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(although after the alphatauri collaring thing, max will occasionally come to him when he wants GP to collar him for a bit, which he's more than happy to do, and that sometimes turns sexual because that's what max is needing, and GP refuses to let anyone but him handle that.)
GP REFUSES TO LET ANYONE BUT HIM HANDLE THAT. INTERESTINNGGGGG im so curious what GP his thought process is during that and and how and why and to what extend max needs those moments to turn sexual. Probably needing to be claimed?
GP is soooo good about being hands off when it comes to literally everything else. he's a master at it, he's never faltered even a little bit.
but something about the idea of anyone else getting to have max when he's collared rubs him the wrong way, because no one else has earned it. it's GP who's put in all this work, and kept everyone in line, and put hours upon hours into making sure max has everything he needs and wants. max is, at the end of the day, GP's. and everyone knows that.
max also doesn't really trust anyone else to do it. he trusts carlos/daniel/oscar, and he trusts the team, but he only ever comes to GP when he wants to be collared, because GP knows him better than anyone else, and max trusts him to be able to identity any of his needs without explicitly saying it, because GP is the only one who's been doing that since day one.
max knows that GP would do anything for him (and has), but sometimes he likes to see GP lose just a little bit of that bystander attitude, and it feels like a special thing just for the two of them. max knows that GP likes it more than he wants to, and he likes to be good for him– sort of like his own way of saying thank you.
It's pretty obvious that Jax is suffering from grief, but the worst part is he probably couldn't stand the thought of saying goodbye. There are some things in life that hurt you deeply, and one of those is the loss of a real friend, be it through drifting apart, a betrayal, or even death.
Jax probably never gave himself time to grieve because he thought he was the reason Ribbit abstracted. In Episode 6, Jax says 'Are you seriously gonna blame me for something that everybody else did too?!' Yes, defensive, yet out of nowhere and trying to assert he wasn't the only one in the wrong. A theory going around is that Ribbit abstracted after everyone distanced themselves from them because Ribbit was mean to everyone around them, with Jax being the last friend to stay. When Jax needed a break from Ribbit and had a breather before going back, Ribbit abstracted and everyone in the group thought Jax's meanness finally caused Ribbit to abstract.
This makes sense why he keeps being so mean to the others: it is who they see him as, so he'll continue being exactly what they expect him to be: a bully who wouldn't show up to his friend's funeral. This ostracization would lead Jax to torment the others as revenge for how they assumed the worst from him, and would be his only relief in a world without any more friends.
Jax won't abstract. It doesn't fit with the show's message of redemption, working on yourself, and how connection leads to meaning. Jax will probably go through his villain arc during Ep. 6-9, but in the end, he can only save himself from the same fate Ribbit went through: alone from constantly pushing others away.
Shout-out: Rigs made by @zayjax (THANK YOU!!!)
TL;DR: Jax was made out to be the villain, and he will continue to be a villain to punish the characters who assumed the worst from him.
Ma'am please bestow upon me your amazing smut writing ways! 😩Your smut scenes are always top tier and I'm so jealous! I feel like all of my smut writing ends up turning out sounding the same.
Awwwh Lau 🥹🥹 Thank you babe, that’s so sweet of you - you’re so kind to me ♥️
And I was going to joke that I have no idea how I do it (and that is true to an extent - lots of it just happens in the moment!) but real talk, writing smut is one of the things I find MOST difficult in writing. It’s so time consuming to get it right, or it is for me anyway!
But here’s how I try and approach it… apologies I’m chatty and this got a bit long but I hope it’s useful to you and others!
Alex’s Guide To Writing Smut
Understand the context
1. What’s the vibe? Why are they having sex?
Is it angry/angsty/longing/needy/soft/sweet/something else I can’t think of right now? How are the characters arriving into the smut, because it totally shapes how you think about the tone of the scene and how the actual act will play out. Angry rough fucking is not the same as soft, we just woke up and I need you again sex. And that doesn’t need a tonne of exposition to set out in the story but you, the author, need to know where it’s coming from.
2. What’s their relationship?
Like above, sex between people who have been together for ages is different from sex with someone new(ish). Of course you can still surprise each other in a long term relationship but new relationships are all about discovery. And this affects how they communicate during the act itself, and how comfortable they might be together (as well as in voicing likes and dislikes). Also, a one night stand won’t be the same as a pairing who are a couple, and not all of those are born equal - is it a one night of fun or is that we only have one night, because we shouldn’t/can’t do this, but I love you? Those bring very different energies!
