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chaoticgeminate · 2 years

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Kinktober 2022 - Day Seventeen

Pairing: Javi Gutierrez x f!Reader

Rating: Explicit (If that was not entirely clear)

Series Summary: You’re a fanfiction writer turned novelist, which was great since it was the path you wanted your writing to take you down in life. What you never thought would happen was meeting the Javier Gutierrez, who you actively write smutty fanfiction about from his film with Nic Cage, and you especially didn’t expect him to have a crush on you.

Fast forward several months of dating, with a good chunk of your relationship being distance due to his constant traveling and having to go home to Mallorca, when he surprises you with a prompt list and a vacation planned around exploring it.

You haven’t even worked up the nerve to tell him about what you write and post to Tumblr about him as a character yet.

Notes: Going to be using prompts from @ the-purity-pen for my meta as hell indulgence! There are feelings in this (I have no idea how they got there) and I may end up removing some possible chapters here and there depending on how I’m feeling, I apologize in advance if that happens because my brain is super mean sometimes.

Possible Warnings: Pegging, face sitting if you squint

Pegging (1.5k)

“Shall we?”

Javi extended his hand to you and you giggled as you took it, letting him pull you into a playful dip as the Bluetooth speaker played soft music that echoed in the reorganized lounge. You were riding high on nothing but affection, adoration, and gratitude that this man accepted all of you so openly and without judgement. Javi’s eyes were practically twinkling as he led you in a simple box step before spinning you out and pulling you back.

“Tell me, Solecita, are you nursing a celebrity crush for Dieter?” Now that your other stories were on the table for discussion Javi was taking advantage to ask you about them, like where your headcanons came from or why you chose a specific plot route, and why you liked each character you wrote for.

He'd clearly noticed that you wrote primarily for roles Dieter had starred in.

“He’s good looking, sources online say he’s got good dick game, and he’s a great actor when he’s actually into the project. But I’m with you, Javi, the last thing I want you thinking or worrying about is that I would try and run off with Bravo.” Javi actually laughed and kissed you, feet still moving to the slow waltz tune, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

“I am not worried about you leaving me for him, mi amor, I just think you have a type seeing as he and I look alike. Besides, he does have good dick game, but mine is better.” His expression was serious, like way too serious for him to be teasing, and you couldn’t stop the sharp gasp of surprise that escaped you.

Javi and Dieter? Really?

It wasn’t exactly farfetched, and Javi had mentioned he had boyfriends in the past, but it still came as a shock to you since Dieter was kind of wild and you hadn’t seen that in Javi yet.

“You fucked Dieter Bravo?”

“Well, after he fucked me but yes.”

“That is… insanely hot to think about. Especially since I write a decent amount of Joaquin and Moreno stories.”

Holy hell you felt your face warming and your whore brain wake up; it was one thing to write something you fantasized about but another to know that there was a part of it that was real. You felt Javi chuckle from the movement in his chest, since you weren’t looking at his face to see the knowing smile on it, and he tipped your chin so that you were forced to look at him again.

The little dance between you becoming just a simple swaying motion.

“You did get one thing wrong, though.”

Now your brow furrowed, confused, and Javi put his mouth right against your ear.

“I am the more dominant one between he and I.”

Lightning shot done your spine at that knowledge, you’d always characterized Moreno as a man who was in charge even when he wasn’t in control and Joaquin as someone that just wanted to be taken care of after the life he’d had.

“But not with me?”

Javi’s eyes softened considerably at your question, sure he’d proven his dirty talk game and his drive to make you come as many times as it took to have you pushing him away, but he’d shied away from actually being super pushy or hands on in a way that would leave pain. You understood where he was coming from, knowing what you did about his life now, but the idea that he’d been willing to be rough with Dieter and not you did kind of hurt.

“He begged for it, Solecita, and he isn’t you. I plan to talk to someone, to find out if this is a thing I can overcome, but the idea of hurting you at all still makes me uncomfortable. It is not as bad now since you’ve proven that you will stop things for both of our comfort… but give me time por favor.”

You nodded before you could even think about it, you’d give him all the time he needed, and Javi’s reaction to your agreement was a kiss that stole your breath away. Grabbing his wrists gently you led him up the stairs and to the East Master suite, Javi smiling the entire way, and you knew he wasn’t surprised to see the leather strap and the bottle of lube. You had asked him to choose the actual length and girth he was comfortable with, the toy itself a surprise to you, but the fact that he’d chosen your favorite color made you grin.

Javi sat down on the bed and you ran your hands through his hair, standing between his spread legs as you just combed your fingers through the soft curls and let him bask in the gentle care.

“Gonna be good for me?”

“Sí, Solecita.”

“Remind me of your safewords.”

“Fade if I need you to slow down, cut if I need you to stop.”

His relieved moan when you nodded and lightly pushed him back, straddling his waist, made you smile above him. Javi was excited about this, you could feel it in the way he was holding himself back from begging, the light in his eyes alone a sign of just what he wanted.

The soft whimper that escaped him when you removed his shirt, one button at a time, and began teasing his nipples was a sound you found yourself addicted to and Javi squirmed under you with each light touch and gentle kiss.

“Gonna take such good care of you, Javi.”

The loud groan when you rolled your hips down against him stopped him from answering you in words, his hands gripping the blankets so he didn’t grab or tug at you instead and you could do what you were planning to him. The feeling of your tongue dragging down his abdomen as you moved lower had his muscles jumping beneath you, a little giggle when you circled his belly button, and Javi hissed when you undid the placket of his pants to pull those off of him too.

He’d gone bare under the linen, his cock hard and leaking as it bobbed against his tummy, and you kissed it before standing up straight and stripping your own clothes off. The strap was easy to put on -you’d practiced already- and the toy fit just fine; Javi squirming with anticipation when you lubed up your fingers first and nipped at his hip when he tried to hurry you along.

“Relax, we have plenty of time, cariño.”

He tensed up when you began circling his puckered hole and only when he relaxed did you begin working him open, his cock bobbing and twitching as it dribbled more precum onto his tummy. You made him gasp when you dragged your tongue up his shaft while pressing one finger into him fully, your boyfriend squirming as you teased him open gently.

By the time you felt he was ready for the toy Javi was trembling, leaking all over himself, and you were gentle even with the lube and precum you used to slick the toy up. You were slow with it, not wanting to hurt him by rushing, and Javi’s eyes were closed tight as he whispered your name like a prayer; your hips settled between his thighs, kneeling on the bed with him propped up on your knees, and Javi let out the loudest whimper when you shifted before trying to find the angle and rhythm that would make him see stars.

“Hang on- like- like this.” Javi helped you figure out the roll and push motions to press right where you wanted, the moment you hit that spot he keened and threw his head back as his grip on the sheets tightened. Taking him on his back like this was definitely not the easier way to do this the first time but you needed to watch his face, watch the way his lashes fluttered and his teeth sank into his lips, and seeing him fall apart because of you was making your blood race more.

“Close, so close, fuck Solecita-“

“Good, come for me Javi.”

The command coupled with you picking up your pace as much as you could sent him over the edge and in the last moment you braced yourself on one hand to lean over just enough and take his cock in the other so that his spend was either caught in your hand or smeared and splattered on your breasts and tummy. You slowed the roll of your hips as you let him come down and Javi was left panting as you eased the toy out, his soft whimper lingering as you went to clean up what you could, and he had stayed in place for you as you returned with a warm and wet washcloth to help clean him up.

The strap and toy were left in the bathroom, so you could properly clean them once you knew Javi was okay, and as you laid down Javi pulled you into his arms to pepper kisses on your face.

“So fucking good to me, Solecita. Are you wet for me, is this pussy dripping?” His hand sank between your legs, finding your thighs slick from how excited you were, and the low whisper of awe was the only warning you had before he was pushing you up to straddle his face with more mischief in those brown eyes of his.

All Fics Taglist: @hardc0rehaylz @wordsnwhiskey @pagannightwitch @radiowallet @musings-of-a-rose @amneris21 @trickstersp8 @practicalghost @rominaszh @alwaysdjarin @alexxavicry

Just Pedro Taglist: @maievdenoir @beecastle @littlemisspascal @writeforfandoms @AynsleyWalker @lovesbiggerthanpride @mswarriorbabe80

Alt Taglist: @imtryingmybeskar @fan-of-encouragement @grogusmum @sizzlingcloudmentality @deadhumourist @prostitute-robot-from-the-future

Kinktober Only: @nicolethered @katareyoudrilling

#kinktober 2022 #javi g x f!reader #javi gutierrez x f!reader #cw pegging #cw smut #cw face sitting #chaoticwrites #i can literally only write this man as super soft

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liquidstar · 2 years

Note

hey! i’d love to learn about re:zero! well, not learn exactly but i’m thinking of maybe getting into it so i dunno, i’d love to know what sorta stuff you enjoy about it and everything 🤧 also, same anon who sent you that ask about wanting to be mutuals! so, hello!

Omg hiiii anon! It’s nice to see you again! Please feel free to send asks or even message me any time ^_^ I’m sorry I took a while to get to this but I didn’t have time to type a lot earlier and was on mobile… but i would SO love to talk about what i like about the series (and a little bit of what i dislike, its got its fair share of understandable turnoffs but ill get to that part later- ill make a little tw list too)

But first i totally wanna share what about it i find compelling and fun as a story. I’ll put it under a cut here so I don’t clog ppl’s dashes tho hehe. I wrote... A lot actually. Like a lot a lot. Sorry .-. You can just kind of skim it if you want I don't want to make you feel like you have to read this fucking novel I wrote lol but here it is

First of all i think what made me agree to watch the series despite my preconceptions of it as a typical isekai harem was that its actually a deconstruction of that genre. “Deconstruction” often gets misused in anime circles to just mean “a genre but with a dark twist” so at first i thought it might just be a typical isekai harem but slightly edgier… but no it actually is a proper deconstruction! It takes the typical tropes of its genre and breaks them down, exposing the issues with the genre and its viewers (i.e. nerdboys wanting escapism).

The premise on it’s own is relatively simple, it’s about a boy who gets transported to a fantasy world and discovers that he has been given a power that lets him reset time every time he dies. It gets a bit more complex from there, there’s some really cool lore that makes the world feel like it existed before subaru came to it (many isekai cant do this). And the themes of the series are actually pretty dense, which is a LOT of fun for me and the main thing i like about it tbh. So im going to talk about each one of the major themes here (and try to keep it as spoiler-free as i can!)

Escapism

One of the most important themes of the series is fantasy vs reality. Subaru, as the main character, is set up exactly like the typical nerdboy getting an isekai powerfantasy harem, and he’s genre-aware at that. When he first gets transported to another world, he instantly picks up on what's happening, and he thinks its going to go a certain way for him.

In fact, because of the media he’s consumed in his life, he thinks he’s ENTITLED to an isekai powerfantasy and feels robbed when things end up being much more grim. For the first few arcs he can come off as annoying, he’s trying very hard to act like his idea of a “main character” and he has a tendency to reduce the people around him to tropes. He projects his will onto them, he does what he thinks a hero would do regardless of what they say. In the 3rd arc he becomes borderline unlikable (intentionally so) after a fight with emilia, and the real turning point of him as a character is whether he chooses reality or fantasy in this arc. He could go back to escaping, or he could face whats real.

After this point in the story he begins to truly develop more as a character too, seeing the people around him as PEOPLE makes him more complete as well, and on a meta level this is also where we start to get his real backstory and characterization outside of just being the “isekai guy.” It’s like the story is telling him that he earned it, but it doesn’t feel like a sudden shift. If anything it feels like everything else about him makes MORE sense in retrospect.

But one thing that was always made clear was that subaru hated himself. A lot. He was a shut-in loser with terrible depression and anxiety, he used to get panic attacks just at the idea of going to school. He preferred to escape in his bedroom and avoid it all, and although his parents loved him very very much, deep down, he always thought they should just hate him instead. He thinks everyone should just hate him instead, which is why he tries so hard. It can be cringy to watch, but knowing where this energy of his comes from as a character makes sense…

He never really learned how to deal with people, he’s selfish and entitled to what media promised him. In this sense the story is screaming at you that NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU USE THESE POWERFANTASIES TO ESCAPE, REAL LIFE PEOPLE WILL NOT TREAT YOU THIS WAY. THEY WILL HAVE THEIR OWN LIVES AND WILLS THAT YOU CANT CONTROL AND THEY DONT OWE YOU ANYTHING JUST BECAUSE YOURE NICE TO THEM!!

This theme is even moreso evident when it comes to the woman in subaru’s life so lets talk about…

Gender

subaru’s habit of projecting his own desires onto other people makes him place the girls around him into obsequious roles, he objectifies them, treats them like tropes in a video game. The message that the story wants to convey is fairly obvious, that you can’t treat real life women the same way you treat your fictional characters. And that they don’t owe you anything just because you’re nice to them. This is partly what emilia and subaru’s aforementioned fight was about, and it’s important that she only accepts his love after he treats her like a human being. She doesn’t want special treatment or to be placed on a pedestal. This theme kind of went over a lot of nerdboys heads because they wanted to jerk off to rem, who actually presented the “fantasy” ideal- kind of ironic…

On the flip side too, subaru tries very very hard to fit into masculine ideals of heroism (often emulating his father who was an athlete). He thinks he has to be a certain way and act a certain way. Though once he breaks out of this shell he actually ends up being more… Just himself. He’s not afraid to let emilia be the hero, he even compliments her for being “manly” (which she doesnt take as an insult and they have a cute laugh about) and in the ln takes up dressing femininely as something he was afraid to do in earnest before- previously seeing it as a joke.

Whats also notable about emilia is that shes one of the five dragon priestesses thats running as a candidate in the royal selection- that might have just been word soup, but what it basically means is that she and four other girls are running to become ruler of the country. The title that they earn is actually KING of legunica, not queen. This serves as a nice contrast to the room emilia was locked in during her childhood, the princess room.

