#the likes of which i have not tackled in my writing before (definitely not posted on ao3) Just Yet so im a little hesitant and worried abou

[lenjaminmacbuttons]

Did you say baldur's gate singles ward au? 👀👀

yeas....... 👉👈

i have a tag for it but so far it's just doodles and a basic overview

i have conceptions of a fic. brewing in my mind. i just haven't quite put words to page yet............

[writingquestionsanswered]

Not to be a downer, but I actually finished my novel and now I’m confused because I don’t want to publish it. I don’t even particularly want anyone other than maybe my two close friends to even read it. What on Earth did I write 40k words (which I know is not really long enough for a novel, but it’s still far and away the longest thing I’ve ever written) for? I know people say “write for yourself” but like… am I just wasting my time? Help?

(p.s. you can leave this off anon)

(p.p.s your blog is really great 👍)

There's No Such Thing as Wasted Writing

I'm going to tackle this two ways...

#1 - "Write For Yourself" - there's a reason this common phrase has echoed through the Hall of Writers since time immemorial. It's because it's true! Writing doesn't have to be anything more than a pastime. It doesn't have to be anything more than something you do for your own benefit and enjoyment.

I have an in-joke with family members about how any time one of us does something the least bit crafty, DIY, skilled, whatever, a particular family member will always say, "You did a great job! You should do it for a living!" Like, someone can't even crochet a Kawaii mushroom without being pressured to turn it into an Etsy dynasty, or paint a cabinet without being pressured to become the next Property Brothers. And that's such a BANANAS capitalistic mindset, isn't it? This idea that nothing can be done purely for our own enjoyment. That you can't just write a novel because you want to... you can only write it if you plan to share it or publish it? It's just so silly.

And, the thing is, we don't even apply that mentality to a lot of other things people do purely for enjoyment. No one is streaming all of Bridgerton in two nights and saying, "I enjoyed every second of that, but why did I do that? Such a waste of time!" No one spends an hour strumming their guitar under the stars on a beach, and then says, "That was so relaxing and fun, but I didn't charge for that performance and I didn't record it to sell it, so that was obviously a waste of time."

You know what I mean?

#2 - And Anyway, Practice Makes Perfect - And if you keep writing--even if you continue not to share or publish--you'll get better and better with each story you write. Which, maybe all that means is you get to appreciate your own improvement, but also, should you ever change your mind and decide to write something to share or publish, you've now spent time honing your skills. Even if those other stories never see the light of day, they're still an important foundation of the writer you become. Do you know how many unpublished novellas, novels, and short stories I have? Too many to count. Hundreds of fan-fiction and original fiction short stories I've only shared with one or two other people, if anyone. A dozen or so novels and novellas that have only been read by a few people, and some haven't been read by anyone else or have only been read by my CPs. I would never consider those stories and novels and novellas to be a waste of time, because I know every single one made me a better writer. My published work is better because I wrote those other things.

So, I hope that makes you feel better. At the very least you hopefully enjoyed writing your novel--or at least got something out of it--and you definitely honed your writing skills, which matters! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[myfairstarlight]

To Have and to Hold - Penelope and Colin's journey to self-love

Companion piece - or one might say part 2 - of An Ode to Friends to Lovers.

Goddammit this was not supposed to be or take this long.

Ahum. Some time has passed, and after sorting through all my thoughts and feelings, here it finally is, my endless ramblings about two friends in love, but not only.

If anyone asks, no I did not take this long to write this post because of the fact that when taking screenshots to illustrate some parts of this analysis I ended up rewatching whole episodes instead.

So, dearest gentle readers, here's my Bridgerton s3 review, with focus on part 2, but looking at the season as a whole too; the highlights, the let downs, and polin's full love story, let's dive in, shall we?

The one thing I really liked about s3, something the other seasons could not do, is how so much is structured around parallels and callbacks to previous seasons, in the narration and in the visuals, for both Penelope and Colin. It is the advantage of having a main couple who's been here from the start, and with them, many other characters get weaved into their story, more particularly in part 2. I think that's why I personally did not mind the fact we did not get flashback sequences, unlike previous seasons (although I would have loved to see baby Colin and Penelope meeting... perhaps with Edmund and Violet watching them play and noting how they were childhood friends as well...) And what can I say? I'm a sucker for parallels as someone who loves to look at the details and perhaps overthink things.

So before we tackle Penelope and Colin individually and as a pair, let's talk about:

Eloise's love for Penelope

Eloise ends up being the catalyst for this second part, when she was mostly an observer in part 1. In many ways, she parallels Colin. Childhood friends with Penelope, betrayed by the Whistledown reveal, and yet still caring and protecting Penelope in her own way, which also paralleled Colin. And because I can, here's a small list:

Eloise distracting Cressida so she does not bully Penelope (s3e1) / Colin refusing a dance with Cressida to dance with Pen instead (s1e1)

Eloise running after her at the Four Seasons ball after accidentally revealing her and Colin's secret / Colin running after Penelope at the ball in s3e1

Colin visiting Penelope to apologise for his comment last season and offering the lessons to help her find a husband / Eloise visiting her to apologise and wish her the best in her endeavour to find a husband

Colin leaving to travel and find himself at the end of previous seasons but staying now / Eloise now travelling to Scotland to find herself

Now that we have the whole season, you can tell that in part 1, she foreshadowed how Colin would react in part 2, he just goes through her whole journey in a lot less time. See the direct parallel at the beginning of e5 as Eloise yells at Penelope and storms out, then Colin swoops in and comforts her, and then the end of e7, where Colin is the one upset with Penelope and after he storms out, Eloise is there, hugging her best friend and telling her everything will be alright.

When one is absent, the other is there for Penelope, because despite everything they love her and they know that through the years, Penelope has loved and supported them as well, even if she was still hiding this big part of her. Penelope makes Eloise feel listened to, and makes Colin feel seen. She was their safe space as much as they were hers.

Eloise is also the very reason Colin learning about Whistledown goes so wrong. She is the one pressuring Penelope to tell him, and also the one who eventually tells her to never tell him the truth when Cressida comes forward and claims to be Whistledown. Yes, Penelope is definitely still at fault as well for taking so long to tell him, but to her credit she did intend on telling him after publishing one last column discrediting Cressida, before being convinced to give it up by Eloise. And then when Cressida manages to publish something, and Eloise is terrified about what it means considering she just broke off their friendship, it is to protect Eloise from her ire that Penelope takes her quill again and sneaks out to publish, which leads to Colin finding out.

Then comes her scene with Colin as he asks his sister how long she's known, where all the parallels come through.

"Have you already forgiven her?"

"I want to. Do you think you can?"

Colin goes on to say Eloise is lucky that she's never been in love, implying that his love for Penelope makes it that much harder to forgive. However, he fails to understand that Eloise is in love as well, perhaps not in the romantic sense, but she is, or she would not have been this distraught for a year over her falling out with Penelope, and yet always somewhat keeping an eye on her. And just like how eventually, as push comes to shove, she finds her way back to Penelope, Colin will do much the same as a looming threat comes their way.

She and Colin are also similar in their insecurity regarding Penelope's love for them, and in turn Penelope spends a good length of the season reassuring them. She constantly tells Colin she loves him, especially after the reveal so he knows that this part of her was never deceiving. She reassures Eloise that their friendship is just as important as her love for Colin and she doesn't want to lose either of them.

The fascinating thing for me about Eloise when taking into account Polin, is that in part 1 they needed her to be away so Colin and Penelope could spend more time together uninterrupted, leading to Colin realising his feelings. This also applies to season 2 actually! While Eloise was in the hunt for LW and distracted by Theo, that's what allowed Colin and Penelope to have a full proper conversation about their purpose, and I'd argue that the moment Penelope said "my purpose shall set me free", something started to shift in their relationship.

In part 2, without Eloise, I wonder if they would have even been able to come together without any more secret between them, if she hadn't been the one to push Penelope to tell the truth, and then the one to support her while Colin was processing his own feelings.

Penelope's ambitions and womanhood

Penelope's journey to self-confidence continues in part 2, this time in regards to Whistledown as she finally accepts her as a part of her, rather than a mask to hide behind. Enters Genevieve Delacroix, the only character in this show who knows what it means to be a woman with a business. It is no coincidence her scene in e6 comes after Portia's talk of "ladies do not have dreams" and after Eloise convinced Penelope to give up Whistledown, because it is just gossip. She directly opposes them.

In part 1, she helped Penelope be more confident by providing her with a new wardrobe that fits her better, and in part 2, Gen is the very reason Penelope learns to be proud of Whistledown, own up to the mistakes, and yet fully claim her as her.

And then, the final nail in the coffin to me: Cressida, in a red "revenge" dress, shows up at the Mondrich ball, and wields the Whistledown name as Confident by Demi Lovato plays in the background. Cressida stands tall and proud despite the whispers, and I think a part of Penelope truly broke then. If Cressida could exhume such confidence for a body of work which is not even hers, then why can't Penelope be proud of what she's accomplished? This past week has been killing her, she admits it to Gen the eve of her wedding, Colin was a great distraction but giving up Whistledown, putting down her quill, it truly hurt her, and a part of her cannot imagine giving it up again. And so Gen gives her the very advice she needed to hear.

"There is no such thing as true love without embracing your true self."

And look at the contrast before vs after her talk with Gen:

Colin, of course, shares Eloise's point of view, Penelope should just give it up, and to be fair, he's more scared for her safety, since he caught her alone in the street at night, and then the Queen just threatened the family again. But Penelope cannot stand for that anymore, she is tired of running and hiding. That is Penelope having the confidence to truly be herself. By the end of e7, she's fully bloomed into the woman she's always been behind her quill. The irony being that Colin was also the one who helped her embrace that in part 1, as he helped her bring out that part of her that he's always been privileged to.

And in e8, we see her take the reins. Do what must be done to protect the ones she cares about.

So let's talk about Portia now, because she may not have a business per se, but she had to essentially become "the man of the house" to keep her daughters safe and the fortune they have intact. I've seen people say her redemption came out of nowhere but I concur that in part 1, as Penelope's confidence starts to grow and she stands up to her family, Portia is already trying to be a better, supportive mother, and in turn, Prudence and Philippa follow her lead. Portia is a practical woman, not a sentimental one, at least she doesn't let herself be, that we have seen since the beginning of the show, that's why she was reprimanding Penelope for being reckless with her reputation by asking for Colin's help, and then was pushing for the match with Debling, because he was a lord, who could offer stability, and who would be away most of the time, leaving the managing of his estate to his wife, to Portia that is (or rather, was) the ideal life a woman can achieve.

I loved that they had Portia learn about Whistledown before the public reveal, because then she has to truly face the fact that she has overlooked Penelope all this time, the daughter who is most like her, and Portia is also the only one who points out that Penelope has written badly about herself. It forces Penelope to face the fact that in many ways, she truly is her mother's daughter as well.

Portia ends up being the driving force behind Penelope's decision to reveal herself as well, I believe. Because we joke about how Penelope hid so much money in the floor boards while her family was going broke but mind you, she had no idea they were having money problems, because Portia tried to hide it to not worry them, the same way Penelope has kept her Whistledown secret in the misguided belief that it was for the better, that she could handle the weight of it all on her own. By revealing herself to the Queen, she could free Colin from her mess, get away from Cressida's blackmail and, if the Queen doesn't behead her, she can save her family's title thanks to her writing and money.

Portia's and Penelope's mending relationship was the highlight of the season for me, the true redemption I wanted to see and am glad I got. And I want to point out a little sweet moment in the last episode:

After the Whistledown reveal, as Portia comes over to praise her daughter, she notices Colin looking in their direction. I personally believe Penelope told her about the annulment, and this is her way to support her before she sends her off to have that conversation with Colin. Portia, who's never been the affectionate mother before, gently caresses her cheek and calls her "My girl", because no matter the outcome she will always remain her little girl.

The beautiful thing about Penelope's ambitions is that they were driven by the women in her life, that's one strength of this season to me. She was inspired by Eloise's strong opinions she so readily shared, Portia's sometimes ruthless ways in the way she protects her family and herself, and Genevieve's smart business endeavours and passion. And so she cannot, won't give that up for a society who is so unfair to women, ironically because the Queen herself is so harsh on debutantes. And isn't it poetic cinema that she ends up revealing herself, in her own terms, during the very ball she fully funded? And after that, it is Philippa, her family she mended things with, who saves her from embarrassment by releasing the butterflies? And then the very same Philippa who during the epilogue, happily declares that her daughter can grow into a successful writer who might not need a husband, just like her little sister?

Side note again but it is also interesting that in contrast we had the Mondrich subplot, wherein Will has to let go of his bar to be accepted in high society (and he's clearly not happy about it), because the London elites do not work, yet here Penelope is, owning a business approved by the Queen.

Penelope's ambitions, in turn, inspire others. Portia, into allowing herself to be soft, Prudence to be more honest (the pregnancy hormones probably helped too), Philippa to readily consider other paths in life, and Eloise into finally doing something and discover a little bit of the world.

And she inspires another Bridgerton as well.

