#that's what you do when you talk about a character gd

[pessimisticpigeonsworld]

Yesterday, I made a post about how fans of some characters will makes posts, come up with theories, and write fics where they take attributes of other characters and give them to their faves instead of writing about that character's actual personality. I listed a few characters who I see this happen the most with. I did not say they were the only ones or that all fans of those characters do this.

Now one of the characters I mentioned was Sansa Stark, and apparently some people had an issue with that. I did not disparage Sansa in any way or even say I hate aus with her, I was just criticizing some of her fans. Well some people really didn't like that criticism and have been reblogging my post, calling me a whiny brat, a Sansa anti, and just generally trying to say I'm wrong, stupid, and hypocritical. Well some people (namely @brydeswhale) asked for evidence, so here it is (I'm not including Alicent, Jason Todd, or Tim Drake, who I also talked about in that post, but I guess they didn't read that far):

First off: here's someone who is taking Lyanna's parallels with Arya and giving them to Sansa. I understand that you probably agree with the above post though, so I got some others.

Here is a Sansa stan, and a Jonsa, taking a quote where Jon is specifically thinking about Arya and instead claiming it's about Sansa, even though Jon notoriously thinks about her very little.

Moving on from Arya, here's someone taking a prophecy revealed to Daenerys in the House of the Undying and saying that it's actually about Sansa. Even though Daenerys has already literally fulfilled the Mother of Dragons part and is two-thirds of the way through completing the Bride of Fire part. Plus, it's Dany's vision, how is it related to Sansa exactly?

Again, taking Dany's vision and imagery (even Jon's too goddamn) and giving it to Sansa for no reason.

Once again, this quote is specifically about Arya and Jon's struggle with doing his duty and going to save his sister (Arya not Sansa) by bowing to Stannis. It's Arya's marriage to Ramsay that tortures Jon throughout ADWD while he outright dismisses Sansa's to Tyrion (disclaimer: I don't ship Jonrya, if you do that's all well and good, just not for me).

Once again, stealing from Arya. "Valiant Ned's precious little girl" is a line used by the Northern lords who are participating in the Northern conspiracy. A plot to overthrow the Boltons and save ARYA not Sansa, in their minds Sansa is far away and has no bearing on the situation ever since her marriage to Tyrion.

This is a little more indirect I guess, but still, this is completely forgetting about both Dany and Jon's arcs. Daenerys is ruling a fucking city in a treacherous time and Jon is Lord Commander of the Night's Watch when while the Others and wights are advancing. How are they not learning to rule again? And I'm sorry, but Sansa is not learning to rule in the Vale, she is doing tasks a high-ranking lady does, yes, but she isn't ruling and Littlefinger isn't exactly interested in helping her learn.

[penelope-is-waiting]

Hi I am Penelope Queen of Ithaca, I am still waiting on my husband @odysseus-of-ithaca-is-lost to come home. In the mean time I am dodging all of my suiters and raising our child @telemachus-of-ithaca by myself. I also love to weave, I weave all day and then undo it all at night so I can do it again tomorrow!

Likes: weaving, as well as my husband and my children.

Dislikes: Poseidon @idontloveanybodythatsmypower (he stabbed my husband!) and of course stupid suiters who think by taking over my house and being obnoxious I will forget about my husband and marry them. (Formally scylla we have learned to get along)

Kill count: you will never know stop asking

Death count: *laughs*

Husband: @odysseus-of-ithaca-is-lost

Another version of my husband: @odysseus-reigning-king-of-ithaca

Also my husband: @penelope-simp

Another: @odysseus-of-ithaka

A siren version: @just-a-mer

My son: @telemachus-of-ithaca

Another version of my son: @young-telemachus

Yet another version of my son: @the-prince-telemachus

And another version of my son: @telemachus-is-lost

And another: @taken-by-the-seas

More: @another-telemachus-wont-hurt

And finally, the other version of my son: @telemy

Another of my son: @ithacas-prince

Another Tele: @telemachus-of-ithika

My daughter: @reigningprincesstofithaca

My other son that is not Telemachus: @ceixion-of-ithaca

Adopted kids: @unhinged-as-hell @daonedaonlyskh @little-starshark-with-wings @vicious-daughter-of-zeus @clown-energy-skyrocketing @chaotic-child-of-apollo @garmadon1616 @a-princess-of-ancient-greece @yourfavoriteearthshaker @aris-not-ares @the-hyacinth-whisperer

I wish he was my kid: @thefallenwaxwinged (ooc: he totally is at this point)

The girl living with us I am trying to adopt: @when-fate-is-mistaken

My dog: @argosfrfr

Another dog of mine: @argossisterfrfr

Friends: @heraaaaaaaa (Formally enemies)

My daughter in law: @nausicaa-of-phaeacia

Young version of my daughter in law: @the-princess-nausicaa

Another version of my daughter in law: @phaecianprincess

Gardener: @paris-you-idiot

Most annoying person I know: @sillypuppetmeister

He will not leave my house either but is not as annoying: @the-only-decent-suitor-here (apparently he is also my son now? But not in the will)

The guy who kept my husband away at sea for a decade and I will never forgive: @that-little-fucking-shit

My husband's friend who is really cool, actually: @diomedes-of-argos

For anyone who wants me and my husband @odysseus-of-ithaca-is-lost to adopt them

And of course, here is our family portrait @little-starshark-with-wings drew!

RP blog for the odyssey/epic the musical (although it branches into percy jackson territory occasionally depending on what blog I'm interacting with)

In character post will be colored like this

"If Ares is talking it will look like this"

Don't be weird please (and no nsfw) and don't be mad if I do not present penelope the way you want this is supposed to be fun so let's keep it that way

I do not interact with blogs based around biblical characters as I am a Christian, and it just makes me uncomfortable I also will not be interacting with post that have slurs or other offensive language such as GD.

(Penelope will not have any romantic feelings for anyone other than Odysseus on this blog warning)

And of course don't take anything I say in character to heart I don't want to offend anyone if I come across as rude I'm so sorry I don't mean to

Also, warning things can be very violent on this blog I usually try to tag, but I may miss some.

And of course feel free to tag me and send ask! Your not being obnoxious I'd love to be tagged or receive a ask that's what I made this account for was for all yall to have fun and interact!

Also I'm the admin of the ooc discord server and community for greek mythos rps here on tumblr if you run a rp blog here on tumblr for greek myths send me a dm and I'd be happy to invite you to join!

[tippenfunkaport]

"She-Ra is bad bisexual rep because all the bi/pan characters end up in m/f relationships!"

Not true! Perfuma is bi/pan and she ends up with Scorpia!

"Oh, well I like to headcanon Perfuma as a lesbian."

...so then you understand that's not the show's fault, right? That that's just a problem you made up in your head?

-

Excuse me a second, I need to scream about this...

Because this has come up over and over (esp on Twitter and TikTok) with people who want to claim that every bi/pan SPOP character ends up in a m/f relationship... by conveniently pretending Perfuma is not canonically bi/pan herself. And every time they are asked to elaborate why they are ignoring her canon status, they give the same answer: that they consider Perfuma a lesbian because now that she's with a woman, she's "not bi anymore"

And... yeah... you know that's not how it works, right? That being bi/pan is not just a phase you get over? That a bi/pan woman dating another woman doesn't suddenly make her a lesbian any more than it makes a bi/pan person dating someone of the opposite gender magically straight?

The person you are currently dating does not change your bi/pan status. Ever. And insisting it does, especially just so you can score some points by making up an issue about a show to be mad about, is super GD harm harmful to the real bi/pan people in your life.

