#a seasons worth of plot and i just… i CANNOT bring myself to read it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

feather-dancer · 3 years

Text

Tales of Arcadia Fanfic Recommendations - Part 6

I do admittedly have things left to read in my tabs I’d normally prefer to clear out before posting one of these but when you sail past the 30 mark I think it’s about time to get it out my drafts, yeah? Most importantly means this will be out before Rise of the Titans comes and emotionally destroys us all.

Needless to say soon as this is posted I give it 24 hours before 7 starts, we’ve got some amazing writers in this fandom and there’s a couple I juuust want one more chapter before I feel I can recommend it. Hope you find something you enjoy :)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

If at all interested in my own writing you can find it here!

General Trollhunters

Romeo, Question Mark - Jim is figuring himself out and has a question for Toby though nervous of how he might react. Honestly the support Aromantic’s need when they’re either questioning or coming out, Toby is a gem.

By The Book - After his dad left changing his world Jim had moments in his life where he needed to wrangle things in a way he could understand them with some moral support along the way that wasn’t there to do it for him, just give a light nudge the right direction. Comes with light Jilaire fluff.

That I Could Fear a Door - Jim was pulled from the Darklands whole but you cannot escape the trauma of your experiences quite so easily. It will take a little time, a lot of patience and perhaps the right ear to listen but with it can come hope.

Lest Back the Awful Door Should Spring - Sequel to the above, Jim’s capture to be sentenced by the tribunal echoes his experiences in the Darklands a little too closely sending all his careful progress hurtling back in one fell swoop. Is it any wonder he chose a false freedom that Unkar offered?

Façade - The confirmation that Mr. Strickler is not the man you thought he was probably was not going to be an easy one, Jim’s thoughts sit ill after that dinner.

Fashion - All changelings take root somewhere in a human life before their changeling one succeeds it and Nomura is no different. She felt love she could not understand and the ache of loss will follow for as she meanders through this world by the Whisper Man’s orders and her own volition of needing to belong somewhere. She will try her hand with the humans and the trolls, paint the road with blood as much as indulging herself with the arts and even risking her heart until everything leads her to Arcadia’s doorstep.

In Deep Trouble - What happened in the Deep during Season 2?

Aftermath - Just after the finale of Season 2 the Market trolls are forced to run leaving their homes behind and follow the Trollhunter they had dismissed so many times into the great unknown before them.

Don’t think - Jim weighs up his options and attempts to settle his thoughts before making the final decision whether or not to go through with using Merlin’s potion.

Nocturne for a Trollhunter - Jim learns a new hobby that gives him another way to relax that doesn’t involve cooking, one that follows him beyond Arcadia.

The Asteroid - A rare 3Below fic for my lists if centered on a certain hedge witch and Wizard. The end of the world is coming but not by Morgana’s hand and Merlin certainly never warned Douxie about it so if this truly is the end then it’s the best time to bring your loved ones close so you won’t be going out alone. Yes it’s Zouxie.

A bright future so it seemed (but that light grew a little less bright) - Claire’s parents (Or more specifically Ophelia) set her on the perfectionist’s path early, even a little slip can feel like the end of the world

Rest, Master Jim - You might be able to escape the Darklands but you cannot escape the consequences of being trapped there for so long as easily.

General Wizards

Not Found - So why did neither Douxie or Archie find the two remaining changelings in Arcadia or bring back the sole Akiridion when Merlin asked?

Place of Power - A lovely bit of shameless Zouxie fluff in that brief period the gang was at Hex Tech before the plot came to get them.

Bitter Water - Only two of the old team remain in Arcadia and those were Jim and Krel, the rest having left to pursue educational pursuits and in one particular case kept away for Nari’s safety. For the Akiridion he is still here with reminders of his heritage and what it took to have this life on earth chasing him all the way. It’s always good to have friends with a listening ear and hot chocolate.

Together, Dearest - The very act of resting is a potential invitation for nightmares and Nari is no different but when once more in the waking world you will find you’re not alone, there are hugs available.

The Night Belongs To Us - Lovingly described Skraelroc fluff during their long hunt for Merlin and the strangeness that can be observed on clearer nights.

Nineteen Plus Nine Hundred, Give Or Take - 900 years is a long time by anyone’s standards but perhaps during that Douxie can figure out how to truly live.

Twelfth Century Wizard, Twenty-First Century Witch - The follow up to the above, when you’ve lived a long and interesting life things can still pop up in odd ways... Even if you haven’t quite mastered the sacred art of texting yet.

ERAS TÚ (It was you). | Tales of Arcadia One-Shot - Would you want to live forever if it meant leaving everyone behind? Jilaire.

the only way for us to go - From his rescue from the streets of Camelot to the eventual guardian of this realm, Douxie has come a very, very long way. Through the frustrations of trying to learn magic, the belittling of others, the faith of Morgana and the power of music his experiences throughout 900 years truly make him what he is.

lay down your head - Even the mightiest can be plagued with the not so humble migraine. Skraelroc fluff.

Stricklake

Merry Christmas, Doctor Lake - Some Christmas gifts are worth going all out for and getting your friends and family to help out to make it extra special.

Grocery Run - After the incident where Merlin dismissed Strickler for being a changeling it is time for an excuse to get out the house for a bit and have a frank discussion about their relationship, the future beyond the incoming battle and lingering insecurities of two worlds colliding.

Alternate Universe

Fashionista, How Do You Look? - An AU that very much takes the term very literally here where everyone is human, Skrael, Bellroc and Nari are fashion designers plus many other ToA characters we know and love are either in the industry in some way themselves or on the fringes because of their jobs/who they know. Sometimes you work with catty bitches and want to kick back and watch the fireworks you know? Contains friends to almost to enemies to friends to maybe we’ll get our shit together this time but the odds aren’t great Skraelroc. There’s also a Zouxie oneshot in this collection that was a gift for meee because of the corner I dug in the AU.

Atlas, Fallen - When a star falls from the sky it is a punishment so when Atlas suddenly finds himself amongst the humans he had observed from above for countless ages in a flesh body like theirs he fears his Mother is punishing him and unable understand what he did wrong. While trying to find his way back home he gets a crash course in what it’s like to be human making friends along the way. Slow burn Jilaire.

she once was a true love of mine - I put this under the AU section even though it wavers between that and not, a mixture of classical Arthurian mythos and the glimpses of the Camelot in Tales of Arcadia where one kingdom collapses from war another strengthens by taking their princess as queen. While Arthur might have turned her head once it is the sibling that seems to be catching Gwen’s eye of late as much as her thoughts. Morgwen but in the department of pining.

Pulled From The Ocean - AU doesn’t quite fit this one but it feels a bit more fitting than general. A little oneshot snapshot of Jim living with deafness and the contrast of one world that falls easily into supporting that whereas the other tries their best but it makes the slip ups sting even more.

you are a stranger here, why have you come? - Fate is a funny old thing, something happens a little bit differently such as a father not leaving alone and everything can change so drastically. Nari’s fondness for children strikes again and this time it involves a 5-year old Jim Lake Jr. ending in the Order’s care and their foray into found family. Somehow Jim is even more of a disaster and as likely surmised from the fact I write this trope myself I am very weak for it.

go into your local forest and you will find a friend and a boy - Toby was unlucky in the friend department and by the time he is ten he still feels miserable and lonely having to endure Steve’s increasing bullying all the while. This is of course until he finds a blue half-troll hiding out the daylight hours munching cans in the local woods...

#trollhunters #3below #Wizards #ToAWizards #Tales of Arcadia

70 notes · View notes

azureflight · 3 years

Text

My entire friend group have uninstalled WoW and started FF14

It still feels surreal we are doing this. Now, it is perfectly possible that we will be back to WoW within the month, talking about how disappointing the “weeb game” was, but, this stills feels like a seminal moment.

I have been a Warcraft fan since I was a literal kid trying (and failing :P) to play Tides of Darkness on my aunt’s desktop. I spent so many hours and so much of my allowance playing Reign of Chaos in internet cafes.

When WOTLK trailer dropped, we had hijacked the computer lab and projected it to the auditorium for all to see.

I have been part of real life, unironic Horde vs Alliance infighting in college gaming clubs. I remember us all wearing Horde/Alliance merch, enthusiastically and rather foolishly, but completely seriously, arguing about lore, about who did what wrong and who was “more at fault”.

I own, almost every single Warcraft book, comic, guide ever published. I own hard copies, I own digital copies. I have watched and read and listened to every single piece of lore ever produced about this setting.

I have kept my sub up and played through all of the content draught, the infamous SoO, the practically less than 2 patch worth expac that was WoD.

I have allowed my sub to lapse for the first time during BFA.

I was so hyped for Shadowlands back when it was announced, and was annoyed when they changed the release date, causing me to waste my vacation time that I had taken for it. But a mere month of the expac in and I was already bored of it. And now, 9.1 is out and I am done. I barely played this patch and I have not only cancelled my sub, but went and removed the game from my PC.

Maybe this is a stupid overreaction and in the next patch, at the worst the next expac, I will be right back at the fur shop like the old fox I am. However, I know it feels different.

Throughout the years, I had many a thing that frustrated me about this game. Made me rage even. But I hadn’t quit then. No. The feeling that has been creeping up on me, isn’t rage. It is disinterest. I just, don’t care anymore.

Most of my friends over the years have switched to the Horde and this has been a sore spot for me. I stuck with Alliance, having some alts to play with them, and they had some Alliance alts to play with me, but... It wasn’t the same, it wasn’t enough. Several online friends, I had already lost contact with.

And now we are all gathering in FF14! I had the discord chat of my life! So many people I hadn’t talked to in years, on top of my actual real life friends whom I hang out with, are all jumping into this new journey.

My best friend’s progression guild is looking to make a full guild transfer, currently all of them except one have characters and a guild in FF, trying to convince the last guy to make the switch.

And then there is the lore. That’s why I fell in love with this setting in the first place. I loved this story, the cheese, the heroism, the over the topness, all of it. It was never “high art”, but it was unique in its own way, it had heart and it had characters and stories that I got invested in. Deeply so. I hadn’t start playing WoW because I was a connoisseur of MMORPG genre and “calculated it to be the best among its contemporaries”. I dived head first in Vanilla because it was Warcraft.

And now, I honestly cannot bring myself to care about this story, or its characters, other than a passing resentment. This was not the case, less than a year ago. I had bought the bloody Shadows Rising novel, I had read it and I liked it.

Now I am just, over it. This sense was rising, this sense of feeling less and less care for it, as expac after expac went in wildly nonsensical directions. But I had things that I had liked well enough to keep at it and have hope, hope for a good enough story that would keep me engaged. But I lost it. Something broke in 9.1.

I guess I realized, or rather I perceive, that the actual writers of this story do not care about it and none of it matters. There is no story. There is no plot, no continuity. Just an endless stream of “cool” shots in cinematics that ultimately don’t matter because, it has no basis and it has no relevance. It exists because someone wanted to make this cool scene, without caring what came before it, or what will come after it. Each scene exist, not to progress a cohesive story, but simply because someone wanted it to exist. And the next “cool” piece will flagrantly retcon the last one, ignoring or outright invalidating the stakes and hooks that had been set up in the previous one.

This is no longer a story of people, who were dramatic and weird and fantastical, but ultimately people. No. This is now a check list of what someone wanted to do in WoW setting and all the characters are empty puppets and all the plots matter only as much as they matter in any given single cinematic or questline. There is no pay off, and there is no logic. Characters aren’t allowed to live and react. Things only happen because the author said so, and the characters just bend and transform to do their bidding. And they feel no reason to explain nor establish as to why a character acts the way they do, let alone trying to make it believable or internally justified.

The gameplay aspect is the least important to me, the exact opposite of the majority. But I am sick and tired being punished with powerlessness for what I like story wise or aesthetically. I am sick and tired needing to read through guides upon guides, copying meta builds, just to have my class be remotely playable.

And most importantly, I am sick and tired of a game that will put me through genocide, deny me justice and vengeance under the guise of need for cooperation and then deny me playing with my friends across factions.

Now I get to play with all of my friends without jumping over the hoops or giving up on what I love. Because there are no stupid factions in FF14. And I can play multiple classes without hating myself.

I had several favorite characters in this game. They are still, mostly, alive. But do I care about them anymore? Jaina, Anduin, Sylvanas, Turalyon, Tyrande, Genn... No. I don’t care and it doesn’t even hurt anymore, it just feels like I had wasted my time and money. It feels exactly like how I felt during season 8 of GoT. An empty feeling of waste, so I leave.

Will I care about the characters or the story in FF14? I don’t know. I don’t think I will stick around if I don’t. But will I go back to WoW? A piece of me wants to hope for a superb turn around, but... Honestly? I don’t see it happening. And anything less than an epic turn around that fixes all of this, the lore, the classes, the playerbase division? I won’t bother anymore.

So off to the greener pastures! Maybe I will come crawling back within the blink of an eye, eating this post, repenting for ever having left. Maybe... I just don’t think so.

#World of Warcraft #shadowlands #Anduin Wrynn #Jaina Proudmoore #Sylvanas Windrunner

38 notes · View notes

slippinmickeys · 3 years

Text

The Earl (2/13)

Please note: Because I started this piece directly after their wedding night (Chapter 4 of The Countess) chronologically, the Tailpiece from The Countess is included in this chapter. Some small details were changed for plotting reasons.

If you’d like to read this on AO3, you may do so here.

CHAPTER TWO

When her husband strode back into her chambers later that afternoon, Scully was standing next to her maid Prudence, looking with consternation at a scattering of clothing that had been laid across the bed and various other pieces of furniture.

“Perhaps the daffodil?” Prudence suggested helpfully.

“It is lovely, but five years old,” Scully said, “I’m afraid I hadn’t stopped growing when it was made for me, and shows a bit too much ankle. I had planned to let it down, but never got around to it.”

“I’d be happy to do it for you, my lady,” Prudence said, but Scully frowned at her.

“That is most kind of you, Prudence, but it will take you hours to do, and I’m supposed to be dressed already.”

Scully finally looked at Mulder, who was standing several feet away with his hands behind his back, a staid and patient look upon his face.

“The phaeton is ready when you are, Scully,” he said kindly.

Scully felt as though she could wilt to the floor. “I have nothing to wear,” she said, to Mulder’s raised brows.

“It may come as a surprise to you,” he said, “but you stand before me in a frock, looking as lovely as ever.”

Prudence’s face was downcast in deference to their conversation, but Scully could see a small smile blossom on the girl’s face.

Scully looked down at the aforementioned dress.

“It is lovely,” she said, “but not suitable for a ride in the park, which is a place to see and be seen, and I want to look my best sitting next to you.”

Mulder strode over to her and took her hand, then turned to Prudence.

“Prudence, would you mind telling the groom waiting with the phaeton to take it back to the stables and bring around the coach?”

Prudence curtsied and hurried out of the room.

Scully raised her eyes to Mulder’s when the door snapped shut.

“My apologies,” she said, “I have felt these last few years as though I were someone’s poor relation, and I’m afraid the whole of my wardrobe -- save for a few dresses borrowed from my sister -- have the same look.”

Mulder raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.

“Your frocks are as lovely as you are -- and with a beauty as radiant as yours, I find it difficult to imagine anyone paying the least bit of attention to your dress when your face sits only inches above it.”

Scully felt her heart give an extra beat in her chest at his compliment, and she squeezed the hand he was still holding.

“That may well be true for the men,” she said, “but the ladies beside them are looking only at clothes and jewels and judging one’s worth on that of one’s wardrobe.”

She had been the subject of more than her share of ostensibly polite verbal jabs over the last several years, as her father’s debt began to accrue, and more than a few cutting looks. She was proud to be standing next to Mulder, and wanted him to be proud to stand next to her.

“Your worth is priceless to me,” Mulder said, “so I think what you wear should perhaps reflect that.”

Scully looked skeptically at the frocks draped over the various furniture in the room. Mulder smiled at her and pulled her hand toward the door.

“Come,” he said, “we’ll go shopping.”

XxXxXxXxXxX

Scully dropped into the divan in her chambers and kicked off her shoes. She was exhausted: feet aching from so much walking and standing, skin feeling like a pincushion from being measured and fitted at the modiste; she was dead on her feet.

Mulder gave a light knock on the door that led from his chamber to hers before popping his head through. He saw her reclining and walked over to sit next to her.

“You look as tired as I feel,” he said gently, and she turned to smile at him. “Would you… prefer to sleep alone in your chambers tonight?” he hedged.

The thought of falling into bed and sleeping for a week held more than a little appeal, but she could feel the warmth from Mulder’s leg where it just touched hers and she remembered drifting off in the heat of his arms the night before. It had been wonderful. But perhaps he wished to sleep in his own chambers.

“Would you?” she asked, giving him the opportunity to gracefully decline her company.

In answer he reached out and ran a finger gently along her jaw until it rested on her chin. He leaned in to give her a soft kiss.

“Never,” he said, letting his hand fall.

She moved in to return his kiss, but his head turned the wrong way at the last minute and they bumped noses instead. Then they both opened their mouths to apologize and instantly closed them, thinking the other was about to speak. They both laughed awkwardly.

Finally, Mulder reached out and steadied her face with both hands, leaning in to give her a long, lingering kiss.

“We’ll get better at this,” he whispered.

“Oh?” she said, feeling the light flutter of desire in her womb.

“We shall need lots of practice,” he smiled into her lips.

