#ott explain ott what is ott

[hellodarling1357]

Tiny Toes: Part 4 - Cassian x Reader

Finally here with Part 4! I've been in an angsty mood so have struggled with writing anything fluffy but hopefully this works 🥰

Summary: Sleepovers + blanket forts + lots and lots of cuddles

Word Count: 3.3k

You can read the previous part here!

It had been two weeks since telling Ottie that you and Cassian were together, and she had been ecstatic from the news ever since. You were still easing your presence into her day-to-day life, although, given the amount of time you spent with her as her babysitter, it wasn’t much of an adjustment. 

Every morning the three of you would have breakfast together, either at your apartment, at Cassian’s house, or, when Cassian had the morning off, you would make your way into Velaris and spend the morning at a cafe followed by a walk through the park of along the river.

You also started joining Cassian at his family dinners and found yourself easily slipping into the group and becoming closer with the Inner Circle. Both Nyx and Ottie were overjoyed at your presence, excited by the prospect of having someone new to play with, especially after Ottie had talked you up so much which made Nyx also want to befriend you. It was like clockwork, the minute you set your fork down, two sets of hands would be pulling you towards the lounge room as they explained what you would be playing that evening. Eventually, the others would filter into the room, Elain happily taking your spot on the floor so you could rejoin Cassian on the couch and curl up against him.

An hour ticked by as Ottie and Nyx continued playing while the rest of you chatted away and shared a bottle or two of wine. Eventually the late night seemed to catch up to Ottie as she made her way over to where you and Cassian sat, reaching up her hands for him to lift her up and settle her on his lap. You smiled as you watched her fight to keep her eyes open then let out a laugh as her little legs stretched out to rest across your lap, leaving her sprawled over the two of you.

“Looks like someone’s ready for bed,” Rhys mused from Feyre’s side, smiling softly at the three of you as everyone took in the scene playing out. 

“I think so,” Cassian pushed some of Ottie’s hair away from her face, “what do you think, Otts? Ready to go home?” The room filled with laughter as Ottie violently shook her head whilst letting out a yawn.

“Come on, home time.” But Ottie, apparently not liking what her dad had to say, squirmed in his lap so that she was upright again and then quickly moved over to kneel in your lap, her arms coming up to wrap around you as she hid her face in the crook of your neck. You looked at Cassian, amusement filling your eyes as he let out a sigh. 

“She clearly has a new favourite.” Feyre laughed.

“Hmm, apparently she now thinks that if I say no, Y/N is going to say yes,” Cassian shot you a mock look of annoyance, “which isn’t helped by the fact that the two of you keep ganging up on me.”

“Aw, feeling a bit left out, Cassie?” Cassian chucks a cushion at Azriel in response to the taunt, shooting him with a glare that had the Shadowsinger grinning.

“You would be too. They have secrets- See, look at that, they’re whispering.” For at that very moment, Ottie had lifted her head away from your shoulder, leaning up to whisper in your ear, a hand cupped over her mouth to block out the others.

You looked up at the silence that filled the room to find everyone watching the two of you. With a smile you lean down to whisper into Ottie’s ear, making her look around the room before turning back to you with a definitive nod of her head.

Amusement coating your voice, your eyes meet Cassian’s as you announce, “Ottie says she doesn’t want to go home and that we’re staying here forever and ever.” Ottie nods again, giving you a pat on your back for a job well done.

You grin at Cassian as he lets out a groan, ignoring the snickering from the others, “Well, how about we go home now and then next time we can stay forever and ever?” He tries coaxing her away from where she’s hidden herself in the space between your neck and shoulder, one of his hands resting on your back as you shift against him with Ottie still in your arms.

She finally peeks up at him, looking like she’s seconds away from falling asleep against you as she fixes him with a calculating look. “Is Y/N coming with us?”

“Of course, sweetheart. If we leave now I’ll even have time to tuck you into bed before going home. Maybe even read you a bedtime story?” Cassian mouths a silent thank you at your intervention, knowing that with the mood Ottie is currently in, she’s not very likely to want to listen to him. 

However, it seems she doesn’t want to listen to you either, or she’s unhappy with what you said, as her lower lip pouts out and tears begin to fall down her face as she holds onto you even tighter.

“Ottie, what’s wrong?” Cassian quietly asks, rubbing a hand down her back. 

“Y/N- Y/N never stays,” she says between small sobs, hands balling up as they hold onto you. “She always goes home. I want her to stay.”

Oh

Well that had your heartbreaking in two.

You press a kiss to the top of her head, looking at Cassian with a questioning look. The two of you have a silent conversation before Cassian speaks up, “Well, how about Y/N has a sleepover tonight?”

You had been talking about when the best time was for you to start staying over for a few weeks now, it seemed, however, that Ottie wanted to get the ball rolling.

Almost immediately her sobs softened, and she quickly scrambled in your lap so that she could look at the two of you. “Okay,” then she was jumping off the couch, running around the room to give everyone a hug goodbye before racing out of the door.

Startled, you and Cassian blinked at each other before turning to look at the doorway she had just disappeared through.

“I think the two of you just got played,” Rhys laughed as he got out of his seat to give Cassian a pat on the back and you a hug goodbye. Before either of you could answer, Ottie was running back into the room, carrying all three of your coats. Honestly, you were surprised she managed to make it back given how they piled up above her face.

“Come on, it’s home time.” She impatiently repeated Cassian’s words from earlier.

“Alright, we’re coming, we’re coming,” 

You finished saying goodbye to everyone as Cassian knelt to help Ottie into her coat, doing up the buttons and pulling a wooly hat over her head to keep the cold out before wrapping a scarf around her neck. Then he was crossing the room to where you stood saying goodbye to Azriel. You let Cassian help you into your coat, smiling softly as he leans back to pull your hair out from where it was caught down your back.

“Ready to go?” 

“Yep,” you replied, eyes fluttering shut as Cassian places a soft kiss to your lips.

You frown slightly as you feel him tense up, noting how his eyes scrunched together in confusion. “Ottie,” he starts, turning around to face her from where she stood, basically jumping, in the doorway. “How did you reach our coats? They were hanging on the hook…”

Ottie fixes him with an unimpressed look, clearly not happy with the holdup when she has a sleepover with you to get to. With a roll of her eyes, holding more attitude than what should be allowed for a near-three-year-old, she says “like this.”

Her face contorts in concentration and then she’s flapping her little wings up and up and up. Your mouth falls open, Azriel and Rhys both let our surprised laughs, and Cassian… He is staring at his daughter in shock before racing over to tug her into his arms.

“Ottie… How- How long have you been doing that?”

“I don’t know, a few weeks. Now come on, we have to go.”

“Okay, okay,” He still seemed stunned, a slight panic washing over his features. “How did you learn to do that?”

“I just copied what you do.” Ottie, seemingly done with the conversation, grabbed her dad’s hand and tried to pull him out the door, waving for you to follow.

“Hang on a minute, princess,” Cassian knelt to face her, tucking some hair out of her impatient little face. “Why didn’t you tell me that you started… Ottie, you need to promise me that there will be no more flying by yourself, okay? You could get hurt –”

“But Daddy –”

“At least let me show you how to fly properly, okay? This weekend, the two of us can practice flying, how does that sound?”

Ottie cocked her head as she contemplated his offer before her face broke into a wide grin, all previous signs of sleepiness were long gone. “Okay, but only if Y/N is there too.”

Cassian scoops her into his arms, turning to face you and the rest of his family with a look of exhaustion.

“Well, it’s a good thing you’ve got Y/N now, Cass. She’s going to be a handful, aren’t you Ottie?” Mor teased, swooping in to press a kiss to her cheek. “I’m going to head off now too, want me to winnow you all home?” You gracefully accepted her offer; as much as you loved the feeling of being in Cassian’s arms, the thought of him flying you and Ottie through the freezing winter night air was not something you were looking forward to.

*****

“Daddy?” Ottie drawled once the front door was shut behind you and Mor had disappeared. “Can we please have a hot chocolate?”

“Princess, it’s well past your bedtime. How about tomorrow?”

“But a hot chocolate now would be really nice. Y/N wants one too, don’t you, Y/N?” You squeezed Cassian’s hand, trying to hide your laugh at Ottie using you against him.

“I don’t know, sweetheart. I’m pretty tired… How about we get ready for bed and then I’ll read you a bedtime story?” Ottie grinned up at you as though you were the best person in the world before turning on the spot and running down the hallway, yelling something about being a big girl and brushing her own teeth.

Cassian let out a long sigh as he pulled you tightly against him and buried his head in your hair, your arms eagerly coming up to wrap around him.

“You, my love, are cauldron sent,” You pulled back just enough to be able to reach up on your tiptoes and slant your lips over his. “I’m serious, if it was me saying no to hot chocolate, she would’ve cracked it. But one word from you and she’s running to get ready for bed. I think I might just have to keep you.”

“Hmm,” you murmured against his lips, “I don’t think I have any complaints if you do decide to keep me.”

