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astraltrickster · 1 year

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What I love about the Goncharov meme is how willing most of us are to break kayfabe, because - on the surface level, it's kind, it gives people the opportunity to opt out if this just isn't good for them, and tells people - the secret is that there is no secret, that's the joke, hop right in with a "yes, and"; all are welcome. It's likely to confuse future media historians regardless.

But as someone who really enjoyed House of Leaves I also love it on a meta level because, we are essentially creating a spiritual adaptation of that book, blurring the line between meme and ARG...all based on a pair of shoes. It begs the question, then, what level of this layered narrative are we on, exactly?

I'm not the first person to compare Goncharov to The Navidson Record and I know I won't be the last. It's a very easy, obvious comparison to make - this legendary piece of lost media that everyone has an opinion on, but no one can confirm it's even real? Yeah, at this point in tumblr's collective consciousness, Goncharov is very much like that - the only difference being, we're on the same page and can agree that it's not real and never was.

Except we will place ourselves into a narrative such that it is real. It's an unspoken rule that even if you break kayfabe in other posts, even if you tag your Goncharov posts as "unreality" for accessibility (as you should, especially your original posts), you don't add to a Goncharov meta post, or fanfic, or fanart, in such a way as to even insinuate that Goncharov may not be a real movie. In this layer, that makes you the fool, the uncultured swine. Everyone's seen Goncharov! What do you mean you haven't even heard of it!? What do you mean you doubt it exists!? What rock have you been living under!? If someone earnestly asks what it is, it is to be answered elsewhere - in DMs, in an ask, over Discord, maybe in the replies, but not as an addition to the post that exists "in that reality".

There are a few things we tend to agree upon about Goncharov:

It is a work of fiction. The events of the movie did not occur in the universe - the narrative layer - where we discuss it as a real film.

As stated on the shoe label that created the meme, it is a film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by someone named Matteo JWHJ 0715 (sometimes also written as Matteo JWHJ0715 or Matteo jwhj0715), and it is a mafia movie - namely, it carries the lofty claim of being "The Greatest Mafia Movie Ever Made."

It is about the relationship between Russian and Italian mafia families, set in Naples.

This movie poster is the basis of the canon; the characters listed on it exist and are portrayed by the actors listed.

There is an additional character, Sofia, whose reasons for being omitted from the poster are unknown.

Katya and Goncharov are married; this likely at least started as merely a marriage of convenience, but the full nature of their relationship is hotly debated in a way that highlights many common views of tumblr shipping culture¹.

Katya eventually betrays Goncharov, leading to his death at the end of the film.

There is significant homoerotic subtext between Andrey/Goncharov and Katya/Sofia, much of which plays into the film's themes; however, contrary to the impressions often given by tumblr's fandom culture, it is all subtextual, and while the relationships between Andrey, Goncharov, Katya, and Sofia can be read as significant drivers of the plot, they are far from being the central focus of the story.

Clocks are a major recurring visual symbol.

There is a pivotal "boat scene".

Most other details, however, are left to whoever is currently "analyzing" it. For instance, while many on Archive Of Our Own agree that the character of "Ice Pick Joe" definitely died in the end, with "no beta we die like Ice Pick Joe" being a popular tag for Goncharov fanfiction, at least one early tumblr post implies that the character's fate is undetermined.

The Goncharov meme is simultaneously a love letter to tumblr's fan culture, and a scathing critique thereof², but one of the most underappreciated fascinating things about it is that it forms a nested narrative.

On the innermost layer, we have the unreachable - the film itself. No one has seen it. No one ever will. We're all just trying to imagine it from the shadows on the cave wall. Maybe one day we'll create it, but it will still never truly be the original 1973 film we're all writing about. Making it even harder to recreate and make "real", the mythology includes alternate cuts and regional edits to reconcile the plot points written by different users that undeniably contradict each other.

On the next layer outward, we have the posts about the film. The deep meta. The fanart. The fanfiction. The content "from another universe" where Goncharov is a real classic film that everyone has seen. The layer where we don't break kayfabe. This is a layer we can see the reality of, and contribute to, but never truly live in - it is an imaginary construct. Or is it? The film we're writing about may not exist, but the story we're weaving together from these roleplay writing exercises is somewhat coherent, and the thousands upon thousands of words of meta and fanfiction we write about it are real; one could make a compelling argument that even if Goncharov the film does not exist, the Goncharov fandom is a real fandom. This layer is one foot in the real world, and one foot in a fictional one.

On the next layer, we have the posts about the meme. This can be definitively stated to be real, with no caveats. Posts that discuss how the meme reflects on fan culture, about the self-referential nature of the meme, about the little aspects of online fandom culture it plays with. This is the first layer that can fully be said to be rooted exclusively in the real world.

But even on a layer beyond that, we have posts such as this one, discussing the discussion of the fandom for the fake film - and on yet another layer beyond that (or is it the same one?), we have the future speculation. We have guesses as to what future historians will think of this phenomenon. We have discussions of the precarious and transient nature of information online, questions about what parts of this meme will be archived and which ones will disappear. Will there be historians desperately searching for this alleged lost classic in 50 years? Will it be assumed that the shoes that started the meme were actually a piece of promotional merchandise for a real classic film?

You may notice, then, that the innermost layers are discrete, but once you get into the layers that exist in our reality, they become markedly less so.

This model gives us a structure that can be visualized somewhat like this:

[Image ID: a diagram of 5 concentric circles. The centermost circle is colored in dark red with a thick black outline and labeled "Goncharov (1973 film) - fictional, unreachable, unviewable". The next circle outward is colored in pink, with a thinner black outline, and is labeled "Goncharov fan discussion". The next circle is colored in light gold, with a black outline that blurs into the next circle, labeled "Discussion of the Goncharov fan discussion". The next layer is colored in light green, with a dark outline blurred so thoroughly that its only purpose is to provide some visual contrast for clarity of labeling, labeled "Discussion of all previous layers; note the blurring of the line between this layer and the previous". Finally, the outermost layer is colored in light blue, with a solid black outline, labeled "Speculation about the future's view of the Goncharov meme, including roleplay as lost media enthusiasts and media studies professors 50-100 years in the future". End ID.]

In fact, there are several rules the Goncharov meme has come to follow:

As stated above, any given post is constrained to its narrative layer, to the extent that those layers are discrete. Posts about Goncharov as a real film are not to have additions that break kayfabe. Similarly, posts about Goncharov as a meme are not to have anyone insist the film is real. This may be subject to change as the meme evolves, but it is the rule as of the time of this writing.

You may not add to a post to contradict a claim about the factual nature of what happened on screen, even if it directly contradicts a previous post of yours³. You are, however, encouraged to dispute its implications and get creative to try and reconcile the contradictions. The only exception is in the form of responding to a meme with another extant meme format (e.g., "I get what you're going for OP but x very much did y")

Posts about Goncharov the film are to be treated exactly the same way you would post about a real piece of media. Analysis is to be taken seriously, using real analytical frameworks and devices. Memes are to use real formats. Fanart and fanfiction are to have just as much effort put into their crafting as you would give any real piece of media.

Complaining about bad readings that do not exist, but you imagine someone might make, is encouraged.

You cannot break these rules. Not "you may not", but "you cannot". It is not possible. You can try. You will fail. Your posts breaking these rules will never gain traction, or if they do, they will do so only after being added to in order to make it fit them. The narrative is hungry. You cannot engage it without being absorbed into it. Your only escape is to walk away and not look back⁴.

In other words, the Goncharov meme is not just a meditation on fan culture, but a demonstration and discussion of the intricacy of the relationship between fiction and reality.

House of Leaves is beloved for its complex nested narrative, and again, the comparison is a common one. However, there is a subtle and potentially unsettling difference - House of Leaves did not include its author or its readers nearly as thoroughly as the Goncharov meme does. House of Leaves was written from outside the narrative; the legend of Goncharov is being written from within.

Every single person who blogs about Goncharov makes themself into a character in this story.

The narrative layers in House of Leaves bleed into each other to give a sense of mystery as to what is real and what is not in the universe(s) of the novel. The narrative layers in the Goncharov mythos bleed into each other because we traverse them freely - from the fictional reviews and retellings and analysis, to the semi-fictional drawing of comparisons to real media and the use of this nonexistent movie as a low-stakes vehicle to lightheartedly air one's real complaints with fan culture, to the fully-grounded discussion of Goncharov's impact as a meme, to the philosophical discussion of its multi-layered nature, to the once-again-fictional speculation of how it will be viewed in the future - the same person can visit any of these layers.

But their impact will always be bound by each layer's internal rules, because building a legend - a narrative - will not allow for anything else.

Goncharov does not exist. Goncharov is a narrative labyrinth that contains us all. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ITS NARRATIVE.

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1. Tumblr shipping culture is as much of a microcosm of queer studies as it is of media analysis. It, like the Goncharov meme, operates on a minimum of two levels: the level of analyzing a story for potential queer readings, namely in the form of romantic relationships, and opportunities for transformative work; and the level of sociopolitical discussion of queer issues and stereotypes, and how they are reflected in media and the discussion thereof; the latter, particularly, in the form of intracommunity disputes and lateral aggression. For example, the dispute over the nature of Goncharov and Katya's marriage and its level of sincerity is implied in some posts to occasionally cross the line into bisexual erasure. While at the time of the Goncharov meme's emergence in 2022, the discourse within this subculture is much more civil than it once was, it is still very much an environment that stands as a constant reminder that there is no such thing as a truly apolitical space.

Of course, most everyone on this website knows that by now, right?

2. This meme comes at a time when a lot of us are terrified of going back to the way things used to be in tumblr fan discourse. We all joke about the Hamilton HIV fanfic catfish, or The JohnLock Conspiracy, or any number of other major scandals now that they're over; they are hilarious in hindsight, but it's all too easy to lose track of the fact that the human toll at the time was real. DashCon is a joke to most, but I've personally met more than one well-meaning volunteer who ended up with PTSD from dealing with attendees who thought even the volunteers were in on an intentional scam. We laugh at the absurdity of the incident known as Boneghazi, but it doesn't take away the fact that there are still people in Louisiana wondering if their relatives were the ones whose bones were stolen and offered up for sale online - though that one was only tangentially related to fandom, it's from the same broad sitewide culture. People have been stalked, harassed, doxxed, psychologically abused to the point of hospitalization and even suicide, there are even rumors of assaults over disagreements about which show is better, or which fictional characters have the best relationships. It's all petty, all funny in hindsight - but the human toll is real.

I got caught in an incident myself once*, before the porn ban. There was one guy, they and some real life friends of theirs got into my circle of friends in a roleplay community in the ■■■■■■■ fandom. They seemed nice enough. Normal enough. We had a few good chats. They played the same character I did, among a few others. Had a fun little concept we were throwing back and forth to start a thread with the doubled character. Accidental cloning due to a computer error, it was going to be.

Everything fell apart when a new ■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ dropped. It gave us a nice scene of the most popular "ship" in the fandom - one that had been teased since day 1, and of course when it got attention the company wanted to milk it for all it was worth. This guy originally seemed cool with the ship, even though they didn't like it much; they preferred to pair one of the characters off with their self-insert OC. It was all a peaceful difference of opinion for a while, but after this ■■■■■■ dropped and people were excited about the scene, they went berserk. My then-boyfriend's ex started getting anonymous messages imitating him. My inbox started filling up with threats. Some of my more casual acquaintances started confronting me over threats they thought I sent. Meanwhile, this guy was melting down on main about how everyone had "betrayed" them. I found myself blocked by our mutual friends who this guy knew in real life - it turned out, because they were telling them that I was sending them hate and threats. "Someone" tried to convince my then-boyfriend to doxx someone adjacent to the circle for "abuse". I started getting hate messages that hit some of my deepest insecurities and almost ■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■■■ - the only reason I ended up okay was because I figured it out, because I realized this guy was the one doing all of it, and they were mining for ammo from our mutual friends.

All of this because a bunch of people, mostly strangers, were happy about the ■■■■■■. Because of a fictional relationship. Their fixation on me was just because we played the same character but liked different ships, and I was a little more known in the fandom. This wasn't even on a website where people could see follower counts, it was right here on tumblr, so they had to be pretty obsessive to figure that out in the first place.

Eventually the friends they lied about me to caught on and left them, but not before they stole a bunch of said friends' stuff. Last I checked on them, it was 2 years since the incident, and they were still melting down on main about how anyone who liked that ship was evil. By that point they had convinced themself that the entire fandom for that ship was a campaign to harass and persecute them personally; that there was no other reason to like it.

The last thing I head about them was that they had stabbed a family member over this and some other personal drama and gotten banned from Twitter and a few conventions for making violent threats toward artists and cosplayers. I don't dare look back anymore.

*Editors' note: Some details have been altered or redacted to protect the ignorant.

3. Ironically, this is one of the few tells that Goncharov is not an extant piece of media. In fandoms for real media, it is fairly common for details to be misremembered and corrections to be made.

4. "Don't look back", of course, is easier said than done. We must recall the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Orpheus, despondent at the loss of his love, arranged to be allowed into the underworld to bring her back to life, but there was one condition; one tiny, seemingly simple condition - he must not look at her until they were both back in the light. If he did, she would be dragged back and lost forever; he would not get a second chance.

Like many myths, the details vary from telling to retelling. Some say that she was never made aware of the rule and cried out in terror as her husband refused to look at her, and almost instinctively he turned to comfort her. Some say that he fell victim to almost a form of muscle memory in mid-ascent when he turned to make sure she was okay. Some say that his desire to see her again sooner rather than later was just too strong and outweighed his resolve and common sense screaming for him to hold to the condition. Some say that he turned as soon as he was in the light, blissfully unaware until it was too late that she was still in the dark.

Whatever the reason, Orpheus looked back.

There is no version of the story where he succeeded in not looking back. The narrative will not let him not look back. The myth has no room for an Orpheus who is successful.

He cannot escape the myth.

He cannot escape the narrative.

Orpheus will always look back.

#goncharov #unreality #heavier unreality warning than your typical goncharov post #i freaked myself out with this #so if you like horror about the nature of narrative please read this and make it worth it!#house of leaves #memeology #internet culture #astral originals

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gargoyle-doyle · 5 months

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notes & thoughts i had when i was reading this book ;-3 (its kinda disjointed and doesn't read well, there were just things scrawled when reading. idk i might write it up properly one day xx).

-Clinically obsessed with Neil Gaiman's 1994 'The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch' and yes i am incredibly biased, and yes it is because i'm living away from pompey right now, and i miss my ghost adventures, and fratton rd subway.

-Its just such a nostalgic, and fun read. Mckeans art is so vivid, its like something walked straight out of my mind and onto the page, its really a graphic novel that properly exploits the medium and captivates on every page.

-As someone who has personally beefed with the descendants of these swans, i can tell you for a fact that this still stands true - they will break your arm, and not only that, they will peck into ur stomach and pluck out ur intestines. Apart from one swan who has arthritis, and is fed medicine in the evenings by an unnamed local, he is probably too busy eating his medicines.

