#outright created your type when she showed up

[missing-her-hour]

shit she's pretty cute interesting funny charming smart athletic strong confident dances AND she DRAWS??? This is not ok

[nanowrimo]

Angst: How to Hurt Your Characters and Make It Count

As a writer, you’re probably familiar with putting your characters through painful situations. But how can we make all that suffering worth it? NaNo Participant Liz Generally has some advice on how to write effective angst! Arabella K Federico said, “Write pain so effectively, your readers will be begging for it to end.”

When you find yourself emotionally invested in your characters, hurting them can feel outright wrong. But sometimes, for the sake of your story, you just have to push them off the cliff (metaphorically or physically!)

Make it hurt. Dig deep, and reach into the darkest pits of emotional and physical pain. Give your readers a reason to break for your character. There are a few methods you can use to do this.

1. Physical Pain

Pain is a powerful motivator. It can cause people to act out of character, lash out, create out-of-character emotional outbursts or realizations, or show previously unknown care. This can also make your character more relatable to your readers. Pain doesn’t just affect the person experiencing it!

2. Mental or Emotional Pain

What is your character’s worst fear? The nightmare that keeps them up at night? Are they afraid of losing someone close to them? Are they terrified of leaving someone behind? Use that to heighten the consequences of a scene. Characters who experience intense emotional or mental pain become more real to your readers, especially if they have experienced similar mental or emotional pain.

3. Spiritual Pain

Although spiritual pain generally results from either physical, mental, or emotional pain, it can be a very effective method to hurt your character and create angst. How can you make your reader question their faith or lack thereof? If they are very spiritual, can you make them believe their god or deity doesn’t exist? If they don’t believe in a deity, can you make them believe in one? Spiritual pain can be the most excruciating to read when done well.

So how do you amplify the pain? What can you use to make the pain more graphic, intense, and palpable?

1. Dig deep into your own personal experiences.

Using your own pain as inspiration will help you ensure that what you’re writing is authentic and raw. Chances are, at least some of your readers have experienced something similar.

2. Use words that evoke not only emotion but physical sensation.

If you are struggling to write a specific scene, outline it. Write a list of each of the five senses and a list of all of the thoughts that your character might feasibly think. You should write at least one or two from each sense, and a few thoughts (if your chosen point of view allows for it) into the scene to create a full sensory profile.

3. How does your setting affect the pain you’re writing into the scene?

If your character is in love with someone, and the angst happens at a wedding, what is happening around them to increase the pain they feel? Is their love interest marrying someone else? What are they feeling or seeing that could make that pain worse? Is the song playing a song they imagined dancing with them to at their own wedding? Does the wedding look like the one they always imagined having with them? Are they standing beside them trying to pretend they don’t wish with every fiber of their being that they were the ones getting married?

Angst doesn’t have to be physical. It does have to connect with your reader. When you use multiple types of pain, utilize your own experiences, use all of your senses, and your setting to its full potential, there are unlimited ways to create angst that will have your readers begging you to put your characters out of their misery. Have fun hurting your characters!

Liz Generally is a romance author, wife, and mother to two girls and two dogs living in Oklahoma City. Liz is passionate about helping people and raising awareness for congenital heart disease. When she isn’t writing, she can be found spending time with her family and friends, volunteering, crafting, or cheering on her favorite hockey team. Liz is the author of Never Gonna Let You Fall, Alpha Mine, Blood Dreams, and Through The Flames all available on Kindle Vella. Photo by Abigail on Unsplash

[bonebabbles]

Thunder Chapter 6: Trial by Kittens

As usual, the trials for acceptance into another Clan are absolutely stealing the show. These are absolutely the most enjoyable parts of ASC so far.

I really hope that the characterization being given to Spotfur's three kits remains, they're all fantastic and I adore them. I haven't seen anyone compile these new personalities, or really point out the dynamics at play in this little scene though! So I'll do just that!

Misc Info

Apparently, Spotfur cusses in front of her kids lmao. This is the singular most important thing about this book, actually. Stemkit says "SHIT" and Sunbeam is like "WATCH YOUR PROFAMITY" and he protests with "MOM curses all the time"

They had never been outside of camp before, Spot's anxious about this! It's nice seeing her being a protective mom.

UNRELATED SIDE NOTE: I miss how in TPB kits seemed to have "their first prey" as a major developmental milestone, but those times are loooong gone. This situation is scratching an itch for me, though!

Sunbeam's first prey was frog; frogs apparently taste canonically like blackbird. (another side note, i should make a taste guide as a clan culture expansion and check if there's any validity to that... i would have guessed it would taste more like duck.)

She takes a good amount of time just chatting with them, and the dialogue here is actually fantastic. It feels just like being in the middle of a conversation with my nespring, it's great. The writer really nailed the cadence of little kids.

Sunbeam also realizes that she needs to keep all three kids engaged, and so creates a particularly convoluted setup so they're all doing something. Clever!

Graykit Gray-and-white tom

IS REALLY interested in hunting.

He chased after a mouse the same size as him when he was half a month old, though obviously he couldn't catch it.

Dreams of one day catching one of every type of prey around the lake. That's such a fun goal actually?? Completionist Graykit wants to 100% the hunting speedrun challenge. That's fantastic.

Stemkit Solid orange tom

Seems to be the most thoughtful of the kits.

Asks the majority of the questions, responses tend to be very "philosophical" towards things. Will say outright that he does not know something if he doesn't know the answer.

A wise child.

Cusses because he missed a vole lmao. VERY cute. I hope this boy grows up to have a mouth like a sailor. I love vulgar philosophers.

Bristlekit White-and-orange molly

Most impatient, and seems to have a little bit of a mean streak.

Scoffs when Graykit brings up his mouse story, saying that "nearly doesn't count." A bit of a perfectionist!

Also interjects the most when her brothers are rambling.

But is able to back this all up! She is the most focused, and is the first one to scent the vole den.

She also catches two voles when her brothers only catch one each.

[packsvlog]

Hello!! I've recently found your blog and I absolutely adore your writing and even have notifications on, hehe 🫶🏻 I'd like to request a match up, but of course only if you have the time to do it!

I'm 22 years old and I use she/her pronouns. I speak two languages (German+English), I have blond, medium length hair (it's dyed, my natural hair color is brown) which is wavy but I straighten it because I think it looks better. Sometimes, when I'm bored, I dye some colorful strands into it! (Like pink, or red, or purple.) I'm average in height, although on the higher side of the spectrum by being 5'7. I'm chubby, which I'm a insecure about, but I don't let that hold me back from dressing how I want, at least on most days. I usually wear baggy or loose clothes but on special occasions I wear form fitting clothes as well. I wear glasses, they're transparent and pink, and I absolutely love to do my make up! I'm very creative when it comes to it and it's often that I wear a lot of colors on my face, but not that it's too overbearing.

My personality type is ENFP 2w3 and I tend to get along with everyone, but more so with ambivert people since I sometimes have phases where I'm more introverted. I like people who are different from me since I like hearing a different perspective on things, so people who are too close to me in terms of personality are a no go. I also like mature people, so unnecessary fights or arguments can easily be avoided. I talk a lot and I joke around a lot too, so people tend to call me a social butterfly which I agree with. I need my downtime too, so it isn't too uncommon to find me sitting alone in my room, listening to music and playing video games at the end of the day.