Creating scenes that feel ‘real’
4. Limbs logistics
This is the stuff that takes me the longest because I’m a weirdo and I like to be able to properly picture who and what’s where at any given moment! Do think about whether it’s physically possible for his hand to be there if it was just somewhere entirely different. And don’t be afraid to have a little fun with it if your setting allows a bit of real life challenges. Getting stuck or whatever and giggling about it is so human and relatable and will add realism.
3. Use ALL the senses.
Obviously this is an important tip for writing generally but if you want to build a sensory picture and create intimacy it’s extra important in smut writing. Smut writing isn’t just describing where all the limbs and appendages go - if you want it to be immersive you need to go beyond that and explore how the characters FEEL and what else they are experiencing:
- Smells in particular are especially evocative and unique. They stir up emotions and or create a sense of safety.
- Think about how you describe the different kinds of touches (again, all relates to knowing your context). Not just stimulation touch but how they hold each other, breath on skin etc. Are they gentle or rough. And most importantly, how does it feel - both touching and being touched.
- Don’t forget about taste - you don’t have to major on it if it gives you the ick but it’s part of the sexual experience so don’t forget to consider how it might be useful to include.
- Sound allows you to convey emotion with and without dialogue. How does their voice sound? When you’re pressed together can you actually feel the sound? You can use this to show progress too as they get closer to climax. (That feels so wrong to write in a non-smut scene context!)
5. Choice of positions/ sexual acts
My personal preference is starting with foreplay cos I enjoy writing the build up, but sometimes (back to context again!) that doesn’t make sense for your pairing. Deciding what they actually do during the smut scene totally depends on all the stuff in the section above. For example, are they short on time? Do they have all night? Is it the only night they might ever have and so they want to do everything you can think of? All of these will affect what kind of sex they have and the kind of energy they bring to it.
I rarely sit down and plot this out (but I’m not a plotter anyway so that’s just me) - I write what feels right in the moment because I’ve focussed my effort on knowing WHY these two particular people are having sex. Allow the context to guide what feels natural and have fun with it.
6. Dialogue
I used to write with hardly dialogue during smut because it made me uncomfortable trying to squeeze it in, but I’ve got better at it as I’ve written more. So I think you have to do what feels right for you, as the writer. But also, once again, you need to know what your characters would do. Are they talkers? Is one of them noisy but the other is the silent type? Does one have a filthy mouth that makes the other weak and they like to use that against them? Do you want to include a praise kink or someone who gets off on being humiliated (don’t forget AFTER CARE!). All of that affects what kind of dialogue you might have.
Personally I still tend to keep it quite limited (writing Emmett and the whole ‘having to be quiet’ is my fav kink of the moment!). Instead, I focus more on the senses side of things, and let them get a bit lost in the pleasure inside their own heads. And instead of external dialogue, I often opt for more internal chat about how the other person and what they’re doing makes them feel. And how they feel is influenced by, you guessed it, the context!
What to do when it all feels a bit too ‘samey’
So to Lauren’s original ask about scenes feeling overly similar - especially when you’re working with the same set of characters in a long running series. I have this all the time, especially with my Lockdown series because those two are just feral for each other! To tackle getting stuck in a rut, here’s what I think about:
Surprise, surprise, it’s all about CONTEXT again!
Ok yes, you only have so many sexual acts and positions to work with. And not everyone wants to write all the kinks in the land, I know I don’t! But what is different every time is why your couple is having sex - what’s led to/inspired that moment and how are they coming into the scene. So I refer you back to the very first section - understand the scenario and mood you’re trying to create. You can stack the different acts however you like but the energy and emphasis and emotion your characters bring to that should inherently make it feel different each time.
If you want a real life example, check out the smut scenes in this mini series - they fuck in every chapter but each time the context and how the characters come into the scene is different, so (I hope!) the smut reads differently.
And finally
Do not underestimate the power of a little humour! Real life sex can be funny. It’s intimate and, lots of the time, with someone you are (or want to be) very close to. They are moments of physical and emotional connection. Let the people be people. Don’t make it all perfect all the time. Life isn’t like that! 🤍
Other useful resources
How to write smut by @youneedsomeprompts
Smut terminology study
Useful smut language/sound descriptors
Really good guide to smut terms
Writing sex scenes
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To nobody's surprise, I am having another PHM Thought.