Penelope's bravery and Colin's envy

The thing about Penelope and Colin, and that has been said before, is that their roles are reversed. In romance shows such as these, the man is usually the one with a hard exterior, with secrets he wishes to keep to himself while the woman is the one who encourages him to open up by loving him. That is literally s1 with Simon and Daphne. And even in some ways, it is also Anthony and Kate, the difference being that Kate was not trying to get Anthony to soften up, she was directly confronting him so he fixes his shit himself (I still have beef with Anthony, good for him for becoming a My Wife guy in s3 but man, the journey there was tough).

Anyway. With Penelope and Colin? Penelope is the one with the secrets, who wishes, at first, for a practical match so she may gain her freedom. Colin is the soft-hearted and romantic one, who although offers the lessons, keeps asking her if she likes any of the suitors she talks to. And then, it shifts again. Not in the literal sense, Colin has no secret after he's dropped his rake façade, but he does become a bit colder after the Whistledown reveal, while Penelope becomes the one reassuring him she loves him, and emphasising their emotional bond after she's gained the confidence to do so and accepted that a love match was still in the cards for her. But now, they must overcome Whistledown, the last obstacle she's been hiding behind.

"Well, if she was hiding behind Whistledown, how come Colin calls her brave even before the reveal?"

Well, I'm glad you asked, imaginary person in my head! Let's dial back a bit again.

I am a firm believer that Colin's envy towards Penelope (and him realising his romantic feelings) actually started back in s2, during their talk about purpose. She was the one leading the conversation then, who knew what her purpose would be, and to him, that is bravery, being true to oneself and knowing your place. And we see how in s3 part 1, Colin resorts to adopting a whole new persona, something Penelope does not do, even after changing her entire wardrobe and facing the Ton's eyes, she remains herself (and she is capable of acting! She effortlessly disguises herself as a maid and fakes an accent when delivering the Whistledown papers), and I think Colin noticed that. She has a new dress, and her hair looks different, but she's still Pen, meanwhile he, on the other hand, is pretending to be someone else. And when the scandal about the lessons came out, Penelope still showed her face when people were still preoccupied by the scandal. Debling says it best:

"Well done."

"For being a fool?"

"For stepping away from the herd, even though you risked becoming a target."

Penelope's bravery and honesty are the very reason Debling is interested in her, rather than in Cressida; she knows who she is, and what she likes (whereas Cressida adapts). Sure, he was not looking for a love match, but he was looking for authenticity, which Penelope always had. Because she's terrible at hiding her identity, actually. Eloise guesses it's her after listening to her once! Penelope has never hidden how much she likes gossip. In s2e1 she admits it outright that being a wallflower allows her to hear everything.

Colin rereads her letters and realises, wait, she really is Whistledown, she writes the same way, and although he had mixed feelings about Whistledown, he described her as clever, a quality he's always associated with Penelope as well. She says shit like "it would have been suspicious if she hadn't written about this scandal"... like that girl is not good at hiding herself actually, has never been, it's just that no one really paid her any notice and she was not put into the spotlight until now. I think a part of her unconsciously wanted them to connect the dots because the loneliness was getting to her but she was still scared to own up to it, so she continued to lie.

She's always been true to herself to some degree though, which is its own form of bravery, but she's never had the courage to ask for what she wanted before Colin helped her build her confidence. Colin, on the other hand, may be dense and oblivious, but when he wants something, he is not shy about it, and can even be a bit too impulsive. He's the one who always seeks her out and always tries to protect her and make her happy.

In part 2, as Penelope truly embraces all of herself, just like Colin is learning to be more vulnerable and let go of his ego, the dynamic between them shifts. He's the man, but she got the power.

It started when she gathered the courage to ask for that first kiss, which changed everything, and it solidified when she is the one who seeks Colin at their wedding breakfast. In that instant, he's the wallflower, and she's the one pulling him into the centre and dance in broad daylight.

And this translates in the bedroom too as she goes from following his lead to riding his d-

Ahum, who said that? Anyway, topic at hand. As the dynamic shifts, as Penelope learns to truly be herself and Colin learns the truth, that is when his envy and lack of direction in his own life become too much, and he cannot avoid it anymore. Because he thought he had found his purpose at last, be Penelope's husband, take care of her, provide for her, be the head of their family. But now he learns she's been living a dangerous double life this whole time, that she "mocked" him at the beginning of the season, and she might not even need him to protect her as much as he thought she did because she has money and a prolific career despite being a young lady with minimal agency.

And he had already been struggling before the reveal. In all of part 1, he was grappling with his sense of self, realising that pretending was not worth it if he felt empty and if it meant losing Penelope in the process as well. And in part 2, we already saw him struggling with his writing, only able to write again after Penelope tells him she's loved him for years. And then, he refuses Penelope's help to edit his journals into a book because he wants to prove to himself and to her that he could do it on his own. That he is worthy of her love.

Also note that at that point, Penelope had given up on Whistledown, and wanted to live through him by editing for him as well. Just before, we had the scene where she burned her old Whistledown issues at the same time as Colin was writing, suddenly overcome with inspiration (in this regard, I like that the show ends up allowing Penelope to keep the column and still help Colin with his book, rather than her giving up LW like in the book, where she lives vicariously through him. I know she eventually becomes a romance author in the books, and I hope she also reaches that point in the show, but it is nice she does not have to give up her pen first, you know?)

So when Colin learns she's been a published writer this whole time while he was struggling to find a purpose? Penelope started Whistledown in her first year out after all, at the exact same time, Colin wanted to prove to his family that he can be taken seriously, leading to his disastrous betrothal that season. He had needed to travel to find himself, and even then, it didn't give him the answers he was seeking, and no one was taking his newfound experiences seriously, except Penelope. He's a third son, neither the Viscount, neither the spare, so he had nothing to himself. But Penelope is much in the same situation, a third daughter, from a family less fortunate that his, and yet she has accomplished more than he has. He was already so insecure about his love being unrequited but now that he knows she does not even need to rely on him for financial stability and security? Let's dive more into that, shall we?

Colin's self-worth and ambitions

I've seen a lot of people lament the fact that Colin does not feel as much of a protagonist as Penelope, and while I agree to some degree, such argument fails to take into account the fact that he is the reason the season exists in the first place, not just on a meta level because he's a Bridgerton, but because every action he takes progresses the story. Colin is the driving force of the narrative, while Penelope is the heart of it because he loves her.

He offers the lessons to make up for his comment last season, leading to Penelope gaining in confidence. He interrupts Debling's imminent proposal and chases Penelope's carriage, leading to the engagement. He confronts Portia, leading to her re-evaluating the way she treats her daughters and the Featheringtons mending their relationship. He confronts Eloise and reminds her how obsessed she used to be with Penelope, leading to the reconciliation between the two. He follows Penelope out of worry and learns about Whistledown. When the blackmail happens, he confronts Cressida, this time things get worse (his infamous impulsiveness biting him in the ass once more), but it is still furthering the narrative, leading to Penelope taking things into her own hands and revealing herself in her own terms.

His actions are loud, however his internal growth is much more subtle and we get less scenes of him alone compared to Penelope. And that, I agree, is a weakness of this season. I mean, he spends barely 1/8 of the season upset at Penelope, when people act like he was for half the season. If you watch from the start instead of just looking at part 2, Polin have a lot more happy and cute scenes than angsty ones. Hell! They have more kisses than saphne and kanthony in their own seasons combined, I bet (I didn't count, truth be told, but since they get together halfway through the season, as opposed to in the later half, and had their first kiss in episode 2, I think it's a safe bet to make) (Edit from Star from the future here: so I admit I was wrong. Simon and Daphne have definitely more kisses because they had so many intimacy scenes upon rewatch. I just forgot about them, my bad (mostly, I tend to block out That Scene too, so). Anthony and Kate, on the other hand, were robbed. It's kinda funny Bridgerton built a reputation to be quite spicy, only for none of the seasons after s1 matching the same level lol). I also do feel like a few flashback scenes of him during his travels, waiting for Penelope's letters but getting none as he starts to act like a rake to compensate for the loneliness, contrasted with the lesson scenes in part 1 where he is carefree and silly with Penelope could have benefited his character. I personally do not think he was treated as a "love interest", he carries the season just as much as Penelope, but his emotional weight is lesser than hers, and that was an issue with the writing and pacing.

So here, I must redirect to my other Colin analysis post, as well as this one comparing book vs show portrayal, and though those were unorganised immediate thoughts after watching the show (and vague memories of the book), I still mostly stand by them and so I can also avoid repeating what I've already written.

Colin's insecurity regarding love is a direct result of s1 and, once again, Marina. The parallels between Marina and Penelope are kinda in your face, especially with Colin dropping the entrapment line.

Side note but between Anthony and Colin trying to get with a family member of their future wives first, I sure hope we won't learn Sophie is related to Lady Tilly Arnold or something because otherwise there's a pattern within the ABC bros.

Another thing is that when Marina's lie was revealed, she admits everything else was a lie as well, including her love for him. He was a means to an end, and there's no reason to pretend anymore. But with Penelope? She still tells him she loves him after the fact, and several times after that. Note that, just like with Marina, he learns of the Big Secret while they're engaged. Just like for Marina, he could just walk away now, Penelope even asks him if he wishes to cry off, but he doesn't.

Colin and emotional intimacy

I already made a post about this, but I will reiterate some points anyhow this time, because I need to make some comparisons with Book!Colin, since I've seen a lot of people be upset that unlike his book counterpart, Show!Colin is not physically affectionate with Penelope while still angry at her. So to address this, let's talk about his journals. It is no coincidence that instead of beautiful descriptions of places he's visited, in the show Penelope reads about his experiences with the "women in Paris" and how empty they make him feel. In the book, Colin is older, he is a rake and very much enjoys ladies' company, but in the show, he's only pretending to be one. It's one change they made I liked, to make him different from Anthony and Benedict (when in the books, all these men sorta blend together if I have to be honest). He's the sweet, sensitive brother, who seeks emotional and physical intimacy. Sure, he has experiences, especially after being mocked for being too green, but they felt like obligations, rather than acts of passion (Benedict) or distractions (Anthony). It is also significant that every time someone asks him about his experiences in part 1, he only ever talks about one contessa and never brings up other women, unlike in his journals where, of course, he goes into more details, knowing no one can judge him there.

And then Penelope reads those words, the depths of his mind and his insecurity, and yet she praises him for his writing, rather than mock him for his feelings of inadequacy. That is when it clicks in Colin's mind, although unconsciously, because he flashes back to that scene when he realises his feelings - Penelope is the only other person he feels comfortable enough with to share such thoughts. That's why their first time is such a contrast with the carriage scene, where it was a moment of passion as they get carried (hah!) away after confessing to each other. He was reeling from realising his feelings and narrowly stopping Penelope's engagement to Debling. There was urgency and then relief. Here, it is slower, more tender, because to Colin, this is it, this is where he can prove to Penelope that this was not a mistake, than he can take care of her, bring her pleasure like she could never imagine. He makes sure to tell Penelope how much he loves her, he asks her consent several times, he makes sure she is comfortable. It's a little awkward, unlike the carriage scene, because this is the real and full deal and he sure does not want to mess it up. After all:

That's why I'm not too mad we did not get a montage with them. Their two major intimate scenes are long sequences with few cuts, emphasised by their proximity and the comfort they feel around each other. They're emotional. They're supposed to make the viewer feel like they're interrupting. And Colin does not want to taint these two experiences, that's why the last intimate scene we get is after they reconcile (though we deserved a longer one). So, to quote myself: Colin does not let his lust take over when he's upset, because Penelope means too much to him. He does not want to lay together only to wake up in a cold bed and still be fighting in the morning. He wants to be hers, body and soul, fully and assuredly, and until he accepts the fact he loves her because of Whistledown and not despite since they are one and the same, then he cannot promise Penelope all of himself either. In his mind, he may be afraid that this emotional intimacy he felt with Penelope when they laid together will be ruined, or just simply gone while he is so tortured by the Whistledown reveal. Everything else is a mess right now but that part of their relationship? It was pure and sincere, and he wants to keep it that way.

And not to dunk on Book!Colin again but that man had anger issues and could be violent, he knew he was hurting her sometimes and did not do shit to stop that. Why would you prefer that over Show!Colin keeping a respectful distance and yet still staying close to Penelope, trying his best to protect her despite it all?

After all, the only time he gives in while they're still fighting is when they argue in the streets and Penelope shouts "I love you" to his face. That is the first time she confesses in the present tense. And for a second, Colin's walls crumble. He's a sensitive man, after all, even when he's upset, he ends up tearing up, so the declaration of love answering his "Then what good am I to you?", a question encompassing all of his insecurities in a few words, well, it's the emotional outburst that makes him almost give in, if they weren't in the middle of the street with carriages passing by. They were also both tipsy in that scene lol.

