#that’s stupid! you should want your diverse romances to be DIVERSE!!!!

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

community that has only seen themselves represented in a small handful of romance stories that aren’t explicitly about their real-world oppression, watching a new show or movie where they are represented in a romantic story that isn’t explicitly about their real-world oppression: getting a lot of “that other show with a queer romance that isn’t explicitly about real-world homophobia” vibes from this

[redcoralpot]

hiii! not sure if your requests are open, if so then can you do a TWD Daryl x Walker male reader?

Like Reader followed Daryl & the group & always pops out time to time & Daryl goes to hunt but sees him just watching the walkers eating someone & Daryl sees him making an expiration of descust shocking Dayrl cuz Reader is a walker? Have a great day & take care off uself ^^

Dead Man Walking - Daryl Dixon X Male (Walker) Reader

I had a lot in mind for this request, so I decided to break it into multiple parts/chapters!! <33 If this series gets popular enough, I will post an extended version on AO3. If you have any questions on how the reader’s infection works, don’t be afraid to ask politely! Xoxo

The romance with Daryl will most likely start next chapter! 🫠

Warnings: Blood, violence, implied cheating (Shane + Lori)

Word Count: 1.8K

Your life from before the outbreak didn’t matter anymore, though it wasn’t like you remembered very much of it. Humanity’s civilization had crumbled within a few mere hours, and you had seen the worst of it. 

     At first, you wandered the streets of the city with plenty of others in your same predicament. That life was lonely, and your comrades never seemed to be good conversationalists. As bad as that was, you couldn’t find it in yourself to blame them. Your mouth felt uncomfortably dry after having no water and a hanging jaw for days. Days! You should be getting paid for this. 

    That all changed after a man disrupted this slow, daily routine, charging on a horse around the wrong corner. Was this how modern cowboys acted? Seriously, maybe the water deprivation was getting to you after all. 

     The mob went crazy at the sight, a sudden change from the prior leisurely pace, attacking the poor animal. You could do nothing, even as your stomach lurched, and you decided to focus your attention on the man instead. He was brave to a stupid extent, sliding under a tank as ravenous arms reached for him. The rush forced you forward too quickly as you stumbled over a bag, hitting the ground with a smack. 

     Everyone else was uncaring, focused solely on the target. You have never seen them from this perspective before, and here, you could see many more bite marks and unhealed injuries. And God, it stunk. You were surprised that anyone could get caught by these people, they could probably smell them before they could even see them! Especially the cowboy under the tank, there, for his age. Would he live, would he die? If you had a partner, you would bet on death. 

    Fate apparently had different plans for him, as he suddenly popped out of the tank, smacking a nearby infected hard enough to give him room to escape. Damn, you definitely didn’t want to get in his way. He struggled down the sidewalk, shooting to safety in a closed off alleyway. Part of you wanted to curiously follow him, but the smarter end told you to stay. 

       “C’mon!” A voice shouted from the alley, followed by gunshots. 

-

     Your name tag swung as you followed a group of survivors. The man and his savior had joined it after the drama on the street, and you were curious enough to see where they would head next. Apparently, that was a survivor camp, not too far away from the city’s borders. It was here that you learned the man’s name was Rick, and he had family there. It baffled you that he even thought of risking himself like that with a child as young as Carl. 

      His family seemed to think the same, running towards him and shouting in surprise. From your little spot yards away, you wondered if your family ever made it, and if they missed you just as much. 

       “Dad!” Carl shouted, and the man himself dropped to his knees to hug him. Was Rick crying?

        You felt a little guilty for staring at such a vulnerable moment, so you turned your eyes onto the other members. They were a plenty, diverse group, bigger than any camp you’ve witnessed before. There was one other kid among the survivors, a little girl, other than Carl. 

         This observation session was quickly shut down, interrupted by a gruff alert, “Walker!”

         A what? You? 

        Whipping your head towards the noise, you came to face a crossbow pointed at your face. Ah. 

        “I got it.”

        Your slow, dead reflexes tried their best as you dived behind a tree, but they weren’t fast enough. An arrow pierced through your shoulder, knocking you off course, and into a bush. Using this as cover, you scampered back farther from the camp, praying that this day wouldn’t be your last. 

        “Daryl! Just leave it.”

        “I ain’t never seen one smart enough to dodge before.”

         “Exactly, don’t waste your ammo.”

         “Pff, would’a gotten my arrows back anyway.”

        The shock from the shot dulled as your head produced a light feeling, making you abandon any thoughts of getting up. You sat there, frozen, as the voices faded away. Well, one of them had been paying attention after all. 

         You gripped the arrow, ripping it out in a smooth motion, biting down on your shirt. The taste of dirt filled your mouth, and while you’ve done this a number of times, you had never expected to perform it on yourself. Red trickled down your shirt, making the hole even more obvious. This Daryl was a great man, amazing even. If you couldn’t have a bath, or any human interaction, you at least deserved a shirt without stains or holes in it. You didn’t have any spares!

         Should you still follow this group? They’re bound to move soon, mobs will start moving out of the city and out among the borders. It was suicide if you did, but you found you didn’t care all that much. The world had ended, you had no family, and nothing to live for. A little fun before you died wouldn’t hurt anyone, you decided. 

         Your body felt heavy as you pulled yourself into a tree, pressing yourself against the bark and peering through the leaves at the camp. Here, it should be safer. Their threats were all on the ground, only hunting will bring them to look in the trees. 

         The same gruff voice reached your ears, “And you just left him?”

        “We had to, we had no choice.”

       “Yeah, well, I’m goin’ back to find him.”

       A pause, “I’ll go with you, we can form a rescue group.”

        “Fine.”

        “I’d like to get my bag back, too; it has supplies.”

         Through your cover, you could see Rick choosing different survivors to come with, and you couldn’t help but feel relieved that one of the sharpest was among them. Now that he and his crossbow are gone, albeit temporarily, you feel a weight come off of your shoulders. 

        Before you could dwindle in that bliss for long, a second group split off, significantly smaller than the other. Just two people, a man and a woman, one you recognized to be the mother of Carl. You shifted, trying to get a better view. 

        “We can’t do this anymore, Shane,” the woman started, “He’s back now.”

       “Rick doesn’t have to know.”

       “He’s your best friend, and don’t forget the only reason I did this was because everyone thought he was dead!”

      These people were lucky you couldn’t talk.

      “Lori—”

      “No, we’re ending this.”

      Shit. As the woman briskly walked back to the main camp, you could still see Shane hadn’t moved. He grumbled incoherent, resentful sentences, and you felt like a rat. You wanted to scream at Rick about what you just witnessed, snitching the very details of the things his wife and best friend had been doing. 

       None of the survivors seemed keen on hearing you out, though, so their secret was safe, for now.

-

      You woke up with a start, hissing as you accidentally banged your head on the wood behind you. Sitting up, you heard feet shuffling below you. Not just a pair, however, it must’ve been at least ten. Was it happening already? The rescue group must have led them back to the camp and knew they were coming, surely. 

        Yelling rang through the camp, snarling and the snapping of teeth almost overpowering it. You could see the fire, shadows of the survivors dancing around it, the moves quick and fearful. An arrow flew, gunshots rang, and you could smell blood. Daryl was back, with the rescue team following close behind. 

         “What happened here?”

        “Walkers, a whole mob of ‘em,” stated a rather stoutly, panting old man. 

         Rick asked another question, “Is everything alright, was anyone hurt?”

        …

        “A few, uh, Amy and Ed, Carol’s husband.”

       You weren’t familiar with this Amy, but you weren’t fond of Ed. You had caught him trying to hit his wife, a sweet woman, while she was doing the laundry earlier. Really, he deserved this fate, but it must be concerning for Carol. It couldn’t be easy to raise a child alone in this environment. 

       A silence fell over the group, a moment of mourning for their first losses. You closed your eyes, not wanting to see the fate of the two victims. You knew what would happen, knew it well, as the final shots of the night sounded. 

        “He was bit,” Daryl growled, and with a click, a gun was pointed at him. 

       “We don’t kill the living.”

       “But you can point a gun at me?”

       “You woulda killed him if I didn’t.”

       “What’re we gonna do with him, then? Let ‘em turn?”

       “We have to leave.”

      “There’s nowhere to go, walkers are everywhere!”

     “I know a place, it’s a facility in Druid Hills. If anywhere has a cure, it’d be in there.”

     Shane made a face, “Are we sure ‘bout this?”

    “It’d be protected, a safe place to stay; we can leave in the morning.”

     His tone made it sound final, and his best friend looked unconvinced. Daryl gave the bitten man a final, bitter eye, stomping off to brood alone. As much as the two of you were different, you had to agree with him. The man would only suffer and die in a more brutal way, after all. Alas, the only thing you could do was watch. 

      You watched as the remaining survivors settled into sleep, you watched as Shane grew more agitated, you watched as they packed their things when the sun rose, and you watched them drive away. 

       A few decided to hang back, to go their own way. Silently, you wished them well with the others, and then you watched them leave too. This is where you deemed it safe, sliding down from the tree to slip back onto the ground. With a stick you snapped off, you started your journey to Druid Hills, the bite mark on your left leg aching.  

      And who knows? Maybe they could fix this pesky infection. 

     The signs were still in good shape, and what a blessing they were. You hobbled on, for two days and nights, not catching up to the people of your interest. Halfway through, a familiar face caught your eye, sitting propped under a tree. He gnashed his teeth, eyeing you, clearly not able to get up to reach you. Sighing, you shook your head as you realized what they did. 

      You raised your stick, finally looking down at him with pity, and drove it through his eye. Blood and body residue dropped off the end as you ripped it back out of the unmoving Jim, and you leaned heavily on it again. No matter how exhausted, you continued on your way, determined to be a normal man again. 

-

End of Chapter One.

[aleksanderscult]

I don't understand how Leigh Bardugo could write something as bad as King of Scars and a trilogy as average and problematic in its messages as Grisha ?!

