#the whole thing just kind of feels like someone's really enjoying their fav tropes

[pharawee]

The Renovation was released yesterday on WeTV and the first (of two) episodes is free two watch.

It's a very low-stakes show that's selling exactly what's on the tin: writer checks into resort that's currently being renovated and tries to get with the owner so he can use the whole thing as inspiration for his next novel.

There's basically like, 30 minutes of hurt/comfort with a focus on the comfort part - in the form of not one but two very long and drawn out sponge baths. It feels a bit like whoever came up with the whole thing is really living their best sponge bath enthusiast life.

And then, right at the end, this happens:

What. the. Dickens.

Yeah... uhm... they won, I will be tuning in next week.

[twosoulss77]

I don't know who needs to hear this, but you are allowed to have a favourite ship, canon or not, out of a particular show.

Shipping is just a way for artist and what not to explore different dynamics, or even their own. That’s why I believe we should let people enjoy what they like, without forcing our own image of a certain spectrum into them. Especially cause shaming those people, for trying to explore their identity through art, might cause actual harm to them or cause them to not enjoy doing what they like anymore, bc of hateful comments from someone who hides behind a fake identity to hate on a fictional ship, which in itself it’s a very sad and pathetic way to live, but just cause your life is miserable doesn’t mean you need to make others people’s life miserable you know. Go touch Grass when you feel like being a dick!!!

As an AroAce fellow with no desire for a sexual relationship, I applaud and adore all those people making content of my fav husbands, let it be a fics smut or just normal fluff, I love it all SO MUCH Hazbin Hotel ep 5 changed my whole chemistry, and Say what you will about radioapple / appleradio, but I will always be entertained by the idea of Lucifer angrily doing acts of kindness for Alastor because it's what ‘Charlie would want’, and Alastor being a stupid ‘Bambi’ and try to wiggle himself out of it at the beginning, but then realise that he actually doesn’t mind the king of hell company at all. Both slowly growing to actually tolerate and maybe even like being around the other. Exchanging snarky remarks in a more playful way, playing music together, telling dad jokes, hating on the same delusions glorified iPad …like there is so much potential there that it’s crazy how much it pisses people off. It might be cause I am a sucker for Enemies to Friends to Lovers, but by God if that isn’t the best trope.

I know there will be some smart people out there, that are gonna be like “Alastor is ace”, but so are half the people who ship him!!! I hate when people make assumption on us, on who and how we want to love. I might not be interested in participating in sexual stuff myself, but that doesn’t stop me to explore my own ace-spectrum with these two characters, who if they wanted to could and would kiss each other, Cause for one I says so, I have the power to make that happen *insert hysterical laugh* And second It was confirmed that Alastor is a repulsed Ace, but would also be down to date someone if they were strong asf, (Confirmed in a stream, take that with a grain of salt) still makes this ship more possible than others.

Al being Aroace, doesn't mean he can't date or have sex, he's just not all that interested in it, but that could also derive from the fact that he hasn’t found the right person yet, so it doesn’t feel important to him yet. (fun fact aromantic wasn't the part of my struggle accepting that I was aroace it was actually accepting I was ace bc of my hyper sexual tendencies)

Also Alastor being aro just makes radioapple infinitely more funny to me, or any relationship with him for that matter. He is just this 7 feet tall demon with zero interest in romance, but always managing to find himself having beef with someone, possibly a guy, and act like he is either about to kiss or kill him XD

I really needed to get this off my chest and I absolutely mean every thing I said in here. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, but you'll be surprised to see how much happier you will be when you stop focusing on what other people are doing and instead focus on what you like.

Thanks for listening 😊💜

[jascurka]

this is purely out of curiosity and i don't want to send hate your way, but do you ship mob and reigen? and if so, why?

I do, yeah. An ex-friend of mine asked me the exact same question (just more... harshly I think and with what I assumed was prejudice) before they decided to part our ways and I could never properly answer them because I was so stressed by the situation, it was hard to gather my thoughts. So I'll do my best to explain here, hopefully to make myself understood better.

Sorry if this gets lenghty >_< I'll just put a readmore right here.

I think the biggest reason for why I like them is their canon relationship that has been explored in the series already quite thoroughly - that they have changed eachother, helped eachother grow and one wouldn't be the person they are without the other. I think most of us understand the depth of it. Reigen is Mob's teacher and friend, someone like an older brother. There surely is a strong bond between them and they've seen each other at their best and worst and still acknowledged and accepted eachother's flaws. They trust eachother, they would give their life for eachother even (at least Reigen would, he almost did in the finale after all). And I do think that they love eachother but in a way that isn't actually romantic in canon. I'm perfectly capable of realizing that and I value it a lot both in the series and in fanworks (one of my fav works of fanfiction is about exactly that).

It was my curiosity that made me search up a ship fic of them, I was just confused why people ship them in the first place and whether it can be good and I found myself enjoying it a lot (to my surprise). It was set into the future, and dealt with some serious topics like loss and acceptance, it was kind of bittersweet. Then I felt that maybe it was just slightly ooc because all of the serirei fics I was busy reading depicted Reigen slightly different. Nontheless, I had the other ship on my mind then so I never really dived into Mob/Reigen, but it changed my perspective on them a lot.

And at some point into all this I realized, why not? Why can't I haz 2 cookies? (god im sorry that was terrible sfjgsdkj). What I mean is that the buildup canon offers can be taken further - more of their relationship can be explored in terms of new tropes, sometimes romantic too.

On a personal note I'll just add that I'm rather picky about them and tend to stick to fluff, hurt/comfort and slow slow burns. And I like them most post-canon, a few years into the future. It turns out that it all depends on how they're portrayed for me to like them anyways. I talked on here recently about a work that really had it all and portrayed their relationship in a very satisfying and mature way, with all the complicated feelings, it felt very realistic, especially on Reigen's side. So if anyone wants, here's a rec from me again -> in my dreams (I seem to be more honest) on ao3, just because I think it has all that I like about the ship.

I think that this is the whole point of fanworks - to kind of look further and have fun with it, to see "what if?". Even if it's something sort of.. taboo I guess? Because you get to take it apart in a fictional dimension (if that makes sense). And I completely understand if this is something that can ick some people out or that someone doesn't want to ruin their perception of the characters' relationship. That's totally fine by me and I'm not going to force anyone into liking the ship of course. And there are definitely tropes and tags I really don't want to look into - not everything is for me either.

And I think this goes without saying but I'll add it here anyways: what I like to see in fiction doesn't mean I would like or encourage anyone to do the same thing in real life! It's just interesting to explore from a safe distance where no one can get hurt.

[chainoftalent]

I genuinely wish your yan kokichi was the standard im sick of gorey or physical punishment focused yan kokichi because it completely goes against the whole idea of DICE and likeee i get that he's a yan in this and all but not all yans are violent, if i search for yan kokichi i do NOT want to be called a kitten then stabbed in the thigh

A lot of yan (character) content is just insert anything and call it a day but yan content like yours? It feels like I'm actually reading a canon live version of the character if they were a yandere since you include their past, principles, nature into the writing and it's just chef's kiss🙏if you ain't got no fans I'm fighting in my grave bro

Yooo I'm so thrilled you'd say that. I get the appeal of the more violent stuff, it's really just the fact that I got into yandere content when i was an early teen, and now im in my twenties. I've seen the violent stuff a million times by now and its kinda lost its thrill. Like there was some really nonsensical gory kankri yandere stuff a loooong while back that i saw and I fucking loved it as an edgy teenager. However, when you get as much exposure as I have, you start craving other things. Like how horror movie fans get desensitized to certain tropes.

Honestly I don't even dislike gory yandere content now, I still rather like it honestly I love fucked up pregame fics because it's just fun to read what are essentially fun little horror stories. It's just not something I personally really want to play with in my own space.

I however have always been fascinated by obsession in media, whether it be over a person, or an item, or just anything. Psychology is a huge interest to me and obsession tropes tie into that nicely. So when I approach yandere content I make, I always try to play into how and why they would start showing these kinds of behaviors and how i think they would react to it. Kokichi is terrified of losing people and not having power, Shuichi is neglected and desperate, Mukuro never was really taught better, they're not just cliches they're fully fleshed out characters I enjoy exploring.

Which seems like "oh that's obvious you should do that" when I say it but its really really not, it takes a lot of practice with a trope to understand how to make the trope fit the characters instead of the characters fit the trope. If youre someone newer to writing with this trope, you're going to go "oh yanderes are all kidnap murders who have no other interests, so if i want to make fav character a yandere i need to make them a kidnap murderer with no other interests" and that's pretty normal.

Then only by doing that for a few years do you start realize that the trope can have a lot more nuance and flexibility and you can pick and choose what elements you want to use. Your first time knowingly playing with a trope will basically always be a stereotype of that trope, that's how we learn.

Honestly even if it can frustrate me at times to see yandere content so wildly out of character, it's all part of the process. Some may eventually learn to lean away from being overly gory, while others will learn to lean in to gore and violence but make it more personalized and nuanced.

Like there's a fun yandere kokichi fic of kokichi taking kiibo apart and keeping him deactivated to try and make sure he stays with him, which while not bloody, is a pretty violent act if you think about it, but it fits kokichi because technically hes not hurting him! It just takes practice to learn the more subtle stuff.

So while I don't disagree that I much prefer my version, I don't want to like actively put anyone down and be like "im so much better then all the other yandere blogs" like nah this is just my personal niche of preferring psychological horror to physical horror and I've been doing this niche for like a goddamn decade so I have a good eye for the details on it, and even then my own version is still inspired by other yandere kokichi stuff. It's all a circle! Which is why i dont mind if people do things inspired by my kokichi

Not to say you can't be really annoyed or anything obviously, I'm just a nerd who really likes this kind of stuff and finds all of it so so fascinating, I was super fixated on this trope as a teenager so I still love analyzing it. It can definitely be frustrating, and it's honestly half the reason I made this blog was because I was annoyed at how no kokichi yandere content involved dice despite it being such an interesting concept. It really does mean a lot to me that you like it so much, anyone I can convert to the cult of "psychological warfare based yanderes are underutilized and cool" is a welcome recruit mwahaha

[esther-dot]

Hi Esther, I sent you an ask about Byronic hero Jon, and I'm soooo lucky you interpreted the ask the way I sent it, because I know anons can come off the wrong way and I realise it sounds like I'm ranting at you when I'm nodding along with you!!! 😭 Yes I sent you that ask because it's what you were already saying first, and you're completely right grounding it in Mr. Rochester terms and also of course you do have the famous Heathcliff. But I do think GRRM is doing his own thing with it, and to be honest the more I think about it, the more I wonder how it influences Jon's ending (or not). If anything Mr. Rochester's secret wife is more of a Rhaegar thing which Jon has to wrestle with, so I definitely think there's a mix of influences going on.