“Well, isn’t the convenient.” Cassian’s voice was gravelly against your ear, his breath fanning across the sensitive skin of your neck. He caught your lips in another kiss, deepening it with a sweep of his tongue that had you pressing even closer against him. The pitter patter of footsteps had you reluctantly breaking apart, Cassian rolling his head back at the sudden interruption.

“Y/N? Can you please read to me now? I’ve done everything to get ready for bed.”

“Of course, sweetheart. Do you want to pick out a book? I’ll meet you upstairs in a minute.” She ran off with a grin. You turned to face Cassian, smiling at the sight of him watching Ottie climb the stairs, clad in her pyjamas and tightly holding onto her teddy bear, a soft smile gracing his features.

“She’s a pretty special kid,” you say, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Yeah, she is,” He bends down to softly kiss you, leaning his forehead against yours as he says, “She used her manners and everything. I think Feyre was right, you’re definitely her favourite…” His words awkwardly trailed off as if he had to suddenly stop himself from saying something that had been on the tip of his tongue. You gave him a questioning look but let it go when he grabbed your hand, with a quick clear of his throat he continued, “Well, we better get up there and read her that story, hey?”

*****

You and Cassian stumbled in the doorway of Ottie’s bedroom as you took in the sight before you. Ottie was in what looked like a nest of blankets and pillows spread out on the floor beside her still made bed.

“What…?”

“You can have my bed, Y/N. I don’t want you to sleep on the floor, you won’t be very comfortable.” The way she was looking up at you with so much excitement and unabashed joy had your heart clenching as you turned to Cassian, amusement lacing his features as he raised his eyebrows at you – this was your situation to navigate and clearly Ottie hadn't realised that you didn't plan on sleeping in her room.

“Oh, that’s very sweet of you, Ottie,” you pulled Cassian along with you as you sat down on her bed. “How about you come up here too. That way we’re all comfortable.” Without so much as a second of hesitation, Ottie was scrambling into her bed, settling herself between you and Cassian as she handed you the book she had picked out.

It was a tight fit but somehow the three of you managed to get into a comfortable position that accommodated for both Cassian and Ottie’s wings, as well as Cassian’s bulking frame. You were nestled into Cassian’s side, his arm and wing, wrapped around your shoulders to hold you to him. Ottie was on his lap, curled up against his chest as she faced you, watching with wide eyes as you read to her. Eventually, a soft snore filled the room making you turn to find Ottie fast asleep with her mouth open, drool soaking into Cassian’s shirt as he rubbed a hand up and down her back.

“She asleep?” He quietly asked, giving your shoulder a soft squeeze.

“Yeah, she is. Snores just like you.” You poked your tongue out at his offended expression before resting your head on his shoulder.

“Let’s stay here for a minute before we head to bed,” he mumbles, head leaning down to rest atop yours, “Don’t want to accidentally wake her.”

You murmur your agreement, feeling your eyes grow heavy as the warmth and comfort and love from the two people beside you help you drift into a peaceful sleep.

*****

Your back is aching, and you have no idea where you are. Blearily cracking your eyes open, you take in the soft light coming through the windows from the rising sun, lighting up the soft pinks of the bedroom you’re in. With a groan, you turn your head and come face-to-face with Cassian’s chest, slowly rising and falling with each breath, his arm wrapped tightly around you.

You’re in Ottie’s room. You clearly both dozed off after she fell asleep and had spent the rest of the night cuddled up on her small bed. It was definitely a sight you would be holding onto: a fully grown Illyrian male, sprawled across a small child’s bed wrapped up in a pink comforter covered in flowers. You might just ask Feyre if she could paint the scene for you, you knew she would at least get a laugh out of it.

Yet, the one thing missing from the scene was Ottie. You sat up, slowly wiggling out of Cassian’s grasp, not wanting to disturb him. You looked down at the pile of blankets Ottie had set up for herself, but there was no sign of her, or of the blankets and pillows she had dragged in. Standing up, you turned back to Cassian and pulled the blankets up around him before pressing a kiss to his cheek, just as he let out a loud snore that sent you into a fit of silent giggles. Quietly shutting the bedroom door behind you, you set off down the stairs in search for the young Illyrian, surely she hadn’t gotten too far?

You didn’t need to look for long. As soon as you entered the living room, a smile spread across your face at the throws that were draped across a huddle of chairs she seemed to have dragged in from the dining room. Kneeling in front of the small opening of Ottie’s blanket fort, you knocked on the floorboards before poking your head inside.

“Hello,” Ottie looks up from her picture book, her teddy bear sitting on her lap as she gives you a sleepy smile. “You’re up early. Can I join you?”

Ottie silently nodded, shifting over a bit to make more room. You smile as she pulls a blanket out and drapes it over your legs before readjusting herself to lean against your side. You sat in silence for a while, Ottie clutching her teddy to her chest as she looked through the pictures in her book while you sat beside her, letting your hands tangle through her curls, lost in thought.

Closing her book with a snap, Ottie turned to face you, before shifting so she could rest her head in your lap, teddy bear still clutched tightly in her hands.

“Are you alright, sweetheart?” It had been a late night and was currently very early in the morning, so she was probably just tired, still, you wanted to check all the same.

“Daddy snores,” You laugh, nodding your head in agreement. “Really loudly.”

“Yes, he does, doesn’t here. He’s still up there snoring now.”

“No, he isn’t. And, no, he doesn’t,” Ottie sheepishly looked up at you, letting out a giggle as Cassian’s face appeared in the tent’s entrance. “Well, this is cozy.”

You laugh as Cassian sprawls out on the floor, the upper half of his body fitting inside the small space while his legs stick out of the gap in the blankets.

“Move over, Otts. Sharing is caring and all that.” The husk of his voice sending butterflies through you. “Woke up without my girls and couldn’t get back to sleep.” Ottie wiggled as she made room for Cassian to rest his head in your lap.

He blindly searched for your hand, bringing it up to his lips once he had hold of it before settling it on top of his chest, not once letting go. Then he was turning his head to face Ottie and planting a big kiss on her cheeks that had her letting out a shriek of laughter, “Stop it, Daddy. That tickles.”

You laughed as Cassian proceeded to smush his face against hers, the stubble prickling against her skin before wrapping his other arm around her and pulling her in closer against him. Soothingly rubbing your thumb across Cassian’s hand, you let the other one trail through Ottie’s hair, watching with amusement as they both drifted off to sleep in your lap.

Given the rare moment in which they were both still, and silent, you took the time to properly compare their features, marvelling at the many similarities they shared. You had to hold back a laugh when Cassian shifted slightly as he let out a snore, followed by the sound of Ottie’s, much quieter, snore.

Leaning against the back of the chair that helped prop up the blankets, you continued watching your two favourite people sleeping soundly in your lap, and couldn’t help but think this was something you wanted to get used to.

*****

Part 5

*****

PSA: Cassian was going to say “parent” – “You’re definitely her favourite parent” but caught himself because is it too soon?? What does he even think about it?? What would Y/N even think about it?? It just *almost* slipped out and sends him spiralling!

*****

Tag List: @mis-lil-red @sarawritestories @beardburnsupersoldiers @eve175 @blushingfawnsposts @turtleshavesoulmates @slytherinindisguise @sleepylunarwolf @starryhiraeth @tele86

Let me know if you wanted to be added!

[oversensitiveandoffputting]

I think we need to talk more about how Stolas is figuring out how his actions affect others virtually by himself.

He’s actually great at taking accountability. The two times he hurt Octavia and she acted out, he didn’t get angry, he didn’t bring the gavel down. He hugged her and apologized. When he made Blitz cry, he (after getting black out drunk) rolled up his sleeves and got to work on getting that Asmodeon Crystal. Even when confronting Stella, he said, “I’d feel bad if I hurt you…” Despite everything she’s done to him, he still doesn’t want to hurt her; he just wants her away from him.

I think it’s important to note that Octavia and Blitz never actually told him calmly and pointedly why they were upset. You can argue that’s not Octavia’s job and you’d be right. She’s the child and he’s the parent. It’s on him to figure that out. But Blitz? That’s a lot more of a grey area. Blitz has no issue rebuffing Stolas, snapping at him, denying his advances, calling him names…but actually sitting down and having a serious conversation about the OTT flirting and the microaggressions? He's not there yet. Because if Stolas tells him that his feelings aren’t valid and he’s a walking, talking toy for the upper class (like Blitz fears he would), he couldn’t take that.

And the final thing he has to take accountability for will be the racial bias. Which is gonna take a while, because someone (who is not Blitz at this point, as Blitz took a match and gasoline to whatever bridge he had left with Stolas) is going to have to sit him down when he’s not on edge and explain to him what he’s doing wrong.

And I can relate to this a lot as an autistic person because I cannot tell you how often my social faux pas are chalked up to maliciousness on my part instead of my brain being wired differently. And how often this kinda…wears on me. I get snapped at and talked to like I’m less than a person on an almost daily basis because I ask a clarifying question or repeat instructions back to make sure I got them right or use innocuous phrases like “sounds like a plan” when I agree with something.