(This is the exact same thing The Owl House fandom does with Lumity and why Dana had to make Luz present a whole slideshow in the cartoon reminding everyone she is still very much bi even though Amity is a lesbian. TOH fans kept insisting because Luz is dating Amity now, she's a lesbian. Nope. Her and Amity can be married for a billion years and that wouldn't change Luz's orientation.)

"But I heard that someone's roommate's cousin who worked with someone on the show once liked a fanart that showed Scorfuma with the lesbian flag so it's basically canon!"

First of all, the legend of this grows daily and I think it's really telling that this archival obsessed fandom only talks about this mythical like and yet has never been able to produce a single screenshot of it.

But for the sake of argument, let's say that this really happened and actually exists, that someone related to the show, however distantly, liked fanart once that implied Perfuma was a lesbian somehow. That still doesn't make it canon. People related to the show and even ND himself have liked and reblogged all sorts of stuff that isn't canon, including g/a, and have been very clear that the only canon is what happens within the show itself.

And, in the show, Perfuma is canonically bi/pan. We see her crushing on Bow, She-Ra, Huntara and Scorpia. The fact that people want to pretend the Bow thing never happened when he's the only character we see her actually date over the run of the show AND it's a major Season 1 plot point is wild to me and just shows the lengths people will go for bi/pan erasure.

And I get that some people enjoy using Perfuma to tell a story about comphet or coming out as a lesbian later in life and I am fully in favor of doing your thing with your headcanons in fanworks. But when it reaches the point it has now where fans are attacking other fans for saying Perfuma is bi/pan or attacking the show for not having any bi/pan character in same sex relationships when Perfuma is CANONICALLY bi/pan is ridiculous. 

Keep in mind that your headcanon is literally just something you made up in your head. It's pretend. Fun, yes, but NOT something you can use as justification to attack people over!

Especially when it's something like this that causes real world harm by perpetuating harmful stereotypes about bi/pan people being "just a phase" or a temporary state that changes based on who you date.

[heavensbeehall]

I've seen other posts about Katniss being possibly demisexual. And I agree with this for the most part.

I was rereading the beginning and the Reaping scenes. And there is a part where she mentions Gale's "hard" muscles. I was like, "lol you are almost there, girl." Other characters, like Fulvia, talk about how handsome Gale is out of the gate, but it takes Katniss years of hunting with him to be like, "Hmm. He's got muscles."

And then starts another emotional connection with Peeta, and starts feeling like she might want "another" kiss. And she wants to hold his hand and stuff.

So then Gale kisses her when she gets back and she's like "Ack! Panic! What is?!?" Because I think at that point she is kind of frozen in place and not willing or able to move toward romantic or sexual attraction until she has dealt with the trauma of the Hunger Games.

The fact that she writes that speech in her head that she just wants to be friends with Gale makes me think on some level she knows she feels more for Peeta.

But then the dumb President shows up like the biggest gd cockblock and she suddenly doesn't want Peeta just to spite Snow. (No wonder Gale is confused about how to get her attention. He thinks it was because he got whipped but it's really just that he represents fighting back against the regime in her mind.)

Ugh. I really do wish we got more of her sexuality actually developing though because I think it'd be so awkward and fun for me. She's going to start looking at Peeta's muscles, except her her go to move when embarassed is run and hide. And poor Peeta is confused about what is real and now Katniss is running into the woods because he took his shirt off.

He's like ????

[cherrysurf]

Hi there! Have a gd merry christmas and for the event may I request snowman cake pops, bringing small ornaments and visiting santa at the mall ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

I cant decide between these two fav characters so u may choose ushijima or akaashi!!

Plus point, if f reader bought him a gift of pink mittens and if he wears it outside their respective best friends teases about it <3 feel free to change whichever and thanku!!

The mitten confession !

hii thanks so much for sending in an ask! I hope you enjoy this!

The old shiratorizawa volleyball team decided to get together for a little christmas secret santa reunion party you being there volleyball manager got invited as well, you all kept in touch no matter where life took each of you, goshiki was in charge of telling everyone who they got for secret santa. You had gotten ushijima even though you barely saw him due to him being pro you still kept in touch as best as you could. You two would chat or call whenever you both weren’t busy. He might’ve not been super talkative at first but as your guys’ friendship grew so did ushijima’s ability to communicate. If he ever had a game in japan he’d always send you tickets to go see him and support you always did. You had grown feelings by this time since he changed from how he used to treat you in highschool he was much kinder and loved talking to you and made time when he could. You assumed feelings were just heavily one sided and that’s how he treated all his closest friends, so now you’re here at the mall looking through various stores hoping for something that you’ll deem to be perfect for ushiwaka, your eyes landing on a store for winter clothes. You walk around thinking that this would be easy, getting him

something practical and useful for the winter is a smart choice because shopping for a boy is much more difficult than shopping for a girl. Your eyes fall on these pinkish reddish leather gloves that had the inside with warm fur perfect for keeping your hands warm, you walk over to the area and look to find the perfect size for ushiwaka you as a worker for help and then they ask you “so what size would you like to get ma’am” the person asks “uhm probably your biggest size the person im getting this for has really huge hands” you say nervously “ah i see, we also do custom engraving would you like that too?” they offer, “Yes actually that’s perfect, would you mind putting the initials T.U on the gloves” you say brightly “sure thing” they gloves now had

ushiwaka's initials on the side hidden but there, you bought them and they packed it up nicely for the christmas season. As you walk out you weren’t sure if ushijima would enjoy or even wear the gloves but unfortunately there was no turning back now you walk into the house in formal wear attire (dress coded was again goshiki’s idea since it was hosted at his house after all) you go to greet everyone while you had ushijima’s gift in hand nervously messing with it. Dinner and conversation was amazing. Ushijima was really happy to see you again, shown by the little smile he had when he saw you. It was time for gift giving and semi got you. He handed you a beautiful matcha set “i know how much you love matcha so i got you this i hope you like it” he says smiling, you go for a side hug “stop semi it’s beautiful i absolutely love it thank you” now it was your turn, your heart dropped to your stomach now only worried about ushijima’s reaction but everyone else’s. He happy takes your gift with both hands and opens it but only for him to see it and no one else he smiled contentedly and thanked you “aww man what was it ushiwaka i wanna see” tendou said

sulking “it was a very thoughtful gift for the winter that yn gave me” he said and then moved on no one else said anything sometimes ushijima was closed off with certain things so it wasn’t unusual for him to do that. A few days after that everyone got invited to go out for another small gathering for brunch as you seat yourself along with everyone else, ushijima walks in wearing the gloves you had got him. You look up at him smiling from ear to ear, “nice gloves ya got there” tendou said “thank you they were the gift yn gave me” he said confidently as he sat by you, “for a second i was really nervous you weren’t going to like him ushiwaka” you say poking at your food, “why would i not? anything you give to me is dear to me yn” he says staring at you, your heart swells at his words “i'm glad ushiwaka” you smile and he smiles back at you after brunch ends ushijima offers to take you home and you accept, just as you were about to step out he ask

you “hey yn i was wondering if you wanted to go out on a date before i leave again” he says nervously “really?” you say turning red “yes i'm sorry if my other advances weren’t obvious enough after you gave me the gift i knew i had to come clean” he says “other advances? what do you mean” you say questioning “inviting you to my game and making time for you yn” he says and then it all clicks you were right about everything “im sorry im kinda slow on picking things up i guess” you say nervously “don’t worry i'm just glad we got it figured out now goodnight yn” he says smiling “goodnight ushijima”

[mysterycitrus]

I'm forever thinking about persephone pt2 when dick talks about robin as a mantle and how mary grayson's death haunts it and how now so many kids have used the name and died with it, and so when I was reading through New Teen Titans #55 recently, kory's thoughts about dick when he goes to bruce after finding out about jason's death really just ripped my heart in two in a whole different way...

