#so much of what I imagine isn’t even scene construction or plotting initially it’s just like oh felix is watching television with his

[foxmulderautism]

my experience as an autistic writer is my silly little story honestly feels like an alternate version of this universe that i just have access to for some reason and spectate which is why it feels so real because as far as im concerned it is real what else would it feel like to have entire lives playing out inside your head? but i don’t think i can just say that to people unless they feel the same 👍

[anneshirlxy]

AWAE Fic Recs- Full List

Hi! Here is the full list of all the fics I recommend. I will post a more organized way to look at it later tonight, but for now, here are all the fics! On here you can find the author, rating, length (word count and chapter) and a summary directly from ao3. These fics are in no particular order, and everything in italics is my dumb comments! Also, I am hopefully going to keep updating this so please send me fic recs!

Rating Key- G: General Audience, T: Teen and up, M: Mature 

1. Still He Offers the Sea Shell  By: Chash (@ponyregrets) Rating: T Length: 5.1k- 1/1

Summary: Gilbert Blythe is back from his semester abroad, and he wants to meet this Anne Shirley he's heard so much about.

First fic I ever read. A classic modern au (book verse) 

2.Strangely Are Our Souls Constructed  By: Fandom_freakout, vocallywritten Rating: G Length: 8k-2/2

Summary: In a desperate attempt to get Charlie Sloane to leave her alone, Anne posts a notice of her own. Or,Anne and Gilbert abuse the Take Notice board, much to the amusement, and frustration of the people around them.

Best take notice fic ever! Anne and Gilbert get into a take notice board battle and at first, it’s snarky and sarcastic, but then they start complementing each other and it’s beautiful.

3.say my name, don't ever stop  By: anbethmarie Rating: G Length: 13.5k-5/5

Summary: The gossip in Avonlea is insidious, making Gilbert think it's a good idea to initiate a fake courtship of Anne. Anne makes him promise it won't affect their relationship (because, obviously, they're just friends).Plot twist: it affects their relationship.

Also has a sequel you can read it Here

4.Mistletoe Madness By: avonleaace Rating: G Length: 3k- 1/1

Summary: To bring a bit of fun to the classroom on Christmas Eve, Miss Stacey hangs up some mistletoe. Anne and Gilbert have a bet that Gilbert can make it through the day without getting kissed. Will he succeed? cuteness ensues

5.The Secret of Distance  By: Lil_Readhead (@royalcordelia) Rating: T Length: 26k- 7/?

Summary: Anne and Gilbert embark on their journeys, but stay close to each other at heart. Courting across 1000 miles isn't easy, but they're more than willing to step up to the task. (A post s3 story).

I consider this fic canon. This is season 4. 

6.Avonlea's Summer of 1880 Great Game of Capture the Flag! By: christah88 (@christah88) Rating: G Length: 14k- 1/1

Summary: Moody Spurgeon has gathered all the boys in Avonlea between 12 and 18 at the softball diamond for a game of capture the flag. Subterfuge, reconnaissance, undercover missions, and just a dash of chicken-coop-climbing combine to make this a game they will not soon forget. Why? Because Anne Shirley-Cuthbert wants to play, of course, and she demands that the rest of the girls be allowed to play, too.

This one reads like it could be a part of the show. There is also a prequel that you can read Here

7.Limerence By: Ephemeral_Joy (@lydias--stiles) Rating: G Length: 12k- 2/2

Summary: Limerence (n) - The state of being infatuated with another person. Gilbert and Anne featuring paint, photography, mutual staring, glitter and a very supportive Diana Barry

8.truth or dare  By: thearkdelinquents Rating: NR Length: 7k-1/1

Summary: “Anne, truth or dare?” Josie smirked at Anne, a devious glint in her eye. Lifting her chin and looking Josie in the eye, Anne chose, “Dare.” She could take whatever Josie had to throw at her.The smirk on Josie’s face grew larger and Anne was sure she had picked the wrong thing. Without breaking eye contact or even taking a second the think about it, Josie said, “I dare you to go behind that door and kiss Gilbert Blythe. On the lips.”

I love the show New Girl with all my heart so I had to put this one.

9.When the Sun Begins to Fall By: megs368 (@onedayiwillflyfree) Rating: G Length: 76k- 13/14

Summary: "Long time no see Carrots."After nine months of studying at The Sorbonne, Gilbert Blythe felt that he was ready for his upcoming graduation and wedding. That is until his brother arrives, informing him his childhood best friend is gravely ill.

this fic hurts you 

10.wishful thinking (mindless dreaming)By: bruadarxch  (@rootedbutfl0wing) Rating: G Length: 12k- 5/5

Summary: “She didn’t mean to, but a comment led to a friend of a friend’s profile and then she sees it. She sees him. Gilbert Blythe. Her old archnemesis turned friend turned... nothing.” Anne is bored for the first time in her life and falls down the Instagram rabbit hole. She finds a familiar face.

Anne finds Gilbert’s Instagram and they end up reconnecting at college and then drama ensues. It’s really cute then it gets kinda sad and angsty and then it’s really cute again. I love it.

11.wonderstruck By: bruadarxch ( @rootedbutfl0wing) Rating: G Length: 14k-4/4

Summary: Delphine Lacroix raves about Miss Shirley and her crazy lessons. Her uncle Gilbert thinks his niece surely has an overactive imagination, but one day he has to pick her up from school and a certain redhead covered in paint from head to toe crashes into him. OR: Gilbert Blythe puts his foot in it when he meets Anne in every universe. Luckily for him, she didn't have any heavy objects around in this one.

Modern au where Anne is Dellies teacher and Gilbert fall head over heels in love with her. Soooo cute, I love. Also, cue Diana berry being the best roommate ever. 

12.Imagining Something Worthwhile By: remylebae (@remylebub) Rating: T Length: 148k-3l/36

Summary: “Because when you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worthwhile”- Anne of Green Gables. 

Anne is struggling through her mid-twenties, living with her two best friends from high school and starting a new job as an eighth grade English teacher. Just as she's starting to figure this whole teaching thing out, she finds an unexpected someone thrust back into her life.

This is the boy I spent 7 hours reading. It’s a modern au where Anne is a struggling teacher and Gilbert is a struggling med student and they fall back in love. Honestly, the best part of the fic is the best friend relationship between Cole, Anne, and Diana. It’s some pretty wholesome and domestic stuff.

13.You're such a big mess (And I love you) By: gayrefrain (@gayrefrain) Rating: T Length: 6k-1/1

Summary: Anne and Jerry get arrested.

This is one of the first fics I ever read and I loved it so much I read it 2 more times. Modern au where Anne and Jerry get arrested, they bicker like siblings and Gilbert is so worried for her!!! It’s a pre-established relationship and it’s so fluffy and cute ahh. An all-time fave.

14.five days of Christmas  By: thearkdelinquents Rating: N/R Length: 4k-1/1

Summary: SHIRBERT SECRET SANTA!!!!

15.Drive Me Crazy By: serendipitous_rambles(@carrotsofavonlea) Rating: G 

Length: 18k-15/15

Summary: Anne Shirley Cuthbert and Gilbert Blythe are next door neighbours, but they despise each other. It didn't used to always be this way, in fact at one time they were best friends. But things change following a personal tragedy for Gilbert, and by high school the two are practically strangers. Anne's life seemed to be going well: she was in charge of organising the school Centennial dance, she was accepted into college, and she was dating one of the most handsome boys in school: Roy Gardner. Only he breaks up with her mere weeks before the dance. When Gilbert's girlfriend Winifred also breaks up with him, Anne comes up with a crazy scheme to get their ex's back: pretend to date to make them jealous. Simple right? If only they don't kill each other first...

The modern fake dating au of your dreams. Includes an iconic scene from 10 things I hate about you. 

16.ours are the moments I play in the dark / wild and fluorescent / come home to my heart By: anbethmarie Rating: T Length: 8k-3/3

Summary: Avonlea, August 1914 – England declares war on Germany. Anne Shirley shows up rain-drenched on Gilbert Blythe’s doorstep and learns her fiancé is due to leave for the Western front in a week’s time.All Anne wanted was to have the memory of a few quiet moments alone with Gilbert. The fact that she would get wet through on the way to his house and have to wear his shirt while waiting for her clothes to dry did not enter into her calculations.

This one is basically an episode of a drama tv show and I’m not complaining.  Anne ends up pregnant with Gilbert’s baby and then he goes to war and they lose touch and he doesn’t know he has a child. It’s a whole thing. It’s mostly angst but reunions are chef's kiss (especially ones when they find out their father). 

17.Trippingly, on the tongue By: meals Rating:G Length: 8k-1/1

Summary: Gilbert goes to Paris, Anne goes to Queens, and years later they both return to Avonlea and meet again. They should be older and wiser, but when neither of ever admits to their mistakes and misunderstandings, will they ever sort themselves out?

Such a good season three “what if” fic. I’ve read it so many times and I can’t get tired of it. 

18.shy daydreams & stardust By: Lil_Redhead (@royalcordelia) Rating: G Length: 16k-3/3

Summary: She can't help how he makes her magic spiral out of control whenever he's around, but maybe she can help him when his own abilities bloom out of nowhere like a lily pad in a teacup. Magic AU!

Anne and Gilbert are both magic and she teaches him about his powers. Very cute!

19.The Post-Exam Ritual of Merriment and Ridiculousness By: wanderinginthewoods  Rating: G Length: 2k-1/1

Summary: Anne, still slightly tipsy, tries to focus as she runs after Gilbert to give him a piece of her mind--but that's not the easiest thing to do when she can barely get her own thoughts in order.

The characterization of Anne drunk is so good and the funniest thing

20.I Belong to You  By: hoddypeak (@shirbertndisney) Rating: T Length: 30k-12/?

Summary: Arranged marriage AU. Anne always wanted to have her own love story, but not one that's decided for her. She doesn't want to fall in love with Gilbert, but after being thrown into many awkward situations with him, the walls around her begin to tumble down. It certainly isn't an easy ride for either of them.

21.Little White Lies… By: writingshirbert Rating: G Length: 16k-10/?

Summary: When Anne agrees to doing Gilbert a favor, she has no idea what she's getting herself into...

A modern fake dating au where Anne and Gilbert are best friends and college roommates that have to pretend to date. Mostly angst so far, but well written. Also, Gilbert seems like a bit of a douche but we will look past that. 

22.All my stumbling phrases never amounted to anything worth this feeling By: moonlightconstellations (@leiaslightsaber) Rating: T Length: 3k-1/1

Summary: Anne realizes she's in love with Gilbert. In typical Anne fashion, she reacts by yelling.

I just really love Anne yelling at Gilbert

 23.Anne of Hogwarts By: serendipitous_rambles (@carrotsofavonlea) Rating: G Length: 24k- 14/14

Summary: Muggleborn Anne couldn't believe her luck when at 11 she is adopted by the Cuthberts, who introduce her to the world of magic and Hogwarts.Her wild imagination gets her into trouble more often than not, but she doesn't let that stop her. She sparks up an academic rivalry with classmate Gilbert Blythe, and finds a kindred spirit in Diana Barry.However it's not all smooth sailing, with trials and tribulations throughout the years as Anne seeks to discover everything Hogwarts has to offer. It may not always be easy, but life at Hogwarts becomes the greatest adventure of Anne's life.

As a potterhead I am required to put one of the best Harry Potter x AWAE fics on here. Also the only one that (in my opinion) gets the sorting right (gryffindor!Anne, Hufflepuff!Gilbert). 

24.This Home is Vast By: Lil_Redhead (@royalcordeila) Rating: G Length: 6k-1/1

Summary: Delphine Lacroix wants to write a tale of adventure and romance, so naturally she writes the story of how Uncle Gil and Aunt Anne fell in love.

This one is so creative! Fics starring Dellie? Sign me up 

25.i picture it, soft, and i ache By: boos (@boosfic) Rating: G Length: 12k-1/1

Summary: Anne and Gilbert accidentally end up snowed in at Green Gables

Pure and perfect fluff 

26.the world is brighter than the sun (now that you're here) By: blujamas (@kyleslei) Rating: G Length: 12k-1/1

Summary:  Long-lost family offers Anne Shirley-Cuthbert a chance at education in a prestigious university across the sea. Before she can go, however, there is one last loose end to tie up: Gilbert Blythe.

27.more myself than I am (whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same) By: anbethmarie Rating: G Length: 6k- 2/2

Summary: Anne and Gilbert have not seen each other since the fateful night of the Queen's entrance exams. She assumes he must by now be engaged to Winifred. He still assumes her drunken babbling meant she doesn't care. A chance encounter forces them to revise the truth of these assumptions.

28.a ridge of lighted heath By: peterstank (@peter-stank) Rating: T Length: 3k-1/1

Summary: He’d overheard her talking once with Diana Barry. He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop but it couldn’t be helped given their proximity. He’d heard it, the bride of adventure, the wife of nature. And how fitting is it that she who has chosen nature as her most fitting suitor is more beautiful than any earthly thing he’s ever known? The freckles on her face are fit to rival all the stars in the sky. Her eyes are oceans overflowing, they are rippling streams and shining waters. She could torch him with her hair and he would happily turn to ashes, to be the Earth, to be loved by her just once.

29.One Iced Green Tea Latte for Ann  By: rosesonraindrops Rating: G Length: 6k-2/2 

Summary: Anne Shirley Cuthbert lives for three things: her family, Diana Barry, and Iced Green Tea Lattes. However, Gilbert Blythe, the barista at Anne and Diana's favorite coffee shop, never seems to spell her name correctly, no matter how many times she's told him the right way to spell it. Or, Diana and Anne get coffee, and Gilbert tries his very best to charm Anne with his latte-making skills.

30,but when he walks in i am loved - i am loved By: nosecoffee (@nose-coffee) Rating: T Length: 24k- 1/1

Summary:“Marry me.” Anne drops a plate. She barely reacts to that - Marilla can berate her later, for now Anne has a very good reason to have broken her expensive china. She whirls on him. Gilbert’s not kneeling or anything. He's just standing there, in her kitchen doorway, with a painfully earnest look on his face. “Are you kidding?” She says, laughing nervously. He shakes his head. 

Fun story: I once spent hours looking for this fic and almost started crying when I didn’t think I could find it. So you know it’s good. 

31. from friends to this (you're the one i want) By: cressisaqueen (@cressisaqueen) Rating: T Length: 4k- 1/1

Summary: new message from 1 (489) 5987 - 2351 

1 (489) 5987 - 2351 [3:29 pm]: hey, it's gilbert blythe from professor stacy's class 

GiLbErT bLyThE [3:30 pm]: when should we meet up to work on the project?

A fic told entirely through text messages! Really creative and good. Paper Rings is my favorite Taylor Swift song, so that also helps. It also has a sequel where Anne and Gilbert get married that you can read Here 

32.Anne of Nova Scotia By: coffee666 (@frappuccinio) Rating: G Length: 32k- 5/?

Summary: In an alternate life, neither Anne nor Gilbert were orphaned. Yet, they still found their way to one another.

I’ve never seen a tag better than “I’m not claiming to know how boats work” 

33.If the Sea Should Part  By: Lil_Redhead (@royalcordelia) Rating: G Length: 35k-6/6

Summary: Anne finds herself caught up in whirl of romance and adventure after rescuing Dr. Gilbert Blythe from the sea during a storm. She should let him go, but when she finds out Billy Andrews is plotting to take Gilbert's life and estate, she realizes there's nothing that can keep her from protecting him.

34.charity (who is helping who?) By: antspaul Rating: T Length: 10k- 1/1 

Summary: AU in which Anne is a little more poor but just as vivacious while Gilbert is a lot more wealthy and a little more cowardly. 

Kind of a sugar daddy au, but not really. Told through letters which is really cool.

35.i found my voice (in her sweet melodies) By: Lil_Redhead (@royalcordelia) Rating: G Length: 2k- 1/1 

Summary: Christmas with Gilbert has never been traditional, but it always manages to steal Anne's breath away.

36.Welcome to Toronto By: simonsjumpers Rating: G Length: 13k- 4/4   

Summary: Anne visits Toronto, buys trousers, charms everyone she meets and engages in a book-duel with Gilbert... And Gilbert can't help but, kind-of, accidentally, propose.

A very good awae after season 3 continuation fic. Anne is a complete badass and Gilbert is hopelessly in love with her. 

37.it goes on and on  By: morebooksplease Rating: G  Length: 3k- 1/1 

Summary: in which Gilbert lists all the reasons he loves Anne.

38.bless the broken road (that led me straight to you) By: cornerinthepouringrain Rating: G Length: 3k- 1/1 

Summary: She said she’s never been to the coast, and he volunteered to take her, because he’s an idiot with no filter and because he selfishly, despicably, wants (needs) all of her firsts to be with him. Or Gilbert Blythe decides to take Anne Shirley on a road trip, and hates himself for it.

ON GOD I love this one shot so much!! It’s just Anne and Gilbert on a road trip. It’s Gilbert POV and my man is whipped. After I read this I immediately read it again I love it! 

39.your glow (against the burning embers of my fiery soul) By: abigaylefayth (@pterparkcr) Rating: T Length: 13k- 2/2 

Summary: the enemies to lovers fake dating shirbert au nobody asked for  

Another really good modern fake dating au!!! This author also wrote one of the best awae twitter aus, that you can read Here 

40.Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same By: Ephemeral_Joy (@lydias--stiles) Rating: T Length: 1k- 1/1 

Summary: Look, Anne Shirley-Cuthbert wasn't heartbroken. She was, for like a day, but then she had mustered all the power a Marilla glare could contain and got over it. Did she still love Gilbert? Sure. But alas, she was a summer storm, and he a winter sun. In which Anne tries to move on, but a certain hazel eyed boy won't let her.

41.the road not taken By: melissa13 (@annesurelyblythe) Rating: G Length: 2k-1/1

Summary: Years after the events of Season 3, a chance encounter in a bookstore brings Gilbert face-to-face with an old flame causing him to reflect on his new marriage. Features Anne and Gilbert being adorable newlyweds.

Winnies a darling and Gilbert is such a proud husband. When Winfred says “love looks good on you Blythe” l lose my mind 

42.Maybe The Universe Has Other Plans By: Cones_McMurphy Rating: G Length: 2k- 1/1 

Summary: Four times Gilbert Blythe tries to propose to Anne Shirley and fails, and the one time he doesn't try and succeed

This one is actually green gables fables which is a modern au told through vlogs and social media that you can watch on YouTube right now! Anyway, even though it’s not Anne with an e it’s just Gilbert trying to propose to Anne and it’s very cute! 

43.be still my foolish heart (don't ruin this on me)  By: theatrythms (@fairrobb, @smearclouds) Rating: G Length: 5k- 1/1

Summary: (The idea was always, always, always a bad one, but it sounded so romantical, so whimsical; to throw a stunt for all of her friends and get to spend time with Gilbert in the process.) Or; fake-dating, and the aftermath.

44.one look in your eyes and i found my favourite colour  By:  simonsjumper  Rating: G Length: 5k- 3/? 

Summary: au where everyone can only see in black and white until a moment between them and their soulmate triggers colour gradually appearing into both of their worlds (and yes, it happens during dance practice)

45.Of Tongue and Pen By: piperholmes Rating: G Length: 5k- 2/2 

Summary: When Gilbert returns Anne’s pen, he is reminded of what’s important and what it means to live a passionate life. He finally understands he needs to ask the right questions. Now featuring an epilogue!

46.this, and my heart beside By: fruitwhirl (@ametroepya) Rating: G Length: 6k- 1/2 

Summary: It’s three months in Toronto before she runs into him. Or rather, he runs into her. Well, okay, there is very little running involved at all.

Gilbert and Anne becoming friends in Toronto together!

47.Those With Wit and Learning Will Always Find Their Kind(red spirits)

By: WideScopeofImagination Rating: G Length: 126k- 5/7 

Summary: Anne Shirley thinks its a dream beyond her wildest imagination come true when she learns she's a witch and can attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.There are still challenges, of course.Or: How Anne has to keep solving magical disasters with muggle common sense, and finds her kindred spirits along the way

48.all of the dreams that get harder, all of the things that I offer you By: anbethmarie Rating: G Length: 7k-3/3 

Summary: Anne receives proposals of marriage from various and undesirable quarters. Gilbert Blythe naturally happens to stumble upon her immediately afterwards every time.

49.Time and Tide  By: jacksparrow589 (@js589) Rating: G-M Length: 35k- 8 works 

Summary: The Modern AU that nobody wanted and nobody asked for that just keeps on spawning new tales.

This is a series of 8 works (all fantastic) so i just put the entire thing here. Modern au set in college. Check the author's recommended reading order! 

50.a rose amongst thorns  By: not_so_weary_pilgrim Rating: G Length: 7k-3/3 

Summary: Anne swallows, so hard that it hurts. His head is bent over her hand, and she suddenly realizes that with all the growing he’s done in the past year or so the top of his head is an uncommon sight for her. In fact, the last time she saw those dark curls from this vantage point was when he bowed after their dance practice at school.She nearly flinches away from memories of that golden afternoon, when Gilbert’s eyes never left hers, when she was only vaguely aware of anyone else being in the room, when he pulled her closer than the dance required but it still wasn’t close enough.

Anne gets hit on the face and doctor gilbert in action!!!! He is way too worried about her but it’s very cute and well written. 

51.doctor's visit  By: seashel  Rating: G  Length: 1k-1/1 

Summary: turns out, gilbert isn't the only one afraid of needles.

Short modern au where Gilbert takes Anne to the doctors. High key the main reason this fic is on here is because he calls her baby. 

52.Takes the Cake By: bookwormforalways (@bookwormforalways) Rating: T Length: 2k-1/1

Summary: Anne and Gilbert, finally happily married, bake a cake to celebrate two months of being married.

53.to look in somebody's eyes, to light up the skies (to open the world and send it reeling)  By: lovishq Rating: G Length: 3k-1/1 

Summary: Anne Shirley's imaginary friends, fanciful names and women carved out of magic and fairytales are remnants of past lives, and they are all drawn to every Gilbert Blythe like moth to a flame. 

