#and I know I had some alternate storyline scenes and moments when I was first considering it

[nattikay]

Ok, I just watched the Way of Water deleted scenes from the new Collector's Edition, and there's one thing I just want to get off my chest real quick.

....because I know the Spider fans who already hate Neytiri are going to absolutely flip a gasket when they see the alternate standoff scene.

First: understand that this version of the scene is not canon. It was changed for a reason. The additions seen in it are not part of the finalized canon storyline.

That out of the way:

Yes, the scene was dark. Yes, it would be morally wrong to kill Spider. But if your takeaway is "wow look how much Neytiri personally hates Spider's guts isn't she so terrible and mean and crazy!!", you're looking beyond the mark.

This scene was not about Neytiri and Spider. It was about Neytiri and Quaritch. While it's true that Neytiri and Spider don't have a great relationship, she didn't threaten to kill Spider because she hates Spider. She threatened to kill him because he's Quaritch's son, Quaritch's men had just murdered HER son not even a HOUR ago, and she wanted to put Quaritch through the same hell that his men had just put her through. Hence her repetition of "son for son".

The sky people have taken so much from her, right in front of her eyes: her sister, her father, her ikran, her home (twice), and now her CHILD, her beloved firstborn. That's enough to break just about anyone.

Neytiri was not thinking straight in this scene. She was nowhere near the mental state to make rational decisions or to weigh morality. She was grieving, she was enraged, and all she could focus on was making the sky people suffer the way they made her suffer. Neteyam was one very serious loss too many, and she snapped.

Yes, Spider is innocent in the situation, and if she'd gone through with it that would not have been morally justified. But she's not evil for having a mental breakdown, or for in a moment of rage and grief and pain and desperation threatening extreme actions that she wouldn't normally take; and she's not a permanent psycho who's gonna sit around plotting to randomly attack Spider at some arbitrary point in the future.

Because again, this was not about her issues with Spider. It's about her rage against Quaritch--a rage rubbed raw to bleeding by the pain of losing Neteyam--which Spider unfortunately just so happens to be caught up in the middle of.

That's all. No, I'm not interested in arguing about this, so don't bother. Just wanted to toss it out there before the fans go bonkers cuz I know that's gonna happen :P

#neytiri #it's 4am and i will probably regret this but :P

[danwhobrowses]

Beyond the Spider-Verse Theory: The Hidden Villain

So I've left it a few days after watching Across the Spider-Verse to gather my thoughts. And while you can see my review here it's time for some theory crafting for the next movie: Beyond the Spider-Verse

This theory will discuss the existence of another villain behind the scenes

Spoilers for Across the Spider-Verse

So as we know, the main crux of the Spider Society's storyline is that the Web of Life and Destiny (aka the Spider-Verse) apparently hinges on the concept of 'Canon Events', whereby each Spider has to undergo intersecting moments in each mythos. Miguel O'Hara enforces this pattern via the Spider Society, after his attempts to 'break canon' caused the universe he inhabited, taking over from another dead Miguel's life, to die - along with his alternative universe daughter. We also learn that anomalies like this will cause the web to collapse, and thus Miles - having been bitten by another universe's spider to get spider powers, allegedly robbing the powers from another potential spider - and Spot are walking anomalies and their prolonged time in another universe may cause another collapse.

But something doesn't quite add up.

First of all, if Miles and Spot are anomalies, why is their universe still intact? Same can be said for the Earth-42 spider still in a jar. Additionally, why did Miguel's universe collapse if he had the watch that keeps his atoms good in the universe? Isn't he doing exactly what he alleges Miles is doing, taking over another Spider-person who died in this Universe? Also it's highly unlikely that every Spider is subject to the same canon events; Ben Reilly is a clone and Miguel had his DNA mixed with a spider's so surely that disrupts the OG Canon Event of the Spider-bite right? Miguel never had an Uncle Ben or a Captain Stacy moment in his mythos (unless we're suddenly counting the alt!Daughter as the former), plus in Into the Spider-Verse Gwen already said she saved her dad from dying so wouldn't that have disrupted a Canon Event? Do captains even exist for Peter Parked Car or Spidersaurus Rex?

And finally, how can you say Spot and Miles are anomalies and shouldn't be in the universe when Pravitr's Canon Event is only caused by Spot interfering with his universe?

Like I said, it doesn't add up.

So, how do we establish that the idea of 'Canon Events' are not as strict as they seem, that Miles and Spot aren't reality-threatening anomalies, but also explain what happened to the universe that traumatized Miguel - with Peter B. also as witness to verify the story?

Perhaps, someone is manipulating the web behind the scenes.

In the comics, the Web of Life and Destiny is maintained by the 'Master Weaver', a character key to Morlun and his Inheritors, and while I don't think we're going to see the Weaver in Beyond the Spider-Verse I do feel like somebody could be filling that kind of a role. So ask yourself, who do we know in the Spider-Verse who has a unique interest in other dimensions, has the mind to test and tinker, but also has a fascination slash vendetta against the spiders...

Dr. Olivia Octavius was a highlight of the first movie, but her sudden exit after being hit by a truck was considered an abrupt and unsatisfying end for her. So what if she survived? And when the collider closed she was sucked into the Web of Life and Destiny? An inquisitive mind such as herself would have a wealth of time (well, not literally, given that Miles got a glimpse of the future and Spider Society HQ is in 2099 we can assume that the web exists outside of linear time) to test things, seeing the paths and intersections of other Spiders. Liv however does have one particular Spider she seems drawn to in a negative manner though, Peter B. Parker, so what if Miguel's incident in the universe collapsing was instead an attempted hit towards Peter B., Liv attempting to wipe him out of time by wiping the universe he was in?

It does go deeper, we've seen from the Spot that in his flashback scenes he's always adjacent to Liv, they both identified the Earth-42 spider, and she was the leading scientist on the Collider, so she would have the skills to know this, and if she became able to expand her abilities by being a villainous Master Weaver (like Superior Spider-Man attempted to be by killing the Master Weaver to change his fate), she may also be responsible for directing other Spiders' paths along the same route to manipulate Miguel into his current uncharacteristic way of thinking, she may also be manipulating her colleague Spot to encourage more suffering to the Spiders.

If true, it'll at least give Miguel closure and open the door for him to be apologetic and much less of a dick, but it'd also explain how Miles could become able to divert the idea of Canon Events without destroying his or other universes, liberating each Spider to exist in their own story without having to follow the same pattern. Adding to a much bigger role for Octavius (we did see a lot of variant Doc Ocks in ATSV) would provide a cyclic conclusion to Miles' journey since his other 'first villains' Kingpin and Prowler have been defeated.

But, this is just a theory, there's much room to go other directions, but it was a thought.

#spider man #spiderman #spiderman atsv #across the spiderverse #across the spider verse spoilers #spiderverse #sony spiderverse #miles morales #miguel o'hara #the spot #across the spider verse #peter b parker #spider man across the spiderverse spoilers #spider man across the spider verse #into the spider verse #beyond the spiderverse #theory

[bomberqueen17]

The Witch King

This is not like, a coherent review or anything.

Yesterday I was just like possessed with anxiety nonstop the whole day and everything I did seemed to make it worse and i just like spun my wheels and I got some things done but mostly felt worse and worse and more and more stressed, due partly to external circumstances but largely, i think, to nothing in particular. And finally after dinner I was sitting on the couch comfortably and realized you know what, fuck it, I am not going to "try to write" and wind up refreshing tumblr and chatting on discord all night, not while I'm already fretting and stewing like this, i'm going to be miserable and probably get in a fight or something and i don't want that. Fuck it. So I went to the tab I already had open in my browser, which I'd had open for weeks but the time was never right, and I bought the kindle version of Witch King and read it right there in my browser, the whole way through, did not click away or put it down or move or do anything else, and you know what it was fantastic.

I'd read a preview and been like hm i don't know what this is about and read a couple of amazon reviews that were like this was really confusing, some of which concluded so i didn't like it and some of which concluded so i super liked it, and like, I've been a fan of Martha Wells since she put the Element of Fire up for free chapter by chapter on her Livejournal when the rights reverted to her in like 2006 or so, so I knew what I was going to get and also knew that I would not particularly know exactly what I was going to get until I got it, and I also knew I was going to enjoy the ride, but I hadn't wanted to read it in stolen or exhausted moments lest the "this is confusing" bits prove too much.

