#if I read another time this quote as a reason to why Snow is the Pure Evil I swear-

[mitsuki91]

Please let's talk about the infamous quote about Tigris. Enjoy ALL the quote, first of all (thanks to @burntblueberrywaffles for the screen):

Now. You can ignore the second half and take the phrase at its face value, as antis love to do, and think "omg what a horrible man, who thinks this things?! Monster!" and feel proud that you can read in the sense you can recognize the letters, put them together and see that you know how all the words and the word's meaning and applaude yourself. Congrats, you can read!

No, that's not how you read.

Welcome to "basic reading comprehension 1.0".

First of all, this phrase doesn't exist alone, it's not floating in a blank page. You have to read the several sentences before that to actually understand why this phrase was written in the first place. And this phrase is right at the start of the book so I promise it won't take long.

So, let's start. I don't have the english book so please bare with me when I explain you things without the actual quote, I promise it is what actuall happens in the book.

We first see Coriolanus Snow who force himself to eat cabbage soup. That he despises it but he knows he need it to prevent the rumble in his stomach. So, you see, right here in the first sentence you have one important details: Coriolanus is not worried about hunger per se, is worried about let other people know he is hungry. Just with this you can already understand one of his core value: the appearences.

And he tells us so in the next senteces. He has an important name and live in a fancy house (from outside) but he has nothing. He has so nothing that he is now worried about a shirt, because he has important stuff to do (later we discover that the Reaping is tied with the Plinth Prize he needs so desperately). The only hope for the shirt is his cousin, Tigris, who can sew and already save him more than once, but... Well, this time she has not a great start. The only shirt he owns is stained and burned and has only half of the buttons. It needs a miracle, he needs a miracle, and even the black market was no use...

They already tried, he tells us so. But no one wants to buy or exchange the shirt. Only... This morning, the morning of the Reaping, he can not find nor Tigris nor the shirt.

So he starts to worried. And he leads us to why he was thinking about a price for Tigris in the first place. Context, people. I will post the actual quote of the book (thanks to @xalonelydreamerx for the screen):

They already try to sell/exchange something for a better shirt, and they have nothing. What is left? Tigris herself. WHAT IS LEFT? TIGRIS HERSELF, PLEASE READ THIS AGAIN.

So, we have an actual reason, a valid reason, he has to think about Tigris selling herself and people putting price on her.

Now after this come the quote, I paste again for you:

And now we can read the FULL quote.

The first half: he uses this to describe to us his cousin, and he tries to mantain a "fair" and "external pov" for it, because he puts himself in the shoes of a man who can be interested in buying her. The "vulnerability that invited abuse" is a mere objective though and also serve the purpose to tell us reader that Tigris is sweet and innocent and maybe a little bit naive, or can be perceived like that from the world. And we know this is true. Tigris is sweet and caring, she takes care of Coryo, she always did. We will know better later, this is a mere introduction.

But the second half. The second half of the quote, you all. He feels disgusted with himself for the though and this is already a good start to understand that HE DIDN'T MEAN TO PUT A PRICE ON HER AND SELL HER, NEVER, but the actual most important word here is "helpless". HELPLESS. BECAUSE HE IS THE PROVIDER OF THE FAMILY.

He is the hope. We will learn about the Plinth Prize and what it means for the family. We will learn that everyone rely on him to win the prize and save them. We will learn that he was told, since the start, that he as 'the man of the house' has the duty of provide for his family.

He is happy in that role, mind you. Worried sick, of course, because it is difficult and he can count only on the Plinth Prize to achieve something, so he has to win and the pressure is huge. There are also complex feelings around the Snow names: the fact that he feels that it is his duty to protect the family image, masking the thruth... etc etc etc.

But the first information we have, the most important piece we have from the start to put together who is Coriolanus Snow at the core, is right here. In the first page. In a part of that sentence antis like to quote and simply forget to do it in full.

Coriolanus Snow has to face the realistic possibility, the realistic concern that his cousin might consider the idea to sell herself to help him provide for their family and he fells horrified and helpless.

Helpless.

Because 1) a Snow could never think such a thing, how humiliating, how a failure for their name; and most important 2) if Tigris will do it it means that he failed in the worst possible way and he is not longer able to provide for his family and so were is his own worth? When everything he learned since he was born was to take care of his family and his family's name, that it is his duty, because he is the heir (also little ps: we learn later that since he will graduate the little pension they have now for his father death will stop because he will be a man, so also Panem itself is telling him he has to be able to provide for his family because he will be 'grown up' and 'in the real world' now).

We learn that Coriolanus Snow never wants to sell Tigris, that he is sick at the mere though, and we learn just right here just in the first page what are the core value of him. What moves him and what he thinks of himself and his family.

We learn who Coriolanus Snow is, as if we never knew his name and he was just a boy at the start of his own story.

And antis always forget about this and take one sentence out of context and judge him with "president Snow tinted glasses" and just because this quote is at the start of the book they like to scream to everyone "See? This is it, he was always bad, from the start!". And they actually just tell us that they can not understand what they are reading instead.

Okay, I hope that this lesson was worth it. Reading comprehension 1.0. I hope some antis will come accross this post and take time to read it. It's not too late to learn how to understand what you read, after all.

And now I will go to sleep that I have a terrible headache 😂 bye!

#reading comprehension #coriolanus snow #tigris snow #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosas #anti antis #let's read together #and most important #let's understand together #please forgive my grammar I am so tired #but I needed to write this #if I read another time this quote as a reason to why Snow is the Pure Evil I swear-

[lumienyx]

happy to surrender

Pairing: Astarion/m!Tav | Rating: T | Words: 1,208 | Tags: Established Relationship, Romance, Banter, Fluff, Humor, sorcery as a replacement for the tadpole mindlink, no beta we die like Dribbles

Summary: A snowflake lands on Tav’s lips, and Astarion melts it with a kiss.  “My love.” Astarion’s gaze is so tender, his voice so fragile Tav fears that it may break. “These last six months of happy memories are a counterweight to two hundred years of misery.”

A/N: inspired by a bunch of things: Astarion's epilogue confession ofc, @snowyarts' post contrasting it with his earlier much more grim dialogue, and when I finally started on the New Beginnings prompt for the BG3 Winter Holiday Challenge, I ended up with this🥺 Hope you enjoy💙

Read on AO3 or continue under the cut ↓

The canvas of the night stretches wide above them. Astarion watches it, entranced, ever in awe of each new starscape of Faerûn they uncover during their travels. 

Tav is mesmerized in turn by the subtle play of moonlight on Astarion’s skin, in his eyes. The light snowfall grazes his hair, the flakes lingering just a bit longer than usual before melting away. Tav leans closer into the one-armed embrace, pressing his lips against Astarion's neck.

“Any new constellations you can show me?” Tav follows his lover’s gaze to a messy cluster of stars.

Astarion chuckles. “Of course, my sweet. If you remember all the ones from before.”

“All of them?” Tav frowns, doubtful. “You have a lot of faith in my memory.”

“If you can quote that bawdy poor excuse of a romance novel we stole from Gale, then surely—”

“Anyway.” Tav ignores Astarion’s smirk, pointing to where he spots a familiar, blade-like pattern, tracing it with his finger. “That one. Jassa’s Dagger?”

“Wrong.”

“Oh, well, the Sword and the Dagg—”

Astarion cuts him off with an exasperated kiss, reaching out to run his hand through Tav's hair, a pleasant shiver tingling in its wake. “Try again. No daggers there, I’m afraid.”

“Ah.” Tav skips through a couple more guesses. “Well… Esetar?”

“That isn’t even visible right now, darling.” Astarion caresses his cheek then, gentle and almost placating. “Not that I don’t find this positively adorable, but do you even listen when I tell you about them?”

“I remember most of our stargazing lessons ending in me seeing stars for a very different reason.”

Astarion groans. “And I remember how I’ve told you repeatedly that your questionable attempts at wordplay leave much to be desired.”

“This one was good,” Tav insists, “one might even say stellar—”

“Stop—”

Astarion struggles out of the embrace only half-heartedly, and Tav doesn’t catch any trace of tension on his face, so he doesn’t break the hold. “Made you smile,” he says, with no small measure of satisfaction.

“I am not,” Astarion says, “smiling,” he tries and fails to suppress it.

“But there it is.” 

Tav presses his lips to Astarion’s, feeling the grin widen. He relishes the soft, languid movement of his lover’s lips as they fall deeper into a kiss that warms Tav even more than the sphere of heat he’s keeping up around them. There’s only a hair’s breadth between them as they pull away, and Tav finds himself lost in Astarion’s eyes all over again.

“There.” Tav points to another patch in the sky, not even looking. “Mystra’s Circle.”

“Why,” Astarion gasps in mock surprise, “truly a remarkable catch! The only circular constellation out there—how did you guess?”

Tav weaves a few spheres from the heaps of snow behind Astarion, all ready to strike. They all miss, of course; Astarion leaps out of his arms to dodge them just in time, and Tav barely manages to halt the spell before the projectiles end up hitting him instead.

“Ugh.” Tav lets the spell dissipate ina burst of snowflakes. Gone is his only chance to catch Astarion off guard. “I’ll get you one of these days.”

“Darling,” Astarion laughs, “do I have to remind you of the score of our snowball fights?” He rushes back into the radius of the heating spell and into Tav's begrudging embrace, though Tav probably doesn’t look as annoyed as he’s pretending to be.

“You may win the battles,” Tav grumbles, “but you won't win the war.”

“If you ask me really nicely, I doubt I would have any choice but to concede defeat.”

“Ha! Since when are you happy to surrender?”

“I am happy with you always,” Astarion says.

And it’s those simple words that give Tav pause. 

There is no hint of jest or deceit in Astarion’s eyes. Only warmth and tenderness that Tav is still getting used to seeing there, in place of the once constant fear and pain. The bright specks of light reflected in them form constellations of their own against the ruby red. So beautiful, impossible to look away from, even as Tav feels heat rushing to his cheeks and his heart rattling his chest at an alarming rate. A reaction he hasn’t quite grown out of, even after all these months by Astarion’s side.

“I—well.” Tav blinks. A nervous chuckle follows a bashful smile. “Really?”

A snowflake lands on Tav’s lips, and Astarion steals it with a kiss before it melts. 

“My love.” Astarion’s gaze is so tender, his voice so fragile Tav fears that it may break. “These last six months of happy memories are a counterweight to two hundred years of misery.”

Tav’s heart skips a beat, perhaps a couple. He doesn’t know what to answer, doesn’t know how. He can’t quite believe it, still. The pain yet rings sharp from the words Astarion had said a longer while back—that not even Cazador’s death would make up for the all-consuming darkness, that never-ending pain.

But Astarion slides into his mind now, magic weaving itself in the familiar spell Tav spent months developing so they could both have this—mind-to-mind emotions and wordless connection—once their tadpoles were gone. Astarion’s feelings are clear as day there, somewhere in the in-between of Tav’s own tangled thoughts and emotions—

—it's as if there's a bright, simmering hearth in his chest, and it feels like home, you are home—

—Tav’s own face obscures his vision, one memory that mirrors thousands more like it, and when he sees that face smile, he feels—Astarion feels like it lights up everything around him, bringing to life something deep inside him that he thought long forgotten, and he feels his lips follow suit to mirror mine—

—touch is less like small bursts of electricity, like it used to be when they barely knew each other but knew enough to want one another and every touch sparked desire—

—now, the touch of my hand is grounding, your embrace feels like a warding spell, a Sanctuary that keeps at bay whatever danger and harm the world yet harbors, kissing you completes me like two split pieces of a whole finally joining—

There’s waves upon waves of joy radiating from Astarion’s thoughts, there's the shadow of his embrace that Tav can feel even as he’s lost in the connection—and all of a sudden, it’s too much to bear being parted, and so he closes the distance between them. They kiss deeply, softly, it’s all kinds of perfection Tav doesn’t ever want to let go. 

Tav is quite happy to surrender to Astarion, too.

Astarion’s lips are cool and yet the kiss spreads warmth all over Tav’s body. Like the familiar surge of sorcery running through his veins, only better, because Astarion’s touch is more magical than any spell Tav could ever hope to invoke. It’s all the elation of a life bound closely to his, of their life began anew. A life they get to live, against all odds, together. Their minds are still entwined, and Astarion’s coalesces into the single thought,

I love you.