These dang ideas are getting longer and longer (or maybe I'm just getting yappier and yappier?), so this one gets a read-more cut.
This requires a little bit of plot-wiggling shenanigans to set up the premise of the AU. The idea that prompted this for me was -- the Hail Mary in canon has... kind of a lot of Stuff on it, yeah? Things that might be comforting for its doomed crew, but that aren't really essential, as far as Earth knows? Who could have predicted that the crew would have any use at all for an analog clock, for example? SO--
As Earth races to save itself, as Eva Stratt pulls Ryland Grace into her orbit along with so many others with the goal of saving their species, the residents of Earth are not the only beings invested in Earth's fate. You and I don't need to know the details of exactly who else is watching; in fact, it might be safer for us not to know. For the purposes of this tale, all that matters is that they are very powerful, but they are not permitted to outright deliver Earth's salvation on a silver platter -- Earth must stand or fall by its own merits.
But they can put a finger on the scales. Just a little nudge. Depending on how things turn out, no human might ever even notice anything amiss.
In this universe, when Rocky and Grace first meet and start sharing information, Rocky grills Grace for much longer with questions about Grace's ship. Something about it seems to... almost unnerve him? Grace just chalks that up to the whole idea of "traveling in an aluminum ship filled with oxygen" for an Eridian, and carries on.
Much of the plot of PHM as we know it does not change. Rocky acts a little twitchier when he first moves into the Hail Mary, and he sets up one or two odd-looking monitoring instruments inside his xenonite enclosure that Grace can't make heads or tails of from what he can see from outside. But in the end, Grace and Rocky are both aboard the Hail Mary and headed for Erid, modified Taumoeba and all.
One 'evening' by the Hail Mary's clock, Grace and Rocky get into an argument. The details aren't especially important; the two have been friends and shipmates for long enough now to figure out pretty quick that the disagreement is just a product of stress over Grace's steadily-decreasing food stores. Grace had spent the whole 'day' in fruitless attempts to coax new generations of Taumoeba into producing anything remotely like a vitamin or human-essential mineral, and he is just grumpy grumpy grumpy.
As the argument is dying down, one of those strange little devices sitting on Rocky's side of the xenonite walls suddenly goes nuts. Rocky instantly hurries over to prod and fuss over the little machine that's rattling and whistling and shrieking at him, while Grace claps his hands over his ears. He has no idea how that sound can get through the xenonite and still be so piercing that it feels like it's driving a spike right into the side of his head.
Seeking a bit of distance from that terrible noise, Grace shuffles quickly out of the lab and makes his way into the Hail Mary's storage compartments. The sound is a little more muffled in there -- enough to be bearable. As he lowers his hands and looks around, he reflects that maybe he hasn't been quite as organized in here as he should have been. Rocky's xenonite tunnel system only extends into a small corner of this area, which Rocky mostly uses for his own storage -- so although Rocky might badger Grace about keeping the lab and the dormitory tidy, Grace's part of this space receives no such bossy oversight.
Just as Grace goes to sit down cross-legged on the floor and wait out whatever Rocky's instrument is doing, something odd catches his eye. Okay, so maybe he's a bit messy when left to himself, but he DOES at least know what's supposed to be in here. It is, after all, rather important to the joint "Get To Erid" mission that Grace keep track of his vital supplies. And that box, that one right there? It looks just like every other storage box around it, but Grace would swear that it wasn't there before.
Grace walks over and unseals the box. He flips open the lid, picks out one item from within, and stares.
This container is packed to the brim with rectangular jars full of all kinds of vitamin gummies.
Slowly, Grace feels his legs give out beneath him and he drops to the floor, eyes darting between the jar in his hand and the inside of the box in disbelief.
This is the first series filmed in Studio 3 at Television Centre. I believe it's a bit smaller than Studio 1. The set-up is still intended to look like the TM theatre that we all know and love, but there isn't actually a balcony. There's essentially a few rows of 'stalls' near the stage then raised seating which form the 'balcony' - the bulk of the seats are in this.
Once you've cleared security, staff do ask if you want to go in the opera boxes. We declined because we weren't keen on risking a sideview or only being able to see the back of the thrones. However, if you do opt to go in these seats, the warm up guy (Mark) will interact with you quite a lot - something to consider if like me you think that's your worst nightmare!
Mark joked that the opera box seats are way more uncomfortable than the ones on the floor. Not sure how serious he was but again, something to consider!
