#gosh this trend is getting so popular | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

that-ari-blogger · 28 days

Text

Inciting Incident (Thank Goodness)

One of the most popular songs in Wicked is sung by Galinda, and centres around the idea that the society she lives in is corrupt and that she is the only one who knows how it really works. But is she right about that? Does she actually know as much as she thinks?

I think the answer is complicated, and that's the fun of it. I think that Glinda has intellectually grasped that the system is flawed, but I don't think she's emotionally wrapped her head around it. Case and point, the complete and utter cognitive dissonance that is Thank Goodness.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (Wicked, The Trekkie's Tale)

Thank Goodness is actually two songs. Thank Goodness itself, and a reprise of No-one Mourns The Wicked. So, it's a rehashing of the first act, opening with Glinda conversing with the crowd, the difference is whether or not she is appearing to agree with it.

In the first Glinda tries to argue for Elphaba's morality, and it frames the entire story. But now, Glinda stands idly by and goes along with all that the chorus says while they get more and more worked up by lies that she knows to be untrue.

You would think that the two segments of the song being in agreement would mean that they go well together, but they really don't. Thank Goodness and No-one Mourns The Wicked do not fit with each other at all, in my opinion.

So, what does this mean?

I think that this song shows Glinda lying to herself, and finally starting to crack and realise what is happening.

Glinda spends this song deflecting from the problem, instead of confronting it head on. She relies on popularity and giving the people what they want to distract them.

My ex-girlfriend is being hunted by the masses for something she didn't do, but look over here, I'm getting married!

"Like some terrible green blizzard

Throughout the land she flies

Defaming our poor Wizard

With her calumnies and lies!"

The obvious thing here is the tense. This is happening now, as opposed to something the characters have lived through and made it out the other side of. It is more immediate.

But the other thing that I want to point out is the wall that the Ozians are putting up. The reason Elphaba can't get through to anyone is because they think she is lying, because who are you more likely to believe, someone who you trust implicitly, or someone who everyone around you says is dangerous?

The song is broken into four sections. The introduction, Glinda's two reflections, and Madame Morrible's story, which prompts her to change her mind a bit.

"When you bowed before his throne

He decreed you'd hence be known

As Glinda the Good, officially!"

The following is an excerpt from The Trekkie's Tale, a Star Trek fanfic first published in 1974.

"Gee, golly, gosh, gloriosky," thought Mary Sue as she stepped on the bridge of the Enterprise. "Here I am, the youngest lieutenant in the fleet - only fifteen and a half years old." Captain Kirk came up to her...

"Here, take over the ship for a minute while I go get some coffee for us."

This is the archetypal Mary Sue story, a format where the protagonist gets all that they want and more. The world revolves around Mary Sue, and as a result, it isn't particularly compelling. She wins everything, then she saves the day and dies, and everyone mourns her.

Nobody online seems to be able to agree on whether this story was a satire of general fanfiction trends or not, a fact that I find rather funny.

But compare that to the story Madame Morrible is telling about Glinda. Allegedly, the wizard gave her the title for... not much actually. In Morrible's version of events, good people get things just because, and nobody is asking any questions.

Essentially, Glinda is getting all that she wants on a silver platter, with no questions asked, no strings attached. Well, one string attached.

"Then with a jealous squeal

The Wicked Witch burst from concealment

Where she had been lurking, surrpetitially!"

I mentioned in my post on Defying Gravity (maybe go check that one out) that the central conflict that ended Elphaba and Glinda's relationship was that Elphaba was prepared to sacrifice everything, and Glinda wasn't. But Glinda did have to give up something to achieve her dream, and I don't think she quite understood that until now. To get the power she craved, Glinda had to lose Elphaba.

This song is essentially bludgeoning Glinda over the head with the fact that this tradeoff was not worth it.

That is the dissonance inherent to Glinda's entire character. She recognises the flaws in the world around her but has convinced herself that it will be worth it when she gets to power.

I don't think that Galinda would have realised this, and I am making a point of differentiating Glinda and Galinda. In my mind, Glinda is the version of this character who fell in love with and was changed by Elphaba. The two characters are incredibly similar, and one is an evolution of the other, but it is the influence of Elphaba that makes the difference.

Galinda was seeking power for the sake of it, a person who got her way because she couldn't understand anything else. But Elphaba changed that and gave her a purpose for seeking to climb the ladder. I think Glinda believed she could make a difference from within the structure of Oz, probably to help Elphaba.

Glinda has got everything she theoretically wanted, but at the behest of the reason she was doing it, and now that she is here, she can't even initiate the change she wanted to change. Glinda made the wrong choice, and is only now realising it.

"We couldn't be happier

Right, dear?

Couldn't be happier

Right here

Look what we've got

A fairy-tale plot

Our very own happy ending."

If you are wondering why I've been leaving Glinda's monologues until the end, it is because they make my case for me, and make analysis rather difficult as a result. I have been saying over and over that this musical is about dreams and reality colliding, and that is explicitly stated in these verses.

The fact that there are two of these mirrors the two sides of Glinda's character. The first is the side that craves the attention and has got everything that she wants, then the song reminds her of Elphaba, and she tries again with a more nuanced perspective.

"Though it is, I admit

The tiniest bit

Unlike I anticipated

But I couldn't be happier

Simply couldn't be happier

Well - not simply

'Cause getting your dreams

It's strange, but it seems

A little, well, complicated"

This is literally what I've been saying. She's got what she wanted, but not in the way she wants. It's complicated, and that facade of hers is finally cracking.

That duality is mirrored by the time signature, which is maddening. The song oscillates between a ton of different signatures, and if someone with more musical knowledge understands anything more about this than me, please give me a hand.

From my, admittedly limited, understanding, this feels like a lack of surety. Glinda doesn't know what she wants or thinks anymore, so she can't decide what she is singing.

It also gives an incredibly informal tone, as the lack of structure matches how a person speaks, almost. There have been two characters who have distinct speech patterns in this musical, Madam Morrible, and Glinda. The script of both of whom is written in recurring patterns and rhythms, making up words to match the metre of their sentence. It's pompous and pseudointellectual.

This is most obvious in how smooth the start of Defying Gravity is. There, Glinda doesn't have to change how she talks to match the song, because she is already speaking in the right rhythm.

Cynthia Erivo's rendition of this song in PBS's Wicked In Concert is phenomenal and I highly recommend you check it out, not least of all because removing the crowd gives the song a completely different vibe.

But here, halfway through a song, she gives up with artfulness and just speaks her mind. It's still a song, so you still get the rhythms and melodies, but that is breaking down, and is gone in the script from this point forwards. That's partially why I say Glinda and Galinda are different people, they sound different to each other.