"He hasn’t been the same since he found out about Jason. Oh, Dick- I know you were Robin. I know what this means to you that the new Robin died. I know you feel like part of you died, too- but it wasn’t you, honey. Robin died. But you didn’t. You’re still alive!"

yes!!! yes!!!!! im very very happy that connected with u — death in the family + lonely place of dying + new teen titans + war games were big big rereads for me when i was writing that part. my regret is that i haven’t been able to include an interaction with steph (im committed to keeping her as far away from bruce as possible) but yeah it was so crucial for dick to know that robin had literally gotten children killed. partially because it proves that bruce is a hypocrite, and partially to show how divorced robin has become from its original meaning and purpose. my intention was the same as my version of the pearls falling — to change the context enough to give the actual text new meaning!

i did a lot of reading about romani funeral/practises of mourning, because i think how dick and bruce grieve differently are big parts of their respective characters, and also a significant factor in their estrangement post-robin and post-jason. bruce is trapped in the alley metaphorically, but he also maintains his family home as a mausoleum. he spends a lot of time looking at family portraits, thinking about the pearls, seeing himself as a child in the house. jason’s suit remains in its glass box. he is unable to process his grief, nor does he want to. that pain is the driving force behind his desire to do good.

dick is transient by comparison — he’s never shown to have a lot of worldly possessions (he arrives in bludhaven with a duffel bag and nothing else) and his one point of physical connection to his parents is usually just the poster that shows up sporadically in canon. i didn’t want to misinterpret romani practices for a gd batman fanfic, so i tried to introduce different motivation for how dick utilises his own grief to take action. he uses his family to create a legacy for himself to protect their memory.

with that in mind, it becomes even more devastating that bruce has taken that and given it to others, without explaining the reasons behind its creation. literally, like what if dick used the wayne portrait for kindling? that’s probably the closest point of comparison.

dick actually explaining to donna and roy what robin meant vs its legacy that is totally out of his control was also really important. they still call him robin a decade later! he’s their robin! it’s so important to know that that name persists for him, no matter how many others have worn the cape!

[myths-tournaments]

Awful Characters Round 1 Part 2 (2/8)

Propaganda under the cut!

MORI OGAI

Yes, he's a horrible person but gd is it cool to see him get serious. I'm excited every time he shows up. Traumatised like The important character in the series and also multiple others. I still like him. He is canonically a pedophile so… understandable why people hate him but also he's fictional and a great character. And yeah, every time he gets brought up people will in fact get called bad for liking him.

BENNY

The first thing that happens in new vegas is that benny fucking shoots your character in the face, steals your shit and leaves you in an open grave. Benny is by all accounts a bastard. He kills you, steals from you, he killed his last boss, he is the single most duplicitous man around. His gang are all about honesty- except him. He's a lying, cheating bastard. The guys who helped him catch you? He skipped on paying them and left them to get shot to death. His new boss, mr.house? He stole his robot, broke it open, got someone to reprogram it and decided to use it to TAKE OVER THE WHOLE OF VEGAS. Benny literally kills people, lies to people, steals their shit and takes charge. That's all benny does. He gets fucking CRUCIFIED if you don't help him out just because so many people fucking hate him. And yet. And yet. Benny is the single most compelling character in the whole game to me. He's just a little guy! He's just there! You can get shot in the head and come back and he goes "what in the goddamn" and then if you try and flirt with him he's like "uhhh sure? Okay?" And leaves you a polite note in the morning. He's fancy. He wears a stupid suit. He has a tiny gun with shitty bullets. He's catholic. He talks like an old timey news presenter. Literally nobody else in the entire game does that. He's got an intelligence of 3. He's my funtime boy. My silly little man. He's so funny. The antagonist in this game is a guy dressed like a tablecloth who looks at all times like a confused dog who doesn't understand what a tv is. And like. He's compelling. He robs from you, shoots you, but…. he never seems to actually wish you harm. He kills and robs and lies but like. He apologises for doing it to you. When he sees you again he doesn't attack you, he's just… confused. He tries to defuse the situation. You can convince him to talk to you, alone, with no guards and it's not that hard. If you spare his life, he doesn't go after you, like. Even if you sleep with him he doesn't take advantage of that and kill you, even if you try to. He… he just leaves. He gives you an apology. If he gets kidnapped by Caesar He just… apologizes again. He tells you his whole plan to take over the city, too. He thinks he'll die, and he wants something of him to survive. He's happy that you made it. And if you let him free, he just… leaves. He knows he's beat, he doesn't want to cause any more trouble. He walks out and leaves. The NCR will kill you if you cross them. The legion will crucify you. House? He'll blow you the fuck up. But benny, the guy who lies and cheats and schemes, he's honest. He's polite. He's… harmless. You can kill him with a single shot if you want. And he can't kill you. He doesn't kill you the first time, and he'll never really hurt you again. Benny just wanted to win. When he knows he's beat he just leaves. No lingering, no harm, he's off, off into the desert heat, and never seen again. Isn't that just insane? like have you ever known an antagonist so polite? He just leaves!! He offers you a drink!! His plan is genuinely probably the best one for the people of new vegas!!! He's. Benny is Benny.

Anyway if you want to see some REAL propaganda go to the blog @letmebegaytodd and look in the #benny tag. You'll Understand < https://www.tumblr.com/letmebegaytodd/717051175751614464/in-another-life-i-wouldve-really-liked-just> <- look at this shit man

pollrunner's note: yet again another case of ''it's all supposed to be one quote block, but tumblr hates me''

[pastafossa]

hi pasta :) hope your week is going well so far !!

i dunno if you’ve spoken about this or been asked before (i apologise if you have) but i was just wondering how you always get matt’s characterisation so spot on?? if i didn’t know any better, i’d have thought you wrote the show. i can literally always picture him doing/saying the stuff you write <333

😭😭😭 This is like, an AMAZING compliment oh my god, thank you so much!

As for the question I'm not sure if I've talked about it before but ironically seeing it in my ask box triggered a discussion with sis. Like, I know there are folks who have a different take on Matt than mine. That's valid! So I don't want to be like... 'I did the research and delved and etc etc' because they do too. But eventually me and sis arrived at a conclusion that it's a few combos of things that makes Matt easy for me to click with:

A lot of psych classes in college that ironically I've used more for writing than anything else. This helped me understand some of how Matt's background of abandonment and trauma would potentially affect him and influence his coping techniques and behavior. I like learning psych stuff in general so that all wound up being an influence. I'll always recommend digging into this when working with characters!

I've watched Daredevil over and over and over and over and the more I've rewatched, the more I wind up picking up on new things and analyzing what Matt is thinking or feeling (bless Charlie for giving Matt so many little hints and fidgets and subtle touches of what Matt's internally feeling). This includes interviews, behind the scenes stuff, anything breaking down the why of Matt. I'm familiar with him at this point.

There are certain parts of Matt's character that I relate to incredibly strongly as a disabled person with chronic pain raised in the church, and also as someone who went through a long lonely period of depression where I felt very isolated, and then was afraid when I did finally make friends that they'd leave me. So. There's always an element with Matt that's like, 'ah I get it', this sense of resonation. I feel like that natural click with Matt really helped me when writing him, cause... been there, get the motivation, also dude needs to cry more and let that stress out, trust me.

