#the actual story's plotted out it's all the inbetween bits that need thinking on

[yesokayiknow]

Did you ever write any of that adult life skills dw crossover you were talking about ages ago

yes!!! it's got abt 1k written but i never finished it. whoops. have a snippet!

[fuzzydreamin]

for the writer meta asks, 3, 4, 14, 16, and 19

Thank you! Under the cut for being a bit longer~

3: What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

Uh, every scene where I have to figure out the inbetweens and getting from plot A to plot C? Not every scene gets to be fun, but I mentioned previously that I do enjoy having the slow to give those scenes a greater payoff, but it's still not all that fun to write.

Seriously though, I have many scenes that I am excited to eventually get to - mostly the "and heres where we figure out how everything's going down" scenes. The climaxes of individual events.

4: Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

The bodies of the raiders still littered the road, stinking as rot began to take them, with, thankfully unmutated, flies buzzing around them and laying eggs in every wound and orifice they could find. Nora nearly gagged as she stepped around one, trying not to think about the fact that they were here because she had personally shot them and left them to decay. It had been them or her, she tried to remind herself. “You know, it’s nasty work but these raiders were carrying useful supplies. Ammo, stimpaks. That kind of stuff.” Preston commented, stopping to kneel down and inspect the body Nora had just passed, “People need everything they can get out here, and you can’t really be too picky about where it comes from. It’s best to loot them before someone else does.” Nora figured the emphasis was on those someone else's being other raiders and similarly unsavoury characters. It certainly did make sense to take what they had for their own survival's sake, but he wasn’t kidding about it being nasty - as Nora knelt to search the pockets of one of the rotting bodies herself she had to retreat for a moment as her gag reflex kicked in, leaving her spluttering on the side of the road. Though thankfully nothing came up this time. It took her two more attempts before she managed to fish the items out of the dead man's pockets.

Nora's first time actually looting a dead body (I don't count her picking up the laser musket, since that was on the ground and not in the dudes pockets). It's not something she naturally thought to do on her own, and it's not something she can just easily brush off and not think too much about right away either. She's never handled dead people before, and these guys are dead from her own hands - and also two days old and smelly.

14: At what point in writing do you come up with a title?

Mostly just... whenever I do? I try to have the majority of the story - or at least the larger beats - thought out and work out something that will reflect the story either symbolically or maybe more literally.

In the case of 'Give Me Sanctuary', I had a lot of it figured out before I started working on it and knew that ultimately it's a story about finding yourself and where you belong in the world. It's pretty easy to link that to the literally named Sanctuary Hills for being where the story starts and ends and is often returned to in between. It's probably one of the locations that will be seen the most in the fic, also becoming a home or at least temporary refuge for most of the main characters. So, I knew I wanted 'Sanctuary' in the title. After that I was just looked up songs using that word to find playlist vibes and landed on Shelby Merry's 'Sanctuary' - I was already familiar with her work and the song was indeed major vibes, so I took the a line from that song and made it the title. Another line from the same song is currently the working title of 'Book 1' for the fic - since it'll be done in parts. Might keep it, might not.

As for working on Al's story at some point, it still might change but for now it's 'Icarus into Acheron'. This is because their story is more about a descent into (self)destruction, and 3 in general has a lot of themes and references to religion and mythology, so it vibes with that.

Overall I don't stress on names too much. I just look at the story and symbolism, and go to songs or poems for inspiration if nothing comes to me right away. I also prefer to keep them short, either 2-4 words at best. Any more than that and I feel it's more of a sentence than a title, but it's not a hard rule.

16: Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)

Nope. lol. Just kicking myself to write at all. Which I am, just slowly rn.

19: Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

Character remembering/recalling things. Guessing at things. A lot of being in their head in general. Might do that too much...

As for tropes, I'm not sure if/how it's classified as one, but I like giving characters that are flatter or more overlooked in the base content more to their characterisation. I like to expand on their motives and mentality.

I'm the kind of person who see's a minor character tied to just a single but important part of the story and I jump on them to dig my claws in and drag them back into the light like a cat playing with a mouse. I must dissect it!

[staghunters]

WTKAMW Bonus Content lol

The Fic is Done! I had an amazing time writing it and reading whatever y'all had to say about it haha. But, there is some more! Between outlining and the actual writing (sometimes even beyond that) the story went through some changes before it came to its final form. The first outline I had was MUCH different than what we ended up with, and inbetween there were scenes that got added/cut at the last moment.

So I guess this is a director's commentary/deleted content kind of post! A little look behind the curtain, for those that would like to. I got it all sorted by chapter in case you want to see about something specific. Enjoy!

General

A lot of things changed between the first and second outline. The second one was more structured to give me an idea of how many chapters this was going to be, plus it made it easier to give each chapter some meat. For comparison, here's all I had planned on the first one.

Pretty bare bones! I cut the baby-thing eating because it grossed me out too much tbh. Other than that, things were cut/changed because they simply didn't make a lot of sense. When I plan stuff out I like to think about the concequences that every act can have. For example, if sleepwalking Tai let Jackie in the attic, what does that mean for the connection Sleeper!Tai has with Vampire!Jackie? It's the reason that Sleeper!Tai is absent from the fic in general, because having her interact with Jackie raised too many questions that were never meant to be part of this story.

Other things changed to improve on tension/character/plot. Misty at first finds out on her own, but while full on excluding her would maybe be something that could happen, involving her from pretty early on made for more exciting things.

The second outline has more on that, so that'll be posted chapter by chapter. I divided it in major and minor events that I wanted to include in each section.

Chapter 1

Not much to say here! Chapter 1 was one that I could afford myself to work on for longer, so it got to where I wanted it to be much easier. It's a setup chapter, and how it happened was always going to be the same: Jackie is dead, Shauna improvises on her make-up routine, has a miscarriage after, Jackie comes to the attic.

The miscarriage is a bit tricky because the real reason I had it happen was because I just needed to have the baby out of the plot. Placing it after the accidental blood ritual leaves the room open for interpreting it as an extra thing the wilderness demanded in order for Jackie to come back (equal exchange and stuff). This is what Lottie is referring to when she warns Shauna here and in chapter 2. Still, like the show, I wanted to keep it nebulous what exactly is done by the Wilderness, and what simply happened.

Chapter 2

Now what isn't on here is that the karaoke scene in the woods wasn't meant to be part of the search at first, this got added in later and originally the scene cut from when Tai tells Shauna the math example. This didn't do much for the tension of this chapter and would've lumped it all at the beginning and end instead. Didn't like that!

Plus, it gave me an excuse to start playing around with the rest of the team. Van and Tai hadn't gotten their time to shine yet, and Natalie needed a good introduction to the plot.

Personally I really see Nat as someone who will keep her head high in a storm, and isn't afraid of going against the grain if she thinks what she needs to do will ultimately lead to the better outcome. She is sympathetic towards Shauna, but she will not put her own or the others' lives at risk.

Putting in a scene with Nat in her hunter element while Jackie walks around like any predator they might encounter in the woods therefore sounded like something that could have Something in there. Post-crash Jackienat is full of slight antagonism, but not enough to have them outright hate each other. Is it easier for Nat to shoot at Jackie? Marginally so. Deep down Nat doesn't want to do it at all, but in this situation it was a necessity.

Plus, a feral Jackie! I love stripping her from the put together humanity and then throwing her in a blender hahaha. This was still at the stage where she's not really there yet, and playing around with that from Shauna's pov was a lot of fun. This Jackie is as trustworthy as a fluffy grizzly bear, and Shauna is stuck on that "if dangerous why cuddly?" mentality.

Javi was always gonna die here. Like I said in the notes, his position here in canon was too convenient not to make use of. That it is Javi would push Nat even further into the corner of Hunter instead of Teammate, plus it planted the seed for what would eventually become the end of chapter 12.

Big owl was a last minute excuse/cliffhanger!

Chapter 3

SO, the scene where they find Jackie again went through a number of changes. The first idea was Shauna walking out in the woods on her own, spotting her, and being interupted by Tai coming to find her as Jackie disappears again. From there came Nat's hijack of her expedition.

First it was going to be just Shauna and Nat out there. They would separate, and Shauna would stumble upon Jackie sleeping in the snow. In the end I combined the first idea with the second, and added a Misty for some extra dynamic. Shauna walking off and finding Jackie on her own was a visual that I simply couldn't cut off. Additionally, it made it more interesting for me to have Jackie exhibit some agency here. Why do they stumble upon each other? Maybe it was pure luck, or Nat was right in Shauna being a lure, and Jackie does not have her new state of being figured out enough to know why she feels like going in a certain direction.

Here's that moment but from the first scenario where Shauna goes out alone with Taissa coming after her.

It would have led to Taissa taking on a more protective position, maybe even suggesting that Shauna is seeing things, but ultimately this didn't further the plot. Switching this out for Nat, Shauna, and Misty going out on a search was bound to have more fireworks. Nat's reaction to Jackie was harsh - especially given that Jackie is getting back to her old self at this point - but it was something that would raise the stakes.

Having the cabin burn down was a big leap for me lol. I didn't know if it would land right, but it was the only way that I could realistically get them rescued earlier. This story was always going to play out mostly in Wiskayok. Don't get me wrong, I love the wilderness, but the most intriguing about Vampire!Jackie to me was it being a complete flip on her position in canon: a symbol of civilization struggles in the wilderness vs a symbol of the wilderness struggles in civilization. Though Jackie isn't the character we see the most of internally in the fic, I could have her try to grapple with what she is now from a place that still wants to cling to how she was before.

Chapter 4

Notable changes: dad doesn't make an appearance, and the trek home was extended to more than a month. That last part was because I changed where the plane crashed on my own map. It used to be in Ontario, but that started to feel way too close to home/society. The north of Alberta became a better fit.

Every day was suppossed to highlight a certain relationship/dynamic of the people in Shauna's life. A bit more slice-of-life while we wait for our bestie to come back.

Jeff inserts himself in the story here. I wanted to balance him out in being genuinely saddened and sympathetic, while also a dumb teenage boy. This is one of the bigger changes from the very first outline, where the thought was to kill off Jeff in a premediated manner. But that didn't feel right. The way it is here now better sets up why he shows up at the Shipman house in chapter 7, and makes his demise a very unfortunate accident.

Jackie calls! I briefly toyed with the idea of Shauna picking up and Jackie simply not saying anything. It would feel more intimate, but with someone else picking up, there was the added mystery and I could let Shauna have the sudden realization of having missed something important.

The Birthday Tape is available here! The rules I set for myself were that the songs had to predate 1996 (for obvious reasons), and resemble both Shauna's and Nat's tastes in music (or what Nat would think Shauna would like). I've played this thing a lot while doing some writing haha.

Chapter 5

The fight is a part I struggled with because while there is reference material of it at its worst, by this point Jackie and Shauna have already underwent some change since the moment that door shut. Shauna, more in line with canon, wants nothing more than having Jackie back in her life. Jackie, hurt and confused, wants to lash out but has that clashing with own longing for things to go back to the way they were. This was also the first chapter where Jackie really had to be Jackie, and I felt anxious about not getting her right as a person.

The fun stuff, however, was really putting down that while Jackie is back and totally chill, there are things that are off. As you can see, Shauna was supossed to be more directly present to take note of that, but I changed it because it made more sense to let them take some distance from each other. Plus, this is the start of "Jackie is repressing things and that sure won't have consequences later". She is aware of what has changed with her and the danger it brings, and likes to keep that as far from Shauna as she can.

It turned into a game of what they both know and are willing to share, as well as Shauna misinterpreting certain things with Jackie because we are limited to her pov. F.e. Jackie's weird little moment at the washing machine was her first brush with how good Shauna smells now (in the vampy way). It is a pretty common headcanon that Jackie has/had issues with food, which is how Shauna interprets it when breakfast goes the way it does.

Ultimately, a chapter to put down the groundworks for Jackie and her cooky vampire mannerisms hahaha.

Chapter 6

Big changes here!

Tai's departure in chapter 4 with her family was suppossed to last much longer. This changed because I wanted to add in the school environment where the Yellowjackets are dealing with coming back to their old lifes and have to deal with the reactions coming from it. Given that Tai has a pretty important role as the other one to first see Jackie back amongst the (un)living, I wanted to do some more with her screen time. Hence, Shauna tells about Jackie staying at her place.

Jeff coming around again was cut because I genuinely didn't know what to have him do/say that would be different from the first time. The whole reason to have this at all was to poke at that past with Jackie and Shauna, but I figured it would do much with the next chapter in mind.

This turned more into them growing closer together again. Stealing booze from the nightstore was fun to write jkasdhf. When they break into Jackie's room, I wasn't sure how much I wanted Mr Taylor to be suspicious. In the end, I'm happy with how minimal it is. I do think the Taylors grieve in their own (fucked up) way, and that Jackie's presence linger everywhere is kinda what I wanted to do with him just saying her name like she is there (not knowing that she actually is, of course).

Other than that, some tipsy thoughts about feelings lol.

Chapter 7

THE CHAPTER THE CHAPTER

I think I had the part where Jackie kills Jeff written out since chapter 3, though I changed the location a couple of times. Please do envision me on the train smiling like an idiot while I'm thinking about all the ways I could kill this boy.

There was a concept of Jackie already going bad and Shauna noticing. Here she locked the door to her room and Jeff for some reason would go there and be jumped immediately. I cut this out in favor of what is in the fic now: a very slow build that has you experiencing this loss of control with Jackie. Though she sort of knows what is coming, this was still the first time that Jackie is breaking down in this way. Hence, there is some balance with taking precautions but also Not Knowing What Is Going On.