Its a fantasy story so archetypes like kings and princesses and knights are all present but its more so about what those archetypes represent. The knights are the heroes, that masculine ideal subaru wanted to live up to. He claims to be one without earning it, which gets him beat the hell up by a real knight, julius. Whos also an interesting character in this regard, he’s the “knight of knights” and puts a lot of pressure on himself chivalrous, and subaru is incredibly jealous. Though eventually they grow closer and idk they’re kinda… hm. Anyway there’s also reinhard, another knight who is so ridiculously overpowered that its a joke. Like, one of his powers is he’s blessed to never eat anything too salty. He IS the overpowered isekai protagonist that subaru wanted to be, but unlike julius, subaru kind of admires reinhard (they got off on a better foot). But reinhard himself… the truth is hes so very isolated and trapped, he grew up with a terrible family and because of his powers the kingdom pretty much owns him, he has no freedom. This aspiration is a leesh.

Mean while other candidates are all interesting in their own ways and also all represent some different ideologies (incase youre wondering the emilia camp is. communism.) but the ones most relevant to the gender theme is probably the crusch camp because… actually its kind of a lot, not all of it depicted well, but not necessarily horribly either. The basic idea is that crusch and ferris are two characters who “swapped” gender performances, though the series may still posit that their actual identities are still their agab this isnt exactly that simple (especially in the ln) and i personally think its a case of a cis author not really knowing how trans people work. Crusch behaves in a more masculine role until their memories are wiped and suddenly starts to behave like a “regular girl”- this is meant to be strange and upsetting because its NOT CRUSCH so i actually think thats well done enough. Ferris is… well, not a character i want to speak as an authority on, i think they could have been handled better, but it could have also been worse. I do like that in the ln they directly dispute the notion that ferris “dresses like a girl” to attract/trick men, at least.

The series does genuinely seem to want to pick apart some gender norms though, and though i am critical of the ways it fumbles the ball i do enjoy the themes, especially as a deconstruction story. Its NOT perfect and i think one of my biggest gripes with it is that despite this “dont objectify” theme, a lot of the female characters designs are pretty sexualized! Mostly not to an absurd degree, i actually think the maid outfits are cute, but sometimes i feel like it can detract rather than add. You could make the case that its saying “even if theyre dressed like this bla bla” but i think thats a reach… at the very least though theres not that much fanservice despite the outfits, things arent usually framed weirdly just to get tits or ass in frame and all. I think the most the was was a scene in the ova where emilia and rem hug and their boobs touch

One way that the themes do come full circle though is with the emilia and subaru’s first kiss. Their first fight was about subaru denying emilia her personhood by ignoring her will in favor of his own. They have another fight that calls back to this but this is AFTER subaru has character development and one way that he proves to her that he loves her is by getting explicit consent for the kiss (verbally and physically) beforehand- it wasnt just an example of “a kiss solves all the problems” but a demonstration of how far hes come as a character, not assuming that playing out movie tropes alone will fix stuff but actually caring about what she wants.

Memories/Identity

Speaking of losing memories, that’s also a huge theme in the story. The idea is that your memories are your identity isn’t exactly unique, but what i like a lot about how the series does it is how OTHER peoples memories of you matter just as much as your own. It’s what i call “self-recognition through the other.”

Your identity is molded through how people around you perceive you, and how you perceive those perceptions in turn. Not just about how you see yourself, but how you see other people seeing you. That’s why there are two types of amnesia in the series, one where you forget your own identity and one where people forget who you are. Those are the two things that make you… you! So when a character loses one, they lose half of themselves. When they lose both… they stop existing. They enter a comatose state and are just a “null”- something that never was and yet is right here.

The theme of subaru projecting his will onto other people has to do with this- subaru hates himself so he can only bare to recognize himself through the projection.

The show especially has a LOT of shots of characters being reflected in each other’s eyes, making it clear that whats going on here isnt just a character being seen, but also a character seeing themselves through another person.

One example, heres a scene where subaru is yelling at emilia, he screams at her and calls her useless and tells her she cant save everyone. Throughout the entire scene we dont see subaru’s face, only emilia’s reaction, and when she starts to talk she just says “why are you crying?” and the scene changes to a close up of her eye, subaru reflected in it, crying. He wasn’t really yelling at emilia, he was yelling at himself through her.

Another way memories come into play is because of subaru’s return by death power. Its an isolating power, because when he dies and resets the timeline… his friends forget about him. From subarus perspective these are people he was close with, people hes been friends with for at least a month (in total) but who have no memory of him. Its part of why he blows up at emilia, hes frustrated that his friends cant remember such important memories because to them.. THEY NEVER HAPPENED!!! These are things that only subaru will remember. In arc 2 when he grows close to rem and ram over time and they just keep forgetting about him… it hurts him a lot because his friends just suddenly stop seeing him as a friend. Its not their fault, but its not his either. And they can never fully help him through the trauma because he cant tell anyone the shit hes been through, the power wont let him.

But from THEIR perspectives… its scary. Its scary when some guy you dont know acts so familiar, acts like you OWE him something when you have no idea what hes talking about. Something you cant remember. Of course emilia is horrified when he starts lashing out, she has no idea whats going on!

Whats interesting is that the SAME THING happens to subaru later on… through the witch of envy. She claims that she loves him, in fact thats all she says, “i love you, i love you, i love you” but subaru doesnt know her. He has no idea who she is, hes terrified of someone who loves him so much for things he doesnt remember. Yeah, doesnt feel so good huh?

7(+2) deadly sins

Each arc of the series actually focuses around subaru making a choice that’s centered around overcoming a deadly sin, and there are also several characters representing the deadly sins, including the two that pope gregory got rid of (vainglory and melancholy). There are the witches of sin, as well as the archbishops that represent those sins. What I find the most interesting is how these sins relate back to the theme of identity through the way their powers are represented as well as the ways their respective arcs are handled.

Gluttony is the most obvious, it’s framed as a sin where you “consume” another person's identity for your own sake, or take it on completely, without regard for them and how they’ll get dulled or lose their own sense of self devoid from you.

Greed is about a desire for connection, which in moderation can be a good thing, but it can also become possessive and entitled. It’s literally objectifying, treating someone else like your possession. On the flip side, placing that desire above all else can also lead to the detriment of your own well-being as well as those around you.

Lust doesn’t just refer to the sexual connotation, but about love in general. Specifically about using love as leverage to take advantage of and manipulate people, even by force, and even down to their sense of self.

Wrath also isn’t just about anger, it’s about intense emotions in general, and what happens when you project these emotions onto other people, and how this can become a cycle of amplifying these emotional projections back and forth until the person’s identity has been consumed by them.

Sloth can be taken as being slothful in your relationships, not just romantic ones but to the people around you. Neglecting or abandoning them when things get hard, especially if they really need you. Choosing escapism over reality.

Pride seems to be about the arrogant assumption that your perspective of another person is the correct one, and treating them the way that you see fit based on that. You’re in the right, so if you decide they deserve to be punished then it must be justified.

Envy is also about the possession of others, similar to greed but with a much more targeted and controlling nature. The jealousy that comes with it is one that forces the object of desire into being isolated, lonely and unfulfilled, unable to form any true bonds with others.

Melancholy is the one we’ve seen the least of, but it seems to be about forcing your negativity onto others, hurting not just yourself but also other people through your own depression and apathy.

Vainglory is gaslighting. Despite being as mysterious as melancholy, the metaphor is obvious. It’s manipulating another person's entire perspective and reality to fit your narrative, to manipulate them into what you want them to be.

Basically because of the series's themes of identity and projection, the biggest sin you could commit towards another person or even yourself is warping that.

Suicidality

Suicidality is present throughout the entire story. Of course it is! Our escapist mean characters superpower is to fucking die! But it’s more than that… Subaru hates himself. He wants to die. He didn’t consider himself to have a life before, and now he sees himself as an even bigger loser for all the trauma hes gone through and all that hes lost. Even in reflecting on the person he was. In the 4th arc especially he makes it clear how little he values his own life, especially because of how much he cares about his friends (at this point, yes, he sees them as people and loves them more than anything). But hes so traumatized, so down on himself for all his failures, and he cant die no matter how hard he tries.

This theme isn’t limited to him, in fact the same exact thing is true of beatrice, an immortal spirit girl who was abandoned inside a library for 400 years. They actually end up having a very very sweet sibling dynamic later on, but whats more important is that theyre both hypocrites. Subaru wants to save beatrce, he doesnt want her to die. Beatrice doesnt want subaru to die and repeatedly saves him, which he screams at her for. Beatrice begs him to kill her, he wont do it. They both want to save each other from each other but dont want to be saved themselves.

Rem is also an interesting example of suicidality- shes not as outwardly suicidal as beatrice and subaru but she does have a very very very severe inferiority complex, and very intense feelings of guilt and shame for never being enough, only being a replacement for her displaced sister, the literal reincarnation of a god. Rem falls for subaru because he sees her as her own person, for the first time ever (the only other person to do that is ram, but rem feels too guilty to see it) but what makes her feelings interesting is that she sees subaru as her “reason to die”. NOT LIVE! Rem only sees herself as someone worth discarding, if she can die for subaru than she would die happy. Its her excuse. What many many many people overlook about rem is just how unhealthy her ideas about love are, shes so mischaracterized! And its sad because of how interesting and thematically important her arc is… boiled down to a love triangle! Augh!

Stars

I love star themes in stories!!! This is honestly pretty obvious given that I have my own set of star-themed ocs, but i’ll try to put them aside for rn to talk about this lol. First of all subaru loves stars a lot, its something I like about his character too- he’s not just a typical nerdboy who likes anime and games, he has other unique personal interests like mythology and astronomy! Of course he does, his name actually comes from the stars, that’s where his love of them comes from. Subaru is the japanese name for the pleiades star cluster and the individual stars of become relevant later.

Beyond subaru there are plenty of characters whose names come from the stars, though not always directly.

For example all of the witches of sin (aside from one) are named after astroids. Echidna, Minerva, Sekhmet, Daphne, Typhon, Carmilla, Pandora, and Hector. The exception to this rule is Satella, the witch of envy, who was always an odd-one-out. Her name could mean either star or satellite (like an asteroid!). And all the sin archbishops are also named after stars, and the names of the stars actually directly correlate to what their powers are.

There are also plenty of other ways characters names often tie into stars and mythology, but not always- sometimes theyre just puns. For example, emilia comes from the latin “emilius” which means… Jealous.

Other stuff

Re:zero actually has a lot of different content, one of the coolest to me, because of how they expand on the series’ themes, are the what:if routes. I didnt talk abt them in the above bc i thought it would get too confusing, but theyre basically alternate routes for the story. What WOULD HAVE happened if subaru had made the wrong choice, if the thematic sin of the arc won. So far, and in order, there’s

Pride:if

Wrath:if

Sloth:if

Greed:if

Gluttony:if

There will probably be more in the future, whats funny is that theyre written and posted on april fools day… aka subaru’s birthday!

Theres also ovas which i think are important to watch before season 2, and one that takes place mid-season-1 so my watch order rec is actually

Season 1 episodes 1-11

Memory snow ova (lighthearted and fun!)

Season 1 episodes 12+

Frozen bonds ova (emilia backstory!)

Season 2

Theres also a directors cut version of the show but its basically just two episodes stitched together w some mild animation improvements and ONE scene added at the end (Which gets repeated in season 2 anyway) so which one you watch doesnt make a difference

After that, if you want, you can pick up the light novel at arc 5. Arc 6 s the best one imo but i havent read arc 7 yet (bear that in mind for the tw list)

Anyway now that i talked about the themes, and before i get to the tws, i want to talk about

The characters!!!!

Easily one of the best parts of the series. I feel like I’ve mostly talked about subaru and emilia here but thats because if i were to get Into It with each of these characters on their own we’d be here all day (and this is already so long!) they all have a lot of personality and are genuinely very complex and interesting characters so ill just give little blurbs to explain them here

Subaru: I’ve talked enough about here. I want to say that i genuinely like him a lot as a character, after his growth and development he’s so likable and fun and you just kind of want to protect him

Emilia: A silver-haired half-elf, she’s hated for looking like the witch of envy, a figure from history so repulsive people won’t even say her name. People call her a half-devil, say that she doesn’t deserve to live, that her birth was a crime. But emilia is a kind girl, she wants to change the world so that everyone is equal and no one is treated like she is. She’s also very strong, her ice magic is incredibly powerful and so so so deadly in some really cool and creative ways.

Puck: Emilia’s spirit! He loves emilia so much that he would literally kill everyone in the world and then himself if anything happened to her. For real.

Rem: So mischaracterized by the fanbase! Poor rem! She’s both sweet and also not afraid to cut a bitch at any given point. But for the most part she also kind of hates herself, seen as the lesser of the two oni sisters, she could never live up to ram. One day though, the tables turned, and rem had to take ram’s place, though she only felt guilt and shame for it. Seeing herself as nothing but a replacement, time stopped for her the fiery night her sister’s horn was cut off.

Ram: Also often mischaracterized as being “tsundere” though thats far from the truth- She’s actually just a straight up cunt. Her main character trait is that she’s bluntly honest no matter what, so when she’s being a bitch she means it. She used to be the reincarnation of the oni god (and technically still is) but when her horn was cut off she lost the ability to control these powers. She often gets seen as being “lazy” by other characters, but the truth is that she’s in constant pain because of this. Despite that, she was a little bit happy too when she was finally released from the pressures of a god.

Beatrice: The guardian of the forbidden library, she was abandoned there a long long time ago. Now she only sits and waits for someone to find her, save her, kill her. She can come off as being bratty, but the truth is that she’s very lonely and also afraid to let people in.

Roswaal: The margrave of the estate… He’s so very fucked up in the head… There’s not too much I can say without giving away some major plotpoints but that make-up isn’t there for nothing, he really is a fucking clown.