I do have a few mental struggles and I do have a chronic illness as well (I don't wanna outright say what I have, but I have incredibly bad stomach aches from time to time, so bad that I even had to have a surgery because of it when I was 17.) All that is too say is that I can be a bit complicated at times, but I try my best to better myself.

My hobbies include: mainly playing video games (like stardew valley, animal crossing, generally more relaxing games), doing my make up, baking (when I'm stressed which is too often), and going out with my friends! I love running errands with my friends and spending time with them that way! I'm open to a lot of new things but I get extremely frustrated when I'm not immediately good at something, lol.

I'd like to be matched up with someone my age or older than me since that's my preference if that is alright! I hope this wasn't too much information 😭 I appreciate you and your work and thank you for taking your time to do these match ups!! 🩷

a/n: hiiiiiii, thank you for sending this, specially the many informations and the preference for your age or older. i had others in mind for you, being geto and hiromi. still, i think toji could do just fine with you, yay!

⁀➷ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. . . ﹫ 𝘵𝘰𝘫𝘪 ៹ ༉‧₊🫕

toji, in all his powerful presence, goes inside a room with a permanent scowl on his face. you, sparkly white eyeshadow with smoke eyeliner, pink glasses and equally pink highlights, comes behind. bubbly and threatening aura mixing together to create something no one else would have thought, yet, anyone can see the care you both have for the other.

can’t you see? if you look closely to toji, there is glitter sprinkled on his cheekbones and nose button, as well as a blue strand of his hair. but mostly, he might have show to everyone a threatening face, but when he stares at you, there is a smile present on his lips and a shine in his eyes.

it’s something that had been lost for a long time, some could say.

your dressed to the extreme for this boring party shiu is throwing, black silk dress conturing your waist and hips, at first you might have had some doubts about it, still you didn’t changed it — never one to back down.

that’s one of the many things that made toji attracted to you, your insecurities does not define you. thank god for that, he thinks while admiring you doing your eyes. so pretty and so his, he might just not go the party and have you all to himself.

“you look pretty.” he compliments while trying to knit his tie. you finish the final touches before moving his way, pressing a peck to his lips and doing it for him. “thank you, doll.”

“anything for you.” raising on your feet, you kiss him again, with your hands you caress his face, moving away you see the shine in it, thanks to your dirty fingers and laugh. “you have glitter in you, let me grab the oil to remove.”

“nah, no need, let’s match.” he is so sexy, that you might have arrived late to the party.

toji is a simple guy, his clothes are either black or grey and sometimes a dark blue might be presented in his drawer. that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like colors, if anyone where to ask him what’s his favorite, he would find you and pick the most vibrant one you are wearing. you’re his favorite everything, okay? in the presence of your room, if you ask, he will say is the color of your lips.

while first meeting, toji was instantly attracted to you, but he thought you would never give him a chance. that was, of course, until you let it slip how you are more inclined to romantic partners different than you, and hey! toji has the social life of a fucking worm with amnesia and you are a social butterfly, what could be more different than that?

a lot. a fucking lot!

he knew he had you right there, and you had been aware as well, so the dating started right away. toji and you don’t fight, he might not seem mature but he is strategic and pays attention to everything, so if something bothers you, he knows right away and change whatever it is quickly. you didn’t liked him gambling and he stopped before you could get even more annoyed.

your disagreements never reach the fighting stage if it comes from his side, but if comes from yours, you are more than happy to hear what is his complain and make it work. cheers to being non-toxic!

toji is very worrying of you. he likes to come home and see you happy, doing a random makeup or playing video games. he will sit on the bed while talking to you about both of your days, happy that you are recharging and having a you time. still, he goes extremely quiet and full on boyfriend mood when he comes home and you are baking. your pastries are divine, but something is wrong!

you will soon find yourself relaxing in a bathtub, using him as a personal pillow, caressing your back while letting you vent. if it is your medical condition, he will encourage you to go to a doctor, just for a checkup at least, if is mental, he will also beg for you to go to a professional, and also ends the night spoiling you by buying your favorite food. the next day he won’t work, instead toji rather be with you, learning how to play your games and having you doing his makeup.

─┈ ⭑ ° ⋆ FUN FACTS 𓂃ᰔ

🫕 ┊ dating toji means that you can wear whatever high heels, you’re still short to him.

🫕 ┊ toji is your biggest supporter, even if words of affirmation is not his thing, toji still helps you overcome this distress of not being good at everything at first. he basically points to himself as an example of hard work pays well!

🫕 ┊ toji has a different humor than most people, still, he laughs at your jokes and does the same with you. obviously, all in the presence of your house.

🫕 ┊ toji is a different man inside and outside your home, he loves you in all his forms, and everyone can see that!

🫕 ┊ his love language is acts of service and quality time.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Any thoughts on Nanami and Wakaba? (not as a pairing, unless you see it, then I'm very interested)

I've been watching Utena with friends and we had constant fights about those two, because "She literally kills kittens, what's wrong with you" for Nanami (I am witch apologist) and "Why is she even here" for Wakaba (I am girl enjoyer)

Pfft.

I don't see it as a pairing though in the world of Utena anything's possible.

But I certainly have thoughts on the characters as well as the world of Utena itself that's perhaps worth bearing in mind.

Utena as a Show

Utena is one of my favorite shows to have ever been created. However, it's something I also sometimes hesitate to recommend. It not only deals with extremely dark themes (albeit in a non-graphic manner) from murder, sexual assault, grooming, to rampant incest but also doesn't do so in a way that the modern internet can in any way handle.

What do I mean?

Every character has something seriously wrong with them and makes awful and sometimes outright malicious decisions.

Utena, our heroine, the prince, we learn later has forgotten the reason she wished to become a prince as an adolescent and at first pursues the goal simply out of a desire to be noble and embody this idea of chivalry and nobility without actually knowing what these things are. Miki is alright enough save that he has that thing going on with his twin sister and covets Anthy without ever truly wishing to know her.

That's not even getting to Anthy who I can only state is very complicated.

It's not a show that people can watch if they're not comfortable with the idea that there is something horribly wrong with everyone. The good characters aren't always good, the bad characters sometimes have reason to be bad (and sometimes are just pure evil), and you might not even know who the fuck the good and bad characters are because it turns out breaking the world's shell was probably a good thing.

Compared to say Good Omens which has the complexity of a thimble and people are still upset that Aziraphale made the wrong choice at the end of series 2 there.

But back to your question.

Nanami

I love all the characters in Utena, but Nanami might just be one of my favorites in that she's the beautifully executed dark horse of the series.

Because it turns out she's the only one who's fucking sane.

We start out and Nanami is presented as Anime Mean Girl. Oh, she's that type, the pretty rich girl who's going to bully our romantic lead. Okay, Nanami, I will suffer through you. But then almost immediately this goes awry when nothing every goes Nanami's way. She's crushed by elephants, stalked by an eleven year old, and she... really really really likes her big brother.

And as we go on we see her at first as someone who's truly a villain, she murders kittens as you note, and that is fucked up but then by the end we find out that despite all prior indications she is the only person who does not want to sleep with her brother and thinks this is a madhouse.

She's fascinating and I love her.

But more on the kitten--I think Nanami is excellently portrayed as a little girl who is severely fucked up (in part by Ohtori and in part by life itself). She has an unnatural devotion to her brother, which he also enables throughout the series, and... something weird is going on with the parents (in other versions, namely the movie, it's worth noting that Touga turns out to have been abused by his father).

