#talk about dragging out a narrative lmfao | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

quinnonimp · 1 year

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do you have any favorite books/movies/shows? (this is me asking you to ramble about your favorite piece of media, I'm in the mood for special interest talk.)

ooo im not much of a consumer of media but one of my favorites is homestuck !!!! ill talk abt it, but mind u im kind of horrible at talking abt my interests </3

im not that old of a homestuck fan (only got into it around 2020 i think) but FUUUUUCK its such a huge part of my life and probably my longest hyperfixation, might even be a special interest with how much i still think abt it at random intervals or small associations

im honestly a little of scared of falling back into my hyperfixation of it though ? theres a few small reasons but i think its mostly just me being scared of commitment to anything as always (which is probablt also why i barely consume media) . recently i was REEEALLY close to but new ccquackity/ccwilbur activity dragged me away to safety lmfao (if u could even call a dsmp/tntduo hyperfixation safety)

smth i rly love abt homestuck is the way its so incredibly focused on characterization rather than story

like YES it does have a great story but its clearly messy n weird n hussie just kind of throws anything up in the air and just the dumbest shit ever can happens, and while that is aswell smth i absolutely fucking love - the characters r a way bigger deal n more interesting than anything the story will conjure up, and thats definitely my favorite way of writing media

cause like, yknow, good characters can absolutely save a bad story, but a good story cant rly save bad characters

plus theres so many characters and theyre all so well written that its easy to find a fan for each of them

my favorite character is 100% gamzee, im so fucking normal abt him, like oh my god i love that dude so much and the little idealized version of him i have inside my head lmao . mostly the earlier stuff is what i like of him though

fun fact ! hes part the reason im not scared of clowns anymore . i used to be terrified of clowns so when i first read homestuck i thought he was the most annoying freak in the world and DESPISED him, until i started looking more into purplebloods and gradually liked gamzee more until suddenly clowns r now my entire personality

i have so many reasons to love gamzee, but a lot of it has to do with just the plain fact i relate to him and when i see him i go "damn hes just like me fr" . like just . idk . his mannerisms n the way he dresses n looks r pretty similar to mine nowadays - except the whole "murderous instincts" thing, i think . and because of the way i havent read the comic in a while this self projection has really marinated itself

hes also sooooo brasileiro nordestino bc i said so 🤏

other favorite characters of mine are roxy, jade, kurloz, aradia, meenah, and calliope . plus, hes not a favorite but: when i got into homestuck i used to be a way louder energetic person, so my friends would say i was literally karkat, which infuriated the hell out of me x)

classpects is one of my biggest interests in homestuck, i fucking love them so much, im such a personality wizard i will latch onto anything personality related so hard . theyre great for initiating 60 page analysis on favorite characters (or ocs) and are so amazing for characterizing ocs its crazy, and aswell as to just classpect friends or random funny shit . i love them !!

in fact once i made an entire analysis to my friends as to why mosquitos r thiefs of blood, and there were so so so many more reasons than just the funny idea of classpecting a mosquito something called "THIEF of BLOOD"

though what i think a lot of ppl forget though is that while yes theyre heavily based on personality, theyre based on narrative aswell, which is why a real person can never have 1 set classpect all throughout their life since we well dont know the narrative we live in, we dont know our paths or our conclusions or how we'll end up and thats an important thing to know when classpecting since the way to godhood in sburb is a personal journey to self improvement, yknow ?

(though ofc if u wanna classpect solely based on personality go right ahead . the world is yours)

in this era of my life id consider myself a maid of space (which is a cool as fuck classpect and gets me the coolest powers EVER !!!!!!), but 1-2 years ago i considered myself a rogue of blood, then a rogue of rage, then a rogue of space (i was very rogue-ey), plus a few others here n there, and if i were to classpect myself from 3-4 years ago i would be a witch of rage/blood

i just think seeing the way change happens and the way we can see that change through a silly lens such as classpects is cool . with the way my obsessions work im obviously gonna look at the world with anything that associates with my interests in the back of my head, so im gonna start classpecting something like a glass jar if i take a look at it, and thats fun as hell !!

ive changed a lot throughout the years just as everyone does and im gonna continue changing, so who knows what classpect i end up with in another year or two ! its fun to think abt

ill leave my thoughts with that but thanks for asking :.))))

#anon #mailbox #quinnotalk #tumblrimp

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seoafin · 1 year

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i can see it. barou working out in a dimly lit room all huffing puffing with his earphones plug in, and when someone ask what he is listening to bc he has that one serious face on…it's lacrimosa or moonlight sonata, by next week violinist!mc and him would be sitting tgt and discuss classical music or sth.

ironically, the next person who i can imagine to somehow get along with violinist!mc would be,, shidou. (idk why but admitting to liking him is kinda embarrassing, maybe it's bc of that scene in the u20 match LMFAO). not sure how when and why but they might be on a amicable term, considering that shidou top subject next to p.e is actually art…maybe he'll understand mc's grind and it somehow fell onto his whole speech thing

i gotta get this out, but how petty is violinist!mc even tho it has been 6 years, is she still bitter to the point that even on a 50%-70% discount day for shoes brands, if she saw either nagi or reo the first thing she walked in to the store as the store's wallpaper (they're the brand ambassador or sth) will she just turn on her heels and left then and there to find another brand instead 😭 and considering that mc may or may not went big (she's in the states?? i think?? bc you wrote "Times Square").

is she still playing violin on a stage/ competition, or has she branch out her like making osts for movies/ games/ etc. and why did nagi even suddenly thought of her after all those years and become a pining wife when her husband left for the sea. ,, if that's counted as spoiler for future chaps…then it's fine to leave us in the dark!!!

your fic never failed to reel ppl in, including me,, sth abt your writing style are so HFGDHGDGHVH

pls rion is absolutely gorg…her EYELASHES!!!!, when that director guy spill the beans i never been felt gobsmack…i thought that maybe she's in a 3rd party of the assassination community or sth instead of…[redacted].

and now that you point out, i have no idea why but i immediately link nagumo and the faceless men from GoT tgt???? probs its bc they are assassins but when you broke him down i just…connected sth…and idk why. tho i rly agree, that he's not entirely a blank slate, like he does have a personality before sth in the JCC flashback arc makes him on that 404 error personality if someone try to pry + that bloodlust scene in the temple when the guy pissed him off

chrollo and nagumo before the narrative sent them into a spiral are so!!!! they are my meow meows (but if i saw someone drag them in a post i probably would be laughing along tho dhfvbhdbhd like get their ass!!), the baby phantom troupes past are so TwT… - 🐱

spoilers for my nagireo fic

help not shidou.......but honestly i feel like any character that acknowledges violinmc's commitment and passion for the violin would immediately get along with her. she's the type to backtrack once they compliment her. she would definitely think shidou is a delinquent but then he says something about how her form was beautiful and she's like well. i was mistaken about him. but yes she's petty as hell but also there's off the screen character development bc she later acknowledges that the two of them were just kids and she was (un)rightfully hurt and immature about nagi making other friends LMAO

she issss in the states <3333 well briefly. i think after high school she went to a conservatory in germany and then played in various different orchestras as first chair. haven't ironed out those details yet. i think nagi has always kept violinmc in his mind lmao and tidbit i really really wanna add to a later drabble is that nagi was watching mc's performances on his phone in bllk. i think it'd just be very nagi esque for him to one day just go. yeah. i should talk to her. no rhyme or reason. one day it hits him how much he wants to see her again.

ahhfhhwbgbwe i love rion. i want to write the gayest drabble ever featuring that line of hers about how you can learn a lot about a person by tasting their tears or smt??? is that not the gayest thing ever.

#SHIDOU'S BEST SUBJECT AFTER PE IS ART??? honestly. i can see it.#rion is for women and women only!

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bts-mbti · 2 years

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Thank you for replying to my Jungkook ask! Honestly, I’m not sure what enneagrams are, but I do feel like a lot of his “edgy” and “nonconformist” persona is put on. It seems more like he copies what he thinks “cool” people do. I feel like a real bad boy who doesn't care what people think, wouldn’t have to try so hard to convince others of that. I’m not trying to drag him or anything. I’m just confused by the fandom narrative that he’s such a sexy bad boy who does whatever he wants.

you're fine. it's not insulting to point out the obvious abt someone's behavior, or to be the way jungkook behaves. it's a normal personality to have & somehow just makes him more attractive imo 💀

but yes, you hit the nail on the head. jungkook wants to be edgy and counterculture bc he wants to be cool & sexy. the black-forward fits, tattoos, piercings, boxing, makeup, working out, flirting with fans, ect...it's all to be seen as cool & attractive. as epitomized by his iconic baby socks inside his giant homophobe stomping boots lmfao

but on the enneagram, the consistency of this behavior heavily implies that jungkook's a core type 3, not an 8

type 8s (what jungkook is imitating, in enneagram terms, & what people think his wing is), as you said, don't care about image-control. they're nonconformist bc they know what they want and have no qualms with opposing power, be it ppl or systems, to get it. they're also only nonconformist/oppositional when it matters, what matters just depends on how healthy someone is

yoongi is a fantastic example of a healthy 8: he left his home city with no parental support at ~15 to pursue his dream in music. he didn't keep up his grades so he could work on his music. he talks abt whatever he wants no matter its controversy, even directly targeting a politician once. but he lets the stylists dress him however, lets fans think whatever, takes photos with the same 3 (hilarious) lazy poses, ect. matters of his image aren't important to him

to see it further, compare their vlives. yoongi stands there and silently stares at the comments for 20 minutes, occasionally answering questions, and leaves. he's always in a t-shirt or hoodie, frequently with unstyled hair and barefaced. no image-control or even apparent image-consciousness

jungkook wears full-on fits, makeup, styles his hair, and basically preens for half an hour or longer. if he's barefaced or disheveled he's not in good lighting, not alone, drunk, or thinks it looks hot

the difference is obvious, in my opinion. and ironic, considering they're in the same group

but to step away from typology, people everywhere have a frustrating tendency to reduce what it means to be nonconformist to an aesthetic, especially one that conforms to typical attractiveness. hence missing when ppl are actually nonconformist like yoongi, who continues to just do what he wants to this day even when it's controversial, unbothered, but lacks a typically sexy aesthetic

this isn't to undermine the controversial things jungkook does, like getting tattoos and facial piercings. obviously he's doing that & i relish him ignoring the irrational anger it generates. but he's chasing an aesthetic that is popular among people his age in korea, as far as i know. comparing that to putting a song abt your friend who went to jail for heroin on your mixtape in a viciously anti-drug culture, or quoting a right-wing politician on national television amidst blacklisting to make it unequivocal your song is protesting them, among plenty of other things, makes the difference in scope hard to argue

#and it's not like bts as a group #aren't all unafraid to be controversial when it matters #baepsae alone is proof of that #but i very much believe that yoongi is the heart #of this side of bts #anyw i guess this is my bad boy yoongi manifesto #mans is srsly the edgy dreamboat everyone's after #he's just been dilf-ified by fathering 6 men for 9 years #enneagram: bts #enneagram: jungkook #enneagram: yoongi #yoongi's enneagram: 8-core #jungkook's enneagram: 3-core #text wall #anons #asks

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lioncunt · 3 years

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any way the wind blows review!!!

gonna put it under a cut but tl;dr i really really loved it and even the things that i was on the fence about i’ve decided i love as well lmfao

so i kind of knew going into both this and wayward son that the plot wouldn’t really EVER be as narratively satisfying as carry on’s. it would definitely be interesting and have a lot of cool thematic elements, but in terms of being a grand deconstruction of the “chosen one” genre, it couldn’t ever get better than carry on. and i’m so happy rainbow didn’t try to MAKE it that. she didn’t pull a supernatural and up the stakes to impossible, outlandish degrees. both wayward son and awtwb had realistic, fascinating plots that served as a metaphor for the internal struggles of the characters.

