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theredpharaoah · 7 months

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The issue with trying to construct shows where no form of oppression exists, is that the people creating it come from oppressed societies and don’t adequately check themselves. Like Jaha becoming a villain made sense, but Pike not being able to see the Grounders were ppl just like him didn’t. When we’re introduced to Pike he’s characterized as compassionate and kinda father-figure like. And even people like Miller, Jackson, Indra, and Gaia - moreso used as tools for other characters’ development as opposed to their own. Wells is literally the “black guy always dies first” trope. And even Lincoln’s character has some uncomfortable stuff going on. It’s not purposeful or consciously done - it’s designed so it doesn’t have to be. We don’t have a main character who’s black, of color, or indigenous that has actual development and is a major part of the plot. Monty didn’t really develop at all - neither did Gaia. Indra didn’t really develop, so much as she considered Skaikru family and opened herself up to them. And the death of cultures was so sad - why did all the stations on the Ark settle on English? They had nothing but time - they should’ve learned every language they could. The erasure of all the religions - it would’ve been cool to see how Grounder clans incorporated Becca and the Nightbloods into their religions. Maybe they saw Becca and the Commanders as Maitreya, Kalki, Jesus, etc. You’ve got to remember that’s it’s only been 100 years since the bombs went off. Which happened in like 2030(lol, how bleak). There’s no way all of that just disappears. The culture of the militant Ark is one thing, but the Grounder cultures should’ve retained a lot more. Also, no hijabis, no other languages(Latin and trig doesn’t count), etc. The Commander’s Regalia clearly has Indian influences, but that’s about it. There’s a lot of “eastern” influences in Polis and Grounder culture but nothing concrete. If they’d done the prequel, the second commander being Indian- and so they introduced those parts of the Commander’s Regalia - would’ve been so cool. But I also thought it was dumb that Calliope wasn’t the second commander. Jason essentially tried to recreate the mid season 2 Clarke/Lexa dynamic with Becca and Calliope. As a way to legitimize not giving Clarke the flame, but all it did was make me think that both Calliope and Clarke should’ve gotten the flame. They were clearly being implied as heirs to their respective mentors. Honestly, Lexa should’ve taken Clarke as her second. That could’ve been a really easy way to incorporate her and Skaikru into Grounder culture. Like the usual things people do in alliances were just ignored here. Lexa should’ve commanded a person from each of the 12 clans to come to Polis and take a second - maybe even have several do it. If she didn’t want to weaken Clarke’s position by having her serve Lexa - Luna was an option. Octavia’s training was over. Roan could’ve trained Bellamy(We DESERVED bi Bellamy) or Monty, Miller, Harper, Raven, Murphy, or Jasper(WE DESERVED Monsper but I’m thinking Monty and Roan could’ve been cute too). Like Raven and Murphy having to enter the Order of the Flame under Titus? Having Abby and Jackson create a “school”/safe zone of Mt. Weather where they trained Grounder healers to be doctors. That too. They didn’t leverage their medical/technological superiority NEARLY enough. Like Sinclair and Raven could’ve showed them how to turn the heaters in Polis on or something. No political marriages either. I feel like Jason got so into the sci-fi, he kinda forgot what I felt like really pulled a lot of people into the 100 - that Lord of The Flies, Animal Farm appeal with a sci-fi twist. I loved the politics and strategy of the 100 in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting. He didn’t balance it well and he veered way too far into Sci-fi. And also, a lot of the characterization and depth we got in the first 2 seasons was lost. You really need to see Characters doing meaningless things that don’t always push the plot - some filler is good!

#the 100 rewatch #the 100 season 3

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grandhotelabyss · 11 months

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—Jason Farago, "With Hannah Gadsby’s ‘It’s Pablo-matic,’ the Joke’s on the Brooklyn Museum"

Gadsby's desire to rape Picasso, like the anti-fascist's desire to purify the polis of human pathogens, is another one for the "anti-[X] is [X]" file we've been developing this week. (My fullest reflection on this topic comes in my essay on Thomas Mann's "anti-fascist" classic Mario and the Magician—an ironical novella about how fascists should be slaughtered because, basically, when you think about it, they're Jewish, African, and queer! It made for great reading in the Trump years.) Also compelling is this from Farago:

Most bizarrely, the routine rested on a condemnation of art as an elite swindle, and modernism got it particularly hard. “CUUU-bism,” went Gadsby’s mocking refrain, to reliable audience laughter. (As it is, Picasso’s own Cubist art appears at the Brooklyn Museum through a single 6-by-4.5-inch engraving.) The sarcasm, from a comedian with moderate art historical bona fides, had a purpose: It gave Gadsby’s audience permission to believe that avant-garde painting was actually a big scam. “They’re all cut from the same cloth,” Gadsby told the audience in “Nanette”: “Donald Trump, Pablo Picasso, Harvey Weinstein” — and the art you never liked in the first place could be dismissed as the flimflam of a cabal of evil men.

Not long ago, it would have been embarrassing for adults to admit that they found avant-garde painting too difficult and preferred the comforts of story time. What Gadsby did was give the audience permission — moral permission — to turn their backs on what challenged them, and to ennoble a preference for comfort and kitsch.

Here is a distinctly 21st-century problem crossing the whole political spectrum; here is a problem that has afflicted the entirety of American artistic culture pretty much since the publication of The Corrections the week before 9/11. (Franzen wrote the bestselling novel out of a Gadsby-like hostility to modernist experiment and preference for "story," though he was a good deal more ambivalent about the implications, as his later contretemps with Oprah would prove.)

I've written before about how I wish "the CIA funded modern art" hadn't become such a meme, since it gives philistines of all ideological persuasions a political excuse to dismiss what they don't understand—as if Pollock or Rothko were not discovering actual latent potentials in the form of painting. On the other hand, I live in the 21st century, too, and I judge some extremes of 20th-century avant-gardism to have been dead ends, to have led to machinic wastelands with no human presence.

There are syntheses available here, to us, but none of them involve taking some spuriously politicized pride in our own ignorance. I am somehow better about resolving these crises in my fiction than in my criticism, so I will give you, for free, an excerpt from a late chapter of my novel-in-progress for paid Substack subscribers, Major Arcana:

“I’ve learned a lot, you know. ‘That Diane, what a dumb slut’—I’m sure that’s what you all used to think. Christ, even Ashley thinks that half the time. People are going to think whatever they want. Fuck ’em, that’s what I say. I’ve been painting every single day since Ashley went to college, and I’m starting to learn what the whole thing is about. When Ashley saw that last one”—here Diane del Greco pointed her paintbrush at the canvas to the right of the door, the hot colors in their sea of black—“do you know what she said? She said, ‘Mother, you’ve seen to the end of painting.' It was the first time in her whole life she ever sounded impressed with anything I’ve done. It scared me, to be honest. I’ve seen to the end of painting? Does that mean I should stop? I thought about it, though, and I realized that I could keep painting if I carried the lessons from the end back to the middle. At the end of painting—whatever she meant by that, she really is the strangest girl, Ellen—I stopped wanting to paint a picture of anything. I just wanted to push the paint around, see how the colors looked next to each other. That’s the end, but it’s also the beginning—a little kid smearing food or dirt around with her fingers to see how it feels, see what develops. In the middle, you want to turn it into a picture of something real. I said to myself, what if you try to keep the two feelings together: the feeling where you want to smear the colors around and the feeling where you want to make a picture of what something looks like. You know I didn’t go to college, Ellen, I’m just ‘that dumb slut Diane,’ but I believe this is called romantic realism. Now hold still.”

#hannah gadsby #pablo picasso #jason farago #modernism #avant garde #painting #literature #art criticism #art theory #literary theory

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gb-patch · 3 years

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Ask Answers: August 8th

Well, doing big posts all together worked for a while but lately I’ve been putting it off because it takes a long time to get them done. I think I’m gonna try switching back to answering asks whenever I can fit it in and posting them one at a time instead of waiting until I’ve filled out one of these major collections.

But for now, here’s more ask answers! Thank you for the questions and for all the kind words along with them ^^.

Hello!! I'm here to ask if its possible to get the game and its dlcs on steam and play it on android?

I’m afraid not. Steam doesn’t have Android builds on their own site and Steam is not cool with keys for other sites being given out for Steam purchases, so you don’t get the Itch version from buying on Steam.

Hello! Sorry to bother you but, I had a question, if we buy the Game on itchio do we get steam keys or would we need to purchase it twice?

You would have to buy it twice if you want it in both places, I’m sorry. To repeat myself a little, Steam doesn’t like the key trading thing. Itch may support giving keys for another site, but the reverse isn’t doable with Steam and Steam doesn’t even really want you to get a Steam key for buying somewhere else either. So we just don’t mess around with that.

hey, sorry if this is frequently asked, but is step 4 free dlc or paid for? some of your sources are contradicting each other.

It’s free! There’s a paid wedding DLC, but Step 4 itself is entirely unpaid.

Hello! I just had a quick question, for the Baxter and Derek DLC's will we be able to confess our feelings to them or let them confess to MC? or will it only be one way? (they confess to MC)

Both type of options will be available!

Hey there! I wanted to ask whether or not the Derek DLC is still on track to be released in August since on the steam discussion board it says it will be released mid 2021. I totally understand if it isn't, I'm just really looking forward to it! If you answer then ty! And keep up the amazing work :D

It’s not, aha. Unfortunately, 2021 wasn’t easier than 2020 as we hoped so things are still slower than planned. It’ll come out late 2021 or early 2022.

Hi! Firstly I just want to say that I LOVE Our Life. I have played a bit of similar games but this one instantly wins for the best one! Everything about it is amazing! I just wanted to ask if Derek would ever lose feelings for MC, like if they make the deal and then MC gets with Cove would he move on? and even if you don't, after "losing contact" would his feeling fade or would he still like MC?

If you don’t really keep in touch with him and clearly move on with your life, Derek will too and he’ll be over it. But if you are still close as best as you can be, he’ll still think the MC is special. Though, he’ll always support your relationship with someone else if that’s what’ll make you happy.

Hello! Sorry if you've answered this before but: 'How's Lee related to us? Though which momma? And does she share our player-chosen last names? Also, do you know if Noelani took Pam's last name or did it happen the other way round?

She’s related to Pamela and Pamela’s last name is the one they use, so the MC has the same last name as Lee.

Will we be able to choose which (they or he) we tend to call Qiu by more often, or will it randomly change depending on the moment?

Qiu knows which pronoun they’re comfortable with at a time and you’ll call them what they’re happy with. And it doesn’t change between lines, it takes multiple scenes or even full Steps for it to switch. So for extended periods Qiu will be totally a guy or fully agender.

Will Step 4 of OL2 have moments?

It’ll be an epilogue like it is in OL1, so it won’t have a bunch of different Moments.

Hello! Just a quick question, is Sunset bird from OL1 based on a real location? If so what's it called? I wanna visit it +_+

ps i love your games so much <3

It isn’t based on one specific town you can go to, but there are a lot of little coastal towns in Cali that have a similar vibe!

Heyaaa ( I hope you're all well ), umm… it might seem kinda stupid to ask but did Patreon members can have a key for the dlc's ( all the steps-released dlc ) even if they became a member this month or later ? (me? saying this cuz it's my case? maybe ;-;), and once again thanks for absolutely all the amazing works on all the games ! u-u

You wouldn’t get the DLCs for backing there. The Patreon is for extra bonus content/early access, rather than being a storefront to purchase the normal DLCs. Rarely we give them out as a side gift, but it hardly happens and if what you want is the DLCs it’s best to ignore the Patreon and buy keys for those directly from Itch or Steam. I’m sorry for the confusion.

Hey y'all, love what youre doing w/Terry. Trans rep outside of player customization is so rare and important to see more of so thank you so much. I do have a question and its that does he have a canon sexuality? I know Miranda was said to be straight ace but I dont believe anything was stated for Terry probably because he wasnt revealed to be a guy which changes things. Im also curious if well get answers on how long hes liked Miranda since he may have liked her in step 3 before she liked him

Terry likes women and Randy likes men! And he did like Miranda back in Step 3.

Will the Wedding Dlc release at the same time as Step 4?

They’ll come out separately with Step 4 releasing first.

I really love Our Life so much! I've spent over 20hours playing it even though I only got it a week ago! I was wondering if I could make a fangame for Our Life with a different love interest but same plot. Next-door neighbors romance, multiple steps, etc? I'll probably make it on Google Slides though-

Sure! I hope you have fun with it and I’m glad you love the game.

How does Cove feel about poly relationships?

He’s got nothing against them for the people they work for, but he’s 100% monogamous and would only be comfortable with a partner who was willing to be monogamous with him.

Idk if this has been answered before but will Step 4 include the option to advance your feelings towards Cove?

Yep, you’ll be able to determine your feelings and what your relationship is.

In step 4 will there be a chosen to say we live with Cove even as just friends?

Yeah, you can choose to live with Cove and that can be done when you’re friends.

I just played the game with the MC and Cove being best friends and omg it’s still so damn cute like the wholesomeness of it all is too much for my heart I swear ^.^ Now with that all said I was wondering can we still marry Cove? if we only love him as a friend like let’s say we’ve made deal with him similar to the one we can make with Derek because let’s real no one could compete with what the MC and Cove have even if they aren’t in love.

It’s great to hear you enjoyed the friendship story! You can live with Cove, but you can’t marry him platonically. Cove has familial affection for the MC if they’re best-est friends. He wouldn’t think to marry someone he loves like family and even grew up with as though they truly were siblings.

Are you still going to be making a DLC for XOBD? :]

Yes! We’re slowing adding voiced lines and fixing errors.

It makes me laugh that Shiloh's last name is Fields because that's what I put as my last name! So in Our Life when he talked about "Ms. Fields" picking him up I was extremely confused, lol. That dude mimics personalities so much that he stole my surname!

Oh, wow, that’s a very funny coincidence, haha.

hi !! i cant seem to be able to get the scene where mc is able to propose to cove despite being at the 'love' stage and telling him i'd want to get married, are there any other details that im missing out on? the options just dont appear at the end...

