#sorry i just can't stop thinking about this throwaway line.

[beansprouts]

when I first hit this dialogue option I went "huh???? since when do dragons, and by extension dragonborn, not need to shit? i don't remember this in Fizban's?" and it's been living rent-free in my head

and only today did I realize (when my partner pointed out) that maybe this line isn't meant to be taken at face value; the dragonborn character could totally be taking the piss out of Miscellaneous Goblin here. It's definitely in character for my Elly to do

what do y'all think???

optionally leave your xenobiological analysis in the tags and reblogs

[bigfatbimbo]

Silly request but imagine helping Bill "groom" his triangle self. Gently wipe him with a cloth. Carefully dip it in the little space between the bricks, can't leave that zone unclean! Alternatively, a classic soapy bubble bath. Silly straws included, what the hell, he's probably drinking the bath water and listing the chemical ingredients back at you while you gently rub him clean. Fun times

The Bug Collector

1.1k words,, Bill Cipher x reader

a/n — Procrastination killed my soul during this, I think it turned out okay, though! Sorry for typos, your girl is tired.

warnings — SFW, post!weirdmaggedon, as ‘fluffy’ as you can get with Bill cipher, he is his own warning, kinda toxic relationships, fluff and bill being pathetic

summary — Reader assists a recently fallen Bill Cipher in self care, despite his general all-mighty asshole-ness.

The exoskeleton of a bug was practical, a water-tight barrier most commonly known for muscle attachments, and its use to shelter and protect the insects gushy insides from its harsh environment. 

The exoskeleton of a triangle was for mostly for aesthetics, as the underneath was far more horrifying than anything in the harsh environment around it. Or so the triangle claims.

You dipped a soapy sponge into the bucket in front of you, as bill propped his feet up on the bathtub. 

“You conquer worlds and destroy planets, but yeah, why not draw the line at cleaning yourself.”

“Please, what better way to make use out of my new human pet— partner, than this?” He corrected loudly and purposefully. Then looking to the side, he mumbled, “And besides, kid, you have no idea how hard it is to clean between the bricks. Euck— So many blind spots.”

The first part was a throwaway reminder that he had far more power than you in this dynamic, something you’d picked up on Bill casually doing in his time with you. 

Being roommates with a butt-hurt demon, given the ending of weirdmaggedon, allowed you the privilege of being more cautious than previous humans were with Bill. For example, you’ve taken to keeping track of his repeated habits and patterns. 

On of which, just so happened to be reminding you how small you were compared to him. 

You jabbed the sponge in-between on of the bricks, “Ow!” He narrowed his eye at you, “Watch it, pal. I’m starting to think you’ve never cleaned a triangle before.”

“I’d hate to give that impression.” You softened your hold on him, “Delicate work, I always say.”

And it was delicate work. After his defeat, he’d been roughed up a surprising bit, powers even weakened. 

Weakened.

“Not too delicate,” he shot you glance. Guess he’d heard that thought process. 

Although, most days he’d seemed to be in a thought process of his own. Weird.

You cleared your throat, “How often does this even need to be done?”

He blinked, “Well, let’s see. Once every—“ he waved his hand around “—few hundred years. Very high maintenance, do not recommend it.”

High maintenance, yeah. At this point, Bill had taken to talking about some other topic, you hadn’t been really listening, something about intergalactic food joints.

Every once and a while he’d bring up something that happened with one of his ‘henchmaniacs’ before getting slightly irritated at the lack of presence in his life now, and changing the subject. 

Bill was interesting to study, you couldn’t lie. His eyelashes curled away from each other, like the mangled legs of a recently dead spider. His hands were very present when he talked, like most people of business. His body flicked side to side slightly at certain moments. 

You became more gentle naturally, taking care of every crevice, and for some reason Bill becomes gradually quieter.

“Something wrong?” You asked, not stopping.

Bill blinked, “Eh, been a minute since i’ve had a human servant. Maybe, I was thinking of other things you can help with!”

You sigh, “Yeah, because i’m your servant. As if.” In your mind, your thinking do the fact he was your roommate, in your house, eating your food. 

“Hey, don’t get all butt-hurt. You’re all ants to me, buddy, nothing to be ashamed of!” His eye flicked back and forth between you and the room.

Then you stop scrubbing, “Bill, I might as well be your landlord.” You know he can read your thoughts, so you make a point to justify yourself. Already weakened from his failed apocalypse, anything other than vague respect for you would land him homeless. Most likely, his response to this would be killing you, but there’s only so much he can do afterwards. 

He’d have a place to stay, but with no electricity or heating, and in his damaged physical form he actively does need those things. And trying to get a new human would be a hassle, and unlike you, no guarantee they’d let him stay there without calling the authorities.

“Yeesh,” Bill remarks, “Buzzkill… You are still a bug compared to me, though—“

You drop the sponge in the bucket, “I think you’re done.”

He looks taken aback when you pull away, “What? Come on, over the bug comment? Jeez, buddy—“

“No I mean you’re actually done,” you gesture to his body, now shining and slick with soap suds. “I got everything, there’s nothing else to do.”

You go to turn around before you feel a small hand grabbing for the back of your shirt. 

“Wait, wait!” He breathes, eye farting from side to side, “… You have to dry me off first.”

He looked slightly panicked, like if you stopped taking care of him now, you’d leave and never come back. Your thought process earlier couldn’t have helped. 

The way he scurried and gasped for you was reminiscent of panicked earwig and a rock is lifted up. The comparison should have grossed you out, but it kinda just made you feel a little bad.

If he was paying attention to your thoughts, he didn’t show it. This would have usually given you the impression he’d wanted you to be thinking the way you were, but he seemed a little wrapped up in his own head. 

“Come on, kid. Don’t tell me you’re gonna kick me out because I asked you to dry me off. One last thing and then you don’t even have to talk to me the rest of the night! Sounds like a good deal, right?” 

His slightly desperate looking sales pitch was met with a sigh, you picked up a dry towel and began to pat the soap suds off of him. His body slowly breathed in, making it look like he was sighing, but no noise came out.

You wondered then if he was actually touch-starved, but cut your thoughts there because this time he had nothing better to do then pay attention to what you were thinking. 

“Ouch, i’m not that desperate, pal.” But he was.

His exoskeleton was dry, but you didn’t stop patting him down. His eyelid shut slowly, and the spider-legs on them curled into each other once more. 

The exoskeleton of a bug was practical, but one of a triangle seemed to simply be for aesthetics. 

However, on some rare occasions, it possesses the same desire for love as human bodies. Only, when very desperate, of course. 

[starcurtain]

I love your post so much I love how everything is backed by evidence. I wanted to ask for your opinions on ratio and aventurine's relationship (relationship in general, not necessarily in a romantic sense).

My mind keeps goes back to Aventurine and "Aventurine"'s conversation about Ratio's fake betrayal part of the plan and Aventurine says "Or maybe he wasn't acting at all?". I just keep thinking about how even though Ratio did exactly what he was supposed to do to help the plan succeed, Aventurine can't help but doubt the motives of the person that he's working with even when he does exactly what will benefit his plan. I've just been thinking that maybe it's another part of Aventurine where he can't completely trust anyone. I've seen a lot of post where people state that they had a great deal of trust in each other and that's why the plan succeeded but ignore what that line means for how Aventurine might've felt about it.

And then on Ratio's side of this, I do think he cares about Aventurine's well being but only does what he can to help him because if he tried to force Aventurine to be better, to treat himself better, it wouldn't really change Aventurine's mind on his self if it's for someone else's sake instead of his own. The little flavor text of Ratio's sticker in 2.3 mentioned how he's "just doing what a supporting character should do." which is, supporting the main character I'd think. Ratio does genuinely care for humanity so I can't think the only reason he sticks around Aventurine is "because he makes an interesting conversation partner than most."

I just can't stop thinking about how they're undoubtedly connected for another reason besides just their work, and I am just so curious about what the writers have in mind for their cooperation in the future. sorry for my trash heap ✌️ if this is too incomprehensible I understand not answering it

Okay, the full answer to this ask is over here in a separate post, since I thought it might stretch people's dashes a bit if I didn't, BUT before we get to that, there is one little thing I wanted to say and don't have room for in the other post:

You mention: Aventurine says "Or maybe he wasn't acting at all?" I just keep thinking about how even though Ratio did exactly what he was supposed to do to help the plan succeed, Aventurine can't help but doubt the motives of the person that he's working with even when he does exactly what will benefit his plan.

And while I agree that Aventurine has TRUST ISSUES stamped on his forehead, I also think that a lot of people kind of gloss over one major aspect of the scenes between Aventure and "Future" Aventurine, which is that:

Aventurine spends most of those scenes convinced he's actually talking to a manifestation of Sunday's power.

