#wow i have no idea how to accurately describe this because gos

[pruneunfair]

Ranking every manhwa villainess and white lotus I could find.

Keep in mind these are all opinion based.

#22: At the very bottom of the list is Sumin Jeong from Marry my husband

Now, like almost everyone else on this list, Sumin is kept a level that is below the FL Jiwon so she can never best the hero. However unlike the others here, Sumin has not once been shown to be anything other than a dumb and evil bimbo who talks like elmo even before Jiwon regressed, her reasons for wanting everything Jiwon has make no sense and she has no flavor to her, no backstory that makes sense, no real charm since it's lost as soon as possible, all she has going for her is a distinct design.

#21: Charlotte-the villainess maker

Honestly, Charlotte is about as forgettable as the comic she's from. She doesn't do much, just basic bland white lotus tropes over and over. She is portrayed as a sweet heart but she's secretly a jealous vindictive mean girl, she loses everything to the FL because she's too basic for the not-like-other-girls readers, nothing really revolutionary about her, but this could be chalked up to the story shes from canonically being an abysmal mess written by the FL when she was 14, Sorry Charlotte.

#20: Iris Van Conrad-Today the villainess has fun again.

A step up from Sumin when it comes to backstories, still not the greatest but it makes a little more sense. She's more passive aggressive since her actual plots are destoryed in nanoseconds by the plot, she gets dunked on so much I wonder if she's supposed to the Villainess or a discount Meg Griffin. Considering the fact to that Reilynn is pedo coded, Iris is less of the two evils.

#19: Aisha Selir-divorcing my tyrant husband.

Shes okay, But like Charlotte, Aisha isn't very noteworthy, as usual, any attempts she makes to best or outsmart Robelia are met with utter failure, she could be something really great if she were just allowed to make a mark on the plot. Like actually have Alexandros take responsibility instead of blaming her for her existence. Her design before the art shift was pretty enough and I'm pretty sure she's being possessed by a vindictive soul so that might explain why Aisha suddenly became a villain when she's described as being dainty, sweet, and a general damsel and saintess in the story within DMTH.

18: Fonta Magnus:the tyrants only perfumer

Fonta is the type of antagonist that would be adored as a isekaied protagonist. She doesn't really do much though since she gets defeated over and over with the same plan of copying Ariels ideas (how original, no pun intended) I like her though just because her design reminds me of cartoon goth girls, specially Gwen from total drama island.

#17: Benela Verdi- the princesses jewels

I don't care if she seduced Ariannas father or killed her brother, Arianna was out there acting like she wouldn't do the same just to get with a sexy man. Benela may suffer from the same problems every other villainess does but if ranked them based on that then almost all of them would be on the bottom. This image of her drinking her stress away is accurate to how I felt reading this one.

#16: Claudine von Brandt-Cry or better yet beg

I absolutely adore Claudine and she's not really a villain but unfortunately the narrative says she's a so she'll have to count. It's why she's this low since she's just a woman who gets in the way of the main ship

As you can probably guess, her only crimes are being condescending to Layla and valuing superficial values such as wealth and status, crimes that somehow make her worse than Matthias in the narratives eyes. Justice for my girl Claudine ✊️

now we are moving up to the middle tier

#15: Diana-for my derelict favorite

This girl has more protagonist material then Hestia ever will. Sorry but Hestias entire thing is just being a rich girlboss, simping for Cael and damning any woman who broke his heart including Diana, who is the saintess that opposes murder, Wow! Who would have guessed that the saintess woman wouldn't endorse literal murder! Could she have communicated better? Yes, was she always in the right? Hell no. But she's got more character in her pinky toe then everyone else in their entire bodies to I salute to her.

#14: Irene/Aileen Hascator- I didn't mean to seduce the male lead

I have a weird relationship with her. One minute I'm impressed because she actually does manipulation pretty well at first with making the lives of those who won't swear loyalty her unbearable in very smart ways, she'll buy all her friends expensive dresses so she can stand out in a simpler one, she'll defend the black sheep and make her into her friend to keep up her sweetheart facade, unfortunately it's all so she can get with a boy where she goes nuts on anyone who gets near him.

#13: Freya van Furiana- how to get my husband on my side

I really loved this manhwa, almost all of the characters are complex and 3 dimensional with a great commentary on abuse, ED, and family dynamics, with that said I was a little disappointed seeing Freya as another basic white lotus who only wants Izek for herself, it won't take much even a little more character traits would help because Freya isn't just some random girl who became the ogfl, she was the childhood friend of Izek and Ellen, so we should've gotten to see a little more too her then what we got

#12: Mielle Roscente- the villainess turns the hourglass.

Beautiful design, basic but rather solid goals, a charming personality, Mielle has all of that in the bag. She secretly wants Aria and her mother out of her life since they aren't of noble blood (before the terrible Arias a noble plot twist) and she's really entertaining. However I'll never understand how she managed to destroy Aria in the first timeline if she's such an idiot now. The first timeline also takes the blame off of Arias shitty actions with "Mielle tricked her into being evil!" It ruins the charm since Aria, as a villainess should be allowed to suffer the consequences while not wanting to quit.. since you know, she's not meant to be a good person.

#11: Isabella de Mare-sister I am the queen in this life

NOT YOU!

THIS is the Isabella I'm talking about

Absolute genius, she knows that Ceasre is a bastard and not just in the literal sense, she doesn't even love him and just wants that sweet sweet power and wealth. Fooled Ariande for years that she was on her side and as a bonus she can easily say she wanted revenge for Alfonso to the public if they ever found out she was behind it all. But the best part about first timeline Isabella is her villain monolog that women mean nothing to men, putting your life in their hands is a fatal mistake and if you want to make it to the top, you gotta crush the opponents. But alas we never see this version of Isabella after Ariande goes back in time

Higher tier now, the best of the best who managed to make it this far

#10: Rhyse/Lise Sinclair- not your typical reincarnation story

Yeah shes technically being controlled by the author or hell maybe she is the author I have yet to finish this one but for once we get a comic that doesn't immediately pit two women against eachother and actually gives a solid reason for her to be at odds with Edith. When something doesn't go her way, Rhyse doesn't throw a fit and turn on the water works no no no. She stands there, awkwardly, almost like the real Rhyse is wondering why she feels so jealous and angry with Edith for stealing the spotlight. She's incredibly ominous too when that purple mist surrounds her to force the other characters back into place. All while she's making friends with Edith in a possibly geninue friendship.

#9: Isis Frederick- the villainess reverses the hourglass

I'm pretty sure most of us can agree she's the real villain of TVRTHG since she basically started and encouraged the whole operation to begin with from afar, the puppeteer if you will. Killer design, a great fear factor and an evil sister done better. Wish she had more time to shine.

#8: Diane Poitier- I abdicate my title as empress

What already sets her apart from other evil concubines is that she was there before Adelaide so her reasons for being upset that another woman is showing up to marry the Emperor is reasonable, obviously her actions aren't but I still felt bad for her since no one in that palace gave a damn about her, Diane got ruthlessly belittled and ignored for not being useful to their liking or simply being too desperate and when Adelaide tries to not make an enemy out of her, Diane is looking for anyone to direct her anger on but the redemption arc as short as it is, makes up for it.

#7: Leila- villains are destined to die

My favorite ogfl turned villain. Leila is pure evil no questions asked. She steals the body of Yvonne which played a part in taking the latters reputation to a degree in the fandom and starts brainwashing everyone around her. That's what makes her so terrifying, one minute you could be at your highest and you feel like you rule the world, and next minute it all comes crashing down when the face of your long lost sibling arrives with fake tears in her eyes, ready to destroy everything you hold dear.

#6: Soleia Elard- seducing the villains father

I can't believe I'm saying this but a classic black magic witch is a unique villain in the manhwa world. During her introduction she's already causing mayhem by trying to kill Yerenica with black magic, and at first you'd think she's another "I want my hubbies affection!" Chick but no, she just wants to marry Erudian to have his child and use said child to avenge her family and destroy everything, characters are all frightened by her because she actually gets shit done instead of failing every minute of the day, and even after all that, she's allowed the privilege of life by getting a redemption arc.

#5: Cosette Weinberg- I was the real one.

She deserved so much better!! 😭 Cosette, my baby, you were set up to be such an amazing villain with high intelligence and well thought out plans, why did they have to give you the good old plot induced lobotomy! Girly wasn't just smart but there were actually times I could get behind Cosette. When Keira gave a maid 100 lashes after she insulted and wished death on Keira, it was Cosette who took advantage of an actual truth with only a little bit of exaggeration, they were both evil but only one of them was rightfully called out for it. Honestly just read the novel, the manhwa did it dirty.