Dream sequences my beloved <3 There's a cameo of Laura Lee in here that would become a reminder for what I wanted to do with her later. Ghost realm Laura Lee functions in a similar way here as she does in canon, and I just wanted her to still be part of all this. Overall, the first dream sequence is very much inspired by what Lottie sees in Old Wounds. The second one deteriorates into something nightmarish much quicker. This is a highlighter for past trauma in the wilderness, and fears of the future. The ending of this one with a repeat of Jackie's pounce on Shauna and Nat shooting at her, but with changes from what happened in reality, was the start of it all coming together and imploding in chapter 12.

I was also in the middle of my memory-themed thesis write at this point, so that was very inspiring to incorporate. Jackie's recovered diary came in as a handy tool to really show the difference of her mental state at the start and near the end of the chapter. This was definitely my favorite chapter to write, in that regard.

Obviously the last point of Shauna calling for help was pushed forward to the next chapter. Switching povs at the end felt stupid after all this, so I had it end on Jackie leaving.

Chapter 8

To quickly pick up the Shauna calling point from the previous chapter: Nat did get switched out for Lottie. At this point, Lottie has much more of a bond with Shauna than Nat, especially in regards to their stance on Jackie. Lottie, being the pacifist that she is, still takes Nat along, of course.

Other than that, Shauna was going to have a private conversation with Tai on her feelings for Jackie. What I ended on instead was Shauna's confession in the car with Van and Tai, a little moment with Van at the bridge, and Taissa's suggestion at picking this topic up later. Partially because this spread it out and got more perspectives on it, but also because I didn't feel like inserting a long and deep talk on sexuality in the same chapter as them dumping a body lol.

Bobby's attack is something I pulled from chapter 10 on the outline, but I'll explain that more in detail later.

Chapter 9

SO YEAH BIG CHANGES HERE. From this point onward, the outline changes dramatically from the final product on some points. At a base level, it is the same, but the changes made do change certain moods significantly.

Shauna works through her own things in here, but the big cloud hanging overhead is that Bobby got jumped and everyone suspects Jackie. Jackie is still absent, but I had her move to Taissa instead of Shauna for reasons that made more sense for her character at this point. Also I like Jackie and Tai being forced to work together. I have a lot of thoughts about what their dynamic could've been had Jackie lived in canon.

So, while offscreen, Jackie has had some toned-down version of the "feelings about Shauna" talk with Taissa. The ultimatum was to get Shauna under some stress here as well and badabing-badaboom, there we have the culmination of it all asdjkhfks. A bit short and sweet, I'm still too embarrassed at times to write actual smut.

As previously mentioned, the Bobby thing got pulled forwards so that it could be used here. Misty has been cooking stuff up and this is a good enough reason to get the gang back together.

Chapter 10

Bobby attack and meeting in the same chapter would've been A Lot to cover in one go. That being said, revealing that while we already know that Jackie couldn't have done it felt a bit meh to me.

So I'm really glad for pulling Bobby forward and changing when Jackie and Shauna reunite! The comments sakdfhksjadjf. Sitting on the info while everyone was shaking their heads at Jackie was incredibly fun.

The culprit puzzle was then ofc turned obsolete and instead became a meeting to think about how to take care of this Jeff. Sleepover shenanigans happen, and I was able to do more with actual character interactions and flesh those out more. Jackie's annoyance with Misty's prying and Nat's conflict resulting from it took some center stage, but would also open the way for better communications (thank you Lottie Matthews!). Them having a smoke out back was the first scene I wrote for this chapter.

Chapter 11

Basically all of this was pushed into chapter 12. I felt like some time needed to be put between the planning stage and the action, so chapter 11 became an intermission with a lot of talking out. Talks about the past and future sort of happened but not as Intense as I had the initial idea for.

Chapter 12

I guess taking that Travis point from the previous part to here, Travis isn't as active in the search as he initially was in the outline. It didn't make sense to me to suddenly have an outsider involved and possibly in the know on everything. Plus, him barging in and finding the scene that he does made for an all the more chaotic finale to this chapter.

I didn't have much action planned out ahead, as you might've noticed, but one thing I really really wanted to be happening was the fatal shot going through Jackie and into Shauna. Vibes, ya know?

Even in a very very early draft version (in which Misty snitches on Jackie to Travis, he chases them out of Shauna's house and gets her in the back while Jackie was behind her). It was always going to go that way, because I couldn't really come up with a way to make the rest of it work otherwise

Chapter 13

Some changes!

Travis is out of the picture for the most part. I didn't want him to go to jail for the thing, which is why I put in that he's moving away with his mom.

I had the "final line" written down and then didn't use it haha. I thought them going back to Seattle, as trivial as it may be, would be more fitting than something general.

The epilogue was first just them meeting up at Vantai manor lol. I liked it at first, but it felt like a disservice to the rest of the cast. It turned into a much longer epilogue that checks in with a pov from each side character that we came across in a scene with Shauna, Jackie, or both of them together. A lot of this was written out ahead of starting with 13 proper, BUT I did change the final one with Bridget and added in the Van's movie store on the day of posting haha.

The og Bridget ending can be read below. I like some lines I had in it, in particular Britt and Shauna's private little moment at the door, but ultimately it didn't make sense to jump from a to b where Britt is just suddenly aware of Jackie's existence and the scene doesn't even get mentioned. With Shauna I could accept it because that's her daughter and she'd already survived one suppossed death lol, but I felt that Jackie's reintroduction would need some sort of planning.

Also, it comes full circle with Jackie's return at the start of the fic.

Anyway, here is the silly fluffy fix-it ending that was cut

“So then you tap here, and it calls me directly. Of course, we both need to have service, but I don’t think that should be much of an issue. Otherwise, I’ll text you beforehand. But if you can’t reach me at some point, you can scroll a little down to here and there’s Jackie.”

Bridget tries to keep up with Shauna’s hand moving over the tiny screen, but it all goes a little too fast for her to really take in the information. “Why isn’t there one with regular buttons?”

Shauna looks up through her eyelashes. “They don’t really make those anymore. But I agree, it’s stupid.” Her attention goes right back to the phone between them. “You only have to use the calling and texting bits of it, though. I doubt you’d even wanna throw yourself into the rest,” she laughs. Bridget doesn’t mind not understanding anything that is being explained to her. She’s already happy enough to have her daughter her like any other mother might. Even if it’s only for a short time. “With this, I can call you any time?” Shauna purses her lips in thought. “Yeah, in theory. I’m not sure if I can pick up immediately every time. But texting should be fine. I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can.” “Well, I better not be hearing too many excuses.” “Oh my god, mama…” “Just kidding, dear. This is already much better than having to wait for you.” “I know.” Shauna’s hand reaches across the table to lie it on her mother’s. It’s moments like these that Bridget cherishes with each visit. As if on cue, the other sunshine comes in. “Got everything set up, Britt?” Jackie asks as she props her chin on top of Shauna’s head. “Ooh, I don’t know. But it will come with some practice, I’m sure. Will you look out for this one to answer me when I call?” Jackie salutes as Shauna sighs dramatically. “Aye-aye, captain.” She then eyes the phone with its stock-image background. “Shaunaaaa” Jackie drags out as she drums her hands on Shauna’s head. “We should make a lock screen!” Shauna leans her head back to shrug Jackie off. “What do you mean, make her a lock screen?” “What is a lock screen?” Bridget interjects. “Oh, it’s like a screensaver. You can set whatever picture you want. So I’m proposing,” Jackie drags Shauna up from the chair, “that we make one right now!” “Ah, okay, and how do I do that, exactly?” Bridget follows them to the living room as Jackie sets Shauna down on the couch. “Okay, so…” Jackie trots over to her and starts swiping around on the screen until it pulls up the camera. “Now you got the camera open, and you can take a picture like this.” She taps the circle at the bottom and the screen briefly flashes before showing a still image of a slightly awkward Shauna on the couch. It disappears again after a second. “You can tap it a couple of times and then we’ll pick the best one.” Jackie giddily steps over to sit next to Shauna. It’s a little clumsy. Between Bridget not having her reading glasses on, and Shauna not being a huge fan of being in pictures in general, it is a miracle that they end up with a somewhat-decent-albeit-slightly-blurry picture of Jackie resting her head on Shauna’s shoulder and her leaning back with an arm around Jackie. “There,” Jackie says after another series of taps on the phone screen, “now you can see us whenever you want.”

When the time comes that they will leave, Bridget tries to drag it out as much as she can. She has a whole discussion with Shauna about giving them some cash for transport, while her daughter insists that they always end up fine. After all, they don’t need a train for the sake of saving time. Still, Shauna ends up taking about $200. They never say goodbye from the doorstep, because this is still the same neighborhood that Shauna had lived in for at least the first eighteen years of her life, and who knows who could still recognize her. Her or the ever-bright face of Jackie Taylor. “Do you have everything? Your notebook and the camera?” “Yes, mama.” “Got enough from Misty?” “Yes, mama.” “Is your route planned out?” “Yes, mama.” “Okay…” Bridget fixes the stray hairs hanging on Shauna’s face. Jackie hugs into her side. “We’ll call you tomorrow, Britt. I promise.” “Thank you,” Bridget murmurs while planting a soft kiss on her forehead. Jackie gives her a last squeeze before stepping away to put on her coat and get her bag. She puts a hand to Shauna’s cold cheek, who leans into the touch, holding the hand there with her own. “You’ll always be my little girl. You know that, right?” “Wow, way to rub it in.” “You know what I mean.” “Yeah, I know.” They stand like that for a moment, for as long as Bridget can make it seem in her perception. The spell breaks when Jackie shuffles back in. “You ready?” she asks Shauna, but Bridget tries to think of her own answer. She never really is, not in the many times that this scene has played out. Maybe it is because of that one time, now almost twenty years ago, that made it harder. Maybe it is that her daughter still looks the same as the picture they used to show who had gone missing on that flight. Once they stand at the door to step out into the world again, Bridget hugs Shauna close for just one more time. “I love you so, so much, baby. Never forget that.” “Of course not,” comes the answer as Shauna blinks her own tears away. “I love you too, mama.” It is always colder when she needs to let her go. The draft that comes in through the open door brings in the soft late-summer air in which the crickets chirp. The low evening sun silhouettes Shauna in the open doorway as she has one hand on the handle. Jackie holds the other and plays with her fingers. “Shauna?” Bridget stops her before she can completely close the door. “Come back soon, okay?” She gets a smile. The corners of Shauna’s eyes squint to show how earnest it is, and Jackie confirms it further when she leans into her to show Bridget a reassuring look. “Always.”

[kaz3313]

for the fanfic ask game, F and L 👀👀

L: how many times do you revise your fic/chapter before posting?

This really depends on the length! If it’s a single fic around 1k or under I’ll usually write everything, revise once, post, read it over in case I need to edit anything real quick. I usually leave it for a few hours to a day so I have “fresh” eyes to look over it.

For longer fics I tend to read through parts of it as I go/revise as I’m making the fic. So if I’m at the end of a scene, and plan on writing another scene, I’ll look over what I have, revise, and then write more. I Also do read through the whole thing afterwards- and unless I’m on a time crunch I give myself at least a day after “finishing” it to revise.

F: Share a snippet from one of your fav dialouge scenes and explain why you’re proud of it:

(Everything is under a readmore because tumblr format makes things quite lengthy)

So I shall share two!! One from a fic I’ve posted and one from one I have not :)

(Snippet from Pit of Sorrow, Pit of Comfort):

“It could definitely be worse… Though I mean not to offend you, if it wasn't for Quan Yizhen I would’ve gone to Yin Yu. At the same time, he is far too subservient to me. You have a bit of a bite to you. What if I was left without either of you? Then who would I seek out?”

Seek out- there, the beginning of Hua Cheng’s only way to “cry for help”. Seeking out people he couldn’t care less for (their relationship was strictly business after all-).

“Crimso- Hua Cheng, would you like to do something to help your mood?”

“Yes, I’d rather this encounter be enjoyable. What would be the point of it otherwise?”

Instead of offering what was in his mind or anything he wanted to do Hua Cheng stood there- He Xuan, if not for his good judgment, would strangle him. Why couldn’t he just be one bit normal?

He, of course, would be expected to think of something.

“We could go beat the shit out of The Green Ghost?” He finally offered.

(Snippet end)

I really enjoyed when I wrote this and posted because I’ve seen miscommunication used a lot for angst (understandably) but I really enjoy using it for humor. Tbh I really love the dialogue in this fic in general because of Hua Cheng’s nonchalant attitude and He Xuan’s bubbling worry about him while also trying to keep himself more neutral. It was a fun piece to work on!

Snippet from (Part two in a series and fic unnamed). Please note is rough draft so descriptors will be added when I do post it:

“Randy, we need you back. Soon as possible- you can come in tomorrow even. You don’t have to go on the bullshit training, you know your shit, and same hours as before.”

“Is it cause I’m the only one who’ll work with crazy-“

“We can’t find anyone else who’s willingly to work with Karen,” He sounded oh so desperate.

“And people have been-“

“I can’t believe it but people have been asking about you. You know seemingly know every actor, plot, and directors of every movie here”

“Yeah, also I enjoy cl-“

“And of course you’ll have to close again on weekends but you never minded that. So how about it?”