-Reading all these passages written in 1994, almost exactly 30 years ago, set even further back into the late sixties, and seeing such relatable anecdotes. it's hopeful. Pompey stays Pompey forever.

And then you're hit with bits like this:

-And I'm reminded of the bridge centre bookshop losing the war against the council, the privatising of the secret garden, commercial road - the ghost town. And subway, and rowans, and London rd dying. Moorhouse becoming a newsagents, becoming a house.

-And then even before me, (mandatory obelisk mention), tricorn, charlotte st. The shadows of the past. What becomes of the time capsule in the bridge, when there is no bridge? But then in the same way theres development. Gunwharf, The spinnaker, The Mary Rose Museum.

-But it's all the superficial stuff - the tourist attractions. And it's all the heart and soul that get left to rot.

-I love this graphic novel because it's alive. and its mean. an affair, a pregnancy, forced abortion by beating a woman with planks of wood, disguised in cloudy memories and that slight childhood hope to mask it. to retell it again and again until the story turns out different this time.

-And there's this house, and its my childhood home. its the home of everyone i've ever befriended, and ever went to school with. And I'm reminded of when i used to see Punch and Judy shows over in St James' Dog park for picnic on the green.

-And one year, after the show, after the ice lollies, and after the raffle, my friend and i walked home, past all the shops, and at the end of my street was a great plume of smoke, and crinkle chip was burning down. We stood across the road and watched it burn.

Crinkle chip survived - but not as crinkle chip. It changed, it became Crispy Cod. But the foods the same. the important stuff. idk, i hate everything closing, its gone, and likely never coming back. But i still care, and i think that's the important part. that it mattered to me once upon a time (second mandatory obelisk mention in brackets so i don't waffle on about the obelisk).

-the story of punch and judy is told and retold by so many. as life here is lived by so many, but in many ways the same life. with many of the same characters and set pieces.

-the tale really articulates the frustration, the whimsy, the worry, and the awareness of childhood. living in a dream-like world, only in that none of your questions ever get answered. fantasy from boredom, fear, and confusion. the world is new, its your first time here and everyone just expects you to know whats real and whats not. That feeling of being looked over, of raising yourself because adults lie, cry, and run away from questions.

-This lamppost is real - so are the lights. i know exactly where this is and what they look like at every time of day.

-I love puppets, i love making them, buying them, studying them. This book reads like a love letter. But one written to a love never indulged. a love letter written and then kept in a box in the attic. The book feels like everything we want to say but don't. in the real world there's the story following the boy and his grandfather, and in the magical, theres the denial to let the self wear the puppet. nothing ever comes to fruition. nothing stays long enough to have the time to tell it how you felt, to express the grief. at the end theres a moment where the narrator just might wear mr punch. but theres not enough time to rationalise, to explain. its not the same mr punch anyway.

-its a scene that reminded me that sometimes we never get to do the things we desire because its too late. like trick-or-treating. if you dont do it as a kid you never will. and it sucks. and we dont get to go back.

-i should've bought all those Anne Rice books from the Bridge when i had the chance. but its gone now. and i won't.

-everything goes. but the memories remain, spectres to be engaged with, and in that its not really gone. The hearts arent gone, because they are here in this book. and so is the grandfather, and so is pompey.

-i should've written more notes about the art. The combination of photos and drawings portrays memories in such a beautiful and disorienting way. its distressing, and memorable. the way some things are emphasised by the photos, Punch and Judy, and the grandfather, while other memories are more obscure sketches, like the pier and the houses. it reads like a Cecilia Condit film scary and fragmented and young, or Jan Svankmajer's (my birthday twin xx) Jabberwocky short film.

-“Everybody dies but Mister Punch, and he has only the life he steals from others”

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after reading the book, and spell-checking my notes. i also read this companion article by Jennifer K . Cox 'From Stage to Page: Adaptation as Survival in Neil Gaiman’s Mr. Punch' that i would like to share highlights from;

-Forbidden knowledge, portrayed as the magic of puppetry, parallels the narrator’s traumatic childhood memories; the adaptations to his memories have allowed him to survive, even if they obscure the truth of his past.

-“The path of memory is neither straight nor safe,” - Gaiman

-'In some sense, telling a story makes it happen again' - Schank (eek! i love this, it fits with the ethos of the graphic novel itself being that things change but that doesn't mean you can't return to how it was in story and memory).

-'As inanimate objects that rely on human hands to give them life, puppets represent a physical “link with the dead, with the realm of the uncanny, the threshold realm of things unknown or repressed” - Gross (sums up how i feel when i make my frog puppet dance to Modern Talking).

-“Tolkien’s view was that the myth-making imagination always tends toward truth rather than lies; that fantastic stories lead toward a genuine understanding of the conditions of existence” - Attebery

-Theatre historian John Bell describes puppets as “performing objects” and suggests that people manipulate them “in order to show us how parts of the…material world can be animated by humans. [..] that our playing with objects allows

us to come to terms with death”

-this adapted work is by and for adults. (i dont know if i particularly agree with this statement. i think kids should read tough and scary stories. Mr Punch provides a great framework for exploring ones own anguish with the world in a way thats relatable and readable. with sections feeling specifically catered towards kids. 'adults lie', 'i should've written this in blood' and the mystical views on death. Yes, they have a nostalgia factor for adult readers, but they are childish thoughts, relatable to child readers. Kids deserve thoughtful and dark stories that challenge them, that haunt them).

-For the lower classes during the eighteenth century, divorce was improbable, public hangings were employed to discourage crime, and a healthy Puritan work ethic threatened bodily harm, while a poor work ethic threatened eternal damnation; Punch thumbed his rather large nose at each of these oppressive institutions

-the narrator resist picking up the puppet for one of two reasons: because the knowledge will destroy the magic of puppetry, and if the audience knows how the magic works the genre of puppet theatre ceases to function, or because he knows wearing the puppet means he must then become Punch

#neil gaiman #punch and judy

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ginneke · 4 months

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for the fanfic end of the year asks, number 3!

(Fanfic end of the year asks available here: link)

Oh, thank you for the ask! And there’s really one passage that stands out to me as a favourite of 2023, which hails from Corrigendum – the self-indulgent, entirely unnecessary third part of my series Keepsakes.

But first, as single lines go, it has to be this:

"Why," says Revali, his voice lifting in shrill distress, "do you never pay the slightest bit of attention to me?"

(from A Study In Patience. Part 2 coming soon!)

(…What, did you think it would be that line from the end of A Seed of Song chapter 4? While that is certainly a favourite line, it was technically my favourite line of 2022 – it was already written all the way back in Feb ‘22, even though it was another 16 months before you would see it.)

—

Anyway. Corrigendum. Chosen passage and a brief recap/rationale below, under a cut for length and for varying degrees of spoilers for, somehow, all three of Keepsakes, Pinesong, and Moonlight:

Keepsakes was originally a two-part meditation on the piece of cloth Revali tied to the Great Eagle Bow, which always remains on it no matter how many times you break it and have it rebuilt, and the following line of Harth’s in the first Keepsakes story, Memento: “Where things are kept, what they are kept with, that has a meaning.”

Memento and Lacuna were both set within the boundaries of canon, focusing on Link’s possession of the Great Eagle Bow and more than a small dose of headcanon about the Paraglider; Corrigendum, meanwhile, played on the famous amnesia plotline of @ghirahimbo’s Pinesong, with a little of my and @heleentje’s answer to the Alive!Champions scenario in our Moonlight series baked in: if there were stasis chambers in the Divine Beasts, just like how the Shrine of Resurrection was revealed to be part of a Divine Beast in the Champions’ Ballad DLC, then was it not possible that the revived Champions might suffer a similar level of memory loss as Link did: i.e., total?

That’s the context with which the following scene between Revali and Zelda needs to be read. (A small section relating to Zelda’s personal feelings of guilt and regret has been cut for length.)

There was one person she hadn't mentioned, of course. Revali wondered whether she would comment on it of her own accord, but she seemed willing to speak only of others. If he had to pry the words from her, so be it. "I cannot help but notice someone missing from your account, pri- Zelda," he said, correcting himself at the last second. It felt strange to address her without titles: a hundred years and his memory removed from such formality, and yet it still seemed like an overstep. Next to him, Zelda went very tense. "What do you mean?" Honestly. Must he spell it out for her? "You," he said, as though it should be obvious. To him it was: it seemed its own sort of hellishness, to have so many memories that nobody else shared. "How are you faring?" Her look of surprise – had he truly shown so little concern for her in the past, that she was taken aback by his questioning now? – faded into something more sombre. "I... cannot complain," she said at last, which seemed to be all she was willing to say on the subject. [...] Zelda inhaled a steadying breath. "...About Li–" Her words lodged like ice. Revali cut her off: "Don't." He couldn't bear to speak of Link. Not now. Perhaps not ever. Certainly not while he was so incapable of reconciling the words in his diary with the roiling confusion left in their wake. Even thinking of that knight brought a wave of weariness over him. Though Zelda had done nothing wrong, Revali no longer had any wish to continue the conversation.

Revali and Zelda come into this conversation from incredibly disparate positions, and they're on completely different pages. Firstly, Zelda has the advantage of memory, but in some ways Revali has a clearer view of what their relationship from 100 years ago was actually like, thanks to his diary (the contents of which are alluded to or outright paraphrased in the opening part of this scene). Secondly, Zelda has full knowledge of what happened to Link -- at least up until he disappeared after the thought of re-boarding Vah Ruta (as Zelda wanted to do in the 'true ending' of BOTW) proved too much for the Keepsakes version of Link. (Yes, Link’s disappearing act is another small nod to Pinesong.)

But Revali does not.

From Zelda’s point of view, Revali’s comment about ‘some[body] missing from [her] account’ sounds like a not-so-subtle dig at the missing Link. I actually tried to thread this idea through even in his narration: 'she seemed willing to speak only of others', is meant to tread that thin boundary line of which person he's actually talking about, Zelda or Link.

Her reaction is therefore wary: she wonders how much Revali now remembers, and how much of his comment is a continuation of his century-old dislike of Link. — After all, she wasn’t privy to the scene in Lacuna’s flashback; and despite that interlude, Revali and Link’s relationship didn’t change all as much as they might have hoped. (Or as much as Link wants to believe, by the end of Memento/Lacuna—the true backstory there was one of might-have-beens instead of let’s-do-betters.)

She’s surprised, then, by Revali’s question being not about Link, but about herself. And this is something that I would have loved to delve into a little, but the nature of the story kept me bound tightly to Revali’s perspective: Zelda is doing well only in that she’s throwing herself into distractions, trying to adjust to the circumstances of being a hundred years displaced from the world she’s familiar with.

(Sidenote: I toyed with that dichotomy of the post-Calamity world being utterly uncanny to her – at once familiar and yet also somehow alien – in another story I wrote this year, catharsis, which had Zelda finally reuniting with Impa after a century.)

And she has ample distractions with the other Champions, who – as her recounting of events implies – she’s spent rather a lot of time around, and considerably more time than she has with Revali. She wouldn’t even be at Rito Village now if it wasn’t the home of Kass, the only person she thought might be able to find Link.

Perhaps, if she had taken a little more care to visit him, Zelda would be aware of the narrative Revali has been constructing, piece by piece, while he’s been left to fend for himself…

To an extent, Revali's own diary was held against him. His words are taken as a primary source of insight into his character, rather than at least part of his writing being a continuation of his attempts to define and shape his future legacy (his 'legend', as the diary's forepage none-too-subtly declares).

Yes, Harth did come to the conclusion of something existing between the Rito and Hylian Champions of a century ago (incidentally, that's why he makes the offer of showing Revali the same sheaf of papers he shared with Link in Memento – providing an alternative source of information), but Teba has a different focus. Harth is interested in the truth of the story; Teba is protective of the people involved, and with only circumstantial evidence to suggest that Champion Revali had at least some positive feeling towards that knight, and significantly more evidence to suggest Revali didn't care at all for Link, he deflects and puts it off for now.

Nobody expected Link to be AWOL for months.

And that brings us back to this passage, the first real opportunity for the truth to come out; and so Zelda takes the initiative, trying to bring up Link. 'If you want to know how we're all doing,' she's thinking, 'then I should tell you about him as well.'

But Revali is of the belief – entirely logically, based on the facts he knows! – that Link is long dead. Whether 100 years ago, or at some point in the decades since. Hylian lifespans just aren't long enough for him to still be around. We only need to look at the oldest Hylians living in Hateno, who weren't born until after the Calamity during the Era of Burning Fields, to know that 80-90 seems to be the Hylian limit.

—

Here's another thing: In the time since writing Corrigendum, I saw a post here on tumblr suggest that grief is a topic that's fairly impossible to write about, because grief doesn't end as long as you remember it, and it's the sort of thing that hits you, over and over, in often mundane ways that look bizarre to the outsider. Yet -- not to put too high a declaration of quality on my writing, but I honestly do believe that I achieved that in Corrigendum, while staying true to the character in question.

Yes, it was deliberately under-written, circled around instead of facing it head-on -- even the early use of the word 'grief' was shied away from, declaring it only 'something like grief'. That felt far more 'Revali' than giving in to sentiment. So far, most of this emotion has been in the gaps where he's confronted with knowledge of the past, of something missing, of something more to Link; he's seeing Link better in this patchwork recollection, able at last to look beyond '[the] sword that drew the eye and distracted from the man that bore it'. And it's in these moments that his true feelings linger, even if he can't (or won't) give voice to them.

—

Link has always been a touchy subject. Once, they might have been on a similar page regarding that (their mutual complicated feelings about a boy around their age to whom things seemed to come so easily).

In reality, they still are — and it's a different page to the one they shared before, of resentment and frustration and trying to figure out their own place. Link has long become a person to them—Zelda openly, as seen throughout the original game; Revali less obviously, but still apparent through his post-Blight dialogue and particularly in the DLC content, as well as the additional background and memory/ies I created for Memento/Lacuna.

But this Revali – a Revali who still has only a partial sense of his own identity, who doesn't necessarily like the person he'd been even if he can't figure out who else he could be – this version of Revali can't yet acknowledge or confront the truth of what he's experiencing.

What I wanted was to challenge Revali to say it out loud and admit to it — "I am grieving." This, here, is the closest Revali can currently get... Ice. Roiling confusion. Something unbearable. Weariness. Within his narration, the raw, aching wound of grief is clear, but aloud, the only thing he can think to do is to cut Zelda off and prevent her from saying what he cannot yet confront.

"Don't." Don't bring him up. Don't make me hear this. Don't make it real.

Characters frantically back-scrabbling away from open and frank communication, in the interests of protecting their own fragile hearts, is something that can be so delightful.

—

Zelda, who isn't privy to the struggle Revali is going through, can only hear this rejection at face-value and back off, assuming that things are as they were 100 years ago. This is something that can only be repaired by finding Link himself – and so she'll continue with her original plan, enlisting Kass to help track the wayward swordsman down.