Knowing that she also wrote Six of Crows which was very good for me, limits most people to only knowing that about the Grishaverse (even if, if you take it in the context of the original trilogy, that makes the fate of the Grisha and of the Darkling even worse)... The Language of Thorns with some really cool stories, the Demon in The Wood (which makes you wonder even more why the Darkling is supposed to be the fucking bad guy in the original trilogy and die at the end ?!). Not forgetting recently The Ninth House which has 2 very good volumes and the beginning of The Familiar.

I have a hard time understanding how she can produce good things and such bad things.

I hear that not everyone is perfect, but for me the gap is still huge.

And the most paradoxical thing is that while she seems to gradually improve her way of writing, at no time does she acknowledge having made questionable choices in the writing of Grisha ?

Just see her attempt at moralizing backpedaling with the King of Scars duology...

TW!: Genocide

I don't think she knows or even cares about how genocide and prejudice in real life are not how she portrays them. And they definitely don't vanish by magical means. Clearly she put them in her story as a dramatic effect but she handled it with such unrealism and carelessness that makes you wonder what was the point of putting such issues in her book in the first place. She places such importance to the romance part (Mal × Alina, Kaz × Inej, Nina × Matthias) that the problems of her world take a third place in her books.

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom weren't such flawed because the heroes there did some personal jobs and didn't have a humanitarian goal. Kaz, in particular, has made it clear that he doesn't give a fuck about the world, only about his pocket. So they were some pretty straightforward books and well-written enough that you cannot see the issues.

But in the trilogy we have this huge war going on while the protagonist wails about her love interest, kills her enemy at his weakest (so no flex of her powers against him) and other people vanish the Fold for her.

In the duology Bardugo wanted to get back to her own readers:

- "People dislike Zoya. Hmm... Let's make her Suli with a very sad background. Also let's make her the most important character among the heroes just for these haters to shut up. Because if they don't, they'll be racists and misogynists"

- "People love the Darkling. Hmm.... Let's remind those readers of mine what he has done by having Zoya conjure up every delulu thought about him. Also let's have Mal, Alina, Zoya, Nikolai and freaking Misha make him shut up and look stupid"

- "Ah shit they love Aleksander too much. Ok how about this. I'm gonna make the Starless Cult out of them to prove how blind they look"

- "People didn't like the R&R ending. Hmm.... Let's bring Alina back and have her say how happy and peaceful she feels with her current state"

- "People hate Mal. Hmm... Let's have him be likable and funny while thwarting Aleksander's comments like a pro. It's not like he isn't a hot-tempered guy or smth"

(and about bringing the Darkling back, this was lazy writing. Instead of making the heroes face new foes from the north and south, she recycled villains)

By the way, when the TV adaptation of S&B came out she said that she wanted to fix the diversity. Can you imagine that? Not book!Alina as a character, not the trilogy's ending (not protesting on that cruel scene on the show where the Crows gleefully kill the Grisha that stood with the Darkling) but the diversity. Season two's ending was the showrunner's idea as well as Mal's change of personality, not Bardugo's.

Anyway, she should stay on writing short stories. I really love the Language of Thorns and Demon in the Wood so why ruin your fictional world further?

[blackgumball]

okay weird pull but you know how people say that taylor swift is so popular because her work is so bland. she’s uninterested in making any sort of statement or breaking any sort of mould, so her work is so palatable and widely relatable that it becomes so popular among so many people? (real quick psa im a tswift hater so i dont listen to her music, this is a recycled opinion from a more educated hater than me)

i am beginning to feel a similar way about bridgerton. its premise relies on the idea of a diverse regency england, but it becomes clearer and clearer to me every day that the show is meant for white people. all the bridgertons are white, so every love story will either be swirl or just a white relationship (shoutout to polin ig). not saying that poc dont enjoy the show (we obviously do) but there’s this vocal white audience that keeps harassing actors of colour whenever a decision is made that they dont like. or that strays from the books (which is soooo insane literally the moment they cast rege jean page your dumb cracker asses shouldve realised that the show wasnt gonna care about being book accurate ESPECIALLY since julia quinn basically said out loud that every character in her books would be racist.)

and the show Clearly isn’t interested in pushing any boundaries. look at fucking cressida cowper. given, i have no idea whether her character is going to return to the show, but the way they handled her was so muddled and fucked up that i wondered why they even bothered? they bring her in, humanise her, and then cart her off with this terrible fate. why? if anything, it made eloise and colin far less likeable (eloise, because it seemed like she didnt care about the fate of the only person who treated her with respect after she was “ruined”, and colin, because it made him seem shortsighted, naïve, self centred, and pitifully stupid). i complain because i think eloise is right. the women in this period were stifled. they were not able to study as extensively as their brothers, not able to travel by themselves, kept from sex education into their adulthood, and married off to random men (sometimes against their will, as it was for danbury, charlotte, almost cressida, and arguably daphne). you set such a sexual show in a deeply unsexy time. there’s romance in cressida escaping, being cunning and able to run. it also would’ve made the show more DRAMATIC. it straight up doesnt make sense for cressida to learn whistledown’s identity and not go immediately to the queen. why not have her escape, and let the bridgertons deal with the consequences? i don’t know. they seemed to take the stupid way out.

and then there’s the lower classes, who we rarely see outside of the women bridgerton men fuck with no/low commitment, paperboys, and printers. i’ve said before how i think it’s hideous that the lives of these women aren’t explored outside of their role as sex objects. season one at least explored the tension between anthony and sienna, who he loved but couldn’t commit to (im very glad she got out of there. im glad she respected herself enough to cut ties w him). also in season one, we see how the servants of the bridgerton house played a role in saving daphne from marrying that gross dude, but it feels like that role has vanished from subsequent seasons. maybe they know that seeing how none of the lords and ladies and other rich pricks of mayfair can’t fend for themselves is a turn off for the modern person (remember when anthony and daphne couldn’t use a stove in s1? i got the ick bad). but by ignoring this massive demographic, the show proves its disinterest in exploring the pitfalls and prejudices of the society it is set in.

its a show where women who want to escape their circumstances are villainised for their attempts and where the lives of the poor are either ignored or used to threaten the privileged. you occasionally have a sienna or a theo, but through knowing them, we are never left with the sense that society should change. they may try that next season. i know benedict is supposed to fall in love with A Poor.

i want the show to be good. i want the show to be interesting. i want all the fans who think that it can’t be good unless it’s explicitly relatable to straight white women to get over themselves (or at least go back to tswift and tsitp). i want to watch the show and not feel as though all the female characters are trapped. i want to LIKE ELOISE. some things i dislike about the show are impossible to change, but i guess i just have to hope it can be better. actually start pushing against the constraints of the genre, why not? you’re already one of the most popular shows on TV, you can risk making good television.

[edennill]

RoP S2E3 reactions:

It's technically not their fault but Berek means "tag (the game)" in Polish which is a bit funny...

DON'T GO IN THERE! Why are you going in there? I thought horses were supposed to be easily-scared

Ah, it's Isildur. Glad they didn't drag out this pointless mystery any longer.

I'm not even scared of (normal-sized) spiders, but Eeesh

It irks me that it's not my slightly creepy interpretation of Númenórean burial customs, but I'm semi-interested in the funeral proceedings. They cut them too short though.

Unfortunately the stupid blindness plot development is now back. If they wanted diversity points they should have made her disabled since childhood, and it would actually be interesting rather than melodramatic.

I keep wanting to remind these people Pharazon is the same age as Muriel (I mean I guess it might be weird Númenórean aging, but I feel it's misrepresenting things and I don't like it because their messed-up relationship fascinates me)

Huh, I wonder whether he'll trick her with the colours.

Númenóreans cannot choose a king at will!

They brought up stone giants; I hope they won't again. I know they're mentioned in the Hobbit (Bilbo's elaboration imo) but uhh, the movies made a poor use of them and I doubt this would make a better one.

Celebrimor's Celpatine's actor is a really kindly-looking aging man! He just doesn't fit the character at all. Wish they'd found a better place for him.

He actually reminds me of Bilbo...

Why did they have to destroy elven politics to such an extent? The real Gil-Galad doesn't rule Eregion.

Huh, I wonder if that's gonna be Isildur's love interest...

Estrid really doesn't feel like a name for a Southlander

riding horseback together, alone in the forest... 😘😘😘

So Bronwyn's dead. In between seasons. What was that plot thread even for.

Maybe they realised the issues with a mortal-immortal romance, but this does not solve them. And I bet Arondir will mention her at most once or twice more and everyone will forget about her.

Beleriand was a continent, not a realm 🤦‍♀️

Why is Theo so vehement towards Arondir all of a sudden. I mean, I guess it's not unrealistic for a teenager who just suffered great loss, but it comes from nowhere thematically.

Huh. Estrid's mark is a new development, but I still think they'll end up together. (No, I don't ship them. I have my own OC for Isildur's wife. But I know enough about tropes to suspect things.)

✨Pretty dress✨ Almost Byzantine-inspired, I think.

Miriel's speech might feel more moving if the whole battle it's about wasn't so dumb. Although I kind of doubt it.

✨Eärien's dress✨

What is it with the Palantir business🤦‍♀️

Númenoreans are hardly less "magical" than elves for that matter. They wouldn't be afraid of palantri!

Eagles aren't dumb beasts of omen you can co-opt to your purposes.

Lil Bro: And the people who chose Pharazon did not care for symbols of the Valar. Preach.

Tl;dr: A MESS

[ceedaryaps]

Bridgerton Season 3 Spoilers!!!!!!!

So I finally had a day off and could wacth season 3 of Bridgerton and oh.my.god. AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.So three things before I get into the meat of it. First of all, I sincerely hope that Violet and Lady Danburys brother get a chance to connect more MAMA VIOLET DESERVES LOVE TOO! Seecond the fact that Anthony cannottt keep his hands off Kate is so hilarious to me like get awf that lady and let her breathe. And third Francesa being a subtle autism rep is so amazing to me, as an autizzy person myself seeing someone with the same mannerisms as me within a romance setting is so refreshing like it truly puts joy in my heart. And also the sign language in the first episode???? love itttttt, they truly perfected diversity without shoehorning it.

