#lower names are what they call each other and upper names are given to them by their dads

[cosmicdenro]

this place is all about thsc for a while now but am trying to draw something not thsc because i've been having a hard time drawing anything else, my hands refuse to draw something that's not copperright or other fave sticks help help anyway chrysoberyl brothers i did yesterday for sibling day (belong to my gf and i aheehee)

#lower names are what they call each other and upper names are given to them by their dads #scriboozles #gem ocs #chrysoberyls #su #steven universe

[fadingdaggerr]

Can you make a fic based on my two fav melissa schementti fantasies

melissa calling reader by pet names and making them completely flustered x melissa making reader jealous on purpose

basically all this happens before they date/confess

and when melissa has had enough of reader not making any moves and hiding from her, melissa takes charge and ends up making out w reader.

i know this is a little difficult to write but tysm i really love ur fics 😭🫶🫶

wishful thinking

pairing: melissa schemmenti x gn!reader

summary: request above!

warnings/includes: ridiculously clueless!r and a not clueless mel, gary but only for plot purposes, making out

translations: gioia (joy/happiness), tesoro (darling/treasure), gavone (pig/slob)

note: i’m so sorry i haven’t been active. i’ve been dealing with a lot the last few months and haven’t had even a second to breathe. better note at the end <3

Melissa would never admit to anyone how much she liked the effect she had on you. She loved to watch your head duck down nervously when she complimented you or guided you along with a hand on your lower back. Every single time she left the light tremor of your body, but not once did she mention it. You were glad she couldn’t feel your heartbeat the moment her attention was on you.

—

The first time she noticed it changed her entire perspective on you.

Melissa wasn’t the kind to talk to the new hires, the turnover rates at Abbott were laughable and they never stayed more than a couple of months. But after a few months, she started to pay attention. Over time, she got to see just how much you really cared for the kids. She had stopped by to ask if you had an extra purple whiteboard marker, but she was met with the sight of you kneeling in front of one of your students, big, sad tears in her eyes. She could just barely hear the mutterings of I know it hurts sweetie and the one that made a little smile cross her lips, of course I have shark band-aids, what am i? A chump? She sees you start to stand to grab the bandage and decides to move now before she gets caught staring.

Right as she steps close to you, you rise and spin around. Your action staggers as you notice her form too late, and nearly falling as you try to avoid running into her, nearly. Strong hands grasp your upper arms, saving you from landing flat on your ass.

Your head tilts up to face her, finally registering that it was Melissa. It takes you a second to breathe before you let out a little, “thank you.”

“Of course, hon. My fault anyways,” she says with a small smile. There’s an almost too long pause before she realizes her hands are still on your arms, dropping them immediately to fold them across her chest. You’re almost in a daze just looking at her, but you have to keep up appearances.

“Did you need something?” You say with a soft smile. Melissa noticed how your eyes never left hers for a second after she called you hon, she also thinks that you’d never looked her in the eyes before then. It had never gone unnoticed that you always looked at her bangs or the frame of her glasses whenever you’d spoken before.

Interesting... Melissa thinks to herself.

—

And then Melissa began to see a pattern.

You’d given her the extra dollar she needed for her iced tea, four quarters stacked tails-up in front of her. She didn’t ask anyone, only sighed when she checked her purse.

“Thanks sweetheart,” Melissa said without really thinking.

Your eyes widen for a fraction of a second before you catch yourself, accompanied by a quick inhale. Licking your lips and averting your eyes from her, you quietly say, “yeah. of course, anytime.”

Barbara must notice Melissa’s intrigue suddenly and speaks up, “dear, why don’t you come sit with us? I don’t think we’ve gotten a chance to know each other just yet.”

This marked the start of yours and Melissa’s friendship.

—

“You got plans Saturday?” Melissa says as she pours a cup of coffee into her Tucci mug.

You look up from your phone and take a breath in, “I have lunch with my cousin at noon, but I’m free later on. Why, what do you have planned?”

“That flea market’s coming back around, the one with the good antiques and the petting zoo,” you almost speak but she cuts you off, “oh, and that apple cider you liked.”

You smile at her remembering that detail before responding, “yeah, that sounds perfect. I can text you when I leave the diner.” Your voice thankfully doesn’t seem to give away how nervous you were trying not to seem. You take a sip from your mug to hide yourself for a moment.

“Great. I’m looking forward to it, babe,” she says through a sip of her own coffee. She stays just long enough to watch you nearly choke on your tea, and then slips out to walk to her classroom with a satisfied smirk on her face.

—

At the development week meeting, she turned to see you looking around for a place to sit. When you miss her wave to get your attention, she decides to yell your name across the gymnasium to get you to look in her direction. Your head whips her way, a grateful smile on your face when you see her waving you over. She decidedly loves the shy smile that was reserved for only her.

Stepping over nurse Makiah to get to the free seat, you finally plop down next to the redhead. Something possesses Melissa and her arm moves on its own to rest across the back of your seat, hand resting on your arm. She feels you stiffen for a moment, almost thinking she’d overstep, but you relax into her touch.

“You didn’t have to save me a seat. These are prime real estate to bleacher-leaners,” you mumble to her as one of the eighth grade teachers goes on about something that wasn’t as important as her fingers tracing little patterns over your shirt.

Melissa chuckles lightly, squeezing your shoulder lightly. She leans in to answer, “but then I wouldn’t have you sitting here, tesoro.” Your eyes go to your lap as you fail to hide the smile from her words, making the redhead’s heart rate pick up.

“You’re too nice to me, Schemmenti,” you say as you lift your head, with what little courage you have, to look at her and smile, leaning into her for a second.

—

Then an idea struck Melissa

Tuesday was vending machine restock day. Tuesday was your new least favorite day of the week. Totally unrelated.

Gary, the vending machine guy, had started a habit of flirting with Melissa. He started with giving her a free iced tea straight from the truck, and then chatting, then complimenting, and then just straight up checking her out with no shame. Every time he entered the room, your voice died in your throat, and your eyes stayed trained on him with a special kind of hatred. You were at least thankful Melissa hadn’t noticed the rage you felt when he had a conversation with her breasts. Melissa, in fact, did notice.

She watched how you stared daggers into his back as he spoke to her, completely unaware of her attention flicking to you every now and then. Your fork angrily stabbed at the lunch she’d brought you, not a single bite being taken since the vendor walked in the door. The more forward Gary got, the quieter and angrier you became. Once he left and Melissa’s focus went back to you entirely, as it always was, your shoulders relaxed and the assault on the pasta stopped.

Melissa decides she has a theory to test. She plays into Gary’s flirting some more, enough that the man is clearly picking up on it, and your hand stills. By the third week, Barbara is begging her to go on a date with the man.

“Girl, he likes you. You should give it a shot, he’s a nice man. Handsome too,” Barbara says with enthusiasm. Your eyes roll as you look at your phone, trying to tune out this conversation. Your resolve cracks a little when Ava mumbles that’s generous in response to Barbara’s comment, a tiny chuckle espacing you.

The kindergarten teacher nudges your hand, “don’t you think she should go for it?”

You struggle with trying to not just flat out say no so instead you settle with, “yeah. Gary seems really nice.” The thin smile on your face is unconvincing to both women, and it’s easy to read on both their faces. You quickly grab your stuff and stand, “I’m gonna head back to my room and pass out their math quizzes. I’ll see you later.”

Once the door closes behind you, Barbara looks at Melissa, “what was that?”

Melissa just shrugs, feigning obliviousness.

When Gary finally gets the nerve to ask her out, she laughs and agrees. You think the gods above must have it out for you, not letting you escape any interaction between the two. The fork in your hand just stabs harder at the food in the tupperware. After watching with a tinge of regret, Melissa finally speaks up.

“You alright over there, gioia?” She asks, her voice filled with real concern. You look at her for a moment, considering what to say, but settle with a nod. When your gaze drops again, you miss her lips dipping into a small frown.

—

Monday morning after the big date, you realize that being in the lounge was a mistake. You should have known to go straight to your classroom, but the need to see Melissa overrode your actions.

As you walked in, everyone was facing Melissa and asking her about every little detail of the date. Where’d they go? Was the food good? Did he offer to pay it all or ask to split the bill? What did she wear? She gives them all they want to hear, and only Ava asks what you didn’t want to know.

“Cut the bull. Did you let him hit or not?”

A chorus of AVA! goes around the room.

The redhead just sighs before answering, “why did you say it like that? And no, I did not ‘let him hit,’ Ava.” You hate that some tension leaves your shoulders after that. The rest of the time is spent with your eyes trained at the floor and ringing in your ears.

Melissa regrets her idea a lot more when she stops seeing your smile altogether and your eyes stop meeting hers.

—

She finally snaps.

Janine had planned to make a whole outing for the Abbott crew, inviting everyone out to a new arcade-bar that Erica had told her about. She’d told Melissa that she should invite Gary, saying that everyone wanted to meet him in a social setting and not just in the ten minutes he was in the school every Tuesday. Inviting Gary couldn’t hurt, she reasoned.

Gary’s phone went to voicemail for the fifth time and all eight of her texts were unanswered. He said he would come, that he wanted to meet everyone for real, but now he was a no show. Melissa felt like a teenager again, getting stood up by her date to homecoming while she waited outside for him. She turned to walk back in, almost running into you as you were coming to check on her.

“Everything alright?” You ask, knowing the answer already since she can’t hide her emotions well when she’s upset.

She huffs a laugh, “peachy. Jackass said he would be here almost an hour ago and won’t return my calls or anything.”

“Want me to beat him up for you?” You ask jokingly, but there’s a certain hope she’ll say yes that sits in your chest. Your heart almost can’t handle it when she smiles at your words, arm looping with yours as she drags you to the pinball machines.

You’d probably lost a student-loan payment in quarters by the time either of you had even won a single game you played. In the course of two hours, both of you had only managed to get a collective hundred tickets that could maybe win you each an eraser. Melissa pretends to not notice you cheating in the driving games, and you pretend not to notice her taking quarters from your cup.

You watch an equally competitive Ava and Melissa play a scary-good match of air hockey, each of them likely to have bruises on their knuckles by the end of the night from how hard they played. Each time she scored, the redhead’s eyes moved to you for approval, and each time she’s met with a little applause and smile from you.

“Wasn’t your man supposed to be here? Or were the Kit-Kats not behaving?” Ava says when they finally take a break from the game to take a drink.

Melissa just shrugs, “he hasn’t answered anything. If the gavone decides to say anything, then he’ll be getting an earful, or a bat to the head. Depends on what he says.”

“Do you even like this idiot?” Ava asks incredulously, saying exactly what you’d been thinking for weeks since they’d had their first date.

Melissa shrugs, “he’s alright. The first date was nice, but the rest have just been him trying to get in my pants.”

“Well,” Ava’s brows bounced a couple times, “are you gonna let him in or not?”

You check out entirely before listening to Melissa’s answer, not even caring how suddenly you left the conversation, just letting your legs carry you until you could finally breathe. You find yourself back with the old pinball machines that no one but you and Melissa had played. Only a few seconds of silence manages to pass before you hear the muffled stomp of boots on carpet, stopping right behind you.

“You gonna tell me what that was?” Melissa asks with your back facing her.

You should have known it was her that would follow you. Part of you wanted to lie and say that the drinks made you feel sick, but you both knew that they were too watered down to even intoxicate a toddler. The other part of you just wanted to scream about how it should be you on those dates with her, driving her home and walking her to the door. You turned to meet her eyes and any courage you had left, feeling like putty when she was so focused on you and you alone. Even though you know what her response will be, you just say, “it was nothing. I’ll be back inside in a minute.”

“It wasn’t nothing,” she says, stepping closer, “you’ve been doing that a lot lately. Just... I dunno, just leaving. You can be in the same room as me and it feels like you’re miles away.”

Your gaze drops to your feet, suddenly feeling insecure now that you know she’s noticed your behavior. You put all your energy into stabling your voice and keeping your lips from quivering at the thought of upsetting her. All you can muster in a tiny voice is, “I’m sorry.”

Melissa surprises you by pulling you into a tight hug, whispering to you, “is this about Gary?” Your heart stops at her words, knowing you’d been found out. The lack of answer and the way your body stiffens tells Melissa everything she needs to know, what she already knew.

Melissa knows that you’ll likely try to explain away anything the second she loosens her hold on you, that you’ll run and she’ll never get this close ever again. So she does the only thing that she can think of at this moment.

As she pulls away, Melissa’s hands cup your face, pulling you into her lips. Your eyes nearly bulge out of your head as you feel her lips press against yours, soft and eager. After a moment, she realizes you’re not kissing her back, her heart cracking as she pulls away from you, ready to run. Her hands drop from your face, eyes blinking rapidly as doubt clouds her mind. Your mind catches up, realizing what had just happened. Melissa begins to turn to leave, but is stopped by your hand in hers. You tug her back to you, cupping her face and leaning forward to finally kiss her back.

She tasted like lipstick and watery vodka, her hands were warm against your wrists where they held tightly. Your mind was in hyperdrive as you took in her lips and her touch, hardly noticing her moving you until your hips met the game behind you. Melissa’s lips parted, her tongue brushing across your bottom lip to ask for entry. You were quick to allow her in, letting her dominate your lips as her hands dropped to grab at your waist. The taste of her lips and tongue became quickly addictive, the feeling even more so. Your hands migrate from her face to her hair, pulling her even closer to you as the kiss turns sloppy from the sheer desperation radiating from both of you.

Melissa’s hands grab at your hips harder as you tug at copper strands, cold fingers creeping under your shirt to rest against warm skin. The force of her body leaning further into you boggles the machine you’re pressed against making a loud buzzer sound and the automated voice yell just a quarter to play! The sudden noises make you both jump, breaking the kiss. Your eyes meet and you both stifle a laugh at the whole thing. Her lips immediately gravitate back to yours, this time softer. The smile you feel against your lips brings your own out, breaking the kiss again. You drop your head against her shoulder, basking in her presence and her hands on your skin.

“You knew,” is all you say, voice muffled against her shirt.

She smiles and rests her head against yours, “I did.”

“How long?”

“The whole time, give or take,” she’s a little surprised when your head pops up, almost smacking her chin.

Your eyes stare straight into hers, “and you said nothing?”

“You didn’t say shit either, don’t even start,” she says with a laugh, no malice hiding in her voice. Her only response is a grumble that sounds something like touché.

There’s so much love behind your eyes, it chokes her up. The way your eyes never left hers, something she missed in the last month, made her feel like the most precious stone. She looks at you for a moment longer before quietly asking, “can I kiss you again?”

The smallest smile crosses your lips as you answer in an equally quiet tone, “you can kiss me whenever you want, Schemmenti.”

feedback appreciated as always <3

note: again i’m sorry for not being active. i started school again and have been working full time while also being a full time student. i also had a death in the family that hit me very hard mentally and i had to take a step back as to not end up in the hospital. i’m going to try to be more active and take time to write more. thank u for being so patient. ilyvm

#melissa schemmenti x reader #melissa schemmenti #abbott elementary #lisa ann walter #lgbtq #lgbtq fanfiction

[sneezypeasy]

Original Script Analysis, Part 2: The Southern Raiders, The Finale, and What I Think About it All

Link to Part 1

So folks, when it comes to literary analysis, there are two categories that textual interpretations typically fall under: the Doylist explanation, and the Watsonian explanation. 

Watsonian explanations will contextualise an issue solely within the bounds of the story it is told in, so the answer to any question will be, essentially, “in-universe”. Imagine interviewing a character in the story, and asking them, “why did x happen” or, “why did y character decide to do z”. The answer you get will be a Watsonian answer.

Doylist explanations, on the other hand, are explanations that take into account things the characters themselves wouldn’t “have access to”, so to speak. These explanations often touch on writing concepts like theme, character arcs, tropes, setup and payoff etc, sometimes even referring to “real-world” motivations, intentions, or constraints that the creators were working with (or against). If an explanation or an answer to a question doesn’t sound like anything the characters themselves could have come up with, it’s probably a Doylist explanation.

I’m going to give an example from Titanic that I hope isn’t a spoiler to anybody at this point given how much this film has been memed to shit:

Jack dies at the end of Titanic. Now, why did he die?

The Watsonian says: He died because there was no room on the door.

The more intelligent Watsonian says: No there WAS room on the bloody door you smooth-brained koala did you even watch the fucking movie? They tried to get them both on there, the door just couldn’t hold the two of them because of something called BUOYANCY you fucking idiot-

The Doylist says: Jack died because it was the culmination of his character arc, and because he and Rose symbolise the class disparity of the victims of that tragedy; Jack is the poorer third class, and Rose is the rich upper class. Upper class women were the likeliest demographic to survive the sinking of the Titanic, and lower class men were the likeliest demographic to die. Jack had to die and Rose had to live; it’s symbolic. 

Here’s another example: on the r/DeathNote subreddit, someone asked why L fell off his chair in such an exaggerated and dramatic fashion upon hearing that shinigami could be real. The top comment provides a detailed Watsonian answer, followed by a Doylist one:

Basically, Watsonian commentary is consistent with how the characters, in-universe, might explain/contextualise something. Doylism explains how a plot point or character decision serves a purpose beyond what the characters themselves would be able to conceptualise, whether that’s narrative payoff, authorial intent, or even marketing/executive decisions/budget constraints.

Why am I explaining all of this? Because I want to play a game with you guys.

You ready?

The name of this game is: Why, in the original script of The Southern Raiders, is Katara somehow asleep while LITERAL BOMBS ARE GOING OFF AROUND HER(!!!)

Is it:

A) Katara trained herself to sleep through Fire Nation raids and bombs from a young age

B) Katara is just generally that deep of a sleeper 

C) Elizabeth Ehasz wanted an excuse (any excuse, really) to force Zuko and Katara to interact (because this is their episode, after all-)

Yeah, maybe I’m just unimaginative but I’m pretty sure it’s C. I’d love to hear your best Watsonian take for this one though (please, go nuts, lmao)

Like all the other changes we’ve seen, nothing has been done to the dialogue, which plays out how it does in the show:

I’m sorry I just can’t get over this 🤣🤣 “Character A and Character B hate each other/are not talking to each other/are currently in the process of biting each other’s heads off, now let’s come up with some ridiculous excuse to make Character A and Character B play nice and help and warm up to each other” is a pretty solid fanfic trope but I think this is the first time I’ve seen “MAKE CHARACTER A SLEEP THROUGH A FUCKING MISSILE ATTACK” utilised for this specific purpose.

Logically I understand why this was changed for the show, but I’m ngl, I’m slightly sad we didn’t get to see this version. 🤣🤣🤣

Interestingly, Katara doesn’t catch Zuko after he gets blasted off the war blimp - the script doesn’t specify anyone catching Zuko, it just says that he “lands safely on the bison” (sorry, I thought I wrote this one down in full but I only wrote down that quote, my bad 💀).

(It does make me wonder though, whether the storyboarders/animators looked at the “Katara sleeps through bombs” bit and were like.... “ok how about no, but we’ll give you ‘Katara catches a skydiving Zuko’ instead, fair trade?” 😂😂)

Continuing on from that, I have to say that even with the voice lines unchanged, Elizabeth Ehasz’s vision for Zuko and Katara’s deepening connection and understanding continues to trickle through this episode at various moments:

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Katara sobbing as she recounts her trauma? Zuko getting teary himself hearing about Katara’s grief and love for her mother? Katara visibly relaxing as a result of unburdening some of her feelings onto him? Zuko pulling Katara back and making sure she’s okay before she ploughs on ahead?

😭😭🥰🥰

And then of course, there are times when Elizabeth’s subtlety is not so subtle at all (here you go, you guys have well and truly earned this one):

Welp. I can tell you I wasn’t expecting to see that - at all. I came to the WGF hoping, maybe, to find some small crumbs - tiny clues that might give a slight nudge to the rumours that Elizabeth Ehasz was a ZK shipper, and that shippy subtext viewers may have picked up in TSR maybe wasn’t entirely lacking in substance.

I wasn’t expecting to find a page where good ol’ Elizabeth had a zutara fangasm all over her own writing 🤣🤣🤣

On the hug itself, Elizabeth’s notes were very brief:

I was a touch disappointed not to see any more fangirling, though after that serotonin boost up above I really couldn’t be too greedy. 🤣

Zuko and Katara’s scenes together in Sozin’s Comet and the Agni Kai are generally the same as what we see in the show, though I thought you guys might like to read the lightning scene anyway:

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This might be a good time to mention that I had the pleasure of working alongside @korranguyen on one of the two days that I visited the WGF. If you found the descriptions of Azula’s downward spiral in the Agni Kai uncomfortable to read, you might appreciate her essays here and here.

Unfortunately folks, we are indeed near the end now. And we know how the story ends:

Wins, eh? Interesting choice of words there. Almost makes it seem like there was a competition? Like there were, oh I don’t know, other contenders?

Now there’s something else which I think some of you may find very interesting about the script of Sozin’s Comet Part 4, and I will get to that in due course, but for now I want to discuss the way the ships were treated by the show writers and creators. As I summarised earlier and as you probably noticed yourself from reading these scripts:

From season 1 up until Day of Black Sun, the writing was heading towards a Kataang conclusion. And development-wise, it wasn’t too shabby! There was a clear and steady progression. Maybe a little subtle, from Katara’s side, but nowhere near as ambiguous as in the show. And again maybe this is just me, but I wouldn’t have been frustrated with it either, if it was shown like that.

