#they were just a background ship in the original but here??? they're the best part of the show!

[haaam-guuuurl]

Fate: The Winx Saga has made a lot of choices; some good, some bad, some just plain weird, but making Rivusa a slow burn enemies to lovers ship?? Was the best one >>>>>

#fate the winx saga #ftws #winx club #rivusa #musa x riven #musa #riven #winx musa #winx riven #my posts #they were just a background ship in the original but here??? they're the best part of the show! #*chef's kiss* #yes i love them in the original but even more here

[localguy2]

More ninja headcanons, instruments edition™:

- Wu plays the Flute, and he also flute beat boxes, and everyone tells him it's impressive asf but he doesn't see it as such, I'm gonna also go ahead and say his staff is the Flute, basically taking it from the movie, he only does it when he's bored, so he'd be watching the ninja train and he'd suddenly start playing his oversized flute-staff out of boredom

- Jay's definitely the guitar, when everyone's gathered for the day of the Departed, he's the one to pull out the guitar when everyone is around the campfire, generally preferring to just play it instead of singing (partiality because his singing isn't great) but he would sing if evryeone else joins in

- Kai loves the drums, if he isn't training or doing chores, he's playing the drums almost 24/7, he's the typa guy to pull up random ass songs just to add his own drums to them

(mental image of baby shark playing while Kai is absolutely fucking ripping it with the drums like there's no tomorrow)

- Cole's is a bass guitar, because that's the only headcanon I accept >:)

So yeah he loves his bass guitar, he and Kai make a kick ass duo if they decide to team up for a song or a random tune they thought of, however they remain in second place in the "music playing duos" *wink wink*

- Nya's is the trumpet and sax, I'm sorry but the mental image of her playing the trumpet or sax is way too good to be left unused

Generally, she prefers a more laid back approach when it comes to playing both instruments, mainly making jazzy tunes, and she's one of the few people who actually make full music tracks instead of randomly playing whenever she feels like it, with Kai being the one working on the drums, and Cole being the one to provide a really really low tone bass guitar in the background to break up any background silence

- Lloyd originally didn't take interest in music, but after the Oni invasion he thought to himself "might as well learn something now that life is somewhat calm again", so he picked the harmonica and he is really damn good at it, you've heard of Flute beatbox, but have you heard of HARMONICA BEATBOX??? (yes it actually exists BTW, it's just as goofy and cool as it sounds), and if he and the team are in a dessert, you better bet your ass he's gonna play the hermonica as long as they're there, which is both amusing and annoying to everyone else around him

- and the last two, Zane and PIXAL

Zane and PIXAL can play all instruments almost immediately from the get go, they just need a few hours to fully perfect them, but they both still prefer using one instead of all of them

Zane picked up the violin, recognising the emotional petional it had, so he immediately fell in love with it, at first he was a bit apprehensive about telling his team about his hobby but eventually they all found out when they heard him play it in his room because he forgot to close the door, and much to his delight they were actually really happy he picked something up to express himself like them

PIXAL picked up the piano, she really doesn't know why she likes it so much, one day it just clicked to her

Like Zane, she was also a bit apprehensive about telling the others, but one day Zane caught her playing it, and he proceeded to tell everyone about it with the biggest "my GF is so badass" look on his face, she was a bit worried at first when they found out about her piano skills but she eventually she got used to it

Now because I'm a sucker for the 2 nindroid Ninjas literally doing everything together (PIXANE best ship don't @ me)

I also headcanon that when they both found out that the other plays an instruments, 2 very complimentary ones at that, they immediately started writing up a fuck ton of songs/tracks, like you'd walk in on them and thier conversation would be something like:

"wait how about a small violin part here?"

"wait, how about making the part be broken apart by the paino? so the second the paino ends, a small violin part starts, and the second it ends the piano starts up again?"

"WHY ALSO NOT MAKE IT SO THAT IT EVENTUALLY REACHES A CLIMAX WHERE THE TRACK ENDS WITH BOTH INSTRUMENTS PLAYING AT THE SAME TIME?"

"YEAH ALSO MAKE IT SO THE SONG'S MOTIF PLAYS AFTER THE CLIMAX AS THE ENDING!"

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M THINKING-"

"YEAAAAAAA-"

Sorry got a little lost there

Back to the topic at hand, yeah they write music together mostly, they're either the most emotional roller coaster you've ever heard (always makes someone on the team cry) or they're just more laid back, usually the piano and violin sounding hopeful in these songs

But if they're feeling chaotic, then oh boy are they gonna write up some ridiculous but cool shit, by that I mean a crazy fast paced piano with a violin (to get an example of what I mean, take a listen to the song "Xi - ascension to heaven")

So uh yeah, those are my headcanons regarding a few funny legos, hope you enjoyed it.

#ninjago #zane julien #pixal borg #jay walker #cole brookstone #kai smith #nya smith #lloyd garmadon #master wu #pixane #headcanon #sleep deprived writing #i got too silly #And a little goofy even

[galacticlamps]

DW asks 4, 7, 12? (This *is* a good list!)

4. who’s wardrobe would you steal?

I thought embarrassingly long & hard about this during a slow point at work & came to the conclusion that while there are very many characters who I'd like to steal specific pieces from (and even more that I'd want if I believed I could pull them off), for whole wardrobe I'd have to go with either:

Doctor - Seven (I also think he'd be a great character to cosplay, his clothes look really comfy & are a nice mix of silly & practical)

Companion - Clara (there's no way that needs explaining, is there? just like. a few sizes up, as I am neither as short or as petite as her)

7. which doctor is not necessarily your favorite but is the doctor you’d most like to travel with or the doctor you think you’d get along the best with?

Hmm. I like to think I'd get on with most of them, given time to grow into it like a companion, but right off the bat clicking with? For some reason, my gut is saying 6. (then the next ones to come to mind were 8 & 9, at which point I realized I was just listing doctors canonically proven to put up with americans/people with american accents lol)

Yeah, I'm gonna say 6. I'm the most confident/least worried about potentially getting along with him - I wonder if that's a surprising answer lol

12. what’s a headcanon that’s you forget isn’t actually canon?

(Ignoring the fact that there are probably several I've completely forgotten aren't canon & therefore can't list here:)

a great many things @the--highlanders says about Two-era characters

romantic relationships on Gallifrey being seen as inherently queer in their society?

Ian/Barbara & Ben/Polly as legit, endgame ships (as far as their time on the show goes - I know EU expands upon it, but DW EU is basically just Fanon Plus - which doesn't make it 'not canon' in my book, I just find it funny that there are things we're all in agreement over that were technically never established in the original source material. And again, as @the--highlanders has pointed out, this sets a rather wonderful precedent for what Classic-era romantic relationships actually look like, because honestly speaking, do either of these ships have anything more overtly romantic about them than, say, Two/Jamie or Nyssa/Tegan do, aside from being 'obvious' on account of being m/f? Idk, I find it comfortingly door-opening that this is a show in which you pretty much have to draw your own conclusions about things like that which were blissfully undefined onscreen, even to the point that fans-turned-writers will reference popular consensuses in new material)

Liz Shaw's exit isn't onscreen because she left to go travel w/ a later Doctor who could actually take her through time & space (obviously, they couldn't shoot that in 1970, not having cast the [x]th Doctor at the time)

Time Lords suck at mind wipes on humans (not just for 6b purposes - why else would 10 leave Donna in such a precarious state, if he could potentially save her life by doing it better?)

Part of One & Two's vagueness about their background comes from the fact that they're avoiding using proper nouns even when speaking to people they trust, because they're on the run from a race of reclusive telepaths, and it might be suspicious for their human companions to even have words like 'Time Lord' or 'Gallifrey' in their heads

Benton quits the military after the 3-era characters leave bc he was only ever in it for his pals

#honorable mention to Jack on no. 4 #but i could never rock that coat #the boots-bottondown-widecutpants tho is v me #anyway thank you! #these were really fun to think about!

[blue-kyber]

Why hello there, little friend! Thank you very much for summoning me - here's your question! ~☆

What makes your character excited? Why does this make them excited? What do they do when they feel excited?

I adore this way of asking a question. :D It's so cute. :) Thanks for the ask!

For this one, I choose Selka Kelnaris. I don't have much about her developed, because she's the character I relate to the least, so this is a good chance to develop her character a bit more.

Selka is my 32 year old felorian history, anthropology, archeology, and artifact nerd.

She's also the ship's medic. Being a trained Ai Hiri - and one of the best at the elite order's ancient temple - she has medical training, and can use her mental gifts to calm a person, quiet their mind, sooth their nightmares, and allow her to treat them without them experiencing trauma. She's had to use her gift on Yune a few times. He LOATHS the medbay. it triggers PTSD systemic stress reactions, but he refuses to let her dig through his mind to figure out why. He says, "if I have that kind of reaction every time, I'm better off not knowing why. It'll make it worse. Stay outta my head." She never 'Looks' without permission, so she respected his decision - even if she disagreed with it.

She might be a bounty hunter going after the criminals of the galaxy, but she's an ameture historian, archeologist, and cultural/physical anthropologist.

Whenever the old crew of the Horizon (Yune, Marci, Zaf, and herself) would visit a world looking for an artifact to steal and sell find, she would dive into researching the local customs and legends, learning about their history through that information so the crew had the best chance of getting in, finding what they're treasure hunting for, and get out with as little friction as possible.

When given a problem about the origin or history of a person, object, or event, she would go into 'research' mode like the ameture scientist she is.

She would get giddy, talk quickly, and share everything she knows if someone asks her a question about it. Finding something new sets her excitement to the max. She becomes a kid with a new toy. :)

She'll be locked into research for days, sitting on her meditation cushion on the floor of the Horizon's lounge, or in the medbay - which wasn't used often for actual medical reasons, so she took it over as her lab. She converted part of the storage compartment next to it to extend her lab.) The medbay is her territory beyond her cabin.

While she's working, she'll often have music playing in the background - much like Yune will. That's just part of life on the Horizon. It's their home.

She would often forget to eat. Discovering new information about her target subject is the only time she'll turn into a hyper kid on a sugar high.

Beyond that, she's a responsible, calm, rational, confident adult woman with the patience of a saint due to her Ai Hiri training, and discipline over her mental abilities.

She is the perfect person to have in this disaster found family. Not only is she the glue that keeps the family together, but she's the one who focuses on the importance of uncovering their history, and is -basically - the adult. She'd be the 'mom'. Once she finds out what Will and Terra were transformed into, and begins to have suspicions about her best friend, Yune, she dives into finding any information she can about the altaran-humans to help them figure out who they are, and to sate her own curiosity about a once-considered-extinct human race with otherworldly powers.

Yune won't let her touch his ena crystal, because he knows she'll want to study the hell out of it.

In a future adventure, when they have to locate his crystal's home matrix in the Ephypsan asteroid field in order to save the source inside his crystal, she goes bonkers with research. She wants to take samples home, but he, Will, and Terra remind her repeatedly that ena crystals are sentient. Being an Ai Hiri, she can sense that life source if she focuses, and has to begrudgingly agree.... though that doesn't stop her from wanting to take some home anyway.

When Terra showed an interest in history and healing, Selka went nuts with excitement. She had a small student and pseudo-daughter to teach. :D She enables Terra's interests in this area, along with teaching her how to use a pulse pistol to train her natural marksmanship abilities.

I love my disaster space found family and their mad scientist/bounty hunter/psychic monk mother, your honor. ^_^

Tag list: @muddshadow @cedar-west @athenixrose @penspiration-writing @runningoutofbooks @tobiornottobithatisthequestion @roll-top-writing @subject-2-change @dreaming-in-seams @mismatchingart @midnights-melodiverse

#writing #out there the 1k #writeblr #ott1k #selka kelnaris #character bio #writing ask #sci fi #fantasy #found family #the history buff of the family. #the researcher.

