#you don't need to be any kind of writer to join! it's for everyone!

[thelaurenshippen]

Sam is a wonderful person and writer and if you're not following her already, I highly suggest you do so! she's been writing lots of great posts about what's going on with the WGA for those of you who are curious and just TV writing in general! I learn so much from her all the time <3

and because I know a lot of podcasters/hopefuls follow me, if you haven't looked into the WGA Audio Alliance yet, please do so! despite working in scripted fiction for nearly a decade, I'm not a member of the WGA because most audio fiction shops don't work with the union (yet). but I have been working alongside really wonderful people over at WGA East to start to unionize the space and obviously we're all in full solidarity with the strike authorization.

I was on a plane this weekend, and I was chatting with the woman sitting next to me about an upcoming writer’s strike. “Do you really think you’re mistreated?” she asked me.

That’s not the issue at stake here. Let me tell you a little something about “minirooms.”

Minirooms are a way of television writing that is becoming more common. Basically, the studio will hire a small group of writers, 3-6 or so, and employ them for just a few weeks. In those few weeks (six weeks seem to be common), they have to hurriedly figure out as much about the show as they can – characters, plots, outlines for episodes. Then at the end of the six weeks, all the writers are fired except for the showrunner, who has to write the entire series themselves based on the outlines.

This is not a widespread practice, but it has become more common over the past couple of years. Studios like it because instead of paying for a full room for the full length of the show, they just pay a handful of writers for a fraction of the show. It’s not a huge problem now, but the WGA only gets the chance to make rules every three years – if we let this go for another three years and it becomes the norm? That would be DEVASTATING for the tv writing profession.

Do I feel like I’m mistreated? No. I LOVE my job! But in a world of minirooms, there is no place for someone like me – a mid-level writer who makes a decent living working on someone else’s show (I’d like to be a showrunner someday, but for now I feel like I still have a lot to learn, and my husband and I are trying to start a family so I like not being support rather than the leader for now). In a miniroom, there are only two levels – the handful of glorified idea people who are already scrambling to find their next show because you can’t make a decent living off of one six-week job (and since there are fewer people per room, there are fewer jobs overall, even at the six-week amount), and the overworked, stressed as fuck showrunner who is going to have to write the entire thing themselves. Besides being bad for me making a living, I also just think it’s plain bad for television as an art form – what I like about TV is how adaptable it is, how a whole group of people come together to tell a story better than what any of them could do on their own. Plus the showrunner can’t do their best work under all of that pressure, episode after episode, back to back. Minirooms just…fucking suck.

The WGA is proposing two things to fix this – a rule that writers have to be employed for the entire show, and a rule tying the number of writers in the room to the number of episodes you have per season. I don’t think it’s unreasonable. It’s the way shows have run since the advent of television. It’s only in the last couple of years that this has become a new thing. It’s exploitative. It squeezes out everyone except showrunners and people who have the financial means to work only a few months a year. It makes television worse. And that is the issue in this strike that means everything to me, and that is why I voted yes on the strike authorization vote.

[inaconstantstateofchange]

Who Builds Theseus' Ship?

This ties in to a greater discussion about Larian's changes to the game post-Full Release, and whether you consider those changes to be a good thing or a bad thing. Personally speaking, the quality-of-life and gameplay mechanics improvements were appreciated, while the direct changes to characters and especially characterization were not so much.

In such discussions, I often see people downplaying the actual changes to characterization that have been made thus far as "minor" things, but I often see one of the most glaring examples of a characterization change left out, because so many people aren't even aware of it ever happening:

Halsin.

For those who don't know, if you were romancing Halsin at the time of the original full release, and for almost four months afterward, if you took him with you to Act 3's orgy scene in Sharess's Caress, he would open up about a situation in his distant past. He would tell you about how he had briefly been "something between guest, prisoner, and consort" in a drow House, and been kept there for three years before escaping.

He stated that this was something that happened "a long time ago", when he was "a foolhardy young druid", which would mean it would likely have been between ages 100 and 245 — or at minimum 105 years ago, and at (likely) maximum 250 years ago. He closed the discussion with a line that really struck me, and that gave me such an appreciation for his character, and for the writers who had created it:

The passage of time has a strange way of polishing even the most arduous of memories into precious keepsakes.

As someone in their late-20s, with a number of traumatic events in my past, this resonated so much both with my experience of those events – once harrowing and haunting, now just simple happenings that do not affect me the way they once did – and as an inspirational message, that hurt would not necessarily linger forever.

Not only that, I really valued the insight it gave into Halsin's personality, further showing him to be someone who was deeply complex and meditative, always looking for meaning and something to take away or learn from any experience. It also served to showcase the likely reality of the relationship elves and druids both would have to the concepts of time and memory. (Another example of this is the experience of Shadowheart's father compared to her mother at the hands of the Sharrans.)

I started playing the game almost immediately upon its release in August, and was intrigued by Halsin from the start. He was someone who was kind and heartfelt, but also very settled in himself and with a simultaneously rigid and very flexible moral code. It was that complexity that drew me to him, and I appreciated the inclusion of a character distinct from the Origin companions, all at close to the lowest point of their lives.

It was to my surprise to find that this appreciation for his character and perspective on his Act 3 revelation was not unanimous. As it turned out, there was a vocal group of people claiming that this writing was problematic, and that Halsin clearly didn't even realize he was actually traumatized, and that Larian needed to fix it. Not everyone joining in with this crusade had even played the game.

And, ultimately, in a pattern they have continued to follow, Larian responded. They fixed it. At the end of November, as part of Patch 5, they uploaded an edited version of the scene with new dialogue, where the player could express this "reality" to Halsin, in one of the most gallingly patronizing statements I've ever seen.

Sounds traumatic. You may need to reflect on that.

(If someone said this to me after I had opened up to them about my trauma and my experience of it to them, we would not be maintaining a cordial relationship afterward.)

Halsin's new response to these dialogue options is a cringing, self-deprecating cascade of how the player is of course right, and he should have known better, and time could "prove to be a trickster on one's recollections" and that perhaps he had "lost perspective".

Quite frankly, it is a completely different character answering, and an almost directly opposing overall message about the role of time in healing, and the path forward when it comes to trauma. No more "one day these events will not hurt to recall the way they do now". In its stead: "only healing that looks a specific way and follows a specific path is acceptable - anything else and you are simply a poor fool lying to yourself."

The following quote is from a comment left on a video of Halsin's original dialogue in that scene, before the changes, and is just one example of how much that representation meant to more than just me to see:

That said, Halsin is trauma recovery goals for me absolutely. Being able to remember without actually being triggered? Being able to fully and freely engage HOW ID LIKE TO instead of being fettered by trauma responses? Goals. I don’t know if I’ll ever get there 100%, we don’t get elven lifetimes irl, but his level of healing brings me hope.