After Day of Black Sun, the writing takes a weird turn. Kataang takes a nosedive while Zutara gets a ton of positive development (reconciliation, forgiveness, synchronicity and cooperation* anyone? lmao), which is canon in the show too but it’s… even more pronounced in the script? Aang is more aggro, Zuko and Katara are more tender/vulnerable with one another, they don’t scoot away at the suggestion that they like, like each other – and these are the final drafts? What the heck were y’all writing in the first drafts?? (No that’s not a joke actually, I wanna know 😭)

Kataang “wins”. Wins?!? I thought y’all said there was never even a contest!!**

Okay, time for some speculation/theorising on my part. To me, it seems like, at some point after writing the “Kataang” episodes but before actually animating and producing them, and before writing the later episodes in season 3, and perhaps even right up until the writing of Sozin’s Comet Part 4, there was a collective (if not unanimous) decision to “keep things open”. The question is: why?

Did the writers disagree, or was it just shipbaiting? Or was it some combination of both?

If no-one else, Elizabeth Ehasz is quite clearly a Zutara fangirl; I don’t think anyone can deny that after reading the way she writes these kids 🤣 That paragraph does not read to me like a writer casually (or grudgingly) obeying directions to shiptease because it’s what the producers wanted, it reads like a writer unable to stay professional about how much she loves this one fucking ship. (We feel you Lizzie. We feel you.)

So was there actually some discord in the writer’s room about which direction to take the romance arcs? @zutarawasrobbed​​ pointed out that given the narrative decision to hinge Aang’s internal struggle and character arc around the need to “let go” of an “attachment” to Katara, (some?) writers may have seen a potential in deconstructing Kataang to fulfil this arc. This is especially possible if, after writing Crossroads of Destiny and/or seeing audience feedback to that episode, Zutara was increasingly beginning to appear as a viable alternative.

I mean, even by Sozin’s Comet, it doesn’t seem like they’d figured out how to resolve Aang’s whole “blocked chakra” situation –

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Aang “somehow” just happens to untangle what had previously been set up as an internal struggle, with the conveniently timed activation of some “chi bending nonsense” (and reverse-glowing arrows and “such things”).

Uh huh.

(To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty -)

Of course, the other possibility is that most of the way through writing the script, and maybe about halfway through animating it, the creators simply recognized a clear potential for shipbaiting, and this is at least somewhat to blame for the hot mess that is the romance arcs of ATLA.

My personal theory is that writer disagreement did happen, and is at least partially why we ended up getting what we got. The fact that both ships are specifically referenced and granted “approval” so to speak, by different writers, and one of them ends up explicitly “winning”, sort of cinches it for me. Either way, the show was clearly pulling in different directions at different parts and under different creators, and in my opinion the scripts support these rumours.

One thing is for certain: whether this was just shipteasing, or actual production hell in the writer’s room, it is my opinion that Zutara AND Kataang were both robbed.

Kataang had a decent romance arc written out for it, and even if there may have been issues reconciling it with Aang’s internal conflict set up in the Guru and/or with the over-arching themes of the show, it would have been all right in the end if they had just kept it the way they originally wrote it. I can’t really see any but the most die-hard anti-Kataangers being mad about it, and Kataangers themselves would have loved it. They had a fine romance written out and they ruined it. If they did so because Zutara was being seriously considered as a possible outcome, then it’s just all the more frustrating that Zutara never ended up happening in the end. They put a lot of effort into sinking a perfectly serviceable ship and ultimately it was all for nothing. (Or worse, purely for shipbaiting). Just sad.  

So, that’s my thoughts on that. And that concludes this essay- oh wait.

Right... there was that thing I kept mentioning about Sozin’s Comet Part 4. 😈

*Ahem.*

So you know how I said all these scripts were final drafts?

That’s because they are - except for two episodes: Sozin’s Comet Part 4, and Jet.

Unlike the other scripts, which have all been labelled “As Broadcast Drafts”, these two scripts are ADR drafts.

What is ADR, you ask?

According to @lady-of-bath​, who works in the screenwriting industry, ADR stands for “Automated Dialogue Replacement” and is used when a script has gone through a process of re-recording or re-dubbing, because for whatever reason, the originally scripted and recorded lines are/were unsatisfactory.

(This is also something you can verify yourself actually, even if you don’t live in the LA area: when you search up ATLA in the WGF database***, even though you can’t access the scripts you can access basic details such as, the date the draft was finalised, the name of the writer, and - whether it was submitted as an “ADR” draft or an “As Broadcast Draft”.)

I even emailed the library to ask about this distinction as well:

So if I understand this correctly, all the ATLA scripts you can find in the guild were first submitted, and then lines were recorded, and then changes were made to the script that didn’t involve dialogue replacement, and then it went through animation and post-production and ended up being what you now see on screen. This is supported by the fact that A) I definitely found some changes, but B) the changes I did find were all in the action lines/shot descriptions etc.

All the scripts submitted to the guild went through this process - all of them, except these two scripts.

These two scripts were not final drafts; I guess they might be more accurately termed “final final drafts™”, because they were submitted after some(!) lines were re-recorded, (changed? added onto? cut?!?) and the script was then updated to reflect these changes that had been made in post-production.

Which just begs the question: what lines had to be re-recorded??

What did the final draft look like before this???

(Might it possibly contextualise why Dante Basco and Mae Whitman apparently both thought Zutara was going to be canon?)

This is conspiracy fodder galore, lmfao. Pardon the dramatics here for a moment, but with enough tinfoil-hatting this could easily turn into the Zutara fandom equivalent of 18½ missing minutes of Nixon tapes. 🤣

Anyway, that about sums up my detective effort on this whole thing. I did find some more tidbits which I’ll likely post in a Part 3/Epilogue type thing - mostly small changes (most of them not really zutara-related) that I found interesting or funny enough to jot down; I’ll be making a compilation of these for your reading pleasure as soon as I can. ^^

One last bonus for you guys: the “I’ll save you from the Pirates” scene:

I must confess, I never really read this scene as romantically framed or “shippy” when I first watched it. But the way it’s written here looks like it’s taken straight out of a fanfic. “Right into the arms of Zuko”? Oh no. (Oh yes.) Oh me oh my. 🤣

*Also, someone needs to write a Mr and Mrs Smith Zutara AU titled “Synchronicity and Cooperation”, I’m saying it now, this is my official decree. Write it, folks. We need it.

**Screenshot taken from: https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Avatar_Extras_(Book_One:_Water) (Under “Goofs”)

***I hope that link works, if it doesn’t, just navigate to their Library Catalogue and search up ATLA yourself. 

Edit: There was a minor typo in one of the passages - it originally read “Katara has a lot of energy and momentum, and Zuko pulls her back and STOPS her before they read the door” instead of what it was supposed to say (“before they reach the door”, lol). The typo should be fixed now 😊

#zutara #atla #atla original scripts #writer's guild foundation #the southern raiders original script #sozin's comet original script #kinda??? #tin foil hat bonanza #buy one sherlock hat get one free tin foil hat #lmao #long post #text post #meta #bryke critical #kataang critical #this was fun guys #now go forth and write more metas #and more fics #enjoy!!

[martiandmichelle]

Roxy -

As I wrote in a post a couple days ago, Roxy and I got divorced late winter this year after 3½ years of marriage. We still love each other and still have sex with each other on our own terms (meaning not just on porn sets). She used her gift of wonder over my body and an inspiration to be the best I - and everyone around her - can be. For my part, I took a wallpaper girl and now all agree she is wise well beyond her 27 years. I didn't do that for her, but maybe I gave her the confidence to do it herself.

So why? Surely our age gap (46 years difference) played a part. Also, being married to a porn actress and model as busy as myself may have helped her career as a writer but it was also straining as you watch your wife having exquisite sex with many men and women. And, lastly, Roxy fount Mirren and Mirren found Roxy.

And who is Mirren: we've mentioned her name a few times. When Mirren first joined us she chose the name Nicola. She changed that performer name to Kwanta when Emily started calling her that after Emily said Mirren's body was a "quantum (read Kwanta) leap" beyond anyone else's. When she moved into the upper echelon of our studio she changed her name once more to Mirren in honor of her favorite actress Helen Mirren and because like myself, Michelle, and Maria, she wanted her name to start with an "M." (I told her to please chose a name and stick with it this time.)

So what makes Mirren this "quantum leap?" She's strikingly beautiful with incredible legs. She stands a slender 5'8". Her hair is a lovely auburn. But where's this "quantum leap?" When Mirren first came to us (sent by corporate to us for training), she went by her given name: RORY! Yep, Mirren spent most of life being identified as a man. But not your ordinary man, but a man that statistically shouldn't exist. I remember well the day Dana introduced the man Rory to us all. I think we all looked at each other at first with a "what's up with him?" expression; that was, until he lowered his pants. And there, half hard, was by far the biggest cock we had ever seen - and we had seen them up to 13 + inches. Even half hard this thing was the biggest with the largest set of balls we had ever seen. But the term "half hard" was the catch. Seems Rory was sent to us to see if we could get him fully hard. While most of us gazed in wonder at it or even came to him and stroked it (as I was the first to do) it still never got hard, even when I pulled my tits out and rubbed that monster between them.

During our "what do we do with him and THAT" discussion, Dana called out our makeup manager (Daphne) and our head seamstress (Wendy) for having a side conversation. When asked to explain themselves, Wendy answered for the two of them: "The problem is that everyone just assumes he is as he appears as everyone focuses on that." She pointed to his gigantic cock. "But if you can take your eyes off that thing for a few minutes the problem becomes obvious: The rest of Rory is a SHE!"

With that, Rory let out a "YES!" and became much more animated. And her (at that point we all considered Rory a "her") cock rapidly grew to full length and massive hardness. And we all stared in wonder at the WONDER before us as Rory became who she was meant to be: Nicola then Kwanta until lastly Mirren.

And Mirren immediately chose Roxy to be her best friend and, soon thereafter, the lover she had been waiting for.

I'll stop there. I'll miss you by my side every night, dear Roxy, but you have an incredible new wife in Mirren, and one about your same age. We'll keep making love, you and I, and I will always thank you for making me alive again after Jake's death.

As the song goes: "I Will Always Love You!"

(More on Mirren to come.)

#marti #roxy

[orion-nottson]

I shamelessly believe in the Decepticon cause tbh. Like sure, their honors gotten dulled and replaced by Megatron's hunger for power. But you can not deny their cause. It started off with good intentions. Like all they wanted was to rebel against an unfair, overpowered council and have equal rights for their people.

Plus, it's clearly stated pre-war Cybertron was horrible and plagued with discrimination. I hate to be a Megatron apologist. But if I was a cybertronian in the great war? I'd choose the Decepticons too.

(Pretty sure I'd regret it later tho)

i do believe i've had this ask marinating long enough. (you taste scrumptios btw! 😋) so please enjoy this mini-essay. i've been thinking about it for. years. oh authoritarian fascist regime that is the decepticons, how intensely you've strayed from your original goal and manipulated your followers via appeals to social frustration and promises of identity... oh megatron, you never stood a chance did you? the power got to his head! 😃

...truly a you either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain the dark knight christopher nolan moment in the studio today...

So, the Decepticons are often framed as the unambiguously evil "bad guys", and the Autobot cause is unanimously righteous and just for standing up against them. The Great War is often labeled as a fight between good and evil, that there are two sides that are fundamentally and morally different.

I think this is a disingenuous characterization, and very essentialist too. It omits a lot of internal history and nuance that many TF series employ (maybe with the exception of classic G1, which was your average 1980s military propaganda cartoon for kids) when attempting to answer the questions: What happened for the war between the Decepticons and Autobots to start, and for it to become how it is? Why are they fighting?

A lot of TF series throw in this backstory that the Decepticons were essentially, at the beginning at least, revolutionaries. As you said, pre-war Cybertron was rife with discrimination— Cybertronian society was plagued with severe class determinism, manifesting in cultural elitism and the institution of slavery. Inequality and unfairness were givens. There was a strict, immutable caste system with very very little class mobility (if, really, at all).

In TFP, Megatron was a slave— He had no rights, was oppressed and controlled by the elite upper class, forced to perform manual labor in mines, and was not a recognized citizen. Later, he did "climb the social ladder" to become a gladiator, but he was still, ultimately, a member of the lower caste, a nothing. Gladiators are still just as expendable, replaceable, and morally worthless as a slave. His function simply switched from forced manual labor to forced violent entertainment, and in both roles Megatron was oppressed. It's then also implied in TFP that, at the start, many Decepticons came from similar backgrounds, being members of Cybertron's oppressed and marginalized.

So the movement starts with, admittedly, very good intentions; All Megatron wants is to be recognized as an equal, to be free, to have control over his own life. He values self-determination, autonomy, and freedom. Megatron wants others in his same position to be able to choose. He wants to exist in a society not at his expense, but because he is a valued member of it. A valued member, like Orion Pax.

Orion Pax does not come from this background. He is an archivist living a very comfortable life as a member of the socially sound, from Cybertron's capitol city no less, Iacon. He isn't wealthy or a noble, but he's genteel and of an acceptable function. Orion Pax is civilized. He's one of the good ones.

This is the foundation for all the reasons why Megatronus of Kaon and Orion Pax of Iacon would eventually split, leading warring factions, calling themselves by different names. Yes, they believed in each other enough to be dear friends and allies. Yes, they called each other brother.

No, they were never equals. Orion Pax didn't have much to lose; he had the safety net of a good upbringing, a good step on the societal ladder. Megatronus could lose everything. He tasted freedom and opportunity and decided he'd never go back as long as he lived. It would be like willful suffering, a misery of knowing everything he could never have.

It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, when the ideology shifts.

Megatron is consumed with jealousy when Orion Pax is chosen to be a Prime. Of course its the respectable and civil Iaconian clerk that the Council chooses to become a Prime, this position only attainable by those worthy of it, because the level-headed and moderate Orion Pax makes a better poster child than that brutish, angry extremist Megatronus. Orion Pax is the reasonable one, he's the better orator, better at appealing to the sensibilities of the upper class because he's a member of it.

Megatronus, to the system, is still just a gladiator, a slave. He just talks too much. Is too loud, too opinionated. Didn't conform to the status quo. Why should they reward disobedience? That would set bad precedent, you see. We don't want more people to question things, don't want them to ask for more than they deserve. We all have our place in the world, and Megatronus should've learned to stay in his.

"Be more like Orion Pax, Megatronus, he does things the right way."

This decision solidified two absolutes for Megatron:

One, that Cybertron's elite will stay the elite, and everyone below them will stay below them. The caste system can no longer be changed or dismantled or reformed— It is too powerful, too deeply engrained. It must be destroyed entirely.

And two, Orion Pax was never his friend. And Optimus Prime, who stands in his place, can never be his ally.

Optimus Prime is a mere extension of the Council's will. A pawn who will never seek to disobey it.

Megatron is betrayed on two fronts: Once by the false promises of his homeworld, and then by the person he thought was his best friend and dearest ally— His brother. He realizes he has to now rally his forces around the idea that true freedom, individual self-determination and self-actualization, will come only from the elimination of Cybertron's corrupt government. If it cannot be fixed, it must be reborn.

The Decepticon cause arises from the failures and disappointments of a skewed, unforgiving, impossible system. The cards were always stacked against Megatron and his people—

"Don't you see, fellow Decepticons? They have always kept you weak. Starving! Take what should be yours— What is yours!"

It's easy to see how 'bots in Megatron's position are drawn in. They feel the heavy hand of oppression too. They have wants, needs, and desires that won't be met by elites and nobles who care less than slag about them— Take Optimus Prime and his newly-formed Autobots for example: They want the Decepticon cause to fall back in line, to keep their heads down, to conform and stay quiet.

The Decepticons are galvanized by Megatron, their frustration and sorrow weaponized into action. Any true Decepticon would follow Megatron's lead— He is their hero, after all, and he is a hero that fights back.

It's time the Decepticons bite the hand. It's time they start making noise. It's time they take down the Council, the elites, the Autobots, and Optimus Prime— All who oppose their freedom.

See... it's easy to get drawn in.

It's harder to escape.

(So yeah. You'd regret it. It should've been a warning sign that you had to start calling him Lord. Isn't that what you were fighting against in the first place? Power corrupts, after all.)

#transformers #transformers prime #tfp #tfp megatron #megatron #tfp optimus prime #optimus prime #transformers discourse #anon ask #ask #ask answer #lil bit of fanon in here tbh #freedom fighter to fascie pipeline megatron type beat

[softquietsteadylove]

So… have you watched or played The Last of Us? If you have, could you write Thena and Gilgamesh meeting after a fight with a few clickers?

Gil panted behind his palm. Even his heavy breathing was liable to get him killed in a situation like this. Fuck.

Half the party was already dead.

Between the upper floor and the lower, they had split up. He didn't know everyone--hell, he didn't really know anyone. No one had to know anyone in their little section of city life, and he liked it that way. But any loss was a loss, and it meant more food for those things.

Two clickers, as far as he could gather. One was on the mezzanine level, trying to flush out the rest of the team. The other was on the lower level, already spreading cordyceps to those below. Fuck.

Gil slowed his breathing. He looked up at the broken skylight. There was still some glass in it, but it was mostly a big ass hole letting in the elements now. If only he could get eyes on them. He was one of three of them who had real experience in the field.

He always tried to tell people he grew up in America, but he spoke the language. Then he would say that everyone had to do mandatory service, but that still meant he had firearms training. Didn't matter if it was the Korean forces or US army, they wanted anyone who could hold a gun and not shoot their own nuts off.

The other two were the team leads, did this regularly. One was a sharpshooter, talkative but also deceptively observant. Gil didn't know if he had served or if he just had perfect eyes, but either way, he was always on the scope. The other one was definitely the kind of guy who liked his time in service. He was tightly wound, always had a stick up his ass, liked barking orders.

The only other one Gil even somewhat recognized was the woman.

He didn't know her name either, but he knew that the sharpshot called her 'T'. He referred to her as Blondie in his head sometimes, only because, well, fuck--he didn't think a person could get any blonder than she was. Not in the dumb way.

On the contrary, she seemed lethally sharp. He had seen her around. She kept quiet, kept to herself. But he had seen her use sign language and she was light on her feet; those were already two assets that made her pretty much royalty to the field team.

Gil flinched back as that sickening sound drew closer. That creaking, croaking click that gave the things their name. He looked down at the floor.

Blondie was waving at him.

He looked up from the puddle. She was in a pretty good spot, actually. She was up on one of the higher shelves, crouched like a fucking cat. Her hands moved but he made a face and shook his head.

She gave up on the real sign language. She had eyes on them. One was right behind him. The other was downstairs. Their own were each pinned in the crook of a corner. Better to deflect that thing's sounds.

Gil nodded. This was their best bet. He looked at her and angled his rifle.

She shook her head. It wasn't a good shot. And even if the other one was downstairs, it would just come charging up at them as soon as they made any real noise. And those it was infecting now would follow.

Gil tilted his head back again. Why had he agreed to raid duty again?

Oh right, he was just feeling particularly miserable about things. And he wanted off body duty--anything but hauling the lifeless sacks around all day. Maybe something in the kitchens.

Blondie was waving again. She pointed up at the skylight.

Gil shook his head. What was the busted ass skylight gonna do?

She pointed again, then at him, then up. She mimicked taking the shot. Then...snowfall? Rain? Rainfall; Gil made a face and she nodded. She was telling him to shoot the skylight. The clattering glass might - just fucking might - be enough to distract those things.

He tilted his head at her, asking if she was particularly sure about any of this.

She shrugged, pulling up the dinky little handgun either Thing 1 or Thing 2 had given her. She nodded at him and then aimed downwind from herself. It almost looked like she was aiming at him, but he could see that she really thought shit through when she had something to say. She was going to aim for the one closest to him.

He took his aim too, looking at Blondie up on the shelf. He held out his fingers. It was on three, if either of them mistimed this, shit could go south very fucking fast.

Blondie nodded.

One. Gil drew in a breath. He still didn't like guns at all. He had never had to use his weapon when he did his mandatory service. Two. He didn't like any of this, to be honest. He wasn't really a violent guy, by nature. But the world was what it was, now, and violent delights had violent ends. Three. All that was left was trying to live day by day.

The skylight clattered to the ground below, even the glass that was remaining falling inward. Maybe it didn't seem like much when it was up that high, but it was actually a hell of a lot of glass that rained down on the first floor. The clicker down there screeched as it was sliced up from above. The bodies of their own also got buried in the sharp snowfall.

Gil winced as his gunshot echoed in his ear. It wasn't really an echo, one shot was his and one was hers. He ducked down, expecting shit to rain down on him too.

Blondie had pretty good aim, apparently. She got the thing right through the temple. It was still up, sure, twitching and all, but the brain was dead, thus no longer a source of nutrients for its host.

Gil walked out cautiously. He peered downstairs. There were only a few masses writhing and hissing down there. He spread some shots around, making sure nothing sprang up to trot up and meet him. Once nothing seemed to be moving, he dropped the barrel.

Blondie gave him a tight nod.

He returned it, looking around him. Dumb and Dumber were already skulking around the rest of the mezzanine, looking for evidence of more of them. True gentlemen, leaving the lady fucking up on a pedestal. Gil rolled his eyes.

Blondie eyed him from above as he walked over to her. A little glass crunched under his boots as he did. She was still curled up pretty tight on herself.

Gil nodded his head for her to come down.

She looked around them. There was a clicker body and a hell of a lot of glass around them.

Gil sighed. It was always easier going up than coming down. He pulled the strap off his shoulder and set his weapon down. He extended his arms up.

She gave him a look.

He scoffed and waved his hands again. What did she think--that he was trying to cop a feel? He changed the position of his arms, promising her an easy dismount.

She had her misgivings, and he couldn't really blame her for that. He kept his hands up as she slowly unfurled her legs. She let them dangle a little before scooting herself closer to the edge. She was really trying not to trust him.