Now to the meattttttt of it.

Now friends to lovers has never personally been my thing and in terms of each bridgerton show im gonna rank this leason my second least favorite but thats NOT to say I dont like it I very much enjoyed this season but i do have my critiques.

1

While I get a giggle out of Pen's sisters I cannot stand her family as a whole, for the simple fact that they treat her as if no one would EVER want her just because she plus sized and has "odd interest" in their words, it infuriated me how her mother wanted Pen to say yes not because she was happy for her but because she truly thought this would be Pen's only chance. Despite my disliking her family it was a good plot point for her to finally decide to make a change and put herself out there. I feel like in her previous two seaons for her she didnt put herself out there because, as weve seen, she has a huge lack of confidence that it was more than likely the work of her mothers and her sisters doing. I also loveeee the wardrobe change from bright gaudy colors and patterns to more Bridgerton esqe colors in her wardrobe. The wardrobe in Bridgerton has always amazed me but putting Pen in that light blue was amazinggg she was gorgeous and glowing. Even her sisters were eating this season like props to wardrobe and makeup bc they ate. Im so worried to see whats going to happen when Collin eventually finds out shes lady whistle down like omgggg.

2

I don't hate Eloise and Cressida NOW HEAR ME OUT OKAY. Cressida is still not a good person at all but I'm so glad we got to see more of her character bc it definitely shed light into why she acts that way. It would be completely ignorant to sit there and believe that the pressures of the ton to be perfect and find husbands quickly and avoid scandal WOULDNT make the girls get a little nasty with each other. The pressure from her parents specifically made me go "Oh girl I think id get nasty too if those were my folks." In no way does it excuse her treatment of Pen tho!! I also liked that it was Cressida who clocked Eloise's tea about her pointing fingers immediately at her when Pen got exsposed. Not to mention when the girlies came to Cressida for tea SISTA DID NOT FOLD!!!! She politely said naur and kept it pushing. Like I understand Cressida was neverrr the nicest and was a gossip but if Eloise decided to hang around her then she shoulda had faith in the girl. Like Eloise I love you but doooo betterrrr. Don't get me wrong at all yall Eloise is my fav but I'm glad people are clocking her for her shittt. I hope Cressida and Elosie stay friends but they constantly build off of each other to be better bc I loved how Eloise made her dislike of Cressida's treatment towards Pen known.

2.5

This is so unrelated but i love bennedict BAD hes sooooo idk yall I need him.

3

COLLIN BRIDGERTON IM HERE TO CLOCK YOUR TEA.

Imma be real I might be bitter bc I feel like Pen shoulda made that man grovel. After what he said about her to his friends in the previous season he should have been on his hands and knees BEGGING for her forgiveness she let him off too easy. Also I don't really appreciate that it took another man giving Pen attention for his stupid ass to finally be like "Oh shed kinda bad actually." I ALSO don't like how when he described how he liked Pen as a friend it wasn't because of her actual qualities it was how she made HIM feel. "You're always here to listen to me and give me a new perspective!" Sir you could have just said she was very insightful, you enjoy her company SOMETHING other than a service she has done for you. That why Im glad he was suffering so bad every time he saw them together he was SICK to his stomach and I'm here for it.

All in all I cant wait to see how things go down next bc I think everyine is gonna reap what they sow Pen, Collin, Eloise EVERYONE. bc the sneak peak looked crazyyyyyy.

Anyways the next thing I should post will be the Finnal Gambit the last book in the trilogy of the hawthorn legacy series.

See yall later!

[manonamora-if]

May Check-In

Another week down! And it's also May :)

Chapter 4 of the Harcourt is finally out! All fresh from the presses, got out yesterday. Quite a bit of goodies in there!!

Progress about the project:

MelS has mapped out Chapter 5 (a.k.a the last update before the final release). Expect some more spooky stuff, and puzzles (guess that [REDACTED] will come in handy), and looooore!

In the next few months, MelS might get a bit more free time to continue drafting and writing the final chapters. So (crossing fingers) the next update might get here sooner rather than later.

I'm going to have to whip out my dungeon map again.............

Anyways, go play Chapter 4 :D

I mentioned last week than I was messing around with Adventuron for a French jam. It is still going well, but it wasn't ready for this week (I took longer to code TTATEH than I expected). It will have to be done by Friday, since it is the Jam's deadline.

It will be in French for the release, and in English within a week or two (the code won't need to change, just the text :P). The premise is a bit simple and stupid, but it's pretty nice to try out a different program. And for a parser one, it's pretty accessible for easy puzzles.

I had a title... but it doesn't work anymore. I should try to find a pun with eggs...

Aside from that, I haven't really been working on any other projects. I've mainly been playing the games of the SpringThing and reading their reviews (I'm eagerly waiting for mathbrush's review, but they won't be online until the event is done because he is the organiser).

Since the voting for the SpringThing ends next Friday, don't forget to case you vote before then. If you don't know who to vote for, dedicate a personalised ribbon to your game(s) of choice!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Anti-Romance Jam is starting very soon! If you want to celebrate a summer of anti-romance, come join us.... No need to be a game dev to participate, we accept all mediums :) Jinx dared me to submit a UI, I think I might...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@interact-if is looking for an Event Coordinator. If you would like to give back to the community and help us promote diversity in the IF scene, consider applying! (or share the call post!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another big jam coming is the Neo Twiny Jam, a short IF jam on itch, where the only rule is to not write more then 500 words! The original jam had over 200 entries... wouldn't it be super cool if we managed to get that many entries this time around?

Anyway, I'll be collecting entries over on @neo-twiny-jam. I'll either post the link to the entries or reblog the creator's Tumblr post about it. For posteriety.

Anyway, if you are interested or thing someone would be interested, share the post!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last bit, @if-confessions has gotten a lot more activity this past weeks. I got quite a bit of new asks coming in. Check the #confession time tag (I've queued some older confessions in between). A lot more author confessions than reader ones...

[tigermousse]

Soulset

⦁ genre: otome, amare, mystery, thriller, drama, comedy, romance, supernatural

SoulSet is one of my favorite visual novels. I've read it before, and for the first time it hit me emotionally so hard, I couldn't stop thinking of it - even three years later. I would like to erase my memories to unravel this breathtaking mystery again. But I can't do it, so I've just erased my in-game progress and gave this novel a re-read.

You awake in a strange gloomy mansion with five strangers and all your memories lost. The only episode from your past that you remember is that your dragon Isshin is dying and to prevent that a strange man (Feathor) casts a spell on you, binding a dragon's soul to yours.

Who are those people? Why are you in this mansion together? Everyone is claiming that they don't remember anything about them, like you. But what if someone is lying? Who can you trust, if anyone at all? Where do you even start? You need to act soon, because around the mansion is a strange barrier that you can't cross. Who made it and how can you get rid of it? But it seems that this isn't even your biggest problem for now…

It is a game that is meant to play several times (about 20 times, actually) to fully uncover the mystery. . Each route reveals just a part of truth, and I should say that reading the novel first time, I didn't get the whole picture until it was presented to me. There are "true endings" for each character, but also the ultimate "true end" which binds together all story lines. In some endings you will find love, in other - gruesome death, but nevertheless each time the game ends, you wake up in the same mansion. And you need to find out why.

I really love how the tension in the game is building in every route, and even after finishing most of them you are still curious what to expect next…There are some complications and small plot inconsistencies, but nothing changes the atmosphere and fact that this story is incredible. Also there is a huge grumpy CAT!

Marco: "Not counting myself, of course" Shira: "Yeah, yeah, You're so powerful, you can barely stand on your own two feet."

The game reminds me of brilliant "Zero Escape" series in several aspects, though I don't want to give major spoilers, but I adore the idea of tampering with fourth wall and the whole visual novel mechanics. Also it has some puzzles.

!This is an adult visual novel and has some sexual content and use of alcohol!

CHARACTERS:

MC Mariko

Even with her memories gone, Mariko' s personality is flamboyant. She is smart, sexy, funny and confident, has an aura of a leader. Also she doesn't remember her past, but Yvonne tells her that she sees that her aura is very dark. Who she was? What did she done? What she forgot and does it really needs to be remembered? Though she doesn't remember how old she is, she feels like a mature woman.

Also in the library there is a portrait of a young girl that looks like her - and it was painted half of a century ago. How could it happen? Mariko is openly showing her affection to the person she is pursuing. She likes to flirt and tease, and the sex for her is the normal part of life. But also she can be caring and attentive.

Mariko DOES some stupid mistakes in bad routes, but that means she's a human with flaws. I like every single thing about her, whatever she does or says is very amusing. I can see why the other characters like her and give her trust.

Likes: having a good time Dislikes: curses Talents: unknown (necromancy)

My rating: 5/5 [probably, my favorite MC]

Lord Mutik

We have a huge black grumpy cat in this game. Feed him sardines! He'll like it. Or will munch your hand instead. Anyway, the game with cat is always better than one without it.

My rating: 5/5

Love Interests (MILD SPOILERS AHEAD):

On the first glance, LIs in SoulSet are look like a strangely arranged diversion of characters, on second glance - nothing about them is as it seems. It is an amare game, and it does have romance and sex scenes (avoidable), but the main point is building trust between characters, and because of that some routes feel less romantic than others. There are poly-amorous options with some characters. The whole game is pretty much LGBTQ+ positive.

Apris's, Yvonne's and Shira's routes can be pursued from the start; other need clues found in other routes to reach true ending. Marco's and Feathor's true routes can be reached only after finishing all other routes.

Apris

Apris is a strong silent giant, who looks like he hasn't slept for several days, but he keeps telling that if he falls asleep, something bad is going to happen. He doesn't talk much and obviously doesn't like to be around people. It seems that talking to him only makes him uncomfortable, despite his calm attitude. But he has a cooking talent, and deep inside himself (har-har) can be really caring. He has some problems with demons, and you will probably learn about it early in game. His route is not very romantic, and his character feels a bit bland, despite his interesting past.

