#but goodness the narratives people push so damn hard.....

[serendipetite]

you know what screw those intro videos my god i just was came across a video on twitter talking about yoongi (i'm falling down my yoongi rabbit hole again) and this man went to daegu and did a whole piece on yoongi and tae and and their teaches and coaches and parents etc. and it was really well done and it turns out yoongi's dad converted his brothers old room into yoongi's music room and spent a whole heck ton on equipment for him. but will you ever find an intro video that includes that side of things?? of course not 🙄

#literally all the tweets under that thread is everyone pissed off #that that side of yoongi's past is so glossed over #and how many of us only know this one narrative that's been pushed from those intro videos #ugh the misinformation that gets so taken as fact #and i'm guilty of it too i fully acknowledge that #but goodness the narratives people push so damn hard.....

[hyatoro]

[Angst,maybe doft ending if u want to] Minsu with a Reader that's being forced into a marriage,reader doesn't like the idea of being with Minsu too much,but would rather be with him than with a random spoiled omega

-A.M anon!!

Hwang Minsu

Okay so I can’t see this being an arranged marriage through your parents since he and his family never really had much to offer so here’s how it’s twisted to fit a similar narrative. 

He’s an orphan so he didn’t really have people to push him into an arranged marriage, but he put his name into one of those match making organizations like a lottery ticket kind of thing. Very little hope, but just a hint of ‘maybe maybe not’.  

Your parents had an omega lined up for you, but you’d already met them before and you find them unbearable. So they eventually give you an ultimatum and insist you marry somehow. 

So you put your own name into this match making service as a passive thing while you look for other possible matches on your own, but you get a call back sooner than you’d think. 

Your match is Hwang Minsu. They have a hard time selling him, since he’s a night shift convenience store worker with little else to his name. But your personal search is coming up short and wait a damn second. 

You know this guy. You go to the convenience store he works at like every week for a late night snack. 

You shoot a response to the organization and opt to just meet him directly at the store. 

When you pull out the email he pulls out his own in surprise. 

So you spend your time chatting him up and from this and all your previous interactions he seems good enough. Nothing like that sack of shit your parents wanted to pair you up with. 

After a few more visits you ask him straight up, would he want to just marry you. 

He’s shocked. You’re a little surprised with yourself too. 

Actually he’d been obsessed with you since that time you approached him with the email, gobsmacked that anyone would entertain the idea of being with him. 

But he’s hesitant, because he knows for a fact that you don’t know what his scent is since he’s used to wearing scent patches, along with the fact that his scent is fainter than most. 

So he says that. “I-I’d love to, but you just have to…” and he peels off the patch and bares his neck to you shyly, worried out of his mind that this is what loses him this chance. 

You lean in and take a whiff. It’s weak, which isn’t helped from being suppressed by the patch, but it’s pleasant. You give a non-committal nod as you lean back and relief floods his veins. 

The papers fly by in a whirlwind and there’s no real wedding. He’s a little disappointed but he’s overshadowed by him moving in with you. It’s like when a kid first enters a candy store, where they’re all amazed by everything and scared to touch even the walls. And then he takes to it like a fish to water. 

You treat him like a roommate, but he treats you like a proper spouse. He greets you when you come back and he learns to cook as best as he can. [See house husband post]

As weird as the dude is, you don’t mind too much since he cleans up after himself. Yes you know what he does with your stuff. As long as it hits the wash and is folded up before you need it then it doesn’t matter. 

At some point in the future you can warm up to him and stuff, but that’s how your strange relationship starts. 

#Sub!yandere #dom!reader #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere oc x reader #dom reader #sub yandere #yandere oc #x reader #nightshift!yandere #Hwang Minsu #request #alpha!reader #alpha reader #omega!yandere #omegaverse #AM anon #sorry i couldnt make this one particularly angsty

[eulchu]

ok guys. let's have a real talk. let's ALL have a real talk and i don't mean just me and my anons . i hope this reaches all of our community even if you think i fucking suck.

fucking october didn't ruin us but i am so worried that this dumb tension just might. this is getting so ridiculous and out of hand -i barely understand what's going on myself. so im gonna need everyone to work together and do a collective reflection exercise.

i am gonna write out a series of points that i need u guys to think about before proceeding in this community:

- active blogs. you're burnt out. you're burnt out and you're so tired of trying to keep this community running that you're denying yourself a moment to feel your own frustrations as your own individual person. i get that . i get being under so much pressure that you can't catch yourself some slack, least you spiral out of control <- this is, however, really damn unhealthy 😭 it's ok to let yourself feel some disappointment!! some anger!! that's fine. it's up to you, however, what you do with it. this brings us to our next point.

- we NEED to acknowledge this if we wanna get better. ifl it's taboo and we're pushing the narrative so hard we're not giving ourselves enough space to breathe. it. is. okay. to. feel. disappointed. over. the. lack. of. dteam. content. i am the first person to shut down any self entilted prick who thinks they can expect something out of them. because they DON'T owe us anything. but truth is we are humans and, accordingly so, feel in consequence of our own expectations. i wanna break this part down in a few points:

it is OKAY to acknowledge that we are disappointed. denying one self's feelings never ended up ok for anyone. it is okay to acknowledge that we are not getting the content we were hoping for.

it is NOT okay to blame the dteam for it. this is where it gets tricky. the dteam are in charge of what type of content they put out. it will never be in our hands. at that point, if you don't like what they're doing. leave. i'm sorry. it's harsh. i'm not trying to be mean about it. i'd understand if you left! it's ok!

- before you leave, though, i want to ask you a question. why do dislike what they're doing so much? seriously, ask yourself that question. is the content that bad, in your eyes? if the answer is yes, i can't help you there. you've grown out of their content. there's no way around it.

- but is it actually bad, or is it just Not What You Expected? In which case, let's talk. Let's put things bluntly:

the dteam have waited years to be together. correct

upon living together, we have discovered that they are not very good at providing content because they put their friendship above content. i'm not sure if anyone had that in their bingo cards - but it's what happened. autumn was really rough on them & they've learnt to exist together off camera. me personally, i think it's sweet.

dteam and traveling: a fall out? :o . no. jesus christ 😭 the fact that this is the new narrative nauseates me. i don't think anyone in their right mind thinks that dteam are less close than they were when they were living apart.

Bringing back our initial point, the failure to meet our expectations can be mentally challenging. it will inevitably make us second guess a lot of associated ideas that we thought were true . if one of our expectations fails to be met, that's a fail in our mental plan. if we were wrong about this, who's to say we are right about anything else?

i'm not sure if there's some sort of denial of feelings here or if people are trying really hard not to think about this possibility because it makes them scared. i am inviting you to take a moment to really think about it and feel the initial dread of the question. it will pass fairly quickly.

the truth is that the dteam is FINE. they're fine, they share a house, they film videos together, and they go on these long ass hiatus when they're together because they would much rather spend uncesored time off-line.

my favorite point: for how parasocial we are, we don't give them nearly enough credit. the dteam are adult men. we have to put faith in their decisions. only they know what they're doing. they know what's best for them. we certainly don't.

- i wanna rescue this last point. their decisions are THEIRS. if we don't put trust in what they're doing, we're already failing the game. that means who they hang out with too. i get not liking someone ok? i get it. i don't like a lot of people either. no one is pointing a gun to any of their heads. if you think that any of them is doing something that you don't see fit you have problems and you need to grow up. it is not our place to dictate their lives and it will never be. that goes for the white-knighting too.

⚠️(this is a completely hypothetical scenario)⚠️

the truth is if tomorrow george decides to go back to the uk, for whatever reason. we would all have to fucking shut it. fan disappointment? yes. acting like george is an awful person for betraying his best friends? you're out of your fucking mind.

dream george and sapnap are grown up people with a strong friendship and communication skills. if you think that george would take the unilateral decision and not tell anyone until the day before you need to seek help. whatever decision the dteam take about their lives it's THEIRS and you need to put some fawking faith in what they're doing. they know what's up.

that goes for the fucking karl problem too okay? i don't like it either. whatever. it's not my place though?? dream isn't a baby who's been abandoned he's a grown ass man who knows what he's doing and if he still considers (if they ALL do) karl his friend that's his decision. if he thinks that karl's friendship management is fine that's his decision. we are not dream's friends nor his fucking therapist.