And the emotion of it is strong enough, overwhelming enough to make Tav weak in the knees with how good it makes him feel, how completely it overtakes him. And Tav—

~~~

thank you for the read! I’d appreciate any comments and feedback💙

Tag list (lmk if you'd like to be added):

@spacebarbarianweird @satanicspinosaurus @tallymonster @tragedybunny @ellekhen

#BG3HolidayFluffle23 #astarion x tav #astarion x male tav #baldur’s gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 astarion #astarion ancunin #lumi writes #astarion fanfic

[undercoverpena]

Hey Jo, I hope you don’t mind me asking you this but I wondered how you deal with fic popularity (both having and watching others)?? I’m struggling with feeling bad and just wanting to quit. If this feels uncomfortable to answer don’t worry xx

hi anon! i'm sorry you're struggling a bit and feeling bad, just wanna give you a hug! i don't know if i'm the best person to ask this, but i'm gonna give this a little go.

as a concept, i try to remind myself not to get bogged down with numbers, because they're a fickle thing. they change with the wind, sun and the rain. because your worth isn't equated to your notes/followers/popularity.

it's important to remember that there are times fics will do really well because of the tropes, the pairing, the timing - and not the quality of your work. you can sometimes just write one thing and it gains traction, and another time write something in the same style, and it doesn't. the other thing is, some fics grow. they take time to bloom and find their audience, and that's okay too.

fandoms are also different sizes. so you can never compare numbers on numbers, because in one fandom the people reading/engaging may be different to another.

i think i did a post on this a while ago - but my tags are all wonky so i can't find it (watch me find it when this posts) so i can't link it.

but, i know it's super easy for me to say "don't get bogged with numbers", and "try to focus on how you felt writing it" but somedays, even i look at things and wonder to myself what i've done wrong. it's normal, natural - i'm sharing something, and i'm critical and i want to deliver good things to lovely people like you. however, i think you'd tell me that my worth is also not attached to my followers, my notes or my popularity. but it's easy to tell someone else that, than yourself.

and, more importantly, me delivering good things doesn't equate to notes. sometimes, what someone else loves and thinks is a 10/10 is going to be different to another.

because what makes fandom so cool and good, is that it's varied.

people want different things. people write different things. and i preach this far too much, but you just need to find your people - or if you have, give them time. some people are snowed under with tbr's and others are trying to bury their issues in writing (talking about myself here), and others are just trying to juggle too much that their tumblr is less active.

the main thing i hope you takeaway, other than your worth not being a number, is that you have to find and remember why you love what you do. and if you don't know or can't remember, remind yourself.

go back through your work and read it - preferably in a different browser or something (so it looks different to you) and enjoy your own writing. pick out quotes, bask in what you've created. you are your first fan, the person you should write for first. so, be a fan. celebrate yourself. give yourself a pat on the back or a high five, because look, it's fucking hard creating, and it's even harder sharing it. and on top of that, fighting imposter syndrome is hard, fighting dark clouds and rainy days is hard. it is. i can't pretend it isn't.

i can't pretend it doesn't hurt when you stare at your published piece and your brain begins to wonder what you went wrong (for whatever reason that is, whether it's numbers or just something else). because it's normal to look for validation that you did a great thing and it hurts when you don't get it. but, you have to curate your experience - you have to do the things above:

remind yourself you're worth is more than a number

love what you do first. i recommended to someone/people recently to copy some of their fave lines into a document when they're editing so they can be like "fuck yeah, i did that"

also @trulybetty pointed this out to me (and it's been a god send) but on mobile (and on desktop but it's messier) you can filter out your activity. on the top left there's "all activity" but if you click it, you can filter out likes, mentions etc. and for me, i've filtered out likes, which means i can see more of the comments, reblogs (with the hashtags) and mentions - so not only do i not miss anything, but also i'm seeing more of the things that make me smile. it's not a slight on likes, but sometimes it hides all the good things that get buried.

i hope in some small way some of this is nice, and it helps. but if not, just remember you're not alone, we're all human, and you deserve to be here, and pls, pls continue writing and don't quit.

#jo: writing advice #asked and answered #anon

[bluespiderlully]

KNY - My lore 2.0

I already made a post writing about my alternative group of Hashiras and about the lore and explaining basically... Everything I needed to tell.

This time I want to give more importance to my characters, this because I think that characters, their stories and relationships are the most important things in a story.

I'm going to talk about my OCs and added characters as if they were canon so if you want you can go check my lore post and my alternative hashiras list post; you can read this anyway, you'll get to know my lovely characters as I'm talking about them.✨️🩵

💧Giyuu Tomioka, Water Hashira (21 y.o.)

The canon Giyu is one of my favourite characters. Since Sabito is alive in my AU he wouldn't be so depressed as the original, but I'm sure he would still be introverted and he would still spend a lot of time alone (not in a bad way, he just likes being alone) so probably Sanemi and Obanai would still dislike him. Shinobu has a little different character too in this AU so she would probably be more sarcastic to him. Also, I'm not a huge fan of the GiyuShino ship, I prefer RenGiyuu, I just love the Sun/Moon dynamic and in this AU where Giyuu is a more positive person... They would just be really good.

🌪Sanemi Shinazugawa, Wind Hashira (22 y.o.)

Another of my favourite characters in the series (probably because he's the one I can relate more), he's still short tempered, aggressive, rude and has something bad to say pretty much about everyone. Everyone except for Kanae (I love SaneKana, I couldn't help but include it) and Ayumi. His little sister and Shadow Hashira is his mean of life, he completely changes his manners with her. Concerning Kanae, I think that they would be attracted to each other but that either of them would say anything to the other. He gets along very well with Obanai (as in the original series), Sabito and Hiromi, they're the most aggressive in the group.

⚡️Makomo Urokodaki, Thunder Hashira (20 y.o.)

I have a lot to say about my version of Makomo. First of all, she has the surname Urokodaki because she's a orphan, she lived in a temple with other children and when a demon attacked them she came to one conclusion: there's only one God, his name is 'Death' (yeah, the iconic Arya Stark quote, it just fits). Next, she's really sarcastic, always been, that's the reason why Sabito liked her since they were kids (SabiMako is canon in my AU). She learned water breathing from Urokodaki with Sabito and Giyu but she didn't master it, her nichirin sword turned yellow and so she started train with Jigoro Kuwajima (Zenitsu's mentor), she mastered thunder breathing and both Urokodaki and Jigoro are very proud of her. The last thing is... Something people never talk about in KNY: hunting demons for the final selection exam. I picture her as slightly sadistic when it comes to demons so I decided that she's the one in charge of doing this, she never shows her face during these "special" hunts, she wears her kitsune mask.

🪨Fujiko Mori, Stone Hashira (25 y.o.)

I have... A lot to say about her. Her mother wasn't Japanese but American and so she looks a bit "exotic" to other Hashiras (and Tengen reeeeally appreciates it), this means she speaks English as a second language, keep that in mind. She got pregnant at the age of 15 and had to leave her home since her parents considered it a dishonor, she found shelter in the Eternal Paradise Sanctuary (just like Kothoa did) and lived with Doma for some years, during this period he took care of her baby (Haru) as she was his daughter, this was actually just because Doma wanted to eat her and her daughter since the beginning, and he actually ate Haru when she was 2. There was one song Fujiko always sang to Haru, an English poem about a girl who loses herself in the snow, Fujiko ran away from the Sanctuary during a snowy night and Doma chased her, the only thing he found where the prints of her feet on the snow, she was vanished just like the girl of her lullaby. She joined the Corp immediately after and learned stone breathing from Gyomei Himejima, when he died she took his place. Her weapon of choice is a zanbato (daily reminder that sir Alonne was the only good thing in Dark Souls 2).

🔥Kyojuro Rengoku, Flame Hashira (20 y.o.)

We all agree that he deserved better, well... Unfortunately I gave him a twin sister OC, and in KNY having a twin is always bad, he's gonna suffer, I like to torture my faves. The Rengoku family is extremely wealthy, they have been Hashiras for generations and they must become demon slayers, they don't have a choice. For this reason both Kyojuro and Asuka got a nichirin sword without partecipating to the final selection, reason why Sanemi and Hiromi dislike Kyojuro so much. When he was a child his parents already arranged him a wedding, with the eldest daughter of the Kocho family (they were wealthy too according to the wiki, so him and Kanae would have make a perfect match financtially speaking, but they were just children and things went way different from what their parents imagined), he had a strong bond with Obanai when his father Shinjuro took him home after saving him, even if he stayed with them only for a couple of months. When Ruka died Shinjuro started drinking, hitting his two children and stopped training them, Asuka left home to train with Jigoro, Kyojuro couldn't leave his home, so he kept training alone and started eating a lot to fill the void he felt after his father and his sister abandoned him. Things changed when he met Giyuu, they liked each other from the first moment and found a way to comfort each other during hard times.

✨️Asuka Rengoku, Light Hashira (20 y.o.)

In Kyojuro's paragraph I described her as a horrible person, that's not the whole truth. She would have taken her brother with her, but he didn't want to leave their father alone, so she went alone. She trained and took part in the final selection despite not having to. When she and her brother met years later (when they both became Hashiras) she told him that she didn't agree with his relationship with Giyuu and that's not about being homophobic, that's about being the daughter of a wealthy family in 1920s Japan, she has the idea that Kyojuro should marry a woman and start a family with her to give birth to another generation and carry on the legacy of the Rengoku family. They started arguing and they're not on good terms even if Asuka has a relationship with Tengen (and consequently with Fujiko), Kyojuro's best friend.

🧊Sabito Ashina, Ice Hashira (22 y.o.)

I really wanted to see more of this guy, so here he is! We don't know his backstory so I did the same thing I did with Makomo, i gave him one. We needed a Sekiro reference, so his surname is Ashina; Sabito's father achieved wealth by banking activities during the Meji period, so Sabito grew up with the idea that wealth could be achieved only through hard work. Unfortunately his parents died during a boat trip to America and his older brother squandered all their wealth gambling and took his life because of his many debts; Sabito joined the Corp to pay his brother's debts. Now, just like Makomo, he is in charge of hunting demons for the final selection exam.

🌩Hiromi Kazeshi, Storm Hashira (18 y.o.)

Female Sanemi, this could be everything I have to say about this lady, but she's actually more than that. First of all her way of being is derived from her childhood/teen years, when she was 10 her father passed away and her mother needed money, so she decided to marry Hiromi to a man way older than her but... Really rich. She couldn't stand this decision and right after the wedding she killed both her mother and her husband, the moment after she did this she just ran away and was lately found by Sabito, the only one who knows her secret. She had to learn how to use a sword but she always preferred using her fists to fight, so she asked to her blacksmith to make her brass knuckles too, seeing her and Akaza fight would be such fun if it wasn't for his morals.

🪷Kanae Kocho, Flower Hashira (22 y.o.)

Another character I definitely wanted to know more of, I'm almost sure she would be one of the strongest amongst the group, flower breathing just gives me Malenia vibes. From what we know she was kind and caring in a genuine way, so I'm assuming she would be better than Shinobu when it comes to take care of people in the Butterfly Mansion. I already said that she should have married Kyojuro but things went way different, that's because the Kocho family was killed by a demon and the two sisters were rescued by Gyomei Himejima just like in the canon story. In the current timeline Kanae and Kyojuro have a good relationship but I already said she likes Sanemi more than Kyojuro, this is because she think that he's a bit naive.

🦋Shinobu Kocho, Insect Hashira (18 y.o.)

I have to admit she's not one of my faves, I don't like her being too sarcastic and, as Kanao said, "asking obvious questions people don't want to answer". Since Kanae is alive in this scenario, Shinobu doesn't need to adopt her personality but I think she would do it anyway even if she probably would also keep some traits of her sarcastic personality by teasing people and being annoying. Plus, she's almost blind from her right eye due to a laboratory accident, basically a boiling poison exploded in her face. As I already said, I'm not considering GiyuShino, I don't like this ship, also because I headcanon Shinobu as lesbian.

🌫Muichiro Tokito, Mist Hashira (12 y.o.)