Likes: fresh air Dislikes: being around other people. demons Talents: cooking

My rating 4/5

Shira

Shira is the one who dresses prettily and doesn't trust people easily. She loves reading, and probably her favorites are mystery romance novels and thrillers (I love these too). That is why she tries the hardest to solve the mysteries of the mansion, and questioning everything that happens. She's expecting everyone to have secret motives (and sometimes she's right).

- Do you fantasize about such things often? - Define "such things"...

Despite seeming rude and straightforvard, inside Shira is shy and restricted. She has trust issues and a secret of her own.

Bringing the most comedy into the novel, Shira is also smart, passionate and caring, that makes her route the most romantic, it is cute to tease her, but it is also fun to pair her with Marco.

Likes: alcohol and mystery romance novels Dislikes: losing Talents: illusions

My rating 5/5

Yvonne

Yvonne is kind, soft-spoken, kind and polite girl, who likes to help other people - despite looking so provocative, she is really sweet. There is no false bottom in her, however her route holds a lot of clues and reveals a great deal of game plot. She remembers that she has a spice shop and that she is acquaint with healing magic. Basically, Yvonne is a typical otome MC, but without shyness and stupid actions. She gives people almost too much credit for her own survival. There is nothing not to love about her, she's really cute in every way.

Likes: helping other people Dislikes: violence Talents: healing

My rating 4,5/5

Shirr

Shirr: "I believe I'm not that good at dealing with people"

Shirr is the last person to be found in the beginning of the game and she is seriously wounded. Who did it and is it someone who is still in this mansion? It seems that she doesn't even remembers her name at first, so she can't tell who did it to her. She is self-conscious, quiet and restrained, but also has some unusual talents as lock picking. Is she speaking so little because of shyness or she is hiding something? Can she be trusted at all?

I have to say that for me my favorite part of Shirr's route was how all the other pairings turned out. [I would like a route like this, but with each other LI involved and Mariko staying single]

Likes: vegetables Dislikes: Marco Talents: lock picking

My rating 3,5/5

Marco

Marco looks like he is fourteen, and sometimes acts like the teenager, but he definitely knows too much about magic and the rules of this world despite the memory loss. Despite being the youngest, Marco is behaving pretty serious at times. Since the beginning he is the one who is telling others what to do, trying to help others to regain their memories and telling about how the barrier and illusions work.

Sometimes he's fooling around, flirting with girls, teasing and pushing the boundaries of others. But when Mariko pursuing him on his route he becomes doubtful, backpedaling all of a sudden. Still he is very protective of Mariko, seems that he cares about her. Who is Marco? (that is actually one of the main question in this game). Has Mariko met him before? Do they know each other? What did they forgot about their past?

For me his route was very emotional, I actually freaked out at one point, but luckily it turned out better than I expected. This storyline is still one of my favorite and it will probably stay this way among other dramatic routes in visual novels.

Likes: pretty girls Dislikes: hurting Mariko, being treated like a child Talents: alchemy, magic

My rating 5/5

Feathor

Despite Feathor being present in Mariko's memory, at first he's nowhere to be found in mansion. Yvonne can found him later and after finding 5 green clues his route becomes available.

Not giving too much spoilers, Feathor is a powerful mage, who knows Mariko for a long time. Once he saved her life, but that comes with a price. He's ruthless, cunning, deceptive, psychopathic, selfish man, who doesn't care about other people's life. He is using people for his own needs or just for fun, discarding them later. But with Mariko it was a bit different. The story of Mariko and Feathor is an illustration of co-dependency, and it is portrayed good enough.

Likes: messing with others heads Dislikes: someone hurting him Talents: magic

My rating: 2/5 as a LI - and 5/5 as a representation of someone to keep away from

Secret Apris route (demon)

Apris is possessed by a powerful female demon, which is dormant when Apris is awake and wakes when he sleeps. This demon can kill everyone in this mansion, but if you guess her name (after finishing Apris route and Shira's bad route), she can not hurt you, and MC can make an alliance with her. (And also have sex). If you play your cards right, you'll make it in one piece. Don't forget how deceptive can demons be.

Likes: toying with people, sex Dislikes: other demons, someone calling her name Talents: killing other creatures

My rating: 2,5/5

Overall:

Visual: 5/5

Story: 5/5

Characters: 4/5

Romance: 4/5

Originality: 5/5

My Rating: 5/5

You can get this visual novel from NoBreadStudio on Steam or on itch.io

[soath]

Stfu with your stupid post in the tag about ya-ification of Aemond X reader. If you don't like, don't read or even better write it yourself. It's just fanfic - people are writing what they want in their own way. If you really want diversity in plot why don't you phrase your suggestions in a way people will respond to rather than your elitist mumblings. I am so sick of people whining in the tags how the tag is dying or how it isn't and plots are being recycled or they aren't good enough. We had @heartys-world whining like you about enduring the same plots whilst they wrote the same plots as everyone else. Their hypocrisy is astounding so don't emulate them ☝️

I’m not into Aemond! Respectfully, he’s a pathetic little guy to me. I know some people who are big fans and I understand that but it’s simply not for me. However, I do like to search general tags sometimes (a bad habit) and I enjoy a good AO3 dive to look for niche stuff, and one picks up on trends. You can only scroll through so many similar stories and block so much before you start to form opinions.

And it is complicated, because on one hand wish fulfillment is wish fulfillment. More power to that. And no one should feel locked out of fandom or dissuaded, it’s there for them. Especially not if they’re young. On the other hand, fandom is a collaborative space. And developing more nuanced character creation skills, extending self-inserts beyond the one-dimensional, learning how to check your references and toughen your worldbuilding—all these are good life skills, good people skills. They demonstrate flexibility, empathy, a capacity to understand anachronism and recognize the humanity in people from another time and place than us.

In this case in particular, seeing a very complex book series that’s at its core is about human behavior, simplified down for romance plots (often excising the human complexity and unreliability and entangled relationships that shape it so that characters will fit the necessary romantic molds) kind of alarms me. It’s one thing if it’s on purpose (re:go get it, love how you love) and another if it’s an accident. There is a general lack of reading comprehension around here and I’d hate to see it furthered.

[yasminbenoit]

“A Romantic Partner Won’t Complete Me, Because I Was Born Complete”: How Identifying As Asexual & Aromantic Brought Me True Freedom & Happiness | Yasmin Benoit for British Vogue

There is a phase in our lives where everyone seems asexual and almost everyone seems aromantic. It wasn't until puberty kicked in that platonic relationships seemed to take a backseat. My peers stopped wanting to play together and started wanting to 'date' each other. That was when I started to realise that there was something different about me. I didn’t seem to be experiencing the same urges as those I was around. I chose to go to an all girls school in the hopes that – in the absence of boys – everyone would stop caring about sex and dating. It actually had the opposite effect. There was a sense of deprivation in the air and the heightened desire to project their sexuality onto anything and everything.  

Therefore, my lack of interest became even more obvious, and it became a not-so-fun game to work out the source of what should be troubling me, but hadn’t been until that point. Having a sexual orientation isn’t just natural, it’s essential. It’s part of being a fully-functional human being. And to be romantically love and be loved by another is the ultimate goal. It’s part of being normal, which made me both abnormal and puzzling. When your asexual, people think there’s something wrong with your body. When you’re aromantic, they think there’s something wrong with your soul. Even for a teenage girl who internalised all of Disney Channel’s “be yourself” messages, it’s never nice to have people publicly debate your supposed physical and psychological flaws.  

My nickname in school was “hollow and emotionless.” I was a joker with a decent amount of friends, but I was lacking something crucial, the kind of love that really mattered and the kind of lust that made life exciting...so I was practically Lord Voldemort with braids. I sat through the regular DIY sexuality tests, having my peers show me graphic sexual imagery, have very sexual conversations in my presence, and ask me inappropriately intimate questions to gauge how far gone I truly was. These tests lead to the development of theories, most centred around me having some kind of mental problem. After a while, you start to wonder if everyone knows something you don’t.

When they said that I must have been molested as a child and “broken” by the trauma, I wondered if I had somehow forgotten about sexual abuse that actually hadn’t happened. I looked at some of my own relatives with suspicion, the same people who would later ask me if I didn’t experience sexual attraction because I was a pedophile. It was suggested that I was “suffering” from my “issues” because I was socially anxious and insecure. The suggestion that my ‘issue’ was pathological stayed with me for a long time, but not as much as the widely accepted theory that I was mentally slow. Unfortunately, that one stuck. I was referred to as “stupid” and I started to believe that was the case. It would impact my experience in education for the next eight years, long after I realised that there was a word for what I was.

Asexual.

I first heard the word during one of the near-daily sexuality tests that I was subjected to. I was asked if I was gay, to which I said that I wasn’t interested in anybody like that – men or women. At fifteen, I was asked, “Maybe you’re asexual or something?” but it wasn’t quite a lightbulb moment. How could it be when I had never heard the word outside of biology class? After an evening of Google searching, I realised that there were many people with my exact same experience, complete strangers whose stories sounded so strangely similar to mine. I also stumbled across the word ‘aromantic,’ but at the time, I didn’t understand the need for it. "Wouldn't all asexual people be aromantic? A romantic relationship without sex is just friendship with rules,” I thought.

Either way, my discoveries showed me that I wasn’t alone, but that only half helpful. I now had an identity that no one had heard of or understood. Most didn’t believe that being asexual or aromantic was a real thing, and I doubted it to. I had been taught to after years of armchair pathologisation. If asexuality was real, why did no one tell you that being sexually attracted to nobody was an option? What if it was just an internet identity made up to comfort people with all of the issues that had been attributed to me? I didn’t have to go far down the rabbit hole to realise that asexuality, like many non-heteronormative identities, had been medicalised. What I had experienced as just the tip of the iceberg. As someone who hadn’t been prescribed drugs I didn’t need or subjected to unnecessary hormone tests, I was one of the lucky ones.