(And Revali will finally give voice to what he's been feeling… when a certain someone arrives in Rito Village :3 )

#fanfic asks #fanfic ask meme #fic series: keepsakes #fic: corrigendum #ginnefic #(about) my writing #an anon appears #thank you for the ask!

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athenasparrow · 10 months

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A microfic series inspired by @jilymicrofics July Prompt List. All the times they touched...

Read Chapter Two | Start at Beginning

Prompt: smooth

Summary: The first time Lily kisses James, he doesn’t even know.

When she sees him again, it's through the glass of a train window, past many heads in the swarm of students on the platform, but the distance between them does nothing to temper the relief that grows in her heart. She knows he’s recovered. Remus has indulged her barely-disguised worry over the summer – she’s sent him more letters with random questions about their summer assignments than she knows is possible (Remus isn’t stupid) – and answered every one of her ‘after-thought’ questions she’d written at the bottom of each letter. How is he? Has he fully recovered?

The story of his attempted murder has been splashed on the front page of the Daily Prophet for weeks. Aristocracy gained him outrage and within days the culprit had been apprehended, expelled and sent to a low-security wing of the famous wizarding prison. A stark contrast to the weak response to muggleborn deaths.

He’s laughing with Sirius – wide grin and crinkles around his eyes – and she only looks away when something even brighter than his smile (impossible) diverts her attention. Oh! Remus hasn't divulged that particular tidbit. There, pinned to the breast of his broad-shouldered frame is a shiny badge: the counterpart to the own badge that sits proudly on her chest. Head Boy.

She’s in front of him before she can finish her thought – her feet really have a mind of their own sometimes – and she means to congratulate him, but her mouth is stuck closed; her eyes are fixed on his wild hair and she’s hot from the thoughts that suddenly invade her mind like a battalion of soldiers (quickly and completely against her will).

“I think you’ve finally rendered Evans speechless, Prongs!” Sirius’ amused voice snaps her back to reality like a bucket of ice water.

When Lily’s eyes find his hazel ones, she expects a teasing response to float from the end of his tongue, but instead, he’s nervous. There’s no mistaking it: he rocks from heels to toes, his smile is tight and he rather looks as if he’s waiting for his final judgement.

“Congratulations, James.” There. She’s said it. Not at smooth , but she has said it.

He blinks, looking at her oddly.

Oh no! Has she accidentally said she wants to run her fingers through his hair and down…down…down...

“Ow!” James yelps suddenly, grabbing his shin. Lily watches in bafflement as Sirius sends James a significant look. He flushes and looks to Lily again. She raises an eyebrow. What the hell was that about?

“Fucks sake, you’re on your own,” Sirius mutters and stalks off towards the train.

“Erm…thank you…you’re not disappointed?” His hands fidget by his sides now.

“Why would I be disappointed?” She’s gaping at him now; the dryness of her mouth being wide open is a dead giveaway.

James lets out an incredulous sound – Lily fights the urge to capture it with her lips – that turns into a weak laugh as he scuffs the ground with his shoe. “Arrogant, bullying toe-rag, remember?” He’s so dreadfully nervous, so unlike himself that she's immediately overtaken by the urge to put a smile back on his face.

“I don’t think that about you anymore – I never did, really – I was just angry and upset and overwhelmed and embarrassed…I mean you strung him up and then asked me out like –”

“–About that,” James interrupts. “I’m sorry too! I –”

“–James, you already apologised in fifth year, you –”

“–Yes, but I just want to reassure you that won’t be happening anymore; I’ll keep it purely professional.”

Professional? That sounded rather horrible. “You will?” The surprise comes out as doubt and slaps James across the face like a whip. Shit. “I just mean, we’re friends, aren’t we?” His hurt expression lessens. “We don’t need to keep it professional. ”

“We’re friends?” He repeats it with the same surprise Lily was feeling moments earlier. “Right, friends. I can do friends.” His grin is back – delighted and warm – and Lily heaves a sigh of relief at the sight of it.

“Right, well congratulations, friend,” Lily says, hesitating only briefly before stepping forward and giving him a hug. She intends for it to be brief, but he’s so warm and his muscles tense under her hands. Merlin, he’s fit. Only James Potter would leave Hogwarts on the brink of death and return more fit than ever.

“Thanks, friend,” James returns, his voice a bit higher than usual and Lily steps back hurriedly.

The first time Lily hugs James it's warm and exciting, but it's also awkward and stiff. Friends. She can do friends.

#jily #lily evans #james potter #lay all your love on me #athena's library #athena's multichaps #athena's microfics #jple #jily love #hopeless idiots in love #friends to lovers

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theangrybooknook · 1 month

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Our Wives Under the Sea

I read this book in one day.

It is not very long, just about 200 pages. I have read fanfiction longer than that in less time, but something about Julia Armfield's novel made me read slowly. Now that I have finished it, I don't even know where to begin.

That's a good thing when it comes to books, right? At least most of the time.

Synopsis: Leah is a scientist working for the Centre of Marine Enquiry, ending up trapped on the bottom of the ocean in a submarine. While she is gone, her wife Miri tries to cope. But as Leah returns, nothing is as it was before. Leah cannot speak of what has happened in the submarine, spends her days in the bathtub, and her body begins to change. Miri is looking for answers, but soon realises that there is no one that can give any.

I honestly don't know how to describe this book. It is queer fiction mixed with the supernatural, mixed with romance, mixed with horror. It starts easy enough, only to slowly turn into something inexplicable. As a reader, you become slowly aware of being witness to something very private, of something you should not see. You become a witness of grief, a witness of a loss that is happening right before your eyes, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. The question, however, remains: what is Miri doing to stop it?

Miri is an interesting character to follow as she makes it incredibly easy to follow her in the first place. She tells us of her life after Leah's return and how her wife is no longer the woman she used to know. She tells us of the time when Leah was gone, and how she coped. She tells us her perspective until the very end, but do we know how she feels about it?

Even if it is written out in the book, the emotion does not reach the reader. Truth be told, that is something I have not experienced before.

It is somewhere in the middle of the book where I stumble, as Miri suddenly addresses the reader. She gives an explanation of her behaviour, a justification why she carried on and how. To me, as the reader, her behaviour did not strike me as odd at all. If anything, it spoke of her denial, of her refusal to worry and to admit that she is almost going crazy about the unexplained absence of her wife. But this also presents an interesting turn in the narrative. By addressing the reader, the book becomes not just a retelling of something, but a direct address. Miri is telling her story to us on purpose while we wait with bated breath for the next chapter from Leah's perspective.

Leah's perspective is what grips the reader the most, I believe. Miri's perspective of the "before, during and after" frames the narrative, whereas Leah's chapters are almost impersonal although they tell, slowly, the story of what happened at the bottom of the ocean. Normal human behaviour does not take place. None of the crewmembers seem particularly worried and, besides praying and wondering what might have happened, no one seems to do anything or try to come up with a plan. The submarine becomes a capsule at the bottom of the ocean where typical human behaviour becomes obsolete. Leah, Jelka and Matteo merely exist. They eat, they sleep, they wait. As the reader, I could not help but ask myself: "What do they know?" The sounds that they begin to hear in the submarine reminded me of an episode of Doctor Who, in which the Doctor is stuck on a train on a planet made of ice, with some unknown creature knocking from the outside.

Human emotion and human behaviour only return as power returns, and all of a sudden, the interactions seem natural: Panic, fear, excitement. The ecurring smell of burnt/roasted meat inside the submarine is never explained, but brought into connection to the creature that Leah sees in the darkness and writes her name down for.

Leah's chapters are a diary of some sort: "I don't know who I am writing this for, really. I think I need to explain what happened, but it's hard when so much of it happened in the dark." In Miri's chapters, Leah explains nothing at all. She only ever keeps talking about the ocean, dropping random facts that Miri cannot work with. As a reader, I could not work with them, either, but it seemed to me as if Leah's soul had left a long time ago - that only her body had returned, and the reader becomes witness to Miri realising that over the course of the book.

Do I recommend this book? Not easily, I have to say. The book left me with many questions and none at the same time, and truth be told, I don't even know how to explain that. But I enjoyed it. Very much. And perhaps therein lies Julia Armfield's brilliance in Our Wives Under the Sea.

#bookblr #our wives under the sea #julia armfield #books #book review #literature

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daydreamerdrew · 2 months

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Comics read this past week:

Marvel Comics:

Mythos: Captain America (2008) #1

This one-shot was published in June 2008, according to the Marvel Wiki. It was written by Paul Jenkins and painted by Paolo Rivera.

There was a lot that I liked in this story. Steve says, when describing his upbringing, “I got sick a lot. And it often seemed like there was no running away from that place except in the pages of a fantasy novel.” There’s a scene where his ill mother told him to eat his soup with carrots in it because carrots are good for your memory and he complained, “Why would I want to remember this? I’d just as soon forget.” This was surprising to me because there’s so much emphasis on memory with Steve’s character because he’s a man in the wrong time. Steve’s mother told him, “I want you to remember. Always be proud of who you are and where you came from. Never forget the people who helped you get to where you’re going.” That ended up being their last conversation before she died.

I also appreciated the new-to-me detail about Steve’s journey in his first year in Captain America, where the switch from being Captain America to pretending to be a lowly private at Camp Lehigh was difficult for him. Steve describes becoming an “icon” and a “symbol,” then says, “And so, with the weight of a nation’s altruistic rebirth hanging over my head… they shipped me off to basic training at Camp Lehigh in Virginia.” There’s a scene of him going through training and being called “worthless,” “useless,” “brainless,” and “gutless.” There’s a disconnect for Steve, being in the regiment he’d originally wanted to be in, but having to maintain a ruse and only do safe and simple jobs apart from the group and only truly work when he’d sneak off and be Captain America. Steve says, “Part of me yearned for the normalcy of the barracks, the camaraderie. But the truth could never be known.” This leads directly into the scene of Bucky stumbling into discovering Steve’s secret identity and becoming Captain America’s partner, providing a new angle for the significance of that relationship for Steve.

This story also provided the first good explanation I’ve seen for why Bucky would have entered Steve’s tent in the middle of the night; he was coming to tell Steve that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor and the U.S. would now be joining WWII.

I also liked the repetition of the question asked after Steve was enhanced by the super soldier serum- “I was put through the most rigorous training imaginable in order to answer the most obvious question: What had I become?”-after Steve woke up from the ice, “I asked myself an old question: What had I become?”

What this story did really well was emphasize how much Steve cared for and mourned all of the ordinary soldiers he fought beside. At one point he says, “In battle, one learns a certain kind of calm as an alternative to the fear that dominates every moment. I could never find that elusive calm. It hurt too much to watch my brothers ripped apart by fire from a 10mm cannon, or shrapnel. The boys didn’t have the benefit of super-soldier serum to help them dodge a bullet.” At another he reflects on watching a “flood of troops” and says, “These were our own boys, come to right grave injustice far from home. I never felt so proud to be an American as I did at that moment.” Steve claims that, “The real heroes were the boys I once knew who feared for their lives, yet fought for freedom anyway.” This includes, “Micky Smith: Stayed on the beaches of Normandy, forever twenty-three.” In his ending monologue Steve says, “I’m Captain America, and I will be here long after the others are dead and gone. But as long as I live, I will never forget. […] We were boys once. We were young and stupid.” And the final words of the story are Steve visiting one last remaining, now elderly, soldier that he knew and saying, “God, Dougie… I miss those boys.”

the Captain America stories in Tales of Suspense (1959) #96-99 and Captain America (1968) #100

In this batch of stories and issue I went from August 1967 to January 1968, according to the Marvel Wiki. All were written by Stan Lee and penciled by Jack Kirby. The stories in Tales of Suspense #96-98 were inked by Joe Sinnott. The story in Tales of Suspense #99 and Captain America #100 were inked by Syd Shores. The story in Tales of Suspense #96 was 10 pages, the rest were 11 pages, and the Captain America issue was 20 pages since starting there Steve is no longer splitting a book with Iron Man.

In the preceding story, in Tales of Suspense #95, Steve quit being Captain America and also publicly revealed his secret identity, citing frustration with obligation to duty after Sharon Carter turned down his proposal because her work obligations were too important for her to get married. By the end of the story in Tales of Suspense #96 Steve has decided to become Captain America again, which was frustrating to me because I was genuinely interested in seeing him attempt to flesh out Steve Rogers, his personal life having long been neglected. As it is, the quick turnaround in mentality with the irrevocable consequence of no longer having a secret identity gives the impression of a kind of episode to me, as did Steve’s excitement to propose to a woman he didn’t know the name of in the previous story.

In the story in Tales of Suspense #97 Steve is being targeted by villains and he thinks, “It seems that I’ll never be truly safe! Never able to let my guard down for an instant! But, it’s the price I must pay for being- Captain America! A price I’ll never stop paying- for as long as I live!” It’s suggested to him that he get out of the city for while but he declines, partially because Sharon might call him because she needs his help.

In the story in Tales of Suspense #98 Steve thinks, “How many years has it been- since I’ve had a home? And, how many years will it be- before I can call any place ‘home’- before I too can find a life- and a love- of my own?”

In the story in Tales of Suspense #99 Steve must fight against Zemo’s old pilot, who is pretending to be Zemo, mysteriously still alive. One of his henchmen says, “Zemo was right! He said the very sight of him would shock the shield-carrying American into total helplessness!” But Steve declares, “I won’t die in vain- not while you remain alive!” Part of his motivation is that, “It was you who killed my partner, Bucky.” But Steve realizes that he’s not really Zemo in Captain America #100, and then his henchmen, who were also duped, turn on him.

Captain America #100 also contained a retelling of Steve’s backstory of being woken up in the future in The Avengers (1963) #4, which was standard practice for the first issue of these self-titled Marvel books launched in 1968.

In the story in Tales of Suspense #97 Sharon had wanted Steve to join her for a mission. At this point they hadn’t interacted since she turned down his marriage proposal. She thinks, “Now I must think of nothing- except my mission! Although, it would have been so wonderful, if only- No! I can’t- mustn’t keep wishing- and dreaming like this!” Still she concludes, “If only I could tell him- if only he could know- whatever may happen- whatever my fate- my last thoughts were of- Captain America- the only man I’ve ever loved!”

I appreciated that in Captain America #100 Dum Dum Dugan says, of the mission success, “It figgers!- Agent Thirteen wuz on the job!” And that when he acknowledges that it was ‘touch and go’ at points, Nick Fury responds, “Yeah- But that little gal ain’t never let us down yet!”

The Incredible Hulk (1968) #280

This issue was published in November 1982, according to the Marvel Wiki. It was written by Bill Mantlo, penciled by Sal Buscema, and inked by Andy Mushynsky.

DC Comics:

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (1989) #6-10

These issues were published across March 1990 to July 1990, according to the Grand Comics Database. All were written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Klaus Janson. This was the “Gothic: A Romance” storyline.