We can all agree that he's cute. What I liked of him was his link to Kokushibo (I like Kokushibo more than Yoriichi, I'm absolutely not sorry about this) and so I decided to give more importance to this. I just find interesting having a character related to an anti-hero instead of a hero, it just adds some spice I think. He's the reason why Muzan killed all his Lower Moons since the demon who attacked him and his brother (in this AU of course) was Lower Moon One, he killed him almost effortlessly and this also led Ubuyashiki Kagaya to the decision to give him the title of Hashira as soon as he had learn a breathing style. He was trained by both Sanemi and Giyu, but has a preference for Giyu, even if Sanemi acts way more gentle with him.

🩷Mitsuri Kanroji, Love Hashira (19y.o.)

Everything in her backstory is basically the same as canon, she joined the Corp to find a man who would love her the way she is. She trained with Kyojuro and he started considering her his sister, more than he considers Asuka as such. Of course, ObaMitsu is canon in this AU. She is naive but she's also very very kind. She would love to make friends with Ayumi but she always ignores her.

🐍Obanai Iguro, Snake Hashira (21 y.o.)

As for Mitsuri, his backstory is just like the canon one, but with a difference: he has an affinity with every snake, that's because of his voice (and because I watched the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and I just loved it too much not to take a little inspiration). He stayed at the Rengoku mansion for a year, then he joined the Corp after Ruka died and Shinjuro became violent; around this time Kyojuro started liking Obanai (or men in general). Now Obanai has become rude and cold, of course he's not Kyo's type and he doesn't regret not cofessing his feelings.

⚫️Ayumi Shinazugawa, Shadow Hashira (20 y.o)

She's cute, and that's just everything everyone needs to know about her. Her father harmed her in every way possible, he abused her and stabbed her to try to kill her, she still has scars on her breast and legs, she is afraid of everyone except for Sanemi. She has rareblood but her "power" is predict future with her dreams. She dreams of a lot of things actually, and remember every dream so she's definitely going crazy, but if someone dares to call her "insane", Sanemi would probably beat the shit out of them. She obviously fights with a katana but she's better with bow and arrows.

🔮Enmu Tamio, Dream Hashira (25 y.o.)

He has my favourite design in the series and I think that also in this AU he would wear some western clothing on his uniform instead of an Haori. He has no memories from his childhood since he wasn't able to tell apart reality from dreams, until a demon killed his family and he started training in dream breathing, that requires a strong grip on reality, speed and perception. His master immediately understood that Enmu was a prodigy and that he would definitely become an Hashira. He has rareblood just like Sanemi and Ayumi, but his blood has no effect on demons, if injected into another human Enmu has the ability to manipulate their dreams and to lead them to death peacefully. This is why he started working at the Butterfly Mansion when he became a member of the Corp. Plus, his breathing style made him insensitive to any kind of physical pain.

💎Tengen Uzui, Sound Hashira (24 y.o.)

Last but not least we have the most flamboyant Hashira. I just love him and his personality. In this AU he does not have three wives because he ran away from home after emerging victor among all of his brothers, he constantly feels blood on his hands and he will never forgive himself for not running away before killing them. When he joined the Corp he met Fujiko and the two started dating, Tengen and Kyojuro became friends and he started seeing his brothers in him, he often calls Kyojuro "otouto". Their friendship slightly cracked when Fujiko and Tengen started dating Asuka too, of course Kyojuro wasn't happy, it took him a while to accept it. Tengen helped the twins a lot to reconnect.

#demon slayer #fanfic #kimetsu no yaiba #kny #my au #my ocs #my writing #giyuu tomioka #kny makomo #sabito #shinobu kocho #kanae kocho #enmu tamio #rengoku kyojuro #tengen uzui #muichiro tokito #mitsuri kanroji #obanai iguro #sanemi shinazugawa #giyushino #rengiyuu #sanekana #obamitsu #sabimako #nioh 2

[apompkwrites]

*deep breath* okay. You asked for it. It’s, ah, it’s a bit long >.< but here were my ideas for the UMs-

Rosehearts!(Name) maybe can create a ‘rule’ that can ‘alter reality’ somewhat but it can only last a certain amount of time, the more outlandish the less time it can happen. Anyone who interacts or is in the vicinity of them will follow the rule, they can’t not obey the rule, it’s literally impossible. Like a rule that’s like things like “Whenever speaking after the Queen, one must whistle the tune of the first line of “ring around the rosie”(or really any song or anything really) and now whenever someone speaks after Riddle(who the rule determines is the Queen cause yeah) they have to whistle, they can’t stop themselves. Their bodies literally do it without their control. Of course, depending on how “crazy” it is, the more crazy, the less time that is in effect. The words/name for it can maybe be “Imagining Rules of Reality” as, like, a reference to a Cheshire Cat quote “Imagination is the only real weapon in the war with reality”

Kingscholar!(name) for them for some reason I’m really wanting like a weird innate knowing and understanding and even control of/over bugs and insects and other creepy crawlies. They would definitely use their UM to prank people sometimes. Plus, bugs are usually considered disgusting and a pest soooo… maybe kingscholar!(name) relates to them…? The phrase/name could be “Everybody is Somebody” as part of a quote from Rafiki and I would also just LOVE Kingscholar!(name) loving and loathing the irony of it just like Leona

Ashengrotto!(name) could maybe have as well as a unique magick, a weird knowing of things? Like, they’ll just know what something is even if they’ve never seen or heard it before in their life. They won’t know the names of it though, they’ll just know the uses. So they end up calling things weird stuff. They don’t know why they know what the things do, but it’s helped. Just a weird passive ability. For UM, maybe… maybe something to do with singing? Maybe if they sing commands and keep a song then they can take control of a person’s body? But it’s only one person and they have to be able to hear Ashengrotto!(name). The phrase would be “No More Talking, Singing!” As a quote from Ursula?

Al Asim!(name) I have two ideas. One is them being able to force a person to lie. Since. Ya know. Aladdin lied about his identity. Also, I think it’d be funny as a parallel to Jade and Jamil. The second is them being able to blend in and become “invisible”. Not literally invisible, it’s just a magick that messes with people’s minds to not notice them. You’d still see them if you, like, took a picture of them while they had their magick active. For the first one, another quote, this one from Jafar, “Things Aren’t Always What They Seem” and for the second one, uhh… “Let’s Not Be Too Hasty” as, yet another, quote, but this one from Aladdin

Schoenheit!(name) maybe something that messes with a person’s or people’s senses or how they perceive things? Making someone taste, say, peaches no matter what they eat, it’s always the taste of peaches in their mouth. Schoenheit!(name)(geez I don’t know how to spell) can choose how their senses are affected/effected(? I don’t remember the difference). They can even, say, get rid of a sense for a small while, eyesight, hearing, sense of touch… UM phrase/name can be like “Your Cares Fade Away” as a quote from Snow White herself. Cause. Like. Their cares, their losing their care for that sense.

For Shroud!(name) I’m definitely thinking of magick that blurs the line of organic and machine. But I don’t know much else about Idia’s or Ortho’s UM so I can’t think of too much else without a ‘rough’ guideline. Same for Draconia!(name), so for them, I guess they’re blank for now Oop.

I hope you like some of these ideas >.< maybe share what you like or dislike about them?

aaaAAAAAAHHHH I LOVE!!! don't worry about it being long! i actually love reading longer asks since they contain a lot of thought :DD

ok ok ok so my thoughts!

i love the idea of rosehearts!(name) being able to control people according to certain rules, namely the rules set by ms. rosehearts. i feel like it would go hand in hand with their trauma, like thats the reason they were able to make their UM. i had this idea of rosehearts!(name) also having some sort of handcuffs? like to pair with riddle’s collar.

kingscholar!(name) having a UM related to bugs actually works out really well with what i have planned for the next chapter! and also like, they would def relate to bugs because they’re seen as mostly icky and worthless but in truth they mostly have a place in society and some really unique skills :O

ashengrotto!(name) being able to understand how things work would actually fit their backstory of being sheltered :O. i actually have a thought for ashengrotto!(name) and that’s to have them produce magic differently than the norm? like, i’ve based it off a manga i read “witch hat atelier” but they create magic through drawings rather than just imagination? idk but i like the idea of them calling things different names because theyve seen it before :))

al-asim!(name) having a UM that makes them unnoticed by people would honestly have really good potential. kinda like leona ig? like, they loathe their UM because it only further drives a wedge between them and their family. the one about lying would be interesting too since they can get away with a lot of stuff and create an alibi? like they act out but are still scared of consequences.

schoenheit!(name) altering people’s perception would have probably developed because they wanted people to look past their "flaws" whatever they are. OR because no matter what they tried, they couldn't meet everyone's expectations so they simply make everyone believe they did :O

so for shroud!(name), i'm contemplating whether or not to give them a UM that i've made for my oc? but it'll depend... but it would for sure have something to do with tech since that's what they know best!!

and draconia!(name) could maybe have a similar UM to malleus, whatever it is? bc i envision malleus to have this big "scary" UM to match his reputation so i think it would match well if (name) has one that's similar except it's "nicer" if that makes sense? just not as "scary" if it's like a dragon :)

#a pompk answers #black sheep #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #twisted wonderland headcanons #twisted wonderland imagines #twisted wonderland scenarios

[silyabeeodess]

An Overthinker’s Reaction to Neige Blanche (Twisted Wonderland)

I finished reading Book 5 of the game’s English version a couple days ago, and something’s been bothering me about its ending compared to previous chapters. While the other chapters thus far have done a great job with their independent stories for each of the student-villain parallels, the ending of Book 5 and its message left me feeling sour.  I couldn’t really place exactly why for a while, because my immediate thoughts on the ending as I was reading it didn’t seem justified for how I knew the story needed to go for its theme to truly carry weight; however, the more I’ve thought about it, I’ve drawn it to one conclusion:

Despite being based on Snow White and her pure nature, I do not like Neige Blanche or think he’s all that great a person--or even a true match to Snow White in personality.    

This may seem unfair due to Neige’s very brief appearance in Twisted Wonderland so far, but there’s some off things about him I can’t shake and I mainly just want to get these thoughts out of my head. Because it still hasn’t been that long since the chapter dropped and I want to avoid spoilers, I’ll elaborate further below the cut: 

I’ll say this right off the bat because I can already see the argument: I don’t care that Night Raven College lost the Song and Dance Championship.  For one thing, based on the foreknowledge we’re given that the Royal Sword Academy constantly wins and that even minor events in the stories/special events have the player character get accustomed to losing makes the SDC loss kind of expected as it’s still early in the game’s main story.  For another, plot-wise, the moral Vil has to learn about accepting himself and his own successes as an individual despite falling behind Neige would’ve likely fallen flat had NRC won since winning would’ve only been giving him the external validation Vil’s been after.  NRC winning also wouldn’t have given us the very real detail that Vil’s self-acceptance is going to take time.  This aspect of the chapter was handled extremely well.  Exactly why NRC lost though, is another matter--and I don’t mean the part about Rook making the deciding vote...

The SDC is described as being a premiere competition taking the best vocal artists and performers between the schools for the entertainment/music industry to seek out budding talent with massive reach in Twisted Wonderland’s world.  Despite this, however, we’re supposed to accept that Neige’s group not only won with a simple children’s song, but won despite having a completely poor performance. How come? In short, thanks to cute points. Allow me to pull some quotes from Chapter 60:

“All those dance moves are so simple, anyone could do them.  They’re not even in sync.”

“One of ‘em almost fell over! Neige helped him catch himself, but all of these guys look like they could go toppling at any second.”

“Frankly, the quality is nothing worthy of note.”

“They’re dancing is out of sync and their harmonies are clunky at best... but I’m glued to the performance.”            

This isn’t just the NRC team describing the Neige’s group’s performance, but outsiders in the film crews as well.  The only reason people were “awestruck” by it is because they thought they dwarves were kids and somehow that made it more “family accessible.”  Fine, since this is a competition based on popular vote as opposed to judges, I can accept the win wouldn’t necessarily be based on difficulty or actual skill.  I would’ve even accepted it if everyone voted simply because Neige was in the act because there’s plenty of people in the world who show favoritism and can’t be objective.  However, let me ask you this: Would you think that the average primary school choir would deserve to win a competition like American Idol or Britain’s Got Talent?  Because that’s what this effectively is: A show where people are expected to perform on a professional level, but somehow, an amateur act made it into the final round.  