#4: Marianne Edenverre- into the light again.

Nah someone get this baby to a church and give her the aggressive baptism 10 times over, I'll always be wondering how the hell did that 10 year old get her hands on a demon in the first place, the fact that the family never found her hiding behind a door or closet staring into their soul like a paralysis demon is surprising cause I imagine she would do that and be like "it's just me sillies, I would never mean to scare you 😛" she's a well written villainess who I wish would have a little bit more screentime but her powers and what she can do honestly confuses me (like that whole body-swap thing)

Final 3 everybody, you ready for this?

#🥉: the 3rd place medal goes to Dodolea Castor from My in laws are obsessed with me

Another real villainess, putting everyone off guard with her initial gacha life brat persona only to be hit in the face with disturbing levels of cruelty that can only match a psychopath, she looks straight out of an uncanny mr incredible meme with that light skin stare shes got. Straight up laughs at Therdeos trauma while being well aware that she tried to SA him and how it affected the poor guy and later proceeds to attempt to kill and later kidnaps his wife. There's no remorse, no regrets, just the souls of innocents behind those huge eyes.

#🥈 : the second place medal goes to Verta Alberhart from depths of malice.

She isn't even the antagonist, no that's the protagonist! And honestly, the only white lotus in the main lead spot I've ever read so far. And while she has a messed up backstory that explains why she's so bitter, she still full on embraces it. Vertas way of being granted a second chance isn't even because of some goddess or divine power, she just snatches the body of a suicidal noblewoman and wreaks havoc on all of the disgusting noblemen in her path. She cries on the court trial of her fiances murder while secretly laughing knowing she set the whole thing up and slowly ruins the life of anyone who fucked around and found out.

At long last, we reached #🏅, and the crown goes to none other than...

Rashta Ishka from the remarried empress!

Hear me out now, this isn't just me being biased. Rashta earns first place because even though she is rendered an idiot who's only use is being worse so everyone else can look good, she still managed to do something unfathomable. She earned the respect of a fandom that initially hated her with all the fiber of their being and now she has a growing fanbase of real people, not fictional characters, actual fans. People are literally turning on one of the most popular manhwas that started it all for its treatment of Rashta (because who would guess that people are uncomfortable with the fact that a former slave is the ultimate evil and not the guy who tortures people just for shit talking the FL) and even though there is still a big part of the fandom who despises her, she still lives in everyone's head rent free. The trashta meme is more well known than Navier as a character and her character arc will always be superior and far more interesting than everything else in the story, after all remarried empress did start to decline after her death.

Jesus christ this took so long, I had to do so much rereading and fact checking but it was worth it.

[you-remind-me-of-the-babe]

An ask game for writers to procrastinate working on your WIPs

Thank you for tagging me @ic3-que3n @theearlgreymage @wellbelesbian @shrekgogurt @orange-peony @youarenevertooold @whatevertheweather @thewholelemon @cutestkilla @aristocratic-otter @monbons @emeryhall @valeffelees (wow everyone is out here playing huh?)

🦈Tell us the name of your / one of your WIP(s)

As of right now, I’m going with Back and Back and Back but that may change.

🍄Decscribe your wip / one of your wips in the format of “___ + ___ =___”

Past flashbacks in which Baz grows up being visited by an older Simon in the woods outside his house in Hampshire + current 7th year Simon suddenly finds himself traveling back in time to visit young Baz = both Simon and Baz trying to figure out what’s happening in the present, resulting in them falling in love in a mesh of past and present

🌍What tags or warnings will your / one of your wip(s) need if you intend to share it?

Soulmates, time travel, canon divergent, Watford-era, angst with a happy ending, kid!Baz, lightly inspired by Time Traveler’s Wife.

🧭An alternative title to your / one of your WIP(s)?

I mentioned this last week, but I quite like Start at the End, even though I don’t think it technically is accurate or describes the fic.

⚠️Which wip you’re most likely to finish or update next?

Idk, this one will be quite long, but everything else in my WIP folder are just attempts at starting a premise I liked, but none of them have gotten much traction, so probably this one? Hopefully?

💾What is your document of your wip / a wip called? (not the stories actual title but what you’ve saved it as)

Time Travel AU

🖍Post Any sentence from your wip

He whistles, looking around and finally taking the time to fully appreciate the tree house.

“Did you make this?”

“With help,” I explain. “Some from Father. Mostly from you.”

His eyebrows raise in surprise. That’s one thing I’ve yet to figure out, why he forgets. Sometimes, he remembers our past visits with more detail than I do. As if they’d just happened the day before instead of years ago. Other times, he can’t remember something as big as building a treehouse with me. He reminds me of my grandmother, when her dementia had its grips on her. She’d recall something from her childhood so clearly, and the next minute, she’d forget my name.

Father didn’t want me to call attention to it in front of her. He said it would only make her more confused. So I don’t mention it to him, either. We just sort of…dance around it, without mentioning it outright. (He’d fit right in with my family, honestly.) I just clarify things and then we move on.

♻️A scrapped idea for your current WIP

I was thinking about having the Humdrum be a time traveling younger Simon, or something like that, in addition to current Simon being a time traveler. Like, they discover there’s another version of him traveling, but I thought that would be too confusing. So instead, he’s just the regular ol’ Humdrum.

🤔What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

I have a lil Drabble in my head about Baz being sad while his wedding ring is getting fixed by the jewelers for a week so Simon has to cheer him up. (It me. Rubbing my empty ring finger all week while it’s getting fixed and I hate it not being there.)

🤡How many Wips are you actively working on?

Actively? I think just this one right now. There are about 4 other half starts from earlier this year when I was just throwing spaghetti noodles at the wall to see what stuck. Some of them I may come back to if I get a burst of inspiration or something.

🛠Is there a scene or anything in the WIP you are struggling with right now?

(One of) the big reveals because the scene carries a lot of emotional weight, and I want to do it right.

❤️Not a question, just a second kudos to send.

And kudos to anyone who read this far!

Anyone else want to play? @facewithoutheart @hushed-chorus @iamamythologicalcreature @ileadacharmedlife @blackberrysummerblog @run-for-chamo-miles @mooncello @angelsfalling16 @artsyunderstudy and anyone else interested! 💜

[fleurywiththesave]

For the ask game: ↻ FLIP FLOP for It’s the magical mystery kind (especially the reveal outside the bar at the allstar game / the ending from Leon‘s POV) please💙

YES I LOVE THIS SO MUCH THANK YOU!!! (here's the original fic)

(↻FLIP FLOP:send me a scene from one of my fics and I’ll describe or write it from another character’s POV!)

Leon can’t seem to catch his breath in the bar. He was okay during the actual game, but now he feels hyper-aware of Matthew’s presence just a few tables away from where Leon’s sitting with Connor. He’s with his brother, drinking and laughing and apparently having a wonderful time. Which he should be. This is meant to be fun.

Connor has no idea – no one does, Leon’s managed to keep everything locked down tight – but he keeps asking Leon why he’s acting so squirrelly, until Leon finally gets fed up and steps outside to attempt a reset.

“Stop being weird,” he orders himself. It doesn’t help much. Or at all.

He’s not even entirely sure when it all started. It would be easy enough to say it was their first all-star game, but that’s not quite right. Maybe that’s when the Matthew switch in his head initially eased off of PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE, but the rest of it…it crept up on him. At some point during the Covid season, when they were playing each other constantly, Leon began to wish that he were the person making Matthew laugh, genuinely laugh, the way his teammates did. And he’s been suffering in silence ever since.

The past few months have been harder, he won’t pretend otherwise. It’s not like Leon ever made any progress on attempting even just a friendship with Matthew, but at least when they were in the same province, he could still fool himself into thinking that he might. Now Matthew is on the other side of the continent, loving life in Florida, no doubt headed to a Cup win within the next few years, and Leon…

Leon is just a loser who doesn’t know how to deal with his feelings, and Matthew can never, ever know. Which shouldn’t make it so hard for Leon to act normal around him, since their normal is, well, nothing. But apparently that would be too easy for his brain.

He’s staring up at the moon, feeling kind of like he belongs on a teen drama, when there’s some noise behind him and he turns to see Matthew. Of course. Of fucking course he does. Because the universe is out to get him.

