Heated Rivalry, p. 322
occasionally subtle
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@catswillruletheworld
Heated Rivalry, p. 322
Can’t find the post I was looking for but found the image at least. Doing this to all my friends.
Story time:
In middle school biology, we did an experiment. We were given yams, which we would sprout in cups of water. We then had to make hypotheses about how the yams would grow, based on descriptions of yam plants in our books, and make notes of our observations as they grew.
Here’s what was supposed to happen: we were supposed to see that the actual growth of the plant did not resemble our hypotheses. We were then supposed to figure out that these were, in fact, sweet potatoes.
What actually happened was that every single student in every single class lied in their notes so that their observations perfectly matched their hypotheses. See, everyone assumed the mismatch meant they had done something wrong in the process of growing the plant or that they had misunderstood the dichotomous key or the plant identification terminology. And, thanks to the wonders of a public school education, everyone assumed the wrong results would get us a failing grade. We were trying to pass. We didn’t want to get bitched out by the teacher. Curiosity, learning, science - that had nothing to do with why we were sitting in that classroom. So we all lied.
The teacher was furious. She tried to fail every student, but the administration stepped in and told her she wasn’t allowed to because a 100% fail rate is recognized as a failure of the teacher, not the class. It wasn’t even her fault, really, though her being a notorious hard-ass didn’t help. It was a failure of the entire educational system.
So whenever I see crap like Elizabeth Holmes’s blood test scam or pharmaceutical trials which are unable to be replicated or industry-funded research that reaches wildly unscientific conclusions, I just remember those fucking sweet potatoes. I remember that curiosity dies when people are just trying to give their superiors the “right” answers, so they can get the grade, get the job, get the paycheck. It’s not about truth when it’s about paying rent. There’s no scientific integrity if you can’t control for human desperation.
OP was your teacher the emperor from The Empty Pot
will I be burnt at the stake if I say that I don’t think Ilya’s fuckboy persona is entirely an act. will people draw and quarter me if I say that I think he is a different person with different people and none of them are entirely separate from who he is. will people stone me if I say that ilya loved being a fuckboy and loved sleeping around at the time and had a fucking blast doing what and who he wanted even if he wanted to be with shane for most of it.
Like I think people eschew that persona from him too aggressively in favor of making him a Soft Boi but there are multiple facets to ilya and I dont think any of them are necessarily fake. Just because he used promiscuity to cope doesn’t mean he didn’t have a marvelous time participating in it. That man loved pussy. He loved fucking pussy and eating pussy and making women come and whine his name. You cannot convince me otherwise. He was a very proud slut. Just because Shane made a housewife out of a hoe doesn’t make the Hoe Phase not genuine. U feel me?
How do you write healthy parent-child relationships?
this might be more response than you want, but interesting (and kinda depressing when you think about it) fact: there’ve been a bunch of research studies where parents have been asked what they think makes a healthy parent-child relationship, and they tend to like…not answer the actual question because they think they’re being asked what good parenting is, which is not the same. so they talk about things like helping kids with homework and making sure they eat well. children, on the other hand, usually respond to the same question with stuff that’s literally just the definition of healthy relationships generally. affection, honesty, respect, spending time together, sharing interests. and the real kicker is, objectively, we know that’s the kind of stuff that actually has a much better impact not only on whether or not the relationship is strong and positive but also the kid’s overall happiness and psychological health.
so, if you want to write a character who’s really intent on being a Good Parent you’d have them putting massive effort into making their kid Grow Up Right, worrying about shit like if they have The Right Friends and they’re spending Enough Time Outside. but if you want to write a good relationship, just make parent and kid laugh together and respect boundaries and be emotionally supportive, like you would when writing a solid pair of friends or romantic couple.
No that was actually really helpful and I’m glad you took the time to give a serious response
given the current climate this pride especially i feel i must mention that i love my trans friends, i stand with trans people in the fight against transphobic legislation and those who would enforce it, and this blog is not a good place for you to be if you do not vibe with that
Charles Dance fanboying about Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith
Queens of Awesome
If anyone was wondering how to play Bitch (I was wondering) here’s what I found:
[ID: gif of Charles Dance talking to an interviewer saying, “COuple of years ago, I directed a film with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. It’s called Ladies in Lavendar. And they don’t come any better than Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, right? Those two would turn up on set 7 o'clock in the morning and be there until 7 o'clock at night. One would be doing the Telegraph corssword, the other would be doing a needlepoint. Or they would be playing a card game called Bitch. The rules- of which they’ve tried to explain to me, but I could never really understand it.