Neige claimed they practiced hard, but the descriptions of their performance say otherwise.  You could say that, despite all their effort, they just couldn’t improve.  However, we have to keep in mind that the dwarves are not actual kids, Neige himself is a professional performer like Vil, and they should’ve had the time to train and prepare just like the NRC team.  Furthermore, from the way Vil in this same chapter manages to describe the NRC group as being “outplayed” despite this, I can only conclude that using the dwarves for their childlike appearance was a tactic with no basis on actual talent.  Because people tend to feel sad and guilty when kids lose, so they’re going to give them more leeway than teenagers and adults.  This is a complete slap in the face to what the competition is supposed to the be.  It’s not emotionally resonating or captivating: It’s manipulative.  

Spinning off this to finally focus a little more on Neige himself, also in Chapter 60, he describes that his whole reason for joining the competition was “because he wanted to share some special memories with his friends at school.”  On the surface, that sounds like a wholesome line, but what do Neige’s friends have to do with this?  We can assume that the dwarves naturally are his friends, mimicking Snow White’s relationship with her own batch of seven.  The problem with this though is that that would be like Vil picking only Pomefiore students because they share a dorm or excluding Deuce, Ace, Grim, and the player from the auditions because of the fight they had at the start of the Book.  Neige picked his friends to perform with him?  In a massive competition representing his school and involving actual prospects in the music/entertainment industries?  Despite the fact that they can’t sing or dance worth a flip and likely showed little to no signs of improvement as the weeks of training gearing up to the competition went on?

Did the Royal Sword Academy not have an audition process like NRC? Because there is no way the dwarves would have passed it if they were as bad as they were at the actual competition despite all the practice they claim to have had for it.  Granted, we can say the same from our main four freshman at NRC, but even if we ignored the reason why Ace and Deuce were specifically picked (for being a gamble, but both with unique qualities to bring to the group), we can also confidently say that they improved enough to perform well.  We can’t say that for the dwarves.  Therefore, this means one of two things: We’d either have to believe that everyone at RSA is just as bad as them if not worse or that, again, the dwarves weren’t picked on actual merit.  And going off Neige’s friend line... they weren’t.  This means that countless performers at RSA were denied the opportunity to show off their talent and potentially get actual deals simply because Neige wanted his friend group with him.  That is garbage.  

Now, I don’t think Neige is a bad person: I didn’t see any strong hints of his kind, bubbly personality being fake or that he might intend to cause harm.  However, based on what I just explained, I do think he’s an inconsiderate and thoughtless person.  He might not have thought of how picking his friend group meant that he stepped over a lot of talented people who truly deserved the chance to perform on stage at the SDC, or that using the child factor of his performance was a very dirty tactic for a competition that was supposed to be based on talent.

That’s the reason I don’t think Neige completely works as a Snow White parallel.  Snow White could be too trusting/innocent at times, but she wasn’t clueless and did consider how her actions affected others.  When she scared the forest animals after fleeing into the woods, she apologized for it even though it was a simple mistake due to her own fears.  When she entered the dwarves’ cottage for the first time with the intention of hiding out there, she knew she couldn’t just stay there for free and did her best to be useful.  I don’t see Neige showing that same level of consideration toward anyone--be it his competitors or his schoolmates.     

Allow me to bring in the headmaster of RSA, Ambrose, into this, since he also does something similar, and it’ll lead to my final point. When Ambrose speaks with Crowley, he pretty much laughs to the latter’s face about winning the competition and how they’ll soon make it an even one-hundred victories between their schools.  Even though he’s light-hearted about it and is friendly with Crowley, you can tell that it still gets to NRC’s headmaster.  Why wouldn’t it?  That’s rubbing salt into a long festering wound.  No one likes to lose--especially that often over the course of several years--and commenting about how NRC has constantly lost shows a major lack of tact from Ambrose.  

While it’s still too early to say, this indicates a trend with most of the hero-parallel characters.  This behavior is that of good people who are used to winning and getting their way without struggle or consequence, those who don’t earn their victories.  Right now, they seem like fairytale protagonists who skipped the actual story and jumped straight to their happy endings. Think of the relationship between Kalim and Jamil: Kalim is a good person, but he’s also incredibly spoiled and has had most hardships cleared out of the way for him since a young age.  This allowed him to be inconsiderate of Jamil without meaning to, hurting someone he’s always considered a best friend.  I can see the RSA characters falling into a similar category: Neige, the actor the gets all the best roles and stays on top of the industry no matter what, and Ambrose, the headmaster whose school has won countless victories in a constant streak without fail.  The differences between them both and Kalim though is that we as an audience have had time to see more of Kamil’s good qualities and that he has learned a lesson after Book 4.  I haven’t followed the JP version of the game to know how much has been expanded upon with the RSA characters in later books.  Still, I can see this being heavy potential for their development.

Right now though, it makes the RSA gang very hard to like.  For me, it’s not a matter of disliking them because they’re acting as the current antagonists--the literal definition; still not villains, mind you--but because of their poor show of behavior and oblivious regard of it.  In contrast, I never had a problem with Leona’s nephew and brother because neither of them could help the position they were born into any more than Leona and Cheka is still a child who can’t understand how complicated the family/royal situation is.  Neige, meanwhile, should’ve at least remotely understood how hard it is for performers to fight for their chance to shine, since that’s his industry, and should’ve put more focus on merit rather than his own desires for the competition.   

#twisted wonderland #neige blanche #video games #analysis #essay

[theressomethinghappeninginparis]

Apparently I'm rolling and my plan works just fine. I live, and Luddick decided to get back to me! He wants to call me (which I don't really like) and claims it is safer than communicating via mail.

Transcript of the first and second page: Luddick has high hopes considering connection on a train, and in case this works I wil provide him with information on Vasiley's murder and Eckhardt. Maybe I don't have to tell him all. Here's my list of questions so I don't talk gibberish:

What do you know about Eckhardt and his past doings?

Why do you think he is involved in Vasiley's death?

Are you aware of a person named "Heissturm"?

Do you know about the murder spree that had been going on in Paris?

Was Vasiley involved with artifacts called the Obscura Paintings?

Speaking of the devil, he wanted to speak to me within an hour. I did my best to be all alone and ended up in the restroom...anyway. He answered, I wrote everything down on two seperate pieces of paper to be more secretive and improvise professionality. So, here are his answers:

He was a few photos of Eckhardt and calls these "dossiers". Didn't want to show me. Apparently the alchemist is staying over at the Strahov whatever the fuck that is, and has been going in and out with another dude doing some kind of secret work.

He denied that Eckhardt is involved in Vasiley's murder, but I know better. He claimed he doesn't want to dig his head that deep into this and Vasiley had more ties with the Prague mafia.

There is no person he knows of with such name. He only has something on Eckhardt, Vasiley, and Grant Muller, again, whoever the fuck that is. It's supposedly a botanist and he said he had seen plants and botanical materials being carried into the Strahov.

Transcript of the third and fourth page: Continueing the answers Luddick gave me:

4. Here he had a good laugh, the Paris killings have been in every newspapers, of course he as a journalist would know. Some coworkers of his have been updating him, and some link the abrupt stopping of the killings to the murder of Vasiley who had ties to Paris. 5. He wasn't too sure of that. A woman already contacted him and wanted information -which he claims to have given her- and if I want it, it'll cost me.

So: I assume the woman is Lara Croft. I'm close to her footsteps now. Also, this chat opened way more questions than I'd like to admit. First, I want to get these dossiers Luddick mentioned. Then, I need to find out anything about Grant Muller and the Strahov. Also, the murder scene of Vasiley has been closed off by the police, but I could try to access it, no? I need an office, it's hard to keep track of everything. I need more on the Sanglyph, on the Lux Veritatis, on Muller, the Strahov, the dossiers.

While struggling with this I did some more research and came across a quote, this one: "Through the Golden Lion the Nephilim will enslave the sons of men and inherit the Earth". The Periapt Shards have a handle that is shaped like a lion, and I remember Fayolah's attached picture of a lion with three knives around it. Does this mean the shards are a weapon to enslave the world around Eckhardt? Can he use them? As far as I know, or think to know, Eckhardt is within this pact of Nephilim so the shards could be initially made by him (or the Nephili). What if they got stolen by the LV and used against him? Like in the drawing?

Transcript of the fifth page: Our train is stuck again. It's snowing, but at least we're approaching the Czech Republic. I found a graph on- a lot. It took me some time to fully read it. So, there were initially five Images of Blood, made by Eckhardt, which I know; which then got painted over and turned into the Obscura Paintings. Each othe them has a metal part within, and these can be combined to access the Sanglyph, this mystical weapon(?) Eckhardt has created.

Transcript of the sixth page: This is my scheme of the whole thing. The Sanglyph came first; then was split for whatever reason; then the apintings got commissioned, then painted over; then each painting got a peace and was hidden away, as I know Vasiley had found one of them on accident on a monastery. So if you bring all five parts together, it will please the Nephilim and make Eckhardt immortal? Is that how it works? I know that the mutilated bodies could be used for metals found within us, and the blood ties it to the Sanglyph itself, but this all sounds too...fantastic. Almost as if I'm tripping and sharing my bad trip with the whole world.

Transcript of the seventh and eighth page:

You won't believe what I found on Grant Muller. Or Müller, not sure. So I found a photo, it's a scan and bad quality but apparently depicting him. It was stored online on a journalist's cloud who found Muller so hilarious he wanted to spread his looks, I guess. I can revearse image-search him now and maybe come up with something better. His name sounds German, and with that I found even more. I can't quite grasp it and I'm almost in Prague, in an hour if everything goes smoothly. So, I'll print out his published srticles on mutagens. Mutagens can mutate DNA and damage it, like radiation, or simply change your eye color. But he's working on plants so he could be working on herbal medicine or something? I'm not sure what he's got to do with Eckhardt, but all I know of him so far is

he is 62 years old and born in Tirol, DE

his university expelled him for some reason and he never finished his degree

his works are heavily debated by biologists for being non-scientific

his current work place: the Strahov, Prague, CZ, who would have thought

he often references the Bible(???)

So he either is a Christian weirdo who wants to revive alchemy by plant matters or he actually works on something, some science, only Eckhardt appreciates. Perhaps he has a website? I will also try to find Vasiley's gallery. And, since I still have some time, I hope my dear "friend" “PassionforReseachion” will upload new data. I might be able to use that.

#tomb raider angel of darkness #traod #classic tr #tomb raider #angel of darkness #journal #aod #tomb raider series #lara croft #kurtis trent #classic tomb raider

[vexahlla]

hehe ✨️ 🎁 💛

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

someone bookmarked one of my fics with "anything you write is my favorite" which im unable to ever be normal about. i also really like all the comments on royal red & ocean blue chapter 5 bc it's such a fun chapter, someone thanked the inventors of snow, kendo, and thermal underwear, another person quoted 'you should be addicted to shutting the fuck up' which made me feel like i nailed the dynamic. and ofc the dream syncing comment section is full of gems and thank YOU specifically for calling it sexy i didn't know how it would land lol

i savor every comment. genuinely

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

uhhh so listen... idk about rymin but you can have some zukka. this is from the incomplete and very long rrob ch10 "the king of karaoke" a very (purposefully) awkward coming out scene:

Zuko scans the room and quirks a brow. "So this is your Ba Sing Se crowd?" There's a waver in his voice that belies his casual tone. Sokka follows his eye line to see what has him thrown off balance.

Zuko's looking at two girls making out at the foot of the stage, but drops his gaze when he realizes Sokka's followed in his direction.

Sokka's body stills, but he points a sharp glare at Zuko. "Yes," he says, voice dripping with challenge. "Is that an issue, your highness?" He doesn't care that it's factually inaccurate, he just wants Zuko to hear how much of an ass he's being.

Zuko blinks at him, then stumbles through a fervent, tipsy head shake. "No," he says as his cheeks color from more than just the alcohol. "I thought it might be for you, for some reason." He spins his pointer finger as if trying to rewinding time. "I don't know why, though. In retrospect," he adds with a nervous chuckle as he looks anywhere but at Sokka. He had been looking at Sokka the entire night, like he'd been Zuko's refuge in all this chaos, and the absence of his gaze is jarring. "Anyway..."

