#this is my personal opinion ofc but imagine your first books was interesting times

[higgsbison]

where can i start reading disc world?

(tl;dr version: Either with Guards!Guards! if you want angry urban fantasy or Wyrd Sisters if you want angry rural fantasy, then follow the list for that sub-series)

Oh anon brace yourself, there are in fact several ways people have big opinions on.

These are mine:

1. My least favorite way is from the start in chronological order

the trouble here is the first few Discworld novels were written as these kinda silly goofy fantasy/dnd parodies that weren't even supposed to be a part of a bigger thing and they honestly aren't that good, especially not compared to later books. That's the way I started and I just dropped the series for a few years cause of it, so I really don't recommend it. The author himself said he wasn't that good of a writer back then which is understandable, cause it was like 40 books ago.

2. What I reccomend is in chronological order based on different sub-series

Discworld novels all happen in the same world, but they follow different groups of characters, so you have several sub-series.

I'll post a list here, but it's pretty confusing so I'll also explain two of my favs below.

City Novels (Watch novels and Industrial Revolution novels)

About a huge, terrible metropolis and the people that help it run, stumble and sometimes trip over the years.

People normally split this into watch novels which follow the city watch and are crime procedurals/adventure books with a ton of social commentary and industrial revolution novels which are about the city speedrunning from medieval to industrial era via several inventions and follow different main characters who are mostly all there against their will.

To me, the main character is the city itself and I super recommend reading these from start to finish in order to see how it changes with time.

starting book: Guards! Guards!

Witches Novels

About three witches doing witch things in a small mountain kingdom, unless they're going on a trip somewhere.

Incredible horrid old lady characters, a lot of exploration of fantasy tropes, some deep emotional beats, very warm human phlosophy and personal responsibility themes.

There's a semi-seperate "YA" series about a younger witch (Tiffany Aching novels), but don't let that fool you, because those hit just as hard as the "adult" ones.

starting book: Wyrd Sisters (technically Equal Rites, but that's also in the awkward early books period for me)

As for the others, the death novels are also very very good, Small Gods is an amazing standalone book and I'd literally just avoid the Rincewind novels until you're already hooked on the series, but they probably have their fans too.

3. Just pick up a random book you see in the library

A tried and tested method a lot of people swear by, most of the books are standalone enough for this to work, BUT my personal opinion is at least the city books should be read in order (especially Night Watch) and there's several less than stellar books you could pick up first by mistake this way (Color of Magic, Light Fantastic, Interesting Times and Faust being the worst imo).

[theshiftingfairy]

Well, i want to ask for some advice on shifting.

I haven’t shifted yet,becuse i am indecisive.like i have too many shifting ideas, Too many wr ideas. That i cannot choose one to shift. I feel like i need to focus on a single idea.but i dont know.😮‍💨

And i have read your post of waiting room.you wrote that you also have multiple wr.so,how do you manage it?

Also, is shifting to a familiar realities like tv shows or books easier than shifting to a reality completely out of our imagination.?

This is all very interesting questions we don’t hear often, and I would love to discuss, so thank you for your ask !

Keep in mind that while I had shifting experiences in the past, I have yet to shift for long periods of time, in fictional drs anyway, so I wouldn’t call myself a shifting expert ^^’

I feel you, I think a lot of us have our imagination running wild with the infinite possibilities of shifting and it makes it hard to settle on one place.

Having multiple waiting rooms

There is personally two things I do :

- before trying to shift , I decide on one place, even if it’s hard to decide which one, I decide on only one.

I think it’s important to remind yourself that shifting to one place won’t keep you from shifting to any others drs later.

I go with the one I feel the most excited about in the moment. And if during meditation I have images of my others waiting rooms or drs coming to mind, I accept them, let them play for a bit and gently push them away.

I don’t personally believe having images or ideas of others places than the one you decided on first will keep you from shifting, as long as you made your intention clear before starting to shift. ( by simply saying “I’m shifting to my blank dr/wr) repressing them would only make them come back stronger in my opinion.

- I made it so there is a magical “narnia wardrobe”/ door in all my waiting rooms that connect them together, so technically all my waiting rooms are the same reality and it’s all a matter of where I wake up first and if I shift in one of the waiting room but suddenly don’t feel like being there anymore, I just have to open the door.

I think this reduce the fear of “deciding wrong” if that make sense 😅 ( there is no wrong answer in this situation ofc, it’s the anxiety talking )

When it comes to waiting rooms, the whole point is to wind down before or after shifting to more exciting drs. It shouldn’t be a source of anxiety , so I would recommend to keep it simple, focusing on one room, maybe a house before trying to focus on more complicated settings.

For instance I had a Disney dreamlight valley waiting room that I now consider more like a full dr, even though there is still doors making me shift to my drs inside the castle. That’s because there is a lot of other people in that dr, there is not only my house but all the Disney villagers. And there is no plot, but when there is a community , there will always be situation where it’s difficult to really wind down.

If I feel really excited about going there I won’t stop myself ofc, but I try to focus on more simple wrs where it’s just me, for the first time at least.

Tv shows and books drs 🆚 imagination drs

For your second question, i believe it’s not so much about the dr coming from a book/show or from your imagination than the emotional bond attach to it.

It’s true that for shows, we have more visual resources to connect to our dr, but I think the important part is the feelings we have towards the realities we want to shift to, the strong emotions we felt while discovering the story, the bond it creates for us with the characters.

And sure, a show or a book is made to make us feel strong attachment, but our imagination can create just as strong if not more of an emotional bond.

Some people have a fictional world inside their head that really haunts them, and it can actually make it easier for those people to shift to these places that come from their imagination. I saw a girl on the French shifttok who talked about a world she invented and intent to shift to (and “mini” shifted a few times if I remember correctly) because of how dear this place is to her heart.

Btw, I think that it’s one thing that can make it more difficult to shift in a Wr, since we are less likely to create a connection to one place, no matter how beautiful and whimsical we make it if there is no emotional bond attached to it. I personally feel attached to the wrs I have scripted and I like them for different reasons (I could talk more about it in another post) but it could be one reason why it’s difficult to shift in a wr for some people.

Now, I hope this post could give you some clarity 💜

The overall message is don’t stress too much about it and follow your heart, it knows the way. (cheesy I know 😆)

Happy shifting 🧚🏻‍♀️

[floorbe]

Kazuichi, Byakuya, Shuichi, Nagito, Hajime, Taka, Sonia & Mondo headcanons with a partner who is the Ultimate Dreamer? As in they have a HUGE imagination and creativity. They always ramble about ideas, are easily distracted/zone out a lot and get very emotional when an idea for a story or art piece doesn't go according to plan? I know that's a lot of people so you don't have to do them all, i'm sorry

ofc!! its not too many ppl at all, dw!!!

~

Kazuichi Souda

-He’s right on your wavelength!

-He’s got a crazy amount of creativity, too, so he’s right there with you and egging on your ideas!!

-He even adds on to them if you want! He’s got a lot of suggestions for everything

-He also asks for suggestions from you when he’s blocked for ideas on what to build/examine next

-At first he’s kind of offended when you keep getting distracted while he’s talking, but once he realizes it doesn’t mean you’re not interested, he’s cool!

-Has no problem repeating what he said, even if he has to do it twenty times in one conversation

-Kazuichi can completely empathize with getting emotional when something doesn’t turn out right

-He gets the same way when it’s his own creations, so he knows exactly how you feel and how to help

-“Hey, Y/N, don’t worry about it, okay?! We can always try again! Plus, I think this turned out pretty damn cool, anyway...” 

-He’s always encouraging you and complimenting all of your works, even the ones you don’t think are up to par. And he genuinely means everything he says

-You can count on him to always be there to motivate you to try again or move onto the next project

Byakuya Togami

-He’s honestly really impressed with how creative you are

-You’ll probably never know genuinely how much, because the most he’ll say is a “That’s quite an idea, Y/N” 

-He’s going to get frustrated at first if you zone out often, so bear with him as he gets over himself a bit

-Once he does get more used to it, he’ll just sigh and repeat what he said. It isn’t much better than before, but at least he’s not rolling his eyes with a snarky reply anymore

-He kind of... nitpicks your ideas? He doesn’t mean it in a harmful way, he just wants to add on in his own way. He’ll add on his own suggestions for a more practical and successful approach

-He’s actually a pretty good listener, though you’ll mostly get hums and grunts as responses as he doesn’t have much to add onto your thoughts

-If you’re a writer, he’s fully willing to proof read your stuff! He won’t say that, of course, but you can tell by how quickly he gives in when you ask him

-When you get emotional that something didn’t go right, he’ll walk past you and take a look at it himself

-“...This turned out well, Y/N. Our minds expectations are always higher than what we can accomplish; or, you’re your own worst critic, as they say.” 

Shuichi Saihara

-He’s amazed with how many ideas you have?? It seems like you never run out, and he’s so interested in hearing every one

-He doesn’t really have much to add on (and he kinda feels like he’s imposing by suggesting stuff) but if you ask he’s more than happy to give his own thoughts!

-Doesn’t mind you zoning out at all! He actually starts picking up on the signs that you are and either 1. catches your attention again or 2. gives you a minute before going on

-When you start getting emotional over something that didn’t turn out quite right, he’s right there beside you to ride it out with you

-“I-I think it’s amazing, Y/N, really!” and he does! But he knows what it’s like to not meet your own expectations, so he tries his best to be there for you

-And when you eventually pick up the motivation to start a new piece/work on your project again, he’s right there supporting you

Nagito Komaeda

-He’s astounded by how many ideas you have, and he wants to know about every single one

-This man is one of the best listeners you’ll ever meet

-He’s dead silent while you talk unless you want him to add stuff in or ask questions, in which he’s got you, too!

-He loves watching you work, and will gladly sit by you for hours just chilling

-Doesn’t mind at all if you zone out, but he may take it way too personally in a self hatred way, so make sure to reassure him it’s not because of him

-He’s so, so supportive of everything you make!

-He really does not understand how you could think that something didn’t turn out well, because “everything you do is amazing, my love!” 

-He’s got so many compliments for every project you work on. It’s almost too much, but later on in the relationship he knows when to pull back

-If you’re a painter, he’d love to paint with you!! He has no qualms about getting messy, and he loves spending time with you!

Hajime Hinata

-He loves listening to all of your thoughts and ideas!!

-Secretly kinda jealous of how big your imagination is, but he won’t tell you that

-He doesn’t have much to weigh in tbh, he just likes listening, but he’ll give suggestions if you want!

-Tbh he zones out a lot, too, so he totally understands you! He’ll just gently snap your attention back if you ask him to!

-He’s also right by your side when he sees you start to get emotional over a project

-He tries his best to comfort you, mostly by complimenting the piece in question and reassuring you it looks great (and it does!)

-He’ll stick to just comforting you if you don’t want any compliments, tho. He’s a great hugger!

-If you draw, sometimes you’ll catch him sketching in his own little book after watching you draw. He only lets you catch a glimpse of it before he shuts it, but it looked... suspiciously like you? 

Kiyotaka Ishimaru

-This man admires you so, so much. He has so much respect for you

-He’s not really an art person, so if your projects are art based he is so enamored by it! If you’ll let him, he’d love to sit in and watch you while you work! 

-Your creativity is so fascinating to him. He loves hearing all of your ideas, and loves discussing them with you! 