Aventurine starts off suggesting the "Future" Aventurine is a dream or psychotic hallucination.

He rejects the idea that "Future" Aventurine is actually himself at all, and asserts that this "Future" figure is a "newborn of the Harmony's power." He even has a throwaway line asking if he's about to become an Emanator of the Harmony himself. (And the Ena-Gaiathra fans rejoiced.)

Normally I would say that's all there is to this, Aventurine just not wanting to accept this ghostly version of himself and the harsh truths it keeps bringing to light.

But, throughout the entire lead up to the end of 2.1, we get weird moments where the "Future" Aventurine asks for information it should already have. A lot of these are passed off as "Well, I just want to hear you say it yourself!" but... if it's truly Aventurine himself and knows all there is to know about him, why does it need to hear the info from the real Aventurine?

Why do we continually get exchanges that strongly call into question what the "Future" Aventurine even knows?

And:

Later:

(Shouldn't it have already known?)

Repeatedly, the "Future" Aventurine says things that imply it is still learning about the real Aventurine:

Even up their very last scene together, the "Future" Aventurine was constantly pressing the real Aventurine to reveal every detail of his plan:

"Future" Aventurine goes through the cornerstone shuffle, guesses at Ratio's involvement, pushes Aventurine to reveal the broken Aventurine cornerstone, asks what tactics Aventurine intends to use to win his gamble, how the IPC fits into all of this, and finally comes to the realization that Aventurine plans to use Acheron to create "death."

We could go very deep with this and suggest all these weird "Did you or did you not know this information? Are you really me or not?" exchanges are just meant to show Aventurine's doubting nature, that his mind is a mess and that he doesn't, even at his deepest, understand himself, but I don't think the devs did this accidentally. We're being given plausible deniability on purpose.

At the very least, we players are supposed to ask ourselves: Could it be that this really is the Harmony and not Aventurine himself?

Until the very last scene, when "Future" Aventurine completely changes his tune to gentle empathy, real Aventurine is definitely convinced that he's still talking to a manifestation of Sunday's power.

Right after the line about Ratio's betrayal supposedly being real or not, Aventurine is still saying:

Or, an even clearer indicator that real Aventurine was convinced he was talking to Sunday's manipulations: The "Future" Aventurine is listed as ??? in the dialogue option all the way to the very end, when Aventurine at last accepts that he may be speaking to himself, and the name card finally changes to "Aventurine."

So, what to make of this line then:

Personally, I think there's enough dubiousness to the whole situation to suggest that we can't really take this line at face value.

Is Aventurine genuinely doubting Ratio here... or, convinced that he's still talking to the Harmony, is Aventurine scrambling to try to keep the last details of their plan out of Sunday's reach?

If after this line he's still telling "Future" Aventurine to stop stealing information from his mind, can we really expect him to be speaking truth here?

Throughout all of these scenes with "Future" Aventurine, real Aventurine continually refuses to reveal new details about his plot, forcing "Future" Aventurine to fill in the gaps. It's clear from other lines throughout the theme park scenes that Aventurine is intentionally avoiding giving away any specifics that the "Future" doesn't already know:

So to me, even though I agree that Aventurine has been made into a distrustful person by his traumatic experiences and I think he does doubt the sincerity of everyone around him...

I don't necessarily think this one line about Ratio should be held up as an example of that deep doubt.

I think there's enough suspicion cast on the "Future" Aventurine and its possible connections to the power of the Harmony that many of the things Aventurine says to it might actually be attempts to mislead and distract, so that he can carry his final gamble through without Family intervention.

And I think looking at this line about Ratio from that mindset also introduces an entirely different possibility many people seem to overlook:

Is it out of character for Aventurine to make sure the only person sacrificed in his gambles is himself?

If Aventurine really thought he was talking to a manifestation of Sunday's power, could it be that saying "Maybe Ratio wasn't acting! Maybe he really did betray me!"... wasn't doubt, but an attempt to protect his co-conspirator? To shift the blame away from Ratio and spare him from the fallout if their plan ultimately went awry? To make himself the Family's only target?

I'M JUST SAYIN'!!

Anyway, totally go read the rest of the actual answer about Aventurine and Ratio's relationship now~! It's all posted!

[royrockstone]

Some of these ig :)

Roman + 😃 , 🐈 , 🎡 , 🎭

Kendall + 📿 , 🧡

Shiv + 🐈 , 😨 , 🌘

I hope I'm doing this right, I usually don't do these hc/ask game things but I just finished honesty and it was delicious so...

(also sorry for making you think about roman being happy)

Roman

hc + 😃 for a happiness-themed headcanon

omg this is tough... ty for apologizing bc this is a hardship...

i think roman thought of logan as the font of all happiness. i think, after logan's gone-- it's not that roman stops being able to feel happy or that the world has gone grey or whatever-- it's more that he can no longer trust the feeling of happiness, if it doesn't come from logan. i think logans death so subtly but completely unmoored him that happiness would start to feel wrong or traitorous.

hc + 🐈 for a pet/animal-themed headcanon

i mean why write a hc in a tumblr post when could've had a dog exists.

buuut i think roman probably shouldn't have a pet because he is just not responsible. BUT he would be capable of lavishing tremendous love on one periodically, if there were one in his life. i could see him being in a semi-sham relationship with a woman where neither of them is at all happy, and delaying the breakup bc she has like. a cute cat.

i can also very clearly imagine roman being incredibly emotional and irrationally angry about his pets. like he told shiv to feed his fish while he was away at military school and then he gets back and he's like "you clearly didn't feed my fish every day they look all pale and sad this is why you'll be a terrible mother"

hc + 🎡 for a hobby-themed headcanon

i think he's mostly a passive hobby person. going to the movies, etc. i think active hobbies feel embarrassingly earnest and also middle class to him. i could see an older roman having some kind of rich person conspicuous-consumption based hobby (collecting amusingly ugly but expensive paintings, maybe?)

hc + 🎭 for an arts-/crafts-themed headcanon

i think a lot about the 'roman wrote a screenplay' throwaway line, and my final judgment is that roman probably has the capability to write cleverly, but lacks all the work ethic and compassion and interest in others that would make a good screenwriter. i am also a 'roman secretly wishes caroline had put him in ballet lessons' truther. i think that's for aesthetic reasons plus the vague sadomasochism of a ballet master with a troublesome student being very gerri-esque and appealing, and i don't think roman would have ever acted on that wish.

Kendall

hc + 📿 for a faith-themed headcanon

im sure he had a TM phase, a Buddhist phase, maybe a Kabbalah phase back when that was a thing, but he also can't help but subordinate any belief he has to his larger belief in, like, The Market, and he lacks the commitment to stick to any one belief about the nature of the universe or his own spiritual practice.

he clearly believes in God, but not in any helpful or constructive way. he needs God in the sense that he needs the domineering presence of a belief in something overwhelmingly bigger than himself, which is why logan was able to be his godhead for a while. but he also clearly wants to believe that sins get punished and expunged, that he can have a clean slate and a clear conscience again, and he's yet to find any force that can really offer him that.

hc + 🧡 for a friendship-themed headcanon

kendall is the only sibling who lets people get somewhat close to him, for better or for worse, and that puts people like stewy close enough to see everything that's wrong but never close enough to help him (and maybe stewy just isn't interested enough to attempt to help anymore) when kendall tried to get stewy in bed with waystar, im sure every single one of stewy's instincts were like Do Not Do This and kendall was like "dude. name one good reason why you shouldn't be i the kenny business" and stewy was like "well you have half an eating disorder and an entire coke habit, and your rickety aging family business is held together with debt and duct tape"

(i kind of want to extend my kendall pov chapter from eat what's rotten into a full fic one day, because i like thinking about stewy's view of the roy dysfunction/the collective family ed.)

Shiv

hc + 🐈 for a pet/animal-themed headcanon

im team shiv resents mondale. i think she doesnt even like the image of having a dog-- nothing appeals to her about the christmas card with a big, handsome purebred. i think she internally sentenced herself to doing something nice for tom because she felt bad about something or other and next thing she knew they had a dog. i think shes disgusted by them being dumb, and undiscriminating, and messy. see again couldve had a dog

hc + 😨 for a fear-themed headcanon

i think shiv is mostly afraid of germs and her father. there's a lot of talk in the show that infantalizes shiv-- the pretend post office story connor tells, 'she sees monsters from piles of laundry on the floor' or whatever, 'he built you a playground and you think it's the world'. and it feels like it's just rank misogyny, and in many ways it is, but also that language suggests something that is true. shiv has a polished adult exterior, and hides it all well, but she is, as much as her brothers, still a petrified child who perpetually thinks she's in trouble with daddy. and i dont think the people around her completely see or acknowledge that, but they are dimly aware of it.

hc + 🌘 for a night-themed headcanon

insomniac shiv is very close to my heart. i like the idea that she thinks shes stronger than other people because she functions with very little sleep. like she was that person in college who was like 'ive slept five hours in the past three days and im going to a party tonight and ill have my midterm turned in before that'

[wedontburnbookshere]

☆☆☆

(spoilers under the read more)

Similarly with House of Hollow, I loved the writing. It beautiful but doesn't pull back from the grossness or horror. And for the most part, I enjoyed the characters and their development.

