#vi my silliest of sillies

[feralshadowdemon]

ali my love. which three mutuals will you be taking with you during a zombie apocalypse

oh shit. ok i dont wanna have to choose between my mutuals bc i love them all so im going by the ones off the top of my head ummm

@just-a-dinosaur-i-guess @space-cat-in-a-teacup . can i take you vi. if i cant take you then maybe i'll find grace or smth

[sage-nebula]

Enforcer Vi Discourse

Now that it's been a few days and I've had some time to think on it — and, more pressingly, since I've seen a variety of takes cross my "For You" whether I like it or not (and most of the time I don't like it) — I thought I'd go ahead and make a post rounding up my thoughts and responses to the most common takes I've seen on the discourse surrounding Vi becoming an Enforcer in season 2 of Arcane. Not because I think anyone necessarily cares, but more because that's what tumblr is for, so why the hell not.

So let's hit it. (Under a cut though, because this is long and I'm not an asshole.)

"Vi is an Enforcer in League of Legends, so there is no reason at all for you to be surprised / upset / confused by this, and it's silly / stupid / weird if you are."

I'm starting off with this one mostly because I feel it's the silliest of the lot, and one that I've seen posted on this website way more often than I thought I would considering I thought the number of League players on this website was pretty much nil. But regardless —

To start with, playing League — or knowing anything about League — is not a prerequisite for watching and enjoying Arcane. While Riot has decided that Arcane is a prequel to League (I think), and therefore tied the two together canonically, you can watch Arcane without ever knowing that League of Legends is a video game that exists. In fact, when I first watched Arcane, I didn't even know that it was based on League of Legends! I saw the banner for it on Netflix, thought it looked interesting, gave it a watch. I fell in love with it, checked the tag on tumblr, and that's how I learned that it was connected to League. (No, I did not pay attention to the opening credits beyond enjoying the song.) All I knew about League beforehand was that it was a.) a game, and b.) said game involves a lot of mouse clicking, and I knew that because my employees at my former job would play it during downtime and the amount of mouse clicking that filled the office when they did was insane. I eventually learned to tune it out, but goddamn. It was annoying before I did.

My point is, Arcane is an enjoyable experience without any knowledge of League whatsoever. Knowledge of League lore can help with speculation on what might happen in future seasons (e.g. people were speculating that Vander would become Warwick before the reveal happened), but it's not necessary at all. So to act as though people are stupid or silly for either not knowing that Vi was an Enforcer in League lore, or expecting that Arcane might go a different way given how differently Vi was portrayed in Arcane versus how she was portrayed in League (and she's not the only one) . . . that, in itself, is silly. You look, sound, and are acting foolish. People only following an adaptation or spinoff of something is not a new phenomenon, and expecting them to be beholden to source material that they either a.) haven't experienced, or b.) has up until a certain point been very different from said adaptation or spinoff is just silly behavior. Arcane is based on League, but it still isn't League. It's entirely possible to like Arcane and not League, and vice versa.

"If you're upset about Vi becoming an Enforcer, then are you upset about Caitlyn becoming an Enforcer again too?"

I'm hesitant to include this one because I feel like it's a bad faith take, but it was so bad it has not left my head since I saw it, so I have to address it just to get it out of there. I don't think there is a single rational, logical person in this entire fandom who is surprised or upset that Caitlyn joined the Enforcers again, because Caitlyn's situation is completely different from Vi's. Vi grew up in the undercity, and was a victim of police brutality for her entire life. Not just in the "she was part of a marginalized community" sense, but in the "she personally experienced police brutality multiple times" sense. Caitlyn, on the other hand, grew up as an extremely privileged wealthy girl in Piltover and dreamed of becoming an Enforcer for pretty much her entire life. She only stopped being one because she got injured and was then softly fired. And even then, she continued doing investigative police work on her own because she loved being a cop that much. Now that her mother has been killed by a terrorist, there is absolutely no way she'd turn away from putting the uniform on again. It makes perfect sense for Caitlyn's character and that's why no one is upset about it. There's no struggle to connect the dots there. Come on, be serious.

"There is no way that Vi would EVER become a cop, this is just bad writing!"

As stated in the previous answer, I understand the struggle when it comes to connecting these dots in terms of Vi's character. Vi is a character who has trauma that is directly tied to the Enforcers. And this is not just trauma in her past, with Enforcers having killed her parents and brutalized her and her family as a child (because as we see in the "Enemy" music video, they had no problem shoving her against a fence to roughly frisk her after Powder mimed shooting them with finger guns), but recent trauma with having spent the past six or seven years in Stillwater prison after Marcus put her there to "save" her from Silco, where she was then kept in a dirty cell and beaten on a regular basis. Out of all of the Zaun characters in our main cast, Vi has arguably suffered the most brutality at the hands of the police, despite who her girlfriend currently is. So I do understand those who have trouble seeing her put on that uniform to join their side, and hell, my own immediate reaction to seeing her in that uniform was, "I want to vomit :)" because, yeah, it's not a good look, Vi!

However . . .

In real life, there are many cases where people from marginalized communities do join the police for reasons that only they know. Queer people, people of color, women, impoverished people — they attend the police academy and become cops, and some of them do stay with the force until retirement age. Maybe they believe they can change the force from the inside. Maybe they believe that if they're policing their community, they can make sure those in their community are safer than if it's just "the bad ones." There's no way of knowing. But this does happen. And I would wager that some of those people were brutalized by police at some point in their lives, or had loved ones who were . . . and they still joined anyway. Maybe their trauma was what inspired them to join, because sometimes trauma responses do work like that, making you think that you can "reclaim" it or "defeat" it or show yourself that it's "really not that bad" or that "if I'm one of them, they can't hurt me" or something similar. Again, I don't know. I have no way of knowing. But this kind of thing does happen, so the idea of someone from Zaun — even someone who has directly experienced brutality from the Enforcers like Vi — joining the Piltover Enforcers . . . it's not that strange when you think about the marginalized folks in real life who do end up becoming cops, or joining the military. It does happen.

More specifically to Vi though: I think it's important to remember what motivates her. Vi is, and has always been, motivated by protecting those she loves, even if it means sacrificing herself (her happiness, her safety, her life) in the process. In arc 1 of season 1, she was ready to turn herself over to the Enforcers as the culprit of the bombing at Jayce's apartment in order to protect Powder, Mylo, Claggor, and Vander. Vi knew this meant that she would never see them again, and would likely do time in Stillwater for it. Yet, at fifteen years old, she was still ready to make that decision to protect them, because she loved them. As the season progresses, we see her make similar decisions; she ends her friendship* with Caitlyn to go after Silco on her own because she doesn't want to involve Caitlyn in the messier, more dangerous aspects of what she's about to do, despite the feelings she's already developed for Caitlyn by that point. At the dinner party, she agrees to go live in solitude with Jinx, again leaving Caitlyn and any sense of normality or friendship with anyone else behind, if it means helping her baby sister heal and get better. Vi is a character who is willing to make personal sacrifices for those she loves, even when those she loves may not want her to make them.

Why is this relevant? It's relevant because I think there is a very strong possibility that Vi is going to become an Enforcer in an effort to protect Jinx. (And also Caitlyn, but Caitlyn has backup in the form of other Enforcers whereas Vi doesn't have reason to believe that Jinx has any backup at all, so I think Jinx will be her priority.) In the first teaser we received for season two, Caitlyn has a line where she says, "If I go after your sister, one of us comes back in a box." There is a very high probability that Caitlyn's mother was killed by the rocket that Jinx fired at the council tower, which is why Caitlyn is gunning for Jinx's head. Even if Jinx is convinced that Vi can't "love [her] like she used to," I don't think Vi agrees. And I think that Vi is willing to do whatever she has to do in order to keep her baby sister alive, even if that means shoving her trauma down as far as it will go, swallowing her vomit, and putting on an Enforcer uniform so she's with the squad that goes after Jinx so she can make sure that Jinx is brought in alive (and also so that Caitlyn isn't the one who comes back in a box either). If we consider it from this perspective, I do think it makes sense for Vi.

(*Yes, friendship. I ship them as much as the next person, and it is obvious that they both had feelings for each other, and that scene was 100% written like a breakup. But even one of the writers, I think, said that it was too soon for them to have been dating yet, and I agree! They hadn't even kissed yet. I do think they will in season two though, but as of season one, they were just Friends With Feelings. Everything just happened so fast.)

"Sevika and Jinx were the same as the Enforcers but on Silco's side and they weren't hated like the Enforcers are, so you're hypocrites if you like them but hate Vi!"