“Under a few conditions. Number one, I get my keys back, the keys I used to have don’t try to pass someone else’s on me.”

“Done,”

“Fifteen cent raise,” He stated.

“Five.”

“Ten’s my final offer. Otherwise I’m not coming back,”

“… Alright. Ten cent raise.”

“And! If you fire me again and rehire me I get another ten cent raise and a bonus.”

(Snippet end)

This is actually an incredibly angsty story so I really enjoyed making this type of witty/non serious dialogue in between everything. I think even for the most serious of writing a bit of lightheartedness is needed (whether he from internal dialogue, external dialogue, or even just a humorous scenario among all the more serious ones). Also it is quite hard to write angst with nothing at all inbetween (for those who can massive kudos)

[lavendertune]

Ouf okay, let's do this (Part 1)

I typically write in Times New Roman or Calibri, simply because I enjoy the style of the font. I tried using other fonts but my eyes rebel against anything else than the aforementioned two.

I started by writing everything by hand! Back in school when I was bored I got out my pad and started scribbling, or when I was travelling too. Back then I didn’t have a laptop yet which ended in massive folders filled with my stuff. Once I got a laptop and realized editing and writing in general is much much easier on it I switched immediately and never returned lmao.

It’s terrible, actually. I have that little oriel in my living room with old furniture and a lot of candles. I typically sit down in my comfy round rattan chair, light the candles, turn on my playlist and start writing. The curse, though, is that I need absolute solitude. It’s hard for me when someone else is in the room or when there is another source of light/noise. This is making it really hard for me to write because I’m living with my partner and he usually spends his time in the living room.

Unecessarily. Uneccesariy. Unnecessarily. Gods, I always forget how to write it.

Idk if it’s superstition but you write better the more you travel. Going out, meeting people, seeing other places; It all gives you motivation and inspiration. Which is why I always take my laptop with me, no matter where I go.

Never getting to finish my novels. My original motivation came with an original idea I started writing years back, but playing FFXIV, falling in love with Zenos and starting “Like Fire and Ice” cut inbetween my original novels. I’m currently trying my best to “finish” “Like Fire and Ice” (although I have a lot more planned still) so I can start writing what I had originally planned.

Realizing that I’ve done that. It was me who wrote all of these words. All of these pages. And there are actually people out there who read it. Honestly, every comment I get on my stories makes me giggle like a little kid.

I’d probably choose to leave out the dialogue. You don’t have to let your characters speak to tell an interesting story, but without at least a little bit of action it would get too boring for me and possibly the reader. It would probably be something dark and mysterious, perhaps something about a cryptid.

Yepp. A 100% . Had my own experiences and have been working with the paranormal/occult for some years now. Also, I love Ghost Adventures and Sam&Colby.

Haunt me? No. If I found something disturbing or just straight up “bad” I cross it from my mind.

Hmn, not really. I do “love” to kill of characters, but only for character or plot development. My deaths are usually calculated. I may miss the characters but I do not grieve them for I know they achieved what they needed to.

Easy! Better concentration, more time to write and a better memory. Those are the three things always ruining my flow.

Hmn, good question. I don’t have a problem with any kind of topic thinking about. I usually make sure to do my research before writing about more sensitive stuff but it never bothers me. I don’t enjoy writing slice of life type settings though.

I do! And honesty, I don’t actually care if I get them back or not. I do have a handful of books I cherish and I wouldn’t hand out because I use them for inspiration or research, the rest on the other hand mostly just exists? I’ve read them, of course. But I rarely read books multiple times. I rather give them away to people who’ll enjoy the story and know I made someone else happy in doing so.

Never in my life would I butcher a book like this, heavens. It hurts me to see mistreated books, be it dog-ears or similar. Even worse are books whose pages have started to curl from moisture, which is why I would never read in the bathtub. We can still be friends, though know you leave a cut in the deepest parts of my soul.

You ask the guy with a sifter for a brain. Uff good question, I think it was a keychain? I honestly can’t remember.

*nervous laughter* Honey, you don’t want to open this box. To make a long story short, it’s more or less an enemies to allies to lovers with three different timelines. In these timelines I explore the different routes the relationship between my hero and my antagonist can take and the various outside influences that drive them to make certain decisions. It’s a fun way to bring light to different aspects to their characters and to show how the way people treat you can change your point of view and, ultimately, your decisions.

“Like Fire and Ice” – Accursed Bonds – Part Ten “I'm so tired.” “Then rest.” A quick noise of complaint comes from somewhere next to me but I don't have the strength to see who made it. All that's left for me to do is take a breath in as Zenos' arm gently lays over my back once the healing touch has faded. I expect it to hurt, but it seems like I've gotten too numb to feel a thing. And still the Garlean makes sure to move as carefully as possible as he slips his other arm underneath my thighs and lifts me up. “You are safe now, hero.” His strong arms cradling me, holding me close to his chest, I feel my heart explode. It's a warmth I haven't felt in years, a light I thought had left my world. Sighing quietly I open my eyes, leaning my weak head against his chest as I look out to the vastness of the Steppe, my eyes threatening to fall shut. It's sunrise. This was one of the scenes I had been looking forward to for ages. In it our hero is rescued by his friends together with the help of their enemy after having been abducted by a mysterious group currently terrorizing their allies. I actually got the idea from one of these “prompt-videos” on tiktok in which the beaten up hero stands in front of their enemy who asks them “Who did this to you?”. I loved this idea so much I somehow had to implement it into my story, but I at that point I was already too far into my storyline to add it. So I sat down and thought how to turn and twist it to make it fit. My first idea was to separate the two in one way or another, forcing my hero to face a different enemy on their own. Unable to come up with a good idea I chose to just keep on writing and so I did until I was presented with the perfect moment to implement it. At this point of the story my hero and his enemy had already begun to (although out of necessity) work together and had to spend a good amount of time travelling alone. Finally being fully confronted with the other they managed to find some sort of way to get along and actually started to bond a little. Still, my hero clung to the trauma and the pain his enemy had inflicted on him and thousands of others and pushed him away, forcibly building a wall between the two. His abduction, though, made him realize just how comfortable he had grown with his enemy. Even though part of him still hated that madman he couldn’t deny that there was something pulling him towards his enemy. During the days spent with his captors he was subject to torture and wilful neglect which in the end almost cost him his life. When his enemy finally had found him he snapped and ruthlessly killed the man that had tortured my hero, the rest of his friends and the other captors staring in horror at the scene. I wanted to show my characters and my readers just to what lengths his enemy would go to save my hero and also to open my hero’s eyes and admit his true feelings.

Weird Questions for Writers (because writers are weird)

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

6. What is your darkest fear about writing?

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

8. If you had to write an entire story without either action or dialogue, which would you choose and how would it go?

9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?

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

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

16. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark?

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

20. If a witch offered you the choice between eternal happiness with your one true love and the ability to finally finish, perfect, and publish your dearest, darlingest, most precious WIP in exactly the way you've always imagined it — which would you choose? You can’t have both sorry, life’s a bitch

21. Could you ever quit writing? Do you ever wish you could? Why or why not?

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

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

26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

28. Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why?

29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?

30. Talk to me about the role dreams play in your writing life. Have you ever used material from your dreams in your writing? Have you ever written in a dream? Did you remember it when you woke up?

31. Write a short love letter to your readers.

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

33. Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?

34. Thoughts on the Oxford comma, Go:

35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice...what do you Know?

37. If you were to be remembered only by the words you’ve put on the page, what would future historians think of you?

38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?

39. What keeps you writing when you feel like giving up?

40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.

[sapphicobsessions]

Surviving romance manhwa review

Summary: When Chaerin Eun becomes the protagonist of the romance novel she is reading, she expects a fairy tale ending with the novel's love interest, Jeha. But when a bizzare twist makes her realise the story is not playing out as it does in the book, she'll need the help of an unlikely character from her class to defy the new storyline and find her happy ending -- If only she can figure out who this 'Unknown extra' is first!

(summary from English webtoon app)

Ok so you guys might be thinking this is your usual isekai romance story, but actually no! This webtoon's genre is infact horror !! (not the 'ghosts' type of horror, I won't reveal much bcs spoilers lol) Don't get misleaded by the title :) If you like smart mcs then this webtoon is for you!! And this doesn't contain any real romance between the characters (tbh it would be weird to do so but I won't tell why.. bcs spoilers lol) You guys should definitely check this one out if you haven't already <(￣︶￣)↗

Yesterday i finally had the time to check it out and lemme tell yall...I was HOOKED. I was literally so invested that I binged it in less than 24hours (this happens rarely for me) and i do not regret one bit.

Firstly, the art. JUST LOOK AT HOW GORGEOUS IT IS!! (๑♡⌓♡๑) I really love the artstyle so much, 11/10 really <3

And as for the story...it's AMAZING. One of the best webtoons out there no cap ＼(°o°)／ the plot is unique, the characters are diverse and intresting, the character developments are very well written and the humour inbetween is also so funny!! Our mc is smart and i really love her character development <3 i also have many side characters who i really like and they all serve a purpose and make the plot more intresting!!!

Currently the plot for me is 10/10 but this might change later after this webtoon ends

[clevercorvidae]

How is the Dream SMP gonna end?

I think it’s time we really start talking about it. And I also think it’s time the ccs start considering it as well if they haven’t already.

The story has hit a massive lull. All the people playing characters central to the plot have started new projects and have begin branching away from the smp. And it seems they’re becoming less interested in playing on the smp and in continuing it’s storyline. (If you want me to elaborate I will but I’m just gonna say it outright here)

So, as it seems the ccs wanna move on, not to mention the new update that would call for a server reset anyway, I personally think this is the point where we should really start thinking about the end of the server’s story.

There are few things that have to happen to make the end of the smp satisfying so I’ll just list them out now:

1) tie together the plot lines of the smp

2) make sure the loose threads are tied up as well as possible

3) include everyone to send off the server with a bang

4) end the story in a way that ties it together

So for the first bit. Tying the storylines together is gonna take some TIME. We know that all the plot points are connected in some ways and we need to start getting answers to these questions the audience has. What is Ranboo’s other half and how is he connected to Dream? We need an answer to that. What is the Inbetween and the Other Side and who wrote the books there? What’s going to come out of the Egg? How will Dream get out of Prison? There are so many questions still unanswered. We don’t need all of them to get answered at once, we just need to start getting a feel for what’s going on at the core of all this, if there is a core reason behind the mysteries of the server at all.

After we get more concrete information, it’ll be easier to have the storylines converge into a more cohesive final arc. We need a unifying conflict that will tie it all together. It could be lots of things but it’s more than likely gonna start with Dream escaping prison and getting the ball rolling.

On the second thing, and this ties into the first point, we don’t just need answers to the mysteries in the story. We need narrative answers to plot points. We need a bedrock duo confrontation of sorts that can end that point of conflict. We need a reveal of Ranboo’s connection with Dream and his past to be revealed to other characters and for them to REACT. We need to see Fundy and Wilbur’s conflict be resolved. We need a character arc for Techno that satisfactorily resolves the conflict his character caused. We need to see where Sam’s corruption arc ultimately leads him. We need to see the repercussions of Quackity torturing Dream. And the thing about all these things is they need to start being set up now, or getting to the actual end of the smp is gonna take even longer.

On the third point, we need the plot to lead the characters in a way that all characters will be present at the end. The server’s story ending without participation in the plot from everyone will be unsatisfactory. We need the final conflict to be a server wide issue that requires equal participation.

To the fourth point. The end of the story needs to tie to the beginning in some way. It’s just the narratively pleasing way to do it and makes the whole thing feel more cohesive and satisfying to the audience. We all joke about how silly it was that highschool English teachers made us point out the central theme or message of a book, but without some core, unifying SOMETHING at the center of a story, the whole thing feels hollow. So the finale should be showing us what that something is.

I don’t want the Dream SMP to go out with a whimper. I want it to end in a way that’s memorable. And I’m pretty sure most of us want that closure. Maybe I’m mistaken and the ccs aren’t drifting from the dsmp as much as I think they are, but every story need a good ending. And I don’t think it’s wise anymore to keep going along in the story without a destination in mind. I just hope that whatever happens, we’ll get to send off the story in a way it deserves.

[cyberstatic-fox]

Honestly the fact that a giant part of FNAF's audience are kids is a bit... Disheartening, considering that made the content more child-friendly too. Well, as much as game like this can be haha... A lot of dancing around things and only implying it sometimes, even in language.

Says I, who's been a fan for years and is only turning 20 this year.

Hopefully I'll figure it out soon enough lol.

That said, man do I feel ya on this whole "creativity" thing. I'm writing my own fnaf sb fic, just for my own personal entertainment and not for posting, and I've only written the first chapter and a chapter set quite far into the future cuz I had an idea for it. Cuz I'm still trying to figure out what exactly I actually wanna do. I've got NO idea what I'm doing and how to take the plot where I want it, and what to stuff inbetween. Hard to think of the finer parts in the story and the interactions.

Hopefully I'll figure this out soon lol.

And then there's an additional problem of "I don't feel like drawing", which is a huge deal when it's your job.

All that is to say, take your time! It's really no problem to wait, I understand how it feels, and I'm sure everyone else does too. I don't think there's any need to rush, I'm sure you'll get out of this funk soon enough.