Ultimately, this post is not meant to argue that you should agree with me that one is better than the other. More so, I want to highlight that this existed — for many people, this was their experience of events and characters, and that is not so easily redacted. And I also want to just state, for the record, that Larian's way of approaching narrative and characterization changes to their full-release game has been incredibly frustrating. I did not agree, in August, to play an Early Access game with the inherent understanding that any potential narrative aspect might change at any time. I purchased a full-release game, and immersed myself in the story and the characters, to get to know them as the writers had originally presented.

And when Larian makes these changes based on fan feedback, they are explicitly making decisions about which fans matter, and specifically, which fans matter most. Rather than allowing everyone to experience the story they decided to tell, and draw from it what they take away, and let that spark discussion and engagement, they made the decision to defer to some fans over others, and prioritize their experience of the narrative — something that, no matter how well-intended, is always going to leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

[timdrakesbussy]

Some of my™ Stardew Valley HCs

TW: mention of miscarriages

Emily listens to all kinds of music but despite not looking like it, she mainly listens to heavy metal. It's one of the thing that brought her and Shane's early friendship together. And because of that, Haley shares a bit of fondness to the genre that she enjoys Sam's band (but don't tell him. this will mess with her rep).

Sam is pretty educated when it comes to literature, and English was always his favorite subject when he was in school. He's the main songwriter of his band and while Sebastian could also write, Sam manages to be witty and clever with his lyrics. Other than storytelling through song, he loves his double and triple entendres. Suffice to say, he could get along pretty well with Elliott and it's one of the reason why Penny loves hanging out with him.

Ever since she was a child, Maru thinks that Sebastian is really cool and she wants to be like him one way or another. Of course, she still wants to be herself but Sebastian is just so damn cool. During her time at school, she made herself learn how to ride a motorcycle using a friend's bike because she knew Sebastian would never lend her his.

Elliott was from an esteemed family from a foreign land (just Stardew's equivalent of Europe tbh) and was a licensed lawyer until he stopped to be a writer. Needless to say, his family are not happy by this sudden decision. Not that he needs their opinion on the matter, he was pushing thirty when he made this decision.

Harvey was an ER doctor in Zuzu City until the incident™. He knew that with his line of job, he can't save everyone. However, he can't help but feel guilty and terrible afterwards. Which is why he has routine check-ups for the villagers, and if they can't visit him, then he will visit them. You cannot escape him because he will find you (affectionate).

Both Haley and Alex believed that at one point, they actually liked each other romantically. But when they had their first kiss together, they realized that they weren't meant to be. They have this deep platonic connection that even Emily doesn't really understand, but she's happy that her baby sister have someone she can rely on and trust for all her life.

Robin takes pride in her name even if her parents weren't supportive over her work at first. She have Sebastian share her last name, and when she married Demetrius, she hyphenated their surnames instead of just taking his.

Demetrius and Sebastian were close when he was a child. Sebastian was an overly curious and precocious boy and Demetrius was happy that he could share something with his stepson, their interest in biology. Although Sebastian was squeamish and even almost cried when he dissected a frog, he managed to calm him down. And even after their mutual parting as Sebastian grew older, he's the only one who knows what Demetrius' favorite animal is: moonlight jellies.

Jodi and Kent were teenagers when they had Sam. Jodi came from a highly conservative and religious family so they forced them to marry after Jodi gave them the news that she was pregnant. As they were teens, Kent took any odd jobs he could get in the city, from a corner-store clerk to a garbage man. Until he got offered into joining the military.

Pam was a trucker before she became a bus driver. In fact, she met Penny's dad in the business. But in her childhood, she was in multiple beauty pageants and even into her adulthood, she knows how to hairdo. She helped Penny with her hair since she was a child and hope that she could still do Penny's hair in her future wedding, whenever that is.

Alex's mom had multiple miscarriages before she have him, and that was into her ten years of marriage. She was beyond ecstatic with his birth that she immediately called her aging parents who also shared her happiness, they then invited her to the Valley a few days after Alex was born so they could celebrate in the Mullners' house. Lewis heard about the news and asked if they wanted to celebrate in the Saloon in which Evelyn denied because Clara wanted a small celebration with just her family.

Abigail is the only marriageable candidate to be born in the Valley. Sebastian moved in not long after Maru was born so he was close to her as he was the only child her age at that time. Penny moved in when she was seven with her parents until her dad left when she was ten. Haley moved in when she was ten years old while Sam moved in a year after. Alex often visited his grandparents but he officially moved in after Clara's death in his pre-teens. The rest moved in as adults.

Similarly to Alex, Shane only ever visited and stayed for a while in the Valley until he needed to take care of Jas. He wasn't close with his parents and they never tried to be anyways, Marnie is always the mother figure he has. So other than Marnie and Jas, the only people he considered as his family was Jas' parents. Her father, whom he met and befriended in college (as he was his roommate, before they mutually dropped out) and her mother whom he wasn't very close to at first until they both find comradery in bullying (affectionate) Jas' father.

[leafofkudzu]

Greetings and salutations from a summer in full swing, everyone! I hope the season is treating you well, because the first Saturday of a new month is this Saturday, and the festival gods have blessed us with the perfect venue for yet another art party hosted by my guild, [VS] Verdant Shield! That's right, finally the cards have aligned for us to visit one of my favorite locations in game - the Labyrinthine Cliffs!

For those who aren’t familiar with art parties, they’re a concept carried over from Final Fantasy XIV - in-game get-togethers for artists/writers/creatives of all types to hang out, chat, and create together! Get your favorite character/look together, head to the location, find someone that catches your eye, and create! Afterwards, everyone posts their creations in a shared tag (ours is #VSArtParty) so others can see, interact, and share! Tl;dr: the ‘goal’ of an art party isn’t to be drawn, but to draw others, and share with the community!

Time and /squadjoin information is under the cut, but will also be posted again via reblogs as the squads go up on the day of the party!

Location Information:

No picture needed because the Labyrinthine Cliffs are unforgettable! When the Festival of the Four Winds started on Tuesday everyone should have got an invitation to the festival grounds, and if you didn't you likely have an old one lying around, or can find a portal to the locations from just about any major location you can think of! Head to the Cliffs and look for my tag down by the water - there's a good chance I'll be on the NPC boat that cruises around, or lounging on the beach awaiting the next treasure hunt with everyone!

Time & Squad Details:

As we always do, we’ll be having two parties - one on EU servers and one on NA ones - with an hour break in between. People tend to arrive early and/or jump between accounts as soon as the break comes up, so don’t be surprised to see tags and announcements going up ahead of schedule!

The first party will be on EU servers and begin at 9pm Central European Summer Time (aka 3pm Eastern Daylight Time or 5 hours before in-game reset). I’ll be hosting on my EU alt account, so to join either /squadjoin or whisper Ashelin Falstaff for an invite.

The second party will be on NA servers and begin at 7pm Eastern Daylight Time (aka 1am Central European Summer Time or an hour before in-game reset). I’ll be hosting this one on my main account and may swap characters a few times, but a safe bet is to either /squadjoin or whisper Teekzi for an invite - just don't be surprised if you get a response from a different character name!