This sounds weird but me and my sis love to break characters down, rip them apart to examine their insides. We love our favorite characters and talking about all their wholesome or badass elements, but we also gd love and have fun dissecting flaws, fuckups, the shadow self, character trauma, are they the asshole, is EVERYONE the asshole, what does this mean when he did this or that. The whole Pasta clan is immersed in that - Dad was a theatre major so got a lot of practice, Mom's loved lit forever, and we all have this tendency, so I got very comfortable very early with taking characters apart in a really honest way to figure out how and why they tick and what the writer/actor is trying to tell you. And since we've all seen Daredevil, and dad has also read a lot of the earlier comics, we've all more than once metaphorically laid Matt out on the table like a frog and dissected his character. I feel like having someone who's not only willing to talk about these layers with you, but also comfortable enough with you to kinda push back and go 'Or what if he was doing it because of this' or 'Ok yeah you love him but he was actually being the asshole here because *valid reason*' is important. Get you some allies who love to know why characters tick!

So basically lots of reading, really enjoying picking characters apart with fam, and familiarity, all mixed up in a bucket of 'Ooooh poor thing, I've been there and that was not fun. You really need therapy and maybe some antidepressants.'

[altschmerzes]

☔Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?

OH GOSH YEAH THERE IS it's called 'without grace, without understanding' (thanks wrinkle in time) and it's a reimagining of the training arc with roy and jamie in season 3

this got a little long so it is..... under a cut lsdfkjs.

update: 'a little long' this is basically a fic in itself lmfao WHOOPSIES. i guess i may as well actually tag it, enjoy... whatever this is.

started off with me thinking about the myriad of ways that could've been a fascinating plot to use to explore those two characters' trajectories and their relationship to themselves and each other and this sport. roy's lack of trust in himself and his conviction that he ruins things.

and it's like... thinking about how roy's approach is uh. a bit much sometimes and jamie particularly doesn't necessarily react super well to that and has a tendency to take things the wrong way even when they are well delivered, and thinking about roy's concerns this season about his coaching skills. that he's REALLY worried about being a good coach. and the stuff in season 2, where he was worried he was Ruining Phoebe somehow, just.

and there's the jamie of it all. him trying to hard to be better, to do better, not sure how to make it work. how to make it happen. how to be as good as zava, be better than zava. still trying to deserve the second chance he's been given. still a brat a lot of the time bc he is who he is but also trying so hard to be good. be cooperative. be a team player. Work Hard Enough.

so you get into the actual training of it, right. they're working together one on one, and roy is pushing him. hard. and i looked at that and went. okay this is supposed to be humorous but also what if we took it seriously. what if roy pushed him TOO hard and jamie just let him because he’d do basically whatever roy told him to and thinks he’s supposed to shut up and not whine and Be Good. and this somehow ends up pushing jamie so hard he’s just completely exhausted or hurt somehow and roy is absolutely horrified by this. and is like NOPE i cant do this i shouldn’t be doing this and doesn’t really communicate to jamie why he’s calling it off. he just does it. so jamie thinks he’s done something wrong and roy thinks he’s protecting jamie by (freaking out and) walking away and it’s a MESS they gotta sort out.

somewhere in there there's a thing with roy and the coaches or the diamond dogs as a whole, right. after he's walked away from training jamie one on one and their relationship is extremely strained bc roy is spiralling beyond proportion like Oh Fuck, Oh Gd, I Was Ruining Him, I Was Hurting Him and jamie is like He's Done With Me He Don't Want Fuck-All To Do With Me. so things are... weird. they're not really talking. they're both upset and hating it. but roy sort of. he doesn't stop coaching jamie again at all, but he does sort of. he pulls back. he goes stiff and distant and doesn't engage. he doesn't ice him out like in s2 but he's not. there. either.

and so they're talking and he's like. (in his mind the training is like. paused. they're Taking A Break.) but he's like. i need to talk to you about jamie. and the others are like... yeah, sure seems like it! and roy just admits. i don’t know how to train him. what i know how to do isn’t working. what worked on me isn’t working (ted/beard/someone voice maybe it perhaps Didn’t Work On You in a good way, but-) so What Do I Do.

which gives ted the opportunity to pay it forward with some advice and just - positive reinforcement. maybe try approaching this differently. he’s destroying himself trying to make you happy, make you proud, do good in your eyes. he idolizes you, not sure how AWARE of that you are, but he does. still. maybe try using that - tell him what he’s doing right.

(and that's the fuck of it all right is like. there's this part of roy that's been wondering if he's a bad coach for the opposite reason, too. he's been wondering if he's been too soft on jamie, and maybe that was the problem. it was something that was gnawing at him, before jamie worked himself sick/hurt and he realized his approach was massively backfiring, that like... maybe he was a bad coach because he couldn't be harsh enough. but he couldn't just. he couldn't stomach being like the coaches he'd had, he just couldn't do it. and then that happened, and obviously that wasn't it, but it was in there somewhere)

but so he talks a bit about that there, like, it comes up somehow - the coaches he had when he was young. when he was a kid and when he was coming up. he talks about how he was trained and they’re like right okay sure and how do you feel about those coaches now? how did they make you feel about yourself? is that how you want jamie to feel about you? is that how you want to know he feels when you talk to him?

he doesn't. he doesn't want jamie to feel like that about him, to feel like that when looking at him. because roy respected those coaches and wanted them to be impressed with him but he was afraid of them too. and he never thought for a minute that he ever lived up to their expectations. and fuck, gd, he never, ever wants that for jamie.

and that's the point ted and beard and company sort of gently make to him too like.

and so it's like. he trusts you. he looks up to you. he'd do anything you asked him to. that's good, that helps, but it means you gotta be careful too, y'know?

so he has to figure out a new approach. and it's like. roy doesn't need a personality transplant, don't get me wrong. he's never gonna be ted and he doesn't need to be. that's not the goal here. it's about figuring out how to be tough without being mean, right? and maybe a little about figuring out how to let himself soften.

(especially since half the time it’s his own younger self he’s hollering at imo. and so treating jamie better sort of asks him to realize he should’ve been treated better too. Be Kinder To Him And In Doing So Give Your Own 24 Year Old Self Some Gentleness And Grace.)

so roy offers to resume training with him after some other stuff happens etc, this is the part i have less thought through lmao.

(there's a subplot also with isaac and captain stuff and figuring out there's something up with jamie and not knowing what and trying to piece it together. love that too.)

and there's a scene in the end, right, where we get this whole... they've sorted things out, they're resuming training again, roy has extracted a promise from jamie to Speak The Fuck Up if things aren't going well, and he's promised to be less of a hardass generally, and then there's a bit where he like. apologizes for ever having been that hard on jamie in the first place and not thinking about whether that was the right approach.

and jamie just... he shrugs. he's not affected by this. "gotta make sure i don’t go soft, yeah?" and roy is like. no. absolutely not. stop right there.

which is when roy then makes the very specific point that like. when they talk about jamie’s performance on the pitch and how he should approach it sometimes he needs to be a prick, and he needs to worry about being permissive or passive or whatever else, but even if they have to bust out a thesaurus they will not be referring to him as soft. we will not be using that language here. do you understand me?

which... jamie. doesn't, really. he's like ??? and tries to brush it off at first like pshh that’s just the same thing “don’t want to be noncommittal or passive on the pitch ain’t that just the same thing as soft just more letters” and roy is like no. no it’s not. there’s implications in- in calling someone soft that there ain’t in there, and even if it is, so what. that’s a word that’s been used to hurt you. right? and jamie’s just kinda sullenly silent and roy goes right. which is why im not fucking using it. that’s the fucking point im trying to make here. if i can help it im not gonna fucking hurt you because i really don’t want to.

which y'know. is a lot. it's a lot for both of them. but they figure it out.

i’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while tbh but keep being like no that’s excessive- that’s dramatic- whatever this arc is gonna turn into it doesn’t NEED to turn into an angsty character/dynamic study- but honestly who cares. why not have fun with it. why not get into some of the vast unexplored potential here. maybe one day i will.

