#the dichotomy of having two best friends literally be like that

[makoandharu]

Iconique

[gabessquishytum]

We don't talk about how weird Hob is.

Yes, he's a throughly modern man - woo!cell phones; love is love; vacines, so great! - but he must be deeply strange to most people. This isn't even about how he swears in Middle English (when he's not even drunk) and seems to always have 3 or 4 bladed weapons on him at all times, it's how he smiles every time he flips a light switch or talks sweetly about asphalt; or some times looks like he got into a fight the night before.

And then his (best) friend returns to his life and things get even stranger. He seems to sparkle (literally) in the sunlight; there is a bird that follows him around that he might talk to?!? And he might have more/larger bladed weapons that he's carrying on his person now.

He's seen around town with his friend and that is seemingly normal in the beginning, then that gets weird too.

At times they just seem to stare at each other, and yes they kiss a lot (and it's so hot; totally a heat score), but no one who's seen them kiss remembers it very well; and there might have been a night or two where everyone maybe dreamed of Hob naked and cumming in a flowering green meadow?!?, but even that is fuzzy.

I love the dichotomy of Hob being Very Average Guy but also A Complete Weirdo.

And i especially like the idea that people around Hob starts to think that's HE'S the eldritch being, and Dream is the normal one.

A few of his friends and braver students have even confronted him about it. They've got entire lists of magical creatures and they straight up ask him: are you a vampire? fae? demon? wizard? And Hob has politely denied each one, promising that he's not lying! He really is a very ordinary human man.

(There's a whole group of people in town who are convinced that Hob is an alien, and Dream is his unfortunate brainwashed human victim. Hob also denies this. When he's finished laughing.)

One of his friends suddenly asks Hob one day - "Are you the dream guy?" And Dream kind of sits up a little straighter, a little more interested. "You know, the universal guy who we're all supposed to have dreamed of at some point. The collective universal consciousness thing."

This question makes both Hob and Dream smile even more than usual, but Hob still says no. "If anything, he's the dream guy." He grins, pointing at Dream.

No one can figure the two of them out, but they seem happy and harmless enough. And the kissing is hot enough to make sure that anything they do is automatically forgiven <3

[atamascolily]

I keep seeing people saying variations on "Gosh, I can't wait to see Madoka fight Homura in Walpurgis no Kaiten!" and while far be it from me to rain on anybody's parade (the id wants what it wants), I can't help doing a double-take every time this comes up, because it's so dramatically different from my own viewing experience and perception of the characters.

Apart from the inherent assumption that violence is the only possible method of conflict resolution, you're telling me that Madoka Kaname, who wants all magical girls to be friends and team up together to fight witches, who repeatedly throws herself in between angry combatants who could break her like a twig, who tosses her best friend's soul off a bridge to break up a fight, who faces down a witch on the faint hope of getting said friend back, who sacrifices herself so magical girls don't have to suffer anymore, and whose reaction to finding that her best friend has become a big scary monster in Rebellion is to rush over and hold her hand--is going to fight Homura, of all people?!

Let's just say I'll believe it when I see it.

It's not that Madoka isn't capable of violence--she made that abundantly clear when she shot Mami at point-blank range to save Homura--but to say it's not her preferred solution is a vast understatement. Being forced to kill both Mami and Sayaka in quick succession devastates her--and if Homura hadn't been present, there was a very real chance of Madoka becoming a witch herself in that moment. When we do see Madoka fight, she tends to win in a single shot, as in later timelines against Walpurgisnacht. Maybe Devil!Homura is the only one strong enough to stand against her--but that assumes that Madoka would ever choose to fight her in the first place, no matter how angry/hurt/betrayed she feels, and no matter what Homura has done.

Madoka is not only the show's title character, she is its moral center, and the literal heart (there's even one on her magical girl outfit to drive the point home); the goddess she becomes, while still bearing death, is guided by compassion and mercy, not aggression and cruelty. Even if she were to fight Homura, it would be very much a "I'll kick your ass to bring you back to reality" kind of fight rather than one to kill.

Homua might well see herself as Madoka's enemy, but I don't think Madoka sees Homura as hers. Their conflict is real and deserves to finally be addressed, but ultimately it be can only be resolved by honest communication with each other. You know, that one thing Homura simultaneously craves and shies away from in equal measures, so it isn't like this is going to be easy! True emotional openness and vulnerability requires far more courage than blowing stuff up and always has.

It's tempting to see Homura and Madoka's reification as two opposite and opposing forces to be the primary conflict moving forward, but I think that will ultimately prove to be a false dichotomy. If the two are truly on the same level, the yin to the other's yang, neither can win against the other in the end; the only true ending involves them united as equals.

Instead, I see Homura vs. herself to be the ultimate conflict, with "self" taking a wide variety of externally manifesting forms thanks to previously established worldbuilding. The key visual for Walpurgis no Kaiten appears to support this premise, with Homura facing off against another Homura, while Madoka hovers in the background. It's not that I think Madoka isn't important, but the framing here certainly does not suggest that a violent struggle between her and Homua will be a large part of the plot.

And sure, trailers and promotional materials can be misleading--but like Kyubey, they generally do so by putting the truth in plain sight and trusting the audience to mislead themselves.

[cursed-sonic-opinions]

Fleetway Super Sonic should be the only canon version Super Sonic across all Sonic media, and especially within the games. It would make for an awesome dichotomy between the Hero that Sonic naturally in at his core, and the unbridled corruption and capacity for evil that inevitably comes from wielding God powers way too often. It would also cause genuine apprehension at the thought of utilizing the emeralds, which would raise the stakes IMMENSELY. Picture this:

Eggman is up to his usual bullshit again, except this time, he is truly at the precipice of succeeding, taking over the planet and getting what he wants.

On the Sonic teams' end, things are looking super bleak. They've fought Eggman a million times before, but this battle they find themselves is unlike ANYTHING that they are familiar with from the Doctor.

All of their attempts of stopping him have failed. Every ambush, every invention, hell even their powers don't do much. It truly seems the Doctor has overlapped them, that he may. actually. win.

But, wait! They have they Chaos Emeralds on hand! PERFECT, right? They literally have power sources in their possession that could put this all to an end, saving Mobius once again!

But they don't want to. Sonic doesn't want to.

Now Sonic is a hero at heart, he is not a selfish person but any means. He would happily sacrifice himself for the safety of the World, and especially his friends.

But Fleetway would not. Because he is not Sonic. He is an individual, a sentient monster, merely trapped within the vessel that is known as Sonic, so why would he bother? They're not His friends!

Being the Golden Devil himself, he has no qualms about defeating Robotnik just so he can destroy Mobius, and the rest of the Universe, for his enjoyment. Fleetway does not recognize friend from foe, nor does he care. Everywhere he goes, he only sees Prey. Those swirling red eyes of his? Are target sights. And everyone on all points of the planet are in his sight.