We had paid priority tickets, which tell you to arrive at least an hour and a half before filming begins. This isn't enough if you want to be seated close to the stage, we arrived around 11am (for the 1:30pm recording) and both the paid and free queues were already substantial. We got some really good central seats on the 'balcony' but were nowhere near getting the 'stalls' as these were full and several people in front of us being directed to the 'balcony' already once we got into the studio.
From a glimpse at reddit and a couple of other places, if you have free tickets it sounds a bit of a crapshoot. I think someone mentioned only about 20 free ticketed people got in to our recording once the priority queue had been let in. It sounds like you need to turn up WAY early to have a chance. I can only imagine we're talking at least three hours before filming begins, maybe more.
Essentially: there is a LOT of waiting around. I would seriously prepare yourself for a very long day, especially if you go to the second record because by the time we were all seated etc, the actual show didn't start until after 2pm and we were let out around 5:20pm - which is close to when the next block is meant to start!
Bring snacks for the pre-security queue but make sure you eat them because they'll take everything except bottled water off you. I think we started getting let through at 12pm, so my husband and I ate our snacks at around 11:30am.
On that note... HAVE A BIG BREAKFAST (1:30pm record) OR LUNCH (5:30pm record)!
Also, if you're offered the opportunity to use the loo, take it. They're filming for 3 hours (maybe a bit more) and there aren't actually designated toilet breaks during this.
Anyway, onto my thoughts on the show itself...
I've only ever been to studio records for music/album chart shows in the past, and I've been in a music video too. Based on that, I was prepared for repetition and mistakes. To be honest, Taskmaster is such a well-oiled machine now that there weren't THAT many long retakes during the show itself. Greg and Alex often knew when they'd fucked up and just did their lines again. Sometimes they'd obviously have a producer in their earpieces but again, it wasn't intrusive. They ask the contestants to repeat things too if needed.
I actually found it super interesting, but there can be some long pauses that are a bit awkward so I think my main takeaway was to leave behind how you feel when you're watching the actual show, because this is like all the ingredients of the cake being presented in front of you, and sometimes there's a finished cake... and sometimes the cake isn't quite ready yet. Honestly, it's fascinating and kinda fun. As my husband said, "now we're seeing how the sausage is made!" If you don't like TV magic being ruined, I wouldn't go to a recording in the first place, but I assume everyone who wants to go isn't that precious about peeking behind the curtain so to speak :)
Because this is S22, EVERYONE in the audience is a fan. Between filming blocks, Mark comes back out to banter with the crowd and he made references to how the knowledge the audiences have of the show now are just... almost cult-like haha. He got stressy (in a funny way) when he asked if anyone had any questions and they asked some pretty hardcore Taskmaster questions. He's not a fan of the show to the same extent. Honestly, if you're going to ask a question I'd try to keep it simple - but if Greg and/or Alex are still on stage you do sometimes get lucky because they offered some insight into a couple of previous tasks in other series.
At one point my husband got to ask, "are Greg and Alex are planning to go camping again?" and I thought Mark got a bit weird about it (maybe I just didn't have a read on his humour idk?) but Alex and Greg were around and Alex basically said "you'll have to ask Greg." Greg admitted he was drunk last time so can't remember any of it, so yes he'd like to go camping with Alex again. Honestly, it was a fun interaction overall. From their cheering, the audience appreciated the question at least :)
Other overall filming thoughts
Your arms WILL get tired because do-overs mean you have to applaud quite a bit. It's also a long time to be sitting down, but fortunately you can stand up and wiggle about a bit during the breaks.
Mark introduces Greg, who walks out by himself first to banter a bit with the audience and the thought that flashed through my mind was, "god - he's so tall!" I know he's tall, but I don't think I was prepared for seeing him loom over everyone lol.
It was actually Greg's birthday so an American in the audience (there were a lot of you guys) shouted out "happy birthday!" and we all sung happy birthday to him. He then told us off for wishing him a happy birthday more than once.
He introduces Alex, who comes to the stage next. Yes, there was a bear hug and Greg insulted him (I forget exactly what he said, but later on he did start comparing Alex to the leader of the Green Party of England & Wales and yeah... I kinda see it.)
The cast names were revealed and then they come out to take their seats. I wasn't prepared for the amount of make-up artists that suddenly appear whenever there's a filming break lol. It makes sense though.