Maybe you missed telling Cove you were in love with him even if you mentioned wanting to get married or you might’ve accidentally said earlier in the game that you don’t want to progress your relationship further with Cove. We haven’t removed them, so you can get the scene again. It’s just kind of easy to miss since there’s multiple requirements. You can read a little guide in the FAQ.

wait what di you need to do to be able to propose to cove? I've been trying but haven't had much luck

You can check out the FAQ linked above!

does cove only develop a crush on the mc if the mc is also at crush/in love with him?

Technically, yes. We treat the non-romantic relationship options as truly non-romantic since we don’t want to bait and switch people. But there’s nothing wrong with headcanoning that Cove does have feelings developing for the MC even before the MC has.

Is there a way to make/allow Lee and Baxter to date?

No, they just don’t have enough time together.

We also got a group of asks related to Tamarack in OL2, but I’m afraid the way they talked about people with larger bodies made me not want to post their words, even if the person didn’t say they’re trying to be hurtful. I will separate out the core question and answer it though, so people can know that info.

Does Tamarack lose weight in later Steps?

No, she doesn’t. As for the other questions included, to be honest, I don’t have to explain/defend having romance options of different sizes. I’m sorry if you’re dealing with unhappiness that’s connected to body image, if that’s where the negative emotions are coming from, but even so I can’t meet you on that level and pretend it’s a problem that needs an answer. A girl who simply isn’t thin being a main love interest is just not an unreasonable concept. Also, Tamarack isn’t a lesbian. Yes, she can date a female MC, but that doesn’t undo her actual sexuality, so I’m not sure where that one part at the end was coming from.

I wonder... can we "fight" with Qiu over leader status? 👀

Not really, haha. No matter how cool your MC is, they’re never gonna replace Qiu for the other kids around. So you can either partner up with him, follow him too, or not be a part of all that group politics stuff.

So when I play the game, sometimes I mentally call Cove “Covie/Covey” and that made me wonder, how does Cove feel about being nicknamed? Not like Romeo/Space Cadet/etc. but like pet names relating to his actual name

It’d depend on his age, personality, and your relationship with him! When he’s younger he’d probably be embarrassed, when he was grown he’d probably be more casual or happy about it.

will you be able to date baxter in step 3 while at crush with cove (but not dating him ofc) sorry if this has been asked already. i really love baxters step 4 design btw!!

Yeah, you can be crushing on Cove and date Baxter if you weren’t already dating Cove. You just can’t be truly in love with Cove and then switch to Baxter.

I just got my friend into our life, and they adore shiloh and derek sooo will there be more of them in the second game?

I’m afraid not. But you can see plenty more of Shiloh in XOXO Droplets/XOXO Blood Droplets, haha.

I see you haven't gotten any xoxo droplets asks recently but I'm still obsessed with these boys!! I was just wondering if Nate would curse under any circumstance?

Yeah, Nate does use certain swear words (damn, hell, bastard) on very rare occasions.

Hi there! I have a question about the wedding dlc. Will we be able to plan a honeymoon during the planning stages of it or would it be something that Cove and the mc would rather plan later on? Thank you! Absolutly love the game by the way, definitely one of my favorite games!

The focus will be on the wedding day itself. The topic of the honeymoon might come up a bit, but there won’t be any choosing of the exact location and such.

Hi! I have two questions and it's completely understandable if you only answer one/neither and I'm sorry if you've already answered either before! First, is there a set year in which OL:B&A takes place (ex: Step 1 being set in 2010 & Step 2 being set in 2016, etc.) or is it simply up to interpretation? Second, have you guys thought about doing a coming-of-age game where the MC has a tough home life or upbringing? (like one of their parents is an addict, a parent being transphobic whilst the player has the option to be trans, or having friends that are influencing them to do drugs, etc.) That's all! Thanks for making beautiful games. <3

There is a set timeline!

Step 1: 2006 Step 2: 2011 Step 3: 2016 Step 4: 2021

And we don’t currently plan on making a game like that. The Our Life series exists to be a safer environment for people to play around in and if we did do a brand new series that was harsher edged it’d be something more fantastical and/or plot-driven instead of a different type of modern day slice-of-life growing up story. I’m sorry.

i don’t know if you’ve already answered this, but do you have a guess on when phase 4 will come out? as well as ol2? i’m so excited for both of them, the inclusivity in this game is amazing, you guys should be really proud of it!

Step 4 will be coming out very soon! OL2 is gonna take until 2023 to be anywhere near completion. But we might episodically release the Steps one at a time as they get done instead of waiting for three to be finished before launch like we did with the first game.

Hello, I was curious if there was an official or unofficial discord server for the game?

We do have a discord! You can join by clicking this link HERE.

how long do you plan to keep ol's patreon running?

Hopefully for at least a few more years.

Are you considering ever making merch?

Yeah, but I don’t know when it’ll happen or what exactly we’ll make, aha. It’s something we want do, just nothing is set.

hi! i just found out about your game a couple of days ago on tiktok (so sorry if you’ve already answered this question) and i was wondering if y’all are ever planning to release it on iOS?

I have no idea. It’s hard for a small group to get Apple approval and I honestly can’t say if it’ll ever happen or not. Maybe someday, though!

Hi, I love the art style of Our life and I would like to know if the artist has a Twitter? Also, could it be possible to fund more CGs for the game from him/her? So many times, I wish there was one like when the cutscene of the sunshower.

That’s nice of you to offer. He doesn’t have a Twitter, at least not one that’s public enough to be shared with me. And I’m afraid not. The issue is that the CGs take huge amounts of time rather than there not being a budget for it. He’s gotta make CGs for Step 4, the DLCs, and new character sprites, too. There isn’t space in the schedule for even more. Sorry for that.

Hi, how are you?!

Are you planning on accepting new writers or is it always the same people who write your stories??

Thanks!!

Our Life: Beginnings & Always won’t be getting new writers, but we will be hiring a new team of writers for Our Life: Now & Forever eventually!

perhaps this counts as nsfw and I'm sure it has been answered before but what does Cove prefer, chests/boobs or butts? or perhaps both :3c thank you for this wonderful game (and the patreon bonus moment, it was worth all the waiting and more ♥)

He’s a “chests of all shapes and sizes” kind of guy, haha.

i was wondering- did any of the writers actually grow up by the beach? as someone who's lived in a beach town all their life it really did feel nostalgic to play through our life 1

I was born and raised in Cali! Though, not right by the beach. We still had to make trips out, but the setting is based on my own childhood memories of small beach towns we went through.

In Derek’s upcoming DLC, will we be able to reference the pact we made as teens? (love olba and xod/xobd so much btw you’re literally amazing)

Yep, you will be able to talk about that!

Oh, sorry about the Cole being secretly L ask, then!

If you wanted context: Death Note is about this one guy who finds a notebook that kills anyone who you write the name of in there. The guy eventually develops a God Complex and starts mass killing criminals and stuff. L is the one trying to find out who is killing all these people.

Me and my sister first joked about it because I couldn't remember how to translate a word about the way Cove was sitting, so I just did the pose, and it looked a lot like how L himself sits! Then we just snowballed from there, with more and more nonsense connections.

That’s okay! Thanks for explaining. I’m sorry I didn’t know what you meant.

#our life #ask #gb patch #gb patch games

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warrioreowynofrohan · 3 years

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hello! Do you have any silm or lotr fic recs? :D I love reading your meta, thanks for your writing!

Sorry forgot to add - I did go through your top ten fics list (and everything written by arriviste haha), so would be curious if there are any fics you’ve read recently that you’ve enjoyed!

Thank you so much! I don't read extremely widely when it comes to Silm/LOTR fanfic - mostly I have a small list of favourites that I reread a lot - but here are some others that I've liked. The Potboy and Clodia recs are by way of @arrivisting - thank you for getting me onto those!

More of the Splintered Light series by @thearrogantemu: "When All Other Lights Go Out" (focused on Findis, and absolutely beautiful) and "When the Fall is All There is" (about Gandalf and Frodo) are both excellent!

"To gather in a flourishing way" - a gorgeous fairy-tale style piece about Anairie and Earwen centred on cross-cultural understanding and reconciliation.

“Tell me something the Teleri do that the Noldor do not,” she said, and Eärwen sang her the driest teaching songs of law she had ever learned from her eldest brother, thinking Anairë’s request somewhat arrogant. Nevertheless, Anairë listened, and when she had done asked many questions.

As the light of the Trees reached its mingling, she rose and said, “I see now that the Falmari see the need for order differently than do the Noldor. I thank you, and would like to speak with you again.”

Anairë next found Eärwen at a family gathering, where she stood somewhat apart. She asked Eärwen, “Will you tell me something the loremasters of the Falmari know that those of the Noldor do not?” Eärwen sang her the teaching songs her mother sang to young mariners and divers so they could know the currents and forces of the open sea, thinking in her heart that Anairë would be bored. Nevertheless, Anairë listened, and when she had done asked many questions.

When voices began to rise in anger elsewhere in the room, as they often did at these gatherings, Anairë stood quickly and said, “I see now that the knowledge of your people runs as deep as the knowledge of mine, only in a different direction. I thank you, and would like see you again where we can speak properly.”

"Oak and Willow" by Potboy - a multichapter fic tracing the early growth of the relationship between Celeborn and Galadriel, primarily from the Sindar point of view. Does an excellent job of illumination how the Sindar would have seen things, which is very different from the Noldor-centric assumptions of many fics.

"Goldilocks and the Three Balrogs" by Clodia, about Glorfindel's return to Middle-earth alongside the Istari. Glorfindel, and the Istari, and a couple elves of Middle-earth that he meets are all very well characterized; the sense of culture shock and dislocation is palpable, and the character development is done very effectively. "Wanderlust" is another good one by the same author, and "Nightingales and Starlight" deals with post-canon Daeron and the composition of the Leithian and also has some good character development.

HereNorThereNearNorFar has a variety of very good fics that often take me outside of my comfort zone, including "Our Lady of Perpetual Compassion, She of Sorrows and Succor" (about Nienna), "And Fair She Was and Free" (a very good fic about the growth of the romance between Amroth and Nimrodel), "Casting Out the Serpent" and "Suitable Foster" (Finrod and Beor and general cultural differences between elves and men), "The Sky, the Sea, the Birds Between" (Earendil, Elwing and Eonwe; the fact that her writing actually got me to read a fic about Earendil and Elwing having a poly relationship with an angel speaks for itself), "Three Golden Rings" (post-canon Silvergifting, which is a relationship I usually don't go in for at all), "Who Never Returned" (Morwen's opinion of Beren; it isn't kind), and "The Thousand Stories" (myths memories, and perspectives of the Men of Middle-earth - and one from an orc; vaguely reminiscent of NK Jemison to me, also with notes of The Tombs of Atuan).

Undercat (@undercat-overdog on tumblr) has some good fics; I'm currently casually following "Shall These Bones Live" (another post-canon Silvergifting one) because I'm very weak for Ezekiel references.

There are definitely parts of the Quenta Narquelion by bunn that I find very compelling and emotionally moving, though there are also large parts that I have major philosophical differences with.

And by the way, if you enjoyed "The Starless Road", the author has some original m/m fantasy fiction published with a faerieland that is very beautiful, otherworldly, and unsafe: Silver in the Wood and Drowned Country, by Emily Tesh; they're both novella-length and, as you would expect from the author of 'The Starless Road', the prose is gorgeous.

#the silmarillion #the lord of the rings #tolkien #fic rec

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rosesloveletters · 3 years

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Self-Shipping Reference.

I have been debating on creating a self-shipping reference for these two, but since I am certain of our dynamic at this point, I wanted to delve right in; I love Will and Jakob so very much and I wanted to create a little collection of our relationship like I’ve done before in the past. Most of all, this is for me so that I can have it as a reference, so there is absolutely no obligation to interact with this post. If you do, thank you for showing us so much love and care, I really appreciate it more than anything. This community is so welcoming of self-shipping and that means a lot to me<3.

last updated: June 17, 2021

please do not read if you are not interested in or comfortable with self-shipping.

word count: 2,908

Ship name?

Our collective ship name is Grimmrose, for obvious reasons (my poly heart can hardly take it😭✨💛)

I do not feel I should need to say this (as it should already be implied), but since I do not want angry anons in my ask box about this, I will state: Will and Jakob are not romantically involved in our dynamic; the love they have for each other is familial only. They both share me, but that is as far as it goes. There is absolutely no incestuous aspects of our relationship.

Date you got together?

Jakob: May 26, 2021. The open honesty and security within our vulnerabilities were what prompted Jakob and I to jump in headfirst. We knew how we felt almost immediately; Jakob believes in love at first sight and I value that sentiment. It was a mutual understanding that the two of us were meant to be together (even if I hadn’t already known, the darling would have convinced me - he is extremely persuasive and given to a dreamer’s mindset.) The two of us easily came to an agreement on beginning a relationship because of how similar we have found ourselves to be. It was not difficult to access what each other was thinking and how we chose to approach those thoughts and feelings. Jakob is driven by those, after all, and his bright spirit and general interest in the things that cannot be so easily explained drew me to him.

Will:

Platonic: May 26, 2021.

Romantic: June 14, 2021.

Will was, to my surprise, not as difficult to access as I expected. He has a much different personality to Jakob’s; the two are near opposite ends of the spectrum. Will’s mission has been to protect Jakob, mostly from himself, but Jakob does not understand that the reason Will is so hard on him is because Will feels helpless around him. Jakob’s mind is so bright and open, while Will does not understand how to compete with that nor how to understand or fit into Jakob’s world of folklore and mythical, magical beings. He feels weak in comparison to Jakob’s spirit; Will values my ability to cross those lines and connect with both him and Jakob. Will has never known another to be so well-suited for his brother and he is respectful of how we interact, since until now he has been the only one who has been able to reach Jakob. We were platonic for several weeks out of respect for Jakob, but soon entered into a mutual agreement to share the love that we all have for each other; the brothers agreed to share me since they have both developed such strong feelings.

Favorite personality trait?

Jakob: His sense of security within vulnerabilities. Jakob is more given to childlike excitement and the thrill of action whenever it is of a magical quality. He fidgets, has a distinct nervous energy/uncomfortable body language, a clear mind but one that fancies fiction over reality. Whenever he drinks, he’s giddy and excited; the only one who can get through to him in these moments are Will and I. The thing is, Jakob has never tried to be anybody but himself. He is aware that these qualities are not valued by the vast majority and are perhaps seen as weaknesses or even are simply frowned upon (much of this he experienced as a result of the way Will treated him over the years), but even all of that has never caused his personality to shift or made him close himself off. Jakob has always found security within who he is, regardless of whether those around like it or not.