The dedication of the book reads For all the angry girls, and this is a clear theme throughout the book, from the first victim we see in the prologue to the final confrontation with the main villains.

The book centers on three girls: Zara Jones, previously a top student at her school but now pushes all her attention into the occult, desperate to find a way to raise her sister from the dead; Jude wolf, estranged daughter of a billionaire who is trying to find someone who can undo the curse she accidentally placed on herself; and Emer Byrne, a witch who writes curses for women who come to her for power -- even at the cost of a piece of their souls. When Emer's clients start turning up dead, the three come together to find out who's killing them and how.

The world-building is relatively simple to follow but interesting. I enjoyed the description of the demons, especially Bael. When it's introduced and named, it's shown right away that its relationship with Emer is different and that it might have other wants beyond simply eating her soul.

A big part of the world-building that's tied to the main theme is that men can't be witches. They can't sell a part of their souls to demons for power.

Emer looks at each of them and sighs. "Even the devil does not trust men to honor a bargain, so it does not deal with them. It offers power only to women." "What about trans women?" Zara asks, writing the question in her document. "How does that work?" "Of course I have written invocations for trans women," Emer says. "Demons do not care about bodies. They only care about souls."

This scene, to me, felt slapped on last-second. It was a throw-away scene that doesn't do anything to build upon the theme of how women are hurt by the patriarchy. Another throwaway line later in the book states how men are hurt by the patriarchy as well, but again, it feels slapped-on last moment.

But throughout the book, it says men don't have to fear the dark, men don't have to fear walking through the world. As a brown-skinned trans man, I disagree. The book has a very rad/fem-y feel of feminism to me, even with the couple complicated male characters we see -- Elijah and Lawrence, Jude's brother and father, respectively. I will say that at least this book didn't piss me off like The Secret, Book & Scone Society; I don't think I'll be able to finish that one.

With the language and content, The Invocations is written for an older teen audience, and I wish it were more nuanced in its feminism for them. Still, it's a fun read, and for some readers, it could be cathartic. Sometimes you want to read about hurting the people who've hurt you, though if the book were to lean into catharsis more, I think the choice in who the serial killer was could have been different.

The other reason I didn't end up rating this book higher is that Zara felt to be mostly-forgotten once Emer and Jude started to have feelings for each other. Zara was pushed to the background, and even when she raised her sister from the dead, it felt more like a plot device, setting up what ends up saving Jude and Emer from being murdered by Jude's witch hunter brothers.

It didn't feel like she got as much of an arc as the other two characters. She got to tell her sister Sav that she was sorry for what she'd said, but with how vague it is how conscious Sav even is when her body is reanimated, there's no real catharsis there. It was stated at the start that Zara didn't want revenge like Emer did. She just wanted her sister back. And then she has to lose her all over again when Emer kills her to stop the demon possessing Sav's body from killing anyone else.

Zara ends up back on track at the end. She gets to live with Jude instead of having to go back to her abusive uncle, and she gets accepted into Oxford. But for the most part, she feels like a secondary character instead of a main one. It would have at least been nice to see more of her with Gardner, the principal who'd been willing to give her the cash in her purse, no questions asked, then her personal phone number, to give Zara a lifeline -- an adult she could trust and lean on for support. It would have made that final scene before the epilogue feel more like character development, Zara reaching out for help.

The book was overall fun to read, enough that I finished it in a day, but I am a bit disappointed, especially after how excited I was to read it.

[mahoushoujotechsupport]

ok episode 13 time folks

my little gay heart can't take this with lauda being ranked at having better odds than sabina

this little twink

spiderman pointing meme

i feel like the first 2 suits in this battle royale duel are the only cool looking ones lolz

i also can't believe how we got trolled by that 2nd cour trailer and everyone thought everything in it was at least a few episodes worth of footage and instead it was just this fuckin duel suletta blew through in like 5 mins lmao

i don't want to waste too much of the post image limit on the OP but can i just say how much i love these two shots? like when i saw the episode i couldnt stop thinking how cool the grassley girls look in this frame lmao

also will admit i wasn't like super into slash for like the first 2 eps and now i can't decide if i like it better than shukufuku

handsome suletta has entered the building

i will never forgive them for including this shot in the OP... after the OP silhouette of eri changed to actually show eri, i was so fucking convinced at some point the OP would update to pan up and actually show notrette to us

it's kinda nuts that earth house were the ones to step up after the 2nd school shooting later on when right before the school festival and in the aftermath of the plant quetta attack theyre all so traumatized over everything that happened

remember when everyone thought this was gonna be a pantsuit and all the fanart that got drawn of miorine being handsome... yea we got a fake out but she wears a pantsuit later on and timeskip miorine is handsome as hell

ha ha sure glad we don't live in a world where corporations can have say in military matters......................................

these lesbians

no mask prospera spotted and shes sitting down

sorry prospera haters, but it's true

this little goober trying to comfort nika-nee is the sweetest thing ever lol

just dropping this here to go along with miorine's line to prospera that suletta couldn't stop shaking from how scared she was to ride calibarn

the next line in this scene is also suletta p much saying she was able to gather strength to go save miorine because of her mom. i don't think it'd be wrong to say she was able to do the same piloting calibarn although it wasnt just for her mom but her whole family, including miorine

lmao i know dara materials is just one of the front companies shaddiq made up but i'd love to know whatever backstory he made up for them

suletta....

and honestly how bad is asticassia's vetting process? i totally forgot nika's backing company isn't real either. which in retrospect, yeah duh, makes sense

the entire sophie montage is really amazing and on rewatch feels so depressing tbh

initially, i found sophie a little annoying if i'm being honest but thats because i don't like characters who get reduced down to HAHA I LOVE DOING EVIL THINGS... which is not at all what sophie is about once we get to the next episode. she's a victim of capitalism doing it's thing

regardless of went down from this point forward, nika was always gonna play the martyr, which i still think is silly, but honestly out of all the things i have a gripe with in the 2nd cour this like one of the lowest things lmao

i wonder if this was just meant to be a throwaway line or not cuz like yeah... you're not gonna talk your oppressors into being nicer to you lol

suletta doesn't even know how cool she can be sometimes huh?

this line still cracks me up... suletta, sweetie....

norea up in the pharact like sophie cmonnnn

ending the episode on cool suletta again

also mannnnnn remembering watching this ep the day it came out and this scene with red birthmark starting up was so amazing lmao i was kinda iffy on the song at first because it felt kinda whiny? idk what other word to use because i'm not really a music person... i definitely don't feel that way now and if i had to describe it to someone right now i'd say it's a very emotionally-charged song. it's honestly one of my favorite anime endings both the song itself and the actual ending animation

legit one of my favorite frames from the whole ending sequence and i'm so happy to know that this is confirmed to be made to look like calibarn and not aerial in this shot lol

like this literally is one of the most gorgeous anime endings i've ever seen lmao i don't think i'll ever stop gushing about it

cmon look at them

literally cannot believe to this day there are miorine haters or people who think miorine didn't care about suletta enough. miorine's possessions were literally taken away as we see later on when lauda gives everything back to her... but here she is, holding on to cool-san and just longingly staring at this stupid ugly little keychain

i didn't fully mind the sulemio separation arc... but god, i hated that for the first like 3-4 eps all we get of mio are these post-credits minute or two long scenes

all i'm gonna be able to think about while watching this whole cour is what could have been if bandai weren't stupid lol

ok might do episode 14 in a bit, but now i wanna go listen to red birthmark lmao

[minisugakoobies]

2022 End of the Year Recap

rules : post the top 5 works you're most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular), your top 4 current WIPs that you're excited to release in the new year, your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year, your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year, and your number 1 favorite line you've written this year!

Thank you for the tags @reliablemitten @btsgotjams27 @kkulfm-2 @the-boy-meets-evil 💕

5 works I'm proud of:

Gonna cheat a bit and put my 12 Lays of Kinkmas fics as one choice - I'm pretty proud that I managed to bang out 28K in less than a month and ended up with 12 different fics

Versus: It's by far my least popular series on tumblr but it's the one that is closest to my heart - my love letter to comic books and supervillain stories 💜

And They Were Roommates!: I branched out more into mxm this year. I really love the dynamic here between Joon and Jimin.