Zuko is interesting to be around. He's easy to read, most of the time, but where the emotions stem from is still a complicated puzzle Sokka has yet to piece together. He's got a competitive streak, at least where Sokka is concerned, as evidenced by them always trying to one-up each  other at banter or dumb games. And there's this feeling Sokka gets around him that he can’t place, electric yet gentle. It draws him in; it’s something to solve.

Sometimes, though. Sometimes he's just confusing.

"What?" Sokka asks. He wonders if they can ever have a clear conversation when liquor is involved.

“Sokka,” Zuko starts. Stops. He ruffles his hair, hides his head in his arms folded on the table, emerges again. He doesn’t quite meet Sokka’s eye. “I’m gay.”

“Oh,” Sokka says. His too-loud heartbeat is drowning out any coherent thoughts.

Zuko still isn’t looking at him.

“That’s awesome,” Sokka says. “I mean, that’s cool.” He wants to dunk his burning face in cold water. “Good for you.”

As he says it, Zuko is stumbling over his own words. “So I wasn’t, you know — I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No, I get that now,” Sokka says. He recovers from his shock and remembers himself. “Thanks for telling me. I mean, for trusting me enough to tell me that. Yeah.” Okay, so not completely recovered, but still.

Zuko releases a long-held breath. When at last he returns Sokka’s gaze, the harsh red laser lights of the club are filtered to a soft pink in his amber irises. There’s a moment of acknowledgment before he blinks back down to where his fingers are tearing apart a napkin and he’s guarded again.

“I almost told you before,” he says. “At the festival.”

Sokka thinks back to that moment. He winces, remembering how much he had assumed — not only about Zuko, but about Mai, too. Sure, he’s accepting in theory. But in practice? Maybe he has a lot more to work out than he thinks.

“Shit,” Sokka says. “I’m so dumb.” This time he’s the one avoiding eye contact. “You were trying to tell me and I didn’t get it—”

“I backed out.”

“And I was just going on about girls. Not even thinking—”

“I thought you would hate me again.”

Sokka’s mouth and heart sputter to a stop.

“Not that I had any reason to think you’d have a problem with it,” Zuko says, waving it off and fumbling through his words before Sokka can respond. “Obviously you wouldn’t.” It doesn’t sound as confident as Zuko likely thinks he does. “It’s just… We had finally started talking. I thought it might be different enough to throw things off balance again.”

Zuko’s attention is devoted entirely to the bits of napkin in his grip. 

Sokka pushes past the dull pulse in his ears. “Hey. Zuko.”

Zuko glances back up.

Sokka’s reach is slow as he gauges Zuko’s reaction. With no sign of resistance, he places his hands on Zuko’s shoulders. Zuko relaxes at the touch, so Sokka treads further and pulls him into an uncertain hug. Almost immediately, nervousness shifts into warmth, until he's more comfortable in Zuko's arms than he'd been outside them. Sokka isn’t sure how long it lasts. He isn’t sure he cares.

“I like learning more about you,” he says as they draw apart.

Zuko’s light smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

i used to treat writing so preciously and i was pretentious about it, if i wasn't shakespeare then what was the point. i still have perfectionism issues, but at least i get stuck on WIPs i have actual words down on instead of consuming every writing tip video on youtube and fantasizing. i used to not write fanfic bc i wanted the first thing i ever wrote to be "the novel of my heart" or whatever the fuck. and if i DID write a fic i wanted it to be a big multichap cornerstone of the fandom, which is the mindset i started rrob in LMAO. i would wonder why i was so much better at drawing than writing when writing was what i really CARED about. im not afraid to doodle only for myself, im not afraid to abandon drawings, im not afraid to put pencil on paper and START. every time i apply that lesson to writing it helps, but it's still hard for me to keep in practice.

Fanfic Writer Ask Game

#malaxis #rrob #ask #Fanfic Writer Ask Game

[lou-is-a-mess]

Opinions on midnights on third listen

Lavender Haze:

Strong opener, vibes are immaculate, kinda reminds me of Hayley Kiyoko for some reason, also reminds me of I think he knows.

Maroon:

I wanna make out to this, ugh those harmonies are exquisite, track two smashes it yet again, need to really look at the lyrics cause just listening to it I can’t quite figure out what it’s about.

Anti-hero:

“I should not be left to my own devices” yeah me too blondie, this song is too relatable and I think if we’d got it a few years ago it would have broken me, “everybody is a sexy baby and I’m a monster on the hill, too big to hang out” only thing I can say there is Oof, she wasn’t kidding when she said she really dove into her insecurities, “I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror” holy shit my dude, musically a bop and I can’t wait to blast it in the car but lyrically it’s a slap in the face every other line, probably in top five at least, could be top three.

Snow on the Beach:

One thing I can say straight away is it does sound like what I’d imagine would play when it starts snowing on the beach in a movie and that makes me so happy as a movie soundtrack nerd, “life is emotionally abusive” ouch I felt that, “you wanting me tonight feels impossible” felt that too my dude, ngl I was expecting Lana to be a bit more prominent in this song but I’m not too mad, the chorus is really nice, like it scratches my brain quite nicely.

You’re on your own, kid:

That drum makes me happy, cause I know there’s gunna be a fuckin sexy build up, which the pre chorus continues really nicely, on first listen I didn’t like that it led to nothing the first chorus but now I love that it trails off and the real build up is to the bridge, loving the synthesiser sounds here, ooh hell yeah here’s the build up, lyrics wise I’m gunna have to look at them cause nothing is really standing out at me yet, but musically this makes me so happy.

Midnight Rain:

Not a huge fan of the voice modulation or whatever that effect is called but we’ll allow it, loving the bass stuff, another one that musically would be nice to make out to but I’m not sure lyrically yet.

Question… ?:

Ay yo was that an ootw sample? I’ve always wanted someone to kiss me in a crowded room so that it felt like we were the only ones there so the chorus paints a really pretty picture for me, kinda a bop ngl.

Vigilante Shit:

Holy mother fuckin shit that bASS, I feel like this song is quite boring if you don’t have bass boasted speakers or headphones, I’m getting the word cronchy, some of the themes are fun.

Bejeweled:

“Putting someone first only works when you’re in their top five” okay read me to filth why don’t you, somehow the verses remind me of love simon, maybe it’s the similarity to sink in? Idk, “I can make the whole place ✨shimmer✨” ooh scratches my brain so good, top three for sure, “fAMILIRAITY BREEDS CONTEMPT SO PUT ME IN THE BASEMENT WHEN I WANT THE PENTHOUSE OF YOUR HEART” blondie stop please I’m begging.

Labyrinth:

Immediately The Archer vibes, fully relate to the fear of realising you’re catching feelings and the fear that it’ll go the same way as every other time so the uh oh is fun, again need to look at it lyrically cause I have a feeling there are some gems in there I’m just not catching.

It was here that the 3am version was announced, panicking cause I wanna listen to the new ones but I wanna finish this first ahhhhhh.

Karma:

A bop, chorus is very glitter gel pen imo but I kinda like it, can’t wait to dance round my room with this on full blast, like the music is just so ethereal and euphoric,

Sweet Nothing:

Like the swing rhythm, nice and simple which I think fits the vibe lyrically but don’t quote me on that cause I haven’t processed all the lyrics yet, I really like that electric piano sound, kinda reminds me of dodie’s human ep which I really love, ooh a nice build up there at the end.

Mastermind:

More upbeat which I like, this song really interests me cause it’s a way of thinking that I’ve never had, probs due to my autism cause like I can’t fathom spending so much time trying to manipulate events, it’s hard to explain but this song really interests me, “make them love me and make it seem effortless” like I wish I knew how to do that sometimes, all round good song.

So that’s my thoughts, I love that the album has that kind of euphoric electric pop kinda vibe yknow with the synthesisers and stuff that makes it feel like a dream or a drug trip, I can’t remember what that kind of pop is called and that really irritates me but oh well. This album definitely grows on you but then so did folklore for me so I’m looking forward to when I truly fall in love with these songs. I think I need more listens before I can rank them or do a top five/three but bejeweled definitely strikes me as one that could easily take the top spot.

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings, I’m off to listen to the 3am additions, might do a first listen commentary cause why not

#taylor swift #midnights #lavender haze #maroon #anti-hero #snow on the beach #yoyok #you’re on your own kid #midnight rain #question…? #vigilante shit #bejeweled #labyrinth #karma #sweet nothing #mastermind #ts #taylor nation #swifties #meet me at midnight

[lyna91fr]

Book Thoughts - Dans les fôrets de Sibérie (Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin in the Middle Taiga) by Sylvain Tesson

It all started with a quote that Namjoon shared on IG, from the book "Dans les forêts de Sibérie" (Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin in the Middle Taiga) by Sylvain Tesson. I don't know whether he read the book, but since it was on my reading list...

Note before we start: This is going to be a French and English thread. There was no way I would have read this author's work in English! So, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them.

This is an autobiographic story, with a simple pitch: the author decides to fulfill a dream - to live as a hermit for six months in a small wood cabin next to the Baikal lake in Siberia, before he turns 40. The book follows his journey, his introspective experience, as a diary.

This book is a gem! The poetry and the wordplay is beyond beautiful. While I wanted to share many quotes, the translations did not deliver the impression I had in French. An example: "Pointillé des pas sur la neige : la marche couture le tissu blanc."

The translation goes: "Footsteps dot the snow Walking sets short black stiches into the white cloth"

The English version does deliver the global feeling though, but yeah...

The author learns the ways to survive in this remote place, compares his hermit daily life to what he would do in his fast Parisian life, reads a lot (brought TONS of books with him). He gradually sets in a routine, recording and writing down his experience and his thoughts. Days go by slowly. Time does not have the same meaning there.

"Time wields over the skin the power water has over the earth. It digs deep as it passes."

In fact, everything he writes is not only deeply meaningful, but you can visualize his words so easily in your mind.

"Time wields over the skin the power water has over the earth. It digs deep as it passes."

"If nature thinks, landscapes express the ideas... There would be the melancholy of forests, the joy of mountain torrents, the hesitation of bogs, the strict severity of peaks, the aristocratic frivolity of lapping waves."

Another example of this "visual representation" of the author's way of writing:

"When the lake is as slick as oil, the reflection is so pure that you could misread which half of the mirror image was which... The reflection is the echo of the image; the echo is the image of the sound."

Apart from the external part of the daily life, there is also the introspective journey. The author wonders what he will find if he looks inside. That's another reason why he chose to go there, alone.

"The courageous course would be to face things: my life, my times and other people... What am I?"

I don't know whether NJ read that book, or just the quote from somewhere else, but I was surprised to read about another book NJ posted on IG in this book too. But then, as I mentioned previously, the author read a lot during his 6 months...

"Addressing the young poet Franz Xaver Kappus, Rainer Maria Rilke writes in his letter of 17 February 1903: 'If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it, blame yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches"

Speaking about quotes, this is the one Namjoon put on IG, with the original text in French:

"Ecoutant la musique de la houle, je regarde griller mes poissons embrochés sur des pics de bois vert en pensant que la vie ne devrait être que cela : l'hommage rendu par l'adulte à ses rêves d'enfant."

Who else but the author to give you an idea of what he felt and wrote in his book? I found a very short interview on YT with some snippets of the documentary that he did while living there. He speaks English fluently.

The French documentary on the author's experience, is complementary to the book he wrote. Here goes the English version.

There is also a 2016 movie called "In the Forests of Siberia" and while it is a great movie, it's not the original story from the book but an adaptation with a new character. The music is hauntingly beautiful and matches perfectly the visuals. Here goes the trailer of the movie:

Do I recommend the book? Yes! I really enjoyed escaping to this hermit life in the first days of the year! If you can, I recommend reading the French version. Maybe watching the short interview will help you understand the mindset of the author too.

#bts #bts books #namjoon #bts army

[randomnameless]

I stumbled across one of your posts from a while ago where, in the tags, you compared Seteth caring more about Rhea telling Byleth the truth than whether or not she was safe at the end of Silver Snow to Kaze defecting to Nohr because of Corrin, in terms of the awfulness of the avatar worship.

While i agree with the former case being bad, i actually think that Kaze's defection is much more well-justified than Seteth suddenly caring more about Byleth than Rhea.

A fundamental part of Kaze's backstory and character is that he feels an immense amount of guilt for failing to save Corrin from being kidnapped by Nohr when he was supposed to be guarding them, to the point of said guilt getting him killed in Birthright if he doesn’t learn to move past his regrets and focus on the present by having a heart-to-heart with Corrin in their A-support; that, coupled with the fact that he only joins after personally witnessing Corrin go out of their way to avoid killing enemy soldiers, which concinces him that Corrin's plan to change Nohr from the inside in order to make it more a more peaceful place is true, makes it less avatar worship and more just a natural development for Kaze's estabilished character, imo.