[seecarrun]

My pal!!!!!! My friend!!!!!!! I'd like to tell you a beautiful little secret!!!!!! You want to know what that.....

Domesticabuseshipping is dead you genwunners!!!!!!!!!

Amourshipping is canon losers!!!!!

Ah man. Normally I would just delete this and go on with my day, as I am a whole ass adult with like, a husband and child and career and mortgage and shit, and I haven’t seen childish fandom bullshit like this since literally the 1990’s, and I have better, more important things to do with my life and you are just going to respond to this with the same repeated thing over and over again.

But luckily for you, said career is actually a kindergarten teacher, so I like working with sad and upset children.

Because honestly? I think that’s what this is all about. I think you are sad and mad and upset about how Serena’s character was wrapped up on the anime, and I think you have every right to feel that way.

I’m not a Serena fan, myself, but I have no ill feelings towards those who are. Love what you love, I say! I actually couldn’t get into the BW or XY anime, just not my thing, but I did start rewatching again at Sun Moon, and I can absolutely see why a Serena fan would be frustrated at how they ended things for her. Literally all the other traveling companions (save for May and Max, for obvious reasons with May’s Japanese VA) had a more significant wrap up with Ash than she did in the last season.

Misty and Brock both got the whole Aim to be a Pokemon Master thing, Dawn came back to watch Ash complete during the World Coronation and cheer him on, Iris was IN the World Coronation thing as a gd champion!!

Serena got an episode, and she didn’t even interact with Ash in it hardly at all. She spent the whole time with Chloe, and only saw him in passing when he walked past her to get on the boat at the very end. There was no blushing, no love confessions, neither the kiss nor Sarena were eeever talked about again. She got a non speaking cameo watching him against Leon along with the others and that was it. I have my own opinions as to why the writers did that, but that is neither here nor there, that’ll be a post on it’s own.

But that’s frustrating! I totally get that! She was the only traveling companion to kiss Ash, surely that means something and she’ll be brought back or brought up and she and Ash will be together forever!

But nope, pokemon isn’t that kind of anime. It and Ash’s journey ended with just him and Pikachu running off into the sunset, with Gary, if we’re being honest, as probably the most significant human to him in the end (as it should be, my old ass genwonner heart LOVES how Gary was there at the end living in Ash’s head rent free lol).

So I do get why you are upset and lashing out. I think it’s dumb and immature and annoying, but I get it.

My parting wish for you is hope that you’ll realize that literally no Ash ship is canon; his time in the anime is done and he ended up with no one, and that is simply okay because it’s pokemon and romance in that show has literally never been the point. I hope you keep on loving your favorite characters and ships and that you let everyone else enjoy their’s.

Buuuut let’s be honest, I know that you are just going to ignore everything I wrote and keep doing this same shit, but it was worth a shot, right? :P

I hope you have the day you deserve. <3

[gizkasparadise]

2023 wrapped: cdrama edition!

taking a page from @dangermousie and doing an overview of all the cdramas i watched this year (i'll do one for kdramas later)! listed in order of least favorite to most favorite. favorite =/= objectively best/most well-made. just the ones i had the most fun watching.

15 have a crush on you. oh dear lord. this drama should be a case study for what happens when a bad drama has charismatic actors and they keep you trapped hostage. i watched this whole damn thing hating every minute of it on behalf of the poor female lead who definitely deserved better. the ending? absolutely batshit, and not in a fun way. one of the weirdest, worst endings ive seen since with you

14 back from the brink. too kitschy for me, i didn't last long on this one (i think 2 eps lol).

13 gone with the rain. i wanted to like this one because i love sean sun and troll general is exactly what i want out of life. but i didn't like the weird daydream asides, constant animal noise sound effects, and i found everyone kind of off-putting in a non-watchable way, so i peaced out really quick--ep 4ish

12 here we meet again. i love janice wu. i continue to try out her dramas hoping for something to grab me again. this one was pretty boring/too focused on the work element and not the rest of it.

11 exclusive fairytale. i have a secret weakness for youth-to-working-life dramas, so tried this one out. flat, not a lot of chemistry, and very color-by-numbers. the show was clearly made to vehicle jun, and that's okay, but not my thing

10 the starry love. i wanted to like this one because the side characters were fun and i loved the male lead/prince of heaven and all his awkward "please leave by 9" energy. but it bored me overall and unlike most folks i had no interest in the demon secondary ship. i dropped around ep 10

9 my journey to you. it kills me to rank this one so low because it was my most anticipated cdrama this year, but i just couldn't get into it. the pacing was too slow for me, and i couldn't stand how everyone talked to each other (long. pauses. and then. staring. and then. whispers. always the. whispers). i dropped this around midway

8 the love you give me. the chemistry between the leads was cute and it was a decent modern romance. started losing me around the midpoint when the paternity reveal hit and the ML got way into boundary crossing because of it

7 circle of love. objectively not a good drama. in fact, a toxic and batshit drama that has probably made me a worse person for watching it. but gd did my messy ass enjoy the trainwreck.

6 road home. you really got to be in the mood for this one, but it's a nice, understated and slow melo romance. but def not a bingeable show since it takes its time with everything

5 wonderland of love. another drama that i dont think is objectively great, but two competent schemers/martial artists trying to one-up each other is like ship catnip for me and this was a show that lived or died by its ship. surprisingly tame for the screenwriter, and had a happy ending! popcorn watch.

4 till the end of the moon. me and this drama were in a bad romance, which i suppose is thematically appropriate. i hated parts of it, i was super invested in others. the post-dream human arc was giving wuthering heights tragic obsession incredibleness. even with its flaws, i think most of cdramaland is in agreement that lyx/tantai jin stole the ML competition this year. great gowns, beautiful gowns

3 story of kunning palace. i adored the characters in this drama! even when the plot was losing my interest, everyone was cast so well and had so much charisma that i stayed pretty hooked from ep 10ish on. absolutely loved the mean high school theatre director wreck that was xie wei, as well as the other (imo) true love interest of the show, princess leyang. the desperate speech about being like iron is gonna live rent-free in my head

& then 1&2 are way ahead of the others for me this year/a very close race between them!

2 a journey to love. i love this drama so much!!! i have not skipped or speed watched a single scene which for me is a huge feat! great character work across the board -- even the side characters have a lot of nuance and interesting dynamics between them. beautiful fight scenes. great ost. one of the best, most balanced main couples ive seen in a show. it's gonna break my heart in a few eps when it ends, but i'll be happy about it

1 lost you forever (s1). this drama came out of NOWHERE and the vicegrip it had on me while it was airing!!! my favorite FL this year (although a journey to love's ruyi is a close second), and just a ton of fun while also being quietly devastating in parts. i loved how lived in and tired the FL felt, enjoyed the various flavors of mess from her love interests, and enjoyed how extra it could go while still giving us really grounded and complicated characters. this drama gets extra points for converting me on several actors i did not think that highly of before the show.

overall, despite how many i dropped (lol writing it out made me realize i dropped so, so many), cdramas delivered for me this year! my top two are on my short list for favorite dramas, period. everyone go watch a journey to love and lost you forever if you havent yet!!!

AWARDS

Favorite ship: definitely goes to ruyi and yuanzhou from a journey to love. it's just nice to see a couple that mutually supports each other's murders

Favorite FL: xiaoyao from lost you forever with ruyi from journey to love as a very close runner-up. i am here for this year's theme of competent, jaded ladies trying to reclaim their lives

Favorite ML: objectively, tantai jin from till the end of the moon should win this, but story of kunning palace's xie wei was just so entertainingly grumpy, petty, and unhinged which is a winning combo for me.