Although like you say, I think when you don't introduce this literary background you lose a lot about what is being said about Jon and Sansa (and Daenerys). I agree with people who say you need to understand fantasy of that era to really understand the tone of what he's going for, which is why I think GRRM is sometimes mean and sometimes writing one-handed, but I still think that background for Romantic characters is necessary.

It's no indictment on Jon if he has a long, moody face, and that's what I kind of love honestly. I think Rhaegar may have been handsome because he was both the crown prince and a Targaryen, and like Arianne expresses aversions to Targaryen features, it may have been divisive in its own way too, beautiful on the terms of conqueror-conquered. I especially enjoy the idea that Lyanna herself had that unusual wolf beauty to her, but beauty in women isn't a portent of safety after all; beauty is just another way girls and women are controlled, even if it superficially seems beneficial when attractive. So that there's some danger to beauty, and danger in Jon's face (Lyanna's, but maybe a hint of Rhaegar too?) hinting his ancestry but also disguising it through something that can be a comfort (Ned) for Sansa is really interesting to me.

(Continuation of this convo)

No worries, anon! For some reason, tumblr wouldn’t let me save, post, schedule for later, or add that post to my queue when I was writing it! I finally just exited the tab and when I got back on tumblr it would let me post an earlier, automatically saved version, as long as I didn’t try to edit it at all, otherwise I would have chatted more with you, because I had, in the version that wouldn’t post. 😅

I share your frustration with the fandom deciding that Sansa is shallow for being moved by beauty and then turning around and obsessing over poll results about whether or not their fav is pretty. I genuinely don’t care, but they clearly care a lot. 😂 I don’t like talking about the kids that way, I don’t think their appearance has anything to do with why we like them, but it just so happens that Jon and Sansa being very Stark and very Tully (look-wise) matters so here we are. And you’re absolutely right, Sansa has suffered a lot of unwanted attention because she is beautiful, so this isn’t exactly something Sansa fans take delight in.

We do get the different takes on Targ looks! For Rhaegar, I thought the emphasis was on his music as the thing that made people swoon? Martin has a thing with singers / someone singing a song seducing people that repeatedly pops up and that is the one thing we know about Lyanna’s feelings—his singing moved her. That’s a connection to Jon who reacts in a similar way to Ygritte’s singing.

I wasn’t even thinking about the secret wife thing being a connection between Rochester and Rhaegar, but bigamy was a popular trope in gothic lit and the sensationalist victorian lit that followed, so I definitely think that’s worth noting. As is the whole, family estate being destroyed in a fire, and of course, “madness.” That all would make me think the references are more about Rhaegar and Targaryen ancestry, less about projecting into Jon’s future, but depending on which spec you buy into, Jon could be in love with Sansa and forced into a relationship with Dany or potentially married to Sansa and still facing pressure from Dany to enter into a sexual relationship. If Martin wants to go dark, it’s possible the gothic “two wives” trope and the Targaryen two wives idea manifest in Jon’s own life with a twist. I still don’t see how the space for Jon and Dany to have much interaction so I’m not too fussed about it, but I certainly think it’s possible Dany sees Jon as an answer to her desire for someone to trust. 😬 Generally though, I don’t look at literary references as being a sure fire way of dictating how the story will go, but I think it’s fun to see how writers are knowingly or unknowingly influenced by certain things. I don’t know that Martin said “gothic lit has family estates burning -> I’m gonna send Summerhall up in flames” but nonetheless, there’s a reason why that would pop into his mind.

Thanks for the followup message, I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this!

[thrill-seeker-vn]

i was wondering what are some of ur fav tropes?

thank you for the ask!! and sorry for how long it took to answer USHFHUSFIFHUI

Found Family - I love a good found family trope. This doesn't even have to really involve orphans tbh.... I really admire writers who are able to write strong, platonic and familial connections between characters. It's always such a feel-good trope, I never get tired of it!

Adoption - Idk like anyone else watch those adoption compilations on yt that are literally made days before you watched it but still look like it was made in 2011? Like that's how I feel when I read these. I feel my eyes watering IUSDFHFDI

Someone who is very gentle and naive with someone has kind of seen the horrors of the world. I find a lot of authors can either do this wrong or perfect. This doesn't just have to be in the romantic context either! But basically two people who have very different lived experiences, one being very hurt and the other not having gone through it, but is able to hug them, to give them a good talk, to listen, to kiss their scars.... the list goes on.

Rivals to Lovers (especially academic) - this is one of those tropes that I actually don't think I could ever stand IRL. Like I remember once when I was in high school and a classmate of mine started a nonsense argument with me (which he had been doing for DAYS for NO REASON) and since I had been reading fanfiction the whole week as I'm arguing with him a voice in my head says enemies to friends to lovers??? I.... I left. I had to walk out of the room. However! This is such a cute trope to have someone like see all your bad sides and love you regardless.

One Bed.... cringe but well. I fall for it hook, line and sinker EVERY time.

Injury Patch Up - I love one member getting injured, and the other patching up the wound, and there's like tension... like you care too much.... BONUS POINTS IF RIVALS!!!

Opposites - !!! I'm thinking like fireboy and water girl. Like thematically opposites! Opposite habits, details, color palettes-- I love these small things. It's one of my favorite comedic tropes!

Rebirth/Reincarnation - ESPECIALLY with a revenge plot. I better see you die and be revived 3 years prior to just before it all went wrong and girlboss your way out of it.

Transmigration - I LOVE TRANSMIGRATION. I've been REALLY enjoying Lord of Mysteries recently, I would recommend it!! I can also share a Google drive to it if interested.

I really like childhood queer best friends to lovers??? I dunno if that's even a trope name tbh. But like the longing????

[anonnie-in-wonderland]

when i say that I enjoyed “Home Calls the Heart” so much trust that i do not lie!!! i typically don’t like to compare people bc everyone has a different journey to writing and creating stories on here , but man the way you write using tropes like hybrid and poly bts, which can easily become horribly written (in my opinion) is something out of this world. I feel like people typically either explain the world surrounding hybrids too much or too little to truly understand how their dynamics work throughout the story. But the way you write makes it seem right. I understand enough to the point where it doesn’t distract me from the main plot! I also love the way you write poly!bts <3 again im trying not to sound too harsh because everyone works hard for their art, but the way you write ot7xreader seems so genuine and not too cartoonish if that makes sense. i have a hard time trying to find some good poly!bts fics bc i luv them so much but sometimes it hurts my head. i mean i could imagine how hard it could be to incorporate seven character that have different traits and their own spirit, but, again, the way you have written them in “Home Calls the Heart” has me excited for new chapters to come!! Im trying my best to give feedback and appreciation towards my fav authors on here because i know how hard it is to express your art and not be financially compensated jiji you guys literally deserve the world!!! it’s also fun just being able to tell my favorite people that they are doing amazing at what they do best :) i hope this ask finds you well and yeah <3 i’ve also decided to give myself a lil nickname if that’s okay (pls do let me know if that’s okay) i would like for it to be the 🌙 emoji!! if someone else has it pls lmk so i could change it jiji-🌙

Hello, hello! Wow this was not something I was ever expecting to receive, but I am really humbled. I thank you for being into my writing. I’ve been writing a very long time but not for any kpop fandoms, and I was nervous about how it would be received.

I think different writing styles appeal to different people, but at the same time I know what you mean! It can be very difficult to find the right balance of how much information to use, and you don’t really want to confuse yourself or the reader, but at the same time you want to include more than barebones info.

I’m glad my approach to worldbuilding currently is not too hard to follow along with. That’s the key. Because at the end of the day I saw the prompt and wanted to tell a nice tale of the reader and hybrid BTS all healing from their friendship (and eventually more) with each other. As to the relationships…OT&s are popular and I knew right away I wouldn’t be leaving anyone out cause that’s not my style, but I did have to decide whether there would be shipping among OT7 or not, and you know I feel like when you’ve been around the people you love a long time, things would be casual. Casual intimacy.

I think some stories maybe do a lot of “hey!! Look!! They’re dating!!” And write them accordingly, and I suppose that’s fine, but I guess I try to write them as people in love who have nothing to prove. They just are comfortable in a relationship together and the Y/N gets to be a part of it.

Thank you for wanting to be someone that tells fanfic writers how much they’re appreciated. 🥹 That is so kind! I admit, I kind of miss the consistency of the feedback on my writing I’ve gotten in the past. Like beyond people just asking to be on the taglist or saying they’re excited to read more, I really use to love engaging with people on tumblr about my writing, but haven’t gotten a whole lot of that so far. So sometimes I wonder if I come off too intimidating. 😭 Because I see other writers chatting with readers about their stories and I’d love to do the same if anyone wants to. I appreciate any and everyone who takes the time to leave comments or ask questions though!

And of course you can go by that emoji if you choose to! It would help me keep track of who I’m talking to in the future and no one else is using it, so I don’t see why not. Thanks for your ask!

[michu-writes]

hi!!! i'd love an omori matchup!! :D

i'm an enfp 7w6 and my prns are she/her and i'm pan i have no preference at all!!!!! ^_^ my biggest interests are astronomy, astrology, anime + manga, gaming (pc mobile switch ps4), talking & being around people, and 🍃💨 HAHA :D

i'm very spiritual!!! and i love learning about philosophies and different views of the world!!! :) i love tarot as well ^_^ i'm always learning new things like that and i love to try different mindsets out if that makes sense!!!!! one time i heard "treat life like one big experiment" AND ITS JUST STUCK W ME :D

my personality can b described as talkative friendly optimistic joyful n kind!!! my mom n bff said im like a ray of sunshine & have a heart of gold (so sweet awh I LOVE THEM SM) :,) ❤️

my love languages are 1. acts of service but not anything big!!! small things like tying my shoes, or tapping my phone screen as it's turning dark!! 2. words of affirmation!! i'm super verbally affectionate!!! while dating someone i'd definitely need someone who would match my high affection levels!!! it doesn't matter if they show it behind closed doors or out to the whole world, i don't have a preference!!! :) oh and idk if this has any significance but my fav trope is bffs to lovers :D

I ship you with….

SUNNY ☀️ !

Sunny definitely needs an extrovert in his life (not like 99% of his friends already are) because he can get pretty awkward with another introvert if the other isn't as initiative, so having you by his side and kinda just leading him on would be really nice and helpful! It takes him a while to warm up with others, let alone fully gain his trust, so you both have probably been friends for a long time (maybe even ever since Mari was still alive), so that's your bffs to lovers lmao. There has been many people on multiple occasions saying it's ironic how his name is Sunny, and yet you're the sun and he's the moon. But you just tell them that just makes your relationship so special (it's true).

