#what weirdass accusations can i make this time?

[isindismay]

Wow i just realised just how heavily influenced one of the tracks on the Paradise Killer soundtrack is by Never Too Much by Luther Vandross. Which makes absolute sense when i think about how the soundtrack is inspired by Japanese city pop, which in itself is influenced by western soul and disco. Music is so cool, man.

[philologicalbat]

I’m gonna start posting Helpful Writing Tips, but it’s gonna be only the niche weirdass shit I do like:

wander through the supermarket looking for harissa while considering what the most emotionally potent accusation your baby boy can level at his inappropriately older lover is when they break up

when it’s 5am and you wake up bc your cat is contorting you into a cuddle pretzel, use that time to think abt the emotional beats of letting daddy fuck your little guy for the first time in 5 years

it could be weirder than that. and it should be.

more rimming!

babe you’ve barely touched your emotionally codependent cheerios

describe how it smells in a way that only makes sense to your synesthesia. they’ll get it or they won’t.

mentally walk through the apartment. then, realize that the bathrooms aren’t touching, which is inefficient to run the imaginary plumbing. move them. otherwise, your readers will Know.

hope this helps!

[itsbenedict]

Games I Played In 2024 And Whether Or Not I Thought They Were Good (Part 2/4)

[1] - 2 - [3] - [4]

This time we're gonna open up with like, three different Ace Attorney fancases, because it turns out there's a lot of really good ones out there.

A Turnabout to El Dorado

DWaM doesn't miss. Years after a failed expedition to find the lost city of gold, one of the participants is murdered in a remote cabin in the woods. The accused is absolutely determined not to give Phoenix a single useful piece of information, largely because what actually happened has so many different layers of twist going on you would not believe it.

Also, you can get a piggyback ride from Dick Gumshoe, and that's only like the fourth or fifth greatest thing that happens in it. Very polished, edge-of-your-seat stuff.

The Torrential Turnabout

The tone and framing device of this one is really bizarre at first- it opens with this Zero Escape-ass deathgame situation, then pivots to Mia Fey solving a seemingly unrelated murder at a hospice, and everyone's being weirdly meta and out of character...

[pictured: YOU DON'T SAY.]

...but then, you realize what's going on, and it all makes sense, and everything is hilarious in hindsight. The case itself is incredible, too- apart from a slightly dodgy timed segment in part 6, the case logic all fits together elegantly and I didn't need a walkthrough too often. A great cast and clever writing bring it together into something incredible.

Turnabout in the Lighthouse of Lunacy

This one's nutty. The hook is that you're defending yourself against charges for a murder you totally do see yourself commit, on-screen, and you have to apply the classic Ace Attorney bullshitting and contradiction-seeking to get yourself off the hook when you are in fact guilty.

But that's not where it stops. In the course of picking at the contradictions you find, you uncover a truly insane web of additional bullshit hiding beneath the surface of a seemingly simple case that you saw happen. There is so much going on at this weirdass lighthouse auction, and it really lives up to the title. Extremely impressive case construction.

(I'd say it's... a little more disjointed than the other two? It's an original cast, with some character dynamics that seem to be either setting up a sequel or pulling from some other canon, and don't really go anywhere vis-a-vis the case, like the magic time-stop stuff or the history with the detective club. It's also one I had to go to the walkthrough well for a little more often than usual, as might be expected from the premise.)

Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore

Alright, getting away from AA fancases, here's my take on this one:

...Actually before the take: I'll tell you what it is. It is to the Zelda CD-i games what Bug Fables is to Paper Mario. A thorough style reproduction, featuring jankily-animated hand-drawn cutscenes, awkward voice acting, and uncomfortable comedy that stops just a hair shy of actually being funny (and that's what's funny about it.) They even got like, the original voice actors and stuff. It's a love letter to those games and seems designed from the ground up to be memed on. (In fact, there's a mod called Farcette that is a YTP'd version of the existing game, to complete the circle of life.)

Now the take: it's doing some weird stuff story-wise. It's really hard to tell when the awkwardness is on purpose, because that's like 90% of the art, but... it does feel like it kind of wants you to take Arzette seriously and think she's a cool heroine. And it does some things in service of that which are... strange choices?

The plot is that Arzette is the princess of a generic fantasy kingdom that gets menaced by an evil demon lord every [number with zeroes on the end] years and has to be sealed in a magic book using a magic jewel by the heir of the royal bloodline. Standard stuff. But then it... makes some weird, awkward stabs at subverting that standard stuff with clever plot twists? But they're... not. They kind of come out of nowhere and don't add anything.

First: Arzette's clever subversion of this cycle of demon lord stuff is "instead of sealing him in the magic book, just put the magic in a sword and kill the badguy!" And... like, it's really bending over backwards to frame "hero kills villain with a magic sword" as subversive. Like they made a fake Gordian Knot to make a show of cutting. The vibe is like, those "bad government? kill them" memes, just sort of espousing the idea that nonviolent solutions to problems are for naive libs who're just perpetuating the problem... but with a plot that's way too arch and goofy for that idea to stand up even if I agreed with it.

Second: Right at the very end, like in the last five seconds of the game, when Arzette is about to inherit the kingdom and become queen, she suddenly goes "actually no, we shouldn't have a monarchy. i declare we're a democracy now!" and everybody cheers and that's the end, fade to black. Which... would be perfectly fine, if that had been even slightly a theme beforehand. They didn't really depict the dinner king knockoff guy as bad in any way, and in fact tried to give him a genuinely emotional and bittersweet death scene. If it was trying to be anti-monarchist, it wasn't trying very hard!

That said, all of that is nitpicking. It's a perfectly fine game, doing what it set out to do with a ton of polish. It's fun, managed to get some big laughs out of me (the blacksmith quest is great), and it doesn't outstay its welcome, either- I 100%'d it in under four hours.

Slay the Princess

This one was fun! It's sort of... The Stanley Parable as a visual novel? You have a very simple quest: go into the basement and slay the princess chained up down there, or she'll destroy the world. But the variety of choices you have vis-a-vis the implementation of this straightforward quest gives rise to, like... I kind of don't want to spoil it, but it does some very spooky and effective meta stuff. Figuring out what the deal is with this princess and the narrator (played by the Magnus Archives guy) telling you to kill her is a good time.

I will say I was slightly disappointed by where it ended up? Just like, insofar as what the princess was thematically about seemed to be pushing in one direction, but then at the end it turned around and went in a different, slightly less interesting direction.

It's hard to say how much of that was an artifact of the choices I brought to the game, though- it's a thing that mutates and behaves very differently depending on how you play it. Worth a play!

Fire Emblem Engage

I did a whole big review of this one earlier this year, so here's that. The upshot is: it's mechanically probably the best FE I've played (besides the annoying monastery Somniel stuff), but the story is like, hilariously stupid. But it's stupid in a "wow, this isn't even trying, this is saturday morning cartoon shit" way, and not in an infuriating Fire Emblem Fates "please take us so so seriously as our idiot characters use tropes instead of brains to act out the dumbest tragedy we could think of" way. It's all impossible to take seriously, but it also doesn't care if you're taking it seriously, so it's not offensively bad.