The previous storyline mostly took place 6 months after Bruce became Batman, with some scenes before that. It seems that the format of this book is continuing in chronological order, with each subsequent story having Bruce a bit further in his career. In that story the Batcave was just beginning to be created, but in this one it is much larger and has a lot more equipment in it.

A recurring detail that I liked in this storyline was Bruce forgoing food to work as Batman. In issue #6 Alfred brings Bruce food while he’s brooding in his home and Bruce says, “No thank you, Alfred. I won’t have anything tonight. I’m going out.” In issue #8 he tells Alfred, as he leaves the Batcave in costume, “And Alfred, cancel the pecking duck I ordered for this evening. I won’t be home for dinner.” There’s also a scene in issue #9 where that Bruce, in his Batman costume, is eating the food Alfred brought him as they discuss the main mystery is very prominent, with close-ups emphasizing it.

I also enjoyed the ominous tone of the scene in issue #6 where criminals summon Batman with the first Bat-Signal to ask for his help. Bruce’s anger that they would summon him and the dramatic way he spoke, his usual way of speaking to criminals, was reminiscent of a mystical demon-summoning gone wrong.

And speaking of that he’s normally very dramatic when talking to criminals, like he’s reading from a prepared script, I enjoyed the writing of Bruce’s characterization as Batman in these issues, the times which he slipped into a more casual manner of speaking, which worked well because they weren’t the norm.

I also liked the addition to Bruce’s backstory that as a child he was briefly sent to a boarding school with an unhealthy environment- he described in issue #7 that, “It was traditional to live in fear of bullying prefects. It was traditional to be beaten and humiliated and to fight off the advances of degenerate old teachers with doctorate degrees.”- and that one of the teachers there was a serial killer of children that was planning to kill Bruce next until Thomas Wayne intervened. In issue #9 Bruce remembers his father arriving “like a knight in armor” after he called his dad for help, and describes him as pale-faced after speaking to the teacher. In the present the serial killer tells Bruce, “Your father suspected. He knew that I’d killed those children. He saw through me as though I were made of glass. He would have exposed me if blind fate hadn’t intervened.” I think it’s a compelling incident for Bruce to have had in his childhood, and I like the problems of Gotham being portrayed as going that far back. Though I don’t like that this is so immediately tied to Bruce’s parents’ death, with the night Bruce returns home from boarding school being the same night they go out to that ill-fated movie showing, in the same way I don’t like it when flashback WWII Captain America stories are said to take place right before his final mission when he got frozen in ice. Also, this reminded me of the story “Flesh Made World” from Let Them Live!: Tales from the DC Vault (2021) #3, written by Scott Bryan Wilson and drawn by John Paul Leon, where it’s revealed that a bookbinder at a library that was significant to Bruce in his youth was killing people and using their skin to bind books. That story, in which Bruce is very confused because he’s been drugged, also had a very ‘magical realism’ feel to it to me.

And regarding this “gothic” storyline’s magical feel, Bruce’s discussions of the evidence he has throughout this book have a very fated feeling to them. In issue #9 Bruce cites that cathedral architectural design functions as a “transmitter, aimed towards god” and suggests that, “If architecture could be used to focus and direct spiritual power, then… then… Could it also be used for evil?” To me this would be an unhinged leap of logic if it didn’t turn out to be completely correct; the villain explains later in issue #9 that “I measured my shadow with this magic cord and by that act trapped by soul within the twine,” and is planning to commit mass murder in the cathedral and offer the souls to the devil in order to save his own soul. In issue #8 Bruce accidentally plays a tape of his father and gets pointed in a direction for his current case from it, which he justifies as, “If I can’t trust my father, who can I trust?” Then in issue #9 he says, “My father knew something. That’s why I’ve been dreaming about him.” This, of course, is also actually true.

In issue #10 Bruce is sent in the mail, presumably by the devil himself, the heart of the serial killer. When Alfred sees this he asks, “Shall I alert the tin-man, sir?” referencing the character who was in search of a heart in The Wizard of Oz.

I noted before that I liked the ending of preceding storyline, where at the beginning Bruce had been nonplussed by the accidental death of a killer he’d been tracking; but that at the end when they reunite and fight again and the man is accidentally fatally wounded, Bruce is kind to him in his final moments and says, “Rest in peace.” At the end of this story Bruce takes the heart of the long-lived killer to the lake where it’s said one of his first victims still roams, “searchingly endlessly for her tormentor,” and throws it in to her, saying, “You’re free. Go in peace.”

I also really liked how the final words of this story were, repeating from the abbot’s telling of a legend to Bruce in issue #7, “But these are only stories,” which feels applicable to the entire storyline and the character. The line is the abbot reminding Batman that the tale is merely superstition, but clearly he and Bruce felt strongly about it.

Flashpoint (2011) #1-5

These issues were published across May 2011 to August 2011, according to the DC Wiki. All were written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Andy Kubert. Issues #1-3 were inked by Sandra Hope, issue #4 was inked by Jesse Delperdang, and issue #5 was inked by Sandra Hope and Jesse Delperdang.

This was my first time reading this book; I read Flashpoint: Batman - Knight of Vengeance (2011) #1-3 a while ago. Also with that character I’ve read all but the last couple of issues of Tom King’s Batman (2016) run, Infinite Frontier (2021) #0-6, and Justice League Incarnate (2022) #1-5. I think the main thing left with this character for me is Flashpoint Beyond (2022) #0-6.

This book worked really well for me. I went into it already liking Flashpoint Thomas Wayne’s character concept, but Barry Allen’s journey was also well done. I already knew the twist coming up, but I thought a good job was done of building up to it without being too obvious. I liked Barry’s conflict of wanting his original, less doomed world back, while also feeling guilty about erasing the one he was currently in with the versions of the people living in it. I already knew about Thomas’ lack of attachment to his life and to his world; it was interesting to see it in action at this critical time. Despite that everything blew up at the end, this world wasn’t that dystopic to me in its status quo, in comparison to something like All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder (2005), but I think it worked better that, despite the flaws, there were likable people in this world. I liked the ultimately personal stakes, where Thomas was pushing Barry primarily because he wanted his son to live. Thomas telling Barry that he was sorry about his mother and Barry and Bruce’s shared grief at the end got to me. Also, I was pleasantly surprised by the portrayal of the Shazam kids, who had more of a presence in the book than I expected. I wish the portrayal of them in the actual New 52 reboot had been more like this.

Fawcett Comics:

the Captain Marvel stories in Whiz Comics (1940) #88 and Captain Marvel Adventures (1941) #75 and The Marvel Family (1945) #14

In this batch of 7 stories I read the Captain Marvel appearances published in August 1947, according to the issue cover dates. The stories ranged from 7 to 11 pages.

The story “The Marvel Family in Captain Marvel- Invalid” (written by Bill Woolfolk; drawn by Pete Constanza) in The Marvel Family #14 has a very cute premise where Captain Marvel is diagnosed as having high blood pressure and needing to avoid any kind of excitement, lest he die, and Junior and Mary Marvel keep this a secret from him and try to discourage him from using his powers and handle crimes for him, making Captain Marvel and Billy Batson think that they’re jealous of Captain Marvel. At the beginning of the story Junior and Mary Marvel arrive after Captain Marvel has taken down a criminal gang, and Junior says, “There’s never much real work for us to do while you’re around!” And Mary Marvel agrees, “I’ll say!” After hearing of his diagnosis, Junior tells the doctor, “Please don’t tell Captain Marvel!” And Mary Marvel says, “The shock might kill him! We’ll make sure he gets the best of attention!” Later when the group sees a child endangered Mary Marvel holds Captain Marvel back and tells him, “It’s time you let us do something,” while Junior saves the little girl. Later Billy passively aggressively says on his radio show, “And in closing, folks, I’d like to add a word about jealousy! It never pays to be jealous of anyone!” The next time Captain Marvel tries to go out and fight crime, Mary Marvel goes out in his stead and Junior is tasked with keeping him calm and occupied. When Captain Marvel does finally fight, the kids panic, delineating their tasks so that Mary Marvel finishes up the crime-fighting while Junior forcibly carries Captain Marvel to the doctor. When it’s said Captain Marvel will need a blood transfusion, Junior quickly agrees to help, though Mary Marvel arrives in time to protest, “No! Take me!” Of course, in the end it’s determined that Captain Marvel’s blood pressure issue was a misdiagnosis.

The story “Captain Marvel and the Yeast Menace” (written by Otto Binder; drawn by Pete Constanza) in Captain Marvel Adventures #75 had a unique closing message. In the story a yeast experiment goes awry, causing the city to be threatened to be overtaken by an ever-growing yeast, until it’s revealed that it’s actually mitigated by water. Then the president of the ACME Chemical Corporation arrives, offering to buy the formula for this miraculous yeast, knowing that they can prevent it from getting out of control with water. And Billy says of this, “Many of our scientific discoveries only seem to be a menace until they are used for peaceful purposes!”

Ahoy Comics:

The Wrong Earth (2018) #1-6

These issues were published across September 2018 to February 2019, according to the League of Comic Geeks. The main stories were all written by Tom Peyer, penciled by Jamal Igle, and inked by Juan Castro. Issues #1-3 also had 5-page back-up stories about Earth-Alpha Stinger, styled like Golden Age comics, written by Paul Constant and drawn by Tom Feister. And issues #4-6 had 7-page back-up stories about Earth-Omega Dragonfly, styled like edgy modern comics, written by Paul Constant and drawn by Erskine. Note that I wrote those before reading The Wrong Earth: Night & Day (2021), so this is reflective of my thoughts just after reading this book.

I read this book years ago and remembered the gist of it and some specific parts but not everything; I think it worked even better for me with the added context of the prequel book Dragonfly & Dragonflyman (2019) #0-5. To a lesser extent the Earth-Alpha parts of that book, I think that world is simple enough that we understand it from what we see of it in this book, other than that for me the status quo of their ordinary times raises the question of how Earth-Omega Dragonfly will continue to function in that world. But the dynamic depicted there between Earth-Omega Dragonfly and his original Stinger adds a lot to his grief and his dynamic with Earth-Alpha Stinger here.

In Dragonfly & Dragonflyman Richard isn’t aware of what’s going on in Chip’s mind until it’s too late and their relationship is irrevocably damaged and Chip is moving out. Richard does speak harshly to Chip, but even when he doesn’t mean to hurt Chip’s feelings Chip is hurt anyway. Chip is clearly unwell and needs help that he’s not getting. In issue #5 when Richard walks in on what he thinks is Chip attempting suicide (Chip was actually removing a tracking device Richard secretly implanted in him so that he could move out and not be followed) he responds with anger and exclaims, “I can’t handle this. You need treatment. I’m not qualified to deal with-” This, and every other time he talks to Chip, is a far cry from how he talks in issue #6 of this book to Earth-Alpha Stinger- who had exclaimed in the previous issue “I wish I were dead!”- when he speaks negatively about himself, calmly and compassionately telling him, “You haven’t done anything wrong. Now I know you’ve been through a lot, but it’s time to pull yourself together, like the warrior we both know you are. This was always going to be a rough ride, kid. You’re going to feel some bad emotions. Give them the power and they’ll change you into someone else. Someone you never wanted to be.”

In Dragonfly & Dragonflyman Richard has the realization too late that, as he explains to Chip in issue #5, “This life. All this anger, all the ways I take it out on you. Because you’re there. Because I can.” I had said in my round-up notes for that book that ideally, while not stopping Chip from moving out, Richard should have tried to stay in contact with Chip and purposely worked towards being able to interact with him in a less aggressive and demeaning way, but I think all he did to process his feelings was torture Devil-Man to death. I’m still leaning towards that what happened is that Chip did eventually return to Richard and that their relationship continued to be unhealthy and Chip committed suicide rather than run away again. I don’t think that Richard’s remarkably different demeanor in this book is something he developed after Chip ran away, or even after Chip committed suicide, I think it’s specific to that he’s getting a second chance in a new, brighter world with Earth-Alpha Stinger. It’s referenced that he’s changed since his sidekick died, but I think that was just him becoming even more aggressive and brutal towards villains.

I really want to read a book that takes place inbetween this book and the prequel. Or maybe more information about that time period will come out when Earth-Alpha Stinger finally learns that his “Dragonflyman” is actually now Earth-Omega Dragonfly. I did get more context on the formation of Richard and Chip’s relationship: in issue #2 Richard asks Earth-Alpha Stinger about how he started fighting crime and Stinger answers, “My parents were evil criminals, just like yours. You took me in after you brought them to justice,” which is presumably a parallel to what happened in Earth-Omega. Chip had said in issue #0 of Dragonfly & Dragonflyman, “I’m here to save lives and beat up fascists!”

I also thought that the Earth-Omega back-ups in issues #4-6 added a lot for Richard’s characterization. In the one in issue #4 he tries to rescue teenagers who have run away from home, having been enthralled by a villain, and tells them, “Kids, your parents are worried about you. Let’s take you home.” In the one in issue #5 he expresses hopelessness about his world, then in the one in issue #6 he declares, “My hope isn’t for humanity. […] But every day I wake up with hope… The hope that I’ll have a face to punch, scum to stomp.”

I’m talking a lot about Earth-Omega Richard and Chip because that’s the relationship I’m most emotionally invested in, but I actually really enjoy the depiction of Earth-Alpha in this book. For example, Deuce! I liked her taking over Number One’s criminal gang. I enjoyed that she was the one working to get Earth-Omega’s Number One out of her world while Dragonfly wasn’t making any progress on that, and I liked that she was always able to physically overpower Earth-Omega Number One. I loved her looking after Stinger! I’m assuming that she’ll continue to be a relevant character moving forward, since she’s in the unique position of knowing that Dragonflyman is actually Earth-Omega’s Dragonfly, though maybe she’ll just be taking her bribe money and getting out of town. I also liked that, while she was kind of into Dragonflyman and was willing to blackmail Dragonfly, when Dragonfly asks her out in issue #6 she’s clearly weirded out and uninterested because from her perspective he’s a dangerous and violent man from another world with different rules. And I appreciate Earth-Alpha villains going after Dragonfly in issue #4 after they realize they need to “murder Dragonflyman- before Dragonflyman murders us!”

And the concept behind Dragonfly and Earth-Alpha Stinger’s relationship is so appealing to me. The fact that Stinger is such a sweet kid and he has no idea that his guardian is secretly a different man that is willing to kill people behind his back in order to protect him. Speaking of that, I don’t think Chef Escargot’s mallet would have actually killed Stinger in issue #6; I think it’s similar to the scene in Dragonfly & Dragonflyman #5 where Lady Eve protested hitting Chip with a car as too violent but really he was fine because he simply rolled with the movement as Dragonflyman had taught him. And that in Dragonfly’s mind Earth-Alpha and it’s light-hearted alternate version of him is absurd and stupid, but he enjoys the popularity and the ease with which he can operate that, especially since he’d given up on being able to fix his world. It will be interesting to see going forward if Dragonfly and Dragonflyman will be able to make any lasting broader change in the new worlds they’re in. I’m also curious if we will ever see scenes of either set of superhero and sidekick in their civilian lives, which has been largely ignored in both this book and the prequel.