I have a feeling he'd really enjoy astronomy and astrology as well and would love to learn about it more with you. His favorite way of being teaching is with/by his s/o, it makes things less boring y'know!! He most likely watches anime as well, or tries to, so you guys would have movie nights and would probably spice things up by having small quizzes about the animes/mangas. And he loves gaming!! He doesn't have much money to buy that many games, so sometimes he just has to watch gameplays. But he'd love to buy whatever he needs to play with you. He also loves watching you play on your mobile or switch while you're both cuddling. He'll even let out a small chuckle whenever you fail or lose! Don't worry though, he'll give you a small kiss on the cheek whenever you win or complete something.

He's had a few philosophical questions about life during those 4 years of isolation, so he could discuss some with you if you want. But you're definitely more philosophical than he is, and he loves to just listen to you rant about it all day, he thinks it's really interesting! Like I said, he's always willing to learn new stuff with you.

He's never tried tarot before, but he has heard of it! If you know how to do tarot readings, he's just like :0!! That's so cool wtf? He'd love to get a tarot reading from you. He'd try to do read you too, but he'll just be confused.

Sunny isn't super big with words, I think we all have caught up to that now. So his words of affirmation isn't his biggest love language, but he's definitely more vocal around you than others. His love language would be physical touch. Simple gestures like hand holding, hugging, or just shoulder touching could just show how much he loves you. He's not big on pda, it's way out of his comfort zone, so he's mostly only comfortable with hand holding in public. But he wouldn't really care if it's around his close friends. Cuddles is a must!! That's his ultimate way of showing affection. You could be cuddling in silence, or just talking, or gaming, or watching something, it doesn't matter. Just as long as he gets be close to you! He's the small spoon, he has to be. Doesn't matter if you're shorter or taller than him. He missed the sensation of someone wrapping their arms around him and keeping him safe. I can tell you the first time you both cuddled, he couldn't help but cry. This poor baby is touch starved as fuck. You'd be too if you isolated yourself all alone in your house for 4 years out of depression and mental illness and guilt.

To be honest, he'd feel kinda guilty for having you do stuff for him. He understands it's a way to show affection, but man. Maybe it's just because he hasn't had anyone do this for a long time and completely forgot how it felt like. Whenever you tell him that his shoelaces are undone, he just kinda looks down is about to bend down to tie them, but then you're just like "no, don't worry I'll do it for you!" and he just has no time to hesitate. He'll mutter a small "thank you" but think "I could've done it myself, I just wasted 20 seconds of her time because of my selfish self! She probably hates me now." and oops you noticed the way he started sweating and just smooched him, now he feels better. He'll try to do the same gestures to you out of pity, but you insist.

Sunny gets flustered as hell whenever you compliment him in any way. He never realized how much he likes to be praised. You'd just say "I really like your clothes today, Sunny!" "You played that song in the violin so perfectly!" "I love you, sunshine." And he'll just pause as he slowly turns into a tomato. Sometimes he'd say something nice back, but fail miserably because of his stuttering. In real life he'd just be like o(-( but he's actually dissolving into mush in the inside. Oh and verbal praise following up with physical touch (nsx)????? He'll join Mari.

[maryberry]

TWOTQ SPOILERS

Here are my full thoughts on The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout...

Solid 7.5/10, I really enjoyed this book.

I'm going to talk about what I liked and then address some of the criticism this book is getting

I really enjoyed the pace of this one compared to acogb. Acogb took me about 3 months to finish and twotq took me about 2 days, so obviously one was much harder to put down than the other. I thought bringing Cas's pov into the series at this point was a great choice and helped the plot move forward.

Absolutely loved Reaver and other elements from asite that came through into this book, I can't wait for alitf!

I did not see the revenant, Mallicent, being Poppy's sister AT ALL, that was such a twist and I love it when books surprise me because it rarely happens.

Idk about anybody else but this was the first book I actually started to understand the whole "first and second daughter" thing, as well as the rite and the "chosen". Things just really started to click for me.

I actually kind of liked how poppy and Cas were separated for most of the book. I think a bit of their emotional connection was sacrificed for smut in acogb, which is fine-these are adult novels, but having them separated allowed us to solidify how much they do truly care for one another and they are still one of my all time fav book couples.

Loved the fight scenes in this book, so bad ass.

I don't really like how there have been so many "reveals" of Poppys identity. First she was Atlantian, then a soul eater, then a diety, then a God, then a primal, and then soon to be true primal. It's just a lot and I feel we could have skipped a couple of them to increase the impact of her being a primal.

Overall, I really liked how the story progressed and love that we will probably definitely see Poppy and Sera interact in the next one.

I'm not sure if they were on digital versions, but the typos and grammatical errors were a bit too much for my liking. One here or there is okay but I felt like there were multiple in each chapter. I'm pretty sure jla mixes up viktor/victer and she's the one who came up with them 🤦‍♀️ honestly just a simple Google docs spelling and grammar check could have solved a lot of the issues I found.

Now for some of the hate that this book is getting...

This is not directed at people who simply did not like the book. It's a fantasy novel, I don't care if it wasn't everyone's cup of tea.

There was no emotional cheating in this book. I did not pick up on it at all while reading and I was so confused when I saw people saying that. Poppy and Kieran did grow closer to eachother but never in a way that was a betrayal to Cas.

Poppy and Kieran were grieving and leaning on one another for support. Their relationship has always been a bit teasing/flirtatious in my opinion, so nothing was really new there.

The elephant in the room, the joining. We knew since book 2 that this was going to happen. Idk why everyone is getting their panties in a twist.

In my opinion, this does not seem like a throuple situation. Poppy says multiple times that what she feels for Cas is different than what she feels for Kieran, and the same goes for Cas and Kieran about eachother and her. Poppy and Cas also have sex multiple times just the two of them after the joining, and they open the possibility to do the joining again if Kieran ever finds anyone.

I think what we saw here, which maybe a lot of people don't like, is that our "fated pair" trope(Poppy and Casteel) experienced sexual activities with someone else. I think, beyond being very hot and steamy, that it showcased how you can have attraction in different ways and have it not take away the love you have for someone else.

Cas loves both Poppy and Kieran, he never shows any kind of jealousy with Kieran, and showed no issue at all with the joining.

Please remember that these are fantasy books that are meant to be entertaining. Don't bash on people who enjoy a book that you don't. If it bothers you that much, simply do not read it. JLA is a well established author, and the rest of the series will be written and released whether you enjoyed a threesome between a God, vampire like person, and a werewolf or not.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, as always, I'd love to hear your thoughts!!

[grandinventor]

i really like the loyalists- i find them really interesting. havelock, pendleton, martin. talk about them and your opinions and what went down, i like hearing what you have to say

Oh you are right on time because I am just replaying the first Dishonored and even though I am halfway through I know the rest and I got my memory refreshed on their personalities. I really love the Loyalists honestly, they are in a way both terrible and absolutely compelling characters. I can only talk about Low Chaos because I've never played High Chaos to analyze them there. Thank you though, for giving me the chance to ramble about them now, don't mind if I do~

Havelock - I just realized he has a name now because I was googling to make sure it's spelled with an E. Anyway, not many people do, but I like Havelock. He is a bastard but he is very much convinced what he is doing is for the greater good. They did well in portraying him being a bit older and more traditional than Corvo and the other Loyalists, which is both good and bad. He has this almost tunnel vision loyalty and dedication to his cause, he likes being in charge and since we are stationed in the Hound's Pits Pub, we are on his territory and it feels like it. No matter how much he praises you, you know he is not gonna let you or any of the others challenge his position. And I like that we do see some of his temperament, like him tossing the Audiograph in the sea might seem like a comical moment until you look back on it and realize he grew frustrated with it one too many times and did something rash. You can also see through his journal how he is slowly growing more frustrated when he realizes you won't let him control Emily and you (I say you as in Corvo) are far too dangerous to be controlled. In the end I think he confused his need for power with his loyalty to the Empire because in his mind him getting this power was the best for the Empire. And in Low Chaos he realizes that he doesn't have the hands on the wheel and he can't go against these waves and kind of surrenders, albeit after he has done a lot of damage. Havelock greets you like a serious, controlled and even warm and welcoming older man, but you learn that beneath that there is a very frustrated and paranoid person who is loyal only in words but is willing to betray everyone to achieve what he thinks is right. There isn't a lot of Havelock meta because he isn't as interesting, but he still played his role quite nicely in the story and you don't always expect characters like him to betray you, especially next to characters like Martin and Pendleton. But, then again a salt and pepper haired war veteran switching sides in the third act is a pretty common trope so eeeh I should've seen that coming. Martin - Martin was my fav when I was 16 and also one of the first times a character I liked died in anything, it was really heartbreaking. I kind of forget he dies these days because I follow like 10 Martin fans, so he is alive and well. I like that he isn't doing the whole "I'll be High Overseer because I have to, it's for the best" (cause they could've gone that route), he straight up reads Campbells gossip book and is like "Hell yeah, I am going to blackmail so many people." Also I like his intro scene because as you approach behind Jasper (the other Overseer), he sees Corvo and becomes somehow 10 times more cocky (I think the line that's something like "It isn't so bad, except I miss your wife" is so raw I've been quoting it all week). But if you play Low Chaos he feels more sidelined, he comments here and there about things here and there that show a bit of his laid back attitude and it's that High Chaos ending that really brings forward most of his personality than just his arc ending in being poisoned at a table (I do not like the Low Chaos ending, like even if they died it's a bit anticlimactic). But there is a lot of good Martin meta out there, from my 10+ Martin lover mutuals, however in general I really like the concept of a priest with a dark past because in the context of him betraying you, it feels like he never truly escaped that dark past, he never really changed, he just got better in convincing people he is a better person, including himself. And the fact that he seems so chill and laid back, yet hides something terrible makes me wonder how much of what he said was honest, and how much was him having a silver tongue and bringing your guard down. Also I don't take criticism but criminal turned priest is extremely sexy and I love that trope.

