#skipping ahead to do this one since some of the most important people in my life are plural/systems

[dragoneveryday]

Could you please make a hydra based on the plural journey flag? (colors found here: https://treblesand.dreamwidth.org/1177.html)

It would mean a lot to us and I would absolutely adore it if you do. - Sky

(Also here's the flag if you don't trust the link)

[Above image ID: The plural journey flag, a four color symmetrical flag with the colors purple, blue, green, and black. End ID.]

Day 141 - plural hydra

[billyshakesp]

POC's in Harry Potter

I'm willing to bet that most people do not know who Ludo Bagman is. I did not remember who Ludo Bagman is, though I haven't consumed any Harry Potter content in a good while. Nonetheless, I am fairly confident in saying that most people who aren't dedicated Potterheads do not know who Ludo Bagman is.

To give people like myself a refresher (and I promise this is going somewhere), Ludo Bagman's first appears in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and his most significant role is in that book. The term "most significant role" is relative, since he barely moves the plot forward. He's portrayed as a bit of a shady character in this book, and he mainly serves as a decoy from the bad actors behind the scenes: Barty Crouch Sr., Jr., and Karkaroff. After Goblet of Fire, Bagman is seldom mentioned, and he never plays a significant role in the plot. If you have read up until this point, or if you have skipped ahead, you may wonder why I chose to focus on Ludo Bagman intensely, and focus specifically on why nobody should focus on Ludo Bagman so intensely.

I focus on Ludo Bagman because his name is mentioned more times in the Harry Potter series than any person of colour.

A character who is really only important for one book and whom the producers of the Harry Potter movies didn't even bother casting is mentioned more than any person of colour in JK Rowling's revolutionary, transcendental book series Harry Potter.

Hedwig, the freaking owl, has more mentions in the Harry Potter series than all but two characters of colour: Cho Chang and Dean Thomas. Chang serves as a romantic interest for roughly two books before, presumably, flying off to pine for Edward Cullen. Thomas plays quidditch, and that is the extent of his character. The point is that both of these characters are quite shallow, and JKR even writes the story in a way which the reader is supposed to feel a emotional connection for Hedwig, a literal messenger pigeon; the reader is not led to feel any such connection Chang, and they are led to give at least one-third of a shit about Dean because he is sorted into the good house as opposed to the nerdy house.

Adressing the argument that the lack of POC is because the UK does not have a large population of non-white people: first of all, who gives a shit? I'm not sure if you, my dear reader, are aware of this, but the percentage of the UK population in whom are wizards and witches (And, presumably, another title for all the enbies/otherwise gnc people. What would you like to be called? Sorcerers? Ghaster Blaster Master Casters? Just overall badasses? Please let me know.) is zero! I don't think the story would be significantly hurt by an important person of colour.

Secondly, I did the very basic, not at all difficult math. In 2000, the percentage of people living in the UK whom were white was 91.3%. This means that, given the fact that the Harry Potter series is set around the year 2000, one would expect to see 8-9 not-white characters out of the top 100 characters by times mentioned in Harry Potter. We see 5. Granted, 8 to 5 is not a huge discrepency, but it is a 37.5% decrease. I think what is more important is that none of these characters ever played significant roles in the books. These characters could be replaced with white characters and the story would not change.

Thirdly, I sympathise with JKR's plight. She would write more brown characters, but the people in the place she sets the book are just so white! If only there was some international wizarding event at some point; an event in which a number of schools gather and hold a tournament. It would be so convenient for JKR to write in POC then! Have them compete in this hypothetical tournament, have, say, maybe 3-4, and the winner would get some sort of trophy. A cup, perhaps.

In this hypothetical situation, if JKR was handed this opportunity, it would say a lot if she chose to feature schools whose student bodies were almost exclusively white, right?

This post is, admittedly, a bit dense, and it harps on points that several people have probably already made, but I do think that it is important. If I am incorrect on any facts in this post, please let me know. Thanks for reading.

[bakedbakermom]

introducing: anti-hangry cookies

so i have 3 problems going for me right now when it comes to food. 1) i am on meds that kill my appetite, so i forget to eat until other physical symptoms manifest, and even then it is difficult to make myself actually consume something. 2) my sense of taste never recovered after i had covid, so my desire to snack has gone way down and i no longer find most things enjoyable or fulfilling to eat. 3) even though i am overweight, the part of my brain that sees items 1+2 as a good thing that could make me lose weight is currently gagged and straightjacketed because she is crazypants and keeps trying to kill me. i am a recovering anorexic in the same way some people are recovering alcoholics; it's something that i have to actively monitor in myself even years after "finishing" treatment." i MUST eat, or i will spiral.

by about 4pm i am literally weak with a hunger i cannot feel, my mind foggy and my whole body basically vibrating with hanger, and fighting tooth and nail to make myself eat something, anything, please. enter the anti-hangry cookie.

i originally made these when i was nursing to get my milk supply up (they are technically called "lactation cookies"); i don't know if they actually helped with that, but damn were they great to have around because they're the super rare combination of taste good and good for you and easy to eat that is absolutely essential in those bleary early days of parenthood. turns out that kind of snack is necessary outside of that time period, as well.

the good: rolled oats, full of whole grain, fiber, vitamins, and even some protein. brewers yeast, with more good vitamins and protein, plus good for the tummy. flax seed, B vitamins, omega 3s, fiber.

the fantastic: basically the best chocolate chip oatmeal cookie ever. there's a hint of cinnamon, and somehow the brewers yeast and flax seed only enhance that flavor rather than making it taste too, well, healthy lol. also you cannot taste the coconut oil, so if that's not your favorite flavor, fear not: you get the benefits without that sunscreen taste.

INGREDIENCE

3c old-fashioned rolled oats 1 1/2c all-purpose flour 5 tbs brewers yeast 3 tbs ground flax seeds 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp salt 3/4c (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp 1/4c unrefined coconut oil 1 1/2c sugar 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, room temp 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 bag dark chocolate chips

optional: 1/2c peanut butter, SO GOOD

whisk together oats, flour, yeast, flax, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

beat butter, coconut oil, and sugar (and pb, if using) together until fluffy, then add the egg and yolk and beat to combine. add the vanilla and beat again. gradually add in the dry ingredients on low speed until just mixed. it will be a bit crumbly. then mix in the chocolate chips.

scoop the dough into 1-inch rounds (i use a cookie scoop and then roll them in my hands). rolling into a ball is actually fairly important here, since otherwise they'll crumble apart a fair bit in the oven; rolling smushes them into a delightfully dense cookie. (obvs go ahead and skip the rolling if crumbly cookies are your jam.) place on a baking sheet about 2" apart and bake at 350 for 10-14 minutes.

the original recipe says it makes 20-22 cookies but that is BONKERS because i can easily get 36 good-sized cookies out of this. i typically bake a dozen and freeze the rest (in ball form, don't throw a big lump of dough into your freezer), and then bake them for 12-16 minutes straight from the freezer.

here's the remaining ~2 dozen dough balls in my freezer. confession: i actually prefer the ones baked from frozen to those made from the fresh dough! they stay taller in the oven and spread less, creating a delightful cookie experience that is somehow dense and fluffy at the same time.

try one in the shower. just do it. shower cookie is best cookie

[bohemian-nights]

Once more I’m quite unsure as to why everyone feels the need to ignore the source material. Season 3 not being about Benophie still boggles my mind because why???!??!! Not to be a hater but Colin is uninteresting and unattractive (no hate to the actor he’s just not my type) to me. And I personally can’t stand Penelope (once again no hate to the actress) so I’m not really interested in this season tbh. On a side note there is a possibility to make Sophie a illegitimate granddaughter of Charlotte especially since in Queen Charlotte she says along the lines of how there are 50 illegitimate grand babies that [she] the crown ignores.

I know what you mean anon. Nothing against either of the actors playing the characters or the fans who like the ship, but Polin just isn't my cup of tea.

We all have our faves and mine is Benophie. I’m a Benophie and then a Franchael girl through and through.

That being said, despite me being a Benophie girl I don’t mind that they’ve skipped over Benedict. I mean I was initially pissed the hell off about it, but I think I understand now why Shonda did what she did.

This is gonna sound nonsensical, and weird, and is probably going to piss someone off(lol I’m the queen of that apparently👑), but there have been back to back to back interracial couples in Bridgerton.

I’m almost positive Sophie is going to be Black(🤞🏽) and while this show prides itself on diversity, I think they wanted to give white audiences a bone. So for that reason, she chose to push Polin’s season ahead.

Plus I think Shonda sees herself in Penelope(writer, “working woman,” the wallflower, and hater of other women💀).

I’m kinda glad she did push Polin’s season forward given what happened with the strike situation…

I do not mind waiting another two years for Benophie. I’ll “suffer” through this season for them and who knows, this season may surprise me and I may end up loving it 🤷🏽‍♀️

Now regarding, Sophie’s parentage, it would be interesting if they made her an illegitimate grandkid of Queen Charlotte and see how she has to deal with that. How the queen interacts with her, as well as the rest of the ton.

(I don’t think that in this scenario her being a bastard would be hidden or not common knowledge).

I know some people aren’t too fond of Sophie being Black🙃 a maid while Benedict is who is.