Sorry I Motorboated You: It's sheer nonsense. I'm glad everyone got a kick out of it.

Covert Affairs: Still super proud of this one, how it just flowed out of me so quickly, unfolding like a movie in my mind. Made me realize just how much I love writing action scenes!

4 WIPs I'm excited about:

I have sooooo many WIPs, y'all 😭 I'm not including any ongoing series/sequels here, just brand new ideas/fics I'm excited about:

Down and Out: part of the Room for Rent collab. Boxer!Jimin is going to be angsty af, y'all. Also features a supremely devilish JK.

Untitled YoonJin fic: part of a yet-to-be announced collab. Basic plot is E2L warlock Yoongi vs vampire Jin.

Untitled Stoner!Hobi fic: can't stop won't stop with this agenda

Untitled Yoongi fic: I really don't want to give too much away about this one, but I'm planning a possible new series (haven't decide if it will be a big oneshot or series) that I'm going to start writing after I finish my current series… all I'll say is the idea was sparked by Everything Everywhere All At Once

3 biggest improvements:

I'm terrible at questions like these. I don't think my writing has gotten any better - but I don't think it's gone downhill either? I think it's fine. But I guess if I must:

Focusing less on perfection - I don't spend as much time fretting over what I've written now, I just kinda write it and throw it out there. Either people will like it or not. I'm trying not to spend hours rereading a piece, looking for ways to improve it, but it's a hard habit to break.

Letting myself get sillier if the fic calls for it

Incorporating new genres/kinks into my fics

Top 2 resolutions:

Stop letting note counts get to me (an eternal resolution)

Stop comparing myself to other writers (another eternal one)

Number 1 line written this year:

“Oh, Jesus!” 

“No,” Jungkook says, thrusting again, and again, faster and faster, “Jungkook.” 

That's a dumb throwaway line from Joyride that makes me laugh so much. Like 75% of my writing is just that - dumb jokes I've written solely to crack myself up. 🤣

I feel like I'm behind on this one, so I'm only going to tag a few writers: @herecomesjoon @sugalaritae @thatlongspringnight @augustbutwinter @bangtanintotheroom sorry if you've already been tagged! No pressure as always 💕

[thorarms]

Sorry i was referring to ur post hating on how mobius called loki a man of action. Why can't loki be also a man of action he grew up around THOR. Also maybe its a new thing loki is letting show instead of being cautious. He is the god of mischief and chaos after all

Ok ive taken a couple of days to have a think and give you a proper answer.

In short, because it's lazy and lets the writers avoid having to write loki with any consistent character traits.

Long answer below the cut

I have a lot of semi connected thoughts about this and this post might end up a bit of a ramble, uh so sorry i guess.

I think it's important to remember that loki as a marvel character has existed since the 1960s, and thus has 60 or so years of characterisation already there. Over the years this has varied a bit due to many different writers and their different visions for their stories, but they tend to stay fairly consistent. Loki is a villian (or is perceived as one by others), he plans elaborate schemes usually with the end goal of the destruction of asgard and/or thor, and he tends to play the long game. In short, he's been consistently characterised as a much more methodical and yes, cerebral character than thor.

In addition, theres 11 years of specifically mcu loki characterisation, which was originally constructed from the loki we see in the comics. This is the baseline of mcu lokis character, and thus should still be there in other stories and adaptations.

What's actually interesting to me though, is that loki HAS been shown as a man of action before. In Thor 2011. Specifically at the end of the movie, after his entire life has fallen apart at the seams and he's in the middle of an emotional breakdown. His actions get more impulsive as the movie progresses, and it ends with him trying to destroy Jotunheim, goading thor into an argument and a huge fight, then letting go of the bifrost and falling to his assumed death.

What makes this work and still feel in character is that lokis impulsive and reckless desicions come from his emotional instability. The viewer gets to see his facade break and watch him deteriorate from slowly and meticulously planning to ruin thors coronation and stop him from taking the throne, to deciding on the spur of the moment to point the bifrost at Jotunheim and, afterwards, decide to let go of gungnir and plummet into the void (i love this movie so much can you tell).

All of this really is to say that loki CAN be reckless and impulsive just like thor. It just has to be well written and considered. And season one of the show very much was Not That.

With the gift of hindsight, it's been very clear that the writers of season one were not interested in maintaining any of lokis previous characterisation and, given what we've seen so far in the trailer, im not exactly holding out hope that season two will be any different.

The last thing i wanna mention is that the way you phrased your ask, with loki deciding himself to become less cautious, is quite interesting to me. Im sure you dont need me to tell you that loki isnt real, hes a fictional character and thus has no autonomy of his own. Every thought, word and action was a deliberate decision from the writers and actors creating these stories (often with their own preconceptions and biases of the character subconsciously thrown in). What im trying to get at is that ultimately, loki as a character is a vehicle for telling an aspect of a story. And it's the writers job to tell that story well. And if loki suddenly has a change of heart and decides to start acting the complete opposite of his former self, the writers should have a damn good reason for choosing to do that. Otherwise, it's just poorly written. And frankly i dont want to watch a poorly written show.

Whoops this was way longer than i intended im so sorry anyways i hope this answers your question about why i wrote a silly post about a throwaway line in a trailer for a show im probably not even going to watch. Probably.

[slashmagpie]

okay . okay. hello, hope you're going well! please excuse me doing this instead of commenting on lost boys, but i wasn't logged in on my phone and i am.. very lazy sJKCBGFDJKS

. i didn't realise you could add a 'keep reading' to asks? but uh. man i hope this brings you some joy, at least skjgbcfds

okay . oookay . okay head in my fUCKING hadns

i just went and reread the entire series, because i . CANNOT get this off of my mind. and i have SO MANY MORE QUESTIONS . AUGHGKFDJ

who is the queen? what happened to her? why was the moon an egg? what was the moon? what the fuck is etho? WHERE DO THE ALIENS COMEF ROM .NHNGJKFDS this featured in my DREAM last night, okay . you're sending me INSANE

i'm genuinely so so obsessed with the way you do buildup. i mean.. man, i've read the whole thing, but on reread i kept having to put my phone down and make (quite frankly inhuman) noises because the way you structure this entire series is so, so insanely talented and well-done and . aUGHHHGDFKJGBS I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY EXCEPT THAT I'M GOING INSANE ,. yeah. y eah.

. you're honestly an artist dude, this is so so well-developed, the worldbuilding is an insanely unique idea (the QUINTESSENCE ??? DUDE . even if etho has become its god, just the very concept of a world without sapience?? one that doesn't have purpose, doesn't have /meaning/, and yet was so hungry for a creator that it dragged etho into it?)

(NOT TO MENTION THE CHOKEHOLD THAT YOUR MAGIC SYSTEM HAS ON ME. tunguskite being the origin of magic (or not really magic at all), and then incorporating it into the blood of 'mages' to allow them to perform '''impossible''' tasks… man . m a n) (i'd also like to mention the etho/other etho dichotomy, and then the realization that it was always him after all? . gOD)

i can't stop thinking about how etho described demons as 'beings that can do magic without blood,' followed by pearl describing the reds as demons?. like ,, okay it might be coincidence. it might be accidental phrasing, or just a throwaway line, but i. i DON'T KNOW ANYMORE . GHH

. aughgHGHHHH I AM NOT A PATIENT PERSON THIS FIC IS DOING THISNGS TO ME . <- dramatic, please excuse me sKCJGBFDS

..anyway uh! i'm so sorry it's like three in the morning and i can't make this any more legible but i, uh. i hope you don't mind. this entire serious is absolutely wonderful, and i'd just like to thank you for the honour of being able to share in such wonderful writing and worldbuilding :)

-@crimson-roots (since i can't send asks from my sideblog, whoops :"D) . uhh! yeah! sorry again for rambling in your askbox, and i hope you have a good night!

🥰🥹😊❤️❤️

...No wait that's not Enough. Hang on.

There we go, that's a pretty good representation of my emotions rn.

So it turns out you can't actually put a readmore in an ask, but I'm gonna put one before my answer because otherwise oh boy this post is gonna get long.

So many questions!! A lot of them will get answered in the text ("what happened to the queen?" well I'm glad you asked—) but as for the ones that probably won't (or, if they do come up, won't be super plot-relevant or that important so I can answer):

The Egg is basically where the aliens are "born"; it's near a black hole, it's got some natural tunguskite reserves, and it's basically hollow save for the pulsing mass of the hivemind. It's also, y'know. A moon. It's orbiting some sort of planet somewhere. (Probably actually the planet the Hermethius was returning from, now that I think about it.)