Sorry if I made any typos it's 5 AM and I don't pay attention :D

yeah it's really funny as a newer fan cuz like. half the fandom is tired college students which is pretty standard, and then half is 13yo children talking abt going to high school soon. it blows my mind lmfao this is the most bizarre fandom ive been in yet

(esp considering im mid-20s lmfao i feel like an old fart next to all these fans who literally grew up on fnaf)

it's also funny how ive been able to draw lately but not write considering ive had art block for the past forever lmfao as it turns out the cure to stagnation is to embrace your inner cringe, who knew

[subwalls]

Tales from the SMP Presents: The Haunted Mansion

An ongoing exploration of how the Inbetween drives my Kingdom Hearts brain crazy with paranoia! Less of an analysis this time, because we got confirmation (VALIDATION!!), and more of speculation, but yeah!

First of all! I was right not to trust this fucker.

Just kidding, that’s not the first thing we’re gonna talk about here. First of all, a gentle recap!

As I’ve mentioned before, the Inbetween has some uncanny resemblance to the Kingdom Hearts world known as Castle Oblivion. Castle Oblivion is known for being the place where the main series protagonist lost all of his memories, and even had false memories implanted while he was getting deeper and deeper into it. 

You might be curious as to how the Kingdom Hearts protagonist escapes.

He doesn’t.

He needs outside help, and a lot of it, to get him out of that situation. Even then, it takes a whole year. He drove his own heart into the bottom of the abyss in his desperation to save someone he was tricked into thinking he knew, and he didn’t even regret it, because he was saving someone.

... A lot of people on Dream SMP have different ideas on what it means to save people.

Also, the castle also had a very plot-twisty secret where it used to be the lush and wonderful home of these three friends before they fell apart; one was lost to the Evil Dark Side™ (not real name), the other was trapped in the Realm of Darkness (real name), and the last one fell into a coma for TEN (10) YEARS and his body was left to be protected in the heart of the land, which was then locked and turned into Castle Oblivion.

So, pretty fucked up place! Not inherently evil, but the place of great misfortune and just... not very good for everyone there.

Let’s start at the beginning!

Welcome back indeed. Take notice of the wither rose in the pot, by the way, I’ll come back to this in a bit.

The first thing that stands out to me on this page is the smiley face, of course. It’s not the ever-iconic, ever-evil “:)”, but it’s similar enough that I think the callback is intentional. The smiley is c!Dream’s icon, of course, which... honestly makes me think that “:]” might be DreamXD, but that might be because I’m very very biased for the server god who simps for a dangerously apathetic cottagecore once-king.

Of course, it does also look kind of like Quackity’s face, and cc!Quackity has said something about big lore coming for him, but until further evidence is presented I’m disinclined to draw a connection there.

The Inbetween, as we’ve come to know the author of some of these books to be, being happy that Karl is continuing—it reminds me of the KH protagonist being told yes, good job, keep going, as he stumbles deeper and deeper into the castle that strips away memory after memory from his heart. Why does the Inbetween think that Karl’s time travel is important, his careful documentation of every story? Is it because the more he does it, the more he becomes attached? The more he becomes reliant on the Inbetween to feed the missing pieces of his memory?

Is it because the Inbetween, in parallel to c!Dream and c!Wilbur, prioritize the concept of story over the characters?

Things to think about. 🤔

Also kind of interesting that the Inbetween thinks Karl will eventually uncover “all [he] needs to”, which continues to make me think that the more c!Karl comes to the Inbetween the more he becomes... either dependent or over-trusting of it. Not sure. But weird things happen when it’s magic that tampers with memories, rather than trauma.

Basically, I’m getting “there is no war in Ba Sing Se” vibes.

The book continues to say that Karl probably has a lot of questions and that it would love to answer :] but never actually does. It’s trying to come off as helpful without actually being helpful. All it does is tempt him with the prospect of answers, and then draws him in deeper. “Continue onward, Karl.” But why?

Another wither rose pot.

Sidestepping the very innocuous, very surface-level information offered here (because that’s it, it’s nothing about the workings about the Inbetween, it’s just a little sweet carrot to distract with), I cannot even begin to convey the absolute terror that consumed me at the word “sleepy.”

I mentioned earlier that one of the original characters who lived in the land that would become Castle Oblivion went into a coma, right? But it’s more commonly referred to as sleeping. The game is even called “Birth by Sleep”, and there’s a whole thing about trying to get him to “wake up”. So the idea that time travel can take something out of the traveller that makes them tired, the idea that there is one specific room for sleeping quarters within the Inbetween, paired with that not-quite-right smiley face—I am traumatized, I tell you.

Yes it could be a “haha look what I did with the sentence, because day is a form of time and they time travel so long day is a funny term” kind of smiley, but. Kingdom Hearts has trained me to be suspicious of any talk of sleep.

There’s something just mildly unsettling about the way it continues, with the references to the “many Karls” and the “many many great stories” that sounds borderline condescending.

And now we get the, uh, “other” author. Notice how this one actually did not have a corresponding wither rose in a pot. I’m starting to think that the flower might actually be an indicator of the not-this-author-pictured-above, the probably-Inbetween-itself, so the fact that this book was found separately from a wither rose pot and it was tucked away under a tree... A tree, under which c!Karl will later find a bit of a refuge... yeah, different author. Or at least an author from a different time.

I’ll elaborate in a moment, but I do think that there’s three (3) mindsets/authors happening here: the sickly sweet Inbetween pretending to be good, the person trying to get c!Karl to distrust the Inbetween, and... someone who desperately wants c!Karl to stay in line.

This is the third... I don’t want to say author, because it too has the wither rose pot and is trying to keep c!Karl playing along with the Inbetween, but it’s much less coherent and much more desperate.

No “:]”, either.

Some possibilities I’m considering:

the Inbetween, but it’s like, a security subroutine or a glitch in the system,

the Inbetween, but it’s from a future wherein c!Karl has fucked it up to the point of desperation,

Karl / the other author, but it’s from a future, where trying to stray from the Inbetween resulted in something traumatic happening and they don’t want it to happen anymore.

Some fun possibilities to keep in mind. Anyway!

Ooh, the return of the wither rose pot.

For this part, the only thing I really have to say is that the repetition of the Inbetween trying to present itself as “a place to feel at ease” is... Well, as the lovely Fear has said in this post linked here, a place that tries and makes itself seem safe probably isn’t, because a genuinely safe place wouldn’t need to announce it all the time.

Very much sounding like a Ba Sing Se thing.

More importantly, the book actually says that it’s “wild” how the Inbetween is “so beautiful that even time travellers who go anywhere at anytime ever and they still choose here” with a good old “:]” tacked on at the end. That’s... that’s not just me thinking like that sounds kind of threatening, right? Like, time travellers can see anything anywhere, and they keep coming back to the Inbetween. Why?

Is it because they forget the beauty of anything else? Is it because it’s not beauty, but rather attachment and emotion that keeps someone going back to a place? If someone forgets their loved ones and precious things, then why would they go anywhere but the place where they’ve put all their stories?

Why did KH’s protagonist keep going deeper into Castle Oblivion even though he knew that the castle was taking apart his memories? Because he had one thing left: the fake, implanted memory, which told him that in order to save someone, he needed to push on no matter the personal cost.

So the real question is: are the time travellers coming back to the Inbetween because they want to, or because they no longer have a choice?

It regards all the different Karls with such... distant affection, too. “How beautiful,” it calls them, for wandering the blank halls with blank stares and blank hearts, none of which react to each other. It says that they “choose” to walk the halls, uncover mysteries, and tell stories. But what was the other choice? Was it really a choice at all?

Hmm.

Karl goes on to explore, and finds another book that does not have a wither rose pot, which tells him he has to go Under The Tree.mp3 and informs him that he “can’t afford not to”. Cool. Not ominous at all.

He finds another, which says the same thing.

Definitely not ominous. /s

The phrasing here is interesting, because it’s also phrased like a threat. Usually, when someone tells you that you “can’t afford not to”, you’re either looking at a scam or at the business end of a weapon. But the empty pages tell you that the author is trying to keep it down low. That’s one of the ways Minecraft players have found to express tone in the very limited form of Minecraft books, and it works splendidly.

Not to push my DreamXD agenda, but like... the door was iron. Iron doors are a weakness for Dreams and dreamons and, mayhaps, Dream’s dreamon.

I know it’s probably just because the iron door keeps in line with the color palette of the build but let me dream, alright.

Anyway, book content! And an interesting point of order: there is a wither rose pot. I said earlier that it might be an indicator of the Inbetween as an author, but that doesn’t make much sense now, does it? This is meant to be a place hidden from the “it” that I assume to be either the Inbetween itself or the one/s controlling it.

So why the wither rose pot inconsistency?

Unless it doesn’t mean that. Unless it’s just a metaphor for, say, memories withering away or something. Or maybe it’s just a pretty plant, for funsies! Who knows. If I had to guess, I’d say that (after much reflection) it’s likely less a mark of author and more a theme of, mm, memory status. The withering away of memories. It fits in with the Inbetween, because that’s what might be responsible for it, but the author/s of the book aren’t immune, either. They get blinks of clarity, with the hidden, tucked-away tomes, but they might not be completely free.

The next book, however, again lacks the wither rose pot. It might not be a coincidence that the one without the potential mark of a withering memory is the one that actually divulges some more information.

This book goes into slightly more detail about the warning, though not about whatever actual threat it is that the castle (which... Castle Oblivion, you know) presents.

It says that 1) it’s not what it seems, 2) the "truth about the other forms of you”, 3) this place “is not okay”, and 4) get in that portal we saw that was blocked off before.

We know that the Inbetween isn’t what it seems, but the “truth” about the other forms... Hm. This is, in fact, another Kingdom Hearts Thing. There’s a running joke that everyone on the very large cast of characters in KH that in the end, every person is actually either secretly a version of the antagonist (through possession or body splitting or whatever), or a version of the protagonist (through similar concepts). Multiple bodies and other forms is definitely a Thing in KH, though it’s not as oh-god-not-again definitely-bad as the sleeping thing.

I think the other forms have either become reliant on the Inbetween or have forgotten everything but the Inbetween, or both. Maybe more of the prior, since the warning is against trusting the place.

And, uh, this? Fucking terrifying. I love it to pieces.

Every single one of these books has a wither rose pot, and this is kind of why I think that the Inbetween or its master/s is, in some way, possibly functioning via routines and like... an AI. Or a genius loci kind of thing.

But good news, there aren’t 13 books, there are 14! This is important for Kingdom Hearts reasons, because Kingdom Hearts has a big thing about the numbers 13 and 7 (13 is the number of pieces of darkness, and 7 is the number of pieces of light, and this is equal somehow, don’t question it).

Now, 14 is an important meme number in the MCYT fandom, of course, but I don’t think it has terribly too much to do with the lore beyond a fun easter egg.

The books themselves trying to tell c!Karl to, essentially, go with the flow and the path that the Inbetween has set up for him is... something. I like the idea that it’s some future version of something trying to stop something from happening, but we all know it’s probably not going to work. Fun times.

And finally, this.

The Inbetween is a bit of a narcissist, huh? It won’t shut up about how it’s so pretty and irresistible and the whole definition of, like, a honey trap. Oh my god it even describes it as ~mysterious~ as a good trait, that’s hilarious.

More pertinently, it also calls the Inbetween “a time traveller’s dream”.

A time traveller’s. Dream.

Again, not to push my DreamXD agenda, BUT—

But! Getting back on track, the book expresses its eagerness to see Karl again, says their relationship is gonna be great, reminds him that his stories are important, and then tells him that he needs the Inbetween/author just like the SMP needs him.

Uh. He’s going to need the Inbetween?

Hello?

Why? How? So far it’s presented itself as being pretty and perfect but it never said anything about necessity! What’s going on!

Very much reminded of how Castle Oblivion was presented as “you need to keep going in even though it takes your memories away because there’s someone you need to save [fake but you don’t know that because you don’t remember anything]”, and I am afright.

Talk about subtle strings being tugged at here. I’m really seeing the beginning seeds of a dependency thing being sown, and if it weren’t for the side books painting giant neon warning signs everywhere, I don’t know if it would’ve caught on. An artificially cultivated concept of how important and great the Inbetween is, and don’t you just want to take all those stories from that messy world elsewhere but come back here in the end to take a break and exist and explore and oh, isn’t the Inbetween great, isn’t it wonderful?

Man, c!Dream wishes he was this good at subtle manipulation.

tldr; there are multiple authors trying to tug c!Karl in different directions via those books. The Kingdom Hearts parallels predict that his memory will be at stake, and he might not be able to escape without help.

[demonfox38]

Okay. Made it through the last season of Netflix's "Castlevania" interpretation. Thoughts are below the cut.

I've often thought of this series as the exploitation version of "Castlevania," and hiring Malcom McDowell confirms that.

Although, I find it hilarious that both Malcolm McDowell and Patrick Stewart have ended up voicing the same character. I'm sure there's a "Star Trek Generations" joke to be made in there, but I'm not Mike Stoklasa.

Also, I was cracking up a bit when Varney's plot twist happened. Mostly, because it came off a bit Skeletor-esque in vocal performance.

Also, also—laughing that the final boss went the "Castlevania: Lament of Innocence" route despite barely touching on that game's plot.

Animation had its ups and downs with this season. It seemed like there were some frame issues (not enough inbetweening.) I do appreciate how they incorporated more of Alucard's SOTN animations into his fights, however.

Additionally, some of the fight scenes' pacing seemed to have issues, particularly regarding weapon recovery.