- the thing about dooming and content. the multishippers: is the dteam all there really is? i firmly believe that we all kove the dteam outside of each other. (mostly tackled in this post)

- dnf and the fandom. jesus christ i can't believe i have to make a point about this. i think it's important to remember that at the end of the day. it's just Not That Serious. it was never meant to be that serious. bringing back the "they're their own people" point, what the Fuck do some people think they're doing 🧍‍♂️

dnf know what they're doing they know the nature of their relationship better than we ever will. if they're just friends it's because they chose to if they . in the biggest plot of the century . come out of this with a s/o it doesn't mean they're cheating on each other, that dream/george was leading anyone on or that they're hurting each other???? are you CRAZY 😭 if they're dating they're dating if they're not they're fucking not but they're. not gonna be sad about it??? they're adult people in an adult relationship they know what tf they're doing. they hold each other's hearts impossibility close to themselves. there's nothing they would ever do that could hurt each other.

to wrap things up: after this reddit worthy post (congrats if you've made it to the end) i have something very important to ask of you guys.

i know it might be unfair but can we all compromise on detoxxing. completely. for like, a week. not posting neg at ALL. we can't enable doomers we can't enable bait anons. neg is only good for one thing: make anxious people paranoid as fuck.

so can we. for like a week. just not post anything /neg at all. can we block the worst of it. the unnecessary dooming. and not acknowledge at ALL. i get it's a huge mental toll on the active blogs - reading so much negativity SUCKS but i do believe that it's a better option than responding and enabling more people to send similar asks.

me personally, i am already saying it here: any dooming will get blocked in my askbox. i won't hate you for it. but this IS a warning that you need to get your shit together if you ever wanna have a chance at speaking in my askbox ever again.

um congrats if you read everything?😭 PLEAAAASE let's all make this place a better place again i know we can do it

U CAN ADD TO THIS POST IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY BTW !!!

#long post #rbs are appreciated 😭🫶

[the-eeveekins]

The 24th Day of G-Witch: Unrelenting Tenderness

Screenshots can't really do this scene (or much of the Calibarn's scenes) justice because of just how fast it moves, but Suletta is just really incredible during this fight. I can be hard to see with the speed, but she's actively blocking, punching and kicking the Rebuild's bits away instead of destroying them because she knows each one contains a child of the coven.

I've read analysis on why Lauda's motivations make sense from his point of view and why he's doing this, but it's very hard to care when he's such a minor character and this has absolutely no bearing on the main events of the story happening right now. Almost to drive home how far removed this fight is from the main story, Guel and Lauda are having this fight by themselves, completely away from Quiet Zero and everyone else.

It's just hard to care at all about any of this when it's really just an excuse to keep Guel involved to some degree in the finale, and give the Schwarzette some screen time to sell model kits.

And to be fair, the Schwarzette is an absolutely awesome mobile suit, one of my favorite Gundams (It's also a REALLY DAMN GOOD gunpla kit). It just oozes cool during this fight and I wish they had found a reason to include it earlier (Like Guel piloting it against Shaddiq in episode 20). It almost feels like they had to nerf it by giving it to an incredibly unpopular character (I attribute Lauda's popularity bump post-series to the Schwarette).

Ericht is trying her hardest to push Suletta away, but Suletta won't have any of it. She doesn't want to see her beloved family members do something awful that could kill so many people. She vehemently rejects Eri's plea for her to forget them and go back to school, because Suletta desperately don't want to lose her family and wants to be there for them, even in difficult times.

Finally realizing that she can't convince Suletta to leave them alone, Ericht resorts to threatening Miorine and Suletta's friends to try and push her away, but she's stopped by someone else within Quiet Zero.

Now we know this is Elan (4), and for the connection to Suletta next episode, that certainly makes sense to a degree. But I still really wish it had been Notrette, protecting her daughter. Sadly, despite her connection to Quiet Zero, her goals, motivations and what caused her death largely remained a mystery.

I really thought Guel was going to die here, but G-Witch firmly rejects death as atonement, and Felsi comes in and saves the day. Every Gundam series needs a Felsi to come and stop someone from dying a stupid death due to a misunderstanding and miscommunication. Guel and Lauda owe Felsi drinks for the rest of their lives.

But I hope to see her and her fire suppressant gun play a role in saving lives in a future Super Robot Wars.

Okay, as a long time Gundam fan, I've grown to expect the sudden giant space station laser. It would be more of a surprise if a Gundam series DIDN'T invoke this trope at least once. And it does serve an important narrative goal: Prospera is NOT the ultimate antagonist, and Suletta needs something to fight in the final episode as a culmination of her arc, but that culmination needs to be non-violent. The SAL Laser fits that role perfectly. I just wish they had done a little bit better of a job building up the SAL throughout the series instead of largely dropping minor details in the background here and there. The laser didn't need a huge amount of build-up, but I feel like they should have hinted at it at least once before this episode to make it feel a little less like an ass pull.

I would like to point out that while the SAL clearly has a lot of pull, they're not all-powerful, and they don't have the influence to do as they please with impunity. They didn't have the military strength or political power to suppress the Benerit Group until they had evidence of Quiet Zero and Peil split off, and needed to resort to secretly aiding terrorist attacks against their own people while framing the Group to generate the necessary support to intervene. And they needed to frame firing the laser and destroying the L4 fronts as an accident instead of just blatantly firing it off.

The point is: Even if the laser wasn't destroyed at the end of the next episode, it's not like the SAL could keep using it with impunity. Their actions of funding terrorist attacks were outed, as well as their intentions of wiping out millions of their own people on purpose to seize power. We don't see it because it's not a focus of the story, but the SAL was probably neutered/dissolved by the sovereign governments and corporations that made up it's membership after the leaders tried a blatant power grab with terrorism and mass murder.

A shame we didn't get to see it (thanks episode 15), but Suletta clearly informed Miorine about Prospera's plans and Ericht after their reunion. I love how frustrated Miorine gets over Prospera focusing on Eri to the detriment of Suletta. She knows how scared Suletta is of dying, but that she loved her mom and sister so much she was willing to board the Calibarn and fight for her life for the chance to talk them down and bring them home to be a family.

Lynn and Mamiko Noto have both pointed out how incredible Miorine is in this scene. As Suletta's fiance, it would be easy for her to simply tell Prospera to love Suletta more, but Miorine knows how important Eri is to both Suletta and Prospera and tells her to love them both equally. It's incredible that she would take that into consideration, but it's because Miorine has already accepted Eri and Prospera as members of her family with Suletta. Considering what Prospera did to her, something I think 99% of people would consider unforgivable, it's incredible that she loves Suletta so much and respects Suletta's desire for family so much that she's willing to accept not just her sister-in-law, but her mother-in-law as part of their new family. She's not being vindictive, or snarky, and it's not just for the sake of trying stop Prospera in this moment. Miorine genuinely wants them all to be a family when this is all over.

And it's notable that Miorine does not include Delling as a member of her future family.

This is the most ridiculous coincidence in the entire show. Notrette was the type of woman to leave a backdoor into her super weapon(?) just for her daughter, with the password being the genetic code for her strain of tomatoes. Something Miorine apparently never considered looking up and only knew about because Rouji just happened to decide to take a look at it? Why did we have a pointless fight between Lauda and Guel instead of learning more about this woman.

Unrelenting Tenderness. It's Suletta's unrelenting love for her family that won't let her back down and forget about them while they potentially terrorize the Earth Sphere. It's Miorine's unrelenting love for Suletta that she's already accepted Eri and Prospera as family and wants them all to have a happy future together. And finally, Eri's unrelenting love for her mother and sister means she'll do anything to protect them both, even sacrificing her life to save them.

#25 days of g witch #g witch #the witch from mercury #gundam #g witch spoilers

[andy-wm]

My thoughts on SEVEN, both the song and the MV, and what it says about Jungkook.

About the song:

My biggest take away from the song is that Jungkook has total confidence in his ability to keep his partner satisfied and entertained. Daily. He also has a good reason to do heaps of laundry.

Also, he gets to say Fu@k a lot (always fun) and his pronunciation has really improved since he collabed with that disrespectful a$$hole who's name i won't bother to mention.

Seriously though, i hope his adulthood will finally sink in for the people who still try to keep him in babyville.

From a musical point of view, he does get to use those magnificent pipes he has, and use them well. The song flexes his vocal range and has lots of dynamic movement. And he gets to rap. I can see why he would have wanted to sing it.

About the MV:

I have a few observations about the mv and the relationship represented. I know it's meant to be lighthearted but that doesn't mean it shows us a healthy relationship so i'm gonna say my piece. Sorry if it's a downer, feel free to skip.

The power dynamic between JK's character and Sohee's character is what i find interesting.

She's totally in control of their narrative the whole way through.

At the start, she's angry and berating him and he's just listening, his head down. Very submissive. Most of the time his hands are in his lap or on the table while she's gesturing to herself and even throwing her hands up. The only time his energy is up. Is when he pulls her away from the falling debris.

She's getting up to leave halfway through his response, too. She doesnt really give him a chance to respond.

Even though he tries and tries to talk to her, she's dismissive, rolling her eyes, ignoring him, constantly walking away before he can finish what he's trying to tell her. At one point she pushes him so hard he falls backwards. He's repeatedly risking his personal well-being to get her to hear his side, but even then, he's still completely submissive. He brings her flowers, he walks three steps behind her, he tries to make her laugh to break the tension so she will listen.

Theres only one point at which he is assertive and that's at 2.55 when he gets around in front of her.

When he does eventually get her to stop and hear him out, he takes the role of a supplicant. She is very much in control of the outcome. She eventually offers her hand, and then basically hauls him along behind her. He is trotting along behind her like a scolded child.

I found it a little hard to watch because JK isn't an actor. Not because his acting is bad but becuase it's really him.

