#like this is what i mean by boring. why do you want all stories to be the same. just play a different game
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A Mate Rejection storyline is an easy cop out if you want a mated character to end up with someone that is not their mate.
It CAN be an interesting storyline if we get the opportunity to explore the dynamics and the journeys of the mated pairing to understand what got them to decide not to pursue a soul-level bond.
But from a storytelling perspective for this series in particular? It has implications for several reasons:
1. Each book is confirmed to be a standalone following different couples that deal with their own arc that also gets tied to the overarching plot.
2. Each interconnected standalone is confirmed to be a HEA, and in the bookish community a mate rejection is unpopular because it's a miserable trope. That's why it's rare in books and when a mate rejection happens in the story, it's usually accompanied by second chance romance OR if there is foul play which the narrative reveals the real mate—that's why you would really count on the possibility of a fake bond or a secondary bond plot to make this work (which re-emphasizes on the appeal of the mating bond trope).
3. How would a rejection be explored if it lacks the POV of one of the characters involved in it? And we know each book is going to be dual POV. Are going to wait for one character to explore it on their own in one book and the other character explores and deals with the rejection in the following book? That would not only be waste of page time, but also would be a bore. If it's expected that it's easy to move on from a soul-level bond, it cheapens the concept of a mating bond.
4. Elain and Lucien are kind of in a stagnant situation where there wasn't much that was explored with their mating bond and I think this has to do with their current journeys—Mor said both Elain and Lucien need to figure out who they want to be and where they want to be before dealing with anything else—that sounds to me like they're in parallel journeys. This is important because how are you expecting the author to write a compelling rejection story for something that wasn't even explored much? Just ask Elain to say the word "No" and that's it? Isn't it a waste of a storyline. It's not interesting. There are no stakes.
I think if Sarah plans to ever do a Mate Rejection storyline (which I doubt it it's not popular), she would have to do it in a Multi-POV series like Throne of Glass where we follow the journey of these characters through multiple books. That could offer a better story without cheapening the concept of the Mating Bond which is literally the trademark of her series.
The formula for which Sarah called the books a traditional romance route meaning that the characters will go through their journeys and experience all the ups and downs of their relationship to attain their Happily Ever After in the end.
Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.
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The Red Bandana
Summary: The story of how Hunter got his bandana
Warnings: None
A/n: I absolutely loved writing this. I'm very proud of it and it was the first of my writings that I've ever shown my dad
Art is mine
Hunter blew the long strands of hair out of his face. His desire to be like his defective brothers was why he even grew out his hair. But during training it was always in the way. The thick brown curls always got in his eyes and messed up his aim.
As much as he loved his long hair, Hunter knew that in the heat of battle it would cost him. It had to go.
The enhanced clone stood in the barracks refresher staring at the mirror. Looking back was the young clone. Dark hair hanging in eyes that changed with the light. Technically, he was around 8 years old. But because of the Kaminoans’ accelerated ageing, he had the mind and body of a 16 year old.
Hunter turned the blade in his hand. He had been training with Commander Cody in hand-to-hand combat. Learning to use a vibro blade was his favorite part. Now the blade was being used for something he'd rather not do, but he had to be practical. If his hair was in the way in the middle of a battle, it might cost Hunter his life. Or worse, his brothers.
He let out a sigh, no longer stalling. He reached behind his head with his left hand and gathered the thick locks. He held them tightly and raised the knife to them. He took a deep breath, ready to cut his hair.
"Hunter?"
The young clone faltered. He had not heard anyone enter. He cursed himself silently for not paying closer attention. Him and Tech had come to the conclusion that whenever Hunter felt strong emotions his heightened senses were dulled significantly. Tech had suggested that since because Hunter had stronger senses, his emotions were stronger too and, therefore, cancelled his other senses. It seemed maybe he was more attached to his long hair than he had previously thought.
Hunter lowered his blade and turned to the older clone in the doorway. "99, what are you doing in here?"
The older clone hobbled into the refresher. "You're late for evening mess." He said. "Your brothers were wondering where you were." His gaze shifted to the knife in his hand. "You're cutting your hair?"
Hunter looked down at his blade. He technically wasn't supposed to have it since he was still a cadet, but Cody had convinced a few of the trainers to let it slide. "Let the kid practice." He had said.
"Uh, yeah?" Hunter said a little sheepishly.
"I thought you liked your long hair." 99 questioned.
"It gets in my face when I train, and it makes me kinda sweaty." Why did Hunter feel like he needed to explain himself? He hadn't done anything wrong.
99's gaze bored into him. "Why did you grow out your hair in the first place?"
"Well," Hunter fidgeted with the blade in his hand. "My brothers are all different than the regs, and I guess I wanted to be different too."
99 looked at him quizzically. "But you are like your brothers, Hunter."
Hunter shook his head. "No, I mean look different. The regs call them names because of how they look, but not me. I thought that if I looked different, maybe the regs would, well, hate me too."
"You want them to hate you?" 99 asked.
Hunter clenched his fists. "Yeah. When we're done with training, I'm supposed to lead us into battle. If I look like a reg, they’ll end up hating me too. How am I supposed to lead my squad if my brothers don't even respect me?”
99's gaze softened. "Oh, Hunter. You know your brother's look up to you no matter what you look like, right?"
"Not Crosshair." The young clone scoffed. "He doesn't even care if I look like them. He says that it's obvious what I'm trying to do, and I should just give up because I'll always look like a reg."
99 chuckled. "Are you going to change everything about yourself for one person?"
"I'm not changing everything, just..." Hunter trailed off, not sure of where he was going.
99 seemed to be smirking, but it was hard to tell with his lopsided face. "So, you’re cutting your hair because of something one person said? I thought you didn’t care what people said about you. Or have you been spending time with the regs?”
Something stirred inside Hunter. A feeling of defiance. "I am not a reg." But the more the thought about it, he realized 99 was right. He was cutting his hair and looking more like a reg to lead his squad, a batch of “defective” clones. They were anything but normal. Hunter realized he didn’t need to change for anyone. He liked his long hair, and Crosshair could stow it if he said anything about it.
A smile spread across Hunter's face. "Yeah, who cares? I'm gonna do what I want with my hair, no matter what Crosshair says." But there was still one problem. "Oh," His smile faded when he realized this. "Um, 99?"
"Yes, Hunter?" 99 said with a smile.
"My hair still gets in the way a lot." Hunter scratched the back of his head.
99 chuckled lightly. "I think I may have a solution for that. Come on."
Hunter followed the older clone through the halls of Kamino. They ignored the regs snide remarks and dirty whispers. Hunter dug his fingers into his palms to keep from punching them. He could hear everything. Every comment meant to hurt them, and they knew it.
Eventually, they made it to the armory. Hunter looked around. There were blasters, detonators, bombs, and anything that Wrecker would try to steal. The armory also housed armor and clothes in the back. 99 lead him towards the back.
"Uh, 99, where are we going?" Hunter asked.
The older clone stopped by the bundles of tunics, undershirts, and pants. They were tied together with a belt and the boots to complete the uniform were sitting next to it. 99 unrolled the bundle and took the red undershirt sleeve. He ripped a decent sized strip off from the red cloth.
"I doubt anyone will care if we just take this off." 99 said cheekily. He set the rest of the clothes down and held out the strip of cloth. "Turn around."
A bit confused, Hunter obeyed and turned. He felt 99 put the cloth around his head and tighten it. He tied the ends.
"There," 99 stepped away. "Now you can keep your hair and it won't get in your way."
Hunter looked walked to the mirror at the end of the room. He could still feel a few strands of hair on his forehead, but they no longer hung in his eyes. His chocolate locks were held back by a red banana. Now, he could be himself without risking anything.
“And just so you know, Hunter.” 99 spoke up again. “Your brothers don’t look up to you because of how you look. It’s because you have a good heart.
Hunter turned to the older clone and smiled. "Thanks, 99."
99 may never see active duty, but he was always there to help Hunter and his brothers prepare for their own battles. And that was something the young tracker would be eternally grateful for.