In the end I found it not in the slightest bit confusing, it was a very straightforward interspersed flashbacks storytelling technique that i thought suited the story beautifully (not to be spoilery but we join a character in medias res with an action scene and it's him trying to figure out who has betrayed him in a complicated political scenario, and in the process of unspooling this he has to revisit the site of where the complicated political scenario was first set up, some sixty (?) years earlier, so he's retracing his own steps and it's really well done I think, introducing new bits of history right as they're relevant to the current storyline-- and just fantastically done, not at all forced, completely natural and compelling, and no the reader isn't told anything they don't need to know but you do get everthing you need to know, there's no unneccessary coyness at all).

So anyway i loved that, and I hope there's a sequel planned but it stands alone just fine if not, I'm already figuring i'll alternate my rereads and do every other chapter each time, so I can do All The Backstory first, then All The Current Timeline story, and that's such a fun way to eke out many many many rereads of a story that like all of Wells' works I will reread until I have chunks of them memorized (anyone who has read my works surely has found whole undigested bits of hers bobbing around in there because I do this so much; I found the phrase weary past bearing in something of mine the other day and was like oh that's moon when ember first shows up i stole that whole emotion wholesale out of the third raksura book yes i did).

Little side notes: Love the aroace qpr vibes with Kai and Zeide, also sort of enjoy the lowkey genderfuckery that comes with a demon who has his own gender then inhabiting bodies that had different genders. Great magic system too, and I love that we first get introduced to how Kai's pain magic works as a like totally fait accompli chunk of didactic worldbuilding and then in a later chapter we get to see the flashback of him inventing it and understand why it works the way it does, that was also so well-wrapped-up.

Anyway-- Definitely recommend this one but probably it is best if you can do it like I did, in one big binge-read. It took me probably three hours and I was trying hard not to read it too fast.

Yeah. Anyway. People assume I'm a big reader. I was, as a kid. I am not now. This is the first new book I've read since probably the spring sometime. I don't casually read things i only read them if I'm going to add them to my Pantheon of Rereads, and that goes for fic too mostly.

#martha wells #witch king #book recs #kind of a book review #sort of

[duplicitywrites]

Thank you so much for replying to my other ask! I completely understand not wanting to revisit a fic you had wrote when you weren't doing the best, and I hope you're feeling better now! 🩷 I adore 'evermore' so much even though it's quite depressing aha 🥲 The way you wrote Harry's mental health and escapism was so good and Id love to hear some spoilers if you were up to it 😅

One thing I love about fanfic is the freedom of it all, and like you said "What is fanfic if not an ode to writing that felt unfinished?". Your interpretation of Harry as an abused child at his core in works like "damaged" always get to me. It always felt weird in the HP book series that Harry had such an awful childhood and was as well adjusted and happy in the future.

Another one of your works I was really interested in is 'perfect boys with their perfect lives', the Harry/Cedric aka a certain dark lord one. It really had me thinking about what could have happened in the graveyard if Harry hadn't escaped 🫣

i am, thanks! it was around covid, which was an awful time for everyone i'm sure, with weird life stuff piled on top of it.

i was going to answer all of the ones you mentioned, but evermore is actually one of few stories i have planned out in detail. this is why it has a planned chapter count (though that hasn't stopped me from going overboard before lol).

i guess i'll just give you the whole thing in case i never finish it kljsdgkljdgs it's pretty long, so under a cut it goes! but first some context for everyone else:

🍃 Evermore

Tags: Alternate Universe, Unhealthy Relationships, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Manipulative Relationship, Infidelity, Past Child Abuse, Dream Sequences, Depression, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Plot Twists, Happy Ending, Surprise Ending, Healing

Summary:

Harry is a married man who is living a charmed life. He has no need for the fantasy potions gifted to him by the Weasley twins—or so he thinks. After falling asleep on the train ride home, Harry dreams of the perfect man, a man named Tom Riddle. As Harry explores his dream life with Tom, he realizes that his actual life is not as charmed as it seems. The pristine image of his faultless marriage shatters, revealing a darker reality, and Tom Riddle becomes an oasis, a sanctuary for Harry to escape to. However, no sanctuary is eternal and no oasis is truly perfect. Harry must eventually confront his demons, inner and outer, before he can find real happiness for himself.

Notes:

these notes are arranged in order from where the most recently posted chapter left off.

there are probably some divergent points that occurred during the actual writing process, but this plan below (i'll admit i'm not quite brave enough to reread it all) is what the general storyline will be.

-

reality four - right where you left me

maybe harry's been harbouring fears of his potions being found? :thots: or his husband's made note of his changes in behaviour, accuses him of not spending time/being devoted

they get into an argument where harry gets a looooot of shit for stuff he doesn't deserve to get shit for, stuff that's not even true

harry yells back but gets hit, idk if by magic or not :thots: and he backs down, distraught. then once he's alone, he goes straight for the dream world

dream four - no body no crime

it'll be a much shorter version obviously, and the character roster won't be the same

i hadn't nailed down the specifics of the background and so i'm not sure how it'll look, exactly

harry is NOT married in this dream, he knows dream-husband but they are only friends

dream-husband is ginny's role in this particular iteration

but the climax of this scene is where harry is snooping around in the house, where he happens upon the dream-husband's diary

he's been looking for evidence to prove the murder

harry reads through the diary

and in the diary are tragic entries describing depressive thoughts, details of emotional (maybe even physical) abuse, etc.

this is a pivotal moment for harry, who up until this moment has been in denial about the failings of his real life marriage

reading this in the framing of it happening to someone else is enough for him to realize that it's wrong

what happens to him is not okay

but of course it's not that easy to just, shrug off years of marriage all at once; harry once again exits the dream, thus ending that particular dream universe

he's partly in denial but it's not as bad as before

he's been using the dreams as a coping mechanism up until this point

i've made it sound kind of frustrating but the dream worlds that harry goes to are meant to be very lush, romanticized

while we realize that harry's dream worlds are not ideal, he doesn't realize it right away

he thinks he's still doing something wrong

reality five - coney island

uh so next is probably another real life scene which shows tension between harry and his husband, only harry is no longer acting the way he did before aka accepting things without question

after the dream, harry starts to... notice things. he picks up on the slights, on the manipulative behaviours. he doesn't argue back for most of it, because he's still figuring it out and he's in shock, but he does start acting differently, which is noted by his husband

it escalates things further, a landslide of 'harry is no longer listening to me, is no longer under my control' type of deal where it results in more attempts to manipulate, which harry now sees is bad

voldemort grew addicted to power, made deals with politicians, gained a following

he looks back on past events and picks out the red flags, realizes that his marriage is not a marriage of equals. but just because harry knows these things, doesn't mean he knows what to do. he goes back to the dream world for comfort/answers

dream five - cowboy like me

this one is 'cowboy like me'

harry is there with his husband staying at a hotel, they happen across dream-husband, who is a con artist attempting to swindle an older woman

either harry is also a con artist in a similar vein, or he is mistaken for one - i'll probably decide once it's written out and i get a sense of the vibe

but he and dream-husband have some interesting conversations, flirting, etc

the theme of this dream i think will be further strengthening the similarities between harry and the dream-husband he's made up in his head

this dream ends with a bittersweet farewell

something along the lines of, despite their attraction for each other, they must part ways? :thots: or some other thing

but there will be a bit of a cheeky 'see you soon'

aka referencing the fact that it's a dream/dream world, that the dream-husband is a recurring character in harry's mental space

reality six - happiness

harry's down to two vials now, the bittersweet farewell of dream five has him realizing that time is running out in the metaphorical sense; we understand that soon he will need to make a choice

i might loop back to infidelity at this point, maybe in an attempt to bring harry to heel, his husband starts flaunting an affair? :thots: cause in the past, flirting with other people probably worked to make harry upset and easily manipulated

but y'know now harry is armed with his brand new knowledge of Marriage Should Not Be Like This and also he's got some shiny self-worth stored up, courtesy of dream-husband

dream six - ivy

in this dream world, harry is married to his current husband, but he is having an affair with the dream-husband; not in the sexual sense, but in the emotional sense. drawing on the dream five, harry is seeking comfort and solace from his bad marriage

this dream is meant to remove more of harry's doubts and encourage him to see that his current situation is bad

and i imagine we start to break through the fourth wall; dream-husband speaks directly to harry, referencing real life events that have occurred

he encourages harry to leave

harry is doubtful, obviously. this is all he's known and he's been gaslighted, manipulated, mistreated

he's terrified he will be found out and punished for it

but the dream-husband reassures him, promises him that things will be okay, etc.