I won't pretend that there aren't people who woobify Silco and his entire operation, acting as if they have never done anything wrong ever in their life, either because they find Silco or Sevika attractive, or because they relate so hard to Jinx that they can and will excuse everything she does because admitting that she has been in the wrong makes them feel like they've been in the wrong, or because they don't want to admit that they like characters who do bad things, or because they are desperate for Arcane to be a Good vs Evil story when it is not, has never been, and will never be that, or some combination of the above. This has been happening since season one, and I'm well aware of the phenomenon.

But as much as there are intentional parallels between Silco's operation and Piltover's council & Enforcers (in a way that is supposed to make you see that they are both corrupt and that you should be cheering for neither of them as they are), I also feel that reducing these parallels to "these characters fulfill the exact same roles and are the exact same and therefore fans are hypocrites for hating the Enforcers while being okay with Jinx and/or Sevika" is . . . well, reductive.

Again, to be abundantly clear: Silco's mafia is violent, corrupt, and overall a net negative for Zaun. Yes, there are people who use shimmer as medicine, there are people whose lives are saved by it, such as Vi's in season one. There are also people who are addicted to it, whose lives are ruined by it, who are essentially owned by Silco's mafia as a result of it. There are people who are murdered for daring to speak out against and defy Silco and his rule over the undercity, and Sevika helped to enforce this. None of that is being disputed here.

But from the perspective of the viewer — and particularly viewers who perhaps live in marginalized communities, who do feel the oppression of wealthier classes and police organizations represented by the city of Piltover and their Enforcers, but who don't experience living under a criminal rule similar to Silco's mafia — I can understand why they would view the Piltover Enforcers differently from Silco's mafia in the sense of, "The Piltover Enforcers are the oppressive ruling class, while Silco's mafia is what happens when the oppressed use what resources are available to them in an effort to defend themselves and fight back against said oppressive ruling class." Remember, Sevika was the primary person to confront Vander for not doing anything to fight back against Piltover and the Enforcers in the Last Drop in arc 1. Vander's argument was that they should wait for the investigation into the explosion in Piltover to blow over; Sevika's argument was that they should fight back against the Enforcers patrolling their streets, hassling them in their pubs, beating and oppressing them. When the first arc of the show sets the stage in this way, is it any wonder that some in the audience continue to see it as such even when Silco's mafia amasses the power it does? When Sevika herself was speaking as the voice of the oppressed wanting to fight back?

Again: Yes, Silco's criminal organization ends up becoming as brutal and powerful in Zaun as the Enforcers are in Piltover (although the Enforcers have just as much violent power in Zaun as well, particular in arc 1). But again, I feel that simply reducing it to "they're the same" brushes away the surrounding context, as well as ignores the perspective that viewers may bring in from their personal lives — not to mention that "the monster you created" doesn't refer only to Jinx's perspective on how she feels that Vi had a central hand in creating who she is now, but also refers to how Piltover's treatment of the undercity is what allowed Silco to not only create his mafia in the first place, but what allowed it to flourish and become what it is now (and what it will continue to be even now that he's dead).

TL;DR: There are reasons why people view the Piltover Enforcers differently than they view Sevika, Jinx, and others who work(ed) for Silco. Yes, all are violent in the name of carrying out orders, as well as maintaining power and a status quo, but economic and social class politics play a huge part in how they're perceived and I personally feel that it's important not to forget that.

Anyway, those are the primary takes I've seen on the issue, or at least the ones that I had actual thoughts on more than "yeah true," or "nah." Now that it's all off my chest and out of my head, I can be at peace and not think about any of it again until season two comes out. Which means, of course, that if any of this makes you mad and you feel the need to rage, I'm not going to engage with any of that silliness. I'm an adult, and I don't have time to get in fights over TV shows, even masterpieces like Arcane. It's why I made my own post, instead of reblogging the posts making the above points to argue with them.

Anyway, that's it! Time to go get my daily win in Splatoon 3 and then spend the rest of the night playing Stardew Valley.

[i-eat-mold]

Ooooh you accept mold for exchange! How wonderful. Can I grant you residence in my wet pallet? It tends to grow some mold if I procrastinate too much. It sure would be nice if some of it was harvested for good. Namely to feed silliest of them all <3

tumblr user mavis vi tumblr user mavis vi am i the silliest of them all? i am so flattered. yes i will gladly live inside that pallet and harvest the mold. i will be like those silly little fish that clean sharks teeth.

[loregoddess]

001 Wrightworth and 002 your girl Anna Pascal from TriStrat!

wrightworth (the most ship duo of all AA):

when I started shipping it if I did: I guess after I watched the first game? No that's not quite right, more like after I finished watching the second game. I was like, "Ah, I understand why this is a popular ship now" after the first and then was like, "Yeah this tracks" after the second.

my thoughts: Wholesome ship, I totally get the appeal (the ship's actually a QPR in my fleet, but I'm not bothered by others shipping romantic wrightworth at all)

What makes me happy about them: I dunno, the dynamic works so well. Phoenix and Edgeworth saved each other, they believe in each other, they're always there for each other--they're just a feel good sort of duo for me.

What makes me sad about them: Nothing really? I mean, sure the entirety of the second game is a low point in their relationship, but it's also so interesting from a writing perspective because like, these two would not have gone into the future games with the bond of trust they eventually come to share w/out the events of the second game so like *gestures wildly*. I know a lot of fans headcanon/theorize that the time between 3 and 4 was also a rougher time (although I have my own set of headcanons/theories about this blank timeframe), but again, there's something about weathering the tough times together and coming out stronger that I enjoy seeing in any sort of fictional relationship arcs.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Hmm, I don't think I have really any other ships for either of them outside of the main one. They have great platonic dynamics with a lot of characters, but nothing that my brain goes "ah, a QPR or romantic relationship!" about

My happily ever after for them: Retired, living together, supporting Trucy's career, tending a nice small house and rewatching Steel Samurai while giving advice to the younger lawyers in their spare time. Probably show up to guest lecture at Themis more often than not, do mock trials for the students there.

who is the big spoon/little spoon: They take turns, but Phoenix likes being the big spoon more often than not.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Binge-watching Steel Samurai, Edgeworth critiquing the spinoffs while Phoenix plays devil's advocate as a joke, although probably they have little mock court battles for the silliest things. I headcanon Phoenix as an ex-theater/vis. arts double major and Edgeworth had a "formal" upbringing, so sometimes they go to galleries or live theater performances too (silly little discussions about the art/shows they see like, ALL the time).

Anna Pascal (my girl...):

How I feel about this character: Love her, love her, lover her. My MVP who was first to hit the lv. 30 cap bc I used her so often in battle, but also just one of my overall favorite characters in the story.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Uhhhh..................actually no one, now that I'm thinking about it? I know Milo x Anna is somewhat popular (as popular as can be in a teeny tiny fandom like TriStrat), but I see them more as enemies to weird coworkers. Although when I realized that both Anna and Avlora were orphaned by the same war, part of my brain wondered what it would be like if they talked/interacted and stuff, and that sort of "what if they talked" question once led to a crackship for a different game, so who knows. If my TriStrat obsession comes back maybe Anna x Avlora will turn from a "wonder what would happen..." to full "welp, guess I have a weird ship now"

My non-romantic OTP for this character: I think Anna has a good relationship with all or most of the House Wolffort people. Obviously her weird familial relationship with Benedict is of endless fascination to me, and I think she has something of a familial relationship with Erador and Archibald as well. I think she gets along very well with Serenoa (and eventually Frederica and Geela) too. Weird coworker with Milo, but the two eventually become weird friends. Accidental mentor figure to Trish and Rudolph and is so confused by this. Accidental parental figure to Decimal. Accidental older familial figure to Quahuag, and he still visits her even after being reunited with his mom. Not entirely sure how she ended up with the giant found family, but isn't complaining.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Honestly I dunno if I have any? Small fandoms sometimes mean there is no "wildly popular" opinions or headcanons to actually go against, because everyone is doing their own thing while also being respectful of their fellow fans, and that's how the TriStrat fandom feels on this site at least.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I want to see Anna's conversation with Benedict after her second character story so badly (I still have not played/watched the extra story that got released, so for all I know she does talk with Benedict finally, but until I do play the extra story I'm to sit here and wonder about her weird and wild familial situation in silence).

my OTP: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

a headcanon: I think Anna is very good with children, and probably helped take care of all the kids Serenoa took in during the war. Wildly popular with all the kids in the Wolffort demense. Acted as something of a babysitter, sort of older sister figure to Serenoa as he was growing up. Is a bit baffled by the fact that even teens who are Going Through It (re: Trish and Ridolph) gravitate towards her and think she's cool. Also, I think she got the scar on her face falling out of a tree when she was a kid, but refuses to tell anyone who doesn't already know about the scar's origin, because she knows it makes her look more intimidating and she wants that edge as the official Wolffort spy. Also, also bc I actually have a lot of headcanons, I also think she gets mistaken as younger than she is like, constantly. Partly because she is Very Short, and partly because she has the "age well" genetics. Milo simply did not believe they were almost the same age when Anna finally told her, and it took everyone who knew Anna when she was a kid to confirm that she is in fact in her early 30s. Trish and Rudolph switched from "oh, we're the same" to "holy shit, teach us your ways" as soon as they figured out Anna was not an older teen or early 20s-adult, which was slightly better than the two of them thinking Anna was also a delinquent since they respect her even more now, but she's still a bit ?? about the development.

