#yeah i originally posted this in 2021 and i just... didn't. write. a plot.

[only-lonely-stars]

A Good Day

Oneshot – (FFN) (AO3)

Summary:

Cole has had a good day, and now he's ending it with a nice walk down the beach, hand-in-hand with his girlfriend Vania. Nothing less, nothing more; just a good day.

As he walked with Vania, Cole found himself a happy man, pleased by how the day was progressing. It had been a simple day together, spent mostly in pursuit of relaxation. Now they were taking a quiet stroll down the beach in the evening, and he was nothing if not satisfied; today was a good day to be hand-in-hand with his girlfriend, and to enjoy the ocean.

As they went, he smiled at Vania, and she smiled back. "What are you thinking about, Cole? You're being so quiet."

He shrugged. "Not much."

"Really?" She laughed the faintest bit. "You have that 'I'm thinking about something I like' face on right now."

He chuckled at that. "Well, okay. I'm kind of thinking about how I've enjoyed today. It's just been good."

"You've had a good day?"

"I have."

"…Good." She smiled a little more, squeezing his hand as she swung their joined ones between them. "I have too."

"Oh yeah? What did you like about it?"

"I liked spending it with you." She looked out across the water contemplatively. "I haven't had a full day off in a really long time. It's been busy in Shintaro recently. Getting to spend it with you was the best way I could've unwound."

"Really?" A warm feeling of appreciation filled him. "That really means a lot to me. You know that, angel eyes?"

"I know. That's why I said it!" She looked back at him and smiled. "You mean a lot to me, Cole."

He chuckled. "You mean a lot to me, too."

"Good."

She strayed a little closer, bumping his shoulder. He grinned, and when she tried to stray away, he pulled her in again. She laughed, easily coming to stand in his personal space as they came to a stop. "What is it?"

"What, can't I have fun with you?" He grinned, putting a hand on her waist. "Dance with me."

"There's no music…" She put her free hand on his shoulder even as she said it, not protesting.

"Who needs music? We don't." He led her in a simple box step, waltzing to the sound of the ocean shore.

She giggled, playing along. "Fine, but if I miss the rhythm and step on your toes, it's not my fault."

They waltzed for a few moments, with Cole humming some out-of-tune waltz, before he spun her. She smiled, turning in the sand, and returning to his arms; he then pulled her even closer, and too close to dance.

She looked up into his eyes, admiring them. "How'd you get so cute, handsome?"

He chuckled. "I don't know. I guess I just did."

"Well, you are awfully cute. It's pretty outrageous."

"Shouldn't that be my line?" He looked down at her, transfixed. "You're so beautiful."

She blushed a little, laying her head against his chest. "Most people don't say that."

He let his arm on her waist encircle her, pulling her close. "Well I've got mixed feelings about that. You are gorgeous, but forgive me if I don't want just anyone complimenting you, y'know?"

She giggled, holding him tightly. "I forgive you. You're the only one I want to get that kind of compliment from; I've liked you for forever, anyway."

He chuckled. "You know, I think I can say the same. Having you is the second best thing to ever happen to me."

That gave her enough pause to look up at him. "Second best? What's the first?"

"Meeting you, of course." He winked at her. "Can't have you without knowing you, sweetheart."

"Oh, you dork!" She laughed, reaching up to pull him into a kiss. "Leave it to you to use a cheesy pickup line."

"Hey, I've got plenty more." He squeezed her tight, feeling satisfied. "After all, angels like you don't fall from heaven very often."

"Isn't that line supposed to be a question?"

"I don't need to ask for an answer I've already got, angel eyes." He grinned. "You're a certified angel."

She giggled. "Fine. If I'm an angel, then you're a knight, I think." She looked up at him appreciatively. "A knight in shining armor."

He smiled down at her. "I don't wear armor very often, you know."

"Neither do knights. Just when they're protecting, and you wore it when you protected my kingdom– my country and my people. I'd say that makes you a knight; I could even officially knight you, if you wanted."

"Really?" He chuckled. "You could, but what would be the point?"

"Oh, I don't know. A title, a place in Shintaran nobility. If you want it, it's yours."

"Well… if I don't need it to have you, then I don't know if I want it. I just want you, sweetheart."

"Are you sure?"

He almost laughed again, looking into her pretty doe eyes. "I'm sure. I'll let you know if I change my mind."

"Fine." She smiled at him. "I'll show you my thanks in a different way, like I have already."

He smiled back. "Please do. I'm all yours."

"Yes, you are. Now kiss me."

"As you wish." He did as she asked, sweet and gentle. This had to be the best part of the day so far…

As the water washed up and splashed their bare feet, Vania separated from him, smiling sweetly at him. "I'm so happy to have you, Cole. You really are my dream come true."

He smiled back, seeing the ocean in her eyes. "I could say the same about you, Queenie."

"You can if you want." She rested her head against his chest again, and for the millionth time, Cole was struck by just how much smaller she was compared to him. "I'm nothing special, but if you want me, I am yours."

"Of course you're something special, Vania. You're Vania, the queen of Shintaro… and you're my girlfriend. That's something special."

"I suppose it is," she murmured, hiding a smile.

He squeezed her tight. "I mean it. You're special, and don't forget it."

She giggled a little. "Okay. I won't forget."

"Good." He smiled, letting up the pressure a little. "You're the reason today's been so good, so don't forget that either."

"I won't." She looked up at him and smiled wider. "I won't forget one bit."

"Good."

Cole took a deep breath, enjoying the salt scent of the ocean. A good end to a good day, with good company… with Vania, any day was good, but today especially. He was happy.

Wasn't that a nice thing to be?

[tildeathiwillwrite]

Tag Game: Author Ask Tag

Thanks to @willtheweaver for the tag!

Question Template: 1. What is the main lesson of your story? Why did you choose it? 2. What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding? 3. What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness or help the reader grow as a person? 4. How many chapters is your story going to have? 5. Is it fan fiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it? 6. When did you start writing? 7. Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr? What other writers do you follow?

1. What is the main lesson of your story? Why did you choose it?

I'll use The Hunter, the Myth and the Cure for this!

I think the main lesson is how your past does not define your future. I didn't choose it per se, it just sort of happened due to how my characters behave and interact. Octavian in particular deals with a lot of guilt and grief for his past actions, despite some of them not being entirely his fault. During this current revision I realized this recurring theme and started leaning into it.

2. What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding?

I don't think there's anything specific for Valaria, just a lot of different elements that I like put together in one world. You've got humans in roughly the Georgian-Victorian Era (by our world's reference), you've got elves, also got a few original species of mine like the sang, the Draigo, and the devar. I also have werewolves (lycanthropes), this period of the world's history includes a genocide and a pandemic, yeah.

3. What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness or help the reader grow as a person?

I have three main characters: Draven wants money, mainly, and to deal with the lycanthropes, Octavian wants to find out the motives of the man who trapped him, and Reese wants to escape from captivity.

I mainly seek to entertain, and yeah teaching self-forgiveness is the main message but mostly I'm helping the characters grow.

4. How many chapters is your story going to have?

Uhhhh right now I'm working on chapter 6, but I haven't gotten to the second plot point yet so I think I'm about a quarter of the way through the original plan. Possibly 20 chapters, maybe more.

5. Is it fan fiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Original content! I'm currently posting the chapters on Tumblr, and the uploaded chapters can be found here

6. When did you start writing?

2016 :3

That makes me a Level 9 writer, writing for nine years (storms I cannot believe it's been that long)

I started The Hunter, the Myth and the Cure in 2021. It's not my longest-running WIP (that would be The Watcher and The Thief, started in 2018), but I've been working at it a fair number of years.

7. Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr? What other writers do you follow?

Do Not, I repeat, DO NOT DELETE YOUR STUFF!!!

Even if you hate it, you never know when you might decide years down the road to revisit a concept or idea. Also, it's good if you want to see just how far you've come.

Your brain can tell you that a piece sucks, but that doesn't mean you should get rid of it. Just bury it for a while, dig it up, and it might be better than you thought it was. You're always learning and growing, even if it doesn't look like it.