Her being QC's illegitimate granddaughter would be a way to kinda pivot from her being a maid while keeping the fact that she’s a bastard without a proper place in society.

I feel like the former is less important than her being the latter. She’s more than just her employment.

Sophie has to deal with the fact that she was robbed of a proper childhood, protection, financial security, love, and a sense of belonging. Yet she still manages to be a kind considerate human being with staunch morals and principles.

(I love girls who’ve been through so much, but still manage to survive and thrive. I blame Jane Eyre).

As long as Shonda tackles those issues and we see Benedict falling head over heels for her(even when he thinks he’s fallen for two different women🤣)I’m good with whatever happens.

The show has already made a lot of changes to the book. Some good some bad, but making Sophie one of many bastard grandchildren of the crown makes the most sense and has the potential to be the most interesting(for me at least).

[spaceratprodigy]

D, F and H for fairh and max hehe <3

@hibernationsuit — [ The Fluff Alphabet ]

More Faith and Max content? Don't mind if I do <3

–

D. Domestic (do they want to settle down? how are they with cooking and cleaning?)

I mean, realistically yes. Considering how their lives have been since meeting and even before that, they've been through a fucking lot. They want some rest, they want a peaceful life for themselves to be possible, but there's so much work ahead of them before that can ever be done. But the moment they can have it they are relishing in every moment together that they can, finally being able to breathe and relax their shoulders for the first time in their entire lives.

So, my own personal standing is that canon Faith and Max don't have children. It's not something they want, it's not something that happens for them, and they are more than happy about it, because being together is what's most important. However, I will humor the thought because y'all already know in several AUs they do have a daughter together :]

Faith is quite good at cooking! It's a bit rough for her having to acclimate to exclusively Halcyon food, and often needs Parvati and Max to remind/encourage her to eat, but she enjoys cooking for sure. She does have a preference for baking, having quite the sweet tooth, herself. Max is not that into sweets, but he will try anything she makes. It's fine, it tastes better when it's off her lips anyway. Max I think is fine at cooking, not bad but not the greatest either. He cooks just enough that is satisfactory for his own needs. But if he's cooking for Faith, he puts a noticeable amount of more effort into it.

I think they're both pretty good at keeping clean generally. Too much clutter and lack of organization would bother Faith and she would end up tidying up anyway, but their space is most definitely lived in. They have their own things here and there, their own projects left out for when they return to them in a bit, some books and schematics sitting around, things like that, but not anything that's unbearably messy.

–

F. Fiancé (how do they feel about commitment? how fast do they want to get married?)

Their story is genuinely a slow burn despite me always getting right to the good stuff. By the time they do realize what's going on between them and how very real their feelings for each other are, it is suffocating for them. They are terrified. This is such a new experience for both of them and they don't really know how to handle it, and then Fallbrook Arc happens and it makes everything even more complicated. Because now they're faced with the thing they were trying to avoid acknowledging blowing up in their faces and how they now might lose the best thing that's ever happened to them if they don't wise up and get it together.

But once reciprocation and reconciliation on Scylla happens, they cannot be pried apart ever again after that. Marriage isn't exactly a thing that's on their mind for a long while afterwards, they're just so blissed out of their minds having each other and being together that that's all that matters.

What does spark marriage talk, however, is Gorgon. Let's just kinda skip to the end of these thoughts. Nobody walked away from Gorgon feeling okay. The entire crew was miserable, depressed, hollow, they stayed huddled in the kitchen for days together, no one wanting to be alone after that mission, after everything. Faith and Max were holding each other tighter at night after that.

One day, they need to talk about it. Not really any specific conversation in mind, just needing to get anything off their chests about that place and everything they saw, everything they discovered, what it did to so many people and how it continues to haunt Halcyon. Something leads to another, Max brings up how Faith would feel about making their companionship a little more permanent. How after everything, everything they've been through, and whatever more is to come, if some fate is to befall them, they die with no one to doubt how deeply their love ran for each other, they die not ever being alone, they die knowing they were each other's.

Without a word to anyone but themselves, they start wearing matching rings.

–

H. Hugs (do they like hugs? how often do they do it, and what are they like?)

Faith is Very Weird about being touched in most cases. She likes physical intimacy, but she isn't exactly a people person and it's very hard for her to find that kind of comfort within someone. She doesn't trust or feel safe around most others to put their hands on her in any way. There are few exceptions as her story progresses, but the safe bet is to let her initiate any kind of physical contact.

I think Max is in a similar boat of physical touch not exactly being his strongest love language. So even tho I don't think either of them are super mushy gushy, I do think every touch between them is so charged and intoxicating. They are definitely more private about it.

As for the hugging, I can see it being a very deep experience whenever they do. This long desperate need they didn't realize they craved for so long, the starved feeling that comes with it as they hold on, melting into each other and not wanting to let go, not wanting to lose that comfort. When was the last time they felt something like this? It is a huge sign of love between them to do this.

[sxnctxxry]

Why The "Kaz Beating Up The Dregs" Scene In The Show Is Wrong

There is so much I disagreed with in the show and adding this scene from CK is one of the ones that get me angriest. This post is clearly going to criticize decisions the showrunners made and if you don't want to read that, you can skip this post and scroll ahead. And this post is just my opinion, we can differ in opinions, that's alright.

First of all, in the books, this was a chapter in Inej's POV. In the show, Inej wasn't even present. Why is this relevant?

This scene took place right after the bathroom scene. It showed how even if Kaz told her specifically not to follow him, she still did. It's such an important moment in the books when we find out that Kaz knew the entire time that she was there. It shows how he senses her presence (although some may argue that he sensed Inej's absence in the show when he was facing of Pekka Rollins in Episode 4). And it shows their dynamic as partners, they don't leave each other, much less let the other walk to their death, and referencing the show, she watches over him. But this is also affected by the fact that this scene was given less meaning and was less dangerous in the show, which I will touch on later.

This was also a big moment for Kaz and Inej's relationship. At first, Inej says that she would respect Kaz's wishes that she not be seen because they would be looking for any signs of weakness. But when she sees Kaz getting beaten up so badly, her chapter goes:

"She couldn't just watch him die, she wouldn't. They had him down now, heavy boots kicking and stomping at his body. Her knives were in her hands. She'd kill them all. She'd pile the bodies to the rafters for the stadwatch to find... She wanted to scream. To hell with your pride, with the Dregs, with this whole wretched city."

We also got moments like Kaz stealing Inej's line and Kaz and Inej reclaiming their home. But since Inej wasn't there, those details are nonexistent in the show.

My next point has to do with Per Haskell's addition. It doesn't even make sense to add him in. He was supposed to represent the lazy and greedy people in the Barrel who take advantage of people like Kaz. In the books, Haskell betrayed Kaz and turned his gang against him. Haskell who Kaz has done nothing but make him richer. But in the show, Haskell was just an indifferent gang leader, any gang leader wouldn't want to cross Pekka Rollins. But Kaz forces Haskell to give up his gang because he just knew Haskell's gang wasn't successful or strong like how Kaz could make them be. Haskell didn't owe Kaz anything, Kaz just felt like a plain bully in the show. We don't even know if Haskell did anything wrong in the show to deserve that treatment from Kaz, but I guess Kaz in the show doesn't really care about that.

And here is my last point and what I think is the biggest and most awful change that the showrunners chose. And it has to do with Kaz's character.

In the books, this scene was much more dangerous. In the books, Kaz was willing to do whatever it took to save his friends from this mess he put them in (which highly contradicts whatever he was doing in the show). Kaz says:

"But they'd landed in a trap, and if he had to chew his paw off to get them out of it, then that was what he would do."

-> In the show, it seemes as if they took away a huge characterization scene just to show Kaz beating up some men. In the books, Kaz could literally have walked to his death if it was his last effort to rescuing his friends from the trap he led them in. A huge part of Kaz's character is that he is loyal to the people he cares about and he would do everything in his ability to protect them, no matter the cost to him. But that wasn't at all the context in the show.

Something that really first stood out to me was the absence of the younger Dregs like Anika, Roeder, Keeg, and Pim. And of course they wouldn't be in there, the whole Crow Club and The Dregs thing the show has going on messed up everything. But specifically when Kaz says his speech in the books that was adapted to the show:

"'I didn't come looking for friends. And I'm not here for the washed-up cadgers and cowards, or the losers who think the Barrel owes them something for managing to stay alive. I came for the killers. The hard ones. The hungry ones. The people like me. This is my gang... and I'm done taking orders.'"

-> he was talking about the younger Dregs. Not at all the random men he needed for a job in The Dregs Gang in the show. In the books, Inej says they're Kaz's best support, and that is because the younger Dregs like Anika and Pim are a testament to Kaz and how he built the Dregs and their reputation, how he spent his own money to fix up the Slat to make it livable, how he takes in these kids from the street and offers them protection, the one he didn't have and had to make himself. Inej says:

"Behind them, Inej glimpsed a few Dregs who didn't seem to share the excitement—Anika with her crop of yellow hair, wiry Roeder who Per Haskell had suggested Kaz use as his spider, the biggest bruisers Keeg and Pim. They hung back against the wall, exchanging unhappy looks as the others whooped and postured. They're Kaz's best hope for support, she thought. The youngest members of the Dregs, the kids Kaz had brought in and organized, the ones who worked the hardest and took the worst jobs because they were the newest."