Will: His protective commitment to those who he loves. Even though Will canonically admitted his frustrations over Jakob and how he “hates” his younger bother, stating how Jakob “drives him mad”, he is fiercely protective of him and committed to maintaining their relationship in spite of any disagreements or arguments. Will does not give up on those he loves. Even though it would have made sense for him to toss Jakob into the streets and leave him if he truly hates him, but Will does not. Despite his confession, he has never actually hated his brother; Jakob makes him feel weak, helpless and inferior because Jakob’s comprehension of things beyond Will’s understanding or compulsion to understand or look beyond what is right in front of him is too different and unusual to him.

Favorite physical trait?

Jakob: His eyes. Jakob’s eyes are so expressive; they sparkle in the light and his irises twinkle. His soul appears as if it were made from stardust and every bit of him glows. His eyes reflect the innocence and playful mischief bound within him; he is a dreamer at heart and his eyes mirror that.

Will: His smile. There is a scene when Jakob and Will first arrive at Marbaden and they are confronted by the townspeople with weapons, uncertain of who these two strangers are, and when Will tries to explain who they are his smile is simply dazzling. I believe that was the moment I found myself in love with him; I have not seen a smile so bright in a long time. Here’s a screenshot of his smile (Jakob’s expression in the background is so funny😂):

Couple song

We do not have a couple song yet; we have couple albums.

Taylor Swift’s albums Folklore and Evermore are sister albums, so it only makes sense that they are representative of the two brothers respectively: Folklore for Jakob and Evermore for Will.

Both albums are suited to the three of us; the feelings provoked from both establish the tone of our relationship.

Pet peeves…

There is only one: their constant bickering/arguing and fights. It is natural for siblings to fight, but the longer I spend with these two, the more consistently they seem to fight in front of me. I do not believe the fighting affects their relationship as perhaps it did in the past; they seem very content, even after they’ve been fighting a while, and neither of them holds a grudge anymore.

Favorite outfit on them?

I will share photos since it would take some time to explain in enough detail; I am a sucker for older/medieval clothing (perhaps this is why this movie spoke to me in such a way?)

These are my favorite outfits of theirs:

their armor is a close second, because it really makes me laugh:

Favorite meal?

Jakob: This bit is indicative of all of us and I was the one who introduced the brothers to this meal - vegetable soup; beef/broth, noodles, peas, carrots, tomatoes, corn, green beans, potatoes. The brothers are used to eating whatever is being served them at the pubs they visit and the inns at each town they stay and, needless to say, are not often prepared a meal especially one to their specific tastes. The first time I made this for them, they ate heartily and it has been their favorite since.

Will: This is less of a specific meal and more of a eating habit of his, but Will is partial to sweet treats and desserts of all kind. His favorite treat is soft bread with a sticky, sugary glaze (wait until I tell him about glazed donuts😂)

Early bird or night owl?

Neither of the Grimms are particularly one or the other. They both have been known to stay awake all hours of the night for one reason or another; Jakob stays up writing most nights when brand new ideas flood his mind and prevent sleep. He works whenever inspiration strikes and if that is the middle of the night, then Will or I will find him hunched over his desk, pen scratching away across the page as he squints to read what he has written under the low candlelight.

Will stays awake late born out of a habit he has yet to change. He does not like to sleep very soundly until he knows that Jakob and I are either asleep or keeping each other company; Will takes responsibility of us quite seriously. Since we’ve begun a relationship, they do not go out as much as they once had and when we do, they are awake nearly the entire night and whenever they crash, they are both out cold.

If I wake up throughout the night, Jakob sleeps so soundly that he would not know (he wears earplugs if we’re staying at an inn because the noise bothers him.) Will always wakes up whenever I do; the shifting around wakes him, but he does not usually open his eyes or speak to me until I come back to bed and he settles me back into my spot.

Snorer or sleep talker?

Jakob: SLEEP TALKER! Jakob talks in his sleep nearly every night, most especially if he has had something to drink beforehand or if Will has gotten under his skin about something. Stress/anxiety also trigger it; I don’t hear him often, because he only does it in a deep sleep which is usually whenever I’ve already fallen asleep.

Will: Will does not snore or talk in his sleep; he is unusually quiet, however, he will groan or mumble softly if he’s turning over or something like that. He does not move a lot when he’s sleeping either.

Do you have any pets together?

No, our lifestyle is not suited to pets, unless horses used for transportation count.

Pet names! (Both from them and yours for them)

Will’s for me: little one/little girl, peanut

Jakob’s for me: sweetheart, darling, lover

Mine for Jakob: Jakey, Beanstalk (turning Will’s mean comments into something sweet💕), Dreamer, Sweetie/Sweet One/Sweet Baby

Mine for Will: Blondie, Prince Charming (only in certain scenarios)

Ones Jakob and Will use collectively for me: Briar Rose, Rosebud, Unicorn, Beauty/Belle (a play off my favorite fairytale), Princess

Ones I use collectively for Jakob & Will: Grimmy

How often do you fight? What starts fights?

I have yet to have any fights with either of the brothers (though I have had mild disagreements with Will over the way he speaks to Jakob.)

Jakob and Will fight often and about everything, but more often than not, the source of the argument is their personality difference. Their interests clash significantly and they find it difficult to coexist at times because Will feels he must fill the role of Jakob’s caretaker, while Jakob simply wants Will to be his brother and believe in him.

I usually do not get involved in their squabbles unless Will speaks out of turn. He can be somewhat hateful in the remarks he makes to his brother and I am not afraid to set the record straight. Jakob has gotten much better at standing up for himself; he is not afraid to get physical if things escalate to that point, though I have yet to see them lay a hand on each other. Jakob knows that one swift punch is all that he needs to deliver for Will to fall in line and understand that he is serious; he saves them for when he needs them and has only punched Will outright one time, that I am aware of.

Who apologizes first?

This depends on who feels they are “wrong”. Will does not like to apologize, so usually it is Jakob who initiates the apology. Occasionally, neither will apologize and it is implied that they both have and things will continue on like normal as if nothing ever happened (this is best case scenario.)

I have not known them to simply not apologize to each other for wrongdoing; Will has apologized to Jakob on a number of occasions where I have been present. If Will apologizes, it is usually for speaking too harshly to Jakob or bringing up the “magic beans” he has terrorized Jakob with for years.

Big spoon or little spoon?

Jakob: Jakob adores being the little spoon. Even though he likes to hold onto me at night, nothing seems to compare to being held. Jakob has gone the majority of his life without being shown affection and tender love; he is so touch-starved that he asks to be held almost every night.

Will: Will is the only F/O (aside from J) who I allow to be the big spoon on a regular basis. I trust him implicitly and know that he will keep me safe; he likes to hold onto me while we sleep so that he knows and can feel he isn’t alone. He does not like to sleep whenever it is too cold and he wants a warm body pressed against him.

Dom or sub?

Jakob: Submissive.

Will: Dominant.

Will has had his misgivings over Jakob and I, both being submissives, entering into a relationship together, but it has not presented an issue so far. Most of the time, Jakob and I love all over each other so it doesn’t matter one way or another😂 It is rare for Jakob and I to be sexually intimate.

Will takes on the more dominant role, since he has been so with Jakob over the years of their lives before they’d met me. Will is the nurturer and takes care of us both; he remains protective of us despite certain insecurities and fears. Will takes on more of the sexual responsibilities of their relationship with me because of his experience with women.

What are their kisses like?

Jakob: Jakob’s kisses begin as achingly shy, reverential ones that develop into slowly sensual, spontaneous or exploratory ones. Jakob likes to hold my hands when we kiss and I like the way his facial hair pleasantly scratches my face; he is always extremely gentle and never oversteps. I especially love when he kisses me with such eager impulsivity that our cheeks turn red and we laugh when it’s over.

Will: Will’s kisses can either be covetous and greedy, fervent, and deeply passionate or chaste and flirtatious. He always cups my cheeks, chin or tangles his fingers in my hair at the back of my head while kissing me; his lips often taste sweet or sugary from how often he indulges on sweets. My favorite of Will’s kisses are the languid, open-mouthed ones when he uses his tongue.

What do they smell like?

Jakob: Parchment, books and ink, candlewax, earth just after it has rained, sweet basil, a vaguely sweet musk, warm skin.

Will: Warm sugar, sweat/spicy musk, pine, flame.

What are their hugs like?

Jakob: Bear-like, full-bodied, fiercely affectionate and warm.

Will: Long, tight, unexpectedly powerful and almost needy.

Who is more protective?

Will.

Both brothers are fiercely protective of me and I know that, in spite of their differences, neither would ever let anything happen to me. As long as they are facing danger together, they would willingly take on any enemy (Jakob would never let Will face danger alone and vice versa.)

Interested in children?

No. Will says that Jakob and I are enough like children as it stands😂

Who needs the most TLC when sick?

Will AND Jakob. They are both huge babies whenever they are sick and all they want is to be taken care of. Surprisingly, they bicker a lot more whenever they’re sick; mainly, they fight over who gets to cuddle me first.

Whenever I am sick, I tend to react the same way and the brothers are more than obliged to take care of me in any way they are able. Will takes the more ‘hands-on’ work like fetching me a drink, food, blankets, etc. and helping me move about as I need. Jakob does not like to leave my side and he will not do so unless instructed by Will and he will fetch me whatever is needed and then return to cuddle with me.

Who says ‘I love you’ first?

I was the first one to say ‘I love you’ to either of the brothers. I told Jakob first; we nearly admitted it at the same time. We knew how we both felt upon the first of our meetings.

It took me a while to say ‘I love you’ to Will. Our relationship began platonically; I did not feel comfortable saying so to him until I spoke with Jakob about it first. Intuitive of human emotions is he and he was already well-aware of how we felt about each other and, with his blessing and consent, the brothers agreed to share the love and, well, me.

Which of you is more accident prone?

I bet you’re thinking either me or Jakob. WRONG! It’s Will. Jakob and I are very steady on our feet because we are full of rambunctious energy; Will is more laid back than either of us and he gets more indignant whenever he does accidentally hurt himself.

Bed hog?

Jakob is more of a bed hog than Will or I. He is consistently moving around in his sleep, talking, etc. There is one unspoken rule: Jakob sleeps on the left side of the mattress, I am in the middle and Will is on the right. Both use me as a barrier and do not cross to the other’s side of the bed at any point and they each take turns cuddling with me until we all fall asleep.

Who loves the other the most?

As if it even needs to be said, we all love each other equally, but in different ways. Jakob’s and Will’s relationship and love for each other is strictly familial, while the brothers’ relationships with me are both romantic.

Will understands and accepts that my relationship with Jakob takes priority, as we began ours first and I am unspokenly Jakob’s above all else. Any and all major decisions are made between Jakob and I; we of course always consider Will’s emotions, well-being, etc. but Jakob prefers to take the reins in terms of calling the shots, in spite of Will being the dominant and more protective one. He feels like Will owes him this and Will is happy to allow his brother this courtesy, considering this is Jakob’s first true relationship.

#🌹grimmrose #self-shipping

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a-student-out-of-time · 3 years

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Connections Review Part 2

This isn’t your average Love Hotel Event, this is an ADVANCED Love Hotel Event

Here we go people, we have returned and now it’s time for the next part of the review of Connections! Last time was quickly reviewing stuff that didn’t warrant its own part and all the time travelling discoveries into the Ultimate Seer Mikako, she is the Ultimate Seer now, not the Ultimate Exorcist, and some interesting visions. And in this part, we cover the stuff that everyone likes to talk about which is Harems! Whether it be Cuddle Puddle, Hotel Akane or Makoto’s currently unnamed Harem. Point is this Blog is a goldmine for Poly relationships and let the looovvveee spread! So, time for some fluffy reviews~

I’ll start with the only established harem at this point in time which is the Cuddle Puddle! Hotel Akane is planned for but still in development and we don’t even know if Makoto will be willing to go for a harem. So, the big major event which happens here is Hajime fixing the issues with Hiyoko’s family. She has serious issues with her grandmother as she forbids her from seeing her parents, and while Hiyoko can’t give a rat’s arse about her mother, she very much cares about her father, and as heir of her clan, Hiyoko has to marry a man of suitable status which Hajime doesn’t fulfil. So, with Izumi summoning Hiyoko back home to have a talk, Hajime joins her in order to try and get the racist boomer to approve of their relationship, and allow Hiyoko to see her parents, or her father to be more precise. This was a welcome relief mission because having fought two serial killers, busted a human trafficking ring and about to fight a cult, just talking to a racist problematic member of one of his girlfriend’s family is a very light mission for Hajime. Plus, because we all don’t like boomers having a boomer being called out for their racist and out of touch ways is catharsis at best. It helps that not all of the Sannoji family is completely terrible as Monoko and Teru, relatives of Hiyoko were more open minded, and agreed with Hiyoko and Hajime’s sentiments and if they weren’t there, I don’t think the meeting with Izumi would have gone well.

Thankfully, Hajime & Hiyoko, with the help of Momoko and Teru, were able to get Izumi to bless their relationship and since Sannoijis marry young, as soon as Hiyoko graduates, or ‘graduates’ because remember Hopes Peak Academy will only remain open for as long as Junko lurks and as soon as she’s defeated, Nikei’s article on why Hope’s Peak Academy is twisted and corrupted will be put up and the school won’t last long, she wants to marry Hajime. This brings up a legal problem with the Cuddle Puddle as Poly relationships are illegal in Japan, in fact I think they’re illegal in a lot of countries. Novoselic which is Sonia’s kingdom its legal, but Sonia can’t ask for everyone to uproot their lives and move there. The temporary solution is for everyone not named Sonia and Gundham to legally change their last name to Hinata, Hajime marries Hiyoko and when Kiyotaka becomes Prime Minister and he legalizes Poly Marriage, marry the other girls then. That’s a long-term solution though.