the reason i’m beginning this review by talking about the plot is because it’s what i’ve seen the most criticism directed towards. and like i DO get it, i also was taken aback at first at how the actual plot is kind of background noise for the first couple hundred pages. but like...i think it WORKS. again, this whole trilogy is a deconstruction. that’s its PURPOSE. obviously it’s doing other things as well, but it started by taking this well-worn and well-loved trope and completely turning it on its head, giving us permission to acknowledge all the damage it causes and how our love of this type of story is honestly kind of harmful. we turn off that part of our brains when we read harry potter or something else with traumatized child protagonists, in order for us to actually enjoy it, but the simon snow trilogy has always said, “hey, this is kind of fucked up, huh? you’re allowed to think that.”

anyway, the way that translates to the plot here is that there’s not always some huge mystical big bad, or obviously evil antagonist. the horror can be going on in the world around you, in the background of your day-to-day life dealing with your own shit, creeping up on you until suddenly your loved ones are spouting off nonsense that is an absolutely CHILLING allegory for eugenics, by the way, which i’ve seen NOBODY talk about. the clear political parallels were so well done, but not heavy-handed, and they worked wonderfully as an ending to this story. simon at the end being a target for an angry mob, who are victims of intense ableism themselves (the metaphor of being a weak mage = having a disability), how these religious extremists will point at what they deem abnormal and use them as a scapegoat, the disgusting “survival of the fittest” mentality leading to “i can make this society great again” - it was all just incredibly well written, in my opinion. and the fact that it happened so slowly, in the background, made it all the better. you don’t really notice how bad it’s getting until it’s BAD.

it also, again, works so well as a manifestation of the characters’ inner strife. others have put it better than me already, so i won’t talk about it too much, but the fact that the book is saying you don’t need to be like everyone else in order to accomplish great things and have a good life, you don't need to have magic, you don’t need to be human, you don’t need to be neurotypical or able-bodied or straight or white or ANYTHING these people will have you believe in order to make you obedient to them and hateful to others -- it’s fantastic.

this kind of segues into the other big criticism i’m seeing, which is simon and baz’s one-day breakup. again, this has already been analyzed well, so i won't ramble about it, but wayward son was their breakup. metaphorically speaking. and i’m glad that it didn’t take some big, grand moment for them to get back together, even though it would have been narratively cathartic. that’s not how life works - it was so much better and realistic to have simon face the harsh difficulties of TRYING than dragging out a separation plot line that would have added NOTHING to his character. or baz’s. the only thing about their entire relationship that i would have done a bit differently is shorten the timeline, because a year and a half is a very long and honestly unrealistic time to go in a relationship without talking about sexual history or going on dates, even if there’s a lot of baggage. but that’s not that big a deal and i’m easily able to look past it.

(as a side note I'm getting annoyed at seeing all these takes that there’s too much sexual content. like i get it because the first two books are solidly YA and this is being marketed as YA even though it’s definitely NA, but like....sex is important. sex scenes and sexual content are an extremely important part of depicting the human experience. and lack of sex as well!! every single intimate scene between them was NOT super graphic and had such incredibly important significance narratively and character-wise - and yeah that includes any kinks that were brought up, like jesus they’re in their 20s and have been in a non-sexual relationship for a year and a half i think it’s pretty fucking relevant that there are intimate scenes!!! anyway moving on.)

i really loved penny and shepard’s plot - their relationship was so wonderful and charming and excellent for their characters, and i only wish we could have gotten their demon plot threaded into the larger picture, because after shepard was cured it felt like they were just standing there. that’s one of my very few complaints about the book. but they’re such good characters and i love them SO MUCH.

AND THANK GOD FOR AGATHA AND NIAMH. like i cannot put into words how fucking happy i was when i realized where that was headed. the cinematic nature of agatha and niamh helping the goat give birth while simon’s flying in the chapel and being targeted by a mob was just. so cool like i can’t even describe it it was so coooooool and then agatha and niamh KISSING and agatha found her PLACE and I'm so happy for her.

just in general the characters and relationships were fucking exquisite. i can’t help but love the way RR writes, especially her dialogue. it’s so real and three dimensional and her characters truly come alive and i care about them and love them so much. i’m so happy they’re happy, i wouldn’t have been able to stand it if they weren’t.

and everything got wrapped up so well in my opinion!! i don’t know what the hell people are talking about when they say they still have questions, like girl what about??? simon found his family, simon got a sword that isn’t tied to trauma, baz found out that he’ll get to grow old with simon, all their families are okay, penny and shepard are in love, agatha’s herding goats and a lesbian, there will probably be new threats and antagonists but they'll be able to handle them, life will continue to be difficult but they’ll get through it like WHAT do you not understand what’s not clicking i genuinely want to know.

ok actually i have ONE single question and that’s. did baz pick up the sword at the end. because the way it’s written it sounds like he did and i like do not understand that at all. someone answer please.

anyway that’s my review 10/10 would recommend

#any way the wind blows #awtwb spoilers #simon snow #snowbaz #carry on

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fratboykate · 2 years

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I'm sorry but you're the biggest hypocrite I've ever come across on the www it's actually hysterical bro. So u agree it's was a shitty ending and a byg trope and people should be mad at the showrunner and direct their criticism and hate towards them but in the same breath you're claiming it was a creative choice and tv writers have the right to change the ending of the book and go with their narrative lmao don't think we forgot about you motivating people to donate to those billboards back in 2016 when lexa was killed off and you were literally celebrating the fandom attacking the show and everyone involved with it lmfao so it was ok back then with t100 everyone involved needed to suffer because of what they did but now with killing eve it's embarrassing for you? You a flip-flop fake ass bitch who loves to use your brownie points when it's in your favor. It's embarrassing girl, stay stanning your canon marvel hets, you're nothing better than fucking supercorps and blarkes stanning your fanon ship while dragging the canon wlw ship, ugly rat.

Awwwwww, Big Baby is Big Mad. Poor thing. Honestly, sometimes I feel like some of you have humiliation kinks because there’s no way you would come in here and say dumb shit like this knowing you’re this wrong.

Since you simply don't seem to 1) know how to read and 2) forget the actual history we all lived through let me give you a quick refresher:

In The Flop we had:

-Basically half the writing staff gaslighting us BEFORE Lexa died straight up LYING and saying she wasn't going to die when most of us figured out she WAS going to die and we were like "Uhm…yo????" And they were like "SHE'S GOOD! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT! STOP BEING PARANOID!" Not only were they actively telling us we "needed therapy" for being worried they were going to kill her on a year were literally RECORDS were being broken for WLW women violently dying on screen but they were GOING OUT OF THEIR WAY to invade queer spaces to reassure people that Lexa was fine. This was all WHILE.THEY.FUCKING.KNEW.SHE.WAS.DEAD.

-They hyped up the episode for WEEKS. They made a fucking spectacle out of it. Even after they KNEW people were worried about it. Even after the Benson sisters had entire fucking conversations with people in forums about how this would be terrible. Even after they saw queer woman after queer woman after queer woman die on TV that year. They made that episode sound like the most epic thing that would ever happen.

-And then……….and then they basically went JK WE DID KILL HER LOL YOU WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG :) ……………………….AND THEN THEY DIDN’T EVEN FUCKING APOLOGIZE FOR IT BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T THINK THEY DID ANYTHING WRONG.

So, yeah……more than one head needed to roll back then because it was a WHOLE CONCERTED EFFORT that went into this happening. Here it’s ONE (1) Person. The Lexa thing was a whole fucking slew of people who watched this shit unfold for WEEKS ON END and never put a stop to it. This time, the show is over. There is no point to any of this fucking childishness. There’s nothing to do. It’s finished. We actually had a mission statement. It was change the landscape of TV. We wanted to start a conversation and bring the BYG trope to light. That happened. What are you guys doing? Being assholes on the internet on a Tuesday for no rhyme or reason and changing someone’s Wiki bio to “Cunt”? Groundbreaking!

Now, onto the next point since you insist on talking out of your rectum:

“So u agree it's was a shitty ending and a byg trope and people should be mad at the showrunner and direct their criticism and hate towards them but in the same breath you're claiming it was a creative choice and tv writers have the right to change the ending of the book and go with their narrative lmao”

The way you have zero critical thinking skills is astounding to me. It’s truly a marvel to witness. You need to go back to school. Your teachers failed you.

Why are you conflating two COMPLETELY unrelated statements to turn into this fucking reach? Let’s look at the separate statements:

1) It is a shitty ending and a BYG trope. 2) writers have absolute liberties to make their creative choices and do whatever they fucking want with their narratives unencumbered to any and all outside pressures.

These things have nothing to do with each other. A writer can and has the right to do whatever they want. Absolutely. Them having the liberty to do what they want on their show because it’s their show doesn’t mean it’s going to be good writing or that it’s not going to be riddled with bad (or good tropes). WHAT?! How does your brain even work my dude? How do you even get from Point A to Point B?

Everyone here can attest I’ve ALWAYS said that Jasshole had the right to do WHATEVER the fuck he wanted to do with Lexa because she was his character on his show. My issue was never that he killed her. The fucked up thing and the thing that he should’ve gotten fired for was everything I talked about previously. He’s a piece of shit FOR THAT not because of what he did on his show. He’s a shitty writer and he wrote a shitty show but he still should get to do whatever he wanted to do on it because…guess what…IT’S HIS SHOW. Not a single one of us gets to dictate what happens on it. Period. Everyone who has been following me for years can attest that my tune has never changed on that. Ever.

You know, it’s funny to see queer women making fun of queer fanon ships when that’s all we had for a long ass time lol. That’s SO FUNNY. But don’t worry. I have zero shame in my fanon ships. That’s what fandom is for and I know I’m better than both those other ships you mentioned because I stay in my corner and don’t try to shove mine down anyone’s throats. I’m gonna be here unbothered. You stay being super brave and sending people messages like these on anon. I’m sure that makes you feel like a Really Big Girl.

#y'all are EXHAUSTING #and FOR WHAT #imagine being this pressed becuase i said 'DONT BULLY THE CREW'#my godddddddd you guys really are fucking children #anonymous #answers #100 #lexa #ke #jrot

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yunsoh · 3 years

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s3 episode 3 thoughts and oh boy!!! trio time. disaster siblings + yuki time.

- man have i missed the student council. just wow have i missed them

- tbh my first thought is just how cute kimi is at the start of this ep. also i love that she and yuki have this same problem with the seniors suddenly confessing their love/trying to ask them out before they graduate and while yuki’s sitting here like “i can only hurt their feelings :(” kimi’s straight up like “let them throw a pity party!! whatever” queen

- and of course “what makes a guy attractive is his bank account 💖” fave. and kakeru agreeing with “true facts” god the two of them. mhm.

- the way that kimi decimates nao’s entire life and career in one fell swoop. get his ass. also i find it endlessly funny that nao has a crush on minagawa of all girls because she is point blank the most obnoxious girl in the whole school. like it just seems like he wouldn’t have the patience for her at all LMAO but i guess crushes just do that to your brain sometimes

- the girls calling machi scary for knocking over a bunch of chalk while being dead fuckin silent on haru literally destroying their classroom. actually not even dead quiet the girls literally cleaned up after him. hot privilege.

- i’m endlessly curious about how this rumor about machi trying to kill her little brother even got around like. i have to assume it was something that slipped from either her parents or kakeru’s mom to other parents of kids who go to the same school/adjacent schools. because obviously it did not come from kakeru and he’s the only other person who knows yk.

- kakeru: *sulks*

- machi: *trots*

- ugh man it’s machi’s parents just continuing to put her own feelings in her mouth and never once letting her have control over her own personhood, down to displaying her thoughts or emotions. “you’ll be more comfortable alone.” also her dad saying that he assumed that machi might try to hurt her brother and treating that as the truth because she’s never had the space to become an individual to them separate from what they project onto her. how much can you hate your child actually.