->They are the real Dregs. They were even the first ones to defend Kaz. Pim tells Varian to quit it when he was going after Kaz again. And Anika blocks the exit when Haskell tells the Dregs to pull the alarm and alert Pekka that Kaz was there. When Bastian told Kaz he had no friends there, Pim shook his head and crossed his arms and the other younger Dregs bristled. And all because Kaz had done so much for them. They never liked Per Haskell, they knew Kaz was who to thank for, who protected them. And that was such a beautiful moment in the books that shows these kids that Kaz offered protection for were the first to protect and defend him as well. Those are the true Dregs. That is Kaz's gang. And it's really saddening that none of that was shown in the show.

[porcupine-girl]

I wanna hear about scrivener 👀

OH BOY

I saw I had an ask and I was like oh man I hope someone asked me about scrivener.

I write everything in Scrivener. Not just all my fic. I wrote my dissertation in Scrivener, I write my original fiction in it, I wrote the two magazine articles I've published in it.

First I will link you to my Scrivener tag, which probably contains everything I will say here because I never do shut up about it.

So first off, I will admit that Scrivener is not for everyone. Some people work better with linear programs like Word or GDocs without any bells or whistles.

HOWEVER

It is important to know that you can totally 100% use Scrivener without any bells or whistles. In fact, I recommend it at first! Don't overwhelm yourself. Then start to play with the cool features one by one.

I got it in 2014, and literally my fic writing skyrocketed immediately. Same for my dissertation when I started doing that in Scrivener a few months later. It's so good for my brain. It might not be for yours. But it might be just the thing.

I will put most of my gushing under a cut. My brain is only half-functional right now which probably means I'll go on and on and both repeat myself AND forget half the things I want to say.

Things I have done with Scrivener that I can't do with other programs:

I keep all my fic in one Scrivener file, which is called a "project." All of it. Every word of fic I've written since 2014. This does not slow it down AT ALL. In Word if I get over a few dozen pages it starts to crawl. I have well over 1.5 million words of fiction in this project, organized into many subdocuments and folders, and it is smooth as silk and easy to navigate. See the video below.

Why do I keep it all in one project? I'm so damn "out of sight out of mind." When I had all my fic in separate documents in a folder, it was so easy to forget what was there. I'd be working on one thing and forget anything else existed. If I closed that file and didn't open a new one I'd forget that working on fic was a thing I could do. No more! It's all right there in the sidebar so I can switch between fics whenever I want. And I basically just keep it open 24/7, it opens automatically when I reboot my computer.

I do other stuff this way too. All my picture books are in one project, all my magazine stuff is in one project. Love it.

When doing my dissertation I created my own citation manager within scrivener. This is Advanced Scrivening but it shows the versatility.

I used the notecard/corkboard view for this. It's also very useful for things like listing out plot points and figuring out how they fit together.

I don't write as nonlinearly as I used to but I still sometimes need to skip ahead to get a scene out of my head or because I just don't know what comes next but I know what comes after that. Scrivener makes that super duper easy.

I can also make documents within my fic that aren't the text of the fic. I usually have at least one for my outline, and sometimes have one or two for brainstorming when I'm stuck on a plot point or for keeping track of timelines and such. I often also have a doc where I dump cut bits that I might want to use later (or in another fic entirely - anything I know I need to cut but that might come in handy someday).

For original fiction you can get lots of templates that have various things you can use like character sheets or plot beats or whatever. You can have all your character sheets etc right there in the project.

You can put other stuff in it besides scrivener docs. You can drop entire PDFs into your scrivener file, let alone images and such. When I say I had a citation manager within it I mean I literally had the PDFs of the papers in there too. I use this a lot for my nonfiction writing stuff.

There's a split screen mode that's so useful. Sometimes when I'm editing I'll make a copy of a chapter or whatever so that I can keep an eye on what it used to look like to remind myself of where I want to go with it etc etc. Or I might keep the outline over there, or a character sheet, or whatever.

There's a revision mode that will keep track of up to five text colors for different revision stages - BUT what I use it for is tracking my word count. I do all new writing in revision mode, then every so often (especially if I'm about to delete a chunk) I select everything that's whatever color and record the word count in my word count text doc before removing the revision color. Then as soon as I go back to writing everything new that I type is the color again, I don't have to remember to set it back each time. IDK if how I worded that quite makes sense but it works great.

Here is a video I made a while back showing my fic project - as you can see, the ONLY time it slows down at all is when I try to view ALL OF IT at once, which I only ever do very occasionally out of idle curiosity as to my total wordcount. I just checked - I actually now have nearly 2 million words in this project right now. Can you even imagine trying to navigate a 2 million word Word file? That's about 8000 pages. No thank you.

Also there are mobile versions but I haven't gotten around to downloading those yet. I really should though; when I get the urge to write in the middle of the night on my phone I do it in an email and send it to myself and in the morning I paste it into scrivener lol

Anyhow, I highly recommend trying out the free trial (which is 100% functionality for 30 days) and seeing if it works for you. If you want to buy it, you can find various deals all over the place - for example, a code for Nano participants for 20% off, or if you win nano I think you can get 50% off.

I will say, it's not the best for formatting. I've said this before - I view it very much as a writing program, not a finished-product-creating program. I move my writing to Pages or OpenOffice if I need actual formatting beyond the most basic stuff like bold and italics. Fic I can just put right into AO3, though.

[tenebriskukris]

Oshi No Ko Chapter 158 - My Thoughts/Analysis

This was certainly A Chapter. There’s no use beating around the bush here—it left much to be desired in plenty of instances. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Spoilers for Oshi No Ko Chapter 158 below.

We start off with a Nino monologue of all things during one of B-Komachi’s concerts. Can we please skip this uninteresting side character’s attempt to try to wrest the title of final antagonist so we can get onto the more important bits?

Nino saying that Ruby has already surpassed Ai is—well. I like the effort but can the manga even try to push this idea through to us in any sort of subtle manner. Show us that Ruby has surpassed Ai through means other than using other named characters as the narrative’s mouthpiece—with their own inherent biases, no less—instead of regurgitating it for the viewers with little to no reading comprehension to pick up on. The first concert did it right with a couple of randos who were fans of the first B-Komachi show us that this most recent generation of idols shines no less brightly than the previous generation. Or show us a concert in full and detail the color of the glowsticks and how much the red glowsticks overpower the white and yellow.

Now the scene shifts to Mem and Amemone. Very surprised the latter showed up here considering she was essentially a one off character. Is she going to be relevant for this chapter? Probably not—but it’s a bit of a missed opportunity for her to do anything relevant in this arc if she’s going to show up in the first place. One could change this scene to a more Mem focused page instead and not lose much of what the panels are trying to convey. 

Akane!!! And she’s interacting with Ruby in this page too. Seeing these girls talk just reeks of plot advancement so I’m excited to see where this conversation goes.

Wait, what? This concert is in Miyazaki??? That’s somewhat surprising, but the town that Aqua and Ruby were born in is likely a different area entirely from the location of this concert. Still, kind of odd to namedrop Miyazaki when it’s the prefecture where Aqua and Ruby were born but I doubt the manga will kick up much of a fuss about it.

Akane mentioning not being able to make the concert in Tokyo feels vaguely plot relevant—as well as this concert being held in Tokyo during Christmas day. Is this the Dome concert? When does this chapter even happen and how long has it been since the last chapter? As always, the manga is vague and nebulous for the particulars of its timeline to its detriment.

When she’s an idol, we see things differently. Akane as always taking time to snipe at Kana. You love to see it. 

On stage, Kana definitely is no match for Ruby. Considering the bias that Akane already has for Kana in general, that's certainly a statement that holds considerable weight from Akane of all people. Again, Ruby definitively shining greater than Kana is a fact that was already obvious from the start and throughout how the movie was portraying them but it’s nice to hammer that fact in for people who lacked basic reading comprehension.

But for that reason…some people may find Ruby unpleasant. There will be those who are trying to destroy this sparkle. There is a tendency for those inferior than you to wish to tear down anyone who distinguishes themselves beyond the norm. It is in the nature of those who shine more brightly than anyone else that not everyone will be able to appreciate that light. There’ll be haters no matter how good or deserving or impressive any of the achievements that one pursues when at this level of stardom.

I’d also say that this is some metacommentary on how Ruby is perceived by the fandom these days, but this manga isn’t smart enough for that sort of thing if it can’t even pace things adequately. I’m placing the metanarrative on a high enough shelf until this manga passes Writing 101 because it’s obviously failed that class miserably with these last dozen or so chapters. 

You can’t become a jewel that shines forever. Unless you become part of someone’s memory after you die like Ai. But in our case… Huh, interesting words from Ruby right here. I’d really like to hear this perspective on idols in more detail if the narrative has the decency to flesh out her character in more detail. 

And now we cut to Hikaru calling Nino. Are we going to get details on them since we don’t even fucking know how they met in the first place or exactly how Nino had an hand in Ai’s death, or is that much going to be handwaved like so many other important plot points? 