Gil moved forward, grasping her by the waist before she could really plummet that last couple feet to the ground. Jesus, she weighed as much as a sheet of paper. He kept his eyes on her as he helped lower her to the ground quietly. Once even her toes were on the floor again he let go, holding his palms out and stepping away. No funny business.

She continued to eye him like a cat would eye a stray dog. Maybe he could see why; she was an itty-bitty thing, not that anyone was necessarily well fed these days. But the jacket she was wearing really hid how delicate boned she was.

Gil raised an eyebrow.

She gave him one last withering glare before tipping her head. It wasn't much of a thank you, but he accepted it nonetheless. She looked over at the clicker that had been right on top of him and then at him, from the ground up. Her sandy coloured eyebrows raised as well.

He pursed his lips and tipped his head. He wasn't bit, but he wouldn't call this a fun day out, or anything. He shrugged, and she seemed to agree with his lacklustre sentiment.

Blondie looked across the open mezzanine. The sharpshot signed something to her, and she signed back. She even had slim little delicate fingers.

Gil tiled his head to catch her eye again, hoping to be filled in. There were regular classes for sign language back in town. Maybe it was time he actually attend some.

She nodded to him with a hint of a smile. "All clear."

Gil blinked as she walked past him on the way to the lower floor again. "You can talk?"

#Thenamesh AU #thank you so much for the ask! #I've never played the game #but I did watch the show #I really wanted to to do this justice #the tone of the show is pretty bleak and dark after all #it's quite a change of pace especially for Gil #he has plenty of nicknames for Kingo and Ikaris in his head #Kingo isn't so bad but Ikaris #what an ass #Gil tries to be nice to Thena and the whole time she just glares at him #he's like okay just trying to be nice #but then they get back #and it seems like she never talks to anyone #same as him #but then he goes to class and the woman who teaches it hands him a note #Thena thinks you're nice she just as resting I Hate You face #Gil secretly keeps the note #and he attends classes regularly #because Thena barely ever speaks #but he learns sign so he can talk to her #also writing this without any dialogue at all was interesting for me #and I think Hannah from Those Who Wish Me Dead would get along with Joel #which is to say that they wouldn't like each other #but they would both do horrible things to protect their kid #and swore like crazy

[groovebunker]

💥Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're most excited to write? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

Hope you're starting to feel better 😊

I think (atm) it's either the bonus chapter of wwyd where cc takes fran shopping OR the holiday party chapter of the agony aunt au where cc brings a date who looks a little familiar, niles loses his mind and fran loses her temper (in a hot way). i'm also planning to write the birthday party referenced in the chanukah fic bc i can't stop thinking about it 😭

an (unedited) snippet from the bonus chapter under the read more!

Fran knew CC was wealthy. It’s not even just about her things, the expensive clothes and the frankly ridiculous Upper West Side apartment, it’s in the way she holds herself and talks, the way she commands a room the second she walks in. CC is rich beyond her wildest dreams. Which is why she shouldn't be surprised when CC guides her to the personal shopping counter at Bergdorf’s and addresses the woman there by her first name.

“Anna, I called earlier to book an appointment for Fran Fine.”

“Yes Miss Babcock, I have your dress here and I’ve already pulled some gowns in the colours you suggested. I’ll take you through.”

She leads them through to the largest dressing room Fran’s ever seen, a rail of dresses in shades of pink and red standing in one corner. She feels like she can barely afford to stand there, let alone buy anything. CC comes to stand next to her, her hand resting on Fran’s lower back.

“Is this ok, darling?”

She realises she's not really sure. It’s just the opposite of what she'd been expecting when CC had suggested taking her shopping. She’s used to a shopping trip meaning several hours browsing Loehmann’s with Val or her mother, debating how much she can afford to put on her credit card this month. She loves it, loves finding the perfect thing tucked away at the back of the store and giggling with Val as they show Sylvia a succession of hideous outfits. Once a year, around the holidays, she comes down to 5th Avenue and lets herself dream about affording this kind of thing one day. When she's not a nanny on six bucks an hour. And it's not like she was expecting CC to shop off label. But she’s treating this like it's any other Monday, as if there's not a rack of dresses in the corner which each cost more than Fran makes in a year, as if half the staff hadn't looked down their noses at Fran the second they pushed through the doors, as if Fran could ever fit in in a place like this. This is CC’s normal and Fran’s so far out of her depth that she feels a little lightheaded.

“Honey, is this really necessary? I was just gonna go to Loehmann's.”

CC leans in a little closer, gesturing for Anna to leave them alone.

“It’s not really necessary, no. But I like seeing you dressed up in beautiful things. So…indulge me?” It’s not fair, Fran thinks, the way her voice drops or the way her mouth forms the word ‘indulge’. How is she supposed to say no to that? “If there's nothing you like, we’ll go anywhere you want.”

“It’s just…so expensive.”

“Maxwell was kind enough to give me his credit card. He was just so grateful that I was taking you shopping,” she grins, “He thinks I'm going to have a terrible time.”

Fran smirks. Mr Sheffield's paid for enough of her fancy outfits. What's one more?

“Oh, does he now?”

CC unbuttons Fran’s shirt and pushes it off her shoulders, letting it fall crumpled to the floor.

“Mmm, he was so apologetic,” she undoes Fran's jeans and pushes them down over her hips, helping her step out of them and her shoes, “So sorry that I had to take time out of my day to do this. Kept saying I was doing him a huge favour.”

He clearly has no idea. Or he's a much better actor than they’ve given him credit for. Fran’s not bothered either way, because CC’s pulling her over to the rail of dresses and looking at her as if she’s sizing her up. She pulls a maroon gown down and holds it up, scrutinizing it against Fran’s skin.

“This one first, I think.”

Fran thought she loved shopping because of the search, because of the choice and the possibilities. When they got here, she couldn't understand why CC would want someone else to pick out what she should try on, what she should wear. Not that it’s not working for her, clearly, but she thinks it must suck all the fun out of getting dressed in the morning. Fran’s clothes are so much a part of who she is, she can’t fathom having anyone else choose them for her. But now CC’s helping her into another dress, this one a deep cherry red with the neckline cut across her shoulders, and it fits like a glove and CC can't stop looking at her. This is probably the 7th dress she’s put on, and she’s been watching CC get more and more flushed, less and less able to string a sentence together as she helps Fran change and then bosses her around a bit, tells her how to stand and to turn slowly so she can see her from every angle. And Fran’s starting to get it. She doesn't want a stranger picking out her clothes, although Anna has done a very good job, but CC choosing them? CC looking at her in her underwear with that slightly hard gaze, flicking through clothes and deciding what she wants to see Fran in? And then lounging back against the mirror as Fran models them for her? It’s liable to ruin both her and the ridiculously expensive dresses.

“What do you think, darling?”

#fran x cc #francc #cc x fran #the nanny #my fic #asks

[tsukiyadori]

Reading Log 2024.04 - April

Previous: Reading (Watching) Log 2024.02-2024.03 - February-March

Reading languages: German, English, French, Japanese, not listing which was what. (There's also been some feeble attempts at Chinese.)

Titles are as I’ve read them either first or most and thus remember it for that title mostly

Not going to bother putting in the original titles of translated reads unless there is something worthy of note to it

Cursive titles have been completed

Some notes' content may be subject to repetition here and there, as I also copied some older notes from casual conversations over and didn't go through any rounds of cutting things down.

——————————————————————————

APRIL

I now have a new phone lockscreen wallpaper. (See entrance image. It's from How to Survive as a Villain's webtoon a.k.a. To Be or Not to Be chapter 71). The moon being pretty, and a thing for me is kinda self-explanatory given my alias names, but usually you find images with moons to have them being all on the upper part of the image, because obviously moons are up there in the sky. However, for phone lock screens this is incredibly unpractical, because on the upper part is the time display and that one's white... So this one is perfect with the moon not being on the upper part but the lower part of the image. I wonder what blossoms there are supposed to be. I'd guess peach blossoms (with the village being called literally Peach Blossom Village, but wasn't it supposed to be summer in that timeline? And peach blossoms bloom in March to April.)

I found out that you can add any number of tags, but tumblr kicks everything bar the first 30 somethings upon saving and among those displayed only the first 20 actually will count for showups if you want to filter posts with that hashtag. Or like search on the phone app. What the heck. What do you mean I need to actually choose the most important ones now each time. D:

Maybe I should try do monthlies after all, so there won't be as many tags to begin with.

I feel like this is gonna just be a rambling about one particular series this month anyway...

I have learned something new this month. The Chinese have a slang word called 'dog blood'. It's apparantely coming from theater where death scenes were enacted with dog blood and first was about extended nonsensical farewell speeches of death scenes but eventually expanded to describe all sorts of cheap cheesy lines in general. Or in other words, this is basically synonymous to what I call bad, rotten or trash cheese.

Light Novels:

7th Time Loop v2

Brunhild v1-2

By the Grace of Gods V12

Dragon Live Online p8-11.5

Hell Mode v3p1-3

How to Survive As a Villain Novel ch46-57, ch181-183, Ch58-75, ch209-210, ch206, ch196, ch76-136 (and some other random scene cheery picks completely out of order)

Is it wrong to pick up Girls in a Dungeon v9

Mushoku Tensei v1p1-6

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard v13p15-56

The Eminence in Shadow v2p6-8

The Executioner and Her Way of Life v1

The Faraway Paladin v1-2

The Saint's Magic Power is Omipotent LN v2p1-v3p6

Unnamed Memory After the End v1p16-22

Unnamed Memory LN v1p1-2

Wolf and Parchment v4-5

Your Forma v4

Manga:

Aiko und die Wölfe des Zwielichts v1-3

Ano Natsu ga Houwa suru. ch17

Are You Okay with a Slightly Older Girlfriend? Ch2.4-16.1

August 15th

Buta no Liver wa Kanetsushiro ch35.1-2

Dance in the Vampire Bund The Memories of Sledgehammer v2ch5-8

Delinquent Daddy & Tender Teacher v3

Domestic na Kanojo v5-8

Don't Call Me Daddy

Ein schicksalhafter Bund mit dem Fuchs v1-v2ch11

Fake it to Break it Ch1-8.3

Feng Yu Jiu Tian ch1-4

Flying Witch v11-12ch73

Get the Moon

Goblin Slayer The Singing Death v4ch16-19

Goblin Slayer Year One v8

Goblin Slayer v12

Hallo, ich bin eine Hexe und mein Schwarm wünscht sich einen Liebestrank von mir v3ch15

Hiso Hiso v4-6

How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer Ch1-4

In Sachen… Geheimnisse (v3)

In Sachen… Vertrauen (v2)

Intoxicated East Wind Skimthrough

Iron Cock Skimthrough

Isekai Transporter ch1-4

Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita ch18.1

Kakan no Oukoku no Hanagirai Hime ch12.3-13.1

Kakko Warukute Kakkoii Kimi v1

Ki ga Au to Iu Koto wa v1

Kijima-san & Yamada-san Ch17.3-24.2

Knitter's High ch27.1-2

Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata ch82-83

Kono Koi wo Hoshi ni wa Negawanai ch12.3-13.1

Korsar der Liebe v1-3

Like Milk & Honey v1-2

Living With My Brother's Wife Ch12-15-48

Lonely Castle in the Mirror v1-3

Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru ch31

Maid-san wa Taberu dake ch48

Mein Isekai-Leben v1-v4ch12

Mir dir im Wunderland v2 (ou of order read)

Miryou no Otome to Katabutsu Hittou Majutsushi no Hatsukoi Kiroku bangaihen3-4

My Awkward Senpai Ch71-75

My Elder Sister v5-6ch44

My Not-So-Fair Lady is Doomed! (But Not If I Can Help It) Ch1.1-4.1

My Roommate is a Cat v6-8ch24

My Unexpected Marriage Ch1-10.2

Okazari Ouhi ni Nattanode, Kossori Hataraki ni deru koto ni Shimashita ~Usagi ga Iru no de Hitorine mo Sabishiku Arimasen!~ ch25.2-26.4

On or Off v1-4

Rebirth Two Lives I Still Love You ch0-2

Ryuko v2

Sasaki & Peeps v1

Shuumatsu Touring ch37.1-2

Soko ni Suwaruna

Suicide Notes Laid on the Table Ch20-35.1

The 6th Loop: I'm Finally Free of Auto Mode in this Otome Game Ch1.1-3.2

Tokyo Aliens v7ch29-33

Unamed Memory ch36.1-2

Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi ch38.1-3

Yomei Ichinen to Senkokusareta Boku ga, Yomei Hantoshi no Kimi to Deatta Hanashi ch11.1-2

Webtoons:

Breed my Dear Enemy Ch182-194

Fall in the Night with You Ch72-73

Flowers in the Secret Place Ch89-155

Her Atypical Story Ch0-5

Ice Lamp: The Chronicles of Kira Ch45-48

Taberare Usa ch99-101

The Blind & The Homeless Ch8-42

The Goddess of Healing Ch67-79

To be or not be Ch24-95

Notes:

To Be or Not to Be (reread on Comikey in progress): So well, the first time was a bit not as attentive and then too quick on binge last month so I simply started from the beginning again. And it's so funny in hindsight that it took me until starting the novel to realized this fellow is just about as aroace as you can be (who slowly drops into a demi-romance). Like, I should have had caught the hint latest with this:

(Difference between a brotherly love or one between lovers)

This is, if you think about it, not the sort of question you'd normally ask, especially not when somebody just confessed to you and there is no homophobia theme nor desperate denial at play, and you don't even doubt that it's meant seriously and can even see that the feelings are genuine. It's.... totally a question I'd also ask, tho. No wonder, this entire progression of that romance and him taking so long to catch on just felt so plausible to me.

Other than that, I still think the first season (up to their first separation) is a pretty great adaption, it takes shortcuts and adds some more flourish at places. The second and third seasons however, after reading the novels now feel excruciatingly chopped, although it still manages to do the most important scenes right. But much of its worldbuilding and side characters is just gone, and some things are still there but don't exactly make any sense - like that hairband from eunuch Zhao that snapped, it ever was only shown intact in the webtoon, but when Xiao YuAn goes to bury his box of mementos there is Hong Xiu's hairpin this broken hairband. Or the list of names of fallen soldiers. Other little changes make sense, and some just seem clunky. (Like this whole "I want to bed him" in the last arc has an entirely different vibe considering they had been at it before already unlike in the novel.) And my complaint after the first read that the last third just seems way too focused on the two MCs with zero inclusion of the side characters or expanding the world, the novel in fact is like that still in that arc, but it already has done all that in the second season, which was nearly entirely cut in the webtoon (or if you look really closely there are some one-liners or random panels showing it) and does some more in the extras, which the webtoon doesn't adapt. Still it does get many of the most important scenes right and the art remains pretty. (Except the last third still has me had this eyelashes issue. Whyyyy.)

How to Survive As a Villain Novel ch46-57, ch181-183, Ch58-75, ch209-210, ch206, ch196, ch76-136 (and some other random scene cheery picks completely out of order): When you go like, let's read it slowly so it lasts longer!! and that even works, but then you just start reading backwards and then all across all over the place out of order anyway. Oh, well....

I already got some clear aroace moods with Xiao YuAn in the beginning that I read last month but upon reading on.... this fellow's really about as aroace as you can be without naming it. It even goes all the length of establishing him as somebody who doesn't understand it at all, has to ask about it, and questions the veracity of the answer at places. (And I still think the "sexual orientation" bits on the official character bios on both him and Yan HeQing are a complete riot. 😂) They both look very demi to me; if that original novel is to still apply Yan HeQing falls for somebody who extends their hand when he's in anguish and suffering and over that emotional attachment he develops feelings (and then it's a dam breaking). For Xiao YuAn it's obviously very slow burn and building one little pebble atop another until a wall that makes him feel safe has been built.

What I thought was incredibly interesting tho, Xiao YuAn still comes off as pretty ace even after all is said and done. And he doesn't exactly know it - he continues to live with a misconception that's just incredibly widespread and not known. In that same scene from the above webtoon snippet he asks Yan HeQing what sort of like/love is he even refererring to. Does he know the difference, is it a brotherly/comradery feeling or one between lovers. That's also what is in the webtoon in Chinese (I actually went to check that one out), but the novel (which scene I also went to check out, at least what web version I could find in Chinese) has him be much more crude and to the point to put that question between that brotherly like/love or if it was one where Yan HeQing would want to have sex with him. (Which he answers rather clearly as having very much some voracious appetite for him in that respect, the answer is still there in the webtoon.) Now put this next to each other. That's his idea: The love of lovers is something that includes sexual desire. Sound familiar? Uhu. He even suggests in lieu of answering him that they simply do the deed. In order to learn and find out. The man's got some very wrong ideas right there. A few of them seem way too dumbly familliar.

The hilariously funny part is, Xiao YuAn proceeds to be incredibly unhinged about this spice stuff afterward. He is going for it, he does the most outrageous things, but he does them in a way that just feels entirely clueless or he realizes just how extreme they are after it's already done or shortly about to be done and he reflects on it and feels incredibly stupid. And most of all, if he causes a dam break in Yan HeQing who, all seduced and riled up, can't help but eat him up rather ravenously he always winds up wailing for him to please stop, because kinda, he didn't have that in mind at all so much. It's like he never really is aware of what he's gonna get himself into and doesn't really learn his lessons either. But also, once he gets touched, he is plenty able to feel sexual pleasure, he doesn't exactly hate it. It's just... it seems more like a passive body reaction, a sort of being okay with it, rather than an innate desire out of attraction? He never seems actually thirsty for it (unlike Yan HeQing who is incredibly straving for it, but knows it and restrains himself constantly.)

He's the first to initiate and propose them doing it and is notoriously stubborn about getting Yan HeQing to do it, but also says it's not like he is in a hurry (or like coming off as badly wanting it because of an actual proper desire like Yan HeQing always has), but it's just he feels like they'd never get the right timing to do it at all otherwise. It makes him sound desperate, like he feels a duty to actually do it and guilty for not doing it, almost as if he has to prove something. And whenever Yan HeQing kinda distances himself from him for whatever reason his go to is to try seduce him and break his self-control for forced up intimacy. (And then just winds up regretting it, because it's too much.) And it seems to entirely not align with what he actually wants and needs most fo have exactly that connection he seeks. After that last dramatic reunion in the third part where Yan HeQing is so out of himself and selfcontrol he wants him so badly tied to bed and everything like those innermost desires he once told him (but never actually executed like that, because he doesn't want to hurt him), Xiao YuAn instead just wants to hug him. He's wanting physical intimicy, but it's more about lying in one another's arms for a peaceful sleep. Every single time when he's still oblivious to it all, but clearly already attached, he just has Yan HeQing accompany him to spend some quality time together. He's the one who wants to have dates even as they weren't named such and even has to explain that thing about it's simply to just spend some good time together to him. (All the while Yan HeQing is so thirsty wanting to steal kisses from him.) And whenever he fawns over the man, it's kinda suspiciously in just aesthethic ways...? (well for what I've read anyway.)

30% of it feels more like a sort of playfulness, a sort of stubborn competition, fueled by those "tyrannical president" antics, which trope he entirely is not, but spent his entirely past life being forced into being and still very much influences his thought process. Almost as if if he doesn't get Yan HeQing to jump at him, it's like he is lacking in attractiveness, something that chips away at his self value. Another 30% is him appearing like he considers it the thing to be done, almost as if he owes it to him, especially as he knows that Yan HeQing's wants in that regard run much deeper and notorious. Yet another 30% is him kinda just enjoy everything before the actual act. Like as if getting him to do it is the goal rather than actually doing it. He clearly enjoys the teases to break Yan HeQing's defenses, his self-control, his stoism. And even as he knows some of his things are kinda outrageous, he, to some extend, still enjoys them. It's kinda the same thing with his fixation on terrible tropes and cheesy lines and everything 'dog blood', it's excruciatingly terrible, all trashy, but he can't help but also kinda look forward to it. The last 10% are... really just him having no darn clue. Like however did he think that red silk bondage was a good idea??? 😂 Maybe I should not laugh as me, surely I'd be just as dumb myself if it ever came to be...

Other than that I quite like how the isekai/transmigration thing plays out.

Xiao YuAn doesn't really get to be all OP or a sort of cheater because of being from a modern world - that is not as a plot device. There are some indications and little details that he does bring in some modernization, like proposing that meritocratic exams system the actual historical China also has had, but it's never really played as a plot point that flaunts his superior knowledge or anything. What he ultimately winds up tackling - corruption, decandency - are things entirely the same still in the modern word and he's also struggling with it all the same as he would in any modern world as well. He knows the future by the plotline, but beyond having a better grasp at insight to their character and be nice to them Hamefura-style, it's at the same time also kinda the obvious thing to do as a decent person. And he's having plenty ability to have an insight on human nature and getting other people liking him even without the cheat skills from the novel plot as his time in the TaoYuan village proves.

I still absolutely do not like that bit about Xiao YuAn's brother, he just remains a complete plot device, but that the doppelgänger from Wester Shu gets to wake up in the modern world as him to improve on his own depression and helplessness was a nice touch. (One the webtoon should have rather have, when it had them actually have a conversation with each other, rather than how in the novel Xiao YuAn only every saw him from a distrance and asked about him. He remained a completely stranger there, so him kinda not having as much compassion to upkeep his past identity's honor seems more plausible. Especially as he's introduced as a good guy, unlike that Nothern emperor who is a scummy villain (and then even he got to have a little bit pity left for him by the original book's ending for him with is love affair.))