And while I'm at it, let's link back to my post regarding the entrapment line and the annulment. One thing I fail to mention (there already are so much, to be fair) is that Colin throwing an entrapment accusation can also be interpreted as him giving himself an excuse to remain engaged. The previous episode, he was worried they got carried away in the carriage (and then their future home) and that Penelope was changing her mind. As already mentioned, at that point, just like with Marina he could just walk away. They're only engaged, and no one knows they have been intimate. Sure, it would go against his principles as a gentleman but honestly he already broke them several times when Penelope is involved. And he knows that. He never actually intends to back down, he is determined to marry Penelope, as he said in that carriage this is "a feeling that is like torture, but one I cannot, will not, do not want to give up". But in that one moment, he was hurt and angry and knew what to say to hurt, and did not want to admit that he would have stayed either way because he loves her (and frankly, in this situation, Penelope is in the wrong and she kinda deserves to feel bad about wanting to hide such a thing from him, even if the accusation itself is unfair). So he gives the decision some duty, some responsibility. He's a gentleman, so he must do what's objectively right. Because that is easier than looking into the complexity of his feelings.

And that is marriage to me. Marriage is not a happily ever after. It's a choice, to stay by someone's side through the good and the bad times. And in that moment, he also made his choice, and knew Penelope would be his wife. From then on, they learn to communicate. They were in sync as friends, but as a husband and wife? That is different, even if the foundation is similar, they need to relearn how to navigate life together.

Episode 8 is all about them figuring this out.

Take these scenes for example. First of all, this has been pointed out by many already but: Colin may be mad, but he still stays close to her by sleeping on the settee just outside their bedchamber instead of taking another room. That's dedication.

Right away, Colin establishes a boundary between them and asks for some space, however, he still waits for her to wake up to tell her rather than leave without a word and having the servants inform her. She's visibly upset about it, insisting he should stay so they can talk, but he still leaves. Halfway through the episode, the situation is now reversed, Penelope emerges, already dressed while Colin clearly has not slept all night, she tells him she is leaving and giving him the space he asked for, and it is Colin's turn to be upset and realising that, no, actually he does not really like that distance anymore.

Note that until that point, they both were very confrontational whenever Whistledown was brought up, Penelope on the defensive and Colin on the offensive, they're both third children who were belittled so that is how they respond - Penelope by standing her ground and refusing to budge, and Colin by attacking and asserting himself. But here, Penelope listens to Colin's wants, and lets go a little. She gives him the space he needs, all the while she is also planning how to fix all this mess without lying to or hurting more people. And then later on again, Colin is the one who listens to her needs and her plan. That is the beginning of a healthy marriage as they both let go of their egos, as they both take a step back to listen to the other and realising they no longer have to do things alone, because actually, that distance between them was hurting both of them. Penelope accepts she can rely on others' support and Colin accepts that it is not what he can do that makes him worthy, but simply who he is.

People lament that in the Whistledown public reveal, Colin ended up not contributing much, as opposed to his book counterpart, but that is literally what Penelope asked him to do. She does not need a hero, she needs her Colin. Kind, supportive Colin, who reassured her with a simple smile and a nod on their wedding day, and who did the same when she stepped into the light once more at the Butterfly Ball. He gives her courage, by virtue of being there and loving her. Just like she gives him a purpose by simply loving him as well. The very thing Colin envied, Penelope's bravery? Well, he is one of the reasons it exists in the first place.

In the book, Penelope had no idea Colin was planning to reveal her identity, until the last, like, five minutes. He also told Anthony and Simon behind her back. I love the balcony scene but it always bothered me that Penelope's agency in that decision was taken from her. Therefore I love that they gave it back to her in the show. Just like she said in s1e8, Whistledown cannot be unmasked but if one day she shall be, then it would be in her own terms.

(I also want to say though that despite my criticisms earlier, Book!Polin remain one of my favourite dynamics in the books because despite it all, they're one of the healthiest couples. They work together as a team, and it helps Colin learned about LW before he proposed. They discuss Cressida's blackmail, whereas in the show Colin first dismisses Penelope in his need to prove himself capable of protecting her. We see them encourage each other in their writing more than in the show (fingers crossed for s4 though!) and they even discuss how they will keep Pen's Whistledown money for their children. They're a team, through and through, and in the show, we see the start of that, which makes sense, their show counterparts are ten years younger, not as mature as they are on paper.)

All through part 2, Colin stayed true to his confession in that carriage. His love was like torture. He was so insecure about Penelope not loving him as much as he does, questioning what good he even is to her and if she just lied. And yet he held on and did not want to give it up, he embraced it rather than ran from it like the other leads we had so far. He was shattered by the Whistledown secret and yet, he remained, worked through his sense of self, through his anger, through his insecurity, because Penelope is worth it. He was willing to lie for her, to lie to Benedict to get the money needed, to protect her. And Penelope clung to him just as fiercely, always reminding him that she loves him for simply being him. One always has worth. That is the validation Colin has always craved, that is when it truly sinks in for him and that he understands her selfless love for him; he does not need to pretend, he does not need to be useful, he does not need to have everything figured out, he can breathe. Penelope will be there every step of the way. Has always been, in fact, she's always been a constant in his life, and now that he is lucky enough to stand by her side and soak even a little bit of her light, well, he sure won't ever let go again.

And to end this section, not really a point of analysis, but shoutout to my girl Pen whose first instinct when she realises she can touch Colin is to reach for his hair and boy does he melt at the touch. Unlocked his hair pulling kink right there.

This is still a friends to lovers story

Fear not, the romcom vibes are still here! I kept this part for the last to end on a sweet note, just like this season. And this is also the part where I stop pretending to be a reviewer and I just allow myself to be self-indulgent, pointing out how cute these two are.

So, first of all:

They just fucked and what's the first thing they do together? Laugh. In the carriage, Colin did make a joke, prompting the laughing but in the mirror scene? They simply look at each other and start chuckling because they are so giddy upon realising this is real, they're best friends, and they're in love, and they'll be married and they will soon be able to do this whenever they want. Then, Penelope lets out a bit of her insecurity, hoping this was just as good for Colin as it was for her since she knew he was more experienced, and when he reassures her, Penelope grins and jokes about "the women in Paris", which she does again during the Mondrich ball, teasing him about the spicy parts of his journals. She is so secure in their relationship, she feels no jealousy towards Colin's past experiences but bet if anyone ever brings up Debling again, Colin would lose it, and I kinda wish we had at least one scene of Colin properly addressing his one-sided beef with Debling.

During their whole engagement (and before the LW reveal), they're just so incredibly in love, so sweet it might give you cavities, and it was such a breath of fresh air after two seasons and one spin-off of the main couple never really embracing their love until the later part of the seasons. The way Colin makes Penelope smile during the reading bans scene, then when they dance alone in the church, or when Colin adds the twirl (the flourish!) during the dance at the Mondrich ball and then when they laugh at the Butterfly Ball when everything is said and done and they can finally, fully be themselves... They are just two romantics at heart who are thrilled to be in love and miss no opportunity to flaunt it in front of the Ton who's always judged them so harshly. I wish I could include videos in this because posting screenshots would not give those moments justice.

And the comedic aspect of the romcom vibes of this season are still present in part 2, although a bit overshadowed by the Whistledown drama but I mean:

Penelope and Colin finally having a chaperone in Portia, and having no idea how to act now because they never had to worry about a chaperone before (and by that point, Penelope is already pregnant)

Poor Kanthony trying to find the right time to announce the pregnancy but here come Polin, getting engaged out of nowhere

Portia and Violet's tentative beginning of friendship, wherein Violet is trying so hard to be polite when faced with Portia's over-enthusiastic attitude

The whole charade scene with Anthony getting so competitive and glaring at poor Penelope when she gets the answers right.

All the times someone brought up Whistledown's imminent unmasking and Penelope taking psyching damage every time (meanwhile in part 1, it was everyone telling Colin how kind of him it is to help Pen find a husband). Peak "actions have consequences huh". She could not catch a break. Which okay, she was panicking and then fainted but I still find it a little funny because girl, you kinda had it coming.

The whole scene of Penelope revealing the money she made with Whistledown and Colin's, Eloise's and Portia's reactions.

And I'm probably forgetting other parts. It has now been confirmed as well that a lot of the reshoots were to make the season more light-hearted, more romcom, and they had Colin be less angry than he originally was in the script (notably after their wedding breakfast), so even if I resent that dreadful wig they put on my poor man, I'm so grateful the season remains, overall, more romcom than true drama like the other seasons could have been, because at the end of the day, this is the love story of two friends who already cared so deeply for each other. Honestly, I'd argue the true angst of the season came more from Eloise's and Penelope's rekindling friendship (and also Cressida's home life) (the true love triangle).

And speaking of truly knowing one another, let's go back to the one thing that brought Colin and Penelope together: the letters.

Note how loosely bound Penelope's letters to Colin were compared to the other pile, because he has kept them with him during his travels this past summer and kept rereading them when she did not respond back. And just like the letters (or lack thereof) were the first clues that something had shifted in their relationship and Colin realises how much he misses her, her letters also become the reason he reconciles Penelope with Whistledown because oh yeah, the writing is the same, clever, sharp, and beautiful, just like his Penelope. As he rereads them, he realises how he himself overlooked Penelope for so long, how he was compelled by her quill, how powerful it was that they made him feel more confident and how their absence made his sense of self crumble. The same way, upon his return, Whistledown calling him out, shattered that new self he had tried so hard to build. Penelope was the reason he found his confidence, then lost himself when she did not respond, and the reason he had to look inward when, through Whistledown, she saw through his facade.

But also isn't it sweet, that he unknowingly always praised her writing? Of her letters obviously, but of Whistledown as well. For all his negative feelings about the gossip column, one thing he always admitted is how clever Whistledown is, hence why he did not even believe Cressida could actually be her. Deep down, he's always admired her writing, even if he did not realise it was her yet. He was so attached to her letters after all.

And speaking of writing? Penelope becomes his muse.

That is him writing about Penelope's debut, proving he's always paid attention to her, between this, him being the one to bring up how they met, and recalling all the times Eloise kept bringing up Penelope in conversations. And he's writing all of this after the church dance scene! After Penelope's declared her love for him and how she's loved him for years! He was lamenting that love made him so simple he could not write a single word, but it is love that fuelled his mind once more and broke his writer's block. And then in the epilogue, he is so proud to say Penelope helped him edit his book, he who, a couple of episodes earlier, was so determined to do this on his own to prove himself, now his pride is that he worked together with his wife and they are building a family, and a writing empire, together.

The season ends as they kiss in front of the very window Penelope often sat in front of, overlooking Bridgerton house, hoping to catch a glimpse of Colin, who now will always be looking at her first. They also now have the heir to the Featherington barony, and they inherit the very house with the garden where Colin first broke Penelope's heart, then mended it by offering his help, then where they shared their first kiss. It is theirs now.

And it's just! They're so in love! I have no other words (also this post is so long, I am getting tired myself I probably sound like a broken record by now).

Conclusion

I think Bridgerton s3 has officially become a comfort watch. I'm never one to really rewatch shows, but this specific season has joined the small list I have. As already mentioned, when it comes to romance, friends to lovers has always been a favourite and Polin is such a good depiction of the trope. They're the gigglers on the side of balls, the ones who did not so much seek the centre stage but were thrown in the middle of it, which fits so well even on a meta perspective because Luke and Nicola admitted they sure did not expect their season to come this early either. They won't be the most popular couple, perhaps, but my God, they are mine. Despite the length of this post, I think I probably still forgot some points but oh well, gotta stop somewhere and I'm sure people more eloquent than I made posts as well.

This season was not perfect, I have a lot more gripes about it than this long post makes it sound like (although they're mostly non-polin related or something about the production), but I like to focus on the positives. And for all its flaws, s3 sure knew how to deliver a sweet romance between two outcasts who found their home with each other.

And with that, dearest gentle readers, this humble author - or rather, this person who fancies themself an author at their lost hours - finally lets their old keyboard rest, and hopes you have enjoyed this long read into a mind with too many thoughts about a gentle, kind man who has a lot of love to give and a fierce, passionate woman who wants to be loved.

(The sweetest little parallel to end this on, ever since s1, he's always seen her <3)

[the-music-maniac]

Why is the daddy dom characterization so common with pre-nibelheim Sephiroth in fanfics. Does that look like a man who knows how to fuck, to you?

If someone does anything sexy in front of him, he would give them the Seph equivalent of a frog blink. That man is tired.

Lol jokes aside, I suspect for someone who has had his bodily autonomy dictated by lab techs and Hojo for the entirety of his life, he wouldn't be raring to have one night stands with complete strangers in his free time. Sure you could argue that sexual intercourse would be a way to regain a little control of autonomy, but I don't think it's likely when it would be with strangers that - not only never sees Sephiroth as anything but the famed legend (an image he doesn't like btw) which is likely accompanied by unwanted expectations of what he's like in bed, but complete strangers that could've also been sent to like. Assassinate the most important asset that Shinra has?

My point being that I don't think Sephiroth really had any safe space to explore what he likes for something like sex - and since it isn't necessary for his duty as a soldier, and may even count as unwanted distraction and vulnerability - Sephiroth likely discarded any interest in it entirely. That is, if he had any interest at all in the first place. You could also assume he could explore it with people he IS close with (ex. Angeal, Genesis etc.) but in those scenarios he wouldn't exactly know off the bat what he likes, or be self assured in any sense.