I could be way off, i admit that, but i honestly feel that his character is responding exactly as he himself would respond. He's soft and sweet and gentle, but dammit he believes in them! He's trying his best to placate her even though she is giving him NOTHING back.

I hate that it reminds me of that damn hamburger incident (he's is a sponge cake. Pls dont hurt him, world.)

Anywayyyyy....

My take away is 2 things.

First one is, throughout the MV his character is "fighting *for* the relationship", which is different from fighting within the relationship. He wants this problem they have to be solved, and he's prepared to do the work. Go, you Jungkook’s alter ego.

Second one is, despite a lot of people seeing this as a,stalker situation, the power balance is very heavily weighted towards her. Also, she treats him pretty disrespectfully. If these gender roles were reversed, the comments would be very interesting...

Other than that i loved the aesthetic, the humour, and the energy.

But what does this overtly hereronormative MV tell us about Jungkook's sexual orientation?

I'll say it does not tell us anything about who he likes to do the horizontal boogie with.

He liked the song, and wanted to record it. I have no idea if he had any hand in the MV storyline. If he did, awesome. It's fun.

But let's be real about the likelihood of him coming out to the world through a MV. I'd say it's ZERO. Reality dictates that whatever his own orientation, the MV needed to represent the Jungkook (most of) the world WANTS to see. Dont forget, this song is more of a business decision than a creative decision for Hybe. We know SB had a big part in the processs, and that man is all about the dollar bills.

It's certainly not a personal statement from JK. Its a fun, summer song and he gets to say F◇CK a lot and flex his vocal chops. That's it.

Do i personally think JK is gay? Hell yeah. With bells on.

Do i think he would risk it all?? ('it' being a huge entertainment empire, his own and his friends' careers, social damnation, personal freedom, and the loss of his contact with ARMY)

No, absolutely not. Not for a song that he didn't even write. Not in his solo debut. Not in today's America (sorry American readers, the USA isn't a safe place to be queer right now).

An unrelated question:

Do i think he will show us something more substantial with his album?

I think he will. I truly hope so. I dont think he's going to sing about his orientation but i do think the songs will be meaningful and personal and I'll be quite suprised if there isn't a fair bit of queer subtext.

If he includes a hidden track and Jimin features on it, I will throw a party and sprinkle glitter EVERYWHERE.

Just for fun, here's some JK looking gorgeously gay...

Living his best life in the Butter MV

His gestures... so pretty

No words for this one (cr to photographer)

I mean he's not wrong...

#jikook #kookmin #국민 #jeon jungguk #jungkook seven

[myobsessionsspace]

This whole goddamn taekook vs jikook 💿🐎 is so exhausting. Honestly.

Was I a bit saddened when Jeongguk didn't mention Jimin? Yeah. But for the wrong reasons because my brain was hard wired into thinking "taekookers are gonna run a mile with it".

It's fucked up. But more importantly, it's not Jeongguk's fault - it's purely a me/army problem.

The fact that everyone in army has some kind of version of the members that's mostly fabricated, isn't something they can control.

They are most likely aware of all the hate they get online, especially if it gets really bad. That it gets really bad for Jimin a whole lot, from within army even, can't be unknown to them. But it's not on Jeongguk to change himself on the off-chance it's gonna reduce hate. Most likely that wouldn't work either. Tkkers, akgaes and Solos will hate on BTS every chance they get.

BTS are whole people, individuals that think differently and experience things differently. To reduce them down to their interactions with others is insanely harmful, but it has been normalised. From what I've seen, a lot of shippers (both taekookers and jikookers) reduce the maknae line to what they do and with whom. I did it too, when I immediately thought sadly about the letter when it's the first proper sign of life we've gotten from our golden maknae in ages.

So, as much as I'm f.e. looking forward to the travel show, I'd also advise shippers in particular to watch actual uncut ot7 content. ITS, BV, concerts and behind the scenes - there's a decade worth of videos. Yes, everyone believes in hybe having a narrative to push, so I don't expect people to actually do this honestly, but it might decode some of the army-internal brainwashing.

Hi lovely,

First of allllll

I’m here for what you are throwing down!

It’s not a THEM (the members) problem it’s an US problem.

How does it make sense that ‘fans’ be it solos, shippers, whatever, get mad when people we’ve never met talk about a member who they’ve ate, slept, breathed, played and worked with for 10+ years? How does it make sense to be angry over them interacting, touching, mentioning each other because of what the shippers will say? You damn right it’s exhausting😪.

⬆️An example 😓 They literally had phones in their faces from all sides and so many think pieces about their interactions VS ⬇️

I can’t point the finger without three pointing back at me, cos like you said I too have had moments when I’m like ‘those mf’s are gonna have a field day with this…’ as my first thought?! What’s wrong with me??? I get it when real OT7 say shippers & solos (when talking about those that actually are and not the ones they like to label to dismiss valid thoughts) ruin everything, cos as soon as content and good news drops there’s always gotta be some bullshit alongside it, from any subsection 😪

They HAVE to be aware but kudos to them, they keep it moving, they’re so strong to have millions of strangers on multiple platforms speaking on them like they know them, but still have so much love in their hearts to continue engaging because they know the some isn’t the all.

With every drama and battle online it actually deepens my love and awe of these regular guys, with talent hard worked for, still trying hard to show their goodness to their supporters, not throwing in the towel for their peace. They’re everything 😍

I’m glad people like you are making it your mission to not reduce them to their duos, ships and solo fandoms, but still supporting them as TALENTED INDIVIDUALS. I’m trying too💪. I want to be conscious in appreciating them for them, their talents, their individuality AND their bonds, ALL OF THEIR BONDS.

Obviously I bias some bonds more than others, it’s human nature🙈

We definitely need to keep pushing about original content, we need to keep pushing about original sources not just clips and cuts and edits, we definitely need to keep pushing about doing our googles!

We need to not close our eyes to the other interactions, it’s not scary! It helps us appreciate Jikook’s bond more and appreciate them as members, friends & brothers of the others.

Because no matter what people believe those 7 MEN love each other down.

It helps us be able to filter the bullshit when we do come across misinformation and defamation of character. It helps our confidence in knowing we’re stanning and supporting the right ones.

I’m super geeked for the show coming from Jikook too…whenever it comes 😩 Heck we’re starved, so I’ll start small, I’m desperate for a ‘keep warm, don’t catch a cold’ message from Jiminie even though he’s doing his best in keeping in contact, why are we so thirsty 😅

Thank you for writing in and speaking my heart! 😉

💜

#Jimin #Jungkook #BTS #Jikook #Kookmin #Minkook #Anonymous Asks

[whackacole3]

do you have any tips for new writers? you write fast and your fics are pretty damn good so i thought it would be good to ask you!

omg yeah, i can try! here’s a few things that come to mind. this stuff is mainly for writing fanfictions, but i guess it can apply to books as well?

reminder this is just what i suggest, if you think differently that’s okay! every writer is different.

and if anyone has any more suggestions, feel free to either comment and/or reblog with your suggestions.

(also idk what speed has to do with anything but that just comes with practice and motivation 😭)

1.) stop caring and stop worrying. i know this might sound counterintuitive but it's really not when you look deep into it. once you sit down and decide to just have fun is when your best work comes out, at least for me. writing is supposed to be fun, you’re supposed to enjoy it. if you find yourself stressed and dreading writing you’re doing it wrong. remember to take breaks if you need it to refresh yourself. writing is extremely hard, but i believe in you. just try to have fun!

2.) find more ways to come up with ideas. i think most people would agree that prompts are hard and many people don’t know how to come up with them. personally, i use quotes. if you know anything about me, quote fics are my fucking life, man! you can use lyrics from songs, a funny moment that happened in your life, a saying your parent always told you while growing up, literally anything! go wild.

3.) find your unique style. when it comes to writing, everyone has a style just like when it comes to any other art form. i write in a more casual, organic style because that’s what comes naturally to me. don’t try to mimic other’s styles because you think yours isn’t “good enough” or something of the sort. you can take inspiration, but don’t forget to be true to yourself and your own style.

4.) write how you want. piggy backing off the last one, don’t let anyone tell you something is “improper” or whatever. if you think adding a million commas best suits your story, then so be it! i use dashes, ellipses, and semi-colons like my life depends on it. it’s an important part of how i write and that’s that’s okay.

5.) make sure to commit to it. while it is important to not push yourself too hard and to take breaks if you need it, don’t forget to commit to it. try and write everyday. whether it be only a paragraph or the entire story in one go, every little bit helps. it gets you into the groove, basically! i’ve heard some people say that 250 words should be your daily minimum, but personally mine is 100. so it’s whatever works for you.

6.) don’t expect it to be easy. writing is hard, that’s just the case. you are making up your own stories (with already set in characters or not) and coming up with things is hard! it’s going to get confusing at points, it’s going to get frustrating, it’s going to make you want quit sometimes. this will happen especially if you write longer form content.

7.) don’t give up and always believe in yourself. feeding off of the last one, no matter how hard it is, don’t ever give up. take breaks for however long you need, but never give up. you can do this. and if no one else believes in you, believe in yourself. you are what matters.

