a house fire, no matter how horrific. Accidents happen, even if they are incredibly unfortunate. Of course, we must react well to them. You fixed things in time. I, on the other hand, cannot fix my treason." He shrugged a little. Matter-of-fact. Unfortunate, but true.

Hans had offered her his hand.

Elsa had been quite taken aback by his courteous gesture. She paused momentarily, contemplating whether or not it was wise to accept it. After some initial hesitation, she decided to take it.

His hand was warm, feverishly warm, compared to her only other point of reference: Anna's. Her hand felt minuscule, opposed to his much larger one. His skin was a bit more coarse than her own, though it's to be expected from a man of the sea. Elsa's felt a slight tingling sensation as they made contact. She nervously clasped his hand with hers.

'...I'd not blame a child for accidentally starting a house fire' his words had struck a memory. The day that her one little mistake completely closed the doors of her childhood and her freedom. She loved her parents, she truly did, but in retrospect she questioned if their decision, of shutting her in to shut everyone else out, had been the correct one. She understood they thought they made the right choice in order to protect her and Anna. But, was concealing and not feeling really the only option? How different would her life have been, had they taken a different approach. She knew these thoughts were fruitless, since the past was in the past, but still she couldn't help but wonder.

"...I often wonder how different my life could have been had I not- " her grip began to tighten as she lost herself in thought. "Had I not accidentally struck Anna with my powers that night," It pained her to recall that she'd critically hurt Anna with her powers, not once but twice. "I really should have stayed in bed instead of allowing Anna to coax me into playing with my powers." she let out a melancholy sigh. "She always wanted to build a snowman, and I just couldn't say no." Her grip continued to tighten.

"Had I instead been the good girl I was always meant to be, maybe it wouldn't have happened. I could have grown-up continuing to explore my powers. All that time I lost locked up I could have spent with Anna, giving her warm hugs instead of pushing her away." Her voice was quivering. "The gates would have remained open and maybe..."

She paused briefly.

"We might have even crossed paths under different circumstances." Her voice had softened as well as her grasp.

She could have thought of a life without her ice magic, as well, yet it had been such an innate part of her, whether she was fond of it or not, it was hard for her to imagine a life without her powers.

Hans had a thought he wanted to share- and he about lost it when she suggested they might have crossed paths differently. Was that affection in her tone? Surely not?

He was silent for a long moment, until he again remembered what he had been thinking about.

"You'd blame it all on wanting to stay up late and play?" He pointed out, with a little softness of his own in his tone.

"That sounds as absurd as blaming my treason on my rafting." He smiled a little. Maybe in a way; If he hadn't taken to the sea, he wouldn't have gone to Arendelle, perhaps. But it was so far removed.

"One of the hardest things to learn, and I still haven't quite learned it for myself: Not everything is your fault. I wouldn't expect a little girl to be completely responsible, nor parents for being afraid for their children. Not everything can be blamed on someone. Sometimes, bad things just happen. My father is dying of an illness, and my brother inherited it from him. Do we blame my father for my brother's illness, because he had children?" He shrugged a little.

"Maybe things could have gone differently. But they didn't. Time moves forward, I'm afraid. If only we could correct the past, we would not be the people we are. Correct the past in the present, not in the past we can't access. I suppose that's what I'm doing. Correcting." He held her hand a little tighter, a little more warmly. He was surprised that she took it, and honored, too.

"I must be doing a pretty good job of correcting, hm?" His look was apologetic and hopeful.

He didn't ask for forgiveness, because he knew he couldn't achieve it. That didn't stop him from wanting it.

#Helsa #Iceburns #Hans x Elsa #Frozen #Frozen FanFiction #Shattered Reflections

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takaraphoenix · 5 years ago

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1, 6, 15, 17, 23, 41 aand 44 please

Thanks for playing! <3

1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

The first I got involved in? Not wrote, but just... involved. Mh. It’s gotta be One Piece, that’s where I discovered fanart and fanfiction for the first time. First fic I ever read was some self-insert love-triangle between a Mary-Sue and Luffy and Ace and I absolutely loved it because the mere fact that here, for free, I just got to read about my favorite characters and my favorite anime was absolutely mindblowing.