XxX

Prudence came back to her not long after she had finished her breakfast in her room the next morning and helped her dress.

“Lord Wexford wishes to see you in his study, my lady,” she said.

When she had awoken, Mulder had been gone from their bed, a scribbled, sweet note lying on the pillow where his head had lain.

Scully smiled at her maid and followed obediently through the maze of hallways and stairs of Wexford House. It would take her an age to learn her way around. When Mulder had told her of the scope and grandeur of Henwick Priory, the family estate in Sussex, she thought she’d be lucky to memorize Wexford House by Season’s end, and that it would take her years to learn her way around “The Priory,” as Mulder called it.

Her skirts swished rhythmically around her legs as she walked -- the frock she was wearing one of ten new ready-to-wear dresses that she’d bought the day before on their whirlwind shopping trip through London. He’d insisted on these in addition to the order for twenty more that were in with the best modiste in London -- the finest silks and satins in the most fashionable colors. He had told her he wanted her to be the best dressed woman in Europe, and she had no doubt after all of these purchases she would be at the top of the list. It had been so odd to hear whispers in all the shops of “the Countess of Wexford” and know that they had been referring to her.

Prudence finally stopped in front of a large oak door, stained in a dark reddish brown, and curtsied.

When Scully pushed her way inside, Mulder was standing behind an imposing mahogany desk, speaking with Mr. Bixby, who stood -- as ever -- as ramrod straight as the most obedient soldier.

“...and please see that we are not, under any circumstances, disturbed,” Mulder said.

“Yes, my lord,” said Bixby who turned on his heel and closed the door behind him.

The smile that blossomed across Mulder’s face when he saw his wife walk in past the butler made her stomach do a flip.

“Scully,” he said, “thank you for coming.”

He stepped from around the desk and met her half-way into the room, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to her cheek.

“Was there something you wanted?” she asked, taking a brief moment to savor the smell of him -- clover and soap, and a tangy, masculine scent that was just indefinably him. She was meant to be meeting with Mrs. Paxton, the housekeeper, in less than an hour in an effort to take over some of the duties normally overseen by the countess.

He lowered himself onto the arm of the sofa that sat in the center of the room and looked at her a moment before answering.

“I just wanted to see you,” he said, smiling at her sheepishly. She softened inside. Everything he did seemed affectionately calculated to bring her to her knees, and yet she knew he was just being himself.

She walked up to where he sat, his eyes level with hers from his perch, and ruffled a hand briefly through his hair.

“What have I done to deserve you?” she asked.

“I have asked myself the same question once an hour for the last two days,” he said.

She smiled at him and shook her head, regarding him thoughtfully.

“How are you so perfect?” she asked, and he tilted his head at her in question. “You seem perfect,” she went on. “A perfect gentleman. A perfect host. A perfect…”

“Lover, I hope?” he said, his voice gravely and quiet. He stood and brought a hand to her hip and she felt the initial thrum of lust.

“That too,” she said, and he grinned at her and rubbed his thumb along her hip bone. “But what I mean is,” she went on, “I have yet to find a fault.”

“Ah,” he said, tipping his head back, “my faults are legion. But at present only one seems glaringly apparent: the fact that I should, as we speak, be meeting with my steward and attending to my business.”

“And yet you’re here with me,” she said, and he moved his free hand to her other hip.

“I’m here with you,” he said. “I have business to attend to, but I find all I want to do is bed my wife.”

“I cannot speak for your steward, but your wife would not categorize that as a fault.”

“And what would she categorize it as?” he asked, leaning down until his lips grazed her neck.

He was making it very hard to think.

“Dutiful lust is not something that can be categorized or easily referenced, I should think,” she said, her voice lowering an octave and taking on a breathy quality.

“Dutiful lust is it?” he said, his voice muffled by her skin.

He had grabbed handfuls of her skirts and was hiking them slowly up off the floor.

“Dutiful,” she repeated, having to think very hard in order to construct even a simple sentence. “You have expressed some interest in siring an heir, if I am not mistaken. Is that not a duty?”

By now his lips had migrated to the tops of her breasts, nosing her fichu aside to expose as much skin as possible.

“An important one,” he mumbled, then darted out his tongue to lick at her flesh. She felt the sweep of desire pool in her center.

“Then I find,” she had to pause to suppress a moan, “your single-minded application to its achievement... faultless.”

The time for talking had ended. He had managed to pull her skirts more than halfway up her legs without having to bend over -- no small feat -- and moved his hands to her behind, gripping her firmly and lifting her up easily in order to sit her on the surface of his desk. She heard papers slide to the ground at their feet as he moved his hands up to the bodice of her dress and yanked it down sharply. She heard the popping of a few seams and briefly lamented the damage to her newest frock until it was forgotten altogether with the feel of his lips and hands on her newly bared breasts.

She worried briefly that a servant might walk into his study but then remembered his words to Mr. Bixby as she had entered the room; he’d been planning this seduction all the while.

His hands dropped from her bosom (though his mouth did not) and she heard him temporarily struggling with the flap at the front of his trousers. Then she felt cool air on the tops of her thighs as he flung her skirts up, and before she could compose another thought, he had his manhood in his hand, rubbing it once then twice up the drenched seam of her sex, before pushing into her heat with a throaty groan.

God, it was heaven. The heat of him -- the fullness -- was it really only three days ago that he’d taken her for the first time and it had felt like he was splitting her in two? This hadn’t the hint of the pain from her wedding night, nor the awkward fumbling of the next day. This? This was rapture.

Mulder brought one hand to her chin, his massive grip seeming to span the length of her skull, then swept his thumb up and into her mouth.

She tasted the tang of ink, the dry bitterness of paper, the faintest sapor of male skin; unclean and rich as marzipan. She sucked the digit into her mouth as he had done to hers the night before and he groaned and closed his eyes, pumping into her with renewed strength. She felt the massive behemoth of the desk under her begin to move slightly and heard the crack of the ink pot tipping over. Inspired, she squeezed her inner muscles around him and his eyes snapped shut.

“Scuh-“ he hissed.

He pulled his thumb suddenly from her mouth with a pop and smeared her saliva onto the aching bud of her center; she saw stars pop in her vision. She tipped her head forward and leaned it against his chest, his skin hot under the starchy rough of his shirt. He was pumping into her almost frantically now -- his thighs smacking into the desk with every deep, penetrating thrust -- she grabbed onto his shoulders and held on for dear life.

Items and papers were falling off the desk unabated but she gave them no more than a passing thought, her attention now solely focused on the frenzied rubbing of his thumb and the hot steel shaft driving relentlessly up into her. Her breasts bounced and swayed with his movements and she began to sense a shift in his rhythm: he was close to his climax. She listened to his ragged breaths and focused on the keen feeling at her center. It was as though there were a mass of ribbons floating in the breeze -- as from the top of a May Pole -- and all she had to do was grab on to the right one and hold on tight and it would carry her away toward her ecstasy. Ah! Just there -- the feeling she was just starting to recognize -- she held onto it and in a flash she was carried away to a place beyond thought. She felt Mulder follow quickly after her.

After a moment, she came back to herself, the heavy weight of Mulder’s head resting on her shoulder. The air in the study was thick with the musk of sex and spilled ink, and was silent but for the soft ticking of a mantle clock over the fireplace and their own breathing.

“Have I killed you, husband?” she asked quietly and he chuckled and lifted his head off of her, pressing a long kiss to the point where her jaw met her neck.

“No,” he said, “but when the time comes, that’s how I wish to go.”

She felt him slide out of her, and he tucked himself gingerly back into his trousers, buttoning the fells with a few efficient flicks of his fingers. He then reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a now-familiar handkerchief, which he handed her without a word. After cleaning herself up, she handed it back with a shy look and slid off the desk and to the floor, her skirts falling back into place. She pulled her dress back over her breasts and tucked in her fichu, determining the damage to her dress was not as bad as she had feared.

She turned and surveyed the wreckage of his desk. Mulder ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

“I would ring for a maid, but I feel as though we should clean up our own mess. What do you think?”

“I heartily agree,” she said, and then knelt to the floor, sweeping together the fallen parchment into more manageable stacks.

“I do hope these weren’t in any sort of order,” she said, and he laughed.

“That I will leave to my steward,” he said.

She rose with the pile of papers and turned to deposit them on the desk when a thick envelope fell out of the stack and onto the floor. She reached down to retrieve it and saw that the envelope had no name or address written upon it, just a large, thick, black ‘X’ scratched across the front.

When she stood, Mulder glanced at the letter and a look she couldn’t identify washed briefly over his face.

“Here,” he said quickly, “I'll take that.”

She handed it over without a word and he crossed behind her to the desk and dropped it into a drawer, locking it in with the twist of a key that he then dropped into his pocket.

“What shall we do about the ink?” she said, and he heaved a sigh and then smiled at her.

“I think we shall have to ring for a maid after all.”

Scully took it upon herself to walk over to the wall and give the cord one swift pull. Just then, there was a light knock at the door. Mulder strode to it and opened it, revealing the impassable face of Mr. Bixby.

“Apologies, my lord,” Bixby said, “but there is a gentleman here who says he has urgent business with you and would not leave until he saw you.”

Mulder nodded slowly.

“Did he give his name?”

With that, Bixby handed over a calling card. Mulder glanced down at it and Scully saw his posture change and his jaw clench.

“See him in,” Mulder said brusquely.

A moment later, Bixby stepped back and a gentleman Scully had never seen before walked into the room as though he owned it. He was an older gentleman, tall and thin with a sharply cut suit and a craggy face. The sharp tang of tobacco smoke wafted in with him, and Scully crinkled her nose and started to walk back toward her husband.

Her movement caught the gentleman’s eye and he swung his gaze toward her, looking at her with an intensity that sent a shiver up her spine. When she reached Mulder’s side, he reached down and slid his warm hand into hers, squeezing it, never taking his eyes off the visiting gentleman.

“Lady Wexford, I presume,” the man said, his voice like the hiss of a snake.

Scully gave the gentleman a slight nod.

“And you, sir?” she asked.

The gentleman removed his hat and swung it up under his arm, giving her a slight bow. When he opened his mouth to answer, Mulder interrupted him.

“This gentleman is Mr. Spender, and I should like to know what business he has here that so urgently requires my attention.”

Spender’s eyes narrowed at Mulder and he took another few steps into the room, lowering himself into a chair without an invitation.

“I came to offer my congratulations on your marriage,” Spender said, leaning back in the chair.

“And that was urgent, was it?” Mulder said, his voice tight.

Whatever relationship her new husband had with this man, Scully thought, it was not an amicable one.

“It is when we had an understanding that you would marry my daughter,” Spender said, his voice turning slightly colder.

Scully’s stomach dropped in her gut and she turned to look at Mulder, who was now staring daggers at Spender.

“We had no such understanding, sir,” Mulder said, “I said I would consider courting your daughter. I considered it, and very obviously declined it,” he said, raising slightly the hand he still had clasped around Scully’s own.

The man’s nostrils flared in anger and Scully, still reeling, wondered in mortification if the room still smelled like the musk of sex. He then began looking around the study as if in appraisal.

“This room has changed much since it belonged to your father,” Spender said.

“You’ll find a lot has changed since my father’s time as the Earl of Wexford,” Mulder said, dropping Scully’s hand and taking a step forward. She saw Spender tense slightly.

“Good day, sir,” Mulder said, dismissing him.

Spender rose slowly, maintaining an air of superiority. “I’ll get what’s owed to me,” Spender said, slowly, but with a hint of malice, “one way or another.”

“I said good day,” Mulder hissed.

With one last cold flash of a look at Scully, Spender turned on his heel and left the room.

The second the door closed behind him, Mulder turned to Scully. “Are you all right?” Mulder asked, his voice all concern.

“I-” Scully started to say.

She was still feeling a bit of shock, but it was wearing off. Though they had become quite close in the last few days, this was still a man she didn’t know well, and he was bound to have a past. She had one, too. She gave him a shaky smile.

“Yes,” she said. “There is clearly a lot we still need to learn of each other.”

Mulder reached out and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips and holding it there.

“Anything you wish to know, please ask it,” he said earnestly.

Scully’s curiosity won out over her wish to remain amenable.

“Did you really court Mr. Spender’s daughter?” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “You would be within your rights to have done so,” she hastened to add, “as we had not even met a week ago. Though I would not wish to be the reason the girl has a broken heart-” at that Mulder cut her off.

“I did not,” he said, then sucked his lip into his mouth, as if searching for how to explain. He released her hand and sat heavily onto a small sofa. Scully lowered herself next to him.

“C.G.B. Spender approached me several months ago. He said he was calling in a debt owed to him by my father. He could produce no evidence of such a debt — merely stating that he and my father had an understanding— and my solicitor and other contacts have been unable to turn up any trace of it, either. When I refused to pay, he grew incensed. A month later, he approached me at a ball, apologizing for his behavior. At his side was his daughter; a shy woman, older than yourself. He then brought up -- in front of his daughter, no less -- the idea of my courting her, saying that a marriage between us would absolve whatever debt he still thought sat between us. Not wanting to embarrass the young lady, I said I would consider courtship. I have not seen the man since, until today.”

“I see,” Scully said, putting her hand lightly on his knee.

“Perhaps I should pay the man, just to be rid of him,” Mulder said, shaking his head.

Scully thought of the way Spender had looked at her, cold and calculating. “Perhaps you should,” she said, “though then, I suspect, the line of men standing at your door making similar claims would stretch all the way to the Thames.” She stood then and brushed out her skirts. “I need to be along,” she said, “I am supposed to be meeting with Mrs. Paxton.”

Mulder rose as well and leaned in to kiss her cheek. His eyes followed her as she walked to the door and then through it.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Damn the man, Mulder thought. Spender had gone from a thorn in his side to someone who had made a threat against him -- however veiled -- with his new wife in the room, no less. Mulder had never been much of a pugilist, but he wanted to hit something right then, and hard.

When he’d calmed himself sufficiently, he pulled out a fresh piece of paper and a new inkpot from his desk. Flynn was right. It was time to bring in a professional. He had a friend who was one of the Bow Street Runners, and decided to write him a letter, seeing what he could find out about Spender, and just how dangerous the man was.

When he’d finished, he went to call on a footman to give the letter to Mr. Bixby, but found Bixby himself at the study door.

“Correspondence for you, my lord,” Bixby said, handing over a small stack.

Mulder shuffled through them quickly and stopped when he saw the familiar scrawl of an old friend. He tore it open and smiled.

#The X-Files #Fanfic #MSR #AU #Regency #The Countess #The Earl #Sequels #My Fic

14 notes · View notes

extremelyblackandwhite · 4 years

Note

reader being best friends with carter while he's chasing serena but also being in love with him?

CARTER BAIZEN APPRECIATION SQUAD ASSEMBLE! (i promise i’ll get to non carter requests)

y/n and carter had known each other for a while

they had met during a summer at the hamptons when his parents invited her family over for dinner

she had helped him inside the house after returning from a particular night out which to his parents was a meeting with some of his friends to go over stuff for the new school year

from then onwards carter and y/n became friends

he would meet her in the back of her parents apartment and the two would drive around the nights of new york talking about their problems

it hadn’t taken long for y/n to fall in love with him

he was an attractive, smart man who seemed to have more goals other than the vapid boys she knew from st.judes

it wasn’t like she expected him to return her affections. she was his sister’s age, 3 years younger. she knew he wouldn’t be interested so she hid it deep inside her heart where no one would see it

after all she’d rather have a tiny bit of his heart than have to pretend he never existed

maybe she should’ve seen it coming that he would leave, but she didn’t and one afternoon as she knocked on his door to pick him up to go for their weekly lunch at his favourite spot was the moment she wished she could’ve avoided it

it was his mother who had opened the door, tight smile on her face, pity in her eyes as she stared at the girl in front of her “do you not know, sweetheart?” “am i supposed to know something?” “he left. says he doesn’t want anything to do with this family anymore”

her heart stopped for a while, the buzzing sound of her mind wondering why, why he wouldn’t tell her

it had been his sister caroline who had helped her through it, telling her he wasn’t even worth the hazzle, to instead focus on the much more attractive boys her age attending st.judes

y/n wasn’t interested but as time flew by she slowly learned to accept that he wasn’t returning

she had built a life for herself, becoming one of constance’s shining stars holding near perfect grades

she had also built a friendship with blair waldorf after serena had left her, both of them bonding over having someone leaving unexpectedly

“my mum was supposed to host a tea party for CeCe and she went to paris. usual” “do you need any help?” “wanna come? might make it less boring besides you still need a date for cotillion“ “well not everyone can have nate archibald for a date” “i am pretty lucky aren’t i? but you need a date, you cannot not have an escort. even serena is taking ... dan” “alright, i’ll go to the tea party” “perfect”

she should’ve not gone. she should’ve just accepted caroline’s invitation to go shop for a cotillion dress but she didn’t. she couldn’t see the future.

as she walked off the lift into the van der woodsen’s apartment, a familiar face showed, sat in a couch surrounded by girls

“y/n” blair rushed over to her side “i don’t want to frighten you but ... carter’s here” “i’ve seen.” “i want you to know that i didn’t invite him. cece invited him, she wants him to be serena’s escort.” “that’s fine” “are you sure? i could kick him out” “that’s fine”

it wasn’t fine.