[livewireprojects]

Rise TMNT Mimi sketch ref

Before I go on I want to mention I've never seen Rise of TMNT, I want to but I got stuff I need to work on & it's going to be a show I can't exactly put in the background. I've been reading/looking at fanwork here & there when I've had the chance so I semi know what's going on.

Mimi is a Donnie fankid, while I imagine him to be the mom you can just say he made her via cloning if you want. She looks a lot like Donnie not only due to being his kid but because I want to avoid ships but you can imagine whoever I guess. Outside of ships I guess you could say Raph has taken up the father role in a "brother helping his single parent sibling out" kind of way, this is kinda cause I like 2003 Raph & Donnie interacting(I say this cause I was raised on the 2003 series & it's the only one I've seen) & I really like how Raph has been portrayed in Rise in fics. I guess you could say Mimi's redish purple colored mask comes from the fact she's not only Donnie's kid but the bond she has with uncle Raph. She has a star theme(star charm attached to her head, starry headphones, star on her mask) due to Mikey sewing a star to the side of her mask because of a star mark she had on the side of her eye since she was born/hatched, occasionally Mikey helps her paint eyes & stars on her stuff. It'd be funny if I made her a twin(since Donnie is a disaster twin) but I don't really have ideas for other kids.(I use to have an OC meant to be a kid for Donnie but that was 2003 Donnie & even then he's an adopted mutant sea turtle child)

Mimi is an often fairly quiet person, while she talks it's usually around people she feels comfortable with like friends & family though sometimes she'll talk when needed. Her hobbies are listening to music, dancing, tinkering with stuff on occasion & people watching. Mimi has been learning to be an inventor/whatever Donnie is up to with the help of Donnie who is doing his best to help her. Donnie despite his confidences about many things when it comes to his daughter has always been worried, she's his first kid & though he's tried to prepare at some point she always makes he worry if he know what he's doing especially while learning to deal with her quiet & at times reserved nature. With time/practice & help from family he's been able to come to terms with his worries & get the hang of raising his little girl though in a closet somewhere he has stuff he's built for just in case for when she needs it in the future like her own battle shell. The ends of her mask are a bit long because she likes to mess with them like they're hair which comes from Donnie enjoying dressing her up & making the ends of her mask into hairdos when she was younger.

I originally had this split into 3 parts but I mentioned stuff for the kid section so I'll just describe how things go between the krang apocalypse future Casey Jr came from & what the future might be after preventing the Krang apocalypse from happening. In all honesty I have no idea when Donnie had her past when he was obviously an adult so I dunno what I'm doing but I feel she's around Casey Jr's age.

Casey Jr's time:

Mimi was kept close to Donnie's location at all times when she was younger, with the dangers the krang invasion brought he didn't want her out of his sight when she was old enough to start walking though with luck his family helps keep an eye on her when he's unable to due to his work. Raph seems to be the one she likes being around the most though she enjoys time with the others as well especially Mikey who has been teaching her different forms of dancing in his free time. It's unknown what happened to her around the time that Leo & Mikey sent Casey to the past, it's likely she died at some point, all that's known is that she outlived Donnie & worked/trained along side Casey Jr up until her unknown fate. She considered Casey her cousin due to him being trained by Leo along with how close they were. Donnie left a lot of things behind for her which have become very useful, while she knows how to tinker like Donnie she's nowhere close to being able to work on some of his later unfinished work which upsets her as she knows it could possibly help in their mission to stop the krang, she tries her best to figure thing out with the notes/journals left behind. Despite this she's been able to build/repair stuff that still comes in handy & has been repairing/upgrading her headphones which are a memory of better times & a comfort to her thanks to still being able to play music. When Leo tied Donnie & later Raph's masks to his sword Mimi took some parts of them to make a choker to wear as a memory of her mother & uncle.

Better future/new timeline:

With the krang apocalypse avoided Donnie was able to raise Mimi in a better time however not only is he a worried first time parent but some past events(especially what happened in the Rise movie) has made Donnie worried about if the future was safe for his daughter. Regardless he has his team/family to back him up plus a bunch of equipment he's hid somewhere for later.(Which includes a battle shell with star stickers she put on it as a baby, she now wears said battle shell now that she's old enough to fit it) Mimi trains with her family & goes out on missions, the training is being done at a more calmer pace since they don't need to hurry but they'll work on it as time goes on since she needs to be prepared(I dunno how to word this), in her free time she's hanging out with Raph & Donnie, learning to dance with Mikey, watching movies with her grandpa & or uncle Leo or just out dancing at some hangout she found. In the back of her mind she knows something bad should have happened but was stopped, it comes to mind occasionally but she knows that everything is ok now.

This is the original sketch meant to be Mimi's sketch ref, I didn't really like how one design looked so I adjusted things & made a new one. Thought I'd show how the old one looked at the bottom of the post.

#my art #rise of the tmnt #rise tmnt #tmnt oc #tmnt fankid #oc

[topknotstrunk]

Review Everything 44 - The Little Mermaid 2023:

I don't think I have anything substantial to contribute to this conversation that hasn't already been said. More black Disney characters? Yay! Making live action mockeries of incredible animated films when they could just be making more incredible animated movies? Boo!

If you're looking for a TL:DR, that's it.

However, the point of RE isn't to contribute necessarily, it's for me to have fun and reflect on movies I'm watching. So here's my thoughts.

The thing that really shocked me was just how dark the movie was. Like, I heard people complaining about it but I wasn't prepared for just how bad it was going to be. Multiple times in the underwater scenes the screen was so dark that I literally couldn't tell what was happening, which caused me to zone out. Which really sucks because in the animated movie the under water parts of the movie are the only parts I really like.

I get that they want to make the movie look realistic... so that's why they made a movie about a mermaid full of talking fish with an octopus witch which they chose not to film underwater even though that's the environment half the movie takes place in because doing so would be "too challenging"... And that underwater, particularly deep on the ocean, is dark. But like, come on. I can tell from the way that many of these scenes are shot that they wanted to go for a sort of animal documentary feel, and those guys use big ass spotlights so the audience [and camera crew] can see what's happening.

And it's not just the underwater scenes, it's also many of the scenes on Prince Erik's ship.

The thing people say on the internet about dark scenes like this is to hide bad cg? Is it because many of the backgrounds in the original movie were dark? Cause the reason they're dark in the animated movie is because the characters are all brightly colored without shading, which makes them pop because of the contrast. I'd be curious to know what the creators of the movie had to say about why they actually chose this for the look of the movie.

So at first I thought the movie had elected to skip Under the Sea, thinking maybe the dancing be too silly for the gritty live action remake with the photo-realistic fish. So I paused the movie and went to check the original to see where it was and no we just weren't there yet. Boy was that a mistake, watching the clearly superior visuals of the animated right before the live action version. This was the best looking scene of all the ones underwater and it still looks flat, boring, and lacking color compared to the original version. I will say though, if the whole under water part of the movie had looked like this scene does I think I would have had an overall positive view of the first half of the movie instead of a negative one. Even the dark scene with the jellyfish is lit well, colorful, and visually interesting. And short! Shown in contrast to the light that most of the scene has. Scuttlebutt is a cute addition. I don't get the hate for Awkwafina.

I was particularly peeved at the "Everything's clearer and brighter and hotter" line in Ariel's new song and the room is dark. Why is the land dark?

I think I'm done complaining about the lighting.

I think making Erik more of a character and less of just some guy is a cool idea. I think giving him a song about how he's so trapped when he is very clearly not is a choice. I think Evermore was one of the best parts of the live action Beauty and the Beast. Whatever this song was called left no impression on me though. But this song, Evermore, and the one from the Aladin remake... three makes a pattern so I suppose we'll be hearing more of these. Adding an extra song for Aerial when she can't speak is also a choice that was made. I get that people have a reason not to look kindly on a female character who cannot speak for herself, but this was, to me, an odd way of addressing that. Just have her use Sign Language or something.

Melissa McCarthy as Ursula was fine. She preforms her songs well. I would have strongly preferred to see a drag queen in the roll though, to honor Divine, who Ursula's look was based on.

What I will say the movie has in its favor is that Halle Bailey can SING. She's incredibly talented. When I could see what was happening and she was singing, those parts of the movie were pretty good. I also really like that the Merfolk are like the stewards of the sea, tending to the underwater nature. There was an element of that in the cartoon that I enjoyed seeing here. I also really appreciate that there was zero sexualizing of Bailey, which cannot be said of the animated version.

In Summary: I still don't understand what the point of these movies are. They don't change enough to make them their own things, and the changes they do make are usually not the ones at least I would like to see.

Overall: 5/10

#review everything #review #fandom #not queued #spoilers #review everything movies #the little mermaid 2023 #the little mermaid #disney

[kittyandco]

All of canon s/i with Hux, maybe?

CACKLING EVILLY

ABSOLUTELY (sorry if i'm too mean about the sequel fandom and i try not to generalize, but y'all, on average, are something else...) and i want to preface by saying i have nearly 5 years of lore built up, this doesn't even begin to cover it or how much i love him so HERE WE GO:

✍️: Overall, how does the fandom treat you? Are you a beloved character, or hated? Are you popular, or a minor side character? Anything in between?

there seems to be kind of a clear faction between kylo & hux fans and then the trio fans, so i would probably be liked by the former rather than the latter. my s/i is pretty immoral, but she is a bit more sympathetic too. (and let's be real, people tend to either be way too forgiving by their own standards of fem-aligned villains or are sexist toward them without realizing it -- it could go either way here)

my s/i is definitely a minor side character, and would very likely be relegated to the comics rather than show up in the films (but i might speak as if she were in the films in some of these answers). hux has his ONE solo comic, which i love, but if he were to get an entire series, my s/i would play a huge part in it!

(the comic actually helped shape my s/i's background quite a bit. in it, hux and kylo crash land on a jungle-like planet, much like the one my s/i is from!)

📝: How would your story in canon go? How would you influence the events of the original story?

OKAY i think our arc would primarily be offscreen but be one of the reasons hux was treated so much worse (like a joke and a punching bag and i hate it especially knowing his history :)) sounds like someone else i know :))) please stop) in TLJ and *with great malice* TROS. he FUMBLED IT completely with me and my planet, and he lost what little respect he had from kylo and snoke.

so, he crash landed with kylo onto my planet once (though they left quickly), but was rather familiar with the terrain. he wanted to prove himself and assumed full responsibility for extracting a special material, that is only found on my planet and can only be harvested by my planet's people, to make a new weapon. they couldn't just go in guns blazing because it would risk destroying this precious resource. instead, he used what he knew about diplomacy to try and threaten convince me to let him have it.

but my s/i, the princess (soon-to-be-queen; no king or queen anymore) of this planet, was like umm No :) this is the only way my outer rim planet that basically no one knows about (this is also a recon mission for the first order) can survive. also i don't want to. :3 (not to mention she has plans to make the entire outer rim system her own empire, so she has no time to deal with the pesky first order 🙄 bunch of nobody losers)

he couldn't just gun me down then and there because then he couldn't know how to fully take advantage of this resource he's after. only i know how to handle it; it's been a royal secret for generations.

so he and his men occupy my planet for a time. he's fully invested in besting me already. the rivalry has already been forged

WELL, HE FAILS AND FALLS IN LOVE WITH ME and when he returns to home base, he comes up with nothing. and none of this was portrayed in the films, i'm just explaining why he's there in the first place and how it all gets started :p

basically... i get him in big trouble... and give him a reason to escape once kylo has a change of heart at the end of TROS. maybe he comes back to live with me ;w;

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate?

my s/i is very flirtatious... so that would be exaggerated big time more than likely. for better or worse

🥰: How would someone who loved you portray you?

my s/i's fans would HAVE to be the type to love the type of villain that knows they're hot. you know the type. they won't be afraid to delve into how her self-perception is, in many ways, both her strength and hubris.