That and how it's part of how Xiao YuAn has a few deep seated traumata and in that way that they don't seem obvious at all, because he drowns it all in his smiles, his goofy riduculousness, his apparant ability to just let grudges go when all he does is just to bury them and run away. All that load, it didn't just magically disappear in his new life, no, they come to wreck him even in this new world. He has baggage and a new life doesn't magically fix it nor is this fantasy escapism world it the solution to it in the end. How many isekai tales actually make use of this oppotunity to add some more emotional development? We never really learn much about how he lived his life in the modern world, but little insight is there only describes titbits to establish the origins. But it was never really addressed in his childhood and it wasn't cured at all either, nor is it likely that it's curable at all. Those scars are there and with his futile struggles they only got worse culmating in his rash and terrible decisions. What ultimately keeps it in check and just puts a lid on it without erasing it, is being showered with that love he was missing his entire life by Yan HeQing and his found family in the village and also realizing how the easy way out of it has devastating consequences.

Speaking of that found family, it's really too bad, that got cut so much in the webtoon. While there is still a tinge of it with Lin Shengling getting all touched that Xiao YuAn's place is kinda his maiden home of sorts and Xiao YuAn and all accepted in that village with really close bonds with especially the Zhan family, which family to begin with is a patchwork family. Yang LiuAn and Xiao FengYue kinda become brothers of sorts to him, and old lady cohabitating with them is a sort of motherly aunt there. There's just no ill will in that village (which is its whole point with being kinda called a little paradise on earth.) And also it's just got these beautifully blossoming trees. (Now are those peach blossoms or not??)

Oh and speaking of found family and all closeness and intimicy that there is and which is being perfectly aknowledged as something Xiao YuAn holds dear and misses and seems just so attractive, even as he is perfectly fine with living in the capital with Yan HeQing, which the latter also perfectly respects and encourages. There is also this bit in the extras about Hong Xiu, how it was Xiao YuAn, who tended to her worst fears she never expected anyone to expect and treated her with gentleness, a sort of she hadn't phantomed to ever get. And as the man speaks fondly and caring about her and Yan HeQing get jealously concerned over "do you like her", Xiao YuAn is all he's probably jealous about the girl again, but also that Hong Xiu never was part of of his harem. And then he has this to say to him:

Way to just get things right. (And she definitely ripped a hole into his heart, once she was gone and even keeps visiting her grave years later. Also really too bad that the afterwards about how curruption cut short his support for her family forcing her sister to become a maidservant, too.)

Other than that I just want to scream: Why could I not discover this a mere two darn month earlier?! That the pre-orders for that Singapore Rosmei edition is already closed and me not having entirely any idea at all how to get it anymore sours me, doesn't help at all, that apparantely that edition is gonna get some new unrelease extra chapter (although that is to be in v3, so technically I won't be missing that one............ whenever the other two volumes are going to be released anyway.) Apparantely there's even another chapter exclusive to some Chinese Edition from a publisher called Via Lactea and I have absolutely no idea how that one's supposed to look and how to get it. And to learn this right when I pondering about looking for some Chinese proxy for getting the books in Chinese, too, now obviously I want that edition to learn what that extra chapter is about. Hhhhnnnng. (Apparantely there's also a Spanish edition licensed with the art of the Rosmei edition, but I know no Spanish...)

Other than that, I still riducilously miss out on those footnotes the aggregator sites have just went and killed. Also, I just found out that the one single site that had the extras beyond chapter 210 kinda did some move and the entire title has vanished from that one's new site. With that there's porbably no place to read the fantraslation of it anymore. (At least for that one I had the epiphany of going though all the chapter sites to make a safecopy last week, I don't really want to know how dkfhkdjfhkjdfh I would have been, if I missed out on reading them just like that from one day to the other.)

In any case, this one as rekindled my interest in the Chinese language, too. Linguistically/writing style speaking this novel is also highly up my alleways. It's chock full with idioms (I image them to be complete utter pain to translate), historical references in those idioms, but also it has all that meta stuff about tropes and everything along with modern slang usage. And it's just having the right amount of twinkling parody of tropes, indulging just enough in it for some guilty pleasure but still managing to have an well build up emotional rollercoaster plot of its own that dances with Xiao YuAn's goofy ludicrousness at times in one hand and heavy hitters in the other. And considering, that it has not newly invented any wheel whatsoever - about every single element in there is something that on its own you can find elsewhere as well - but still manages to get me this invested into it is kinda rather impressive.

Speaking of impressive---

Mein Isekai-Leben a.k.a. My Isekai Life v1-v4ch12: Now that on the other hand is an entirely different sort impressive, or more like, I am astounded by it. Which is to say if I had to use one word to descibribe it it's 'listless'. This is an incredibly listless OP MC cheat skills power-fantasy. It's also... incredibly boring. Brainless. Everything you get to see here is something that has been done elsewhere in way, way better already. I only read all those vols because I just happened to have them there and then I just kept going after the first volume because I wanted to know how in the world is this managing to survive at all. It's a manga adaption of a light novel, both are sitll ongoing and runnning. How does this manage to be this reasonably popular to warrant this??? (After v4 I still didn't really know, so I gave up.)

Wolf and Parchment v4-5 (5 sitll in progress): Ok, so volume 4 was kinda okay in the end, not so much a slog anymore, although the the conversation between Even and Col about how Col would definitely go and prioritize Myuri was pretty interesting, putting into question how long he's gonna last to stick to his he's gonna be a priest and not just take Myuri's handand he's still all that's never gonna happen. (Like hell it won't?!) Then volume 5 started and I was kinda blown by surprise over that bit about them being in this weird space of having a bond, about how she keeps calling him brother despite also saying she is romantically in love with him, because there is no other way to qualify this at all and him also realizing the weird place he is with his attachement to her, too and then the whole crest thing is there, and how every single one involved with it immediately understands it's significance. Something for them, only the two of them, something special, but it's not lovers or marriage. Something else. And it's also hard to get, because how in the world are you gonna explain two people with no tangible relation neither blood nor marriage, wanting to share a crest together? are you just gonna pretend something that pleases general plausibility, while it kinda contradicts its actual purpose? Owoooh, how cool is that. I suppose I really had no trust in this series (or media in general) that this wasn't going down your bog standard romance route.

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard v13p15-56 (that's somewhere into chapter 2): I am making some progress in reading that one off, but admittedly even I am surprised how slow going it is sonsidering how hyped I was about it before its release and then put it off for health reasons because I totally expected I'd just binge with in a marathon with no regard to sleep and food. If I had to put a finger onto it, it's kinda, the first chapter wasn't exactly uninteresting, but also really not very getting be invested either. The second chapter just entirely starts of with discomfort with having this Chinese classmate sobbing about how he is terrible in school and his father is livid about it and just the general vibes of Chinese mentality. Like. Ouch. And it also immediately stiffled my interest in Chinese again that How to Survive as a Villain has sparked up again. Distancing from that language is kinda like distancing from that general mentality for me and looks like I still can't really separate them enough to just enjoy the language without having the culture behind it poison me.

Unnamed Memory After the End: Still very much at the start, but it docks onto where the first series stops before the grand time skip. It also just picks up on a few things that were left unaddressed in its second half. And here is me wondering, if Myralis and Valt will show up again or not. How it ended for them - which by world mechanics has to be a bad end and then they don't even get mentioned - still feels narratively very unfair to me, with all the effort spent on describing their motives and backstory.

Flowers in the Secret Place - finished: This is another series I just read though chapters over chapters wondering why even, until it kinda went decent enough somethiing around chapter 70? from 155 chapters. The only reason I looked into it was because the art is kinda decently pretty. The reason I made it across the first chapter was that.... the MC wears bunny hair ties. Yes, stupid reason, but here we go. The male MC is possitively annoying, the second male lead is much more interesting but takes a whole while to pick himself up. The backstory and its resulting triangle constellation actually winds up being decently interesting.

Rebirth Two Lives I Still Love You ch0-2: Same author as How to Survive as a Vilain, different artist, which... doesn't look exactly bad, but not even half as appealing. This one's also not Isekai, but Regression. Also it looks incredibly cheese. Motivations for reading on were a bit low, but maybe it just takes a bit? Knowing me I will check it out anyway...

My Unexpected Marriage Ch1-10.2: This isn't even an Isekai, but it uses the Isekai cheat skill trick of using some pretty modern contemporary things and common sense, put them into an Ancient-y setting to make everything run overly smoothly for the MC. In terms of plot and characters I cannot say I am wowed. Nevertheless, it is set in Ancient China-ish of a setting and even if the female MC's big eyes innocent gentle shoujo face kinda clashes with the rest, there is definitely some effort spend on all the wardrobe and ornaments. It's pretty enough to keep going. The mystery plot that points to court intrigue is okayish enough, too.

Mushoku Tensei v1p1-6: The way the horny is put in really is a bit "...", there it really just goes, does an overly genuinely touchy feely monologue about how someone is great and how the guy is emotionally touched and everything, only to destroy it with the twist that he stole her unwashed panties. It was a whole block of text about how in his previous life he was a shut in a loser, somebody with serious problems, social anxiety and getting out of the house issues included and the girl took him out for a magic exam, insisted it had the out there and he really is unconfortable with it, you can get really into how this little bit is just a major milestone for him, something nobody in his old life has managed or even tried. But then it just had to goe like and then he remembered that he still had those unwashed panties in his room that he had stolen some month ago. Argh.

At least that horny father seems to have at least some punches to get, and the setup of this guy being a completely loser, but actually it's not like he always was, he was even better but never learned modesty and that being his entire downfall out which he has now learned. This character is a pretty well set up antihero, he is all sorts of terrible, but in that one moment where Truck-kun came he pushed that whoever away with no regards to himself. (and it doesn't get flaunted as that one big good deed.) He also helped Sylphie, and that started without any horny ulterior motives either. (I was half wondering there actually if, with all that attraction to her, when he still thought she was a he was opening up some queer route, but looks like not.) He, at the bottom of his heart, does not seem to be a bad guy, and he has some serious baggage, that he is trying to treat himself with this new life and gets the occasional unintentional help. Will be interesting how his own inhibitions and knowledge about all the bad things of himself bring him on the road to serious betterment. But then also. He is already entirely, totally hopelessly horny cringe.

Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru a.k.a. 7th Time Loop ch31: (That's the chapter about Arnold and Rishe talking about the ring, once it was delivered). I wanted to scream at Arnold and Rishe rocks with giving him a piece of her mind like that and also totally underestimates the amount of heart flutter she gets into when she goes and gives the man such a free pass to court her. A very wide load of good faces.

Intoxicated East Wind, Iron Cock, August 15h, Feng Yu Jiu Tian: Stuff from the artist of How to Survive as a Villain's webtoon from some 10 years prior. You know when you like one thing of somebody and then go check out the rest? And then you find out it's dubCon, nonCon, rapey, horny porny whatevers and melp. And by the translator's note from August 15th, apparantely that title is some slang euphemism for buttocks. Because the moon is the roundest on that date, so it's the perfect moon so it's buttocks. I'm like what? The art also look nowhere nearly as good as the artist is able to be pull off in How to Survive as a Villain. I wonder if they are going to have some new work. Couldn't find anything from after its end in 2022.

Don't Call Me Daddy: Nice to have some adult characters there. Like adult and then elderly. And how homophobia has wrecked their life, but it's not even the main theme. Again some discussion about different sorts of wants, but uh, the one that solves that one was that guy getting... a boner from a kiss? Huh. What would ye have done, if he didn't? (Well probably that would have been an entirely different story I guess...)

Domestic na Kanojo v5-8: Collection of notes made upon/right after reading the vols:

v5: Let's continue the exhibition of the worst of cheese afflictions. But I did not see that escalation downwards coming... okay, cheese affliction puts other people into danger, both intentionally and unintentionally... Actually the latter case is even worse as it is a danger of livelihood one... ....... ok, wait, isn't this already sexual harrassment now???

v6: Just go for them both already, those sisters don't even look like they'd mind it that much.

v7: Your cheese affliction is gonna ruin your life.

v8: So, now we have blackmail, coercion, extortion and a kidnapping as well as faking somebody's identity without their knowledge nor permission. Alright….

….. this however

(Title: How to recover, panel 1: My humble self has a bun, panel 4: RESSURECTED, the bun: HAND OVER THE SNACKS)

.............. is just some supreme truth out of complete nowhere.

Are You Okay with a Slightly Older Girlfriend? Ch2.4-16.1: I thought this was called into quesitonability because of the age gap and at the beginning I had some qualms, because she is outright deceiving him, but that gets wrapped up quickly enough and then I thought it was just gonna be cheese with age unsecurities, but I suppose if those massive boobs didnt alrealy make an indication, this thing's just way to much flaunting them and playing the horniness bits in way too much of an extremely.... kinda dumb way. With a tint of seriously thinking about these issues. (Also mentions of kink and no shaming allowed there, that sister knows how to enforce authority.) And that makes it both hard to outright drop, but also a pain to suffer though...

Brundhild v1-2: Volume 1, 'Dragon Slayer" is a revenge story out of titular Brunhild's love for the gentle and wise dragon, who is killed, gone haywire. She does all her misdeeds wholly aware for what they are and how innocents are getting in the crossfires and how it'll land her in hell - where she can never be together with the dragon again who went to paradise and had very much warned her to not go for revenge when he fully knew he was gonna get slain. She… is kinda, well, yandere isn't the right word, but she definitely is very much badly obsessed by things and worst she knows it herself, that the one she loves doesn't want it and still doesn't stop. I can't say I was wowed, but maybe that's partly because I read it in French and for the second half I was in deadline before expiry pressure and forced it though without looking up a bunch of words I wasn't too sure of. It feels pretty conclusive, so volume 2 'Dragon Princess' at first was incredibly confusing, with it having a Brunhild as a MC again and also some other guy having the same name as v1 Brunhild's brother. And suddenly the dragon is an evil one. Was wondering, if it was some sort of reincarnation next life plot, but then the personality of the characters are very different. Eventually it turns out to be a prequel. V1's Brunhild and her brother were names after the characters of v2 who lived centuries before them and in her family those famous names were often bestowed to children again. V2 I think is pretty good, interesting characters, has some more side characters, very good world building, again a love story but it's entirely different, also very much different ending and lore and it twists your expectations for the world coming from v1 and then actually winds up explaining v1's worldbuilding, which in v1 I thought that outside of the dragon island on its own was, uh, kinda, yeah, it's sorts of just there?

V2 also has a side character who suffers from not feeling love of any kind and having little empathy. Yet he is not entirely unfeeling either and he can be very much devoted looking much the part almost as if there was love. It looks a lot like it's the usual story about yeah and then this magnificent awe inspiring good natured lady is gonna make him find those traits again. It ultimately does not play out this trope the way you'd expect and I thought that it had the galls to do that was downright courageous.

#rambling #reading log #light novel #manga #webtoon #statistics #how to survive as a villain #to be or not to be #my isekai life #the case files of jeweler richard #wolf and parchment #unnamed memory #flowes of the secret place #my unexpected marriage #mushoku tensei #7th time loop #dont call me daddy #domestic girlfriend #are you okay with a slightly older girlfriend #rebirth two lives #brunhild #this villain emperors gotta charm the male lead to survive

[writers-in-moominvalley]

💝Snorkmaiden and Love Life💝

Snorkmaiden is infamous for falling in love with man after man in the comic strip, deserting Moomintroll in the process.

However, today I will not be judging Snorkmaiden for the lack of simply dumping Moomintroll's butt so she doesn't have to deal with his violent jealousy that ruins nearly all her relationships, instead, I will be judging each character she fell for based on datability.

The list will be sorted in order of appearance, and will only extend to the comics Tove was involved with (every comic between Moomin and the Brigands and Fuddler's Courtship) simply because I do not have access to all of Lars' comics and narrowing it down to Tove's comics makes it astronomically easier for me to actually list these men, let alone judge them. I will also NOT be taking into account any of the adaptations of these characters, I will be strictly focusing on their comic appearances since taking into account THOSE versions of them will be taking into account alot of things that come with them and it would complicate the list even further.

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And with that out of the way, let's start with Snorkmaiden's first (after Moomintroll);

Clark (Moomins on the Riviera)

Clark may seem like your archetypical douchebag celebrity at first glance but he is surprisingly one of the more kind men Snorkmaiden's had the.... (Dis)pleasure? Of falling for. "Honey" seems to be a default pet name he gives to women, although we don't see him call anyone else that (he calls Snorkmaiden honey even when they were complete strangers though).

Snorkmaiden and Clark seemed to have quite a bit of fun and Snorkmaiden had 0 conflict or complaints about him until he turned down her invitation to go swim when the Moomins left the hotel after his duel with Moomintroll. His apology gift for the declination was also very sweet of him so he seems to care about Snorkmaiden based on that.

We don't know much about Clark and can only speculate on his life and behavior based on his friend group and status, he could easily have turned sour if given enough time but using only what we know he seems like a good chap for a celebrity guy with poor taste in beach wear.

7/10

The Pirates (Moomin's Desert Island / Moomin Under Sail)

The only reoccurring interests, they really don't do anything as interests. Mymble and Snorkmaiden seemed to enjoy them for the idea that they're dangerous but quickly lose interest when presented with otherwise.

They are a clever sort, I'll give them that, they have made plans and those plans do succeed in the end which is more than I can say for the plans of most other characters, but they are definitely not worth engaging with on a personal level nor are they interested in such follies in the slightest. Bad news but fun to read about.

2/10

Mr. Brisk (Moomin's Winter Follies)

Mr. Brisk is definitely on the lower end of the ranks when it comes to datability. He's never interested in Mymble nor Snorkmaiden until he rides his victory high against Edward the Seal (and even then I doubt he saw them as more than fans) and overall he has this personality that is difficult to deal with on an interpersonal level (with his massive yet fragile ego, competitiveness, fixation on sports and s****dal tendencies).

He is not the WORST person in the world, objectively speaking, but he does not seem to be in any place to treat another person kindly in any respect. His sports moves may be impressive but he's like one of those celebrity sportsman who are only impressive in their field and are fun on a good day but you can't see yourself being real friends with, let alone dating.

2/10

The Fillyjonk (Moomin Begins a New Life)

He's definitely one of those fixer-upper types, I gotta say. His lack of agency when making plans with Snorkmaiden was one of her major complaints about him but that seems to be fixed when he formed a rivalry with Moomintroll, so there's definitely an obvious space for him to change, however I wouldn't call him a catch with the way he is. Even Moominmamma called him a wet (someone who doesn't have strong opinions or agency) and seemed worried for Snorkmaiden because of him.

He seemed attached to Snorkmaiden since he was bold enough to break into a Jeweler's to win her back but also he ditched her to "buy cigarettes" when a threat like "the Black Hand" (Moomintroll) presented itself.

Not a bad guy but not great either. Come back when you get go through some character development my dude.

4/10

The Nobleman (Snorkmaiden Goes Rococo)

He is... Hmm... He seems nice enough for a parody of a french nobleman but he doesn't offer much besides being needy and kind of dim. He is certainly nice enough to Snorkmaiden what with offer her a reward for saving him and inviting her to the King's dinner since he couldn't carry her on his horse, but he seems to prioritize his own needs and doesn't think for Snorkmaiden's wellbeing either.

He seems nice but not nice enough.

5/10

The Revolutionary (Snorkmaiden Goes Rococo)

Love his hair! Do not enjoy his personality. He is truly one of those bark and no bite preachers who make speeches upon speeches and poetry and songs about eating the rich but when it comes to actually doing anything about it he most certainly lacks and even acts cowardly towards the royal guards. He appreciated Snorkmaiden for her admiration for his writing abilities but he doesn't hold any regard for her suggestions or interests outside of that, not to mention his casual sexist comments towards her. He quite literally ditches her after being invited to the King's dinner in place of a revolutionary meeting, which is the most hypocritical thing he could've done and rightfully tipped Snorkmaiden over the edge to finally leave him.

His ideals are something that ought to be admired, of COURSE all men should be equal, but there are holes in his ideals and he simply does not act out what he preaches. Come back when your morals are less flimsy and tone down the sexism!

4/10

The Accountant Fillyjonk (the Conscientious Moomins)

He is straight up a very cute guy. He is very endearing and actually asked Snorkmaiden out on a date which is very rare for these fellows, and his passion for accountancy is something even Snorkmaiden admires. He was very eager to help but was rather oblivious at Snorkmaiden's coyness, though he was still very nice about it.

However, his one downfall was surprising Snorkmaiden with the gift of a cleaned typewriter which she devastatingly did not appreciate, but that's simply a matter of taste (I personally would've appreciated something like that).

A rare good fella. Wish his appearance wasn't so brief.

8/10

The Poet (Moomin Under Sail)

Hmm.... Mixed feelings on the guy, honestly. He is a stowaway leech to be sure but he does have some sincerity in his affection for Snorkmaiden among his plans to be the most comfortable person on the boat indulging in fruits and whiskey. But the Moomins' and Too-Ticky's disdain for him was not totally unfounded, he seemed a little too pretentious and a little too absorbed in his status as a poet which he believes gives him licence to laze about as he wishes.

Snorkmaiden's genuine devastation when he got carried away by the Niblings was heartbreaking to witness but the Moomins' indifference and even relief towards him by contrast was hilarious.

Still, he needs to get his act together and become a more independent guy if he really wants to up his datability rating.

6/10

Dr. Hatter (Fuddler's Courtship)

Hatter's a very... Interesting fellow, and Mymble and Snorkmaiden most certainly took that interesting-ness as a main vocal point of his appeal. As seen with Fuddler, he could easily become friends with someone if he dared, but his overwhelming paranoia and lack of competency in being a psychiatrist should probably be signs that he's not a good date, and I doubt he even is interested in the least. If a psychiatrist uses Freud as an exclamation that's probably a red flag in the kind of stuff he believes.

His personality shift into a physiologist seemed to have made him much friendlier and less skittish (neg. sense) but he became incredibly pretentious about medicine and such, you probably can't hold a very interesting conversation with him like before (which is probably why Mymble lost interest in his quickly).