"What the fuck is Etho?" I'll do you one better: why the fuck is Etho? (Okay, but actually: Etho was a mortal mage, and is now an immortal... something. He's not quite a god on the same level that Bdubs is, but he's more than just a regular [redacted] like [redacted] or [redacted].)

The demons thing: Etho is a person who attempts to explain magic with science, and Pearl is a person who attempts to explain science with magic. Generally, Etho's definition of "demon" (person who can do magic without blood) and most mages' definitions of "demon" (in this case, as a synonym for the Reds) don't overlap, except for when they do (for example, in the case of New Tenacity, [redacted], or [redacted]). Fun fact: False generally uses Pearl's definition of "demon" to refer to the aliens (or any other sort of person-who-isn't-a-person, like Hels) rather than Etho's, since her whole thing is being a "demon hunter." If she were using Etho's definition, that would technically make her a demon herself. (Essentially: "demon" is a catch-all word magical people use for "thing/being I don't understand." It has a lot of uses and now that I think about it that's probably kind of confusing, oops.)

And then to address some of the other comments:

I have genuinely had so much fun setting up all the dominoes in this story and I am just as excited to watch them fall as you all are. Honestly, the set-up I've done for LLAU is some of my favourite technical writing of mine ever, in the sense of narrative construction and structure. This was also a pretty good time for a reread, because in a few chapters we're going to get to a scene in which a LOT of this stuff's gonna pay off. (I don't know how many chapters because every time we get close I have to revise my mental outline and add another chapter for pacing purposes but we're So Close we're closer than we've ever been I've been excited about this plot point for FOREVER.)

Honestly, I think a lot of the coolness of the worldbuilding and story construction here comes from the original source material, i.e. the Lifeline games. The Lifeline series consists of like 8(?) games, all of differing genres and with mostly different casts, and over the course of the games more and more of its central worldbuilding is revealed and builds up into the metaplot, which is of course the aliens' attempt to take over the Earth. However, Lifeline got discontinued before it could conclude, and many of its mysteries will remain mysteries (even the one game that came out post-discontinuation, Beside You In Time, doesn't seem to answer any of the questions from what little I've played of it). Because of this, it meant I got to take the pieces I'd been given, throw out what I didn't like, add in new things that I did, and tie it all together to make sense. (There's definitely some Early Installment Weirdness in the series because of this, because I started writing this AU on a whim and it took me a While to nail down the specifics of the magic system, how the aliens work, etc.)

For an example of this: "magic is a lie" is a line that reoccurs throughout the games and is Never explained. It's vaguely implied that magic actually has something to do with tunguskite, so my solution to this is that the energy tunguskite emits is what mages call "magic." So mages have tunguskite in their blood. It's like microplastics! But probably significantly more cool.

And then there's the way it incorporates the Hermitcraft lore and characters—Bdubs' whole thing was my attempt to fuse together two different characters from the original games, because Bdubs Had to be both Captain Aya and Clepsydra, and how could I explain him both being in space and an ancient time monk at the same time? And The Bdubs Thing is one of my favourite parts of this AU because the way those two things came together is just so delightfully weird. Constructing this story and its world has honestly been such a blast, I don't think I've ever enjoyed the experience of writing a fic this much.

(When the story is done I might potentially write a post explaining how I took the Lifeline game lore and changed it to work for this fic, because right now some of that stuff is spoilers but I think it's a very fun topic and would love to do a deeper dive into it.)

Anyway, enough of me rambling, thank you so much for this ask!!! It honestly made my day lol. (Also this fic is very much a passion project and definitely the most self-indulgent thing I've ever written so I'm always delighted whenever I get the chance to ramble about it and my writing process.) I should probably go get working on the next chapter instead of procrastinating by answering this ask. (In my defence, Grian and Joe are causing me anguish. Send help.)

[fester-jester]

I purposely left out this person's name, but this clown's behavior and opinion is absolute trash and not at all okay that it needs to be called out. I will firstly admit that I am not too knowledgeable with the source matter (book and movie), only second-hand.

But I will still call this out because of how fucking disgusting this behavior is.

If you're not familiar with the situation, a character in this awful movie/book called Purple Hearts at one point yells out this, "And hunting down some goddamn Arabs!". This movie is also another military propaganda movie since they tried to be buddy-buddy with the "good" locals later.

Horrible right?

Well there are clowns like this one ^ that deem this line "not racist enough" to be worth all this "drama". It's not that big of a deal! There are more awful, vile things said and put out into this world to be paid attention too! Why are y'all so stuck on this 🙄. Go after more bad things being put out there. After all this is just how some people are :)))))))))))

A sad 'reality' as you well

SINCERELY fuck off that stupid shit

I'm sorry, but does that mean it's not then worth being talked about? Worth being stopped? What is actual considered too far? What is too "racist"?

The fact that you deem 'Arab' lives being threatened and taken away a 'throwaway' line, that's not so bad, is fucking vile. When did their lives being stolen, murdered, become so acceptable? Why is this not as bad as more racist lines? Because it's normalized??? Do you not see how fucking foul that is to be normalized??????

If I were to make such ignorant/arrogant statements about any other group/race of people being killed would that be ok?? Would you not call me out?? Why are Arab lives and people like them just another meaningless war tragedy??? What, it's just another day of killing the evil terrorists after all 😎🦅🇺🇸🤪

You get that's it's a "shitty line" to put in a story but is that all that is? Just a shitty line? "It's ok since it's basically normalized. Sad but true", again when did you began to think this was alright? Should they have screamed out a slur? Would that have pushed you to think it went too far? What is enough??? Why can't Arab people being senseless murdered be. enough.

I get your desensitized to the middle east being a place where we kill the evil terrorists and where a bunch of brown/black/other people died/die but I think you VERY much need to sit down and realize how much you've been taught to think this was just another part of life. How much military/american propaganda have genuinely swallowed? Why is this thought normal for you?

Some of you may think I'm being too sensitive about this, or that this is 'stupid and meaningless' but I will ask you the same types of questions I'm asking the op.

Why are their lives just a throwaway line? And why is it such a typical sacrifice that you are unbothered by it?

Genuinely ask yourselves

[fangbanger3000]

Hello you may also know me as tricklingink

Ya know I was thinking about this line. From we the stolen

“So,” his voice spoke behind her, his tone slightly mocking. Tav’s heart soared. “The princess of Earth has decided to return.”

See I don't know if this is a snide throwaway remark for Astarion or if he's just didn't stop thinking about her so he picks up right where he left off.

And the last chapter we hear from him is the vampire prince. The last interactions they had were her mushroom ramblings about his majesty.

Maybe I'm reading too far into this but it made me feel things, he didn't stop thinking about her.

Sorry this is where brain goes in the middle of the night. If you want to hear me rant about anything in particular I exist on tumblr from time to time. :)

hello my dear!!!

the fact that you think about wts outside of when you're reading it just really makes my heart stutter and stumble. thank you so much!! you honour me.

i won't deny that there definitely is a theme of royalty and all-hail-the-you going on between the two of them which is only going to intensify, though i fear i cannot yet reveal to what end. but i'm glad it's got you thinking!!

don't ever apologise, i truly can't express how enamoured i am that my fic is where your brain goes in the middle of the night.

[teashadephoenix]

11, 25, and 29?

Sorry this is so late, it's been a hell of a week.

11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve? Yes and no! If I really love a scene, I'll fiddle with it until I find a reason to make it stay. I had a scene in Queen of the Winter Night where Donna was getting ready for work. It literally was just clothing pr0n bc I wanted to paint a picture of how gorgeous she was. My beta was like 'absolutely not you're not just having this scene where nothing happens.' So I added a quick throwaway line that implied Donna still had her TARDIS key and that that was the reason I wrote the scene. It completely wasn't. I just wanted to talk about how pretty she is. ;3 But yeah, if at the end of the day I can't justify a scene being there, I c+p it into the graveyard and let it live there. After enough time, it's usually pretty easy to see that you were being over indulgent, or it was out of character writing, or whatever, and it stops being "grieving" so much as just, when i'm in the mood, going back and re-reading them for fun. Also they CAN be helpful if i get distracted (bc adhd) to remember what my original ideas were. Puts me back on the right path.

25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

I don't think I have completely irrelevant details. Even things that I think might be irrelevant can easily become relevant with the right plot.

Anyway, the first thing that came to mind was that Aalee's favorite candy is chocolate raisins and her brother Elles prefers candied pecans.

29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry? everything around me tbh. anything that vibes. music. art. pictures of the sky, and the sea, and mountains, and trees. fashion. it's all fuel. and the good thing is i never run out because that's just life. it's all around us. i have a muse fuel folder that's got bunches of stuff in it, and i scroll through it til my brain kicks on, then i go write. if we're talking specific ideas, that's all very reactionary. story premises come from me consuming media and then going "welp i like/don't like that. let's explore."