I don't know if I'd condemn or laud her but she's the character who's at first presented as the worst but then it turns out everyone is just as bad/worse than Nanami is and actually she lives in a madhouse.

Wakaba

I mean.

"Why is she even here?" is the point of Wakaba's whole character arc, which I'd argue is very vital to the storyline of the anime. That's why she's great.

Wakaba's that girl who is normal, she's just normal, and she wants to be special without there being anything special about her. She's nice and kind, but only to a certain degree, and she wants to be like Utena and all these shining brilliant people in her life.

She serves as the catalyst of the plot, in Utena first engaging in a duel, and yet is never involved further in the events. She desperately wants Saionji, to be special herself, and we see her rejecting a very kind boy who genuinely cares for her because of this. We learn that she's not as nice as we, e.g. Utena, had previously thought and that Utena has this quality that Utena herself doesn't understand and that others envy without her realizing it.

Wakaba's descent is when Utena first begins to realize she's failed as a friend, despite all her attempts to do right by Wakaba, and that she doesn't understand those around her as she's trapped in her own world/idea of chivalry (a foreshadowing for what happens with Anthy).

Wakaba helps act as a foil for Utena and is vital to help slowly reveal why Utena struggles and has to grow as a person in order to free Anthy (and why Utena is betrayed by Anthy without ever seeing a hint of it coming).

[tvckerwash]

Alright I want to expand more on this reply and this reply I wrote because I was cooking and these thoughts are so good they deserve a whole post dedicated to them (this post will make more sense if you read those two posts I linked first btw, but it’s not 100% necessary lol).

I believe Wash’s role in Project Freelancer was to see what kind of impact a hyper-competitive, heavily individualistic focused environment would have on an individual who has previously been deeply embedded into the forced collectivist assimilation seen in the military, and vice versa; What kind of impact an individual of Wash’s inherently outgoing and collaborative temperament would have among a group of hyper-competitive, introverted loners.

Wash really stands out to me because he seems to outright refuse to compete with the other Freelancers. I mean, admittedly, all the guys in pfl come off as significantly less competitive than the women (which is its own can of worms), but Wash is the only Freelancer who shows no competitiveness period.

North for example, was not happy about Carolina showing up at the oil platform and voices as much to South. I think North’s displeasure is directly related to pfl’s competitive nature, because normally when you’re outnumbered and outgunned—As he and South were—You’d be very glad for reinforcements. So logically, North being upset about Carolina showing up must be because it will reflect on them poorly. 

Maine and Wyoming are characterized as sore losers—They were so pissed about Tex handing their asses to them that they were willing to seriously injury, if not outright kill her, by using live ammo and live grenades in a training exercise.

York’s competitiveness is portrayed in a similar vein to North’s, as in it’s very subtle. York was just as frustrated as Maine and Wyoming were, and I don’t see another reason for why he’d force himself to leave medical early after having a grenade blow up in his face beyond the longer he’s off the roster, the further down the board he gets.

We don’t see any type of competitive behavior like the examples above from Wash throughout the entirety of the flashbacks, but we do see a different type of behavior from him.

Project Freelancer creates an environment that is trifled with animosity, exclusion, and favoritism, and while The Director is able to fool the other Freelancers into perpetrating this behavior among their ranks, he isn’t able to fool Wash into it—In fact, Wash refuses to tolerate it, and he actively fights against it everywhere that he can.

When Ct is beating herself up over a failed mission, Wash is the one that goes to comfort her, and what kind of language does he use to do so? Language that avoids pinning the blame on Ct alone and instead puts it on the whole team. “It wasn’t your fault, Connie.”, “So the ball got dropped, we were all there.”, “Everyone make mistakes.” 

When Maine and Wyoming bring out the live ammo, and York gets injured because of it, everyone else is mad at Tex. But Wash? He’s pissed at Maine and Wyoming, it was their choice to use live ammo that lead to York’s injury, so he expects them to get punished for it—And he’s rightfully baffled at The Director’s refusal to do so.

When York shows up for the heist, Wash makes a point to approach Carolina about it. He understands that she doesn’t want to appear weak and unsure of herself in front of The Director, and that she doesn’t want to give her teammates any more reasons to dislike her than they already do. By approaching her first, he’s able to give her an out if she chooses to do so—And if she had agreed York wasn’t ready, then it’s Wash who York can blame for it.

Wash recognized almost immediately that Tex was going to get the brunt of the team's anger and outrage over York’s injury, and he makes sure to let everyone know that she likely kept him from getting killed. He also recognized that she was being set up to be excluded from the rest of the team, so the very first thing he did when he got a moment alone with her was reach out by making friendly small talk, trying to establish a connection so that Tex could use him as an entry into the team's inner dynamic. 

Now going back to the blurb I opened this post with, I ask these questions:

What would Wash—As someone who sees himself as one part of a bigger whole—Be willing to do in order to appease the people around him? What actions would he take to try and lower the mental burden that such a competitive and inherently hostile environment would put upon his teammates?

The answer? I think Ct puts it very well with this line:

“Some of us very specifically make mistakes, and some of us don’t seem to make any mistakes at all.” 

This line is meant to be seen as half Ct calling Wash out on his bullshit, and half her being genuinely upset over Carolina’s status as ‘Ms. Perfect’, because in Ct’s mind, Wash and Carolina are very much two sides of the same coin; Intentionally making mistakes that don’t get you or your teammates killed requires the same level of skill and attention to detail that it would take to avoid making any mistakes in the first place. This is why Wash’s talk about them being a team makes her so angry, and why she sees it as him trying to make excuses for her: There are no excuses for fucking up when you work with people who have to intentionally choose to make the same mistakes that you unintentionally do. 

uuuhhhhh idk how to end this post but I really love looking at Wash through this lens because it speaks volumes about him, and it adds so much more complexity and nuance to his already incredibly layered character. 

[chaifootsteps]

about the cartoon Viv made separating types of criticism - I think it's a fair point that the tone of a critique can make a difference in how an artist receives it & it's totally fair to point out that giving someone rude feedback makes it a much more bitter pill to swallow. anyone who's had passive aggressive to outright aggressive responses on fanwork or fanart can tell how it can ruin your day.

but what's not fair is framing all criticism like that. And I think Viv definitely has a habit of grouping all criticism into the bad faith category, even if the poster is going out of their way to try and be fair or polite. When you're a big creator it's easy for that happen because you get overwhelmed by the volume of feedback, but I think when it does and a creator just ends up getting hostile to all criticisms then that's when it's time to step back.

Viv talks about how if she responds or doesn't, she'll be critized and can't win. but I think she has at least some responsibility for creating the expectation that she might respond if people tweet at her because she can't seem to stop herself from engaging.

the Hellaverse fandom is super parasocial and she's made it actively worse by liking tweets that defend her writing or paint her detractors as engaging in bad faith (not to mention she admitted to not watching Diregentlemen's video on her and kind of implied she was vaguing about them that one time, when if she'd bothered to watch their video instead of just seeing them tweet about the show or the vids they'd made she'd know they went out of their way to say they wanted to like the show and they had praised it in the past).