Closing Words:

As is clearly evidenced by this post being in the right format, I did mostly cobble my computer back together after last month's implosion! I wanted to wait until the Festival was announced in order to confirm that it would be active for this month, and then IRL got in the way again (but in a pleasant way this time don't worry), so I'm a smidge delayed. But we got there! Thank you for rolling with my weird Situations these past few months - hosting these events is a joy I will continue to prioritize as long as you all continue to come by and make them awesome! Keep being kind to each other, and I'll see you all on Saturday! ♥

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

11/05-06/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys Darby; Zayre Ferrer; Con O'Neill; Samba Schutte; Kristian Nairn; David Fane; Anapela Polataivao; Dominic Burgess; Rory Kinnear; Hugo Pierre Martin; Fan Spotlight: 35K on AO3; Our Flag Means Fanfiction; Love Notes: David Jenkins; Rosie Carnahan Darby; Con O'Neill; Samba Schutte; Ruibo Qian; Vico Ortiz; Dominic Burgess; Resources;

Hey crew... doing things a bit different. There was so much love sent by the cast and crew I'm going to put them all in the love notes section and highlight some other stuff going on in the main areas.

= Rhys Darby =

Sneaky Rhys pic from the set of Little Lorraine!

Source: Instagram

= Zayre Ferrer =

We don't see our beloved writer, Zayre Ferrer come out too often, but they popped out to share this wisdom with us. they recommend reading "Let's Move The Needle: An activism handbook for Artists, Crafters, Creatives, and Makers" by Shanon Downey. I've already got my audible copy, there's physical, digital, and audio available.

Source: Zayre Ferrer's Instagram

= Con O'Neill =

The first of some love notes/pics from Con to help us all cope!

Source: Con's Instagram

= Samba Schutte =

Samba, our BTS Angel was kind enough to try and keep our spirits up on the night of the election and he brought us this BTS! Need a transcript? You can visit here.

Source: Samba's Twitter

= Kristian Nairn =

Kristian is joining The Republic Of Pirates on November 22-24 in Heathrow UK! For more info, visit www.starfury.co.uk!

Source: Kristian's Instagram

= David Fane =

David Derrick Jr (Co Director of Moana 2) - sharing love for David <3!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Coconet TV (@thecoconettv)

Souce: David Fane's Instagram

= Anapela Polataivao =

Auntie's film Tinā is now an official selection for the PERTH Festival!

Source: Tinā the Film

= Dominic Burgess =

Dominic is once again blessing us with cat content <3

Source: Dominic's Twitter

= Rory Kinnear =

Our dear Nigel and Chauncey Badminton was recently out performing at White Rabbit/Black Rabbit!

Source: Lambert Jackson Production's Instagram

Also, some of our crewmates at the show got to meet Rory! NicNacN00 and Trixn_Treats on twitter were kind enough to allow me share this-- thanks you two!!

Source: NikNakN00's Twitter

= Hugo Pierre Martin =

Our fabulous Valet and fellow crewmate, Hugo left twitter! Wanna stay in touch? Visit his Instagram or His Spotify Work

Source: Hugo's Insta

== Fan Spotlight ==

= A03 hitting 35K =

So I could have sworn I shared this before but I couldn't find it, so just in case, here it is again! Great job everyone 35K fics under the OFMD TV Tag!

Source: @ramsaybaggins Twitter!

= Our Flag Means Fanfiction =

Our friends over at Our Flag Means Fanfiction wanted to remind us of this particular episode. Check it out on Spotify.

Source: Our Flag Means Fanfiction Instagram

== Love Notes ==

Love Notes are going to be a bit different tonight. So much of the cast sent love so I wanted to share them here. I am not going to be able to say anything more than what they've said, but I want you to know this. I know you're all hurting so much. You have every right to be angry and frustrated, and scared. Take some time to yourself. Get some rest, create something, drink water, take your meds. Fall back on others for help. You mean so very much to so many of us, and we will feel the loss of any single spark of you so profoundly. You are wonderful and worthy of this life, so please live out of spite if you have to-- but please don't leave us. We'll figure this out, and we'll fight what's coming, and we'll fucking win. I'm including some resources under the love notes for mental health, activism, and support lines. Please feel free to share more if you have them. We love you crew. We love you, and we care what happens to you, and we will link our arms and fight for you. Feel your fear and despair today, maybe even for a week or so, but come back refreshed, and rested, and know we're here waiting, and fighting with/for you. We will make it through this together.

= David Jenkins =

Source: David Jenkins Instagram

= Rosie Carnahan Darby =

Source: Rosie's Twitter

= Con O'Neill =

Source: Con's Insta

= Samba Schutte =

Source: Samba's Insta

= Ruibo Qian =

Source: Ruibo's Insta

= Vico Ortiz =

Source: Vico's Twitter / Black Liturgies Instagram

= Dominic Burgess =

Source: Dominic's Twitter

= Fandom Love =

Harold's Haunt and @ringasunn, sent you all some love. If you're in the Pittsburgh area, please join them at Harold's Haunt at 6pm ET.

Source: Harold's Haunt Instagram

Our crewmate @smudgeandfrank sent some love notes as well <3

Source: Smudge & Frank's Instagram

== Resources ==

Support:

Source: Human Rights Campaign

Source: OnTheDriftInTheTardis

How to Help:

How to Avoid Burnout w/Activism

Activism Handbook Recommended by Zayre Ferrer

HRT Resources

Trans Resources: Applying for a Passport

[bonefall]

Maybe i just joined the fandom space way later than everyone else, but i swear to god the WaCa fandom is only this up in arms about how "ugly" and "deformed" and "disgusting" Moonpaw is/will be as a result of incest because she is confirmed to be a chimera.

I never saw this same kind of behavior when Graystripes parents were mistakenly made siblings. Nor with Ashfur and Squirrelflight, even after the fandom pointed out that theyre half-uncle and niece. I didnt see it with Fernsong and Ivypool. I didnt see it with Birchfall and Whitewing. I didnt see it with Dewnose and Sorrelstripe.

"Maybe its because theyre first cousins?" But no, because Dustpelt and Ferncloud are uncle and niece, directly related to Robinwing.

I believe the fandom only cares about the fact the parents are related here because in their mind it gives them "an excuse" to be disgusting about her chimerism. With any other characters, it's just another instance of the writers being incompetent. With Moonpaw, "it's why she's so fucked up".

Yes, they hate her because she's a result of an incest, but I'm starting to become convinced they're only this vocal about it because of how she looks. They don't truly care she's inbred, they only care that they have "a good reason" to be ableist.

This being said as a victim of incestual abuse. Cousin and cousin, just like Thriftear and Bayshine.

Is this a bad take? Am I grasping at straws? Is this just an effect of avoiding the fandom for so long? SOS

You're not grasping at straws. I think you're right on the money, honestly.

Something a lot of people don't seem to understand is that a lot of bigotry is not overt. Ableists don't usually run around saying they want all disabled people to be thrown off cliffs (when they get to that point we're in SERIOUS danger), but they DO grab your wheelchair's handles, or speak over you when you're stuttering, or assume you're stupid or dangerous. It's usually implicit biases, and structural inequality.