Home Safety Hotline

This one I played primarily because the Game Grumps were so, so egregiously bad at it and I had to prove I could do better.

The premise is: you're a new hire for a help line, and take calls from homeowners having problems with minor pests. You listen to their issues, look up what the causes of those issues are in a database of common home safety risks, and send them dossiers of information. You win by accurately diagnosing their issues.

Also, it's a horror game and the "common home safety risks" include more and more SCP shit as you do well and unlock higher clearance.

It's... fine! It's fun. It works. What they should've done is spook the player with some weird stuff in their room or in the interface, and then later explain what kind of danger you've been in the whole time by unlocking an entry. That could've been scary and interesting! Instead it's only kind of scary and interesting. There's a few solidly fucked-up horrors in that database, and some chills when you identify a caller's problem and it becomes immediately apparently that it's too late for them, but largely you the player are insulated from all this.

(There's a metaplot about the safety corporation you're working for itself being a scary horror monster, but it doesn't really do anything interesting. It just goes "oooooh, your job is a spooky magic cult, aren't you scared of that??" and like. No not really.)

Murders on the Yangtze River

This is a very competently-executed murder mystery game! It has all the standard murder mystery game mechanics. But more interestingly, it's set in turn-of-the-century Qing Dynasty China, which isn't a setting I'd really read anything in before. It's very effective as a period piece, and I learned a lot! It's a little lacking in personality, but it manages to stay gripping regardless. I'd recommend it.

It is also... a weird piece of nationalist propaganda, though. Amusingly so. Explaining how would be spoilers, so here's a link to a separate post. Zero don't click on this until you've played it.

-

Like fifteen more of these to come. I played, uh, too many games this year.

[1] - 2 - [3] - [4]

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Emily and Wendell Have No Chill...On Opposite Ends of the Chill Spectrum

Ok, the more you put faerie and academia up next to each other, the more I see similarities between the two that both the academics and the fae would probably be extremely pissy about, from the strict hierarchical structures to the arbitrary rules and the extreme danger of falling in love with them. And yet I'm also EXTREMELY here for it. So let's talk Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands.

THERE ARE SPOILERS BELOW THE BREAK. BE WARNED.

Emily and Wendell are on the same page about when it is appropriate to go absolutely feral, but they would NOT agree with that. Emily can shake off the otherlands, random faerie assassins, and absolutely godawful living conditions during fieldwork but cannot handle other humans. Wendell can shake off *actively dying from faerie poison* and entirely too credible accusations of academic misconduct, but literally cannot handle a lack of coffee.

So naturally Wendell is panicking every time Emily gets too near the otherlands without him and Emily is absolutely losing it every time Wendell ignores common sense and uses his magic which exacerbates the effects of the poison. Literally these two are falling over each other to try to protect each other. It's wonderful--I wouldn't change a thing.

I also want to just double down on academics being JUST as terrifying as fae, because in the first book Emily didn't HESITATE before chopping a finger off to break an enchantment and in this one she didn't think twice before dropping the same poison that is killing Wendell into his stepmother's cup. This woman is absolutely terrifying in her determination and her ability to do the thing she has decided is absolutely necessary. Like, Emily Wilde is a terrifying force of nature and a damn fine scholar and the level of personal and professional jealousy I feel over this fictional character knows no bounds.

So beyond Emily and Wendell being just AGGRESSIVELY in love with each other in the most academic way possible, this book is fun because we get some resolution to the mystery of Danielle De Gray's disappearance, which was heavily referenced in the footnotes of the last book, and is one of the great dryadologist mysteries. I absolutely adore the fact that Emily is so determined to find out what actually happened to this academic in whom she sees herself. It makes her success so much greater and it makes the "don't meet your heroes" disappointment so much funnier when the real Dani catastrophically crashes into the De Gray that Emily had constructed in her head. It's funny and heartbreaking and honestly the fact that Dani then sort of...adopts Emily as a researcher in her own vein is awesome. Academic respect and mentorship is...a weirdass combination of doing it yourself with imagined mentor figures and deeply flawed people who just wanted to learn everything about something niche and specific and are really cranky about being saddled with students.

Which brings me nicely to Farris Rose. Rose is...a stodgy old white man academic in every sense, and he starts by threatening to have both Emily and Wendell fired for academic misconduct and fabricating research. He ends up with one ear on backwards and offering to mentor Emily in her academic career. He is also like...the absolute chaotic evil scholar, because he is VERY cool about ethical lapses if they get him on the expedition of the century. And he is also VERY comfortable lecturing Emily on her personal life. Even after she is pretty clear that his commentary is not terribly welcome.

The number of academic friendships that begin in open conflict is astounding, and honestly the "bitter enemy on the basis of their scholarship to grudging allies to actual friends" pipeline is VERY fun to watch. It's a special hell to live, but watching it is delightful.

Emily also grudgingly gets a student in this book! And after all the crap she gave Wendell about how he treats his grad students in the last book, she could possibly have been less brusque and less ornery with her dang niece!!! Ariadne is literally a ray of sunshine though, and she and Wendell get along like a house on fire to the point where he makes her a scarf for protection in the field. She and Emily uh...have a bit of a journey in terms of getting on, because Emily prefers to be on her own, and she like...intellectually loves her niece, but it takes some time for her to respect Ariadne as a baby researcher who is enthusiastic and learning. Their journey to understanding each other is really sweet, and I enjoyed it. I also love that Uncle Wendell was Uncle Wendell for Ariadne long before Aunt Emily actually accepted his proposal. That was just adorable.

I also really appreciate the cliffhanger that this book left us on. Emily and Wendell are going back to the Silva Lupi, but they literally do not know what they'll find. The assumption is that Wendell's stepmother is dead, but like...we don't KNOW that, and I wouldn't be surprised if she found some crafty and utterly hellscape-y way to avoid a terrible death by faerie poison. Especially since Wendell himself has hammered home the "there are no absolutes in faerie stories" message. So I might actually die waiting for book 3, but when it comes out, I will 1000% be there to read it.

[thatonesongyouretryingtoremember]

DBD rewatch notes!!

episode TWO!

Also my autocorrect is fucked but I'm not gonna proofread this thing ✌️

alright im making sure to watch the recap this time, apparently a character narrates it.

well that was underwhelming. maybe the real narration is added in a later episode.

Also I just realized about how 'this living girl can help with the living' and 'Becky is alive' like no wonder Edwin panicked he thought he wouldn't get to help out ghosts anymore.

so they just happened to walk by the docks, huh?

MUSIC

even Charles thinks Eddie boy fucked up.

Even now, Edwin wants to handle diplomacy. Just like with Shelby.

it would be kinda funny if the guy these cats killed was the sane guy Esther tested her machine on. random guy constantly exposed to The Horrors.

PURPLE FIRE

"using magic on my cats is a risk car crash on your part" that line is so iconic

so I guess the cats like him being king bc he's protective, or at least willing to start shit on their behalf.

THE TWIRL

what does too many cat scratches do to a ghost?

is that location inside the warehouse? I assume it is abandoned bc of how many cats have been showed to live in there. are the lights kept on by magic?