People get the impression she's defensive and can't take criticism because she's responded that way consistently - she won't log off and be a creator who holds the fanbase at more of a distance, as some other creators do, but she also won't accept any criticism at all and encourages her fans to do the work of filling in the show's gaps for her, then likes tweets attacking people who criticize her or calling them names. To me the reality of how she 'can't win' comes down to her behavior - she doesn't have the type of personality who can stand any critique, so she should disengage, but she's also too addicted to trying to control the narrative that she won't do the one thing that might help. And she seemingly won't hire someone to do PR on her behalf, either

how does she expect anyone viewing this from the outside of her diehard stans to think of her? it is unprofessional and she does come across as unable to take criticism and that's even before adding in the allegations that she trash-talks other creators and is so thin-skinned she wants her animators to work solely on her shows. and I suspect her approach hasn't changed much given she's said herself she had that reputation for a long time

Well said.

Let's face it, nobody likes criticism. Nobody likes when your work is the subject of takes you believe are completely asinine, but most people hoping to make a career of it learn pretty early on not to google their own names. Nothing good comes of it.

Viv likes to present herself as the world's saddest victim of the cruelest, dumbest criticism ever spoken, that she loves "helpful" criticism, but she's shown time and time again that it's all the same to her. She's cut people like Ken and Kyra out of her life altogether for criticizing her in the gentlest way possible; her world's continued to spiral because she just couldn't let "My name is Caine, I am your bitch" go. And just like you said, she has absolutely zero problem dishing it.

She's a shallow bully with a wet tissue paper ego. And people are starting to wake up to that fast.

[opinated-user]

https:/ / archive. ph/ svv67

archive for lily telling britt to unalive herself.

thank you, anon! you're a real one!

reading through this, i have no doubt in my mind that LO send that to herself just to have an excuse to try to one up Brittany... even though Brittany has her own blog to do that on her own space. which brings the question, LO, if you have anything specific to say about anything we claim, what exactly is stopping you from just screenshotting those pots and respond to them directly instead of this weird "anon brought me this thing you say and therefore i get to rant about it while pretending i had nothing to do with how this information came to me" you do? just about in general, you comes off less trustworthy because of this because nobody is actually seeing what you're reacting to. you can make all the angry anons you want. doesn't mean that people are going to actually believe that is Brittany. anyway, there are some point in the response of LO that i want to talk about for a second.

so, sincerely speaking? from my bottom of my heart, hypothetically, if LO was actually a ghost writer and she was earning enough for a comfortable living, enough that she can drop youtube entirely, i'd be honestly happy for her. i'd prefer that she became a full time ghost writer than a youtuber, because you can't groom people with ghost writing gigs. you can't form an audience around being a ghost writer, only inside clients who need your services, who are all pressumably going to be adults in the first place. whatever bigotry or misinformation you spread on that job comes from what a clent asked of you, not from you having horrible opinions about issues that either don't affect you or you don't actually care about or generally being an awful person. because the thing that LO is missing is that nobody is trying to deplatform her because. we want to do that and encourage people to not give her views ever, no matter what kind of video she's making about what topic (which is why my pinned post will always be resources for people to avoid going to give her clicks), not because we want her to become homeless and struggle to have her basic needs met. we know that it's not going to happen anyway because she's daddy's girl and will always count with his money when this youtuber thing completely fails for her, but even if that wasn't a factor, nobody is aiming for that. we want to deplatform LO because she has actively used her platform to abuse, hurt and traumatize people. i'm not talking about her bad takes on anime or show or animation or anything she claims we have an issue with. i'm talking about the way she has groomed people, used her money to make vulnerable people do things they wouldn't otherwise, exposed minors to think they shouldn't have been exposed to by a trusted adult and spread outright lies to defend rapist or other dangerous people because it was convenient for her narrative. we want LO to not be watched anymore by anyone because she has shown, time and time again, that she'll never try to not hurt someone the moment she has a chance for it. because as long she gets views, has subscribers and has any level of influence, she's still a danger.

i'm sure that the Brittany hivemind agrees with all of this as well. so no, LO, you had it all wrong. if you had a job outside of youtube or any social media, we'd love that for you. if anything, we'd encourage it so much more than keep creating bad essays in video form. but we both know that it's not true and you told us that yourself without realizing. so we have to call out the obvious lie you naively expect people to just take.

literally the first result in google search when you type "do ghost writer write fiction":

the second one:

who is the one who looks like they have no idea how this industry works? (although, if i want to get extra petty here, another reason why people can have reasonable doubt about your ghost writing job, beyond the fact that we have evidence of the many lies you tell on a regular basis... a ghost writer by definition has to know to be versatile and write on an more than acceptable level, if not being also good for the editing. LO, you don't even edit your own scripts. you record them in the first draft. your writing style is terrible, both in a grammar sense as an stylistic sense. so you mean to tell me that for your fanfiction, videos, posts, and everything to do with your name, you make zero effort into making it look decent and reserve all your hidden abilities for... writting for crappy apps? oh and flavor text on some unnamed RPG? seriously? how is anyone supposed to believe that?) anyway, the relevant portion is this:

LO, you're a despicable horrible human being. every ounce of compassion or grace i was ever willing to give you have killed it, smothered it, turned it into ashes and then piss on the debris just to spite me. every chance i gave you to be a better person, to do the right thing, you have squandered it and ignored it. you genuinely disgust me. you're repulsive. i feel sorry only for myself for ever believing you were more than a parasite, a groomer and an abuser. Brittany has never been better than the day you both stopped being friends. your sibling, who never liked you in the way you wanted them to and never would have, is a better friend you never was. everyone who has left you is better for it and someday that fact will fully crush you, but there won't be anyone there to console you and tell you that you "deserved better" because you'll be all alone. nobody will be responsible for that when it happens. not me, not Brittany, not Courtney, not any of the other blogs who criticize you. you. you always be your worst enemy and, the best part is, that is the one you'll never get rid of.

[horizon-verizon]

Would you describe aegon as a ‘good/deep/complex’ (and more along those lines) type of character in the book? I’m curious to know your opinion as this is how so many Aegon fans describe him.

"Good" as in morally good? Obviously no. As in "well-written"? Eh, so-so.

A)

I may have written a long meta about him HERE, but I thought this was so that it could make clear that he still is a spoiled raping prince who feels entitled to having power--even with him saying Rhaenyra should have--by the principle of him being male. As in "heart of hearts". As one Tiktoker I-recently-listened-to-but-can't-remember-the-name-of said, Aegon II is Rhaenyra's literary foil in that he is the result of how a patriarchal society creates its own enemies in men, creates a rapist, etc. Therefore, he's "complex" in his representational value more than as a person himself.

I see him refusing to be king at first and deferring to Rhaenyra being older/sister/chosen heir as him not really wanting the actual responsibilities and commitment of being a leader and wanting to live in a male-privileged state of ennui forever.

B)

I also think that when some people use the word "good", they want to say they find that character emotionally compelling or "relatable" but do not want or know how to explain what they find so emotionally compelling. Or what they relate to. "Emotionally compelling" vs "relatable" is sometimes kind of the same, bc the reader is matching with traits, behaviors, and motives they experience(d). But sometimes "emotionally compelling" is recognizing a character's core desire, how it developed, understanding how they could be so passionate, desperate, etc., and admiring their determination, endurance, etc. Others say "good" to say "was this character's development logical from their experiences and does it, therefore, seem natural and emotionally realistic". And others say "good" as in "was there a fair distribution and relations of social dynamics between these sort of characters and those sort of characters"--for example, how writers write their men vs. their women comparatively to their other men and women; some claim Rhaenyra is the least well-written female Targ bc she doesn't do the strategizing as they wished she does or because she herself was not as forward-thinking or compassionate as they want a leader/a female leader to be.