This is why humor is so good at revealing these internal biases. You may not believe you're classist, you might have friends from Alabama, or Durham, or Wales, but what accent do you give your "stupid" character if you're telling a story? Why are the accents of "poor" regions associated with low intelligence?

So to bring it around-- why did we see the spike in "jokes" about "ugly inbreeds" for our very first character with a confirmed genetic condition?

I've been in and around this fandom since 2008, and I've NEVER seen another character get talked about like this. Mind you, Graystripe was the child of a sister and a brother for a LONG time, too, from 2009 to 2016 (maybe even later, I don't remember exactly when the modern tree was released). And no one did it with Bristlefrost, either, in spite of there being a pretty huge uproar about her parents being distantly related.

No one else. Just the chimera. "No wonder she looks like that" and "here she is with a hapsburg jaw" and "she'd be so slurs she'd be icky."

Characters without disability, no congenital conditions, nothing = "Ugh damn writers and their incompetence strikes again. God they need to get some fresh blood in here"

(moonpaw) = "EWW NO WONDER!! WHEN WILL THE GENE POOL BE BLEACHED"

There's also the incredible irony of the fact that like. moonpaw has a common tortie fur pattern and heterochromia. you don't even need to show an ableist an actual congenital condition, you can suggest a normal face is disabled and they will lose their minds. Bigotry rots your brain.

Also, just, as a closing note, as usual the bigot is incorrect. Chimerism and inbreeding have literally nothing to do with each other. There is no link between chimerism and inbreeding. they are once again confusing chimerism and mosaicism and trying to whine It's Just Biology because you told them their joke wasn't funny.

[avatricebigbang]

The AvaTrice Big Bang Returns!

We're back for hopefully another amazing year of the AvaTrice Big Bang!!!

For those of you who don't know what this event is, writers will each pair up with an artist to work together to create a piece around the same prompt and then post at the same time!

The event is open to writers of both fanfiction and social media AUs and to both artists of any kind and animators. There is no requirement for skill, you just need to be able to commit to producing a complete piece.

Curious to know more? Check out our carrd to read all about the event! It includes the rules, the schedule, and a FAQ!

Changes!

There are a few changes to how the event will run this year that we want to go over as well for those of you who participated last year.

First off, Sign Ups are going to open immediately instead of after a few weeks. (The link to the sign ups will be posted shortly after this post.)

Secondly, joining the discord server for the event is now mandatory to make sure everyone has a way to contact everyone else easily. However, along with this, we're also now opening the discord server up to people who just want to spectate the event and hang out. (The link to the discord server will be posted shortly after this post.)

Third, while the rules stated that you couldn't participate in the event this year if you dropped out past a certain point last year, that restriction is now completely gone. Anyone can join! Fourth, you can now join the event as both a writer and an artist!

There are a few more changes as well, but they can all be found on the carrd or in the discord server!

[mcytblrescape]

Welcome to the Escape Room!

Hello, and welcome to the MCYTblr Escape Room Event, run by @edgarallanpoestan and @patorucho! This is an event where you follow clues and fulfill prompts with a team, in order to escape and complete the challenge.

Interested? Our current stage of running/creation is below, as well as more information about the event itself!

Discord

AO3 Collection

Our current stage of running/creation: Interest Checks!

Our next stage of running/creation: Sign-ups!

Schedule

-> Signups: October 19, 2024 12:00 am CST - November 30, 2024 11:59 pm CST

-> Team Assignments: By December 14, 2024

-> First Room Opens: January 5, 2025 12:00 am CST

-> Event Ends: March 15, 2025 11:59 pm CST

(Below is a rough breakdown of rooms; NOT necessary to stick to this schedule. Each new room opens once you complete the previous room, the only strict deadlines are those above)

-> Room One: January 5, 2025 12:00 am CST - January 18, 2025 11:59 pm CST

-> Room Two: January 19, 2025 12:00 am CST - February 1, 2025 11:59 pm CST

-> Room Three: February 2, 2025 12:00 am CST - February 15, 2025 11:59 pm CST

-> Room Four: February 16, 2025 12:00 am CST - March 1, 2025 11:59 pm CST

-> Room Five: March 2, 2025 12:00 am CST - March 15, 2025 11:59 pm CST

Rules

-> As per Tumblr and Discord Terms of Service, all participants must be 13 or older at the time of sign-ups, no exceptions

-> You must join our Discord. If that is an issue, contact a mod, and we will try to figure out a workaround, but you must be present in the server in some way

-> Show all other participants respect and consideration. You will be on different teams, but you are not against each other. Help out your fellow escapees, and be kind to everyone!

-> Work with your teammates, make sure to contribute! We understand if something comes up, real life should always be your first priority. When possible, please at least give a heads-up to your team

-> Absolutely no AI generated content

FAQ

What is the Escape Room Event? How does it work?

-> All teams are given a clue to start out. These clues will lead the team to a prompt. If you get stuck don't worry! Teams will be allowed to vote on hints. There are 5 rooms to solve, and for each room "escaped", your team is given the aforementioned prompt to create for. These can be created a few different ways: every person in the team takes a prompt to fulfill (or, each person creates one or two full pieces, depending on team size, throughout the course of the event); all team members work together to fulfill every prompt (or, each person contributes to each prompt! A webweave made with multiple people looking for content, while others are writing drabbles or doodling something to include, multiple artists working on the same art piece, one fic broken up into multiple parts for each writer, the ideas are endless); or any other combination your team would like to try, as long as everyone is participating! There is no penalty to not finishing all the rooms, this is all for fun!

How do I participate?

-> Fill out our sign-up form, and join our Discord, which is linked above the cut! This is where we will be sending most of our announcements and information, so this is required to participate. You are free to join using a throwaway or sock account, and you do not need to talk -- this is for ease of access on our end, especially if we need to reach out to anyone for any reason.

How do I join a team?

-> Teams will be randomly selected! If there is anyone you specifically do not want to be teamed with, please let a mod know privately

Is AO3 posting required?

-> You are not required to post onto AO3, but we will have a collection available for anyone who would like to!

[crazystargirl]

hi! can I request that u write something that has to due with fem!reader who works at the local movie theater and ethan met her when going to see a movie bc shes a cashier or something and he becomes obsessed with her and starts to show up all the time to watch her and learns her schedule by heart? the she begins to notice but thinks it's really cute and when she finally mentions it, they exchange numbers and go out and stuff?

lots of love, lexie <3

lil movie stalker ♥︎

pairing ♥︎ - ethan landry x reader, ethan landry x fem!reader

word count ♥︎ - 0.9k!

a/n ♥︎ - HELP THE ENDING SOUNDS SO SHITTY AND CHEESY, AND THE TITLE I COULDNT FIGURE OUT ANYTHING GOOD FOR BUT ANYWAYSSSSS, lexie i am so sorry it took so long to write this, i started writing this but ended up stopping due to writers block but here it is! Also kae i promise im working on yours now!!