8.) don’t forget to edit and revise. you don’t exactly need to go over your work once you finish, but it’s a very good practice. if look through it at least once or twice: you’ll find mistakes that you maybe didn’t notice; you’ll notice scenes/sections that you can elongate to better serve the purpose/narrative; you could find things don’t matter and can be removed; and so much more. you don’t need to go crazy over it, but it’s definitely something you should do.

9.) don’t forget/be scared to ask for help. everyone needs help from time to time, even the best authors/writers need guidance from others. ask your friends to help with a scene/part or two if you need it, if they’re willing ask them to edit/beta for you, and so forth. you’ll never get anywhere without the help of others, you can’t do this on your own and that’s okay. you might want to be independent and get there by yourself, but that will be ten times harder than if you just ask for a little bit of help.

10.) write for you and nobody else. i would say this is probably the most important one. don’t worry about what others think, story telling is for you! yes, you might share it with others (directly or by posting it online) but at the end of the day, it’s for your enjoyment and no one else’s. if you want to write an OC and canon character, do it! doesn’t matter if no one cares about your OC other than you. YOU ARE WHAT IS IMPORTANT!!!

#cole talks #cole rambles #writing #writing tips #writer #author #fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic tips #fanfiction tips #tips

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Only Friends Reflection

Okay, I have been thinking about what I want to write for the finale, and I have too many small threads of a couple different essays, so instead I will just write my own reflection. 

I did not want Top and Mew or Sand and Ray to end up together, but am not mad at Only Friends for ending with those couples in happy relationships specifically, and literally only because I was like 99% certain GMMTV would not allow ForceBook and FirstKhao to be separated. Those are couples that should not be together, but something has to get pulled out of someone’s ass because Jojo and co set out to write one show with non-branded actors, and while they absolutely are not blameless for the fumbles in the finale that undermined the rest of the show, I do think they probably got corralled in to certain themes and endings by the studio. I do not think they navigated the transition between the themes and endings super well. 

I thought about writing an essay on the trend I noticed around kissing. Namely that Nick and Boston have a conversation where we learn that Boston views sex and love as distinct, and that the emotional aspect of relationships is what should separate boyfriends from one sex partners. But that is not the case for Nick, and he has a difficult time conceptualizing this view of physical intimacy while in a relationship with someone. And how that conversation around kissing people who aren’t your boyfriend was sandwiched between a threeway kiss between boyfriends Sand and Ray with Boeing, and Mew daring Sand to kiss his boyfriend, Top. 

I thought about writing an essay about how NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN MORE RIGHT THAN ME, RE: COMMODIFICATION OF SAND. Ray and Boeing both referred to Sand as a dog, Sand literally referred to himself as being owned. Ray wants to go in to business with Sand. From beginning to end Ray has regarded Sand as an object that he owns, and this has been one of the more consistent threads throughout the show. At least Sand is aware of this. I will say one of the most egregious things for me in this entire episode was the literal “SandRay” conversation. Like???

And finally, I will not begrudge anyone, nor will I try to convince anyone to read the finale the way I am here, because every single take about the narrative punishing Boston is completely valid. I see it, I understand it, a lot of me feels it. And also, I think that what happened to Boston is unfair, and that if we are feeling like it is unfair that does a job of demonstrating that Boston’s friends are shitty and judgemental about his sex life and that we don’t treat sluts fairly. I also just like…have not at any point liked Mew, Top, or Cheum as people and as mad as I am that no one apologized to Boston for the sex tape bullshit they put him through? Am I surprised? No. I did not expect them to ever admit to being wrong, because I have seen how they have handled every other mess they have gotten themselves in to. The narrative is absolutely punishing Boston, and while I still have a hard time looking at the extensive history of Jojo and Ninew’s previous works, that they themselves would believe that sluts should be punished. But I understand how it reads, and will allow for both a criticism of their writing that if they didn’t want that to be a take away, they needed to be clearer, and also am not going to fight people saying that Jojo, Ninew, or Den think that way. I mostly just worry that if Jojo and co are seen as being anti-slut/sex-negative that people whose first exposure to their work is Only Friends will not watch their other work. 

Which is a damn shame, because The Warp Effect and 3 Will Be Free are very good pieces, and very important in terms of pushing GMMTV’s boundaries on including sex, having a polyamorous and open relationship, and including trans women who are allowed to be complex, and not just act as a minor character. It was also pointed out to me that TWE and 3WBF, which I hold are some of the queerer stories from GMMTV I’ve seen, are not listed as BLs and therefore may not be subject to some of the same expectations. Those also didn’t use branded pairs. 

Ultimately, to come at this from an assets based approach, regardless of the feelings around the end of the show, I do think that Only Friends served to push some of GMMTV’s boundaries, I want the branded pairs done away with, and I low key hope some of the negative reactions to the ending of this show where the branded pairs get their happy endings will serve to demonstrate to GMMTV that sometimes, maintaining their brands…is worse. 

But the pairs probably bring in too much money for them to care.

#only friends the series #ofts #only friends

[twig-tea]

I am freaking out about Be My Favorite Ep8. So much happened! All of it so good! How does this show continue to surprise me?!

This isn't going to be coherent, sorry in advance.

First, the way this show never lies to us in the previews but still manages to make us second-guess?! I think @respectthepetty said this first and it's remained true; I was truly blown away by how the preview of Kawi confessing on the balcony was undercut but still borne through, and even moreso how Kawi crying in Pisaeng's arms in the past/present is made more poignant as we the audience realize that Kawi's also reacting to what he knows happens in this moment in the past, which is his father dying. The storytelling! The throughline from that moment of realization last episode! And the additional weight this gives to Kawi's decision to go back anyway, to relive this moment of loss knowing he absolutely could not fix it?! I am freaking out about how good this is. No wonder he hesitated before going back in time! No wonder he was overwhelmed! I'm not ok.

Then that bit about Kawi asking Pisaeng to stay away in public!! As @lurkingshan said this show is definitely paralleling Krist's real experience and real history, and as an apologist/redemption vehicle I have to say it is doing its job, damn, A++ to everyone involved in that decision.

Then we got Pisaeng's mother once again turning me into an absolute rage monster. @waitmyturtles already said what I wanted to say about this, how her suggestion to run is perfectly contrasted with Max's conversation with Kawi about how it may be more difficult but staying and fighting is worthwhile [note: no judgment to people who legitimately have to leave to survive, as a person who only exists because my Jewish relatives left Ukraine before the town was murdered! Time and place, nuance, etc]. I think @bengiyo is right and this woman is evil, and I always love a story where the banality of evil is allowed to shine.

Then. Then!! We got Kawi giving Pisaeng the diary. The way I GASPED. I cannot tell you all how much I was not struggling with Kawi confessing to Pisaeng with the imbalance of both age and knowledge on his side, and this show said "Not Today, Lying By Omission Gang! Full and Enthusiastic Emotional Consent Only" 😭 I have so many emotions about this. When we saw him with it in the preview I was worried Pisaeng had found it and read it and drawn weird conclusions about what Kawi wants (which...I was half right lol). Kawi really did not have to share this at this point in the narrative, and as that balcony conversation showed, it was a hard sell as the truth. But now everything is on the table. The secrets are out! Anything that comes now will be something external, that they can then choose to either fight together or let break them apart.

I have Thoughts about the future mystic guy showing up in this episode. Are we to take his offer as a representation of the "easy way out" and Pisaeng rejecting it as an indicator of his character [This is currently my favourite theory but I'm not fully convinced; it fits with @lurkingshan's brilliant meta about the way this show is pushing for doing the work, accepting consequences, and not taking shortcuts though]? If Pisaeng had said yes, would he have been given a chance to change his past (but it's a strange moment for him to want to change, having gotten hope from Kawi for the first time); or would he have been given a glimpse of his future to help him make a decision in the present? Are we supposed to think that Pisaeng and Kawi are soulmates and this guy is their guardian angel trying to help them get together faster (but he seemed happy that Pisaeng turned him down?)?

And on that note, I just have to say that I am as happy as everyone else that we're seeing Kawi finally take responsibility for his choices and their consequences, finally think about the impact on other people, and work actively to make the lives of his friends better not just his own. It makes sense to me that Kawi needed to see "success" as he'd defined it and realize it sucked before he was willing to let that go. It also makes sense that he'd mature more quickly after getting years of memories every time he goes into the future. And I think experiencing the loss of his father, Pearmai, and Pisaeng in succession via memory really helped him put in perspective who was important to him. He seems to need to see how something falls out rather than thinking it through in advance, so this seems in character as a means of gaining clarity. The way he was talking about himself with Pisaeng in that flashback was so interesting too, "you didn't tell anyone about me, did you?" as though there IS something to tell; living that future really solidified Kawi as Queer for Kawi, in ways his uncertainty in the present/past hadn't. And there's something lovely about Kawi coming to terms with his sexuality in the past because he's seen how much it hurts Pisaeng in the future if he doesn't. I also really, really love that he still hesitated, and had trouble getting it out because as @waitmyturtles said, change is not easy.(This also feels connected to some of what @dribs-and-drabbles has written about Kawi rewriting his sense of self in real-time).