Where i do think his motivation starts faltering is that the game doesn't really put in enough effort to address Kaze's feelings after Corrin's plan falls through and they have to go to war against Hoshido; the closest it gets to that is having him tell Corrin that siding with Hoshido wouldn't necessarily have been the best choice and that both Nohr and Hoshido think that they're fighting for the sake of justice in Chapter 17 of Conquest: (jp version, translated by fateswartable)

Kamui: ….

Suzukaze: Lady Kamui…

Kamui: Sorry, Suzukaze. Joining me must be painful for you.

Suzukaze: N- No, that’s…!

Kamui: Saizou, Kagerou… And all of the Hoshido shinobi defeated today… If I chose another path, we could have fought together.

Suzukaze: …That’s right. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the right way. Both Hoshido and Nohr too are fighting for justice. That’s something everyone should know. Even brother, surely.

Kamui: Yes… Thank you, Suzukaze…

While Kaze growing to think of Nohr as also fighting for it's own justice through his time living in the country, causing him to choose to fight for it over Hoshido, is an interesting direction to take his character in, it's kinda undercut by the fact that, not only does this development happen entirely off-screen, but that Kaze has no presence in Conquest's plot afterwards; the game never develops or expands on his newfound motivation after Chapter 17, forcing players to just settle for a throwaway line and the fact that he still feels bad for failing to protect Corrin as the only reasons why he's willing to fight and kill his own brother and former allies.

It's underdeveloped, to be sure, but i wouldn't call it a flaw caused by avatar worship, and certainly not as bad as Seteth, out of nowhere, not giving a fuck about Rhea's safety or location and only caring about her insofar as what she can tell Byleth about their origins.

Oh !

TBH, Fates's avatar wanking looks.... tame, compared to FE16 Supreme Leader wanking and Billy wanking.

But it's still... there.

I was re-reading the RD battle/talk quotes from Part 3, where Miccy's army and Ike's army fight, and how some people choose to fight against others for, uh, reasons -

Some Daien people are fighting because their king does, some do because the believe in Miccy and, well, some (Nailah, Kurth and Rafiel) know the truth, and how Miccy can't back down, else her people will die.

Nohr fighting for its own Justice in CQ always felt, well. Corrin saved Kaze, and wants to change Nohr from the inside.

However, in CQ (my mind is foggy?) Nohr is, iirc, invading Hoshido. It's not like a war where someone wants to erase someone else or pissed on a diplomatic proposal asking for reparations for a genocide, nope. In FE14, Nohr kills the Hoshidan Queen, and in CQ, well, conquers/invades Hoshido.

Even if Kaze learnt and witnessed how Nohrians aren't baby eating monsters in their everyday life (save for iago) why and how is them invading Hoshido any form of "justice"? Mc Guffin here and there means Gooron has to sit on the Hoshidan throne to turn into goo - and yet, even if deposing Gooron is the best thing to do to change Nohr from the inside, how can this (invasion to depose) be justified and bought by a Hoshidan as "Justice" and acceptable?

Maybe I'm too used to the FE14 lolcalisation, but Kaze pulling the "justice" card here is oddly reminiscent of Tru Piss Sylvain (I think?) who says they can't reason with the Kingdom they're invading because each party fights for their beliefs like Faerghus just wanting to exist

If Kaze became a green unit like Aerone or Gale (in FE6 iirc?) and died due to Iago Iago-ing or Hans Hans-ing I'd have prefered it to him joining on Conquest because of his guilt regarding Corrin and "witnessing him sparing soldiers". And yet, buying the "everyone fights for their own justice" and choosing Norh is, idk, strange. Maybe it would have been better if, as you said, his change of heart wasn't off-screen...

Coming from FE10 to FE14 was already kind of ultra meh in terms on dealing with the unit that became a turncoat, but FE16 takes it to new heights.

So yeah, I was exaggerating when I compared the Billy worship to Kaze lol, but I thought about it because it's the only pair of siblings I remember where an avatar inserts themselves in an existing relationship and effectively severs it.

Seteth not giving any fucks about Rhea (and to some extent, Flayn too, she's not mentionned in their A-S support, when, maybe shipping googles make a bit biased, his support with Manu talking about remarriage mention his daughter!) is completely wild, but just like everything in FE16, characters, the plot and the lore can be forgotten and torn apart if it means the player can be pandered to, via Billy or Supreme Leader.

#anon #replies #FE14 #FE16 #player pandering sucks #thanks for the 'everyone fights for their own justice' line #it would have made me furious back then #but now FE16 exists so #in french we have a proverb to mean something bad already existed but you notice it later #le ver est dans le fruit #but after FE16 the avatar wanking from FE14 feels so tame #like eating one peanut when FE16 is full on peanut butter #lizard family time? #only because I remembered that post and why I ranted about it lol

[826aliensapocalypseactivism]

The Reason Why

Japiah H. 

12/28/2035

3 days after Christmas, when the drive-through is filled with snow, a cold breeze goes through Whitefish, Montana, a town where everybody knows everybody, and everybody knows everybody’s drama and business. Kids are inside with their families drinking hot chocolate,enjoying their presents, and enjoying their FAMILY ____Christmas is always hard for Hannah. Hannah believes Christmas is a holiday for a family, but she doesn’t have a family so she feels lonely. 

In addition to Hannah getting left, she also gets bullied by this boy named Brad, your average jock… tall, handsome, and rich. Obviously he is an asshole and doesn’t care about anybody’s feelings but his own. Meanwhile, Hannah is an overweight, pansexual, Muslim girl. Brad has been bullying Hannah since she came out as pansexual. Brad thought it was weird that she was pansexual–in his words, “she should’ve just said she was bi”. Ever since then, Brad made it his life mission to make sure Hannah loathes herself. He told her all kinds of insults such as; “you should kill yourself ”, “ who wanna date fattie pattie?” and the one that hurt  Hannah the most is,, “Now I see why your mom left a fat kid, that is not even smart and your bisexual – who would ever want you?”

Hannah thought she would always be lonely because of Brad. Without Stella, Hannah wouldn’t know what to do. Stella has been there for Hannah since they were kids. Stella always stood up for Hannah even if Hannah wasn't brave enough to stand up for herself. Stella adores Hannah. She always thought she had the potential to do great things even if Hannah didn’t feel the best about herself. Stella was her hype man no matter what or who was in the way. Hannah felt like she was beginning to bring Stella down because Stella had an IQ of 146 meanwhile Hannah had an IQ of 79.

Anyways back to the story, Hannah has always spent Christmas with Stella and her family. She always felt like they were the family she ever had, but Hannah still wanted her own family to always have just for her and put her first. Hannah was unstable. She was placed in a psych ward for trying to kill herself… Multiple times, Hannah was determined to find happiness within somebody even if it had to be herself, but that never happened. Hannah felt like she had to be in danger or be picked on to get somebody’s attention. She was always quiet and in her own world. This  made her wonder what did she do to Brad Forster to make him hate her.

1/7/35

Hannah pov 

Another year, another freaking year that I don’t get to see her, another year left wondering what went wrong. If there was something wrong with me, maybe it was because my life was like the weather. It could be sunny then it could be cloudy. Life can be up then down or down then up but my life seems to always be down and for whatever reason, I caused this. I tried to find happiness but happiness wasn’t trying to find me. I read this quote and it was like “Be patient. Good things take time. If you ask me, where humans go wrong is with their lack of patience. That, and their recently acquired taste for instant gratification.” When is it too long? How patient do I have to be? Every upside has a downside but  there isn’t an upside. I mean I have Stella until she decides to leave me, which I don’t blame her for. I'm a negative nancy is the only word my foster parents can say about me. I think they were right.

Home. Some people describe home as their safe haven and peace. Home for me is nothing, a void with nothing to fill it with. A dark deep hole, you are in where there is no way to get out. Where you can't feel safe. You are alone in the darkness where your only friend is the one in your head.

1/10/35

 Third period, my first period with Brad. . .hen the torment begins I sit in the back of the class with my notebook and pencil. Brad walks in class and we make eye context, but today he doesn’t say anything. Weird, why didn’t he say anything? I'm not going to say anything. An hour later third period ends. Brad still hasn’t said anything. Oh well, maybe today I won’t get my feelings hurt.

It’s the end of the day. I had 4 classes with Brad today and not one peep out of him. Either he finally realized what he was doing or today just isn’t his day and thank you god for me. Stella usually goes to eat after school but I haven’t talked to her lately. Maybe it’s for the best.

Later on that day 

While I was scrolling on Instagram I saw the comments on a post I made and the comments made me cry. 

OMG WTH is this 😭~ Oliva08

Why are you so lonely? ~ Ahh_jason

Fattie pattie come on now what is this please delete and kill yourself this made my day thanks I owe you a burger. ~Brad_Better

This is sad ~pretty_betty

Died~  Monica_00

Do I deserve to die? Why me? But if everybody says it, doesn’t make it true that I should die, what is there to live for? NO sibling, no mom, no dad, nobody, Stella will be fine. Have you ever been so lonely that you feel invisible maybe it’s best that I kill myself.here is no reason to live, so why am I living?

As of January 10, Hannah Scott is no longer officially with us. As of 12:30 Hannah took her life.

The next day at school, at Hannah’s locker there were pictures, teddy bears, candles, flowers, etc. Stella had put it all together, Stella knew that she would never see Hannah again and Stella would never find her replacement. 

Brad pov 

Hannah died… She was gone, I mean I know I told her to kill herself but I was playing? I didn’t want Hannah to kill herself. Honestly. I was jealous of Hannah becasue she was brave enough to come out and I’m not. I have a baseball scholarship with UCLA and I can’t afford to lose that. I bullied Hannah cause I didn’t want people to know, especially UCLA but it doesn’t matter now none of it does. 

5 years later….

Some way in hell HANNAH arises from the DEAD and brings HELL with her. It’s been two days since Hannah has been back. Let me explain and please keep up. Okay so, There was this earthquake last week and 3 days later people were saying that they were seeing Hannah but her skin was unusual and looked like it she had been dead. I mean technically she is, I don’t know anything anymore, the whole city went crazy when they saw Hannah. When anybody tried to approach her she ate them…. At least that is what people are saying. The city has gone crazy. What the hell are we supposed to do?

[snow-in-the-desert]

Dramione Recommendations

Ok so, 2020 has been A LOT but on a personal note one of the most surprising things to happen was me discovering Dramione fanfiction and becoming unashamedly obsessed with it. I really didn’t see that coming but I’m here now and I’m here to stay. 

I think I started reading in the Dramione fandom around mid July last year?? (In all honesty I’ve lost any true sense of time’s progression at this point so I could be well off the mark with that) And I’ve decided to compile a list of all my favourite fics I’ve read so far. Why? I really just want to gush over all the amazing writers I have found through this fandom because y’all deserve it. 

Side note: If any of the authors actually sees this post just dm so I can buy you coffee or post you writing supplies or something idk I feel like that’s the least I can do for all your amazing work x

Remain Nameless by @heyjude19-writing

Ok I have to start with RN because this fic is pretty much the sole reason I decided to create an account with A03 or a tumblr or just decided to get involved with this fandom at all. 

I headcannon this story hard. But I think even if you aren’t a fan of Dramione you should just read this because it is so unbelievably good and well written and poignant and Draco’s sarcastic personality in this is truly a thing of beauty in this - I relate to his inner monologue’s on a deep personal level. 

I could rave about this story any time, any day of the week, just ask me. In fact, maybe I’ll just start a HeyJude19 fan club to fulfill that urge.

There are so many elements that I love but for the sake of brevity, RN is a beautifully told story of Draco and Hermione finding love and healing in a post-war HP setting. Heyjude19 had the very special ability of making me want to simulatenously laugh, cry and swoon with the power of her words. Just stop what you are doing and go read it now if you havent already, ok?  

I also really enjoyed reading Bells on a Hill, Beers, Potions and Unwise Notions and A Shift in Focus, if you are looking for smaller fics, definitely give these a go. They are all funny and heartfelt stoires that will make your tippy toes wriggle with glee. 

The Rights and Wrongs Series by @lovesbitca8

The Right Thing To Do, All The Wrong Things and The Auction are the holy trinity of Dramione writing. I have christened it thus, so mote it be. And frankly I’m not interested in any other opinion than that one, thank you very much!

After reading this series I don’t think I’ll be able to look back on the orginal HP books without thinking of Hermione’s and Draco’s memories of their time at Hogwarts in these fics as anything other than strictly cannon. 

So many things to love about this series but I think one of the major highlights was Hermione and Draco’s use of occlumency. LoveBitca8 created such beautiful visuals with how occlumency works as a magical practice and seeing Draco and Hermione so devoted to eachother to the point of safeguarding their inner most feelings to protect eachother was unbelievably romantic and poetic. 