Don't give up. I believe in you ^-^

Okay so I have so many writer people and they are all wonderful. No pressure tag to do this little questionnaire yourself :D And if you see this randomly, consider yourself tagged anyway.

@blackrosesandwhump @writer-of-worlds @fourwingedwriter @annakayy @thewritingautisticat

@overdecorated-furniture @faytelumos @chronicallydragons @gamerkats @spitefulbull

@themswritinwords @late-to-the-fandom @cssnder @phoenixradiant @illarian-rambling

@writingphoenix @agirlandherquill @friendlesscat @thethistlegirlwrites @theeccentricraven

@catwings-writes-things @whumped-by-glitter @elizaellwrites @3-2-whump @aalinaaaaaa

@imsoveryveryconfusedatlife @pluppsauthor @diabolical-blue @moonandris @hufflepuffwritingstuff2

@somethingclevermahogony @scaewolf @corinneglass @crwn-nrth @the-ellia-west

@paeliae-occasionally @whumpninja @aloafofbreadwithanxiety @happypup-kitcat24 @i-eat-worlds

@defire @geode-crystal @melpomenelamusa @leahnardo-da-veggie @floralmusings

@inhurtandincomfort @sacratos @painsandconfusion @writinglittlepains @librathefangirl

@world-of-iridensia @serickswrites

[livewireprojects]

Nicky and Sonic

This pic was originally posted February 11, 2021 on DA. I'm slightly surprised I never posted this here before because I made posts in the past(and recently for Sonadowtober 2024) that involve Nicky.

Slight warning I ramble a lot & at one point complain about Amy. I'm sorry I just had some stuff to rant about involving the writing.

Here's a sketch I drew of Nicky & Sonic from the manga series for Sonic published by Shogakukan in my style. Nicky in his "N" sweater & some jeans while Sonic is in sports wear & a jacket based off his/Nicky's dad's pilot jacket.(Also has a hairband to keep his bangs out of the way)

I think back in maybe 2017 or 2018(maybe I dunno) I kinda found out about a Sonic the Hedgehog manga were Sonic's name is actually Nicky with Sonic himself being an alter ego/personality that shows up sometimes.

At the time of posting this pic on DA I went to look up things about the manga & learned Sonic is not just Nicky's alter ego but him from 6 years into the future that switches places with him occasionally when needed. At some point I questioned if this was correct(It's mentioned on both the Sonic wiki & TV Tropes) & went to look stuff up which lead to learning the manga ends with Metal Sonic mistaking Nicky for Sonic. Nicky ends up gaining the confidence he needs to be a mix of him & Sonic thanks to Nicky finally fighting his fears & realizes he needs to be brave & stand up for himself instead of let others defend him.

I haven't read it but it seems kinda nice, I don't ship Amy with Sonic(main pair in the manga) partly due to their ages(I guess it works in the manga thanks to them both being 10 years old) & also because of how obsessive she gets. I got nothing against Amy(I use to not like her but I got over it), she's passionate, cares about her friends & doing what it takes to keep up with her friends(especially since most of them can speed) but her obsession with the idea of being Sonic's gf in the past was annoying. Amy seems to be kinda better in this manga but the thing that annoys me is how she seems more interested in Sonic than her own boyfriend after Sonic shows up. Yeah they're the same person but after looking around Tails seems to be the only one that is aware Sonic & Nicky are the same person(Not even Nicky knows cause he forgets what happened when Sonic took control) & it mentions Nicky feels jealous.(Like if she did know he's Sonic couldn't she say something or whatever? Nicky deserves to know. Actually Tails why didn't you say anything?)

Aside from my rambling & rants I think Nicky is adorable, he's nervous & has trouble standing up for himself & his girlfriend but he keeps trying. From what little I know Nicky seems to learn to eventually become brave. He also wants to be like his dad, who is a plane pilot. Nicky also likes the violin even if he isn't good at it. This kid makes me think of Peter Parker a little bit & it's both adorable & admirable cause he might not be brave or good at things but he keeps going & I adore characters like this.(And unfortunately traumatizing them in plots)

Nicky unintentionally sounds like my version of Sonic for my Sonic Underground stuff.(In my stuff thanks to losing his adopted parents & issues from the community he moved into after Chuck took him in Sonic became more nervous/timid & learned over time to regain some confidence/bravery) I find it interesting because I never knew about Nicky until a couple years ago but he seems like a character I'd be obsessed with.

Made a little worse by them having a lot of similarities between Nicky & my Lost Prince SU Sonic.

Both play instruments(Sonic a guitar, Nicky a violin)

Both wear glasses

Both have a sister(Nicky has one sibling named Tania. Sonic has two bio siblings, Sonia & Manic then also two adopted siblings, Cream & later on Tails)

Both are timid & over time learn to overcome their problems

Both wear red(Sonic is in a red shirt & later a red zip up hoodie, Nicky is sometimes depicted in a red t-shirt with "N" on it & usually depicted in some art & in a lot of fanart having a red sweater/turtle neck sweater with a "N" on it)

Needless to say I unintentionally made my own version of Nicky without knowing it until learning about him in recen years. My version of Sonic is Nicky if he had trauma & tried to hide behind a "mask" based on his brother(Manic's) personality that later on thanks to amnesia he forgot where it came from over time.

In conclusion Nicky has a special spot in my heart & I seem to enjoy trying to find ways to put him into plot ideas.(Which includes an idea I need to work on)

[amadwinter]

Making of Monday - How NOT to Write a Long Fic

Haven't posted one of these in a hot minute! Story time: sometime around 2021, I decided I was sick of having all these ideas for Star Wars fics and never actually writing them. So I decided to buckle down, and write a damn fic.

But of course that didn't happen. What I did instead was try to plot out a long, winding, action-adventure story, and to do that, I decided to study to study from the masters. Or master. I wrote down all the chapter titles for every Lord of the Rings book, and was planning on modeling my story based off a similar pacing.

But of course that didn't happen either. And I realized that I was getting nowhere fast. So, I took out a different piece of paper, and with no plan in place, just started jotting down thoughts.

Warning: terrible formatting and terribly inconsistent handwriting below the cut

And as you can see, I didn't get far with unconnected ideas before I started planning once more.

Inspired by short fic I had just read, I wanted to write a long fic where a whole and hale Anakin Skywalker shows up on Tatooine some amount of years into exile. Seeing as how this was before the Obi-Wan Kenobi show came out, there was a lot of room for interpretation in canon. I could take ideas from Legends, make theories about what they were going to do with canon (and be extremely right about some of them), and just make shit up whenever I wanted to.

But immediately, I came to a question that I wanted an interesting answer to: where did this new Anakin come from, and how did he get to Tatooine? Time travel is simple, and not where I wanted to go. Something something Sith magic, yeah, whatever. Also not what I wanted to do. But dimension travel? Now, there was an idea.

Of course, because I am a planner, it couldn't be simple, now could it? It couldn't be just hand-wave the Force that caused it. There had to be a real, concrete, series of events that caused Anakin to appear out of thin air.

And thus began the Yeetverse.

A chain of 4 separate universes (plus 1 bonus one for my own torture amusement. And actually now with one more added on later!). A to B to C to D. It's far too complex for baby's first fanfic in a fandom, and yet the ideas would not stop flowing.

Yes, that was all just written because I couldn't stop thinking about these ideas. It may not seem like a lot, but any brave soul who attempts to read my handwriting can see that there are many things going on at once. (And the only thing I blocked out is the ending to what was meant to be the first fic in this chain, the thrill of the fall)

But for all those ideas, all that planning...

I haven't even finished the first fic I truly tried to write.

I actually have so much of it outlined. I even wrote the outlines of the first 2 chapters of the original fic idea that started it all down on paper.

But I haven't written more.

Why?

Turns out, I'm not good at writing long fics. Planning them? Yes. Finishing them? Hell no.

It will be 3 years since I came up with these ideas. I haven't given up hope yet that I might actually get around to writing all those fics one day, but one-shots and event fics have drawn my attention away.

Who knows; maybe I'll finally take another shot once I've finished up more of my posted WIPs.