Since the moment we killed Ryosuke—Sorry, what was that Nino??? You and Hikaru killed Ryosuke? Weren’t the two of you barely around 18 by that point and Ryosuke was 22? How exactly did you kill the man and make it look like it was a suicide exactly? 

Apparently this is a mistake caused by the translators after doing a little bit of digging, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest for the series to pose a question that introduces more than a couple of plot holes when it’s already shown a tendency to fumble so close to the finish line. If the series can’t even prepare to setup a half-decent confrontation between our main character and what the narrative was setting up to be the final antagonist of the series then a little forgetfulness of its own timeline and the events thereof is the least of its issues.

You have to continue to be the best idol forever and ever. Girl, you need to get over yourself and move the fuck on. This isn’t even sad in the entertaining way—it’s sad in the way that you have to put down roadkill to end their suffering. Her entire reason for being a part of Ai’s murder is literally because Ai was barely mean to her in that one interaction and she collapsed under the rejection. The whole—cool motive, still murder—phrase doesn’t even apply here because her entire reason for for having a hand in killing Ai is so petty and entitled that it shocks me that people seem to be on board with her trying to wrench the title of final antagonist from Hikaru, who the narrative has been building up on for the past 9/10ths of the manga.

Crow Girl reappears!!! Finally we’re back to dealing with her and potentially some supernatural matters. This monologue of hers is interesting, but one that’s plainly obvious with how the emotions she vocalizes are ones that the people in the panels feel so strongly. As a being close to what is essentially a god she’s more than privy to see this entire thing play out from audience seating.

Humans are… Foolish, obviously, but that’s because they get caught up in the moment. Their lives are limited, unlike maybe gods. This may be a good time to be reminded of the fact that Crow Girl called both Aqua and Ruby gods as well—which—I wanna see if the narrative follows up on that or if it too is going to be forgotten like a small pile of other relevant plot points this series has left in its wake.

December 25th already??? Is this the Dome concert??? 

WHAT????? THE CHAPTER ENDS OFF LIKE THAT??? WHAT THE FUCK???

Well. That certainly happened. Let’s start off with the elephant in the room. Ruby’s stabbing. I’m quite surprised about how many people think Ruby’s going to die. I’ll describe why I think otherwise below:

Let’s start out with the fact that the way that Ruby gets stabbed is so short, so shallow and bereft of detail that it makes the scene itself look suspicious. Maybe it’ll get rehashed in more detail in the next chapter because as it stands now it feels too much like some sort of dream sequence instead of objective reality. One of Aqua’s nightmares, perhaps? 

It would explain why Ruby—who almost certainly was affected by Ai’s death—would open that door and not look at who was on the other side considering there is a Very large window present in the last panel of the chapter. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth that the narrative would make her hold the idiot ball since Ai died similarly and on the exact day she died. I feel very much like Abiko when she was admonishing Goa for turning her babies into idiots in the script. 

In any case, if that explanation doesn’t sound satisfying then fine. Let’s accept that Ruby gets stabbed and it’s not a dream or anything like that. Even if she does get stabbed, that doesn’t mean that she’s going to die. The location of where she gets stabbed is also something that should be considered. The design of the door pushes the idea that this is somewhere that Ruby was present at because of her idol work—it’s certainly not one that you’d expect to see in an urban household.

But having this “stabbing” happen while Ruby is preparing for idol work also contradicts what Ruby herself said in the last chapter about how she always has someone with her—referring to Ichigo and Miyako—so I dunno. More fuel for a dream theory? If this location is an area that Ruby’s working as an idol there’d be sure to be scores of people who could potentially give medical support in case Ruby got stabbed so that’s also another point in her survival.

But there’s yet more evidence that Ruby survives this encounter. The very much maligned interviews from the start of the series. I want to point out two of them in particular: Miyako’s interview and Ruby’s interview.

In Miyako’s interview she basically describes how both Aqua and Ruby receive favored treatment and trials in just the right amounts before the scene cuts away to see Ruby calling Miyako and telling her to come to her location as soon as possible. I’ll note some important bits of that page. The soy sauce bottle in the final panel of that page is both full and close to the top, so the liquid on the blanket is almost certainly not soy sauce. In light of this latest chapter, perhaps it’s blood? 

This in itself doesn’t mean she survived, of course. But if Ruby has the time to call Miyako on the phone instead of yell out for help or call for emergency services it likely means that the stab isn’t an immediate fatality. More weight on the “Ruby survived” scale in my mind.

However, it isn’t the only interview where we directly see Ruby. She still has her own interview to wrestle with—one that we haven’t seen directly or indirectly. We know quite clearly that both Aqua, Goutanda, and Ichigo’s interview have already culminated, but everyone else’s interview still exists in a nebulous void of whether or not it happened offscreen or not. Which leaves Ruby’s survival in that same nebulous void. Because if she dies here—she obviously can’t go out and do that interview because she’d be dead. 

Hedging Ruby’s survival on the possibility that her interview didn’t already happen offscreen would be a fair enough gamble to roll the dice on. The interviews are certainly important enough for the manga to show on screen—as we see with Aqua and Gotanda’s interviews—so Ruby’s interview should be similarly important enough to show on screen, right? Except this is a manga that handwaved Aqua and Crow Girl’s first meeting offscreen. Except this is a manga that handwaved Taiki’s reaction and thoughts to hearing that his mother was a rapist and that his father was a serial killer throughout the movie arc. It wouldn’t be the first time that the manga has swept aside what should be important plot points to focus on and instead attempt to speedrun the story.

So. Yeah. In any case, there’s plenty of circumstantial evidence to conclude that Ruby survives the stabbing, but here’s my personal take—there’s still one final thing that tips the balance to make me think that Ruby survives this “stabbing” and it all hinges on a single question: What is the point of this stabbing in the first place?

The answer is obvious: Because Nino wants to keep Ai as the best idol in her mind. She says so herself in this chapter and there’s no room to doubt that because we see this idea hammered in more than once throughout her previous appearances. She wants to kill off Ruby because she’s surpassed Ai.

Now look at where the chapter ends off after hammering in the idea that Ruby has surpassed Ai. Ruby, getting stabbed so similarly to her mother on the day of the concert. What better way to actually show that Ruby has surpassed Ai by making her survive the stabbing and go on to perform at the Dome—something that Ai wasn’t able to do. 

This narrative just flows. It clicks, so to speak. You can’t simply spend an entire chapter harping on about how Ruby has managed to shine brighter than Ai and let her die in the same manner that Ai had. It simply doesn’t make good storytelling. It undercuts everything you want to do with the character and the narrative. Killing Ruby off here basically tells the viewer that she didn’t really surpass Ai and that all this chapter was in the long run was wasted energy for a cheap high that would fall flat when you look at it from the bigger picture. It simply doesn’t make sense.

In any case, I have yet more thoughts about this chapter. Namely—how they decided to execute this entire mess of Ruby surpassing Ai.

I’ll be frank. I don’t like it. I like the idea of Ruby surpassing Ai—the narrative has been building up to it quite a while now—but the execution leaves much to be desired. Perhaps I’m asking the manga for too much when I ask for them to show us how Ruby has managed to surpass Ai, but at the moment I’m not completely feeling it. I don’t feel an easy transition from their first concert to where they are now for any sort of change in the way Ruby is supposed to shine and articulate that for the readers. 

Of course, there’s plenty of material around Ruby that could lead to this change. Both chapter 123 and 143 were important shifts in Ruby’s character that should be talked about when dealing with the way she performs as an idol and her perspective in general, but we don’t get to see that transition as a performer. All we get to see is the end result of this process with little more than some breadcrumbs to follow while we show how a character has changed from the outside in. We rarely get to see Ruby’s internality and thought process as she develops from these chapters. She did not get enough time to linger in the spotlight organically as the series developed. I suspect that’s why so many people dislike Ruby now that we’re racing to the finish line and she’s finally gotten a chance to stand in the spotlight.

The narrative itself did not adequately prepare Ruby, the character, into a position where I am fully convinced that she has surpassed Ai. I believe she has surpassed Ai both because the narrative makes it clear that she has and because of the parallels between her and Ai, but it isn’t easy to digest when Ruby herself seems to have been considered an afterthought half the time without the screentime to match such a role.

In any case, I’m glad that Ruby’s finally gotten her time to shine, but the authors need to be writing better material than some of the stuff I’ve seen high school writing students draft up. The way they’ve been handling Ruby half the time is laughable for someone who’s just as important as Aqua.

A small addendum to this entire subject is that some people are fuming that Kana of all characters should’ve been stabbed. If Ruby is lacking some of the necessities for me to be fully convinced that she has both surpassed and parallels Ai, then Kana has negative qualities in this regard. The fact that the movie arc casted Ruby as Ai and Kana as Nino stands for itself in terms of facilitating these parallels. There isn’t much clearer the narrative can be to smack these parallels onto the readers’ skulls.

Now, onto Nino and how she’s doing. I’ll say it plainly: I don’t like her as a character. I make this very clear in a couple of my prior analyses and in this one. The narrative’s attempt to make Nino a compelling character and antagonist is little late when Hikaru has been teased and baited as the final antagonist for the majority of the series. Not to mention the fact that the short story 45510 is now mandatory for understanding her character—which is certainly A Decision. A horrible one, really, but if the manga is already falling off a cliff, it doesn’t matter if you fall a hundred meters down or a thousand.