- also find it interesting that kakeru has never fully questioned whether or not machi actually tried to kill her brother. when he says it to yuki, he says “what those girls said is pretty close to the truth.” and when yuki says he finds it hard to believe, kakeru says he “may be right,” since it’s just the version of the story he heard from his parents. but all things considered i don’t think he’s necessarily ever believed it to be true; he’s just never been able to see machi’s side of the story because she’s been fully closed off to confiding in him, which is mostly because she feels as though she won’t be listened to or understood anyway thanks to the treatment she’s had from her parents.

- that said. kakeru go to jail

- it’s about yuki feeling comfortable enough to engage in physical acts of friendship without so much as thinking about it. yeah :)

- i do find it interesting that kakeru remembers this moment of machi making footprints in the snow when they were younger. it’s something that would probably be easily forgettable but it stuck with him because even he found something a little off about it.

- this whole minute is just such a whirlwind. the little arrows pointing to yuki. machi trying to slam the door on them. kakeru dragging yuki in to the point that he’s tripping over his own feet. yuki calling it the sea of decay with sincerity but machi has no idea what the context is. the bra. machi about to throttle yuki. kakeru finally fucking leaving after getting hit and still being a shit. this all happens in like forty seconds.

- her best quality: her squiggles

- oh this visual of her having to walk this tightrope with her mom. interesting

- also interesting how young machi sounds in this scene where her mom is talking down on her to another person. i know she must be in her first or second year of middle school (just because kakeru was in middle school when he finally got out of the inheritance situation) but it really drives home just how young she was.

- also heartbreaking because this is a moment where machi is trying to stand up for herself and asking why her mom is saying those things about her when she’s the one who shaped her this way, and she’s just so thoroughly shut down by her that she can’t cope.

- i thought this shot was adapted well, although i think the scene itself is kind of confusing -- in the manga, it’s insinuated that she has this breakdown moment right after this conversation with her mom, and that it’s the first time she reacts this destructively (in the manga her outfit is the same between shots, and it doesn’t appear that she’s in her own apartment yet -- it’s more ambiguously just a home office). here though they change it so that it’s a more recent event -- more like she’s reacting this way because she’s remembering this conversation, rather than reacting directly after it. the outfit she wears in this scene is the same one she wears when her parents are accusing her of trying to hurt her brother, too; it’s also reasonable to read this as her having a breakdown after being left alone in her apartment for the first time. to the team’s credit her window is also broken in the season 2 ep where we see her apartment for the first time, so we can assume that they made this change deliberately.

- yuki is so genuinely kind as usual, but it’s also because he does have a thread of personal understanding of where she’s coming from. he also suffered from being held to an incredibly high standard and was similarly emotionally neglected because of this, but it’s also something he’s come to terms with and has started to heal and move on from. so he’s at a place where he’s able to give her some comfort. even just the simple act of praise for still being here, and just being herself, is something that is so desperately needed.

- kakeru listening in..... boy take ur notes

- literally yuki is like the epitome of being machi’s senior like this moment is just sooo gentle but also protective i think. like he’s really just taking the helm where kakeru has been unable to all this time. he’s her mentor in a way.

- kakeru’s goofy fucking ringtone and the animation that goes with it. love that

- the chalk-breaking scene did change the game. yuki is just completely on for her to the point that he doesn’t even stop what he’s saying to consider it. he’s just really looking out for her :’(

- rest of the ep under the cut because i know this is gonna be about minagawa lmfao

- oh this new scene is cute? love kyo actually helping out + uo and hana just fucking chilling. also uo hana and yuki only giving a fuck about tohru while kyo falls from like eight feet up.

- yuki literally only coming in for that second lmfao king

- i knew that this would be the minagawa ep and yet when yuki said he had an appointment i was like...... are you....... going to the doctor’s for some reason....... this is a weird reboot addition..............

- the beginning of this scene is weeeeeird what a weird transition to minagawa. also this feels super jarring and i knew this was coming?? like there’s no setup for this being a goodbye to minagawa she’s just suddenly sitting there getting super nostalgic

- i am grateful though that they didn’t split the time these chapters got completely 50-50. minagawa only getting like five minutes of screentime before gong away forever feels apt.

- minagawa really is just here to say “thank you yuki for being the center of my harassment campaign on the general student body here for these past two years” before bouncing. this isn’t even a point of character development she literally didn’t learn anything.

- the pacing of this feels so WEIRD like. on the one hand, glad it’s only five minutes. on the other hand why was it included at all. it really dampers the rest of the ep and just feels super distracting.

- the dramatic music....... the dramatic flashbacks......... i mean it tracks for her but i just cannot take it seriously lmaooo

- wow the way this is delivered just makes this scene with minagawa feel extra undeserved. like even more so than in the manga. that’s pretty incredible.

- am i going to sit here and make mental parallels between the fact that neither minagawa nor machi actually know yuki personally. like they’ve both been observing him from afar this whole time. like is that the parallel i’m supposed to draw this episode that both of these girls have crushes on him but he hasn’t actually divulged anything personal to either of them. idk. like i know the answer is no and that it’s more fodder for him having a romance plot and whatever but. idk!

- what is happening what is happening what is happening

- this departing song + the shots of the empty school feels so fucking weird. we’re saying goodbye to minagawa and takei. what is being imparted emotionally does not match the actual narrative we are receiving. also feels weird to put a scene with this much “goodbye” emotion in the third episode?

- did i just fast forward through this nao and minagawa scene. maybe.

- oh that’s right we also get hiro at the end of this chapter too. and kagura talking about rin. this pacing is weird

- it still baffles me that rin was able to graduate how tf did she manage that

- wow i really wish these last parts of the ep were moved to the next episode or something. they feel really out of place squashed into the end here. this rin bit definitely deserved more time to let the weight sink in.

#fruits basket #fruits basket spoilers #surprisingly felt like i didn't talk too much about this ep #probably because i've talked about all this stuff w machi to death already

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elegiesforshiva · 5 years

Text

This is a review for the amazing sasusaku fanfic Perpetual Winter by @thefangirlslair It’s a brilliant modern AU and I highly recommend it!!! You can read it on fanfiction.net or tumblr :)))) FF: c l i c kkkk Tumblr: Part I, Special Chapter, Part II And time for a criminally late and obscenely long review!!!

Pt I

Winter has never been his favorite season

Damn what an intro, I’m already getting angst vibes lmao. I really like how you set the scene and stage the world of this AU. I didn’t expect the existence of clans in this piece, with it being a modern AU, but this is such a fascinating twist on the setting to me. I loved how you described Naruto’s endurance as unnatural, “like there’s a demon living inside him” and Sasuke and his clan have inexplicable warmth….inexplicable do I dare say…fire ???? ;))))))

Lmao seriously what a great way to pay homage to canon though. I love these attributes!

Modern au Sasuke that reads poetry and drinks coffee is a brand of pretentiousness I can get behind

Aaaaaaa omg I really REALLY REALLY fucking love this intro! I love how you describe Sasuke as appreciating liveliness, and vibrance—which we can honestly assume is canon with how his two closest people are the embodiment of these traits. And I love how you tie it back into the seasons. This really gives so much life to that motif in this story, and the title. That was clever af

…he was taken back to the time where winter was just a mere season, Bon Iver was playing on their shared earphones, and Sakura was his.

WHAT THE FUCK YOU JUST FUCKING DESTROYED ME WHAT A WAY TO SEGWAY INTO THE NEXT SCENE OOOOF IM KSJDFHLJSAKFL

There are so many things I love about this following scene… you really know how to write a couple in casual, mutual love. The banter and candidness of their interaction just has me floored. I also REALLY love that this is from Sasuke’s perspective, and how even though he doesn’t have an overwhelming amount of dialogue, we’re in his head, and his appreciation and love for Sakura just radiates. Lines like these:

From her latest discovered band to a recent discovery in medicine by a genius dude whose name he doesn’t even remember, she shares it with him. Favorite anime character, favorite memory with him, favorite pair of underwear — he knows it all because she’s that open to him about things she love.

They’re just….so good. I can hear his voice, his ardor, and his impeccable understanding of Sakura’s personality while also expressiong his own. The choice of having the narrative skewed through his lens was def a good decision. And ugh this piece is just overwhelmingly amazing already

He doesn’t know the pain to be dealt with when you’ve broken up with someone because Sakura was his first girlfriend. And honestly, he doesn’t, couldn’t, even think about being apart from her. Just the thought of them breaking up already makes him panic a little. He always thought to himself, ‘I will never let that happen.’

Okay this paragraph……………this paragraph tho……..dropping this. KNOWING. They’re gonna break up……….HOW DARE U

Seriously, what powerful writing. I don’t know how you do it……

I think it’s incredibly interesting that you chose music to be the catalyst for this beautiful, climactic moment of closeness My best friend/partner and I have had convos before about it, and she and i once talked about how we think of sex with music lol. I don’t know how to entirely explain myself on that, or where I’m really going with this, but I get the same vibe here too. Music that’s close to you is like an artistic intimacy and there’s something very personal and vulnerable about it. Maybe it’s an auditory thing, like getting lost in one of those guided meditations. (idk if you’ve ever had one that actually worked, they don’t always for me, but when they do god damn, it’s unreal) Either way, I really loved the way this scene played out, it was highly relatable and highly emotional, and I feel serenity and ardor just reading it. Beautifully done.

I love the way you moved back to the present and we immediately feel the differences and the similarities. The fondness and affection is still there, if not a little more muted, and it’s so obvious they still have feelings for each other. But there’s definitely moments that speak to their separation too, with the little differences in Sakura that Sasuke notices, or instances like her no longer drinking coffee or him deciding to open the door.

I really like how you inserted the interaction with Kakashi too. One thing I’m quickly noticing about this fic and your writing is how you very stealthily relay information to us readers. It’s seamless and entertaining, and I’m learning about this world and the past in ways that are so attention grabbing I don’t even notice it.

Also Itachi’s death and the way you handled it from Sasuke’s pov is so reminiscent of canon and also so gut wrenching. The lines

How dare Itachi leave him alone? How dare Itachi sacrifice himself and die? How dare Itachi pass his responsibilities onto his shoulders…

especially gutted me because of how is stands in stark parallels to the Sasuke we know in canon. This really smacked my head around with feels….poor Sasuke

OMFG POOR SASUKE !!!?!?!??!?!??!? THAT ENDING OOOLOGDSLGFSLKDGHLSDHFLKDFHVSLKV WHAT A FUCKING CURVE BALL LMAO

I mean maybe I should have seen that coming because like of course!!! But also I’M LOSING M Y SHIT HAHAHAHAAA

I can’t wait to see how this unfolds!!!!!

Special Chapter

This is such a powerful scene to start with. Itachi’s entire character was such a major influence in canon and seeing the way his death is affecting everyone now is so emotional. I feel so bad for Sasuke, having to take on all the burdens Itachi had left behind for him.

Also these lines:

“Mikoto cried, “Don’t you think it’s too soon? I just buried my first-born just barely a week ago and now we’re discussing how you’re gonna ruin my youngest’s life just like you did with Itachi?!”

The way her voice cracked when she said his brother’s name broke his heart. She’s still grieving, probably forever, and here they are talking about Sasuke’s suicide.”

Literally killed me. Dead. Deceased. Fallen to the Void. It’s so brilliant and powerful, and speaks so deeply on their dysfunctional family dynamics and feelings with so few lines. Really loved this…

This next scene was so stark and sad and beautiful. I meant to comment and pull lines again, but I couldn't stop reading tbh. Sasuke's thoughts and emotions concerning Sakura are so vividly gentle and full of praise. There's such a soft worship in the way you write his feelings towards her and tbh it's my absolute and only interpretation of feelings I care for concerning the depiction of their relationship. Still, you do this with a certain cleverness and mastery. It's really so moving for me...