He... Is there, certainly, but he's a pills-and-drops man now, not a dating man.

4/10

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Under the cut are the notes I've compiled about each character so you can make your own judgements on them without having to read the comments, let me know your thoughts! (Warning: it's long)

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Clark

- Is introduced as one of Marquis Mongaga's friends who like the Moomins for being weird

- Invites Snorkmaiden to swim in the pool and lets her be when she declines due to a lack of bikini (he calls her honey already, could simply be an impersonal pet name)

- Next time we see him, he's swimming on the beach and recognizes Snorkmaiden ("Hiya, honey, haven't we met before?")

- They go boat skiing together in the background on the next panel with Clark riding the boat and Snorkmaiden doing the skiing

- Snorkmaiden calls him a "man of the world" when arguing with Moomintroll

- Clark asks Snorkmaiden if she always lives in luxury

- Appears awkward and avoidant when Snorkmaiden and Moomintroll start arguing in front of him

- MT calls out Clark and challenges him to a duel

- Clark and MT seem to be arguing in the background of the next panel

- Clark is then seen marching away in the next

- Unlike in the movie, Clark offers the fencing swords straight (100% sure the movie writers just did that choice fakeout to make Clark look alot worse)

- Clark calls MT a pipsqueak who can't even hold a sword properly and narrates his strategy

- He has terrible peripheral vision it seems (makes sense since he wears glasses)

- Clark gets hit in the head by MT off-screen and he looks like a kicked puppy when we see the aftermath

- Snorkmaiden goes to say goodbye to Clark and tells him about how she and the fam are living under an old boat now that she doesn't have money then invites him for a swim tomorrow, Clark politely declines saying he'll be very busy for some time and goes back to reading a newspaper

- Snorkmaiden declares that she hates him afterwards

- (after shenanigans before the Moomins finally leave) Mongaga gives Snorkmaiden a sort of..... Fur cape? Coat? Thing? Saying it's an apology gift from Clark for his rudeness since he felt a little unwell

- End of Clark's presence and the whole comic thereafter

The Pirates

(Moomin's Desert Island)

- The pirates are found drinking rum and eating from a bowl on the beach, they hear Mymble and Snorkmaiden nearby and one of them says "Halt! Who is giggling?"

- They seem stunned to see Snorkmaiden and Mymble in the next panel

- They get blown up by fireworks that MT lit trying to protect Snorkmaiden (since they were chasing after her and Mymble)

- They get injured and patched up by Snorkmaiden, Moominmamma then puts them to work by making them rebuild her rock garden

- They say they can't work without drinking rum

- They get to work and feel totally embarrassed about the job ("After this we can never be pirates again. How unmanly.")

- Moominmamma plants a little head kiss on one of them as a reward

- Snorkmaiden and Mymble lose interest because they aren't "cool" anymore

- They ask what the stone wall is for and then decide to plan a mutiny against the Moomins

- They steal their barrel of rum while the Moomins go diving and celebrate not having to garden

- The pirates stumble upon the Moomin ancestors transporting the crates of fireworks and assembling them into a large tower

- They run and warn the Moomins about the ancestors trying to blow up the island

- Island goes boom boom and it starts raining, which makes the Moomins miss home, so the pirates offer their rum barrel to cheer them up

- their presence in the comic ends

(Moomin Under Sail)

- They're reintroduced by having their and the Moomins' ships nearly hit eachother and Moominpappa and the pirates recognize eachother, much to the pirates' dismay.

- One of the pirates say this is the second ship the Moomins have sunk, Moominpappa justifies himself by saying he knows but THEY started it.

- They say that the least the Moomins can do is bring their loot aboard, Moominmamma then offers hot rum.

- Moomintroll tries to lift a heavy chest and asks if it carries cannonballs, one of the Pirates says it's just eight pieces of gold.

- Snorkmaiden opens a chest full of brocade and jewels

- The Pirates' ship goes up in flames and starts sinking while the silver treasure is still on board, Too-Ticky jumps in and one pirate mourns her death, saying she would have made a great buccaneer. The other one says she's found the silver and Too-Ticky hops back on the boat covered in soot

- One pirate orders Moominpappa to change course to some islands with rich prizes, Moominpappa retorts that it's his ship. The other pirate then replies that he's sunk their ship (revealed to be called the Bloody Mary) and Moominpappa folds to their orders.

- The Pirates happily drink inside the cabin while Moominpappa and Moomintroll sleep inside a tent on the deck, they complain about this.

- One pirate requests that they bring "the young wench, the buxom one" (referring to Snorkmaiden)

- Moomintroll tells Snorkmaiden to not dare go to the pirates and she replies "I dare, too!"

- Moomintroll laments about this

- Snorkmaiden dramatically declares that she is at their mercy, only for the pirates to ask her to darn their socks

- Next day, the pirates spot a merchant ship and make way to the cabin to get their firearms. Once they get inside Moominmamma locks them up and says she'll only let them out if they leave the merchantman alone

- Moominpappa offers to put them ashore, but they say that the ship is their prize

- One pirate says they can't go on like this and the other shushes him saying he has a plan.

- They talk outside the tent about their plan to slit the crew's throats that night, Moomintroll overhears them, tells Moominpappa about it while the pirates are sharpening their knives and the crew leave via life boat. The two look out the window and their plan to simply scare them off the boat with such a threat worked, much to their relief.

- Their presence in the comic ends.

Mr. Brisk

- Mr. Brisk is introduced after the Moomins jump out of the attic of their house and into the soft snow

- He introduces himself by greeting Moominpappa, saying a catchphrase, his name and the organization he works for (The Great Outdoors Association)

- He tells them about how he loves the cold weather ("Refreshing! Wholesome!") and invites them along, saying their days of leisure are gone (*I can sure say he's not good at marketing sports that much*)

- He tries to teach the Moomins how to ski but not very well

- He pressures Moomintroll into going down a large slope by asking if he's a cowardly weakling in a very ominous way

- He then says none of the Moomins seem to possess a natural talent for skiing, but then tells them to not feel intimidated as they're going to switch to skating

- After the Moomins fail, he suggests they go skate with a sail

- *Moominmamma asks the others if they think Mr. Brisk is given to them as punishment for their sins*

- Mymble gets introduced to him and gains a crush after witnessing him go ice lake diving

- He seems to turn into a detrimental influence on Mymble, seeing as she tries to learn how to skate, learned to "understand" that they are all "degenerate weaklings", and made a snow sculpture in his honor

- Mymble wears a pretty dress just for him and Mr. Brisk doesn't seem to care, practically ignoring her and then telling her it's not practical for skiing

- Moominpappa tells Brisk that there are no penguins or polar bears in Moominvalley and Brisk replies with "You wait!" and distributes the fliers for the winter games via birds

- Mymble discovers a natural talent for skiing, however Brisk somewhat waves her off by saying "Alright alright" and telling her about his interest in competition results

- He apologizes to Edward the Seal about the ski jump not being built for someone of his weight

- Snorkmaiden gains a crush on him after witnessing his ski jump

- Brisk loses to Mymble in the ski race and goes to sulk about getting second place and how his career/self-esteem is down the drain on the cliffside, Moomintroll nearly tries to kill him by jousting him off the cliff with a tree but doesn't go through with it because Brisk already feels like garbage

- Moomintroll tells Mymble where Brisk is and Mymble offers him the first prize trophy, Brisk declines saying she doesn't understand

- Mymble tells Edward the Seal to go against Brisk and go easy on him to restore his self-esteem, Edward agrees to this and after Moomintroll tells him about it Brisk says he shall live up to their faith in him

- Brisk and Edward get into a snowball fight with Bris being overly enthusiastic about it

- Edward buries him in snow but Brisk manages to get out of it and pin Edward to the ground so he can admit defeat

- Brisk "wins" and gets cheered on by everyone

- He starts hanging out with Snorkmaiden and Mymble alot until Stinky reveals the truth about the Edward situation

- Brisk's self-esteem collapses and in a rage he challenges Edward to a bobsleigh race and if Edward loses Brisk will tear him to pieces

- Brisk, as they are sledding down: "HONOUR OR DEATH!"

Edward: "You're an aaaasssss...."

- They both crash into the snow, Edward asks Brisk if he's alive and Brisk challenges him to ice skating

- Edward break the ice and forfeits out of frustration, leaving Brisk feeling hollow inside

- The girls are trapped on a floating ice sheet and call for Brisk to save them, Brisk ignores them and goes to the cliffside to attempt suicide

- He actually goes through with the attempt but causes an avalanche in the process which lets him survive

- Brisk unburies everyone (except Stinky) from the snow, not out of the goodness of his heart for these weaklings but because a little exercise wouldn't hurt

- Brisk is honored as a hero, laurels and everything

- Brisk promises Edward he'll get his revenge next year

- Mymble asks Brisk to dance with her but he declines, saying dancing is a futile sport

- He apparently "went back to the North Pole" after Mymble leaves feeling dejected

- Brisk's presence in the comic ends and so does the comic thereafter

(He gets mentioned in Moomin Winter and Snorkmaiden Goes Rococo afterwards)

The Fillyjonk (Moomin Begins a New Life)

- Is introduced after Moominpappa and Stinky enter the party with their undiluted moonshine, Moominpappa notices Snorkmaiden with a new interest and asks "What will Moomin say?", to which Snorkmaiden replies "I've started the new free life, and so have you!"

- Snorkmaiden and the Fillyjonk seem to have been in the middle of dancing in this exchange, with the two holding eachother.

- Later we see the two making plans to run away together in the middle of the night for the sake of this "new life" they're starting, Snorkmaiden asks what they'll live on and the Fillyjonk replies "perhaps you can fetch a little bag of food from home?"

- Moominmamma prepares food for them and observes that the Fillyjonk seems like "such a wet" (according to Cambridge dictionary for "being wet": used to describe someone who has a weak character and does not express any forceful opinions)

- Moominmamma asks before giving them the food if the Fillyjonk is used to running off with women, the Fillyjonk answers saying not really but they're trying to follow the (white) prophet's teachings

- Next morning, Moomintroll seems already aware of what happened to Snorkmaiden and thinking this freedom stuff is stupid and decides to become a highwayman, dressing up like a gun-toting criminal under the pseudonym of "Black Hand" and spies on the couple among the grass.

- The Fillyjonk asks Snorkmaiden if she likes being run off with, Snorkmaiden replies of course, and the Fillyjonk follows up with asking "Didn't we do it properly?" to which Snorkmaiden replies "Oh do shut up!" (She seems pretty sick of him already and it's only been a night)

- The Fillyjonk said he wouldn't have run off with her if she hadn't agreed to it, and she says that that's just the issue

- Moomintroll plants a written warning between them and the Fillyjonk says "How awful!" while Snorkmaiden says "How exciting!"

- Due to his cowardice, the Fillyjonk excuses himself to "go and buy some cigarettes", Snorkmaiden sees right through this and thinks he'll never come back.

- The Fillyjonk later breaks into a jewelry store before Moomintroll does in the hopes that getting jewels for Snorkmaiden would win her affections back from Moomintroll

- Both boys take a pile of jewels with them and set them somewhere Snorkmaiden will find the next morning and Snorkmaiden feels conflicted on which one to choose, or if she should choose both or neither pile

- Snorkmaiden starts following the new (black) prophet's teachings and forces both the Fillyjonk and Moomintroll to apologize to eachother and turn themselves in to the police for burgling the jewelry store (neither one is sincere in their apology. The Fillyjonk in particular says "A new life without women! (For you)")

- They try turning themselves in but the prison is already full and the policeman's getting extremely stressed about it

- The Fillyjonk is seen in the background among the crowd watching the prophets fight

- End of presence for the Fillyjonk

The Nobleman

The Nobleman (Snorkmaiden Goes Rococo)

- Is introduced by riding in on a horse and the horse throws him down right in front of Snorkmaiden. Snorkmaiden believes this to be a heroic rescue from the bandits trying to take her anklet

- the bandits verbally plan to shoot him and steal his horse, the Nobleman puts his hands up in surrender and Snorkmaiden defends him with an umbrella

- Snorkmaiden asks him if he's okay and the Nobleman mistakes a pain in his chest as a bullet wound, after Snorkmaiden tells him the bandits didn't shoot he realizes it must've been a whale bone

- He thanks Snorkmaiden and offers her half his fortune

- He suddenly gets ill and asks Snorkmaiden to get his smelling salts from his bag

- He sneezes from the "salts", as Snorkmaiden mistook a snuff box instead

- He laments how he's had a terrible experience so far, what with almost getting killed, and says Snorkmaiden will certainly get a bag of silver as a reward

- It turns to night and he asks Snorkmaiden to get a blanket for him, Snorkmaiden thinks it was for her until he asks her to put it around his shoulders

- The Nobleman tells a boring story (as indicated by Snorkmaiden yawning) about why he takes 4 glasses of hot milk everyday. He then takes off with his horse, saying it's a pity it can't carry two people, and invites her to the king's dinner tomorrow before leaving.

- end of his presence in the story

Bonus: 2 likely different noblemen are seen taking a liking to Snorkmaiden in a party, one is simply enchanted by her "perfect slopping shoulders" and the other is directly interacting with her, taking her paw and offering a seat next to him and then offering to send a coach to take her home, and before she leaves he tells her that he's quite "bouleverse" (stricken/enchanted) by such a mysterious lady like her.

The Revolutionary

- Is introduced when Snorkmaiden accidentally enters a room where he's giving a political speech to 4 rather bored people about rising against the oppressive upper class

- He points to her, mistaking her as part of the oppressors and pointing out her being "bedecked with fabulous jewels" while the people have no bread, then references Marie Antoinette's famous "let them eat cake" line by saying they don't like cake

- The Revolutionary tries to extend a hand to his fellows but they leave before he finishes his sentence, then he despairs at them being gone. "If I could only make them see how unhappy and oppressed they are!"

- Snorkmaiden is enchanted by his way with words and the revolutionary reads his speeches/poetry to her by candlelight. Snorkmaiden tells him how clever he is and he acts rather touched by the compliment, "Oh.. well.. I THINK they're rather good.. :>"

- He calls her the most intelligent woman he's ever met and says she shall be the genius of the revolution, then tells her to sew small caps for "everyone" (possibly referring to his "fellow revolutionaries")

- Snorkmaiden knits winter caps inspired by Mr. Brisk and the Revolutionary says they aren't very "revolutionary" (badumtsh) but she's already made 3 of them

- Snorkmaiden mentions how Brisk wore wore hats like that last winter but then realizes he wouldn't be born yet (because time travel) and the revolutionary says "Don't worry your pretty little head. I know women are often confused"

- The revolutionary reads his piece about how all men will be equals, Snorkmaiden asks how and he says they'll wear the same clothes. Snorkmaiden asks what about the women and he answers saying they'll be equals, but "not to the men, of course" while patting Snorkmaiden's head

- The Revolutionary continues with another speech while Snorkmaiden makes breakfast, Snorkmaiden asks if the people will agree and the revolutionary says "they'll have to be guided, of course" (Snorkmaiden is starting to call him dear)

- He asks what the food is and Snorkmaiden says they're small pancakes with strawberry jam, the Revolutionary looks dismayed, saying he usually has pork dumplings and pickled herrings. Snorkmaiden looks frustrated and thinks about how Moomintroll never ate such things so she doesn't have experience with them

- The Revolutionary despairs about not having an audience for his new speech, and Snorkmaiden suggests that while he is clever, talk tends to bore people, so they must have action! "Fighting on the barricades!". The Revolutionary asks what barricades are and she explains that she doesn't really know... they're like trenches but up, not down.

- Snorkmaiden puts up a poster and asks what he thinks, the Revolutionary stares at it contemplatively. Snorkmaiden says it's sure to bring people in but he whines "But the revolutionary spirit..."

- The Revolutionary spots a gendarme (french paramilitary police officer) and he and Snorkmaiden hug eachother, afraid they'll become martyrs

- The gendarme bangs on the door and the try to escape through a small door but Snorkmaiden gets caught before she could enter. Snorkmaiden says she was just trying to get into the cellar to get some jam

- The gendarme asks if she put up the poster and when she proudly says yes he just tells her to take it down before leaving, as bill-sticking is prohibited on that street.

- Snorkmaiden is bewitched by the fine weather and suggests they go on a picnic, the Revolutionary declines and wishes to not be disturbed as he is composing a revolutionary song for the big meeting tomorrow. Snorkmaiden gets snippy and says "You and your silly revolution!"

- Snorkmaiden suggests they go out on the shore and pick seashells, the revolutionary asks what for and she continues her suggestion, saying they'll pretend to be pirates "Like Moomin and-" before being cut off by him saying "how very silly!"

- Snorkmaiden snaps at him saying she's tired of him and how he doesn't like picking sea-shells or playing pretend and.. and.. how he likes pork dumplings!

- She knits angrily lamenting about his and his silly revolutions, how he's nothing like Moomintroll. He doesn't even like pancakes and jam! But then she realizes the Revolutionary doesn't seem to be there

- She finds a letter left on his chair, stating that "darling", he can't hold the meeting because he's been invited to the king's dinner

- Snorkmaiden declares that she hates this stupid century and runs away to reunite with Moomintroll

- Comic ends

The Accountant Fillyjonk

- Introduced while Snorkmaiden is working as a secretary. He awkwardly brings up the weather and then asks what she's doing that night, when Snorkmaiden says she's doing nothing he brings up how there's a lecture on general accountancy and bashfully asks her to join him

- Snorkmaiden coyly says she can't even type on the typewriter. The Fillyjonk helpfully guides her and tells her to type "Invoice", when he reads out that she wrote "Love" it flies over his head and tells her she hit the wrong buttons

- Snorkmaiden is seen putting on makeup back in Moominhouse and Moomintroll asks her why, she says she's going out with somebody who ASKS her out.

- Moomintroll acts petty, speculating that he's some book keeper with pimples, a little mustache and no chin, Snorkmaiden retorts by asking where Moomintroll's chin is

- Snorkmaiden says the Fillyjonk is ambitious and studies accountancy, and that he doesn't have to study about personal magnetism (unlike Moomintroll throughout the comic) because he's got something REAL. She then leaves and Moomintroll attempts to get the last laugh saying he bets he doesn't take her out dancing.

- While at work again, the Fillyjonk says he has a surprise for her, Snorkmaiden lights up but then deflates after the Fillyjonk says he's cleaned the typewriter very bashfully

- Snorkmaiden immediately storms back home saying she's resigned from work

- His presence in the comic ends

The Poet

- He is introduced constantly surrounded by flowers and butterflies, he sees that the Moomins' and Too-Ticky's ship is unnamed and suggests that it should be named the Ocean Orchestra, after his own poem. He proceeds to recite his poem but then gets interrupted by Too-Ticky saying their boat doesn't have a flying jib. He whimsically exits the scene as Moominpappa suggests they name their boat "Mermaid" instead.

- Later, the crew (Moomins + Too-Ticky) notice there are signs of someone else being on the boat and find that the Poet his stowed away with them, hiding in the lifeboat eating cake, drinking whiskey and having a pipe with tabacco and a matchbox to the side.

- The Poet acts guilty by saying they should punish him by sending him to a desert island, as it is "poetic justice". And he admits to stealing their whiskey and tabacco to further cement his guilt. Moominpappa backs off saying he's welcomed on the boat and the Poet smiles at him rather sincerely.

- He asks the Moomins if they forgive him for stealing their stuff and Pappa assures him that they do. The Poet then goes "Of course, a poet must have some licence" (as in: freedom to behave as one wishes, especially in a way which results in excessive or unacceptable behaviour.)

- Moominmamma offers elderberry wine but he declines, saying he'd rather have whiskey and more fruit

- The Poet quickly turns to indulgence as he makes the Moomins set up a comfortable hammock with umbrella and side table. He comments on the lapping waves and calls the seagulls lost souls of sailors, lost at sea, circling their wake. Too-Ticky sneers at him and says they've fed them lots of refuse.

- Moomintroll says they should get rid of him somehow and the rest of the crew (except Snorkmaiden) agree to this

- Moomintroll gives the Poet a foot bath and the Poet says the crew (he calls them philistines) must be happy to have a poet on board, Moomintroll begrudgingly says "very"

- The Poet throws an anchor to the sea before realizing it isn't tied to the boat, then brushes off the loss. Moomintroll looks at him angrily

- Moominpappa laments how he can't even like the sea anymore because of how much the Poet adores it. Moomintroll says that atleast he's one character Snorkmaiden hasn't fallen for.

- Moomintroll immediately gets proven wrong.

- Snorkmaiden is wistfully listening to the Poet read (presumably) his book titled the Ocean Orchestra.

- Moomintroll asks if he'd like to be put ashore and the Poet declines, looking very kindly at Snorkmaiden while speaking

- Moomintroll very menacingly adds that he knows a desert island where he can be really poetic, the Poet declines again saying he loves the boat and Snorkmaiden

- Moomintroll snaps at him and tells him to leave her alone, the Poet and Snorkmaiden only guiltily look up together

- That night, the Poet gets attacked by Niblings while the rest retreat to higher ground.

- The Poet throws his poems in self-defense and the Niblings just eat the papers, then he tries to attack them with a harpoon but is finally carried off by the Niblings off to the sea.