[mostsanescarletspiderfan]

Some of the things I hate the most in comics are characters who are time/universe displaced.

These types of things happen because of popularity and making it so that they are stuck in a place, still, I'm not fond of the trope when there are better alternatives.

(DC universe: legacies #2).

Originally 2 of the founders of the seven soldiers of victory were Oliver Queen and Roy Harper, better known as green arrow and speedy. But here's the catch, since they didn't have a Alan Scott/Hall Jordan situation DC would often change the line up to not involve the archers... That is until 2021 with the stargirl spring break special where they reveal they got sent back in time by clock king and where the golden age heroes.

The previous solution was good or alternatively pulling an All-stars wouldn't be bad I think, hell @the-antiapocalyptic-man take on how a golden age green arrow would be is pretty cool.

Usually with these types of things DC easily solves with merging universes with yeah it works like 80% of the time.

Another character that fits the bill is power girl, I'm not a big fan of her (not that the character isn't great, it's just that I'm focusing on other heroes) but her history is intertwined with her "younger" counterpart in ways that honestly hurt both characters.

She is both an unfortunate outcome of editorial mandates and amazing writing.

From the other beast that dominates the comic book industry you have Miles Morales and... Oh boi.

I have a love and hate relationship with him, I get why he is here but more than anything I'm frustrated about marvel inability to actually commit to the decision, one day he remembers he is from another universe and the other he doesn't so what is it? Oh and also while we are at it his 616 origin sucks and I fucking hate Aaron.

(I think a cool version of 616 miles would be him being the son of one of those 7 unnamed Brothers of Hobie, he is also a mutant and would take on the mantle of prowler after his uncle retires or something).

Now the main reason I made this post is Bart Allen, don't get me wrong I like all these superheroes and enjoy their displaced nature but what happens when Bart ages? Is he still gonna exist when parents are born? Obviously none of these questions are gonna be answered because these characters are never gonna age, even if it's there's an ongoing plot for it.

Oh and don't get me started Scott Summers and his panteon of children from apocalyptic futures.

Anyway sorry for the long rant about me being racist agonist fictional people from other dimensions.

[adultswim2021]

The Venture Bros. #48: "The Better Man" | December 7, 2009 - 12:00AM | S04E07

I think I figured out a big reason why I love The Venture Bros, but unfortunately I can’t spend too much time expounding on this in a non-shallow way: it reminds me of Ducktales. Because sometimes they go on a big adventure to an exotic locale, and sometimes they have to spend an afternoon killing money-eating bugs in Uncle Scrooge’s money vault. 

In this one, Orpheus and the triad are shown up by the Outrider, the man who “stole” Orpheus’s wife. But he ends up in hot water and requires Orpheus’s help after being trapped in hell. Billy Quizboy does illegal surgery again! And: also: we get the return or H. Jon Benjamin as the master, who reveals himself to Triana and scares her away from Dean and encourages her to go live with her mom and become a dang Harry Potter. 

This one’s sorta important in that it helps drive home the fact that Triana and Dean do not belong together, and it writes her mostly out of the show. At least it writes her out of the compound (she comes back at least one other time I can think of). But mostly it’s just about the characters hanging out and stuff. Yeah, there’s a big scary monster from hell, but a lotta of the episode is just about Hank and Dean going to the mall and sexually harassing women. Dermott is there, too! He’s one of the rudest guys on the show, so cherish him. 

I am struggling to come up with compelling highlights to illustrate the fact that I enjoyed this episode, which I actually did a great deal. I think I’m just happy that it doesn't’ have a plot I feel compelled to write-up extensively. So I’ll just list gags now I liked: 

The Matthew Lesko reference. It is fucked up that that dude has a suit with question marks and not dollar signs. Could it be the Mandingo effect? Oh, in my reality we call it the Mandingo effect because–

A fairly neutral “transgender” joke! In 2009! They didn’t even gratuitously use the slur! Wait, I like a lack of slurs?? SINCE WHEN??? 

“I look like Rufio!” 

The whole scene where the Master pretends to be future Dean is bleak as fuck. Hilariously Jackson and Doc said they based his look on Bernard Goetz. I mean, look at this and tell me he doesn’t belong in the Ventureverse:

A thing I didn't LIKE, per-se, but bears mentioning: maybe one of the worst production errors of the show has Dean wearing a suit to impress Triana, then suddenly not, then it's back again. I originally thought it was due to them shuffling the scenes in the edit but Jackson took responsibility and said he approved of the storyboards of a suitless Dean without thinking. God DAMN him!

EPHEMERA CORNER

Christmas in December Specials (December 13, 2009)

Even MORE Christmas in December to Tell in the Dark. This night featured a few other Christmas episodes but not that many more. I'd rather not post the schedule because of SPOILERS!!! Also, I thought maybe they did something else that was special, but if I am to read Swimpedia correctly the previous Sunday's "Christmas in December" was the one that featured the shop-at-home segments and not this one. I refuse to delete this paragraph. Sorry.

MAIL BAG

I just heard the good news: Adult Swim 2021 is coming to FunnyOrDie to cover Tim and Eric projects as bonus emphemera content. W00T!

The cat is "right out" of the bag: I will be doing this in some form. In fact, I sorta regret not attempting to include more non-Adult Swim Tim & Eric stuff in the ephemera section (like the Shrek 3 promos, for instance), but that's okay. But I do sorta think those are significant in that they are an important stepping stone towards Bedtime Stories. But I'm not gonna cover Eric's music videos or his future court case (speculation)

[martsonmars]

How I found Carry On and its fandom – long answer because I love talking about myself.

I used to see Fangirl in bookshops all the time, when I was 14 or so, and I wanted to buy it every time, because a book about fanfiction? Sounded like my shit, but I never got to buying it for some reason.

While one of my best friends read and loved it, and when Carry On was published in Italy she read and loved it too, and probably told me “you should read it”. So it made my way into my TBR list, but I think I didn't really know what it was about, because when I grew older and deleted from my list all those books that I thought I wasn't interested in anymore (mainly books – at least the ones I hadn't read yet lol – that were super famous in the early to mid 2010s and all people in multifandom spaces seemed to have read but that felt stupid and boring to a 16yo me who was starting to read only Dostoyevsky), I deleted Fangirl and Carry On too.

I kept hearing about them from this friend (I didn't remember about it, but after reading WS I found out she has a rant about it on her Instagram page lmao) and on Instagram, but it never crossed my path intensely enough to convince me to buy it.

Then last year, around November or December, for a reason I don't remember Carry On was back on my TBR list – and it was on top of it! To the point that instead of remaining a book in a list, I even had it in my cart on some bookshop website. Maybe I had finally found out what it was about? Who knows. Anyway, I finally wanted to really buy it, but something kept stopping me.

Then last December this famous friend and I organised a “bookstagram” Advent Calendar – each day had a prompt and people posted a photo of a book that filled the prompt.

One day, someone posted a scene of RWRB. Now, RWRB had made its way to my list in the previous months, and that scene made me think “I definitely need to read it”. Put into cart, still didn't buy it.

Now we enter illegal book acquisition so yeah I hope David doesn't mind piracy hahaha. If he does mind I don't want to know

So, while RWRB and CO were in my cart waiting to be bought, I stumbled over a pdf copy of both of them. And one night at the end of January I started RWRB. It was the first, and up to now only, time I stayed up all night (like, not even going to sleep at 7am like I did the two times I was at a party/sleepover), and to finish a book.

I spend the following day, all day, explaining the plot to my best friend (not the CO one) because I needed to let it out and looking for fanart and incorrect quotes on Pinterest. And damn, I kept being bothered by stuff about Simon and Baz who are they can they kindly fuck off I'm here for Alex and Henry only. But from what Pinterest was showing me, they seemed interesting. So I googled and wow! They were the main characters of Carry On! And I had a pdf copy of it

Hence another night of intense reading (this time I didn't stay up all night – just up to chapter 61), followed by a day I spent finishing CO and reading WS.

And that's the story. But I'm not going to shut up.