-He’ll try to add in suggestions, but if you want him to just listen he’s fine with that, too

-At first he thinks you’re zoning out because you’re being rude/disrespectful (and he’s a little hurt on the inside at the thought), but once you clarify that that’s not the case at all he’s 100% okay again

-Offers to proof read your stuff if you’re a writer! He may not be that good at creative writing, but he’s damn good at proof reading and editing writings

-He’ll absolutely ask for tips on some of the stuff that he’s interested in if that’s what you also do! (“Y/N, please teach me how to draw the other eye!”)

-He starts picking up on early signs that you’re starting to get emotional over a project, and he’ll rush to your side early to try and help out

-Whether it be by complimenting the piece (which he thinks is just... amazing, really, he doesn’t get how you don’t see that??) or just rubbing your back as you lament over it, he’s right there

Sonia Nevermind

-She’s so excited!!! She loves listening to other people talk about what they’re passionate about!

-She could spend hours just sitting with you and listening to you talk about your new ideas!

-She’ll get so excited if you ask her to weigh in with her opinion, so excited that she may fill up the suggestion with curse words on accident

-She doesn’t mind you zoning out at all! She knows it’s not intentional and she has no problem just catching your attention again and asking where in her sentence you zoned out so she can continue

-Sonia is very observant about the people she cares about, so she can see that you’re starting to get emotional over a piece before you even notice it 

-At an instant she’s bringing you water and snacks, suggesting to take a break with her and relax for a bit

-If that doesn’t work, she’ll wrap you up in her arms to comfort you and remind you that even if this didn’t turn out exactly how you wanted, it still turned out amazing in the end, and that is something to be proud of!

Mondo Oowada

-Damn, he’s impressed. How do you have so many ideas up in your head?? He’s astounded with every one tbh!

-Sometimes he asks you for ideas for what he should build next! (He’ll also let you paint his stuff if you want)

-If you paint or draw, please ask him to join you one day. It will be hilarious and endearing (imagine him drawing a hideous stick figure and labelling it as you)

-He likes sitting you in his lap as you talk about your ideas, and he’ll hum as he listens to you; he’s more of a listener

-Doesn’t mind at all if you zone out! He’ll just hum and repeat himself; no harm done! If you’re apologetic, he’ll scoff and reassure you that he does not “fuckin’ care, babe, it’s not a big deal to say something again”

-He can tell if you’re starting to get frustrated by a piece not going according to plan, and he tries to coax you into taking a break before you get too frustrated

-If you still get emotional over it, he’s beside you rubbing your back soothingly and reassuring you that you can try again another time

-Brings you away from the piece to get your mind off of it, whether that be by motorcycle ride, movie, etc., he’s pulling out all the stops 

[akiwirain]

Persona’s Talk AU??

I keep seeing all of these cool headcanons about each of the group’s personas talking to them throughout their day ... and ofc I have to expand upon it, because it sounds so cool??

So imagine:

Ann: her persona is as fierce and fiery as she is. she’s constantly giving advice to Ann and just genuinely helping out. Carmen is supposed to be known for her charm and using that to make men fall for her, then discarding them.

Cue Ann getting asked out at school by some guy ...

“Uhh, well, you see—“

“Ooo, tell him yes!! He’s a bit cute!!”

“....No.”

Ann never listens to Carmen’s comments about woeing the men around her. Carmen isn’t the happiest about it, but Ann doesn’t mind much. She isn’t ready for a relationship and her persona will have to just accept that.

Ryuji: Using his awakening as an opening point, Captain Kidd reallt wants to just ... wreak havoc and let loose. He’s almost a fun side in Ryuji’s head, constantly wanting to have an adventure. He also helps a lot with Joker, by giving Ryuji advice on how to be a good right hand man.

Morgana: Zorro is known as a defender, along with being a masked outlaw (most of the personas are based off outlaws oof). I would imagine he would just aid Morgana in his quest to help others.

Cue Zorro chastising Morgana when he makes comments about Ryuji:

“He won’t get better with that talk.”

“Tsk, if he even has the mental capacity to get better.”

“Everyone has the ability to get better ... including you.”

Let’s just say Morgana does a lot of tuning out in these moments.

Yusuke: Goemon was a skillful individual who would steal from the rich and give to the poor. Using this, I’d imagine Goemon would help aid Yusuke in his aid to find who he is. His entire confidant link could be Goemon trying to help him find his way. When Yusuke gets offered the deal, Goemon is sure to tell him not to accept. Goemon wants Yusuke to make his own path and have a sense of self in all of his work. To not be tainted by greed, like his master.

In this way, Goemon pushes Yusuke and Yusuke is quick to agree and accept the help. Goemon maybe views Yusuke with a certain ... guardian-like view. I’d imagine he’d be proud when Yusuke finds his way.

Makoto: Johanna is based off of a Pope who disguised herself as male to well, be a Pope. She essentially goes against societies norms and with this, I believe she would push Makoto to push through the box she had previously been in. Whenever an adult asks something of Makoto now, Johanna is quick to inform her to choose her own path—be her own person.

When Makoto gets a bad feeling about who her friend is dating, Johanna backs her up.

“I agree, this man does seem rather suspicious..”

“Exactly! I have to investigate further.”

Johanna wouldn’t be afraid of trouble and would be just as rash as Makoto. In the end, they would each have good intentions, but wouldn’t want to be held back by the norms of society.

Futaba: Necronomicon almost seems like a reference to how Futaba was Medjed, but yet fake Medjed’s were made. Necronomicon was a book that ended up getting fakes circulated (along with a cult following ... yikes). I would imagine Necronomicon to be partially quiet. It wouldn’t say much, except when things get immensely serious and Futaba is spiraling.

Futaba might be out, seeing people and freaking out, but Necronomicon gives a simple,

“It’ll be alright.”

Somehow it works and Futaba doesn’t feel as alone.

Haru: Milady is essentially an independent woman (who don’t need no man (forgive me)). She was fierce and apparently rather manipulative and was branded a criminal, along with a villain. She would also bring others to ruin, more focused on personal gain.

I would imagine this would come up when Haru is so focused on being selfless. She has to overcome her reasoning and realize that no, she wants to change her father’s heart because she doesn’t want to marry, even if it’s partially for the people her father hurt. Milady would be quick to tell her to unleash this side of herself, learn to be selfish. I’d imagine after losing her father, Milady would be quick to comfort her, would be quick to lead her to want retribution for whomever was the black mask.

Maybe even lead Haru to thinking it was the Phantom Thieves at first?

Cue Sae meeting with Haru about the calling card and mentioning the principal:

“It seems we were deceived, my dear.”

“No. No, it couldn’t have been them. The-The principal ... that..”

Cue angst and Haru having to talk to the others, while Milady still is in the back of her mind, doubtful. Eventually she quiets, realizing that Haru truly belongs with them. She wants Haru happy, after all.

Sumire: Cendrillon is really just a French adaption of Cinderella. In essence, it’s Sumire putting on that gown and playing pretend (as in, being Kasumi, because Maruki allowed her to do so). Cendrillon relates to Sumi’s wishes and that’s what leads to them being so easily manipulated by Maruki.

Cendrillon, after being awakened, helps to keep Sumire motivated. She would be talkative during Sumire’s gymnastic practices and would get Sumire to truly do her best.

When Sumire finds out the truth after watching the video, Cendrillon is silent and practically in the same pain Sumire is. She knows what it’s like for that magic to disappear.

This is where things get interesting ... multiple persona users:

Akechi:

Robin Hood would be Akechi’s more ... childish side. The side that was more innocent and truly wanted justice for what happened to his mother, along with himself. Robin Hood is known to steal from the rich and give to the poor, much like Goemon. Robin Hood would be the side of Akechi that pushes him to do good.

Whenever Akechi is around the Phantom Theives, Robin Hood is loud. He likes to remind Akechi that .. “maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if we belonged here. With them.”

Loki, on the other hand, is based off a trickster god in mythology. He is known for both mischief and trickery. I imagine this side is awakened from Akechi’s sense of revenge. It’s the more enraged side of him that he uses to paste the mask on day by day.

Loki likes to be loud and opinionated. He likes to remind Goro of his plans and how he can’t turn back now.

The two personas would essentially fight a lot and it drives Akechi insane.

Cue Akechi getting a text from Shido about a target in mementos:

“Come on, let’s just get it done now. We need to enact our revenge after all, don’t we?”

“We could stop now. We could end your pitiful father’s tirade here and enter his palace..”

Akiren: Arsène is his starter persona, so I’ll start there.

Arsène is known for targeting criminals and is essentially an anti-hero. He’s also known as a Gentlemen Thief! With this, I think he’d really just encourage Akiren’s will of rebellion.

Cue Akiren getting to LeBlanc late one night after a mementos run:

“Ah, you’re back.”

“Quick, think of a lie.”

“Uh-“

“You were at the bathhouse!”

“I was at the bathhouse...”

“Okay?” Sojiro never really cares and gets back to his crossword puzzles. Akiren is still grateful to Arsène anyway.

Ah, but his other personas...

At first, it’s okay. He has a small arsenal that he carries around and while some are louder than others, it’s tolerable.

Until Igor raises his stock.

Eventually, he has 12 personas in one sitting and it’s never quiet. No matter what persona he’s holding in stock, they like to talk to one another or make comments on his daily life.

Or, alternatively, it only matters what mask he is wearing at the time.

Say, he’s hanging with a certain friend, so he cues up the matching arcana of that friend. That persona is quick to make comments on how to achieve max results with that friend and how to advance their confidant.

Cue Akiren meeting with Ann and cuing up a Lover’s persona.

I’d imagine some of the persona get aggregated at never being useful besides being used for comments and never for combat.

Anyway! That’s all the Phantom Thieves.

I don’t know if I’ll do Maruki?? Or even maybe the second/third awakening personas? I think it might be an interesting concept though!

[crazy-fangirl2524]

I read your bisexual aromantic Kevin post and omg im so intrigued! could you (if you want ofc) expand on why you think he's aromantic or other headcanons you have about it? Thank you!

Canonly, Kevin was supposed to be with Andrew and Neil. Nora was forced to cut out all that part as she thinks it’s “too much”. Thus according to this, Kevin was actually not straight but then nora changed it.

The whole fandom felt that Kevin is definitely not straight and either ship him with Andrew, Neil, Nicky, Aaron or their ocs. And it could be said that Nora used Thea as a shock factor and to just pair him up with someone. Furthermore, when renee told Neil that Andrew’s not straight Neil’s first thought was that Kevin and Andrew. Moreover, Kevin said “it’s easier to remain heterosexual,” this could imply that this was what he thought about himself.

So thats why I think Kevin day is bisexual.

“Their [Kevin and thea] relationship is built initially on intense physical attraction and athletic respect. It deepens over the years, but Exy will always be tangled up in the midst of it. They’re less about romantic getaways and more interested in beating each other up on the court.”

This is taken straight from the extra content (I know many people don’t consider that as canon, but personally I consider anything written by the author canon so bear with me for this okay). As many people didn’t actually take time to read the extra content, many may have skipped this.

This shows that at first their relationship was all physical and sexual, and only later developed into something more. However I never felt anything from Kevin and Thea and we never saw much so it’s normal to imagine that they broke up later (if you never read the extra content).