The dream sequence that follows is absolutely debilitating, but so well done. I got the sense it was a dream only a few lines in just from the bluntness of the lines. It was truly very dream-like lol. I really could feel the panic and guilt along all of his inner turmoil. It's incredibly horrific to have such a dream about murder just after Itachi's too. This was devastating.

I really loved the way Sakura calms him groom the panic/anxiety attack. I've actually had a similar experience once, where I woke up from a nightmare and I was very frightened and stiff and couldn't really articulate myself. I remember I had felt deep horror and self loathing and nothing else. (I still remember the nightmare too, it was horrible.) My best friend at the time just threw herself on the bed and held me.

It's so crazy how grounding touch can be. I really felt that with Sasuke and Sakura too. The comfort she offers him is so seamless to her character and so ardently palpable. The repetition of "I got you" really touched me especially. It breaks my heart knowing the inevitable end of their relationship to come.

Oooooohhhh daaamnnnnn

I did NOT see the raunchy sex coming lmfao!! Although in hindsight, I probably should have. You already told us how they tend to get down and dirty when emotions run high with the arguments and make-up sex. I imagine this is instigated by Sasuke often, with him struggling to articulate his need for Sakura verbally so he does so physically. And I imagine Sakura is just kinky enough to crave this sort of animal want.

I do love how sexual interactions are easily moving in tandem with their emotions, how it just feels like another mode of communication. Sasuke breaking down during it leaves me feeling so tender too. It's tragic

She smiled. Sasuke doesn't know if he wants that smile or not.

These exit lines are going to fucking kill me istg

The following events honestly hurts to read because Damn haven't we all been there... the fallout of a relationship to the point where you're just dragging it through the mud… it’s a true deterioration of soul and you capture that slow death so well. I really feel terrible for Sakura—Sasuke too—but it sucks for her to be in the dark like this.

I love the way you write Karin!!! Honestly, I think it really mirrors the way she's written in canon. She's cold and strategically loud and generally calculating and overall kind of apathetic. She doesn't really know the value of meaningful relationships (and therefore doesn't prioritize them) until much later on in the series. I definitely get this sense of her here too. She's a little cold, but not cruel, and she has the pragmatic values of her and Sasuke's union in mind as she agrees to it all. I really like how you made her personality come through here.

Meanwhile there’s him, sucking all the hard traits from their father. His competitive streak, arrogant way of speaking, harsh words — it’s all Fugaku. And suddenly, he feels so exhausted.

This line hit me so hard. I love this fic already for an endless number of reasons but a striking one is how well you interrogate the relationships between family. When you described Itachi’s death as Sasuke losing a part of him, I really felt that. And here when you write about the way Sasuke takes after Fugaku and hates it and is also exasperated from it, just like how his father likely is, it just runs bone deep. You really know how to speak to life experiences and relationships in consistently intimate ways. I love that about you

This is his reality now — no more dream, no more Itachi; and pretty soon, no more Sakura.

’It hurts,’ Sasuke thought. 'It hurts, aniki.’

Wow death by angst lmao thanks for the pain, maren, glad to know you like to torture your readers as much as our ninja babies. Srsly tho the cadence of these lines and the material itself sync up perfectly. It’s such powerful writing

This entire scene is stuffed to the brim with dread and turbulence, and it’s so lifelike, I feel it’s haunting. The way you describe the suffocating atmosphere of the car ride, how Sasuke snaps at Sakura for simply knowing that something is up, the awkwardness of the dinner… You really brought so much passion into these scenes, I feel like I’m being tortured right with them lol

I looooooove the drama of this playing out omg. The way you have this convo go down is like a punch to the gut. Sakura announcing her acceptance to Harvard, and then her refusal to go. Sasuke knowing he’s the reason why…the guilt…the anger…

Also omfg these lines:

Sasuke hardened his resolve and stiffly said, “No. I don’t need you, Sakura.”

’Yes, I do.’

Sakura shook her head, “Yes, you do.”

I DIED. Sakura callin’ him out on his bull shit I fucking LOST IT lmaooOOooo I love this so much and I love how you write their dynamic! It’s funny how this fic plays into a lot of romantic clichés but also subverts them—gives them a twist that knocks the reader right off their feet. It’s honestly incredible

I loved the way you brought in winter into this scene too. The image of it, the feel of it, the terrible, lonely tone. It suits the entire mood of it all.

This is going to sound super dumb but I genuinely love how much agency you give Sakura btw. You probably know I’m a raging, batshit feminist by now and I gotta say, her dialogue is consistently powerful and reeks of someone who knows who they are, and their worth, even when in the fallout of a relationship where they are getting the short end of the stick. Like I’m just sitting here reading “Sasuke, you dumb jackass, what are you doing” lmfaoooo LIKE GURL I WOULD TREAT U SO GOOD…. SAKU BB IM SO SORRY BUT ALSO TRUST I KNOW HOW IT BE

I really do love it. And I love how you wrote Sakura as an orphan too. It really flips the script on the canon material (eat shit, kishimoto!! Women can have trauma and real backstories not centered around men, u misogynistic pile of adskjfhsklhfalkd) I just feel she’s very well written, and tangible, and powerfully human. I’d be just as smitten as Sasuke tbh

The last scene is so upsetting… it’s also strangely warming too though. It’s terrible Sasuke’s been broken down like this, but there’s something about this scene where he feels raw, and expresses his pain in a very infantile way, literally crying out to his mother about how it hurts. I really feel he’s been stripped of not just his life, but himself, under the weight of Itachi’s death and all that’s come with it, and it makes my heart ache. I loved this chapter, in all it’s infinite sadness.

Part II

He closed his eyes and thought about his talk with his father earlier, “We’re okay now. He called me while I was with Itachi.”

Love the ease and depth of this single line of dialogue. How Itachi is not alive but is still with him, and how it speaks to the way we humans grieve and the continuity and strength of relationships even after someone leaves. It’s just very simple and human, and it popped out at me.

He couldn’t even remember the last time they talked on the phone, or the last time he heard Fugaku as a father, not as the Uchiha patriarch.

Uggghhhhhhh this is exactly how I felt Fugaku was like in canon too. This fic is just full of brilliance, I really adore the way you describe all the relationships, but the complexity between Sasuke’s and Fugaku’s is really striking to me. You nail it perfectly.

And this whole intro where Fugaku apologizes to Sasuke and tells him he is proud…. I feel as if a major levee has been broken. While he’s in front of Itachi’s grave too. This Sasuke really has that same parallel with the one in canonverse where I feel he is held back by his family trauma, family obligations, the weight of blood. And this scene feels like a breaking point. Where Sasuke can be a man instead of an Uchiha, in the same way Fugaku gives him this moment as a father instead of an Uchiha patriarch. It certainly feels like a cleansing of sorts.

Once you thought you’re over it, one pink-haired beacon of spring will bloom in your eternal winter and blow all your progress into next week. What a woman. He will never find anyone better.

AaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA !!!! this IS what I mean!!! His inner thoughts of her ugh….i’m so weak…Sasuke you lovesick fool…. And the return of the beautiful seasons motif. I love this so much

You can say they were drunk — with liquor, with each other, with love.

I just adore this line. It really emphasizes the vibe of their past relationship and the picture as a whole, and just that electric feeling of being consumed with someone. The description and cadence of it is just really catching, and I love it

God, this entire scene. Damn, maren. It’s criminal how well you write the tension of such a casual conversation. It feels as if an interrogation of sorts is occurring, and yet it’s still a heartwarming kind. Sakura is not vicious or mal-intentioned in inquiries and yet it still leaves Sasuke weak and defenseless if only because of his feelings for her. There’s so many ways you assert it too. It’s in every line, every detail. This one in particular stood out to me:

Sasuke clenched his fist under the table and scoffed, “I hope my mother didn’t tell you how miserable I was.”

'Still am,’ he corrected in his mind. 'How miserable I still am.’

I remember you used this particular tactic when also describing Itachi’s feelings from Sasuke’s POV. (Something along the lines of how he does became how he did because he is gone) In this fic where time is moving back and forward in a non-linear fashion, these details are especially striking. Despite the changes and pushes and pull, this one fact is consistent—Sasuke loves Sakura. And we, as readers, relearn it with every line.

Also I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOvE that Mikoto saw Sakura off, and that there is this undertone of a bond. Like ughhhhh I’ve so been there, where there’s that depth of understanding between women and relationships that men don’t always know about or know how to grapple with it. My ex resented me for it lmfao

Adkjfasklfalsjdkfakls SASUKE CAN RELATE TO HIM APPARENTLY AHAHAHAAHHA B SNAPPEDDDD I totally get it though, it’s a little intrusive of Sakura to ask for that, but we all also know why she did. Poor saku bb is in love with this emotionally constipated idiot lmao. Oh I love the endless pining and miscommunication of it all !!!

“I thought you’d be here,” a voice came and knocked on the closed door of his heart. He turned his face towards it, he saw her and suddenly his doors came opening again.

The winter sun was directly behind her, giving her this eerie glow. Like a nymph; a spring nymph being born in his perpetual winter. He shivered inside.

Back at it again with that seasonal motif !!!! ugh you are killing me. I also really loved the phrase “knocked on the closed door of his hear.” You really have such a way with these metaphors and images, it’s so striking and makes the narrative of this piece so brilliant

and silence is a comfortable companion back then. When they became lovers, it was like their platonic third-wheel aside from Naruto.

Ngl I busted out laughing on that one. “aside from Naruto” hahaaaa I love the way you include him in this fic tbh. He’s not a very big focus, but he still feels like an integral part of this story, not just as Sasuke’s best friend, but also as another device to unite Sasuke and Sakura. Also he’s pretty fantastic comic relief, probably just as much for the two of them as for the reader.

I really love the way this convo goes down, and the change of scenery from the coffee shop to the playground. Considering the way their love at this point is founded in nostalgia (and perhaps something else, but let’s ignore that for a second) it’s so fitting for them to finally stripping away the masks and cloaks and being genuine with one another—Sakura talking about how she knew all along, and Sasuke finally admitting he still loves her.

I also loved that Karin broke off the engagement!!!!!! And how she did it and how you described it ughghhghg I love this. You really spoke to her character growth and development in canon too. It’s trivial compared to everything else that’s going on, but I love it.

…the pink of her hair, the green of her irises and the gold of the sun slowly setting down behind her.

Sasuke couldn’t see her clearly anymore, only the faint glow of her weeping eyes and the halo on her head made by the sun.

You think you’re slick don’t you…you think you’re some kind of mastermind with these subtle references/images…..well guess what bitch….YOU ARE

I looooove how you tied the music back in. Ugh this departure!! MY HEART!!! Also I’m seeing a handful of songs I love including OUR BOIIIII !!!! rex orange county uhhghhgjak maren this is the romance of a lifetime I AM WEAK

Ughh the forehead kiss…..that was so sweet. I loved Sakura’s choice to give him that bit of affection. This scene is so beautifully intimate, despite their positions.

Omg I FINISHED HOLY SHIT!!! And Sasuke doesn’t get back with her! Wow! Honestly, as much as my shipper heart is like, violently frothing at the mouth and saying “okay they totally got back together down the line tho like THEY HAD TO THEY ARE MADE FOR EACH OTHER WHAT IS TH—" I actually have such a deep appreciation for this ending. Their relationship in this almost feels dream-like, and with the way the story unfolds, even if they still loved each other in the end (and I really don’t doubt that they do. We don’t have Sakura’s perspective, but we also don’t need it. the affections are clear) it doesn’t mean they will end up together or are even really suited for each other in such a way.