Ok, this one is like really cool. It’s this whole idea where Anne and Gilbert keep falling in love in different lifetimes but it’s always tragic until it isn’t. It’s really well written and just cool.

54.I don't have a choice (but I'd still choose you)  By: writergirl8 Rating: T  Length: 6k-1/1 

Summary: Anne knows now what it feels like to have someone looking at you like you are the most beautiful thing in the world.

I had to shorten the summary because its just so long, but basically this is a beautifully written fic that's just shirbert being fluff after season 3

55.everything you wanted, everything you don't  By: theystayalive Rating: G  Length: 2k-1/1  

Summary: And finally, when everything in his life quieted for just a moment, his heart molded his million thoughts into one word: Anne. In which Gilbert finds his way home.

56.that's the kindof love (i've been dreaming of) By: metsuryuogi (@natsujpg) Rating: G Length: 12k-1/1 

Summary: In which Anne and Gilbert spend their first year together, and apart. 

A really cute post season three fic! It also has a sequel that you can read Here

57.A Very Tragic, Romantical Secret (Understanding of a Pre-) Engagement  By: christah8 Rating: G Length: 5k, 1/1 

Summary: Post 3x08 AU where Gilbert avoids Anne for the summer and attends Queens College in the fall.

It's got a scavenger hunt and they are just so cute!

58.A Christmas gift By: writingshirbert Rating: G Length: 2k-1/1  

Summary: Gilbert comes home for Christmas. Set after season 3.

59.The reality of baking Christmas cookies  By: writingshirbert Rating: G Length: 3k-1/1 

Summary: Anne really wants to win the neighbourhood competition over who has the best Christmas decorations, however her neighbour is making it really hard for her to do so. 

60.the one person who makes me feel like i can take a fucking breath ( i can't have without completely destroying you ) By: softmullen Rating: NR Length: 5k-1/1 

Summary: IF THERE WAS ONE thing you needed to know about the cuthbert-baynard family, it was that the two and only children did not get along. and it wasn't the 'not getting along' like constantly arguing, no, they just didn't speak. it was like they absolutely hated each other and no one quite knew why. especially gilbert blythe, who had been best friends with jerry since before he could remember. it's always just been the two of them, until jerry's father remarried, moving them three streets down in a rather large house.

An “Edge of 17” au. Anne and Jerry being siblings- 10/10

61,you're already home where you feel loved By: c19 Rating: G Length: 11k-1/1 

Summary: Soulmate marks were only for special people, everyone kept telling them, but Anne and Gilbert both felt decidedly unspecial. Soulmate AU where the soulmate part isn't all that important.

62.The Language of My Unwavering Heart  By: bravebatgirl (@bravebatgorl) Rating: T Length: 70k- 7/15 

Summary:Anne Shirley-Cuthbert is attending college, exploring the excitement of entering womanhood beside her friends, and has even achieved a not-so-tragical romance. Everything is finally settling into place for the bride of adventure, but there are others still in dire straits. How is it that so much pain can be caused in a world about to turn a new century? 

63.I'll See You in the Orchard By: wanderinginthewoods Rating: T Length: 20k-3/3 

Summary: An alternate final, where Gilbert has to leave for Toronto later on, and doesn't bump into Diana. Meanwhile Anne--after meeting Winifred--finds herself on a spontaneous journey to Avonlea to confront him for not telling her about his lack of engagement--amongst other things. 

64.The Many Faces of Gilbert Blythe By: Purple_Slippers_18  Rating: T  Length: 50k-10/10 

Summary: Anne was looking forward to meeting Avonlea's new schoolmaster, and if she could only stop herself from being distracted by the memory of a tall, dark, handsome stranger that she knows she'll never meet again, she was sure she would make an excellent impression on the new teacher, no matter what Minnie May had to say

65.Into the Sun By: goldinavonlea (@goldinavonlea) Rating: T  Length: 5k-1/1  

Summary: Summer had arrived in Avonlea. In all truth, summer had arrived in Avonlea several weeks earlier, but the inclement internal weather of Anne’s life of late had rendered the view rather cloudy from her window for a while there, and so perhaps it was better to say that summer had arrived—finally—in Anne. And what a summer it was. Or, Anne and Gilbert spend 5000 words ignoring all rules of Victorian propriety in favour of becoming the human embodiments of warm syrup.

Pure fluff, and written so well!

66.life is momentous, indeed  By: bruadarxch (@rootedbutfl0wing)  Rating: G Length: 2k-1/1 

Summary: "She turns around trying to wipe off her tears and there he is, galloping down Lovers’ Lane in his horse, like a brooding hero in a romance novel. Bastard."Anne mopes and Gilbert finally does what he has to do.

67.something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue By: lxstdreams Rating: NR  Length: 1k-1/1 

Summary: how to propose to someone the moody spurgeon style(ruby x moody) 

One of the very few not shirbert centric fics, but sooo cute! 

68.oh i swear to you (i'll be there for you) By: cornerinthepouringrain Rating: T Length: 9k- 1/1 

Summary: They sort of become a family, her and Jerry and Ruby and Gilbert (after she forgave him for the thing they don’t speak about), and they were annoying little shits who ate all her food and trashed her apartment, but... she was happy. It was a slow realization, one that didn’t really strike her until she was sitting on the floor in her pajamas, watching Ruby smack Jerry repeatedly after catching the boy stealing her Monopoly money as Gilbert rolled around in tears clutching his stomach. 

Friends Au! I just love it so much

69.you don't have to say nothing - you don't have to say you're mine By: goddessbeltane Rating: M (warning: rape/non-con) Length: 27k-1/1 

Summary: I hate this asshole. Asshole! The nerve! Anne rose from her chair abruptly, striding over to the counter to meet an obviously frightened Gilbert – though she couldn’t blame him for being scared, the last time she looked at him like that was about five seconds before he was violently doused - before folding her arms across her chest. “And just what would you know about soulmates, Blythe?”

The Office Au! If you can't tell, I love sitcom aus. Mentions of rape (not graphic)  

70.If You're Wondering If I Want You To  By: teal_always Rating: T Length: 16k-1/1 

Summary:  Princess Cordelia cordially invites Princess Delphine to join her on the playground to witness Sir Gilbert's courting of Princess Cordelia's mother, Queen Anne. Or Gilbert Blythe will piss off Anne Shirley-Cuthbert upon meeting her in any and all universes.

Single parent au! Just so good!

71.A Little Crazy By: YumKiwiDelicious Rating: NR Length: 3k-1/1

Summary: They’re eight and she’s got the knobbiest knees Gilbert has ever seen. || 5 times Anne tells Gilbert she loves him +1 time he actually takes her seriously||

72. we can leave the christmas lights up till januaryBy: Alice_Prongs Rating: T Length: 17k-3/3

Summary: the boys are throwing a christmas party before they leave for the holidays. that's fine. it's fine, really. all anne needs to do is stay sober throughout it and nothing will go wrong. like, you know, blurting out all of her feelings for gilbert blythe in front of him.

Modern + Christmas + Angst = a fantastic fic! (also sequel Here)

73.silence is the blood whose flesh is singing By: ashleykay Rating: NR Length: 4k-1/1  

Summary: Anne Shirley does not believe in soulmates. And she will not be swayed otherwise. She believes only in love freely given. Soulmate AU. Timers.

74.The 10 Rules of Anne and Gilbert's Fake Relationship By: anexistence Rating: G Length: 18k-4/11 

Summary: She’s kissing Gilbert Blythe, who is surprisingly eagerly kissing her back. Ew, she’s kissing Gilbert Blythe. Anne pulls away, and masks her horror by smiling sweetly up at him. He has that warm yet bemused look on his face. “Hey, there” he smirks, and Anne wishes she could just wipe the smirk away. “A favour for a favour,” she whispers. “You owe me some brownies, Carrots.”

75.thin ice  By: antspaul Rating: T (warning- eating disorder)  Length: 30k-7/7  

Summary: "She still has a long way to go. Frustration builds in her throat and she wishes she could eat what she wanted and still stay slim and beautiful and perfect like Anne or Ruby. But things are the way things are. Nothing can be done about that. Diana will be beautiful. She just has to stay in control." When her world seems to be falling apart at the seams, Diana Barry finds power in the strict regulation of food. At the same time, her friendship with the Cuthbert's farm boy grows into more than she could have expected. And so she spirals.

The other not shirbert centric fic (but they are mentioned). Whether or not you like Diana x Jerry it's still really interesting to see a fic from Diana's perspective. Mentions of eating disorders are VERY graphic. Stay safe kids. There's also an (uncompleted) sequel Here

76.All This Time, I Was Waiting For You  By: MeggieB Rating: M Length: 2k-1/1 

Summary: Five Times Gilbert Blythe says "Carrots"

Pure fluff! Includes young shirbert and married shirbert! 

77.Dream a Little Dream of Me  By: PhoebeDillard (@gilbvrtblythe) Rating: G Length: 8k-1/1  

Summary: Anne Shirley had been fascinated by the very idea of a dream her entire life. So imagine her surprise when she finally has hers and in it appears a prince that looks suspiciously similar to Gilbert Blythe. A Soulmate AU where everyone has one dream their entire life, and in it they see the face of their true love.

78.real or not real By: thearkdelinquents Rating: NR Length: 11k-1/1 

Summary: a fake dating fic but it's basically just a shirbert To All The Boys I Loved Before au.

79.Flowers in His Heart By:  Ephemeral_Joy (@lydias--stiles) Rating: G Length: 1k-1/1

Summary: ‘Don’t be,’ he said, shaking him head, ‘I was dreaming.’ Anne carefully smiled, placing her chin on her palm. ‘About?’ Gilbert paused for a moment. How could he reply to that? (“I dreamt about pinning you against the grass and kissing you”, wasn’t exactly an acceptable answer.) Or, he weighed the option, he could work with it. (or: Gilbert and Anne hang out and they definitely do not like each other. At all.)

80.Strawberry Tarts By: carrotsblythe Rating: G Length: 3k-1/1

Summary: Anne refuses to take part in another game of Spin the Bottle. And naturally, so does Gilbert.

81.Pretty Injuries  By: novahainn Rating: G (warning: PTSD, child abuse) Length: 5k-1/1 

Summary: Gilbert spent his childhood covered in flowers. Anne spent her childhood covered in some injury or other. Their meeting involves both. Soulmate AU where flowers appear on a person's soulmate when the person is injured.

82.From Red to Green With Love Between By: PhoebeDillard (@gilbvrtblythe) Rating: G Length: 7k-1/1

Summary: Gilbert Blythe was born with a tuft of red hair sticking out from amidst his unruly dark curls... until the day it turned green. A Soulmate AU where everyone has a streak of hair that matches the color of their true love.

 83.you belong somewhere close to me By: georgiestauffenberg Rating: G (warning: mentions of child abuse)  Length: 20k-1/1

Summary: “I know, son. I know. But if you feel what your soulmate feels, it is likely that she feels what you feel.” He raised his eyebrows. “Do you understand? If you are happy, she will be happy, too. Do you think you can be happy for her?” He nodded. “Yes.” He would think happy thoughts every possible moment if he must. AU. Gilbert is one of those rare, lucky souls who has a soulmate.

84. Shirbert One Shot + Drabble Collection By: Lil_Redhead (@royalcordeila) Rating: G-T Length: 43k’

I could have individually put every single fic on this list, but I thought it would be better to put the entire collection. You can find everything you're looking for here. I recommend them all but here are my personal favorites 

In the Blue Haze, The Peace, The Storm, She Has Brains Enough for Two , A Sweet Heart Won, Take Notice, Here is the Echo of a Sound I Wanted, things that fall (i, for you), Lifemate,when the sun goes to sleep

85. Time Turns to Amber By: Lil_Redhead (@royalcordeila) Rating: T Length: 42k-7/?

Summary: The line between universes is blurred when Anne Shirley of Green Gables suddenly switches lives with Ann Cuthbert, a university student living in the contemporary world. Suddenly Anne must learn how to navigate the modern world, one which contains a boyfriend, a part time job, and another year of university. Meanwhile, Ann struggles to tackle corsets, farming, and a world without electricity. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but most people can't tell the difference between the redhead they know and the girl who replaced her. Anne (and Ann) have to learn to live as the other and try to find a way back to their own homes.

[someoneoffthestreet]

Fruits Basket 2x08

“Kagura, when will you stop playing pretend love?” oooooohhhHOOHOO

Kagura’s mom has the good sense not to want her daughter anywhere near Akito. In this house, we stan good and loving Sohma parents. Kagura’s mom officially makes the list.

In which Kagura says what we’re all thinking deep down, and her mother has been having to deal with this Kagura’s whole life.

Tohru keeps trying to internally monologue but Hatori and Kyo ain’t having it.

Shigure and the audience want to know what Akito said to Yuki last episode. Shigure and the audience are going to have to hold their horses.

(I just made myself laugh. I’m tired, don’t look at me.)

Also Akito is denied further Haru privileges I have decreed it.

Tohru and Kyo’s first attempt at a sand castle is just as successful as every attempt I’ve ever made in my entire life.

“Does this make me your sempai?” “Sempai, you suck at this.”

Momiji: SCREW IT THIS IS A PRIVATE BEACH AND I’VE BEEN SPENDING THE TIME I SET ASIDE TO BE WITH TOHRU VERY MUCH NOT BEING WITH TOHRU THIS VACATION SUCKS AND I’LL HUG HER IF I WANT TO.

I love this moment between for many reasons, such as Yuki genuinely laughing like that, that was wholesome oh my heck. But especially because- Haru just spent his day locked in a room with Akito, who was sitting there telling Haru how “funny” Haru was and how he’s the laughingstock of the Zodiac. But here, Haru gets a genuine laugh out of someone he actually cares about, and it’s- worlds away from his time with Akito.

Yuki has Changed. It’s palpable. Everybody can see it. Everybody can feel it. He’s growing too powerful. Who will stop him.

RIN DARLING MY LOVE PLEASE DON’T WALK ALL NIGHT YOU ARE INJURED THAT’S BAD FOR YOU.

Villain Explains Evil Plot to Loyal Underling, Loyal Underling Innocently Pokes Glaring Hole In Evil Plot, the scene.

(But yes, please guess at how delighted I am that it’s repeated through the episode that Tohru isn’t alone because Kyo is by her side.)

“Is it fun to be with a monster?” .......Well, Kureno? Is it? (Sorry that was an easy one I’ll stop.)

Tohru to Kyo, not one minute later: “It’s more fun when we’re together!”

Cat Lore, Cat Lore! Every new piece we get about the Cat and its place within the Zodiac just informs us more about who Kyo is and why he’s the way he is. The story goes to great pains to show us that no Zodiac’s life is a picnic by any stretch of the imagination, but there’s something especially dire about the Cat’s situation, what with the second, monstrous form held at bay by a rosary supposedly made from human bone and the looming, ever-present promise that you’ll be locked up and thrown away at some point in your life. Yikes.

...Look, I don’t have very much to say about Kyo and Tohru’s time on the beach together, they’re ADORABLE and I LOVE THEM and these scenes hold a very soft and special place in my heart, ok?

Yuki spies on Akito and Kureno spying on Tohru and Kyo having a good time. Spy-ception.

Even nature wants Tohru to stop internal monologuing. LET HER SELF-REFLECT.

Rin: *transforms in front of Tohru* Tohru: uh-oh I’m reconsidering my sexuality.

I love this moment when Rin goes too far with Yuki. Like, in the manga I initially thought it was Rin kind of realizing that she crossed a line? But I’ve been finding lately that the anime has a way of making things hit me harder than they did in the manga, and there’s something about Yuki’s non-reaction- like Rin hit Yuki somewhere that should’ve hurt, and I’m not saying it didn’t, but Yuki doesn’t give Rin the reaction she was probably looking for and it clearly startles her? Idk, idk...

SHIGURE, I’M WITH HATORI ON THIS ONE, YOU’RE ENJOYING THIS TOO MUCH.

Spoilers under the cut.

Of course Rin has such a big problem with Kagura’s behavior towards Kyo. Rin knows better than most the damage love in pantomime can do.

"So Kureno, you’d better act as a proper Zodiac member. You’re substandard, so I’m worried.” Two things: First, obvious one being referenced to Kureno not really being a Zodiac member anymore, kill me. Second, how she talks about him is painful enough, but throw in the Tohru parallels and how at her dad’s funeral his relatives called her “plain” and how she was “no consolation” and now I’m FURTHER SAD.

I have so many thoughts and feeling about Kyo, I am that Jane Austen quote “If I loved you less, I could talk about it more.” Just, um! The careful construction of Kyo as a character! How he talks about the nature of sacrifice and how Kyo HIMSELF is kind of the sacrificial lamb of the Zodiac! Kyo sees the unfairness of him living his day-to-day because of the sacrifice of a human life long ago, but on the flip side of that is his own self-loathing and the thought of why HE deserves to live at the expense of others, even though others live at the expense of HIM, and round and round it goes. And add in that flashback to the aftermath of Kyoko’s death and Kyo’s failure to save her and AAAAAUUUUUUUUGHHHHH.

Rin’s rage after meeting Tohru! She tried so hard to avoid this meeting! She tried so hard and it happened anyway and she’s compromised! Just from that meeting she’s compromised! RIN DARLING DON’T DO THIS ALONE YOU DON’T NEED TO DO THIS ALONE.

Once again, I am not ready. I’m not ready. I think of that piece of the flashback we got this episode and that we’re going to get the FULL THING NEXT EPISODE AND “MY PRECIOUS...” AND I’M- I’M!!! GOODBYE FRIENDS I’LL SEE YOU ALL IN THERAPY.

[sokkathebluewolf]

A review Why you do that? Making Sokka mention 28 in his vows now everyone think he slept around after the best time of his life? They both dont deserve this June slaves Hina Tylee now this Please don't make more girls fall for him involve with him feels like the whole fic turned around this Haru deserves better Tylee is flirting around

Don't get me wrong This is your fic and you can do anything you feel fit I'm merely giving an opinion ''cause Gladiator has things which you handled the best There is a Reason for this success I just hope this plus 1 girl thing in Sokkla relationship Stops But I always respect you with your great work(:

You do realize how utterly laughable it is to tell me “DON’T MAKE MORE GIRLS FALL FOR HIM IT FEELS LIKE THE WHOLE FIC IS TURNING AROUND” and then say “you can do anything you feel fit, I respect your work (:”, right?

This is not respect. This is not “constructive criticism”. This is not an opinion so important and valuable that it warrants being repeated about a million times across A YEAR. Most people? They give out their opinions, negative or positive, ONE TIME, and leave it be, because what matters to them is CONVEYING how they feel, not forcing a writer to constantly explain themselves or write whatever they would be comfortable with. Actually? Most people who have given me negative opinions so far have been like that, except one guy who was outright flaming my story because he wanted to wank to it, and he couldn’t believe he had to read 97 chapters to finally reach the smut. That I’m comparing you to this reader and reviewer is PROBABLY a bad sign, don’t you think?

Sokka didn’t MENTION 28: Sokka acknowledged his past mistakes because he’s a grown man who knows to feel remorse when he hurts people he loves. That he brings up having hurt her, to this day, isn’t in the purpose of going “HEY HEY AZULA REMEMBER WHEN I BROKE YOUR HEART LOL”, it’s in the purpose of saying: “I’ve learned from my mistakes and, as it has been for YEARS, I will devote myself to NEVER hurting you again”. That, anon, is a PERFECTLY VALID SENTIMENT for a wedding vow, and one that requires far more character growth and complexity than “Lol I’m so happy we were both virgins because that is the only kind of pure love that has ever been valid in the universe, anything else doesn’t count”.

Hell, you’ve literally made me go right back to the chapter to look at what he says, exactly: “I messed things up between us over my damn stupidity”, he... is literally beating himself up about this. To this day. He’s not talking about it proudly. And yet you’re here complaining as though he were?

SPOILER: More people will have feelings for Sokka in future chapters. In fact, I want to make it even MORE people than I’d originally planned after receiving all these asks. I’d rather derail my story into something you can’t stomach reading than cater to you. Azula will outright JOKE about being “jealous” in a future chapter, and Sokka will know it’s a joke! :D And I’m NOT lying about this to mess with you, it IS going to happen and your persistent asks absolutely WON’T make me alter my content. And why is it going to happen, you’ll ask? Why, because nice, charming, charismatic guys like Sokka attract people whether they want to or not. It’s what they DO about attracting others what matters to me! :’) And that Sokka rejects other people who attempt to be with him should be, I think, a much more important message about loyalty to someone you love than “I ONLY EVER ATTRACTED ONE PERSON IN MY LIFE AND MARRIED THEM”. Because I know that’s virtually the only thing you appear willing to accept, going by the first ask.

And holy crap, Ty Lee is... flirting around? Flirting around... with Haru. The guy she’s in a committed relationship with, whom she’s going to marry. The whole situation is meant to be insanely ironic considering Ty Lee is with the guy she SHOULD be with but it looks like it’s something else? (Hell, nobody even KNOWS it was Ty Lee, Mei Xun didn’t stick around long enough to discover the woman’s identity, so her reputation’s actually safe?) But you’re just so emotionally compromised by anything regarding Sokka being with anyone else, even if it’s 1. not true because he’s MILES away, with Azula 2. a joke 3. a plot device for a FUTURE EVENT, that you just can’t grasp this irony at all?

Ty Lee, by design in this story, has ALWAYS been pretty damn liberal about flirting and relationships. Despite we’ve mainly just heard such relationships mentioned on the side, rather than witnessing them directly, she is objectively the cast member who’s had the most relationships, whether serious or casual or just occasional, with other people. And even then, she’s getting married. Even when she’s had so many people in her past, she’s settling down with Haru for good. And Haru? Haru is THRILLED. Because he loves her. Because she loves him. Because HER past does NOT have a single thing to do with THEIR future. And yet you seriously read these chapters, where Ty Lee is having a lot of fun with her fiancé, and your brain just translated this as “OMG TY LEE IS A SLUT HARU DESERVES BETTER!”? Seriously?