“Hey, Tkachuk.” Wow, solid. Try to sound more flat and unfriendly, Leon. He’s usually pretty good with people – how come he can never quite get his shit together around Matthew?

“‘Sup,” Matthew says. He’s a little wobbly on his feet and Leon has to stifle laughter. Drunk Matthew kind of resembles a baby deer.

“Having a good time?”

“I’m a responsible drinker,” Matthew responds, which isn’t really an answer, but he’s nodding sagely like he’s just delivered some profound wisdom and Leon has to fight even harder against laughter.

“I’m sure you are,” he agrees, then adds, when Matthew sways a little bit like he’s getting dizzy, “Hey, maybe it’s time to call it a night. Do you want me to get you an Uber?” There, that’s good. Friendly, helpful. A normal, thoughtful gesture.

But Matthew turns fiery in a second, hissing, “Go fuck yourself” so surely and ferociously that Leon can practically feel it washing over him. He’s half-tempted to just turn tail and run back to Connor like a wimp, but he makes himself try again.

“Come on, Tkachuk. Let me take you home. I think you need to go to sleep.”

“Don’t wanna sleep,” Matthew says. Or, more accurately, whines. Leon kind of hates that he still finds it endearing. “I hate sleeping.”

He doesn’t even know what to make of that. “Um, okay? But—”

“When I sleep, I have to wake up,” Matthew says, cutting him off. “And when I wake up, you’re always gone.”

It’s like a bucket of ice water being dumped over his head and flooding his lungs.

“What did you say?”

“You’re always gone,” Matthew says again. “‘S not fair. ‘S like…like…oh, Matthew, here’s your person. Just kidding! He’s in Edmonton and he hates you!”

Leon can’t decide if he’s about to throw up or pass out. How, how, how did this happen? He’s always been so careful, ever since the day his parents sat him down and explained what he could do. He was twelve years old and utterly horrified by the whole concept, and resolved immediately that he would master how to control it and it would never be an issue. And it never has been, until now. Of course it’s now, when it matters most of all.

“Matthew…” He has no idea where he’s going with that sentence. Matthew starts to walk away before he can figure it out, but he’s still shaky on his feet and Leon grabs his arm without even thinking about it. “Whoa. Okay, okay. Matthew, come on. Let me take you home and I…we can talk in the morning. I’ll explain in the morning.”

“Explain to your mom.” Yeah, Matthew is pretty damn drunk. But he tells Leon his address and gets in the uber without a fuss, and, after trying and failing several times to open the front door himself, hands his house keys over to Leon.

Leon peeks in the upstairs rooms as quickly as possible until he finds what must be Matthew’s room. What a joke, what an incredibly sick joke by his old friend the universe, that he’s actually in Matthew’s house, in his bedroom, and it’s only to make Matthew get some sleep before Leon has to confess to what’s been happening and beg for his forgiveness. He tugs Matthew’s sneakers off of his feet and gets him to lie down and hates himself the entire time.

“I don’t wanna have another dream,” Matthew mutters.

“You won’t.” He never will again, Leon can at least promise that. Now that he knows what he’s been doing, he would give up sleep himself if that’s what it takes,

“You don’t know that. You’ve been hau–haunting me for months. When I find out who’s doing it, ‘m gonna…gonna…gonna pinch ‘em, really hard.” Matthew sounds like a petulant child, which only makes Leon feel worse. He should be furious, shouting and swearing and maybe trying to call the police, not morosely threatening classic older brother treatment.

“You won’t,” Leon says again. “I’m sorry.” Matthew doesn’t respond. He’s asleep.

Leon promised to explain in the morning, so he can’t exactly leave. But he can burrow into Matthew’s couch – one that’s clearly been chosen for comfort rather than aesthetics, which only makes him more endearing – and call his mother. Unfortunately he starts to cry as soon as she picks up.

“Leon?” she says, sounding understandably alarmed. “What is it, what’s wrong?”

“I messed up, Mama,” he whispers. It all comes tumbling out, everything he’s been keeping carefully hidden for the last couple years and how badly he’s managed to screw up anyway. His mother makes a few startled noises along the way, but when he finally gives her a chance to get a word in edgewise, she’s utterly calm.

“It’s going to be okay,” she says soothingly. “You can tell him the truth in the morning.”

“He’s going to hate me,” Leon says. “Even more than he did before.”

“What you’ve described does not sound like someone who hates you, Leon.”

“Well, he does,” Leon says firmly. “I’ll just be lucky if he doesn’t tell the entire league what I did.”

“I think you should try to get some sleep,” his mother tells him. “Our problems usually don’t seem quite as scary in the light of day.”

Leon is a good son, so he follows her instructions. Or at least, he does eventually. It takes him a long time to fall asleep, since the sheer embarrassment and mortification of the night gives him another jolt every time he closes his eyes, but he gets there in the end. It’s restless and uneven, but at least he keeps his word to Matthew.

_____

Matthew hasn’t emerged yet when Leon wakes up, with a sore neck and a headache even though he had way less to drink last night than some people. At least Matthew’s coffee maker is a simple model. He stumbles into the kitchen when the pot Leon started is almost ready, also looking a little worse for wear.

“Hey,” he says. “I have multiple guest rooms, you know.” Leon knows – he looked in two of them last night before finding Matthew’s room – but it didn’t seem appropriate to just help himself to Matthew’s space when he hadn’t actually been given permission. He says as much. “Well. Thank you for getting me home. And for making coffee.” Matthew is looking at him expectantly. Leon digs down deep into his guts to dredge up every bit of courage he can.

“Matthew, I owe you an apology.”

“For what?” Matthew asks. Leon pulls in a deep breath. He can’t even look Matthew in the eye when he answers him.

“For the dreams.”

“For the—it was you?”

Leon nods. He can’t feel his hands. “I swear to you, I had no idea I was doing it. I never, ever meant to project any of that onto you. It’s been a long time since I had to work to control it, and I guess I got sloppy…I’m really, really sorry. I don’t know how to make it up to you.” His voice sounds desperate and pathetic even to his own ears, so he can’t imagine what Matthew must be thinking. Matthew’s face doesn’t betray anything. He mostly looks confused.

“But that doesn’t make any sense. Why would you do that to try to knock me off my game? Why would you do it by accident?”

“Knock you off your game?” What is he talking about?

“Yeah!” Matthew says. Now he’s starting to sound kind of angry again. Leon braces himself. “Brady and I figured it out – someone was trying to mess with my play by giving me weird dreams. But you don’t—and you just said you didn’t mean to project it, so—I don’t get it.”

He really doesn’t get it. He has no clue what’s been happening or why it’s all Leon’s fault. Leon is going to have to spell it out, and then go hide in a cave forever. Maybe he should book one of those cruises to Antarctica and forget to get back on the ship at the end.

“Matthew, I wasn’t trying to mess with your game,” Leon says. “I was…I was just imagining. What I wanted. And I guess it was just so strong that it…went to you too. That can happen sometimes even when you don’t mean to do it.”

“What you wanted.”

“I’m sorry,” Leon whispers. That sick, heavy feeling from last night is back. He’s never been more sorry for anything in his entire life. “I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t intend for you to find out, certainly not like this. I promise I have it under control. I won’t make things weird again.” He has to look away from Matthew for a second time, can’t bear to see the hate in his eyes when he tears Leon to pieces.

But that’s not what happens.

After what might be thirty seconds or an hour, Matthew’s feet appear in his line of vision.

“You’re an idiot.”

When Leon looks up, Matthew kisses him.

[all-too-unwell-13]

ik I'm kind of late to it, but I just watched the live action atla series!!! I've only watched the first so far, but I have some things to say!!!

(Also, please keep in mind it's been ages since I watched the cartoon, so any comparisons I make are based on my memory).

Okay, I'd just like to say I love the casting so far. Like, Katara and Sokka are so cartoon-accurate (is that a thing?), and while Aang does look like he's approximately 7 years old, his casting was also good.

The casting for Zuko was different than how I'd imagined him to look if he was a real person, but so far he seems good too :) although I am slightly concerned about his facial expressions because um.

Anyway!!! I love love love Katara so far, and though I wish she'd stand up to Sokka and his stupid patriarchal beliefs (I don't know how to explain how he acts at this point any better tbh) a bit more, she's so sweet and the way she immediately cares for Aang is just <3<3<3

I'm going to be honest, Aang flying at the beginning looked so unrealistic the cgi was not cgi-ing at that point I think (I also have no idea if that was actually cgi or smth else but let's ignore that!!! Hopefully you know what I mean). But I love how they did Katara's waterbending because, wow, that little sphere of water she made levitate after Aang told her how; I thought it looked so cool.