OF COURSE the cat king has his mattress on the floor LMAO mold who?

"If you must know" omg CK's private questions are probably so protecting and random before Edwin's autistic ass catches on to the flirting

MUSIC

He is trying so hard to stay on track

NOT THE ROPE TAIL

The way they show us Edwin's reaction before showing us that CK grabbed his *wrist* I thought this scene was going in a different direction on my first watch 👁👄👁

a caging spell is like. so obviously a bad guy thing to do. like, making someone feel like they can't leave or manipulating their life until they can't leave is classic abuser shit, and CK here pulls it on their FIRST meeting. not to mention the spell can only be undone by the caster, so if Edwin ever wants to leave the town (bc being there actively puts him in danger) he is forced to see the Cat King.

The whole point for CK of putting that spell on Edwin, was to show him how fucked up his spell on that catboy was. So he KNOWS that using magic on someone is wrong.

Edwin is trying so hard to get this guy tp be reasonable

"I can see that has offended your old fashioned sensibilities. I an a fair and consensual Cat King." THIS IS COERCION. THIS IS FUCKING COERCION.

I get that he backs off or whatever, but why on Earth did he think any of that was okay to begin with!? Also no "fair" king has to point out how fair they are. It's almost as if you've given this guy enough rain to believe otherwise :o

Why exactly was there a time warp??

I love when Edwin talks with his hands.

Not Edwin accusing Charles of being careless because he isn't at risk of going to hell :0 (also Charles yes we do it is happy brevete you're the best)

I'm not going anywhere without you :3

So ig Charles figure CK must have had something else to say bc how on Earth does one *trick* Edwin? like he tells Emma, driving a hard bargain is his THING.

Jokes on Edwin bc act cagey about something ONE TIME and all of a sudden it's the only thing your friends ask about!

Hercules referenced!

She looks so small in that room alone

that would probably be funny if I knew what John Hughes was.

Hop on the ferry AND THEN WHAT

say what? they're so in tune.

*tosses mail on bed* *misses*

these guys really love using symmetry in shots

you can actually hear Litty and Kingham giggling here! and a little bit of their weirdass theme song.

How exactly can Mick tell that the magic can't be undone??

Tragic Mick is so lonely. nobody cares about his story.

freebie enchanted jar, I guess. Good on Charles for recognizing how cool it is but like. why did he give them that besides plot

Will the kids ever find out that Mick was the one who sold that stuff to Esther?

SYMMETRY

no thoughts only explode

Yay Edwin cares if she's alright!

is there like a running joke with them about western medicine? bc the line 'stop being so nice' just sounds random to me idk

TWIRL

he's so excited! aww

The way he looks at the wall when Charles points out the bracelet XD

just because you don't like books does not mean you have to be so haphazard! the place is a mess and you probably ripped some pages!

pink is blue and your left isn't mine. makes perfect sense.

Those poor little shits had no clue they would end up inside a girl who hates being looked at XD

I like how Niko is shy at first it's a cool character decision.

why does Crystal already say "yes" to "history of fainting" if she doesn't get know that Niko has had these episodes before??

Also the hysteria detail is nice. a few episodes later Edwin corrected himself before saying it, and I think either Niko or Crystal must have spoken to him after he called Niko hysteric *twice*

why do they keep thinking Death will randomly show up in their office??

the "you'll rip your arm off" is a comic reference. a child servant named Persephone was stuck in a mirror portal when she died and Charles was afraid Edwin would injure her if he tried to pull her out.

I think Charles might have started to suspect what CK wanted in this scene, but until Edwin comes out he probably either feels unsure about it or thinks it is too delicate to ask straight up. Not that he's necessarily "delicate" with what he does ask.

oh their little joke and smiles are so cute!

MUSIC

well if it isn't the book Charles TRIED to get earlier!

Edwin with the literal interpretation

Also I can't see MUCH of the writing but the "secretions" are described as "viscous" so there is no way they made that connection without seeing the vomit first. that does not mean weird light.

Crystal is so funny here. "I noticed you have no friends sp you must feel lonely about your sickness. similarly, I don't know my parents." she is lucky that worked. it is still a sweet scene tho.

She's so sixteen. she needs her parents. :((((

Did Niko say she lived in Japan? Did Crystal read that on the envelopes? Why didn't she get visions when she touched the letters? they're definitely emotional enough.

Crystal has changed into more subdued clothing, and the ends of her hair are a little messy. honestly her hair progression is so interesting to me because of the way it changes with her character, but I think I should rather that be it's own post. lmk if y'all want that, but I will probs get around to it anyways.

So this is where the conflicting narratives confuse me. Do they exit the host body when they get strong, or when they are starving?

SYMMETRY

Niko is so excited to listen to herrr

What exactly does Niko mean by "are you insane?" like she sounds so excited.

Crystal is so sensitive to Niko's feelings. She tries to be helpful but also not freak her out.

The 4th wall break HELP (+more symmetry and a face closeup)

Also the flashback starts out from her eyes.

Now that I read about it, he school uniform really does look like Litty's dress. plus you can hear the sprites giggling again!

At least Edwin has enough sense to let Crystal keep doing her thing!

MUSIC

I guess Jenny thought Crystal brought Niko downstairs. Great, another way Jenny thinks she is weird and irresponsible.

Who was that shorter person in the hall of the Lost and Found?? Emma or something? probably not.

bigass clipboards

Most of Charles' chest is obscured in the photo.

SYMMETRY

honestly the constant use of artistic symmetry in these shots A] makes a cohesive vibe and B] makes it look manufactured, it reminds me of the ASOUE netflix show in that way.

wtf does "a misplaced dead child causes more trouble than a live one" even mean?? what kind of proviene are live children causing in the realm of Death??

I like the Night Nurse character because her duty is to take care of those kids but she also seems to think of them all as troublemakers or obstacles for whatever reason. ooh, more symmetry!

What is that glowing table all about?

I guess they came up with a compromise about Niko.

Googled it, bobtail means a person you don't like or find unpleasant.

wait I added in the time period. He's being sexist.

an unlicked cub is someone who is "rude" and I'm pretty sure it is classist.

"let's not worry about dads, yeah?"

Edwin always says exactly what he is thinking. I think he probably throws in period slang if he doesn't want to hurt Charles' feelings.

I wonder why Charles has multiple things he knows Edwin's dad would say. I bet Edwin uses his dad to insult people (clients?) all the time and Charles looks it up and goes "wait a sec that describes me too" or smthng.

YAY! LEARNING!

wdym "maybe that's why I like her so much?" WDYM

"We're figuring this out" WHERE HAVE I HEARD THOSE WORDS BEFORE (staircase)

"I simply hate that I am the reason we are stuck in this town." "I should have known. Welcome to not being perfect"

MORE SYMMETRY

Walks fast bf and walks backwards so he can talk and look him in the face bf. they're so complimentary.

They always end up in that one same pose, huh? Facing straight at eachother in profile. It's so organic, and I think that CK has actually tried to force a similar shot, which is interesting. that's in a later episode though.

Charles the emotionally attuned king

HE JUST WANTS TO BE THERE FOR YOUU

"you're like a dog with a bone" *steps on bone*

it isn't as if you what, Edwin? as if you haven't said it all already? as if you know any more than Charles about it?

