#but obvs my interest switch between the three all the time

[convexicalcrow]

after an awful bout of writer's block regarding part three of the lost prince au, tonight i finally started writing something. took long enough to work out where the second half needed to go and what needed addressing, esp since i hit them with the grief stick in the interludes lol. so obvs dealing with that is clearly the main focus.

i've rejected a lot of potential plot points but i think i now finally have a plot that's going to work for where they are and what they need to deal with to get that good character growth. plus i get to do moar pixandrian lore worldbuilding wooo.

extremely sketchy 'i wrote this in 18 mins and haven't even edited it' exerpt below the cut if you're interested. still needs a ton of work, but having it started is really helping me visualise where to go next.

It had been too long since they'd arrived in Djesdjes, or so Cub thought. He was almost getting to like the place. He had settled into the rhythm of the temple now that he'd recovered, and was enjoying simply being able to serve and do nothing else. Just give his life over to the gods and perform the rites as he'd been taught. In between, he'd done whatever work needed doing, and when he was free, spent time with Scar down by the lakeside, or wandering through the markets, just enjoying being somewhat normal and in the company of people who spoke his language.

He was down by the lake again. He knew very well that he had to keep going, but his heart wasn't really in it. Not right now, anyway. That Wag festival had really messed him up. It had let out all that grief, and he hadn't really known what to do with it, save for spending too many late nights talking it out with Scar and Ma'akhi. Had it really helped? Not really. He'd still lost everything. Nothing would change that.

Sure, he had a new horse, and new tack, and he'd been able to replace his palette and get more papyrus, but it wasn't the same. Not yet, it wasn't. This new palette was a different shape. It didn't have Djehuty's name on it. It had four colours, not two. The reed pens were made from slightly thicker reed than he was used to. All small and insignificant things, to be fair, but they weren't his. And he wasn't quite in the right headspace to accept it yet. So, maybe, when night fell, he took his horse, left a note for Scar, and rode back to the place he'd left behind. He needed to see the Vigil and see the Copper King once more.

-

Was it more dangerous riding at night? Oh, sure. Though at least the moon was almost full, so there was just about enough light to see as he followed the road back to the Copper King's mountain. Was this a stupid thing to do? Cub wasn't sure. Didn't really care, either. Just knew he needed to go back there. He needed to see the Vigil. He arrived just after dawn, riding up to the gates just as the shifts were switching over.

"I seek entrance to the Copper King's mines!" Cub called.

"Who asks to be admitted?" one of the guards replied.

"The wanderer known as Cub. I have met the Copper King before. He invited me to return if I needed it. I have come from Djesdjes," Cub said.

"Oh, yes, I remember you! Please, do come in," another guard said. "I'm glad better weather brought you to us this time."

"Indeed, indeed. All praise to Ra for the good weather," Cub said, backing up his horse a little as the gates were opened. His horse startled a little at the drumming that followed, but he managed to calm her down and rode through the gates with the previous shift following along behind him.

One fo the guards caught up to him. "Do you need an escort to show you around? I'm assuming you'll head for the stables?"

"Yes, yes, I'll leave my horse there if that's okay. And do let him know I've arrived. I don't know how long I'll stay, though," Cub said.

"Oh, he'll know from the drumming, don't worry. We use them to communicate because we can hear them all over the city here. Come, I'll show you the stables," the guard said.

-

"Cub? Come on, we're late for morning rite!"

Scar said as he poked his head into Cub's sleeping quarters. He saw nothing save for a rolled up piece of papyrus on his bed.

"Oh, that rapscallion! I hope he hasn't run off somewhere! I'll never find him now!" Scar said, picking up the papyrus. He unrolled it and read the note Cub had left. "'Gone to see the Copper King. Sorry. Needed to get out of Djesdjes. Back in a few days.' Well, this is unacceptable! How dare he go on an adventure without me! Jellie, come on, we're going to see this Copper King as well!"

-

Scar found Ma'akhi about to start the procession to the temple. He would miss being in the temple, but he had a feeling Cub would need him.

"Ma'akhi, where does this Copper King live? Cub's gone to see him, but I don't know where he lives!" Scar said.

"Oh! Go out the west gate and follow the trade route. That should get you there in a day or so. It's a large mountain with gates on each side surrounded by wheat fields. It's very hard to miss. I take it you'll be staying with him until you return?" Ma'akhi said.

"Yes, of course! I think he just needed to get out of town for a bit, you know? I can tell he's going through a lot right now. Hopefully we'll be back sooner rather than later," Scar said.

"Good luck, and be kind to each other, yeah? May Netjer travel with you," Ma'akhi said.

"Thank you! Send my regards to Djehuty!" Scar said.

-

Cub left his horse in the stables under the care of the horse master, and took up the guard's offer to take him to the Vigil. Cub still wasn't sure why he felt so drawn to it, but he wasn't about to complain. He'd forgotten how...

It's not that the Vigil was a dark place, necessarily. It was in a large, brightly lit cave that opened to the sky, surrounded by houses carved into the rock. It had space. The running water from the fountain in the middle was soothing and cool, taking away from the heat that was starting to come in from the outside. But there were candles everywhere, in so many different colours, sizes, and shapes.

"I wondered if I might find you here," the Copper King said, coming to stand beside him.

"I dunno, something just- I felt like I needed to be here," Cub said.

The Copper King laughed. "The ancestors will do that sometimes, yes."

"I've been dreaming. Bad dreams. Akhu dreams. Like-..." Cub sighed.

"I take it that Wag festival really stirred up a few things, hey? I've heard it can do that," the Copper King said.

Cub nodded. "Do you know how hard it is to grieve when you can't say their names? I don't even know what I'll do if I get back to the Two Lands. What's really left for me there?"

"I guess that's a question you can only really answer once you go there. I have heard stories of rebuilding, though, from other traders. Khemenu became a sanctuary. You may want to go there first. It might do you good to stay there a while and get your bearings before you think about going elsewhere. The Governor there is a kind man. I know, because we've only recently reopened our trade routes back to the Two Lands. We're planning to go again in a month. If you're still around by then, maybe you can join us when we pass through Djesdjes. We'd love to have your company," the Copper King said.

"Yeah, maybe. I dunno. I know Scar wants to leave soon. I kinda do, but also, I still feel like I need to stay in Djesdjes for a while. Mentally, I still need to recover. But I find it impossible to explain that to him. He doesn't understand," Cub said.

"Well, he won't if you never try to explain it. But I do know what you mean. From what little you've told me about your life, I can't imagine trying to readapt to any kind of normal life after that. Take your time. I might not know much about healing, but what I do know is that you'll do yourself more harm if you go before you're ready. Do you need some time alone with the Vigil?" the Copper King said.

"Yeah, maybe. It's not that I can't talk to my akhu in Djesdjes, but you know-"

"You like the anonymity of being here more, I get it. Stay as long as you like. I'll be around if you need me," the Copper King said.

#hermitcraft #empires smp #hermitfic #fanfic #convex #cubfan135 #gtwscar #pixlriffs #the copper king #ma'akhi #wips #unedited drafts #that final scene isn't even finished #but fuck it we ball #750words.com coming in clutch again #and getting me to write stuff again bweee #the lost prince au

[wackatoshi]

booty call

(time-skip) sakusa kiyoomi x reader

synopsis: (a lil alcohol, n.sfw themes obvs lol but nothing explicit) booty call or butt dial? sometimes, they can be one and the same.

horrible pick up lines, msby interactions, humour, sakusa’s a smooth texter... enjoy

When was the last time you felt the touch of another human being? Too long — which is why you’re marinating at home like a sad old sponge, deprived of affection, dousing your loneliness with a drink.

You tilt your head back, letting the last few drops trickle down your throat, fingers wrapped around the neck of a cheap wine bottle. It sends a buzz through your body, a sensation that pales in comparison to the magic of hands on hands, the warmth of someone’s skin pressed against yours.

Your bleary gaze lands on the phone — phones? you swear there’s two of them — propped on the coffee table in front of you.

Before you can think twice, you’re reaching out for it, fingers tapping through your passcode in a blurred hurry.

Before you can think twice, you’re texting your designated booty call.

At least, you think you are.

+

Sakusa Kiyoomi’s spending a casual night in with his teammates. He’s sitting on Atsumu’s couch, leafing through a book, when someone’s phone starts to ping with a ricochet of notifications. For the most part, he ignores it (because it’s half-past-nine, so it certainly can’t be his), until Atsumu glides over to the counter to have a peek.

“Oi,” he calls, a brow hiking up his face. “Omi. Someone’s messaging you.”

Sakusa furrows his brows in disbelief. Instantly, another six deafening dings burst through, making his phone jolt on the counter like it’s been shocked.

Atsumu drops his head to peer down at the messages. All of a sudden, his face breaks out into a devilish smirk, triggering all of Sakusa’s fight or flight instincts. He abandons the book, leaps to his feet and snatches the phone from the table.

He takes a single glance, and immediately blanches. His notifications are polluted with a string of raunchy messages, all from an unknown number. Even as he’s punching in the passcode, they keep coming, one after the other, an inundation of thirsty pleas clogging up his phone.

Frantically, he pulls up the chat and skims up to the top of the twelve new messages, each text horrifying him more than the last.

YOU: hey boo 👻

YOU: hiiiiiii

YOU: ☺️☺️☺️ feelin some typa way....you down...? it’s me. going

YOU: timber

What the hell. Sakusa scrolls on, in spite of himself.

YOU: where r u

YOU: i wanna [redacted] your [redacted] until u [redacted] ☺️☺️☺️ wkieowkskwiwk yes i do ahohga

YOU: rearrange my Guts like a scrabble board. desecrate my temple. plunder my down UNDER

YOU: please

He attempts to form a response, but your messages are incessant.

YOU: call me galileo coz im gonna make u see stars tonight 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

YOU: name one thing wetter than the ocean

YOU: ;)

His face starts to burn. He’s not sure if it’s out of sheer embarrassment for your sake or something else entirely. He brushes the latter possibility away, because that would be absurd, he doesn’t even know what you look—

YOU: (Attachment)

Oh.

Okay, well, the face certainly doesn’t match the messages. He hates that his knee-jerk reaction is that you’re cute, even if the photo’s a blurry selfie bedazzled by a glittery Snapchat filter. Squinted eyes, puckered lips, adorable cheeks. He wonders, for a second, if you’re being catfished, until—

YOU: (Video Attachment)

And there you are, in all your ratty boxer-shorts-and-tee-shirt glory, making sweet love to your dispassionate carpet. Sakusa stares in abject horror. God, you must be completely off your face to be compelled to send something like this. He can just make out the faint sound of Nicki Minaj in the background, spitting a volley of encouraging rap verses while you flop around on the floor like a freshly-caught salmon.

If there’s anything impressive, he thinks, dryly, it’s your lack of shame.

“Oh?”

A voice beside his ear. One syllable, saturated in a knowing lilt.

With a start, Sakusa quickly switches his phone off, which only makes the whole situation look a hell of a lot more suspicious than it really is.

Atsumu, hovering close over Sakusa’s shoulder, can barely suppress his glee.

A tense moment passes between them. Sakusa stares him down, while his mind races, frantically searching for a way to disarm this ticking time bomb of a misunderstanding before it detonates into chaos.

Sakusa takes a deep breath.

“Don’t—”

“Sakusa’s got a booty call!”

Stunned silence descends upon the room. Heads turn, all movements frozen, and Sakusa can almost hear the rest of his team’s collective five-and-a-half brain cells lagging as they process the news. Before he can react, they’re all swarming around him like bees, buzzing with probing questions and teasing jibes.

“Who?” Bokuto demands, his eyes wide as an owl. “Who?”

Hinata’s over the moon.

“Congratulations!” he gushes, so sincerely Sakusa almost catches himself feeling bad. “I’m so happy for you! We all knew someone would come around, eventually!”

Sakusa frowns. “What do you mean—”

“Wait, really!” Inunaki exclaims, bounding over. “Show me!”

“Dude,” Atsumu laughs. “Do you even know what a booty call is?”

“Booty call?” he asks, his face crumpling with disappointment. “I thought you said beauty haul.”

“Enough,” Sakusa snaps, mildly panicking because his phone is vibrating yet again, much to everyone’s intrigue. “It’s not a booty call. Someone’s just got the wrong number.”

“Sure,” Atsumu sings. “Omi’s got a lover.”

“I don’t,” he bites again, and swats the wandering eyes away before checking the latest string of texts.

YOU: ;)))))((((()((((

YOU: coming? ha

YOU: get it

Sakusa starts typing his message.

SAKUSA: you’ve got the wrong number.

A pause. He hopes this is the end of it, until those three terrifying little dots bounce up on the bottom of his screen once again.

YOU: lmaoooo what

YOU: stop playiniwijek277383$:893&!:$3898 o nwmmaj

YOU: that was my butt btw

He scowls.

SAKUSA: you’re texting the wrong person...I don’t even know who you are.

You start to type again.

YOU: ...

YOU: ok thanos 😓

The easy solution would be to block you. But for some convoluted reason, Sakusa is not interested in easy tonight. 

SAKUSA: who are you??

YOU: (Liked Your Message)

YOU: i askjj myself the same think every day :&&’l

SAKUSA: I think you should go to sleep

YOU: without me? ;)))

He doesn’t even bother to point out your blunder. You’ve already made enough of a fool out of yourself in front of him, anyway.

SAKUSA: please stop

YOU: fine :(

YOU: ...

YOU: WAIT A SEXOND

Sakusa waits.

(And waits.

And waits some more.)

A second passes, a minute passes, but the chat stays silent. And even though there’s not single peep from you or his phone for the remainder of the evening, Sakusa, for reasons far beyond him, keeps checking.

+

The next morning, you are nursing a terrible hangover.

A pounding headache behind your eyes, a discomfort over your hipbones — you shift the fabric of your shorts down and see a blossoming bruise on either side of your hips. Huh, did you actually end up getting some, only to forget the entire shebang?

Groggily, you reach across for your phone and open up your messages. One new text.

UNKNOWN: you there?

With a frown, you scroll up the conversation. As your hazy mind works to translate the text to words, the words to understanding, you almost scream with horror.

The picture. The video. The memories come flooding back to you. It plays for a fleeting second, and you catch all but a glimpse of your limp body smacking down on the floor with relentless force, before quickly scrolling away. But the harm is done, your mind is scarred.

Well, at least that explains the bruises.

Somehow, it only manages to get worse.

YOU: kiss

YOU: 💋*

YOU: soz typo

YOU: let’s make music coz i got a set of congas that go RATATATATATA

YOU: you must be poseidon because MY—

You stop there, pinching the bridge of your nose to allay the wave of humiliation drowning your dignity. The poor person on the other end. Their horrified responses are probably going to be branded into your mind forevermore.

Maybe you should just sweep this whole encounter under the rug.

Or maybe, you think, as your fingers tentatively start to type out a text, you should apologise.

YOU: hi. it’s me again. you were right, I had the wrong number. I’m so sorry

You’re about to launch your phone into the sun when it dings back with a response.

UNKNOWN: yeah, you’re good. not at flirting though

Oh? Your fingers fly across the screen before you can think.

YOU: really? but I kept you intrigued, didn’t I?

UNKNOWN: like a child at a circus

YOU: damn what kind of circus u taking ur kids to?

UNKNOWN: idk, the kind where people make complete clowns of themselves i guess

You swallow down a laugh.

UNKNOWN: what happened to you last night anyway? did you just pass out?

YOU: i did <3 thanks for ur concern

UNKNOWN: lol

UNKNOWN: the price you pay for a free show

YOU: shut up omg

UNKNOWN: can’t lie, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone look at a floor so lovingly before

Oh, they’re teasing. You fight off a smile from working its way across your face.

YOU: very funny. now can I just trust that u will delete all trace of this train-wreck from ur phone 🥺

UNKNOWN: of course.

YOU: if I see it going around...

UNKNOWN: I think if people wanted to see an earthworm so badly they’d just go outside

YOU: SHUT UP

UNKNOWN: :)

Shoot. Why are you blushing over a smiley face at ten o’clock in the morning? This is absurd. You need a coffee, stat.

YOU: sadly I can’t reverse the damage, but would a coffee suffice?

There’s a long delay, and you start to panic.

YOU: or I could just venmo the $ to you. either works!

UNKNOWN: are you asking me if I want to get coffee with you? when you don’t even know my name?

YOU: names are irrelevant now. u have seen too much :/

UNKNOWN: maybe, but not all.

Your face flushes. You pause, fingers hovering over the keys for a moment, contemplating a smooth riposte.

UNKNOWN: sorry I’m walking, can’t text

A wave of disappointment slumps over you.

UNKNOWN: facetime?

Okay.

Okay okay okay okay okay okay.

You start to pace around your room, all too aware that you are still in pyjamas, your hair looks like a birds’ nest, and your voice sounds like you swallowed a brick the night before. It’s a disaster.

But so was last night, and yet this stranger still seems to be friendly.

YOU: sure

Your phone starts to vibrate, an unknown caller ID flashing across the screen. For a moment, you consider cancelling and blocking the number altogether, but the desire to put a face to the mystery behind the messages gets the better of you.

You accept the call.

His face pops into view — a masked man with black curls falling over his face like wisps of ivy, eyes dark as night, and two moles above his right brow, like the beginnings of a constellation. He raises a hand to shift down his mask.

“Hey.”

You hitch a breath. This man looks like he could be a reincarnation of Adonis, sent into the world as evidence that all those legendary gods really did exist once upon a time, and that some of them looked like this.

“Hi,” you reply, reverent.

He’s so cool, so collected. He brushes a few locks of hair from his face — a casual move that sends your heart skipping beats faster than you skip songs.

“I’m Sakusa.”

“Hi, Sakusa,” you breathe.

His lips twitch, almost imperceptibly.

He looks so familiar, but you can’t quite figure it out between your splitting headache and the way his gaze keeps flickering from you back to wherever he’s walking. Actor? No, surely you’d remember. Singer? That would be plain unfair. Model? You wouldn’t put it past—

“So,” he starts, wryly. “About that coffee.”

“Yes,” you rush to agree. “Coffee. It’s very good. Do you? Coffee?”

He laughs, shortly.

“You’re not drunk again, are you?”

“No.” You feel it, though, what with this man’s voice bearing a timbre that is downright intoxicating. But one long look at those coffee-coloured eyes would be enough to keep you up all night. 

So you let him talk — he’s just like his texts, terse and concise, but isn’t brevity the soul of wit? He keeps you on your toes, with a dead-panned quip here and there, eliciting laughter out of your awful hangover. It turns out that you’re not even that far away from each other at all, a train station or two at most, which is some stroke of sheer luck. Sakusa starts to tell you about his favourite little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop that nobody seems to have discovered yet. 

“A coffee snob?” you tease.