Ethan had first spotted you when the friend group had dragged him to go see a movie that they had all been wanting to see in theaters. He thought seeing a movie in theaters was kind of dumb since why pay extra and buy snacks and drinks when you can just wait for it to come out and watch it at home or get it illegally. 

It wasn't as bad as having to go to one of those frat parties Chad dragged him to but it was a movie he didn't want to go watch. At least seeing you made it bearable. 

You were gorgeous to say the least. Ethan is pretty sure he's seen you somewhere other than here before.

"Hey isn't that the girl from our english class?" Chad asked Tara, with a nudge to the shoulder.

"Yeah I think she is!" Tara replied.

"Isn't she also dating that idiot jock who wanted to fight you Chad?" Mindy asked, leaning over to join into the conversation.

Ethan frowned at hearing this until Tara said something else.

"No that's a rumor I think, the jock, Steve I think, is dating that idiotic airhead."

"Oh yeah! Y/n, i think that's her name is single or something."

Sam gasps dramatically and looked back at Chad, "You better not be planning to take her out because if you break Tara's heart, I will go Billy Loomis on you."

Everyone laughed and Chad put on a shocked face as they walked up to the ticket booth to get the tickets. Sam bought the tickets and Tara, Mindy, and Ethan went to the concession stand to buy popcorn and drinks.

"Hey y/n! I didn't know you worked here!" Tara said with a bright smile

You looked at her and grinned, "Yeah! I work here part time afterschool and on the weekends cause I'm trying to be more independent"

"Ohhh makes sense, maybe I should get a part time job too, to help Sam out."

"Please don't, then Sam will feel like she's not needed," Quinn said, coming up behind Tara with Sam and Chad. 

"Hi Sam, Quinn, Chad, and boy I do not know" you said looking at Ethan, not noticing him before.

Chad came up next to Ethan and put an arm around him, "This is my best man, Ethan Landry, I don't think you guys have any classes together right?"

"I don't think we do but it's nice to meet you anyway." Ethan said with a smile.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too! Alright guys you better order now since there's a line waiting behind yall"

The group ordered and you gave them their food and drinks and waved goodbye to them. Little did you know that this wasn't going to be the last time you saw Ethan, especially not with the way he looked at you while leaving.

After that day, you hadn't seen him but he definitely saw you. He came everyday after school to watch you.

Ok that sounds a bit fucked up but hey there's no harm in just watching someone…and maybe even learning their work schedule.

After a week or two of watching you, Ethan becomes somewhat enamored. Unfortunately for him, this did not go unnoticed by you.

The first time you actually noticed is when one of your coworkers nudged you and told you something that you didn't quite like…

"Y/n, y'know the guy who always comes after school?"

"What guy?" you asked puzzled

She pointed to Ethan who quickly looked away and looked at his phone.

"Oh yeah i know him, he's friends with some people i know"

"Well i think he's pretty cute and has been coming here almost everyday. I think he might like me"

You frown at the thought, you may or may not have developed feelings for the guy and were praying your coworker wasn't going to ask him out

"Im gonna ask him out"

There goes that

You watch as she goes up to Ethan but start giggling once you see that Ethan shakes his head and looks back at his phone

"Damn he didn't like you huh?" you say as she returns huffing

"Yeah like what the fuck, he literally said he liked someone else"

You laugh and continue working, you want to ask him out or something but you're unsure on how to.

After a few days you decide to go up to him and just ask him why he's always at the theater

You come up to him with a drink

"Hey ethan!"

He looks up and smiles at you

"Hey y/n, what do i owe the pleasure?"

"Well I've noticed you're always around so i decided to just bring you a drink"

"Oh thanks! You uh noticed?"

"Well not immediately but one of my coworkers pointed it out to me, she's the one who asked you out"

"Oh yeah i remember her, i actually don't like her, i come here…well dont take this the wrong way but to watch you" ethan says looking down embarrassed.

"Aww that's actually really cute, do you wanna maybe go see a movie this weekend?"

"Yeah! That would be great, could i get your number?" 

You hand him your phone and he gives it back shortly after

"Alright I'll see you then eth!"

"Yeah cya" he says with a grin

You're probably smiling like an idiot right now but you're too happy to give a shit. You just scored a date with the guy you liked, why wouldn't you be happy? 

taglist ♥︎ - @xyzstar, @ourloveisgod23, @dizscreams, @kaesworldxx, @bhk1234uwu, @nonniesworld, @athenalive, @lanaslittletwinkie, @beccajoestar

if your name is crossed out it's bc it wouldn't let me tag you

©crazystargirl 2023 || do NOT translate or repost my work without my permission

[chocolatepot]

Twitter is rapidly sinking as people are only allowed to look at it for about ten minutes a day, so I thought I would put together a post explaining the best way to get started on Mastodon! It can be an intimidating prospect as it's not as immediately user-friendly as Twitter or other corporate social media sites.

Selecting a server

The main difference between Mastodon and Twitter is that you don't just "sign up for Mastodon". Mastodon is effectively made up of hundreds of small sites (called "instances") that are all interconnected ("federated") and use the same interface. The instance you choose has only a minor effect on your experience. The main one to be aware of is that if an instance is known to be poorly moderated and have users who cause a lot of trouble, other instances may unlink from it ("defederate") and make it more difficult for people on it to interact with you. This is rare. The very big, unthemed instances like mastodon.social are more likely to have this problem than any fannish one, in my experience. (You can also make a personal choice to block an entire instance if you have an issue with it.)

The other effect is that each instance has its own universal feed of all users on it.

The sidebar looks almost exactly like Twitter's, except for "local" and "federated". Your home feed is just the people you follow. "Local" is everyone on your instance, and "federated" is everyone on any instance yours is federated with. The local feed is why it's worthwhile to choose an instance that has some sort of theme you're interested in, like fandom, tech, queer issues, history, etc.

The two main fannish instances I'm aware of are fandom.ink and federatedfandom.net. There's also wandering.shop but that seems to be more for writers, in my experience. If you want a different sort of instance, just google "[topic] mastodon instance" and you should find it.

Applying to your instance

Because instances are more tightly moderated than the rest of social media, you can't always immediately get into the one you want. (Though I suspect that many have opened up slightly as Twitter flails.) You may need to submit some kind of application and wait a few days.

If you know someone on the instance you want to join, they may be able to get you an invite code so you can skip the queue. I have unlimited invites for fandom.ink, hit me up if you want to join.

You can also join an instance that's currently taking new accounts and then transfer into the one you want later. For the impatient souls.

Posting

The mechanics of posting are just like Twitter's.

You type in the box, you hit "toot" (I know), and out it goes. You may notice that you get a 500 character limit! This is nice.

If you add an image, make sure to add alt text. Not including alt text may get you flamed or shamed. You can also make a poll, set privacy levels, and add a content/spoiler/trigger warning that will require people to click through to see the text.