Their love in this actually really reminds me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Have you seen that movie? I just really get that vibe at the end. This entire romance cuts very deep and is very passionate and leaves me feeling so whimsical. I really loved this story, Maren… thank you for sharing it with all of us. thank you for writing it. You’re really one of a kind and you and this story has my whole heart <333

Also I’m sorry this is so late, but when I said I am going to write you a review, what I meant was I am going to write you a review. This English degree is good for nothing but sending elaborate love letters to friends and writers in the form of literary analyses and stupid overreactions and BY GOD I WILL NOT LET THIS CRIPPLING COLLEGE DEBT GO TO WASTE !!!

#sasusaku #ss fanfiction #ik its been like a year im sorry #but ily and ur my fav 5evr pls marry me maren my love

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pop-punklouis · 4 years

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Having a planned child is standard for a gay closeted man in industry. Having a fake oopsie baby that's used a major scandal and then bizarrely dragged out in public with all sorts of messiness for a year is hardly industry standard. And in the case of the planned child, the gay men ARE the biological fathers and play along willingly and believably with it. So nope. Not normal. Not standard. Not one bit.

when did i ever say that any of what you’re talking about is standard? lmfao. me saying that many people believe it to be a closeting technique of sorts— either forced or complicit due to that being a technique in the industry for gay men is no way indicative of me saying what louis has been through, personally, is standard. people who have not looked into it as heavily as the fandom has doesn’t particularly realize how bizarre it is and has been. men having children to stay closeted is standard. men having a fake baby that hasn’t made sense from the start and, if one is paying close attention, hasn’t played along isn’t. do not put words in my mouth.

but, i hope you do realize at first the narrative was that him and briana were going to have the child and co-parent together. there wasn’t animosity until way later when it was obvious a shift happened. i genuinely don’t believe it was ever meant to go to birth and it was a promotion tactic that was, at first, made to be dismissed early on but it then became a weapon they wielded against louis. you HAVE to look at it from the perspective of someone who hasn’t dug into louis’ situation and only has a brief knowledge of it— not documenting every bizarre detail that occurred especially between 2016-2017. take the fandom goggles off for a moment and realize that just because someone might think it’s a complicit closet doesn’t mean they know the depths this shit goes.

#grey #when did i ever say louis situation in particular was standard get a grip

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bestworstcase · 3 years

Text

farran rereads lost lagoon: chapters 5-6

- mixed feelings about eugene’s first impressions of cassandra here. on the one hand, she did make a snide remark about him being a thief, which must sting when he’s already making an active attempt at self-improvement and attending classes in criminal justice. this isn’t tts eugene - who spends 6-7 months loafing around the palace basking in luxury until cass drags him for being self-absorbed and lazy. this eugene has a work ethic and seems to feel some actual responsibility regarding his new role as rapunzel’s consort. it’s not fair for cass to make a snap judgment about him based on his past and decide to be rude to him because of it.

on the other hand… he and rapunzel did just barge into her space against her will and her subsequent prickliness was reasonable, which eugene doesn’t seem to have any awareness of. and taking into consideration the likelihood that this cass is supposed to be about 17 while eugene is an established adult, that isn’t a fun vibe.

- sort of amused by the role reversal of eugene, in the licensed fanfic cassunzel s1 au, is the one who introduces rapunzel to the library. i guess the key to unlocking rapunzel’s romance option is to not show her the books. but also, why is eugene the one showing her around lol

- did he steal from the coronan palace so much that he just knows where everything is

- the dialogue in this chapter is… hm

“You can take these books back to your room if you want,” Eugene said.

“I can?” I said, staring at the stocked shelves around me.

“I think I’ll open a window,” Eugene said. “It’s a little musty in here.”

like what’s going on here? is this a dialogue bug introduced by spot editing that didn’t get patched before publishing? does eugene have adhd? is this a romance novel™ thing to demonstrate that while eugene and rapunzel talk to each other plenty they’re not on the same wavelength to such an extent that raps asks a question and eugene responds with a complete non-sequitur, which will be contrasted with how completely rapunzel and cass ‘click’ together later? hello?

- one point in favor of the romance novel™ theory is that immediately after this eugene conks out instead of sharing in rapunzel’s discovery and exploration of the library and it is implied he is having a fun flynn rider dream ie he’s lost in his own fantasies and oblivious to rapunzel’s. symbolism!

- anyhoo, this is when the plot device of the ‘lost lagoon’ book of poems turns up. i will say that, having spent the better part of my teen years working in an actual library, it beggars belief to say that a book got shoved behind other books in a popular section (sports) by mistake and got left that way for so long that dust blooms out of it when it’s finally cracked open again; likewise, anyone who attempted to intentionally hide the book this way is an idiot. my dude, you are in a palace riddled with secret passageways. maybe hide the secret book there?

like it’s not even well-hidden. rapunzel pulls out one (1) book from the sports section and immediately spots it. which also just feels dumb. like… there’s a million other ways this book could have been hidden. inside another book would have been more believable. rapunzel rips a bone-dry book of census records off the top shelf because she’s insatiably curious about corona’s people and surprise! it’s got this slim little book of poetry crammed inside it. like ??? i know it’s juv fic but make an effort

- coronans canonically speak english according to this i’m die

- rapunzel hides the book from arianna just… because, and i can’t help but feel this is another case of anxiety written by someone who doesn’t quite get it. she’s ‘just not ready’ to share this book of poems that means absolutely nothing to her yet except that she thought it sounded pretty.

but like. this girl grew up with gothel, who made a habit of belittling her interests, thoughts, feelings, and desires. everything rapunzel had she had because gothel deigned to give it to her, and anything she valued could have been snatched away just as easily. in the film it’s made clear that rapunzel hides pascal’s entire existence from gothel, and while the reason for this isn’t spelled out, it’s clear to me that she was afraid gothel might hurt or get rid of pascal should she learn of his existence. so, like. this is all a recipe for rapunzel having this general anxiety about things being taken for her and with this fear being linked to mother figures it makes sense that arianna would tend to trigger it especially. there is a perfectly obvious, understandable reason for rapunzel to be terrified of sharing anything she found by herself and sees value in or is excited about with her new mom, even if she knows rationally that arianna would never take it from her.

as it is, it really comes across more as an arbitrary plot device to keep the lagoon a cassunzel-only thing.

- there’s a lot of odd characterization decisions in this book but i think rapunzel being resistant and reluctant with regards to the idea of having a human companion is probably the weirdest. ??

- arianna feels like she’s characterized the way a lot of fanworks characterize her, i.e. the authorial mouthpiece who (in the case of cassunzel fic specifically) overtly ships cassunzel and does things to facilitate that relationship. don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see her doing stuff at all, but… i dunno, i find this brand of arianna doing things just a little wearying. let her just be her own character.

- implication is that arianna and the captain agreed that cass would be rapunzel’s lady-in-waiting, arianna okays this with rapunzel and then tells rapunzel to announce it to cassandra at this public holiday feast. with no prior warning. wow. i think the kindest possible reading here is that the captain has been telling arianna that cass would be delighted and honored to receive this position and arianna assumes he’ll give cass a heads-up as a courtesy beforehand, but that paints the captain in a pretty bad light on account of him lying and essentially manipulating the queen in order to force his teenage daughter to accept this huge responsibility that she vocally does not want. in any case, absolutely nobody involved in this shitshow gives a damn what cass wants.

- lagoon comes in hard with the saporian!cass symbolism l o l. rapunzel reads a saporian poem out loud, not knowing what it means but loving the sounds, while daydreaming about becoming friends with cass.

- arianna seems to genuinely believe cass will be thrilled to have the lady-in-waiting gig sprung on her, which seems to lend credence to the theory that cap has been talking it up as something cass wants. or the intention here is to paint arianna as an out of touch noblewoman, but i don’t think that’s what howland was going for. i don’t know, it’s an odd conversation.

- eugene calls cassandra “sport” lmfao

- lagoon cass has never read a book in her life, apparently

- i don’t want to keep harping on this too much but it keeps leaping off the page at me; cass’s behavior throughout this dinner scene really just bleeds teenagerhood. eugene and rapunzel both make actual stabs at conversation by asking her about things they know she’s interested in, and cass brushes them off/stonewalls them. in tts, on the other hand, cass is actually pretty open to deep conversations with both rapunzel and eugene—it’s just that they never. ask her about herself. eugene goes 6-7 months before he asks cassandra a personal question in cassandra vs eugene, which if i remember right is the only time he asks her a personal question. rapunzel gets very invested very fast in becoming friends with cassandra, but she does it by strong-arming cass into being her partner in a contest, and when cass decides to open up to her it isn’t in response to rapunzel asking her things. the dynamic is totally different.

- actually now that i think about it - lagoon cass feels a lot like the cranky new dreamer version of cass (you know, the flavor of new dream fans who resent cass for ‘being mean’ to eugene, ‘being controlling’ of rapunzel, and ‘stealing’ eugene’s narrative spotlight). this cass is rude, she does come off as a bit spoiled and very bratty, she is nasty to eugene for no good reason, and while i do sympathize with her on the grounds of her evidently being a child i don’t find her to be especially likable or compelling as a character. if cass acted like this in tts i think the cranky new dreamer contingent of the fandom would have a much stronger leg to stand in - especially if she was still supposed to be 22.

like… this:

“So,” Eugene said, distracting me. “What’s it like to be the daughter of the captain of the guard? You obviously have a thing for weapons.”

“So,” I said.

“Have you been training since you were a little kid?” Eugene pressed on. “Do you have friends in the castle?”

“No,” I said. “Who needs friends?”

“Jeez!” Eugene muttered while Rapunzel whispered with the queen. “I don’t need just any icebreaker here, I need a pickax.”

I rolled my eyes.

this is way more interest in cass as a person than eugene shows in tts… like ever. at this point, eugene has met cass ONCE for a few MINUTES and he already knows more about her than he does in cassandra vs eugene, after six or seven months of frequent contact. yet cass scoffs and gives him monosyllabic answers and radiates way more hostility for way less reason than she displays even in tangled before ever after. i think eugene is totally justified in going, yeesh, what’s this kid’s deal?

- rapunzel goes straight from “i’d like you to be my lady-in-waiting” to “you’re my new lady-in-waiting!” without waiting for cass to answer. and i mean, at this point it is a done deal, queen’s orders and all, so i can’t hold this against rapunzel at all. but man, the adults involved in this decision sure aren’t concerned at all about making sure rapunzel learns how boundaries and consent works.

How was I going to train? How was I going to live the life I was born to live?

Fury heated my blood as I stared down the moon.

heh.

i wonder how much howland knew regarding the planned villain arc, because on the one hand lines like this are drenched in foreshadowing, and she’s done a much better job establishing cassandra’s belief in destiny than tts did. but on the other, had she known about the gothel twist, she would surely have known that cassandra is several years older than rapunzel, and that doesn’t square with how cass… acts.

this is half-remembered hearsay so take it with a grain of salt, but i seem to recall something about cass, in her original conception, being younger than rapunzel (and also aware of her parentage, and secretly villainous all along). could howland have been working from information given to her during the transitional stage between that proto-cass and tts cass? that would explain a lot.

- the last paragraph of 6 is the most effective passage in the book thus far:

This was a decision that had bars around it. I couldn’t protest without falling out of favor with the king and queen, and then there would be no way I’d ever be allowed in the guard. I couldn’t argue my way out of this with my father. A royal assignment was the final word. My fate had been sealed. I fell to my knees and stifled a scream.

#lost lagoon reread #rta #cassunzel

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throne-of-games · 5 years

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Thoughts on 8x04

Ah, shit here we go

Sansa crying over Theon’s body, giving him the direwolf pin, I AM CRYING

I also really liked that we got a shot of Jon watching Sansa mourn Theon

My thoughts when I first saw Ghost in this order: BABY BOY! Christ couldn’t someone have washed him a bit at least

Okay is it just me or did Jon’s speech sound so hecking odd?! Like not even the speech itself but the way he was talking? Was it just Kit with early onset laryngitis or does Jon just really hate giving public speeches? (If it’s the latter, can’t really fault you there, cause I’m right there with ya buddy.)