Trigger Warning (implication of SA/dubious consent): Of course you could also explore the darker side of this, which is that Sephiroth has experience because he didn't have a say in it, bc the company used him/trained him as an asset in this aspect as well. Which is an entirely different discussion to be had, so I won't go into it any further here.

And I think despite the suggestive shit that post-nibelheim Seph says to Cloud, his mind is not on anything sexual in actuality. He's likely aware of the effect flirtation and innuendo can have on people - disgust or interest or whatever would distract an opponent. Or he's just entirely unaware of - or does not care how else his words can be taken. He's a drama queen, but his goals have been pretty clear post insanity, and they have nothing to do with something as mundane as sex. So his demeanour after Jenova isn't that applicable (also we know that square Enix was like heehee we figured you would like this dialogue, so there is also that).

Basically, while I understand Sephiroth is a cool character for exploring fantasies (valid, go ham) - in terms of if you're trying to be accurate to canon characterizations, fics where he's written as a suave dom/top gets a bit of a question mark from me??

I feel like what makes more sense for ships involving pre-nibelheim Seph (including those sefikura time travel fixits that I'm mildly obsessed with) would be uncertainty. Here is finally someone who he actually feels safe to explore this aspect with, and it's natural for exploration to involve stumbles. And I don't think Seph would rule out submission or bottoming as an option in regards to himself either. Or switching/versatility. As someone trained to be objective or logical when tackling anything really - he would probably go about it methodically. So why not try it all to gather data?

What his and his partners' eventual preferences are gonna be is author's choice of course lmao

Also a disclaimer before I end it here - this post is purely because I find discussion on this interesting. If you disagree, or just wanna write what you wanna see, definitely do that and disregard what I've said. Fanfic is supposed to be self indulgent, so who gives a shit what other people think.

[hyuneskkami]

✮⋆˙ 𝐅𝐋𝐘 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇. 𝐈𝐈

⤷ hq boys x any!reader . . . pt. 2

masterlist

part 1 part 2

⊹ ࣪ ˖ fandom | haikyū!!

✧˖°. includes | shoyou hinata x reader headcannons, overall cuteness, fluff, established relationship, basically just hinata and reader having a happy week <3

⊹ ࣪ ˖ key | y/n: your name

✧˖°. in which | cutie patootie hinata is guaranteed a minute of volleyball with reader for every question he gets right, hinata being taught english by reader.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ a/n | my fav cutie baby of hq!!!! i’ve been so unmotivated this month, but mori’s tsukki hcs got to me, and now i’m writing for a bit again <33 everyone, say thanks to mori! and!! tysm to mori for helping me out with this fic + giving me most of the ideas I included <3

“sho, come on! it’s easy to understand if you really want to.”

he keeps grumbling about it, as you try and teach him.

“easy for you to say, your volleyball future isn’t depending on one test,” he frowns.

you chuckle, and give him a kiss on his cheek.

he usually settles down for a maximum of five minutes, before getting up to stretch or walk around. attention span? he’s never heard of those words before.

you randomly catch him staring at you, when you’re trying to teach him something.

“okay, what’s the answer to 9 then, since you’ve been paying so much attention?”

he snaps out of his reverie and scratches his head and squints his eyes at the paper, concentrating hard on the question.

“Is it ‘I would like some water?’”

and the second you tell him he answered a question correct, he slowly begins drifting off topic.

“mm, you know how they had no water in the hunger games? must’ve been hard.”

and then he yaps about the hunger games books for the next two hours, and you let him.

no matter how much you talk, he definitely does still study and loves that you’re there to encourage him and keep him on track!

he knows you, and he knows that you’re always going to be there to help him.

you promise him that for every question he gets right (which he makes a note of, by the way), he’ll earn a minute of volleyball-playing with you.

you’re a very good setter, but since there’s no girls club for volleyball, you don’t play at school.

a few days later, he gets a B on his english test!

he runs to your class during the next break (which is right beside his), and as you’re walking out, he tackles you with a hug.

“I got a B!”

“baby, that’s amazing!”

and to celebrate, you go to ukai’s shop to buy some of your favourite snacks. you head over to one of your houses and binge watch cheesy romcoms of both of your choices, and finish up all your snacks and drinks.

you end the night with cuddles on the couch, obviously <3

✰ hq taglist | @anyas-shitposting69 @serendipitous-girl @iheartgirlzn @fizzywashere87

kozumesphone © 2024 | don’t repost my works onto other platforms, or edit and post them even on tumblr, without asking me first • don’t steal my works, steal my heart instead • reblogs and comments are more than appreciated !

[munsons-melody]

starchild’s competition

18+ Minors, DNI.

summary: dustin’s noticed your odd behavior and takes it upon himself to figure out what’s going on. little does he know, you’ve fallen in love with the dungeon master of his dnd club.

pairing: eddie munson x female!henderson!reader

cw: almost smut? implications of sex, kissing, etc. bit of fluff / bit of smut

word count: 5.1 k

a/n: this is one of my favorite things i’ve ever written, definitely thinking of making a pt. 2… also apologies for the spacing on this one, it didn’t like me pasting my writing from wattpad to tumblr lol

masterlist

i do not consent to having any of my works republished, translated, or posted to any other site except here. if you see my works anywhere but tumblr, it has been republished without my knowledge, consent, or permission.

—

dustin henderson never snooped... okay that was a lie, he only snooped when he knew he needed to, like today

you and dustin had grown up as close siblings. without your dad in the picture, moving to hawkins when you were 14 and he was 9, and living with your single mom, you knew you had to take care of each other

obviously, you two had run-of-the-mill spats with each other as every sibling has with one another, but you two still loved each other very much

even the times when he's tackled you in order to get the last pop tart, in which you would snatch it back from him, just for him to say 'no collarbones' to tug on your heartstrings and you'd end up giving it to him anyways

but these past few weeks had been very different, you were different

you were always out late, and if you weren't already out late, you were pretending to go to bed early just to sneak out of your window to be out late

you were never really in the house anymore, and when you were, there would be an odd smell coming from your room

dustin was became confused on why you never had much time to drive him to hellfire or bother steve together at family video anymore, and he was confused on why you would always finish dinner quickly then go straight to your room or why you'd always have some metal song playing in your walkman (a genre he didn't even know you owned cassettes of)

but little did he know the reason why was because you had accidentally fallen in love with one of his best friends and the dungeon master of his dnd club... eddie munson

and truth be told it was an accident.

you and eddie had always inconspicuously flirted with one another. it occurred whenever you would drop off dustin at hellfire, or when eddie would come up to the kitchen during one of the campaign's breaks to see you before the rest of the party would come up from the basement of your house

the two of you would talk, laugh, make jokes, and much to dustins knowledge, he knew that neither of you would try anything, i mean you couldn't right?

wrong. after a few weeks, eddie formally asked you out. it was for a nice romantic picnic out by lovers lake. you said yes, seeing as the cute metalhead in front of you already had you wrapped around his finger, and one date couldn't hurt...

but more dates did occur- watching corroded coffin play at the hideout, sneaking out to smoke at his house, making out in the back of his van with music blaring in the background, and having him over to study since you two "had the same history class and were made partners by your teacher" - which is what you always told dustin

you couldn't help it, the two of you just naturally gravitated toward each other, but you still didn't tell dustin, or really anyone for that matter. you loved your little bubble that you built together over the past couple months and the fear of scrutiny from other party members, especially your little brother, would burst it

but nonetheless, dustin grew suspicious of his sister, suddenly acting secretive and dodgy

you had left to go to the mall with nancy and robin earlier in the evening and it gave dustin his opportunity. he quietly walked out of his room and into yours

he closed your door quietly behind him, and he scanned your room. he didn't find anything out of the ordinary at first, till he noticed some cassettes and a piece of paper on your dresser

intrigued, he walked over and picked them up. there were four cassettes you had sitting there, metallica's ride the lighting, dynasty and love gun by kiss, and heaven and hell by black sabbath

he picked up the piece of paper that looked a little crumpled and opened it up to read

here's a couple of my favorites, i hope you love them too... p.s., I'm dedicating track no. 1 on dynasty to you -starchild's competition

"starchild's competition? what the fuck does that even mean?" he said out loud to himself

out of curiosity, he took the dynasty cassette and decided to play track number one, seeing as it was dedicated to his sister by a random guy competing with someone named starchild

little did he know, it was a stupid inside joke between you and eddie

you two were smoking in his room and you had briefly mentioned your huge crush on paul stanley from kiss to eddie, to which he decided to tease you with, saying he was in competition with the huge star for your love and affection

at the time you didn't realized he signed the note with that, being a little too busy as you were high out of your mind, and he shoved the note and his cassettes into your bag for a cute surprise when you got home

dustin heard the familiar tune of 'i was made for loving you' ring through your room and he gagged

who is dedicating songs to her? he thought

continued to look around your room, finding a photo album peaking out from the side of your desk, hiding under a couple of school books

but his actions were soon interrupted as your door opened, and you spotted him

"what are you doing in my room" you asked with an annoyed tone

"oh uh... your stereo turned on and i was going to turn it off for you... good song choice by the way" he said stiffly as he awkwardly shuffled out of your room and into his

you shook your head at his weirdness and shut your door. you tossed the shopping bags you had onto your bed and shimmed off your jacket, tossing it onto your desk

you caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, a few hickies on your chest were showing that your jacket covered earlier

that was a byproduct of going over to eddies a few days beforehand. the two of you were going to try and do some homework but that soon turned into you on eddie's lap as the two of you feverishly made out

but it was soon interrupted by wayne who wanted to make sure the two of you had a proper dinner to "keep your studying energy up" so the two of you had to pull yourselves together and go eat the dinner wayne graciously made before he left for work

but, you were a little grateful for the interruption since it gave you an opportunity to buy a new and exciting piece of lingerie to surprise eddie with

-

the next night, you did your usual eat dinner fast then run back to your room routine, which you did in order to call eddie and talk to him

you two surprisingly never ran out of topics to talk about, and he never failed to make you laugh, which would end up with him wanting to see your "beautiful smile in person" and you would arrange for him to sneak into your room after your mom went to bed

the two of you were well into your honeymoon phase but neither of you minded

this particular evening, dustin and your mom were watching some movie and eating some ice cream for dessert when he heard a loud giggle from your room

"i'm going to go see if y/n wants some ice cream" dustin said, setting his bowl down and walking down the hallway

his steps were slow and quiet, your voice getting only slightly louder as he got closer to your door

"no baby i cannot tell you the surprise, you're gonna have to wait" he heard you giggle causing him to make a disgusted look on his face

okay, she clearly has a secret boyfriend which is why she's been acting so weird, he thought to himself, but he wondered who could it be for her to not tell anyone about

you're usually open about boys you like, especially the celebrity crushes you had which seemed to change every other week, so what's so special about this guy that she can't talk about him?

"mhm, yeah try and see if that works this time, cause it worked sooo great last time" you said with a sarcastic laugh

dustins ear pressed a little too close to the door causing it to creak open a little bit, catching your attention

he stood up straight and cleared his throat, knocking lightly to make it look like he had just got to your door. you muttered a "hold on" and lightly pressed the bottom half of your phone to your chest

"yes?" you questioned, and dustin blinked his wide eyes

"oh uh do you want ice cream for dessert?" he said and you smiled "sure, I'll be out in a sec, don't eat the rest of the chocolate please" you told him

he responded with a smile and nod, and closed the door to the way it was before and he heard you say a "it's my favorite flavor! it's not boring!" followed by another giggle

-

the next night was friday night

your mom had some PTA meeting and dinner meaning she would be out till late and dustin said he was going with lucas and mike to the arcade and then to mike's for a sleepover

you invited eddie over while the two of you were standing next to your locker

"yeah and my mom will be out all night at some PTA meeting and dustin's going to sleepover at mike's house, so it'll just be me... all alone... in an empty old house," you dragged the last part out causing a smirk to arise on eddie's face

"oh we can't have that now, can we?" eddie responded, taking his pointer finger and hooking it gently under your chin to pull you in for a kiss

"get a room you two" robin said arriving next to you

"its already booked" you rebutted back with a chuckle

you stayed there near your locker for a good few minutes, continuing to talk to robin who was just about to leave to catch her evening shift at the store. eventually the two of you said goodbye to her, walking out into the parking lot from the school

you drove home separately from eddie, telling him to come over at 5 and to park down the street not to draw attention and he gladly agreed

the clock was ticking down to 5 pm when your mom headed out the door

"i won't be back till late, bye sweeties!" she said as the door closed. now all who was left was dustin, standing next to you waving goodbye

"don't you have a sleepover at mikes or something?" you questioned

"yeah but i'm in no hurry to get there, i'll leave in a few minutes" he said when you noticed eddie's van drive past your house in order to park down the street causing your heart to drop

"you sure? didn't you guys want to go to the arcade too?" you asked, wanting him to leave already