Then I spent more time on Pinterest. And this time I kept being annoyed by a caption that read “you need to read rebel, rebel, it's the perfect fic”. I – as I've said many times – had never been a fanfiction reader, I could count the random stuff (that I read because I found it linked on Instagram or something like that) I've read before 2021 on my fingers. But I was curious, and needed to get my head off WS, so I tried it. And then I couldn't let go, I clicked on the Snowbaz tag and started reading most of the fic from the last published and backwards.

And I read, I read, I read, and I felt that I wanted to write fics again. (I had stopped writing fics intensely in 2016/2017, and the last last I'd written had been in 2018.) But I was in a phase where I thought “my writer block that started in 2018 doesn't even let write my original stuff, why should I waste time on other people's characters?”, so I resisted the urge to write fics. Until I read Every Line Lost by NineMagicks and I couldn't take it anymore.

I opened a doc and I started writing – in English, for the first time – a fanfiction masked by different names and some original details. (Like, I refused to write fics so I gave the characters new names but they were still Baz and Penny, and then I would've introduced Simon.)

And I kept reading fics until I finally gave in and started plotting a proper Snowbaz fic. Which brought me to Tumblr to look for beta readers.

And then I made a mutual, and we became instantly friends, and she offered to beta and then forced me to start reblogging and posting on Tumblr instead of lurking. And I did, and then I found one of aralias's invites to the Discord server. And I probably wouldn't have joined if the week before I hadn't played D&D with my best friend's friends, and they'd told me “since you don't live here we can continue the session on Discord when you're back home”, so I had downloaded it. So when I saw aralias's invite I was like, fuck it.

The rest is history.

Fellow snowbazzians, rb this and tell me how you came across the series. Mine was a stranger recommending it to me in a bookstore. Thank you stranger!!! (If one of y'all told a rando at Powells in Portland the summer of 2017* to read Carry On, thank you, you don't know what this means to me, or maybe you do ❤)

[cml-san]

Soooo

I have finished the timeline for my FNAF Band AU...

Sort of.

I have specified the years when the events take place, I have an estimate of how far away from each other are the events that take place in the same year.

Heck, I had to google yearly school calendars from the USA to make sure I didn't screw up.

I had to go through all of the fnaf lore again just to make sure I didn't miss any important events.

I investigated the differences between an agent and a manager, what they are supposed to act according to the law, and how they actually work because no one gives a damn about laws.

Had to look up the inner workings of Record Labels.

And it's all going great.

I even have a use for Vanessa.

BUT

I have no clue whatsoever on how to include Gregory, the Glamrocks, Sun and Moon, DJ Music Man and Lefty.

I have no clue on how to translate Charlie's murder into the plot.

But, I managed to translate the bite of 83 into Evan suffering of vocal cord paralysis.

Buuuut then again, unfortunately I need to play the your mother died card to make sure the story takes place so, sorry mrs. Afton.

But the important thing here is:

That I have the years from 1963 to 2021 covered.

Although, nothing really interesting happens from 1963 to 1980. Could fill that void with how William and Henry met, OR give William trauma.

Or I could just make him an asshole because yeah.

Have I seen other people trying to make a webseries based on FNAF where no murder takes place, the animatronics are human teenagers entering a band competition and became a goddamn mess because it lost every little thing that connected the show to the actual game and it's actually the reason why I started writing this AU???

Yes.

Did I learn from the show's mistakes and wrote a storyline instead of going "hey viewer, you get to decide what's next, even if it absolutely trails off from the original plot!" so that it doesn't trail off from the original source material???

Yes.

Am I aware of the fact that the FNAF fandom is going to make fun of it, correct me on the lore and overall be annoying???

Yes.

Do I realize that everyone who knew what FNAFHS was, regardless of whether they are or aren't part of the FNAF fandom will turn me into a laughing stock if I somehow find a way of turning this into an animated web series???

Yes.

Do I myself find FNAFHS cringy but recognize it has a special place in my heart because I loved it back then???

Of course.

Were some of the songs actually amazing???

YES.

Do I realize it was a jukebox series?

Obviously.

Am I going to post lil vids introducing the characters on Tik Tok anyway???

Absolutely.

Just to clarify tho, the original idea was to find a way to fit in the Afton's in fnafhs, but when I was writing Michael's backstory I said "fuck it" and wrote a whole new series so yeah. This isn't a fnafhs remake or reboot, it's a whole different thing.

(do I secretly want people to ask me about my au? yes.)

Because you know, singing competitions are a common trope.

Update:

The AU has a name now All-Star AU or something, it's a placeholder, but who knows, maybe it will stick.

Solved the issues with everyone in Security Breach.

Lefty and Sammy? No, they have ceased to exist.

Εverything prior to the beginning of the story is complete.

The main conlicts have been stablished.

Currently focusing on writing the Τoy and OG animatronics.

But my biggest problem right now is:

I suck at character design.

I know I need to write the character first then focus on design buutttttt I'm not that good at drawing, specially since l've stopped drawing for a really long time.

Can't get in contact with the friend who supposedly wanted to help. And in terms of money: I've got no money.

So paying someone else is impossible.

Why do I need help? Just look at my Michael doodles

I can't decide on a design for Michael because somehow they all look different and the same?

Welp, as I said. I'm just going to focus on writing the goddamn protagonists first.

And just to clarify once again; this is not a fnafhs au, remake, fix it, or reboot.

It's a FNAF AU.

FNAF AIl-Star AU.

(I literally have nothing else to say)

[magnificent-nerd]

Why Naqib in The Boys sucked

Image description: fictional character Naqib in Amazon Prime’s show The Boys.

(Is the fire in the background an excuse to use racist Yellow Filter to show how exotic he is? Hmm.)

I first posted this on my blog in Dec 2020, and since nothing in superhero media has changed for the better at this time (September 5th, 2021), I’m going to keep talking about it.

Because nobody else does. So, without further ado:

WHY NAQIB SUCKS.

I was a big fan of The Boys season 1; I love superheroes, I love deconstructing a genre. Sure, it has its problems, but overall I enjoyed season 1 and thought the show had potential.

(That’ll learn me for being hopeful!)

When season 1 ended with this big build up of mostly nameless brown and background characters as Muslim terrorists (deep sigh) we the audience are left thinking this one Muslim character (Naqib) whose superpower is to blow himself up repeatedly (insert another long deep sigh here) is going to be The Big Bad of season 2.

I had my misgivings about that direction. Firstly, as you can see from the image of Naqib, he is highly exoticised and is walking around bare chested with Arabic writing on his chest. He looks more like a generic western media depiction of a genie than he does a supervillain. 

And yet he's the first prominent Muslim character in superhero media I've seen in YEARS.

-

(See my post about MENA and Muslim character good guys, including Joe played by Marwan Kenzari in The Old Guard, which is technically a comic book movie but it’s not what I’d call ‘caped and costumed’ superheroes so it’s more... superhero adjacent.)

I follow superhero content closely and as far as I'm aware the last time we saw any named Muslim characters in superhero movies WITH SPEAKING LINES was:

Instance 1) Iron Man 1 back in 2008 with The Ten Rings in Afghanistan, showing multiple Muslim characters as baddies/terrorists, but only two of them as a named character and with any meaningful lines to say. And despite one of them, Yinsen (actor Shaun Toub), being a good guy he still dies! Which is common in western media for Muslim and MENA characters.

Note: Fellow Iron Man 1 castmate, actor Sayed Badreya, makes an important point in this GQ article: "I die in Iron Man, I die in Executive Decision. I get shot by everyone. George Clooney kills me in Three Kings. Arnold blows me up in True Lies…" (x)

Instance 2) A more recent instalment in Batman V. Superman in 2016, with some unnamed 'General' character and mercenaries/terrorists in Nairomi, Africa, referred to only as "the desert" throughout the movie. All reference to the General's actual name are available in an extended/deleted scene only, so a very poor and vague depiction in the final cut.

Instance 3) The generic and badly written ‘bad guys’ in Wonder Woman 1984 (2020 movie), which was honestly such a racist depiction of Arabs and Muslims that many critics pointed out we hadn’t seen a depiction this terrible since 1994′s True Lies. (At least most critics were in agreement that WW84 movie was generally terrible, so there’s that.)