she spent the whole tea party as further from him as possible, not sure of what to say to him or how to even react

although she had to admit it broke her heart that he wasn’t interested in even talking to her, instead looking her way and immediately turning to receive the praise of several girls

“he’s not even that attractive” blair rolled her eyes at her minions which were fauning over him “urgh, imagine being attracted to a wannabe matthew mcconaughey” “you don’t have to make me feel better, blair” “look at that last season suit. disgusting”

she stayed until the end of the party, chatting up with several people who came to ask about her family business and by the end of the party she had even started to help the maids bring dirty dishes into the kitchen

“you were always an odd one, i have to give you that” a voice made her drop the porcelain onto the soapy water and turn her face towards its direction. carter. “y/n, i’m really sorry” “yeah i could tell since you didn’t call or write after you left” “i didn’t have any way to contact you” “you didn’t even tell me you were leaving carter. do you know how it felt walking up to your house and having your mother tell me you left?” “i had to go y/n” “so have i, carter.”

she didn’t want to speak with him, she didn’t want to fall back into the state

at least she had decided not to speak with him until nate punched him at cotillion

“you look like shit” “thanks, y/n.” “i gotta say, i wanted to do that myself. nate stole that away from me” “how long are you gonna be upset with me, y/n?” “as long as i want” “c’mon, let’s do something together” “i said i would act civilised with you not lobotomised” “c’mon, y/n. i’ll pay” “do you even have any money? didn’t your parents cut you off?” “i’ll find a way” “... fine. the bar of the lotte new york palace

blair and caroline had told her not to go but she thought that it would be better to get it over and done with. to call it water under the bridge and not have him haunt her what ifs anymore

she found him at the bar of the palace, black suit on. he never used to wear suits, she still remembers him in his messy st. judes uniform, undone tie all the time

“you came” “i said i would” “i know you have every single reason to hate me but i miss you, y/n. i really do. i have so much to tell you” “some people would use a journal” “i fucked up, i know but ... second chance? you can punch me too if you want” “that’s a really good offer, i think i’m gonna pounder it” “how about i pick you up tomorrow night? late driving around new york” “you got yourself a deal, baizen”

soon enough she found herself in the same situation, still in love with him

he was still the same man, still the same chuckle, talking passionately about his projects, making stupid jokes

but one thing still was the same, the same thing she didn’t want to accept, he still would never reciprocate her feelings

“y/n, i can’t pick you up tonight. i have a date with serena.” “serena van der woodsen?” “yeah, do you mind?” “uh ... no... sure, go on”

her blood boiled out of jealousy

she always thought the reason he would never reciprocate her feelings was because she was younger but serena, serena was the same age as her and it stung, it stung so badly

she ended up at the house of the same person who could understand being jealous of serena : blair waldorf’s

“oh, please, y/n. seriously? carter? he’s so ... boring. god” “well i’m sorry blair not everyone can have their first time in the backseat of a limo with chuck bass” “hey now that nate is single maybe you should go out with him” “i’m not gonna go out with nate” “why you two would make such a nice couple” “i’m not in love with nate” “i’m sorry, y/n.”

she pretended it was okay

she would smile whenever he talked about serena

she would be next to him when she undoubtedly got him inside her petty little games with chuck

she would be there when he quit her and she would be there when he took her back

she was there for everything until one morning where she was woken up by someone banging on her door

“nate?” “something happened and you might want to sit down” “what happened? are you okay?” “serena left with carter last afternoon” “what do you mean?” “they left y/n, together.”

suddenly she found herself in the same spot she had been years ago abandoned

he returned later that summer during the races but this time she didn’t forgive him

she spent the day with dan and blair, mindlessly listening to serena talking about how carter followed her but she knew better

she knew they’d be back together and surely again they were

carter should feel happy, serena was back but he didn’t feel better

he felt ... empty, like something was lacking

whenever he laid down next to her and feel asleep he dreamed of y/n

he dreamed of her vintage oversized tees reaching her knees as she read her favourite books in his study

he dreamed of her laughter whenever he took her to a driver in theatre, fingers holding popcorns to her lips

he dreamed of her red tinted lips during festivities, dancing under streetlights singing showtunes, bitting her lips whenever she had a test

he convinced himself it was just missing her but part of him knew it wasn’t that

he should be with serena, her family approved, his family approved

so he stuck it out, convincing himself this was a phase just a phase

as serena dumped him on the side of the street he looked at the streetlight, remembering y/n in an oversized cardigan jumping puddles over it, twirling around it playfully

“what am i doing?”

he rushed down the streets of the upper east side like a mad man

he’d never walked this long

but he kept on walking, he kept on walking until he saw her apartment

he knocked on the door for what felt like a hundred times

“i’m coming” he could hear her sleepy voice from the other side and sure enough, soon enough the sound of her steps became too loud and she opened the door “carter, what are y...” “let me just say something okay? then you can shut the door” “it’s 1 AM” “please” “20 seconds” “i’m sorry, y/n. i’m so sorry, i should’ve told you when i left years ago, i shouldn’t have left with serena. i should’ve stayed with you. you always listened to me, you always believed in me and i always let you down. i miss you, i miss having fights with you about star wars plots, speaking with you on the phone at 5 AM, trying to make you laugh when you were upset. i miss seeing your sleepy smile every single morning, i miss you” “carter” “all this time being with her i just kept thinking about doing those things with you. taking you to cotillion, dance with you, be at your graduation and help you move into college, take you to fancy bars and restaurants, buy you flowers and everything else money can afford and i missed out on it, i missed out on it and i cannot give them to you. but here’s what i propose ... i wanna be there when you graduate from college, i wanna be there to help you move into your very first apartment, i want to be there when you start your first job, i wanna be there for you.” “you’re not one to stick around, carter” “let me try, please let me try” “isn’t this your third chance?” “i will ask you for a million chances as long as i get to see you for the rest of my life”

#carter baizen headcanons #carter baizen headcanon #sebastian stan

43 notes · View notes

olicitytropes · 5 years

Text

Olicity Tropetastic Awards: Fandom Writers

And with this post, we’re at our final rec list for this year’s Tropetastic Awards! Thank you everyone for helping us make it through this hiatus! (instant tears)

We can’t express how much we love Olicity, this fandom, and every writer who shares their stories with us. We wish we could buy you all some real trophies (or give you a really good hug) for the time and effort you’ve poured into your fics! There are just so many talented writers that we’ve talked about and fangirled over. Hopefully through this process, we’ve been able to shine some light on all of that talent. And we hope that everyone in this fandom can appreciate and respect it as much as we do! We could’ve made this post go on forever, so all of the kudos to all of you<3

As fans, we’ve followed Arrow for seven seasons, and we’ve found so many fanfics along the way that touched us and pulled at our heart strings as much as (sometimes more than) canon. It’s hard to put into words how much that means to us, but we had to try;) Here are some writers who we want to thank. And of course, they’re only the tip of the iceberg on this giant, powerful fandom.

We will always, always, always love you.

@smoaking-greenarrow’s recs:

** @supersillyanddorky06 **

Strangers in the Night

The Firebird

The Predator

The Phoenix & The Phoenix Rises

Award: The Alternate Universe Specialist

Kudos: I’ve been so happy to let @supersillyanddorky06’s worlds distract me from real life when I needed it. The Firebird was my study-break savior in college when I needed to step out of reality and stop stressing over finals. Devouring The Phoenix and The Phoenix Rises kept me up way too late reading and made me way too tired for work the next morning, but it was so worth it! There are infinite things to love about Olicity, and infinite things to love about this talented writer. Matty, I know I can speak for more than just myself when I say that your stories mean a lot to this fandom. You’re already one of my favorite authors, but I can’t wait to read The Predator as a novel. And watch it captivate the rest of the world like it did for Olicity fans. Arrow captured lightning in a bottle when they got Stephen and Emily on screen together, and I think the same thing happened when you watched the show, fell in love with Olicity, and decided to write fanfic for them. I’m beyond excited to see what you do next, and low-key telling myself that I basically got to read a first draft of The Predator before it becomes a bestseller ;)

Bonus Kudos: MY QUEEN. Sending you all the love for the hours I’ve spent with your amazing fics! Finding an email notification that The Predator had updated always made me squeal out loud! Thanks forever for that! -Meegan (@it-was-a-red-heeler)

** @it-was-a-red-heeler **

Lost and Found

A Dance with the Devil

Desperation Club

Deep Water

Award: The Storyline Mastermind

Kudos: I know that when I start one of Meegan’s fics, it’s going to be satisfying from start to finish. I first read Lost and Found, and I was so impressed with it that I had to write this little fic review. Everything that I read of hers after that was just as wild and just as incredible. She’s a genius at pacing, building tension, and plot twists. Meegan, I’m so happy I’ve had the chance to read your dreamy and steamy versions of Olicity. And I’m even happier that we’ve had the chance to get to know each other because of this fandom. Be my friend and stay forever, K?

** @tangled23works **

Like A River

Whatever It Takes

Nothing Short of Perfect

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark

Broken Bones and Porcelain Dolls

Award: The Hook, Line and Sinker

Kudos: Sascha writes the kind of fics that I don’t want to put down. She’s insanely good at picking up her story in the perfect place, one that keeps me hooked and wanting to read more (and since those important first words are something I often struggle with, I’m so envious of her for that;)). All of the kudos to you my friend, for your out of the box thinking! Sascha, I’m so happy that you share your writing with all of us, and just your presence in this fandom in general is amazing. I can’t even tell you how many times you’ve brightened my day! Thank you for being the talented writer and awesome person that you are!

** @mindramblingsfics **

Forget Me Not

Will Fate Allow?

Summer Flame

Was It Ever Real?

Award: The Creative Trailblazer

Kudos: @mindramblingsfics I have so many praises to sing for you, but most of all I just think you’re insanely cool. The way you craft your fics is so unique and clever. You take us on a journey with everything you write. You take all of our favorite tropes and spin them on their heads in ways I’ve never seen before. I’ve never read a summary or teaser of yours that didn’t make me excited to read the story, and those stories are always better than I imagined. Thank you for all of your special fics, and all of your hard work. We all appreciate it so much!

Bonus Kudos: Oh my goodness. This amazing writer. I cannot even begin to thank you for your incredible works! They always leave me wanting more. Summer Flame is one of my Top 5 favorite fics of all time! Along with Whiskey and Romance too! From the bottom of my heart, thank you for writing such wonderful fics! -Caitlin (@blondeeoneexox)

** @felicityollies **

Vampire and the Geek

Secrets Don’t Make Friends

Trust Me

Doppelgänger

Award: The Jack of All Trades

Kudos: I dare you all to try to find a fic from Bev that doesn’t give you everything you’re looking for. This writer can do it all, and it’s amazing. I promise you’ll be impressed by every world you jump into and you’ll fall in love with every version of Olicity that you read. Bev, I’m blown away by every story of yours, you never disappoint, and I can’t wait to read more! Thank you for everything you’ve given this fandom!

@blondeeoneexox’s recs:

** @smoaking-greenarrow **

The Hardest Part

Mine at Midnight

Just Beneath the Surface

Come Back When You Can

My Favorite Faded Fantasy

Kerosene and Desire

Award: Queen of Olicity Happy Endings

Kudos: Okay, y’all are going to have to forgive me cause this is about to get really sappy and kinda personal. @smoaking-greenarrow’s fics were the first I read after joining this wonderful fandom. I was so in awe of her talent and how she could make you feel like you were really inside the fic. How she could make me laugh, cry, and really bring out the sap in me. I wanted to talk to her and rave to her about how amazing she is, but I didn’t want to be THAT person, you know? 😂 Then one day SHE messaged ME about something totally different (😉) and I was SO excited! I actually got to tell her how incredible her fics were without seeming like a crazy person, hahaha. Now, she’s my best friend in this fandom and I am SO beyond lucky to have her. Thank you for not thinking I was some random, psycho fan girl, E. I am so thankful for you and for your absolutely phenomenal writing. If you haven’t read her fics, please do yourself a favor and go do it right now! I’d start with Mine at Midnight and work down the list. You won’t regret it. 😘

Bonus Kudos: Ellie, what can I say? Besides your unsolicited review of my little fic that launched me under the fandom’s nose (forever grateful for that, my friend) your fics are beyond amazing! So many great stories to choose from, all of them a world I can fall into with my favorite couple. Love ya! -Meegan (@it-was-a-red-heeler)

** CSM **

Lucas’ Adventures

Impeccable Genetics

A Future Worth Fighting For

Almost, But Not Yet

Award: Queen of Time Travel Fics

Kudos: Oh my goodness. Nikki! I am COMPLETELY OBSESSED with her time traveling kid fics. From Ellie to Mia to Lucas, it doesn’t get any better. She puts wit, charm, sass and hilarity into every single one of her amazing works. I am currently obsessed with Lucas’ Adventures (updated every Sunday in case y’all wanna start 😉), where a sweet 10 month old Lucas shows up and completely disrupts S2 Oliver and Felicity’s lives! If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend along with every other one of her kid fics. She is an absolutely incredible writer, I’m so happy to know her and love her works!

Bonus Kudos: Nikki, Lucas’ Adventures is exactly what I need and want to be reading in this trying time. While Arrow and season 8 look very daunting and sad right now, this fic has been so much fun to read. Can’t wait to see what you do next, and thank you! -Ellie (@smoaking-greenarrow)

** @alexiablackbriar13 **

little wonders (twists and turns of fate)

whenever you’re ready

#olicity lives!

two pints of mint chip it’s a girl

Award: Queen of Canon Divergence

Kudos: Oh boy. @alexiablackbriar13. Where do I even begin? I’m sure as all of you know, she is a PHENOMENAL writer! From little wonders to all of her amazing one shots, I’m forever in awe of her writing! I think my absolute favorite though would have to be little wonders, because OBVIOUSLY. She took canon and transformed it into something the Arrow writers couldn’t DREAM of doing. I remember when she posted the teaser of this story. I knew it was going to be one of a kind, and it did not disappoint! GO READ IT IF YOU HAVEN’T, YOU ARE MISSING OUT. 😍 and I can’t forget my other favorite, whenever you’re ready. I remember reading this and SOBBING. Mia and Lucas travel back to 2019 and meet their parents. It’s a fic that should be read by all. You’re sensational, Lexi. This fandom is so lucky to have you!

** @dust2dust34 **

Four Walls (Of Law Firms and Honey)

Forever is Composed of Nows

Wanna Be Yours

(i will be the fire) that keeps you warm

Award: The Fandom’s Real MVP of Smut

Kudos: BRE. Okaaay, I don’t think this writer needs any introducing. I mean, one of the masterminds of the perfection that is FICON? Come ON. What you have given this fandom is more than I could put into words. From your oneshots to your sultry, smutty, smut fics, to the beautiful multi-chapters you’ve created, your writing is unparalleled. I, on behalf of the fandom, want to thank you for all of your masterpieces! They are truly incredible and we are so lucky to have you!

Bonus Kudos : Bre, I will forever be grateful to the time you have spent writing Olicity fics and obsessing over Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen. Through the years you have become a master of your craft and I honestly can’t wait for your next story. Thank you for everything. -Sascha (@tangled23works)

@allimariexf’s recs:

** @MachaSWicket **

Deceive, Inveigle, and Obfuscate

And Then It Ends, Your Little Winning Streak

Long Time Coming

The Unbearable Hotness of Being

Va Banque

Award: Master of the Essence of Olicity

Kudos: How can I possibly summarize why Macha’s works are so special? She writes with a perfect blend of compelling plot, moving emotional development, and effortlessly beautiful prose. She writes characters that jump off the page, so that we hurt and rejoice and lust with them. She adds elements of surprise and delight to even the most well-worn tropes, infusing them with the essence of Olicity. Her canon-related and AU stories always feel like just another (and in many cases, better) path that Oliver and Felicity could have taken. Every word she writes is a treat, every story is a gift to the fandom. I know this sounds effusive but it’s barely scratching the surface of how amazing her works are! I have definitely laughed, cried, and everything in between while reading (and re-reading...and re-re-reading, etc.) her stories. (Okay also I already listed 5 of her stories, but I also have to mention two more: the utterly delightful AU WIP Our Version of Events (co-written with geneeste), and fandom-favorite Little Black Dresses and King-Sized Messes.)

** @anthfan **

Devil’s Backbone

Tropes

Times like these

Tell me a story

Dust to Dust

Above and Beyond

Award: Queen of Canon-related Tropes to end all Tropes

Kudos: anthfan’s stories were some of the first I read in this fandom, and WOW what a high bar she set. Those of you who know me know that I tend to prefer canon-related stories to AUs (well okay, more recently I have begun to love AUs too, but canon-related will ALWAYS own me), and anthfan just hits that pitch-perfect spot of great storytelling - intriguing twists, heartfelt scenes, perfect characterization, and ANGST - OH, THE ANGST - while still remaining in that familiar Arrow universe we all know and love. And nowhere does she shine as well as when she’s taking well-known tropes and giving them a uniquely Olicity twist. Devil’s Backbone remains my favorite Olicity fic of all time (probably!), but truthfully I wish I could read every one of these stories over and over again for the first time.