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

Holy effing shit this one alone will take A LONG TIME. Okay. Cutting this short to actually involved in, as in I actively read or wrote in that fandom, not every time a ship caught my fancy. And only one OTP per fandom, the top OTP.

Also, alphabetical order.

Ace of Diamond: Miyuki Kazuya/Sawamura Eijun

Arrowverse: Mick Rory/Leonard Snart/Barry Allen

Avatar - Legend of Korra: Iroh II/Bolin (I never really got into TLA when it came to fanfiction)

Ben 10: Rook Blonko/Ben Tennyson (HIGHLY UNTERRATED SHIP!)

Beyblade: Yuriy Iwanov/Rei Kon (my second-ever fandom where I actually got active as a writer! ;^;)

Card Captor Sakura: Spinel Sun/Keroberos

Charmed: Cole Turner/Phoebe Halliwell

Chicago Fire: Kelly Severide/Matt Casey

Danny Phantom: Danny Phantom/Danny Fenton (...and here, you can see exhibit A as to how I got into selfcest)

Death Note: Yagami Light/L

Descendants: Prince Pen/Carlos de Vil

Detective Conan: Kuroba Kaito/Kudou Shinichi

Digimon: Motomiya Daisuke/Takaishi Takeru

Dragon Prince: Soren/Callum

Entourage: Ariel Gold/Eric Murphy

Eureka: Nathan Stark/Jack Carter

Fairy Tail: Loke/Lucy Heartfilia (it’s my OTP, but it’s not the ship I was reading xD)

Fast and the Furious: Dominic Toretto/Brian O’Conner

Free!: Yamazaki Sousuke/Nanase Haruka

Glee: David Karofsky/Kurt Hummel/Noah Puckerman

Grimm: Eddie Monroe/Nick Burckhardt

Haikyuu!!: Kozume Kenma/Hinata Shouyou

Harry Potter: Fred & George Weasley/Harry Potter

Heroes: Gabriel Gray/Peter Petrelli

Hetalia Axis Powers: France/Germany

Hunger Games: Cato/Peeta Mellark

Imposters: Richard Evans/Ezra Bloom

Inuyasha: Kouga/Inuyasha

Jungle Book: Shere Khan/Bagheera

How to Train Your Dragon/Rise of the Guardians: Hiccup Haddock/Jack Frost

Killjoys: Prima Dezz/Johnny Jaqobis

Kim Possible: Shego/Kim Possible

Kingdom Hearts: Axel/Sora

Kuroko no Basuke: Takao Kazunari/Kuroko Tetsuya

Lord of the Rings: Gimli/Legolas

Lucifer: Mazikeen Smith/Chloe Decker

MacGyver: Jack Dalton/Angus MacGyver

Magi Legend of the Labyrinth: Sinbad/Alibaba Saluja

Marvel: it’s a tie between Loki/Tony Stark and Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark

Maze Runner: Newt/Thomas

Merlin: Gwaine/Merlin

Miraculous Ladybug: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Adrien Agreste

Musketeers: Porthos/Athos/Aramis/D’Artagnan

One Piece: Trafalgar Law/Monkey D. Luffy

Percy Jackson: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson

Pitch Perfect: Kommissar/Beca Mitchell

Prince of Stride: Suwa Reiji/Fujiwara Takeru

Psych; Carlton Lassiter/Shawn Spencer

Ranma 1/2: Ryoga Hibiki/Ranma Saotome

Riverdale: Jughead Jones/Archie Andrews

Road to El Dorado: Tulio/Miguel

Royal Pains: Boris Küster von Jürgens-Ratenicz/Henry Lawson

Sailor Moon: Kou Seiya/Tsukino Usagi tied with Tenoh Haruka/Tsukino Usagi

Scrubs: Percival Cox/JD Dorian

Shadowhunters: Magnus Bane/Jace Herondale

Sky High: Warren Peace/Will Stronghold

Sleeping Beauty: Maleficent/Aurora

Smallville: Oliver Queen/Clark Kent

Teen Wolf: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski

Transformers: Ironhide/William Lennox/Sam Witwicky

Trollhunters: Draal/Jim Lake

Twilight: Edward Cullen/Jacob Black

Vampire Academy: Mason Ashford/Christian Ozera

Voltron: Takashi Shirogane/Keith Kogane/Lance McClain

Wicked: Elphaba Thropp/Glinda of the Arduennas

Young Justice: Roy Harper/Dick Grayson

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Kaiba Seto/Jonouchi Katsuya (the first ever ship I wrote for!!!)