As for the rest of the Cuddle Puddle, they are bonding well. Gundham got a bit of focus on this Arc and I’m glad for it. The biggest issues with the Cuddle Puddle as it is very Hajime-centric but we don’t see how the girls interact with each other or even Gundham as he’s the other male in the harem as well. Gundham himself doesn’t get many interactions aside from Hajime and Sonia, so seeing him open up to Hibiki about his past and she comforting his worries about Storm is heart-warming. I always knew that Hibiki had a strong liking for Gundham as even back during the Concert Arc when Sonia and Gundham met the Otonokoji twins on their independent mission to find the ‘stalker’ of them, Hibiki took a liking to Gundham’s Chuunibyou nature almost immediately, and given all the growth that Hibiki has gone through since then, she is now in a position to comfort others much like how she was comforted by them. Gundham’s backstory is the usual brand of familial outcast and a devoted mother who gave her life into Gundham that too many people in the Quantum Crew have. Kodaka did say one of the pillars of being a Danganronpa character is having a broken family and it shows.

While the Cuddle Puddle got some development, it won’t be the only harem this blog has so let’s look at the founding of a new one, which is Hotel Akane. It’s an unofficial rule that the protagonists of the Killing Games get their own harems, but Sora doesn’t want a harem as she is content with having a relationship with just Yoruko so she transferred her ‘harem rights’ to Akane, who being one of the horniest members of the cast, is more then happy for that. Akane is seeing Ayame at the moment but they haven’t officially started dating yet, its still in the friendship phase at the moment. This will develop into romance at some point though, but Akane is considerate enough to go things at a gradual pace. Yuki makes his first appearance in this arc as well as he shops at the new supermarket that Akane is working for, and we get to see Sora’s conflict over Yuki. Due to Sora’s purpose in the Killing Game, being created to protect Yuki until Mikado could break him, she is worried as she doesn’t know how much of her affection for Yuki is of her free will or due to the protocols that Mikado programmed into her. Akane reassures her that her love for Yuki is of free will as when Sora broke free from Mikado’s programming shackles, her first act was to protect Yuki from Mikado, and the two did genuinely bond over the course of the Killing Game. As such Akane meeting and potentially getting romantically involved with Yuki is A-OK in Sora’s books. But of course, that’s not the relationship you guys care about. You care about Servant’s Column AKA the relationship between Akane and Nikei. And quite a lot of progress was made there as we get to see how conflicted our poor reporter is. Due to Nikei’s highly disturbing backstory, he is unsure on what his sexual ordination is. The other Voids know where they swing but Nikei despite his best efforts doesn’t know what his type is. This isn’t a situation that is going to be resolved quickly as victims of sexual abuse do struggle with sexual identity and I could see a situation when Nikei winds up being asexual as a result of the whole thing. We know that Nikei has a habit on crushing on anyone who is remotely kind to him, something I relate to on a personal level, and that he’s okay with PDAs, but anything sexual is completely off limits to him as it would give Nikei traumatic flashbacks to his past. Given the strong likelihood of Miaya getting involved next arc, he really needs to speak to her as she could help him with getting to gripes with his past and sexual identity and allow himself to heal. And Nikei does need to learn how to be comfortable with himself before he can be okay with entering a relationship with Akane.

And now for the last harem and the only one without a name and that is Makoto’s harem. Thing is though, this is the harem I’m the most on the fence about. Because…is it going to exist? Cuddle Puddle are a thing, Hotel Akane is going to be a thing, but Makoto hasn’t made any noises about wanting to get into relationships with other girls, he’s may just be content having a relationship with Iroha. Granted he hasn’t even met the other girls who would be part of his harem and he won’t for a while so maybe attitudes change once the other girls become aware of him and he starts talking to them. The big event regarding this is that Makoto Naegi’s Worst Day ever happens during this Arc, which is the highly elaborate chain of events which leads to Makoto entering Hope’s Peak. I won’t talk much about this; it goes like it does in canon and just read it up online if you want details. Iroha wants to help Makoto during this but due to the enormous butterfly effects resulting from it, no interference can be done and it’s probably the only time we allow the Ankle Effect to make its noises. The results shows that the Ankle Effect isn’t an inherently evil force, it just wants history to stay the same. Unfortunately, history is tainted and the world would end if it is prevented so the Quantum Crew do have to meddle. The one thing Iroha CAN do with Makoto on his worst day ever is to comfort him and make his night memorable for all the right reasons. He is going to be a character though who would become more centric to the plot as soon as Junko enters the scene…unless things happen and he gets in sooner. I could see Makoto getting tangled up with dealing with Mikado as he has some association with the Voids now, and I think Makoto will NOT sit ideally if Mikado tries to mess with the Voids. As for Storm…I dunno.

And that’s all the harem developments, Hajime resolves Hiyoko’s family issues, Gundham exists in the Cuddle Puddle, Sora has Yuki identity problems, Nikei really needs as much hugs as possible and Makoto has an awful day, but he gets to be in line to being the hero of civilization and makes out with Iroha so all is good! At this point I would normally make my rankings but then a certain Motherfucker decided to get more screen time and thus he needs his own part. When we come back, I will discuss the most problematic part of the Arc, which is Maverick Storm. Until then byeeeee! - Review Anon

#danganronpa #a student out of time #submission

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

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100 Days of Writing: Day Forty

I’m getting really lazy about this lol. Today’s entry: the answers to a few random questions that have spoken to me, from days I skipped.

Project courtesy of @the-wip-project. Tagging fellow participants @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold, @thelittlefanpire, @hopskipaway, @easilydistractedbyfanfic, @dylanobrienisbatman @fontainebleau22.

This got VERY verbose, sorry....!

Day 34: Do you prefer to write fluff or angst?

Funny story. I once had a fic nominated in the Best Angst Category in a fandom fic awards event. The nomination was, of course, flattering, but also really confusing, because I didn’t think the fic was particularly angsty. It wasn’t super fluffy either. It...just was? It was a basic strangers-to-lovers modern AU somewhere in the 7k range, and the main ship was endgame. There was a period where half of the main ship was dating someone else, but that was mostly mentioned in passing during a time skip; most of the actual content was the endgame couple talking/flirting/pining, and, again, they did get together in the end.

The nomination made me reconsider what I think ‘fluff’ and ‘angst’ are and what my relationships are to the genres. I feel like a lot of my work is neither.

Some types of stories are obviously one or the other. MCD and/or illness is angst. Hurt/comfort is angst. Romantic stories where the characters don’t end up together are, generally, angst. Romantic stories where the characters DO end up together but only after considerable obstacles can be angst, also--which might have been the rationale behind nominating the above fic in ‘angst’ although, again, it was only 7k. It’s one thing to have a 300k+ story where the main characters pine for each other, wallow in their feelings, fight, feel jealousy, etc, and the finally kiss in the final chapter--I’ve done that, too. A shorter story is a different beast.

Fluff, to me, is a genre of stories without (significant) conflict. The point is you feel good reading them. Romantic stories with established couples, or first date stories, are fluff. Slice of life or ‘curtain’ fic is fluff. Holiday fic with a found family feel is fluff.

I’ve written some stories that clearly fall into one of these two genres, sometimes because the challenge I’m doing or request I’m fulfilling calls for it, and sometimes because I need a palette cleanser after writing the opposite type of fic.

Another place I’ve thought about genre is with Troped, but I don’t always feel confident in the stories I’ve written there, in terms of theme. The very, very first round had a Fluff theme but I wasn’t sure if my story was fluffy (I’m still not). It had a happy ending and the final scene was decidedly cute, but the characters came from angsty backgrounds, and some of the early scenes had, imo, a melancholy feel. Then one of the 2020 Madness rounds had an Angst theme. I tried to fit my entry into that genre by giving it a general feeling of helplessness and an ambiguous, dreary ending. I think it was angsty, but it wasn’t as... hardcore angsty? as some of the other entries. I also picked the theme “angst” for one of my Choice fics and that one was decidedly angsty, both in the specific-trope sense--it dealt with the aftermath of a major character death--and in the more general ‘mood’ sense. The main relationship wasn’t repaired at the end, and the ending was ambiguous.

I feel like for every fic I’ve written that’s decidedly fluffy or decidedly angsty, and I could give examples of both, I’ve written one or more that isn’t really either. Again, most of the time, unless I have a specific reason to think ‘time to write angst’ or ‘time to write fluff,’ I don’t go into an idea thinking it should be one or the other. I usually have a mood I want, but it might not be simple to categorize.

ALL that said... I think if I had to pick one, it would be angst. I don’t like truly unhappy endings, but I’ve done a decent number of ambiguous endings. It’s also easier for me to think of stories I’ve written that I think are fairly categorized as angst than stories that are clearly fluff. Third, I love writing about pining, and longing, and missing, and needing, and these are not ‘fluffy’ feelings. But most importantly, like I said, I think ‘fluff’ is a type of story that has minimal-to-zero conflict in it and I actually find those VERY hard to write. Maybe We Will is probably the fluffiest thing I’ve written (4k of a first date at a carnival) and my biggest challenge was figuring out: what are these people going to DO?

This isn’t an insult to fluff at all. Fluff writers have a real talent for creating a pleasant narrative, and I like reading outright fluff more than reading outright angst. But for me, there is a lot more flexibility outside of fluff, whether or not the resulting narrative is truly “angsty” or not. It might not have the primary goal of making you feel sad, but it probably doesn’t have the primary goal of making you feel happy either.

Day 37: Post your favorite line of dialogue that you’ve written recently.

Skimmed the Sleeping Beauty AU for this one. As soon as I’m asked to think about dialogue I like, I wonder if I’ve ever written good dialogue in my life! Lol. You think about it too much and it all sounds fake. Here’s an exchange I think is pretty good (perhaps just in comparison to a lot of the Really Rough Writing that surrounds it...).

"That sounded like it went pretty well," she says, as she balances awkwardly against the wall, pulling on her boots. "From what I could hear."

Bellamy shrugs. He's scanning the crowd, glancing over at her impatiently when she stumbles, trying to tie her laces without bothering to kneel. "Roma doesn't ask a lot of questions."

Clarke snorts. "Yes, she does. What you really mean is, she asks a lot of questions, then gets distracted whenever you turn on the charm."

"Yeah, sure. My well-known charm."

Clarke lets her foot fall heavily to the ground again, straightens up and pushes her hair back from her face. "If you weren't flirting and being charming, what were you doing?"

Bellamy hesitates, a light, embarrassed pink spreading across his cheeks, and Clarke rises up on her toes triumphantly, trying to lean into his space. "I should have gotten more ration points," he says, barely more than a grumble, and Clarke laughs and pulls her hat down over her head. Then she picks up the jacket, slips it on, and steps purposefully in front of him.

"How do I look?"

Day 38: What comes first, plot or characters?

Well, I write fanfiction, so I feel like this is a tricky question to define. My current fandom does have a lot of characters though, so it is possible to have a general idea of a plot but not know who to put in it. That’s happened to me on a few occasions I think, but generally speaking... I think the two come simultaneously?

When I’m writing for Troped, it’s easier to start with the plot because certain elements of the challenge suggest (or require) a plot but never the characters to go in it. So sometimes I do work from plot --> characters there. It’s usually pretty seamless in that the plot-idea usually comes with at least some idea of the characters, but sometimes there’s ambiguity--for example, deciding to include Bellamy in Mad Women when he wasn’t initially supposed to be in it, which ended up changing/defining the story quite a bit. Another example is Mountain Lion Mean, where I knew right away what the general plot would be but waffled a bit about precisely which characters would be in it and to what degree.

Other challenges often define the characters first and so then by definition that’s where I start. For example, a Bellarke challenge obviously requires you to write about Bellarke, but depending on the other rules, the plot may come entirely from each individual writer without any additional prompting.

If it’s a wholly original/spontaneous idea.... it either is necessarily about plot and characters at once (ex: AU where X character is in Y place or examination of Z ship in a modern AU) or it comes as nothing but Mood. That mood might have elements of plot and bits of character but the best way I can describe it is that I develop both at once. For example, my Southern Gothic AU came to me as certain elements--a character who does X, a relationship with Y feel, Z ship--and I’m working on combining all of those into a narrative. Or, as another example, I currently have a vague desire to write something with a Slow Summer Vibe but I have no idea what it will be about or who will be in it.

But again, it’s often “I want to write an angsty Jonty AU” or “hmm what about a Bravenlarke fic particularly about being in a poly relationship” or “this song makes me picture Bellarke at the beach; let’s write that”--ideas that essentially capture both character and plot at once.

I don’t know if I’m doing a good job of describing this but I write so much for challenges and events that I don’t have a huge pool of data for ‘spontaneous ideas’ to analyze.

Day 40: How do you start a new story?

I feel like I kind of already answered this in the last question. The very first step is an Idea, obviously. That would either come, in part, from the challenge or event I’m participating in or the request I’m filling, or it arrives by itself from some bit of inspiration: a song, a thought about a certain character or relationship, a mood I’m feeling and want to capture, etc.

But I feel like this question is about what happens with the idea.

Most (though not all) of the time, I start with a process of brainstorming and outlining. I’ve talked about this elsewhere, but I start by just sitting down with a notebook and writing down my thoughts, in a conversational style--basically like these posts. I write down any images I have, any plot points that have already come to me, etc. Everything I know. Then I brainstorm some more elements, filling in all the stuff I don’t know. Then I distill the plot down to discrete plot points: an outline of the whole fic in order. What needs to happen and in what order? The outline is generally organized by scene, though it’s flexible: sometimes scenes can be combined; sometimes they need to be split. Sometimes I need to re-evaluate the outline later, but most stories are simple enough that this initial outline works for the whole writing process.

I always write in order. I cannot write out of order. I need to immerse myself in the narrative and that means that events follow logically from each other. Also, sometimes what I come up with in the moment in scene 1 can change what I want to happen in scene 5--not so drastically that I’m re-writing the outline, but drastically enough that I would have to rewrite scene 5 if it were already done. That’s too complicated for me. I think there are probably advantages, in terms of amount of fun to be had, as well as in capturing ideas before they disappear from your brain, in writing scenes as the spirit moves you rather than in order, but I just can’t do it. That’s not how my mind works.