he makes harry promise to take care of himself

and i'm thinking in true romantic sense, maybe they spend the night together? :thots:

reality seven - closure

we solidify that harry deserves better, that what has happened is not his fault, etc all the important, healthy things

we have harry reaching out to the people that have been slowly pushed out of his life (mostly by his husband). he’s reconnecting with them, being healthier, i think this section would end with harry going to ron and hermione and telling them the truth, telling them everything

harry is down to his last vial, so he's been saving it

like, he could obviously go and get more, they would give it to him for free, even, but you know it's kind of like

he shouldn't have to rely on that as a coping mechanism any more

dream seven - evermore

i'm thinking harry goes for one last dream, they sit together outside(?) or somewhere else that has significance for harry

they hold hands, harry talks about how much the support has meant to him, what he's learned about himself, what these dreams have taught him

sometimes things don't work out

he knows he needs to walk out and move on

i'll probably cry writing all this so you know it'll be good

the end - it’s time to go

then like i mentioned before, there will be a scene of harry signing divorce papers. his friends are with him, telling them they support him, and he feels... relief. he feels hope.

the story ends with harry attending a party, this time by his own decision. he's here to genuinely mingle with people, with his friends, and have a good time

and then he sees someone

much like the previous dream, it's someone who he once knew

they talk, they catch up, but this time it doesn't feel odd or uncomfortable

harry feels secure with himself, and we end on the hopeful note that this could go somewhere good

#asks #anonymous #evermore au #this story still does mean a lot to me #i'd like to finish it

[minustwofingers]

exoplanet post-finale discussion

this is a post that goes over some things that i briefly touched on in the tags/mentions some plot points i wasn't able to expand upon! SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS after the cut. so dont look unless u want it to be spoiled

ok so! i want to first of all start out by thanking everyone reading/the ellie community this for being so patient and wonderful and just lovely in general! writing long fics can be so draining for me, especially when i start making poor plot choices and start writing parts that are over 10k words (i at least have the decency to be ashamed of it). i hope that you all have enjoyed reading p7/the rest of the series. i did want to offer a little more elaboration on some points/why i made some of the plot choices that i did. so spoilers under the cut!

petra

petra's character might seem super random, and it's because she actually used to play a much bigger role in this story. my original outline included petra actually coming back to jackson as well as a few cutscenes away to her time working at a bourbon plant in kentucky, detailing exactly how the goods were contaminated/how they actually got past quality control. i cut these scenes bc i was like literally no one came to read about this random oc.

how did terranova get infected (in other words: what petra's story would've told)

she used to have a monologue talking about how everyone in the plants—even the commanding officers—were frustrated with the poor conditions and managed to infect weaker members, tie them up, and drop their saliva into the vats of aging bourbon. this slipped past quality control because you'll recall that 1) the prices were skyrocketing in terranova and 2) there was a festival that involved hella drinking. petra was supposed to explain that since the prices of liquor were so high and quality control could be overly cautious, flagged bottles were smuggled off by guards and sold in a black market. so that's why it was so fast/why it got through the borders!

why didnt u write a smut scene between ellie and y/n smh

i honestly planned to—i had a whole scene where y/n has her little top moment, but i just couldnt integrate it into the last final scenes. to me it just felt too much for ellie to be like yes im opening up 2 u emotionally....now lets fuck in the span of like 20 mins when they hadn't been speaking beforehand. and also i think it speaks to how ellie kind of used sex to put distance between them in the first few parts and tried to avoid any sort of emotional intimacy, so this was a big step for her. also if i were y/n id be sleepy as hellllll at that point and would not have the wrist stamina for any sort of activities that didn't involve tucking into bed after the day she's had!

what next?

so of course there's the epilogue, but that doesn't have to be all. i was thinking of writing an alternate ending that adheres more firmly to tlou 2 canon and involves joel's death + ellie's spiral, where y/n actually chooses to leave terranova with dina to try to find her once she hears from her father about a girl with a fern tattoo that's causing a disturbance just a bit south of terranova. i didn't want that to be the actually legit ending, because i do think it's important for ellie's conscience to know that she's not keeping y/n from somewhere safer.

so in conc: epilogue for sure, maybe an alternate ending, and potentially a few "deleted scenes" (including the smut scene i cut)

why did you choose to do that to terranova instead of having ellie find her or y/n leave?

ellie was never going to terranova to get y/n because she'd never try to take her from there unless she had a genuine belief that she'd be better off outside. so i suppose that there could've been a storyline about ellie finding out about terranova possibly getting infected, but idk how she would know that when communication is so private and tommy wasn't even able to get in contact with any terranovan authorities with his connections.

i didn't go with my alternate ending idea where y/n actually chooses to leave, partly because of ellie and mostly because i felt like terranova needed to get blown up anyway. i was hoping that part of the message i sent with this was that overconsumption is never sustainable and that it will always have consequences, and terranova falling apart because of and not in spite of its resources and suppliers seemed like a good way to get the job done!

this may not be something anyone is particularly interested in but if you have any questions about any things i didn't cover in the finale, feel free to ask ! now that the actual plot is mostly complete and i can't really spoil anything, i have a lot more flexibility with answering things!

#ellie williams x reader

[pholiabanna]

what's on your s5 wishlist? the silly, goofy things!!!

I'M SO SORRY FOR ANSWERING THIS SO LATE finals were killing me and I wanted to wait and write a good answer to this.

First of all I'm really excited for the 4 og boys to be together again, because we haven't had one full season of them being in the same storyline yet, which I think is criminal. I really think putting them back together will bring back the season 1 feel that made everyone love this show, and I can't wait!

I'm also so excited about learning more about the upside down. The ships and characters are awesome to analyze, but I love the supernatural part and knowing that we're gonna learn what the Upside Down actually is, and why it's stuck on the day Will went missing, among other things, makes me impatient because I need to know rn.

Now I know those weren't really goofy things but I needed to put them because they are a must for me. Moving on to the silly things:

If the season takes place in 1987, the Duffers have the chance to do the funniest thing ever and include a rickroll in a creative way. C'mon, it has to happen

A lot of people are advocating for byler to get murray'd, Erica's or Jonathan'd, but I actually want them to get Argyle'd. I imagine a scene going like: Mike and Will talk about El and Mike's breakup and the camera switches to Argyle smoking a joint in the background, while he says "Whoa Wheeler you were dating supergirl? And I was here thinking you were with mini Byers this whole time, dude, that's not cool man, that's so not cool!"

I need more Erica and Lucas sibling bickering moments, they're the best

I know this won't happen, but imagine Mike's sexuality is revealed through a conversation about movies where he reveals he finds Fast Times boring af and he "doesn't understand the appeal every man sees in that movie". I mean, at this point Fast Times has become the Duffer's favorite sexuality metaphor

I know Max probably won't wake up early on, but I'd kill to get more Elmax scenes where they just bond like normal teenage girls again. Max already taught El how to stand up for herself and how to know what she actually likes, but I think it'd be so cool to see her find out what her hobbies are. I'd love to see a scene where Max just teaches El how to skate, and El keeps trying to cheat with her powers but Max tells her that's not fair.

I need Lucas and Max to go on that movie date as well, I don't care if it's impractical

Also even though I don't really care about Dustin/Suzie because they aren't a very focused on relationship, I think it'd be cute if there was a scene where they reunite in person

More Joyce, Jonathan and Will scenes together please!!!

They need to go around town riding bikes again, bring back the whole s1 vibe

Please let us see Mr. Clarke's pov, mans probably so confused every time he helped his students the town was destroyed. Also, they can't win without him and that's a fact

Troy has to show up again, only so that they beat him up and this time El breaks his leg

Alternatively, Lonnie comes back and Jonathan beats him up (with the help of Will maybe)

Nancy notices Jonathan's tendency to interrupt byler moments and puts a leash on him

I need a new iconic song tied to another iconic scene I can obsess over. Something that can top even the Running up that hill scene

Someone needs to acknowledge the fact that they are straight up calling 001 Vecna as in one of the Dnd characters, when actually he's just some guy named Henry who would probably be so confused as to why they're calling him Vecna

These are all I could come up with but I'm sure deep in my mind there's many more things I wish for and if the Duffers deliver even one of them I'll be satisfied!

#byler #byler tumblr #stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers

[wilchur]

Saw someone else do it and I think I've done this before too, but the list has grown since then a bit so here's my current lineup of read dead wips that I'm working on!! :D Minus the stuff that's already posted on AO3 cuz I see no point in doing a synopsis for things that have left my google drive and you can go and read ahah.

Turned out loooooong so lookie under the cut if you're interested in knowing what I'm up to.