Tags for other wonderful writers @royallykt @bibliophilesince2003 @hugmekenobi @awkward-tension-art
#star wars#the bad batch#tbb#bad batch#tbb hunter#fanfiction#ct 9901#Cadet Hunter#bad batch hunter#hunter bad batch#hunter tbb#hunter the bad batch#the bad batch hunter#sergeant hunter
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"You're all that I need" Theodore Nott × f!reader
Summary: where Theodore realised you're all he needed but maybe it was little too late for that, or was it?
Warnings: angst ig
This is based on my favourite song CO2 by prateek kuhad!! Part two will come out shortly and better than this. I was in deep sleep while writing this so this is poorly written ik, sorry for that!!
"oh come on Theodore! You really can't treat me like someone you can have at any time you want without giving any labels to our relationship!!" I yelled at him as I shut the door of his dorm so that no one could here us.
It's been a repeating cycle for entire week.
He treats me like his gf and the next min he's flirting with random chick at Hogwarts.
Whenever I ask him about our status all he says is he needs time to figure out, to be himself and to know what he wants.
We've been seeing eachother (if you can say that) for almost 5 months and went without labels now it was too much for me.
"oh come on just give me a little more time please" he pleaded with teary eyes, and I can't help but look away.
"no Theodore not anymore, if you can't commit fully towards me, then you can't have me." With that I left his dorm, in hope that he would atleast try to stop me, stop me from running away, stop me from walking out his life, but no nothing happened.
The next morning I entered our common room and sat near pansy, who was reading a book.
Theodore and his friends sat exact opposite to us, and our eyes met.
Both of our eyes held the same emotions. desperation, desire, love, and heartbreak. One emotion was missing and that was acceptance.
Maybe we both haven't accepted it. So I guess there has to be a hope from both the sides right?
I swear to god if there was peace around us, we both could hear the literal words.
And maybe this is meant to be this way.
For us to be away.
I mean that's what happens in most of the love story right? The lover gets seperated because they weren't ready.
Ready for eachother, for the commitment, for the price they would've to pay.
After few minutes I saw him leaving the common room. Just like the day i left his dorm.
I'll be fine right? I mean I've experienced this beforehand.
I have dealt with people leaving me.
It won't caused much harm right?
Oh how wrong I was.
Theodore is like oxygen for me. I need him to breath, to survive, to live.
And without him I'm nothing.
I was walking down the corridor with Enzo by my side, we were laughing at his silly jokes and I felt someone's eyes boring into me.
I looked at my surroundings to see Theodore glaring at us.
Even if he never see it, he was all I needed, all I wanted. Not Enzo not anyone but him.
Maybe he won't see it now, but in future he will right?
I was deep in my thoughts, wondering why I love him? Why can't I get over him? Why do I need him? Why do I want him?
Maybe it's the silence in his eyes,
Or the deep red when he's shy,
Or the Mystery of our love,
All I need is the sign from stars above,
Maybe it's the way he breath in me,
Or it's the way he heals the girl in me,
Maybe it's the fragrance of his hair,
I just want to kiss him when he's there.
I shook my thoughts away as they were taking a different turn.
I just him all around me, but why can't he make it happen.
Why does he have to be so complicated.
I laid down on my bed thinking the possibilities of us. Will we ever happen? Or will we drift apart just like that?
#harry potter#theodore nott scenarios#theodore nott fanfiction#theodore nott imagine#theodore nott smut#theodore nott x reader#theodore nott angst#theodore nott x y/n#theodore nott#hogwarts#Spotify
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We made it, you guys! I'm wrapping up my blitz through all the Fourth World canon. I've already covered the comics of the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, and the 00s, so now let's get into everything post-Flashpoint!
Wonder Woman (2011): I'll be honest: this series is Not Valid, and Orion only shows up as a supporting character for about a dozen issues, so I just skimmed his appearances rather than actually reading the whole volume. Anyway this version of Orion slaps Diana's ass and hits on her relentlessly and isn't even from Apokolips. Highfather is emotionally abusive. No one else from the Fourth World even shows up. Throw it all directly in the trash.
Infinity Man and the Forever People (2014): Genuinely who was asking for a New 52 book about the Forever People (the most optimistic of Kirby's creations) written by Dan DiDio (a man on the record as saying he wanted "to take the smile out of comics")? Shockingly, it's not as bad as I was bracing myself for. I mean, the lore changes are baffling (Darkseid and Highfather are brothers! the Infinity Man is Highfather's conscience and that's why New 52 Highfather's such a dick all the time! Big Bear is from Apokolips and has a secret, angrier face because he's like a bonus Orion now!). And the art rotates through four or five different artists and all of the issues not drawn by Tom Grummett are hideous. But mostly it's just very boring and pointless? Let's all ignore it forever.
Green Lantern/New Gods (2014): Hey, do you remember when Green Lantern was one of DC's most successful franchises and they were publishing five simultaneous GL-related ongoings and they oversaturated the market so badly they could barely keep one GL book going until recently? I'm not saying shit like this is what killed the goose that laid the golden egg, but...I'm not not saying that either. (No seriously, I am genuinely fascinated by whatever the fuck DC did to the Lanterns in the 2000s and 2010s as, like, a publishing cautionary tale, but that's a story for another post.)
This was a three-month crossover across all five GL books - Green Lantern (Hal's book), Green Lantern Corps (John's book), Green Lantern: New Guardians (Kyle's book), Red Lanterns (Guy's book), and Sinestro - plus a New Gods one shot and a GL annual. That's 17 issues that are meant to be read in order to follow the story, and then you can optionally also read the tie-in issues of Infinity Man and the Forever People, which makes a whopping total of 20 issues dedicated to this storyline.
So what was the plot of this grand saga? Uh...Highfather tries to steal all the rings of every Corps like he's the fucking Trix Rabbit or something. The end.
Yeah, it's a mystery what killed the GL publishing juggernaut. 🙄
(Side note: this crossover adds a brand new Original Character Do Not Steal who is from Apokolips and was raised by Highfather and has a Secret Rage Face. After Infinity Man and the Forever People also gave Big Bear a Secret Rage Face. STOP STEALING ORION'S SHIT. You don't need extra bonus Orions, Regular Orion is right there!)
Bug! The Adventures of Forager (2017): This is a very charming, very strange series that isn't in continuity (it was part of the Young Animal imprint) and doesn't really forward the plot of the New Gods in any way, but it's funny and enjoyable. Basically, Forager wakes up after his death in Cosmic Odyssey (29 years prior, for those keeping track) and goes on a time- and reality-hopping adventure in which he interacts with various characters Kirby wrote and drew for DC over the years (although oddly, very few New Gods). It's the sort of series that rewards the long-time comic book reader, but I still enjoyed it even though I was very aware I was missing references. I wouldn't recommend it if you're brand new to comics, though.
Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (2016): Orion's in a couple arcs of this run, and they're pretty fun. Orion's heart gets removed from his body and Kyle keeps him alive with a construct! Hal races Lightray! Orion helps the GLs fight a shit ton of Darkstars! There isn't much in the way of advancing New Gods Lore (TM) here, but this is a pretty good series in general. A fun time!
Mister Miracle (2017): Sigh.
You know, the frustrating thing about this series is that some aspects of it are really good. The art is superb. Some of the humor really lands. Funky Flashman as the Frees' nanny is an utter delight. (The bit where he retells the Galactus Trilogy as "Jake's story" is especially charming.) The subtler take on Granny and the way Scott is still wrestling with her abuse and his complicated feelings about her is heartbreaking. And the big twist, when Darkseid demands baby Jacob in exchange for peace, and Scott's agony over the decision, is utterly wrenching. It's such a good conflict to give Scott, to have him try to wrestle with the decision his own father made and what the right answer is. I even believe King read more than one issue of Mister Miracle (1971) to research this! I mean, he references the Lump. That's a pretty deep cut.
But it's all undercut by his decision to make Orion a villain. King's Orion isn't just brutal and wrongheaded, like some earlier writers have portrayed him - he's a vindictive sadist who craves power and enjoys humiliating someone who, in all previous canon, he eagerly embraced as a brother. He has elaborately cruel plans and enjoys making others know their place - Orion, who is historically as subtle and refined as a two-by-four to the head. He's out of character in basically every possible way.