Otto: A merchant that eventually joined the emilia camp. He spent the first decade of his life completely mute, saying that the world used to be a hellish place of harsh noise for him. Eventually this changed- when he gained his divine protection of spirit voice. Meaning he can talk to animals! And other things. After some loops he ends up becoming a very very devoted friend to subaru, someone he can always confide in.

Garfiel: Sort of a wildcard, but despite everything he actually does have a heart of gold. And everything about him actually makes more sense when you learn he’s actually fourteen. He’s can also transform into a tiger which is pretty sick. And he has mommy issues!

Frederica: Garfiel’s older sister, she works as a maid for the roswaal estate but has taken a leave. She’s very sweet and motherly, especially to garfiel and petra. And she can transform into a lion which again is pretty sick.

Petra: A child from the village who ended up joining the emilia camp as a maid-in-training. I’m not going to lie I think she’s only there so there’s a cute kid that needs protecting and so that we can be devastated when she dies in any given loop. It kind of works

(now onto non-emilia-camp-members)

Anastasia: Don’t let her cute appearance fool you, she’s a cutthroat capitalist through-and-through. A former merchant looking to become the next king of legunica.

Julius: Anastasia’s knight, the knight of knights. Everything about him screams “chivalry” but in reality that’s a weaning facade. He and subaru don’t get along much at first, but eventually they end up with a really close bond. Subaru is kind of tsundere about it though lol

Crusch: The most militant of the royal selection candidates, crusch is sort of a hard-ass through and through… In fact they’re pretty much just looking to run a meritocracy, and subaru himself calls out the fact that crusch would be a good leader if not for abandoning the weak.

Ferris: Crusch’s knight, Ferris is playful and sometimes a smartass. Also granted the title of “blue” for their status as the best healer in the country.

Wilhelm: Crusch’s butler. He seems like just some old man but in reality he’s badass lol

Reinhard: The current sword saint, and wilhelm’s grandson. He’s the most OP man in existence, but he has so so many family issues, growing up with a terrible family situation and being blamed for his grandmas death. On top of that he lacks freedom and choice, being bound to being a knight for the kingdom. Making it fitting that he’s representing the candidate looking to abolish the current system, Felt.

Felt: A former thief from the slums, she was selected as a dragon priestess and chose to run in the royal selection… Because she wants to destroy the structures in place. She hates the nobility, she hates the knights, and she’s going to burn it all down. She wants anarchy and she’s got my vote.

Rom: Felt’s grandpa <3 well, adoptive, but still. Their cute little found family is actually adorable and I want them to be so happy. He’s also a giant.

Priscilla: She’s such a bitch. But like, it’s also really funny how much of a bitch she is. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, and her powers of luck make it so that everything always works out for her, no matter what. Basically she’s just aiming for totalitarianism, for all her whims to always be obeyed

Al: Priscilla’s knight, he’s pretty much just there to give her whatever she wants whenever she wants it. What's the most interesting about him though is that… he’s from earth. Like, our earth. Subaru isn’t the only one. In fact there are at least two historical figures that are also from earth.

(now for antagonists)

Elsa: The first real threat subaru encounters, elsa is a vampire and assassin who’s been granted the nickname of “the bowel hunter” because of the way she… Well, she rips people’s guts out and loves to watch them die <3

Meili: Elsa’s little assistent, they actually see each other as sisters and care about each other. She’s also more than okay with a little murder despite being like 12, because that’s all she knows. And she has control over monsters which is awesome.

Petelguese: sin archbishop of the witches cult representing sloth. He’s actually out of his mind… But. There’s some legit backstory. All i will say is that his voice actor has some fucking range i swear. Also the way he’s animated is both horrifying and hilarious. Uncanny in just the right loony toons way

Satella: AKA the witch of envy, she’s sort of mysterious, sort of a contradiction.

Echidna: The witch of greed, an amazing manipulator. All she wants is to know everything, her greed is an insatiable thirst for knowledge and she has no morals.

Minerva: The witch of wrath. What makes her angry? The injustices of a cruel world, pain and suffering, hardship and strife. She’s angry because she cares so much.

Sekhmet: The witch of sloth, she drove a giant dragon (basically deities in legunica) to the other side of the great waterfall (a barrier considered impenetrable, no one knows whats beyond it) just so she could nap.

Daphne: The witch of gluttony, she created all the monsters that inhabit the world. Why? So that no one ever has to go hungry ever again. But she thinks it’s unfair to not give the monsters a chance to eat too.

Typhon: The witch of pride, the young daughter of an executioner. Watching person after person be put to death, she childishly and cruelly began to judge people’s lives on her own. She might be a kid but she’s horrifying.

Carmilla: The witch of lust, though not in a purely sexual sense. A vampire who was worshiped in her life- people went to war over her. She has no interest in love herself, however she does recognize how important love is and wants to help people realize it too.

Hector: The devil of melancholy, he’s a bit mysterious but the make takeaway is that he has depression.

Pandora: The witch of vanity, and THE most broken character in anything ever. Her powers are literally just speaking shit into existence. She’s like somesort of goddess, and like her namesake she’s trying to open a box right now…

Anyway.

Trigger warnings

Re:zero is a dark show with some heavy themes, and despite being a deconstruction its also not immune to some of the grosser things abt the isekai genre. Heres my list of things to be weary of (Aside from stuff that wasnt already mentioned) so…

A not insignificant amount of gore. Its not corpse party or anything, but there are guts and eyeballs flying out, as well as plenty of examples of limbs getting cut off or in one case twisted until they break. In the light novel the descriptions of the gore are more graphic. Subaru dies in all kinds of fucked up ways.. As well as the people around him really.

Theres some pretty graphic depictions of self harm, particularly finger mutilation by one of the antagonists. Subaru also has a habit of biting his lip until it bleeds and in the ln its very heavily implied that he cuts himself. And again plenty of his deaths were suicides.

It’s really not shown on-screen, but one of the antagonists says that when she was a child she was molested by a man while seeking shelter in a snow storm. She killed him though so theres that

Theres also a pretty gross scene (intentionally so) where echidna, a witch character, finds a young roswaal who had literally JUST THROWN UP and starts to… make out with him. Its literally so gross. On multiple levels. In-universe it was supposed to be to help heal him, but on a meta level i think it was just showing us how their dynamic was a bit... yeah. (Also if vomit in general grosses you out, subaru throws up a few times during the series… understandable. He is so so traumatized)

Speaking of roswaal, hes like, 100+ years old now, and ram is 18. and he burned down rem and rams entire village and took them in to work for him when they were kids. And ram STILL has romantic feelings for him. Girl you have stockholm syndrome!!! But at the very least roswaal doesnt reciprocate (as of rn. Hopefully never) and the other characters straight up tell her she has bad taste lol

Also just in general animals and children will die, sometimes brutally, and even though its usually reset it can still be upsetting to watch.

The series also isnt afraid to depict subaru has having Mental Issues. It can be assumed he developed PTSD from the Everything Going On. and its not afraid to show disassociation, especially in arc 6, he more or less develops DID (though a little misdescribed) but with like some fantasy aid. You could also see emilia as having repressed memories but again theres fantasy aspects to it. I dont think depicting these things is bad obviously but i know they can cause some ppl to have episodes. (I dont have DID or anything but for some reason after i read inside mari i was like completely disassociating for days it was weird).

But what i find the most unpleasant to watch is the “loli” characters in the show. For the most part i dont find it to be that egregious, so i can handle it. but i think the worst example by far is liliana… i honestly dont know if ill be able to watch arc 5 when she’ll actually be on-screen and ill have to look at her like… eugh. Shes 22 but looks like shes 12 and shes in a relationship with a grown man who the other characters call a lolicon. Its genuinely something i hate about the series but like everything else enough that i dont look directly at it (doesnt mean im not conscious and critical though, please dont mistake that as what im saying lol)

There’s gotta be more so I’ll add on if I remember but that’s all I can think of off the top of my head.

Despite all the things that I dislike though you gotta believe me when I say there's stuff I like.. I mean that's what this entire novel was about. This wasn't a an analysis or critique of the show in ANY way, despite how much i wrote i actually feel like i'd be doing it a huge disservice in that regard. No, it's just all the stuff that I like, and on a somewhat surface level too because I didn't want to give EVERYTHING away, though I know I still said a lot!

So yeah! :thumbs_up: if you wanna check it out and the tws dont make you too uncomfortable I say go for it. I understand it's not for everyone and thats okay ^_^

#i didnt get TOO much into ln specifics mostly just the anime

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fastcardotmp3 · 1 year

Note

hi hello hi!! i have a lofty 556 words request from meta ch5 and yeah, okay, the max was 500 but it's not my fault YOU wrote all of my favorite lines in one scene. ANYWAY director's commentary pleeaaase <3

“My bad,” Eddie says offhandedly, but he still doesn’t leave, doesn’t run away from anything other than his own damn cowardice when he bucks up and blurts out, “can I read in here for a few minutes?”

His heart thrums, a painful thing, a sign of life. (Nothing hurts more than living. Eddie knows this firsthand.)

Steve doesn’t look up from where he’s jotting something down in the margins on his calendar, some sort of reminder to himself, but he scoots over to only take up half the bed and pats the other side twice with the flat of his palm.

“All yours, Ed.”

Fucking simple, fucking mundane and regular and easy, Eddie’s heart aches with the weight of it when he sits down on the right side of the bed, drops the letter in his hands to the nightstand and pulls the book that’s been hanging like an omen in his opposite hand into his lap.

Little notes sticking out and a pen stuffed into the soft, broken binding, Eddie pulls his knees up to prop the book upon them and flips past the library notations in the front cover to the page where he last left off.

And Eddie reads.

He tucks his socked toes under Steve’s comforter and lets the quiet scratching of Steve’s pen— and then later the soft shuffling of things around as Steve gets up to organize his desk for the coming week, put a pile of clothes crumpled on his chair away into their proper shelves and drawers— act as the white noise he needs to focus.

They don’t talk again for at least thirty minutes, just doing their own things in the same space, and Eddie knows why he had been so caught up in asking to stay, but it feels like folly in this moment.

“What’re you reading?” Steve is the one to break the silence as he climbs back into bed, pulls the covers up to his hips and adjusts the pillow behind him to lean against the headboard.

He has one of his car magazines in hand, the lights in the room dim with the late hour growing later, only the lamp on Steve’s side left to illuminate the small text growing smaller on the page in front of Eddie.

“Uh. Ovid?” Eddie clears his throat of disuse. “Roman guy— myths and poetry and stuff.”

“Huh,” Steve leans forward to peer at the cover screaming Metamorphoses like a direct line to the static that exists in Eddie’s head sometimes. “Like, uh, the gods and stuff,right?”

“Yeah, they’re in there,” Eddie explains, “lots of them actually, and mortals, half-mortals too. It’s kind of— lots of different stories in a way, so I haven’t gotten to all of it yet.”

He hasn’t gotten to Medusa yet, although he itches to jump straight there every time he opens the book, let himself stop wading through the density of a less-than-stellar translation and just get what he came here for.

Eddie isn’t sure why he’s taking the long road. That’s just sort of what he does, he supposes. “Any good ones yet?” Steve asks, settling back against his pillows, magazine forgotten in his lap as his eyes pave paths of sunlight across Eddie’s cheeks, his arms, the goosebumps at the back of his neck from the chill of night.

send me up to ~500 words from one of my fics and I'll give you a little director's commentary 💚

LOU GET OUTTA HERE (don't) GET OUT!!

Okay god let's talk about it let's talk about it because it's a turning point but they're gonna be quiet about it aren't they?

I think it all really boils down to "Eddie isn’t sure why he’s taking the long road. That’s just sort of what he does, he supposes."

Because it refers to the fact that he can't quite make himself jump ahead to the story he's looking for, can't quite look it in the eye if you'll allow me some on-the-nose-ness here, but all of that in turn still just refers to the way he's healing.

He's going about it at his own pace, not really satisfied with his progress at any point and especially where other people are involved, but the fact that he's acknowledging that about himself while actively taking this step towards physical vulnerability is HUGE for our poor traumatized boy.

(traumatized because living is harder than being dead and he KNOWS that to be fact which I never shut up about in this fic because I'm obsessed with taking things that sound like metaphor and using them in the most literal sense possible SHH)

It's up to Eddie to set the pace here, Steve already told him that loud and clear, tells him that again by not making it a big deal when Eddie cranks the pace up by one singular notch and climbs into his bed.

They aren't touching, aren't even interacting with each other in a significant way beyond presence, but there's no escaping (for either of them) the understanding that a choice has been made here. A choice to show up and a choice to allow that showing up to come and go and be as simply and mundanely as possible, a thing of beauty to a guy who has seen a bit too much of the extraordinary in recent months.

Steve hands over the reins again and again in this fic (until the one time he doesn't) and "all yours, Ed" is just another instance of that that I wanted to show.

Because it's ALL about Eddie not skipping ahead in his book, it's ALL about letting himself take the long way around and getting something out of every step of it (as he does here later in the chapter with the Orpheus and Euridice stuff finding its own place in his little book of metaphors), and it's ALL about having the kind of people around who don't give him a deadline just because yet another sun has begun to rise.

I love this little world so much sorry for rambling thank you for asking 😭💚🐍

#ask #dot fic #meta on meta how about that

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patchwork-panda · 1 year

Note

Hello! I wanted to ask how you came up with the ability of your character Kusunoki

And if you have any advice to create a ability

thanks for everything!

Oh my gosh! A message!! :O

And it's *not* from a porn bot!!

I didn't think anyone on tumblr was still following the fic and I'm only updating on AO3 now, but thank you for the ask! This really made my day ; o ;

To answer your first question: Kusunoki Kyou's Ability is based off the movie Arrival and the short story that inspired it, "The Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang. The protagonist of the story becomes able to see the future and uses knowledge gained from seeing the future to solve difficult problems in her present. So, I gave Kyou the Ability to do the exact same thing.

And while I really liked the story and movie, I disagreed with the message of determinism, so I did what Asagiri did and subverted certain parts about the original.