SKINNY JORTS

So they use the dead host body to reproduce through spore pods that biomimic dandelion seeds? I feel like that needs more elaboration. Like that needs to be explained to me.

aww poor Niko :((

You know shit's serious when they break out the "Asunder"

The circle thing. First of all, what is that? Secondly, I feel like these two are framed in a circle another time, but I don't remember when.

badass transition and the shrine is really cool. the dandelion texture is pretty realistic imo.

It does not look chiseled away but go off

So what type of sacrifices? do they need you to ""pay"" then attention? are the dead bodies the sacrifices? are the hosts the sacrifices?

Are there enough abandoned pantheons of these just scattered about that the supernatural scientific community had the consensus that they are a common parasite??

I like how the fake dandelions look slightly different than real ones.

Did their worshippers make a vessel to trap them? Or is that just where they lived before they started starving and inhabiting people?

I think this is practican effects + camera work?? it's very good!

I guess she figured out time was running out.

Is that charming in a condescending way or does he just think that she's easy to work with?

"cut the weird shit out I'll like, evict you" she had no clue how to talk to kids, or to stand up to someone who will listen.

'that got dark' that is the same reaction to when Crystal brought up David

did they ever end up telling Niko that David the Ex is a demon?

What are the rules about what objects are invisible or not?

A HOOK!?

wait did they explain to Crystal that the thingies are starving???

this scene is so frickin creeeepyyyy

They make a point about keeping their hats on. They seem to love those hats. weird.

and the sprites also care about eachother to some extent.

OOH ANOTHER COMIC REF

did her hair change immediately and they only noticed just now, orr??

This time when meeting new friends, Niko doesn't act shy anymore. She already feels comfortable around Crystal since they talked.

Crystal had a Look when Niko said the agency name was good, but idk if it was entirely mean.

They better elaborate on those godly powers next szn!

HEY the letters hit the bed this time!

WHO got the word out, tho?

So they have to tell those ghosts to go home so the girls can sleep?

so the FEAR is her power

MUSIC

Green fire

why is she doing this with the rings on. there's no way anything she's doing is sanitary.

tbh with the growling, I totally thought he'd be evil the first time 'round.

HUMAN MONTY MY BELOVEDDDD!!!!

[lewyn-martell]

if you wanna talk, be sure to tag me next time??? i had no idea about this until someone told me lmao why would you single me out if you dont actually wanna trade thoughts? i'm trying to be super good faith here and not assume you just wanted a sneaky last word.

i feel like i would just be repeating myself from stuff i already said in the notes, but just because willa is a sex worker it doesn't mean connor holds the keys to all aspects of her life. it'd be good to stop making sex work out to be this super exploitable thing where someone literally holds a person's financial/emotional/entire life on their hands or whatever else you're accusing connor of doing. they had a deal of escorting/sex work/pretend girlfriend thing that both sides were VERY aware and connor trying to offer more money for her time does NOT equal taking ownership of willa's free will to go where she chooses and do what she chooses. it's a transaction made upon agreement on both parts.

sorry, but it really feels like you're making a bunch of assumptions about their arrangement to suit your view... you're assuming connor is forcing her to have the exact emotions he wants and not that he is simply buying more of her time, upon her agreement, in the hopes that she actually gets fond of him (which she DOES). you're assuming connor is forcing her to do her plays (which are obviously something she has wanted to do for quite a while and was hoping to finance with her escort/sex work in the first place) to be financially depended on him as if he is making her be indebted to him or something??? this is literally part of their agreement. it's coming out of his pocket in exchange for him being her sole client. if willa wanted to get out after her play was done in season 2 she could've! you're assuming, again, that she deadass can't LEAVE his house in new mexico as if connor is keeping her hostage and not as if this is part of their very flexible agreement in which she can just get up and leave. proven by the fact that when she goes to tell him, he gets desperate and promises her more money for her to agree to stay, because willa CAN just up and leave and go back to her normal NY routine. you're assuming willa, who has been given money on the regular, can't buy a plane ticket home from italy?? please be serious.

yes, it was delusional asshole i'm-so-sure-she's-gonna-say-yes and i'm-too-preoccupied-with-my-hurt-feelings to leave the room to propose in front of people, but willa made clear it wasn't an actual yes and made him wait for her actual decision which made him scared as hell that she was actually gonne leave him, because SHE CAN DO THAT.

now them being way too intertwined that willa is recognized as his partner is a given, since they're always together, but there hasn't been a single hint on the show of connoe trying to use that to trap her. and more: if willa got up and left, you think that having achieved a notoriety as connor's hooker, as you put it (even though he would never introduce her like that), would not get her any work again, i'm sorry, but i would strongly argue the opposite. in simple common sense. besides, willa was well aware of who connor was when she agreed to be his partner and she is an adult who can very well realize before accepting something that an inevitable consequence would be that she is reconized as having been on his side at some point.

i won't argue about your feelings on connor being that he's terrifying, to each their own weirdass opinions, but i do take a problem with the stuff you're taking as law trying to paint a picture of connor and connor and willa's relationship that is nowhere near as dramatic in the show, besides just being deadass incorrect.

the thing about connor is that at surface level he seems like the least evil out of the roy siblings because he's not that involved in the business but when you consider the situation with willa he's actually fucking terrifying

[marril96]

The Name Game

Pairing: Rowena x reader

Summary: Rowena is tasked with picking a name for her and reader's daughter. The problem is, she kind of sucks at it.

Warnings: conversations about and references to child abuse.

Editor: @oswinthestrange

A/N: I would love to give huge thanks to @astroctye for helping me with names.

Read on AO3.

It should have been illegal for Rowena to name children.

It should have been illegal for her to name anything, but a special ban should have been imposed on her giving names to human beings in her care.

"We are not naming our daughter Raoghnail!" you said for the umpteenth time this morning.

The woman seemed insistent on your child, your precious little bundle of joy you were only a month away from meeting, bearing the worst, most ridiculous names you had ever heard. It was as if she were reading from a list of bad names as some sort of a joke — only she was dead serious, and would get offended every time you told her, loud and clear, that under no circumstances would you name your child any of her suggested monstrosities.

Rowena huffed, hands settling on her hips in a pose like that of a stern, no nonsense teacher about to tear into a badly behaving student. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips puckered up in a pout that was, despite the sheer annoyance dipped in anger on her face, as adorable as always. When she was genuinely, truly angry, Rowena could be terrifying. When she was angry at you, on the other hand, she was a cute ball of rage, a plush toy bomb in place of a real one that would've been here had her ire been directed at anyone else.

"And what's wrong with Raoghnail?" she demanded.

"It's terrible," you said and gave a casual shrug. When she first started suggesting names, you rejected them gently, but as she kept spouting more and more terrible ideas, your patience wore off. She was a big girl. She could handle rejection; she could handle it better than your daughter would handle being named Raoghnail, or Caillic, or Bradana, or any other ridiculous name Rowena thought was appropriate for a little girl.

"That's what you said for every name I picked," she said exasperatedly.