[fangedstag]

HEYYY!! This is me :3

You can call me Sleepy/Null, and I use he/they pronouns (tbh I don’t give a shit what ppl use tho lol) !! I’m gender queer and omnisexual (pref for guys 😋). Also a minor !!

- I love art a lot, especially painting! I also make a lot of furry art and fursuits :)

- I write a shit ton!! Mainly short stories, songs, and poetry

- My main instruments are acoustic and electric guitar, but can play a little keys, drums, and classic guitar! I mainly listen to indie rock, heavy metal, goth, and folk. My favorite musician include: Radiohead, Front Bottoms, Metallica, Depeche Mode, Arctic Monkeys, and Elliott Smith

Also in a band called Prismarine, feel free to check us out :D

—————————

- I LOVEEEEE animals and research them frequently, especially reptiles and mammals. I own a leopard gecko and she’s the silliest I luv her sm <3

- Fav movies: Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron, League of Evil Exes, Mulan, Howl’s Moving Castle, Get Out, Nope, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Isle Dogs

- Fav shows: Arcane (I don’t play league, Vi is just so fine AHSGSGSG), I Am Not Okay with This, Blue Period, bsd, and Horimiya

Other random stuff I’m into: Helluva Boss, tadc, Murder Drones, Lumine. I also collect random shit like lps, animal figurines, crystals, and random ass trinkets !!

I say dumb shit without realizing sometimes, so let me know if I do so I can correct it! Also like 95% sure I’m neurodivergent soo that might be why tehe

Just here to be silly and have an epic time 🤯

[princeyarthur]

Traitor's Lament of Innocence

did you ever think of me the way you thought about yourself?

It's here, it's real: the most self indulgent, niche playlist ever conceived - a Castlevania: Lament of Innocence playlist, using ONLY songs by the hit Blaseball inspired band, The Garages. Except instead of being all of Lament of Innocence it ended up being just about Leon and Mathias, but you know how it is.

I. Talking to the Parasite || II. outfield || III. And I Mean, All Gods || IV. Lang Gang || V. Precognition/Magmatic || VI. traitor's lament || VII. Estimation || VIII. Blessings (Shove 'Em) || IX. Eclipse || X. CONSUMERIST - live @ UNDERGROUND || XI. Pathetic/Spineless || XII. Get Normal (Neon Ver.) || XIII. dickerson's remorse || XIV. Ashes || XV. Ruby Tuesday || XVI. feedbacked feelings || XVII. past mistakes || XVIII. we've got history

some general thoughts and choice lyrics that made me add these songs to the playlist under cut:

Originally this playlist was genuinely going to cover all of Lament of Innocence!! unfortunately I was not good at bridging the gap between Mathias deciding "fuck god" and Leon finding out that Mathias went "fuck god". in the end I decided that that was what I was most invested in anyways, and there were enough good Garages songs to fit that alone, so... rip to the Leon/Sara In the Feedback, which was the only in-between song I really had.

I wanted to lean into the blaseball theming here, so I decided I was going to assign them teams and everything. I actually did not assign based on team colors!! Just team vibes. I simply lucked out. Hades Tigers Mathias was such an obvious choice that I kept doubting myself on to the point that his uniform was one of the very last things finished... I think him going on the team whose fanlore notes them as anti-necromancy is great irony. Yeah Mathias YOU might not ever try to raise your wife from the dead. But Watch Out.

I thought Leon would be much harder to assign, or that no team would really fit, but then it was noted that the Lovers have a whole Knight/Arthurian theme going on, due in part to their founder. And that sealed the deal.

Anyways. Choice lyrics. Whose pov it is. And some track commentary where I think it needs it.

I. Talking to the Parasite | Mathias I know what it is I have to do/A truth I think I always knew/A sacrifice must be made before we're through/And I'll do whatever it takes just to see You

(while I don't think Mathias is personally inclined to necromancy, the vibes on this song? impeccable)

II. outfield | Mathias Like They Burned you/Like They stole you/like They Took You away/hate the damn gods/They’re abusing their power/Nearly every single hour/They took you too soon

III. And I Mean, All Gods | Mathias and i'm going to engage in rational discourse/but god will not listen to my rational discourse/so now i'm punching god, and i'm punching him with force/cause he will not listen to my rational discourse/no gods/yeah, we're killing all gods/and don't tell me the odds/cause we're killing all gods

(this one is a little silly and by this point you probably Get It. however I think it's worth it for this bit alone)

IV. Lang Gang | About Mathias and then the Blood Drain gurgled (yeah)/and he took his little sippy (yeah)/but it tastes so dirty (yeah)/yeah the Blood Drain killed his vibe

(This one was perhaps the silliest one to include, and the abrupt tone shift between this and the next songs is jaw dropping. However. how could I not include Mathias' little sippy? yeah, becoming a vampire really did kill his vibe.)

V. Precognition/Magmatic | Leon "Please tell me how I can trust again/with no one left?/Please tell me how I can bat again/how can I not break?"

VI. traitor's lament | Mathias i've made a grave mistake, i knew that from the onset/but petty traitors like me have no room for any regret/with me and you there, singing what will be our last duet

VII. Estimation | Leon You thought you did the math/Balanced things with care/You’d filled the sky with all your debts/But everything was square

VIII. Blessings (Shove 'Em) | Leon i don't want your blessings/i want you to shove them, shove them, yeah/it's a pathetic gesture/a spineless kind of nod/you're just a wooden idol/a counterfeited god

(The Pathetic/Spineless reference? [chef's kiss]. also calling Mathias a counterfeited god would probably sting given his obvious complexes)

IX. Eclipse | Leon Why so quiet now?/Go ahead, we’re waiting/Have you forgotten how?/Or is your courage fading?/I paint my stripes on/I name each scar/'Cause now I see you for the coward that you are/Go on and take a swing/I’ll be right here, ready/You’ve taken everything/So why not take just one more swing

(the one problem with Hades Tigers!Mathias is that this Hades Tigers song is very much a Leon one. Sorry for any confusion.)

X. CONSUMERIST - live @ UNDERGROUND | Leon So take a pound of flesh/If you think it would help/I can promise you this:/nothing else will/Yeah, you sharpen your teeth/Come on and take a bite/I can promise you this:/I will survive.

XI. Pathetic/Spineless | Leon when i look you in the eyes/i will start to realise/you're pathetic, in the worst ways/you're spineless, like on most days/when i look you in the eyes/i will start to realise/you're not going anywhere, going anywhere/when you go to fight gods/but none of them live up to it/and all of them give up, does that/make you feel better?/when you go to fight gods/but none of them meet your eyeline/does that make you feel fine,/or are you disappointed?

XII. Get Normal (Neon Ver.) | Leon can we get back to normal?/can we get normal after this?/it feels like my world is crumbling/it feels like the world is crumbling down

XIII. dickerson's remorse | Leon The time has come to bury my love, future, present and past/This time I’ve got nothing left, this time I’ve loved my last

XIV. Ashes | Leon I thought it would be us forever/Together against the world/But here I am standing alone/As the sun sets on the dream we shared/Memories is all I have left/And all our regrets, all we left unsaid/Now Ashes is all that remains

XV. Ruby Tuesday | Leon Are you listening?/Is this to a broken address?/I’ve been wondering/Did you ever think of me/Like you thought about yourself/I never asked, and you never asked/And now I’m living/With no benefit of the doubt/I wonder if this’ll ever let me go/When will it let me go?

(this song is the reason this playlist exists.)

XVI. feedbacked feelings | Leon I like you but you don't like me/I try to move on eventually/Then you like me when I don't like you/Tell me what are we to do

(this song nearly got cut, as it's the only one (other than we've got history, which fits too well to cut) with... pretty much explicitly romantic connotations. but I wanted a nice even number and didn't really have anything else I wanted to cut, so it stayed. I also love the ending of this song in a post LOI context; I love it when Leon has complicated feelings about Mathias after everything and still like... likes him. feels fondly about him, despite everything and despite being very hurt. This is a lot of analysis for a silly little song .)