[te-pu-si-ti]

What The Burnt City gave me

Seriously soppy and mournful and oversharey post ahead. Skip it if you don't want to deal with that.

It gave me something to look forward to, for one glorious year and a half. Something that I always knew I would enjoy, no matter what. How many things can you say that about - how many activities, venues, restaurants, can you say you know, before you go in, that you will always have a wonderful time?

It taught me about generosity. They are always so giving. Even when I don't think I deserve it, they give me something to hold on to (I don't just mean 1:1s, I don't just mean interactions, there are other ways too that they've made it meaningful).

It helped me back into the habit of doing things - since covid I'd been on the cautious side and didn't leave the house as much as I used to. Not that I was a total shut-in, just that I was used to my evenings at home, and there had to be a special and important reason to go out. But this was always special and important.

It got me into London - I live in a town outside of London, within commuting distance but well outside. And I emigrated here some years ago. The show reminded me that I'm a stone's throw away from a truly world-class city, and a visit doesn't have to be saved for special occasions. It's quicker to get to Woolwich than to my friend's house across town...

It gave me community. For the first time since the lockdowns, I've been making new friends. Friends who I can be myself around - in all my awkwardness, nerdiness, trans queerness. I have met some of the kindest, funniest, most talented and giving people. And I really hope those relationships will continue, but even if they don't, I found these kindred spirits for at least a few months and it's been beautiful.

It got me into theatre! I used see maybe a couple musicals a year, now I have so many friends with their fingers on the pulse of British theatre, watchers and creators, keeping me updated on what's coming up. I've taken in so many fabulous productions that I never would have even heard of otherwise.

Sometimes it just... gave me a reason to get out of bed and shower? I get depressed sometimes. There are times when I feel so numb, when I don't care about anything, when I can't feel anything - but I care about this, and I feel things from this.

And it gave me a reason to dress up and party, to hug my friends tight, to cry and to squeal with delight.

I cannot express how grateful I am. I could keep writing until the end of my life, and I could not express the extent of it.

[thenixkat]

will stew over fic ideas (specifically the Ted comes back wrong au) now that I know what happened after Ted's death i know that the comics after Infinite Crisis skipped ahead one year instead of dealing with the direct aftermath of shit

but i also know that there's will shit and, like, as much as I hate the nice guy-ification of Ted and Barbra's friendship that was fucking contrived for Ted to be alone, her freezing him out played a hand in his death so she shouldn't have his money in my book. Especially when she left Booster Gold in a lurch when he needed help too and supposedly Booster is Ted's best friend

i can come up with up with a decent reason for Ted and Barbra's friendship to go icy at least from Barbra's side that isnt nice guy-ification like she did pressure him to go back into the field after he retired (clearly with the mindset of if you've got the power its yer responsibility). (there's so much wrong with Ted dropping off the face of the Earth more or less between his diagnosis and Countdown but like that's what happened)

Like I could see an aftermath of Ted getting diagnosed with his heart condition and going 'That is a sign if there ever was one' and perhaps not looking into ways to get it potentially fixed or mitigated so he can do more hero wise and wanting to go back to basically retired tech support and Barbra being miffed about it. Cause unlike her paralysis that she's refusing to get fixed unless the tech to do so is widely available to the public (I think i'm remembering right) Ted's condition is potentially fixable with modern technology especially since it wasnt specified any more than ''degenerative heart condition' which could be a lot of things and some of those things are fixable

might need to workshop it, but that's what comes to mind

like that makes more sense to me, Barbra getting icey on 'you could fix yer shit and go back to helping people in the field but are choosing not to which is selfish' and not that incel friendzoned shit the writer pulled out their ass

it also bothers me so much that no one questioned why Ted was back in costume in Countdown to Infinite Crisis which is set after he got diagnosed. Yes it was most likely just the writer being ablest, but it fits that bullshit superhero mentality that heroing is more important than anything else and you should be out on the field even if its actively killing you. Like sure Ted's heart could give out on him at any second but he should be in costume and doing things

I still loathe the absolute fuckery of Ted being a joke to the entire superhero community that no one takes him being in trouble seriously… but… I could blame that on Maxwell Lord if he can just… brainwash fuckers through audio recordings. And has enough of a grudge/is targeting Ted on purpose. The shitty writing can be explained with enough application of other shitty writing

the issues of having to work with shitty writing to make a follow-up au fic for the shitty writing just the sheer 'wow that's bad and makes no sense but if i dont use it this fic i'm making wont work'

[little-lightning-lavellan]

NEW CHAPTER! KISSING???

Between getting Covid and this chapter ending up twice as long as originally intended (I had very important things I needed to make sure were communicated, okay?), this took a hot minute to get out. But, I hope it was worth the wait, because after 128197 words... it happens. 👀 Here be a snippet right before it all goes down:

“You know that I’ve got a good memory, ma fen, you know that. I don’t forget things easily,” She was back to nicknames, it would seem. “Well, do you know what Garrett Hawke told me when he first arrived?”

Had she scooted closer? No, that was just the way the shadows cast across them from over the wall. Surely, there was no other explanation.

“Tell me.”

“He told me,” A snort. A snort! Mellan covered her nose with one hand and squeezed Solas’ with the other, eyes closed and face cast to the ground. “He told me, that my symptoms - oh, you won’t believe a word of this - that they mean, that I’m smitten with you!”

Solas’ eyes felt wobbly.

Ah, well--that was a new sensation. He wasn’t altogether sure he’d felt that before; not in a context like this, at any rate.

Give him the credit of maintaining his composure, the world within him shook with greater violence than a Titan fighting against the bonds of--

Is this how adolescents felt? Real, true, young people? Was it always so stifling hot?

“Oh, and Solas? Solas, the best part. You’ll find this funny,” Did she even realize he wasn’t laughing? Of course not, ragged hand covered giggling mouth and she hadn’t looked up to him once since she’d started. Was he to stop her? Let her continue? Did this manner of ‘announcement’ count towards that finish line he had promised he would meet her at one day? Was this the correct path?

Ironically, she was a balter from his own path, but an enrapturing one that left him dumbstruck with each new revelation of hers. Like an impatient reader he wanted to skip ahead just a few of her pages. Have her spoil the story and tell him what lay ahead.

“He said that,”

‘What comes next?’

“That you were a ‘lucky guy;’ that we were more than dear friends.” Another giggle and their shared fate was sealed. “As if, oh, my goodness, as if you were smitten with me as well!”

Mellan shook her head for a final time, before, at last, she raised it up to meet Solas’ eyes.

“But, that would be silly, wouldn’t it?”

She hadn’t actually thought much on what she expected to see when she opened her eyes. Perhaps a smile, a shared laugh, but not a stare. Not a look from her friend that held something deep and lurking just beneath the surface of murky waters.

Not something that made her wonder if the petname she’d given him of ‘fen’ was a bit too apt, and that if she moved too quickly, some emotion would snap; and oh, dear, Mellan was nowhere near ready for whatever that emotion might be.

“W-Wouldn’t it?” Had she actually spoke aloud, or simply thought the words? Mellan supposed she might have mouthed them, let them fan across her teeth. It took a real gulp of purest bravery for her to truly speak heartily again. “S-So, um, academically. Academically… my symptoms.”

‘Spirits, even my nose feels like it's on fire; I probably look like a tomato to him. Why couldn’t I just keep my mouth shut? Why couldn’t I just learn the blasted dance and be done with it all?!’

“Thought? Your thoughts?”

Peculiar, even by their standards, Solas held a single chuckle in his chest. Barely hiding his lip, he rested fingers upon it to shield the smallest smile as he turned to think.

“My thoughts,” he began, a twinge of well-measured mirth to his tone. “Are that Ser Hawke is far more attentive than I gave him credit for.” And that he could now confirm that he had been a right prick to the man, but that was neither here nor there at this point. 

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Mellan take a gulp for air, most likely absorbing the information he had technically-not-confirmed - and, therefore, was still following his own personal set of rules - but, also not at all denied. The blessing was that he knew she was smart, and that she knew precisely what he was getting at, all with his plausible deniability still perfectly intact.

He still was just as much of a prick, wasn’t he?

“A--hm,” She nodded, readjusting herself yet again, back straightening. Solas could see how her shoulders rolled back beneath her braids like branches beneath leafy willows, how her chest rose and fell across the skin exposed above her ill-fitting tunic. “I see. So, then, I suppose you are suggesting that Garrett’s observation was, ah, correct?”

“No, I am declaring it.” To him it was not a subject for debate.

Read the rest here on Ao3!

I hope you guys are excited and enjoy because holy moly I’ve been fucking amped for this jerhbuerbgueibguearburbygber I really hope it was worth the wait and this chapter is enjoyable D’x Love y’all!!