In order to start a fic, or even a new scene, I need to know HOW it starts and some idea of how I will describe that opening image/event/whatever. I often practice this for days before I actually write. For example, I’m going to write another Sleeping Beauty scene soon and I know it starts with Clarke hearing conversation behind her, so I’ve been practicing what that dialogue might be and how I might describe her listening while looking at something else. When I have a strong sense of the opening and a decent sense of the rest--what needs to happen to move along the plot--I just start writing. I do most of my writing as sprints.

Sometimes I write without an outline, and it’s basically the same process as the last paragraph, except I only have the opening and a vague sense of what’s to come. I don’t do that often anymore. But I started a couple outline-less fics last summer when I was just desperate to break my block and didn’t really feel like planning and stuff. I just wanted to get words on a page. Thus I have a couple WIPs that are about 1,200 words long and then just abruptly reach a cliff’s edge and stop!! I don’t know if I’ll outline or not before I return to them but right now I’m thinking not.

#100 days of writing #100daysofwriting #my 100 days of writing #wowow this was long #i got so verbose #i slept too much and now i'm wired lol #hope to actually write tomorrow but who even knows............

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 4 years

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Tulip x Merula Head-canons

(I had someone on Anon ask me about this. But the answer ended up being so long that I didn’t want to risk Tumblr crashing and eating the message. So I made it a full post.)

You have come to the right place, my friend.

I do like Tulula. They’re easily my OTP for this game. The only question is where to begin?

How they met. I feel like Tulip had a personal goal in mind when she arrived at Hogwarts. She wanted to prank every single person in her year. Had a little list. I also think that from the moment she saw Merula, she could see something special. Saw someone who would be a challenge. So she saved her for last. But out of all thirty-some odd students in Tulip’s year, the only one who saw her coming and stopped her, successfully pranking her back instead, was Merula. The ultimate uno reverse. All this time, Merula has been hearing rumors about a pranking menace and resolved to prove her superiority, as Merula is wanton to do. If we want, we can tie this in with the “You are a [House!]” quests. To me, the one that feels the most canon is Slytheirn pranking Gryffindor, but imagine if Tulip helped people prank Slytherin (even if MC wasn’t in Ravenclaw) and Merula caught her in the act. Just imagine Merula shoving Tulip into the lake. Tulip surfacing, spitting water, flabbergasted that she’s been bested, looking up at Merula and thinking that she was right. Merula really is something else. Tulip doesn’t react the way most people do when Merula “defeats” them. She’s charmed and impressed and wants to talk to her more. This is a surprise for Merula, but she accepts the attention and the two of them start talking. I like to imagine that the Slytherin prank on Gryffindor occurred later in the year, and that Merula participated after being inspired by Tulip.

Okay, we need to talk about something important. Parents. I strongly believe that Tulip and Merula’s parents are foils to each other, and to their kids. They couldn’t be greater opposites. But while Merula is a lot like her parents and wants to gravitate to their lifestyle so much to the point that it’s unhealthy...Tulip is in the reverse. She completely rejects the lifestyle of her parents because they make no attempt to understand her nature or meet her halfway. I feel like she doesn’t talk to them much at all, even during the summers. Tulip tries to change herself to be more like Merula, if that makes sense, and Merula welcomes this change. She’s never had someone like Tulip before, and isn’t even sure what to call it. Are they friends now? Or...are they…? But there’s another major secret that I strongly believe in. I like to imagine that Tulip’s parents played no small part in the arrest of Merula’s parents. I don’t know if they’re Aurors exactly (If they are, and the Rotfang Theory is true...then yikes.) But they would almost certainly work for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I like to imagine that Merula was furious when she found out, possibly at the start of second year. Pushing Tulip away. But here’s the thing - Tulip was just as upset by this news. She entirely took the side of Merula’s parents and told her as much. Merula softened, and they reconciled, with Tulip accepting that Merula would (justifiably) always hate her parents. I don’t think Tulip’s relationship with them ever recovered from this.

I think Tulip and Merula learned each other’s love languages rather quickly. I think Merula began to realize that all she needed to do was involve Tulip in all of her crazy schemes, her moves against MC, or her ongoing quest for glory. If she just did that, Tulip would be overjoyed, because it was all so much mayhem, and it was a journey they were embarking together. Meanwhile, Tulip deduced early on that Merula had a taste for power and that her ego was very fragile. She knew how to console Merula and knew what to say to ease her insecurities and anger, without appearing to do so on purpose. She wasn’t intimidated, but she knew to pick her battles and that there was a time and place to just let Merula win. I strongly believe that no one at Hogwarts has ever understood Merula the way Tulip does. There’s a reason she instantly picked up on Merula’s saving face and pretending to have manipulated MC if they give her the Frog Choir spot. She knows her grumpy bae. This is a relationship of mutual manipulation, but not always to an unhealthy extent. Because Merula genuinely grew to care for Tulip, and Tulip knew how to use manipulation to help Merula feel better about everything. In short, their adventures, interests and goals all coincided well, and they both planned to be Curse-Breakers after Hogwarts, and travel together. They also resolved to keep their friendship a secret because of Merula’s reputation, hence Merula never referring to her “associate” by name. It made things a lot easier because people were more likely to trust Tulip if they didn’t know she was friendly with the “best witch at Hogwarts.” Plus, y’know, secrets create a unique bond that builds the emotional connection...oh and also, that excellent closested lesbian subtext, even if the Potterverse doesn’t have homophobia.

The Room of Requirement. Okay, I’ve had this head-canon for a while that the Room is alive and was always meant to function as a sanctuary. That’s what it became for the D.A. in OOTP, that’s really what it became for Draco in HBP, and that’s what it became in DH for the entire resistance. I also like the idea of two people who are both outcasts yet drawn to each other, finding it together and discovering it as a place that is just built for the two of them. (Or more than two. This can apply to poly-ships, and non-romantic ships.) This is what I imagine happened between Tulip and Merula. While investigating Vaults, they found this room, and figured out how it was sometimes there and sometimes not. That it would change shape. Eventually, they ruled it out as being a Cursed Vault. But not before it became a sanctuary for them. Time for a little overlap. It had previously become a sanctuary for Jacob, Duncan Ashe, and perhaps Olivia Green - before or after she suffered her fate. It was in this Room that Merula found a clue to where Jacob’s Room was hidden. It was also in this room that Tulip and Merula did most of their plotting before they found Jacob’s Room. They chose to migrate there, however, because the Room of Requirement was so unpredictable. But every now and then, when they needed it most, when the wind stood fair, that sanctuary would show up again, and they’d go there to talk and probably fall asleep together. I dunno, I just like the idea that they (innocently) shared a bed and it’s recycled from my fanfic. In that same sense, I feel like they never told anyone else about this Room and were never able to trigger it unless they were together.

I believe that both Tulip and Merula rubbed off on each other a little. The moment that comes to mind for me is during the Creatures TLSQ. Merula supersizes a Niffler to let it run amok across the castle and she’s laughing like it’s the dandiest thing in the world. That seem a bit odd to anyone else? Feels like the kind of thing Tonks would do if she got drunk or something, not a Merula Snyde scheme. No, I think Merula was either trying to make Tulip happy (and definitely succeeding) or else she had just acquired a bit of a taste for chaos as well, having spent so much time with Tulip in all of her crazy pranks. I dunno, it just reminds me so much of Tulip’s stunt from Year 5 with the army of nifflers. Her unironic joy at what she’s done, how pleased she is with herself...these two incidents bear a striking resemblance. Similarly, looking back on Tulip’s character...does it strike anyone else as a bit out of sorts for her to betray Merula for the sake of glory? Not saying Tulip is perfect or that she wouldn’t do this, because it’s a crucial part of her character that she would, but...for glory? Since when does Tulip care about glory? All she’s ever wanted is to cause chaos. Well, I feel as though a taste for power rubbed off on her from spending so much time with Merula and appreciating her talents when no one else did.

Okay, let’s talk about the falling-out. I believe Tulip tried to embody Merula’s ideology so much, and it overlapped with her own flaws, that it created a stew that was destined to be rotten. I think Tulip, having grown up with the family she did, has always been the kind of person who will turn on someone and go no-contact if she doesn’t mesh with them. I also think that by this point, she had alienated most of the other Hogwarts’ students. Either because she had pranked them, or because they had worked out that she was spending time with Merula. I also feel like Tulip may have resented Merula for this, because that’s just human nature. Now, Merula doesn’t develop loyalty for people very often. But it’s an absolute soul-crusher if someone she was loyal to betrays her, and I think to a degree that started with her parents, but it really fleshed out with this incident. Tulip’s upbringing led her to the mindset of, “If I have to cut you off, I will.” and Merula’s upbringing was just the opposite. It was more like “Only a few people truly matter, so you better not leave me.” And Tulip did. I think she convinced herself that she didn’t need Merula, that Merula was holding her back. Kept thinking about Merula’s flaws and toxic qualities, figured she could carry on with the Cursed Vault quest on her own. Jacob’s Sibling was proof enough that one didn’t need Merula to be a budding Curse-Breaker. So she ditched Merula. And everything fell apart for both of them.

I want to say that Tulip immediately, and I mean immediately regretted this decision, but also knew that she could never take it back. The damage had been done, and there was no way she could ever hope to apologize to Merula or ask to be taken back. That just was not a language that Merula knew how to speak. She only knew how to translate things in terms of power and strength. She had been burned by Tulip, humiliated. Hurt. That was something that Merula surely wouldn’t ever forgive, at least not from Tulip’s perspective. And from Merula’s? Well, Tulip was just using her. Never cared about her. Was always going to stab her in the back. And it was her own fault for not seeing it sooner. Anger. Resentment. Betrayal. The angst, my friend. But it gets worse, because then Tulip was approached by Jacob’s Sibling, Merula’s own nemesis, who proposed that they join forces. As crazy as it may sound, Tulip was itching to get back into adventuring and questing. She also knew this was her greatest chance to cross paths with Merula again. By competing against her. Again, it sounds ridiculous, but this is Merula that we’re talking about. Of course, though she was right, it didn’t erase the added insult to injury. Merula was forced to deal not only with Tulip abandoning her, but also her going over to side with Jacob’s Sibling. It made her more determined than ever to stick it to Tulip. Seriously, have you noticed that Merula defaults to anger and “revenge” when people she had grown to love stab her in the pact? It’s a depressing pattern in her life.

Adding onto that, the question becomes - when did Tulip and Merula know that they loved each other? Of course, there may have been moments of open infatuation during their first two years at Hogwarts. I envision them being each other’s valentines (because who else would be?) cuddling a lot whenever they’d crash together. Perhaps they shared a kiss at some point. Who knows. But while they may have expressed feelings to each other, I feel like they weren’t ever officially a couple. I mean, they were still preteens and whatnot. So their falling-out wasn’t a “break-up” but it had elements of that. It had that tone. Even so, the ambiguity and lack of a label almost makes it that much worse. What I’m driving at is - they definitely hadn’t exchanged the “I love you” bomb before they parted ways. I believe Tulip knew the moment that she had betrayed Merula that she had make a mistake. That from that point, it hit her just how much she had given up. How much she missed Merula. How much she regretted losing her, how it was never about glory - just about her. In that moment, Tulip knew. It wasn’t just friendship. It wasn’t even just a crush. She was in love with the Best Witch at Hogwarts. Contrasting that, I think that while Tulip had a moment of realization after the falling-out, Merula went very much into denial. Telling herself she never liked Tulip. That she was always just dead-weight, and Merula was stupid for having thought she would be useful. But that was all she had ever been. Just...potentially useful. That was all. She told herself this lie, all the way up to finding Tulip and Jacob’s Sibling together. That broke her. It definitely made her realize how much it hurt to have lost Tulip. To say that she was jealous would be putting it lightly. Merula did what she always does, which was to default to anger and the illusion of pride, but don’t think for one second that it didn’t kill her inside to see Tulip with Jacob’s Sibling. The hurting. The yearning. She was in love with Tulip, and she hated herself for it. I feel like that could be why she lost to Jacob’s Sibling so easily in that duel. She was distracted. When she warned MC that Tulip would betray them, and ran off...I feel like she ran off to go cry.

From that point on, Tulip and Merula were on opposite sides, but they still saw each other. I think that, however much Merula went to head off Jacob’s Sibling to the Vault of Fear, she also knew there was a chance that she would see Tulip again. Though she’d never admit it to herself, she was hoping that she would. When she and Ismelda were defeated - through the efforts, no less, of another former friend who had left her for MC - Merula was forced to retreat. And fume. And sob. If she had only known the form of Tulip’s Boggart, she might have understood. Speaking of that, I don’t think Tulip knew what her Boggart would be ahead of time, but when she saw it - she wasn’t surprised at all. Jacob’s Sibling was, however. I like to think that this was the moment Jacob’s Sibling deduced what was truly going on between their new friend and their old enemy. I also like to think that they became a low-key shipper on deck for Tulula. Assuming that they didn’t have romantic tension with either of these characters them-self, but this isn’t about MC. On an unrelated note, can you imagine Tulip’s reaction to post-Riddikulus Merula? I feel like it was either a sense of revulsion for it being such “wrong” version of her, or an awkward moment of “...Okay that’s actually an attractive look for her.” Or perhaps both. Feelings can be complicated after all.

Tulip clearly wanted Merula back. This is obvious from the multiple times she defended Merula when MC would trash her, and the multiple times she invited Merula to join their cause, both after that duel I mentioned earlier and during Year 4. Let’s talk about that incident. We don’t ever see the two of them interact. We don’t witness Tulip asking Merula, and she clearly did it behind MC’s back. At first, I feel like Merula told Tulip to go stuff it, until she mentioned that MC had no idea Tulip came to her. I think that would have made all the difference, and perked Merula’s interest. She was definitely insecure about Tulip and MC’s friendship, I can tell you that much. I think letting Merula back into Jacob’s Room was an olive branch extended by Tulip. A baby step toward reconciliation. Even if Merula only accepted it for her own needs and purposes, it was still a baby step. Sorry, but I just can’t get over how gleeful Merula was about getting to blindside MC with the surprise that she and Tulip were waiting for them in Jacob’s Room. I also feel like Tulip wanted to reconnect with Merula before she got too close to Madam Rakepick. Because as we can all remember well, Tulip, like Snape, saw through Rakepick immediately. Saw her for what she was. So do you think she was in any way comfortable with Merula talking to her? Of course not.