XVII. past mistakes | Mathias I'm a profit I'm non-profit and I always end up down/I made others riches way back when/I'm a coward I'm a bastard I'm a murderer/I'd give anything to do it all again

XVIII. we've got history | Leon & Mathias It’s funny the stories we tell ourselves/between the numbers./We’re always running around/running after each other.

No matter the words we tell ourselves/We’re just repeating an endless cycle./Trading my heart for a force field./Never asking how I feel.

[mysunshine-youremoonlight]

Crocus, poppy and lavender~ :>

crocus— do you have any significant dreams that you remember? what were they about?

okay this is the silliest thing ever but the most prominent one is the sinking ship enstars dream. i spawned romancing cruise btw. basic plot summary is that the cast of enstars and i were on a ship that started sinking but literally nobody was concerned abt said sinking ship. also i was very gay for natsume and tsumugi. mika did not have good advice on the topic. right as i finally confessed i woke up. <- and thats how vani found out they were poly

poppy— out of the four seasons, which season of the year is your favorite and why?

autumn !!! it's my birth season but also it's always a good temperature for me and i love the colorful leaves :> i always get sad when like, mid-november rolls around and all the leaves are gone :( i'm also fond of spring tho bc i love seeing all the greenery come back and im fond of all the rain <3

lavender— what is currently on your mind (aside from this ask game)?

the silly things i was talking with vi about, and my own silly thoughts!!! :> vi said i would be a prince <3

[aimmyarrowshigh]

Fanfic Overview Review

Tagged by @rhubarbdreams​ :)

Tagging: @dracosollicitus​ @bebeocho​ @fille-lioncelle​ @werebearbearbar​ @deputychairman​

How many works do you have on AO3?

...1875

What’s your total AO3 word count?

2,772,621

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

HAHAHAHAHA. To find out the number, I copypasta’d into an Excel spreadsheet... 241 fandoms. The top ten by number of fics are: 1. Star Wars - All Media Types (417) 2. Marvel Cinematic Universe (317) 3. The Old Guard (Movie 2020) (215) 4. Star Wars Sequel Trilogy (197) 5. Star Wars Original Trilogy (152) 6. Captain America (Movies) (142) 7. Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (98) 8. Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins (85) 9. The Avengers (Marvel Movies) (77) 10. One Direction (Band) (77)

Are there any new fandoms you want to write for?

I mean, I pretty much get to/do write for All The Fandoms. Once I like a thing, I put it on the ship list or start posting about it, and people are kind and request it! I guess the only fandom that I would like to write that no one’s requested (or will request) is Purple Moon, but I’m one of like four people MAX who remembers that fandom existed, so.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. How Rue Became the Mockingjay (Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins) - Kudos: 4,302

2. Landslide (One Direction (Band)) - Kudos: 2,559

3. May You Enjoy Your New Life (One Direction (Band)) - Kudos: 1,988

4. Twenty-Four Victors, Twenty-Four Tributes: Meet Your Quarter Quell Contestants (Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins) - Kudos: 1,179

5. I Built A Home for You, for Me (One Direction (Band), Radio 1 RPF) - Kudos: 857

Which of your fics do you want more attention for?

Two series, actually: Five Places Cinna Came From and Since Feeling Is First. I’m still proud of the Cinnafics 10 years/11 years later, which is RARE for me vis-a-vis my writing, and I’m proud that I actually finished the gotdang thing. And I loved writing SFIF with @nichestars and I think the fics all turned out really lovely.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes. I just answered an Ask about this recently! :)

What sorts of things do you normally write?

Character studies! I don’t think I’ve ever really written anything else.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Capitol Pastries, for sure.

What’s a fic that pushed you out of your comfort zone?

Everything I write that’s longer than a drabble does, in some way, push me out of my comfort zone, but I think Genesis has been the work that I’ve had the most emotional ~turmoil about writing.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Yes! I love a good crossover. Probably objectively the silliest/craziest has been the Continuing Adventures of Cap & Molly (copyright @therebeccaw) but I also think the Princess Diaries/His Dark Materials daemon!fusion fic was very silly (on purpose).

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No. :\ I’ve had people ask but they always want to put it on a different platform, and I don’t want my stuff on Wattpad or sites with paid memberships because... yuck.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! A lot! Most of my finished longfic is co-written because I Am Not A Finisher but I WILL LEARN TO BE.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

LOOK, I KNOW I LEFT GENESIS WITH LITERALLY ONE CHAPTER LEFT EIGHT YEARS AGO, I --

What are you currently working on?

Lent From Tomorrow (Today Was Too Small For Us), a shrinkyclinks A/B/O set in the codebreaking, espionage world of WWII.

What are your writing strengths?

Food imagery and attributing colors to emotions. And worldbuilding, I think, if I toot my own horn.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Plot pacing and conflict. I never want to write conflict. I will go 10 miles out of the way to avoid writing meaningful conflict.

What was the first fandom you wrote for? Most recent?

Technically? Under the Umbrella Tree. On the internet in a fanfiction space? Dream Street. My most recent fandom is “whatever people are requesting at the moment” but practically speaking, the MCU.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I will always have a real soft spot for Never Never Never Stop for Anyone (Sheylinsonverse) because it was my all-time most productive writing experience and I just had a lot of fun with it, but I honestly think Lent From Tomorrow is/will be FAR AND AWAY the best thing I’ve ever written, including shit for my MFA.

What fic are you most proud of?

Probably Cinnafic, 24V24T, or Ruefic. Or, again, Lent From Tomorrow, which I WILL FINISH BECAUSE I’M GOING TO BE A FINISHER.

[chapitre7]

Alexandria Chapter VII (End)

The Untamed [陈情令] | Mo Dao Zu Shi [魔道祖师] fanfiction

Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji/Wei Yīng | Wei Wuxian (Wangxian)

Time Travel/Sci-Fi AU

Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV | Chapter V | Chapter VI

Read on AO3

“Make sure to tell uncle that the academics at the Observatory find my ideas ingenious and that they’re all glad to have me.”

 “Mn.”

 “Tell him that they’ve said I have a natural talent for engineering and that they’re including me in a project before my studies are even over!”

 “Mn.”

 “We’re going to build our own little envoy to travel across space, Lan Zhan! Can you believe that?”

 Lan Zhan looks up from his pad at that, lips kissing Wei Ying’s temple before his head lies on Lan Zhan’s shoulder, its natural place.

 “Congratulations, Wei Ying.”

 Wei Ying turns his attention from own pad to beam up at Lan Zhan, pecking him on the lips before kicking the blanket off his feet, jumping down from the couch to hop towards the window. He lets his eyes travel across the brilliant night sky of Qishan, losing himself in questions. What was out there, beyond what his eyes could see? He had already learned so much at the Observatory, but he wanted to know more, see more. What manners of life were out there? What sort of colors, what sort of surfaces, what mountains and rivers, what flowers and sounds? Would he be able to see the birth of a star? He had been such a fool. He thought the world had an end and that he had reached it, but he had just stopped asking questions.

Shifting his attention, Wei Ying focuses on the reflection on the glass. Lan Zhan sits on the couch, typing a letter to his uncle that is both formal and personal, speaking of his achievements and his contentment. His feet are propped up on a low table, a minimal step toward foregoing propriety. His hair is still damp, messy after he himself ran his fingers through it, in all the little ways Wei Ying thinks him rebellious, unrestrained, comfortable in his own skin. He’s nothing like Wei Ying, who can’t keep his whole body on the couch at all times, always dangling sideways, one way or another, clinging or draping across Lan Zhan, shamelessly. His own reflection shows a young man, hair slightly longer than the norm, clad in cotton red robes that are both appropriate and reminiscent of a different Wei Ying. He smiles at himself, finger touching the glass, and in the space that he and Lan Zhan created for themselves, seemingly such a long, long time ago, before everything, before the ice and Wei Ying’s travels, out of order in the order of the universe but right in all the chronology of his heart, in the trusted intimacy between cultivator and his own confidante, Wei Ying allows himself to reminisce.

 “Lan Zhan,” he asks, eyes going out of focus entirely. “Do you still marry in red?”

 He doesn’t see Lan Zhan stopping his administrations on the pad, doesn’t notice him looking up at him with wide eyes.

 “You know, the last event I took part in Yunmeng was my sister’s wedding. I wasn’t entirely happy because it meant she was leaving, and that was actually what made me think about leaving too, but... Anyway, it was beautiful, you know? There was never a more beautiful event in Yunmeng, and there was never a more beautiful bride than my sister, wearing red and gold and the happiest smile I ever saw on her.”

 He looks up again, at the once called Nightless City, still as stunning as it once was, with the Observatory sitting at the highest spot on the land, aiming up, always looking up, at the boundless infinity.