Also the smut is divine ;)

Manacled by @senlinyu​

My heart will never be the same after reading this story. Like I actually can’t think about this fic without getting a lump at the back of my throat. I have never felt so emotionally ruined after reading anything, compared to the likes of this fic. Just please, please read it. To badly quote HP, reading Manacled will make you suffer but you’re going to be happy about it.

The flashbacks are a rollercoaster in of themselves but the way Hermione inadvertently refers to them when she is still in a state of memory loss was so heartbreaking to read. My heart still aches for them both. Also its a truly satisfying to see Draco and Hermione written in a way were they are both so fiercly protective of one another. They make my insides go soft. 

I also really enjoyed Snow Fall, Now Is A Gift and All You Want by the author but to be honest anything written by Senlinyu is always thoroughly enjoyable and worth a look. 

The Erised Effect by @adaprix​

Ada is QUEEN of dramione smut but ‘The Erised Effect’ is top tier. Its equal parts funny, romantic, sentimental and oh so sexy. Ada really knows how to build and build on sexual tension and doesn’t disappoint on the final delivery. I’m a big admirer of her writing style and just veraciously read whatever she posts but ‘The Erised Effect’ is just golden. A must read. (Also Pansy’s sexual fantasy in this story is a visual I don’t think I’ll ever be able to remove from my brain so thanks for that Ada)

Also quick side note: Adaprix’ stories were the first I read when I was looking into this fandom and it was enough to get me hooked on the pairing from the get go so I have that to thank Ada for too. I remember devouring all the stories she had posted to A03 and when I was done I was like... now what am I supposed to do with my life?? And that’s basically when I began to look deeper into the fandom and thus the course of my life in 2020 changed for the better. 

Some other stories I love by her are Break for Me, All My Sins, The Big 4-0, The Fucklust Series and The Flat in Bath. 

Clean by @olivieblake​

This 6th Year AU where Draco and Hermione work together on a class assignment and end up falling in love had me feeling all kinds of ways when I read it. I almost don’t know where to start but I think one of the stand out things for me was how immersed I felt in reading it. 

Hogwarts is captured really well, you get a good sense of class atmospheres, character nuances and behind the scenes of events that happen in HBP but from a Draco and Hermione’s perspectives. It’s well executed and intricate tapestry of a fic. With an excellent plot twist ending! 

Also Hermione and Draco’s relationship in this is equal parts fluffy and smutty and it just ticks all the right boxes that you want to see for those characters ;)

Breath Mints / Battle Scars by @onyx-and-elm​

The angst in this one is just *chef’s kiss*

God I love this fic. The way Draco is portrayed is very true to his defensive and tetchy character in the original books but he is also given so much more depth. The way his diary entries are written are just so well executed. It’s a true testament to the author’s creative writing skill. And I LOVE how even though Draco is clearly in such a messed up place, he still has a basic level of self respect and dignity that he won’t tolerate being used or undervalued in his relationship with Hermione. 

Yep, I really love Draco’s characterisation in this one if you can’t tell.  But Hermione is also well written too. Her stuggles and trauma of returning to Hogwarts after war is described in a believable and grounded way. And my heart definitely ached for them both. I just wanted to wrap the pair of them in a big fuzzy blanket and tell them that everything will be alright. 

WANDS OUT! by @persephonestone​

This murder mystery / Dramione / Theo x Harry / AU crossover is everything I didn’t know I wanted until I read it. I felt like I was picked up and plonked right into an alternative dimension where all the characters of HP are just living it up in an Agatha Christie novel. 

It’s a funny and clever story that I found refreshing to read amongst all the other fanfics that are usually cemented in the HP timeline or universe. Theodore Nott in this fic is perfection he should be written like this in every fic from now on in my opinion. I couldn’t stop giggling any time he had a scene in the story.

And the ‘only one bed’ trope in this fic is 10/10. I don’t want to give spoilers but ohmygod. It hits all the right notes. 

The One With Technical Difficulties by cassielassie 

Cassielassie has an excellent three part series of Dramone called ‘The One with...” but I have to give special credit to this story in particular for one main reason. ELEVATOR TROPES. I can’t get enough of em. I think I have my early childhood viewings of NCIS to thank for my obsession with elevator tropes they just do something to me that simply cannot be explained with mere words. The palpable sexual tension of being in a broken down elevator with an ‘enemies to lovers’ pairing, a heated arguement breaks out followed by a discovery of mutual feelings and a romantic embrace...

Eugh. It gets me everytime. And this fic is no exception. I loved it for all the reasons I’ve already stated above but also for the attention to detail in Draco and Hermione’s careers makes this one particularly immersive. The dynamics between them established in this one-shot are convincingly portrayed and the chemistry between them is so undeniably hot. 

The Light is No Mystery by @masterofinfinities​

Yooo if you want to read a dramione fic that is a deep dive into Pureblood culture and Post-War recovery but is also a perfect allegory for discrimination and today’s political landscape of moral grandstanding for votes then look no further than this one. 

This story has a bit of everything. Intrigue, mystery, ptsd and recovery, enemies to lovers / secret relationship, government conspiracy and humour, to name a few. I eargerly await every update to this story and am anxious to know how it ends!

The Eagle’s Nest by HeartOfAspen 

Finally! A fic that gives me the Ravenclaw representation I crave. I think I could recommend this fic on the lore depicted of Ravenclaw house alone. ‘The Stacks’ and Rowena Ravenclaw’s own ‘come and go room’ are just such cool details that I could see being real in the HP universe. 

This fic is so cosy and makes me feel like I’m just popping back into Hogwarts for another year. You get to see all the usuals like prof. Mcgongall, Nearly headless Nick, PEEVES, Hagrid, as well as learn more about minor characters from the other school houses. The story follows Hermione going to her day to day classes and there are interesting concepts about magic and alchemy that are explored. 

Draco and Hermione’s relationship in this one is of course very fluffy and heartfelt. But it’s the attention to detail that really makes this fic outstanding and the experience of reading it feels fleshed out and true to HP universe.

A shorter fic by HeartofAspen that I recommend is one called Set in Stone, it has an adventurous, Indianna Jones vibe to it, that I am so down for. 

Teachable Moments by @purplesugarquills

In this fic Hermione is an innocent little virgin determined to learn everything about sex. And Draco Malfoy is her tutor. If that isn’t enough to get you on board then I don’t know what is. Both Heartfelt and Steamy. PurpleSugarQuills writes smut so well but it’s the progression of their growing attachment and the nervous treading of new uncharted waters of romantic relationships for both of them that just adds a whole other level of feels to the story. Also chapter 9 is like reading poetry - its so good. Eugh just give it a read if you haven’t already.

Les Pèlerins by @pacific-rimbaud

This story is high art. It’s transcendent. Reading this story feels like the emotional equivalent of standing around a hundred glowing fairy lights, sipping hot cocoa and being wrapped in the loving embrace of a s/o. I can’t speak my praises highly enough or even become passably coherent in my words when I try to articulate a review. 

From the very first paragraph I felt like I was just whisked away on a Parisian holiday and I’ve never even bloody been to Paris but damn it if this story didn’t make me feel like I was there. The writing style is just so tactile and intense it’s like I could feel the cold winter air brush against me as I read it. Eugh I just completely fell in love with the story and the writer. 

New Year’s resolution. Read everything PacificRimbaud has ever posted online. 

#This post is the online equivalent of me thrusting a pile of books into your hands and poking at you until you every single one #A behaviour I may or may not already be prone to #dramione #fanfiction #fanfic recommendations #I think I may have missed a few but I think I'll try to make a habit of gushing over new writers as I find them #Doing this just satisfies a deep inner urge in me to just compliment the everloving shit out of writers #who made my life a little more bearable with their words

[swimmingleo]

Harry Styles and Two Loves - A love that dare not speak its name.

‼️Disclaimer I am in no way an English literature expert or student for that matter and can barely organize my thoughts but I’ll try my best. If something doesn’t make sense or is regretful thinking please tell me‼️

Basically Harry is a fervent reader that does not limit himself to Buk*wski and Mur*kami though for some reason he loves to bring up those dudes. Queer literature seems to play a big role when it comes to his inspiration and I love that about his music. A good example is his Shakesqueer Sweet Creature madness. But another one that I hold close to my heart are the parallels he draws with Alfred Douglas’ poem, Two Loves.

Here is the full poem. Give it a read if you can because I won't break it down verse by verse for this post sorry :(

To make it short, the poem is about the narrator (let's say Douglas) wandering in a garden where he meets a young man that turns out to be his lover. For context, Alfred Douglas was very much queer and in a romantic relationship with Oscar Wilde. Both developed their own coded language to express their love and ''sexual tendencies'' through their art (been this way foreverrr will we ever leaarn). However they were not always so sneaky about it and Two Loves in particular was so in your face that it was used against Wilde to prove his homosexuality in trial. He did get away with it this time. Here is his defense. Blueprint of denials. No iPhones at the time.

In Two Loves, two different personifications of love introduce themselves to Douglas and his lover:

The first love is loud and cheerful and sings about pretty women and men that love the said pretty women.

The second love is discreet, almost erased by the other’s presence but is beautiful and draws the attention of the narrator.

Obviously the first love is Heterosexuality, the one that is openly praised by society and the second is Homosexuality who is bullied into silence by Heterosexuality if he tries to speak. The poem ends with Homosexuality saying "I am the love that dare not speak its name." Yeah. And isn’t that the story of H’s career.

HS1 opens with MMITH which ends on "We don’t talk about it, it’s something we don’t do". And from there follows SOTT, "We don’t speak enough". And right after we get the very loud, very explicit and very well documented Carolina. So far the album narration goes "There is something painful going on but we can’t talk about it, I say ‘we’ because there is a you and I and yeeEEAAH THIS GIRL I MET ONCE GETS A WHOLE SONG THE WORLD DESERVES TO KNOW HOW GOOD SHE FEELS FOR A LADDY LAD LIKE ME ALSO HER NAME IS TOWNES YOU CAN CHECK FOR YOURSELF SEE IF SHES REAL I LOVE REAL WOMEN AS IN WOMEN THAT EXIST". Heterosexuality is loud and sings about pretty women right.

But then, THEN we get Two Ghosts. Which is the center piece of this whole post. I mean, the title... Two Ghosts//Two Loves Two hearts in one home ? Sick.

The parallel that hits the most is the physical description that is made of Douglas’ lover and of Homosexuality (which are technically two different characters in the poem).

Douglas’ lover / Homosexuality

Same lips red / Same eyes blue / Same white shirt

Red were his lips / His lips were red / His eyes were clear as crystal / His large eyes were strange with wondrous brightness / White as the snow / His cheeks were wan and white

In Douglas’ poem, it is meant to be understood that the young boy he meets first, his lover, is related to Homosexuality through their physical appearance. Douglas’ love is therefore inherently queer. With Two Ghosts, I’ve always wondered why Harry chose specifically to point out a white shirt as it comes across a bit generic and not really personal yk? But if you compare it to Two Loves, it checks out the recurrent descriptive color scheme: red, blue and white. In both works, red are the lips, blue are the eyes, and white is the ~envelopp. RIGHT. I suppose Harry didn’t feel like describing his lover with pale white skin since it’s brown with lemon over ice when under summer skies so he went with a plain white shirt instead.

I’m not going through a whole analysis of Two Ghosts yet I can safely say that it deals with unspoken words. Not saying things is a recurrent theme in H’s songwriting but within the album, Two Ghosts is the first song that deals with it through the undeniable prism of romantic love. Right before with Carolina, H had no issue being straightforward and wanted to "scream and shout it out", but with Two Ghosts he’s tongue tied and doesn’t say what he really means. Communication issues go on with the following track Sweet Creature, btw may I just:

But oh, Sweet Creature (!), Sweet Creature

Would he […] cry "O sweet creature!", Othello

I cried "Sweet youth…, Two Loves

Queer Literaturry is going wild(e).

Expanding this post with Sweet Creature allows me to speak about the garden metaphor. In lyric poetry, the expression of emotions is often done through nature. It is a process that Harry seems pretty fond of when singing about love (ie Olivia, Adore You, WS, Canyon Moon and Sunflower are good examples) but it’s way more subtle with TG and SC. In Two Ghosts, nature is the moon, and in Sweet Creature it’s the garden.

Would you look at that, Two Loves happens to combine both:

Moon dances over your good side and this was all we used to need, Two Ghosts

Running through the garden oh where nothing bothered us, Sweet Creature

Flowers that were stained with moonlight / Alone in this fair garden, till he came unasked by night, Two Loves