As Robotnik draws near, the team all know they have only two options: Have Sonic use the emeralds to go Super, unleashing a Demon onto this world just to stop this war, knowing that same Demon might immediately turn around and straight up slaughter the very people they are trying to save, but at least they'll win? Or, just continue charging in headfirst with their powers and hope for the best?

The answer is obvious, and none of them fucking like it.

Finally, as Sonic begrudgingly and wearily takes the gems for himself, one of the last things he says before changing is aimed directly to Tails (who sits atop his newest invention - a Recalibration Laser).

"The very SECOND that I win against egg head, Shoot Me little buddy. Do not pause, do not think about it, do not wait to see if I'm fine. Just blast me. You know what's at stake if you don't. "

Overall, it would add some much needed stakes to the Super Form itself, as well as hit much harder, because instead of the challenge being finding all the emeralds, after which you've basically won by default, it would instead be psychologically and emotionally challenging.

They know where the emeralds are. They literally have the emeralds on hand right here, hell even the Master Emerald. They have all this God Power at their disposal right now,

And they can't fucking use any of it.

.

[chaotic-neutral-knitter]

Let's do soup.

A lot of people have been talking about how soup is doing some symbolic lifting in this season, but I've gotten really stuck on this scene in particular. Ed doesn't know that Hornigold is his own subconscious yet, but he confronts him about a time that Hornigold killed a member of his own crew (hey Ed are you maybe feeling bad about something?) and Hornigold gives him three options for dealing with all the horrible shit he's seen, done, or been unable to stop.

The first option is just "move on, you gotta move on." Or, in other words "toughen up, who cares that you feel bad about it, just lock that shit up and get over it." Ed got this advice a lot in season one. Izzy told him "the love of a pet makes a man weak" and Calico Jack told him "what kind of pirate has a friend, we're all in various stages of fucking each other over." It seems like this is just what pirates do. Frenchie starts out this season talking about how he bottles it all up. It's a stand in for all the toxic masculinity and repression that the show enjoys unpacking - in Hornigold's mind, if feelings can't rebuild an abdominal wall, they're useless.

The second option is "blow your brains out." It's become pretty clear at this point that Ed is trying his best to get someone angry enough to kill him. In season one, Ed is told repeatedly that dying is what happens when you fail to do option one. When Izzy says, "the only retirement we get is death," that's what he means. Ed can't retire, can't stop being a pirate, can't do things differently. He has to tread water until he drowns. When Izzy says "Blackbeard is my captain. I serve Blackbeard, not Edward. Edward better watch his fucking step," he is telling Ed to toughen up or die. At this point Ed, unimpressed, asks "Those are the options?" Hornigold does his little bup-bup-bup thing where he weighs them in his hands and says "Or, we could just make some soup."

Ed says "Yeah, soup. Let's do soup."

The third option is "soup." Soup can mean a lot of things - it's warm, it's nourishing, it's what you eat when you're sick. The show has been tying it to the crew of the Revenge by having them continually eat soup and talk about how great it is (Notably, in the scene above, Olu asks Yi Sao if she's really a soup seller and she says "Not exactly.")

What does "make some soup" mean for Ed? I think, above all, it's a third option in what has been an inescapable dichotomy of "be tough or die." The first person to break this dichotomy in the show is Stede, when he refers to piracy's culture of abuse and says "And my thought is, 'Why? And also, what if it weren't like that?'" before encouraging his crew to talk through their feelings. To the surprise of literally everyone, that works. The crew of The Revenge took the space that Stede gave them and built a family inside of it. They gave Ed the idea that maybe "tough it out or die" aren't the only two options, and he's still thinking about it even now.

Making soup is also work - Ed's going to have to deal with the fact that he tried to torture his crew into killing him - but it's good, useful work. It could be a metaphor for the kind of work you have to do to repair relationships with people you've hurt. The first thing Ed does in this episode is refuse the soup that Hornigold is giving him. It's poison, he doesn't want it.

So, I'm wondering if there's going to be a moment later in the season where Ed either literally makes soup or accepts it from someone else, and whether that will be Important To His Arc in some way.

Also, I'm really craving soup, so.

[myloveforhergoeson]

ash's august 2024 reading round up

find all the books and fics i read (or didn't read...) this month under the cut with a link to the synopsis and my reviews/ratings attached :)

this is just for fun! i'm not a professional, i just like to read <3

booklist:

The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey (18+!)

• review: ugh. this book was so bad lmao. which does pain me to say because i historically have really enjoyed bailey's writing. and i was super excited for this one because i love hockey romance too! but something about it just felt... off to me. perhaps it was the mmc, burgess' protectiveness of this woman he met one time months ago or how much he thought about how they weren't right for each other or maybe i just didn't like him as a character in general. i also didn't like the fmc, tallulah all that much either; i just found her kind of... allowing herself to be a product of her own situations throughout the entire book. i am sympathetic to her previous bad experience with her ex boyfriend and how he treated her, but i also believe there are better ways to draw attention to the fact that "burgess is a strong, violent hockey player and she was abused by her ex, how could they ever be right for each other?!?!" like... does every woman in a hockey romance have to experience this in order to make this dichotomy known? i just would have liked some more originality on that front i don't know. i also think there was a huge missed opportunity for lissa, burgess' daughter, to have helped bridge the gap between the two adults. as tallulah becomes her part-time caregiver while burgess is away, the two of them really hit it off - i think they had the best dynamic in the entire book and i wish there was more about them and how seeing his daughter and the woman he liked getting along inspired burgess or something. but overall. just a pretty flat story to me. i didn't feel the chemistry, i didn't like how burgess treated tallulah like he owned her, and i didn't like that sooo many times each of them thought they weren't right for each other. why? because it was fucking true! there's a reason you're both feeling this! the best part of this book was the ending chapters where they attend the wedding of the mc's of the first book in this series. i was very excited to see josephine again, i loved her so much. the barnes + noble exclusive bonus chapter was literally the best thing in the book but doesn't make the book itself better in anyway as not everyone got to read it lmao

• rating: 2/5 hockey skates

fic list:

1. Assorted works of @selangkir <333

• Continuation of their Jo/Lucy fic!

MY GIVE A FUCKS ARE ON VACATION

i truly cannot get enough of jo and lucy and your beautiful mind... the dynamic these two have going is already making me giddy and i'm so obsessed with your take on this alternate universe where the boys leave instead of jo! the background you're spinning for lucy has also got my attention in such a grip, the scene at jett's party when she's thinking about her brother and how they used to have these kickbacks with all of his friends. the way we don't learn much about her family in btrtv left so much room for expansion, and i just love the direction you're taking it! AND of course the perfect continuation of our GTR au... god, the kendall and katie scene was so funny to me i love how Sibling they really are. the expansion work on kendall is just fascinating too and running a donation campaign on top of that?? augh! tysm for sharing your work w us <3 (and the private post you sent me with your wips... oh augh i cannot wait for what's in store in the future!!)