I think the way they did the burning of the pyre scene was nice, each character sending off the person they had a connection with i.e Sam and Edd, Jon and Lyanna, Arya and Beric

So looks like Dany has started a bit of a PR campaign with the legitimization of Gendry and I have to admit, she’s on the right track here. Making it a public spectacle, starting off with the whole you’re dad sucks and tried to kill me spiel before finishing with but I’m making you a lord because I’m the queen and I can.

And I absolutely love that they have Sansa understanding exactly what just went on there because if anyone knows how to play the game it’s my baby girl

I thought it was kind of funny how they kept showing Dany sulking in the corner during the feast

“I don’t really want anymore.” Lmfao jesus Bran, you need to take your whole weird cousin at the family gathering you avoid because he’s continually talking about how time is a social construct and nothing is real and you’re all I just asked you to pass the peas can you not aesthetic down a notch

Omg Tormund forcing Jon to drink and saNSA PLAYFULLY ENCOURAGING HIM WAS THE MOST PRECIOUS GD THING IN THIS WHOLE EPISODE AND YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON THAT

I highkey liked that Arya didn’t really give two shits about being at the feast because it’s just so her to not want any praise for what she did and I just—I love her.

Oh my GOD the jealous Sansa in this episode was way too gd real and as soon as she walks out Jon looks after her and this is just prime fic material right here

This Jaime/Brienne/Tyrion/Pod drinking game scene was real cute and funny up until that virgin quip then it was just cringe as hell. CRINGE I TELL YOU!

I thought it was interesting to see Dany’s reaction to the love Jon receives from the northmen and how later on she pretty much says she’s never not been adored by her people before and it’s a really tough pill for her to swallow. Whether you’re a Dany fan or not, it’s easy to see how very out of place she is in the North and in Winterfell. It’s not a strike against her, it’s just a basic fact that she doesn’t belong there while Jon very much does belong in the North and I think this scene did a terrific job of highlighting all of this.

And then we get this ominous shot of Varys side-eyeing Dany while she side-eyes Tyrion and Jaime as well as Jon enjoying the feast with his people until she seemingly can’t take it anymore and promptly leaves the feast. I almost feel bad for her. Almost.

Lmao Tormund crying over Brienne. Funny, but once again: the horse is dead guys, time to quit beating it!

Okay so I was actually enjoying this Sansa and Sandor scene until he fucking brought up what Ramsey did to her like that and now I really want to reach into my fucking screen and strangle him.

The look on Sansa’s face when he says she’s changed is honestly heartbreaking. It’s like in that moment she fully realizes exactly how much she’s been forced to change and all the trauma she’s gone through and just how fucking cruel the world turned out to be and I just—I need a minute.

Ah, Gendry and Arya. First off—Damn, boy didn’t wasted any time did he? His eagerness was cute but it felt a bit cheesy to me. As for Arya’s response, I think it makes total sense for her to answer the way she did. She might love him or what have you but since season one she’s always wanted to be a lady warrior and not someone’s wife which is valid as fuck. She’s right, it isn’t her. It doesn’t mean they’ll never cross paths again or that they don’t love each other. Arya’s basically just the Westerosi version of a modern millennial woman.

Jaime and Brienne—You sound quite jealous!! I’m not a huge shipper of it but I think it’s cute and honestly it’s funny to see people who actually claimed they were strictly platonic (sorry wut?) eating their words but the whole thing was a little awkward. But maybe it was meant to be considering it was Brienne’s first time

We can, I’ve just told you how. Jesus, Dany was a bit manic this whole scene but that line and the absolute drain of emotion we see on her face? Uh oh.

Sansa says hey maybe we should let the soldiers rest a little before jumping right back into another war, Dany somehow hears betrayal in that, goes to KL anyways and loses majorly. When will people learn to listen to the Queen in the North?

Not really digging that look Jon gave Sansa. I guess you could interpret it as Jon knowing Dany doesn’t like Sansa and he wants to keep her from harm at Dany’s hand so he’s trying to get her to keep a lid on it around the lady with crazy eyes and dragons or something, I have no idea. With that being said, D&D can have season 7-8 Jon. I will only be keeping season 1-6 Jon. Thank you.

Lmao did anyone else notice Jon moves the dragon chip to where he’s going and Greyworm moves it away?! Funny as well as dubious.

That look Sansa shoots Brienne when Tyrion mentions Jaime...she knows her friend just got some good good

I absolutely love that it’s Arya telling Jon all the hard truths. We don’t trust your queen. She’s not one of us.

We didn’t get to see the reactions of Sansa and Arya finding out about Jon’s parentage. Disappointed but not surprised. Although I liked that they showed the contrast between Sansa and Arya reassuring Jon of his Starkness and Dany rejecting him as the last of her Targaryen family because of his claim.

The old Sandor/Arya team is back together and you know what? I aint mad. I wish Arya would have told her siblings she was leaving again though but it makes sense why she didn’t. I headcanon her and Sansa had a really emotional goodbye scene wherein Arya leaves her with a dagger and gives her a quick lesson on how best to use it and Sansa makes Arya a beautiful Stark cloak so she can have a piece of home with her where ever she goes.

Here comes all the Sansa betrayed Jon and told Tyrion!! posts. If that’s what you’re going to claim then you best drag not only Jon for telling Sansa and Arya but Dany for asking Jon to keep a secret like that from his family in the first place.

Sansa not wanting Jon to go south and getting defensive when Tyrion implies that Jon wouldn’t stay in Winterfell is everything. She loves him so much. Ugh. Someone help.

“You’re afraid of her.” Sansa hitting the nail on the head, per usual.

The ghost scene. We’re not gonna talk about it. WHERE’S THE REAL JON?! WHERE IS HE?!

Tyrion is sure trying to push this good queen Dany narrative. Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

Later, Rhaegal. It was nice knowing you. (Not really so much though.)

Lmfao Euron’s smile was the creepiest/most unintentionally funny thing I’ve ever seen. AKA me reading all the leaks earlier.

Jesus, Dany has like eleven men left, no ships, and is now one dragon less. Should have listened to Sansa and held off for a bit, maybe?

Varys tells Dany she’s making a huge mistake and is putting thousands of innocent lives at risk. Her response? This is my destiny, I will serve it no matter the costs. Am I surprised? Not a bit. Will the antis find a way to justify even this? You bet.

Have you considered the best ruler might be someone who doesn’t want to rule? Why yes Varys, yes I have!

They’re not getting married Tyrion, drop it already. Jeez, you’re worse than the antis.

Poor Brienne. She’s reassuring him that he’s good, that he’s worthy of honor and redemption and although it’s something he’s been chasing after for a while now he ultimately chooses to reject the idea that he’s deserving of it. My eyes are all wet now.

Lmao Tyrion and Qyburn. You surrender! No, you surrender!

Oh, Missandei. I knew it was coming but that didn’t make it any easier to watch. And Greyworm’s reaction was fucking brutal. Christ.

Overall? This episode was bad. Like unquestionably bad. Like wow, I thought the last episode sucked but I guess D&D are eager to outdo themselves. I stand by my claim that the showrunners are flying through this season because they just want to wash their hands of the show already and uh, I mean I can’t really say I’m surprised.

#sfw #jonsa #jon x sansa #game of thrones #got spoilers #sansa stark #bran stark #arya stark #jon snow #brienne of tarth #jaime lannister #tyrion lannister #anti daenerys

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nyanzaya · 5 years

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I know this gonna be long story but please tell me about your boys i'm all ears all night (´∩｡• ᵕ •｡∩`) i send this because you don't want to hijack my post, even if it's a good thing ( ˶ ❛ ꁞ ❛ ˶ ) please introduce me to this world of Iza and Zuo (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

@if-that-so

Oh gosh lol I can try for sure since it’s all in my brain, I got something written but-- Let me see if I can explain what kind of world they are in to begin with because I mean they are like alts so they would obviously be in Ikebukuro/Japan. They are hybrids, you can sort of think of it as that typical neko-trope with cat girls and cat boys and a bunch of other hybrids and supernatural type creatures.

In Iza and Zuo’s world, basically the hybrids are seen as less than human, of course there are people who see them as normal people with added on traits that make them distinct from humans. There’s a lot of themes, even dark themes, that go into their world honestly lol I don’t personally touch on all of them because there are just some themes I just don’t bother with lmfao. That’s basically like the premise of their world really. It’s pretty normal with, not much that’s weird about it? Hybrids are a normal thing but depending some see them as ‘less than’ human and others see them as just human and then there’s probably some that see them as something special.

I’m not sure which boy would be more interesting but honestly I think Iza is more interesting because he’s pretty complicated so I’ll start with him. ((This also got really super long so i-- put it under a read more LOL)

His whole beginning; basically he was born into the “pet life” and was taken away from his mom when he was...I want to say when he was like a 6 months old? And was basically given away as a gift and the thing with his mom (who’s name is Kata) was she was prized and treasured for her unique colorings, a black Burmese and garnet colored eyes with tufted ears and was basically “bred” because her kittens(kids) would sell for a lot of yen lmfao--- I’m not going to get into that because that’s literally a whole different topic--- Well, Iza was basically treated and raised as a cat, but for his young age he was very intelligent(and even the Burmese breed on their own are VERY smart) and the fact he was human too he just learned by watching, as a result he is very good at reading body language but he can’t read facial expressions. He literally watched and observed his First Master for 12 years? And if I remember right his First didn’t exactly see Iza as a cat, he saw him as like his son but what happened was he got blackmailed and his company was literally being destroyed and failing from the inside out. I think his friend who gave him Iza only gave him Iza as a gift because his wife left Iza’s frist master and like he was depressed and felt like his whole life was out of control and just getting this rare black little cat gave him a reason to keep trying because animals/other people/things that depend on you do that to you. Well, while he was blackmailed he had to do horrible things to Iza and had to basically make him an obedient pleasure pet. He hated literally every second of it and then he gave Iza away to the man that blackmailed him and disappeared because he was so disgusted with himself. Iza actually, has a narrative poem about it but I don’t think I’ll ever post it, maybe I should because that’s literally Iza’s poem but... I can’t bring myself to post something that implies you know lmfao. He does have two other poems about the first half of his life with his second and then when he was about 19-21? I can link them if you’d be interested in reading them

Life with his second master was well, horrible. At first it was fine but well, as a pleasure pet he had to do things he was taught to do obediently or be disciplined. Iza at one point did try to escape, but he was caught and was whipped, he still has the scars on his back and he even suffers from nightmares and ptsd because of him. Then afterward he was collared/chained to his second master’s bed. While he lived with his second he met a wolf hybrid who then later became his obsession before they had disappeared when they were saved from his second master. Iza was only with his second, who’s name is Yasui Teijo for... maybe 3 or 4 years honestly?

When he was rescued from his Yasui Teijo he got placed with a third master who isn’t exactly relevant to his story. Iza did eventually end up killing his third master but he only did after he climbed up to a position of self-made power. He became an informant and the way he gets his information is through the cat in the city because he has the ability to speak to them quite fluently. He became really credible and he even hides under the guise of a Fashion Designer. Well, this is the part where Zuo comes in.

Now. Zuo was literally created to be Iza’s equal and opposite reaction. It was originally only supposed to be about Iza, but he became too powerful and even in normal roleplays and threads no one stopped him(besides Shizuo--but that’s a whole different situation and he isn’t part of Iza’s story). Literally, Iza was allowed to murder and assassinate whoever he wanted whenever he wanted and with that new found power he went and used it to get his third master assassinated among other people.