Now, we all know that Kevin is obsess with exy, (even obsess is to put it lightly). He put his whole focus on exy because that was what he was taught his entire life. The nest never allowed kevin to have any relationships and he never really find a problem with that? (I mean sure he did had a secret one with Thea but I never see that it was anything more than intrigued or sexual)

Now there’s also four and a half year age difference between Thea and Kevin, therefore, Kevin was only fourteen years old when Thea was eighteen and Kevin was a minor when their relationship began. And I hate big age differences so.

Then why not make Kevin biromantic? because every time someone ship Kevin with anyone else, they change many aspect of him. And I’m not saying that it’s not making Kevin “better” but it is literally just cutting out chunks of his character and moulding him into someone else. Kevin in the books literally never hinted to like anyone in anyway (it could be because he was already in a relationship with Thea but then Thea and him hadn’t talk since he got out of the nest and Kevin didn’t even think about telling her anything?! How does that screams a relationship to anyone? Therefore I rest my case that Kevin and Thea were only physical up until the end of tkm, the rest it depends on what one believes in)

And we rarely see aromantic characters in books or headcanon because the media made it seemed that to be complete or to heal from trauma or anything you will need someone. Yes of course people need support from others but it doesn’t necessarily have to be from your partner or someone romantically. It can be from friends and family which in my opinion is just as important as romantic relationships.

It is so easy to ship kevin with anyone. You can ship kevin with Andrew, Neil, Aaron, Nicky, Allison, Matt, jean, Jeremy. Literally anyone. He is the easiest character to ship with anyone in the books. So why the fuck not make him be satisfied with himself?! Why must we change part of him to make him suit another person when he is perfectly fine the way he is?

Honestly to be short and shallow I headcanoned him as aromantic because I want an aromantic character and all other characters are already taken lmao and I’m too lazy to make ocs for Kevin so making him aromantic make sense and I don’t want to make it about his trauma but he was literally taught to just make exy priority and nothing else so I feel like he never learn to care for relationships and then all the mafia shit and no time and Kevin couldn’t care more or else and feel like it’s wasting time and too much effort so yeah Kevin is aromantic. Oh ya and also there’s too little Kevin content on tumblr and I wanna write sth Kevin related and the first thing that pops up into mind is this. And I also have seen post saying Kevin is aro/ace but I don’t think he is asexual because the way Kevin sees Jeremy and giving his rare genuine smile yeah right straight my ass and Kevin must had been at least a little attracted to Andrew but was just too scared and had too many other things to worry about so.

[jeanmoreaux]

I hope you don’t mind, I have an unpopular opinion. As much as I love the SoC duology (mainly sentimental reasons), in hindsight I see so many plot holes or thins that didn’t make sense to me (in a practical sense or in terms of consistency with a character’s personality) and I wanted to both share and ask what you might think! (Pls don’t shoot me)

—- Leigh loves having everyone paired up nicely, but I was just thinking realistically how

strange that Inej becomes captain of a ship (as implied by the end of the 2nd book); she had just reunited with her family as well. It’s not wildly OOC to be a slave-hunter at all, but it’s hard for me to grasp Inej being in the position of a leader (whose ship will surely be recognized and soon enough avoided by said slavers); the whole time we see she excels at shadow work, she is deadliest when quiet/least expected—I suppose the whole commandeering a ship in contrast is something very loud. Almost flashy and so it still bugs me to this day 😫

How neat Wylan and Jesper are together, all wrapped in a bow. They are from incredibly different backgrounds, and this is more of an issue with the writing and pacing than the actual pair—but it wrapped up so quickly and too nicely for me. The very common ‘getting past subtle glances and little flirtatious gestures to finally making a move’ trope (??) // (this is more of a YA complaint because this is honestly a standard formula™️, but I just wanted to include this anyway as an example).

Leigh always has these wonderful concepts, but far too many POVs are included in the novels so it retains a surface-level approach, despite some characters having genuinely interesting psyches and stories that could’ve been explored further (personally for me: the characters of Kaz and Genya most of all)

And that…is just a some of the trivial little nuggets that bonk around my head when I remember SoC 🤣 I’m sorry this endedt up being so long!

hahaha yeah i guess that's quite an unpopular opinion! it's really interesting to read your takes on it (so pls don't apologise for the lengthy message!) i really appreciate your ask! i am happy you feel like you can share these opinions with me. they are pretty understandable issues to have with the series. i think your point on inej is definitely something i have asked myself too since she doesn't seem to have much experience when it comes to sailing and leading a crew, but i kind of always imagined her to curate a small team on an agile boat that stealthily takes out the slave-traders? idk that's what my mind came up with. i mean financially she's definitely in a position where she can do whatever she wants for however long she wants. i don't think she'd jump into it right away but rather spend some time with her family first. (but ofc that’s all just speculation.) i can definitely see why you'd criticise the pacing of wylan and jesper's relationship. it could have been executed better especially in soc. when it comes to their background i think that after everything they both experienced across their lives they're actually not that different? i mean wylan lived in the barrel for quite some time and while he grew up privileged i think he's well aware of how life looks like for people beyond his wealthy bubble. jesper was educated and grew up pretty sheltered on a farm that i imagine didn't do too bad since he had the funds to attend university in ketterdam (a university that even royalty attends—i think it is mentioned somewhere that nikolai was supposed to study there too). he is definitely not as privileged as wylan but the discrepancy is probably not as extreme as if jesper had grown up in the barrel. like, i agree their backgrounds are different, but the difference isn't so extreme that it would make a lasting relationship almost impossible. i kind of agree with your point on the POVs, but at the same time i also kind of don't??? i get why you'd want too get a deeper look into individual psyches, but i don't think that's something these books ever set out to do—while there is some strong character work ,the grishaverse books are foremost plot-driven stories. they don't aim for that in-depth exploration of characters' psyches. these novels never had the ambition to be intricate character studies. so it's not really fair to criticise them for not doing something they never intended to do (even though i completely get it, i would love dig a little deeper with kaz and genya too!!!) i never felt like the POVs in soc are too many bc i found them to be overall really effective in telling the story. they made it easier to tell the story in the way it was set up to be told. the different perspectives make it possible to cover the plot-relevant parts of the narrative in an engaging and exciting way bc you get different angles of different characters with different amounts of information. all the POVs revolve around the same ONE plot line that binds them together like a glue. ((that's why the POVs in the nikolai duology are TOO MANY... you have so many POV characters with their own plots and it doesn't really come together until the very end so you're just jumping around too much which consequently takes you out of the story. it's all so disjointed and quite messy which makes it hard to get invested in any of the narrative arcs.))

i think i'll have to stop here bc this is already SOO LONG, but i just wanna add that this series is YA, it just has to wrap up everything nicely. it kind of comes with the genre. (even tho i think the soc duology does leave some things a little open and ambiguous, it's not as neatly wrapped up as many other YA books, and i appreciate that.) in general i think i am just not so harsh on YA, but yeah it does require more suspension of disbelief in some cases.

[paint-music-with-me]

so

Bite Me is only 11 eps.....the last ep came out today....

I have never been so disappointed by a show since “My Gear and Your Gown”. The potential this show had was wasted! Some characters’ motivations? Wasted! Dynamics? Wasted! Deeper complexities of characters’?? WASTED!

i hated that they did a recap of Aue/Aek’s journey from ep1 to ep11 in the finale because it just reminded me of all the moments that could’ve carried a different tone but was lost. It reminded me that there was so much about Aue and Aek’s characters that weren’t dived into throughout the show. 

I think they sacrificed the writing and complexities for the aesthetic or “chill vibes” which I can understand BUT then they added back the “ep 11 curse” in ep 8-10(ish) and idk if they were tryna do a whole “oo what if we change the ep 11 curse to ep 8 cuz we’ll end happy on ep11?!” like no....that’s not how to do ....whatever you were doing... ;0;

Ugh, okay to let this off my chest, I’ll just bullet-point the changes I would’ve made if I were in charge of the story bc I’m a controlling asshole that can’t let things go: 

- aek’s confusion towards his feelings for aue -> I think it shouldve been more emphasized or discussed further bc i’m assuming this is the first time he’s ever fallen in love but he didn’t realize it bc he thought that what he felt for Aue was just brotherly love so maybe more indicators where he does things for Aue or situations where his friends are like “uhm that’s v romantic my dude” and Aek is just “huh? nah this is what i do” yknow? and ofc spread this out through the episodes until the climax -> also the way he dreaded the confession scene with aue felt so odd bc i didn’t understand why he would be dreading it BC WE THOUGHT THAT EVERYTHING WAS OKAY BC HE WAS RECIPROCATING HIS FEELINGS (or so we thought)

- aue’s insecurity of his skills -> he had runner-up in that cooking contest and now he has a restaurant that he’s proud of but he still unsure of his own talent/skill. I need more emphasis and maybe some conflicted feelings abt how talented Aek is and how Aue feels about that. The complexity comes from Aue wanting to nurture Aek’s abilities but also feeling like maybe he’s not good enough -> IMAGINE if someone else realized Aek’s talent and wanted to hire him or make him into a chef star and Aue’s sinking feelings of “is he going to leave me behind?” I mean don’t get me wrong, they sort of had this in the show but it was always bunkered down for the aesthetic or slowness of the plot so it fell through the cracks.

- prem and vich -> baby, i’m sorry (unpopular opinion) i felt NO chemistry btwn them. they played their parts that’s it. no sparks, no kilig, nada. They did buffer as a reflection of aue/aek (like their first kiss) which is fine but...they were underutilized that way bc uhm....idk why ...but prem’s dream and vich’s desire to follow prem was so out of the blue for me? Esp for the LAST ep??? ESP AFTER WHAT HAPPENED THE PAST COUPLE OF EPS????? I would’ve shown more dynamic btwn them like maybe vich has a critique abt prem’s pastries & prem takes it personally and it causes friction btwn the two but they do have an interest in each other and then the whole understanding and encouraging of dreams blossoms as a reflection of aue/aek’s budding relationship (tbh idk how to fix them. either they get chemistry and then spread their story throughout the show instead of stuffing it in the end or give them friction so there’s something to look forward to but that’s my personal opinion, i don’t want peace i waNT PROBLEMS ALWAYS!) 