2. Assorted works of @ceruleanmusings :))) <3

• Big Time Audition - The Masons

.10

.11

.12

Blood Diamond; Year Three

as always, i ADORED your work this month... lord... i thought about big time audition - the masons for like an entire week. the way each girl is introduced and the way it fits them so perfectly had me feeling like i was there in the house with them, tracking through room to room to see what each of them were doing and how you chose to share them with the world. not only that, but micky watching james' audition literally made me fall out of my chair AHH! i just love them so so so much; the 10-12 blurbs were so wonderful. blood diamond year three was also an incredible work - i loved the direction of choosing to have it be purely conversational but it was still packed with so much raw emotion. the last line also felt like a sucker punch to the face i don't think i'll ever forget it.

3. Assorted works of @partiallypearl / @praetoravila !! <3

hold tight

but we're evergreen

her sense of style, it really rocks

jelisa kiss blurb

cause you got me, and baby, i got you

i tried not to face the truth

be my bad boy (be my man)

oh, i leave quite the impression

our human loneliness

show me your colors

ok.... the way i have been so olivepilled this month is just insane. i'm obsessed with her, i love her, she is my special perfect girl. thank you so much for feeding us with all this good olive content this month - i might die without it. everything about her story, from the introduction with her and her sister (wren... loml) and the first time she meets logan, to their ongoing friendship --> relationship dynamic has me SCREAMING. i love the story you are weaving and i'm so thankful to be able to see it unfolding in real time. she DOES leave quite the impression! the two of them make me illlll. ty for letting me send you a million lolive songs and tiktoks this month and thank you for letting me steal her for the wag au!! it will happen again (affectionately). and your lucy blurb was so captivating as well; your take on her life events leading to her arrival at the palm woods was fascinating. i love her so much! your writing only solidifies this hehe

4. Assorted works of @icegirl2772 <33 !!

• Take A Shot In The Dark Chapter 15!

We Do (But Friends Don't)

girl... you should have seen my jaw DROP at the end of this chapter... oh you got me sooooo so sosoo so good. i was throwing parties in my head... screaming... and then i was crying 😭 A DREAM??? so impactful to my health and wellbeing i stg. i cannot wait for the james and neil show down i am so ready for it... and the new addition of we do (but friends don't) was lovely. god i can't get enough of james and kaelyn!! <333

5. Assorted works of @inkameswetrust :)) !!! <3

The Windowsill

The Windowsill (pt. 2)

The Windowsill (pt. 3)

hiii bestie welcome to the reading round up... your kames fic had me screaming and crying and throwing up (affectionately) even if i accidentally started on the second chapter and not the first hehe. the dynamic between james and kendall is so sweet - james being sooo thoughtful and surprising?? hello?? i a puddle on the floor - and the dynamic you created between kendall and his family in the second edition was so cute. the knights are so special to me and i love that you chose to highlight them (even during kendall's james freak out) :)) the third edition was so cute as well! logan and carlos cutting off their conversation... teasing kendall about what happened... omg. the two of them make me so giddy and this fic is making me collect my own butterflies in my stomach hehe and the classic kendall fumble at the end had me rolling... tysm for sharing! i love your work!!!

[johaerys-writes]

I see people hating Achilles for what he did to Hector's body bc they love Hector and forgetting that…hmm checks notes Hector want to give Patroclus' body to the dogs? A considerable part of the Trojan army was happy to comply if it meant rewards and he didn't stop doing it because he benevolently changed his mind it was bc he didn't get the body 🤔🤔🤔

And then I see someone who sympathizes with Alexander complaining about Agamemnon bc of Kassandra but hmmm checks notes Alexander in certain versions literally kidnap Helen? And then they say like "lol Achilles and Agamemnon fighting over Briseis and Chryseis as if there were no other girls" and yeah…Alexander also didn't want to give Helen back even though his city was falling apart and the Trojans were asking him to give her back...and with him being a handsome prince I'm SURE there were other women for him imao

I've even seen people complain about versions where the Achaeans blame Helen and talk about how she should have stayed in Troy…guys did you skip the part where she says very obviously that only Hector and Priam were good to her? And the sources where the Trojans literally blame Helen? Or talking about infidelity as if they thought that all of Priam's children are Hekabe's (and that all of Hekabe's are always Priam's too) and Hector absolutely does NOT have concubines in ANY source of the myths (spoiler: he does)

And let's not even talk about characters from past generations (like... there are versions that the Trojan princess Hesione was almost sacrificed by the Trojans themselves lol)

Like guuuuuys neither the Achaeans nor the Trojans are saints 😭😭😭when did this narrative of dichotomy between good and evil begin for God's sake

My friend Baejax made a really good post explaining why and how Hector and the Trojans are constantly being portrayed as beacons of civilization and selflessness while Achilles has been hated on for centuries, and I think she says it much better than I could lol, but basically yeah I agree that the dichotomy that exists currently is a load of BS and not how Homer intended these two cultures to be perceived. If anything, their similarities are highlighted over and over in the epic, instead of their differences. The Iliad is NOT a story about good vs evil, nobility and selflessness vs barbarity. Exalting the Trojans and condemning the Greeks (or vice versa) completely misses the overarching tragedy of it all: that their lives and deaths, their love and pain and misery and struggle are nothing but a spectacle for the gods, and that their fates are something they have no control over. (Frankly, whoever reads it that way just isn't doing a very good job thinking critically about the text, and instead focuses on proving their own biases right by trying to bend the original text and its meaning to their will while thoroughly ignoring the context. Which is incredibly unfortunate, if you ask me)

What the Iliad is is a work that shows the gruesome reality and futility of war, and how there are no winners! None!! It begins with an argument between a shitty, incompetent leader and his best (albeit extremely tired and fed up) soldier, and it ends with not one, not two, but three funerals (Patroclus, Hector but also Achilles, whose funeral is heavily foreshadowed by Hector's). For me, the beauty and tragedy of the work is in realising that both the Achaeans and the Trojans are doomed no matter the war's outcome. And this is something that is confirmed by the Odyssey, where we learn that Troy was sacked and razed, and that the Achaeans, the victors, either returned to broken homes and broken people or got lost or died trying to get back. There is no glory to be had for literally anyone.