I'm 100% with @grapejuicegay that I want Kawi to decide to live in the past as his present and to be present for it, and shockingly it seems like in this episode he's already come to that decision himself?! Which now has me wondering what the conflict will be in future and what it will have to do with time travel.

I'm calling now [get ready to clown] that Kawi's going to get too tempted to check his future one last time over a decision, even though Pisaeng tells him not to, and gets stuck in a future he doesn't like. Wild speculation: Pisaeng is dead because of Kawi and Kawi goes to the future guy for one last chance, and he's given two choices: keep things as they are or go back to the first timeline. Kawi goes back to the first timeline (because you can't ever really go back and fix your past), but takes the lessons he learned to improve his (and all his friends') present and future. This show has been really good at giving me better than I could come up with, and I'm looking forward to being proven wrong.

Most of all I just want to celebrate in this moment that this show is doing everything I had hoped (none of which I expected to get), and none of what I'd feared, and it has far, far surpassed my expectations!

#be my favorite meta #be my favorite #so many emotions #be my favorite ep 8 #typed so i can stop thinking it

[boringbones]

What do you think The Sims 4 should have been? How should they have looked? I see people say they have the best graphics in the series and damn, that's a slander. I think The Sims 4 should have been an evolution of The Sims 3 and instead it looks cartoony and the shadows don't even catch the sims. I even think The Sims 2 looks better than The Sims 4, I think the sims can look great with a lot of custom content but that's the only thing because the world looks so papery and so green. I'm asking you this because I think you're one of the most objective simmers right now and I think you really appreciate The Sims 3.

Objectively, this is what The Sims 4 should have been. A significant evolution of the 3, keeping everything the 3 brought, without the performance issues of that period. That at least was what I expected when the first image came out. It sold us mystery, it sold us the idea of interconnected narratives like in ts2, it sold us the idea of a game that would bring everything that was left out in ts3, but that was in 2!

It's very kind of you, thank you for seeing me that way. My take on Ts4 is that the game is in the condition it is in and part of that is the fault of the extremely "positivist" community. Who celebrates Patch who brings class to the kit, and is happy with considerably superficial and insignificant deliveries.

I've been playing The Sims for 19 years. I criticized The Sims 3 a lot in its time, for (compared to ts2) presenting sims so robotic and with "hard" animations. This has improved over time and HAPPY is fixable. My idealization is that I wouldn't complain about this in ts4, however, 4 went the complete opposite way, giving us goofy sims that look more like they were made for kids than adults. They are literally silly. There is no significant consequence, there is no risk.

What made Ts1, 2 and 3 special was not in 4. However, I cannot deny that The Sims 4 was perhaps one of the games that best managed to represent the original idea of The Sims: House Building Simulator. Houses and Sims. But that alone doesn't sustain what The Sims franchise has become. That goes far beyond these two concepts. By the way, it's not because the ts4's CAS is push and pull that it's the best. It's easier to work on sims in ts2 and 3 with sliders than in 4, especially if you decide to change "ethnic" traits. Since, if you choose the wrong eye, and spend two hours editing it, you'll have to start all over again on the next swatch (model) you choose.

The Sims 4 needs to end. But if it's approaching 10 years, the community is responsible for that. Every time someone annulled themselves, every time someone stopped criticizing, every time someone accepted it and thought it was normal, it corroborated for that. It is worth remembering that it took almost a "third war" on twitter, to give us more variation of skins. And I ask: Do we REALLY deserve to go through this? Should we really lower the bar to charge for essentials?

The Sims 4 is so popular for embracing diversity, but TS3 did it without show, and the mainstream media never applauded it for it. Why? Because he was performing a natural evolution, it was his destiny. In 4, however, it seems that they program evolutions, to be applauded, handing us first a piece of dry bread, then a nice sandwich and…: "Aren't you going to applaud us? We're doing everything you asked!" In exchange for what?

The Sims 4 didn't even have a family tree in the base game. This is a bad joke. To those offended, I can only apologize, I'm not talking about you, I'm giving my opinion about this generation of almost 10 years. As a longtime Simmer, I've never seen maxis deliver so little, charge so much and still be idolized for it. This was not the maxis that revolutionized the industry 20 years ago.

And Yes!! Nothing beats the sims 2 even today.

In addition to having extremely malleable graphics that can look amazingly good 20 years later, it has the best lighting system in the entire franchise and the CRAZIEST sims (WHICH I LOVE)

By the way, do the poles light up the roofs on the ts4 too? (I really have no idea)

[silverfox66]

Whenever I read the news, I honestly get the impression, that "Western" press in particular continues to be unable to not fixiate on ruzzia above all else. Like there will be a two person anti war picket with pretty much zero relevance in Moscow, but you better be sure, it'll be covered extensively by press. I really don't understand what is wrong with the press - reading English and German language nrws primarly - that they still need to romanticize ruzzia at every turn or at the very least push a narrative, that quite frankly is trying so hard to be humanising as if a genocide wasn't unfolding before our very eyes. And then Ukrainian officials be like: hey so the damn is being mined (October statement) and yet press will be like, well why would ruzzia possibly do that, absolutely scrambling to not push this onto ruzzians but rather having to put some official ruzzian statement side by side as if ruzzia hasn't repeatedly proven to be lying, unreliable and outright purposefully manipulating. And like. You just know, that if another state would pull stuff like that Western press would devour them. In fact German press extensively covered human rights abuses in Quatar and in the end German viewership for the world cup was the lowest in years and all kinds of fanproducts were pulled from stores weeks before the championship even started. But with ruzzia it is this weird obsession and projection of an image that was never anything but propaganda. So yeah. Checked all major news outlets and its like dozens of opinions on the mutiny - often also forgetting to mention how awful Wagner is - but almost zero to no coverage of Budanov's statements.

Yeah, the West continues to romanticize russia for some reason. I know that people like to do that for some reason, and the media follows because articles that romanticize russia get read more.

The Dutch news NOS likes to share the narrative of russia, "russia claims this or russia claims that" without any fact-checking. The blowing up of the dam is a good example. The dam was in russian hands, Ukraine warned enough times that russia was going to blow up the dam, and the NOS was like: "but russia claims this! It's a mystery! Who could've blown up that dam?"

And I think lots of people here in the West still believe that russia is in some way rational. That they would never do something that could backfire on them, like blowing up the dam (where russia also killed their own soldiers) or blowing up a nuclear power plant. But russia is not (and perhaps never was) rational. And russia is not afraid to use scorched-earth tactics and sacrifice its own soldiers.

#Ukraine #war #russia

[soapisahimbo]

Hi, I’m totally the person that had no clue who konig was. I’m pretty new to this fandom and to writing these characters, do you have any tips on writing them? (I need total help writing anything about Simon he’s so distinct)

Oof, I mean I can try, I'm not really good with tips 😂 we'll go at them one at a time, yeah? Keep in mind that this is just my personal interpretation of these characters and that others might not agree to these at all lol

Soap can easily be written off as comic relief, and he is sometimes, but I think his humour and timing comes from a place of wanting to make others feel at ease, to calm the nerves. He wants others to see him as easygoing because he wants them to be comfortable around him. He's very friendly and very respectful of people's boundaries and does his absolute best not to cross them, and he also expects others to respect his. He's loyal to a fault and cares a lot about his teammates, which makes it that much more contrasting when he's faced with someone he doesn't trust. All that friendliness and warmth and banter is long gone. He's smarter and sharper than others might think, calculative and quick on his feet, adjusts and adapts quickly. A lot of people think he's just the clown of the team, but it's easy to be fooled, and he uses that to his advantage.

Simon is definitely a challenge to write. Just don't fall for the "I can fix him"-narrative. He's been through a lot of intense trauma and he's very hardened because of it. He's not going to just randomly open up one day - gaining his trust can be a long and arduous process, and while it is strong when gained, it's near impossible to regain when lost. He keeps even his closest people at arm's length, mainly for his own safety in case someone were to turn on him, because he knows that anyone can have the capacity to stab him in the back. He does care, though. He's not an emotionless robot, he just doesn't let much, if anything, show. If he does, it's subtle. He can also, kind of like Soap, revert to humour to ease tension and nerves, and it usually works, but not because his jokes are actually funny. His humour is just very dark and dry, and people are usually just surprised that he even makes jokes that it snaps them out of whatever anxiety they were feeling in the first place (he thinks he's a comedic genius). Otherwise he's very cold, very methodical, there is very little that can disturb him or make him uneasy. Shuts his emotions off and moves quickly on, even if he's hurting.

Gaz can also be a bit of a challenge, mostly because he tends to sit on the backburner for a lot of people in the fandom. Has a very strong sense of justice and fairness, wants to do good by his team, his friends, the world. Loyal to a fault, much like Soap, but not blind. He'll question even his highest superiors if he thinks something is amiss. Incredibly attentive and attuned to who and what's around him, very little actually passes under his radar. He's quite friendly though, and can crank up the charm when needed (or wanted). He's cheeky, likes to push buttons to see what elicits the funniest response, although he's careful not to take it too far. He doesn't need to try hard to make others feel at ease, they just do. Also gets underestimated because of his young age, and because others think he's Price's lap dog, but Price brought him into the team for a damn good reason. He's quite a force to be reckoned with.