I feel like I’m getting asks from a childish version of Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy. Everything that isn’t straightforward needs to be explained point by point, apparently, and even then, you don’t get it. I literally went to literature school and was told to write intelligent fiction so readers would feel compelled to unravel its complexities themselves... apparently that was a big fat lie? :’) Your persistence actually has convinced me that it is.

Oh and, for future reference (because I KNOW you’ll come back, that’s all you ever do): not because you throw compliments at me later to “cushion” your complaint does it mean you’re respecting me and my story. You can’t slap someone in the face and then go “Oh your cheeks are so plump that I bet it doesn’t hurt”. You can’t just disregard my request that you keep these sorts of questions to my PERSONAL blog rather than the fic’s blog, and pretend you respect me. You can’t come to me time after time with the same complaints and attitude, watch how I’ve basically gone from initially responding with discomfort (because, in my personal blog, there are MANY asks that predate yours, where I’d already explained my reasoning to someone else who apparently didn’t get it, which means the subject wears me out, A LOT), then seeing that I started ignoring your asks, then seeing I closed the inbox so I could regain some sense of normalcy in my life that you refused to let me reclaim, and then seeing that I’m answering with outright hostility, and pretend that it’s ME who has a problem. 

If someone I respected responded in any similar manner to ANYTHING I said to them, I’d basically feel like shit and never talk to them again because I don’t want to be a burden or a problem for someone whom I value in any way. You, apparently, would rather be a problem, and to no avail, because all you’re achieving so far is convincing me to continue writing things that will make you riot until you stop reading my story. If you CAN’T stop reading regardless of the horrifying, amoral, dreadful decisions I’ve made? Congratulations: you still don’t have the right to tell me what to do with my story. And until you GENUINELY understand that, your compliments don’t mean anything to me. I have readers I value who have conveyed complaints, MANY TIMES, in an actual respectful manner. Readers who are even bothered by the same thing you are. And yet I’m even FRIENDS with them. Imagine that :’) It’s almost like the problem isn’t having whatever opinion you do... but rather, the intent of IMPOSING your opinion constantly and persistently until you’ve driven me to lash out as bluntly and cruelly as I may! To the point I’m outright saying I’m going to rewrite my story into becoming EVERYTHING you don’t want it to be so you leave me alone!

And if you’re not the one who’s been here for a year, and this is not really an echo chamber (despite all of these messages have the same complaints, wording, tone, format, style, punctuation and grammar mistakes), yet you SAW that other people have been doing this for a long time, and thought it was PERFECTLY FINE to join the party? You’re no less of an asshole than the rest of them. No matter if it’s your first time voicing your “opinion”. Because it’s NOT about what you’re saying: it’s about HOW you’re saying it. It’s about trying to guilt trip me into writing whatever you want and claiming the story is going off the rails because something makes you personally uncomfortable. This is NOT objective criticism. This is SUBJECTIVE, ENTIRELY. This isn’t a real problem in storytelling, it’s a personal problem for you because it clashes with your moral values. And NO ONE is forcing you to continue consuming content that goes against your moral values, you’re choosing to do that yourself.

If you’re to live by any of the words you said in these two asks, make it “This is your fic and you can do anything you feel fit”. Because that’s literally what I’m going to do. It’s what I’ve done over EVERY complaint in poor faith I’ve gotten, ranging from “quit writing so much happiness it’s boring” to “where’s the sex you prude”. And it’s what I intend to continue doing. What kind of criticism do I value? “This particular scene features a factually contradictory line with a previous event”, such as Zuko claiming he never went to Sokka’s house when he in fact did, and I plain and simple FORGOT about it. What more kinds of criticism do I value? “You need to work out the Gladiator League’s system better because it’s not a solid business venture”, and this one was right? And yet it was too late to fix it, despite it’s 100% spot-on and I should’ve worked it out way better than I did. Another? “Sokka may have gotten over the fact that Azula captured him and tossed him in a slave market too easily”, because? It’s a perfectly valid sentiment? I disagree because Sokka is canonically shown to get over grudges relatively quickly, and yet I CAN see why it seems too fast for some people. What else do I value? Maybe suggestions on wording problems! I’ve made a lot of stupid wording mistakes, in virtue of being a non-native speaker. I’ve done my best to amend those, but it’s a work in progress even now.

Point and case being: in literature, and thus, in fanfiction? Constructive criticism isn’t “WRITE WHAT I WANT TO READ BECAUSE I WANT TO BE PERFECTLY COMFORTABLE WITH ALL I CONSUME”. Constructive criticism is given by people who KNOW storytelling. So I’d only consider it constructive criticism if it’s given by people who can read those chapters and see that the ENTIRE purpose of that conflict is to trigger growth and development as both Sokka and Azula realize their own mistakes and shortcomings with each other. So, someone who’s giving actual constructive criticism wouldn’t come to my inbox a million times with the same complaint... someone who’s giving constructive criticism would come to my inbox, ONE TIME, and say “Hey, maybe this alternative to conveying Azula is instinctively jealous over her canonical insecurities about being a monster and earning people’s love and loyalties COULD have been preferable, despite I know you can’t change that anymore as it’s fundamental for your story”, or “Hey, I thought of another way for Sokka to convey that he realized their interest in each other could result in something TERRIBLE if they ever acted on their feelings, a way for him to not act on that specific impulse to flirt with Suki to push away Azula, but to act on ANOTHER, believable, IC Sokka-compliant impulse that might still convey exactly what you needed to”. But again, even if it were complaints like THESE? I can’t change anything anymore. It’s TOO LATE. If I think it’s too late to fix Zuko saying “lol I never went to Sokka’s house” when it’s not true? It’s WAY TOO LATE to rewrite chapters that are over SEVEN years old, and I don’t even want to do it to begin with. But I WOULD concede these criticisms. I would accept them. I wouldn’t consider them offensive to me, or my work, or disrespectful in any way.

Constructive criticism is NOT about forcing an author to agree with you, or to do whatever you ask them to. Constructive criticism is about helping an author convey what they were conveying in a better, smoother way. If you CAN’T understand what the author was conveying? You don’t qualify for offering constructive criticism. If you need explanations as to why the author did anything they did? You’re, again, not qualified to offer constructive criticism. Your criticism, in any such cases, is NOT constructive, no matter what you’re telling yourself. This is a VERY important distinction, and one you can’t pretend isn’t valid just by throwing a bunch of compliments at me after telling me I’m ruining my story.

Until the day you DO understand the difference between constructive criticism, and subjective complaints? Your opinions will not be considered valuable enough to affect my story in a positive way. And the more disrespectful you show yourself, by continuing to disregard my DIRECT request for you to stop coming back with these complaints, as well as the direct request to stop sending these questions to this blog? The less your opinions will count for me. I don’t bend over backwards for anyone. And I’m definitely not going to do it for you.

[littlemisssquiggles]

I might get some flack for this but, in hindsight, Oscar technically doesn’t need to be in chapter 4. He hasn’t gone to a huntsmen academy. He hasnt really been properly trained, and therefore he shouldn’t get a license and celebrate with everyone. I’m sure he’d feel it’d be weird to celebrate with them anyway since he hasn’t been with them for as long as they been with each other, and besides he hasn’t earned anything, at the moment. He’d be more comfortable congratulating them when they return

Hey Cora. Whelp, first of all, I don’t think you’re going to get any flack since you’re not the only Pinehead who’s tried to justify why it was a good thing that Oscar wasn’t present to join everyone in celebrating receiving their huntsmen licenses. So you’re good on that front.

Here’s the thing with that though. I get what you’re saying, and while I can’t speak for all Pineheads, I can speak for myself and explain why I didn’t particularly enjoy RWBY V7CH4 for Oscar’s absence from that scene. I didn’t like it when I first watched the episode yesterday and even now, after I’ve listened to this same rationale from other Pineheads such as yourself, I’m sorry but my feelings have not changed much from my initial first impression.

This episode only served to further justify a glaring issue with Oscar’s treatment within the show. I’ve heard other Pineheads (and in some cases, even Ozpinheads) voice this concern before and now I’m starting to see it too. 

Oscar is not a character. At least, often at times, he doesn’t feel like a character even after three seasons since part of his characterization involves him being used as a plot device for the purpose of either advancing the plot or aiding in another character’s development while his own gets swept under the rug.

With the exception of certain characters; like Ruby and to some extent Nora; the only time when the other characters are required to care about Oscar’s well-being is when it services the plot. Other times, the Writers are perfectly content with having the characters behave as if Oscar doesn’t exist and this is where it becomes bothersome to Pineheads like myself who take notice of this dribble.

This would explain why Blake mentioned him last episode since it led into Yang addressing the Mammoth Grimm in the room regarding hiding the truth about Salem from Ironwood which then led into her asking Ruby about Oscar’s feelings in all of this.

It serviced the plot since that’s how we were able to get the flashback to Ruby’s talk with Oscar…even though it was brief. And following that episode, Oscar wasn’t seen or mentioned again for CH4 since…well…his presence wasn’t required to advance the plot of this seemingly filler episode. CH4 definitely felt like one of those ‘cool down’ episodes especially coming off the high of the last three episodes that were pretty packed with lots of entertaining action and intriguing plot-heavy exposition.

So Oscar wasn’t a factor in CH4 since his character wasn’t needed. Still didn’t make his absence feel any less weird, at least to me since a) I genuinely missed my boy this episode and most importantly of all b) I don’t understand why he couldn’t be there with everyone.

Not even your rationale about Oscar being uncomfortable being there around everyone when they’re having their moment is helpful because it doesn’t really answer why he couldn’t be there. It’s just another hunch—another potential reason as to why Oscar couldn’t be there but we’re not sure if that’s the case since it’s not supported by the show.

This is why I have a better chance at believing the Pinehead hunch by @miki-13 and @maripr where Oscar wasn’t present for the celebrations because, at the moment, there might be some unspoken tension between him and Ruby that possibly arose because of their talk from CH3. 

I’d believe that reason since it’s supported by a bit of evidence from the show. The saddened expression on Ruby’s face and how defensive she got when Yang probed her about the topic definitely gives the vibe that she didn’t manage to win over Oscar as she did with the others. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case as we’ve seen in the past how Oscar becomes when he senses that Ruby isn’t being completely honest with him. 

So I’m wondering if the two did get into a fight and now things are akward between them. I don’t really know and another thing that bummed me out about CH4 is that we got no further clarification of what went down between the Rosebuds. CH3 gave us a teaser and left us a cliff-hanger while CH4 dropped it all together. This all feels like the calm before the storm.

Like imagine if…in the next episode, it is revealed that things are indeed tense between Ruby and Oscar. Like picture the episode kicking off with Ruby standing outside the door of Oscar’s dorm this time to parallel him coming to her in CH3. 

Perhaps…the door is closed and Ruby has just been standing there for several beats, gearing herself up to speak to Oscar since, the last time the two chatted, it didn’t go as well as she remembered. 

But as Ruby goes to knock on the door, it suddenly slides open and there’s Oscar already standing before her. Oscar doesn’t even react to seeing Ruby there. 

As the audience, you can tell that there is some assumed strain between the little barn prince and his little red rose by their taut interaction but you don’t get a sense of what’s really going on until they speak to each other.

Imagine a dialogue exchange like this:

Oscar: *tersely* …Uh hey. What’s up?

Ruby: *awkwardly* Oh I…just wanted to show you this. *whips out her huntsman license* I got my license, see! Ironwood gave it to us after the mission. Isn’t that…great?

Oscar: *indifferently* Yeah. Nora and Jaune already told me. Congratulations.

Ruby: …Thank you.

Oscar: *dismissively* Anyways, I should get going. Got training.

Ruby: Oscar wait. C—Can we talk?

Oscar: About what?

Ruby: You know what. About…what happened…last time we—

Oscar: It depends. Did you tell Ironwood the truth about Salem?

Ruby: N—No but—

Oscar: *crossly* Then there’s nothing for us to talk about.

Imagine if...Oscar is mad right now at Ruby. It’d actually be interesting if there was currently a bit of bad blood between the Rosebuds. I’ve seen one or two Pineheads voice how much they’d like to see Oscar go off on everyone for how he’s been treated by the group since Argus. I doubt Oscar is going to be 100% okay with Ruby pulling an Ozpin. As a matter of fact, I’m expecting that to be a point of conflict for his side of things this season. 

The last time Ozpin pulled an Ozpin, Oscar technically was the one who instigated the reveal. If Oscar hadn’t stopped Oz from trying to retrieve the Relic back from Ruby and if he hadn’t also told Ruby the truth about the lamp then Jinn wouldn’t have been summoned. You can almost go so far as to say that Oscar was the reason the truth came out. 

While Ruby was the one who asked the question, Oscar was the one who fed her the information required for her to get the chance to ask that question.

The truth came out with Oscar’s interference. So I’m wondering if that’s going to happen again, only this time Oscar will be forced to do the same to Ruby. And I can imagine him being very conflicted on that due to how much he cares about Ruby. That could be cool. But for now, it’s only an assumption.

An assumption that I wished CH4 had kind of addressed. IT really sucked how the CRWBY Writers got us intrigued with the Rosebuds scene in CH3 only to go into CH4 with no mention of Oscar at all, not even in a flashback. This is why it all felt so jarring.  

When I first saw Ironwood there, my immediate reaction was “Oh! Is Oscar here too? Did he come down to the construction site and took a lift with James?“ 

But as we saw, Oscar wasn’t present. I kept waiting for him to pop up especially when the group were taken up into Amity Tower for their briefing. I kind of expected him to be present since all the people who knew the truth about the tower’s purpose were there in the arena room. 

Penny was there. Winter was there. The Aces, to some extent were there. But Oscar wasn’t. When I first saw this scene I figured it was going to be another follow up debriefing regarding the tower’s construction since that’s how it started off as before it went into the licence rewarding.

I’m not saying that Oscar should’ve been there to receive his license too since Oscar is still inexperienced. Even if he’s trained by Ironwood, he still hasn’t earned his license like the others and I understand that. That’s not why I was upset.

I was more upset at the fact that here were have yet another moment with the team together, bonding and celebrating an achievement they earned together and…Oscar, who we’ve been told is also a part of the team too, isn’t there to celebrate the moment with them. Not even to be shown congratulating them afterwards?

As I said on Twitter yesterday, this moment only served to remind me of my biggest nit-pick with Oscar’s treatment in the show. You have the series clumsily trying to tell me, as the audience, that Oscar is supposed to be a member of the team but then you get moments like this where everyone is together and he’s not there to share the moment with them.

It reminded me of why I strongly disliked V6CH9 and most of V6 for how they handled Oscar’s integration into the group. After two seasons with him going on three, I still don’t feel as if Oscar is really a part of the team. 

And your reasoning for Oscar only being with the team for a short time and shouldn’t be allowed to share in this moment further justifies that fact.

Oscar has only been with the team for roughly 48 or 49 days. That’s approximately one month, 2 weeks and four days. But if @_ebea over on Twitter is indeed correct about another month passing between the group’s arrival in Atlas and their first mission with the Ace Ops, then it would mean that Oscar has actually been with the team for two months.

So…why would it be better for him to not be present during a great moment for his team…when he supposed to be a part of the team??

I’m sorry Cora. Again, I know what you’re trying to say and I hear you m’dear. But, hand over heart, I’m not fully buying into this rationale because all it’s doing is making me think back to V6CH9 when Jaune Arc dead-ass says:

“…This team just isn’t the same without you Oscar.”

And yet, here we have this nice little moment of achievement for the team and Oscar isn’t even there to congratulate everyone and be there for his team even though he’s supposedly a part of it.

(Dude; Penny hasn’t seen the team in about the same amount of time as Oscar has been with them and yet she was allowed to share in this moment with them? So why couldn’t Oscar too?)

I’m sorry. This moment just does not compute with me.

As a team moment for JNR_RWBY, it doesn’t work for me since ALL the members of the hero squad are there, except Oscar.

And as a meeting of all the people who knew about Amity Tower, it doesn’t sit well with me either since, like I said, everyone who knew about Amity Tower and were present in Ironwood’s office for the meeting were there…except Oscar.

The one plausible reason for Oscar’s absence from V7CH4 is that he couldn’t be there because he didn’t know that JNR_RWBY were getting their licenses that day. 

If I recall correctly, the earning of the licenses was a shock to the heroes too since Ironwood surprised them with it…after just one mission with the Aces.

Still felt kind of weird that no one asked about Oscar again for this episode though. Especially when Ironwood, Winter and Penny all came down from Atlas which pegged the question of :

“If Ironwood was down at the site with our heroes; since the FNDM assumption was that Oscar was probably training with Ironwood while the heroes were with the Ace Ops; then does this mean that Oscar was left all alone up in Atlas while everyone was celebrating up in Amity Tower?”

My saving grace is that Oscar was actually with Pietro helping out in the lab and secretly being trained to become an inventor’s apprentice. 

Because as I said, we got everyone there except Oscar. Everyone who knew about Amity Tower and its purpose were present except him and that’s what mostly bothered me about this episode.

It just felt…like the Writers honestly forgot about Oscar…again and it just brought back a lot of bitterness for me because it reminded me of V6 all over again.

So yeah, your reasoning is cool Cora. If that’s how you look at it then great. Just don’t mind little ole me if I disagree with that outlook because from my perspective, leaving him out of team moments like this has the opposite effect.

To me, this just further highlights the disconnect between Oscar and the others and just shows how much he doesn’t really have a place on this team even though he’s supposed to (and especially since the show told us last season that he does). That’s my take on it.

Also, not to be that person but… bold of you to assume that the CRWBY Writers are actually going to show Oscar congratulating everyone on earning their huntsmen licences once they return up to Atlas Kingdom. We didn’t even get to see him sending off everyone before their mission or reacting to everyone’s new looks (particularly Ruby’s like most of us Rosegardeners had hoped).

We’d only be so lucky if next episode opens with a scene where Ruby shows up at Oscar’s room to show him her sparkling new license …who’s to say, right?

Only CH5 will tell and I’m curious if it will highlight Oscar training with Ironwood as part of the narrative. Unless that’s going to be it’s own focus episode which it should be at this point since…Oscar could use a focus episode that actually gives him full attention for once. But who knows.

I can’t really trust that with these Writers. Not after V6 and not after V7CH4. But we’ll see.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[no-gorms]

Your stories are so well constructed. If you have time and the inclination to do so, would you be willing to write about your plotting, planning, or outlining process? Inquiring beginners would love to know. :) Thank you for reading this ask.

Oooh! Thank you, that’s very nice of you, I appreciate it a lot. :))

I feel kind of self-conscious writing this out, but if it’s helpful to anyone, why not? I’m gonna use my recent Steve/Tony fics for examples (I preemptively apologize for my handwriting). This got long and messy, oops.

Plotting, planning and outlining! Is very useful, but not the first thing I do. 

First up is The Idea.

Most of my fics come about because of some single idea that captured my imagination. Eg. Role of a Lifetime is from an idea of Steve having a secret identity that enables him to see different sides of Tony. The basis is a single, simple idea that can be summed up in one sentence. Even the somewhat plotty Ticking the Moments Away comes down to a basic idea of 2023!Tony unintentionally tricking 2014!Steve into confessing his feelings to 2014!Tony.

Then, Brainstorming.

The idea is the central germ, and I let that germ roll around my head for a while, seeing what spins off from it – scenes that can happen, dialogue the characters can have, backstory for how the characters got to that point. There’s no plot structure at this point at all, just the fun of coming up with ideas.

I’m a notebook person. While all this brainstorming goes on, I note down the ideas as they come. I don’t worry about how these fit together yet, because it’s just about letting the inspiration flow. As an example, here’s a brainstorming page for If I were a Bell. My brainstorming pages are just brief lines of scenes, pieces of dialogue, or stream of consciousness ideas of things that can happen.

Not everything from this stage is going to make the final fic, but that’s okay! It’s just about letting the creativity flow, building energy and excitement about the story itself, and coming up with bits that you’re going to have fun writing down in fuller prose.

Brainstorming also helps coming up with backstory, which also may or may not be part of the story proper but helps create the setting before the “present” action starts. Like, here’s a page for Something Beautiful where I was figuring out the backstory and what’s different about the alternate timeline.

The thing about brainstorming a story like this is that it’s natural for us to focus on the Big moments. Most of my energy is definitely spent contemplating the BEST bit, which is usually the big reveal or confrontation about feelings, and the fallout from there. Because of that, it becomes clear where the story will end, and because I’ve figured where the story will end, I can roughly figure out what needs to happen in order to reach that ending. Eg. Steve & Tony’s relationship starts like [this] and needs to become like [that]. How do we get to [that]? By having Steve & Tony achieve [x] amount of emotional intimacy or address [x] issue, which is achieved through [x] interactions/dialogue/escalating scenarios.

Then I start Outlining. 

The magical thing about having brainstormed smaller ideas is that now there’s accumulated details ready to fill up the middle portion, which is (for me) the main challenge in putting an outline together. Most of the time we know where a story starts and ends, but what’s in the middle? That’s where all those smaller ideas come in, and I do that by listing out the various ideas I came up with in sequence. 

Sometimes the order of this sequence obvious, but most of the time it isn’t, so I usually list them semi-randomly and move them around as necessary. The brainstormed ideas are like puzzle pieces, and they don’t always fit, so sometimes you gotta keep brainstorming to figure out how it works as a whole story.

But once I have an outline at all, that’s a Go for me to start writing. I use the outline as a basis for what’s to happen and to make sure I don’t get lost, but you’ve still got to be open to changing things up as you notice shortcomings. Unless it’s a slice of life fic, there’s usually a tension that needs to be resolved, and you won’t necessarily “see” if the story is resolving it until you’re actually writing it. Eg. Steve and Tony aren’t together – why? What’s the obstacle? Why didn’t they get together before, and if there was an issue stopping them, is that issue dealt with by the fic’s end? These questions might seem obvious, but sometimes I can lose sight of it and need to come back to the outline to adjust it.