Kyou's Ability to alter the future is meant to signify her free will and agency in changing her circumstances, much the way a person dealing with depression might be able to better their circumstances and feelings through small, simple actions. In other words, I am saying that her choices and peoples' choices matter, even though in the original story, one of the ultimate messages is that you should accept what you cannot change.

The "One More Light" series is largely about depression and suicidal ideation and overcoming trauma and I wanted to use Kyou's and Dazai's characters to send a more hopeful message, about changing what you can. And I felt having Kyou just see the future and accept things as they are would undermine that hopeful message of "you can change" and "you can change the future" that I wanted to express. Ultimately there are a lot of themes and messages I want to show through the two of them and their relationship, so I made her Ability into something that could be read metaphorically.

To answer the second part:

I'd say to choose an Ability that allows you to write the kinds of things you enjoy. For example, if you want to make an action-y story and have your protagonist fight and fight well, choose a combat-oriented Ability, like Atsushi's. ie: turn them into a bruiser, make them grow armor, breathe fire etc.

Or if you want a story that is more of a spy-caper and have someone who can play psychological games, give them an information-seeking Ability, like Ango's. Those kinds of Abilities work really well for murder-mystery type things as well (see Poe and Ranpo).

I also think it's a good idea to pick an Ability that suits your character. Each of the canon characters' Abilities says something greater or deeper about them as characters/people. In Kyou's case, every facet of her Ability is meant to showcase her traumas/fears/anxieties and also relate back to aspects of anxiety and depression (for example, did you know "fortune-telling" is the name of a "bad habit" that people with anxiety/depression engage in?).

And since the source of this is actual literature and irl authors, I think the easiest way is to make an Ability is to pick a book and writer you like and make something up based on something that you loved about the work/writer.

But most importantly, you want to pick an Ability that is fun for you to write! Asagiri (and I) loves his subversions after all (ie Dazai becoming Akutagawa's mentor in BSD instead of Akutagawa inspiring Dazai irl) so there's lots of room to play with. BSD is itself a giant meta fanfiction!

I really hope this helps! Best of luck on your writing or whichever project you're making right now :D

And I hope this wasn't too long a message to write ^^;;

#omg I was actually asked for writing advice!!#I'm so so happy!!!#aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ; o ;

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giomagnetism · 2 years

Note

all questions re: ness because i love him. 7, 16, 30, a, g

[uncommon oc questions!!]

7. What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

mmm first, to him, ‘nostalgia’ and ‘melancholy’ are almost the same emotion. it isn’t a warm thing to him; it’s a kind of regret, although whether or not that’s because he’s actually lacking in fond memories or just has a warped definition of nostalgia’s he doesn’t care to discern. ness is the kind of person to live and die by the dictionary of obscure sorrows, and likes to languish in those strange, inarticulate, liminal emotions. that’s what nostalgia is to him, and it’s often marked by regret; maybe ‘enjoy’ isn’t the word, but he does linger in it, and sometimes to his own detriment.

it’s a proclivity he shares with marlo, and a huge chunk of the reason he’s drawn to them despite their fantastic suckage as a person. their strange innate connection isn’t fate, it’s ✧ depression ✧ !

16. What makes their stomach turn?

honestly, he’s got a pretty strong stomach; i.e. several times where marlo’s thrown up from exposure to gore or mental strain, he hasn’t. for him it’s more a question of his anxieties, where he’ll get sick at the prospect of things. (1) of those would be having his personal agency inhibited or trivialized (which might range from being made to try some new food, willfully getting drunk, getting made fun of for his lack of punctuality), (2) would be intimacy, on a sliding scale but both emotional and physical (sometimes he’d get nauseous at the idea of a hug and sometimes he can entertain the other extreme), a third would be garden-variety paranoia.

bonus, since marlo has a footnote in all of these other answers: they intersect all of these anxieties! ness doesn’t like it!

30. Who do they most regret meeting?

you may as well have asked “how does ness regret having met marlo”, it’s the same answer. but even then regret is a misnomer and i don’t think there is anyone he regrets having met; regret implies he dwells on it, and he doesn’t. crush might be the most annoying internet-poisoned moron he’s ever had the displeasure of holding a conversation with and he’s had a share of teachers he could’ve done without, but those are minor things. everyone creates a little friction with each other, he takes it in stride.

ness regrets having met marlo in the same way someone grieves an immediate family member having died when they were young. it’s a pure hypothetical that isn’t worth pursuing except if you want to make yourself sad over a future you’ll never have—which IS, granted the top answer, something he’s prone to. he doesn’t know how he’d differ as a person, he doesn’t know how different his life would’ve turned out, so what’s really there to mourn? he can’t want the alternative, so he can’t say he regrets it... not in so many words.

A. Why are you excited about this character?

this is like... a very simple and very complicated question at the same time. on the one hand, i just like his vibes. smug paranormal gamer dude. on the other, he’s the oc that draws the most on my own life experience, and lets me abstract and play around with that experience. the stuff that really inspires me, like his academic years, his job, his aromanticism, are all me taking themes and anxieties from my own life and plunking them in a sandbox. i can say—really, what it comes down to—‘i want to think about what it is to exist in two places at once,’ and answer it through him. fiction offers a place to practice emotions and scenarios, and that’s a proper theme in his story, not just a meta observation.

G. What trait of theirs bothers you the most?

i mean, none? on the one hand i’ve never codified ness’ personality, so it’s not like i can pull something from a list, but none of my ocs’ traits bother me. if they do i won’t want to write them anymore—the last time a trait of someone’s bothered me was crush’s, well, crush, and i eventually wrote that out. i would love to tell you what makes ness hard to handle as a character, but i haven’t written him enough for that.

he’s not meant to not have flaws—he has an arrogant, self-righteous streak, and doesn’t quite exist in reality; he doesn’t take the best care of himself, frequently overthinks, and his social skills could use some work—but those are my flaws, so i’m, like, a little biased!

*i should observe the fact that he isn’t a sona for several very good reasons, but i did use myself (at the time) as a blueprint lol.

#inbox #shadowsplice #oc ness #oc posting #love answering questions from. (checks wristwatch) may

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machinavellian · 4 days

Note

hi :)

i just wanted to pop into your ask box to say thank you for writing interstate! (as well as precedence!). interstate is, to this day, my favorite fic, and also, it is the fic that inspired me to start writing fanfiction. i've read it like a million times- i have a pdf on my computer and an epub on my phone so i can highlight my favorite parts. (i swear i'm not crazy, just autistic lol). i could go on and on about how your writing is perfect. the characterization, the plot, the prose itself. i generally hate happy endings in fics but you managed to write one that i love. i'll never stop thinking about how you wrote the sex scene in one sentence. to be able to get across the whole essence in one simple sentence takes so much talent i could never. and the way you did the pov switch without switching povs (where norman is imagining what ethan is doing) was brilliant! (i am awful about accidentally switching povs)

i wish i could explain myself better, but i'm not as good with words as you are.

anyway, since i'm here i also have a question, and i hope it's not too vague or stupid etc. but how do you do it?? (i guess what i mean is, what books/other media inspires your writing? do you have a writing routine or a secret tip? or is it just natural talent?)

sorry for being a weirdo but your fic is my roman empire so to speak

thanks again for writing and publishing (especially in our tiny little fandom!!)

pardon how late this is, i'm not at all good at tumblr lmao. but ahhh, thank you, you're very kind! it's so great to hear that something i wrote meant so much to someone else, and it's SO great to hear that it got someone else writing their own fic! no judgment whatsoever about the hoarding of copies, my autism is the cause of many mysterious choices i make in life 😌

it's a little embarrassing in a way because i most definitely don't consider myself a creator of great literature or anything, i just work hard on my fics and take the process of writing them seriously (maybe too seriously)... but i'm going to try to answer your question/request for tips as sincerely as i can!

read. like for real, read other people's writing! i actually don't do this nearly as much as i would like to anymore and i can tell my writing is a little rustier for it. when i read other people's writing, i sometimes feel like i'm filling up an invisible "tank" that holds my ability to do words good. :') as a personal example, i have a short story anthology by vladimir nabokov that i've been slowly whittling my way through for a million years -- i loved his prose the first time i read it in middle or high school and i think it has been a big influence on my desire to look for unexpected turns of phrase and vocabulary words i didn't know before. sometimes i like to keep a list of new vocab words i encounter as i read to look up later, but usually i end up getting distracted and looking them up as i go. 😩 though this is easier than ever if you're reading digitally, i suppose! i think learning to identify the things you like in writing is really important. for me, that has a lot to do with not only finding the exact words i want to describe something, but also their cadence/musicality in a sentence. i remember very little about the poetry terms i learned in school, but i think learning about the anatomy of poems can be a really useful tool when it comes to prose also! or if nothing else, it can be fun to try experimenting with shuffling around the order of words or substituting one synonym for another to see how it changes the overall sound and feel of a sentence.

write! then tweak/rewrite. i actually hate the advice "you gotta just write" lmao... pisses me off every time because i know it's true 😭 i can dick around writing notes/meta as long as i like (and i do), but there's truly no other way to make progress like just fucking writing SOMETHING down even if you hate it and think it's bad. i used to get academic papers done in college and grad school by quickly and sloppily blasting down the basic gist of my main points like a 10 year old and then going back and revising it to sound like an adult. it's a little different with fiction because i'm writing something i already actually want to write, but it can still help to jot down the bare bones of a scene even if i don't even use it in the end. writing out dialogue can help a lot in my experience. i do feel pretty strongly that revisions are nearly always necessary -- i don't always get my fics beta'd by another person, but at minimum i have to put it down and re-read it for myself to make sure everything is flowing the way i want it to. betas really are helpful, though, because a LOT of times i'll think something makes perfect sense in my head only to find out my friend has no idea what i'm on about lmao. this can also help with things like switching povs, like you mentioned! there's nothing wrong with having a pov switch happen in your fic, mind you! it's just that ideally it's happening because you wanted it to happen instead of like, uh-oh, i need to convey some information about norman that ethan doesn't have a way of knowing. it's funny you mention the fap/fantasy scene because i think that's literally what happened when i was writing it, like... i think i was like "hmm, i want to emphasize that ethan is most definitely Into norman and this thing that's growing between them, but i've stuck with norman's pov this entire time and i don't want to put one solitary scene of ethan pov in there, if i can help it... but hey, norman's a profiler! visualizing what people do when they're alone is his whole thing!" so that was the perfect excuse to frame it that way in the end. ✨

canon review for characterization. this has less to do with the mechanics of writing, but honestly, if i had to choose, i'd much rather read a fic that totally nails the characterization than one that's perfect on a technical level. y'know that meme that's like "he would NOT fucking say that"? i do everything i can to avoid eliciting that response lfkdslf. iirc while i was writing interstate i basically always had an LP of heavy rain playing so i could observe the way the characters react in different situations, listen to their speech patterns and the types of words/language they use, and just kind of... idk, absorb the general vibe a little bit, i guess? i know i just mentioned you have to write Actual Story and not just notes to make progress, but i do also tend to have a LOT of notes about like... "okay so norman actually really likes this guy, but the reason he's holding back his feelings is because he's given so much of himself to his work and he's so used to looking at people in the abstract that he struggles to connect with them, leading him over time to decide that he can't or isn't good enough to be what ethan deserves, and what could ethan maybe say or do to help challenge that so they can move forward?" etc etc.... at the risk of being Very Autistic, i find i do a lot of if/then calculations when it comes to plotting character beats. 😅 "if these two particular lonely dudes start to form a connection one night at a bar, what then?"

have a thesis. this feels kind of ridiculously pretentious when i write it out, but it honestly really helps me a lot with staying focused: it's basically me answering wtf my point is. why do i think this fic needs to be written in the first place? it's the thing i want to accomplish, the idea i want to share with people who read it. even if i don't have a solid statement to make, there's always SOME kind of central question i'm trying to answer -- a lot of times, that question is as simple as "man, you know, i really wanna see these two bone. what has to happen for that to be possible?" for precedence i think it was basically just "hey wouldn't it be fucked up if...?" and for interstate it expanded to "hey i think these two deserve a happy ending and they deserve to share it together. what does that look like?"

so i dunno, hopefully all that is at least slightly useful and not just self-indulgent rambling, but thank you for giving me the ability to self-indulgently ramble if nothing else 😭

but above all, please do not doubt your own ability! writing is hard and sometimes sucks but it's also a lot of fun and there's not a right way to tell the story you want to tell, it just matters that you tell it. so... DO 💪

#how do i tag this i ever answer asks lmao #writing! one assumes #no fr tho thanks so much op this was rad 🥺#nominally heavy rain #heavy rain adjacent #a light drizzle if you will

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shieldofrohan · 2 years

Note

I loved your meta on HOTU. I wanted to ask you something about it. In one vision Dany saw the red wedding where the dead man with wolf-head was looking to her with 'mute appeal'. The word 'mute appeal' also come in Cat chapters. In AGOT when discussing with Ned about Jon future, Ned look her with 'mute appeal'. In ASOS, when Cat tried to kill Jinglebell he looked at her with 'mute appeal'. Seems like the dead man in Dany vision is trying to plead her or warn her. What do you think?

Hello Anon,

I chose not to examine that part in my HOTU meta because I wanted to keep it about only Da*nerys (a lie: I was tired). But let's try to examine it now.

Like you said, we see the phrase "mute appeal" three times in the books.

Since I am not a native English speaker, I looked at the word "appeal" in the dictionary.

appeal verb [I] (REQUEST): to strongly request something, often publicly

appeal verb [I] (ATTRACT): to attract or interest someone

appeal verb [I] (FORMALLY ASK): to formally ask someone to change an official or legal decision

“Jon must go,” she said now.

“He and Robb are close,” Ned said. “I had hoped…”

“He cannot stay here,” Catelyn said, cutting him off. “He is your son, not mine. I will not have him.” It was hard, she knew, but no less the truth. Ned would do the boy no kindness by leaving him here at Winterfell.