15. Is there an obscure ship which you love?

I mean. 75% of the ships I love are “obscure”. I... I always find the very obvious mainstream ships... boring. I mean, sometimes I find them nice in canon, but mostly I find canon to provide enough about them that I don’t really need fandom to get more of it, you know? Or, which also often happens, I find the mainstream ships have more of a very strong friendship-dynamic, or even a sibling-dynamic in some cases, and I just can’t really find it in myself to want to see them in a romantic way.

So, if I have to pick an, as in one, obscure ship, I will have to go with my top OTP. Jagnus. Jace and Magnus literally lived together, in both the show-canon and the book-canon, yet somehow it is an “obscure” ship. I mean, not somehow, we all know why. It’s the unwritten fandom rule of “canon mlm shall NEVER EVER BE BROKEN UP HOW DARE YOU SHIP ONE WITH SOMEONE ELSE”. You have no idea how often that rule has come between me and my OTP. Basically every time there is a canon mlm ship, really.

And this in no way or shape means to criticize those who only ship canon and are content with it, you do you, but I do find the lack of creativity in shipping in fandom where there is a canon mlm ship... really damn boring. Fandoms without canon mlm representation have the wildest constellations of ships, have a far broader variety of content, but when there is canon mlm, the majority of a fandom tends to just happily sit down with it and hug it and prefer not to be creative with the content and the shipping. And as a certified multishipper, I don’t really get that - like, even if you like the canon, you could have multiple ships?

17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favourite?

My first OTP was Shere Khan/Bagheera, because gods do I love Jungle Cubs. And while other ships I interact more with have pushed it off the throne, if I see any form of Sheregheera content, I am immediately sucked in, no questions asked, no hesitation. I am utterly in love with this very rare, small, very obscure actually, ship and I will always love it and it still is one of my favorites.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

Ooof. Interesting one. I’ve done a variety of PJO fics I’m particularly fond of in previous versions of such a question, so let’s go with something else this time. “The Lost Soulmarks”. It’s, at this point, probably my own personal most reread story. I just reread it the other night, actually. It just - it hits all of the right spots in what I want from a fic. Very often, I write to please my readers, with “What do my followers like most?” in my mind at least to a certain degree, but some things are absolutely self-indulgent. And I should really write more absolutely self-indulgent fics because those are the ones I myself keep coming back to. It has ABO-verse, it has soulmates, it’s Jace-centric, with lots of love, misunderstandings but not the kind where one of them is to blame but rather where it’s due to the circumstances, it’s really emotionally painful, but pays off in the end. It’s... seriously those are all the things I love.

41. List and link to 5 fanfics you are currently reading:

Uuuhm so like five WIPs where I am desperately waiting for updates?

Shadowhunters, Jagnus: “Non-Fat Frappuccino With Extra Whipped Cream” by @kimmycup - it’s my top OTP and my best friend gave it to me but now she is slowly murdering me with the wait for part 2

Shadowhunters, Jimon: “Strings” by annhamilton - I looove this story, only recently discovered it and fell in love with it and am now not-quite-patiently waiting for the next chapter

Avengers, WinterIron: “(Iron Is A) Star Killer” by RayShippouUchiha - a fic I read... a while ago and recently rediscovered with the latest update and am now desperately waiting for more!

Avengers, WinterIron: “An Unempty Nest” by gryvon - same as the one above, I read this a while ago and forgot about it and recently rediscovered it for myself and still love it

Avengers, Steve/Bucky/Tony/Tony: “Second Chance (at happiness)” by SailorChibi - I got this fic recommended and devoured it in one sitting and have since then checked nearly daily for updates because I greatly enjoy it!