 “I have so many memories of sister. She practically raised me because uncle Jiang and the Madame were... they had a sect to run and a son to train, and she wasn’t there when I left, so my last memory of her is the wedding and her following departure. She talked about the future like it was this amazing thing, and how no matter how far we were, she, Jiang Cheng and I would always be the closest we could be. And it... slipped my mind after a while.”

 Lan Zhan wraps an arm around his middle, gently pulls him back, against him, but says nothing to break his train of thought.

 “Jiang Cheng was so angry that I wanted to leave Yunmeng, and everybody looked so disappointed that—... I traveled until I didn’t know what I was looking for anymore, and I didn’t think I had anywhere to return to. But once I jumped into the water, I knew I had made a mistake, and I wanted to go back, but it was too late. I remember now, that my last thought was that they’d be disappointed in me in they knew. Even sister.”

 Lan Zhan speaks his name with indescribable emotion, low enough only for Wei Ying to hear, right next to his ear, his hold tightening, grounding him once again in the present they shared. Wei Ying looks up again, not at anything in particular, not at the constellations or the strokes of colors in the clouds; hr just rests his head back against Lan Zhan’s shoulders, hand rising to the glass on the window, ready to draw a new pattern, away from those last moments in dark waters.

 “Lan Zhan, nowadays, I keep seeing things that would make sister happy. All the homes of the sects that we learned and knew have changed drastically with the times, but children are still curious of all the things we have yet to see. There’s as much white as there is black in the world, as there will always be, and there are so many beautiful things in the middle, where we walk.” He laughs, turning in Lan Zhan’s half-embrace, resting his hands on shoulders that carry so much on them. “Am I making any sense? I’m rambling again.”

 Wei Ying doesn’t see the sheet on Lan Zhan’s other hand until he’s thrown it over him, hooding over his head, trailing down his back, all the way to the floor. Lan Zhan’s skin glows with the dim lights of the living room, so reminiscent of their late nights at the facility that Wei Ying doesn’t question it, embraces it, like he sees him covered in the night, illuminated by campfire, like they’re the wandering cultivation partners of his silliest reveries. Lan Zhan adjusts the sheet over him, so it doesn’t fall off, and Wei Ying, blushing bright like it’s the first time Lan Zhan has doted on him, such clear affection in every gesture, can only stare back at him with wide eyes.

 “Wei Ying,” he begins, adjusting Wei Ying’s hair under the sheet. “I’ll go to Yunmeng with you.”

 Wei Ying gapes like a fish out of water, like the many holograms at the Gusu hall.

 “We can find someplace where you can send your respects to your family and you can say everything you want to tell them.”

 “We can do that?”

 Lan Zhan tilts his head in a way that tells him he’s being silly again, and Wei Ying follows with a breathless laughter.

 “I mean, of course we can, I just...”

 Lan Zhan fills his ellipses with a kiss on his forehead, and Wei Ying inhales deeply, exhaling his worries and insecurities.

 “There’s nothing to be afraid of anymore. They’ll be proud of who you are. I am...” His ears are red, Wei Ying can see them, just like he notices the biting on his lower lip, and the slight trembling of his hands. “Honored that I had a chance to know you, honored to be with you now, like this.”

 “Lan Zhan!”

 Wei Ying lounges at him, and the sheet almost slips off, but Lan Zhan catches him, pats the sheet back over Wei Ying’s hair as he mumbles against his chest.

 “You can’t just say things like that! I’m an old man, Lan Zhan, think of my poor heart!”

 He hears and feels the vibrations of Lan Zhan’s chuckle and he’s warm, so warm on that autumn night with a makeshift veil over his frame.

 “Let’s go to Yunmeng, Wei Ying.”

 He nods, humming his response like Lan Zhan often does.

 “What will it look like at this time of the year?”

 Wei Ying hums again. “It’s prettier in the summer.”

 Lan Zhan leans down slightly, he’s not too much taller, but he leans down just to whisper against Wei Ying’s ear.

 “And in the summer, would you like to marry in red?”

 Wei Ying can hear nothing but the loud beating of his heart after that, as he pulls away to look at his companion, his patient teacher and friend, his partner and beloved. I never even told him how much I love him, Wei Ying thinks, and the thought is all it takes before he’s pulling him down and kissing his lips, savoring his taste and his breath when they part, guiding him back to the couch where he doesn’t have to worry about staying upright anymore, not when his legs are weak, too weak to carry the weight of all that he feels and all that he thinks about him, them, and their future. He tells him in-between kisses, in-between laughs and uncontrollable noises, he tells his betrothed, as he pulls down the red robe of their promise, he tells him that he loves him, that he loved him in Gusu, that he loves him in Qishan, and that he loved him worlds away, before everything. And after they’re undone in each other’s arms, he tells him he’ll love him still when they’re old, old together despite the gap in time, and if he can meet him in the yet distant future, nothing can keep him from loving him again, a thousand years from now.

 Lan Zhan, a man of science, a man of culture and written words, does not question him. He’s a romantic in heart and soul, so he can only promise the same in return.

 Outside, Qishan never sleeps, as it never slept, and never will.

 ***

 The troupe comes every year, during the summer, and the city is bright with every the color of every flower that exists, the streets alive with festivities and music.

 The celebrations peak at night, when the band marches through the city of Yunmeng, playing songs that have survived generations, and that have yet to suffer from the indifference of the population. The elderly clap along to the tunes side by side with the children, and the adults and the teenagers take videos and pictures and share the elaborated dances with all of the world, everybody joining in the cheer.

 This year, there’s a man playing the dizi leading the troupe along, following or introducing every new melody as if he doesn’t even breathe. His red veil waves back and forth with the movements of his feet, secured in place, never faltering, and when he swirls, mesmerizing, he looks like he’s underwater, the soft fabric of his wedding garment swaying with grace, the golden jewelry in his hair tingling, complementing the music. He’s a sight never before seen, and the crowd loves him, throws flowers at his feet, wave at him from everywhere.

 His sharp, trained eyes never strays from the man in red that accompanies the troupe by the sidelines, in front of the crowd of Yunmeng citizens, and he winks at him, plays for him, dances, celebrates, loves him with everything that he is and does. Every now and then, Wei Ying thinks he sees a familiar face in the crowd. Jiang Cheng, rolling his eyes at his parade. Jiang Yanli, eyes sparkling with a baby in her arms. Wen Qing and Wen Ning, one exasperated and the other fascinated, enjoying the evening before going back to Yiling; he can’t accompany them, not anymore. He sees them all, old companions, old friends and family, and thinks about how lost he had to be to think he was ever alone. He twirls the black dizi Lan Zhan gave him in skilled fingers and plays a different song, the band promptly joining him, a song to scare the shadows away, a song to cleanse the soul, a song for joy. And no one but he can see how there are real shadows shying away from the crowd, vanishing into the night, resentment failing before the brilliance of his core.

 Out the corner of his eyes, he sees a small child, not older than six, peering up at him while adults carelessly shove him around with their legs. Wei Ying stops playing, heads in his direction, while the band marches on.

 “Hey there,” Wei Ying speaks loudly, over the music. “Do you like the dizi?”

 The boy nods, eyes big and round, taking in Wei Ying’s whole outfit. He’s red like fire, like passion, like the most beautiful flowers and the scorching dusk in the summer. He’s like everything that burns, but his touch is gentle, petting the boy’s head.

 “Where are your parents?”

 The boy’s eyes grow even bigger as he shakes his head and says nothing. Wei Ying can see his reflection on them, can see a child, lost in time, before a man, gentle and vibrant like a lotus flower, offering him a hand.

 “What’s your name?”

 “A... A-Yuan.”

 Wei Ying grins, happy and wide, because it’s his wedding night, and he offers the child his hand. He learned from Lan Zhan that time often repeats itself, in both the good and the bad, and it depends only on us which of the two sides prevails in the end.

 “Do you want to learn how to play the dizi, A-Yuan? We can hunt ghosts together!”

 A-Yuan blinks his eyes at him in obvious wonder. Wei Ying bites down a laughter, because he doesn’t want the child to think he’s joking in anything he’s offering.

 “We can hunt ghosts with a dizi?”

 “We sure can! And my husband can use the guqin, but he’s still pretty bad at it, so if you’re a really good student, you can be better than him!”

 Someone clears their throat and Wei Ying laughs before he peers up at his husband.

 “Lan Zhan! I’m not even lying!”

 “My teacher says I’m a model student.”

 “I’m your teacher too and I refute that claim!”

 “Only one of you has actually taught how to properly play a song from start to finish without straying from the sheet music.”

 “It’s called playing with your heart, Lan Zhan, and it has to be felt and not taught.”

 A-Yuan looks between the two men with wonder. The one crouched before him is beautiful with his veil but the other standing is beautiful as well, the golden embroidery on his clothes shining in the night. The child is used to adults yelling at him for stealing food, wholly unaccustomed to the playful banter between the adults, and smiles they don’t spare to each other or even to him.