For Harry, the night is where the moon enhances his lover’s beauty, when it’s just the two of them and they need nothing more than each other. The garden is where they run (free?away?), once again alone, unbothered. For Douglas, Homosexuality took form and began to occupy the garden at night, while Heterosexuality who thrives in the golden light (um I- nvm) wasn’t paying attention.

It is also interesting to note that Homosexuality is associated with the night but also with death. And he’s super pale. So like… A ghost ? ANYWAY.

The garden in Two Loves is where love happens, it is a piece of heaven. It’s elevated on a hill and untamed with flowers of various colors growing everywhere. There is sunshine and moonlight, there are "pools that dreamed" and by pools I assume the author means vernal pools which are habitats where flowers grow and oh look over there:

Nice ruffles on that white shirt by the way. Very Victorian.

Two Ghosts, 2017 Mularry so true

So yeah. I don’t want to go into full analysis mode but I find it all interesting. Once again, Two Loves holds a great significance regarding the Oscar Wilde’s lore, and Harry is probably very familiar with anything Wilde related (don’t even start) and by that I think about the Carnation business.

I’ll just conclude with that quote from Maurice by E.M Forster whom I love very much:

"I am an unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort."

#song analysis #idk if it has been widely discussed already #ive done a bit of research and i haven't found anything but if you've seen similar posts dont hesitate to pass me the links #anyway first try at this kind of rambling i hope it's ok eek #but really I love this parallel or at least the idea i make of it lol #harry styles #two ghosts #queer inspo #my analysis

[skzflix]

passstt can you do your best to explain the ‘universe’ in depth or at least so it’s understandable bc my ass is clueless 🙃

so, this is my dumb brain linking stuff so please please take this all as what it is — my stupid brain's stupid thinking. this is also the first time i've linked it all out in order. so bear with me. this is loooong. in this universe, we have like three parts: mixtape: on track — b me — mixtape: oh. and it deals with tangled romance and the consequences it has on friendships.

MIXTAPE: ON TRACK

so in mixtape: on track, the universe sets off with the boys in high school, final year, i think. minho and hyunjin are the leads in our whole universe. jeongin is like hyunjin's best friend in this au. they are film and art majors (?) and have this project i presume to make a short film (?). chan deals with the sound, jisung with the lights, changbin with the props, hyunjin with the videography, felix is directing and seungmin is the writer. minho is the main lead in this film and jeongin is a side character in this film.

insert female lead. female lead is close friends with both hyunjin and minho. it's pretty evident that minho and hyunjin likes her and hyunjin constantly does feel bad over minho and her getting closer, because well, he likes her. this feeling turns into a distaste soon enough (as seen in how hyunjin feels pathetic after the girl takes both the drinks from them + how minho shoots the goal while playing soccer and like hyunjin and minho have this weird cold gaze exchange. in both these situations, jeongin is around to help hyunjin. i'll get to this soon.) so like our boy minho and her clearly have sparks and hyunjin dislikes it. high school jealousy, if anything.

that's when hyunjin decides to take action and while shooting, when minho has to grab the female lead's hand, he butts in and holds her hand. all because he likes her and he's done being the second lead in this story. the mv ends here.

now, about jeongin, he did mention in one of his vlive that he was like a guardian angel and i do think he's like a friend that really really cares for hyunjin and doesn't ever want him to get hurt. so the whole mv wraps up in this plot of how hyunjin takes action right when minho and the female lead are slowly getting things going for them.

UNVEIL: B ME

and then we get the unveil track of b me, (how i wish they dropped the mv for this rather!). i'll make a list of stuff that happens in b me first and then tell you how my brain linked it up.

felix with the video camera + tape

jeongin distressed with bruised face

the members reminiscing what they once had before chaos struck.

a script that has even a fool knows (alternative title to on track) written (this was my cue to link them both?)

seungmin, chan and technically the whole cast looking distressed

jisung burning the film competition form (?)

changbin in the court sad and playing alone

biker!minho + biker!hyunjin (THIS ISN'T A POINT BUT THEY ARE SO HOT IN THIS AU SHUT UP RUE!!!)

minho meets with an accident + jisung rushes to his side

angry giving up skz moments

ot8 basketball happy memories

i'm going to sit here and draft this out so again, bear with me, soooo,

i presume the hyunjin grabbing the girl's hand, ofc, did not sit right with minho because technically, minho and her were a thing almost. and that ruined the friendship. this also caused the whole film shooting to turn chaotic, i presume because hyunjin's gaze in the on track mv seemed determined so i think he wasn't ready to back off either. the filming team clearly breaks apart because of this. the tension between minho and hyunjin is still very high. the team is frustrated. jisung burns the film competition form because what's the use of joining when there's no team? changbin is sad and angry and has emotions he is frustrated over (just like the other members!!) because they aren't together as a friend circle distinctly because of the feud between hyunjin and minho. they used to play basketball together (the whole of the ending part!) but not anymore.

now, we see how minho meets with an accident. i'm a bit confused with this part (this is why we need the mv for b me, jyp!!!!) but i'll state out everything i think.

a) jisung is to minho as to what jeongin is to hyunjin.

b) the accident could be solely accidental? maybe minho ran off in a fit after an argument with jeongin and hence why jeongin has the bruises and maybe in that heat, minho could have had the accident.

c) i presume jisung rushes to help him because human guardian angel of sorts of a friendship.

anyhow, i think the small clip of video tape that felix pulls out in the beginning is what they watch together. i do not think this has any correlation to the intense story besides adding the fact that they were reaaaaaaally close because they all look super happy in that shot, omg!!

MIXTAPE: OH

and now here we are, mixtape: oh. (watching and pausing the mv to go as detailed as i can with my storytelling.) this, since it was a mv, we get a story as solid as the first one (thank you, jyp. i hate you generally but thank you for this.)

so we have all the members in the drama club room. the same room we saw in the first mv i think. everyone's gathered back there, picking up their stuff because they have graduated, except for changbin and hyunjin who haven't come. jeongin searches and hopes expectantly for hyunjin to come. the blue certificate kinda thingy (I have no idea what it is. i don't read korean either and my google translate couldn't pick that up :((() is something of hyunjin's and i think minho did want hyunjin to come to this sort of reunion because he gets angry and picks up the blue thingy. he's either mad at that, or he is still mad at what happened in the past. i'm not sure. either ways, jisung is worried too as to what minho is going to do and over what he is feeling. oh, also, minho is in a cast, which means it does go exactly in the order i mentioned !!!

we then see hyunjin (shit, i cried again!) and he's painting an eye (is this a relation with some other skz song i will never know) and i think he took up art after dropping from film club so like he could distance himself from the rest of them, because well, he was 1/2 of the reason why this all happened.

we have the members reminiscing again, thinking about the good times and bad ones too. jeongin is in a tunnel (the boy is always in a tunnel. is this again a link to other mvs i do not know) and changbin goes to the drama club room all alone after everyone leaves and like i think he removed the sign of the drama club room and in my head, it's a symbolism for how everything has finally ended. all the memories they have had had finally ended with their graduation, of sorts, in that moment for him. jeongin, who is in the tunnel calls for hyunjin, like a last thread of hope he clings on to, expecting for him to finally meet them and come back to them. hyunjin doesn't pick up the call.

minho is still packing things up and as he looks through stuff he sees a calender with their anniversary date marked and he remembers of the team together once again. everyone really badly misses the old days. we see jeongin who goes to buy that drink again that he stole from hyunjin in the on track mv and he remembers felix in that moment.

felix who is in the library is with a cake. so i presume it is his birthday because he lights the candle on the cake up eventually. i think he did want to celebrate it with the team as a whole but because of the fall he can't. he opens a book and see the quote, "dreams come true to those who really want them," (we see this on the jisung bus stand shot too btw!!) and he goes on to make a wish on his cake and ie think he wished for them all to be together once again, living the happy memories again. hence the beautiful shots in the end I AM IN LOVE.

so i had this sorta ex lmao who told me this beautiful metaphor once when we broke up about how i left him on the bus of our memories and it was only i who got down and that our timings didn't match. and i think my brain instantly correlated those two, oops. so like the bus is a train of thoughts, a passageway for them to remember the happy memories. changbin remembers the happy memories he had as he looks through hsi phone with the basketball in his hand. jisung also enters the bus and remembers the moments they shared. oh, also changbin leaves when jisung enters. the timings don't match.

TIMESKIP. because this is based off kdramas for sure and what are kdramas without timeskips lmao.

minho's arm is healed. (he's also wearing such a pretty fit i want to steal!) minho goes and tried to meet hyunjin at his art studio because he wants to give it a try, this whole friendship again, i think, but hyunjin isn't there. so he leaves him a note and the certificate (??) blue thingy (?? what is it someone help me!) hyunjin comes back to see them both. this is what happens in the mv, in correlation with the other mvs.

they could clearly make another part of them actually getting together. but personally, i think they do and like felix's wish comes true because the directing is such that they end it with felix opening his eyes. (i also don't want to think of a sad alternative where felix opens his eyes only to remember reality is still the same and the feud still exists. i refuse. in my head, the next part has them coming together just like that in the snow!)

but yes, if you've reached till here, thank you for reading my incoherent mess of thoughts. ily and i hope you have a good day! 💕

#✉️:asks #skz theory #stray kids #skz #this is not proofread and is just a mess BUT HERE THANK YOU 💕

[tenebrius-excellium]

“Berk was always a wild-looking place, treeless and boggy, heather-blown and fern-felled, and of course it was practically always raining: Anything from a light, persistent drizzle to a drenching downpour. There are 28 words that mean ‘rain’ in the Hooligan language. But if you like your landscape bleak and dramatic, Berk was attractive in its own way.”

Ok ok ok. Here’s something I need to talk about, because it has bothered me since the beginning of the books... book!Hiccup’s world is ugly. 

This little paragraph here seems to be the equivalent of Hiccup’s speech at the beginning of the first movie: 

“This is Berk. It’s 12 days north of Hopeless, and a few degrees south of Freezing-To-Death. It’s located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village - in a word: Sturdy. It’s been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets - the only problems are the pests.”

Now, I always thought movie!Hiccup was exaggerating on these lines as part of his characteristic sarcasm. Because Berk turned out to be beautiful. Sure, there was a lot of fog, and rain, and mud, and moss...but the sunsets were worth the trouble, and so were the clear skies, the high windy cliffs and secret caverns, the waterfalls, the snow...but most important of all: The coziness of Berk’s homes. 

Like, the movie!Berkians made up for the bleakness of their island with fire and lights and warmth, and they had okay food too. The love for their homes and their festive culture resembled what you could call a more Scandinavian spirit than a Scottish one (in my opinion). Also, they enjoyed solid months of thick snow and below-freezing temperatures. They dressed warmly for the outside conditions and thus, movie!Berk became an idealized world that you wanted to go to despite the challenging hardships of the local environment.

Book!Berk, however, doesn’t waste time on landscape descriptions, let alone beautifying idealizations. It’s very action-oriented and, quite frankly, has a horribly negative outlook all the time due to poor Hiccup’s narration of the story. But what it does to me as a reader, is making me question why I am reading (or listening to) this story in the first place if the adventure isn’t something that I’d want to be a part of. Yes, as a person who values aesthetics, I admit that I do look for beauty in media. It doesn’t have to be all unicorns and candy canes, but if Cressida expects me to fall in love with the world in her story, it needs to be a world that makes up for its cons in some way. Here’s another loose quote:

Clothes never really dry on Berk, they just turn from cold wet to warm wet.

For me, this would be a clear reason NOT to go on an adventure with Hiccup. Book!Hiccup’s world seems Scottish through and through: Terrible food, mushy snow at best, damp air and mild climate surrounded by a freezing cold sea. Dragons are the only upside that would make it exciting to live or visit there.

I guess I just wonder why someone would want to write a world like that. I also wonder why people would want to spend time indulging in that particular fictional universe. There are nicer places to go, is what I’m trying to say :) Thoughts?

#reddie's liveblog #book!Berk is literally worse than Scotland #I've been to Scotland; I should know #what's telling to me is the snow #snow doesn't remain on the ground in Scotland #but does so in all Scandinavian countries #Iceland; Norway; what have you #in Scotland you get the occasional sunny day and they've got magical forests #Berk is said to be treeless #ouch