[panelshowsource]

hi, sarah! i see you've watched a lot of british panel shows/comedians and i need a specific recommendation: where to start with dara o briain? he's right now my favourite taskmaster contestant ever and after listening to his episodes on the tm podcast and off menu, and watching him on wilty, i'm completely in love with his humor and manner of speech. what are the "must see" things he's done in the past? he's such a prominent figure in british tv but idk how to choose what to watch next

i have watched a lot of panel shows...you got that right hehehe...

i'm happy for you that you found someone you really like and get to explore a lot of new content! i gotta say, that doesn't happen often for someone quite so famous and prolific like dara, so it's fun for me to think back to all the stuff he's been in :')

he's a comedian, but he's also known for being mr big smarty pants, so he's done a lot of comedy programmes as well as smarty pants programmes & documentaries. you may choose to start in one of these distinct directions if there's a side of dara you like best! let me start with a few of my own faves...

he's probably best known — definitely by my followers, but also in general — for being the long-time host of the news-focused panel show mock the week, which JUST ended after 17 years. of the panel shows about news, of which there are many, this one is the most accessible and the most silly. dara is a GREAT host and has hilarious dynamics with the regular panelists, especially his literal best friend ed byrne (who we heavily stan). in fact, on mtw, you'll also see lots of other taskmaster contestants you may recognise, including panel captain and cult fave hugh dennis, frankie boyle, russell howard, and ed gamble. i know 17 years is A LOT, so if you've never seen the show and aren't sure where to start, i'm gonna recommend you give series 15 a go — as a new-er panel show fan, i think a more recent season like this one will be most accessible. also, this compilation of comedians roasting dara on mtw for half an hour is fucking hilarious lmaooo

dara has been on tons of panel shows as a panelist opposed to hosting, and you'd be amiss not to catch up on him on qi! one of stephen's smart lil boys and a clever laugh, he was made for that show. you can find dara's episodes here and i have all of qi linked on the masterpost! if you've never seen qi here's a silly clip that is mostly sean being one of stephen's naughty lil boys but it's a great example of the learning a lot/learning absolutely nothing dichotomy that can happen with a great panel (including dara!!)!

apart from that, i'd highly recommend you watch his stand-up! i put two specials on drive for you, 2012's craic dealer and 2015's crowd tickler (sorry for the mid quality — they're just dvd rips). these are pretty perfect for blossoming dara fans because they're funny, witty, clever, goofy — all the things we love about dara at once!!

as for my final personal recommendation, you should definitely check out dara & ed's great big adventure, a bbc two miniseries where the besties travel along the pan-american highway! they have top-tier wholesome bantz, ed is very fucking goofy (you will find quickly that being a fan of dara is being a fan of ed hahaha), and they explore some very beautiful cultures. i will work on getting decent rips of the show for my drive, but in the meantime you can watch this on dailymotion!

it would be amiss if i ended the recs here, because dara has hosted a lot of different series — but these series are based around very specific interests of his. some of the big ones include the following: go 8 bit, one of his most recent shows about classic and indie video games, very nostalgic with fun guests; science club (if you need full eps of this lmk, i should be able to get them but it will just take a lil time) and school of hard sums, nerds talking about science and maths, def have qi vibes; and the underrated stargazing live, broadcast every winter and when dr brian cox & our fave amateur astronomer mr ó briain talk about stars and shit! these are less necessary watching and more worth watching if the topics tickle your fancies~

okay i hope that helps!! there is obviously so much more to his career — including his many books — but i think this is overwhelming enough and i hope you don't mind the long post! feel free to catch us up on what you're enjoying down the line, we love dara and hearing what others love about him too :')

[theflyindutchwoman]

Well, I mean, there is such a thing as over-correcting. Hey, guys. Bring it in. Huddle up. What are you doing? You know, kids need to have fun, but they also need a little bit of structure. Hey, hustle up. Okay. Uh, my name is Lucy. I am Coach Bradford's friend, and we're gonna start with the basics -- throwing the ball.

| ANATOMY OF A SCENE - CHENFORD EDITION 5.11 - The Naked and the Dead

One of the things I find the most compelling about Tim and Lucy is how they show up for each other. This has been the foundation of their partnership from the very beginning… and, now, of their relationship.

The dichotomy of the kids being absolutely terrible and Tim congratulating them is priceless. But aside from the humor, this scene illustrates how their respective background fuels their approach to coaching. Tim can relate to the kids, having his own - literal - scars from his father's coaching. They are here to have fun and, after being berated and yelled at by their former coach, he understands that what they need is encouragement and support, not be scarred any further. He's trying really hard to be as uplifting as possible, overcompensating in the process. His fear of being anything like his dad is still there under the surface. But this is also a good reminder of what a great TO he was : he adjusted his teaching's methods to what his rookies needed, as demonstrated with Katie. And this is exactly what he does here. Though, as Lucy notes, there is such a thing as overcorrecting too much : being encouraging is great, but the kids need some structure as well. And this is a direct callback to her background in psychology. She's able to pinpoint immediately that something is bothering him and, once she understands the issue at hand, she doesn't even hesitate before helping Tim by taking charge and adopting the more demanding role. They both play to their strengths here and find a way to balance each other effortlessly. It's such a role reversal to their former dynamic but it further illustrates how well they complement each other. And how supportive they are of each other.

Lucy showing up to see Tim is her way of being encouraging, of taking interests in the things he does. She knows exactly how it feels not to have that unconditional support. Just like Tim with his dad, she is committed to break the cycle her parents upheld. And the way he stops dead in his tracks when he sees her at his sister's side, instantly smiling, really highlights how pleased he is that she's here. He was out of his comfort zone - coaching the kids wasn't even his idea originally - but she showed up and that means a lot to him. Having her arrival in the background while he was busy giving instructions was brilliant. But the best reaction is when she takes the lead. His smile when she introduces himself as his friend is too much - like sir, there are children right in front of you! He looks so proud of her. And touched. He gets to show her his support as well, by letting her shine and ensuring that the kids are listening to her instructions. His heart eyes are in full display once she talks baseball. Having a partner that not only doesn't mind his love for sports, but shares it and wants to be a part of it… Well, he never stood a chance, did he?! Something that is quite obvious with how he can't help himself from checking her out - in front of his sister… Their lack of subtlety for two people trying to hide their relationship is downright hilarious. The way he also has to tease her at the end with the ball is so inherently them… their dynamic is still the same : they're just dating on top of it. And this is everything.

[mariana-oconnor]

The Final Problem pt 1

🎵It's the Fi-inal Proble-em🎶diddle-uh duh! Diddle-uduhduuuh!🎵

And now that's going to be stuck in my head all week.

I have seen multiple adaptations of this story and I believe I have read it twice in the original as well as having used it a few times for reference back in my days hanging out in the Sherlock comms on lj. So I know it pretty well. No rampant speculation this time, although there may be several highly inappropriate memes. I'll see what I can do.

It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friend Mr Sherlock Holmes was distinguished.

Ah, here we find the true dichotomy of Watsonian vs Doyleist, as depicted in the diagram below.

My hand has been forced, however, by the recent letters in which Colonel James Moriarty defends the memory of his brother, and I have no choice but to lay the facts before the public exactly as they occurred.