But this isn't just me being like "How dare you get my blorbo wrong?!" (That's my reaction to King's depiction of Lightray as a simpering toady.) Making Orion a villain, as I have said many times at this point, betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the Fourth World's central concept, which is, like...not a hard concept to grok. The point of the baby swap isn't to see whether nature or nurture is stronger. It's that both babies grow up to be heroes. It's that good is stronger than evil. And if Orion isn't a hero, the whole thing falls apart. Instead, we get a bleak and fundamentally unbalanced take on the Fourth World that begins with a suicide attempt and ends with Scott resigning himself to a life from which he desperately wants to escape. And again, again, King's pessimism is mistaken for depth because someone else drew it real good.
Anyway I hate this comic, the end.
Justice League Odyssey (2018): The New Gods didn't really have a home base post-Flashpoint, which is why I'm covering so many books that aren't really New Gods books (Wonder Woman, the various GL books), because my crops are dying and I'm desperate for Orion to show up on his little scooter. Anyway this is actually first and foremost a Jessica Cruz book, which isn't really a complaint because I love her. Basically, Cyborg, Starfire, and Azrael (who is pretty OOC and also why is he here??? he doesn't know these people and he can't breathe in space?????) decide to go on an Illegal Space Adventure and Jessica tries to stop them and they all get swept up into an incredibly convoluted plan by Darkseid to turn everyone but Jessica into a NEW New God and take over the universe? Or maybe destroy it? UNCLEAR. Also the last time they all saw Darkseid he was a baby but now he's not anymore. How? UNCLEAR.
Darkseid kills Jessica but it doesn't take because she's the GOAT, but now he's taken control of Vic, Kori, and JPV, so Jessica has to team up with Orion, Blackfire, and Dex-Starr the Red Lantern cat to defeat Darkseid and rescue the others. Overall this book is so unrelentingly high stakes and cosmic that I kind of tuned out. After a while I just hit "we have to save the universe!!!" fatigue. But a huge part of the second half of the series is just Jessica yelling at Orion until he grumpily does what she tells him, and I truly could have read 40 more issues of that. I hope when it was all over he went and pouted at Lightray about how the Green Lantern was SO MEAN to him (he deserved it).
Verdict: Don't bother to read for New Gods continuity, do read if you love Jessica Cruz.
Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom (2021): This book reintroduces Shilo Norman to the post-Flashpoint universe as a celebrity superhero and escape artist who aggressively protects his secret identity, because his predecessor Thaddeus Brown, who is Black in this series (and presumably going forward), had a public identity and dealt with horrible racism from the public. But his mask is partially torn off when he's attacked by N'vir Free, the daughter of Scott and Barda Free - who Shilo has never heard of. While Shilo tries to figure out who the Frees are and why N'vir thinks he stole her father's legacy, he also discovers that Thaddeus was secretly his grandfather, and has to unpack all of his emotional hangups about his own identity and legacy.
This is a great book for the humans of Kirby's Mister Miracle and a terrible one for the New Gods. Scott and Barda are not only dead, but their memories have been erased from most people's minds. N'vir is an awful character with a stupid name, and also a fascist dictator, which is...a choice for Scott and Barda's kid. (I'm assuming all of this is either taking place in a different universe than the main DCU, or has been retconned away, because Barda is currently appearing in Birds of Prey and is perfectly fine. And perfectly perfect. Please read Birds of Prey.) Orion does show up for a bit and he's great here, but he doesn't remember Scott either, which hurt my heart.
But it's a great book for Shilo, who gets to be a complicated, endearing but flawed protagonist instead of a sidekick who tends to get forgotten for years at a time. I'm a bit torn on having him be related to Thaddeus, since I like the idea of Shilo becoming a hero on his own smarts and spunkiness rather than inheriting it, but it allows for some really beautiful themes about legacy and being proud of where you come from, so it suits the story really well. And Oberon is a delight the whole way through (as always). Overall a good book, but somewhat to the side of the overall New Gods saga.
THE END. We did it, you guys! Now DC please greenlight a new New Gods book, thank you.
(Actually it should be double length and reversible so when you hold it one way it's a New Gods book and when you flip it to the "back" cover it's a Mister Miracle book and the stories intertwine. Do you see the vision???)
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finally finished all of one character's entire quests/optional dialogue/questions/etc.... 100,000 words... .... aughhh
#Given some of it IS lines of code and stuff but like.. minus all that it's still probably at least 85 - 95k words hhhhhh#AND I have to do this for another 3 characters. Then a few partial quests for 3 others. THEN the other random misc stuff in the game#(like there are public areas in the city like a park and a forest that you can go and do a few things at. and chat with a few random#townsfolk that aren't actually full characters or anything. And there's a community board where you can#browse some of the random job advertisments or silly things that happen to be posted around#and also pick up a few odd jobs of your own to help earn coin to buy gifts for the npcs. etc. etc.)#Originally I was thinking like 'ah I'll make a short little game just to try it out! :3 It'll take maybe a few months!''#haha........................hee hee........................................hoho#Also evil that it would have been done already if I didn't totally drop itand stop working on it for like 5 years randomly#i could have made 5 years of steady slow progress gradually. instead of like 'one initial idea dump + about a month of art and writing'#...... 5 year break..... 'sudden mad dash to try to get probably 400.000 words written in a year or less' lol#I just really want to be done and have something out there already so it can lead to doing other things in my world..!!!!!! T o T#Like this can be an introduction and then maybe from that I can make other games. or short story anthologies. or other such things#But there needs to be some initially not very complex easy to interact with starting point first I guess... if that makes sense#That's part of why I stopped posting worldbuilding lore dump stuff as often because its' like.. massive walls of novella length#text are much more inacessible to engage with than like.. ooh a game! and there's characters! so its more approachable! and theres#visuals! oo! and the text is broken up in small bits line by line with other things in betwen! oo! etc. etc. lol#Not that THIS is even very accessible. I think dialogue heavy interactive fiction/visual novel type stuff is pretty niche and considered#boring or tedious compared to something with more ''gamplay'' like where you can actually move around in a world#and shoot things or whatever lol. But its an inbetween point. something SLIGHTLY#more accesible for now. Since i just dont have the budget or means or ability to make some skyrim type thing obviously LOL#Though maybe if theres any interest in the visual novel that could lead to making other things too. or at least I hope. I have a VERY cool#idea for a more ''gamey'' type of game that is a super fun concept and etc. but I would need to hire at least 2 people to make it.. ough..#I could do all the writing and probably half of the art. But I think I'd inevitably need a 3d artist and someone who can Code For Real hbjh#the system for ren'py (the thing I'm making a visual novel in) is not that complicated if you stick to just simple dialogue and stuff.#Making a whole moderately sized 3d game with minigames in it and a bunch of quest features and etc. would be out of my simplistic scope#''just learn it yourself!!' ... i barely manage to eat and sleep reliably every day lol... i do not function well enough to spend months#learning that many new skills. I already have a lot of of things I'm good at (not in a braggy way but just factually like.. i already have#a wide variety of different things under my belt).. at some point I have to just be happy with what i CAN already do and focus on that#and admit I need to get outside help sometimes ghjbh... NO more new skills/hobbies!!! ... ANYWAY
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wait i have another rant unrelated to anything. the common... perception? trend? idek what to call it, in fandoms and media commentary communities that every antagonist in every story has to have some deep reason for why they do things, or a sad backstory or w/e, imo kills creativity, makes stories lose their focus, and can be very upsetting when done wrong
like it's okay to have purely evil villains. it's okay to make hate sinks. that doesn't make you a bad writer. characters are meant to be tools, vehicles to tell a story, and sometimes you need that tool to just be an obstacle with no real depth. sometimes the story is more about how the protagonist overcomes hardships, and in certain premises those hardships work better when depicted as other humans. and honestly, even if they can be replaced by a generic monster or some object or w/e, it's still okay to make them a person if you wanna bc it serves the same purpose at the end of the day and you don't need to excuse that choice, imo.
like ppl who tear into every story and try to find every logical fault in it - even when it's only a fault when you entirely strip the context of fiction off it, thus often making these points irrelevant to the discussion about. yknow. a fictional work - can be so boring. I'm all for dissecting stories and trying to understand the logic behind some stuff, and while i personally prefer stories where the villain does indeed have a relatable or at least understandable motive, i do think that for certain stories it just does a disservice and frankly misses the point of why the story is even being told. like sometimes the villain is some money hungry asshole bc we needed a money hungry asshole to stand in opposition to our protagonists. it's not that deep, and it doesn't need to be. you just want to read a different story, so go do that.