Treavor Pendleton - (gets a full name from me here), I gotta admit I didn't like him when I was 16 because I expected him to turn out evil, he looked like the "I will backstab you" trope, but now that I am older I kinda like him a lot more and even feel bad for him. I feel like Havelock was crazy and Martin was a shady dude, but Treavor just went along with them because he is both very cowardly and very envious. I know it's not disclosed but I do feel like he wasn't the mastermind behind it? Maybe High Chaos says otherwise, but I haven't played it to know. For someone who was so brutally abused by his older brothers his entire life and yet still found it in him to love and mourn them, he would absolutely go with whatever Havelock and Martin would say, either out of wanting to be part of something or out of some kind of deep seated fear of not playing along. This doesn't absolve him of what happened at all, but it is An Explanation, and paired with his excessive drinking, it does make me feel bad about him. He is also an asshole in funny ways like the whole situation with his Audiographs and also Lord Shaw and he is sort of an unintentionally (or maybe intentionally) funny character. I found that he is relieving the more tense feeling you get from Havelock and Martin with his presence which I enjoy more than I did when I was younger. Also he has a lot of typical aristocrat asshole things going on, which is funny mostly, sometimes a little infuriating.

I would like to talk about the rest of the Loyalists too (because Callista, Lydia, Cecelia, Piero and Wallace are also Loyalists even if not the main ones), but you asked for these three and it's getting late. Perhaps I will because I actually love the ladies and they don't get nearly as much love as the male characters in this game.

[kingkatsuki]

I wrote this last night and forgot to send it because I got distracted. So uh, sending it now. (incoming wall of text, I am so fucking sorry >.<)

You got an ask yesterday that mentioned Serendipity and I was like, oh man, been ages since I last read that, I need to re-read it. And I found that I: a) had read it on my old account, so I hadn't even liked it on this one. b) had read it when even the idea of any kind of interaction gave me anxiety so I hadn't even taken the time to tell you how much I fucking loved it.

So fixing that! This is gonna be disjointed, it's almost 4am (as usual). I think I may have mentioned this before (so sorry if I am repeating myself), but I love how you do the whole social media relationship setting (I have a soft spot for this trope as I met my husband online so anytime someone manages to convey some of the aspects of it in a way that resonates with my experience it makes me melt aaaaaa ♥). In this story in particular, I love how what motivates this gremlin of a man to contact us is not that he wants to get his dick wet, but that he wants us to know we are wrong. “She’s entitled to her opinion, but it’s fuckin’ wrong.” has 100% disgruntled Bakugou energy, and it's pure poetry.

You are great at getting me to immerse myself in the character. The way you describe what she is doing, how she goes about her work, her mornings, things like that. It makes it really easy to feel the scenes, not just read them. To me that is one of the cornerstones of great writing, and I am always delighted when I get to experience it. I also really loved how you captured the budding crush feeling. The "I have only talked to this person once, but I'm already thinking about them again, and it's not like I want to marry them, but it'd be nice if they messaged me!" that makes you all warm and fuzzy inside when they do message you. And then the inevitable snowballing emotions as the whole thing progresses, because that is how it goes, and it is so much fun to be in the middle of that.

Besides absolutely loving the dynamics between Bakugou and us, I love the dynamics you have between everyone else. I love the distinct ways in which you write each person, I particularly enjoy the fuck out of all the No Heroes interactions (their tweets crack me up). I love the way you have us thirsting for him, both online and in person, because honestly, who wouldn't? Love how Bakugou starts feeling the pull and even showing interest before seeing the picture, because it feels so in character for him to start falling for someone that managed to get under his skin like that. And how he is done for once he finally sees the picture? kfdjskfsj ♥. And I love it how he goes from pest to insufferable cocky flirt the second he realizes.

And then he has to go and be a Dick. The whole conflict was so sad, because while it was over something so silly, you handled it in such a... idk, relatable way? The whole giving up in order to prevent getting hurt more thing and all that, I feel it's something that at one point or another we all have had an experience with. Also, "You’d be okay, you always were. But it didn’t make it hurt any less." is entirely too true and extremely heartbreaking, both in fiction and real life.

But it's ok, because it led to dry humping and I absolutely love dry humping. And nghhhhhh the way he fucking talks. I just love how you have him be this absolute punk, even when he's being sweet, and it just. It is, indeed, the bad boy image. Just love it.

And as usual, Jo, the actual smut was superb.

Again, this is my fav work of yours, and there's a special place in my heart for it, so I had to word vomit at you about it. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. ♥

I’m literally in tears reading this I’m honestly so happy that you enjoyed it and that you’ve read it more than once🥺

I’m just obsessed with Bakugou falling in love with us before he’s even seen us and I’m so glad it comes across in the fics! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me such a lovely message I’m gonna keep this and cherish it forever😭💕

[lilsuzn]

MLQC Boys as Fathers

Fandom: Mr. Love: Queen's Choice

Warnings: In the post below I decided to make girls like stereotypical girly things and boys stereotypical boyish things, but it doesn’t mean I believe it’s how it’s supposed to be. I personally had periods when I was very girly and ones when I was very tomboyish and that’s okay. What’s not okay is forcing your children to act certain ways and like certain thing just because they represent a certain sex.

Dedication: anon

Gavin

baby girl

Have you even seen that nail-painting Karma with him? This cutie!

If you guys had a daughter, she would be the happiest little girl on earth.

He would be unable to deny her anything. Don’t let these two go to the mall alone. Unless you don’t care for electricity or hot water. Then you do you, I guess.

I even can see him dressed in pink tutu, sitting by a small, pink table and sipping on nonexisting tea. Anything to make his little angel happy

I overall don’t see him as a parent who actively takes part in his child’s school life - like helping with organizing plays or sawing costumes or parent-teacher association associating or other stuff alike, BUT...

He sure would never miss a single performance of his baby girl and would support her along the whole way there.

And yes. He will watch YT tutorials to learn how to do some pretty hairstyles for his princess, even though initially he wouldn’t want to do them at all.

And yes. He will paint her nails when she’s old enough not to stuff her hands into her mouth all the time.

baby boy

They are collecting figures. Like, motorcycles and cars at first. Then also planes when the boy gets a little older.

He would look upto his daddy very much. Would adore that he’s a police officer and could fly and was just basically flawless - at least in your son’s eyes.

They would play with his plane toys, which boy could all name. His favorite would be the Supermarine Spitfire. Gavin could never play with that one. Dad is great and all, but it’s HIS plane.

When your sun gets a bit older, his dad would take him to aerobatic aviation shows and historic planes displays.

He surely would be a daddy’s boy, if you didn’t figure it yet. You’re cool and he loves you… BUT GAVIN?

Their bond remains strong throughout the years. They keep alot of secrets from you, but you benefit from it from time to time. Especially in saving nerves. So it’s cool. Unless it’s not…

When grown up he sure would become a police officer like his dad or a soldier. I sure see him in military aviation. Dad would be a bit worried, but would give him his full support and all the help he could.

I also believe you and Gavin would have more than just one child, but that’s just a side note.

Kiro

baby girl

He’s not a regular dad. He’s a cool dad.

Not a reckless dad tho. He knows it’s not good for kids to eat as much sweets as they want to. He knows it’s not the best idea to say yes to every single whim of theirs…

But his little princess is so pretty. And so cute. And so sweet.

Remember when I told you how Gavin would be not so happy to attend her daughter’s tea parties?

Kiro would live for those! He would buy himself dresses for those occasions.

And they would do fashion shows for you. 

This dad is going to ask his daughter to do his makeup.

Takes her to get ice cream behind your back after picking her up from her ballet practice.

baby boy

I don’t know why, but I see his son as that shy, artistic type. That romantic boy with an acoustic guitar kind of trope.

He would have a voice of an angel and a talent surpassing even his father’s. He literally doesn’t need Kiro’s evol to have his charm.

This dad would be so proud. A little sad that his modest, little boy doesn’t want to perform on stage with him, but still - so extremely happy to have such a talented son.

He would get him the best tutors, and the finest instruments and every other equipment his little angel might need. Not even necessarily ask for.

If that was what wished for, he would help him start a career. He surely has what it gets to make someone famous.

If that wasn’t what his son wanted however - he would never push him. He knows the price that comes with money and a large fanbase and he wouldn’t force anyone to pay it.

Lucien

baby girl

I see Lucien as the best dad of all 4, and before you get mad at me for being biased, know that he's not my fav. I like being called an idiot and men in uniforms.

Big part of it would surely be his psychological knowledge, not gonna lie. Second one would be his outstanding intelligence that helps him with application of  upbringing’s roles into life.

He just knows exactly how and when to be soft and when and how to be firm.

He would take his daughter for walks and movies. He would love to take her to an amusement park from time to time.

It’s important for him that his daughter would be well socialised.

And surprise, surprise - his daughter would be a genius. Doesn’t matter if you are biological parents or not. It just happened. And he’s very happy to be destroyed in a chase game by his nine year old.

He helps her with preparing for math contests. And any other contests there are.

They often sit together on the couch and read books. She even makes the same face as she focuses. Yes - even she’s adopted.

It’s a Christmas miracle, I don’t know. Ask Lucien, he probably does.

baby boy

Wouldn’t it be absolutely cute and a little bit ironic if his son would be a little trouble maker?

Wouldn’t want to study. Just spent all day on the playground with other kids. An tradic picky eater. Can fall asleep wherever he is, in whatever position he is.

I could see Lucien struggle to find a way to get to his child, but I couldn’t see him ever give up.

He would enroll his son into some school sports team and would very actively support it. They need a parent to go with them to attend a sports contest in another school. Sign him up. Lucien is a very busy man, that’s true, but not too busy for that.

He would learn the rules and tactics of whatever game his son plays.

Would help him practice outside his practices. Even if he might not enjoy it.

And obviously, would eagerly help him if he had any problems in school.

Overall, I see Lucien as a very loving father, who doesn’t shy away with expressing just how important his kids are for him.

Victor

baby girl

The one who would constantly motivate his children.

They are learning languages, participating in at least one sport, playing an instrument and traveling around the world with him to experience many different cultures.

His little girl would be confident, smart, self-disciplined and an absolutely cute dork who thinks daddy doesn’t know she figured how to get to that cookie jar on the highest shelf.

She started drawing things for him since she was too small to even talk properly… and she was really good for such a small poppet.

He quickly decided to add art classes to her already long list of extracurricular activities.

At some point she was absolutely wonderful. Daddy was swelling with pride.

A perfect student, remarcable artist… Obviously a Li.

She would then study architecture at the most prestigious university in the country. Victor would spare no expenses. She deserves it.

baby boy

A quiet but intimidating kid that sits in the first row in class and gives his teacher a challenging look.

Destroys in chess even Lucien’s daughter… sometimes.

Has no friends because he’s disgusted by other people.

Daddy’s boy lvl. 100 Future LFG CEO.

If he could he would even sleep with daddy… but daddy doesn’t let him because he needs “privacy” with you. Good thing you sometimes make him sandwiches, because you might get taken care of…

Victor would have his kid’s photo on his desk. Two of them actually. One facing him and one facing anyone who sits on the opposite side. People need to know just how cute they looked in their matching shirts during last year’s father’s day celebrations.