Morston Soulmate AU (title tba, multichapter, around 20-30k when finished) - An AU where you can feel all the injuries your soulmate gets, both minor and major ones. There's no soul marks, seeing your soulmate get hurt and connecting the dots is the only way to find out. Has a lot of time skips and focuses more on feelings than events, but starts out pre-canon when John almost gets lynched and works its way towards the end of the canon story. Chapters alternate between Arthur's and John's POV. Canon compliant :)

RDR2 "Modern AU" (title tba, multichapter, long as shit) - I only call it a modern AU for the sake of simplicity... I'm not sure if it counts as one. Set in 1999 and focuses on the case of Arthur Matthews -- a 36 year old adoptive son of the infamous criminal defence lawyer Hosea Matthews, who went missing without a trace for six months and then reappeared miles from his hometown, seemingly unharmed, but also... not quite right. Delusional, confused, suffering from some sort of memory impairment. The story is about Arthur struggling to adapt to being back home in a reality that is apparently foreign to him. Outsider's/John's POV, but not really shippy. It can be read as pre-slash, though.

My Self-Indulgent Jesse/Arthur fic (another title tba lol, it's too early to tell but I'm thinking multichapter? A collection of scenes from 1878 to 1899) - This one is for me and me only, though I will eventually post it 😂 Written in second person, like a reader-insert and can be read as one if someone wants to, but I am including Jesse's backstory and feelings that are way too specific to be immersive for anyone but myself... I'm working real hard to write it in a way that portrays growing up queer in that time somewhat realistically, so it's not always pretty, but I do try to keep it not that depressing. Features: Jesse's early-life backstory, the story of the scar, his first Gay Experience, how his brothers died, the ups and downs of his relationship with Arthur, why they eventually broke up for what felt like last time, how he got arrested (altered RDO storyline bit) and how he got back up with the gang. I'm planning to do a rough rewrite/fix-it of the canon story with him in it too, but that's... an "one day" thing ajsddjfk

Morston Omegaverse (title tba, one shot, around 10-15k probably? I can't keep things short, sorry) - Young-ish and freshly presented Alpha John, "Closeted" Omega Arthur. Ngl this one is smutty as hell... but! I think my take on omegaverse is rather fun (very transgendered) and it's porn WITH not without plot so something for everyone there lol. John's POV again + lotsa feelings, misunderstandings and some angst :) Just the way I like it.

Vandermatthews Daemon AU (had a title but ao3 yeeted my draft and I forgot what it was, oops)- I say Vandermatthews, but it's more of a "curious couple, unruly son" genfic than real slashfic 😅 This is supposed to be the beginning a series of oneshots from different characters' POV. This one is maybe a 1/3 done (needs a serious rewrite tho) and written from Hosea's POV. It's about him and Dutch finding and taking in young Arthur -- a very traumatised child who has undergone intercision and therefore lost his daemon. More of a collection of vignettes from that moment to when they take in John than a real coherent fic tho. The next one is going to be John's POV coming of age thing and we'll see where my brain will go from there. I want to do a separate big ass post about this one later because I have Opinions on the gang members' daemons that I need either challenged or validated...

1907!John/Isaac fic (title tba... a two parter, one set in the epilogue and the second is a RDR1 fix-it) - NOW HEAR ME OUT!!!!!! PUT DOWN THE GODDAMN PITCHFORKS FOR A SECOND PLS This is a plot bunny that Refused To Fucking Die. Isaac is obviously an adult in this (22), they have never met before, and the story begins in the months where Abigail and Jack were gone and John worked alone on Pronghorn ranch. It's not so much a romance (despite the slash) but more two people dealing with different types of grief in Very Unhealthy ways, okay. It's supposed to be a bit iffy because of that and the... 12 years of difference between them in this universe. I'm not trying to make this shit uwu or anything. It's also a bit of a daddy issues vent piece for me and I've been working it for MONTHS because I want to write this one right. This is the the fic I redacted in my last WIP showcase, but now decided that... fuck it. Here you go.

(Doubt anyone has made it this far, but if you did ily.. please lemme know what you think? My ask box is open for questions too... I love talking about the stuff I'm working on even if it's not posted yet ❤)

#wrote this instead of working on any of these like i promised myself i'll do today.. #master of procrastination #(well i wrote like 500 words of and i'll die if that counts.. but i've been at my puter the whole day so that's like nothing rip) #rdr2 #oh the joys of fic writing

[brutashaswin]

My Thoughts on Guardians of the Galaxy 3

(Spoiler free until the cut)

*Rocket’s backstory is the standout part of this movie. Absolutely beautifully and exquisitely done. I cried, and I rarely cry at movies. The voice acting, the CGI of Rocket and his friends, the writing, it was all incredible!

*There were some fun moments between the team! This is definitely Rocket’s movie, but Nebula, Drax, and Mantis have some great scenes. Peter and Gamora take a backseat in terms of screen time.

*Adam Warlock was definitely underused, I kept forgetting he was in this movie. I wish he had more interaction with the Guardians before the very end of the film.

*Cosmo 13/10, she’s a very good girl!

Now for spoilers!

*I was honestly disappointed at the ending. Peter going back to Earth, especially without the other Guardians, didn’t make a lot of sense to me. And him going back to his grandfather was a strange choice. I get that he was Peter’s only remaining earth relative, but we don’t know anything about him outside of one scene in the first movie. I always hate when stories split up the found family for no good reason. The Guardians ARE Peter’s family, blood relation or not. And besides, we JUST found out that Pete and Mantis are siblings, so he has other biological relatives! If they were going to have Peter go back to his grandfather, I would have liked them to visit Meredith’s grave together. I think that would have been more impactful, emotionally.

*I feel like they didn’t really know what to do with Gamora in this movie. No offense to Zoe Saldana, I love her and her portrayal of Gamora. (She’s literally my favorite Guardian!) But I think it would have been better if the alternate Gamora wasn’t in this movie, and they focused more on the team healing from losing her in Infinity War. (And Gamora could still make an appearance in flashbacks or something, kind of like Yondu appearing to Kraglin.)

*As a huge Starmora shipper, I was disappointed that they ended that storyline. I was hoping for a Katniss x Peeta type thing, where they fall in love all over again after one of them loses their memories. However, I’m also glad that they didn’t force them getting back together or one of them falling in love with someone else.

*I really thought Lyla, Floor, and Teefs were going to be able to escape with Rocket. I think writing them off was effective and certainly an emotional gut punch. But I was expecting them to have some kind of falling out after leaving together, and then Rocket finds the others years later and they all reconcile and live on Knowhere together. (Maybe I need to write an AU fanfiction where that does happen, haha!)

*On a similar note, the final scene between Rocket and Lyla was beautiful. However, I wish they would have committed to either killing the Guardians or not. The end of that scene where Lyla told him “not yet” felt like a fake out, and other characters had moments like that too. (Drax and Mantis when they were getting Rocket’s file, Peter almost dying in space…) I get doing a dramatic scene and leaving the audience in suspense of the character is going to survive or not. But Rocket’s should have been the only one, in my opinion, and the others felt a little cheap.

*The music didn’t hit the same as the other Guardians movies! The first two soundtracks are iconic, I literally have the CDs for both of them. But this one didn’t really have any stand out song choices, in my opinion. Save for Dog Days at the very end, which was my personal favorite.

As always, these are just my opinions and you’re welcome to disagree! I’d love to hear what you thought of the movie :)

#also hi hello I’m back I know I haven’t posted in ages! #i was super active in like 2018-2019 when infinity war and endgame were coming out #and y’all were absolutely lovely and so much fun to interact with #i hope some of you are still active! if so hello I’ve missed you!!! #guardians #gotg #guardians of the galaxy #gotg vol 3 #guardians vol 3 #Guardians of the galaxy volume 3

[cdyssey]

Grace and Frankie 7B Thoughts:

Spoilers for the entire season, so if you’re not caught up yet, pls be aware!

Man, I did not realize how hard it would be to say goodbye to this show, but it was and is. It’s been in my life since I was fifteen, and now I’m 22. That’s kind of insane. I wept like a baby through those last two episodes, largely because of the beautiful emotional beats that were hit… and partially because I was dealing with the fact that this was the culmination of 7+ years of being in love with this show. Not only did I grow up with it, but it was important to my inner maturation as well. It was partially because I loved shipping Grace and Frankie sm that I eventually discovered that I’m biromantic, which I will always be appreciative of the show for.

While there were some parts of 7B that exasperated me—it wouldn’t be a G&F season if it didn’t, lmao—for the most part, I thought that this was an exceptionally strong closer to seven seasons of this exceptional show.   Maybe I’ll kind of tackle individual character and relationship arcs to kick off this review, and then I can just go into random/episode observations?