He studies you, through the screen, and you almost feel the weight of his gaze as if he were right in front of you. He smiles, softly.

“I prefer to keep a low profile.”

And just before you hang up, with the details of a coffee shop date still fresh in your mind, you have the sense to ask for his full name.

“Kiyoomi,” he supplies. “Sakusa Kiyoomi.”

Rings a bell, doesn’t it? But when you tell him yours, he repeats it, and all you can think about is how your name has never sounded so wonderful before.

It’s not until you hang up, his name echoing in your memory, that you run a Google search for this man. Thousands of results. A plethora of pictures, teeming with irrefutable evidence of his good looks. 

And oh, God.

You lift your gaze from your phone to stare at your closet door, where your brand spanking new work uniform hangs off the hook, bearing the emblem of a gold-trim eagle that blinks back at you, eyes narrowed as if to say—

What the hell have you just done?

#i love a good hot mess x together guy trope LMAOOO #sakusa x reader #sakusa kiyoomi x reader #sakusa x you #sakusa kiyoomi x you #sakusa kiyoomi #haikyuu x reader #hq sakusa #sakusa #ridiculous. do we still call these crack fics or is there a new term for it idk #PLEASE IGNORE THE MISTAKES I AM DOING MY BEST™

[midnightsslut]

Can you tell us more about your concept of the lover trilogy made up of false god/afterglow/me? Would love to read a proper analysis with all the connections, similar themes etc + obvs your thoughts x

Hey! First of all, thank you for being interested in my lyric analysis omg that’s very flattering!! This is actually my first ask lol.

This got super long, by the way, so I’m adding a cut.

Anyway, let’s get to it. First, let’s talk about the structure of Lover’s tracklist, because that’s part of the reason why I consider False God, Afterglow, and ME! to be a trilogy of sorts, all foreshadowed by The Archer. From the first time I heard the album, I’ve always thought that Lover can be divided into a few main parts. The first five tracks serve as a primer for what’s to come. Taylor is also careful not to have too many bops or too many emotional ballads together. We get the dark, desperate, escapism-themed Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince between happy love songs like I Think He Knows and Paper Rings. The emotional core, however, lies in the second half. Cornelia Street acts as a bridge between the carefree songs and the more vulnerable ones, since there is a mix of tenderness and a fear of losing what she has.

This trilogy in particular is foreshadowed by The Archer, which discusses Taylor’s anxieties that stem from her past relationship (something she described as ‘phantom tragedy’ in her Live Lounge interview iirc). She has ‘a hundred thrown-out speeches’ ready for him, but she’s still ‘searching for a dark side’ on purpose, which runs the risk of ruining their honeymoon phase. Again, that risk is reflected on Cornelia Street, but that’s still a very romantic ballad about ‘sacred new beginnings.’

Taylor’s fears reach a new peak on Death By a Thousand Cuts. Once again, she’s ‘looking through the windows of this love,’ even though they ‘boarded them up’; in other words, they said they wouldn’t question the relationship in the same way you don’t question your god in the religion that her love has turned into (see: ‘sacred new beginnings that became my religion’ in Cornelia Street), yet here she is.

The False God trilogy is placed at the end of the album because it offers a resolution to this conflict. First, we get False God, where Taylor essentially announces that the honeymoon phase has come to a close. She has finally found the dark side she’s searching for (‘I can’t talk to you when you’re like this’). She’s no longer keeping her thrown-out speeches to herself; she’s daring him to leave her outright. Just three tracks earlier, she says she’s dying by a thousand cuts, but she flips that theme on its head and names the notion of dying for him as one of the things they were crazy for thinking. These doubts harken back to Cruel Summer. However, they also bring the story full circle; just as the then-friends with benefits stuck with each other through physical intimacy when they couldn’t confess their emotions, they are still hanging on, as if by a thread, because ‘they might just get away with it’ if they turn sex into their object of worship (‘the altar is my hips’). Cruel Summer’s theme of both angels and devils being involved makes a return as well, as the lovers end up in Heaven and Hell by turns. Whenever they do confess their sins, they use the sacramental wine to get drunk, have sex again… and refuse to actually address their issues, because neither of them can talk to the other ‘when [they’re] like this.’ When they have nothing left, their intimacy, the same thing that first brought them together, is ultimately what keeps them together. False God is ultimately more hopeful than Death By a Thousand Cuts, however, because Taylor is still adamant to hold onto her faith ‘even if it’s a false god.’ It doesn’t matter if their religion is a hoax. As long as they can stay together, she’ll keep worshiping. The title of the song is therefore a bait-and-switch à la peace and happiness.

After the bop buffer (lol) of You Need to Calm Down, we get back to this story with Afterglow as Track 15. The theme of sticking together through sex is affirmed by the title of the song, which basically refers to the period after an orgasm. That’s another, albeit partial bait-and-switch, however, because Afterglow involves Taylor finally admitting that she’s at fault. She did beg for forgiveness in False God, but she followed it up with daring him to leave her in the next pre-chorus (this cyclical nature of their fights resurfaces here, as she says she either ‘punished him with silence’ or ‘went off like sirens’). Here, all she does is ask him not to walk away (whereas she was literally threatening to do so herself two tracks earlier). The morning after a fight, Taylor suddenly realizes this relationship is worth it. This ‘ultraviolet morning light’ is the turning point in their relationship, for Taylor is now resolved to make things right with him again instead of patching things up temporarily. All she wants now is to share the light of her newfound insight with him… or, in other words, to meet him in the afterglow.

Despite its blissful title, Afterglow is still anxious, because she doesn’t yet know if he’s also decided to stay with her. Meanwhile, ME! is absolutely mutual (again, note the title vs the theme here lol), which is why it’s a duet. They now look at the flipside of all their troubles. She might have gone off like sirens/gone psycho on the phone, but that same fiery nature of hers causes her to be his summer. His nonchalant nature might have been the cause of her despair in Cruel Summer, but that same unpredictability is also the reason why he ‘will never bore her.’ ME! is all about them embracing all their flaws and declaring that their relationship is one of a kind and worthwhile because of them. This triumphant acceptance (as evidenced by the literal marching band she used for its debut performance) is a bookend to the self-loathing in The Archer and all the doubt scattered throughout the record.

The album ends with a short, calm summary of the whole story in It’s Nice to Have a Friend. On the album’s closer, Taylor finally puts all this turmoil, which stems from external (‘I trusted the wicked’)—something her relationship helped her through—and internal factors (‘I wounded the good’/‘maybe I’ve stormed out of every single room in this town’), behind her to step into the daylight. A frequently overlooked part of the song is the plural in ‘threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it’s morning now,’ which indicates that he is also stepping into the daylight with her. Without the aforementioned trilogy, including the blind faith in False God, the watershed moment of epiphany in Afterglow, and the declaration of self-acceptance in ME!, none of this would have been possible.

#lover #Taylor Swift #lyric analysis #false god #me #daylight #afterglow #dbatc #death by a thousand cuts #lyrics #analysis #cornelia street #miss Americana

[leqclerc]

Hi! I’ve seen a post about reddit people saying charles has caused a lot of dnfs (up to 2020 i think it said he caused 12) saying he’s worse than kvyat etc, and like I know he does tend to go for the slightest of margins to get the best results so I kind of get why he has that driving mentality but do you think it’s fair to say that he is worse than the likes of romain? And like obvs we are slightly more biased but I do prefer criticizing on a more educated basis so I just wanted your opinion as well.

Hello!

A short view back to the past...The penalty system, as we know it today, was introduced in 2014. No one will ever state it outright, but it's sort of generally accepted that this new system was introduced as a direct response to Pastor Maldonado and, to a lesser extent, Romain Grosjean's, on track, er...antics, shall we say.

I only caught the tail end of Pastor's (whose recklessness earned him the nickname Crashtor among the online community) career in 2015, but there are many Youtube compilations of his crashes and incidents if anyone wants to catch up on that era of F1. For starters, he was the most reprimanded Formula One driver in 2012 (two years before the current penalty system was introduced.) Out of 96 grands prix (that he raced in), there were 29 retirements, and he incurred 39 penalties in his colourful F1 career (that's one every 2.4 races and 12 were for causing a collision.) When you start being recognised for your crashing more than your driving...there's a problem.

Similarly Romain was a...definitely an interesting figure over the years? Opinions on him were divided. A lot of people saw him as a bit of an on-track troublemaker, an accident-prone driver who could probably be replaced by someone "better." On the other hand, though, he'd earned himself a following of loyal fans who travelled around as much as they could to meet him and make their support for him felt. He was also one of the first drivers of the modern era (afaik) to publicly speak out about mental health and the fact that he's been working with a sports psychologist throughout his career.

And then there's Max. As of right now, the current championship leader. He's generally praised for his on-the-limit but relatively incident-free driving, certainly this season. But here's the thing about Max: he's been in F1 since 2015, in a top team since May 2016 (in a curious twist of fate he was switched with Daniil after Seb complained about Daniil crashing into him at the previous race). No matter which way you spin it (no pun intended), he's got seasons of experience over Charles, never mind the gang that joined as rookies in 2019. That can't be overstated. Especially since the beginning was rough. After Pastor's departure in 2015 it seemed Max was on a mission to fill the void - sure, he had moments of on-track brilliance (Brazil 2016 comes to mind) but my god did it come at a cost. I remember being lowkey scared every time he was anywhere near Nico (my then-fave driver) or Seb or anyone I cared about sjdjef More stats because why the hell not... between Monaco 2015 and Monaco 2019 he'd accumulated a whopping 21 penalty points (sharing the top spot with Romain) for what the stewards deemed dangerous driving - four instances of causing a collision, three instances of gaining an advantage, etc.) Despite all this, I remember even back in the day he gained a following for being "balls to the wall" about his approach and just going for it where others would've probably backed off. Whether he made it work or not didn't seem to matter - people were impressed that he was doing it. Now he's obviously grown as a person and as a driver and you can clearly see that in the way he drives and chases and overtakes today. Still ballsy, still on the limit, but it seldom results in an incident these days, whereas a few years back it likely would've put him and possibly someone else as well out of the race.

Not gonna open this particular can of worms but there are other drivers out there that also turned to on-the-limit tactics and often ended up forcing other drivers wide, including their teammate (since there seems to be this idea of be more lenient when it's your teammate, think of the team.) Again, it was...praise-worthy if anything and rarely resulted in penalties. Comparing these incidents and accidents is like comparing apples and oranges, but I'm just saying...this isn't new.

I think Charles is a mix of these. Add into that the frustration and desperation of 2020, the way he knew that his best chance of a decent finish came if he just catapulted himself up the grid on the first lap, and, well. Sometimes he's on the limit but clever about it and it pays off, other times it doesn't work out so well (for him or for someone else or both.) Do I wish he were fast, an effective overtaker, and incident-free all the time? Sure. But realistically that's not going to happen. All drivers, regardless of age or team or experience, will end up tangling with other drivers at some point. That's just racing. It doesn't mean they have some kind of personal vendetta or agenda against said person. He said he's learning from his mistakes and trying to be a bit more mindful about his approach, and that's good enough for me. Ultimately if he goes too hard he'll likely end up hurting his own chances and I think he gets that.

And regarding penalties...I mean, look. He's not a steward, is he? It's not up to him to make those decisions. They've been inconsistent since way before Charles ever showed up in F1, so claiming the system is rigged to benefit him is ludicrous imo. But people will believe what they want to believe so, whatever.

TL;DR: No, I genuinely don't think Charles's incident history is comparable to the likes of Maldonado or Romain at the "worst" stage of his career. I'll put it this way: if you think of his career, do his accidents overshadow his race craft and qualy and race results and overtakes? I don't think that's the case. If it were...then it'd be a problem.

#replies #anonymous #discussions and predictions #long post #charles leclerc #and like. i've put my tinfoil hat away okay #as someone who has been watching since 2015... i have seen some shit. he's nowhere near the 'worst' when it comes to that stuff #i know the newer fans have no point of reference for the pre-dits events but ho ho fuck it was A Lot

[soranihimawari]

weird flex, but ok:

time zones don’t affect friendships if you can time video calls just right. facetiming with your boyfriend’s high school buddies always seemed like a fun way to pass the time in between studying for midterms. california was and still is part of your personal end goals after you graduated from high school. you had studied hard for your entrance exams for the university you attended and when you began your junior semester, you were paired with the international student who shared the same interest in becoming an athletic trainer. iwazumi wasn’t necessarily a bad partner per se, but you couldn’t help catch the jealous stares of the sorority women who were hoping the professor would choose one of them as his partner for the lab portion. 

at first you didn’t see the big deal about having iwazumi as a partner. as far as you knew, he was a dedicated student. his notes were always more organized than you were which was surprising because your notes seemed incomplete, but your doodles of the course material made him laugh here and there. more often than not, after you exchanged contact information, you and him consistently met up at the local coffee houses off of campus to begin the prep work for the physical therapy course you shared. your roommate at the time thought it was funny how people thought you two were an item only for you to brush it off saying something along the lines of, “if he wanted to date me, i’d probably challenge him to an arm wrestling match.” this caused your roommate to laugh hysterically at the thought because yes, she knew you were strong, but she reminded you of how fit iwazumi looked. 

both of you and iwazumi seemed to have grown close over the run of the semester and one night where the rain would not let up, you found yourself taking up iwazumi’s offer to stay over his apartment off campus until the storm had stopped. the two of you decided to call it a day from studying at the library right when you mentioned the clouds were rolling in. that was a few days ago. the random arm wrestling challenge you suggested you’d challenge him to was held at the end of that week. you pestered him until he broke down and agreed to the ridiculous terms: “iwazumi, if i win, you take me out on a proper date. if you win, i’ll buy you whatever snacks you want from 7/11.”

the arm wrestling match happened over three months ago and you found yourself at iwazumi’s apartment again. you were dressed casually in a large jersey dress with black leggings with your hair in a side braid. iwazumi was in his room grabbing his collection of monster movies when his phone rang. the phone was laying in front of the sofa where you were sitting, with curiosity dangling in front of you, you raised a brow at the caller ID: oinkawa t. you answered the facetime call with a smile recalling on your second date, iwazumi told you about his childhood friend and how the nickname came to be (something about minecraft and misspelling the name of a pig).

“yoo-hoo! hey there iwa--wait a sec, you’re not iwa-chan,” oikawa’s face seemed dumbfounded for a minute. then he let out a loud gasp in surprise. a chuckle escaped your throat when you shook your head. you introduce yourself and when you added girlfriend at the end, oikawa shook his head in disbelief muttering something about owing their other friends in japan money (sidenote: oikawa, mattsukawa, and hanamaki had a pool going without iwazumi’s knowledge about how iwazumi seemed preoccupied with his studies lately).

“so,” you hear the voice of the best friend of your boyfriend begin. “how did my iwa-chan ask you out on a date the first time?”

“oh! that’s easy,” you said with a mischievous smile. seizing the opportunity iwazumi was busy turning his room upside down looking for the medium sized box which housed his monster movie collection, you brought up the arm wrestling match. you turned your head left and right to make sure the coast was clear before you tell oikawa the story. 

“it’s a weird flex but ok. i didn’t think iwazumi could actually lose an arm wrestling match,” oikawa stated. “makki has been trying for literal years to beat him. tell him to call me back. i know he’d give me shit for keeping you away from him. have fun on your date! later!”

“Did I just hear Oikawa?” Iwazumi’s voice thundered down the hallway. You rose up from the sofa with his phone in your hands.

“Iwazumi, can you come here for a sec? I want to take a sel-ca with you.”

He sets whatever he has in his hands on his desk close by for a moment and he sighs shaking his head muttering something about even if his best friend is is Argentina Oikawa still found a way to annoy him. You open the camera and switch it to a front facing mode on and when your boyfriend is within arms’ reach, he looks at you curiously.

“What’s a—”

You had stood up to cut off his sentence with your lips on his. The shutter sounds go off. Halfway across the world, Makki, Mattsukawa, & even Oikawa (in the dead of night) receive the photo notification and respectfully make snarky comments to which Iwazumi eventually replies with a “back off all of you. she’s happily taken. especially you, shittiykawa.”

tagging: @m0nstergeneration20xx & @oikawa-obvs

ending outfit inspired by this outfit/drawing credit goes to the artist on imager:

#iwazumi x reader #short story #haikyuu #seijoh stories #timeskip!iwazumi x college!y/n #©himawaripapers

[jizemderler]

What could never be {Kim Namjoon} Pt 2

A/N: Y’all wanted, I delivered hdjdb obv SMUT because we nasty for namjoon

Part 1

sorry i had to use this after all that talk about this gif lolol

His hands were trailing down the sides of your body and he enjoyed the way you were squirming under him. He placed wet kisses down your neck to your collarbone and sucked at your sensitive spot. “Does it feel good?” he asked in a hushed voice and you nodded without opening your eyes. “Yes,” you answered while brushing your fingers through his hair to tuck lightly at his roots which drew a low groan from his throat. You arched your back at that sound and you felt him smile against your bare skin.

You opened your eyes in panic when you heard something crash and found yourself in your dark empty bedroom. You were breathing heavily and sighed while tugging at your own hair. “Fuck...” you cursed under your breath and turned to switch the light next to your bed on. As soon as you did that you saw your cat looking at you with big eyes sitting next to a broken plant. “I’m not even allowed to dream about him, huh?” you asked your cat and she meowed as a response. “I’ll clean that up in the morning. Just don’t step in it,” you said frustrated and switched the light back off and threw yourself back into bed. The next day would be interesting.

***

You hadn’t seen him the whole day because you kept postponing his appointment with you. You thought the later the better since you would maybe forget about the dream. Which was nonsense honestly, because as soon as you saw him all the feelings from the dream came rushing back and you could literally feel his touch against your skin. “Hi!” he greeted you and embraced you in a tight hug as always but today it was unbearable for you. “Let´s go.” you said and pulled away and turned your back on him to walk into the dressing room. 

Trying on new outfits has been a hassle since what happened. One of you always started teasing and both of you were too stubborn to stop. So you would end up teasing each other the whole session and it was eating away at your desires and needs. It’s been two hours since you started dressing him and you were on your sixth outfit when he reached his limit. You were fixing his fixing the waist of his pants and had your index and middle finger tucked in at the front while applying the needle at the right point so you could stitch it later. He suddenly became really quiet and made you look up.