- ERASE VIPHOB! - i did NOT give a flying fuck abt this guy like dude...Eve could done his job and her job and with more FINESSE AND CLASS. He was unnecessary in this...like dude....wtf

- EMPHASIZE EVE’S ROLE - HOLY SHIT, i’ve never seen a more underutilized character in a BL and that’s...saying alot.... I heard that in the book Eve isn’t technically a potential love rival or interest for Aue like she was just there to win which why didn’t they just do that? I don’t mind that she was a love rival in the show (sadly it couldve emphasized aue’s character, ow my feminist heart) but she had so much in terms of pushing Aue’s comfort zone and even Aek’s comfort zone - shoot, she could’ve even been a food critic after being the winner from the contest to push Aue/Aek! (v ratatouille ik but i mean there’s a reason why it’s an excellent movie) 

- NUNA AND HER DATE -> BITCH! INSTEAD OF BIE AND EVE ON A DATE, IT SHOULDVE BEEN NUNA NAD HER DATE ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME I DNT NEED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF BYE

---

these are just a FEW of the things i would’ve changed about this damn show. it’s hurts me to vomit this out bc i really did like the show initially, it was calming and beautifully shot and omg i love the actors! everyone was kind and i loved that the cooks/staff at Im-Aue were actually kind to Aek instead of giving him a hard time and that Aek has a beautiful relationship with his mother and even Aue has a great relationship w/ his mom and older brother! There wasn’t any friendship fights bc everyone cared and was willing to listen and encourage each other! But bc of that there’s no stakes, or challenges except internally for the characters and that’s where it lacked. The writing lacked the depth to make the characters feel like they’re risking something. I didn’t feel like anyone was risking anything or maybe they did but it didn’t matter. They’ll make up. There’s a happy ending, don’t worry. 

but that’s the problem. nothing was earned. happiness is not just thrusted upon you. It’s not something that you can achieve just by staring at someone and not saying anything and then just hugging it out. 

anyway, i’m watching My Sweet Dear to stop myself from shaking my entire neighborhood from my screaming rants so

[ruffboijuliaburnsides]

OKAY so last night i said something in tags about “ask me about my thoughts on atla post-canon polyamory” 99% because I had typed a bunch of shit in the tags and then accidentally CLOSED THE TAB thus losing said tags, so that was a bummer, BUT like 3 different people reached out wanting to hear about it so HERE GOES. (thanks to @taibhsearachd for rambling this out with me last night)

SO. this started bc we got somehow on the topic of how much we really disliked the whole Aang/Katara kiss at the end of the show.  Not because we’re against them kissing (Aang had to already have turned 13 by then, an innocent kiss is perfectly reasonable for a 13yo in my opinion), but because the placement of the kiss made it so... CENTRAL. We were talking about how we would’ve liked the kiss to have been earlier, preferably before the big finale, and then like... they still could’ve had a soft romantic moment on the balcony but it could’ve been like.  Hand holding or sitting together with Katara’s head on his shoulder.

And Birdie mentioned she’d always liked Zutara back in Ye Olde Tymes because the whole “Aang and Katara get together when they’re barely 13 and 15″ thing just seemed... really untenable if we’re going with endgame, AND it made a lot of sense to get Katara and Zuko together politically, especially since there’s nooooo princess up north anymore since she turned into the moon and all. But the resurgence of the fandom (thank you for once Netflix!) has opened our eyes to ZUKO AND SOKKA and that’s fuckin amazing but now we’re back to square one in re: Aang and Katara. But then I realized that we can fix all of this with a) allowing for healthy breakups of relationships that don’t work yet but might work when the people involved have grown/processed things, and b) extensive polyamory.

And so here’s my thought:

Aang and Katara break up for a while probably not long after the end of book 3.  They’re fucking kids, they’re traumatized kids no less, and they both have a lot of shit they need to deal with both personally and in the world that isn’t really conducive to “baby’s first serious relationship”.  They’re still friends, they view it as “well... let’s maybe try again in a few years if we’re both still interested”.  All their friends are aware of this and supportive and in the end it’s healthy for both of them bc their traumas and coping mechanisms didn’t always play nice with each other even BEFORE all the fallout from the finale and having to take on more responsibility in the world and such.

Zuko properly gets with Sokka and Suki during this time, though there’s no talk of like. Marriage or anything. Yes, Sokka’s politically got the same sort of appeal as Katara, but the thing about politically advantageous marriages at that level is there’s sort of the assumption that you’ll be, y’know, having heirs, so Sokka’s not really cut out for that and Suki flat out refused to be official Fire Lady or whatever.

So once Katara and Aang are older, like Aang’s 17 and Katara’s 19 and Zuko’s sitting over here at 21, and his advisors are all “ok but seriously Fire Lord Zuko, we really should look into at least a BETROTHAL of some sort” and he just sighs, and they’re bringing up all these Fire Nation ladies and he’s like “no it’s gotta be more diplomatic than that, she shouldn’t be Fire Nation” and so one of them’s like “well, uh, that water tribe lady you’re friends with, she’s set to be a pretty strong leader as she gets older, that would be a good way to do it.  Or that blind Earth Kingdom--” “NOT TOPH.” “ok but seriously, tho, think about it your majesty”

So Zuko’s torn because he really does like Katara, and she’d be an amazing Fire Lady in addition to being an amazing... whatever her title would be down in the Southern Water Tribe (I definitely picture her and Sokka basically being the leaders of the pan-tribal council - he handles military and adjacent stuff and she handles the rest).  But Katara’s with Aang again FINALLY not that they’ve made a big deal of it outside their friends.  BUT he knows that y’know... people can be with more than one person.  Hell, look at him and Sokka and Suki, right?

So he goes to talk to Aang like “I want to make sure I run this past you so she doesn’t have to try and do it, because I’m the one even bringing it up, and it’s obviously up to her, BUT here’s the sitch”.

And see, the thing about the Air Nomads is it really doesn’t make sense to me that they’d have the same kind of ideas about like.  Monogamy and parenthood and relationships as other nations, ���cause like.... the kids are clearly raised communally.  Like, I vote ‘you probably know who your parents are but really all the adults are your parents, maybe you get an extra cake from them on your birthday but that’s about it’ for the most part. And y’know being with who you want to be with sort of thing. Sure you’ll have people you might be more committed to, but by and large the general consensus is “love who you love, whoever and however many people that is!”

So Zuko’s all prepared to angst for even ASKING if Aang would mind playing technical second fiddle in an heir-producing/marriage/inheritance/etc sense to HIM, ugh what if Aang hates him for even thinking it? and Aang’s just like “oh yeah that’s cool dude, if she’s down go for it! You wanna talk to her together? I don’t mind being there to reassure her it’s ok, and that you weren’t asking me permission to ask her so much as you were making sure it wouldn’t upset me if you did, and all that” and Zuko’s like “...what. I.  Ok sure?”

And Katara does like Zuko, she just y’know, also liked Aang and didn’t want to GIVE UP Aang, but Zuko’s like “it’ll be good for our people, and I’d never make you stay in the fire nation full time you have your own responsibilities and also you don’t have to stop being with Aang or even like hide it or anything, it’s not like people don’t know I’m with Sokka and stuff, it’s just, y’know, OFFICIAL HEIRS and stuff” and so she’s like “Oh!  Oh, yeah, that’s good, we can have a couple kids and stuff”

But ofc they end up a lot closer than “just a couple kids” but it’s sweet!  She has kids with Zuko and kids with Aang and really as long as one of them turns out a firebender (can the avatar have a kid of any bending type? NO ONE KNOWS but Zuko’s advisors are prepared to accept it at this point) so long as they end up with A VIABLE HEIR that Zuko will claim etc etc.

And of course Zuko and Sokka and Suki have a couple kids whose parentage is uncertain not that they really CARE, and Suki and Aang aren’t really into each other romantically but when they’re a bit older they discuss it and decide to have a kid just so they can have a shot at a potential airbender baby, because heck yeah rebuilding the airbenders, might as well get some extra genetics up in this ish.

And these kids are all largely raised together in this big pack of like 10 kids of varying ages who move between 2 or 3 different homes, and Zuko rules the Fire Nation and Sokka and Katara lead the southern water tribes, and Aang does his Avatar thing, and they all spend as much time together as possible with the kids and Suki and some of her girls from Kyoshi Island are the main people ALWAYS THERE for the kids.

And there’s at least one kind of each bender in the group (bc you can’t tell me it’s 100% you have to have a bending parent, considering neither Katara’s mother or father were benders, so one of Suki’s kids is DEFFO an earthbender) and they’re a chaotic bunch and sometimes the Gaang forgets which one of them provided the genetics for which kid but really it doesn’t matter bc they’re ALL the kids’s parents, and all the kids are ALL their kids, and it’s a big happy messy disaster of a polycule that the Fire Nation nobility and advisors despair over, but they can’t deny that it seems to be working out pretty well and that the Fire Lord is good at his job and pretty damn happy, so they don’t bitch too much about it.

...Also at some point Sokka and Toph discuss dating and end up sort of doing it for a while but then going back to being friends, but she does ABSOLUTELY get him to father one of her kids, which she then declares firmly she made out of a rock and bended to life, and most people are preeeeetty sure she’s full of shit but can’t fully discount the possibility and only the Gaang knows the truth.

so yeah that’s my avatar polyamory thoughts, it is not canon-compliant with legend of korra but who cares this is my imagination and headcanon and LoK doesn’t play into it at all. *nod*

[dreamyaqua]

hi! it's always so nice to see astrology kpop blogs around and I really really like yours so far >< may i please have an astrology ship with the boyz? I have cancer sun (9H), leo moon (11H), gem mercury (9H), sag mars (3H), taurus venus (8H) and a libra ascendant + aqua lilith, cancer eros and psyche + gem juno 💜 ( can i also hear your thoughts about my placements? ) thank you so much in advance!!

Hi hi^-^ Thank you so much for enjoying my little blog so far! I love both kpop and astrology, so I definitely wanted to combine these two passions in some way. I've also always liked seeing kpop astro blogs around (we need more imo✊🏻🤧), so the fact that I kinda become one now is still hard to believe🤭🥺

Anyway, for your ship... I decided to pair you with...

Sunwoo!

Your other most compatible matches would be Juyeon, Haknyeon, Sangyeon, Younghoon, and Jacob!

lmao I kinda gave you half the group but I could see cute unions with each of them and they were all kind of on the same level, so I didn't want to withhold this information from you! Ofc it's just my opinion but yeah🥺👉🏻👈🏻

//

As for your placements, I really like how you have all four elements in your personal placements, it looks very balanced at first sight but of course with all elements, there can also be some difficulties/discrepancies but that's not what's concerning us right now!^-^

With your Cancer sun, Leo moon, Libra rising, and Taurus venus, you seem like a very creative, maybe even artistic person to me - and if you don't do art yourself, you might still enjoy art and music or have a sense for aesthetic and beauty. You're also likely to be a very sweet, warm, friendly, and empathetic person who cares a lot about the wellbeing of others/your loved ones, and is in general very giving and loving!🥺

With your Gemini mercury, it gives your emotional and intuitive nature a sharp mind to work with, you can put intellectualism and emotions together. With Gemini being ruled by Mercury, you're likely to have a quick mind, however, this placement can also be prone to overthinking. But combine that Gemini mercury with your moon in the 11th and your Sagittarius mars in the 3rd, and I feel like you're more of a social/outgoing person who values and loves their friends a lot and can also be quite talkative and enjoy having fun out and about with your friends. Though!!! on the other side, I can also see you being able to sit back with a nice book every once in a while and enjoy some quality time by yourself (and if you don't like reading then replace that with another hobby of yours haha).

Based on your Sagittarius mars, and your sun and mercury in the 9th House (ruled by Sagittarius), I could also imagine that you're interested in knowledge/learning, maybe philosophy, other cultures, and travelling to foreign countries could be very interesting to you. Maybe you're even interested in more spiritual and/or religious topics, I could definitely see you as a curious person who loves to explore and understand more about the world and with your Cancer sun, you even got that intuition that could be very beneficial for more spiritual topics!^-^

And wow, having your sun and moon ruled by the two luminaries and a Libra rising ruled by venus?? you're likely to have an innate charm and charisma about yourself and that you're literally shining, like a ray of sunlight or a sweet glimmer of moonlight during a radiant full moon. Even if you don't believe it, I'm sure you're shining brightly and beautifully!^-^

I hope you liked this ship and my little ramble opinion on your placements!🥺👉🏻👈🏻💞

[deathvsthemaiden]

💌 for the book asks: 5, 32, and 134?