44. What ship do you feel needs more attention?

*bangs potts and pans together* JAGNUS JAGNUS JAGNUS SERIOUSLY THEY LIVED TOGETHER. THEY LITERALLY WERE ROOMMATES. IN ANY OTHER FANDOM THAT’D HAVE TAKEN OFF LIKE NOTHING ELSE. THE PARALLELS BETWEEN THEM!! LET. MY. GOLDEN. EYED. BOYS. FIND. HAPPINESS. IN. EACH. OTHER.

Fanfiction Ask Game

#Fanfiction Ask Game #send me asks #Anonymous

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archiveacademics · 5 years ago

Text

Introductions and Definitions

Hello and welcome to Archive of my Academics the site where I, Chris, Master’s student at the University of Arizona and self identified nerd, attempt to dive into fanfiction culture to understand it better.

I should start with a little background. I’ve always been a fan of things (Harry Potter, Twilight for half a second, the MCU, and Yuri!!! on Ice to name a few) but I don’t necessarily know that I’ve always participated in fandom (though that depends on your definition of fandom, which I’ll get to in a second.) Don’t get me wrong, I’ve written fanfic before, but I was never super participatory in whatever culture and conversation might have been going on in my fandom, aside from following a few tags on Tumblr, and maybe a few specific accounts I found by searching those tags. I never even read much fanfic, to be completely honest. Only four or five in recent memory.

Given all of that you might be asking yourself, “Chris, why did you agree to explore the topic of fanfic for class for a whole semester? It doesn’t even seem like you’re all that invested in it.” And that, dear reader, is where you are wrong. I absolutely adore the few fanfics I read, and I really enjoyed the few that I’ve written. I’m just...not a joiner. My social circle has always been small and that pertains to my online presence as well as IRL. But just because the volume of my participation is low does not mean my enjoyment of and investment in the community is.

So with that out of the way, let me get to the main event.

What the heck is fanfic anyway? Definitions are important, a way to place borders on subjects so I don’t lose my mind amidst a pile of miscellaneous academia and the internet. To that end I’m going to attempt to define “fanfic”, a task which turns out to me much more herculean than I’d originally thought.

Let’s start with the easiest definition first:

Merriam-Webster saves the day again. What would we do without the dictionary?

Well, for one thing, we might have less discourse regarding the difference between fan fiction and fanfiction. (I’ll be referring to it as fanfic for the duration of my study.)

Back to the definition. This one from the dictionary was lacking, to me. It doesn’t capture the complexities of the genre. Would you just define romance as books about people in love? Or science fiction as books about time travel? No, the definitions are more nuanced. So, too, is fanfic. So I moved on and left the dictionary behind.

In “The Promise and Potential of Fan Fiction”, Stephanie Burt explores what fanfic can mean to a wider audience. She quotes Francesca Coppa, author of The Fan Fiction Reader who defines fanfic as “creative material featuring characters [from] works whose copyright is held by others.” This definition is definitely narrower, but is it right? That would mean every canonical/in universe novel written about Star Wars but not by George Lucas would be fanfic, which isn’t quite true either.

I think the best answer to this question can from the podcast Fansplaining. In 2017 Flourish Klink (who’s name makes me want to write a short story about a witch who lives in a cozy cottage in the woods drinking tea with her cats, but that’s neither here nor there) and Elizabeth Minkel posted a survey asking their listeners what fanfic actually is and boy howdy did their listeners respond! Over 3,400 people answered a few multiple choice questions then held forth in long answer form on what fanfic meant to them.

The answers ranged from funny to serious, from hard lines to soft edges. Some find, like the dictionary, that any story written by a fan is fanfic. Some think that fanfic must be written by someone active in the fandom. Others maintain that you must receive no money for your work. Some, like Elizabeth herself in the episode where the two hosts discuss the survey, hold that it’s all about intent. Did you intend to write a transformative* story about the characters you love so dearly? Congratulations, you’re a fanfic author!

By some of these definitions I have written fanfic, while by others I haven’t. Is this the part where I should introduce the shrug emoji and move on with my life? Maybe, but I want to offer a few more thoughts first.

Part of defining fanfic means defining the term fandom, and even the term fan itself. In another episode of the podcast, Flourish and Elizabeth debate the definitions of both terms. Is fandom comprised of only people who interact with each other about the topic in question? That would mean lurkers (which I kind of consider myself to be) aren’t really part of it? But they’re still fans, as long as they like the thing, right? Or do you have to interact with the fandom (even just lurking) to be considered a fan? Would someone living on an ice floe with a copy of Pride and Prejudice really be considered a fan if they couldn’t at least stand at the border of the community and see what’s going on?