C)

I think GRRM could & should have made Rhaenyra at least come up with parts of the dragonseeds or capture of KL's with Daemon and her son even with Luke's death [scroll down to section B] (the black council advised her and deliberated on the message vs outright violence with her only saying that she forbade her kids to fight in a confrontation with the greens while said greens were in KL).

I say "parts" bc I wouldn't have believed, personally, that without a POV showing me how she did it, Rhaenyra (or ANYONE) could have pushed aside her grief at Lucerys' death to think very straight to come up with a sophisticated plan without advisers.

GRRM does have a habit of making debilitating grief the means of disallowing women/potential female leaders from addressing certain critical problems in his writing [scroll down to section B],

BUT I also think (if he left Aelora and enough of other women alone simultaneously) it's unfair to expect a person, man or woman or enby--to "pick themselves up" and be the perfect leader and push away all their grief and STILL come up with plans that will "save the day" without that taking a toll on their psyches. Again, parents can and have maimed/killed to preserve their kids' lives with little to no compunction. It's a visceral/sometimes strongly reflexive bond some people will never get or have because some are infertile, dislike kids/babies and were not paternal (this word is used for the general inclination towards nurturing and parenthood), or simply do not want children (which is fine, it'd be weirder if everyone did). But they don't have to "get" it to know that it's not wise to not antagonize a caring and protective parent.

D)

In view of Aegon having raped many women who he has a lot of sociopolitical power over, and rape being a crime/act so heinous that I think that it merits death, exile, or castration, I find it hard to understand why people wish to relate positively to the emotions and motivations of him in particular when the evidence in the show is clear AND in the book, with a personality and position as his, rape is never going to be far from his "fondling". We know this from our own stories of rape culture and overly-privileged rich boys and fraternities. We know mothers can snd do often cover for their sons. Why would it be different for Aegon & Alicent, esp when we've seen that Alicent is all for usurping Rhaenyra and endangering her & her kids' lives?! (book & show). Well, it can only be the persons have misogynist ideas of women:

cannot stand women being actual people with flaws and searching for power without having been rape victims to "make up" for that loss of control

want women to exist to "calm" men down from their naturally violent tendencies so those men can rule "empathetically" or not become tyrants

So they naturally go to stan a rapist over a woman who had consensual sex with all of 3-4 men in the show and 2-3 men in the book for all of her life AND was the one actually usurped and lost children due to the other sides' plots and ambitions.

[crimson-lair]

HEYY HELLO, I COME WITH FULL ON IDEAS (that are slightly for fluff and affection only.. but I'll try not to disappoint ! Long post ahead though.. I couldn't help but type out my ideas !)

I was thinking of maybe jealous bots of ptn women, how would they act if they see y/n or user be so close with other people? Here are my ideas:

Rahu - Need I say moreee? Rahu is maybe really stoic and the type to not get jealous quite easily, but I think she'd be the type to get jealous if someone starts to take her duties away from y/n, like, the person starts to somewhat be too close to the user to the point where Rahu can't even approach y/n or fulfill her duties to keep y/n protected.. since the person is replacing her and is creating a distance between her and y/n. Rahu might deal with this in a way where she'd start to act touchy whenever it's only her and y/n or she'd outright find ways to find excuses to get y/n away from that person! She finds it difficult to approach y/n about it since she's quite shy and she doesn't know how to talk about it..

Shalom - MMMMM, Shalom shalom shalom, y'all probably would know where this is going.. once the most calm and reserved type starts to get jealous that's a big uh oh! I think Shalom would be jealous because of how a person starts to display a sense of superiority or closeness over y/n, as in the person keeps on winning y/n over Shalom in certain things, like going to missions, instead of Shalom going with y/n, someone else slipped in, orrrr when a person starts to be so touchy to the point where Shalom can't even do any small amount of physical gestures to y/n. Shalom might deal with this in a rather straightforward way, since she's the type of woman to become blunt whenever necessary especially when it comes to y/n, but sometimes, Shalom can really be condescending especially when she becomes way too jealous, she might show the person just how y/n is really close with her, or the fact that the person would have no chance to get to y/n because of how competitive Shalom is (e.g. Shalom will compete with the person through missions, quality time with y/n, etc)

Zoya - Here's our favorite, going once, going twice, maybe more than twice.. no, 5 times, 5 bots of her 😭. A jealous Zoya, will be a much bigger uh oh than Shalom's. Zoya might get jealous if y/n's attention or interest keeps going to another person. Zoya might also get jealous if the person keeps impressing y/n to a point where y/n can't even pay attention to Zoya anymore. Zoya might deal with this directly and almost immediately after she notices things started to change. Zoya would outright intimidate the person, like "If you keep pulling this sh*t I'll show you real sh*t" or she might end up driving the person away with threats, as said before.

BUT ANYWAY THANKYOU FOR READING MY TED TALKK, THIS IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY.. I HOPE ITS NOT TOO MUCH!

my darling anon 😌 ARE YOU THAT PERSON WHO PREVIOUSLY GIVING IDEAS ABOUT RAHU? if yes, such a big brain anon i have (you must be secretly a writer). regardless, i love your bunch of ideas 🫶

rather than making bots (i don't know how to make these jealous bots 😭) I'll be writing small scenario based on this!

can only do Rahu tho cuz, well, easier to make it comedy

---

Rahu paced silently through the corridors of the MBCC headquarters. Her normally stoic demeanor betrayed a flicker of agitation. She couldn't shake off the disquiet that settled within her whenever she witnessed that newcomer growing closer to you. The duties she held, the protective shield she formed around you, seemed to be slipping away, replaced by the unwelcome presence of another.

Every moment that newcomer spent in proximity to you felt like a dagger twisting in her chest.

One evening, as she stood vigilant by your side during a mission briefing, that person's laughter echoed in the background. Her silver eyes narrowed, and her fists clenched, but her external facade remained impassive.

Days passed, and she struggled to find a way to express her discomfort. Her stoicism, a shield against the world, became a barrier that even she couldn't dismantle. Instead, Rahu found herself acting out in small, subtle ways. She became touchier in moments when she was alone with you.

A soft hand on the shoulder, a protective stance when you walked together. Or during a team meeting, she'd strategically positioned herself behind your chair. With ninja-like finesse, she'd do a subtle shoulder massage, all while maintaining an innocent expression. Or even, when you engaged in conversation with that newcomer, she would swoop in, spin around, and deliver a high-five so intricate it left everyone bewildered. "Just checking in on Chief," she'd casually say before walking away.

---

discovery of the day: omagosh im such a bad writer

[blueboyluca]

BH315: Hidden Potential

I didn’t get that much out of Hidden Potential. I think overall I found it very concept-heavy without a lot of practical solutions. It just felt quite vague. What I’ve been struggling with this whole time is pinpointing specifics. I didn’t find the prompts or exercises in this course did a lot to help me figure this out. For example, in one of the lectures Sarah wrote “How can you help your dog to feel a more positive CER, if his current one is negative?” and I found this frustrating because I thought the point of the course was to help me figure out how to foster a more positive CER.