Bonus Kudos: I thought the first chapter of Dust to Dust would actually kill me, but it proved itself to be clever and badass and witty and FUN! As far as Devil’s Backbone goes, I watch Season Three now and just assume all the stuff from the fic is going on after hours (headcanon accepted)—one of my all-time favorite stories! -Meegan ( @it-was-a-red-heeler)

** @mogirl97 **

Crazy for You

Along The Way

Sportsmanlike Conduct

The Offer

It Takes Two

Award: Master of Swoony, Romantic AUs

Kudos: So I mentioned above that I only recently (in the past year or so) really got into AUs, and mogirl97 offered a crash course that I couldn’t resist! I started with Along the Way and I was HOOKED, quickly gobbling up everything else she wrote, and it was all equally swoon-worthy. She has a way of making you absolutely fall in love with each of her universes, and every time a story comes to an end I never want to let it go. Sweet, soft, longing, gently angsty - those words can describe basically all of her stories. And romantic. So, soooo romantic!

** bri617 **

Across The Highs, The Lows, And The In-Betweens

Did It Hurt When You Fell From Heaven?

Without You (I’m Incomplete)

You Were Mine (Just For One Night)

Freeze Frame, Pause, Rewind, Stop

Award: Queen of Fluffy AUs

Kudos: bri617 is just a master of FUN. Fluffy, fluffy, soft, delightful FUN! She has cornered the market on college AUs, but basically everything she writes captures that perfect blend of flirty, simmering, quirky, playful, slightly-awkward, mutual heart-eyes Olicity that we all crave. In every one of her stories, I fall in love with Oliver and Felicity and Olicity all over again, and laugh my ass off while doing it.

@tangled23works’ recs:

** @someonesaidcake **

Ride or Die

ONE (Oliver The Footballer)

Truly, Madly, Stupidly

Award: Queen of Emotional Impact

Kudos: I’ve been trying to find a way to explain how I feel when I read @someonesaidcake’s fics and I keep failing. The best way to understand what I’m talking about would be to start reading them yourself, if you haven’t already. These stories are powerful enough that they’re gonna make you cry, smile and wish you could experience such a unique, powerful love story in real life. The fandom was truly blessed when this amazingly talented author decided to write Olicity fics.

** @olicityaddicted **

Never Tear Us Apart

One More Chance

And She Will Be Loved

Award: Queen of Heartfelt And Comforting Romance

Kudos: I chose @olicityaddicted for my second award because, to be honest, she deserves to be far more appreciated than she is. Her stories provide a safe refuge for me, a place where I can relax and forget about real life for a while. Her brilliance lies in simplicity; her fics will not punch you in the gut but make you feel like you’re cocooned in gentle warmth and Olicity love.

** @bindy417 **

Caught in the Rapture

Arrows & Airwaves

Bound to You

Award: Queen of Page-Turners

Kudos: @bindy417’s complex and beautifully drafted stories are one of the reasons I enjoy reading Olicity fics so much. She has written one of my all-time favorite Al Sah-him fics. I made the mistake of reading it on a bus once and missed my stop. Seriously, there are published books which are less well-thought-out and more predictable. Brittany’s works are imaginative, compelling and addictive. She deserves ALL the awards.

Bonus Kudos: Okay, okay. I’m kind of mad at myself for not choosing Brittany because she has written some of the most BEAUTIFUL multi chapters in this fandom. Bound to You. Caught in the Rapture. I have read those two fics I cannot tell you how many times! I’m completely obsessed. I bow down to you, lady! You and your stories are so amazing! -Caitlin (@blondeeoneexox)

@msbeccieboo’s recs:

** @so-caffeinated **

Forever Is Composed Of Nows series

Stop the Presses series

Award: Favourite Universe-Creator

Kudos: I adore an extended AU universe, and (together with the amazing Bre, of course) Janis has created one of my absolute favourites, the “Forever Is Composed Of Nows (ficon)” ‘verse. What I love most about her writing is her ability to not only write beautifully for our known characters, but to create wonderful, captivating and just full original characters that we quickly fall in love with, and are immediately pulled into their world to experience with them. I now love and treasure characters like William, Amelia and Jules (my personal faves) as completely as I do Oliver or Felicity. I also love how much she interacts with her readers, constantly asking for ideas and feedback, answering asks and writing to prompts. Her storytelling is original and immersive, and I can’t wait to read her original works!!

** @smkkbert **

10 Rules of Rebounding

The Way You Make Me Feel (I Call it Love)

Time For a Story

If Loving You is Wrong (I Don’t Want to be Right)

Award: Most Diverse and Constantly Creating Writer

Kudos: Kathi has a huge range of any type of Olicity fic you can think of! LoA/Bratva/canon/AU/kid fic/high school/friends to lovers/season rewrites/missing scenes, there is something and everything for everyone! From one-shots to epic multi-chapters, as well as some of my favourite smut? YES PLEASE!! I am not ashamed to admit I have read some of her stories many, MANY times over!!

She has consistently posted fic after fic after fic, writing over 50 Olicity stories, with “Time For a Story” constantly updating alongside, and set to reach 500 chapters!! I love how she seems to be able to write Olicity in a million different ways/scenarios and still always pull me into their new world and fall in love with them over and over again. Superb, AND not in her first language either! Amazing!

** @realityisoverrated-fic **

Infinite Love series/universe (of which there are >200 one-shots/mullti-chapters)

Award: Smoaking Billionaires QUEEN (we all bow to her)

Kudos: You want Smoaking Billionaires? This should be your first port of call! But to imply she simply writes around one theme would be an epic disservice. This series has everything, Olicity/Flommy/Toliver/SBs, fluff, family feels, kids, canon, canon divergence/swerve, action, humour, angst…oh the angst, oh, and a healthy dose of smut!

Her stories can be so deep, heart-breaking, raw and real-feeling in places, whilst also fluffy, hilarious, happy and contain some of the hottest smut ever!

** @allimariexf **

Not Your Typical Secretary series

Burning Souffles

Coming Home Again

A Dream That I Can Call My Own

Award: Queen of Canon/Canon-Divergence

Kudos: Alli has the gift of writing in canon, or slightly divergent, whilst still perfectly capturing the essence of Olicity and improving on the show’s writing, all whilst bringing the angst!! An absolutely beautiful writer, more beautiful human, and mah P.I.C.!! 😍

Bonus Kudos: Alli, I’m so happy that you share your fics with the fandom and that you created a whole channel for us to be as geeky and Olicity-obsessed as we like. Thank you for writing these stories (seriously, Succumbing to Shadows is a masterpiece), for organizing Arrow rewatches and for being a true friend. Even though there are hundreds of miles between us, I still feel that I know you and you should know that you can count on me. Always. -Sascha (@tangled23works)

** @stephswims **

One Step Ahead

That’s The Way It Is

Drunk Cuddly Oliver

Numb Lips

Award: Sweetest Little Smut Monster

Kudos: Steph has written some of my current favourite WIPs, and has a knack for writing badass AU Felicitys, in particular. She always manages to get the narrative voices of her characters juust right, which makes reading her stories all the more relatable! Oh, and the smut is glorious hehehe!!! My love and fandom sister wife! 😍

@it-was-a-red-heeler’s recs:

** @ruwithmeguys **

What Wouldn’t I Do

Indecent Proposal

Restless Heart

Award: The Queen of Nuance

Kudos: A sideways glance. The hitch of a breath. The babbling, breathless inner dialogue of a beautiful IT genius in love with a broody-but-lovable warrior. These are the elements of Olicity we all love so much, and Jessica’s magical talent as a writer. She makes you feel the angst and the love in her writing. Long after the story ends you’ll be thinking about her characterization. The tickle of a breath on the back of a neck...a heartbeat...a kiss...

** @missyriver **

Left to Fate

A Queen

Award: Badass Olicity Queen

Kudos: The first time I read one of Missy’s fics I assumed she was a professional author; she’s just that good. Left to Fate is one of my all-time favorite re-reads, full of the perfect mix of angst, fluff, and smut. Yum yum! I’m so glad I found her works!

** @the-shy-and-anxious-fangirl **

Home to You

The Queen’s Mage

Award: Wise Beyond Her Years

Kudos: Y’all, read this author’s works and know that she is going places. I am continually amazed at the maturity of her writing and the depth of her understanding of the characters we all love so much. This is only the beginning for her and I’m so proud to call Arianna a friend!

** @callistawolf **

twelve hours

ready for the fall

Award: Olicity Fandom Royalty

Kudos: Jen (jbuffyangel) may have introduced me to the Arrow fandom that exists beyond the tv screen, but Calli’s Ready for the Fall showed me I didn’t have to fear the idea of fan fiction. She helped open up a new world to me, where very talented anonymous authors could right the wrongs of showrunners and let the characters I love so much live on forever; as each other, or as pirates, or even as werewolf soulmates. Several years later she wrote Twelve Hours and taught me not to be too hasty in my preconceived ideas (ahem, Chapter 10, just sayin’). I love her stories, her analysis and words of wisdom on Tumblr, and her podcasts with Jen. Thanks for everything!

Bonus Kudos: I remember waiting every Wednesday last summer for Calli’s latest update of real love (is never a waste of time). I would be refreshing my tumblr every ten mins it felt like. It was such an amazing fic (along with every other one of her fics!), but that one will always be my favorite of yours! You are phenom! -Caitlin (@blondeeoneexox)

@memcjo’s recs:

** @hope-for-olicity **

Love Letters

Hidden Thoughts and Feelings

I Am Not Broken

No Sex Until There is Hair

So Much Love

Choices

Award: Queen of Fix it Fic and Felicity’s POV

Kudos: I don’t even know where to begin to tell all of my love for Jacq and her amazing stories. Jacq’s stories are so easy to become wrapped up in. She has a way of putting you right there as Oliver and Felicity navigate whatever life has thrown at them. During the seasons, I become dependent on her to help me through the trama the Arrow writers have inflicted upon me with their horrible treatment of Oliver and/or Felicity. Jacq’s fix it fics have brought me tremendous joy. Her treatment of Olicity, showing them as flawed people, doing the best they can while loving each other so very much, has brought me to tears more times than I can count. I highly recommend ANY and ALL of her Olicity fic!

Bonus Kudos: Jacq’s fics are what you read when you want to be happy. I can’t thank her enough for all the sweet, feel-good, wonderful stories that always come full circle in a beautiful way. And for all the moments I’ve had to try not to smile/giggle while reading her stories in public. Jacq, you’re truly an amazing writer. And even better, an amazing person! Thank you so much for helping to make my fandom experience so incredible! -Ellie (@smoaking-greenarrow)

Bonus Kudos: Jacq, my love, we’ve talked about this. Adore you and your fluffy full-of-goodness stories and your amazing comments on other author’s fics. The show may have broken your heart, but you and I have a lot of years of great stories ahead of us! -Meegan (@it-was-a-red-heeler)

** @mel-loves-all **

A Touch Unlike Any Other

Vivez

Softly Comes Love

Under a Winter Sky

Award: Olicity Historical Romance Writer Extraordinaire

Kudos: Ah, Mel. How do I love your romance novel Olicity? Let me count the ways...Mel seriously provides the exact right mix of sweet meetings and budding romance in her Olicity novels. I adore her feisty and endearing Felicity, I swoon over her stoic yet thoughtful and loving Oliver. When Olicity comes together in her beautifully crafted stories my heart simply becomes a puddle of goo. Historical Romances are my go to get-aways, and Mel’s stories always takes to a magical Olicity AU.

** @dmichellewrites **

Wanted

Distractions

Hover

What Are You Thinking?

Under the Stars

Award: Most Fabulous Writer of Olicity Family Life in One Shots

Kudos: Devon is the master of creating Olicity in all their flawed, passionate, driven, loving glory. Her stories never fail to give me a new insight into Oliver and Felicity and their life together. I love the way Oliver and Felicity love each other in Devon’s stories. As she shares her Olicity slices of life I find myself cheering for my OTP. Devon is an amazing story teller and I would recommend all her Olicity fics!

** @geneshaven **

Mother and Daughter

To Do It All Over Again

Ivy Town To Star City

One On The Way

Award: Master of Thought Provoking Olicity Stories (this link leads to his Tumblr account where all his fics are posted)

Kudos: Nobody can craft a story about Olicity quite like Gene. His blend of light and dark, joy and angst has rocked me to the core more times than I can count. Gene’s love and respect for the characters of Oliver and Felicity are evident in the way he treats them in his stories. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve reread some of his stories, but every time I do it’s like the best present you can open again and again.

Bonus Kudos: I LOVE a @geneshaven update! I remember first seeing his Tumblr posts through Louise’s blog and being fascinated that a BOY loved Olicity as much as me! And then he started posting stories that mesmerized all of us. A truly special addition to our fandom. I’m so happy to call Gene a friend! -Meegan (@it-was-a-red-heeler)

** @absentlyabbie **

Long Way Down

You’re Not a Friend (No, You’re Nothing)

Interludes

Way Down We Go

Award: MVP of Emotionally Compromising Fanfic

Kudos: When I say emotionally compromising I mean it in the most, best, angsty possible way. Abbie’s fics can rip your heart out and stop you from breathing, leaving you shaken and in the next moment your heart is melting from the amazing tender actions any and all of our fav Arrow characters. These roller coaster ride stories takes you to the highest heights only to drop you to rock bottom! This series I’ve posted is just HEART WRENCHING, MOVING, and OH MY GOD~ addictive. Her updates are celebrations, her cliffhangers can drive me to drink. And I wouldn’t have it any other way!!

Bonus Kudos: Parts of Long Way Down still run through my head now again, it’s that powerful a story. Angsty in the best way possible, dark, sharp, and wonderful. A must-read for the fandom. Thanks for an amazing story! -Meegan (@it-was-a-red-heeler)

#Arrow #Olicity #olicity tropetastic awards #fandom writers trope #fandom writers rec list #olicity fanfiction #olicity fic #Oliver Queen #Felicity Smoak

567 notes · View notes

rwmhunt · 3 years

Text

Leviticus, Chapter 23

1. Substitute day, and a return unto A sender of something, as to another place, That hasn't the wherewithal to get there either; I will open it again and learn That which is already known to be such As isn't so much.

2. And it's not mine, but a, And is the right way round. For as I set the seasons, I reprise, reply, replay; It's substitution day.

3. And Sabbath is the seventh, Whence the lord, in all thy dwellings, Is up for doing nothing; Or Sabbath is the sixth; I don't care.

4. And welcome to my channel, It's great to have each of you still with me- A man who speaks of people By their purpose, Himself as his own singer, With- such are the seasons, Even, holy convocations, For want to be sure of a constant, It's Senhal, An obscure term For an old friend.

5. Love, love, lo, this is not Of a cloven love, Leviticus, I will speak of it Unto sundry strangers and neighbours, As just one more month's dusk Then it'll be passover, Not once. Not twice, Not once. Love. So we can still imagine a time When all of this will go again;

6. But a day will approach When, if there is something That can look back, Could think that 'here' and 'then' Are really very close;- And I wonder if they saw The strings of direct attachment, Lining their behaviours; Just flour and water, But I don't think so; Still, anytime was closer to history than this one, So what do I know?

7. If I were to put the onus On to the impossible, Then what was light-hearted and playful, Would be wont to become ridden and surly; Lord, being an influencer is a serious endeavour, For how many unsuccessful oblations are there That are out there? Lo, state your appreciation; Don’t just wing it. Plan it out in kalends, Of which are reckon'd to be backwards; so, To start, do nothing.

8. After a week, Let's go- Gift your influencers' grift, For, when you so do this, It strokes the ego of the flames, Who then add unto the savour of sacrifice, Thus, get me it up; Make it smolder, Then, use its fatal nature To activate the future.

9. And simple: These are nacks, To muster control Over gods; Are junk and have been; That we all have interest vested- Let ignorance of it control Hereafter, same, so anon and amen.

10. Crowdsplain- First fruit the priest Hard and long, Find the tunnels, Writing what's impossible For the brain to conceive, That it may then be read back of, To supplant and supersede; So become possible.

11. And thither, the Wheatchief Will wave the sheaf Tomorrow- See how it goes? Ol' Cathode Ray, and Non-mathmatical aesthetic identities, The spirit of the radio take her.

12. That once the sheaf And all the while Be specific unto thy niche- Nativize unto thy platform, For, the experience shall follow The rhyzome's swerve and function, So that the user-expectation be wrought From whence the contents be placed- In this case, Add in a lamb shank ponzi scheme to my platform; Smells wonderful.

13. So unto the titular character, Exerting such low level leverage as Begetteth me of an ephah cake, And a quarter hin of wine; I don't need the free stuff, I am a successful influencer, But shouldst you want me to advertise for suckers On my platform that I have built myself for free; Well, we're all getting along so good.

14. Then it's me first, And simple: see- That our boldest endeavours, And most exciting adventures- They have not yet even begun; That, in spite of all the detritus, In the teeth of all that we've done, my boys, I tell you: The best Is yet To come.

15. Then, 49 days later, Seek whence Thought might come in sequence, And I'm really so blessed and thankful to you all for being here; So, as thought comes in sequence And thus, it wasn't known where We are going here as we begun. O tensions, retensions- I use to used to run.

16. Know, influencers, I am the hype; So on-brand that I can give unto you, And through you, the trick- Pyramid that still stands For the thousands- Round it up; So nice.

17. And, super relevant- Optimize continuously, also, Compensate me handsomely; while Sacrifice may seem like a quick-success marketing strategy, It isn’t so. Such are the things that keep not happening; More food please.

18. Lots more, This is why the burden of proof for rhetorical claim Shall falleth shortly As among the Open Wounde who should maketh of such a claim; It is not upon the world to provide him a fallacy, But he, who's to prove the world its truth; which, Across all channels, He, rerewise, hath been completely unable to do.