The firebending!!! I don't know how to describe it other than 'cool,' because it just looked so realistic and :O, you know what I mean???

The Avatar State looked amazing too!! Aang did look a bit strange (I think) when he was flying during it, but other than that, the way his markings lit up was just like the cartoon; it genuinely looked so powerful.

Anyway !!! I will probably also rant about the rest of the episodes when I get to those :)

[one-flower-one-sword]

continuation from part 1

this is just after Lang Qianqiu has arrived and Hua Cheng has blocked the blast from his broadsword with E'ming. he's again standing at an angle with his seeing side facing them and E'ming mirroring his stance.

(as an aside, can we talk about how fantastic Hua Cheng's Chinese VA is? that respectful, warm, playful tone he uses when talking to Xie Lian versus the derision and mocking disdain with Lang Qianqiu. it's so layered but comes across so natural yet so intense, just wow)

now, Lang Qianqiu goes on the offensive. in response, Hua Cheng switches E'ming from his left to his right

I love the way Hua Cheng moves with E'ming, it shows that it's really a part of and an extension of himself; his body mirroring that defensive yet aggressive curve. also, personally speaking this is so far my favorite interpretation of what E'ming looks like. *Xie Lian waxing poetic about swords voice* it's imposing and dangerously sharp and fast, yet there's also that intense elegance to it, the jagged wildness of its edges offset by the pretty tassel on the hilt.

okay, moving right along. while at first it looks like Lang Qianqiu is going for Hua Cheng's left, he actually does a sort of spin before reaching him and then attacks his right, throwing his entire weight behind it.

I do think, given Lang Qianqiu's comments about honor and justice and sincerity - like when he objected to Shi Qinxuan's idea of Xie Lian deceiving Hua Cheng, since it's wrong to do that to friends even if they're Ghost Kings - that he's not purposefully doing this to take advantage of Hua Cheng's blind spot. he's a hothead and also really angry right now because Hua Cheng humiliated him in the gambler's den and just now mocked him again. this impulsiveness gets further underlined by the fact that he doesn't seem to realize what Xie Lian can in one look: he doesn't stand a chance against Hua Cheng. Shi Qingxuan also yells at him not to face E'ming head on, though since he isn't a martial god, that has less to do with him being able to accurately judge their different skill and power levels and likely more with E'ming's reputation.

Hua Cheng is facing Lang Qianqiu directly now rather than from an angle, and also has switched to putting his right foot forward since that's where he's holding his weapon now. while keeping his seeing side fixed on Lang Qianqiu, he draws his leg and E'ming back to then lunge forward and block off Lang Qianqiu's attack:

it looks like their weapons are already hitting each other here but it's the moment right before Xie Lian darts between them like lightning, pushes Lang Qianqiu's broadsword away and blocks off E'ming, though not without getting cut by the latter (in the novel, we learn that this likely happens because the random sword he'd snatched shatters upon impact with E'ming, which Xie Lian describes as a "force to be reckoned with", unlike Lang Qianqiu's "manageable" broadsword)

now, if Hua Cheng had been fighting for real here, Lang Qianqiu would have definitely been toast. first of all, Lang Qianqiu is facing off against a much more agile and versatile weapon than his own and seems to not know how to make up for that. judging by their positioning right before Xie Lian darts between them, Hua Cheng could have used the force of Lang Qianqiu's hit against him, letting it push E'ming down, then snapping it upwards and skewering Lang Qianqiu in two. the tragedy is of course that Xie Lian decides once more that it doesn't matter if he gets hurt as long as no one else does - creating the exact scenario Hua Cheng was trying to prevent. I'm about to hit image limit again, so we're left with Hua Cheng looking heartbroken that Xie Lian was injured by his own hand

this is the end of my analysis of 2x05. overall, I feel like the donghua reflects what can be gleaned from the novel - Hua Cheng's vast experience at compensating for and working with and around his blind spot in direct combat combined with his extremely high levels of skill and speed mean he can easily hold his own against his opponents (until Bai Wuxiang, that is). this doesn't erase his disability however; it's reflected in every choice he makes regarding the way he moves and positiones his body, and how that changes depending on his mood, his objective, and his surroundings.

[arwenlalaith]

Dating App Mishaps (Ch. 15)

Ship: Alex Blake/Reader

Summary: Alex didn't have Tinder by choice...but that doesn't mean it isn't going to come in handy.

Word Count: 1075

"Long time, no see," Tara greeted Alex, pulling her into a familiar embrace.

Every few months, they'd meet to catch up, having been introduced a few years earlier by Emily who seemed to think – for whatever reason – that they would have a lot in common. (She was right, of course, but they didn't need to give her the ego boost of letting her know that...)

"It's been a crazy couple of months," Alex agreed, settling into the seat across the table from Tara.

"I'll bet..." Tara said with a knowing smirk.

Alex raised a brow, curious as to what Tara had meant by that. She wanted to ask, but was also just a bit afraid of the answer she might get...

Tara waited several moments, grin getting progressively more smug as the seconds ticked by with Alex struggling to form speech. Eventually, though, she seemed to take pity on her and asked, "Who is she?"

Stammering for a few moments, Alex tried to find words – any words – that would accurately describe the quasi-relationship in which she'd inadvertently found herself.

After watching her struggle for a few moments, Tara just laughed. "Wow...I don't think I've ever seen Alex Miller speechless before." When Alex's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, Tara reassured her, "I'm not judging – I'm just curious about how much of what Garcia said was truth..."

"I should have known..." she muttered, shaking her head slightly. "I'm sure she's let her imagination run away with her and told you a lot of Garcia-brand fiction." Tara continued to stare at her expectantly, so she gave a sigh of concession and said, "What did she tell you?"

"She said you matched on Tinder while you were trying to make your ex-husband jealous..."

Cheeks pinking slightly with embarrassment, she admitted, "Well, that part is true."

Tara's brows leapt up her forehead. "Really?" When Alex seemed to shrink a little under her incredulity, she shook her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so...shocked. It's just... You don't seem the Tinder type."

"I'm not," she agreed, "Garcia made me install it when she found out about the divorce."

Tara nodded knowingly, all too familiar with Garcia and her antics. "She also mentioned this girl is on the young side?" she prompted.

Alex just shrugged, not wanting to admit to exactly how young you were.

With a laugh, Tara held up her hands and said, "No judgment here." A beat. Then, because she couldn't seem to resist prying just a little, she said, "Do you have a picture?"

"No!" Alex was quick to insist. Then, just as quickly, "Well, yes...but no."

Tara crowed with laughter then. "You dog," she teased, knowing that reply meant pictures did exist, they just weren't the kind of pictures you could show anyone... She didn't want to embarrass Alex, though, so she let the matter die there. Then, gentler, she asked, "Are you happy?"

She didn't answer right away, which probably said more than she would have liked on the matter. When she did speak, it was a carefully measured reply of, "I'm not unhappy..." For a linguist, that said a lot.

For several moments, Tara sipped her cocktail, deciding how to phrase the next question. "What's vexing you?"

Alex inhaled deeply, trying to bolster her confidence to speak the truth (and not having any idea why it was that she was so willing to confess in the face of Tara's gentle prodding). "I think feelings have been entering into the equation," she admitted.

"Ah," Tara made a noise of understanding. "On whose part?"

She shrugged again, though there was no uncertainty as to the answer. "I think on both sides..."

Cocking her head to the side, rather confused, Tara asked, "Then why do you seem so torn up?"

"I just... I don't know if a new relationship is a good idea," she said, "Right now it's just, well, sex and that's good – it works for us. I think. And if we change the dynamic, add something romantic into the mix...I just don't know if it's wise."

"Permission to be frank?" Tara said. When Alex nodded, she continued, "Speaking as someone who's been through a divorce, I think this might be a case of sabotaging your own happiness..."

Alex sputtered for a few moments, not having expected such an up front and honest response. "How so?" she eventually managed to form speech.

Tara's expression was pointed. "If she makes you happy, what does it matter if it's 'too soon' or it's 'complicated' or whatever excuse you've come up with to justify being unhappy?" she said. "You don't need to pay the universe penance to earn your happiness. You can just be happy..."

She sipped her drink slowly to buy herself a moment to think about her response.