Characters and Relationships:

Robert and Sol: My sincerest and absolute kudos to Sam and Martin for delivering their last arc with so much gravitas and pathos. It’s sometimes difficult for me to care what these two are up to, especially when they’re removed from Grace and Frankie, but Jesus H. Christ, the way I cried multiple times at their storyline. Oh, my God. The moment when Brianna and Mallory realized that their dad’s memory was slipping and Sol tearfully put his hands on their shoulders as they tried not to fall apart in front of their dad. When Sol was explaining Robert’s memory lapses to that reviewer and asked for a chance for Robert to end his acting career with dignity. When Robert clearly started describing Grace when he was supposed to be remembering his first meeting with Sol. And that last hotel scene—the way I fucking wept when the elevator doors closed upon their last kiss. I just. I’m still at a loss for words for how beautifully and painfully these two captured the specific horror that comes with memory loss.

Bud & Allison: God, Bud was so effing annoying in his final storyline sjwjwjsjsnansn, and Allison was actually really enjoyable in comparison as she played the straight woman to her husband’s midlife crisis antics. I appreciated that he had a complicated relationship with his job, but I’m not sure that stand-up comedian was the alternate route I would have gone for him. Even at the open mic night when he was supposedly doing well, I hated the jokes that he was telling about Allison. They were so mean-spirited!!! Also, all the lying he was doing! Jesus, just communicate, man! Also, KASKSJJSSJ, I know they probably didn’t have a baby actor for Faith around because of COVID guidelines, but it’s hilarious that the baby wasn’t seen once in the latter half of the season.

Coyote: Coyote’s storyline kind of hurt my heart. ;-; His family did him all kinds of dirty in multiple ways, especially at that brunch with Jessica’s parents. I really wish we could have gotten to see Frankie and Coyote reconciling onscreen after his talk with Grace because there was a lot to unpack there that wasn’t particularly closed off well. I also think they sort of skimmed over Coyote breaking his sobriety for the first time in several years. This being said, I super enjoyed that one-on-one he had with Grace. It’s one of the only times I think they’ve talked on an individual basis, and I love that they were both honest with each other about using substances to numb their pain. 

The Hansons: One of my fave moments from the season was when the Hanson four got together and realized that they were horrible pieces of shits to their former housekeeper; it was realistic, and it allowed for all four of these emotionally repressed assholes to talk to each other on a real level about the traumas they inflicted upon each other as a family unit.

The Bergsteins: That being said, I don’t think we got as much closure as we could have gotten from the four Bergsteins... in a way, I they’ve always been the less developed family between the two. It was probably easier to mine the emotional turmoil that boils beneath the Hansons’ cold exteriors than the collectively more emotionally adjusted Bergsteins. However, I would have loved to see a similar scene to the one above where they hash out the different tensions between them: Sol and Frankie not trusting Coyote. Coyote having caused so much pain in his earlier years to breed that distrust, Bud’s hurt feelings over Frankie’s will, just little things like that!

Brianna and Mallory: While the Taneth storylines annoyed the hell out of me, lmaooooooo, I’m glad that the show ultimately remembered that their relationship is the most important that each other has. God, I loved Mallory trying to help smooth tensions between Brianna and Barry’s parents. And the scene where Brianna realized that she couldn’t work at Say Grace anymore in order to preserve her and Mal’s relationship. And I cried when Mallory finally realized that Brianna was deeply hurt over Barry, and she went over and let her sister cry in her arms. Scenes like those were lovely and so perfectly earned, and I’m glad that their arcs ended on the idea of forging a new path for themselves—together.

Brianna and Barry: Eh. I’ve always been kinda neutral on Brianna and Barry, mostly ‘cause they’ve seemed to have radically different ideas about life from the get-go, and that fact alone has led to them hurting to each other hundreds of times over seven seasons. I was ambivalent on whether they stayed together or broke up; it just surprised me that it took the better part of seven seasons for writers to conclude that they’d be better broken up dhsiofhsiohf.

Nick and Grace: Honestly, I’m really pleased with how they addressed and wrapped up the Nick and Grace plot. Grace was able to identify that she became more passive when she was Nick—even going as far as to act enfeebled for him at the expense of her own ambitions; and she respected her enough to end it without much emotional hesitation. Nick had some incredible (and much needed) growth as well. I loved what he said to Coyote and Jessica about how even though he and Grace had something magical, she ultimately did not choose him. Oh, gosh, and his last episode was great as well. It was here for one of the first times that I truly bought that he loved Grace and was hurt by the knowledge that she loved Frankie more than him! (THAT LINE!!!!!! THE FACT THAT WAS A REAL LINE! WOW!) And man, Grace and Nick apologizing each other for their failed marriage, that tender embrace in the kitchen... and when it came down to it, their final scene replicating what their entire relationship had been from the beginning. When Frankie needed Grace, Grace chose Frankie, and this time, Nick knew it was his time to bow out. When it comes down to it, I genuinely really like Nick, and he added so much to the G&F canon. Peter Gallagher did an excellent, excellent job with him.

Grace and Frankie: And now here we go. Here’s the big one—our beloved Grace and Frankie. I think I should start off with identifying what my expectations were for them this season. While I ship Grace and Frankie with my entire ass heart and think that the subtext for a romantic relationship for them is so palpable that it sometimes makes me want to vomit... I don’t think I went in thinking that we would get explicit confirmation of them being romantically involved. I wanted it. I sometimes thought that I was going to be proven wrong (ESPECIALLY IN THE HEAVEN SCENE JESUS GOD)... but my tempered expectations were thus: I was going to resolve to be happy if the end of Grace and Frankie was them affirming that their happily ever after was each other and no one else, that their love was prioritized over everything and all. And in my opinion, I think that this is exactly what happened. In so many dozens of times throughout this last half of the season—and in so many different ways—we were able to watch Grace and Frankie choose each other exactly in the way that Nick described to Coyote and Jessica. Oh, my God, there are almost too many times to count. When Grace said she was tired of catering to the men in her life, and Frankie knew that this meant that she wanted to be with her. When Frankie said that if she could, she wouldn’t go anywhere without Grace. When Grace said that Frankie was the only person she could feel secure with besides her beloved father. When Grace was literally having panic attacks at the thought of losing Frankie, and relatedly, when she was coping with this agonizing pain by trying to numb herself with substances. And when they confronted each other at Coyote’s fake wedding—my God, the raw pain in their voices as they spoke their truth. I ugly fucking sobbed!!!! Grace correctly identifying that Frankie was feeling relieved at the prospect of dying, and Frankie being brutally honest about the why. When she said she couldn’t paint anymore, and Grace’s eyes just widened in horror and complete understanding. When they were in Heaven and had some of the most painfully honest conversations we had ever seen of them; by the time they were trying to say goodbye to each other, I’d completely lost my shit!!!!!!! That fucking forehead touch! And by the time, Grace was helping Frankie paint—which was scored to a very romantic song by the way—I don’t think I could even see my screen!!!!!!!!!!! The last episode alone gave me everything I needed to happily believe that Grace and Frankie will never be apart from each other again in both a platonic and romantic capacity. 

(This being said, I do think it is entirely valid to be angry and disappointed that the romance was not explicit, to feel as though the show has queerbaited this relationship for at least 4ish seasons, and if you feel this way, you’re right to do so—the subtext was there, and it was teased time and time again within the canon of the show. That was absolutely not made up.)

Stray Observations:

For just the odds and ends I didn’t cover above HSIOHSOIHOI. I’m still going to miss shit, though. Since I binged all these from, like, 2am to 8am, I might go back sometime later this week and watch them all over again and do a coherent roundup of things I missed.

Favorite 7B Episode: “The Beginning” — When I tell you I could wept through, like, 20 minutes of this episode’s runtime, I’m not even lying. I think Sol and Robert in the hotel being back to back with Grace helping Frankie with painting did me in—the parallel was so explicit. These partners will take care of each other until the day they die. Also, Dolly Parton!!!!! She was so fucking good!!!

Least Favorite 7B Episode: “The Wire” — Watching Grace and Frankie being painfully bad at being undercover was not fun, lmao, and then we got that horrible Sol/Robert accuse Peter’s boyfriend of stealing plot, and an unpleasant dosage of the Taneth storyline. HOWEVER, I do love the fact that Grace realized that she couldn’t let Nick betray his best friend because she’d betrayed her own and it was the worst thing she’d ever done. Amazing. Even the weird episodes always have their gems.

Some plot lines/choices that made me go what the fuck: (1) Okay, I understand what the show was trying to do with having no one remember stuff about Frankie apart from things she’d done with Grace, but that felt so wrong to me iodshoiahfiohfoi, especially coming from Sol and the Bergstein kids. Like, y’all assholes could not remember one thing about your ex-wife and mother of 40+ years. (2) Why on Earth did we have to endure two Grace-and-Frankie suck at doing crimes plots HSIOHSIOHSIOHSIOHS? 