I don’t know where I’m going with this. I guess…idk…maybe give the autistic people in your life a little more grace. We’re trying, okay?

[herejusttosufferalong]

I've started and deleted this sentence several times now and don't really know how to begin. So let's just go for it and say seriously WHAT THE FUCK has been the last 6 months!? My mind is a clusterfuck rn. I love L and N but they are seriously debilitating. Like I've been see-sawing between casual nonchalance about everything saying "haha this is great ride, what's next in store?" to just confused exasperation and emotional fatigue. I don't even know these people, and yet I am so fucking invested. This has never happened to me. They are like a drug. Seriously, whatever they are selling, I will buy 10 of everything, pump it into my veins. Why is my kink now seeing them get married, have kids and L be a stay-at-home daddy while N rules the fucking world?! N, alone, has me questioning my sexuality. Then I remember L is there, and I go oh yeah him too. Them is my sexuality. It's so messy. Anyway, now to the point of this. I had some flashbacks while watching L's Loewe Vogue video today. Watching his groomer give him a lovely face and head massage instantly transported me to Ireland with the infamous forehead stroke. Honestly, imo, the biggest turning point of the whole tour. So much happened before this time, but I really do think this moment was critical. I will outline why.

Obviously, Ireland was a massive deal for N. The excitement of getting back home and meeting family and friends, the amazing reception, it was special. She talked ad nauseam about her mum meeting L and honestly all I could think was when has anyone been excited/nervous about their parents meeting just a friend? You feel that certain way because you're wanting approval, you're wanting them to feel the same way you do about that person and welcome them into the family, as it were. I've never felt that way with friends, but I had done with my boyfriend (now husband). But maybe that's just me? L didn't seem as caught up in it, like almost trying to downplay a lot of her ott excitement. I also noticed that they were less touchy feely overall compared to earlier on in the trip, which was so unhinged honestly, I didn't know what to do with myself. But then came the moment. I don't think enough people have broken this moment down. So the interviewer asks the question, that's been asked oh so many times, "was it easier or harder to do the intimacy scenes with a friend?" And N looks at L and thinks to herself, he has a hair out of place on his forehead, I'm going to reach out and stroke his forehead right in the middle of this god damn interview. Not once, but a few times, like her little hand was built to stroke that man's face. Now, tbf, she does ask permission but also tbf her hand is already at his face before he can answer a whispered, guttural, "mhmm". He leans in, we loose L for a bit there, then he comes back saying "ok" like you probably got that hair now, think we should stop now. And her going into 'mother' mode telling him to turn his head, good boy. And his little worried face when it's over. And them talking about how N just can't stop picking hairs off people on set. Mmm ok. If they were in Regency outfits, I would be expecting a mirror scene next up. But you might say to me, well shit like this has happened countless times, it's just another thing. Well, I say no, this time was different. They both knew they had crossed a line, publicly, her initiation, his reaction. Because they were strange as hell at the London premiere. He avoided her gaze. She visibly stopped herself from touching him. One occasion, I saw her reach out to his arm or back, and she looked behind him (I think where their teams were?), and immediately pulled her arm back. The first moment she was asked about people shipping Lukola she had a pre-prepared speech ready to go to explain the head stroke. It was forced. A lot of what she said seemed so rehearsed, and although, I'm certain N does think a lot about what she is going to say in interviews, usually she is very natural about it and let's it flow. That lady was stressed and making a point that L is just a 'bud'. The lady doth protest to much, methinks. She's seen everything we've typed about her and L's behaviour during the tour, so why start over-explaining and defending behaviour now? She was STRESSED. That was the overt, obvious, stop yourself type of behaviour, and yet we still saw SOME of that unconscious stuff seep through, like him searching for her hand, her looking up at him like a God, her stroking his thumb with hers while holding hands (seriously, why was that SO intimate to me?). Point being, you can't fake that stuff, the repression and release. The unconscious behaviour. They knew something was rumbling. Or at least, N did. My opinion is that they have not acted on those rumblings, because if they had, it would be OVER. Electric. Power surge. Goodnight. Pack your bags and goodbye. We might not even exist anymore, tbh. But I shall wait over here and keep eating all the crumbs I can get. (I am sooo sorry about the length of whatever this is, thank you much the same, it was so nice to vent).

OKay but like I kinda fuckin love you anon...

I had the biggest smile on my face reading this.

There is so much to unpack here. We will have to chat sometime.

LOVE x

[too-antigonish]

The Great S7 Rewrite: 7 July 2024 Update...

Posted this yesterday as a reblog update to the Great S7 Rewrite but now posting separately...

Here's a summary of where we are in the Great S7 Rewrite and some ideas moving forward:

Bone of Contention #1: Opera Rules

@astridcontramundum is in favor of keeping Opera Rules (voiceovers, framing scenes, etc.) as well as featuring more of the bespoke opera written for S7. I love her suggestion that Morse and Violetta have their own leitmotif! 

@oeuvrinarydurian suggested the possibility of leaning into Opera Rules—going a little crazy with tropes and techniques and being fanciful. 

I *love* the idea of leaning into Opera Rules and it’s actually what I’ve thought R.L. should have done all along. Now though, when I think of doing it within the context of the existing storylines we’re working with, I run into difficulties imagining it. The stories don’t fit into a “playful” world. That may simply be my own limitations. I’d love to see it done somewhere, sometime—especially somewhat whimsically and especially in the Morse universe.

One possibility I’ve considered is still having Opera Rules (voiceovers, framing scenes, etc. as well as opera tropes and themes), but actually taking them seriously instead of making them OTT. I’m heavily paraphrasing, but Astrid, in one of her stories has Bix say something like, “Real life isn’t like one of your operas,” to Morse. And it’s always struck me that for Morse, his real life *is* like one of his operas. His childhood? Being essentially orphaned. Evil stepmothers. Oxford? Almost marrying the princess so to speak. Being cast aside and cast out. What he sees at his job? Murder. Betrayal. Greed. Jealousy. Grief.

Basically, instead of making Morse’s life suddenly work according to Opera Rules, you could show how Morse has been living an opera all along by suddenly making all of the parallels visible.

Another thought that builds on Astrid’s idea about both Opera Rules and her later thoughts on the Towpath Case is to center the story on the opera that Morse attends at the beginning, "La Sposa del Demonio" (or "La Cura Per L'amore").  What if the story of that opera is reflected in the story arc of the Morse, Ludo, Violetta—whatever that ends up being? 

Bone of Contention #2: Ludo and Violetta?

Astrid likes the idea of having Violetta genuinely in love with Morse. 

@librawritesstuff brings up Violetta as “Unattainable Fantasy Woman” and points out that part of Morse’s attraction to her can be explained by the fact that by the end of S6, he’s been screwed over in just about every way possible. He’s ready to just say fuck it and go after something just because it’s there and he wants it for a change.

She then points out that the bigger problem with Ludo and Violetta lies in the implausibility of their storyline. What was the plan with Morse? Was there a plan? What’s the deal with the “pet policeman”?

Durian: Hates Ludo and Violetta as characters, but her big issue is with lack of logic in the whole opera storyline and too many implausibilities. Did Morse and Violetta meet at the opera by chance or design? Did Ludo know about them the whole time? What was the “pet policeman” about? Was Violetta actually involved in the nuts and bolts of engineering the accidents?

@fanficrocks Looks at making Morse’s relationship with Ludo more believable: less OTT as a character, maybe journalist friend of Dorothea, this gives a believable reason for him to be in all of the towns where the accidents happen and believable way for Morse to trace the accidents to him. Suggests possibly lose “pet policeman” concept and just have Ludo and Morse friendship poisoned by affair

Astrid again: Loves idea of Ludo as journalist; She notes with Violetta: Morse attaching to her out of recklessness seems reasonable but they didn’t make her attachment to him believable in any way. Also, while there was a reconciliation at the end of S6, Morse would have still been carrying resentment about having been pushed aside

I love the idea of Ludo as a journalist. I’m also intrigued by the possibility that he could be a music journalist. This would provide a plausible explanation for so many things—Dorothea introducing him to Morse, Morse actually wanting to become friends, his frequent travels, etc. 

It also gives me an idea re: the big opera La Sposa. What if it were a newly discovered opera? Morse goes to Venice for the premier. Ludo is there covering the premier but for some reason does not attend with Violetta. The plot of this opera could somehow also form a backdrop for the overall Morse, Ludo, Violetta story arc (story within a story).

I completely agree with Libra about the “Unattainable Fantasy Woman” thing for the initial two week affair. Where that starts to break down for me is with the extended affair and her cooking meals for them in their love nest at Beirut dancer’s apartment. There just seems to be no basis for their connection besides sex. Certainly not enough that he would be expecting her to leave Ludo and start a life together.