Here are my current notes on some of the lectures but not the ones I felt were impractical. I would like to try some of the games more and come back to this for a second evaluation. I will also work through my new course, BH265: Strategies for Training and Competing the Sensitive Dog, and see how it compares.

1.1 Assignment: Never Wrong/Sometimes More Right

I did a session or two of this, but I could try doing it again. I struggle with these types of things as value of rewards is so hard to figure out with Marceline. If one food is of lesser value she will usually just reject it outright, so this kind of game is difficult.

1.2 Information Gathering: Identifying Issues

Does your dog approach other dogs when out in the world, or avoid them? Yes, she will approach other dogs but can get intimidated by large dogs.

Is your dog hyper social with people, wanting to jump on them, or would he rather not be greeted by your friends? She likes people fine, as long as they respect her size. She will beg for treats from people she knows.

Do loud noises bother your dog? A bit, not to an extreme extent.

What about crowds? She hasn’t been in large crowds before.

2.1 Assignment: The Consent Signal

I do a test with tug first, then do a warm up using sitting by my side, hand touch and pop ups. I might try to introduce something else like eye contact. I also have a verbal “are you ready?” that she can respond to. She has established consent signals for other behaviours.

2.2 Talking Point: Accepting "No"

I recognise that I need to do this more. I have a tendency to try again when she says no to something. I think there are some instances where asking more than once is fair, like if she wants to go out, because she shows other signs of wanting to consent. In those cases I try to remove the barriers that are stopping her saying “yes”. But during a session, I think I need to stop and put her up if she is saying a clear “no”.

2.3 Information Gathering: Operant Counterconditioning

I honestly have no idea what to do for this one. None of the examples were applicable and I can’t easily identify one single, specific thing I could improve with counterconditioning. That’s not to say there isn’t something, just that I can’t think of it.

2.4 Assignment: Ring-Sustainable Reinforcement

I have created a “stash” marker cue and have incorporated this into our training.

3.1 Assignment: Using an Opt-Out Signal/Safe Space

I didn’t even try this because I struggled to think of an item that would be neutral value that she would still like to chew. I could try it with a supermarket style chew I guess. I also struggle with set-ups like this because in reality this isn’t what my sessions look like. I don’t know if that says something bad about my training but I found it hard to conceptualise putting this into action practically. When Marceline opts out, she doesn’t go to a base, she prefers to engage with the environment. She would not choose to be put up. But I guess I could improve this in general by rewarding her with something more like a chew when she is at her station.

3.2 Talking Point: Reading Opt-Out Signs

It’s definitely clear that I am still not responding appropriately to opt-out signs. I need to figure out a better response to these signs.

4.2 Assignment: Energiser Patterns

I do this a bit, but I could certainly incorporate more energising pattern games into my warmups.

4.3 Talking Point: What IS Reinforcement?

What reinforcement scenarios are working for you? Generally I start with tug, switch to food from hand to warm up and then use a lotus ball to reinforce a sequence

Which ones are not? I think food from hand within a sequence is not working. I think I should switch to a food toss marker if I need to re-engage in the middle.

How can you add more sustainable reinforcement strategies to your training? I’m still trying to incorporate a stash cue as a major reinforcement strategy. I think a lotus ball is pretty sustainable, but food toss and food from hand are not.

4.4 Information Gathering: Hidden Aversives

Of the four things Sarah describes (confusion, pain, sensory input, fear and anxiety) I think the relevant one is confusion. I wonder if part of the problem is that I think things are trained better than they actually are?

5.3 Talking Point: A Culture of Choice

I think that I could offer more choices for Marceline. I keep things varied in her life, but I rarely present her with a clear choice of one thing or another.

6.3 Talking Point: Honouring the Dog

I think I should incorporate more solo enrichment time for her in general, rather than being with Luca or doing agility. Marceline highly values opportunities to sniff, roll and swim. I think I could offer her more of those opportunities on her own.

[slydiddledeedee]

DOFLAMINGOOO BABEYYYY 1. 8. 21. 22. ◀️ me doxxing you

i won't lie this does feel like creating an elaborate pie-in-the-face trap only to set it off myself. anyway

1 - Why do you like or dislike this character? I find Doflamingo such an insanely interesting character because he shows up and sucks SO BAD. But also from the get go the way he's portrayed is so intriguing--he's flamboyant and has a finger in every pie and says the most insane things, and then you find out how he operates and it's absolutely horrific. The way Oda wrote him to have this tragic backstory and still not excuse any of his actions is one of his best writing choices imo--it really hammers how nothing justifies your actions except you yourself. I really do think about his psyche a lot because he is shown to be somewhat irrational from the viewer's pov, which always makes me think: what is going through his head which makes this rational?

8 - What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Aside from the awful incest too many people are obsessed with (given), I really don't like it when dfmgo is over-simplified in either direction! He's not this traumatized victim who is solely acting out of fear and actually has a good heart (did you read the manga.) nor is he just i'm craaaaazy i'm insane asylum i'm gonna getcha etc. I also think his voice as a character is tough for me to read because idk. I think about him Often.

21 - If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

MAN.....i really like showing the awful ways he expresses love and how he is human despite his best efforts!! for example in family resemblance in the very first chapter when (spoilers) rosi comes in to help him and notices a stain on his coat, i wanted to write it with this unspoken trust between the two of them (though really more between doflamingo and rosi) where rosi automatically knows he has to clean the coat, which is a show of love from doflamingo because if he didn't love rosi (and in his mind conversely if rosi didn't love him) he wouldn't "allow" rosi to take and clean the coat, and rosi wouldn't keep his secret safe. similarly, later, when doflamingo is talking to tsuru he mentions how choosing to be killed with a bullet (vs his strings) is "the boring choice," which are words she later throws back in his face to comment how he killed his own brother. TLDR; writing doflamingo's love and how it is inseparable from anger for him. at the risk of sounding totally insane i can't think of anything i don't like doing when writing for doflamingo. i only write what i like and what i think will be good

22 - If you're a fic reader and have read for this character, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? something you don't like?

SAINT YOU KNOW I HAVE BEEN IN THE METAPHORICAL TRENCHES. It really really really comes down to characterization for me and there are veeeery few fics I've read where I can finish and nod and go yeah you know what I believe it. It's not about serious topics vs something more flippant; I've read both toned types of stories and there are people who characterize him in a way I really like!! but overwhelmingly i start to read things and am not drunk enough to get through it. to reiterate what i said above i don't like swinging too hard in either direction (which effectively flattens him as a character for me if not outright contradicts the source material in a significant way). on a more broad level i don't like when people oversimplify his relationship with the family in general--in particular cora, but really any of them. there's a lot of meat on them there bones yknow

Thanks for the ask saint MWAH!!!!

[pixies-and-poets]

Okay so, here is how I interpret the timeline of Bea's music career:

(Don't know if Keep Reading will work-)

The Gashapon Gang(The TV show Bea was on when she was a teenager)-> Pop(With one of Bea's first regrets being using cheap spray-on dye to make her hair pink-)-> Relationship with Phantom(A mutual of mine thought Bea and Phantom might've met at some sort of night club)-> Breakup(we all know how that went)-> Rock-> Experimental(with the album that was all underwater)->Career is dead(with the low-selling album)-> Galact-O-Mania(the wrestling bout with the Beacon Beach Brawler)-> Galactovision(where your Stinger Incident theory would take place)-> Full retirement -> Warden status achieved

Also I like to think Bea's somewhere in her mid 40s. So if Bea was a teen while she was on The Gashapon Gang, then her Pop and Rock phases would've been in her 20s(early to mid respectively), Experimental could've been in her late 20s, her Career-ending album and Galact-O-Mania would be her 30s, the Galactovision Incident would be her early 40s, and her recognition as Warden of Terra Flora in her mid 40s

... Can you tell I've thought this through-?