The Wrong Earth: Night & Day (2021) #1-6

These issues were published across January 2021 to August 2021, according to the League of Comic Geeks. All were written by Tom Peyer, penciled by Jamal Igle, and inked by Juan Castro, except that Russ Braun drew an 8-page scene in issue #3 and Peter Krause drew the 8-page epilogue in issue #6.

At the beginning of the book, when Dragonflyman comes across to Dragonfly as indifferent about Stinger, I was thinking that maybe Dragonflyman was thinking about the world of Earth-Omega and how it influenced Stinger-Two and now had an emotional disconnect with Earth-Alpha Stinger, who hadn’t ever had to experience anything like that.

I do think that Dragonflyman and Stinger-Two have a more mature relationship from the fact that Dragonflyman doesn’t need to protect him from any knowledge that isn’t appropriate for his age or would be emotionally difficult for him, because growing up in the world that he did means that he’s already been exposed to a lot of horrible stuff, so they can talk freely on equal terms despite their different philosophies. I think the scene in The Wrong Earth (2018) #5 where Dragonflyman talks about how horrible he’s felt since being in that horrible world and Stinger-Two says he can relate to those feelings is really significant. I also personally really enjoy the sort of role-reversal where Stinger-Two thinks of Dragonflyman, while a “great man,” as “like a child” because of his beliefs and mannerisms.

And I found it really striking how in The Wrong Earth (2018) the mentality was that the people from Earth-Omega needed to be removed from Earth-Alpha because they were dangerous, but in this book Dragonflyman wants to bring Stinger-Two there, even though Stinger-Two still doesn’t follow Dragonflyman’s moral code, because he wants to give Stinger-Two a better life. And while Dragonflyman and Stinger-Two still have a good relationship after a year of him killing people, Dragonflyman can’t tolerate Dragonfly killing bad guys for a moment. I am looking forward to seeing how Dragonflyman’s two kids get along in the upcoming book and in particular how Dragonflyman handles that; I don’t think he’s really had real experience managing young people being difficult. Also, I don’t expect that Stinger-Two will feel positively towards Dragonfly.

I was disappointed in the ultimate handling of Stinger learning that Dragonfly had tricked him about Dragonflyman being trapped in Earth-Omega. I think the build-up of Dragonfly and Dragonflyman being worried about how to tell him was done well, but then when he is told I don’t think his reaction was that strong. I think it should have sparked a similar intense reaction as the original revelation did, feeling guilty over Dragonflyman having been stuck in another earth for a year, and also feeling stupid that he was tricked. I think the reason Stinger took blaming himself so strongly and immediately was suicidal the first time he realized it is because his life has been too perfect on Earth-Alpha and he doesn’t know how to handle legitimately bad things happening and bad emotions, which wouldn’t have been resolved in the one-year timeskip between books, despite Dragonfly talking to him a bit about bad feelings. On an adjacent note, while I’m sympathetic to Dragonflyman’s worry that Stinger was dead, just putting off talking about him to avoid hearing about what had happened to Stinger during his year away wasn’t very mature of him.

I noted before that Deuce was weirded out when Dragonfly asked her out at the end of The Wrong Earth (2018). Their relationship developed a lot over the year inbetween the books, the end portrayal of that here charmed and intrigued me. I made a post about how Deuce, now also known as Lady Dragonflyman, was bypassing the standard rules of her world, which was probably necessary for Dragonfly to be able to form a real relationship with her. Notably, Dragonfly doesn’t seem to have killed anyone in Earth-Alpha since Chef Escargot but is still being more violent with criminals than the real Dragonflyman would be. Stinger is ok with this because he’s oblivious to it, but it’s not clear to me where Deuce stands; she knew that Dragonfly killed Triviac and I think it’s unlikely she believed him that he didn’t kill Chef Escargot.

Deuce and Dragonfly are clearly intimate with each other. I enjoyed the moment in issue #1 of this book where he leans towards her with his hands behind his back and she playfully keeps him an armswidth away. Dragonfly says in issue #2 that he expected Dragonflyman to be “smug, sanctimonious,” but in issue #1 he tells Deuce that possibly “you can have the real thing again, instead of a poor substitute,” and he tells Dragonflyman in issue #6 “You’ll like her. I know she’ll like you.” Deuce, meanwhile, clearly doesn’t actually feel about this situation the way Dragonfly thinks she does and was sad about the possibility of him leaving forever. I also enjoyed Deuce’s continued care for Stinger (though she may have been, in his eyes, a wedge into his simpler relationship with Dragonflyman that he preferred).

#comics read this past week #my posts

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foreveralwaysanauthor · 1 year

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Stress Reliever

December 9, 2022

Prompt - Staying Inside

Notes - This was so much fun to write! I wrote this today after reading over the comments on my last few posts and, Eleanor, I have to thank you for giving me an idea to add toward the end! I feel like it worked perfectly with what I had already written and wanted to sneak it in for you, haha. I hope you like it!

The Birch family living room was silent apart from the rapid clacking as finger met key. After the jump she had ever-so-gracefully landed a few days prior, Vivien O’Brian was forced to stay off the ice and practically off the ground too. Her sprained foot and ankle gave cause for concern as the girl had a couple of upcoming performances, not only with Riven on the ice, but also with the high school color guard and the theatre troop she was a part of. With all of her deadlines creeping up on her like Bentley’s attempts at jump-scaring her and Royce, Vivien couldn’t afford to spend any time doing anything other than resting her leg. Her school had the option of online learning for those who were sick or injured, so she took full advantage of what was available. The only thing was, her parents had to drive her to and from the Birch house every day before they left for work so she wasn’t alone all day.

Mack and Brady had been very accepting of Vivien’s presence since the girl practically lived there anyway, the only difference was that she was now there all through her usual skate practice times and all through the school day. Vivien was grateful they had allowed her to stay over. Her and Loki, that is. The giant Saint Bernard had made himself comfortable in front of the fireplace, sprawled across the floor so that nobody could join him. Every time the dog heard someone enter the living room, he would sit at attention, watching them like a hawk to make sure they didn’t get close to his Vivien. He wasn’t much of a guard dog, but he was protective and his growl could be considered menacing if Vivien didn’t tell him to stop.

Vivien’s fingers flew across the keyboard of her laptop as she worked on her assignment for history class. Her teacher, Mr. Brunner, was a laid-back guy who was also in charge of the photography and Dungeons and Dragons clubs. He made his history class interesting by allowing the class to watch movies and clips of shows from times they were working on in class and comparing them to what actually happened. Even though she could have easily transferred to Advanced Placement History, Vivien had been in Mr. Brunner’s history class since freshman year and loved his way of hands-on teaching far more than the AP History teacher, Mr. Shepherd’s boring, by-the-books-and-nothing-else way of teaching. Her friends that had transferred always complained about the man being an awful, opinionated, and strict teacher who locked the door to his class as soon as the bell rang and hardly ever accepted excuses unless they were from his favorite students.

Vivien’s history assignment was a free-for-all where all she had to do was interview someone about their life in a different decade and write a short story about a day in their life. Of all the people she could have chosen to interview, she chose Carrie. She had spent the previous day asking Carrie any questions she could think of, recording the conversation with her phone and making sure to ask every question she could about an average day in the life of superstar actress, Caroline Cole. After spending half the afternoon sorting through the questions and answers, taking out useless information, and organizing the list into a coherent storyline, Vivien wrote it all down in a notebook Royce had bought her for her birthday. Vivien had already mostly filled it with script and novel ideas she might never even get the chance to work on, but she had enough space to fill the last few pages of it with information about Carrie.

Before getting up to make breakfast, Mack and Brady had joined Vivien for a while in the living room, sitting on the opposite side of the couch and reading together, but Vivien was so in the zone that she barely acknowledged their presence. Lela had come downstairs around seven, taking the time to sit and play with Loki by the fireplace before asking Vivien if she could take him for a walk. That was the first time in two hours that Vivien had looked up from her keyboard long enough to do anything more than drink whatever she had put in the metal water bottle she had brought with her. She set her computer aside and dug Loki’s leash out of her backpack before handing it to Lela with a Ziplock baggie of treats and some bags for the walk. After telling her different instructions Loki knew and making sure he responded to Lela just as well as he did with her, Vivien watched them leave and immediately went back to typing.

Royce and Bentley were next to make their appearances known, talking animatedly about something Bentley had a dream about as they made their way down the stairs to the main floor of the cabin. Bentley jumped over the back of the couch on one side of Vivien while Royce took the other side, pressing a kiss to his girlfriend’s cheek as she worked. “Good morning,” Royce said softly as Vivien continued typing like a madman.

“Morning,” she replied quickly.

Royce and Bentley leaned forward so they could see each other past Vivien and her computer. With a shrug, Bentley offered, “Do you want to play some Rocket League when you’re done?”

It took Vivien a while to answer, her eyes following the letters on the screen as they appeared, but once she realized the question was directed toward her, she glanced over at Bentley and asked, “Huh?” Before Bentley could restate his question, Vivien nodded and went back to her laptop, “Oh, yeah, sure. I could do Rocket League. Might take a while for me to finish, so you two can play for now, if you want.”

Royce watched as Bentley stood from the couch and headed for the bins on either side of the fireplace where the gaming things and cases of movies were kept. After watching his brother set up the Playstation, Royce turned to Vivien and watched her type faster than he’d seen her go before. “How long have you been working on that?”

“Since last night,” she breathed. “Started as soon as I had it all organized, but Mom stopped me at two this morning so I could get some sleep.”

“How long have you been working on it today?”

“Since I got here at five-thirty.”

Glancing to the corner of Vivien’s computer screen at the tiny clock above the date, Royce sighed; it was already almost eight. If what she said was correct and she had, in fact, stopped writing at two and got here at five-thirty, that meant that she was running on three hours of sleep, give or take. Placing a hand on Vivien’s arm, Royce softly admonished her, “Vivi, you need sleep.”

Normally cheerful green eyes were bloodshot and glassy as Vivien spared a glance at her boyfriend. “No, I need Red Bull and to get this project done. It’s almost done.”

A gentle, almost statically charged shock greeted Royce as he took Vivien’s hand in his with a sigh, “Vivien.”

Vivien huffed, tossing her head back so she stared at the ceiling, “I need to get this done as soon as possible. It counts toward both my English and my History classes and is a huge chunk of my grade because of how long it is. If I can write out two more pages by the time my class would be in lunch, I could raise both of my grades enough to qualify me for early graduation and my associate’s degree.”

“You’re in high school,” Bentley stated curiously. “How are you going to get a degree early?”

“I’m in the vocational programs for history and creative writing,” she answered. “We attend college classes every other week and, once I graduate, I get an associate’s degree for both.” With a heavy sigh, Vivien looked back at her computer screen and shook her head at the eight pages she had managed to write since she began typing after lunch the day before. “I need two more pages before I can send this to Mr. Brunner and, even then, I’d have to go back through and edit the whole thing.”

“Why not take a break and get some breakfast into you?” Royce suggested, rubbing circles into the back of Vivien’s hand with his thumb. “You deserve a break.”

Vivien’s shakily exhaled breath almost convinced Royce that she was willing to take a break, but the firm shake of her head squashed the idea like a bug under a newspaper. “I only have two pages left and I can finish them in about an hour if I really focus on it.” Turning to her boyfriend, Vivien gave him her best smile and said, “I just need an hour. After that, you can take my computer away and I’ll edit it later.”

Royce didn’t want to let her continue, especially with her looking so exhausted and drained, but as long as she actually rested once the hour was up, he could handle that. “Promise you’ll actually rest later?”

With a nod, Vivien tightened her grip on his hand and said, “I promise. Now, you two have fun and I’m going to go back to work, alright?”

Royce hummed and let go of Vivien’s hand, accepting the controller Bentley handed him and turning toward the TV as he started the game. As the game started, Royce continued sparing glances at his girlfriend, making sure she was alright as he and Bentley began racing their cars toward the giant soccer ball they would have to fight the other team for. He just hoped that Vivien would be alright and, more than anything, she would keep her promise once the end of the hour came. He didn’t want to fight with her over something so trivial.

Before Vivien knew it, the hour was up and, in the middle of typing her final paragraph, her laptop was snatched away from her by someone much quicker and much taller than the person she had expected to take it. “Miles!” she screeched, propelling herself off of the couch. In an instant, the laptop was forgotten and a searing pain scorched from her foot up to the bottom of her spine. At once, Miles shifted the laptop to one arm and lowered Vivien back to the couch cushions with the other.

“Get that leg back up, kiddo,” he ordered.

“Alright, alright.” Once Vivien had lifted her leg back onto the coffee table where they had set up a pillow and a heating pad for her, she sighed, “Thank you. Now, can I please have my computer back? I was almost done with the last paragraph.”

“You said that three paragraphs ago,” Carrie commented from the other side of the couch where she was busy filing and painting her nails.

“Not helping,” Vivien huffed, sending the blonde a sharp stare.

Carrie only shrugged and returned to the glittery polish hed between her thumb and index fingers. Miles chuckled as he handed the computer off to Royce over the back of the couch, “You need to relax, Viv. You’re a smart kid, I’m sure you can see the reason behind us making you rest.”

Taking in a long breath and letting out a heavy sigh, Vivien said, “I can, but that doesn’t mean I like it.”

“Nobody likes being told what to do,” Royce commented from behind the couch, making sure the laptop was kept out of his girlfriend’s reach. As she tipped her head back to look at him, Royce pressed a light kiss to her forehead and softly told her, “I’ll work on the editing while you rest. When I’m done, you can finish up, alright?”

“You’d really do that for me?” Vivien mumbled, glancing blearily up at Royce.

“I would do anything for you,” was Royce's reply. “All you have to do is ask.”

Vivien smiled, “That goes both ways, you know?”

Royce chuckled, “I know. Now, get some rest.”

“Yeah,” Miles said with a grin. “You better get some rest or we’ll sic the warden on you.”

“‘The warden?’’ Vivien snorted, sparing a glance at the slumbering giant whose slobber was puddling on the wooden floor under him. “If you’re talking about Loki, he’s not going to do much other than lay on top of me and lick me to death.”

Miles shook his head, a knowing, mischievous look glimmering in his icy eyes. “Loki isn’t the warden.”

“I am,” came a voice to Vivien’s right. Glancing to the side, Vivien met gazes with the blue-eyed blonde who had just tightened the cap of her glittery gold nail polish and set it back into the bag she had pulled it from. Carrie’s smirk was enough to make Vivien swallow thickly, a feeling of defeat building inside of the teenager.

Glancing back at Miles, Vivien sighed, “I’m not going to be able to get away with shit today, am I?”

“Not with her around,” Miles said with a shake of his head as he made his way toward the kitchen for another cup of coffee. “Good luck, kid.”