If we keep Ludo and Violetta as characters, which seems to be the way things are leaning, I do think they both more or less need personality transplants to justify Morse’s continued interest in them. I’m also with Astrid on having Violetta genuinely in love with Morse. I think they left it ambiguous in the show because they were playing on the whole idea of “If it's beautiful, does it matter if it’s real?” (“treason of images” ) thing, but it never really worked.

As for the overall implausibility of overall opera storyline: Yes!!!! It’s a mess. Every point raised by Libra and Durian is valid. Whatever happens with the storyline, those holes need fixing!

Bone of Contention #3: Towpath Storyline

Astrid: Universe within universe for towpath killings. Make it opera related. Gives more scope for Thursday/Morse conflict. Deranged fan? Thwarted performer? Also, while there was a reconciliation at the end of S6, Morse would have still been carrying resentment about having been pushed aside.

Durian: Eliminate clutter in Towpath mystery: get down to “is it or is it not Carl?” Leaves room to carefully craft the conflict between Morse and Thursday

I definitely agree that the clutter in the Towpath mystery needs to be eliminated. There was no clear throughline and the story pulled in too many directions. The specifics, though, depend on a lot of other decisions that need to be made first.

The conflict between Morse and Thursday definitely needs to be more carefully established. How do we get from the seeming reconciliation of Degüello to sniping at each other in Oracle? I completely agree with Astrid that Morse would have still been carrying resentment, but there needs to be something more to explain how it would erupt in such a public and painful manner.

Bone of Contention #4: The Episodic Storylines

Astrid: “I’d definitely keep those gay wrestlers!  I might feature them more! They could be another nod to it all. Thursday said wrestling was a lot like opera. Heroes and Villains. Faces and Heels.”

I love this comment! And I loved the gay wrestlers. They were just so unexpected and their presence was so understated in a way that I found hilarious. 

But it also gets at one of the themes of S7 that I did actually find interesting: How chance puts us on one side or the other, makes us winners or losers in the great game. Raga is the most blatant about it with politics, immigration, race, gambling, etc. but also with the Faces and the Heels in wrestling or the fate of  the firstborn son vs. the second born.

Ludo sums it up—while also perhaps referring to his crimes—by saying to Morse, “Life, death, rich, poor. It's all a roll of the dice, Morse. There's no reason to any of it. You're not responsible. Some people are just unlucky.” It's eerily reminiscent of Charlie and Conrad Greel in Ride.

OK, I think that's it for now. Please let me know if I misrepresented your comments in any way or missed something that was said! I assure you it was accidental.

[12boogaloo]

Okay, I cant take it anymore. The brain rot is REAL

Been on a writing hiatus since 2019 or 2020 (I honestly don’t remember so don’t @ me)

And what gets me to finally start writing again?

You guessed it ladies, gents, and serpents!

Fucking TROLLS 3

Let’s get this bread or die trying y’all 😈

~•~

So first things first: I didn’t come up with the AU’s I’m using here! They were created by TheMiraculousMat and Keebsification on here and AO3

The AU’s in question are The Eldest and The Youngest and Out The Train Wreck

I just love it when people see John Dory and think “hmmm yes this grown man can fit so much eldest daughter energy in him” cuz SAME

So I thought: what if I just… put em together? OTT! JD and E&Y! JD have a grip on my soul and I’m filling a formal complaint in the form of fanfiction for not just 1, but 2 other pieces of fanfiction!!! Cuz why not

I’m gonna post the notes I’ve had about this idea for the past 2 week, at least the first part.

Well… it’s half notes, half chapter really…

Maybe. MAYBE. I’ll clean it up and post it on AO3. Maybe… probably lets be real

Anyway. Y’all can call me Boog and this is Project: Hyperfixation Won

Actual story name pending…

~•~

Part 1: Author’s Actual Notes because they are a nerd

Got an idea

Gonna scratch the itch

Half brain rot dump and half story here

Combination of the Eldest and Youngest JD and the Train Wreck JD

I also head canon that trolls have tails and claws and fangs

They’re lil creatures

Basically the same stuff happens in TW with the manager and John being Branch’s father.

Branch grows up knowing JD is his dad while everyone else thinks they’re brothers.

He and Luka are dating. He’s basically Branch’s other dad.

Luka gets taken and John thinks he died. He keeps his glove to remember him.

The fight still happens. John still leaves but promises Branch that he’ll come back.

He goes to the Neverglades for the next four years.

When he gets a letter about Rosiepuff and Branch he immediately heads back to the tree to take care of him.

Pretty much all of E&Y happens but with the change of Branch knowing JD is his dad.

Makes the trauma of him leaving worse in a way which adds to the angst of the first parts delicious, but it also makes their bond really solid later on.

John forgot that everyone in the village knew them as brothers until Poppy asks him if John is Branch’s daddy out of the blue. He panics and says “no” on instinct and they both decide to just go with it. Easier than explaining it to everyone.

She still doesn’t know. Nobody does.

John still loses his arm trying to save Creek(nasty ass).

One morbid silver lining John felt was that at least it wasn’t the hand he wore Luka’s glove on. Small miracles. Lol I’m sorry

Branch doesn’t remember Luka anymore, at least not really. He sorta remembers a burgundy haired troll that he thought was important but couldn’t remember anything else about them so he didn’t think too much about it.

John doesn’t really like talking about him and Branch hasn’t ever asked so he doesn’t bring it up.

He starts dating Hickory and he does tell him about Luka. He admits that while he definitely is falling for Hickory, a part of him will always belong to Luka and their relationship will always be really important to him.

Hickory is more than okay with that and even tells him that he would’ve loved to have met the man that made his sweetheart so happy and kept him safe before it was his turn. (John just about cried when he said that same buddy and agreed that they’d probably get along pretty well.)(He shows Hickory pictures of him and Luka one day and they laugh over the fact that John clearly has a type.)(And, based on Hickory’s own light blush, same.)(He immediately said Luka was ‘real cute’ and John still laughs at him for it.)

He also tells him about Bold and how Branch came to be. (Hickory spent solid hours comforting him afterwards and spent an equal amount of time thinking of ways he could get Dickory to help him torture the bastard if he ever saw him.)(He decides in that moment that he’d do anything to protect his boyfriend and his son. Anything.) (He’s also even more grateful to Luka when he hears about how he protected his love the day they met. He really wishes he could thank him…)

Branch makes jokes about not calling Hickory his stepdad till they get married, which makes John flush bright blue. (Hickory just laughs and winks, the traitor.)(Hickory secretly really wants Branch to call him ‘Pops’ and he’s so obvious about it.)(Branch finds it hilarious and doesn’t on purpose. He’d actually love to call him that, he’s just being an ass.)(You’d think he wouldn’t ever want to but no. For some reason, it’s only thinking of Hickory as ‘Papa’ specifically that makes him feel wrong. Like that’s not available to him. I wonder why.)

After saving Floyd, the boys all start spending more time together as a family. Floyd and Clay move into the bunker with John and Branch. Bruce still lives on Vacay Island but he tries to visit at least once a week, even bringing his wife and kids with him if he can.

They still love doing shows together and will do a big one every two weeks at least.

A few months later, they’re getting ready to hangout together after a performance in PopVillage. Hickory isn’t with them, he was actually watching with Tiny in the crowd, so he can’t see them.(Lil dude is really attached to his “Uncle Cowboy” and “Uncle Johnny” it’s adorable.)(And yes Guy is close by, Tiny is still very very grounded.)

Poppy wants to introduce them to a former stage manager that she’s worked with before that had come to see the show from TrollCity. Branch has met him once before and thought the guy was weird and a little creepy but nothing else made him feel suspicious so he kinda just ignored it. He figured if Poppy trusted him, it was fine. (Obviously he still kept an eye on the old bastard, cause your boy isn’t paranoid for nothing. And you never know.)

They all agree to meet and when they get backstage… it’s him.

Bold.

The bros old manager. The man who hurt their eldest unimaginably.

JD basically shuts down as his younger brothers immediately shield him from view.

They need to get out of here without causing a scene. Fast.

“Poppy, I think we need to go…” Floyd mumbles, his usually soft features twisting in both anger and slight fear as he stared the old troll down.

Poppy looks at them in confusion, “Wha- but you guys said you wanted to see everything we set up!!” She looks between the brothers and the older manager, Branch joining her as his eyebrows furrowed.

“Sorry, kids, I don’t think we can do that…” Bruce doesn’t take his eyes off of the old man as he steps back, closer to Clay and Floyd who were holding John Dory’s arms and hands to keep him steady in their safety bubble, their tails wrapped around his waist. “Not when he’s here.”

Poppy blinks in confusion. “What do you mean? Have you met Mr. Bold before?” She asks.

