#this post isn't actually a Faulkner post

[whereismyfoot]

Are you and Adam gonna be okay? 3:

I doubt it. He's a liar, I know it. Something isn't right here, and since he wants to dig his nose into everything, I will too.

[soracities]

oooh please tell us what writing rules are garbage I would love to hear more

it's not that they're garbage, which isn't what i said, just that they annoy me and even then what annoys me is not the "rules" themselves (because i do believe they can be useful depending on what you're writing) but when some of them are put out as the only way to write something as if storytelling is a one-size fits all approach, as if you can reduce the millenia-long history of literature into a fail-proof formula that will work for all writing across all cultures with no room for experimentation.

i think there are as many ways to tell a story as there are stories and how you tell something and the kind of language you use will vary depending on what language actually means to you as a writer. hemingway and faulkner both famously took digs at each other for their styles (even though i think there was a lot of admiration between them) but they are also two very different writers with two completely different approaches to language and how they use that language to say the things they want to say: neither is inherently better, or more right, than the other--their approaches were just right for them; if faulkner wanted to write using the "older, simpler, better" words hemingway loved, he would have. if james joyce wanted to depict dublin the way dickens depicted london, he would have done so. but they didn't.

someone once posted an excellent breakdown by jeff vandermeer of the different writing styles employed by different authors which i was silly enough not to save at the time, but in it he gives an overview of the structure of their sentences, and how complicated or "rich" the language is, without pitting one style against the other. and to be honest, i think writing advice that encourages you to examine and look at that relationship with language, and what it holds for you (and others) and why, is probably more helpful than blanket statements like "stay away from ambiguity" or "avoid long sentences" because neither of those actually mean anything--a sentence is a vessel but it's also a tool, like a hoghair brush or a palette knife; the value of its impact is not an essence that exists in and of itself, but entirely dependent on how you use it, otherwise all literature would just read the same way.

strict adherence to a particular form or structure within a language does not automatically make for better writing, especially not when so much literature actually consists of, and is built from, works and authors actively rebelling against those same traditional forms and structures (but which is also not to say that those forms and structures are inherently useless, either). you can say that long sentences "risk distraction" or are "ineffective" but then where does that leave someone like laszlo krasznahorkai, whose prose runs on like some kind of breathless, hypnotic incantantion for 20, 30 pages without a single full stop in sight? or a book like solar bones by mike mccormack which is made up of a single sentence going on for 200 pages? i'm not saying long sentences can't be boring or tedious, but in all honesty so can short sentences--so can any writing that follows the "rules" to the letter. if something is poorly written, the "rules" matter very little; if it's well written, they matter even less.

all that said, telling people to "avoid long sentences" is not inherently a bad thing because i think the core of it is wanting to ensure your writing remains clear, which is a fair point--but it's an issue, to me at least, when it turns into one of those dictums or pronouncements that actively narrows the potential range language can actually have. clarity is not always about length, or whether or not you cull all of your run-on lines--mihail sebastian drew a very nice distinction in one of his novels when he said "[is] there’s a single way of being clear? A notary can be clear, or a poet, but they don’t seem to me the same thing". a long sentence can be clear, but its clarity exists on different terms to a sentence that is five words long, because its relationship to its content is different. and at the end of the day, that relationship is really what it's about for me and it's distinct to each work and its author.

writers use the language and form they use that best allows them to say what they want to say. no one in their right mind is going to dismiss zadie smith for not writing like angela carter or angela carter for not writing like hemingway or hemingway for not writing like beckett or beckett for not writing like mallarmé. robert frost and sara teasdale were no more correct than the beatniks were. i love pared down, beautifully concise prose, but i also adore books that relish in language and all the various, multi-coloured layers of it, books that eschew (traditional) plot and books that question their own form and the reality of that form, and books that tell a story as straightforwardly as possible.

to be honest i think one of the most formative things i came across, years ago now, was this piece by gary provost, which really sums up the whole notion of "writing rules" for me:

this is not about do's or dont's. it even breaks the first writing rule i learnt in school ("never begin a sentence with 'And'"). but what it does is center an intimate understanding of language, where it can go and how it can get there, and what you want that to do. that's where it's at for me!

[clonerightsagenda]

So... The Silt Verses were good.

As I mentioned, I should have anticipated this. If a podcast gets decently popular and people gush over its quality and it doesn't even have a core ship for them to fixate on, it must actually be good. And it was. Luckily the obligatory horror podcast 'organs, lovingly described' bits only lasted the first few episodes, and then we moved into what the show was actually stellar at: character drama and social commentary.

I've lauded Greater Boston as one of the few allegedly anti-capitalist podcast that actually examines structures and society instead of just going haha evil company go brr, and The Silt Verses joins those ranks, looking at the issue from a macro (society) scale rather than micro (city). It was a very good - and unflinchingly, painfully honest - look at how capitalism is eating us alive, even citizens of the imperial core, how so many people feel helpless to resist, and how as much as we want to root for a band of scrappy rebels, most of the time they're helpless in the face of the international machinery, and their brief bursts of rebellion will get absorbed and redirected by the lumbering beast that's feeding on us all.

Both Greater Boston and TSV posit an alternative - Wonderland and the Grace. If society is irredeemably rotten, we must leave society. That's a great dream. And to their credit, both podcasts acknowledge that this takes effort. (Is it any surprise that both leftist podcasts with a more sophisticated awareness feature that most central of rebel technologies... the committee meeting.) However especially for situations like the Grace where there's not trade with an easily accessible outer world, it does make me wonder what place in this glorious future there is for disabled and chronically ill people who need the care and resources our industrialized world can provide. To TSV's credit, again, the tiny hope spot we get for The Grace is less 'we're going to build a glorious future for everyone' and more, we are taking one small step for resistance. We don't expect to get very far. But we're hoping the next people might get a bit further.

I saw TSV referred to as an aro podcast and they were right. Sister Carpenter, woman that she is, is canonically aro, but also there really aren't any major romances and all the key character relationships are platonic/familial/at least not traditionally romantic. (Nodding at that post about Hayward being married to Paige like nuns are married to Jesus. I guess that makes her widow of wounds story true in the end, huh? Watch out when you build a false mythology around yourself. It might come true.) It's the aro woman out of everyone who says 'however it started, it can end in love', but the podcast's version of love isn't a big triumphant kiss. It's laying your brother's corpse to rest. It's killing your enemy in a way that's kind and telling a lie to save people you've never met. It's dying alone but at peace because you get to watch the people you care about walk away to safety. (Side note: as much as I tried to take that bit with Hayward saying goodbye to Paige seriously, it kept reminding me of the end of The Good Place where Janet goes 'i hate to watch you walk through the door at the end of the universe, but I love to watch you go'.

Faulkner had a great character arc and I can't believe the show got me to root for Hayward of all people, but naturally I am mostly going to gush about the women. Val was a surprise third act hit for me. You know I love identity issues. She reminded me of Breq a little - they hollowed out a woman to fill her out with a weapon, and who is she now? Does it mean anything to get revenge for the corpse she's wearing? I will fix it, do you understand me? And she can't fix it, but she can in her dying moments make one tiny change to give one tiny group of people she's never met the shadow of a chance. Also the way her powers worked was interesting, terrifying, and conceptually appropriate.

I loved Paige too. We first see her as a relatively privileged person uncomfortable with her own complicity but not sure how to break out and then follow her as she tries to break out anyway. This podcast understands that resistance is hard! It's messy, it's exhausting, it changes you in ways you don't expect or want, and then you feel compelled to pretend you're fine even if you've burnt out because you led these people here, you're responsible for them, what else can you do? She should read Emergent Strategies, especially the section on charismatic leaders. Diversity win! This trans woman gets a nightmare magic god pregnancy.