I’d also be remiss not to talk more in depth about the Frog Choir TLSQ. Goodness gracious me, that incident is one big Tulula ship-tease. Like I said before, Tulip clearly still cares about Merula and while Merula defaults to anger whenever she sees Tulip and MC...as I’ve said before, I think her anger is a mask for pain. And her pain is the result of missing Tulip and feeling jealous that she “chose” Jacob’s Sibling. I feel like Tulip and Merula had fond memories shared during the first two years where they would try to sing to each other. Trade laughs about how abysmal Tulip was at singing, and then when it was Merula’s turn...well, Tulip might have planned to feed her ego and say that she was skilled no matter what...but she didn’t need to sugarcoat anything. Merula was a beautiful singer and Tulip was captivated. So was Dennis. By the way, Merula definitely would pet-sit Dennis from time to time, perhaps over the winter holidays when Tulip was forced to come home. She might have feared that her parents would try to get rid of Dennis, and she trusted Merula like no one else, to take care of him. All of these background details are important because they’re the foundation for this quest. Tulip already knowing about Merula’s mother and that she’ll want to join the Frog Choir. Dennis liking Merula, and the whole idea of Merula and Dennis joining the Choir together. I really like the ending where MC gives up their spot to let this idea go through. Whether you’re a Merula fan, a Tulip x Merula shipper, or both...it’s just the happiest ending, and I think Jacob’s Sibling, as I said, could pick up on the vibes going on between these two.

Let’s talk about Rakepick. Always a fun subject, right? Alright but for real, it’s important because both Tulip and Merula had very keen opinions about her. During Year 5, Merula grew a lot closer to Jacob’s Sibling. Setting aside the ship-tease between those two characters, I believe she thoroughly enjoyed the idea of “stealing” MC from Tulip and letting her see how it felt to have someone she cares about choose someone else - bonus points because MC “chose” Merula. Of course, this is all because the two of them spent most of their time with Bill and Rakepick. I think Merula neglected all other relationships in her life, including Ismelda, during that year. I think Tulip felt more isolated than ever, and I think she felt like she was on the outside. She was lonely, and scared too. Because she never trusted Rakepick, and probably feared what Merula was learning from her. Having all of her worst impulses and instincts groomed. It only got worse during that big fight scene in the library, when she realized that Bill was extremely loyal to Rakepick as well. Bill, the unofficial “mom friend” of the group. But why did Tulip mistrust her so thoroughly, and what does it have to do with her ultimate betrayal? I’ve talked about this before, but Merula has a pattern in her life of starting to trust people and then being betrayed by them. What’s more...Tulip and Rakepick actually have a lot in common. They do. They’re both lawless adventurers who laugh in authority’s face and do whatever the hell they want. They’re crafty and resourceful and Rakepick is probably everything that Tulip tried to be during her friendship with Merula. She is the mindset that led to her stabbing Merula in the back. And sure enough, Tulip’s anxieties came true. Rakepick tortured the girl she loved, the girl she had betrayed...I’m telling you, Tulip fears becoming like Rakepick. She probably associates, even unconsciously, her own betrayal of Merula with what happened in the Portrait Vault. All of this to say that Tulip and Merula wouldn’t be in a comfortable place in Year 6. Tulip would be more desperate than ever for reconciliation, but Merula would shove her away as she is doing to everyone...and then she starts fawning over Jacob? Oh, catch Tulip slipping off to her dormitory to cry about that…

But that doesn’t mean reconciliation is impossible. They still have history together. The sanctuary still exists. Perhaps they’ll find it again. Year 7 is still in our future. And I want to believe that they’ll find their way back to each other.

#Tulip Karasu #Merula Snyde #Tulip Karasu x Merula Snyde #Tulula #HPHM Headcanons #HPHM Analysis #HPHM Jacob's Sibling #Patricia Rakepick #Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

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thisnerdsadventures · 3 years

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I, a campaign manager

so in addition to being a CTO, a CS major, and a dorm vice president, i was also a campaign manager for 2 weeks (the exact campaign that I was managing is not entirely difficult to figure out if you really want to know, especially if you click on the links BUT i will be trying to not mention it specifically here lol). You might be wondering - (1) why and (2) how did you end up becoming a campaign manager..... you're not even a poli sci/gov/humanities/literally anything vaguely related to this major??

You're correct, yes, how did this happen? Well that's a great place to start this story:

How in the world this happened

Friends drag you into stuff. This happens to be the same friend that dragged me to New York, and then was 20% of the reason I got dragged into the negotiation class, and then was maybe 15% of the reason i got dragged into nonprofit activities? In terms of providing unique opportunities in my life, she definitely takes the cake. So one day, she says "I'm running for this position," and me and the squad says "we gotchu." What does that mean? Clearly wasn't sure in the beginning, but we were texting campaign strategies and slogans and tiktok ideas in the chat for fun. None of us had any real responsibilities, especially since the actual candidates were still weighing the playing field and figuring out their platform.

I also was a course 6, so I guess there was some expectation that I would make the website, even though I didn't actually code the website from scratch.

but anyways, it was actual campaign time.

CAMPAIGN SZN

After they figured out the campaign platform, it was game on for the campaign materials. We spent a lot of time on artwork, we photoshopped pictures from a photo shoot, we came up with campaign motto ideas, we brainstormed strategies for officially announcing the campaign. We had an actual campaign meeting to talk over things in mid-April where I met like six different people, friends from both candidates on this ticket, who were supporting this effort. We had a google drive AND a Dropbox. Look at this:

Despite this seemingly organized effort, it was not that organized because this publicity team didn't actually actively do anything for like a week. Many reasons for this: one being it was actually the semester, and it was also CPW weekend. Unfortunately for me, that weekend was literally hell for me, because I was managing this site for our nonprofit, CPW events (so like five zoom calls on a Saturday), classes (because those are still happening), and then the campaign thing finally started, about a week before voting opened. In the form, of a website.

So the tl;dr is I developed an entire Squarespace website in one night. Yes, one night. I had to model it from I think the website from a Harvard campaign site, which took me like three or four hours on a Saturday night, which is a very fast time in my opinion to learn how to use Squarespace. I also bought a domain and figured out how to connect it to Squarespace at like 1 in the morning, which was the first domain I ever bought in my life!

(It expires in a month. I am absolutely going to let it die.)

Also, if anyone from squarespace is reading this for some reason, yall made a really solid product. I actually was very happy with my experience. You all should use it, I am 100% not sponsored by them at all, but honestly it was a very good experience. If you need to develop a website in four hours and don't have a lot of webdev experience, definitely consider it. You can even see website clicks and user analytics, it's actually really put together.

The next day we spend a lot of time going through website changes and artwork changes. It's bad. We had so many discussions about color palettes and the advantages of a 3 column vs 4 column layout. Yes. I'm serious. I'm starting to go crazy.

If anyone's interested, I would say that our website definitely was better than the other campaign's website. Like objectively. Like both campaigns were great, but the website? well. Here's the link (archived because I only paid for 1 month of squarespace :D) The amount of detail that went into it is actually incredible, the amount of spacing, i even had to custom CSS the header image so that mobile headers would show up correctly.

THE CAMPAIGN VIDEO

so sometime during this week, I had this thought about making a really good campaign video. I was very inspired by some of these Google ads that started with a Google search bar. (Yes, I am aware that I am that much of a Google simp.) To be honest, rewatching this ad, I really definitely just copied this entire ad lol, it's ok we don't have to talk about that.

That Wednesday, we coincidentally talked about what makes campaign videos successful. We talked about how Trump's incendiary imagery helped stoke the flames and how it was really effective in getting people to vote, and eventually helped him beat Clinton in the presidential election. So I went and took that and grabbed news clips and campus videos and overlayed that in the video, and it went from like a solid 6 to an 8 immediately, in my honest, unbiased opinion. You can see what I mean in the video itself: [link].

We also had to put together quite a few interviews about what they wanted from the school and were looking for in their candidates, which took a million years of coordination, but we somehow got it done in three days, and everything was put together in a flurry of a weekend, unending changes and small fixes for sixteen hours straight. I could not even tell you how much I learned about premiere pro and how to use layer masks and everything. I even composed the music for the first fifteen seconds of it. Literally, composed, it.

And so on a Sunday afternoon FINALLY right before voting, the video drops. I'm sitting in my backyard absorbing the sun because I hadn't left my computer for 48 hours straight.

It gets like 1000 views or impressions or something in like two days, which is incredible for me, since I'm not a professional by any standards, but I am considering being a professional campaign manager at this point. By the way, we're also managing an Instagram page, a Facebook page, a tiktok page, a website, our individual social media pages, and we're trying to synchronize this video drop and all of our publicity efforts across every single one of these channels. It's chaotic at best.

VOTING SZN

So it's voting week, where we give everyone an entire week to vote. Across the week, it's mostly a waiting game, we make a few more tiktoks and funny videos that we publicize to get out the vote more. The last day, we're thinking about it, and we know the final vote's gonna be close, so we message every. single. person. in our Facebook friends list. I think I singlehandedly convinced like twenty people to vote (and hopefully vote for our ticket).

There's a lot of drama about different stuff. I won't really talk about it because I think it got really messy, but this week and entire couple weeks was a lot to get through honestly. As a reminder, I'm also working on my senior thesis and my nonprofit website work is peaking at this point, so everything is very, very bad and none of us have slept in a while. Also it's the pandemic.

Finally, the results come out. We lost by like 20 votes or something, out of 1500 or so total votes casted or something like that. It's one of the highest voter turnouts in school history or something, I don't quite remember. After that, we're so emotionally drained from this whole thing that we just don't talk about it for a while and that's that.

If the ticket won, I wonder how it would've turned out. I feel like things would've continued to be busy, and maybe that's not a great thing. So maybe everything happened for a reason. I don't know, but those three weeks were quite interesting, quite fun, quite odd. I'm putting those videos in my personal portfolio and am putting Adobe Premiere Pro and Squarespace on my resume and moving on.

Anyways, thought I'd just share! i haven't posted in a while, and this was definitely one of my #weird #odd stories from my time at MIT, which is quite reminiscent of #weird #odd at MIT in general.

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la-ro-ki · 4 years

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i always want fic recs yes tell me more

ahh sorry that this is a few days late I’ve been trying to find the time and brain power to sort out a coherent rec list!

national hot dad alliance is now calling...

the very first Haikyuu!! fanfic I ever read that actually got me into the series! I read this before every watching the anime or reading the manga and I distinctly remember having to google characters appearances constantly jdsjlaakl.

despite not having any clue who any of these characters were I still really enjoyed it and rereading it only made it better. this is one of those fics that you just can’t help but reread over and over again tbh

I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who really enjoys captain shenanigans!! it also has good queerplatonic relationship rep which I can always get behind

THE WIENER SOLDIERS

yes it’s another chatfic I’m sorry,,, this is another fic that I reread a lot whenever I’m in the mood for some shenanigans.

this one def plays itself less seriously than national hot dad alliance but still has it’s moments where it pulls back from some of it’s more crack-like attributes

I’d reccomend to anyone who likes more chaotic fanfics that can still get serious or just people that think the second gen captains are neat. there’s two poly relationships in it which I, a polyamorous person, always appreciate!

Sky Full of Stars

y’all don’t even get me started on how much I love this fic!! the characterization for Natsu is always very consistent and I find her very cute! this goes for all the OCs in this fic tbh because I love all of them

I’m p sure you’re all aware of how much I adore Tsutomu and the other STZ boys and they’re all written so well in this fic. very rarely do I ever find them to be OOC wish is really nice since plenty of people mischaracterize them in fics

I’d heavily recommend this to anyone who loves the STZ boys as much as I do and who likes seeing cute OCs in fics!! as of rn there’s no ships and it’s just a gen fic but there are implied crushes

Who We Are

this fic!! this fic holy shit!!! this fic has inspired so many of my own trans headcanons!!!! it’s incredibly wholesome at times yet isn’t scared to show the downsides of being a transitioning teen

if you’re going to read it then I do have to warn you that some characters can be OOC however it’s normally very minor or as a result of personal development. Tsutomu’s also a major supporting character which I love to see always and has very cute relationships with the other characters. other major(ish) supporting characters are Yaku and Kyoutani with plenty of cameos

this is a fic that I’d recommend to people who like or create content with copious amounts of trans headcanons because that’s what this fic’s entire basis is. it’s got a fairly large variety in gender and sexuality headcanons and portrays them very respectfully

Ace

crossover fics done well are always so much fun to read and I think this fic def falls into that category! I’ve seen a few fics with Lev and Alisa being related to Victor from yoi but this is probs my fave

I’ve never seen yoi so I can’t say much about the characterization of those characters but I really like how the Haiba siblings and Nekoma are written! I find them to be very in character and enjoyable to read

I’d recommend this fic to Haiba and Nekoma stans since they’re the main focus of this fic but I do need to put a disclaimer that it’s an unfinished fic

Oikawa's grand plan to get free food from his rivals.

Shirabu's crazy scheme to get revenge on Oikawa

I don’t know what more to say about these two then just 14,000 words of setter squad antics! all the setters are a p good mix of their fanon and canon selves and I genuinely find both fics funny

I’d recommend this fic to those who also appreciate the setters and like the Pretty Setters SquadTM

6/10

a fic that’s so good at describing social anxiety that it activated my social anxiety djslksl. I’ve personally always thought of Kageyama as someone who has anxiety and seeing it written out like this only makes me more set in that idea

people who also see Kageyama as having social anxiety will probably like this fic but if you’re sensitive to depictions of anxiety then this fic likely isn’t for you. it made me uncomfortable a few times because I couldn’t help but empathise with Kageyama

The Lucky Ones

just a oneshot about STZ magical boys because I personally really like magical girl animes and just thought this fic in particular was cute

If I Had You

a really good kyouhaba fic that mainly deals with Kyoutani coming to terms with his sexuality and his attraction to Yahaba. I don’t always like how people portray Kyoutani but I feel like this fic does a very good job with his character!

there’s repeated cameos from other aobajousai members and Tanaka, Yamamoto, and Misaki are all pretty important characters in this fic. this fic also addresses how different people handle coming out to both friends and family

this is a fic I’d recommend to people with exquisite taste who ship kyouhaba and who just want the best for both of them!