#i think that last sentence is really the essence of it#if you like certain tropes or structure choices and hate when stories don't have them... just... don't read those stories...?#alternatively: can you tell i was an avid p5 fan in persona communities where everyone missed the point of its antagonists 💔💔💔#sometimes we just need assholes to be assholes for the sake of being assholes 😭 it doesn't take away from the story's depth#like this is a game abt dismantling corruption in society. we need villains that embody concepts -#- rather than be actual characters bc the story isn't about them. and that's FINE#like this is what i mean by boring. why do you want all stories to be the same. just play a different game#anyway yeah that was another rant. sorry
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my opinion on season 11 is that ian and mickey were all over the place from episode to episode and i ultimately wasn’t very happy with where it ended for them
#just felt kind of incomplete and boring in terms of their getting an apartment arc#like mickey was still genuinely very unhappy about it and they just left it like that?#and obviously i didn’t love how they did the terry stuff.#i think. there’s something to it because you can never truly predict how you’re gonna feel about something like that#even if it’s a piece of shit who you truly hate like. feelings happen.#and that could have been interesting to explore but it wasn’t done in a way that felt interesting#it just felt like a waste of time when we could’ve been doing other stuff with their screentime#and the beginning was so good i was having sooo much fun when ian was like yeah let’s steal an ambulance and yes we can have guns again.#let’s fuck in the ambulance. etc.#that was so hot and then they ruined it both in that scene that i wanted to SEE and with where they took the story after#like how quickly ian jumps back to ‘well we won’t do crimes then :)’ i thought he was having FUN doing crimes#like are they still doing their security shit? are they still working with stolen equipment?? i want them to do crimes :(#(when i lay it all out like that i’m like perhaps ‘ian being exited about doing crimes’ is not a Good Sign for him. but#it really wasn’t presented that way in context. like i don’t think that’s what they were going for there#and he can be doing better and still have fun doing stupid shit#a la their little outing before he got arrested by the military#yes that was like. 5 years earlier but i’m still like what happened to THAT ian he got boring#and i’m not saying like. him being healthy is boring. i’m saying let him be healthy and also have fun.#anyway.)#also like. signing a lease on the spot against mickeys wishes. kind of fucking impulsive and reckless. but no it’s bc he wants#to have a better life or whatever so it’s fine.#idk i just want to see them steal shit and fuck in an ambulance#and i mean like OVERALL ian has not been as much of a Crime Guy as others. certainly not compared to mickey#like he’s DONE crimes obviously but not in a. it’s his lifestyle way. i guess?#so idk why i’m like i want him to go BACK to that if that wasn’t exactly what he was doing in the first place#but he LIKES doing shady shit with mickey and having fun and idk why they bothered showing us that#if they were gonna drop it by the end of the season that i can only assume they knew would be the final season#it just felt like they didn’t know what to do with the two of them all season and they ended the season in a less satisfying place#than they started#r.txt
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have you watched the pjo show?
I saw the first 2 episodes when they came out at a watch party one of my friends threw, and as soon as they ended I realized I didn't particularly care to keep going. It wasn't like, outrageously bad by any means, I just don't think it gripped me enough to want to continue, and there were enough odd adaptational choices that I thought weakened the story that I lost interest. I might have tuned back in if the changes actually built to something interesting in the later episodes, but from everything I've seen it kinda seems like they just took the teeth out of the story, which was what I was worried about.
That being said, the cast seems really great and well suited to their roles, so like, if they improve the writing and pacing in the later seasons and stop sanding down all the rough edges, I might pick it back up. But otherwise, pass.
#im like famously bad at watching tv tho so me not wanting to continue is less dramatic than it probably sounds#i just don't really watch it casually anymore so I'll only follow along with shows that i really really like#i got another ask about the show a little while ago and i was like 'oh ill answer that once ive caught up' and then i never caught up so#sorry to whoever sent that i wasn't ignoring you i just never got to the ep you mentioned#like if I'm trying to be optimistic. given how quickly shows get canned if they're not immediately super popular. and given that this is a#disney product. its possible that once the show proves it can be commercially successful and the characters get older they might stop#playing it so safe and boring and bring some of the harder and more complicated elements back in. and like. that won't fix what they've#already fumbled but it will at least make the story better and more interesting. but idk how likely that is esp since#rick riordan seems totally on board with all the changes and it sounds like he doesn't really get why they diminish the story#like i feel like they're thinking too much about whether or not a change has a huge impact on the plot and not enough about how it#impacts the characters and the overall theme and vibe of the story. if that makes sense#like sure we still got from point A to point B in roughly the same way but that trip means something different for the characters now#and if you do that enough times you end up with a completely different result at the end even if we're technically in the same place#percy jackson show#asks
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I really would like to say something about Loki Season 2, write some analysis, whatever, but... The whole thing is just making me feel TIRED.
Guys. You can do better than this. I promise, you can do better than this. In terms of general storytelling, but especially where queer representation is concerned. Why did you even think that there would be queer rep in the first place?! For fuck's sake.
#season 2 was actually quite nice...#but not worth the effort of watching season 1#and it's still all very hollow#the whole show is just hollow I have no other ways of describing it#they took a story that had SO MUCH POTENTIAL#and then made the most boring choices every single time they could make a choice#didn't put any effort into fleshing out any of the new characters#nor to get Loki sound like himself from the movies#connect his quest to the one he had in the MCU in any way shape or form#and I don't want to shit on anyone's enjoyment of media that would be stupid#BUT WHY IS THIS GETTING PRAISE?!#WHY IS IT PUT ON THE SAME LEVEL AS GOOD OMENS OR OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH?!#which like#actuall make sense#storytelling wise#the only value this show has is the one that people brought in when they were hallucinating their own parallelly of watching this#as I was saying we can do better#I am just annoyed because if you think that THIS is good#then what does that say about our collective basic media literacy skills#and standards#they can't be possibly THIS low#Loki show#superheroes#MCU
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Ive been taking my sweet ass time with totk haven't even touched the main quest yet, gonna get full stamina and all the hearts before I actually play the story
#this is what i live abt open world games#no need to start the story until i actually want to#i think thats something genshin kinda lacks?#i mean the open world is absolutely fantastic in totk and genshin but with genshin some puzzles in the open world you cant do#UNLESS you finish a really long quest#and i mean the quests arent hard but i prefer ignoring story stuff ans being able to actually explore without NEEDING the quest in order to#do so#which totk and botw did really well bc all the mandatory mechanics are things you get in the very beginning#and then ur just free to do whatever without needing the main quests#well#axtually i guess since some quests are aboit fixing environmental issues it kinda counts#but those environmental issues dont fully stop you from exploring the way the exploration in genshin does#i love both games#i mean w somw games i lose interest pretty fast like in a few months#but w genshin its been. 2 years? and im still not bored enough of the game to quit#i dont play the game for very long tho. i do some stuff then i close it which i guess is why i havent experienced full burnout#i think games w more freedom are just straight up better at keeping my attention for long periods of time#games w set paths like pokemon and some other story driven games donr keep my enjoyment for as long#i mean i love pokemon but it does get predictable and boring after a while#im not attached to genshin enough to want to stick with it no matter what tho like trust me the minute i get too bored to play#im leaving it w/o a second thought lol
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Thinking abt how much I love oni's writing again... In particular, "a seed is planted" continues to be one of if not my favorite logs because despite the troubling details and implications that come with it, it's the one thing in the entirety of the decaying corpse of gravitas that genuinely leaves us with a grain of hope (a seed if you will) and makes oni as a whole a lot more bitter sweet as while earth may not have survived, the dupes did, and after their horrible origins and the shit that many of them went through, in due time they'll finally get to just live, they're free now, and even if Olivia's sleep is end of a tragedy, the world will keep moving forward with or without those who've been lost