As if reading her mind, Tara added, "How many years did you remain in your marriage while being unhappy, simply because it was what's expected?" She didn't answer, but Tara hadn't really expected an answer anyway. "Sometimes doing the things we're not 'supposed' to is what truly makes us happy."

"Why are you so staunchly pro-Y/N?" Alex asked, curious as to her motives.

Tara just shrugged. When Alex continued to stare at her expectantly, she broke down and confessed, "I have it on good authority that you'd been kind of a – to put it politely – grump until you met her."

"Who said that?" she demanded.

With a laugh, Tara held up her hands in self-defence. "Their identity is being shielded for his or her own protection," she said. "My point is that you shouldn't let societal expectations dictate something as important as your happiness. If you want to be with her, then you should tell her that. Yeah, it might be difficult to navigate and you'll probably have to deal with people who have a negative opinion, but there's always going to be someone who has a negative opinion, regardless of who you're with."

Alex spent a few moments mulling that over, chewing her lip in thought. She knew Tara was probably right, but knowing it and acting on it were two very different things...

[inverted-flowers]

I did a tarot spread predicting how Martyn's Secret Life is gonna go... I've already posted about Joel if you're curious. Also you don't really need to know anything about Tarot Cards here. (Also I put the drawn cards in italics.)

First Card - Start

I laughed when I pulled this because... Wow pfttt. You probably don't even need to have seen Martyn's pov to understand just how blunt this card is being. I drew the 7 Of Wands reversed which represents being overpowered... Yup... Anyway! This card also describes how overwhelming this start is for him which I'm pretty sure he talks about. This one feels less like it's about his actual game play and more just how he's experiencing the beginning of this season which... Kinda makes me feel weird for doing this so I don't wanna interpret this one more than that. Feels like I'm breaking some sort of unspoken boundary or something.

Second Card - Individual

This card is meant to describe how Martyn's gonna play this season. For this I drew the reversed King of Wands. I actually struggled quite a bit to interpret this one. This card talks about how "challenges" can make him feel lost and that he needs to focus on long term goals. My best idea here is something pulls his attention too much and makes focusing on other important factors more challenging. So maybe dropping hearts pulls from completing tasks or tasks pull from the actual game or something along those lines.

Third Card - Social

This card is supposed to describe how things will go for Martyn in the social aspect of the game. The card I drew was Strength! (Funny I also drew that for Joel but reversed.) It's talking about using confidence and determination to overcome difficulties. With the social context there's QUITE the variety of what these "difficulties" are. There's also a point of understanding the needs and wants of the others. That's always a good thing in these games because... well manipulation and trades.

Fourth Card - Big Impact

This card is supposed to describe what's most impactful for him. Whether it's the thing that makes or breaks his season or something that makes the most dramatic turn. I drew the Magician. This card REALLY talks about bringing two sides together; about being the tie between them. Which 👀 ... Wouldn't THAT be interesting?

Fifth Card - End

So how's Secret Life end for Martyn? A reversed Tower! This is interesting because it tells us he needs to not be afraid of taking risks towards the end of the season. Is it that he'll need to do some hard tasks for more hearts? Or is it something that will risk him hearts or alliances? We'll find out! (Maybe. If I'm accurate.)

Final thoughts? That this is very vague. Much more vague than Joel's was. According to this reading he seems to have a decent shot though so that's fun! Or at least an ok shot lol.

'Til next time! :D

[liberty-or-death]

Shura Field, Red Lotus Waterside Pavilion - 2HA Chapter 8

但是红莲水榭是什么地方？是楚晚宁那孙子的居所，人称红莲地狱的修罗场。 But just what kind of place was the Red Lotus Pavilion? It was the residence of that bastard, Chu Wanning, the accursed den that everyone called Red Lotus Hell. - 2HA Translation Chapter 8: This Venerable One Gets Punished

Wow I was working on another meta, when I read this. AND LO AND BEHOLD MAJOR ERRORS LOL. (what's new lmao)

I just had to critique this translation because it’s just not accurate lol.   To be exact it should be “It is the residence of that bastard (那孙子 - a Beijing slang fyi) Chu Wanning, otherwise known as the Shura Field of the Red Lotus Hell”.  There’s no mention of it being an accursed den.  IMHO, the official translation does erase a whole meta without bothering to explain it, so I can't say I’m terribly impressed lol. 

So what exactly is a “Shura Field”?

Firstly, Shura, sometimes known as Asura, is a titan/demigod in Buddhism/Hinduism. The “Shura Fields” refers to the battlefield where the Emperor Shitian and Asura fought in Buddhist scriptures.  So this term refers to a bloody battlefield.  There’s also a second, more modern meaning, which refers to the complexity of interpersonal relationships (often used in a romantic sense in romantic novels or office politics lmao). It isn’t wrong to describe their romance as a “Shura Field”.  If anyone’s interested, there’s a whole thread on Reddit discussing how commonly used this phrase is. 

I do wonder if Meatbun used this term deliberately as a form of foreshadowing lol. Ranwan's romance IS a whole ass “Shura Field”.

They are depicted like this in ancient sculptures.

There are several reason why it’s wrong to term an Asura as a devil

Firstly, when translating a devil from CN>ENG, conventionally it would refer to the term 魔 Mo (ie. the same Mo in MDZS).  This term takes its roots from Mara, which is a different entity altogether. 

It does change the vibe of the sentence.  In the CN novel context, Asura’s usually refer to something akin to God of War as opposed to being entirely demonic and evil.  They’re more Ares than Hades to put it this way.   So the line isn't saying that Chu Wanning is evil per se.

It’s also disrespectful given that Buddhisim and Hinduism are active religions in Asia Pacific.  Hinduism is the largest religion in Asia FYI.  Rude af to change the terminology of other religions. 

It does have a pre-existing English term.  Use it lmao.  Even MTL gets it right.

There’s also an interesting meta around “Red Lotus Hell”.  In Buddhism, the Red Lotus Hell is described as one of the “Eight Cold Hells.” It was said that those who were born into this hell are severely cold, their bodies turn red and their skin is frozen and cracked.  (This does sound a little like Chu Wanning lmao). The idea of the Red Lotus Hell/Flame was also described in one of the scriptures of the Yehuo Sect “火焰化红莲，天罪自消衍 The flames turns into a red lotus, and the sins of Heaven fade on their own.”  The flames refer to the “fire of trouble” and the lotus “a comfortable state of mind”.  Hence, it means through (Buddhism) practice, karma can be eliminated, troubles can be relieved, and a state of freedom can be achieved.  

The beautiful flower looks like this.

I’m not a Buddhist expert so correct me if I’m wrong lol.  Anyway, if you combine the mental image of the Red Lotus Hall with that of Shura’s Field, you’d understand the vibe that Meatbun was going for.

On another note, 水榭 is quite specific to a type of Pavililon. It's not just any Pavillion, it's a pavillion that's beside a waterbody. There is another type of pavillion that's based on land, so if you want to be specific, this is how it probably looks like.

Additional links

More 2HA meta

[hyperfixation-or-death]

🏳️‍🌈 for Leo Valdez?

ooh, heroes of olympus! Fun fact, as far as I can remember, the very first ace headcanon I had was Leo Valdez. I had just figured out recently that I was aroace. I knew a little bit about being ace from tumblr blogs, but basically the only knowledge I had about being aro was the definition and that it accurately described me, and that was it.

So, younger me happened across some post mentioning the asexual Leo Valdez headcanon, and I immediately thought it was awesome. Because hey, I was ace, and I think Leo was my favorite character from any media at the time, so that interpretation made me feel really happy about my identity. (Not to get off-topic, but I think representation in fandom is great for kids who are still figuring themselves out like I was! Because that was years ago, but I still remember how positively seeing that post affected me.)

Anyways, out of loyalty to my younger self's journey of self-discovery, and because I still genuinely think it works great with his character: I headcanon Leo as ace.

More recently, I also think he'd be somewhere on the arospec. I had seen that headcanon when I was younger, too, but I unfortunately had some internalized ideas about romance going on at the time.

Anyways, I think he'd have some complicated and frustratingly vague feelings about romance, and I think he's definitely overcompensating for that for a while. Fake it 'til you make it, and all.

I think he also has some issues surrounding who he is in relation to others that were definitely made worse by the seventh wheel prophecy thing, but idk, it's been a while since I've reread the series. I would think he's somewhat romance-favorable, to an extent, so when you factor that into all the layers of denial he has going on, he definitely doesn't realize he's Probably Not Straight until post-canon.