Finally, Carpenter. If Val is Breq, Carpenter is Murderbot - snarky, exhausted, antisocial, perpetually annoyed, but going out of her way to try to save people anyway (and sometimes kill her way through a research station with an ax). Part of me wants her to make it to the Grace and then wherever Paige stops walking and lay both her and Hayward to rest. Part of me wants her to get her relief in the cairn maiden's arms because if anyone deserves some peace and relief away from the goddamn trawlerman, it's her. It's fitting that a servant of pliant water and patient death ends with a fate that's ambiguous. Maybe she's still trudging onward. Maybe she's buried in silt at the bottom of the river with her brother. Maybe she's something inbetween, the ghost Faulkner kept casting her as. Dead and not dead yet.

My one minor complaint was that I couldn't always follow the action by the soundscaping alone. The transcripts were very helpful for this so I frequently kept them open as I listened.

[marginaletchings]

tsv thoughts:

spoilers, etc etc.

-

People being annoyed at Faulkner for killing Roemont and cheering on Shrue is not a double standard. I actually think Faulkner was fully justified, but I also think the move was incredibly stupid. A schism could have happened without the Gulch needing to compromise their own ways of worship, and I guarantee you a younger faith leader will always win out over an ageing and arrogant elder. The main reason I believe it was the wrong move though, is that it's another instance of Faulkner falling prey to more delusions of grandeur--not that he isn't talented or great or whatever, it's that he continuously sets up these grand expectations for himself and acts selfishly and blindly so he can, what, be remembered in the Silt Verses? He's an excellent parallel to Roemont because of this. We even see that he's struggled with his faith since the big battle at the Gulch and especially since he betrayed Carpenter. Faulkner doesn't NEED a gun, he has weapons and a whole ass congregation/religious movement behind him and he doesn't know where the fuck he's taking them.

Shrue isn't a neoliberal, y'all. @melandrops made a good post about it here (hope it's ok I mentioned you & linked, lmk if it isn't) but yeah

Shrue is an excellent parallel to Faulkner. We see them go from relatively fresh-ish politician who's out of touch enough to send godkillers after the Parish--and if I recall correctly, with the blessings of the High Katabasians--then when they start getting more doses of reality they're shown to be flexible in pivoting to other directions. And then, with each new horrifying dosage of reality, pieces of Shrue's willingness to put up with bullshit breaks away; their willingness to continue Playing the Game is shattering as their beliefs and their most sincere feelings about life/society/the world get more radicalized. We see Shrue go from "decent-ish person making too many compromises to stay complacent" to "good person with a clearer view of reality who is in too deep and has to make some big decisions on how to survive." Faulkner has gone in the opposite direction, from "powerless, but a sincere radical willing to brute force and ask questions later" to losing faith and falling into near complacency, albeit complacency of a paranoid variety. Faulkner is now in relative power, and he is willing to betray the people he loves to keep that status quo.

Some folks are a bit too hard on Shrue, imo. One of the most human things ever is the innate need in us to try and protect what little stability we have. Everyone talks big game about being revolutionaries until food and home and our loved ones are at risk. Watching Shrue be pushed and pushed until not even those matter anymore is, therefore, a fascinating and cathartic experience.

[thefringespod]

Finally got smart enough to make my #AudioDramaSunday list ahead of time so I wouldn't forget anything for once! We're gonna start today with the newest Magus Protocol episode which was phenomenal. Cole Weavers wrote this one and I just adore his writing. Also: Augustus is here 👀

Early access for the newest ep of @souloperatorpod was this week and y'all have a TREAT waiting for you tomorrow. Tot continues to astound me with her many talents and we also get to meet a new character who I'm already in love with

@tellnotalespod has brought us back to Julia and Riley who are overworking themselves (especially Riley. Let them sleep.) I love getting to hear from them in these mini eps but they DO make me want to shake Leo even harder Leo please talk to your friends please

@camlannpod episode 2 released this week and my gods it was so much fun. A blend of deep and emotional scenes and comedy (I'm still thinking about "The CW lied to me") I love every character with my whole heart and have been loving all the theories on tumblr about the show

New @innbetween was so sweet I love hearing the Lowlifes become actual friends. Phoebe thinking that everyone wanted her to leave squeezed my heart so hard and everyone insisting she stay because she was the one that they wanted for the quest??? Just so so good

@somewhereohio has once again knocked me flat with this episode. The worldbuilding around Jasmine and what's going on with her memories is incredible! I am an Orange Splice stan 1st and person 2nd. Also the Nadia/Alex scene breaks my heart because I know how they end 😭.

New Technomancy Project was SO GOOD!! And I was FUCKING RIGHT!!! I said this before but I love having all of them play Belial's game this time around and I don't think there's a single EPO agent who didn't make me cry this ep. The Technomancy Project continues to kick ass

Caught up on last weeks @thesiltverses and gods it fucked me up (affectionate) B Narr does such a fantastic job with Faulkner. I love him. I hate him. I want him to get whats coming to him & I want to protect him from it at the same time. B's performance knocks me flat every time

There was another special episode of @wakeofcorrosion this week featuring the Fringes' very own @totcoc0a and @taytayheyhey! I will never forgive them for what they did to my heart <3 Shaun Pellington wrote a killer script and deserves none of the blame even if it did break me

Continuing to make my way through the Storage Papers this week and episodes 13-19 were VERY good. I said "Nope, don't like that" out loud multiple times while listening to 19 which is the exact reaction you want from a horror pod.

This isn't a new episode listen but @wpwcpod has announced their existence and cast and im SO FUCKING EXCITED!! Not only do I love CL Hendry's writing but it will also feature the Fringes' very own Ollie Bannerman and @chainofbeing Cai Gwilym Pritchard I'm so hyped

Also not a new episode listen but Athan (creator of The Grotto) has announced that his album is coming out on March 29! If you've listened to The Grotto then you know Athan writes killer music. And if you dont listen to the Grotto: DO IT GO LISTEN RIGHT NOW ITS SO GOOD

Here on the Fringes we're preparing for the second half of the season! Episode 19 is available RIGHT NOW at patreon.com/PineTreePods and will be available to the public this Wednesday! Also gearing up to finish the last 3 episodes of season 3 which I'm super excited for

And over on @forgedbondspod the first half of the show is written! The cast has been thrown into a discord and has access to scripts now which is super exciting, I can't wait for yall to hear what's going to come from the first 24 eps

And that's all for this week! It's a long audiodrama Sunday post but there's just. So much good stuff going on. Every day I'm so grateful to exist in this audiodrama space and to share my work with yall <3

[iantimony]

oopsie, two missed tuesdays!

and i almost missed this one too!!!! i was moving apartments. ough. this is a random mishmash of everything i remember of the past .. three ?? ??? weeks.

listening: finished s1 of the silt verses! faulkner is my poor little meow meow etc. i am rotating it in my brain. will have more thoughts next week probably.

some fugazi because they were referenced in a mina le video on merch and i was intrigued. they're good!

fugazi waiting room

brat charli xcx on recommendation of beloved mutual png jpeg. i liked it, i don't normally go for her style but there's some good earworms in here. really good gym album. not sure which specific song to drop here because it was a Full Album experience imo.

in terms of relistening/older stuff, the dear hunter antimai, more franz ferdinand. finally listened to sound & fury by sturgill simpson all the way through, it's really good. boyf also got me to listen to die antwoord and ohhh i do like this. a lot.