 “What do you say, A-Yuan? Do you want to come with us?”

 He focuses on the man before him again, on his out-stretched hand and the tassel of the dizi that swishes around as if the man never stopped moving.

 So he takes the hand of the flutist, who swiftly picks him up in his arms. He squeaks and the man can only laugh, but it’s not mean, it’s warm, warm like the red he wears and that brightens up the whole of Yunmeng. The other man asks A-Yuan if he’s hungry, and he nods enthusiastically, making him smile a golden smile that makes A-Yuan shy, hiding his face away on the veiled stranger’s shoulder.

 “See, Lan Zhan? I keep telling you your smiles are too much to handle. Don’t worry, A-Yuan, you’ll have time to get used to how wonderful Lan Zhan is. He’s gonna pamper you rotten.”

 Wei Ying has never had a disciple. He’s never had much of a legacy, since he quit the Yunmeng Jiang sect and got frozen in ice before the world discovered that he was the most talented cultivator of his generation. But now he has Lan Zhan, and his promise of eternal companionship. He has young alumni from Gusu Facility running and laughing behind the troupe, celebrating their senior’s wedding, who look up at both him and Lan Zhan with stars in their eyes. He has research partners, he has a dream, and looking up at the sky of Yunmeng, he tells his family about the new family he’s found himself.

 He feels Lan Zhan’s hand rest on the middle of his back, in lieu of taking his hands, now full of A-Yuan. His husband looks exasperated and tired and happy, all at once, his eyes small and shining. Wei Ying gives him a wink, flashes an apologetic smile, but laughs despite himself, causing A-Yuan to shift in his arms to look at him.

 “Mister, are you going to play more?”

 “My disciple wants more? Okay, one more song, then we’re going to rest for the night!”

 Wei Ying sets A-Yuan down, and Lan Zhan instantly takes the child’s hand. They both look at Wei Ying as the spins his song, a song of Gusu, a song of peace, that harmonizes with the spirits of the living and the dead, sending all souls into peace and tranquility.

 That night, A-Yuan sleeps in the room of an equally beautiful mister called Xichen, who seems to think all things are funny. Wei Ying apologizes to his husband for his impulsive decision but Lan Zhan doesn’t even sigh, as he usually does, when Wei Ying acts impossible. He just lifts the veil, steals the words right out of Wei Ying’s throat, and loves him, whispering in Wei Ying’s ancient tongue, always meeting him where he is, crashing on him with the weight of the winds of the Cloud Recesses, where now sits the place where Wei Ying was reborn from ice, and Lan Zhan from fire.

 They’re warriors, both of them. Their names and tales already engraved in history, in libraries all over the land.

***

I'd like to thank everyone who stayed with me this far, for reading and leaving me messages and filling my heart. I'm not as good at replying to comments as I once was; I'm still getting used to how things are when I'm inspired and writing and having people following me. It's been long. This isn't my first Untamed story, I still have lingering WIPs from September, but it's the first that made me stop everything that I was doing and share as quick as possible because I was feeling it so much. I was (and really, still am) struggling with characterization, so thank you for the patience, and thank you for understanding where I wanted to take this. Beneath all of the soft touches lies a delicate matter in this fic that I may not have portrayed as best as one should, but I hope the message that stays is this: you're never really alone and we must always allow others to reach us. We can heal. We can move. And we are worthy of love.

Thank you for everything, and may we see each other again.

Happy new year. ❤

- Lily M.

[necromancy-savant]

My opinions on every single Shakespeare play

Most of this consists of things I wrote down a while ago when I was reading a play a day so I could keep them all straight in my head, particularly the ones I’ve only read once. 

COMEDIES

All's Well That Ends Well – Forgettable and made me roll my eyes but still better than Love’s Labor’s Lost.

As You Like It – I’m left with a lot of questions at the end of this. Does Orlando know that Rosalind was Ganymede? If he’s friends with Ganymede now, won’t he wonder what happened to him? And shouldn’t he be friends with Rosalind knowingly before marrying her? Should a relationship be built on deception like that? I guess you could say the same about Twelfth Night, but Orsino finds out Viola was disguised before marrying her so actually no, you couldn’t.

Comedy of Errors – This might just be the silliest thing I’ve ever read but it made me laugh anyway. You’d really think they’d figure out they’ve been talking to different people by the end of Act 2 at the absolute latest, but whatever. The best line by far is: “If she lives till doomsday, she’ll burn a week longer than the whole world.” It’s because she’s really greasy.

Love's Labor's Lost - So boring and pointless I almost couldn’t finish it. Literally nothing at all happens the entire time and there’s no reason for any of them to like each other.

Measure for Measure – Having already read Henry VI Part 3 a couple of times, this was déjà vu in the worst possible way. Plus the ending was fucked up in a whole variety of ways. Also, I realized I have no idea who the protagonist is, though I guess I thought it was Isabella. Other than the malapropisms (at least one character in this play should definitely have a Twitter) and the marriages, it’s hard to see this as a comedy. The aforementioned marriages are all fucked up in their own ways, except for Claudio and Juliet who were already pretty much married so they don’t count. Isabella should have stayed a nun and stayed single, and the Duke is totally the kind of guy who wants to think he’s a good person when really he’s an irresponsible douchebag. Like just do your fucking job instead of fucking with everyone for the sake of fishing for compliments or playing the hero or whatever.

Merchant of Venice – I might be able to like this if it weren’t for the worst anti-Semitism I’ve ever been exposed to. I like Portia; I kind of wish she was in a different play. I think Antonio and Bassanio should just be together, and she could be perfectly happy being single. This is one pairing I actually think is convincing, but to be fair I’m usually not particularly invested in the idea of anyone ending up with anyone.

Merry Wives of Windsor – I had high hopes for this because Falstaff is in it, because apparently Queen Elizabeth specifically requested more Falstaff, so in that regard she knows what’s up (I disapprove of the fact that she wouldn’t let Shakespeare perform Richard II because Richard II is wonderful). This was very silly but I thought the part where Mistress Quickly mishears a ton of Latin words was funny. Also there’s this girl whose parents each want her to marry a different guy except she wants to marry a third guy who she actually likes and he likes her and stuff, and her parents are like “you can’t marry him because he hangs out with sketchy people like Prince Hal and Ned Poins” and I just think it’s hilarious that they have such a bad reputation. After Taming of the Shrew I almost didn’t want to read comedies ever again but I’m glad I stuck with it because most of them really aren’t like that at all.

Midsummer Night's Dream – I love this and I can’t even explain why and I don’t really have a good reason for liking it; it just makes me lol, especially Nick Bottom. My favorite line is “In ten lines it is too long, making it tedious.” That’s a beautiful thing to say.

Much Ado about Nothing – I actually liked this one. It’s a tiny bit like Taming of the Shrew if Taming of the Shrew wasn’t horrible. I like that the leads have a healthy relationship based on friendship and mutual respect. They say they don’t want to get married because they just don’t want to have to settle for someone they don’t like enough, which I think is a good attitude to have cause it means they take marriage seriously, and they’re too afraid to be made fun of by each other to admit they like each other. Plus everyone likes Beatrice’s wit and outgoing personality instead of saying how awful she is and that she talks too much (for the record, Kate in Taming has waaayyyyy fewer lines than I expected her to have so that’s something to think about). I like how Benedick believes Hero when she says she was framed which was a pleasant surprise since I was worried he’d take Claudio’s side. It’s the part where Beatrice says “I’d eat his heart in the marketplace” and Benedick is on their side and doesn’t question or doubt them. And he and Beatrice were good friends first without being disguised as other people, except briefly but she might have known it was him. I like that he takes the high ground at the end by saying that it doesn’t matter what he said before and he doesn’t care what anyone says because he’s happy. And I like that he’s really, really picky about what he wants in a girlfriend but her hair color doesn’t matter. That was really funny.

Taming of the Shrew – Worst thing I ever read. First it’s all rape culture, and then it;s all abusive marriage. It has everything I can’t stand about certain kinds of modern comedies.

Twelfth Night – I didn’t think I’d like this one but I actually thought it was funny and really entertaining despite the fact that I don’t care who ends up together, so that tells me it’s doing something right. I also realized I remember whole passages that I had no idea I remembered from 8th grade.

Two Gentlemen of Verona – I don’t really have any strong feelings about this except that Proteus does not deserve a happy ending and I wonder what’s going to happen the next time he sees a woman other than Julia. But I guess that’s why they call him Proteus.

HISTORIES

King John – The whole thing was kind of just a will they/won’t they with the armies of England and France, but I like how extra Constance is, and Eleanor is pretty great which is why I’m pissed that she randomly dies offstage. Philip the Bastard is also an interesting character, but I still don’t really get how he walked into court one day a bastard and left it a Plantagenet.

