#the stakes probably felt just as high for him as they did for us lmao

[goldlightsaber]

also re: underlining, jesse armstrong is as passionate as the rest of us. he literally wrote kendall into existence, so naturally he shared his two cents about whether it’s underlined or crossed out or whatever. he's the president of the kendall roy committee. mark mylod “still worries” about the characters months later, like lbr they're as crazy as the rest of us. "if you were gonna cross out, you wouldn't start underneath, would you?" is some shit kendall is gonna think up at 2AM at night one day and then bring up five minutes into a reunion dinner with shiv and roman (five years after the finale or something) before someone flips the table. jesse is writing phantom dialogue from beyond the succession grave and can you blame him

[bonefall]

I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MARSHSCAR????

Sure! He's a supporting character in Ripplestar's Rot, and becomes leader of ShadowClan after the Great Pancakening at the Battle of the Gathering.

I wrote about him and every leader post-Ripplestar over here

Marshpaw was a little older than Ripplekit when he was brought to the Clan, just newly apprenticed. Their apprenticeships overlapped and they were teenage friends.

Marsh has always been a sort of quiet dude, he's never been a go-getter. More of a steady, practical guy.

He was friends with Spottedpelt and Gorseclaw too, him and Gorse were the more "level headed" people in the group.

His first name was Marshtail. "Scar" is an Honor Title.

Him and Ripplemoon were young warriors when they became mates. Marshtail could tell you that he liked his passion and drive, but, it would be a half truth. He can't really pick anything in particular that is his favorite trait

He could spend a day stuck in a tree hole with him and it would be enjoyable. He just likes his vibe, he likes to be with him.

There's not much to say about him before the ending of Ripplestar's Rot, because he's a mild guy. His ideal life would have been being a background character who goes on patrol a lot lmao

But at the death of Ripplestar and Spottedpelt, suddenly he was thrust into power he NEVER wanted, in the middle of mourning the loss of his mate and his extended family, and the end of a war he'd given everything to.

His heart broken, he had to clean up what Ripplestar left behind. The other three leaders blamed ShadowClan for everything, and the war had taken a chunk out of the population.

Especially in ShadowClan, with a ton of their warriors being slaughtered at the Gathering. Because of Gorseclaw, they'd seen the attack coming and prepared by only bringing their strongest warriors.

In fury, Dalestar of WindClan and Birchstar of RiverClan exiled many of the outed rebels within their ranks

So, Marshstar was dealing with the other Clans baying for a severe punishment of ShadowClan, adding a flood of new commandments to the code, and also a political refugee crisis

This was a mess. An exhausting, painful mess

It didn't get better, either. No matter what Marshstar did, someone was going to be furious. He couldn't appease the other Clans while maintaining ShadowClan, so, they started exacting revenge by attacking constantly.

(And, mind you, this was the age of Kit Stealing and pillaging. These attacks were high-stakes)

Eventually he stopped apologizing or even negotiating at all. ShadowClan became a sort of secluded, defensive nut that shared very little news, and even skipped Gatherings a few times.

But even that didn't please his warriors. They wanted the Gatherings. They wanted their own revenge. Even as the population recovered, Marshstar refused to do anything else.

The rest of his life felt like he was just biding time. 9 long lives without Ripplestar felt like a curse.

He did do one thing though-- when Houndfang was young, she was a goddamn punk. Little rebel without a cause, the Clan used to be frustrated that she was given such a ferocious name; she could have used a name to calm her down instead :/

She reminded Marshstar of a casual discussion about warrior names he had with Ripplestar, once. About how he liked names that simply made sense, and didn't need to be defended with prose. A Hound and its Fangs

He took a shining to Houndkit, in his melancholic way. She liked bothering him, he wouldn't snap at her or push her away. He would even sometimes enable her-- telling her little tricks for sneaking past the big warriors or giving her advice on how to persuade them to do what she wanted.

So the habit only got "worse." She had absolutely no fear of him as an apprentice and would just announce her opinion to his face.

thinking about it, Marshstar probably took her as an apprentice towards the end of her time as Houndpaw, after getting in too many fights with her mentor and the mentor trying to appeal for a delay of her assessment until she learned respect.

"Hm. No. I don't want her spirit broken. I think the other Clans deserve some hell, actually."

Houndfang didn't have ambition as a kid, she didn't know what she wanted. Marshstar gave her an outlet and it became electricity in her veins.

She quickly took over the Clan when she became deputy, and was more of a leader than he ever was. He just let her start running it.

I feel like he cast his name off, just before he died. He did not want to be Marshstar, he wanted to return to Marshscar, so he held a renaming ceremony for himself and passed on leadership officially.

ShadowClan was reignited in a way it hadn't been in years when Houndstar took power. In the passionate cheering of the crowd, Marshscar slipped away.

No one ever saw him again after that. He was probably sick and went somewhere he could pass away in solitude. Cat behavior

His heart remained with Ripplestar for the entirety of his long life, and for him, it was a relief when it was finally over.

When he got to StarClan, they tried to put him on trial. He got frustrated shortly into it. Ripplestar and Spottedpelt are not here so Literally Why Should I Care?

And they're going to throw this big bombastic ballyhoo, why? To posture? For who? This is pointless and quite frankly embarassing.

He actually interrupted the court proceedings with an Excuse Me. I Don't Want This.

"Thank you for your time. This has been a waste of mine."

It's kind of funny to think that if Houndstar knew about what her mentor did here she would flip her shit at him lmao.

Honestly, he does not mind being in Hell. Like, at all. He'll follow Ripplestar wherever, but in Skypelt I can imagine him making occasional statements about missing the taste of bloodsap or something.

[windupaidoneus]

tell me about the bloodsport wlws

the bloodsport wlws. (clasps hands together) let me use my brain oh i need crub to shut the fuck up rq ok there we go

so. philly. carina. the moon & stars. the winnars!!!! 🎉 of that one niche poll tournament thing. carina is a 20something college student who's a prodigy in all things magic but specifically has an affinity for space magic, & her fursona is a purple gryphon also.

^ her fursona (drew this before i saw a post on how to draw beaks. youll have to forgive me)

prone to overworking starself & does it regularly... from a regular human's perspective at least. star is physically disabled but also thanks to stars extremely potent magic star can just do a lot more than the average person, & is in a constant state of levitation to avoid putting strain on stars body. star is always going around helping as much as star can provided star can do it with magic.

this ^ is both a good & bad thing, as she is also, as you may have heard, a bloodsport tournament participant! she kind of. needs her magic for that. & well she keeps jobbing really badly despite being as powerful as she is. because of how much she uses her magic on the regular. the reason it's a good thing is that her magic can overflow & while there hasn't yet been a point where it did it's not fully clear what will happen if it does.

see her hair? it's kind of like a gauge. you can tell how she's doing on magic reserves depending on how "filled up" it is. the more purple, the more powerful! & what happens if her hair is completely purple? philly really wants to know

design note that was Just added too but her eyes change colour depending on her magic reserves as well. this is partly bc i keep fucking up which eye is purple & which eye is yellow so now both can be & they can be both at once even. because i have knowledge of heterochromia <- the central heterochromia haver

all in all she should probably not be doing bloodsport at least at the current moment when the stakes are so facking high in AA. in combat situations she kind of shuts down her ability to emote & speak properly because of how stressed it makes her so she's a bit of a bitch. um. she did cause an existential crisis once & felt really bad about it. sorry lucian. (he got better they're friends now)

all this. is necessary to introduce philly. bc philly is carina's childhood friend & philly was created because @greenshi loved carina so much that he had to give her a gf. you may thank him forever for cosmic yuri

ophelia "philly" delphia (why does she get a full name & carina doesnt have one? um. i didnt actually create carina i just voiced her & then elaborated a fuckton on her character ask @royaltyfreeramblings not me *sexily relinquishes responsibility*) is an epic & awesome werewolf who's constantly in an inbetween state of human & wolf. so a wolf furry yeah. moon goes on road trips with other lesbians* & a wet sack of meat who's having cringefail yaoi with some guy over there. moon is very confident but also happens to be carina's biggest hypeperson, which i find very sweet considering she was conceptualised as a rival & they completely skipped that stage LMAO

green would be a lot better placed to talk about philly. & they unfortunately have not interacted on screen in canon as much as i'd like due to the nature of bloodsport tournaments & also carina's jobbing adventures. but i love them a lot & i hope philly can be the one person to finally convince carina to get a damn wheelchair girl stop using magic for everything constantly you get so fucked up when it's depleted!

oh yeah there's also stuff that i don't know if i can share bc it hasnt been revealed to The Audience yet but they are very dear to each other & like. among other things. both of them have kept pictures of them as kids together even throughout all the time they spent apart. bc they did lose sight of each other for many years before reuniting. & idk i just think they're so cute & sweet. i love it when characters love each other did you know that

[polyamanga]

Combining these into one post! As always, thank you for the recs!! (Also thank you for the note about the Tenchi Ending trope--I'd seen that name and figured it got renamed, but wasn't sure!)

Jingai-san no Yome doesn't seem to have an official English translation for its manga (doesn't look like it has a completed fan translation either), but the anime seems to be on Crunchyroll in the US. It sounds like a cute easygoing slice-of-life series!

High schooler Tomari Hinowa is called to the principal's office one day to hear some shocking news: he's getting married! A mysterious fluffy creature called Kanenogi has chosen him as their wife, and despite Tomari's initial misgivings, he decides to accept. What follows are a series of delightful tales from this new couple's monstrous married life.

You spelled it Sekieri, did you mean Sekirei? I've seen that one floating around, but I never knew anything about the plot. It reminds me of Master of Martial Hearts, except also not at all lmao. Although they do have a similar boobs-forward look to them 🤔

The stage is set. The preparations are complete. A grand battle royale known as "The Sekirei Project" is about to take the streets of Shintou Teito by storm. For this event, the shadowy corporation known as MBI has developed 108 "Sekirei"—advanced humanoid beings with extraordinary combat skills. Set free into the city, these Sekirei must search for their "Ashikabi," masters who can unlock and control their fighting potential through kissing. Once all the Sekirei are paired, they must battle until one team emerges victorious and claims the enigmatic grand prize. Enter Minato Sahashi, a ronin whose life is as bleak as it gets. Weak-willed and unconfident by nature, his circumstances become even more hopeless when he fails his college entrance exams for the second time. However, when he encounters a Sekirei called Musubi, a bond sparks between them, and he finds himself becoming her Ashikabi. Although he begins to enjoy his life with Musubi and the other Sekirei he bonded with, he consequently finds himself increasingly embroiled in The Sekirei Project. If Minato wants to protect his newfound life, he will need to step up and participate in this demanding, high-stakes battle.

World's End Harem is another one I've seen people mention in poly circles (along with Arifureta lol), but I haven't gotten around to checking it out. The plot of WEH always made me kinda sad tbh! It felt a little cheat-y to me, even though I might be jumping to conclusions. (I recently got burned by trying out Lust Geass and finding its just a big NTR-fest so I'm probably biased lmaooo)

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, young researcher Reito Mizuhara is to be put into cryosleep until a cure can be found. Short on time, Reito decides to confess his pent-up feelings to his childhood crush Erisa Tachibana and bids farewell to his family and friends. As Reito goes to sleep and his consciousness begins to fade, Erisa barges into the room and declares that she will wait for him. Five years later, Reito wakes up to a post-apocalyptic world where 99.9% of the world's male population had been eradicated by the "Man-Killer Virus" four years prior. He is one of a handful of men who have become immune to this virus due to sclerosis treatment. Reito and the other four men are now invaluable assets to humankind and are expected to impregnate as many women as possible. Reito, however, is determined to find Erisa and refuses to make love with any other women. With temptations lurking around every corner, can he hold on to the woman of his dreams?

Arifureta, like I mentioned above, is one I've been meaning to look into. I heard that the light novel has a somewhat poly ending, but who knows if the manga/anime do the same!

Seventeen-year-old Hajime Nagumo is your average, everyday otaku. However, his simple life of pulling all-nighters and sleeping in school is suddenly turned upside down when he, along with the rest of his class, is summoned to a fantasy world! They're treated like heroes and tasked with the duty of saving the human race from utter extinction. But what should have been any otaku's wet dream quickly turns into Hajime's nightmare. While the rest of his class are blessed with godlike powers, Hajime's job, Synergist, only has a single transmutation skill. Ridiculed and bullied by his classmates for being weak, he soon finds himself in despair. Will he be able to survive in this dangerous world of monsters and demons with only a glorified blacksmith's level of strength?

Fujimura-kun Mates is an interesting title! Wondering if it's 'mates' as in 'friends' or as in 'mating'...lmao. I'm a fan of the character designs, based on the volume covers. They're simple but cute!

Fujimura is a loner delinquent at his school. Feared by his classmates since the first day of high school, he's had no friends and usually ditches class. But even his standoffish nature can't hold up when a class president with a few screws loose comes after him! And two more class presidents. They're a few cards short of a full deck too. (Actually, he's more like the tsukkomi in a world of boke.)