As Royce and Miles left for the kitchen - Miles in search of coffee and Royce to make up a plate of food for Vivien - Vivien watched as Carrie zipped her makeup bag shut and shuffled closer to her. “So,” Vivien began, “why did they stick you with me?”

Carrie scoffed, patting the girl’s good leg as she sidled up beside her, “They didn’t stick me with you, I asked to stay with you.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

Vivien sighed, “I just figured you would’ve rather liked spending time with Miles or something more than hanging out with some teenager.”

“You’re not just some teenager, Vivi,” Carrie said, turning so she had one leg bent on the couch. “You’re my friend. Besides, you need some girl time and someone who won’t let you get away with stuff because you bat your little eyelashes and flirt with him.”

Vivien’s face burned as she tried to argue, “I don’t do that!”

Carrie hummed, “Sure you don’t. Just like I don’t when it comes to Miles.” The look of defeat on Vivien's face made Carrie smile as she nodded, “Yeah, I’m not dumb. I know all the tricks of the trade.”

“I really can’t get away with anything if you’re around, can I?” Vivien sighed.

“Nope!” Carrie giggled, proudly popping the ‘p’ sound. “Now, I was thinking, while everyone else is out Christmas shopping or whatever else they have to do, we could do a spa day.”

Vivien had never been to a spa before - the closest thing she had was the sauna at the gym and the ice baths she would take after volleyball practice in the summer. “What, exactly, does a spa day entail?”

“Well,” Carrie drawled, “Mick and I just got these face mask things at the mall the other day and she has an entire line of lotions that are just collecting dust in her bathroom, so I figured we could put up our hair, relax, and do some at-home facials for the day.”

“That actually sounds like a lot of fun,” Vivien chuckled as Royce brought her a plate of food he knew she liked.

“I hope it lives up to your expectations, then,” the blonde said with a grin. “I do have one condition, though.”

Vivien sighed as she stabbed a piece of pancake with her fork, “Of course, you do.”

“You have to do your physical therapy stuff first.”

“Of course, I do.”

By the time Vivien had finished eating and completed the exercises she had been taught for her leg, almost everyone was occupied with shopping, reading, or, in Royce’s case, editing. While Vivien was busy, Carrie had brought out the face masks she had bought, taken some of the lotion bottles from the bathroom Mick and Butchy shared, and piled a plate full of cookies that had been made the night before. The arrangement of everything was put out on the coffee table in a haphazardly organized array and, after taking the time to decide who wanted what, the girls set about on their mission of relaxation.

The first thing Carrie insisted on was making sure their hair was out of their faces. After letting Vivien brush out her hair, Carrie braided it out of her face and used a hairband to slide any stray hairs away from the girl’s eyes. Since she had no clue how to make a braid, Vivien had a fun time attempting to wrangle Carrie’s curls into something half-decent, but eventually settled on a bun that she secured with a silky scrunchie. Even though Vivien apologized for such a messy hairstyle when the blonde had done such a great job on her, Carrie brushed it off with a wave of her hand and told the teenager that she loved it anyway.

Despite telling Carrie she was more than capable of putting on her face mask herself, Vivien found herself resting back against the couch with the blonde painting the hot cocoa-scented face mask on her skin with such a light hand that she barely felt Carrie’s movements. Once her mask was done, Carrie wiped off the paint brush they were using to put the masks on and handed it to Vivien along with the gingerbread-scented one she had wanted to use before laying back on the couch with her head as close to Vivien as she could manage.

Vivien was glad she was getting to spend time with Carrie one-on-one. There were others in the room, of course - Royce was editing her assignment at the island off of the wall separating the kitchen and living room, Miles was drawing something in a sketchbook with Bentley, and Lela was watching something on her phone - but it felt like she and Carrie were spending alone time together. Vivien didn’t usually get a lot of one-on-one time with other girls. Sure, she had Abby who used to be practically up her ass all the time, but they never really spent time doing stereotypically “girly” things. Most of the time, they were studying, working in the vineyard, or training together for competitions. Over time, it seemed as though Abby was more interested in her gaggle of friends to spend much time with her older sister. Outside of family members, Mick was the first friend who had taken Vivien in as a little sister. They had known each other for as long as Vivien could remember and, since the beginning, their sibling-like bond was strong. The two of them did everything they could together when Mick was visiting New Hampshire, but it was hard to bond much when the older girl had a whole other world of people to care about. Carrie was new to Vivien. A whole new person to bond with and love who she hadn’t grown up knowing or been made to love due to being blood-related. Vivien wasn’t about to complain about having the opportunity, though. She needed a day to just hang out with a friend.

“This is kind of nice,” Vivien said with a grin as she slathered a glob of the gingerbread face mask on Carrie’s forehead.

“I knew you’d have fun with it,” the blonde muttered, attempting to keep her mouth closed while Vivien worked.

“I am.” As Vivien smoothed out a layer of the mask on Carrie’s skin, she said, “I think I needed this, you know.” One of Carrie’s eyes peeled open and she raised an eyebrow at the girl curiously. As though answering the girl’s question, Vivien took in a deep breath and sighed, “There is this insane competition this month that Riven and I are waiting for an invitation for. If we get a letter in the mail, it will tell us where the competition is. If we don’t, it means we didn’t qualify. It’s a lot of stress on top of school, my spot in the color guard, and my role as Irene Molloy in Hello Dolly.”

As Vivien swiped the extra mask back into the container it came in, Carrie sat up and said, “I know how awful such a busy schedule can be.”

“I bet you do,” Vivien sighed. “With your acting and all, you must be busy all the time.”

Carrie shrugged as she turned on the video of calming music Vivien had picked out, “It comes and goes. Once you find a solid way to balance everything out, things get a lot easier to deal with and you get more time to yourself and the people you love.”

“I think I’m still working on that whole balance thing,” Vivien chuckled.

“You’ll get there.”

With a small smirk, Vivien nodded, “I sure hope so.”

Carrie took the younger girl’s hands in hers and squeezed them, her signature smile beaming so brightly Vivien worried about it burning her retinas, but it was reassuring all the same. “You will.”

Vivien smiled in return and followed the actress into relaxing with her head resting against the back of the couch and her eyes sliding closed, allowing the music to lull them into a sense of serenity until their masks were done setting. Hearing the gentle music over his headphones, Royce, tugged one earbud out and turned toward the living room, finding Vivien and Carrie sitting with their heads toward the ceiling, colorful paste on their faces, and Vivien’s right hand in Carrie’s left, a smile on both girls’ faces. Royce felt a smile tug at his lips as he watched them, he was glad someone was keeping Vivien relaxed. She needed the break. With any luck, she would pass out exactly like she was and would get at least some sleep before her parents came to pick her up. Smiling to himself, Royce turned back to the project at hand, having only a couple of pages to go through before reaching the end of the writing Vivien had done.

After a while, the timer went off and Carrie helped a drowsy Vivien clean up her face before diving into the nail polish and lotion they had picked out earlier. When she finally was awake enough to be aware of her surroundings, Vivien was surprised to note that almost everyone had disappeared, leaving the two of them alone in the living room. While Vivien watched Carrie paint a tiny flower on her ring finger, she asked, “Hey, Carrie?” The blonde hummed, attempting to focus on the artwork she was doing. “You remember those TikToks I was showing you the other day?”

“Those are the short videos on your phone, right?” Carrie asked as she came up for more paint.

“Yeah,” Vivien confirmed. Carrie nodded in understanding. “Well, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to make some with me?”

“I’m not sure how we would go about it, but sure,” Carrie said with a smile. “No dancing ones until your leg is better, though.”

“Of course not,” Vivien agreed.

“Alright,” Carrie nodded. “Once your nails are dry, we’ll find something you want to make.”

“Actually,” Vivien began with a hesitant, but hopeful smile, “I think I already have something in mind.”

By the time everyone was home from shopping or done with what they needed to get done around the house, Vivien and Carrie were sitting on the couch, laughing and talking like old friends. The pair watched Vivien’s cell phone for a few seconds before muttering something to each other and giggling as though they had seen something hysterical. After a while of this happening, Mick asked, “What are you two doing?”

Carrie turned to Vivien with a grin before replying, “Watching TikTok.”

“Is it that Dylan guy baking weird recipes again?” Butchy asked as he found a spot on the couch to call his own.

Vivien giggled, “No, we watched him earlier. We’re watching ones that we made while you guys were off doing other things.”

Miles nudged his girlfriend over the back of the couch, “What happened to you making her rest?”

“She was resting,” Carrie claimed, “while also being my camerawoman and director.”

Vivien quickly turned the TV on over the mantle, scrolled down past the videos they had posted earlier, and connected her phone to the screen so everyone could see what she was watching. As the rest of the family piled in on the couch and found a place to sit, Vivien and Carrie smiled at each other in giddy anticipation. “Ready?” Vivien asked, making sure everyone gave a sign of agreement before scrolling to the first video they had posted. It wasn’t the first one they had made, but it required the least amount of editing.

The video was of Carrie in an all-black dress they borrowed from Mick’s closet, dancing to Bloody Mary by Lady Gaga the same way as Wednesday Addams had in the show the family had recently started watching. A few other videos were just the two girls acting out different songs, but the last one they posted, the one that they spent the most time editing due to them just sitting and laughing every few seconds, was one showing pictures of Butchy with the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s song Anti-Hero in the background. The words on top of the pictures were, “Why is he always so grumpy?” A heavy sigh came from Butchy as he rolled his eyes, but he stopped as soon as the pictures and words disappeared and Carrie appeared, turning around to face the camera with a beaming smile as she mouthed the lyrics, “It’s me, hi. I’m the problem, it’s me.”

Butchy let out a bark of laughter, “Damn straight!”

Carrie turned to Vivien and, as soon as the pair locked eyes, they burst into hysterical laughter, leaning into each other and revealing their inner hyenas. The more they laughed, the more everyone wondered what was so funny. With everyone else’s eyes on them, Carrie and Vivien eased themselves back to normal, eventually getting ahold of themselves enough for them to laugh out, “We knew he’d say that!” before their laughter picked up once again, earning a round of laughter from the rest of the people in the house.

#Nelle's Christmas Prompts 2022 #writing #writing prompt

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decayedhearts · 2 years

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Tagged by: @muraenide thank you :3

Tagging: any moot who hasn’t been tagged yet !

TEN Q’S:

1. When are you usually online?

I’m kinda online on discord most of the day, because I have it on my phone. I don’t always read messages or reply though. On tumblr I’m online on evenings, but not every day. I don’t have regular online times to be honest :)

2. What verses are you involved in outside of this page?

I have 3402384 verses in my head and not enough time to write any of them. I never counted, I don’t know :) Some are more developed, or plotted with other people, some are just extended headcanons or ideas I haven’t written down yet. I should probably do a verse page sometime, but I am not that organized~

3. What is your biggest RP pet peeve?

Character/ship policing and cancel culture. And on a less serious note, people whose thread RP replies are a summary of my initial post from their character’s perspective as exclusively internal monologue with no new actions for me to reply to in my next answer :)))) That makes me feel like I am writing a fanfiction on my own.

4. Are you drawn to specific types of muses?

Maybe? But I’ve always had quite a variety of muses in all my fandoms. I do tend to make everyone angsty and depressed headcanons though :D So maybe my type just is “secretly depressed”, and I like insane villain characters that I get cancelled for like Viserys, Ardyn, or Wen Ruohan. Oh also, male muses. I almost never write female muses.

5. Are there recurring themes in your writing that people might not notice?

Ehmm, not sure, actually. I tend to recycle tropes that I love every now and then, but those aren’t specific to me. I think with certain characters there are often themes of loneliness and accepting a bitter fate that I like to throw into my stories. But I also usually write happy endings. I always fall into the same h0rny tropes, too. Haha.

6. What are your favorite RP trends?

Meme sentences !! They’re perfect for people who are too busy for full-blown threads, they’re great ice breakers, they make good crack ship moments, they’re just awesome. Dashboard/tag games (like quizzes) are fun too! I actually also really like the icon trend. We used to RP with gigantic GIFs of various sizes haha, icons make everything look very neat.

7. What is your process for starting a new story with someone?

Usually one of us has an idea, in my case that’s often specific scenes that I then develop a setting out of, and then we yell at each other in excitement, or we plot like mature adults (lol). Lately I have been too busy for rp threads tho, so it’s mostly just been.. memes set in specific verses.

8. How do you feel about duplicates?

I don’t mind them, I’ve always had a least a few friends who wrote the same muses as me. Sometimes it makes me insecure about my own portrayal to see others who are super amazing good at writing them, or are very active while I am super slow, but that is 100% my issue and nobody else’s. I would never want to discourage someone from writing the same (canon) muse as me, and I don’t avoid them either.

9. How long have you been involved in roleplaying?

For almost 17 years now.

10. Is there a muse or verse you wish you could write in, but haven’t?

All my muses and verses, man. I have so little energy to write lately I’m not making any progress 😥 I have a lot of ideas and things discussed and ships in the pipeline but actual writing is not happening lately.

#( tag game. )#( out of wonderland. )

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betwccnworlds · 1 year

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@amethyst-slime-king asked: (Pammy) "Viva la rev-lu-ton! A year is too long for toy time out!! S' not fair to Waspy!!" Clearly someone has been watching too much human media again~.

[ “Darius, I SWEAR if you don’t start helping me with teaching her about this properly--” ; Accepting!! ]

Inhales, holds it for a couple of second before letting out a sigh.

“Knives are not toys, Pamela.”

#amethystslimeking #Written on the pages is the answer to a never ending story (ic)#I have nothing left to prove because I have nothing left to lose (into the future verse)#howell & pammy tag

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dashawfrostart · 5 months

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This Week In "Time & Again" #5: Busy Busy! and How I Adhere To Content Guidelines Through Creating Extra Layers! 🤪

Hello there! Let's start off with an important announcement right away: your dedicated artist a.k.a. The Proud Mother of Jeanny and Lothar now has a day job! What?! You though the artists never have day jobs because most of them post 24/7?! Well YOU'RE WRONG! Artists need money for living, too, and since art pretty much never pays anyway 🤣... This is why I'm doing it! Aside from a certain personal challenge that I don't have any intention to disclose. So the things are gonna get pretty busy for me until the end of December! Which means it will most certainly slow down the work on "Time & Again" for me - plus the other little extra goals I've outlined earlier in the previous post. But I'm not in a hurry, so we'll see how it's gonna go for me 😁 Ta-daaaaaa! Moreover, my new job already gave me some extra inspiration for something that I most likely will utilize in promo materials, extra arts, and perhaps even in the pages of the chapters themselves. So it's all going quite well right now.