There are a few almost exceptions to this rule, and I say almost exceptions because they come really close to breaking the mould, but don't.

In this exception, Glinda is trying to convince herself that she is happy. The song is limited to one thought, the idea that Glinda should be happy, and there can't be anything wrong. She has got everything she wanted, and that would make her happy, right? Happy is what happens when all of your dreams... That's the word that throws her off, dreams.

This is no longer Glinda's dream.

This song is a microcosm of Glinda's entire arc in the musical. She follows the story laid out for her, but is changed by the journey until it no longer fits. She has changed, and now she can't do anything about it.

Ironically, Glinda has gained all the authority she could dream of, but she is more powerless and has less agency than she started with, and all of that happened without her notice.

"There's a kind of a sort of, cost

There's a couple of things get, lost

There are bridges you cross

You didn't know you crossed

Until you've crossed."

Final Thoughts

Genuinely, my favourite trope in a story is a character undergoing character development and not realising. For example, the "nobody's that heartless" line in The Emperor's New Groove.

But Glinda is my favourite example of this because of the way in which she reaches her conclusions. She is smart, possibly the most intelligent character in the entire musical, but her biases cause her to make some serious leaps of logic and ignore several things that would change her worldview until she runs headfirst into them.

Also, the stagecraft of this song is simple in order to not distract from Glinda's thoughts, but that means a lot of these photos are remarkably similar. I apologise for that.

Next week, I will be looking at Wonderful, and how it forms a neat little mirror of Sentimental Man, so stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

#rants #literary analysis #literature analysis #character analysis #what's so special about...?#glinda #glinda upland #wicked the musical #wicked musical #wicked #glinda the good witch #glinda wicked

37 notes · View notes

spicy-apple-pie · 5 months

Note

For your artists ask (if you’re still doing that) <3

7,8,9,11,15

agggh, you chose all the hard ones lol

7) Favourite works of all time excluding your own

This one is so hard because I have favourite artists, but not many favourite works. Plus, my favourite changes with every passing second but right now I would have to say this drawing of Damian with some birbies by @malenjoyer

I love this art style so much and HE'S SO CUTE

8) What do you like most about your own work

Gosh this is a hard one because I think as artists we're always thinking on whats wrong or how we can improve, but I would have to say the line art. It's my favourite part of the process and I like how much character I add to it, though I want to experiment with a more messier style.

9) What are you currently trying to improve

two things. My colour and my backgrounds. I struggle with picking out background colours that makes the foreground pop out or that just looks nice. And I think almost everyone can agree that backgrounds are hard and boring to draw. But it must be done.

11) Favourite comment you've ever received on your work

I have no idea. I love and cherish every comment on my work. Sometimes I just look through them when I'm feeling down. But my favourite right now is on my comic about Damian riding Batcow. They were basically info dumping about how riding cows isn't actually that great but I put Damian in the best spot to sit when riding. I felt so smart for that, even though I just guessed where someone would sit on a cow.

15) Biggest Art Pet Peeve

I don't have a lot of art pet peeves, more like artist pet peeves. Like those people that make those speed paint videos with the clip of markiplier going "jingle jingle" and slime videos to be like "ooooh you don't have the attention span to watch this speedpaint until the end oooooh you hate artists". I'm being hyperbolic, but I still scroll to spite them lol. But for an actual ART pet peeve, I don't like it when a character has soooo many accessories. tbf that's my personal taste, I still find the art lovely and I still admire those who put so many accessories on characters, if that makes sense??? Like that one post about the art teacher who gave a critique about a girls art telling her to make the teacher hate it? Idk I'm writing this past my bedtime so my brain is a little like mush right know. I also hate people bashing art styles. like the "calarts style" (don't get me started) or any other popular trends. Like dude, ever heard of art eras? Art goes through trends.

Thanks so much for the ask!! Hopefully this wasn't too rambley, I just like talking about stuff lol

#thanks for the ask!!#shut up spicy #ask game #anon ask #SEND ME MORE

53 notes · View notes

strxwbloody · 1 year

Text

GHOUL IN THE BOX | Ch. 1

TAGLIST : @izz3l @honeym0chi @lohsna @writersblockk @kthyg @thelazylemur @asahi-namikaze @addictedtohobi

Summary: Seoul has been invaded in recent years by ghouls, demons with humanoid features that feed on human flesh. The CCG has introduced a curfew for human citizens to avoid losing their skin. What happens when a girl finds herself in an underground pub in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Pairing: Ghoul SS+ Hoseok x Human Reader

Genre: Horror

Warnings:Just a murder

Rating: 18+ PLEASE MINORS DON'T INTERACT

Words: Short

"Another murder case, this time in the university area of Hongdae, human remains of a boy and a girl were found, most likely by a ghoul. But we’re not sure if there’s a ghoul behind it that’s causing panic these days. A ghoul yet to be identified and yet to be ascertained if it is a higher class category. The CCG will try to investigate the matter. As far as we know about the victims, they were a couple of 20-year-old college students found near a not-so-popular pub. The injuries are the usual signs of struggle, bites and mutilation of certain parts of the body. We offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of these young people. We recommend that you return soon-"

"Return soon to your homes etc.. etc..." sigh. "How many times have I heard it." You finally get bored by turning off the radio from the counter.

Each time it was so, various murders, bloodshed, carnage and frightened humans who had to return home early to avoid being eaten by these dreaded monsters and blah blah. Not to mention that now there was the new trend of this new "killer". Magnificent, simply magnificent.

Nothing surprises you anymore.

At the time there were no customers, just the background music of some random rock song that infuses in the store and yourself. You rejoiced at the thought of this moment finally, until you looked at the watch on your wrist.

18:13

In a few minutes, you could finally get home. Throw yourself in a hot shower that would soothe muscle pain, listen to music, read a good book, and eat the long-awaited boring noodles and cheap bibimbap you bought in the market on the other block. You admit that this routine had become boring, but what could you do? Until things got worse with these monsters, you couldn’t do much.

Hours were down for curfew, and salaries weren’t as good for work as yours. Of course, who bought CDs at 10:00 p.m.? Certainly no one, but you didn’t complain.

At least you earned money and set them aside out of necessity, without depending on anyone, especially an apprehensive person like your father.

But let’s put that aside.

Your thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell. You turn over distraught and exhausted. A sigh came out. "I'm sorry, I have to inform you that we are going to close- ISEUL? What the hell are you doing here?" You watched the newcomer break into the store, showing a 32-tooth smile.