😡: How would someone who hated you portray you?

nothing more than an object probably. like great job, you're literally Proving The Point and completely ignoring her arc and (imho) complexity

👯: What canon character are you most similar to?

THAT'S ONE REASON I LOVE THIS S/I SO MUCH -- i don't see anyone like her in the SW universe. but she does have a lot of similarities to hux (obvi), only she displays these similarities in a more ostentatious way

aesthetically i take more inspiration from the prequels, particularly royal figures and the lush green planets that are displayed more prominently in them. there was a severe lack of romanticism in the sequels in comparison, so i aim to fix that

🌦️: Would you be accompanied by mostly fluff or angst fanfics? Both? Explain why.

i see it as rather evenly split!

the angst factor is so THERE, especially when we may be separated, or... That One Thing That Happened In Canon That I'm Not Discussing

on the other hand, the fluff would come from my s/i helping hux come out of his shell a bit... feeling love for the first time 🥺 doing cute things together in the jungle or on the star destroyer, or on starkiller, as they explore each other's vastly different worlds

(also this is one ship i write a TON of fics about so i'm taking a bit of inspo from what i typically write)

🏷️: What is you and your f/o’s ship name?

we actually do not have one! my catch-all hux tag is just a cute nickname my friend gave him years ago. i used it as a placeholder, and it just stuck

❤️: How popular is you x your f/o? Are you a rarepair?

idk if we'd be able to compete with The Ship He's Commonly Depicted In, but our fans are dedicated!

💞: Aside from with your f/o, who else would you commonly be shipped with? Why?

phasma 👀 which i am NOT mad about because i already think about it quite often. probably because they're both commanding figures in spaces otherwise dominated by men. and our personalities would clash sooo much 🥰 my s/i can be the annoying little girlfriend

☕️: What are the most common plots of shipping fics between you and your f/o?

honestly i'm not sure; i have better answers below!

🛌: What tropes show up in fics involving your ship?

i can see arranged marriage as a tempting one honestly... and i wouldn't be mad 👀

fish out of water is already rather present in our ship, but it could be ramped up to something more, which i'll explain below!

🪐: What would be your most popular AU and why?

my s/i is often described in an ethereal sense. otherworldly; at least to hux, she is. when writing them, i make a lot of comparisons to mirages, visions, and even bloodthirsty creatures. it could be interesting to make my s/i literally something inhuman, like a spirit/ghost/etc. ... ghosts do exist in the GFFA (unless only force-sensitive people can see them? but w/e)

💘: Why would people love your ship? Why would people dislike your ship? How might it start debates?

people would like us if they're enemies-to-lovers enjoyers like i am. also the fact that two severely immoral and messed up people find solace in each other and only each other. i LIVE for that. also the banter is just so cute. he's so prudish and my s/i is not; he's overly disciplined and my s/i is spoiled, and they joke with each other about it. but they also learn from each other. they both have secret soft and protective sides that only emerge toward each other.

and others would dislike it for the reasons i just said people would like it honestly. like i'm not even trying to redeem either of them. let them be messed up. but also let them be in love! (but it would be nice if hux maybe realized he had another purpose than ending up exactly like his bitch dad, and i want to help him realize that)

🙈: Why would your ship be thought of as cute/fluffy? Why would your ship be considered problematic?

no, not at all KJDSAKJSJKD LIKE IT HAS ITS MOMENTS EVENTUALLY, but for the most part i think people would really lean into the fact that he hates my s/i for a long time, though that is because, in part, she makes him feel feelings he didn't even know existed. it's like seeing shrimp colors for him. and if he even had thought about courting before, it would be someone pretty much the complete opposite of my s/i... but now he would never want anyone else. 🥰

and my s/i doesn't like him either, but she still wants to string him along. just because!

the cute stuff comes in a bit later, when we kinda lose ourselves in getting to know each other despite the reason he's there, and despite the fact that he will likely have to leave me in one way or another.

IT'S SO PROBLEMATIC(TM), we're problematicking all over the place

first of all, the fandom dislikes hux for Many Many reasons that are dumb and that i won't get into, but that alone is enough to get us struck from the Acceptable Ship pile. we're so mean to each other, we want to use each other for our own gain, he inflicts so much pain onto me (not physically or anything, it's just... rough. it isn't necessarily personal, it's just by virtue of being in the first order's line of sight)... it's all the classic enemies-to-lovers goodness that i ADORE

🎞️: What ‘canon’ scenes would the fandom point to as evidence for the validity of your ship?

I MEAN MY S/I FLIRTS WITH HIM CONSTANTLY IT ISN'T A SECRET... and if i'm going the comic route, i can easily portray the entire process from meeting to confession... BUT on hux's part, it would definitely be when he kills the assassin that tried to take my s/i out. even if he claims it's because he wanted to do it, himself, we all know... come on now

💌: How would your dynamic be portrayed? What might people focus on most? Any misconceptions?

it depends on who it is, of course. i know there would be Discourse because no one can handle a completely autonomous fem-aligned character let's be real. especially if she's evil and uses her Feminine Wiles to get what she wants (or, you know, just enjoys having many partners, and my s/i certainly does until she falls for hux, but whatever I Guess). and i really don't want anyone to be weird about that, or about hux only liking her because of that.

i mean, i actually address that in many fics. my s/i laments that he may only want her for that reason alone because she's run into that before and embraced it for a while. but now that she's finally vulnerable and not pretending that she's impenetrable, she wants to address it because she trusts him

that's where i get into the good fan portrayals though: their walls crumbling to let someone in, learning new things from each other despite being know-it-alls, betraying basically everything they knew and everyone they were loyal to just to get closer because they've been so lonely, and they've found a home in each other! UGH

👀: How does your ship with your f/o influence both of your characterisations and the world? Would there be any interesting metas written about your dynamic?

i think i answered this in the above question, more or less. our ship would definitely humanize him more, which i think the comic was trying to do in the first place by giving us parts of his frankly very painful backstory (i can't even look at the first couple of pages). (the comic is so DELICIOUS btw. if any hux fans are reading this PLEASE READ IT if you haven't already.) and i think it would be nice in SW to have a villain-on-villain ship... and Honestly, love is a more compelling reason for him to change than "i want to see my worstie fail."

‘Imagine Your S/I Was Canon…’ Self-Ship Asks

#THIS WAS CERTAINLY AN ASK #THANK YOU #asks #gingersnap #oohh my bbaby sweetie

[zozophoenixxx]

Serotonin Booster :D 🐉

How to train your dragon edition

Here are some things I had forgotten or little details I just noticed on my rewatch, maybe even Unpopular Opinions 🤭👀

✨Race to the Edge✨

SEASON 6

I love how the twins were basically the reason Hiccup figured out that Johan was the spy

NOOO THE WAY GOTHI WENT TO TRY AND STOP STOICK FROM THROWING AWAY HER MEDICINE AND THEN GOT THROWN OFF THE CLIFF WAS SO FUNNY [ep2]

Omg that fight between Hiccup and Stoick in ep2 was crazy whenever Stoick said "I'm talking to the expert in getting duped by Trader Johan" and THEN HICCUP WAS LIKE "but I was only duped for half as long as you were. So what does that make you?"

Awww the way both Toothless and Skull-crusher were trying to get them to talk

And also Astrid being the only one that wasn't caught by the Hunters right away, she's just superior bro

I love how both of them were right - Stoick was right to not trust the merchants and Hiccup was right about Johan's plan

Toothless is actually so strong like he's not only agile and clever, I mean he just flew up to the ballista and crashed against it and destroyed it without using his Plasma Blast 😎🤩

Mala and Dagur fighting over where the Dragon Eye lenses are gonna be hidden is hilarious. Mala is so calm I love it

I got chills when Atali was like "no, Hiccup, this is my island I will defend it"

I really want to know the origin of the Wingmaidens, like where did all these women come from? How come they're still there?

I love Minden and Snotlout's relationship, the way he tried to convince her to not give up AND SHE KISSED HIM!!!

Krogan's Singetail actually cares about him

Never gonna get over Adelaide Kane voicing Mala

Also Snotlout running when the dude had the razorwhip on him LIKE HE WAS LITERALLY FLYING AND HE WAS STILL RUNNING Y'ALL HAVE TO WATCH THAT SCENE I JUST DONT KNOW HOW TO DESCRIBE IT ITS IN EP3

Generations ago Fishlegs's ancestors were dragon hunters

The Loyal Order of Ingerman - decimated the Dramillion dragons, pushing them to the brink of extinction

Grump is amazing I love him

Dramillions - have both a lava blast and a magnesium blast. Omnivores. Still being hunted.

The Hunters were founded by Ingar Ingerman

The Dramillion trying to take the manacle off his tail🥺

And when Fishlegs threw his helmet and THEN THE HAND THING 😭🥺

I love the Dramillions they're so smart they learned how to get rid of the manacles by just looking at what Meatlug and Stormfly were doing 🥺

I just realized that the twins are 19 AND I FIND THAT ABSOLUTELY CRAZY HOW CAN THEY BE THAT OLD

I really wish we knew each of their birthdays like I wanna know which one's older and which one's younger

I feel like for some reason the twins would be the oldest ones then Fishlegs then Astrid then Snotlout and lastly Hiccup. Idk I'm still iffy on this

Most Thorstons don't make it to 19

I love the twins' relationship, they love each other so much that they would rather be alone and not form part of a clan than leave each other alone and the fact that other people know this too? Plsss like the only reason Gruffnut got them back into the fake induction trials was by telling them how bad it'd be for each other to not be part of a clan.

Titanwing Zippleback HOW DO THEY KNOW ITS A TITANWING IT LOOKS THE SAME AS THE OTHER ZIPPLEBACKS

"Ughh, what's the point of winning alone? Being a Thorston means nothing without him. We are one Thorston."

I love them and also technically Ruffnut won the induction trials.

THE LAST LENSE GOSH

Love how Fishlegs cares about global warming

I'm all Snotlout, Toothless and the Triple Stryke reacting to Mala and Dagur- I'm also Mala whenever someone tickles me I'LL KILL U

UGHHH I HATE HOW SNOTLOUT MADE HICCSTRID UNCOMFY FOR HAVING A DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIP

Astrid overthinking 🥺😭

"How would you like your yak cooked?" JSHDHHA

bro I love how both Tuff and Toothless noticed the betrothal necklace

"So want to deliver some scrap metal?" Hiccup baby? Why are you so oblivious?

At least he asked her if she was alright in the armorwing's island 😩

No but if I was Astrid I'd be pissed too, the dude saw a dragon eye lens from far way and didn't notice her betrothal necklace? 🙂😤

No I can't that scene was too harsh to watch, I mean I loved to see Hiccup noticing something was wrong with Astrid but then the way Astrid compared their relationship to Mala and Dagur's and then threw him the betrothal necklace... And the way he caught it too I can't- 😭😞😖😭😓🤧

Seeing the twins trying to capture Mala was hilarious JAHDHDHHSHA

I love how when they're fighting Astrid's still there for him whenever he's expected to have all the answers. She ignored her anger and went over to him and grabbed his hand and that single thing was what gave him confidence in a moment of panic 🥺

"I'm with you"

"I know"

That final Hiccstrid scene in Mi Amore Wing was just too perfect, we have Hiccup grabbing Astrid's hand to bring her outside and talk to her, the sunset in the background, every little thing Hiccup told her about being there for her and loving her with everything he had and that he should've noticed the necklace right away AND THEN THAT KISS WAS JUST AMAZING❗️❗️❗️ it was passionate and sweet and Astrid was blushing and then Fishlegs was all uncomfortable and Mala was like "okaaayyyyy😏" and Dagur like "alrighhtttt👌🏼" ig the only thing I didn't like is that Astrid didn't say I love you back 😭 but it's ok cause yk she does I just wished she had said it.