Zuo and Iza met when they were both around 19/20(Zuo is a year older than Iza) At this point in Zuo’s life, he had been out of pit fighting/the gladiator ring for about 4 years. What happened to Zuo was his mother Aiko was also a pet just like Iza’s mom but she escaped and Zuo was one of her only kitten that she had. Now, their life was hard. They had to live on the streets because they were homeless and when Zuo was, I want to say like 8 or 9 I think, he actually hurt another normal kid on accident and his mother basically told him to use his strength and power to help people, not harm them and he held onto that tightly. Well, I want to say Zuo was like 12 when he was basically kidnapped and was thrown into the arena to fight for his life. Because of that, he is physically powerful; as in he could up root a stop sign too but he can’t stop something extremely heavy like a crane. He fought for survival and eventually ended up becoming Champion(A long with a ton of scars, especially on his hands and chest) but he couldn’t live with himself for getting to the top because he had to kill the people he considered his friends, including his senpai and kohai. So, he’s got a lot of like, ptsd. Zuo forced his way out of the pit fighting by basically starting a rebellion within and broke out.

At 17 he decided “Fuck this shit. Fuck all those horrible people. I’m going to do what my mom wanted me to do and protect people and help people who need help.” It kind of back fires. He became very prone to aggression and anger and would outright attack people instead, but would be remorseful about it. It would happen because he was still in that mindset of ‘This person wants to kill me. I have to kill them first so I can survive.” and it took him years to get out of that mental state. So when he met Iza when he was about 20 he was better, of course he still had his issues but he was in better control of himself and became a vigilante to do justice in the city; because at the same time Iza was gaining more power and had eventually gotten 2 or 3 police officers in his pocket and Zuo became frustrated because some police were not exactly doing good. He saw the police force as corrupt and took it upon himself to make things right in the city.

Zuo meets Iza, but he mistook Iza for a woman at first because Iza can and he does cross-dress. (he was supposed to be a drag queen but I decided against it) It’s not written in the original drabble, and if i were to rewrite it, I would mention that Zuo had gotten a strange feeling of “knowing” who Iza was, but he couldn’t exactly place where he knew him from because Zuo remembers his past lives. You end up finding out that Iza and Zuo had been chasing after each other in previous past lives and they always ended up opposite sides so they were always fighting since the beginning of their soul’s birth. Their souls, were predestined to always be at odds and everyone in their world has someone who is their opposite, whether they end up in love or hating each other always depended on the circumstances but the “good end” would be for them to end up together and be in love and the “Bad end” would be for them to always be apart. So, it’s almost like a WHOLE multiverse type thing, as in, in one universe they are happy together, but in an alternate of that same universe they are enemies. It sounds complex but basically every decision you make splits the universe so you have a universe where you did the thing and another one where you didn’t do the thing basically lol. WELL ANYWAY- Zuo ends up having mixed feelings for Iza because Iza got in his way from stopping a man from human trafficking and then Iza ended up killing that man in the same night. They were always after the same people, but the way they went about “stopping” them was opposite but in a sense it was the same? Iza used violence and ended up killing the people, but Zuo refrained from violence and only used it when he needed too which ended up being often.

I haven’t written how they actually got together but I’m thinking the way they got into a relationship was they talked and decided to work together instead. This was when they were like, 22/23. While together they felt “complete” but, because of Iza’s skewed vision of love he ended up manipulating and reverting Zuo back into someone violent and someone who used violence and justified it by “it’s for the greater good.” Eventually, Zuo realized what he was doing was wrong when I think he saw Iza kill some innocent people and realized that he had gotten drunk off the power and chaos. It’s in his birthday drabble but here’s the exert:

Iza laughed.

And laughed before abruptly, he stopped. He gave a side-glance to the pole that had embedded itself in the wall, grinning. “Tom, just give into your true nature already. This-” He gestured to the fallen men before himself. “This is what you’re meant to do. Don’t you get it? Together, you and I could actually change something. Isn’t that what yo-”

“Shut up! This- this isn’t what I fucking want. It’s what you want.” Zuo spat, the fur on his tail was fluffed, his ears laid back in defensiveness.

These men Iza gestured to wasn’t the work of Zuo. The iron in the air wasn’t the fault of Zuo.

It was Iza that drew blood and he was covered in it. The tips of his ears to the tip of his tail. He wasn’t drenched but it was easy to tell that the blood on his clothing didn’t belong to him.“Don’t shift this...this shit on to me. You did it.”

Iza’s ears twitched. Rejection was a bitter taste. “I’m doing you a favor, Dear. Isn’t the scent wonderful? It tells us that we are survivors. So, why don’t you draw some blood as well?”

A light flickered and suddenly Zuo felt a pain on his cheek. His brows furrowed. Iza flung a blade a him. The smell of iron further increased his rage. He didn’t want to return to being a brawler. Zuo was done being a gladiator for the entertainment of others and he sure as hell was not going to give into what Iza wanted. He brought a hand to his wounded cheek before he looked at his hand. Zuo saw the blood on his fingers.

“Enough..” He spoke softly, his hand was shaking.

Iza was quiet, watching Zuo. “Enough? Enough of what? This is the only way.”

“How is this the only way?” Zuo’s closed his blood-tipped hand, as if to show his resolve on the situation.

The black feline paced, taking a blade out of his pocket and twirled it between his fingers. “How? Haven’t you heard of the saying: ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’? To allow these...humans to continue to use us and further lower our quality of life and longevity would be horrendous, no? We are just as capable as they are.”

“Fuck off with your ‘we’ shit! There is no ‘we’. It’s just you against everyone else.” Zuo growled, flexing his hands before he brought them together to crack his knuckles.

Iza stopped pacing taking in Zuo’s words. No we? He understood now. Even Zuo was an enemy of his now. This feeling in his chest hurt. It hurt to feel how Zuo rejected him. They were together, though Iza supposed that was impossible. There was a sting at his eyes but he wasn’t going to let Zuo see him fall into tears. Without thinking, Iza flung his knife. He almost missed his target, but his blade had impaled itself in Zuo’s shoulder.

“Well, well. If there is no ‘we’ then there can never be an ‘us’.”

Zuo knew Iza twisted his words. That wasn’t what he meant but if that’s what Iza saw, then all he could do now was to stop them from this senseless killing.

These were innocent people. All Zuo saw in front of him was someone who was crazed, lusting after more bloodshed. Someone who, Zuo was fond of. It hurt to see Iza turn into someone he didn’t know, or perhaps he had known who he was all along but had never seen it from a different perspective. Perhaps, Zuo had tolerated this behavior until it was too much.

How could he save them?

The cream-colored feline pulled the knife from his shoulder. “You threw your knife at me. So, I’ll assume you meant to hit a pressure point. That’s what you do, huh? So, that means you wanted to disable me to kill me then, huh?”

Iza’s ears leaned back.

Zuo brought his other hand to the other side of the blade, snapping it in half before dropping it to the floor. Another solid resolve. Zuo was going to be the one to stop Iza. He had to be. To let the black feline running wild with power? He understood now that Iza couldn’t handle the power; the rush of the high of being on top of the world.

Zuo would bring them back to earth. Even if it meant that this was their fate: To fight and oppose each other until the end.

That’s basically when they broke up but they officially stated they are not together.

Zuo and Iza both have the same exact goal: To save their kin from being seen as less than human but they go about it so differently that they will always butt heads.

Someone had to stop Iza from senseless bloodshed.

There’s definitely more facts to them for sure, like how they made a community together before they “split up” and how they were actually really in love with each other but the timing was off. They are like 27/28 now and by the time Iza is like 35 or 36 their kin would be “free” from being used for profits like animals but canonically, Iza ends up dying and leaving Zuo. I’m debating if I want to have it so Zuo dies too but LOL It would make sense if their souls are “bound together” in a spiritual sense.

But that’s pretty much their story. There’s a lot of details I didn’t add in honestly lol there’s so much more but this is already super long aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

#im sorry its so long LOL I can talk like hours about my boys #there's a lot....like a lot a lot....#About Iza #About Zuo #if-that-so

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caatws · 5 years

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ok i watched the ep with my roommate (another film student [i’m screenwriting and she’s tv/film production] who has a less biased pov bc she isn’t involved in fandom) and we both thought the writing was weird, if not just. Bad. tonight. here are some things we talked abt:

the cold open was clunky as fuuuuuuck. jake having to explain that they haven’t hung out in a month and their anniversary is coming up was such awkward writing that my film school peers would’ve ripped me to shreds for - toooooo much exposition. even the bumblee back and forth was not all there for me tbh. idk if it was the delivery of the lines or the lines themselves but that cold open was meh

also when the fuck is their actual anniversary they said it was coming up in the beginning of the ep but by the end they were like “ya it’s our anniversary :)” klsfnbklsdf?????

they kinda took their sweet time getting to the kids discussion tbh? like i wasn’t jazzed abt the character of pam (wish she wasn’t there at all tbh) and also can i just. let me just. the narrative never questioned the “mixed race babies” comment. yes you all are going to have to hear a mouthful from this abt me as a mixed race person. WHY DIDN’T THE NARRATIVE CALL OUT THE MIXED RACE BABIES COMMENT I’M SO FUCKING ANNOYED

so now jake and amy are like oh shit bc they are only JUST NOW realizing they have different povs abt kids.....to the point that jake claims he “never” wanted kids, and amy (nor literally anyone else in the ep) never calls back to the times jake has talked abt wanting or having kids? hello???

like this could’ve EASILY been fixed by tweaking jake’s line from “never” wanting kids to now being HESITANT or UNSURE due to new factors or reasons. but now they wrote jake into this corner of apparently never wanting kids and we all got dragged into this corner with him

ok but also stepping back for a moment - i saw gifs of amy saying “we don’t have kids yet but we’re gonna start trying soon” before i saw the ep and i thought she would say that at the END of the episode, after she discussed with jake....but instead she apparently not only assumed that they would in fact try for kids soon, but just. said that to a random stranger without ever having a concrete convo with jake first???????????????

i’m ???????????????????????????

why is it ok for rosa to threaten to coerce jake into wanting kids

why did terry base his argument of not having kids til you’re committed 100% off of basically how much he resents his own children?

i literally had a stay at home dad and he never complained abt, basically, HAVING CHILDREN, why are the men on b99 so fragile what the fuck

how was jake getting locked into a bomb sitch with pam (fuck pam) the experience he needed to realize he wanted kids? what makes this experience unique from other dangerous moments on the job to specifically inspire him to want children??

also our film student pov here: this scene went on WAY TOO LONG. the bowels gag got old hella fast, the convo between jake and pam was a waste of pages. that shit should’ve been no more than 1 to 1.5 pages tops. how did this ep’s writer not get eaten alive in film school i’m shitting myself

This Is Your Reminder I’m Still Fucking Annoyed About The Mixed Race Babies Comment

the fact that there was no jake/amy scene between amy walking out angrily to go with rosa and jake finally saying “wait i want kids!” was just rly weird and incredibly invalidating to jake imo. the message of this ep was basically that ppl who don’t want kids can change their mind just like that,,,, basically just,, you can Convince them to change their mind???

and no, amy implying divorce the first time she and jake have a convo abt kids is not great and also kind of manipulative so no i do not stan

yes half of the reason i’m annoyed bc this is the shit they broke up s*nvers over in s*pergirl and it was so last minute and lazy so anyone else who uses this trope to stir up fake drama is a lazy writer

legit, this ep would’ve worked in s4 aka before jake/amy got engaged/married lmfao

also i want to add something in here - yes, jake/amy isn’t a perfect couple and their communication isn’t always perfect but that’s. the one area they’re supposed to be good at. and i’ve known couples irl who never have huge fights or anything that are doing just fine, so this idea of imperfect couples = fighting is a Requirement is uhhhh toxic and annoying as fuck, frankly. this is the first time splitting up has been suggested in a p*raltiago argument. they didn’t even reach that point when they were still DATING. how does this writing make sense to any of y’all ?!??!?!??!?!?!??!???!

the only good thing that happened was rosa saying “kids are so cute it’s fucked up” that’s it that’s literally the only thing i enjoyed

#b99 wank #b99 spoilers #madison.txt #also the reason i flexed me being a film student here bc i'm inb4 someone complains abt me being too sensitive or sjw or something #like purely from a writing pov this ep was rooooough #legit if i wrote half the shit in that script and brought it to class i would be Destroyed by my peers/profs immediately

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sleepymarmot · 6 years

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Twilight Mirage liveblog 5/5 (finale & post-mortem)

64-67

Found a new shortcut to my heart: announcing your finale is going to be a mashup of The Quiet Year and Firebrands

Why is it surpising that the Qui Err Coalition allies with the Waking Cadent? That was my first thought when Iota was making her speech! The Qui Err thinks the humans should leave, the Cadent thinks the humans should leave, sounds pretty compatible to me.