Gosh, you should have put on sunscreen and a pair of sunglasses, blindingly. "Y/N! YOU WON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!" She screamed happily jumping to the counter. "Shh, keep your voice down, or he’ll kick our asses." You whispered, showing her the owner who looked at them, reading his stupid newspaper.

"Tsk!"

"Oh... well here I found these in the mailbox." She pulled out of the ticket bag. "So what?"

"Apparently it’s a private party, only a few people get it! And that’s for you!"

"Hey, who told you I was coming? And you know what my dad’s like... why don’t you go with your boyfriend instead?"

"That son of a bitch? Forget it, after what he did to me a week ago, leaving me for another girl." He clenched his fists, looking down.

Understanding your friend’s pain, you pat her on the back. "Okay, I’ll go with you." At that answer the good mood returned on her face. "For what day and what time?"

"Tonight!"

Open your eyes wide. "Tonight?! Iseul, you know there’s a curfew and my father will never let me out"

"I know, I know... but fuck Y/n, all you do is work so hard and you’re always barricaded at home. So you just neglect yourself! You deserve to have fun."

"What if my father finds out about me? Damn it, that day I refused to share the rent with you." You really love your dad, but you just can’t stand him.

"Do you realize that now?" She raises her eyebrow, mocking you.

"Are you done?" You slap her arm and make her laugh, already with the shoulder bag ready to get out of the store. "Mr. Yoo, I’m going home. I’ll see you on Monday." All I get is a "Mh!" And close the door, going out with your friend.

"Try to make up an excuse to come, do like in college, sneak out the window!" She delivers you the ticket. "Are you crazy, are you suggesting to kill myself?" Take a look at the piece of paper.

The schedule said the party would start at 10:30 and the place...

An unusual place for a party....

The old Hogupo subway station.

-----

I'M SO SORRY GUYS, I HAD A PROBLEM WITH CONNECTION AND TRANSLATION (Sorry I'm not english mother tongue :c) PLEASE FORGIVE ME. It's my first time that I write a ff, be patient I will promise you the chapters will be long🫶🥹

Bye

71 notes · View notes

after-witch · 7 months

Note

Okay, hold on because this?

You’re spitting nothing but facts. I’ve said this exact same thing on both of my previous blogs (not this one, not yet xmdkxkdnd) about how x reader just was not a thing in Ye Fandom of Olde. I don’t know if people really believe me or if I just sound like a hunch backed crone standing on her front porch waving her cane at the neighborhood kids, yelling at them to appreciate what they’ve got because back in my day … but it really was such an incredibly different landscape. There are certain aspects of it that I miss for sure and others I’m glad to leave in the past.

The completely random conversations between the author and the character(s) among them, GOD, the way that still activates every single one of my cringe reflexes. 😂 Actually my all time favorite fic had those for the first dozen or so chapters, but she thankfully left them in the fore and afterword, not haphazardly placed in the fic itself, so it was easy to ignore haha. I can laugh at it and maybe even look back at it fondly, but I don’t think I want that particular trend to make a comeback any time soon xmxmdnd

It’s kind of surreal in a way, finding someone who knows exactly what I’m talking about and sharing that mutual experience. I know there have to be more of us out there but I feel like a good chunk of them have probably moved on from anime fandom content so I’m very glad to have found you like this. 💕

I unfortunately got busy with one of my own projects yesterday and didn’t get a chance to read anymore of your stuff, but I’m really looking forward to diving in once I’m done. When I tell you I am 👀 eyeballing the hell out of your Sesshomaru fics cmdkxmdmd

Also, if I may ask, are you by any chance a fan of Yu Yu Hakusho? 🥹

"I don’t know if people really believe me or if I just sound like a hunch backed crone standing on her front porch waving her cane at the neighborhood kids, yelling at them to appreciate what they’ve got because back in my day … but it really was such an incredibly different landscape."

We can both be crones, in that case! But no, I completely get what you're saying. It was SO different. I am genuinely appreciative of the fact that "reader fic" is so popular and the distaste I see for it is mainly "it's clogging up the regular tags" rather than the absolute nastiness that used to be associated with any OCs or inkling of "hey I like these characters, wouldn't it be neat if they wanted me?"

OCs in general were considered taboo enough, but reader fic was just… not a "thing" back in the early 2000s, really, not in the style we know it today. When second person was used, it was usaully meant to be stylized (rather than today where the intent of second person is "reader fic," to pull the reader into the story in a different, visceral way) and second person fics would fall into the OC bucket.

Gosh on that note, I remember "Mary Sue Hunter" groups that would find any OCs on ye olde fanfiction.net and leave reviews with forms to determine how much of a "Mary Sue" someone's OC was.

If you were going to attempt an OC, it felt like you had to make them Super Super Boring and Normal and Ordinary and No Actual Characters Ever Fell in Love with Them (except maybe non-important side characters) in order to get people to leave you alone.

Not that there's anything wrong with writing characters who are ordinary but it rarely felt it was an organic decision from the authors, but rather a reflection of what was "okay" to write.

Fandom is so different now. As you said, there's some things I miss ("don't like, don't read" and "you're responsible for what you read" being the standard etiquette, for one...) but plenty that I don't, too.

Also, if I may ask, are you by any chance a fan of Yu Yu Hakusho?

Yessss. I love it. I have so many discarded OCs from my teenage years from YYH, they were all ridiculously self-indulgent ofc. I do want to at some point write a few yandere YYH characters, but I haven't gotten any inspiration for it yet.

#I have a lot of random old vs new fandom thoughts lol #like oldschool 2005-2010 kingdom hearts fandom could not exist today because of how attitudes towards writing certain characters has change #or how there sure were a LOT of teenage girls & women making anime fanpages with games that let you torture female characters to death

24 notes · View notes

bellybiologist · 2 months

Note

Oh yes, Laios is trending on Twitter. It doesn't help that people have calculated his BMI based on his official stats, and apparently he falls into the "overweight" category... And I would love to hear your "I hate Bakugou" rant if you ever have the time to write it down

I certainly imagine, with how Ryoko Kui draws him! (Also, since BMI is bupkiss and Laios is tall and muscular, it surprises me less, lol. Now if only I Could get off on BMI like other people could :P) and Gosh, it's been a while tbh! I can sum up my rants as these 3 points:

-Bakugou's entire friend-turned-bully-turned-classmate-he's-forced-to-DEAL-with relationship with Midoriya is fucked up and triggering to me personally. I don't see why the writer thought that was ANY attractive way to write a rivalry into a story. Like, imagine if a kid grew guns on his hands, is popular cuz of it, then threatens to kill you with them every day of middle school. Then keeps doing even after you worked hard to get your own guns because you're just destined to deal with his mental problems. Annoying and fucked up! -I went 3 whole seasons of the series watching him be annoying. People keep saying he gets better or stuff, but I've seen none of it onscreen so thats worthless and insufficient to me. He apparently gets better later, but by this point i had lost interest in BNHA after the STUPID rival fight season finale. -Bakugou's hair fucking SUCKs, and i HATE drawing it. (his biggest sin)

I honestly hoped he **SPOILERS** Stayed dead **/END SPOILERS but I already didnt respect the mangaka enough to commit to anything actually interesting (fridging him would've been the most interesting thing to me). It always almost seemed like he will, then doesn't, and this entitled blonde fuck really does just ruin my tolerance for the series and any character he regularly interacts with for me as a whole. 😏

#verzi rambles

11 notes · View notes

pawsitivevibe · 4 months

Text

I've been seeing a rise in popularity of sporting breeds (retrievers, pointers, spaniels, etc) in agility of late, and I think that's great. This all is probably a regional thing, as I imagine different breeds are more or less popular in different places, but this is what it's like for my area.