The answer the two come to, which I fundamentally agree with, is that it’s all in the intent. If you like the thing and you think you’re a fan, congratulations and welcome to the tribe! The fandom is yours for the taking! But just like the geographical kingdoms of yore, fandom is comprised of many counties, each with their own culture and interpretation. And there are many fandoms, not just media fandoms but sports and bands and inanimate objects (yes, there is a candle fandom.)

So there it is. A confusing, not at all settled definition of fanfic. But a definition is not the thing. A definition doesn’t necessarily tell you what the thing means. So that’s what I’m going to spend the rest of the semester trying to figure out. What is fanfic, what does it mean to the people who write it and read it, the people who laud it and denigrate it?

I’ll leave you with this section from Burt’s article, describing what fanfic can be:

“What is fan fiction especially, or uniquely, good at, or good for? Early defenses presented the practice as a way station, or an incubator. Writers who started out with fanfic and then found the proper mix of critique and encouragement could go on to publish “real” (and remunerated) work. Other defenses, focussed on slash, described it as a kind of safety valve: a substitute for desires that could not be articulated, much less acted out, in our real world. If women want to imagine sex between people who are both empowered, and equal, the argument ran, we may have to imagine two men. In space.

It’s true that a lot of fanfic is sexy, and that much of the sex is kinky, or taboo, or queer. But lots of fanfic has no more sex than the latest “Spider-Man” film (which is to say none at all, more or less). Moreover, as that shy proto-fan T. S. Eliot once put it, “nothing in this world or the next is a substitute for anything else.” It’s a mistake to see fanfic only as faute de mieux, a second choice, a replacement. Fanfic can, of course, pay homage to source texts, and let us imagine more life in their worlds; it can be like going back to a restaurant you loved, or like learning to cook that restaurant’s food. It can also be a way to critique sources, as when race-bending writers show what might change if Agent Scully were black. (Coppa has compared the writing of fanfic to the restaging of Shakespeare’s plays.)

Fanfic can also let writers, and readers, ask and answer speculative and reflective questions about our own lives, in a way that might get others to pay attention. What will college be like? What should summer camp have been like? How can an enemy become a friend? Should I move to Glasgow? What would that be like?”

What would that be like? I’m going to take some time to find out.

*I’ll be discussing the meaning and importance of the word “transformative” in the one of my next posts. Something to look forward to!

#fanfic #fanfiction #academic #library #master's degree #definition #Fansplaining #introduction #fandom #fan

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butterfly--empress · 6 years ago

Text

KH3 Boxart...And Chess Pieces...

Going under read more because I know people still haven’t played or finished the game.

So I don’t usually get too over worked on doing a lot of speculation pieces because i’m either 30/60 right to wrong and the stuff I’m wrong about the writing goes in a complete 180 and then I’m going, wait? WHUT?!

In short, I don’t like to speculate too much in regards to Kingdom Hearts because one really never knows where the hell Nomura and his team is going with this, so whatever happens I just go along for the ride.

But ya’ll...YA’LL I WILL talk about my hopes that I have low expectations for but can we just talk about that secret ending for a second!

Okay, 1st: Nomura that sneaky son of a bitch thinks he’s so damn clever with this boxart. He never draws things for the sake of drawing them and I’m sure a lot of us had speculated that the city/world/town that our favorite guardians of light are at, would be a new world to explore in the later half of the game.

Because it sure as hell ain’t none of the already known original Kingdom Hearts Worlds we know.

But wait...not once has this world ever showed up for all of 50 plus hours of gameplay, we NEVER see this world.

Until Sora and Riku show up in it in the DAMN secret Ending but wait, there’s more!

We actually DO get a glimpse of this world for the Verum Rex game trailer when we go to Toy Story but at the time I didn’t really pay much attention to how similar it looked to the damn backdrop of the city in the boxart because my main attention was on: HOLY SHIT! NOMURA, YOU SLY MOFO VERSUS XIII IN MY KH3?!