Overlord; I watched the first couple episodes of season 1. I only got far enough (as far as I remember) to see one of his love interests (Albedo is freaking EVERYWHERE lol!!) but it seems on brand for there to be at least a few!

Yggdrasil is a virtual reality game renowned for the freedom it offers its players. After a simple tutorial, players are left to explore the world and can customize anything and everything, from their classes to their weapons. However, in the year 2138, the game sees its final hours as its servers shut down at midnight. Momonga, a devoted player of Yggdrasil, decides to spend the game's last hours inside his guild, Ainz Ooal Gown. Strangely, at the stroke of midnight, the game does not log him out. Instead, Momonga finds himself transported to another world, one that is seemingly identical to that of Yggdrasil. Facing an already abnormal situation, he discovers that the NPCs have gained sentience. Trapped in his avatar's skeletal body and desperate to uncover the cause of his predicament and find other players like him, Momonga sets out to take control of the new world with the help of his loyal subjects.

As for The Rising of the Shield Hero, I've seen season 1 and half of season 2, but haven't read any of the light novels/manga. The anime didn't seem to be going in a poly direction (many girls were into him, but he definitely seemed to view them all as his daughters lmao), but I'm sure the light novel could have had PLENTY of time to get there. (That being said, for any that may want to check this series out, episode one features discussions of hypothetical sexual assault (nothing shown since it doesn't actually happen), and slavery is a reoccurring theme.)

Stories of old tell of four otherworldly heroes—wielding the sword, spear, bow, and shield—who defended the land from wave after wave of calamity. With the fate of the world in balance, the kingdom of Melromarc summons these legendary figures; in modern-day Japan, the call is answered, and the unwitting heroes are transported to this fantasy universe. Thrust into Melromarc and given the title of "Shield Hero," otaku Naofumi Iwatani is labeled the weakest due to his lack of offensive capability and apparent inexperience. When the heroes part ways to start their journeys, he only has one willing companion: the beautiful princess Malty Melromarc. However, she soon betrays him, steals all his money, and accuses him of taking advantage of her. For his alleged crimes, Naofumi is branded a criminal and made outcast of society. With hatred filling his heart, he sets out alone, vowing vengeance against those who wronged him.

[whump-captain]

I got tagged by @set-phasers-to-whump and omg i had such a blast answering these, thank u (◡‿◡) i'll tag @deepwoundsandfadedscars @thatsgonnaleaveamark (i think it's double tag? soz if so) @whumpapalooza @emcscared-whumps @straight-to-the-pain and anyone who sees it and has more than one WIP going on currently, writing or otherwise

(ill put in a readmore bc it's Long)

Rules: post the top 5 works you’re most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular), your top 4 current WIPs that you’re excited to release in the new year, your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year, your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year, and your number 1 favorite line you’ve written this year!

Top 5 works im proud of, in no particular order:

Impaled (Felix Lawrence) - I’m mostly proud of this one because I was worried if I could write it at all! A lot of moving parts in the scene that i was convinced would get away from me, but i managed to keep everything straight and describe it clearly. It was also a struggle to drip-feed bits of necessary lore into this one snippet without grinding the whole thing to a halt and i think i did that pretty well!

Confrontation (Ghost ambulance) - I’m super happy with the prose in this. I think it flows the best out of most of my stuff and there are some sentences that i’m really proud of because they convey a lot of meaning in a very pretty way. I often find it hard to balance clarity and metaphor but i hit the jackpot here. The dialogue is also one of my better ones, i think.

Failed rescue attempt (Kintsugi) - this one takes the prize for dialogue though, I’m incredibly happy with how it turned out. I tried to fit an entire conflict between two characters into a single conversation and introduce them both by way of that conflict - while also keeping them sounding distinct and like real people. I’m also very pleased with myself over the use of the prop in the scene lmao it’s such a small thing but i felt like a film director including it lol

No anesthesia (Ghost ambulance) - im mostly proud of the pacing in this one. it's quite long but it doesn't become repetitive which is something i notice a lot in my writing. both the dialogue and the actual action flow pretty well and there are no awkward transitions or subject changes - plus it might be the longest actual pain description ive ever written lmao but i managed to keep it interesting throughout and have the whump scene actually feel like a Scene.

Whumper POV (Ghost ambulance): I wrote this mostly to challenge myself and i succeeded at the thing that was the challenge! I wanted to try a brand new character voice and also to develop said character - but not to fall into common "whumper tropes". I don't write whumpers often so i was worried i'd end up with a cliche but i managed to find an emotional core for the character and from there it went more smoothly. The biggest point of pride for me is that i fell in love with Brent as a character because of this piece lol and now i want to write more of him

Top 4 current WIPs:

Uhhhh i never ever name anything lmao but:

WIP 1 is some comfort-heavy Elaine whump that shows her mindset before and after meeting her friends and it's just. SO comfort. im excited. i should hurt her more often so she can be taken care of (◡‿◡)

WIP 2 is an introduction to a new ghost ambulance storyline, taking place at a fancy high-society party. I honestly don't have much of it figured out plot-wise lmao that's why it's not going very quickly but it's gonna have high stakes, a race against the clock, gratuitous descriptions of fancy outfits, and a brand new character (with gun)

WIP 3 is a whumptober "poisoned" prompt that i'm planning to finish, because i have some cool monster ideas for it that i can spend a bit more time developing now that i have no time concerns. of course, no time concerns probably means it will take much longer than it needs to lol

WIP 4 is something i started aaaaages ago, it concerns a dislocation, blood draining, and a sentient vampire tree trying to eat people. it's incredibly fun but i got a bit stuck on a description and never finished it so i wanna try and get it out soon (◡‿◡)

(im also going to add the entirety of Kintsugi in here even though i don't think i'm going to post much of it. the characters changed a lot as i developed the story and so did the whole setup so unless i feel like doing an au, im gonna most likely spend time writing the feature-length thing. i am v excited about it though (◡‿◡))

Top 3 writing improvements:

Ehhhhhh this one is really hard bc i have this sinking feeling that my writing has actually gotten worse through this year djdjfhdkd its probably because i write way more than i used to, so a lot of stuff is going to be Just Alright instead of something i consider standout. Also ive started looking at my work more critically so I can consciously improve, but it does mean i notice more of the flaws.

But Improvement 1 is definitely dialogue, im much more comfortable writing it now and i have a decent idea of how and why it might stumble - and through that, how to make it better.

Improvement 2 i'd call figuring out my workflow, which honestly does wonders for Actually Finishing Stuff. I learned to keep my writing momentum, mostly by using [filler words] in [brackets] instead of pausing to do research or look for the perfect word. I come back for those later, after i finish the first draft. Coming back to the first point, i also start a dialogue scene by just writing out the lines, with no prose or descriptions. That helps me keep the conversations on topic and gives them better flow cause i don't forget what the previous line was about while writing a reaction lol

Improvement 3 is a bit of a cheat but i do think it counts that i started reading way more this year. I try to pay attention to what i do and don't like about the books i read and how i can improve based on those insights. It's also very inspiring, do gotta say

Top 2 resolutions:

Hmmmmm number 1 i'd say is to be kinder to my own writing tbh. I have so many goals i want to work towards but above them all hangs a bunch of uncertainty bc i doubt pretty much every choice i make. I keep thinking oh this is too winding, that is too simple, is this how it's Supposed be written and all of that whereas like. It's not Supposed to be anything. It's supposed to be fun and maybe meet my own standards of "quality" but that's it. In the words of a philosopher, It's Not That Deep.

Number 2 is to get my writing out to more people! I'd love to both get more audience here and also to maaaaaaybe perhaps somehow get published - that's a big dream of mine recently (◡‿◡) i reckon i have what it takes to get a short story in a magazine, i just need to be more resilient and send out more stuff

No. 1 favourite line:

Oh man that was the hardest one fhdhdjdldh i'm gonna go with:

"The ground below remains steady and it promises peace if he only lets it swallow him and bind him forever to this single point in space and time."

[twobellsilence]

Alright, I finished all available Daima episodes. Honestly? It was really fun! Even if it's giving off GT 2.0 vibes at the moment, which isn't inherently bad, but as a diehard fan of GT it makes me a little salty that they straight up ripped off ideas like the Tamagami which totally aren't just the black star dragons but not evil or the new gang landing on different whacky locations. This is just me being very high on copium and not a valid critique of the show by any means though lmao... ANYWAY, my more serious and in-depth and VERY long feelings (and maybe a little ranting) below the cut

I really like that Toriyama decided to place this immediately after the Buu saga. One of my biggest gripes with Super and one of the major reasons why I ultimately dropped the series in the Black saga was how... Pointless everything became. By introducing the Absolute Ruler of everything, Zeno-sama, and not only making him Goku's friend but also giving him a convenient way to call him AND also demonstrating that Goku can convince him to do literally anything he wants, Toriyama and Toyotaro made it so that nothing going forward could have any impact whatsoever, at least in my opinion. Why should anyone worry about anything if Goku can just call the Maker Of Everything and make the problem disappear at the snap of a finger?

You could argue Zeno's way of doing things is a bit of a monkey's paw situation because of his chaotic and innocent nature, like what happened to OG Future Trunks' timeline, or that Saiyan pride wouldn't allow Goku to actually press the button in the first place. But my issue with this has never been whether or not the button would ever be pressed (which could be an interesting, if not currently relevant, debate in and on itself) but rather its, and Zeno's, existence in the first place. I know the Dragon Balls are criticized as a massive crutch, and I would agree, but they at least have some set limitations and rules even if they're taken for granted by this point. Shen Long can revive the dead and undo everything a bad guy did, yes, so things like death don't carry the impact they probably should. But it's up to the Z Fighters to end the bad guy itself for that to even be possible. Zeno felt like an ultimate, stupidly overpowered version of the Dragon Balls to me, a being that could do whatever the hell Goku wants whenever he wants it, villains be damned, and so anything going forward was zero stakes as a result.

I suppose Toriyama realized this, or at least thought the current state of things in Super wouldn't allow for the story he wanted to tell to develop properly, and made the wise decision to backtrack a little, before gods of destruction and rulers of the universe and beings that can literally wipe out everything on a whim if they so wanted, so he could craft a way more grounded narrative by expanding on previously known, if only in passing, concepts such as the Demon Realm and its inhabitants. Which is honestly incredibly smart given the way they tie into previous narrative bits like Dabura, and where the Kais came from, and why Piccolo Daimao referred to himself as a Demon, and so on. I also really like how organic the de-powering, or however you want to call it, of the gang's power level feels, especially when it comes to Goku. Yes, he seems to have gotten used to his smaller body by episode 3, but I would definitely believe it if he was suddenly overpowered by a bad guy because of how many factors there are against him. The atmosphere, the imbalance, his child body physically being unable to be as strong as his adult one... He's at a fundamental disadvantage, and if we were to take what we've seen of Glorio's power and agility as a baseline for future enemies, it's clear he'll have to struggle at least a little later on.

The worldbuilding itself is also fascinating. The Demon Realm, from what we've heard so far, is presented as this ancient place where many of the most powerful beings that make up the hierarchy of the universe originate, and that not only presents some clues as to just how strong some of the people Goku will encounter throughout the story will be , but it also adds SO MUCH flavor to Outer Realm and the Dragon Balls themselves that we didn't necessarily need, but is undeniably cool to have regardless. Now you can go back and look at characters like Enma Daio-sama, or Kaio-sama or even Mr. Popo, and you will know that they came from the Demon Realm and just why they're so powerful, and it really makes me wonder what the Outer Realm looked like before this exodus of DR inhabitants. I think it's great how, while Super made me want to ignore as much of its lore as possible because it made everything worse, Daima is actively making me want to delve more into it, and I feel like it's scratching some of my original DB/Z itch in that way.

As for the characters... I think they're alright. I don't think they're uninteresting by any means - I Need to know how Gomah got to the position of heir to Dabura's throne and what Arinsu is working on and what Glorio's Actual deal is. But they don't catch my attention like Raditz or the Androids or, say, Baby, ever did. I am quite interested in is Degesu, however, especially his relationship with Kaioshin. I would include Arinsu in here because my following thoughts could technically apply to her as well, but I don't really care about her as a character at the moment outside of whatever she's doing, so I'll just talk about Degesu (and Shin). It's incredibly obvious that he's planning something, and that he really, really likes Gomah being in power. I am inclined to assume it's a classic "subordinate manipulates the leader" plotline, but what actually intrigues me the most is why. Why does he want to remain beside Gomah? And in the case that he does want to "control" him then why, exactly, is he still acting like a subordinate in the demon realm, instead of fleeing to the Outer Realm and ruling over a planet or a system or anything else like his brethren apparently did so he didn't have to depend on someone else? Why does he seem to resent Shin? I refuse to believe it's just because he disapproves of the lattler meddling with mortal affairs. Maybe it's because he Did get to oversee a whole universe all by himself and Degesu is jealous about it? Cliché, but it's what I can come up with at the moment. There is an interesting past here, and I can't wait to find out his and Shin's backstory (and Arinsu's too, I guess) and what exactly his plan is. This is a bit of a tinfoil hat take, but I'm thinking he might be Kadan (the ruler of the Third Demon World) or he was pretending to be him when he ordered Glorio to go fetch Goku, or maybe Glorio is in cahoots with him. Or maybe I'm just stuck in bed with a debilitating cold and my neurons aren't connecting so I'm either missing something Very Obvious or making things up. SO many possibilities. So little answers at the moment...