“What? Is something bothering you?” you said while giving his pants a closer look and brushing your hands down his sides of his leg. “Is it too snug? I can rearrange...” you were saying while checking the waist and he suddenly grabbed both of your hands and made you look back up. “Shit, did I pick you with the needle? Sorry.” you apologized and tried to free your hands to pull out the last needle you had placed but he didn’t let go and pulled you up on your feet. He was holding your wrists close to his chest so that your faces were only inches apart. “Namjoon...” you said trying to free yourself but he was not having it. “I’m really trying hard to respect your choice but you’re making it really hard...no pun intended,” he said and your eyes widened as you realized what he was joking about so you pushed him away while the blood rushed to your cheeks. “I’m just doing my job,” you said grabbing a jacket and reaching it out to him. “Put it on,” you said and he took it from you with a tiny smile on his face. After he put it on you crossed your arms in front of your chest and glared at him. It was unfair that he was allowed to look this good. “Are you going to behave or do we have to take a break?” you said, your cheeks still rosy. “Did these past three months really not change your mind?” he asked you and you could hear the desperation in his voice. “No.” you answered quickly and went back to work. If only he knew what you were dreaming about.

***

The situation became unbearable when you two got stuck on a shoot waiting for the artists in front of you to finish. You’d been in the dressing room for two hours now - Namjoon all glammed up waiting for his turn. He kept stealing glances of you while roaming around the dressing room. You were wearing snug jeans and a simple blouse on top but your simplicity made you even more attractive to him. He was trying to restrain himself but since the day he learned about your divorce, he felt like there was nothing holding him back anymore, besides your job. And he respected that but he kept stealing little ‘accidental’ touches which was the only thing that kept him going. But right now was just torture. You’ve never been alone in one room with nothing to do for this long. You two always came together to work and never had time to act on the tension in the room. But right now was different. Something inside of him snapped when you started putting your hair in a ponytail, exposing your neck and shoulders to him.

That’s when he stood up and took you by surprise. He turned you around by your shoulder placed his hand against the crook of your neck and started kissing you passionately. Instinctively you let out an audible sigh because your body was aching for this for months now. He smiled against your lips as soon as you heard that. You came to your senses fast enough and tried to push him away but he had locked you in place. “Just this once.” he breathed against your lips when you both parted to take in some air and your heart and desires took over your ability to think straight. You wrapped your arms around his neck and he placed his hands on your bottom to pick you up. You wrapped your legs around his waist in one swift motion and he carried you over to the desk while plastering your neck and collarbone with kisses. “Joon...” you sighed and you could feel him tense up under you. “I dreamed about this so many times,” he whispered against you between a kiss and a shiver of arousal went down your spine which made you press yourself closer to him. You brushed your fingers through his hair and tucked at his roots to make him look up at you, ruining his styled hair but none of you cared. He smiled wholeheartedly and you leaned in to kiss him. Both of you were fighting for dominance while he let his hands glide under your blouse to explore your soft skin. You had goosebumps as soon as he touched sensitive places and you sighed once more into the kiss. You bit his lip gently and tucked at it in order to get a reaction from him and with success. He let out a low groan and made you smile triumphantly. You were about to grind on him teasingly to double his reaction when a knock echoed through the room and both of you jumped apart. He fixed his hair immediately while you hid behind the curtain which was for changing clothes.

“We’re ready for you in five!” the staff member said through the door when she didn’t get an answer to come in. “I’ll be there!” Namjoon called back playing it off as if he wasn’t going down your throat seconds ago. Footsteps that were getting further away told you that she left. When he pulled away the curtain he found you staring at your feet. “Nothing happened. She didn’t see,” he said trying to calm you but you felt horrible. Horrible for having to hide like a rat. “You have to go.” you said while pushing past him,” I’ll call the visagist to fix your hair and makeup.”

“Y/N, please...” he tried to talk to you but you already went out the door.

***

You didn’t show up to work for two weeks and Namjoon was getting frustrated. No one knew where you were or no one would tell him. He tried calling and texting you but that was also a dead end. So you can imagine his surprise when you appeared on his doorstep on the weekend. His doorbell rang and he was confused as in who was at the door because he wasn’t expecting anyone. He was even more confused when he opened the door and you jumped at him to wrap your legs around his waist and your arms around his neck. He caught you with his large hands and stumbled a few steps back before regaining a steady position. “Y/N, what...” he started to ask but stopped when you pulled away to look at him. Your hands were on his neck, your thumbs brushing over his earlobes gently. “I’m back.” you beamed at him and his lips tucked upwards seeing how happy you were. “I can see that.” he smiled back at you and you loosened your legs to signalize him to let you down. He got it immediately and you stood in front of him and took out a stack of paper out of your bag and held it in front of his face. “I quit!” you told him with beaming eyes and his mood changed immediately. “You did what?” he asked and furrowed his brows, quilt creeping up in his stomach.

“I quit. I’m not your stylist anymore,” you explained and he shook his head while taking the papers out of your hand. “Why would you do that?” he asked while examining the papers. “Nothing´s holding me back anymore,” you said freely and he wanted to yell some sense into you. “No. I’m not allowing this. This is stupid. I’m talking to the manager.” he riled himself up and tried to walk past you but you grabbed his arm to stop him. “Calm down lover boy. I also got a new job,” you said pulling the cond stack of papers out of your bag and held it up. “I’m now part of the management team in the styling department. I’m playing with the big dogs now.” you smiled at him and he looked dumbfounded. “I’ve been thinking about applying for this job over two years now but I was always too scared thinking that I won’t make it. I’m qualified for the job for years now but you know...now that someone was pushing me to my limits I gathered my shit together and applied. And I got it!” you said jumping up and down celebrating it. He took a look at the new papers in your hands and you smiled sheepishly. “And there is no part in that saying I can’t date anyone in the company,” you said leaning into his ear while he flipped through the contract. His head snapped up and he looked into your eyes, his gaze totally changed.

“So I think about dating one of the boys or maybe staff. What do you...” you wanted to tease him but he interrupted you. “Shut up,” he growled and kissed you right then and there. You took it to the bedroom rather quickly. You were lying underneath him and his hands were trailing down the sides of your body and he enjoyed the way you were squirming under him. He placed wet kisses down your neck to your collarbone and sucked at your sensitive spot. “Does it feel good?” he asked in a hushed voice and you froze and covered your mouth to stop yourself from nervously laughing. “What? Did I do something?” he asked and looked for any type of discomfort in your eyes but only found amusement and...embarrassment? “What?” he asked again now doubting himself. You cupped his face to stop him from overthinking. “You’re literally the man of my dreams,” you said with a big smile on your face thinking back to your dream and kissed him. When he got what you were saying he pulled away and looked at you with raised eyebrows. “Wait you dreamt of me?” he asked and your cheeks flushed immediately. You nodded and avoided looking into his eyes. “Joon...?” you asked and made him lookup. “Are you sure about this?... I mean, I was married once,” you said now really insecure about this. “I don´t care. Just don´t mention him to me,” he assured you and changed the subject to lift the mood. “What was I doing in your dream exactly?” he asked while pulling down your pants and throwing it in a corner. He started kissing your belly down to your panty line. “Joon..” you moaned and he smiled against you. You arched your back the sensation and showed him how eager you were for his touch. He slipped his fingers in between your thighs and moved them up slowly just stopping close to your core, not touching it. You growled at his teasing and pulled him up just to flip him over and sit on top of him. “I´m not in the mood for teasing Namjoon.” you warned him while grinding against his hardening member. He placed his hands on your hips and guided you along. He closed his eyes end leaned his head back giving you full access to his throat. You leaned down and placed kisses along his neck leaving marks at places you knew the make up artist had to cover. You started grinding harder against him and the friction made him moan lustfully while digging his fingers deeper into your flesh. “Ugh...I-..” he started but he couldn´t finish because your movements made it hard for him to concentrate. The sight of him yearning for your touch, bucking his hips up to meet your core, making your need to feel him grow inside of your lower stomach. “I need you.”, you moaned into his ear,”buried deep inside of me.”

As soon as you said that he let out a guttural moan and flipped you so you were lying under him again. He took off his pants along with his boxers and was in front of you in his full glory. He leaned back down and placed his lips on yours. The kiss was passionate yet so loving that it made your heart swell. He traced his tongue along your bottom lip and your lips parted allowing him entrance to explore. While he was distracted you wrapped your hands around his length and started stroking him up and down. As expected you caught him by surprise and he broke the kiss to bury his face in the crook of your neck. You kissed his shoulder while starting to apply light pressure and he moaned out your name. He started thrusting slowly into your hand and when you felt him shiver in need you stopped to take off your panties. You were dripping wet when he aligned himself at your core. He looked into your eyes and pushed back a few strands of hair. He kissed your forehead, the tip of your nose, and finally your lips while pushing the tip of his cock in. Your grip on his shoulders tightened as you felt him stretch you and you moaned in pleasure while furrowing your brows. “You good?” he asked, moving carefully and left butterfly kisses on your closed eyes. You nodded in consent and he pushed in deeper filling you up completely. Both of you were moaning in pleasure and it was almost unbearable. Namjoon was breathing heavily while trying to restrain himself from pounding into you, trying to give you time to adjust. When you felt the light stinging turn into absolute pleasure you wrapped your legs around his waist and lift your head up to his ear. “Fuck me, Namjoon.” you plead your lips brushing over his ear which turned him on even more. He didn´t need to hear that twice so he started pounding into you at a steady pace. You gasp at the sensation and hold onto his arms which feel so good under your touch. You move one hand up to his ear and stroke it gently. Which makes him close his eyes and his breath catches in his throat. You realized that his ear was a soft spot earlier and you were happy to get a reaction out of him. 

“You feel so good.” he moaned in between breaths and you arched your back to give him better access at your sweet spot. He hit it a couple of times and suddenly you were really close to the edge. “Right there Namu. Right there,” you begged and moved your hips up to meet his. When he slipped his hand between your folds to rub your clit, it didn´t take long for you to clench around him and cum from all the sensations added together. You desperately moaned his name loud and clear while riding out your high and his pounds started getting sloppy when he heard his name fall from your lips in such a beautiful way. “I´m so close.” he moaned and buried his face in your neck again and you held him while caressing his back. “Come for me baby.” you cooed and he let out a guttural moan while releasing inside of you. His lower abdomen twitching and his arm muscles tensing up. You left soft kisses here and there while he rode out his high and was panting your name. 

After both of you came down from your highs you snuggled into his side and he wrapped an arm around you. He placed a loving kiss on top of your head and breathed in your scent. He still couldn´t believe you were finally his. “Uh..Y/N?” he asked sounding very shy suddenly as if he wasn´t fucking you senseless minutes ago. “Yeah?” you answered while tracing your fingers along his abs. “I know we just...did that, but...are you in for a relationship with me?” he asked while holding a hand up and sounded like a little kid asking for a lollypop. You chuckled at his question and gave him a high five which left him baffled. “Of course. I wouldn´t have done this if I weren´t” you smiled up at him but he was looking at his hand opening and closing it constantly trying to understand why you gave him a high-five. “I was trying to hold your hand but I guess that works too,” he said sounding totally confused and made you laugh. You held his hand with one hand and cupped his face with the other smiling at him broadly. “You´re one of a kind Kim Namjoon.” you said affectionately and he smiled back lovingly.

***

It´s been a week since that night and you invited the guys over to dinner to let them know, which kind of backfired.

“So you left us just to start a relationship with Namjoon?” Jin asked and looked at you in disbelief. “You stole her from us?!” Taehyung said and looked unbelievably hurt. “I hate the new stylist, he’s really rough.” Hobi pouted and made you chuckle. “Oh come on. You didn’t like me in the beginning either. Give him some time to adjust.” you suggested and they shook their heads like little kids. “You need to come back. You’ll find someone better than Namjoon. I swear I will never complain about the weight of the jackets!” Taehyung begged and earned a glare from Namjoon.

“That’s sweet of you Tae. I’m still working at the company, just not directly with you guys. I deal with the brands directly now.” you tried to explain but Yoongi had another interpretation of that. “So you earn more money now. You left us for money?”

“Hyung.” Namjoon warned him but you put your hand on his thigh to calm him down. “No, as Namjoon also knows: My carrier is my most valued thing and this was just the right step,” you explained and Jungkook looked at you like a puppy. “I still don’t like the new guy.”

#kim namjoon #kim namjoon smut #namjoon #namjoon smut #namjoon imagine #namjoon fanfic #namjoon one shot #bts #bts smut #bts matchmaking #kim seokjin #min yoongi #park jimin #kim taehyung #jung hoseok #jeon jungkook #seokjin smut #min yoongi smut #taehyung smut #hobi smut #jungkook smut #jimin smut #bts imagine #yoongi smut #rap monster #rapmon #rm smut

[sunlit-cashmere]

i’m in 11th and am planning to study physics in college because i really like physics. but i can’t shake the thought that i won’t be able to do it cause i’m already finding it so hard to prepare for jee. is loving physics enough to get me through college? should i go for it or should i think about it more? are te study topics even mildly similar to what they teach in 11th and 12th?

also do you think it’s easier to get placement for engineering fields or for applied physics in india? and are physicists in demand? or will i have job problems because of not going for engineering?

also i’m an intp too and good luck with your studies!

Hi!

Those are very tough questions 😅. Okay first of all, I was a shitty student too, I got 75% in my boards, obv didn’t get DU (I didn’t give JEE because I knew I didn’t want to do engineering at all). I struggled in the first year of my college too but eventually I figured out how to study physics. But I chose to study because I loved it and I’d known for a while that’s what I wanna do so I just went for it, granted I’m not the most remarkable physicist I still struggle with a lot of concepts but I am working on them and I know I’m on my way to becoming better, jobs, idk what’s gonna happen and I’m choosing to focus on how good a physicsist I am at the moment instead of worrying about what I’ll do because if I can be better at my subject and improve constantly, that has to account for something on the job front.

There is a good chance that you’re struggling because you don’t know how to study this subject. I have mentioned time and again on these types of asks that knowing what your formula really means and how to apply it is the most important step of understanding physics.

You’re in 11th grade, you have time to really know your subject. Do your derivations, don’t mug them up, know why you used a particular formula to get to another step. Like when you need to take out the electric field on a point due to a ring, that forms you basics on how to solve for other types of shapes, you know what I mean? Basically every topic has a way to approach problems, you can’t just write down the formula and be like now what (which is what I used to do). You need to know HOW to approach the problems which mostly comes from derivations like electric field due to a ring or how to calculate the moment of interia. Once you know the concept of how to solve that, you can calculate for any object and then when you can do that, you can take out the angular momentum of any object from any arbitrary reference point. Notice how you went from MI of a sphere to how to calculate the angular momentum of a rolling sphere in reference to a point on the ground (let’s say). So those derivations that you do in class builds up basis for more complex problems.

Since you’re in 11th, solve HC Verma, it is the best best book at your level to really clear up your basics, those little gaps in your knowledge that you didn’t even know you had. Every question you’re not able to solve, see how it’s done and know WHY it’s done that way, like, to find out the potential energy of a body under free fall, we all know the formula, mgh but if the height from which a body is falling is comparable to the radius of the earth, you can’t use mgh. So, question why you got your approach wrong.

As far as taking engg or applied physics is concerned, I’ve seen a lot of btech kids who took btech because they didn’t know what else to do or their parents told them to, a lot of them aren’t really interested in their subjects and if you’re not into what you’re doing it’s incredibly hard to be good at it. Engg has a lot of jobs but it also has a lot of people, Physics unfortunately does not have a lot jobs and you have to be the best of the best in India to be working in the govt. sector. India hardly has any applied physics courses, DU has electronics which is the closest to applied here. The field that is in demand right now is nanotechnology, so you can go for that if you’re interested through either a btech or physics honours.

Although btech opens more options because sadly here it’s considered better than an honours. After your degree, almost everything in India is based on entrance exams so if you take up something that you don’t end up liking you can switch easily. Btech degree is eligible for basically every exam, like you can do a btech and go for MSc but I THINK you can’t do a bsc and then do MTech (check out the criteria for GATE).

I would say, go for something you like even if you think you’re bad at it BUT only if you’re willing to work hard. If you’re bad at something you like, you have to work harder than the rest of them to be good at it, btech and bsc are equally tough, btech is just more hands on.

And yes. The first year of college, they try to bridge the gap between school and college so they will teach similar stuff, physics is all the same right? It’s just gonna be a few steps higher from what you’re doing rn. Keep studying for JEE don’t beat yourself up because it IS very hard. After boards, you can decide what you want to do, if you’re staying in India, ofc for abroad you have to start thinking abhi. I can’t tell you what you should take, but whatever out of the two you take and don’t end up liking, you can change it, if not during during undergrad, for post grad you can (again pls look up GATE requirements first). Engg does have more placements, I only got three companies for placements while btech got lots, so if you wanna work straight after undergrad, btech is probably better.