Some particularly good acting moments that nearly undid me: (1) Sol just collapsing in his chair when Frankie said that she couldn’t paint anymore. He knew exactly how much of a deep cut that was. (2) Frankie in her studio, trying and failing to pick up her brush. The way I cried, on God. Lily Tomlin does pathos so well. It’s always subtle and unfailingly raw. (3) Every time Grace tried to repress her panic over the possibility of Frankie dying. Jane’s body constricted language and wide, anxious eyes got me every time.

Overall, I loved this season, in both its glorious ups and its weird downs, and that ending shot of Grace and Frankie walking together on the beach—alive, together, and well—will stick with me for a long time. 

And so will this show.

Forever and always. 

Thank you, Grace and Frankie. 

For everything.

#grace and frankie #grace x frankie #grace and frankie spoilers #gaf spoilers #s: grace and frankie #i am 100% going to write some loose end and retrospective fics for s7 #if you have any ideas #feel free to hit me up in my inbox #and i might incorporate some into fics i have planned #or take prompts

[mimbotomy]

7, 24, 56?

Prompts found here!

7. How do you choose which POV to write from?

It’s a bit of a process IMO so I’m just going to go through it! Starting with my process for a multi chapter long fic with multiple POVs bc that’s mostly what I write lol.

My first step when starting a new chapter is to flesh out/rewrite my outline according to the previous chapters, changing any continuity errors, changing the tone if needed, etc, etc. Then I make of list of all the potential POVs and think about what notes I’d want each one to hit - their feelings, thoughts, how they would react to the action - and I’ll often write a couple short little snippets to see how their voice and internal dialogue works with the action of the chapter. Since I only really write Odyssey fic, a lot of this step focuses on our girl Kassandra and debating whether or not I want her POV or someone reacting to her, and then what kind of reaction I want! Then I start writing! And honestly, I go back and rework things or completely rewrite things to a different POV in the middle of this step more often than I would like to admit RIP.

My process for single POV fics, of which I only have two bc I like seeing different people’s view points, is mostly the same, but I spend a lot more time debating between Kassandra’s POV and reactions to Kassandra. Deciding on the POV for There is No Escape. . . was a lot easier bc after I decided I wanted this fic to take place after Hades’ canon storyline, the story became less “Kassandra and Zagreus fight Underworld baddies” and more “Zagreus’ decision to help Kassandra and the bond they form over their journey down and out of the Underworld.” And having it from Zagreus' POV, in a world and story format he knows and understands gave me the space to focus on relationships and characters rather than Kassandra reacting to the Underworld. And I had already down a Kassandra POV for A Miscalculation, which had a similar storyline of Kassandra saving Phoibe from the Underworld, so I wasn't necessarily chomping at the bit to completely rehash that.

But I went back and forth for a much long time between having the Children of Kephallonia be entirely from Kassandra’s POV or alternating between her and Phoibe’s before deciding on the former, bc I realized my plan for the story gave me the opportunity to have Kassandra reacting to herself and her own skill and power that I don’t really give myself to do in my other fics. One of the scenes that I thinks best explains this is in Chapter 6, The Interloper, where Kassandra is surprised that Brasidas doesn’t seem to believe that she can scale a three story wall in armor without being spotted bc she lowkey thought everyone could do that, and Ikaros says, “Maybe it’s just easy for you.”

This ended up being a little longer than expected but that’s my process!

24. Worst writing advice anyone ever gave you?

Writing in past tense! Not trying to shit on anyone who writes in past tense, bc I have read some truly amazing books and fics written in past tense, but I feel like my work became a lot more fluid when I started writing in present tense. It helps brings me into the moment and I think my work is now more detailed and easier to read bc of it. Easier to write too - flows better IMO.

56. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

Characters! Or more specifically, I think I’m pretty good at getting inside a character’s head and capturing their unique voice and I think I also do a decent job at exploring and fleshing out character relationships from canon. Honestly, I think a lot of my skill there has to do with the fact that I write a lot of crossovers (3 on AO3 and at least 5 rattling around in my head or on google docs please pray for me 🙏) bc it forces me to really think about Kassandra and the other characters, whether from Odyssey or Marvel or Harry Potter or Hades, to figure out how they would act and react in situations so far beyond the comfortable confines of canon.

For example, I personally saw a huge shift in my writing after I started my Odyssey x Marvel crossover: my Kassandra and Ikaros became even more tightly connected, she became more devout to the gods and both a little more and a little less arrogant at the same time, and her relationship with Phoibe solidly shifted over to the mother-daughter category, all of which ended up becoming big parts of my next fic The Children of Kephallonia and every fic since.

Also, I think I’ve gotten pretty good at writing fight scenes and giving Kassandra a unique fighting style, but those scenes are usually a lot shorter 😂

#for lack of a better tag #ask game

[tenisperfection]

I've been thinking about storytelling on 911, especially since the BT break-up, and I have to talk about Taylor and "This is our first argument all over again", "You knew who I was when we first started dating" and "I thought I could learn to live with it". We pretty much circled back to Taylor in Dosed towards the last few episodes of this season, but this has been hinted at several times throughout their relationship (we've all seen the beautiful gifsets so I'll not list them). Ultimately, they never would've worked out, but from a storytelling standpoint—as hard as it was to watch at times—they had to drag it out because it was about Buck realizing his own worth and how he can choose to be single and happy over an unhealthy and incompatible relationship. We've known that Buck yearns for love and fears being left alone pretty much since the very beginning of S1, and it has been his main series-long arc so far. He's tried many times to find love and make it stick, but we've known for quite a while—since before S5 began—that this time with Taylor would need to end with him choosing himself and calling it quits. That brings me to the wrench.

This is definitely a popular topic of discussion now and one that’s quite polarizing for some reason, but I think the kiss with Lucy was the quickest way for them set up the break-up. It made sense for Buck to kiss her because we know his tendency towards physical self-destruction (through throwing himself in danger, through sex, etc.) when he feels like he's being left behind, and Eddie had just told him he wasn't coming back to the 118 and asked Buck to move on.

Buck would not have asked Taylor to move in if he wasn't desperately trying to overcorrect for kissing Lucy and clinging to Taylor even harder. We wouldn't have known that he is aware that he’s settling but is still unable to let go and give himself that one bit of kindness. All that set-up with Taylor in 5a was to get us to this moment apart from exposing how Buck has felt nearly every step of the relationship. I also don’t think Buck kissing anyone random would’ve had nearly the same impact as him kissing Lucy, someone Taylor eventually ends up meeting and immediately clocks (wrongly) as a threat. That’s another way they’ve told us that Taylor does not really understand Buck and Buck does not really trust her, even after all this time.

So yeah, I think they set it up in a way that would maximally allow for Buck to grow and get to a point where he stops choosing to stay with the wrong people just as an alternative to staying single, and the way they did this ensures that there’s no way back for these two. They didn’t just break up because Taylor got a job in a different city and Buck didn’t want to move with her, because if that had been the case, Buck would’ve probably chosen to go since he hasn’t gone through all the questioning he’s done about the relationship in 5b, and this would be another instance of someone leaving him, which we’ve seen enough of. It simply would not have packed the punch this storyline did, where we saw very quickly how much Buck was leading himself down a path of self-destruction by sticking to this relationship, and how much he has grown when he finally gets himself out of it.

The kiss was the spark that set this relationship on fire, in a way that reminded us who Buck and Taylor are very clearly and what they need from a relationship. The way they’ve rounded out Taylor’s storyline by bringing back references to Dosed ensures that we all know that it never could’ve worked, that these are the people that they are and they can’t be together. It took this long because a show like 911 is not going to do anything but take the long route to get one of their main characters to what is a pivotal point in the series for him. People saying the finale was lackluster or wasn’t dramatic enough? Buck choosing himself over being with someone to just not be alone is a monumental scene after five seasons of him choosing pretty much anything but himself. Could they have gone a different route to set all this up? I’m sure they could’ve. Was this ultimately effective and true to Buck’s growth and characterization thus far? Yes, and honestly that’s all that matters. They don’t need twenty storylines that could’ve worked, they just need one, and this one did.

#my 2 cents before I run away #anyway most of this was in my drafts since monday but I finally got to write it up given the current topic of discourse?? #Also like please remember that you can talk about editing and lucy’s scenes being cut and what not but that seems very unrealistic #that they’d do it intentionally when we know so many other scenes have been cut #also that’s just a bunch of you just setting a LOT in store by interviews when the story is right there on our screens #don’t try to argue about how the kiss is not true to buck’s character please like think about everything we’ve known about him #anti bt #911 fox #long meta

[z-h-i-e]

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice...what do you Know?