#rat rambles#oni posting#like I guess I just rly love that oni both manages to commit to being a tragedy while also leaving a world still in motion#like Im glad that olivia didnt get a bittersweet ending and instead got a fucking miserable one#while at the same time the dupes are still left there to keep moving forward#well ok more so I like how the narrative shifts into smth quite beautiful when seen from the dupes perspectives#which is also why I like that the dupes are rarely talked abt directly in the lore logs#idk I just feel like a seed is planted wouldnt hit as hard to me if the dupes were talked abt more#its the same sort of incedental storytelling that I like abt the rest of oni's writing ig#also I just think them being a major part of the lore logs would rly take away from the greater horrors and tragedies of gravitas#like idk I think it would have been a lot more boring if a third of the logs were just jackie going so yeah I tortured dupes some more#it makes the pre end of the world world feel so much bigger while still mostly remaining within gravitas itself#enhances the feeling of glimpsing into a past world#like every now and then I think abt what oni story could have looked like and am filled with joy at what it is now#I fucking love being into fiction thats good god it feels so good to like shit thats just like actually good#it honestly makes me almost wish there wouldnt be new lore but I do think theres room for more#as in theres plenty of room to make shit up and also we need to see more of the scientists pls#as for actual quote unquote plot stuff idk just give me like one jackie and olivia college year video transcript or smth and we're good#theres other stuff that make me lose my mind but for narrative consistency I think itd be best to not touch those two too much#especially olivia I rly think she doesnt need almost any new content the only stuff Id want with her is if it expanded upon jackie#because rly jackie is the only character I think would super heavily benefit from elaboration even if I stand by her not needing much#as Ive said a billion times just smth small to show us her in a more casual setting and we're golden I think#show me that woman being genuinely happy so I can fill in the blanks as she slowly gets crushed by the consequences of her actions#shes a part of this tragedy too and god damnit I want to see the life she ruined along the way of ruining many others#I want to see a woman whos eyes once shined and then when the lights have dulled I want her to say it was worth it with no conviction#metaphorically ofc I dont actually want to see most of it because thatd go against the narrative philosophy already established#rly all this means is I wanna see jackie and olivia doing laundry together or smth#oh also I hope they specifically give otto a whole other log just to clear up my pronoun woes#idc what its abt just have them talk abt their gender offhand or smth#just mi-ma being like how do you do young man and otto is like they and mi-ma is like ah yes young they
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Milk and Water (Pt. I)
pairings: doppelgänger!Milkman x fem!Reader
summary: One of the newest residents’ very first doppelgänger comes in, trying to sway you into to letting them in. Will you..?
pt.II
art credit (twt: loafuu_chii)
warning: 18+ content
“…what’s the story behind your um… ears(?)” You ask the doppelgänger before you. It was a clone of one of your favorite neighbors actually, her name was Maria.
A woman around your age that you became really close friends with over the few months of you working here.
“@&! !$?&” The doppelgänger let out a series of sounds.
“right, so give me one second” You press the bright red button next to the window and the steel blinds shut with a blaring alarm sound.
You call D.D.D. and they clean up their mess per usual. You once again, you were just thankful you didn’t have to work on that side of the glass.
You check your wrist watch, and happily sigh at the fact that you only had one more hour left to work.
“ mmm, someone’s eager to go home i see” A familiar voice speaks up.
“oh, Mr. Francis” You give the man a polite grin. He gave you a sly one in return. You knew it wasn’t him off the bat. Francis was usually shy towards you, making you want to tease him into blushing whenever you saw him.
Well, you suppose you could kill two birds with one stone. Flirt with the doppelgänger of your crush, and have some entertainment.
“how are you pretty girl” He asks, sliding an I.D. and sheet through the slot.
You examine the documents and identification and beam a smile up at him.
“the date on the I.D. is a little expired hun” You declare. He lets out a small chuckle and leans a little toward the glass.
“mmm, been busy with the milk business, love. must’ve slipped my mind to renew it” He replied. His eyes were low but he still held his sly grin. You leaned back in your chair, with a bored look on your face.
“you’re not like my Francis” You huff and tilt your head with a disappointed look.
His grin faltered and he stepped closer. His breathing had quickened a bit and he took off his hat. “who knows, i could be better” He suggests.
Now that his confidence had depleted a little, you were growing bored of him. You checked the time again and you had 45 minutes left.
“well i’ve gotta get you moving now. it was nice to see such a handsome face though, so thank you” You beam and reach for the button
“you don’t want to do this, trust me” He states with a warning tone. This wasn’t unusual, getting threats after realizing they’re doppelgängers, but being that this one was this aware… they must be evolving.
“and why would i trust you?” You ask out of curiosity.
“i mean look at me” He smirks, one arm leaned against the top of the window. His irises turned from their chocolate brown and into an empty pure white.
“hm” You nod and press the button.
“(Y/N)!” He roared with what you assume was his fist banging the glass.
You call D.D.D. and wait for them to clean their mess, again.
The steel blind begins to lift and you sit back in your seat, checking your watch again but noticed the new pink lighting that shone in.
You furrow your eyebrows and look up in horror as you see blood streaks on the window in thick, and dripping amounts. You jump out of your chair and put your back against the wall.
About 5 D.D.D. workers were piled up, bloody and battered in the corner of the room, and there the doppelgänger was.
Staring at you.
His eyes were low, his shirt was torn, revealing his pecs and the start of his abdomen. He was panting with his (surprisingly still) neat hair and an almost psychotic expression.
“oh no…” He starts with a laugh, still breathing heavily.
“what did you do..?” You cover your mouth with your hand.
“it’s what you did. you got me all riled up.”
He looks down for a brief moment and you swear you hear a zip. He holds his tie and the end of his tattered shirt in his mouth and looks up at you with knitted eyebrows.
His breath fogging up the window as he asks you. Looking like a poor starving puppy. “will you let me in now…? I need your help…” He slightly groaned.
“…what. the. fuck.”
#milkman#milkman x reader#francis mosses#francis mosses x reader#ciaoteamo#x reader#imagine#smut#fem dom reader#thats not my neighbor#milkman smut#milk the man
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FATHER, CAN I DIE?
✶﹒ platonic yandere! manhwa fathers x suicidal/overworked daughter! reader
summary : maybe they should just lock you in your room to make sure that you won't do something dangerous.
a.n : i plan to make this a series, what do you think?
abel heilon
let's start with the most chill platonic yandere! out of the guys that i will feature in this post! abel heilon, the duke of the north with a simple mindset of 'if you mess with me then i'll mess with ya' we all know how protective he is with fiona and siegren. but just imagine, what if— just what if he has an illegitimate child who's related to him by blood that he hid from the public's eyes.
anyways, the first time he met you. he became sure of one thing. damn, you were indeed his child. with that silver hair, blue eyes and personality of yours— you were indeed his child. he can't deny that because you looked like a kid version of him. well, it's not like he is denying it tho— but what the fuck is wrong with your brain anyways?!
he doesn't know if you were abused before he met you. but why in the hell are you so obsessed with suicide anyways?! why the fuck are you even throwing yourself in battles when you were a support mage?! for the fuck sake! stop! yes, you have above average amount of mana! but the hell?! you're not as strong as fiona nor siegren! stop it!
if it's not for siegren then he wouldn't know the fact that you happily greeted the assassin that was sent by the imperial family. according to him, before siegren saved you from the assassin you even have the guts to propose to that damn assassin about committing suicide together since according to you, you have fallen in love with him— hearing that story, abel couldn't help but facepalm. (first name), you're thirteen! and that assassin is already thirty-six or worse, older!
maybe because of the stress of managing the north and keeping you safe from your suicide attempts. abel finally snapped.
look, abel likes watching you enjoying your freedom. but damn, if he doesn't do anything about this— he might end up burying you before you even reach the age of 18. he won't hurt you, he swears. that was the last thing that he will do to you. but that doesn't mean that he can't take preventive measures to make sure that you were safe.
platonic yandere! abel heilon was one of the chillest platonic yandere that existed. he will let you do anything that you want, he won't take away your freedom nor hurt you. he isn't also overbearing to the point that it was suffocating. but don't make him snap, because he can be the most suffocating and controlling parent existed.
now, on your sixteenth birthday— to celebrate it. you decided to jump onto the freezing river near the manor. you expected that you'll wake up inside your room— but no. when you opened your eyes, you were inside an unfamiliar room that has no windows. seeing that you can't use your magic, you were sure that there's a magic restricting device placed around here. what the hell is happening?
the door had opened, you looked at who it was and saw abel looking at you with a smug grin. you tried to ask him what is going on but instead of replying— abel only ruffled your hair saying that it will be only him and you from now on. and that was when you realized one thing— abel had taken your freedom away from you.
but abel didn't care. cry until you have no tears left, he doesn't care. the only thing that he cared about was keeping you alive. and this is the only thing that he know to achieve his goal. but don't worry, he will visit you everyday and give you books to make sure that you won't get bored. so, can you stop being a btch and appreciate his efforts?
he doesn't care if your eyes lost its usual enthusiasm and spark. he doesn't care if you stop eating at some point— because abel can shove the food inside your mouth to make sure that you stay alive.
oh, by the way— fiona was the one who made the room where you were staying now. she just wanted to make sure that you were safe! and the only place where you can be safe is the place where you can't use magic! so, forgive them, will ya?