My activism would be my gateway to the community. Despite being the ugly friend at school, I ended up becoming a model while in university. I decided to use the platform I had gained through my career to raise awareness for asexuality and aromanticism. It gave me the opportunity to encounter a range of asexual and aromantic offline, it was then that I learned the significance of having an aromantic identity. There are many asexual people who still feel romantic attraction, as well as aromantic people who still feel sexual attraction. They have their own range of experiences, their own culture, their own flag, and like the asexual community, I was relieved to see that they are just normal people. These intersecting communities are not stereotypes. They weren’t just thirteen year old, pink haired kids making up identities on Tumblr to feel special. They were parents, lawyers, academics, husbands, girlfriends, artists, black, white, young, old, with differing feelings towards the many complex elements of sexuality and intimacy. Most importantly, they were happy.

I am proud to be part of both, and I know that while being asexual and aromantic, I am a complete person and I can live a perfectly fulfilling life. Since meeting members of my communities, I’ve become more open about my identities in real life, and a reaction I’m often met with is sympathy. “You must feel like you’re missing out,” “I can’t imagine being like that,” “It must be hard for your family,” “Do you worry no one will want you?” “How do you handle being so lonely?” “You’re so brave and strong,” “What will you do with your life now?” Even in 2021, a woman who isn’t romantically loved or sexually desired by their “special someone” is perceived as being afflicted with some kind of life-limiting condition.  

Asexuality doesn't make undesirable or unable to desire others. It is a unique experience of sexuality, not a deprivation from it. Even if it was, there is so much more to life than what turns us on and what we do about it. Romantic love is just one form of love, neither superior nor inferior to any other. Being aromantic doesn't mean that you can't love or be loved, it does not mean you are void of other emotions or capabilities. I am not lonely with my friends, family, co-workers and supporters. I feel confident not when someone wants to date me but when I meet my goals and form worthwhile connections with others. My success isn't determined by whether someone will want to marry me someday. What we want out of life is our decision alone, our sources of happiness should not be defined by our ever-changing, culturally relative social standards. The love of a romantic partner won't complete me because I was born complete. Feeling sexual attraction to others won't liberate me because my liberation is not dependent on other people.

Valentine's Day is on the horizon. It's an occasion that amps up the focus on (and the pressure to achieve) a very specific type of love and sexual expression, one that is actually alienating for people inside and outside of the asexual community. During a pandemic where many relationships have been strained, tested, formed or distanced, it's important to keep the diversity of romantic and sexual feelings in mind. Many expect me to feel annoyed or lonely during this time of year, but I actually feel empowered and excited by the way sex, romance and love are discussed more deeply around this time. These conversations are constantly expanding to become more inclusive for everyone, and that's what we need to see all year round.

https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/asexuality-and-aromanticism

[waywardstarlightsuit]

lmao yall the ones who started crying because the game allows you to CHOOSE a character's looks

no one's forcing you to choose a white guy, please, take your afroslav and get the fuck outta here, romance him, whatever

idgaf if I come off as a racist to you. why do you think your opinion is so important anyway. you can say whatever you want and cry all you want, but here are some facts: YSI did what they should have done from the start. they listened to the russian community

western community is, in fact, ruining the game. not because of diversity, fuck me, pocs have always been in the game. but the stories you guys read, your shitty taste, low quality novels you're used to thanks to such garbage games like Episode and others — this is a problem. YSI's literally making cheap, low quality, absurd novels because YOU guys read this shit; hiring talentless english speaking authors because they're trying to make the game more accessible for YOU. because you are fucking stupid.

they made a guy's skin color a choice. in a choice based game. what. a. tragedy. want a canonically black LI? go play Astrea. go play SiF, go play Arcanum, go play Requiem. dig a little fucking deeper and stop whining

raising awareness regarding this user

girl do u hear yourself rn youre acting like an irl depiction of a racist soyjack who thinks aryan blue eyes white people r the superior race. tone it down. its not a leftist mindset to call out racism. u wont even listen to poc and call them “americans” or “westernized”. u can still have non-european ancestry and still be a national frm a slavic speaking country. ur tearing down its diversity when ppl base being a slav through culture and traditions. u also contradicted yourself saying volot isnt indigenous when one quick google search tells u that african people are, woah, indigenous! 👻

ur saying the western part of the fandom is ruining the fanbase yet u mald at the sight of a black man. @waywardstarlightsuit get it together! if u follow them plz block me < 3

[fizzingwizard]

watching QI and Stephen Fry just said that PG Wodehouse was friends with Arthur Conan Doyle and based Jeeves and Wooster on the relationship between Holmes and Watson - one smart and one a “blitherer.”

And as I grind my teeth and feel happy to live in the era of reclaiming Watson from accusations of stupidity when compared to a man who can tell what part of London you’ve been in by the mud on your trousers, I turn to Google, which offers me the balm of “a thirty second sound bite from QI does not, in fact, tell the whole story” lol

(On the other hand, given that Fry was Jeeves, maybe he is more just having a laugh at Hugh Laurie? bahahaha)

under a cut for length

Here’s one with this fabulous description:

“Wodehouse’s most famous characters are undoubtedly Jeeves and Wooster — a twentieth century, self-absorbed Holmes and Watson, if they were divided by class and Watson’s bloodline had gone through a few more generations of in-breeding —”

buahahaha. Well, let’s consider that the inbreeding had more to do with the blithering than the Watson influence :)

But the rest of it is a very interesting article about Wodehouse as a German captive, and it’s pretty wow. And I went down a rabbit trail here feeling sympathetic for a guy who does come across as ignorant and bumbling, mainly because politics are boring:

“A news article was released at the same time, exacerbating the situation. Wodehouse stated, ‘I never was interested in politics. I'm quite unable to work up any kind of belligerent feeling. Just as I'm about to feel belligerent about some country I meet a decent sort of chap. We go out together and lose any fighting thoughts or feelings.”

I mean any day of the week I’d be on board with that quote. But not during war, not during times people are “meant” to be angry. And anger very much has its place. It really is a human dilemma: requiring everyone to be angry when there really and truly is something worth being angry about rejects the idea of people whose basic nature is peaceful. I guess you could say they were born in the wrong era, not that we get any sort of choice about it.

“The MI6 officer [in Paris] decided Wodehouse was merely ‘ill-fitted to live in an age of ideological conflict’”

that is so funny. and heart-breaking. not even about Wodehouse - about all the people in the world who are equally ill-fitted for the times, but still the times needs them...

When good people do nothing, we know what happens. But, on the other hand, among those good people is a whole lot of individual people, some of whom simply don’t want the inconvenience, and some of whom are really basically peaceful and developing a warlike mindset would destroy them. As always, humans don’t like humanity. We must fit into boxes - even the people who reject boxes do their best to fit everyone into different boxes. Because of pain - it’s hard to argue with pain.

Anyway back to Holmes and Watson, lol.

My favorite bits in this one begin with a Wodehouse quote:

“Usually we tend to discard the idols of our youth as we grow older, but I have not had this experience with A.C.D. I thought him swell then, and I think him swell now.“

Thanks for validating the idols of our youth for us old fogies who dare to continue to enjoy life past 25!

Oh this is great too:

“As a creator of comedy romances, Wodehouse’s detectives were permitted time off from the study of little known Asiatic poisons to relax at the Senior Bloodstain, and even to fall in love. A hardboiled crime writer could never permit such diversions, as we learn from Wodehouse’s fictional crime writer, James Rodman, in ‘Honeysuckle Cottage’.

‘He held rigid views on the art of the novel, and always maintained that an artist with a true reverence for his craft should not descend to goo-ey love stories, but should stick austerely to revolvers, cries in the night, missing papers, mysterious Chinamen, and dead bodies — with or without gash in throat.’”

take that, you hardboiled detectives you!!

So I found other comparisons of J&W and H&W as well, but nothing that went too deep. I think what I was hoping to find, and which may exist somewhere, is someone considering the role-flopping aspect: Watson is Holmes’s helper, but Holmes equivalent Jeeves is Wooster’s helper. That changes things a lot. If Jeeves were a woman, he might have been perceived by readers as a “nagging wife” sort, for instance. Whereas if Watson were a woman, his stupidity would be forgiven, but he’d definitely need a lot more rescuing from Dastardly Villains, - at least once per story and twice per novel ;)

I like thinking of J&W as Wodehouse going “I really need a Sherlock Holmes in my life to tell me what to do” and poof, Jeeves is born. I would say the same, except I hate to be told what to do :)

[keijislove]

Can i request #2 and 3 from the prompt list with Harry x Reader please but make it a happy ending? Thank you!!

A/N: Hi anon, omg this was so much fun to write!!! I love Harry and feel that there is not much Harry x reader content out there, so here you go! Hope you like it 😊

‘And then they lived happily ever after!’ Cho finished reading as the girls around her squealed in excitement.

You merely snorted.

‘Why do all of your books have sappy endings?’ you questioned Cho as she looked at you incredulously.

‘Well, its fun to read.’ Cho shrugged. ‘If you were in Ravenclaw, you could be reading diverse romances instead of those stupid muggle books you like so much. For example, what’s this you’re reading?’

She snatched your book and looked at the words you’d been reading.

‘Real love is rare but fake words and promises are everywhere.’ She read out before looking at you. ‘See, this is why you feel so lonely, Y/N. if you’re gonna be reading miserable books like that, then I can’t blame you for being droopy most of the time.’

‘It’s not miserable, Cho.’ You contradicted. ‘It’s a little something called reality.’

Cho snorted. ‘Whatever you say.’

‘Besides, I’m not always lonely.’ You continued. ‘I have Hermione and Ron... and Harry too.’

‘And Harry too!’ Cho mocked. ‘Blimey, Y/N I forgot to ask. How’s things between you two?’

At that you looked down. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Even though you weren’t looking at her, you could almost feel her roll her eyes.