"we're going but lucas can't meet us there till 5:15 so i have some time" he shrugged, sitting down on the couch causing you to mentally groan

your eyes widened as you saw eddie start to walk up your drive way

shit shit shit you said to yourself as he knocked on the door

dustin sat up "bet you 5 dollars mom forgot something" he joked, going towards the door before you even stepped your foot out

he quickly opened the door to reveal a very handsome eddie munson standing there with his dio t shirt and usual black jeans

"eddie? what are you doing here?" he asked. eddie looked like a deer caught in headlights. he quickly looked to you then back to dustin

"oh i uh just came by to uh... borrow your sisters history book... uh.. i lost my copy and we're partners for the class so..." he stammered out

dustin seemed to buy it as he let eddie into the house, and eddie gave you a smile

"well since you're here and i don't have to leave for a few minutes, can i ask your opinion on my new campaign?" dustin asked sweetly. eddie shrugged and muttered a sure before he was motioned to go down the hall to dustins room

you gave a sympathetic smile to him, and decided to head to the kitchen to get some water while you waited

you heard talking from the two of them down the hall, a few laughs here and there, when eventually the two of them emerged from dustins room, the clock reading 5:25

"oh shit I gotta go- hey since you're just here for a book and you're probably about to leave anyways, could you drop me off at the arcade? my bike should fit in the back of your van" he questioned and you could see the mental groan in eddie's eyes

"uh yeah sure" he said, looking to you. you giggled and walked past the boys, grabbing a random book from your desk and walking back to the living room, handing it to eddie

"thanks" he said. you could tell he was annoyed dustin was cockblocking him, and you tried not to laugh

"c'mon eddie i'm already late" dustin exclaimed, swinging a bag over his shoulder

"coming" he grumbled, looking at you once more before walking out the door, book in hand

you saw the two conversing as they walked down the street to where eddie's van was parked, dustin walking his bike next to him. you saw this as a chance to go change into your outfit for eddie's return.

you happily skipped into your room, shutting the door behind you. you went over to your underwear drawer where you stashed your new lingerie set, the red lacy fabric soft in your hands

you normally wouldn't wear a bright color such as this cherry red, opting for blacks since its what you felt most comfortable in, but you figured it'd be a nice change and such a surprise for your boyfriend

you quickly changed into the lingerie, taking a look at yourself in the mirror

"damn" you muttered out, feeling a new sense of confidence wash over you. you touched up the little bit of makeup you were wearing, and decided to fix your hair down, your hair cascading to your shoulders.

slight waves in your hair emerged from the bun you had it in earlier but you didn't mind since it added some life to your hair. you applied some of your favorite perfume to your wrists and behind your ears, and once you were satisfied with your look, you threw back on your sweatshirt and shorts.

you heard knocking at the front door, signaling eddie was back from driving dustin

you walked out of your room and opened the door to reveal an annoyed eddie. "that little fucker" he mumbled, walking in past you

"well hello to you too" you said jokingly. eddie turned to face you.

"hey sweetheart" he breathed out, before continuing his little rant

"he kept asking why i was parked so far from the house, so i told him it was cause i didn't want to block your driveway, then he asked why i had an English textbook if we were doing a history project together," he continued, handing you back the book you had previously handed him

"then he was annoyed when i said i was busy tonight and couldn't come to the arcade with him and his friends and he just kept on questioning everything i-" you cut him off by kissing him, catching him by surprise

"eds, calm down, he's gone now, its just the two of us, and it's not his fault he doesn't know what's really going on" you soothed, trying to calm your amped-up boyfriend

"you're right I'm sorry, it's just i wanted to be here with you like an hour ago but that little cockblock-" you cut him off by kissing him again, this time actually shutting him up

the book you had in your hand dropped to the seat behind you causing a thud. you wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him closer. his hands slid under your shirt and up the sides of your torso, his rings were cold against your warm skin causing you to gasp, and eddie took this an opportunity to sneak his tongue into your mouth

you moaned in to the kiss causing him to smirk, when he started trailing his lips from yours down to your neck sucking on that sweet spot behind your ear

"eds" you breathed out, "yeah?" he mumbled, continuing to leave his mark on your neck

"my room" you stuttered out and he pulled away

"lead the way princess" he said with a smile, extending his hand for you to walk past him. you giggled, still stuck in a little bit of a haze, lacing his hand with yours in the process of walking past him

"did you bring it?" you asked as you entered your room. "condoms or weed?" he asked, shutting the door behind him and leaning against it

you giggled, "the weed but good to know about the condoms as well," you said with a wink

the two of you got into your usual positions, eddie sitting at your desk rolling a couple of joints while you lit some incense to cover the smell in case your mom came home early

once situated, you laid on your bed, side by side, passing the joint. you watched as eddie brought it up to his lips, and carefully sucked on it, lighting up the end, and breathing out the smoke

you watched his plush pink lips form in to an 'o' shape as the smoke blew, and you were mesmerized

and you stayed like that, smoking, staring at eddie, talking, but eventually by the end of the second joint, you didn't need anymore

"eddie" you whined, sitting on his lap, rolling your hips in attempts to get some friction for the heat pooling in your pants

eddie knew you had levels of being high, it would go from chill to giggly to horny to sleepy, and right now, he knew that all you cared about was him fucking you senseless

"yes baby?" he purred, hands gripping onto your thighs, your faces almost touching

"i need you" you whine again, starting to kiss his neck, and you moved your hands up the sides of his torso, lightly tugging on his shirt to get him to take it off

he loved taking his time with you while you were in this state, taking it as an opportunity to tease you. he loved making you a whining, moaning mess, hungry for his cock

he slowly moved your head from his neck so his lips met yours, kissing you with passion, his tongue fighting with yours

you broke apart for a second, taking off your shirt and tossing it across the room

"jesus christ y/n" he breathed out, absolutely enamored with the sight in front of him

"oh i forgot about that" you giggle, "you want to see the rest?" you ask in a sultry tone

he nods furiously and then gulps as you manage to wiggle off his lap

he watched intently as you flicked on the stereo, 'lick it up' by kiss blaring through your speakers as you moved your hips along to the beat of the song

"holy shit" eddie said, his eyes widening

you continued to move to the beat, flipping your hair and turning around, moving your body around in the most sexual way you know how

you dropped the shorts, tossing them beside you, and he smirked at the full sight of you

he sat up a bit as you started to slowly crawl onto your bed towards him, and he bit his lip in anticipation

you laid down next to him, and he took his opportunity to kiss down your neck and onto your collarbone, taking his time to leave his mark all over your chest and your neck

his hands traveled down your thigh, gripping your your backside as you grinded again his hard bulge

"i think you're wearing too many clothes" you said, lips almost touching

"yes m'am" he said with a light laugh and kissed you before he got up from the bed

the song had changed a couple times from the one you put on, and your speaker was blaring the chords of 'all hell's breakin' loose'

eddie tried to move his hips around in the way you did, but failing miserably causing you to laugh

he whipped off his t shirt, tossing it in your direction, and you watched intently as your boyfriend tried to give you a lap dance

he undid his belt, tossing it to his left side, and slowly undid his zipper

he looked at you, as you were holding back giggles as he was purposefully trying to be bad at this

he finally pulled down his pants and stepped out of them and kicked them over before jumping on to the bed next to you

"maybe we should stick to you performing on the stage and me performing in the bedroom" you giggled as he scooted closer

"yeah maybe that's for the best" he laughed, pulling you in to a deep kiss

he was on top of you and you were a moaning mess underneath him until you finally found the strength to flip the two of you over, wanting your turn to leave a few love bites down his neck

you knew everyone would see you together, see the hickies, and put two and two together but in this moment, you honestly couldn't care

you grinded down on his lap as you kissed the sweet spot behind his ear, causing a delicious moan to emit from those beautiful pink lips

——

"shit!" dustin yelled in an annoyed tone. he was in mike's basement with lucas, mike being upstairs grabbing a couple of snacks.

"what?" lucas asked towards the frantic curly haired boy

"i forgot my toothbrush" he said, grabbing his jacket

"where are you going?" mike asked walked down the stairs, arms full of junk food that would soon cease to exist, at the threat of being in front of three hungry teenage boys

"i need my toothbrush" dustin said, putting on his shoes

"just skip tonight, it's not a big deal" mike shrugged and dustin shook his head

"not a big deal? i just got these pearls and you expect me to not take care of them?" he held a hand up to his chest in offense

"just let him go, it'll only take him like 20 minutes tops" lucas said, opening a can of coke

"whatever but we're starting the star wars marathon without you" mike said and dustin looked at him with annoyance

"oh damn! it's not like i haven't seen the beginning of a new hope like 50 times" he said sarcastically before running up the stairs

he briefly told mrs. wheeler where he was going and that he was going to be back, and out the door he went, grabbing his bike

he started on his way to his house which wasn't too far from mike's, enjoying the cool breeze on the oddly warm spring night

he finally made it to his driveway, hearing the crickets outside and music coming from inside the house

dustin made his way up the stairs and opened the door which he found unusual since whenever you were home alone, you always made sure to lock everything up as you knew the only people who should be entering would have a key

the music traveled from your room and down the hall and he shrugged, assuming you were just listening to music loudly but then he smelled that oddly familiar smell wafting from your room

he went to the bathroom, grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste and shut the door when he figured he should at least ask you about it

-

"oh fucking hell, you are so perfect" eddie muttered out as you licked the spot on his neck you had finished working on, proud of your accomplishment

one of your hands traveled down his hips and to the waist band of his boxers, starting to palm his rock hard bulge and he moaned, his fingers digging into your ass and thighs

your lips met his once more as you went to pull down his waist band, and you were so drunk on him, you couldn't focus on anything else

"hey y/n what's the- JESUS CHRIST" you heard a scream from your door way, causing you and eddie to jump apart

"dustin what the fuck are you doing here?!" you yell, grabbing your sheets to cover yourself up, eddie attempting to do the same

"what the fuck are you doing??" he screamed again

"what's it look like? now get out!" eddie yelled, throwing a pillow at him causing him to immediately step back and shut the door

your heart was pounding and your breathing was unsteady

"oh god" you groaned, leaning into eddie's chest

"well at least now he knows?" eddie said with a laugh

—

dustin, horrified at the sight, ran out of the house, toothbrush in hand and ran to his bike

he believed it was a record for how fast it took him to get back to mike's house from his

out of breath, he stumbled down into mikes basement seeing both mike and lucas staring intently at the movie

"why are you so out of breath?" lucas asked with concern

"i just saw my sister having sex with eddie" he managed to get out, still trying to catch his breath

"what?" mike asked

"I JUST SAW MY SISTER HAVING SEX WITH EDDIE" dustin screamed, repeating himself

"what the fuck?" mike asked again

"wait what so what did you even see?" lucas asked dustin

"i went to get my toothbrush and i heard music from her room and there was some smell so i decided to ask her what the smell was and i knocked- a few times, and she didn't answer so i assumed her music was too loud so i opened her door and i saw them half naked kissing on her bed!" dustin said with disgust

"jesus that's rough" lucas agreed

—

you finished putting back on your shorts, sitting on the edge of your bed with a gnawing feeling in your stomach

after what just happened, neither wanted to continue your plans for the evening so the two of you calmly got dressed and turned off the music.

"you okay?" eddie asked, sitting next to you and you shrugged

"i feel bad for having dustin find out about us that way" you said, playing with the hem of your shorts

"i know but now that it's out in the open you can always actually talk to him about everything tomorrow" he said and you nodded

"yeah i guess, plus i hate the fact that my surprise was wasted" you said, and he wrapped an arm around you as you leaned your head on his shoulder

"i wouldn't say it went to waste because jesus it definitely surprised me" he lifted your head gently to make eye contact with you

"i love you y/n and we'll have plenty of more opportunities for you to show me that, i already forgot all about it, you were wearing something blue right?" he joked and you laughed

"i love you too eddie" you said, wrapping your arms around him. you cuddled into each other, enjoying each others company. you also felt an insane amount of sleepiness wash over you and eddie could sense that

"you seem tired, so i should probably get going" he said with a sigh and you shook your head, pulling away from the hug but keeping your bodies pressed close

"no please, i want you to stay" you said to him and he nodded, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear

"what about your mom?" he questioned and you smiled

"i'll just lock my door and if you'd be so kind, sneak out my window in the morning and come round to the front door, tell my mom you're taking me to breakfast" you suggested and he smiled

"god you're smart" eddie responded, kissing you softly

"and i have some extra clothes of yours from a few weeks ago for tomorrow" you said, getting up to the dresser and pulling them out

you had washed and dried them for him, planning to return them soon but thanking yourself you didn't

"thanks baby" he said, getting up and wrapping his arms around you

"you know i was actually wondering where this shirt went" he said and you giggled

the two of you decided to change out of your clothes, you sleeping in another one of eddie's shirts you had 'borrowed' and him changing into his clean boxers from the dresser

the two of you brushed your teeth in the bathroom, smiling at each other with toothpaste filled smiles. eddie left the bathroom back to your room, and you finished up washing your face and applying some moisturizer

once you made it back to your room, you admired the sight in front of you

eddie was laying on top of the sheets, legs spread and one arm on top of his head, showing off his tattoos

"take a picture it'll last longer" eddie smirked when he noticed you standing by the door

"might have to, you're too pretty" you said, shutting the door and locking it behind you

you walked over to your bed, crawling in, the only light emitting was from your lamp, the other lights eddie turned off for you

you snuggled close to him, his arms wrapping around you right and he reached up and turned off the light

"i love you y/n" eddie whispered, kissing your neck lightly and you smiled, rubbing his arms lightly

"i love you too eds" you said, falling asleep in his arms

fin.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Creepypastas comforting the reader

except some of them arent particularly good at it + as per usual jeff ben and toby are written as platonic everyone else can be seen as either or writing a silly little thing before i tackle in on requests, falling into the same vibe as the "hugging/kissing creepypasta characters" post from last week since i do enjoy rating these lads on thing ehehehe obligatory "these style of posts go over my personal character limit but since this is writing for the admin he bends the rules a bit" anyways uhuh totally dont give me ideas for these eheheh winks

SLENDERMAN:

not much of a talker in general, and i think that remains true in scenario where you're upset/crying. but he does make it clear that hes here for you... just... in a general sense. you know? refuses to leave you alone unless you directly ask him that you need space; more so watches out of concern rather than his usual curiosity. i think he would make you a warm drink and let you vent to him. more of a logical approach than an emotional one; better at giving solutions rather than giving comfort.. though i like to think that his tentacles will pull you close if you want to lean into him, will let you cry into his shoulder with no judgement. 6/10 low score simply because sometimes one needs comfort in the moment instead of solutions, you know?