“should i just cut off your arms? so that you won't be able to use your magic again?”
gallahan lombardy
okay, as far as you know— you are not really a suicidal type of person. but for your father, gallahan lombardy you are. because for gallahan, overworking is another way to try to kill yourself after all.
gallahan is a sweet person, i swear. he won't hurt you at all and isolating you? no, no, no, gallahan won't do that! but he still couldn't help but become paranoid when it came to you. you were way too focused on studying— maybe because of the pressure that you were getting from the other people.
your sleep only lasted for two or four hours, you always isolate yourself inside the library. and gallahan didn't like it at all— look, you need to take it easy and rest. the only time you leave the library was when gallahan and tia drag you outside to eat in a cafe or buy new clothes.
platonic yandere! gallahan loves to spoil you. you wanted to buy books? here you go. want to try home-cooked foods? sure, he'll cook it for you. do you want to go to the festival with tia? alright! as long as he will go with you two.
but then, a certain event made gallahan snap. it was a normal day and gallahan entered the library to drag you outside so that you could socialize with the family. but then, he saw you unconscious on the floor, buried in the books and your nose was bleeding. gallahan was panicking, he didn't know what to do. what if you don't wake up? what if something bad happens to you? or worse— what if you die? if it wasn't for shananet who saw her younger brother's panicked face and her niece's condition. then gallahan won't be able to calm down and call the family doctor.
and what is the doctor's diagnosis? you were overworked. and after hearing that, rulac lombardi, your grandfather along with your auntie and uncles saw how your father's face darkened while looking at you who was peacefully sleeping on the bed.
and then, after that incident. you couldn't help but become confused when gallahan didn't scold you— instead, when you woke up. you saw him smiling softly at you. he didn't even ask you to take it easy. he just lets you do what you want.
but what you found odd was your father started giving you foods and drinks everytime and after consuming those things. you started feeling tired and before you knew it, you always ends up asleep. and once you woken up, you were already on your room. with tia cuddling with you while your father was asleep while sitting on the chair next to your bed also asleep.
knowing how innocent your father was, you never suspect a thing. you just kept on eating and drinking the things that he was giving to you. and you never questioned why you always get tired after it. your father loves you so much, so he wouldn't do anything— right?
plot twist, gallahan actually puts drug on your food and drinks to make sure that you will take a rest and never overwork yourself again. but a year later, you started losing your sense of sight because of it. but gallahan and tia don't care when you have them? oh, just thinking about their sweet (first name) being dependent on them was enough to make them very happy.
“sorry, honey! this is just a precaution, okay?”
#manhwa x reader#yandere#yandere x reader#yandere x y/n#yandere headcanons#yandere manhwa#yandere manhwa x reader#platonic yandere#platonic yandere x reader#gallahan lombardi#abel heilon#tw. yandere#tw: force feeding#tw. isolation#tw.dark content#tw: drugs#tw: obsessive behavior
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𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐭 ♧ 𝐥𝐧⁴ - ii
❥ your peaceful life gets disturbed by your little brothers teammates in the worst and possibly best ways possible
❥ lando isn't one to give up and neither is your friend.
❥ a good ol' he fell first, she fell harder fic with piastri!reader // thanks for the love for this fic so far <3
part i - part iii
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y/npiastri
liked by evaharris, oscarpiastri and 1,003 others
y/npiastri friyay. 🍹
tagged: nessieness, evaharris
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oscarpiastri not the cringe caption
oscarpiastri you drink too much coffee
↳ y/npiastri and you put your nose in my businesses too much
landonorris you tell him
oscarpiastri mate...
oscarmemes 😍
landonorris love the picture of you and oscar in slide 3
↳ oscarpiastri ???
nessieness what's with all these little boys in your comments?
↳ y/npiastri 🤷♀️
evaharris stalker behaviour
oscarpastry what's lando doing here 😭
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y/nusername
liked by oscarpiastri, landonorris and 1,211 others
y/nusername alexa, play miami by will smith.
tagged: oscarpiastri, nessieness
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evaharris have fun babies 😘
oscarmemes you're going to be at the Miami GP? 😭
↳ y/npiastri I am! :)
landonorris aww cute dinner date with the little brother
↳ nessieness someone's gotta do it...
nessieness your game is weak
landonorris teach me your ways
oscarpastry what is going on here?! 😭
oscarpiastri lovely dinner, vibes were immaculate
↳ y/npiastri do you even know what that word mean?
oscarpiastri did you know you could be nice to your brother?
y/npiastri that's not fun :(
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y/nusername posted to their story
landonorris replied to your story
landonorris
i can delete your number
do you want me to delete your number?
I swear I didn't ask for it
y/npiastri
nah it's alright, you can keep it
landonorris
really didn't ask for it
y/npiastri
I know :)
feeling sorry you met vaness while she's piss drunk.
she's cuter when she's sober :')
landonorris
yeah she really is something 😂
is that why you didn't go out with her tonight?
y/npiastri
one of the reason plus I'm a very boring person, didn't feel like going out.
landonorris
I don't think you're boring
y/npiastri
And I don't think you know me well enough 😂
landonorris
Then I'll have to get to know you better 😉
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y/nusername
liked by nessienes, landonorris and 1,000 others
y/npiastri miami ii
tagged: nessieness, oscarpiastri
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evaharris ossie ❤️
↳ y/npiastri ossie 💕
nessieness ossie 💖
oscarpiastri I've been summoned
evaharris love you lil bro, proud of you <3
landonorris ossie ❤️
oscarmemes LANDO 😭
oscarpastry love how you're joining oscar to races more this year!
mcpiastri had to double check who posted this only to realize y/n accepted my request?!?! 😭
↳ oscarpastry one of the lucky ones!
oscarmemes vanessa wrong team :(
↳ nessieness no one beats sir lewis hamilton
sarahf hope you're having fun over there, your team is killing it this week! My perm is looking amazing again!
landonorris need to get you a hat with the number 4
↳ nessieness can you get me a lewis hat?