Hello Mira!! Thank u for the ask 💖🌼🌻🌸☀️💫 I kept trying to format it in-app and tumblr deleted entire paragraphs like. TWICE I was so mad sgzhsbanm

5: something in fiction that reads like poetry

Omg whdjsjs I listened to the audiobook of Blood, Water, Paint by Joy McCullough and didn’t realize till I was totally done w/ it that it was supposed to be written in verse. Like. I thought the writing was just stilted for fun. FWHSBWNANWNWN 🤭😩 I have a so-so opinion of the novel in terms of quality and then more iffy feelings abt it overall that the next question coincidentally gave me opportunity to explain a little whsbsbh

32: your favourite nonfiction novel

Ok so I thought for a second this meant nonfiction book but I looked it up to be sure and it sounds more like historical fiction abt real ppl, which I stray away from bc I find the concept disconcerting more often than not (same w/ movies abt real ppl who’ve had “inspiring” lives like wgzhs idk it just squicks me out! Fiction is just not the best lens to learn abt the recently dead or not-even-dead-yet and still influential imo) like it depends on the person being fictionalized and why ofc, I just added those Hillary Mantel books I’ve seen some mutuals rave abt to my tbr, so I’m not wholly opposed to it, but the few nonfiction novels I’ve read I’ve usually not been a huge fan of (blood water paint, abt the painter Artemisia Gentileschi, was not bad per say but it was a bit hollow to me and not as thoughtfully written as it could’ve been. I respect the author’s intentions in raising awareness of sexual abuse tho, even if I question doing it in the medium she did w/ the specific characters and circumstances she did) But that doesn’t answer the question! (I’m sorry 😭😭)

my final answer is The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker v_v it was a very absorbing read and I’m still reluctant to be done with the characters, which is part of why I haven’t finished the trilogy yet, after all this time 😬😳! It’s one of those books w/ dual povs that are equally interesting and I loved the level of historical detail 🧐📝

134 unreccomend any book you like!

Most books I hate I haven’t even read or at least not read in full Bc I hate the person who made them and/or the concept behind them GWJSWNNW (like those hovel of brass books by Snowy Achromatic Chakraborty or red white and royal propaganda) but while I was thinking of my answer to the q above I remembered Dracul by Dacre Stoker 😑 I hate stories that try to push “love conquers all” sentiments in a way that throws consequences and consistency out the window like…. It was such a stupid shallow book!! I already didn’t love the og Dracula novel (I loved the first few chapters but the rest was a slog despite my being invested in the plot and characters ://) (I love the novel for its plot and impacts and concepts more than anything… not its delivery) but Dracul didn’t even have any of those merits to boast abt -_- !! Very childish and boring book…also…. can u imagine being a famous author, dying, and then ur progeny a few generations later tries to capitalize on ur legacy with the driest book imaginable? With YOU as a character??? I’d come back to life 😐🔪

[juni-ravenhall]

my opinions on mistfall!

under a cut bc spoilers and/or not everyone wants to read :D 

overall experience: 

its fun that there IS a sso cartoon now even if its not exactly amazing quality, and im happy to see if there will be more series or movies after this. it was fun to watch and see sso things in cartoon form too and i wish that we had more already (of sso animation in general). imagine if there had been a ssl cartoon? i also kept thinking throughout this, that it wouldn’t be hard for me myself to make an animated series with around the same length episodes and in a similar quality to this (aside from voice acting and music production), which made me feel a little inspired.

favourite scene:

skye taking photos of blaze and hanging out

positive points: 

i like the background art a lot, i think the style of it, and the colour schemes, helps give the series a specific vibe that fits for an sso series in my opinion. 

i like the concept art (i assume) illustrations which we saw in the recipes and other posts on sso ig, i think it looks a lot better than the characters in the series, but thats normal for concept art!!

the music is really good quality (whether or not its your taste, the quality is good) which is ofc bc its sso - theres already good music and not something they only did for the cartoon but something they care about in all of the starstable media. 

i think skye is a nice character (despite the series’ overall low quality writing) and i like her design. i also think rania’s cartoon design (visually) is cute.

skye and rania being a teensy bit gay (minus points for sso if they dont end up really gay in later canon)

i like that blaze wasnt actually like... mean or anything to skye, and i like that shes a mare since typical stories like this usually have stallions. but i just like that there wasnt really any “ooh difficult horse” things between skye and blaze in the current time of the story, blaze actually was sweet to her most the time. blaze seemed pretty charming whenever there wasnt “omg fire” drama. 

the animation itself (not meaning the details of the drawings or scene timing, just the actual frame by frame / puppet movements) was fine! not amazing, but absolutely fine.

points i have constructive criticism for, which doesn’t mean that i expected more from the series, but that we’re all allowed to discuss the quality and our opinions of media regardless of the target audience, budget, etc:

the writing was childish and rushed - this is not to be rude, but a matter that affects a lot of “media for girls / kids”, and a topic talked a lot about by Lauren Faust (creator of the FiM reboot of MLP) who wanted to show that a show about rainbow ponies “for little girls” didn’t have to be badly written, and could be engaging and interesting. if you watch the older MLP cartoons and compare to the first season of FiM (where Faust was still on the team) you can see a huge difference in quality of the storytelling, characterisation, etc. Mistfall, so far, did not subvert any expectation in the quality of what typical “cartoons for girls” are like, and is reminiscent of stuff like “The Ranch” (french horse cartoon) which imo is so bad that its hard to watch. (and ofc... that goes for a lot of “cartoons for girls / kids”, but doesn’t have to be like that.) in order to improve on this, the writer has to study more on storytelling and study from better writers.

on the topic of being rushed: no, it’s not an excuse that the episodes are short: - you have to ADAPT your storytelling and writing to the length of the episodes, not do a bad job and blame the episode length. being able to adapt to different types of media is a necessary skill if that’s what you work with. this comes down to proper planning and structuring the story and writing in a way that works for the length of the episodes. i don’t think that was overall done well here (at times it was okay), and bc of that, it feels rushed and has exposition thrown in your face instead of being shown through better storytelling. the classic thing with exposition is “show, don’t tell”. this is what the writers/directors should study, or pay more attention to. 

the timing (length of shots, length of scenes, or parts of shots, etc) was rly bad at times and overall unimpressive - this comes down to the skill of directors and editors. to improve this they have to study more on the topic. bad timing and pacing can really ruin a good scene or a good story and make it feel disconnected and hard to immerse in for the audience.

the artstyle of characters and horses is fine at times, but appears very low quality at others (skye’s childhood scene really bothered me bc her kid-self had really badly drawn eyes in my opinion). this, like everything else on this list, is ofc something that appears in almost every single “cartoon for girls” that ever existed. to improve on this, most likely it’s not a problem with the artists but with the budget and the production timeline (allowing the artists more time to produce better quality art and animation), and it can also be a problem with the art direction, if the art directors aren’t very skilled or experienced (i don’t say that they aren’t, im just giving examples of what could cause these problems.)

the character design for all characters that aren’t skye, rania, or blaze was very lacking. none of the not-main-3 characters looked interesting or fun to look at, they looked very dull and like the most boring NPCs you could think of. even though its understandable that the mainest-main characters would have the most interesting designs, that doesn’t mean everyone else has to look that boring. this is an issue with art direction or character design. i think most likely there was just very little time (equals money) put into designing the other characters.

the horse design could be improved for a cartoon that focuses on horses this much. like, horses are a big part of the selling point here, so make sure that their designs and art/animation is good. at times even blaze looked awkward and uninteresting, as did the other horses.

“alonso” looks nothing like sso alonso and i don’t like that they used his character if it’s not going to have anything to do with him. they should have given this character a different name if they wouldn’t make him seem like he had anything to do with the sso character aside from being a male ranger. (also in the game he’s like 22 or something, skye is 15...?)

why did they add a “he’s cute” dumbass fucking stupid hetero comment for literally no reason other than adding a dumbass fucking stupid hetero comment?

considering that they “can’t confirm whether a sequel is happening or not”, it seemed very meh to throw in druid cult magic stuff and not really connect to it and now the series ended? you would have expected to find out more about the cloaked people, the runes, the magic that the ranger guy did, and blaze’s magic in general, and skye herself, why her mom is “a witch”.... thats a lot to throw in while saying that you can’t say if there’s a sequel coming to answer all those questions. (it wouldn’t have been a criticism from me if they said “we’re working on season 2″ or “there will be a comic book that continues the story” or anything that told us that these questions, in this particular iteration of a story in jorvik, will actually be answered. - and i assume they ARE working on the continuation of the story, but i dont agree with that they’re not upfront about it, when they left so many questions unanswered.)

at times rania’s blindness was handled stupidly and i think they should have gotten more consultation from actual people with visual impairment, but i think its still good to HAVE a blind character in the main cast and that it’s not a big dramatic story thing but just an everyday thing. at some points it was fine though; and i personally don’t think the scene with rania being able to see blaze was necessarily a problem - because - a lot of blind ppl can see sharp contrasts in light and dark, and this seemed relatively realistic to me when blaze is on fire. (however, the way it was drawn as if she could see the whole shape of blaze and skye could be criticised for sure, and makes it feel more like “i can see because of magic” and not “i can see bc THIS MARE IS ON FIRE”). 

personal opinion which i said before, but i don’t think rania’s voice fits her at all, and it’s not the voice actor’s fault (i’m sure they’re lovely) but the casting and the directors. from the sso character, rania would seem a lot more lively, quick and adventurous, and not as calm and gentle as she appeared here. she seemed a lot too sort of motherly or just adult, instead of an adventurous teen who runs off on her own to do whatever she feels like. compare in-game rania going “MC, thats a jorvik wild!!!” and alonso going “stop talking nonsense” (paraphrased), to Mistfall rania going “jorvik wilds are really rare...” (calm, sort of disinterested, doesnt seem like she cares that much about adventures)

the voice acting overall was meh. i see this as a direction problem, not an individual voice actor problem (and the writing didnt help - it’s hard to provide good quality acting with a poor script unless you can just toss the script aside and improv, if you have good actors). it felt childish and uninteresting at most points and generic low quality for “cartoons for girls”. from a voice acting perspective i think skye had the best result. anyway, the way to improve this is for the director in charge of voice acting to not direct the actors to perform in this childish manner. (again, refer to cartoons with better writing and better voice acting, that have a very similar target audience.)

ok, i think that was everything that i wanted to write about for now, might think of more later lol

[beatricebidelaire]

would love to know the tea vera! what are the sbg ships you can’t see working?

hey lauren! ahahaha so this is Highly Subjective Personal Opinions time, disclaimer first i don’t actually care if other people ship these sbg ships it’s just that in my mind and the elaborate headcanon universe i constructed they don’t work. but like we get so few canon details about them it’s easy for people to have different interpretation for these characters so it made sense some people might decide these pairings work in their headcanons.