They didn’t want to rehearse. They could be talking about the price of eggs, the state of the weather… Kinda 30 seconds before the board is clapped, and they would go straight to the scene and do it. And ‘cut’ is called, and then they’d be, ‘what were we talking about?’ or ‘whose turn is it with Bitch?’
Reply images are from a post from a google group from kittyVogue. It reads: Play the game “Bitch” all the time. So here are the rules that we play by: Need two decks of playing cards including jokers. [1] Each player is dealt 13 cards. With one facing up in the center. [2] Start play to the left as in any card game. [3] On your turn, pick up card from deck. Throw one in center/discard pile. [4] To go into play, you must first lay down three of a kind. Known as three originals. [5] After this, you may use deuces as wild cards. [6] Jokers are put down by themselves. Must be down with three originals first.
[7] Lay down as many three of a kind as you can, keep in mind can add more. For example, if have five kings in your hand, they all go down together. When it is your turn, lay down any three of a kind you have in your hand. [8] You can only pick up the cards in the middle if you have two cars in your hand, that match the top card. If you pick up the cards in the middle you must use the top card with others into play immediately. Remember you must pick up all the cards in the middle, even if you only wish to use the top one. [9] You cannot pick up any cards from the middle unless you have at least three originals down first, and there must be at least three cards in the middle. [10] When dealing, cut the cards to deal. If you deal 13 cards to everyone, and have one left to put in the center, then this is considered to be a perfect deal. Worth 100 points. [11] Jokers worth 50 points, deuces worth 25 points, aces worth 20 points, face cards - 10 points, and all other cards (from 3-9] are worth 5 points. [12] First player to get 2100 wins the game. [13] If you wish to block someone from picking up the cards in the discard pile, lay out a card that matches one in their set of three of a kind. They can’t pick up the pile if the top card matches one of their three of a kind. They are blocked.
[9] You can either pick from the pack, or all the cards in the center, not both. [15] At the end of your turn, you must always discard one card except at end of hand you can lay down all your cards into sets of three or more. Hope that this is not too confusing. Have fun. Have you ever played the game “School?” Lots of fun too. /end ID]
Things to consider when writing a character!! --2
continuing--
⊹ How do they treat people who can't do anything for them? Waitstaff? strangers? people they'll never see again? this is the oldest trick in the book for a reason. It works. How someone behaves toward people with no social utility tells you everything about their actual values versus the values they perform for an audience.
⊹ What's their relationship with their own body? Are they comfortable in it or is it something they carry around like a problem? do they take up space or make themselves small? are they aware of how they look or completely indifferent? Physicality is psychology and most writers forget the body entirely until someone needs to throw a punch.
⊹ What do they lie about and why. Not dramatic plot lies necessarily. the small everyday ones. the things they exaggerate or omit or reframe. Because people don't lie randomly, they lie to protect something. Find what your character is protecting and you'll find what they're afraid of. That fear is the ENGINE!!
⊹ Who did they used to be? not their whole backstory. just: who were they before the thing that changed them. because that person is still in there somewhere, showing up in small ways, wanting things the current version of them would never admit to. The ghost of a former self is one of the most interesting things you can write into a character without ever stating it directly.
⊹ What would make them walk away?? from the goal. from the relationship. from the person they're trying to be. everyone has a breaking point and it should be specific to them, and please not a generic "too much" but the exact thing, the particular betrayal or loss or realisation that would finally be enough. know this even if the story never reaches it.
⊹ What do they love that has nothing to do with the plot?? a specific kind of light in the afternoon. the smell of old paperback books. bad television they watch without apology. something small that belongs only to them. details like this cost you nothing and they make the reader believe in a person completely. characters who only care about plot-relevant things are not people. they're chess pieces. sorry not sorry.
Things to consider when writing a character!! --1
⊹ What do they want vs what do they need. these should not be the same thing. what they want is the surface goal ( the job, the person, the revenge, the answer.) What they need is the thing underneath that they can't name yet. The story is what happens in the gap between those two things. if they're identical your character has nowhere to go.