For example, here’s my simplified outline for Ticking Away the Moments, after the initial brainstorming was done. 

I knew where to start and where to end, but you can see the crossed out part where I changed things. As I was writing I realized that I needed more shippy moments and Steve & Tony had to spend more time together just the two of them, so instead of them crash-landing on Asgard and Steve being treated by healers there (as initially planned), Nebula brought them to another planet instead, where Steve & Tony had their not-date.

Brainstorming doesn’t necessarily stop once I start writing, either. Sometimes a story does flow 100% once I start writing, but that’s rare, and more often I still get stuck here and there. So, much like how artists do warm-up sketches before working on their main piece, I sometimes do brainstorming “sketches” to deal with this. Like, if I can’t figure out how to make certain things happen, or what the characters’ motivations are, I stop writing the fic itself and instead do stream of consciousness writing that’s more like meta instead of prose/dialogue to work out the problems. 

For example, here’s some character “sketching” for Splenditudinous Figment of Wonder, where I was trying to figure out Steve and Tony’s motivations: 

And some plot “sketching” for Ticking Away the Moments, where I was trying to figure out what 2023!Tony, Nebula and Gamora’s game plan should be:

This kind of sketching puts into words the problems I’m facing, and I can make a carefree mess in searching for solutions. It saves time to do it this way instead of trying to solve the problem while I’m writing the actual story, for that usually leads to having to delete whole chunks of fic which is VERY difficult because we tend to get attached to what we write! I find it better to sketch.

Basically, the goal of the brainstorming & outlining & sketching is to minimize the amount of actual writing of the story itself. Don’t get me wrong, writing is still labour intensive, but I find that by working out the story before sitting down to actually Write The Thing, it removes a lot of the struggle to figure out what happens next, and cuts down on cruft that tends to build up when you stumble on problems or are trying to work out the “middle part”. Plenty of writers can do the figuring it out as they go along, and that’s fine, too! But this is what works for me. 

Also, a general advice which might be useful! I used to push myself in my writing, but nowadays my philosophy (lol) is that writing fanfic is for Fun, so if the stress/difficulty of any part of it outweighs the joy/satisfaction, then I just don’t do it. This is totally subjective – some people like pushing themselves into new writing styles or topics, and I totally did, too, but nowadays I don’t want to do that.

What does that mean, in effect? It means that if I find any scene a slog or just plain boring, I drop it entirely or find a way around it, maybe by summarizing what happens or having it explained in flashback. If it’s not fun to write, I don’t write it, and I don’t stress out about it. I find this REALLY freeing. This doesn’t work for published fiction, of course, but I’m not talking about published fiction. 

I hope you find some part of this useful!

[fanfictionisvalid]

Loki x reader

Prompt: Person A laughing and joking through the horribly traumatic story of how they got one of their scars. Person A stops suddenly when they see the reaction of tears leaking out of Person B's eyes.

Content: ouch and fluff.

Word count: 2261

Alternate Universe where there was another Hydra experiment before the Maximoff twins and Loki had come with Thor to help defeat Ultron.

Author's Note: this is my first try at something like this. Constructive criticism is more than welcome, and please try not to leave hate Haha. If you like it, be expressive about it and reblog!

So here goes...

It had been a couple of months since the whole incident at Sokovia had happened, and a couple of months since I had found the Avengers. I was one of the initial experimental subjects at a secret Hydra base that shut down soon after several failed attempts at making something out of willing, or sometimes unwilling, human subjects. The tests performed on me had failed a little too badly which led to the shutting down of the whole base. They shifted to somewhere else where they continued their research and experimentation and two of their last remaining subjects turned out to be a success – the Maximoff twins. After being left to die in the Hydra laboratory, everyone had fled the scene. Everyone who was alive anyway. The sceptre's powers and myself did not go along so well, it seemed. Feeding the radiations of the scepter into me did not get any immediate results, except for a pounding head and throbbing veins. It was as if my body was absorbing as much energy of the scepter as it could. But upon continued exposure to the radiation, my body could not take it anymore. A ringing sound screeched in my ears and I blacked out. When I woke up, the facility was empty except for the dead bodies of two guards and one scientist who were in the room behind the glass window.

I was not a willing subject. I was taken against my will and forced down onto the stretcher with my limbs bound till I stopped thrashing about. Turns out, the scepter did not kill me instead it granted me superhuman abilities instead. I was able to absorb other people's energies temporarily and store it in myself only to use it later as my own. I was found by SHIELD and they sent me to help the Avengers take down Ultron. Absorbing the powers of Wanda and Vision, I helped defeat the robot army. Since then, I've been living at the Avengers Base with Tony and the others. I wouldn't consider myself a Avenger, but surely I was an ally (With no other roof to sleep under.)

I didnt speak much to anyone. I liked to keep to myself as much as I could. I preferred to linger by the shadows and listen more than I liked to talk. I was observant, picking up on people's energies and moods and weaknesses and strengths with the gears in my mind turning at all times, thinking about one thing or the other. No one really paid me a lot of unnecessary attention and they gave me my space. I was thankful for the lack of interference.

Except one person. There was only one person in the building who I would catch looking at me when I had something especially demanding going on in my head. He would look at me with a sort of gaze that made it seem like he knew exactly what I was thinking. Loki. The God of mischief. Another outcast who had recently earned his place in this building as an ally. He was usually a very chatty person; manipulative and flirtatious, always two steps ahead of you. But it seemed to me that he had come to care for the Avengers and didn't busy himself with plotting everyone's death. He was the only one who paid me so much attention. Whenever I was up late at night, staring out the floor to ceiling glass window, he was somehow awake too. On some nights he would just come and stand next to me, and on the others, he would strike up a conversation. Initially the conversations died down easily with neither of us having a lot to talk about, but recently talk started flowing between us like a babbling brook. We started to sit by the window every night after everyone fell asleep, talking or enjoying the silence. He would ask questions about me to keep me talking on nights when he somehow understood my mind was spiralling into a dark place. I started to answer and eventually, I let him in. The night time was our time when we would sit and enjoy each other's company and he would sometimes make me a steaming cup of tea. During the day, around everyone, we did not go back to acting like strangers. We talked and chuckles passed even in the presence of others and I started getting more involved with the rest of the people too. I still mostly liked keeping to myself though.

On one such night, I was sitting with my knees bent and my hands loosely wrapped around them, my side pressed to the glass window, and Loki was sitting in front of me, with his back to the glass, legs outstretched in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He had his eyes closed but I knew he wasn't sleeping. He seemed to be in a particularly quiet and somber mood that day so I probed him. I said, "Hey?" He replied without opening his eyes, "hmm?" "You know everything about my past, about my family - or lack thereof - and where I come from and what happened to me... but I dont know much about you. Except that you're an Odinson. God of Mischief. Rightful king of Jotunheim. And you tried to take over New York."

He opened his eyes lazily and gave me a sidelong glance before shutting them again. "Ask away, human. What do you want to know?"

"Tell me about your childhood, " I said and noticed the tick in his jaw. He eased up quickly though and took a deep breath, opening his eyes completely now. "Hmm.. well.. there isn't much to talk about. Asgard loved me for I was a rather cute little boy. Thor and I used to compete a lot in sword dueling and racing and the likes and he used to win almost every time, except the times I cheated." He let out a breathy chuckle which I mimicked. "Uh.. what else is there. Well, there's the time when Odin took us to watch a play on my birthday and Thor accidentally set the stage on fire. Oh, and that one time," he turned his body slightly to face me with a glint in his eyes, "I disguised as a snake and stabbed thor after he picked me up in a fit of rage when we were 8." He smiled proudly and waited for a reaction.

My eyes slowly widened and my mouth fell open slightly before I exclaimed, "you did WHAT?! Why did you stab him? You'll were kids, jeez, what kind of rage overtook you?" His smile turned sheepish and he slowly slithered back to his original position. He hesitated and licked his lips before saying, "Well. I was jealous. He had won another wrestling match and Odin was so proud of him that he didnt care about the very realistic dragon I could summon with my powers." He lazily moved his right hand through the air and a green translucent figure of a miniature dragon appeared. He lowered his hand but the dragon slithered around and breathed green fire before fading away into nothing. It was like a holographic projection. "It was an achievement for me then. It was the first real figure I could conjure and it was huge. Mother was proud of me and I was so eager to see the same look in Odin's eyes, but he just couldn't care. Thor had won another one of his wrestling matches and Odin was so so proud of him, as If that wasn't something everyone saw every other day." He chuckled and ducked his head. "When I tried to grab his attention again, Odin sent me back to my room after belittling me in front of his councilmen and Thor and telling me how little I had accomplished; how little what I had done meant. I cried myself to sleep that night." Loki's shoulders shook with laughter as he said the last part. He took another moment to stop his silent fit of chuckles before continuing. "I.. I didn't like that I cried. I didn't like that I felt weak and unwanted. I didn't like that Thor got all the praise while all I got was negligence. I blamed Thor. In my rage, and as a prank, the next day I stabbed him. Of course I didn't know I was adopted then. Things add up now." He shrugged.

He had a facade of nonchalance up, a guard of laughter. But I could see by the way his chin was dipped and his eyes trained on his twiddling fingers that it was a sensitive topic. My eyes pricked with tears as I imagined a young Loki, trying so hard to make his father proud but failing everytime. A young Loki being pushed into the shadows of his brother time and again by their very own father. A young Loki being denied the praise and pat on the back he deserved and instead being met with insults. I could bet my pinky that that wasn't the only time Odin proved to be an incompetent and biased father.

"That was the first time I stabbed Thor." He chucked, "Of course it didn't lead to the demise of the God of thunder but it helped release some of my stupid anger." He laughed and said, "it wasn't the last time I stabbed him either."

He turned to look at me, the laugh still on his lips when he drew up short. I was looking at him intently and I knew he could see the tears pooling in my eyes. Every hint of amusement vanished from his lips and his eyebrows slightly pinched together. "I.. did I say something to offend you, y/n?"

I kept looking at him for a long time, an uninterrupted gaze. But I wasn't entirely seeing him. I was seeing the young, 8 year old Loki who cried himself to sleep at night because his father was an ass. After a long pause I sniffled lightly and whispered, "You deserved better, Loki."

He looked taken aback by what I just said. The frown on his forehead disappeared and his lips parted. He opened his mouth as if to say something but didn't. After a couple moments of searching my eyes for something, he swallowed and said, "That's.. that's the first time anyone has ever said something like that to me.."

My heart twisted in my chest and my throat closed up. A miserable wince came upon my features and a tear leaked out of my right eye. I swallowed around the lump in my throat before speaking. "I wish I had known you when you were little. I wish I had known the eight year old Loki who deserved praise for what he had accomplished. I would've held him and told him that I was so proud of him. I wouldve rocked him in my arms if he couldn't stop crying because of what his father had said to him. I would've let him cry and I wouldve told him that it's okay to cry.. that crying doesnt make us weaker. I would've made sure he fell asleep without a frown on his face. I would've hugged him and kissed his forehead and reminded him again and again that he was loved and wanted and worthy.." Another year ran free and I took in a deep breath. "I would've reminded him that I wanted him.. that I loved him." I felt him, more than I heard him, take in a sharp breath. His eyes were turning glossy but he didn't turn away from me. Somewhere along the line he had turned his body to almost completely face mine and he had scooted closer. Or maybe I had. I don't know.

Neither of us said anything for a while, only looked into each other's eyes as if staring into each other's souls. I let him peer into mine and he let him peer into his. This was the first time I had wanted to say that I loved him but now that I had, I realised It had always been true. I just didnt know what it was that I was feeling. I didnt know that it was not mere friendship. Whatever it was I had treated it gently and preciously, and I was glad for that Because Loki and anything associated with him deserved to be treated with care and fondness. After a couple moments, I said in a voice just above a whisper but clear enough for both of us to understand even around the lump in my throat, "You deserved better."

That seemed to break him out of his trance like state and he slowly blinked twice before turning his head away from me. He looked down into his lap And collected himself. I let him. When he raised his head and looked at me with those piercing eyes of his, I knew more than he could say. He raised his hand and gently laid it on my hand that was still lightly wrapped around my knees. He rubbed the pad of his thumb over my skin and a more-than-welcome shiver spread throughout my body. He said in a meaningful whisper, "I got my better."

And I knew in the way his hand warmed my skin and his eyes spoke to my soul that not only were my feelings respected, but also reciprocated in the most unfiltered and purest form.

[boobtubedude]

Reposting my original “Lost” series finale review

(Originally posted May 23, 2010, on Zap2It. RIP, Zap2It.)

So here’s the deal: this will not be a complete recap of the series finale of “Lost.” To try to make complete and coherent sense of what just dropped our way would be 1) impossible, and 2) be a disgrace to what just happened. Because what just happened isn’t something you instantly react to, but rather mull over during the course of a few days, weeks, months, or years. After all, that was the final episode. We have all the time in the world to think about its implications until we “move on.”

And yes, I use the phrase “move on” specifically due to the use of the phrase by Christian Shephard in the sideways universe, which we know now to be real only in the emotional sense of the world. All throughout the season, the producers of the show have assured us that what happens over there had stakes and meanings, and this is still completely true in the most basic of senses. Neither the pro-epilogue camp nor the pro-Island timeline had it exactly right, even though both camps had valid perspectives to bring to the table and pieces of the puzzle in hand. What “Lost” brought instead was a third perspective, one that nobody really saw and one that I bet made a core section of its audience completely and utterly insane with anger.

Looking at the finale from a perspective of mythology isn’t the best way to go about it. (I started to jot down “So who put the stone in the devil cave in the first place?” before slapping myself silly.) Looking at the finale from a perspective of plot probably isn’t the best ay, either. (Waaaaay too much time spent on getting Ajira 316 up and running again, especially considering the sideways resolution. And there are enough holes in the overall plot as a whole to dig a few dozen wells down towards the light inside all of us.) But looking at it from an emotional perspective, I thought the finale was a masterpiece.

In a sense, “The End” was a love letter from the show to itself and, hopefully, to the audience as well. But it didn’t pay off donkey wheels and Dharma Initiatives but the core characters of the show themselves. The sideways universe did offer a second chance, but not in the way that those that saw the sideways world as a chance to live their lives free from the Island. Instead, it offered each character a tremendous grace note, one felt both by the characters but also the audience at home. When these people “flashed” to their Island lives, they didn’t flash to epic moments in Island history: they flashed to empty jars of peanut butter and freshly picked flowers and all the small moments that make up a relationship.

If the show had to get one of three aforementioned elements right (character, mythology, plot), then it absolutely focused on the right one. As of this moment, writing in the immediate aftermath of what I just saw, I could care less about what happened to Kate and Company once they left the Island. The point of the show seems to be that what you do is less important than the meaning behind what you do. And moreover, if you live those lives in the correct manner, then the specifics are null and void. In the end, you arrive at the same destination. (In Richard’s case, you arrive there with newly graying hair, and the chance to actually buy the eyeliner you’ve long been accused of using.)

Now, let’s talk about that sideways destination itself. If put on the spot, here’s what I think we’re supposed to take away from it: As Island Protector, Hurley envisioned a way to give a gift back to those with whom he shared his time on the Island. Mother had her style, Jacob had his style, and Jack had his extremely interim style. But placing Hurley in ultimate charge of the Island? Brilliant, and not just because I predicted this last Fall and am happy I got at least SOMETHING right.

He’s the absolute perfect person to take the Island from what it was (something to be protected) into what it should be (something to be shared). In a show full of selfish people, Hurley is the epitome of unselfishness. Go back to the pilot episode: he’s distributing food on the first night (including a double dose for Claire, eating for two at the time). In “Everybody Hates Hugo,” he once again institutes a massive redistribution of foodstuffs. In both the Island timeline and sideways one, he uses wealth as a means to help others, giving away his cash rather than hang onto it. So having him established as the final Protector of the Island that we see (though, I imagine, not the final one by any means) worked for me.

What I imagine did not work for a LOT of you is the fact that we’ve spent one-half of the final season of the show watching events that would have been solved in “LA X” had Haley Joel Osment been on the flight. It’s a feeling that I have sensed coming for a while: the sideways world was doing such a damn good job of providing emotionally resonant moments that it eventually turned into an overwhelming attractive option for both the characters and the viewers. In fact, it turns out that the major players had absolutely no problem moving on once they made their emotional connections/breakthroughs, and instead willingly moved onto whatever lies on the other side of that white light.

As such, I look at the sideways world now as something created by Hurley (with Ben’s help) as a stopping ground for all major players in the “Lost” universe to meet at once, irrespective of when or how they died. As Christian says, there is no “now” over there. Time is just a relative construct created by people who are used to seeing events progress in a linear manner. What does Hurley ever want? For his friends to be happy! So what does he do? Well, he doesn’t build a golf course, he builds a space for them to somehow connect after shuffling off their mortal coil and all end up getting the moments of happiness that eluded them, making connections that had been previously missed, and getting forgiveness once thought impossible. They don’t have to be alive to have these things matter once achieved in the sideways universe, which is why I was behind the ultimate explanation 100%.

In the end, electromagnetism had nothing to do with the sideways world. There was no Faustian bargain between Eloise Hawking and The Man in Black. I’ve spent the second half of the season (ever since “Happily Ever After”) arguing that theory, and I’m delighted to be wrong. Why? It’s easier to buy “Hurley’s gift” as a reason as opposed to trying to throw Schroedinger’s cat as a reason for the sideways world. And that “gift” yielded scene after scene in the sideways world that reminded us all why we care so much about this show: its characters. I’m sure everyone had their particular favorites: for now, I’m putting Sawyer/Juliet in the pole position with Charlie/Claire as a surprising second. I’ll take scenes like this over lengthy exposition of the true nature of the glowing cave any day.

It’s obviously easy to say, “Well, the characters are happy, so we should be happy.” But clearly it’s not that simple. After all, these characters are fictional, constructs of the writing staff, whom I am sure went into hiding knowing that there would not only be questions but flaming torches/pitchforks aimed their way once this episode dropped. If we didn’t care about these characters, then there wouldn’t be such anger. Either you read interviews and now feel deceived, or you’re generally displeased that our characters are all dead. I’m not going to tut-tut you from that perspective, since it’s your perspective and you’re totally welcome to it.

To me, anything in the sideways world ended up being something of a bonus, both a meta-level and a narrative level. The show didn’t do the one thing I prayed it wouldn’t: negate the sacrifices and deaths on the Island timeline for some sort of reboot/do over in the sideways timeline. So, we got to see really interesting combinations and remixes of existing characters in unusual settings, with those settings driven by a combination of subconscious psychological desires and latent psychological holdups. (Kate sees herself as the innocent victim, rather than an actual killer, but is still on the run. Sawyer fashions himself a do-gooder, but is still unable to shake the memory of his parents. Jack invents a domestic life he never had, inserting a new body in his life in the form of a son to replace the father he could never find.)

On a character level, the sideways world allowed these characters the chance to let go in ways that they were unable to do in their actual lives. To fault the show for creating such a space when we have so often lamented the unfairness or abruptness of their deaths seems a bit hypocritical to me. For example, let’s take Sun/Jin. Many howled when they died, unable to believe two seasons apart boiled down to one episode; many others noted that it didn’t move them, due to the couple being alive in the sideways world. Turns out, the sideways world gave them another chance to “be together,” as the latter group suspected, but also honoring the sacrifice that tore up the former. I’d love to call this win/win, but I’m not sure I’d get many takers on this.

Let’s take another example: John Locke. Here’s a man that died a potentially pitiful death in “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham,” only to have his life honored and vindicated in the finale. Without inspiring Jack, the good doctor doesn’t return to the Island, and never becomes Protector, and never stops The Man in Black, and never passes off the torch to Hurley who in turn creates a special world in which Locke not only gets to have the relationship with Jack they never had on the Island, but also gets to forgive his murderer. I could give a flying fig about the other people on the outrigger if I get payoffs such as this instead.

And, as many of us suspected, the show closed on a familiar image, in a familiar place. Some might find fault with the heart of the Island being so near the place where the show started, but if The Island has taught us anything, it’s that looking and seeing are two different things. Charlie couldn’t “see” his guitar until he chose to give up his drugs. The cave is no different: Jack couldn’t see it until he was ready to see it. That’s the work he had to do all along. By bookending the series around a man opening up his eyes to the unknown and closing them as a man who learned what it meant to truly live, “Lost” encapsulated its’ primary thematic concern: what it means to live and learn through other people. They lived together, and none of them died alone. Not in the end. Perfect.

I’ve tried to thematically address the biggest issues/ideas of tonight’s episode. I realize I am short on specifics, but I also realize that there’s probably a huge need on your part to talk about this episode as quickly as possible. So I’m going to end things here, but know that this is just the beginning. Over at Zap2it’s Guide to Lost, we’re going to spend all week looking back at this episode, and by extension, the series itself. Next week, we’ll be continuing our look back at this ambitious, epic, emotional, imperfect, messy, glorious, unique show. I look forward to hearing your comments below, and I look forward to continuing the discussion with you further over on the blog throughout the week.

[p-and-p-admin]

Interview taken from The Severus Snape and Hermione Granger Shipping Fan Group.  (Admin approved)

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718373383293/

Hello Loten and welcome to Behind the Quill, thank-you for letting us get to know you a little better.

Many of our members will know your works with Post Tenebras, Lux and Chasing the Sun being considered classics for the SS/HG pairing.

Thanks for the invitation, hello everyone.

What's the story behind your pen name?

There's a werewolf novel, Bareback by Kit Whitfield. In one scene a character is looking at the moon and mentions that in Old English poetry they would use the term loten to describe a night when the moon was bright enough to see by. I haven't been able to verify it since the author may well have invented it, but I love nights like that and I liked the word, and the rest is history.

Which Harry Potter character do you identify with the most?