I end up on the fence on the 'write what you know' advice. On one hand, I do it constantly, but on the other hand, I'll go learn things so that I can write what I now know. It's that whole 'method writer' thing for me -- which is, undoubtedly, what I am, because I argue I'm more a storyteller who sometimes writes things down than a writer. Anyone who has spent significant amounts of time with me in Discord has gotten to hear headcanons and scenes and dialogue which may or may not ever be written. But I digress...

What do I know... I feel like I've lived a very blessed life in many regards because of all I've had a chance to experience. I am or have been all of the following: musician, artist, teacher, librarian, retail clerk, professor, politician, advocate, genealogical lecturer, consultant, writing coach, life coach, event coordinator/scheduler, manager, newsletter writer for a historical society. I ran my own business twice. I've worked in the public sector, private sector, and as an independent contractor. I've had many opportunities and had a chance to see things from many facets -- in theatre, for example, I've been a musician in the pit, an actor on the stage, and director behind the curtain, and a playwriter who should have been in the audience but knew the stage manager and got to hang out in the wings.

I seize opportunities - sometimes, I end up a little overwhelmed, but I (usually) overcome the obstacles and succeed. Where we came from and what we know makes us who we are. I was poor twice and middle-class twice. There's a big difference between eating ramen because it's what I could afford and eating ramen because I want to eat ramen (I'm eating ramen right now). All of those experiences start to seep into writing. When I was four years old I almost died. I spent the better part of a week in an oxygen tent. Since then, I've dealt with neurological and muscular issues that suck, but are better than the alternative. I didn't sleep, really sleep, until I was 35, when I was diagnosed with apnea. Sleeping scared me the first time I got a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. 8 hours of unawareness. Nightmares were worse -- no one should have their first true nightmare in their mid-30s. That shit was really hard to unpack. My therapist should have been paid double the going rate for that year. (I'd had some weird fever dreams prior to that -- around ten years earlier, I had a second 'shouldn't have lived through that' experience when I rocked a temperature of 106 for several days -- but those were nothing compared to actual nightmares.)

Fanfiction is a much cheaper alternative to therapy (and, solidly gets an A+ from my therapist as one of my top coping mechanisms). It's journaling about life, it's sharing ideas, it's documenting daily journeys, it's fun and relaxing, and I've been doing it since I was 8. That is a significant stretch, really. The first piece was turned in as a school assignment. I used to write fanfiction for Super Mario Brothers, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and of course, ThunderCats. And I'd read it to classmates during class time, voices and all. I got to do my junior year cultural paper on Klingons, and I gave a lecture senior year on literary sources and their connection to the themes and storylines in ThunderCats. I have continued to read fanfiction in public at open mics and other events - it's the best way to mainstream and normalize it, and gosh darn it, it's been a far easier nerdom thing to normalize than furry bowling nights were. (I do miss furry bowling night, though. But I digress.)

So I do end up writing about things I know, and I've lived long enough to have a whole bag of holding full of experiences and memories to draw from -- and when I don't know something, I (usually) want to go and learn about it. I took up kickboxing and karate in college so that I could learn how to better write fight scenes. I spent a month of driving on my own to places I'd never been before to get into Fingon's head a little more (because you know, rescuing Maedhros was not the first time Fingon up and left on his own). I keep a bow at the door, next to my red shoes, because I think that's what Beleg would have done. I took the golden flowers growing at the house we live in as the sign that we should buy that house, even though it was a short sale and a pain in the ass to get through, because I was going to find a way to live in the House of the Golden Flower even if it took all summer (and it just about did). Then we planted strawberries there, for Samwise, because you know he and Rosie would absolutely have strawberries growing in their garden. (I can't take credit for the fox that lives in our yard - he showed up on his own - but it's as good of a second confirmation sign as any that we did end up in the right place.)

So that's a lot, and my lunch is almost over, but I almost feel like the question is less what do I know and more what do I not know. Everyone draws a line somewhere.

Horses. I do not know horses. Middle-earth has a lot of fucking horses in it. He's got a horse, she's got a horse, this elf over here's got a war horse, this other one has a war horse but it has jingle fucking bells on it... yeah. Lots of horses. Now, I'm in a state with lots of farms. Fair amount of horses. I see five different horses on my drive to work every day. Why is horses not a thing in the what we know category... well, I'm pretty convinced that with a head that size, you never know when one is going to open its mouth like an alligator and eat you. I'm not taking chances. Don't talk to me about logistics or physiology. I didn't make it this far in life to be eaten by a horse. So we're going to play it safe on this one and just read a book. I have a bunch of books about horses. Riding horses, fancyass dressage books, horse identification. People see my books, they say, wow, you must like horses! Hells no. You ever hear the whole 'keep your friends close, keep your horses that might eat you in two bites closer' line? Well, now you have. So that which I do not know and do not experience comes from books.

The end.

Thank you for your question, Anonymous.

#zhie's random thoughts and musings #writing stuff #writing advice

[beyblaiddyd]

I do have many postable thoughts I just haven’t been posting them they’re private. well ok u can know about this one I have been thinking a lot about chainsaw man critically bc i like the set up of the universe and the way the powers work and the demon designs are a lot of fun. but (and this won’t be surprising coming from the ‘aki is the only character i’m invested in’ guy) I really can’t get over how much denji just should not have been the pov character

like he obviously was always going to be because this is fujimoto’s vent diary slash 15 year old boy horny nightmare fantasy manga but i love imagining an alternate universe where people learn to utilize effective writing and understand when a perspective should’ve been shifted

because the like emotional impact of the stuff going on with denji would’ve been much more effective if it had been like mostly implied/subtle to begin with and then slowly revealed through the eyes of aki, especially considering he’s implicitly (though it’s barely explored) been dealing with the same kind of abuse just less Directly from makima and himeno for years + aki’s emotional plot beats are the only ones that have any like actual punch to them at all. him being the resolution to denji’s emotional arc about whether or not he can still feel emotion by becoming the first person to ever truly care for denji for unselfish reasons etc etc.

aki also has the very classic anime protagonist trait of being like physically incapable of abandoning sympathy for other people no matter what terrible things he’s exposed to, plus the personal revenge arc, like he obviously has the emo boy death flags but he’s so weirdly positioned with classic Protag traits as well. it’s weird how completely rushed his storyline ends up being to serve like an edginess quota

i’m closing my eyes and imagining a version of this manga where you’re introduced to the world through aki in media res he’s been an investigator for a couple years now but not super long and he’s just being assigned this new troubled teen to join his already troublesome squad and like his dynamic/development with denji and power mostly plays out the same but there’s also much more emphasis on the local government politics inside the bureau of him trying to keep denji and power out of trouble while also trying to accomplish his own goals and like more time/story dedicated to the mystery solving of hunting down the gun devil and collecting the pieces rather than most of it taking place off screen/in the past for no reason because if we had spent more time WITH that process aki’s decision to try to back out of the final fight to save denji and power would’ve had so much more weight

anyways ultimately chainsaw man is just fujimoto’s attempt to exponentially raise the stakes in each arc as fast as humanly possible to speedrun the already oft mocked shounen manga format but he’s doing it in service to creating the next moment makima can do something #badass and #scary because despite despising her he also thinks she’s like the sickest character ever and has a weird amount of sympathy for her like he literally denji’d himself i mean no one is shocked because denji is very plainly his trauma dumping self insert i knew this going in you know this we all knew this but it’s insane that he has not reflected on the meanings of this at all and just wanted to draw panels of makima doing evil things and then spun together some bare bones papier-mâché plot to string those panels together

closes my eyes a second time and thinks about the snowball scene to calm down (starts the cycle over again)

#cocoa talks too much #there NOW that tag is accurate again #csa mention /

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Violetta season 1: The rewatch: The conclusion

It's much harder to conclude when you've seen a season 11 billion times, but this is, believe it or not, the first time I watch it all in spanish. Of course I have seen episodes in spanish, but never a full season. So, there was a new experience!

Well...