What's the logic of “When Crystal Palace arrives, we will blow up this system”? It's not a bomb! But it will be in danger if a bomb goes off right next to it!

Oh no, Ali is doing the classic “shoot yourself in the foot on purpose” move

I don't get how Grand Magnificent got promoted from “got paid once to retire” to “is trusted to do actual missions for Advent”

Why the hell does Gig want to kill Ballad

The players keep underestimating how “horny” the scenes in Firebrands are and Austin is increasingly exasperated

I would like to thank Jack from the bottom of my heart for choosing dance as a framing for making contact with Grand. Also I completely lost it at “there are talons on my shoulder”

I must have missed something, what's so bad about the Splice and Our Profit that everyone's so excited to fuck them over? The Mirage is made a renewable resource, right, so the Splice isn't a drain on anything?

The Echo-Ballad scene is so frustrating that I can't even feel appropriately bad about it! Come on Echo, just help Grand go back to Advent as an undercover spy, it doesn't have to be a competition this time!

I still don't understand Independence II… How do you send your new very conspicous and recognizable design to friends in rival factions without blowing your cover

The timeline here is really weird… Echo rescues Grand and brings Ballad with them, Ballad calls off his people, Grand sends out his new mech design… And a week later, Grand's still on Qui Err territory having a friendly lunch with its leader? If going back is still an option, how is that going to look without making Advent seem like total idiots? Ah, it's only a day after? Okay…

I'm very glad the Volition problem was solved so peacefully!

5 minutes later: “Quire could die!” How about no??! I was so busy preparing to mourn Volition. I am completely unprepared to lose Quire just like that.

Memorious was alive and also an axiom worm this whole time? Wut

Fuck, do we need another opportunity to kill off Ballad?! This list of NPCs is making me very nervous, I don't want any of them to die… As soon as they said “tactical skirmish” I started screaming internally and likely won't stop until it is over… Wow, Ali, that was cold Oh no, Keith is really on a mission to murder Ballad

Grand how could you bring a bomb to Christmas dinner what the hell RIP bird leader / avian boss, he had an amazing unique voice and, in my head, a really cool cartoony design

Thanks for 9.5 hours of fun. Now I guess it's time for the 4 hour long brutal and heartbreaking final boss encounter

Full offence Gig, but I wouldn't log off even the real internet for lawn games

Signet fucking saved everyone single-handedly, twice. Two biggest threats. Incredible. What is the rest of the game even about

Seriously, do the players know something about Advent that I don't?! Otherwise please stop calling your cheesy space mafia “nazis”

I've been waiting for Even and Cascabel stealing time together since the beginning of the finale! For 11 hours! Finally! This finale is in dire need of more romance content I like that everyone immediately starting dragging all Bioware games at once

I don't see how a secular virtual reality is more of a “weird cult” than an augmented reality in which people maintain an actual religion worshipping the union of human and synthetic life for 30k years. Can we not do the hypocrisy again please. Why is it okay for the Divine Fleet to build their own take on utopia but when the NEH does it's portrayed as a threat and all characters treat it with suspicion and contempt

OK all these ideological debates are fine and dandy but people really should ask more practical questions like “you don't have to rush, why don't you just go back to the previous eco-friendly methods we have previously agreed upon” Glad Fourteen won, but ideologically, as you can guess from this entire liveblog, I'm with Our Profit

I don't like how Tender started with the intention of attacking Our Profit / the Splice but very much like how it somehow turned into her offering to help them and solve everyone's problems in one move

Grand Magnificent building a pseudo-Divine to blind the Crystal Palace with the power of bullshit is the ideal happy ending for him

Good on everyone for doing the best possible things with the Divines, except for the DFS for managing to do every possible bad thing simultaneously!!! My dislike of that faction is vindicated but at what cost Oh god it's even worse

“Echo Reverie, who knew well both the value and the cost of violence, and who dreamt powerfully of peace” is such a beautiful and concise summary of their character arc God I just love how organically Echo and Gig's arcs led them to help a decolonized society lead independent, peaceful and joyful lives

A new Fleet with a healthier relationship between the Divines and everyone else is nice, thank you Signet

Oh my god, the ending titles are Gig interviewing everyone, that's so sweet!!! Really the perfect sentence to end this campaign with.

(I feel like a jerk mentioning it but… Whenever there's music overlayed with the voice track, it's almost always too loud and I have to strain my ears to hear the words… It's been like that since season one. Am I really the only one with this problem?!)

Whew! Hard to believe this long, long listening experience is over. I have mixed feelings: sometimes it was exciting or inspiring, sometimes it was fun but I felt I could as well be doing something else, sometimes I listened to the outro and thought “this music and the montage for it in my head right now make me feel so much more than the episode I just heard”, and sometimes the ideology of the narrative or characters'/players' opinions and actions clashed enough with my worldview enough to poison the entire experience. What's new is that, unlike the previous arcs, I didn't have an urge to shake my friends and yell at them “you absolutely must listen to this!” and that made me sad. But that might be just me getting used to this show and taking its good features for granted.

Post-mortem

Oh god, the production of the final sequence sounds like absolute nightmare

Thanks for validating me with the speech about the Fleet's lack of engagement with its “original sin”, Austin

Thanks, Janine, I hate it! This religion didn't need to get any creepier!

Yes tell us how many ears Tender has! I need to know!! Tender's fursona is the Russian food cat?! Amazing The livestream practically starts with googling animal pictures. Classic

Honestly Echo's disability was barely noticeable to me as a listener… There wasn't a lot of visible difference between the way they accessed the mesh and other PCs did, and after the nanites did activate, I don't think it was ever brought up again…

Yeah I'm genuinely upset that Tender and Fourteen didn't get together, by the way! Or at least have an overt romantic storyline! Give me that sweet sweet PC/PC romance my soul is starving Like I get what Jack is saying about the value of depicting friendship and normally I'd be on his side but 😭 😭 😭 On the other hand I didn't know Echo/Grand was a thing (And now feel kind of bitter it got more official endorsement than my ship that has more canonical foundation) This universe is actually about Austin inventing NPCs who have crushes on Keith's characters and then Keith pointedly avoiding the subject How could anyone forget about Tender's wild fangirling over Waltz lmfao

Austin calmly talking of all these things I screamed about above like “yeah that's what I intended”. Like on the one hand I'm glad, but on the other why couldn't you make it less frustrating to listen to

The rehabilitation theme is another thing that is present thematically but was not discussed on screen enough imo. One thing my mind kept returning to re: Contrition's Figure was the question of forgiveness for serious crime, personal boundaries and principles, and the policy of not disclosing the inmates' crimes. I imagine a survivor of rape or abuse wouldn't want to share space with someone who did the same kind of crime that hurt them. Even if they wouldn't be made to interact, of course, but what if that person believes those kind of people don't deserve rehabilitation at all? What if they reject that system on principle? You often encounter seemingly serious statements like “abusers/rapists/nazis should die”, especially lately. I've heard that about “fascists” (which is a separate issue) in this very campaign. Where do people with these opinions go in a utopia? Do they not exist? Do people who commit horrific crimes not exist either? Because I was listening to that arc and thinking “What if one of those undisclosed crimes was csa or serial murder or something like that? Would I be expected to shake hands and play chess with that criminal? How could I rehabilitate, heal, re-socialize, learn to trust in a space where anyone I meet could be Shrodinger's rapist?” And that leads to the bigger question of what a utopia is. Is it a better society – or better human nature? If latter (and Austin said so) – then to what extent? Because the theoretical people who are so much more advanced than us that they are, en masse, incapable of extreme cruelty, must also differ from our generation with their entire psychology. And a psychology so different would be unimaginable, unplayable, and would not provide necessary dramatic conflict or antagonistic characters. Which is why most alien characters in most stories, including this one, are just humans in silly costumes or prosthetics.

Oh dear god, that must be the heaviest personal story yet… But I understand better what Declan's Corrective was about.

Oh I've been definitely thinking about static utopias vs utopias of process while listening! When I wrote at some point that they made me stop and consider what a utopia is, it was one of the things I meant.

Yeah, sure, in our world the Splice would be terrible because of the existing power dynamics. But that's a Counter/weight story! Twilight Mirage and the Divine Fleet have been about the technologies and ideas that could have been, or were, used to terrible ends, but miraculously, we got to see them used in good faith with genuinely good intentions and good results. Divines have been all kinds of threats over the ages, and yet the Fleet managed to build a community around them that was a small paradise for 30,000 years. So why do the NEH and the Splice not get the same benefit of the doubt? Why is narrative not treating them with the same respect? Why are they always a threat? Why isn't there a major, likeable NPC whose life was enriched by the Splice to the extent that it is central to their identity, who could be our advocate for that point of view? Why are some powerful and potentially infinitely dangerous things, like Divines or religion itself, shown as more valid than others? And don't tell me that our player characters are from the Fleet – none of them are Qui Err either, and yet by the end it is a respected, lovingly portrayed player faction.

Oh, and also, speaking of the Splice's dangers, and what would have made it dangerous in the real world – one of the things that bothered me about it was that these dangers weren't actually described and addressed in the show properly! Probably at least in part because this techology is so magical it's hard to codify how it works. If it gives an indefinite amount of time, how do you sync up all these infinite amounts of timelines? Whenever anyone logs in to visit Tender, how do they know if it's been a day for her, like in the real world, or a hundred years? (Oh and by the way, I waited in vain for the explanation for these strange duplicities and possible time anomalies; what was going on with Ache and Acre?) If opposing the Splice and the NEH were about solving specific problems with the Splice, I would be all for that!

But yeah, I really do appreciate “processes that self-regulate and address their own issues”, how the story and specifically the finale were about the work of building a better world. I like the finale especially because it shows the social processes more clearly; TM's lack of a faction game and its focus on “bigger picture” was palpable, so I was happy to see again that aspect of the show I think is really good and unique. At first I thought it was anticlimactic that the main threats of the finale were solved so easily, early, and pretty much single-handedly. And, indeed, in a tv show that would have looked pretty strange (and require some rewriting, because with how it went down, Signet should have been the sole protagonist from the start lol). But on the other hand, it gave a lot of space and focus to what the whole story has been about: building a better society and future. Not just saving it from an external threat and drawing the curtain on that – but making sure the world we won is the one we want to live in. Preserve the environment! Decolonize the land! Shut off the tyrannical prophecy machine! And that's a good thing, and from my perspective very characteristic of this show. Before it, I didn't even know there were games about building and preserving communities and addressing civil issues! For years I thought “Well, stories of adventure are fun, but they don't address the real issues”, but turns out, there are people and systems that at least try to combine both. And that's a thought I can find comfort in, even if the specific choices of this campaign make me frustrated sometimes.

“I also tried to move away from violence this season and ended up making an arms manufacturer”

Somehow the end of the post-mortem feels sadder and more final than the end of the show proper

#friends at the table #blah blah blah

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