I get asked this a lot, actually. There is no one character, I don't think - I identify to some extent with most of the characters that feature more frequently in my fics, or I wouldn't be able to write them (the exception is Lucius, as far as I can tell he's truly fictional and not derived from anything in me). I probably have more in common with Hermione than the others, at least my version of her, but it's hard to say for sure.

Do you have a favourite genre to read? (not in fic, just in general)

Fantasy all the way. My mother nagged me into reading The Hobbit when I was around seven or eight, and that was it. I do read other genres but a good 85 per cent of my reading material almost certainly has magic or dragons somewhere in it.

Do you have a favourite "classic" novel?

I have a few. I like all of Austen's works, my favourite is probably Sense & Sensibility. I've just finished re-reading Jane Eyre. I like Elizabeth Gaskell's novels as well.

At what age did you start writing?

My mother is one of those parents who hoards everything her offspring do, and among the boxes of paper is a short story I wrote and illustrated when I was maybe five, about a flying shoe (imaginatively titled The Magic Clog). And when I was six I had a poem published in an anthology of children's verse (I don't remember how that came about; I think my school was asked to get involved, had a competition and picked out a few that ended up in the book) - my contribution was a piece of free verse about a dripping tap. So it's something I've always done, though I started taking it more seriously as a teenager developing roleplay characters.

How did you get into writing fanfiction?

My best friend when I was around thirteen was into fanfiction, she wrote Stargate SG-1 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer fiction at the time. I don't know how she got into it herself but she introduced me to reading it, though it was a year or two before I found the courage to try writing any. My early stuff was... not very good, and I will never admit to being the author of any of it now!

What's the best theme you've ever come across in a fic? Is it a theme represented in your own works?

Oh, that's a hard one. I like seeing consequences being explored - often authors will give a character the backstory or motivation they need them to have for the sake of the plot, but if it's not one of the main characters they won't pay it any more attention after that. When it's done well, I do like stories exploring the realism of just how a character would be affected by what happens to them. It adds a new dimension to their personality, and the psychology behind it is interesting in its own right. We're a product of our experiences, and so are fictional people. I try to show it in my writing as well - why a character does something is as important as the thing itself.

What fandoms are you involved in other than Harry Potter?

I read fics from all sorts of fandoms, but Discworld was where I first started writing (badly). It's a pretty small fandom despite the legions of fans worldwide, so I got to know a few writers there and learned more about what I was doing. Took a break for a while due to personal reasons, and when I returned under this name I started off in the even smaller Tamora Pierce fandom, trying my wings before entering the madness of Harry Potter. These days the Potterverse is still my first love along with the other two, but others include the Wheel of Time, Good Omens and too many smaller ones to list. I don't write for them or anything so active, though.

If you could make one change to canon, what would it be? Do you have a favourite piece of fanon?

Snape surviving, and the HG/SS ship, naturally! Do you listen to music when you write or do you prefer quiet?

Music, or Youtube videos (I watch a lot of Let's Plays), or just having the TV on. I can't concentrate in complete silence, my mind wanders to other things. I also talk to myself if there's no other source of noise and I'm trying to break the habit.

What are your favourite fanfictions of all time?

This would have been far easier to answer a few years ago, but I read less and less fanfiction as time goes by and I don't read Potter fics at all any more. My personal headcanons have developed more and more over the years, and nobody's headcanon is the same as anyone else's, so I end up disagreeing with fics these days because it's not how I would have done it and it makes it difficult to enjoy them.

The best fic I ever read was also the one that introduced me to HG/SS, but at some point, along the way, it was deleted and the author removed their account, and I've never managed to remember the title or pen name to look for it elsewhere. I don't remember the plot either after so long, but the characterisation was absolutely superb and the ship just made so much sense that I never looked back.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? How does that affect your writing process?

A plotter, definitely. I always have a first draft mostly complete before I start uploading anything. Initially, it was just because I realised I was writing longer stories and didn't want to risk hitting writer's block or real-life delays and having to go on hiatus in the middle of uploading a story, but later I realised I preferred it. I don't have to worry about writing myself into a corner or contradicting myself, I can take the time to make sure things are coming across the way I want them to. And it means I never have to force myself to write 'the next chapter' to a deadline - if I don't want to work on whatever comes next, I can jump ahead and write something later in the plot that I do want to work on. I also find it a lot easier to plan a story around a timeline to get the overall pacing right.

What is your writing genre of choice?

I don't really know what you'd call it. Slice of life, I suppose? I like stories about characters rather than about plots.

Which of your stories are you most proud of? Why?

Most of them, in their own way. My Tamora Pierce series, even though they're nothing groundbreaking and even though I know I could write them far better now, because they were the first things I wrote that I felt truly pleased with and because the overwhelmingly positive responses gave me the confidence to keep going, to try for something completely original rather than a retelling, and to venture into a far bigger and much more terrifying fandom.

Post Tenebras Lux, because it's (almost) exactly the story I wanted to tell and (almost) exactly the way I wanted to tell it. Chasing the Sun because it's the best written of anything I've done and I can see how much I've improved over the years, although I prefer the content of PTL. And I'm incredibly proud of the thousands upon thousands of positive and constructive reviews both of them gathered along the way,

I never expected to attract much notice at all and it's been a tremendous help to me both as a confidence boost and helping me see more about how others view storylines and characters in ways that I'd miss. I think overall it's PTL I'm most proud of, with CTS a close second.

Did it unfold as you imagined it or did you find the unexpected cropped up as you wrote? What did you learn from writing it?

Talking about CTS and PTL both, they're more or less the way I imagined them. Sometimes I'd get a review showing me a perspective I'd never considered, and one or two of them ended up having quite a long-running impact. Sometimes I'd reach a point, particularly in CTS, and realise that what I had planned for that part of the story wasn't going to work and I'd end up writing something completely different.

During the writing of both of them I mostly learned about how my brain works and how to organise myself to write at my best - I think I've learned more after they were done; I re-read both of them every year or so and see things I could have done differently and things that work and things I no longer agree with.

How personal is the story to you, and do you think that made it harder or easier to write?

Back to PTL for this one, since most of CTS' plot isn't completely mine. I never planned it to be particularly personal to me; at the time I just wanted to write about my favourite character and give him a better ending than canon did, and enjoy myself telling the story. As I went along and started touching on different subjects it became more personal - I've experienced bullying and depression, amongst other things, though fortunately not on the same scale as the characters I write about. I think it made it both harder and easier; stirring up old memories wasn't particularly pleasant, but it meant less time researching and rewriting those particular parts because it felt more real, to begin with.

What books or authors have influenced you? How do you think that shows in your writing?

That's another hard one. Subconsciously I think almost everything you read influences you at least a little. I tend to divide books into three categories - ones I don't enjoy and don't finish (which is rare but does happen), ones that were good but ultimately forgettable, and ones that deserve to be re-read, and I've probably learned something from almost all of the latter kind.

If I had to name one author it would be Terry Pratchett. His writing spanned such a vast spectrum it blew my mind wide open from the first time I picked up one of his books (I think I was ten or so) and he's still the author I come back to time and time again and find something to enjoy and appreciate no matter what my mood is. He's known for humour but there's so much more in everything he wrote. As for how outside influences show in my writing, I really don't know but I can guarantee they're there.

Do people in your everyday life know you write fanfiction?

Not really. Some of my school friends did, but over the years I've lost touch with all of them. Of my family and current friends, the ones that would understand fanfiction don't share the fandoms I write for, and the others just wouldn't understand the concept. I'm not ashamed of it, I just don't know how to explain it to someone who has no overlap with this world. Some of my online friends know, but half of them I met via my fanfics in the first place, so I'm not sure that counts!

How true for you is the notion of "writing for yourself"?

Where fanfiction is concerned, there's no point doing anything else. If you're trying to make a career out of writing you do have to write for your audience at least to some extent, but one of the joys of something not for profit like fanfiction is that you can tell the stories you want to tell and don't need to impress anyone.

The whole reason PTL exists is that I couldn't find a fic that told the story I wanted to read, so I wrote it myself. CTS primarily exists so I could fix a lot of the parts of canon I had the greatest problems with. The fact that other people agree is amazing and I still get warm fuzzies from every review from someone sharing the same opinion, but that wasn't the point.

Starting out in small fandoms meant I had no expectations for reviews so I never felt the need to try and court them, and every piece of feedback was a pleasant surprise rather than a main motivation. It's also a lot easier and more enjoyable to write for yourself; my other fics are mostly small one-shots based on prompts from other people, and many of them were a real struggle to write.

How important is it for you to interact with your audience? How do you engage with them? Just at the point of publishing? Through social media?

I'd say it's pretty important. I try to answer every signed review where possible, and it's always surprised me when people tell me they weren't expecting it - it seems to be something most fic authors don't do. It never occurred to me not to at least thank someone for taking the time to leave a review, and for those who leave longer reviews with questions or observations or (constructive) criticism I like the chance to explain some of my reasons for a particular decision or to talk about something in the fic or the wider fandom or writing in general.

That said, I don't have much contact with readers outside review responses and FFN messages. I don't really use social media (hence the format of this interview). Nothing against it, but introversion and a lack of much free time (and, it must be said, a little laziness) mean it's not for me at this point in time. I do have a blog but it's not very active.

What would you most like your readers to take away with them when they've finished your stories?

Honestly? I'm happy if someone finishes and thinks 'that was a good read, I enjoyed it'. Anything else is icing on the cake. Sometimes I get lovely messages from people who've been going through rough times and they tell me something in my stories resonated with them and helped them feel a bit better, and that's an incredible feeling. Others tell me they've been inspired to work on their own writing or to read more about a subject I mentioned. Some just want to let me know they've checked out a song or book I referenced or quoted and they liked it. All those are great, but as long as someone likes the story and enjoys reading it, that's enough.

What is the best advice you've received about writing?

The most specifically useful was probably "when you're writing dialogue, read it out loud". Time after time I've done that and realised a piece of a conversation was very awkward and strange and been able to rewrite it. In a more general sense, the best thing I've seen was "don't force it". If you're not in the mood to write something, don't try to, because it'll be far lower quality than if you wait until you're excited to write it down.

What do you do when you hit writer's block?

That ties into the previous question. Usually, I leave that piece of writing alone and either work on something else or move away from writing entirely and give myself a break for a few days to clear my head. Sooner or later something will shake loose and I'll see my way past whatever the problem was. (This usually happens either in the shower or while driving, when I can't do anything about it, because the universe just hates people sometimes!)

Has anything in real life trickled down into your writing?

Oh, absolutely, though I can't give many specific examples. As I mentioned before, my experiences with bullying and depression definitely added an extra dimension to the way I write about those issues, but that's the only obvious thing. I haven't consciously included any specific incidents from my life anywhere in my writing, but I'm sure there are a lot of small things I haven't even noticed. And there are definitely some details that are me, such as certain characters' music tastes (or a preference for black forest gateau...)

Do you have any stories in the works? Can you give us a teaser?

I get asked this one a lot! Yes, I do plan on at least two more long Potter fics, if possible. I'm fairly sure at least one of them is going to happen. I have some concrete writing and a lot of notes. But it's difficult to avoid treading ground I've already covered in existing fics, I don't want to produce anything that feels too similar. I also wrote both PTL and CTS while I was unemployed and living with my parents, and now I'm living on my own and working, so I have much much less free time. No teaser, I'm afraid :)

Any words of encouragement to other writers?

The only way to get better at writing is to write, so write. Don't worry about not being good. That can come later. You can always rewrite anything. My early fics under other names range from thoroughly amateur to absolute trash that I've disowned, and there's plenty of original writing that will never, ever see the light of day.

If you write something down and hate it, leave it for a while and then go back and look at it and figure out why you hate it. Try not to be afraid. It takes real courage to let other people see your writing for the first time, and nothing hurts like your first negative review, but the world won't end. Criticism comes in three forms - misunderstandings that you can address; genuine criticisms that you can learn from; and, very rarely, flames or trolling that you can ignore. Most people will have a valid point, and most of them will genuinely be trying to help you.

And READ. Read everything you can get your hands on. Fics, books, blog posts, newspaper articles. If you don't like something, try and work out why. If you do like something, try and work out why. Exercise your imagination and the rest will follow.

Thank you so much for spending some time with us Loten, it was a genuine pleasure getting to spend some time getting to know you better.

[recentanimenews]

Isekai, Ranked

If Anime is escapism, there is no better way to escape than plunging Into Another World, where our niche skills and routine possessions may shake the fabric of reality! From MMO-inspired, to hard fantasy, there are many types of shows on this list but no movies nor series we haven’t seen recently. Bring all disagreements to the comments below!

1. Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World Re:Zero takes Isekai’s love for fish-out-of-water stories on step further: through brutal, expectation breaking blind sides, it makes the viewer a fish out of water too! Dripping with fantastic animation, Re:Zero true strength is the balance of its highly detailed world without over explaining its magic system, time loop mechanic and political systems. It also earns bonus points for  limiting the application of its protagonist’s powerful magic and technological advantages.

2. Sword Art Online (1st season)  In the narrowest of second places, SAO pairs top shelf animation with an approachable cast and easy to appreciate central conflict. Its lovingly constructed MMO setting aside, Kirito’s mistakes and occasional darkness elevate him above his potentially generic good-at-everything character type and Asuka plays the strongest heroine/love interest on the list.

3. Now and Then, Here and There Imagine if Digimon told a bleak about story sex trafficking child soldiers trapped on a waterless world with a maniac king? NTHT’s intense swerve from adorable into darkness is on par with Re:Zero and, much like Natsuki Subaru, HTHT’s Shu must rely on ‘durability’ and ‘heart’ to make it through. While some of it’s later tragic moments are predictable, this f’ed-up little anime scores major points for telling a complete story and having that story grow Shu from simpleton into a conflicted young adult.

4. Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet While Red’s post-earth scifi origin may stretch the common definition of Isekai, being trapped in a primitive culture that treats him (and his AI-driven mech Chamber) like a hero of old does not. Beautifully, Gargantia flips the script and makes Red’s overwhelming power, and killing in general, at odds with the local people.

5. Yōjo Senki / The Saga of Tanya the Evil Give us World War I with magic, a gender swapped villain as our protagonist, and God as our antagonist, and you’ve given us something pretty damn original. Like Gargantia, this reborn in another world captures thinking differently about the world can be as powerful and terrifying as unworldly strength. Without question, Yojo Senki’s cast is the most uniquely imagined on this list.

6. No Game No Life Like Tanya, the Blank twins piss off god and are sent to another world as punishment. However, their punishment is much more stylish and… harem. Underneath NGNL’s acid-soaked panties, over the top protagonists and the psychedelic color pallet, lives a show featuring thoughtful puzzles and imaginative spins on classic gamble to win story telling. Sadly, its story ends unfinished…

7. KonoSuba One part jab at Isekai and one part love letter to the starting town of every fantasy MMO, KonoSuba is all parts ruthlessly funny!  While this reborn in another world (with a goddess!) show is not be as smartly written as NGNL, and it becomes repetitive after a time, the constant frenetic action more than makes up for it.

8. Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash Quiet, thoughtful, and full of sadness, this hard fantasy Isekai doesn’t care if its heroes are reborn in another world or trapped in a dungeon crawl afterlife. Building family bonds and connecting with people who would not normally be friends is all that matters… and it’s lovingly animated to boot!

9. ReCreators As a reverse Isekai, ReCreators distinguishes itself by bringing the other world to us. The experience is fantastically animated and packed with clever dialog that somehow breaths sincerity into a profoundly silly plot. The cast is quite diverse, both in design and personality, which keeps the action fresh, yet somehow cohesive throughout. It’s only major flaw is, the final act, which is way to drawn out.

10. The Devil is a Part Timer No I’m not kidding! This reverse Isekai’s premise that the Devil is trapped in our world and must work at McDonnald’s to get by is charming. While DiaPT’s humor isn’t particularly specific to the devil, the jokes are punchy, and the overall plot develops at a respectable pace. As an added treat, the opening gothic fantasy fight scenes are surprisingly well animated.

11. Log Horizon (1st season) Most exposition heavy, trapped in an MMO themed Isekai featuring ‘top ranked’ players crumble after a few episodes. More often than not, these shows try too hard to sell the coolness of their game worlds, user interfaces, and central characters. Miraculously, Log Horizon gets better mid season with a simple question: if former NPCs have personalities, can grow and learn, and even die, are they more human than the former players that dismiss them as background texture? Still, it takes Log Horizon six episodes to get going and good lord is it gray looking…

12. Overlord (3 Seasons) This transported into an MMO Isekai mirrors its main character: it is competent but not sure what it should be doing at any given moment. Sometimes the protagonists are villains and sometimes they are heroes. More often than not, characters are given lavish screen time to develop, only to be slaughtered whimsically. The resulting narrative is full of call backs and revealed foreshadowing… yet hasn’t gone very far in 3 seasons and hasn’t asked any interesting questions along the way.

13. El Hazard – The Magnificent World (OAV/TV) Predestined paradox, trans-dimensional time jumping high school students (and their drunk gym teacher) are trapped in an Arabian Nights’like land besieged by sentient bugs, a secret tribe of assassins from another dimension, and a death star like eye of god orbiting nearby. If you watched anime in the 1990s it will all be familiar but it still manages to feel original yet cohesive production. The character abilities are wonderful, the tragedy is nice, and plenty is left up to your own imagination to fill in the blanks. A bland, fault free, protagonist and a boy-crazy harem vibe are the only reasons it isn’t higher on the list.

14. Gate: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri This invading the other world Isekai flips the script to deliver political intrigue, clash of culture, and commentary on Japanese society. It loses points for being a overly harem, relying on super dumb/super evil antagonists, and a dull protagonist but it’s fun enough to watch.

15. Drifters Stylishly violent, strikingly ugly, historical character filled and utterly bonkers, this reborn in another world Isekai’s uniqueness will hold your attention. Even if you do not want it to.

16. Rise of the Shield Hero (2 Seasons) On paper, this transported to an MMO world Isekai’s “treat the hero like crap,” “watch him accept the role of a slave-buying villain” and ultimately “rise to become the true hero” concept is great. Revealing that the world he’s saving may be less redeemable than the world the invaders are trying to save is also great. Too bad its padded and many of the arbitrary delays and narrative dead ends feel like cop outs.

17. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime While it lacks the initial hardcore’ness of Shield Hero, this reborn in another world Isekai is pleasantly animated and full of heart. The idea that naming monsters grants them power is a pretty neat mechanic too. It just sort bounces from idea to idea without a sense of purpose of resolution. One minute it’s a story of unlikely friendship, then magic destiny, then town builder, then harem, and onto magic school and isn’t about anything in particular until a hastily thrown together plot ties it up at the end. It scores points for making its hero a slime… although the reborn aspect never feels played with or justified.

18. Angel Beats! If the gun fetish, kids fighting a loli-angel instead of attending school in the afterlife plot weren’t so dumb and drawn out, this rebirth story’s touching moments would push it much higher. There’s a really good tale of life cut short, reunion after death, and again after rebirth here and it gets major bonus points for finishing the story it had to tell. Totally squandered.

19. Death March / Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku Like Shield Hero, this reborn in an MMO Isekai is actually quite good looking. However, its Gary-Stue protagonist, harem and absurd narrative padding make it far less interesting.  OMG how many episodes are about making lunch?! That’s too bad because the concept of code-like “copy and paste” magic system is pretty neat.

20. Wiseman’s Grandson / Kenja no Mago Despite opening with a modern day man being killed, this reborn into a fantasy world Isekai is more Magic School than Isekai. The only thread that connects the protagonist’s lives is that he can look at magic with an eye for process instead of outcome. The result is harmless easy watching but harem elements, a slow pace and lack of getting anywhere narratively hold it back.

21. How Not to Summon a Demon Lord This summoned into an MMO Isekai starts off as charming, but ecchi-heavy, before abruptly turning dark at the end of the season. We’re talking ‘make a child watch as her best friend is slowly tortured to death’ and creepo ‘finger-bang a loli cat girl in order to give birth to the demon inside her’ level dark. While those elements elevate HNtSaDL above niche appeal of its harm and MMO content, they aren’t so interesting to earn my recommendation.

22. Problem Children are coming from Another World, Aren’t They? The non-ecchi poor man’s No Game no Life features a talking cat that only some characters can understand and dreadful music. TFW smooth jazz? There’s some cuteness to be had, and the solutions to gambling games can be clever, but the overall vibe is low energy. It loses drama points because its protagonist is as smart as a god and physically stronger.

23. Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? This poor man’s Konosuba is occasionally funny, satire of RPG conventions and family relationships. Mama’s skill that interrupts whatever her son is doing, no matter what it is or where he is in the game world, is particularly charming. Unfortunately, there’s no avoiding the creepo factor of sexualizing that family relationship.

24. Restaurant from Another World My mom is secretly from another world and my restaurant’s front door connects back to that world each day is certainly unique, but it’s structured more like a food-porn show than Isekai. While the linkages of each patron become clear over time, few characters are not aware of those connections themselves. The result never feels like it gets anywhere.

25. In Another World With My Smartphone Stories without risk are still watchable when they immerse us an interesting world, or delve into niche details like food or how magic works, or sleeze us with harems and sex appeal. Smartphone fails all of these things. Worse, it does nothing with it’s one idea: protagonist Touya is reborn in a fantasy world with smartphone. Except, GOD GIVES HIM GOD TIER MAGIC FROM THE GET-GO! Ironically, Re:Zero and No Game No Life both use of a cell phones in more interesting ways, and Tanya’s God isn’t even comparable. Unoriginal, unfunny, not dramatic, not sexy, not worth watching.

26. Maou-sama, Retry! This transported to an MMO Isekai’s trash production values, and bizarre characters are hard to take seriously. The results are sometimes so terrible they are funny, such as incompetent background music transitions and detailed horses hiding at the edges of the frame. Sadly, a bland harem and complete lack of narrative objective kill the mood.