Thanks for the ask! <3

[lesbian-in-leather]

Here's a couple more for the writing ask game! : 12, 25, 32

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

Okay FIRST OF ALL I think it's rude that I can't wish for more wishes, we all know I love loopholes. SECOND OF ALL this was really fun to think about, so here we go:

I'd wish for the ability to perfectly retain any and all information about my WIPs until I've written it down, at which point it can be stored with regular memories. How often have you had a great idea just as you're falling asleep, or in the shower, or just busy and don't have time to write it down, but by the time you actually can, it's left your head? Not a problem anymore

I'd wish that I can always think of the word I need. Not only does it stop annoying mid-flow thesaurus checks or ages of combing the internet because I know what I mean but I can't find it - but there are other applications too! Creating a fantasy language? No need for a translation document, I can just type out whatever shit I need and it'll be right. Get wrecked genie, two for the price of one and I didn't cheat so my WIPs are safe

And finally, I'd wish that I have the motivation to write whenever I have the time, so that all of my writing sessions will actually be productive (maybe I'd link this motivation to like. A specific word or something? Idk, I don't trust this genie not to mess with me here)

25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

Okay so I know what I said in the last post, and I do over-plan, but also I try to include a lot of the random details because I much prefer reading and writing character driven stories, so like, the little details are usually relevant to something. Having said that, sometimes it's just a very short throwaway kinda relevance, or it's an extension of an actual plot point that doesn't come out until later. Although I do know some random stuff like, one OC constantly fidgets with her necklace without realising, and another one always wears a hoodie and messes with the zip because she likes the sound it makes. Sorry I feel like this wasn't as interesting as it could have been lmao

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc. that you return to time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

Okay I physically cannot pick just one, but know that there are also so many more that I could have said here (including but not limited to: all of the works I mentioned in the last post that I am deliberately not allowing myself to repeat). Because I've picked so many examples and you asked a former English student for analysis, I'm going to put them all under the cut and honestly I had so much fun thinking about this and writing out the analysis that I don't even mind if no one reads it lmao

Mentions of death and suicide (in relation to the fictional characters in the texts I'm talking about)

Poems

This Be The Verse, by Philip Larkin

They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. [...] Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself.

Technically I first heard this (or, the last stanza of it, at any rate) quoted in The End by Lemony Snicket, but I also studied the full poem when I did my A-Levels, and honestly the whole thing is absolutely incredible. It's such a beautiful poem, and I do think about the entire thing all the time (I have it memorised) but specifically the first two lines and the final stanza have always been my favourite. Something about the acknowledgment of how you can still be fucked up by your parents even if they didn't mean it really, really got to me (I wonder why haha), and the final stanza has such a bleak outlook on everything but... it also really resonated with me, especially at the time I first read the full poem. And even though I don't think like that anymore, and I now have a much more neutral or even positive outlook on humanity and human nature, this poem still holds such a crucial place in my heart, and I do think about it all the time

Ozymandias, by Percy Bysshe Shelley

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Another one I have memorised - what initially started as GCSE work really stuck with me lmao. Again, the full poem gets me just as much, but this passage specifically... oh my god. As someone who has a genuine Issue in my head about being remembered after I’m gone, this poem really got to me. The fact that Ozymandias spent so much time and effort into ensuring he was remembered, and he got his wish... on a technicality. The idea that I can't control how I'm remembered, only what I do, and if I spend too long focusing on my legacy, then that's all that people will know about me... yeah, this poem got me fucked up

Novel

The End, Chapter Thirteen, by Lemony Snicket

“You're the one who made us orphans in the first place,” he [Klaus] said, uttering out loud for the first time a secret all three Baudelaires had kept in their hearts for almost as long as they could remember. Olaf closed his eyes for a moment, grimacing in pain, and then stared slowly at each of the three children in turn. “Is that what you think?” he said finally. “We know it,” Sunny said. “You don't know anything,” Count Olaf said. “You three children are the same as when I first laid eyes on you. You think you can triumph in this world with nothing more than a keen mind, a pile of books, and the occasional gourmet meal.” He poured one last gulp of cordial into his poisoned mouth before throwing the seashell into the sand. “You're just like your parents,” he said, and from the shore the children heard Kit Snicket moan. “You have to help Kit,” Violet said. “The baby is arriving.” “Kit?” Count Olaf asked, and in one swift gesture he grabbed an apple from the stockpot and took a savage bite. He chewed, wincing in pain, and the Baudelaires listened as his wheezing settled and the poisonous fungus was diluted by their parents' invention. He took another bite, and another, and then, with a horrible groan, the villain rose to his feet, and the children saw that his chest was soaked with blood. “You're hurt,” Klaus said. “I've been hurt before,”

Alright I know I don't shut up about asoue but here me out, okay? Similarly to the last post (because even though I'm not letting myself repeat passages, I can still repeat themes) I read this when I was like seven or eight, and it was, once again, one of the first times grey-morality was introduced to me. But, where Witches Abroad taught me that sometimes heroes don't want to be heroes and that villains might not think they're villains, The End taught me that even if a villain knows and embraces the fact they're a villain... that doesn't mean they're evil. Now, as an adult, I actively reject the 'Good Vs Evil' dichotomy, but as a kid, basically everything you're exposed to has the heroes always be Morally Correct while the villains are Entirely Evil (hell, even most media aimed at adults struggles with the concept of villains being terrible people while still being allowed to have redeeming qualities). And then I read this passage. I mean, the whole entire scene still makes me fucking sob, but I come back to this passage in particular over and over and over again. Because Olaf was fucking dying. He's tired, and he's been stabbed, and poisoned, and he was going to let himself die right then and there. He doesn't even deny the accusation that he killed the Baudelaire parents - what would be the point, when we all know that villains lie? No one would ever believe him - but that question in response is heartbreaking. He looks at these children that he's tormented for months on end, and just asks them, simply, if that's what they think. Like he can't quite believe they'd think so little of him. As if, suddenly, he's realising how they see him, how they've always seen him. Realising that, to them, he really is just a cartoon villain. And that death would have been sad enough. That death would have still stuck in my head, and I would still probably be talking about it now, if he'd died on the very next line. But he doesn't. He hears Kit's name and launches himself at the antidote, and the kids and the reader finally realise that he's bleeding out but he doesn't care. All he cares about it Kit, saving Kit, helping Kit, and it's so jarring. He's spent thirteen books not caring about anyone but himself, leaving even his own henchpeople in the dust when it suits him, but suddenly he's not only helping someone else, but disregarding his own wellbeing to help someone that's shown to be directly opposed to him. He helps someone that we, as a first time reader, assume to be his enemy, and he's so panicked at the thought that she's in danger, and so soft when he helps her. He's still the same man he's always been - but we now know that that man isn't evil, and he never was. He's cruel, and greedy, and selfish, and he cares. He loves someone else enough to die for her. He's hurt, but it doesn't matter to him as long as Kit's safe. He's been hurt before

Fanfic

Now, most of the time with fanfic what sticks in my head is a particular scene, or theme, or even just the feeling evoked by the entire work. Having said that, there are some notable exceptions to this rule (and, again, I’m only choosing two and not letting myself repeat any of the works I talked about in the last post) so I would like to draw attention to:

This Ficlet by @beatricebidelaire

Ernest sits down next to him. “When she [Violet] frowns,” he says in a low voice. “It’s almost as if I'm looking at him.” [Bertrand] Frank doesn’t turn his head. “I thought he always smiled when he’s talking to you.” “You say that as if those are the only times I ever looked at him,” Ernest replies.

Oh,,, the love in that sentence. I can't stop thinking about it. The fact that we can tell it was reciprocated - Ernest looked at Bertrand even when he didn't notice, but whenever Bertrand looked at him he was smiling, and everyone else saw it. OH I feel so many things. This is love, you know? That's what I want, and I love how gentle this quote is. How softly it's presented. Like a fact and a confession all at once

And then there's this fic by @jeromesqualor

And then, all of a sudden, he [Jacques] feels like he’s been hit by a freight train. The laughter stops, and he feels nothing but a strange, pleasant warmth, all over. This is the moment where he realises that he doesn’t want her [Esmé] to ever leave. This is the moment where he realises he’s completely, inconceivably, very inconveniently, fucked. [...] When he’s [Jacques] no longer able to sit straight, when he slumps against the bricks and his head lolls forward to press his forehead into the bars, he distantly hears her sharp, broken intake of breath. “It’s alright, Jacques,” she [Esmé] whispers, cutting through the haze, choked with tears. “It’s alright.”