Alejandro is... hot. And I don't mean that like "sexy", I mean that as like, his manners, his sense of justice, his morals - it's a constantly burning fire within him, and he gains people's loyalty by that fire. He warms others up by that fire. He always finds something to keep fighting for, and he wants others to find that as well. Complacency is humanity's biggest enemy in his eyes. He cares greatly about his team, knows every single person in Los Vaqueros by heart and would give his life to save even just one of them. He wishes he could spend more time with his family, but what he does, he does to keep them safe. He leans very much into that "traditional masculinity" of being the protector, not because he thinks he has to be, but rather because he wants to be. He knows all the telltale signs of a good fighter, and he knows how to turn the good into the best. Very courteous, very clever, almost irrevocably loyal, hot-blooded and strong. He's the guy you want on your side.

Rodolfo is honestly very tricky for me to write because there's not as much info on him as the other characters. He's quite similar to Gaz in a lot of ways - he wants to do good, he wants to help, he wants to leave the world a better place than it was when he entered it. Blindly loyal to Alejandro and to Los Vaqueros, but only because he knows with his entire being that they would never betray him. He's incredibly dependable and trustworthy, eager to fight what he considers to be the good fight. He can be quite disarming and very charming, a bit reserved, and rarely comes across as any sort of threat to anyone. He's calm, levelheaded, attentive and is the type to stand by quietly and listen and that is why, I think, he's also underestimated. But just like Soap, he's smart and sharp, and just like Gaz, he's a force to be reckoned with.

I think people tend to forget that König is actually terrifying. Yes, he has severe social anxiety and he tries his best to shrink himself down, but social anxiety is not the same as shyness, and he's been trained to be ruthless on the battlefield. Even if it can make him self-conscious, he knows how to use his size to his advantage, and he is frighteningly agile considering how big he is. He keeps to himself, with the exception of a select few that he sticks to, doesn't say much unless spoken to. Has a tendency to just loom over everyone without meaning to. He's also the type to stare, but only because he's paying attention and he forgets that a 6'10 giant hooded figure standing in the shadows like 🧍‍♂️is usually nightmare fuel to most people. His view on justice can be a bit skewed because he's been taught not to ask questions. He's been manipulated by his peers and superiors for their own ulterior motives and he's been trained to believe that he's just a tool to be used, so while he doesn't lack confidence, the idea of self-worth is not one he's very familiar with.

I don't know how helpful this is or if these can even be considered tips, but I hope it can be of some assistance at least 😅

#anon #john soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #kyle gaz garrick #alejandro vargas #rodolfo parra #könig

[stillcarmine]

AU where Thalia and Luke find Leo as well as Annabeth. 

Annabeth and Leo, traumatized besties. They get to be Annoying Children together. 

Hephaestus is still a dead beat, and doesn't claim Leo.

He ends up in the Hermes cabin, even though he's pretty sure where he's meant to go.

But this makes it easier to hide his fire. 

He still sneaks into the forge to tinker and Beckendorf takes him under his wing.

It's not unheard of for the children of other gods to be interested and good with machines, but Charles is pretty sure Leo is his brother.

But the kid isn't saying saying anything for a reason, is staying in a crowded cabin for a reason, and Beckendorf has a guess.

He leaves it alone and just looks out for the kid.

Luke and Annabeth don't know about his fire. At least, he didn't tell them.

The closest he came to was when the cyclops was after them and he asked if fire could hurt them and Grover told him that they were immune.

Leo slumped, because that was his only way to help his friends.

He either never visits Thalia's tree or is there all the time, but only when no one else is around.

He like. Doesn’t get Annabeth’s longing for a quest. He doesn’t want anything to do with the dangers of demigod life.

They’re best friends but this causes the worst arguments between them and after one, Leo runs from camp.

Annabeth thinks that she’ll have to be allowed a quest to look for Leo, but that doesn’t happen.

They originally aren’t going to look for him, figure a satyr will likely find him, but Beckendorf pushes for one.

He eventually finds Leo and Leo doesn’t want to come back. He tries to give the older demigod the slip but Beckendorf just keeps finding him and it stirs up a lot of Emotions(tm) for Leo.

Eventually Leo snaps and breaks down for the first time in years and his brother holds him asks him to come home. Leo relents.

Annabeth doesn’t know how to apologize when Leo comes home, and Leo doesn’t know how to ask for one or give his own. But from what he’s seen of actual siblings around camp, siblings usually don’t make big productions out of saying sorry, and he guesses that can work for him and Annabeth too.

He manages to keep his fire powers a secret for years and then Percy Jackson shows up with his water powers and Leo scratches the back of his neck and thinks “Damn, I can’t afford a narrative foil.”

Leo was never as close to Luke as he was with Thalia so his betrayal doesn’t hit him quite as hard, and he’s better able to see him for who he is.

Cue years of Annabeth and Leo growing apart as she gets wrapped up in all of the quests.

Things between them are tense when Thalia comes back to life. None of their relationships are what they used to be, but Leo is so happy his friend is back, and feels such a pang of grief for his mom that he can’t breathe.

He bites his tongue but wishes he could bring the Fleece to the ashes of her shop and revive her too. When Annabeth goes missing, and the Hunters of Artemis go on a quest to find her, Leo is ready to sneak after them, but runs into Percy, who says he’s planning on doing the same thing.

Then Nico di Angelo finds them both and this just isn’t going to work.

He asks them both to stay, because they don’t have any experience with quests. Percy was just trying to be logical but he accidentally hits on Leo’s feelings of inferiority, because it’s true, there’s nothing Leo can do out there to help Annabeth, except his fire, which only ever hurts people.

Suddenly Percy’s got two people he doesn’t know well asking him to bring back their loved ones.

He pulls Leo aside and asks him to keep an eye on Nico. Leo is not in favor of this idea because 1) should a twelve year old be watching a ten year old (irony oh irony), 2) Nico is annoying and reminds Leo too much of himself, though he doesn’t yet recognize that’s what’s bothering him about the other boy and 3) Leo is. Bad with people. He is bad with emotions. He should not be left with a kid he doesn’t know who is feeling Big Emotions while Leo is also feeling Big Emotions.

But he eventually agrees.

It’s bad for a while. Leo doesn’t know what he’s doing. The older campers are helpful but Leo doesn’t let them do everything because he gave his word and he’s going to keep it. Leo and Percy made a deal, and he isn’t going back on it.

It’s not fun though because Nico is chafing at being given a babysitter. He eventually blows up because he’s been under so much stress and Leo remembers how he did the same thing once and how Beckendorf stayed with him through it.

So that’s what he does.

When Nico’s calmer, they talk about how they’re both worried and tell each other about their sisters, though Nico seems a bit sour about hearing about Annabeth’s adventures with Percy.

And it’s better from there.

Until Percy and Annabeth come back to camp.

Leo isn’t there for what ever happens, knows that Nico’s run off and… Chiron seems fine with that?

Leo isn’t though, and taking another page from his older brother’s book, he goes to find Nico.

Leo’s no good at goodbyes, and after just getting Annabeth back, and learning that Thalia is taking a different path that means they’ll only see her a few times before they die and she goes on living-

Well, he can’t bring himself to say anything in person. He leaves a note for Beckendorf, knowing he’ll understand and tell the others.

Kronos forces somehow learns about his fire and use that to try to convince him to join their side. How the gods cursed him with this awful power and then just left him without any acknowledgment. That they must have something terrible planned for him, that’s the only reason they want heroes in the first place.

How his father, god of fire, stood by while his mother died in a fire and did nothing.

That one gets to Leo.

But he’s got a mission, and doesn’t have time for the problems the titans have with the gods or the gods with the titans or whatever. He can’t change big, lofty stuff like that, is no child of prophecy but he can pay forward the kindness shown to him in the past.

That's what he can do.

#leo valdez #annabeth chase #thalia grace #percy jackson #nico di angelo #charles beckendorf #i love the idea of Leo siding with Kronos but idk how to write it and having a real family has a major impact on his life #damn if only Leo and Beckendorf got to be brothers #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #the lightning thief #the titans curse #tbh I have like 0 memory of the og series so there’s prob plot mistakes here #that’s also why I cut it off there lol #I’ve been meaning to do a reread so if I ever get around to that maybe… #look leo cares deeply about people and if he had a loving influence earlier in his life like dang just imagine

[licncourt]

hey, do you know of any posts that discuss the racism throughout the series a bit more deeply? someone just shared a post from Rice's facebook dated around 2014 about how the QoTD movie sucked but one good thing was that Akasha was played by "a lovely black woman" since fans of color had felt "left out". i think that shows interesting self-awareness and growth, but i'd like to know more about the portrayal of characters of color over the decades, and how it improved (or didn't)! Tysm in advance!