And that's it, those are the only major instances showing any Muslim actors or characters in a caped and costumed superhero movie. 

Some other fleeting glimpses of Muslims onscreen:

Glimpse 1) I spotted a girl wearing a hijab among the nameless and unspeaking background characters of Peter Parker's class in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). A first for Marvel movies, apparently.

Glimpse 2) Disney Plus show Falcon and Winter Soldier (2021) had two nameless Muslim characters walk by in a scene that’s supposed to be Tunisia (using Yellow Filter), and ‘thank’ the present American Air Force (eye-roll).

Glimpse 3) Netflix show Jupiter’s Legacy (2021) had a nameless Muslim sailor conversing with one of the main characters in a scene, with meaningful dialogue about racism. (WOW. Really good.) Bonus: no yellow filter. It’s a pity he’s a nameless background character because this brief instance is the least problematic MENA rep I’ve seen in ages, but it is very brief.

I just wrote about Glimpses 2 and 3, and how the Netflix show outdid Disney when it comes to these nameless walk-on Muslim characters.

This is pretty pathetic overall, these small crumbs, especially compared to better rep and probably the only instance of legit MENA superheroes in a ‘costumes and capes’ style superhero show, the Tarazi siblings on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

-

Anyway, now I’ve listed what crumbs are available across the live action superhero genre, back to The Boys.

I was intrigued about how season 2 would handle Naqib and any characters relating to him, and what storyline they'd use. 

Was I excited at the possibility of seeing Muslim supers onscreen? Damn straight I was. Did I mind that they were baddies? Well, yes and no. When you only ever get crumbs or no crumbs at all, you tend to get excited over one stale old crumb.

After the build up for season 2, I eagerly sat down to watch the first episode, only to have the first five minutes of episode 1 Trigon him.

Note: who's Trigon, you ask? Well if you didn't watch the DCEU's Titans show, Trigon was The Big Bad who was hyped up throughout season 1, introduced in the season 1 cliff-hanger episode as this big 'oh shit!' moment for the cast of heroes, only for him to fizzle out like a wet fart in the first episode of season 2 while the show pivots wildly in another direction. 

Exactly what happened to Naqib in the first five minutes of The Boys season 2.

Erm, so, Naqib. Farewell, I guess? As a character you briefly appeared in 2 episodes, portrayed by a different actor in each (Krishan Dutt, and Samer Salem). It seems the writers used you as a plot device when they needed a cheap cliff-hanger for a direction that ultimately went nowhere.

Am I disappointed? Yeah, I am. Overall I thought season 2 of The Boys was weaker than season 1, but I'm not here to talk about the whole season: I want to talk about Naqib and this missed opportunity.

The Boys and its showrunners sell the show as being a satire of recent and well known superhero content, of all the big movies and TV shows. There's been a lot of patting themselves on the back for calling out overused tropes in superhero media (and sometimes they've done this satire well: see the LGBT marketing scene with Queen Maeve in season 2), but my issue with the show on their Muslim rep, or should I say lack thereof, is if your show has even less Muslim character rep than the content you're trying to parody, how is this a win for satire?

Naqib and that whole angle came across as a lazy, half-assed swing from the writer's room. Sure, perhaps a lot of the non-Muslim and non-MENA audience won't even notice, as we've been ignored by western media or made into nameless, generic, vacuous baddies for decades now. Non-Muslims and non-MENA just accept that we're always the baddies for no particular reason at all (which feeds into Islamophobia, by the way) and The Boys' writers could say they are simply satirising the tropes already present in media...

But, and this is a big but, the media that The Boys is satirising has already made a step toward better inclusion and representation: Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Marvel comics' first Muslim superhero, is entering the MCU as a lead character in her own Disney Plus show, debuting in 2022. 

Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan is also cited to appear in upcoming Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels (2022), which will be a major movie.

The MCU has also cast a Muslim actor (Mahershala Ali) as the lead in a reboot of Blade. That's going to be big news when it starts filming.

So to the showrunners on The Boys, I say this: now you've done this small angle of 'all Muslim characters are terrorists, yuckity-yuck!' like we've seen in major superhero movies thus far, and you've brushed that aside in favor of focusing on other whiter villains, my question is will you come back to Muslim and MENA characters again? Or is that all you got?

Because if that was ALL, then the current score is Disney/MCU:02, Netflix:02, DCEU:02, and The Boys: a big ZERO as far as Muslim and MENA rep goes.

-

Originally posted on my blog, magnificently nerdy.

If you, like me, are always on the lookout for onscreen Muslim and MENA characters in superhero media, and have spotted any characters in superhero TV shows I haven’t watched yet, let me know about them!

Here is my post on good guys, featuring Old Guard’s Joe, and Blindspot’s Rich Dotcom.

Here’s my post about the Tarazi siblings on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow TV show.

And, if Marvels’ Eternals gets released on schedule for 2021, we will have a MENA actor portraying a supporting character. I just hope Marvel gives him a name.

[sanctus-ingenium]

Heya! Your last few pieces have been incredible as always! I wanted to ask: how long have you been working on this current project? I've been a fan for a long time but with varying times of activity and so I recognize oc names I'm just curious if they've always been a part of this current plot or if they've been inserted into different settings throughout the years. Feel free to answer this privately or not at all if its too personal!

hiiiiii (u caught me scrolling tumblr mid-lecture, don't tell my prof)

for the last few pieces.. the reason i'm able to do a bunch of big illustrations is because i'm already finished with the setting. i wrote the 3 inver books over the course of roughly a year and tbh all of the content in them was new for the books and didn't have any recycled content aside from some minor details. the main 3 characters were from a dnd oneshot in 2019 but i didn't do much with them until i decided to write about them in an original fantasy setting in may-june of 2020. last book was finished in june of 2021. unlike a lot of my previous stuff, this story had a distinct end. all the character arcs are done, the plot is finished. it was a big deal for me because i usually never wrap up stories lmao

however

in the last like 10 chapters of more than 100 total i introduced pascal, who is literally a clone who had to kill & replace god just to survive his original self (félix) turning human again. then the books ended. and i realised that because this guy was immortal, he was going to persist and have a much longer life, so his story wasn't all wrapped up neatly like everyone else's - he didn't want to become immortal, he just wanted to not disappear, and now he's stuck like This while the happy ending he wanted so much was handed to a different version of him who got to become human and get married and so on. he didn't get those choices - it was either stop existing or become the boss púca and be cut off from humanity forever. and while he did maintain a friendship with a lot of the human characters after the 1860s (post-canon), human lifespans are short. everyone he knew died and left him alone, and in his otherworld barrow he would have no one to interact with but himself.

i haven't written any structured prose about him BUT i do have the beginnings of a story set in the 21st century that picks up with him, mostly about a corruption arc/his descent into becoming the worst version of himself as a result of isolation making him massively self-centered... so i guess it's more like a bad end au for félix (the actual main character of the inver books), only because of the clone situation i get to write him both good and bad endings. so basically i've been working on that for about a month but as a character he's less than a year old

anyway. for "inserted into different settings over the years" well!!!!! yeah i do that. all the inver characters are new for their setting but the mez characters certainly aren't... i wanted to focus on worldbuilding and mechs and engine stuff and didn't have any characters to populate it all, so i just yoinked them from my very first writing project - a book series i started in 2008. that's why those characters are familiar. oddly enough it makes them harder to insert into a closed story because i have to go through every version of them to pick and choose wtf i'm keeping and what i'm discarding. but also one of the characters from that 2008-era setting is john who you may be familiar with (lol). john's twin brother, invented for dnd, is félix. and pascal is félix 2. so in answer to your question: yes but also no? but also yes and no.

ftr my favourite character of all time is also félix and pascal is just him again but minus the humanity so that's also why i have dedicated a lot of time to thinking about him. also he is easy to draw

[crossroadsdimension]

I see you eyeing me XD

I guess I could spill a little bit of the idea. Maybe it'll encourage me to put it on a back burner instead of just in the fridge that is my WIP folder.