first there are some characters i always read as lesbians or gays, and while most of these are arguably at most implied canon and not exactly what i’d call representation, ive always view them this way in my mind and it’s very hard to change now. such as, i see r as a lesbian and i can’t see her with any men, i see ernest as gay and i can’t really see him with any women. i also see jacques as gay but i have been known to make exceptions to read very good fics that paired him with a women, but only within the universe of that fic and i don’t really ship it outside the context of the fic (it was actually one of your earlier fics of jacques/esme i’m referring to sjdjjssj) (speaking of jacques, i also read book!jerome as closeted gay instead of bi and he just thought esme fit the expectations of women his family expected him to marry)

and then there are just some i can’t see their dynamics working, such as beatrice/olaf for example. i tend to view them as best friend to worst enemies, a lot of history and codependency there but it’s all platonic. they’re like pseudo siblings in a way. also tbh i think shipping them is so ... boring, like it makes their dynamics much less interesting in a sense to just interpret it thru the lense of romance. plus, there are enough arcs of vengeance based on failed m/f romance i do not care for more, it’s so ... boring. i just Do Not Care For It. (if it’s gay they it’s a different matter, beasme for the win am i right or am i right)

i also don’t see georgina/beatrice, i think I’ve said before but they lack the spark. there’s mutual dislike but not rivalry- the rivalry is at best one sided imo with heavy disinterest on georgina’s part, unlike the heated passion of beatrice/esme. esme’s hate for beatrice is like the thin line between love and hate thing, with heavy sexual tension, while georgina just doesn’t care for beatrice enough to hate her that much. she just dislikes her much like she dislikes most people, if finding her slightly more annoying than most, but georgina also find people in general annoying so that’s not saying much. (now georgina/kit i can see ... it’s cutting in from the stem women in vfd aspect and begrudging mutual respect of competence and casual flirting to Prove Something to Certain Actresses)

i also don’t see kit/bertrand but that’s just because i have too many headcanons and written too many fics about their friendships now i can’t ever see otherwise, and their friendship is just, v important to me. (also she gave him the ring to propose to beatrice... much like r gave the ring to lemony to propose to beatrice and r and lemony were also really good friends .... im a sucker for friendship parallels.)

i can’t see jacques/ernest but this one is a bit hard to explain why it’s mostly a vibe thing, if i had to pinpoint i’d say jacques is too deeply in vfd / too loyal to vfd to interest ernest, and also too deep in vfd to have an interest in ernest, someone on the other side, potential double agent he might be (and tbh the double agent part is debatable). like, he’s fine being civil to him out of respect to frank but he’s not interested. but also i think it has something to do with the vibes i imagine them because i have been thinking a lot about the “jacques swap sides AU” in which vfd murdered jerome for his fortune (by having beatrice marry him first and then widowing him) and causing jacques to switch sides due to grief and he and ernest became friends, and even in this AU where they are on the same side i can’t really see them together romantically but i can’t explain why to myself, maybe my version of ernest is romantically allergic to eldest sibling (only child doesn’t count, ofc) , i’ll need to reflect on that more sjdjjdjd

oh also i dislike Netflix!georgina/olaf because i don’t like how they make georgina so, affected by olaf tbh. book georgina and olaf were never involved and i like that.

thanks for this ask it’s a lot of fun rambling about these!

[skruttet]

I wanna do some season 2 speculation (aka ramblings that don’t actually reach a set-in-stone conclusion lmao)!! I’m gonna assume that all the sneak peak visuals and audio from this video are from season 2 episode 2 and are all gonna be in the final cut (even though really we don’t actually know that), just to make theorising a bit easier for myself!

Please feel free to add your own thoughts if anything I say makes the cogs in your head turn! :D

Alright, so the first thing we see is four animatic frames of Snufkin holding a red, flame-like object. In the first frame, it is partially hidden by what looks like a cloud (or mist? fog? a wave? but I’m personally going with cloud), and through the cloud there is still a faint spray of the red colour, therefore we can assume that the object glows, the red colour being its light. Snufkin seems to be happily talking in this first frame, then has stopped in the second but is still slightly smiling as he lifts his head to look at Moomintroll, who we next see look at the object in shock, then up to Snufkin. As I have said in the past, my only theory as to what this object could be other than a normal flame is the King’s Ruby - here is a description of it from Finn Family Moomintroll: “At first it was quite pale, and then suddenly a pink glow would flow over it like the sunrise on a snow-capped mountain - and then again crimson flames shot out of its heart and it seemed like a great black tulip with stamens of fire.” If this is truly what Snufkin is holding, then we know that the King’s Ruby is a symbol of Thingumy and Bob’s queer love - beautiful, precious, something that is all theirs and that they only show to those they trust. So is this tableaux the creators sneaking in more Snufmin subtext? Or am I being too hopeful?

We know that we will be seeing Thingumy and Bob in episode 8, The Trial - so why would Snufkin be holding the King’s Ruby this early on, and in what appears to be a dream or vision that Moomintroll is experiencing? In Finn Family Moomintroll, Moomintroll actually hears about the King’s Ruby before Thingumy and Bob are on the scene - from Snufkin (who in turn heard it from the Magpie), who tells the gang about the Hobgoblin, ending with how unhappy the Hobgoblin is until he finds the King’s Ruby (”It’s almost as big as the black panther’s head, and to look into it is like looking at leaping flames.”). Therefore, it’s possible that Moominvalley Snufkin has also told this Moomintroll about the King’s Ruby, although episode 2 is still super early on and it seems like Snufkin isn’t actually in the valley yet in this episode (based off of the lines in this video where Moomintroll is clearly pining for him). Perhaps this vision doesn’t explain what the King’s Ruby is yet, only shows it, and we find out in a later episode what it is and start putting the pieces of the puzzle together then? Who knows.

Onto the audio that plays on top of this storyboard; assuming that it is in fact what should be playing during these frames, it seems to support the theory that this scenario is playing in Moomintroll’s head, and at sunset (which is super romantic imo). Unfortunately for us, we don’t get to hear the end of the sentence as he gets cut off by Little My presumably kicking him, telling him that she is trying to sleep. Moomintroll appears to not have even realised that he was thinking out loud, making this situation seem even more gay, as if he was thinking something very private (like, say, imagining a romantic date with your best friend?). The fact that Little My is sleeping is interesting - is this daytime, and she’s just napping somewhere near him, or is it nighttime? In which case, she never slept in the same room as him in the first season (to our knowledge - I wouldn’t put it past her to have crawled into a nook or cranny without him knowing lol), so where could they be? We know that 3 episodes of season 2 take place on the lighthouse island; are they there already? It seems a little too early in my opinion, though I can’t imagine where else they’d be.

Moving on, we hear the end of a Moomintroll(?) line: “...amazing adventures”. There isn’t really much we can go off here - he could be referring to anyone’s adventures (his own, his father’s, or Snufkin’s seem to be the most likely), and at any time, past or present or future. We also hear Pappa say something but I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is, it may even be the end of a line again (sounds like “killjoy” or “old boy” but I’m probably completely off). Then there’s laughter that at first I thought was one of the creators watching but I think it might be one of the characters, probably Little My.

Then, we get a male character saying “well, at least there’s some use in that old volcano.” I assume it’s Moominpappa saying this, as in Moominsummer Madness it seems to be only he and Moominmamma who know about the volcano. I’m not sure what this “use” is they’re referring to - in the book, he wishes he could have a paperweight made of real lava from it, though the volcano itself is mainly referred to as a “nuisance”. The volcano is located on a “black little island [off the coast] where nothing grows”, so theoretically they could be mashing it up with the lighthouse island but I doubt it. In Moominsummer Madness, the volcano and the ash it spews are the early warning signs for a storm and flood - will there be a flood in Moominvalley season 2? Obviously it can’t be the same as the one in season 1, but there are at least 3 floods in the Moomin books & comics (The Moomins and the Great Flood, Moominsummer Madness, and Moomin Falls in Love). It wouldn’t be the flood from the Great Flood so that would leave Moomin Falls in Love, though nothing else we see here seems to come from that story, and neither does it seem that another natural disaster happens, so I’m crossing “flood” off the potential plotlines list. But then, there must still be a reason as to why the volcano is mentioned, mustn’t there? I still haven’t quite figured that out, though.

Whilst these “volcano” lines play in the video, a few more frames of animatic are shown - depicting Moomintroll in the foreground, and Snorkmaiden slightly behind him with her hand on his shoulder. He looks back at her before she walks away. I’m not sure whether these frames are actually the ones that play during the volcano lines, since I just find it strange for Snorkmaiden to be all “volcano!?” but then immediately walk away from the conversation. Though I guess I don’t know the full story of what’s happening in the scene (ofc my shipper mind tells me that maybe Moomintroll gives her a “please don’t touch me” look and is the start of them realising they’re not cut out to be a couple but there’s nothing standoffish about their behaviour at all so that’s clearly not what’s going on lol).

Finally, we get the last pining line from Moomintroll: “we’ll soon be cutting the long winter grass by the stream where he pitches his tent”. This seems to be referencing, yet again, a line from the beginning of Moominsummer Madness: “And then summer came, and long grass grew all over Snufkin’s camping place by the river, as if no one had ever lived there.” This is another indication that Snufkin is late to the valley for at least the first two episodes of season 2, which I find a little strange for him to do considering the soul-searching and self-realisation he did in the season 1 episode The Spring Tune. Maybe the volcano mentioned earlier has something to do with his delay?

Before Moomintroll says this, you can hear a female voice sighing; it sounds like one of Little My’s rolling-her-eyes huffs to me, and during his line it sounds like someone is sniffling and/or sneezing?? Again, it’s hard to tell which noises are from the characters and which are the people in the room watching, but if it’s the former, then that’s quite interesting. Is it cold wherever they are? Is the person crying? Or are they huffing still at Moomintroll’s pathetic longing for his best friend?

As a summary, it seems that this episode will definitely be at least partly based on Moominsummer Madness, with perhaps a sprinkling of Finn Family Moomintroll, and Moominpappa at Sea if any of it ties into those episodes. I haven’t caught anything I recognised from any of the comics, though.

Whatever happens in this episode, clearly at this point, Sophia Jansson was NOT happy with it, and judging by the phone call she has with Marika, it seems that she felt as though the characters’ motivations/emotions/problems were not clear enough or there hasn’t been enough development for those things to make sense yet. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how different the final result is compared to these snippets!

[ariesmode]

as requested by @kestrel-of-herran ❤️

nikolai, the triumvirate, the twins and also nadia (henceforth known as the palace squad) are all twenty-somethings having the worst (best) time of their lives rebuilding something that was on its way to become a failed state, which is pretty scary, so their meetings are never 100% serious. some headcanons on what probably went down: 

nikolai’s first meeting with zoya, genya and david was basically everyone acting like they knew exactly what should be done (rebuild the second army!!), but they really had no fucking idea how to go about doing things and were like “let’s just make shit up as we go along for now, I guess”

ofc nikolai had a vague idea/plan, and zoya was probably up with some suggestions on matters like how to deal with the people who defected from the crown etc but they just had the realization that this was going to be really, really hard

obviously zoya was the one who suggested that they use the darkling’s war room for their secret meeting because she’s that petty (“that sounds like a wonderful idea” – nikolai, equally petty)

zoya, genya and david like these meetings so much more than the ones at the grand palace because they get to be candid and not deal with cabinet ministers who are only condescending to them because they’re grisha and “too young” to actually know anything. they can hold against snide comments well enough on their own, but it is pretty annoying to listen to an old hag talk about how he has more experience than them every single time