"'Cause they were terrible," you said.

Her pout deepened. You resisted the urge to smile. Pouting adorably should have been illegal for Rowena, too.

"I think you hate Scottish names," she accused.

Seriously? "That's ridiculous!"

"Is it? So far you've rejected every name I came up with!" she accused.

"I didn't rejected 'cause they're Scottish. I rejected them' cause they suck!" you exclaimed.

Rowena groaned, then took a breath to calm down. Her fists clenched at her sides in frustration. "What do you want me to do?"

"Come up with better names," you said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. It should have been.

She glared. Giving it a moment of thought, she said, "How about Eithne? It is a lovely name."

"I bet it is, for those who can pronounce it." You barely resisted the urge to scream and stamp your feet like a tantrum-throwing child. You just wanted to give your daughter a name you could spell and pronounce properly. Was that too much to ask?

"There you go again!" Rowena exclaimed.

"I apologize for not being able to pronounce — and spell — your weirdass names," you said sarcastically.

She shot you a look that had most likely killed before. "Your lack of cultural education is no fault of mine."

You rolled your eyes. Very mature. "And your inability to name a child is no fault of mine," you retorted.

"I can name a child just fine! I've done it before!" she said proudly.

"Yeah, and he hated his name so much that he changed it," you said.

"He only did it to spite me."

You snorted. "No, he didn't." If anything, she kept calling him Fergus instead of his chosen name to spite him. "He really didn't."

Rowena's eyes narrowed. "If you are so much better, why don't you come up with a decent name for our girl?"

Because you wanted her to name her. Because you knew how much she was hurting over losing her son and you wanted to give her an opportunity to name her second child. You couldn't say it to her face. As sweet and cuddly as she could be, Rowena was an immensely proud creature. In her mind, compassion was pity, and that was something she didn't want. It was hard to get her to accept your help when she was injured; if she were to find out why you wanted her to name the baby, she would be livid. You wouldn't put it past her to refuse to name her out of sheer pride.

A nameless child, or one with a ridiculous, barely pronounceable name. You couldn't tell which was worse.

"I told you, I want you to do it," you said.

"Do you really, or are you just saying that to mess with me?" Rowena said.

You shot her an incredulous look. "Rowena, that's ridiculous!"

"Is it?" she inquired, suspicious.

"You know me better than that!" You loved to tease her and toss banter at her, but you would never do something like that. You knew how much this second chance a motherhood meant to her. You wouldn't make a mockery out of it.

Rowena took a breath, letting your words sink in. "What do you want?" she asked. It took all strength she had to keep her anger at bay. Her teeth were grit, hands still balled into tight fists; her already pale knuckles were as white as fresh sheets.

You sighed. It was a start. "Give her a nice name—" you put special emphasis on nice "—the rest of us peasants can spell and pronounce."

She chuckled at that. "You are a peasant."

"So are you," you pointed out with a chuckle of your own.

Rowena gasped dramatically. "How dare you? I'll have you know, I am a lady." She gave a small, equally dramatic bow and clasped a hand over her heart. Give her a ridiculous gown and curl her hair, and she would fit perfectly in a badly written and even worse acted historical movie.

You couldn't resist a laugh. "Sure you are, sweetheart."

"Och, such rudeness!"

"You deserve it."

"You are cruel, Y/N. Very cruel. What am I doing with you?"

"You love me," you reminded her.

"I'm starting to think I've made a horrible mistake," she said.

You shrugged. "It's too late now," you said, pointing to your swollen stomach.

"Aye," Rowena agreed, lips turning downward in mock sadness. Not a moment later she grinned, and you joined her with a smile. Banter was good for the soul. "What do you think of Euphemia, for the wee one? Or Agnes?"

You sighed. "If I was giving birth to an eighty-year old, sure."

She frowned. "They're both easy to spell and pronounce."

"They're also granny names," you told her. She stared. You sighed again. "Can you seriously imagine a cute little baby with a name like Agnes or Euphemia?"

"Yes," she said without missing a beat.

She's from a different time, you reminded yourself. You needed to stay calm. Exploding at her about her horrible naming practices would do neither of you good. She was almost four hundred years old. Of course she preferred names from her era to modern ones. Besides, it was your idea that she be the one to name your daughter. As noble as your intentions were, you'd brought this on yourself.

"Well, I can't," you said.

"That sounds like your problem, dear," Rowena told you.

"It'll be our daughter's problem, too, when she comes home crying after being teased for her ancient name."

"Anyone even looks at her wrong, and they're dead."

You couldn't argue with that. You'd experienced bullying first hand; you would die before letting your daughter go through it. You baby may end up with a silly name, but she would be loved and protected. Her mothers would make sure of that. She would have a long, happy life. Her experiences would be different from your and Rowena's. She wouldn't suffer a day in her life. The two of you had sworn on that.

"Let's try to prevent it by giving her a normal name," you said. Though, you were more than aware, your definition of normal was far, far different from Rowena's.

As she'd proven when she, after a few moments of thought, said, "Morag?"

Much to her frustration, you couldn't hold back a fit of laughter. Morag? Morag? Seriously?

Rowena looked like she wanted to strangle you with her bare hands. "What now?" she hissed, tone laced with threat she didn't even try to mask. Her patience had run out; you were on thin ice.

Not that you cared. As scary as she could be, you could never be afraid of her.

"Morag sounds like an elf from some fantasy RPG," you said. A picture of a tiny, milky-complexed, red-haired, freckled girl with pointy ears large enough to serve as wings formed in your mind, and you laughed harder. You couldn't help yourself; the name was ridiculous, and the imagery even worse.

Rowena growled like a pissed off cat and stomped her foot. Crossing her arms over her chest, she shot you her meanest, sharpest glare. If her previous one hadn't killed, this one certainly had. It was too intense not to be deadly.

"I'm sorry," you said through laugher.

"No, you're bloody not!"

She was right. "I can't help that it's so funny." You pressed a hand to your mouth in an attempt to stop it, but to no avail. The name was ridiculous enough as it was; the image in your head, though, was what did you in. You were certain, whenever you heard that name from now on, a Dumbo-eared ginger child would be your first association.

"You're impossible," Rowena huffed. Then she muttered under her breath, "Bloody child."

She should have gotten used to your childishness by now. After all, you'd gotten used to hers.

"Any other suggestions?" you asked when your laughter had finally died down. The corners of your lips twitched, aching for another fit, but you kept it under control.

"What's the point? You insult every name I pick," Rowena said. "I'm starting to think you only said I could name the child to make fun of me."

"That's not true."

"It sure looks like it."

An ache pulled at your heart, deep, throbbing. You hadn't meant to hurt her. The names were terrible and ridiculous, and you may have laughed, but you hadn't meant her any harm. Reaching for her hand, you took it into both of yours and squeezed. "I'm not making fun of you," you said gently, honestly, straight from the heart. "I swear."

Rowena looked down to your linked hands, then her eyes met yours. She nodded in acknowledgment of your words. "Why do you want me to name her if you don't like any of the names I pick?"