Mistakes and Misunderstandings

I really like this fic and how it deals with the relationship between Semi and Shirabu and their own differences in personality! it also touches on how them having a strained relationship affects their teammates and how the other members try to help them work it out

I like this fic especially because it shows how their own inner thoughts differ so greatly and presents a realistic way for them to learn to communicate with each other. it doesn’t just try to play the tsundere card and instead gives both characters good characterization and reasoning as to why they find it hard to just say what they mean

I’d recommend this fic to other STZ stans or to people who enjoy well written gen fics!!

Summer Leaves

a seijoh!Hinata and stz!Kageyama fic because it wouldn’t be a fic rec list if I didn’t include a Kageyama AU

I haven’t reread the Hinata POV chapters since the first time I read the fic but I’ve read the Kageyama chapters over a few times and really enjoy the characterization of both Kageyama and the other STZ members. the way Oikawa is written in this fic feels fairly truthful to canon and none of the other aobajousai members are very OOC. out of the STZ members Semi in particular is written in a way I rarely see for him which is always refreshing

this fic is one I’d recommend to people who like teamswap AUs especially since it’s so well written!

as bright as a blackhole; and twice as dense

almost 30,000 words of Kageyama being dense and awkward in social situations while Tsukishima watches on in pain

plenty of cameos from other characters and doting on Kageyama

if you like crack fic that’s taken a bit too seriously then this is for you

rainwater

Five Times Kawanishi Wanted to Hold Shirabu's Hand, and One Time He Did

Statistics and Star Princes

harbour lights

Window Vine

just a bunch of STZ ship fics that I also adore but am too tired to also talk about in any detail because writing this rec list took more time than I thought and I’m exhausted

#asks #babbling #fic rec #haikyuu!!

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muffintonic · 4 years

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My fanfic trope tier list! (I saw @fanfic-inator795 do this the other day and thought it looked fun, haha.) Make your own here!

Placement reasoning under the cut.

Friends to Lovers: excellent, very natural that your lover would also be your friend.

Slow Burn: I like getting absorbed in a story, and the speed that I read at means I need longer ones so i’m not like, “Aww, man, that was it?” Also, the slow burns usually allow for progression at a more realistic pace as well as character development/analysis.

Mutual Pining: two people who love each other and eventually get together....Nice.

Missing Scenes: I am very nosey about characters i’m invested in, and sometimes I feel like whole other episodes and such could have been based off of what isn’t shown in between scenes.

Sharing a Bed: I like seeing the different ways that people contrive the bed-sharing to happen, haha. Also, there’s usually a lot of funny moments when getting to see the characters’ panicked thoughts. (The Kico WIP i’ve been sporadically working on since 2015 involves this, haha.)

Established Relationship: we don’t usually get to see this in media, so it’s refreshing!

Fluff: usually goes hand-in-hand with the above, and sometimes it’s nice to just know there’s nothing but happytimes happening.

Huddle for Warmth: similar to the bed sharing one, it’s all about the setting....with a side of either fluff or panicking, haha.

Fairytale AU: i’m a sucker for fantasy, and it’s fun to see which fairytales people use and their personal takes on them.

Magic AU: see above.

Fix it Fic: i’m not usually dissatisfied with how canon handles things, so this type of fic is, like, solely reserved for BOTW, bwaha. I’ve been really into BOTW since I got it/finished it last summer, though, so i’ve been reading a lot of The Champions Survive/Get Resurrected stuff and the ones i’ve read have had excellent worldbuilding and such.

Hurt Comfort: the intimacy of patching someone up/the thought behind it....Nice.

Fake Relationship: I am again a sucker for contrived coincidences, panicking, and realizations (another trope in my Kico WIP, though it only appears a little and is fake married). These sometimes come with angst though, which is why it’s not higher.

Gen Fic: I don’t often see these, but I...like the idea of them (I have an eternal WIP of my own for WBB that’s combined with Missing Scenes)? Also, sometimes the world isn’t built quite enough or we don’t get to see it utilized to its full extent in canon.

Humor: I wasn’t sure if this meant, like, fics written solely for comedic purposes or something, but I took it to mean having funny moments in them?? I love comedy above all else (which is why most of the A tier tropes are A tier--the inherent funniness of the situations to me).

In Vino Veritas: having what’s hidden in a character’s heart be exposed in a way that usually results in later panic....Nice (as evidenced by my own take in that one Perryshmirtz fic I did, haha). However, i’m not a big fan of alcohol for numerous reasons, which is why it’s not higher.

Soulmate AU: I don’t often find versions of these that I like, but when I do they’re pretty good. Worldbuilding and slow burn is a must for these.

Coffee Shop AU: I never really liked these before I got into BOTW....hmmm. Maybe it’s because I don’t really like characters from, like, slice-of-life/normal universes being changed into something even MORE mundane/too much like real life?? It’s fine if it’s an adventure story being calmed down, haha (but, like, ONLY adventure--I don’t like the idea of fantasy stories like Strange Magic getting dulled down to that extent).

*most of the tropes here are only not a D because I reserved D for the ones I hate/am most apathetic towards

Arranged Marriage: I don’t usually see these done well (bad characterization/not enough worldbuilding), and arranged marriage is still a thing that happens nowadays in real life so it’s kind of.....

Body Swap: I’ve only found a few renditions of this that I like, namely the funny ones where they’re all like “Wow so this is how it feels like to be a teeny tiny--” *gets punched.* Unfortunately, most of the ones for this trope are, like, either somehow super angsty or have consent problems.

Canon Divergence: another one that rarely has good characterization/logical divergence/follows the established rules already set in canon while being a take on “But what if THIS had accidentally happened instead.”

Historical AU: as someone who minored in History in undergrad, boy howdy is history a touchy thing to make fanfic about. I think there’s only been one AU of this that i’ve liked, and it was for a movie that already had its own version of history/the original canon wasn’t based on our world at all.

Time Loop: kind of a scary thing to think about.

Royalty AU: being a good leader is hard, which means there’s usually not a lot of time for gallivanting. Despite this, there tends to be a lot of that (and poor worldbuilding) in these types of fics.

Amnesia Fic: I don’t like it when someone forgets their loved ones.

First Kiss: I think first kisses are over romanticized. First kiss with the person who is now your lover? Good. First kiss overall? No.

Angst: reality (and sometimes the canon) is dark enough, thanks. Light angst with a happy ending is fine, but I seriously hate characters being subjected to one painful thing after another (I once read an entire published book where that was the case and I was just....so infuriated by the end).

Enemies to Lovers: rarely done to my taste. The two people have to be relatively on the same moral spectrum otherwise this DOESN’T WORK as a good/functioning relationship. Like, you can’t pair off someone who, say, killed their dad, spearheaded a war against innocents, and tortured the other person with the other person. Even when it’s someone who, for example, tried to destroy the entire universe, continually emotionally abused their only friend, laid siege to innocents despite knowing that it was wrong, killed the parent of that other person’s best friend, and physically/emotionally abused that other person, it’d be extremely short-sighted to pair them with that other person without AT LEAST them acknowledging how completely toxic they’ve been and spending a good amount of time (roughly equal or greater to how long they’ve been horrible) establishing that they have indeed changed and are making progress towards reparations and even betterment. Perryshmirtz? Good. Butterfly Bog? Also good. Those are the only two good examples I can think of.

College AU: pretty much in the same boat as the Coffee Shop AU, but sometimes I disagree with what majors get picked for the characters, haha. Good choice for characters around that age, but for some reason I don’t like it when characters get de-aged to make this work. I have yet to see one for older characters that keeps them that age--older people go to college! There was, like, a mom in my Abnormal Psychology class in undergrad!

ABO: horribly graphic, mostly non/dubcon, and reduces people to their biology.

Crossover: the media i’m invested in are usually so vastly different from one another that my brain just refuses to have them mix.

Dark Fic: like Angst, but worse. No thanks.

Major Character Death: I read the fix-it-fics to AVOID this, bwahaha!

High School AU: similar to College AU where I dislike characters being de-aged for this, which is unfortunately common. Also, Your Experiences Are Not Universal.

Crack Fic: I am generally a stickler for canon. Boo, absurdity!

Miscommunication: JUST FREAKING OPEN YOUR PIE-HOLE AND TALK TO EACH OTHER.

Pregnancy Fic: not a big fan of the idea of pregnancy in general (the squishing of the organs, mood swings and whatever, that thing where your blood pressure can get super high randomly, dying in childbirth, postpartum depression, etc).

Love Triangle: these can usually be solved by either 1) poly relationship 2) maybe DON’T choose the “bad boy” that disrespects you and is emotionally distant?????

Unhappy Ending: WHY would I want this??????? See: Angst

Unrequited Love: similar to the above.

PWP: maybe it’s my aceness talking, but to quote Doof: “Backstory, backstory, backstory!”

Sex Pollen: too much like PWP, but with more consent problems

Bang or Die: see above

Baby Fic: similar to Pregnancy + I....can’t really imagine a lot of my favorite ships with kids?? Like, Butterfly Bog/Potionless and Panlie, sure. Doof already has Vanessa/Norm and Perry is an uncle......maybe Po and Tigress if they adopt?? I feel like they could also just be teachers together and their students would be their “kids.” Meh.

#so in the process of writing down why i placed these like i did i realized that i like characters getting put in semi-awkward situations....#so i can laugh at them #my inner prankster at work bwaha #about me

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fireflake-art · 4 years

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Crystal Quin

My Nextgen is confusing these days. I think I'm recalling Scorpan from it, and changing the Twilight ship. My ships are changing a lot, alongside their children. Despite, I thought long and hard about Luster Dawn... Canon threw me a bone with this one, but I couldn't decide who would be her parents.

@lopoddityart threw her in as a Flashburst Nextgen, to WanderingPegasus Twilight and Sunburst were her parents, a majority in the fandom thought of Luster as a Sunlight kiddo... I liked Flashburst, Twiburst was cute, and I headcanon Starlight and Sunburst as stepsiblings.

Then this idea fell to me. At first, it was just Cadence, Shining, Flash and Sunny. I slowly thought to throw Sombra in later. These characters are what have their friends/family dubbed as the Crystal Quin.

Sunburst was quickly assigned to be Flurry Heart's nanny after her crystalling. He and the Crystal Couple grew close, as her ever-protective, tired caretakers. One night after the three had finally gotten Flurry to sleep, they all collapsed on each other. When they woke up, to their blushing surprise, the three were tangled in the married pair's bed. Their relationship took a swift turn. Shining Armor, Cadence and Sunburst kept the romance private from their subjects.

Flash Sentry was soon ordered as Flurry Heart's loyal bodyguard. They spent a lot of time together, nervously watching Flurry and taking care of the alicorn baby. Sunburst developed a crush.

His boyfriend and girlfriend encouraged Sunburst to ask him out. Hesitantly, Sunburst squeaked out the proposal to Flash. He accepted with a smile. Not knowing Flash's opinions of polyamorous herds, Sunburst left ShiningCadence, keeping their relationship under wraps from Flash Sentry.

After a few dates, Flash was his official boyfriend. Sunburst did fall in love with him (quite quickly), but at the same time, he dearly missed his former partners. Sunburst had to confess this to Flash.

Flash Sentry gave him a confused smirk and said, "Why can't you have all three of us?"

Long story short, Sunny had two boyfriends and a girlfriend. Cadence insisted they all hang out together for Sunburst's sake. Slowly but surely, the four fell in love.

And then Cadence found a shadowy figure traveling near the outskirts of the Empire. A frail and scrawny hornless Sombra, purged from the dark magic that craddled his mind, seeking shelter from the barren, icy wasteland. Cadence swooped down and took him back to the castle, under strict evolution from the Equestrian Princesses.

Princess Twilight and the foster child of Friendship, Cozy Glow, pleaded for Sombra's Reformation. Shining Armor was woefully against giving the evil Umbrum a chance to escape. Cadence was cautiously optimistic. Sunburst and Flash Sentry were divided with their stance on the matter. Before the two could make a choice, Celestia ordered for Sombra to be released, but kept under lock and key. She charged Cadence with Reforming the ancient King.

Cadence thought she was helping him. Sombra was genuinely ashamed for the things he had done. He took up extra community work around the Crystal Empire, forgoing sleep and eating in the name of being helpful or brooding in his dark depression. Slowly, the more time she spent consoling him, learning about his life and loneliness and guilt... The more she found herself surprised by his kindness. He warmed to her. She was the only creature he would smile for.

During this, Cadence saw Shining Armor less and less. Their interactions often ended in spats. Anytime the two weren't arguing, their words were filled with passive aggressiveness and tension. Boyfriends Sunburst and Flash Sentry were always on their hooves, running to get them to get along with no success.

Cadence grew frustrated of her husband not believing in her and her boyfriends urging her to see his point of view. That night, she sought comfort in her only friend. The only one on her side. Sombra.

She woke with him. Instantly, she raced to her partners and pulled them into a private room. Still dazed from the early morning, she confessed what she had done. The betrayal shocked them. Cadence begged for one of them to say something, to do anything.

Sunburst broke out into tears. Flash and Armor swept closer to him, Flash putting his wings around the orange unicorn and Shining stepping forward defensively when Cadence tried lending her hoof to Sunburst's face.

The five didn't talk for a few weeks. They lived together, ruled the empire, helped their subjects, took care of Flurry Heart... but all five kept their distance.

Until Cadence came up pregnant... with the child of Sombra.

Finally Shining broke, barging in to Sombra's confined bedchambers and screaming for a reason. At the very least, an apology. Sombra wouldn't give it. He should have believed in his wife's abilities, Sombra reasoned, or else she wouldn't have felt alone and caught feelings for him. He loved her, he said. Sombra didn't waver. Until the rest of them rushed in, and Cadence again awkwardly admitted that she was with child.

Cadence and Sombra entered a real relationship. Shining Armor was still her husband on the outside, but behind the closed doors of the castle, she loved Sombra, and Shiny loved being alone. Sunburst and Flash soon realized that their perfect little quad had died out. Hopeless, they resigned to being only each other's, and acted as Flurry Heart's parents in this time of frustration.