Use of hashtags is strongly encouraged on Mastodon. I've seen some talk praising Tumblr's style of having a separate field for tags and suggesting Mastodon add that, but I don't know if it'll happen. But unlike Twitter, there's an earnest culture of incorporating tags into your text (eg "I just bought a new #fountainpen") and following tags to get posts about different topics. This is the main way to find people with similar interests to follow, outside of your local feed.

It's also Mastodon culture to write an introductory post with your interests, including hashtags, so that people can find you.

Something else to be aware of is that you can edit your posts! If anyone has already rt'd ("boosted") them - they will just get a notification of your edit.

You cannot qrt on Mastodon at this time. It's a hotly debated topic. You will have to settle for boosting and then replying, or making your own post with context and linking to the post you want to qrt.

Following other people

If the person you want to follow is on your instance, that's all well and good. Click on their name, go to their profile, click the "follow" button.

If they are not on your instance, you need to make sure that you're accessing them through your instance. Clicking on their name from your federated feed, or if someone has boosted them onto your home feed, will automatically take you to the version of their profile on your instance. Also all well and good.

If you get to their profile from somewhere else, such as a direct link from another social media platform, that's a problem. If you try to follow, their instance will bleat at you that you don't have an account. There are two ways to get around this.

One is to paste their entire username (eg "@chocolatepot@fandom.ink") into the search bar on your instance, from your home feed. The other is to navigate to "http://[your server address]/[their whole username]" in your address bar. Both will take you to the same place.

[drarrydisabilityfest]

It's That Time of Year Again...

Drarry Disability Fest 2024

Welcome Back to the 2ND YEAR of Drarry Disability Fest (2024)!

For those who don't know, Drarry Disability Fest is a fest dedicated to the accurate representation of disabilities, d/Deafness, medical conditions, and mental illness; Drarry Disability Fest is the first of it's kind. In this fest there will be no romanticism of disability (though romance will definitely be present elsewhere), instead we want our artists and writers to focus on accurate depiction - whether it be of the sad, mad, or glad times of disability and mental illness.

Our goal is to add diversity to the Drarry fic and fanart community, and we firmly believe that while disability and mental illness can be very difficult to handle, they do not mean that we're destined to a life of inaction and solitude; we are an empowered community.

All the mods for this fest are disabled/mentally ill to some extent, and have experience with a variety of additional disabilities to ensure that we have maximum ability to give feedback and filter prompts to the best of our ability.

We would also like to say that everyone's experience with mental illness and disability is different, so if you end up reading a depiction of your illness or disability that differs from your own, please accept that we do our best to filter the media in this fest so that it is safe for disabled readers, and remember that every different experience with a condition is valid.

This fest will not be anonymous, and we're posting to the fest AO3 Collection in July as that is Disability Pride Month. This year we are starting everything slightly earlier so that all you beautiful creators have more time to create, so follow our tumblr and join our discord sever to be sure you don't miss anything.

Anyone may prompt to this fest, even if you don't plan to create anything, however we will be filtering your prompt submissions on the AirTable to ensure they are sensitive to the disability/mental illness you are wishing to see depicted.

You don't need to be disabled to write about disabilities, but please do your research, ask questions from disabled sensitivity readers, and if you're ever unsure our wonderful mods Ceylon, Rowan, and Kel are happy to help. We have a wordcount minimum of ~1000 or equivalent. This means if you're not doing a written piece then put in the effort equivalent in your digital fanart, podfic, or other media. We do not accept videos at this time.

Beta readers/viewers are required for each submission. You can self prompt when claiming, and you can claim multiple prompts as long as you submit each work before claiming a new prompt.

The Dates are as follows in MST/MDT:

February 29 (Leap Year): Prompting Begins

March 20: Prompting Closes (Self-Prompting still allowed)

April 1: Claiming Opens

June 15: Claiming Closes

June 16 : Submissions Deadline

July 1: Posting Begins

July 31: Posting Ends & Fest Wrap-up

Further in depth fest rules can be found at the pinned post on our tumblr, please give them a read as they have been updated!

Your mods: Rowan @basicallyahedgehog (tumblr), Ceylon @quackquackcey (tumblr), Kel @slytherinthelibrary (tumblr)

A PSA: We acknowledge that J.K. Rowling is the author of the series this fandom is based in, however all mods involved strongly disagree with and refute any and all racist, antisemitic, transphobic, homophobic, and other prejudiced ideas the author holds. This is a safe space for trans people and two of our mods are trans themselves. If you are transphobic or homophobic or otherwise prejudiced against any marginalized group; you are not welcome here.

[michaeldemiurgossociety]

Welcome to Secret Sword 3: Sword Hard with a Vengeance!!!

It's the third annual secret santa/gift exchange for the MDAS/Michael Demiurgos Appreciation Society.

Please see this year's rules below:

First the Dates: Sign-ups from 11/7/2024 - 12/8/2024

Assignments Sent on 12/12/2024

Assignments Due on 1/12/2025

Works Posted on 1/20/2025

Big Reveal of the Secrets on 1/27/2025

**

Second, the sign up form:

Third, rules:

*This is a Michael-centric gift exchange, as a result we are going to encourage mainly having Michael as the primary character or focus in fic, art, videos...etc.

*However, we will also ask if people as one of their sign-up questions would prefer any gift that either crosses over or might involve Tom Ellis in another role like Godcat in Exploding Kittens or Oliver Knight in Tell Me Lies. If we have two people with requests and willingness to do something that's TE-related from other projects, then we will consider doing that as a pairing option as well. It depends on if we have two people who match up in that way, but you are allowed to give a Tom Ellis in another media project answer to that specific question as a prompt, yes***

*This is an all ship zone. The only exceptions are for ships that might be seen as promoting inappropriate adult/underage relationships or bestiality. Everything else goes. If you don't like it, don't request it or add comments to it when works are revealed.

*The sign up list will ask everyone what their squicks/triggers are. If you have them, please list them. This helps us to appropriately make sure you're paired doing work for someone who matches you and also so you don't have to make something that makes you feel uncomfortable.

*The exchange has two hosts, myself (Legendarytobes) and Dtaina. You need to save our email when we reach out to you with assignments and be open with if stuff comes up. We don't mind, we just want to have enough time to let possible pinch hitters know.

*Similarly, please reach out to me or to Dtaina if you need more clarification of your giftee's prompts. We can always be intermediaries and ask the giftee for more specifications if that will help you create better as the Creator.

*Yes, if your giftee requests something with AU or crossovers you can do that. If they don't specifically request a crossover or AU michael idea, then you need to try and honor their prompt/request as closely as possible.

*Also, honor ratings requests of your giftee. If they want something to stay PG, then please do that. We will try as hosts to pair people who have similar heat level requests together as well.

*You will provide three prompts. The gifter who makes your gift only has to fulfill one of the three. They can do more but one out of the three prompts fulfilled is all that is required.

*Please feel free to spread this all over the internet and social media. We love to have new people participate too. Even if you've never made a fanwork, you can feel free to start now!