Baby razorwhips love the water

Tuffnut named the baby razorwhip that bonded with Ruffnut, Wingnutt

Top scenes of Ruff Transition ep7

Tuffnut throwing up in Ruffnut's mouth and Ruffnut throwing up in Wingnutt's mouth just do that he could be fed- seeing the windmaiden's reactions is the best lmao

Hiccup trying to teach Ruffnut how to fly (with his dragon flight suit) and then Ruffnut losing balance but Hiccup helping her regain it BUT we still get overprotective Tuffnut jumping off of Toothless to try and help but all he did was make things worse HIS SCREAM WAS HILARIOUS nonono and the way Toothless tried to help BUT AGAIN MADE THINGS WORSE 😩😮‍💨😂

Ruffnut finally figuring out how to connect with Wingnutt and fighting the dragon hunters and saving Atali was so badass and then Atali riding Barf 😭🤩

Hiccstrid kiss count (approximately) : 6😘

The way he slightly and carefully touches her face to reassure her that he'll be fine

The Singetail's only predator is the Skrill

The Berserkers used to use metal daggers to lure Skrills into traps. The dragon is drawn to it due to its electrical properties

VIGGO JUST DID THE HAND THING THING WITH THE SKRILL WTF

If I could have any dragon it'd be in this order

Skrill - it's so badass and powerful

Nightfury - it's badass, powerful, pretty, strong and fast

Deadly Nadder - it's extremely fast and agile, has multiple attacks and the spikes

Dramillion - has multiple attacks and is very smart

Just realized that ep8 is called Triple Cross because 1st Johan crossed Viggo 2nd Viggo fake crossed Hiccup and 3rd Viggo and Hiccup crossed Johan and Kogan

That episode was basically jusr to show Viggo's arc and the way he changed for the better and learned to respect dragons

That's why the Singetails wouldn't leave in ep9 whenever they were trying tp free the Deathsong- their eggs! They're in that island.

I can't with Hiccup and Astrid sitting together just chilling but with Astrid feeling guilty and Hiccup assuring her that he was also at fault 😭

I love Narrator/Author Snotlout! The titles of the chapters of his book remind me of the ones from Pjo

Stoick and Skullcrusher acting as 1 and being worried about each other 🥺 I love their relationship

Also the way Stoick bats off the shots from the Singetails with his axe just like Astrid. They're both truly warriors

No but Toothless asking for a head scratch from Gobber bc he's worried abt both Hiccup and Stoick🥺

The way Toothless tried to make Hiccup feel better- I mean the man blamed himself for putting Stoick in "his deathbed" it was just so awful seeing Hiccup in that state and the way everyone was trying to make him feel better but it was ultimately Astrid who managed to get through to him😭

I love it when they put scenes of the movies

I love how Astrid always knows what to say without lying

Looks like it's you and me, then.

Always... was that corny or-

Probably. Nice, though.

The way Astrid is so natural at being a leader and putting everyone on their places 🤩

That lil moment they had in ep12 where he holds her face and thanks her for everything and I just love them too much 😭

I love how Spitelout is so happy when he's beating ass, this dude literally goes "I'm sure I've had more fun than this. But at the moment, I can't remember when"

Have I mentioned I love the Dramillions before? I love them way too much they're amazing and the sound they make is so 😩 I love it

The Dramillion is a distant cousin of the Changewing which means the Titanwing Dramillion shares the de-cloaking ability with its subspecies.

Stormfly's spine clone was literally so badass, my girl was surrounded and she finished every single dragon flyer with it. Badass move. Wish we had seen it more throughout the series

It really pissed me off that Hiccup had to choose between getting Tuff, Ruff and Snotlout out of that sinking ship when he could've been following Krogan. Like ofc it was the right decision but that wouldn't have happened if the twins and Snotlout didn't follow Gruff into the ship :/

I love how strong Barf and Belch are! They literally carried the a Titanwing Dramillion on their own.

That scene when they figured out that the Titanwing Dramillion is not the King of Dragons but instead the last piece of the puzzle to get to the King of Dragons

When the Wingmaidens got to the battle it was amazing

Also the way Dagur was so proud that the King of Dragons was a Berserker and how Ruff was so excited to see Wingnutt and Snotlout to see Minden🥺

THEY REALIZED THAT BBYS AREN'T AFFECTED BY THE KING OF DRAGONS BC OF THE BABY RAZORWHIPS

that last Hiccstrid Scene where Hiccup is worried about Astrid's safety- I mean his face 🥺🥺🥺 and she told him that his dad would be proud and that she's proud too and when she was about to leave he held her back and kissed her 😭😭

Ik I said this before but I simp for Astrid as a leader, she's just so natural at it

Also I love how the King of Dragons has ice powers instead of fire

WAIT SO IS THE EGG THAT HICCUP FINDS IN THE FINALE THAT THEY GIVE TO VALKA IS THAT THE KING OF DRAGONS THAT VALKA CARES FOR IN HTTYD2?!!

Valka being friends with the Wingmaidens sits absoluteky right with me

no but the way Toothless hesitated when Hiccup told him to leave him and get the egg

I love how all the dragons arrived to fight the dragon flyers, it was just so poetical to me, the dragons finally getting to fight the people that hurt them 🤩

I FINISHED IT AND NOW I'M SAD!!! I loved the end tho and I'm glad we got to see Shattermaster at Dagur's wedding, also Astrid's outfit change- we love that. And them leaving the edge is just so sad bro 😭but I love how we got to see some "insight" ig u could call it on HTTYD2 😭 also seeing Snotlout and Fishlegs's love for Ruffnut start forming was hilarious

#httyd #how to train your dragon #dob #defenders of berk #riders of berk #rob #race to the edge #rtte #hiccstrid #hiccup haddock #astrid hofferson #hiccup x astrid #fishlegs #snotlout #toothless #ruff and tuff #ruffnut #tuffnut #dagur the deranged #queen mala #Wingmaidens #Heather #Stoick #Valka #the King of Dragons

[gonnahypatia]

Ch.44 Review: OP is mad at Garden

(Analysis also posted on Wise HQ, feel free to chat with us over there! 🤍🖤🤍)

My my, we have a lot to unpack this week.

Again, forgive me if I say something that someone else has said, I usually work to bring something new/original to the discussion but since the hivemind is so strong it's possible we'll have the same ideas lmao''

First, I'd like to talk about our new mysterious character: The Shopkeeper.

I'm already missing Bluw's design because the assassin granny was just the best, but I can say that Endo's choice was very interesting this time. Since I'm not sure if the Shopkeeper has confirmed pronouns, I'll be using they/them when referring to them. What stands out to me about them at first is that they're, apparently, non-white and if I had to make bets, I'd say Endo wanted to code them as Indian/Middle-Eastern, considering the deep eyebags and the collar of the shirt. If we wanted to go even further, I'd dare to point out their garden doesn't look very Western to me. I don't have words to describe it well, but this garden has a more "busy", crowded and stuffy feeling when compared to western gardening styles, which usually have a lot of open areas with grass. Also, we can see that tower/turret thing at the background that has a more Indian architecture feel to it, so Idk, either Endo put a lot of depth into this character or I am reading too much into it as always lel'. If any Indian / Middle-Eastern folk can confirm or debunk my analysis of fictional gardens, please feel free to hit me up at the DMs~~

About Shopkeeper's opinion on Yor's marriage, I can't say I'm surprised about them not being 100% on board with it and how it affected her job, but it intrigues me how apparently (as Tare pointed out on Discord based on the Indonesian translation) Yor presented this as a real deal and not a scam marriage purely for hiding her Thorn Princess persona. If the Shopkeeper knew it wasn't real, they wouldn't be so worried about "testing" Yor as soon as they met, right? Maybe they're being overly cautious, who knows, but it fills me with all the sad/fluff feelings the thought that Yor presented her family as a real one to a person she shouldn't have to hide anything about, considering her job should be top priority. And talking about hiding stuff...

Garden is with the Mob... And I don't know what to say about it lol'

I had my theories they were still legal to some extent and part of a shadow government that had the official one as a puppet, but their involvement with the Mob makes things kinda tricky (we can also imagine the Gretcher organization is anti-Westalis as well but still...). In a way, I think I'm still right, otherwise I doubt Yor's manager at City Hall would be involved with this as well, so I still stand by my Legal Garden flag.

However, Yor's principles here also make me throw fire at my planning boards because sweetie, this is the f*cking Mafia. To what extent goes the gray morality of Garden and their underlings? Shopkeeper does say the Gretchers have controlled Ostania's underworld in "an honorable fashion". Just what does it mean? To shed the less blood possible? To not allow petty criminals go rampage? Or just eliminate every single enemy in the radar so now they finally managed their revenge in killing the male heirs? There's too much going on here, help.

I would also like to dedicate a minute to our new favorite milf.

God, I am going to simp for Olka hard, I bet on it. She's so pretty, just look at her! Also, sorry to rain on everyone's parade, but while I really crave some mothers bonding time between her and Yor, I have a feeling this lady will be very evil when the time comes. She shouldn't trust nobody at this point, so if there's a moment if she has to sell out Yor, even knowing she has a family of her own at the ship, I feel like she'll do it in a heartbeat, in a twisted way of showing how far a mother's love goes for their children. Again, guys, she's a Cool Mom, but she's also Mafia. Endo already has shown to not pity these gray characters with angsty pasts, so I can see this is as a good opportunity to stop this soft filter / romantization in Yor's lines of work and show what Garden really stands for.

Now, finally, the start of this chapter and arc: Yor.

Gosh, I'm worried. I'm worried for Yor and I'm worried about having too many feelings about a fictional character a.k.a Yor.

During all this time, we were under the impression Yor enjoyed her job due this sense of duty

towards her country, making it even with how it brought her a comfortable life when she was younger and had to care for Yuri. We could even point out that she enjoyed being the Thorn Princess so much she was willing to be part of a scam marriage to appear more normal and not call the attention of authorities.

However, now we see that's not all of it and apparently her worries about Yuri were the very main reason she took this life, to the point that now she realizes Yuri has a life of his own, she doesn't feel the need to do this kind of work anymore. Did she truly feel comfortable with it in the first place? The fact that she "needs to get her motivation" for it truly bugs me and makes me wonder how much of her mental state was sacrificed over these years until she got used to the killing. And while we're on the mood for angst, let's talk about a (not very plausible) scenario in which this is her last job and she manages to leave Garden. Then what is the point of their fake family? It appears to me her new most important matter is Loid and Anya and she wants to put them to safety by not being an assassin anymore, but it still worries me she'd feel out of place somehow, which is a shame because we can really see how she wants to spend real moments with them without worrying about work. Grrr, Endo better treat my girl right or else he'll get these online fists (9`へ´*)9

Well, that's all for this week, let's get our hopes up for the next chapter!! ❤️

#spy x family #sxf #yor briar #sxf meta

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Hello! I just finished reading Unmasked, wonderful story, and I had a question that has been going through my mind. Since everything is from Katniss’s perspective, I had a hard time understanding the aftermath of Peeta’s feelings regarding the robbery. She asks him if he hasn’t been affected, and he says he has, and explains that he has nightmares (much like his original THG counterpart), and then the next several scenes are about them having sex, and it seems to be connected to the whole thing, but I don’t understand how. Like I mentioned, it’s all from Katniss’s point of view, and Peeta was a field medic when he went to war, and it’s clear he had ptsd from his time in the infantry. I’d imagine that having to care for his wife while being robbed and threatened must have awakened some of his traumas, and it had to be even worse to sort of live through it again with a loved one, but I really haven’t understood how he dealt with it after. Was it all the sex? If so, was it to reassure himself that both he and Katniss were alive? I think that would have helped some, but not in its entirety. Then they have to go through Miranda’s adoption and there’s no more mention of the accident. It’s the only part of the story that’s left me confused, and no matter how many times I’ve gone back to read it, I can’t make sense of it. Of course, the story is beautiful and I can’t think of anything else that left me confused. I hope my question made sense! Thank you very much.