Tags below:

@pikapeppa​ @because-im-hap-hap​ @rosella-writes​ @emerald-amidst-gold​ @oxygenforthewicked​ @varric-tethras-editor​ @fade-touched-shenanigans @the-dreadful-canine​ @smashingpigeons​ @bluecadash​ @drunken-drengr​ @reonerra​ @dungeons-and-dragon-age​ @dreadfutures​ @darethshirl​  @fiadhaisteach​ @bogunicorn​ @ashalle-art​ @kantrips​ @shift-shaping​ @noire-pandora​ @palepinkycat​ @debgall​ @malewifezevran​ @1000generations​ @drag-on-age​ @siennamain​ @dalish-spectre​ @raflesia65​ @thevikingwoman​ @kumaronoa​ @midorimaddie​ @sassyseeker​ @musetta3​ @rivainisomniari​ @in-arlathan​ @melisusthewee​ @jellydishes​ @effelants​ @potatowitch​ @dismalzelenka @bluewren​

[n7punk]

Hey there! Good evenin!

I wanted to ask for advice on posting AI3 stories on here? I’ve noticed you and other artists I favorite doing it for some time but I’ve never really gotten the hang of figuring it out for myself.

(well, tumblr gave me two notifications but only showed me one anon so... hope you're the only one LOL). I assume that's a typo for AO3 and not the crime of AI generating 3 stories XD

okay, so I'm guessing you're looking for tips on how to effectively share fics in a useful/concise way? i don't know what a lot of other people do since the fanfic authors i follow on tumblr dont usually make share posts, but i can talk about my thought process i guess.

i share the way i do because i used to write my fics direct on tumblr (which was fine when they were like 1k one shots and doesn't work for pretty much anything else). i had to include all the information someone might want at the start of a post by necessity. when i started sharing fics from ao3, i continued providing the same information with some changes/additions because like, if that's what they wanted to know to read it on tumblr, they probably want it in order to click through to another site too. i know a lot of people who post direct on tumblr will just include like two lines like [- ship name - prompt/summary (some people skip even this & just. pls. include it) - read more] but that's really not enough for me to read something new unless i already like the author.

(side bar: for long projects, i generally do one share post at the beginning and one at the end, occasionally with another halfway through if it's especially long. i used to do them every chapter but that's just Annoying (for me, people in the tags, and my followers probably) but i update really frequently, so if it's been 2 months since the last chapter, go for a new share post, why not.)

anyway this is my general formatting notes that led to how i do my posts:

either start with or end with the link. you can type a regular title/"Read here on AO3!" and make it a hyperlink, or include one of the embedded links tumblr has.

IF YOU USE AN EMBED LINK: for multichapter fics, it will title it only as "Show Chapter" which is totally unhelpful. ao3 links are roughly formatted as "ao3.org/works/[workID]/chapters/[chapterID]". you need to delete the "/chapters/[chapterID]" part to have it display the embed link the same as it does with one shots, with the fic title, author pseud, and "AO3" stuff. This will make the link title actually helpful!

think of what information you would need if you were browsing ao3 instead of tumblr. you would usually be in a fandom, character, or ship's tag, so that's going to be the most important information you want to be sure you include and get out first, since it's often the first qualifying/disqualifying factor for people looking at fics. personally, i include fandom and ship because those two characters will be the obvious focus and all the others can be found on the actual ao3 post. if it's not a ship fic, then you can list major character(s) instead (also, you can list ship as "Gen" for general, non-shippy fic).

obviously you need a summary (seriously, you need a summary. even if it's bad, or one sentence, put something), but if there's other stats you want to include (like how i do the rating - which i think is important - and chapter/word count) you might want to put those ahead of the summary just to keep things visually neater. what you view as important will vary.

if you want to literally copy what i do i dont give 2 shits lmao. if you like some things about it but would change others, go for it. to me, your hitlist of information should be: fandom, ship/characters, work title, and fic summary. pseuds can be skipped, especially if its the same as your tumblr name, but i generally include it. i think rating is important, and i include something indicating length since thats a big decision factor in when/if i read what fics, but it's not so important in a share post because ideally, if they're interested in the summary, they'll at least open the fic and add it to their saved for later if its too long for that moment, and they'll see word count then

[grousebrood]

wip wednesday

tagged by @optiwashere, i honestly don't really know anyone else on here but if you're one of the four people who follow me you can consider this a tag!

the first real fic i ever tried writing was far too big of a bite for me to chew, and i wrote about 90% of it and haven't touched it since. at this point i'm not sure i'll ever actually finish it, but it was actually weirdly very instrumental in me learning and understanding some very fundamental things about myself post/mid-transition. so even if it's never done it'll probably always be kind of important to me.

anyway my writing process is very messy and modular so there are very few sections that don't have weird little gaps. so i tried to put together a coherent little thing from it to post — not the explicit smut parts tho, bc i'm still too embarrassed to post here haha.

starring drow paladin of selune and shadowheart mid-Act 2, so vague SPOILERS ACT 2 ahead. important context is also that i wrote this mid-Act 2, so it very well may be a complete mess canonically but whaddya gonna do. starts mid fic.

CW: whipping, blood, hurt but we don't get to the comfort, sadomasochism (?), penis referenced

(sincere and deep apologies if i missed something, i'm new to this so idk all of em, but if something you'd like to avoid is adjacent to the above concepts it's probably better to just skip this!)

_______________

"Go forth and sow doubt, but do not compel it — only the willing may know the Lady’s embrace."

_______________

Still, the horrific, repulsive display festered within Helena. She had tried to push the images from her thoughts but they twisted their way inside. The rending of flesh. The grotesque cruelty of the wretched and inhuman dogma. 

Most of what she felt was a revolted nausea, her weathered soul recoiling at having witnessed the unholy mania. 

However, something flickered deep within her. It drew her close and quickened her heart. 

The mindless rapture. The oblivion. The end to all her aching hope. 

Loss.

Helena was infuriated by the thought. Shar’s embrace was a vile parasite that tormented the weak, and she was not weak. She steadied her mind, slowed her heart. Eyes closed, focusing, she uttered a soft prayer. The words offered a small balm, and her doubts and fears briefly scuttled to parts unknown as thoughts of something not too dissimilar flooded into the cavity the disturbing temptation had left behind. 

Rolling to her side, she gazed at the fading fire, and, beyond it, Shadowheart’s sleeping form. The deep, soft breaths of her slumber soothed Helena as she watched her chest slowly rise and fall. 

Since they’d begun traveling together, Helena and Shadowheart had been poking and prodding one another about their respective, incompatible faiths. And yet despite all this, or maybe even because of it, they had grown closer. They both understood the depths of devotion. What it meant. What it takes from you, what it gives in return. 

But even more, they came to understand each other, sharing things about themselves perhaps no other person had ever heard. Their memories, no matter how filamentous. Their thoughts, their fears. Their doubts. 

As they and the others traveled across [Faerun] together, desperately seeking a way to save all their lives, Helena pieced together the fragments of Shadowheart’s story within her heart and found herself increasingly drawn to the half-elf. After they shared a kiss in the small hours of the morning, just before the goblins had assaulted the Emerald Grove, Helena had even begun to naively wonder about what kind of a future a cleric of Shar and paladin of Selune could share.

------time jump-----

"If you were capable of feeling even an ounce of what I’ve felt, what I’ve been feeling, you wouldn’t be so quick to recite your ignorant drivel. I thought I might come here to offer you some comfort to help you sleep, but you clearly have little intention of letting me be close to you.” Shadowheart got to her feet, turning to leave. 

Even as the words stung her, a delirious thought slipped into Helena’s mind, small at first, then all-consuming. 

What better way to prove her worth to her Moonmaiden, her dedication to her righteous calling than to walk through the darkest corridors of the soul and come out the other side more devoted than ever? Yes, she would allow her blasphemous feelings to flourish — only to lull them into a false sense of security so they could be exterminated with a holy beam of radiant light. 

She would be stripped bare, clean and naked, and then moon’s love would once again envelop her, the proudest daughter of Selune. 

“Show me,” she said quietly.  

Shadowheart, mid-exit, became still. She turned back to look at the drow sitting in the dark, almost invisible if not for her pale white hair.

“Excuse me?” 

“I want you to show me,” Helena said, rising to her feet as anger and panic roiled inside her. “Prove your point. Make me feel Shar’s truth. She’d love it if you were to turn me, no? You’ve said so yourself. Imagine it. The woman who recovered the githyanki artifact, succeeding where all others failed, and on top of that, serving her Lady a new cleric of Loss. She would have no choice but to elevate such a loyal and powerful servant.”

“That’s nonsensical,” Shadowheart said, standing still as Helena came close enough that she could feel the heat of her body in the cold night. Helena reached a hand up to cup the side of Shadowheart’s cheek. The same way she held her the night they kissed. 

“Unless you haven’t really believed anything you’ve said since I met you.” 

Shadowheart’s eyes sparked with darkness as her hand shot up to grab Helena’s wrist and she abruptly pushed forward, catching her off guard and off-balance. Shadowheart’s grip secure on her arm, Helena stumbled backward, lightly tripping over the rocks and roots of the forgotten homestead’s pathways. Carried by the momentum of their bodies, Helena slammed hard into the aged wood of the shack as her breath left her chest. 

The two holy warriors pressed into each other against the wall as Shadowheart held Helena in place, her quarry struggling to suck in air after the impact, incapable of doing anything much at all despite being the stronger woman. 