‘You’re lovesick, darling.’ Cho explained. ‘You get this weird glow on your face when you talk about him and your eyes form hearts like in those muggle comics you read. Also, when he’s around, you blush like a tomato. Tell me how this is incorrect?’

You sighed. ‘None of your business, Cho Chang. So what if I like him? I’m probably the 100th girl who does. He has a pretty wide collection of choices, you know. Take Ginny for example. She’s everything I’m not. She’s pretty, popular, outgoing AND she is sweet. I’m a loner, too sarcastic to have too many friends, and it’s not like I can help it anyway. He’d never like me.’

‘Sweetie, what is there not to like in you?’ Cho asked worriedly.

It was one of the many reasons you liked her, she always paid attention to your moods and constantly asked if you were alright.

‘Y’know what Cho, let’s leave it.’ You muttered. ‘I promised Ron I’d help him with his essay anyway. He’s probably eating in the common room. Bye.’

You gave a nod and walked off, but you could feel Cho’s eyes watching you thoughtfully.

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

As you walked into the common room, a chorus of noises greeted you.

‘Fine, I’ll give you five galleons I can.’ Harry was saying.

‘Alright mate, whatever you say.’ Said Ron.

‘Five galleons you can do what?’ you questioned, walking up to them.

Harry immediately coughed nervously. ‘Ahem, Y/N! Hi! Ron here was betting I couldn’t, er, sneak down to the kitchens.’

‘If you know Fred and George, doesn’t seem impossible.’ You said in amusement.

‘Someone summon us?’ a voice called behind you as you turned to see Fred standing there.

‘Oh, yeah.’ You spoke. ‘Ron here thinks Harry can’t sneak down to the kitchens, so he put five galleons on that. I was just explaining how anybody who knew you two could probably sneak off to Mars unnoticed.’

‘We are honoured.’ George bowed to you. ‘But Ron, mate, weren’t you betting that Harry couldn’t ask o-’

‘NO, I WASN’T!’ Ron bellowed, causing you to miss what George said.

George’s expression immediately changed.

‘Harry couldn’t ask what?’ you asked.

‘The house elves to make him some food.’ Fred casually spoke.

You narrowly looked at him.

‘Boys.’ You finally muttered, going upstairs.

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

You were trying to wrench your bag out of the spot it had decided to get caught in, when a voice startled you.

‘Here, let me help.’

You turned around to see none other than the Chosen One himself.

‘Oh, thanks.’ You said nervously as Harry yanked the bag out of the door.

You grabbed it and turned to leave.

‘Er, Y/N?’ you heard Harry ask.

‘Yeah?’

‘I was wondering if, um, you’d... y-you’d like to go to Hogsmeade with me?’ Harry asked.

Your eyes grew wide. ‘Are you asking me out? Like on a date?’

‘Erm, yes.’ He said.

‘Oh.’ You managed to squeak. ‘Oh, Oh! Um, y-yeah, alright, s-sure!’

He flashed you one of his stupidly adorable grins. ‘Brilliant!

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

You and Harry had been dating for a few weeks now.

But something was terribly wrong.

Harry had started acting horribly distant, sometimes ignoring you or trying to walk past you in the corridors.

You were on your way to the common room. wondering whatever you could have done to upset him, when his voice caught you before you entered.

‘Ron, I can’t do this anymore.’ He spoke. ‘I know I agreed to your dare that I couldn’t ask Y/N out, but I can’t do this. I’ll give you your galleons, don’t worry.’

‘Well, alright mate.’ You heard Ron say. ‘But I thought you were happy-’

‘I’m not.’

That was enough for you to choke a sob and run off to the deserted Quidditch Pitch.

So that’s what it was.

A dare.

Harry didn’t want to be with you, heck he didn’t even enjoy it.

You kicked away stones in anger, remembering Cho’s voice.

Real love is rare but fake words and promises are everywhere.

That was exactly what the past few weeks were.

Fake love, fake words, fake smiles, fake promises.

It was all fake.

Your thoughts were cut short, as a pair of shoes came skipping by.

‘Oh.’ You heard a familiar voice.

No, go away, please. You thought. I hate you, don’t come near me.

‘Hey, love.’ Harry grinned.

You tried not to gag. ‘Why’re you calling me that?’

He frowned. ‘D-do you not l-like it?’

‘No.’ you coldly responded. ‘You’re here to break up, aren’t you?’

‘What how did you-’ Harry began.

'Is this what this whole relationship was to you? A bloody dare?’ you asked through your tears.

Harry’s eyes widened. ‘You heard...?’

‘Yes, I heard.’ You said. ‘Harry Potter, don’t you ever dare speak to me again.’

With that, you stalked off.

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

Even though you’d convinced yourself you’d never speak to him, you couldn’t help but worry about Harry.

The third task was near, and you were wondering if he’d make it.

He’s made it this far, hasn’t he? You thought. He’ll manage, stop thinking about him.

Sitting in the arena, waiting for him to emerge out of the maze, you couldn’t take it anymore.

‘Cho... if he’s back, just let me know.’ You informed the black-haired Ravenclaw, turning to leave.

Just as you turned, a cheer erupted as you whipped around to see Harry carrying something and lying face-front on the ground.

Everyone was cheering, but you squinted at what he was carrying, trying to make out what it was.

When you focused for long enough, your hands flew to your mouth as you let out a blood-curdling scream.

Cedric Diggory’s body.

And it wasn’t moving.

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

‘Is he... can I see him?’ you asked Madame Pomphrey.

‘Well, I’m sure he’s asleep, dear.’ She answered, frowning. ‘But in you go.’

You thanked her and went inside.

Harry was not sleeping, but he looked terrible.

‘Oh, Harry.’ You sighed, walking to him.

Still not looking at you, he spoke. ‘You still hate me.’

‘No, I-’ you began. ‘I... I don’t. I’m sorry if I made you feel like that.’

‘I should be the one apologising.’ He said quietly.

You sighed. ‘I’ll be late for Charms... see you soon, Harry.’

You bent down to place a kiss on his cheek.

At that moment, he turned his head abruptly, causing your lips to collide.

Gasping, you pulled back.

Entire body trembling with giddiness, you walked to your class.

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

After your little ‘encounter’, Harry went back to ignoring you.

You were sick of it, and one day, while he was returning from Hagrid’s cabin, you cornered him.

‘You can’t hide forever, you know.’ You spoke seriously, arms crossed over your chest.

He didn’t look at you.

Sighing, you stepped forward. ‘We need to talk.’

His head snapped up to meet your eyes.

‘There’s nothing to talk about. I kissed you and you pulled away. End of story.’ He casually said.

‘No, it’s not the end of story.’ You snapped. ‘How could you even, first you fake-date me and then this, I mean for Merlin’s sake Harry, a kiss is supposed to mean something and I-’

‘What makes you think it didn’t mean anything?’ he asked softly.

You gaped at him. ‘You said... you dated me because of a dare and then-’

‘Oh.’ He interrupted. ‘Oh. That’s why you were upset. Oh my god, Y/N, you totally misunderstood me. I... was talking to Ron because I felt that I wasn’t being fair to you... I like you, Y/N. I truly do, and I wanted to date you as well, but I was worried what you’d think when I’d explained it was a dare! And th-then I came to tell you all this, but you seemed so sad, I thought you hated me. Don’t ever think like that, Y/N. That kiss meant everything it was supposed to.’

You remained silent.

Harry blushed and awkwardly scratched his neck. ‘Uhm... and I-I’d like to try that again...’

Your eyes widened as you turned red.

Swallowing your nerves, you leaned forward as he mirrored your actions and met you halfway.

And this time, neither of you pulled back.

[uweiy]

I'm intrigued by Love is Science? but know nothing about it. Can you give me a run down on what kind of thing to expect and who it might appeal to? Thank you!! 😁

Ooooo boi *gremlin smile* I'm glad you asked. You've entered the dragon's den, broken the dam and thus this post turned out to be a monster so I'm gonna link here another post from @accidentallyadramablog which imo gives a nice (and short) overview.

That said let's get into

Love is Science?

Summary :

Yan Fei is a the CEO of the Love is Science marriage agency, that matches people based on scientific data. Hsuan Yu, 8 years younger than her, is a promising young hairstylist who has been in love with her thoughout their entire childhood when she has only ever seen him like a little brother.

Unexpectedly they meet again. Between the way they've each built their lives and how Yong Yan Fei's ex husband still looms over Yan Fei's life, how will their relationship develop this time around ?

Now,

just reading that summary I know what you're thinking.

Indeed, if you have some experience with dramas, you might recognize some TYPICAL TYPICAL tropes – let's get them out of the way :

love triangle (though we all know who she is going to end up with don't we)

childhood friends

'noona romance'

And they are every bit as present and as trope-ey as you would expect.

However, as they say, the devil is in the details.

And particularly, in the side characters. Let me give you a quick rundown of the lot of them :

As such, we follow the stories of multiple relationships that develop parallel to one another.

The relationships

• Yan Fei/ Hsuan Yu : Not much needs to be added I think. Their storyline might be the most predictable but they are pretty sweet and heartwarming. pining for like 12 years though poor Hsuan Yu. Anyway you can enjoy it or find it boring or but you can't hate it.

• Mark/Ouwen : Noooow we're getting to it. Their dynamic is so... Refreshing and unique. Confident gay with a soft heart and dumb disaster bisexual I mean *chef kiss*👌delicious

After the disasters of their first meetings, it's a cat and dog relationship where Ouwen is the hsssssss don't touch me– cat and Mark is the golden retriever trailing after him not really realizing the rampage he's creating in Ouwen's heart. while Ouwen is like "Remind me why the FUCK I caught feelings again ?".

IDK it just has everything 'Enemies' to friends to lovers, (not actually) unrequited love, pining, sweet moments, jealousy, feelings realization, snarky banter... What more could one want.

• Cho Nai Hui / You Fu : they are. So. So sweet. Both are older and have experience, and as such they are not so naive or stupid as the youngsters. Them sharing their life experiences and going on dates like typically teenagers (in movies or TV shows anyway) would is refreshing to see and really really heartwarming.