Hi Anon,

I'll be honest, I'm not sure what kind of answer you're looking for here. When I wrote Unmasked, my mindset in dealing with the traumatic situations Everlark deals with was to handle it as a couple that is dealing with the long term effects of trauma that winds up being more layered than simple. It isn't necessarily something that they are always actively aware of or actively considering as a cause or influence on their actions and reactions to things. In other words, they are just two people who have been through traumatic experiences but who continue to live their lives as best as they're able. In that sense, it becomes difficult to pinpoint one thing and say THIS is because of THIS trauma. Everything becomes sort of muddled, if that makes sense, and difficult to separate.

Maybe it helps to backup a little bit in the story to understand where I thought I was taking it. Peeta has ptsd from his time as a field medic, absolutely, but it actually goes back further than that if you really want to pick apart his traumatic experiences. He was kicked out of his home with his mother after his "father" died, and they lived in poverty for a time. Near starvation, Mom became a prostitute, kind of poverty. From there, the situation just never really gets "better." He lives in wealth, yes, but with a family that doesn't really want him and in many ways treats him like shit (see the Marquis and Marchioness), and who ships him off to the army. He's pretty much lived a life of constant trauma being reborn every day, so he just sort of... learns to live with it and yes, it rears its head in obvious ways every now and then (the nightmares), but that leads to Peeta coping in some ways (the late night baking, the sketching, the occasional possibly inappropriate humor that Katniss tends to appreciate because she too comes from a background of trauma), and not coping in others... there are moments of violence, aggression, and recklessness in his responses to things that happen to him.

I'll be honest, I'm a little miffed that your ask seems to imply that having sex with Katniss is his only way of handling the trauma. The entire sequence after the robbery is part of his response to the traumatic experience, and I think maybe it would help if you went back and took note that the reason WHY his experiences in the army come back into play is because the highwayman was wearing the insignia of Peeta's army regiment. This wasn't just any old robbery to Peeta. It was more complicated than that, and triggered more than one level of his trauma. And afterwards, they didn't just fall into bed and go at it. Peeta's overbearing response in getting Katniss to the inn and making her STAY THERE out of danger while he goes back for their belongings IS part of the response. There's also them caring for each other in a non sexual manner before they do have sex.

I get that maybe you're implying that I didn't tie up that thread enough to satisfy you, but to me that was the entire point of the way I wrote it. Sometimes traumatic things just become part of your life. You don't have TIME to sort it all out and make it tidy and pretty, or the response is more quiet and nuanced, rather than dramatic. They had to deal with Miranda's adoption and the other things going on, and while Peeta may not have explicitly brought up the carriage accident and robbery, there is a choice of his that is complicated by several of his traumatic experiences and informed by them as well: his choice to train as a doctor. In many ways, a field medic is like a tourniquet. Stops the bleeding but really doesn't solve the problem. Yes, Unmasked Peeta chooses to become a doctor for financial reasons and for altruistic ones of helping others, but one part of Peeta's trauma response is a kind of panic at his lack of control and an aggressive reassertion of that control, i.e. forcing Katniss to STAY HER ASS IN THE BLOODY INN. Yes, I hear you she was also pregnant and he loved her and didn't want her to get hurt, and all of those things can coexist without negating each other. Hence why I said that my mindset in writing them was to view them as a couple dealing with complex, layered trauma that has just become part of their everyday life.

Another example is when Peeta comes home from helping his army friend with the harvest and risks life and limb to keep his promise to Katniss. Reckless, aggressive assertion of CONTROL. He's spent two weeks dealing with memories and feeling like Katniss has been drifting from him but by God, he can make it home by the time he promised or die trying.

Does this make sense? My point is, becoming a doctor is tied up with the trauma response. As a doctor, he would have greater knowledge and skills than a field medic (also read as the greater ability to CONTROL what happens to his patients), but this isn't necessarily something that he is able to articulate, and something he eventually has to come to terms with is the fact that even as a doctor, he cannot save everyone. Part of my reasoning for leaving it between the lines is because I was treading a line of historical accuracy and wasn't certain someone from the time period would be able to articulate what was going on in his head at the time because in many ways, the language of psychology just wasn't there yet, at least not fully.

And there are other instances as well in the latter third of the story, but I didn't exactly write them with a flashing neon sign that says "This is because of the highway robbery!" lol. No, there's no big Come to Jesus hashing out of that specific trauma because it winds up muddled up with all the others. There is Katniss having a mini panic attack before getting in the carriage and frantically checking on Miranda, because she was traumatized too. There's K&P clinging to each other and yes, having sex. There's more to their physical intimacy than just sex, but even the sex can be a natural part of the trauma response. So again, I'm not sure what kind of answer you expect from me.

Maybe I just didn't write it in a way that works for you as a reader, and there's nothing wrong with that. You're allowed your opinion, and I certainly get it if even after reading my answer, you still don't think I handled it well enough to satisfy you. Anyways, these are my writer's thoughts on how I tried to portray Unmasked Everlark and their traumas being woven together and woven into the very fabric of their lives in a way that they are not necessarily always actively aware of.

#unmasked #anonymous #look at that ask

[chooseyouovereveryone]

What’s your opinion on the Pezberry relationship - as rivals/friendship/frenemies/romance or whatever?

Okay I gotta be careful here bc I'm close to one of the biggest Pezberry shippers ever haha.

Okay first off, romantically, absolutely NOT. Santana belongs to one Miss Brittany Pierce, and that is final. And removing my ship bias I also just don't think these two work well as lovers, I'm sorry. They're both too similar. IMO Santana needs someone who will balance her out, someone the opposite to her. Someone who will calm her, not fuel her fire.

My general Pezberry thoughts, I'm not a lover tbh, but only because of the way the writers handled them in canon. I think it's such a shame because Naya and Lea did have great chemistry, their voices blend so well together and they're both hugely talented. But I just personally didn't like the way their friendship was handled on the show. For me it just came a bit out of nowhere and seemed a little contrived. They kind of went from hating each other to living together and being bffl all too quickly. I wish they had developed their friendship more organically in S3, and I would have believed in it more. Instead we had Rachel randomly join in IKAG to "show support" when that should have been Santana's moment. This was apparently meant to reference the start of their friendship but it just made it look like Rachel wanted to share the stage and take some of the limelight. It would have made so much more sense to have Rachel pull Santana aside and talk to her. I would have rooted for that. Then we don't really get much else from them until the end of the season when Rachel gives Santana a picture for her locker, which I always found odd. Idk if it's the choice of photo that Rachel uses, but idk, I didn't get it? So Emotional was amazing and one of the best duets in the show, but yeah the origins of their friendship just wasn't very well developed to me. Then it pretty much goes from that to living together and I'm like...wait what?

If you ask me, it's because they didn't really "plan" for Pezberry to be the whole enemies to friends arc. That was always meant to go to Faberry. And I actually adore the S3 development of Faberry becoming friends, like if Pezberry had that, I'd be on board. But they didn't because that was never the plot line the writers intended to follow. We all know Santana was meant to be a background character and Quinn and Rachel were meant to be arch-rivals, but then Santana grew into a main character and as part of that she became less bitchy sidekick more Rachel's main nemesis, but after high school these two characters wouldn't necessarily have to cross paths again. Those two making up before they all leave school seems a fitting enough ending for the arc originally planned for them, because the writers didn't know what direction they were going to take Santana in. Then they decided to have her in New York which was great, but they pushed this super close sudden friendship on us out of nowhere to make it work. It almost felt to me like Santana's role in Rachel's life was what they would have had Quinn do, had Dianna been apart of Glee more in the later seasons. Basically Faberry had the development, and Pezberry almost finished off what Faberry could have been. It's entirely a writer issue and I just wish they had given more time to organically build Santana and Rachel transforming from enemies to friends.

They had so much potential though and some really cute moments. I loved the dynamic of Kurt, Rachel and Santana as a trio. I loved Rachel being a wingwoman for Santana with Dani and when she got her involved in her photoshoot. I loved Santana comforting Rachel during her pregnancy scare (that's probably my fav Pezberry moment) but then sigh...the feud.

Once again the writers ruined it with the feud. I think without it I could let it slide how out of nowhere the friendship felt and just admire their cute transition into friendship, however quick it may seem, but the feud kind of ruins all that. I'm Team Santana in the fact I don't think she deliberately wanted to hurt Rachel and I think she was well within her rights to audition. I genuinely don't think she thought Rachel would be mad going off her earlier words where Rachel had said she wanted to see her do something. I think her song choice was literally her indirectly honouring Rachel because she had probably seen how well Rachel performed it and thought that would be a good choice to audition with. Since she didn't have much musical theatre knowledge herself, she probably thought best to imitate Rachel, but put her own spin on it. That highlights the fact she appreciates Rachel's talent. I'll die on this hill to say that she never meant to spite Rachel and that she genuinely wanted the opportunity, but I also understand where Rachel's hurt and lack of trust stems from. Neither of them come out good in the feud. Rachel comes across way too immature to be in the industry and Santana oversteps the line with how mean she is. I hate when she insults Rachel the way she does in the choir room and Rachel goes off in tears, and I hate the part when Rachel tries to make amends by giving her ten shows and Santana is being too stubborn. I understand both of their pain and why they act the way they do, but I just hate that the writers did this and ruined what could have been a genuine f/f friendship on the show. I also think there's very little resolve to the feud. Sure they make up and there are nice scenes afterwards like when Santana gives Rachel the pep talk on opening night, but they never go back to what they were, and that's sad.

So yeah I guess my overall take is that I can't really get fully on board because they didn't have much development, and what little cute moments they do have seem tainted by the feud. But it's purely a writers problem, not a problem with them as characters meshing together, because they had so much potential. Like I love Pezberry in fics (friends only ofc), but that's because people actually develop them properly.

I mean, it's Glee. There's so many plot holes, and so much that they don't bother to flesh out, and it's up to us as individuals to head canon and fill in the gaps. I mean Brittana is a prime example of it, because I know many people argue they can't ship them because they weren't fleshed out enough, and like I agree, there's so many gaps. But because I've always been invested in Brittana, I'll happily head canon so it makes sense, but I don't have that investment in Pezberry to want to do the same. But some people love their dynamic so they do, and that's fine.

I just wish the writers had done better with them!

#anti pezberry #kind of? #more anti writers though I suppose #glee

[ordinaryschmuck]

Why I (Want to) Love Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

Salutations random people on the internet who most likely won’t read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

When I heard Disney was making an animated series based on Tangled, acting as a continuation from the original movie, my initial thought was, "Why?"

Sure, Disney is infamous for its unnecessary sequels of the story after happily ever after, with the many, many, many failures that follow suit. Even then, though, most of these continuations were movies that kind of have the potential to tell more of a story. But what more could be said about Tangled? Sorry to spoil a movie that's over ten years old at this point, but by the end of it: Rapunzel lost her golden hair, was reunited with her parents, fell in love, and lived happily ever after. Her losing the golden hair is the most essential part of that list because how can you do a series based on a Disney princess when her most iconic feature is gone? Then I found out that the series forced a way for her hair to come back, and my new initial thought became, "Oh man. This is gonna suck, isn't it?"

Despite the hesitation, I decided to give it a chance anyway. After all, I've been pleasantly surprised before. Things like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and even The Owl House (yes, really), were shows (and a movie) that I didn't think would be that special. Only to find myself enjoying nearly every minute. So after watching Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, I can certainly say I was surprised...but it was entirely for the wrong reasons.

And to explain how requires spoilers. So if you haven't checked the series out yet, I highly suggest you do it to form your own opinion. Just keep in mind that it's a bit of a mess, but it can be an enjoyable mess...sometimes...let me explain.