For agility, we see a lot of "phases" of breed or type popularity. Border Collies and Aussies are pretty much always popular, but other breeds fluctuate. For a few years, around when I first started, it seemed like EVERYONE was getting Shelties. The last few years, sport mixes like Border Paps and Border Whippets have been "the thing." And handlers have started preferring then smaller and smaller (Borderstaffywhippaps anyone?). Recently I've noticed a lot of German Short-Haired Pointers specifically, but also more Goldens and Labs and spaniels. I think this is great, as I personally think these breeds are generally a lot "easier" to live with for a lot of people than a Border Collie. And I personally know several people with herding breeds who probably would have been happier with Labs or spaniels. Like, they love their dogs, but uhhh ... Maybe the herdy behaviours aren't the best fit for them, and their dogs are "problem dogs" these days. I just think some handlers shouldn't necessarily jump to "I'll get a sport-line Australian Shepherd or a farm-bred Border Collie for my next agility dog!" I'd like to see more people say "you know what would be good for me? A Lab! They'll do well in agility too!" or "I want a small agility dog ... But let's get a Cocker Spaniel instead of a Sheltie."

Anyway. I know several people doing awesome stuff in agility with Labs specifically. I've had several Labs in my Hoopers classes lately (some of them happened to be the ones who are amazing in agility). I adore them. Labs are so cool! So many people - me included, once upon a time - think they're boring. But gosh the work ethic! The commitment! The food drive! The tankiness! We love. Hoping more people see these Labs doing awesome and get more agility Labs.

Spaniels I find are coming along a bit slower. But! Have seen more Springers coming into sports. More and more Cavaliers. Some Field Spaniels. I suspect we might be seeing a little boom in Wockers the next few years. Personally I intend to show off how great my English Cocker is at agility to push people along to spaniels lol.

Anyway ... Any trends in breed popularity you find interesting in your dog agility community?

#agility #dog agility

15 notes · View notes

averagewriter-inthedark · 2 years

Text

Being Best Friends w/ Alice Cullen🧸 | Twilight HC

Link to my Twilight masterlist

Being Best Friends w/ Alice Cullen would look like:

To starts, first of all, you two would be the most stylish people to walk the halls of Forks High School. I’m talking about serving looks. I ‘m talking setting trends. You both know how to take style to a whole other meaning.

Thrifting is a favorite hobby of yours. And sometimes you both find yourselves emotional whenever you come across something that was popular during the time period you grew up in, or your favorite decade to live in. “Oh my Gosh! I can’t believe I’m seeing this again! I remember when it first came out and I was first in line to get it.”

You more than likely met Alice shortly after you turned. Either the Cullens took you in, or you remained a nomad but continued to visit them a couple times a year.

Immediately you two were drawn to each other. Your personalities complimented each other and while you had a lot in common, you also had enough differences to feel like you weren’t the same person. Alice was definitely the more bubbly extroverted, while you were more reserved. Especially when it came to interacting with the humans in Forks.

Regardless of how you normally fed on blood, you would follow the rules Carlisle had in place during your visits.

You and Emmett get along really well, as with Rosalie. Jasper was a little hesitant—maybe because you threatened him if he ever hurt Alice, but eventually you two become great friends.

Esme loves when you visit because you’ll always help her whenever she decides to redecorate a new room in the house, or give input on whatever it is she’s designing.

Alice will take you to Port Angeles or Seattle to shop, even dragging Bella along against her will. You met Bella a handful of times, and each time you couldn’t help but laugh as Alice heaved her around like a doll to the shops while you tailed behind. “Alice, give the poor human a break.”

Halloween is the best time for you two. You love coming down so you guys can coordinate costumes. A lot of the times if you two watch a movie/show and love it then it will come up as an idea. For example, one year you two dressed up as Steve and Robin from season 3 of Stranger Things.

Oh and an honorable mention was when you forced Jasper to dress up as a ghost. Together you three did the popular ghost photo shoot trend. They turned out fabulous. (He also insisted he wear a cowboy hat with his.)

Whenever you two go hunting together there is always some sort of competition. It’s all in good fun though, until someone loses the bet. “There is no way in hell I’m scaling the Space Needle at three in the morning!” “Don’t be a sore loser, Y/n.”

To put it simple, you would give up your life for Alice. She is the equivalent of a platonic soulmate in your life. And you would do anything and everything, to make sure she had happiness in her life.

#alice cullen headcanon #alice cullen imagine #alice cullen x reader #alice cullen #twilight headcanon #twilight imagine #the twilight saga #platonic!reader

176 notes · View notes

quickdeaths · 2 months

Note

☢ What fads/trends are you so over?

❥ Has someone ever ruined an FC or character for you?

☀ What's your rp pet peeve?

☢ What fads/trends are you so over?

Gosh do I even know any trends, who is to say.

Colored text on dash. I know a lot of people are very taken with it, but differently colored dialogue between characters just reminds me of RPing on vBulletin forums in like 2007. I don't mind it on people's actual blogs, but something about it against the white space on the dashboard is just not aesthetically pleasing to me.

Group Promos/Those "RP Finder" blogs. Basically anything that clogs up the tumblr RP tags with people directing to discord groups or 1v1, for two reasons. One, I run a tight ship here and don't follow a bunch of people, so I use the tags to find new mutuals. Probably once or twice a month, minimum, I go trawling through various general and fandom rp tags to find partners, and those posts clutter up the search. Even worse, while you can block them so you don't see their posts, there's a problem with tumblr (functioning website that it is) where if a search returns too many blocked posts at the start, it'll just never load more, so I have to keep these blogs visible so I can get to the good stuff.