So, originally, this was gonna happen post-manga series for Vash and Knives. I'm gonna put this under a cut for Trigun Maximum spoilers, cause with the Influx of Trigun fans, I don't wanna get folks spoiled for what could happen further down the line with TriStamp.

So -- I'm not sure how yet, but Vash and Knives both live post-final fight, and at some point between the end of the manga and their arrival on Gaia, they get some blond hair back. Not all of it, but some. Think Vash post-Augusta and Knives with the front of his hair gone black. Something like that.

On the FFVII side...it's definitely in AU territory already. The thought is that Zack and Cloud both got ambushed by some Jenova-infected Sephy-clones instead of a horde of infantry out on the cliffs. In an attempt to keep Cloud safe, Zack let them take him and Cloud was able to scramble off to Midgar.

Things happen in Midgar, Cloud gets mind-controlled by Jenova anyway in Shinra tower, and everyone else runs and flees Midgar before Jenova has a chance to use Cloud to kill Aerith.

Cloud follows, they get out of Midgar, he stalks them on the cliffs...and runs into Vash and Knvies, who immediately clock that something's wrong. One Plant-encounter later, and Cloud is in control of himself again...with new Plant-based abilities to boot. Surprise! Turns out Jenova had a couple nephews she didn't know about.

Vash is understandably alarmed by this turn of events, and wants to help Cloud get his friend Zack back. Knives contemplates helping Jenova wipe out all humans off the planet, but decides against it when he realizes Jenova would no doubt attempt to assimilate him and Vash into her little hivemind situation. Having felt that once before...well, considering everything his sisters' memories were doing to him at the time, he's not keen on having a repeat. So cue him reluctantly assisting Vash and Cloud.

They meet up with the others, explain that Cloud is himself again, and fight their way across Gaia in an attempt to reach Jenova/Sephiroth and rescue Zack. Along the way, they run into SOLDIERs who've been similarly assimilated, and while Vash wants to save them all some are too far gone.

(Vincent and Chaos are going to be an...interesting encounter.)

I haven't figured out all of the rest of the plot points, but they eventually manage to catch and free Zack -- who is much more delighted at his Plant powers than Cloud is, even if his hair color freaks out Knives and Vash a bit too much -- and they take down Jenova before she can try to assimilate her nephews. Haven't decided yet if they succeed or fail in getting Sephiroth separated from his Plant-mother, but I haven't actually started actively writing this yet.

So...yeah. That's a current thought/outline of an idea that's bounced around in my head on and off in 2021.

And with Stampede reigniting some of my interest...well.

Either this or my "Vash gets followed by ghosts of his og anime and manga counterparts" is gonna be next on my to-write list.

You know, it's kinda funny.

I saw what was going on in Ep 12 with how Vash and Knives were fighting each other and those one wings tickled an idea that I played with briefly in October '21....

Might go back to play with it a little more -- at the very least take my OC out of the equation -- but we'll see. No promises. Although, I will say the core of the idea is that Jenova is a twisted, distant aunt-Plant of Vash and Knives, which makes things very interesting while they're on Gaia.

However, I've still got another Trigun fic that I could be working on....

[crockettmarcel]

Hello! Care to explain your AUs to me?

sure!! I have a Lot, so I'm just going to talk about the ones from this post

(all under the cut bc there's a lot to say lol)

picket fences is briefly talked about here, and is singer!sarah x crockett. she's been in the industry for a few years, and basically just wants out. it's too much stress, and she wants a normal-ish life (hence the name "picket fences"). she falls in love with crockett and is happier with him than she has been for years. but because it's me, there's a lot of angst involved for sarah

missing is my BABY! it was originally supposed to be a multichap fic but I'm rethinking that bc I'm struggling a lot with it lol. summary: sarah went missing in august 2017, and wasn't found until december 2021. I don't want to say too much, so I'll leave you with that :)

final girl is my own fun backstory for sarah. when she was in high school, she and her friends were targeted by a serial killer (idk if you've ever seen the show Scream but it's similar to that). she was the sole survivor - the final girl - and when it was all over, she changed her name and started over in a different town. then, ten years later, when she was a resident in Chicago, people around her started being murdered again. the playlist for it can be found here

the ghost au is one I haven't done much with for a while. it's set in season 3, after ava moved to Chicago. her apartment was Cheap, cheaper than any of the others in the block, but just as nice, so it seemed like a no brainer. except the reason why it was so cheap is that a med student had been murdered in it four years ago, and now no one wants to live there. also, it comes with a roommate - the ghost of the dead med student, sarah reese, who's determined for ava to solve her murder

tiny love is my other baby l love it SO much. sarah and crockett dated in med school, but they broke up when he moved to new orleans for his residency (and didn't tell her until he got his match that he wanted to leave Chicago). a few weeks later, she found out she was pregnant, then started dating ava. she decided to keep the baby, and a couple of weeks before christmas, olivia "lolly" reese was born. for the first six years of her life, it was just her and her moms. long story short, crockett was back in Chicago and dating ethan, and he was thrilled to find out he had a daughter. so now she has four parents (and a couple of years later two little sisters) and yeah. it's slightly angsty but really cute and I love it a lot

royalty!tiny love is ava and sarah as queens and lolly as the little princess. crockett (and later ethan) are her guards, and tbh that's about it really? there's not much of a plot but the vibes for this one are Good

as for how my aus work: they function on a request basis. all writing for them is in response to requests I get. the only exception is if I’m feeling particularly inspired to write a scene, or if I’m doing something like medtober, where I’m filling prompts specifically for the event. so, if you like a particular au, send requests and you’ll get to see more of it!

also, requests don’t have to be from a prompt list! if I’ve mentioned something that you want to see written out as a full fic, feel free to ask for that (eg “could you write about ava seeing sarah for the first time in the ghost au?”) I’m also happy to write a continuation of any fics that people like :)

[octoberland]

I posted 350 times in 2021

108 posts created (31%)

242 posts reblogged (69%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 2.2 posts.

I added 131 tags in 2021

#salem - 19 posts

#shoplocal - 17 posts

#salemmass - 16 posts

#salemmassachusetts - 15 posts

#loki - 13 posts

#eatlocal - 11 posts

#vegan - 11 posts

#halloween - 10 posts

#catsofinstagram - 10 posts

#cats - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 68 characters

#getting paid to write about fictional characters is honestly a dream

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Darcy Lewis/Loki, Darcy Lewis & Loki Characters: Darcy Lewis, Loki (Marvel) Additional Tags: Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Spanking, Tumblr Prompt, Fingerfucking, Hair-pulling, Loki catches feelings, Darcy Being Awesome Summary:

AU. Darcy accompanies Loki to the Stuttgart Museum as his date. Drinks are drunk, wagers are made, and bets are lost, resulting in a sore bottom and a touch of chaos. Now with more chapters.

So I did a thing last night.

8 notes • Posted 2021-06-30 21:33:59 GMT

#4

I think this is the first time in my fandom life I've ever been in an "anti" camp. I mean, I'm not going to tell you who to ship. But MAN that ship squicks me out big time. I have a near physical aversion to it.

And it honestly isn't about shipping him with anyone else. I've made lots of jokes about how my biggest Loki ship is him with his knives. Honestly, I didn't want him to ever have a love interest. Not because I don't think he deserves love. But because I think romance is a tired trope in superhero films/TV and comes across as lazy writing most times. I just always thought his character was more interesting without that.

Anyway, I digress.

11 notes • Posted 2021-07-15 05:30:22 GMT

#3

Chapters: 6/7 Fandom: Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Darcy Lewis/Loki Characters: Darcy Lewis, Loki (Marvel) Additional Tags: Darcy Lewis Smut Week, Sharing a Bed, Hair Washing, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Wet Dream, Kissing, Light Dom/sub, Love Bites Summary:

A collection of naughty ficlets based off Tumblr prompts for the 2013 Darcy Lewis Smut Week Challenge. This will be all Loki/Darcy and could be considered a companion piece to my story The Loneliest Girl In The World though you do not need to read that to enjoy this.

Updated with the biting prompt!