ANOTHER FUCKING COLONEL! Colonels are the worst. I'm sure that at some poitn in his life ACD was in some way drastically wronged by a colonel in the British army whom he never forgot or forgave. Not a Major or a Lieutenant or a Captain, but definitely a Colonel.

Also, I thought Professor Moriarty was also called James. Did their parents just lack imagination? Or could they not be bothered to learn more than one name. Does it matter which child turns up, as long as one of them does? Is James just the name that ACD uses when he can't think of any others?

I alone know the absolute truth of the matter...

Are you sure about that, Watson? I feel like maybe there's like... one tiny thing you don't know. Just one. Absolutely minuscule thing. Not important at all. Barely worth knowing.

It may be remembered that after my marriage, and my subsequent start in private practice, the very intimate relations which had existed between Holmes and myself became to some extent modified.

Literally the other day you were living with him in Baker Street again, and it seems like you spent more time with Holmes in the months after your marriage than you did with your wife or at work, so I'm not sure that starting this true account of events off with a bald-faced lie is the best course of action, but sure.

Reading these stories in this order and seeing with complete clarity that ACD paid no attention to his past writing with regards to timeline and continuity is kind of funny. There were only three cases in 1890? I'm sure we've had more than three cases give us specific dates in 1890. I can't remember exactly when he got married, but it wasn't that long before 1890 (1888 wikipedia tells me, and many stories take place in that nebulous 'months after I was married' period. The timeline is honestly just chaos. One of the last stories was set in 1892, which from the date of this story is clearly impossible, so... Watson just makes up the dates to suit his own agenda?)

I received two notes from Holmes, dated from Narbonne and from Nîmes...

Now that I know he was recently in Nimes, I am going to be picturing Holmes in a pair of jeans for the rest of this story. That's just how it is. Sorry. And before you say it's anachronistic, denim trousers became popular in the 1870s in the states, iirc, so it's entirely plausible.

"...I must further beg you to be so unconventional as to allow me to leave your house presently by scrambling over your back garden wall."

Watson I have come to close your shutters, smoke a cigarette and climb over your backwall, and I'm all out of shutters and cigarettes.

"Is Mrs Watson in?" "She is away upon a visit." "Indeed! You are alone?" "Quite." "Then it makes it the easier for me to propose that you should come away with me for a week to the Continent."

Oh, and also to invite you on an impromptu romantic getaway to the continent, seeing as your wife's not around. I'm in fear for my life, but it's going to be great fun.

Watson suggesting that this is an 'aimless holiday' is odd. Watson, if your friend comes to you and admits that he's afraid of being shot and has been in a fight, wants to leave your house in an unconventional manner that will help him avoid being seen and simultaneously suggests you leave the country. It might be connected. The destination is clearly less important than the departing.

"You have probably never heard of Professor Moriarty?" said he.

This reveal was kind of spoiled for modern readers with the Colonel's name earlier, which is a bit of a shame. But I guess ACD had no idea that Moriarty would become such a household name that just this in itself would be able to make readers a century on go 'Oh!' Still a pity, though. Having that whole 'in danger for his life' thing and THEN the Moriarty reveal would be a better build up for modern readers.

"His career has been an extraordinary one. He is a man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by nature..."

👀

"...with a phenomenal mathematical faculty."

What is an 'army coach'? I mean, I know what I feel like it means, but I fail to see how it would be a good job for a professor of mathematics. Did he coach them in maths?

"He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organiser of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the centre of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them."

Me, trying to find the most ridiculous gif of Macavity from Cats (2019): There's so. many. to choose from.

"Again and again he strove to break away, but I as often headed him off. I tell you, my friend, that if a detailed account of that silent contest could be written, it would take its place as the most brilliant bit of thrust-and-parry work in the history of detection."

When I first realised that Moriarty appears in only 1 of the Sherlock Holmes stories, I was kind of astonished, because he always seemed like he must have been a recurring nemesis to have made such an impact on the canon. But no, it really is just this story and ACD gives him a lot of hype. It leaves a lot of space in the narrative, and as we all know, the plot holes are where the fanfic gets in. Sherlock Holmes, I believe, is the most adapted character in English literary history. More than Robin Hood, more than King Arthur, more than any Shakespeare play. And you've got to wonder if part of that is because of the gaps in the narrative that are mentioned, but not fleshed out.

I wonder if, at the time, there were Sherlock Holmes fan groups who pored over past cases trying to find evidence of Moriarty's hand in previous stories. I bet there were people scribbling their own ideas of what happened between Moriarty and Holmes and reading them to their friends and family in the evenings. Just as I bet, after this story, a million fix it stories were written/told. I've never heard of any existing, but it feels like there must have been.

"I was sitting in my room thinking the matter over, when the door opened and Professor Moriarty stood before me."

"His appearance was quite familiar to me. He is extremely tall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve, and his two eyes are deeply sunken in this head. He is clean-shaven, pale, and ascetic-looking, retaining something of the professor in his features. His shoulders are rounded from much study, and his face protrudes forward, and is forever slowly oscillating from side to side in a curiously reptilian fashion."

Police officers are mammalian and criminal masterminds are reptilian. Good to know.

"'You have less frontal development that I should have expected,' said he, at last. 'It is a dangerous habit to finger loaded firearms in the pocket of one's dressing-gown.'"

"You have a small head." Interesting opening line. Although it is fair to say that he's right about the gun. Not best practice.

"'All that I have to say has already crossed your mind,' said he. "'Then possibly my answer has crossed yours,' I replied."

These lines are iconic, but also, as someone who has written on occasion, also genius. Why bother trying to work out a suitably intelligent and ominous conversation when you can do this instead and have it work ten times better. It's a lovely bit of writing.

"'You crossed my path on the 4th of January,' said he. 'On the 23d you incommoded me; by the middle of February I was seriously inconvenienced by you; at the end of March I was absolutely hampered in my plans; and now, at the close of April, I find myself placed in such a position through your continual persecution that I am in positive danger of losing my liberty. The situation is becoming an impossible one.'"

I do also love this matter of fact little summary, where Moriarty has clearly had his thesaurus open at the word 'blocked' and just picked words at random. The exasperation and yet strange calm of having this all written down in his diary is great. Moriarty is very well constructed as a character.

He goes on to say 'tut, tut' as well, which is just such a supercilious, condescending little thing to say. He is eminently hateable, and yet simultaneously has done nothing actually wrong on page.

Holmes refers to him as Mr Moriarty to his face and Professor Moriarty to Watson, which is a nice little bit of pettiness. Technically he isn't a professor any more, but just that little bit of disrespect to his face. Beautiful.

"I took a cab after that and reached my brother's rooms in Pall Mall, where I spent the day."

Oh hai, Mycroft!

So far, Holmes has escaped death 3 times today. So he's doing pretty well.