landonorris no
nessieness rude
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Everything taglist; @thomaslefteyebrow @hopefulinlove @smoothopz @softboystarkey @honethatty12 @cixrosie @parkersmjs @ireadthensuetheauthors @celestialams @be-your-coffee-pot @heli991113 @kodzuvk @reality-is-a-con @80sloverry @bibissparkles @myescapefromthislife @lanando4 @elliegrey2803 @ravisinghs-wife @harrysdimple05 @minkyungseokie @pretty-little-bunny382728 @thatgirlthatreadswattpad @severewobblerlightdragon @cherry-piee @namgification @mycenterfold @devineendevers @celestialend @jsjcue @d3kstar @themislovesf1 @geehsf @mehrmonga @gentlemonsterworld
Lando taglist: @beatricemiruna @simp-for-fictional-people @landossainz @christianpulisic10 @bored-brunette2 @i83andrew @mcmuppet @justdreamersdream
head over feet taglist: @loloekie @charlesgirl16 @lilipiggytails @teenwolf01 @zucchinimalfoy @pumpkiinpasties @2bormaybenot @carpediem241108 @emyladia @lauralarsen @evie-119 @creamsteam3 @itsjustfranzi @ririyulife @tinyhrry @the-untamed-soul @jasminesacademia
#lando norris x reader#lando norris x you#lando norris#lando norris x y/n#lando norris smau#lando norris au#lando norris fanfic#lando norris imagine#f1 x reader#lando x reader
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The Three Commandments
The thing about writing is this: you gotta start in medias res, to hook your readers with action immediately. But readers aren’t invested in people they know nothing about, so start with a framing scene that instead describes the characters and the stakes. But those scenes are boring, so cut straight to the action, after opening with a clever quip, but open in the style of the story, and try not to be too clever in the opener, it looks tacky. One shouldn’t use too many dialogue tags, it’s distracting; but you can use ‘said’ a lot, because ‘said’ is invisible, but don’t use ‘said’ too much because it’s boring and uninformative – make sure to vary your dialogue tags to be as descriptive as possible, except don’t do that because it’s distracting, and instead rely mostly on ‘said’ and only use others when you need them. But don’t use ‘said’ too often; you should avoid dialogue tags as much as you possibly can and indicate speakers through describing their reactions. But don’t do that, it’s distracting.
Having a viewpoint character describe themselves is amateurish, so avoid that. But also be sure to describe your viewpoint character so that the reader can picture them. And include a lot of introspection, so we can see their mindset, but don’t include too much introspection, because it’s boring and takes away from the action and really bogs down the story, but also remember to include plenty of introspection so your character doesn’t feel like a robot. And adverbs are great action descriptors; you should have a lot of them, but don’t use a lot of adverbs; they’re amateurish and bog down the story. And
The reason new writers are bombarded with so much outright contradictory writing advice is that these tips are conditional. It depends on your style, your genre, your audience, your level of skill, and what problems in your writing you’re trying to fix. Which is why, when I’m writing, I tend to focus on what I call my Three Commandments of Writing. These are the overall rules; before accepting any writing advice, I check whether it reinforces one of these rules or not. If not, I ditch it.
1: Thou Shalt Have Something To Say
What’s your book about?
I don’t mean, describe to me the plot. I mean, why should anybody read this? What’s its thesis? What’s its reason for existence, from the reader’s perspective? People write stories for all kinds of reasons, but things like ‘I just wanted to get it out of my head’ are meaningless from a reader perspective. The greatest piece of writing advice I ever received was you putting words on a page does not obligate anybody to read them. So why are the words there? What point are you trying to make?
The purpose of your story can vary wildly. Usually, you’ll be exploring some kind of thesis, especially if you write genre fiction. Curse Words, for example, is an exploration of self-perpetuating power structures and how aiming for short-term stability and safety can cause long-term problems, as well as the responsibilities of an agitator when seeking to do the necessary work of dismantling those power structures. Most of the things in Curse Words eventually fold back into exploring this question. Alternately, you might just have a really cool idea for a society or alien species or something and want to show it off (note: it can be VERY VERY HARD to carry a story on a ‘cool original concept’ by itself. You think your sky society where they fly above the clouds and have no rainfall and have to harvest water from the clouds below is a cool enough idea to carry a story: You’re almost certainly wrong. These cool concept stories work best when they are either very short, or working in conjunction with exploring a theme). You might be writing a mystery series where each story is a standalone mystery and the point is to present a puzzle and solve a fun mystery each book. Maybe you’re just here to make the reader laugh, and will throw in anything you can find that’ll act as framing for better jokes. In some genres, readers know exactly what they want and have gotten it a hundred times before and want that story again but with different character names – maybe you’re writing one of those. (These stories are popular in romance, pulp fantasy, some action genres, and rather a lot of types of fanfiction).
Whatever the main point of your story is, you should know it by the time you finish the first draft, because you simply cannot write the second draft if you don’t know what the point of the story is. (If you write web serials and are publishing the first draft, you’ll need to figure it out a lot faster.)
Once you know what the point of your story is, you can assess all writing decisions through this lens – does this help or hurt the point of my story?
2: Thou Shalt Respect Thy Reader’s Investment
Readers invest a lot in a story. Sometimes it’s money, if they bought your book, but even if your story is free, they invest time, attention, and emotional investment. The vast majority of your job is making that investment worth it. There are two factors to this – lowering the investment, and increasing the payoff. If you can lower your audience’s suspension of disbelief through consistent characterisation, realistic (for your genre – this may deviate from real realism) worldbuilding, and appropriately foreshadowing and forewarning any unexpected rules of your world. You can lower the amount of effort or attention your audience need to put into getting into your story by writing in a clear manner, using an entertaining tone, and relying on cultural touchpoints they understand already instead of pushing them in the deep end into a completely unfamiliar situation. The lower their initial investment, the easier it is to make the payoff worth it.
Two important notes here: one, not all audiences view investment in the same way. Your average reader views time as a major investment, but readers of long fiction (epic fantasies, web serials, et cetera) often view length as part of the payoff. Brandon Sanderson fans don’t grab his latest book and think “Uuuugh, why does it have to be so looong!” Similarly, some people like being thrown in the deep end and having to put a lot of work into figuring out what the fuck is going on with no onboarding. This is one of science fiction’s main tactics for forcibly immersing you in a future world. So the valuation of what counts as too much investment varies drastically between readers.
Two, it’s not always the best idea to minimise the necessary investment at all costs. Generally, engagement with art asks something of us, and that’s part of the appeal. Minimum-effort books do have their appeal and their place, in the same way that idle games or repetitive sitcoms have their appeal and their place, but the memorable stories, the ones that have staying power and provide real value, are the ones that ask something of the reader. If they’re not investing anything, they have no incentive to engage, and you’re just filling in time. This commandment does not exist to tell you to try to ask nothing of your audience – you should be asking something of your audience. It exists to tell you to respect that investment. Know what you’re asking of your audience, and make sure that the ask is less than the payoff.
The other way to respect the investment is of course to focus on a great payoff. Make those characters socially fascinating, make that sacrifice emotionally rending, make the answer to that mystery intellectually fulfilling. If you can make the investment worth it, they’ll enjoy your story. And if you consistently make their investment worth it, you build trust, and they’ll be willing to invest more next time, which means you can ask more of them and give them an even better payoff. Audience trust is a very precious currency and this is how you build it – be worth their time.
But how do you know what your audience does and doesn’t consider an onerous investment? And how do you know what kinds of payoff they’ll find rewarding? Easy – they self-sort. Part of your job is telling your audience what to expect from you as soon as you can, so that if it’s not for them, they’ll leave, and if it is, they’ll invest and appreciate the return. (“Oh but I want as many people reading my story as possible!” No, you don’t. If you want that, you can write paint-by-numbers common denominator mass appeal fic. What you want is the audience who will enjoy your story; everyone else is a waste of time, and is in fact, detrimental to your success, because if they don’t like your story then they’re likely to be bad marketing. You want these people to bounce off and leave before you disappoint them. Don’t try to trick them into staying around.) Your audience should know, very early on, what kind of an experience they’re in for, what the tone will be, the genre and character(s) they’re going to follow, that sort of thing. The first couple of chapters of Time to Orbit: Unknown, for example, are a micro-example of the sorts of mysteries that Aspen will be dealing with for most of the book, as well as a sample of their character voice, the way they approach problems, and enough of their background, world and behaviour for the reader to decide if this sort of story is for them. We also start the story with some mildly graphic medical stuff, enough physics for the reader to determine the ‘hardness’ of the scifi, and about the level of physical risk that Aspen will be putting themselves at for most of the book. This is all important information for a reader to have.
If you are mindful of the investment your readers are making, mindful of the value of the payoff, and honest with them about both from the start so that they can decide whether the story is for them, you can respect their investment and make sure they have a good time.
3: Thou Shalt Not Make Thy World Less Interesting
This one’s really about payoff, but it’s important enough to be its own commandment. It relates primarily to twists, reveals, worldbuilding, and killing off storylines or characters. One mistake that I see new writers make all the time is that they tank the engagement of their story by introducing a cool fun twist that seems so awesome in the moment and then… is a major letdown, because the implications make the world less interesting.