I found this (predictably) by combing through the Esmé tag, and though it was for a ship I'd never really considered before, it is absolutely one that now consumes my thoughts. These two passages specifically, though, for very different reasons. The first one is such a soft, genuine way to present love and it's beautiful. A freight train that leaves him feeling a pleasant warmth. The fact that he isn't even necessarily happy about it, but the feeling is there all the same. It wasn't a choice, but it isn't bad, either. It's just... I don't know, that's love. Uncontrollable, unpredictable, sudden and slow all at once. And then there's the second section - ohhhhhh man. Because it's so clear that she loves him back - you can see it. But she had to do it - she had to poison him. And she knew he would die and it would be her fault, and it would have been so easy to present her as someone who doesn't care, but that's not true. She did what she thought had to be done, but the second she sees the result she breaks down. It's so out of character, but in a perfectly in-character way - it's something that feels so real, so right, but also something no one would ever expect from Esmé, and I think about it literally all the time

Etc. Plays

I know that usually plays aren't read, but I studied both of these and I've (tragically) never gotten the chance to see either of them performed (though I have seen a film adaptation of Streetcar, but I still read it first) so I'm saying they count

A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams

BLANCHE [holding tight to the DOCTOR's arm]: Whoever you are—I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

Oh my god. Oh my god. This play, this whole entire play, is a masterpiece. But studying it in my class was much less fun than it should have been, because I was one of the only people in that room that liked Blanche, and I stand by that to this day. She is a beautifully written character. She's flawed, and selfish, and materialistic, and so, so fragile that she's already broken before the play has even begun. And it breaks my heart to see it. But this line. This line hurts. Because the Doctor she's clinging to so desperately is taking her away to an asylum. That's how her story ends. It's the last line she says before she leaves, and it's almost the end of the play. And after she's gone, almost everyone goes back to exactly how they were before she'd arrived, like she'd never even existed. And she's been hurt so many times - we learn about her past, and how she's been treated, and see how she's treated during the play. People - and especially men - are not kind to Blanche. And yet, after crying on the floor, being pinned to the ground while screaming and making "inhuman cries", she sees this man. This stranger. And, as an audience, we know what he's here to do. After this line they leave, arm-in-arm. And she's trusting him, she's relying on him to protect her. And he won't. We know he won't - but she doesn’t. She truly believes it. Over and over, she believes she'll be protected. Even after everything that she's seen, and done, and everything that's been done to her... Still, she depends on the kindness of strangers

Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen (translated by Michael Meyer)

TESMAN [runs to the doorway]: Hedda dear, please! Don't play dance music tonight! Think of Auntie Rena. And Eilert. HEDDA [puts her head through the curtains]: And Auntie Juju. And all the rest of them. From now on I'll be quiet. [She closes the curtains behind her]

This is another play I studied at A-Level (Drama, this time, instead of English), and while this isn't the last time Hedda talks, it is the last time we see her alive. And ever since I first read it, it's been bouncing around in my head. It's the understated way she disappears - and only a few lines later, she cuts herself off with a gunshot to her own head. It's the way everyone around her misunderstands her so thoroughly - her own husband thinks that mentioning the dead will get her on side, and no one thinks it odd that she brings up a woman she's repeatedly made it clear that she dislikes. As a reader or a member of the audience, you can see that she's realising there's no way out of her life - she can't divorce her husband, she might even be pregnant with his child. And she tells them that she’s going to end it - I'm sure, to her, she was making her intentions perfectly clear. "From now on I'll be quiet." It's so sad, and soft - especially when said by such an unpredictable character. And then her death is the culmination of everything she's been feeling throughout the play - the longing for beauty, because to her it is beautiful. And I think part of the reason it sticks with me so much is because I was the only one to see her that way in my class. Not everyone hated her (though a lot of them did), but no one else was sympathetic to her. I'm not saying she was a good person, but I did empathise, especially in a room of people all arguing that she deserved her fate

I apologise for the sheer amount I talked about all of those. And if you did read all of this rambling, thank you! I appreciate it, even if it might not have been particularly coherent

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Hi, first of all just wanted to say that thanks to you I got deep in the HPHM analysis rabbit hole and I had this thought. Why didn’t Harry, Hermione or Ron ever hear about MC? MC graduates from Hogwarts while the trio starts in 1991, I would imagine people would be talking about the cursed vaults since it would be fresh. I could understand if Harry overshadowed MC but still wouldn’t it be discussed in the background or at least Hermione would hear about MC but this thought occurred so what if, the ministry of magic interfered. We’ve seen in the movies and books that the ministry of magic has a surprising huge amount of control to restricting the newspaper to appointing teachers at Hogwarts. I also read somewhere that possibly the ministry of magic was involved in Jacob’s expulsion so what if the ministry of magic restricted knowledge to the public about MC after they graduate. Of course why would the ministry of magic do that? I think they see MC as a bad influence or someone dangerous or if JC goes with the MC dies or disappears they wouldn’t want public outrage that another student died/disappeared on school premises. Sorry this ended up so long but just wanted to know your thoughts.

Welcome to the analysis rabbit hole of HPHM. It's only about three feet deep and yet once you jump in, you never stop falling. Does that make sense? No, but ask yourself, do half of the plot threads in this game make sense? Exactly, it's an endless paradox of fascinating frustration. The word of the day with this game is potential. I've seen it described as mediocre but I wouldn't use that word at all. It's far beyond mediocre. It just remains under the cut of what it probably could be, and that drives me a bit bonkers. I am glad if I could bring you into the fold of overthinking the story of Hogwarts Mystery. Once you begin, you can never quit. The characters are just too compelling.

I've talked about this with past anons, why I'm not surprised that Harry never heard about MC. Though you raise a good point that even if he never heard about MC, wouldn't it stand to reason that he'd probably hear about the whole Cursed Vault fiasco, even just in passing? Even in one of those throwaway lines that later became important? Something Fudge or Binns might have mentioned. I mean again, R has infiltrated the Ministry and they were investigating Hogwarts to explore hidden locations in the school. Remember when Harry was perusing a brochure for Curse-Breaking in OOTP but then shrugged it off because Arithmancy was a prerequisite? (Which, come to think of it, makes it distinctly weird that Arithmancy was never an available class in HPHM...) That would have been a fine moment to drop a casual reference to some past struggle about a Cabal and a young Curse-Breaker. The obvious reason is of course, that HPHM wasn't written yet, but in-universe, the question still stands.

Dude, I love your idea that the Ministry covered all of this up. It would make perfect sense, and it would tie in with everything. I find it pretty damn significant that the Ministry went through a transition of power at the bridging point between the books and HPHM. Though apparently Fudge is already Minister by now, but still. I can only imagine how much he would fear the scandal if it came out that R had members within the Ministry, particularly if the Rotfang Theory winds up being true (and I'm almost certain that it will be at this point.) Jacob and MC would absolutely be seen as a dangerous influence. Fudge wouldn't want them around, to stay in the public eye. Sure, he can't really stop MC from becoming famous but he would want to avoid it at all costs and expunge any reference to their childhood adventures, same goes for Jacob. You know...Moody is no longer an Auror by GOF. He's apparently retired, but the Ministry doesn't like him and the rumors are that he's paranoid and crazy. What if he wasn't? Or at least, what if the Ministry intentionally discredited him and demanded his resignation when he refused to keep silent about R?

[bxllafanficc]

¡Skate/sing your hearts out! (Yuri Plisetsky x reader)

(part four)

Part one. Part two. Part three. Part five. Masterlist

Summary:After last year's cancellation of Figure Skating Grand Prix, Yuri Plisetsky finds himself unable to bring out his inner skater after a year of doing nothing but enjoy life like a regular teenager. That's when you enter the picture; We Are Voice Grand Awards's currently hottest competitive vocalist come first place two years in a row. Just like the other competitors of Grand Prix, it turns out that Victor and Yuuri faces the same issue. With an arrangement between Victor and Yakov, they agree to travel to Japan and hire you as a mutual coach for Yuri and Yuuri to help bring back the emotion into their performances like before, maybe even more intense than ever. Yuri however, who's never experienced issues with his coaches before, for some reason finds this one particularly difficult to coexist along with in their (reasonably) odd partnership. Warnings: none

*Your POV*

Your eyes scanned through the fully stocked room that came to be yours a couple of days ago. Fairly large and a great window where the sun came to welcome you each morning. Not even the blinds could stop it. Now it was fairly dark inside since the sun was about to go down. You reached for the light switch and scanned through all your products and belongings for things that you could possibly move somewhere else.

The grunt of the Russian skater behind you caused you to turn around. As you did, he stopped and returned your stare, as if waiting for you to announce something. There was a lot that you needed to clean up. If you had known that you'd be expecting a roommate, you'd already have done so. Guess Victor forgot to mention that too, eh?