I do find it odd that with so many days advance warning, Moriarty can't find another way to not be arrested on Monday that isn't killing Holmes. Can't he just... stop whatever thing is happening on Monday?

"The practice is quiet," said I, "and I have an accommodating neighbour. I should be glad to come."

The return of Watson's accommodating neighbour, the true unsung hero of these tales. There had better be a fanfic on AO3 that's a bystander POV of Watson's long-suffering doctor neighbour and all the times Waton pops his head in and says 'I have to have adventures today, you don't mind keeping an eye on my practice do you, old chum? Splendid! See you in a week!'

I'm sure all of Holmes instructions about how Watson should get to the station are justified, but they are also very funny.

"...dash through the Arcade, timing yourself to reach the other side at a quarter-past nine."

Ah yes, I know exactly how quickly to run through the arcade to make sure I get to the other side at exactly quarter past nine. Who doesn't?

This is only a two parter, and the next part is due tomorrow, it says, rather than on Tuesday. So, everyone get your mourning bands ready.

[silverspleen]

@your-royal-highness-of-trash

Pulled out into TWO new posts b/c I cannot be subjecting my friends to one longpost but rather many smaller posts with the majestic read more tool. I hope this is cool.

(Context. My reply to This.)

THE GRIM HALF tw warcrimes torture it's a CoD ramble my beloved followers know it's time for me to be Unhinged on Main

I don't know if I would call Jacob Geller's video essays on Call of Duty fun. Like, they very much aren't designed to be consumed from a fandom lens. They are super intellectually engaging and enlightening but also really grim since he does absolutely talk about the real life political motivations that go into CoD as a work of art, specifically propaganda art. And talks about, you know, real war crimes done by real people in real life. I have made multiple irl friends watch them.

None of them are into FPS games so this is basically my torture I am doing to my friends as I desperately try to rationalizing enjoying Call of Duty as an adult with a functioning brain. Who notices things like, yeah. We made up a middle eastern country for this one huh lads? We made that shit up so we don't have to make any actual comments about the United States' current complicity in this whole war and terrorism thing huh? WE'RE DOING A HISTORICAL REVISIONISM ARE WE??? I wouldn't have noticed the historical revisionism without this video essay and you know what? It's super fucked up. CoD does wacko stuff all the time, both for manufactured drama and for silly propaganda reasons, and when it jumps the shark is when it's the most conventional fun I think. I think Geller is onto something where he says that the writers went into this thinking they were doing the story in the best way possible with character driven stuff - and therefore it doesn't REALLY matter where Farah is from to them, they can just make up a country because it's general backstory vibes that impact her behavior that matter, not cultural details. Also how Alex can get away with being a terrorist but in a nbd way because yeah he is one, that's what happens when you desert to a faction that literally gets classified as a terrorist organization babyyy - but sitting at a perspective completely divorced of all the political and societal nuances in real life that makes the actual manifested story have impact outside of itself. And the US government is like "hell yeah, America! more kids will think guns and soldiers are cool and great. A+ plot or whatever put more suicide bombers in it" and that's that.

Being invited to my clusterfuck of an apartment like SIT ON MY COUCH WE'RE WATCHING THE POLITICS OF COD MW 2019.

Poor Gaz is the other character besides Farah with the strongest sense of like, justice and doing "the right thing" and this man gets ALL the ethically questionable as fuck levels and I know why. It's so they can do a propaganda and show like, ok this must be a justifiable offense because the Good Guy player surrogate character can accept it. I see you! I see you CoD writers!

not CoD but always relevant - "Rationalizing Brutality: The Cultural Legacy of the Headshot"

His video essays "Who's Afraid of Modern Art" and "Judaism and Whiteness in Wolfenstein" are both personal favorites. Though I am so so biased towards his review of Dead Space 2 that's just like 40 minutes of him being like "this game rocks" because yeah, mood.

Anyway I am putting this in a box and throwing it into the ocean next post is the fun part of CoD it's shipping time this is my dichotomy this is how I must live my life.

[mochiwrites]

I feel like grian in the Songbird's blood au is just unstoppable, yes he is mortal and all, but he will find something just to piss someone off. (And someday it will be someone who he really shouldn't liss off)

He's just so slippery like a cockroach as scar said, he has faced death multiple times, he has befriended a vampire, hell below he survived the circus act from scar, but his determination to save/protect the people he cares about is going to kill him someday, he may seem like quite the collected guy but his emotions are hayway.

BUT THE TENSION BETWEEN HIM AND MUMBO?? They aren't acting like before the taurtis situation, they're awkward they're so 😭😭 but he still cares deeply about mumbo, he protected him like Mumbo's a little child needing protection

And oh goodness Scar and Brian, that's a story for itself, yes scar almost killed him, came veryyyyy close to killing him and grian still cares about him?? I can't imagine what his reaction will be when he figures out scar's working for Scott again.

BUT OHMYGOD, MUMBO AND SCAR??????? They were each other's (best??) friends for so long, and then scar just disappeared, yes he had a reason for it but I can't imagine how our mumbo felt, his friend, who he's know for so long, just leaving him. And then figuring out he's been living in the same town as him for 15years?? And he didn't come by even once for those 15years????? That just hurts

I just love them, I've been thinking about them for the last 5days help

ANON WE’RE SHAKING HANDS. I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THEM FOR THE LAST YEAR

grian in songbird is so,,, he’s just so???? he’s human but stubborn as hell and his heart is way too big for his body. he’s avoided death on SO many occasions, and befriended both a vampire and the Literal grim reaper. LIKE WHAT A FLEX THAT IS. grian is his core is this representation of humanity and love. he cares so much about his loved ones, and is willing to face dangerous situation after dangerous situation to keep them safe.

and him and mumbo just have this ??? really special relationship where they just click. they Get one another. and I got this ask before chapter 4 was posted, but YEAH. they’re Not acting like they normally would. they’re tense and awkward and so afraid to ruin what they have. yet grian is still just as determined as usual to protect mumbo. because he’s tired of being helpless. useless. for once he wants to successfully protect someone he cares about.