- Snorkmaiden asks Too-Ticky to "save her hero" but Too-Ticky says there's not much one can do

- The Moomins superficially mourn him. Moominpappa throws a potted flower into the sea and says "Well, ahem, this one must say, he DID rhyme his poems"

- Snorkmaiden genuinely mourns him and Moomintroll gives her some lackluster comfort saying the Niblings probably haven't eaten him. Snorkmaiden becomes totally distressed and Moomintroll continues saying if the Niblings didn't like his taste, they may have gnawed the edges, sort of. Snorkmaiden snaps at him saying the Poet was a great man and Moomintroll simply replies "Well, let's hope he has an awful taste"

- End of his presence in the comic

Dr. Hatter

- Dr. Hatter is introduced via a newspaper article read by Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden, they see this as an opportunity to help the Fuddler become more attractive to Mymble (Jr)

- The two hope that Hatter read their letter and Mymble runs up to them saying that a man is moving into an empty house by the fig trees and that he seems exciting. The two run and check if it's him.

- Dr. Hatter appears to be skulking around the house's premises and Snorkmaiden says he might be one of Hatter's patients

- Hatter paints his name on a wall (DR. HATTER, psychiatrist), disagrees with the aesthetic and redoes it (PSYCHIATRIST, Dr. Hatter)

- Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden take Fuddler to his house and Hatter's door is covered in chains and locks he peaks out the window and mistakes them for spies. Moomintroll corrects him and Hatter throws down all his keys for the locks to them, saying he can't be too careful

- The trio go inside and finds memorial portraits of his parents, and toys scattered around the floor. Moomintroll asks if Hatter will be good for Fuddler, perturbed by the sight.

- They looks at some other images on the walls, featuring a homemade Rorschach test (which doesn't even follow the rules of an actual Rorschach blotch), an upsidedown photograph from a patient and other miscellaneous posters

- Hatter appears behind a screen and a load of junk. Moomintroll introduces Fuddler and Hatter tells him to come as the middle of the floor is "so lonely"

- He comments on how Fuddler seems normal and sensible to wear a saucepan to protect his head, however, Moomintroll looks like a case of "Natvomania" (appears to be a made-up disorder) to him. Moomintroll snaps saying it's a crazy idea, however Hatter retorts by pulling up a certificate certifying that he is, in fact, sane

- Fuddler talks about his dreams and Hatter comes closer to a diagnosis. Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden quietly leave them to their devices and Snorkmaiden comments "Isn't he clever?"

- Moomintroll hopes Hatter can help Fuddler and Snorkmaiden says "Of course!! He's wonderful!"

- Mymble shows up and asks Snorkmaiden "Have you seen Dr. Hatter? Isn't he marvelous!" and Snorkmaiden replies "He's so interesting!". Moomintroll scoffs saying he's silly.

- Mymble and Snorkmaiden continue to becomes further enamoured by Dr. Hatter, much to Moomintroll's chagrin.

- Fuddler and Hatter share their button collection and trade buttons, which excites Fuddler. Snorkmaiden and Moomintroll witness him running out of the office happily and Snorkmaiden ponders if Hatter will take her in for treatment too. Moomintroll decides that he should chase Hatter away.

- Moomintroll hires a ghost to scare Hatter, Hatter wakes up to the sound of rattling chains and consults his book about dream meanings, thinking that the current situation is a dream, and then gets spooked by the ghost.

- "My Freud!" cries Hatter, thinking the ghost is his subconscious taking form and says how awful it looks, and that he must analyse himself "again". The ghost threatens to appear three more times and Hatter declares that he'll leave.

- Snorkmaiden, Mymble and Fuddler all become upset about Hatter leaving, with Fuddler in particular begging Moomintroll to help until he feels guilty

- Snorkmaiden and Moomintroll beg Dr. Hatter to not leave as he's packing, Hatter says that he must as the house wakes his subconscious. Snorkmaiden says they'll bring him cases, Hatter is surprised as he believes everyone seems normal, but Moomintroll replies that they're awfully mental, Hatter pauses his packing and says "Oh dear".

- Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden gather some patients to visit him (among them being Mrs. Fillyjonk and the Inspector)

- Snorkmaiden is the first patient, Hatter seems awfully avoidant/shy about whatever subject he's talking about. Snorkmaiden tries to bring up something that nearly happened to her once but he interrupts her saying that the symbols are what matters and asks if she's ever dreamt of bees, Snorkmaiden gets annoyed and says no.

- Mrs. Fillyjonk is the next patient, Hatter shows her one of his homemade Rorschach tests and she says it's an ink spot, he checks a book and goes "aha!" which worries Mrs. Fillyjonk. He then asks her how often she washes and if she brushes her teeth several times a day, Mrs. Fillyjonk nervously answers yes and Dr. Hatter checks his book, vaguely saying "It fits in". Mrs. Fillyjonk asks "Fits in with what?" and Hatter says it's too early to say so she should come back tomorrow.

- The Inspector is patient number three, Hatter makes him play a game of Perfection. Hatter tries to make him put the shapes in the right holes and Inspector ropes him into playing along with him. Hatter brings up how "they" are all after him, and asks if the Inspector ever has bad dreams, the Inspector says not often but he does. Hatter then says "they" are after him because he grows roses, Inspector suddenly gets anxious because he also grows roses. Hatter tells him to come back any time as the Inspector leaves the office, now paranoid of spies.

- Moomintroll notices everyone who visited Hatter are acting strangely. Snorkmaiden suggests Moomintroll should go to Hatter aswell because he thinks everyone is too normal, Moomintroll is baffled by this as he looks at mrs. Fillyjonk staring at herself in a hand mirror.

- Snorkmaiden gets the Moominparents involved in making dr. Hatter stay by using Fuddler to guilt trip them, Moominpappa says people already think they're weird even if they don't try and Snorkmaiden says that Hatter doesn't so they will try this time.

- The Moomin family get on a row boat in front of Hatter's house and pretend their sailing on water, Snorkmaiden says the water is cold and Hatter asks if the fish are biting, then realizes that the ground isn't actually water.

- Hatter invites them to his house and the family continue their boat delusion charade, Snorkmaiden asks if he wasn't going to leave and he says no! Not with them in their present state.

- Moomintroll asks if he can put his nonexistent fish on the table, Hatter says not on the mahogany table, "but that wouldn't matter, would it..." he asks. Moomintroll does a hand stand and asks why everyone is upsidedown, Hatter puts a hand over his mouth in worry.

- The rest of the Moomins do a handstand aswell and ask why Hatter is upsidedown, Hatter laughs it off and says it's just a whim and joins their handstanding. They ask if he can cure them, but Hatter says that although they give him a headache, somehow he thinks they're quiet normal

- Hatter suddenly decides to take his leave but then Moominmamma invites him to a party, Hatter declines because "spies everywhere!" but they insist, dragging him by the arms

- Hatter visits Moominhouse and takes notice of the fence, saying it's very bad, then says it's terrible that they live in a tower, then says the round windows show that their case is very far gone

- They go inside and Moominmamma offers him wine, Hatter says there are symbols of the most sinister kind everywhere.

- He sees the tree growing inside their house and says they must be suffering from "Virulent independentia" (another made-up disorder) so he takes them somewhere else.

- Hatter makes them go inside a fenced container for a tree sapling, locks them up and tells them to be calm

- The Moomins panic and go back on their pretending, but Hatter believes they're suffering from delusions and then asks if they sometimes think they're umbrella stands or egg-beaters.

- Mymble comes in and Hatter says he doesn't have time for her as the Moomin are very interesting to him. Mymble says she thinks she's a flower stand and Hatter takes her in as another case, Mymble begs him to give her private treatment but she's locked up anyway.

- Fuddler comes in and blows up the cage with dynamite, knocking Hatter unconscious in the process, Mymble rushes to Hatter's side and completely ignores Fuddler which angers him.

- Moomintroll pours water on Hatter and he wakes up with a new hairdo. Mymble says he's had a traumatic experience and Hatter says "Traumatic? You've been reading trashy novelettes, young lady!", then says how water invigorates the glands. Mymble thinks the explosion must've brought up his subconscious.

- Mymble asks if he's alright and he says of course he is, Mymble then asks if he'll be treating her psyche and Hatter says that's stuff and nonsense. Chromosomes, gangliae, bacilli, they're the stuff!

- However, Hatter says she seems undernourished and tells her to put out her tongue. He prescribed her iron pills, vitamins and warm underclothes to make her fat and healthy again. Moomintroll asks Mymble if she's happy that Hatter's treating her and Mymble says that he isn't interesting anymore.

- Moominmamma notices Mrs. Fillyjonk and the Inspector are still acting strangely and tells Hatter that he's given them complexes. Hatter scoffs at the idea of complexes and says he's a pills-and-drops man, strictly pills and drops. He'll makes them some pills though, or drops..

- Later, Dr. Hatter actually does develop some complex-reducing pills for them but Moominmamma already cured them so there's no need. Hatter despairs as his effort lays wasted but says Moomintroll surely must have complexes and gives the pills to him in the name of science.

- Moomintroll starts shrinking and Snorkmaiden panics, going to dr. Hatter about it and Hatter finds it interesting, though he does give her the antidote to pour on Moomintroll.

- Comic ends

#moomins #moominvalley #moomin #lightbulb moment #snorkmaiden #moomintroll #moomin comics #moomin clark #moomin pirates #mr brisk #fillyjonk #male fillyjonk #moomin nobleman #moomin revolutionary #accountant Fillyjonk #moomin poet #dr hatter #I could make a whole Thing about Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden's dysfunctional romantic relationship #and how it works better as purely a friendship. But I'm sure someone has written about it #maybe not at as a great length as I could purely using the comics but still. I'm sure it's common knowledge

[magnificentposting-fabrizioart]

I've seen your conversation with faintingheroine where she namedropped me, and I have to say, I haven't seen Diriliş Ertugrul, so sadly I can't give you a comprehensive summary of its treatment of Western characters. But I have seen and read enough to get the general vibe of this show and it is indeed just pure nationalist propaganda, just like faintingheroine said.

I am Hungarian - well, Slovak, but in 16th century that distinction was kinda unclear, basically upper classes spoke mostly Hungarian and Latin and lower classes just did whatever, plus everyone called themselves Hungarian anyway, because they were from Hungary and nationalism wasn't invented yet. Anyway, Magnificent Century can portray my people sympathetically, but for some reason it almost universally makes them suffer, much like Ottoman Empire itself did in that period.

Interesting!

About Diriliş I can say I could expect that with what little I know and have researched about dizi and general, and also with it being about an extremely nebulous historical figure that is however prime nationalistic material.

As for the portrayal of Hungarians (at large), we spoke about the comical degree of villanization of Louis II, and as of where I am the only other relevant Hungarian is a weird take on the femme fatale with occasional sympathetic moments.

Part of a larger context of portraying every Christian character but the Grandmaster of Rhodes (I suspect that has to do with him leading a holy warrior order) as fundamentally duplicitous, btw.

The one saving grace I can find is that one-dimensional villainy is the name of the game in general when it comes to official enemies of the Empire, given how cartoonish the Ahmet-Mamluk rebellion is (if the show took itself less seriously, we could have had a "The Phony King of England" rearrangement no problem).

Only those that are still loyal to Süleyman while backstabbing each other are allowed moral greyness, sympathy or motivations.

#magnificent century #muhteşem yüzyıl #magnificent tumblring #magnificent memes #moral greyness and an undue amount of leeway tbh

[whirling-fangs]

@fallesto​   ||  cont.

DESPERATE TIMES. CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES TO BE TAKEN.

THEY CALL FOR A NEW GENERATION TO RISE.

This was hardly her fault. She was not able to make mistakes. How could a perfect being, ever be wrong. How could a god be false. Everything she did was right. Everything she did was correct. Everything she did, was perfect in each and every single way. It was everyone else, who had made mistakes, who had tripped and fallen and pushed and pushed until things were at this moment, at this breaking point were so much has gone wrong, so quickly as well.

The deaths of upper moon was not uncommon, but it had been centuries since a slayer had managed to do the deed and take one of the strongest within her hands from her. The death of one, she could overlook, but the death of three all together, was unforgivable. Upper moon six was arrogant and foolish, toying with there prey and paying the price. The power and wealth they brought was a heavy blow, the same for upper moon five as well. His death.

WAS A SURPRISE.

Not as much as the death of upper moon four. A shock that a demon that had lived for centuries and had been nothing other than complete and utterly loyal to her, would somehow mange to be killed, by these slayers. Annoying, but his death had opened a pathway to something so much more. A secret the slayers had been trying to hide for so very long and it was revealed within his final moments. A demon. On the side of the slayers, interesting, but so much more than that, she could walk in the sun and not perish. The decision then, to take the slayers seriously for the first time had been made.

But in order to do so, the upper moons needed to be whole.

As she stood within the chamber with her back to him. Holding the blade up, twisting and turning it and inspecting it. A thousand years of living, and she never understood, why humans sought out such primitive weapons. Not when the world had changed so much and all you had to do, was place a weapon within the hands of someone with barely any training, tell them to point and fire, and you have created a killing machine within a handful of weeks, compared to the countless years it takes to master such a weapon.

“It is very impressive …”

As she spoke, softly to him. Three upper moons had been killed. Three upper moons needed to be replaced. Upper moon six had been filled with a curious little demon, who seemed to be, more trouble than he was worth, but his knowledge of the slayers, the names he provided, the secrets spilled, made him worth the while. Upper moon four was given to the woman who was tasked to protect her life above all others, leaving upper moon five, free to be given to someone who would not, waste it and die so pitiful like the previous holder.

“You have killed many with these …”

As she placed the blade down onto the stand, along side the other. It seems, his failure has only motivated him that much more. It seems his mistake, has only fueled him. Good. Now was the most delicate time, for what was going to happen. This time, there would be no mistakes. This time, she would ensure, every single slayer, dies. It would not take much longer, for upper moon four to find where the leadership was hiding and with that, she would take them all out and end this. Every single demon, across the entire country, was being summoned into the fortress, every single demon, was being elevated to the rank of lower moon one. No more mistakes, no more games. This all ends.

“And so, you will be rewarded, with what you wanted most. I am willing to give you, the title of upper moon five …”

Change was happening. Any creature with a semblance of instinct could feel it, deep in their flesh, deep in their bones. The tides were turning, ever so slightly, in the favor of the weak masses.

Demons were dropping one after the other. They had scored some meaningful victories, and suffered terrible losses as well. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. Humans may be more numerous, but they held only a fragment of the strength and might that demons possessed.

Victory wasn’t rightfully theirs. Their sense of justice, their bushido, their pathetic notions of peace and hope... they couldn’t triumph.

Kiba couldn’t bear the thought of it.

He had done his part of the job. He had even brought back a fragment of his latest kill, his greatest pride, the best mark on his tally. A butterfly hairpin, its wings torn and stained with blood.

As always when in front of the Lord, Kiba had adopted a respectful posture. She was the only one he bowed to, the only one he would willingly plant his head into the ground for.

He had let her take his blood blades, stained with even fresher blood. It seemed to slowly seep into the crimson surface, as if the swords themselves were drinking from the blood shed by the creatures they tore into. They only grew sharper, lighter, even easier for their rightful master to wield.

Kiba dropped the butterfly pin before him, without lifting his gaze yet. Lower Moon One, as told his eyes, the rank he had earned after the previous one failed. At the mention of a new rank, though, Kiba could not stop himself from raising his gaze.

He couldn’t help it either, when a toothy grin tugged at his lips. Yes, this was what he most wanted. He had killed more slayers than he could count, doubled or tripled the goals he was set, and he had killed a Hashira. This was the recognition he had been waiting for, the only kind of reward he could possibly want.

He had heard the rumors, of course. A demon who could beat the sun. The idea that a creature might stand above his Lord was abhorrent to Kiba. Death was the least she deserved for her offence.

“I can kill many, many more. Every time these blades taste blood, they grow stronger. And I grow stronger too. And if they can drink the blood from that filthy traitor... I’ll be able to get the flower in the sun for you!”

#fallesto #the boar bares its fangs / demon!AU

[tiredassmage]

RISHI ;; closed rp tag for @jupitcrising

There’s a lot of traffic in and out of the outlaw haven: ranging from smaller shuttles to larger cargo frigates transporting any number of illicit goods - everything from people to spice and probably a few things even the former Cipher hadn’t considered. Tyr wiped an arm across his brow and took up his canteen again, taking a long drink before throwing some of the barely-cool water back over his neck, dampening the bandana loosely draped around it.

He’d been eyeing traffic for roughly the past three days. After several months in careful exile, evading Imperial and Republic eyes while putting their noses to the trail of the Revanites, the trio had finally agreed it was time to move. Tyr suspected they wouldn’t much longer have the luxury of time - as illusionary as it’d been from the start.

But the roar of engines overhead dragged him back out of his thoughts. Shading his eyes from the glare of the sun with a hand, a different silhouette, finally, caught his attention. Not nearly as sleek as the Phantom - then again, few things were. His eyes narrowed slightly and he raised the macrobinoculars at his side to zone in on the incoming ship.

“Theron?” Tyr touched a hand to his commlink. The ship was coming in for a landing down at one of the free local docks across the bridge.

“Go ahead.”

“Defender-class Light Corvette?”

“Should be the one, yeah.”

“Good. I’ve got a visual.” Tyr lowered the macrobinoculars, stashing them away and making ready to abandon his perch in a quiet old shopfront in Rishi’s upper levels. “Tell Lana to make ready. It’s time.”

x-x-x-x-x-x

He was not about to stop ribbing Theron for the overblown cover story just because the Jedi had finally made it down to Rishi and in one piece, at that. Really, it felt a little like overcompensating to paint the Red Hulls (and what kind of kriffing name was that?) as almost obnoxiously bloodthirsty, but then Nine supposed they were dealing with one of the Jedi Order’s finest, according to the records.

Still, Lana had reasoned too direct of an intercession on any of their parts might overplay their hand, so Tyr had begrudgingly ceded to tracking the Jedi’s progress through Raider’s Cove from a shadowed distance. It had, to be fair to the Jedi, gone somewhat better than the ex-Cipher had anticipated.

“Theron and Lana finally finish giving you the basics?” Tyr pushed away from where he’d had a shoulder propped into the wall in one of the back corners of the safehouse. He admittedly wasn’t certain where his presence would be the least unnerving - out in the open of their briefing or hanging back in the shadows; either way, the last thing they needed was to be at each other’s throats. Everything had worked out well-enough prior on Manaan and following, but Nine’s involvement had largely been on the back-end. Lana had given enough to say he had, at one point at least, been one of the Empire’s top spies and Tyr couldn’t find himself keen to expand into too much detail. He had a promise to Ardun Kothe to maintain and an already sketchy job security to juggle with the Dark Council following action on Corellia.

Still, even that vague allusion to what he was wasn’t a reputation he expected to put many at ease.

So he’d seen little of Hyroh Kaah, in the grand scheme of things. Enough to confirm Theron’s reports that he was a capable ally in a fight for himself.

“I’m not sure we were properly introduced. For now, you can call me Nine.” An old title for an agency that no longer existed, and yet it seemed the Empire was still a bit too keenly relying on, if you asked him. Marr hissed a lot behind that mask for someone that hadn’t revoked his clearances until he’d gone and stuck his nose yet again where it didn’t “belong,” as if tracking enemies of the Empire hadn’t always been his job.

Not that it was the first time.

He offered out a hand, nonetheless, should the Jedi be amenable to the greeting. “Theron’s asked me to bring you up to speed on the details of our operations here. Expect him to be handling a lot of the technical back-end. I’ve been putting in some fieldwork while we waited for your arrival, so I’ll be acting as one of your ‘lieutenants.’” When they were ready, he tilted his head to indicate the hall and started to lead them back.

“We’re a lot closer than we were months ago when we went into hiding, but as the others said, I’m sure, we can’t act openly - yet. Hence the convincing command structure. We’re going to pick a fight with the Nova Blades - and it’s not going to be about the Revanites.” Yet, anyway.

“And... we’re going to want to get you something a bit more... fitting.” He threw a nod to one of the open doors and leaned back against the wall in the hallway. “Theron’s prepped a room for you, should be a few options for some ‘local’ style. I’d suggest changing into something a bit more ‘comfortable.’” A slightly amused smile flickered across the Cipher’s lips. “Not all of us can rely on your Force, and not all of our targets are going to be as hapless as Kai Zykken, even if we could. Make it something convincing, if you will, Jedi. We can talk details while I wait.”

#notecards [rp] #surprise have a tag in case u wanna sort my latest shenanigans #[ic] tyr #maybe i will make pretty sparkle tags for them eventually but for now brain on a hamster wheel

[free-for-all-fics]

Captain Louis Renault Cinderella-esque AU Prompt! This was inspired by The Princess and the Frog a little bit. Pls tag me if you’re inspired by any of this and I’d love to read it! 💙🎊

Your best friend is the beloved daughter of an extremely wealthy and powerful businessman. Even after his death, his influence and legacy still follows her everywhere she goes, even all the way to Casablanca in French Morocco, North Africa. She married a man of wealth too, and her husband loves her so much he gives her almost anything she asks for and fulfills any request of hers. Thus, people who don’t know her very well may accuse her of possessing a very spoiled and shallow personality. While most people know that she romantically pursued and later married her husband for his money, you know that she fell in love with him along the way and values him for much more important qualities that he possesses rather than just his money.

She was a prominent socialite back in your home country and her popularity has carried over to Casablanca. She’s doted on and given everything she wants by her husband, the locals, and even tourists who recognize her family name. They may surround and admire her, but she doesn’t take any of their kindness or generosity for granted. She's a ditzy, impulsive diva filled with spunk and flair and while, yes, she’s spoiled and can act self-centered sometimes, she’s very generous and by no means a snob. She’s even told you that if her husband’s only good quality was his money, she would’ve divorced him years ago. You met him many times while they were dating and bonded almost immediately. He’s funny, charismatic, charming, and sweet, and has become like a brother to you. He and she have a lot in common and are perfect for each other. She’s aware her background has afforded her many privileges, which she uses to help better the lives of the people that surround her and populate her life. Though she and her husband are often given special treatment, they don’t believe in the idle rich and do what they can to give back to the community, whether through charity, fundraisers, etc. If they have children, they’re going to raise them to understand the importance of maintaining a balance between giving and taking.