Someone asked if the cats on Alex's throne have names. Eventually this led to Greg accepting the suggestions made by audience members. They settled on Montag the Magnificent (named by a lady from LA who used to work on DVD menus I think? I miss DVD menus) and Katniss (named by a grumpy tube driver on the Central Line who said he pisses in Oasis bottles - yeah there was a lot of back and forth about that 😆)
Greg said he'd ask Alex on camera about the cats in a future episode but confessed he will probably forget.
They do a quick ad-break during task three and the longer break comes when they set up the live task. Again, it was interesting seeing the crew move quickly to take the chairs away and reposition Greg's throne. Everyone went off stage during this break and Greg came back to take his seat with a cup of tea. I think he regretted this later because apparently it made him really hot under the studio lights, and during the pick-ups at the end, he said he really needed a wee haha.
The cast are released and then Greg and Alex re-do some of their dialogue. We had 11 pick-ups, which is apparently pretty good. Greg fucked up his opening monologue a few times though! Also, the awkward pauses are really obvious during this because Greg will say something and then Alex has to wait for the camera to move onto his face before he responds. I'm going to be watching future episodes now wondering if they're actually talking to five empty chairs!
Vague cast thoughts
Unfortunately, the names are already online if you know where to look, but I won't confirm or deny. I will say there's one person who I was a little disappointed when Greg said their name. Years ago, I probably would've been delighted - but now I have some pretty negative feelings about it. Leaving all that aside, I feel like they're gonna be a Marmite contestant anyway because of their overall manner and attitude.
I knew basically all of the cast, which is the second series in a row this has happened. The one I knew the least about is in the first seat, but I've definitely seen them in something before. Next to them was someone who has basically been on my wish list for a while - so that was nice! Another person was someone I wasn't sure would ever do it and I'm a bit blah about. Finally, there was someone who does a routine I CANNOT stand - but I liked them here. I had a similar thing with John Kearns. I can't stand his comedy persona, he ruined an episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown for me - but I loved him on Taskmaster. Just goes to show doesn't it!
Vague task/show thoughts
You get the titles and the ad-break cards, it's basically like watching an extended episode. The screen failed a couple of times, but the crew reset everything and you get the full experience.
Greg & Alex banter - definitely existed for this episode and I hope they don't cut it! Alex said he'd got Greg a gift. It was a pretty backhanded gift, yet Greg said he enjoyed it, presumably because of the backhanded nature!
Prize task - I quite liked this one. There was one prize I personally thought was the best, even though it was quite sad - and that was why Greg marked it down. The winning prize was very bizarre but had a whole backstory to it. I'm not mad.
First task - there was a twist to it that was quite evil, but I also felt like Alex regretted it, especially after how one contestant dealt with it! Another contestant claimed to have never watched an episode yet hilariously stumbled on the solution. Greg pointed out Alex enjoys annoying the other contestants with this stuff.
Second task - a surprising early entry for a team task! I'm not sure if I like the make-up of the team of three for reasons that might become clear when the episode airs. I thought the team of two were delightful.
Third task - a musical themed task and was also introduced as, "another team task" but it actually isn't. I agreed with Greg on who should've scored the highest on this one!
Live task - bizarre and went on for far longer than the edit will suggest. Kinda chaotic. My gut feeling was it wasn't the best live task ever, but I imagine the tension created by the music and the cuts will make it more interesting. Personally, I would've ended up throwing everything in my hands at Alex lol. I found it frustrating enough as an audience member!
Overall, I would certainly recommend trying to do this at least once if you're a huge fan of the show. Even lots of the international contingent of the fanbase are managing to get tickets, like I said - lots of Americans (from several states too), at least one Canadian, people from Germany and Latvia. We weren't the only Scots by a long shot either.
However, it's a very long day and I was feeling pretty tired (and quite hungry) by the time we got out. I'm not sure if I'd want to do this more than once, especially with having to travel to London in the first place.
More importantly though, it's very fun and you're surrounded by other Taskmaster fans! I didn't speak to many people but the ones I did were lovely. One lady complimented my outfit, which was also lovely :)
(As for real life... unfortunately, we're still waiting for our luggage to catch up with us because there was an issue with the luggage belts in LHR. We're now back in Scotland but without the clothes we took down with us. Oh well!)
So I'm working on a new essay about Thales and TWSITD, and I found out the topic at hand needs to go over Edelgard's reasoning behind her massive beef with Rhea and the Church. Very quickly.
So I made this for it. Maybe it can be of help to someone in the meantime idk.