SCAR AND GRIAN…. NONNIE I COULD GO ON FOR DAYS ABOUT THESE TWO. ahems. but I will not because we’d be here forever. so all I will say this they make me INSANE. scar and grian have this monster human dichotomy going on, a little juxtaposition, if you will. scar tried to kill him yet grian can see the loneliness in him. the pain and sadness. scar calls himself a monster but grian sees past that facade. and scar doesn’t know how to deal with it!!!!

so he tries time and time again to prove grian wrong. he’s not human. he’s never been human. he’s a monster through and through. yet grian won’t call him one! AND ITS JUST SO????? scar’s trying to do Everything in his power to make grian realize just how terrible he is, yet grian keeps holding his hand out to him anyway. AUGH. AUGH!!!

mumbo and scar,,,, *bursts into tears* /silly. these two. these two. I know arcs 1 and 2 have been very grumbo and scarian centric, but arc 3??? arc 3 we’re gonna have more redscape. and we’re gonna get to dive into their relationship more. and HOOOOOO BOY. these two are so,,, god. they were best friends. they were close. grum and jrum call scar uncle. and then. scar just ups and leaves one day? and tells mumbo via letter??? there’s a lot going on there. and I can’t wait to explore it more

coughs, I’m very normal about songbird!mumscarian hi

[8-evil-annoying-catboys]

trying to separate the trans community into two categories will never fucking work. it’s not that simple. even if it seems like it should be that simple, there will be people you would sort into one category in theory who will fall into the other category, and people who do not fall into either category, and people who fall into both categories (either at the same time, or at different times or in different situations, depending, obviously, on the nature of the categories/dichotomy). this is especially true if you think of these categories, in your mind, as being based on coercively assigned birth sex, when by the actual definition you use they are not actually based on that, but based on, for example, perception by our oppressors, or self-identification, or individuals’ opinions, or anything else.

arguing about who goes where, and trying to exclude each other, and not listening to each other only hurts us. seeing each other as freaks (in a negative way), basing your activism exclusively on people who you see as being the same as you, refusing to acknowledge either systemic patterns OR individual lived experiences that defy the expectations set in place by systemic patterns, and ANY OTHER INFIGHTING only hurts us. if we’re going to survive the current political climate, it is of the utmost importance that we STOP FUCKING FIGHTING EACH OTHER and start fucking PROTECTING each other.

transunity is the only way we will make it out of this without being, at best, battered down and chased out of more and more and more places until there is nowhere left for us to feel safe, and at worst, fucking massacred. stop parroting gender essentialist AND bioessentialist rhetoric. stop beating up our own for slight missteps and misunderstandings.

and don’t you DARE read this and think that i’m not talking to you. i’m even talking to myself, partially, bc we all have biases to unlearn and i’m not exempt, bc literally no one fuckin is.

follow other trans people who have different opinions than you (but, like, not if they directly hate on people like you bc that’s bad for your mental health, i’m not saying that, i’m saying bridge the gap). follow intersex people, whether they are trans or not. follow multigender, genderqueer, agender, nonbinary people, and make a point to seek out those who were not coercively assigned the same sex at birth as you were, and those who are intersex especially if you’re perisex. follow binary trans people who are not the same gender as you. follow trans people who ARE the same gender as you but are intersex. widen your horizons and break out of your echo chamber. for the love of the entire community, PLEASE seek out bloggers who are vocal about transunity. if you safely can, then go to pride and other irl community events/spaces. seek out irl trans friends of as many different genders as you can possibly find.

just. god. please. stop fighting. we need to use that energy to protect our WHOLE community. we will have time to settle intracommunity disputes once it’s safer for us to exist in general. it sucks that we have these disputes in the first place, and i want to solve them as much as the next person, but they are not the same as the vitriol we are facing from all directions.

and maybe, just maybe, if we actually fight as siblings and protect each other, we can break down our own biases during that fight, and the intracommunity issues will be less intense by the end. it’s not guaranteed, and if it does happen, it won’t apply to every single person in the whole community, but… still… wouldn’t that be nice???? if we all gained a better understanding of people in our community who aren’t the same as us???? don’t you want that, too??

[dballzposting]

I definitely took Majin Buu & Mr Satan to be like childhood-friends, not friends since childhood but like their friendship literally speaks to and draws out their inner child TODAY. BUT people in the comments of this video are saying things like, how Mr Satan is like the best father in da world to Buu, and how hes so much better than Babidi ....

I didnt think of it like that .... I knew that Mr Satan got a genuine friend out of this, but to me the exigence on Majin Buu's end was far less, at the end of the day he could go anywhere in the universe and make friends anywhere. It really wasnt hard for Mr Satan to earn his affection. He could get that anywhere.

BUT now I can see how Mr Satan's treatment toward him was COMPLETELY OPPOSITE to Babidi's, but still claiming a parental role by virtue of nurture and care; and Mr Satan was the first to show him kindness, and to continue with it. When you present this as a dichotomy between two different father figures, it becomes significant ... I see now what Buu gets out of this.

I mean Mr Satan still fears Buu a little and he immediately assumed the worst as to Buu's wish, but it's just becasue he knows that Buu doesnt always think things through / see the unintended consequences.

They love each other so genuinely and they SHOW IT ON SCREEN TOO you domt have to extrapolate.

SUCH A GIFT

[50cal-fullauto-astarion]

Going all out on this because Dot did an amazing job with these questions:

🧩, 🦴, 🥝, ❄️ & 🦷 for the ask game, please <3!

KEZ YOU OUT HERE SPOILING MEEE 🥰🥰💖💖

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

9 times out of 10 it’s either first person POV, a character waking up for the day age describing themselves as they look in a mirror, or WALLS of text. Formatting and first paragraph will always destroy my perception of a fic, and it doesn’t matter how good it is even two sentences after that.

Another more esoteric thing is any kind of dad’s best friend or stepfather or barely legal/he’s too old for me trope. I think those are literally the most vile fucking shit, and I just block on site. And I’m all for taboos, and people writing what they want, but I’ve never seen that shit written well nor on a blog that isn’t sparkly and pink and giving off major DDlg vibes. Fucking stomach turning.

🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing?

Answered this guy here! But I’ll add a few others that aren’t pieces of media dfhj. The words: abattoir, incandescent, butcher, slaughter, dappled. Different deep jewel shades of blue and green. Animal eyes. Bones in odd places. Videos of interesting women cooking. Dreams about: mothers, children, fire, the apocalypse, all my lost true loves, every corner of the town I visit that I should mark on map.

🥝 ⇢ do you lie a lot? what’s the most recent lie you told?

I lie quite a bit, but it used to be that almost every word out of my mouth was an exaggerated abs pointless lie dfhjd. Yay growing up in dysfunctional household! These days I’m much more conscientious and purposeful about being honest, and I’m always trying to improve, just going with white lies about stuff at work to make my life easier (“I need to use the restroom” means I’m going for a smoke), or at home to keep things smoother (“They were out of X creamer” means I forgot).

Most recent lie was this evening when I told my sister I had left the store and I couldn’t get her a certain brand of energy drink, but I was in the checkout line and didn’t want to go back through lmao.

❄️ ⇢ what’s your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

HO BOY SO MANY DFHJ. These are more vibes than anything solid sfhj. In alphabetical order:

@alittleposhtoad grieving in a cold place, love that has kindling in friendship, oranges peeled by one set of hands for another, tea in an old electric kettle on a black night, you can always come home here and home is what you call my head on your chest.