The old bastard chuckles. “Don’t worry, Miss Poppy.” Poppy huffs a bit at being called ‘miss’. (She’s Queen, dammit. Only Hickory calls her ‘miss’ and it’s always as a joke.) “I was the boys’ manager back in the day! It’s just been a while since we’ve seen each other.” He looks over each brother, clearly trying to get a look at John Dory and noticeably souring when he’s blocked. Then he smirks, taking a few steps closer, his wooden cane thunking against the floor. John flinches with each tap, tap, tap. “You’ve all grown up so much.”

Bruce holds his ground, crossing his arms and rolling his shoulders, his bigger body blocking most of JD from view. Clay was growling behind him, both him and Floyd curling closer to John and their ears pressed back in irritation. Bruce gives a humorless chuckle. “Heh. Yeah, we’ve grown up, Bold. We grew up and you’re fucking old now.”

Poppy gasps. “B-Bruce, that’s not nice!” She turns to Bold and smiles nervously. “I’m so sorry-“

The man waves her off. “Don’t fret. I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it. He’s right after all.” He looks at them again all smugly, leaning on his cane. “Like I said, it’s been a long time.”

Floyd scoffs. “Not long enough.” He growls, baring his teeth. His claws start coming out and he’s thankful he’s holding John’s prosthetic arm as he feels them scratch the metal.

“Woah, okay, what the hell is up with you guys?” Branch finally steps in. That was so unlike Floyd to say something like that. He’s never seen the older troll that angry before, he’s never seen any of his uncles that angry before.

Bruce huffs. “What’s up is that we’re leaving. Now.” He goes to turn around to start steering his brothers out of the room when he hears Bold chuckle, making them all freeze.

“You all really have changed so much,” He says, his tail swaying side-to-side behind him. John looks up and they manage to lock eyes, Bold smiling sickly as John stares in horror. “Especially you, Johnny Baby.”

John feels sick. He feels like he’s gonna pass out. He feels his legs start giving out as Clay and Floyd rush to hold him up. He feels his body going completely limp and his vision blurs and his chest hurts and he can’t breATHE-

Bruce tackles the old troll, immediately landing brutal hits to the bastards face. He screams between punches, “DON’T TALK TO MY BROTHER!” Bold tries to hit him back, only managing to smack Bruce in the side once with his cane before continuing to get pummeled.

Branch and Poppy jump in frantically to pull him off of the man and the three of them stumble back. Bruce shoves them off and glares at Bold again. He was lying on the ground, groaning and clutching his nose, there were scratches and bruises on his face and he was covered in his own glittery copper blood. “Stay. The FUCK. Away. From John.” Bruce pants and shakes out his hands, flexing his exposed claws. He spits on the ground. “Bastard.” He turns back to his brothers. “Cmon, let’s get out of here.” He lifts JD up bridal style and Clay and Floyd follow him as he starts rushing to the door.

“Wait, hold on!” Branch runs after them, leaving Poppy standing in confused horror at what just happened.

~•~

That’s what I’ll give for now lol

I have like wayyy more written out but I’m mean so 😈

Anyway

Thank you for coming to my ted talk

Lmk what y’all think ig

Check out the folks that created these AU’s plz @matmiraculous and Keebsification (idk their tumblr so plz don’t yell at me) both on AO3 where I found them

Later yall

[stormbreaker101]

Because of the semi-recent uproar stirred by by J/K/R's blatant antisemitism in that new H/ar/ry P/ott/er game (putting slashes to keep this post from potentially showing up in searches for those terms bc theyre not the focus of this post), and the drive to make the Wizard101 community more explicitly Jewish-friendly, there is a word floating around in wizard101 canon and thus in the wizard101 communities online that I'd like to call attention to.

Cabal

The name of the major antagonists in the second half of Arc 3 and beyond. Host to some of our favorite characters.

The word 'cabal' simply means "a secret political clique of faction".

Why am I calling attention to this word and name?

The word cabal is derived from the rabbinical Hebrew word 'Kabbalah', the word for Jewish religious teachings (specifically study and interpretation of the Torah). I hope I don't have to explain why turning the word for our religious studies into meaning a secret political organization is antisemitic as fuck.

Im not blaming the wiz communities online for using this word, and Im not sure I can even blame the writers for not considering the antisemitic roots of the word. The writers likely didnt think 'oh, let's intentionally use an antisemitic word for the villains we want to introduce'. Antisemitism is woven into our language and culture. Cabal was an antisemitic word and concept before it was a name for a group of fictional villains in an MMORPG.

That being said, we don't have to be (and in fact, we SHOULDN'T be) complacent in antisemitism. Language matters. Therefore, if I may, I'd like to suggest a word we can use instead of Cabal/Cabalists:

Schismist

In canon, the Cabal and Arcanum had been one entity (the old Arkanum) before the Great Schism happened in which the two broke apart into what they are today. The Cabalists were the ones forced out, and the ancestors of the modern Arcanum followed the goal of studying all the schools of magic, rather than studying how to survive the apocalypse.

A friend offered this word up to a discord server we were in, and we all made the switch there.

I'm not asking for much. Just for us to be the slightest bit conscious of our language. Just for us to replace one word for another.

[hexedwinchester]

My SPN meet-cute ;)

On the 13th anniversary of 'How I Started Watching Supernatural', I wanted to share the first time I saw this show and how it changed from a random channel surfing to my fangirling obsession. A re-telling of how I first started watching the show, if you will.

This was in 2011 when I was back from college and channel surfing. We didn't have OTTs or speedy internet to watch shows online, so like any other millennial, it had to be on TV. I stopped on the AXN channel to watch this cute fella with a hella good hair and a dimpled smile cracking into a dead chick's computer using "Pattinson" as a password. Yes, it was S06E05 'Live Free or Twi-Hard' and mind you, Twilight was at its peak. So anyway, I watched this episode and it seemed silly with all the goofy jokes around Twilight. But, my heart stopped at the moment Sam smiled that wicked grin when he noticed Dean turned by a vampire and I was like, oh my god why is this guy happy about his brother getting turned?? It's so twisted, I love it!

Of course, that episode didn't explain Sam's reaction so I felt restless, like I needed to find out and soon. Next day, when I was back from college, the show was on again with a fresh episode. Now, mind you, I did not know I was watching the sixth season (because the channel didn't mention it like it does now) or the fact that Supernatural didn't always pick up the story right where it left off. So, I watched the next one which was 'You Can't Handle The Truth' and I was like, damn who is this Sam fella? What's wrong with him? I gotta find out!

So of course, I kept watching the show and at some point, I realized I was probably missing out on a major chunk of the story especially when I saw the recap for "The French Mistake" about Ruby and the blood-drinking and I thought to myself gosh, when did this happen? I was so hooked up on the Soulless Sam storyline, I watched the entire season 6 that month. Funny thing, in the back of my mind I had this nagging feeling that a few years ago I had seen a show with a similar plot where something was wrong with one of the brothers but I couldn't put my finger on it.

After watching season 6, I decided to start the show from the beginning. Lucky for me, a friend had a copy of the first 3 seasons (I saw the rest when AXN ran the show from the beginning before the release of Season 7) and imagine my surprise when I saw season 2, specifically the scene where Dean tells Sam about saving him or killing him and my brain instantly blew up! Why? apparently, I had seen random episodes of Season 2 while channel surfing when it had launched all those years ago!

Eventually, I managed to see the show in the right order and fell so hard for Sam and his trauma, that thirteen years later, I am still carrying that pain with me! Sam, his character, it had me hooked from the very first moment. He was always so complex and fascinating to me! If it wasn't for him and the way Jared played him, I probably would have stopped watching the show after season 9.

Now that I have shared my SPN meet-cute, I invite you guys to reblog and share your first-watch experience of Supernatural.

[ash-says]

The vicious cycle of Needs, Wants and Demands:

This right here is the academic in me speaking. Trust me if you are able to figure out and divide things in your life in this three categories things might become a tad bit simpler.

Starting off with needs. So what are those?

Needs are the things that you require in order to survive. Simple as that. Anything works for satisfying a need. Its the raw, palpable ache in a human.

Wants are specific in nature. They are the modified version of needs.

Demand, ohh dear this is the most lovely part to get at. It can be explained with a simple equation:

Wants + Purchasing power = Demand

Example for those who didn't still quiet understand this concept

I need a breakfast in the morning anything can work right from bread and butter to an elaborate one.

But I want to have a croissant with a steaming cup of hot chocolate and some nicely fried veggies.

Out of this I can only afford having croissant and hot chocolate as I am on a budget. So my demand becomes croissant and hot chocolate while my want is fried veggies with the need to have a breakfast.

Now that we have understood this concept apply it to your level up journey and save some unnecessary confusion.

Try not to get caught up in chasing your wants without fixing your needs and demands quota first.

Simply putting you want to have healthy hair instead of going out and starting to demand for various OTT products stop and spend sometime analyzing what it actually needs.

You have dry and frizzy hair it needs moisture and products that will keep it nourished. So your demand is products that can help you in nourishing dry and frizzy hair but what if you don't have the purchasing power to buy those costly creams? How are you going to fulfill your want for healthy hair?