The whole bit with St. Germain was off. Like, he's a weird asshole in "Castlevania: Curse of Darkness", but he's more of a weird asshole there in the same way that casually encountering "Doctor Who"'s Doctor would also be strange. Not a straight up villainous boob. Kinda makes sense thematically to have another character who is willing to do horrible shit for their lost loved one, but the series honestly did not do a good job establishing her. Like, did she even have a voice actor? Or a name? All I'm saying is it was much easier for outsiders to get the Lisa revenge thing Dracula had going.

Also, how dare you joke about not being deaf and then have a villainous monologue, TV show.

Greta's a good girl. Well, outside of being an occasional homewrecker. Point is, she's competent and trying her best to save people in a bad situation, and anyone having issues with her is not to be trusted in the same way that you don't trust people who don't like Rochelle from "Left 4 Dead 2."

Look at me. Do not trust people who do not like Rochelle from "Left 4 Dead 2." Yes, her writing could have been better, but she's still a viable character. Let people Thunder Child their ships on the rocks of your better self. Got me?

Also, y'all really need to embrace more polyamory. Or understand the fact that Alucard's not going to love just one person in his life. Dude lives to be at least 600 in the game's timeline. For a dude who loves humans, constricting him to just one who may live to be 100 at best is cruel.

There are some interesting philosophical dialogues going on here, but I can see where some people may lose their patience for them. Considering one of Castlevania's most popular memes is a philosophy debate, you're just gonna have to suck that up. My personal favorites included the topic of acting versus reacting, as well as having agency in one's story.

Striga's battle theme was cool, but otherwise, the music was forgettable. Yes, that is a sin. Punishable by Death? In this series, maybe!

The gore's still over the top. Which, okay, fine. There's a bit of that in game. It's just generally a bit more reserved with it or uses it in crucial boss fights.

RIP doggie.

The Targoviste plot's a bit of a wash, but it doesn't feel as useless as Trevor and Sypha's previous plot predicament. It's just nothing of a surprise, considering how many times the writing has played the "authority figures are useless" and "dark secret surprise" tropes in this series. Like, Greta being reliable is actually more surprising than anything with this plot.

I cannot emphasize enough how boring I found Carmilla's interpretation and plot arc. You guys could have had a giant, naked lesbian riding a skull and spewing magic at people while her cat-eared girlfriend jumped them for extra damage. But no. Vanilla lady with a scarlet sword for you. So long. Farewell. Auf Wiedersehen. Good night.  

Gotta say, as much of a deviation from his source character as he is, Isaac really turned out well in this series. He's definitely evidence that you don't always need to stick to source material.

His Abel is fucking sick, dude. Way to go, king.

Also, I was expecting more violence from Hector this season. Oh, well. At least he got a teeny bit of a spine.

Look. I'm not an alchemist by any means. I'm just a bit baffled by this season's emphasis of obtaining a Rebis. Like, any time the game series has talked about the Magnum Opus of Alchemy, it's more been in pursuit of making a Philosopher's Stone (or at the very least, a Crimson Stone, as seen in "Castlevania: Lament of Innocence.") Pulling a Rebis out of the aether is…well. Could have been more interesting than it was. I mean, it was a bit nightmarish, but it really didn't do much.

Sypha's really never getting back to her family, is she?

Love the idea that the cross subweapon is basically a fancy chakram.

GERGOTH. BUDDY. FRIENDO.

Really appreciating the monster variety in these last two seasons. I mean, that's a big selling point of the "Castlevania" games. Not so much vampires standing around and bickering in dick-waving contests.

Breaking out of the bullet points to hit on the big subject of this season—that is, the ending being surprisingly happy.

There's been a lot of shit that's happened over the last few years. Obviously, a pandemic. Konami's run by pricks. Then, there's the situation with the allegations of sexual coercion with Warren Ellis. Additionally, the terrible ending of "Game of Thrones" likely impacted how this season was developed, considering it seemed to be chasing its progression in construction. (I mean, look at Carmilla and Daenerys.) I don't know how many people were happy with the last season of "Castlevania," but from my POV, it double-tapped itself in the foot with the way it pushed simultaneous sex and violence in its last two episodes. My point is, there was little taste for additional darkness, considering everything that has been happening. Society is drained.

A happy ending was what people really wanted. And man, did this pull through, in that regard. But, there's a conversation to be had in if this swerved too far or if it violates some artistic integrity to give people what they want. So, let's have it.

Look. Man. Have you seen a "Castlevania" ending? When you do it right, it's crumbled castles and rainbow-colored skies. If you do it really right, it results in a pretty girl holding the main character's hand. There is happiness in these games. Hope. Forgiveness and redemption. If this is supposed to be any bit an accurate interpretation of these games, it absolutely should end in such a joyful fashion. (Okay, maybe giving Dracula and Lisa a second honeymoon at the end was a bit much, but I get where people would want that.)

Did some items need to be addressed more? Absolutely. Alucard staking people and Hector getting sexually coerced into servitude are some pretty big topics to just wave away. (Oh, shit. That second part is even worse now with what Ellis was allegedly doing, isn't it?) I suppose I'm just glad the series didn't go full Sephiroth with Alucard. And at least Hector finally took some stand in his situation, even if it wasn't the bombastic, hateful revenge I'm used to seeing from this character in other stories.

I think the creators of this series were trying to save this show from the fate of "Game of Thrones." (To some extent, perhaps the "Voltron" re-interpretation as well.) There's so much media out there anymore that if a production team doesn't nail the ending, their creation gets wiped out of the collective consciousness. To that extent, I think the creators were successful in saving their series. Did it do damage to itself in yanking out of its construction and themes? A bit. But, in doing so, it pivoted back to being more like a proper "Castlevania" product. (And of course, by proper, I mean anything ignoring "Lords of Shadows." God, people need to stop chasing other products when developing "Castlevania" stuff and just let the series be as it is.)

I am very curious as to how much of this season was part of an original draft and how much was revised in backlash to everything that has happened. It doesn't seem like Trevor was intended to survive, but to some extent, Sypha had to. (I mean, until she has a kid, anyway. See "Lords of Shadows" series for dickery regarding that.) I'm also wondering if there was more intended for the Carmilla subplot, as much as the series was banging on about her invading locations. I'm not even sure St. Germain was intended to be a villain all along. Getting into a bitchfight with Death? Sure. Doing what he did here? That's a weird arc, dude.

If you come away from my POV with anything, it should be this: GO PLAY THE GAMES.

Do it. Do it, you ghouls. Go to the Steam store and download the "Castlevania Anniversary Collection." Boot up your PS3 or 4 or 18 or whatever and get "Symphony of the Night." Throttle Nintendo's stores until "Aria of Sorrow" or "Dawn of Sorrow" or "Harmony of Dissonance" or whatever rattles out of their moldy pockets. Find a ROM. Find an ISO. Just play a game. Especially, one of the ones made before 2010.

"Castlevania" as a game series isn't about hordes of vampires dick-waving at each other or edgy swearing or being grim and dark. Some of that stuff's there, sure. But, at its core, it's what game developers created when they looked at Universal Monster Movie creations and went "That's cool. Let's fight that!" It's a series about pushing technology in MMC chips to make rich, vibrant music. It's about flourishing artwork and layers of sprites dripping particles and gore onto players. It's sober and goofy and very pro curry.

The thing is, "Castlevania" players have their own unique connection to the series. We're the weirdos you see clapping their hands when a mutilated dinosaur shows up on screen. It's not because the monster alone is cool. It's that we've fought and struggled and bodied that thing through several floors like a goddamn "X-Men: Children of the Atom" stage. It's kicked our asses. We've kicked its ass. We've got a connection to it that you just don't get from passively watching it barf lasers through a computer monitor or TV screen. Like, you know how people go, "Well, the movie wasn't as good as the book?" It's obnoxious, sure. But, those who read the source materials have to go to the effort of constructing their own sets and people to understand what's happening. In a similar fashion, game players build up their own skill set to reach that next rung.

Maybe you don't always get a payout when you invest your resources into something. But, there is a sense of accomplishment, seeing what you can do.

There's a reason this series got an adaptation. I mean, outside of Konami's head executives wanting easy money. "Castlevania" is a fantastic video game series. Has it got a few problems? Oh yeah. Especially after outsourcing and pachislot machines became all the rage. But, there's a reason Simon and Richter Belmont are playable in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate." There's a reason I spent a significant amount of time playing these games and writing or drawing fanworks for it. These games are wonderful. Beautiful. Difficult, but inspiring. Reasons I will still bang on about them decades years down the road.

When I get exasperated by layers of angst and edge lord content this Netflix series generated, I want you to know why. The roots of this show are good games held captive under poor management. Some people on staff know this. I wish they had more scenario and writing control. But mostly, I don't want to shit on them or their work. (Well, other than perhaps the obvious target.) I just want you to see what I love in these games.

And also to watch Crashervania. Because that's legit.

[deafmatteo]

hi hi so first i really love your writing, it’s so comforting and lovely, and i look forward to every little bit of it!

and idk if you’ve already answered something like this but i was wondering about your thoughts on skam france season 5?

hello, thank u! 🖤🖤🖤

and i have talked a bit about skam france s5 when i was watching it live but im more than happy to talk about it again & put all of my thoughts into one post JFJSJD.

let me just put a disclaimer here for abuse, both personal & what was shown in the season. also adding a read more because this got LONG, i am so sorry. i talk a lot </3 (ignore the spelling errors, i literally woke up and saw this anon and jumped out of bed to answer dflkgjkdlg)

also! i talk about deafness as a disability in this but that’s my own personal experience & what was written into the season. we know arthur sees it as a disability because he was raised in a hearing society as a hearing person. not all D/deaf people believe this!! this isn’t universal.

first things first, i just wanted to let people know these feelings come from a very personal place. i lost my hearing similarly to arthur — i was beaten as a young child and as the years have gone on and i’ve grown, my hearing has gotten worse. i was hard of hearing with mild to moderate hearing loss in both ears and now i call myself deaf because i have severe hearing loss in my left ear & i am completely deaf in my right ear. (don’t worry about being apologetic or anything! i’m very open about how i lost my hearing because although it’s sad & traumatic, it’s talking about how trauma and disabilities are often more intertwined than people realize. you don’t ever see a disabled person thriving in their natural environment. you see traumatized disabled people learning how to survive.)

i don’t have problems with how arthur lost his hearing. i think it’s a very important story to tell & it’s one that does occur — even if people don’t recognize it. it added to the fear and isolation he felt during his season because he was suddenly extremely disconnected from his peers and the people he called his best friends.

i also absolutely ADORE noee and camille. having a Deaf* woman who was as sassy and blunt and straight-forward as she was is a good thing. people often talk about how D/deaf individuals can come across as rude or unattentive or too blunt and it can be true but when people often talk about it, they do it in a rude/offensive manner! noee did it in a manner that wasn’t stereotypical and felt real. she also had the distain towards hearing people because they continually traumatized & belittled her and they showed that in a way that you knew was justified. she had been hurt by these people and she knew what arthur was experiencing, hence why she was so warm around him. having a Deaf love interest who wasn’t a hearing-people pleaser or someone who needed approval from hearing people was so good because it helped add layers of her own identity that the audience may not even realize exists.

camille as well. having a hard of hearing gay (queer? i can’t remember what he labelled himself as) person on screen without fetishism or trauma porn was refreshing. that doesn’t happen and seeing it was?? amazing. he was able to have fun, be himself, etc. also him acting as a connector between noee and arthur is a reality as well. he exists inbetween both of their worlds and while it’s clear that he is comfortable and okay with it, it’s a reality that often stems into feelings of anger and hurt. (as shown in arthur!) it’s good to see a hard of hearing person who doesn’t feel ostracized from the Deaf community & or the hearing community. he’s just vibing!

the isolation that arthur felt. the lonelines, the pain, the fear—all of it is a reality of the situation he was in. even with his friends attempting to support him in the ways they knew how, he still felt alone. having noee and camille there was such a good!! good thing!!! to have. the way noee criticized his friends, the way ARTHUR eventually yelled at them (especially lucas, like wtf was up his ass), the growth of arthur from clinging onto his fantasy world and accepting himself. i geniunely enjoyed these aspects.

NOW ONTO MY CRITICISMS.

my biggest one is the abuse clip. it was absolutely unnecessary for them to include the audio (and the shadowing) of arthur’s violent abuse. i understand they needed to potray his dad’s behaviours but there were many other ways to go about it that doesn’t re-traumatize people. i rarely rarely get triggered by things due to desensitization & repression and this made me extremely nauseous and it caused me to spiral into memories of my own abuse. yes, i understand the story of arthur’s dad being the villain and contributing to the trauma. no, it did not need to be done in this way.

also the way it was brushed aside & arthur forgave him after the car accident. i know it’s contributing to the cycle of abuse and it will continue after the seasons have passed but i think it should have had more fear, confusion or anger. we could see that arthur hated his father, just by how he constantly attempted to fight back and argue. i understand that it was him acting from a place of survival and trying to mediate to make things calmer but this is his perspective—we could have felt the underlying emotions or seen a brief moment where arthur let his anger take over when he was alone. the abuse was written solely for hearing people. it was trauma porn. it was used as a way to make people feel sorry for arthur and to weaken him. it wasn’t written as integrated into the plot as it should have been and was brought up only to deter the plot away from his cheating. it was one of the things that made it clear the plot was more written for hearing people than for deaf people.