The other reason I dislike them is because they're just not a culture fit for what my idea of tumblr rp is. I don't like huge group RPs where there's an expectation on writing with people because you're in the same group, and I don't often like the RP culture of some other sites, or discord, where people often have existing plots they want you to write, or where OC/Canon "doubling" is expected. I don't like that being brought to tumblr, especially when it's taking up our tag functionality to funnel people off of the site anyway.

I don't know really what to call this one but I guess RP toxic positivity? I don't want to come down too hard on it, because I think everyone's hearts are in the right place, and I don't know if that's really the best term for it, but you know what I'm talking about if I describe it - those posts that are like "I don't care if you take a year to reply, real life is more important!" or "You don't owe anyone anything, your blog is your space!" or "RP is a hobby not a jobby, don't ever feel like you have to take is so seriously!" and things like that.

I think it's a good mindset to understand that writing on Tumblr is not the be-all, end-all of life, and to give yourself some grace about things, but I also think as a collaborative hobby, we do owe each other things. Investment, moderately quick replies when possible, putting in what we want to get out, etc. I think people should curate their space as they like, yes, but also be understanding of the fact that not everything works for everyone, and that's okay too, and people who want some amount of commitment or schedule aren't bad people, they just experience the hobby different.

❥ Has someone ever ruined an FC or character for you?

FCs, not really. Honestly, I don't use icons anymore most of the time, and I can never keep up with the rules around stuff, who "can" or "can't be" used, what's too popular, what's "stealing" someone else's FC. I do think it's funny when people make OCs that use like the most visible characters of the most visible series of the year or whatever, but honestly, I don't really mind either way.

Characters... not permanently, but maybe temporarily. If someone's portrayal really rubs me the wrong way - like, for example, a super comedic portrayal of a character that I connect with or relate to a lot and that I think has a lot of depth - I usually just don't engage with that portrayal long. What more sort of puts a character on ice for me, at least for some time, is when I've had a close interaction with someone, and for OOC reasons, there was a falling out.

In a couple of instances over my, like, 11? 12? years writing on this site, I've had a ship partner or someone who I was very close with, where we ended up falling out as friends for various reasons, and that does always put me in a complicated position. On the one hand, I love the characters they were writing for their existence in canon, but also a great deal of what those characters were to me was defined by the specific portrayals my friends were writing. It would feel weird to move on and pretend those portrayals hadn't meant something to me, even if the friendship was over, and I didn't feel good about finding a new person who wrote that character quickly. Even connecting with the character in the original media felt kind of tinted a certain way, so I put those characters on the shelf for a little while, until some feelings had faded and it felt good to go back to them, whether that was the original material or someone else's portrayal, instead of bittersweet and complicated.

☀ What's your rp pet peeve?

Already answered!

But I will give you a bonus one anyway that we're both very aware of hahaha. People who treat OCs/female muses/female OCs, and their writers, badly. There's a feeling that those characters need to prove that they're worthy of people caring about them, while whatever hot hunky anime guy is in the flavor of the month anime deserves attention just for existing (I am thinking of a Specific Anime Man but y'all will never guess who). Another frustrating wrinkle is that tons of people acknowledge this is a thing that exists, and will lament it as it affects their own characters, and then immediately ignore it when it comes to who they're interested in.

In my many travels, I've encountered people who will write female OCs and make long, sad posts about how no one gives female characters/OCs a chance, and then their own blog is entirely their character interacting with male canons, so in that sense, the little secondary pet peeve here is people who do not practice what they preach on this kinda thing. That will never be me I am an irl girlkisser and girlenjoyer, give me your girls, female muses to the front of the line my characters would like to be your characters' friends and/or rivals and/or deeply complicated emotional and romantic-coded friendship that ends in the most devastating friendship over breakup ever and then who knows

#answered memes #thanks for the ask!#morethanaprincess #i am a queen of salt

3 notes · View notes

katyspersonal · 1 year

Note

ALRIGHT LET’S TALK ABOUT BLUBBORNE!!

Here are a list of things to choose from <3

Chat about Logarius or Alfred!!

Ideas for Bloodborne 2 👀

What do you think about Hemwick being connected to Cainhurst?

Talk about Gilbert!! I never get to see you chat about him! Lil guy!

Ideas on Arianna’s backstory!

Ideas on Adella’s backstory!

What would a Discord with the original Byrgenwerth scholar gang look like?? xD

—

Choose one or all! It’s up to you!! <3

Oh my GOSH fjdhfds Good to know you all headed my warning to never give me a choice because I answer EVERYTHING, huh -_- xD But in all seriousness though, these topics just happen to be those I do not have 20 pages essay ready for, so my answers will be short(ish) and I think I can discuss all this stuff in compact manner!

Chat about Logarius or Alfred!!

Well, they're complicated characters for me. You know I am physically unable to 'hate' a fictional character because no matter what they did, they aren't real and can't hurt me and if all else fails they exist to make the story better. But because of some events and reflection on life and society, these two in particular put a pit in my stomach on the notion of being trademark catholic-coded purists. There are so many things that can be speculated about complexity of Laurence's or Adrich's situations, but these guys feel pretty plain for me? The black-white thinking bastards that got so tempted with the idea of abolishing all evil that it made them ruthless, blind to nuances and purist that can't see how they become the REAL evil in the end.

I think Logarius/Rogeriusz is fairly underrated though and it cannot be blamed on him being unlikeable from moral standpoint, because we've all seen how popular Alfred is despite graphically killing a defenceless woman! But Logarius has a lot to like as a villain - he is noticeably tall and menacing, he was a powerful leader figure in Healing Church like Ludwig, he has a lot of mystery to his character as to why he uses Pthumerian magic and shares theme with Queen Yharnam (and as follows, why would he turn against a kindred clan/bloodline?), and what he discovered that made him gatekeep it? Besides, there is a translation mistake calling an item 'Skull of a Saint' something else - 'Sage's Hair', and when I discovered the proper description ( x ), I realised there is a big implication that following Healing Church's saints were wearing crowns after his raid on Cainhurst - both to honor him and to boast about having thrown the local monarchy!

This is just very odd that Logarius was a pioneer of the delusion about exterminating 'impurity', and managed to hit da briks before he became hated and showed true nature of his pursuit - unlike poor Ludwig that presumably had better intentions and less freedom to see through WHAT was guiding him, yet fought long enough to become accursed by everyone. It is UNFAIR. But Logarius is such an important element in the system, as a trend-setter rather than people brainwashed into following Church's agenda! Willem is never addressed for messing with unknown too, Logarius is never addressed for being ideal inspirer of hate and murder... Guess the REAL martyr here is Laurence every time! xD

Alfred is also a hard one for me, as for someone from the country that actively fabricates history facts, encourages distrust to outer information and ignorance, and just straight up lies with agenda. Like, sure, I am familiar with how easy average person can fall for a narrative - and how easy it is to discourage any skepticism and critical thinking before it formed. If anything, I pity him.