SPLENDORMAN:

i think hes the opposite of slenderman. hes all emotions first, logic later. if he already knows you comfortable with it, i think he would come in and scoop you up in a hug.. hell he might even cry with you, or do the equivalent of it (admin is still on the fence of whether or not he has eyes or not! torn between them being actual eyes or markings) will make you your favorite snacks and drinks, all the while letting you cry and vent to him. gets mad on your behalf if someone had done you wrong, does not make your feelings feel small or invalidated. if he could he would confront the person who treated you unfairly.... and in fact he might, who would ever believe the person that they came face to face with a ten foot tall monster? though... this can lead to him being a little quick to make choices that might have big impacts... 7/10 love this man need to write more for him and develop my hcs

EYELESS JACK:

you know now that i think about it, given how much i write for EJ, i swear ive done a similar prompt at some point. regardless of it i did and if my hcs are the same, im going to go ahead and drop my hcs. i think hes very similar to slenderman in terms that hes more of a solutions > emotion person.. though i do think hes more likely to join you in any shit talking if someone did you dirty... do i think he would target that person next when hes going to go 'hunting'? no... unless the person did something truly awful and unforgivable, then he would definitely consider it.. probably wont go through with a harvest, though.. but thats it whole other thing. more of a talker than slenderman, so at least he has that going for him. lets you sleep in his bed if youre venting to him in his cabin 7/10 one point higher than slenderman simply because he talks more n stuff

LAUGHING JACK:

im gonna be so real i think he can go either way if hes going to be good at comforting you. on one hand hes too silly and might not take it too seriously; or he might try to make you laugh.. which COULD work but other times makes it look like he doesnt care about your feelings. on the other hand i think he can give some solid adivce, but thats only based on the fact that i love it when unhinged hyper characters suddenly drop the most valuable info. shrugs. i mean if you need a distraction, i think lj is your man to go to ! he was literally made to entertain so i dont think its going to be too hard for him to take your mind elsewhere. i think he would offer to cook you something but i also think hed probably be banned from the kitchen because he cant cook for shit. has probably set water on fire somehow level shit. so instead you guys just sit together talking... mostly its him leading the conversation, though. doesnt leave you be until you at least give him a smile... 6.5/10 only because i dont know how to rate him here

MASKY/TIM:

oh not at all emotional. well no thats a lie but hes not very emotive. thats the more correct word. look if we're talking about masky, hes probably going to be really bad at comforting you unless your means to be comforted involves being watched... though i do think he would fall into the act of service hole.. does all the chores and such for you so you dont have to worry yourself about cleaning a pan thats been in the sink for two days now. tries his hand at cooking, but i dont think masky is the best cook.. TIM on the other hand.. but we'll get into that in a minute. probably ends in you guys ordering something but hey its the thought that counts. if someone made you upset you notice over the course of the next few weeks that person starts outright avoiding you and overall seems anxious. weird. probably unrelated! 7/10 only because im badly overworked irl and the idea of someone taking charge sounds like a dream

tim i think would be similar, but hes more expressive for you... will cook for you but if your favorite food happens to be really specific or something else, hes probably going to run out and get it. torn on whether or not he would tell you before he goes, or if he sticks to keeping it a surprise.. i think he would tell you just so it doesnt feel like hes abandoning you when youre down..! not much to be said here other than him being supportive 8/10 i would KILL for some white cheddar popcorn rn

HOODIE/BRIAN:

i think he would put you to bed. actually i think both of them would but to keep things clear im still going to divide this like masky/tims. i think hoodie is going to keep you in bed, even if youre not particularly tired. dont bother trying to fight him on it, hes only allowing you to get up for the bathroom. let him take care of things! very similar to masky, picks up on a lot of the chores. i think he can cook, though, definitely better than masky but i dont think hes like. top tier. likes making you little snacks, or food thats generally deemed as comforting (mac and cheese, cornbread, ect). doesnt talk (sign) much but will occasionally sign to you asking how you're feeling 7.5/10 love this man, so mad kid me used to sleep on hoodie

very similar, but an even better cook than hoodie so be prepared to eat good. communicates with you more than hoodie and makes small talk while cooking. i think he would keep the chat lighthearted and on a different topic rather than tackling your feelings, unless you express that you want to vent then hes all ears! not because he doesnt care more so because he doesnt want to seem prying or nosey and wants to give you the choice yourself. sometimes makes jokes about stuff in order to try to get you to smile. feels victorious when he succeeds 8/10 mad i slept on him too

TICCI TOBY:

i think he might actually be TOO strong and in your face when asking you what happened. only one who outwardly offers to krill someone if someone were to make you upset. but thats just because i think toby can occasionally get protective of you. i mean youre one of his best friends (only friends) and here you are upset! if you dont want him to do anything hes going to try to contain himself. he strikes me at the type to retreat to the roof and look up at the stars... i think he would offer to do that with you; but if youre too scared to climb then he can lay out a blanket for you so you guys can go sit on the grass! surprisingly a very good listener, though very emotionally driven and reacts a lot when you tell him the details of your day.. but its nice, i think, reassures you that hes is in fact listening.. 7/10 gives off brother vibes

JEFF THE KILLER:

ohhoho so this is an interesting one, because i like the idea of jeff still acting like an older brother every now and then even after everything. but he also has that attitude of "i dont care about anyone around me and im better than everyone".. more of an actions than words guy. he wont really say it.. you know? one of those "if he actually didnt care then he would bother giving you the time of day, much less break into your house at night with his arms full of your favorite snacks and drinks". good luck trying to vent to him though, i think its rare that he lets anyone vent to him since he also holds the "ew yucky feelings" thing ben has.. though once in a blue moon i think he would let you and give some decent advice... though every now and then that advice involves punching someone 6/10 is fair i think...

BEN DROWNED:

kind of reminds me of how younger siblings will give their older siblings know they like. kind of like the "my brother saw me crying and asked me what my favorite color is... he gave me things in that color" post/image going around that i cannot for the life of me find but i know it exists because it made me cry. i think its like that. except since hes in your phone he already knows what your interests are.. probably pulls up what your comforts and likes are in an attempt to cheer you up. i dont think he would bluntly speak with you about your feelings, but thats just because he thinks heart to hearts are yucky and cringe/lh. uses videos, art, stuff like that. ehehe silly phone ghost 7/10 because as simple as it is, if someone tossed my cc at me i would feel at least a little better for a moment and its the action itself you know?

PUPPETEER:

i thin hes similar to jeff in regard that he tries to play things off but deep down he does care, and that tends to show more through his actions... though i personally think if you were to actually cry then he might lose it a bit, because who DARE? i gotta admit, im still trying to figure out how i want to write pup and what hcs to give him, but i think.. this is an okay take.. might 'confront' anyone who made you upset, with or without your approval which might make some issues between the two of you.. more ready to let you vent to him though, might slip out some mean insults and words about whatever's got you upset regardless of its a person, chance, or object 7/10

[poppitron360]

saw your post abt epic & music theory! Are there any interesting time signatures (non-4/4), key signatures, or tempo changes in epic?

and/or something similar?

Yes!! Charybdis is actually in 5/4!!

For the normies out there, the “4” on the bottom refers to the fact that the bar is counted in Crotchets (or quarter notes if you’re American). The number on the top refers to the amount of them that there are- i.e 5/4 being five quarter notes. Most music you hear is gonna be in 4/4, but another song you might know that have 5/4 time is “tolerate it” by Taylor Swift.

Now Jorge has said many times that one of his main influences in writing Epic is videogame music. I recently watched a video about time sigs in music for nintendo games- linking that vid here (part 1, part 2)- and one thing I noticed is that the “weirder” (translation: more awesome) the time sig got, the more often it was used in a boss battle. Charybdis DEFINITELY feels like a boss battle.

“I told myself I’d never write a song in 5/4 […] And the one idea that kept coming into my head was this idea that Charybdis throws Odysseus’ balance off. The same way 5/4 initially threw my balance off.” - Jorge, in one of his videos explaining how he made Charybdis’ music. Now what’s special about 5/4 specifically, is that it’s SO CLOSE to 4/4. SO CLOSE to what our brains are accustomed to hearing, to what sounds “right” and “natural”, but it’s just that one extra note that throws us off.

At this point in the story, Ody has lost everything. He’s back after 7 years on Calypso’s island, and he’s changed. I love how with each progressing Saga the music gets darker and wilder (re: my post about Scylla being my all-time fav in Epic in terms of music production and composition). The fact that this is the only song in non-4/4 makes it stand out. It throws us off.

Also, the little intro bit to the song (before the electric guitar kicks in)- it’s hard to tell but I believe it’s in 4/4. This is showing that it’s before we meet Charybdis.

What’s interesting to me is that after Ody survives Charybdis and sees Ithica again after 20 years, his instrument switches back to his gentle nylon-string guitar, but the music doesn’t switch back to 4/4. It stays with that extra beat. Odysseus is still shaken.

Even though he’s home, he will always be looking over his shoulder at what’s behind him. He will always be flinching at every noise. He will always see the faces of the men he was responsible for in his nightmares.

It could just be that Jay didn’t wanna have to write the melody in mixed meter, but I prefer this interpretation.

In music, we often count odd time signatures in smaller chunks, which can differ depending on the way that it’s phrased (e.g 10/8 could be counted as “one two three, one two, one two, one two three” OR “one two, one two three, one two three, one two”). What’s interesting about this specific use of 5/4 is that it’s counted as “one two three, one two”. In the video I referenced earlier, Jorge explains his struggles to get a song in 5/4 to be “catchy”. The way he tackled this was to have each instrument + the vocals highlight this rhythm. So even though Ody is being thrown off by Charybdis, he is still in control.

Let’s look at how the melody in the verse reinforces this:

The first four beats of the bar are completely conjunct (moving in steps)- staying within three notes of the root note (1st note in the scale). Then on the 5th beat (the one that throws you off) goes lower than the root:

1 2 3 1 2

You be Her men

must who mes

tioned-

This solidifies the feeling of being thrown off, showing not only how Charybdis but this whole voyage has shaken Odysseus, which makes Poseidon’s appearance afterwards even more terrifying, because we as listeners are completely disorientated by this effect.

[johnslittlespoon]

askbox question because i've never thrown like, a 'request/idea' offering sorta post out there:

what do you want to see in tough and sweet? like, specific dates you'd like to see the boys go on, certain tropes covered, different kinks/nsfw scenes, scenarios and convos tackled, idk literally anything!

i'm curious because i used to brainrot about it lots here before i started actually writing it but then i stopped so i wouldn't spoil things, and while i'm ofc writing what i love and want to write, it's fun to know what readers wanna read, and to try to incorporate those things where i can. :-) but also my list of scenes to include is So Long i feel like so many ideas will already be in my drafting doc LOL <3

i have the whole fic plotted out, but lots of room for little things in between the bigger plot points, so! no promises obvi, but i'd love to hear your thoughts. the main one i get asked for in comments/asks is about writing a gale pov oneshot, which i'm most definitely doing– sooner than you think. >:) lmkkk, anon is fine!! if i don't reply, i promise i read it, i just have 100+ asks rn and too much to do irl but i appreciate each one soso much :'))

[gotham-daydreams]

How are you?

Busy, unfortunately!! Started college not too long ago, and all that - won't bore anyone with the details, though!! Sorry if I worried anyone with all the silence - I didn't even realize how long it's been! Wow!

Few things!!