I was also going, wow this looks really good...almost TOO GOOD and TOO WELL THOUGHT OUT for just a game trailer for an obvious final fantasy game parody for toy story or as a good reason to explain why Sora and crew shows up there to help with the Heartless.

Basically, Nomura hinted at where the next arc of the story will go! But I don’t think this is his first time doing this, the artwork with the sora, riku, roxas, namine, kairi, donald, goofy and mickey standing on tall white pillars for KH2 hinted at what we now know as the Final World in KH3.

What I hope Nomura is doing is carrying over core concepts and ideas he had for versus XIII and adding them to KH! The only reason I hope for this, speculate this might be true is because Versus XIII, like the FF13 Trilogy was dealing heavily with the cycle of life and death(eternal sleep) in accordance to the Fabula Nova Mythos.

Ven’s Chirithy tells Sora in so many words: Dude, every time you come here you raise my anxiety because you are LITERALLY hopping in and out of Limbo like it’s nothing! Like what kind of soul(heart) do you have, to totally disregard teetering between life and death?!

And then Sora’s all like: Don’t you know? I disregard the rules and literally make my own! BTW, I’m totally coming back for you, because we are friends now, okay! I’m this close to being this universe’s jesus, i literally fall down into realms of darkness via golden doors showered with glorious golden light!

Have you accepted your Lord and Savior Jesus!Sora into your life?

Chirithy: I just said don’t bring your sunshine ass back here because if you do, you might actually die! Not just be stuck in purgatory, like really die dude! This is the Final World...FINAL...you DO know what that means, this is like purgatory for lost hearts souls. Because I don’t if I could help you the second time in re-piecing you back together! \TT_TT/

Sora: I’m totally coming back for you! >^.^<

Chirithy:....He...he’s...a really...sweet kid...yea...a really sweet kid...

...Basically, I feel like The Final World isn’t particularly Heaven, probably more akin to a place of purgatory for lost or wandering hearts(souls) like, you aren’t really dead but you aren’t really alive either.

Because let’s face it, majority of characters in this game, never really truly DIE...not counting a very SELECT FEW...I wouldn’t be surprised if Nomura decides to recon Ephemer’s death later on through some Deus Ex Machina (which is why I don’t bother trying to speculate ANYTHING with this series)

Anyway, i went on a tangent there.....yea I think the Verum Rex game world is the same world on the boxart and I hope it’s a sign that Nomura is going to actually carry over ideas from versus 13 into KH, now that we got basically what amounts to Limbo or heaven depending on how to interpret the Final World, even the hashtag on the instagram post basically says it in so many words.

The Place where hearts return. And it’ll make sense if the next arc does focus on the thin line between life and death or in KH’s terms...DDD 2.0 >_>

----

So I watched the cutscene with young Eraqus and Xehanort again and noticed that yes, it is being set up for Sora to throw hands against the Foretellers, Luxu!Xigbar and most likely Master of Masters.

And I am so here for it!

Now the thing I wanna know is...aside from Riku obviously, who is gonna help him out? the new character, Yozora and his crew? Is the gang going to try to find a way to bring he and Riku back?

....Will Kairi really and truly get to do ANYTHING?!

...Just hope it doesn’t take 7plus years to get there to know D:>

Also, also...Nomura, please take your time and construct a better put together story...I will rant long and hard about this later...

But if you HAVE to do that annoying thing where I HAVE to buy a Nintendo Switch to play a few tie in game in between 3 and 4 again..at least I and the rest of the fandom will KNOW THIS TIME, they actually contribute to the overall plot of Kingdom Hearts...because BOY was it never implied the first go round.

#kh3 #kingdom hearts iii #sora #foretellers #master of masters #luxu #you know #i really don't care or mind #if kh4 came out within the next 3yrs on ps4 #i just don't want to go through another decades long dry spell #i mean like #nomura your close to 50 brah #just saying #i don't want to hold kh4 in my hands #another ten years knowing your 60...just saying #i already have slight anxiety over the author of an ice and fire never finishing because of old age...

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itsclydebitches · 5 years ago

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Oh, come off it, honestly. My mother with no sense of fantasy beside Tolkien and Harry Potter had no issue understanding the Witcher series and only now is listening to the books. I'm not saying some people won't get lost, but the fandom act like it's some grand mistery while it's less complicated than the last Superman movie if you just pay attention.