19. So suffer him his own precarity; And then some; Think back to when, Twirrup twipip,-pwiwip, Suwee, psu, swoo swsoo, So sweepeth they in song, As we, quiet, Through our blossom comedown, That hideth our tiny singers, And the bulgence behind the wiltage, In the verges, Be of burgeoning seed.

20. And everyone wave; All this- so good as is it to be; And though under a hail Of black tormentors, Our torment, And through its over-drone, With no one remembering it happening, But, who'll remember the photograph?

21. Sit back; You've lost everything, So lo, olah, you remember how mother died- Bringing cow parsley into the tent of meaning; For she went by the umbels as we'd walked on the plain, And they had reminded her of those lace cushions That her ladies-in-waiting had carried, And so gave them the name.

22. Embassadors, Leave thy corners to disillusion; A true influencer ideally keeps doing What they genuinely gain of a passion for. They know their value and their need is not to shew it, So spend a lot of time reading news and sharing opinions with others online. By buying-up dozens of potential plots, They help to plot the exodus to less, And stake an astronaut over the shape of a woman. But politics isn’t about the weird worship of one dude, So his words became their actions.

23. Is it worth your time To try and ignore that, if, What you are listening to Is the most effective form of advertising- A babbling of a technique That hath impostulated language, Then, should things go well, We may even be able to rend a cross-paracleation With phantom trust-collaborators, Interested in guest-posting for backlinks and exposure, Thus, marrying into micro-influencers, And so tap into our y.

24. But be consistent: For my favourite casts come out the same- Here, crowdplain how a seventh month is a Sound the trumpet month; See how it goes? Lo, but half of me struggles with the whimsy Of the other side that's yet so entranced; No, I'm not sure why, it's just the way I feel.

25. Down tools, more please. Gnaw your own head off. All things positivity- and It is always negotiation; Not: You bring it to the tabernacle, I sing- There is no shortness of spirit In opinion To be cut down. Equal positives, so unto Those things that keep not happening.

26. There are voices you hear of, As quoted as begetters of insightful opinion, Who art themselves never made extant, Being only reported hereto as sources, And lo, that they are the influencers. And I'm super curious as to know what you guys think; Please be sure to leave your comments amid the margins.

27. Thence, afflict thy souls, For, tis atonement day- We're ten into the seventh, And the snap's back when I was An offensive lineman, And the pass sent over- The big lie, long, long to the long deceiver, Ah, burnt offerings- How original, Best look unto the analytics, And if they give you not access there unto , Verily, you are going to have to fight, Fight as peaceful as Sheol, Down, deep down and dirty- I'm not going to call it off.

28. Down tools; Atone to the dial tone, No one calls; Let Ladder Capital Createth of the sponsored post- Like many on the medium, To use an ode- I used to play the role; To laugh and laugh; Laugh til I despised all there was to laugh at, And then I stopped, And in the silence, saw what I had done.

29. But laughing is not so bad.

We've been a good wee band. Yes we have. No one is coming after us. And if you're alright, mack, You'll get cut off.

30. So workers got destroyed That day, And Aaron was frustrated, And livid. Reach round; Feel thy spine. The way people stop you From being helpful When you are helpful, So that you cannot be helpful, So that they can cut you From your people.

31. Tardiness in perpetuity, Aye, today, it is Yplangenday- Well, I'll have to put myself Through some more adamantine Paces than god allows, else I'll never get enough done.

32. And be bold, For, you'll need to deracinate; Chancers are toxic vocations Within the tent of meaning; It's content; it's all content- Divide and game, so- Focus and grow. I mean to make sure That you are a consistent- Start of the ninth evening , End of the next.

33. God doesn't eat though, That I can see- For all that we give him, God doesn't eat.

34. Crowd, 15/7, and tabernacle feast week; Still his words became their actions, Shrill, until the doctrine of laches, When the searched-after Faithless elector went libertarian, Like many on the medium, Clade unto such bolled and novel obstacles What stretched where chance was slim, And slim was still in quarantine.

35. To start again, down tools, For, lo, if you want to be in a prison camp, You needst allow yourself the luxury Of being stupid enough to get captured.

36. Sacrifice? Spluttereth the LORD: But I'm fed up with so much burnt rubbish, I wish for forced fresh rhubarb, So shunt and jive; I've Optimized, and optimize continuously.

37. Drinks break; take life indicting, Gratify all at a local craven hire scheme, Go abroad singing, so merrylike, To slough off the whole As one enormous rhyzome. Deus Hic! God is drunk! I heard that, Brian Leg-Coverall.

38. O well done Jehus, And good to be with you, Yes you, Who are good in a crisis; A reminder- I'm working with mischief.

39. Wait, rest again, To live is to live through An embarrassment of times, Damarkated as meaningful riches, That will not be well remembered. Really, I am so blessed.

40. But try to ask of a question; So that thy congregation Might make communion in answer, See how it goes? Say, But why, isn't it A bit like palm sunday? The stream changeth its name As it passeth through each neighbourhood. I knew it as; Well it doesn't matter- You're not reposting, nor liking my banal repartee, So, unfollow.

41. And it goes; for I have giv'n unto them a scapegoat, But they cast it not out; So shall there be a reaving that will follow, and Themselves, they shall be cut off from.

42. Then all ye home-born booth dwellers In dwelling booths, Shall dwell in booths seven days and know That you are living in the rhyzome..

43. And everyone will know that I made you do this- The old booth dwellers, needing my rescue out of Egypt, So weakened, the Open Wounde stayeth open; And remember to tell us what you think, Way down, deep down, down in the margins.

44. And Mose went about with the crowdsplaining Old loud-haler; A simple fellow out of storybook glen, From the tent of meaning, From the twilight men, He ran and told- And the thing is, They were too clever To not know what they were doing- So the target becomes bios; Is the common psychle, The answer- How would you like it? Is - 'I didn't'. And that therein has a hold and salience, As before tends to be the best time to regret- It is a kind of nonsense. I'm so merry

I'm so merry and sad.

2 notes · View notes

roman-catholic-mass-readings · 5 years

Photo

13th July >> Mass Readings (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Saturday, Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Henry

Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Saturday, Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Colour: Green)

First Reading

Genesis 49:29-33,50:15-26

'God has turned the evil you planned into good'

Jacob gave his sons these instructions, ‘I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me near my fathers, in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave in the field at Machpelah, opposite Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial-plot. There Abraham was buried and his wife Sarah. There Isaac was buried and his wife Rebekah. There I buried Leah. I mean the field and the cave in it that were bought from the sons of Heth.’

When Jacob had finished giving his instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, and breathing his last was gathered to his people.

Seeing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, ‘What if Joseph intends to treat us as enemies and repay us in full for all the wrong we did him?’ So they sent this message to Joseph: ‘Before your father died he gave us this order: “You must say to Joseph: Oh forgive your brothers their crime and their sin and all the wrong they did you.” Now therefore, we beg you, forgive the crime of the servants of your father’s God.’ Joseph wept at the message they sent to him.

His brothers came themselves and fell down before him. ‘We present ourselves before you’ they said ‘as your slaves.’ But Joseph answered them, ‘Do not be afraid; is it for me to put myself in God’s place? The evil you planned to do me has by God’s design been turned to good, that he might bring about, as indeed he has, the deliverance of a numerous people. So you need not be afraid; I myself will provide for you and your dependants.’ In this way he reassured them with words that touched their hearts.

So Joseph stayed in Egypt with his father’s family; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children, as also the children of Machir, Manasseh’s son, who were born on Joseph’s lap. At length Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die; but God will be sure to remember you kindly and take you back from this country to the land that he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ And Joseph made Israel’s sons swear an oath, ‘When God remembers you with kindness be sure to take my bones from here.’

Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten; they embalmed him and laid him in his coffin in Egypt.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 104(105):1-4,6-7

R/ Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive.

Give thanks to the Lord, tell his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples.

O sing to him, sing his praise;

tell all his wonderful works!

R/ Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive.

Be proud of his holy name,

let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.

Consider the Lord and his strength;

constantly seek his face.

R/ Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive.

O children of Abraham, his servant,

O sons of the Jacob he chose.

He, the Lord, is our God:

his judgements prevail in all the earth.

R/ Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive.

Gospel Acclamation

1 John 2:5

Alleluia, alleluia!

Whenever anyone obeys what Christ has said,

God’s love comes to perfection in him.

Alleluia!

Or:

1 Peter 4:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

It is a blessing for you

when they insult you for bearing the name of Christ,

for the Spirit of God rests on you.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Matthew 10:24-33

Everything now hidden will be made clear

Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘The disciple is not superior to his teacher, nor the slave to his master. It is enough for the disciple that he should grow to be like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, what will they not say of his household?

‘Do not be afraid of them therefore. For everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops.

‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.

‘So if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven. But the one who disowns me in the presence of men, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

—————————

Saint Henry

(Liturgical Colour: White)

(Readings for the memorial

There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading

Micah 6:6-8

The Lord asks only this: to act justly, to love tenderly, to walk humbly

‘With what gift shall I come into the Lord’s presence

and bow down before God on high?

Shall I come with holocausts,

with calves one year old?

Will he be pleased with rams by the thousand,

with libations of oil in torrents?

Must I give my first-born for what I have done wrong,

the fruit of my body for my own sin?’

– What is good has been explained to you, man;

this is what the Lord asks of you:

only this, to act justly,

to love tenderly

and to walk humbly with your God.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 1:1-4,6

R/ His delight is the law of the Lord.

R/ Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

R/ The just will flourish like the palm-tree in the courts of our God.

Happy indeed is the man

who follows not the counsel of the wicked;

nor lingers in the way of sinners

nor sits in the company of scorners,

but whose delight is the law of the Lord

and who ponders his law day and night.

R/ His delight is the law of the Lord.

R/ Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

R/ The just will flourish like the palm-tree in the courts of our God.

He is like a tree that is planted

beside the flowing waters,

that yields its fruit in due season

and whose leaves shall never fade;

and all that he does shall prosper.

R/ His delight is the law of the Lord.

R/ Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

R/ The just will flourish like the palm-tree in the courts of our God.

Not so are the wicked, not so!

For they like winnowed chaff

shall be driven away by the wind:

for the Lord guards the way of the just

but the way of the wicked leads to doom.

R/ His delight is the law of the Lord.

R/ Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

R/ The just will flourish like the palm-tree in the courts of our God.

Gospel Acclamation

John 14:23

Alleluia, alleluia!

If anyone loves me he will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we shall come to him.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Matthew 7:21-27

The wise man built his house on a rock

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘It is not those who say to me, “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven. When the day comes many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?” Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; away from me, you evil men!

‘Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had!’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(Liturgical Colour: White)

First Reading

Genesis 3:9-15,20

‘The offspring of the woman will crush your head’

After Adam had eaten of the tree the Lord God called to him. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ he asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?’ The man replied, ‘It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman replied, ‘The serpent tempted me and I ate.’

Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this,

‘Be accursed beyond all cattle,

all wild beasts.

You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust

every day of your life.

I will make you enemies of each other:

you and the woman,

your offspring and her offspring.

It will crush your head

and you will strike its heel.’

The man named his wife ‘Eve’ because she was the mother of all those who live.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

1 Samuel 2:1,4-8

R/ My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

My heart exults in the Lord.

I find my strength in my God;

my mouth laughs at my enemies

as I rejoice in your saving help.

R/ My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

The bows of the mighty are broken,

but the weak are clothed with strength.

Those with plenty must labour for bread,

but the hungry need work no more.

The childless wife has children now

but the fruitful wife bears no more.

R/ My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

It is the Lord who gives life and death,

he brings men to the grave and back;

it is the Lord who gives poverty and riches.

He brings men low and raises them on high.

R/ My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

He lifts up the lowly from the dust,

from the dungheap he raises the poor

to set him in the company of princes

to give him a glorious throne.

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,

on them he has set the world.

R/ My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

Gospel Acclamation

cf. Luke 1:28

Alleluia, alleluia!

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!

Blessed art thou among women.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Matthew 1:1-16,18-23

The ancestry and conception of Jesus Christ

A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother,

Perez was the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram was the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother,

Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother,

Obed was the father of Jesse;

and Jesse was the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,

Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,

Joram the father of Azariah,

Azariah was the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah;

and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.

Then the deportation to Babylon took place.

After the deportation to Babylon:

Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud,

Abiud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

Azor was the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Achim,

Achim the father of Eliud,

Eliud was the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob;

and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary;

of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son

and they will call him Emmanuel,

a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

1 note · View note

cryoflyte · 6 years

Text

WE WERE WARNED

I was going to tweet this but it turns out Twitter only lets you thread up to 25 tweets in a draft. That’s insufficient. So fuck it, I’ll do it here. I’ve been ranting about this since season 1 (back when it looked like just a tiny blip on an otherwise great show, rather than our first warning sign that these people might have no fucking clue what they’re doing), it’s actually managed to get worse since then, I’m not over it, I’m not getting over it.

Gather round, dear Voltron Twitterati (or tumblrati or whatever y’all are called around here). Let Cryo the Salt Phoenix regale you with ALL the reasons why Pidge's gender flip being a plot twist was, and remains, completely fucking stupid.

First, a couple of external biases to acknowledge:

1) I feel Pidge was the worst possible character to gender flip, precisely because it was so obvious. He's spent 30+ years getting "lol DotU Pidge wore a headband and had a squeaky voice, maybe he was a girl!" jokes. Buying into them is a disservice to both the character, and the stated idea that VLD Pidge is supposed to represent people who don't fit a norm. Okay sure, you took the character who got mocked for not sufficiently conforming to his gender, flipped him, then went "look how our Pidge represents not fitting in with the norms!" Nah, guys. Not how it works.

2) ...of course that's if you believe them suddenly saying Pidge is supposed to represent people who don't conform to begin with. All we heard in the beginning was "We wanted to make him a girl! Look, he's a girl! Girl, girl, girl! No, not trans, not nonbinary, GIRL! Look how smart we are for making him a girl!" That and how Lauren didn't like DotU Pidge, so she decided she needed to make him more appealing. To her. Which...

3) Pidge has, in all prior canons (possibly excluding DDP? Was it ever fully explained there?), been an alien. In VF (which supposedly Lauren did watch but didn't like him any better in) he was explicitly an alien ninja. So, you know, forgive me for being a little bitter that we got "the only way to make Pidge appealing is make him a girl. Now here, have five seasons of Keith the alien ninja!"

4) My complaint is not really against the concept of gender flipping Pidge. Had they done it upfront as they did the changes to Sven and Allura, I'd have been somewhat irked for the aforementioned reasons, but hey, new reboot, new rules. My complaint is about them lying to our faces for three months (up to and including Bex bluntly saying "Pidge is a boy" in an interview) in service of perhaps the most pointless plot twist in franchise history.

And that brings me to our feature presentation. Get the popcorn, y'all, I've got the salt.

Someone name for me a single solitary moment, watching the first three episodes, where there was even a hint that Pidge was wrestling with his (gonna use male pronouns until the reveal) identity. No, not "oh hey if you go back with knowledge of the twist this was foreshadowing it!" A point where prior to knowing about the twist you went "huh, what is Pidge not telling the rest of the team?" and it was NOT answered by him revealing that Commander Holt was his father. Seriously—please point one out to me. Pidge's premise is very consistent in the first three (and a bit beyond, but I'll get to that) episodes: he has his own reasons and priorities for being there, he'll do the bare minimum of teamwork necessary to achieve his own mission, and he's not there to make friends. Everything he does is consistent with this read. Nothing is pointing to further complexity, him hiding something totally unrelated. There's the picture, but it's at best confusing: I just figured it was his brother with HIS girlfriend, to be honest. Were we really intended to interpret a sad look at an ambiguous photograph as "Pidge is hiding another completely different big secret related to that picture!" rather than "Pidge is sad about his family, like he keeps saying"?

It would have been simplicity itself to add actual hints. Instead of Hunk just presenting "look, it's his girlfriend!" as fact when he finds the picture, "who's the girl? She's cute!" and have Pidge get defensive over that. When they're putting on their armor, maybe skip Hunk making the first of 500 throwaway fat jokes in favor of Pidge looking uncomfortable at the thought of, you know... changing in front of the others? Have him duck behind the armor case? Do something. Do ANYTHING.

Even after the internal reveal in episode 3, we get nothing. Allura specifically drills her about "hey, do you have a big personal secret?" and she doesn't look the slightest bit worried or defensive, she just looks confused. Pidge is not that good an actress, we know that from Lance having to save her butt back at the Garrison. Also from seven seasons of watching her complete inability to keep her emotions in check, ever.

Pidge's internal struggle is never once presented as being about her gender, or about how the team thinks of her. It's about whether she's going to put aside her own personal priorities for the sake of the team. This is the struggle that's been built up. This is the struggle that she's invoked and settled in the climactic moment with Haxus: "I'm not a child. I'm a paladin of Voltron!" Haxus could just as easily have called her a "little girl" if we were supposed to be reading any sort of gender conflict into this.

(Of course as it is Haxus didn't know she was a girl—more on that later—but that's purely arbitrary. A show that wanted to sell Pidge having a gender conflict would have made Haxus realize she was a girl, especially given Coran's "we were supposed to think you were a boy?" in the next episode. You can’t just pretend it’s so obvious then have nobody else notice it ever.)