And also, you know what. He can be bi also. As a treat.

Long story short: Ace, (somewhat) romance-favorable arospec, and bi in some way.

(Wow, that was definitely one of my more complex headcanons, I just started typing and next thing I know I have several paragraphs.)

Thanks for the ask! :)

[seitosokusha]

Ya heard about mbti’s, what about enneagrams for Shirusu.

Also, I’m curious how other ADA members react to the truth about Shirusu other than the ones we saw on-screen like Kunikida, Yosano, etc.

-googles enneagrams- i legit got no idea what this but if this article is to believed, Shirusu is a Helper which is deeply ironic. Like I cannot even begin to describe how ironic this is.

As for how everyone reacted to the truth about Shirusu being from another world: with grace, dignity and acceptance.

Yosano: -thinking about how she would like to grab Shirusu by the shoulders and shake her because WHO hurt her-

Yosano: -dealing with the knowledge that even if she wanted kill and revive the one responsible for hurting Shirusu, they're in a whole another dimension-

Yosano: -outwardly- huh, that explains some things.

Fukuzawa: it's fine. -has heard weirder-

Kunikida: How accurate was my fictional self? Did he embody the ideals correctly?!

Tanizaki: That's... honestly a little scary? I'm a fictional character? How much do you know about me?

Shirusu: I arguably know the least about you, Tanizaki-kun.

Naomi: WAIT! THAT MEANS NII-SAN ISN'T A MAIN CHARACTER?!

Atsushi: wow i'm so important to Nee-san, I'm a main character!

Chuuya: so... like are you secretly some -waves-

Shirusu: some what...?

Chuuya: criminal hot-shot? Work for the yakuza? You realize you're kinda weird for getting involved with PM?

Shirusu: excuse me! -sputtering- You have Dazai to blame for that!

Shirusu: Everyone... is taking this a lot better than I thought they would.

Ranpo: You're in a world where Ability users are constantly breaking the suspension of disbelief. Atsushi turns into a tiger. Yosano can heal anyone from death. Chuuya can manipulate gravity. What makes you think we weren't going to believe you?

Shirusu: I mean... it's another dimension?

Ranpo: How is that any different going into one of Poe's books?

Shirusu: -opens mouth, closes mouth-

Ranpo: You would have saved yourself a lot of trouble if you had just come out with that.

Dazai: it's for the best she didn't though. PM would have kidnapped her.

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

'Life' as a Ghost Drabbles: Dumb Idea

Summary: Due to time travel shenanigans, Snatcher finds himself in a strangely familiar position- Kid Lukas: “Are you the monster under my bed? I just want someone to talk to.”

~

Hat Kid had stressed quite stringently the dangers of changing the past so maybe this was a bad idea. But ever since their trip to the past thanks to Mu and Moonjumper, Snatcher hadn’t quite been able to get it out of his mind. He wasn’t going to touch or talk to anyone though, in fact he was going to stay invisible the whole time because he just wanted to see the forest and the town prior to the Big Freeze.

To avoid temptation he’d even done his best to land in a time period before he’d been born. How accurate he’d come to that was hard to say but upon floating invisibly into town and checking a news stand he found mention of Queen Marsi, Vanessa's mother if he recalled correctly, being in charge so he was probably in good shape. He was free to explore a little.

The town was… well, the town. Once he’d thought it nothing special and by modern standards it certainly wasn’t but now it felt weird to float through. Like it was a fictional place instead of a real one. All the people wondering through – far less than most modern towns housed – felt fake too, like actors walking through a movie set.

Perhaps coming here had been a mistakes for more reasons than he’d originally thought. And yet, he kept going, deftly avoiding folk, hiding in the shadows. He just needed to get this out of his system. He’d go the castle, poke around a bit and then…

That house across the street… he knew it and the houses surrounding it. His childhood home. Wow, he hadn’t thought about it in so long he wouldn’t have been able to describe it or say with any accuracy where it had been located if someone had asked him to. But that was it for sure.

He quickly looked both ways, ensuring no horse drawn carriages would be coming through, before crossing over. A quick poke around here and then to the castle would surely be fine.

Inside, the living room was uncomfortably familiar. Worse than that though was the even more uncomfortably familiar humming coming from the kitchen. This was a dumb idea! What the peck was he thinking? He should leave. … He didn’t though.

Instead, to get away from the humming, he phased through the nearest interior wall. Landing him in… his old room. Seems he’d been a bit off in his attempt to land in a time before he’d been born because this was his room. A younger version of himself sat in the middle of the bed, playing with a couple stuffed animals.

“Hello?” Kid Lukas said, looking up. His eyes slid over but didn’t quite catch on where Snatcher hung frozen in the air invisible. “Someone there?”

Seems Snatcher had always had a connection to the supernatural. Not that being able to sense the presence of a ghost was particularly uncommon especially with how powerful he was. A very good reason to leave immediately though. But… he didn’t.

The temptation to warn this kid about Vanessa was stronger than he’d thought it’d be. So much pain and suffering could’ve been avoided if he’d just kept his ambition in check and hadn’t decided to start courting her in hopes of being king one day. Technically he’d gotten what he’d wanted of course but… the cost, not just to himself but to the kingdom as a whole, was a lot to say the least. And it could all be avoided with just a little bit of advice given to a child.

“Are you the monster under my bed? I wanted someone to talk to which is why I summoned you. It took you a while to show up but that’s okay. I get lost sometimes too.”

Right, yeah, now that he thought about it, Snatcher did have vague memories of trying to summon a monster to live under his bed. Hadn’t he also at some point been convinced he’d succeeded? If that was the case then maybe playing along a bit and giving just a little bit of advice to try to mitigate how bad the whole Vanessa thing was wouldn’t cause too many disastrous consequences?

No, no, no. He shouldn’t risk it. Unless… no. Being here where he was so tempted was stupid but he wasn’t a complete idiot. He fled, floating up through the ceiling to avoid any more unpleasant surprises. Instead of all this, he would just float around in the forest for a bit before heading back to his own time. … Maybe he would explore the castle a little bit too as he’d originally been planning.

[bronanlynch]

this one has a muffin recipe which hopefully makes up for the extended discussion on gender in a disappointing YA novel. anyway. happy wednesday

listening (podcast): keeping up with Palisade, where the table friends are as usual entirely on their bullshit. love a story that asks the real questions like, what if you follow some guy into a public bathroom and then it turns out he's in charge of the fucked up evil intelligence organization that used to kind of be in charge of the entire planet.

I'm also going back and listening to the Great Gundam Project episodes on original Gundam, which they did at the very beginning since they're going in chronological order and it is so funny to go from later episodes where I'm like "wow these people are so smart and know so much more about Gundam than I do" to "wow these people are so smart and are doing some incredibly insightful analysis considering they don't know shit about Gundam"

also this was a Media Club Plus week. Jack made lots of fun observations about Killua and his relationship to violence and also Gon that will be very interesting to revisit in like a hundred episodes. god I love dramatic irony

listening (music): for once in my life I'm listening to new music, from a self-described "flaming queer power pop" band from New Jersey called Teenage Halloween (I would say they're more punk than that description implies to me, the lead vocals especially are very classic punk, by which I mean rough and hoarse and shouty in a good way). here's their bandcamp, I think my favorite tracks are Takeaway and Getting Bitter, but they're a fun band and they have a sound that I enjoy. and also for normal reasons I like when people sing about New Jersey and/or living in a shitty suburban town

reading: finally finished Leigh Bardugo's Rule of Wolves (last book in the Grishaverse series). some wild tonal dissonance at the end because it's supposed to be a hopeful ending where the future is going to be better and maybe Ravka as a country can change and be better, except the main characters spent the past two books inventing industrialized warfare and that is not something that can just be undone?? they have missiles now??? sorry but once you introduce missiles to your fantasy setting I no longer believe that the future will be kinder & less violent than the past. also, the gender. it's time to talk about gender again. Nina's love interest Hanne, who has repeatedly been uncomfortable presenting as feminine, kills a guy who sucks and steals his identity, and talks about feeling more like themself because now they're not seen as a woman. this is the part that I like, it's fun and interesting and I think it's cool when trans people do regicide (the guy was a prince). the parts I feel conflicted are the way Nina reacts with such disappointment that Hanne no longer looks how they used to (though she does come around to the idea), the fact that all of this comes from Nina's perspective (when Nina has spent the entire duology waxing poetic about what a beautiful woman Hanne is, when Hanne is explicitly uncomfortable with being seen as beautiful or a woman) with nothing from Hanne's point of view, the fact that this reveal happens at the very end leaving no space to see how this changes their relationship moving forward or to see Hanne exploring what their transition means to them, and the way it ties to something Bardugo said, back between the Six of Crows duology and this one, where she said that the next time she wrote Nina, her love interest would be a woman. and don't get me wrong, I love that Nina's bisexuality is very present on the page. however. Idk. that doesn't seem accurate and it feels clumsily handled like. sorry that's a transmasc butch who deserves a girlfriend who isn't constantly thinking about how pretty they were when they were forced to have long hair