They would go to the movies together. Victor who usually makes sure your kids are eating healthy would buy him a huge popcorn… and sometimes even M&M’s.

Victor would be a principled dad with high expectations, but don’t make a mistake. Even if his kids weren’t as ambitious and success focused as he’s he would love them just as much and care for them just as much.

There would also be no favoring if you had more than one child. Everyone must feel equally loved and he would make sure it’s exactly the case.

[lailannajacobs]

What in the Seven Hells is a Junabee? | GIBP III

Pairing: Fey!Loki x fem!reader

Chapter Summary: You and Loki take a trip to the seamstress. 

Warnings: fluff! 

Word Count: 5.3k 

A/N: OKay so I love this chapter for a whole bunch of reasons I won’t get into, but I also know it’s a set up for all the fake dating (and other events) you’ll get in the next chapter (and the rest of the fic) so don’t worry, my fav trope ever is coming!! I hope you enjoy, and as always, it makes my day to hear what your thoughts! <3 

The seamstress was in a beautiful house, which overlooked the river down below. It reminded you of the type of houses in the book of fairy tales you and Nat used to have; tall and spindly, and reminiscent of a pine tree. It was the same luscious green as the surrounding flora and had over a dozen tiny stained-glass windows that glowed like emeralds in the sun. You’d never seen anything like and it, and you couldn’t help but stare a little too long.

Loki knocked on the door and took a step back, hands clasped behind him as you waited. The black, double doors were much bigger than the one at the restaurant, and you were pretty sure that meant a Dwarf wouldn’t be greeting you this time. You couldn’t help but feel a little curious, a lot of dread and somewhat excited to see who would greet you.

A strong, broad shouldered Fey woman opened the door, a cat-like grin spreading across her face as she took in the king. Her chestnut hair was braided back and out of her face, but the rest was loose around her shoulders in tight curls. She was dressed in black from head to toe, pants tucked into knee high boots, paired with an intricate top that looked more like armour. Had you passed this woman on the street you would have assumed she was a warrior and not a seamstress. Even standing before her now, you weren’t sure you were at the right place.

Loki took her hand in his and pressed a kiss to the back of it, an equally wicked smirk on his lips.

“Valkyrie, I’m so glad you could make room for us on such short notice,” he practically purred, “we appreciate it.”

“You were just lucky someone canceled at the last minute,” she said with a wink, “I don’t make exceptions for anyone, least of all you, Loki.”

He let a breathy little laugh, the two of them obviously good friends, if not something more. If there was, it wasn’t like you didn’t get it. She was beautiful. Honestly, they both were.

Her gaze slid toward me and her grin morphed into something a little less playful and much softer, “and you must be the mysterious future queen I’ve heard about,” she dipped her head, “it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” you said through a tight smile.

This was the first time someone other than Loki had mentioned the actual consequences to this deal and you weren’t sure you liked it. Queen… You weren’t meant to be queen. Ever. How in Cerdwen’s were you supposed to be queen? You shoved the thought to the back of your mind. There was no point thinking about it and freaking yourself out more. You just needed to keep pretending like you could actually do this.

Anyways, she was a seamstress, not a council member whose opinion could change everything. You had to assume that Loki must have brought you into the city to practice your act around people who’s opinions didn’t affect your fates, but even if he hadn’t, you were glad for the excuse to learn how to play the role.

“I’ve heard so many great things about your talent, Miss Valkryie,” you lied, settling into the part as best you could, “I can’t imagine having gone to anyone else. It’s just so nice to have finally met you.”

“You’re too kind,” she waved away the compliment, but her eyes narrowed slightly. You held your breath, afraid she could see right through you until she motioned for you to follow her in, “but I do have some pieces I’m sure you’ll like.”

The walls on one side of the hallway were painted navy while the other side was painted a dark green, all trimmed with gold mouldings and decorated with paintings of men and women in extravagant clothes. There were rooms branching off to either sides. The layout of the house was far bigger than you’d assumed from the outside. You couldn’t help but wonder who this woman was exactly. The riches of this home were beyond ordinary…weren’t they? You clenched your jaw in an attempt to hide your anger. If these people had homes like these then they had the means to help any one of the other realms who were still rebuilding. Yet they hid on their island like the rest of us didn’t matter. Odin was a monster, stroking the embers of hatred that sizzled in his realm, mounting them to a burning fire that destroy the seven others. But these people — the Fey — they could do something about it. Instead, they just sat in their riches and their magic, doing nothing. You were thankful neither of them could see your face.

You entered a room that might not have seemed small if it hadn’t been stacked with books from floor to wall on every side except for the one you’d entered through. There was large wooden desk in the corner, cluttered with papers and scraps of fabrics and in the centre, a pedestal with two small poof seats in the opposite corner.

“Remind me again what you’re looking for, Loki,” she motioned for the two of you to take a seat.

You stayed standing keeping an eye on her and door. Loki shrugged and gracefully eased onto the cushion, legs sprawled out in front of his as if he was in his own home. You glanced between the two of them, trying to figure out what exactly their relationship was, but both of their faces were impossible to read. The only thing you knew for sure was that these two had known each other for hundreds of years.

“Other than a few formal gowns, I would suggest you ask Ms. YLN,” his gaze slid over to you, eyes lit up with mischief, “the choice is hers.”

You barely restrained from scoffing. Like you had any choices in the deal.

Valkyrie turned to face you, surprising you with a genuine looking smile on her face, “Come then. I think I’ve got ideas you might like. Do you want your future king to join us?”

Valkyrie probably had no idea that she’d just asked the best question possible. Or maybe, judging by the sly grin on her face, she had. You didn’t know if that immediately made you want to trust her or the exact opposite.

“Actually, I was hoping it could be a surprise,” you chirped, “he really doesn’t need to stay.”

Loki let his head loll back, looking at you through hooded eyes with a slight, knowing grin on his lips, “of course. Enjoy yourselves. I’ll be back soon, sweetheart.”

He stood with efficiency and speed unmatched by most of the other races. When his back was to Valkyrie, he shot you a pointed look. You narrowed your eyes but quickly made sure to smooth out your features before Valkyrie could get wind of what was going on.

When he was out of sight and the door had closed behind him, you felt a shimmer of magic and wondered if Valkyrie felt it too. If she did, she didn’t say anything. You had a feeling that whatever it was, it was a precaution to make sure you wouldn’t sneak off again.

“I see you like to dress to move around,” was the first thing she said.

You couldn’t help but look down at the plain black pants and dirt brown sweater as if you’d forgotten you’d been wearing borrowed clothes all morning.

“I need to be able to move,” you answered gruffly.

She nodded, “I get it. This world hasn’t been easy, especially to humans.”

“And what would you know about the world being unkind?” you snapped, the riches of her home mocking you.

“This realm was at war like every other hundreds of years ago,” her voice was barely louder than a whisper, but there was nothing soft in her voice, “just because we haven’t had it the hardest doesn’t mean we don’t know hardship.”

Something about the haunted look on her face made you feel stupid about your outburst and you cursed yourself again for not being able to keep your emotions in check. Valkyrie barely looked older than you did, but she spoke like she’d lived through the war — seven hells, judging by the way she wore her clothes like armour,  she might have even fought in it. You wanted to ask her about it, but doubted you could get through even an inkling of the conversation with your emotions in check. You weren’t about to expose yourself by asking questions to which you already knew the outcome. Still, it didn’t mean she deserved your judgement.

“I’m sorry,” you maintained eye contact as you spoke, hoping she knew that you meant the words, “you’re right.”

She ignored the apology with a wave of her hand, and you sighed, glad she didn’t seem to think anything was amiss.

“I see why he likes you. That fight in you…it’ll remind him of his,” she continued, almost to herself, “he’s been going through the motions for far too long now.”

You paused, wondering why she was so open, sharing about her king like that until you remembered, that as his future queen, this wouldn’t be inappropriate, especially that she was complimenting you. Still, it was hard to ignore the fact that she thought Loki was only going through the motions. They Fey you’d met looked nothing like that.

“I’m flattered you think so,” you said with a smile, hoping you could rely on pleasantries to get by, “you’ve certainly known him longer than I have.”

“We’ve been,” she paused with a huff and a little shake of her head, “it feels like we’ve known each other for an eternity. I’m glad he’s finally found someone who makes him happy.”

“Well, he makes me happy,” you almost gagged on the words, but the way her smile grew made you think that you’d said the right thing.

Valkyrie lifted her hand and a book high on the shelf flew off and into her hand. You pretended to inspect your nails, trying not to show how much her little display of magic amazed you. It seemed so simple and you couldn’t help but wonder if maybe it was something you’d be able to do if someone took the time to show you.

“I was thinking we’d start with something like this for formalwear,” she pointed to a gown that looked equally gorgeous and terrifying, “and then we move on depending on what you like or don’t like. Yeah?”

You shot her what you hoped was an enthusiastic smile, the moment bittersweet. Nat would have loved sitting here with you, thoughtfully pouring over all the designs and teasing you into trying something outside of your comfort zone. But she wasn’t here. Your hand fluttered to place on your chest where the pendant lay under your shirt. She was being held hostage and you were here. It didn’t matter than you were now in similar situations, yours was so much easier and you couldn’t help but feel guilty about being here. This whole thing seemed frivolous and pointless. The Hand was the only thing keeping you from walking out.

Valkyrie cocked her head to get a better look at you, “you sure?”

“Absolutely,” you picked up the design she’d just shown you, thankful your hands weren’t trembling, “ready as if my life depended on it.”

Loki had reappeared as you were nearing the end of Valkyrie’s many suggestions and had taken a seat in the far corning, looking on in calculated silence. It was hard to focus with him back in the room and you weren’t sure if you should change the way you were behaving around Valkyrie. She’d been so carefree and thoughtful about the dishes she’d had to offer that you’d almost forgotten what you were doing here. She wasn’t the council so you knew you didn’t have to impress her but a part of you still felt like you should remind her that the two of you were in love. Or at least maybe act a little differently?

After glancing over at Loki for what felt like the millionth time, he raised a brow. You glared at him. For someone who was so worried about the two of you being seen together this morning, he wasn’t doing a spectacular job at faking it right now. He shrugged lazily as if to say what do you want me to do and stayed silent.

“I’m glad you told him to go because you clearly can’t take your eyes off of him,” Valkyrie remarked, her eyes fixed on the design she was altering based off of your comments.

You quickly turned back around, thankful that she had read your confusion as romance and impressed that she was so aware of her surroundings. Maybe if people expected to see love, they wouldn’t look so hard to think it wasn’t there. You mentally rolled your eyes. Kidding yourself was a waste of time.