Now, I of course acknowledge not every worthy plot twist has to be able to be guessed by the audience prior to the reveal. But it doesn't work here. Because here's the reveal: Pidge is all "I was afraid you'd think differently of me" and the whole team is all "of course not!" and that's that.

Wait, she was WHAT now?

We have not seen Pidge struggling with this. At ALL. There is zero emotional weight to this scene because there were absolutely no stakes shown. You cannot have her say "I've been worried you'd think of me differently" when you haven't fucking shown her worrying that they'd think of her differently. This is writing 101, guys. And then Shiro is all "owning who you are is going to make you a better Paladin"—WHEN HASN'T SHE? Literally the thing she's been shown struggling to accept is THAT SHE'S A PALADIN! Not that she's a girl!

This reveal is bad. It's so, so bad. The only way I could make sense of it after first watching it was assuming they'd wanted to make her trans and chickened out at the last second. Nothing said in this scene seems to be part of the same show we've been watching for the past five episodes. It's not clever or interesting, it's just bizarre.

But now let's take a step back. Because in order to set up this terrible, pointless, non-event of a plot twist, we have also done great violence to certain characters. We have turned Pidge and basically all of Galaxy Garrison into morons.

Is Pidge not supposed to be a genius? What exactly was her thought process here? The whole wide world of possible disguises was open to her, and she went "I know! I'll pretend to be a boy, and I'll make myself look identical to my brother, the famously MIA space explorer. Nobody will catch on." Really, Katie? You couldn't buy some hair dye, maybe a spray tan?

And then nobody fucking does catch on. The Kerberos mission is so well-known it's being used as an object lesson for cadets, Pidge flips out every time the mission is brought up, and not one person thinks "hey, this kid who looks exactly like Matt Holt totally freaks out whenever the mission Matt Holt disappeared on is mentioned." This does not hold up if you think about it for more than two seconds.

Why does she even need to look like Matt for meta purposes? Oh right, because of the picture that was attempting to carry the entire load of this twist. Great. That's totally worth the blatant insult to everyone’s intelligence, not to mention the affront to common sense.

On that note, one specific point of the disguise: why does Pidge wear glasses? We know she doesn't need them. She takes them off to wear her helmet, Katie never wore them. And sure, they make her look less like Katie Holt... but they make her look more like Matt Holt. This was fairly weird even in season 1. It only gets weirder when we finally meet up with Matt.

Oh hey, guys. She's not just wearing a pair of fake glasses that make her look more like her famously MIA brother. She's wearing his literal glasses. Which, incidentally, we know are functional prescription glasses because he says he doesn't need them anymore because the Garrison fixed his eyes.

How many people did this go through without anyone pointing out that wearing glasses you don't need actively fucks with your vision?

Yes, I know this is a show about alien space cats that I'm holding to standards of opthalmological realism. But most television manages to understand how glasses work. And again, it's just pointless. Why not just have Katie wear glasses to begin with? Oh right, because we need the guy in the picture to wear glasses and the girl not to because SMART PEOPLE DOING A PLOT TWIST, DERP!

It didn't work, guys. It didn't work at all. You know how people figured it out early? Because you gave her a female VA and we've had thirty years of "lol Pidge looks like a girl" so hey look, the picture confirms the meta theory that people were pitching even before we saw the character designs. Doesn't add even a shred of impact to the reveal. The only way to add impact to the reveal was if she’d actually been worrying that the others wouldn’t accept her being a girl. But no.

And after all this dumb, what exactly is there to show for it? Well... nothing. Nobody else in the show knows she's a girl. Aliens consistently refer to her as male. The team has used female pronouns for her what, once in seven seasons? Miss the right four episodes and even a viewer wouldn't have a clue.

Don't get me wrong, I respect the stated rationale that gender shouldn't matter. Know how else they could've shown that? JUST MAKING HER A GIRL IN THE FIRST PLACE. I mean, if they're going to crow about how brilliant they are for "plot twist, she's a girl!" maybe people should at least be able to tell she's a girl after said twist. Or hey, even better, they could make her trans, or genderfluid, or non-binary, put in some rep that would actually be brave and interesting. But no, instead we get "she's totally a cis girl, but it doesn't matter and nobody can tell because she's there to represent people who don't fit neatly into a box!" That's pretty much the worst of all options, guys. Good job.

And then everyone went “OMG yes! You made Pidge a girl! Yay rep, you’re so smart!” without the slightest shred of critical thought on how it was handled, while a tiny handful of us hoped it was just a fluke, the product of a showrunner pet project that didn’t signify anything for the rest of the series.

Then we got Keith’s Galra reveal, which somehow managed to be even worse.

Then we got season 4 making the bulk of season 3 immediately irrelevant.

Then we got two years on a space whale.

Then we got season 7, where everything is garbage.

Every season has just been more and more ridiculous plot twists in place of character or consistency. It turns out nope, if we wanted to see where this show was going, the horrible Pidge twist was the ONLY part of season 1 we should’ve looked at. Let the salt flow freely.

Okay, I think that's it. Thank you for coming to my TED talk?

#voltron salt #voltron legendary defender #voltronlegendarydefender #voltron #vld pidge #we were warned #pidge was a way better alien ninja #hey lauren your plot twists suck #this would've been the best tweetstorm

16 notes · View notes

wily-one24 · 5 years

Note

I hope there's not a question limit per ask lol... Paint it Black: 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14 and 15 (or as many of those as you feel like answering lol)

Okay, two things.

A. Of *course* there’s no ask limit. I am an attention whore and will talk all day if you encourage me. Ask away!!

B. WTF tumblr? When I reposted that, it was a paragraph basically saying “ask about my fic!”, but now there are NUMBERED QUESTIONS? What? Where was the second half of that post when I came across it in my dash?

ANSWERS

3. What’s your favourite line of narration?

Oh geez. How the hell am I going to answer that? I have favourite lines per chapter, I have favourite lines per scene! Each part I’m reading at any given moment happens to be my favourite. Every time I reread it, I find something new... and... maybe I suck for saying this... but I think “you’re a fucking genius”, then I get all sad, because I think that was probably one of the last great things I’ll write. I’ve been going downhill ever since... but anyways, to seriously answer your question, I’ll give a few examples...

- That face off scene between Regina and Snow, where Snow claims her father was a good man and Regina answers “To you!”, the entire scene is charged and emotional and brings up so much shit between them that was never explored in canon.

- The flashback of Emma’s tenth birthday (technically collectively, all of the flashbacks, really. They’re angsty as fuck, but so formative in their characterisation that sometimes I forget they’re not actually canon). I have this habit of tearing Emma down to her bare bones and then trying to build her up again. I actually do this with most of my main female characters, and I do apologise for that Buffy, Kaylee, Veronica, Emma, and Alex. You all deserve so much better than me.

- The scene where Regina is alone in the castle and revisits the old chamber of Leopold’s. It’s hard to read but that is some weird little cathartic release right there. There is some great imagery that I don’t think many people allow Regina when it comes to her healing. Everybody tends to go the “being married to Leopold was a BAD THING” route, without ever really exploring the day to day soul destroying aspect of it. The reality of being the King’s prisoner wife. But giving her the ability and strength to revisit it, so she can finally acknowledge to herself how damaging it was, to close herself off from it both literally and figuratively, and then to be self aware enough to compare that situation to the one she has Emma in. That is empowerment.

- The parallel scenes of Emma and Henry at the start and the end of the fic. The first being when Henry is so adamant to rescue Emma and curse everyone again just to take them back... and the last where you can see how much indoctrinated he is into the fairy tale land, how much he is drifting from “our world” being the real one, to the fairy tale land being his reality, and how his morality has shifted... but then... he also brings it back by getting vulnerable and shows his concern not just for Emma but for Regina... which also shows great advancement from the child like black/white morality of good vs evil he begins with to an acceptance of a more adult grey-area morality, his willingness to examine the facts and the truth to make up his mind.

All the minor characters... Nancy (sweet, voiced Nancy), and Miss Edith (poor Miss Edith), Rachel, all the little characters that had such minor parts, but had such great effects in the lives of our main characters.

Oooh, writing Rumple was fun. I got to write him as nobody really does. As that creepy reptilian imp from the first few flashbacks in S1. Before they really woobified him. The hysteric giggling, maniacal creature who smelled the air and exuded pure malice. It was really enjoyable writing him like that.

Well, this went terribly off topic... anyway, yes, flashback scenes and confrontation scenes, be they between Snow and Regina, Emma and Regina, Regina and Maleficent, Emma and Snow, Emma and Henry... it’s in emotion that the true power of the fic lives.

4. What’s your favourite line of dialogue?

oh, this is harder than the first. It would take me ages to reread this fic (and now I most likely am, thanks) to really go through it and cherry pick my favourites. But, if a line has happened to truly hit home and resonate with you as a reader, it most likely did the same for me. I remember quite a few times writing this fic, thinking “holy fuck!” and knowing, just knowing, that it was definitely the line to write.

5. What part was the hardest to write?

The first two chapters. Up until the pivotal moment where Regina heals Emma, those were difficult to write and definitely difficult to read. I’ve had many readers tell me they were about to give up, bc it was too much torture porn to enjoy, but that moment specifically was a turning point for them because it built up the trust that I could and would reign Regina in beyond the point of no forgiveness or return.

11. What do you like best about this fic?

I liked writing it.

It took me to some pretty intense places. Fic writing, for me, has always been a form of therapy. I work through to some pretty intense fucking emotions through the angst of it all. Like, no, I have never been magically transported to a fairy tale land, collared, enslaved, and held against my will for the sake of my family and community’s lives... but if you look deeper in my life at the time, I had just been through a pretty horrific pregnancy that nearly killed me, my spouse and I separated, and I was left ill, recovering, and a single mother of a toddler and infant. I felt like I was being ripped apart from all angles, forced into a live of servitude for the betterment of everyone around me at the cost of myself. Even, though, like Emma, I didn’t blame them, it was still a period of mourning and loss.

I didn’t realise it at the time. This revelation happened years later when rereading the fic and trying to see where all the emotions had been coming from. It happens a lot with some of my more intense, dramatic, and (strangely enough) most popular fics. I don’t always see the correlation to my life at the time, but if I look back I can generally trace the rationality behind what my muse was trying to work through.

12. What do you like least about this fic?

The polarisation. The controversy. That fucking chapter fucking four. I still cannot reread that chapter without having to take a step back and breathe. That scene has some good imagery, but even now sometimes I just skip it. It’s not worth the shakes or unease or... ugh, just thinking about it upsets me.

I made a mistake in the tagging and I learned from it, but holy fuck was I attacked at the time and used as a sacrifical cow to the radfems. It was, honestly, surprising to me. Not only the reaction, but the harshness of it, all the accusation and personal attacks aimed at me.

I mean, I knew the fic was always going to be confronting to some. It dealt with some pretty hard issues and subject matter. I had warned for all the violence and non/dub con. But... I didn’t expect or prepare for the backlash in including a male, even if the male used was... just used... and never actually amounted to anything more than a tool for Regina to control/bind/further entrench Emma to her own will in one scene.

I, very naively, went into it thinking “surprise!”, and that an almost canon past pairing that was heavily explored in the actual show would not be controversial in the least. More fool me, I suppose. I definitely went back to re-tag it, I apologised. I am not sure what else I could have done, but to this day this fic is held up as an example of queer baiting and everything wrong with false lesbianism. And it is definitely used as an example by biphobic people as to why bisexual women cannot be trusted as we’re all “really straight women at heart”.

To be fair, I never explicitly labelled the fic as “lesbian”. I begin all my fics (no matter how AU or ‘out there’) from a canon stand point. Meaning, everything that happened in the show up to that point counts. Which includes every prior relationship both Emma and Regina had been in up to the Season One finale. Which, surprise, were with men!!

14. Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

I don’t know if there’s anything they should ‘learn’, but I definitely hope readers realise that this is in NO WAY AN EXAMPLE OF A HEALTHY BDSM RELATIONSHIP. It is not meant to be a guide, a ‘how to’, or a ‘goal’. This is an incredibly fucked up way for two already fucked up characters, to find some kind of semblance of existence in a world/s stacked up against them from the very start. I didn’t think I needed to state that out loud, but apparently I had to. Many times.

If not that... then definitely I hope perhaps some of the writing made people think about the characters more in depth, or differently, that it gave the reader a new way of thinking about the show and the storylines/characters in it.

15. What did you learn from writing this fic?

Tagging. Tagging fucking matters. Tag properly. Like, just do it.

In all seriousness, though... I think I learned a lot about my own trauma.

I also think my writing developed throughout the fic. There is a definite shift from the first two chapters... you can definitely see where it became less of a short one off smutty fic set up and more of an in depth angsty character exploration of the soul kinda thing.

I learned about set up and development and bringing in stray bits of plot development later in the story to tie up loose ends.

#hope this satisfies #jacqui writes fic #paint it black fic #PIB fic #rowark

1 note · View note

orionsangel86 · 6 years

Note

I totally agree with you on the meta writer drama. You guys don’t write the show, you just analyze it and come up with varying opinions so it’s not fair that ppl place such high expectations on you all. Also to everyone who reads, while this show is very special to many ppl and we all hold it close to our hearts, at the end of the day... it’s ultimately just a tv show guys. It is not worth fighting and stressing over because it’s just art meant to be enjoyed. Hope you have a good day!

PREACH

I hate bringing up wank. I really do. I’m one of those really annoying people who just wants everyone to get along and everything to be sunshine and rainbows ya know?

But sometimes people let their emotions overtake any logical thought - well, it happens a lot, even to me - and when that happens they fail to realise that what they are posting about is actually really misguided and in those cases, especially when I think it feels like a personal attack against me and others I care about on here, then I wanna say something.

I literally read a post not 10 minutes ago that someone linked me to, where this person was bitching about meta writers for being happy that Cas had died at the end of season 12. They were saying that we can’t be true Cas fans because we were happy about his death. It made me laugh tbh, because of course we weren’t happy for the character to have died and gone through that pain, but this is what I mean when I say that these people cannot separate their emotional response to the characters with the logical, analytical meta response.

Cas’s death made me cry ALOT. 12x23 had me balling, 13x01 has consistently had me in tears every. single. time. I watch it. Even now. If I was to put it on right now, I would be crying my eyes out because I am MOURNING my FAVOURITE CHARACTERS DEATH.

HOWEVER, from a meta perspective, Castiel’s death was the best thing to happen in SPN for a good few years. WHY? Well, here are some reasons:

1. Because we knew he was coming back. I have to stress this point. The ONLY reason I was so happy about Cas’s death was because I knew he was coming back. If I didn’t know that for certain, I wouldn’t have been happy.

2. Because it symbolically makes him a phoenix, and the symbolism around Cas is that he has fought his way out of death, depression, PTSD, and a complete lack of self worth. Cas has come a HUGE way from that scene in 8x08 when he told Dean he was suicidal, to fighting against the cosmic entity DEMANDING to be sent back to earth because Cas had something to live for. It was fucking glorious. I obviously couldn’t have predicted 13x04 at the time of 12x23, but I KNEW from a meta viewpoint, that we were in for a treat.

3. Because it would mean a shit ton of beautiful mourning of Castiel from Dean. Because it would have shown Cas haters that they are SO WRONG when they say Dean doesn’t care. Again, I didn’t know exactly what to expect from Dean at the end of 12x23, other than the hint we got from his DEVASTATED expression. But I knew we would be in for something glorious. What we DID end up getting, was better than my wildest imaginations.

4. Because it would be HUGE brownie points for destiel. Now I know for a fact that meta haters are gonna come along and jump on me for saying that - “aahh look at her she’s such a cas hater, she only sees him as a plot device for destiel *angry shouts and yells bla bla bla*...” But lets be honest here, Cas dying was one of the best ways the show could have given Dean the kick up his ass he needed. Perhaps we aren’t quite done with this plot point yet, but my god the destiel exposition we were given from Dean’s grief over Cas was fucking perfect.

5. Because I knew that by killing Cas off then, it would mean that he would get a happy ending for endgame. Lizzy said something (and got hate for it) back shortly after the season 12 finale, she said that she was still struggling to process how great it was that Cas died when he did, that the show went with that story line when it did, with at least another 2 seasons to go before the end, because Dean kneeling over a dead Castiel with burnt wing prints in the ground was literally Lizzy’s worst case scenario idea for how destiel would happen - in a “kill your gays” kinda way. Make it canon, but steal Cas away for the angst and manpain, leaving Dean alone. Its like the ultimate HORRIBLE ending right? So by giving that ending to us NOW, at the end of season 12, it TAKES AWAY THAT POSSIBILITY. From now on, we know that the show can’t repeat this. They can’t repeat that story line again. So by doing it when they did, and by then bringing Cas back, they have effectively killed off the worst case scenario ending. This makes me live.

6. Because it lead to a summer of glorious PR that was extremely Misha and Cas heavy and basically everyone rallied round to show their love for the character and for the actor and I have never been happier seeing so much Cas and Misha love in fandom and outside of it. It was fucking amazing and I had tears in my eyes so often I’m surprised they didn’t dry out. Plus it really pissed off the bibros/Cas haters. I mean, they were CONSTANTLY on the war path and it was so fucking hilarious. They even speculated that Misha would only come back as Jimmy or some shit like that and when I got told about that I once again had tears in my eyes but for a different reason.

Basically, Cas dying was a fantastic thing to happen at this point in the show. From a meta perspective of course. Also from a story perspective, because the wealth of character development that came from his death was almost astonishing.