"Because…" Because this is your second chance. You didn't want to say it to her face, but what choice did you have? It was either honesty or her thinking you were messing with her. She had to understand. You needed her to understand. If that meant accusations of pity, so be it. You would convince her you weren't pitying her. Somehow. "I know you feel bad about what happened with Crowley." You took a breath. "This is your second chance at motherhood, and I wanted you to give our baby a name as a sorta new beginning."

Rowena's expression shifted from mild irritation to full on comprehension. Green eyes slightly widening as your words dawned on her, sudden and heavy as a flash flood, she stared straight into yours, straight through yours, as if she was looking into your very soul. You felt almost bare under her gaze; a part of you was glad you told her, glad to have finally lifted the burden off your shoulders, but you were still worried. Did she think you were pitying her? Was she going to scream at the top of her lungs until you got it in your head that she didn't need anybody's pity, especially yours?

"Please, don't be mad," you said, a tad panicked. "I didn't mean to imply—"

"I know," Rowena interrupted before you could finish your sentence. Her voice was as soft as silk, as tender, as lovely. Her features matched it, all traces of annoyance gone as if they were never there. She brought her free hand to your cheek and gave it a gentle caress. You leaned into her palm, leaned into the warmth of her touch. A sigh of relief left your lips. She wasn't mad. A small smile spilled over your mouth at the realization. "My lovely lass, thinking of me."

"Someone has to," you said.

Rowena chuckled. "I suppose."

"You deserve it."

"That is up for debate, but I appreciate the sentiment." You wanted to argue, but she raised up a forefinger, instantly silencing you. "You didn't have to do it, darling. Getting to be a mother again is more than enough for me."

"I know, but I still want you to name her."

"Are you sure? We both know I'm not very good at thinking of names." She chuckled as she said it, and you laughed along.

"There's bound to be a good name in that pretty little head of yours," you said.

"Lots of them, but you keep rejecting them." She grinned. "I'm serious, Y/N. You are more than welcome to pick a name for our wee one."

You shook your head. "I want you to do it."

"You're under no obligation—"

This time you cut her off. "I know. I'm cool with you choosing a name."

"You rejected most of the good ones."

If those were the good ones, you didn't want to know what she considered bad names. "Keep trying. There'll be a name we both like."

She pondered on it for a moment. "Maybe…"

"Yes?" you asked, mentally preparing for another monstrosity. Precaution. Who could blame you?

"Wynda," Rowena said. "It's quite rare. I doubt most people even know of it."

Wynda.

It certainly wasn't as bad as her other suggestions.

Wynda. Wynda. Wynda.

An image appeared in your head, one of a tiny ginger baby, then a toddler, then a preteen. The child was happy, her smile as bright as Rowena's.

Wynda.

You imagined whispering the name gently, imagined calling it out in the crowd.

Surprisingly, it was nice. It fit. It rolled off the tongue easily; no need for pronunciation lessons. The spelling was just as easy. There were no mean nicknames you could think of that other children could use to taunt her, no rhymes or similarly named fictional characters someone could compare her to as an insult.

While odd, and certainly rare, the name was perfect.

"I love it!" you said with a wide, happy grin.

Rowena frowned, surprised. "You do?"

"Yeah, it's perfect!

"You really like it?"

"I do!" you said. "It's a bit weird, but good weird.

"Finally," Rowena said with a loud sigh. "You're one picky lass."

"One of us has to be."

She rolled her eyes dramatically, then smiled. "It's settled then. Her name is Wynda."

"Yup!" You looked down to your swollen stomach and gently rubbed it. "Our little Wynda."

Rowena clasped her hand over yours. "Our little princess."

"We'll spoil this girl rotten."

"Of course we will! She's the daughter of two powerful witches. She deserves nothing but the best."

She did. And she would have it. She would have the happy life that you and Rowena never got to have. As her parents, you owed her that much.

Wynda MacLeod would be the happiest, most loved child in the world. It was a promise you would keep even at the price of your own life.

Tags: @werewolfbarbie @oswinthestrange @darktweet @songofthecagedmoose @apurdyfulmind @getthesalt-sam @metallihca @royalrowena @salembitchtrials @jay-eris @hellsmother @elizabeth-effie @victoriasagittariablack @rowenaswife @dropsofpetrichor @fromflametofire @xfireandsin @liddell-alien @elaspn @cas-loves-dean-and-i-love-him @faeyla @hotdiggitydammit @thaiinette

[tellywoodtrash]

ishqbaaz 26.10.17 lb

i hope you’re ready for me yelling about feminism and the patriarchy all through today’s lb coz i’m just in one of those moods. 

gauri is shooook. SHOOOK.

i would be too, after THAT confession. like.... what the fuck even was that???? i rewatched it and i had suchhhhhhhh a visceral reaction and cried more even than the first time i watched.

shivaay knows that shit went dowwwwwwwn. 

oh boy, ajay doesn’t look to be in a good mood. 

bro just coz two ppl are coming from the same direction, means absolutely nothing?????? 

i mean not in this case, coz these two were fully eye-fucking, but i’m just saying... generally, life mein. lol. 😋😋😋

when the guy you’re threatening makes THIS 👆🏽👆🏽👆🏽 face at you, maybe you should reconsider. 

especially when he has backup. 👪🏽👪🏽👪🏽

lmfaooooo majaaaal toh dekho in oberois ki; SHAADI MEIN AAKE ISKI DULHAN KO UTHAANE KA INTEZAAM KAR RAHE HAI; AUR JAB BANDA OBJECT KAREIN, TOH USKO DHAMKI DE RAHEIN HAI. srsssssssly. suchhhhh assholes. 

ajay be like THE FUCK IS HAPPENING??????? and rightly so, because OMG WHY THE FUCK IS SHIVAAY THREATENINGLY DOING DALER MEHENDI DANCE STEPS AT HIM??????????? 

WOW. AJAY GOT THREATENED BY THIS AND LEFT ALSO. AMAZING. 😧😧😧😧😧😧

“LEKIN KYUN?????”

behenji, pehle apne devar ke pooore ke poore karnaame toh usse pooch lo; bina kuch jaane hi aa gayi ho shaadi rukwaane. 

of course, as a 4 lions leading man, the basic concept of a woman’s consent hasn’t ever occurred to shivaay. 

“usne bola chale jao, toh tu chala jayega???” UM YES THAT’S HOW NORMAL, DECENT AND CIVIL ADULT PEOPLE BEHAVE. BUT YOU WOULDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THAT. STUPIDASS.

what’s reallyyyyyyy fucking annoying me is that even anika and bhavya look perplexed by this whole concept of om agreeing to gauri’s wishes. ANIKA. WHO WAS FORCED INTO MARRIAGE AGAINST HER WILL. ek kambakht ‘i love you’ kya sun liya saal-bhar ke bakchodi ke baad, uski akal ghaas charrne gayi hai. 

“gauri ki aaankhon meinnnn maine tere liye pyaar dekha. MAINE DEKHA HAI!!!!!!!!”

achcha???? no shitttttt. aur woh bade bade aansoon that she’s been shedding since the day she’s met your godforsaken brother??? WOH NAHI DIKHA TUJHE, CHUTIYE?? #disappoint #brotpKoDhoka #dafaaHoJaaPlz

yeah please, focus on the fucking dabaav she’s under, and not your shitty brother. please, someone think of my girl for once. 

if i hear the word “ishqbaaz” uttered one more time to justify such absolute fuckery, i swear.............