Except you said it yourself, “I’m not saying some people won’t get lost.” That there is the criticism. That people are sitting down to watch a show and are finding it less entertaining than they’d hoped because they’re spending their time confused and lost. An adaptation should be able to stand on its own, no reading the books or playing the games required, and not everyone wants to delve into a wiki in order to answer questions the show hasn’t adequately answered.

The issue is not whether someone has broad fantasy knowledge (magic, elves, monsters, and the like), but rather Witcher’s specific lore combined with its timeline that’s throwing people. It’s not clear until midway through the season that Ciri, Geralt, and Yen’s stories are all happening during different times and then the viewer needs to try and piece that all together. There’s a reason there’s a million “Witcher Timeline Explained” articles out right now. The show also does a shoddy job of many world building elements, such as distinguishing witchers, mages, and sorceresses, leaving viewers to wonder why we see Geralt doing magic but it’s apparently not magic-magic. There’s even less information on really important stuff like the kingdoms and the war. Combine all that with a non-traditional setup---trying to weave together multiple short stories into a cohesive whole---and you’ve got questions ranging from, “What’s the conflict of this show again?” to “Wait, what exactly is the Law of Surprise?” Is the entire season a hot mess of confusion? No, but there’s enough that I keep hearing about people quitting a few episodes in and most reviews you read are going to mention those issues.

I stand by what I said before. It looks like they were attempting to cater to both well-versed book fans as well as newcomers. What they ended up with was a messy mix of long exposition and expecting the viewer to keep up nearly blind. A lot of people don’t enjoy those mental gymnastics/being assigned homework to go look up things that weren’t explained well, or at all. Just because one person didn’t have trouble doesn’t mean that’s the same experience for everyone else.

#witcher #mymetas #Anonymous

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l0chn3ss · 6 years ago

Audio

Color Me Red: A MaStar Reverb, 2018

Summary: BlackStar, former assassin and self-appointed page to the Prince of Wisteria, finds himself enamored with the new Pharmacist of the Royal Court in-training, Maka, and her lovely red hair. After his failed assassination attempt, he becomes her (again) self-appointed protector… mainly from herself as she works to make the royal castle her new home. Together, they come to realize that maybe their meeting was the work of fate. Akagami No Shirayuki-Hime AU.

Warnings: Foul Language, Akagami No Shirayuki-Hime spoilers, Kidnapping of Main Character, Brief Physical Fighting/Violence, Minor Character Death Pre-story, Maka Albarn Has Red Hair AU

View Art by @happyisahabit: [Artwork]

Read Story by @l0chn3ss: [Read Here: FFNET | AO3]

Bonus Recordings by @fynneyseas ♪

Betaworks by @psychadelicrose ♥

Chapter 1: Green is the color of rebirth, of new beginnings [ x ]

She took careful steps on her way back down the stairs. Her arms could barely grasp the railing and her legs wanted to give out at any moment. A few hours of lugging up her belongings to the dormitories, and she was completely over materialistic goods. Each box made her grumble and think to herself: was it really worth it?

Of course it was, she’d answer with resignation. To make her new home feel more like herself, she absolutely wanted whatever few belongings she had left with her. Born in the mountains and raised cities away, Maka had traveled far to get to where she was. She was a fighter from the start, someone who was never given their good fortune, who always had to work for whatever rewards she could earn.

The Kingdom of Clarines was a large and successful country, one whose throne had recently exchanged hands from father to son. Despite having the youngest king in centuries, Clarines had never been more successful. Its cities became beacons of light and innovation, and there was an overhaul of corrupt politicians who were brought into the public eye, exposed for who they were.

In the midst of the change, Maka sold her small shop and rented out her home, using her savings to travel to the capital where her parents met long before she was conceived. In her little town secluded in the woods at the edge of the country, she felt that her growth became stagnant. There was only so much more she could gain from staying in that place, and so she left for the place where the best pharmacists were trained: the royal castle.

After being given a temporary room during her application process, and after crushing her entry exam, Maka was given the job and a more permanent dormitory. Though after being told that she was responsible for moving her belongings from storage, she decided that it would be her most difficult challenge yet.