i fink u freeky (die antwoord)

also more bionicle playlist. it's just a dose of early 00's-10's music delivered via iv directly into my bloodstream. sorry.

reading: this was from a few weeks ago actually but i forgot about it. we stopped over in pittsburgh for a night and briefly entertained the idea of going to a museum or something road-trip style and found this museum review. surprisingly she is not a lesbian.

and then related to the watching, wikipedia pages for victor ninov and darleane c hoffman!

watching: mina le: the merch industry has gone too far, WAGs, blokecore, and the “feminization” of sports

swell entertainment: the marketability of celebrity eras, how to destroy your audience's trust

started dangelo wallace's ozempic video. the fatphobia had me tapping out pretty quick tho. also watched about half of joy achill's "the george r r martin problem" about asoiaf stuff, gonna finish it tomorrow i think

watched "the man who tried to fake an element" with the boyf, really fascinating, i knew a little bit of it from one of my undergrad classes but this was a really good deep dive.

also watched two episodes of space dandy with the boyf. so much to unpack there.

playing: more dnd but otherwise fallow. made a little dungeon crawl type thing so that's pretty straightforward.

making: coasters mostly right now! the main ones are a Surprise so i will not be posting them yet. instead look at my worm

i've also started knitting a magic the gathering card sleeve as a semi-gag gift for a friend. it's really really stupid i love it so much. it is just ten rows of a rectangle in stockinette right now but i'm going to mock up a little texture work to get the swamp land symbol in the back.

eating: did a lot of takeout right after moving because, Yeah, but i finally started settling back in to home cooked meals. made my favorite orzo salad for a temple potluck, an ungodly amount of gyudon, and a garlic butter shrimp pasta thing.

misc: my new apartment is good!! the insulation isn't great, i know i'll have to shrinkwrap some windows this winter for Sure, but overall i'm settling in. i have a lot of organization and purging to do, especially of my House Clothes, craft supplies, and makeup/beauty shit, and i need to get one or two pieces of furniture still (like a couch......i have a funny little bachelor chair in front of the couch right now which is very funny). i got myself some fun plants from the farmers market as a housewarming gift to myself. i am finally the owner of a monstera, yippee, she Really needs a repot though. i also got a hoya lisa because i liked the name and it was cute and cat friendly and i got a vaguely labia-adjacent succulent. i have so many little household Needs and Tasks (mat for in front of the sink! blackout curtains because i have to sleep with an eye mask right now because the blinds dont do shit! etc!) and also every grocery bill i do is like $100 because of getting kitchen essentials that will not run out any time soon but that i do need (white vinegar. aluminum foil. flour.) so everything is so expensive. this is a big wall of text. at least the spare mattress is out of my weird haunted hallway now <3 i'm very excited to start hanging up my art.

[eyesteeth]

hey. let's talk about names.

tsv s1 and s2 spoilers, carpenter and faulkner centric, analysis, tsv s3 speculation, long post.

tl;dr - carpenter's two names and faulkner's two/three names can be used as an indicator of affiliation, and change of name in s3 could indicate an upcoming affiliation change.

we know that "carpenter" and "faulkner" are not these characters' real names. these are names given to them by the church. much like how the snuff cult name their followers after body parts, it seems that the parish of the trawler-man like to name their members after occupations. "carpenter" is easy for a modern audience to get, one who makes things out of wood, but "faulkner" is a bit more difficult, likely being a derivative of "falconer", one who tames falcons or works with falcons.

these two names are very interesting choices, in my opinion. the trawler-man's two mouths, the one that takes and the one that returns, that symbolism is displayed in these two characters throughout the series. faulkner's fear leading him to his betrayal in season two, taking away carpenter's security with the parish, and carpenter's love for faulkner leading her to return to the church to say her final goodbyes. faulkner is the taker, and so he is named for one who trains predatory birds, and carpenter is the returner, named for one who builds and makes things constructive.

but that's not what i'm here to get into. you (presumably) read the tldr, so here's the meat of this post - names and affiliation.

carpenter has two, so she's easiest to start with. her birth name and her church-given name. we don't have to think too hard to recall her birth name. there are many flashback episodes where it's stated, and she occasionally refers to herself as her birth name in her internal dialogue.

it's mallory - mallory glass.

the first piece of relevance to her names is actually stated explicitly, right there in the text. she rejected her old name out of shame for what she had done, and hoped that taking a new name would be like starting again with a clean slate.

however, it hasn't worked. we can see extremely early in the first season just how tired she is with the faith and with gods in general. the supposed transfiguration never happened, and she's still as frustrated at herself as she was before.

season two helps change this. she gets a whole episode dedicated to confronting her own shame (via the patented Trauma House) and comes out the other end with a better idea of what she wants to do moving forward. she ends the season with the decision to step away from both the trawler-man's faith and the cairn maiden's faith, choosing to live as a person and not the extension of a religion.

and, if she's no longer tied to a religion, it would perhaps be a bit odd to keep going by the name given to her by one. if she truly self-actualizes at some point during season three, capping off her arc, i believe her going by mallory again would be a great signifier. she no longer belongs to the river, and she's comfortable enough with herself and her past to be mallory.

alternatively, she could choose to keep going by carpenter out of spite, a sort of "fuck you, i'm taking this for myself", which could be a fun inversion on the taking/returning dynamic she has with faulkner.

and speaking of faulkner...

faulkner has three names, but the first isn't quite that relevant, so i'm mostly going to treat it as two. two of these are, like carpenter, his birth name and his church-given name. however, he has a second between the two, his chosen name.

faulkner is transgender (if this is how you learned this i'm sorry), and so his birth name is sort of stricken from the record, so to speak. and we know he has a chosen name - it's said!

so, do you know his name? pauses for four seconds, unblinking, like i'm dora the explorer.

faulkner's name situation is perhaps a direct opposite to carpenter's. he has a name he liked so much he chose it for himself, and then he discarded it for the name the church gave him and has been wearing it proudly for, as of season two's finale, a whole year!

but i need to back up a step first. because i could argue about whether or not faulkner experiences the same shame carpenter does or, inversely, is completely shameless, but there's no real point to it in this particular instance - because we have not seen much of faulkner's life outside the church.

the things we know about his backstory essentially boil down to this: he grew up with a neglectful father and two brothers who were, depending on how you view it, extremely rough and tumble to downright abusive. his mother is not in the picture and it's implied that she either died in childbirth or left after having her third child. after finding a water tank marked with the symbols of the trawler-man in the woods, faulkner drowned his brother charlie by accident due to miscommunication. this incident gained him popularity at school. at some point his brother eddie leaves the house, and eventually his father leaves too. after that, faulkner packs up his things and makes his way to the church, at which point he is sent on a mission with a day or less of turnover.

it is a lot of information, but it's all tied to the church. the way the flashbacks are framed through faulkner's narration feels like a fable he's telling to himself. the brave prophet, abandoned by his family, walked for days to the church, where he was eventually let it and was sent on a mission that very same day. the pain was all worth it because he found a family in the end. the pain must mean something, so there has to be a reward at the end. a classic tale of victory emerging from struggle.

most of carpenter's backstory revolves around the church as well, but we do get to see her have time to herself in season two and in a few flashbacks, giving us insight into who she is without the church's expectations. even though faulkner has months of break in season two, that time is spent within the parish and is sped through, again, almost seeming to suit the narrative he's writing in his head. the verses don't need to know how much chocolate he ate in eight months.