however, in books that I'm enjoying much more, I'm reading The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu, a near-future sci-fi Hamlet retelling about trying to create a scientific cure for death in which Horatio is the AI of the unethical science lab and also (I think, based on what I've read so far) in love with the Hamlet figure. it fucking rules. I'm a known fan of Hamlet & Hamlet retellings, and also when the setting is alive & sentient & loves you, and also relationships between people and like, non-humanoid intelligences (it's kind of like the reverse of a possession romance, instead of the god/robot/etc inhabiting the human the human is the one doing the possession). also, I think the sense of paranoia & claustrophobia from the original Hamlet is done really well here, in a way that works well thematically and also feels. Idk. I'm trying to figure out a way to say this without psychoanalyzing myself on main but it's a very compassionate depiction of the Hamlet figure's mental state that's just. nice to read. anyway. structurally I love that it's framed as though it's someone's thesis about an incident that they've researched, so there are bits that are excerpts from phone logs and trial transcripts and things like that. I'm partway through but it's extremely good so far

watching: continuing to keep up with the TGCF donghua (for once I've seen the newest ep before posting this), which continues to be a good fun time, even if the cr*nchyroll subtitles are pretty awful (both in terms of typos and also the way they sub gege as Lian). but I do like this arc! it's fun! Hua Cheng and Xie Lian are in love!

watched a few more episodes of Hunter x Hunter to keep up with MC+ and I've gotta say, I enjoy Hisoka as a character a lot more than I did the first time I watched this. I am not immune to when a fucked up guy with a cool design murders people with playing cards. however, even though Kurapika didn't do much in the assassin/battle royale bit of the Hunter Exam, Kurapika is still my favorite

moving on to the normal amount of Gundam we watched, we finished Zeta! god. Zeta my fucking beloved. I think the ending pays off a lot of the stuff about Newtypes as a stand-in for human connection, by which I mean it fucking rules that the Zeta Gundam has ghosts in it and that Kamille can defeat Scirocco, who does not form equal partnerships with anyone or listen to their advice, by listening to the advice of his (dead) friends who live in his brain & his robot. also like, I still don't like Reccoa's plotline overall but her confrontations with Kamille & Char do a lot of good characterization work for both of them (Kamille refusing to believe that she's not just really deep undercover! Char uninterested in hearing her reasoning and attacking immediately but still unable to kill her and surprised by that!) and also I love her final fight with Emma. her and Emma killing each other is yuri, to me. on a design note, I think I tend to prefer the mobile suits in 0079, because under no circumstances do you have to hand it to the Principality of Zeon but they knew how to make a grunt suit with some fun shapes in a way that the Federation/Titans simply do not apparently. however! shout out to the Qubeley. what a neat-looking robot

and of course, immediately after finishing Zeta we started ZZ so. that also is a thing I watched. the tone whiplash from the ending of Zeta with a bunch of people dying and a kind of bittersweet victory to the beginning of ZZ was wild. Judau is so much more of a plucky YA protagonist, and there's so much more of a tone of, these kids are going to do some wacky shenanigans. like, Yazan goes from horrifying to a comedic figure. which is not to say it's bad! I am enjoying it! but sometimes it kind of feels like an entirely different creative team (which I know it's not, I know this is still very much still Tomino. but there's such a major vibeshift). my favorite thing about ZZ so far is all of the class stuff, it's nice to have that as a lens to view this setting (an extremely predictable thing for me, guy who loves stories about class conflict, to say). but I like having protagonists who are concerned about their own economic stability (though it does raise questions of like, is Bright getting paid?? by whom??? is he getting paychecks from the Federation still/again?? who is paying for Kamille's hospital bills??? Tomino please show me the Argama's budget spreadsheets). my other favorite thing is that Bright is still here, even though he is very tired and deserves a vacation. he has Such big single parent energy now, good luck to him. my other other favorite thing is that Roux Louka exists, she's a lot of fun so far

playing: still working my way through Ace Attorney 5. Aura is back and I love her! also I'm becoming invested in the concept of Clay/Apollo, partially because I am not immune to Apollo wearing Clay's jacket and partially because I love when you go to Aura's lab and Apollo is there talking to her, and he immediately realizes that Aura and Metis were in love even though Aura denies it, and her loss of Metis is paralleled with Apollo's loss of Clay. there's something compelling to me there as a story about queer grief, and mourning someone's loss even when you can't talk about exactly what they meant to you

making: we've made a couple of recipes from the Skyrim cookbook (cheese fondue, glazed carrots) (not at the same time to be clear. those were different meals) and they both turned out pretty tasty. however, the most exciting thing we made was the muffins from this post. they are, in fact, extremely good. we doubled the recipe because what would we do with an extra half a can of pumpkin

drinking: one of Lamplighter's pride beers from this summer was a sour ale with butterfly pea flower & lemon, and I'm trying to drink through the summer beers in our fridge to make room for all of the autumnal ciders. this one's tasty! again, love it when beers are citrusy & floral

writing: still working on a zine fic that I can't share yet, and also the extremely Palisade spoiler-y Integrity fic from a few weeks ago (to be fair I haven't gotten to the spoiler-y parts yet, instead I'm continuing to be possibly the only person in the fandom who cares about Orbit Shard). also, predictably, I've started writing Gundam fic. predictably, it's Emma/Reccoa and instead of getting to the kissing part Emma is introspecting about ideology

[shastafirecracker]

4, 6, 17, 20?

oooh well this got long so I'll do a break to save everyone's dashes

4 a sentence or paragraph that you’re proud of oh man, I’m proud of a lot of what I’ve written, especially lately. I feel like a lot of the stuff that hits hardest only hits right within its larger context. I love a sucker punch sentence after a long, slow buildup. I was really happy with the bit with Nick walking into the lake at the end of “don’t stop if I fall”:

It felt so strange, but also like a need as primal as human touch being met for the first time after an eon of starvation. His whole body was a raw burn and the water that rose up around him was a cool compress. His hands, cracked and callused from a lifetime of abuse, drank up the moisture and grew soft. He kept walking.

I mean, how bizarre would it feel to have never been submerged in water? if your only contact with water had ever been via sinks and showers and maybe a tepid, cramped bath?

I’m really proud of a lot of my comedy moments, too. I think my comedic pacing and timing has gotten better over the years and I’ve always loved to write banter. But I think I’ve gotten better at structural comedy via the narrative also, not just funny dialogue, particularly for characters who would not say funny dialogue - like in “I’ve seen all the demons that you got”:

Vash came back into the shop stinking of cigarettes[…] Knives sprayed him with air freshener and retreated to his office while Vash spluttered. […] he told Vash where he was going, and Vash's eyebrows did a little dance. Knives was sorry he didn't still have the can of air freshener.

6 what character do you have the most fun writing? ok there’s recency bias happening here obviously, but I fucking love writing Zazie. they’re so fun. y'all won’t know why I’ve had so much fun with them until November but it’s just refreshing to write a chaos gremlin who doesn’t have baggage, lol.