The look Ned gave her was anguished. “You know I cannot take him south. There will be no place for him at court. A boy with a bastard’s name…you know what they will say of him. He will be shunned.”

Catelyn armored her heart against the mute appeal in her husband’s eyes. “They say your friend Robert has fathered a dozen bastards himself.”

“And none of them has ever been seen at court!” Ned blazed. “The Lannister woman has seen to that. How can you be so damnably cruel, Catelyn? He is only a boy. He—”

His fury was on him. He might have said more, and worse, but Maester Luwin cut in. [AGOT- Catelyn II]

Ned was asking Cat to change her mind/decision about Jon.

Farther on she came upon a feast of corpses. Savagely slaughtered, the feasters lay strewn across overturned chairs and hacked trestle tables, asprawl in pools of congealing blood. Some had lost limbs, even heads. Severed hands clutched bloody cups, wooden spoons, roast fowl, heels of bread. In a throne above them sat a dead man with the head of a wolf. He wore an iron crown and held a leg of lamb in one hand as a king might hold a scepter, and his eyes followed Dany with mute appeal. [ACOK- Daenerys IV]

Robb was looking at her with interest. At least I think this was the meaning. I've checked my Turkish ACOK book and the translator chooses this meaning too.

Lord Walder snorted. "And why would I let him do that?"

She pressed the blade deeper into Jinglebell's throat. The lackwit rolled his eyes at her in mute appeal. A foul stench assailed her nose, but she paid it no more mind than she did the sullen ceaseless pounding of that drum, boom doom boom doom boom doom. Ser Ryman and Black Walder were circling round her back, but Catelyn did not care. They could do as they wished with her; imprison her, rape her, kill her, it made no matter. She had lived too long, and Ned was waiting. It was Robb she feared for. "On my honor as a Tully," she told Lord Walder, "on my honor as a Stark, I will trade your boy's life for Robb's. A son for a son." Her hand shook so badly she was ringing Jinglebell's head.

Boom, the drum sounded, boom doom boom doom. The old man's lips went in and out. The knife trembled in Catelyn's hand, slippery with sweat. "A son for a son, heh," he repeated. "But that's a grandson . . . and he never was much use."

[ASOS- Catelyn VII]

And the scared Jinglebell (Aegon Frey) also BEGS Cat to spare his life here.

Interesting part is that all three examples have a Targaryen mention.

Cat and Ned Stark talk about a secret Targaryen's fate: Jon (1)

A dead Stark looks at a Targ girl with interest: Daenerys (2)

Catelyn Stark kills a lackwit fool with the most Targ-ish name: Aegon (3)

DoD 2.0, me thinks.

Another interesting thing is that all three occasions have CATELYN STARK.

It was Cat who wanted Jon gone, (1)

Cat was in that vision's reality (Red Wedding) (2)

and it was Cat who killed Aegon. (3)

I'll go further and say that Daenerys and Catelyn are parallel characters. Cersei too. These three are the mothers of the books. But I'll focus on Cat and Dany.

Joffrey Baratheon sends an assassin to Bran and after this incident Cat decides to come KL and everything goes down.

Robert Baratheon orders Dany's death (and she was pregnant with Rhaego) and a wineseller tries to kill her. AND interestingly my key chapter for HOTU was about that. And her Throne campaign starts aka everything goes down.

When Dany paused before his stall, he bowed low. “A taste for the khaleesi? I have a sweet red from Dorne, my lady, it sings of plums and cherries and rich dark oak. A cask, a cup, a swallow? One taste, and you will name your child after me.”

Dany smiled. “My son has his name, but I will try your summerwine,” she said in Valyrian, Valyrian as they spoke it in the Free Cities. The words felt strange on her tongue, after so long. “Just a taste, if you would be so kind.”

[…] Doreah stepped up beside her. “You have the honor to address Daenerys of the House Targaryen, Daenerys Stormborn, khaleesi of the riding men and princess of the Seven Kingdoms.”

The wine merchant dropped to his knees. “Princess,” he said, bowing his head.

[…] Ser Jorah lifted a cup and sniffed at the wine, frowning.

“Sweet, isn’t it?” the wineseller said, smiling. “Can you smell the fruit, ser? The perfume of the Arbor. Taste it, my lord, and tell me it isn’t the finest, richest wine that’s ever touched your tongue.”

Ser Jorah offered him the cup. “You taste it first.”

[...]

My brother?” Her sob was half a laugh. “He does not know yet, does he? The Usurper owes Drogo a lordship.” This time her laugh was half a sob. She hugged herself protectively. “And me, you said. Only me?”

“You and the child,” Ser Jorah said, grim.

“No. He cannot have my son.” She would not weep, she decided. She would not shiver with fear. The Usurper has woken the dragon now, she told herself…and her eyes went to the dragon’s eggs resting in their nest of dark velvet.

[…] Was it madness that seized her then, born of fear? Or some strange wisdom buried in her blood? Dany could not have said. She heard her own voice saying, “Ser Jorah, light the brazier.”

“Khaleesi?” The knight looked at her strangely. “It is so hot. Are you certain?”

She had never been so certain. “Yes. I…I have a chill. Light the brazier.”

[...]

She watched until the coals had turned to ashes. Drifting sparks floated up and out of the smokehole. Heat shimmered in waves around the dragon’s eggs. And that was all.

Your brother Rhaegar was the last dragon, Ser Jorah had said. Dany gazed at her eggs sadly. What had she expected? A thousand thousand years ago they had been alive, but now they were only pretty rocks. They could not make a dragon. A dragon was air and fire. Living flesh, not dead stone.

[AGOT- Daenerys VI]

That wineseller couldn't kill Dany and her son thanks to Jorah.

Who is Jorah: Jorah is secretly in the employment of Varys, the master of whisperers for King Robert I Baratheon. Hoping to earn a royal pardon and return to Westeros from his exile, Jorah reports on the Targaryens' movements to King's Landing. He is quick to inform Robert about Daenerys's marriage to Drogo. When Daenerys becomes pregnant, Jorah informs Varys as well, resulting in Robert's decision to have Daenerys, her child, and Viserys assassinated.

He was the reason of the assassination attempt but he also saved her: Jorah accompanies Daenerys and her escort to the western market, where he insists on visiting a caravan captain alone. Illyrio has sent a letter warning that King Robert has promised a lordship to whomever slays Viserys, Daenerys, or her child. Jorah returns to Daenerys's side just in time to confront a merchant about attempting to sell her poisoned wine. For his role in saving Daenerys and her unborn son, Drogo allows Jorah to choose any horse from his herds, with the exception of his own stallion, and Daenerys's silver. After Jorah warns Drogo that there will be more attempts, Drogo declares he will invade the Seven Kingdoms.

Jorah also ends up killing Rhaego: Daenerys's child, Rhaego, is a stillborn monstrosity. When Daenerys wakes up from her fevered sleep, a weakened Jorah is unable to tell her the truth about the child, so Mirri tells her. Daenerys and Jorah believe that by carrying her into the tent during the ritual, Jorah inadvertently caused her son's death. Jorah escorts Daenerys to Drogo, revealing that his khalasar is gone and Drogo is now catatonic. Daenerys euthanizes her husband.

And his treason finally comes out: Arstan reveals he is actually Ser Barristan Selmy, formerly Lord Commander of the Kingsguard for Robert I Baratheon, and he tells Daenerys that someone has been informing on her since the day she married Drogo. Jorah admits that he had spied on her and Viserys, but had stopped when he fell in love with her. Angrily, Daenerys sends them with Belwas and twenty men into the sewers of Meereen to take the city for her. Jorah kills a great pale lizard during the mission. (Ok.. him killing a PALE WIZARD is shady af... Viserion is that you? Was Rhaego not enough Jorah? )

In the end Dany doesn't forgive Jorah: Although Daenerys half hopes that Jorah and Arstan will die, they are successful in freeing Meereen's slaves, granting her victory in the siege of Meereen. The thought of Jorah makes Daenerys feel angry, agitated, and sick, but she summons him and Arstan nonetheless. Although shamed, Jorah refuses to beg for forgiveness and instead insists Daenerys forgive him on account of his loyal service and love to her. Although Daenerys had planned to forgive him, she finds herself unable to, realizing it had been Jorah who had informed King Robert of her pregnancy. Instead, she banishes Jorah from Meereen, swearing to kill him if she ever sees him again.

Jorah and Baelish are same picture.

Jorah was informing Varys about Daenerys and this put Dany and Rhaego in danger. And Dany's Westeros campaign started with that incident.

Baelish made Lysa write a letter informing Cat that Lannisters killed Jon Arryn and this started the whole war.

Jorah was misleading Dany about the assassination attempts to keep his involvement as a secret. Baelish also was misleading Cat about the owner of the dagger and because of that Cat kidnapped Tyrion (lol Jorah kidnaps Tyrion too..).

You got my point... I really don't want to write long meta rn. But someone should!

So why is there a Catelyn connection?

Let’s put Dany in Cat's place:

Dany doesn't want Jon in his father's castle. Because his existence puts her (heirs') right in danger. (1)

Dany kills the Aegon with BELLS (Aegon wears a crown and collar decorated with small brass bells.) during a carnage (2 & 3)

Bells represent two things heavily in Targs' story in the books:

Daenerys' victories as a Khaleesi:

Tiny bells that ring are worn in the hair of victorious Dothraki warriors. Each bell signifies a victory that the man has won. The more victories, the more bells in a warrior's braid. The bells can be made of gold, silver, or bronze. Dothraki women do not wear bells in their hair; however, Khaleesi Daenerys Targaryen is known to wear bells in her hair for the victories she has won. Even if a khalasar is not glimpsed, the sound of the warrior's bells tells their foes that the Dothraki are near. (awoiaf)

The Battle of Bells:

History time:

During the Robert's Rebellion, Connington and his forces caught up with Robert in the Riverlands, who was hiding in the town of Stoney Sept. Robert was wounded and he hid in the local Sept from pursuers just before the battle began.

Connington's soldiers began a house-to-house search, but they did not locate Robert before his allies arrived at Stoney Sept to oust Connington and his forces. The town's septons rang bronze and silver bells to warn the smallfolk to remain indoors. The rebels stormed Stoney Sept's walls and attacked Jon Connington's army, who responded by fighting back fiercely in streets, in alleys, and on rooftops. At this point, the Battle of the Bells began.

The rebel army under the joint command of Lords Eddard Stark, Hoster Tully, and Jon Arryn immediately began attacking the royal army. Connington fought back fiercely, personally killing Jon Arryn's nephew and heir, Denys Arryn, and wounding Lord Tully. Emerging from the Peach when the bells began ringing, Robert slew six men, including Prince Rhaegar Targaryen's friend and former squire, Ser Myles Mooton. It was thought that Robert would have killed Connington, but in spite of the determination of both men to find each other in the chaos, they never crossed swords. When Connington saw that the battle was lost, he managed to escape and was able to retreat in good order.

Robert only formally announced his intention to claim the Iron Throne after the Battle of the Bells, in the lead up to the Battle of the Trident. It was only after their loss at the Battle of the Bells that Aerys II realized that Robert was the greatest threat to Targaryen rule since the Blackfyre Rebellion nearly a century before. At the Stoney Sept, armies from three major kingdoms (The Riverlands, the North, and the Vale) fought for Robert and outright defeated a royal army sent to eliminate Robert - it was only at this point that the Mad King realized that he was facing a Westeros-wide civil war. King Aerys II held Connington responsible for this defeat and exiled him, stripping him of his lands, wealth and titles. Connington never questioned his punishment, for he blamed himself not only for the failure to capture Robert - but also for Rhaegar's subsequent death: had he slain Robert, the battle of the Trident would have never been fought.

The exiled Jon joined the Golden Company and served with them for five years, rising quickly in the ranks to a place of honor at the right hand of Ser Myles Toyne, the company's captain-general. Jon believes that, had his exile gone otherwise, he might have been the successor to his friend Myles instead of Harry Strickland.

After a few short years in the company, Jon and Myles were approached by Illyrio Mopatis and Lord Varys, who informed them that Prince Rhaegar Targaryen's infant son, Aegon, had survived the Sack of King's Landing during Robert's Rebellion. In order to remove Jon from the Golden Company, they concocted a plan, of which the remainder of the Golden Company was left unaware, so they would not be able to let anything slip. Jon was driven from the company after being caught stealing from the company's war chests. Afterwards, news was spread that Jon drank himself to death in Lys.

Ser Myles Toyne, the former captain-general of the Golden Company, told Connington he could have ended the rebellion in a single stroke by burning Stoney Sept to the ground, killing Robert before his allies arrived to rescue him - and that was what Tywin would have undoubtedly done. It was not Connington's conscience that stopped him from destroying the entire town, but two rather selfish reasons: first, he wanted the glory of slaying Robert in a single combat; second, he did not want to gain the reputation of a butcher. Seventeen years after the battle, Connington still recalls the battle bitterly, blaming himself of letting Robert escape and of the subsequent outcome - Rhaegar's death. Lord Jon Connington, who had not died of drink but instead allowed that story to be spread so he could help educate Young Griff in secret, is still haunted by the Battle of the Bells and its outcome. He is determined to make up for his failure by doing everything in his power to help Rhaegar and Elia's son - the presumed-dead Aegon Targaryen - ascend the Iron Throne.

Last night he'd dreamt of Stoney Sept again. Alone, with sword in hand, he ran from house to house, smashing down doors, racing up stairs, leaping from roof to roof, as his ears rang to the sound of distant bells. Deep bronze booms and silver chiming pounded through his skull, a maddening cacophony of noise that grew ever louder until it seemed as if his head would explode.

Seventeen years had come and gone since the Battle of the Bells, yet the sound of bells ringing still tied a knot in his guts. Others might claim that the realm was lost when Prince Rhaegar fell to Robert's warhammer on the Trident, but the Battle of the Trident would never have been fought if the griffin had only slain the stag there in Stoney Sept. The bells tolled for all of us that day. For Aerys and his queen, for Elia of Dorne and her little daughter, for every true man and honest woman in the Seven Kingdoms. And for my silver prince. [ADWD- The Lost Lord]

Sounds like the mute appeal passage from the Red Wedding, don't you think?