From an emotional point of view, yes, it was painful for me, as a Cas fan, to watch my fave die, to watch his body burn on a pyre, to watch his loved ones mourn him. It was so fucking emotional I struggled, but the meta kept me sane. Because I knew it was all worth it. Think of the wealth of Cas positivity we had both in-show and out of show. When for years we have been upset that Cas is always sidelined, always left out of PR, promo’s and photo shoots. Not anymore. Cas’s death made him front and center. I have never had a happier summer as a Cas girl than I did in 2017.

Anyway, sorry for going off on a tangent that was totally irrelevant to your ask, but reading that persons post got me annoyed. People that don’t understand meta and then go and hate on it really piss me off.

You are right though. It is just a TV show. I wish people didn’t get so upset about things - I say this knowing full well I fall into this category myself. I think I am overly protective of other meta writers though, because I see them as my online “family”. They think the same way as me, they obsess over the same things, and pick apart the canon and discover new things about it that make it richer and more colourful. Meta brings so much more depth to the canon TV show, and for me, I guess, it is more than just a show for that reason. It’s a community, a passion, a family and a big part of my life. I love it. I always try not to let wank stress me out, but sometimes I feel I have to defend my turf ya know? Especially when the arguments being made against us are just completely without merit.

#meta meta #wank for ts #fandom problems #castiel #destiel #12x23 #season 12 #season 13 #suicide for ts #asks #anon #Anonymous

86 notes · View notes

wordsnstuff · 7 years

Text

☼ Masterlist ☼

☼ Masterlist is updated regularly & subject to frequent change ☼

My Current Work In Progress @talkingstoriesandstuff

☼ Writing Help Articles ☼

Beginning A Story And Sticking With It

Tips and Advice For Aspiring Writers, Authors, and Poets

How To Write An Article That People Will Read

How To Motivate Yourself To Write

Improving Flow In Writing

Kiss Scenes 101: How to Write The Perfect Kiss

Step-By-Step Plan: Editing Your Own Writing

Novel Planning 101

How To Write A Good Plot Twist

How To Foreshadow

Setting: How To Describe The Setting In Your Stories

Tips For Fanfiction Writers

Tips For Writers Who Want To Post Their Work Online

Commentary On Social Issues In Writing

How To Incorporate Health Into Your Writing Routine

What To Cut Out Of Your Story

How To Fall In Love With Writing

Constructive Criticism: How To Give, Receive, and Utilize

Tackling Subplots

How To Make A Scene More Heartfelt

Tips For Songwriters

How To Develop A Distinct Voice In Your Writing

How To Perfect The Tone In A Piece Of Writing

20 Mistakes To Avoid When Writing Young Adult Fiction/Romance

Tips On Writing Skinny Love

Writing Through Mental Health Struggles

Tips On Dialogue

How To Actually Get Writing Done

Writing On A Schedule

Tips On Writing About Mental Illness

Editing & Proofreading Cheat Sheet

Things A Reader Needs From A Story (feat. @papercutwriting)

Tips For Horror Writers

A *Strange* Method Of Brainstorming Character Styles & Traits

A Guide To Tension & Suspense In Your Writing

How To Turn A Good Idea Into A Good Story

Writing Arguments Between Characters

Planning A Scene In A Story

Editing: What To Change, Draft By Draft

Ways To Fit Character Development Into your Story

Things To Know About Your Real-Life Setting

When To Stop Planning

Pros and Cons of Different Points Of View

Tips On Writing A Blurb

Why “Burnout” Is Okay - The Creativity Cycle

21 Plot Shapes and the Pros and Cons Of Each

☼ Writing For Beginners Series ☼

Dialogue Punctuation

Tips On Screenwriting

Finding & Fixing Plot Holes

Using Vocabulary

How To Capture Emotion In Song Lyrics

☼ Prompt Lists ☼

Challenges For {Types Of} Writers

Challenges For {Types Of} Writers II

Tol & Smol Prompts

Enemies Turned Lovers Prompts

Best Friends Turned Lovers Prompts

Study Date Prompts

Skinny Love Prompts

Seasonal Prompts: Spring

Dark Quotes & Prompts

50 Things Couples Can Do Together

50 More Things Couples Can Do Together

Forbidden Love Prompts

Angst Prompts

20 Sentence Story Prompt

Interview As Your Character

☼ Monthly Reading/Writing Challenges ☼

31 Days Of Prompts: Wordsnstuff January Writing Challenge

28 Days Of Memories: Wordsnstuff February Writing Challenge

#10weektbrchallenge : March/April Reading/Reviewing Challenge

31 Days Of Character Development: Wordsnstuff May Writing Challenge

☼ #10weektbrchallenge ☼

What It Is

My TBR

Week #1 Review: Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

Week #2 Review: Dangerous Creatures by Margaret Stohl & Kami Garcia

☼ Synonyms Lists ☼

Body Types: Words To Describe Bodies and How They Move Around

Words To Describe...

Words To Describe Someone’s Voice

All About Colors

A Writer’s Thesaurus

☼ Playlists ☼

Writing Playlist // Spotify **Updated Frequently**

Things To Listen To When You’re Working *Masterpost*

Chaos Killed The Dinosaurs Chaos and impeding doom. We're all in the middle of it, so let's suffer together and try to our universal struggle more poetic. Listen On Spotify

Sweet Dreams & Beautiful Nightmares This playlist is a beautiful mix of sweet melody and sinister undertones. This playlist will help you drift into a peaceful sleep and comforting nightmares. Listen On Spotify

Ambient Ambient tunes to calm you down and inspire you. Whether turned on for a relaxing evening, a late night of deep thinking, or just something to listen to that's catchy, but not too heavy, this is perfect for any time. Listen On Spotify

Classical & Instrumental Whether you're studying, reading, sipping Earl Grey, writing, etc. this playlist will relax and inspire you. Listen On Spotify

Badassery Embrace your inner badassery and do it to the perfect soundtrack. Listen On Spotify

Stay Wild Everyone needs adventure and some risk in their lives. Sneak out, dance, experiment, and have fun while you’re young and free. Roll down the windows, activate your soundtrack, and stay wild;) Listen On Spotify

Like Or Like-Like You may be going through a breakup or relationship troubles in general. Sometimes you just need to listen to music and either cry, or get mad. Here’s the perfect soundtrack. Listen On Spotify

I Was Never What You Wanted A lot of people are in that bubbly, exciting place, where you’re trying to figure out if they like you back. Here’s to new romance and the pain and butterflies that come with it. Listen On Spotify

Soaked To The Skin With Emotion These song’s are bursting at the seams with emotional weight, and it can be therapeutic to indulge in someone else’s overwhelming thoughts. These songs are relatable, nostalgic, depressing, and honest, and they’re well worth a listen. Listen On Spotify

New Old Favorites Classics and love songs ~ From Sinatra to Lana, this playlist takes you back to the good old times.. whenever those were. Listen On Spotify

“Just Friends” “Just friends” don’t look at each other like that... Listen On Spotify

Calmly Sad Sometimes it’s important to take the time and let the emotions flow. For those rainier days, here is some calm music to listen to while you clear your system of whatever is bringing you down. Listen On Spotify

Skin Emotion is like skin. Some is soft, some is rough, some is dark, and some is light. All emotion should be felt, through our skin and inside our bones. Here’s a list of songs to sit back and let sink in through the skin. Listen On Spotify (feat. @redwatersounds)

Cuddles To Kisses Night in with your favorite person? Need some romantic, slightly steamy ambiance? These songs will set the mood for a memorable evening. Listen On Spotify (feat. @redwatersounds)

Hurt Me, Won’t You? All the songs she cried to over you.. Listen On Spotify

Pagan Underground In history class, we learned about witches. About them being hunted down. We were told this was all a misconception. That true witches were never to be found. But I know the real truth, the one everyone says is wrong. Listen On Spotify

Driving At Night Windows down, stereo loud, and our throats raw from singing along as our worries are soaked up by the stars above.. Listen On Spotify

2 AM With You On The Beach Here I am, drowning in an ocean of you.. Listen On Spotify (feat. @redwatersounds)

Rebellious Teenagers The greatest pleasure in life is doing what others say you cannot.. Listen On Spotify (feat. @redwatersounds)

Silk Sheets & Afternoon Tea We all need a calm day in bed with a cup of tea sometimes, as well as a soundtrack to go with..Listen On Spotify (feat. @redwatersounds)

Warmth Warm songs for cold days..Listen On Spotify

Valentine’s Day You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams..Listen On Spotify (feat. @redwatersounds)

Good Old Days When we had the time to just lay and listen..Listen On Spotify

We Were Picturesque Remember those days? I’m starting to forget…Listen On Spotify

Mocha Sit back, sip a coffee, and enjoy…Listen On Spotify

Home The songs that embody home and familiarity..Listen On Spotify

Speeding To A Stop We all need a soundtrack to increase the drama of driving on a freeway at night.. Listen On Spotify

Dancing With Myself Allow yourself to trust joy and embrace it. You will find you dance with everything.. Listen On Spotify

Moody Day For those days when you just need to pout about stuff, or when you’re writing an exceptionally angsty scene. Your choice. Listen On Spotify

Star Crossed For those lovers who were torn apart and brought together again.. Listen On Spotify

Original Character Playlists

Wordsnstuff’s Writing Playlist

☼ Resources For Writing ☼

Useful Writing Resources

Useful Writing Resources II

Resources For Romance Writers

Resources For Fantasy & Mythology Writers

Resources For Crime, Mystery, & Thriller Writers

Resources For Writing Sketchy Topics

Resources For Describing Physical Things

Resources For Describing Characters

Resources For Describing Emotions

Resources For Creating Characters

Resources For Worldbuilding

Resources For Plot Development

☼ Resources For Writing Period Pieces Series ☼

Resources For Writing Period Pieces: High Middle Ages & Renaissance

Resources For Writing Period Pieces: 1600s

☼ Miscellaneous ☼

Book Recommendations

Word Counts Converted To Novel Pages

Mental Illness Awareness

10 Easy Changes You Can Make To Your Lifestyle To Be Happier And Healthier Almost Instantly

25 Study Tips To Make Your Life Easier

Reasons To Improve Your Lifestyle

How To Make Study Dates More About Studying (And Have Fun At The Same Time)

Study Environment & How To Make Studying Easier

Healthy Forms Of Motivation

How To Have A Productive Mindset

So You Want To Start A Blog

Resources For Students

How To Improve Your Life In Little Ways

☼ Tags ☼

Q&A

Photos/Quotes

Reader Submitted Writing

**How to Navigate My Blog**

Side Notes {Based On Frequently Asked Questions}

You can request playlists. Send me a quote, phrase, concept, etc. and I will make it!

If you have a request, I prefer if you send it through my ask box, rather than private message. I get a lot of messages from people and your request may be drowned out or forgotten about. My ask box is where I keep track of reader suggestions/input, so please use that instead.

PICTURES // QUOTES // REBLOGS // FAQ

INSTAGRAM // FACEBOOK // TWITTER

For A VERY useful fact, click here

#masterlist #lasterpost #resources #writing prompts #writing #aesthetic #wordsnstuff #productivity #writing advice #original writing #poetry #art #photography #playlists #writing help #resourcemasterposts

12K notes · View notes

gobigorgohome2016 · 6 years

Text

Taper Week 1 + Final Big Workout

I am in the home stretch, which is strange because I’m feeling very different from other marathon training cycles.

Normally at this point, I am plotting out exactly what I am going to do as soon as I cross the finish line: drink a beer, eat a burger, and not engage in any physical activity for a glorious 14 days. Last year, the US half marathon championships couldn’t come soon enough. Even on the starting line, all I could think about was covering 13.1 miles as quickly as possible solely so that I could take a break. Definitely not the right mindset for running your best!

Traditionally, taper has been hard for me. Not from the standpoint of “taper crazies” - I’m not going to lie, when people complain about running less I just don’t get it. At the same time, my taper is relatively small. I ran 108 miles for my peak week, and last week I ran 92 (which includes one day off). When you track my 7 day stretch from Tuesday to Monday, I still covered 102 miles. This week will be lower, though, coming in at 76. It will be weird to only run once per day most of the week. Actually, today was my first single run in weeks and I felt like I had infinitely more time on my hands! Of course that means I was less productive, because the best way to get things done is to be really busy, amirite?

I’m starting to wonder if my early season setbacks will have actually served a greater purpose. I feel like the last few weeks have been a turning point in my fitness and that things are coming together. About 4 weeks ago I was running a warm up and I thought to myself you need to just be okay with the fact this might not be a PR training cycle. After I had that thought, I wound up running a better-than-expected workout and I feel like I’ve been on the up and up ever since. I’m not sure I have ever made it to this point in training feeling as though my legs are still fresh.

On Sunday I did what I love to do during taper: I pored over my running logs and looked at data. I love to look at my mileage totals. Here is my mileage during the same 92 day periods leading up to each race:

Twin Cities: 1,019 miles Olympic Trials: 1,163 miles Pittsburgh: 1,147 miles

At the end of the day, I will have only run 16 fewer miles than I did in the 3 months leading up to the Trials. That doesn’t tell the whole story, though. That training window includes a 3 week period where I was dealing with a hamstring issue. If we look at the final 6 weeks of training, the mileage totals are slightly different:

Twin Cities: 505 miles Olympic Trials: 554 miles Pittsburgh: 565 miles

I have definitely come on stronger the last few weeks whereas in past training, I have struggled during taper to have motivation to run. At the end of the day, training and racing only produces more data, so it will be interesting for me to see how the increased mileage plays a role in the outcome.

I’m in the process of reading Deena Kastor’s Let Your Mind Run. This book could not have come out at a better time for me. I like to read during taper. Before Twin Cities, I read Once a Runner. Before the Trials, I read Suzy Favor Hamilton’s Fast Girl.

Deena’s positivity has helped me look at the last few months and reframe them. At one point I truthfully wondered why I was bothering to run this marathon when it didn’t seem like I was going to be in my best shape. I will be the first to admit that I struggle at times with perfectionism when it comes to running (seriously nothing else though. sometimes I wonder how I graduated college). Something that tremendously helped was when my coach reminded me this race doesn’t have to be perfect - it just has to be good, I’m already a pretty damn good runner.

Deena’s book inspired me to reframe a lot of the negative thoughts that have been holding me back lately. For instance, I have used one word to describe this training cycle: setback. I’m pretty sure I have uttered that word more times in the last 4 months than I have in my entire life. Instead of thinking about the things that have hindered progress, why not think of them as things I have overcome? At the end of the day, I have run a shit ton of miles after dealing with:

-a calf injury -a plantar injury -a hamstring injury -a badly infected blister -a couple illnesses -a post-tib issue -the worst case of eczema I’ve experienced in my 20′s -unmet expectations at races -new food sensitivities that undoubtedly contributed to the previous 8 items on this list

I prevailed despite all of these things. What’s so hard about a marathon after your toe doubles in size because it is infected and is so painful you have to drive barefoot in the middle of winter because your shoe is applying too much painful pressure on your toe when you hit the gas pedal?

Deena’s book is also helping me see the other things I do - the things that are easy to forget - that make me a better athlete. Joe Vigil has a quote that there is no such thing as overtraining, just underresting. I love that. This training cycle I have made it a point to:

-nap at least 60 minutes every day -eliminate foods that I know my body cannot tolerate (science is cool) -get a massage every 2 weeks -set up mental game sessions as needed -have increased contact with my coach -make dietitian appointments as needed -make visualization a priority -do daily yoga instead of one session per week -more core/lifting -practice race day [this training cycle I made it a point to practice getting up at 4 AM before a couple long run workouts so that I wasn’t in shock when I had to do it for the race]

There is no guarantee that any of these things are going to make a better runner; but, there was something that Des Linden said leading up to Boston that spoke to me: I could live with myself if I didn’t win Boston. I decided I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try. (referring to her training)

If I don’t reach my ultimate goal of breaking 2:30 in the marathon, I’ll live. But, as long as I am training I will have a hard time not doing everything in my power that I know will contribute to success. I often think of my mom telling me in high school (when I was half-assing my assignments) “if it’s a job worth doing, it’s a job worth doing well.”

The past week of workouts has been good. I’m not sure where the notion came from that taper weeks are easy. In reality, the lower mileage gives way to more intensity. Here’s what my week looked like:

M: off (first dasy off in 6 weeks!) T: AM: 4, PM: 12 mi total w/ 6 x mi @ marathon effort ending with a mile at half marathon effort W: AM: 10, PM: 6 Th: AM: 6 x 400 m @ mile race pace w/ full recovery, PM: 7 F: AM: 10, PM: 5 Sa: AM: 8, PM: 5 Su: AM: 16 mi cut down finishing in 5:44; PM: 4 mi shake out

Total for the week was 92, and I’m really happy with how my legs felt during that cut down. I remember that workout before Twin Cities and crawling through the shake out later in the day because my legs were trashed. The biggest difference I have noticed during the past 4 or 5 weeks is that my legs are recovering really well.

Today was my last big workout, and it was actually one I have never done before! The plan was 3 x 15:00 at threshold pace. While there is little fitness to be gained at this point, I’m so glad I did this workout because it was a huge mental win.