Oh, and a little tangent before I wrap this post up... This series only cements my belief that a "next-gen" show in the style of the original DB, with Goten, Trunks and Marron (even Bra and Pan too if you fast forwarded more) would be Banger. I adore Geico, don't get me wrong, I feel like by this point they've ran out of ideas as to how to push him further. They already made him a child in GT and here, and they made him turn into a god then into a guy with Angel Instincts (tm)... A show like this, with younger characters and a lower power level and more whimsy, feels so incredibly fresh and actually tense and it really makes me wonder why they won't try a spin-off. I mean, Super Hero proved people Will tune in for a Goku and Vegeta-less narrative, and Daima proves, at least so far, that DB can still capture a sense of wonder without bending over backwards to do so. I wish they'd used this premise to leave the heavy hitters out of commission so the new kids could shine and develop more, especially Marron, even if they had to age them up a little... But then again I also wish Mai died in a ditch so Tru/mai stopped existing and that's never gonna happen so this will probably never be anything more than wishful thinking lmao

ANYWAY, YEAH. DB Daima. Pretty enjoyable so far! I quite like the chemistry between Goku, Kaioshin and Glorio, with Goku being oblivious while Shin Knows something's up, and I'm curious as to how they'll introduce the demon girl character that appears in the intro / outro / ad cards. It's not as captivating as any of the group dynamics in previous DB shows quite yet, but it's literally only been three episodes, and I'd be a fool to deny that there's A LOT of potential for more. And I'm not gonna lie, as a Kaioshin fan, I'm incredibly happy he has an important role once again.

[twink-appreciation-posts]

Simple Victimology (Spencer Reid x Reader)

chapter one of “all bets are off”

“An agent of the BAU is exactly the unsub's type. Pretty convenient, right? Well, turns out she's exactly Dr. Spencer Reid's type as well. All it took for him to admit it was a bit of... performative seduction.”

{notes: sorry if this was is bit too dialogue heavy! i just needed to get all the groundwork/backstory laid out lmao. anyway action and NSFW content is coming up next chapter.}

"So our unsub's victimology is quite clear, right? I mean, almost to an irrational degree. All the women he's attacked have been dressed similarly, with similar body types, similar makeup." Dr. Spencer Reid mused, his eyes scanning the photographs up on the wall. "And he just doesn't seem to strike women who are alone. He enjoys the thrill of stealing his victims away from other men."

You let out a sigh. The case you and the rest BAU had been working on was fairly straight cut: psychotic sexual sadist who abducts his victim from parties, tortures them for months, then dumps the bodies in the woods.

"But it just doesn't make sense. With such a specific MO, he must rarely find a target that's suitable for him to strike." You shook your head. "It's not a trait that lends itself well to a serial killer."

"That's probably why he spends so much time with each of his victims. An attempt to keep him satisfied between hunts." Derek agreed.

Rossi piped up next. "The specificity leads me to believe he's chasing after a very certain high.. trying to recreate a specific person or moment through his delusions." He continued. "Our best chance of drawing him out is to send out the perfect victim. He's the type who can't afford to pass up the opportunity when he sees one."

Silence. Everyone on the team knew what happened last time they had sent an agent out as bait. No one was sure they were ready to take that type of chance again.

Spencer's eyes continued to scan the pictures and then, suddenly, you felt the weight of his eyes on you. "Y/N looks pretty close to the unsubs type.." He said hesitantly.

"No," Hotch began "We're not sending our own agent out into the field of a sexual sadist as bait."

You stood up quickly. "No, it's okay." You spoke firmly, your own gaze fixated on the previous victims' images. "All we need to do is draw him out, right? You guys will be with me the whole time. I'm not a risk. I can do it."

Silence befell the room again, until Hotch broke it. "Alright. Reid, Prentiss, go over the victimology one more time. Make sure we get this right. We'll send Y/N out tonight."

"That still leaves the issue of the male companion, sir." Emily piped up.

"I'll do it." Morgan volunteered. "I feel at home on the dance floor anyway. Easy cover." He chuckled.

"No..." Rossi thought out loud. " We need someone who's not threatening. Someone who has zero chance of jeopardizing this mission. Zero chance of scaring our unsub off."

Everyone almost instantly turned to Reid. It was almost comical. He blinked a few times, processing the implications of everyone's stare. "Oh. Yeah. I guess I fit that description." He smiled weakly.

"So it's settled then. Get to work agents."

And without another word, you each followed Hotch's orders. You remained in the conference room with Spencer and Emily, psyching yourself up for your first mission as bait.

"The women that our unsub target are all dressed..." Spencer trailed off.

"Provocatively." You finished for him. "They're all wearing short dresses. Lots of skin exposed. And, from what we've gathered, they all seem to be a fan of the party life. Witnesses at the sight of the abduction told us that the girls don't shy away from the taboo. Drugs, drinking, dancing, you name it."

Emily nodded. "You up for that, Y/N?" She questioned half-jokingly.

"You should be asking Spencer if he's up for dealing with that side of me." You jested, glancing up at him. He gave you a reassuring shrug, one that could've been mistaken for a wince, and you shoved him gently. "Don't worry Spence. I won't go too wild. Anyway, I should probably get home and grab a change of clothes. They'll want to have as much time as possible to wire me." You turned on your heel, walking out of the conference room.

"I'll be back!" You announced to the rest of the team.

"Y/N, wait!" Spencer jogged up behind you. "I, uh, I should probably get changed too, right? I mean, I don't want to look too out of place."

You gave him the good ol' once over and pondered for a moment.

"Do you own anything that doesn't look like a TA would wear on his first day of class?" Derick teased from his desk.

"I have some dress shirts, at least." Spencer replied seriously.

"Well I'll give you a ride, then." You offered. "Your place is pretty close to mine." Spencer nodded and followed you out the door.

"Do I really dress like a TA?" He questioned, partially to himself.

"Maybe, but like a TA that all the freshman girls would have a crush on." You patted his shoulder reassuringly.

The car ride to Spencer's place was a relatively quiet one. You discussed the case, you asked Spencer if he thought the plan would work. He seemed pretty confident it would.

"If you want you can just wait here for a second. I really just need to grab the clothes and we can head to your place." He explained once you had parked.

"Go for it." You replied.

He came back, a couple of shirts and ties in hand, and shut the car door. You began driving once again.

"So, Y/N, did you um, used to party a lot back in college?" He asked you. You smiled.

"A bit. I had some fun, that's for sure. I was always pretty focused on my academics, though. Not as much as you were though, I'm sure. A few of my friends used to call me "the fortune teller". I had a habit of making guesses on what would happen at the parties we went to. Who would hook up with who, who would black out first, stuff like that." You reminisced.

"Profiling your fellow party-goers." Reid chuckled.

"I suppose so."

You escorted Reid up to your apartment when you arrived. He commented that it seemed like a nice place. You thanked him. Casual small-talk was made. You began to dig through your closet, searching for a dress that would entice the unsub. "What color shirts did you bring?" You asked.

He quickly shuffled through his options. "Black, grey, white.. why?"

"Just wanted to make sure we wouldn't clash. Can't have a red dress with a blue shirt, right? We're supposed to be going to this party together."

"Oh, smart."

You pulled out two dresses, both of which were from your younger days. You prayed they would still fit. "Which one do you think?" You held them up to Spencer.

"Well, they're both.. they're both pretty. I like them both." He replied, analyzing them.

"Well, yeah . But I mean, which one do you think the unsub would prefer?" You chuckled.

He flushed. "Right. I'd say the dark red one. It reminds me of the dress from the first victim."

You nodded. The dress crushed velvet. Tight. Short. Exposing. But oh well, you figured, this was your job. "I'm gonna change in the bathroom. Feel free to change out here."

You exited the bedroom, leaving him alone. When you had finished slipping on the dress, which fortunately had fit perfectly, you slipped back into the bedroom. Spencer was buttoning up the last few buttons of his shirt. Your eyes followed his fingers, the way they methodically worked, and when he was done he looked up at you.

You both took a beat.

"You look great, Y/N." He coughed a bit, eyeing you up and down. "Ready to catch our unsub." He added quickly.

"You too, Doctor." You grinned. "I think we'll make quite a convincing pair." You grabbed some heels from your closet and motioned for him to follow you back out of the apartment. "Back to work we go!" You sing-songed, starting up the engine.

Almost the instant you stepped into the door of the BAU offices you were bombarded by Hotch a few additional FBI agents. Hotch began to go over the plan meticulously:

Make it appear like you've been drinking. Reid will leave to "go to the bathroom". You go outside for a "smoke break". The unsub will follow you from inside the club. The rest of the team will be staked out in a car near by. Keep the unsub talking. He'll offer to buy you a drink. Accept. He'll go back inside and bring it to you. It's drugged. Do not drink it. Keep the cup as evidence. That's when the others will come to put the guy in cuffs. Reid will be just inside if things seem like they're going to go sideways.

"Jeez, Hotch, I may not have an eidetic memory, but I can remember this. I promise."

Once you were wired up, JJ and Emily began the proccess of your hair and makeup. For a moment, it was almost cute. It was like you were getting ready for a girls night. Except, you supposed, that it was all in the name of baiting a serial killer.

When the clock hit 9pm you and Reid were shuffled off back into your car and given directions to the bar that you would be staking out.

"We didn't have much time to talk in there, what with Hotch being up our asses about the plan. How are you feeling?" You asked.

Spencer didn't reply.  Nerves, you figured. "Spence?"

He shook his head, almost as if he had snapped out of a trance. "Ah, yeah sorry. I feel pretty good. I mean, I'm confident we'll catch our unsub." A moment of hesitation. "JJ and Emily did a great job on your makeup. You look... great."

You felt your face heat up. Why was a compliment from Spencer Reid making you nervous? "Thanks."

At 10pm you were pulling into the parking lot of the bar. It was almost full. Tons of people must've been inside. Your unsub included. You took a moment of pause. "Time to get into character." You wiped your sweaty hands on the crushed velvet fabric of your dress.

"The rest of the team must be down the block." Reid nodded.

You looked towards him anxiously and stepped out of the car. He followed suit, coming around to the passenger side and grabbing your hand. You squeezed it gently, not sure if it was to calm your nerves or his, or just because you wanted to.

"Come on, babe!" You exclaimed, pulling him towards the entrance.

It must've caught him off gaurd, but he just chuckled. "I've been waiting for this night all week."

[sanchoyo]

danny phantom episode 4-7 Thoughts: (under a readmore because, these got kinda long!)

-the outfit danny had to buy for dash's party. CLASSIC 2000S i cannot stop laughing. And also showing up to the party and everyone is dressed like the trio is hilarious. and further proof that everyone looks good dressed goth.

-dash has a closet full of cute lil bear plushies?? LOVE that. adorable. also his response to danny trashing his room fighting a ghost was SO valid if somone BROKE MY BED IN HALF ID BE PISSED TOO.

-technus being like 'oh smart, u should be a tutor!' then later being like 'forget tutor, be a teacher!' :) supportive king <3 I also really like his upgraded suit/design. AND SPOCK CAMEO??? HELLO??

-the music in this show is super. its so funky. I looked it up and the guy who does it, guy moon (awesome name) also did music for other cartoons like fairly odd parents, barnyard, chalkzone, billy & mandy, AND some actual movies like FIGHT CLUB??? the whiplash I got from reading that)

-sam being rich explains a lot about her, actually.

-I know the moral of the episode was supposed to be 'dont ditch your friends for popular people/spend a lot of money on clothes that arent You to Fit In'. but tbh. it wouldve been easy for danny to have been like 'well, okay, ill come but only if my friends can!' but I get. that hes 14. so. not a lot to say there.

-BOX GHOST IS BACK!!!!! also, danny sitting up and wearing the dress/wig/makeup. umm thats how I dress everyday LMFAO. unironically me. (hate the jokes that boil down to 'haha funney man in dress' tho. but this is a look)

-jazz being protective of her brother once again being like NOOO YOU GUYS BETTER NOT STAKE OUT HIS (actually haunted) LOCKER!! shes aware of how people perceive him and she wants to help :( which is also probably why she told dash to invite him to that party even tho she had no interest in going!! she wants to help him out :(

-gotta say im with tucker on the whole 'should danny use his powers to get back at bullies' debate. 100% yes. let him teach kids to fight back. making dash throw his food at paulina out of the blue? no. but when hes actually about to pick on someone? yeah! for self defense? YEAH! if dash and his friends just threw food at him, I think rather than. idk doing sneaky shit with frogs he couldve just threw it back and not pulled punches if they tried to fight. I kNOOWWW its a kids show so they are like 'if u fight back ur just as bad!! violence bad!!' but. theyre HIS POWERS. WHO CARES.