Favorite 2FL: princess yang ying from a journey to love. she's doing amazing and im proud of her!!

Favorite 2ML: technically third male lead, but xiang liu from lost you forever was my favorite to watch and had the best tuxedo mask exits

Best Cast: a journey to love, i literally adore all of them, even the ones i hate

Best Blood Cough: tantai jin, you beautiful bastard who needs a bib

[carcarcraziiv2]

Heartseel K'Sante Boyfriend HCs

~K'Sante, the poll broke my heart :'c. I love this man, gd it. Let's go bbg~

P.S. Asks are open! I am open to more Heartsteel, other League characters, different AUs, Arcane, etc. Just HMU :3

K'Sante isn't overtly open to PDA, however he doesn't necessarily NOT do PDA? He is often gently holding your hand, or leaning over to kiss the top of your head while you are pressed against him. Sometimes when he is feeling a little more out there, he will grasp your chin, lift your face up and kiss you gently, even if you're in front of people or your friends. If someone is giving you attention that he doesn't deem appropriate or is making you uncomfortable, he goes into immediate protector mode. "Did they make you feel uncomfortable? I'm sorry, my sweet. I'll stick by you now, okay? Hold my hand."

K'Sante is an undercover jokester. He acts like he isn't in on the shenanigans with Ezreal and Sett, but he DEFINITELY is, and most likely is a big part of the execution. Now, when it comes to joking at you or about you, he will only do it lightly. He doesn't want to offend you by accident or make you upset. If you try and prank or joke on him, he will know it's coming. He is just too smart not to know. "I know you wanted to- hey do you want me to come back in and pretend? Sorry love! Can't prank the mastermind..."

K'Sante is big on giving attention but is generally content with being left alone. He is very confident, so he knows you aren't off doing crazy things while he is waiting for you or vice versa. Trust is key for him, and he trusts you whole heartedly. When you two are together, his attention is solely focused on you. He expects the same, so when the two of you conversate it is almost always meaningful and/or interesting. "Awh, my love, you're home! I've missed you. Come, sit on my lap and tell me about your day." K'Sante pulls you onto his lap and fiddles with your hair as you talk to him.

K'Sante gives EXCEPTIONAL kisses. Never a dull moment with this one. Even the most delicate kisses make stars erupt in your belly. He will grab you gently with a hand behind your neck, lean down and brush his nose against yours before placing his lips on your own. In a heated moment, he becomes ravenous, groaning into your mouth and holding your face with his hands as your tongues collide. "Your kisses are my oxygen, love." "Gods, the things you do to me, y/n."

K'Sante is very smart, and very levelheaded. He tends to be right, and although it pisses you off a lot of the time that he is, he is so kind about explaining things to you. He will never make you feel dumb or less than for not being right. When he is wrong, rare as it may be, he will listen to your explanation with the utmost kindness and try his best to let it sink it. "Do you get what I am saying, love? Please don't be upset, but this is really important that we are on level ground. I love you, sweetheart." "Oh, that makes sense! See, I am glad we talked about it."

K'Sante is great at giving you a reason to be excited to get home, or vice versa. He will whisper sweet nothings in your ear when you hug and kiss him before leaving, gently touching your arm or your face making sure you know just how much he loves you. All day, he may send you devious little texts just to make sure you are prepared for what's about to go down. "Wait for me, Love, in that outfit I bought you. You know the one I'm talking about, right? Good." "So good, so perfect. So Mine."

[stackslip]

augh yeah as much as i do love the parts of COS that are very obviously trying to do something competent and genuine, the amestris parts are just so ????

ill be honest, im pretty sure i blocked those scenes out, so remembering that what happened on the amestris side is. yikes

definitely wish the movie was more focused and didnt try to add as much as it did. especially roy -- i dont mind the beginning, hell i think him exiling himself to the north is a good concept, but the fact that he takes back his position (iirc) is just. so are we throwing away the character development and him realizing that he CANT change the military from the inside or what.

in general i honestly wanted to see less of the military cast. they frankly dont have much reason to be there other than the fact people wanted to see them (esp armstrong... just. WHY). im sure there are still ways to work in roy if the creators really wanted him to be there but like. idk! they sure didnt have to do it like that! we couldve spent more time on exploring noah as a character. or let izumi die on screen. sigh

been a while since i rewatched COS but thanks for pointing out all the weird stuff, i'd almost forgotten it and i honestly shouldn't.

(and of course i have to say i love your posts on the series proper. i will never be normal about scar. ever)

the second i saw roy in there i was like why is roy still in the military at all. wasn't his whole arc about realizing that he can't do shit within the military because it is an institution built on atrocities and exploitation? why is he still in it then. why is he talking about serving his country. why's he talking about waiting for ED that makes no fucking SENSE. (why is he alive. someone said they thought roy was supposed to die by the end of 03 but they kept him alive bc he's a fan fave and i wholly believe this frankly). why is the country's military still seemingly intact with a whole surveillance network, when 03 ended on the military being severely crippled and amestris's neighbours getting ready to invade it and bring it to its knees? why are we literally seeing *the fucking weimar republic* in cos only for amestris to not parallel it in any way and instead be the brotherhood-type funland where once you've taken out the mean führer, everything is fine and there's nothing to fix?

and like. this is a short movie right! i know that they were denied a season, maybe even a season and a half to finish off the show and that some elements of cos were meant to be in the og show's ending. and it shows! bc again munich is fucking reasonably competent considering how much is crammed in on hour thirty. and i know that cos's production was also rushed as hell and that as an Anime Movie they were contractually obligated to 1) put as many recurring fan faves in as possible 2) have at least a third of the movie be a big action scene. so like. i can understand the limits. you have no time, you're told you have to put all this shit in, you want to finish off the brothers' story at the very least. but my gd! you're telling me you had an izumi death scene and it doesn't happen??? you could cut roy out ENTIRELY from this. you could not put ARMSTRONG IN LIORE. you could..... i know they had no time at all, i know once again it was 03 being shafted by production committees and time and budget but it's legit insane how the very stupid and seemingly innocuous choice of having armstrong "rebuild" liore comedically completely slapped me out of whatever headspace cos had managed to slip me in before. i was enjoying it a lot until we got to amestris. and this armstrong thing, followed by rose's line here:

it's just. it's almost comedic. i'm almost wondering if the writer is fucking with me here and acknowledging just how stupid it is to put armstrong doing alchemy in liore is. probably not but gd this is bad. this is brotherhood levels of obliviousness to the themes.

anyhow i'm not finishing cos tonight bc i'm too pissed about it lol. it's funny bc for years i was told it was bad but for the opposite reasons that it's actually bad. like folks kept saying the munich parts were bad/stupid/wrong and made no sense when to me they're by far the most thematically coherent and interesting/emotional bits of it. i LOVE the relationship between noah and ed. and like, i know the bar is is in hell when it comes to depicting roma on screen, but i can't help but appreciate the little and big ways both noah and her people get humanized, how they feel like the most real and concrete part of this world ed insists is a dream or hell. but really, genuinely noah is so good, alfons's weird crush on ed is hysterical, the general atmosphere and research around 1923 munich seems genuinely thoughtful (and it also tells me that the writers had been thinking about this long, long before even 03 ended). i genuinely believe that making munich! hugues a nazi sympathizer and a racist is a really inspired and brave choice that makes the audience reflects THEIR hugues and how the amestrian military behaved. so anyhow these parts are good, genuinely. it's sad that that's the first third and then you get thrown into this mess, and there's still a whole stupid nazi battle to come. it's stupid. it's stupid especially bc there's a genuine part of the movie that IS smart and thoughtful. it'd be so much easier if all of it were bad, or if the difference between the writing in each part weren't so obvious. anyhow. i wanna finish cos bc i wanna see wrath's arc end and envy eating hoheinheim and ed/al reunion and more of noah. but also i think i'm gonna be writing off large chunks of it lol.