(again, it’s not the actual story i’m criticizing. it’s how they integrated it.)

the second was noee using her voice to essentially beg arthur to love her. using her voice was a moment of vulnerability and fear that they could have either: a. used in a different manner or b. not included at ALL. i am an oral deaf person—i was raised in a hearing environment & i went to speech thrapy for many, many years. i use my voice a lot. however, whenever i am without my hearing aid and i am tired, i don’t often use my voice because i am insecure about my deaf accent.

noee doesn’t use her voice at all. she has talked about how using only sign language gives her power and stregethnes her identity in a way that the hearing world would never be able to. it was a pivotal moment of her own identity and growth and they threw it out the window to tell arthur she loved him. he rejected her so she used her voice, something that reminds her of her trauma and pain, to beg him to love her back.

another is how alexia said that she wasn’t wired to love disabled people. i love alexia as well, except for this alone was enough to hurt my opinion of her. it’s a reality of abled people—they often act like loving a disabled person is more work and view disabled people as less than to avoid seeing them as potential lovers/friends/etc. my main problem is the fact it wasn’t ever properly addressed and they used it as a plot device after she had been nothing but loving and supportive to arthur during the beginning of his journey. she was so, so loving and caring and they could have used to as a way to talk about how relationships and perspective changes rather having her just be straight up ableist.

when arthur first got his hearing aids, he got smaller ones that were less visible to avoid having other people see. this is a big example of internalized ableism and is a very important point but they never touched on it again. i think it would have been more personal and monumental of his growth to have him go back & change the hearing aids he uses to better aid him in his day-to-day rather than aid his desire to be hearing-passing. i just wanted to see continuation of this.

the love triangle. ABSOLUTELY USELESS. i love both alexia and noee as love interests. they are well-developed women who both had vulnerable moments in the season where they talked about their insecurities and were vulnerable and still had arthur reject/use them both. this is more of a fandom criticism but the love triangle was used solely to demonize noee while they continued to put arthur on a pedestal. the season could have gone either/or with them as love interests or not at all. the season was meant to focus on his journey as a now disabled person and the love triangle took up a large portion of that.

(don’t think i’ve forgotten about people calling others fatphobic/biphobic for preferring noee as a love interest)

this isn’t entirely a criticism but a good point to note. i don’t think skam france had a plan in regards to season five when they casted arthur but he should have been played by a hard of hearing person and there should have been foreshadowing in the earlier seasons for this. i think arthur’s actor did a fantastic job with the content he was given but it would have been a bit more personal if played by a truly deaf/hoh person. noee’s actress talked about this! she said how good of an opportunity it was for season five to occur because it’s extremely rare for deaf people to get opportunities and casting designed for them. having a main actress talk about this and still having the main actor being abled is a bit? bad taste. i just think it’s a product of lack of planning, is all.

ALSO THE CAR CRASH????? this isn’t a big criticism, i’m just like HUH? me & arthur really out hear being deaf and getting hit by cars ig. arthur kinnie

*definitions that add as to why i use deaf & Deaf in this piece.*

[punchdrunkdoc]

IOTNBO/PBIO Finale

Well that was wonderful. I actually started tearing up a bit at the end because it was just so...wonderful. I have absolutely adored this show - from the very first opening credits, to the blooper reel at the end and everything in between.

And I’m so glad that this was the finale we were left with. It was an 80-minute goodbye. There was no rushing to finish off a plot point, or to tie up loose ends. There wasn’t a tacked on epilogue to give you an idea of what these characters will be doing in the future - we actually saw it. We got an extended camping trip montage to really show us how this little family function together. And that ending - with Sang-tae choosing to leave early - was so unexpected, but it felt so RIGHT in the context of the story and his development. 

In fact, all of the characters were given a moment to shine and wrap up their arcs - even some characters I didn’t think we’d see again. It was lovely.

I really have no complaints about this episode*. I know some people wanted more clarity about the mother’s storyline, but I never needed that. Yes, it seems far-fetched that she was able to ‘come back from the dead’ but as I mentioned before, we have only ever seen that incident from the eyes of an admittedly unreliable narrator, and a 10 year old girl (we know from KT’s own mis-recollections about his mother, that childhood memories can be distorted). 

Plus...this show is basically a fairytale. Strict adherence to the laws of gravity and human physiology aren’t essential requirements for these types of stories!

It also just...doesn’t matter to me. This isn’t a psychological thriller or a murder-mystery. Her ‘resurrection’ was never central to the plot; the only thing that mattered was how it impacted our three protagonists and how they learned to come to terms with it. 

The 3 main characters have always been the main attraction of this show. And I love where they’ve ended up. ST is fulfilling his dream and being recognised for his talent. He has realised that his brother is more than just ‘his’ and that they both deserve rich, full lives outside of each other’s orbit. 

MY has become so open and loving, but she hasn’t lost the edge that we all fell in love with. She’s still demanding, selfish, and borderline hostile...but its no longer a front to hide her vulnerabilities. It’s just part of who she is. But it doesn’t make her a bad person by any means. She can apologise now for hurting people. She doesn’t want to inflict pain on the people she loves. And she’s loyal to, and affectionate with, the people she cares about. 

KT has become such an emotional puppy dog - so far removed from the stoic, silent, repressed man we saw at the start. He cries at the drop of the hat (his overwhelming pride and joy at seeing ST/MY’s book was adorable), he yells at his brother and his girlfriend when they’re being unreasonable, he pouts and throws himself drunken pity parties when he feels left out and neglected - it’s just so wonderful to see! Plus, we got an extra dose of DrunkKangTae this episode and it was GLORIOUS!

This really was the best ending we could have hoped for. UGH I LOVE THIS SHOW SO DAMNED MUCH!!

*except the lack of a sex scene. That’s my one complaint. The kiss was good...and I liked the morning after. But I wanted to see a bit of the inbetween as well! Sue me! With a couple this hot and this laden with sexual tension, we were robbed. 

[infinitestarsintheskye]

Writer Meme

I was tagged by the ever lovely @besidemethewholedamntime Thanks Rebecca! :)

What’s your all-time favourite ship? 

FitzSimmons, easily. I just love them so much and writing them is just easily one of my favourite things to do. 

How many works do you have on AO3? 

47, which bugs me because I really hate odd numbers. Need to actually write something and even it out lol.

What’s your total AO3 word count? 

369,771, most of which was written in the last 14-ish months. 

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 

1. When I Kissed the Teacher (Steggy)

2. The Lady and the Chauffeur (FitzSimmons)

3. I’ll Always Be With You (Steggy)

4. Four (FitzSimmons) 

5. Our Love Lasts So Long (FitzSimmons) 

Do you reply to comments, why or why not?

 I always reply to comments! I treasure comments truly so much and I just like to show my appreciation to whoever took the time to write something about my work! I am usually good at replying fairly quickly but also I am terrible at leaving them for ages and responding to about 10 all in one go, partly because I love the ego boost of having a full inbox lol

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? 

Other People easily. But that wasn’t my fault, blame Sally Rooney. Plus I wrote a cute epilogue so it kind of cancels out. I cannot end with angst. I just cannot do it. I go with the Jane Austen motto that “My characters, after a little bit of trouble, will get everything they desire.” 

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? 

My The Lady and The Chauffeur verse by FAR. Absolutely not a flying chance in hell was I going to make that the same as the Downton Abbey canon. It’s been near enough a decade and I still cannot watch THAT episode. I watched it once, it broke me, I will not do it again. In giving FitzSimmons the most incandescent of happy endings, I vicariously gave Sibyl and Branson the ending that they deserved to have to, in my opinion. 

Do you write crossovers? 

Nope! Crossovers have never really been my thing, not even to read! I just cannot get into them for some reason. 

Have you ever received hate on a fic? 

Only once and it shook me to my very core. I responded rather diplomatically, in my opinion, as the commenter was taking issue with an enemies to lovers plot I had going on with FS and honestly responding made me feel more confident in my premise. I am, just because of that one stupid comment, really self conscious about that fic to this day, which is sad because it is based in something I love so much. 

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? 

I do! But I’m never very confident in it, for a myriad of reasons. I kind of chucked myself into the deep end with Other People and tried to push my boundaries out a little bit, which I think is always good as a writer. It was never anything deeply graphic but enough to warrant an E rating haha. I did write a couple of E rated fics after that, but again it was all fairly on the tamer end of an E rating in my opinion, and currently I don’t have any plans to write any more smut in the future. I only every tried to put it in if I felt it added something to the story. 

Have you ever had a fic stolen? 

Not that I’m aware of. I would hope that someone would tell me if they read something that they knew was mine. 

Have you ever had a fic translated? 

Nope! 

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not really, although Rebecca (@besidemethewholedamntime) did help me leaps and bounds with The Same Bewildering Dream, but I have never properly collaborated in the actual proper writing of a fic with someone before! I think it would be really fun though! hmu if you wanna collab lol. 

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? 

Sighs. I have been trying, for about a year now, to write a FS Pride and Prejudice AU and I just cannot seem to make it work. I really want to follow the same structure that P&P does and I just cannot seem to get these characters to fit into that world. It would be easy to just modernise it but I really REALLY want to do it regency style and it just isn’t working and it’s so frustrating because I have so many good ideas for it. 

What are your writing strengths?

I truly have no idea. If I had to say anything I think I’m good at writing emotions, trying to get across things that maybe aren’t specifically verbal, like anxiety and worry but also love (requited or no) and just internal things like that. That’s at least what I enjoy writing.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Speech and transitioning between scenes, and just like the little bits between dialogue. I will often go just big chunks of dialogue without adding anything inbetween because I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO SAY

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Absolutely go for it if you can! As some who is painfully monolingual I would not even try to attempt that myself unless I had someone who I could ask to translate something for me. I could maybe do phrases here and there but nothing bigger than that.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Oh god I don’t even remember. It was so long ago, on a long abandoned ff.net account that I made when I was like 12 or 13. If I had to say it was either, Harry Potter or Hunger Games. All terrible. All should probably never be read ever again.

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Oh god. I have favourites but all for different reasons. I loved writing Our Love Lasts So Long because I just had such a clear image of it in my head and just knew where I was going with it the whole way through. I also really love The Lady and the Chauffeur because it was the fic that really just got me back into writing fic properly, it was my first ever long form-ish fic and I just beyond loved writing it and the reaction to it was just so warm and welcoming and it was just everything good and wonderful. Other People is also SO dear to me because it just got me through a really disgusting time in my life. My Grandad was very unwell with covid and sadly died as I was halfway through writing that fic and it was just my place to escape, it allowed me such a great amount of catharsis, I was just able to channel all of my feelings into that fic and I’m so grateful for that. It honestly kept me sane and level during that really god awful time and it just means the world because of that. I also just beyond love the story. Ever since I watched Normal People, I was just kind of waiting for someone to write a FS au of it because it just fit them so perfectly in my mind. Eventually I got bored of waiting and pulled a Thanos and just went “Fine I’ll do it myself.”. The reaction to that fic also just sent me to the beyond and I’m just so beyond grateful for all the love it received.

I willing tag (if they want to of course!): @nazezdha321 @kitthekazoo and @agentofship

[icharchivist]

I have finished winter troupe debut episode! It was very dramatic lmao. Was enjoyable though. Winter troupe all had very interesting characters and It's nice to see a troupe that is all adults.

Since I complained about spring troupe issues being solved by not talking about it. I have to talk about how winter troupes issues were solved by literal outside forces trapping them or letting them read peoples minds.

I'm guessing they did this because unlike the teens who are more willing to be open about themselves and pester others,,,, adults are a lot less likely. (Before winter the adults were, sakyo, and itaru? cause the uni students aren't really adults yet. sakyo opens up to Izumi because he knows and trusts her. Itaru. Hasn't really opened up yet but he's getting there.) Whereas winter troupe is a group of strangers and the two who know each other literally are in the middle of massive misunderstanding/fight?/idk mutual disappointment.

(Also misumi just getting trapped in random time loops???? Holy shit is he ok???? Like he was able to figure it was tsumugi and tasuku this time but what if he doesn't know the people? I have so many questions)

Ok rant over. I have accepted that magic exists in a3 and all it wants is for people to get along and understand each other. But yeah once I crawl through the events and next act I have to rewatch spring hahaha. I definitely wasn't fair to them.

Homare oh my god. Just. Holds gently. I want to protect him. No one deserves to be called a broken cyborg :(

Gahhh all of winter troupe I just want to protect.

Also I saw fuyupoly is a thing? Because I'm excited to see the troupe develop more.

(you said you had a Google drive of the inbetween acts events :eyes: should I message you or something?)

tHEY’RE SO DRAMATIC I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.....

And yeah tbh when you talked about Spring having communication problems my first thought was “oh BOY you haven’t seen Winter yet” DLKFJDLFKJDFLKJDFLK

I. think about Winter much more than i should but yeah, pretty much it’s the fact they’re adults and strangers and just. are extremely conflict avoidant, all of them, for various reasons. Tsumugi because of his crushed confidence, Tasuku because he struggles to convey his feelings and he lost Tsumugi in the past, Hisoka because he litterally has no past and it freaks him out (Homare was spot on when he said Hisoka knew he couldn’t defend himself), Homare because he’s scared he’ll mess up again, and Azuma because he spent his life keeping people at armlength.  They’re all adult and agreeable people, and they are also all pretty understanding in some way, so they let some conflict pass by hoping it will be over soon. Some of them like Tsumugi, Azuma and Homare are also pretty analytic of people on a psychological way so they can try to navigate with what they know. 