and so, if faulkner is to be a figure in the verses, a prophet with a story, it's paramount that he has the name the church gave him. it fits the role he's cast himself for - who cares about the actor? it was a gift from the trawler-man. a name was taken, and what returned was "faulkner". he has, essentially, put all his eggs in one basket. the river told him he had done well when he drowned his brother at thirteen and he's been chasing that high of validation ever since.

let's jump into another framing - what the characters know.

we, as an audience, know the name mallory due to backstory narrated by the character. however, that's all mental, thoughts carpenter is having as she goes on this journey. the other characters (with exceptions for a few gods) are not privy to her internal dialogue. and, yet, many of them likely know her name.

adelina glass was well-known in the faith. mason went out of his way to pick up carpenter and convert her, literally visiting her for years before she came with. there was no welcome wagon for faulkner. mason doesn't do this for just anyone. carpenter's family name is "storied". and so, others may very well know of adelina glass' granddaughter mallory, or connect carpenter with that name on their own time.

conversely, it's incredibly likely that no one in the church knows faulkner's name. there was no fanfare for him. his turnover was done within 24 hours. mason might've known his name, if the personal name must be returned in order to take the church-given one, but mason is Fucking Dead. we, as an audience, know faulkner's name, but that's because it was given to us in circumstances that literally one other character was privy to.

so. do you know his name?

now, back to affiliation. or, well, closer to that.

i can't get super deep into it in here (i literally can't, i've rewritten this five times now and trying to do so completely fucked up the essay each time) but faulkner's arc is based around validation, family, and where he finds it. his birth family was no good, so he sought out family in the faith and the parish.

however, he's encountered two road bumps. in season one, it was that murder was icky. he was freaking out before sainting the hotelier and ran from the place once the man had transformed, and when the withermark is found, he talks about "needing to be past" the whole guilt over murdering hundreds thing. this was a conflict of faith - a god must feed, but he doesn't want to put food on the table.

the second road bump was season two - faulkner becomes a high member of the parish but finds that the role is uncomfortable for him and that he doesn't agree with things that take place. mason is transparently undermining him, and the jellyfish saint mason presents to faulkner makes those "i don't like murdering innocents" thoughts bubble up again.

however, i'd argue that this second bump makes him regress in his arc. certain doubts of faith could be corrected into doubts of the parish if he's in a certain mindset during season three - if he feels uncomfortable with something, he could wave it off as the parish misinterpreting his god. he clearly still loves the trawler-man - he killed two people for the perceived heresy of making their god go legal.

but if he gets past this mentality and realizes that the church and the faith don't have what he's looking for - real family and validation - then he may begin to favor his own needs, and exist as his own person again, without the faith fueling him. he wouldn't be faulkner anymore. he wouldn't need the name of the church. he'd go back to the name his family called him by, the name he chose for himself.

and so, we go back to affiliation. faulkner is, seemingly, all-in on the church as of season two's finale. he's put himself into the role of prophet, and so he must have the name of one, a name given to him by the river. his chosen name, representative of himself without the faith, is not a priority for him. he's chosen to cease to exist as himself and exist as a part of a whole. seemingly.

but, much like how carpenter may go back to mallory in season three once she fully understands herself, faulkner may go back to richard if he has a realization that makes him leave the faith. both of them choosing to seek family in each other and not the church. maybe they'll get to reintroduce themselves. mallory and richard. sister and brother.

but not in the religious way.

[bluejayblueskies]

Do you have any recommendations for fantasy audiodramas? Preferably with full-cast, but no worries if not :)

hello anon! i've got a few, some of which i can provide first-hand reviews for and some of which have been recommended by friends and colleagues ✨ a quick note that while most of these are audio-dramas, a few are actual-play podcasts, so feel free to skip those if you're not into that

(recommendations below the cut!)

The Penumbra Podcast (in particular, the second citadel storyline)

While the Juno storyline for TPP is also excellent, if you're looking for fantasy vibes, the second citadel storyline is the way to go! It takes place in a high-fantasy-esque world with knights, castles, magic, non-human creatures, and some very fun characters who I thoroughly enjoyed! Full cast, audio drama, high fantasy

Rusty Quill Gaming Podcast

This is another high-fantasy-esque world, which takes place in London circa 18-something something. The two caveats with this one are that it's 1) an actual play podcast and 2) a touch difficult to get in to, so I would recommend starting on the season one recap (between episodes 53 and 54) and then going back and starting on Bertie's sidequest (between episodes 39 and 40) and then listening chronologically from there. The podcast loosely revolves around this robotic humanoid machine called the Simulacrum that the party thinks is wrapped up in something sinister happening. It's very well done, though the NPCs being named after Real Life Historical Figures means that my blorbo for a while was Oscar Wilde (RPG character) lmao. So it goes. Full cast, actual play, low fantasy

Hello from the Hallowoods

This one isn't strictly fantasy, but the vibes are similar enough that I feel confident including it on this list! The podcast is told from the perspective of a singular entity, so it's not quite full cast, but there's still a wide variety of characters who we hear from and have dialogue from. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, where black rain has fallen and created a wide variety of creatures/affected humans in a wide variety of ways. There are also a lot of humans living in dreaming boxes, where they live solely in their own dreams. I'd describe the genre as soft horror, and the cast is comprised almost entirely of queer characters. Singular narrator who voices many characters, audio drama, soft horror

And then some recommendations from friends!

Audio Dramas

Unseen - Urban fantasy, stories about individual characters

Alba Salix - High fantasy about a royal physician, full cast

Magic Tavern - Comedy improv high fantasy about a modern day guy getting transported into a magical kingdom, full cast

Once and Future Nerd - A group of teenagers get transported to a fantasy setting, audio drama, full cast

Monstrous Agonies - Supernatural urban fantasy, supernatural styles help line

Care and Feeding of Werewolves - Supernatural urban fantasy, supernatural styled doctor

Silt Verses - Follows two people, Carpenter and Faulkner, who worship an outlawed god and are traveling along a river in a pilgrimage

The Bright Sessions - Dr. Bright provides therapy for the strange and unusual

Night Shift - Urban fantasy, features magical anomalies

Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality - singular narrator (the audio tour guide) walks you through the exhibits of a strange museum (and more!)

Actual Plays

Dice Shame - Fantasy RPG

The Adventure Zone, Balance and Amnesty arcs - Fantasy RPG

Dark Dice - Originally an actual play, now edited to be more similar to an audio drama, full cast

Transplanar - Dark fantasy RPG

[agirlinthegalaxy]

Hi! Fellow person with an English degree, along with working for an academic company that has a short college textbook about AI! One of the things that was discussed was hallucinations, which is incorrect information that AI presents as fact. Because the thing is, AI isn't capable of critical thought on its own. It takes in all of this information from the internet, but, as well all know, the Internet isn't inherently a trustworthy source of information and AI isn't capable of actually verifying this information.

One of the ways that we demonstrated this in our textbook is by inputting "Who won the 2022 presidential election?" This was using a previous ChatGPT model, but it actually would answer the question genuinely as if there had been a 2022 presidential election. Another way that I found personally is that I would begin discussing television shows and push it, and without fail, it always began making a lot of errors about obvious plot points and would be unable to keep it straight. Here's an input where I ask for an explanation of the finale of the Charmed (1998) series. (Spoilers for that ahead, but also the show ended nearly twenty years ago, so.)

While a lot of people probably don't know a lot about the show, here's the most relevant part: the entire Ultimate Power section is a complete fabrication because, while they exist, they're distinct characters with a completely different background. (And before anyone says anything, the point isn't about how recognizable the show is, it's about the AI literally makes up false information and presents it as truth when it's very easily disproved.)