You weren’t sure what to say to her comment, so you stayed silent, pasting on an awkward little smile and hoping it was the right thing to do. She lifted up the modified design and you could only nod, speechless, your smile becoming genuine this time.

“So that covers your daily garments. I do have dresses for…” the words fell from her mouth and she pursed her lips, eyes flickering to the ground before she came back up with a smile. You looked between her and Loki to try and see what you missed, but Loki’s face looked nothing other than bored. She continued quickly before you could get a better read on the situation, “dresses for every day use if you want. Clothes are like armour. Whatever you need, I can get it done.”

There was a seriousness to her voice that made you think that she didn’t just mean that figuratively, but the ominous tone stopped you from asking outright what she meant by it. There was something they weren’t telling you, but you doubted either of them would tell you what it was if you asked.

You jumped at the movement by your side, not having heard Loki get up.

Loki took her hand in his, “thank you, Valkyrie. Truly.”

Her brows furrowed but she smoothed it over quickly with a laugh, “you are paying me, remember?”

“True,” he murmured, shooting her a look you couldn’t decipher.

“Go,” she shooed him away with a laugh, “I’m tired of seeing your face.”

He put a hand on his heart in mock offence, the playful king back as quickly as he’d vanished, “you barely saw me today.”

“And bring you future queen around more often,” she continued as if he didn’t have a point, “I like her.”

He grinned mischievously, “as do I.”

And in that moment, he looked so convincing that you could see why she believed him. Loki didn’t appear to be a stranger to lying, even to someone who he’d apparently known forever. Although it meant that your chances of convincing the council were better off because of it, you didn’t like what that meant for your end of the deal.

“You know, Valkyrie,” he began.

“Don’t bother,” she cut him off with a stern half smile, “I’m good where I am.”

He dipped his head low, “I know…not unless the realms are sinking into the seven hells. I remember.”

She nodded curtly but shot you a wink as if you knew what in Ceridwen’s name they were talking about. You smiled back, your brain already going through the possible things a king could have repeatedly asked a seamstress for. Nothing that made any sense came up and Loki was already waiting in the doorframe, ready to go, so you added it to the ever-growing list of things you didn’t understand but somehow knew were important.

After your goodbyes, you left the house the way you came, heading back up the mountain to the palace.

“The meeting with the council is in a few hours,” he said, that casual joking tone he’d used with Valkyrie gone from his voice, “I suggest you wear something nice.”

“A gown,” you clarified.

He shrugged, “as long as it’s nice.”

“So you wouldn’t mind if I wore pants?” you demanded incredulously. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d seen Nat in anything other than the constricting gowns Odin trapped her in.

“I thought you were gorgeous wearing the tattered clothes you broke into the palace with,” he strolled on without looking at you, “if we didn’t need the council’s approval I wouldn’t have said a thing.”

Stunned, you grabbed his arm and spun him to a stop, wondering what in the seven hells was going on. His lips curled into a wicked grin and he stepped closer, dipping his head so your eyes were practically at level with his glowing ones, “don’t worry, sweatheart,” he crooned, “I’m simply getting a little practice in.”

You grunted and pushed past him, muttering asshole under your breath even though you knew his Fey hearing would catch it. You had a good idea where you were headed so you stomped forward, letting him stroll a few paces behind you. It didn’t matter that he could easily catch up to you if he wanted. The false sense of privacy made you feel better. It gave me the space to breathe.

You took in your surroundings enjoying the streets of Natalos. You stopped your stomping, taking your time getting back, not sure if you’d be stuck in the palace or allowed to roam wherever you wanted. You were hoping the latter, not only because you hated the confines of the palace but because there was a chance the Hand was in the city and you didn’t need the extra obstacle of trying to sneak out.

You weren’t sure if you would be stuck in the palace or if you’d be allowed to wander wherever you wanted. You hoped it was the latter not only because you hated being stuck in the palace but because there was a chance the Hand was in the city and you didn’t need the extra obstacle of trying to sneak out of the palace.

The sun had gotten much stronger, hanging overhead now. The kiss of the heat on your skin felt like it was finally melting away the cold of Niflheim. You sighed, closing your eyes for a fraction of a second as you walked, basking in the feel. You and Nat would feel the sun again. You would escape. You had to.

“Watch out for the fruit,” Loki interrupted your thoughts, much closer than he was before.

“What out for the what?” you echoed, stumbling to the side in surprise and trying to figure out what he was talking about.

His eyes widened and he reached out for you. You backed out of his grasp instinctively,  grabbing onto the nearest tree to keep from tripping over. Then something cracked down on your head and it started pouring rain. Your whole body straightened in shock as the water poured down your face and neck, and down your spine. And then the stench hit you. You gagged. Wiping the liquid from your eyes, you noticed it had a slightly pink hue and was more like goo. Loki was completely dry. It couldn’t be rain. So what was it? He motioned for you to come closer, his lips tight as he tried to suppress a smile.

“What in the seven hells was that?” you practically shouted.

He pointed above, still not saying a word as he tried to keep himself together. The tree was massive and dark blue, sprawling across half the street with its thick branches and fan-like leaves. Hundreds of pink fruit about the size of your head hung precariously, swaying gently in the breeze.

“That’s not an explanation,” you growled, wiping more of the foul goo off you.

He swallowed and pointed to a sign that read, Beware, falling Junabees. This time, you actually looked around. If you hadn’t been so distracted, you probably would have noticed the pink-stained cobblestones littered with Junabee carcasses — that and the blatant warning. You took another step back toward the other side of the street just to be safe and glared at him.

“I wouldn’t walk too close to the edge next time,” he chuckled, though the wide grin on his face told you that he was enjoying this far more than you were.

“Why in Ceridwen’s name would you people keep this here?” you demanded, “it’s disgusting.”

He paused at your reference to the old gods and shrugged, motioning for you to come a little closer. You took a wary step forward, only following his request because you weren’t sure the Junabees were done with their attack. Tentatively, he raised a hand. You flinched back and he paused waiting for your nod. He brushed some of the goo off your cheek with his thumb, the motion slow and gentle. You stood still as a statue, not sure how to react. His eyes were bright and focused, the corner of his mouth quirked upward in the ghost of a smile. All you could do was stare at him, barely breathing.

“They’re surprisingly difficult to grow and the berries can be quite delicious when prepared properly,” he murmured, taking more of the goo out of your hair, “so we let them grow wherever they chose to pop up. No one’s allowed to cut them down.”

The thought of eating one made you gag, “and how do you prepare them?”

His lips pulled into a sly grin, “wine.”

You scoffed and pushed past him, trying to clean out the goo out of your ear on the way. You were tempted to grab a Junabee and throw it at him, but you were too worried that it would burst in your hand if you tried. That wasn’t a risk you were willing to take, even to put him in the same situation as you.

He caught up quickly and kept stealing glances at you that were impossible to ignore.

“What?” you snapped.

“When we walk into the council room, you might want to wipe the murderous look from your face,” he mentioned with a grin, enjoying this far more than he should.

You looked around, trying to find something to take your mind off the fact that you wanted to punch him, “give me what I want, and you won’t have to worry about me meeting your council,” you said through clenched teeth.

A slight chuckle was all you got in response and he led you down a street you didn’t recognize. You couldn’t tell if he was showing you more of the city or making sure that you couldn’t find your way around it. You sighed. This was going to be impossible.

You were dragging your feet when you walked into the palace later that evening, your thighs burning from climbing the steep streets. You couldn’t help but think that all of this would have been easier if you weren’t human. There was nothing you could do about it now, but it didn’t change the fact that you hated it. Though now that you were stuck, all you wanted was a nice dinner and a warm bath, both of which were things you could actually get here and not in Niflheim — that was if you could get through this stupid council meeting or party or whatever it was.

“Valkyrie has already sent over a few options for you,” he said when you came to a stop in front of your door, “I would recommend you wash up before you meet the council. I can’t have them thinking you live in the pig sty.”

Although your heart soared at the idea of warm water, you were far too grumpy to be thankful, “and so what if I showed up like this?”

You tried your hardest not to wince as the pathetic retort came out. You were fed up and sore and not your best on an empty stomach. It probably would have been better to ignore him, but the words were out now.

He smirked, “take a bath or don’t. If you repel the council with your stench, I can’t say that I’ll be disappointed.”

“You know,” you huffed, “the only reason I smell this bad is because you didn’t warn me about the stupid Junabees in the first place.”

“I told you to be careful,” he countered, leaning lazily on the doorframe.

You nodded like he actually had a good point before snorting, “sure. I doubt you could have been any more vague about it if you tried.

He grinned and pulled a little more goo out of your hair.

“Ugh,” you stormed past his still grinning face and into you room.

“I’ll be back in an hour,” he called before you slammed the door in his face.

“We’ll have to make this quick,” Loki said, walking into the kitchen, “I left YN alone to wash up and get changed before the council meeting and told her I’d be back in an hour.”

“So we’ve got forty-five then,” Bucky said with a smirk, propping his feet up on the table.

Loki shook his head, “let’s make it thirty.”

That only made his grin spread even wider, “I see you’ve got your hands full with our future queen.”

“That may be so, but at least she’s not boring,” at Bucky’s raised brow he said, “she discovered the Junabees today.”

“So a solid thirty minutes then,” he chuckled, both of them fully aware of how hard it was to to wash that goo out of hair.

“Let’s get back to business,” Nebula snapped from the head of the table, cutting them off before they could say anything else.

Loki nodded, knowing he’d been putting it off. With his assassin back so soon, it could only mean that there was nothing good to report. He didn’t want to ruin his surprisingly good mood with the same answers Bucky had been coming to him with for the past two moons, but he had to get it done and over with.

“Right. Bucky. You found…” Loki drifted off, unable to ask the question he already knew the answer to.

Bucky shook his head, “nothing. If Hella’s working with someone else, then she’s hiding it extremely well.”

“There someone else,” Nebula affirmed, shooting Bucky a fierce look, “I’m sure of it.”

Bucky turned and gave her his full attention. They said nothing, but Loki knew that the Angel and Dark Elf could practically read each other’s minds. They had only ever told him bits and pieces of what had happened all those years ago before they had found him, but he knew they wouldn’t be sitting in his kitchen if they hadn’t found each other first.

Bucky nodded, “okay. I’ll find whoever it is.”

“And what about that future queen of yours?” Nebula snapped, whirling around to him. From her place at the counter, Wanda looked over her shoulder, but didn’t say anything. Nebula drove on, all business, “who’s she working for? You said she wants the Hand but I don’t believe for a second that a human who knows nothing about magic wants the Hand for herself.”