The visible twitch in the corner of your left eye was impossible to force back. Just at the mere thought of unintentional (?) screwups of the one and only Victor Nikiforov. Now, just because he was your childhood friend, it didn't mean that he wouldn't receive a massive ass-whooping if he as much as repeated the same mistake three times the same day now the few remaining hours of the day. If only you could get that message through.

And, you kind of did. Just not to the man you intended. Yuri at the receiving end of your stare was just about to open his mouth to say something, what you assume, sour when he noticed the twitching of your eye. Surprisingly, it shut him up before he started. He kind of shielded himself behind one of his bags and eyed you carefully.

Shit, wrong Russian dude.

"Sorry, that was meant for Victor." You let out a sigh and helped him with one of his bags out in the hall. You got a simple nod from the boy just before you passed him in the doorway.

He's been acting all quiet and confused ever since you tended to his wounds. Was something you said unclear? Maybe you should make sure the two of you were on the same page. 'Later...' you thought.

Yuuri and Victor hurried to the entrance of your room with a couple of more bags.

"So what do you think about it, Yuri? Pretty special eh?" It was Yuuri who spoke up, probably just as an act of friendliness. Though, you could understand how a punk like Yuri might take it as teasing.

"I'm not staying here. There's- there is no way I'm sharing a room with another person. I should have my own room. Why can't Victor and (Y/n) share a room and I get my own?!"

Ah, there he is. You were starting to get worried that he might actually turn nice. Then you'd have to call an ambulance just to ease Yakov's mind if he ever found out.

"With that thief? Nuh-uh. He already owes me an entire bottle of lotion, a mascara and a lipgloss. And for some reason, my throwaway razors are gone too. I'm not endangering any more of my stuff to him!" You shot a glare at Victor but he intentionally pretended not to hear nor see you. Seriously?

"Just lock them up or something, I don't care. Maybe I should just sleep on the couch. Give me one reason why it's worth sharing this room with you."

You didn't really know why you felt so opposed to the thought of him sleeping on the couch. You should be relived that you wouldn't have to share room with The Russian punk. But you still mumbled the one sentence after taking a brief moment to carefully word out your reason.

"What did you say?"

"... I have a cat."

The silence following almost made you feel like the scene of these weird soap operas that streamed on tv once in a while. But you did have a cat. A beautiful sacred Birman with the eyes of an ocean. And you knew about Yuri's fascination with them. Victor mentioned it somewhere along the lines when discussing his arrival days ago. And if you had to give him one reason, then that would be the one. It's probably the only reason too.

"Where." It wasn't a question. It almost made you giggle but you kept a straight face. Victor who knew the reason behind your words, almost cracked under the pressure.

"He's probable sleeping under the blanket on my bed, as always-"

Yuri pushed Victor aside with a stern 'move' and headed for your bed. A little anxious, you followed him through the entrance, afraid that he would be like one of those crazy catpeople who never stopped bothering their cat. You worried because you were one of those people. But because your cat was rather clingy too and you always had a bunch of stuff to do daytime, it kind of evened out the contrast. Two crazy people were too much, you figured.

"Well, we'll go off now and let you two bond now. Don't forget that we're having afternoon tea in an hour!" And with that, Victor and Yuuri was out of the picture. For awhile.

A round uneven pile under you blanket made Yuri stop at the end of the bed. You stood beside him as he lifted the blanket, revealing the fuzzy ball that was your cat. Round eyes stared up at the both at you and the cat stretched it's back, making a 'u' position.

"His name is Magnolia. You'll have to apologize to him for interrupting his sleepy time though." You half expected Yuri to scoff at your statement, thinking you were taking the animal too seriously. But the baby voice he used to communicate with Magnolia next almost had you taking a step back.

"Hi, Magnolia... 'm sorry, pretty boy. You'll have to forgive me, I'm afraid." He kept on talking to the sleepy cat as he extended a hand for him to smell. Magnolia yawned and gave the hand a sniff before sitting up, eyes intensely staring into the boy's soul. You could tell by the hesitation of Yuri's petting hand that he really wanted the cat's approval. He cat kept staring him straight in the eyes which usually means bad. Though, the purring heard from his belly said the opposite. You finally relaxed a little. Magnolia is very picky with who gets to touch him and you were expecting a bite, honestly.

"He's always been so stare-y... I've figured that he only stare at people he like or something he finds very interesting." You crouched down beside Yuri and rested with your arms at the bedside.

"Like owner, like cat, I guess then. I feel like he has the exact same piercing gaze you gave me earlier." Yuri grinned smugly at you and turned back his attention to the ball of fur who stood up, stroking its back to your chin. A little heat rose to your cheeks and you hoped Magnolia covered it up well enough with his body. It was kind of true. And you couldn't really deny it. You always did watch things a little to intense. But just because you found people very interesting, always seeking to improve your understanding and emotional range at any given time. So you shrugged your shoulders and coughed a little when the cat made sure to get his butt all up in your face too. This habit, you had noticed, was a trait almost every cat held within them.

"You're going to object or what?" Yuri caught your attention again and Magnolia moved away from your face just in time. So he was expecting some kind of denial.

"You're not wrong... You've just got the wrong idea of it."

"What do you mean?"

"You should probably start getting yourself settled here. We only have one hour."

"You didn't answer me." Yuri's remark left unanswered as well as you stood up and threw a bag at him. A light 'oof' slipped through him as the heavy thing hit him right in the stomach.

"Hey!"

You grinned and opened another bag, pouring the internal onto the floor. Tons of clothes splattered on the floor. Everything in-between black training clothes to underwear and a pajamas with cat prints. A keychain with a chibi cat and a stuffed animal of a tiger fell out on the floor lastly on top of the pile. Yuri quickly made his way to the clothes and gathered them in his arms, trying to hide them away. It was worth taking an extra look at the blush staining his cheeks. You wondered if you'd just met a fellow catmerch fan as instense as you. No, this was far crazier than you! Especially as you recognized the keychain being a print of his own cat that you'd seen on a social media Yuri Plisetsky fanpage once.

"Y-you can't touch my stuff! Nor see it!" His voice was a good blend of anger and a thick stain of embarrassment.

Maybe it wasn't ideal poring someone else's belongings onto the floor. But you knew that look that Yuri bearded only moments ago. The cat had taken him as his loyal servant and Yuri wasn't intending to move until he had satisfied Magnolia's every need. If you let that happen, it would take the entire hour you had to clean up the room. And you clearly didn't have that time.

"Just hurry up and help me then if I'm not allowed to touch it!"

"Fine! And move your stupid clothes and stuff over to your half of the room!"

(A/N: Shoutout to my cat who gave me the entire butt-in-face idea through experience. I really owe you one, you little jerk<3 Also, what have you thought of the story so far? I bet you Victor has planned a familiar exercise for tomorrow's day of training. Just a little helping hand to get Yuri back into shape, y'know;))

[nessacousland]

omg i read the dedicated ariane/finn entry on your blog and now i can't stop thinking about them in a modern au, where ariane is literally the badass biker gf that he meets while he's attending boarding school dhaskjdhasdahj

Haha, oh, that was mostly a throwaway line to describe the vibe I got from that moment when I read it in World of Thedas II, but lol, now that you mention it, I low-key love it? xD

I really don't know how the Dragon Age setting would even begin to translate to a modern AU type thing (like, I wouldn’t want everyone to just be human suddenly) and I don't know anything about bikers nor boarding schools (college could also work, right?? considering the Circle mage thing, I guess in the equivalent he’d have been in boarding schools his entire life before that though...), but this is definitely gonna live in my head rent free now. So cute! It would certainly give the whole thing about trading his clothes for 'something leather' an entirely new meaning, too, omg.

Poor Florence and Kingston, though, it'd be like:

Finn, bright-eyed, at the start of his semester: I'm gonna learn old languages and history and disinfect every communal surface I ever have to touch :D

Florence and Kingston: :))))))

Finn, coming back during the holidays with Ariane: Yeah, so anyway, I've decided to take a gap year and just bagpack across Thedas, because this institution is such a drag. Also, I've quit the church, cause fuck that noise in particular.

Florence and Kingston: !!!!!

Ariane, holding a jar of plain, common pickles she got from the kitchen, probably breaking a bottle of champagne and snubbing like ten different kinds of caviar in the process: This. I like this. I like this very much. By the way, is it a problem that I parked my bike right on your front lawn? The neighbors were kinda weird about it.

Florence and Kingston, stress-clutching their pearls: (ʘ‿ʘ✿) This is fine.

Sorry, I don't even know, haha.xD Thank you so much for talking to me about these two, I'm so obsessed!