Another way of illustrating AI's hallucinations is asking an either/or question, presuming that an event happens. Now, in full transparency, I have not read Dracula since 2021/2022, but I'm about eighty percent sure that this is an example of a hallucination. If not, my apologies, but I'm sure you can find a hallucination if you input it enough similar statements.

Beyond clearly just knowing what is accurate or not, AI also, like the previous OP said, doesn't know what is important. In many classes, when you're discussing some kind of novel, small details will of vital importance whether it about character, plot, or theme of the book. Demonstrated by one of my professors who asked us about the symbolism of the horse that Thomas Sutpen rode into town in the beginning of Absalom, Absalom only to very loudly proclaim that it was between his legs as a phallic symbol, which honestly was probably correct with the author William Faulkner being who he is. Side note, but he was a weird man, and I still don't like his works. If I was a student in that class today, here are the two different shortcuts I could have gotten.

(ChatGPT)

(SparkNotes)

Between the two, even disregarding that SparkNotes' summary is four paragraphs to ChatGPT's three (since the girl in the og Twitter post used three), SparkNotes just provides so much more information and detail. I'd argue that ChatGPT doesn't even summarize it efficiently anyways. So if you're just trying to cheat for class, ChatGPT still isn't a good option.

But I think the worst thing is that the people in the original Twitter convo aren't even reading for class. They're (presumably) reading for enjoyment, which makes it so much more bizarre to me. Because the thing is, and this is a rare one for me to say, you don't... have to read if you don't enjoy it? Once you've left school, very few places (unless you intentionally opt into it or have a very specific job) will make you read novels in your free time. Furthermore, I really can't fathom problems that ChatGPT solves that, say, an audiobook can't? Discussing these two specific instances individually:

If you're wanting to learn more about what Aristotle said in more readable English, baby, he's Aristotle. I can almost guarantee you that there is some kind of book out there, or even something online if you'd like to use the Internet, explaining his philosophy in easier to understand terms. Also with philosophy, I think that "main gist" can be a bit of a trick in of itself because it's designed to make you think critically about these ideas. Sometimes, the "main gist" is even the opposite of what they may seemingly be arguing because they're mocking it.

As for reading a book recommendation by a friend. ... girlie pop, you literally could just not read the book. I've gotten plenty of book recommendations that I've never read and my friends are not insulted at it. If it's a bid for connection, I'd argue that this is more insulting than simply not reading it because if you don't want to invest the time into it, that's fine but this weird shortcut way as if it's beneath your time is... oof. But especially if you want to discuss it, because AI will not include every beat and a lot of a novel is in the way it's written, the pacing or tension, etc. Things that an AI summary can't define out for you to have an actual meaningful conversation. That's something I do when I see a movie that looks halfway interesting but don't care enough to actually sit down and watch it. And even then, I'd never go back to that friend and act like I actually consumed that media; I'd probably just say that it sounds good because I still have not actually truthfully engaged with it!

This is a very long post, but I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about AI, especially in classes, literature, and media in general. Most of them are very negative, but I mean, please don't hand over your critical thinking of what you're consuming to artificial intelligence. Its intelligence is artificial; yours is not.

what is HAPPENING

[notbecauseofvictories]

I'm in liquified disoriented tatters since the finale, but something I was meaning to say before this episode: I think Carpenter is like. 35, maybe 40, with a dash of "you look like shit" making people assume she's a bit older. the hunter siblings are absolutely teenagers as well.

also, a thought from the middle of the episode, before I was fully liquified:

At a certain point, Mercer wasn't much of a hunter anymore. She was just rabid.

[con't] Faulkner do you want to explain that thing you said to Mason. could you please. I don't. think I follow. faulkner

Incorrect! Carpenter is 45 at the bare minimum. I agree that at first (or second, or fifth) glance she looks older, but honestly she feels even older than that based on the fact that she has been keeping company with twenty somethings for the last two years. (Faulkner being max 22 and Paige being 28 at the outside.) Hayward is the only person in the whole cast who we might consider 'of an age' with Carpenter, and mostly because he's in his late thirties/early forties and prematurely aged by a steady diet of stress-smoked cigarettes, lies, deserved guilt, and paranoia.

"Mercer is rabid" fuck you that's a good line.

I do actually have reasoning for this! There's a great post in the silt verses tag calling out how nonsense it seems for Faulkner to snap at his faith no longer being illegal. Surely that's a good thing! Religious persecution is the reason Nana Glass is dead and Em drowned; the reason for Carpenter's parents being absent and Mason running his a private cult. Real religions have fought tooth and nail to be recognized by the state as legitimate; most modern people understand a lack of religious tolerance as bad and wrong. There's no reason to believe that this wouldn't color our readings of a podcast about fictional religions. What I think perspective ignores, is that---when it comes to TSV a religion's choice is not between "criminalization/persecution" and "recognition by the state/freedom." Instead, the existential question before every faith of the Peninsula and the Linger Straits is "criminalization" or "co-option". Your choices are either to be an enemy of the state, and operate under your own wild rules, however corrupt---or to throw your lot in with the government, and become yet another arm of the state trying to kill you. After all, it's the legitimate government tying sacrifices to trains, courting gods via test audience, letting dispassionate scientists discover your saints by scientific method with a body count. Stripping faith and narrative from your religion for the sake of power---like copper wire from the walls---is what the government does. And that's what I think Faulkner objects to. For good or ill, he is the most sincere believer in the Trawler-man that we know---his investment isn't in the Parish and its earthly power, the way Mason's is; he doesn't particularly care about its people, as Carpenter does. He believes in the absolutism of its god and his role as that god's prophet. No more, no less. Is this unreasonable, unhinged? Yes. But it does mean that Mason willing to sell out that divine absolutism for a seat at the Peninsulan table is an existential threat to Faulkner and everything he is. Hence: Murder.

[derekluvbot]

And 70 gotch!!! (i would send more but i dont wanna overwhelm you!!)

a/n: i kinda cheated and switched up the wording but this was very fun. (and if you're looking for more gotch content i'll have a full length fic posted tomorrow morning if i can get through editing it)

prompt: “I could tell it was your favorite book from all the notes you wrote in the margins.”

wordcount: 628

warnings: a little nsfw if you squint but really hard it's really just the two of the being flirty. pre-relationship. getting together.

"Knock knock!"

Hotch looks up from the mountain of paperwork on his desk. The semi permanent frown that usually graces his countenance falls when he sees the cheery technical analysis at his doorway.

"Garcia, come in."

Penelope teeters into his office in her hot pink heels, and Hotch finds it secretly very enduring.

"What can I do for you?"

She holds up a well worn copy of As I Lay Dying. "Just here to return this."

"Oh, what did you think?"he asks, gesturing for her to sit down. Penelope crosses further into the room and takes a seat across from him at his desk. He had a lot more files to finish, and he probably shouldn't be taking a break to chit-chat but if there's a choice between being talking with Penelope and completing case reports, well there's really no competition is there?

"It's a lot more... gloomy than the books I usually read, but I really did enjoy it."

"Well yes, Faulkner isn't known for his thrilling romance scenes, but I'm glad to hear that Penelope", he chuckles. "I'm just shocked you've never had to read it in school."

"Oh we probably did at one point". she shrugs. "I could have easily been too distracted with whatever government database I was hacking in high school to be bothered with it."

"As your supervisor, i didn't hear that", he responds warily, peering over his nose. Despite his serious expression, he knows there's no real threat behind it. (So does she.)