*In case you feel overwhelmed by being a new participant---and we love new people---but a story only has to be 500 words minimum and a vid only has to be 60 seconds and art only has to be one drawing/image. And, yes, we'll also take poems if that's your kind of fanwork.

*If you want to use AI to create images like from Bing AI Art, that is allowed. We do not want, however, fanfics created with ChatGPT at this time.

So, if you're on the fence about trying it, this is a great way to try creating in fandom too.

We really look forward to having old and new artists/writers/vidders joining us this year

Finally, please keep in mind:

*This is a very golden rule place. If you can't say something nice about a work, then just don't say anything and respect all types of Michael appreciation.

[majorbaby]

Frank Burns is a great character because the writers and Larry Linville were aware that he was supposed to be terrible, and no attempt is ever made to redeem him.

Linville left the show because he felt there was nowhere else for the character to go, and I'd add that there was nowhere for Frank to go that wouldn't undercut the character's effectiveness.

And yet despite never achieving any recognizable redeeming qualities the way that audiences like to see in an antagonist (and MASH audiences would later get in Charles) Frank isn't entirely flat either.

Frank wants to be liked, and who can't relate to that feeling? When the one person who ever wanted to have him around (Margaret) moves on from him, it's the catalyst of a loss of any kind of self-preservation and his subsequent discharge.

He thinks Trapper and Hawkeye are neat, and sometimes he does the equivalent of yanking on their pigtails (albeit very hard) for attention. At the end of "Germ Warfare" Hawkeye and Trapper bring him flowers as an apology for having stolen his blood, cue sentimental music playing in the background as Frank slowly accepts the peace offering - it's kind of a sweet moment for them.

There's also some interesting class stuff going on with him. In Welcome to Korea pt 1 he laments to Margaret that he wasn't allowed to join the fraternity that BJ was a part of because he didn't own a black suit, which is a small detail but if you're looking at this through a class lens, then it changes the tone of Frank being on the receiving end of BJ's pranking him.

Hawkeye and Trapper were almost always punching up at Frank. This would've been possible even if say, Trapper was of a similar class-background as BJ (I doubt it, but we don't know enough about Trapper to confirm) by having Frank and Margaret team up against Hawkeye and Trapper. It was a fair(er) fight. Frank and Margaret do outrank Hawkeye and Trapper which gives them a bit of an edge, but Hawkeye and Trapper have the moral high ground and "nothing to lose" since they've been drafted. Frank and Margaret even recognize that the odds are in their favour once Trapper leaves.

To circle back to my original point - why is the Frank Burns character so great:

1) Talk about committing to the bit. They didn't blink once with Frank - but even an unrealized potential for growth is still potential, and it's there, if you want to see it. Lesser shows have gone the route of "rehabilitating" such a character in order to "make them three dimensional" and Frank Burns proves there's no need for that. Frank is fictional so you can write him off if you want to, but my feeling is the reason people protest bad decisions made by "bad people" is because they believe change is possible.

2) Everyone was in on the joke. Not so with Charles and Potter. Charles was your 3:1 ratio of flaws to virtues that make up your "jerk with a heart of gold" or "redeemable villain". His class positioning should provoke a withering response from audiences, but he's softened by his 1-part virtue. Frank Burns is a smokescreen - something that anyone can point at and identify as a "bad person" within five seconds. But how much structural power does he have compared to Charles? It's a sort of power to be a literal white supremacist and still be a "redeemable villain" on television.

Potter is an outright villain and the narrative, tragically, has no idea. When Potter's army brass moments were framed positively, that's when MASH became a poor imitation of itself. It looks like MASH, but it doesn't sound like it. When Frank used to wax teary-eyed about the brave men of the United States Army, you could rely on Hawkeye and Trapper to cut him down immediately. In the later years, BJ and Hawkeye nod along solemnly to Potter's sermons about brave men serving their country and how he's so proud to be one of them. Frank babyyy, you're sorely missed.

[ink-flavored]

Character Cuddle Scale

Tagged by @vacantgodling thank u! <3

Rules: Rate your OCs based on how they handle cuddling/being cuddled.

Okay so on a scale of 0 (cuddle hater) to 10 (cuddle expert), here is the cast of Pride & Justice

Pride: 7/10 on a good day and 2/10 on a bad day. His emotional issues make it so he either wants attention all the time from everyone or or has an "if you touch me I'll bite your fingers off" level of touch-aversion. When he's in the mood, he will plop himself into your lap for cuddles whether you like it or not, and it's only like 60% of the time because he wants to have sex. On a bad day, he'll avoid touch even if he really wants it (which is why the score is 2 and not 0). Sometimes he'll be able to crawl out of his shell to lay his head on your shoulder, but only rarely.

Justice: 10/10 on any day of the week, Justice loves cuddles and cuddles love him back. He's a very physically affectionate person (if you're okay with it, of course), and can span the range from gentle headpats to ultimate bear hug. He's very warm and large, and he'll definitely fall asleep.

Honesty: 0/10 but also why would you want to cuddle her. She's a strict authoritarian who's only goal is to bring down Enemies of The Lord. She doesn't have time for cuddles.

Lust: 5/10 because Lust is only going to cuddle if it turns into sex and after that you're getting kicked out of bed immediately. It also chose the form of a lifelike sex doll, so if you're into that, I guess it would be a good time.

Kindness: Another 10/10 cuddle master. Kindness' cuddles have the vibes of... mom hugs, your favorite aunt hugs, big sister hugs, "best friend from middle school you lost touch with but still think about sometimes" hugs. You're gonna feel like crying for a loss you never knew you needed to grieve. She'll pet your hair the whole time.

Ollie: 8/10 butch cuddles are chicken soup for the soul. Ollie likes cuddling while laying down and doing other stuff (watching TV, playing a game, etc.) so it might take a few minutes to find an optimally comfortable position. The best way I can describe her body type is a bit fatter than this woman here, so very soft, very comfortable. However, your limbs will risk falling asleep, because she's not moving.

Sofía: 6/10 because she's going to insist on snuggling with her cat, Marbles, and will jump up and run away to go get him if he leaves. Other than that, Sofía is a cuddly little catgirl herself, if fidgety.

Dante: 4/10 on a good day. Dante is cool with long--ish hugs, arm-around-shoulders, head-on-shoulders, but that's the extent of their touch tolerance. They don't want to do a full-body cuddle, sorry not sorry!

Stella: 8/10 more mom hugs. Ideal scenario is you laying on her chest while she reads a book to you. She has a wife and also multiple other partners, so they might join you.

Emelia: 5/10 because she just can't sit still that long. She likes cuddles well enough, but would much rather not spend more than an hour there. Cuddles are fun! They're neat! But while you're cuddling, she's studying the blade, etc.

Chris: 7/10 very friendly chill cuddles on this one. It's going to let you pick the position you're comfortable in and just roll with it, Chris is great at being a body pillow or a person-shaped weighted blanket. And then it'll show you pictures of its frogs the whole time.

Tagging: @foxys-fantasy-tales @noblebs @ceph-the-ghost-writer @auntdarth @damageinkorporated @srjacksin @sigridhawke @duelistkingdom and anyone else who wants to play!