1. HOLY HELL WE'RE AT 3K FOLLOWERS???? ALREADY???

I'VE BEEN TRYING TO CATCH UP AND COME UP WITH SPECIALS BUT OH MY GOD... There are so many of you!! And you all come in so fast!! It actually breaks my heart a little only because I haven't shown my best yet (or definitely feel like I haven't), which will definitely change! You guys deserve so much better! Though I'm still unsure what to do for specials... so ideas would be nice! I'd like to also do some late ones- since you guys 100% deserve it, and they're still milestones!! Though for 3k, I'll do something in the spirit of Halloween!... or fall if I'm late again- 😅

Regardless! I'm so happy for all the support!! It really is something that so many people see my posts, no matter how old, and interact with them! It's overwhelming, honestly, but I deeply appreciate it! Even more so when I have a habit of going to get the milk for a while, before coming back with a few cookies - LOL!

2. I've been seeing that my work has inspired a lot of people to make their own stuff, and it's super endearing and heartwarming!!! Really, even if I don't really comment and only interact with the posts on my main account, I still see them! And I love them!!! I'm honestly really surprised how much the Not [ ] Series has inspired others or served as inspiration for their work. It baffles me but I'm also really glad I was able to do that for someone! It's still insane, especially since I really don't see the series as my best work by a long shot, but I do still really admire and appreciate how people still took inspiration from it :]

To which, yes! I do read all of the works people tag me in LOL! I may not say much! But I do see it!! You're all amazing writers and I can't wait to see what you all make in the future!!

3. I will definitely try to catch up on asks! There have been a lot of them - which I'm very happy to see! So now that I have some time, I'll start to tackle them! I have a break coming up, so if not now, then definitely then! So, soon!

4. YES. CHAPTER 4 IS IN THE WORKS!! I doubt it'll be longer than 3 - I learned a lot during that, and I plan to not repeat my mistakes and take what I've learned. Though we'll see how it goes in actual execution!! I already forget what I've said on that end, and thanks to time I have made a few adjustments to the original plan, though the ending remains the same! Very... eventful!!

5. I AM TRYING TO GET A NEW SERIES OUT!! Because damn it do you guys deserve some quality on this blog!!! I'm not the best writer, obviously, but again, the Not [ ] is a farcry from what I can really produce, and even if I view it as a taste of what's to come - still!! Been also thinking of making it one of the romantic stories I had planned (seeing as a lot of platonic stuff has come out, which is cute!), but we'll see! 'Waiting' Reader has been on my mind... I'll say that much! Though maybe don't hold your breath...?

Overall, a little tired as usual, but glad to be back, and really kick start writing again! 💛... I say, at 5:30 am, like every great author!

[heian-era-housewife]

Hello all!

Recovery, diagnosis, and continued health journey below the break.

TLDR: Stage 4 endometriosis, still waiting on results for the heart condition, tired, sore, overall am going to be okay 👍 I do, however, hate being the owner of a uterus.

Most importantly, thanks everyone for the love, support, and well wishes! Glad to be back! It will be slow. Don't expect too much, but I do still plan to play catch up on Kinktober, even if it goes into November a little bit.

Trigger warnings: blood, mental health, mention of sex, gender identity, generally just Yuri whining 😅

I'm not sure where to begin. When I imagined writing this comeback post, pre-surgery I thought it would be all smiles and sunshine. I knew there would be pain, but I thought the worst of it would be behind me. Currently, I feel like I'm sitting toward the bottom of what may be a very long uphill struggle.

While my surgery went smoothly, the care I received around the surgery was eye opening. We waited for hours on end both before and after the surgery to get answers, to get help, to use the bathroom or be offered water.

Sometime before I woke up I had apparently been given some disposable underwear and a pad because I was bleeding pretty heavily. When I was finally able to use the restroom, I discovered that the pad had been placed cotton-side down with the adhesive side facing my body. The sticky part was still covered with the backing (thankfully), but this had caused blood to run everywhere including down my legs where I could not reach, as I was unable to bend. The only person available to help me at the time was a man whose bedside manner was less than desirable, so I just lived with the blood stains.

This was just one of many instances where it felt like I was almost being punished for having the reproductive organs that I do. And frankly, that has been my experience my entire life as someone who menstruates, who has had difficulty with menstruation, and who has had near constant pain and problems in that area.

Ultimately, I was diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis. I know very little about this condition and by the time I had woken up from surgery, the surgical staff had gone home. There was no one willing to answer questions and I have since been told I will need to wait two weeks until my follow up appointment to speak with the doctor and get details. Until then, I am left with my own research. From what it seems, there is no cure and very minimal that can be done for treatment of symptoms. My discharge notes make mention of heavy scarring on my ovaries from recurring cysts, which are sure to continue. The endometrial tissue can also appear on or effect other parts of the body as they had in this past instance where tissue was present around my intestines. It can grow on lungs and even the brain, though these cases are extremely rare.

It's hard not to feel discouraged right now. I thought this surgery would be a huge step forward toward feeling better, but it feels more like a tiny drop in a bucket of larger issues and possibly more surgeries and complications to come. Not only this, but I am enraged both by the absolutely abysmal healthcare system here in the U.S. but by the treatment of and complete lack of empathy for those who have vaginas, uteruses, who experience menstruation or pregnancy and any number of complications from these things. I've said it before and I'll say it again, "women's" healthcare is a JOKE, but this goes beyond women. If I, a cisgender female, am experiencing such a lack of care and empathy, I can only imagine how any person with these organs who doesn't fit the stereotypical image or definition gets treated. I hate it.

Anyhoo...

Recovery is expected to take about two weeks. No sex for six weeks (for real this time)

Still waiting on results from my heart monitor.

Wanting to tackle mental health after squaring away what I can of physical health.

Depression and anxiety is now worse than ever. Doing my best not to slither into my little hermit hole and hide from it all.

Writing helps. Drawing helps. The love and care from amazing people on this silly little site helps.

And of course, there is Hubs, who deserves a standing ovation for the incredible job he has done caring for me, advocating for me, and reminding me every day that truly good people do still exist 🩷

If you've read this far, please go get yourself a cookie or something 🍪 and thank you, truly, for being part of this little journey with me 💕

[tangledbea]

I found this interesting post talking about Varians' age and the general series timeline.

Link: https://www.tumblr.com/rachelbethhines/623037451732123648/tangled-timeline?source=share

There are some interesting tidbits, and I have questions about a few of them. The OP references Varians fanon birthday of March 24, which makes sense when discussing Varians' age, but they also reference Rapunzel having a fanon birthday of May 12th. I know about the Varian birthday headcanon, but is this a common birthday headcanon for Rapunzel? If not your headcanon of the summer solstice, I would've figured people would headcanon her birthday being in July or August because it is canonically in summer. If it is a common headcanon, why May? Isn't that a bit early?

It also talks about S3s timeline a lot, particularly Coronan holidays that happened more than once in the series. The post says the day of hearts is 6 months after Rapunzels birthday, yet it's just a few episodes after Rapunzels return (the S3 premiere may not have involved Rapunzels birthday, but it definitely happened arounf that time.) I can explain the S1 goodwill festival happening 6 months after Rapunzels 18th birthday and S2 goodwill festival happening a few weeks after her 19th because it wasn't the real Coronan event, it was something Rapunzel planned in Varados. But the other holiday discrepancies can't be explained this way. So this post says S3 takes place over 2 years instead of 1 like the other seasons. It also says "the series creators" said 4 seasons were originally planned instead of 3. This is why S3 is theorized to take place over 2 years. Thus, due to this extra year, Varian would be 17-18 at the end of S3, not 16-17, as many people think. It would end on Rapunzels 22nd birthday, not her 21st. But is this true? Were 4 seasons originally planned? Was S3 meant to be 2 years instead of 1 as a result?

Also, sorry again if this is really long.

(Lately, I've been finding myself apologizing a lot at the end of these long asks, ever since you said you were gonna turn off anon. I don't even know why I'm apologizing, I know you don't mind...)

Let's tackle this one question at a time.

If you Google Rapunzel's birthday, you'll get May 12th. This is because someone at some point read the star charts she painted on her ceiling in the movie to determine her birthday and decided it meant her birthday was May 12th (for some reason -- I can't read star charts, so I have no idea how they're getting that). I, frankly, like my headcanon for her birthday much more and completely ignore the May 12th thing. It's not her official birthday, though, any more than the summer solstice is.

No one who worked on the series ever said the series was going to be four seasons. No one. Ever. At some point, towards the end of season three, people started saying there would be a season four, partly because they really wanted one (even though it had only ever been planned to be three seasons), and likely partly because originally the series was announced to have more episodes than it ended up having. I more than covered in my FAQ why this is. And therefore, S3 was not meant to take place over the course of two years. S1 is six months, S2 is (approximately) one year, and S3 is (approximately) one year when you include the epilogue (even though we don't know how long after the end of the episode the epilogue takes place). Varian is 14-15 in S1, 15-16 in S2 and 16-17 in S3. Or, alternately, he might be 13-14 in S1, 14-15 in S2 and 15-16 in S3. After all, we don't know when his birthday is, and since the series begins six months after Rapunzel's return, we don't know if his birthday falls before or after hers in the calendar year.

As for the inconsistencies of the holidays, have people even seen the writing of that show? It's inconsistent. They literally do what they want when they want. Maybe the Day of Hearts is based on a lunar cycle, rather than on a day on the calendar, and so the date it falls on fluctuates. Maybe the episodes aired out of order (some of them definitely did). There is definitely an inconsistent amount of time between episodes. It's not like one episode takes place every two weeks.

Maybe the fans just put more thought into it than the writers did.

[kustas]

Do you have reccs for "ugly" art (manga, comics, movie, etc.)? Thanks for the Tekkon recs btw I really liked it

That really depends on your own personal media landscape and what your definition of "ugly" is! As a random example, I've seen many people call ONE's art ugly because of the wobbly linework when I think it's lovely. Ugly could also mean something a bit shocking/crass in its themes. Etc, etc... I'm going to go with the definition of "something that's a bit jarring to look at or go through" here :)

Disclaimer: a lot of these tackle sensitive topics, sometimes for fun and not always tastefully. If there's themes you really can't handle in media, do your research before looking into them.

Manga

I keep recommending yes because it rules but Dorohedoro and its scratchy messy art and gore galore. talking about the manga exclusively here the anime is too polished for my taste

God's Child (Kami no Kodomo): tbh this one is for the art only I hated the writing. very gruesome & unique looking short story

I hesitate to recommend this one because it's edgy as hell but I shan't lie I had a lot of fun with Hellsing. it's "bad" in the same areas as something like berserk but unlike that one it does not take itself seriously

if you liked Tekkon i strongly suggest trying out more stuff by its author (saying this with immense biais). the most ugly/messy thing i've read of his, which isn't a lot because i find his work very delicate, is No. 5 which i would less describe as "good" than "very compelling to me". i also recommend this wonderful essay tearing it down

Comics (non JP)

FLEEP: a short story about a man who wakes up in a phone cabin seemingly encased in concrete. one of the comics i always recommend for its length and storytelling. (link leads to the artist's website where you can read it for free!)

The Astonishing Exploits Of Lucien Brindavoine: a young artist gets drafted in the first world war and goes through a series of almost supernatural adventures. beyond the adventure book aspect, a harsh criticism of nationalism/patriotism that's still awfully relevant

Animation

Ruben Brandt: Collector: a psychiatrist suffers from strange art related nightmares ruining his life. his clients, a bunch of high profile criminals, decide to help him fight off his demons by organizing one long vacation where they steal every painting involved. extremely unique visually, a fun heist movie with thriller elements.

Junk Head: goofy post apocalyptic movie about a man on a quest to save, who keeps losing sight his goal because cartoony violence episodes have his head tumble into new lows, literally. this is, perhaps, one of my favorite animated films ever, it's earnest and fun and lovingly crafted. very unique of a watch

The Apostle: freshly escaped from prison, a thief is on a mission to find treasure hidden by his old cellmate, and finds himself stuck in an ancient village who's strange looking elderly inhabitants are way too insistent on his stay. classic spooky folktale with its millennial curses and foreboding warnings, it's also a nice peek into the culture of Galicia and old world medieval weirdass catholicism. you can buy a DVD on their website

MKFZ: dumb as hell high adrenaline animated B movie with excellent animation. there's a plot about alien living undercover in fantasy california but you don't watch this kind of film for the plot. fair warning this is adapted from a french comic so of course, it's crass and racist

Blow to the Head - Lightning bolt: awesome music video (YT link)(warning for flashing/strobing lights if you're sensitive to that!)

Canon Fodder: from the Memories omnibus film. little slice of the life of a fantasy war obsessed industrial nation

with its new movie on the horizon, it's a great time to get into Mononoke, despite traditionally pretty visuals its got a unique style and gets pretty offputting

Live action cinema

7:35 in the morning: short film about the fear in improvised musical numbers where you don't expect any. it's on youtube in bad quality

The Draughtsman's Contract: an artist is hired by a Lady to draw several vistas of her house, in exchange for money, good drawing condition, and the Lady. follows a good hour of cunts in powdery wigs being awful to each other for their own gain. if you're into dark humor it's a good test, otherwise it has a really satisfying murder mystery to follow too.