WHAT I LIKED

The Animation/Art Style: The series swapping from 3D to 2D might have been the most brilliant decision anyone could have ever made with this series. Usually, when an animated movie gets turned into a show, the most noticeable downgrade is always the animation. Whether it’s not as detailed or not as fluid, it's always subjective that the movie is better animated than the series. But by switching up the styles, the contrast becomes objective instead. 2D and 3D animation each have their pros and cons, so deciding which one is better is nothing more than a matter of opinion. So by changing the style, Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure avoids getting complaints of being a downgrade from the original movie. It also helps that the art style of the series is really unique.

The best way to describe how the show looks is that it's like a coloring book brought to life. At times, everything looks like it was drawn and colored in with crayons, which sounds like an insult, but in actuality, it's one of the best features of the series. As much as I love most animated shows nowadays, I will admit, they all look a little too similar at times. Then here comes Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, which tries to incorporate a whole new style that successfully sets it apart from most shows.

As for the animation itself, it's really well-made! It's remarkably expressive when required, while the movements are really fluid during the correct scenes. Sure the fighting can be a little floaty during some action set pieces (yes, those exist here), but the dialogue and comedic moments are really where the series shines with its animation. I may have problems with the series as a whole, but I give credit where credit is due for the perfectly executed effort that I see in every episode in terms of animation.

Rapunzel and Eugene’s relationship: This was not something I was expecting to enjoy from the series. In the movie, Rapunzel and Eugene were fine. They were the typical Disney couple that worked off of each other enough that it was always entertaining, even if it was unbelievable that they fell deeply in love with each other after, like, two days. They weren't bad, but they weren't anything to go crazy over.

But the writers for the series said, "You know what, let's make these two adorable in nearly every scene they're in." And they are!

Even though I don't believe in their relationship in the movie, I fully believe it here. Both characters have a large amount of faith in one another on top of having endless love for their partner. Like how Eugene knew Rapunzel would be fine when taking out an airship or how Rapunzel couldn't bring herself to say a bad thing about Eugene when making Cassandra a sparring dummy of him. It's legitimately pleasant to watch, to the point where I put Rapunzel and Eugene in my top ten list of favorite fictional couples. They're that good to me, and it's one of the reasons why I don't jump on the bandwagon of shipping the two main female characters together. I'm all for LGBTQA+ representation, but give Cassandra her own girlfriend. Rapunzel's taken, and most of my enjoyment of this show comes from her and her man. So, you know, keep things as they are.

Cassandra (Seasons One and Two): Seeing how I've already mentioned her, let's talk about Cassandra, shall we? Because when making a series based on a movie that had only four prominent characters, with two of them being comedic animal sidekicks, you're going to need to introduce more members to the main cast to write more potential stories. And Cassandra, in Seasons One and Two (I'll get to Season Three), is a worthy addition. She acts as a strict straight man (I know the irony) who interacts well with Rapunzel and clashes perfectly with Eugene on occasion. She was passably entertaining in Season One and developed amazingly in Season Two. Her growing frustrations with Rapunzel's actions lead to a slow build-up that made her betrayal heartbreaking but somewhat understandable. And as for the results in that betrayal...yeah, I'll get into that later. For now, I'll just say that Cassandra was a pleasant addition to the main cast, especially when she was a part of the main trio, and she's yet another good surprise that the writers supplied for the series.

The Songs: The songs are...not going to be for everyone. Most of them are passable yet kind of generic, while others sound like they belong on Disney Junior (Looking at you, "Bigger Than That"). But when Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure makes a hit, MAN, it is a home run. Numbers like "Ready As I'll Ever Be" and "Nothing Left to Lose" are sung phenomenally, orchestrated well, and are songs I can listen to on repeat multiple times. And "Waiting in the Wings" is not only something I consider to be the best song in the series, but it's also something I'd place as high up on Disney's best due to how f**king incredible it is. "Waiting in the Wings" is a powerful ballad that manages to be both tragic yet inspiring on top of how well it sums up Cassandra as a character. The writers may not always be on top of their game when it comes to music, but songs like these prove that they know how to earn that Disney name.

And that’s all I have for the likes...Oh boy. That’s not a good thing is it?

WHAT I DISLIKED

It Peaked at Season One: It did. It really did.

Season One felt like the writers had a grip on what type of show they wanted: A slice-of-life series with Rapunzel dealing with the issues of her kingdom with a meager threat of these black rocks growing in the background. It was all cute and well-balanced for the most part, but that all disappears in Season Two. Because now it's sort of about this adventure, but because Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure set itself as a slice-of-life series, there need to be these small-scale stories that intertwine the grand narrative being told. The issue is that the story comes to a grinding halt one too many times as fans are forced to sit through these filler episodes that, while not all of them are bad, still feel like a distraction. And by Season Three, the series does feel more focused while having some slice-of-life episodes added to the ongoing story instead of distracting us from it. But the writing isn't as strong, there are several plot holes in the narrative (how did Rapunzel's sunstone get into her dress?), and there is way too much time going back and forth on Cassandra's morality. They claim that she's a villain while arguing that there might still be some good in her, and they continue this train of thought for nine episodes when it really could have been settled in two. For me, it's a bad sign for a series when the first season is the best one. Because if it's all downhill from there, what's the point of even watching?

It Tries to be Epic: This might have been the worst decision the writers could have made.

Now, here's the thing: I don't mind grand epic tales of adventure and battles against demons. If anything, I'm all for them...when it's appropriate and fits with the tone of the series.

Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure suffers a similar problem Frozen II has, in which the writers felt like a big, life-threatening adventure was the perfect continuation of a meager, personal story about the relationships of characters. It isn't. If anything, it's completely missing the mark about what the original story was about. And sure, sometimes writers can succeed in telling personal stories through grand adventures. Just look at The Owl House and parts of Amphibia. But with those shows, it's established within the first few episodes that action and peril will be a series staple. With Tangled, while there was some action and peril, it's all very subdued compared to how high the stakes got raised in later episodes in the show. Especially in the series finale.

And, I mean, c'mon. You're making Rapunzel an action hero?

Judy Hopps? Yes.

Moana? Maybe.

Raya? Most definitely.

But Rapunzel? The character who’s all about optimism and seeing the best of others. That's the character you're going to morph into a hero that fights against an evil demon laid dormant for years? Did you even watch the original movie? Yeah, sorry, but I just don't buy it.

If you want to tell an epic story that gets the blood pumping for fans addicted to adventure, go for it! See where the wind takes you. But make sure to set that tone as early as possible while also making sure that it fits with the characters. If not, the end result is a series that feels like it's trying to be something it’s not.

Eugene is Kind of an Idiot at Times: It should be noted that Movie-Eugene and Series-Eugene are practically two different characters. In the film, Eugene was more or less the straight man, as he often questions the wackiness in the world around him and keeping Rapunzel grounded in reality. For the series, most of that personality got transferred to Cassandra. Thus making Eugene's new role in the series act as the egotistical imbecile. Sure, he had those moments in the film, but not as frequently, and it really pains me when the writers really lean hard into a minor aspect of his personality. Sometimes there are moments when Eugene acts like his original self. But it's all small scenes that are spread apart with entire episodes where he has half a brain cell. I'm sure some people didn't mind this change to the character, but as someone who adores the movie version of Eugene, I can't help but feel disappointed.

The Villains are the Worst: Now, I don't mean the one-off villains that show up, cause some chaos for a bit, and disappear at the end of the episode. Those are characters with fun personalities, occasionally cool designs, and do their job as villains of the week. It doesn't matter if their motivations are laughably simple, as their purpose is to be enjoyable characters above anything else. So I actually enjoy those villains...it's the ones that act as season-long antagonists that really grind my gears.

The purpose behind these types of foes is to build up how evil they are throughout the season. The issue is that the writers try to give these characters, or at least two of them, a point. To be fair, this can work. Just look at Killmonger from Black Panther and sometimes Karli Morgenthau from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. You understand and probably even sympathize with the logic and reasoning these characters have. It's just that their actions couldn't be farther from what you would do. The problem with Varian and Cassandra is that they have the motivation, but it's not written suitably for the story.

Cassandra is a whole can of worms I'll get to in a minute, but Varian is someone I can easily discuss for a brief time. Because while I can comprehend his pain for having his father frozen in yellow rock, I don't think turning evil is the best decision to go with that character. Because A. Everything is his fault. He blames Rapunzel for not helping him, but even if she didn't have a crisis to deal with, there was nothing she could have done to stop it. His frustrations are not only unjustified, but given the fact that this wouldn't have happened if he listened to his father in the first place, it feels like him becoming evil is too drastic of a turn. And B. Varian worked much better as a supporting character rather than a primary antagonist. He was just this hopeful, if not a clumsy scientist who wanted to prove himself, who causes minor catastrophes due to not thinking ahead. Turning a character like Varian into a villain is a bit of a misstep because if the guy acts hilariously incompetent as a good guy, it makes little sense to have him be intelligent and ten steps ahead of Rapunzel when being evil. If he were to become more serious and careful when helping the rest of the main cast, I'd consider that character progression done properly. But becoming a villain is just an overreaction.

However, none of that compares with my issues with the main antagonist of the series: Zhan Tiri. This goes back to my problems with the series making itself too epic. Because if Zhan Tiri existed in any other show, I probably wouldn't have any problem with her. She's built up well throughout all three seasons and is kind of threatening at times. But she doesn't belong in a series based on a movie that dealt with a small, personal issue where it wasn't even the character who killed the villain in the end. It was her love interest and animal sidekick. Even if Zhan Tiri works well as a character, the fact that it doesn't feel like she belongs in the show makes her too distracting to enjoy. And that's why these villains suck. If not poorly written, they don't belong in a series that should focus on small-scale issues. And if you can functionally write an antagonist that appears for only one episode but flounder with ones that show up in several, well, that's just embarrassing.

Cassandra (Season 3): OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH BOY, do I have some words to express with this character. Like with Movie-Eugene and Series-Eugene, Cassandra from Seasons One and Two is frustratingly different from the psychotic IDIOT from Season Three. Basically, just take the issues I have with Varian, multiply them by ten, add them with some bafflingly stupid decisions, and you still wouldn't get how much Season Three-Cassandra frustrates me!

First off, her motivation...what the f**k were the writers thinking? The big reason why Cassandra betrays Rapunzel and motivates all of her misdeeds was that Cassandra's mother was Mother Gothal...EXPLAIN THAT LOGIC TO ME?! Because Cassandra should know what type of woman Mother Gothal was. She should know what Mother Gothal did to Rapunzel in the first eighteen years of her life. So how is Cassandra being abandoned by Gothal the central motivator to cut ties with Rapunzel, who is probably an even bigger victim in this scenario!? Seriously, Rapunzel was cut off from the rest of the world and treated as an unknowing prisoner because she was beneficial to Gothal. Cassandra was adopted into a household with mutual love and got to actually live her life. In no way does it make sense for her to be angry at Rapunzel.

Nor does it make sense that the writers try to play it off as a good thing in the song "Crossing the Line!" Sure, it sounds nice, but thematically, it gives across the opposite feelings that the audience should have. Because if Cassandra cutting ties with Rapunzel is meant to be tragic and awful, why is the music suggesting it's the best possible thing that's ever happened for the character? If you like the song, fine, but even you have to admit that it's thematic nonsense.

But, sure. Cassandra's evil now, and she considers it a good thing. Whatever. I'll take it as long as it leads to good stories...but here's the thing: In the penultimate episode before the three-part series finale, Cassandra asks a question. A question I would have never expected her to ask, despite everything that has happened in the last season. A question that was so baffling, I had to legitimately pause the episode to process the fact that she asked something so stupid. Because Cassandra, the character who is intelligent and grounded in reality, asked, "Am I the bad guy?"