Simple now that we have all this three things covered according to your purchasing power you look for stuff that will satisfy the need and fulfill your want at the same time.

I hope this made sense. Its all a way of organizing and making decision. There's no point of bullying your hairs with multiple products that do not satisfy the need only. Cause until the need is not satisfied you cannot move onto the want category.

[pwhl-mybeloved]

just a quick one day poll because I’m curious about what y’all think about this call/ejection

reblog and share your answer in the tags if you want!!

[bestjaydee]

I think some of the OTT fan worship is book boyfriend, but I think a larger part is pretty privilege. I think many obsessed fans attribute qualities to him that aren’t there because they can’t see past his appearance. And while I don’t think he’s very bright, I do think he’s savvy enough to play into it for gain. https://www.vice.com/en/article/epz8pk/psychology-pretty-privilege-attractive-people

To begin with, I want to point out that since I don't personally know Sam, I can't make assumptions about how bright he is and I don't appreciate people making these assumptions based solely on what we see on social media. So this post is not about his level of intelligence. That being said, I do think Anon has a point and that "pretty privilege" is at play as far as Sam is concerned. The number of times that his looks are mentioned when discussing anything remotely negative about him is testament to that. The article sent by Anon calls it the Halo Effect. And for those who don't want to read the entire thing, here's what is says in a nutshell: The Halo Effect means that if there’s one good trait in a person, you then associate a bunch of other good traits with that first good trait. And usually the first good trait we’re talking about is physical beauty. This explains why people tend to assume that conventionally beautiful people are also smart, funny, or talented.  Add to that, the JAMMF effect and you have women acting like they do around Sam, spending insane amounts of money to follow him on his booze tour or participate in a private event, buying everything he sells and defending his every move, even questionable ones. They also think terrible movies are good, just because he's in them, juvenile behaviours become cute, while entitled behaviours, commendable. And you know what? I think he knows it. He's probably lived with it his entire life, even when he wasn't successful as an actor, he probably could get away with a lot of shit just by using his charms.

[black-arcana]

“We knew if we stuck together, we would create great things.” Amaranthe have three vocalists and make music that resembles ABBA on a bloodthirsty rampage. They might just be the most extra band in heavy metal

Swedish metallers Amaranthe open up on a career - and a sound - like no other

Amaranthe’s Elize Ryd and Olof Mörck can clearly remember the night they met. It was 2005 during an evening at Gothenburg’s now-defunct Diamond Dogs rock bar. At the time, Elize was an aspiring singer who had sung on a track by local band Falconer, catching the attention of Olof, who was making a name for himself as the guitarist in power metal band Dragonland. That night, they talked about the bands they loved for hours, discussed the universe and watched the stars. By the end of the night, they’d struck up what Elize describes today as a “spiritual” connection.

“We just knew, if we stuck together, we would create great things.” That’s exactly what they did. Since releasing their self-titled debut in 2011, Amaranthe have become one of the hardest-working bands in metal, releasing six albums and touring incessantly. And in that time, they’ve established themselves as one of power metal’s most OTT operators, with three bombastic vocalists backed by an undeniably divisive blend of death metal, power metal, pop and electronica, resembling ABBA on a bloodthirsty rampage.

The band’s seventh album, The Catalyst, might be their most audacious yet. While the band have often, lazily, been lumped in with symphonic metal – no doubt due to the presence of a female singer – for the first time, this record sees them lean into that genre’s splashy inclinations. It’s also their most conceptual release, delving into themes of transformation. Veering from the abstract to the unflinchingly literal, the 12 tracks breathlessly explore everything from climate change to Artificial Intelligence to vampire transformation (see grandiose single Damnation Flame and its bloodthirsty video). On paper, it reads like the band chucked ‘change’ into a word cloud. On record, it’s a fizzy, bombastic riot.

“Maybe it’s our most dynamic and brave record,” chuckles Elize over Zoom. “But it was also fun. We always made jokes that Olof is a vampire because he’s never aged.” Born in Sweden, pop music is in Elize’s bones. Outside Amaranthe, she co-writes songs for Finnish pop band Cyan Kicks, while any song on The Catalyst could easily own the stage at Eurovision – in particular, Outer Dimensions riffs off the vocal melody of ABBA’s S.O.S. While Olof handles Amaranthe’s arrangements and lead guitars, and they write the lyrics together, she is in charge of the ‘toplines’, the hooks and melodies that define the band’s gleaming sound.

“There was nothing else like Amaranthe,” she insists of the moment they emerged, sticking out like a sore thumb, in the late 2000s. “And today, I’m not sure actually if there is.” Elize was introduced to metal by her older brother and long-time Metallica fan, Johan Carlzon, a “local celebrity” due to his renowned growls as vocalist in local doom band Abandon. It was Johan who encouraged Elize to pursue a career in metal, although he never got the chance to hear her sing as part of Amaranthe: he passed away at the age of 32, following an overdose. At that time, Olof was struggling with his own grief, having lost his father. Looking back, Elize sees how their mutual pain brought them together as friends and artists.

“It helped to write more of the uplifting stuff, to push ourselves,” she explains. Writing songs, she says, was a way for her and Olof to heal, as well as keeping her brother’s memory alive. To this day, they’ve never had an argument. “We’ve always found comfort and peace with each other. That’s why it can’t be broken or taken away, because it’s an organic thing. It comes from a very real place."

Holed up during the pandemic in 2020 and unable to tour, the duo started throwing around concepts for what would eventually become The Catalyst, landing on issues that had been niggling on Elize’s mind, including the lasting effects of Covid on society, the looming shadow of worsening climate change and the impact of the rise of AI on creative industries. While the recording of the album was way underway by the time Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the ensuing war has only compounded her sense of helplessness in the face of a world shifting on its axis.

“The album is not so much focused on the political, but more about the emotional aspect,” she says. “Even though the world is changing, how can you try to cope with it?” Watching the Ukraine war from afar has taken a toll: “I actually know people from Ukraine personally, so everything feels, for me, very close.” Yet that same attitude that first bonded her and Olof shines through in the music: “Love always wins over hate.”

From the beginning, Olof Mörck wanted Amaranthe to “provoke”. “When it comes to metal, fans are enormously conservative,” he says, when we speak to him on a separate Zoom call just before Christmas. Having wrapped up band business for the year, he chats to us from his Gothenburg home while gingerbread bakes in his kitchen. He remembers it being harder to cross boundaries during the band’s early days. “In 2008, it was infrequent for bigger metal bands to even have melodic choruses. There was a certain stigma to having really catchy hooks and that’s something that we challenged.”

In 2005, he was working a day job as a kindergarten teacher, but had released three albums with his power metal band, Dragonland. “I had gotten into law school... then we went to Japan with Dragonland and we got to headline this really cool festival and play in front of thousands of screaming Japanese fans,” he says with a chuckle. “It was the last nail in the coffin, like, ‘OK, let’s drop all the back-up plans.’ The trip to Japan was a total catalyst for me, for getting a kick in the right direction.”

Having grown up in Gothenburg during the city’s mid-90s melodeath boom, he had joined power metallers Dragonland in 1999, a band he’s still a studio member of now, although Amaranthe keeps him too busy to tour. But by the time he met Elize, he had envisioned a new band, one that blended pop gloss with power and death metal riffs, and had begun to flesh out ideas. He’s keen to stress, though, that Amaranthe are not “his” band.

“It was really only when I started to write music with Elize that the pop elements became good,” he says. “It went from zero to 10 as soon as she was involved in it.” What does the title of The Catalyst mean to him? “I think we are, as a collective species, going through a very transformative era right now in a lot of different ways, and a lot of them are not necessarily that positive,” he explains.

He reaches for AI as an example. "Fifty years ago they were dreaming about a future where robots would do the chores and we’d be free to focus on artistic things, but lately it has proven to be the opposite. You have AI producing art and music while you have a human still doing the same chores that we did 50 years ago.”

Sonically, he describes The Catalyst as the band’s “most eclectic and diverse” album yet – quite a statement in a discography where every album has actively tried to leapfrog the record before it in terms of excess. “There’s some 80s, retro, cyber punk vibes on a couple of songs,” he says. “There are even some almost Gaelic folk music influences here and there. It’s not about limiting yourself, it’s about finding the path forward.”

Last year, Amaranthe played the main stage at Wacken Open Air in Germany, a place tantamount to holy ground as far as Olof is concerned. “That’s been a lifelong dream,” he says. “We played there twice before on significantly smaller stages.” During the lavish track Amaranthine, he was struck by the magnitude of the occasion. “You see 40,000 or 50,000 people waving their hands while you’re in the middle playing this guitar solo...” He smiles, describing the memory as an “ego moment”,  but also validation of how far the band have come.