There's been lots of discussion of racism in VC over the years, but I don't know of any posts that specifically break that down the way you're asking. I can talk a little bit about it though!

Spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't read the books!

Racism is pretty present from the beginning of the series. The first part of Interview with the Vampire takes place on a plantation and that's fairly controversial in itself. The decision to make Louis a plantation owner and the way that subject is handled is a point of contention among fans in general, but that's not really what you're asking about, so I'll discuss it another time.

What's important here is that it's the first time POC are present in the series and while the treatment of them as little more than props makes sense, unfortunately, for the setting, Anne Rice has never been known for her excellent views on race/treatment of characters of color, so it becomes more uncomfortable on a meta level. I think the best example of how this expositional element tips over the edge into something more is with Lestat.

While he's largely the villain of IWTV, the account Louis gives of his cruel treatment of the enslaved people on the plantation is very unsettling when you consider that Lestat is the protagonist by the second book and this particular issue is never addressed in AR's attempts to retcon him into a likable, sympathetic anti-hero.

The Vampire Lestat introduces the characters of Akasha and Enkil, ethnically Iraqi characters residing in Egypt who are also the oldest vampires in the world. A famously insensitive element of VC is what exactly being an elder and/or more powerful vampire entails appearance-wise, namely being bleached white skin regardless of the vampire's original race or ethnicity. I think it's pretty self-evident that having vampires become paler and paler as they grow more powerful is not a great story element to have in the first place, and it's not one that was ever changed between the 80s and the 2010s. This phenomenon affects a significant chunk of the black, MENA, and South Asian vampires in the series.

(There's also some odd white-washing of the characters Maharet and Mekare, pale redheads of Mesopotamian origin? I don't think it's explained why this is the case. When I first read QotD, I assumed that they were Celtic because of the description, but no, not the case.)

Queen of the Damned is probably the worst of the trilogy as far as making it obvious that AR had some antiquated ideas and prejudices about POC. I'll talk about specific characters in a second, but a running theme in this book is "the East vs the West" in terms of morality. "The East" is characterized by the narrative as barbaric, materialistic, and regressive in contrast to "the West" which is philosophical, enlightened, and has "no place for evil" (that's a real quote).

It would be one thing if these views were expressed by characters we're supposed to disagree with, by the one who pushes these ideas most of all is Marius, a character who is very clearly presented as one of the wisest, most intelligent, and most admirable of the vampires. It's not hard to tell based on the books as a whole that AR had a serious hard-on for "Western culture". It permeates every book in an increasingly obvious way.

As for characters of color, a few are introduced in QotD. One is largely unimportant, Davis, but he's a random vampire gang member. The ones I want to talk about more are Khayman and Azim. I don't have much to say about Khayman other than I enjoyed him but his part is fairly small and then he's killed off in his next appearance so....

Azim is...more unfortunate. Even though he's only around briefly, the stereotypes are off the wall. He's an Indian vampire who lives in a Himalayan temple where he's spent centuries posing as a god and glutting himself on the blood of worshippers. The book describes him as being practically swollen with blood and dressed in lavish Oriental silks, the stereotype of an arrogant Eastern decadent who then fools the naive mountain people into sacrificing themselves. Ultimately, he's too consumed by gluttony and greed to be terribly powerful and is killed easily.

Next up is Tale of the Body Thief, and boy, it's a doozy. Without explaining the entire plot, the consciousness of the mortal Englishman David is swapped into the body of an Indian man. This body was stolen from its original owner by the antagonist of the book, but this is the form David resides in for the remainder of the series.

I think most people would see the metaphor for colonialism pretty easily, the body of an Indian man taken, inhabited, and used by a white British man with no regard for its original resident. Sadly for us, AR gives no indication of understanding the optics here and seems not to see an issue with this.

Even worse in some ways though is the way Indian!David is described. It's so fetishistic sometimes it makes my skin crawl. Lots of focus is on his skin color and "exotic" appearance and this continues pretty much for the rest of the series. It's very uncomfortable and it didn't stay in the 90s just like the skin whitening didn't live and die in the 80s.

I'm not going to spend too much time on the three Mayfair crossover books (Merrick, Blackwood Farm, and Blood Canticle) because they all have very similar issues among them, but I do want to talk about the witch Merrick. She has the makings of a very cool character, but instead she's just a disappointing stereotype of a black/mixed woman. She uses her (rather racially-coded) magic to draw Louis and David to her at which point she continues to hold Louis in magical thrall in order to brainwash him into turning her (non-consensual blood drinking/sharing is explicitly analogous to rape according to AR) and entering a romantic relationship.

Again, this doesn't look great. It really mimics caricature of a black seductress who takes advantage of a helpless white man and pushes the idea of black women as aggressive, materialistic, and hypersexual. The treatment of Louis in this book is awful, but the writing of Merrick as a character is quite offensive as well. Yet again though, she's killed in the next book.

If we're keeping count, this is the sixth named character of color I've mentioned so far who is killed in the course of the books, so all except one gang member and Indian!David. A vast majority of POC in VC before the 2010s are killed off. I think I've listed all the named characters of color up to Blood Canticle/2003, and only one (a gang member) survives to the end of the series. Proportionately, the deaths of POC FAR outweigh those of white characters.

Things change somewhat in 2014 with Prince Lestat and it's widely speculated that AR's son, an author as well, was somewhat involved in trying to rectify the racism in the books. Whatever the case, the more egregious examples taper off here and there is far less discussion of Eastern barbarity, the moral bankruptcy of inner cities, and "Bedouin caramel skin". That's not to say it ends though.

A larger cast of ancient vampires are introduced in this book, including characters of color like Seth, Teskhamen, Arjun, Gregory/Nebamun, and Fareed, all of whom are, you guessed it, white as marble. Something else that's never remedied is the total lack of black vampires. Most of the characters of color are Egyptian/MENA or South Asian, even at this point and it stays that way. Black VC vampires are still unicorns. It might just be Davis (nearly irrelevant as a character) and Merrick actually. If I'm forgetting someone, please tell me though!

There's also an unfortunate characterization of Arjun as violently jealous and controlling, particularly towards women, as well as scheming and manipulative, two prolific stereotypes about brown men. At this point you shouldn't be surprised to find out that he is also killed, in this case by Marius, AR's wise ancient Roman Aryan sage. So that's fun.

As far as I remember, Gregory, Seth, and Fareed are largely fine? Nothing crazy that stood out to me as far as race, at least not enough that it's coming to me right now.

So yeah, 2014 sounds about right for that Facebook statement you mentioned. If she tried at all, it would've begun around that time. I hope the attempt was genuine because it was certainly an improvement, but I guess I struggle to give her the benefit of the doubt after...so much shit. I hope that was helpful!

Edit: I've been informed in the tags that Avicus might be black? Someone else is saying he's just burnt. Idk. AR has too many OCs, that woman is killing me

#please add to this if you have anything to say/correct! #this is all off the top of my head #i'd also love to hear from fans of color since i'm still white-passing #answered #vc #interview with the vampire #meta #iwtv

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Eye of the World! Chapter 27: Shelter from the Storm

It's that time to warn people about spoilers again! My reread has spoilers for the whole damn series and if you don't want to know all the cool secrets, you should go be somewhere else. I try to make this paragraph long enough to hide everything under the "expand this post" thing, but also hopefully you'll just block spoiler posts already jeez!

This chapter once again has the leaves on a vine icon, which as I said before just reflects the Tuatha'an among other things. Perrin and Egwene are traveling with them so this all checks out. Not much to discuss.

Any suggestion that they might go further, or more quickly, was met with laughter, or perhaps, “Ah, but would you make the poor horses work so hard?”

Werthead of the Atlas of Ice and Fire wordpress did a series on Wheel, and one thing he concluded that always stuck with me is that judging by the distances and the timeline, the caravan is actually traveling pretty damn fast! Perrin must just not be good at judging the distances covered on the Caralain Grass.

But Perrin had learned that hidden beneath the surface was the wariness of a half-tame deer. Something deep lay behind the smiles directed at the Emond’s Fielders, something that wondered if they were safe, something that faded only slightly over the days. With Elyas the wariness was strong, like deep summer heat shimmering in the air, and it did not fade.

Perrin seems to be gaining his empathetic powers of Wolfbrotherhood. He does describe the ways any person might notice, but based on the speed of his thoughts so far I'm going to assume he figured that stuff out after getting the supernatural push. Like Rand, he's got a lot of denial.

“Something tells me it’s important to wait. A few more days. I don’t get feelings like this often, but when I do, I’ve learned to trust them. They’ve saved my life in the past. This time it’s different, somehow, but it’s important. That’s clear. You want to run on, then run on. Not me.”

Perrin wants to leave, but his own ta'veren-ness won't let him. It's good that Jordan was planting the seeds for this, since we'll be getting to it in a few more chapters.

“Three Girls in the Meadow,” for instance, the Tinkers named “Pretty Maids Dancing,” and they said “The Wind From the North” was called “Hard Rain Falling” in some lands and “Berin’s Retreat” in others. When he asked, not thinking, for “The Tinker Has My Pots,” they fell all over themselves laughing. They knew it, but as “Toss the Feathers.”