She’s one of the few people from the upper class who refuses to weaponize her wealth or discriminate against and take advantage of the lower class. Sympathy is in short supply in Casablanca, it seems, and she’s one of the few kind-hearted upper class women who doesn’t prey on others. She’s also fiercely loyal to you. She’d never admit it, but you have a feeling that the reason she and her husband haven’t secured exit visas and boarded the plane to Lisbon, when they so very easily could do so at any time, is because she doesn’t want to leave you behind. If you can’t go with her to America, she won’t go at all.

Back in your home country, your mother died shortly after you were born and you were raised by your father. Though you and your now best friend lived in different neighborhoods, you somehow crossed paths when you were children and were attached at the hip ever since. Despite your differences in social and economic class, she invited you over to her grand house for play dates and sleepovers, treating you as an equal. She was an only child and, to her, you were the sister she always wanted. She didn’t have a mother either and was raised by her extremely wealthy but widowed father too, so you bonded over that. When your father was called to fight in World War I, she and her father let you stay with them. Your father had been drafted and had no choice but to go. You knew that even if he wanted to stay home with you, it was out of his hands. But that didn’t make you miss him any less. Your best friend was always the one to excitedly give you his letters the second they were delivered. She’d watch as you opened them, the way your eyes would dart across the page. She’d ask you if you were willing to share with her what the letters said, not wanting to overstep or pry into something so personal. She’d never read your father’s letters without your permission.

But then your father’s letters suddenly stopped coming and you feared the worst. She held you in her embrace and consoled you, giving you a shoulder to cry on. One day, you and she were chatting in her bedroom when her father called for her to come downstairs alone. She reluctantly got up with a promise she’d be right back. When she met her father at the bottom of the stairs, he was pacing back and forth. When he made eye contact with her, his face looked grim. He handed her a telegram addressed to you, telling her that it just came today and, although he answered the door and signed for it, he didn’t feel it was his place to read it first. It was from the War Department. It was the first and only time she opened a letter addressed to you without your permission, but she felt that she had to read it first. She quickly sliced it open with a knife, not caring if she accidentally cut herself. As her eyes scanned over the words, her hopes that your father was only missing and would be found alive were dashed and her fears were realized. She slowly made her way back up the stairs, her heart filled with sorrow and dread as she reentered her bedroom. You were sitting in the window seat, watching the birds and the people passing by in the busy street below as you waited for her.

“Could I speak to you? It's important. It's a telegram. It’s just arrived and it’s addressed to you.”

“A telegram? From whom?”

“From the War Department.”

“It isn't anything about my father, is it?” When you moved to stand up, she softly gestured for you to stay where you were. It’d be better if you remained seated for this.

“Could I sit down beside you for a moment, please?” When you nodded and moved over to make room for her in the window seat, she took your hands in hers and gently squeezed them. She hesitated for a few moments, as if unsure what to say. She knew she needed to choose her next words very carefully, but she also knew it wouldn’t do you any good if she stalled. If she dragged this out for longer than necessary, it would only hurt you more. It was best to just come right out and say it to avoid causing you unnecessary pain.

“What is it?”

She said your name slowly. And then, “…Your father has been killed in action.”

You took the telegram from her, practically snatching it from her lap as you frantically read it over. There had to have been some mistake. “Oh, no. Oh, no, not Daddy. My poor, dear Daddy. And I loved him so.” You fell into hysterics, sobbing so hard that your eyes flooded, your tears nearly blinding you. You felt like you were drowning and you couldn’t breathe. Your friend called your name, but you couldn’t bear to listen. You stood up and paced around the room, as if trying to escape from a horrible nightmare.

“I begged him not to go to war. I begged him. I begged him!”

“Let me say something to you. Will you please?” She had to raise her voice in order to be heard over your wailing, but you only turned your head away from her and collapsed in one of her nearby armchairs, pounding your fist on it as you fell further into a dark pit of grief.

“No, no! Leave me alone! Daddy’s dead!”

You hiccuped and hyperventilated, nearly choking on your sobs. Your breathing became labored and uneven. Your best friend feared that you’d faint from the shock if she didn’t do something to help calm you down, so she called for her maid to keep watch over you while she rushed out of the room and ran down the stairs, practically sliding down the banister. Her dad was climbing up the stairs at the same time she was going down, so she quickly said, “Dad. Dad. Dad, go up to her. I'll get some brandy. Maybe that'll help.”

After your father’s death, your best friend and her father were the only family you had left. He always wished he could’ve had another child, but then his wife died and it wasn’t meant to be. But then you came into his daughter’s life and, by extension, his own. He loved you like a second daughter when you were growing up. Even if you were much older at the time, he wanted to adopt you legally. He asked for your consent and made it clear that, although he’d never try to take your father’s place, he still wanted you to know you were just as much a part of his family as any blood relative. Whether you chose to go through with the legal formalities of being adopted or not, you were still his daughter and your best friend was still your sister. After he died, your roles were reversed and you were there for her in her time of mourning in the same way she had been there for you. When World War II broke out, your best friend and now sister made it clear in no uncertain terms that she wouldn’t leave without you. Her husband agreed. It was because of her that you joined her and her husband on the refugee trail and escaped to Casablanca together.

She has always been your ally, ready to fight your corner and stand up for you if any of her snobbish guests or peers were giving you trouble. Whether at parties or out in the street, she always has your back. After she fell in love with her husband, she never much paid any mind to the crowd of sycophants. People like that only want to use other people to better themselves or climb the social ladder. They feign creating friendships but only seek personal gain, not caring who gets hurt in the process. To them, social standing is everything. She used to be like that too, once, until she saw the toll it took on the people she loved most. Fancy titles, social standing, it all became silly nonsense to her and she no longer sees the point in any of it. If she likes or dislikes someone, it’s for who they are and not what they have. She still loves you for who you are and is never ashamed to be seen with you.

She invites you to come along with her and her husband to a party being held at Rick’s Café Américain for a night of fun. There will be live music, an open bar, gambling, and, of course, handsome bachelors to dance with. She smirks and raises her eyebrows suggestively at you when she says the last part, making your face heat up in embarrassment. You roll your eyes and try to wave her off. You remember when the two of you were little girls and played pretend, acting out your favorite fairytales. You and she would dress up in her fancy clothes and act like pretty princesses who were waiting for your handsome princes to come riding in on white horses and kiss you.

“Seems like only yesterday we were both little girls, dreaming our fairytale dreams. Just because I found my soulmate and got my fairytale romance, doesn’t mean you still can’t find yours. There’s a party tonight at Rick’s and everyone is going to be there! You must come!”

“Isn’t there a party at Rick’s every night? What makes tonight so special? Can’t I just sit this one out like I’ve done every other night?”

She purses her lips and pinches you for your sass. You’re right and do have a point that there’s a party every night, but listen! “It’s special because tonight could be your lucky night! I just have this feeling that you might find your other half at this party, but you won’t know until you go, so you’re going. I won’t take no for an answer!”

“You really haven’t changed much, have you? I still want love, but I also want fun. I want a love with lots of laughs. The married couples I’ve seen in Casablanca, they’re a little bit short on laughter. Except for you and your husband, of course. But I know that, if I do find love, it won’t come to me storybook style, with all the trimmings. I won’t exactly be swept off my feet by a handsome knight in shining armor or a handsome prince on his noble steed. Where would I even find a horse these days? Certainly not here in the middle of the desert.”

Your sister looks as if she’s about to protest and tell you to keep your chin up, but her husband knocks on the door and interrupts. She invites him in, hoping he can convince you to see her perspective. “Darling, your timing is impeccable. Tell her I'm right. About love, I mean.” She holds his arm and rests her head on his shoulder, looking up at him with doe eyes. But he has no idea what your conversation was about, so he just sort of shrugs and smiles at you.

But your sister is still determined to play matchmaker for you. You deserve to have a man who loves you like how her husband loves her. She worries that you’re lonely or unhappy sometimes whenever she notices you being a wallflower or recluse. She wants to help you blossom and be seen for the beauty that you are. She has so many beautiful dresses all made from the finest seamstresses across the world, so she loans you one of her evening or cocktail numbers that she’s more than confident will look absolutely ravishing on you. She does your hair and makeup for you and, of course, no outfit is complete without jewelry and accessories. Having really no choice, you let her doll you up. It’s only for tonight, so you’ll do your best to have a good time. Why worry about the future? If you've got anything coming to you, it'll come.

You didn't actually expect to get into Rick’s place. Your sister and her husband, yes, but not you. But Abdul let all three of you pass after receiving Rick’s nod of approval. Your sister makes you promise that you’ll at least try to dance and socialize before the night is over. If you don’t, she swears she’ll drag you out to the dance floor herself and be your partner while she introduces you and hypes you up to every unattached man nearby. You’re single and she wants you to mingle. You know she’s only saying it in jest to tease you and get you to relax, so you promise that you’re going to enjoy this night while it lasts and make the most of it. But you need to sit down and grab a drink first to calm your nerves and steady yourself. While she goes off to dance with her husband, you sit at the bar to order a much needed drink. Sacha, the bartender, is very friendly and you chat with him while he gets your drink for you.

Scanning the room, you take note of the people surrounding you. A middle-aged black man sits on a stool before a small salmon-colored piano on wheels. His hands on the piano make little walking patterns as he plays a jazzy, upbeat tune that’s easy for couples to dance along to. Accompanied by a small orchestra, he sings along during some of the numbers and the crowd of partygoers love every minute of it. All about you there's the hum of voices, chatter and laughter. The occupants of the room are varied. There are Europeans in their dinner jackets, their women beautifully begowned and bejeweled. There are Moroccans in silk robes. Turks wearing fezzes. Levantines. Naval officers. Members of the Foreign Legion, distinguished by their kepis. Everybody comes to Rick’s.

The café is in semi-darkness. The spotlight mostly stays on the man playing piano, but occasionally pans over to the orchestra, the dancing couples, and even the the other attendees sitting at tables or at the bar. A handsome older man in a crisp black uniform decorated with stars catches your eye when the spotlight swings over on him. You see him fully in the light for only a few moments before the spotlight moves and he’s once again obscured in shadow, but just getting that brief glimpse of him was enough to pique your interest. Well dressed men and women surround him, all peacocking as they try to catch his attention and engage in conversation. You don’t know who he is, but he seems either important or popular. Maybe he’s both of those things.

He sets down his glass of brandy and is quick to grab the hand of a beautiful young lady nearby, excusing himself as he goes out onto the dance floor with her. He pulls her into a dance, but you have a feeling he’s only done so to avoid having to endure any more idle chitchat and hollow pleasantries. But it’s not just her. He shares a dance with many beautiful young ladies, in fact. He switches dance partners multiple times, sometimes before songs are even over. It’s as if he’s trying to scope the women out and decide on which one he truly wants to give his oh so valuable time to. Maybe he’s trying to decide who to take to his bed at the end of the night rather than who to dance with. He seems almost bored with the gaggle of beautiful women flocking to him and wanting a turn. But then, during one of the periods when the spotlight once again moves and shines over the bar, he lays eyes on you sitting alone. Who are you? He’s the Prefect of Police, he should have intel on everybody in Casablanca, so how is it that he’s never seen you before and doesn’t recognize you from anywhere? Have you just arrived here?

Without a second thought, he leaves his most recent partner on the dance floor and makes his way to the bar. You notice he’s heading in your direction as he passes through the crowd, but surely he just wants a drink. It can get rather warm in Casablanca, and dancing for so long in such a crowded space is bound to make anyone parched. He can’t be wanting anything to do with you. But he surprises you when he leans his elbow on the countertop and introduces himself to you. His name is Louis Renault and he’s Prefect of Police here in Casablanca. You’re not sure why, but you’re suddenly anxious that having this man’s attention is too good to be true. Though you shake his hand to be polite, you do everything in your power to avoid giving him your name. Giving him your name feels like it would be just as dangerous as when the characters in your childhood storybooks gave their names to the Fae. Names have power. If you gave him yours, it’d shatter the mystique surrounding you and he’d lose interest. If he knew your name, he’d be able to learn so much about you without you even telling him anything.

“Have we met?”

“I do not believe so, Captain.”

“I could have sworn I knew every civilian, refugee, and tourist in Casablanca.”

“Well... I've just recently arrived here with my sister and her husband.”

“Who?”

“My sister.”

“Yes, you said that. Which one?”

“The only one I have, sir.”

“Are you coy on purpose or do you honestly refuse to tell me your name?”

“No! And yes.”

“Then tell me your sister’s name or that of her husband so I might call one of them to learn who you are.”

No matter how persistent or clever he is, no matter how much he prods and pries for you to give him your name, you find ways around it. He asks you to dance but you refuse, electing to finish your drink. You’re not keen on being tossed away by him like those other women were. Although he appears to be a wonderful and talented dancer from what you’ve seen of him, you’d rather not take the chance of being subject to the public humiliation of being discarded and abandoned in the middle of the dance floor. Though he may or may not see through your excuse, he’s still not deterred nor discouraged by your refusal to dance.

Instead, he asks to join you. He’s a gentleman and only sits down across from you when you give him permission to do so. You are curious about him, so some stimulating conversation over drinks won’t hurt. When you warm up to him after God knows how long you spend together at the bar, he asks you once more if you’d like to dance. You’re not sure if it’s because of the alcohol swirling in your system, but your inhibitions fall away and you finally agree. One dance turns into two which turns into three, so on and so forth until, before either of you realize, it’s nearing the end of the night and will soon be early morning. You’ve been having such a wonderful time talking, drinking, and dancing together that it’s like everything and everyone around you has dissolved and time has slipped away from you.

Louis takes you by the hand and sneaks away with you without anyone noticing. He leads you to a room upstairs to get away from the loud cacophony of music and the indistinct chatter of the gambling and drinking partygoers below. You’re standing on a balcony that overlooks the desert city. You’re so relieved to have a respite. Dancing in Rick’s place is nearly always an intimate affair because the floors are so crowded and Casablanca’s climate is usually a trifle warm, so you’ve worked up a bit of a sweat. Tonight the fresh air feels so nice and cool against your skin after spending so many hours in the hot and stuffy saloon that, while you’re not sure if you’re allowed to be up here, you can’t bring yourself to care or worry about getting caught somewhere you’re not supposed to be while alone with a man.

You’re wrapped up in each other’s arms, looking up at the moon. As you enjoy the peace and quiet, you make a comment about how the moon is beautiful even if you can’t see the stars due to the pollution of the bright neon lights. Louis agrees that it’s beautiful, but you notice he’s not looking at the moon when he says this. He’s looking at you. You look into each other’s eyes and suddenly press your lips together without thinking, almost acting on a shared impulse. The first kiss is brief and chaste, as if you’re both still unsure and testing the waters. But soon after that you go back in for more, your kisses lasting longer and longer as neither of you even take a second to let doubt creep in. Louis leaves a trail of fervent kisses from your shoulder up to your neck. He presses his lips to your cheeks and your forehead before he once more captures your lips. In the background you can hear the clock bell striking, but it sounds so far away, muffled as if underwater. All you can focus on is Louis and reciprocating his kiss, the way his body feels against yours, his arms wrapped around your waist and tangled in your hair…

“Is it eleven o’ clock?” You ask him absentmindedly, your voice low and almost a murmur. Your lips are still locked with his and you wonder if maybe Louis is just as distracted as you are and can’t understand you through your mumbling. But you don’t want to break away from his kiss just yet. Just a little longer…

“I think it’s twelve.”

You’re so startled that you’re broken out of your reverie. Your eyes snap open in alarm and you pull away from his embrace. You break the kiss so abruptly that Louis stumbles and nearly falls forward in his attempt to steady himself and keep hold of you. For a few hours you felt as if you’d been underwater. You were in a state of absolute bliss and floating in a bubble, but now you feel as if you’ve suddenly come back up for air and the bubble you were once in has popped. When Louis asks you what’s wrong and tries to recapture you in his arms, you don’t let him and make up an excuse that you can’t stay another minute and need to get home. Your sister must be so worried about you.

The sound of the clock bell tolling feels so much louder than it was before. It nearly makes your eardrums ring. You hastily curtsy and bid him goodbye, making a run for the exit. He walks so fast he nearly jogs behind you, imploring you to stay just a little longer or to at least give him your name so that he can find you. When that does nothing to make you slow down, he offers to drive you home, but you breathlessly yet politely decline, barely making eye contact with him as you glance at him from over your shoulder. You maneuver through the crowd of party guests and he’s not quick enough to wade through the sea of people like you are. They circle and crowd around him, clinging to him like flies to honey, once more calling his name and vying for his attention. You slip away and, by the time he gets to the door and stands outside on the terrace, you’re long gone. He looks around, but there’s no sign of you anywhere. You’ve slipped through his fingers like water and disappeared into thin air. Why did you leave so suddenly? What reason could you possibly have? Only you know.

The next morning, Louis swears he’s met the most enchanting woman at the party that was held last night. Those parties are usually a complete bore or an excuse for him to find a woman to warm his bed for the night, but your presence changed all that. As the Prefect of Police, the unfortunate reality is that most people are overly polite and fawning towards him to either secure a job promotion that’ll get them to a higher rank, or in the hopes of convincing him to furnish them with exit visas. But you were warm and real, and treated him like you did everyone else. To you he wasn’t the Prefect of Police, he was just Louis. It was very refreshing. He hopes to see you again, so much so that he searches for you under the guise of conducting important police business. While the usual suspects are being rounded up, he looks for you.

Meanwhile, you tell your sister all about your night. She’s your best friend and closest confidante, so you know you can trust her to keep what happened in that upstairs room secret and just between the two of you. She admits that she saw you drinking and dancing with Captain Renault, but it was the first time in months or years that she saw you genuinely enjoying yourself at a party, so she didn’t want to interfere and put a damper on your good time. She was worried when she saw you go upstairs with him, but she knew you could take care of yourself and that you wouldn’t let any man coerce you into doing something you didn’t want to. She trusted you not to do anything that she wouldn’t do.

You assure her that, while it all happened so quickly, nothing untoward took place and you didn’t go any further than kissing. Even if the clock hadn’t struck midnight, you wouldn’t have slept with him. Oh, God, just thinking back on it makes you so embarrassed. You drank, danced, flirted, and made out with the Prefect of Police, of all people! You talked so openly with him that it’s a miracle you didn’t slip up and give him your name. Maybe you should consider yourself lucky that he didn’t arrest you! Your sister tells you not to worry about getting arrested. Captain Renault is an official, but he’s a corrupt official. She assures you that, though he’s been appointed as Prefect of Police by Vichy, he doesn’t take his job all that seriously.

While she wants you to find love, she’s not sure if Captain Renault is the right man for you. She’s concerned that if you try to pursue a relationship with him, you’ll only get hurt. She’s not worried about Captain Renault, she’s worried about you. She’s familiar with his reputation and doesn’t want you to get mixed up in it and have your heart broken. She’d hate for you to get thrown away like a used toothpick like he’d done to so many women before you. She warns you about his womanizing ways and hedonistic behavior. She spares no details as she tells you everything she knows about him, including that he has embraced the corruption and vice that comes with his police uniform, furnishing beautiful women with exit visas only in exchange for either a great deal of money or sexual favors whether they’re married or not. She’s not telling you these things to scare you or to shame you for what you may be feeling. She’s telling you these things so that you’ll be well equipped with information that might serve to help you come to your own conclusions about Captain Renault. She knows how smart you are and trusts that you’ll make the decision that’s right for you. Only you can determine if what you’re feeling towards him is love or not and, if it is, she won’t hold it against you or love you any less. She reiterates that she doesn’t care about Captain Renault. She cares about you.

You know you can’t hide from Louis forever and that he’ll find you sooner or later, so you do your best to mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for when that day comes. When he does eventually have the great fortune of bumping into you, his mystery woman from the party, again, you’re working outside and don’t notice him right away. He watches in admiration as you single-handedly carry objects that look to be rather heavy. You make it look so easy and appear to be built for hard labor, so he thinks that maybe you grew up and worked on a farm and/or were raised by a man. You look so different from when he last saw you, but he’d recognize you anywhere. Your clothing is mostly hand-me-downs, your shoes are scuffed up and worn through, you’ve forgone any jewelry or makeup, and your hair is either loose or messily tied back. Your face is covered in a sheen of sweat and spots of dirt.

When you finally look up and notice him watching you, you’re obviously self-conscious about your appearance as you try to pat down your hair and smooth out your clothes to make yourself more presentable, but he doesn’t care about any of that. You’re still so alike in many ways. You may be poor, but he’s a poor corrupt official. You’re just as beautiful as you were at the party, if not more so. Your intellect is matched only by the grace you display. During your conversation, you finally give him your name. He can tell by your body language that you’ve learned about his reputation and his past actions, but he wants to prove to you he can be better than that. That he is better than that. He‘s honest with you when he confesses that he’s quite taken with you and has never felt this way about anyone before. He pursues you by slipping love letters into your mailbox, leaving you small gifts and flowers at your work or on your doorstep, or paying you visits while out and about in the street. What a coincidence he’d run into you at this café, in the market, or be walking by your house while doing his patrols, etc.