"I'm just teasing, Hotch. I didn't start all that illegal business till after graduation", she explains with a wink.

Despite himself he chuffs out a laugh. "Don't make me put you back on that watchlist Garcia."

"You wouldn't dare."

He raises an eyebrow that seems to say "try me." Something passes between them and the air suddenly feels a little too warm. Garcia almost wants to push it further, but thinks better. She clears her throat, and the moment passes.

"So how long have you had this copy? It looks well loved", the tech genius asks.

" 'Well loved' is one way to put it. But I've had this specific copy since college. It's one of my favorites, and even though I didn't study it, I had it with me all through law school."

"I can tell it means alot to you, just from all the notes you left in the margins. I probably enjoyed reading them more than more than the actual book'", she admits. "It was kinda like I was having your voice in my ear, reading right along with me." Hotch is looking at her with a sort of shocked expression, and she suddenly realizes what she said, and begins to back pedal.

"Sorry, that came out weird. I just meant you annotate really well and I like--"

"It's not weird", he interrupts her before she can spiral anymore. Penelope is staring back at him, looking uncharacteristically bashful. "I'm glad someone enjoys my ramblings. And--", he pauses, working up his nerve, "if you'd like to talk more, about Faulkner, or anything else, maybe we can meet up sometime? Somewhere that isn't my office, I mean."

There's a beat of silence where Penelope is processing his words Aaron is holding his breath, just before her lips slip into a familiar, flirty grin.

"Agent Hotchner, if I didn't know any better, it would sound like you're asking me on a date. Am I right?"

All Hotch can do for a second is shake his head fondly; He knows he's been caught.

"Well that depends", he starts. "Do you promise not to report me to HR if I say yes?"

"Only if I can get you to read some of my "thrilling romance" novels."

"You've got a deal."

--

[renthony]

#this excludes writing pedo or incest.

If you look at the tags on my original post, this post was originally about hospital horror, and how it's allowed to exist even if an individual has medical trauma and doesn't like the genre. But since someone wanted to go and put some shit on my post that I disagree with:

No, actually, it doesn't exclude those things. Dark themes in fiction are allowed to exist whether you like them or not.

Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita was not a real little girl who really got brutalized. She was a fictional character. No real child was harmed. People are not reading Lolita and going out thinking, "oh, this told me to abuse children, and clearly it's morally okay now." The existence of Lolita is not responsible for the existence of CSA.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare was pretty meta, but Freddy Krueger was still never real and never hurt any real kids, either. He's a story. None of those kids ever died, none of them ever got abused, and Fred Krueger never got burned to death, because they're all fake and never existed. Murder and CSA in the real world aren't Freddy Krueger's fault.

Jaime and Cersei Lannister are not real people. They are fake. They are words on paper, and actors on a screen. Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau are not siblings, and did not ever have real sex in the show. It was fake, simulated, not real sex. No siblings actually fucked. Nobody is watching/reading Game of Thrones and thinking, "oh, I can totally go fuck my sibling with no repercussions now!" The existence of Game of Thrones is not responsible for real-world incest.

Guillermo del Toro's film Crimson Peak didn't kick off an epidemic of everyone deciding it's okay to fuck their sister and kill their wife. William Faulkner's "A Rose For Emily" isn't making people kill men and sleep with their corpses, and Emily never really killed Homer because neither of them actually exist in the first place.

John Wick isn't making people run out and become hitmen. The very cute doggy that infamously dies in the first movie was not actually a real dog death--the dogs in John Wick were treated very well, according to a ScreenRant article I found!

Ghostface was played by a combination of stuntmen and a very talented voice actor, and all his murder victims were actors who were filming a pretend story. It was all choreographed and nobody really died. The benind-the-scenes stuff for the Scream series is actually really cool if you're into that sort of thing like I am.

Arcane didn't put grenade launchers in people's hands and turn them into vigilante fighters juiced up on Super Drugs--and you know what, neither did any of the things the Batman franchise has churned out. The Joker and Scarecrow and Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn aren't out there terrorizing New York City, because they're fantasy supervillains who aren't real and can't hurt you.

The endless waves of bandits in Skyrim are pixels on a screen, and I'm not killing real men when I cut them down. No real people got hurt when my Sims 4 house caught fire. Playing Super Smash Brothers hasn't gotten me into underground fighting rings, and neither did watching Fight Club.

It's all fiction.

None of it is real.

The characters are fake and do not exist.

Curate your own media experience and get your head out of your ass.

Your personal triggers and squicks do not get to determine what kind of art other people make.

People make shit. It's what we do. We make shit to explore, to inspire, to explain, to understand, but also to cope, to process, to educate, to warn, to go, "hey, wouldn't that be fucked up? Wild, right?"

Yes, sure, there are things that should be handled with care if they are used at all. But plenty more things are subjective. Some things are just not going to be to your tastes. So go find something that is to your tastes and stop worrying so much about what other people are doing and trying to dictate universal moral precepts about art based on your personal triggers and squicks.

I find possession stories super fucking triggering if I encounter them without warning, especially if they function as a sexual abuse metaphor. I'm not over here campaigning for every horror artist to stop writing possession stories because they make me feel shaky and dissociated. I just check Does The Dog Die before watching certain genres, and I have my husband or roommate preview anything I think might upset me so they can give me more detail. And if I genuinely don't think I can't handle it, I don't watch it. It's that simple.

[curegbm]

Susan Foster info for health -

July 7, 2020

When I was a junior in college I went to school in Vienna. One of my friends was Martina Nicholson. She became an OB/GYN, and just retired last year. She has a colleague, Dr. Richard Loftus, who is a biohazard virology-trained hospitalist. In other words he is treating COVID-19 patients in the hospital. I've read a lot of these accounts and this is the most powerful one I've ever read. It makes you want to hand out masks to everyone who's not wearing one. I am going to print this and carry copies with me when I'm walking. I will hand this out to people who don't have masks. If anybody gives me a hard time for my post on masks, you will get a copy of Dr. Loftus' brilliant, raw, painful account of what it's like treating these patients. What really struck me is how sick young previously healthy patients are 3 – 4 months post release from the hospital. Please be careful. Do not, for one more second, doubt this is real.

From Martina Nicholson, MD:

From my friend Dr Rick Loftus, MD. yesterday (7/2/20), update about Covid-19:

I'm in a hotspot hospital in a hotspot region (Coachella Valley, Inland Empire, CA). We just converted the entire second floor of our hospital to COVID-19 care yesterday, July 1. We have 65 inpatients with COVID-19 in a hospital with 368 beds. It is the same at our other 2 hospitals in the Valley. We spent yesterday deciding the ethical way to divide up limited remdesivir (30 patients' worth) for the hospital patients. My 20 incoming interns for our IM resident were exposed to COVID 2 weeks ago during their computer chart training; apparently 100% of our computer trainers had COVID19. One intern tested positive 7 days later and I insisted we re-test them all again, as there are almost certainly other cases with minimal symptoms. I raided my household and took my entire supply of face shields to the hospital for the residents to wear on their first day, and I paid $1000 of my own money to equip all of my residents with medical-grade face shields. I require all residents to wear a surgical mask or N95 with face shield if they are within 6 feet of another human, patient or coworker.

Roughly 20% of our inpatients die. Only 30% of our ventilated patients survive. (We try to avoid ventilation at all costs. Some people insist on being full code and decompensate despite high flow with face mask, proning, dexamethasone, antibiotics, and a cocktail of famotidine, zinc, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, NAC, and melatonin--we throw everything we can at each case, so long as it won't hurt them.)