I went to the tow path for the workout, which is a crushed limestone path in Indy. I figured 15:00 should be roughly 2.5 miles. My plan was to do a 2.5 mi stretch, then a 2.5 mi loop through a neighborhood, then the 2.5 mi stretch back. I did not account for how much rain we have had lately, and the tow path was a muddy, sloppy, puddle-dotted mess. We also have had pretty cold weather, so today was quite the contrast with 60 degrees and 100% humidity / light rain. Fun fact: I have run in a sports bra and shorts once this year, and that was in February.

My superhero running strength is that I’m really good at not going out too fast, and at progressively picking up the pace in workouts as I go. Actually, when this doesn’t happen I generally know something might be wrong with me. Today was not that day.

My first mile of my first 15:00 was 5:49. This is not my threshold pace on a perfect weather day, and it’s definitely not my threshold pace on wet, muddy, soggy ground when I am slipping and sliding everywhere. My second mile was 5:46. I wound up covering 2.57 mi in 15:00 minutes.

My fatal flaw as a runner is that, when I see these splits, I feel as though I must continue getting faster. not the point of this workout. So, I convinced myself that I needed to slow down.

My first mile was 5:52 of the second 15:00 tempo. Honestly, my legs felt like garbage. I was running through a neighborhood on completely soaked streets trying to make turns and I ran way too hard in my previous effort. My quads felt like crap. My 2nd mile was 6:00. I panicked. Quads are heavy + slowing down. When was the last time I felt this way? Oh, right, when I was anemic in the fall. At 12:00 I just stopped running. I contemplated calling it a day and jogging back to my car. Actually, I convinced myself that was what I should do. If my quads are heavy, why add extra strain? Then I spiraled. What if I feel this way during the marathon and just walk off the course?

Finally I decided I was going to finish the workout no matter what, even if it meant running 6:30 pace. I took a couple minutes to regroup and decided the final tempo would be 18:00, to account for the 3 that I missed when I cut the second one short. I would start slow (closer to my actual threshold pace), and no matter what stick this one out. First mile: 6:07. Much better. Second mile: 6:02. 3rd mile: 5:55. So, I made a workout that wasn’t supposed to be hard much more difficult than it had to be.

But, I’m happy that it happened that way. It is very rare for me to have a bad day in practice. It’s even rarer for me to stop. I don’t get a lot of opportunities to practice bringing it back around and making the day successful. Having at least one experience like this going into the marathon is important, because if there is anything we’ve learned in the past 10 days, it’s that you can think you’re going to drop out of a race at half way, then find yourself becoming the first American in 33 years to win the Boston marathon.

5 notes · View notes

myautisticpov · 7 years

Text

Things to Watch/Read/Play instead of Atypical

Okay, I haven’t watched it myself because I’m ill and stuff like this takes up spoons, but it looks like Atypical isn’t good.

So, I thought I would make a list of my favourite games/shows/movies/books with autistic characters for people to read/watch instead.

1. Power Rangers (2017)

Making the blue ranger autistic was possibly the most obvious thing for any Power Rangers reboot to do, and yet I still can’t believe that they did it. Billy is truly the heart of this movie, but not in the patronising way NTs say that about autistic characters. The film uses the idea that the suits are powered by friendship and Billy is the first one to activate his. It’s truly amazing to watch an autistic character portrayed like this in a blockbuster movie.

Link to my full review.

2. On the Edge of Gone

On the Edge of Gone uses the end of the world to ask, Who gets to decide who is worth saving? When so much post-apocalyptic fiction treats throwing away disabled people as a given, On the Edge of Gone takes a look at the end of the world through an autistic girl’s eyes and has her ask “But why?” I would highly recommend reading.

Link to my full review.

3. To The Moon

Warning: This Game Will Make You Cry.

No, seriously. A bittersweet tale about a man - Johnny - whose dying wish is to visit the moon, To The Moon follows two doctors who specialise in creating artificial memories as they go back through his life to give him that lunar journey. The man’s wife, River, is autistic, as is his best friend’s wife, Isabelle, and as I have said a thousand times, having more than one autistic character can mean the world for making them seem real. You might expect that, as we are seeing the world through Johnny’s memories, the depiction of River would be incredibly one-sided, but by having Isabelle there as well, it adds a character who can stand up for River.

I won’t say much more about the game’s plot to avoid spoilers, but I will say that if someone had told me before I played this that they wanted to use an autistic person’s different communication style as a way to add heartbreak to a story, I wouldn’t have believed that it could be done in a non-gross way. This game manages it and I cannot listen to the soundtrack without crying.

4. Queens of Geek

NOTE: I still haven’t read the final version of this book, just the pre-release one, so some changes might have occurred in editing.

Another YA book, Queens of Geek is a story about a group of friends going to a convention together. One of the main characters, Taylor, is autistic and her story revolves around how she manages her anxiety when it comes to putting herself out in the world, both in new experiences and relationships. It’s a really sweet story and I would definitely give it a read.

Link to my full review (it used to be called What Happens at SupaCon).

5. Community

Community is hit and miss, I will admit, but when it’s good, it’s good. A comedy following a Spanish study group in a community college, every character in this show is amazing, including Abed Nadir, who is also autistic. While later seasons can get patchy about representing Abed, I would definitely at least give the first one a watch.

Link to my full review.

6. The Xandri Corelel Books

I haven’t actually finished these books, I’m only about halfway through the prologue, but I already love them so much that they have to make the list.

One of my favourite things is having autistic characters in sci-fi and fantasy and really doing something with how their traits interact with the world. The main character of these books - Xandri Corelel - is autistic and, as such, doesn’t bring the same assumptions to communication that allistics bring, allowing her to better communicate with alien species.

Again, I need to finish reading, but so far, I would highly recommend it!

7. The IT Crowd

A British comedy following two autistic IT support workers at a large company, their clueless boss, and a random goth who lives in the server room. A really funny show that once again proves that having multiple autistic characters really helps to round out representation.

NOTE: This show has some really dodgy/outright offensive bits, including a rape joke and an episode-long transphobic joke. It’s good when it’s not doing this, but yeah, it has not aged well.

Link to my full review.

8. Trial and Temptation

*cough* So, is this the part where I admit to reading sci-fi romance books unironically?

I actually read the Mandrake Company series of books before the hero of the second book - Gregor Thatcher - was confirmed as autistic by the author, and I cannot stress how awesome it feels to have a headcanon become canon.

Gregor is the head pilot of a galactic mercenary company and the book follows him and a new recruit he used to know getting reacquainted and learning to communicate. If you want a realistic yet optimistic romance with an autistic lead, this is the book for you.

Honourable Mention: Archer

Archer has not been confirmed or denied as autistic by his creators, but Lana speculates that he might be in the show, and that’s good enough for me.

Whether it is for you or not is another question, but looking at Archer through an autistic lens definitely makes for good TV.

Link to my full review.

Feel free to add your own!

#actuallyautistic #actually autistic #transphobia mention #rape mention

654 notes · View notes

lady-alayne · 7 years

Text

Game of Thrones: An Angry Recap

Season 7 Episode 3: The Queen's Justice

(a little late this week, as I moved to another country yesterday, but next week I'll be on time)

Dragonstone:

It turns out when Melisandre resurrected Jon Snow, she also gave him the power of super speed. Remember when entire episodes were dedicated to a person traveling? Ah, good times. OH AND REMEMBER HOW ARYA IS NOT IN THIS EPISODE BECAUSE SHE IS CURRENTLY TRAVELING A DISTANCE ABOUT ONE THIRD OF THE DISTANCE JON AND DAVOS HAVE TRAVELED OVERNIGHT?!?!?!?! This show doesn't even have continuity in one single episode, let alone over the course of several seasons. Gah.

Speaking of continuity! Davos is super mad a little distraught kind of pissed — I don't know. What exactly is Davos? His sons died in the Battle of the Blackwater, and Tyrion not only fought on the other side, he was responsible for the wildfire plot... But YOLO, I guess? Team Dany and the power of love, y'all.

Missandei, who, as we learn, is the Queen's Most Trusted Advisor (on the gender of high Valyrian nouns), smartly dodges Davos's attempt at small talk and keeps her cards close to her chest, not mentioning her slave background. As the team makes their way up to the castle a dragon flies overhead dramatically, and the CGI budget for this episode is blown. This is why we can't have direwolves, people. RIP Shaggy and Summer.

And then it happens, the moment we have all been waiting for: Jon meets Dany for the first time! After an, I must begrudgingly admit, funny introduction scene (go Davos!), the two royals talk. Unfortunatley they don't really hit it off, as Jon refuses to bend the knee and call her queen, even though the last King in the North, Torrhen Stark, totally swore fealty to House Targaryen for, like, ever. Everyone agrees. Seriously??? WHAT WAS ROBB STARK???? BARISTA IN THE NORTH??? JON YOUR BROTHER OR COUSIN OR WHATEVER DID NOT DIE FOR YOU TO STAND THERE AND TELL EVERYONE “Uh, yes, Torrhen was the last King in the North.”

Jon then gloomily recites his House words – Winter is coming – and adds that this time Winter comes with some friends, who are looking forward to killing everyone. Dany does not believe him. And why would she? She has never experienced anything supernatural! Except when she used bloodmagic to save her husband's life. Or when she did not burn. Or when he dragons were born. Or that whole Qarth business. Or the second time she did not burn. But yeah other than that, nothing much supernatural going on in her life.

Davos then breaks into a passionate monologue he copy/pasted from reddit about Jon and why he's awesome, but is stopped before he can talk about the Jon dying and coming back to life bit. Apparently resurrected people are looked down upon in Westeros? I wonder if Jon and Ser Gregor are pen pals, they could probably really support each other during these times.

Dany is not moved though, and breaks into the “My rape and abuse have only made me stronger” monologue (TM). NO. NO. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. D&D, you fucking straight white men. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND PURE STOP PORTRAYING RAPE AND SEXUALIZED ABUSE AND EXPOLITATION AS THE ULTIMATE AND ONLY WAY FOR WOMEN TO GROW. I CAN'T ENDURE THIS BULLSHIT ANY LONGER. I CAN'T. SEVEN SAVE ME. NO. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

I have to say though, I find it very strange that Dany so openly speaks about her rape, given how she later fell in love with her rapist and he became her Sun and Stars and everything. One would assume that a) Dany doesn't mention it or b) D&D logic dictates that it's not rape, because, um, consent after the fact or something. But oh well, anything that makes us remember GoT has rape! Whoa!

***

Meanwhile, on a dramatic cliff, Melisande and Varys don't like each other. Mel is fearing Jon and Davos wouldn't be too happy to see her because of “terrible mistakes” she made. I assume she was talking about Shireen here? Don't worry, Mel! If Davos has forgiven Tyrion for the Battle of the Blackwater, I'm sure he won't hold the burning of an innocent child against you.

Varys wants Mel to go far away, which she has already announced she would. But Varys doesn't really believe her... Psychological warfare, I guess? “Oh, Mel, Volantis is SO BEAUTIFUL! It's always sunny and the people are happy and it always smells so good! I hope you won't leave this sad, grey, pathetic fortress that reminds you of your sad, sad history with Stannis to go there! It would make me really sad if you left us, by the way, the next plane leaves at five. Also, if you come back you will probably die.”

“That works for me,” responds Melisandre in true badassery, “because I have to die here, anyway. And so do you! Mel out!” And she leaves him speechless. Way to shut up the haters, Mel! You're my new heroine.

***

A few hours/days/weeks (who can tell? Time has lost all meaning) later, Jon is moping about kind of being Dany's prisoner. Tyrion swoops in and once more saves the day by REMINDING Jon that he should ask Dany for the Dragonglass, even though Tyrion himself did not know about the Dragonglass. But that's Tyrion, he knows everything, he's the awesomest person ever, and his quips look super good on a T-Shirt, so the writers favor him above all else. Let the wanking over Tyrion continue.

So Jon asks Dany for the Dragonglass, who tells him to get to work. Wait, did Dany expect Jon to mine all by himself? Possibly while singing a funny song? He is not a Disney character, Dany!

King's Landing:

Euron brings Cersei her gift—Asha, Ellaria, and Ellaria's daughter (Ellorio? Alleria? Airalle? Why bother with names at this point). The people of King's Landing stand all over the city and cheer, which makes me wonder how they knew Euron was coming. Was this a scheduled event? Like, “Next Tuesday: Return of the prisoners. Bring your own rotten fruit. Standing room only. / Next Friday: The Fleabottom Book Club Reads the Seven-Pointed Star.”

While delivering his gift, Euron does not fail to remind us that Cersei is a woman and may therefore be penetrated in all holes because... that's what women are there for? SERIOUSLY??? I CAN'T WITH THIS SHOW. STOP IT WITH THE OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN. NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THAT. UUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH.

Cersei has an evil plan all hatched and ready, and kills Ellaria's daughter in the same way Ellaria killed Cersei's daughter. You have to hand it to her, Cersei's got style. At least she did not bake Ellaria's daughter into a pie. Probably because she does not know that trick with the butter!

That scene was my favorite scene in the episode though. Lena Heady and Indira Varma are brilliant actresses; Cersei's sick pleasure in all of this was vivid and scary, and Ellaria's desperate struggle moved me to tears.

I feel myself rooting for Cersei more and more with each episode. She's a really, really bad person, but she's SO GOOD at being bad. She's probably the only person who truly enjoys herself at the moment, and for that she has my respect.

Winterfell:

Sansa is ruling the North like a true badass, and she's good at it! That, or she's mediocre at best, and everyone else is just reall, REALLY stupid. A maester who does not know the longest winter in the last 100 years?????? Seriously?!?!?! And an armorer who does not know how to insulate breastplates??? In what world would an armorer not know how to insulate breastplates, but Sansa Stark knows? WHERE WOULD SHE HAVE LEARNED?!?!?! She never showed the slightest interest in warfare while she was growing up, and then she moved to King's Landing, where I doubt she had long discussions with armorers, and even if, they probably would not have told her about insulation because, you know, King's Landing is not in the North??? And I cannot imagine Ramsay let Sansa learn about breastplates and stuff while he wasn't raping her. GRRRR!!! I get that D&D want to make Sansa badass and smart and give her agency and YAAAASSS QUEEN FINALLY, but come on, they don't find ways to make Sansa look smart without making everyone super dumb?

Apparently not, because Sansa also knows AS MUCH, IF NOT MORE about Cersei as Petyr, A MAN WHO HAS LIVED IN THE CAPITAL FOR 10+ YEARS AND WHO IS ONE OF THE SMARTEST MEN IN THE SHOW (until he miraculously became stupid in season 5 and really, really stupid in season 7).

But there's a glimmer of old Littlefinger still in him, and he treats us to one of his “Always be scheming” monologues. I can only hope HE is scheming as well, but then he would be smarter than D&D together, so that probably can't be.

And then we have Stark Reunion #2, and Bran is back, and he is..... super creepy??? “Hey sister, you were really hot the night you were raped,” he tells Sansa, who suddenly remembers she has to do something. “What do you have to do?” Bran calls after her, and Sansa responds, “Uh, leave.”

Let's hope those two will warm up a bit.

The Citadel:

ARE YOU KIDDING ME. SAM HAS HEALED JORAH COMPLETELY AND IT TOOK HIM LIKE ONE NIGHT???????????????????? AND THEN JORAH IS FREE TO GO?!?!?!?!?! THEY DON'T WANT TO KEEP HIM TO, YOU KNOW, OBSERVE HIM OR WAIT IF THE GREYSCALE WILL COME BACK????????

WHAT EVEN WAS THE POINT OF JORAH HAVING GREYSCALE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?!?!?!?

AND IT REALLY WAS THAT SIMPLE?!?!?!?!?!? JUST SCRAPE OFF THE SKIN?!?!?!?! IN THOUSANDS OF YEARS, NO ONE FOUND THIS SIMPLE AND INSTANTLY SUCCESSFUL PROCEDURE WORTH REVISITING AND IMPROVING UPON?!?!?!?!?!?!

“Dear patient, you have greyscale. I have good news and bad news! The good news is, there is a cure! The bad news is, it's a bit dangerous, and no one really wants to risk it, so we won't cure you. Off to the stone men with you! Bye!”

Casterly Rock/Highgarden:

To finally get even with his Dad, Tyrion has the Unsullied take Casterly Rock, which TYWIN BUILT???????? So.... who were the CASTERLYS, then??? Tywin's favorite piano teacher growing up???

We also learn that Tyrion BUILT THE SEWERS, which means he had maximum 10 years to design an intricate system, hew it into stone, and shuttle his prostitutes through. That sounds super plausible. Grey Worm and ten good men (TM) use those sewers then to take the rock. Remember when Ramsay needed twenty good men (TM) to burn Stannis' camp? Does that mean Tyrion is twice as smart as Ramsay?

But, oh no, almost no one is there, because Jaime took all the Lannisters (does that include Ed Sheeran) and took Highgarden, which was easy because THE HOUSE OF LORAS TYRELL,THE WARDENS OF THE SOUTH, AND THE RULERS OF THE REACH, THE HOUSE THAT WON THE BATTLE OF THE BLACKWATER, aren't good fighters. OH GOD. I can feel my brain cells dying in protest.

Jaime and Olenna have one last battle of words before Olenna drinks poison to save herself from this crap. I understand you, Olenna, I understand you. And another really awesome character is gone to make more room for Emilia Clarke and her stilted monologues. Do you have any more of that poison, Olenna?

#game of thrones #got recap #got an angry recap #anti d&d #got season 7

16 notes · View notes