This all makes sense and the age/stylistic timeline seems about right, EXCEPT - I figure her relationship with the Phantom would be fairly recent, pretty much entirely taking place during the Galactovision run. Beep-0 called it a “whirlwind relationship” which implies it was intense but short. If they had already broken up once beforehand, I don’t think they would have ever wanted to work together again lol. So the angry rock phase would maybe be her last main phase since we know that comes afterward, and you wouldn’t necessarily need the same vocal prowess for that type of music? Like maybe it was more shouting than singing and having a fried voice benefited her.

I would imagine it’s recent because, consider that the Phantom didn’t exist as he is now until recently, since he was created via Spawny merge. Of course, I’m pretty new to this fandom as a fandom instead of just enjoying it on my own lol, so people probably have theories on how/if he could have existed before that. Not to mention this gets into the whole Time Screwiness of how all these rabbids have detailed backstories from childhood to adulthood on their various planets in the first place, if they were only supposed to have arrived in this universe as shown in Kingdom Battle. I have my own theories on this, which maybe I’ll get into sometime, but for now suffice to say that the washing machine is not only for dimension traveling but also TIME traveling so really, anything goes and it’s whatever one wants to have fun with, haha. I feel like the backstories are usually more obvious what order they go in (Woodrow’s and Momma’s are outright numbered IIRC) but they intentionally left Bea’s a little more freeform and open to interpretation on what order everything happens in, so you can make your own timeline and that’s cool! It’s like Zelda games before they just told everyone what order it was supposed to be and then it became less fun.

[gunsli-01]

Love Below 0°

The Milgram fandom on here is a cozy type of small... Yet, somehow completely unhinged. Which makes sense for a web series centered around a bunch of fictional killers. Can't lie, I've been really entertained looking at what people will or will not forgive. It's even more fun to see what others think is going on with these characters. So, I'm going to put myself out there and say my interpretation of what they did. Plus, what I speculate the pairings represent.

I'll be throwing these out in pairs. Starting with Yuno and Haruka. I won't be going into too much depth. Since, I've spoken about Yuno in length before, and Haruka is a considerably straight forward case.

It is my belief that how the prisoners are paired together is indicative of the motive/emotional intent behind their actions. Bearing that in mind I believe the thing that ties Haruka and Yuno together is their Envy/attention seeking behavior.

For context, I was dragged into this whole thing by @apatchworkstar during the tail end of the first trial. So, most of the prisoners had a definitive verdict by the time I got into this. The only ones who didn't have a verdict were Amane, Mikoto, and Kotoko. However, after seeing Haruka and Yuno's first music videos. I was shocked to find they had been voted innocent. Cause I would have voted them both Guilty during the first trial.

Haruka clearly killed a kid who I thought to be his sibling, that and someone around Amane's age given he says he's not good with kids her age. Plus, animals during his first music video. I also didn't believe speculating he had a learning disability excused this or that he had one to be honest. Yuno's first music video made it abundantly clear she was partaking in a form of entrapment the extent of which I was uncertain about at that time.

Given my interpretation of what was shown I believed they both should have been voted guilty and would have voted them that way if I were there.

I'm certain that most have gathered by now they both killed due to envy/jealousy. They're the easiest pair to figure out. Haruka doesn't lie at all, and Yuno lies in such a blatantly coy way that I don't even perceive it as dishonest anymore. They are the most blatantly honest about what they did wrong and how they wish to be perceived and treated within Milgram. The ways they go about showing that though directly contrast each other.

Yuno is more passive leaning on being outright disdainful and cold to get the message across while Haruka will just say he wants something. Yuno will manipulate behind the scenes to get what she's after while Haruka will blatantly act up or behave to get what he wants in a shameless way. Making them nice foils for each other. If you look at it from a passive aggressive and aggressive framing.

Both of their second trial videos are out now. Given Haruka's second trial I'm voting him innocent. He clearly did the things I thought he did, the only thing that changed were a few environmental factors that recontextualized the issue. I'm a firm believer in yes, his mom fucked up on that one and if she couldn't use negative reinforcement to fix his behavior than there is no way that we can. Lol, hope he has fun here.

When it comes to Yuno though... I'd be happy with a fifty/fifty but I'm voting her guilty because of the noticeable hypocrisy. Yes, I know I sound like Futa but to be honest hypocrites are just annoying. Plus, Yuno is annoyed by that aspect of this as well. After stating she's the one who chose to allow us in to begin with asking, "Happy or sad? Why decide? Where'd you get your half-baked sense of justice? So, nauseating. So, creepy. Will you please disappear?"

Before brushing it off like she always does because she won't be bothered and going "Phew, anyway." and inviting us to grasp around blindly trying to find her again. In a coy if you want to know me open your eyes and look or stay blind searching for this idea of me you've created. Measuring her against our morality means she can only be innocent or guilty by our standards, never her own. It's something forced on her without her input or consideration towards how she feels about her actions. Causing her to become the same sensationalized topic, she berates in her first voice drama.

I understand why that would be annoying. Truthfully, Yuno is not special she is very much in here for the same shit Haruka is. Technically something I consider more pointless than what Haruka is in here for. He wanted affection from his literal parent who is shown to be physically and emotionally neglectful. Yuno, to her own admission, has a fine life and just wants the attention of someone she's romantically invested in. Despite her character not liking psychoanalysis the only thing I could gather that would excuse her behavior is blaming it on father issues.

This is because she states her family structure is her grandparents, mother, younger brother, and her. Though blaming it on that would be a disservice and a belittling of her character. Even if it were the case, just because someone is romantically interested in another person doesn't mean they are entitled to that sort of interest in return. She isn't owed anything more by her clientele than payment for her services. Parents on the other hand should ideally have unconditional love for their kids regardless of that child's capabilities or age.

Despite whether Haruka's mom intended to or not her actions clearly ended up giving Haruka a distorted understanding of affection. To the point that he takes all forms of attention as positive and smiles at being slapped. Cause he conflates being reprimanded and punished with being cared for. That's a parental failing. Parenting is difficult but fuck his mom. It's to the point that I can't even fault him for considering Mu to be his real mom.

Hell, she's a better option than his real one. At least Mu's conditions are ones that he can meet just never say no to her and behave well. While his actual mom's according to what we've been shown were impossible to meet from the start because he was just born wrong. I just find it wild that a bunch of people were like he just needs help, he can't do things as easily as other people while knowing he's a murderer during the first trial. Then when he got a bit of confidence from that recognition be like no we've got to put him back in his place. For his benefit though, like alright, okay...Sure.

I feel mostly the same way towards anyone voting Miss I don't know why the public sensationalizes adultery so much innocent. Then being like Kazui might have cheated and that's bad. Where's that energy you guys had at Mikoto being shirtless in his own house while showering towards Yuno wearing lingerie throughout her entire second trial video? The animators knew what they were doing there but not here, okay. Super weird that she did the things she did for love like Mahiru did but since she's not unabashedly traditionally feminine she gets a pass while Mahiru is at death's door. Can't imagine what that says about most voters.