(also thank you very much, i'm trying to preach 03 to whoever i can whenever i can. appreciate the love)

[megamindsecretlair]

I was wondering how you stay consistent with all the fics you be posting. Gurl give us the tea. You dropped like four back to back.

Lmfaooo, yall making me feel like im a fic addict 😭🤣🤣

See, what you do is meditate for 2 hours straight, praying on your muse to beam ideas and writing straight to your skull. Grab an acorn, a candle (your favorite scent), red twine, and a bottle of henny. And make a circle...lmfaooo jk jk.

TL;DR: my mind never shuts up 🫠 never turns off, never stops running, and that energy has to go somewhere, okay 😭

I wish I could take all the credit. I am the one writing it. But I have a close group of friends who let me vent out my ideas or give me ideas on how to improve. They listen to my nonsense, love yall so gd much 😗 @planetblaque @westside-rot @babybratzmaraj .

Other times, the ask is just so detailed, so rich, that it sparks some inspo and I get to writing. I am so in love with the creativity yall have on here. Completely blown away by these ideas you request!

It also helps that I went to film school and was taught how to think visually. You don't have to go to school for that, you just have to expand how you currently think about scenes.

Most times, as mentioned, my brain doesn't shut up. Even when I'm sleeping. There's this running commentary in my mind where I'm constantly turning over fics in my head. I think about scenes, I think about dialogue, I think about sex positions. Half the time, I'm scatterbrained irl because I'm too busy fucking in my head 🤣🤣

I write in my head, if that makes sense. I have these loose scenes in my head that I kind of play around with. I attack the scene from multiple angles trying to think of what sounds better.

Soo, when I sit down to write ive already done half the mental battle. I've already thought about the characters, the scenes, the motivations, the positions. It's just a matter of sitting down and writing it and it flows. I re-read my own writing all the time. But *way* after I've written it and moved on.

There's still moments where I have to pause and think about what comes next. Theres still times where I have to picture what tf is happening 🤣 or what's being said. Or what they're feeling at the moment.

Truth is, I just like to write. I've been writing since I was 11. It wasn't until I re-joined Tumblr at age 30 that I fell back in love with writing. I always loved it. But at a low point in my life, I felt hopeless that no one would ever want to read my writing. I thought I should've just quit altogether.

But by writing on here, I discovered that writing is for ME. If im having fun, then i know you will. I wont lie and say its not scary. I post overnight because I dont want the anxiety of seeing comments and reblogs trickle in 🤧 but the one rule I had for posting my writing, was to write for me. Write for the little girl who thought she couldnt. Write for the little weirdo who loves marvel and has anxiety and constantly feel like im being rejected. Thats who i write for. Thank God I didn't quit 😍🥹 I never would've met any of you. I never would've grown as a writer.

Being here with all of you, sharing my writing, seeing your reactions makes my fn day every day 😭 it's because of YOU that I felt confident enough to write a book.

I didn't get here by accident, I just write. And write often. And I read often. I learn from every single person that posts on here. I learn from all the feedback you give me.

My brain ought to do something useful since it doesn't know how to sit the fuck down 😩😩😩

Sorry this was long? Hope this helped? Feel free to ask more? Idkidk. Its still weird talking about myself. Thanks for this ask though 😗😗😗

[ca-suffit]

Almost 50 years old with a job, spouse, and kid and sending each other asks like this to feel superior over an online space of mainly 20 somethings lol. Everyone in "that (black) subset" already knows who these characters are and can confront the topics v easily. All this Nalyra group can do is post things like OHH NOBODY IS READY FOR THIS OHH WE'RE SO MUCH BETTER AND SMARTER THAN THESE (BLACK) PEOPLE. It also may surprise u to learn that slavery existed in America and this fantasy Daddy Marius thing u think ppl can't tolerate is nothing compared to real history. You'll never understand that though because you'd have to acknowledge race and real life outside of Anne Rice books to do that. You'd feel so embarrassed by how u sound if u did tho. like this is rly braindead shit lol. I bet you get off to this though, sounding like a ten year old edgelord to own the woke mob. But you're just v typical racists, lol, while layering on some bs "did u know there's a worse white man than Lestat, did u ever use ur brains." Ok lol. Groundbreaking, more than one white man is shitty. How could we ever imagine such a world?! Marius existing won't make Lestat suddenly be less. Aren't you the ones always crowing that he's the main character? Oh but I forgot, you think it'll all be retconned once "the truth (Lestat's story)" comes out, because you have Anne Rice brain rot and think that's quality storytelling instead of embarrassing and insulting to the audience. You also talk like this as if you won't be screaming and throwing up about it when the show doesn't coddle Marius either and make this all sexy roleplaying. Armand was just referred to as Marius' "sub" in another recent post by crazy white fandom book people. You're the ones who won't be able to handle what's coming. Then you'll just keep moving the goal post, saying shit like this forever so you can keep yourself feeling superior. It's sad u don't go to therapy and talk about why this is the thing that makes you feel in control of your life.

Virginia is a whole psych study 2 lol. Honey u have to separate urself from the fictional man and get real help. Having racist tantrums because black people can understand your man better than u is not it. He's not real, he's not you. It's funny how book ppl are always saying the books teach empathy when you're intolerant of anyone who disagrees with you (or is just black). tbf, that is one way u actually understand Lestat tho lol. These people have all the time in the world to excuse shitty behavior from white men due to trauma, mental illness, "their time period," but Louis, Claudia, and Armand are also victims and yet just victimized more in the fandom. We can't even discuss fr "memory is a monster" without you dipshits being racist about it. How many posts about Episode 5 have we gd had since the last trailer dropped, when that's something you had to go frame by frame to even catch, and also make a lot of assumptions some things are even from that scene. You can't appreciate any of the rest of the story, you're obsessively zeroed in on Lestat being freed from all guilt of DV. You're sick in the head with your love of whiteness.

[callmearcturus]

writer questions meme: 8, 13, 20 if you please

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

It wasn't explicitly writing advice, but I can tell you where I learned what my specific style would be. There was a fic in the Dresden Files fandom called "Cross" by LightGetsIn. LGI was a tremendous writer and a very kind mentory-friend who I attended my first fan convention with. Extremely accomplished adult who I looked up to when I was barely an adult.

"Cross" is a story about the limitations of perspective. It was the first story that really drove home the idea that Character A would not have the same knowledge and understanding of the world as Character B.

In "Cross", the POV character is John Marcone, a non-magical mafia boss who is deeply entrenched in the magical world. He has a lot of factual knowledge of how magic works, but he's an Italian-American Catholic. So when he's pulled into doing magical rites to bring another character back to life, he specifically doesn't pick up on the more pagan symbology of what he's doing, but filters it through a Guilty Catholic filter. Hence the name of the fic, "Cross."

And that story, which isn't even my favorite LGI story, probably taught me the most about how to write Close Perspective Third Person, which is my default style. When I'm writing in a characters POV, I rigorously limit what the POV character knows and picks up on. I will plant clues and information that the audience will understand, but the connections a character makes, the reference pools they pull from, their morality and ethics, all of those inform that POV, and what you and I know does not.

That is probably the most important lesson I've ever had in creating my own writing method.