But in the end without communication it’s not going very far, but they don’t really know how to do it when all of them are adults who have got used to it. 

so yeah, like you said it’s really that they’re adults and that unlike the youngest ones i think it’s just. they’re all used to compromise and compromise a part of themselves as well. 

but yeah the magic being the thing solving it cracks me up all the time i’m just. Like. okay. Okay cool okay. Normal. Like. Thematically wise i think it’s because Winter is a season that’s so cold and sad but there’s a bit of magic in it (like the magic of christmas) and i think that’s what it is meant to echo but that’s. so out of the blue DLKFJDKLFJDLKFJLDF that said once that just accepted i really love the way the three magical events reflects the characters (Tasuku and Tsumugi needed to reconnect and find back the comfort they had with one another and plushies are considered comfort items that helps transition into a safer place, it’s also linked to childhood and those two are childhood friends. Homare and the loupe are pretty straight forward, he needed to see closer, deeper. Azuma and Hisoka both were locked into a room, isolated, just like their past (or in Hisoka’s case what his flashbacks implies) make them feel isolated, having experienced loss).). I am FASCINATED with Winter. i just. akjhfkdhfkdjfmldjfmd?? sljhfjldk.

but aah i’m glad you enjoyed the ride so much i’m so happy!!

and god yeah please someone check on Misumi i worry for him wtf

and Homare’s arc yeah!! yeah!!! his arc is one of my fav arc i just. really love how it all plays out. It’s really rare to see a story goes “here’s a character with low empathy: and he’s the most loving and kind character you can imagine”. The way he struggles from it, how sad it makes him, this way to see himself, everything makes me want to cry for hours. I want to hold him so bad.

Fuyupoly is definitly a thing yeah. Fuyupoly my beloved. I adore Fuyupoly so much 😭 but Winter is honestly a slow burn, especially in comparaison to the rest of the teams. 

I actually didn’t think much of them at first read (Azuma and Hisoka were already my favs though, i’m so soft for them)(also i say that but i know i found back screenshot of me crying about fuyu on first read so i did feel a lot but it didn’t hit me until late, how much i actually cared), and now i legit can’t stop thinking about all of them. I don’t know how much it says about their slowburn or what it says about me but; Winter.

ANYWAY congratz on finishing the main story of act 1 :3c and yeah, i’d prefer if i could share it in private (bc it’s, a lot of content and if i provide it in public this is clearly piracy and DLKFJDF i know a3 tends to take down some of this content and i’m trying to be stealthy).

Though if you don’t want to come off anon, you can tell me in another anon’s ask, i’ll link you my drive, then you’ll need to send me an ask to tell me you got it so i can delete the post, if you prefer?

anyway the drive is up and ready anytime. i just didn’t update some of the latest act 2′s events but act 1 is filled and that’s the priority. so you know also this drive includes 1) Story events, 2) the songs linked to each plays (which tells the story of the plays, def recommand it), 3) All the backstages from limited time cards i could get. Backstages linked to specific events are inside their specific event files, else the cards which didn’t come in an event are in the “Scouting file”.  What’s important to read plotwise is the Event stories. The backstages are very good and i def recommand it but it may be overwhelming so you can skip them and come back later for them DLKJFLDKFJFD it’s really just the main plot of each event that you should watch.

(also i should mention only the first two events are fully voiced, the rest are just with some voicelines here and there, but i still recommand watching it bc of the mood with the music and the sprites and all)

so yeah ready to send it anytime you want  !! :3c

[popculturebuffet]

House of Mouse review: “The Three Caballeros” or State of Your Outfit Donald

The Ride of the Three Caballeros continues, and with reviewed paid for up until legend, we’re fueled up and ready to ride on for some time now. This admittedly has taken a bit longer than I like to get back on the ride, due to a  number of reasons, but i’m back on the ride and these next two were both a pleasure to get to and cover a show that was LONG overdue to show up here: It’s the House of Mouse! For those of you who haven’t heard of it House of Mouse was a Disney show in 2000 that ran on it’s one Saturday morning block, the follow up to the Disney afternoon. It also holds a close place in my heart as these are the versions of Mickey and Co I grew up with, as I had Disney Channel as a kid and they reaired it a LOT, so the show is sorta soaked into my DNA, and is likely the reason why I like Donald and Goofy so much, as their shorts here and their personalities outside them really drew me in. I’ll still be objective mind, but the show means a lot to me and i’m not going to hide that. 

The show has a really amazing setup: Mickey and Co run a club for Disney characters. While no tv characters showed up, anyone who had been in the movies was fair game, and everyone from Hades to both forms of Simba somehow to the horned freaking king showed up. The only exceptions were as I said Tv characters, though Pepper Ann makes a cameo in the pilot, and the Pixar characters.. which is more fair than you think. Keep in mind at the time of this series, there were only three Pixar Movies: Toy Story, a Bug’s LIfe and Toy Story 2, which came out the same year as house of mouse. Not only that Pixar wasn’t owned by Disney at the time, so there was likely a fear they could loose the rights to use the characters at some point and thus didn’t want to chance it.  But yeah this setting is used for great jokes, it’s the source of the “No one does X like gaston!” meme and it’s funny every time they do that gag. Though the main stars of the show are still mickey and co with each having a fitting position in the club’s hierachy: MIckey and Donald, being equal stars, co-own the club, though Donald sometimes feels overshadowed. Mickey, with his people skills and cheer is the MC and host. Donald, given his jack of all trades nature and butt monkey status, is guest services, in charge of taking care of the club’s featured guests and naturally having it backfire, as well as sometimes envying Mickey’s spot and trying to take it over. Minnie, being level headed, keeps things running, planning the show and managing finaces as well as calming Mickey when he gets panicky. Daisy runs guest services while trying to break out on her own and is somewhat of a ditz in this series, though not overly dumb or incompetent, just a bit of an air head is all, and her sweet bubbly nature makes her very likeable. That and outside the shorts at least, she’s very nice to Donald here and their realtionship is very sweet, hence it being one of the four versions of it I like.  Goofy is head waiter, which fits him because.. I dunno they needed one. But he does the job well even if he naturally screws up a bunch because Goofy. Pluto is also around as a personal assitant because eh why not.  But what really stood out abotu the show to me, even more so as an adult, was  the supporting cast. As a kid, I was introduced to a lot of the disney side characters i’d never heard of before, all of whom get a decent amount of screen time over the series, while as an adult, I find it heartwarming they brought these characters back and fleshed them out after not being used on screen for so long, with one big exception that was still nice of them to use and helps bridge the generation gap. 

The rest of the HOM crew consisted of Hoarce, Mickey’s friend who was used a lot early on and who works as the club’s engineer and handyman, Clarabelle, also often forgotten but thoroughly defined here as a loveable gossip and acted wonderfully by the incomparable April Winchell. I credit this show for making me love both characters especially Clarabelle and wanting to see them more. 

We also have Gus, a far more obscure on screen character. Gus is Donald’s Cousin, and as of this writing is the ONLY one of Donald’s three majorly used Cousins to have not shown up in the Ducktales reboot. Gus is also the only one whose not a comics original, to my shock, instead showing up in the short “Donald’s Cousin Gus”, communicating only through honks and eating all of Donald’s food. He was naturally adapted for the comics, where while still having a huge appetite became more bossed with being a lazy while working with Grandma Duck, his and Donald’s Grandma. He’s so different between mediums I genuinely forgot he was in this show and didn’t realize he and the chef from this show were the same person. Still it’s nice to see him and hopefully he’ll make the reboot before it ends.  Finally rounding out the supporitng cast we have Huey Dewey and Louie, who mostly show up as the quackstreet boys to dance and are kind of inbetween their classic designs and their quack pack versions: They have the hair from quack pack, but seem more like their 12-13, a bit older than standard, but sitll not as old as they are in Quack Pack. They also don’t talk which is a vast improvement over Quack Pack. And finally, and more prominently, we have Max, who as I said bridges the gap between generations and I think was an amazing inclusion. He not only gave younger viewers like me a character they knew better, but allowed the character’s story to continue a bit, clearly taking place after xtreme but having him actually go on a date with Roxanne. Thank you House of Mouse Writers. your doing Golb’s work.  Antagonist wise we have Pete, as usual trying to muck things up and presumibly flush with post divorce cash. He’s the club landlord, and wants Mickey out for reasons that are never explained, but as long as the show goes on and Mickey pays rent on time, the show goes on. Being Pete, he naturally tries to sabotage things. It’s a good device. The other is Mortimer, probably the series deepest cut alongside Gus as he only shwoed up in one short but the series easily made him one of my faviorites: A Sleazy asshole who tries to pick up on Minnie (who thankfully this go round is not at all receiptve), tries to get on the card, and constnatly says Ha-Cha-Cha. Maurice LaMarche, this show had a REALLY talented voice cast can you tell?, really owned the character and has been his voice since and really took him from a one dimensional douche to a LOVEABLE asshole. 

Granted most of this.. really isn’t relevant as only the main cast show up, but it’s an aspect of the show I like so I went into it anyway. Plus i’ll defintely be coverng the show again so this saves me time for later.  Back on point though, the show’s format was a problem of the week, ranging from guest troubles to pete shenigans to internal strife in the club to just general sitcom shenanigans, going on at the club, with shorts inserted in from a previous Mickey Show, Mickey MouseWorks. MouseWorks was a short lived, pun intended, show that didn’t do so good, so they had a bunch of these shorts sitting around including some that never aired on the show, and thus inserted them as cartoons being played for the club patrons. It was a great device and the shorts, while varying in quality , are mostly pretty good and were the first Disney Shorts I saw. It was a good format, allowing the main stories to have plenty of time, but not have to overpad them or anything and with so many shorts on hand they could simply write the story to be as long as they needed and then insert however many shorts were needed. It worked well. 

So yeah as you can tell I truly love this show and it introduced a lot of stuff to me. And naturally.. that includes the Three Caballeros here, with their song here being stuck in my head for years and this being the first time they’d shown up in decades... which is ironically how long it took for me to see their movie but regardless. The boys were back, and you can see how the show did with them, under the cut. 

Something to note, No Disney Plus this time.. because BAFFLINGNLY the show is not on there, despite no rights issues holding it up I’m aware of, and the show having every other mouse and duck related animated series on there. I know, I’ve talked about this before, even in this very retrospective.. but I keep bringing it up because it’s something you easily forget about. Something that may slip away. But don’t let it. Let them know, and get our shows on there already. Christ.  Anyways, due to the show’s format of sliding the shorts in, and to make thing easier on me for house of mouse reviews i’m simply going to do the shorts first, then the main plot. Good? Good. 

This one only had two, though it varied on how many they used, and some were just super short shorts anyway, so it all balances out and as I said, i’ts better they just told as much story as was there than tried to rush it. So without further adue...

Donald’s Fish Fry: Poor Poor Humphrey  Yeah I didn’t like this one. The premise is using the old character Humphrey the Bear.. only here instead of being the antagonist the ranger present basically bullies the poor bear, while the other bears constnatly get more fish than him when it’s their registered time to fish. It’s just agrvating.. and when the poor boy finally GETS a fish, Donald snatches it.  Donald isn’t unsympathetic here, he found the fish fairly.. but it’s hard to tell who we’re supposed to root for here. Humphrey, who just wants what’s his, or Donald whose oblivious but technically in the wrong. This kind of slapstick just.. dosen’t work as well with both sides being sympathetic. It can work with say bugs and daffy, because both are equal, but there’s clearly an antagonistc force in elmer fudd. But this type of shenanigan just dosen’t work when neither side deserves the punishment, and Humphrey did nothing wrong. I felt like this for supporting him the whole time. 

And it ends with the ranger getting the fish. Because he wasn’t unlikeable enough clearly. Though Humphrey does get some beans so yay? Also the house segment after has Ranger Dickhead stealing Humphrey’s dinner, which given he’s at the club he CLEARLY paid for because it’s too fatty. Fuck you dude. I hope Goofy threw you out for that one. Just not a fun sit. I’ve seen this kind of shenanigan done better, in disney classic shorts even. I’ve seen Don as the villian better, See Trick or Treat for a good example> There’s just.. nothing here and it goes on forever. This is a good chunk of the episode! Lordy! Just a genuinely bad short. Thankfully the next one while not as word inducing is also not as headache inducing How to Be Smart: Now THESE were my faviorites as a kid. I loved goofy, so shorts about him were no brainer but even now.. these are still funny. Basically a narrator would follow Goofy around while he tries to learn how to do something, in this case how to get smarter after loosing on a gameshow .. and owing the show three milion dollars. There’s not much ot go into, it’s basically a series of jokes about Goofy going to school from elementary to college and learning his way up while Dealing with Ludvig’s bratty nephew and his own stupidity. It’s a funny short and really well done and these are easily some of the show’s best shorts and this is no exception. Unlike  the Humphrey short, where this essentially happened. 

My soul and I gladly enjoyed How to Be Smart. Dare to NOT be stupid and check this short out. 

The Wraparound: And I”m Donald Duck! As for the main segment it’s pretty good. We open with Mickey hyping up tonight’s act, which is naturally the Three Caballeros! But trouble sets in as Donald, while proud at first, is rightfully annoyed that a man on the street segment shows NO ONE remembers he was in the group. Including his best friend goofy. Only Pumba does, somehow. I dunno maybe he dated Panchito once before meating timon. Point is Donald dosen’t take this well, even if we get a nice moment of Daisy swooning over the fact.. even if being  HOM Daisy, she can’t get the name right. But given i’ve had trouble spelling it right, I’m one to talk. 