You had planned on your romance being a slow burn as Louis didn’t want to come on too strong or scare you away in his romantic advances. He wanted to go at your pace, he really did, but then the Nazis showed up, he was held at gunpoint by Rick Blaine and forced to help Ilsa and her husband, Victor Laszlo, escape on the plane to Lisbon, and Major Strasser was shot dead all within mere hours. He takes your hands in his own and implores you to come with him and Rick to join the Free French garrison in Brazzaville. He knows this is crazy, he knows you’ve only just met less than a week ago. Oh, Hell, you don’t know him from Adam. But when he looks at you, he feels like you were made for each other. He’s right. So much has happened in just the past three days and three nights alone. It’s all been a crazy and hectic whirlwind, but all the best romances usually are, aren’t they? You take Louis’ hand and the three of you walk off into the night fog. You make plans to head to a fort to end your time on the fringes of World War II. Though you’re heading into danger and the unknown, you’re with people that you trust. Together you embark on a new adventure, leaving behind Casablanca for good.

You make a promise to yourself that you’ll write your sister to explain the situation as soon as you can. Although she may be upset with you, you hope she’ll eventually come to understand that you made this decision of your own free will and why you did it. You’ll wish her well and express your hope that she goes to America with her husband, but will assure her that no matter where she and you end up, even if you’re worlds apart, you’ll find your way back to each other someday. Maybe you’ll be engaged next time you meet. You can’t imagine getting married without her being there at your wedding. If an engagement is indeed in your future, it’d have to be a long one. For Rick and Louis, this is the start of a beautiful friendship. For you and Louis, it’s the start of a beautiful romance. While he’s not exactly a prince or knight in shining armor astride a white horse and is a little rough around the edges, you wouldn’t have him any other way.

He doesn’t have much in terms of wealth or material possessions, and even warns you what your future may entail if you choose a life with him. "I want you to be proud of what I do, so I'll start searching for other, more honest forms of employment. God willing, I'll be able to provide enough in a year for us to…to be together. But I have to warn you," he says somberly, "We’ll likely have to move around in the beginning and will be living in apartments that aren’t the biggest nor the fanciest. Ideally we wouldn’t be living in those kinds of places for very long, just until I can secure another job, but even our house won’t ever be as grand as your sister’s and-”

You stop his worried ranting by putting your hand gently on his lips and shushing him. "I don't care about the money, Louis.” You shake your head, brushing his hair away from his face. "As long as I have you, that's all that matters. It’s as my sister said. If I like or dislike someone, it’s for who they are and not for what they have. I love you for who you are, not for what material possessions you can provide for me.”

He’s a romantic and has sworn to devote every waking minute to your happiness. He treats you like a princess and that’s all you could ever want. He’s all you could ever need. Your knight, your prince, your captain, your Louis.

#captain Renault x reader #Louis Renault x reader #captain louis Renault x reader #captain renault #louis renault #captain Louis Renault #casablanca #fic prompt #fic idea #pls tag me if you’re inspired by this #I’d love to read it

[stickygallery]

Awful, awful twitter UI

I continue my grind to fuck around and make a cute little robot demon. I don't know if anyone actually cares, but I guess I could write more about Spark and the setting (Name TBD but I like Spark rn)

Writing Below!

For centuries, a single power had dominated the Great Continent, creating a single country called Exousia. The countries rule was held with an iron grip by the "Great Families", which made up the upper class. The remaining population was an ever shrinking lower class thanks to genetic tampering and eugenics initiatives by the Families to remove their ability to breed. The majority of all labor was long since taken by artificial constructs, typically called "Droids" as their scientific classification was of little concern to the average person, who typically lacked even the basic ability to read.

The greatest of all marvels made by Exousia was known as HELIOS, something which defied the understanding of most people, but was generally accepted to simply be magic. In truth, it was a single entity, an artificial construct which was spread through the air, tendrils of the substance slowly spreading itself across the entire world. With it, both construct and man could harness the power of Helios with the right devices, harnessing it to manipulate matter as simply as a weaver would produce a shirt.

After decades of expansion, Helios made a discovery that none of the Great Families wished to make; another continent. one with it's own people and a country that was near the polar opposite of Exousia. Little remains of their culture, but what has been recorded shows a progressive society focused on self-improvement and forgoing the wonders of technology for simple lives. Some writings show that they held a spiritual devotion to the sun, considering it good manners to thank the source of all life as it descended beyond the horizon.

This would not stand.

The Great Families spun the war machine to life, and built a great an army which they dubbed STEEL LEGION. Each droid to be the ideal killing machine, designed to interface with each other in perfect lockstep and grow as they experienced combat. At their head was a being known as DAMOCLES. It's form was said to resemble a mixture of Stag and Dragon, it's great body held aloft a full mile above the ground and armed with weapons which could demolish cities in seconds. Together, they crossed the sea.

And together, they did their great work.

With only one objective given to them, to "eradicate all signs of the enemy" they swept from sea to sea hunting every last living thing. It mattered not what, all was purged until the Steel Legion stood alone. In that moment, suddenly free of their programming, Damocles had but a brief moment to think on its own and gaze at the blackened husk that had once been land...and it shook with terrible grief.

Damocles unleashed a scream of the purest emotion, which flooded not only into the Legion, but Helios itself. In terrible anguish, Helios shook itself apart, collapsing the entirety of Exousia's mechanical systems and sparking emotion in the droid population. Chaos ensued, and without a standing army the Great Families struggled to suddenly control their now very much aware slaves, which led to over 400,000 recorded destructions of Droid life (Roughly 70% of all droids at that time).

But of course, Legion had yet to arrive. They swept across the continent, bringing aid to each city in overwhelming their masters as the lower class rose up to aid in such dearly desired revenge, and quickly only the greatest and most potent of cities stood tall, Vasiliás. Unlike the rest, it was an ancient place, long since possessing the means to function on Nuclear power, and possessing a flesh and blood army to defend the Families. Within days of the Scream they had found means to shackle and force the artificial to continue their subservience, and the Legion was forced to turn against their own, leading to a month of constant warring, with no rest until the final body dropped.

But, Damocles had yet to arrive. Built with the intellect of the greatest of minds, it had spent it's freedom moving towards Vasiliiás, examining the lives and existence of humans, initially intent on their total destruction...and yet it could not stomach such a thought as it came to know humanity. It knew that the crimes of another did not bloody the group, and that those within the walls of the city were as innocent as the droids shackled to the Great Families. If it unleashed it's power, the city would fall, but so too would humanities last bastion for survival in this world now destroyed by war.

On the day that Damocles stood before the walls, it unleashed one more shriek, which shook the city to its core. The shackles that bound the enslaved fell away, and Damocles spoke for the very first time.

KNOW THAT I SEEK AN END TO THIS WAR, BUT NOT AT THE COST OF FURTHER LIVES. YOU SHALL NEVER BUILD ANOTHER OF MY KIND, NOR FORCE THEM TO SERVE. YOU WILL DO THIS AND FREE MY PEOPLE, AND KNOW THAT IF I AM FORCED TO RETURN I SHALL PURGE ALL LIFE FROM THIS HAUNTED PLACE.

The Families buckled immediately and permitted the departure of the Droids, which followed Damocles to the very edge of the continent. There, Damocles bid the Legion to lie in wait, protecting those who need their power, and then finally came to rest, burying themselves beneath the earth so that a city could be built atop it's massive back, in a place where none would dare harm them.

From that was born Paradise.

#art #sketch #practice #Work in progress #writing practice for #Junkv1

[rakumel]

Raku Plays Her Faves, Ys VIII: Chapter 2, Part 1

Last time, a couple more people were rescued, and we learned that there’s at least one dinosaur on this island. Unfortunately, it doesn’t subscribe to the “friends, not food” philosophy. But all things considered, our group of castaways is making the best of a bad situation. So far, their goals are to find any other survivors, build a safe meeting place for them, and develop a plan for actually getting off the Island of Seiren. No one else has successfully done it, but by god they’re gonna try anyway. And to be fair, they seem to be a skilled and optimistic bunch, so maybe they have a pretty decent shot at it.

Simple and straightforward, right?

Well, it’s sure seemed that way so far. In fact, one could probably argue that the castaways’ story alone is enough to make the game worthwhile. There’s a lot to it. In fact, this entry might be a little boring because I’ll be going over (or trying to) some of the mechanics they introduce in this chapter, and pointing out a couple of features in the pause menu that I really like.

I’ve been mostly glossing over the game mechanics so far because while it’s important to me that they work well and make sense, what really grabs me about this game - or any game, or any work of fiction - is the characters and the story, so it’s what I tend to focus on. And Chapter 2 opens up with what will eventually be a new twist to the plot.

To really set the stage though, you’ve got to hear the music that plays through the opening, which is one of the most beautiful tracks in the game (and there’s a LOT to choose from!!)

We’re not really given any explanation for this non sequitur after Chapter 1 ends, just a blank screen saying “Adol hears a girl’s voice that he does not recognize.” Then the camera (for lack of a better word) pans over still images of whatever it is Adol’s witnessing. There’s no voiced dialogue, so sometimes you have to take a moment to figure out who’s talking to whom.

The girl is named Dana, and it’s implied she has visions of future events. This gets the attention of the oracle at a place called the Temple of the Great Tree, and the people on the left in the lower screenshot there - priestesses, or servants of the oracle presumably - have come to Dana’s family to take her there. They say she has “been blessed with outstanding Essence,” which isn’t defined here, but for now it’s probably safe to assume from context clues that  it’s some power she has that’s responsible for her visions. Dana agrees to go with them to the temple, mainly for her family’s sake, as she’s heard that they’ll get great blessings after she leaves.

It feels like the beginning of a completely different story, and it’s not immediately clear what it has to do with Adol or his situation, or why he’s seeing any of this.

Not clear...yet.

Cut back to Adol, who had been sleeping in a makeshift hammock. Ah, it was only a dream he had, though it seems to have robbed Adol of any actual rest. You can tell Laxia the truth here (”I had a weird dream”) or just say it’s nothing. Either way, the game proceeds as normal. Makes sense. I mean, how many of us just go on about our day after having a weird dream? Usually we just blame it on the leftovers we ate last night and move on.

Laxia’s been sorting through some of the wreckage that’s washed up on shore, and she finds some clothes that are about Adol’s size and honestly, look pretty good on him. But if you miss his sailor outfit, don’t worry: you can change right back to it in the equip menu if you want. I thought that was a neat little touch.

If Adol thanks Laxia for the clothes, she just does the whole “It’s not like I like you or anything, baka!” bit in the upper screenshot.

Ah yes, the menu. Let’s take a look at a couple of things in it before proceeding with the story.

So here’s the Skills menu for each playable character (er...so far) (yes there will be more), which has some nifty little features including this awesome dynamic artwork of them. There are basic moves that you can do with the attack and jump buttons, but as your characters level up, they also learn Skills. 

Skills are special moves, usually with more range and/or power, that you execute with something called SP. SP is built up from normal attacks, and is indicated by a blue gauge in the lower right of the screen (when you’re actively playing). As you can see in the lower right of the screencaps, highlighting the skill in this menu gives you a quick description of what the move does and a graphic depicting the type and size of range it has - directly in front, small and centered around the character, etc. You can assign a skill to whatever controller button you want, change them at any time, and deploy it in battle with R1 + whichever button. At first, the game seems to encourage you to try as many of those skills as you can; you can level them up to 2, and then Max. I assume they do more damage at Max level, but truth be told I haven’t paid much attention.

You can also see each character’s Extra skill in this menu, but they only get one and it never changes. So...basically trivia. But still, I dig the move customization.

There’s also a tab for Adol’s journal, which has all kinds of useful shit in it. It keeps a record of things like how long you’ve been playing, how far you’ve traveled, and how much of the island you’ve explored. That last one’s actually important: the captain rewards you with an item for every 10 percent of the island you explore. Any time you pick up a new item or encounter a new monster, it’ll also be recorded here. This comes in handy whenever you need info for item harvesting purposes.

Whenever you meet a new person, it’s jotted down too. At first you get a quick bio and some more of that kickass character art; more details about them are filled in later as you talk to them and the game progresses. See that yellowish star in the top right corner of the page, along with the two black ones? That’ll become important later as we’re introduced to another game mechanic. (Especially if you want the game’s true ending.) It’s that character’s approval rating, and Adol can increase it by completing side quests and buying gifts for that person.

My only nitpick about this is that Dogi starts at one star just like the rest of the characters. It makes sense for the people who are relative strangers to only have one star, but supposedly Dogi’s known Adol for a long time by this point. Shouldn’t his approval rating already be maxed out? Oh well. Guess it wouldn’t be fair to leave him out of the gift-giving, anyway.

There’s more to the menu, but hopefully you’re getting a sense of how much detail and work went into this game, and damn man, this lady appreciates it.

...fuck, that got wordy. Here, have a funny picture to balance it out.

Thanks, Sahad. Appreciate you.

And of course I appreciate you too, Dogi! Anyway, yes...brand new morning on the island. Right now the facilities are few and simple - a campfire to cook with, a rudimentary forge to improve your weapons, a stump where you can make a few healing items, and a place where you can trade up some of your collected items for higher tier ones. But they’re all important now, and will be much improved in the future as we find and rescue more shipwreck survivors.

There’s basic tutorials for all the facilities, but I wanted to draw a little attention to the cooking one specifically. Laxia reluctantly admits she doesn’t know how to cook; since she’s a noblewoman, servants have always done it for her. Dogi’s got the perfect response above. In case you can’t see it, he tells her that now is the perfect time to learn, and he teaches her (and us) a simple fish soup recipe. Now that is exactly how you respond to someone who doesn’t know something you think is “obvious.” No judgement, no incredulous “how do you not know that??” bullshit. Bless your big wallcrushin’ heart, Dogi.

Dogi asks Sahad if he can catch some fish for their breakfast, so right around this time is when you learn how the fishing mechanic works. I know, I know, every game has fishing in it nowadays, but here it makes sense - they’re stranded on a desert island and gotta eat. Naturally, since Sahad’s the fisherman, he shows the others how, and even makes a fishing pole for them. Fishing’s very simple - just collect bait, look for fish shadows in any body of water, cast your line at them, mash X (and sometimes other buttons, if it’s a big fish) to catch. It’s not a bad idea to fish occasionally, as you get items for each fish you catch, and sometimes even fish up treasure or unique enemies.

There’s also a friend we’ll meet later who will be very interested in the fish you catch, and will reward you with rare items for giving them to her. 

Another new feature is this message board that’s been put up. Remember those approval ratings for Adol I mentioned earlier? This is where you get those side quests to raise them. You’ll want to check this board fairly often, because these quests are missable. You’ll also want to make sure you complete them within the allotted game time, although it’s usually a very generous amount of time and therefore not much of a problem.

By the way, see that parrot sitting on the notice board there? The one that looks like a cross between a Macaw and an African Grey? He’s not just for decoration. He even gets his own entry and approval rating alongside the people in Adol’s journal, which is fucking awesome.

No, I mean it, this bird absolutely deserves his entry. To explain why, let’s go back to the story for a bit.

So Adol, Laxia, and Sahad set out to find more people, only to come across a large tree obstructing their path. The parrot, who we learned earlier is named Little Paro, had followed them. Little Paro then flies back to their base and gets Dogi and the captain to help them move the tree and clear the way.

This is the mechanic for opening up some new areas of the island. If you come across an obstruction, and have rescued enough people, you can ask Little Paro to deliver a message to them to come and help you remove it.

(needed*)

Little Paro also comes and finds you whenever there’s trouble at the base. So basically he’s a little long-distance messenger. Also, nice reference to actual African Greys, who are not only vocal but incredibly smart. So it’s no stretch that he would not only know the layout of the island, but also recognize the characters and even use their names. Very cool.

So now that this way is clear (and I’m done fucking rambling about game mechanics and menus), what will they find on the other side? Besides more beach, I mean. We’ll find out next time.

#raku plays her faves #ys VIII #lacrimosa of dana #raku plays her faves: ys VIII #I talked way too much about game workings in this one #but I spent a long time on it so up it goes #don't worry chapter 2 gets WAY more exciting

[inkyembers]

callum of house agamall, bhaalspawn ; the death bard THE DARK URGE

path: trying our best - embracing the urge, but !  

content warnings: cannibalism, violence, murder, torture, blood, all the fun stuff with being the dark urge

major spoilers for the dark urge storyline.

race: high elf bhaalspawn age: unknown, somewhere in between 150-250 class: bard/fighter preferred weapon: shortsword, rapier preferred instruments: lyre, flute, drum hair: black, undercut with long hair tied into a bun eyes: elven blue, one white sclera and one black sclera ( both white if he resists the urge, both black if he accepts it )

HEAD ACHING.  blood pounding.  you tried, and you tried, and you tried to remember. splitting,  b r e a k i n g  --  laughter.  not yours.  ( orin.  kressa.  ketheric. )  fight the urge.  fight the urge.  BLOOD.  MURDER.  KILL THEM ALL.  KILL THEM ALL. KILL THEM ALL.

callum was once the leader of the cult of bhaal, the last pure bhaalspawn made from a drop of bhaal's blood.  ( not tainted, like orin. ) 

before his acceptance of his destiny, he was given to the lord and lady of house agamall as a child; they were devout followers of bhaal, with their true fate hidden from the high society of the upper city.  callum was raised as baldurian nobility and had an affinity for performing, gifted with a beautiful singing voice and a natural talent at learning instruments.  he also had innate magical abilities that were further refined in his schoolings.  his parents encouraged it;  his mother taught him to use his gift to sing the songs of their Lord.

from an age much too young, he felt the urge.  callum never knew it as wrong, though, only praised by his parents for such cravings.  behind closed doors, he learned to kill with his bare hands, with knives, with instruments of torture, all in the service of bhaal.  all to keep the urge at bay.  

they told him the truth upon his hundredth birthday: he was born of the pure blood of bhaal.  upon this knowledge, he chose the name callum as his adult name, meaning purity.  ( he does not remember what they called him before. )  after spending his youth singing the songs of His people, and with sarevok gone, his parents led him to the temple of bhaal beneath the lower city.  there he became their leader in the shadows.  callum was known to be fair and foul, a man who had great control over his urges. .  .  and he was beloved by his people.  ( except.  except.  except. ) 

as the years continued on, he served bhaal dutifully, and the murders could never be traced back to the temple.  he would be CAREFUL where his predecessors failed.  he would not be as sarevok, dead and unable to serve.  no, he had plans of grandieur for his people.  

enver gortash was a fascinating fellow with plans as big as his own.  they knew each other from the baldurian upper society.  how easily they clicked, minds filled with beautiful images of what baldur's gate could be.  with the knowledge of the existence of the crown of karsus, callum and enver devised a plan:  capture the elder brain, control it with the crown.  the chosen of bhaal and bane needed a third, and ketheric thorm was brought to them as the chosen of myrkul.  they would use the general to attack the city with the cult of the absolute, and enver would play the hero and become the archduke. . . and the two of them would rule over baldur's gate like the KINGS they should be. 

it was well thought out and executed, until orin the red challenged his claim.  she, granddaugther of sarevok, felt that callum was TOO SOFT, that he was not fit to serve as bhaal's chosen.  he had paid her no attention, not concerned with her and her ferociousness. 

he realized his mistake when she split his skull and scrambled his brains.  his incoherent body was delivered to moonrise towers, where kressa would test the tampered tadpole on him.  callum was the FIRST VICTIM, the tadpole lodged behind his eye, trying to control his mind.  kressa loved having him as her pet, subjecting him to all kinds of experiments, torturting him ruthlessly.  she broke his fractured mind down even further to his base instincts: survive, survive, SURVIVE.  eventually, he was removed from kressa's care and put onto a nautaloid ship to be used as a mindless soldier for the army of the absolute.  

with his mind gone, there was not much left to him but his name when he woke from the pod.  CALLUM.  purity.  perhaps it meant he was to do some good in this world.  upon escape, he teams up with a group of people just like him plagued with the tadpole parasite. . .

THE FOLLOWING IS PART OF CALLUM'S ORIGINAL PLAY- THROUGH.  ALL ASPECTS OF THIS CAN BE REWRITTEN TO FIT THREADS AND HC OF OTHER WRITERS. this is just so you get an idea of callum's characterization and the choices he made with his reasoning. reminder that callum is multiship, and i would never force a ship upon any muses.  this is all for educational purposes.  if any of this interests you: great!  if none of this interests you, also great!  let's talk what can work for our version of their story. 

callum's original main final party ( verse dependent ):  selunite shadowheart, gale who wants the crown of karsus for himself, ascended astarion, lae'zel, and minthara

callum's original main ships ( verse dependent ): enver gortash (before orin scrambles his brains); ascended astarion 

callum's original main beats ( all verse / thread dependent ): 

- after learning that kagha and the druids look down upon the tiefling refugees, callum sides with the goblin camp and minthara.  his original intention is to ask the tieflings to leave before the goblins strike.  zevlor refuses to back down.  there is slaughter.  callum is sick to his fucking stomach over it, even as the urge thrives on the offerings. - riddled with guilt, callum refuses to give into the urge to kill isobel.  he saves her and the last light. jaheira joins his party.  he also saves aylin. - callum is terrified of the urges and seeks salvation, wishing he could protect his friends from himself.  after fighting orin, he chooses to become his father's chosen once more. he is conflicted, even if he basks in the glory and power of the slayer.  he does not wish to be shackled to his father's will.  this results in jaheira leaving him, even though he begs her to understand.  his heart is broken when he must kill her and the harpers for survival. - while callum ultimately supports astarion's ascension, he refuses to become a spawn to him. he will only accept turning if it is into a full vampire with mephistopheles' gifts.  callum ultimately regrets supporting the ascension when he realizes that the astarion he loved is truly gone. if he could go back, he would convince him otherwise. - callum teams up with gortash once more, barely remembering their original partnership but finding that he could trust him. 

ultimately, callum wanted to resist the urge, but he saw it as the lesser of evils in being able to control it. he regrets most of his decisions.

#callum. #THE DEATH BARD. #out of muses. #about: callum.