Three Kings: during the gulf war, a group of US soldiers decide to steal Hussein's gold for themselves under the mighty standard of kuwait's loot repatriation. extremely caustic take on good ol murican international politics. i was shocked at how far it goes and it's express, low budget treatment which i did not expect from a hollywood film. the movie tires itself fast and becomes less good in its second half but the it's opening acts are interesting

Delicatessen: a sliver of humanity survives in an old timey stone building in the middle of nothingness on top of a functional butcher's shop. gossip follows the arrival of a new roommate. how does one even maintain a butchery in a no man's land? weird film with a unique(ly goofy) take on the post apocalyptic genre

Other

For traditional artists, I like the works of Beksinski (<3), Schiele, Giger. For modern artists Oleg Vdovenko (heavy gore warning for that one), Jeff Simpson

I'm less a fan of the MV and live performances they got infamous for than their music proper but I really like the band Cardiacs, who's judged by many of my friends to be extremely hard to get into lol.

[hereghostslive]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

thanks for the tag @lemonlyman-dotcom !!

1. How many works do you have an AO3? 19

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 29,507

3. What fandoms do you write for? 911 Lone Star, 911, The Old Guard, Shadowhunters, RWRB

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

victories, defined | a 911 Season 7 coda to the medal ceremony. Tommy confronts Gerrard (i dont really like this one tbh)

hitchcokian | a 911 season 7 coda. buck calls Tommy right after he runs into Kim. (this one is okay, but i fear i wasted the title "hitchcockian" on this when it would be cool do a genre-bending thing. idk)

echoes | 911 Lone Star Season 1. Carlos waits in the hospital after TK is shot and really talks to the 126 for the first time.

why | 911 Lone Star. the silliest thing i've ever written, and it's all @lemonlyman-dotcom's fault. Carlos buys Lou II pajamas and then realizes he has to put the pajamas ... on Lou II and regrets every decision that led him there.

halted beginnings | 911 Lone Star. post-engagement. Carlos is in love. But he's forgotten about something.

5. Do you respond to comments? I do, although I think im kinda behind on doing so? I do forget to sometimes.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? i think it's a tie between halted beginnings (linked above) and fundamental. they are essentially sister stories, with fundamental being the meta-verison of halted beginnings. they both tackle Carlos forgetting about Iris when he says yes to TK's proposal. halted beginnings is more of a character introspection into how, in the moment, Carlos might have forgotten about Iris. fundamental takes the meta-approach that Carlos/Iris were never planned from the beginning and is written as if Carlos, the character from season 1-3, knows someone else is rewriting his history (the writer, or "Tim," as I called him in the annotations lol). Both fics end on a heavy note, with Carlos either putting off telling TK (halted beginnings) or a rewritten version of Carlos taking over Seasons 1-3 Carlos (fundamental).

7. What is the fic your wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably "why" (linked above). TK and Lou II in matching pajamas ... couldn't be better!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't, and I hope it stays that way.

9. Do you write smut? not really

10. Do you write crossovers? No, but I would like to

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? no. but open to that if anyone wanted to translate

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nooooooo, but I would love to collaborate on something!!!! Idk how to find a person to collaborate with though lol

16. What are your writing strengths? i really don't know ... someone else tell me. i feel like i always want to make people feel like they are in the room with the character, and i thiiiiiink i do that. or at least im getting better at it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? plotting, finishing wips lol

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I don't do it, but I definitely could be better at adding in there.

19. First fandom you wrote for? for this question I'll take into account my past fan fic writing life, which was a long time ago. Angel

20. Favorite fics you've written?

In no particular order:

large popcorn with a bag of m&ms | an Old Guard fic I wrote in 2021 that I really want to turn into a longer series. It's Nile-centric and about how she misses her real family while adjusting to her new immortal life.

peace | a 911 Lone Star fic that is actually pretty angsty too, haha. it's very short, but I was stretching some more poetic writing muscles I hadnt used in a long time. This is Carlos, after the breakup

Staring at ghosts | my newest one, 911, bucktommy. It's a wip, but I really love the first chapter, and I'm really excited about the rest of it I have outlined and partly written. Buck and Tommy are still in the fairly early stages of their relationship, and Buck doesn't really know how to open up when he starts having dreams about the lightning strike.

--

no pressure tagging: @rmd-writes @welcometololaland @reyesstrand @bonheur-cafe @paperstorm

@alrightbuckaroo @carlos-tk @carlos-in-glasses

[rebtrovert-girl]

Celebratory Note: Drunken Honesty

As this story has come to an end, I feel like talking about it a little more since this is my first mid-length fic, made with adapting the story into a modern one, and tbh the first ever long story I manage to finish (for real, I've been writing for as long as I can remember and I have soooooo many drafts, not just about LawBin but other real manuscript but I never manage to finish anything) so this one deserved to be celebrate and talked about by me :D Or, really, I just wanna babbling it out even without any excuse.

Honestly I used to dislike a modernized fanfic of something that was originally set in their own universe. When I first thought of this idea I kinda thought to myself: what the hell???? Very naive if you ask me. Look where I land now, I love writing this so freaking much!

I didn't plan to name each chapter with anything or even idioms at first. It was done because I've been listening to Billie Eilish- Birds of a Feather a lot when I wrote the first chapter and I started to envision the ending with that song. I just knew I needed to name the last chapter with it, or at least I have to kinda insert the song in the last scene. I ended up naming every chapter with idioms just so I can use Birds of a Feathers in the last one. But that somehow helps me a lot in putting the plot point and what I want to have in every chapter neatly. Like in chapter 1: Cat Out of The Bag focus on Robin spilling her secret, and in chapter 2: Beat Around the Bush was used literally in their first meet and figuratively to describe Law's reaction for her confession which is trying to hide from it.

The making of Last Chapter: Birds of a Feather is really the hardest not just because I was in the middle of rushing my assignment that I need to redo, but I also rewrite it three times from the beginning LOL. The thing with me is, when I feel very stuck on some part I just know that something isnt right from the beginning so I will definitely rewrite it :D. I got very stuck on the first two versions and I finally let it be for a few days before I start again. Although the reunion scene was envisioned since the first time I wrote this and as I listen to the song, the build up to that scene was never determined and thats my real headache. I still have doubt about how it turn out even as I post it, but what matters to me was I did manage to finish it the way I want it.

As a non-English speaker, naming each chapter with idioms is a huge deal and has become one of the most fun parts for me. It's huge because I need to find the one that fits the most to describe what happened in the chapter, thus I get to read a lot of idioms and I learn a lot along the way. Definitely a fun excuse to learn more English!

I'm not really a Sannami shipper but I ended up inserting them in addition to Saboala because I want both Robin and Law to have a reflection of how a friends to lovers relationship could be. That's also why I randomly put Law and Sabo together as roommates even though they have almost zero interaction in the canon world. I know in fanfic, writers have the freedom to write characters however they want to, but I don't actually like steering too far from canon. Chapter 3: Greener Grass is the second title I found and I knew all along I want to have these two other ships mentioned in here.

Aside from LawBin, my second ship in OP is indeed Saboala and I've been wanting and trying to write about them for some time. I had drafts of their stories in my file to which I was never able to finish. Their little inclusion in this story is an excuse and open door for me if maaayyyybbbbeeeee I wanna attempt to tackle a sequel/spin-off of this that focused on their story one day (who knows?????)

The story was originally planned to be done in 6 chapters. I had to improvise a bit when I wrote Chapter 4: Skeletons in The Closet that was never part of my plan. In the original idea, Cora and the part where Robin realizes what she did when she was drunk are supposed to be in chapter 3. But as I said in that chapter's note, something came up (real life happened) and I wasn't able to write for a week. If I continue to follow the original plan, chapter 3 would be pushed for another week and it makes me weary. So on a whim I decided to divide the chapter into two, with chapter 3 just focusing on the couple reflecting their relationship with others, and chapter 4 with the revelation of what has been done since the first chapter. I went into a frenzy when I uploaded chapter 3 because I felt bad for not following my original plan. You guys have no idea how grateful I am for the feedback you gave and it push me forward on writing more :D

I have thought about actually writing some smut here in the middle of writing this but then I scratch the idea because; first, I've never write a smut before so I think I still need some practice(?) and second, as much as I like for the two to get hot and down to business, I've never plan on it initially. Mood wise, I feel like it'd be a little forced if I suddenly insert something too sexual. Maybe I'll do that some other time with different stories (?????)

Chapter 5- Down the Rabbit Hole, where Sabo somehow become the MVP was coincidentally came out at the same time as eps 1116 release, which was when Sabo come back to the anime for Reverie arc. It was pure coincidence but a really nice one and I want to keep remembering it!

In writing, there is this saying: Kill your darlings, which means to eliminate the overuse of favorite characters or tropes to cut the unnecessary part. In one of the writing courses I took years ago, they also explain this as a way to not include too many unimportant details, such as a character that doesn't do much to the story and doesn't need to be explained in detail. Again, my take as this piece is a fanfic, I took the liberty to have as much fun as I could with every character I could add to the story. Like Doflamingo, yeah this psychopath has no business whatsoever to be in this light hearted romcom story of Law and Robin. But I wanna have fun with him and my only reason for including him is only so I can write him say in another world he'd die in Luffy's hand (I love irony). That's also why I make them neighbours. It's unimportant but it's fun. The characters might be Oda's but the universe of this story is mine so I'll do as I like it. But in the end, I still tried to limit this thing so the story didn't snowball too big. I hate to add more chapters haha

Saul and Cora's inclusion here is my second favorite take. I just know if I want to write something that can assure Law and Robin did have a good childhood, these two characters need to exist in their story. And I just feel so proud to come up with this two quotes for them:

You are my daughter but you are always going to be a Nico- Saul I bet on your happiness- Cora

I know it's just me being overdramatic (like this whole post is) but I'm proud because it feels like the kind of thing their characters would even say in canon :D

12. I do have some ideas for bonus chapter (!!!!!) but nothing has been written yet and I dont want to make empty promises anymore so for now lets just save it as a surprise when it did happen one day

I think I've talked enough. I write this purely because I want to have this story, but I'm glad to know that there are people who can enjoy it as much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so much <3 Honestly when I first started writing LawBin I thought it was just going to be a one time thing, but look at me now! I don't know how long I will be able to write them and have fun with everyone before real life consumes me; but in this moment and time, I feel so grateful that I could share the same joy of having fun from what I like with people who have the same favorites. Cheers to all of us, and hopefully I can greet you with a new story soon! (Idea is always there, I do have my own draft list too, the problem is always the same: TIME)

Full chapter of Drunken Honesty by me (chilldeokjil) is now on AO3!

[mythological-mayhem]

Hi!, this is anon who asked you what type of music the 4 tezcatlipocas would listen to. This will be a long question so take your time reading it you don’t need to answer it right away :)

Am here, to ask about how you and your buddies sort y’all’s information about not only Aztec but other pantheons, as well the country/culture that pantheon is from.

Am creating a story about characters getting chosen or trained to be a god's “champion” like they’re here to represent the god and help people by fighting monsters. Some champions aren’t gonna be the same as their god (for example Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl don’t usually get along with one another, but their champions do. Huitzilopochtli is more stoic and quiet while his champion is more outgoing and fun)

You can send this question to other blogs that tackle mythology too or could send ideas about some character designs they wish people added into a mythology series

You can call me pen anon for now thank you :)

-🖋️anon

Heya pen anon! Side note before I start rambling I really enjoyed your last ask :D

I just want to start by saying that your idea seems awesome, it's a great and creative concept (is it going to be posted anywhere? I'd definitely want to check it out when it's done if thats possible haha)! I also want to say that I'm still learning about Aztec mythology and the countless myths and I'm still learning about a lot of them (same goes for other mythologies!)

As for getting information, all you need to do is a quick google search for different gods and myths. Some sources are more official and go into more depth about different aspects of the mythology, whilst others just give a brief recap. For Aztec mythology, I recommend you to go to mayaincaaztec.com and click on "aztec religion".

Another source of information is Youtube. Specifically, I like the channel "overly sarcastic productions" because they organize different myths into 15-20 min videos and also make it humorous, fun, and enjoyable to watch.

As for organizing information, I'm not very good at it lol I kind of just remember random stuff. But there are going to be myths that are more famous and spoken about such as the Aztec five suns myth or greek heroes like achilles and Hercules, etc etc. And then there are going to be myths that are more obscure myths, like those that entail the creation of a certain plant or animal or such. If you're going to write a story, I recommend making a google docs or just memorizing which of the bigger myths you want to have play a bigger impact on the gods' personalities + their relationships with one another, and which ones will just be cool "oh yeah I did that once" memories for them.

Again im kind of unorganized lol, so this is the best advice I have, sorry. Thanks for the ask!

Tagging my mythology buddies to see if they want to share their methods:

@h0bg0blin-meat

@mythos-soup

@15pantheons