“It was all a dream” twists often fall into this trap. Contrary to popular opinion, I think these twists can be done extremely well. I’ve seen them done extremely well. The vast majority of the time, they’re very bad. They’re bad because they take an interesting world and make it boring. The same is true of poorly thought out, shocking character deaths – when you kill a character, you kill their potential, and if they’re a character worth killing in a high impact way then this is always a huge sacrifice on your part. Is it worth it? Will it make the story more interesting? Similarly, if your bad guy is going to get up and gloat ‘Aha, your quest was all planned by me, I was working in the shadows to get you to acquire the Mystery Object since I could not! You have fallen into my trap! Now give me the Mystery Object!’, is this a more interesting story than if the protagonist’s journey had actually been their own unmanipulated adventure? It makes your bad guy look clever and can be a cool twist, but does it mean that all those times your protagonist escaped the bad guy’s men by the skin of his teeth, he was being allowed to escape? Are they retroactively less interesting now?
Whether these twists work or not will depend on how you’ve constructed the rest of your story. Do they make your world more or less interesting?
If you have the audience’s trust, it’s permissible to make your world temporarily less interesting. You can kill off the cool guy with the awesome plan, or make it so that the Chosen One wasn’t actually the Chosen One, or even have the main character wake up and find out it was all a dream, and let the reader marinate in disappointment for a little while before you pick it up again and turn things around so that actually, that twist does lead to a more interesting story! But you have to pick it up again. Don’t leave them with the version that’s less interesting than the story you tanked for the twist. The general slop of interest must trend upward, and your sacrifices need to all lead into the more interesting world. Otherwise, your readers will be disappointed, and their experience will be tainted.
Whenever I’m looking at a new piece of writing advice, I view it through these three rules. Is this plot still delivering on the book’s purpose, or have I gone off the rails somewhere and just stared writing random stuff? Does making this character ‘more relateable’ help or hinder that goal? Does this argument with the protagonists’ mother tell the reader anything or lead to any useful payoff; is it respectful of their time? Will starting in medias res give the audience an accurate view of the story and help them decide whether to invest? Does this big twist that challenges all the assumptions we’ve made so far imply a world that is more or less interesting than the world previously implied?
Hopefully these can help you, too.
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paint me in lovely red, mv1xreader
masterlist
pairing: max verstappen x artist!reader
summary: a tiny slip can make your most beautiful secrets public. Sometimes the slip comes in the form of a painting, sometimes the secret is a relationship with a world champion.
format: social media au
a/n: all paintings used here were made by Malcolm Liepke! Part 1/?
( instagram )
verstappen1updates
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verstappen1updates Max just admitted that he’s in a relationship on stream! Transcript of the clip for those asking:
G: Max, they’re asking about the new painting in the background. I haven’t seen it before either.
M: Ah yes, that was a gift for the championship win from- [Stops to keep driving]. Well, my girlfriend really.
G: [Laughs] That’s cute, she’s great at painting. Oh- they’re surprised now- [Laughs] about your girl.
M: Ah- We just like to keep to ourselves, mate.
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user1 YO WHAT???
user2 and just like that we’ve lost him🥲
user3 u don’t know that man
user2 a girl can dream…
user4 sooo whos the girl?? I want to know noww
user5 a whole picture of his winning car??? she must be HOOKED
user6 after that season i cant blame her
( twitter )
( instagram )
yourusername
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yourusername Spring is coming so new prints are out on my online shop!! Make sure to check them out💛🧡🍋
From the vault: “my yellow mirror II”, oil on canvas, 18x24. Also: my bike, me.
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user1 I just came expecting more Max honestly
user2 SAME
user3 the only thing interesting on this page
user4 ok seeing her now I get why Max let her paint him like that😂 shes cute
user5 paint me like one of your french girls- max, probably
yourfriend beautiful as always Yn🥹🫶 only focus on that
liked by yourusername and maxverstappen1
yourusername thanks bby🫶
user6 oh girl stop being so dramaticcc
user7 drop the painting of the car instead, this is boring
user8 i get it know, date rich so you can afford to do your silly paintings🤯
maxverstappen1 just lovely
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inthef1paddock
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inthef1paddock Max Verstappen and girlfriend Yn Ln caught together after she arrived to Melbourne for the Australian GP.
The driver had to ask through his instagram stories for fans to respect their privacy and Yn’s career after people flooded her social media with disrepectful comments, he did so by posting this selfie.
Mean comments will be deleted.❤️
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user1 People are so rude, its obvious they love each other
user2 Oh that hug🥹 what a lucky girl
user3 Did you see the video? He RAN to her, shes blessed
user4 idk she still seems weird…
lando.jpg
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lando.jpg 🇦🇺 nights
tagged charlesleclerc, maxverstappen1 and yourusername;
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user1 last photo made me SCREAM, MAX???
user2 Lando is so crazy for this lol
user3 From Charles dropping it low to a hard launch he knows his public
charles_leclerc 😎😎
yourusername 🕺🕺📸📸
charles_leclerc You mean 💋💋📸📸?
maxverstappen1 Lando wont post those because he is lonely and he will cry
landonorris mate thats not true
yourusername its ok to be single lando we dont care you cried to our happy photos
landonorris I did NOT cry 🤢 you guys made me sickkkkk
charles_leclerc sick to tears
maxverstappen1 😂😂
landonorris Stoppp
landonorris Dont know what its worse, the kissy photos or the porn paintings
yourusername not porn🖕
maxverstappen1 Dont be rude🖕
yourusername I will paint you crying now idc you crybaby
landonorris Sure😂
charlesleclerc Famous last words
user4 its ok Lando I will take 💋 pictures with you
user5 me toooo, I volunteer 🤩
maxverstappen1 Please send me the rest of Yn’s photos👍
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user6 oh wow i get lando now this is so sweet its sick😭
yourusername
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yourusername “Lando Norris, the crybaby”, oil on canvas, 24x30.
Prints will be available online soon🧡
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user1 Oh she ate this one up😭😭
landonorris NO YN
landonorris YN THIS IS SO MEAN
landonorris why would you do this😭😭 I didnt think you were serious
yourusername See, crybaby
carlossainz55 Dont worry Landito you dont look too bad
landonorris 😭😭😭
user3 LMFAO THIS IS SO FUNNY
user2 the devil work fast, but yn works faster
danielricciardo Jesus how much for this one, I will give ANYTHING
charlesleclerc No man ask for your own, this one is mine
maxverstappen1 This is not leaving my house👍 good luck
charles_leclerc WHAT? NOT FAIR, YN I WILL PAY TOO MUCH
danielricciardo Whatever he pays I will give double
yourusername Sorry its been bought already
charles_leclerc ???
mclaren Thank you Yn, this will look great in our hall 🧡🧡
yourusername 🧡🫶
landonorris WHAT
charles_leclerc oh my god
landonorris NO WAY
user4 SOLD TO MCLAREN? this is a fever dream
user5 I, too, want a portrait of me kissing max verstappen
user6 I respect Yn so much, cause she went from making tittie art of her bf to paint their friend crying while they makeout in the background
maxverstappen1 Lovely😂
maxverstappen1 Can I request one but without the crybaby?
yourusername I have a few already 🤔 whats one moree
user7 DROP THEM, I KNOW YOU HAVE THE HOT ONES TOO
charles_leclerc Dont drop them please think of the children
yourusername wow youre so boring
maxverstappen1 Make fun of him on a painting for that baby
danielricciardo I will pay for that one this time
charles_leclerc God no have mercy
yourusername dont worry i wont do that, being a ferrari driver is punishment enough
charles_leclerc 😐
landonorris LOL DESERVED
maxverstappen1 Love you my Yn❤️❤️
yourusername love you too🥹🥹
——
a/n: Thank you for reading!!! I might do a second part to this fic, I think there is so much more to do with the plot so if anyone is interesed make sure to stick around❤️🥹 My inbox is now open if anyone has suggestions or ideas they want to se me writw!
#max verstappen#max verstappen x reader#f1 smau#f1#f1 fanfic#f1 x reader#mv1#mv33#mv1 x reader#f1 imagine#mv33 x reader#mv1 imagine
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