-like my only gripe is that dash really isnt LEARNING ANYTHING WHEN DANNY GETS BACK AT HIM IN THE MOST PETTY INDIRECT WAYS. whatever they had to add a bully psa episode I guess. I hate it and I hate the way cartoons usually handle it because these methods simply Do Not Work. 'aND YouRE USinG YOur poWErs FOR EVill???!' this is Not Evil. even when poindexter takes dannys body, theyre only being 'nice' bc hes stealing soda for them!! bitches deserve what they get (nothing too brutal bc theyre high schoolers but damn, if they pick on danny he doesnt need to be the 'bigger person' he needs to start biting people)

-SAM TRYING TO SMUGGLE FROGS OUT OF THE BIO LAB?? girl in middle school when we had to dissect frogs we could opt out, also, they came to us already dead and preserved...

-sidney's lingo and the fact hes in black and white is sending me. also, danny is a ghost celebrity apparently for being a halfa?? ok. thats interesting to know

-the DENTIST BEING EXCITED ABOUT THE COTTON CANDY FLOOD IS THE FUNNIEST THING SO FAR.

-I LOOOVE the trope of 'wishes gone wrong'. not crazy about the stereotypical genie, or the use of the dreamcatcher looking design. (also, I KNOW theyre scientists but the way theyre handling a cold...are the fentons ANTIVAX)

-the genie. she. whitewished paulina. JKASDFHKJ. (the ghost literally just being hello kitty???? im dying) 'why do i feel that im special and wonderful? because I AM! <3' paulina ilu self worth queen. felt bad for her also getting possessed by (2) boys later who were arguing INSIDE HER. WTF.

-imagine being the guy trapped in his now flying car. he thought danny and tucker were HALUCINATIONS. imagine being trapped in a flying car with two, what you think are imaginary arguing 14 year olds convinced ur gonna die. i WOULD say this dude is gonna need so much therapy, but he seemed totally fine and excited when they landed (I would be happy too if a chicken was on my head. chickens rule) stoner rights

-sam's bat slippers??? iconic. SO cute.

-I think desiree's backstory is so :( do all ghosts have messed up sad backstories?? poindexter's was sad too...cannot imagine box ghost has any kind of fucked up backstory. but what if. his mom got pushed off cliffs by boxes...........a la cruella... anyway her 'no man may lay a hand on me' iconic. ilu

-I know danny has no concept of how much bras cost but my god dont attack tucker with some girls bra. those are so expensive.

-its really. well its not a GOOD THING he went into the portal and got fucked up, but its good danny was the one to do it rather than sam or tucker. because even tho he was being influenced by desiree and kept getting more malicious and it prob wasnt 100% him...he sucked as a ghost like most the people he 'pranked' were innocent ppl just Chillin and he didnt want to help anyone at all. I think danny is the most responsible out of them but also, hes 14 and shouldnt HAVE to feel obligated to fight every ghost. hes a good kid and wants to, but I also feel like he feels like...responsible for the portal turning on?? because his parents did give it up,, but it was an accident and not his fault (if anything, why was the on switch on the inside. why was it that easy. why was there no safety measures. that seems like smth OSHA needs to hear about). like thats my son. hes a good boy. and hes never done anything wrong in his life, ever. if anyone hurts him im killing everyone in this room and then myself. etc.

-danny's curfew is 10PM????? DUDE. when I was 14...shit I couldn't be out that late, I had to be back at like, 8 at the latest, and my parents had to know exactly where and who I was going with, AND i had to call/text them regularly...is this a case of my parents being overbearing, or the fentons sucking??? the only time i could EVER be out that late was if I was at an overnight sleepover or smth...

-the vultures have lil fezes. why do they have fezes...theyre so fuckin funny 'ask him for directions' 'I KNOW WHERE IM GOING' these ghost vultures are my new grandpas. pick them up, put them in the adopt box.

-'I wonder why those guys were trying to waste dad!' THEYRE GHOSTS. YOUR DAD HUNTS GHOSTS. why is that not a conclusion you'd immediately jump to??

-*jazz voice, clearly disgusted* WISCONSIN???

-mrs fenton with the lab coat and leg warmers and PERM. YESSS STYLISH.

-was going to say 'ew billionaire' @vlad but. super valid he used his powers to assumedly steal and cheat to get that money, thats how all billionaires do it! but ew hes a SIMP. and spending your billions on FOOTBALL STUFF?? you are Not Valid overall. I DO respect the fact you have a castle instead of a mansion. in wisconsin. if youre going to be stupidly rich might as well go all out, torches on the wall and all. I DO like his ghost form's little kitty ears. catman. and his cape! every design can benefit from a cape. and how different his forms look, like danny looks the EXACT SAME IN BOTH FORMS ASIDE FROM COLOR CHANGES. vlad's is like,, I could believe they were different people!! also I love the drama. but dude you are fighting a 14 year old. lame. also he was like, telling danny he wanted his mom and him and like, wanted him to renounce his dad?? WHAT ABOUT JAZZ?? bitch. those r MY kids and they are both important and special. I do agree they need better parents but thats not u sir <3

-I thought vlad's 'little badger' nickname for danny came from the football mascot of the packers, but google says they have NO MASCOT?? so now I'm like?? is it because his hair is sometimes black and sometimes white?? I hate to give him props but thats a PERFECT NICKNAME. theyre also tiny and vicious!

-why did I get so excited that Skulker is back!! its been like. 2-3 eps LMAO. AND THE DAIRY KING. ICONIC I LOVE HIM. hes the nicest guy ever :) more nice ghosts please. danny cannot be fighting alone everytime with no ghost buds like every ghost being hostile sucks :(

-mr. fenton knew vlad was controlling him, but a few episodes ago he had no clue danny was doing the same thing...is it something about how malicious the ghost is?? he just seemed to think his memory had gaps the first time, this time he was INSTANTLY LIKE 'GHOST'. then again in this ep when danny did it again he was just slightly confused but not immediately freaking out like he did with vlad possessing him!!

-'my parents will accept ME NO MATTER WHAT' so. so why haven't you come out to them yet, danny?? if you really think that?? if theres no harm, and you're sure??? if vlad is a real problem, wouldnt that make dealing with him easier, to expose him???? SO WHY HAVENT YOU COME OUT YET?? COULD IT BE,, MAYBE YOU HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT WHETHER YOUR PARENTS ACTUALLY WILL ACCEPT YOU??? 🤔 ... 🏳‍🌈 I get why people say He Is Trans. I totally totally get u danny.

-sorta unrelated, but it just occurred to me in one of these eps they go to casper HIGH not casper middle school??? theyre 14?? dont highschools usually do ages 15-18? (I didnt go to hs so I might be wrong, if I am ignore this...) freshmen are usually 14-15, could just be a case of them not turning 15 yet but they will sometime in the school year (I say they because tucker said he was 14 too)? I know the show has 3 seasons, so by the end of it will they be older? thatd be neat but usually cartoon characters stay the same age...I love shows where you can see the characters age and grow up, though...three seasons seems like a long time to spend on like, 1 year...

[rata-novus]

oh my gooooooood i did the kaineng overlook strike and let me tell ya lads my hands are shaking and my heart is bbtbttbtbtbtbtbtb rn. we got it on the second try, but it was TOUGH. half the squad got downed at the final phase, but we pulled it through. if it weren’t for one (or two, was hard to pay attention lol) of the dead players giving us calls, when to switch between mech and sniper, to make sure we weren’t stacking aoes on the group, etc. we never would have gotten it. absolute legends.

still never doing it again tho lmao gg anet

my biggest personal struggles were

1. not being able to tell if an aoe was on me or another player, making me move away from the saftey of Li’s booty when i didn’t have to

2. not being able to see the roman numerals over my head. one guide i watched recommended to disable legendary trinket effects, but it was still tough to see. anet, please PLEASE let us completely hide other players aoes im begging you

3. not being able to get the dodge timing right when i was targeted with an aoe and Li was about to do his big slash attack. i knew to stand in front of him, and one of the guides said if you dodged just as your aoe was about to end, you could evade his attack. but i just couldn’t nail it, resulting in a LOT of near downs, were talkin like a few hundred health left at most. gg on the group for trying to instantly rez ppl

4. i was on a condi shortbow soubleast, and the number of TIMES I ALWAMOST SB 3 OFF THE FUCKING LEDGE OH MDY OGDO i use sb 3 in open world bc the risk isn’t high but i should. REALLY get out of that habit.

overall, i get why people like strikes, but it’s just too high stakes for me. which i know sounds silly, but if im doing something solo in the open world and it fails, i only wasted my time. in strikes/raids/fractals/etc. i’m wasting 4-9 other peoples time and it just makes me feel bad, hence the shaking and heart shit rn. if we had failed the second time, i probably would have stuck around out of guilt, bc every member plays their part in a failure. but internally i would have felt just awful. its like performance anxiety. i can know how to do something just fine but when people are watching and/or relying on my doing it correctly its like wires get crossed in my brain and i forget. everything.

i really honestly hope anet doesnt add shit like this in future open world collections, unless its specifically for something strike-related (like i could see future legendary armor, accessory, or back but i digress). sure it gets you to TRY the content, but doesn’t account for retention. i’ve been playing since 2015. i’ve done dungeons, fractals, wvw, pvp, and now strikes. nothing has stuck bc that’s simply not my playstyle. i’ve written about it before, but when something is not explicitly led with “can be unlocked via strikes” people will get salty when they learn the fact that their new protentional fun open world toy is, in fact, locked behind strikes.

anyway, onto other eod stuff.

[pedroalonso]

it’s so funny to me how the fandom is so divided about palermo’s development there is no middle ground in any of the arguments i’ve seen so far

Martín has always been a divisive character from the start and I honestly love that for him. lmao. But yeah, In truth, I can’t scroll through the LCDP tag without seeing someone ranting about Palermo, either negatively or positively regarding his arc this season.

And after thinking about it for a while, I realize that a large chunk of people’s arguments (my own included) are deeply rooted in personal interpretation and biases. We all have our own takes on a character. We project either our likes or dislikes on them, depending on our own life experiences and beliefs. It’s not wrong to do so, it’s literally a normal thing humans do. To personalize a story in a way that resonates with them.

But at the end of the day, characters are not sentient beings. They are narrative tools to tell a story and move the plot forward. While we can get a gauge of the “basics” of a character from the stuff we are presented with in canon, we can never really be certain about “who they are” because they aren’t real. Their development is dependent on what kind of story is being told, and writers will always adjust their characters to fit the current narrative.

In terms of Volume 1, the writers have always hinted that they wanted to make the final season “an explosive one”, meaning they wanted to make it more action heavy. And looking back on it now, they succeeded in doing what they set out to do. The new season was like an action movie. Lots of gunfire. Explosions. It’s easy to brush it off as LCDP mimicking another Hollywood blockbuster to increase viewership, but I think it made sense. It showed us how dire their situation is in the bank. How much deep shit they were in that the military was willing to bomb the building and inadvertently kill hostages just to catch them. And the first volume ended with the MAIN CHARACTER getting killed off. Like the stakes were so high not even the goddamn narrator survived. The show is literally telling us how fucked things are for the band.

So with that said, the characters adjusted to this “action” movie vibe the writers wanted to go with. And I think they all acted accordingly. There was less conflict within the group because they worked together to beat a common enemy, setting aside their personal issues to get the job done and survive. And while it’s true that some character arcs (Palermo’s especially) had to be set aside, it was because they HAD to in order to move the plot forward. How much sense would it make if Martín kept raving on about the gold when the Bank was literally exploding around him? He’s a chaotic asshole, yeah. But give him more credit than that, he’s not an idiot. The gold can wait. He needs to survive NOW.

And again, narrative wise, who he is in Part 5 directly connects to his last scene in Part 4. He made a promise to do better and they followed it through in literally the first episode of Volume 1, where he’s shown to be more remorseful for his actions. If he just went back to being an angry asshole, it wouldn’t have made sense because otherwise, what was his last scene in Part 4 supposed to be for?? Just for funsies?? No, of course not. They were already foreshadowing where his arc was heading in Part 5.

And I know LCDP sucks at maintaining continuity. There are a lot of plotholes that haven’t been addressed because they probably forgot about it or deemed it unnecessary. (Like me, for example, wondering if Martín knows it was Helsinki who blew up the tunnel that resulted in Andrés death??? Like I want that angst PLEASE).

But, hear me out. What LCDP fails in continuity, they make up for emotional terrorism. Not only are they more than capable of killing off likable characters (NAAAAIROBI), they are also very good at making unlikeable characters… not always loveable. But understandable, in a way. More empathetic. For example: Berlin was 100% a disgusting dipshit in the Mint, yes, but in the end when he sacrifices himself to save the gang and you find out he and the Professor were brothers this whole time? That was a twist. Maybe you didn’t end up liking Berlin, but you felt pain for Sergio for losing someone so obviously dear to him. They made you feel sorry for seeing this asshole go.

Which brings me to my final point. Characters are used to convey a theme. What do they represent in the story? Berlin’s thematic arc in the first two seasons, for example, was him going from a villain to an anti-hero. From the moment we find out about his terminal illness, we knew he was going to die either way. You can see him grappling with his mortality — about the inevitability of his death. And it seemed like he was planning to live out his last remaining years being an asshole surrounded by a shitload of money, until he ultimately dies from his illness.