I know, I know, some of you might really NOT want to hear that yet again 🤣, but anyway! Christmas is on its way. While I was trying to figure out what yummy dishes to prepare for our snowy and magical holiday feast, I suddenly found myself musing about what Lothar really used to enjoy as a Christmas treat when he was little and cute (and not yet broken). The succulent German dishes I prepared last Christmas and New Year's, carefully following the recipes mainly taken from chefkoch.de only avoiding limited ingredients that we don't like, turned out simply delish! I'd like to do something equally spectacular this year as well. So, what would Lothar - as a child and as an adult - absolutely love to have for Christmas dinner in his homeland in Germany?.. Hmmm. Would he rather have Bratwürstchen mit Kartoffelsalat, or something along the lines of Entebraten/Gänsebraten, or even a baked festive fish?!.. Or maybe he'll just go casual and get himself a burger (with colourful sugary icing sprinkles, because well, you know, Xmas and all???)?! Oh maaan, so many things to consider! 🤣 I think this is a very difficult question for me to find the right answer to. That is perhaps because I've never even decided which town he's from. But I do certainly have a feeling he comes from Norddeutschland somewhere... He strikes me as a person who was born in a big and pretty town on the north of Germany. This is probably important to know in order to figure out the answer to my question outlined above. And it's also important to figure out what his favourite soccer team is. For, you know, it's important to German folks. I believe he still likes soccer - he probably simply doesn't have a lot of time to invest into watching it, for he has... much more important matters to attend to. Indubitably. However, strictly speaking, before trying to push my brain to do creative yoga and bending it in all of the imaginary - and non-imaginary - ways possible, the largest question is as follows: Ist das überhaupt wichtig?.. Because in art, certain things have significance only within specifically defined contexts. There's no need to work on something if it does not serve any purpose within the story whatsoever. I am a big fan of the idea that every little element in an art piece should bear significance within its concept. This is how it has always been for me, and this is definitely how I always work on my written and visual stories - and that's also how I will work on my videogame if I ever get a chance in the future - and I want to keep on going ahead with that idea.

But I digress again! Back to "Time & Again"!

(here's a cute little gif of a very bored Lothar... or is it what's REALLY going on on that particular frame?.. 😉)

As I've been dedicatedly and steadily going forward with the lineart for every each page of Chapter 5, I made an interesting discovery - or rather, I came to an interesting conclusion. Unlike the previous chapters, this one is going to be, well, let's say, more graphic. Don't get me wrong: going overboard with excessive violence and "shock content" that is incredibly popular nowadays (cynicism and sarcasm intended) is a total and strict no-no for me, because I really think the world could really go without it - or at least, as an artist, I would not like to contribute to this ridiculousness. So in my story, depictions of violence are going to be very limited and sparing for the reader.

However, in Chapter 5, certain so-called "graphic" parts are essential and irreplaceable. It's pretty clear that any endeavour to define terms such as "little violence" or "too much violence" is purely subjective, and everyone of us has absolutely different degree of tolerance towards this kind of stuff (which, by the way, is incredibly important to be mindful about, I think! and a lot of people, sadly, aren't like that), therefore every website that allows you to host and post such kind of content must have those guidelines outlined in the terms of use - and the tricky thing is, it's similar yet still varies from place to place. So I check on the content guidelines every time right away when I'm trying to decide if I want to share my works on particular platforms or not. In case with "Time & Again" that I PERSONALLY define as a strictly "18+" story (prove me wrong 🤪), you can easily understand how important it all is to make sure that Jeanny and Lothar - and anybody else they contact - don't get burnt on a stake. That would be very unfortunate for them... And for me, too. To avoid another one overwhelmingly giant post (or a series of such), I'm not gonna go into detail and start a whole new thread of discussion about ratings, content guidelines, and so on - although even up to this very day, as a content creator, I'm still not certain about some stuff and cannot fully agree with those concepts. But let's leave the theories out of this post for now (or completely out of my blog - because why should I even bother?..).

Anyway, finally wrapping up this giant prelude and avoiding digressions (which I do extremely badly on my part, but at least I honestly admit it 😁), my point is, I decided to make a few separate layers for "injury makeup" on my characters that can be easily turned off in case they're considered "too much". Thus, all the bruises, scabs (if any), cuts and scratches (if any), and, finally, streaks of blood are gonna be kept on a separate layer (or 2 separate layers - not sure, we'll see about that) to be easily removed for good prior to posting on certain platforms (if the content guidelines call for that). Here, an easy fix! Just like awesome patches for some very old games that don't work on modern PCs anymore (a very good comparison for me, actually). Later on, once The Colouring stage of my work is finally on, perhaps, I will show you what it's gonna look like - that is, only if there are not going to be any major spoilers, of course.

Since I'm trying to avoid spoilers, I don't think I can show you a lot of screenshots today 🤷‍♀️. Although the work on the lineart for the chapter is virtually half complete as of today, I think I'm gonna postpone showing off the progress and I'll just stick another one animated gif in here, again. Because everybody loves animated gifs, right?! Here goes! 😁 Demonstrates how simple it is to draw Lothar's hair.

Since my materials are growing, I'm planning to open a thread with all the WIP stuffs from Chapter 5 on Krita forum sometime soon. I've done something like that before, for Chapter 4, but already after the official release, if I remember correctly - you can view that thread here - don't forget to scroll down to see more. So stay tuned, for one of the next posts I'm gonna make will contain a link to the forum thread with all my Chapter 5 sketches/WIPs.

And for now... Tha-tha-that's all folks! See you very soon! And don't forget to sip on your lovely hot chocolate with cute lil' marshmallows casually floating on its surface - this is the season after all! 👋🤗

#This Week In Time And Again #TimeAndAgainbyDWF #wips #krita #graphic novel

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sailoreuterpe · 2 years

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Okay but I’m going to hit you with a curveball this time: Sailor Moon for blorbos?

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): My favorite character is Makoto Kino. She's everything that I would want in a sister. (Not that my actual sister isn't amazing but she's also not an inhumanely-strong reincarnated warrior princess...as far as I'm aware.) Makoto is everything that I would want to be. Her struggles are relatable. She's everyone's friend and she's loyal to the death. I would say either Ami or Usagi since I relate to them so strongly but part of that relation is noticing their flaws too easily.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): Diana is adorable and the best kitten in the world. I would say ChibiUsa or Hotaru but, as with Ami and Usagi, my strong empathy and relation for/to them sours some of the joy that I find in their characters. I would want to give them a hug before I would want to pinch their cheeks.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): With "Sailor Moon" being thirty years old, I don't think that any character can truly be called "underappreciated" these days. However, Hotaru and Setsuna canonically get less screen time than any of the other sailor soldiers and they have some of the worst destinies and lives. Both of them need a hug and some ice cream.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): The Big Beautiful Woman from the manga and the first episode of the original anime is my absolute favorite one-bit character. Despite only being in the manga for one or two pages, she somehow garnered enough crew respect to end up in the anime. Then, she's even in the Another Story game! I liked the Big Beautiful Woman enough that I started a little website dedicated to her way back in the character shrine days. I never did anything with the page but I still have some of the sprites and things on my computer.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): I don't usually care for the enemies or other problematic characters, but I've written more than one fanfiction where Queen Beryl is redeemed so I guess I'll choose her. I can recall at least three stories off of the top of my head where I redeem Queen Beryl to some capacity so I clearly have some affection--or at least interest--for her.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): Based on my drafts and published works, I'm fairly mean to Haruka. I love Haruka but I have both serious angst pieces as well as comedic hijinks works where she's the butt monkey. Poor Haruka; now I feel like repenting by writing something cute.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): Would it be cliche to say Chaos? For more human characters, original anime Jadeite is a misogynist, murderous dudebro douche before we even had the term dudebro. Unlike the other Generals, he doesn't really have any canonical redeeming qualities (though fandom jumped on that train real quick) and he's just mean.

These were super-fun! "Sailor Moon" will always be my one true (anime) love. I hope that the answers were worth the wait, Babs. XD

#babs0987 #The Askalator #Askalator #Notes by Nikki #fandom #ask game #tumblr #tumbling #tumblring #social media #meme #fandom game #blorbo #blorbo from my shows

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lawfulwittebaby · 2 years

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Excuse Howell as he’s ignoring all the stuff his brother is talking about.

#// Eli's Belos said 'greater good' and Howell went 'NAH'#// anyway yes hi he hates the term 'greater good' with a passion #Written on the pages is the answer to a never ending story (ic)#Stay close to me. Don't look behind us. There's nothing to see below (dashcommentary)

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ggukkiereads · 3 years

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Hi 💓

It is the month of Ramadan and I want to avoid reading any smutty/steamy fics for the month. Which is why I was wondering if you have any Jungkook or Taehyung non smut fic recs? It can be fluff or anything just no explicit sex scenes. Thank you for your recommendations you are literally my favorite page on this platform 💜✨

🌷 Hello @dhabatae101. First, I wish you and other followers a happy, safe, and blessed Ramadan. Ramadan Mubarak! ✨

I decided to answer this right away so I tried compiling my reblogs (plus those fics I haven’t reviewed yet) and authors that “specialize” in fluff/angst. However, the list went on and on 🤭. So, I will split this post into two:

Part 1: authors that have more SFW content in their catalog (you are here)

Part 2: non-smut fics (my reblogs + other recs) - Taehyung | Jungkook

(Fluff/Angst) Smut-less Fics | Taehyung & Jungkook

🌷 Part 1 (Recommended Authors)

@jimlingss - Kina’s masterlist is just a dream. No two stories are the same and every fic is just memorable. A truly prolific and consistent writer. Usually witty, fluffy, and charming but the angsty fics are also deadly. I posted my fave JJK and KTH fics - the Worshipers Series can be read independently but better if read sequentially to better understand the “universe”. The Slice of Life Series is also a must, but you can read the KTH and JJK fics on their own but I seriously love ALL 💖.

Worshipers of the Sky - KTH | series [3/3] | 35k | God AU, Goddess!OC, Sacrifice!Taehyung, Worshipers Series | F, some A

Worshipers of the Sea - JJK | one shot | 16.3k | Pirate AU, Mermaid AU, God AU, Worshipers Series | F, A

President’s Son - KTH | series [20/20] | 80k | Bodyguard AU (reader), Slice of Life Sereis, Slow Burn | F

Sugar and Coffee - JJK | series [23/23] 101k | Patisserie School AU, Best Friend AU, Enemies to Lovers (slight), Slice of Life Series | F

Love So Shallow - KTH | series [3/3] | 34.8k | College AU, eventual Roommate AU, Best Friend AU, Humor | F, slight A ⭐ #holygrailfic

Black Waltz - KTH | two shot | Butler AU, Historical AU | F, A (ah I love Taehyung’s characterization here)

Moirai - KTH | series [8/8] | 46.9k | isekai au, fantasy au, reborn as a villain in a video game | F, A

Rent a Boyfriend - KTH | I noticed this is a crowd favorite, it might end up yours too =)

A Fairy Crime - KTH | one shot | Fairy godmother OC to grant someone a happy ever after | F, A, crack

Date in a Box - JJK | one shot | 9.7k | Date Planner (like wedding planner but make it a service for dating) | F, F, F

His Name - JJK | series [8/8] | 52.4k | Multiple Personality AU, based on Kill Me, Heal Me (this is one of my favorite Korean drama series so I really enjoyed this fic series too) | A

A Piece of Moonlight - JJK | one shot | 22k | Warrior AU, Mulan AU | really angsty though

*didn’t include Chess of Ice (since this is in the Jungkook Jock AU list)

@inktae - If you’ve been following me I always rave about this author. Mostly her work is of fantasy genre but has a slice of life tone. Her fics are just masterpieces - just beautifully written and viscerally gripping. They remind me of Ghibli films for some reason (like the tone). You can check their fics here (just avoid those with M, usually with sexual content but honestly it’s not explicit). I love everything but if you want to start somewhere, you can try:

Blue Orchids, Moonlight, Home After Rain - JJK Soulmate AU, Hanahaki AU, Angst ⭐ #holygrailfic

First Light - KTH x R x JJK | raved about it here (angst)

Away From the Sun - KTH | soulmate AU

The train of lost souls - JJK, feat JHS | fantasy AU | A

The swirling Ways of Stars - JJK, fantasy | A, F

@gukyi - for your enemies to lovers needs. This is one of my favorite tropes so I just love that there is a writer that ‘specializes” in this. Please check their masterlist and take note of fics with (smut). Try:

Four Weeks - KTH, College AU, stuck in campus for four weeks during Christmas

Good Luck Charm - KTH, roommates, actor AU

Moonlight Melody + Part 2 - JJK, fake dating, orchestra AU | F, A

Coffee Shop Contract - JJK, fake dating, college AU | F

If I Told You - JJK, college, unrequited love/pining | F, A

Midas - JJK, magical realism | F, A

Love Project - JJK, comedy, photography assignment | F

@koorara - ugh I just adore their writing. Tooth-rotting fluff seems effortless with her drabbles/short stories. You can check their fics here. My faves:

Driving Me Wild - JJK, demon au, roommate au, ongoing drabble series but you can read it (not cliffhanger-ish), soulmate au | my review (tooth-rotting fluff)

His Dandelion - KTH, someone sent an ask about this you can read the description | A

Down and Down - JJK | MMA fighter, slight making out | A, F

The Pitter Patter of the Heart - skip the drabble with mature content, husband au, lecturer jungkook, this is super cuuuute | tooth-rotting fluff

@suhdays - it’s just amazing to find a writer with a non-smut catalog. Writing is just pure and focused on the plot and emotional/character development. Please give their masterlist lots of love. My faves:

Access Granted - I like hacker Jungkook. SMAU format

A Cinderella Story - JJK | also based on the movie | F, A

Wherever You Are - JJK | vampire, ceo (I love this) | A, F

Terms of Endearment - JJK | poet jjk x artist reader | F

Bucket List - JJK | friends to lovers (this is adorable! my review of this is still in the drafts like the rest of the fics 😥) | F, slight A

Camp Crush - KTH | brother’s best friend (this is funny like I was just smiling all throughout)

Made of Honor - KTH | SMAU, recently completed! Like the movie

Baby I’m a Fool - JJK | Fake Dating, Co-worker AU, E2L | F, A

@vanaera - her Yoongi coworker E2L series is something I’m always waiting for and I don’t think her other fics contain smut. Please check The Prince and His Rose (bestfriend AU, College AU, childhood friends, football player x writer!reader Jungkook, fluff/angst)

@namjoonchronicles - so I recently binged on this author’s writing (still bingeing on her other members’ fics). Their catalog has a lot of Domestic AUs which are beautiful slice of life pieces. It could be as simple as folding the laundry but it would be so meaningful. I said in one of my reviews that their domestic fics has same vibes as illustrator Puung’s Love is in Small Things. I would like to post my favorites here but I think I recently just reviewed/reblogged tons of their work (you can search my blog for the reviews). Please check their masterlist. Granite Glow is my ⭐ #holygrailfic

@rosaetae - if you like angst that hurts but it all makes sense why the situation had to be angsty, then her masterlist is something to binge on. Not all are angsty, just mind the tags for pure “fluff”. My favorites:

The Bedtime Contract - KTH, roommates, enemies to lovers, sort of cuddle buddy?, fluff but there’s slight angst | F, A