I absolutely love this particular bit of worldbuilding and will probably quote it every time it happens even though I have absolutely nothing to add to it.

“I have to thank you,” Elyas told him, his tone sober and solemn. “It’s different with you young fellows, but at my age it takes more than a fire to warm my bones.” Perrin scowled. There was something about Elyas’s back as he walked away that said even if nothing showed, he was laughing inside.

Perrin really hates sexuality. If he weren't trapped in a narrative where all men coming of age had to get married as quickly as possible, he'd be aggressively asexual. It makes the whole "becoming a werewolf" thing mesh all the more poorly with his character, since raw instinct and wild abandon are things that he never, ever becomes comfortable with.

Then Aram held out his hand to her, and she darted to him, already laughing again. As they ran away to where fiddles sang, Aram flashed a triumphant grin over his shoulder at Perrin as if to say, she is not yours, but she will be mine.

Honestly, as much as I despised the bizarre love triangle angle the show brought in to things, between this and the fact that Perrin's fight with Egwene never mentions her sort-of relationship with Rand, it may not be as entirely out of left field as I thought. Perrin is just extra shitty this chapter.

Sometimes he wanted to shout at them. There were Trollocs in the world, and Fades. There were those who would cut down every leaf. The Dark One was out there, and the Way of the Leaf would burn in Ba’alzamon’s eyes.

I mean, if you talked to them about it, you might either convince some of them or at least hear about the justifications their culture, which is nearly as old as the Trollocs, has come up with? Surely there's answers you could find? Especially without shouting? Come on bro.

Hopper was a scarred and grizzled fighter, impassive with the knowledge of years, with guile that more than made up for anything of which age might have robbed him. For humans he cared nothing, but Dapple wished this thing done, and Hopper would wait as she waited and run as she ran.

And he's going to spend his afterlife being Perrin's babysitter. Not gonna lie, I refuse to believe he's gone-gone as of the end of the series, just because bro deserves something better.

He crooked a finger, and the wolf howled as fire burst out of its eyes and ears and mouth, out of its skin. The stench of burning meat and hair filled the kitchen. Alsbet Luhhan lifted the lid on a pot and stirred with a wooden spoon.

Props to Ish for managing to make Perrin's absolutely normal dream seem so much more terrifying. Just absolutely terrifying.

Beyond the trees where the wagons lay, the wolves howled, one sharp cry from three throats. He shared their sensations. Fire. Pain. Fire. Hate. Hate! Kill!

It's interesting to me that Ish's dream raven seems to have accelerated Perrin's powers developing. Obviously he didn't mean to do that at all, but the stress probably helped open his mind even more. And here Ish thinks he's done this a trillion trillion times before but he's still making rookie villain mistakes.

Egwene did not notice the regretful, sidelong looks Ila gave her. She asked what was going on, and Perrin prepared himself for her to say she wanted to stay with the Tuatha’an, but when Elyas explained she only nodded thoughtfully and hurried back into the wagon to gather her things.

Perrin has absolutely no idea what's going on in Egwene's head, Wolfbrother powers or no. Of course she doesn't wanna stay forever, dummy! She's just been enjoying not spending every other night being chased by demons. If it's time to go, it's time to go so she can get to Tar Valon, the thing she actually gives a fuck about.

Why the hell is Perrin the people person ta'veren when the other two could be dead and Perrin would still be the least socially aware? Rand displays martial and political aptitude from the beginning. Mat's got martial and trickster qualities from the start too, he just gets a bit screwed up by the dagger. But while Perrin is a good fighter, he has absolutely no qualities that explain why people might follow him without reality literally rewriting their minds. I think this is why his arc is the worst of the three boys: he doesn't follow their structure so he wouldn't have had anywhere to go even if Jordan did have content for him.

“Peace be on you always,” Elyas replied, “and on all the People.” He hesitated, then added, “I will find the song, or another will find the song, but the song will be sung, this year or in a year to come. As it once was, so shall it be again, world without end.”

And here's Perrin's ta'veren again, making Elyas be more socially aware (again: Perrin is the people ta'veren even though he's the worst at this stuff) and kind. It's clearly pretty out of character since Elyas bitches about it once they're out of earshot, but it's a kindness that helps bind him more to the group, which would be nice if he ever saw them again. Sadly, I don't think he does, though I feel that if Jordan had lived to write the ending that Perrin would have folded at least some of the Tuatha'an into his group in a better way than what he pulled with Aram.

Perrin did not want to think about his dream. He had thought that the wolves made them safe. Not complete. Accept. Full heart. Full mind. You still struggle. Only complete when you accept. He forced the wolves out of his head, and blinked in surprise. He had not known he could do that. He determined not to let them back in again.

It's also very difficult to accept that Perrin is supposed to be the smart one when upon hearing, "Your dreams could be safe if you were more comfortable with this," is to go, "Fuck no get the hell out!" It's just... Damn. If it were specifically some psychic side effect of the dream raven or something, that might be one thing, but Ishamael never mentions any such thing and the reasons to avoid wolfiness just multiply. The character arc that has the most potential for Perrin is the one where Jordan makes damn sure he never tries and apparently I'm just going to be frustrated as all hell about it this whole reread. Alas.

“Ila was giving me advice on being a woman,” Egwene replied absently. He began laughing, and she gave him a hooded, dangerous look that he failed to see. “Advice! Nobody tells us how to be men. We just are.” “That,” Egwene said, “is probably why you make such a bad job of it.” Up ahead, Elyas cackled loudly.

On the plus side, while my love of Perrin POVs has diminished since middle school, I can safely say that this exchange is just as funny now as it was then. See y'all next time!

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #robert jordan #perrin aybara #elyas machera #egwene al'vere #raen #ila #aram #hopper #ishamael

[alarrytale]

“But his whole 'never had a gf in public' was foiled when he called c*mille his gf. O was also one, and emrata wasn't exactly neither subtle nor private. I think the privacy strategy is no more.”

What I have learned so far is that everything what is happening with Harry’s so-called private life in public is taken as an immediate syndicator that it’s fake and it’s only work because Harry has a private life and he would never do this to his real relationship. And what was the most memorable for me was his quote from interview from Dec 2019 where they asked him about dating only famous people and he literally said “I have a private life. You just don’t know about it.” So now I’m bit confused by what you wrote above that Harry doesn’t value his private life anymore? Okay, he called C*mille his ex but wasn’t that to push the narrative for songs on Fine Line (which they, at least for larries and their decoding talent, turned out to be mostly about Louis and Harry himself exploring his inner self)? O talked about him in every opportunity she had like he’s the only reason to live for her because she was relevant just because of him - but he’d never aknowledged her as his gf and made sure to let everyone know that any song on H’sH is about her. I don’t know what Emrata said exactly because I just saw his bodylanguage and that told me everything I needed to know how comfortable (irony) he felt to makeout with her in public. So I would love to think that his personal and private life priorities has never changed and actually became more important to secure it and hide from public eyes but I’m also afraid that he’ll decide to make a 180 degree turn and do absolute opposite to what was always important for him. I want to stay hopeful and optimistic but it’s damn hard when I have no idea what is happening with him right now and people are panicking while preparing for the worst scenario.

The only thing that makes me a bit calmer is that Louis called Eleanor his gf multiple times but still noone believed him and he literally tweeted that he’s straight and yet, still fans don’t even question his sexuality. Plus he had this kid as still going stunt which is much worse than some O tattoo or 2 years of stunting while looking miserable.

Hi, anon!

You misunderstand me, i don't think Harry doesn’t value his private life anymore. When i said 'privacy strategy' i was talking about the practice they've applied to every stunt that they get papped in 'private places' and blame it on a pesky pap for invading their privacy. Like being papped on a yacht or poolside at an hotel. That gives an illusion that they are trying to be private about their relationship and not flaunting it. It helps sell it as real. Harry never confirming anything was a part of that strategy. We've had a turn from that strategy now. Harry confirming c*mille as a gf (after the fact), pda for the paps during holivia, emrata and now hussell. They are stunting right in front of our salads now, no illusion of privacy left.

Also, i have a very different view on harry's need for privacy than a lot of other people. I don't think he'd be more private about it if it were real. If it were real it would be with a man, and harry is closeted so he'd have to be private about it or else he'd have to come out. Him being a 'private' person is also a part of his image to make him look mysterious, interesting and dignified.

When Harry says 'i have a private life. You just don't know about it' i want to add 'not because i am a private person in particular, but because i'm closeted'. If harry were able to snog louis in the middle of oxford street, he'd not hesitate for a second.

I don't think people should panic over yet another stunt, but i can't control them or their feelings. I can only try helping people cope a bit. I think being hopeful, but realistic is a good approach. It will end at a point, but we will also most likely get another stunt in the future. It's been like this for years so we all got to learn to cope if we want to stay in this fandom. If it gets too much, take a break. You come first!

#harry image #hussell for ts #holivia for ts #hamille for ts #emrata for ts #my inbox is a mess #seems like some people can't handle certain topics being discussed #stunting #bearding #elounor for ts