Now their focus is on taking it further. When asked separately what the band have left to achieve, Elize and Olof’s answers are strikingly similar, citing collaborations with live orchestras (The Catalyst’s flirtations with symphonic metal are all via samples), and even, in a full 360 ̊ turn, an acoustic album. “I have so many dreams,” smiles Elize. “Something that we’re going to do now with The Catalyst tour, is more stage props, bigger production, more lights,” enthuses Olof, who cites the epic, battle-themed live show of fellow Swedes Sabaton as an inspiration. “In the future, lasers, more pyrotechnics...”

What they won’t do is change their genre-mashing sound, a product of that finger-up-to-the-purists mentality that has propelled them forward for almost two decades. It’s that attitude, Olof says, that has secured Amaranthe hard-won acceptance in the metal scene.

“We’ve always been outsiders in a way,” he considers. “With us still always trying to challenge conservatism and so on, I think it’s become much more obvious where Amaranthe belong as a band. People now feel more comfortable with listening to us and saying that they’re an Amaranthe fan.”

[srbachchan]

DAY 5439

Jalsa, Mumbai                 Jan 5/6,  2023                 Thu/Fri  1:40 AM

Birthday Ef -  Manish Parmar .. Friday, 6 January .. love and the wishes of all the ef family to you .. ❤️❤️❤️

“Women know women ; 

Men know what a woman wants them to know   !” ~

spoken in a watch , noted and written on the reminders , and printed here for effect .. the dare to explain or even comment on it be futile .. it was the voice of another woman , in the projection of the seen on watch .. 

and that be the beauty of the OTT .. stop, pause, rewind, copy , stay for days later and on .. 

and this caught the fancy .. there were many more .. but it is not the desire to overload the complexities of the honour of the rib of male  deliverance .. as spelt in print from the Holy Bible .. and in grave reactionary mode  !!

Women are indeed the more superior .. in mind and matter .. in strength of courage and perform .. in ability to the multitask .. be all and end all of all ..

Women .. !

just a read of one sentence and an entire volume of thoughts run through .. and they merge all in one very large flask of thermos container .. fresh warm or cold in which ever be the demand .. they are ever supreme .. and ever in evolution of understanding .. 

do not pass GO .. do not collect 200 ... 

aaahhhhh .. the vagaries of the contented content  .. seeking , willing to know in its reality of confirmed print-age , and in its search the discovery of many and much more ..

the utterance of expression .. the lifting of the express to form and make and demonstrate how brilliant be the methodology of manufacture .. to make in .. to manufacture in .. to build in that which is yet to come or refuses to come at all ...

the patience of wait .. wait and watch , masters of their mastery over the question of togetherness .. 

it shall happen, but the circumstance could change and that would be devastatingly unheard of in these .. 

so one backs off ..

to bed to bed .. in the deepest bed .. 

Amitabh Bachchan

[its-moopoint]

A long time ago I commented on one of your OTT shippery post and you immediately blocked me. You were as obtuse and defiant against any contrary point as the left over shippers still are.

Curiosity got the best of me and I opened up a new account lately to peak at some of their blogs including yours to see what's going on.

Must say that after reading your current blog I'm pleasantly surprised at the complete change. You are a breath of fresh air and I want to commend you for having the guts and character to see and admit your shippery wrongs. If more were like you, this fandom would be a better place.

100% respect and hats off to you, Moo. 🙏🥰👏

Thanks for the message and your words!! ❤️

My old self here would have blocked my new self right away too. But only the later would have been right and we all know that now. I thought my educated guess with the info I managed was possible. Difficult to explain and twisted but possible. Once I realised I had been manipulated and lied to by some people that had influenced my theories it was easy to see we had been so very wrong.

I'm not afraid to say that mentally my own well being depended on SC as I had chosen them as my happy place. Life goals. Once I was good enough to let go of that dependence opening the eyes was a lot easier. Seeing the truth didn't hurt, on the contrary it was very liberating. I have no doubt whatsoever that all those clinging to the SC ship suffer from personal issues and aren't as lucky as I was to overcome them just yet. That's why it makes me so mad to see others who aren't sick or anything preying on them with lies and playing with their weaknesses all for money, attention, followers and clicks. I find it utterly disgusting.

[daengtokki]

Your story is like the first one I’ve been so deeply captivated by when it comes to serial killer shit, like I can’t explain it. Sure I’ve read yandares and silly ghost face skz story’s, but this one made me feel…disgusted? Like I’ve never had a fictional story about skz make me feel so grossed out. I don’t want you to take it as a negative thing, and if you do i apologize 🩷

I’ve read sooooo many fics through three years and I was a little bit skeptical when I first read the “serial killer! Seungmin” but I’m glad I kept reading cause I’m so excited for the next part.

What I meant by the “it grossed me out” part, is the scene where he killed the man? I don’t know why but I dead ass almost threw up, might be cause I’m sick and the only thing I’ve been consuming are medications. But holy fuck dude, I had to step away😭

Also!! I got so, frustrated? And confused? When she DIDNT LEAVE THE COUNTRY!? A MAN JUST KILLED YOU FOR LIKE TWO MINUTES AND YOURE OVER HERE KISSING HIS LIPS AND WHAT NOT.

But I think that’s what makes a story good! The minute a fic I’m reading is making me feel some kind of emotions, better bet I’m reading until the fkn end.

Anyway, pardon my rant, and again I really hope you don’t take it as offensive, but if you do I’d totally get it tbh.

Stay safe and healthy! Lots of love🩷🌺

Sorry I took so long responding, but I really had to gather my thoughts for this one. Apologies for it being so long and for me basically taking an opportunity to unload.

All of the "negative" parts popped out because I was so tired and out of it. And I was like “oh no please don’t hate please don’t hate the story” 😭 ㅋㅋ ㅋ I'm out of it today, too, so hopefully I type this up properly.

But I don’t take your comments negatively! My job as a writer is to make you feel all of the emotions my characters are dealing with.

So thank you for taking the time to write all of this out! Seriously. I'm a little floored anyone (this goes for everyone who has sent a message or left a long comment about the fic) has been reading thoughtfully enough to catch everything l've been putting into the story. We’ll be getting more into readers fucked up head very soon, since you mentioned that!

I’m glad these not so pretty parts have gotten a reaction out of you, because I’ll take that as me writing the scenes well! That’s very important to me as a writer, and as someone who has always taken writing seriously. I love writing simple fanfic that you guys can lose yourself in, because that’s why I picked up ff again after stopping for many years. And because of Seungmin, ofc. But this is also why I was very nervous about posting DEITY even though I’ve been wanting to do serial killer!Seungmin for months now. I knew it couldn’t be simple, but I had no idea it would already be this long halfway through (almost 50k words). After writing the intro and getting into the first part, I decided to just write an entire novel. I already had the plot in my head.

I don’t see many stories like this on tumblr, but I also don’t read much (I’m not exaggerating when I say all of my free time is spent writing) so putting something darker out there that wasn’t just oneshot smut was a little scary. I’m aware that’s what get most of the attention on here (short stuff, ott smut, ~imagines, etc) and why even though I have readers like you, I don’t have much in the way of likes and reblogs. It does get discouraging, but I’m pushed forward when I think about all of you reading each part.

So ANYWAY. Sorry this got so long. Thank you so much for your reblogs and your comments on those reblogs. It’s so important to me and the other writers on tumblr.

And thank you Seungmin for being my muse. I wouldn’t be writing every day again without you making me so delusional.

Again, sorry if this is too much and none of it makes sense. I took too much of one of my meds today and I’m very dizzy and lethargic from it.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Zack Beauchamp at Vox:

“Are we a country that looks out for each other ... or do you go down a path of amplifying anger, division and fear?”

That’s how Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the stakes in his country’s upcoming election in an interview with Vox’s Today, Explained this week — outlining the 2025 contest as no ordinary election but a referendum on the very soul of Canada. This existential framing is an unsubtle shot at Trudeau’s rival, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, a populist firebrand who is currently outpolling the prime minister by a wide margin. Poilievre rose to party leadership as a champion of the extremist trucker convoy that occupied Ottawa in January 2022, and since then has regularly pandered to far-right voters. He has proposed defunding the CBC (Canada’s widely respected public broadcaster) and repeatedly promoted a conspiracy theory in which Trudeau is in league with the World Economic Forum. There’s a reason that Trudeau and many others have directly linked Poilievre to Trump: His political style practically invites it. But how accurate is the comparison? Is Canada really poised to be the next Western country to fall to the far-right populist global wave? The answer, as best as I can tell, is mixed.

It’s true that, by Canadian standards, Poilievre is an especially hard-nosed figure, one far more willing to use extreme rhetoric and attack political opponents in harsh terms. But on policy substance, he’s actually considerably more moderate than Trump or European radicals. Mostly eschewing the demagogic focus on culture and immigration that defines the new global far right, Poilievre is primarily concerned with classic conservative themes of limited government. His biggest campaign promises at present aren’t slashing immigration rates or cracking down on crime, but building more housing and repealing Canada’s carbon tax. Poilievre is basically just a conventional Canadian conservative who wraps up his elite-friendly agenda in anti-elite language aimed at working-class voters. He’s the kind of politician that some Republicans wish Donald Trump was: a tame populist. Understanding Poilievre isn’t just of interest to Canadians. There are reasons that his brand of populism is less virulent than what’s cropped up in many other Atlantic democracies — ones that hold important lessons for safeguarding democracy around the world.