My administrative assistant, who sits adjacent to the interns, just went home with COVID symptoms. Her test is pending.

In the Southwest, we are experiencing catastrophic exponential growth. I have had multiple families--siblings, parent-child, spouses--admitted with COVID-19. I had a 31 year old come in satting 78% on room air; he had been sequestering himself in his bedroom for a week to avoid infecting his elderly parents, with whom he lived. His sister, the only person he saw outside his immediate household in the 10 days prior to onset of fever, cough, and dyspnea, had also had fevers but had tested "negative" at our other large hospital so he thought it was safe to visit her. (Sigh. The Quest PCR test is about 80% sensitive, we think--it had emergency approval to sensitivity data was not required. The Cepheid rapid COVID PCR test is 98.5% sensitive but is in short supply due to limited reagent availability.)

I'm glad some of you are sheltered from what unbridled COVID-19 looks like. It's a hell show. This is *July*. What do you think my hospital will look like in winter?...

This is real. Doctors in places with proper public health responses will see few cases in their hospitals--like UCSF--but let me tell you something: The laws of physics and biology don't change. If you're in an unaffected region, an introduction and poor governance and low use of physical distancing and masks will give you an exponential increase in no time flat (i.e. 2-4 weeks). That's pandemic math. And 20% of the population infected needs a hospital. You *will* run out of beds with an unbridled pandemic. There is almost ZERO pre-existing immunity to SARS-CoV-2. There may be some "priming" of T-cell responses due to exposure to other "benign" beta-coronaviruses, but we have no idea if that explains the 20-40% of people who seem to get minimal symptoms. Asymptomatic infected persons, however, can, and do, spread COVID to those who die from it.

By the way: I've seen scary looking CT scans of the lungs that look like terrible interstitial pneumonia in a patient who had ZERO symptoms and SaO2 94% on room air. She came in for palpitations and the intern overnight got a chest CT for cardiac reasons. We didn't know it was COVID until her test came back 36 hours later. So "asymptomatic" does NOT mean "no biological activity." The virus replicates furiously in people who feel fine. Kids can spread this as easily as grown ups, even if they feel okay.

Related: I've talked to two previously healthy patients ages 32 and 44 who are 3 and 4 months, respectively, post their acute COVID. They continue to have cough, nightsweats, fever, fatigue. How many survivors have "post-COVID syndrome"? We don't know. Less than 20% but we're not sure. I've asked my hospital to allow me to establish a post-COVID clinic to care for and study survivors. Both NIH and UW are planning similar efforts based on my dialogues with them.

Autopsies show anoxic brain injury in many patients who died of COVID, not to mention microthrombi throughout the lungs and megakaryocytes in massive infiltrations in their hearts and other organs. People get heart failure, lung fibrosis, and permanent kidney injury from COVID-19. This is a disease of the vascular systems, and it can affect any organ, with lungs and kidneys being especially at risk.

In early May, thanks to lockdown, our census of 55 came down to 10 COVID cases, and for a brief moment, I actually had hope that the worst nightmares I had about COVID, as a biohazard virology-trained hospitalist, would not come to pass. Then we re-opened, without test/trace/isolate systems anywhere close to adequate. Eight weeks ago my county decided to make masks "optional," despite 125 doctors begging them not to do that. Now we're worse than we were in April. And it's getting worse every day.

You wanna see if COVID is real? Come walk on my COVID ward with me. It's real. Hearing people talk about it as if it's an exaggeration is, well, rage-inducing, honestly. Denial is the most common reaction to a pandemic. Denial is how the US will wind up with 1.1 million deaths instead of 30,000. I saw AIDS denialists get killed by their belief that HIV "isn't real, it's a pharma conspiracy of the medical industrial complex." Yeah, right, if you say so. I watched patients with those beliefs die.

The hardest part about this is, every new case I treat exposes me. I have assiduous hot zone technique. But no technique is bulletproof. If you keep exposing me to case after case, eventually, the virus will get through my defenses. I'm a 50 year old hypertensive. I don't expect to do well if I get infected. For now, I keep going to work. I'm one of the few pushing forward on COVID clinical trials, basic science, public health messaging, and diagnostic studies at my hospital. I feel a responsibility to keep going. I wake up with nightmares every morning at 4am. But I'm going to keep going for now. I feel very alone a lot of the time. People are not taking this seriously, and it's costing lives. -R

"Everything we do before a pandemic will seem alarmist. Everything we do after a pandemic will seem inadequate. This is the dilemma we face, but it should not stop us from doing what we can to prepare. We need to reach out to everyone with words that inform, but not inflame. We need to encourage everyone to prepare, but not panic." — Michael O. Leavitt, 2007

--

Richard A. Loftus, MD

"Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth." --William Faulkner

[broken-everlark]

Lmao we should've used these little markers🤣 I'm so sorry

I was surprised asf when Jenna posted that picture and then responded to Hunter with that. I was screaming that day. Hope it leads to Tyler and Wednesday.

I definitely think she finds him in this house. Maybe she goes hunting for him but finds him struggling with his sanity since his master is gone. I definitely think he escaped as soon as the van passed the Addams car. If they go down the route of Wednesday being his new master, maybe the Hyde awakened for her. But I don't think they'll go down that route. It'll make wyler seem forced now. Which I really wouldn't like, but idk anymore. But it could also go as she tamed the Beast, and it'd be cute sorta.

But maybe she hears about his escape or sees it? And can't let it go. Maybe wanting to know if what he felt was real? Or mad that he tricked her and wanted revenge. She definitely knows he went through torture and manipulation, so maybe she'll just talk to him? Who knows. Or maybe seeing him so broken and struggling, she'll take pity on him? Or maybe she's intrigued at the Hyde. Since they are rare and need to be studied the right way. Since I think Faulkner only tried torture to awaken the Hyde. (I hope if we do see another Hyde, it's either a flashback of Fran or Fran herself still being alive)

I definitely think in Xaviers' shed when she tried to torture him. Those were real tears, real fear in his eyes. Maybe Tyler was reminded of what Laurel did to him, learning that maybe Wednesday isn't different. Probably just another person who wouldn't listen. Who would just use him.

I pray Joel just stays in the 91 movie. That poor boy doesn't need to be ruined 🤣 just keep him there.

Yeah, I've seen theories of Xavier & Tyler being half siblings. But the only way I can see that happening is if Vincent is controlling and r*ped Fran, trying to force her to stay in his life. But again, that'd be after she had Tyler since he's (I think) a year or two older. But I hope that isn't the case because ew I don't want Tyler related to nasty xavier🤣

I'm pretty sure they wrote Xavier out of the story since all the Percy stuff was going on.

I can't call what she did for Xavier romantic. Nope. I will always deny that. Because I feel like they tried to force the love triangle. By "showing," She cared about him when literally all season she was annoyed by his presence. I will die on that hill. Her taking an arrow for Xavier is out of character. And honestly, I wish that arrow would've hit him straight in the head tbh🤣 sorry but I just can't believe she took an arrow for that prick.