“How dare you question my commitment to Lady Shar?” Shadowheart said venomously. “After all I’ve been through — all you’ve seen?”

“By your own admission I know nothing of the true worth of your Mistress of the Night,” Helena said, petulant, catching her breath and ignoring the wrenching lurch in her stomach as she felt Shadowheart push against her. “But from what I see it doesn’t seem like you know much more than a few silly phrases and petty excuses, pounded into your head by years of obedient listening. So show me, if you’re so devout.” 

Shadowheart’s anger flared and her grip tightened on Helena. She pondered for a moment, resolve hardening as she, too, tried to ignore a wellspring of warmth that had begun to flow through her body.

“Inside,” she finally hissed. 

-----------time jump-----------

“Fuck you.” 

Helena’s vision blurred as the room warped and spun around her. She again felt Shadowheart’s breath on her ear, though she struggled to listen. The sharp pain from her back extended outward, throbbing, as a hot pressure began to build in her body. The chair, already uncomfortable, seemed to become even smaller as she buckled over in agony, feeling something begin to press against her abdomen. Was that… Was she…?

Was she getting hard? 

Another lash of the whip. Helena jerked in pain and fell to the side, crashing to the floor, tears and spit dripping from her face as she concentrated on regaining some composure. 

Shadowheart crouched in front of Helena, using the whip’s grip first to lift the blindfold and then to tilt her chin upward, forcing her to focus on her tormentor’s face. The face of a woman she had thought she might love, whose unexpected softness had sustained Helena even as she thought her trials might break her.

Now, however, it seemed cruel and hard, Shadowheart’s preternatural derision directed entirely on her and her pathetic, drooling failure to understand the Sharran’s faith. Even still, as the pain continued to throb within her, so did her building animal lust, lust that made her feel all the more ashamed. Not only had she failed to prove herself, but she was hopelessly enthralled to this woman, desperate for more and yet physically unable to withstand it. 

“Shall I stop?” 

The flame was a fading ember. She stared into Shadowheart’s eyes, hoping to see a flicker of concern that showed that the cleric still cared for her. Helena saw none, and the hope died — but seemingly with it so too did her need to either please her companion or preserve herself. Spite boiled in her throat. 

No. 

She would not fail. 

She could not let the smug Sharran win. Helena spat. 

“Keep going.”

----------------------------

and there ya have it

[edworld]

Memo to K-12: Teach kids to read in FIRST GRADE or get out of education. That’s the “Marva Collins Challenge”

Truth is, we have tens of millions of people who could claim to read in some sense. But they can't reach the important threshold that so many of us take for granted: reading for pleasure.

Lucy Calkins has been the queen of reading for the last 25 years. Her bad prescriptions were merely echoing the bad prescriptions of Professors Frank Smith and Ken Goodman, and before them the literacy pretenders who introduced Whole Word in the 1930s.

Here’s what all the false prophets taught: English is read by memorizing thousands of sight-words. As that is hugely difficult for most children, they should follow other clues: use context; consider initial letters; guess; skip ahead, consider picture clues. This nonsense almost guarantees illiteracy. 

Balanced Literacy is now jargon for try-anything-maybe-you’ll-get-lucky.

During most of the time Lucy was preaching her fake theory, I was writing articles saying hey, this is obviously bad theory. I enjoy thinking I made a small contribution to her ideas being rejected by Columbia University and Teachers College. 

(Here's some background: "Episode 118: Reading Rescued" -- https://letsfixeducation.buzzsprout.com/1792553/13712120-episode-118-reading-rescued-thanks-to-lucy-calkins-oct-4-2023 )

The knowledge was always there for anybody who cared to listen. Rudolf Flesch wrote his famous book in 1955 explaining that sight-words are the reason Why Johnny Can't Read.

More recently, Marva Collins, who operated her own school in Chicago, stated: Most children can learn to read in first grade!

My message to the slackers of education: if you can't do what Marva did, you should retire.

English is a phonetic language and must be taught with phonetics, i.e. phonics. It's a vast language with nearly 1,000,000 words but only someone with a photographic memory can memorize even 500 sight-words. Literacy rates have dropped continuously since the imposition of sight-words. That’s all you need to know to reject sight-words.

Here is Marva Collins in her book Marva Collins’ Way: “Children as young as 3-1/2 to 4 years of age, are admitted to my school at the beginning of every school year in September.

I guarantee that they will all be reading by Christmas, three months later. That has been the results since I started my school in 1975.”

————————------------------------------------------------------

Here's where we are now. If you search the terms balanced literacy, science of reading and similar, you will find a shocking array of conflicting opinions about how to teach reading. I doubt there has ever been such chaos in the Education Establishment.

I suspect one of the things the professors learned from almost a century of promoting bad ideas is that you don't need to win every argument, or enforce every opinion. You only need to inject a bad habit or two in every student. They will be damaged and literacy will continue to decline. I believe that is the goal.

So all the confusion is not necessarily a weakness. People don't realize where each kid is being damaged the most. So a lot of bad instruction will continue in plain sight.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are hoping that sight-words do work, see this video. Only seven minutes and you'll know the horror.

“How Dolch Words Cause Illiteracy and Dyslexia”

————————————————————————————————

CODA: We need to get the whole country involved at a little higher level.  That's how we get the reform we need. See Episode 118 on Let's Fix Education

 .https://www.buzzsprout.com/1792553/episodes/13791258

#sightwords  #phonics   #illiteracy   #communism       #agitprop #dyslexia   #knowledge   #teachers  #literature  #books  #academicsuccess #dumbingdown  #ignorance    #K12  #literary #dolchwords

[p1utoswrld]

DOCTORHEWITT

I spent about a month on this project and deleted just about every previous draft of it due to the sheer amount of pressure I’ve found myself under when making such a public release. I’ve gone through so many moments of hating my work and doubting my ability to even make this work, but Hewitt has been there every step of the way to encourage me to finish this and I cannot be more thankful to him for even getting me started on this project in the first place.

I had spoken with Hewitt about my idea for a space that would allow me to bring the stories of different creatives to a range of audiences and he encouraged me to start it. After seeing him tweet some inspirational shit about creative work I decided to just go ahead and start, making Hew my first victim. With him being the inspiration behind the work, I decided it was only right for me to interview him first.

Originally this started as just a practice run for only us and maybe a few of my friends to see but with the excitement of everything I just had to make this something to share with the whole world (or the combined 40 of our friends who’d read it out of obligation). I still don’t have a true sense of direction when it comes to this project and see it as more of a space to just ramble on about my thoughts on Hewitt. I hope that’s insightful and enjoyable for you guys, and I’m so excited to share this with you all.

A few weeks ago, I made a tweet asking people to give me album recommendations since I was in the mood to branch out. Tessa led me to A DIGITAL TAR PIT, a collaborative album between Ike Offline and DOCTORHEWITT. I enjoyed the album a ton and had to delve more into the minds behind this work of art. Tess decided to get me a notice from her Hew follow on Twitter (I’m not calling that shit X), and retweeted a post I made about listening to ADTP (check out the album and their other works on Spotify <3) which eventually led to him following me and a few interactions in DMs.

I thought it was so cool to be talking to one of the minds behind one of my favorite releases this year and joked about making Hewitt my new best friend. While we aren’t BFFs right now, he has become an important figure in my life, especially regarding the art that I make. I genuinely do not think I would be writing this right now without his constant support and encouragement. None of what I say about him in this article is meant to talk him up for a good impression, I would turn this entire article into hate speech and single-handedly run his slander campaign if I felt like it, but I don’t. He’s one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met and I could not ask for a better inspiration.

Delving into Hewitt's solo catalog, accessible through Hewitt Kraufield on Spotify, gave me so much insight into him as not only an artist but as a person. So much of his story is put into his work even if it may just seem like this jumble of sounds or random shots. There's a piece of his story in every one of his songs and videos, even if unrecognizable to the naked eye. I remember making a joke about being his biggest fan and finding my way to his alternate account of releases. I wanted to get a feel for Hewitt himself and skipped over anything with a feature. Even for a first listen I could feel the emotional weight of so many of his songs. I commented on how they felt like something you'd cry to, even Hewitt had to admit that he'd shed a few tears to his work. Usually, I'd think someone was an egotistical prick for saying something like that, but I got it. I wasn't even going through anything at the time, but every awful feeling I had ever had came rushing to the surface and I could feel myself starting to tear up. The crying wasn't even out of reliving those moments or feelings but from the peace of having gotten past it, of it all just being something to remember.

He says that he wants his art to make people feel nostalgic and eternalize the 8288 house, he does this so well and it's interesting to see the way his nostalgia takes form in his songs. Maybe I'm some weirdo freak but when I listen it can sometimes feel like I'm watching Hew's memories from inside his brain and I fucking love that.

Memories for quite a lot of the songs that I find sad as shit are often sweet. And after learning the meanings behind it I can see the moments playing out in my head like stop motion or a flip book. He told me that the 'Pocket Watch Collection' was about giving his friend Stevie a new pocket watch on every special occasion, thus creating a collection. After learning this, I could visualize the events passing with him handing her a new pocket watch to add to the ever-growing collection, another memory of their friendship being added to the others as the years passed by. I don't know why but this sense of dread comes with the build-up of this song, like there will eventually be no more pocket watches to give, no more memories to collect. This dreadful pit in the bottom of my stomach like I'm giving Stevie the pocket watches myself and watching her face change through the years as it just doesn't feel as special anymore, or it doesn't matter as much. That's just my sick interpretation of it and some window into my fears and traumas, but I like making a story out of the music.