I've appreciated Jade much more!! <3

I hate Germán more :D

I feel like my Pablangie shipping is fading... which was a little odd. In S1 I've always been THERE for them, but now I felt like I barely cared. Hm. I still appreciate that they got basically more kisses than Germangie combined <3

Napo really be so gay on main that they deleted him from existence in S2

Ok, but honestly, we always call Braco and Napo boyfriends, but I tbh felt the vibe rn of just confused eastern european and his gay best friend. Braco himself doesn't have much vibes of any sorts

Y'all realize Andrea and Gustavo very much still are at the Studio and the characters probably see them every day and pretend they don't know them

GOD how I loved Angie and Violetta's dynamic. Every time I rewatch these shows, I expect to focus on a thing and then I focus on something I didn't think. In SL I didn't think I would focus so much on Lumon in S2, for example. And I didn't think I would focus so much on the aunt and niece relationship but THE TIME IS NOW <3

I keep imagining what would've happened if Angie was there for all of her childhood. How much happier Violetta's life would've been. Imagine how it would have been. She could have told Vilu all about her mom. She could have picked her up from school and take her out for ice cream and lunch. She would defend any bully trying to pick on her. She would teach her so much her dad couldn't. She could've helped her when she got her first period (which I imagine, probably was not a fun experience in Vilu's canon upbringing, she prob had NO ONE to talk to). And with that, Angie could've probably been the one giving Vilu "the talk" and make it a less awkward experience cause she's open to any questions and Vilu would feel more comfortable asking them. Violetta could have more time to develop crushes and Angie could've talked to her about it... THEY COULD'VE SUNG TOGETHER AND ANGIE WOULD HAVE SUPPORTED HER SINGING!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAUGH GERMÁN WHY DID YOU NOT LET HER HAVE THIS CHILDHOOD SOMEONE WRITE A FIC ABOUT THIS ALTERNATE UNIVERSE OR I WILL

The Franletta moments keep popping up and now i'm about to enter the RAINBOW SEASON and you BET I will find even more moments that isn't already there!!

The songs are banging as usual

Gregorio is so much more funnier than I remember. EVERY dance class with him is filled with chaos and I love it.

You know the man we don't talk about? We don't talk about him, he's gone <3

NOW it's time to enter season 2, with

DIEGO

ESMERALDA

MARCO

THE HAPPY VIBES

THE BEST SONGS

DIEMILA

MARCESCA

LEONETTA AT THEIR PEAK

DIELETTA

THE BEST STORYLINES

FEDEMILA BEGINNINGS

LUTY CONTINUING TO SLAY

DIELEON

AND... FRANLETTA AND FRANLETTA AND FRANLETTA AND FRANLETTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Season 2 makes me so happy. Season 2 makes me so warm inside. It's so colorful, so cozy, always filled with sunshine... not to mention the incredibly queer vibes that has filled the air.

That's why my tag for season 2 is "The epic violetta rewatch 2: the rainbow season"

But before we get into that, you might wanna watch my out of context video? <3 It's much from s1, but I squeezed in some from S3 and like one scene from S2 based on my mutuals' liveblogs. There were some scenes I just couldn't bring myself not to include them.

#violetta #Youtube

[tsuzuruchipalace]

consider the following: what if merlin decided to control lancelot when he first met him instead of king arthur and mordred

oooh this is a really cool idea!! i think this could make for an interesting alternative storyline! As much as I love the story of KniRou IV, I also want more Merlin and Lancelot interactions lol

forgive me for the details since I just skimmed through KniRou again, but in the original story, I believe Merlin started targeting King Arthur even before Lancelot showed up because he was trying to usurp the throne and take over the kingdom. Lancelot didn't seem to be in his sights at all. Then, because Lancelot defeated him and stopped his plans, their cross-game rivalry began (to our assumption, anyway)

Since Lancelot is a child blessed by the fairies, Merlin would've had a much harder time trying to control him. (I assume this since Gwen's fairy magic seemed to be effective against Merlin's demonic magic in the fight.) That's why he sent Lancelot and Gawain away to find the Holy Water while he was slowly taking control of King Arthur in the guise of illness, probably to make sure they wouldn't interfere with the process. Realistically, I think Merlin was not counting on Lancelot to be so loyal to Gwen or as strong as he was, so he didn’t consider him a threat until he was defeated.

-

BUT, if Merlin were to use Lancelot to take over the Kingdom, I think he'd have to emotionally manipulate Lancelot in order to lower his defenses. Merlin recognizes that Lancelot is blessed by fairies and sees Gwen from the moment they meet. The first step would be to separate them, either by force or by turning them against each other somehow. Of course, Lancelot would try to find or mend things with her, but I’m sure Merlin could keep Gwen hidden somewhere for a while.

The second step would be to turn Gawain and Lancelot against each other. Based on the actual play events, it would not be hard to stage something to make Gawain hate him, such as hurting/killing Gareth and blaming it on Lancelot again. Since Gawain is an established knight and Lancelot is new, the King would probably side with Gawain, maybe even casting Lancelot out of the kingdom if Merlin still had some control over him.

Finally, Merlin, still posing as the wise and mild-mannered king’s aid, would step in pretending to be Lancelot’s only remaining ally and emotional support when he feels like everything has been taken from him. In that moment of weakness, Merlin could attempt to take control of him. If he succeeds, then Merlin could frame it as Lancelot acting out in revenge and nobody would wiser as to the real reason. But Gwen could still escape and bring Lancelot out of the mind control, still ending in a happy ending for the heroes and continuing the story.

Of course that’s only one way to reinterpret it! and perhaps a bit dramatic as well lmao. Merlin could also slowly befriend Lancelot and manipulate him behind the scenes without magic. The power of friendship is strong and, in some cases, can be used to make people do things they normally wouldn’t. Lancelot could do things in Merlin’s favor that he wouldn’t realize are harmful until it’s revealed much later. It would cool to see them getting along, yet knowing that Merlin’s intentions are dark and for personal gain despite the seemingly good friendship. With a reveal of betrayal, it would add conflicting emotions between the two.

This approach gives Merlin more screen time and depth to his character. It also explores a would-be friendship more, giving more of a character dynamic-driven story than a plot-based one. I personally think this approach would really interesting in driving the emotions and motivations behind the actions of these two characters in other games further down the timeline. While I really like the idea of this approach, it seems just a little outside of the realm of reality since KniRou IV is supposed to be a more simple and theme-grounding installment of the series.

Overall, I really like the concept of Merlin controlling Lancelot! (perhaps some of that is my tsuzuru and tsuzuita bias talking...) It could go a lot of ways. And ultimately, it would reframe a lot of the series moving forward. (I say when we have no confirmed direction as to how the other KniRou stories play out). Personally, I get big Cloud-Sethiroth vibes from them, which I’m sure is partly intentional, so I’d love to see Lancelot and Merlin having a more complex and hateful relationship than what is shown to us so far. (crossing my fingers for tsuzuita knirou sequel play)

Of course, that’s just my interpretation of how I think that’d go down. I’d love to hear other takes on it!

-

Hope you don’t mind the long answer anon! I didn’t expect to go on for so long with a whole alternate plot, but I just really like KniRou haha. Thanks for the ask! I had fun thinking of these ideas 💖💕💕

#sorry it took me so long to answer this one ive been off tumblr for a bit #mod tsuzu answers #long post

[walkwithheroes84]

I’ve been rewatching the BBC’s The Musketeers and I can’t stop thinking about something: 

Was Aramis really in love with Anne? 

I really loved their storyline (I still do), but as I rewatched the first two series, I just couldn’t help but think that Aramis’ feelings for Anne were more along the lines of respect, pity, and the love a person has for the mother of their child.

As I watched, I noticed that Anne makes the first move when they kiss. I also noted that Aramis was always more worried about their son than anything else.

I realize that, because of many things, the two couldn’t be alone in scenes - but aside from him giving her some longing looks. Plus, outside of 1.9 and their moments in "Emilie", the two never interacted.  It does make sense that they wouldn’t be in love - they had a handful of private conversations. When Porthos asks if Aramis loves Anne, Aramis states that he could, not that he does. 

I’m not there yet (I’m on 3.4) but there was an alternate take of their kiss in theh series three finale. I’ve seen the screencaps and Aramis and Anne put their foreheads together, he strokes her check, and then he leans in for the kiss first.I wish they would have used that. Firstly, because the kiss looked better and secondly, because it would have shown (at least to me) that they are equal in their feelings.

I could also make the case that Anne wasn’t in love with Aramis. She just saw him as her protector, the father of her child, and someone who treated her with love and care when she was lonely. That she clung to him when she felt alone or scared.

At the end of the day, while I love the hell out of this couple, during this rewatch, I’m yet to be convinced that they are truly in love with one another. It feels more like he wants to save and protect her (while being near his son) and she wants to care for him and be protected by him. 

Side note: Does he wear the coss in series three? 

Someone feel free to point out scenes, dialogue, etc that prove me wrong. I want someone to prove me wrong.

Edit to add: Remember is 1.9 how Louis was upset that Anne was missing? His: “I don’t know what I should do without her.” and then him wanting to rush to Anne, but it not being the proper thing to do. Yeah, during S2 - when he thought the baby was his - he still always worried about the baby instead of/before Anne. 

Conclusion: Anne really was alone the whole time. She had a few friends who loved her. She had Rochefort who was obessed with her.

#the musketeers #queen anne #aramis #anne x aramis #aramis x anne #anne of austria #annamis