Lord Walder snorted. "And why would I let him do that?"

Bells are ringing for death and the boom doom boom doom of the song...

I gave the very long history lesson because it is full of gems.

The Battle of Bells made Robert claim the Iron Throne for himself.

Robert was the greatest threat to Targaryen rule since the Blackfyre Rebellion (BLACKFYRE BABY!!)

North + Vale + Riverlands ended Targs' entire career..

Also wounded Hoster (Edmure?), and dead Arryn heir (Harry?) and Robert says it was actually Ned who won the battle for him (Jon and Aegon alliance?? wishful thinking probably)

The whole battle is background for JonCon and his goal of making Aegon the king...

JonCon didn't burn the Stoney Sept but Daenerys won't be that merciful.

So in conclusion: Cat/Dany killing the Aegon with BELLS (by burning down his city- a carnage like Red Wedding) seems to be connected.

We'll have a Battle of Bells that ends differently:

Aegon will be in the city with Joncon.

Bells will ring.

Dany will burn the city (a new victory bell for her)

and her next target will be Alliance of the Three (Stark + Arryn + Tully).

And a DEAD STARK WITH A DIREWOLF'S HEAD will be watching her with interest (dead Jon in Ghost ?) during this carnage?

So this is my take for the phrase "mute appeal" anon...

Thanks for the ask. Have a nice day.

#a simple ask turns into a meta... the story of my life #asoiaf #mine #hou meta #anti targaryen #anti daenerys targaryen #just to be safe #battle of bells #anon #ask #answered #reply

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inhonoredglory · 3 years

Note

another character based question - how do you feel about mikasa? a lot of fans dont like her, im curious about how you feel! - armin anon

Hellooooo Armin Anon. OMG it’s been forever since I had the time to sit down and do a proper meta, and I apologize.

First off, I finished the manga!!! (So, spoilers ahead for anyone else reading this.) I had to lie down after reading 139. It’s a tremendous story and I’m still taking it all in. The set pieces and personal/emotional stakes of everything that happens is just astounding. If it’s one thing Isayama does good, it’s the gut-wrenching personal anguish that underlies the action. I’m absolutely floored. My favorite bit was probably the timey-wimey stuff in Paths and Eren. That blew my freaking mind. But onto Mikasa!!

A Cruel Yet Beautiful World

I remember way back when I started the anime that I started liking Mikasa first out of the group. I liked how sullenly silent and no-nonsense she was, and I liked her loyalty to Eren. Her emotion, especially when Eren died in Trost, was palpable and terrifyingly beautiful. Her grief was incredibly realistic––rushing off with a death wish that even she couldn’t succumb to in the end, because of the drive to fight that she got from Eren. In a world like SNK, her relentlessness breaking through her grief was incredibly moving. And her philosophy is basically the driving theme of SNK: “This is a cruel world, and yet so beautiful.”

This is the same moral message she gives Eren when he can’t find the strength in him to fight Annie––and gives him that warm, understanding, inscrutable smile that allows him to finally accept his own monsters, fight Annie, and save her and Armin. (One of my favorite panels of her from the manga, actually.) Mikasa is basically the first character we meet who embodies this contradictory morality, which grows to engulf SNK and other characters as well (Levi, Reiner, and Armin especially come to mind). Which could be why I was drawn to her at the start, since the complex moral outlook of SNK was the primary reason I fell hard for this story.

(And gosh, it’s tragic to realize that it’s teaching moments like the scene above that made Eren into the person who could influence his own child self to murder, the person who could wipe out so much of humanity, the person who could take Ymir’s challenge to free her by destroying the love of the person who cared the most about him. I’m still processing yo.)

Acker-parallels

I started really analyzing Mikasa when I had to defend her from a friend of mine who accused her of resenting Levi (for beating up Eren) and that’s why she attacked him so violently in the RTS serumbowl. Because of my research into rebutting that, a lot of my affection for Mikasa now comes in seeing the little ways in which she cares and trusts other people, including Armin, Levi, Gabi, and Jean. And her quiet sensibility that goes beyond her love and protectiveness of Eren.

With Levi in particular, I find a lot I like about her. Because you can definitely see her annoyance at him, but she also trusts him more than anyone else in the Corps outside of Armin. After Levi’s violent encounter with Historia, she was the only one who implicitly trusted Levi’s judgement, backing up Armin’s more reasoned logic. She sees beyond her own emotions and even moral feelings and realizes the world is cruel enough that sometimes people have to do dark things to help others and survive.

This is very much the same statement Levi made to the 104th when he had asked them to follow Erwin’s orders when the commander’s plans were questionable on the surface: “Do you trust him? Those dumb enough to say yes… come with me.” These two understand each other on a moral level, and they ask for their comrades’ loyalty without demanding it, because they each know that everyone’s conscience is their own.

There’s a clear parallel between Mikasa and Levi, not only because of their Ackerman heritage and sensibilities (loyal to a fault to their chosen person, impossibly strong, quiet and grim), but their frustration when they cannot protect the people they are responsible for. They both know they are the strongest around, and if they cannot fulfill on that power, a lot of people will die.

There are many moments in which Mikasa puts aside her personal feelings to do her soldierly duty, from leaving Eren to help with the evacuation of Trost to leaving Eren and Armin to fight the Colossal Titan alone in Shigonshina.

And then there’s the fact that Levi’s the one who could break past Mikasa’s headspace and distraction so that she can do the right thing. He understands her strong emotion, he respects it, but he also knows when that has to be put aside for the greater good. But he doesn’t put her down for having those emotions, either.

Strength from Eren, Humanity from Armin

Mikasa’s love and loyalty to Eren challenges her tremendously after the timeskip and her sorrow at Eren’s change is what really stands out to me about her character in the Marley arc. The absolute grief in her eyes when she tells Eren what he’s done is devastating, and it shows just how much goodness and compassion she does have.

And yet she longs to understand Eren, to trust him, to believe there can be something redeeming, and not merely jaded and tired, in what he taught her so many years ago––to fight, to win, to live.

There’s such a difference between these same words said here by Mikasa, so many years later, after so much heartbreak, to the anger and flame that were in them when she first heard them, back when she realized that this was the way of the world. That death and killing happens in the natural world everyday and that’s how you survive. That the world is both cruel and beautiful.

And yet as the years wore on, as Mikasa grew closer to others, found purpose in protecting others, sought a life with Eren… as she wandered further into the forest of life and society and relationships, she lost some of that simple injunction... to live is to fight, to fight is to win. She, like so many of the 104th and the others on this journey, found that it’s not enough to just fight and live and be satisfied. We really want it all to mean something, to have our actions be redemptive. To allow ourselves to believe that we do what we’re doing because we’re not just saving ourselves, but saving others, “saving the world” like Yelena points out (in the forest therapy session pfff). And it’s that drive for something bigger in our actions that grieves her so much with Eren, because as she wants her own actions to be fundamentally good and selfless, she wants his actions to be moral as well.

So while Eren is the person that frustrates Mikasa and motivates her to become stronger and braver than she ever was, Armin is the person who humanizes Mikasa and allows her the space to be gentle and vulnerable. She comforts Armin, confides in him, puts her faith in him, and puts her life in his hands.

She trusts Armin with Eren, and she values Armin’s intellect and compassion, qualities she doesn’t have in nearly as much quantities as he does: “There are only so many lives I can value. And… I decided who those people were six years ago. So... you shouldn’t try to ask for my pity. Because right now, I don’t have time to spare or room in my heart.”

This bit from her confrontation with Ymir and Historia was a defining moment for me with Mikasa. It’s honest and realistic in a way that few of us care to admit about ourselves, and it’s just super chilling and badass coming from her, too. It also shows how much she fights for Armin and Eren both. They are the two people she loves the most in the world, and she never gave up on saving either of them––from death or from themselves.

I’m looking back on Trost now and finding so much irony with the ending to SNK. In Trost, she was the one to give up on Eren, telling Armin that it was hopeless to try to extract Eren’s personality from his Titan form. And yet, like in the end, it’s always been between Armin and Mikasa to try to salvage Eren’s humanity. In Trost, Armin tells Mikasa to leave––to go do what she’s good at (saving lives)––and to entrust Eren to him.

It’s a huge expression of both Mikasa’s trust in Armin, and her belief in Armin’s abilities and friendship for Eren. And in the end, it’s the two of them again debating on if there’s any humanity left in Eren. The bond they share is intimate and deep. With all the military doubting Eren and scheming to take away his Titan (with even Jean and Connie unavailable to them emotionally), it’s only Armin and Mikasa against the world––the only two people who can truly consider Eren’s actions and hold off on judging him. And you can feel their love for him even as they doubt him.

And like back then, it has always been Armin who understands Eren most, the one who recognizes his own evil and Eren’s and finds a redemption in having others stop you, because you cannot stop yourself.

And that’s the thing I really take away from SNK and from Mikasa’s journey, that we all have devils inside us, and yet there is still beauty to be found, within us and in the world––from the natural wonders that Armin dreams of, to the comfort of purpose and companionship that Mikasa has in Eren. Love and wonder is what redeems us of our devils. And yet love itself is complicated, and can turn ugly in its obsession. That giving up that love is what makes the love selfless and beautiful, what absolves us of the selfishness within us. That’s what Mikasa learned. And in the end, she was able to release that love for the good of the world.

So I guess to sum up, I really love Mikasa. I can see why her dogged loyalty to Eren might annoy some fans, but I think there’s a lot more to her than simply that, and in fact, her journey and growth is heart-rending and one of the most symbolic arcs of SNK and fundamental to its entire theme. She’s a badass with a lot of emotion and depth behind her cold mask.

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artsyjesseblue · 2 years

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Sleeping Allura

There’s a scene in VLD, Season 8 Ep 10 (Knights of Light Part 2) that keeps sticking out to me with all sorts of red flags, indicating that there was more to come, but the rest was cut out. Not by the will of the very talented people who wrote, produced or animated this show. And I’ll prove my point below.

This time, it’s not a hard-evidence discussion on drawing flaws or animation issues. I rather base it on the logic of how movies, shows, anime, cartoons etc, are built.

(To recap the events, the Paladins traveled into Honerva’s mind, where they found out that she had been keeping the Old Paladins trapped. Together, they unveil what her ultimate plan was: she wants to find her perfect reality. At the end of this episode, all ten manage to escape Honerva’s mind by uniting to form Voltron. The present-time Paladins wake up in the real world, but Allura is collapsed on her chair, unconscious. This is the last shot of the episode. A dramatic violin music accompanies the scene.)

First, basic stuff:

— both Allura collapsed in her chair and the dun-dun-duuun violin orchestra finale (more about the music later) makes this a glaring cliffhanger, with the implied promise of a payoff in the upcoming episode(s).

— not to mention the desperate voices of the Paladins yelling “Allura, Allura!”, trying to wake her up. Cliffhanger with capital C.

— a more subtle observation: the color scheme and contre-jour effect create mystery and drama. Where can that lead to?

— why would someone pay the animation studio to make this scene, other than with the intent to continue it with some sort of reveal?

OK, now let’s move on to see what the “reveal” consisted of in the iteration of Season 8 we were presented with:

▶️ In the next episode, we are shown Allura in a hospital bed on Atlas, with the Paladins and Coran gathered around her, while she’s still unconscious. Coran scolds them with “I told you so”, etc etc. Nothing about what Allura experiences in her dream/coma/trance/whatever-this-is.

▶️ Later in the episode, Lance comes at her bedside with the classic “I need you,” and she finally wakes up. Honerva appears and says “the princess has awakened.”

▶️ Then we see Lance bringing a visibly grumpy Allura to the main deck of Atlas, where asked how she is feeling, she says “A little weak, but I’ll manage.”

▶️ Subsequently, the chase after Honerva unfolds, with the same information we were left off, which is: Honerva wants to find her perfect reality; and she will use Lotor’s mech to pierce realities.

And that was it. The big reveal of the cliffhanger. Huh?

We do not gather any new knowledge after this deep sleep Allura had gone through. Seems like a lot of wasted cinema time to concoct these scenes and pay an animation studio to do them.

OK, so here’s the common-sense question: Would you put your character in a deep sleep, make everything revolve around that event like it’s life-changing (including color schemes, musical theme), and then wake your character up to just say “I’m a little weak, but I’ll manage?” As a writer, producer, director, would you do this? Even a novice writer would not do that. It’s absolutely nonsensical. Maybe a child would write a third-grade essay like that.

To the ones that say the writers and producers did not know what they were doing, I say: they knew exactly what they were doing and someone else forced them to butcher their work. And the proof is the simple fact that this snippet of their work still exists in canon.

Simply based off of reading and watching movies and TV shows, I can tell you there are at least a couple of viable options for how a reveal should be handled after such a big suspense scene. 1) Either show the viewer what she actually experienced in her unconscious state. 2) Or make her recount in some way what she has seen, during or after a certain turning point of the story, as a final “mystery-solved” tension release. None of these two have happened.

And now on to more meta about the color scheme, music and some additional thoughts:

- Take a look at the red glow of the sky in the image I attached in the beginning, with Allura in her chair. The Dark Entity is red. Allura already followed the lead of the Entity all the way through Honerva’s mind for two episodes. It would make sense that she would still follow where the Entity drives her, if this is such an important cliffhanger. I do not believe they chose this red color because she was going to dream about picking juniberry flowers. Also, this red glow is not a pure, warm glowing red. It is a desaturated, muddied kind of red (and a dusty pink where the light hits through), fitting the color gamut of the Entity.

- Try to listen to the music background of this scene (again, for reference, S8E10, very last part). It is the musical theme used around Lotor scenes in S8. If you don’t believe me, try watching the scene where Allura sees Lotor in her dream in S8E8 - Clear Day and listen to the musical theme.