“hum dulhaniya ko lekar hi jayenge.”

“......... whether SHE wants it or not. making us no different from ajay, really. but since we’re better looking and the leads of the show, janta maaf kar degi.” 

ok shivaay kissing om’s hand was cute af. i always love love love when he shows affection unreservedly by kissing his brothers. fuck stupid toxic masculinity where you can’t show your brothers and friends how much you love them. 

deeeeeeeeeep cleansing breath to exhale out all the bitterness i’m feeling today towards shivika, or i’ll never be able to enjoy their couple scenes. 

snort. anika cussing out lappuji and his shoddy work. 

yup, this freakout at signs of aging is real. *bathes in anti aging serum in a desperate attempt to cheat time* 

don’t know if you tumblr bachchas can relate though, coz other than a handful of us here, literally alllll of you are tiny little babies who should still be in your mom’s wombs. 

LMAOOOO THIS IMAGINATION. ANIKA YOU IDIOT GIRL. 

god he looks so good in the black tho. 😍😍😍

billu LITERALLY be like: 

“aisa hota hai. is umar mein log satthiaa jaate hai thode.” 

first of all, shivaay would never use the word “satthiaaa”. it’s such an anika word.

also fuck off billu. you were born satthiyaaaya hua. 😒😒😒😒

wifey mad. and sad. 

“ek baar tumhari taraf dekh liya maine, uske baad main kuch aur nahi dekh paaonga. kuch bhi nahi.” 

nowwwwwww we talking. 😏😏😏😏

also lol, this is kinda making anika sound like the ark of the covenant? like if he looks at her directly, he’ll go blind? 

ok i’m not sure i feel this romance, with her still in the wig, and him looking so unlike him in this outfit, but his sexy voice is A++++++++++ 

OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER BEFORE YOU TWO GET ACCUSED OF INCEST

lmaoooooo “kitne jaale shaale ho gaye, NOT COOL!” 

baal baal bache. 

LOL. baal baal, geddit? coz both of their baal.... hee hee hee. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

diljeeet do minute ke liye votiiii ke saath busy kya ho gaya, digvijay has swooped riiiiiiight in and taken his place with all the titliyaan. 

that girl in the dark blue outfit is a goddamn babe and all kindsa goals honestly. lord give me her face and hair and outfit! 

#same bhavya. saaaame. 

is he really going to shoot this gun inside the damn house???? fucking idiot. 

lmaoooooooo bhavya’s glee at his incompetence. 

HAAAAAAA, I AM REALLY LOVING BHAVYA MORE AND MORE THESE DAYS. WHAT A CUTIE. 

back to these two and their weirdass oedipal romancing. when i was like i wanna see shivika role playing, this is reaaaaaalllly not what i had in mind. 😕😕😕

OMFG SHIVAAY STOP IT YOU IDIOT 🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈

ouff these cuteass idiotssssssss. 

YES PLEASE REMOVE THIS STUPIDASS FUCKING WIG ALREADY

SO MUCH BETTER. YES. NOW PLEASE MAKE OUT. 😚😚😚

.... nope. one more interruption. goddddd, can you fuckers just lock the goddamn dooor!!?!!!!

ohhhhh ho, kya chutiyaapa hai?!?!?!!! 😒😒😒

lmao shivaay you fucking idiot, why are YOU screaming???? 😂😂😂

oufffff, these two aunties are really annoying me. can they die plz? 

meanwhile unnecessary angst here between rudra/bhavya that literally no one cares about. 

are we to get any rikara today or saara episode aise hi bakchodi mein waste hona hai???

“mazaak aap apni khud udvaate hai.” 

preach. tell him, girl. 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

lord, who’da thunk that i’d grow to be a fan of bhavya??? not me! matlab, i’m happy that the writing of her character has improved and she’s really likable now, but hella sad that it’s come at the expense of rudra’s character. 

lmao did he just call her “MEAN”????? rudra, what are you, fucking 12?

ok fuck thissss stupid angst nonsense. you fully deserved that thappad for the BS you pulled at her goddamn fucking wedding, rudra. you have zeeeeeeero grounds here. less than zero. 

why is anika being forced to sleep with these two buddhis??? 

BULBULLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!! OMG AANKHEIN TARAS GAYI THI TUMHARE LIYE. 😭😭😭😭😭

she’s here to rescue bhaujaaaai. bless her hearttttt, honestly. no one in this fucking show deserves the perfection that is gauri kumari sharma. she’s the best human being of them all and should be worshipped. 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

hein? shivaay - maaaaaaaaaa scene??? matlab... okay??? 😕😕😕😕

WHAT? EVEN MAAAAAA KNOWS THAT ALL THESE ARE OBEROIS????? 😯😯😯😯

she’s not as clueless as she looks, this maaaaaaa. 

god, even maaaaaaaaaaaaa is focused on gauri’s majboori only in the context/frame of OMG SHE’S LEAVING OMKARA. fuckkkkk omkara, and think about GAURI. 😑😑😑

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH. 

that isn’t the child actress who played anika in the flashback tho, is it??? chalo ok, whatever. key here is that shivaay’s potentially gonna bring aniRi together and oh my god i am already fucking crying at the ideaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

these fuckers are legit having a slumber partyyyyy here. 

poor ajay. he has no idea what’s coming for him and his planned wedding.

[very-merry-sioux]

What amuses and saddens me about newer fandoms’ intense policing in content is that if you applied it to real life, it would be an obvious dictatorship. They don’t seem to realize that there are plenty of published works out there that have similar content to what they’re raging about. Pedophilia, incest, violence, gore, BDSM, and any kind of gritty, kinky thing you can think of.

Newer fictional works I can think of that has these “problematic content that makes people pedophilic incestous violent sexual devils”: Fifty Shades of Gray, Hannibal, and Game of Thrones. Even Twilight can be pedophilic with how Jacob imprints on a child.

Older fictional works I can think of: Star Wars (or did you guys conveniently forget the canon incest scene that happened in one of the movies?), Cardcaptor Sakura (had an elementary schoolgirl being proposed by a teacher, and she accepted, Sakura’s parents are a little better but not much - mom was in highschool and dad was in college when they dated, I CAN GO ON - CLAMP GENERALLY HAS WEIRDASS RELATIONSHIPS), and Harry Potter (beyond the violence, there’s also the part that you’ll symphasize with Merope, the one who drugged a man and raped him constantly until they had a child).

Let’s go older: Lolita, Silence of The Lambs, every horror film and game ever.

Let’s go even older: Oedipus Rex.

Can we get older? Yes we can: Literally any story about the adventures of Zeus’ cock, and the whole family tree of the Ancient Egyptian gods. And also their royal family.

You wanna know the reason why people would rather police works instead of actual pedophiles and sexual harrassers? Actual rapists? You wanna know why they’d rather go for an artist or writer who created something “evil”? Because it’s easier to burn a book rather than completely uproot a rapist and sexually abusive culture. They want to vent, they want to control. They’re ignorant and angry.