But I've grown to feel even more tense about this character when I reflected on the fact that he is SO eager to exterminate the 'enemy' that he goes after ones who can't even CAUSE any harm (he wants to kill Annalise who is absolutely defeated and defenceless, and he is the only summon in Old Yharnam where beasts that won't go outside live). There is a difference between trying to protect people from the possible threats (since whether vilebloods DO have cursed magic effect is up to interpretation) and "cleansing" the world from anyone affiliated Just Because. I've been doing Adella dirty for a long time calling her 'female Alfred' and I had since took it back because she at least gives Arianna a 'chance' as long as she doesn't share her blood that Adella's religion forbids. Not even one - she did the "three strikes and you're out"! Alfred is ruthless tho, in a very uncomfortable way, but it took me some unpleasant experiences to SEE truth about him. I think that no matter how far up you are in a religion, but whether you have a braincell to extend minimal reasoning about WHY you are fighting the 'bad guys' is on the individual and not on the source of this brainwashing, and Alfred fails this test.

That being said, he is still an interesting character, and I really love his unique appearance! His nose is a whole BEAK xD /pos I also headcanon that Alfred never met Logarius in person and his bond with him is parasocial, based on admiring the great person of the past upon feeling like he 'knows' him! The same applies for my versions of Amelia/Emilia and Laurence!

The rest of the topics are going under cut!

Ideas for Bloodborne 2 👀

Honestly, I think the best one I've seen executing the concept was HollarityArt in their contribution for Vaati's Bloodborne 2 concepts contest! Here is the link on Twit with their concepts: ( x ).

I have very little ideas on this but I agree that part 2 would be the best placed in sea/ocean setting! But the MOST tricky thing about the sequel would be that one of the potential Bloodborne endings is our Hunter becoming the new Great One that governs the cycle, instead of Flora. And another one is them replacing Gehrman. So the sequel must deal with addressing how no matter WHICH ending player had in Bloodborne, it didn't matter! Basically, something should happen with Hunter's Dream or the current Moon Presence that would leave any ending still palatable. So, addressing the current 'queen' Great One would result in the cycle still ongoing (aka our Hunter as Great One inflicting the same cycle, so it is not possible to pin whether Flora is still active or Hunter is). And, sure, for some reason, the Hunter's Dream is broken, just so we could not see our Hunter from previous game. This is extremely depressing, but feels in the spirit of From's games.

What From would need to do with Bloodborne 2 is to add information that doesn't quite confirm or deny exist fan theories, but instead adds more to WORK with! And creates MORE questions. So, reveal extra details about what we see in Bloodborne, but in a way that didn't answer the question. As in 'yeah there was a Great One counterpart for Flora', 'yeah there was someone in Isz that did birth Ebrietas as little celestial larvae many centuries ago, here is her statue and nothing else', 'yeah look at the ruins of the waking world version of Fishing Hamlet' etc. Some characters I think should reappear but in a way that feels expected while also not REALLY telling us anything new. So, Queen Yharnam not in the wedding dress, Gehrman functioning like his hunter self (like I said, Hunter's Dream should get broken), Maria having her recollected memory from when she was a caretaker of Research Hall, Adeline in a Kin form somewhere in a secret nook of Sea location (presume she ascended with or without Paleblood Hunter).

I like the idea that Yharnam in the sequel is a ghost town that has no messenger lamps or huntsmen, only rare NPCs and enemies who are largely people and/or Kin of the type we haven't seen before. Yharnam would have a bigger layout that makes much more sense geographically, some buildings and areas would look notably different if not more civilised. So that'd return the question whether Yharnam we play in even WAS real or this sequel Yharnam simply the same but changed from the last time, so people can argue whether this Yharnam is "real" and not "dreamed" one or developers simply improved their mapping and designing skills xD Maria would be able to travel there with us by waking up in the body of the Doll that still stayed in Old Workshop, and many people in Yharnam would act hostile towards both her and the player; later in the plot turns out that Hunter's Dream breaking was the result of external powers, and roaming people and unfamiliar Kin work together and target to remove the traces of influence from Stars and Moon! They'd be more alien Kin that urged to help with grasp of Flora and Fauna had on the Earth and its mortals, but in reality more or less want to establish their order. But protesting them would restart the cycle of vices of humanity, so... yeah, again, the game would be depressing and point out how there is no choice, only diverse ways to suck.

I also think the next game should extend beyond Yharnam, and using a ship to travel between locations would be a cool idea! Maybe getting to visit Valtr's home, or whatever Loran is now. @val-of-the-north had an idea that there is a legit country known as New Loran, but it would reveal more about history and heritage than just a bunch of electric beasts and sand. If I try to describe more concepts I might get really sucked into this swamp, so I'll leave it be here, but meeting relatives of some characters we've known would be great too! I always have this image in my head about Valtr's niece that heard he chased some monster and never came back, so we meet her when she is an adult that wanted to investigate on the mystery of her uncle. Also learning more about the fuckery Micolash and Laurence did do in the past through item descriptions; again, in a way that actually doesn't disrupt anything, more like 'well we already knew they had to commit a lot of crimes, we just now know the details'. The war criminals are still here in spirit! xD

What do you think about Hemwick being connected to Cainhurst?

Well, I said that sometime before, but I do think that both Cainhurst nobles and Hemwick are mixed human+pthumerian (and sometimes just human) descendants that preserved a lot of practices from ancient Pthumerian civilisations... and matriarchal traditions, too. They have different practices, as Vilebloods use blood magic and consume blood for power, whereas Witches use magical binding rituals, necromancy and disturbing tools as well. Ironic that they had 'Blood vs Eyes' conflict of Blood vs Arcane Healing Church factions before it was cool, don't you think?

Yharnam used to be monarchy but so many foreigners and neighbouring cities rubbed in on the area, that they became practically equal with higher class Yharnam citizens, and had to count people like Willem as equal. Maybe if Healing Church didn't form so swiftly, Yharnam would never have a mayor. But yeah, basically, Witches were something of peasants in relation to Cainhurst nobles. But they cooperated enough, and Witches would often offer medical help to the nobles who entered trouble with the curse living within their blood, or struggled to control pyromancy upon first periods. Witches maybe lived in poverty and dirt without much convenience, down to having to pay taxes TO Cainhurst, but they have unspoken knowledge within themselves that they are, in fact, superior to the nobles, as they have better grasp on the arcane secrets and are waaaaay less helpless before supernatural. I believe Iosefka and Fauxsefka are from Cainhurst, and Witches were how Iosefka studied ways to purify the blood from Frenzy + Beasthood inducing effects. Why that practice never picked up? Because we live in a society, indeed.