But then, he sacrifices himself. Not only does he escape the “humiliating” decline that was to befall him when he escapes, he also gave meaning to his death. He, the heartless evil bastard, made himself the hero in the end. How rude!

So, when it comes to Martín, we have to think: What is his purpose in this story? What is the theme he’s trying to convey? Is it the tragedy of an unrequited love? Or is it learning to let it go?

Because looking back in episode two of Part 3, Sergio recruits Martín in a dirty flat in Palermo, littered with empty liquor bottles and Martín himself looking like a mess. When he broaches the topic of the heist, Martín can barely mention Andrés without his voice cracking. And when he and Sergio do discuss Andrés, he screams and gets angry and cries. He was obviously still mourning Andrés, who at this point, died FIVE YEARS AGO. That is not… a normal grieving period. May it be due to the lack of a support system after Andrés’s death (since I doubt Sergio visited), or the lack of real closure between him and Andrés, or something else, the point is… Martín Berrote was not okay. He was still clinging to Andrés in some way. Still unable to move on.

So when Sergio proposes to do the Bank of Spain heist and Martín accepts, his thematic arc began. He is introduced as Andrés’s long suffering best friend who was in love with him for years until he was eventually discarded. A lot of his moments in the show discuss and convey this dynamic. From him telling Sergio he loved the plan as much as he loved Andrés, to Nairobi confronting him about Berlin, to Martín himself telling Helsinki how Andrés leaving him made him the “asshole” he is today.

His theme is not just about his love for Andrés, but his grief and suffering because of it. Where the show will eventually take it is still debate-able, and we’ll have to wait for Volume 2 for that. But viewing Martín’s whole arc in this way, through the scenes they chose to put about him, and the way they connect it to the main plot — his development this season did not come out of the blue. It made logical and narrative sense. It all connects! This was the kind of story they wanted for him from the start.

[angelicmichael]

Hey! What about 12 from the kiss prompts with Hawthorne!michael? If you like?

A/N: Thank you for requesting this 💖 I made it a little long (and added a slutty makeout scene lmao) so I hope you don’t mind! This fic kinda flip flops between fluff and angst also, so fair warning hehe. More thots will be in the tags! Enjoy <3 ALSO Michael is 18+ in this and so is Reader 😇 okay bye

~

You and Michael haven’t talked in weeks. You knew the new school he’d been attending, Hawthorne, kept him impossibly busy since he was basically considered a child prodigy there. You knew from the letters and messages he used to consistently send you that he was basically treated like some type of god; but it had been a while since you had heard from him at all. You just really fucking missed your boyfriend.

The anxiety of him not being in contact with you for so long seemed to only amplify your feelings of how much you missed him, and it had you worried sick.

At first you blamed him being unresponsive due to him being busy but it got to the point where it started to eat away you - you couldn’t think about anything else. All you thought about was Michael. You trusted him of course but, you knew due to his naturally clingy nature that something serious had to be happening for him to ignore and neglect you for this long.

So.. that led you to where you were now.

The air was cool and damp on your skin as you swiftly moved closer and closer to Hawthorne school. You had lost track of the exact time hours ago, but you knew instinctively it was probably midnight - maybe even past. The world was currently pitch black, the moon set high in the sky was your only source of light - which led you to stumble rather clumsily through the night. Hawthorne was isolated enough but not too isolated, Just far enough away from the city to let some of the stars peak through and shine bright through the evening sky.

You approached the talk, dark building - stealthily slipping inside; praying that no one happened to be awake.. except for Michael.

You knew there was a very good chance of him being asleep, he wasn’t expecting you after all. Fuck; you really weren’t even planning on seeing him until just a couple hours ago. This whole visit was unbelievably last minuete, but you really couldn’t help it. You atleast needed to see him, to know he was okay.

You heard the rumors of what was happening with Michael, who he was supposedly going to take the seven wonders test but you know he wouldn’t hide something that big from you.. right? You even came to terms with what to do if Michael didn’t want to see you; if him ignoring you for two weeks was some pathetic scheme to just break up with you - but you needed to know for sure. You wanted to make sure that you daydreaming about kissing him during the day when you had better things to do was foolish or all for not. You needed to know he was still yours.

The soft colored pallete of the interior of Hawthorne seemed to only agitate your pre existing anxiety. The bare, undesigned walls forced you to focus on what was at stake here - no pretty paintings or pretty colors to take your mind off of things. The bare ness and almost.. sterile.. atomsphere this place gave off almost reminded you of a hospital, which only sent chills down your spine.

You turned a corner, not sure where exactly to turn too - you didn’t think this part through, you’ve never been to Hawthorne before. Michael had talked about it to you plenty of times; boasting about his powers and how everyone treated him here but.. he never gave any details of the layout or where his room is.. there was no need for him too.

You felt your stomach drop once you heard echoey footsteps - immeaditly you whipped your head around, thinking it was someone behind you but.. there was nothing. Just the long empty, bare hallway.

You shook your head, feeling slightly disoriented before taking a couple steps forward - trying to shake this slightly unsettling feeling that seemed to sit in your stomach when your turned around and gasped. Loudly.

Seeing another human in front of you when there previously was no one made adrenaline shoot through your veins - but pure euphoria seemed to immeaditly chase the feeling once you actually registered who it was. The nearly combed blonde hair and the bright blue eyes gave it away; It was Michael.

You couldnt help but notice a gleam in his eye and how the way the corner of his mouth was slightly upturned in a smirk. Could he be happy to see you? However you reflexively took a couple steps back - you couldn’t help but feel that was a mistake when you noticed him wince.

“Michael, I was looking for you-“

“Shh”. Michael responsed, cutting you off.

Your eyebrows furrowed - immeaditly offended that the first thing he did when he hasn’t seen you in weeks is to shush you but he quickly grabbed your hand and led you off.

You stumbled behind him, trusting him as you followed him to god knows where he was dragging you too.

He didn’t take you too far; he quickly pulled you around the corner of the hallway before harshly shoving you into the wall. You gasped again, this time out of pain and embarrassingly a bit of pleasure.

Michael nearly immeaditly pressed his mouth to yours, resulting in a very wet open mouthed kiss. French kissing was rarely your forte, but; you hadn’t seen Michael in weeks so the last thing you were worried about was being gross. You were incredibly happy that he even wanted to see you - let alone makeout with you. You supposed this meant that you two were on good terms atleast.

You felt his hands roughly grip your arms, his nails slightly digging into your skin which should’ve hurt but instead only made you want him even more. His body was pressed tight against yours, leaving your back pressed up against the cool wall. With his arms around you and the way he hungrily kissed you, you almost felt trapped but you knew you were safe with him.

The smell and taste of him drove you wild; your hand went up to his hair, slightly tugging on his tousled blonde locks - not wanting him to stop. Too in bliss to even consider the reality of the situation. How you two were basically eating others face in the hallway of his highly prestigious school.

You barely even noticed when you felt one of his hands leave your arm and travel quickly down your side, gently slipping under your shirt. Just as you felt his hand start to travel up you broke off the kiss, immeaditly having to bite your lip in order to stifle a moan. His hand was only at about your stomach, close to your waist - you supposed it was the skin to skin contact that made you so needy. You missed this.

“Miss me”? You heard Michael say.

The way he seemed to pinpoint exactly what you were thinking was almost creepy at times but you simply blamed it on him knowing you so well.

“Of course I have, Michael”. You replied back quickly.

You felt kind of stunned that he would even question how much you missed him or your feelings for him and this started to send your mind into a state of panic. Were you never affectionate enough? Should you have came to seen Michael sooner instead of waiting two fucking weeks before doing anything but, again, as if he knew what you were thinking- he cut off your nearly manic train of thought by placing his hand on your arm softly; bringing you back to reality. Your gaze met his - and you nearly drowned staring into his cerulean blue eyes.

He didn’t even have to say anything at this point to calm you down; just staring at him and finally being in his presence was enough to make you feel safe and comforted.. almost in a serene state where no bad thoughts could linger in your mind. Even though no words really had to be spoken between you two he chose to speak anyway.

“Hey. Look, I’ve been really busy-“

“-your taking the seven wonders, arent you”? You cut him off.

You knew there was a high possibility of him having to take the test; and you really couldn’t think of what else would be keeping Michael so busy. It was painfully obvious he wasn’t cheating on you now.

You looked at Michael and you couldn’t help but almost laugh at his facial expression. He looked completly shocked; his mouth slightly ajar which quickly turned into a uncomfterable smile as he tried to laugh it off.

“Yeah.. I am actually. I take it tommorow”. He said.

“Tommorow? Are you sure your even ready? How could you not tell me sooner”?! You said, talking quickly.

You knew how your words could sound offensive but you didn’t really care; you were just in pure shock. How could Michael already take the seven wonders? The same test that was notorious for being dangerous and even claiming lives. The fear and anxiety you felt quickly morphed into anger.

You weren’t really sure what you were expecting Michael to do; maybe to storm off or to tell you to fuck off and leave - or something in between but instead he merely approached you. His arms wrapped around your frame and he buried his face into your neck.

You were speechless.

Out of all the reactions you were expecting him to have; it definetly wasn’t this. At first you just stood there; not really knowing what to do so you reluctantly wrapped your arms around him and stroked his back - one of your hands finding and tracing his spine. You felt him lean into your touch ever so slightly, and you couldn’t help but relish in this feeling of him again. His scent filling your nostrils, feeling his body against yours was incredibly comforting but this didn’t change the reality of tommorow. You felt your stomach start to drop again at the thought of what Michael taking the test really meant.

You knew how unlikely and irrational it was to imagine things that weren’t even a reality yet but.. you knew deep down that this could very well be the last time you would ever see Michael. Last time you would see, hold, kiss or even talk to him. You felt your throat start to tighten as you very poorly tried your best to hold back tears. You knew Michael was incredibly gifted when it came to his powers but you couldn’t stop being anxious and thinking about the worst. You know understood why he didn’t tell you this previously or contacted you in the past weeks. You supposed this way his way of saying how he was scared too for tomorrow and you couldn’t really blame him for that.

“Are you okay”? You asked.

You felt him suddenly pull away from you, his hands still lingering on your arms. You were half expecting for there to be tears in his eyes when he pulled away and sure his eyes looked a little wet but if anything.. pulling apart only exposed your state of being - not his.

The tears you were trying so fucking hard to hold in, pathetically spilt and ran hotly down your cheeks. You took in a sharp inhale, your breathing now incredibly uneven and rapid due to crying. The way Michael was holding you by your arms made it impossible for you to hide your tears, so instead you pathetically stared at the ground - too embarrassed to even meet his eyes.

“Darling.. look at me”. Michael instructed. His voice was soft but held a certain authority to it, enough to make you actually listen and look up.

“I’m going to be fine tommorow. There’s no need to be sad or worried, if anything we should be celebrating. I’m going to be the first alpha and by this time tommorow we’ll be celebrating. Okay? I promise”. Michael said, as he enveloped you into a hug.

You immeaditly reprocipricated it, not really wanting to let go because you knew how fucking foolish you sounded. Although, you still knew it was a valid fear and something to still be mindful of that could be a real possiblility. After all, even though he seemed completely confident about tommorow you knew he was scared too.

You were the first to let go of the hug. You knew it was already ridiculously late and that you should be going if you wanted Michael or yourself to get any sleep. You brushed off the couple of tears that still remained on the bottom parts of your cheeks before replying to him.

“I’m sorry I got upset, I didn’t mean to-“

“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry I didn’t see you (y/n), you shouldn’t be apologizing”. He stated.

Michael quickly stepped forward to place a kiss on the corner of your mouth.

“No matter what happens tommorow I promise I’ll see you”. Michael said.

Your chest slightly tightened at those words but you quickly brushed the feeling off and blinked the annoying upcoming tears away.

“Bye Michael. Be careful”. You said before quickly turned around and nearly running while you wiped the tears off of your cheek with your sleeve.

You ran through the hallways of Hawthorne, knowing you would probably get lost in the never ending hallways that all looked identical but soon enough you found the door that led outside. You couldn’t help but feel kind of dissapointed that all that was left was to wait for tommorow for Michael to take the test; and to pray to god you would see him again.

Tags: @mina672 @michaellangdonstanaccount @langdonsexual @jimmason @blakewaterxx @thewarriorprincessxo @dark-mei-rose @9layerdevilfoodcake @prophecy-is-inevitable

[lizacstuff]

Can’t wait to read you thoughts on this episode. Eda and Serkan are getting engaged! ngl seeing the rings did something to me, I haven’t recovered yet.

I KNOW!!!!! I missed the rings so much. When folks were upset during the filming of 20 when it became apparent he wasn't wearing the ring anymore, I remember saying that they have to take them off so they can put them back on for real, and it will be oh so sweet when they do. Flashforward six weeks and YES!!!! Just seeing those rings again is sweet we're going to die when they actually slip them on during the next episode. I'm not attached to any of my own jewelry the way I'm attached to their rings, lmao.