Exactly since everyone loves her dance. People tend to forget she was practically peacocking for Tyler. Literally, her eyes never left his, and his never left hers. It's so soft even in her creepy way. Definitely should be talked about more, but wenclairs always find a way to ruin it. Either saying Enid was looking at her. Or somethin (Let's be honest. Everyone was watching her weird courting dance🤣)

Honestly, it was like a sentence or two. Very easy to miss. (Or I could be completely wrong, but I'm pretty sure. Again, I'm most likely wrong🤣)

Honestly, I hope we get more galpin family story, Wednesday growth, Enid family story, and maybe Ajax standing up to her parents (finally showing that he can be vocal since he's so timid), or Enid standing up to her mother, Bianca standing up to her mother, and maybe Vincent as a secret villain. Xavier. There is no coming back from being a entitled prick🤣 Honestly if they actually did write him out of the story I'm glad because I don't want to see his annoying ass anymore🤣

It's honestly annoying how much people see one small thing and immediately say Wednesday likes them. Most of the plot for season 1 was Wednesday, letting people in. Being somewhat nicer. She does with Enid. She is thankful that her friend saved her even though she's been nothing but stubborn and mean. Same with Bianca, she accepted her as a rival (not in a bad way) and even as a friend. Eugene she let in because he reminded her of pugsley. And she liked the brotherly relationship with him. The fact that she took an arrow for Xavier is irrelevant because, like you said, she's learning to care. Even if it is Xavier.

He's very easy to forget, but once you rewatch the show and keep noticing small details and just keep thinking about it🤣 I have a whole list of shit he's done.

Exactly. No one can force their opinions. But I rarely see it from wyler. I mostly see it from people who either try to make you look like a racist or homophobic. It's insane how they'll twist your words and make you seem like the bad guy. I've had it happen to me so many times, and it's just so irritating to the point where I had to leave because of my mental health first. It's just insane and it's hard not to get annoyed.

It's all good buddy! I didn't mean to make you annoyed or upset or anything🥺❤️💙

Can we talk about how Wednesday was in the most none triangle love triangle ever? Like, Wednesday and Tyler were doing their own thing meanwhile Xavier was just kind of there. Now if Wednesday liked Xavier too that would be a proper triangle, but that’s not what played out. She was always upfront with him that she was there for Tyler. He was just guy on the side who had a thing for a girl who’s into someone else. It was never a triangle. It almost confuses why anyone calls it a triangle at all.

[allegra-writes]

Thank you for the tag, hun💖���� tho I can't possibly list ALL the drafts on my folder, we'd be here all night (last time I checked, there were 64 docs there, and I'm too afraid to check again) so I'll just name the most relevant ones from the top of my head:

Starstruck 2: I'm not revealing the actual name yet cuz I want it to be a surprise. I can say it's smutty tho. Very.

Dream Catch Me: Dream/Morpheus x Reader, fluffy, sweet, lots of feelings. Inspired by the Newton Faulkner song.

Fault Line: Hopeless Romantic sequel. I just have a lot of sequels.

Call it Magic part II: soulmate, coffee shop au with Dad!Billy Russo.

A Song for you: RPF with Ben Barnes. Will probably never see the light.

Begin Again: After your nasty break up with playboy Billy Russo, you met handsome lawyer Matt Murdock at your favorite Pattiserie. Will probably never post it either.

Dark Temptations: Your fiance Matt stood you up on your anniversary. Again. Billy Russo is there to take advantage.

Make you feel my love: Darkfic, stalker Billy Russo. Enough said.

The darkling's little runaway (tentative title): The darkling has some heartrendering skills that he puts to good use in a carriage dragging you back to Os Alta. Just an excuse for more somnophilic Darkling.

Choke this love: what it says on the thin. Just a dirty, filthy drabble.

Unnamed robot story: Your life isn't perfect but it's pleasant enough. Normal. Unremarkable. Or is it? One day you meet a tall dark stalker stranger and discover everything you thought you knew about yourself and your world is wrong. An epic tale of war, star crossed lovers and yes, robots. Because I watched Westwood way too many times.

Aaaand that's all folks. I'm tagging anyone who wants to get asks about their WIPs, and asking them to tag me so I can pry too 😘

Tag Game

Thank you so much @spideyanakin for tagging me 💚

dynamic: post the names of all the files in your wip folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

1.I See Your True Colours - 1st Steddie fic I'm writing

When Steve finds Eddie and Dustin in the Upside Down, he finds apulse and carries Eddie out of there. After three weeks in the hospital Eddie finalls wakes up. His dreams have been guided by Steve reading LotR to him. Steve was there nearly every night, because only in Eddie's presence, he was able to get some sleep without being haunted by nightmares. Wayne of course realises there is something going on, and after what Steve has done for Eddie, he already considers him family.

2. Promises-Series | currently writing Part 4: Holy Diver

Eddie and you have been best friends since you were 10, when you were 15, you had your first date, admitted your love for each other, but then you had to move to NYC. Eddie never wrote you a letter, you weren't able to reach out, and pride kept you from writing him another letter (you'd left him one the day of your move, but he never got it). Now, 5 years later (taking place dright before and during season 4), you come back because you miss him, your best friend. You argue, but decide to talk about it a couple of days later, and that's wehn all hell breaks loose.

3. I'm Lost I'm Found in You - Witcher Modern AU

Geralt is a veteran and has his service dog Roach because of his PTSD. He needs to get away from the big city and moves in with Jaskier, a complete stranger, whose house is too big and quiet for him alone. While Geralt wakes up in the middle of the night from nightmares, Jaskier sits downstairs, plays the guitar and sings, which is calming for Geralt. Ciri lost her parents and the family that's taking care of her is abusive towards her, so Geralt and Jaskier take her in. They're both falling for each other, but... still a little scared about it

4. You'll Make Me Brave - Geraskier Crime AU

Found covered in blood right next to his father’s dead body, it seems to be clear that Jaskier killed the old man. Geralt, working this case as a Detective, had to figure out what really happened, which won’t be easy, seeing that Jaskier isn’t even able to speak at first. Was it really him? Or was someone else involved? Geralt is determined to uncover the truth.

5. Let's Just Close Our Eyes and Let Go - Geraskier Hacker AU

Jaskier operates under the name the Sandpiper and steals from the rich to give the money to homeless shelters, since he’s spent a lot of time on the streets after his family kicked him out after coming out to them. Geralt sees him play music on the street, has seen him a couple of times and finally finds the courage to ask him out. Jaskier takes him to his home: A small flat on top of a building where he has loads of plants. Plants that don’t even bloom at that time of year. Geralt see’s Jaskier’s magic (which Jaskier is completely unaware of). Vesemir calls Geralt since they had a break in their case. In front of Jaskier’s building, he tells him that Jaskier is in fact the Sandpiper)

6. Wherever You Will Go - Geraskier Hockey AU

Famous contemporary romance author Julian Alfred Pankratz is set to travel with the Kaedwen Wolves (who won the cup last year) to get to know how they interact with each other, learn about hockey, so that he can incorporate that in his next book. He’s a little nervous, but still excited, until he sees a familiar face among the players. The face that was the model for one of the main characters in his last book, because they’d nearly fucked in the elevator they’d been stuck in- Only that Geralt had made it clear that he was looking for something serious, while Jaskier is afraid of commitment.

7. Geraskier Your Name AU

Geralt and Jaskier wake up int he other one’s body every now and again. At first they think it’s just some kind of weird dream, until their friends ask them what the hell had been wrong with them the previous day. At first they’re both like “I do what I want”, but that quickly changes, because their behaviour has consequences for the other one, and they start to like each other or rather what they find out. And suddenly, Jaskier had to find out how to wield a sword, while Geralt needs to learn how to play the lute.

though the Witcher ones are currently on hiatus, because I can't seem to focus on them. I tried and I couldn't write anything down

I'm tagging (but no pressure): @tellhound @luteandsword @dancingwiththefae @ghosttownwherenoonegoes @jesskier @wren-of-the-woods @writingmysanity