15 notes • Posted 2021-07-22 01:01:24 GMT

#2

Hey, so this is a super random long shot and go ahead and laugh but I do have (diagnosed) OCD so yeah. So by any chance does anyone have a link or archived list of the 2013 Darcy Lewis Smut Week challenge? I think it was @fuckyeahdarcylewis that posted it originally but I could be wrong. I filled five of the prompts but never finished and I've switched computers since then (duh) so don't have the list saved anymore. I tried Google to no avail. Help a girl out if you can?

17 notes • Posted 2021-07-07 01:06:56 GMT

#1

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones My rating: 5 of 5 stars My Heart Is a Chainsaw is a love letter to horror. To nights spent in darkened rooms with soda and bags of potato chips and blood drenched screams flickering across a tiny TV screen. It’s every final girl from Laurie to Nancy to Ripley, and yet it transcends them (as all good horror does) to give us a new heroine. One whose heart smells like gasoline and rips apart everything in its wake. Jade Daniels isn’t a final girl. She smokes, she’s rude, she’s destructive. Everything about her, from her shoe polish hair to her coveralls to her drunk Indian father screams I am not your final girl. I will not survive this. I cannot save you. And she’s okay with this. Because this is how things are. So when sh*t gets weird, when a new girl comes to town and bodies start piling up, Jade is there to school everyone on what comes next. Problem is, no one will listen so that prompts Jade to take action which leads her down a path she never expected. The beauty of this book is twofold: One is the sheer volume of both mainstream and obscure horror references. If you grew up eating horror cinema the way other kids ate candy you’re in luck. This book is a feast for all those brain cells randomly holding onto gory tidbits of information. It’s like a walk down memory lane if memory lane were paved with movie quotes and machetes and ghost girls and maybe even a killer bear. Two – and this is the really important part – is that it’s a book with heart, if you’ll pardon the pun. Jade’s story is a gut punch. Not once, not twice, but over and over again until the reader has no breath left. It’s a story that reminds us that lost girls deserve love and that goodness isn’t a formula you can tie neatly in a pretty bow. This story holds a mirror up to society and says: “Look at what you leave behind. Look at what you missed. What could you have done differently?” I really appreciate the perspective that Stephen Graham Jones gives us in this book. I feel like so much of horror (literary and cinematic) comes from such a narrow viewpoint of wealth and privilege that it’s refreshing to read something outside of those perceived norms. Not everyone lives in a nice house or has a nice family, and opportunity is most definitely not equal. In My Heart Is a Chainsaw we see some very real consequences of those inequalities. Along with a good body count. Because it wouldn’t be a slasher without a little metal and a lot of blood. View all my reviews

24 notes • Posted 2021-09-02 03:35:59 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[gronjon44]

Ok so thoughts on MK-2021

I was gonna make a longer more spoilery review but I'm gonna cut it short cause there's one big thing I wanna talk about (so let's bullet point

Kano is and always will be one of my favorite characters in the MK Franchise (with Reptile, Barakka, Noob Saibot, and Scorpion) His character felt like it should and while I originally would've wanted to see Karl Urban as Kano I do really like Josh Lawsons performance.

Lui Kang and Kung Lao were really fun to watch, Lui especially (I'm not fully familiar with Kung Lao so I won't talk about him too much other then the fact I think he's neat)

I'll kinda consider this a ⚠️⚠️SPOILER⚠️⚠️ so if you wanna skip this whole bullet point snd the next one after; The villains were all awesome in this film (Reptile was awesome to see quick as it may have been, Mileena was fucking AWESOME, Reiko and Nitarra were... there? (I don't know either of them so they were just kinda canon fodder to me), Kabal was cooler then I thought he'd be (though I wanted more)

Gorro was awesome to see but he felt... underused? I'll go more into detail at the end.

Jax was alright but I never knew much about him then and I still don't

Sonya Blade was fine until the end and she just kinda felt... crammed in? Like yeah yeah know she has more in the games and she had a presence in the original 95 film, and she was an integral part of the story all the way through till the end but then she *spolier *spoiler *spoiler* with *insert name here* and she just felt like a thematic paper weight at the end.

Scorpion and Sub Zero were FANTASTIC and i have no complaints with either (at least not directly)

Raiden was there and he was played by Tadanobu Asano (of Thor) and was a MUCH NEED improvement over Christopher Lambert

And then Cole Young...⚠️SPOLIER BTW⚠️

...

...

...

(I'm doing this in a smaller font to get everything I wanna say) I wanna like his character more I do, and i have nothing against Lewis Tan he's a phenomenal actor, but Cole Young is a weird character for this film.

Hes both underutalized and at the same time completely unnecessary to the plot.

Lewis Tan is the decendant of Hanzo Hasashi (Scorpion) after all of Hanzos family was murdered by Sub Zero, say for one orphaned daughter; throughout the film he's hyped to have this big connection to Scorpion (through glimpses of a Kunai surrounded by far to even Cole seeing Hanzo in visions) and later on we see that each champion has a special power, and Coles "power" is supposedly passed down to him by his familial ties to Scorpion.

Now, from that description I'm sure you'd think Cole would gain the Hellish abilities Scorpions known for, or even his retractable Kunai, but NO, instead he gets these wrapping all across his body that act as a sort of shield to protect him and absorb incoming damage (its basically the Black Panther suit)

He also has a set of Tonfas (one of which is bladed) that appear when he needs them

Now I should point out that early on in the film it's shown to the audience that Cole is a struggling boxer trying to support his family, and if you look you can see these wrapping across his body are reminiscent of the boxing wrappings he put on his ha ds prior to a fight. But here's the thing... WHAT DOES HIM BEING A BOXER HAVE TO DO WITH HIS TIES TO HANZO?

You can argue it shows us he's always had a connection to tournament fighting, and yeah that's valid, but it doesn't change the fact that he and Scorpion don't really share a connection.

He unlocks his armor while fighting Gorro who was sent to hunt both him and his family (which frankly is such a waste of Gorro on it's own but I'll get to that in a minute)

When we see Cole get hit in his armor it glows a Hellish red, similar to the fires of Scorpions Hell based powers, but that's as far as it goes and it shows that the armor has absolutely nothing to do with their connection

If you wanted these two to share a bond in their powers, why not have Cole dress in clothes inspired by Scorpion, and then have his powers be hell based or have him control a mystical Kunai, and maybe have the soul of Hanzo watch over him

And this ties into both of the fights that Cole takes part in (Gorro and Sub Zero)

His fight with Gorro is cool, but Gorro isn't the same menace as he was in 95; he's a goon for Shang Tsung and that's it (they refer to him as a prince but even then he's mostly just a lackey, similar to Sub Zero and Scorpion were in the 95 film) And ⚠️SPOLIER⚠️ Gorro gets fucking wrecked.

And even then there is no stakes between them, other then his family might die; these two don't know each other, they have no beef, hell to Cole I bet Gorro is just a big monster.

And this is where the missed opportunity was with Sub Zero; Sub Zero HAS history with Cole there IS a beef between them (even if Cole isn't fully aware of it) but there final fight is just kinda... meh.

Sub Zero and Cole have a full fight (Sub-Z using his ice powers and Cole with his armor and Tonfas) and throughout the fight it looks like Cole might lose; that is until he cuts himself on a Kunai Raiden gave him (it was the original Kunai that belonged to Hanzo when he died) and his blood beint spilled on that blade actually SUMMONS Hanzo FROM the depths of Hell to help win the fight.

They win, Sub Zero dies, Hanzo is laid to rest blah blah blah.

Now, all of that sounds like a REALLY AWESOME IDEA in writing.

The problem is that it goes LITTERALLY NOWHERE WHEN THEY USED IT

Up until this point there is no physical evidence that shows Cole is Hanzos decendant, hell you could argue that Lui Kang is his decendant and it'd make more sense.

Cole's entire arc has been nullified by the simple fact that there is no physical evidence to show the two are related, and this whole blood feud with Sub Zero is kinda useless.

Now I'd like to propose an alternative plot point to fix this if you'll bare with me

Again, another ⚠️⚠️⚠️MASSIVE SPOLIER⚠️⚠️⚠️

...

...

...

Shang Tsung kills Kung Lao in front of Lui Kang, basically setting off that entire arc like the 95 film. Now, here's the alternative I'd like to suggest.