As a whole this episode was very enjoyable for me.  The new writers clearly realized they needed a mood change after episode 25, and I was thrilled to see the show return to its roots. The tone felt more like the first batch of episodes than any in recent memory. What a relief. Also I've said prior to this that I suspected that where we would feel Ayse's absence was in the humor and lack of sparkle.  Well I thought this episode had plenty of both, so I stand corrected. The first Edser scene with Serkan gliding by Eda without saying a word and then having his trusty sidekick Leyla keep an eye on what they were doing outside set the light comedic tone and put everything on the right footing from the get go. 

More later on Edser, let's start with all the nonsense they use to fill the rest of the 2+ hours. 

(continue under the read more)

What in the frack is Babaanne's endgame?  Does she have one?  Is it to take revenge on Serkan? To get Eda back in her orbit? Or just to cause chaos? Or is she testing them? Not sure. 

I enjoyed the scene between mom and son, Aydan and Serkan's relationship has really become one of the best on the show, certainly better than recent Eda/Ayfer.  Which is interesting, because in the pilot they established that while Serkan may be rich with material things, he was lacking in love and emotional familial support, while Eda was poor in regards to material things, but was surrounded by love in the form of her family/friends. Though perhaps one of the greatest gifts Eda's given Serkan is an improved relationship with his mother, and the impetus to distance himself from his unloving father. While Serkan has inspired her growing independence from her aunt. 

Speaking of them, let's move on to Aydan and Ayfer. PLEASE MADE THIS CHEF NONSENSE END! Good grief. I really don't enjoy watching these two ladies making total asses of themselves over this douche. Both of them trying to catch him on his jog and then going along with his aikido nonsense. It feels like he's just playing with them for his own amusement. Both deserve better and I don't even like Ayfer. Also if my boss gave me a single red rose for being employee of the month, I'd find that both creepy and hella disappointing (crash prizes please.) 

Meanwhile Ayfer is still testing my last nerve. When Aydan and Seyfi show up and inform her that they've found out that Serkan and Eda broke up and she responds with, "Were they even together to break up?" I wanted to slap her upside the head. Whatever official relationship status Eda and Serkan have, they have been connected and in a romantic relationship this entire time. The bit of time jump at the start of 15 before she goes back to work for Efe, is really the only section of time since they've met where they weren't in a relationship. And while Eda isn't all that forthcoming with Ayfer when it comes to Serkan, she hasn't really hidden it well. It was at Ayfer's birthday when they were on the ice together being very romantic, Ayfer was at Aydan's 70s party and could very well see Eda and Serkan attached at the hip all night and wound around one another intimately slow dancing, Ayfer knows Eda spent the night at Serkan's when she left because of Babaanne, Ayfer was at the NY party and saw them together there. Not to mention Ayfer knows Serkan saved her business and why, she knows Serkan was still wearing his ring, and she knows Eda looked completely shattered over leaving Serkan as Ayfer heartlessly reacted with glee in the last episode. 

So asking "were they even together" just completely diminishes what Eda is currently going through, as if parting with him is no big deal because there was nothing there to begin with, when she knows better. When she's seen it with her own two eyes. Seriously.. fuck her. Every other character who is a friend of Eda and Serkan all know that they're a unit. I don't even feel bad that she came to ArtLife to beg for Eda's company, but Eda ended up blowing her off. Surprising Serkan with a proposal was a much better use of her time.

Engin and Piril, yeeesh, I feel for Piril, trying to put off this meeting. I'm sure she's thinking it's for Engin's own good, but her flipping into total bitch mode when they're newlyweds... not great. Not an auspicious start to the marriage. Even if she wants to keep Engin away from her father, she ought to confide in Engin and tell him why she's freaked. I'm assuming we'll get more of that in the next episode since Engin is looking rough in those promo stills. 

My favorite side plot was probably Grandog's henchman's (what is his name?) crush on Melo. Melo deserves to be crushed on, and I love that she is so uninterested that she doesn't see it.  Much more fun to have him chasing her, and her being oblivious. Poor Leyla, trying in vain to get his attention when he only has eyes for Melo. Enjoyed that Melo and Leyla made the agreement that Melo would help Leyla get the dude and Leyla would help get rid of Erdem. I'm looking forward to see where this goes. 

Ceren and Ferit... were there too. 

Now onto the A story (and let's be real the only one that matters) Eda and Serkan. Obviously 25 left us off in a very sad, heartbroken place. I'm not sure what decisions were made, when or why, but at some point TPTB decided they needed to get back to their roots and thank goodness. Episode 25 was just so dark, Eda was miserable the entire episode, as was Serkan, and that's not fun to watch for 2 hours. The way they handled them here is much better. 

I know some feel the tone shift was too much. To that I would say, it was so dark in ep 25, I'm happy to do a 180, no matter the reason, to get back to a place where watching is fun, and also I think of the breakup as Eda throwing the breaks on a runaway train and once she did, and she was sure the train was stopped at least for the time being, then she could take a moment, reassess the situation and potentially decide it wasn’t as dire as she thought. In the last episode, every moment Eda delayed giving that old bitty what she wanted, something catastrophic befell Serkan, his business, or his family. The pressure mounted, the stakes were high and in the end she had to do whatever was necessary to stop Babaanne's assault on Serkan. 

This episode we saw her catch her breath and then formulate a plan. I think a tone shift fits with that. Of course she feels lighter knowing that even though she hurt Serkan, he's protected for the moment. Now that that's taken care of, she's ready for next steps. So it works that the next morning we see her telling Melo and Ceren that she's not going to give up Serkan, and outlining her plan around getting close to Babaanne in order to get something on her. Good girl!  

As I said above, I just adored that first scene outside ArtLife. The girls gathered around, trying to warn Eda that Serkan was coming, and then his walk by where he KNEW EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS DOING when he got right up in Eda's business without even looking at her.  He knows what makes her weak in the knees. And I love that Serkan decided to play it like this. HE KNOWS. He knows she loves him, he knows there's more to the breakup, and he knows how to deal with it. Drive her crazy until she cracks and tells him everything. OR drive her crazy until they end in a passionate, possessive sex explosion. One or the other.  

Quick poll, who didn't love watching Serkan take back the reigns of his company? This gal did. YAAAAAAAAAAASSSSS. Alpha Serkan is back. Kick the old bag's throne to the curb. Kick the old bag's creepy client to the curb. Now we just have to kick the old bag and her deranged, obsessed sidekick to the curb as well.  But for now, I loved seeing him at the end of the table, making decisions, not brooking opposition. The team squabbling over his decision, but he just sits back, unbothered. Total power move. I appreciate Ferit questioning the decision, questioning it is the right thing to do in his position, but he may have gotten a little too pissy about it. Dude, this entire company IS Serkan. The success of the company is due to his talent, his vision, his business acumen. I get they're all worried he's making a decision because of Eda, but he's got a proven track record of, you know, being right, so there's no reason to get shirty. If Serkan doesn't want to work with someone, his instinct is probably on target.

Eda getting Babaanne to stand down warmed me from the inside out. I find it interesting that she used the argument that they were pushing him too hard and he didn't deserve it, and Babaanne bought it. For one I think Eda was worried Serkan was going to snap and do something that might start Babs' Bolat revenge cycle again. For two, she just wants the love of her life to win and be calm. However, if anyone in that room didn't catch onto what happened there, that Eda and BigB leave and then come back a minute later and BigB has done a 180, I question their competence. *cough* Ferit *cough* He's just not the sharpest tool in the shed. However, obviously, Serkan knew. 

On another note, they've gotten pretty murky with the line between ArtLife and the holding.  Babaanne has 45% of the Holding, not ArtLife. Ferit has 5% of the holding, not ArtLife. So which company was working with the Prince?  Since it was a project to design a house, seems like that should be ArtLife? But Babs and Ferit seemed to think they had a vote which they shouldn't if it's ArtLife.  Who knows... whatever. 

Have you ever seen anything cuter than Eda in her coat and boots and protective helmet, leaning over, clutching her chest, exhausted after climbing all those stairs?  I mean she's an adorable bean just bent over and huffing and puffing, but the fact that she just climbed up goodness knows how many flights of stairs (judging by that view, an impossible number, but we'll allow it) just to see Serkan?  We giggle at her excuse that she did that because he gave her too much work. Eda, he's not going to buy that, luckily none of us want him to buy it. These two, they can't stay away from each other. Ever. She was also probably worried after the foreman told her he'd been up there for hours. Again, I think she's concerned that she's pushed him too far. So now she's in Serkan's shoes after the first breakup. Navigating that push pull of wanting to be with him, but sticking to the decision to end it for his sake. 

It's nice to see that her claustrophobia was not "cured" after going up in the elevator with Serkan one-time. On her own, she's still not able to face it. I'm sure she could do it again with him, but there's more work to be done before she can face it without him. 

Serkan was surprisingly vulnerable in both his conversation with Engin and with Eda on the top of that skyscraper. Even just telling Engin he was too out of sorts to join him for lunch, tells us that while he knows what he's doing, he knows there's more to the story, but he's still hurting and unsettled after the breakup. Then, "I create to make people happy, but I myself can't be happy. It's strange." Oh Serkan. I think you ripped my heart out with that... Eda's too. 

Eda was so discombobulated by Serkan's attitude. Whatever she expected from him, his acceptance of the break up, wasn't it. His proposal that they be "friends" threw her and she looked so distressed when he said, "Everyone will live their own life." Alarm bells started going off for her, much as they did for him at the top of ep 19 when Eda said she was going to start living her life. She did NOT like the idea of Serkan Bolat out there living a life that didn't include her, lmao. 

It's crazy to me that Eda has a friend like Fifi, who probably breaks and enters for a living, and yet she chooses Melo for a clandestine operation. Come on, Eda, you got to choose the right person for the job, lmao. I also question Eda's choice of cat burglar wardrobe. Seemed a bit... restricting and flashy. Though her skin-tight, snakeskin breaking-and-entering dress and fashionable trespassing boots did make it easier to transition to fine dining and driving your man towards rambunctious breakup/makeup/jealousy sex.  Not much to say about the restaurant scenes. The prince is creepy af, and was that the most awkward dance.... ever? The looks back and forth between Edser were excellent, so much tension and longing and jealousy. But boy is it hard to watch a scene with Balca in it, ugh she makes my skin crawl and I don’t even like looking at her. Also the deliberate way the actress has chosen to speak is irritating. Anyway, we now know Balca is pretty much capable of anything, if she’s capable of essentially poisoning the man she thinks she loves. Yikes. Did Nana realize that Balca poisoned him? I have to believe she did, because him being sick seemed part of the plan. THEY'RE ALL FULL EVIL!!! .

One thing I don't believe is that Eda Yildiz would ever walk out of that restaurant with Serkan looking that bad. No way she leaves him to Balca's care, or anyone else's for that matter. Nope, regardless of who was watching she would have insisted on taking him to the doctor herself.  But I get they were setting up the plot, so they sacrificed that bit. 

These villains are really bad at driving a wedge between two people who love each other. AngryGran is all like, "I know a foolproof plan, let's put them in the same room and get 'em all riled up with jealousy, then make Serkan sick so Eda's worried, then I'll convince her to go check on him and let's see what happens!" LMAO. Cheers to you, dumbasses, you brought us a whole heaping plate full of S.E.X. They were really banking that Eda was going to fly off the handle and think that Serkan went from an allergic reaction to sexing up the new obsessed employee very quickly. It's great that they all underestimate Eda and Serkan's relationship and connection, that should continue to help Edser as long as these fools continue to meddle. 

Eda was, wait for it, LEGENDARY, in her smackdown of Balca. QUEEEEEEEN. I'll never be over the, "You can only be with a statue of Serkan, darling." BWAHAHAHAHA. Yes! Throw her creepy, inappropriate present back in her face. And Balca's gall asking Eda to leave and then continually lecture Eda that they'd broken up. That takes either big cajones or huge helpings of delusion, because Balca has very little information when it comes to their relationship, yet she's playing her hand like she knows it all and like she doesn't care what gets back to Serkan. However, got to hand it to Balca for keeping her composure once Eda saw through her little staged production, because her story was painfully weak. Let's say for real that you're at your boss's house, the boss is sick so you're hanging around downstairs by yourself just to make sure everything is okay. What's the problem with just... you know... wearing your outfit with a coffee stain?  Unless you had a massive big gulp sized coffee and poured it over your head, why even change? Don't you just... live with the stain? It's not like you're making a presentation to the board of directors in 5 minutes.  For the love of god you're sitting there and no one else is around. Weak alibi.  

Poor Serkan, he's just there trying to sleep off having his allergies maliciously triggered, and he completely misses out on the love of his life fighting for him downstairs. Oh how he would have loved to see that. But oh what a way to wake up, with Eda Yildiz standing over him, looking magnificent, and rousing him with a scolding tone. I've already talked about how HOT the jealousy and possessiveness was here, so I'll focus on the scene itself. 