⊹ What are they wrong about. Not morally wrong necessarily. just. what belief do they hold that the story is going to test. What assumption do they make about themselves or the world that turns out to be incomplete? A character without a wrong belief is already finished. They have no arc, give them something to learn even if learning it hurts them.
⊹ How do they talk when they're nervous. Do they go quiet or do they talk too much? do they deflect with jokes? do they get weirdly formal? do they ask questions instead of answering them? the way a person behaves under pressure is who they actually are. And it should be different from how they behave when they're comfortable.
⊹ What do they find funny. this one sounds small and it is not small at all. Humour is worldview. What makes someone laugh tells you what they value, what they're afraid of, how they handle pain. A character with no sense of humour is just flat. even the gravest person finds something absurd. find the thing.
⊹ What are they ashamed of? not their tragic backstory. their actual shame. The small ugly thing they would never say out loud. The time they were a coward. The feeling they pretend not to have. The desire they think disqualifies them from being a good person. Shame is where the most interesting character work lives and most writers skip straight over it :(
⊹ What do they do when no one is watching? how do they move through a space alone. What do they reach for when they're sad. What do they do with their hands??? Public behaviour IS performance. Private behaviour is truth. you don't have to show all of it but you have to know it or the character will feel hollow in a way the reader notices without being able to name.
In the final moment, Williams turns to Storrie and does a version of Ilya's "attack-y" face, as Tierney describes it. He left that sweet exchange in to show how Shane is capable of breaking his guarded facade. "I think Shane does have a playful side that is stifled... Under every scene in season 1, there's not much room for super goofy play," Williams says. "There's a tentative nature to episode 6. Although it's calm, it's still like, 'Can this work, when we're left alone to our own devices?'"
"It does feel like a puppy learning to play," Tierney adds.
The Marvels (2023)✨️
I want a fic where the hr universe has its own gay hockey show called break the ice or something and it takes the internet by storm so suddenly games and practices are being infiltrated by social media managers trying to get the players to say if they’ve watched it or who on the team they’d cast in the show and fans of the show who are also hockey rpfers are talking about the main couple of the show being like ‘this is hollanov if u squint’ and Ilya is having the time of his life bc he thinks it’s the best show he’s ever seen in his entire life and Shane is having 1000 mini heart attacks every day bc he legitimately believes someone has figured out he and Ilya are dating and decided to make a tv show about it and of all the ways he thought he could end up getting outed this was never on the spreadsheet
the writers of break the ice reach out to rose about playing one of the character's beards for a few eps and when shane finds out he demands yuna hire a private investigator to see if he's being followed
the real plot twist is that the characters in the show lowkey look like hayden and cliff so this starts this big, long-running joke that hayden and marleau are in a secret relationship and hayden and cliff - who know the Truth(tm) - are like 'guys this is great we can take the heat off you two' and ilya doesn't care bc it means he can call hayden pike ugly to the press and be like 'um no my handsome, funny, smart friend is MUCH too good for hayden pike' meanwhile shane is lowkey and irrationally FURIOUS bc what the FUCK do you mean people are calling hayden and marley Cute when he and ilya are right fucking there?!?!?!?!?
"Love is Love", Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Scott Hunter [Hudson Williams, Connor Storrie, & Francois Arnaud from Heated Rivalry], digital art
Mar 2026
A redraw of a redraw of a redraw, with an edit and an overhaul, plus an added "C" for the other two captains and not just Ilya. Please don't look too closely at their feet, I really messed up the skates in this version (then tried to steal those parts from the original, and then messed them up even more so went back to the less messy mess). There was almost a plan to "paint" the inside of each locker in the colour of the applicable pride flag, but it would have been way too busy.
I genuinely can't remember if I imagined this or if this is real. I tried going through clips from the first couple of seasons, but I can't find it!
PATREON
Yet another new study debunked the basis for the anti-trans sports bans. It was never about sports but for creating legal avenues for exclusion and abjection. This is one of the largest analyses ever conducted, involving 52 studies and 6,485 trans people. Read the study here.
people bag on tumblr for neogenders and mogai silliness but
tumblr is more true to the source than anyone else
I feel like I will forever consider myself a "queermonger" now