Richard II – Love it; truly beautiful and tragic and has some of the prettiest, deepest lines I’ve read in Shakespeare, and it’s a reflection on the meaning of kingship that’s not seen elsewhere in the Histories. Richard is also not straight and seems kind of non-binary in the versions I’ve seen and I like that. Maybe part of the reason I like both of the Richards is that I see them as not straight. I know he’s no good at being king but I love him anyway. I didn’t think he was going to die though and was rather upset; when Bolingbroke was like “convey him to the Tower” I was like “oh shit, that’s where people go to die!” I mean I know they moved locations to Pomfret castle first, but that’s when I knew what was going to happen.

Henry IV, Part I – One of my favorites. I admit that at first I didn’t like Hotspur. I admit the most offensive thing about him to me was that he says he doesn’t like poetry. He struck the kind of person I can’t stand: loud, angry, annoying, and cares about things I think are stupid. But I’ve heard some different interpretations of his character, and I saw a production where he was really endearing and that got me to really like him. He’s a true chaotic good: he cares about justice first and doesn’t care who gets in the way of it, no matter how important they are. He really doesn’t deserve to die at all. Hell, he and Hal could probably be good allies if the circumstances were different. There are some really funny parts in this and Falstaff is great, and it’s actually really insightful when he says honor is a scutcheon in a way I wouldn’t have expected from him. Prince Hal strikes me as kind of a bro but he’s definitely more sympathetic for me in this one than the other two plays he’s in.

Henry IV, Part II – Honestly not much happens in this one until the end and I’m not sure if I can forgive Hal for what he did to Falstaff. The dude was so excited to go the coronation and see him and he was just like “I know thee not, old man.” It was cold, and normally when I say that I mean it in a good way but not this time. He was basically like “fuck off and die” and that’s exactly what he did. I’m not happy about that.

Henry V – I saw a joke summary of this that said “70% armed combat, 30% jokes” and that is completely accurate. This has its moments for sure. The comic relief characters aren’t as funny as Falstaff though, and I really can’t stand Pistol and couldn’t when he was briefly in the preceding play either. There are things I like about Henry V as a character, but sometimes I question his decisions. He manages to pull it all off somehow though, and that’s impressive.

Henry VI, Part I – I love this whole tetralogy. Joan of Arc was in this and that was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. York comes off as kind of a dick though. He and Somerset are the pettiest people ever. Plus I started to get some of Margaret’s backstory, and knowing what I know now I get why she’s so done with everyone by the time of Richard III. I still don’t forgive her for everything she ever said and I still don’t think she’s 100% a victim in all of this, but to be fair it turns out she is mostly a victim in all of this, and I get that she’s a bold person who’s willing to do what it takes to come out on top and survive, and this can be both a positive and a negative quality depending on the situation.

Henry VI, Part II – This one is largely about how York and Somerset’s pettiness almost destroyed England. Aside from that, this solidified for me that I really don’t like Henry, although Margaret continued to really grow on me in this one, and I feel bad for her that she has to put up with him and basically do everything for him. In spite of this, I find their relationship to be extremely entertaining. I like the part where she punches out the Duchess of Gloucester in front of the whole court and Henry’s just like “it’s whatever, she didn’t mean it” and the part where some guy fakes a miracle and they hit him to prove he can run away and Henry’s like “how could God let this happen?” but Margaret’s like “I thought it was funny watching him run away” (and I was like SAME; she really spends this whole play saying exactly what I’m thinking at any given time, particularly when it comes to Henry) and the part where they’re running away from the battle at the end and Henry can’t keep up because of fucking course he can’t and Margaret’s like “could you be any slower?” and he’s like “maybe we should just sit here and accept our fate.” He is such a wet blanket. I spent the whole thing yelling “Henry, what is wrong with you?!” at my book. While he’s not a terrible person he is mediocre and painfully stupid and I really don’t see him as having any redeeming qualities.  Also Richard shows up for like 5 minutes at the end to collect Somerset’s head and be called an “indigested lump” by someone he just fucking met, which incidentally is the same exact thing Henry said to him. Update: I finally figured out what it is I don’t like about Henry. It’s not even what he says to Richard in the Tower (that is not even half the reason I don’t like him, but for the record even if it was the entire reason it would be an excellent reason). It’s that I see him as childish and to me that’s an extremely negative quality, though I expect it’s also what makes him endearing to some people.

Henry VI, Part III – 10/10 I love it so much, I have a strong opinion on nearly every scene. Margaret is a badass in this one, Henry continues to be an ignorant, damp slice of bread, Richard is in it, and it has my favorite scene in all of Shakespeare when he kills Henry in the Tower, and another scene I love when he says “speak thou for me and tell them what I did” and then Margaret yells at Henry and says “art thou king and wilt be forced?” and her finest moment when she kills York, and the best piece of foreshadowing I’ve ever seen when Richard says about Margaret: “why should she live to fill the world with words?” Also Edward is a fuckboy and a bad influence. I’m ashamed to share a name with him. I kind of think he died of a deadly STD; serves him right.

Richard III – Favorite Shakespeare play, best thing I’ve read in a long time, and definitely one of the top five things I’ve ever read, especially taken together with Henry VI Part 3. It’s everything tragedy should be, parts of it are extremely relatable to me personally, I’ve memorized more of both plays than I care to admit, and it’s a good thing it’s short enough that I can read it over and over because that’s exactly what I intend to do. I don’t know why reading something about someone who makes all the wrong decisions would make me feel better about my life, but I think this is exactly what Aristotle meant when he said that tragedy should be cathartic. Also Richard is definitely ace as fuck and I will fight anyone who tries to say otherwise.

Henry VIII – First of all, Katharine deserved way better. Second of all, I feel like it really glossed over the part where he created the Anglican Church just so he could divorce her. Also there was some really shameless plugging of Queen Elizabeth at the end, so I’m guessing this was written during her reign, which would explain why Henry VIII doesn’t look as bad as he does literally everywhere else I’ve seen him (update: turns out it was written later). I seem to remember that he ended up killing Anne Boleyn and that didn’t happen in this play though I was kind of waiting for it to. I’ve really never read anything this positive about him, and that’s even counting the fact that he tossed Katharine aside after seeing Anne Boleyn once at a party. And I did find out that Buckingham’s real name is Henry, although it’s not like I needed another Henry to keep track of.

TRAGEDIES

Antony and Cleopatra – I really didn’t care for this one. Cleopatra seems like kind of a stereotype to me and I’m not terribly invested in either her or Antony. Romance isn’t really my thing unless it’s super compelling for some special reason or unless I like both the characters individually. This has neither of those qualifiers.

Coriolanus – I didn’t like this very much, even though it’s about Rome. Coriolanus is not a compelling figure to me; the whole premise is that he’s good at fighting but he’s also an asshole, and neither one of those things is interesting to me. Honestly the only part of this that isn’t extremely boring is Volumnia.

Hamlet – I hadn’t read this in a really long time and didn’t remember any of it, and I liked it more than I thought I would. It’s kind of gothic in a wonderful way, even though I know that’s not an appropriate term to use for something written at the time it was written. Honestly though, my liking for Hamlet as a character was severely diminished when he started making dirty comments to Ophelia, and she seemed way more sympathetic than I remember her being. The common theme in many of these tragedies seems to be a protagonist who is lost and overwhelmed and ends up lashing out because of it. The speeches in Hamlet are the best part for me by far, but yeah. As someone who likes language and anything dark, I like it.

Julius Caesar – This I quite liked; I think Brutus is a compelling character and it raises some interesting questions. It also contains the most passive-aggressive thing I’ve ever read. Although, during Act I when Cassius is trying to convince Brutus to kill Caesar, all I hear is “Brutus is just as nice as Caesar. Brutus is just as cute as Caesar, okay, people like Brutus just as much as they like Caesar.” Honestly I think Tina Fey purposely paraphrased Cassius’s lines when writing Mean Girls, which is pretty cool. I liked it when I auditioned for it and I’ve come to really love it, having been in it. I want to see more productions of this one.

King Lear – It’s grown on me over time, I guess. I do have some strong opinions on why Cordelia is actually kind of awful. I like Edmund and Regan and Cornwall, and Goneril have their moments, but none of these characters really get enough air time for me to like the play. What there is a lot of is Lear who is just depressing on multiple levels and his fool who annoys me with his overuse of the word “nuncle” even though I know it’s fairly normal for words in English to lose an /n/ at the beginning due to our articles like how “apron” used to be “napron” until people thought “a napron” was “an apron.” And there’s a lot of Edgar and Kent and Gloucester, none of whom I’m convinced to care about even though I have nothing against them. So overall I still think it is confusing and needlessly depressing, but I am slowly warming up to it. Like, I already know life is pointless, I don’t need something to tell me that like it’s some kind of revelation.