So being Donald he overreacts, which I like as.. well it’s Donald. Of course when given a very resonable reason to get upset he takes it a step too far. In this case he’s gotten an army of lawers, refuses to speak to mickey and has put ... THIS on. I showed it at the top of the page but.. well it bears repeating. 

It’s like every bad thing about the early 2000′s, from the douchey shades, to the rings, to the golden knuckles, to the hat that looks like a penis, to the no donald logo. There should be all the donalds, ALL OF THEM. He also has an army of lawyers, and naturally resorts to hot doggin and grandstanding: Signing autographs during the show, putting a giant poster of himself up. It works okay, as it makes him unsympathetic for the next part to work and is really funny which is the point. Even if again he looks like the feces that’s produced when shame eats too much stupidity. 

Instead of just getting Dale Gribble in there, Mickey is at a loss for a solution till the boys show up and.. it’s a mixed bag. Carlos  Alazraqui is excellent as Panchito, slipping into the roll well. Unlike last time the character showed up, they did NOT get a mexican actor, but Carols is still Latino, so it’s still better than what they did for Jose, and still big of them to actually bother to get a Latino actor to play a latino role.  Jose on the other hand.. is played, and not very good, by Rob Paulson. And before anyone throws stuff at me, I love Rob. I will  be gushing about him when I get around to reviewing the animaniacs reboot. He’s a god among voice actors and I love him. But his voice, at least in this ep dosen’t really .. FIT Jose, and he dosen’t really match the characters energy which is VERY weird given Animaniacs was right before this. The guy can DO energy and it’s one of his best talents. He STILL can as evidenced by both TMNT 2012 and the Animaniacs revival. It’s just not one of his better performances. I love the guy but even gods have off days.  And of course there’s the bigger issue of the very white Rob shouldn’t be playing the very Brazilian Jose. Not matching nationatlies is one thing, it sucks, but The Three Cablleros had a much bigger budget than HOM likely did. HOWEVER, it couldn’t of been that hard to find two latino voice actors in 2000, especially when you found at least one. I get this wasn’t as big a thing but when the 1940′s did better than you, you know you screwed up. 

But it probably dosen’t help the two.. barely do anything. Despite the episode being named after them, they only show up towards the end and just sorta say hi to mickey, get cool entrances, and then seeing Donald being a dick and Mickeya sking for their help, humble him with their musical number.  And the Musical Number IS really good, it’s been in my head for years and is just as catchy as the classic “Three Cabllero’s Song”.. why they didn’t sing that I don’t know, but this original one, a light knockoff of la bamba is still really fun and bouncy and the gags are good. It’s a really good climax and Donald deserves his punishment.  The only really issue is the ending, as.. no one leaned anything. No one acknowledges how forgotten Donald felt, Mickey dosen’t seem to get the issue as his “promoting Donald” at the end to make sure he’s not forgotten.. just has a bunch of jabs at his expense, and Donald dosen’t apologize..t hougH daisy is really sweet to him so we got some Donsy at least. It’s just a weak ending to an otherwise excellent wraparound.  Final Thoughts: This one was.. okay. Shorts aside, i’ve said my peace about them, the wraparound is a lot of fun, as is the musical number, even if the “artist formerly known as” joke was played out even in 2000. I mean yeas Prince changing his name to a symbol was insane, I get that.. but by then everyone had clowned on that decision and given he did so in a bizarre act of defiance towards his label, at a time where we now know how scummy record labels can be, it hasn’t aged well. It’s just the weak climax, song not included, really drags things down. The Cabs are just.. a cameo in their own damn episode, even with the full musical number and could’ve been around more. They don’t get to show off personalities or really do anything but teach Donald a lesson and are basically one indivdiual here. It sticks out even more because Rosa had both be utterly distinct and showed the utmost care while here.. their just sorta tossed in so they could have Donald be a primadona.. which itself is funny but on the whole this episode was just.. disappointing to revisit. It was disheartening to learn one of my favorite episodes as a kid wasn’t that good. It is worth checking out if you like Donald or the cabs, provided you skip the first short. Trust me, trust me, but is far from the best the house of mouse has to offer and hopefully the next one will show that.  Next time when the Ride continues, my gig at the house of mouse gets held over another night as Jose teaches Goofy manners and Panchito helps deprogram him from that. Before that I hope to get to the next chapter of life and times and some other stuff i’ve had hanging, including the next loud house and the next part of the tomtropsective, as well as some new things that have come up like said review of the animaniacs reboot and a review of Adventure Time: Distant Lands, Obsidan. Until then if you liked this review, please check out my other pages for more, follow me to see them, and if you’d like to comission your own, just hit me up in my ask box for my discord or personal message me here on tumblr. Until then, ther’es always another rainbow. I’m out. 

[wolfwhiteflowers]

TWD ending news; thoughts and speculations

 Caryl 📺  💖  Richonne 📽

TWD is ending soon!  -not quite.

Here’s my thoughts on it. the lows and highs. Anyways so yeah 9/9/20 was a crazy TWD news day.(and other tv news too, wtf tv gods. Yeah ..been a crazy tv week.) wtf, why that day? and I guess it’s like an unofficial Caryl day, huh? lol So it’s overwhelming. I wanna write it all out and my feels.    ok I guess I’m not that super excited or invested to it than others..idk I guess the excitement will hit me later or gradual. :P ok...idk I don’t wanna speculate too much. We don’t know much on it still.

So .... they’re/AMC saying TWD show (Rick’s/Grimes show) will end in a super sized s11. TWD finally got an ending plan! lol this show/franchise. I don’t mind that it’s ending or whatever, I mainly want a good story...a good written ending. But it’s all based on how if I still enjoy this show/franchise.. ok. Plus there’s a Caryl spin-off show and anthology spin-off show later on. +movie.

It’s a long post and I kinda mapped it out.

So in a *timeline*, in October it’s the s10 ep 16 “finale” episode. Recently, we’re also getting s10C (coronavirus pandemic bonus episodes) - six episodes I think, in Spring ‘21 (filming in October ‘20). They’re like inbetween episodes to s11. Idk what they’re like. standalone episodes?  And then they’re gonna do the series’s final season, s11, with 24 (12+12)episodes. Idk when it starts.  They film next summer, i guess, and show it in the Fall ’21 and Spring ‘22. Then it’s the spin-off shows, and Caryl..but I wanna focus more on Caryl spin-off show. That will be I guess in ‘23.  ...And a movie(s) :D but everyone’s doubtful and clueless of it but I think it will be filmed next year, ‘21. (and there’s TWD:WB and FTWD soon)

Ok yeah so ldksjfaljdflsj they say it’s sad news that TWD ending but like lol it doesn’t seem like it..from a Caryler I guess, +movie. So, I have theories and I’m like not so sure what’s really gonna happen. I need more info and well we never know what the writers or the future gonna do. Yeah first of all, these plans~~~, and yet we’re in the pandemic and dumb governing on these things. So I’m gonna guess these plans are gonna change or slow down. You never know. Ok.

 I’m also like surprised that there’s gonna be a Caryl spinoff show. (it’s like if they made a Daryl spin-off show. Or any spin-off show..) I mean I didn’t think MMB and NR were still wanting to keep working on TWD/AMC. I thought like any actor..would want to do new things...Ok but they wanna keep working on AMC. NR -I’m not surprised cos he’s like a busy bee..um idk but yeah. Instead of Daryl show it’s now Caryl show from what I suspected-ish. And from the news they sound like it’s a shippy thing. It was also planned since 2018 I think..and “let’s go to New Mexico.” They knew long ago. So, I speculated awhile ago, when we learned that MMB and NR have contracts ending till s12. It’s like we all kinda suspected right that TWD will end in s12 except in episode # count. S10C + s11 (24 episdoes/+8 exra). They combined it earlier. Why earlier Idk...the pandemic? Or Gimple’s plan in franchise timeline? 

So yeah that Caryl spin-off show! Like I hope it means that Caryl are romantic and endgame on this.👀 The more I read on this and thought about it. I don’t want to like get my hopes up too high or whatever. I don’t really trust writers.. eh ...it all depends on the story every time. I also think of the fandom/carylers on how they react to a canon-Caryl or even how the writers will show canon-Caryl. Because writers..like usually writers don’t write canon couples romance well. It’s usually love triangle, reunite a bunch of times, or breakup/makeup a lot. eh. I just hope they make Caryl story good and interesting. Another thing Caryl ship had always been like a subtle ship and angsty. We get bits and bits to keep going ..so a full attention of Caryl or canon-Caryl will be different. I hope it all goes well. :3 It’s all reminds me of Mindy Project show ..there’s always sides in the fandom. Some won’t like it, some will but it’s always about the main couple. Oh, my thoughts of Caryl show is that it will be like Bones, SPN, FTWD, or BeIIarke -_- lol , or something. 

 So from what I read when they already want to keep going with the spin-off show back in ‘18, the Caryl spin-off show will actually cost less than the TWD main show. It’s interesting. It’s all contracts, deals, Netflix, $ stuff. The show might not be international and on netflix, Idk. You know the ratings aren’t that great and most fans left,..but I guess they can still make the Caryl spin-off show. (a season or more idk) I was thinking it might be a Caryl-only show with different cast and set ...or the Caryl spin-off show might actually be just like TWD main show-s10 but different deals $ etc, and they can do whatever. 

Oh, that it’s a spin-off then, and not now in s10 and s11, because the TWD main show will be done adapting the comic book storyline..(instead of thinking of the MMB and NR’s contracts). Yeah one of the theories.. like really Idk why we have Caryl spin-off show when s10 and s11 is pretty much already a Caryl show..with Maggie. But I guess it’s all due with contracts and stuff. And I guess it works timely with the comic storyline. Though the comic storyline parallel/adapting is so different now.  It’s very broad parallels. I guess it all works out in little ways. contracts, comics, and starting fresh. The Caryl spin-off show, they can really get away from the Grimes/Rick storyline which I like that it’s gonna be really separated by being a different show. (I guess also AMC have more control too.) It’s not on the same main show/s10 and on. Like storywise, I like that TWD show is always about the Grimes and it feels like it will be done right and completed to end it in s11 and that is based on comics/and the Grimes (I hope). If that make sense? Rick/Grimes show,is based on comics, will have an ending...TV-wise. Because there’s the movies too supposedly. Yeah maybe I’m not sad..because there’s the Rick movies thing in the works too. I hope s11 will still be about the connection to the Grimes. Like everyone looking after Judith and RJ and figuring out what to do with finding Richonne and stuff. To set up for the movies. (and TWD WB s2?) Because if not, then ugh then AMC should’ve had the main show ended in s10.  Wow.., the show is not based on the comics like it was before and I really can’t speculate s11 and on. Like I hope the writers got juicy stories to tie in with Rick and Michonne, and Maggie/Commonwealth comic stuff. uhh. So yeah Caryl spin-off show it means they can do whatever and writers/me? don’t have to worry that if it’s not connecting with the Grimes storyline. If AMC/Gimple wants to connect everyone.

And one of my theories or hope is that Caryl looks after Grimes kids ...in s11 and search for Rick/Richonne or help him, in part of the bigger plot of Rick movie story, in the spin-off show. Like Caryl will work on plan that later helps out Rick in the movies later on. Yeah and I just think the Rick movies are more like “TWD movies” where all the characters in the franchise will be part of the story. So yeah Rick reunites with everyone. The end, Happy ending! :3 So there’s many ways Caryl show might be like: same cast from TWD show that AMC controls more/Caryl leads/not based on comics(romantic or not), Caryl-only show, or Caryl kinda in part of the Rick movies story-like helping him in some way. etc. Oh, ..I was also thinking it’s like I guess FTWD .. I was also thinking Morgan and his friends might be also be in part of helping Rick’s plans in the Rick movies too.  (.. if Gimple wants to do that.) I hope Caryl will be romantic..I don’t want a “Caryl spin-off show” when it’s just same cast and Caryl still not together. eh. ..Why call it “Carol and Daryl spin-off show”? So I guess it’s gonna be shippy.

So I think the Rick movies (which so far is still happening and three of ‘em.../if) will be after s11 and after TWD WB s2 - ‘21/22.    idk when FTWD comes.

Oct ‘20 - TWD:WB s1

spring ‘21 -TWD  s10C 

summer ‘21? - TWD: WB s2/ends

fall ‘21 and spring/summer ‘22 (or fall ‘22? lol) - TWD s11 

‘22? *rick movie 1? (...with everyone there?)

‘23 Caryl spin-off show s1

‘23 and on? * rick movie 2? movie 3?

....etc.

So...you get it..like it’s like some big overall storyline Gimple is doing. But plans can change and anything could happen. I may be speculating wrong. Who knows. sigh. I just want Team Family reunited with Rick again and a good ending as best as writers can do. :B  If they can’t make a movie(s) then I hope Gimple find a way to end Rick’s story for fans.

sigh yeah tired of the fandom complaining and assuming/speculating wrong. (like hating on the spin-off show when they don’t know what a spin-off show is.) blah. idk. tired of shippers..generalizing. (I ship both Caryl and Richonne so. sigh go away drama) I’m tired of fans being biased and doubting and singling things out. I feel like we all won. But anyway until more news and facts it is what it is. I wanna wait till when things actually happen or news that say something won’t happen.  Keep waiting and hoping on :] *Caryl on*