Why Pierre Poilievre doesn’t fit the far-right script

The University of Georgia’s Cas Mudde, one of the leading scholars of the European right, has developed what is (to my mind) the most useful definition of radical right politics today. In his account, this party family — factions like Hungary’s Fidesz, France’s National Rally, and the US GOP — share three essential qualities. First, they are nativist; they strongly oppose immigration and multiculturalism. Second, they are willing to use aggressive, even authoritarian measures to deal with social disorder like undocumented migration and crime. Finally, they are populist, meaning that they define politics as a struggle between a virtuous people and a corrupt elite. Poilievre is certainly a populist. A right-wing operative and politician since he was a teenager, he rocketed to the top of the Conservative Party hierarchy after emerging as the most vocal champion of the 2022 Ottawa occupation. The uprising, which began against pandemic restrictions but swiftly became a broader far-right movement, was quite unpopular nationally. But inside the Conservative Party, there was enough support for its “pro-freedom” message that Poilievre rode his pro-convoy stance to victory in the party’s subsequent leadership election.

Since then, his populism has focused relentlessly on attacking the media, “globalists,” and (above all) Trudeau. Casting the fight between his Conservatives and Trudeau’s Liberals as the “have-nots” versus the “have-yachts,” he has argued that the prime minister embodies a debased Ottawa establishment out of touch with the needs and values of ordinary Canadians. In a recent speech, Poilievre cast Trudeau as an “elitist” leader gunning for Canada’s freedoms. “If he had read Nineteen Eighty-Four, he would have thought it was an instruction manual,” Poilievre argued. Somewhat ironically, Poilievre also believes Canada’s criminal justice system should be harsher. Blaming Trudeau for a recent rise in car thefts, Poilievre has argued for a reimposition of mandatory minimum sentences and other tough-on-crime policies. This means there’s at least a case that he also fits the second prong of Mudde’s definition of radical right politics. But on the first prong, nativism, Poilievre clearly diverges from Trump and the European far right. He has publicly insisted that “the Conservative party is pro-immigration,” and he has made appealing directly to immigrants a central part of his campaign strategy.

[...] Arising primarily in Western provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Poilievre’s native Alberta), Canadian “prairie populism” historically draws strength from the notion that the federal government cares more about the population centers in Quebec and Ontario than the rest of the country. Prairie populism, which comes in left- and right-wing varieties, focuses far more on regional and economic issues than the cultural obsessions of the modern far right. “We have had a long history of populism — particularly in the prairie provinces, the Western provinces — going back to the 1920s and 30s,” says Keith Banting, a professor at Queen’s University in Ontario. “Populism draws less extensively on anti-immigrant sentiment in Canada than it does almost anywhere else.” Indeed, Poilievre’s biggest focus is cost-of-living issues — blaming ordinary people’s economic pain on high taxes and big government. His signature proposals are repealing Trudeau’s carbon tax, cutting spending to fight inflation, and removing restrictions on housing construction.

[...]

Poilievre’s “plutocratic populism”

While Poilievre is a very Canadian figure, fitting solidly into the right-wing prairie populist tradition, his politics also have a lot in common with a concept developed for the United States: political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson’s “plutocratic populism.” In their book Let Them Eat Tweets, Hacker and Pierson argue that the Republican Party uses culture war as a vehicle to attract popular support for a party that primarily caters to the interests of the rich. This strategy of “exploiting white identity to defend wealth inequality” allowed Trump’s GOP to attract downscale, non-college-educated voters without abandoning its core commitment to tax cuts and deregulation.

But in the United States, the populists ate the plutocrats. Trump’s anti-democratic instability and economic heterodoxy on issues like trade led some GOP billionaires, like the Koch family, to try and unseat him in the 2024 primary. They failed miserably and now are slinking back. In the Republican Party, MAGA is calling the shots. Poilievre, by contrast, keeps his populism within plutocrat-acceptable bounds. His rhetorical gestures toward the working class are paired with solidly pro-rich policy views and a distinct absence of attacks on the democratic system itself. In 2013, he claimed to be “the first federal politician to make a dedicated push” toward imposing US-style right-to-work laws in Canada. He has endorsed tax cuts for the rich and cuts to social spending. His trade policy is far more free-market than Trump’s. There are no signs that he would challenge the legitimacy of Canadian elections, let alone stage a January 6-style insurrection.

Vox reports on Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre's brand of right-wing populism is tamer than Donald Trump, Viktor Orbán, or Marine Le Pen's.

[gyuyoungarchives]

💬 Daily Sports : [12072023] Press Interview Highlights for Celebrity

Actress Park Gyuyoung is making strides to capture the hearts of audiences worldwide, not just domestically. From the role of an ordinary office worker to a powerful influencer with 1.3 million followers and even a darkened character, she is meeting viewers with a more diverse range of characters through the Netflix series "Celebrity" released on the 31st of last month.

"Celebrity" is a story that depicts the glamorous and fierce bare faces of celebrities encountered by Ari, who dives into a world where becoming famous translates into money. According to the OTT ranking site Flix Patrol, as of the 10th, "Celebrity" ranked 6th in the TV series category and 2nd in the domestic chart.

"I'm not actually a celebrity, but it feels good that people enjoy watching it. I really didn't expect it to rank on the global chart. I think it's a bit of a reward for the hard work of many staff and actors. I'm proud and happy. I'm also grateful for the feedback we've received. One of them mentioned that my vocalization has improved, which is something I actually paid a lot of attention to, so I'm even more thankful."

Park Gyuyoung portrayed Seo Ari, who goes from being an ordinary office worker to a celebrity with 1.3 million followers in the drama. Seo Ari, who steps into SNS out of curiosity, discovers the law of success and becomes a famous celebrity with 1.3 million followers overnight by adding her own charm and personality.

"I thought it needed to be portrayed realistically. We already know how the SNS system works. I think we paid a lot of attention to realism so that viewers could immerse themselves."

Park Gyuyoung aimed to meticulously portray the process of Seo Ari becoming an influencer. She explained, "Seo Ari is a character who grows. As we move into the middle part, many events happen, and Ari starts to become more independent. I thought it wouldn't work without persuasiveness, so I tried to stay true to the emotions I felt at the time."

In "Celebrity," watching Park Gyuyoung's styling is also a delight. From the appearance of an office worker to Ari as a celebrity and conducting live broadcasts, the diverse outfits attract attention. Especially since it's a story about the glamorous life of an influencer, luxury brands continuously appear, supported by Netflix's solid backing.

"There are emotional and acting expressions, but I thought there needed to be visual changes so that viewers could find it fun and immersive. The director gave a lot of input on styling, and a dedicated styling team was assigned to Seo Ari. High-end items were supported by Netflix, and I'm very grateful that I got to film wearing a lot of nice clothes. It's an experience I'm grateful for."

While the glamorous outfits stand out, Seo Ari's bob haircut draws particular attention. Park Gyuyoung described Seo Ari's hair as a "Lego hair." She said, "There are beautiful sisters and brothers who appear as celebrities, and everyone's styling is glamorous. I thought if Seo Ari had Lego hair, it might be memorable. I think it was a good choice. It was styling that could only be completed through sharing opinions with everyone."

"Celebrity" features influencers suffering from malicious comments. In reality, not only influencers but also celebrities are voicing their pain from indiscriminate malicious comments. Park Gyuyoung opened up about how this is a natural part of being in a visible profession, but it's not easy.

"Seeing colleagues hurt by malicious comments makes me wish for societal improvement. I accept what needs to be accepted and just move past what needs to be overlooked. I don't actually receive a lot of malicious comments, but when I was acting as Seo Ari, I received a lot, which made me empathise with Ari."

Park Gyuyoung's real Instagram followers number 1.88 million. In the drama, Seo Ari is an influencer with 1.3 million followers. Park Gyuyoung mentioned that before "Celebrity" was released, she had 1.74 million, but it increased by 140,000 to 1.88 million currently.

This is thanks to the power of works like "It's Okay to Not Be Okay" and "Sweet Home," which spread worldwide through Netflix. "I'm living a normal life even after my debut. I'm at home, on set, and exercising repeatedly." When asked if she feels her popularity, she said, "When the work I've worked hard on is released, I do. If the reaction is good, I physically feel it," expressing her pride.

Park Gyuyoung also shared news of joining Netflix's series "Squid Game" Season 2. "I think it's really fortunate to be able to show myself through a good OTT. It's a medium that allows for diverse storytelling, and I'm most thankful for the opportunity given."

"When we make a project, we don't think that only our work should be successful. Overall, I think it contributes to the direction in which Korean content should move forward. Pressure is pressure, but what I can do is to play the character responsibly."