- Logical deduction: there were 10 Paladins when they punched out of Honerva’s mind at the end of this episode. Five are alive, five are deceased and exist only as “ghosts”. The ghost ones were trapped inside Honerva’s mind, but the real life Paladins saved them. They ALL pierce out of Honerva’s mind and are free. After that, we are left with only the real life Paladins. So, then, where did the ghosts go? (We eventually see the ghost Paladins at the very end of the series, bunched up together with Lotor as a farewell, and I hypothesized in a previous meta that they don’t belong there and that Lotor does not belong among them. We most likely were supposed to see the scene with the Old Paladins saying their farewell after this cliffhanger. Would make a lot of sense and would close the arc of the Old Paladins beautifully).

- Lotor tells Allura “Follow me!” at the end of her vision in the Clear Day episode. We never actually get to see her following him. It would make sense narratively for her to finally meet him in spirit now, as a closing arc for that path initiated in her visions. And who knows what they discuss. Important stuff, for sure, because she wakes up pretty worked up. Or maybe they discuss about picking juniberries (tongue-in-cheek). Oh, wait, he already told her stuff about juniberries in Clear Day.

- When Honerva says “The princess has awakened”, it makes no sense in the context in which it was inserted. So, listen: in the canon we’ve got, Allura is sound asleep, beauty-resting, she has no more visions (because we’re not shown or told about any). Everyone around her is freaking out. And here comes Honerva, who is also watching from a safe distance, stalking her through that Dark Entity. And they actually animate a scene in which she remarks that Allura has awakened. To what conclusion? Honerva was worried about her beauty sleep?

- OK, this last one is a bit more interpretative, but I’ll throw it in anyway. After Allura wakes up, she is escorted to the Atlas bridge by Lance, who looks kind of like “hey, I’m the nice guy, taking good care of her, but watch out, she’s a bit on the edge.” She looks um… dignified and angry I would say. The only hint that she might be a bit weak is Lance holding her protectively. A weakened state is usually when someone does not hold their spine and head straight. She walks straight as a pole, arms very close to her body, not in a relaxed manner for sure. Body language is important. And when she enters the bridge, she looks directly at Keith… Did he ever have anything to do with accusing Lotor of a lot of stuff in Season 6? What if Allura found out more in this little trip she had, and it’s going to challenge Keith’s initial assertions about Lotor?

This is all for now. I’m forever thankful to the #teampurplelion research and metas, which sparked my inspiration for writing this. This mini-meta of mine is a detail-focused analysis, based on a small part from @leakinghate ‘s work, “Seek Truth in Darkness”.

#voltron meta #allura #vld #i had to rewrite part of it because it didn’t save the first time #lotor deserved better #FREEVLDS8

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codenamesazanka · 3 years

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I feel like I can’t stress enough how important Spinner is to the ‘My Villain Academia’ arc, and how badly I need BONES to give him the attention and care in portraying him that he deserves. BONES have been pretty faithful to the manga, they’ve followed the story and brought each scene on the page to the screen... Except for some reason not when it comes to the Villains. Maybe it’s because arguably the Villains wasn’t the focal point of the show and they weren’t what most viewers watched the show to see; fine, but that was the case in the beginning and no longer.

Shigaraki Tomura, his exploits, his character, his story *is* the manga: the Heroes and protag react mainly to him and his actions, his past and motivations is one of the main factors that caused the current central conflict, and resolving his character arc is what will probably bring the whole series - to its end or near end. Yeah, imo I argue that everything about him moves the plot along.

Unfortunately(?), I think Horikoshi-sensei realized/decided/planned this a bit too late in his pacing. He said himself during the Stain arc or so that at first, he wasn’t planning on doing villain profiles - he wanted the villains to be scary.

But for the time being, I have no intention of writing about [the villains]. I do the introductions because l personally like those sorts of behind-the-scenes things, and also because I want my readers to feel a connection to the characters. But with villains, I decided I can't have them too likable. They're supposed to be terrifying.

Often it’s what we don’t know/understand/predict/expect (and therefore can’t get a grasp on) that makes things scary/uncomfortable/dislikable. The Villains were strange, seemingly erratic and incomprehensible in their behavior and motivations, malicious without rhyme or reason. Even now, I think a lot of people still think they’re just ‘completely evil crazy psychopaths’.

Anyways, the quote from him is from Volume 7. A whole bunch of volumes later in Vol. 23, he decided nvm: “The story has evolved beyond that point, so I'm ready to start doing villain profiles.” As he said himself, the profiles are to help the readers connect with the characters, make them relatable and likable. That’s what My Villain Academia is all about in the meta sense - to demystify Shigaraki Tomura and his ragtag chaos friends, to give them depth, and to induce interest in their stories, if not sympathy. Hype them up for the rather major roles they play in this ‘final arc’ of the series.

Enter Spinner, the lizard ninja guy.

Besides his unusual looks, Spinner is really, truly nothing special. He’s got a weak quirk, he holds no title of being the strongest or smartest or whatever member of the League, he’s not related by blood or thematically to any major players in the main conflicts, and his ‘tragic’ backstory is completely mundane compared to his allies - he was bullied as a child, and so is fueled by resentment. In the events leading up to the start of the arc, Spinner is the most moral and understandable of the Villains - has a ‘good’ reason for his crimes (eradicate corrupted Heroes), has standards on who he’s willing to fight (questions attacking the police and anyone with a ‘true heroic spirit’), and wants a concrete game plan instead of aimless discord the rest of the League seems alright with.

Once the arc starts, we immediately learn the basics of his character - he’s got a heteromorph quirk that makes his appearance a humanoid gecko and it’s something he was born with that he can’t control, and yet he faces discrimination from literal KKK-type cultists who refuse to see him as human. This was more or less his life in his small, rural hometown, harsh enough that his heart had become ‘completely empty’. It’s simple, it’s relatable and an realistic analogy anyone who has faced prejudice and harassment and been hurt by it can understand.

All this is so Spinner ends up being the most normal and typical sympathetic of the League of Villains, which sets him up to be a sort of ‘gateway Villain’. It’s why he’s narrator. He doesn’t understand at all the crazy All For One shenanigans, he’s thinks Shigaraki is an incompetent weirdo, and he asks what we were all thinking: “Shigaraki Tomura, what the fuck are you doing.” Quite obviously, Spinner’s meant the audience surrogate and so he is. That being a core of the way the story of My Villain Academia is told means it needs be followed by the anime adaption.

This core sets up the rest of the arc - sets up how we will come to view Shigaraki Tomura and his backstory, alongside the rest of the League Villains, their relationships and dynamics with each other, and who they are at heart. Shigaraki’s telling of his distorted origins in Chapter 222 is horrifying as it is already; but it’s Spinner’s worried-facial-expressions reactions littered throughout the chapter that adds to it by telling us one major thing: Spinner’s an empathetic guy, because he immediately feels a kindred spirit with Shigaraki when the latter talks about the hollowness he feels. So begins the audience surrogate’s change of opinion and us readers going along with it, and also: that Shigaraki Tomura now has Spinner’s concern and attention - and is deserving of it.

Pardon the sudden heavily edited quote, but CS Lewis says,

Friendship arises...when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common...which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique [burden]. The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, "What? You too? I thought I was the only one." ...And instantly they stand together in an immense solitude.

That’s almost word for word Spinner in that moment, suddenly realizing he’s no longer as alone as he thought. He’s no longer as alone, and this means perhaps neither should Shigaraki. Because established in that very chapter, too, is the hate in Shigaraki’s heart fueled by his grief and despair, the loss of his family, past, and faith in others, his misery of thinking he’ll never feel good again. Yet - there’s Spinner, willing to extend some empathy and care, the very antidote to all that Shigaraki had revealed. Because the desire for companionship (or at least the lessening of the pain of loneliness) is universal, even among villains - maybe especially among these villains - we probably love to see it. Want to see it.

On that basis - friendship borne out of empathy - Spinner puts his faith his leader, puts his trust and support, and the rest of the arc is us following the tension of whether he was right to do so. Whether Shigaraki would live up to what Spinner expects of him, whether Spinner will side with Shigaraki despite their earlier conflict. Whether they could become friends, or something like that. And once they do, the consequences of this as things spiral more and more out of control, beyond this arc - that Spinner would know Shigaraki well enough to do something crucial at the turn of a battle later, that Spinner would stick by Shigaraki’s side when he’s in danger, that Spinner is loyal enough to Shigaraki to help him as a friend should.

Through Spinner, we come to see Shigaraki, originally incomprehensible and terrifying, as someone beyond a Villain or a leader, but rather someone valued as a person, a friend, a fellow silly gamer nerd. He’s still scary, of course - just less so, with a seed of doubt of his doom that Spinner - and only Spinner, by virtue of his specific narrative and emotional role in this arc - planted in their characters and the story.

It’s because of Spinner that MVA works, by itself, and as a stepping stone towards the rest of the series. So he really needs to be everything he is, was, and more in the anime adaption please BONES oh my god please

#long post #nalslastworkingbraincell #shigaraki tomura #bnha #mha #heroaca #Spinner #Iguchi Shuuichi #my interpretation of course #but like #everything I said is right there in the text and can be convincingly argued for #so I’m right and it’s mandatory that BONES listens to me

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inevitably-johnlocked · 3 years

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((my account is @mymiddlenameslove tumblr is still being weird lol)) do you have any fics where john and sherlock hold hands for the first time? i just love the build up/panic that leads to some good fluff thank you (*´∇｀*)

Hi Lovely!!!

Bah, sorry about Tumblr being dumb!!!!

What a fun fic req!! I know for SURE I’ve missed a lot, so these are either fics I remember have hand-holding, are tagged with it, or I’ve just re-read and found it in there :D Hope you Enjoy!!

HAND HOLDING / for COMFORT

The Four Incidents by TheGirlWithRedHair22 (K+, 1,064 w., 1 Ch. || S1 Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, John Whump, Accident, John POV, Hand Holding, Worried Sherlock, Sherlock’s Self Esteem) – The first time John was present when someone insulted Sherlock, he brushed it off as a strange coincidence.

Peacock by ClassyGirlsWearPearls (T, 1,189 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Cranky Sherlock, Soft John, Hand Holding, Soft Sherlock) – A study in Sherlock and John.

Here to Stay by MockJayPhoenix12 (K, 1,574 w., 1 Ch. || Post Reunion, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Headache, Bed Sharing, Care Taker Sherlock, Hand Holding, Fluff) – On Sherlock's first day home, John wakes with a migraine.

Random Numbers by songlin (T, 1,671 w., 1 Ch. || Ace Sherlock / Straight John, Cuddling / Snuggling, Massage, Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Post-TRF, Slice of Life) – A collection of moments in the relationship of asexual!Sherlock and straight!John.

Giveaway Fic #9 - Angsty Sick Fic/Sherlock is Sick by ConsultingPurplePants (T, 1,734 w., 1 Ch. || Sick Fic, Hypothermia) – The next time he awakens is even more chaotic. Two doctors are shouting at each other in the corner, and John is holding his hand so tightly Sherlock is worried he’ll break it. Part 9 of 1000 Tumblr Followers Giveaway Fics

Once is Enough by Jominerva (T, 3,030 w., 1 Ch. || Love Confessions, Domestic Fluff, Whump) – Just as the earth rises to meet the sun at every mountain crest, John reaches out for Sherlock and takes his hand in his own."Tell me it won't end like this," he says, blue eyes holding grey while he laces their fingers together. Sherlock lets out a shaky laugh and shakes his head. "I wish I could."

holding steady by darcylindbergh (E, 12,724 w., 4 Ch. || Post S4, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Growing Old, Gone Fishing, Mood without Plot, Soft Sherlock, Caring Sherlock, POV John Third Person, Anxious Sherlock, First Kiss / Time, Touching, Feeling Old, Sherlock Worship, Crying Sherlock, Cuddles, Comforting, Introspection, Retirement, Hand Holding, Forehead Kisses, Caring John, Bed Sharing, Emotional Love Making) – Sitting on a thick wool blanket at the end of a rickety dock side-by-side, legs dangling over the edge, a styrofoam container of wet, dark dirt between them, they’re fishing. John knows what this is about. This is about finally figuring it out.

A Gossamer Dream by CarmillaCarmine (E, 15,985 w., 4 Ch. || Writer/Teacher AU || First Meetings, Friends to Lovers, Writer John / Teacher Sherlock, Fluff, London, Holding Hands, Online Friendship / Romance, Phone Sex, Anal Sex, Happy Ending, Alternating POV, Scottish John, Online Relationship, Internalized Homophobia, Hand Holding, Forehead Touching, First Kiss/Time, Texting/Sexting, Rimming, Toplock, Sherlock Speaks French) – Sherlock had never realised one could care so much about someone they'd never met in person. Now he is about to meet the friend with whom he's been chatting online for months and his anticipation is reaching a crescendo.

How To Unfold a Heart by elwinglyre (E, 25,477 w., 7 Ch. || Post S4 Fix It, BAMF John, Mentioned Eurus, POV First Person Sherlock, Case Fic, Fluff, Slow Burn Topping from the Bottom, 3 Yr Old Rosie, Introspection, Sexual Fantasies, John Worship, Ogling, Hand Holding, Kidnapping, Domesticity, Sherlock Whump, First Kiss/Time, Doctor John, Caring John, Soft Sherlock, Sensuality, Touching, Crying, Love Confessions, Anxious Sherlock, Rimming, Toplock, Fingering, Bossy Bottom John) – To Sherlock’s dismay, John’s return to Baker Street with Rosie is only temporary. Sherlock’s daily visits to Regent Park with John and Rosie illuminate his lost childhood memories and missed opportunities. But with each trip to the park, Sherlock also feels a growing sense of hope. That is until the past horrors return unexpectedly in a cryptic note folded in the shape of a heart. To decipher the message, Sherlock must uncover the nature of the hearts around him, including his own.