Good luck!! And I’m sorry if this was toooo long 💙💙💙 you can hmu in private if you have any questions

#ask ria

[jostenneil]

do you have shounen recs too? other than naruto and fma lol

naruto and fma are like decade long infections that have refused to leave me djdbkdn but yes, i do! i’ll apply the same logic here as i did in the other post where i include some seinen too bc ultimately the distinction is just an age demographic

sket dance (manga) - this is one of my favorite manga of all time! it centers on a group of three friends—bossun, himeko, and switch—who start a student support group at their high school for anyone to come to with their everyday problems. the clientele and their problems are varied in a pretty humorous way, and in the beginning it almost feels like the series is set up to be purely comedic, but as you get further into the series you learn just why the main characters started the club, which is the winning point for me. these characters are so fleshed out and so much of their individual trauma gives insight as to why they’re intent to help and befriend others, especially on bossun’s part. he is probably one of my favorite shounen protagonists period. his character propagates a really wonderful message of how people don’t need to be fixed in order to solve their problems, just listened to and supported, and i adore the series for its exploration of that concept. the mangaka was also an assistant to sorachi on gintama, so i think fans of gintama will rly enjoy it in the sense that both series share similar values, messages, and humor! there’s a few crossovers between the two, iirc. also! i don’t particularly mind the anime and it has a banger soundtrack but just imo the emotional beats hit harder in the manga

silver spoon (anime/manga) - this is the series hiromu arakawa wrote after finishing fma, and i would actually argue that it’s her better work of the two! it centers on a boy named hachiken, who spontaneously decides to enroll at an agricultural high school to get away from his stressful family life in the city, and obviously, it’s a huge reality check for him. he’s dropped into this school where every other student has farming-related ambitions in the long run, while he has no ambitions at all and simply used enrollment as an excuse to get away from his problems. the series is a masterclass in learning about the worth in hard work, camaraderie, and why thinking about your future and what you want to do matters, not just from a practical aspect but also in terms of self fulfillment. as expected of arakawa, it boasts endearing humor, a wonderful array of distinct characters, and a really fleshed out portrayal of farm life, made even more enjoyable and genuine by the fact that she’s writing in her element, as she grew up on a farm herself

tsubasa reservoir chronicle (manga) - this is a cult classic within clamp circles, but outside of that fandom it’s more known as the intimidating clamp series most ppl wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. and i get that! the fact that it crosses over with some other clamp series makes it pretty confusing to parse through at times. but i also think that’s the series’ greatest strength, bc when you understand the nature of that crossover, the depth of the storytelling is truly brilliant! at its most basic, trc follows a pair of childhood friends, syaoran and sakura, who live in a desert-like “clow country”. sakura walks into some ruins one day and is spontaneously robbed of all of her memories, which syaoran must then journey across multiple dimensions to recapture, as her memories have been scattered in the form of feathers. the pair also have three traveling companions—kurogane, fai, and mokona—and altogether the group visits multiple dimensions that are loosely inspired by clamp’s other series and characters. obv, as the plot progresses, we discover there’s more to the group’s mission than meets the eye, and it ventures into pretty dark, existential territory, as is the norm for clamp. it also may be unpopular of me to say this, but i actually think it’s a great introduction to clamp (it was mine lol), given there’s so many cameos from their previous series and the series sets up such interesting lore. just be warned that you do have to think while reading this series, as the lore is intense! also, do not watch the anime. at all. it’s the worst adaptation ever

ookiku furikabutte (anime/manga) - popularly called oofuri, this series is in my opinion one of the best sports manga published in the last two decades. it follows a boy named mihashi, a baseball pitcher who refuses to give up the mound and essentially alienates himself from his middle school teammates in the process bc they don’t know how to actually utilize his pitches. he enters high school as a total nervous wreck with little to no confidence in himself bc of this experience, until the catcher, abe, recognizes that he’s actually a really unique pitcher unrecognized for his talents by his old teammates. abe and mihashi basically latch onto each other, with abe believing he can mold mihashi into the best pitcher there is, and mihashi believing abe is the one person capable of making him into a good pitcher. it’s a fascinating take on codependency and building up your self esteem, and i would argue that higuchi asa’s sports psychology background lends itself splendidly to the messages oofuri sends about how to build healthy sportsmanship among teenage boys. overall i think it’s a great series to read if you’re looking for catharsis and comfort, as well as baseball lore!

gangsta. (manga) - this series is the most dark and complicated of the works in this list, just as an advisory. there’s prostitution, gang violence, gore, etc etc. but for the presence of all of that, gangsta. is probably one of the most well rounded series i have read in the last few years. it starts with alex benedetto, a prostitute who ends up as the sole survivor of a mass gang murder propagated by two thugs for hire, worick and nic. the two men take her under their wing as a friend and someone who answers their phone, and the three of them form a unique but really loving partnership with each other. the plot eventually extends into a turf war that plagues the town they live in, ergastulum, on account of a drug trade that allows for the breeding of “twilights”, who are essentially drug enhanced superhumans. it’s hard to explain much more without giving away spoilers, but the series has an incredibly diverse cast, in terms of race, disability, and sexuality, and it manages to tackle really dark subject matter without coming off as too edgy or tragedy porn-seque. the artwork is also absolutely gorgeous and the relationships among various characters are portrayed with such amazing nuance, that i can’t even complain when plot points make me sad beyond belief

this is what i have for now but i may add onto it later! do let me know if you enjoy any of these ❤️

#sket dance #gin no saji #tsubasa reservoir chronicle #oofuri #gangsta. #these are fun to do! i also feel like i rambled so much more here omg #mine:recs

[plush-anon]

Happy Halloween Scooby Doo! Review

Muahahhhahahhahahaha! Thanks to the Walmart tradition of stocking movies for sale weeks before the intended release date, I have myself a copy of what claims to be Scooby Doo’s FIRST Halloween adventure!

…in spite of movies like Witch’s Ghost and Goblin King, holiday specials like WNSD’s A Scooby Doo Halloween (which had a haunted Scarecrow too…), BCSD’s EL Bandito (for Dia de los Muertos - obvs not the same, but most companies act like it) and Halloween, The NSDM’s Halloween Hassle at Dracula’s Castle, and the DTV short film Scooby Doo and the Spooky Scarecrow (which, ironically enough, did NOT take the opportunity to feature Dr. Jonathan Crane). 

So let us take a look now at Happy Halloween Scooby Doo! and see whether this film will be a graveyard smash of a treat, or a black licorice bomb of disappointment.

Full review (and SPOILERS TO GO WITH IT) are below the cut in my new review format; if all goes smoothly, I’ll go with this for future Scooby films.

WARNING: This review is very long.

One minor note before we begin: the Special Features actually include BCSD’s Halloween, WNSD’s A Scooby Doo Halloween, and PNSD’s Ghost Who’s Coming to Dinner

...so they were AWARE this was not the first Halloween adventure of the Scooby gang, and yet still use that tag line. Hm. 

Still, kudos for including them - this’ll help boost the reasons to keep this movie, if it turns out to be a real Milk Dud of a movie *ba-dum tish* :D

-----------

The movie starts off rather abruptly, actually - no slow pan over the setting, just WB Animation credit and BOOM, we’ve cut to a Halloween parade and Elvira is talking. 

I’m of a mixed opinion including Elvira on top of having Bill Nye and a Batman Rogue - while she most certainly fits the Scooby aesthetic, it doesn’t feel as grand an impact after her weird little cameo in Return to Zombie Island (ugh) and I’m not sure how well the movie will balance her in wait a minute

wait just a

WAIT A MINUTE

Did - did that parade float skeleton just sing Crystal Cove as the town’s name?

oh no. 

Oh No.

....also their song is terrible and they should feel terrible.

-------

Fred: We got him! Banh Mi Shop, second floor!

me: the heck is a Banh Mi Shop? *mild googling noises*

So I guess Jonathan Crane really had a craving for a Vietnamese sandwich before he enacted his Halloween scheme.

...you think he’s a lemongrass chicken type of guy or a BBQ pork guy? It’s always hard to guess at these things, esp when coffee and pumpkin spice aren’t on the table (as per fanon, of course)

-----

Velma: We have a flawless track record!

So I guess WB is just gonna ignore the past few DTV retcons established in 13 Ghosts and Return to Zombie Island?

I mean that rather defeats the purpose of them existing at all, but fcuk YEAH I can get behind throwing that retcon garbage out of canon!

And STAY OUT!!

------

Shaggy, talking about ghosts being real: I’m like the boy who cried wolf - I keep warning you but like, you won’t believe me until I finally get eaten!

Yet again, Warner Bros makes a wolf reference to Shaggy. Yet again, I am torn asunder between wanting werewolf!Shaggy in a new Scooby property, and fearing for the appearance of werewolf!Shaggy in a new Scooby property. 

-------

Velma: Point is, being afraid is a waste of time!

Scarecrow, LITERALLY EXPLODING THROUGH A BRICK WALL three buildings away:

------

He’s floating through the air and t-posing to assert his dominance 🤣🤣🤣

Gods bless animation 😁

------

Daphne @ Shag and Scoob locking themselves in the van: Are you serial?

Me: wait, SERIAL? *re-reads captions* yup, that says “serial”.  

Is this an editing mistake? I don’t think that works here…unless that’s supposed to be a joke on how they always do this. But then why would that be an irritating surprise, they literally do this EVERY episode 🙄

-------

Oh hey, Red Herring’s Party Screams truck has Red Herring running out of it

Could this be a hint to how the story goes? The villain appearing on a literal Red Herring?

Naaaaaah, WB’s not THAT smart

-------

So if we take @captainbaddecisions​​ crack theory on Jonathan Crane being Shaggy’s uncle seriously, does this mean that Jonathan is using magic to fly, float fear toxin orbs around himself, and making things explode, a la the family trait of Crack Theory A? 

Logically he’s probs using wires or magnets or some shit, but it’s a fun thought to entertain 😁

------

Welp, we finally get the opening credits! … with Jonathan Crane smashing through the Mystery Machine’s windshield, set to a slow poppy song straight from the 60s, and spewing the title of the film out in glittery pink mist.

All the while Scooby and Shaggy throw candy at each other, deliberately obtuse to the cloud of fear toxin enveloping their friends and the townsfolk, the steady destruction of the Mystery Machine they’re laying in as multiple cars crash into it and send it spiraling, and the general mayhem and destruction that Scarecrow is causing

Never change, guys, never change

--------

I just choked on my lemonade

There’s an article plastered to the roof of the Mystery Machine titled “Talking Dog Confounds, Ignites Ethics Debate Over Dog Labor”

ahahahahaha

-------

Annnnnnnnd there goes the Mystery Machine, tumbling in the air and over the roads with Shaggy and Scooby still inside without seat belts. Will they perish in this horrible road accident? Will Death finally come to claim them at last?

Of course not. This is Shaggy and Scooby we’re talking about - I’m almost positive they can survive anything up to and including a nuclear bomb. This is child’s play to them.

-------

So they “capture” Scarecrow… by pinning his cape to a tree with crossbow bolts. 

And they do not try to at least tie up his arms or his hands in ANY capacity. 

JUST the cape. 

...you know, Velma, for a team with a “flawless” track record, you guys are making a hecking TON of mistakes in facing against one of Batman’s ROGUES GALLERY, ESPECIALLY with no Batman in sight, good freakin’ grief. 😩

------

Yaaaaaaaaas, this Scarecrow design is LUSH

He’s got the lank, the height, the BTAS costume colors, the elongated face with beaky nose and pointed chin and angular cheekbones, the eyebags like Gucci, the furrowed brow… honestly the only thing missing is the more reddish color hair, and even that isn’t mandatory. I love 😍

Not to mention the HOT DAYUM voice he has - low and velvet rough and so godsdamned particular in a way that could either tie in to obscuring a southern accent as in fanon or just as a stringent academic, oh my yes. He’s voiced by someone called Dwight Schultz, who’s most well known for playing Captain ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock in the OG A-Team show, and someone called Reginald Barclay in Star Trek TNG and Voyager, if any of y’all know that character in particular. 

And of course, the first line he says is a delightfully wry “Oh, but I AM getting away with it,” with the sort of smirk that absolutely lends credence to why he’s a threat to Batman, and not some simpering wimp that can be defeated with some crossbow bolts in a tree.

I think I’m going to enjoy this movie at least somewhat, so long as we get to see him 🥰🥰🥰

(tho on a side note: Daphne why on EARTH are you trying to film Crane saying the meddling kids line? Do you have a video compilation of past villains who’ve done that, and you hope to add his to it? Was your phone damaged when you went up against the Riddler a few DTVs ago and you want a second shot at recording a Gotham Rogue saying it? Bc I don’t think a Gotham Rogue would be too pleased with seeing himself as a Mystery Meme on the Youtubes, you get what I’m saying?)

-------

Okay, so the floating orb things are explained away as fear toxin bomb drones somehow… despite looking nothing like the other drones and being much smaller with no visible propulsion, while also flying unassisted through and around objects to explode against places once flung…

(tho interesting note, none of them are aimed directly at the crowds, just behind them - odd, that)

But how did he heckin’ FLY at the beginning?

Yeah, they show him wearing wrist-mounted grappling hooks at the end of the intro song sequence, but they are NOWHERE IN SIGHT at the beginning - and I do mean in sight, since he emerges against a backdrop of flames. There was nothing there (see the T-pose above for further evidence), and nothing there when he FLEW THROUGH THE MYSTERY MACHINE’S WINDSHIELD AND FLEW BACK OUT AGAIN. And these things are pale silver, which stands out like crazy against the darker backgrounds, so no hand-wavy ‘they were always being used’ bullcrap we’ve seen in other movies. 

Hmmm *scribbles in notepad* note to self, add notation concerning Crack Theory A on magic!Shaggy to “Uncle Crane” theory files - evidence denotes that Crane is able to fly (or at least hover in mid-air unassisted) for terrorization purposes. May boost strength of CTA by family association, lending credence to magic inheritance along the bloodline...

------

“Avocado Toast Generation”? Crane, I honestly don’t know if you really mean that, or if you understand just how much that phrase gets under any Millennial/Gen Z kid’s skin. Having seen multiple variations of your character, it really could swing either way (tho kudos on the dead switch idea - very nice 👍🏻) 

Although this does lead to an interesting stand-off: Fred, upon seeing the town threatened with 3 days worth of fear toxin, immediately moves to let Crane go, while Velma stops him and refuses to consider compromising if it means Crane escapes.  They both look legitimately frustrated at the other for taking the stance they do. 

Fascinating~

------

Hmmm

Crane honey, I don’t know if your drones are made of flash paper and hope, or if Scooby and Shaggy are using the reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaally old candy (the stuff made about ~3 years ago most neighborhoods give out to the teenagers that knock around midnight on Halloween) to shoot them down, but either way you may wish to speak with the manufacturer about this

Then again, this IS Shaggy and Scooby - they probably could’ve spat marshmallows at the drones and brought them down with equal success and explosions 

(and good on them for shooting those down! Atta boy 👍🏻)

-------

Aw dang it

1. They still have Crane captured and now in handcuffs (despite having… you know… NOT been bound by anything except cross bolts in his curtain cape thing)

2. Dwight Schultz has decided to pitch his voice higher and more nasally than what he has. Hopefully this is more of an incredulous sort of pitch than something that sticks for the rest of the movie, ugh.

Also, I think they’re framing the movie to be more Velma-centric this time around - she’s the one explaining to Crane how they tracked him down, apparently through a piece of fan mail he sent Elvira (is that the only reason she’s there? Also why was Velma examining random pieces of fan mail for toxins, Elvira probs gets hundreds a week irl) and it looks like they’re framing something up on how fear isn’t something you can pretend isn’t there. neat!

------

whajit

53rd? 

53rd?!?!

ONLY 53rd?!?!?!?!

Boooo, Scarecrow’s WAY more popular than that! I call foul

---

Okay why is Daphne’s schtick so far to spit laaaaaaame slang after every sentence Velma says

I would rather this not be her schtick

Actually could she go back to filming mystery stuff, bc at least I can pretend it’ll build into the OG Zombie Island Daphne

----

Phew, his voice has returned to its low, raspy goodness

also, Crane needs to learn about personal space, good grief

(interesting clue brought up tho - Crane only steals tech that CAN’T leak his toxin, ergo it can’t be tracked until he releases it. Sensible use, given that Batman probs tracks it if it does.)

----

Velma: I’m not afraid of you, Crane. Fear is an illogical reaction to an imagined threat. 

Crane:

-----

Crane: Fearless, then. Intelligent. Proud and stubborn. You remind me very much of the one person in this world I care about. 

uhhhhhh

Yourself? Harley? Edward Nygma? Ichabod the raven? Idk, I’m honestly curious as to where this thread will go 🤔🤔🤔

-----

Fred, leaning against the Mystery Machine: Guys, it’s gonna be okay. She told me!

O_o

Fred? Honey? Are you sure you weren’t supposed to join Crane in the transport vehicle back to Arkham? 

----

OH SWEET JESUS SHAGGY GREW YAOI HANDS

WHAT THE HECK 

THAT’S WAY MORE UNNERVING THEN YOU GUYS NOT BEING AFRAID ANYMORE

(although the fact that they’re both unsettled by NOT constantly shaking or having their heart racing is honestly kind of heartbreaking. Y’all need therapy, good grief)

----

Shaggy and Scooby just chewed up candy (wrapper and all) to make themselves a Halloween costume of… what looks like barfed-up candy (ew)

Before then proceeding to dance so well that everyone around them also starts dancing in a 60s-70s era rainbow light show and giving them candy

I worry for these two sometimes - that kind of power seems to be getting to their head 😬😬😬

---

Oh hey, acid green toxic waste is spilling from an 18-wheeler onto the Fear Toxin drones and emitting a purple pink haze that envelops a pumpkin patch! That won’t do anything suspicious at all I bet!

(wait is Poison Ivy going to come into this at some point)

(also major kudos to the music here - very 80s horror synth, I like)

----

So the Pumpkins have grown faces, limbs, consciousness, the ability to fly and a lust for human flesh

And they appear to be led by the Pumpkin King of the Pumpkin Patch mentioned in the Charlie Brown Halloween special

He’s not as friendly as I pictured him being, sadly 😕

---

Why is this random ass cop coming up to FD&V to say that they’re in over their heads… AFTER the mystery’s been solved?

Like dude, you’re only making yourself suspicious at this point, go home

----

Huh, interesting - the gang are being interviewed for a tv news network while they’re considered the town heroes

Why am I getting bad vibes from this…

Eh, it’s probably nothing

----

Velma: {Shaggy and Scooby} are, um… REALLY into the Halloween spirit. 

Shaggy: THIS ISN’T COSPLAY, VELMA!

I’m dying 😂

------

Holy Shit

Velma just snapped and went off on Shaggy and Scooby for acting scared and doing nothing to help wrap up the mystery

(even though these guys are the ONLY reason that the gang didn’t have to choose between setting Scarecrow free and poisoning the entire town for 3 days straight, but hey, what do I know - I’m just writing an in-depth reaction post to this movie and taking note of details like this, clearly I know nothing *eye roll*)

Last time I saw Velma critique the guys’ usual mystery solving shenanigans, it was much more low-key and without knowing they were nearby

But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence

------

What the

Bills?

Bills?!?!

Fred just mentioned that fixing the Mystery Machine was going to leave a hefty bill and that they may need to get dishwashing jobs to earn money

Which is more of a job you might expect a high schooler to get on the go and yet

They actually have to pay bills 

How old are they here??!

------

wait a tic

THIS is how they introduce Bill Nye?

He just calls up Velma with no explanation other than Velma saying “Oh hey, it’s Bill Nye!”

I just - what?!?!

How do you know him so well that he can just pull up your number and call you, and then geT YOU A NEW FREAKING CAR LIKE

WHAT?!?!?!?

Was there a Scooby episode with him in the past two years where the fcuk did this come from

------

Also the car is dressed like Bill Nye

And he can talk to the gang directly as the car

So that he can solve mysteries with them whenever he wants

This… this was not what I was expecting to come about from the Bill Nye cameo 

(alas, poor predictions of being Crane’s roommate, you will not come to pass this day) 😔

-------

Ooooo, purple haze throbbing on the horizon! That’s always a good sign of things to come! 😀

------

 And now Daphne’s… asking Elvira to mentor her fashion wise. And Elvira’s taking her on as her unpaid intern/personal assistant.

Yooo, movie, can you pick a direction and stick with it for Daphne? You’ve gone from her spewing outdated slang to wanting a costume for trick-or-treating, and now this. 

-------

Welp, now I can say I saw a giant pumpkin dog vore an old woman

I didn’t WANT to see that mind, but I guess I can say it now 😐

------

OH SHIT NO

IT TURNED HER INTO A FLYING PUMPKIN SHAPED LIKE HER FACE

ABSOLUTELY UNSETTLING, 0/10 WOULD NOT RECOMMEND

-------

At least we get a nice scene of Daphne kicking the pumpkins’ collective butt

Something normal

------

Elvira: WOW! You’re a regular Mary Sue!

*falls over cackling*

------

And now there’s a giant purple fissure opening up in the concrete to swallow the town of Crystal Cove whole 

(good, i whisper softly into the darkness of my living room. Let it fall)

--------

Man, I feel so bad for this single father right now

He’s gotten wrapped up in all of this nonsense with his daughter, and he is just Distraught at being chased by Jackal Lanterns, having the town collapsing under his feet, and having to gorge jump in his sedan to get away from the worst of it

It’s okay, Mike Dad - we would feel the same way in your shoes

-------

Hologram Bill Nye is wearing Cat ears and cat whiskers/nose, and is cleaning his hands like a cat cleans its paws

Why was this the movie we found out Bill Nye was a furry

Why Warner Bros 

Why would you inflict this upon us in a Scooby Doo-Scarecrow mystery

-------

Hey, can Jonathan Crane return now? The movie needs its dignity back. 

------

A clue on the whys here - the town was built on top of a MASSIVE lithium deposit, with the talks to mine it being scrapped due to environmental concerns. That’s actually a decent lead in for why some 

-------

Welp

The Jackal Lanterns just went full Mad Max with the Halloween Parade floats and cars

No, I don’t have any idea why either, just roll with it

-------

Nice, they confirmed that Fred’s full name is still Frederick Herman Jones XD

Also a great little action sequence with Daphne - while there’s not much movement, they frame the scene dynamically, with some good quick wordplay. Very nice. 

--------

Velma has a mind palace

Aight

--------

Velma: Shaggy, I could kiss you!

Oh, to hear this as a child, when I still hardcore shipped Shelma *sigh*

------

Oh thank gods we’re going back to Scarecrow again

------

Shaggy ate some Scooby Snacks, leapt out of a moving vehicle, and onto the backs of two flying pumpkins that he promptly reined in to fly to Crane’s prison transport

...yet again, I am amazed at the sentences I am led to type for Scooby Doo DTVs

------

Ah, how very Hannibal Lector of you, Jon 

Man, he actually looks very meek in normal clothes - red long-sleeved shirt and grey slacks

-----

Hmmm

So Crane ISN’T behind the Jackal Lanterns - in fact he’s outright befuddled by them. This means his whole spiel to Velma earlier about both of them being caught in the same trap was… metaphorical? The breakdown doesn’t actually go into WHY he thinks they’re in the same trap - Crane’s whole schtick is tied to accepting fear, not denying it, so why would they be the same?

Either way, someone is using both him and Mystery Inc to do something to Crystal Cove (please be Red Herring, please be Red Herring, please be Red Herring)

Actually, that reference at the beginning really WAS a red herring - they framed it as being Jon the whole time when it wasn’t. Kudos!

Additional kudos to having Jon be seen more out of mask than in - he is a looker, and I aim to look as much as I can ;)

-------

Annnnd Daphne’s now trying to convince Elvira to switch clothes with her

I don’t get it - how on earth did we get from Daphne trying to find a good costume for trick-or-treating to asking Elvira to switch oh there it is nevermind.

-----

There is literally a scene where a giant buzzsaw is slicing towards Crane

and he just

stares at it

going “huh, that’s different”

And I LOVE IT

------

And here we have another fascinating scene: Velma going to free Crane from his cell, as Daphne tells her to just leave him to die by pumpkin

I’m wondering if they meant to draw a parallel between the two here - Velma starts by reciting a nursery rhyme, then overcoming her fears in order to release madness to take control. It’s not done very cleanly - mainly bc we barely have any time with Crane in this movie - but I wonder if they meant to insinuate that Crane was like Velma once, where he refused to acknowledge he was afraid, which caused him to lose focus on his initial goals

Idk, ignore my ramblings

---

Crane, smirking: I’ll need my personal effects - extenuating circumstances.

Me, fanning myself: I’ll need you to remove yours first

(i am not even kidding, Crane is an absolute DILF in this movie and it flusters me. Stupid sexy animation)

---

YAAAAAAAAAAASSSSS

SCARECROW TO THE MOTHERFCUKING RESCUE BABY, SCYTHE AND FCUKING ALL!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

----

FCUK YEAH THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

HE HAS A DANCE LIKE QUALITY WITH SOME OF HIS FIGHTING MOVES

VIOLENT DANCING BRINGS THE GIANT JACKAL LANTERN DOWN BABY

THEN HE BACKFLIPS AND GYMNASTIC SWINGS INTO THE VAN

ROCK IT SCARECROW FCUKING ROCK IT

(minor note here, but the subtitles show Dr. Crane instead of Scarecrow - unsure if that’s more that the movie calls him Dr Crane or if it indicates he’s acting more heroic than villainous)

---

GODDAMNIT

THE GIANT PUMPKIN SNUCK VINES INTO THE VAN AND STOLE HIM BACK 

WHEN CRANE WAS... wearing a seatbelt before, but isn’t now.

...

BOOOOO

---

Yet again, we find a Scooby movie that attempts character development, but with Velma

Unlike Shaggy’s Showdown however, I’m mixed on how successful it is.

For starters, Velma hasn’t been this cocksure in other DTVs we’ve seen, so it’s a bit odd to see it now. While not 100% out of place - after all, the gang DID capture one of Batman’s Rogues Gallery on their own - it still feels a touch forced. Compare that to Shaggy’s Showdown, where Shaggy has ALWAYS been a coward (one that, in more recent years, writers have had willing to abandon his friends for safety), so the character development there feels more natural. 

The progression of events with Velma actually work somewhat okay - but again, here’s where past DTVs come to bite them in the ass. The past handful have had the gang be wrong, have had them fail, or catch the wrong guy. This makes Velma’s attitude here at odds with the other films, something that sticks more due to a character that’s appeared in the past few films as a minor inconvenience - a Sheriff who keeps telling the gang not to interfere, they’re doing things wrong, etc. If this had been a character who was completely wrong in the past AND SHOWN TO BE WRONG FOR HIS OPINIONS, while the gang never guessed wrong, this would work much better. Unfortunately, it doesn’t, and here we are. 

I think it would have flowed better if Velma’s cockiness came solely from catching Crane on their own. Have a random cop character or reporter or whatever (just not the recurring cop), insinuate that the gang is in too deep with Scarecrow, that he should be handled by the adults or professionals or whatever. Velma could bristle, overcompensate, and THEN fall from her pedestal like we see, reach out to the gang and commiserate over feeling scared, and grow. Again, it’s not too far to reach for, but they handle it poorly; as a result, the outcome feels a little more shoehorned in. 

It’s an honest shame, bc we haven’t had a Velma centered story since Frankencreepy, and we all remember what a hideous fcuking mess THAT was *shudders*. Still, it somewhat gets its point across, I guess.

---

Fred why did you rip your shirt off

Actually better question why do you not have nipples

--- 

Awwwwwww

Velma just apologized to Shag and Scoob for snapping at them earlier, and admits how she doesn’t appreciate how much they make Mystery Inc what it is

Also she eats a Scooby Snack with them and admits they taste pretty good

----

Huh

Velma’s mind palace is the Mystery Machine driving through space

Also Shaggy and Scooby are able to telepathically follow her in and communicate with her

Literally, they actually followed her into her head telepathically, and show her their memories of things she hasn’t gotten to see tonight (while also possibly enhancing her ability to remember things, given how much DETAIL she captures perfectly of things that she would maybe have glimpsed in a millisecond AT MOST)

...another tally for Crack Theory A of magic! Shaggy and Scooby *scribbles*

-------

Fred, be very very thankful that there are no people operating those pumpkins in person cause uhhhh

Those traps would be spraying red instead of orange

------

Another weird music choice - the gang goes up to fight the Jackal Lanterns, but the music is the same 60s bubble we heard earlier 

Not terribly atmospheric, really

(wouldn’t a Smashing Pumpkins cover of Scooby Doo be more appropriate, or did you guys spend all your money on hiring Elvira and Bill Nye?)

------

Dang

Velma just admitted her fears and jumped into the mouth of the Mega Pumpkin, before getting Fred to use the app from earlier to shut it down, revealing it to be a giant drone surrounded by smaller pumpkin drones

This feels… counterintuitive, but I’ll try to explain at the end

---

Okay

I’ll admit it

The Whodunnit is actually pretty decent in concept

There was a sprinkling of tidbits that could be assembled for the final conclusion and still make a decent amount of sense, all to find the sheriff doing it 

Only he isn’t a sheriff

He’s a former Tech CEO who was also busted by the gang years ago in a case the Sheriff kept bringing up throughout the movie - due to his prison sentence, he lost more than half his wealth and the opportunity to expand it further with the Crystal Cove Lithium deposits

He was also someone who sold tech to Crane for his fear toxin distribution, where he got the idea to frame him for it

(tho on a side note, Crane is an absolute dork and a terrible liar - just look at the email he sent XD and that profile pic, my gods)

He deliberately picked at the gang for the past few DTVs (specifically 2: Return to Zombie Island and Curse of the 13th Ghost) to fracture their confidence, undermine them, etc - all so that in one fell swoop, he could retake his fortune, frighten everyone in town away from the mines so they couldn’t interfere, frighten away the gang (while also ruining their reputation as mystery solvers), and take Crane off the docket so he couldn’t identify the CEO when he pretended to be the sheriff

This… is actually a pretty damn good plan, for a Scooby villain. He was patient, manipulative, and clever, learning how best to tie up loose ends and win back what he lost. A clever revenge story that came so close to coming to fruition, and could have honestly been sold convincingly… 

...if it hadn’t been done so much better in Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. 

Yeeeaaaah, this movie basically lifts the rough framework up from that one - past mystery villain comes back to attack the gang and ruin their reputation (tho this one decides to also make his fortune back and tie up loose ends with former criminal contacts, a la Crane). Gang is embarrassed in front of the news folk, another villain is framed for it (like Old Man Wickles of the Black Knight fame), and the gang must reconcile to foil the villain for good.

Although it also??? Merges elements of Frankencreepy in it?? The movie is focused on Velma, who is struggling to admit when she’s wrong (which ties into her fear, somehow… I’ll think on that point a little) and things purportedly go haywire when she won’t bend. This… isn’t illustrated as well here, since there’s very little direct cause-and-effect from Velma’s actions that would prove this point - that insisting her way is the right, best, and therefore only way to go ends up making things worse.  

As much as I despised Frankencreepy (and I DESPISED IT), it did do that part well - showing that refusing to budge on something can lead to you hurting your friends (literally, in that one), and that admitting you were wrong and need help isn’t the end of the world. 

(that movie also had former villains returning to gain vengeance upon the gang using psychological warfare, hm - may need to go over that one again, unfortunately).

It’s a shame, too -  the basic elements for this plot are all here, they just need to be polished and reworked a bit to make a really fascinating movie. 

------

Anyways, back to the asshat CEO who just… faked being a sheriff. Because white people can get away with that so long as they have the outfit and the car *throws up hands* (the sad part is this is probably something that actually happens)

As he drives away we see a familiar silhouette looming in the cornfields, watching him approach

Velma had Bill Nye on speaker, so he could record the entire confession for the federal officers nearby (who were taking Scarecrow back to Arkham), and track the phone signal to his exact location

And right as his holographic call cuts out, we see the shadow of a Scarecrow looming over him, causing him to scream.

When the feds arrive at his final location, both his body and the money have vanished. The car still sits, engine running, before the crows leering over him from the field vanish into the sky. 

-------

Now that he’s dead, the gang walks and finds themselves at a Halloween party, with friendly faces and good food. The mystery is solved, though the culprit may never be found again. 

Then Daphne admits to NOT trying to steal Elvira’s costume for Halloween, but instead trying to steal Elvira’s identity and replace her. 

Something that she’s apparently nearly gotten away with on past mysteries working with Phillis Diller

*sighs* movie, why couldn’t you just stick to the costume schtick? This is just… so much worse. 

-----

From there, Elvira walks off to wrap things up, reveal the monster face on the back of her head sans wig (which was also a monkey), and start the credits, where we see the gang working to bring the Mystery Machine back to its former glory a la Frankenstein pastiche. 

This movie… this movie is a hot mess, but at least it’s an OKAY hot mess. 

It really does feel like someone started writing a decent Velma-focused movie concerning the Scarecrow and a past Mystery Inc villain interfering, but was bogged down by notes from higher-ups: Wait! Write in Elvira! Also write in Bill Nye! Hey, let’s have a Mad Max car chase with the Jackal Lanterns! And have Daphne obsessed with literally becoming Elvira! Also make reference to things that we’ll insist be explained this way instead of a way that makes sense! Great!

(seriously tho, we never find out who Crane cares about most that reminds him of Velma, what the heck?)

It’s like two or three different scripts were smooshed together without being cleaned up - stuff is said that doesn’t get resolved, the celebrity guests don’t get to breathe much and feel squished together, and the build-up for the villain feels… less impactful, even knowing that he’s been in the past two films. 

It might have worked if he’d been in… let’s say like 5 or 6 DTVs in a row, speaking roles for dissing the gang growing in each (ex start with “Good job kids! But maybe next time, leave it to the professionals, okay?” and growing more bitter from there), but only 2 feels kind of meh. Still, I do appreciate the clues we got to collect together, and they all work in the final breakdown of the scheme - some DTVs can feel like they pull stuff completely out of nowhere, so kudos there. 

I appreciate what they wanted to do with Velma - give her a character development arc similar to Shaggy’s in Shaggy’s Showdown. Unfortunately, it wasn’t set up quite so neatly: they blended her ‘refusal to admit fear’ with her overconfidence that she was always right, and it led to a weird conclusion. To face her fears, she leapt into the Giant Pumpkin, which… proved that she was right all along about it being fake, and that solves things somehow. It doesn’t address how she can get something wrong sometimes, it doesn’t really address what she’s afraid of (which is honestly quite good: she’s afraid of failing in a way that allows bad guys to escape justice and in a way that hurts her friends), it’s just a bit of a mess. Points for aiming the focus the right way (and in a way that DOESN’T sexualize the underage teenage girl, unlike some DTVs cough cough Frankencreepy cough cough), but it’s very very messy how it goes about it. 

The movie actually balanced pretty well for the whole gang - no excessive focus on one leaving the rest in the dust (too much at least - Fred was a touch underdeveloped, but nowhere near as annoying as past iterations have been. Shaggy and Scooby were kind of meh in some places but great in others, while Daphne was just odd. I think they were trying to recapture the BCSD Daphne characterization, but they failed. Still, she did spend some good time kicking ass with the pumpkins, so that was fun.

Now for the Rogue, Jonathan Crane. If you like Crane, this movie gives you: maniacal Scarecrow, calm and creepy Crane, a brief glimpse at fanboy!Crane (he admits in his own awkward way that he’s a fan of Elvira, and later tells her he loves her work - it’s fun), and (best of all for me) a heroic Crane - one who helps the protagonists and ends up kicking ass pretty damn well, brief as it was. And while DILF Crane is always a treat, he feels underutilized in this. In comparison, Scooby Doo/Batman Brave and the Bold really utilized a lot of different aspects of Riddler, to the point he actually does feel pretty menacing by the third act. It’s a shame we don’t quite get that with Crane, but I do love seeing him 1. More out of mask, and 2. Acting as a good guy (in his own way), so he’s enjoyable on the whole. 

I kind of wish that the whole movie was spent more with Crane, but again, the script is a bit of a mess on this part - the fact that he’s not completely screwed over is a goddamn miracle. 

Elvira was… okay. She didn’t have much of a purpose beyond getting the plot started and giving Daphne some hooks to play off of. Bill Nye (abrupt as his introduction was) did provide some necessary elements to the mystery, as well as the tech; he wasn’t too bad by the end. (still a touch bitter we didn’t get ex roommate Nye, but hey, what can you do)

Humor was… mixed. Some good, some meh, but very few long enough to feel painful. Some bits felt extraneous at times, but they did help to build to the conclusion, so points for effort.

At the end of the day though, I’m probably keeping this more for Jonathan Crane than anyone else. It does have a lot of fanfic potential tho 🤔🤔🤔

That’s all from me tonight, folks! Hope you enjoyed my own little breakdown of the movie. 

#happy halloween scooby doo #plush reviews: final thoughts #jonathan crane #scarecrow #spoilers

[reindeersweaters]

Not Enough

SMUTWEEK : DAY ONE!

Prompt : In a Family Way

Words: 1565

Rating : M (obvs) 

Canon compliant AU 

Summary: Queen Anna overhears a conversation between several other women that causes her great concern over the state of her marriage. 

Smut Below The Cut! PLEASE READ RESPONSIBLY!

                 “So, I heard something interesting this evening.” Anna said as she and Kristoff entered their chambers.

               They had finished putting the children to sleep in their respective rooms, which had been a task after the exciting evening events of a dinner party, but now it was just the two of them.

               “Oh?” Kristoff asked holding out his hand for her to use as a balance so she could pull off her shoes. “And what was that?”

               “Lady Johannsen is going to have a baby in the spring.”

               “Well how nice for them.” Kristoff nodded with a faint smile on his face. “I bet Lord Johannsen is very happy.”

               “Mhmm.” Anna said reaching around to fiddle with the clasp of her necklace.

               “And I’m sure Lady Johannsen was excited.”

               “Mhmm.” She struggled to get the hook undone.

               “Was there something else bothering you?” Kristoff asked her, his hands moving to help with the delicate chain.

               “Well… Not particularly…”

               “What is it, Anna?” He asked dropping a quick kiss to the base of her neck, admiring the goosebumps that broke out on his wife’s pale skin.

               Secretly this was one of his favorite dresses because it left so much of her shoulders exposed. He loved seeing all her freckles in their immaculate glory.

               “It’s just…” She continued. “When the pregnancy was announced there were several other ladies around me and they kept saying things that… well things that, frankly, I didn’t understand.”

               “What kind of things?”

               “Well…” A faint blush came to her cheeks. “Do… do you think there’s something wrong with the way we do things?”

               “What do you mean?” Kristoff felt his brow furrow in confusion.

               “I mean things… in here… in the bedroom.” Her cheeks were even pinker than before.

               “Are you lodging a formal complaint?”

               “No! Not at all! I mean, I enjoy what we do! I don’t want you to think I’m unsatisfied. I think you’re wonderful, as you well know! I mean… we have three children and I’m usually pretty vocal.”

               “That you are.” Kristoff chuckled.

               “I just… I guess it’s not very common… what we do.”

               “Anna, what on earth are you talking about?”

               “Well,” she went to sit on the edge of the bed and began removing her stockings, “some of the older ladies began talking about how… now that Lady Johannsen’s in a family way the… ‘spark’ will be gone.”

               “Oh?” Kristoff said.

               He came to kneel before her and help her take her stockings off slowly.

               “Yes.” She breathed out a small sigh whenever his thumb brushed against her calf. “I guess once you have children… a lot of the desire goes away? Or at least, that seems to be the case for most people.”

               “Not us?”

               “Not us…” Anna sighed a little heavier as he moved to help her with the other leg. “I mean… I don’t feel that way… Do you?”

               “No,” he leaned forward to place the smallest of kisses on the inside of her ankle, “if anything I want you more.”

               “That’s what I said!” She exclaimed and Kristoff raised an eyebrow. “I mean not in those words, but I assured Lady Johannsen that a child only causes the love between a couple to grow! And then all the other women laughed at me. They actually laughed!”

               “Well that’s rude.” He kissed up her leg a little more. “It’s remarkably disrespectful to laugh at a queen, I would think.”

               “I just… I just got to wondering if maybe we were doing something wrong. To have a family and still desire one another the way we do. To still… burn so brightly for each other.”

               Her eyes were dark as she looked at him, and familiar heat was coiling low in his belly.

               “Well do you feel like I’m doing something wrong?” His lips had reached her knees at this point.

               “No.” She whispered, still regarding him closely.

               “How about now?” His lips trailed up her inner thighs.

               “No!” The words came out more like a moan.

               “Then what’s got you so worried?” He slid his hands up the outside of her thighs, rucking up her skirts as he went.

               “I don’t remember.” She squirmed beneath him.

               “If you ever want me to stop…” he gently teased her with his fingers over the top of her bloomers rubbing in wide, lazy circles. “You need only say so.”

               “No!” She growled this time.

               “Are you telling me ‘no’ you don’t want me to stop? Or are you telling me ‘no’ because you do want me to stop? I’m a little confused.” He pretended to be perplexed.

               “Kristoff,” she growled, grasping the collar of the nice shirt he was wearing and jerking him up so she could smash her lips to his.

               “That wasn’t a clear answer.” He smiled against her fervent mouth.

               His fingers kept petting her over the fabric of her bloomers, become a bit more intentional in his teasing.

               “Did you want me to stop, Anna?” He huffed against her mouth.

               She mewled in reply.

               “Well,” he nipped her bottom lip, “do you?”

               Then she stood suddenly, surprising him. She turned him and pushed him back on the bed, and stepped out of her bloomers in a flash.

               “What do you think you’re doing?” He asked, feigning seriousness.

               “What does it look like?” She began to undo his pants and jerk them down.

               Kristoff threw back his head against their soft goose down blankets and groaned as she wrapped her mouth around his already hardening length.

               “Looks like you’re too impatient to let me help you get undressed.” He said and then let out a hiss as she flicked her tongue over him and then released him with a pop.

               “We’ll have time for that later.”

               Then without any more warning she straddled his hips, her skirts flaring out around her and lowered herself onto him.

               “Oh!” She sighed, her eyes fluttering closed.

               His hands automatically fisted in the fabric at her hips.

               “My god, Anna.” He groaned bucking his hips up a bit at the feel of her. “Please move.”

               “Now who’s impatient?” She smirked at him, but then she began to rock against him.

               He silently cursed her for not letting him take her clothes off, because he wasn’t getting the pleasure of touching her bare waist, or her magnificent breasts. There were so many layers in the way. He tried to sit up so he could kiss her exposed shoulders, leave a mark on her neck, but she pushed him back down.

               “Anna.” He groaned, fingers going up to trail along her sensitive collarbones. “I want to feel you.”

               “Later.” She shivered beneath his touch.

               Then she began to rock against him faster, rolling her hips in a way that made him briefly forget his own name.

               “Anna!” He sighed, reaching under her skirts to the only bit of skin he could reach and grasped her thighs tightly.

               “I’m already so close, Kris.” She panted.

               “Really?” He cocked his head when he looked at her.

               “Mhmm.” She whined. “I guess I spent so much time thinking about you this evening it got me all riled up.”

               “Well you know I love it when you’re all riled up.” He squeezed her thighs tightly and she giggled in response.

               He took a moment to admire her in all her glory. Her regal gown. Her hair still carefully fashioned. The fancy earing’s she’d switched out at least six times swaying with her movements. Her crown still perched (albeit a bit crooked) atop her head. Her eyes bright as she looked down at him.

               Ugh, and that bare neck.

               He sat up quickly despite her earlier efforts to keep him laid flat and fastened his lips to her throat.

               “Oh, Kristoff!” She gasped and pulled tight against him.

               He knew she was just about to keen over the edge, and frankly, so was he. Usually he had more stamina, but the fact that she couldn’t even wait to take her dress off was doing things to him. The fact that she’d spent the evening thinking of him was enough to make his head swim. The fact that she could move her hips the way she did…

              ��His hand slipped over to her center and his calloused fingers rubbed in precisely the right motion (he’d had years of practice, after all) to make her cry out and clutch him tightly. The feeling of her coming apart around him was enough to send him over the edge.

               Briefly, he thought to whether or not it was strange that they still made each other burn so brightly. Was there something abnormal about them? No, he reasoned, this was just years of love, years of practice, and years of putting one another first.

               Anna leaned her head against his shoulder as she caught her breath and he leaned over to kiss her fringe.

               “Whew.” She sighed and sat upright to look into his eyes. “Well I’d say the spark’s still there, don’t you think?”

               “I’d say so.” He murmured giving her a kiss.

               “Here, help me out of this dress and we can go again.”

               “I’m not so sure about that.” He chuckled. “I’m not as young as I once was.”

               “Is that a challenge I hear?”

               “Apparently.”

               “Who knows, maybe we’ll make another baby?”

               “Mmm, three’s not enough?”

               “Nope.” She giggled.

               “Didn’t think it would be.”

#kristanna smut week 2020 #fanfiction #kristanna #writing

[atimefordragons]

Get to know me tag game

thanks for the tag lovely @queen-of-salt-and-fury! 

Nicknames: lol, I mean, my fake internet name is basically a nickname, also “C”, all the broski, brosauce, etc variations me and my bestie use, speaking of, could also consider Elsa a nickname, or Cristina, because we are stone cold adults to refer to each other as our respective personality double in favourite duos (Elsa and Anna, and Meredith and Cristina) - yeah, we know we are fucking lame. My sister calls me “Titly”, which means butterfly, you may now also refer to me as Your Majesty, because I bought Elsa’s crown as a birthday gift for myself and gave myself a coronation, thereby legally making me Arendelle’s Queen. This is how it works now right? Declaring something online immediately makes it true. 

Real name: Clara, lol, it’s not, it’s just what I’ve been using online for nearly a decade or so now, so what’s the point? But my real middle name is “Taika”, which is a name I share with Taika Waititi, which is cool. 

Zodiac: Scorpio 

Favourite Musicians / Band: Taylor Swift, Dima Bilan, Sergey Lazarev, Anime OST (deep into Code Geass and Bleash OST atm, god they were iconic), OST in general, KAZKA (thank you again so much @pulltheskydown for introducing me to her), Alma, Amir, Rihanna, Polina Gagarina, been in a Britney mood the last few weeks. Idk, I just have music I like, and music I don’t like, and some people I am very thirsty for. Also, also, literally any song from any Shahrukh Khan movie. I always was, still am, and always will be, one of those SRK loving bitches. The man is ICONIC. 

Do I get asks?: Once in a blue moon. 

Favourite sports team: I support the national teams ‘cause Go Canada Go or whatever. Also more invested in the Raptors than I ever thought I’d be, but hey, them winning the NBA last year gave me more serotonin than I ever thought boring sports could give me. It’s still so boring, but I do follow the scores when they appear on CP24 (local news channel), feels good when your city’s teams win. Guess that means by default I also support the Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs, but whatever. 

Other blogs: lol, you are talking to the Queen of Too Many blogs right here. My first ever main was @livesinabluebox (which has gone through a few url changes, namely melanin-monster and moonrxvenge, but it’s 2012 again so I switched back to my og url), I’m trying to clear out all my likes so I’m still posting there, but trying to move to my new main over @moonrxvenge. And I also have 600 million sideblogs for characters and roleplays and resources and whatever. I have so many that I need to keep a masterlist, and yes, it is HELLA out of date. (I still say hella)

Tumblr Crushes: meh, I never really befriended people on tumblr until much more recently, and like all those people are friends I made elsewhere, ie polyvore (I shy, tumblr scary and got far too many stupid peoples opinions). 

Obvs, shoutouts to my loves @kzombi3 / @thots4daze @themadmonarchist @celestialfairies @alittlebitluna @eternalsailorstar @ayzrules @themonsterslut @turquoisesiren @pulltheskydown 

some tumblr people who are v cool and maybe I say things or just do that whole “senpai notice me” lowkey stalking from my main, main: @queen-of-salt-and-fury @daenerys-targaryen  @salty-sailors-unite​ @wellstartled​ and loads of others I’m probably forgetting rn

Lucky numbers: as a kid I considered 7 and 13 lucky, also 735 or something like that for islam reasons I forgot, but I don’t have any now. I think it’s all bull. 

What am I wearing: blue pajamas. my shirt says “happy monday - said nobody ever”, it is thursday. 

Dream holiday: Russia and Japan are definitely my number ones, all the historical places like the Winter Palace and Himeji Castle, and the cities.

Dream car: Tesla, it was a blue Model S, but that was 5 years ago (4? 3? idk, a time ago) and I’m sure there are newer models now that I am too lazy look up

Favourite food: Macarons

Drink of choice: Tim Hortons Ice Coffee with a shot of caramel

Instruments: I technically played the flute for a year (maybe three) in middle school music class, but it was mandated and I don’t remember. I could play the beginning of To Love’s End from Inuyasha back then, but not now. I can play the main tune, like just the first few notes, of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’s main theme on the piano, but I just memorized the keys. Idk the actual notes. F or G or E I guess? Idk. 

Languages: English, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, technically French, but I didn’t really retain anything from it, like I can read French, but got little to no idea what I’m saying. Straight up surprised when I do understand. I think it’s in there, but barely. Also supposed to be able to speak Arabic, but retained less of that than French. 

Celebrity crushes: Chris Evans, Jenna Coleman, SRK (lol, since I was born probably), Kajol, Bruna Marquezine, Yuki Kimisawa, and loads of others. I’m a hoe for the fictional and the theoretical, what can I say?  

Random facts: Buying notebooks and using them are two entirely different hobbies, and, okay, this isn’t like interesting in the least but I am OBSESSING over the drama that went down between Salman Khan and Zayn over his cover of Allah Duhai Hai - yeah, I know I’m 2 years late to this, but whatever, no fucking told me about it and I can’t find any definitive information and I’m going crazy! Please, someone explain what happened 'cause I am dying!!! I need to know!! (also, salman fans don’t interact, vo kuni hai yaar, tu phagal hai kya?) 

I’ll tag: all of you lovelies  @kzombi3 / @thots4daze @themadmonarchist @celestialfairies @alittlebitluna @eternalsailorstar @ayzrules @themonsterslut @turquoisesiren @pulltheskydown @queen-of-salt-and-fury @daenerys-targaryen @salty-sailors-unite​​ @wellstartled​ + whoever else wants to do it (and ofc tag me and befriend me, I am but a thirsty ass hoe for friendship) 

#tag games #mine

[florcnces]

HEY HENS ! my name’s nat & today i present to you the one, the only ... ms florence ! under the cut you’ll find a few bits & pieces i’ve come up w/ so far just so ... u kno ... we can plot or whateva 😏😏😏so if u want me to shower you w/ love, feel free to drop a big, fat LIKE or im me 😏😏😏also ... if u read this thru u will notice that ... i gave up somewhere in the middle of it ...

new york’s very own 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄  𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐃 was spotted on broadway street in 𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐆𝐀'𝐒  𝐁𝐁𝐒 . your resemblance to 𝐒𝐘𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐘  𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐘 is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 - 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 birthday bash . while living in nyc , you’ve been labeled as being 𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐋 , but also 𝐍𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 . i guess being a 𝐆𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈 explains that . 3 things that would paint a better picture of you would be 𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋  𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐊𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐒 ,  𝐅𝐄𝐌𝐌𝐄 - 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐄  𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐒  &  𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐅 - 𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐃  𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒  𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐔𝐌𝐄 . ( i seduced the director to get my first big movie role. )  &  ( cis-gendered female & she / her  ) 

𝐢. 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐬 

name : florence noel brassard

dob / age : may 22nd, 1996 / twenty - two

hometown : paris , france

occupation : actress

aesthetics : pearl necklaces , femme-fatale movies , half-used bottles of perfume , lavender bouquets & satin sheets

positive traits : nurturing , logical , self-motivated , thoughtful 

negative traits : vengeful , scornful , two-faced , devious 

likes :  morning runs , feeling accomplished , freckles , seltzer water , blueberry yogurt , random picnics

dislikes : not getting attention , impulsive decisions , being late , not taking care of herself , mess all over the place , loud voices

𝐢𝐢. 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲 

baby florence was born & raised in new york city and was immediately thrown into the world of luxury - there literally was no other outcome when your parents appeared to be, like, one of the most powerful couple in the fashion industry, owning a huge chunk of loewe, lv, berluti and etc (so basically think like antoine arnault & natalia vodianova as her parents ... thnx xxxx)

with everything being handed to the girl on a silver platter, flo’s childhood was as boring as it could be. ‘ want to attend ballet classes? we’ll arrange private ones for you with the nycb principals.’ / ‘ can’t find a dress for the event we’re throwing? here’s five custom gowns to choose from, honey. ’ / ‘ there’s a scratch on your shoes; here’s a credit card, go buy yourself three new pairs. ’ / so, basically, tl;dr, they spoiled her ROTTEN

not gonna like, flo had a phase of being a bratty, greedy & ungrateful bih at the age of 13-15 because of the people she surrounded herself with & in order to fit in, she had to have like the best of the best. tho it wasn’t like she hadn’t had any of those things already - she just started taking advantage of her parents’ generosity. it took cutting her allowance down to the minimum for a few months and a few serious conversations to get a confession out of florence and to get her to understand that people should consider your their friends for your personality and not your bank account. so basICALLY she loves her parents v v v much & treasures the relationship they built over the years.

by the time she finished high school, she was v much set on the idea of creating a name for herself. starting a business wasn’t an option bc of how influential her parents were; sports weren’t an option either bc she didn’t have any exceptional talents (fun fact: she tried out for the cheerleading team for 3 yrs in a row only to not make the cut every single time which led to her crying at lunch ... ): #poorbby). being an influencer didn’t sound right to her either, so she went with the option that probably fit her the most - the julliard ! 

it was quite hard getting in there, mostly due to the fact that people there didn’t exactly understand why florence wanted to get into acting. it wasn’t like she needed any additional buzz to her name or more a-list events to be in attendance of, so she did have to prove that she was noth talented & sincerely interested in pursuing the career. however, it wasn’t the hardest thing she had to do to actually become the person she is today.

studying at the julliard wasn’t enough bc it didn’t make it any easier for flo to get a role. she tried her absolute damndest, used every connection she had -- yet, nothing was working. & since going to her papa for her was in no way, shape or form an option, she resorted to the worst.

bc she knew her mother was always in charge of organizing charity galas and whatnot, florence made sure to check out a list of invitees and, much to her sheer luck, she found a few familiar names of actresses and directors who rsvp’d to the event already. the night of the gala was spent with florence circling the room, looking and acting as gorgeous and charming as ever, but nothing seemed to be working bc everyone were either uninterested or just wanted her to get their name to her parents (& that wasn’t an option). however, at the end of the night she found the one. the one who lit up her star.

she didn’t go into it without thinking all of her options. she spent weeks flitring w/ the guy, going on dates and accepting gifts - everything to make it seem as if she was truly interested in him as a person. she laughed at his jokes, enjoyed his embraces - at some point, she even felt as if she could actually end up loving him. however, the moment he offered her the role of her life (plS one day i’ll actually properly headcanon that ish ... but not rn i proMISE!), whatever feelings (or whatever resembled them ...) immediately vanished.

so ! currently bby florence is basking in the newfound limelight and making sure to move further in her career... without having to resort to seducing middle-aged dudes... :-)

𝐢𝐢𝐢. 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 

florence, like i said, isn’t exactly a multi-talented skinny legend. yea, she’s decent at skating, somewhat good at singing, is quite beautiful - nothing out of the ordinary, hence why she sometimes struggles with her confidence. and by sometimes i mean A LOT of times. but if u think she’d ever show it U R SO WRONG BABE. usually whenever she falls into her self-called pit of uncertainty and lack of confidence, florence resorts to dressing up as nicely as she can and going to the first bar that comes to her head to get a drink and attract as much attention as she can. 

she also finds comfort in cooking. sure, with her daddy’s money she could eat out for breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between,  but there’s something incredibly comforting in taking the time to cook something for herself. besides, she is very fond of the memories of her mother teaching her how to cook. and the times they’ve accidentally burned the food bc they were too busy talking abt random things :’) like bby can actually make a MEAN kedgeree !!!

since her father is french and her mother is american, florence is bilingual. she prefers speaking french over english purely bc of the beauty of the language, so sometimes she might just switch languages mid-sentence.

florence is also ambidextrous due to the fact that she broke her arm when she was 7 and had to wear a cast for a longer period of time since the bones couldn’t heal properly :-)

also ... v much a dog person. like, cats? EW, don’t talk to her. don’t even think of calling her KITTEN bc u will ... get ur ass handed to u

always and i mean ALWAYS !!!! wears a pearl necklace on her neck that her father gave her for her 18th birthday. and just hella obsessed w/ pearls and flowers. iDK why she just is ...

𝐢𝐯. 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

obv !!! a best friend ? like, that typical ride-or-die situation where they wouldn’t hesitate to catch the bullet for the other person

maybe a friend / some friends from high school ? either they were the ones pressuring flo to take advantage of finer things and daddy’s money or ... flo could have left them for those ppl

a rival ... who had their eyes on the role florence landed ... and now there’s just a ton of anger and distaste towards each other

exes / one night stands / flirtations ... :-)

#wealthyhq:intro #「 𝒇. 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒅 ┈ 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 : persona . 」 #「 𝒇. 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒅 ┈ 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 : spotted . 」 #「 𝒇. 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒅 ┈ 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 : appearance . 」 #「 𝒇. 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒅 ┈ 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 : interactions . 」 #「 𝒇. 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒅 ┈ 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 : closed . 」 #「 𝒇. 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒅 ┈ 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 : socials . 」 #「 𝒇. 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒅 ┈ 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 : twitter . 」 #「 𝒇. 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒅 ┈ 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 : instagram . 」 #「 𝒇. 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒅 ┈ 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 : answered . 」

[kierongillen]

Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine 43

Spoilers, obv.

Issue 44 comes out tomorrow at the time of writing. As I’m on the west coast of the USA, it will be just after midnight GMT by the time they’re online. So abstractly, this is the first time ever which we come out when the next issue is out. Abstractly. I’d say the day counts as where I am, and doesn’t Comixology come out a little later? We’ll see.

It’s also been so long that I almost wrote notes for issue 44. This is a weird goodbye, this period.

Anyway – Issue 43, wherein we finish explaining all the big stuff we’re going to explain.

I mean, there’s more in issue 44 and 45, but it’s all details, with the denouncement really being based around the characters’ response to this issue. They know the truth. Now what are they going to do about it?

That was the main note I gave in the script to the team – if there’s any really big questions you are confused about, now is the time to say, as this is the best clarification it’ll get. As such, we worked on it a lot to nail what we wanted to say – and what we didn’t. Sometimes this meant actually simplifying a little to avoid repeating huge amounts of stuff and leaving people even more confused. More often it involves sliding in a little nod to something someone would be thinking about.

It’s an interesting issue, I think. It’s where we show a lot of our hand.

It also involved a lot of crunching.

Jamie/Matt Cover

Cassandra finally gets her head cover. Normally a cover relates to a key beat, which isn’t true here – except in the widest possible sense that it’s where Cassandra gets to say I Told You So to everyone, including herself.

Jason Latour Cover One of the fun things about commissioning these covers is getting to see a creator’s process close up. Jason’s process on this was amazingly never-ending – he was always tweaking, and trying things and moving in a different direction. Where he ended was stunning – very him, and very WicDiv too. I remember us and the Jasons semi-jokingly about swapping books for an issue – they do WicDiv for an issue and we do Southern Bastards. This cover absolutely makes me wonder how amazing that hypothetical issue would have looked.

(Our story would have been about a Taylor-Swift-esque-singer/songwriter-before-she-got-big in the town. And probably murder, as it’s Southern Bastards, right?)

IFC

That “Life goes on” still creeps me out.

1-2

Opening vignette that lets us establish what Minerva’s plan is now, as well as re-establish Beth and her crew, and actually let us define their current position, and even give their codenames, which have existed in the Bible document since issue 1, I believe.

(Oddly, calling people “Boss” is one of my verbal ticks. It seemed fun to give it to Beth here.)

As such, Minerva immediately HiveMinding them when they’ve just stated their agency is plain harsh. Jamie’s large panel on page 2 sells it incredibly well – the statues, Minerva walking away from us – it’s all so casual.

It’s also the running theme of the issue – what Mini has been doing all these years. This is just a particularly direct example of it.

Three panels on second page to try and stress the seriousness of what this is (Space = Meaning, remember). Of course, as the issue shows, this isn’t the real part of the issue – but you have to at least believe this is a real gambit. And it is – I mean, it’d be awful if Mini pulled it off. But in people’s guts they’d realise this isn’t how WicDiv goes, right?

Minor glorious Matt Wilson note – the crackle of green in panel 3 is wonderful. Give that guy another Eisner. He deserves a hat trick.

3

Show time in the showbiz and the “time to show you everything” sense.

4

Establishing the stakes and situation for the heroes. There’s a draft of the issue I wrote which is a couple more pages long, which would have pulled this out a little more. In the end, we decided it worked better shorter – I’ll tell you why when I get there, and we could use the space elsewhere.

Key thing is showing some response to Cam’s actions at the end of last issue – it’s important to know that they haven’t just walked away, right?

In the first panel, the “identify who is speaking” is a tricky one. The “say the character’s name” is a little brutal move, and I avoid it. We’re not that book. Dio is easy – and Lucifer, bless her, is immediately identifiable by her idiom. Her line also reminds people of what she’s like, which sets up the last page.

Laura’s captions here again, doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

It says so much about this issue that the last two panels are only a half page total. These are big rock and roll images, presented in a tiny space. Jamie’s composition makes it land really well, selling the drama.

Page 5

It says even more that we did all this in a page.

Tara’s move in the original version was basically a page, but looking at it structurally it actually left it even more underwhelmed – a fight kicked off, and then heroes were losing, and then Tara does this cool thing, and they’re winning, before immediately the hive mind kicks in and they’re losing again. This does not sell the joy of Giant Woman.

This works better, not least for sheer audaciousness. I used to have a thing about tableau based storytelling – the idea that you can create a large image which people can explore and juxtapose it with a few captions to create a larger conceptual space. This is very much that.

“People treating people like meat” reminds me for the second time when re-reading this issue of the line from Pratchett: “Sin is treating people like things.” The first time was the puppets bit. I’d agree with Pratchett, clearly.

In the original draft of the script I had a line “You want more? Go re-read Rising Action” which is a bit too cute, so I lost it. It’s not really the sort of thing WicDiv does, anyway.

Yes, Giant Woman is a Steven Universe nod. Putting aside that image of Giant Tara kicking ass which has been in my head forever, there’s so much to love in the image – to pick a small part, how about the Norns blasting in triplicate? We rarely see them act like this.

You can also trace via the colouring which of Beth’s crew have duplicated which God’s powers.

Page 6

There’s been a lot about people copying people’s powers in WicDiv, and trying to find out what someone can and can’t do, and then using it against them. This switches it up. The thing about being creative instead of a straight plagiarist that creative people make up new shit. That’s kind of the point of them.

Once more, Matt showing the dance of the colouring between the Woden green (haunting the series like a ghost now) and the joy of Dio is (er) a joy.

Page 7

Another Matt moment – we step out of the club, and we drop to greys, before building the energy up.

I’m not quite sure how long Robin has wanted to punch Beth for. Or how long I planned to do it, even. I can imagine Robin thinking of this a lot though – she’s the one who takes a long time to snap.

There’s a dual structure here too – there’s two main compare-and-contrast bands in WicDiv. Beth’s and Cass’…

Page 8

And this is a very different kind of band break up.

The problem here is different – I want to give much more space. First draft it seemed that they got talked into it really easily. But it’s all the space we had so what to do? Once more, captions. Silent panel with captions can be timeless, and gives room for our minds to populate it. It’s been so long I can no longer remember if the fact the two almost-silent characters are shouting, but we’re not allowed to hear, because it’s private seems relevant.

Page 9-10

Hard cut made easier with the caption. Captions are great. Trust captions.

The shot of Mini at the edge, just looking back with space either side is great. Just the isolation of it.

The “try to sing” on the page turn seems a meaningful reveal. Can she?

No she can’t. This is another very old beat in the founding documents – it’s hinted at on page 9. Mini says that she gave it up – and she said the same in issue 9. I’m not sure I believe her. When planning it I realised that some people would take it as a comment on Work for hire – don’t get stuck keeping a story alive forever, as it will eventually atrophy your talent. It wasn’t planned, but I’d be fine with it as a reading. When Chrissy read it, she took it as “Don’t get stuck in art management.” which works too. Readings are fun.

Anyway – a performance. That the big thing in the issue is a performance rather than a fight is very much WicDiv turning towards its core concept as we head towards the final straight. Of course we’d do this.

Yeah, Matt and Jamie, killing it on the final panel of the second page – the Persephone-esque tentacles made something else, because she is something else now. The numinous expression of Minerva. Amazing.

Page 11

The borders in this sequence harking back to the Persephone performance in issue 18.

I may actually try to tweak this sequence in the trade and have a different execution of “When I was 14” and all the rest, to work a little more like a LOC CAP rather than a speech. We couldn’t make it work given the time before deadline. That’s the odd thing about our extended issues – just because it’s taking longer doesn’t mean we have more time to do tasks, right? Some things are only possible when the whole thing is together. It works, I think, but part of me wants to push it harder.

Anyway – these two. I loved writing them though. I said it back in the other flashbacks, but how the two of them dance is a delight. Hell, doing them across a lifetime is a delight.

Okay – I’m going to give you a name for Ananke’s sister. It’s the one I used in my notes. It’s no more her name than “Ananke” is really Ananke’s.

It’s Demeter. Ask me about it another time.

Page 12

The “god” in panel 2 is a Proto Norn.

This primal gathering brings to mind issue 9 as well.

Demeter’s expression in the penultimate panel? Love it.

Page 13

The captions are Laura’s style, but changed colouring. That Laura is helping Minerva performs means it comes across in her voice, was our thinking.

Captions are once more useful though – trying to get something that is evocative, but also clear was the battle.

(The Colours here!)

She-in-Thirds is a name-behind-the-name. The Maiden/Mother/Child archetype – the one which Ananke subverted in a few pages time.

Page 14

I find myself thinking whether the return to a close-to-eight panel for much of this is meaningful. This is kind of Bronze Age Phonogram.

Reading this I wish I had capitalised The Rebel – it’s another archetype. Proto-Lucifer. I’ll tweak for the trade.

I forget when the metaphor for a song for the “godhood” in WicDiv came to me, but it feels like the right one. It’s how songs often feel to me.

Page 15

If you go back to issue 34, you’ll see some of the details of this plan are different to the plan that Ananke has put into play there. In fact, the deal that she strikes in issue 34 is akin to what she wants here. It’s mainly for clarity – the reader needs to be reminded of what’s actually going on, as they won’t necessarily remember the details from way back then. I figure this is the plan she wanted to do, then found something else when Demeter wasn’t into it, before swooping around to something closer.

Page 16

“After all my friends were dead” gives a little flex in the timeline.

I do like Ananke’s hat.

“The Great River” being the Nile, and the pantheon we saw back in issue 36.

In terms of lists of things in this issue I was looking forward to write, the first meeting between Ananke and Minerva was certainly one of them. I tried to get something of the oddness here. Jamie and Matt manage to get the mood of issue 34 again too – I really do like this bronze-age western vibe. There’s a project I keep on thinking about doing, and it has some of that too it. Hmm.

Yes, page width panel of character delivering a line remains a key WicDiv tool. There’s so much I love here – the touch from Ananke, whose PoV we’re in. Minerva speaking to herself, speaking to us, etc.

That the knife is just sentimental is a minor beat I’m very fond of.

Page 17

Once more, Captions, as Laura makes sure we all Get It.

One of the debates in WicDiv fandom has always been whether the gods are picked by Ananke (i.e. Anyone could be a god) or whether they’re actually people with a gifts. Of course, the answer is that it’s both.

The thing I least like about WicDiv’s mythology is that the 12 people are people with this gift, for obvious “Ugh Chosen Ones” reasons. There’s some things that mitigate that a little, I hope, and not least that it’s clearly transferable to wherever you are in life. The core of it is “if you find yourself with a gift, be careful with it and use it responsibly.” It’s a book about the power, privilege, dangers and seductions of being an artist and all that. It’s only when writing that sentence do I realise how tired I am. This has been a busy week. Excuse me if the writing is looser than usual.

Anyway, I’m probably over-worrying. If X-men is fine, we probably are too.

So – end of the page is a download of some of the explanations of stuff folk will inevitably be going “Wait – what?”

And then Tara steps up.

When you’re writing a large group scene, with limited space, there’s choices you make of who speaks and who doesn’t. Who’s going to have the strongest counter-argument to something? Who’s going to have the biggest reaction? Them. They’re the one who carries the scene.

Which is Tara. Perhaps you could make an argument for Baal, but Baal is reeling through all these issues – plus if you choose one or the other, you tie-breaker would be who hasn’t had spotlight.

Page 18-21

And the counter is equally inevitably Cassandra (who is also in the process of beating herself up). Being Cass, she puts it harshly. Clearly, this is going to get a response from Tara.. and Cass opens up herself and makes herself vulnerable. Which is a hell of a thing for her, right?

I’ll stop this – I’m just walking through the emotional flow, but I love these two women here.

Which segues into the last formalist style thing of the issue. Once again, we have a space = meaning problem. This is clearly the most important sequence of the issue, but we have so few pages. We turn to one of the core WicDiv moves of black panels in a six panel grid, and loading them up with text. Suddenly we have a sense of ritual, a lot of dialogue produced in a stylistic way and most of all a whole extra page (hence an extra page of weight).

It’s also a complete showcase for Matt. The last godly panel of them is them at their most Godly, this final little iconic burst. A confession, and it’s gone.

I cried when I got the colours for this. I forget which one it was – there’s just some wonderful Jamie expressions in there as well.

Choosing the confessions was definitely tricky. We have space, but too much is too much. Some of them I kept simple, and others needed a little space to explain. The ordering was also one of those processes where you feel out the character, and think how they’d speak. Dio would clearly jump in, then Inanna, then Mimir trying to just piece it together, and all leading to Baal.

I did try and write a Baal caption, but any words were just too small.

And then, of course…

Page 22

You’ve probably seen me talking about year 4 as Solving The Equation. Yes, we knew lots of the key things, but there’s lots of elements of the execution were worked, and rethought and discovered. I may be able to talk a little more about this in the last issue’s notes.

This was a big one. I was chewing over the synopsis and thinking… a battle against Ananke/Minerva is a little underwhelming after everything, right? At this point in the story, Minerva is a busted flush. In reality, Laura (and Demeter) won the intellectual battle against Minerva in Mothering Invention. She’s already beat her. It nagged at me. There was something else.

Then there was the other thing – I knew that Lucifer was going to get her body back, but I wasn’t entirely sure what she’d do when she had it.

The two came together: of course, the final confrontation isn’t between Laura and Minerva. It’s with Lucifer, the person who brought Laura into the world, the person who brought us all into the world. The girl who wanted to be on stage, no matter the cost. That’s the final battle.

And best of all, I had no idea what would happen.

Well – not quite, but suddenly a whole lot of things was up in the air.

Page 23

Song reference, obv. Always connected to something in my head in my early career. If I do writer notes for the playlist, I may actually tell you.

Oh – some people wondered whether all the skulls meant everyone was dead. No – it’s just there’s no god in the slot. I’m not that kind of shithead.

Anyway – issue is out tomorrow. Or maybe today, depending on where you are. It ends the story, with 45 being an epilogue with a somewhat different tone. Clearly, it’s a huge issue, so be a little careful with your tweeting. The last cover is especially a big spoiler.

<!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } -->

Thanks for your patience and thanks for reading.

#WicDiv #the wicked and the divine #jason latour #writer notes

[martykirkby]

Any holby or casualty episodes you’d recommend rewatching? Idm how old, thanks :)

(i’m gonna put this under a read more bc it got way longer than i intended it too and you didn’t even ask for descriptions i’m just incapable of being concise ever sorry! i bolded the titles so you don’t have to read it all)

okay so it depends what characters you care about, bc my answers would be different based on who your faves are, so these are my faves to rewatch (but will probs be super biased towards my fave characters)! obvs i’m not saying watch all of them (unless you want to) but i’ve included reasons why i like them so you can decide based on what you enjoy.

holby (i’ve only watched from s16 with a little of s15 and s6 so it’s gonna start there):

intuition (16x11)- dom’s first episode back after his guest stint, and adele’s first ep! this is the first episode i watched when i started watching holby properly bc i was impatient and wanted to get to the dom scenes so i haven’t watched most of the s16 episodes before it but i would probably say watch 16x10 as well bc that’s when jac gives birth and this ep has a lot of scenes about her and emma.

prince among men (16x16)- raf’s first ep in which he’s v v iconic and also i love dom, zosia and arthur and frustrated mentor sacha and there’s that woman who’s like in love with a mummy until she finds out it was a female mummy. also jac and emma!!

one small step (16x42)- again i LOVE the keller trio, this is the first ep where they really bond even if it’s over a super traumatic experience w zosia. and connie crosses over for the first time since she joined casualty, which i rlly liked.

star of wonder (17x10)- a really important episode for zosia’s character and her bipolar sl! also i like christmas episodes

the ides of march (17x32)- another big ep for zosia and the one where she decides to move to darwin

beautiful (17x45)- dom taking a level students on a tour of the hospital and bonding w one of them and quoting that christina aguilera song... i love him

at first i was afraid (17x50)- dom and arthur roadtrip! the karaoke scene! frieda as a patient! elliot’s exit ft some really nice scenes w him and jac!

left behind (18x05)- i just really like all three storylines, i’ve rewatched the mo and wiliam sl a few times just bc i like mo and this ep is the last one of that sl and it’s my fave of them, and you can watch it as a standalone if you already know what’s happened in the eps beforehand.

blue christmas (18x11)- the only one i’ve seen where jac’s past is rlly talked about bc it’s the one where fran reveals they know each other. apart from that it is just a nice christmas ep and i really like all the other storylines going on.

young hearts, run free (18x13)- the ep where dom arthur and morven have to do some scavenger hunt thing in the woods!! and dom has a chicken called henriketta!! that’s reason enough to watch it 500 times tbh

one under (18x21)- for some reason arthur’s patient sl haunts me, but i think it is a rlly good (but sad) ep for arthur as he comes to terms with his cancer test

it tolls for thee (18x31)- arthur and morven’s wedding and i love them

i’ll walk you home (18x35)- arthur’s last ep (as not a figment of someone’s imagination) and it’s devastating but the episode is so so well done and i watch it whenever i need to cry

another day in paradise, parts one and two (18x38 and 18x39)- i just really like all the different storylines in these eps, the patient sl is like. wild and there’s focus on jac being a mother and dom’s grief and sacha and essie i just rlly like them

protect and serve (18x47)- this is the one after the helicopter crash in casualty so i always watch it after watching that one. it’s a good episode that focuses more on the characters than the storylines and i love the crossovers too.

i do, i do, i do (19x13)- an episode in which a main character’s daughter dies has absolutely no right being as funny as this, but the derwood/inga wedding is so so funny and also rlly sweet at the end and the contrast with the elinor storyline is wild (and also something i wish holby would do more often bc recently they’ve done like three depressing storylines in one ep)

the hard way home (19x35)- tbh the main reason i’ve rewatched this ep so much is for dofty which obvs i don’t care about anymore, but it’s also a really good ep just for dom w his steroid addiction and the anniversary of arthur’s death. and it’s damon’s first ep and i miss him

group animal, parts one and two (19x61 and 19x62)- the shooting eps which i also watch when i wanna feel sad, but also they are just really good episodes in general

also the last two eps of s19 after the shooting bc i’m incapable of not watching the aftermath

i haven’t rewatched any s20 or s21 eps except when giffing so i can’t rlly recommend any there

casualty (for some of these just pretend that lofty never existed on holby and his character was never destroyed):

next of kin, parts one and two (26x15 and 26x16)- the second ep is more exciting but you need the first one for context, it’s just classic high stakes drama, the entire ed was on fire bc they stopped filming in bristol so they were like yeah let’s completely destroy the set! and it’s ruth and jay’s last episodes.

duty of care (26x17)- also high stakes drama, tom’s first episode and the first ep filmed in cardiff. there’s a poisonous gas leak AND an explosion.

love is (26x23)- danny dyer did more acting in this one (1) episode than he has his entire career on eastenders i swear. i didn’t expect to get so emo about it.

the ‘ricochet’ eps (26x25, 26x26, 26x27)- casualty didn’t hold back with these eps. they’re v good eps (s26 has some of casualty’s best episodes imo) but a LOT about gang violence and a trigger warning for rape in the second one.

zero sum game (26x39)- fletch’s first episode! i mainly like it bc of that but it’s also fun to see how much lloyd hates him at first.

the #holbyriot eps (26x41 and 26x42)- definitely some of the most tense episodes casualty’s ever done, back when they cared about social issues like police brutality.

rabbits in headlights (27x17)-  the first episode for robyn, jamie and aoife (and ally but she leaves the next ep). i love seeing how far robyn in particular has come, and i loved jamie and aoife as well and seeing them as tiny dumbass students is fun.

unsilenced (27x31)- the fgm storyline, again when casualty used to care about social issues. it’s really well-written, i think.

once there was a way home, parts one and two (28x01 and 28x02)- this is ramin’s first appearance and i love him and jamie and the way jamie basically risked his entire job to help him. the first one is also rita’s first ep!

carrot not stick (28x35)- this one has a patient from 28x33 in, but you don’t need to have rewatched that one to get the gist. lofty and dixie take said patient to visit his dying mother and they go to the beach. they sing dolly parton. lofty steals a puppy. it’s just a really nice episode imo

born lucky (29x05)- this is a sad one, but i really like the relationships between the staff in this one, and i think it was a good final episode for jeff.

entrenched (29x09)- casualty said football fans don’t deserve rights and also lofty makes some points about the futility of war. michael spence is in this episode!

deadfall (29x10), the road not taken (29x26), holby sin city (29x39)- i’m grouping these together bc they’re all the ‘holby noir’ standalone episodes and if you wanna watch one ep and not have to worry about the long running storylines, they work. they’re also completely insane and v fun imo. the road not taken is my fave.

a child’s heart, parts one and two (30x01 and 30x02)- i’m not a fan of it focusing so much on charlie’s life story, but i love episodes just after a crisis and especially when one of the team is in danger bc you really see how much the staff all care about each other. these eps also have the start of louise’s storyline where she switches from a receptionist to a nurse.

high tide (30x27)- lofty’s last episode, jez’s first, and it’s also a really good episode for cal and ethan. and although i don’t really care about any of them except jez anymore, i still think this is a good episode to rewatch just to see like. them as characters.

too old for this shift (31x01)- this is the feature length episode so like. it might not be ideal to rewatch but again it’s the helicopter crash episode, so you really see the staff pull together which i love, and there are appearances from jac and fletch, and video calls from people who have left the show. like i said, it goes with protect and serve on holby so i usually rewatch those together.

mobile (31x27)- i literally just rewatched this episode last night which is why i’m thinking about it, but it’s a really good ep and it’s the one where robyn gives birth and her scenes with david are so well acted. they also link all three stories in some way to mobile phones which i thought was cool.