27. Isekai Izakaya Imagine a low energy, public access style show, with a tourism theme, that featuring a modern Japanese restaurant that serves fantasy world patrons…

28. Isekai Cheat Magician A loveless summoned to a fantasy world Isekai who’s protagonists are the most powerful and purely good characters could deserve a niche rating. Not this one. The narrative sort of ‘skips the boring stuff’ and, in doing so, skips character development. Hilariously, what the narrative does show is poorly animated, always underwhelming magic battle scenes or people standing around talking.

29. Endride Without dialog, this stumbled into a magic world Isekai’s vibrant color and crisp art would be watchable. The fact that the world is somehow inside of Earth’s core and the sparse use of mythology are unique, but its dumb-as-bricks whiny teen protagonists have the maturity of a small children. There are many unintentionally funny moments like scientists using gigantic laptops or the king’s magic weapon looking like a safety pin. Ultimately, the cast is so unlikeable that the show itself is unwatchable.

By: oigakkosan

[pickyperkypenguin]

Recently I remembered that Mabel podcast exists. As I had an upcoming journey, it seemed like a perfect occasion to renew my interest in it, and to get to know how the story of Anna Limon and Mabel unfolds.

(Disclaimer: I am writing all this after listening to twenty five episodes. I don’t exclude the possibility that I’d change my mind, had I listened to more, but for now this is what I think. Also, I had no idea I’ve had so much to say about Mabel podcast, so the length of this text is a surprise both for you and for me. tl;dr: I love the idea of this story, execution could be better.)

What I realised after listening to a couple of episodes after a long break (and the natural break in the narrative, at which point I initially finished), was that it’s, like, Really Bad. But, you know, sort of in a good way.

The general premise is something that a person ( I, the person. When I say we or a person I mean I, but it’s too late to care about my phrasing now) wishes badly to exist. Who doesn’t want a queered fairy tale, dramatic and tragic lesbian romance, the kind that somehow feels like in every single scene the heroes (heroines, in this case) are standing over the edge of a cliff, their ripped white shirts barely covering their chests, their bodies shivering from the wind, and somebody is about to kill or kiss the other person. You know, the romantic as in the historical period kind. Everything over the top, but better, because it’s not subtextually, but screamingly textually queer.

And it works at certain points, really – the queerness of the heroines queers the structure of the story, it plays on the archetypes and sort of fulfils the desire to appropriate them for the queer self for once. It’s a pleasant feeling.

The descriptions are flowy and opulent, the romance goes how certain type of straight romances would go – assuming that the listener will assume the same stuff about a queer couple, as about heterosexual one. And it provides the portrait of an unhinged, feral, burning and at times tender  love I see so rarely in queer narratives, because it often would be considered “problematic” (again, it would not, was it a straight romance, but we do tend to have higher expectations for queer romances) or simply botched (it often is in straight romances). It’s the love that’s not really supposed to be nice, and that’s based on imagining and idealisation of the other person more than the reality of the connection (and it goes both ways, as we see after finally getting Mabel’s POV). It is indeed for the most of time disconnected, here by literally a wall between the worlds, but not as the finishing scene, but by the duration. The sun and moon type of romance (and the podcast seems self-aware of all that, I think the creators are delighting in the fact that they can construct it like this).

And I think that till a certain point it all sort of works out more or less, minus the details I’ll be complaining about. When it comes to the luscious descriptions creating the atmosphere of a fairy tale in vivid detail, they are really over the top, bordering on purple prose (or sometimes just plunging right into it). The repetitions and flowery adjectives have their own charm and work in small amounts. I thought – maybe it was not made for binge listening? But no, on the other hand the structure of plot is slow to unfold and convoluted enough, that were I listening to it week-by-week, I’d get nothing from it, really, and would probably be discouraged by the fact that it’s not as much that I don’t understand anything, but I can’t see the larger plot that’s supposed to be unfolding. It’s a mystery-based podcast at first, and I would probably forget what would be considered as base-level unusual in-world, and it would not make an effective impression on me with the increase of oddity.

Another explanation of the purple language – maybe it’s Anna Limon’s character? Maybe she is that kind of girl – after all, for what we know she might as well be going crazy in an old lady’s house, fixating on mysteries and family history that’s not hers for the lack of anything to do? The voicemail “letters” (for a lack of better word, but it has that feel of XIXth century love letters, you know) charm at first. Well, at least me. (Same went with Alice Isn’t Dead, with the main character constantly addressing her wife that she misses – that was I think the first time I encountered a wlw affection showed like this, and I liked the idea very much).

Unfortunately, the formula starts breaking when the first arc of the story ends, and we get to know Mabel’s point of view and Mabel’s character. Here the similarities of that language start grating: Mabel is a not-really-a-girl-what-does-human-mean-at-this-point who has been isolated for a long time in the Kingdom Under the Hill, where concepts work in a slightly different way than in the real world, and she could be this over the top just from the isolation and existing for a long time among this non-euclidean post-death plant-gymnastics.

Both Anna and Mabel could have their own reasons to be speaking like this (speaking! That also changes the feeling of it, it read distinctively different in text form). But when those reasons are so different from one another, and yet the language stays about the same, it’s just obvious that it’s the writing of the show, and unfortunately, as I said, in larger quantities, in it not being a distinctive characteristic but how the script is written, and also because it’s all spoken, it starts charming and ends up jarring. It’s becomes too over the top, if I can say it like that, and it doesn’t work as it should, also because – and here we come with another thing – it takes itself so. damn. seriously.

The Mabel podcast does not joke, but it contains a lot of unhinged, wild and hysterical laughing, giggling and sobbing. Maybe it’s the fault of the voice acting (and sorry if it’s rude, but I’m afraid I think the voice acting is really not good overall), but at a point it just started getting on my nerves. The show never stops to give itself a breather, but rides the high C all the time, and there is no rest. That cheapens, I’m afraid, the moments that are supposed to be impactful and end up less so, because they have no chance of shining brighter than the others, as everything tries to shine at once.

I also think that the voice acting itself is annoying me more than it should. I don’t really find the cadence of the voices pleasant – especially Mabel, who is unfinishing her sentences a lot but in a way that sounds artificial. It’s like amateur actors who know they are supposed to not finish a sentence, because it has been written in the script that another character will interrupt them. So, they go off from their way to facilitate that, and there is the minuscule but noticeable pause that just sounds stupid for the spectator. It’s even worse when there is no other character to interrupt, just one person abandoning a sentence – but they have long ago known they will abandon it in the first place, oh my god, it doesn’t make sense. Sorry, I think I really didn’t like Mabel’s way of talking.

I mean, at first it was sort of incredible – I remember the impact it made on me when I finally heard Mabel’s voice! And she was so angry! She was angry at Anna for switching places without asking her if she even wants that, and she didn’t fit in the real world acutely, and she has had a lot of pretensions and grievances. She was yelling a lot and hitting things. It was awesome. And then, sadly, it all lost the impact, because I then started noticing everything that I listed above and all this became just a baseline communication for her, and nothing had the time to reverberate. Her appearance was the best and the worst that could happen, because it could be executed so well, but instead has basically destroyed the formula of the show that seduced me in the first place.

And the formula was this – one sided relation from events we don’t know if they are actually happening, or if it’s a portrait of a person losing herself and going insane. The distortions instead of voices when the worlds were colliding and the other world and its inhabitants were communicating was absolutely selling that ambiguity. It was providing a certain foundation to Anna’s self-doubt if she isn’t going insane, and at the same time giving us the structure of the narrative that we’re familiar with, because we’ve been (I was, in Central Eastern Europe) raised on it. It was (and is, I stand by it) an amazing choice for showing an encounter with the Other, with strangeness that the modern world (and its recording devices) is not equipped to handle, and the heroes are barely able to as well. I do believe the only way to scare us at all in the XXI century and the time of incredibly realistic special effects is to leave us guessing, because only then we’ll be able to scare ourselves. The theatricality will work out where the gore fails, and here it worked spectacularly. I still don’t know who exactly was speaking in which moments, if the house was speaking at all, if it was maybe Luna Thorn or the King. Who the fuck knows, and what a delight it is.

But the story started to fall apart, as I said, when we finally had both girls actually talking to each other, and then them speaking of the other as if she was not theoretically right next to her. In the exact manner as when they were apart, divided by the veil between the real world and the fairy kingdom. The distance disappeared, we got both points of view, and that should be the moment of losing the gravity, and I think it would kind of saved the show. Unfortunately, I say as a mantra here, even though the attempts were made – bravo for Anna, expressing her desire for Mabel to just fucking talk to her like a normal person and to co-exist, be in the same spacetime. To which we got a counterargument that oh, of bloody course Anna wants normalcy because that’s her fetish, and Mabel is not normal because she’s barely human and did even Anna love her all this time, can she love her after confronting that otherness of Mabel? Aaand there it went. I mean, it does make narrative sense a lot, but it also prevents from riding out the narrative high C, and so we are still listening to an equivalent of ten hour version of the last phrase from the Phantom of the Opera theme song.

The romance starts showing its imperfections, and normally it would be good, because it would lead us to the protagonists deepening the connection, going from the abstract, ideative one, to one forged in the fire of just being in near proximity, and in situations where they are supposed to work out compromises to rely on each other, instead of making decisions for the other and expecting gratitude. At the point which I listened to last, they confronted that issue, but didn’t seem like it was going anywhere (yet?). Which leads me to a point, that I will probably listen to at least a couple more episodes, both because I sort of want to give it a chance and to know how it will unfold, and also because I have another upcoming journey and what you expect me to be doing on a train?

Yeah, that’s about that. Gods, what the hell, I had no idea I would write this much. There might be several grammatical mistakes in this meta, because I am not a native speaker and there is no way I am going to go over 2k of words that nobody may even read, and I should seriously be going back to what I should be doing instead of this. Though I admit, right now I will try to go to the gym, because I am highly caffeinated (have you noticed???) and I, like, cannot really do caffeine. At all. Why did I do that? Oh yeah, I had to because I was working on some stuff before. Oh gods, how will I even fall asleep today.

[justselfloathingthings-blog]

Smile Precure Episode 43- Reika v. Joker Analysis

So, I mentioned  the other day that Smile Precure episode 43 has my second favorite fight scene and I want to dig into that a bit. But first, let’s talk a bit about fight scene construction. There’s this thing about fight scenes. They can be used to convey several things. They can be used as pure spectacle- with the budget of a Pretty Cure, not something that you’re going to see that much. The second is to use the fight to emphasize the story. This is what you typically see in a Pretty Cure episode, especially the really good ones. The fight in itself, or in its surrounding circumstances, really hit the point that the rest of the episode was trying to discuss or elucidate. 

Then there’s that other kind. The kind of fight scene that functionally exists to deliver a point, and manages to tell a story in itself. When the momentum, choreography, and happenings of the scene really flow together to actually say something both in regards to the fight itself, and regarding the story and these characters. 

Typically in Pretty Cure seasons you see this at the end (Heartcatch probably hitting on it the best, Splash Star second.), which makes sense because it’s the culmination of the series, and where you can burn your budget. Smile essentially said “fuck that” and gave us Episode 43, and I think that you can actually both pick up a good bit about visual storytelling and where Smile most strongly succeeds as a Pretty Cure season by looking at it. So let’s do that. Reference video coming.

(Youtube doesn’t have any subbed clips sadly, but I’m going to be walking through the scene anyway so this is more for reference)

The first point to make about this fight is how superb that intro is. Like, god. You want to talk dynamic entries. We don’t see her transformation sequence because who needs that nonsense lol. Instead we see the background freeze in real time. And torrents of ice surrounding Reika that burst away for her introduction with a field of light surround her, complete with character song. That is certainly an introduction. 

Another point to make is how ridiculously fluid the animation is. It’s crisp and clean and clear; there are no rapid cuts, there are no stops. You could honestly probably split this into something similar to a three act structure because there are just so many sustained shots. One shot flows into the next so organically that it genuinely plays like a high-budget magical girl anime in my opinion; that constant back and forth between Joker and Beauty? It doesn’t devolve into DBZ-style attacks. You see it all, more or less, with crystal clarity. The fight scene feels less like a “fight scene”, but more like a scene, if you follow me. And it’s so beautifully shot too, like that aura of light around Beauty is so crisp and powerful and really gives the scene that much more narrative weight (I’ll get to that). But there’s actual moving parts too! Like those little background elements that Pretty Cure rarely plays with? Otsuka Takashi was like “nah let’s do something with that.” Reika being able to swing off those things and keep moving around helps the scene continue to have constant sustained momentum.

And that shot with Reika’s shield! It’d be so easy to just kinda skip over that, not have it at all, or do it cheaply. They do none of those things. That bit of the attack parting before Reika breaks through the attack and it beautifully shattering was so great like omg. 

And I honestly love the way she even used her opponent’s armory against him; the way that she continually bounced off Joker’s shield and used it as a launching pad was both really cool and really provided a definitive display of who has the advantage in this fight. 

Because, like, after the first time Joker breaks Reika’s sword, she grabs control of the fight and never lets go. You can see this through the obvious stuff, how deftly she dodges pretty much all of Joker’s attacks from hereon, how she has an answer for absolutely everything Joker throws at her, the way that between the climactic clash between the two, it is HER that breaks into Joker’s personal space and leads to the finishing blow to their little swordfight .

But it’s also the little things. If you look, after that first shot Joker’s attacks become far more wild and aggressive whereas Beauty never loses her cool, her attacks and blocks being consistently calm and precise. She continually dominates the momentum of the fight and Joker is continually reactive instead of proactive, basically desperately trying to stay on par with an opponent that is simply operating on a level that is out of his league. She is so in-tune with the battlefield that she uses Joker’s own set pieces against him to constantly get leverage and momentum, include Joker’s own shield. 

Joker’s attacks are largely rather repetitive whereas Reika is pulling everything out of her skillset. Not out of desperation, but because it is the best move for the occasion. She just is pulling out everything she has because she knows that in this instance she simply has Joker outclassed. And even when Joker pulls out his last-ditch attempt to outsmart Beauty, she doesn’t lose her composure and her passions lead her to victory. 

When you back up a moment and think about the episode, the whole thing is pretty clearly a metaphor for Reika’s victory over her dilemma, but it manages to actually perfectly communicate that in the battle alone. The fight itself tells a really clear story and it’s a powerful one. 

But. Let’s dig a little deeper. I want to first talk about Reika’s character, and then the episode in general, and then the actual text of the fight specifically. It paints a great picture.

Reika is a character that has always been defined by others. The reason she initially turns out being a Cure is because of her various other obligations. This makes it clear that her duties are something that deeply defines her. She also puts a good deal of emphasis on not “burdening” people. All this seems pretty admirable on the surface, honestly. But when you dig a bit deeper, you learn that this isn’t something she is doing entirely because she wants to do it. This is something that she feels is expected of her due to things like the students asking her. She doesn’t want to burden other people with problems, so she takes them all on herself. In 16 she talks about “finding her own path” (this becomes important) and initially just abandons all her responsibilities. This isn’t a reasonable approach, but it is an appropriate one for somebody confused and scared. 

She realizes that she can use things like studying to “find her own path” in the same episode, but it’s worth noting that this isn’t an answer to the question. It’s just another step in the journey. The whole journey is a bit of an undercurrent for Reika’s character for most of the story.

Then we come to 43. 

The plot is about Reika having to choose between, in essence, her duties and life and her friends and being Pretty Cure. Her friends reassure her, as they are wont to do, but Reika remains torn, not sure exactly what path it is she should take in her life; the crisis that popped up near the start of the series re-emerges full force. Joker then sneak-attacks, capturing the others, and Reika finds herself unable to maintain being Cure Beauty, Joker saying that it’s because she no longer as the resolve to be her anymore. But when the other girls admit that they simply can’t imagine losing her, Reika agrees, and with that resolve is able to transform, stronger than ever.

The thing here is that it’s a realization on Reika’s part, that through putting through all this effort to not make her own choices and simply do what other people want her to do, she essentially puts herself in a no-win situation, because at heart people want her to do what is best for her, and not continually act as though everyone else has complete control of her life all the time. 

It’s worth noting that Joker is completely off-guard by the transformation, and it’s really clear that he gets that he’s on the wrong end of the foot now. Probably suspecting that this isn’t a fight he can win on his own terms, Joker does what Joker does and tries to play Beauty’s psychology against her. And it’s worth noting that it... doesn’t really work at all. For a moment Beauty is caught off-guard, but after the first strike, she completely regains her composure and has it for the rest of the fight. One important thing to note about Joker’s arguments is that they aren’t about what REIKA wants or what REIKA needs, but “answering other people’s expectations” and conforming to people’s perceptions of her. Because that’s what Reika has always cared about, by and large. And Reika, if strongly, just... dismisses these arguments that clearly carry no weight for her anymore.

The climax of the exchange comes from Joker saying that Reika is “staying from the path”. This is probably what would have hit Reika strongest in the past, because finding a Path and going through with is something that she has been searching for this entire time, and to an extent it may very well have been something she could have felt that she found. But Reika merely responds that she has found a path, and it doesn’t have to be what other people define it to be- it’s her path and it’s her choice. This is really the peak of Reika’s character in the series, and it’s such a great moment, to the point that they change their style and cut to Japanese characters to emphasize her dialogue, and then Reika essentially ends the fight, victorious. 

So Joker kind of pulls out his Trump card. His weapon from the beginning was a Mirror monster. It’s worth noting this is a callback to the monster that Reika defeated at the beginning of the series and became a Cure, but it wasn’t Reika’s strength or power, internal or external that allowed her to beat it, but her intellect. So Joker ups the ante, and creates a seemingly infinite amount of mirrors that clearly can’t be beaten the same way. Reika isn’t even phased, preparing her attack and declaring that it’s okay to be selfish, and that she will use that help to her find her own path. It’s that declaration that causes the landscape to turn against Joker, illuminating his true location. Reika thus uses her new attack- it’s worth noting that in 5 it was a simple purifying attack; here it actively shatters Joker’s shield and thus breaks the battlefield. 

And it’s worth noting that her victory in 5 came from her intelligence, something that she felt that she was obligated to use for others because of her not knowing what to do with her life. Her victory in 43 comes from passion and knowing, finally, the start to her journey for a purpose. 

Smile Precure’s strength is not where the characters start (if anything I find the beginning a bit of a slog) but where the characters end. Which makes sense? It’s a story about endings in many ways, after all. But I think nothing exemplifies that best than this fight scene, which is beautiful in so many ways. I may like Fresh 23′s better, but this one stands out in its own right and I think deserves respect. 

[miss-musings]

Some wild or not-so-wild predictions about Episode IX (with some TLJ meta/analysis)

So, for the record, these crazy-ass wild predictions (or maybe not so wild???) are based on: 1) evidence of themes, motifs, character development and story arcs from TFA and TLJ; 2) overall story arcs and whatnot from both the Prequel Trilogy and the OrigTrig; 3) other media (TV shows) within the Star Wars universe; 4) other media outside of Star Wars that I feel like share some thematic/character parallels and that I know are very popular among modern audiences; and 5) fan metas that tie into all of this.

So, in no particular order and with plenty of art to break up the text…

And in case this isn’t going to be obvious… SPOILERS FOR THE LAST JEDI!!!

PREDICTION ONE: The Title

Across the 8 Star Wars films we have three possibilities for the way titles are worded: A/The (Adjective) (Noun) ; (Noun) with a verb somewhere in the phrase; (Noun) of the (Noun). So far in this new trilogy, we’ve had the first two. But we haven’t had (Noun) of the (Noun) yet. This has been the case with the third installments of each trilogy: Revenge of the Sith (III) and Return of the Jedi (IV).

I imagine IX will fit this pattern; and, while I doubt it will have “Jedi” or “Sith” in it, I wouldn’t be surprised if it had the word “Balance” in it. Like “Balance of the Force” or something, except that I imagine they might be kind of nervous about using “Force” again in a title so soon, considering they have The Force Awakens and another property The Forces of Destiny.

But, I’d bet money “Balance” is in the title. Maybe not a lot of money. Like $5 or something, but still. I’ll bet money on it. Maybe… “Power of the Balance.” Because Balance has very much been a recurring theme/motif in this trilogy, and I’m 100% certain we’re going there (which we’ll get into more below).

PREDICTION TWO: Character Dynamics

Okay, so for a more general observation of the Core Three Characters of each of our trilogies – Anakin/Obi-Wan/Padme ; Luke/Han/Leia – we had a romantic pairing between two of the three characters (Anakin/Padme ; Han/Leia), and a sibling or pseudo-sibling bond two of three characters (Anakin/Obi-Wan ; Luke/Leia). And the remaining connection of the triangle (Padme/Obi-Wan ; Luke/Han) was more of a friendship than anything else.

Now, looking at our main three characters of this NEW trilogy, I’ve seen a lot of people arguing that it’s Rey/Finn/Poe. No, it’s really not. As much as I like Poe, he’s really more of the Lando or Yoda or Mace Windu of this series. He has an important role, but initially he’s more of a side character (especially considering that he doesn’t really get any character development until TLJ). This is evident in the marketing for TFA and the fact that Poe was supposed to die in the crash on Jakku.

No, Rey, Finn and Kylo are the main three of our story. With that, the bonds between them become more evident: Rey and Kylo are the romantic pairing as we clearly see in TLJ; and Rey and Finn are going to be more of the pseudo-sibling pairing (Sorry, FinnRey, shippers. I enjoy their dynamic but I see it being more platonic.) That will presumably leave Finn and Kylo to one day become friends, although it probably won’t happen in the events of Episode IX.

It’s evident that Rey and Finn deeply care about one another, and while there were hints to a possible romantic pairing between them – like the “cute boyfriend” comment and the “stop holding my hand,” awhich might’ve been done as either comic relief or shipping fodder – I don’t see them getting together unless Kylo dies (which I HIGHLY doubt, and we’ll get into more below).