[mauesartetc]

While we're waiting for Millie's shine in later episodes, how would you develop Millie and how would you write her?

PFFF uhh I expect we'll be waiting indefinitely tbh. But I guess the first step would be to ask a lot of questions and figure out which pieces are missing from the puzzle. Here's a list of what's on my mind about Millie, in no particular order:

In "The Harvest Moon Festival", she hugged her dad upon seeing him, but not her mom. Was she closer to her dad growing up? Why?

What first attracted her to knives and axes, and who taught her to use them as weapons?

What was her favorite job on the farm growing up?

Who was her first love?

How did she meet Blitzo and Moxxie?

What occupations did she have before joining IMP?

Does she ever hang out with anyone other than her coworkers and her husband? What are her friends like? How did they meet?

Does she want to have kids someday?

What's her educational background? If she went to college, which subject/s did she major in?

What hobbies does she have outside of killing people?

Millie's aggressive, violent side is emblematic of Wrath ring culture, but does she have any traits that clash with it?

What's her favorite location in all of Hell, and why?

Standard job interview fare: Where does she see herself in five years?

Why doesn't she ever stand up to Blitzo when he berates her husband? (I mean, in a meta sense, we know why, but what's the reason inside the narrative?)

What does her extended family look like? Do they all live in Wrath, or are they spread out across other rings?

What does she love most about Moxxie?

What did she and Moxxie do on their first date?

What's her most prized possession?

Most of these questions are fairly surface-level, like the kind of thing you'd ask someone you just met at a party. But the thing is, we've barely been introduced to Millie through this entire series. It'd help if she spent an episode or two away from Moxxie so we can see her personality as an individual rather than part of a set. These writers seem to think true love = being attached at the hip, but that's not how strong relationships work. You need a balance of the partners spending time together and having time to themselves. If a relationship leaves no room for independence, it'll get stifling pretty damn quick.

Maybe at some point, Millie gets burnt out from work and decides she needs a solo vacation for her mental health. This would separate her from Moxxie and provide an opportunity to glimpse parts of her life that don't revolve around him and IMP, as well as delve into the fractured mental state of a character who's usually a pillar of strength. To co-opt and rephrase a meme real quick: Everyone asks "What can Millie do for me?", not "How is Millie doing?"

Ideally, the whole episode would focus on her, with no B- or C-plots. She could meet her friends for coffee, or maybe visit extended family members. Perhaps learn some things about herself she never knew before. This all sounds very low-key and lacking in spectacle for this show, but any plot can crackle with deft storytelling. It'd be preferable if the episode answered multiple questions (not too many, but multiple) about the character at its center.

But when all's said and done, it seems the most important question is: What does this character currently struggle with the most? What do they want, and what's preventing them from getting it?

One major problem Millie and the other IMP employees have is that they don't seem to want anything. There's not much driving their actions.

Blitzo presumably wants his business to succeed, but what does that look like to him? What specific goal is he trying to reach? The Goetia family has a bit more direction: Stolas wants a deeper emotional connection with Blitzo (God only knows why, but that's what's presented to us), Octavia obviously wants her parents to stop fighting (though we have no idea how she plans to achieve this), and Stella wants Stolas dead (though she didn't think the consequences through, somehow) but everyone else is a big ol' question mark.

Anyway, that's just a basic overview of how I'd approach it.

[amazing-spiderling]

For the character ask game, Scott Summers and/or Kurt Wagner, #7 & #12

<3

7. What’s something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Scott: People making jokes about Scott yelling "JEAAAAN :00000" all the time will never not be funny to me. IDK there's just something about people who end up marrying their high school sweethearts that's a little wacky. And as much as I enjoy ragging on the guy, I am glad that the fandom has come around and is appreciating his character development, especially from the last 20 years of comics.

Kurt: I've literally never met an X-Men/comics fan that doesn't like Kurt. Like he may not be their FAVORITE, but he's kinda the unproblematic fave of the fandom, so if you bring him up, the odds of people having something positive to say are pretty high. If anything, I think people are better about criticizing a bad writer or bad production decisions for any wonky characterization, rather than jumping to, "this is why this character sucks" like I've seen them do for other characters in comics.

12. What’s a headcanon you have for this character?

Scott: Wow, my feelings about Scott are kind of a jumble. I haven't read that many comics that focused on him specifically, so I feel like I'm drawing from all of the various media interpretations... I hesitate to make a claim about comics Scott because I'll say something like, "he writes a blog about baking" and someone is going to come in and be like, "X-Factor explicitly stated that he writes about gardening".

Okay, upon a little thought, I do have one. After he was resurrected following whatever the hell was going on between the Inhumans and Mutants in "Death of X", Scott felt REALLY BAD about what happened to my boy Alchemy, and we didn't see it, but offscreen he made sure that Tom was at the front of the line for Mutants to bring back to life on Krakoa. He yelled at Emma about it, too. (That last part probably was elaborated on, but I want to imagine that he was mad about that death in particular, since she used his voice/commanding personality so heavily and ended up getting Alchemy killed without a second thought.)

Kurt: I guess I'm not really sure if this is a headcanon or just like, a gut feeling- but... I don't see Kurt ever settling down, getting married, having kids. Which is kind of a wild thing to say because the man is HUSBAND MATERIAL THROUGH AND THROUGH and Marvel writers who get to take a swing at future versions of the X-Men love giving him a family... but he's always married to some rando who showed up in one (1) forgettable comic from 30 years ago that nobody remembers. It's sort of the problem of having chemistry with everyone, but then maybe not having a "spark" with one person in particular.

My use of the word "spark" here is intentional- as those familiar with his arc during the recent Krakoa era of X-Men comics might have picked up. Kurt creates the idea of a "spark" as a universal concept for Mutants of any/all faiths to embrace, a means to protect the sanctity and respect for the miracle of life. He was one of the few to recognize the need for Mutants to have something outside of themselves to pursue, and it came at no small cost to himself. In fact, he became something of an outsider, observing the community he loved, so that he could better serve them- and that I think is the crux of the issue. His "true love" is not another person, it's the preservation of a dream, and providing hope to all mutants. Even in the alternate world where he married Wanda and they had TJ, the couple lives apart from one another, each a part of their own respective teams because while they loved each other, they realized they could not focus on their duty when they were together. The mission still came first. I don't know that I mean he should join the conventional priesthood (if only because time has shown not enough comics writers are well versed enough in organized religion to write convincing and compelling comic stories about it) but his devotion to the Legionaries was close enough for me.

It's a bit of a double edged sword- I think it's something that makes his character unique, and I could turn this idea over and over in my head endlessly, but it comes at a bit of a cost from a meta perspective. I think part of the reason there's not as much fiction for the poor boy is because he doesn't have really solid canon ship fodder (NightWolves shippers have all my respect, mind you, but somehow it seems to draw a niche crowd?), so he tends to sit in the background like charming blue set dressing. It's okay though, we all still love him.