Talk about Gilbert!! I never get to see you chat about him! Lil guy!

Ahhhh right! I just didn't have much reason I guess? I do have a face design for him, that features some facial skewing like many Yharnamites have!

Like his beasthood form suggests, he was afflicted with Ashen Blood, which I believe was not a planned action but an honest mistake by using the blood of a poisoned beast (Blood-Starved Beast crucified in Old Yharnam). However, back in the day where Yharnam was not quarantined away from the rest of the world (to the point you are not supposed to SURVIVE being there if you never had holy blood transfusion), there were plenty of people picking stuff up and illegally selling it abroad. @val-of-the-north has an idea that Valtr and his friends caught one of such groups, just when one of them transformed into a beast upon getting too much of his own "medicine" and I stealeded it xD

But Gilbert I think was a victim of one of such things, contracting Ashen Blood by consuming a poisoned "medicine". He never was able to connect the dots between getting worse after it as someone who already had his own illnesses. The more I learn about Victorian era, the more I realise how shockingly ignorant they were about medicine. I mean, they were having mercury pills for god knows how long! So, yeah, he saught Yharnam, and naturally had his strange sympthomes sustained by consuming the blood as someone who got beasthood 'activated'.

I like to think that he used to be a hatter, and it WAS what made him sick initially; they were number 1 victims for mercury poisoning, because of the materials used in their craft. However, it were not just hats that he could do well, and after arriving in Yharnam, he gladly worked to produce more clothes, sewing mostly Yharnam Hunter garbs obsessively! And is one of the rarest people who met Ludwig in person and is still around AND sane! Hence how he had his Flamethrower - the Healing Church shared one with him to help him to self-defend. But, he was out of use and got too sick before he got to kill even one. Being bedridden, he used to read books a lot, until his eyesight got afflicted too (apparently beasthood attacks the eyes the most), so he mostly entertains himself with fantasies and reciting memories.

Ideas on Arianna’s backstory!

Heh, like I said already, I love the idea that her mother ran with her from Cainhurst when Arianna was still a baby, so she never GOT to know the noble life. But, she did inherit her mother's noble dress, and vague idea about their blood being special enough to offer to the hunters. I entertain the idea that Alfred was Arianna's brother but had to be abandoned since he was older and their mother could only care for one child in the hard situation, but it is up in the air.

In either case, Arianna's mother died soon(ish), most likely from violent death. But instead of some Church fanatic killing her in "righteous" wrath, it was that her mother went insane unable to consume queen's blood or find any management for it, so she, like... had Vileblood version of becoming blood-drunk and was shot before she transformed into a bloodlicker completely. When she was about to turn on her own daughter to drink her blood dry, no less! The hunter that saved Arianna was Henryk, who picked every other orphaned child under his protection because he was aware Choir takes orphans and they are never seen again. I swear, at least once Choir had to confront him about whether his children are all 'really' his, and Valtr had to wear a dress and pretend to be their biological bother dsjfhdsfdsh

But for the most part he was not able to properly care for his adopted babies; Viola was exceptional case that stayed close enough. Most of the orphans under his protection were wandering around looking for their purpose, and Arianna was like this. She clinged to Crow of Cainhurst, trusting him as the only remaining hook with her Cainhurst past, but he did not feel qualified or interested enough to play a dad for her - something he regretted upon meeting Arianna again years later and seeing WHAT she has to do to survive.

I also think that Arianna reacting on female Hunter differently is not a homophobia (?) internalised in Yharnam, but remains of her mom teaching her that women are "superior"; she speaks from the standpoint that she doesn't pity men all that much, but would dread to 'dirty' a woman with something as questionable as a loveless sex. It is not something beyond her that men will be like animals, but she feels inferior compared to other women, and it really gets to her.

Ideas on Adella’s backstory!

Likewise an orphaned person. When she reached puberty, she was this 👌 close to attempting to sell her body, like Arianna, before she managed to get herself a place in the Healing Church. It happened on the rift when Choir fell from uhhh... "grace"?, as well as the daughter of the current Vicar, Norbert/Herbert, turned into a celestial kin together with the children she was overseeing there. As result, he was compensating by picking up every other child/teenager and raising them within the Healing Church's walls like an actually good dad figure. He saw how Adella was doing and basically dragged her in (punching the old bastard that did want to use her on the way).

The decision to become a Blood Saint and not just part of the staff was her own, though; she bought the narrative about hunters being brave and protecting people while it was choking out its dying breaths but still existing. So, she wanted to help people.

Localisation slightly messed this up, by making it sound as though Adella has severe insecurities regarding the quality of her blood, but that's not quite the case:

Whereas the religious 'we all must admit we are sinful by nature and should bash ourselves all of our lives' vibe might apply, within the original context it seems to be that she is insecure about having to do it in 'battlefield' conditions rather than in the setting of great religious reverence it SHOULD be. Like, all she does is extracts her own blood in a vial. She only talks with us in Yahar'gul if we convince her we are Healing Church staff too; so, she still thinks we ARE one of their hunters. It seems like internal Healing Church rules about 'proper' blood sharing are what makes her feel "vulgar", not her blood overall.

Adella mentions a friend she could possibly turn to during the night of the hunt if we refuse to tell her of the safe place, and I made it be a person you pick black church garb from in the alley where Arianna is. It is a shrodinger character, of course, because it is a gendered set, but I default all sets to 'male' because default Paleblood Hunter is some guy with grey hair and I love using this as "official" option! The window NPCs in this area mention "thanking" the Church in a rather passive-aggressive and fake manner, that makes me feel like the guy was killed here out of spite. I think he is Adella's EX that she still keeps clinging to, and... well, he was in this area because he wanted to help Arianna by telling her of a safe place, as he had a bad feeling about this night. Again, irony.

What would a Discord with the original Byrgenwerth scholar gang look like?? xD

Pfffft you mean if they made a small group Discord server for familiar people only? Laurence would be a moderator, that nobody asked for, because it is a small (mostly) closed Discord group and not an official server... But he'd insist on bringing some discipline and civility anyway.

Server would have expected standard channels for drawings, research notes, general chat, jokes/memes, debates, Rom's (daily) pictures of the bugs and spiders, vent and announcements... Except, they would have to create more and more debate channels all the time, because every time it'd be either Caryll and Laurence, or Micolash and Julie cluttering the debate channel so much and refusing to stop. xD Like, they'd have to spawn new debate channels just so other people could have a talk too sdfhhdfds

Damian would share health / self-care advices regularly, like "don't forget to hydrate!" or "10 advices to avoid studying burn out!" and tell others to stay safe and not overwork. Unfortunately, nobody follows his advices. He also always answers everyone in vent channel.