Finn is the first person who ever cared about Rey and treated her like a real person, like family. That’s partly why she’s so attached to him; that and he’s just generally a good guy. Likewise, Rey was the first person to believe in Finn, and it’s obvious that she means a lot to him. They’re the first real connection they made after they escaped their respective shitty lives (scavenging on Jakku and working for the FO). But Finn only ever calls her his friend, and he and Rey never exchange any dialogue in TLJ. He hasn’t really talked to her since Starkiller Base, before he fell into his coma; they’ve both seen and done a lot since then. They’re really not the same people that they were on Jakku, and while they will always care about each other, their lives are moving in different directions to a certain degree.

Anyway, sorry that was long way of saying: Rey and Finn aren’t getting together; Rey and Kylo are getting together. At least romantically. I imagine Rey and Finn will still be a big part of each other’s lives at the trilogy’s end.

PREDICTION THREE: Length of the Time Skip

I doubt it will be shorter than six months, but I don’t think it’ll be more than three years. We need enough time for the Resistance to have built up their forces again, but not so long that I think Hux will have overthrown Kylo Ren (because it was very obvious that he’s not at ALL pleased with Kylo as Supreme Leader).

A year or a year-and-a-half seems pretty reasonable. Any more than that, and I think you’re going to have to explain why the hell Hux hasn’t killed Kylo Ren or why either the Resistance or FO hasn’t found out about the Force Bond (because I definitely think that’ll be making an appearance).

PREDICTION FOUR: Basic Plot Outline

On that note, here’s how I think the movie might go. We’ll get into the specifics of some of these later.

Since taking over as Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren has been mostly brooding. He doesn’t give a lot of orders, but mostly kind of lets Hux run things. He’s so incredibly conflicted, given everything that happened in TLJ. He is not at all stable emotionally or spiritually. He shuts himself in his chambers and doesn’t do much but wait for the Force Bond to connect him with Rey. They don’t really say anything to each other, even though both of them want to but can never find the words. Or something like that.

(EDIT: I could’ve sworn I put this next prediction in my original draft, but I guess not. Oh, well. Adding it back in now.) Leia’s death will be shortly before the events of this movie. In fact, it’ll probably be mentioned in the opening Title Crawl. News of her death or the feeling of his mother being gone (as he might sense it through the Force) will cause Kylo to break routine and leave his quarters to go on a solo trip to some location that reminds him of his mom. Alderaan is gone, so maybe wherever Leia and Han raised him?? As long as it wasn’t one of those planets that Starkiller blew up. Wherever. It’ll be somewhere that reminds him of his mom.

(EDIT:) Side note: I’m not sure what will cause Leia’s death. She might’ve died in battle. That’d at least be badass. But losing her husband and twin brother within a week of each other might’ve taken a strain on her physically and emotionally, much like what happened to Carrie Fisher’s mom, Debbie Reynolds, IRL. But, I think death in battle would be more fitting. Although, if that’s the case, Kylo won’t have ordered it.

As Kylo is visiting this site connected to his mom, Rey will either be on Jakku or Tattooine – delving into her own origins (visiting her parents’ graves in the junker desert) or into Luke’s/Anakin’s and trying to learn more about the Force. She will have constructed a new lightsaber: either one that’s totally unique to her (maybe like a staff size?), or one that uses half of the kyber crystal from the Skywalker Lightsaber (and Ben will use the other half for his saber at the very end, after he’s redeemed).

While they are both alone and on their personal journeys, the Bond will activate and they will finally say something to each other for the first time since TLJ. It won’t be much, and there will still be some anger/resentment/hostility between them, but it will be poignant and emotional. Rey will probably say something about how his mom never gave up on him, etc.

At some point while Kylo/Ben is visiting this location that reminds him of his mom, he will probably hear some audio of his mother speaking to him through the Force (they might use an earlier clip of Carrie/Leia saying “Ben” or something, they way they used the Alec Guiness/Old Ben dialogue in Rey’s Forceback).

Luke will appear as a Force-ghost to either Kylo or Rey or both at some point during the film, but this point (when they’re both on their respective journeys of nostalgia) seems the most likely. He’ll probably spout off some exposition-heavy dialogue (possibly giving Rey her third official lesson, if they decide the TLJ deleted scenes aren’t canon), and then tell Rey she’ll have to face Kylo again.

In the meantime, the Resistance has been cooking up some big plan to take down the FO’s most recent base/big gun/whatever. Poe is now in charge of the Resistance since Leia’s death. Finn and Rose are potentially a couple now, and they’re also major Resistance leaders.

Either the Resistance will win some major victory or the FO will start to fracture as Hux takes more power from Kylo. Something will have to kick Kylo back into full Renperor mode. Something will threaten his position of power and he will feel as though he has to retaliate. But, Hux won’t be killed off, either in battle or by Kylo, until the third act of the movie.

There will be a gigantic space battle in either the second or third act. Poe will probably be the one to kill Hux, if Kylo doesn’t.

Finn will likely find out about the Force Bond, if Rey hasn’t told him during the Time Skip.

If there’s an element where the Resistance has to send one of their own to infiltrate the FO base, Rey will do it. Finn will initially volunteer at first, but Rey says she has to face Kylo and give the Resistance its best chance to win.

Somehow Rey and Kylo will face each other in the final act of the film, likely after she’s sought him out on a FO base. Or they find each other on the battlefield.

Since the end of TLJ, Rey has gotten considerably stronger in the Force, especially her combat abilities. She and Kylo will be a literal even match. They know each other so well and are both so strong that almost every attack is ineffective. I really HOPE (not predict, but hope) that this fight will either have some kind of a dance feel to it or go back to Episode IV, when it was an homage to old samurai films. Like when they’re both trying to do one-shot kill moves on each other, but keep blocking it.

Okay… now as to how the fight will end… I truly believe that it will end in a draw with both of them being hurt to the point where they can’t fight any more, probably with inverse/opposite/complementary/mirroring injuries. The injuries will be major, but not life-threatening.

While they’re laying there, not fighting any more and experiencing a shared/parallel pain, they’ll both vocalize their feelings for one another. And probably kiss. And while they kiss, they have Force visions on how to resolve this conflict: to balance the Force by becoming Gray Jedi (Force-wielders who use both the light and the dark sides, in balance) TOGETHER.

Kylo will proposition to Rey to join him as a Gray Jedi, which she will accept.

Once they realize this, the two will go back to their respective sides, and figure out some kind of compromise/system where neither the Resistance nor the FO exists, but some kind of balanced government system where everyone feels represented and no one is oppressed.

Everyone celebrates the creation of this new system, the destruction of the old system(s), and Rey and Kylo leave their friends to become tandem Gray Jedi Masters who will teach the next generation of Force users all about the full scope of the Force. They’ll also totally become a couple and maybe we’ll see a Force-vision of the future, where they have kids or something.

Together, Ben and Rey will have brought balance to the Force and the galaxy at large!

EXPLANATION TIME!!!

Kylo letting Hux run most things would be a good reason for Hux not having killed him yet. And Kylo brooding rather than being a bad dude makes a lot of sense if he’s going to be redeemed and live. And it’s clear from the effort that’s gone into Kylo Ren’s character that he WILL be redeemed, and because we’ve already done the Redeemed Hero Dies route (Vader), Kylo will get to live, albeit probably scarred/injured/handicapped or something. He can’t do TOO much more evil stuff or otherwise he’ll be considered TOO unredeemable for average audiences. Killing Han, killing a bunch of innocent people and Resistance combatants, and trying to kill Luke are all pretty unredeemable, but eh. He killed Snoke, and Rey, Luke and Leia all believe in his goodness. Seeing his conflict early on in Episode IX will clue the audience in on his being redeemed by the end of the movie.

I’m basing a lot of this on Zuko’s character arc from the Avatar: The Last Airbender series and Sasuke from the Naruto universe (which we’ll talk about more in a second).

Rey’s arc, much like Luke’s in Episode VI, will be somewhat overlapping with the main War plot, but will ultimately take place parallel to it. Luke was on a journey of discovering himself, the Force and helping Anakin Skywalker to redeem himself. Rey, likewise, is on a journey of discovering herself, the Force and helping Ben Solo to redeem himself. Her main story will intersect with Finn/Poe/Rose/the Resistance’s, as Luke’s did with Han/Leia/Chewie/the Rebellion’s, but it will ultimately take place mostly separated from them.

With Carrie gone, they are going to have to have some kind of carry-over from the OrigTrig, and Luke as a Force-Ghost makes the most sense. He’ll do the Ben Kenobi role of getting the main characters to fight each other and figure out whatever the Force is trying to tell them. Because, as a Force-Ghost, Luke’s consciousness is one with the Force, or whatever; so he knows exactly what needs to happen for Balance to be achieved.

There will have to be something plot-wise to make Kylo snap out of his vulnerable state and back into his Renperor self because we’re going to need tension that he might kill Rey in their final duel, or at least destroy the Resistance. That way their final battle will have higher stakes.

Rey’s Force powers have leaned more toward the Sensing/Emotive side. Her first “awakening” is the Force-back, but even before that, she’s first aware of being called by the Force (the Lightsaber). She then figures out how to turn Kylo’s Force-sensing interrogation technique back on him, and senses his greatest fear. She also figures out how to use the Jedi Mind Trick, which she will ABSOLUTELY use again in Episode IX, and it’s only later that we see her using more of the physical attributes of the Force (pulling stuff toward you, combat enhancement, etc.). Rey is more naturally drawn toward sensing things via the Force, like the Tree, the Island (in her dreams) and the Lightsaber, and when she senses the Force as whole and then the Dark Side (the cave) in TLJ. So, during the Time Skip, she will have trained in learning how to use the Force to enhance her combat abilities, because it always felt to me like those were earned from her harsh life on Jakku rather than something inherent she had because she was Force-sensitive. (I mean, she didn’t even realize she was Force-sensitive until the Lightsaber scene on Takodana; but she’d been fighting off assholes all her life.)

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Force Bond is exposed to either the FO, the Resistance or both. This might be why Hux tries to usurp Kylo; and I doubt the Resistance will take Rey’s connection to Kylo all too well, considering that he tortured Poe and almost killed Finn (EDIT: and they might blame him for Leia’s death). Rey might make up for this by excusing herself from the main action of the War and offering to take down Kylo alone.

Now, what’s all this about the Gray Jedi and bringing “balance to the Force”?

(EDIT: Linking to the Wookieepedia article on “Gray Jedi” here.)

So, this is what all the eight movies have been leading up to – the prophecy that Anakin was supposed to fulfill. At the end of VI, the Sith (Vader and Palpitine) die and only one Jedi (Luke) survives to pass on what he has learned. This is not balance. At the time, we didn’t know about the whole prophecy thing and the OrigTrig was just about the good guys winning and the bad guys losing. But, over time, Star Wars has evolved to show us that this world – like ours – is a lot more GRAY. That’s what the Clone Wars series was about; that’s what Rebels (as far as I know) has been about; and that’s what the PT was sort of hinting at. That’s what THIS new trilogy has been hinting at, especially with the Finn/Rose subplot in TLJ. (EDIT: Which I wrote a whole meta analyzing and defending the importance of that subplot. Read it here.)

That’s not to say the FO hasn’t committed atrocities and the Resistance isn’t made up of people who have suffered and want better lives. But, as we saw with Finn, there’s a possibility that Stormtroopers are good people who don’t like what they’re being told to do. And, as was hinted at in TLJ, there are plenty of people who don’t like the Resistance. Because, in a war, no side is all good or all bad.

The whole Star Wars franchise kicked off as WWII In Space! But, since WWII, we’ve entered several conflicts where we (the U.S.) weren’t always in the right and the enemy wasn’t always in the wrong. There’s a TON of gray area in our conflicts now.

Anyway, this is all a very long way of saying that the OT’s understanding of the Light Side and the Dark Side isn’t well managed. As we saw with Luke at the end of VI, he let his anger, hatred and rage against Vader flow, but he didn’t become evil. He stopped himself, and realized that Vader was much more like him than he previously wanted to admit.

But, then in the PT, we see that the Jedi’s belief system is very lop-sided. They can NEVER let their emotions get the better of them. They have to be stoic, mindful, “celibate” (more or less), and detached from the world around them. They are encouraged to be compassionate, but not to love or become attached to people. This is a philosophy that isn’t going to fly well among modern audiences.

(EDIT: There’s a really great video Pop Culture Detective did on this very topic today. Linking to it here.)

Like with the War side, the answer is that we (the audience) are something in between. We do sometimes let our emotions get the better of us, which CAN be a bad thing sometimes, but not always (as “Inside Out” taught us, it’s unhealthy to lock certain feelings away). But, at the same time, most people aren’t evil and hate people so much that they want to destroy them.

So, the answer for The Force side of Star Wars is a balance: a coexisting of the extremes and the meeting of the two halves (Kylo and Rey). In TLJ, Luke’s big thing is that the Light Side WILL exist without the Jedi; and that the Force is ALL ABOUT A BALANCE: life/death, light/dark, heat/cold, peace/violence, etc. The Jedi is a RELIGION that used the Force, but there are plenty of other Force-users in this universe who aren’t Jedi or Sith (like Ahsoka Tano or Chirrut from Rogue One). The Gray Jedi can be the religious practice (the way of life) of Kylo and Rey. They can use both sides of the Force without being overcome by one or the other, by keeping them in a balance. I don’t know exactly how this would work, as I haven’t read TOO extensively into this topic, but I know it’s possible as I believe there were some Gray Jedi in the Legends Universe. I suppose it might be a bit like the Guardians of the Galaxy (another popular Disney property) – Kylo and Rey wouldn’t be all bad (because then they’d be evil) or all good (because then they’d be boring), but a little bit of both or something in between.

The happy ending to this entire saga isn’t about the Light snuffing out the Dark, the good guys killing all the bad guys, because the whole idea is that the Force and the world needs to be brought into balance. As much as we want the heroes to win, we also want the ending to be reflective of our human nature – both how we succeed and how we fail. This Gray Jedi ending would be reflective of that and bring the whole saga to a nice end.

I mean they wouldn’t have put a fucking YIN-YANG SYMBOL in the Meditation Pool on Ach-To if the idea behind the trilogy wasn’t about bringing the Force into balance. I wonder if it’s a good thing Rey took those ancient Jedi texts, because maybe they hint at if/how the Ancient Jedi (not the ones in the PT) were more in balance in the Force than our PT Jedi were.

We see this nicely encapsulated into Rey and Kylo as characters. Rey who embodies the Light, but has plenty of darker tendencies (like getting mad, charging at Snoke in a fit of rage and aggression); and Kylo who embodies the Dark, but has plenty of lighter tendencies (like telling Rey to detach herself from her past and let it go). They are a literal fucking YIN-YANG SYMBOL as people, side by side. But combined and intertwined… if you put a Yin-Yang symbol in wet paint on paper, and then mixed it together, what would you get?

A gray circle.

Gray Jedi is the answer, people. No question about it. At least in my mind.

Now, about the fight. Why do I think Rey and Kylo will have to wound one another and kiss?

Well, the draw/wound thing is something I stole from the Naruto universe.

For those of you who are unfamiliar… the main character Naruto (on the left) is very much the “light side” of his universe. His rival Sasuke (on the right, and who has a redemption arc similar to what we’ve seen of Kylo’s so far) is very much the “dark side.” There’s a point where they get sun and moon symbols on their respective hands, and each holds half of the same power source, although they manifest it differently based on their respective abilities/personalities.

Now, the entire series is built-up to this final showdown between the two. Naruto is not trying to kill Sasuke, but needs to stop him, because Sasuke IS trying to kill Naruto and bring an end to things/people Naruto loves. And, it physically ends in a draw. The two lose their dominant arms: Naruto loses his right; Sasuke, his left. Their wounds are a literal mirror of each other (see below). And in that shared pain, they find an understanding, and Sasuke decides not to kill Naruto but to come back over to the “good” side (more or less), to stop being a murderous asshole, and to start atoning for his crimes. (So, in a way, Naruto wins the fight on an emotional level, as he brings Sasuke over to his side.)

That’s very much where I see this Rey/Kylo thing going. There are so many parallels between these four characters and their respective arcs, it’s ridiculous.

With Kylo and Rey, each of them will be trying to kill the other so their respective side will win the War. A draw (with a major non-fatal injury) is the only way I see this fight ending in a way that will bring them into balance with each other and the Force at large.

Also, we’ve never had a movie lightsaber fight end in a draw before, to my recollection: Darth Maul killed Qui-Gon; Obi-Wan killed Darth Maul; Count Dooku injured/beat Obi-Wan and Anakin (I guess he ran away from Yoda, so you might count that); Count Dooku injured/beat Obi-Wan in the rematch and then Anakin killed Count Dooku; Obi-Wan injured/beat Anakin; the Emperor forced Yoda to run away; Obi-Wan allowed Vader to kill him; Vader beat/injured Luke; Luke beat/injured Vader in their rematch; Rey injured/beat Kylo; and there wasn’t really an actual lightsaber fight in TLJ.

It would fit the whole “balance” motif for neither to win or lose the fight, but instead the two come to an understanding and compromise.

Now. The Kiss.

Why do these two little fuckers have to kiss, IMO?

Well, do you all remember the Disney Channel TV Show “That’s So Raven”? The main character (Raven) is a psychic; and there’s an episode where she meets a male psychic. And, while they have 0 romantic interest in each other, there’s a point where they continue escalating their physical proximity/touching, because it allows them to better use their powers. There’s a point where they have to kiss in order to find Raven’s BFF and some other people.

And, as we saw with Rey and Kylo in TLJ, these two are oozing with sexual chemistry and Force power. I mean if they see each other’s futures whenever they touch hands, what the hell are they going to see when they kiss? (Or if they ever had sexy times… but this is a family-friendly movie, so that’s not going to happen on screen; the kiss is the closest we’re going to get).

I mean, c’mon you guys… everything we saw in TLJ is building up to them kissing and the Force coming into balance as a result of their combined lives/knowledge/destinies or whatever.

Also, as others have pointed out, they’re not going to kill off Ben Solo. The Skywalker family is too much of a commodity, and there’s so much possibility in leaving him alive and with Rey. I mean think of all the spinoff movies and TV shows we could have of them and their kids??? (EDIT: Just like how the Legends Universe focused in part on the kids of Luke, Han and Leia.) Rey is too well-loved by the fans to kill her off, and Ben/Kylo has gotten too much character development to not get redeemed. His kids with Rey would sell toys and tickets and subscriptions like crazy.

So, why do I think Ben/Kylo will proposition Rey, instead of the other way around (which would seem more natural)?

Well, in TLJ, each saw the other turning over to their side in a vision of the future. Rey says that Kylo won’t bow before Snoke and will turn, and she’ll help him. Kylo says that when the time comes Rey will turn and join him.

Now, from a physical standpoint, these visions were true after the Praetorian Guard fight. Kylo physically turned against Snoke and killed him, but emotionally was still attached to the Dark Side. Rey did physically join Kylo by his side in fighting the Guards but was still emotionally attached to the Light Side, or really, the Resistance. Neither ACTUALLY came over to the other’s side. Kylo didn’t want to join Rey politically, and she didn’t want to join him spiritually.

But now, they’re going to find that compromise where they meet in the middle both politically and spiritually. Kylo was right in TLJ: the old THINGS (political organizations, religious ways) should die, but Rey was right in that the PEOPLE should be saved. The only way to achieve both goals is to end the War, the FO, the Resistance, the Sith and the Jedi… and create something new. A compromise that works for everyone and brings the much-needed balance to the Force and the galaxy.

Each of them WILL join the other. Rey’s vision will have to be right that Kylo will turn from the Dark Side, and Kylo’s vision of her turning from the Light and joining him will have to be true as well.

So, like any proper proposal of marriage/political alliance/spiritual alignment, I think Ben should be the one to suggest it. That way, we the audience can see the fruition of his redemption arc, etc. (Also, we have to come full-circle on the Space!Mr.Darcy thing.)

Anyway, I’ve now rambled on about this for QUITE long enough. Just wanted to throw out some ideas and see what you guys think and if you have predictions of your own. (EDIT:) And, to quote Preston Jacobs, “I’m probably wrong about half of this.” There’s plenty of hints of where the franchise is going, but I’m sure there are some details I will have gotten wrong. Which is fine. This can be my headcanon for the next two years.

I guess there’s nothing else to say other than, “May the Force be with you, always.” Cheers, guys! And thanks for reading!