20. Describe your perfect writing conditions.

8 hours of sleep, small breakfast snack like a croissant, decaf beverage, one dextroamphetamine, and no one fucking talk to me for about 2 - 4 hours. I will write 4,000 words.

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Lets put this under a cut, and I'll give you some DVD commentary. This is from chapter 2 of you'll need a new name to survive this. It's the point where Benji realizes Ethan is stalking him and does that trick to lose him in the bookshop, then sits outside waiting for him.

Only five minutes later, the door opened, and Bell took one step out before freezing, his eyes falling on Benji.

Got you, Benji thought with a sharp little smile. "You didn't even buy a book? Bit rude."

One of the goals of the early chapters of PT AU was establishing Benji's character as boldly as possible because we were essentially telling a story that canon does not. This is YEARS before MI3, where Benji gets two gd scenes.

To me, the tightrope walk was that I wanted Benji to have a reasonable grip on authority, to be shiny and new and out of his depth but still empowered because of his accomplishments. He has managed to land a good job working for the US government, he successfully emigrated before he was 30 years old, he has an apartment and a cat, he's new to everything in the spy world but he also has a steel spine that frankly he's fucking earned.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that Benji is a bitch and I love him so much.

Bell's face was blank, but Benji could almost feel how fast his brain was moving, weighing his options. Eventually, he settled on huffing out a little chuckle and stepping closer to Benji. "Hi."

Meanwhile, Ethan. MI1-era Ethan is very very smart but very very traumatised. His skillset is rooted in controlling people and predicting them. So Benji, a fucking civilian, catching him off-guard like this is like waving a red flag at a bull. Or dangling a steak over a lion enclosure. Benji doesn't know it yet but he's setting himself up to be a tasty treat for Ethan Hunt circa the late 90s.

"Are you going to kill me or something?" Benji asked. "Is that your spook job, are you a hitman?"

The flash of expression on Bell's face was offended. (This makes me laugh every time. Ethan Hunt is not a killer unless he absolutely must be and he will go out of his way to avoid it. Being an assassin is gross and he doesn't want to be perceived at all bc he's a spy but if he MUST be perceived jfc don't assume he's a HITMAN) "What, no. I just…" Grimacing, he looked away, eyes scanning the other pedestrians around them. "Okay, I'm screwing this up, I can admit that. Can we talk somewhere private?"

Benji didn't even have to think about it. "We can talk somewhere public."

Benji is never going to be an IMF agent but his instincts are wildly correct. And that knowledge comes from a different place! He was a gay punk rock vagabond who dropped out of law school, he knows how to keep out of trouble. He is probably the guy who told his other punk friends "if you are arrested do not say a goddamn thing, just ask for your public defender, don't joke, don't be a smartarse, keep your mouth shut."

The smile that took over Bell's face was lovely, transforming his whole face from storm clouds to something more seasonal. "That's honestly a very smart answer, doc. C'mon, there's a bakery nearby. I'll buy you a coffee. Least I can do."

It really was, so Benji nodded and followed him.

They didn't speak until Bell opened the glass door to another shop and held it open for Benji.

"Wrong hand," Benji said, noticing the small wince Bell let out.

"Inside, doc."

If it isn't obvious, all of the observational skills Benji has canonically have been funneled into his preternatural observation of patients.

Basically, if Benji as a character has a specific set of SPECIAL stats, all of those are the same, he just has different tagged skills in this universe.

Canon Benji is probably.... Guns, Science, and Repair. PT Benji has Medicine, Barter, Speech.

"Not a doctor," Benji said. "You know I'm not a doctor."

"What do you want to drink, doc?"

Ethan is being purposefully annoying and I could write a whole post about Ethan's soft power and the way he manipulates people, but that'd be another post. Short version: some people you seduce, some people you act like a wounded gazelle at, and some people you annoy.

Inside the bakery was loud. It was a strangely open floor plan. A long pastry case cordoned off the seating area for the customers. On the other side was just… the bakery. There were ovens and industrial mixers and rolling racks of cooling bread. In the corner, the espresso machine howled with noise as the milk frother worked.

It smelled divine, like living inside a baguette during a spring shower of dark roast coffee.

It also was a constant racket, which Benji mentioned to Bell as he sat down and slid a dark tea with vanilla syrup across to Benji.

"That's the point," Bell said, slouching back in his chair. "It's very difficult to eavesdrop in here."

Well, he wasn't wrong. Looking to another occupied table nearby, Benji briefly tried to pick out a word of what was being said by the woman seated closest to him. Nothing.

"Right, then," Benji said, attention back on Bell. "Why are you following me?"

"Why?" Bell seemed taken aback.

One of the many moments in the early chapters that establish that Ethan's perception of Normal is not anything approaching actual normal.

"Yes, why."

"Normal intelligence collection."

"On your physical therapist?" Benji asked with a barked laugh.

"Yeah." Bell leaned on his elbows, one hand cupping his own jaw and holding his head up as he made uncomfortably direct eye contact. "You really don't know who I am? Or why some of the appointments on your calendar come with no information?"

Pursing his lips, Benji shook his head.

Blowing out a whistle through his teeth, Bell grinned. "Sorry, that's just… it's new. I'm surprised Dr. Falsion didn't clue you in, but I guess she's not technically supposed to." Lifting his mug, he looked down into it. "People do shit they're not technically supposed to all the time in this town."

Ethan's major trauma at this point is being targeted by Kittridge and the Mole Hunt, and his trust in people to do their jobs is at a critical low that it'll never recover from.

"I don't even know your name," Benji sighed, sipping his own drink. It didn't taste at all like iocaine powder, so he was probably safe for the moment.

Bell rested his temple against the knuckles of his hand, his gaze so intense that Benji didn't know how to look away without making it patently obvious he was unsettled. Whatever Bell saw, it made his lips curve up slight. "Alright. Yeah. My name is Ethan. I work for an organization that shouldn't legally exist, so that's why you don't get anything on me. Even CIA jackboots manipulating local governments are realer than I am." He blinked once. "Also, I was an unprofessional shitheel last session, and I apologize."

Ethan apologizes here because Benji has earned his respect. And also by earning his respect, Ethan is also aware that Benji is not going to be so easy to maneuver around, so he fesses up that he was a prick, softly setting up a different tactic with Benji.

Benji felt his eyes going wider and wider with every sentence until it was a little hard to breathe. So his patient wasn't the American equivalent of an MI5 or MI6 so much as an MI8?

That did sort of start to explain what a pain in the ass he was.

"Shame," Benji managed after a moment of sitting fairly gobsmacked. "I was getting attached to 'Bell.' But I appreciate… all that. Thanks." He frowned. "Are you saying all this because you're actually sorry or are you sick of being stonewalled?"

Benji has a much more cynical mind than Ethan is the funny thing. Benji gets arguably more accurate reads on people than Ethan does. Or, Ethan gets accurate reads but he is continuously poisoned by the hope that people will be better than he expects. So FUNCTIONALLY, Ethan is an optimist and Benji is a realist.

Bell— Ethan— grinned. "That's a very good question. You actually have great instincts, doc. You did a surprisingly good job of shaking me when I was tailing you, especially for a civilian."

One of my favorite running gags is Benji being impossible to tail, so I'm glad we really drove it home the first time it happened. I love consistency in longfic.

"Again: thanks. Don't suppose you'll answer my other question?"

Ethan sipped his coffee, his smile visible around the edge of his cup.

"Right," Benji sighed. At least this felt like progress. And at least he probably wasn't going to be disappeared by a government assassin. That was a relief.

So this entire bit is Ethan reassessing Benji and pivoting his methods and tactics, setting up for a better way of handling Benji. And also being kind of charmed by him.