While my story and connection to his art is the most meaningful part of this entire article, I still owe it to both you guys and Hewitt to present his story as well.

DOCTORHEWITT was never a name created specifically for artistry, Hewitt had a liking to the title of doctor and added it on to his name. The name has to be completely capitalized, doctor is to be spelled out, no dr, no Dr Hewitt, no doctorhewitt. Initially I thought the mask was supposed to be a purposeful branding move but it turns out he just hates showing his face.

8288 is the house that Hewitt grew up in and the backbone for every bit of work that he does. Growing up and gaining actual consciousness while living there left an obvious mark. He had his first experiences with music while living there, whether through shitty keyboard playing as a ratty toddler or going to gigs that his older brothers played with their bands. Hell, he even started out making fuck ass youtube videos here when he dreamed of being some big-shot director. Even if all of the memories at this house aren't the best, it's still special to him and I think so many people can relate to that. That consistency of growing up somewhere or with someone/something will permanently imprint on your psyche and affect everything you do, even if it's not consciously, even if the memories sometimes leave a sour taste.

Danny The Destroyer (crazy name dude), a friend Hew made in 2012 after moving from the 8288 house, gave Hewitt his music taste and his first introduction to production. 2012-2014 were his years of exploration when it came to music and life overall (the terrible teens). The youtube channel was still running strong but Hew was slowly finding his way into online communities of artists and figuring out what music he fucked with. The public place his work was feature was in a few ads for a longboard company under a sponsorship that lasted from 2015-2017. Hew spent a few years bouncing around between his own releases,producing or organizing events for local artists, and being a manager. In 2022, he joined Private Network Club alongside artists like Awkward St8, Ike Offline, Thiago, Prison and Mac.

Around the Southwest Florida underground music scene Hew has been a bit of a ghost. For such a young person he's done so much in the scene, even if most people don't know about it. Being this faceless figure, many people had no idea who he was or what he did until he would mention it, and that was pretty rare of him to do. Ike admits he didn't even know Hewitt made beats up until recently. From organizing shows to even just talking to people, Hewitt has been responsible for so many of the connections made in the 239 underground scene and, even though he doesn't care about the credit or recognition, not many people know he's the reason behind a lot of this. Finding out how much recognition he lacks was a bit frustrating but it's just a reflection on his character. Seeing the creative scene down in SWFL thrive is one of his top priorities and he'll make that happen through any means.

Hewitt can honestly be described as none other than a jack of all trades, he used to do management for a bunch of artists down in SWFL, organized shows, shot music videos and produced for people and now he's at the stage of making vocal tracks. This start in making vocal projects is the biggest step Hew has had to make in his career so far and I couldn't be more proud of him. As of right now 'THE UNKNOWN' featuring Awkward St8 is Hewitt's only claimed public vocal track (there's something he did ad-libs on floating around SoundCloud, we're not getting any of the details for it). Surprisingly, putting out 'THE UNKNOWN' wasn't that big of a deal and now serves as the proper foundation to the bigger project. He's been working hard the past few years to get over his insecurity around his voice, solidifying his eventual full length vocal project as something incredibly special to those around him.

Speaking of those around him, I reached out to a few friends of his to add a level of authenticity to this article. Hewitt speaks very fondly of all of his friends and I had to check and see if he was lying about them or not. All of them were honestly so sweet and helpful with their own kind words and input. There's a lot of love for Hew amongst his friends and with the way everyone talks about him, he genuinely seems to be a good person. As everyone gave me their stories about Hewitt I noticed almost all of them had the same consensus, they wouldn't be who they are without him. There's a lot of praise amongst his peers and it's heartwarming to see so much positivity and love around such a genuine and kind person.

Getting back into the artistry side of things, I wanted to leave off with my thoughts on a few more of his projects.

On Christmas Eve of 2020, DOCTORHEWITT and Wakizashi (born dead) dropped a 17 track collaborative album, The Same Four Walls. A lot of the context you'll need for this section can be found on tealcheese. I can't find any lyrics outside of 'Forest Painting', and can't hear for shit so there won't be any lyrical deep dives, but I could write you a novel off the vibes alone. I listened to the album on loop while I wrote this section and I can honestly say I hate how well they captured the feeling of being stuck. Hewitt puts so much emotion and hard work into each thing he puts out and when you take the time to actually pay attention as you listen it gets to you. I felt trapped and unable to focus the whole way through, I could feel the energy draining from me. So much of the emotion put into this was now on me and I just couldn't bare the weight of it. This album is the feeling of not going anywhere personified. That claustrophobia from being in one place for what can feel like decades and all the thoughts that come with it. If you're not in a good space right now, don't listen to this, go have fun with A DIGITAL TAR PIT and spare yourself the insanity, but come back to it. This album is a true work of art and a beautiful experience to go through.

Hewitt likes to make depressing shit. In a video uploaded to his instagram captioned, 'where did the time go', we follow the journey of Hew making his way to New York, or something like that. Without any real context to what the fuck is going on the video is confusing to watch but everything is beautifully shot and put together. This is yet another project of his that weighs heavily emotionally. My favorite shot is the one from the rear view mirror. Hewitt stares into it and the drops of rain give this effect of crying. The only feeling I can really attach to this is that of moving on. The move isn't permanent but it still hurts to be leaving something you've grown to love behind. It reminds me of the last summer I spent in Louisiana. I was always going to go back and visit again at some point but this was the end of my extended stays through the summer. In the car ride back to Houston I remember staring back and tearing up because it felt like I was losing such an important part of my youth. I still go back and get to see those family members fairly often but it just doesn't feel the same.

In all of his projects there is copious amounts of heavy emotion that goes into every bit of it. For someone like me, insanely mentally ill, it can feel like reliving every bit of your trauma all at once or even just specific bits of it but I think this is a good thing. All of the work that he puts in to trying to eternalize 8288 and his upbringing is paying off incredibly well. While everyone might not resonate with the exact meanings behind the work people can still understand it and connect it back to their own emotions and memories. While I am so proud of him for finally getting to a place where he is comfortable with his voice to start releasing vocal projects, I think I might prefer just the soundtracks. Being void of lyrics gives you this clean slate to put all of your own words and thoughts to it, the interpretation is completely up to the listener. At the end of the day, whatever Hewitt decided to put out I'll be here to support, no matter how insane and emotionally torturous it may be.

I'd like to give a special thank you to Stevie, Gavin, Adin, Wakizashi, and Ike Offline for their contributions to this article. Another thank you to Des for graphics and Ro for all of the editing work.

DCOTORHEWITT

Twitter Instagram Soundcloud Spotify

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Do you remember that weird and very short clip of TF running from something or someone from s5e9 Ty’s big episode? We see Sasha, Daryl, and Glenn running. We also see Rick running and opening a door of a car, and we’re seeing that from someone’s POV. Who do you think that could be? Ty? One would think that since that’s his big episode. Was it ever explained what exactly they were running from or to? And why? Did no one ever brought that up in TTD to Chris Hardwick when that episode first aired back then? What do you think?

Yeah, for sure. It was definitely weird. And no, we've never gotten an explanation. Because of that, no one can say for sure.

Most of us who have been at this for years have some theories, though. You can read my full "What We Think Happened After Grady" post by clicking on the title, but the gist is that we're missing 17 days after Coda that the show simply skipped over. But for some reason, Nicotero felt were important enough to tell the audience about.

Then there's that pesky trading card that came out a year or three ago, which sets up a completely different story than the one we saw. Read about it HERE.

So basically, we think they tried to bury Beth in a white church, but a walker horde came through, interrupting them and threatening everyone's lives. So, they stashed Beth, what they thought was her body, in a car, planning to come back later to finish the burial. But when they returned, her body was gone. (This explains Maggie sitting outside the car crying in 5x09.)

So, them running might be them running to stay ahead of and get away from the horde. Of course the spoilers back when S5 was filming also talked about a major car chase near Terminus. And we never saw anything like that in S5 either. So, there might be entire storylines we never saw. There's really no way to tell.

And of course, I'll reiterate one more time that this is just a theory. Our best guess for what happened during those missing days. But the trading card, missing scenes we know for a fact they filmed in S5, and have never been put on any DVDS as "deleted" scenes, and suspicious words and social media posts by the actors are all pretty compelling evidence.

So, the short answer is that we don't know for sure what those scenes of TF running are, but we think they have to do with whatever happened to Beth's body after Coda. And if they haven't shown us those scenes yet, it's because they still plan to when she shows up. Which means we might finally see them in the spinoff. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

(Total side tunnel, but I also think running represents escape from a symbolic standpoint. We saw the Beth blur in the opening credits and she's running in her yellow polo. I think that's to show that she escaped death/her dark tunnel/etc. We also just saw a lot of people running in S5. So, you could say this shot is also symbolic of her arc in escaping death. I'll leave it at that.)

Hope that helps. Xoxo! ❄️💓