When Prince Valentinus Amor (meaning "Strong Love") was born, Cadence couldn't hide the truth from her subjects anymore. She declared that the child was Sombra's, and they would be raising the baby as a couple. (Disgruntled and disgusted, the Empire quietly sided with Shining Armor with little knowledge of what exactly had went down.)

With almost everything out in the open, Cadence and Shining readied the official divorce papers. Soon came the day when they had to sign it. They sat, alone together for the first time in months, waiting and meekly breathing... Until eventually, they fell, hugging one another and desperately sobbing.

Worried by the noise, Sombra, Sunburst and Sentry entered the room. Cadence wrapped the yellowish boys in her wings, rambling half-intelligible apologies, and Shining Armor and Sombra reluctantly talked things out. The night ended with the quin drunk, crying and in love again.

The Crystal Herd happily married, and soon opted to have a foal that was biologically the child of all of them. Thus, Princess Luster "Lucy" Dawn was born...

To Be Continued.

Here's some sketches of their designs I did before, in-between and after the poly drawing.

I buy into (@DeviantArt's) Eeelt's headcanon that Shining Armor has natural pink highlights in his blue mane and @lopoddityart ’s Lunacorn headcanon. I imagine Shining has golden flecks on his almost-all white body, the most prominent ones on his ears and shoulders. He has big fangs that are blunt, good for raw fruit and roots; a frugivore-looking horseboi.

Few bite-sized hcs; Shining Armor is shorter than both Cadence and Sombra, has ADHD, is dyslexic, goes alpha-male when family/friends are in danger, can hold a grudge for as long as he damn well pleases, is a lover of pastel, still Capt. of the Crystal Empire's Royal Guard, drag queen buddies with the Mane Six's brothers (drag names of "Orchard Blossom" for Mac, "Gleaming Shield" for Shiny, "Saphora Gale" for Zephyr), occasionally crossdresses, totally draws on his eyebrows, eight years older than Twi (he was a carefully planned pregnancy, while his kid sister was born due to a malfunction in their mom's birth control pills. Twilight wasn't planned, but after the initial shock and panic of a positive pregnancy spell, she was quickly welcomed as part of the family. after this Night Light got a vasectomy)

Flash Sentry is always running on black coffee, sleep deprivation and lust for eyeshadow, making his mane wild and his aura to give off an old rock band vibe. Is definitely a more relaxed, laid-back pony, a welcome source of casual advice for his children and partners. Shortest out of them all.

Sombra has a long snoot, and at the end of that snoot, rests his shaggy goatee. He also has sideburns, shaven sides, and a very messy manbun. Has bags under his eyes (much like Flash, he's an insomniac; you can find the pair cuddled up and reading when both are restless), wears gray eyeshadow, a red scarf, a sparkly tie for his bun, and golden horseshoes. He's simultaneously bulky and scrawny.

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racefortheironthrone · 5 years

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Thoughts on Powers of X #4

Into the home stretch:

Good Times At Bar Sinister:

In retrospect, this may be the weakest issue of HoX/PoX and the closest that the miniseries come to a filler issue. Partly that’s to do with its role in the overall story: this is a denoument issue after the fireworks of the last two issues, and it’s also there to make sure that House of #5′s big reveal/undoing of the climax wasn’t literally the next week’s issue. On the other hand, it’s also probably the funniest issue in the miniseries, so I’d still call it a pretty good comic.

In this first segment, Magneto and Charles track down Mister Sinister on his ominous red crystal island, which continues the motif of ominous towers. When this is happening isn’t clear. We’re still in X^0, but Charles’ flying chair makes its first (only?) appearance suggests that it’s been a while. I really hope Powers of X #6 gives us a better Life 10 timeline, because some of these ordering questions are confusing.

The Guard Sinister sets the tone right off the bat - as we might expect from someone whose morality was shaped by Victorian England, Sinister is perfectly comfortable with being the “yes we have much” and telling the have nots to go away; but at the same time, being very into Aesthetics (note the first of many punctation for emphasis) and style, so that we’re not so much dealing with a guard as a club bouncer grading their outfits.

The clash with Xavier’s grey businessman’s suit and politesse and the vibe at Bar Sinister is immediately apparent, although Magneto’s similarly aggressive Aesthetic is clearly close enough to get them into the club even if Magneto wasn’t up for hurling Sinisters into rocks for being rude to his boyfriend who he kind of crippled although not in the 616 Charles.

Inside the club, the vibe is a weird blend of Edwardian-by-way-of-Lewis-Carroll and the fantasy medievalism of Melniboné. As we are introduced to Sinister the Capeless, I have to say that I find the version of Mister Sinister we get here really interesting, because what’s happening is a shift from glam to camp that’s been there from Kieron Gillen’s run and which has cropped up in Hickman’s earlier work. None of the Aesthetics have changed at all, it’s just that we’ve subtracted the self-seriousness that was sometimes there with the OG Sinister and added a sense of knowing humor to the whole affair. Doesn’t make it any less terrifying when Sinister the Capeless turns on a dime from “I. Love. That. Cape” to Red Queen murderousness - clearly we’re dealing with someone who is both highly powerful, highly intelligent, but also totally nonsensical.

Incidentally, as lines that would work great as t-shirt slogans go, “I can’t be shamed into changing who I am” has got to be up there. Also, very thematically appropriate for HoX/PoX as a whole.

At long last, Xavier and Magneto finally get to the reason why they’ve come to the Bar Sinister: they want Mister Sinister to build “a comprehensive database of mutant DNA” that is “safe. secure.redundant.” More than anything else, this feels like the (necessary?) evil of the founding of Krakoa. Other villainous mutants can be dealt with on the basis of ideology or self-interest or just dealt with, as we saw in House of X #6, but Mister Sinister is really the only one who has made himself indispensable to the broader mission.

However, this is all being done with the foreknowledge that Mister Sinister betrayed the mutant cause in Moira’s most recent life, so I don’t think this is being done out of typical Xavierian hubris.

The reaction is rather surprising: Capeless Sinister refuses out of aesthetic objections to the inclusion of “that aberrant gene” in his collection, which is not consistent with his previous characterization (although given the “they’re all crazy clones” thing, there’s an explanation right there), but is in keeping with Victorian eugenics. (I like Magneto’s very carefully worded lie about the future.)

And then finally we get the Mister Sinister we all know and love, complete with ribbon cape and everything, but him showing up blowing off another Sinister’s head with a handgun is weirdly jarring, like a sudden intrusion from some violent cartoon universe. On the other hand, “my mutant power is overthrowing tyrants and being absolutely fabulous” feels way more like the Sinister we know, and suggests that the hatchet is not buried with Apocalypse)

I like that Magneto is kind of into all of this, because for all that he can be Serious Business sometimes, he’s also someone who’s deeply into his own Aesthetic of overthrowing governments while being fashion-forward.

So here’s the thing about Xavier mind-controlling Sinister into forgetting why he’s doing all of this: I don’t think this is the whole of the plan to deal with Sinister’s sudden but inevitable betrayal. I think part of the point is to maintain quality control over the database, given the whole business with the deliberately-engineered quality control failures in LIfe 9. But I feel like Moira would insist on more redundancy than just relying on one psychic whammy sticking.

Red Diamond Blind Items Infographic:

Speaking of comedy...this definitely is the funniest infographic we’ve gotten throughout the series. A bunch of these went way over my head, lots of them ended up as dropped plot threads which we’ll have to wait for Dawn of X to see if they get followed up on, but they were all entertaining.

Sinister Secret #1: this one is kind of vague, and I’m 99% certain it’s just a gossip columnist being catty about shoes. Incidentally, Louis XIV loved red heels so much that he decreed no one other than him could wear them.

Sinister Secret #2: in addition to being a clue about the Resurrection Machine bringing back all kinds of dead mutants, I like how this one continues one of the best elements of Grant Morrison’s run - the idea that mutants start developing a distinct culture - but now with a twist that it’s going to be happening even more that Krakoa is giving that culture a safe space to flourish.

Sinister Secret #3: Especially what with all the hints about Inferno throughout HoX/PoX, this is definitely about Madelyn Pryor. Dunno what she left behind, but it could well be some sort of resurrection failsafe.

Sinister Secret #4: no idea what this refers to.

Revealed! Of all the X-genes out there for Sinister to use, why John Proudstar? It doesn’t fit with the powers he’s displayed in previous runs, and the only thing I could think of is that Proudstar is the first of the All-New X-Men to die (making it easier to get samples).

Sinister Secret #5: especially in the wake of House of X #6, this suggests that Scott and Jean are in a poly relationship/open marriage of some sort with Logan and/or Emma, and that the new mutant culture is developing its own values on sexuality and family structure, what with the First Law.

Sinister Secret #6: the HoXPoxToX on this issue gives the relevant citation, but I didn’t read the book so I don’t know which of the samples Ernst stole were supposedly destroyed.

Sinister Secret #7: this is a pretty clear reference to the whole messy continuity business about there being a third Summers brother, but also a nice hint that Sinister is completely full of shit and so these blind items have to be taken with a whole salt lick. (Incidentally, we’ve seen Vulkan showing up in promotional materials for Dawn of X, so that’s probably the Summers in question, which means we can finally stop talking about dumb theories about it being random male X-Men).

Sinister Secret #8: again with the pretender talk, but the real clue here is that Apocalypse’s major motivation is getting his original Horsemen back, which is significant for the next section.

Sinister Secret #9: especially with the reveal that Synch has been resurrected, this is pretty clearly referring to him and Jubilee, who are now at very different places in their lives post-resurrection.

Revealed! As I’ve talked about before, Inferno is a running theme in HoX/PoX, and to be honest, if the new status quo of X-Men is going to involve any nostalgia riffs, it’s a good choice because it hasn’t been over-done as much as Days of Future Past, and ties in well with issues of clones, demons, and Sinister.

Sinister Secret #10: as I suggested above, the fact that Xavier saw all kinds of Sinisters running around suggests that he wasn’t relying on that tactic alone to safeguard his mutant future.

Linguistic Anthropology with Doug Ramsey:

So let’s talk about pith helmets - on the one hand, this is a callback to Cassandra Nova, but it’s an inversion: where Nova donned the helmet to show a Trask the instrument of mutant genocide, Xavier is wearing it to show a mutant a crucial part of the plan to reverse the Genoshan genocide. On the other, it’s a deliberately colonialist fashion statement: namely, that as with earlier attempts at establishing a mutant nation - San Marco, Genosha, Utopia, etc. - the mutant homeland is not unoccupied land and mutants are thus not entirely innocent of this particular sin of nation-states, whatever Magneto might say. Not the first and last time that nationalist projects have made this mistake.

Charles talks a good game about moving from adversary to ally with the land, but as we’ll see in just a bit he doesn’t understand Krakoa as much as he thinks he does, which undercuts his good intentions.

Doug introduces the techno-organic virus to Krakoa,which is significant both for the whole issue of biological vs. mechanical transhumanism and singularity, the potential threat from the Phalanx in X^3, but also is a sign that introducing new species to a habitat (something that’s happened quite often in the history of settler colonialism) is an easy overlooked problem.

I love the idea that the difference between telepathy and hyperlingualism is the difference between pidgin and anthropological thick description. Xavier might be able to hear anyone’s thoughts, but that doesn’t necessarily means that he understands said thoughts.

By contrast, Doug’s greater understanding means that he learns Krakoa’s origin myth, and is thematically appropriate for this series it’s a story of unity and division. The linkage between demonic incursions and Arakko/No-Place suggests Inferno, even as the Twilight Sword points to Surtur and Walt Simonson’s run on Thor. The key thing here, however, is that Apocalypse is portrayed as a tragic hero, sacrificing his original horsemen to seal away the demonic invasion and dividing the land - as Apocalypse wants to bring the OG Horsemen back more than anything, this would suggest that seal will be rebroken, causing a lot of chaos, but ultimately leading to the reunion of a sundered land.

As a reward for his insight, Doug is one of the few people who learn the whole plan, which places his “hopey-changey” comments from the very first issue in a different light.

Current Krakoan Systems Infographic:

I’m going to be brief here, because we already saw these systems in action last issue.

Here, the first thing I want to emphasize is how crucial Doug is to the founding of Krakoa - every single other system relies on his interface system. At the same time, we also learn that Forge is running the Krakoan skunkworks system which creates the biomachinery that all of Krakoa will run on as well. In other words, one founder creates the software and one founder creates the hardware. It’s yet another example of the Krakoan emphasis on accomplishing greater things through cooperation and creativity (and how very much this is a story about nationalism and not cults of personality).

We Hope for Ascension:

I gotta say, I’m with a lot of other people who don’t get why this particular X^3 plot was chosen. It’s harder to grasp and the characters don’t have anywhere as near as much to connect with as X^2. That being said, I have some guesses, which will probably all be proven wrong tomorrow!

As I discussed the last time we saw the post-humans, the difference between conversion and ascension are much less clear than they first appeared...unless (unless...) we’re talking about the whole issue of the philosophy of identity. As the Elder points out, if your culture already has the idea of a self and a seer-self who’s already uploaded into a machine, are you really dying if your body dies? As I’ll get into way more in House of X #5, the argument that the post-resurrection mutants are clones and not the “real McCoys” rests on a particularly strong case of continuity of consciousness that I don’t think holds up to scrutiny.

At the same time, I do think we see here some signs of cultural weakness among the post-humans: they can’t tolerate the idea of being just short of the next step of consciousness/intelligence and are willing to do anything to achieve the goal of achieving the next schematic stage in machine consciousness development, because “isn’t that what’s next.” Except the problem is that it’s a rigged game - there’s always another level, always another Phalanx using you as a Technarch patsy, and it’s not clear from the outset whether these higher stages are all they’re cracked up to be.

Incidentally, I totally misinterpreted what happened here. Initially, I thought that the “seer-self”/recognition sequence thing suggested a way around losing “ sovereignty “ by introducing a memetic virus, given the way that the Phalanx undergo a sudden physical transformation. This doesn’t seem to be the case based on Powers of X #5.

How are the Phalanx not an empire? All they do is expand, consume resources, and either wipe out or “elevate” other cultures on the basis of their own ideas of cultural worthiness. That is the very definition of imperialism!

And here we see the bedrock incompatibility of biological and mechanical transhumanism/singularity.

#xmen #xmen meta #powers of x #hoxpox

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