Shang Tsung isn't the one to kill Kung Lao, Gorro is.

Gorro is ordered by Shang Tsung to kill Kung Lao after he ⚠️SPOLIER⚠️ kills Natarra.

And instead of killing off Gorro have him leave with Shang Tsung and the two return to Outworld and Lui Kang is left with a dead Kung Lao.

And to Parralell this, instead of Gorro fighting Cole, have a prelude fight between Cole and Sub Zero, one where Sub Zero actually DOES KILL Coles family (they didn't even die in the film so there)

Sub Zero can battle Cole, Cole can discover his powers, and Sub Zero (in a panic) can just fuckint destroy his whole house with his family inside by summoning a giant ice glacier inside the house.

This in turn adds more weight to the final fight between Sub Zero, Cole and Scorpion; Cole lost his family to Sub Zero, just like Hanzo did before him. And when Cole summons Scorpion in the climax it holds more weight because TWO GENERATIONS OF THE SHIRAI RYU CLAN avenging the deaths of their families in that instant.

And as for Lui Kang make him the main fighter of the ACTUAL TOURNAMENT (they don't even do the tournament in this film they just kinda talk about it) and have Lui battle Gorro for the Title of MK Champion.

Well... that was a long post. I think I'll end it here by saying that while i do have beefs with the film I still want to make it clear I don't hate jt, in fact I genuinely enjoy it.

I just... have some criticisms.

[readersoo]

I think I can do it

You know my first post in this app about my novel which had been rewrote for 3 times?

I think I can truly make a successful one on the third try!

Although I know it won't be as perfect as I imagined it to be and will eventually have some plot holes, it's only my first original work!

I didn't focus on my other 5 works, which only had the summary of the story, the name of the protagonist, and their skills.

I only focused on my first work since more than a year ago, even though I sometimes had this urge to just move on to another original work of mine.

I did the third rewrite since September 2021 and until this October, I was able to write four chapters that satisfied me.

So like yeah, only four....

No three digit numbers or anything....

BUT IT'S OKAY!

It's already good enough, despite having some classes and school works to stress on for 24/7.

So when I finally finish my novel and make a post in giving the link here, I hope you'll support me when the day comes.

(And I hope that I can keep my word about this...)

[nocturnal-nexu]

Thank you, once again, @only-lonely-stars , for feeding me Colania content! They are just the sweetest!!!! Aarrghhhhh!!! My heart can't take the cuteness!!! I love how you write them. In all the stories I've read by you, they just feel so... them. Like this is legit how I imagine their relationship. Very in character, very cute, very fluffy, some of fave things in stories!

A Good Day

Oneshot – (FFN) (AO3)

Summary:

Cole has had a good day, and now he's ending it with a nice walk down the beach, hand-in-hand with his girlfriend Vania. Nothing less, nothing more; just a good day.

As he walked with Vania, Cole found himself a happy man, pleased by how the day was progressing. It had been a simple day together, spent mostly in pursuit of relaxation. Now they were taking a quiet stroll down the beach in the evening, and he was nothing if not satisfied; today was a good day to be hand-in-hand with his girlfriend, and to enjoy the ocean.

As they went, he smiled at Vania, and she smiled back. "What are you thinking about, Cole? You're being so quiet."

He shrugged. "Not much."

"Really?" She laughed the faintest bit. "You have that 'I'm thinking about something I like' face on right now."

He chuckled at that. "Well, okay. I'm kind of thinking about how I've enjoyed today. It's just been good."

"You've had a good day?"

"I have."

"…Good." She smiled a little more, squeezing his hand as she swung their joined ones between them. "I have too."

"Oh yeah? What did you like about it?"

"I liked spending it with you." She looked out across the water contemplatively. "I haven't had a full day off in a really long time. It's been busy in Shintaro recently. Getting to spend it with you was the best way I could've unwound."

"Really?" A warm feeling of appreciation filled him. "That really means a lot to me. You know that, angel eyes?"

"I know. That's why I said it!" She looked back at him and smiled. "You mean a lot to me, Cole."

He chuckled. "You mean a lot to me, too."

"Good."

She strayed a little closer, bumping his shoulder. He grinned, and when she tried to stray away, he pulled her in again. She laughed, easily coming to stand in his personal space as they came to a stop. "What is it?"

"What, can't I have fun with you?" He grinned, putting a hand on her waist. "Dance with me."

"There's no music…" She put her free hand on his shoulder even as she said it, not protesting.

"Who needs music? We don't." He led her in a simple box step, waltzing to the sound of the ocean shore.

She giggled, playing along. "Fine, but if I miss the rhythm and step on your toes, it's not my fault."

They waltzed for a few moments, with Cole humming some out-of-tune waltz, before he spun her. She smiled, turning in the sand, and returning to his arms; he then pulled her even closer, and too close to dance.

She looked up into his eyes, admiring them. "How'd you get so cute, handsome?"

He chuckled. "I don't know. I guess I just did."

"Well, you are awfully cute. It's pretty outrageous."

"Shouldn't that be my line?" He looked down at her, transfixed. "You're so beautiful."

She blushed a little, laying her head against his chest. "Most people don't say that."

He let his arm on her waist encircle her, pulling her close. "Well I've got mixed feelings about that. You are gorgeous, but forgive me if I don't want just anyone complimenting you, y'know?"

She giggled, holding him tightly. "I forgive you. You're the only one I want to get that kind of compliment from; I've liked you for forever, anyway."

He chuckled. "You know, I think I can say the same. Having you is the second best thing to ever happen to me."

That gave her enough pause to look up at him. "Second best? What's the first?"

"Meeting you, of course." He winked at her. "Can't have you without knowing you, sweetheart."

"Oh, you dork!" She laughed, reaching up to pull him into a kiss. "Leave it to you to use a cheesy pickup line."

"Hey, I've got plenty more." He squeezed her tight, feeling satisfied. "After all, angels like you don't fall from heaven very often."

"Isn't that line supposed to be a question?"

"I don't need to ask for an answer I've already got, angel eyes." He grinned. "You're a certified angel."

She giggled. "Fine. If I'm an angel, then you're a knight, I think." She looked up at him appreciatively. "A knight in shining armor."

He smiled down at her. "I don't wear armor very often, you know."

"Neither do knights. Just when they're protecting, and you wore it when you protected my kingdom– my country and my people. I'd say that makes you a knight; I could even officially knight you, if you wanted."

"Really?" He chuckled. "You could, but what would be the point?"

"Oh, I don't know. A title, a place in Shintaran nobility. If you want it, it's yours."

"Well… if I don't need it to have you, then I don't know if I want it. I just want you, sweetheart."

"Are you sure?"

He almost laughed again, looking into her pretty doe eyes. "I'm sure. I'll let you know if I change my mind."

"Fine." She smiled at him. "I'll show you my thanks in a different way, like I have already."

He smiled back. "Please do. I'm all yours."

"Yes, you are. Now kiss me."

"As you wish." He did as she asked, sweet and gentle. This had to be the best part of the day so far…

As the water washed up and splashed their bare feet, Vania separated from him, smiling sweetly at him. "I'm so happy to have you, Cole. You really are my dream come true."

He smiled back, seeing the ocean in her eyes. "I could say the same about you, Queenie."

"You can if you want." She rested her head against his chest again, and for the millionth time, Cole was struck by just how much smaller she was compared to him. "I'm nothing special, but if you want me, I am yours."

"Of course you're something special, Vania. You're Vania, the queen of Shintaro… and you're my girlfriend. That's something special."

"I suppose it is," she murmured, hiding a smile.

He squeezed her tight. "I mean it. You're special, and don't forget it."

She giggled a little. "Okay. I won't forget."

"Good." He smiled, letting up the pressure a little. "You're the reason today's been so good, so don't forget that either."

"I won't." She looked up at him and smiled wider. "I won't forget one bit."

"Good."

Cole took a deep breath, enjoying the salt scent of the ocean. A good end to a good day, with good company… with Vania, any day was good, but today especially. He was happy.

Wasn't that a nice thing to be?