Dream a Little Dream of Me - KTH, soulmate au, could hear soulmate’s voice, waitress x songwriter |

Lavender + Vanilla - KTH, a story about a boy who had forgotten his memory of you

Chrysanthemum Effect - KTH (JJK has a side story too), Hanahaki AU

Among the Evergreen - JJK, Christmas AU, E2L | F

Sweet Apple Biscuits - JJK, receives letter from their future self asking to save one boy ⭐ | A, slight F

Best Thing He Never Had 01 02 03 04 05 06 - JJK, bestfriends to lovers | A, F

Better Late Than Never - JJK drabble, exes AU, fake dating (I love this scenario, there’s one funny moment here with Jungkook saying his feelings through a door) | A, F

@justimajin - another favorite of mine - her fics actually try different genres/scenarios and are usually series. I find it fun to wait on episodes weekly. A consistent writer too. See masterlist here. Selected works:

Catching a Case of Doctor Blues - KTH, medical AU, enemies to lovers, slice of life

Swapped - JJK, body swap, really fluffy! I reviewed it before and screamed at how fluffy this is 😍 | tooth-rotting fluff

A Lone Wolf’s Howl - JJK, werewolf AU, sort of enemies/rivals, hunter AU, bestfriend. Note: there is a chapter with smut, you can skip that portion | A, F, S

@bubmyg - oh wow her works are just tooth-rotting fluffy goodness too (especially the Yoongi drabbles/one shots). But please check her fics for Tae and Koo. My picks:

Can’t Fake a Feeling - KTH, F2L, Fake Dating, College AU, Fuckboy (not smut)

Extra Cheese Sauce, Please - KTH, F2L, College, friends keep setting them up

Strawberry Boy - JJK, I just reblogged this weeks ago so you probably have read this | tooth-rotting fluff

Wonder - pool boy!jungkook x journalist!reader | F

Not a Date - JJK | one shot + drabble series, kinda E2L. cute | tooth-rotting fluff

Dare to Begin - JJK | college au, idiots to lovers, broke college students | tooth-rotting fluff

gcfguk + idcilh - a youtuber!jeongguk drabble series | F

you can check their masterlist for the other drabbles and fics I haven’t read/included

@cupofteaguk - a writer whose fics end up in my fic rec lists regularly. When I get asked about certain tropes, I always remember one or two of her fics. Their Reputation Series is binge-worthy but they also have plenty of scenarios/tropes to choose from. You can find a lot of KTH or JJK fluff-based fics here (or other members too):

the maze to you - KTH | soulmate au | angst

along the boardwalk - KTH | skater boy/college au | fluff

it’s all fun & games - JJK | fake dating au | fluff

say you won’t let go - JJK | soulmate au | fluff

on the road (to you) - JJK | road trip/strangers to lovers au | fluff

new romantics - JJK | hogwarts au, quidditch player, enemies to lovers | F, A

@crystaljins - another writer with fics that have well-developed plot, great angst and great endings. I recommend all (check other members’ fics here). Extra love for:

Schemes and Tricks to Win Her Heart - KTH | series [5/5] | 22.5k | Fake Dating, feat Chaebol/Rich Seokjin, Taehyung is Jin’s Little Brother, and OC is Tae’s bestfriend

I haven’t read the new Taehyung Christmas fic yet but give it a spin =)

@springbean - I love her story concepts and ideas! When I discovered her, I just binged on their work and I enjoy every new fic she releases. My personal favorites are listed below, but you can also check her masterlist here:

Onyx - JJK | cyberpunk AU, abo dynamics (it is sooo interesting to use abo dynamics this way. Usually abo is associated with werewolf aus but this is like a social classification system in this fic. It is still ongoing but it’s the type of story you can read and remember easily so in case it gets updated you can jump into the next chapter) ongoing | A, F

Wolfsbane - KTH | Werewolf AU, college, soulmates (included in my KTH werewolf fic recs)

Cursed - JJK | Prince x Mage/Witch, Fantasy, Medieval, E2L, action (basically has all AUs I like) ongoing

Enshrined - JJK | this is new! fantasy, fae world, isekai, childhood friends, eventual smut (?) but since we’re not there yet you can still read it smut-less ongoing

@army-author - another prolific writer with a catalog you can binge on. I recently reblogged/reviewed some of my favorites but believe me there are more (I am just lazy with reviewing and such). Personal faves:

Gamomania - JJK | childhood friends | tooth-rotting fluff, slight S

X and O - KTH | fake dating, single parent, teacher AU

A Monster Crush - KTH | childhood friends, angst, fluff, horror, implied S ongoing

All This Stigma - KTH | fwb au, unplanned pregnancy, arranged marriage, divorce, really angsty but I love it!

The Village Idiots - JJK | soulmate au, childhood friends, they’re soulmate-less (or are they?) | tooth-rotting fluff

The Alchemy of Amor - JJK | fantasy au, royalty au, enemies to lovers (new) | F

Fire and Ice - JJK | oh this is probably the first I’ve read from the author, E2L but make it fluffy rivals (he’s fire and she can yield ice), fantasy au, magic | F

Black and White Christmas - JJK | Office AU | F

@thedefinitionofbts - I love how emotionally invested I get when reading their fics. Most of their fics are smut-less but deeply rooted in emotions so I remember the story a lot even if I’ve read some years or months ago (I said in my werewolf fic rec list that there’s this Jungkook fic of theirs that’s really sad and I still imagine him waiting for OC.) Just powerful storytelling. You can check their masterlist and mind the fics with smut. I wanted to list my favorites here but I’ll end up listing everything. If you want to start a fic, I recommend:

A Story that We Paint - KTH x R x JJK | Sci-fi, College AU, Lucid Dreams AU | A, slight F

Our First and Last - JJK, VMIN | Soulmate AU, Sci-Fi | A, F

Kingdom of Crystal Snow - KTH | Christmas, Royalty (yay something purely fluffy)

Corner of the Universe - KTH | Reincarnation AU

other fics I like have S content or too sad

@threeletterslife - I love her fics because they make me dwell and ponder on things but themes are very heavy (I think she has one crack fic though). No smut and you can try all her works if you are in the mood for angst, some pondering, etc. Masterlist here. You can read the Love Chaser Series (though you have to read the Yoongi series first before reading Jungkook’s, it’s one universe).

Whipped with a Cherry on Top - KTH | friends to lovers, crack

The Time Traveler’s Playbook - KTH | time travel AU | F, A

Cuss Out - JJK | High school AU, crack | F

@artaefact - just feel good scenarios and I love her drabbles! I’ve reblogged and oohed aahed over the drabbles that are short but powerful scenarios.

incandesce + warmth drabble - JJK (safe to say, you can read all their drabbles) | F

Aeturnal - KTH | fantasy au, royalty au (I loooove this. it has inexplicit S though, you can skip)

A Letter in Roses - KTH | husband au, valentine au

Calling You Mine - JJK | College AU, S2L, tooth-rotting fluff

@augustbutwinter - a writer to watch out for. August delivers so much even with minimal word count; they can get you emotional (fluffy or angsty) and it is so easy to visualize the image she is trying to describe. Just wonderful. The words just flow easily too so the fics are not difficult to read/imagine. I recommend the ff:

My Tears Ricochet - KTH | ghost AU, roommate AU, fluff (sometimes angsty), drabble series ⭐⭐

Rose Coloured - JJK | post college AU, some sort of reunion with an old flame | F

@akinnie75 - What a wonderful storyteller. I would binge on her fics for their plot/storylines. Usually it feels as if you are reading a tale. Several of their fics ended up in my #holygrailfics (the namjoon and jimin ones). You can try:

Ghost Marriage - JJK | fantasy, idol au, kind of arranged marriage | A, F

Until Spring 1 | 2 - JJK | Romance, Fantasy, visited the Freesia Island for Spring but taken for Arranged Marriage instead | A, F

Moonchild - KTH | a tale about the legendary Moonchild, a mythical creature known for its ability to heal life of all sorts

🌷ggukkienote:

I’d also like to recommend checking the fics in each of the reading lists and Fic Recs by theme. You’ll find these lists in the NAVI page. Fics/Titles included per list are usually tagged for A/S/F content.

I will update this once I remember other authors that focus on A/F

Part 2 (Fic Recs) - linked top of this post

#jungkook fanfic #taehyung fanfic #jungkook fic recs #taehyung fic recs #taehyung x reader #jungkook x reader #taehyung fluff #jungkook fluff #ggukkiereadingcollection #asks #dhabatae101 #bts fluffy fic recs #bts angst fic recs #bts x reader

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sieclesetcieux · 3 years

Text

On Saint-Just’s Personality: An Introduction

Saint-Just’s personality is deeply misunderstood.

Saint-Just was a very secretive person, and guarded his personality behind walls. It might come off as surprising, considering how he’s usually depicted, but he actually was very introverted and reserved at the Convention, at the Committee of Public Safety, and during his missions in Alsace and in the North.

He was also a very sensitive person. He didn’t take slights easily (neither did Robespierre). But unlike Robespierre, he was also extremely young and wanted to be taken seriously. He was building off from nothing. So he built his own “myth”: the man (re)born with the Revolution. He made his youth his advantage: he hadn’t been as corrupted as the others by the old ways. This is something that was used by other revolutionaries, for example Marc-Antoine Jullien, who was 19 years old in 1794. They would say their youth made them closer to “nature” – that is, the natural, uncorrupted state of humanity as defined by Enlightenment philosophy.

The Saint-Just people think they know via novels and movies doesn’t really exist. I can’t think of any fictional representation that accurately portrays him. How people think of Saint-Just is basically several different “fanon” interpretations, some built by his enemies, some built by people who did appreciate him but didn’t quite understand him – which didn’t help much in the end.

This is important to point out because in the end these are the sources we have to learn who Saint-Just was as a person:

What those who knew him wrote about him (sometimes writing many decades later, which naturally impacts memory)

The little insight we can gleam from the few personal notes he left here and there in notebooks (and an unsent letter) that were never meant to be read by anyone

I know this seems obvious, but people often forget that historical figures are not fictional characters. They were real, living, breathing, human beings. They were people, and people have flaws and contradictions. People don’t necessarily remain the same at 20 years old, at 25, at 30 and so forth. People change.

The Saint-Just who writes Organt before the Revolution isn’t the Saint-Just who writes L’Esprit de la Révolution et de la Constitution de France in 1790 and isn’t the Saint-Just who gets elected deputy to the Convention in 1792. The Saint-Just who writes an unsent letter to Villain d’Aubigny (usually dated of July 20 1792, though it’s a topic of debate) is a Saint-Just no one was supposed to see. Same with most of his personal notes they built the Fragments des Institutions républicaines with.

Most importantly of all, a person will appear different to different people in different contexts. It’s a matter of perspective.

If you only take Desmoulins’ and Hilary Mantel’s and Tanith Lee’s perspectives on Saint-Just, well, I’m sorry to say, that’s not Saint-Just. That’s a perspective of Saint-Just.

Moreover, Saint-Just has many faces, many images, many legends, some of which he created himself while he was alive.

Victor Hugo was influenced by the Romantic Historians of the French Revolution, Michelet and Lamartine specifically, and their descriptions of Saint-Just to create Enjolras.

This is how you can find this connection making it even through novels that don’t like Saint-Just very much:

“He has a mind of fire and a heart of ice.”

- Bertrand Barère on Louis-Antoine Saint-Just

“It is a thing unheard of that a man should be as cold as ice and as bold as fire.”

- Bossuet on Enjolras, in Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“...Camille felt an instant aversion, as to the touch of ice, which is what the young man most resembled. Chiseled from an ice floe.”

- Camille on Saint-Just, in Tanith Lee, The Gods Are Thirsty

Thus, even traces of this Saint-Just lives on in Tanith Lee's book.

Main testimonies

Most of them are here, in French, and some have been translated. If not, I will work on it. I will repost them on this tumblr as well, along with additional information about their author, their reliability, their personal biases, etc.

Sources by Saint-Just’s hand

While some revolutionaries have enough correspondence to fill entire volumes, Saint-Just comparatively left few letters behind. We do have one letter that gives incredible insight into his state of mind, but it’s important to remember this letter was never meant to be read by anyone. It was an unsent letter, found in his things after Thermidor, and then made public against his wishes, much like most of his personal notes. It is, however, an amazing letter nevertheless, but it’s important to keep this context in mind: he did not want you to see him like this.

Secondly, we have a lot of decrees he wrote during his missions. Though most don’t say very much, they do give clues on his personality, on his attitude, on his perspective. In some cases, he would write a quick postscript to a letter written by Le Bas and addressed to Maximilien Robespierre. Interestingly, while Le Bas would use the “vous” with Robespierre, and admitted to his wife Élisabeth he felt closer to Augustin than to Maximilien, Saint-Just always uses the “tu”. This isn’t just a matter of revolutionary zeal – the whole “vous vs tu” question during the Revolution is another, much more complicated story.

Finally, we have personal notes scattered through the manuscript that became known as the Fragments des Institutions républicaines. It’s a strange document to study and refer to. There is, indeed, a project he was working on concerning the Republican Institutions. There are at least two drafts. But the document has other things has well: from notes he later used in speeches (you can pinpoint the similarities) to a very short fictional romance between a man and a woman that’s hard to interpret.

The document known as the Fragments des Institutions républicaines was made from random papers found on him when he was arrested, taken from his apartment, and in a notebook that Barère kept. Pages are missing. Some pages are obviously torn. This is the one place where he confided some of his deepest thoughts, which reveal a great deal of insight on the Revolution and on his role, as well as his mental state. It was written in the last months of his life, when he could feel what was coming.

Saint-Just wrote fiction: yes, there’s the much maligned, very misunderstood Organt. In the same period, which is shortly before the Revolution, he also wrote a play called Arlequin Diogène, a short story called La Raison à la Morne, and a very short epigram of 8 verses, Épigramme sur le comédien Dubois qui a joué dans Pierre le Cruel.

Most of these must be treated as any work of fiction regarding their author: separating fiction from the author is complicated. Is he referencing his own life? Is he even aware that he is? The context of their redaction, however, gives a lot of information and some insight on himself. One of these texts is extremely interesting in order to study his personality. It’s a sort of foreword to Organt titled Dialogue entre M... D... et l’auteur du poëme d’Organt. The format almost resembles that of an interview. This is important as this is Saint-Just the Author, as he wants to be seen. The style is trenchant, concise, straight-to-the-point. Here Saint-Just the Author of 1789 meets Saint-Just the Representative of Year II.

(This post in an introduction to a series of several posts in the process of being written. Please be patient. If you want to know more, feel free to send me questions though! I’ll try to answer as well as I can.)

#saint-just #saint just #antoine saint-just #antoine saint just #jean pierre gross #bernard vinot #marie christine bacquès #testimonials and commentaries #references #saint-just the author #saint-just the revolutionary #saint-just the representative on mission #saint-just the deputy

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