Loki shrugged, “herself, someone else, it doesn’t matter. Either way, she’s not getting it. The Hand stays locked up, right now more than ever. If anyone else gets their hands on it…”

They shuddered, still haunted from the last time the book had fallen into the wrong hands.

“What did Gamora have to say about it?” Bucky asked, offering Nebula half of his bread roll. She looked at it with hatred, but Bucky shoved it her way until she took it.

“She hasn’t spoken to me since YN’s arrival,” Loki looked over at Wanda, “any luck on that end?”

“I think so,” Wanda slid the potatoes she’d been chopping into the large pot and came their way, “Gamora says that she can’t remember who cursed her but I believe that’s the key to breaking it.”

Loki stared at Wanda, intrigued and a little impressed Wanda could get Gamora to divulge anything personal about herself, “go on.”

“Right, so we haven’t gotten anywhere because we haven’t been able to identify the magic that was used to curse her, correct?”

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen” Bucky said, leaning back in his chair to look over at Nebula who shook her head.

Despite all of his training, Loki also had to agree, “it’s beyond anything I’ve ever seen. And the Witches are still being silent, but I doubt that even if they agreed to help, they’d know what it was any more than we did.”

“Right,” Wanda went back to the pot and stirred a few times, thinking, “which is why I doubt any of us can figure out what it is. I think Gamora is the only person who could identify the magic, so what if we knew who cursed her?”

Bucky grinned, “then she would know what kind of magic was used to bind the curse.”

“We don’t actually have that information,” Nebula pointed out gruffly.

“Then we’d need a remembering spell,” Loki suggested, knowing that just because they now had a new theory didn’t mean they were any closer to breaking Gamora’s curse.

Wanda winced and tilted her head from side to side. He sighed. There was no doubt in his mind that he wasn’t going to like what she was about to say next.

“Or we’d need someone to get in her head.”

“No,” Loki answered immediately, “no. She’ll never let me in and trying might kill me. Her power might only be a tenth of what it used to be but that’s still more than I’m willing to bargain with. If I managed to unlock the memory and I’m still in there…”

“Then we’ve fried the king,” Bucky added helpfully.

Loki shot him a looked that earned him a cheeky grin in return.

“Wanda’s option might be the only one,” Nebula countered, glaring at Bucky, “memory spells are hard to come by and even harder to execute effectively — even for Loki.”

“It’ll be her decision,” Wanda affirmed though her voice was no louder than a whisper. They all snapped to attention knowing she was right, “if she thinks it’s safe, then it’s her decision whether to go through with it or not.”

Loki nodded solemnly, “agreed.”

Wanda walked back over to her pot, stirring and humming softly as if they hadn’t been discussing Gamora’s fate, “I’ll keep looking for a spell, but you should talk to Gamora.”

“You don’t want to do it?” Loki asked with a smirk.

She offered him a small smile, “I know you’re going to see her later. The honour is yours.”

“How kind,” he said with a laugh before heading back out to get ready for his meeting with YN and the council.

[tweedfrog]

Hi! Just wanted to pop in and say how much I adore your fics. The Elia, Rhaenys, and Aegon tags are nearly impossible to get through. 95% of the fics don’t even feature them prominently and of the remaining 5%, either they’re horrible people bullying faultless Lyanna and Jon 😒 or wonderful angels (unlike that awful witch Catelyn Stark 🙄) who exist to be Jon and Lyanna’s cheerleaders and absolve them of any guilt.

Also I wanted to commend you on your Rhaenys and Elia characterization. Especially Rhaenys! I think a trend I sometimes see is that female characters are only allowed to be happy after they’ve rejected any femininity and taken up weapons and become brash and daring and loudly opinionated. And those girls deserve happiness for sure! But it’s so nice to see a Rhaenys who does lean towards soft power. Who isn’t only a horse and weapons and wild sex enthusiast because she happens to be Dornish. Because that kind of characterization doesn’t really ring true to me for someone like Rhaenys who is in the spotlight a lot. Who’s actions and personality are going to reflect on her abandoned mother who lost out on the throne. I’m so glad characters like her and Elia and Rhaella get to be the heroes of a story while still performing femininity (and frankly using that as their weapons).

And I think you handle the Lyanna situation very well. Personally I’m ambivalent towards Jon and am not fond of Lyanna. But I also don’t like overblown animosity that feels cartoonish. There might be negative feelings directed at them by certain characters, but they aren’t acted upon in any uncharacteristic way. Those two feel more like afterthoughts to Elia and Rhaenys. And while I very much lean into the drama of it all (because it’s so rare for Elia to win this much) I can very much appreciate the reality that Elia and Rhaenys aren’t spending every waking moment thinking about Jon and Lyanna. They have lives to lead and it’s pointless keeping a scoreboard of who got what win over the other. There’s no need to compete, but there’s also no need to be friendly and accommodating is the vibe I’m getting from your story and I really love that. (But I also like that negative feelings exist because let them be human and relatable!!!!!)

Sorry for the word vomit 😅 but I really love your writing and it’s one of the only things I look forward to in this fandom anymore tbh. Thank you so much!

this is so sweet oh my goodness and I’m in a crappy mood today because of uni stress so this really made my day thank you for sending me this

I’m glad you find Rhaenys and Rhaella exercising soft power interesting. I think you’ve got the right take on Rhaenys! She is someone who would love to be able to be loud and brash and is quite opinionated (see: her outright telling her father she would marry anyone to get away from him) but in the red keep where her every move is scrutinized she doesn’t have the option to do that. She has a complicated relationship with the way she presents herself which is also heavily tied up in the fact that she is the only visibly non-white member of her family and she faces scorn for obviously being half-Dornish.

I think the whole “I’m not like other girls” vibe of only letting girl characters be cool and better when they dislike girls who behave in “traditionally feminine” ways is just as shitty as painting girls who don’t behave in traditionally feminine ways as “masculine” (and trying to say they have male privilege – like what?). The truth is that even though some traits are ascribed by society to one gender or the other – there aren’t any traits that are more inherent to one gender than the other. And quite frankly in a society like Westeros women are going to have a complicated relationship with their performance of gender regardless of how they perform it.   

I also really enjoy women in old stories using the small tools available to them as women to undermine a system that disregards them because it’s fun!

Thank you for saying that my handling of the Jon/Lyanna situation is realistic! I once got accused of bashing - which I don’t want to do so that was a bit of a blow. But I don’t think I’m bashing them to have my characters think negatively of them or disliking them. I did some investigation (mainly by reading r/relationships lmao) into how people feel when their parents break up due to affairs and the common thread I saw was a LOT of pain and resentment and yeah some jealousy and dislike of half siblings who resulted from those new relationships. And that’s in our society where we have stuff like divorce and no one’s starting wars over kidnapped fiancées. Imagine how much more resentment there would be in a situation where not only did your father leave you but that also 1. Put your life in jeopardy 2. Put your inheritance rights in jeopardy 3. You can’t just leave and tell him to fuck himself because in this society the family you have grants you saftey and power. Honestly Rhaegar’s lucky someone hasn’t snapped and stabbed him yet.

You're right to say they aren't accommodating or friendly, saying that Lyanna and Jon are an afterthought is probably right. Rhaenys Rhaella and Elia have approached something like tolerance with Lyanna – they’ll leave her alone if she leaves them alone and that’s the way everyone likes it. In an everyone lived situation I simply don’t think it would be realistic to approach it in any other way. And because Elia and Rhaenys are more on the “winning” side of this I dont think they would spend every waking moment dwelling and brooding on Lyanna.

I think this tendency to have Elia and Rhaenys approve whole-heartedly of Lyanna and Jon is caused by 4 factors

1.     The misguided need to have them be good or to “give them agency”. Making a character a flat nobody who doesn’t have any emotions towards a situation that would be dangerous and deeply personally humiliating to them isn’t making them good or giving them agency its making them boring and unrealistic.

2. Not wanting to “pit girls against one another”. Look i hate this trope of 2 girls catfighting over a guy as much as anyone else but I have noticed that sometimes people say “don’t pit women against each other” when....2 girl characters don’t like each other for totally legitimate reasons. Elia doesn’t dislike Lyanna because she loves Rhaegar and Lyanna was a homewrecker who stole him. Elia is understandably angry because the whole realm is destabilized, her children’s lives and futures are in danger, and she’s been nationally humiliated. Let female characters be as complex as the male ones. No one bats an eye that Ned and Jaime despise one another because they’re men and we don’t expect male characters to be beautiful angels who never have a bad thought about anyone.

3.     To have them be good to contrast “bitchy” Catelyn. Cat isn’t a bitch and I will die on this hill. If you want to look at who was primarily responsible for the whole Jon situation Rhaegar and Ned are right there.

4.     Being unable to conceptualize non-white characters as having motivations (and negative emotions) that are either directed towards or separate from a (usually white) fandom fav character like Lyanna or Jon.

[danhoemei]

hi! hope you’re doing well! thank you for sharing amazing art and for supporting creators the way you do! if you don’t mind me asking, I was wondering who’s your favorite character in shl 🧐 I’m very curious!

hello! I am doing well and I hope you do as well 💚 and akjvbelfknbejkbv thank you for your kind words, I really appreciate 💚💚💚🥺 I’m happy you enjoy 😊

I’ve been very busy these past few days, which is also why I’m much less active, and this ask has been sitting in my inbox, so sorry about that! But if I knew who’s my favourite I could answer simply and quickly, right? Welllll, such a simple question and it made the gears in my mind spin so much, somehow I had never thought of who was my favourite before. And you know what? I just had no clue.

Then it hit me how it resonated with my recent thoughts on art in general... which I put on another post because I started writing here and it just got so big and off topic xddd But in short, my problem was that you can like characters for so many diverse reasons that it’s sometimes truly hard to compare and make a ranking.

Firstly, a disclaimer, that I *cough* still haven’t watched the drama *cough* (I’m really gonna watch it I swear I’m just not good at watching stuff alone and I’m still dwelling on my novel impression which I use in my writing skjdnvkjbfvker I can’t let go help). I’m very curious about some characters which were given a whole new life in the drama or were non existent in the novel, especially all the incredible ladies or scorpion king. But for now I have to answer for the novel xd

So I had a problem because I love so many characters. Wen Kexing is literally one of my fav tropes for love interests. Smart and witty, sneaky and with much power hidden underneath, literally unhinged, but at the same time can goof around and loves to tease their love interest, starving for affection and ready to give a lot of it themselves, and after they obtain it they get possessive and ready to do hella lot to keep it. I have a lot of fun with such characters and I'm a simp for them, so wen kexing just hit so many sweet spots.