Like the rest of the castle, the open-air corridor was surrounded by lush grass and flower beds hung from well tended baskets. Small puddles from watering them spotted the floor, and Maka struggled to remember to look where she was going while lost in her own thoughts. She was never the best at meticulous labor, but the sooner she could finish, the faster she became free.

There was only one more box to handle, she assured herself. Only one more trip that she needed to take in order to begin her new journey.

As she walked down to the storage wing, a part of her wished that there was a less conspicuous pathway to her room, one preferably just as short and but a little more hidden from the rest of the castle. Maka slowly became an expert of navigating the immediate area, but the more she went back and forth, the more attention she felt following after her.

It began with a few whispers behind covered mouths and averted eyes, then morphed into openly critical staff and pointing in her direction. The talking, she could care less of, but the rumors that she knew were spreading deeper into the castle were her worries.

Though she could pretend that it was because she was a new face amongst the staff, the fact remained that they were staring at her, or rather, her long red hair.She never made an effort to hide the color, and how could she? It was a brilliant shade and so very clearly seen-- there was no point. Instead, she tied them up into pigtails, framing her face and keeping it from bothering her neck during her more relaxed hours. While she worked, she kept it braided in a fishtail hung on her back to keep the ends from dipping into fine powders and becoming a hazard.

Twirling one of the ends in circles around her finger, she felt more prideful of her hair than usual. If the palace go-ers were going to keep watching her, perhaps later, she’d give them a show.

Successfully arriving, Maka squatted down and pulled the final box closer, testing the weight and cursing at her lack of foresight. She saved the heaviest box for last, and as unfortunate as it was, Maka truly did need all of the notes and journals that she’d accumulated across the years, if not for their content, then for their sentimental value. Most of them were gifts from her community, who believed in her and who sent her on her way to the castle, and a larger chunk of the books were given to her by her late grandparents, her only family who remembered her passion and supported her wholeheartedly before their inevitable passing.

Gathered from odd times and even questionable sources, Maka found that the contents also saved her on multiple fronts. Old wives tales and accounts from a dying generation were a bountiful treasure, at least, once those cryptic messages were figured out. It was a task that Maka felt she could never finish in her own life time, but one that she wanted to trouble herself with.

Drink apple juice to help with diarrhea. Rub turmeric on skin to reduce scarring. Aloe makes a healthy soup. And don’t ever forget: never let someone else plant your parsley.

But reciting these tibbits was a mistake-- rather, not paying attention to where she walked was a mistake. On her way to her room, past the sheds and into the corridor, she remembered too late that the ground was covered in water. She slipped too quickly to regain control, and Maka felt her body betray her, pulled backwards by gravity and the weight that she carried.

Though not soundless, her landing was softer than she expected, soft but firm. Strangely enough, she still felt like she was floating, like her mind hadn’t registered the fall. Box still in her hands, she adjusted it until she felt the surface under her shift.

It was no ground at all. Instead, it was a young man who was under her, supporting her.

They locked eyes for the briefest second, his looking down at her with the ghost of worry while she had enough time to register her embarrassment. She was too vulnerable in her position, too exposed.

Maka pulled away before she could get another good look at his face, thanking him roughly for his rescue. Not hearing an answer, she looked back behind her shoulder to see that there was no one there.

Strange guy, she shrugged, resuming her last trip to her new dormitory. She hoped that not everyone she was going to meet would be the same way.

Perhaps later she will give her new supervisors a quick visit, but only after a very long nap.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 -->

My dudes, it’s been a journey, a ride. I hope you all enjoy this Akagami no Shirayuki-Hime AU and that you all make sure to shower Liz with the same love that you’ve shown me ♥ I’ve also had the privilege and honor of having Emily read aloud some passages from the fic; I thank her so much for giving me such a bonus. Make sure to shoot her a message and to encourage more podfics in the fandom!

#reverb 2018 #soul eater #mastar #color me red #nessie spills #maka x black star #makaxblackstar #black star x maka #blackstarxmaka #starma #happyisahabit #fynneyseas #all chapters will be posted in full on tumbs ffnet and ao3 #starlight

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