I was honestly shocked to find out she was shocked! How, in the flying, everlasting, cock-a-doodle-doodling F**K does a person like her not pick up that maybe, just maybe, she isn't the hero in this story!? Call me crazy, but endangering the lives of people you once called friends and family, dressing in black, AND HAVING A GIANT EVIL-LOOKING TOWER MADE OUT OF F**KING SPIKES aren't qualities I would give to a hero!

If Cassandra was like Thanos, a character so wrapped up in his ego that he can't even notice how evil he is, I would understand. But she doesn't have an ego. Anger, yes. But for the most part, her personality is based on having logic and reasoning. So turning her into a villain and having her unaware that she's a villain is an act of lunacy that I am incapable of understanding. I don't know who's idea this was, but whoever is to blame...you've got issues.

>Sighs<...This series isn't good, is it?

IN CONCLUSION

I like the animation and some of the characters...but that's not enough. Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure is a mess of a show that tries to do too much for a story that should have so little. Meaning that it's a D+ for me. I want to enjoy it and give it a higher grade, especially with how much I hear people praise this series. And if you do enjoy it, all the power to you. Your opinions are valid, even if I highly disagree with them. Because for me, this is a show that I won't get myself tangled up in again in the future.

#tangled: the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #rapunzel x eugene #tangled cassandra #tangled varian #zhan tiri #what i thought about

[that-wildwolf]

I was tagged by @crescentbunny and I'm not tagging anyone in particular because I never really have a good grip on who's already done a tag game and who hasn't...

Anyway! Here goes :)

How many works do you have on AO3?

I write lots of one-shots, so this should be around thirty... Yep, twenty-seven.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

Where do you check that? You can check that???

*spends approximately 10 minutes going through AO3 settings they didn't know existed*

Cool! A lot of features I didn't know about. Anyway, um. Yes. My total word count is, for the moment, 471,674 words.

Wow. I. Um. Almost 500K words. But—and this is extremely important—I feel like this graph contains some vital information:

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Wow. Okay. I'll do this in chronological order because I never really counted.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Inheritance, Assassin's Creed, The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Attack on Titan, Fallout, Sarah Jane Adventures, Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, Steven Universe. I don't think I missed anything...?

That adds up to 13.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Of course I do! I thrive on feedback! Not implying that my entire self-esteem hinges on the approval of strangers on the internet, but comments are the best fucking thing ever! Instant serotonin for a whole day! Of course I'll reply! I love getting into little conversations with my readers, too!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Wow. I'm usually more of a happy ending kind of person, but A New Quest (which I wrote at the super proud age of 11) did end with half of the main characters dead and a memorial service for them as the last scene, so... You know. If you consider that angsty, then sure.

Fun fact: Crossing A Line was actually originally supposed to end with Shepard dying! The last chapter (which to me still feels a bit out of place) was rewritten completely. I'm glad I changed it, though. I'm having a lot of fun with the sequel!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

A month ago I'd have said Waiting Between Worlds without second thoughts—does it count as a happy ending when the whole fic is just a happy ending?—but it's just been going downhill the last three or four chapters. Pretty much every one of my one-shots in the When I Need You series. Also, Crossing A Line, I guess, now that it has a happy ending.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I... really don't. I'm wildly ace, all my sex knowledge comes from smut and porn and I'm pretty sure that if I were to actually write the adult stuff, I'd either go way overboard and make it too obscene to read or end up with something completely dry and clinical and unreadable too.

When there's sex scenes in my fic, I usually leave them implied. I say the characters had sex, but I never explicitly write the actual sex. I don't think I'd be good at it. (Actually, I've tried plenty of times and I know I'm not. It's the dirtiest, kinkiest filth you'd ever see and I'd really recommend against reading it.)

I do like writing the pre-chorus to sex, as it were, though. The sensual foreplay to the sexual foreplay. The soft or heated moments leading up to the act. I've even gotten comments about my lime being "extremely hot despite not being smut" and I'm more than happy with that description.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the strangest one you’ve written?

I used to write crossovers. Now I only sometimes write AUs based on a different fandom, like a Shakarian Kimi no Na wa!AU.

The strangest crossover I've ever written? Don't know if any of them were strange. I had The Wolf Among Us/The Walking Dead crossovers and Doctor Who/Sarah Jane Adventures crossovers, but both of those pretty much exist in the same universe already, so... No. No weird crossovers.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

God, I hope not. At least none that I know of.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. Plenty. A lot. I'd wager around 4 out of 5 comments on my Shepard Twins fanfic are negative. I haven't updated the fic in a while, but that doesn't mean I'm not writing anymore. I have around 50K words' worth of WIP of it. So no, the hate comments don't bother me. (A lie: they bother me a lot. They even make me cry, sometimes. But they're not gonna be the reason I stop writing a story I enjoy.)

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

My very first fanfiction writing experience, actually. In retrospect, I think that worked out great, because that kind of cooperation made it easier to carry the whole thing through, get it to the end, and was a very positive experience - which is probably why I've continued to write fanfic.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Ahhh. Royai or Shakarian? Royai or Shakarian? Stupid, since they're almost the same relationship dynamic, but they're both amazingly written. I'm edging a bit more towards Shakarian, because interspecies stuff is always a bonus. Still, it's a close competition.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I wish! I've translated other people's fics, but I've yet to have someone do that for me.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I plan to hope to finish all my WIPs.

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. This is going to come off as boastful, but I think I'm pretty good at replicating individual characters' speech patterns.

What are your writing weaknesses?

According to my beta, I use elispses too liberally. According to me, I have trouble with transition scenes. I never write in order, so I always end up with disconnected scenes I need to join into a chapter. And the join parts don't even come easy to me.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Not a fan. (When I write fanfics in Polish, I sometimes use English, but that's not the same because everyone in Poland knows English anyway.) If it's a made-up language in the fandom, I like to include some words every now and then in dialogue - especially when it doesn't translate exactly. I love spotlighting cultural differences. I actually learned a load of Jel words for my Murkmire fanfics.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Good times. Damn, that was a long time ago. *suddenly gets the overwhelming realization that they've been writing fanfic for the bigger part of their life* ...Wow.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Big Spoon/Little Spoon, a short Shakarian one-shot exploring the psychology of the Spacer background a bit. I also used lighting in a really cool way in this one! I'm really proud of it. Even when I call it "the Spooning As A Metaphor For Nationality Issues fanfic", I mean it in an affectionate way.

As far as non-one-shots go, I'm going with Crossing A Line. It's got it all: Enemies to Lovers, language barrier, interspecies awkwardness... Plus, writing from Garrus's POV is always a treat. I get to refer to humans as "aliens". What more could you want?

#tag game #writing #fanfic #fanfic writing #meet the blogger #aka #wild rambles #thanks for tagging me in this bunny it was a lot of fun! #my life #long post

[alottamoney]

Part 2

Once they reconnect the staff asks them to sing again, "Why?" Tae asks "It was going well before" he adds (debatable). Tae decides to talk to ARMY, Jungkook is talking to his flower again, Tae talks about getting a perm, he wants to curl the roots, Jungkook asks how one curls the roots (Good question). "Aren't you the one that looks good in everything?" Jungkook compliments Tae out of nowhere, Tae is flattered “It's good to hear such compliments from Jungkook who looks best in everything” (they're friends again). Tae apologizes for being late, says there was a traffic jam, and Jungkook tells him it's his fault for not anticipating it, Tae gets defensive "You can't do this to me".

There are silent spells where Tae is reading the comments punctuated by trivia about dyed hair, ON mv, the origins of lagebolala, Tae informing us that he passed the first level of English(?). He says his English “grew up but went back down”, that his English name is Vincent (not van Gogh). “Taekook forever" is said out loud this time (which the subtitles correct to "V and Jungkook forever"). Fans ask them to speak in different languages- Japanese, Spanish (they’re not as successful here), Thai, they talk about the weather (they covered everything, I think). Tae stares at Jungkook as he complains about his carnation not being pretty enough, the staff may have said something about the staring, because Tae visibly rolls his eyes at their interruption, he walks away from his seat and out frame once again. Jungkook says “I think some ARMY are dozing off now” (he's not wrong,10 out of 10 for self awareness). Tae is sings Never Not in the background.

Finally!

Jungkook says he should do more vlives because this felt awkward, Tae said it was awkward for him too (setting the theme for In The Soop?). Tae asks staff if he can give spoilers about the album or about Jimin, from Tae's reaction, I assume, the answer is no (Tae and the staff seem to be playing out the Belligerent Sexual Tension trope). Jungkook promises to come on vlive more often, Tae suggests he talk about his dream to make his next vlive funny. They ask army to put a lot of effort into the carnations to make up for the ugliness (I think I'll pass on that). They end the vlive.

Like the other vlive in May, I am left with many questions the most important of which is: Why? Why was this necessary?

The first time I watched it, I went in with no expectations, and still the awkwardness was unbearable. Tae clearly looked and acted like he rather be anywhere else, and Jungkook seemed, rather comically, to be relying on the assigned activity to get him through it, he reinforces this by stating at many points throughout the vlive, that the reason he can't properly engage with ARMY is because he must make the perfect flower, but also admits that he felt awkward, because he hadn't done a vlive in a while, which is true, I think there is more to it though.

This felt very forced, like the company was trying to reach their vlive goals for the month and picked the first two people they saw. Even more strange is them voluntarily pairing Taekook, up until that point it was quite rare to see Taekook together, (of course things are slightly different in 2021). At the time the awkwardness was attributed to the overarching narrative of Taekook having “drifted apart”, but as much as I found this frustrating, I don't think that is the case; surely two people who have been doing this for years can muster enough professionalism to get through one vlive together, which brings us to one of the caveats of said narrative: They drifted apart because fans have made them uncomfortable by shipping them with each other, which again does not make sense; could they not have declined to do the vlive together? And if not, could they have not read out “Taekook” so many times? they didn’t seem to have a problem with the ship name that they apparently came to know of just that day, so how were they uncomfortable all these years?

So what was the cause of the awkwardness? Was it the staff? It must be said that while the staff monitor all vlives, never was their presence so felt, it may be part of the reason, but that doesn’t explain Tae and Jungkook’s own behavior for me, it's not the first time they're surrounded by staff unless there were other instructions to follow, we can only speculate, but Tae and Jungkook couldn’t hold a conversation for long, or look each other in the eye most of the time, so did they even require extra surveillance or maybe they did, if the staff thought the many Taekooks read out could have escalated into something beyond repair. I did start this out by saying that this vlive was far from unscripted, but I would like to rectify that statement to say that apart from giving them a task to follow, the live was unscripted, Tae and Jungkook seemed to be trying hard to be impersonal: Weather? Really?

Going back to my first question: what was the point of this vlive? They didn’t talk about their album or their other projects, they admitted to wasting their time, and feeling bad about not interacting with ARMY properly, instead of babysitting two grown men, could the staff have found two members who were more willing, or maybe do a solo with the one who really seemed immersed with the craft? Was it really necessary for us to see this? Would we have doubted their devotion to their parents if this vlive didn’t happen? By the end of of the vlive I did start thinking, that if Taekook are this uncomfortable being on screen together, then I’m fine without any Taekook content, unless that was their goal all along, then they've done a fabulous job. This doesn’t affect my view on Taekook’s relationship though, as I’ve said, many things have happened since then, this vlive just exists in the grand scheme of things, it does make me a bit wary of “planned” Taekook vlives and other content, more on that later.

#taehyung #jungkook #bts #vlive #taekook #vkook #bts kookv

[starship-imzadi]

S5 E12 Violations

This opening immediately brings to mind the "repressed memories" craze in psychology in the 1980's and 1990's. The "fad" has since become regarded as incredibly harmful and dangerous as human memory can be quite malleable and undependable. A lot of people were treated to believe they had repressed memories of horrible abuse and sexual trauma in their childhoods, made horrible accusations, for events that never actually happened. Not only do these fabrication create real trauma and ruin relationships, they also delegitimize the actual trauma and abuse others have suffered and very much remembered from their childhoods.