@dotcie two weirdos walk into a dive bar, and their mutually assured obsession exhibits as mutually assured destruction, sweating under a street lamp in a town where tourists don’t go at 3am with a man you swore you’d never see again, bedsheets they smell like sweat and home under an open window.

@kastlequill cannibalism as a type of taboo and closed religion, rage wielded elegant and precise like a blade, thought put into evils until they’re extrapolated into facets of humanity, the dichotomy of suffering as holiness and pointlessness, dangerous men they have either accepted or full on love the blood in their mouths, cities at sunset with the lights glittering on.

@parttimeprophet hey babe hehe. Animal hated paid back in animal brutality, cold women with colder determination, hell and religion and the death of god and the apocalypse, lipstick that glimmers like rubies, men that love the collars around their necks.

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

More wisdom: take breathers as much as you can in any area of life - steal then when you can at work, in hobbies, in talking, in cleaning - whether it’s 5 mins or 5 months, you need to rest, shit will be waiting for you when you get back. Don’t write down anything you don’t want read. Horses and boats are fun hobbies, but you can have the same financial experience by throwing wads of cash in a bonfire.

More life hacks: if you want to buy a used car, go for a Honda, bc you can beat the dog shit out of them for 30 years and they’ll still run like a clock. To save money, don’t get addicted to coke. The secret to the best homemade fried chicken you’ve ever had in your life is a pinch of cinnamon in your seasoned flour, and to make it crispy add a tablespoon of baking soda. Cream of tartar will make it meringue not break, but if you use too much it will taste hella metallic. 2 drops of dandelion tincture in a shot glass worth of water helps with liver and gallbladder inflammation - that’s Appalachian not crystal woowoo medicine. Don’t whistle outside at night.

[writer-and-thrasher]

Fic in Review 2023

Thanks to @trentcrimminallybeautiful for the tag! I'm (fucking hopefully) starting to get over being so deeply ill after two whole weeks, so I decided it was the time to do this! Yay!

tagging: Literally anyone who wants to, plus I'll tag @providing-leverage, @jamietarttdoodoodoodoo, and @trentcrimmisgay (sorry if you've already been tagged or if it's too late, my brain is rebooting)

Total Number of Completed Stories:

I completed 8 fics this year (1 for Dimension 20 and 7 for Ted Lasso)!!! It's way more than I planned to write in a year, especially given that four of them are over 10k words and I genuinely didn't think I was gonna write any fanfic this year. All in all, I'm really really proud of how much I've written!

Total Word Count: AO3's word count put me at 63,919, which... woah. The one D20 fic I wrote this year wasn't even 2k words, which means that I wrote over 60k words of Ted Lasso fanfic in 6 months. I didn't start writing for TL until June, which honestly makes me even prouder and more excited for tackling stuff next year!

Fandoms Written In: Ted Lasso, almost exclusively. I've also written for Dimension 20, and I figure I will more when Fantasy High: Junior Year releases, but for now I'm on a pretty big TL kick.

Looking back did you expect to write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expect: I expected to write way less than this! I'd hoped I'd write some, but nothing was really grabbing ahold of me until Ted Lasso crashed into my brain.

What’s your own favorite story of the year, personally?:

Ooh, that's really tough. I'll split it into two because I can't choose:

In my Dichotomy series (I'm just really proud of it tbh), my favorite of the fics was The Dichotomy of a Captain, aka Roy's perspective. It felt the truest to any of them, though I continue to try to stay true to all of them. It's also the first of the fics in this series that made me realize I really could finish the series.

My favorite one-shot of the year is probably Out of Practice, if only because sometimes I get WIP ideas and rarely follow through, but I worked hard to finish this one. And also, I really like watching through Isaac's eyes as he learns stuff about his best friend.

Did you take any writing risks this year?: Honestly, I think the fact that I came back and started writing again was my biggest risk of the year. I wasn't really sure of my voice or style, and it was intimidating to come back and keep writing, but the community made a world of difference.

Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?: I've got different WIPs I want to write, like finishing the Dichotomy series and a few series I have in the bank. I think more tangible goals are to get more comfortable with writing new scenes and being more comfortable with past tense. I've always been drawn to canon-explicit stuff, and for some reason, present tense has me in a headlock lmao

Best story of the year: I don't know that I can say anything is "objectively" the best, since fanfic is subjective as hell anyway, but I feel like The Dichotomy of a Captain is the one I feel is the best written. But that one is also my favorite, so I may just be biased.

Most popular story of the year: I'm stealing @trentcrimminallybeautiful's way of doing this because I think it's good, so shoutout

By kudos: "The Dichotomy of a Couch" with 268

By subscriptions: "The Dichotomy of a Couch" with 52 (This was originally going to be one work I wrote the series on, but someone suggested I turn it into multiple works in one series, and this one was first, so it has the highest)

By comment threads: "The Dichotomy of a Captain" with 14

By bookmarks: "The Dichotomy of a Couch" with 65

By hits: "The Dichotomy of a Couch" with 2604

Overall, definitely "The Dichotomy of a Couch", though I did admittedly post it first. But also, wow, these numbers are super humbling, and I'm honored that anyone has read and reacted to what I've written. It means the world for this fic (and my others) to be so kindly received.

Most personal story of the year: Most definitely Who Tells Your Story. No contest.

Funniest story of the year: Ooh, I genuinely made myself laugh while writing The Dichotomy of a Prick, so I'd have to say that one. It's the least serious, and writing Jamie's thoughts brought a smile to my face.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Mmm, I guess Who Tells Your Story.

Most fun story to write: I gotta go with The Dichotomy of a Prick again, it was a breath of fresh air between two very serious parts of this series and amidst other more serious one-shots.

Story with the sexiest moment: I genuinely don't write sexy fics, so the answer is going to be very silly. The best I've got is an illusion to a sexy moment in the past during The Dichotomy of a Prick, but Definitely nothing actually sexy lol

Sweetest story of the year: I gotta go with Who Tells Your Story again, considering that I wrote it for the sweet moment.

“Holy crap that’s wrong even for you!” story: I'm also gonna take this to mean angsty instead of scandalous and say The Dichotomy of a Captain

Hardest story to write: The Dichotomy of a Prick was hard to write on a more technical level as far as Jamie's POV went; I was really conscious about not fucking up his character or writing him too OOC. But considering how personal it was for me, Who Tells Your Story gave me some gut punches as I wrote it that made it hard emotionally.

Biggest disappointment: I think that some fics I liked didn't do as well as others that I didn't like as much, but I also know that my writing got better over time, so I'm really not dwelling on it.

Biggest surprise: Writing again in general, definitely, but also how much love I've gotten for things I've been really excited about. I fully didn't expect so much kindness (far more a me thing than anyone in this community, y'all are wonderful) and it's definitely inspired me to keep going. Y'all are amazing and I'm so grateful for all of you.