(zoya calmly reminded him that his experience has only been sitting in war rooms in a seat that was granted to him only by his privilege as nobility and not merit while she has personally been on the battlefield, thank you very much. genya cackled so much when the meeting was over) 

nikolai also likes these better because there aren’t any mind games. they all know exactly what they want and aren’t afraid of challenging him, especially commander nazyalensky 

it’s also never been really specified in the books, but i like to think that: david obviously specializes in military engineering, while genya organizes state events (nikolai was very impressed with how she handled his coronation) and oversees training in the little palace along with zoya, who also took on handling grisha matters abroad that are of interest to the state (imo it’s also pretty obvious that she’s the de facto leader of the triumvirate and it’s just not my bias talking) 

the meetings sometimes stretch for hours on end – especially in the beginning when they had so much work to do – and it really is exhausting so at some point they start getting distracted and talking/doing some ridiculous stuff

david hardly pays attention half the time (his mind starts wandering when they’re talking about something that isn’t science or grisha-related) though sometimes he’ll just randomly give his opinion about something he doesn’t even know about and it actually makes sense 

they’ve all definitely dozed off at some point, except for tamar and zoya. nobody knows how they do it 

before the poetry ban tolya could be persuaded to recite epic poems for a long time (“we have WORK to do” “we could do more of that later but that last verse was intriguing tolya please do go on”)

and then they’d end up having a literary analysis discussion that tolya is all too happy to lead, which zoya pretends she can’t be bothered to participate in and they think david isn’t paying attention but then he’ll end up giving his own take and everyone’s like, well that was a good point, how did we miss that?

there was a chess tournament once. everyone immediately agreed that it should never happen again 

david, nikolai and nadia, as the respective science nerds™ get really excited explaining new inventions. occasionally they’ll even come up with a brand new design on the spot, which would be pretty impressive if they hadn’t gotten completely sidetracked

nikolai once accidentally doodled on a Very Important document and they’ve never let him forget it 

tread carefully when zoya and/or genya are hungover the morning after they’ve had a drinking session or there will be consequences. nikolai learned the hard way 

tamar flexing that she and nadia are the first to get married because why not (they have definitely been told to get a room at least once because they’re so disgustingly cute)

genya planned the wedding, of course. they + adrik were the only ones present but that doesn’t matter, it’s still a wedding so it counts as something to be planned. yes, tolya cried 

speaking of: adrik definitely tried to eavesdrop on their meetings at some point. we all know that didn’t end well for him 

everyone has since learned that it’s not recommended to question genya when it comes to her plans for events. except when it comes seating arrangements, and even then you’d be on thin ice (this is especially so when it came to her wedding ceremony)

one word: hangman (plus crossword puzzles from the ravkan daily)

nikolai called zoya by her last name for the first time during a very long meeting about funding for grisha things while everyone else was half-asleep/already snoozing. needless to say that jolted everyone awake and raised eyebrows

genya whispering to tamar like did i hear that right. are my ears deceiving me and tamar is like no he actually did that and zoya didn’t even care (while they continued to argue) 

the banter (flirting) was funny at first but now the ust has become absolutely unbearable and they’re all just suffering. nadia hates them both so much. tolya reminds her that she’s not even present for all of their meetings and “imagine having to witness all of THAT [angry hand gesture] every day when you’re by the king’s side!” + nobody is profiting from genya’s betting pool which makes it worse

the silence™ when nikolai casually told zoya that he wanted her to be the one to lock him up every night when he started escaping from the palace as night mode nikolai would be remembered for years to come

when zoya had to go off to recruit more grisha overseas the rest of the group took turns to read her missives out loud in their best zoya impersonation. they all unanimously agreed that genya and (shockingly) tolya could not be surpassed. they just missed her a lot!

talking shit about some of the old hags that they have to deal with and gossiping about palace drama because tamar’s spies always end up learning... interesting stuff 

also talking shit about the lantsovs because wow a) worst rulers in the history of ever b) all that inbreeding LMFAOOOO c) some rooms in the grand palace were really badly decorated. and have you seen some of the heirlooms?! so ugly! 

squaller² bringing up stories from their training days: nadia talks about them having a rivalry and zoya is like pfft, i never even considered you as one 

tolya and tamar sharing embarrassing childhood anecdotes when they’re getting annoyed with each other 

LOOK, I REFUSE TO BELIEVE TOLYA DOESN’T HAVE HIS OWN FANCLUB IN BOTH THE LITTLE AND GRAND PALACE. POSSIBLY EVEN IN OS ALTA. he is a tall, Strong and Silent™ man who is loyal to the king and really likes poetry!! he definitely makes people swoon!! nikolai, genya and tamar love teasing him about this especially. it embarrasses him

on a more serious note, nikolai, genya and david are always the more optimistic when it comes to dealing with politics. tamar and zoya are the more pragmatic ones, and tolya and nadia are somewhere in between 

the ravkan economy is in a very sorry state and it’s absolutely depressing so the least they can do is make jokes about how everyone’s too broke to do anything ever 

“Your Majesty, how’s the budget?” – nadia  “HA, what budget?” – zoya 

a few years down the road they’ll start wondering when, exactly, did they start looking forward to these meetings because state affairs were something of an escape from the very exhausting job of parenting

[heartsick-teen-ink]

in response to @virtualfindingsdocumented​‘s ask, i have plenty of useless headcanons that don’t change anything in the story, mostly based on my friends or people i’ve met, so some of them might be oddly specific.

first of all i headcanon that beatrice, bertrand, esmé, jacques, josephine, kit, lemony, monty, olaf and r were in one training class in vfd despite being different ages (the classes were created depending on when the child was taken and how advanced they were) and all of them were friends, so i’m going to focus on them. also i’m not including the children since we know a huge part of their story and i usually don’t think of headcanons for them. (THIS WILL BE A HUGE RANT)

Beatrice:

is very good at sports: especially figure skating

as a teenager worked in some fast food chain to support     herself because she lived alone

said work made her go vegetarian for some time

is allergic to horses

likes to buy clothes at vintage shops

Lemony:

his celebrity crush is audrey hepburn

he’s a supporter of social democracy

is an anonymous ambassador of a pediatric therapy center. he saw enough of children getting hurt both physically and mentally in his life and although he’s on the run he wants to do something to help them

worked in many theaters

Josephine:

has ptsd due to physical assault during one mission

has thousands of hobbies like drawing, dancing, photography, singing

very sporty: is a hula hoop dancer and likes to rollerblade in her free time

loves michael jackson and beyonce, don’t @ me

knows the basics of spanish

wanted to be a grammar teacher and loves kids

she’s one of those people who drink tomato juice because they genuinely like it

Bertrand:

has some family in France

when he was a teenager he never drank alcohol, smoked anything (unlike many other volunteers)

plays the guitar

because of the various pranks he knew, he was quite the troublemaker at the academy

sometimes when he has a project to do or a role to prepare himself for, he smokes a few cigarettes and drinks a beer before getting started

he’s pretty shy and self-reserved except when with his friends, so acting is quite a challenge for him and he’s often embarrassed by his performances though he’s a very decent actor.

Monty:

he is asexual

always loved children and couldn’t wait to meet any of his friends’ and sent them gifts

he’s a genius ahead of his times with a very high iq and that’s what caused him to be so self-involved

i have the least headcanons on him, so if anyone has some to share i’d be very grateful to know them!!

Kit:

has had depression since she was a teenager

worked as a babysitter to support herself and her brothers after their parents died

also swept floors and courts in various places

she was an intern for the daily punctilio but couldn’t deal with eleanora for the life of her

smoked cigarettes but quit when she became close with dewey, also took drugs a few times

sews and makes her own clothes

Olaf:

has dyslexia

besides piano, he can play bass and the guitar

his parents took him to the theatre a lot, even when he was a baby, which sparked his dream of being an actor and playwright

likes retro stuff

is afraid of clowns

helped josephine through her flashbacks when they were together and went to therapist with kit

Duchess of Winnipeg:

her name is ramona ofc

has a musical talent and plays a lot of instruments (the guitar, drums, violin etc.)

a feminist icon

knits in her free time

was one of those child models for different commercials

performed on stage alongside beatrice a few times

Jacques:

he got interested in theatre by detention at prufrock’s prep theatre, but never acted professionally

was a waiter and bartender for some time

collects lots of stuff

was always the most beautiful person at the academy

sings when no one is watching

he’s secretly afraid of monty’s snakes and also fears poverty (that his family won’t have enough to support themselves)

is lazy

hates when people are pretentious

knows EVERYTHING

spends every evening reading a book and drinking in a bath

i tried my hardest to include everything i’ve ever imagined about those characters, i didn’t write anything about esme here because i’ve already written a general web of headcanons for her. i hope you like it and i’m curious about your opinion and them and some of yours (especially for monty, since as you can see i’m miserable here and i love him) :)

[boogiewrites]

Choking On Sapphires 47

Title & Song: Snap Out Of it

Characters: Alfie Solomons x Genevieve (OFC)

Word Count:  3300+

Summary: Genevieve tries to get back in touch with her family’s roots. Alfie suffers as she explores domesticity. 

Warnings/Tags: Language. Angst.

**Chapter song is Snap Out Of It by Arctic Monkeys*

Positive feedback is MUCH appreciated! Reblogs, likes, asks and comments feed me to write more! Let me know if you’d like tagged in my work.

My Masterlist. (Includes Parts 1-46)

You didn't remember the last time you'd been so covered in sweat. You could feel it run from your hairline, where your hair rested atop your head, braided and pinned, wrapped in a scarf that held your long, wild tresses together. You're bent over the stove, the heat and steam from cooking the cause of your sweat. With under a month left before Hanukkah, and this being the first, you'd been practicing. You'd gotten out your bubbe's old book's, finding the recipe's in them and trying to dig through your brain for memories of anything that your mother's family or your nurse Ida might've shared with you about the traditional dishes for the holiday. You didn't have much to go off of, but you were feeling invigorated to explore a part of yourself that had been forbidden.

You'd never been expected to cook as a married woman when you were growing up. You'd had lots of training to be a prize wife. You'd been taught an instrument, all the proper dances, etiquette and worldly conversation that should be expected of a Lady. But because of the expectation that you'd be married off to someone wealthy, you hadn't been taught to do much for yourself.

Luckily for you, your mother and your uncle would never allow a daughter that took after them so much to be so useless should she find herself alone. Taking after the rebellious streak that your mother had always told you came from your uncle, you'd never been one to do as you were told. After your lessons you'd run off to the barn, you'd fence with your brothers or learn cards and gambling from the farm hands that seemed to find your interest very amusing. And you, a black sheep, look just like the rest of the Lafitte's, dark hair, dark eyes and olive toned skin,  looking perfectly in place amongst them in your family's summer house in France as you nipped sips of rum from your cousins as it was passed around the room.

You have some of Alfie's white rum uncorked on the countertop, humming old songs to yourself as you'd take a sip and lean back when the heat became too much.

He follows the smell of fried food to the kitchen, finding the last thing he expected to see there...you. Your hair pulled back and covered as if you were married, a modest and simple cotton dress that swung back and forth as you moved light on your toes about the kitchen.

"What's all this now?" he says with an amused face.

"Just a moment darling...don't want these to burn," you say in an almost mumble as you moved a pan off the flames.  "There we are," you say with a deep breath and a smile as you wipe your hands and approach him. "I'm cooking, silly what does it look like?" you grin at him, placing a light kiss on his cheek before moving to wet a washcloth and wipe over your face. "How was your day?" you ask, taking a drink from one of his bottles of rum.

"As busy as yours, it would seem." he says with a gravelly inflection, eyes darting around the kitchen. It'd been a very long and particularly hard day full of annoyance and fighting desperately to control his anger. The head of the Greeks, Demitri was growing older, and becoming more and more difficult to deal with each time they had to work together. He wasn't the only powerful man in London to think that it was time he was put out to pasture, letting his son Niko take over as he was less ill-tempered and had a better mind for modern business.