Now, that isn't quite applicable to this episode, but this episode has some heavy moments and perhaps the worst abuse, out of all the abuse, Troi suffers through the series, and I want to address it the best I can.

"father, you know you're not supposed to probe someone's memory unless they've given you permission."

A.k.a. you have to get consent

"you are right, but sometimes with a beautiful woman I cannot help myself."

Red flag?! But not the red flag we're looking for. (Still: not appropriate) Beverly's laugh doesn't seem like acceptance to me, rather it's the socially acceptable way for women to cope with remarks that certain men think are flattering but are actually creepy. In a post #metoo world my hope is that as a society this is understood better than when this episode aired. I'm sure for many women it's just as evident as it ever was.

To be clear, this memory reading isn't sexual. What it is, is intimate. For whatever reason no other type of telepathy in Star Trek is depicted as a high form of intimacy, except for the now forgotten telepathic link that Troi and Riker have (which was formed because of the closeness of their relationship). But, to have access to someone's mind would be an incredible vulnerability, the sharing of one's mind a great intimacy, and the invasion of one's mind a great violation. A strong analogy for these is sexuality.

I want to make this distinction because there are violations and intimacies that are not sexual, and I think allowing for a broader analogy makes this a stronger story.

This conversation between Geordi and Data about memory feels like exposition to explain the concept to the audience. But, it seems to misrepresent some of the finer points, like how human recall and triggering recall actually works, how neurological structure and age factors in, how trauma effects memory, or in fact how humans encode specific memory or general concepts (like remembering the layout of your childhood home.)

"perhaps you would like to resurrect solve memories"

Is Beverly flirting with Picard? Or just teasing him

This scene with Troi brushing her hair and drinking hot chocolate is.... incredibly frustrating. Because of the "on again off again" or complete neglect of the story between Troi and Riker's relationship. Why have we never seen this part of their relationship before? Where does it fit it? I've seen people question at which point the memory becomes manipulated, wondering if Riker would ever force himself on Troi...which I would categorically say: no he would not.

"imzadi we can't, not when we're serving on the same ship"

"have you stopped thinking about us, just answer that" "I can't stop thinking about you"

They're clearly on the Enterprise, and Riker has a beard, and it could feasibly be somewhere in the past three and a half seasons. As the audience we are not privy to the original memory free of Jev's manipulations.

"Do you know what she was doing when this happened?" Riker's voice is so gentle.

Beverly's little smile as she walks in and sees Riker talking to Troi is exactly how I feel. "I miss you. Please don't stay away too long." Is so sweet and a bit heartbreaking.

Now, we see an apparent memory of Riker's. Troi's memory seemed to be hazy and pink like an old romance filter might be in black and white, but Riker's memory is distorted and stretched, and both have distorted and slowed audio. By contrast, Keiko's memory had no visual or audio distortion at all. Riker's apparent memory is feasible like Troi's.

Troi's assault is what almost everyone focuses on, because the "violation" of the episode is seen as an analogy to rape and because this element is inexplicably used again in the film Nemesis. However, I would like to point out that the two memories shown up until this point are both memories of vulnerability. The memory with Troi isn't just about sex, it's about the intimacy she has with Riker, a relationship they both want but don't feel like they're allowed to have. Riker's memory is of vulnerability of those under his command, as he has to actively make a choice that will kill a crew member to save the rest of the ship. His crew is ultimately his responsibility, their lives are in his hands, and he has to carry the responsibility of their deaths under his command.

Now we see Beverly's apparent memory. Her's is also a clear instance of vulnerability: seeing her dead husband's body. This memory is most likely of the three we see to have some reality to it. We do know that her husband died and Picard was the one to tell her and Wesley of his death. (It's mentioned in the pilot episode and in "The Bonding")

Rethinking the search parameters is incredibly clever on Geordi's part and he deserves more credit for it. It's almost... intellectually refreshing to see rather than a simple solution, and I applaud the writer who wrote this bit.

If Riker wasn't still in a coma he would be right by Troi's side.

"I'm remembering something from a few years ago" so, it is a memory, they're all actual memories, up until a point. "It's not Will, sombody's taken his place." when the person in her memory is hurting her the face isn't initially shown, we can't see who it is. But, before when the memory was safe and positive, we could see Will's face.

(the background soundtrack is a little too much and the whole sequence of Troi in pain makes me really uncomfortable.) And Worf and Picard.... don't react except Picard, very conservatively, places a comforting hand on her shoulder. Which fits with his decorum and all things considered is really, really sweet.

"A perverse source of pleasure perhaps. A need to exercise control over another." Even though Troi's memory was romantic or sexual in nature and through Jev's manipulation has the strongest direct parallel to literal sexual assault, rape is ultimately about power, the assertion of power, domination without consent. It is in direct opposition to intimacy, sexual or non sexual. intimacy is vulnerability plus trust and safety, regardless of what that vulnerability is.

I just realized the Ullian coats remind me of paper snow flakes.

I've seen some people confused that after everything that has happened why Jev would jeopardize himself by going to Troi. He seems to honestly like Troi, in whatever way he can, but at the same time is not in control of his impulses and desires, and whatever he likes about her is warped into his sick desire to overpower her. It's fantastic to see Troi fight back; Jev talks about how fragile she is, and it's important that we see that she is in fact NOT how he sees her.

"this form of rape" here is the first time the word is specifically used BUT I want to reiterate that Troi, Riker, and Beverly have all been subjected to this trauma.

It's good, and nice to know, that they will be getting counseling and help to process through what has happened. It's not always but on occasion TNG acknowledges that its characters have suffered with potential long term ramifications.

[buddha-in-disguise]

We finally have an original trailer for next weeks Supergirl episode (5.14).

Now usually I’m more than optimistic to see the new trailers or teasers, but after not only the debacle of 5.12, but other problems that have been identified before that; the fact we are rapidly running out of episodes (still unconfirmed if it is 20 or 22, although 20 looking likely as the date for end of filming is confirmed for 17th March), that no original trailer was shown immediately after the 100th episode (that has generally been well received by fans & critics alike, a considerable improvement), I am actually being cautious/worried over the whole thing. Why wait a full week to drop the trailer, instead of riding on the high of the 100th episode? I'm not one for trying to read things into anything, but it feels as if they might've decided to re-edit the trailer after 5.12 exploded in their face so badly. Of course I could be wrong, but with William in the episode it is possible he was in the trailer, and it could've once again become a whole level of backlash (more about William later).

Anyone who knows me will tell you one of my defining traits is I’m a pretty optimistic person. I like to be pragmatic, so I don’t get bogged down often with concerns of what might happen, rather my perspective is, let’s see what happens. I was of this mindset right up until Crisis with Supergirl. I still feel that 5a was by far the strongest part of the season, which normally I find isn’t the case with Supergirl. Usually I find the second half of a season is where Supergirl generally is at its best - where it can finally pull together the strands it has been playing with in terms of main plot line from episode one. By about episode 12 or so, we begin to get an idea where it is heading. That not only hasn't happened this season, with episode numbers dwindling fast there seems to be no way they can pull back from some of the honestly calamitous decisions that seem to have plagued much of the midseason.

I was relieved to see that the promo photos show a Dansen moment.

I am though also not entirely sure we're going to get anything that is meaningful between Kelly and Alex, as the background, synopsis and other photo suggest that they get caught up in the VR world. I have a horrible gut feeling, just as they're about to make out at Obsidian (some workplace making out hello, I'm here for that), there is an explosion (as per trailer), then the fallout from that.

Don't get me wrong, we've had so little of Kelly, and Dansen in general it will be good to see them onscreen together, and working in a hostile environment as a couple; especially as we haven't seen much of Kelly beyond Obsidian or wielding the shield. I hope her army training, alongside Alex's military training with the DEO actually get to be a tangible plot point.

As an aside, remember the little video clip Azie posted just around Christmas that had the Dansen fandom collectively falling down in incomprehensible piles of goo? While the quality isn't great, there is no doubt those outfits match these. So Azie threw one hell of a tease our way beyond what we thought! I do hope that means we genuinely see more than a moment of Dansen, but again Azie has spoken or posted about scenes she has filmed or have been part of the promo set of photos, only for a lot to not make the final edits.

So below are some of the other promo photos for the episode.

My concern is once again we see William at CatCo alongside Franklin. Which infuriates me, because (as I've said many times, this absolutely isn't because if Staz), but why is William once again there, when Nia is a journalist? Yet they pop Franklin in the shot - a reoccurring character certainly, but either remove William, or remove Franklin and allow Nia to be back as a journalist in Catco. Her actual job! I know we get the following episode (15) that is Nia centric, but as with Kelly, Nia's screen time has been so ridiculously low for an established main cast member, that I find it impossible to understand why they couldn't have at least allowed them screen time in these circumstances.

But no, again William is the journalist. Even Franklin is a journalist. Nia is MIA. I'm beginning to think she doesn't even know what CatCo looks like anymore.

It's the imbalance I (and many others) am finding so annoying this season. Imbalance that wouldn't take much to address if they'd just changed scenes a little, without disrupting anything of note of the storyline.

So I decided to check main cast numbers, and it made for interesting reading. Last year had 9 main cast listed. This year it is officially 12. We can argue that James wasn't in many episodes, but he did feature quite heavily before Mehcad left. The same could be said for The Monitor, who is listed as main cast up until Crisis.

Equally Lex Luthor isn't listed as a main character, but considering his screen time since Crisis, I've no doubt he might as well have been. The same for Malefic, who was pretty heavily used prior to Crisis.

So even if we subtract James and The Monitor, and only add in Lex Luthor as a replacement we are still on a higher number of main cast from last season.

Honestly, this for me has been a big part of the problem, with trying to fit in too many characters at the expense of previously established cast. Add in that William's story has made absolutely no sense since Russell died, especially since Nia and even Kelly could've handled the same storylines; it just seems a complete mess.

This isn't about who you ship or who you prefer as a character. Everyone is suffering because of the uneveness of it all. Alex has no cohesive story so far (even though she has a good amount of screen time). Kara and Lena have the screen time, but it also feels really clunky of late, and getting ridiculously drawn out; although I'm hoping since the 100th we'll see it begin to smooth out. The Danver sisters, Brainia, Dansen, even Lena and Kara (whether you view it platonic or as Supercorp is neither here nor there on this and I'm not about to get into arguments that are not relevant to what I'm trying to say here), J'onn with Alex and Kara, Nia and Kara, Brainy and Lena; the list goes on. Every single interaction seems to be suffering.

We all invest in characters, but overall it feels like a mess of unnecessary pairings (Lex and Brainy, Kara and William primarily) or cast additions that has detracted from all characters, and the crux of the story seems to have been lost in the midst.

I really want Supergirl to show us otherwise, but this is about the 3rd or 4th time I've written similar posts, and there has been no or little forward momentum. Time is now against the show as much as the problems it has generated, and there is no way sidelined cast will be able to pull the numbers back up, even with centric episodes like Nia in 5.15. Will Kelly get a more centric episode that doesn't revolve around her brother? Nothing suggests she does, so she'll lose further ground, which in turn means so will Dansen. Brainy has been used a lot, but again at the expense of all the previous pairings the viewers were invested in (whether it was Alex and Brainy, Brainia, Brainy and Lena or to a lesser degree Brainy and Kara).

But hey. Don't worry. William is here to save the day and the girl. *sarcasm, in case anyone wasn't sure*.

#supergirl #lgbtq #supercorp #azie tesfai #chyler leigh #alex danvers #kara danvers #kelly olsen #nicole maines #katie mcgrath #melissa benoist #nia nal #lena luthor #brainy #brainiac #jesse rath