• Liu Sheng Ying/ ??? Her ex ? : The show hinted at a wlw storyline and this arc seems to have JUST begun. Basically Sheng Ying's ex comes to Love is Science as a client and requests Sheng Ying as an advisor, while Sheng Ying still seems heartbroken over her. I can't WAIT to see how it develops.

The friendships :

Something I greatly appreciate is that both the romantic relationships AND the friendships have a great importance in the drama.

• Joanna and Yan Fei : Jo, queen Jo 👑. She's just here to gossip, get all the gossip and be the voice of reason and we love her for it. You can see how comfortable they are around each other and how they were there for each other during tough times and still are. Kudos to the actresses because I believed the characters were besties in a heartbeat.

• Hsuan Yu and Mark : they are honestly... Such polar opposites you kinda wonder how they became friends but they are and it works perfectly.

Hsuan Yu still hasn't gotten he maybe shouldn't take Mark's advice, and Mark still hasn't gotten that he, definitely should take Hsuan Yu's. It also enables to develop a more playful and mischievous side to Hsuan Yu, giving him more depth?

• Ouwen and Sheng Ying: rivalry to reluctant solidarity to friends-but-i-will-deny-it-if-asked to just friends. IT'S GREAT

I also ejoy the fact that these multiple storylines are allowed to coexist. The romantic ones, the friendships, older, younger, m/f m/m and f/f like take your pick !! And tbh a WLW storyline ?????? These are so scarce I will take anything.

The recurring themes :

The show more or less subtly touches on some topics/issues, to which the dating aspect contributes to.

A non exhaustive list would be

Divorce, and how divorced women can be viewed as failures for some reason

How successful men over 30 are sought after but successful women after 30 are somehow deemed undatable

Preconceived notions and homophobia

And beyond the topics, there's just things like... Joanna not being interested in long term relationships nor wanting to get married, reporting sexual harassment, older people going on dates.... I'm not saying it's a groundbreaking activist drama –which is not really what I was looking for– I just appreciate the fact that it is a pretty mainstream drama and that these things are there.

Mad respect if you've made it up to here ! but we're not quite done yet.

The cast and crew :

The other element that made this drama stand out for me besides the side characters is the cast.

It might be weird that such a meta thing impacts the appreciation of the show but it did, for me at least.

📣📣TMI WARNING 📣📣

For me what happened is I stumbled onto Mark and Ouwen cuts on YouTube, then somehow onto the behind the scenes. They weren't subbed at the time so I could barely understand a word of what they were saying, thus I'm not sure what but something about how the rest of the actors, the director and the crew were interacting just told me it was a show worth watching or at least checking out.

📣📣END OF TMI📣📣

The cast honestly seems to have a blast and to have, how to say it, come together really well. It seems like most of them have become genuinely friends, or despite differences in personality have truly enjoyed working with one another and with the rest of the crew, and it shows.

Where it's lacking

In my opinion the show does have some aspects where it underperforms.

As previously mentioned, the main plot is kinda tropey, furthermore, in a drama typical fashion when something is about to get resolved, immediately something else happens. Nothing unexpected from a drama though.

The pacing : Some moments of the main plot especially dragged on, so I admit I skipped through some parts.

Because I feel so strongly about all the characters though, I don't really mind the previously mentioned points. I just think it's a shame because I feel like if it had been crafted a little bit better it could have made the show go from an 8/10 good drama to an 11/10 friggin amazing drama easy.

Lastly, there is a pretty unequal time distribution so Yan Fei and Hsuan Yu do tend to occupy the most part of an episode. However some episodes are more centered on some pairings (like ep 11 that will probably have an important Mark/Ouwen part).

Overall

it's a drama that warms my heart, as simple as that. It's not that deep, it's pretty funny, the acting ranges from good to excellent and I have taken a liking to a lot of the characters, which is what I think fuels my interest for the drama.

And I feel like it managed to attract a wide range of audiences because the romances and relationships are so diverse. Whether you watch the show for its entirety or for one aspect/storyline/character is entirely up to you and I feel like the creators of the drama are aware of it as well : and you can easily find subbed compilations about each specific pairing on Settv's official YouTube channel.

Take that aspect that you like–if you find one of course–and enjoy it, that is all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What's left to say besides.... 🎉🎊 Congratulations for making it to the end of this lengthy post !

[its-cunt-dracula]

Objection. Nuance?

I don’t wanna come off as if I disagree with everything you’re saying because I’m not. People should try and branch out as much as possible when reading. Find new perspectives, different writing styles, etc. It’s not good for adults to read exclusively YA or fanfic.

However acting like cookie cutter romance and ya fantasy and fanfic are rotting women’s brains is… not cool? Saying these books are making people dumber is simply not true. You’re implying that you’d be better off – nay smarter! – by not reading entirely. I know you’re not encouraging women to stop reading but to orient themselves towards a more diverse bookshelf, but you are indirectly implying:

Read serious books for adults

Not read

Real silly books for silly kids/ romance/ fanfic

Reading these books is not optimal, but it’s not making young women dumber. It's a start.

On that note, I’m honestly sick of the face of anti-intellectualism being young women reading ‘sub par’ books and not… people who don’t fucking read at all? Especially men. And they’re proud of it too! I vividly remember reading in a bar when I was 16 (my mom worked there and I was waiting for her so we can leave together) and a group of men saw me and started praising me for reading and talking about how many kids my age don’t read, yadda yadda, I hear this constantly – and then they started proudly proclaiming that they haven’t read a book since high school. Like these men were in their late 20’s, 30’s and 40’s and they were bragging about being dumb. There are also adult women who just don't read at all but the problem is people reading books I don't consider up to standard.

Truth is there are a lot more women and girls reading than there are men/boys and girls and women reading is a good thing. Saying ‘it doesn’t count because the books they are reading are actively making them stupider’ is misogyny.

Also there are shitty formulaic books men read too but, again they’re not as popular because men don’t read as much so they don’t receive as much criticism. Mystery novels that are super formulaic, dunnit type mysteries, shitty horror novels. Have you ever heard of the SAS series? No? They were my dad’s favorites and they’re fucking trash. There’s like fifty of them (update I looked it up and there’s 200) in total hard to distinguish from one another with sexy femmes fatales on the covers and bad fucking writing. But nobody’s blaming those books for the fall of literature. God, they have the worst sex scenes in existence but oh no! the women are reading cliche erotica.

It feels like we’re criticizing women and girls for reading more.

Phone addiction is melting people’s brain and it’s making reading harder, definitely. I know I have that problem. I recently deleted tiktok and I’m currently trying to get back into being able to read for hours on end but it’s so fucking hard when you have a dopamine vending machine in your back pocket. And considering how many of these 'bad books' got popular on tiktok - the app that's famous to kill people's attention span, it starts to really make sense. The books are a symptom of a bigger problem.

The point is easy to read and kinda shallow mass market books have always existed and will always exist. They’re not new and if they haven’t rotted people’s brains so far I don’t see how it would do it now. Your gradma was reading clinch covers and dime novels and she turned out ok. Yeah, remember dime novels? When they first appeared people were also calling them slop that makes you stupider. But some of them are classics now so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There’s something to be said about women’s self-confidence and the way many of them don’t think they can read a ‘serious’ book. That they’re not smart enough. And that’s on the patriarchal society we live in. I just think there’s a better way to go about encouraging young women and girls to read stuff that’s challenging. I do think that if we want to make a positive change saying ‘hey, you should read this because it’s good for you’ and not ‘stop reading that! It’s bad for you!’. Shaming people for liking certain things doesn’t yield good results in my experience.

I guess if you’re just looking to vent you don’t have to take into consideration other people’s feeling. But if you’re looking to actually make a change, I know that I would have gotten real offended back when I was reading exclusively YA if I saw a post like this. It wouldn’t have made me want to change, just not openly talk about the books I liked.

Also some older women are at the begging of their reading journey. They weren’t into books as kids or teens for some reason (didn’t have access to books, weren’t eased into reading, thought books were for nerds) and they can’t really discern what a good book is yet. Yes Colleen Hoover sucks but if you’re just getting into reading it’s normal to love books that suck. In a few years if you keep reading you’ll develop a better taste. But you have to start somewhere.

I think there’s a boom in new readers because of booktok and that’s why so many ‘bad books’ end up blowing up and being read by so many new readers who don’t know a good book if it fell on their heads in the library. I believe many of them will outgrow this phase like twilight teens outgrew theirs. So many people started reading because of Twilight and they look back on it and can say “Yeah, Twilight sucks. But it got me into reading and I can’t complain about that.” And Twilight for all of its flaws really awoke interest in books in many teenagers

These bad, mass market, cliché, cookie cutter books are keeping the industry afloat and book seller in business so they can sell you the less popular, deeper, more thought provoking books. Those books will never be popular because the average person just isn’t interested in them. But that doesn’t mean no one is reading them. Most books are losing money, expect for the big juggernauts: romance, self-help books and celebrity memoirs. They have a place in the ecosystem.

I feel like I could go about this subject forever so I’m gonna end it here before this post becomes too long. If I didn’t make sense somewhere, sorry but english is my second language. If it seems like I’m jumping from point to point, I have ADHD and I tent to do that. If you want clarification on something, don’t hesitate to ask. I really hope I’m not coming off as mean or angry, I’m just passionate about books and nuance.

p.s. i only saw like one tiktok of a girl saying she skips long paragraphs and then 20 tiktok of people criticising her or straight up making fun of her. it's not a wide spread phenomenon, just a few bad apples.

I feel like many adult women are making themselves functionally illiterate by refusing to read anything but YA and very simple, straightforward romance. Basically for books what McDonald's is for food. Already digested and regurgitated to make it as unchallenging as possible. And it IS women, it's almost only women both writing and reading this shit! It's women making a whole social media persona about being a "reader" but skipping whole paragraphs because they don't contain spoken lines and it's too boring and too long. The market is fucking flooded with absolute garbage. To me this looks like female anti-intellectualism.