Ye baiyi started off as just a comic relief for me, but he kept growing in my eyes until he climbed up so high. I love his bluntness and how done he is with everything, so free and uncaring. Which kind of stems from his painful backstory, but also shows how strong mentally he is that he managed to bear so much and keep on living like he did. I respect him tremendously, as well as lowkey relate to being done and not caring for some things (which I previously was very anxious about but now could not care less).

Gu xiang and cao weining didn't leave the best impressions at first, but they bloomed in my eyes and I care for them so deeply now 🥺 

I don't know much about jing beiyuan and wu xi because qi ye is also still on my ‘to read’ list, but even just these few bits in tyk made me already very interested and warmed up for these two.

But after all the scattered thinking in these past days, I somehow finally circled back to zhou zishu. And I understood that as much as I love all these characters for so many different reasons, I think zzs wins in one pretty personal to me aspect - how I relate to a certain trait of his, and that every time a character like that appears I go feral for them. It was like that for liu qingge, for jiang cheng, even for shen jiu. It's the characters that have troubles putting their emotions and desires into words and actions, but at the same time they have much affection and care inside.

I like zzs for many things. His reluctant care for chengling and even more reluctant opening up to wkx make me all soft, I enjoy (and feel personally) his carefree attitude and bluntness, I respect his quick thinking, skills, and witty remarks. But what makes me care very deeply for characters like him is how they just can’t seem to easily and openly show their feelings or care. They often snap, brush off, or hide whenever it spills, as if they can’t handle it, don’t know how to react, or because it destroys the image they try to uphold. But you can still see signs of it in their actions, when they help someone, make something for them, heal them, give them tips, rescue them if they’re in trouble. Or show their vulnerability in a moment of weakness, in the presence of someone they trust. Goddamn I go feral for that. Also I have much satisfaction when that image or defenses get brought down ajkfnklsdgnvl

And it all stems from the fact that, as much as it may sound ridiculous with all my openness and excitement that you see here, I have terrible troubles in this area as well xdd I am a good actor and observer who knows what to avoid, so if I don’t want someone to know something, they won’t. And I am painfully awkward and absolutely an idiot when it comes to anything romantic or intimate. So combining these two aspects ends up with me suffering in silence and living delusions in my head, while the other person I have feelings for is absolutely oblivious or even thinks that I don’t like them because of all my freezing and changing the subject whenever it gets in any way intimate or emotional xd I am an epitome of awkwardness and avoidance in this, constantly running away when I can’t handle feelings or don’t know how to react xd

So yeah, such characters resonate with me a lot and I self-project on zzs a lot in my writing. Now u know my secret lmao

[inkdemonapologist]

Okay but I do actually want to know both the things you love and the things you could rant about from DCTL?

OH BOY UHHHHHH okay lets see, I'm gonna see if I can do the "add a readmore after you post it" thing and see if that'll keep it stable.......

But also, much like Sammy, I am incapable of shutting up unless you strike me in the head with a blunt object, so uh, forgive my wordiness:

THINGS I ENJOY:

- DCTL gave us Sammy's ink addiction and like, if you had asked me before all this "what would you most like to see in a franchise?" I would not have answered "one of the characters drinks ink accidentally and then discovers that he can't stop" but boy that sure is my favourite concept that I LOVE to see handled literally any other way than how the book handled it!!!

- I like what it added to Tom and Allison and Norman!! Like, it's not big twists on their characters or anything -- we already knew Tom felt he was doing the wrong thing, so getting to see his CRUSHING GUILT over creating the machine isn't New Information, but it's nice to see and understand more of him; for all of them I feel a lot more attached to them after getting to see more of them as people.

- Like 90% of the "I LOVE IT" category for me is how the book handled Joey, and Buddy's relationship with Joey. The way Joey isn't a Sinister Mastermind Who’s Just Screwing With Everyone but just manipulative in a more mundane way -- someone who thinks of himself as just the guy with the vision to call the shots; he wants what he wants and this is how he's learned to get it; he exploits people not through devious schemes, but just by offering them something that they want or need and asking too much in return, expecting their loyalty for his favours. And the way he interacts with Buddy, making Buddy complicit with him and keeping Buddy off-balance and insecure while making him a favourite and treating him as Special is just PERFECT --  gives a lot of content to kind of extrapolate off of when pondering what must've drawn the others in and convinced them to ignore the red flags. I was initially frustrated with the idea of Buddy not being an artist and jUST DECIDING TO LEARN TO ANIMATE ON THE SPOT ("I've never done this before but I'm sure I can just do an artist's job" is a weirdly common throwaway thing in media and as an artist iTS A PET PEEVE) but actually the way they use his plagiarism to make him trapped in a lie in ways Joey doesn't even realise ends up being a neat echo of other employees (coughTOMcough), who were involved in much graver sins but suddenly felt they couldn't object or they'd lose their one chance, just like Buddy. There's a lot here that I think is really great.

OKAY THATS THE GOOD STUFF, LET'S COMPLAIN ABOUT SAMMY:

- Uncomfortable Bigotry Vagueness that we all knew was gonna be in this list -- I dunno man, a guy committing a microaggression and getting startled and defensive when he's called out for it doesn't necessarily completely ruin his character I GUESS, but the way this was handled is just SO WEIRD AND VAGUE that it's uncomfortable and it doesn't seem to serve any real purpose. "Is Tom black?" is a question I actually have to ask because the text sort of implies he is while also dancing around it and apparently Word of God said he's not??? which makes Buddy's comment nonsensical???? And I mean, you could go that route, since Buddy wonders to himself if Sammy talks to everyone like this -- HE ACTUALLY DOES!! Even within the text of the novel, he uses "Joey" instead of Mr. Drew, which is consistent with his audiologs in the game -- but that makes the writing suggest "this character THINKS this guy might be racist but actually they're reading too much into it and it wasn't racially motivated at all, he's just a jerk!!" wHICH IS SOMEHOW EVEN MORE ICKY??? Anyway like yeah I guess it's not inconsistent with his character that while Sammy Lawrence may not have any specific grudge against minorities he has probably not checked his privilege or done the work to challenge his own internal biases, but “Your Fav Probably Contributes To Systemic Racism In Ways He Hasn’t Considered, As Do We All When Our Assumptions Go Unchecked” is still a wild thing to wade through in a fun story about demonic cartoons

- but yknow so is T H E   H O L O C A U S T

- Sammy's voice is wrong. I'm actually okay with him being a weird awkward asshole, I already kind of assumed he was and that's part of why I like him!! but there's so many places he doesn't quite... talk like himself? And not just in terms of word choice, like -- so in his monologue at the end, he's described as talking so quickly that his words are "tumbling out faster than he can speak them," which initially seems fine; like yeah, that's a Standard Scene we're familiar with, the person who's been Driven Mad With Insight becoming more and more manic as they try to convey it -- until I tried to imagine it and realised that Sammy doesn't talk like this. That's a really consistent quality I always notice about his voice; whether he's almost giddily excited in prophet mode, or he’s his irritated and overworked human self, or he's violently angry and his voice has that echo effect -- he always speaks very deliberately. He enunciates carefully. There's some circumstances where I'd buy this as showing that he's Not Himself, but I feel like those would kind of need to be in the middle of his transformation, not at the end of it.

- In fact a lot of the scenes with Sammy kind of have this feeling -- that it's not necessarily an exploration of Sammy as a character, but that he is filling a trope or archetype role here. Once he's fully transformed he excitedly describes the process as more of a mental compulsion, which is in contrast to his weird yeerk-infected behaviour when trying to get ink from Miss Lambert. Both of those scenes don't seem wrong on their own because they fit tropes we know -- but they feel weird when you try to fit them together.

- I also just in general am not a fan of the ink acting like a weird yeerk. It can be a parasite I guess but when it starts overwriting and puppeting people and crawling around to enter their body that's just a completely DIFFERENT kind of supernatural story and it’s not what im here for!!!

- THE FREAKIN!!! HE WILL SET US FREE!!!! WHY????????? SAMUEL LAWRENCE WHAT IS HE SETTING YOU FREE FROM??????? Sammy has No Motive for any of what he's doing, other than just Ink Made Me Do It. The whole thing that was INTERESTING about Sammy as a character is the contrast between this frustrated, ornery musician with no specific love for the cartoons he works on, and the manically devoted cultist he becomes. What happened in the middle there? What made him desperate enough to shift his mindset so much? "Something supernatural made him do things that don't benefit him in any way" is a very boring answer to this question!!! Susie was a victim who implies that her transformation has forced her to do things she didn't want to do, but we can still see her motive -- she wanted to be Alice, so she took a sketchy offer to try to get what she wanted. Even now, her violence echoes that goal -- to be a more perfect Alice. What did Sammy want? WHO KNOWS. Even in his ink-addled state at the end, we don't understand what he hopes the Ink Demon will even do for him, and in fact he seems to be responsible for creating the very scenario he's begging Bendy to reverse in the game.

- [sighs loudly into my hands]

- Overall I'm left wondering if the author just..... didn't like Sammy Lawrence? And I don't mean that in the sense of him being a rude jerk -- like, Joey is not a good person, but the author seems to be interested in him and in what makes him tick. There doesn't seem to be that same interest in Sammy. Sammy's role in the story is that of a monster, transformed into something murderous, unable to prevent or choose it. He's not a victim of anyone but the ink, no one had to manipulate him or figure out how his brain worked or what he wanted or what he feared or give him any reason to do the things he does -- ink got in his mouth and overwrote his personality. And we don't even get to see that change, not really. He starts out angry and defensive and continues being angry and defensive up until his very last scene, denying his ink-stealing but not really much else. We see all his prophetic sketches but we never see hints of this in him, we never see him start to act more excited and hopeful, we never see him seek out the demon he desires to please. Why do we never see Sammy struggling between his dismissive angry front and a building religious fervour he can't quite suppress? We don't get to see any of the in-between. There's no interest at all in why or even what it looked like as Sammy became what he became, when, to be honest, I suspect interest in precisely that is one reason he's such a big fav.

- It's funny, in a "cries into my hands" kind of way, when Sammy is just knocked in the head while monologuing and immediately removed from the story without further mention, like...... that sure is the pattern with him, isn't it, he just tries very very hard and never actually gets to matter, but it also fits right in here, too, in this book that doesn't want to think about his motives -- he rambles nonsensically, explaining nothing, gets one trademark phrase, and then is hastily removed so the story doesn't have to think about him anymore.

...................I think that's most of it.

...

Y'all............ I'm not ready for Sent From Above.......... I'm just not.... I'm not emotionally ready...... like..... Sammy has to be in that right..... he’s Susie’s boss and she has that big crush on him..................................... I’m not ready