After growing tired of arguing over every line of the contract, Demitri showing no signs of negotiation at all, Alfie had told him to fuck off. To come back when he wanted to do some fucking business and not waste his time. Demitri took to that about as well as one could expect an old head of an organization to.

So his day had been much harder than he was letting on, but he knew you'd worked with the Greeks, no use in whining about things that you already understood. Not like it would enlighten either of you to anything at this point to discuss it.

As you lean on the kitchen island, giving him a warm and supportive smile that said you understood his problems, his brief moment of indulgence in seeing you playing the role of a perfect little housewife is broken into pieces, remembering himself and finding it hard to meet your eyes. Not only were you keeping house, making dishes his mother would make, he could tell there were latkes by the smell, you also understood him on a level no woman had before. You understood his business. You understood the men he worked with and for and no other man in the life had that. All the wives were kept mostly locked in ivory towers, shielded from their own helplessness and ignorance so they could be a bed warmer for gangsters when they decided to leave their mistresses for the night and come home to the woman who'd born them children. He hadn't judged their behavior, they were gentile men, after all, only a step above an animal. He knew he was truly not much better than them and didn't deserve a goddess that understood him in the way you did.

"From the look of your eyes and the redness on your neck your's was far worse." you say, that same knowing your eyes. He couldn't hide from you. If he tried you'd just find him in his dreams, wouldn't you?

"Is there a holiday that I've forgotten about?" he changes the subject and you give him a half smile, letting it slide and moving back to the stove.

"I'm practicing for Hanukkah." you chirp. "I've never cooked for it before and I wanted to try out my Bubbe's old recipes."

"Smells proper good, luv." he says looking over your shoulder.

"I have Latke's, there's brisket in the oven, challah's proofing and there's borsht simmering back here." you lift a lid to a large pot of bubbling red liquid.

"Borscht?" he says in a funny exasperated way.

"Yes, Ida used to make it for me when I was a child. She used her mother's recipe and I pieced together Russian recipes I found and what I had of my own Bubbe's notes on it to put it together."

His mother had made Borscht when he and his siblings were young. It was as if he would only turn his head he'd see his mother with her arms crossed, eyes narrowed and foot tapping in disappointment at him. 'She's making Borscht, Alfred. She's the perfect woman for you, you silly boy. You let your tired, old mother down in your denial of this fact. God will punish you for scorning the match he's sent you.' is what he guesses she'd say. Wouldn't even have to say it thought would she? He could hear it in the way she'd look at him. And he knew she was right, but he deserved any bit of punishment that came his way.

"Was your mother ever allowed to cook like this?"

"No...but there were many Jewish members of her personal staff so I'm sure there were dishes she and I had that no one else got."

"Why'd she only share it with you?"

"My other siblings don't know they're Jewish." you say with an odd little smirk.

"Ah..." he says, a thoughtful look on his face.

"I found out by accident. I used to sneak and hide constantly as a child, I was in the wrong place at the right time one night and heard my father shouting at mother when she asked about my Uncle taking me to Paris with him. The words he called her...and him." you shake your head and sigh. "Much like what Sabini's been known to call us," you say softly. "I told her I knew, and it upset her. She didn't speak to me for some time. I know now she just didn't know what to do with the information. She eventually told my uncle I knew, he said it was inevitable really...that I was too much like them to not be directed towards the truth."

"Too much like them?"

"The rest of my siblings don't look like me. They're fair and light-haired, look like my father. But I look like my mother's side of the family. So you can imagine how this constant reminder of their resilence through his bloodline infuriated him. Of course, I was the least favorite, took most of the blame and punishment whether it was my fault or not." you shrug with indifference and it hurts him deep down to see it was so commonplace that it didn't even scar you in the way that it should have. "I think if he had known the name Channah was Jewish he wouldn't have let her name me that on top of coming out looking the way I do." you give an amused little snort.

"Your name's not Genevieve? Are we back to this again?" he smirks.

You laugh and shake your head. "Genevieve is, my middle name is Channah." you explain with a wave of your hand and small flecks of liquid fly off the spoon in it. "My uncle always told me I was different. Never really knew what he meant by that until now. Other siblings don't have Jewish middle names but my mother did sneak in commonplace names for my sisters."

"Is your uncle still alive?" he pries.

"Oh yes, nothing can kill that man." you laugh, a happy smile across your face. "I spoke to him over the phone recently, actually."

"Ah, so your father can't keep you two away from each other, eh?"

"No one has ever or will ever tell that man what to do." you wear a big grin on your face and he's happy for it, relieved that you at least had some sort of proper father figure in your life. He could see the love you had for the man in your eyes as you spoke of him.

"Not even you?" he gives you a smirk.

"Not even me." you grin.

"You still close?" he inquires, leaning back against the countertop as you prodded away at the latkes.

"Yes. He lives in Paris, so I don't get to see him often but he's who I go to when I need advice."

"Didn't take you for someone who sought after other's opinions in such a way." his tone wasn't condescending but merely observant.

"He's a very successful man, I'd be a fool not to utilize the knowledge he has. He is mostly responsible for my getting into theft after all." you laugh.

"That so?" he asks, his interest piqued.

"I had cousins that were active in the crime world of Paris growing up. They'd come to our house if they were injured sometimes. It'll really awake something in you seeing a man shot and screaming on your kitchen counter when you're young." you huff out a laugh. "I got an early start with understanding the harm that could come from living such a way. It was much, much later when I got into anything of any real substance though." you wrinkle your nose as if this was also commonplace. He could see where your composed nature amidst chaos came from.

"Sounds like that influence worked out in your favor then, eh?"

"Oh yes. My uncle never scolded me for wanting to get into the life, which was a great relief as you can imagine."

"Oh, I'd say so."

"He has an approach similar to yours, really." you shoot him a charming smile.

"Really now? What's that?"

"I mean he doesn't think of a woman as beneath him. He always told me I could do anything, and I honestly think he really believes that bless him." you give a happy little sigh. "I bet he'd really like you actually." you turn to look at him from over your shoulder and he gives a curt nod in understanding. "You've never been disrespectful, he'd appreciate that." you give him a small smile and turn back to the stove. You don't see his face fall at your words. "And my mother! Oh my goodness my mother!" you let out a laugh. "I've made sure she doesn't know about us sleeping together because bless her, she'd be worse than Aggie about us getting together." you let out another laugh. "I'm sure you know how mothers can be though." you shrug and smirk.

"Find yourself a nice Jewish girl, Alfred. God knows you can't look after yourself," he smirks. "Then there's the opposite side of the coin with, no one will ever be good enough for my perfect son. Which is such a bold faced lie." he laughs.

"My mother would faint if I came home with a Jewish man." you smile at first and it quickly fades and both of your chests settle with a throbbing ache within them. You wouldn't get to ever bring anyone home to meet her.

He knows you've gone an upset yourself, he sees your shoulders slump and your face fall, eyes blinking back possible tears. He quickly changes the conversation. "But she'd be proud of you for cookin' all 'is I imagine, yeah?"

"Oh yes." he sees you take a deep breath and carry on. "She'd be very impressed." you nod.

"I mean...I'm impressed. That Kugel you made was brilliant, luv but I'm proper excited about that brisket." he points to the oven.

"Well, it'll all be ready for dinner soon. Just have to throw the bread in as I let the brisket rest."

"I am glad I'm getting to try to your Hanukkah menu early though..." his voice trails off and he crosses his arms across his chest.

"Oh? Why's that?" you lilt.

"Well I'll be spending it with my sisters, the extended family 'n all." he hadn't wanted to say 'my family' so it would upset you.

You hadn't thought about it, you realized you were assuming too much that he'd be spending it with you. Of course, he'd be with his family. You would be if you'd had that sort of option.

He waits for a response, he can see the wheels turning in your head. "Well that makes perfect sense." you shake your head, tone indifferent so he knows you're hiding emotion. "Good thing I decided to do this then." you turn and give him a small smile before returning to the potato cakes in the sizzling pan. --- Dinner was great, the best meal he'd had in ages but of course, it was. If it hadn't been he would've been truly surprised, as you were only hitting every mark that he'd ever set for a companion so why wouldn't you also have been a good cook? He wonders if there was anything you couldn't do? It seems as if you applied yourself to something you'd succeed and what a charming trait that was.

It doesn't dawn on him why everything you made for him was so good, at least until Aggie interjects with a "Her cookings so delicious because it's made with love." Causing the involuntary reaction for you to both glance at each other, not expecting to find the other looking as both your face show the surprise and embarrassment at such a sentiment. ---- Luckily you get distracted and fall asleep with a book in your hands in your bed, leaving him to be able to relax for a few hours and get some sleep. But of course his conscious has other plans. After learning more about your family, your eagerness to explore this part of yourself he'd had a funny feeling in his stomach the entire time. If he wasn't holding himself back from exploring his feelings for you further, he's sure he'd be in your bed tonight, taking in every bit of you he could, being amazed at his good fortune.

But instead he's alone, face set in an angry frown, scratching at his spots again, staring at the ceiling with his bloodshot eyes. He never compromised, that was a certain thing he held about himself. He didn't want to compromise his rule for himself here either. All the men that had come along into Camden, any who were not Jewish, and some that were he'd told them to never touch any Jewish woman, they were off limits to them entirely. Since he'd broken his rule of even going near them, as he had been...exceptionally close with you he'd already broken his rule, hadn't he? But ignorance isn't something to use as an excuse after the fact in his mind. It might be when it came to sin but he would never consider anything involving you to be called as such. It came down to you being Jewish and whether he knew that or not when this started, it didn't matter did it?

And the things he'd done to you. The thing's he'd said. He could strike himself for it now. He'd slapped you, choked you and used you in ways that now made him feel so guilty he squeezed his eyes shut. And he'd enjoyed it more than any other sexual excursion he'd taken before. This thought only followed by more guilt. He'd never treat you that way now, he thought. And it dawns on him that he never will again. Before you'd confided in him, it was all about the sex. Which was something you, as an adult woman had agreed to and that was perfectly fine with him.

But now that he knew...the thought of a future with you wasn't something that he'd really sat down and considered before. He was just letting the cards fall where they may, letting you decide where it went or ended as he saw it as you being the one doing him a favor in the first place. And after the dinner tonight, after learning your favorite inspirations from the Torah, seeing you the perfect image of a wife, he couldn't help but have the thought of marrying you cross his mind. He swears at himself for even indulging in the fantasy, because Jewish or not that's what that would've been wasn't it? Only a fantasy.

The worst part he was finding, as it came to him frequently when he was alone was that he didn't want to stop sleeping with you. He didn't want to stop holding you as you fell asleep and helping you get in and out of your fancy dresses. He didn't want you running at him with bright eyes over some ridiculous idea or story you'd heard to end. He didn't want to see your eyes look at him without that adoration that they currently held for him. He just did not want to quit you in any way. And as much as he tried to wrestle with his principles, telling himself no just made it worse. Telling himself he couldn't, as childish as he felt the reaction was, made him want you even more. Because now the thoughts of falling in love and having a future together were in his head where they hadn't been before. This deep urge that he'd never felt, this pull to you no matter how he tried to reason with himself against it was the most concerning thing he'd come across. He'd never had this problem before, being in control of himself or his thoughts. And wasn't it so fitting that a goddess such as yourself would be the one to make a fool of him?

Pt 48 Running Up That Hill

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