Let’s talk about the fragman first. Due to the short production timeline of this show, when they create a trailer they're doing it from the dailies, not from the show itself. That part of the show usually hasn't even been edited yet so the fragman exists before the episode. That means often there are scenes or angles that appear in the fragman, but not in the episode. It happened bigtime with the shower scene in 19, it happened randomly with the fragman for 20, they showed that really great shot of heartbroken Serkan in red, but didn't show the full thing in the episode, (when giffing it I had to use the fragman) and here, several of the best shots of Eda and Serkan ripping each other's clothes off were in the fragman and didn't make the episode. We can live with it for a lonely Serkan shot, but it's quite a bait and switch in this instance. Especially when pretty much every member of the cast (except Hande, Kerem didn't post anything either, but he did appear in that IGlive where the cast mercilessly teased him about it) promoted the scene. Not cool. I realize that they're dealing with sensors and may have had to cut things in order to avoid fines and such, but then they probably should have found a way to release the uncut scene on the internet as I've read other Turkish shows have done and like they did with episode 13. If you're gonna put something like this in the fragman to entice viewers, and have the cast promote it, you need to be willing to deliver. Badly done on the part of both Fox and MF Yapim.

That being said, one of the great things about the tighter restrictions this show has to adhere to, is they really show the intimacy instead. On an American show, these characters would have started eating each other's faces off and then tumbled into bed. There is something very hot, though, about them just invading each other's space, breathing each other's scent, nose to nose, nose to neck, nose to cheek... without breaching. Plus we got to see him carry her to the bed... even if they darkened it to the point you can barely see. I saw enough. HOT. The scene was short, but more tantalizing than lots of love scenes I've seen.

I was sad she left while he still slept in the morning. For him not to feel her get out of bed, she must have worn him out! It really would have been nice to see them wake up together, but I'm sure that will come. Plus it gave us the tension filled scene in the office. The knocked over lamp in the background was a delicious detail. Things got rambunctious! I'm glad Eda got to return the sentiment that only she can touch him, if only Serkan had heard it! Another thing that would have made him so happy if only he knew about it.

Melo is all of us upon learning about their night of passion. She's a whole cheerleader for them, and I love it. 

The post-sex scenes at the office were amazing. For several seconds I thought that he really did think it was a dream. Panic started to set in until she admitted she'd had it too. Phew. No hiding for Eda. I'm glad he flirted, instead of getting offended, and that she was at least honest about there being something she needed to do before they could really be together. Eda also handled the office conversation with Balca well. Love that she didn't show any reaction to her claim about Paris, just wished her a good trip. I felt that deep breath she took before going into his office. Yes, girl, calm down before you march in and accuse him of something, good thing he immediately invited her. I just about melted at, "I don't want to argue... you're precious to me." Serkan is gradually learning how to head off her fits of pique. 

The proposal... I... just... okay... my heart... I need a minute... still not over it. 

It was perfect. She made a surprise for him!!!!  After he asked her for a surprise a few episodes ago she did it and surpassed even his wildest dreams. It was quite a surprise for us too! Thank you for not spoiling it, show!  Serkan has told Eda he loves her about 3 dozen different ways, he's made it clear how he feels and what he wants ("Eda Bolat, sounds nice."). There is no doubt that he was ready to propose the moment he felt she'd be receptive, so it was wonderful that she threw caution to the wind and did it. Both Serkan and the audience needed to see exactly how much she loves him, and this was a wonderful way to do that. It's pretty much the biggest thing she could have done.  Also for those of us in other parts of the world (I'm in the US) it might not be too out of the ordinary for a woman to propose, but from what I understand it's rare and possibly non-existent on Turkish shows. That's pretty cool.

Did you see his face!?!? He was so happy at first when he registered that she was actually standing in front of him and then just totally gobsmacked when he saw the rings and realized what was happening. As for Eda, she was just glowing. GLOWING. And don't even get me started on the plane. That trip on the day after they met is such an important part of their love story and the call back here is wonderful. The first time around he thought she was there for him, this time he can't believe that she's there for him.  

Can't wait to see the way the full conversation/proposal plays out, do ya'll think he'll say yes? (hee)

[momo-de-avis]

what are 2 books you feel you should be financially compensated for reading (beyond reimbursement for purchasing them)?

hard mode: nothing by zuzas.

now those are high stakes

first of all, this is hard for me to answer because I genuinely cannot read a book through to the end if I don't like it. I won't go past fifty pages if it's annoying me. So there are only a handful of books I can say I hated because I wasted time reading them, and even those I didn't finish.

But there are two, and one of them I actually talk about it all the time

First of all, fuck you, Flaubert. Fuck Emma Bovary. Fuck that book. Not only financial compensation, but emotional of some sort, cause you go through the 7 stages of grief reading that piece of garbage. Not after, during.

Like, every time I try to explain why I hate Madame Bovary so much I tell this little anecdote about my life. It was probably 2AM, I was still living with my mom, and I was in the living room. Back then, the History Channel---before it became exclusively devoted to Aliens, Hitler, and World War II---had a super interesting show called, I believe it was, Great Books. I caught only a few episodes, there was one on Janes Austen, another on Dostoevsky---and yes, one for Madame Bovary. Which was the one I saw that night.

And on that night, I was just chilling on my ass, and there was this expert on Flaubert explaining how the guy came up with the idea for the book. This woman had a PhD in literature. She studied Flaubert's life and history down to the letters and his intimacy. And I chuckled to myself, completely alone---and listen, you're free to believe whatever the hell yall want, but I swear on my cat this shit is true---and said to myself: "I bet this guy ran away to a cabin and dressed himself as woman to write this book." In fact, I hate Madame Bovary SO MUCH I've making this joke for YEARS, and it's why I call that pile of regurgitated french trash "literary transvesty" because it is literally a man playing dress up with no counter-balance to the absolute derailment of this woman's down-spiral. It's just the story of Emma Bovary going off her rockers, and there's no point where there might a slight indication of societal criticism. She's just a piece of shit. You know, at LEAST Tolstoi gave us Kittie and Levine as a counter-point. At LEAST Tolstoi built-up an immense backdrop with Stepane's adultery to understand the horrid treatment Anna is subjected to. At LEAST we are given a good characterisation of Karenine enough, whereas Charles Bovary is limper than a soggy sock. The only Ken doll I owned as a child had more charisma, and that bitch had no clothes.

And AT THAT POINT in the documentary, that lady expert with a whole PhD says something to this effect: APPARENTLY, Flaubert DID run off into a cabin in the fucking woods or some shit, and he did so with a locket, and what was in that locket? The hairs of his lover. Like, oh my God, I hate you so fucking much.

What I hate THE MOST about Madame Bovary is that despite being a shit book and shit story, and having been written by a guy who purposefully isolated himself from the woman he loved in the ass of the world, with a piece of her hair, as he dead ass attempted to "become a woman", whatever the hell that meant (but then again, so did every romantic writer back in the 19th century), this motherfucker was trialled in a court of law for this book (because adultery, women are frail, scandal, blah blah blah), and his defense was so amazing he actually coined a very important term in writing called Indirect Free Speech. Like, I genuinely hate this motherfucker but this absolute genius final take on his shit book just makes me hate him more. (For reference, this is where I learned this, Hans Robert Jauss explains this in his book Reception Theory)

The second book I think I deserve financial compensation for wasting the like, 3 days I wasted reading those first 100 pages or so, was Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest. Oh my God. Listen, back in the day, like every teenage girl in the early/late 2000s, I was discovering paganism and that kind of crap, so I had a lot of wiccan friends. And there was Charmed. Not the rebooted crap, the OG Charmed, when Rose McGowan was closeted terf and we believed she was cool. Everyone loved Charmed. And everyone who bought into the new-pagan stuff and wiccan stuff, they were all introduced by one of two ways: either it was Charmed, or The Mists of Avalon. Either or. No other way. At least around my circle, that is.

So I had a lot of friends squealing over this one book from Marillier. I was absolutely obsessed with Arthuriana because of Mists of Avalon, and my wiccan/goth friends were all over me telling me "OH you GOTTA read Daughter of the Forest if you love Mists of Avalon". It's comforting to know the one wiccan friend who persisted with that crap went wacko and literally vanished into the horizon because I wanted to smack her in the face with that stupid book.

Basically, at the time, I was balls deep into Irish Mythology. And as I read it, I thought it was EERILY SIMILAR to the Children of Lir. Evil stepmother transforming her step-children into swans? Hm? The one thing that threw me off was that, in the story, the hero had to sew these shirts from some godawful plant that fucked up her hands, and that ISN'T in the original Children of Lir story. Then again, Children of Lir is genuinely not a compelling story. Of all Irish myths, it might be the least compelling.

However, I recently learned that IT IS the same tale, despite what Marillier sold as being "inspired by the Brother Grimm". It turns out the Children of Lir is a tale known throughout Europe, spanning from Spain to Ireland, with some variations, and it exists in Germany, where the sewing of the shirts with that weird plant is a plot point. So I guess that was a determent, considering the story is set in Ireland. Also, you can tell the story was written by a herbalist because, oh my god she goes off about plants all the time.

I basically stopped reading because the heroine is a bit obnoxious and it felt like the plot was going nowhere. And at some point, it was literally a book about plants. Like, Marion Zimmer Bradley's books can be boring (take the Forst House, which is one of my favourites, there's gotta be like 100 pages in there about Eilan's boring life picking flowers, but it builds up to her character, at least). But this one, it was going nowhere, while at the same time, Bretons were landing in Ireland? What? My anger came from when I checked the wikipedia page before I gave up because I wanted to see if there was something redeemable in that shit, like, come on, motivate me. And when I read that there's a fucking rape plot thrown in there that bears no relevance for no other reason than... I don't know, fear of men? I gave up. That was definitely when I stopped reading and decided to set it aside. It's weird cause, from what I remember, I think the author wanted to write it in pagan Ireland, but I don't remember a single mention of a pagan god? It was so convoluted, man.

And why the Children of Lir??? I 100% share the opinion of Sorcha Hegarty from Candlelit Tales regarding the Children of Lir: it is THE LEAST interesting tale in Irish Myth, and also---and these are her words, not mine---the least Irish lmao

Honourable mention: Thérèse Raquin by Zola is another one that made me SO FUCKING PISSED OFF that piece of shit book REQUIRES psychological counseling. Like, financial compensation isn't even enough to go through that crap.

[discotreque]

LwD 1.10, “No Small Parts”

Well, that was the most fun I've had watching Star Trek in literally a quarter of a century.

I had high hopes for this series. I love TAS, largely because of its wacky outsized concepts that could only have worked in animation—not that they all did work, but the potential was so apparent to me, even as a kid reading the Alan Dean Foster novelizations—and as an adult, there's something about the imagination of Lower Decks's FX setpieces that transcends even the glorious CGI bonanzas of Discovery.

Pause for a confession. I've long pushed back against criticism of serialization in new Trek. That's just how TV is now, okay? Might as well complain about it being in widescreen. But I'm backing down a little, because I've realized there is something about Star Trek that's inextricable from at least a partially-episodic format. And while Picard was telling a different kind of story, I can't deny that my favourite episodes of Disco have been the ones with a mostly self-contained A-plot. After 10 delightfully episodic instalments of LwD, its focus on long-term development of characters instead of a season-spanning puzzle-plot (okay, mostly just Mariner, but we only have 10 × 22 minutes and she is the star) has been downright refreshing.

So here we are, at the end of the most consistent and well-executed Season 1 of a Star Trek series since, arguably, Those Old Scientists. And sure, if they'd had to produce another... yikes, 42 episodes? Then sure, they probably would have dropped a clunker or two—but they didn't, and winning on a technicality is still winning. I'm practically vibrating with excitement for Disco to come back next week, but damn, I'm going to miss this little show while it's on hiatus.

Spoilers below:

Something I've been keeping track of finally paid off this week! (Which never happens to me, lol.) The destruction of the USS Solvang marked the first present-day death(s) of any Starfleet officer on Lower Decks, the only other on-screen killing at all being a flashback in "Cupid's Errant Arrow". Which makes sense, being (a) a comedy, and (b) about typically "expendable" characters: it hasn't been afraid to flirt with a little darkness here and there, but killing people off at Star Trek's usual pace wouldn't just be wrong for the tone, it would be downright bizarre.

But... people die on Star Trek. That's one of the core themes of the show, really: space is full of knowledge and beauty, but also danger and terror, and believing that the former is worth the risk of the latter is (according to Trek) one of humanity's most noble traits. I'm the least bloodthirsty TV watcher I know, but the longer we went with a body count of nil—ships completely evacuated before they were destroyed, main characters hilariously maimed without permanent consequences, etc.—well, I didn't mind per se, but the absence of truly deadly stakes was definitely getting conspicuous.

Turns out they were saving it up for maximum impact. And holy fuck, I've never felt such a pit in my stomach watching a ship get destroyed that wasn't named Enterprise. It felt grim and brutal and somehow both much too quick and dreadfully inevitable—and yeah, it looked extremely fucking cool—and I'd like every other Star Trek property for the rest of time to take notes under a large bold heading labeled RESTRAINT.

Comedy doesn't need to do this, but my favourite comedy does, and in a way that few other art forms can even approach: lower my emotional defences by making me laugh, endear character(s) to me with goofy-but-relatable antics—then BAM, sucker-punch me in the motherfucking feels. M*A*S*H is probably the classic example on TV, Futurama was notorious for it, and even Archer has pulled it off a few times; it's also a staple of some of my favourite standup. I wasn't sure if Lower Decks was going to go there in Season 1—and wasn't sure if they'd earn it—but I knew if they did, that they'd nail it, and damn. Feels good to be right.