17 do you think that readers perceive your work differently to you? what do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or motivations? until fairly recently I would have said that readers would be surprised to know that I’m asexual but then I found out that apparently aces who write smut are, like, the backbone of society XD but seriously, my go-to answer for “why does someone who doesn’t want to have sex write about sex” is just why would someone who doesn’t want to go to space write about going to space. why would someone who doesn’t want to commit a murder write a murder. stares directly at the stupidly massive quantity of speculative fiction ever written and then looks into the camera.

other than that uhhhh I have no idea? a few times I have had readers leave reviews like “oh wow, you must have experienced [thing] because you describe it so accurately” and I take that as a huge compliment because it means I’m a very good study of human character and psychology. but no, to those specific commenters in the past, I have not been a member of a cult, grown up on a farm and/or killed chickens to cook, nor had any transcendent group sex. thanks for thinking my life is that exciting tho! <3

20 tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble about (symbolism, character or relationship development, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes) ok there’s a big one in the big bang fic that I can’t talk about yet but I HOPE people see what I did there. and are just like “I see what you did there”

yes I love these!!! generally it’s wordplay or symbolic references that I just don’t know if anyone picked up on because no one said it in any comments… argh I’m struggling to think of a lot right now but in “I’ve seen all the demons that you’ve got” I really hoped that when I used the phrase “dose makes the poison” that people connected that all the way through Knives’ past work refining ricin and him having been dosed with ketamine (which is, like, a legitimate and important medication but the dosage is SO important)… ummmm also in “don’t stop if I fall” there’s just so many. I hope people grokked every usage of the lyric that the title came from - every time the words “don’t stop” were used in that fic it was very deliberate (including the extremely dubious consent sex scene).

one small one in that same fic that I hope someone/anyone caught was this sentence: “He remembered this ground like an old friend, this stained glass landscape.” because Wolfwood remembers the grounds of the orphanage as stained (with his own blood, with the attempts to water the seedlings when he was a kid), and because the ground is glass (sand, silicate) and therefore contains no nutrients, and because of the obvious religious connotation (but which doubles back on the other two as meaning, you know, a bright thing with no substance). I was happy with that sentence.

a bit of a character note that I cling to at all costs is that if I’m writing something post-canon, any version of canon, even my own AUs’ iterations of “canon,” then Vash WILL miss Knives and grieve him constantly. and he’ll feel a lot of guilt about feeling like he shouldn’t grieve Knives, shouldn’t be allowed to feel grief because Knives was so “evil” and Vash “won” and blah blah blah, and that every time someone celebrates the world not ending it is another twist to the knife in his guts. look up pyrrhic victory in the dictionary there’s a mugshot of vash. it just matters to me to always be clear that vash is not actually okay with how it all shook out in the end.

[sundaeserenade]

!!!2, 15, 28, 31, 49, 50!!!

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

oh this is FUN! sure, my top five are:

established relationship

selectively mute Red (pokémon)

Mute Red (pokémon)

blow jobs

Plot what plot/porn without plot

and I gotta say, partner, if those five tags don’t describe the Minnie experience and just how committed I am to writing red pokémon getting all the blow jobs he can handle, I don’t know what else can!!

but for reals, I DO love writing blow jobs A LOT and I love red a lot. so. AND I LOVE ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP!!! im not surprised that’s NUMBER ONE BABEEYYY

15. What’s your favorite AU that you’ve written?

aw man this is tough… I actually think my favorite AU hasn’t been written yet! but as for ones that are written I think… wow, I just love Bet the Farm a lot!! AND THERE’S SHEEP IN THAT AU, HOW COULD I SAY ANYTHING ELSE?? but Countryside is really close it’s like RIGHT THERE

28. Does anyone read your fics before you post them? If so, who?

lmao no, I literally just slap that shit on ao3, whatever happens in the final stages of editing and posting are between me and satan himself

31. What’s your ideal fic length to write?

I think I have several ideal fic lengths! It depends on the idea. I will give an outline.

simple one-shot: 3 – 7k

complex one-shot: 10 – 22k

chapter update: 15 – 25k

mini-series: 35k

By mini-series I mean…basically like a group of complex one-shots that’s like a mini chaptered fic. Like four or five chapters broken up real nice and easily digestible. Unfortunately, I always go over my ideal fic length because I have no self-control and I won’t shut up. But this is basically what I try for.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

I’m working on a couple of things. I’ll share something from GABA 7, which is a big chaptered fic and is my absolute favorite because I put all my headcanons in there.

50. Answer any question of your choice, or talk about anything you want to talk about!

lmfao and now I conveniently forget everything I’ve ever wanted to talk about.

I dunno, I’ve been thinking about the entire writing process lately and how fucking much it is at times. Like every time you open that document and write A word…or a sentence or a paragraph…and you come back and look at it and you hate it or you love it…I think it takes a lot of strength to write.

like it’s just so challenging!! to put words together. it’s not simple at all. and you get stuck in your own head a lot. but you keep going because no one else is going to write this shit for you. I think it takes a lot out of you, but it’s worth it because you put something out into the world that someone’s going to read and enjoy, even if you don’t know it.

I think we often forget, as writers, that people may not leave comments or say something to us directly, but they can love our work from afar. and that’s with any content creator but like. I especially want to say it about writers, because y’know, people kinda downplay writing like ‘anyone can write’ which is so fucking false idk who started that shit, but I would like a word.

idk do you ever think deeply about your hobbies and like…how much time you put into them? and you’re not mad, you’re just thinking about it. I love writing so much but I truly hate that period of when you’re nearly done with something and you hate it. literally the worst part of writing right after having to come up with titles/summaries.

thank you for sending all these questions ixan I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

[nuclearforest]

Werewolf "headcannons"? Not explicitly for Hellsing, just in general.

(There's so many different takes on these fuckers and I want to know what you subscribe to)

Howdy!! Sorry it took me so long to get to this-- gal's been BUSY. I may or may not have picked up a dumb idea while trying to pull together a character board for my Hellsing Fae OC. It's uh. Crochet puff flower blanket time. [Kill me now if I wanna make a fair sized one I need 2k of these little shits.]

Anyway, GENERAL WEREWOLF HEADCANONS. Now this is interesting, especially because I don't actually subscribe to one belief lmao. Much like in cases of evolutionary shit, I believe that (were they real) werewolves could function accurately to the myths that describe them. Like they all share a common ancestor (except for the Quebequois and other werewolves that apparently spawned from the devil--@hellogreyeyedathena can tell you all about it lmao) and just evolved out.

[And that actually kinda bleeds into an HC I have about how werewolves in Hellsing vary in their abilities based on curse type/region of the world they're cursed in (because of cultural differences!). Really makes for a diversified world if you want to maximize your creativity there.]

Anyway, my favorite is the classical tried and true where the werewolf is afflicted either from drinking out of a wolf's paw print in the woods under the moon or from being mauled by another werewolf and surviving. There's a pretty broad spectrum of literary themes if you wanted to run with it, opening doors from "thanks, I hate it," to "wow this is fucking cool." And from there the rules are basic: you get a little wild and turn into a hulking beast under the full moon.

Weak to silver, incredibly powerful, and ravenous. All the makings of a good lover that just needs to be fed and befriended lmao. Although on top of that I also like mixing shades of pack instinct in. Both humans and wolves are pack animals, and I imagine that the way it would come out in a werewolf subconsciously is closer to wolves. A werewolf will pick their people or other pets and be an absolute ride or die.

I think it makes for a fun picture and legend. My second favorite werewolf legend, of the kind Irish werewolves that leave food for the poor, is similar in the pack sense. Except here the werewolf is giving out food to folks in its area-- what a big heart!

But that's really all I gotta say on the matter. Thanks for dropping the ask-- it was a fun to just go on for a bit.

[singsweetmelodies]

"All jokes aside: he's agreeing because it's Charles, first and foremost. Pierre has always been a little too protective of Charles - he's the older one, so it's always been natural to draw Charles close to him and try and shield him from the horrors of the world.

It never truly worked, of course. Charles has seen more horrors in twenty-five years than many people see in their whole lives. But that instinct, that need to protect? It's never left."

i haven't stopped thinking about this. i can't stop thinking about this. it just-- i just. yeah, these two paragraphs took my breath and sanity away and i don't know how to move on. i don't know how you're able to describe love that matches my vision of it, but i feel so validated and acknowledged and just. aaaaghhhhhhhh;!)&-);!9!) thank you for writing the way you do, the way you describe love is the way i want it in my life and i have never read it so accurately put down on paper and i keep going back to your stories so i can feel a sense of humanity in myself and i just, yeah. thank you, katie. this means so much to me you have no idea 💗💗

oh my god, anon, i don't even know what to say 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️ except, holy shit, thank you so so so so so much!!!! this means... i have been staring at it all day, and i keep coming back, and just sitting there, wordless, because just. wow. this might be one of the most sincere and beautiful compliments i have ever received? and it means so, so much to me, anon, truly. the fact that my writing could mean so much to you?? it is just mind-blowing, and absolutely the best thing ever, and single-handedly making me want to never stop writing, i think. just. whoever you are, wherever you are - sending you ALL the love i can tonight. may you find a love like this in 2023 ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️