Macbeth – I really don’t understand Macbeth as a character. You think he’d be able to say “no” to murder seeing as he has no real interest in it. I don’t find it romantic at all that he does whatever crazy thing Lady Macbeth wants. I find it kind of disturbing, and certainly not something that reflects well on him. At first it seems like Lady Macbeth should just get rid of him and do everything herself if she’s going to be like that, and I don’t understand why she can’t bring herself to kill Duncan if she wants him dead so badly, and then she loses it halfway through the play and that’s always a let-down. Also isn’t this the one that has the line where it’s like “your father’s been murdered” -“oh, by whom?” and “what, you egg”? As funny as that is it doesn’t exactly speak volumes to Macbeth as having the greatest dialogue all the time. In conclusion, I want to like this play but I really don’t get what’s wrong with either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth and so I can’t really get into it.

Othello – This was always one of my favorites. I always thought Othello and Desdemona’s relationship was really beautiful and romantic in Act I but for some reason my liking of Othello never stops me from being intrigued by what Iago’s going to do next. There’s something appealing to me about being able to always say the right thing and having the self-confidence to make everyone do what you think they should do. That said, having now seen a Shakespeare villain who is manipulative (in an extremely different sort of way) but has motives and a personality, he seems really boring by comparison. I kind of get now how he’s just a plot device, and that does make Othello an even more sympathetic character. And it’s really heartbreaking how he thinks he’s not good enough for Desdemona and has to deal with his worst fears being confirmed after he’s had so much shit to deal with already. I think anyone would break.

Romeo and Juliet - I got tired of it a long time ago and honestly it’s not that good. It’s just kind of average. I get that people have to fall in love quickly in a play that can’t just go on for 10 hours but I still can’t bring myself to care about the characters. Juliet is mildly interesting but Romeo is just a boring person and I don’t care for him at all. Plus I feel like there’s a weird age difference between them considering she’s like 13 or 14 and he’s probably like 18. I’m probably just too ace for this play but I don’t get the appeal. (Update: I’ve now been in this play and I still don’t really get it. I don’t have anything against it but it doesn’t do too much for me either. I liked being in it a whole lot, but it wouldn’t be my top choice for something I want to watch).

Timon of Athens – I feel like there was the potential for this to be a good story about someone who kept giving people material things to get them to like him to the point of running himself into the ground (ha, literally) only to discover that doing that doesn’t actually make you real friends, but it never really came together for me. So good idea, not so sure about the execution, although my book thinks that Shakespeare only wrote part of it and Thomas Middleton wrote the rest so that probably has something to do with it.

Titus Andronicus – This has its moments but it’s not as violent as I thought it would be, which is not good for something that’s known for being violent. My first big problem with it is that Chiron and Demetrius get off way too easy. I was waiting the whole play for them to die horribly only to be let down. Being baked into pies hurts Tamora, not them, and I hate them so much that I’m out of fucks to give about her. My second big problem is that Titus is a selfish piece of shit. He fucking kills Lavinia because her condition is just too painful for him. He complains that he only has 5 children left but he kills two of them himself, on stage. I like Aaron in spite of myself, or at least I like a lot of his speeches; they’re a lot of fun to read. I was surprised that he wanted his child to live even if he couldn’t take care of it personally, but I have no idea how to feel about that because on the one hand I can see how it’s a redeeming quality, and so I like that there’s some effort to humanize him, but on the other hand I wish it was done a different way because that’s not something I have any basis to understand. All this said if I had the chance to see this performed, I admittedly would.

Troilus and Cressida – I’m confused because I spent most of this thinking it took place before the events of the Iliad when actually it was pretty much a different version of the same story, which is disappointing because as much as I love the Iliad, I already have the Iliad. As for Troilus and Cressida themselves, I was rolling my eyes when she thought she had to play hard to get, but then happy when he said that was never necessary and was just happy to be with her even though she thought she was embarrassing herself by expressing her feelings for him; he didn’t shame her for it and that perception was all in her head. But then she didn’t really have any choice but to go with Diomedes, so it’s not fair for Troilus to be mad at her. Plus they only just got together and they weren’t official or anything. He’s a bit of a dumbass, to be honest, even though he and Cressida have some sweet moments. I kind of like Thersites; he seems like my kind of guy. He hates lechery, doesn’t care for war, and thinks most of the Greek generals are full of themselves, which is pretty accurate. I like that he rejects the kind of masculinity most of them embrace where they just fight in order to get women. He thinks they’re the dumbest people ever for engaging in all of that, and frankly I think it’s pretty idiotic too. However, I don’t like that he makes fun of Achilles and Patroclus for being gay. There are already so many good reasons to make fun of Achilles.

ROMANCES

Winter’s Tale – I didn’t have any strong feelings about this until the end, but now I’m wondering where Hermione was for 16 years? I guess she stayed hidden somewhere, but how did she know when the right time to come back would be? Like that was some really good timing. I mean I guess I’m glad Leontes got his shit and part of his family together but to me that doesn’t really make for anything particularly memorable. And I don’t recall him actually apologizing to Hermione or Perdita, so he should really get on that.

Cymbeline – I wasn’t particularly expecting to like this, but I did. It had some of the same elements of the Winter’s Tale except it was way better and I liked the characters more – don’t get me wrong, it was still really…I’m not sure what the right word is, when all the male characters are assholes and they do awful things to Imogen and then she magically forgives them at the end, but at least I felt somewhat invested in her and her brothers, and there were some funny parts, but the part with the ghosts was really weird and I don’t know what to make of it. There are some weird parts in the Romances and I’m not feeling that.

Pericles – Not quite my cup of tea but I don’t hate it. I admit I don’t really like how it takes place over, what, decades? Plus I’ve never heard of this particular Pericles in my life. I totally thought it was going to be about the Athenian statesman. But I did like that it takes place partially in the Near/Middle East, even if it’s just the parts that were part of the Greek world (I’m guessing Hellenistic). But I liked the story well enough and I like that Pericles isn’t an asshole unlike Leontes or Cymbeline, and I like how Marina and Thaisa both were just dropped on a beach somewhere and by the time Pericles finds them they’re at the top of the societies they entered, and how the guy who was going to take Marina’s virginity was really embarrassed and gave her a bunch of money and was supportive when he found out she didn’t want to.

The Tempest – I actually enjoy this and I think it’s a fun play. Caliban is hilarious and I actually like that it turns out not to be a revenge story. Sometimes it’s nice to see someone be the bigger person and have everyone live, even if it’s not cathartic in the same way. There are some really cool interpretations out there but even on the surface I find it quite entertaining and I think there’s something to be said for something that makes me happy for no reason.

[feralshadowdemon]

🦋💭💎 hi

hai vi !!!!! 🦋 which character is your favorite to write?

okay believe it or not. yeah my main guys are chuuya and ivan, but naomi's been pretty fun so far as i figure out her character. but if i had to choose a character overall that's my favorite to write? fukuchi

💭what inspires you and your writing?

ghibli movies were my main inspiration. they always brought me a sense of comfort, but of course they aren't the only thing that inspired me to write. i grew up watching poirot and always had an interest in mystery because of him, not to mention i loved the little details and clues so you could also figure out the mystery yourself, not to mention some classics have definitely inspired me. the final inspiration i can think of is my friends. i dont think i wouldve gotten to where i am with my writing without them hyping me up and supporting my silly ideas <3 💎do you often write about a relationship or focus on an individual?

both..? it's kind of a double package usually. i find relationships and dynamics interesting, but sometimes those are the only fics for a character, and i think it's fun to explore a single character specifically. also it's fun to write their thought process

that's all tysm for the ask <33

[feralshadowdemon]

raspberry apricot carmine <3

VIIIIIII HAI !! thank youu i will help you kill god anyday ^_^

[feralshadowdemon]

ali love of my life apple of my eye the sunshine in my sky HI

you see i'm doing this thing for new year called mutual wrapped 2023 where I go around giving my fav mutuals songs like santa claus. ones that remind me of them/i would just like to gift them cause they're cool. let's see what you get!!

hotel by claire rosinkranz

clusterhug by I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

(first one because with you i am so silly and happy. you make me :DD all the time I love you. clusterhug because I'm in love w you. duh)

thank you for making this miserable year so much better by your presence, bun. you are the dazai to my fyodor and I hope you remain so for a long, long time. have a great year ahead <3

OHY MY GODF YOURE SO SWEET WHAT THE FUCK :(((( I LOVE U TOO VI also these songs r rlly good thank u so much ............ have a great year ahead too. bungo on