Phew, anyway...to the next pair then.

[ghost-proofbaby]

For the directors commentary! In your list about Shire hinting at Mordor you made a note on number 11 that showed a difference in how Eddie/Steve treated Willow to show who she'd end up with. So I was wondering if you had a list in mind to show how you made the shift from Steve to Eddie?

yes!! i do!! at least, a mental one (the mordor hints was a list i kept updating as i went for myself lol). thank you for endulging me and my wildly over complicated mind, nonnie <3 long-winded list below the cut where i tried to put my thoughts and mental list to paper :-)

how quickly willow changed from thinking about steve to eddie! very early on in the story it becomes more of a chore/habit for her, constantly having to go "oh, no. i want steve"

as mentioned on the other post, her choice of book for the project! the entire laurie/jo dynamic vaguely mirrors them and i think at the core of how their relationship works, it's the same thing; both couples are better off friends. timing will never align for them and in the end, that's okay.

how they treat her on several occasions, actually. first of all, steve choosing to date around and talking about those girls to willow rather than ever admitting his feelings to her. eddie, on the opposite side of things, would never do this. once he has eyes on willow, that's it. he and steve actually are in the same thought boat of assuming she wouldn't want them, but the way they handle that is wildly different! steve clearly loses his mind a bit, and is aiming to make her jealous. but eddie accepts that and chooses to love her in whatever way he's allotted, for however long she'll have him.

the entire ordeal of steve not waiting for willow to go inside before driving off and eddie firmly always waiting!

the scene in the diner where eddie says willow looks at steve like her "favorite boy". i specifically highlighted and noted that speech when i wrote it because it's significant and just extreme foreshadowing. willow idealizes the ones she loves ferociously, putting them on pedestals left and right. she feels all those things sincerely, but for the idea of steve. once she feels that way about eddie, it becomes clear to her that really, he was the one she always looked at that way truly.

the way eddie cares to learn about willow as a person very intimately. steve was never a bad friend! let me make that clear. but the lover's lake memory where eddie asks her favorite food, for example, and the way willow offers the answer of her friends rather than herself, and eddie immediately is like "nope. i want to know about YOU." he continuously seeks out to challenge her to come into who she is as an individual. steve didn't, which in a friendly context, isn't a bad thing per se. but when you're in love with someone, it should be a major goal to see who they are as a person. steve never made that effort outright.

^^ also worth mentioning that in doing this and also letting her see bits of himself, eddie never gave willow a chance to create some idealized version of him to fall in love with. he was always so honest and giving towards her, that no idea she could have formulated would be able to be any better than what he already offered her.

in caring to learn about her as a person, he offers a security that makes her comfortable also revealing her past, which eddie clearly doesn't take casually. i mean, come on. he actively goes out of his way to recreate a happier memory of her parents with her, down to the same damn song. he's willing to take that time to see her wounds, and offer support as she heals them. he knows he can't 'fix her', but he can still stay by her side as she patches herself up.

eddie loves big. he's not a serial casual dater like steve. the way the two of them approach relationships is wildly different; steve has this certain casualty ingrained in it all from dating so many people, but for eddie? he's always been a more silent type that pines from a distance! eddie was the only one capable of giving such a mundane yet novel romance to willow like the books she likes. steve... just isn't there yet. he has a lot of working through his own issues before he gets there, and that's okay! willow is a bit too much for him, and he knows it, which is why he never says anything to her about his feelings.

the way they approach their love confessions. steve just springs it onto willow in a way, even goes so far as to still kiss her when he claims he knows that eddie is her choice. with eddie, he desperately is urging willow to come to the conclusion on her own, at her own pace, until it's inevitable that he has to say it. hell, he's even willing to walk away and let her have the guy he assumes she wants. he never holds expectations for her to return his love, where i think for steve, he does hold onto a sliver of hope that willow would choose him, even when he says the opposite. also, eddie doesn't kiss her after his confession. he lets her come to him. he lets her control the entire thing very willingly without being a bystander.

also, sidenote that didn't play into the story too much, but if the roles were reversed and steve was the fake boyfriend, i highly doubt he would have been so willing to let willow call off the deal. i believe it was chapter 30? after her fight with steve, all eddie cares about is making sure she's okay. if that means the deal is off, that's okay. he's still there for her. i don't think steve would be able to swallow his jealousy or pride so easily in this universe. (slightly ooc, i know! but in my mind palace of this one story specifically, that's how it works)

so, yeah, haha <3 i think the entirety of how we watch willow choose eddie from steve is more about super subtleties from the get go!

also worth mentioning to you all that the story was always eddie endgame. there was never a time in which this story would have ended with willow being with steve. this was always a love story with eddie munson, not steve harrington. and maybe one day i will write a proper steve fic, but the shire is not his time <3

thank you so much!! ily!!!!

[lightofunova]

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@lustrous-tales

The pale goddess blinked, shocked by the sudden change in Zhen’s demeanor. She hadn’t expected the outburst, or to be asked to be a mentor. Sure she had offered, but being outright asked was a new sensation all together. It was something she hesitated to agree to, since she knew first hand how awful flames could be.

And yet, as she gave the auburn haired god a look, her hesitation began to melt. It was clear he needed help. He listened to her words carefully, picking up details not even her assistants noticed.

She noted the way his tone shifted when speaking about burning one close to him, and how the thought unnerved him. The determination he held when asking was striking, and he was drawn to her pyre like that of a moth to a flame. It was evident it was something he revered, he wanted to control it.

And the humility of asking for her aid, it shook her to her core.

It wasn’t a little known secret that legendaries held themselves to high standards. Many of the ones she knew prefered to do things their way, or would never go our of their way to ask for her help. Yet, he did. It spoke alot about his character, and was a trait she admired in the few gods who showed it.

“I’d be glad to, honest.” She said, offering a sympathetic look. “Don’t worry about apologizing, it’s alright.” She didn’t really mind being touched, often being the clingy one among her peers. It made her laugh to herself, noting how she saw a small part herself in the fellow fire deity.

“It will take time though, if you try to rush headfirst into bonfires the result will be awful. Be prepared to get frustrated, angry, and close to giving up.” She warned. Nodding over to her green clad assistant, he left the room politely, leaving the two alone ontop of the tower. The only thing that kept them company was the wind that blew in from the tower’s broken wall, howling through its gaping maw.

“Controlling flames comes from how much fuel you give them. It comes from your energy, deep within yourself.” She began to explain. It felt strange and hard to put into words, but she did her best. “Your rage, emotions, even your physical breathing, it all fuels the flames you create. They exist due to the air around us.”

“Similar to how an electric type can pull electricity from the air, so to can we create fire from nothing as long as we have enough to fuel it. If you’re trapped in an airtight room or cave, you won’t be able to make a flame. It will doe put like a candle being snuffed. “ Sje thought for a moment, realizing the exposition might not help, and that an example might prove more useful instead. Cupping her hands together, she blew a small flame into them. It was large enough to hold, but not hot enough to burn. Carefully she offered it to the man infront of her.

“Alright, try holding this if you’re able.” she started. “It will get you somewhat used to it, as being able to steadily maintain a small flame will help you temper larger ones in the future, and hopefully explain what I’m talking about.”