[lokitvsource]

You came into the show with the idea of Loki clashing with the TVA already in place. How exactly does this kind of arrangement work at Marvel? Michael Waldron: There was a creative brief that was 20 pages or so that basically said: “We want to do something about Loki running up against the TVA. Here’s some different avenues that might be cool to explore.” It was really serving it up for writers as a jumping off point for us to put together our pitches. Then I went off and really worked on the idea of Loki being brought in to hunt another Loki, and that becoming the heart of the show, and the Loki/Sylvie relationship. The big thing that I did in my pitch — even as early as pitching it to Kevin [Feige] — I really walked through the six episodes, kind of similar to what they were. I knew I wanted Episode 3, for instance, to be a little bit of a Before Sunrise, with Loki and this character walking across this apocalyptic moon. But Marvel had the initial, probably the most important spark of genius, which was just Loki and the TVA.

Where did the idea of the variant being a female Loki come from? That was one of my ideas, that we then confirmed in the writers room. Yeah, we knew from the get-go that it was going to be Loki falling for another version of himself.

Why was that appealing to you? I love writing any romance; it’s fun. Especially, it hasn’t been done a ton in the MCU. There’s an obviously self-reflective quality to it. And a show that’s quite literally about self-love; it is Loki getting to see parts of himself. At the start of the show, he kind of hates himself. He assesses himself to Mobius as a villain. And then he meets Sylvie, and he sees her as someone on a heroic crusade. He sees the good in her, and is able to see the good in himself.

Mobius suggests that, of course, Loki fell in love with his own variant, because he’s a narcissist. Do you think he’d be capable of falling in love with someone who is not a version of himself? [Laughs] I don’t know if he didn’t fall in love with himself first. Maybe after that, but the first time he falls, maybe this is what it had to be.

What’s the key to telling a time travel story that takes advantage of the concept without confusing the audience? I think it’s doing a lot of work that the audience never sees. It’s really understanding the logic of this thing, building out the TVA as a real organization that actually exists in our minds. Our writers room, we had a TVA handbook, encyclopedia, what they do and why they do it, a glossary of terms. And then you want to only give the audience the absolute bare minimum to understand the story, and to just get swept up in the emotional stakes of everything. If the sci-fi of it all, if the time travel logic of this show did not hold up week to week, then that would have distracted from the emotional journeys of the characters. So I’m glad that even though everyone had to take their medicine a little bit, along with Loki, in episode one, I’m glad it didn’t distract from the story we were telling. And we had the benefit of Loki being the audience’s eyes in. The audience is learning as he is.

There’s a funny scene in Avengers: Endgame where the Avengers start arguing about exactly how time travel works in the MCU. How much did you have to study what other Marvel movies had done with the idea to make sure your rules were consistent? Fortunately, Endgame was the main one, and that’s how they understand it. The TVA is an organization that understands time travel on a deeper level, probably more comprehensively than the Avengers do in Endgame. We wanted to make sure we were staying true to any rules that they laid out, but sort of establishing our own rules. It’s a time travel show. What was I thinking? A movie’s one thing, but a show is hard.

How many Loki variants did you have on the writers room whiteboard at various points? Hundreds. So many different Lokis. There was one Loki, actually maybe it was a version of Mobius that took off his glasses, and he just had really tiny eagle eyes, like he could see everything. There was stuff like that all over the white board. Tom Kauffman, who wrote that fifth episode, he’s an amazing comedy writer, and was on the first three seasons of Rick and Morty. His first draft of that episode was just bananas.

Was there a variant, or a crazy idea in general, that you really loved but couldn’t ultimately do? There was so much different stuff that we wanted to do in the Void. But the truth is, I don’t want to say any of it, because you never know. The ideas that I want to do the most may pop up elsewhere.

Okay, so let’s stick with a variant we did see. Was Alligator Loki actually a Loki, or just an alligator that happened to be wearing a Loki’s crown? A magician can’t reveal his tricks, man. That’s the great debate. Let it rage.

What was Alligator Loki‘s origin story on your side of things? Who pitched him and how was that initially received? That was maybe my very first meeting with the producers at Marvel, Kevin Wright and Stephen Broussard, talking about the show, and me saying, “When we’re doing this, you can encounter lots of different Lokis. You could have an alligator Loki. Why? Cause he’s green.” And us all laughing about how stupid that was. I think I made the point that it’s that energy of what we can do with the show. We can have something like that, but let’s play it straight. Alligator Loki, you get a laugh out of it, but by and large you try and play it straight. That was the fun tonal balance that we tried to strike in the show.

There’s been some conflicting information out there about whether the big bad was originally just going to be He Who Remains, who’s a different comics character altogether from Kang, and whether the casting of Jonathan Majors changed the plan. From your point of view, what happened? The character was always written as a version of Kang, as early as the first draft of the script, we knew in the writers room, relatively early on. He Who Remains, that’s the guy behind the curtain with the TVA, and we saw an opportunity to fuse that mythology with the Immortus mythology. And that was just really compelling. It was a way to elevate, it just felt right for Loki, because Loki was there in the first Avengers, he’s the one who brought the Avengers together, and here is directly related to the exploding of the multiverse, this event that will drive the events of Phase Four. Certainly, when Jonathan came in, it allowed us to step on the gas of just how eccentric and charismatic this character could be. I was inspired in the writing of He Who Remains by Tom Cruise’s character in Magnolia, trying to give it that Frank TJ Mackey energy a little bit. He captures that and then elevates it to something else that’s different and weird.

You just said how important the multiverse is going to be to Phase Four of the MCU. How challenging is it to have to set up this big thing for the larger Marvel endeavor while also serving the needs of the particular story you’re telling on this show? It’s a challenge in the sense that it’s all a relay race, and you’ve got the baton on this thing, and you want to do a great job. The name of the game over at Marvel is with each movie or TV show, make it the best it can possibly be. And they’re really supportive of that, and trust that it will organically fit into the larger blueprint of everything. We were excited about introducing a version of Kang, because yeah, to introduce this new big bad was cool for our show. I was aware, and cautious, of the thing I read in your review, that it might not be the most sound storytelling to introduce a new character at the very end that we’ve never seen before as the big bad of this thing. Obviously, we had the benefit that people know who Kang is, and there’s a meta thing where a portion of the audience knows Jonathan Majors is going to be playing Kang in Phase Four. But the finale was only ever going to work if He Who Remains, in a compelling way, serviced the Loki and Sylvie emotional story. That was the most important job that that character did in the finale: he laid out a very compelling conflict that ultimately drove the two of them apart.

There has also been some confusion as to exactly when you knew that there would be a second season, as opposed to you just making a limited series. Initially, in the writers room, we were not operating as though there would be a second season. And the whole way through was, this should be a story that should stand on its own. I referenced The Leftovers and Mad Men all the time. I think about those seasons, they pushed the overall stories forward, but you can pull any one of those seasons and look at it on its own as an individual story. I wanted that to be the case here, whether we did a second season or not. I think we always felt that we would want to propel Loki forward into the MCU after the conclusion of our season. The only question was, would that be in an appearance in a movie, or would that be in a second season. And it was only over the course of development that the stars aligned to make a second season.

But that end scene, where Mobius no longer recognizes Loki and the TVA is filled with Kang statues, wouldn’t have been a satisfying conclusion to a limited series. That is an ending that only works if there’s going to be a second season. So there is another conclusion to the story that I wrote that exists out there, that I guess is just for me. My own little play, that I perform with my action figures.

What was Sylvie’s original plan, before Loki hijacked her to that dying moon? It was to empty out the TVA. The entire bombing of the Sacred Timeline was to create a diversion. She’s not going to be able to create a multiverse from doing that. Ultimately, the TVA has the manpower to get out and take care of these events, but they’re going to have to scramble a lot of their minutemen teams, and it leaves the Time-Keepers significantly less guarded than they would have been otherwise. That was her plan.

You didn’t come into this as a big comic book nerd. So was there someone on staff who could tell you, “Well, there’s this giant cloud called Alioth that eats time,” or, “Well, one time Thanos had a helicopter,” or maybe someone assigned to you by Marvel? I’m constantly reading the comics but trying to not be so beholden to the and do our own thing. I charged our writers assistant, Ryan Kohler, with, “You’ve got to become the authority on all things TVA, all things Kang, and all that.” So he and my assistant, Sophie Miller, became a support staff who read a ton of these comics and became a wealth of knowledge for the writers to turn to. And then the Marvel producers, obviously are very well versed in the comics. It was Kevin Wright who came in one day and was like somebody throwing down a blueprint in an asteroid movie, going, “Alioth! Look at this!” And we were like, “Ohmigod, this is perfect!” The best thing about working on these comic book shows is that if it’s from the comics, it doesn’t matter how much of a deus ex machina it is, it’s just cool, like, “I can’t believe you pulled that from the comics.” Alioth, that was a big breakthrough that unlocked the last two episodes for us.

That is not a famous comic book that introduces Alioth. It’s an obscure Nineties miniseries, with really ugly art. But you look at it and see what it could be. You say, “If we do this, and it feels like Twister, it’s going to be really cool.”

Was Mobius’ love of jet skis there simply to illustrate his character, or did you have a grander idea in mind? I will come clean: I’m a jet ski guy. I’ve spent a good amount of time on jet skis in my day. I used to tow a jet ski to a lake and ride it in college. So it probably was me. Loki, I was just becoming a steward of that character. Mobius was a character I really felt I got to create from nothing. There’s not really anything to that character in the comics. So bits and pieces of me found their way in. I just think there’s something so poignant — here Mobius is, a guy who is literally fighting to preserve all of time in the multiverse, and yet his interests are maybe the most humble, human, terrestrial, unremarkable thing you can think of. Just a jet ski. And when you’ve got Owen Wilson playing him and it’s just that much better.

Will you be back in some capacity for Season Two? [long pause] Time will tell.

‘Loki’ Head Writer Michael Waldron — and ‘Rick and Morty’ Alum — on MCU, ‘Heels’ and More