[bartsugsy]

That may be an odd question but since I've seen gifs about Robert choosing Aaron over Rebecca I wanted you to maybe talk about the same theme but in Rebecca's shoes imagine Aaron. Did Robert cared about Aaron? Like more than Chrissie during their affair? A woman he admired and loved. When he was asked he said to Bex "I care about Aaron more. I will never leave him for ya" but did that apply to Aaron as well when he was in Rebecca's shoes? There is 'I want u' 'I love u' and 'Im in love with u'

so like… you mean rob told rebecca he’d always choose aaron over her but he also, in the affair era, told aaron that he would choose chrissie? and what’s the difference, if there’s one?

i mean, you’re forgetting i think that robert during the affair era was driven by both a love of money and power and more importantly, internalised homophobia and internalised biphobia

we know that he loved chrissie but we know that ultimately his feelings for aaron were stronger and he’s expressed as much, both to aaron and to other people (ssw 2016 is a good place to find examples of this, but also aaron’s birthday 2017 has robert being very unambiguous about this and a whole litany of other moments) (he’s very prolific on this matter it’s kind of insane)

rebecca conversely offered robert everything he thought he wanted back in 2015 - money and power, as well as, in theory i suppose, an opportunity to be in a relationship with someone of the opposite gender, given that opposite gender relationships have, within the larger constructs of society, privilege over same gender couples and also offer less opportunities to receive homophobic abuse specifically etc - and i was going to say that maybe the show wasn’t using that specific angle with rebecca but actually if you watch rebecca’s scenes when she first arrives, she spends a lot of time making biphobic remarks to robert about how men can’t satisfy him the way she, a woman, can and generally undermining both his relationship with aaron and his bisexuality whilst trying to hit on him (and he hadnt even specifically come out as bi by that point and was still struggling which makes it even more 🔪🔪🔪), so maybe that was in fact an intended part of it?

but anyway, the best scene that demonstrates this is the first rob/rebecca kiss scene and the other scenes between them within the same episode (i mean, god, that happens literally the episode before robert uses the word bisexual to aaron because aaron also can’t quite understand it and unloads some far less aggressive and insane but still v much to the point biphobia towards robert)

(rip poor rob)

idk, this show’s track record on bisexuality and calling out biphobia isn’t great so i’m dubious as to how much i trust that this was an intended part of it, but rob has his relationship and sexuality undermined both by rebecca and aaron (and rebecca’s is so so bad - i need to point this out bc i don’t want to equate what aaron says, which is bad in and of itself if far less horribly intentioned, with the absolute insanity that rebecca comes out with, *too much*) (and if you haven’t seen it in a while you may have forgotten just how bad it is but it’s…. oh boy) (aaron at least is actively trying to understand through his own ignorance, whereas rebecca is honestly completely obstinate about it throughout those scenes) (it’s so gross)

and i think as a whole storytelling piece, rebecca was a good way to silence the people who believed that maybe the only reason robert chose aaron over chrissie was because chrissie wouldn’t have him back - because here was rebecca offering it up on a plate and robert had absolutely no interest

(didn’t work, i still get those asks fairly often and to each one i say that making that argument erases a lot of very explicit, unambiguous canon proving otherwise)

ANYWAY, basically - robert was motivated to choose chrissie over aaron because chrissie was what he thought he wanted for his life - all that money and power, but ultimately after he got shot and almost died, he woke up with a renewed focus on aaron (watch his scenes in december 2015/january 2016 for examples of this) and basically barely mentioned or paid mind to chrissie - and had certainly stopped trying to get back with her, all the while doing things like trying to buy the pub just to spend more time with aaron.

since then, he started very slowly to become more open about his own sexuality and his feelings for aaron and that’s only grown ever since

(and now he’s going to gay clubs and making bi jokes ✨💕🌈🌷)

which, to be very clear on what i mean here - he wasn’t with chrissie bc she was a woman (he was with her bc she was rich and bc he did love her) - it’s more that he was never going to be with aaron bc he was a man (and bc he was poor 😂). internalised homophobia was just one more thing preventing him from being with aaron or admitting his feelings too much for aaron - or being able to admit that his feelings for aaron were ultimately stronger than his feelings for chrissie.

with rebecca, when tbh it would have helped him to lie even more about his feelings because he was literally already lying to her about his feelings/implying he had feelings for her in order to use her to take down the whites and then get his hands on their money, he still openly told her over and over that he would always choose aaron, because that was the truth

they deliberately made his actions vaguely ambiguous when he was initially plotting against rebecca but i feel like he’s said enough times in between and since his true feelings to clarify the ambiguity there - and the only time he actually slept with her was directly after believing aaron was dead or some shit whilst in prison and then seeing him high on spice and a completely different person (see: the ons episode and the reveal episodes for further examples/more detailed explanation)

knowing that robert historically had pretty much followed Little Rob’s whims and happily cheated on chrissie over and over with at least rebecca, connor and aaron, it’s not hard to believe that the fact that he can’t do that with aaron outside of very extenuating circumstances (i.e. he won’t just do it for a bit of fun, as before) (or because he’s formed an entire accidental serious relationship with the local mechanic) would mean that it is in fact different for him, with aaron than it ever was with chrissie

(supporting every time he has said as much to aaron or to other people)

this answer is such a mess lmao sorry

why use 5 words when you can use 5000, yk

[odanurr87]

My thoughts on... Beauty and the Beast

Yesterday, I decided, on a whim, to watch Aladdin, one of my favourite Disney movies thanks in no small part to the catchy songs and Robin Williams' Genie. Since I had started on Disney, I figured why not watch some more? Thus I moved on to the 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast before concluding with the 2017 live-action adaptation. Which did I like best, the animated film or the live-action one? Overall, and perhaps quite predictably, I'd say I personally favour the animated version. This isn't to say the live-action adaptation doesn't do a few things good or better even, depending on your point of view.

For instance, I much preferred Kevin Kline's more subdued interpretation of Belle's father. He's an artist (that one's new) and inventor, yes, but he's not played as over-the-top as his animated counterpart (well, one could argue said crazy interpretation wouldn't work in the adaptation). He also has, to my mind, the stronger bond with Belle. Of course, precisely because he isn't played as extravagantly crazy as in the 1991 film this presents an issue later on, which I'll mention in due course.

For better or worse, the 2017 film decided to set a date and place for this tale as old as time as opposed to the original: 18th century France. Okay, maybe you could've guessed as much from the original (I personally couldn't, not 18th century at least), but the live-action adaptation does a more thorough job trying to faithfully reproduce the fashion, decor, dancing, and probably even construction (I'm not as learned, though I'd venture a guess they took some liberties with the castle) from that time period. Perhaps the most prominent example takes place right at the beginning, when we're introduced to The Prince as he's hosting a party only minutes before encountering The Enchantress (no, not that one).

This scene is supposed to show his character and backstory in a similar way to the animated movie. The voiceover narration is practically the same (with a few additions) but lacks the beautiful stained glass windows from the original and, in my opinion, suffers for it. If I'm allowed to be a little nitpicky, I'd say the intonation of the voiceover in the 2017 version lacks the emotion from the 1991 film that goes hand in hand with the music that plays in the background. Watch the two side-by-side if you want, or just look at how both narrators deliver that last line, "For who could ever learn to love a beast?" With the delivery of that one line, the 2017 narrator seems to wink at the audience, music cue and all, as if posing the question, "And you all know who that is, right? Say it with me... Belle!" The original movie simply did a better job with the intro (side note, Ubisoft's Child of Light uses the same narrative device to introduce and develop its story; I thoroughly recommend it). Plus, in a way, it spoils the surprise of seeing Lumière, Cogsworth, Chip, et al, become human again.

I’m sorry, 2017 version, but you simply can’t compete with this beauty.

Damn, I'm already giving the 2017 version crap. Quick! What else did I like? Um... I liked some of the things they did with The Prince. Given his aristocratic upbringing and the timing of his curse, it makes sense that he'd have an "expensive education" as he puts it, sharing Belle's passion for books in general and, as we later learn, adventure/romance stories in particular. I did not like how they tried to explain away how much of a spoiled jerk he'd grown up to be, but to each his own. The timing of the curse also brings its own set of problems. 

In the original, The Prince is cursed at a very young age. In fact, he was just a spoiled brat kid when The Enchantress decided to teach him a rather harsh lesson in humility, one that would last a decade! In the 2017 version, it can't have been more than a couple of years between the events at the beginning and the lifting of the curse. Therefore, the adaptation has The Enchantress doing some memory alteration to the villagers so they'll forget their loved ones, something that on second viewing is hinted at when Belle greets Jean Potts at the beginning (I didn't make much of it at the time). I’m glad she only decided to curse The Prince. Can you imagine if she had decided to curse the village too? I'll admit that the adaptation does a better job at integrating the castle and the prince's entourage with the village. In the animated film, the castle seems to be something out of an old tale, completely disconnected from the world around it. However, many things follow from the timing of the curse, such as The Prince's inability to read in the original (arguably, he hadn't yet learned to) or his poor manners at the dinner table (not very convincing in the 2017 version considering The Prince's age and upbringing).

Okay, let's talk about some of the rest of the cast, shall we? Gaston was a walking contradiction for me in the adaptation. At first, I thought they were trying to tone down some of the more cartoony aspects of his character and even try to make him somewhat likeable, if no match for Belle's rapier wit. It made sense that he would offer to help Belle's father in order to score some points. It didn't make sense however, that he would stick out his neck so far as to punch him, tie him up, and leave him to be eaten by wolves. To my mind, this entire (extra) scene was done in order to set up the "Belle's father is crazy!" plot, only this time it is more likely Gaston did so in order to cover up his crime than to gain Belle's hand in marriage. As I mentioned earlier, up to this point, we'd been given no indication that Belle's father might be crazy or be viewed as such by the townsfolk so I guess this is the best way they found to solve that problem. Beyond this, Luke Evans' rendition of the character wasn't too bad.

Which one will be the Belle of the ball?

Concerning Belle... *sighs* I think Emma Watson did an acceptable job, but I don't think I ever saw in her the spark that I saw in the 1991 rendition of the character, not when she was on her own nor when she was with Beast. One could go as far as saying Emma Watson's portrayal of Belle wasn't very animated. (*runs away from the stage*) Seriously though, was it just me or did she wear the same expression on her face throughout? Perhaps I am being too harsh but I saw very little emotional range, better than a teaspoon but still. 

Also, the singing. The singing is... I mean, it's not the only thing but... uh, how should I put this? If I didn't know what autotune was then, rest assured I do now (sorry, had to throw in some shade there). To be fair, the songs aren't bad, but I think they would work better (I could be wrong) if we could hear more of Emma Watson's voice, without all the sound correction. As it stands, sometimes the songs take me out of the experience. This is even more noticeable during pieces like 'Belle' where she sings along with other people who either don't use autotune or use very little of it. 

Beyond these flaws, the 2017 version of Belle shows her doing some tinkering of her own, taking after her father. Perhaps it could be argued it's a sort of modern approach to her character? We certainly didn't see animated Belle's creative streak, rather she was busy reading about adventures on faraway lands (by the way, the village library in the 2017 film is a joke). 2017 Belle also shows some initiative like when she hatches a plan to escape the tower, although she never carries through with it. I'm not entirely sure why the writers decided to expand on her backstory with the plot about her mother. I feel it didn't add to her character and introduces a trinket that is never used again. Naturally, I'm talking about the book.

“Belle” song comparison. A pity it doesn’t go all the way to the end but the difference is already noticeable.

See, in the animated film, besides the rose, The Enchantress gave Beast a magical mirror he could use to see whatever he wanted to, be it a place or a person. One could argue it was an unexpectedly kind (yet somewhat cruel) gesture seeing as Beast would likely never see the outside of his castle again. Indeed, Beast uses it early on to spy on Belle. Later, Belle uses it to see her father and, lastly, she uses it to convince the townsfolk that the Beast is real. Thus, while it is introduced as a curiosity, it ultimately serves a (rather crucial) purpose. The same can't be said about the book.

In the live-action adaptation, The Enchantress also bestows Beast with a magical book that allows him to travel anywhere he wants to. Unlike with the mirror, this is an outright cruel gesture, as Beast would probably be hunted on sight if he went anywhere near other people. Worse, the only purpose it serves is to take Belle and Beast to Paris so the former can see the place where she was born and find out the reason for her mother's death. It is never again used or referenced, even when a perfect opportunity does present itself for it (when Belle leaves Beast to find her father). The worst sin that this magical book commits is, to my mind, that it's utterly pointless, adding nothing at all to the original story. I mean, they could've used it to hint at the end that Belle isn't settling for a married life as a princess/noble and instead is going to explore the world with Beast (now returned to regal form). They could've easily included a few lines that read something like this:

BEAST and BELLE say farewell to their guests. As they stand at the castle's entrance, BELLE ponders rather wistfully.

BELLE: Is this how it will be from now on? Throwing parties and entertaining guests?

BEAST: Well, it is true that nobility does entail certain social obligations...

BELLE braces herself. BEAST: But there are some perks as well. Did I happen to tell you about this book I own? It is very special, one of a kind actually. Perhaps you would care to read it?

BELLE and BEAST smile at each other and enter the castle hand in hand.

Forgive my poor attempt at hastily throwing together this ending, any writer worth his salt could do it much better. The point is that it would solve what I've come to perceive as THE flaw in the original 1991 movie, that Belle ultimately seems to give up her dream about having "adventure in the great wide somewhere." If you ask me, aristocratic life doesn't sound very adventurous, unless events take place around the time of the French Revolution. That would certainly be an adventurous time, deadly adventurous probably. However, and as I mentioned before, the book is never referenced again in the entire movie. This likely poses more of a problem for 2017 Belle as she is more of a tinkerer and forward-thinker (teaching little girls to read, the gall!), something that doesn't seem compatible with aristocratic life at the time.

Concept art for the sequel.

Enough about Belle. What else am I missing? Plenty. LeFou is anything but the village idiot in the adaptation, being smart enough to switch sides at the end. Also, I don't understand why people wanted to make his character gay? He wasn't gay in the animated movie and, in fact, there is very little to suggest otherwise in the adaptation. Lumière kind of steals the show but this isn't surprising considering he did the same in the animated film and probably has the most lines out of any of the enchanted characters in the movie, save perhaps Beast. I don't know how I feel about Ewan McGregor's accent though. His 'Be Our Guest' musical number is a nice variation, with some beautiful lighting effects, though it deviates a little from the dinner theme at times insofar the evoked imagery is concerned. Also, I can understand spoons in my punch, but feathers? That's pushing it. McKellen's Cogsworth has, unfortunately, less material to work with than he had in the animated film. Finally, I'd be much obliged if someone would enlighten me as to why The Enchantress needed to be in this film at all.

There are probably any number of things I'm forgetting to mention but this review has gone on for long enough. When all is said and done, I feel that the 2017 adaptation is trying to emulate the magic and charm of the 1991 film rather than recreate it. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the animated film can make certain creative choices that wouldn't work in a live-action adaptation. The 1991 film also benefits, to my mind, from its brighter (more cheerful) colour palette and, as I've mentioned throughout, better performances overall, especially where the relationship between Belle and Beast is concerned (the heart of the film, really). The 2017 film takes advantage from having access to superior technology (and budget), what makes for some impressive musical numbers, and it must be commended for its attention to detail as well as its attempt to bridge the (narrative) gap between The Prince's castle and the village, even though, in so doing, they create numerous issues of their own. I also liked how they pushed the drama a little further at the end, having the enchanted characters fully transform into furniture and cutlery. It was a particularly poignant and well-executed scene. In the end however, one must come out on top, and as far as I'm concerned, the 1991 rendition of The Beauty and the Beast remains the better of the two.

Of course, there's also the 2014 French adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. I wonder how that one will hold up?

[singingwordwright]

can you talk a little about what brought you, as a published author, back to writing fanfic. also what was your inspiration for your One Easy Answer fic/universe?

Hi there.

I’ve pretty much always been a fanfic author, ever since that day when I was 12 when my current beta @roseglass asked me how I would re-unite two ex-lovers in a story and thus began our six-year journey of writing Riker/Troi fanfic long-hand and snail-mailing it back and forth to each other after she moved away.

So it’s not like I ever intended to turn my back on writing fanfic, even once I published some of my original work. These days there’s a lot of crossover between the two, and my publisher, in particular, @riptidepublishing, specifically seeks out authors of fanworks and was started by someone who is very active in fandom.

For a few years, my mind was more in a place of generating original stories than it was in fanfic mode. Now the pendulum has swung the other way, in part because I’ve lost–or at least misplaced–my ability or desire to write sex scenes, and erotic romance was sort of my wheelhouse as an author so now I really can’t produce the sort of content most readers of my original works would expect from me. When I do get back into original writing, unfortunately it’s probably going to have to involve starting from scratch in a new genre with a new pen name to make a break from those expectations.

In the meantime, though, there’s this lovely show and this lovely ship that has brought me back into fan writing and consumes incredible amounts of my creative energy. And at least I’m writing something (also the last time I was this inspired with my fan writing, it ended up sparking my inspiration for original writing, which I’m hoping will happen again.) 

Now, as for what inspired the One Easy Answer concept/universe, the short answer is that I emailed @roseglass one day and said “I want to write an arranged marriage AU that isn’t, like HUGELY AU, it’s still mostly canon, but with a twist” and she said “that’s a fine idea, go for it!.” (Actually, it may be more accurate to say I wanted to READ a mostly-canon arranged marriage AU and realized the only one I could find had long-since become an abandoned WIP so it was down to me to write it.)

And in truth, I never got that thing I wanted initially. I WANTED a situation where Alec and Magnus didn’t become familiar with each other or fall in love until after they were married. But if I wanted that and still wanted to keep it close to show-canon, I would have had to have them getting married…oh, around maybe 1x04 or 1x05?

Like, I imagine the scenario would have been that the backlash from the Clave over the unsanctioned raid on the Hotel Dumort came in the shape of the Clave being afraid that Robert and Maryse’s children were going down the road of Nephilim supremacy the way their parents had, conducting “special missions” the way the Circle had, and in order to prove that wasn’t the case, Alec had to marry a Downworlder. That’s how that story would have looked, if I’d gone that route.

But for some reason, that premise didn’t occur to me until later. What occurred to me at the time I decided to write this arranged marriage AU was that I needed to pull one thread from the tapestry, and watch how it unraveled.

I’ve always been a tremendous fan of the idea of parallel universes, or that a universe exists in which each possibility to becomes reality and redirects the course of events in that universe (this is probably the teenager who got her first exposure to genre TV with ST:TNG popping up, actually.)

So I wanted to construct a universe in which the split point between show!canon and my!canon was Magnus backtracking on his promise that he wouldn’t approach Alec about their relationship again.

Now, I adore 1x12, don’t get me wrong, but let’s be honest. Ghost!Ragnor (or Magnus’s imagined construct of his recently deceased friend) convincing Magnus to change his mind and try one more time was almost bordering on deus ex machina. At least, so it seemed to me.

Like, we’d never seen anything in the show indicating that Magnus–or anyone else–tended to get wise counsel from ghosts, nor had we seen anything indicating that Magnus tended to have imaginary discussions with his lost or absent friends. So this idea that he was conferring with Ragnor and it shifted his determination to let Alec go after his last attempt to talk to Alec had failed, was…highly convenient and sort of came out of nowhere. It was the last-minute miracle solution to an unresolvable dilemma.

So I decided to explore what would happen if Magnus had stuck to his guns. Maybe he never received his visit from the Ghost of Warlocks Past, or whatever. But Magnus never wavered in his determination not to pursue Alec any more. 

Now, the first question is: would that mean Alec didn’t call off his wedding? Possibly, and I’m sure there could exist yet another parallel universe in which he didn’t. Maybe I’m cheating a little, but I like to believe that even without Magnus there, staring him down, Alec would have come to his senses before he crossed the point of no return.

So yes, Alec called off his wedding.

The next event where we might have seen ramifications of Magnus not interrupting Alec’s wedding is in the scene where Alec walks in on Magnus and Camille. 

Magnus, not having had the recent refresher course from ghost!Ragnor on why Camille is Pure Evil, is probably much more vulnerable to her manipulations and less wary of her. Maybe even inclined to seek comfort from someone he once had feelings for, no matter how bad he knows she is for him. He’s perhaps not going to be as unwilling a participant in that kiss as he was the way things happened on the show.

Which is what majorly shifts things into parallel reality territory, because it puts a rather effective kibosh on Alec approaching Magnus and saying, “hey, you were right, I chose not to go through with the wedding, let’s see where this thing we have between us might go.”

Because imagine how Alec was feeling that day after his wedding. Like, yeah, he’s concerned about the Hodge running off and giving the Mortal Cup to Valentine thing, but setting that aside, he did it! He cancelled his wedding. He came out to his parents. He prioritized his own happiness. He’s got to be chomping at the bit wanting to run to Magnus, tell Magnus what he’s done, and ask for another chance. But when he finally gets the opportunity to see Magnus again, he finds Magnus in someone else’s arms.

Ouch.

From there, it’s a cascade effect, isn’t it? Alec, hurt and stinging, is going to want nothing to do with Magnus, so all the events of season 2a feel the ripple effect of them not only NOT building their new relationship, but actively avoiding each other whenever possible.

Sure, Magnus keeps Alec alive in 2x03, but probably only because Izzy begged him to and because he feels guilty over what happened with Camille. Alec doesn’t nearly kill himself in 2x08 because he’s not being influenced by the spell at Magnus’s party, but he and Clary have still not found any sort of conciliation after Jocelyn’s death. Without the framework of their relationship, Alec remains ignorant of Izzy’s yin fen addiction because Magnus doesn’t clue him in during the events of 2x09, which means nothing stops Raphael feeding on Izzy that night, which becomes its own very dangerous situation. So now these events between Alec and Magnus have influenced events between Raphael and Izzy because without his confrontation with Alec, Raphael doesn’t have any reason to confess his feelings for Izzy. And so on, and so forth.

I just find it a fascinating study in how one event can influence so many other, and that’s really where the inspiration came from.

I deviated a bit farther from that original “one event causes ripples that influences others” mission statement in A Separate Peace, because for one thing, some of the events of season 2b (like the body swap plot) wouldn’t have worked in the canon I had established. Also, after season 2b, I decided one thing that was really missing on the show was character agency. So I decided to take an approach where the characters drive the events instead of vice-versa.

I also decided to make it an attempt to fix things that were bothering me about the show, such as the fact that the show leans heavily on “situationally convenience incompetence” (and hyper-competence, at times) wherein a character either becomes a total blundering idiot or the most awesome person to ever do A Thing depending on how tidily it moves things along in the story. 

Alec being more competent in his due diligence to vet Sebastian doesn’t actually CHANGE anything, except that it shows just how terrifyingly devious Sebastian is. Alec being competent forces Sebastian to be MORE competent. Which is frankly awesome because that’s the way it should be. You shouldn’t have to force your heroes to be dolts in order for your villains to pull the wool over their eyes. You just need your villains to step up their game and be that much craftier than your heroes.

I decided in A Separate Peace to fix the fact that there seemed to be storylines for Aldertree and Robert Lightwood that might have been set up initially, but never went anywhere, either because the show didn’t have time to include them, or because the actors were unavailable. If you’ve read my metas there were some really obvious clues laid down in both cases and there was just…no follow through. It was frustrating and I had the ability to work all that in and frankly it was some of the best plotting I’ve ever done.

The final thing I decided to tackle with A Separate Peace was the fact that the obligatory adherence to book canon relationships is getting in the way of the fact that, on the show, the characters are demonstrating insane chemistry that those pro forma relationships will never allow to flourish.

Wow. This ended up being really long. Sorry, nonny. I hope this answered your question?