So fictional works that have content that is not child friendly and not safe for work? That can be gross and triggerry? That can be depraved and inhumane? They’ve always been there. Yes, it’s problematic that a lot of people online are perverts and harass others. Yes, it’s sad that filtering content is not 100% perfect in archiveofourown (ao3) and other sites most deemed evil. But newsflash: neither is Tumblr.

I’ve read posts about people saying how they encountered horrific content even though they used tags and filtering when they venture ao3, and is therefore bad. I’ve read posts about how they’re part of the Old Fandom and support this extreme policing of content because they were harassed.

If that’s the case, ignore that site and leave. You don’t burn a library to take care of a problem, you don’t shoot a writer to defend justice, and you don’t scream at a book to get what you want. The worst thing to happen to a show is when nobody watches it anymore. The worst fate of a book is when nobody touches it. It’s the same with fanfiction, especially since it’s free content. Don’t like it? Don’t read it.

I remember there was an issue about the Deadpool movie, how it was too violent and crude for children. Parents complained about it. There were two points Reynolds said about that. One, the movie is not for kids. Two, why are you bringing your kids to watch it?

It’s the same logic. If the content is not for you, stop watching/looking/reading it. Internet is more flexible than published works, true. But it was WORSE before. No safe search, no tags, little warnings, literal surpise buttsex in fanfiction, and porn galore. It’s young, much younger than the movie and book industry, so of course its warning system isn’t as perfect as the real word. The older fandoms tried and did a good job considering the messy lawsuits that appeared, what happens now is mostly on newer fandoms. And you guys have a better start since the stigma of fanfiction has lessened.

You don’t burn Fifty Shades of Gray to keep bdsm content from you, and you don’t accuse the writers of Deadpool for being evil because they wrote a Marvel script that isn’t child-friendly. You compromise, you create a system, and you try to understand why these fictional works exist.

Let me try this policing and anti logic newer fandoms have, to see if it has sense.

I’ve seen more porn blogs and bullies in this site than the amount of alpha-beta smut in ao3. I’ve had porn blogs reblog my art of a child with his guardians (for my followers, it’s my [tiny and terrifyingly cute au]). I’ve had porn blogs reblog my posts about the accounts of victims of torture from my country’s martial law. I’ve never had ao3 writers plagiarize my work for porn. I’ve seen more people attacking someone who draws fanart rather than someone who creates those disgusting blogs. From that logic, anyone who uses Tumblr must be evil.

Of course, you’d defend that not all of you are like that. You’d defend that you’re fixing it. You’d defend it’s not that simple.

And what? You don’t think people from older fandoms aren’t trying? We’re all disgusting pedophiles? You think that our problems are simple? That most of us aren’t trying to give warnings and tags? That filtering content is easy? Tumblr failed so badly in doing that!

So instead of being angry that somebody posted their works, maybe consider you’re a problem yourself. There’s a difference between reality and fiction. I don’t expect the writer of Silence of the Lambs to do cannibalism, I don’t expect Ryan Reynolds to be a red ninja assasin who’s crude. I don’t expect Anne Rice, writer of vampiric sexy times, to be evil by sexually harassing her fans. She’s already an asshole without being erotic. H.P Lovecraft was also an asshole, just so you know. He didn’t have to write gratuitous smut to do it.

I know it’s easier to judge someone based on their fics and art, but either take the time to actually know them or ignore them altogether. Never judge a book by its warnings, and never judge an author by their books.

[morathor]

The Adventure Zone 65/?

"You also harbor a desire for... arbor, that does not bear repeating."  Guy hits on one plant and no one ever forgets it huh.

For some reason it feels like forever since there's been a new episode!  I mean, it's only been the normal two weeks but wow!

So we start with bleakhellworld.  And they're thrust into a trial first thing?  Magnus starts threatening the court and it's great.  I think Merle made a good call, trying to invoke diplomatic immunity, but it didn't work and that's basically fair I guess.  So this is seven deadly sins themed and the crew is being accused of varying combinations of those, based on their pasts and also their futures.  Ie, the rest of The Adventure Zone that this arc is a prequel too.  LUP WRITES UP HER OWN CHARGES like "Yeah can I get uhhhhh... lust gluttony pride combo" and Taako's just "Don't forget the wrath" "Oh yeah and a side of wrath" I love her.  I love Lup so much.  Taako tried to turn invisible mid trial but anti-magic field--although it is worth noting.  Justin knew about the field.  He just thought it was the thing Taako would do.

So the judgegods of the trial are like "Did you ship have any other crew that we didn't manage to capture and bring here?" and well Lucretia is missing so that would be the truthful answer.  Magnus dances around it though.  Taako is just straight up with it like, not even noticing that Magnus was trying to avoid mentioning Lucretia?  It was great.  Anyway so between shitty rolls and untruthful answers, Magnus gets ruled guilty.  And I agree with his immediate assessment: this is bullshit.  Magnus!  Magnus Burnsides!  And like I don't want to say he's so much the moral center of the group because that's reductive and unfair to some of the other characters but, he has good priorities and strong morals and plays a very critical role in the sort of moral tapestry.  Of this group.

And then comes the Judgment of the Future and lots of ominous accusations about the fuckups down the road.  And yeah.  Looooots of fuckups.  But also a lot of the accusations are like "Went against the cosmic order" man fuck the cosmic order.  "Wasn't their choice to make" that could be any number of things but mostly, they were the people who were in the position to make it.  But the judgegods are douches and kill everyone.  (Except Lucretia who escaped and survived the whole year by herself.)  Poor Lucretia, but also I'm super super proud of her.

Next up: weirdass planar system where the plane of magic is intersecting the material plane?  Like apparently the people all did magic, were all mages, and eventually were just like "What if we fuckin.  Grabbed the plane of magic.  And dragged it down here OH GOD WE'RE ALL DYING HOW DID WE NOT SEE THIS COMING."  So with not much to do, Magnus just kinda goes on a camping trip with the void fish.  (Which he has named Fisher.  Because.)  And reads it stories, this is the cutest shit.  Merle writes a memoire, Taako learns voice-acting and mimicry.

And then Lup asks for a Best Day Ever.  And Taako delivers.  Amazing breakfast in bed, lovingly prepared by her twin bro.  Nap for a few hours, no pressure, no stress or guilt or responsibilities.  Get in a water gun fight with Cap'nport.  Blow up the DMV in a glorious orgy of destruction.  Make her a special slow roast turkey that their aunt used to make on their birthday.  And then she spells out, what it's for.  To help keep her grounded when she becomes a lich, and Barry is part of that too but Taako is so much a part of who she is, they've been together and had each others' backs for basically ever, she couldn't do this without her bro.  And Taako is scared shiiiiiitleeeeeeeess but he's trying to keep a brave face and not shut down her thing.  Like he's not trying to stop her from becoming a lich, he's just super worried.

And then Lup takes her lich powers for a spin and hits The Hunger like a fucking TANK, like, it's still mostly fine but she dealt a super impressive blow to it anyway.

And that's it!  That's the episode!  Apparently just one more in this arc and then it's finale time!  AaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA