#death of the author baybee

[formlessvoidbeast]

“I firmly believe in Death Of The Author, even when the author is me. So, like, if you take my world and write a pair I would never have dreamed of shipping, that is in the true spirit of fandom and a massive compliment, and I will happily fling myself into the grave to cheer you on from there. “Follow your bliss.”

– Me, last night, explaining my stance on receiving fic inspired by my fic

#life of ts #death of the author baybee #consider me deceased except for the part where I am still around #to be delighted #this of course only applies to fic actually written by a Real Person #AI 'fics' are an insult and a travesty

[kaasknot]

it never ceases to be hilarious to me how many ppl lauded buster keaton for being "a surrealist even before surrealism" and meanwhile buster's off in the corner all baffled and grumpy about it—we were trying to be FUNNY, that's IT

#“i didn't write an allegory‚” says professor tolkien #death of the author baybee #buster keaton

[shamelesslymkp]

OK seriously Agatha is literally the ONLY female-presenting character in this entire film to ever wear pants and the clothes she CHOOSES to wear are those of a Good Young Man which she wears while using stereotypically masculine/gentlemanly physical mannerisms, this girl is so queer coded

#'in the books they're sisters' #death of the author baybee #i ship it

[violetasteracademic]

My Two Cents on the People Magazine Article (and Elriel coming home!)

I'm sure this has already been dissected to death and I am potentially late to the game here (I only just saw the article this morning!) but I would like to share some thoughts and insight!

While by no means am I saying this to claim I am *the* expert of all experts, I would like to share that my background and previous career was in entertainment. My twenties were spent in Los Angeles, and (some of you other current or previous LA/New Yorker's may identify with this) you really learn how the sausage gets made and exactly how much money, planning, and prep goes into what we are meant to perceive as "natural." I don't mean to take the shine off of it! Just sharing my experiences. I can't share everything because some of my friends were under NDA's at the time of their employment, so I'll just give a brief overview.

Example: Late Night talk shows and many other major "live" productions that have "live" interviews are, well, not actually live. They typically film in the early afternoon even if they are set designed to look like its nighttime. And while it is in front of a "live" audience, the audience is instructed on when to clap, when to laugh, ect. This is because the interview has already been planned out, and questions approved ahead of time. This is why, even though it seems totally fresh, there are things the "host" received ahead of time. For example, all of the baby pictures and sweet photos of Sarah and Josh and then all of the staged "walking and talking photos" for the MASSIVE Today Show interview and article. And yes, this is the article where we got this absolute banger:

That "felt" like a live interview followed up with a giant article to accompany it, but was actually a full on pre-planned production. Seriously massive for Sarah. And if there's time, you can even do multiple takes and use the best shot for the "live" show. I've seen people comment on thinking Sarah seemed "not excited" in that interview and she was worried HoFaS would bomb, but I'm telling you guys, I don't think she has ever that much pressure or "lights, camera, action" on her before compared to her usual casual "chat" style interviews. Babes was nervous, and she crushed it.

Now to breakdown the new People Magazine article:

This article is being presented as "Everything You Need to Know" aka "we are your trusted resource on all things Sarah J. Mass."

People Magazine, while serving as your "trusted resource" for the world of ACOTAR, would not say the protagonists of ACOTAR are the sisters for zero reason whatsoever. What's interesting is both Lucien and Azriel get small nods, but very little otherwise and zero mention of the ship. Just Elain, baybee dolls. This further cements that this designed to portray the Archeron sisters as the leads of the series.

Now, taking a look at the author of this article to see if she specializes in anything, she really doesn't. Miss ma'am writes about everything under the sun!

She also did the Ultimate Guide to Emily Henry's books. (Major Emily Henry Stan over here. Who is dying for Funny Story to come out?!)

This is a Northwestern University journalism grad who has been with People for a few years. She certainly understands what it is that needs to come from these articles, and that is interest, clicks, money, and trust.

There is simply no reason for major networks like Today and People to invest in these thorough and in depth articles and interviews, on screen and on page, with Sarah and continue to hint towards Elain or questioning the mating bond if it will serve no purpose in improving their reputation or generating interest in the plot of the books. That is simply not how this works, and is antithetical to keeping the gears of these machines well oiled and functioning as intended.

If you read this whole thing, wow! You are an MVP. With nothing but respect to you all, I'm not sure how long I will keep this post up or how much I am willing to talk about my time in LA. I unfortunately had some experiences I am still recovering from and already feel a bit anxious putting this much information about myself out there. But for those who catch it, I hope you enjoy and can feel comforted that this is all a part of the plan. There's a reason you see repeats of themes and conversations in all her articles. It's because they are pre-planned and executed with the goal of reputation and selling books in mind.

*** Thanks to Sara Anne (@SaraAnneReads on Tiktok) who shared her insight from working on the marketing team for a magazine in 2019 that adverts have to share if an article is paid for in someway, no matter how small. Thus I have removed my statement on *this* article potentially being part of their paid marketing budget, as there is no indicator of that on the article itself which is required by law.

However, this could be what is called "Earned Media" where a marketing/publicity rep for SJM and/or Bloomsbury *could* have reached out to people magazine and basically said hey, if you want to write about this, we have an announcement coming up soon so it could be relevant and worth talking about. To which the rep for People would say to the rep for SJM, hey, thank you so much for the heads up. There is no exchange of goods or currency and no promise verbally or in writing to do the article so the ethics stay above board, but all parties benefit from earned media. Sarah's team has now earned additional buzz for the upcoming story, and a news outlet has articles out on a trending topic. However, earned media does not have to be disclosed and therefore we have NO way of knowing if this occurred here or not!

She also shared with me People's statement of integrity where People state's their high standard for ethical practices and journalistic credibility and accountability. (I mean we know they are the kings and queens of "a reliable source close to the individual," but still)

She also caught with her eagle eye that Bloomsbury explicitly states the detailed marketing plan once books are announced, including details like year-long social media campaign, arc readers, ECT. So with Sarah already posting about the next ACOTAR, we can safely assert that is part of the existing laid out marketing plan, and assume additional articles surrounding ACOTAR are all to further generate buzz.

Analysis: Elain's book announcement is coming SOON and marketing is already underway!

#elriel #elain x azriel #pro elriel #elriel endgame #elriel supremacy #azriel x elain

[mango-dolphin]

playing a game with myself called "inventing a man and scaring myself with it"

Note: Not all of these predictions are meant to be taken literally, more figuratively/metaphorically/so on. You get it. Note 2: lighter the text, the more likely i think it is to be (in part or in full) true

ALSO. thank you @maxknightleyunofficial for the yuri box.

bingo transcribed below [with additional Author's notes!]:

Limbus Company Predictions

Row 1:

Sinner Number correlates to recruitment order. (Which, yes, would imply Dante joined LCB before Sinclair, Outis, and Gregor. No points)

Another character based on a poet (or philosopher) is introduced. HM: Ovid SWEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meursault's source material is his backstory: he works for the LCB because they saved him from the death penalty

The E.G.O gear the Sinners are attuned to all corrode because the gear or their attunements are imperfect. As in: your LC nuggets got that good shit [because the LCB doesn't have Cogito & can't manufacture E.G.O gear: the Sinners have to "connect" to the Abnormality instead, however that works] / are better [than the LCB Sinners]

The psychosis warning is for multiple Cantos and/or side stories, but one of the Cantos needing that warning is Meursault's.

Row 2:

Sinclair goes tree mode. I will not explain any further.

Limbus Company wants to be the new L Corp, or at least be continually influencial to whoever takes the spot.

The Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; [it will be] a constant theme. Dante cannot "eat" (the apple), and thus is not "doomed to die" like the Sinners.** **The Sinners are named thus because they "partook" in the fruit: these moments, from blissful yet tormentous naivete to a sudden sinful upheaval, are highlighted in their Cantos. Gregor's was cutting the apple (crossing the boundary from child to war machine); Rodion's was killing the tax collector (her desire to be a hero completely upended by her actions leading to the deaths of all her neighbors); Sinclair's was following Kromer / letting her into his life (specifically allowing Kromer into his basement and witnessing The Horrors)... **This could imply LCB as the serpent in the garden, but more than anything, Dante is Eve. [Iori could also be the serpent she's got the range. swagever. It'd be funny.] HM: Or even worse, the opposite is true.

Sinners will get upgraded versions of their base E.G.Os; These versions have relation to the shadows cast in their E.G.O portrait.

Ishmael's white whale is a Library of Ruina character.

Row 3:

Faust's Faustian Bargain is classically straightforward: she "sold her soul" for knowledge. HM: The Devil in this exchange is the LCB.

Outis is in the middle of her years-long Odyssey as we speak. HM: It's why she's one of the last Sinners

Purgatorio & Paradiso

Outis, Don Quixote, and Hong Lu are using fake names

Dante (prior to the events of the game) has been on the Outskirts of the City, or even left City limits. HM: They're from outside the city

Row 4:

Gregor is an abnormality / abnormality-like; Hermann's "gift" to him is that. [Honestly he'd be one in the same way Tomerry is, but further than that? He's more than just a genetically modified soldier is what I'm trying to get at.]

Iori

^ HM: Lion, Panther, and Wolf were sent to Dante as a test. [Idk what kind of test it'd be. Trust me.]

At least one Sinner will Distort, and possibly multiple Likely Hong Lu, Ryoshu, Rodion, Heathcliff, Faust, or Meursault. Don seems obvious.* *Colors are likelihoods, not pairs. Though I don't see it likely that they all will distort UNLESS SOMETHING FUCKING HAPPENS *ADDITIONAL hard mode (so hard it's mode): Meursault Distorted before joining Limbus

the golden boughs are the remnants of Carmen's body or essence / the byproduct of the Seed of Light. [That's NERVOUS SYSTEM, baybee!]

Dante goes to Paradiso alone / with only Vergilius (I forgot how it went :( idr if Dante Dante's Inferno went up there alone)

Row 5:

Something bad happened to Gregor's sister :( HM: She's still alive. This is a bad thing. [Leaving my wording vague here on purpose.]

Marie (L'Étranger) is in the Blue Team (with Demian); Gretchen (Faust) is in the Red Team (with Hermann). Gretchen switches teams? [Honestly likely Faust hasn't encountered Gretchen either!]

There is yuri moments and maybe even yaoi moments (not Yuri) SINCLAIR. Yi Sang, Outis, Ishmael, Meursault, Outis again, Hong Lu, HM: Outis Wife Penelope

Angela.

Dante knew Carmen

#mango japery #limbus company #projmoon #bingo #oh god transcribing that took forever. WOE #i'll stand by my golden bough theory it feels way too obvious #carmen LOVES haunting the fucking narrative have you guys taken a look at the decals & graphics in the UI lately #she's in the ID cards she's in the title cards are you fucking kidding me #could've sworn she's in more but my man..... my guy.......... *breathes heavily

[mybrainproblems]

grimble grumble death of the author baybee but if you're able to track the same recurring themes across multiple seasons then that's authorial intent

[aurpiment]

Hey, hi, hate to bother you but could you remind me why Estraven skis into the border at the end? I got a friend of mine to read tlhod, and she doesn't understand, and I can't remember, nor find the answer on your blog (I suspect the tag searching function isn't working properly)

Thanks in advance!

I’m about to go to bed so this is not as eloquent as I’d wish but here’s my answer!

soo. It’s not spelled out in the story. I personally believe it’s because he didn’t think he was going to be able to keep hiding out in the region after Thessicher betrayed him and heading back to Orgoreyn was going to be hard too. I’m not sure he 100% intended to die but I think he was at a point where he did not see the value in being more cautious with his life either.

The first time he snuck into Orgoreyn he was barely able to get a low-paid difficult job at the fish cannery and his work permit was randomly suspended for a month due to a xenophobic law. Add to that the fact that he’s a wanted criminal on the Orgota side of the border for busting Genly out of prison… options are bleak even if he does survive. I don’t know that he wholly intended to die. He likely didn’t intend to cross the border in front of Genly, but Genly refused to leave his side the whole day because Genly was under the impression Estraven would be able to make it across the border after dark. There might have also been a sliver of a chance of making it past the guards! Projectile guns are rarer than sonic guns in Karhide, and aren’t used in Orgoreyn at all. There was a chance the Karhidish guards could have been carrying sonic guns like they were at Kuseben when Estraven crossed the Gulf of Charisune (not lethal at enough of a distance, so speed helps!) instead of projectile ones like they actually did. I think it was a horribly risky gamble but he didn’t have enough hope or options left to plan something safer.

That’s the in-fiction level. Now, on an authorial level, I think he did it because Le Guin wished to write a tragedy, and you can’t have a tragedy without terrible loss.

The first time I read Left Hand I was shocked by Estraven’s death and angry at Le Guin for it. But the second time I read it, two years later, the narrative clicked for me as a whole. It doesn’t come out of nowhere and it fits with the rest of the story. The tragedy is foreshadowed by the myths. The myths that Le Guin has her author/editor character Genly include aren’t intended as random samplings of Karhidish and Orgota lore. I’m sure they’ve got happier stories on Gethen. Le Guin on an authorial level and Genly on a higher in-fiction level are including stories about death and loss (most of them) and fear of the other turning to knowledge and union and the birth of new kinds of living in the world (orgota creation myth) and getting in trouble for returning land to previous owners (Estraven the Traitor) and so on, to set a tone, establish parallels with the text, and do the heavy lifting for worldbuilding. (At the risk of digressing, I also think the Eye of Meshe is doing a lot for the balance of light and darkness thesis. All light all the time no darkness is what the Yomesh state cult wants, but their prophet was miserable for it. And you need some shadows to see. Blinding light will make you trip on ice. That’s Leguinian Daoism baybee.)

But besides the myths, which do an excellent job of setting the theme and tone and giving us context for Estraven’s backstory (he’s too reticent and ashamed to tell us outright about Arek and Sorve) I also look at the New Port keystone in the first chapter as a symbol. Estraven tells Genly that the mortar of the keystone must be set in blood, because without blood the bond will fall, and that it used to be human blood. So when the Ekumen establishes a bond with Karhide and Gethen as a whole, there is once again blood in the metaphorical mortar, and it is Estraven’s.

#Asks #anonymous #the left hand of darkness #mt

[isthatmanahimbo]

Today we bring to you a console classic from the 16-bit era: Sabin Rene Figaro!

Sabin is a main player character in Final Fantasy VI, first released in 1994 for the SNES (released as Final Fantasy III in North America). It has since been released to many major systems, ranging from the Playstation to the Wii and even to iOs, and most recently remastered in a 2.5D style in February of 2022. Hailed as one of the greatest games the series has to offer, Final Fantasy VI begins the series' lean into sci-fi as well as fantasy, and boasts the largest selection of playable characters of any mainstream Final Fantasy to date.

Sabin is one of a pair of twins, with his brother Edgar having taken over the role of king of their kingdom, Figaro – sick with grief at the death of their father, rather than chafe under the societal expectations of a king Sabin fled the country to pursue the life of a mountain hermit instead of co-ruling with his brother. He plays the role of Monk in the party, equipping light armor and fist weaponry, and his special combat command is called Blitz, which he learned under his master Duncan.

That last part is important, because it is with Blitz that this author must begin their assessment of Sabin as a himbo. If you have been following this blog for a little while, you know this author likes to begin with Buff when applicable, and it is here that this author would like to bring up the thing for which Sabin is most well-known: he fucking Suplexes a train. This is not hyperbole or metaphor, mind you – using the Blitz command, the player can input the proper combination of keystrokes to ensure that during a boss battle with the Phantom Train, Sabin can pick the fucking thing up and slam it onto the ground over his shoulder. Even if Sabin were not toked as fuck (he is), the ability to do so being not just canon but encouraged (as it is Sabin's party specifically which encounters the Phantom Train shortly after learning the Suplex command) renders all discussion of Sabin's Buffness moot. Sick wrestling moves aside, it is also notable that Sabin is required at one point in a timed story quest to hold up a house for several real-life minutes – but is it really a FF6 playthrough if you don't Suplex the Damn Train? This author doesn't believe so.

Blessedly, Final Fantasy VI knows what it's doing with its character archetypes, for as strong as every muscle on Sabin's body is, we find his decision-making to be a little lacking. Indeed, when the options Think and Act are placed on a table before him, every single time Sabin will smash down that Act button before the situation can be explained to him – we see examples of this as early on as immediately after his introduction, when he joins the Returners while vocally admitting he does not understand their mission statement, and less than an hour later when Ultros attacks the party and begins to swim away Sabin dives into literal white water to give pursuit. Sabin is happy to do the literal heavy-lifting so long as he has someone to consign the actual hard work of thinking to (usually his intellectual brother, in whom he places ultimate trust).

And although Sabin is particular in whom he places his trust, once he's in, he's all in baybee. His very first appearance we learn that his immediate peer, and son of his master, Vargas has killed his father, and Sabin takes a moment in the middle of battle to weep for his beloved master before wrecking ass. Indeed, as touched on before, Sabin's huge heart full of love and loyalty is the impetus for his mountain man excursion – so bereaved by his father's death, so disillusioned by the public's apparent lack of compassion, Sabin flees society. His big heart is apparent even in his more antagonistic moments – humorously, he has a bit of a rivalry with party member and feral child Gau, finding the child infuriating, but upon learning that the boy's father abandoned and mistreated him Sabin promptly chewed him a new asshole (and had to be physically restrained from laying him out). And upon joining the Returners, he is a valuable and trusted teammate for more than just his muscles – when returning to the fray after the end of the world, Celes is heartened by Sabin's attitude after they save a child together, finding the strength to carry on through his boisterous proclamation that the end of the world couldn't possibly keep him down.

Truly, that's a himbo we can count on to be by our side.

Total Himbo Score: 21

#is that man a himbo? #whoa mama! rating: himbo #final fantasy #final fantasy vi #final fantasy 6 #sabin rene figaro #sabin final fantasy #sabin ff6 #sabin ffvi

[scorch-cake]

Much preesh for the tag @mikey-putrid !!

NICKNAME: one of my adopted nonbinary sibs calls me Morgy, but Mo or Morg are both fine too

SIGN: Pisces - I’m not hella into astrology but it’s still neat

HEIGHT: 5’5” also known as a short king

LAST GOOGLE SEARCH: “difference between king and California king mattress” just because I’m weird and randomly think of things like that and because I’ve been thinking about what I’ll be doing with a house in a few years

SONG STUCK IN YOUR HEAD?: It’s Good (Blue) by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha and yeah 90% of the reason for that is because it literally samples Blue by Eiffel 65

FOLLOWERS: 13 baybee, pudding world numbers mean nothing to me!!! (Jk I love y’all ❤️)

LUCKY NUMBER: 32 and 17; 17 because day of birth (03/17), and 32 because as a kid I had a thing with days of the months and didn’t understand why there wasn’t a month with 32 days just because

SLEEP: hahahahahahahahha actually it’s been better since I bought my weighted blanket, but it’s still so iffy, I’ve never slept decently, and I nap so much because I’m so tired all the time

DREAM JOB: Animator, despite the shit reputation of the industry

WEARING: old CheezIt brand CheezIt shirt and nylon shorts, it’s bed time and my feets are cold

FAVORITE SONGS: m a n y but for the sake of your dashboards -

All My Favorite Songs by Weezer ft AJR

Bang! (Cover) by The Cog is Dead

Death by Glamour by Toby Fox

Hellbent, Every Note, and The Future by Mystery Skulls

FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: I feel like a basic bitch but I really like all forms of piano and I include synth in that like an idiot so

AESTHETIC: mostly grunge/goth, that’s what I’ve been buying for myself mostly

FAVORITE AUTHOR: i don’t read enough to have one which makes me feel bad but for the books I loved so much, Kira Leigh (@kiraleighart), anyway go read Constelis Voss it’ll hurt you in good ways

FAVORITE COLOR: ourple

FAVORITE ANIMAL SOUNDS: the little chuffs and yips my doggies make when they’re dreaming QwQ

LAST SONG: Dangerous by Seether (Si Vis Pacem is just a good album in general)

LAST SERIES: uhhhhhhhhh genuinely I think it was my rewatch of Tower of Druaga in early 2022 I am a YouTube young adult

RANDOM: My dog Bruce is a grand champion in AKC conformation and after his last show in April 2020, he was not unseated from his number 1 spot in the Belgian Malinois breed rankings until early October

Tagging @rule-of-rose because who else am I gonna

#text post #long post #meet the pyro #could’ve been any of them but low key kin pyro #did this instead of sleeping because I’m dumb

[actualmythicalcreature]

Tagged by straight-strychnine. Not tagging anyone else though because I have a cold and I'm sleepy 😴

Nickname: 𝕋𝕒𝕓𝕓𝕚 is my preference but over  the years people have called me: Tabbycat,  Little Tab, Tobi, Toots, BabySnakes, and now BayBee.

Sign: Libra

Height: 5"3

Last thing I googled: "ghost template pathfinder" - my D&D character is attempting to cheat death and may end up as a ghost briefly in the process and I wanted to figure out which of my spells and abilities will work and which won't. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Number of Followers: 4563

Amount of Sleep: I sleep from 3am - 10am most nights. That's when my body naturally wants to sleep. It makes functioning in the world a little difficult though.

Lucky number: 69 😎 nah I don't actually have one 🅻O🅻 😅

Favorite color: Purple, because it's not real (where the shrimp colors live). And then also the entire area of the color spectrum where green meets blue (cyan, teal, turquoise, mint, etc)

Dream job: Writer and Artist - which I allready am, but in the dream: it actually makes me money. 😅

Movies/Books that summarize me: Lilo and Stitch (autism) ʀᴏꜰʟ (˃̣̣̥▽˂̣̣̥๑).

Favorite song: right now- Trouble Follows Me by Antiflag, of all time - Diamonds and Gold by Tom Waits

Favorite instrument: Acoustic guitar is what I played before all the arthritis.

Aesthetic: oh Ｆｕｃｋ. Depends on the day? I cultivate and collect vibes and wear them like costumes. If it were up to me, I'd have a house of different rooms each with radically different vibes. Like - oh here's the 50's diner kitchen, the dark academia solarium and greenhouse, the high fantasy room I play tabletop rpg's in, the pop art comic book livingroom and media center, the spa bathroom, the pastel plush filled play room, the lofi galaxy bar and lounge, the sex dungeon, the punk trash rock music room, the west coast contemporary back patio.... I could go on. And on. Love me a good vibe.

Favorite author: many of my faves over the years turned problematic with time and so now I refuse to state a Favorite because im afraid it's some sort of curse. I'm currently re-enjoying the Hitchhiker's series so we'll say I'm fond of Douglas Adam's and hopefully that will be safe because it's harder to become problematic when you're dead. I could say Tolkien for the same reason.

Favorite animal noise: whale songs.

Random: uhhh..... I got nothing.

[kidsofindia]

#1monthbabyjhula

[theirprofoundbond]

Listening to a lecture for school and had to grab this quote:

“What are the connections we can make as readers? Even if [Character] isn’t necessarily articulating he connects them. That, in a way, isn’t as important as if we can. Because there is always more in a text than the character or even the author can be aware of. And that’s why we as readers need to be active readers because we can find meanings in there that [Author] may not have known he had planted in [year].”

#fandom #meta #You said it Frank #Death of the Author BAYBEE #Love that for us #Also I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing future analyses of Supernatural #and new theories and criticisms being applied to it #Not to mention all the AUs we haven't thought of yet! #rachaelly says stuff

[oswald-privileges]

BREAKING NEWS ‘1000 light years away’ still makes me Literally Weep

#slime rancher #IT'S SAD #I know it's not canonically Casey singing it #but death of the author baybee #it's casey singing it

[kimjihyun-archive]

Hi!! I love your writing 💗 idk how to request but can you do ❝I wouldn’t mind wasting my time on you.❞ With Jumin and mc please. I picked this cuz i remember on the first days in the game Jumin would say that he has no time to talk or he doesn’t like wasting his time and hangs up quickly. So it’s sweet that after he caught feelings for mc he starts to make time for her even when he’s busy. Thanks 💗

devotion | jumin han

WARNINGS: more fluff baybee, you know, you get it, this is entirely self indulgent, i’ve had so many headaches this week, help

WORD COUNT: 1.1k

AUTHOR’S NOTE: this took me FOREVER i’m so sorry. and yes!! this is such a lovely concept!! i was so excited to write this, thank you so much! i hope this is alright!

When Jumin placed his briefcase on the counter that night, he cursed himself for growing so accustomed to her presence.

To the sounds of her presence, more specifically. The humming of kitchen appliances, or gentle footsteps across the floor, or the buzz of the TV when she played some soap opera that she never quite paid attention to. Hearing a hollow silence throughout the penthouse felt off. The sounds of her daily motions had ceased, leaving Jumin’s mind to reel in the quiet air.

He called out to her, lining his shoes up at the door, and waited.

Nothing.

He peeked his head into the living room, then the kitchen and—

Nothing.

He called out to her again, his voice tugging at the silence. He knew he could go exploring if he so wished, but this was close enough to their usual routine that it didn’t make his mind stutter at the unfamiliarity quite yet.

Then, a hum from the bedroom. His feet trailed the hall until he caught a glimpse of her at the doorway. She was curled into a ball—a rolling entanglement of sheets and pillows—settled into the middle of the mattress.

“My love,” he hummed, stepping into the room, just in front of the bed. “Are you alright?”

She groaned in reply, further twisting herself into the comforter as a soft ‘no’ fell from her lips. His brows raised.

“Headache.” Her fingers curled around the sides of her face, massaging her temples. “A bad one.”

“I can call the doctor if you’d like. I’m sure he can—”

She shook her head before he could finish his statement, leaving the words to hang on his tongue.

“No, no.” She tucked her head further into the pillow beneath her with a defeated hum. “I’m sure it’ll go away… eventually.”

Jumin sighed at her stubbornness but opted not to push her further. He knew that he could insist for eternity and she wouldn’t budge. He loved her—adored her, but he firmly believed she was the only one on the planet who was more insistent on getting her way than him. Normally, it was something he admired. Here, however, he started to believe it would be the death of her.

Eventually, he slipped his jacket off of his shoulders, draping it over the bedside table, and leaned forward, pressing his knees into the mattress. His fingers, frigid as ever, met with the center of her forehead and she leaned into his touch, cold skin quickly becoming solace to her aching skull.

“Have you been staying hydrated? It might alleviate the pain to some degree.” He brushed his thumb across her forehead, watching as her expression softened under his fingers.

“A bit,” she replied quietly. “As much as I could handle.”

“Good,” he nodded as the pad of his finger traced her hairline. “And have you tried medication?”

“Mhm…” She dragged out the hum, reaching up to grasp his wrist softly. Her fingers directed his hand so it sat in the middle of her forehead, her body settling at the temperature. “Could you just… stay here for a while?”

Her eyes fluttered open, a certain dullness tugging at her features, and Jumin chuckled at her.

“Of course.” His body slipped onto the mattress as he rolled up his sleeves, situating them in the middle of his forearms. Her movement towards him, though sluggish, was immediate as she rolled towards him, settling against his chest.

The winter air still stung at his skin from when he entered the building, but he suddenly found himself thankful for it as she tucked her chin just above his collar. She was warmer than he’d expected and, if he had to guess, her body was nearing feverish temperatures. If it were up to him, the physician would already be on his way to the penthouse, but she requested he lie there and he was never one to go against her wishes.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled softly into his chest, leaving his face to twist in confusion.

“For?”

“Wasting your time.” Her arm slipped from the ball of sheets to wrap around his chest—a desperate plea to god for her to melt into him. “I’m sure you still have work to do.”

He laughed at that. His voice was soft enough to not further extend her headache, but still evident enough to make his chest shake. He knew she meant it, but the idea of giving him such an apology as she pulled him closer to her was oddly comical to him. There was no question that she felt bad, but there was also no sign of her letting him go anytime soon.

“Darling,” he chuckled, planting a kiss to her forehead. “You’re not feeling well—it’s no waste of time.”

Her hand stretched to rub at her eyes with the bottom of her palms as he traced his fingers along her face, lightly massaging her temples.

“And, for your information, I wouldn’t mind wasting my time on you. In fact, I would gladly do so if it made you happy.” His voice held a gentle lilt, but it was stern enough for her to know he meant it.

From the moment he slipped a ring on her finger, and even well before that, he knew he was willing to do anything for her. If he could, he would grant her every wish and fulfill her every need. He only hoped to provide her with the solace she had long given him, and any semblance of such made his heart thud in his chest.

She giggled at his reply, though not without her face contorting in pain. Another sigh fell from his throat, but adoration still clung heavily on his features as his fingers met her hair, brushing a loose stand behind her ear.

Something about her was rather funny to him. Jumin, for as long as he could remember, prided himself in being completely infatuated by his work and only his work. Over time, much of his devotion had traveled to Elizabeth, and keeping her happy—but to be so unbelievably smitten for another human being was, even after months of engagement, still very much foreign to him.

“Thank you,” she finally said, pressing a kiss to the bottom of his jaw. “You mean the world to me, Jumin Han—did you know that?”

Oh, how his heart sung.

If he could, he would lay like this for the rest of his life. He wished nothing more than to ease the ache that had bloomed throughout her skull, but to have her remain this close to him forever seemed utterly divine.

“I love you,” was all he could manage to reply. The words tumbled from his mouth, but his adoration was clear. “Unbelievably so.”

#jumin han #jumin han x reader #jumin han x mc #han jumin x mc #mystic messenger

[icyxmischief]

I honestly cannot stand the Loki fandom on tumblr anymore. This is the most toxic, hateful fandom I've encountered in a long, long time. I don't know how you've managed to stay for so long, but I've always enjoyed your content and wish you the best of luck going forward here. I don't think I've ever been so disappointed or outright ashamed of a fandom before, but this series has really brought a whole lot of ugliness out of Loki's. And it's such a shame, because it wasn't always this bad.

Friend, it makes me so sad that you feel this way. I know from negative experience in other fandom spaces what you're going through. It's really painful because we come to fandom with an earnest piece of ourselves that we want to share, project or INject, into characters who resonate with us, for any variety of reasons. This means each of us has a very personal, individual, and sometimes fever-pitched stake in how our "comfort character" is portrayed in canon.

This fandom angst derives from a couple of logical fallacies which I wanna spell out here, and from which, I hope, you can free yourself, in order to remain in a psychological space where you can still enjoy the things you love. <3 No really. I am a 38-year-old, successful professional, I have been around the block with fandom discourse and "grown-up real-world" intellectual discourse, and I am telling you, THIS is how I've "lasted this long":

1) Fallacy One: "Canon is the "most real" version of characterization." No. We don't even have to go into "Death of the Author, baybee" or Reception Theory or any of the other stuff in 20th and 21st century media crit to refute this. Simply put: you experience the media. The media exists in a wholly fictional realm anyway. The only difference is money/resources and breadth of audience. Your experience and, say, Kevin Feige's, or Kate Herron's, are all equally "real." Your Variant of the Sacred Canon (I DO think they're being that meta with the fans in the Loki series, yes), if you will, deserves to exist as much as the one Tom Hiddleston acts out on screen. You have a right to the Loki that exists in your head. 2) Fallacy Two: Seemingly opposite but often entwined with Fallacy One, as a defense/coping mechanism against Fallacy One: "My version is the 'most valid' version, and departure from my version equates lack of authenticity or effort, or, most dangerous of all, moral/ethical inferiority." No. We all have the right to the Loki in our heads. Now this one is trickier, admittedly, because the people who gravitate to characters like Loki tend to share his experience with social Othering/marginalization and trauma. That means that if you tell them "you're wrong, and stop getting in my face and being so aggressive," you could be accused (indeed, perhaps rightfully) of tone-policing someone who identifies with a marginalized group (racially, in terms of ability, in terms of gender identity or sexual orientation, etc). The best thing, therefore, for you to do is acknowledge that your readings of the "text" (here, a tv show) differ, and that you respectfully decline to discuss the matter. Even if it rankles you, don't engage. These people have a very personal stake in the media and in essence, it's kindest to let them depart to be angry in their own space.

3) Connected closely to the above, “What we condone in fiction equates what we condone in reality,” God, no. Much ink has been spilled by more eloquent writers on this, so I won’t expound. But don’t go there. Don’t fall for that. Lol. It leads only to misery. 

Habits I would encourage, to avoid Big Fandom Wank:

1) When you see content you don't like, especially spoken in an incendiary or absolutist manner, block or unfollow. Do not engage directly. Vent about it in your own space if you must, or better yet, in private, to trusted friends. If you engage, which...sometimes it IS worth it to do so, if something has real personal significance to you as a consumer of that media, then be braced for people to be rude or even abusive, because human beings, especially in internet spaces, are messy emotional creatures who leap to conclusions without gauging for nuance. There is disagreement over different and valid interpretations of content, and then there is just being unpleasant on principle.

2) See advice in Fallacy Two re avoiding tone-policing.

3) Find your people and curate your dash strictly. This can be ten people or it can be two. Make a close-knit small group in a private space for all your sharing of ideas. Make sure these are people you trust, who, when you spend time consuming the media with them, make you feel better, not worse.

4) Unfollow liberally. Block liberally. You don't owe anyone your time, energy, or, especially, happiness. People will accuse you of cowardice or "running away from a grown-up debate." Let them. It's pitiable, in perspective. They're insecure and sad and they need to say manipulative things. But you know better, don't you? You're just preserving your peace of mind.

5) If you mess up, go quiet for a while, take a break from social media, and it will blow over. I promise. Delete anon hate (and know that you can block the sender, even an anon, on Tumblr, too!).

--------

Friend, thank you for your kind words. I'm so sorry you're so sad. I hope I see you here again someday. <3

Anyone who needs a boost can reblog this advice, btw.

#Loki #Loki fandom #Loki series #meta #sorta

[sarkywoman]

Writing Asks

Tagged by @under-the-shady-tree, thanks!

20 questions, writer’s edition, let’s go!!

How many works do you have on AO3? 85

What’s your total AO3 word count? 712708

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Oof, uh... since like, 1999? Um, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Andromeda, Supernatural, Heroes, NCIS, DC, Marvel, The Umbrella Academy, Kingsmen, ASoIaF/Game of Thrones, Borderlands, Community, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Doctor Who/Torchwood, Final Fantasy, Harry Potter, Misfits, I think I’ve forgotten some...

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Noble Blood (Game of Thrones, ASoIaF - GRRM)  A Song of Bastards and Wards (ASoIaF - GRRM, Game of Thrones)  Young God (Borderlands)  Story and Sorcery (Loki: Agent of Asgard, Marvel)  My Shame is True (The Umbrella Academy (TV))

Do you respond to comments, why or why not? I try to! Comments are so important in the fanfic community and I know how hard it is to think of something to say about a story, even when you’ve loved it to bits, so I don’t want people to feel ignored. Especially because I appreciate comments so, so much! I will say though, I have lapses, often when my mental health isn’t good, where I simply don’t know how to respond to people and then months go by and I feel weird about replying... so sorry if you’ve ever commented on one of my stories and got silence - it was me not you!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? The Aimless One (Misfits (TV 2009)) Straight up the saddest story I’ve written, no question. Normally writing sad stuff doesn’t make me sad but I had to take a break in the middle of this to just try and grapple with the idea I’d had because it tapped into a lot of depressing thoughts I have about life and death in general. The comments were all complimentary but so upset that at first I was like ‘hooray, it had the desired impact’, then after a while I started to think ‘why did I want to hurt people like this?’

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? Probably  Realising All You Ever Wanted, a Hobbs/Dirk fic for the Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency fandom. There’s such minor conflict in that one that the sugary sweet ending isn’t out of place. 

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written? Well. I have some fandoms that are sort of crossovers already, things like Marvel where you have comic versions and movie versions and it doesn’t really feel like a crossover to be picking and choosing. Same with a Dirk Gently/Thor fic I did, because Thor cameos in the DG canon, but not this Thor. I think the most ambitious crossover I’ve worked on was a collaborative chatfic with @freshgratednutmeg that we’re never likely to post, where the need for more background characters in an Umbrella Academy A/o fic led to it being crossed over with Marvel and Brooklyn 99. (Leading to such amusements as Diego sparring with Rosa, and Five competing with Shuri in class.)

Have you ever received hate on a fic? Yeah, but it’s never been very well-reasoned so it’s been fairly easy to dismiss. Some people expect everyone to share their own perspective of the characters and it’s weird.

Do you write smut? If so what kind? Not really. I can go there and have done on occasion, but it doesn’t interest me very much. I think I did it more when I was younger because I felt like it was a necessary aspect of grown-up fanfic writing (when I started I was a teenager amongst mostly adults... or other people lying about their age too lol). These days I’m more likely to fade to black or allude to the acts. But I’m not averse to writing it or anything, but it’s never the focus of my story.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Only in the sense that I see them on other sites I didn’t upload to, sometimes in other languages, sometimes not. They normally say my name somewhere on them so they’re not stolen as such, but it’s still uncomfortable to see my work circulated to other sites without my permission.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Not with my permission, but yeah. I don’t know how to feel about translations. Obviously I want people of other languages to be able to read my work, but at the same time I’m not fluent enough to be able to check the translator’s work, so I won’t know if they’ve done any better than google. Word choice is pretty important in fiction. A bad translation can totally warp a text.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not for posting or sharing, but me and @freshgratednutmeg cowrite all the time.

What’s your all time favorite ship? All time?! That’s impossible to answer. I’m a multi-shipper for starters, in pretty much every fandom I’ve been in. When I find a ship I love, I love it intensely above all others for the duration of the fixation. Then eventually it gets set aside when I find a new fandom. I’m also indecisive enough to not really have an all-time favourite anything. 

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? A Song of Bastards and Wards (ASoIaF - GRRM, Game of Thrones). I can’t begin to describe the pages of notes I have for this beast. Unless I threw them out, which... scanning my room... is a distinct possibility. Ouch. I’d hoped to parallel the books for a long time with this one, but the amount of work for a project like that is too much when you’re no longer as passionate about the source fandom. I suspect what I might do is scenes with interconnecting notes, just so people get some sense of closure.

What are your writing strengths? Dialogue, baybee! Kinda makes me want to be a scriptwriter. People are always telling me that the characters ‘sound like’ them. I think it’s from reading voraciously from when I was young and being quite a social child, that moving speech patterns and quirks into writing is something that comes very naturally to me. Too natural, in fact, because IRL I write how I speak and that’s not always suited to the situation.

What are your writing weaknesses? Most things other than dialogue. Even thought processes are an internal dialogue, so they’re okay, but then like... a fight scene? A sex scene? Just even... what are their hands doing while they’re talking? How are these people physically present? Where are they? Are they inside, outside, is the building on fire? My descriptive skills are lacking, to say the least. It’s something I’m working on.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I’m not quite sure what’s meant by this. I’m not fluent in anything other than English so I don’t see that would work well for me. I know a few phrases in German/French/Welsh/Latin/Spanish but nothing useful for conversation. Dropping in words can work, if it’s the same way the speaker would use them amidst their English. Most of the time the characters I’m writing wouldn’t be speaking in another language anyway. We can blame the tag-team of English colonialism and American media for that one I think. I think that sometimes authors utilise a character’s language in a way that just exposes how little the author actually knows of the language and that’s a bit cringe for me.

What was the first fandom you wrote for? Buffy the Vampire Slayer. None of those are online atm because they’re so so bad XD I should post them just so people can see improvement but... I can’t even read them, they’re hilarious. The most gratuitous self-inserts, the most ludicrous arguments, the most out-of-character romantic declarations.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? Hmm, that’s a quandary. I think I’ll differentiate between favourite to write, and favourite end product. Favourite to write was probably  Noble Blood (Game of Thrones, ASoIaF - GRRM) because it was just a romp through my favourite themes. Given it’s one of my most popular stories, I’d say that just proves you should write what you want! I was going to quickly say  Young God (Borderlands) is my favourite fic for quality of the finished product, because I pretty much just sat down one evening and spilled it into a word doc then reread it back and thought ‘huh, did I write that? Awesome’. But I’m happy with a couple of more recent things I’ve done for The Umbrella Academy fandom, notably  The Price of Parenthood, which is very different to what I usually write and is a look at the life of one of the mothers who gave up her child to Reginald. Also The Water Calls, which was the only thing I managed to write for the recent MerMay event. It took me a little while to puzzle out how it all fit together, then once I had it worked out it came together wonderfully and I was very happy with the tone of it. 

Tagging anyone who fancies doing it.

#long post #this was fun #like being interviewed lol