Last batch of notes for the season!!! I rambled enough already, so let's do it liveblog-style:

I fucking KNEW they were going to use "archive" visuals from TAS at some point, I KNEW IT :D

"THOSE OLD SCIENTISTS" ahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I like chill and confident Boimler a lot? You can really see—

oh bRADWARD NOOOOO

That opening shot of the Solvang tracking down to the red giant was extremely Discovery-esque... minus the motion sickness, that is

A lady captain AND a lady first officer? That's—oh hey, it's Captain Dayton's brand-new ship. Hahaha, that means they're totally fucked, right?.

Yep! They sure a—umm, wh—shit, okay, but—oh no—no, you can't—wait DON'T

...fuck

FUCK.

Narrator: "And then Amy needed a five-hour break."

[live-action Star Trek showrunner voice] "Gee, Mike! Why does CBS let you have two cold opens?"

Okay, yes, the bit with Rutherford cycling through all the different attitudes in his implant was transparently an excuse for Eugene Cardero to vamp while waiting for something to do in the story, but as far as I'm concerned they can contrive a reason for him to do a bunch of different silly Rutherfords in a row any time they damn well want, because that was classic!!!

EXOCOMP EXOCOMP EXOCOMP EXOCOMP

AND THE EXOCOMP IS PAINTED LIKE THE EXOCOMP IS WEARING A LITTLE EXOCOMP-SIZED STARFLEET UNIFORM

EXOCOMP!!!!!

The slow burn and now the payoff of the Mariner-is-Freeman's-secret-daughter plot has been executed so well. I'm beyond impressed with this writer's room, y'all—they are threading a hell of a needle here

"Wolf 359 was an inside job" would have been a spit-take if I'd had anything in my mouth

...how many memos do you think Starfleet Command has had to issue asking people to stop calling the USS Sacramento "the Sac"?

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW THEY'VE DECORATED THE SHUTTLECRAFT SEQUOIA THOUGH

Is, uh, is it weird if I'm starting to ship Tendi and Peanut Hamper a little? It is weird, isn't it. I knew it was weird...

Coital barbs??? I take back everything I said about wanting to know more about Shaxs/T'Ana.

The "good officer" version of Mariner is... kind of hot, tbh! But Tawny Newsome has done such a great job of building this character all season that her voice getting uncharacteristically clipped and martial and "sir! yes, sir!" is also deeply, deeply weird

Ah, so this is literally exactly like when TNG (and DS9) would bring in, and then blow up, a never-before-seen Galaxy-class ship, just to underscore that we're facing a real threat this week, baby. And hey, it fucking worked—my heart was in my throat, omg, for the reveal of the—

PAKLEDS?????????

The fucking PAKLEDS have been gluing weapons to their ships for the last 15 years. GREAT.

(We interrupt the SHIP BEING SLICED INTO SCRAP for an interesting bit of world-building: on Earth, the traditional First Contact Day meal is salmon!)

"I need a dangerous, half-baked solution that breaks Starfleet codes and totally pisses me off! That's an order." I'm starting to think Captain Freeman might actually be overqualified for the Cerritos, y'all—she's REALLY awesome

OH SHIT IT'S BADGEY, this is a TERRIBLE IDEA

"How much contraband have you hidden on my ship?" "I don't know! A lot!"

Awwww, Boims!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHA, FUCK THIS, PEANUT HAMPER OUT

BADGEY NOOOOO

AUGHHHHH WHAT THE CHRIST DID HE JUST—BUT—RUTHERFORD'S IMPLANT????

RUTHERFORD!!!!!!!!!!

SHAXS!!!!!!

F U C K ! ! ! ! !

ahaIOPugdfhagntpgjrq90e5mgu90qe5;oigoqgw4ouegrw5SP;IAEHURVa IT’S THE TITAN???????????

IT'S CAPTAIN WILLIAM T. RIKER ON THE MOTHERFUCKING TITAN??????????

i'm screaming I'M SCREAMINGGGGGG​TGGGTGQER;​LBHAOIBVNV;​OAPBIJNVagr;h;​oagruipuwtnaetbaetgq35ghqet

I'M SO GLAD THIS WASN'T SPOILED FOR ME WTF

I AM WEEPING LIKE A CHILD

...

(Just a brief 20-minute pause this time)

And oh wow, seeing Will and Deanna hits different after Picard too, in a few different ways, which I may even get into later now that my heartrate is back to normal, lmao

Oh, I am always here for some jokes at the expense of the Sovereign class. The Enterprise-E sucked. They should have built a new bigger model of the D and new Galaxy-class interiors for the TNG movies, and I will die on that hill

OKAY, FINE, YOU GOT ME, RUTHERFORD × TENDI WOULD BE ADORABLE AND THIS IS ACTUALLY A PRETTY GOOD SETUP FOR IT

Awwww, Shaxs though :( Congrats on the single most badass death in Star Trek history, dude. The Prophets would—well, the actual Prophets would probably be slightly confused about most of it, but Kira Nerys would be proud of you and I feel like that probably counts for more. RIP, Papa Bear

I am here all damn DAY for the Mariner–Riker parallels, ahahahahaha

Pausing it to record my prediction that Boimler's commitment to not caring about rank anymore is going to last 3... 2...

Yep.

Bradward, how DARE YOU.

"Those guys had a long road, getting from there to here." OH FOR THE LOVE OF—

What a brilliant way to resolve and renew the various character arcs and relationships moving into Season 2! The writers could easily have brought everything back to status quo—chaotic Mariner fighting with her mom and being a bad influence on Boimler, etc.—and done another 10 just like these, but I suspect that wouldn't have been ambitious enough for these writers. What a blast. I cannot wait for more.

Thanks for following along, friends! Stay tuned for my (similarly patchy and amateur) coverage of Discovery, starting next week!

[sirensorisons]

tma thoughts under the cut (MASSIVE SPOILERS THROUGH 200)

ok so im disappointed. let me preface this by saying i dont think it completely ruined the entire podcast or that it was an absolutely garbage ending, etc etc. if you were satisfied with the ending im glad! i still like tma! i just feel like it was a little anticlimactic. this is all just my opinion, and im not saying anybody else’s opinions are wrong

it makes sense for jon to be the one to kill jonah once and for all, but i wish jonah had put up more of a fight. he was such an imposing figure throughout the podcast, and to have him reduced to just begging for his life was like. i get that it’s supposed to be tragic and pathetic, maybe supposed to parallel the murder of jurgen leitner, but it kind of bored me? also, it didnt have to be just jon or just martin doing the killing. go all in judith slaying holofernes-style (tw violence)

i feel like we should’ve gotten to hear georgie, melanie, and basira’s part of the finale directly instead of just being communicated through martin. i would’ve liked to know how they survived the explosion, since their plan was literally just to run from the blast. the last time there was a big important explosion, tim died went kayaking, daisy was missing/trapped in the coffin, and jon was in a coma, so i guess i’m just kind of confused why they’re all alright.

im glad they lived, but i kind of feel like one of them should’ve died to keep the stakes high. since basira is a canon woman of color, georgie and melanie are both wlw, and melanie is disabled, it would be a very fine line to tread to avoid feeding into harmful tropes (bury your gays, fridging, etc) but i do think it made the ending just a little weaker overall

i like basira so this isn’t me hating on her but personally, if someone from the team who went into the tunnels had to die, i think it should’ve been her. it would counterbalance her being the one person who made it out of the unknowing unscathed in the season three finale

it also felt a bit strange to introduce georgie and melanie’s little group so late in the game, just to have them all snatched up and done away with off-screen. i was kind of expecting them to come back to play a part in this somehow. maybe as brainwashed pawns of the eye that the tunnel team has to fight off?? idk im just throwing shit at the wall, thats probably stupid lmao

i’m not a fan of the ambiguity of what happened to jon and martin, either. like, these are the people we’ve been following for the entirety of season five. most listeners are gonna be invested in what happens to them. there is definitely a place for ambiguous endings, but i don’t think the fate of the protagonist and his boyfriend was it. you don’t need to spoonfeed us the answers, of course, but... it’s literally all just up in the air and it bothers me lol

i was also kind of rooting for the very end of the podcast (after all the events in the tma universe have been squared away) being in the alternate universe the fears have fled to. like just a HINT of it, a minute or two tops. it’s a horror podcast, so knowing that the horror will continue, even if we won’t be hearing it, would have been satisfying. i would’ve liked to see that, whether the au had all new characters (maybe voiced by the same people, so it feels uncanny?) or alternate versions of the characters we already know. could’ve been a good excuse to bring back some old fan favorites, but i understand not wanting to be so blatant with fanservice

tl;dr: all the shit i’ve discussed above is just what i personally would have liked to see. it’s not gonna be what everybody would’ve enjoyed, and it’s not gonna be a better version of the story the creators wanted to tell, because we already got their vision of the series finale. it would be really arrogant and disrespectful for me to disregard all the years of effort the rusty quill team put into the podcast and claim my ideas are “better”. this is the ending they built up to, i didn’t enjoy it as much as i’d hoped, and that is more than fine

[spockandawe]

9, 16, 17?

9. Have you ever collaborated with another writer?

Ooh, mostly no. I will talk ideas to death with a couple of close friends, and I think once, like four years ago, @sunderedstar and I got close to collaborating on a fic together, but we both chickened out before we could actually do it. For the most part, it’s not something I’m really drawn to! I’m too much of a control freak to give someone else the steering wheel like that, and I’ve been that way since I can remember. I’m genuinely not a good editor of other people’s work, because I’m bad at playing with the other children when it comes to writing. But I do tend to talk about more ambitious fics before i write them, and I am doing that with sunderedstar at this very moment!

(one semi-exception is that @applechime and i spent the entire summer screaming at each other over svsss aus, and the most-written one, which is sitting at 24k and still missing lots of pieces, has me doing most of the writing, but apple has free access to the google doc and editing permissions. that’s probably as close as i’ll ever get to a proper collaboration!)

16. Do you reread your own stories? 

Lmao, yeah

Is that weird? I’m not sure if that’s weird or nah. I’ll definitely do it if I want to focus on capturing a character’s voice for a new fic, if I know I’ve done them well in the past. That was something I did a lot in the Erik/N’Jadaka black panther fics, because I felt like I nailed his voice in the first fic and wanted to be sure I stayed consistent, since it was a series. But I’ve also got a weirdly spotty memory in some ways, and it can be fun and refreshing to reread something like ‘ooh, did *I* really write that?’, or to revisit old fandoms with stories i loved writing at the time, or just as soothing, undemanding reading when I’m trying to get sleepy at night.

Interestingly, as I was thinking about this, Xue Yang is the only character I’ve repeated in my mxtx writing, but I never felt like I had to reread him to recapture his voice (he’s already perfectly my type, lmaooo), and I’ve reread those stories much less than all the others. I’m not sure why, but I’ve regularly reread my Nie-focused stories since the first one came up, and I periodically feel the urge to go reexperience the jgy fic and the two tgcf fics. I’m not sure why that is, but it’s interesting to me.

17. Do you want to be published someday?

Nahhhhhh

Funny enough, when I went into high school, I was DEAD SET on being a professional fantasy novelist someday, and I used to recreationally read books on How To Write Novels and How To Be Published, but at some point without me noticing, my brain shifted gears to ‘well OBVIOUSLY I’m going to be an engineer, what else would I be????’

So, my writing isn’t that marketable. I’m extremely attached to second person, I gravitate towards shorter stories, my longer stories don’t have novel-stakes plots, and I have the most fun when I’m rummaging around in someone else’s canon looking for interesting ideas to throw at the screen. Many, many years ago, I did a full NaNo thing with an original idea that I’d been nursing for years. I knew how I wanted it to go, I knew I wanted this to be a book, I was so excited. The writing pace wasn’t that big a deal at that point in my life, but by the end of the month, I was just... bored of the story, and not super interested in revisiting it, which I haven’t done since. I’d been cherishing that story for a good eightish years at that point, and I finished an approximate novel, but that killed it dead. I just don’t have the attention span for that kind of thing. I wrote a novel-length legend of korra fic once, felt equally BLAH by the end. And those were both old, but I wrote a novel-ish length SSSS fic.... last year??? (time is a flat circle) that i was so passionate about, but by the end, I did Not want to be there any longer. 

The world of novels and publishing isn’t for me! Especially when I need to do the work of establishing a world and characters and persuading readers to care about them. It’s a lot of work, and it’s not what I find to be the fun part of the work. Besides, I am a highly degree’d engineer, who draws an engineering salary, I would have to achieve considerable success as a novelist to keep myself living independently, and my focus and attention span would make an engineering-and-writing lifestyle a hell of a struggle, and would probably force me to drop all hobbies in the process. And to be publishable, I would have to cut out a lot of the things I enjoy writing the most, and that.... I would love to see my name on a published book, but I recognize it isn’t going to get there, hahaha