Rom tends to overwhelm any channel when she is online by spamming whatever she is thinking about, but nobody tries to stop her because she tends to accidentally drop something useful, like a solution to the homework, or a significant breakthrough. They have a locked channel accessible for everyone except for Rom and Yurie/Julie, where they discuss Rom's ramblings as they happen and decide what to take from her without credit :(

Micolash sometimes has mad ramblings, similar to Rom but HIS are unhinged and genuinely creepy and disturbing. They have a locked channel accessible for everyone except for Micolash, Damian and Rom, where they laugh at his wording or mock how weird he is :(

Patches is only active in the server to promote the shit he's selling or questionable links, but if anyone gets scammed and calls him out on the server, he gaslights them that he did them all a favour and showed with a concrete example how important it is to know basics of the internet safety xD And might accept their apology for getting mad at him, if he's feeling nice fhshfdhsfds

Thank you for asking! It was a trip dshfhds

#bloodborne #ask replies #bloodborne headcanons #multi character post #i don't even know what else to say ahahahah #you probably know the root of what really made me feel uneasy about alfred so #yet again the point proven that the more bad experiences you had the better you can understand bloodborne lore #but yeah logarius is always ignored like willem #let laurence share guilt with willem and logarius you cowards!!!!!#damn i got some insight about adella during answering it though.... good for her #points of interest about adella when???#fun fact: tho i described the sequel as barebones i actually base it off the impression i had in a dream once #also in that dream maria had somewhat of a grudge towards gehrman #like he was stalking her from around the corner anime yandere style and i was like hey who is following you #and she was like 'probably nobody important'#the same dream where rom was pregnant from SIMON for SOME fucking reason #but i would never recommend the sequel to face reveal previously mysterious characters so yeah....#ironic that my brain paired protector of the secrets and seeker of the secrets ahahaha

23 notes · View notes

zenaidamacrouras1 · 10 months

Note

Oooh, ask game! I am also looking for distractions, yet cannot focus enough to get absorbed in anything, so let's go! (Obviously only answer as much or as little of this as you feel like):

I feel like I've read your answers to most of the actual asks before. Maybe not 🪄?

I'd love to request Bishova ficlets, but have no prompts to offer.

You mentioned reading up on experiences of recognizing one's orientation later in life - were there any stories that especially stayed with you, or any common threads that surprised you?

What to share any thoughts on Becca's post-US life?

Yes after I posted it I realized I may have posted it already. And yay distractions!

what is your post-writing/sharing aftercare? How do you take care of yourself or celebrate yourself when you've finished a fic?

Oh my gosh. Well Unpredictable Synchronicity has been my most popular fic by far so reading the comments and replying has been a nice way to fill their weirdness. It's definitely a big nervous energy! I do write my author's notes with random reflections and try to be reflect in how I grew with the fic.

You mentioned reading up on experiences of recognizing one's orientation later in life - were there any stories that especially stayed with you, or any common threads that surprised you?

This won't surprise anyone but there is a lot of shame around virginity which is awful. I was a bit of a late bloomer and didn't kiss anyone till my second semester of college (and then got mono/Epstein Barr from the first person I kissed, fucking classic) and I was very anxious about my sexual inexperience to the point that I had panic attacks (this was in a soup with US Evangelical Purity culture which I am a survivor of that - like 1. Why haven't I had sexual experiences am I unlovable and 2. If I have sexual experiences I am an unlovable monster)(lalala).

So I really like exploring virginity in my fics because it is so vulnerable and it's a lovely fun thing to write first times. The thing I learned when I was in my sluttier phase is that some people are better at kissing and sex than others and experience is not always a factor in that. ANYWAY! That's not what you asked.

So my favorite stories where very much like Steve's which were like "I never really let myself think about sex for (life reasons and/or because I was queer) and then I started yearning for it and was really nervous and now I feel really good about my sex life" - some of these people were 30 or 40 or 50 or 60 etc when they acknowledged that part of themselves, which is both very sad because usually it's because they were queer and closeted but also lovely they found this new source of joy! That's what I was looking for - examples of people who had for various reasons ignored their sexuality because that's how I pictured Steve and I wanted to see first hand examples of that.

I didn't want it to be like Bucky was so handsome he magically gave Steve a sexuality but more like Steve is finally in a place where he can go to a hierarchy of needs beyond survival, and also in a place where he can be more subconsciously comfortable acknowledging that he finds men attractive, and he starts to be curious about the sexual side of himself.

So to make sure I wasn't falling into that cliche I wanted to read about real people who had a similar arc.

Bucky is coincidentally nearby and very interesting to Steve as he starts to slowly realize his body maybe isn't just for fighting Nazis. I think if Bucky hadn't turned up Steve would have dated someone else and still come out of the closet because he was going down that rabbit hole.

Another trend is I wish more people had the asexual label available to them as many stories to me read as Ace (aka lots of stories like I am 40 and never had sex and honestly don't care or want to am I broken? No you aren't!). Like we need to acknowledge that sex is not the only interesting thing in life and it's really normal if people don't do it or rarely do.

Another trend is obviously lookism, and people saying they aren't conventionally attractive enough to attract a partner which is a whole thing I want to acknowledge but don't have the spoons to write about because waaaahhh the world sucks.

A last trend is sexual trauma. I have a friend who had a lot of severe sexual trauma and no interest in sex. Her first husband was asexual which was a great fit for her. But they divorced and now she is trying to find her place in that and her sexuality with a new partner who she is shocked to realize she wants to have sex with in her early 40s but her body is also terrified of sex so it's a whole thing.

Anyway, to me sex is like food. People build shrines to food and get really into it, and honestly I do not know why it's so boring. I fucking hate cooking and find eating a chore. Except when I don't. I occasionally enjoy a really good meal. I love Thai but don't really feel sad if I go a year without eating it.

So that is seen as fairly normal re: food, but people who feel a similar ambivalence towards sex are seen as really missing out and I think that is dumb.

This is a VERY long way of answering your question but those were some of the themes.

What to share any thoughts on Becca's post-US life?

I think Becca stays single for a long time. I kept trying to imagine her with different partners and none of them stuck. She has a great career and awesome friends and she and Bucky stay roommates and Bucky and Steve split their time between the Tower and Bucky's house for pretty much forever.

#writer ask game #writer thoughts #writer asks #Ask games #zenaida talks (too much)#Sex is very complicated

11 notes · View notes