5 days (31x28)- i love robyn so i really love this episode. there’s a lot of character development imo, from being in denial and optimistic to realising how bad charlotte’s situation is and struggling to cope, to accepting how it is and being there for her as a mother.

one (31x44)- the plot is okay, it’s not something i’d be particularly interested to rewatch apart from the fact it’s filmed in one shot which makes it fun to rewatch.

32x19- max’s last episode and we find out a lot about him! and ofc there’s the zoe and max reunion and i just really like max in this episode.

32x21- bea’s first ep and i love her, also really shows how much a real ed has to cope with and has alicia start the anonymous blog which is v iconic of her.

i haven’t really rewatched any eps that aired after this specifically for one ep (i’ve rewatched every episode jade and marty and archie have been in but i don’t always care about the eps themselves)

#bbc casualty #holby city #sorry to ppl in the tag but i actually wanna save this so i know what i wanna rewatch so #me about casualty: i think these eps are well-written and i like the dynamics between the characters in it #me about holby: lmao my faves are being dumbasses in it #Anonymous

[tisfan]

Tentacle-tober Prompts

A/N - so I may have over committed for October. I do that sometimes. Anyway, I’m like five days behind on these, and I’m going to just finish them off as I get to it. This is prompt # 18 Tentacles in Space and a continuation of https://tisfan.tumblr.com/post/188197264098/tentacle-tober-prompt-7 this StarkLord piece (Tony Stark/Peter Quill)

All the story is under the cut for being Very Naughty. (tentacle oral sex and bondage and nipple play)

To be continued, obv. 

Note: Centauri are a Babylon 5 race that I borrowed. They do indeed, have six. It’s mentioned in the show (and even shown once or twice)

Yondu may or may not have a bifurcated dick. I don’t know that the canon is, but I’ve seen a LOT of art with him and Kraglin on that theme.

“So, we’ll just get it attuned to you,” Peter said, holding up the X’toy. “This… this should be bigger.” He shook it a few times, like he might rattle of dying flashlight to align the batteries better, and the X’toy responded by making a soft chirp, and then the center phallus went from a slightly underendowed, purple blob that looked more like a plug than anything else, grew at least four inches, turned brilliant pink, shiny, and shaped like a penis.

“You can switch it up?”

“Sure,” Peter said. He shook it again and got something bifurcated, with a thick ridge and-- were those barbs? “You want to do it A'askavariian-style?”

“Uuuuh?”

Peter switched it up again, and ended with an over-under double-dick in a light shade of blue. “Or Centarian?” 

“Wait, Yondu was Centarian,” Tony protested.

“Uh, yeah?”

“They have two dicks?”

“Come on man, Centauri have six, so--”

Tony’s head spun a little. “That’s unnerving.” And a little disturbing, although Tony couldn’t decide if it was disturbing in itself, or it was disturbing because maybe that was something he’d like to try--

“Centauri ladies have six-- well, it’s complicated.”

“So I’m given to understand,” Tony said. “Let’s try just normal sex, first time?”

“Normal has a lot more definitions out here in space, Tony,” Peter said, smirking.

“Human-style. Earth normal,” Tony clarified, throwing a pillow at Peter.

Peter shook it again, and it returned to mostly normal, if at least two inches longer than the longest dick Tony had ever been fucked with. “This better?”

“Yes,” Tony said, and his insides quivered with anticipation. “So, you just-- what, want me to strip.”

“No, not yet. We have to attune it to you,” Peter said. “Sit here, get comfy, think sexy thoughts. I’ll let it get to know you.”

“Uh, okay,” Tony said. “What-- is there a safe word in this situation?”

“Not exactly,” Peter said. “I wouldn’t advise using it without a partner, at least.”

“That sounds dubious,” Tony commented.

“Yeah, well, it’s, you know, empathic? A little. It won’t turn off until you want it to,” Peter said. “You can literally be fucked to death. Die of dehydration, you know? Or you have to have really, really good control over your thoughts.”

“How do you know all this?” Tony asked.

“Uh, I…” and Peter blushed, which Tony didn’t think Peter could do, “kinda rented myself out for a few months. I needed repairs on the Milano, and--”

“You sold yourself into sex slavery?” Tony’s voice went up a few registers.

“I rented… myself into sex slavery. What can I say, the price was amazing,” Peter said. “And there were some side benefits.”

“Is that where your endurance came from?”

“You could consider it training for the sex olympics, yeah?”

“Anyway, this one’s got a safety feature on it,” Peter said, “which is not quite like a safeword, but-- hehe, butt -- uh, after about half a rotation, it’ll shut down. Just, don’t be on like, one of those planets with a two hundred hour long day. Otherwise, I can take it off you, with a little bit of effort. My thoughts-- totally controlled.”

Tony snorted. “Forgive me if I’m not sure I believe you. I’ve experienced your dirty mind in action, Quill. And you do like to watch.”

“We’ll be fine. We’re in orbit around Baysol III anyway, and its standard rotation is 8 hours, so the worst case scenario, you get four hours. You can handle four hours, I have faith in you, Stark.”

Tony pretended that he was considering it for, oh, all about three seconds. “Okay, then, let’s see what-- an atuning feels like.”

Peter grinned. “Relax. Think sexy thoughts--”

He placed the X’toy on Tony’s knee, and for a long moment, it just lay there, like any other silicone sex toy would, if someone just put it down. No vibrations, no wiggling, no nothing. Just a dildo flower laying on Tony’s--

It moved, and some of the tendrils formed almost-- legs. Crawling up Tony’s thigh. Tony sucked in a breath, flinching away from it, the way all sane people would when something with a dozen legs was climbing up your body.

“Is that thing… clean?”

“I mighta washed it, last time I used it,” Peter said.

The X’toy hooked tendrils over Tony’s shoulders, prodded at his mouth with the bulbous end of the central dick. Tony wrenched his head to one side. 

“Quill, you complete asshole, if this is some kind of sick joke--” 

The X’toy pushed itself between his lips as he panicked. 

“It’s okay, Tony,” Peter said. “It’s completely sanitary. And it’s not going to hurt you, just--”

The central dick pushed into his mouth, an inch, maybe more. Tony pushed at it with his tongue, involuntarily trying to get it out. It tasted…

Incredible.

Like every single one of his favorite foods, liquor, cigar smoke, everything he’d ever enjoyed in his mouth.

A tendril slid over his ear, another one behind his neck. Two of them slipped down his shirt and hooked under his arms. Even more slithered down his body until it had his wrists, cuffed by coils of alien sex toy. 

The central cock pushed in even further, into his mouth, stretching his jaw. More tendrils, small, delicate ones, teased at his lips, tickling and tingling. Tentacles around his head pulled the X’toy even closer to him, until it was like one of those alien parasites from the Sigorney Weaver film, but fucking his throat instead of planting anything inside him.

He hoped.

“Look at you,” Peter said, admiringly. 

Tony lifted one hand to flip Peter off, and that might have been a mistake, because the X’toy tugged and pulled until Tony’s wrists were linked together behind his back, and then went up to thread in his hair, yanking his head back.

Still, the X’toy plundered his mouth, tasting perfect, but--

Tony thought this was supposed to be sexy, but he wasn’t sure that it was. It was weird, and it was a little hard to breathe, and Peter certainly seemed to be enjoying it, watching Tony’s cheeks bulge and his throat work, and the way he was captive in the chair. He couldn’t do anything about it now if he wanted to, the way it had his hands pinned, the way it was wrapped around his neck.

Panic touched him again, and then--

Well, Tony always was a little bent.

Even after everything that happened, he liked-- loved, really -- being helpless during sex. Being forced to stay still and just enjoy it. Tony had trouble relaxing during sex, he always wanted to be the one giving pleasure, he knew how to do that, he loved being praised, he loved all the wonderful little noises that people made. But when it came to his own wants and desires, he tended to shove them off, considered them unimportant, or a side effect, or--

The X’toy sent more tendrils down his body, touching him, probing at his chest, tickling over his ribs, flicked one nipple and when that got a slightly deeper sigh and Tony moving into the touch, it zeroed in on that spot, plucking, teasing, rubbing, coiling around and around. Another tendril, this one soft, wet, flat, brushed over his other nipple like a tongue, and Tony out and out groaned, heat rising in his belly.

“There you go,” Peter said. “It has to find out what you like. And-- look at you, you like being tied up, don’t you? Why didn’t I know that?”

Tony couldn’t respond, of course, but he rolled his eyes.

Peter just laughed.

“Don’t worry,” Peter said. “It’s gonna find everything that you like. Everything you were ever interested in, and everything you never told anyone.”

The central dick thrust deeper into his mouth, and Tony stopped fighting it, letting his eyes drift shut, knowing that Peter liked to watch, knowing that he was watching. A tendril wrapped around his throat, squeezing just enough to feel it, so he could tell each time the central dick thrust into his throat, feeling it on both sides.

The ones on his chest flicked his nipples, sending jolts of heat into his stomach, up his nerves, until he had his back arched so much it was almost painful. His hips thrust involuntarily, seeking friction that he wasn’t getting.

“Awww,” Peter said. “You want some attention here, baby?” Peter’s hand teased up his thigh, and Tony spread his legs to give him access, but he didn’t take it, the bastard, just traced up Tony’s leg, and down again.

The little hair-like tendrils around the base of the central cock continued to explore Tony’s mouth, little zings of sensation over stretched lips. His tongue was tingling. A tendril, wet like a tongue, but narrow, slid into his ear, and for just a moment, Tony tensed again. It pulsed over the sensitive skin of his earlobe, and then-- how did it have teeth? -- it bit the shell, hot air going into Tony’s ear canal, and Tony absolutely melted.

One tendril slid down his belly, a tickling, teasing line that made Tony squirm with anticipation, his dick throbbing hot and hard behind his zipper. Come on, come on--

He groaned, and the central dick pushed, thrusting in, swelling inside Tony’s mouth until his jaw ached, his tongue was pressed down in the bottom of his mouth, he almost couldn’t breathe at all, his eyes were watering with the effort--

Something--

Something squirted into his mouth, like cherry juice and lime, like the finest wine--

And then-- he was on fire, needing it so bad, wanting to be fucked and filled, and to come and to cry out--

The whole X’toy retracted back into its starting, flower-bud shape, laying in Tony’s lap, over his aching dick, while he panted for breath.

“Holy shit--”

“Yeah,” Peter said. “It’s learning you, and you’re… uh, got a dose of the go-juice.”

“It kinda came down my throat,” Tony pointed out. He squirmed, stretching his arms a little, trying to alleviate the pressure of his untouched cock. 

“You gonna go something about this?” Tony demanded, gesturing to his groin.

“No, not yet,” Peter said. “Give it like five minutes--”

“Five--” He didn’t want to wait five minutes, he wanted to be fucked now.

“Use the time wisely, starshine,” Peter suggested. “Take your clothes off an’ hop up onto the bunk. We’ll get you all ready for the fun part.” 

#tentacletober prompts #tony stark x peter quill #tentacles #citrus scale #grapefruit

[beatriceeagle]

@scarletwinterraven asked: Of the shows on my list, what are my favorite ships and why?

ATLA: Zuko/Mai. I wouldn’t have called myself an ATLA shipper, but on my most recent rewatch I found myself really fascinated by the Zuko/Mai dynamic and by Mai as like, a person, generally, and I actually have most of a fic about them written. I just like them both so much individually, and also, there’s something deeply interesting to me about the balancing act that they must have had to perform throughout their adolescence, having a crush around Azula and all that palace intrigue. And can you imagine being Mai, and having a crush on the crown prince once day, and then the next day he’s been banished forever, and his sister is still ostensibly your best friend? And knowing that any amount of emotion you display over that is power that you’re giving her over you? And then he comes back after three years away? I would so desperately love to have seen their reunion scene.

Angel/Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wesley/Lilah. It’s technically an Angel ship, but Angel should really be on the list, anyway and also my GOD I love that ship so much. They were the first couple I ever shipped, which, uh, probably tells you something about me. I don’t want to see them end up together, or anything, I just enjoy them so damn much. Also Willow/Tara of course, but I don’t wanna talk about it.

Community: Britta/Jeff. Also not in an endgame way, more in like an, “I really enjoy every time these two people are paired on screen together” kind of way, but they obviously shouldn’t be together, that would be a trainwreck. (I also thought Britta/Troy was very sweet.)

ER: Carter/Abby. They’re one of my ride-or-die OTPs, and I will NEVER be over the bullshit that show pulled with this ship. She left him for Luka? LUKA? HOW BORING CAN A PERSON POSSIBLY BE?

Farscape: So like. Is it possible to friendship ship people? Like, not in a BroTP way, but like, specifically, there’s a kind of dynamic that I very rarely see in fiction that I can get REALLY into, where two people are best friends who love each other incredibly deeply and want the world for each other, and who have a platonic relationship, but there’s a lot of sexual tension there and they both know it, but it would be an incredibly bad idea to follow through on it, so they don’t, or maybe they do for a while but then they stop, but there is a definite sexual component to the relationship, but ultimately it’s more friendship than anything else, just… complicated by this other thing. I fall head over heels for relationships like that, and in that sense, you could say I “ship” John/Chiana.

Girl Meets World: I am. Sigh. A Lucas/Maya shipper. Don’t look at me.

Legend of Korra: Korrasami, obvs.

Leverage: Hardison/Parker/Eliot TIL MY DYING DAY, BAYBEE.

The Magicians: Quentin/Eliot is still a great ship, and you will pry it from my cold dead hands, motherfuckers.

NMTD/LoLiLo: Pedrazar  :) :) :)

One Day at a Time: Uh, okay, so here’s the thing, I don’t SHIP Penelope/Schneider, but I ABSOLUTELY see the chemistry and I think it’s HYSTERICAL, and because I am secretly, in my heart of hearts, kind of a troll, I’m so excited by the fact that it’s there and the show is getting another season and somehow they’re going to have to deal with it. Does that count?

Parks and Rec: Ben/Leslie are a weird exception to almost everything that I normally ship, but whatever, I love them. Gimme all the wholesome nerds in love and supporting each other.

Schitt’s Creek: I “ship” David/Stevie in all the same ways and for all the same reasons that I do John/Chiana.

Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated: Fred/traps.

Star Trek: Tom/B’Elanna is probably the ship I have loved the most that has ended up being endgame, and I can’t believe that it was on freaking Voyager. There’s something about the way that they are both such incredible disasters, and they are both kind of incredibly hard to be in a relationship with, but also they both try so hard to be there for each other regardless, that really works for me. Every relationship should ideally switch back and forth between insulting each other, sincerely reassuring each other that you’ll be there during times of trouble, and encouraging each other to commit acts of ecoterrorism.

(I’m also really into Picard/Crusher but specifically as a weird, tense, unconsummated thing. Like hell yeah, TNG, show me a future where Picard and Crusher are already divorced. That’s the good stuff!)

Superstore: JONAH/AMY OH MY GOD. These two are a disaster in probably a bad way, but there’s something so real about Superstore, and something so delightful about their chemistry, and again, I’m just such a sucker for people who can’t get their shit together, and like. They had sex for the first time when she was pregnant with her ex-husband’s child? Their life is a series of awkward, undernegotiated attempts to merge their extraordinarily incompatible contexts? I just feel like Jonah/Amy takes the standard trappings of the Mike Schur style grounded soulmate workplace romance and turns it into this slightly sordid, unwholesome, not always good thing, where the fact that they’re opposites who attract and work together leads them to have real problems, like, a lot of the time. But also (because I promise I’m not a complete downer) that relationship just feels so fucking lived in, those people just feel so detailed. The joy they take in each other feels equally real.

Teen Wolf: If you’ve gotten all the way to the bottom of this list, surely you can guess that I am in love with Stiles/Malia. FOR FUCKS SAKE. They lose their virginity to each other in the basement of the mental hospital that they’re both staying in while dealing with their overwhelming trauma. After knowing each other for like five minutes. And then they turn that into a relationship. Those two are in no position to be dating anyone, let alone each other, I love them so much.

As you can see, I find it very difficult to ship like a normal person, and therefore I am perennially frustrated. (Other ships I have loved: Jane/Michael from Jane the Virgin; Clarke/Lexa from The 100; oh, and I wrote what I believe to be the single most popular Tony/Nebula fic in all of Avengers fandom.)

My migraine is getting better, but feel free to keep sending me meta asks!

#meta