Insanity in the Middle by DotyTakeThisDown (E, 28,010 w., 8 Ch. || Equestrian Sports AU || Alternate First Meeting, POV John, Pining John, Bottomlock, Clueless Sherlock, First Kiss/Time, Passionate Kisses, Hand Holding, Caught Making Out, Bed Sharing, Spooning, Blow Job) – John is a world-class eventing rider with a gold medal and several four-star wins to his credit, but he's never won at Rolex. Sherlock is an up-and-coming rider taking the sport by storm.

Lucifer's Gardens by ampersand_ch (E, 32,679 w., 12 Ch. || GERMAN VERSION || Romance, Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Murder, Poison / Drugging, Mystery, John Undercover, Academic Club, Therapy, Rituals, Jungian Archetypes, Doctors & Physicians, Grief/Mourning, Esotericism, Hospitals, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, John Falls In Love With Another Man, Jealous Sherlock, Crying, Doctor John, Hand Holding, First Kiss/Time, Mysticism, Hugging, Touching) – John goes undercover for an investigation as a favour to Lestrade in a village in Suffolk. The events surrounding the case awaken deep-seated fears in Sherlock. While John begins to come to a realisation of what he needs in Lucifer's Gardens, Sherlock tries to find a way to reach John – in more ways than one.

A Promise Made to Be Broken by PlantsAreNeat (E, 37,018 w., 7 Ch. || Fake Relationship, Pining, Slow Burn, RST, Eventual Relationship, POV Sherlock) – A young John makes an ‘if we’re still single at 40, we’ll get together’ pledge to a woman who ends up all wrong for him. She keeps reminding him of the promise, and won’t let go of it. John asks Sherlock to pose as his boyfriend at a family wedding, so as to dash her hopes permanently. Sherlock, who has at last acknowledged his feelings for John, reluctantly agrees despite knowing how painful it will be to ‘have’ John, but not keep him.

A Love with No Name Series by aceofhearts61 (G to M, 49,955 w. across 20 stories || Asexual Sherlock / Straight John, Est. Rel, Queerplatonic Relationship, Romance, Cuddling, Fluff, Platonic Romance, Domestics, Rape/Non-Con) – In which Asexual!Sherlock and Straight!John are platonically in love life partners.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by SilentAuror (E, 50,635 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4/S4 Divergence, Case Fic, For a Case / Reverse Fake-Relationship, Conferences, Marriage Equality, Travelling / New York, Pride, Homophobia, Bottomlock, Marriage Proposal, John POV, Sexuality, Love Confessions, Emotional Love Making, Public Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, Passionate Kissing, Needy/Clingy Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Touching / Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Little Spoon Sherlock, Intense Orgasms) – John and Sherlock go to New York to attend a conference run by the National Defence of Traditional Marriage Coalition in order to investigate the potential bombing of the annual Manhattan Pride parade. As the conference unfolds, John finds himself repulsed by the toxic ideology being presented, which becomes relevent to his own unacknowledged issues and his friendship with Sherlock...

Repairing the Broken Things by BakerTumblings (M, 75,252 w., 15 Ch. || S4 Compliant, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Trauma, Hospitals, Big Brother Mycroft, Misunderstandings, Realizations, Severe Accident, John Whump, Pneumonia, Medical Procedures, Bed Sharing, First Time, Healing, Happy Ending) – "I'm calling today to notify you that there's been an accident."

Not Broken, Just Bent by Schmiezi (E, 87,585 w., 43 Ch. || Pining, Love Confessions, Rape/Sexual Assault, Torture, Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Villain!Mary, Suicidal Ideations, Main Character Death, Sherlock First Person POV, Parentlock, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Grief/Mourning, Emotional Love Making, Possessiveness, Depression, PTSD, Kidnapping, Virgin Sherlock, Eventual Happy Ending) – "For a second, I allow myself to remember teaching John how to waltz. There is a special room in my mind palace for it. A big one, with a proper parquet dance floor. For a second, I go there. I remember holding him, closer than the World Dance Council asks for, excusing it with the fact that we are training for a wedding, not for a competition. For a second, I feel his hand on mine again, smell his sweat, hear the song we used. For a second, I allow myself to love him deeply. For a second, only a second, that love reflects on my face." Fix-it for S3, starting at the end of TSoT. Evil Mary.

Northwest Passage by Kryptaria (E, 95,157 w., 27 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Canadian AU || BAMF!John, Canadian John, PTSD, Anal / Oral Sex, Rimming, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Drug Rehab, Falling in Love, Pining Sherlock, Love Confessions, Sherlock’s Violin, Panic Attacks, Switching, Anxious / Protective Sherlock, Hugs for Comfort, Suicide Mentions, Healing Each Other) – Seven years ago, Captain John Watson of the Canadian Forces Medical Service withdrew from society, seeking a simple, isolated life in the distant northern wilderness of Canada. Though he survives from one day to the next, he doesn't truly live until someone from his dark past calls in a favor and turns his world upside-down with the introduction of Sherlock Holmes." Part 1 of Tales from the Northwest

The Lost Special: Family Matters (As Do Relationships) by ShirleyCarlton (M, 144,688 w., 40 Ch. || S4 Fix It Fic / Meta Fic, Unreliable Narrator, John’s Mind Bungalow, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Demisexual Sherlock, Holmes Family, John Whump, Gay Mycroft, Misunderstandings, Drug Addiction, Parenting, TFP is a Nightmare, Virgin Sherlock, Slow Burn, Minor Character Death, Switchlock, John’s Past, Sherlock’s Past, Eurus, Love Confessions) – Sherrinford is not really the name of some high security prison. That was just a figment of John’s frantic coma dream. And Eurus is not actually Sherlock’s sister. That’s just something random she said to John before shooting him. Sherlock and John were never actually estranged. That was just their act to cover up what really happened to Mary – or Rosamund Moran, as her real name has turned out to be. Sherlock does have a secret sibling, though, and his name is Sherrinford. After finally eliminating Moran – though in a rather dramatically different way than they had envisioned – and exposing the truth about Eurus, John encourages Sherlock to delve into his past and to find out whether the reasons to keep Sherrinford away from Sherlock were the right ones, and to discover what really happened in 1981. Along the way, Sherlock and John gradually, finally, stop keeping each other at a distance, and eventually become a proper family of their own.

Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (E, 151,714 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Hiatus Fic, POV First Person Sherlock, Present Tense, First Kiss/Time, Big Brother Mycroft, Escaping from Capture, Soft Sherlock, Toplock, Insecurity, Infidelity, Travelling, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Depression, Fantasies, Yearning for the Past, PTSD Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation) – Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns.

Unkissed Series by 221b_hound (T to E, 184,100 w. across 45 works || Established Relationship, Ace Sherlock) – Sherlock returned from the dead a year ago. John returned to Baker Street six months ago. They've been in a couple since then. or at least, not NOT a couple. For two smart men, they sure can be dumb. Luckily, an art thief tries to drown Sherlock, Sherlock has a fever dream and things are about to change.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #holding hands #fluff fics #my fic recs #Anonymous

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uweiy · 3 years

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I'm intrigued by Love is Science? but know nothing about it. Can you give me a run down on what kind of thing to expect and who it might appeal to? Thank you!! 😁

Ooooo boi *gremlin smile* I'm glad you asked. You've entered the dragon's den, broken the dam and thus this post turned out to be a monster so I'm gonna link here another post from @accidentallyadramablog which imo gives a nice (and short) overview.

That said let's get into

Love is Science?

Summary :

Yan Fei is a the CEO of the Love is Science marriage agency, that matches people based on scientific data. Hsuan Yu, 8 years younger than her, is a promising young hairstylist who has been in love with her thoughout their entire childhood when she has only ever seen him like a little brother.

Unexpectedly they meet again. Between the way they've each built their lives and how Yong Yan Fei's ex husband still looms over Yan Fei's life, how will their relationship develop this time around ?

Now,

just reading that summary I know what you're thinking.

Indeed, if you have some experience with dramas, you might recognize some TYPICAL TYPICAL tropes – let's get them out of the way :

love triangle (though we all know who she is going to end up with don't we)

childhood friends

'noona romance'

And they are every bit as present and as trope-ey as you would expect.

However, as they say, the devil is in the details.

And particularly, in the side characters. Let me give you a quick rundown of the lot of them :

As such, we follow the stories of multiple relationships that develop parallel to one another.

The relationships

• Yan Fei/ Hsuan Yu : Not much needs to be added I think. Their storyline might be the most predictable but they are pretty sweet and heartwarming. pining for like 12 years though poor Hsuan Yu. Anyway you can enjoy it or find it boring or but you can't hate it.

• Mark/Ouwen : Noooow we're getting to it. Their dynamic is so... Refreshing and unique. Confident gay with a soft heart and dumb disaster bisexual I mean *chef kiss*👌delicious

After the disasters of their first meetings, it's a cat and dog relationship where Ouwen is the hsssssss don't touch me– cat and Mark is the golden retriever trailing after him not really realizing the rampage he's creating in Ouwen's heart. while Ouwen is like "Remind me why the FUCK I caught feelings again ?".

IDK it just has everything 'Enemies' to friends to lovers, (not actually) unrequited love, pining, sweet moments, jealousy, feelings realization, snarky banter... What more could one want.

• Cho Nai Hui / You Fu : they are. So. So sweet. Both are older and have experience, and as such they are not so naive or stupid as the youngsters. Them sharing their life experiences and going on dates like typically teenagers (in movies or TV shows anyway) would is refreshing to see and really really heartwarming.

• Liu Sheng Ying/ ??? Her ex ? : The show hinted at a wlw storyline and this arc seems to have JUST begun. Basically Sheng Ying's ex comes to Love is Science as a client and requests Sheng Ying as an advisor, while Sheng Ying still seems heartbroken over her. I can't WAIT to see how it develops.

The friendships :

Something I greatly appreciate is that both the romantic relationships AND the friendships have a great importance in the drama.

• Joanna and Yan Fei : Jo, queen Jo 👑. She's just here to gossip, get all the gossip and be the voice of reason and we love her for it. You can see how comfortable they are around each other and how they were there for each other during tough times and still are. Kudos to the actresses because I believed the characters were besties in a heartbeat.

• Hsuan Yu and Mark : they are honestly... Such polar opposites you kinda wonder how they became friends but they are and it works perfectly.

Hsuan Yu still hasn't gotten he maybe shouldn't take Mark's advice, and Mark still hasn't gotten that he, definitely should take Hsuan Yu's. It also enables to develop a more playful and mischievous side to Hsuan Yu, giving him more depth?

• Ouwen and Sheng Ying: rivalry to reluctant solidarity to friends-but-i-will-deny-it-if-asked to just friends. IT'S GREAT

I also ejoy the fact that these multiple storylines are allowed to coexist. The romantic ones, the friendships, older, younger, m/f m/m and f/f like take your pick !! And tbh a WLW storyline ?????? These are so scarce I will take anything.

The recurring themes :

The show more or less subtly touches on some topics/issues, to which the dating aspect contributes to.

A non exhaustive list would be

Divorce, and how divorced women can be viewed as failures for some reason

How successful men over 30 are sought after but successful women after 30 are somehow deemed undatable

Preconceived notions and homophobia

And beyond the topics, there's just things like... Joanna not being interested in long term relationships nor wanting to get married, reporting sexual harassment, older people going on dates.... I'm not saying it's a groundbreaking activist drama –which is not really what I was looking for– I just appreciate the fact that it is a pretty mainstream drama and that these things are there.

Mad respect if you've made it up to here ! but we're not quite done yet.

The cast and crew :

The other element that made this drama stand out for me besides the side characters is the cast.

It might be weird that such a meta thing impacts the appreciation of the show but it did, for me at least.

📣📣TMI WARNING 📣📣

For me what happened is I stumbled onto Mark and Ouwen cuts on YouTube, then somehow onto the behind the scenes. They weren't subbed at the time so I could barely understand a word of what they were saying, thus I'm not sure what but something about how the rest of the actors, the director and the crew were interacting just told me it was a show worth watching or at least checking out.

📣📣END OF TMI📣📣

The cast honestly seems to have a blast and to have, how to say it, come together really well. It seems like most of them have become genuinely friends, or despite differences in personality have truly enjoyed working with one another and with the rest of the crew, and it shows.

Where it's lacking

In my opinion the show does have some aspects where it underperforms.

As previously mentioned, the main plot is kinda tropey, furthermore, in a drama typical fashion when something is about to get resolved, immediately something else happens. Nothing unexpected from a drama though.

The pacing : Some moments of the main plot especially dragged on, so I admit I skipped through some parts.

Because I feel so strongly about all the characters though, I don't really mind the previously mentioned points. I just think it's a shame because I feel like if it had been crafted a little bit better it could have made the show go from an 8/10 good drama to an 11/10 friggin amazing drama easy.

Lastly, there is a pretty unequal time distribution so Yan Fei and Hsuan Yu do tend to occupy the most part of an episode. However some episodes are more centered on some pairings (like ep 11 that will probably have an important Mark/Ouwen part).

Overall

it's a drama that warms my heart, as simple as that. It's not that deep, it's pretty funny, the acting ranges from good to excellent and I have taken a liking to a lot of the characters, which is what I think fuels my interest for the drama.

And I feel like it managed to attract a wide range of audiences because the romances and relationships are so diverse. Whether you watch the show for its entirety or for one aspect/storyline/character is entirely up to you and I feel like the creators of the drama are aware of it as well : and you can easily find subbed compilations about each specific pairing on Settv's official YouTube channel.

Take that aspect that you like–if you find one of course–and enjoy it, that is all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What's left to say besides.... 🎉🎊 Congratulations for making it to the end of this lengthy post !

#I add a tmi warning in the middle as if this entire post wasn't one lengthy tmi lol #long post #love is science?#戀愛是科學 #lian ai shi ke xue #tw drama #taiwan drama #taiwanese drama #honestly thank you for this opportunity to talk about it #it made me happy heh heh heh #oh and if anyone else of the 15 people who like the show want to add stuff share your thoughts or highjack this post go ahead #lis?

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